basketball ball and out to lunch

On Tuesday afternoon, the girls and I went to see Taylor play basketball. He is on the freshman team and they are currently undefeated! The game was at 4 so it was a perfect afternoon activity (especially since the girls didn't nap!). 

The girls were pretty excited about going to "watch Taylor play basketball ball". When we pulled into the junior high parking lot, Little Pie the navigator said, "no swimming, watch Taylor play basketball ball". It has been more than a month since we had swimming lessons at the junior high, yet she remembered exactly where she was!

At first Little Pie was apprehensive about being there; it was loud, lots of tall boys running around. She warmed up after a while. Little Bird, on the other hand, was really excited to be there and every other minute asked "what is Taylor doing NOW?". Daddy joined us as well so we had a really fun time cheering Taylor and his team on to victory.

The girls, Terbear and Daddy

Since the girls had made treats that morning, we decided to give some to Taylor since I'm sure he worked up quite an appetite!

Little Bird telling Taylor he did and awesome job!

Today, the girls had a lunch date with their friends Mr. H and Ms. M. We went to everyone's favorite restaurant; Broadway Pizza! All the kids had such an awesome time and the mamas thought it was great too. Little Bird even ventured out of her zone and ate a bunch a french fries (she would never try them before but once she saw Mr. H. chowing down, she had to have some too). It was fun to do something different today.

more Christmas treats!

On Monday night we had an early Christmas celebration with Gramma and Grandpa before they headed off to AZ. The girls thought it was so fun to have them around. They got some great new stuff too!

This morning Papa came to fix the snow blower. The girls thought it was so silly that he was outside "shoveling the driveway". While he was outside, we worked on making some more Christmas treats. This time Little Pie was able to participate!

Putting the chocolate in the circles.

Little Pie was really enjoying herself!

Little Bird was more interested in eating the pretzels. She did help a little.

Now putting the M&M's on the chocolate. This got to be so messy!!!

Can you tell which ones are mine and which ones are the girls!? ;)

The girls had a great time eating lunch with Papa. Thanks Papa for fixing the snow blower!!

a storm to be remembered

Everyone remembers the Halloween Blizzard of '91 because it happened on Halloween. Well, I'm going to remember the Blizzard of the Decade because it happened on my birthday.

I will remember it because...

1. We couldn't leave the house. The snow was coming fast and furious. The wind was blowing like crazy. The mail was never delivered. The streets were impassable. The temperatures were dropping. The restaurant we had reservations at, called to cancel them because they were closing. We stayed warm and cozy inside in our jammies all day watching Christmas movies and making Christmas cookies. There was only half a bottle of wine left in the house.
2. Around 4 AM, the girls woke up crying. After we calmed them down, we realized it was FREEZING. We checked the thermostat and it was 59 degrees! The furnace was running but no heat was coming out. We started calling 24 hour heating services and leaving messages. Nobody called us back. We kept calling and calling. Daddy finally decided he needed to blow out the driveway so that we could get out and go somewhere warm as the temperature in the house had dropped to 56. With the temperature outside below zero, we were really afraid the house would get extremely cold. When he went out to clear the driveway, the snow blower wouldn't start even though he had used it the day before. Now he had to start shoveling the foot of snow. The girls slept peacefully (I had thrown two more blankets on top of them) until 8 AM when one of the companies we had called, finally called us back. The guy said they were really backed up and probably wouldn't be able to get there until the afternoon. We decided that since we were supposed to go to Aunt Brenda's that afternoon, we would call and ask if we could come sooner! Daddy dropped the girls and I off at Brenda's around 9:30 and we spent the entire day there while he went home to figure the heat and snow blower out. The girls and I had a GREAT time playing with Katie and Lobo in the morning and then with the rest of the family in the afternoon. The girls were SO GOOD. They had so much fun exploring and playing with everyone there. I couldn't believe it but they actually took a nap. I was so glad because I wasn't sure if we would go home that night or not. They were in such a great mood and we had a wonderful time celebrating my and Katie's birthdays.  The furnace was finally fixed (a broken part was replaced) around 3:30. It started heating up fast. Daddy still couldn't figure out the snow blower, but he came and picked us up and brought us home. When we got home, Gramma and Grandpa were there! They came down because they are going to AZ on Tuesday. The girls were so surprised and happy to see them. Daddy and I continued to work on removing the rest of the pesky snow from the driveway and try to get the snow blower working while Gramma and Grandpa got the girls ready for bed. As we knew would happen, everything worked out just fine. We know we are never alone and always have family, friends and neighbors to help us out in frustrating situations. We are grateful for everyone that was there for us. We are also grateful that we even have the luxury of having a home and a furnace that can go out. It puts things in perspective when something you take for granted (like much needed heat) is suddenly gone.
3. The Metrodome collapsed! Early Sunday morning, the Metrodome, covered in feet of snow, tore and collapsed. It was the most bizarre thing to see! Cameras that were set up for the Vikings game, captured the collapse from the inside. It was crazy!

