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.

new names

Little Pie has started calling us Mom and Dad. I thought she was supposed to say Mommy and Daddy for several more years! It's actually pretty hilarious since she says our names all the time. 

It starts right away in the morning. I walk in the girls' room and Little Pie says matter of fact, "Good Morning Mom!". After I say it's time to get up and get dressed, she says, "that's right Mom!". 

She says "that's right Mom" about 50 times a day...after any and every description I give them about what we are doing or what we are eating or where we are going. And I laugh every time she says it. 

When Daddy walks in the door after work, she happily exclaims, "Hi Dad!".

How did she start using these terms? Daddy and I don't refer to each other as Mom and Dad (or do we?). I call my own mother Mom, but in Little Pie's presence, I refer to her as Nana. So how does she know these more formal terms? 

I guess Mom and Dad are better than Mother and Father. I was just hoping that she would keep calling me the sweeter term, Mommy for a lot longer. And maybe she will. She is probably just trying out something new.

It's just so hilarious listening to such a tiny little person use such a formal word.

finger painting!

For a person who has a really hard time with the messes the girls make, I am so surprised that I willingly offered up the opportunity to have them try their hands at finger painting!

Of course I knew the girls would love it because they already like to color with crayons and markers. Before I even mentioned that we were going to paint, I got the situation set up. I taped cardboard boxes to our table. Even though the paint is washable and comes out very easily, I wanted to try and cover up any trouble spots. I expected a mess, but kept reminding myself that everything can be washed easily.

The girls were pretty curious when they sat down at the table. Little Bird of course wanted the yellow color; Little Pie didn't care what color she had. At first I couldn't get Little Bird to use any other color but yellow. Finally she excepted purple. 

At first Little Bird was very cautious about her coloring; not getting too much color on the paper and not mixing any of them together. Little Pie was all over the place with her colors! 

At first the girls were very good about not touching their colorful hands on anything but the paper. After awhile Little Bird couldn't keep her hands off of her face, her pants, her chair, and her hair. I tried to stay calm, trying to remember that the colors are washable.

Everything cleaned up well and the final projects turned out great!

BIG news!

Despite all the teething/colds and general grumpiness around here, a big important thing happened yesterday! 

Little Bird used the potty...both pee pee and poo poo (thanks Elmo's Potty Time)!

After lunch, we were playing with the girls' new car ramp when she stopped and looked like she had to go. I asked her if she had to poop and she said yes and ran into the bathroom. She said "pants off, diaper off!" so I obliged. She sat down and soon there was a poop! She was so surprised! She wanted to try again and sure enough there was more. She kept wanting to try for more and soon there was also pee! She didn't quite know when she was done, but I finally asked if she wanted to flush her poop and pee. This is definitely the most exciting part!

Little Pie watched the whole thing saying "Sophie go pee pee and poo poo on the potty." She clapped along with me as I cheered for Little Bird. Then, according to Little Pie, it was her turn. We took of her pants and diaper and she sat down for 1 second, got up and wanted to flush the toilet. Not quite there yet I guess! 

We are pretty excited around here!

out of sorts

The girls have really not been themselves this week. I'm not even quite sure what it is...teething? turning two? a little cold? Whatever it is, it isn't going away quickly. It's one of those times where I wish I could figure it out so I could do something to help them.

It all started on Sunday night. Little Pie woke up around 11:30. I thought she just needed a drink or readjustment so I went in there quickly. After a drink she seemed fine and I left. Twenty minutes later she was crying again. She had been gnawing on everything in sight during the day so I figured it was teething pains (those 2 year molars are HUGE!). I gave her some pain relief and left. Twenty minutes later she was screaming again. This went on for almost two hours. She was having difficulty falling asleep (as was I!). Daddy and I started arguing about whether or not I should keep going in there; she didn't have a fever, she wasn't in danger, so she should just figure out how to go back to sleep, right? I went in one last time to tell her she needed to go to sleep and she started begging to go downstairs and watch Elmo. At this point I thought it was ridiculous so decided that was going to be my last visit. She then started her over tired crying/screaming episode/tantrum that lasted almost an hour. Little Bird woke up at this point and I just felt so sorry for her that she had to listen to it. Finally around 3:30 (4 hours after she initially woke up), she was asleep. But by 7 she was awake for the day.

