The Gillette-Fox Family

Some videos

2012-02-13T11:53:00.001-05:00

Violet enjoying some of Grandma's popcorn:

Millie helping my cousin Allie do my hair:

Be warned.... If you come over, Millie will probably ask to paint your nails.

Violet playing with Grandma after breakfast one morning

Videos from December

2012-02-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

YIKES! I never posted these... they've been trapped on Youtube for ages now... so sorry. Very random but here ya go...

Our Alaska family is really into musical cards. Great got Violet and Millie some fun ones and they really enjoyed watching them OVER and OVER and OVER again!

A few conversations with Millie and Violet

A Visit WIth Grandma Falon

2012-02-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

While we were in Yakima, we stopped in to see my Grandma Falon. Did you know that she and I have the same birthday.... Anyway, we stopped in to say hello. She let Millie play her piano which Millie referred to as a "Pianio (pee ann E O)"

Millie, Grandma Falon, Violet and Me

Here she is playing the pianio: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

And a little Baby Beluga for your viewing pleasure!

The Everyday

2012-02-11T11:40:00.000-05:00

Here are some everyday shots from our time in Yakima and shortly after we returned.... I'm trying to catch up on this snowy wintery day!!

Lunch with Karter, Becky and Gram... Taco Soup! Delicious and fun times

A movie with Lily after a fun sleep over

Millie being a little camera shy and Lily who complied with my request!

OH MY GOSH! What Am I?

I know... A dragon... head bandz... a great game!

The Walking Train... happened a lot in Yakima

Celebrating Logan's First Birthday

Being silly and wearing TWO party hats!

CAUGHT! Stealing popcorn

taking my turn wearing the cool starry-eyed glasses

Millie's turn

This was Violet's SPOT while we are in Yakima. She'd climb one stair and sit on it. She'd peek around the corner and wait for you to come and find her or she'd grab a book and just sit to read. It was pretty funny!

Violet hamming it up with Hayden

Me working on a quilt

Uncle Casey and Violet

Dad and his chillin's... he has three photos one with each of us and him, so we decided to consolidate :)

Happy Birthday Dad! So Glad we were able to be there to celebrate with him!

Surprise You're 30!!.... Almost

2012-02-09T14:17:00.001-05:00

So the cat is out of the bag, I'll be 30 in about two months. I'm not dreading it and haven't had any melt downs etc. I'm doing okay with being 30. It doesn't seem real because 30 is so OLD! LOL but here I am, married to a 30yr old and will be 30 soon.

While we were in Yakima, Christy and a slew of other family threw Mom and I a surprise party because she'll be 30x2 in July and I"ll be 30x1 in April :). You might remember that I got Christy pretty good on her 40th with the very fashionable and useful Snuggie and my family surprised her and my cousins with a fake Sensaria party. That should have been my clue when my dad was going to a "poker" party at my sisters but both Mom and I didn't think anything of it. We had planned a girls' night so Mom and I were headed up to Christy's to get her and then go to dinner. I even called the restaurant to make sure I had the number right for Ragan who was watching the girls in case anything happened.

Anyway, so we go to get Christy and the house is empty. I had mentioned to Mom a few times that I thought she might be up to something, but thought it would happen at dinner with a SMALL gathering. Well when the house was empty, my gut sank and I told Mom I didn't want to go to the garage. Well she went and saw my sign... "My OH MY you're 30!" and called me over THEN she saw her sign that said, "HOLY SHIT! You're 60!". It was a 60's Hippie Theme and they even got Mom and I clothes to go with the party.

We had a ton of fun. Here are some photos from that night..... They aren't in any order b/c I'm lazy these days and just want to get them up on the blog!!

Some party goers... note, Aunt Connie made most of her outfit... I'm super impressed!

Aunt Norma and her bright orange afghan

Tina rocking her dress and Jakob... I need to say nothing more about him... :)

LSD and other drugs... aka Cupcakes and jello shots

Uncle Mikee and Ricky... Uncle Mike had leather pants... they were pretty stellar! AND he even had a pick in his hair :)

Papa Jay, Jake and Grandma Jeannie!

Jakob and his girlfriend Bri

Me a bit surprised and looking at my sister with evil looks!

Mom and I checking everyone out

Jakob ran up to give us a hug

Checking out his outfit... in complete disbelief!

Mom and I in our outfits...

Please let me clarify... I did not pick out my clothing... nothing matched, but the shoes WERE kind of comfy!

The Hosts! I loved her dress

Allie and her friend Emily

Me an Becky... I looked like I had horns with that flower headband!

Riding the VW Peace bus that Mindy painted!

Papa Jay and Dad

Jakob holding my head... Neila shoving a jello shot in my mouth

Rosy Cheeks...

Neila and Shane with a few jello shots

Neila playing with some of the hair pieces :)

Mandi and Frank... who by the way, made their own shirts :)

Mandi also trying out some of the hair pieces..

Mandi you look good as a blonde :)

~~Rosie~~ Ron the Riveter :) Notice his headband!

Tina and Christy

Aunt Connie!

Grandma Clark and Uncle Pat

Christy, Me and Mandi

Frank and I exchanged shoes for a bit... he liked mine, but the trade wasn't a good deal since his were spendy and mine were from value village... DANG IT!

Greg rocking out his head band!

Me and Greg having a moment!

Greg and Mom

Aunt Connie and Mom playing Rock'em Sock'em

More of the Peace Bus with Uncle Pat

I think there are a lot more photos out there so if you have them, send them my way! We had a great time!!!

Snow Much Fun: Part 2... Videos

2012-02-05T10:41:00.000-05:00

Here are some videos of our snow fun!

Snow MUCH fun!

2012-02-04T22:40:00.000-05:00

Hang on... there are TON of photos coming your way! Videos tomorrow! Enjoy! The very last photos might be my favorite :)

Living where we live, you'd think we'd have so much snow that I'd be happy to travel to Yakima that has NO snow. And you'd think I'd be bummed when they got probably 18 inches of snow over four days but upon leaving our great city, we had only gotten snow a few days and it was gone by the time we went to bed. SO when a "big" storm was predicted in Yakima shortly after we got there, I was pretty stoked! Violet's never really experienced snow to the point where she can engage it... I mean being 12 weeks old doesn't really count :) So I was excited for her to see it and have Millie enjoy some outdoor activities.

My cousin Tina and her family live next door so her son, Hayden came over one morning and we spent the day playing in and outside enjoying snow, hot chocolate and each other's company. Then the girls and I ventured outside on our own another day. Violet couldn't be out long, but she enjoyed petting the dogs and watching and yelling at the sheep. Millie did some shoveling and just over all exploration. One night while I was shoveling, she ventured down to see my dad while he was doing chores. Ragan and Millie were outside one night and made a snow lady named Molly.... the snow wasn't the best packing snow so I was surprised at the quality of their snowlady :).

The best thing about snow, she slept great! Here is a slew of photos and videos will be up tomorrow from our snow fun in Yakima... and just so you know, the girls got a sled from Grandma and Papa Fox in AK and we have YET to be able to use it because we have yet to have snow more than a day to enjoy it.

Millie and Hayden watching Grandpa plow... so cute!

Watching the sheep

Mailboxes...

Photo of our snowy driveway... Love this shot!

Watching the sheep some more!

Molly the snowlady that Ragan and Millie built

Looking out from the house... so beautiful

Buds! Millie loves Ragan and I think the feelings are mutual. Ragan loves hanging with Millie too!

Almost like the Christmas story but she could do some movement in her snowsuit!

Millie shoveling and sweeping... she's gotta earn her keep somehow :)

Violet's first snow angel

Grandma, Violet, Millie and Hayden playing on the swing set.

Looking back at the house standing near the sheep

My hat was a little too big... couldn't see what I was doing!

Hayden making a snow angel

Going to get the mail... stroller went pretty well in the snow :)

I let Molly borrow my gorgeous shawl... more to come on that shawl later!

The next few photos are ones Mom took out on the farm. Love this place and love it even more when it's covered in snow... so pretty! Can't wait to go back!

Finally a few of Violet, the thrill seeker on her first "sledding" adventure... they are so dang cute :)

Finally a few of Violet, the thrill seeker on her first "sledding" adventure

Lunch with the Grandkids

2012-02-03T17:55:00.002-05:00

One of my mom's Christmas wishes was to have lunch with all of her grandkids. Once we knew we were heading to Yakima, Christy made up a certificate saying that she'd get her lunch and we started planning. Once we were in Yakima, we asked her what would be on the menu and at Mom's request we had homemade toquitos, chicken nuggets, and Mac'N'Cheese. A tasty meal to bring back many childhood memories :) The "help" wasn't allowed to sit at the table with them, so Christy, Casey and I hovered behind on the counter eating our lunch.

After lunch we played Head Bandz which is tons of fun, especially when the age range of the kids playing is 20 to 3! Grandma and Grandpa played too which was fun! Then we just hung out, watched Violet try to walk, Millie do her bicycle in the air and Lily test out her new shoes running up and down the hallway. There were some puzzles thrown in there and part of a movie. All in all a good time was had by all!