This will definitely be a birthday to be remembered!

some Christmas traditions and the blizzard of the decade

Christmas is my favorite time of year. This year has been more fun because we've been able to start more traditions with the girls. They are still not really aware that anything is "different" around here. The tree and other decorations don't seem to phase them that much. We are reading A LOT of Christmas books multiple times so I think they may see some connection to the stories and the things they see around the house. We are having fun nonetheless! 

One of the traditions we started was using the advent calendar that I had when I was a kid. I remember everything about the calendar; from all the pieces to telling my mom where to pin the pieces on the tree each day. My brother and I would take turns; I would get the odd days since my birthday is the 11th. He would get the even days. The present would always go on the 11th, the baby Jesus on the 25th, the star on the 24th, and the church on the day of our Christmas program. 

Now the girls love coming down the stairs in the morning and telling me where to place each pin on the tree.

The girls with their advent calendar after pinning the present under the tree for Mommy's birthday.

On Friday, I took the girls to Macy's downtown Mpls to walk through the 8th floor auditorium display. We met Nana and Papa there. We did this last year as well (Daddy was able to come last year). I like that we go on or near my birthday because I like to do Christmasy stuff for my birthday. While the girls disliked riding in the elevator to the 8th floor, they had a fun time walking through the display. Little Pie was a koala and needed Nana or Papa to carry her through the whole thing. Little Bird wanted to walk on her own, hold the brochure they gave us at the beginning, and point to practically everything and ask "what's that mama?!". 

Little Pie is not sure what is going on and if she should be happy or sad.

What are we doing again? Am I going to like it? I'm really hesitant!

What's THAT mama!?!?!

Tentatively meeting Mrs. Claus. She did pretty well!

Not posing for a picture.

We got to see Santa afterward. It did not go well!

Choosing and eating cookies made up for the whole Santa debacle!

Finally the girls wrote letters to Santa and "mailed" them too!

I got to have the rest of the afternoon "off" to get my hair cut, shop and get a manicure. Then I got to go out to dinner with my girlfriends to celebrate my birthday. It was a WONDERFUL afternoon and evening! Uncle Rye babysat for a little bit and then he and Daddy made the girls supper, gave them baths and put them to bed. I was so happy to have some time to myself and to celebrate my birthday.

Good thing I got all of that in yesterday because today we are stuck in our house. The Blizzard of the Decade is wreaking havoc outside! We have gotten close to a foot of snow already, the winds are blowing up to 25 mph. Snow is blowing everywhere and the temperatures are dropping fast. We will probably get another 6-12 inches of snow and tonight the temperatures will drop below zero. The high tomorrow will be 3. There will be no playing in this snow!

It's hard to see the blowing snow, but it's coming down sideways.