She seemed fine the next day. She had a runny nose, but she also had her hand in her mouth most of the day gnawing away on her fingers. I figured it must be teething pain. She didn't take a great nap (Little Bird didn't take one at all), so the girls went to bed early. She had no problem falling asleep but at 9:00 she woke up screaming and crying. I had to sit on the floor in her room and sing to her until she fell asleep. It didn't take long so I thought she would be good for the rest of the night. At 11:30 she woke up crying and screaming again. I sang to her again and she fell asleep and slept until morning. 

Then Daddy went out of town and I started freaking out because I thought I would be up with the girls all week. Tuesday and Wednesday night were fine, but during the day Little Pie was so moody; happy and normal one minute and crying the next. Little Bird either didn't take a nap at all or barely slept an hour.

Then Thursday night came and it was pretty much a repeat of Sunday except this time it was BOTH girls. I sat in their room and sang to them for almost two hours and neither one of them fell asleep. Finally, I got up and said they had to go to sleep on their own. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with them! How could they only be "sick" at night, but not during the day? They cried for about 20 minutes and then fell asleep although, each of them woke up twice after that. After being awake for at least 4 hours during the night, Little Bird was still ready to get up at 7. She seemed completely fine and started playing with her toys as soon as we got downstairs. 

So what's wrong with them? 

 

Are they sick? They don't have a fever, but Little Pie's nose runs when she gets up and both of them sounded like they had a little cough but only during the night. 

Are they teething? Since their emotions seemed to be going up and down at the blink of an eye, I tend to think this is what is happening. Although, I can't feel or see Little Bird's molars at all.

Is it because they just turned two and they are going through some developmental change? I guess I would believe this is true if sickness and teething have been ruled out. 

The hardest part is that after all of our struggles this week, I still don't know what is wrong or what to do about it. I just want my mostly happy girls to return so that we can ALL get a good night's sleep!!

conversations

I started this post over a month ago because I had noticed that the girls were having more and more conversations with each other as well as with me. It has been so hilarious listening to them really talk to one another. I've been trying to add the funny conversations to this post in hopes that I get a bunch of good ones to capture in print! I know I'm missing a lot, but these are pretty good!

One morning I woke up to:
              Little Pie: "Evie all done sleeping!"
              Little Bird: "No Evie. Lay down please."

While backing out of the driveway:
              Little Bird: "Bye house. Be back later".
              Little Pie: "That's right Sophie".

While playing (they do this A LOT!):
              Little Pie: "Thank you Sophie".
              Little Bird: "You're welcome Evie Pie".
              Little Bird: "Thank you Evie."
              Little Pie: "You're welcome Sophie."

One evening while I was cleaning up dinner:
              Little Pie: "Mommy sit down read Evie Pie book!"
              Me: "Yes ma'am!"

The girls were fighting over the apple from their grocery cart, so Daddy took the apple away. They wanted to know where the apple went so Daddy told them that he ate it. This satisfied them so they went on playing. After a few minutes:
               Little Pie: "Sophie, I find the the apple".
               Little Bird: "No Evie, Daddy ate it".

The girls were watching a DVR recording of Elmo and when it was over, Little Pie got a hold of the remote and gave it to Little Bird:
               Little Pie: "Sophie fix Elmo."
               Little Bird: "OK Evie, I fix the Elmo".

While driving in the car, Little Bird starts singing the Elmo's World theme song.
               Little Pie: "Nice song Sophie!"
               Little Bird: "Thank you Evie!"

The girls got a new car ramp for their birthday.
               Little Pie: "Watch the car go down the ramp."
               Little Bird: "OK. I watch the car go down the ramp."

Daddy works out of town every other week. They easily get confused about where he is.
               Little Pie: "Daddy working Golden Valley."
               Little Bird: "No Pie, Daddy working Illinois."

While waiting in line at Target or Caribou or other important destinations:
               Little Bird: "It's not our turn."
               Me: "That's right, we have to wait until it's our turn."
               Little Bird: "It's the other people's turn."
               Me: "Yep, we have to wait until they are finished."
               Little Bird: "Now it's our turn."

While at the library, the girls sat down at a table with another little girl who was probably 3. I continued to look for books to check out, but had my ears perked to hear what they were saying.
               Little Bird and Little Pie: "Hi!"
               Little Girl: silent
               Little Bird: "I read Clifford Big Dog book."
               Little Girl: silent
               Little Bird and Little Pie make their faces at each other and laugh. The little girl remains silent.
               Me: "OK, we have to go."
               Little Bird: "Mama, who's that?" (pointing at the Little Girl)
               Me: "I don't know her name, let's ask her."
               Little Girl: silent
               Me: "OK, let's say goodbye to the little girl."
               Little Bird: "Bye! Mama, Phie say bye to the kid!"

