Sunday, June 28, 2009

Paint War!











I figure you don't need words to explain these photos! The girls were painting the new pictures to hang in their room! They turned out nice and the painting turned into war! But a really fun and nice one! =)

God and Toothbrushes

Just a quickie blog before I head out to church. I had another funny conversation with the kids last night at dinner time. We were sitting and eating and talking about things like swimming and stuff. We were talking about swim lessons Monday and what the girls are excited about. The hipppie blurts out with, "I really like toothbrushes a lot, but God is ever better than toothbrushes huh? Does he ever go potty?" Huh? Sometimes she can make my brain hurt... but in a good way, ya know? =)
We got to drive on base yesterday and see my hubby hard at work. They were at the wash rack. That is where they clean the tanks! It was really cool to watch and from this side it looked like lots of fun! I parked and the girls climbed in the back to watch for him. The genius hopped on the top of the seat and was laying on her belly. I said, "What are you doing sweetie?" She said, "I'm looking for the enemies!" Ha!!!!!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Splish Splash









Yesterday we went back to that free splash park with our friends! It was FUN! It was also real crowded. A day camp was there with 2 buses full of kids and there were several day cares there as well. With the girls bright pink suits it was pretty easy to pick them out of the crowd! All 3 of the kids were wiped out when we left. Then to top off a great day my husband came home last night! It was a great reunion as always!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Say What?





















I am posting a ton of photos and hope you liked them! Gotta show off our great kids!
You have GOT to read this conversation that took place in our van. To make it quicker... M = Me, G = Genius and H = Hippie.
On our way to horse riding lessons.
G - I saw a bird!
H - Was it a bald eagle?
G- NO! I have never seen one like it! It was white with black polka dots all over it!
H - I see white birds!
G- They weren't this white bird!
H - Oh, what kind was it?
G - What kind was it Mommy?
M - I have no idea! I did not see it. You will have to check your bird book when we get home.
G- It's not in there.
M - (thinking of the 200+ page bird book) How do you know?
G - Is it in there?
M- It could be. We will have to look.
G- But I wanna know the name.
M - The names are in there as well as what they eat and where they
H - MOMMY! I think I have a boo-boo in my mouth!
M - Oh. Are you ok?
G - Where is it?
H- Right haarrrhs (With fingers in mouth)
G - Oh, that is supposed to be there.
H- Is it soft on your mouth?
G- Yep and fuzzy
H - Is it fuzzy?
G - Yes.
H - Mommy do you have a fuzzy thing too?
M - I don't think so. Does it hurt?
H - I am pretty sure God doesn't use glue to put our arms on.

If you read through that, can you understand why some nights I am SOOOOO tired? I love them both though!

Helicopters and Pom Poms

Our oldest can be SO funny but usually does not mean to be funny! I have to tread a fine line as to when I laugh with her. Today we were on our way to the weekly therapy appointment and an Army helicopter flew over our van. The Hippie said, "It's DADDYYYYYYYYYY". The Genius said, "No honey. That's not daddy in the there. But someone else's Daddy is in there. Our Daddy drives tanks, remember? But wait, what if Daddy was so excited to come home from the field that the helicopter landed in our street and all the daddies hopped out shaking pom-poms and yelling, 'Go Wife' and rang all the doorbells for their wife! Wouldn't that be great?" I said, "I would love Daddy to come shake pom-poms and cheer for me!" Can't you just picture it too?

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

600th post

I cannot believe I have blogged 600 times! We just returned from swim lesson number 3 and I had to share the hippies antics. For those who know her, and know her well, you know she has been to the ER once, fallen into a lake, a pool and had poison control called on her 3 times. Today she added to the list! We were at the lesson and the teacher is doing an awesome job! She had them go to the 4 ft. deep water and practice. Then she took them to the diving board in the 12 ft. deep water. There are three girls in the class, our two and another 4 year old girl. The other girl was scared, but ours wanted to jump off the diving board. They each jumped to the teacher maybe 6 or times. Then the teacher went and held the other girl to jump off with her. Well, when she was holding her and jumped off.... the hippie just leapt into the 12 ft. water! She just started swimming! The teacher had her arms full of the scared girl and just cheered for the hippie! That little tyke made it across the pool!!!!! I was floored! Then they did the water slide and the hippie did it again! What a water bug! We seriously need a pool!
Another praise regarding the hippie.... she finished her three long months of medication today!!!! So far, all her toe nails look great! Thank you Lord!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Back to Normal (sort of)