Down on the Farm with Grandpa

2012-02-01T09:13:00.000-05:00

As many of you know and have experienced, Millie is not wild about animals outside of the zoo. She screams, cries for help and won't let her feet touch the floor if there is even mention of a dog in the house. It is the first question she asks when invited anywhere or knows we are going to someone's house, "Do they/you have a dog or a cat?" It's really quite sad, especially since we aren't exactly sure why she is so frightened.

My folks have two bigs labs... Kramer and Copper. She talks of them fondly but we always figured it was because they were thousands of miles away and she knew she wouldn't have to see them. And that is partly true, but they are so calm and patient with her that she warmed to them quickly. The first day on the farm she was on constant alert but was at least walking on the ground.

The days got better and she was able to muster the courage to go outside and even one day, walk down to the barn by herself looking for Grandpa to help feed the cows and sheep. She'd holler at the dogs to go away and then quickly holler for them to come back. It was pretty funny.

Here she is on our last day with Lily (my brother's girlfriend's little girl) feeding the cows and sheep. Now and then, she'll freak out, but she quickly recovers. I was amazed when we were feeding the sheep that she willingly went into the pen with Grandpa and Uncle Casey. She almost walked right up to the llama and I freaked out because he's quite a bit bigger than her! But she was loving it!!

I think the farm gave us hope and it continues... we had a party this past weekend and at first she freaked out, but by the time we left, she could have cared less about where McKinley was. Progress!

Millie and Lily feeding the cows

Millie picking up hay for the cows

Millie petting Copper

Grandpa and his girls.... and Copper!

Starry Eyed Flower Child

2012-01-31T09:48:00.003-05:00

Violet seems to really enjoy putting on jewelry and hair things lately. She'll put them on and look at you and smile. You'll say, "Oh how pretty Violet" or "Look at your ________ Violet, that is so pretty" and she just kind of turns and shows you what she has on. Popular items include beads which go on and then promptly come off and go into her mouth, barrettes, head bands and starry eyed glasses :). She also enjoyed some bracelets while at Grandma and Grandpas which included real bracelets and canning jar lids! She thinks outside the box :)!!

The head piece seen here is in fact MY head piece from my surprise 30th birthday party. I thought it was ugly and made me look like I had horns but the girls love it and look so cute in it.

Happy House Warming

2012-01-30T11:50:00.000-05:00

My little brother bought a house in October.

I wanted to celebrate and make something for his home (a quilt obviously) but I thought it would be fun to make a Halloween quilt remembering when he moved in (Halloween Weekend). I had the top 95% done when I went to Yakima so I finished it up there and was able to give it to him, Neila & Lily!

We Survived!

2012-01-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

We made it back home safe and sound. We are adjusting to the time change and I think for the most part, almost back on track.....

Not without a few mishaps though. I think there is a time as a mom, or perhaps as anyone, when you just have to throw your hands up in the air in chaos and just laugh, even when your children are crying, bleeding and puking around you.

Sans the puking part, we encountered tears and blood on our way home. Everyone gave me looks of bravery and strength when they knew I"d be traveling with the girls by myself. I smiled and said really it can't be that bad. I can handle ~~squirrely~~ Violet and Millie is a breeze... you just pop in a movie. Both girls slept on the 30 minute flight from Yakima to Seattle and then again from Seattle to Minneapolis for about an hour. Shortly after that hour of bliss, Millie got a bloody nose.

She's only gotten them a handful of times and it was all in the span of about a week when we first moved into the house. It's normally tough to get them to stop only because she wants "to do it" but she wipes when we need to hold. So the blood starts and I hurry up with Violet in my arms to the flight attendant asking for Kleenex and tissues etc. A friendly seat buddy offers to hold Violet while I try to pinch Millie's nose and hold the tissue there while she moves her head back and forth. Then the flight attendant tries to hold Violet who is SCREAMING and trying to get back to me while I continue to battle Millie and get her to calm down. After about 15 minutes of me reaching across my body, Violet screaming, sometimes in my lap sometimes not and not having any success of getting Millie's nose to stop, I ask if we can go to the back of the plane. Another 5 minutes and her nose is still gushing. The minute you take away the tissue it is a faucet.

The flight attendant looks at me. I ask how much longer in the flight we have (At least an hour).... and then she tells me... You know if it doesn't stop in ten minutes or so, we might have to land the plane! WHAT!?! Thankfully amongst Violet's cries, Millie's pleas for her dad (believe me, I was wishing Sam was there too) and the flight attendant putting ice on Millie's neck, the nose bleed stopped, we washed up and headed back to our seats where I obsessively checked Millie's nose until we landed.

Upon landing and de-boarding, Millie says loudly that she is going to be sick. Immediately, 5 bags are handed to me as I talk to her. "Mom, I'm gonna get sick" "Mom, I really gotta go to the bathroom" "Mom, I'm tried" and then she proceeded to lay down in the middle of the aisle of the plane. Here I am, bags in hand, backpack on my back and Violet in my arms and my 40lb child is laying in the aisle of the plane as we are about to leave...

We made it off the plane with out any fluids leaving her body but she was white as a ghost. The flight attendant asked that we see the EMT/paramedic when we got off the plane so we did. They were concerned that her nose would start bleeding again when we got back up into the air, but really there was nothing they could do but hope we didn't have another bleed. They asked if we wanted to go to the hospital and I declined. I felt silly for talking to them, but I did get some gauze out of the deal :)

On our rush to our next flight, because it was a close connection, I got a few bottles of water and changed Violet's diaper. As we got to our gate, I realized we had lost George!! YIKES! I walked back a ways, but was worried we'd miss our flight so I turned back and headed to the plane without our dear George. Thankfully Violet has Ivory, an elephant to cuddle with that did just fine until George arrived on Friday and boy was she happy to see him!

So besides the major nose bleed and the loss of our beloved monkey, we did great! Our luggage came out first (seriously!) and the girls are happy to be home with their Daddy!! Millie did have another nose bleed when we got home, but we've remedied that with Vaseline and a humidifier. I downloaded my photos the other night so we should have some up here soon!

Indoor Snowball Fight!

2012-01-23T10:04:00.000-05:00

My super talented and creative cousin Dottie sent Millie some "snowballs" for our time in Yakima. The day we got them, was a nap day for Millie so we opened them, saw them and Millie headed to bed. Violet was up so we got to play with them for a bit with her before the "big" girls started playing.

Playing with "snowballs" on the table and wearing my winter cap! She looked very french! LOL

She seemed to enjoy them for a little while.

Then Lily and Millie got into the mix and of course Grandma and Mommy had to play! We had a great time that first night tossing them at each other and have been having fun with them since!

Thanks Dottie!

An Oldie but a Goodie

2012-01-22T09:19:00.004-05:00

This is the second quilt I ever made. It is the same pattern as my first but of course different colors. When I started quilting my sister made comments such as "What are you 90?" and "Oh I didn't know you were old!" So for Christmas that year, I made her this (2007). In my rush to finish it and get it out in the mail, I never took a photo. When we were at her house last week, I found that she has it displayed so nicely on a bench near a doorway in her home. I snapped a few photos and realized how small it was... probably a crib size quilt... MAYBE! LOL.... but I love the colors and cowboy feel to it. Perhaps a gift idea for this Christmas :)

Violet's Winter "One"derland

2012-01-22T09:08:00.000-05:00

The pictures are out of order, but I'm too lazy to change them, especially since this post is almost two weeks past it's due date!

Violet's party was great! A big thanks to Jaime, a mom friend with a little girl born the year before Violet who gave me the idea!

It was low key and simple which was our goal; Hopefully I've learned from killing myself from Millie's parties. No games, No crafts, probably next year but for four 1ish year olds, I figured it wasn't really worth trying to pin the nose on Frosty (even though I LOVED the idea :)) or some other fun game!

The spread... crinkles, bon bons, date pinwheels, chips and salsa, chocolate pumpkin muffins/cupcakes, animal crackers :) and some lemons and oranges!

The Hot Chocolate Bar including Bailey's and Peppermint schnapps for the adults (side note: Never had Bailey's in my hot chocolate... SO TASTEY! I had no idea what I was missing!)

The party favors :)

The window sill with all of Violet's photos and my snowflake basket. (Note, Millie placed the Willow tree angels!)

Day time view... you can see the snowflake window clings for added effect!

View both day and night of the snowflakes hanging in our living room and dining room. I like them, I just might leave them up for a while! :)

I didn't take any photos during the party except for a few videos of Violet and her cupcake. She wasn't wild about it and even told me no. She ate a few bites but I think there was just too much going on for her to really enjoy it!

Here is hoping that this year (2012) is better for birthday parties!

Will You Be OUR Valentine?

2012-01-21T09:04:00.008-05:00

I wanted to wait and post this on Valentine's Day and ask Sarah if she'd be our family's valentine, but I just couldn't wait because it's so dang cute!