Because of this blizzard, Daddy and I will not be able to go out for my birthday. I am incredibly disappointed. I have been looking forward to this for weeks. It's not often that your birthday falls on a weekend so I was so excited to finally go on a date! Since we never went out for our anniversary in November (which again was on a weekend this year), I really thought we needed a night out. Now we will be eating frozen pizza and watching Love Actually with the half full bottle of wine we have in the house. 

At least I don't feel bad about all of us staying in our jammies all day!

car wash

Poor Little Pie hates the car wash. When she was really small, she would cry and cry when we went through. I tried to only go through the car wash when I was alone, but let's face it, that rarely happens. 

As she got older and she could understand what was going on, she was more OK with it. I would tell her that the car needs a bath and that it's almost done. She would get an amazing look of concern on her face as the machines put soap and water all over the car. It was tough, but we would get through it without too much crying.

Today we went through the car wash because I was so sick of getting salt and dirt all over my coat and because it will be the last "warm" day before the highs are only 0. Unfortunately it was around 5 o'clock so it was dark outside and the car wash seemed extra scary. Little Pie was really scared.

Both Little Bird and I tried to reassure her that everything would be alright and that the car was just getting clean. Through some tears, she tried to reassure herself too.

Little Pie trying to tell herself that everything will be alright.

On the other hand, Little Bird LOVES the car wash. She likes to see the other cars go in and the door close. She likes to watch the door open and say that it's our turn. She likes to talk about the soap and water getting the car clean. She loves it when the door opens and we drive out.

Little Bird truly enjoying herself.

Time and time again, I am amazed at how different these little girls can be.

solution?

Today we may have found a solution to Little Bird's sleep problem. 

Little Bird has always woken up multiple times a night. When she was an infant and we finally stopped feeding her at night, she still woke up 1-2 times. We would just go in and give her a lost Nuk or roll her over and that seemed to do the trick. 

Lately, however, she has been waking around midnight and crying a lot. We still go in and roll her over and maybe give her a drink of water. She quiets down but 20 minutes later is crying again, this time standing up. We give her more water and lay her back down. I tell her that I'm not going to come in her room anymore, but 20 minutes later  she's crying again. I keep my word and don't go in. She typically stops 10-15 minutes later. Most of the time she is good for the rest of the night, but sometimes (like this morning), she wakes again around 5:30. 

She (and the rest of us) are not well rested. We talked with her pediatrician last week and she recommended seeing an ENT. Along with the waking at night, I've noticed that Little Bird is a mouth breather and can actually be quite loud when she is sleeping.

Today we visited the ENT. Both girls were on their best behavior. We brought some crayons and books to keep busy and we were fortunate that there was only one other patient in the office at the time. The nurse really loved the girls and thought they were so cute. Little Pie did a great job keeping herself occupied while the doctor talked to me and examined Little Bird. 

The doctor thought Little Bird's ears looked good and that her tonsils were not too large. He then wanted to take a look at her adnoids so he had to put a scope up her nose. I was hesitant about doing this because I knew Little Bird would hate it considering she hates having her ears looked at. He said it would take 5 seconds so we went forward with it. The nurse came in to help me keep Little Bird contained while he looked up her nose. It was awful!!! The doctor had trouble seeing because she had too much mucus in her nose so the procedure took more than a minute. Little Bird wiggled and screamed and the nurse and I were squeezing her so tight. I almost cried because I couldn't believe it was taking so long. I felt so bad for Little Bird. She had no idea what was going on. Finally it was over and she got her yellow Nuk and her cuddled her frog. Little Pie was proud of her sister and told her she did a good job. And she did!

The doctor concluded that Little Bird's adnoids are large. They aren't extremely large but are large enough to maybe be causing the sleep problems. He can't guarantee that if he took them out she would sleep better. He does think that it's related and that she could benefit from their removal. He went on to say that kids with sleep problems can have other growth and developmental issues because of their poor sleep. This is what worries me. Daddy and I need to talk about what we should do. She could have them removed as early as January. It's an outpatient procedure and she should be back to her normal self within a day. As much as I don't want to put her through a surgery, I think it's necessary for everyone's health.