I cannot express how wonderful today was! The girls seemed to recover from all the extra attention and extra sugar at my parents house. Today they returned to normal and I can deal with normal SO much better! We just had a great day together! They were back to their smiley, bug catching selves! We had a swim lesson and they did GREAT! The only downside was the hippie. She must have had a reaction to chemicals in the pool. Her eyes were red and swollen and bothering her for about 3 hours after. Anyone else ever get this? If so, what did you do? After swimming we came home and did school. We headed to the store to get goggles (due to the hippie's eyes) and then played outside for 3 hours! I got the garage cleaned, finished reading a book and did our yard work! We came in and I made their fav. homemade mac-n-cheese and we snuggled and watched Little House. I feel so great! Now, it would feel completely normal if my hubby were just here. I have been missing him like CRAZY! He is just the best thing ever!

Ok, don't read the story about the genius if you have a weak tummy. Stop here if you do. If you don't, or are just morbidly curious, then read on. Today in school we were learning about how we get clean water up into the faucets in our house. It was really interesting and I was learning too. Along with that we learned about how the dirty water leaves our house. I really and truly did not focus on the leaving part very much. But they evidently got the drift. The oldest went potty and came running and screaming (happily) into the dining room. "MOMMY!!!!!!! I had to go poopie and guess what? I saw the peanuts I ate yesterday! So, guess what??? Now they are going out of our house with the dirty water because I flushed them and the toilet got empty which means those peanuts and poop are gone!" Well, we call her the genius for a reason! =) she learned the lesson well! LOL!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Good news + Bad News = Ok

The bad news is my husband sent me a text saying he will not be home till at least Saturday... or later. The good news... at least I know and will not sit around all day Friday waiting to hear from him.
Other than that it was pretty uneventful here. The girls were pretty grumpy and tired acting ALL day long despite 12 hours of sleep! They had their first swim lesson today and it went swimmingly well (corny huh?). They were the best in their class! I was so proud of them and they loved it! I am excited to watch them tomorrow too!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Absent






My poor hubby in going through the Gauntlet right now (Father's Day) and will be there for his birthday as well. The girls and I are really missing him tonight. It was hard sitting through a Father's day sermon without him by my side.
On the positive side... we did get to go to church with MY dad who was preaching the sermon!
Now the girls and I are back home and they are sleeping like babies. They seem unable to sleep at my parents house because they never want to miss a moment. While there they had bike rides, scooter rides, trip to a lake, to a pool and to a bouncy place. We ate out, we ordered pizza, we grilled out, we had ice cream, they walked and scootered around town and to the bakery each morning, went to the park, played in the church gym, colored and played numerous board games, played in a fountain and saw a movie. Now do you understand the lack of sleep? They also seem to think it is their personal mission to be with Nana AT ALL TIMES. My poor mom cannot take a sip of water with out two little girls watching or helping. It's very sweet. As for my dad, they feel it is their duty to tease him from the moment they wake him up (5:30 a.m.) by jumping on his belly... til they go to bed and run up the stairs yelling goofy things at him. They are worn out!
We had a great time but are ready for our normal routine again.

I did not get many photos but here are a few from our swimming time with Nana and Gampy!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Ye-Ye

My dad took us out for Chinese today and we learned that "ye-ye" is the Chinese word for Grandpa. The girls have latched onto this name and have been using it.... a lot! It has been cute! This morning my dad took me and the girls to this old fashion candy shop. They had barrels of candy and you just take a bag and fill it. He told the girls they could fill it about half-way. The genius looked over the candy carefully and would take one little piece at a time. The hippie whooshed in and grabbed heaping hand fulls, spilling it onto the floor! It was a riot! I wish I had the camcorder with me so I could have captured it. Then we had the aforementioned Chinese lunch. He took us to an old mill and we got to explore and see how things used to be made. We took a walk over the grounds and they found a tiny baby bird who had fallen out of her nest. It was very sweet. My mom got off work and we all went to this designer candy store. I got my hubby a specialty dessert to take home. I will have to try and get a photo of it. The candy was unbelievably gorgeous and everything is edible. It was amazing! After all that, my mom and I took the girls to the lake. Now I need to quit blogging and go eat our pizza dinner! Night, night!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Gampy's Early Father's day