While running around with their new babies and strollers:
               Little Bird: "Pie, where are you going?"
               Little Pie: "Evie running!!! Sophie, wait for me!"

One morning I caught Little Bird opening up the door to the garage:
               Me: "Where are you going?"
               Little Bird: "Phie go to work Mama."

When only one of the girls is dawdling, they'll say (usually before I can say it):
              "Come on Sophie!" or "Come on Pie!"

Little Pie was playing with her new baby doll:
                Little Pie: "What's your name Baby? BABY!! What's your name?!?"

There are so many other hilarious conversations going on, but I can't remember them all. I wish I could just record them all day! :) I'll have to remember to write another post soon!

challenges

I wanted to get this down in writing since we have been having some huge challenges around here lately. Hopefully I look back on this post (soon!) and laugh. Right now there is more crying than laughing!

Challenge #1: Meal time has never been easy, but lately it is downright difficult. I cringe every time it is time for a meal because they are so stressful. I'm also at a loss for how to "fix" our problems. Right now I'm hoping that they'll just go away with time as it seems like everything I have tried has failed. Here's what our meals look like:

• Breakfast:  When the girls wake up they are typically happy. However, the minute we get downstairs the whining and crying begin. I can't get breakfast on the table fast enough. Both girls are at my feet begging and whining for their milk. They will only eat waffles for breakfast so while those are in the toaster, they continue to whine. By the time the waffles have popped out of the toaster Little Pie is in full blown tears. It's like she doesn't think I'm going to give her any food. I try offering bananas to occupy them while they wait for the waffles. This doesn't help; they want their waffles NOW. When the waffles are ready, they calm down. Little Bird daintily eats hers while Little Pie shoves hers down her throat. She is done by the time I have poured myself a bowl of cereal. When I sit down at the table, Little Pie begs and whines for more breakfast. She can seriously eat 3 waffles, a banana and some cereal for breakfast. Lately she has refused the cereal and begged for more waffles. She usually leaves the table in tears because she is whining for stuff she can't have (this morning it was cupcakes). Is she really so starving?
• Lunch: Lunch is the calmest meal of the day, however if it is not mac and cheese the girls won't eat it. They are typically good about eating all of their mac and cheese as well as some fruit. Lately Little Pie is in to grapes (constantly begging for more grapes). However, I expect this to change soon as she is only into a specific fruit for a certain amount of time before she decides she's sick of it. Little Bird is the same way. Sometimes eating two bananas, sometimes refusing them. Sometimes eating apples, sometimes refusing them. I can't win. Also, even though they are perfectly capable of feeding themselves their mac and cheese, the refuse to do it; whining and begging until I do it for them. Sandwiches are out of the question. I could put a PB&J sandwich on their plate and they would not eat it. I would say that Little Pie leaves the table in tears about 25% of the time. 
• Dinner: I HATE dinner. I LOATH dinner. I can't stand dinner. I don't want to make or serve dinner. Dinner is the absolute WORST part of the day. I would be willing to hire someone to come to my house and "deal with" everything that has to do with dinner. Long story short, the girls don't eat dinner. Little Pie acts like she is excited to sit down for dinner; happily washing her hands and cheerfully sitting down in her chair. But the minute she sees her plate, she bursts into tears and pushes it way, throwing utensils and milk cups on the floor. Little Bird stares in disbelief, maybe takes one or two bites from her plate and then whines to get out of her chair. The only time Little Pie will sit and eat dinner is if it is pancakes (can you tell someone likes breakfast foods!?). Little Bird will only eat pasta, but not if it's served more than one day. Daddy is never home for dinner so we don't eat with the girls. I never know what to make for dinner. Should I just make what I want since none of the other people in the family care? Should I try to please people even though I have no idea what anybody else in the family wants? This is why I would be willing to pay big bucks for someone to take over this horrible time of day.
• Snacks: You would think that the girls would be starving. And they must be. They are constantly begging for crackers. (Right now it is 8:32 am and Little Bird is asking for crackers. She had two waffles and a banana at 7:30. Is she really starving?) Both girls ask for crackers all day long. Sometimes I give them some, but sometimes I don't. I try to redirect them to fruit instead (don't even try vegetables!) but they aren't satisfied with that. Both girls could eat a box of crackers a day if they were allowed. When they get up from a nap they expect crackers for a snack. If they eat too many they definitely won't eat dinner, but if they don't get enough they will be horribly crabby the rest of the day. I don't know what to do! 