It's been a rough week and it's only Wednesday. I don't know why doctor's office don't have any morning appointments. Little Bird's appointment was at 1:30 today so we didn't get home until 2:30 and the girls barely slept an hour. It's an early bedtime tonight.

Our Christmas tree fell down this morning. This tree is ridiculous. It weighs a TON. I could hardly get it back  up. When it fell it broke several special ornaments so I'm extra mad. I don't know if I have it secure enough so I'm just praying it won't fall down again. Thankfully the girls were eating at the time and weren't in it's path.

I CANNOT wait until Daddy is home on Friday. I get to go get my haircut in the afternoon and then go out with my girlfriends to celebrate my birthday. This is what is keeping me going this week!

2000 flushes

I'm pretty sure Little Bird went pee on the potty at least 25 times today and I know she flushed the toilet more than that. 

I really don't know where we are at with this potty training thing; she doesn't tell me she has to go. She  only wants to go and sit on the potty any time I change her diaper. That's great, but she still doesn't know when she is "done". The problem is, the girl can pee...a lot. She sits on the potty and pees. Then she wants to flush it. Then she wants to sit down again. She will pee again, although not as much and want to flush that. She sits down again and pees a little more, wanting to flush it again. This happens 6 or 7 times before I can get her to do anything else. 

Of course she did this this morning before we needed to leave for Little Gym. It took forever to convince her to get her pants on and out the door. Then she did it again before nap time. Then again after dinner and then again before bed. 

It was a long day of dumping and flushing so by the time this routine started at bedtime, I was quite exhausted. After she had "gone" 3 times, I tried unsuccessfully to get her jammies on. She wanted to sit on the potty some more. I knew there wasn't going to be much more pee, so I told her she was all done and it was time to read books. I left her in the bathroom and Little Pie and I sat down to read. Before we got to the second page, she had run into the room to sit down and read. She let me get her diaper and jammies on and the whole potty party was over.

I need to figure out how to go forward with this potty training before our water bill goes through the roof!

exhausted

Everyone in this house is completely exhausted from our fun and busy weekend. Yesterday was super fun and I think Little Bird was especially still hyped from our good day. She woke up bright and early and was ready to go this morning even though the rest of us really wanted to sleep some more.

The girls got dressed in their new Christmas outfits (I didn't take any pictures!) and we headed to church. Little Buddy was being baptized today so it was an extra special day. The girls were so excited to see BFF and Little Buddy but were pretty disappointed when they went to sit in the front and we stayed in the back (just in case). Little Pie is back to being a koala at church and snuggled her face into Daddy's shoulders for almost the entire service. Little Bird sat on my lap and stayed so busy I almost keeled over from exhaustion. 

Before the service had started we talked about being quiet and listening for music and only whispering if we had to. Little Bird did pretty well although she made a few loud exclamations that I tried hard not to laugh at. She has a new phrase that she likes to say and she didn't let the beautiful soloist get away without her using it on him. As he began to sing, Little Bird belts out "I hear something! What's that noise Mama?".

During communion we walked past where BFF and her family were sitting and the girls spotted each other immediately. All three of them were again disappointed that they didn't get to be together! 

The baptism took place after the service and we explained to the girls that Little Buddy was going to be baptized and that they were going to pour water over his head. While we watched the pastor pour the water over Little Buddy's head, Little Pie exclaims (for everyone to hear) "Colin going swimming!". 

It was a late morning again and we were really hoping to give the girls a quick lunch and put them down for a nap. Neither of them were interested in taking a nap and before we knew it, Little Pie was having one of her Inconsolable overtired moments. Little Bird actually fell asleep during it (amazing!), but we listened to Little Pie have a fit for 20 minutes. She finally fell asleep only to wake less than an hour later. She continued to have an Inconsolable overtired moment for about 45 minutes. I tried Everything to calm her down, but she just needed to get it out of her system. We knew then that it was going to be an early bedtime tonight.