We had planned on going to a lake today, but alas, we awoke to rain. We changed our plans and decided we would celebrate father's day early for my dad. He wanted to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM! So we all hit the road... he rode in the FAR back of the mini van. We ate a yummy lunch. Then he got to shop in Bath and Body, works, watch our girls play in a fountain, get really, really wet by the girls =) and go to the "Hannah Montana" movie! Sounds perfect huh? He really did have a good day though. We all did.
When we came home from all the festivities, the hippie said, "Ok. I am ready to have the party in my room now." I asked her what party. She said, "Remember? I told you this morning I wanted to have a party in my room. I just need to get it set up and figure out what all I want to do 'cause we can do anything we want!" She trips up the stairs and gets ready. She called us all up and we found she had set her bed, placed reading books by the rocker, got out crayons and paper, and had marbles out to play with. It was neat! Then she asked me to read this new book. It was a real cute one about a gingerbread baby who cannot find a friend. It got to the end and said something about what do you think the baby found. The genius said, "A friend!!!" The hippie said (in a very serious voice), "A Chicken." I will leave you to contemplate that answer now. Good night!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Introducing the Genius and the Hippie

My husband has a blog. In his blog he refers to our oldest as "The Genius" and the youngest as "The Hippie". I was talking about blogging with my friend and she was asking permission to post photos of our girls and she said, "But I won't use their names." It made me think how I get so tired of writing "the oldest" and "the youngest". My husband feels it is still in their best interest to refrain from using their real names.... so I am copying his monikers for them. The oldest will now be called the Genius and the youngest the Hippie. I think I will like it better and the names are reflective of their personalities.
So, the hippie is quite fond of asking really, really deep questions. The other day she asked, "IF God loves everyone why does He let some go to the bad place?" Yesterday it was, "If God made everything, did He make the bad place too?". Here is the cute one though. "Mommy, who is your prince? 'Cause I know even after you get married your daddy is always your prince. Even after I get married Daddy will be my prince, but who is yours?" Talk about perfect timing for Father's Day! My husband really wanted me to blog that because he wants to remember it forever. We have sweet girls!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Back for 2

MY husband made it back all in 1 piece! Sadly, he will be leaving again in about 48 hours, but this will be for the Gauntlet! I hate when he is gone but LOVE when he comes home! It is so fun making things special! Tonight he came home to a steak, plenty of all his favorite cold drinks in the fridge and his favorite ice cream in the freezer. The down side is eating all his favorites puts him right to sleep.... which is where he is now. Oh well!
I asked the girls today what they thought about when they laid in bed at night. The 6 year old said, "Nothing." The four year old said, "I think about horses. I think if I want to drive the horse to the bathroom which hand do I pull and if I want to go outside which hand do I pull?" What a little horse lover! Later she was playing with her big white horse. She flipped the horse upside onto her head and said, "Sorry honey, I gotta clean your hooves cause you got them all dirty." She truly LOVES horses!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Swimmingly Great Saturday

First thing this morning, the girls, my friend and I all hit some garage sales. We really did not find that many, but I loved having a patient garage sale buddy! We dropped her off at home and I decided to take the girls swimming. Oh my goodness, we had fun! I think we stayed about 3 hours and they loved it! The 6 year old went down her first water slide..... many times! As we were leaving, there was a free bouncy room and they had it to themselves for around 10 minutes! We came home, got cleaned up and went to our friends house for a cookout! The day flew by and tomorrow my hubby should return to me!!!! Yea!!!!

Friday, June 12, 2009

Blood and music

VBS is over. We were all pretty sad. They had SO much fun and I hope I can find another locally for them to attend.
Today we had a local blood drive. I tried giving blood twice over 12 years ago and both times passes out. I have bad veins for donating or drawing blood. Ask my husband. He almost passed out watching them try to get my iv's in during both pregnancies. One took 11 minutes and the other 15. Yeah, VERY unpleasant. But, in honor of our daughter's birthday (and the promise of a free meal and free child care and live music), I decided to donate. I went in and felt that queasy feeling come over me but went ahead and signed in. A few minutes later they called me back. I said, "Before I answer anything I have a question. See, I have tried twice to donate blood and both times got sick and passes out because they could not get my veins. The first time I was stabbed 3 times and the next time 4. That is what makes me sick and pass out. If you don't draw the first time, can I walk out?" She said yes! So, I went ahead. Very rapidly I found myself lying on the table and feeling pretty scared. The lady checked both my arms and called over another lady. She checked both my arms and called over a man. He checked both my arms and called over another lady. She came and said, "Oh, man, this is crazy hard but I know I can do it." I was NOT feeling confident. She prepped me.... and for the first time in over 30 years of living blood came the first time! I was so excited! I am still yucky around blood and started feeling ill just thinking about it, but about the time I was truly not feeling well it was over! They sat me up and I waited for the tunnel vision and blackness. Nothing, nothing nothing! I gave blood and did not pass out! I was SO happy and excited and just hope that it gets used! I did feel sorta queasy and made sure to keep hydrated, but now I feel fine! Yea!!!! I can go back again around the time of our youngest daughter's birthday! It was so nice to give and be able to show our daughters a free way to give when they are much older!
So the music part.... after I donated we were enjoying the free food and live music. There was a man playing guitar and the youngest said, "This music is so pretty I just wanna dance and listen. Mommy, when music is on the radio do people just slip up into the ceiling and sing?" Isn't that adorable???? When I was little I was always scared to ask to rewind music on a tape because I thought it meant the singer was sitting there singing it over and over! Kids are great! And, we are another day closer to my hubby coming home!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Girl time