We have been blessed with sitters... really we have, but Sarah tops the cake! She was an RA in another building my first year as an HD and we kind of lost contact. Then randomly she came to see Millie when she was little (a few months old). I had her number in my phone, and when Sam and I decided to buy the green car, I frantically called her to see if she could watch Millie. To be fair, all of our "regular" sitters were busy and Sarah was free.

Ah December 12th, the beginning of a beautiful friendship, I remember it well :). Anyway, since then Sarah is our go to girl for watching the girls, but we have also developed a lovely friendship! She comes over to hang out with ME too and I don't have to pay her :) and she loves the girls and takes such great care of them.

I find myself saying to Sam many times, "What would we do without Sarah?" If we had an extra room in our house, you can bet that Sarah would be the first person we'd ask to move in! She helped us unpack our kitchen, organize the house, folds the girls' laundry, meets us at the ER and does crazy stuff like enjoy vacuuming! She joins us for dinner just because she enjoys our company or meets us at the mall to take photos with Santa because she loves the girls (Dave too!). Violet's party would never have been a go without her help as well as many many other things in our house! Thank goodness for Sarah!

Thanks Sarah! We love you! We hope you'll accept our Valentine invite :)

The Everyday

2012-01-20T01:54:00.001-05:00

I just downloaded some photos from our trip onto my folks' computer. I found these ones from home that I must not have removed from the camera before we left.

Socks! A whole bin full... I hate folding socks so for a good month they were in a bin and we just found what we could. I figured they should probably be folded/matched before our trip so I spent Sunday folding them. I still hate matching socks!

I found a good place the doesn't get in the way to put all of our Christmas cards! I love looking at them and so do the girls!

Millie and Sydney being silly!

On Sunday, Amy and Sydney came over to say hello and visit since they couldn't make it to Violet's party. Millie and Sydney played; Amy and I chatted. It was lovely!

More Looking Back!

2012-01-11T09:48:00.002-05:00

At the end of 2011, we headed to Brockport to visit our friends, The Bishop-Utanos! Olivia is the same age as Millie and Hayden will be two in April. Anyway, we went for lunch, some playtime and adult conversation! We had a great time catching up since we don't see these ladies (Nikki was there too but alas no photo of the three of us!) too often!

Again, fun to look back and see where we've come!

Olivia and Millie 01.02.2009

Millie and Olivia 12.31.2009

Millie and Olivia both holding cats watching some TV 12.30.2011

Safe and Sound

2012-01-10T17:07:00.000-05:00

Made it to Yakima safe and sound... a few interesting stories, but nothing exciting.

The girls did well! Millie didn't really sleep last night on the plane which made things interesting but she was well behaved for most of the time. Violet slept on the plane from Minneapolis to Seattle.... we had a rough night in the hotel.

Both girls are exhausted and taking naps right now. So thankful that Mom met us in Seattle. It would have been ROUGH to overnight, gather luggage and re-visit the airport without her.

Now let the vacation and fun times begin!

Looking Back...

2012-01-10T11:12:00.000-05:00

So fun to look back and see where we've come!

Eve and Violet on 12.24.10

Violet and Eve on 12.23.11

Terri and Dave came over with Eve right before Christmas and we had a lovely evening. The girls played, we shared a meal and just enjoyed each others company. Right before they left which was bed time, we got this shot of the girls drinking their bottles. Not the best shot, but one to show how far they've come in such a short year!

On a side note, Violet weighed 2lbs more than Evie at birth but now Eve is just a few ounces more then Violet! Violet is a bit taller than Eve! I can't wait to see the two of them together as they grow and interact more and more!

I love having birthday buddies for the girls. It really is fun and special!

Mrs. Claus' Quilt

2012-01-09T10:52:00.001-05:00

As you know, Mrs. Claus sent me a quilt to work on for Millie. She must have been pretty busy because she didn't do much with the quilt, but sent a lot of directions. I can't imagine how hectic her house is that time of year anyway. So I got to work, following her directions. Some things came up like Sam working MANY extra shifts in one week and Violet being sick etc, that getting it done came DOWN TO THE WIRE! On the night of the 23rd, I stayed up until 2am (I guess on the 24th then) getting 3/4 of it done. Finally at 2am, I called it quits and headed to bed. That morning, Sam took Millie to the store to get the much needed Santa sweet, so while Violet napped, I quickly finished the hand stitching on the binding and cut all my loose threads. I had my first go at hand quilting, hand-quilting all the squares and also did a fun border. I did the border though with my machine.

Millie liked it. I knew she wouldn't LOVE it because what 3yr old LOVES a blanket. But I know she'll eventually love it and treasure it! It's still on display in the living room, but I imagine soon it will be up in her room to snuggle with!

Christmas Round-Up

2012-01-08T11:28:00.003-05:00

Yeah so I've been a little absent from the blog lately. I didn't really "feel" like it and after Christmas Sam had a lot of time off so we were spending lots more time as a family AND then we were getting ready for Violet's make-up party :) AND NOW the girls and I are getting ready for our two weeks with my folks in Washington! The blog will be pretty choppy until we get back the end of January so please be patient :)

So I'll try to make this one short but here is a little what our Christmas looked like!

On Christmas Eve we headed to Aunt Sally and Uncle Franks and spent time with our family here in Buffalo. It was really fun and lead to some silly games and a very tired but anxiously awaiting a certain someone, excited girl!

Once we got home we sprinkled our reindeer food outside, wrote Santa our letter, put out our Santa cupcakes (a little time crunch this year lead to purchasing some mini cupcakes at Wegmans for our dear sleigh-riding friend) and of course some carrots for the reindeer! Millie went to bed with little hassle which was nice and Violet was out like a light from the start!

In my family tradition. Santa never wrapped gifts but put them under blankets and based on what Santa got the girls this year, I guess he needed three blankets to cover stuff! When Millie woke at 730/8ish it took all that I could to run down with her to see what Santa had brought us! But I asked her to come and snuggle in bed with me because I could use a few more minutes of sleep :) and of course we had to change Violet's diaper, put the breakfast dish in the oven, wait until Sam got up AND read our letter from Santa!

After we pulled off the blankets,

we found this! Violet of course didn't really get it. She just realized there was a lot of chaos around her! Her most prized gift which I never got a picture of was four pacifiers that Santa brought her. She had a little pile and would sit there and exchange them in and out all day. It's like a game for her.

Here she is enjoying her chair....

Millie with her Jessie and Bullseye Dolls AND her quilt from Mrs. Claus

Millie of course went crazy! She opened her Santa stuff and her stocking only to rush over to help Sam and I both open our stockings! We started to open gifts from our family and friends but breakfast was ready so we put that to the side and enjoyed a delicious meal of French Toast Casserole which lasted for another two meals and Millie KEEPS asking for it! Must be all that butter I used :)

After Breakfast, we went back to the presents and opened what we had received from our lovely family and friends. By this time, Violet was pooped and ready for her morning nap. So Sam and Millie put in Ratatouille and snuggled up on the couch to watch it!

After another tasting of the French Toast Casserole, we headed to Aunt Dawn and Uncle Tony's for Christmas dinner. Another lovely meal with great people. Millie enjoyed sitting on Rosa's and Leigh's laps as she tried to stay away from Logan the dog. We headed home in the rain (Where is the snow?!) and nestled in for a lazy night and a following lazy day!

We had already decided that Monday would be LAZY! and we would do NOTHING! and it was great. We had breakfast, then put together the easel that Santa brought the girls. Millie painted, Sam and Violet slept, I sewed and we were lazy. We did venture out to Joann's that night to get some very clearanced Christmas stuff and grab some Chipotle but we really did nothing! It was glorious!

I used some old pimento cheese containers to put paint in... works great until your daughter decides to paint with the sponge and put her WHOLE hand in the glass container. Thankfully it wasn't TOO messy, but I am on the lookout for something with a wider mouth!

Auntie made the girls these adorable signs... "Look What Millie did" and "Look what Violet Did" so they can hang/display their art work! I love them and knew just the place to hang them once they were opened. Now to get some of Violet's art work up there!

One of my favorite gifts was this....

We decided to draw names this year in my family and so one of the ideas I gave was this saying/artwork that I had seen on a blog. I thought it was lovely and wanted it and so my sister made this for me since she had my name. Granted she made herself one too :) but we both just loved it so much! I'm just waiting to figure out how to get screws in the back of it so I can hang it, but I have the perfect spot for it!

Overall we enjoyed all of our gifts and the time we spent with family, before, on and after Christmas! As a little thank you we sent out a note of our thanks with this photo on it... Millie LOVING Santa and Violet clinging to George, hoping he'll save her! Thanks to all who made our Christmas lovely!

Violet Joanne

2012-01-07T11:51:00.001-05:00

A little ~~overview~~ overdue of Violet this past year... where we started and how far we've come! These are the photos that I've used for her party in the adorable snowflake photo holders.... I only used 16 of them, but I printed all of these in Black and White

I get a little nostalgic thinking how fast our year went with her! I think most second time parents would say that they are able to enjoy their second child because they are more relaxed which I would agree with but I also think my heightened sense of New Mom Crazies let pay a bit better attention to all of Millie's little intricacies and milestones!