Today is Gramma's birthday so we Skyped with her and Grandpa and Uncle Rye. Little Pie is really good at saying Happy Birthday. She remembers when we went to get Gramma a card (at Target of course). After we were done talking on Skype, Little Pie kept saying Happy Birthday but this time it was to herself!

Little Bird continues to be interested in using the potty. After supper she wanted her pants and diaper off so she could sit down and go pee pee and poo poo. She has asked to do this a few times this past week. This time she sat down and peed. She was so excited to put it in the toilet and flush it. Then she wanted to sit down and do it again. She peed a little more so we flushed that too. Then she wanted to sit down and do it again. Now it was nothing (in her words, "there's nothing in there"). She wants to do this over and over and over again. I don't know how to handle it. How do I tell her she's all done? She would continue this for an hour if she could. By making her stop, am I discouraging the potty training process? I don't think she totally gets what's going on because she always expects poo to be in there after she stands up. Oh, I have been dreading this whole process!!!

Daddy and I are so exhausted from the fun and incredible busyness of these silly girls. He will be out of town AGAIN this week so I'm not looking forward to doing it all by myself again. I'm going to need a lot of peppermint mochas from Caribou to get me through this week!

our family Christmas tree-t and the mg sparkle parade!

This morning Daddy had to blow more snow out of the driveway...we must have gotten 4 or 5 inches? Anyway, while we waited for him to finish, the girls and I got ready to go pick out our Christmas tree. I made room for the tree and then got the girls all bundled up. I think it takes at least 20 minutes to get all of our winter gear on so we were finally ready when Daddy was all finished with the driveway.

As we headed to our usual greenhouse we talked about what we were doing. Little Pie kept saying we were going to get our Christmas tree-t. We tried and tried to get her to say tree, but she kept adding a t to the end. It was strange because she knows how to say tree so we were quite confused. After I thought about it, I'm pretty sure it's because she doesn't really know what a Christmas tree is and we had made Christmas treats yesterday.

Our usual greenhouse had a poor selection of trees this year, so we headed off to a different one. The girls were pretty excited about getting the Christmas tree-t even though they probably weren't quite sure what we were actually doing. 

We had a great time looking around a trees and we settled on a different kind than we usually get. It's a Canaan tree and it smells TERRIFIC! 

Standing by our final choice!

Little Bird was not thrilled with the guys tying the tree to the roof of our car.

Showing off our tree. Since the girls are so short, it's hard to get a good shot of the tree!

This is the best picture I could get of the two girls by the tree. Little Bird didn't like the branches touching her and Little Pie was trying to get underneath it. Quite a comical sight!

It ended up being a late morning so we ate a quick lunch and tried to get the girls down for a nap. We had plans later in the day so we wanted the girls to get in a good nap. Of course, when we really need the girls to nap, they don't. The goofed off so much and were being so loud and silly. We made them stay in their beds so we could have some time to get things done. When Daddy finally went in to get them up, he found quite a sight. Little Bird was standing in her bed with no socks, no pants, and no DIAPER! She had peed all over her sheets so in to the wash they went.

I had promised the girls that we would go outside and play when they got up from their nap. I'm pretty sure that's why they didn't sleep. I learned my lesson there! We got a dressed again and headed outside. They of course wanted to play with their cars again so we zoomed up and down the driveway for awhile.

When we had had enough, we headed downtown MG for the Sparkle Parade. It started at 5, so tried to get there at a decent time so we wouldn't have to wait too long. The girls were really excited to see some Frostys and Santa. (When we ask the girls what Santa says, they both say "ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!". It's HILARIOUS!).

Walking down to the parade route. Little Bird was so excited and looking for Santa around every corner.

It's the first year for the Sparkle Parade so it was not spectacular, but the girls had so much fun watching and looking for Frosty and Santa. Little Bird kept saying, "Oh! I see firetruck. Firetruck come to see Sophie!". She jabbered so much that I could hardly keep up with what she was saying. The woman next to us was laughing too.

