The Crane

Emily was so excited when she saw this outside our backyard.

I explained to her that this was a Crane and that the people were getting a new AC probably because the old one was broken. When we couldn't see the crane anymore while they were switching the old one for the new one I told Emily to wait and she could see them put the new one on top of the roof. I went about doing my chores and all of the sudden hear, "Mommy, look. The new one. Look, the new one." It was a fun little learning experience. I forget that so many of the things I've seen they've never seen. I'm determined to be better at stopping everything to show them the wonderful things that are in this world. Both manmade and natural. What fun it is to help them learn and explore.

Busy, Busy BUSY!

I love to keep myself busy. Too busy probably, but I thrive on it. So here's what I've been up to.

Most of them are preschool file folder games.

This little game is for Emily and learning her numbers. She has down her "3" and "4" REALLY well. I have no idea why she'd learn the ones in the middle the fastest.

I really like to see the pieces. I tried gluing on freezer zip loc bags to the back of some file folder games two years ago, and they didn't stay very long. So this time I laminated it inside and cut a slit with a razor blade for the opening. I think it would work better with laminate rather than the contact paper that I used. I have a laminator but it doesn't do this big.

Here are my singing signs. On the back of the "Stop" sign is a "Go" sign. We've had fun with that one besides singing with a fun little game. (Red Light, Green Light which is a little easier for my girls to use the sign.) The lion is for loud with a mouse on the back for soft and the bee for "Zzzzz" and a ghost on the back for "Ooooo". We Love to sing at our house. We sang "I Love To See the Temple" together in church last Sunday. I had forgotten that it was the day Nathan and I were supposed to sing. I was still trying to convince him that he wanted to do it with me. We got to church to find our names in the program and practiced "I Love To See the Temple" together as a family. (Luckily I have to be there early for choir and could postpone choir practice just long enough to practice our song.) The first time we sang Emily didn't know what to think. The second time she started singing with us and the third time you could tell she absolutely loved it and was singing to her primary music teacher that we asked to see if she could hear us in the back. Meredith was content to let Daddy hold her and she would sing in his arms. When we came up to perform it Emily did REALLY well. I was so impressed. Both of my girls won't sing in primary, but they performed in front of the WHOLE congregation. After we were done and walking away Meredith yelled, "MY TURN!" The congregation got a good chuckle out of that one. It was a nice dream come true for me. I loved singing together with my family.
Here's Nathan helping me teach Emily her numbers.

We've finally turned to numbers for Emily because she has all of her letters down including most of her lower case letters. (We get the lower-case p and q mixed up as well as h and n.) Meredith has learned her letter sounds before her letter names. It's cute. She knows most of the letter sounds and can tell me most of the names. I really haven't focused on lower-case with her yet. She also loves to sit next to me while I'm reading a book (my book, the kind without pictures.) She'll point out the letters. "O says ah, T says "T", R says "r", etc." So cute!

Emily gets VERY excited when Meredith wakes up for her nap. It's so cute to see how much she has missed her sister. Meredith skipped out on her nap for the first time to my knowledge (I'm kind of suspicious about one other nap that I'm not sure was taken.)

I've also been enjoying making a LOT of nursing covers for friends having babies. Boy, there are a lot of babies being born around here it seems like. Including matching wipes case covers. One of these days I'll post pics.

The Big Girl Bed

I finally felt crazy enough to take Meredith out of the crib. Kind of sad to admit I don't have a baby anymore. Ok, she's still my baby. She still let's me cuddle her to sleep, which I LOVE, and loves to let me hold her while we sing at bedtime.

Emily was SO excited to get a new bed as well. I've caught them both in Emily's bed a few times now. It's so sweet to see them sleeping. I love to sneak in the room and watch them.