But we had Violet's one year appointment on Dec. 22nd and were able to get some stats. She weighed in at 21.2 lbs and was in the 48th percentile for weight. She's really starting to slim down or length out not that she was chunky to begin with.

She was 30 inches long (only 9 inches shorter than Millie... or there abouts) and was in the 74th percentile for height. I don't tend to trust the height bit until they actually stand up and measure them but she continues to be a tall girl!

Then the doctor/NP started asking questions...

Does she still face backwards in the car? (No we just switched her; Suggested we should switch her back until she's uncomfortable or two years)

Does she say any words besides Mommmaa or Daddaa?
Well we think she says Mil and baba for bottle but she signs "more", "Please" and "all done"... since that appointment she now signs "milk" and "eat". She also can Baa like a sheep and we are working on what a cow and a bear say!

Is she off formula?
At the time of the appointment... No... she seemed to have trouble transitioning just like when we switched from breast-milk to formula. But then not even two days later she was solidly on cows milk.

Is she doing well with table food?
Not really, she chews it and then spits it out. It doesn't seem like she's really swallowing it or consuming the food. I'm worried she's not getting enough which is why she's getting so much formula (probably close to 30 oz!!).... At this point she also was JUST getting her first tooth... at the time of the post :) She now has two bottom teeth and solidly eats most table food. We still use some oatmeal or baby food in emergency situations but for the most part all table food.

At this point I felt like a failure because all of the answers to her questions were no... and I just kept thinking why are things so different with Violet when with Millie she transitioned so well, she had words, she was solidly on table food granted she wasn't mobile so that was a different concern but thankfully... THANKFULLY! Violet has moved into the yes category for most of the nos I mentioned only a few weeks ago!

She continues to be so sweet and loving! She loves to blow kisses and hear people talk on the phone. If one of us is on the phone she wants to be held so she can hear what's going on. She loves to give Millie hugs even though Millie will pop her little head off she hugs her so tight.

She has taken to sleeping through the night with minimal wake ups at 5 am for a bottle. Thankfully she doesn't wake up or if she does she is able to find her paci and head back to sleep. She LOVES her monkey George and wants to take him everywhere with her. She got an elephant, Ivory, for Christmas and will snuggle her but totally prefers to snuggle with Georgie.

She cruises like nobody's business and will walk behind toys and chairs but doesn't really like or even try to walk on her own. She loves to play peek-a-boo behind the chair. Even though there are slats and we can see her, she'll pop her head behind the chair and then come out with a big grin :)

She loves music and as soon as she hears a beat, she starts bobbing up and down or swaying back and forth. She loves to sing "Five Little Monkeys" and "Twinkle Twinkle". She also enjoys "If You are Happy and You Know it".

She loves to wear her winter hats around the house and sometimes reminds me of the little girl from Despicable Me (Edith) who likes to wear hats! LOL. When we go out, sometimes her hats fall down over her eyes and Millie shouts, "WE CAN"T SEE HER FACE!" and Violet is shaking her head back and forth and we, including Violet are all laughing!

What else? She likes to climb... the rocking chairs the girls got from Santa, she loves to climb, stand up even though I shout at her to sit on her bottom. She loves to climb the stairs and has recently learned to go backwards down the stairs which she thinks is so fun!

She's a sensitive soul. When we tell her to please not throw food on the floor or not hit he sister, she gets a little lip and starts to cry. Oh if only they could stay sweet forever like that and feel badly when they do something wrong!

She still uses her paci and if we take it out of her mouth she will search your hands and look all over for it before moving on. Sometimes she cries, but most of the time she is okay without it. Hoping to break that habit soon!

She is just a joy and so much fun! She thinks Millie is silly! She loves to touch her Dad's scratchy face and laugh. She loves to talk on the phone and give silly grins! We just love her sensitive joyful spirit!

Polly's Final Antics

2011-12-26T09:40:00.001-05:00

Polly never ceases to amaze us! Even after my post of all her trickiness, she still did some doozies!

We found her one morning wrapped in a wash cloth in the bathroom... she must have taken a bath before we got up. Another morning she was playing Millie's Toy Story Yahtzee on the counter. Millie found her in her toy closet one day and sitting at the key board another.

The morning after Millie's sleep over, Polly left some reindeer food (how to make) for her and Sydney with a note. She said that she hoped Millie had a fun time with Sydney and that she had put a good word in with Santa for Sydney. She thought they could use this reindeer food (label) to help Santa out! Millie was thrilled!

We found her one morning in the Nativity again. This time she was riding Bullseye and Millie was NOT happy. She was quite mad at Polly for taking her Bullseye! LOL... I didn't know she'd get that upset about it!

Polly's final days found her painting her nails in the bathroom and hiding under Millie's bed reading a book! We told Millie it must be to make sure that on Christmas Eve she can let Santa know when she falls asleep. She was sad that she couldn't find Polly yesterday but as soon as she heard the word Santa... that sadness was gone :)!

Next year!! We'll miss you Polly... see you around Thanksgiving!!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T03:20:00.000-05:00

So we sent out some Christmas cards this year besides the whole reindeer fiasco... I couldn't decide what photos to use and I loved the idea of doing a compilation of January to December. I had wanted to do this from the get go and get a family shot every month... didn't work out so well with the move and all, but we got some great ones. Here they are from beginning to end....

Violet's Baptism

We traveled as a family to Juneau in Feb....

And finished off our West Coast adventures in Yakima in March

Here we are in April, celebrating my last year in my 20's!

Family photo in June before Sam and I headed out for wild and crazy date night! :)

Hanging out at Baba's over the summer when we were crashing at her place before we could move into the house

Millie turning 3 and getting her new bike!

Our first family photo on the steps of our house!

Violet has brought such joy and excitement into our lives this year! She is ever changing and always down for a good time!

Sam and I celebrated 6 years of marriage in October and decided to try something new... horseback riding!

Finally, Mom and I took the girls to get a fun Christmas photo in their Christmas dresses. Every year their Auntie finds dresses and sends them for Christmas. It's a fun tradition and it was fun to do this photo shoot. For the most part the girls did really well!

So there is a quick glance at our year! We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a great new year!

PS Thanks to Sarah for taking a good quarter of our photos! She should be in these photos too :)

Snowmen Pizza

2011-12-23T09:48:00.003-05:00

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make one night. As you know Millie is ALL about helping in the kitchen.

Millie's snowman pizza with olives, ham and pineapple... well you get the idea

I made another pesto pizza and then found out that Sam has grown to dislike pesto over the years (?)... so we won't be having pesto in the future as I make it for him because I prefer the pineapple :) Problem solved!

Another gluten free meal which was fun and festive for the winter season.... sadly, we are getting snow right now and I don't think we'll have a white Christmas. I would have loved a white Christmas for the first year in our home, but alas... snow will come eventually and I"ll be cursing at it so I guess we should enjoy it while it's not here... YET!

Reindeer Games AGAIN

2011-12-22T09:21:00.007-05:00

So last week, Millie napped from 4ish to 6 and didn't get out of bed until almost 7p so it wasn't surprising that she wasn't ready for bed at 830. I had things to do so I let her help me with the reindeer we were making! She loved it and was so funny/bossy. You hear her in here... "Put your hands down Momma Leah" and later "Please don't touch my labels, this is my art project" But we had fun getting them all ready.

We took them to the post office on Monday. Because of the reindeer, I had to pay extra postage and they couldn't go through the machines. I knew this so I hand delivered them reminding the person of our conversation. So guess what showed up on my door on Tuesday afternoon.....

YUP! I couldn't have been more miffed. Even though they made it past the first person, somewhere down the line someone decided that they were too thick and that I should pay $1.71 per envelope. The only merriment in this whole ordeal is that they didn't run my stamps through so i could still use them. Granted I'm out the extra postage I put on the envelopes but at least I'm not TOTALLY out.

So I sat down last night and took out all the reindeer and re-taped the envelopes. SOOO If your envelope looks a little rough and is after Christmas, that is why! I think even though they were stamped non-machinable, they tried to put them through the machines. ARGH

Now I have over 120 reindeer... ideas? Right now I've got "Christmas Tags for next year"....

Dancing with Violet

2011-12-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

Violet has been showing us her killer dance moves lately! The girl never ceases to amaze me. She ran a fever all weekend topping a new all time high of 104.5 but she's eager to eat, active for the most part, smiley! So while I feel bad not calling the doctor, I know exactly what they are going to tell me... "If she's active and eating and having wet diapers just keep up with the med rotation. The fever is just her body's way of fighting off something." Plus she has her one year appointment tomorrow so I figured we could hold out until then. Thankfully her fever seemed to break yesterday as she hasn't had a fever now since 3ish yesterday.

No children were harmed in the making of this video :)

Slumber PARTY!!!