I had a great morning! While the girls were at VBS, I met up with my friend and enjoyed some yummy McDonald's coffee! It seems like it has been so long since I just had some down time like that... and I liked it! I am happy VBS will be over tomorrow though. It has been making the girls extra tired. In fact, tonight they ended up being pretty naughty and I put them to bed about 30 minutes early and the went to sleep. I told them they could look at books, but they just laid down and went to sleep.
I am feeling real bad for my husband because of all the storms we are having. I hope they are letting them sleep inside at night.
The girls caught another frog today.... sadly he did not live to see another day. I think he was literally loved to death. He was very small though. They tried to revive him by throwing it into water. I am not sure it helped!

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Boots forever?

The youngest asked me today, "Will I be able to keep my boots in Heaven?"

I am loving having the girls go to VBS this week. I am getting so much done and just loving it! I will be ready for our regular schedule to resume but will enjoy this while it lasts. The girls are having SUCH a blast! I guess the theme at this VBS is Moses. Today they learned about the plagues and pharoh and all that. I guess they played a relay game where they were jumping frogs. Here is what the oldest said, "We had to jump like frogs from 1 man to another man. I was going so high and every time my brain was thinking, 'Wow! This is high! Wow! This is high! Wow, this is HIGH!' every time and then at the end 1 man told me I was the highest jumper!"

I just think our girls are awesome!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Top Secret Recipe

I had forgotten about this and had to get it down before I forgot....
The other day we were outside playing. The youngest asked if I wanted her to make me some meal. It was something like veggie soup or broccoli? I don't recall, but she was running around and ripping up pieces of grass and clovers etc. and i heard her sigh and say in a worn out voice, "Phew, thank goodness I remember the recipe." Ha!
Also, after the previous post.... she wanted to keep on her jeans and sleep in them.... because that is what she had on when she rode the horse. =)

Horsing Around

I love vacation bible school! I took the girls this morning and they had a wonderful time and I had a wonderful time getting 3 hours to myself! Tonight I took the youngest to her horse riding lesson. It was an experience similar to watching your baby take their first steps. The teacher took off the lead rope and stood about 5 feet away and our 4 year old was riding the horse alone AND was in complete control! It was so amazing! The whole farm came to a complete stop to watch her. A lady who spent 30 years training horses and teaching said, "She is a natural. You have a very talented daughter." Then she could not believe she was only 4! It was awesome! I hope to remember the camcorder next week!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Party #6


We had the oldests' birthday party today and it was wonderful!

We had a yummy picnic lunch of hot dogs and chips. The birthday girl wanted everyone to decorate their own cake, so I made cupcakes and we all decorated our own. It was fun and much quicker and easier than baking a cake! I am a fan of this idea!!!


They both caught butterflies, which have been added to our mounted collection. They were so cute and proud and happy! We opened gifts and the oldest got some really cook stuff! Clothes, books, lots of things for her new bike and a microscope that hooks up to your TV and shows all sorts of cool things on it.












After all the party festivities we hit the kids expo and they were able to color with flowers, pet a corn snake, look at flowers up close through a microscope and learn about caterpillars and bees. Oh, and I forgot to mention the nature hike that kicked off the party! Mr. Joe led us on a hike and we had to find hidden unnatural things in the surrounding woods. Coincidentally, it was also some fairy celebration and there were at least 30 fairy homes built all around. They were made out of stuff from the woods, but they were so intricate and amazing! We had a great day and all of us are worn out. We came home and played with gifts and I made the oldests favorite pasta dinner with seasame broccoli. Yum. Now they are sleeping and we are all going to have some brownies!