The begging and the whining gets to be so much. I don't know if they really need all these crackers or what? You would think that if they were so starving they would eat the food I serve them for meals. I don't want them to be hungry but I don't want them to eat crackers all day. How do I even get them to try something else? Little Bird is so against eating something she has never had before...she won't even eat a cupcake!

Challenge #2: Adjusting to the time change has been very difficult. I didn't remember it being so awful last year. The girls are up at 5:45. They don't go back to sleep. They talk and giggle and scream at each other. I refuse to get them out of bed that early so I leave them there until at least 6:45. I can't fall back asleep no matter how many pillows I put over my head. I'm so exhausted and so are they, yet they still don't sleep in. They can get quite crabby in the morning and I can tell they are just so tired. In fact, Little Pie fell asleep in the car on the way to Target. If she is so tired at 9 am, why doesn't she learn to sleep past 5:45!?!? They are still going to bed at 7 and as everyone knows, putting them to bed later definitely won't help them sleep in. I just don't understand why it takes so long to adjust. I want/need more sleep!

OK, I've vented in writing and feel a little better. I really do hope that these challenges ease up. I know that things could be harder and that these challenges are somewhat silly. But, I think I'm just so frustrated with them because they make me feel like I'm not doing the right thing or that the girls are not going to be healthy. But, I know we'll get this figured out soon.

birthday party

Oops...I forgot to post this!

This past Sunday, we had a birthday party for the girls. Since they are obsessed very into Elmo, we had an Elmo themed party. My  intention was to make my own Elmo cupcakes for them, but since I was so sick the week before, I opted to just buy a cake. It actually worked out great because the cake came with three toppers; Elmo, Dorothy and Mr. Noodle! Mr. Noodle is Little Pie's favorite so I was so excited to see him on her cake.

We had family over to watch the Vikings, have lunch, eat cake and play with the girls. Everyone brought a terrific present for the girls so we spent some time opening them all up. It was hysterical to watch them with all the presents. We would have them open one and they would want to start playing with it, but then we would force them to open another. They didn't get why they couldn't play with the new toys for long before having to give them up! After a while I just started opening them all and trying to get their attention to show them their new treasure. They got a lot of amazing stuff! A new kitchen set, lots of kitchen accessories, new baby dolls with strollers and accessories, some Elmos and Elmo slippers, books, cars, a doll house and some super duper cute clothes! 

We had a great time with all of our family here. The girls had fun running around everyone. It was crazy fun! We tried to get them to nap, but of course they did not. After we got them up, Little Pie wanted to go downstairs to watch "football ball" with all the men. Little Bird stayed up with the women and played with her new dolls. This is definitely a great representation of their personalities!

 

What a great birthday party!

Little Bird at Two Years Old!

November 8, 2008  6:04pm

Happy Birthday to my girls! It's hard to believe that they are already two! In honor of the occasion, I hope to capture their favorite things, their personality traits and the milestones that they have reached. 

This post is dedicated to Little Bird!