2011-12-20T22:14:00.000-05:00

Millie had her first sleep over this weekend when Sydney came over for a night! She was so excited and as most three year old play dates go, there were some ups and downs but they had fun! Both girls are so used to being the boss that they had to take turns. It worked out though :)

Saturday night we watched some movies, read some books and hung out. I was worried Sydney would have a hard time going down but she was out like a light like that and Millie was up until 1030. Turns out, Millie had a tough time sharing her bed and chose to sleep on the floor next to her bed instead of in it with Sydney!

Violet woke everyone up at 730... BOO... and after some time of playing in the disastrous toy closet, we had breakfast and then the girls colored for probably an hour! I was AMAZED at how long this entertained them.

Two of my favorite quotes from the night:
1. (Millie) "I love my friend Sydney and am SO excited to have her sleep over!" (yet slept on the floor next to the bed)
2. (Sydney when asked what she wanted from Santa) "I want (she lists things).... you can get me stuff too!!" Ah out of the mouths of 3 yr olds! :)

Violet enjoyed watching the girls color from her high chair as she battled a temp all weekend and was pretty tired from not sleeping at night. She loves to look into my cups and tries to drink them. Here she is trying to drink my tea!

Santa Visit.... SUCCESS!!!

2011-12-19T14:34:00.000-05:00

Got a Christmas photo with both girls and Santa today! He was a good Santa.

Millie hopped right up on his lap and started chatting. Well he pulled her on his lap but she was talking and didn't seem to mind. Only bribe I had to use was that she wanted to ride the carousel so I said, after we talk to Santa... OKAY! She even talked to him from the seats while we waited for Sarah and Dave to join us! Violet, well she wasn't so pleased....

You'll have to wait a bit longer for the photo :) So tickled we got one this year!

Reindeer Games

2011-12-18T09:35:00.003-05:00

Last Friday, while Violet was taking a three hour nap recovering from the beginning of the flu bug that got her, Millie and I decided to paint some Popsicle sticks in hopes of making some reindeer that I'd seen on Pinterest.... My NEW ADDICTION! (not the reindeer, pinterest)

Getting started... Please note how clean she is and our painting pallet!

As we started, I realized this could be a genius idea for my Christmas card AND Millie could help :) So I changed plans of making what I had originally planned, and set course for making some reindeer :)

We did pretty well for a while. Things were clean and then slowly they started to go down hill...

Millie painted with her hands and the paper that had loads of paint on it. I continued to use a brush. All was good even though it was getting messier and messier.

Shortly after this video, Millie asked me to hold up my hands to show her how "dirty" they were. She then proceeded to grab my hands and interlace her fingers in mine. I wasn't quick enough to pull away and thus got painted! Then I decided to ditch the brush and used my fingers too to paint! We had great fun and got half of our "cards" done.

I told her to stay put while I washed up and then would come and get her... her listening ears weren't so great as she proceeded into the bathroom shortly after me. SHE WAS MESSY!

When she went to bed that night I did some hot glue gun work. The next day she picked out the noses and gave me each one to glue on each reindeer! Such a good helper!

Christmas Through a Child's Eyes

2011-12-17T19:07:00.000-05:00

This is the first year that Millie has really GOT Christmas or understood some of it. And yes I'm talking about the greedy, Santa brings gifts, consumer focused Christmas. It really is a lot of fun to see her take it all in.

She gets that Santa is bringing gifts and that Polly is his helper. She knows that Santa lives at the North Pole. She loves singing Christmas songs like Jingle Bells, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (she smiles shyly as she sings this! LOL), Rudolph the Red-nose Reindeer and Frosty! We see Christmas lights and she's in awe! There is just something magical about all the glitz and glam.... of course, I do play it up a bit!

She will go ON and ON about Polly and Santa. One day when I was folding laundry in the basement, she joined me. There are a few moms at school who are pregnant and we talk here and there about "When you were in my belly" etc. So we got to talking about how Santa, Rudolph, Polly, Christmas trees and snowflakes all lived in her belly. Basically, she single-handedly birthed Christmas. I was pretty impressed.

Another night she told me that at one point in her young life, Baby Jesus also lived in her belly. While I got a good kick out of this, I told her that while Baby Jesus might not live in her belly, he lives in her heart. She just kind of looked at me. That night I had her help me unwrap all the pieces of my nativity scene. I have fond FOND memories of doing this with my mom and brother and just being so smitten with her nativity set. There was always a glow and such peace with that scene. I got a little emotional as I told Millie who each person was. She asked if they were sad.... how do you explain reverence to a 3yr old or awe or wonder. So I just said that the shepherd, wise men and Mary were all just so happy about baby Jesus, just like we were happy when she and Violet were born.

Since then we've talked about the wise men and how they brought the baby gifts. We talk about Mary and Joseph too. She's moved a few of my pieces but all very softly. She has my old nativity scene, a Precious Moments one. She has told Sam how they are happy that Baby Jesus is there. She reminds me a lot that my nativity is fragile but hers is not. But anytime we are listening to Christmas music now, she asks if the song is about Baby Jesus. There is one song I really enjoy listening too... The Friendly Beasts sung by Garth Brooks, so I told her today that not only did the wise men bring Baby Jesus gifts, but the animals also gave him gifts.

We've been reading some stories about Christmas in the Manger and the Nativity and it's so just sweet to see her take it all in. So as much as she's into the mythical Christmas, the consumer gift giving/getting of Christmas, she is also learning about and enjoying the true reason we celebrate Christmas.

Polly The Elf

2011-12-16T08:53:00.002-05:00

Polly, our elf, has brought some chaos and fun into our lives lately!

She showed up at the end of November. We were putting the girls to bed and there she was sitting on their book shelf. Millie came up with a few names and the two that we had to pick from were Peaches or Polly so we went with Polly.

Millie is really focused on her Christmas Magic and the fact that if any of us touch her, she'll loose her Christmas Magic and not be able to go back to Santa. And as soon as she wakes up, she is on the look for Polly.

One more morning as she was going into the bathroom, she found Polly sitting above her potty on the window sill. We've found her on the chandelier in the kitchen, on the curtain rod coming down the stairs, on the top of their kitchen, sitting on the couch holding the remote, sitting in the Christmas tree and in a bowl of marshmallows either snacking or taking a mallow bath... we weren't sure!

Millie has really been into pirates lately so Polly must of have caught on. One morning we found her hanging from Millie's closet with an eye patch and a treasure map. Turns out the treasure map was a map of our house and there WAS a buried treasure!

Last week, We couldn't find Polly, we looked all around the house while Sam was making breakfast and couldn't find her. Then Millie went to put away the peppers in the fridge and found Polly hanging onto our gallon of milk.... and the milk was GREEN! Millie was quite upset and wouldn't drink the milk. But for us to use the milk, we had to use tongs to remove Polly from the Milk and place her in the kitchen.... she can't loose her Christmas magic! I poured all three of us milk in hopes of convincing her it was just milk that was green :)

The next morning Millie got a note from Polly apologizing for the green milk but elves LOVE green milk. We found her coloring some winter/holiday scenes inviting Millie to color with her. Millie joined right in and tried to color with her. Sadly we had to get out the door for school so coloring together never happened. That night Violet TOUCHED Polly and there was chaos. I had to quickly move Polly and then there was great concern about Polly's Christmas magic! GASP! Thankfully she's come back to us every night so I guess no concerns about Christmas Magic anymore!

She appeared on Violet's birthday doing some snow angels! Perhaps she wants to go outside and play in our new snow?

We found her one morning in Millie's stocking!

Here Polly is comforting Mary and Baby Jesus! Even moms need hugs :)

She took a ride with us to take the girls to school one day!

And the biggest trick that Polly has done besides turning our milk green was taking her photo and replacing all of our photos with ones of her... Millie keeps finding photos of her, wallet size all around the house.

"Mom, That Polly is a trickster!"

Every morning she wakes up and that is the first thing we hear... "Mom/Dad, Where is Polly?"

What else will Polly do before she leaves on Christmas Eve?!

Dance Party USA!

2011-12-15T11:56:00.000-05:00

Not much needs to be said. I was dancing with Violet. Millie started to instruct me how to dance and it was wiggling my knees and putting my arms out. We had fun for a while, then it turned to wrestling... Always scaring b/c Millie doesn't know how to be gentle and Violet doesn't know not to hit... not a good mix!

This Guy!

2011-12-14T22:44:00.001-05:00

This guy turned 30 today!!

Crazy to think that I met him when he was only 18. And now he's a dad to two beautiful girls. A great dad at that! I think the photos shows it all. The girls LOVE him and love to be around him.

We celebrated by him planning a surprise outing for us and working 8 extra shifts this week!

Happy Birthday Sam/Dad/Daddy Sam Fox!! We love you!!

Play Dough Fun Part 3: Painting the Play dough

2011-12-13T09:38:00.001-05:00

1Trying to finish up the project we started three weeks ago by painting those play dough figures... Millie did really well with her gingerbread people and then it slowly declined.. you can probably tell what she painted afterwards (hearts) and then what letters in what order based on the amount of time/paint she used on them. She's three I remind myself. So looks like we still have more "things" to paint. To be fair, most of what is left are things I made.