Daddy and Little Pie

Little Bird and Mommy

 The parade lasted about 15 minutes which was perfect for the 24 degree weather. Unfortunately when we were leaving Daddy wiped out while holding Little Pie. She got pretty shook up but we all started to laugh when Little Bird (forever our play by play announcer) said "Daddy went boom with Evie. Daddy OK now."

We had such a fun day celebrating all things Christmas!

the short napper

Little Bird is not the greatest sleeper of all time. We have been having lots of issues during the night lately that hopefully we can clear that up soon. She has also always been a short nap taker. Sometimes she can take a nice long nap and wake up happy, but most of the time she takes a short one and wakes up a bit crabby. Little Bird's short naps mean that Little Pie is forced to take a shorter than desired nap as well. She typically wakes up when Little Bird wakes up even though she could sleep a lot longer. Some days, Little Pie will continue to sleep and wake up when she wants too. One of those days was yesterday.

So that meant that Little Bird and mommy had about an hour and half to hang out just the two of us. I decided that we would make some Christmas treats! I was so excited and so was Little Bird. She hopped up into her chair and anxiously awaited for the fun to begin.

Little Bird and I made a great team. I unwrapped the kisses and put them in the bowl. She put the kisses on the pretzels.

Had to take a taste of the kisses. She doesn't like them. Surprise!

Finishing up. She said, "circles are fun!"

All done! Little Bird's favorite part of the treat is the pretzels. I think she ate about 8 of them while I was putting the tray in the oven. 

Ready to enjoy her Christmas treat at dinner. She didn't like it. Surprise!

But guess who LOVED it!?!

two year stats

We finally had the girls' two year check up...only a month late, but we got it in! 

Nana, Papa and Uncle Drew came this morning to play with the girls and then Nana and I took the girls to their appointment. We talked about where we were going and both girls knew exactly what we were talking about. The great thing is, nobody got mad! Little Bird did have to say (several times) that Froggy goes to the doctor too. That's alright with me!

We headed out on this freezing day and the girls waited most patiently in the waiting room for our turn. They were mesmerized by the fish tank and Little Pie was talking up a storm about how the fish were swimming in the swim pond. 

Little Pie did really well getting her height, weight and head size measured. Not a lot of crying and only a little squirming. Her stats are:

                  Height:  34 in./50-75%

                  Weight: 27 lb. 15.5 oz/50-75%

                  Head Size:  48.6 cm/75-90%

                  BMI (new for 2 year old check up): 17/50-75%

Little Bird was much more unhappy about having her measurements taken. She cried and squirmed quite a bit, but we got them done. Her stats are:

                 Height: 35 in./75-90%

                 Weight: 25 lb. 2.5 oz/25-50%

                 Head Size:  48 cm/50-75%

                 BMI: 14.5/10-25%

Little Bird is definitely built like Daddy...tall and skinny. Little Pie is built like me...tall and average ;)

The shots were brutal this time. I think it's because they really are more aware of what's happening. Little Bird cried pretty hard and it was only when we got an Elmo sticker that she was really herself again. Little Pie didn't cry at all for the first shot, but the second shot was apparently much more painful. Poor things!

I talked to the doctor about Little Bird's frequent waking at night and the fact that she is quite a loud breather (when sleeping and when awake). She recommended that we have a consult with an ENT so we will be heading to another doctor soon.

winter driving

The first snow of the season fell about two weeks ago. WAY too early for me, but what do you do when you live in this state? Of course, I hadn't thought it would snow yet, so I hadn't yet purchased boots, snow pants or even a new winter jacket for the girls! What a horrible mommy! I think I was just hoping winter wouldn't come that soon. Of course the snow that fell a few weeks ago was the perfect snow to play in, but alas we just had to watch from the windows. 