• Little Bird is a huge talker. She is our play by play announcer. She describes everything we are doing at any moment in time. Be careful what you do because Little Bird will tell everyone about it! 
• She has very good sentence structure and repeats my corrections very well. 
• Her favorite phrases are "Come on Pie!", "No Pie!", "Phie's turn", "Supper is cooking", "Elmo's coming soon.", "Froggy is crying", "More milk!", "Thank you Mommy!", "Where did _____ go?"
• She loves to sing. She sings along with my made up diddys about washing hands, brushing teeth, putting toys away. She also sings along to their music on the iPod. She sings along with the "Abby's Flying Fairy School" theme song as well as the "Elmo's World" theme song.
• She LOVES her froggy. She must have him when she is sleeping and he must come downstairs with her in case she needs to snuggle with him later. She also loves her baby Lucy and puppy. These three things are a must have. If anyone gets left behind she goes to get them.
• She loves her Nuk. Unfortunately she still needs a Nuk when sleeping. Fortunately she is OK with leaving it in her bed (most of the time). She currently has a green, purple and pink Nuk in her bed. Right now she is really into her green Nuk. 
• She likes to play pretend. Lucy gets fed and changed and pushed around in the stroller. Lucy also seems to cry a lot because she needs a lot of comforting. 
• She's really good with colors. She knows all of the basics. Her favorite colors are purple and yellow. When we get the crayons out she immediately grabs the purple and yellow and holds on to them tight. She also only plays with the purple and yellow balls at Little Gym. 
• She is very particular when it comes to which bowl or plate she eats off of and which clothes she wears. She will only eat off of purple, pink or green bowls/plates. When I buy the girls new clothes, I typically buy the same outfit in different colors or patterns. I have to ask her which one she wants to wear and then give Little Pie the other. FORTUNATELY Little Pie doesn't care!
• She is very much a mommy's girl. She wants me to get her in and out of her car seat. She wants me to carry her places. She wants me to take her swimming. She wants me to change her clothes. She would be fine with others only if I wasn't around.
• She is a rule follower. She gets mad if things get done a different way or if Little Pie does something she is not supposed to. She will hold my hand when walking and I can usually trust that she won't run away in the other direction.
• She likes to label things with whom they belong to. Mommy and Daddy have particular chairs that we must sit in at the dinner table. Grandma and Grandpa also have chairs at our table and only I am allowed to sit in their chairs; Daddy must sit in his chair only.
• She has a tough time getting teeth. She has a low tolerance for teething pain and had a really hard time when her eye teeth came in. I'm not looking forward to when her 2 year molars come in!
• She is a huge sweetheart and says "Thank you Mommy!" or "Thank you Daddy!" whenever it's appropriate and without any reminder.
• She loves to be outside. She always begs to go outside and it's hard to tell her when we can't.
• She loves to swing and go down slides. She is so careful about climbing and has very good control over her body.
• She does a great somersault! She loves the Little Gym and walks on the balance beam with very little support. She hangs from the bar and can pull her feet up.
• She loves to dance!
• She is very mothering. It seems like her froggy or baby is always crying so that she needs to comfort them with hugs and kisses. When Little Pie is sad she will go find her bunny to bring to her.  
• Her bed is full of animals and dolls. It seems like everyday she has an attachment to a new animal and needs to take it to bed with her. I try to "clean out" her bed sometimes but she will notice if someone is missing. 
• She is STUBBORN. (oh boy, I'm sure there will be several posts dedicated to this in the future)
• She is a cutie!!!!

Little Pie at Two Years Old!

November 8, 2008  5:53pm

Happy Birthday to my girls! It's hard to believe that they are already two! In honor of the occasion, I hope to capture their favorite things, their personality traits and the milestones that they have reached. 

This post is dedicated to Little Pie!