While Millie was painting, I got out the finger paints and let Violet go at it. She's "painted" a few times at school but never at home. I know I'm so mean. Immediately when she touched the paint, her hands went ot her mouth and as many times as I tired to clean her, it didn't matter, so finally I just left her and let her get all messy! She had fun and loved squishing the paint in her fingers/hands. She loved getting the brush and using it on the tray. I think she sees things Millie is using and wants them too so just having the brush makes her feel good.

End of the painting session

I thought this was a fun photo

Her gingerbread Family... It appears I cut off the fourth one....

See... not much paint and she's got a paint mustache :)

Our Little Baker

2011-12-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

Millie LOVES to be in the kitchen... she loves to be doing anything we are doing really and she literally wants to be in the action... putting cheese on the eggs, stirring the apples and onions, rolling dough into balls for cookies and bon bons!

On Tuesday while the girls were at school, I prepped some dough for what I wanted to make for Violet's party/Christmas baking. It included dough for Crinkle Cookies and Bon Bons. I had planned to wait and do the baking on Thursday when the girls were at school but the things I had planned for us kind of fail through so why not do some baking right?!!. First though, while the dough warmed just a bit, we wrapped a few presents which she quickly informed Sam what they were :)

We rolled the bon bons and put them in the freezer. She was pretty good at rolling the dough but she just can't get the circle bit down. For the crinkles I thought perhaps her skills would be better used to put the rolled crinkle dough in the powdered sugar... BOY was I right!

She really got those crinkle balls coated with powdered sugar... and the counter and her apron and her face :)

She had fun though and really did help the process move along. The mess wasn't too bad to clean up either. After we were done, she enjoyed licking her hands and the counter and trying to get as much powdered sugar in her mouth before I started cleaning up!

Why is it that when her hair is pulled back she looks so much OLDER?

Birthday Fun! Violet's First Birthday

2011-12-11T15:45:00.000-05:00

Amazing how a year ago, I was in the hospital with a comedy of errors awaiting the arrival of Matilda... crazy that we actually contemplated that name even up to after delivery along with a few others before picking Violet. Did I ever share with you our names for Violet... ? Or Millie? Perhaps a post for the future. When I was younger, in my teens, I discovered what my "other" names could have been... Anyway I digress...

Violet turned ONE today! We've been having great birthday fun the last week or so as gifts have arrived. We let her open them because she's one and doesn't get it and hey, why not spread out the fun right! She seems to know what to do because she sees the gifts under the tree and tries to open them!

The theme for her party was Winter "One"derland! I totally stole it from my friend Jaime who's little girl is one year older than Violet. So easy to find snowflakes and fun decorating stuff! I had a blast getting ready for this. I had envisioned these cute snowflake/winter invites and they really turned out well!

I found these adorable snowflake photo holders and frame to show off our darling 1yr old and where she has come in a year.

Millie helped me put together the cute Winter bags...

and we were stringing snowflakes to hang all around the house......

Violet on her birthday hanging out in the frog chair... not feeling well.

then Violet got sick...

When she threw up on Friday and it wasn't looking good for her to get better, we knew we couldn't have her party on Sunday. She might be better, but we figured there would be a good chance that our little darling would have given one or all of us her bug. And in no shape to host others in our home.

She's been throwing up about every 12-16 hrs so just long enough for us to think she's better and give her food etc and then to have her throw it back up. She's signing "more" to us all the time and is so hungry but then it doesn't stay down. She'll yack, play, take a nap, eat, yack... wash, rinse and repeat..... Poor honey....

We let her open some of her gifts, but she's not that into it. She just wants Sam to hold her. Here's hoping that this isn't a precursor to her next year of life and that she heals up quickly and the rest of us don't get it. More birthday stuff to come later when we actually have our party.

P.S. It is obviously not in the cards for us to have parties on or around our children's birthdays! You might remember that we had to postpone Millie's party too! What the heck!

We need a Little Christmas....

2011-12-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

I heard this song a few weeks back when we Millie actually requested some Christmas music and I thought this was right where I was. I wasn't in a ba-hum-bug kind of mood, but I just wasn't feeling decorations or getting ready for anything. Perhaps I've felt a bit deflated that we didn't get to Advent the first two weeks and we probably won't make it this week with Violet's party, or hearing, "I'll Be Home For Christmas, but Only in my dreams" which makes me cry or that my cards aren't done and ready to send out like usual.....

When we did the Festival of Lights and we saw Millie's excitement for everything, it got me a little more in the mood so on Sunday last week, I went to Michael's and got 8 bunches of unlit garland and got to work wrapping our lights that I had used our very first Christmas here on our little tree (Sam jokes that there were 1000 sparking lights on our tiny tree but it was gorgeous! You didn't even need to turn on the living room lights!)... anyway I digress... we had at least 8 strands of lights. As I wrapped lights, I got more in the mood. Then I saw them on our banister/stairs and I was like OK! Let's get this house decorated!

When Millie got up from her nap we headed out to the porch and wrapped the porch with our garland and lights and then used a few extra strands to put around the window and the door... Perfect! Millie was a great helper handing me tape and keeping me company. She helped me move our very dead mums to the trash and took a few photos of our hard work. It was really fun when the other night we came home from school and I had plugged the lights in before I left and she said... "OOO Mom, look at our lights... They are beautiful!"

We also put up our tree. No ornaments but probably soon. Violet has not shown it much interest so we might have it pretty easy... fingers crossed. She is interested in the gifts we have under there but I suppose it doesn't help that we are letting her open up gifts for her birthday too.

The only thing we haven't really put up is our nativity scene. With Violet's party on the 11th, I needed space for her things and our celebration so that had to wait. Sam has always thought me a bit crazy for decorating immediately after Thanksgiving. He has mentioned MANY times that his Mom let him decide when to put up most of the decorations based on his birthday. I thought this was crazy... until I had a baby right before Christmas. I don't want Violet to think we don't love her so I don't want our Christmas decorations interfering with our birthday fun. We can decorate after her birthday :)

Overhearing Millie and Sam

2011-12-09T14:10:00.000-05:00

Sam is talking to Millie right now asking her some questions as I dink around on the computer:

Millie what is....
Your favorite animal? birds
Your favorite food? spaghetti and meatballs
Your favorite game? Yahtzee
Your favorite thing to do outside? Play.... swinging on the swings
your favorite color? Purple, red and green AND purple
Your favorite thing to eat for a dessert? CAKE!
Your favorite thing to do? watch TV... watch your belly button!
Your favorite shoe? Purple shoes
Snow or Rain? Snow AND Rain
Your favorite book? Dinosaurs from the Library
Favorite part of the Library? the Dinosaurs
How many teeth do you have? 8 teeth! (4 on top, 4 on bottom!)

Millie to Sam:
Dad what's your favorite color: Green
Dad can you talk about me one more time! (meaning, can you ask me more questions)

Sam to Millie:
Would you rather have an orange or a banana: Banana
Fish or Chicken: Chicken
Asparagus or Broccoli: Asparagus
Favorite Hockey Team: SABRES!!!

Love hearing the two of them interact!

The Everyday

2011-12-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

Here is what happens when you don't put your laundry away when it is just freshly done.... hours of folding and 6 trips upstairs to put things away.... PLUS I still had this weeks worth of laundry to do.... BOOO

Sisters in matching jammies doing some wrestling!!

Violet lounging in the Frog chair

Projects as of Late

2011-12-08T08:28:00.003-05:00

I am in full swing of trying to finish up Christmas projects so I can get crackin' on Violet's party as well as get going on our Christmas cards. Included in my projects was a Halloween quilt... STUPID! Why am I distracting myself from tasks by cutting for a halloween quilt... because it was calling my name!

Lots of Crayon Folios,

A few aprons

and the one I'm the most excited for... a quilt for Millie. Mrs. Claus has asked me to make something for Millie and I happily agreed..... I just got the patch embroidered with Millie's name from the North Pole the other day so I could get crackin' on actually quilting it.

The Many Interests of Millie...

2011-12-07T09:42:00.001-05:00

The girl cracks me up! Probably a month ago when the weather was glorious and Violet was sleeping, Millie and I headed outside so she could play a bit. She went inside to get her jacket because it was a bit windy and found her purple glasses! She rocked them all weekend until she broken them and they were unfixable.

We are still working on her riding her big girl bike but she's getting the feel for pedals on this bike that the family who lived here before left behind. She's really enjoying wearing accessories lately such as hair bands, glasses, belts, purses etc...

Millie has been asking me lately where her sewing machine is AND asking to use mine. So much so that a week ago when we went to JoAnns, she picked out some fabric and told me she needed to get two yards. She carried it up to the counter and told the lady that she needed two yards to make some curtains before Santa came. Now I'm not sure why she needs curtains for Santa's visit (shady?!) I love that she wants to create. She so badly wants to do the things I am doing such as ironing and sewing. I want to let her try but they are a bit dangerous so she gets told no or I let her sit at the sewing machine when I'm pinning and it poses no threat.