I finally got the girls their winter apparel, but then it got too cold to go outside. Then it got too warm and the fluffy white snow was covered in freezing rain. Finally on Wednesday the icky snow was covered with some fresh powder.

So finally, two weeks after the great snow, we took the girls outside to play.

They didn't want to play in the snow! They just wanted to get out their cars and do all the things they did outside before the snow came. They had no problem wearing all the winter gear...it didn't bother them that it was harder to walk around. All they cared about was playing with their cars. :)

Little Bird has decided that this is how she is going to pose for pictures from now on; head down, eyes closed, no smile.

Their other favorite activity is to put the rocks in this flower pot. Never mind the snow! We have to get these rocks in the pot!

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a very full day yesterday (no pun intended!). Despite having some extremely tough nights the last few weeks (more on that later), the girls were in a great mood and ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.

We first started off by heading to my aunt and uncle's house. The girls got to see Nana, Papa, Uncle Drew, Gramcracker, Magra, Boompa, Brenda & Eric, Erin &Cody & Katie. Oh, and of course, Lobo! 

Clockwise: Me and my cousin Katie, my grandpa and my cousin Erin's boyfriend Cody, Daddy and my other cousin Erin, and Uncle Drew!

We brought just a few toys in case the girls needed something familiar to play with, but they just had so much fun running around and jumping off stairs. Papa had to catch the girls about a thousand times. We tried distracting them with another game, but nothing was as fun as jumping off the stairs.

Little Pie "jumping" off the stairs. Thanks Papa for catching them a million times!

The girls also loved dancing with Brenda.

Dinner of course was very yummy and I ate way too much. All morning we had been asking the girls if they would eat the turkey and mashed potatoes. They seemed really excited so I thought they may actually give it a try. After getting them situated in their chairs with a yummy plate of food, the only thing they ate was half a banana and they wanted to get down. I put a spoonful of mashed potatoes in Little Pie's mouth, but she wouldn't swallow it. She just held it there waiting for someone to take it out for her. The girls went off to play while the rest of us ate the yummy dinner.

Actually, the girls did eat some of the Thanksgiving dinner...pumpkin pie. Little Pie sat down with Nana and ate an entire piece of pumpkin pie. She LOVED it. 

According to Little Pie, "pumpkin pie tastes good".

So good in fact she was begging for some of Nana's pie.

Little Bird also enjoyed some pumpkin pie. But she is just like her Daddy and only needs a couple of bites.

The girls didn't have a nap and considering they have had some major sleep problems lately, we were very impressed that there weren't any huge meltdowns. Nana tried to get them to lay down on a bed with her but they just thought it was a game. Speaking of games, we started to play Left Right Center and the girls loved participating!

We needed to leave around 4 to head over to Daddy's aunt and uncle's house for our second Thanksgiving visit. It's only about a 20 minute drive but both girls fell asleep and fell asleep hard. We drove around for an additional 20 minutes in hopes that it would be enough of a nap to get through the rest of the day. When we pulled into the driveway, nobody woke up. We talked to them, opened the doors and let the freezing air in the car and still nobody woke up. We got them out of the car and into the house and it took about 15 minutes before they were fully awake and semi-cheerful. Ter-bear made them some mac and cheese (the only thing they eat these days) and they were super happy.

Little Bird with Uncle Rye and Little Pie with sweet Dakota

The girls had a great time visiting with everyone, but I think they had the best time playing with Kelly's old Barbies, dollhouse and the boys' old train set. They were in heaven when the toy closet was opened and all these "new to them" toys were brought out for them to explore. That meant that Daddy and I could enjoy our visit without clinging, meltdowny little girls. I think they could have played there all night long!

Kelly showing Little Bird the dollhouse.  Little Bird using the Barbie car for her own transportation.  And Little Pie playing Ping Pong with Daddy.

We had a pretty terrific Thanksgiving and are so thankful for our families. We are happy that we got to celebrate the day with my side of the family and Daddy's side of the family. We are thankful the girls have so many important people in their lives that love them just as much as we do.