• The first thing that comes to mind is talking. It seems like Little Pie says 2-3 new words a day. She also says 4-5 word sentences (sometimes longer!). 
• Some of her favorite phrases are "It's AAAALLL done!", "That's right.", "I don't think so.", "More breakfast.", "Twins football!", "Go football ball!, "Mommy make breakfast."
• We always thought that she was going to be left handed but now it seems like she is using her right hand more.
• She still sucks her thumb. Either one is fine with her, but she prefers her left.
• She LOVES her bunny-b. She must have him when sleeping, but also must bring him downstairs to play. When she gets tired she lays bunny-b out on the floor or couch or some random place and puts a thumb in her mouth and lays down on top of him. 
• She also loves her My Pal Violet. She sometimes uses her as a pillow. We can hear her listening to Violet's lullabies in the middle of the night. 
• Her favorite meal is breakfast. For the longest time she called it supper, but she is now correctly calling it breakfast. She loves waffles and could eat them for every meal. She loves fruit but not vegetables. She doesn't like meat.
• She loves to cheer for herself when she does something exciting or good. She is also good about cheering for others.
• She doesn't have a favorite color and is very accommodating when it comes to which clothes she will wear (see Little Bird's post!)
• She can't sleep anywhere but her bed or pack 'n play. This means she can't sleep in the car. :(
• Speaking of sleep, when Little Pie is overtired she becomes Hysterical and Inconsolable. There is nothing we can do to calm her, she needs to vent for about an hour before she is OK again.
• She loves Mr. Noodle from Elmo's World on Sesame Street.
• She LOVES books. She has most of our books memorized. If we pause while reading a book, she will fill in the missing lines. She often begs to have a book in her bed while she goes to sleep for the night. We can hear her reading it to herself; always getting a kick out of the story.
• She LOVES her grandparents and uncles! She gets so excited when she sees any of them. Many times when we are driving in the car she says "Go to Nana and Papa's house" or "Grandma and Grandpa's house".
• She has an incredible sense of direction as well as incredible time management.
• She loves her friends BFF, Mr. H and Ms. M.
• She loves Joel! Whenever I say we are going to see Auntie B, she always says "Joel!" even when we won't be seeing him too.
• She doesn't like to hold hands. When she is given the freedom to walk on her own, she hates giving up that freedom to hold my hand while crossing streets. She fights me hard to get her hand back.
• Also, when she has the freedom to walk on her own, she typically walks in the opposite direction of where we are intending to go. She also likes to pause a lot. I think she's trying to drag out her time of being free.
• She loves to swing and has only recently started to NOT like to go down the slide. We are not sure what happened with that.
• She must be the one to push the garage door button when we come into the house. She even needed to do this when we got home from the ER at 10pm.
• Loves swimming and water in general.
• She does a good somersault. She loves Little Gym and is getting really strong. She can hang on a bar and pull her feet off of the ground.
• She loves to dance! In fact she has her own signature move called the "Evie Jig".
• She doesn't have an attachment to any toys, just her bunny b.
• She likes to color, always needing a new page, and draw on the chalk board
• She loves to mimic. If you ask her to say anything, she will say it. She likes to copy what you are doing.
• She is pretty easy to distract. 
• She absolutely LOVES DOGS!! She is not afraid of dogs and loves to snuggle in their faces. She will play with any dog and gets a huge kick out of them when they return the fun.
• She is a cutie!!!!

other november birthdays?

I forgot to write this post from last Saturday (this flu really kicked my butt!)

Can you believe other people have birthdays in November? In fact Papa and Uncle Rye share the same birthday; November 3. AND they are exactly 30 years apart! Before the girls were born, I was kind of hoping that they would be born on the third as well. It would have made them 60 years younger than Papa and 30 years younger than Uncle Rye! But, it's probably good that they don't share their birthday with more people; one other person is probably going to be tough enough!

So, last Saturday we celebrated Papa and Uncle Rye's birthday by going to the girls' favorite restaurant. :) Everyone had a great time! We were so glad we could celebrate with everyone.

Little Bird thought her baby should come to dinner too.

The birthday boys!

Little Pie was finally feeling better after about 5 days with the flu. She really pigged out!

Helping blow out birthday candles (good practice for Sunday!)

Little Bird loved watching the candles blown out.

The girls with the birthday boys. We tried to get a nice picture!

Halloween!

This post is a few days late because I ended up getting Evie's bug. I'm still recovering and hoping that everyone in the house is back to themselves before the big birthday weekend!! Fortunately Daddy was able to stay home on Monday and watch the girls while I stayed in bed. Unfortunately he had to go out of town on Tuesday so Nana came to stay for a couple of days and help. It was WONDERFUL to have help so that I could rest and get better.

We had an incredibly fun Halloween. BFF and her family came over to play, have dinner, get costumes on and go trick or treating. I think the girls loved having BFF here for dinner; Little Pie was especially being silly about it. Of course they didn't really know what was going on but when the trick or treaters started coming to the door they all started to get a little wild. 

We dressed them in their costumes and the Daddys took them in the wagon around the neighborhood. I guess all three girls did really well walking to the doors, saying trick or treat and also saying thank you. I'm sure they were wondering why they weren't going inside all these doors they were knocking on! Even the Daddys got some adult beverage treats. Hmmm...maybe the Mamas will go next year!

The girls in their matching "Forever Friends" shirts

We asked the girls to stand by the wall so we could get a picture. This is what happened. Little Pie looks mad and wants to stay far away from Little Bird. Little Bird has a big cheesy smile and BFF headed up the stairs!

Much better!

Even better! Super excited to go trick or treating!

The girls and their daddys ready to go trick or treating.

Little Buddy stayed home with the mamas to hand out candy.

And they're home! Checking out their goods.

Where do we start?

Little Pie's ears kept getting in her way. :)

Little Pie was concerned Little Buddy didn't have any treats so she gave him practically all of her. You can hear her say "there you go".