Festival of Lights

2011-12-06T09:41:00.001-05:00

On Friday, We piled into the car ( a little under prepared) and headed to the Hamburg Fairgrounds to partake in the Festival of Lights. I'd gotten a 50% off seize the deal and with Millie's reaction to driving around our neighborhood, we knew this would be a hit!

We prepped it as a SURPRISE but that SOMEONE who lives in the North Pole and says HO-HO-HO might be there. She excited told us that she would tell Santa what she wanted but she wouldn't sit on his lap.

We got there about 6 and walked through the North Pole Park. It just had windows with Santa or winter scenes behind them. This was probably a highlight for Millie as she'd run window to window saying "OH LOOK THERE IS SANTA!" or, "OH MY GOODNESS IT"S Frosty/Penguins...insert winter/holiday themed thing here!"

On our way out of the North Pole Park we saw two things that potentially could have ruined our night: 1. a plastic Santa with room on a bench, perfect for a photo opportunity and she was not having ANY of it!

2. A giant Penguin and Bear walking around waving and hugging children.

The last one was the deal breaker for her so we headed inside to eat our delicious dinner of deli ham, cheese slices and bananas while watching others ride the inside rides. Before dinner though, Millie and I had hopped on the Carousel. Normally one of us just stands next to her, but the guy said I could ride, so heck... why not! Millie had fun!

After eating our dinner, We headed to some of the indoor fun like a North Pole 3D adventure that was fun and watched one act of a magic show. We then headed over to the Reindeer barn and saw 4 LIVE reindeer. They were giving Reindeer pulled carriage rides for $7/person so Sam and I looked on and waved at the suckers paying that much to ride a little wagon. Thankfully Millie did not want a ride so we didn't have to have that battle.

After the fun in the Reindeer barn, we headed over to see Santa! At first she was like YEAH! Then it became... You can tell Santa what I want, then it was...I don't want to see Santa... We convinced her to just wave to him as he set in his comfy home. But she saw some other children sit on his lap. I joined her up there and when Santa tried to put her on his lap, she gave him a firm no and just moved next to his arm to tell him. She spewed out what she wanted so fast with her hands over her mouth that we had to have her repeat it.

But Santa talked to her a bit and she let us get our photo taken with him. Then her highlight of the Santa visit was his elf giving her a candy cane! I was so proud of her for talking to him because you could tell she was a bit frightened but she did it! Sam and I didn't think she'd do it, so we didn't even get Violet out of the backpack. O-well... next time right :) Plus we are very aware that once placed in Santa's lap, Violet is going to go crazy :).

After visiting Santa, we headed back to the car and drove through the actual Festival of Lights. It was fun to see all the different things they created with lights!

A perfect way to start the season!

Conversation with Millie and Violet

2011-12-05T09:35:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back, we met up with Amy and Syd at Page's Paradise Island... a little kiddie water park that we lasted about 90 minutes at... anyway, that is the water park reference. We had tons of fun playing in the water fountains and riding down the slides etc...

PlayDough Fun Part 2: Videos

2011-12-04T09:29:00.001-05:00

Baby Daisy

2011-12-03T09:57:00.000-05:00

Violet got her first birthday present in the mail the other day from her Auntie, Uncle Greg, Jake, Taylor and Ragan.

I spoke with Christy and she said that Violet could open it. That night after dinner, we let her open it...

Millie has not been good at sharing lately and even though she has three babies she'd rather give up all her babies than share with Violet so I had suggested to Christy that she'd like her own baby and wah lah... here we go!

She loves her Baby Daisy!!!
In talking with Christy a lot of thought went into the name... She wanted a flower or a color for the name, combined with Joanne as her middle name... Pansy? Rose? Daisy it is :) So far Violet is enjoying playing with her and giving her lots of loves...

What You Lookin' AT?: Violet Update

2011-12-02T09:04:00.016-05:00

A little Violet update as she'll be one in about a week! Crazy right? At this time last year I was counting down my days of work, waddling around and waiting for my Mom to get here!

At the zoo... photo courtesy of Millie!

But alas, this little one is so much fun!

She is ORNERY! I think she is starting to figure out that when she squeals, we quickly run and ask Millie what she did which is reminding us that Violet can be told NO and has been quite a lot lately as well as to be nice to her sister. Millie is not the only evil doer these days!
She is fast! This has required us to get some gates as we turn around and she's at the fifth step of the stairs! She has learned quickly how to climb them and we've let her go all the way up to play so now she thinks it's fun.
She has boycotted purred food all of a sudden. She sees us eating so she wants that too. The problem is that she doesn't appear to be consuming any table food. She chews it a bit, sucks all the flavor out and then spits it out before putting another piece in. Sometimes we do notice she has consumed something, but it appears she is relying heavily on her formula for calories. We are trying to feed her at off times when we are eating so she'll eat some of the food we've made her, but it's hit or miss. New foods though include: Strawberries, beef, ham, chicken, peppers, spinach, cantaloupe. french fries, green beans (wouldn't eat them purred), turkey, pineapple and cranberries!

It appears that her and George are forming a stronger and stronger bond as the days go on. She hollers for him when she's in her room and he's not with her while she's getting dressed or having her diaper changed. She loves to take him places and will hold him out for you to give him kisses.
She's started playing with babies which is so cute. She'll hold them, and give them loves and rock them... so adorable!
She loves to do anything Millie is doing which includes being in her kitchen. She pulls herself right up, opens up the fridge and bangs on things. Millie is not wild about sharing, but she is doing better sharing her kitchen than other things.
Probably in the last few weeks she holds her hands up and then dramatically falls to the floor when you won't pick her up or she wants her bottle. She also will stand-up on us and then hold on to the back of our legs while we are trying to do things in hopes that we will pick her up!
She continues to sign with us which is fun! Now to start with some new signs.
She loves the tub/bath. She gets all excited when the water is running. If the bath is for her, she is shaking as we get her undressed. If it's for Millie she will pull herself up and stand at the edge of the tub the entire bath and talk to her and try to play.
The Bathroom/toilet as well as the dishwasher are beacons for her. If the bathroom door is open, she tires to lift the lid and get into the toilet. She likes to play in the trash. I have caught her numerous times pulling the toilet paper off the roll. She tries to pull dishes out of the dishwasher, and climbs on it.
She will push some things while walking, but if she is at all nervous, she drops to her knees and then pushes it on her knees. She's got the skills to walk, now she just needs the confidence as we see her cruise around on the furniture and transfer from one thing (the couch) to some thing else (us, toy etc).

Violet on Thanksgiving with her orange stripey tights! Thanks Sarah!!

Millie's Eye View

2011-12-01T11:29:00.001-05:00

Millie has taken an interest in actually using the camera these days... I let her take some photos of her babies and here is what we've got! 30 photos in total... I've been sure not to let her get the camera lately! Babies in appearance order: Baby Emily, Baby Amy (similar to Baby Emily but much smaller); Baby Addie, Baby Violet :)

Play Dough Time!: Part 1

2011-11-30T09:05:00.000-05:00

There are tons of "recipes" for play dough online, but it just so happens that one of the quilting blogs I read, happened to do an activity around the time I was looking for SOMETHING to do. Sam worked double double last weekend so the girls and I had plenty of time together. On Saturday we did some shopping as we needed some salt and flour and heck why not get some kid sized rolling pins! On Sunday after breakfast, we mixed and started to play!

I even enjoyed myself quite a bit and if we hadn't run out of salt (2 cups in that container down there) we probably would have made more. After we rolled and rolled and used cookie cutter after cookie cutter, we baked them. Violet got in a good 15 minutes of ~~snacking~~ cookie cutting before declaring she needed a nap which left Millie and I to our own creative ideas and boy did we have them! Millie made a gingerbread family. In the 90 minutes we did this, she did a lot of "cutting" on top of other cuts but she had a great time too! I made some Christmas tree ornaments... who knew that a meat thermometer would make such good holes in play dough?!!! as well as some snowflakes a lots of letters as we are working on learning our letters these days.

Next step: Painting them but we just haven't had time to sit down and paint them since they've hardened.....

The Everyday

2011-11-29T08:51:00.005-05:00

Someone has been really into doing the dishes lately... This Momma DOES NOT mind at all :)

My loves heading out to the library to give me some alone time to prep the pizza dough and get dinner in the oven...

Watching TV with Dad....

Heading home from a spontaneous zoo trip... Thankfully we had hats, gloves and blankest in the trunk :)

The toilet seems to be a hot gathering spot these days... Millie cleaning off her stool (so many things could go here, but literally, her stepping stool) and Violet watching, wishing she could get the lid to the toilet open.

New Year Eve's Mystery Fabrics... cut down to 2.5 strips, now to trim down to squares and rectangles in prep for the big day.... not like I have anything else I SHOULD be working on!

