Friday, February 24, 2006

Princess Picnic






The girls and I have been keeping ourselves occupied while our "prince" is at a debate tournament. We spent the day painting, pretending and napping (well two out of three of us...I spent it finishing Memoirs of a Geisha...which was very good, by the way) and then went to the park this evening to walk their babies in their strollers. Annabelle wanted to have a picnic at the park, but it was getting dark and we had plenty of food at home, so I told her that we'd have a picnic on the living room floor...and then we decided to have a princess picnic. We dressed up, laid our princess blankets out and ate a royal dinner of left over pizza, avacado and grapes...with popsicles for dessert! I got a few pictures...none of them turned out great, but you get the idea. (you can't tell from the pictures that I managed to cram my body into a prom dress that Kerri Radke tried to sell in a garage sale several years back...it's probably just as well...;)!)

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Sophie





Sophie has always had an "older" quality about her. From birth, she could look at you and make you feel like she was looking through you, like she knew something about you that even you don't know. Everything seems to come easy to her...she doesn't really try...she just does. I don't think she sees any distinction between Annabelle and her...so it never occurs to her that she couldn't do everything her big sis does. She's learned all the songs that Annabelle knows and she sings them pretty darn well for an 18-month-old. She's asking me the same questions that Anna does. Last night she said, "Mamma, doya wan me have ice cream?" (And her inflection went up at the end...making it really sweet and almost impossible to resist...but I did.) And the best thing that she's learned from her sister, is telling me that she loves me out of the blue ;).
She looks like such a big girl in these pictures. When I pull the camera out now, she always says "cheese," scrunches her face up and squints her eyes (as seen in the middle picture).

Oh, Annabelle





This weekend we tried to really focus on potty training (and even with both of us, we kept forgetting to ask her to go...we (Stephen and I) suck at this whole potty training thing...). Anyways, at one point she had her blanket on her legs and she told me that she was a mermaid....even though she looks a little sad in this picture, I had to get a picture of my little mermaid...
On a side note, we did have success with potty training once we let her go around bare-butted....but she isn't always thrilled about doing it...

The other day I walked into the living room to find Annabelle sitting on a chair on the couch....she was lounging, with her thumb in her mouth, taking in the beauty of our neighbor's cluttered driveway....

Back to potty training....Last Wednesday I was outside talking to a friend who had come to drop something off, when I came to the door, Sophie was waiting for me. She kept saying, "poo poo, potty..." and grabbing her diaper. I took her to the bathroom, pulled off her diaper and there was a little turtle peaking, if you know what I mean. So I sat her on the potty and she finished her business. The next day, about 15 minutes before playgroup, as I'm frantically getting my house half-way decent, Sophie told me she needed to go poo poo. We went to the bathroom, pulled off the diaper and sat on the potty. I left her in there so I could finish vacuuming the living room and told her I'd be right back. I got back and she told me she had gone, but there was nothing there. I went against my better instincts and told her that she could run around naked until she needed to go and that I would get her dressed after I finished picking up the house. A few minutes later, Anna runs up to me to tell me that Sophie had pooped...unfortunately, Anna was coming from the kitchen and not from the bathroom. Then Sophie comes running up to me, with a trail of poo follwing her...(she had stepped in it). I traced the poo back to the kitchen, and found a nice-sized turd (at least she didn't go on the living room rug, right?!?!) I had to stick her in the tub, scrub her off...it took forever to get the poo smell off (and during play group, I sniffed her foot and there was still a hint of it...). Anways, after she was bathed and fully dressed, I made my way through the shit-smelling aroma now filling up my house and began scrubbing the kitchen floor.....(I needed to do it anyways...it's sad that it takes this to motivate me!) By the time people started showing up, there was no sign of the foul-smelling drama that had just insued. In fact, people kept commenting on how nice my house smelled...=)

Snowball Fight




Snowy Days




My new Scarf



Nana made me a new scarf...isn't it cute?!?!

my snuggle bunnies

mmmm chocolate



Nana gave me some chocolate on Valentine's day and I couldn't wait until I got home to dig into it...unfortunately, I fell asleep in the middle of eating it! =)

Girls' Night Out





We had our first girls' night out with the play group moms on my birthday. It was fun to hang out without worrying about hon-yocks

Serena and Todd







Serena and Todd came to Tulsa to help me celebrate my 30th birthday! It was so much fun to visit with them and I wish we could see them more...=( Serena took me to get a facial for my birthday...it was very cool...I almost fell asleep during it (I was laying on a heated water pad thingy....). I've had one professional massage and it was very nice, but I didn't really feel completely relaxed until it was over (then I was jello), but the facial was relaxing the entire time. Thanks Sryis! We took Todd and Serena out for barbeque one night cause Serena has only had ribs once and they wanted something that they don't get much in Oregon. We also went to Siloam to visit people and to get the girls' pictures made...it was great to see everyone...I forgot to take pictures on our trip! Hopefully next time we see Todd and Serena, it'll be on their turf...we've got to start saving now!!
The picture of Serena and I under the sign is too small for you to read it, so here ya go:
Wanted: "good woman" must sew, cook, skin and gut, clean and shovel horse stalls. Must have horse and saddle. Please send photo of saddle and horse.

Monday, February 06, 2006

No more "boo boos"

Well it's been one week now since Sophie last had her "boo boos" so I guess we can officially say that she's weaned. She woke up while I took Todd and Serena to the airport last Tuesday morning and Stephen said that she was pretty upset that I wasn't there (that's when she usually gets it), but by the time I got home, she was fine....so I thought it'd be a good time to end my three year breastfeeding career....(at least for now).

Friday, February 03, 2006

going for a stroll


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Originally uploaded by joyz.
I had some Toys R Us credit and decided to get another stroller so that the girls could push their babies around together (they don't use the one they got with their X-mas doll stuff yet because it's bigger than they are!). I parked the car across the end of the driveway so that they could have the entire driveway to stroll...they had a blast. We've had a perfect weather week so we've been outside whenever possible!

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Originally uploaded by joyz.

yummy yummy chocolate goodness


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Originally uploaded by joyz.
Anna and Sophie put a lot of love into Nana's birthday cake...they are getting to be quite the bakers!

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Originally uploaded by joyz.

Deluxe booster


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Originally uploaded by joyz.
Sophie decided to upgrade her booster seat and make it nice and cushy with a pillow.

Snow White


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Originally uploaded by joyz.

Poser


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Originally uploaded by joyz.
Annabelle was so proud of her "dress" that she "made" but enjoyed it even more when I told her that there was a better way to keep it up than pressing her chin against it!!

Cinderella


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Originally uploaded by joyz.
Anna and Sophie have decided that they want to princess-swap....which works out a little easier for Annabelle. Sophie ends up tripping over the dress half of the time!

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Originally uploaded by joyz.


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Originally uploaded by joyz.


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Originally uploaded by joyz.

Marker Makeup


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Originally uploaded by joyz.
Annabelle got ahold of a red marker and put it to good use!