things i don't want to forget

that calla calls her big sister "det-ta" and granola bars are "mereal bars".

that greta asks every day - "am i going to school today?" it's nice to know she loves the place that much (and we hope this love for education lasts forever!).

and that tonight we watched "the sound of music" for the first time together and my heart was happy the whole time. what a fun memory, probably more for me then them (especially since calla decided to "go to work" in the middle of the movie), but still, i love sharing those moments with our girls.

it happened.

calla climbed out of her crib yesterday. she was supposed to be taking a nap, when suddenly she walked into the bathroom to see me. she is trouble with a capital T!

***just in case you were wondering- there were no injuries of any sort- she is perfectly fine. we are the ones who now need to figure out if it's time to transition to the big girl bed. i've been telling her once she learns to go potty on the big girl potty she can get a big girl bed- maybe calla will be so motivated she'll potty train herself overnight! :)

she's getting there...

greta has been asking me to teach her how to read. while i really look forward to doing this, we have some steps to take before getting there- like knowing lower case letters! in the process she is doing a lot of writing out words. she will ask me, "mom- how do you spell (fill in the blank)?" and then she will go on to write out all the letters. she knows to write her letters from left to write, in a fairly straight line, to form a word.

yesterday she was making a birthday card for her friend. she asked me how to spell LOVE, then wrote it out. next she asked me how to spell ARI- this is her friend. she wrote A-R-I and then paused to say, "but mom- that doesn't make sense- shouldn't there be an E on the end of her name?" someone is getting it!!! the hard part was me explaining the sounds...we might need a workbook of some sort to help us along the way, but it's amazing, exciting & fun watching her learn. she is such a sponge (calla, too) that i want to take advantage of this time...which is a large part of the reason why i quit my job. time to stay home and be with these girls - teach them more, play with them more, love on them more...doesn't get better than that!

rash, pneumonia, and ear infection- oh my!

yes, it's true- we were sick again. this time it started with pink eye over a week ago, which we nipped in the bud immediately (poor calla- she did NOT like those eye drops!). there was some coughing going on, but it seemed we were on the upswing, until...greta woke up saturday with a rash covering her body, we took her to urgent care and they listened to her coughing, took x-rays & concluded it was a form of pneumonia that involves a rash. off to get anti-biotics and greta is on the mend. sunday had us back in urgent care for mike- with, what he believes (we need to verify with his mom), was his first ear infection. another set of anti-biotics and hopefully this is it.

so now we are working to de-stress and change our diet. my cousin's husband is doctor, focusing on whole body wellness. he is going to analyze our diet (keeping a food diary) and then give us suggestions. at this point we are going to try everything possible to get healthy...which might involve many more things- to be discussed later...

who's the boss?

a few days ago i overheard greta telling calla- "calla, the big kids are the boss of you." i quickly jumped in and said-"greta, moms & dads are the boss- you are not the boss of your sister."

greta's response- "Mom, Jesus is really the boss of all of us."

WOW! i got trumped by a 4 year old!

too many ideas, not enough time

lately my craftiness is starting to get the best of me. as in- all i want to do is craft projects. i just finished an apron for a friend & now i have a laundry list of other things all vying for my attention! where to begin? i need to finish mike's father's day gift & i'm working on fixing up the girl's upstairs table & chairs. i think the fact the table top gave greta a giant splinter under her fingernail (ouch!) was a pretty good indicator that the table is not okay in it's current form. (i'll take some before & after shots).

but here is the problem- i also want to do this, and this, and i'd love to try to recreate anything from here, and i have several ideas (and fabric to use) for skirts for the girls. mike has 4, yes you read that right- FOUR - days left of school and then it's summer break! well, not really since i still have to work and he will be working, but it's going to feel so leisurely in comparison to life with him in school (just picture me with the girls 24/7 and that is basically life with mike in school). and i hope that during this break he finds a full time job that wants to hire him when he's done in december. and i also hope that i can use my free time to enjoy some summer cocktails & crafty nights. the fact that there will be an extra set of hands with the girls (and with chores- oh how i look forward to not doing every single load of laundry for the summer!) already has me relaxed and revving to go...craft/organization/beautification projects- i'm coming!

since they are gone

the girls went to my parent's house yesterday and stayed the night. they have done this before, but usually it's b/c we have something going on, we are sick, etc. yesterday it was really for no reason. mike is studying for finals (he's done in 8 days, not that i'm counting!) and i had no plans for the evening. a full night with NO plans!?!?! i can't remember the last time i had a night like that. at first i didn't know what to do with myself, but the night quickly filled up- hair (it keeps getting shorter), gym, dinner with mike and the rest of the evening was devoted to gutting through the mounds of girl's clothing we have acquired over the past four years. garage sale- here we come.

back to the reason for this post- last night mike got out the video camera and since we couldn't tuck the girls in to bed, we watched some video from dinner a few nights ago. it was another night of laughing hysteria & another night we didn't want to end. (i need to figure out how to post video!). then we were laying in bed talking about the girls & their funnies, so before i forget - and because we miss them - here are the current favorites:

calla- "green hair!" (we have our first official family inside joke)
greta- basing her decision to go to grandma & papa's house- "well, you know, they do have a really good mcdonald's in their town. it's probably even better then the mcdonald's in our town, so we should probably go to their house." (apparently mcdonald's play structures are a big determining factor!)
calla- when we ask her "what color are your eyes?" she rolls her eyes up to the top of her head & tries to "see" what color they are- this last for about 5 minutes b/c we are all rolling with laughter & she knows she is putting on a good show. it's her new party trick.
greta- "mazagine", in reference to magazines and "pale nolish" for nail polish.

the other new dinner time entertainment is cheering each other on when we're finishing up dinner. when the girls decide they are done, but still need to eat a few more bites, we chant, "greta, greta, greta, greta..." until she takes a big bite & then we cheer. same goes for calla (and mom & dad)- it's a great way for them to finish eating a few bites and we are all happy & laughing. much better then the old - "girls, please finish your food!" (in a harsh tone). it's amazing how we get creative with things as time goes on and learn through trial & error. parenting- it's a learning process! :) what we don't have to learn is that we love our girls & miss them when they are gone.