Here's Emily's bed before I found the bedding I wanted to put on it. I still want to quilt something for her. I think that will stay on the to-do list a little longer than I'd wish, but I have a long to-do list with several more unpleasant things on top. (Such as cleaning out my crafting and sewing stuff. Yuck!)
Have to love the jammies. I use to make sure their clothes matched at night, but I prefer getting the help to get them into bed and I don't always make it to put the jammies out first. :)
Luckily we were just THAT tired when we went to bed so I could take pictures. Poor little girls. There Mommy really likes the sweet sleeping pictures.

Nice?...What's Nice?

Sometimes when Nathan comes home I just breathe a sigh of relief. Sometimes we have those days when the whining just WON'T stop. Must have something to do with two sick little girls, one of which is teething. Can't the teeth just come in already?! Anyhow, yesterday we had a rough day with Meredith being not very nice to her sister. When Nathan got home, I told on her. :) So Nathan tells Meredith, "Meredith, you need to be nice to your sister." Meredith looks up at him from his lap and asks, "Nice?...What's Nice?" Where does she get a question like that? When she asked me what an Urgh was the other day I thought I had been hearing things, but I didn't because Nathan heard the same sort of question as well.

Update (w/o pics)

There are just too many funny stories not to post even if I don't have pictures.

We just got back from our trip to my family and the Baldwin Family Reunion (my Mom's side). It was fun and brought back old memories. Emily was SO excited to sleep in a tent. She just couldn't wait to go to bed. Hah. The girls slept really well, Nathan and I are the ones that had a hard time.

Emily started calling my sister Miranda, nickname Mandy, Aunt Candy. Aunt Candy likes being called "Aunt Candy". :) So Emily's prayers go like this..."thank thee for Grandpa and Grandpa and Uncle Matthew and Aunt Candy. No, the two grandpas are not a typo. She use to call them both Grandma, but I worked so hard on getting her to say Grandpa that now she calls them both Grandpa. Oops.

Meredith is a pill and quite hilarious. Here's a few of the things she'll tell us. Nathan was taking care of Meredith Friday night while Emily and I went to the Rodeo and watched some fireworks. When he put her down for bed and was saying prayers with her she didn't want to say them so she said, "No, I want to sit in timeout." Nathan put her in time out and after a LONG wait she finally said, "Ok, I want to pray." Then he got her ready to pray and she said, "NO, I want to sit in timeout." She finally said her prayers and went to bed that night because by the time I got home she was asleep.

The next thing she does ALL the time. She'll do something naughty, (whether this is spreading toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror, wiping her food ALL over herself, or dumping her water on the floor) then she'll look at us coming and say, "Oh, I was naughty. Here you go." She's also been a little pickier about how many diapers she gets changed. It's basically doubled. Can you potty train a barely 2-year-old? And is it even worth it for sanity reasons?

Urgh

Sometimes the girls, especially Meredith, are a little to....um...helpful in helping me clean. This morning I was frustrated at Meredith for quickly undoing what I had gotten cleaned this morning. So, to vocalize my frustration I said, "You little....urgh." Meredith, in her sweet little voice, asks, "Mom, what's urgh?" Answered by, "little girls who frustrate their mother." "Oh."

Our friends recently have taught the girls how to use their imagination. I now have a mountain for a couch, bridges made of puzzles, carpet filled with crocodiles, and a jungle in the girls' closet. I love it! I absolutely LOVE it!

For preschool Emily did a Nursery Rhyme program at the end of the year. I really didn't want her to forget what she had learned, so I made posters to put up in the hallway. Emily and I just do them periodically and I have added a few new ones. Meredith has been picking them up as well. I pointed to the picture of Humpty Dumpty and Meredith shouts (I guess for fear of not being heard over Emily.) "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall!" It's wonderful to be learning new things.

I've been teaching Emily her alphabet sounds and Meredith has been picking up those faster than she gets the letter name, so I generally get the letter sound when I ask her what the letter is.

The girls have been learning so much lately that I just can't remember it all. Emily is turning into the biggest helper. I tell her friends are coming and that the toys need to be picked up, and they do. My living room actually gets clean. She loves to clear and set the table and any other chore I can give her.