EarWax

2011-11-28T11:19:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend (the LAST weekend, not this most current one), Millie started to complain of an ear ache. She rarely gets these and it seemed sudden so I gave her some Tylenol and had her lay on the hot pack.

It was 730 on Saturday so I should have just put her to bed, but I let her lay on the couch with the hot pack. I told her not to fall asleep and next thing I know, before I even put Violet to bed, Millie was out! I put Violet to bed and came down to put a diaper on Millie. As she awoke she tells me, "I'm not tired! I'm not!" I let her lay on the couch with the understanding she wouldn't fall asleep again. Not five minutes later she was out again.

She woke up when I was trying to go bed and was hungry and didn't end up getting to bed until past 11. We have numbing drops from her previous infection on March and I asked/begged her to let me put them in but she wouldn't. I let her sleep with me that night and neither of us got good sleep. She woke on Sunday and I attempted to take her to the doctor's but they were closed (Normally they have emergency hours on Sunday). She claimed she was feeling better so I watched her all day Sunday. Around dinner time, she again started to complain of her ears hurting, so rinse, wash and repeat from the night before... except this time, she slept in her own bed and woke at 11 just in time to take some more Tylenol.

On Monday, she again claimed that her ear felt better, but when she got in the tub and I went to scrub her head, she wouldn't let me get close to her one ear. I knew something was up. So I called the doctor and the earliest they could get us in was 545 on Monday night. We had friends coming over and she didn't seem to be in tons of pain. I thought she could wait until morning which was their next appointment.

SO after this incredibly long story, I got her to the doctor on Tuesday morning to find out that the doctor couldn't even see her ear drums because she had SO much wax in her ears. I cringe and even now as I type, my nose is turned up. I immediately think... what have I done wrong? I don't know excessive wax from her ears... What should I be doing differently?

THEN I learn that excessive wax is normally hereditary and some people have to come in every three months to get their wax softened and removed because they can't hear. We put a barber shirt on Millie to keep her dry and I hold her so the nurse can irrigate her ear and try to get some of the wax out. Millie was NOT wild about this as I hear that it hurts. After removing chunks of wax (SUCCESS!) the doctor could STILL not see her ear drums. She said that likely there was no infection but the copious amounts of wax, causing pressure, thus inflicting pain. She gave us a sheet to try and soften and dissolve the wax (baking soda and water) to help with the build up. Unfortunately, we can't get Millie to lay still to allow us to do this. In an ideal world, she'd lay and watch a Little Einstein while the baking soda sizzled in her ear, but she just won't do it. BUT after the little irrigation treatment at the doctor she hasn't complained of her ear hurting.

While Millie hasn't gotten much use out of the home remedy, Sam has enjoyed a few treatments while watching the Sabres. Now he has no excuses that he can't hear me :)

Gluten Free Pizza

2011-11-27T08:01:00.001-05:00

We had big plans to make this when our friends The Reeds came for dinner on Monday night BUT neither of us read the box to realize that the dough had to sit and raise for a bit before it could be handled and thus turned into pizza dough. So we swapped out gluten free pizza to Steak, mushrooms and onions, carrots and salad which went over swimmingly!

We've been trying harder and harder to get gluten out of our diet and so in an effort, I asked Sam to get this gluten free pizza dough to try some pizza. Millie was super stoked to make some pizza and when we realized on Tuesday we didn't pull out the dough soon enough to have pizza on Tuesday, we pushed it back one more day to Wednesday.

Sam kindly took a walk to the library with the girls while I played with the dough and got it into workable material. I made the first "adult" pizza as Millie called it... Pesto, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and cheese! It was in the oven as Sam, Millie and Violet hiked in so Millie happily joined in making HER pizza of ham, pineapple and cheese!

Another gluten free thing we are trying to add to our diet... wine! We both are beer drinkers and aren't big fans of wine, but we purchased a wine tour deal and wine is gluten free so Sam thought we should try it with our pizza and make it a true gluten free meal! We are easing into the world of wine I guess.

The end results.... delicious and it was consumed the next day as left overs! Millie loved it and I think it might become a routine thing in our house.... with some preparation of course!

Artistic Talent

2011-11-26T10:48:00.002-05:00

I bravely let Millie "paint" my toes the other day. She wanted to do 5 different colors and when I tried to stop her with just one (pink), I was told this "was not a good idea Momma!" She proceeded to do one foot blue before getting out the blow dryer to dry them, instructing me every few seconds that I needed to sit still and she'd tell me when I could get up. At this point she again tried to do another color but I stopped her. We put away the polish and I showed Sam my beautiful toes. Millie then asked Daddy to paint his toes and he rudely said no.

Twenty minutes later when I was giving Violet a bath, I hear him say, "OH NO!" and running around upstairs. I get Violet dressed and go upstairs to find that Millie took to painting her own toes and fingers. This painting however did not happen on the towel that she painted my toes on. In fact, she split the pink polish on the bathroom floor and rug! We got the polish off the floor, off of Millie but the rug leaves a reminder of us needing to pay better attention when it's too quiet from either of our girls!

Domestic Engineer

2011-11-25T08:48:00.008-05:00

I guess it's official since my Facebook status has now been updated. Oh and we dropped the girls down to part time the month of November and are pulling them out of school completely in mid-December.

My new title which became effective start of business on November 1, 2011 is Domestic Engineer :) I suppose its a fancy way of saying... Stay at Home Mom or House Wife... you take your pick.

My job was supposed to be over in June, remember? But then they kindly extended my contract through July. Then Rachel went out on maternity leave early and an AHD quit, so they asked me to stay on through September. Then Rachel had her baby late so they asked me to stay on through October.... to be honest, I was glad that there were no more extensions. While I enjoyed the staff and students, I was done being a hall director. I was done with students being stupid as well as co-workers. I was done with my stupid commute (WHINE I know... I was so spoiled living where I worked!). I'm done not feeling like I'm doing ANYTHING 100% and wishing I could be a better mom, a better wife, a better friend, a better employee.

I had hoped that something would pan out and I had a few phone interviews and a few on-campus interviews, but again, nothing really panned out. Jobs that I did get phone interviews or on-campus interviews for, were normally followed by comments from friends and/or co-workers of, "Do you really want THAT job?" or "You would do well with that job, but is that were you really want to be?" I had a staff member tell me too that it sounded like I need to revisit my priorities (not snarky, but relevant to the conversation we were having) and maybe staying home was in the cards. Jobs that did perk my interest weren't high paying enough to make it worth it for us and so on.

So as November 1st approached, I came to terms that I no longer would be an employee of the paid variety but a stay at home mom that relies on her husband to bring home the bacon. I mean I do like bacon, but that is a lot of dependence on someone else and it feels like I've either been in school or working so this not working thing was hard to grasp

I'm really torn about this new move. Everyone I've spoken with has said the same thing, "You won't regret this!" and I'm hoping they are all correct. I guess I feel like I've lost some identifying mark of THE WORKER... The Hall Director, The Student Affairs Administrator. I hear in the back of my mind.... you went to school for seven years to be a..... Mom? Then Tommy Boy comes to mind (Some People go to school for seven years and they are called DOCTORS!" Don't get me wrong, I love Love LOVE being Millie and Violet's mom, I just never thought I'd be a stay at home mom. I didn't think it was in the cards. I also worry and have come to the realization that in leaving the field to be with my kids, I'm going to have one heck of a time getting back into it and all that schooling, all these loans were for not.

So far it's going okay. I am definitely easing into it as the girls are still going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays which allows me some time to myself, aka running errands and quilting. I can do both with the girls, but I get much more accomplished by myself! Days do just kind of blend in. Sam's been working a lot of doubles lately so there is no real "weekend" so today I was like... hmm... today is what day again?! It will be a real hit in mid-December when I can't look forward to the next day if we are struggling, because the next day is going to be the same ole thing.

On an upside, I am looking forward to the day to day interactions with the girls that I don't normally get. The good and the bad I suppose. There is a library a few blocks from the house and we've walked to that a few times. We have memberships to the zoo and the science museum so I plan to utilize those quite a bit. I also found this great website written by a women who has kids the same age as mine. I'm pretty crafty to begin with, but it's nice to get other ideas and see how they pan out with children in the mix. As the days get shorter and colder, we will need to find ways to entertain ourselves and I think that will be the way to go.

I'm still figuring it out, but as with anything new, time will tell and time will help us figure it all out. I'm loving the freedom that we can pick up and go to Rochester on a Friday to hang out with friends or go to the zoo on a Monday because the weather is nice. So in this month of thankfulness, I guess I'll end with, I'm thankful for the opportunity to stay at home and have a much bigger impact on the girls and be the best mom I can be!

Winding Up

2011-11-23T11:51:00.000-05:00

Here are some photos left from Mom and Dad's trip...

Just after walking in and seeing Grandma and Grandpa... lots of gifts as Auntie sent some stuff and G&G had some stuff too!

Safari hat from Auntie

Violet Rocking her Safari hat from Auntie

Ready for Adventure! (Violet looking at Grandpa... checking him out!)

They are "making a rainbow" as Millie calls it

Violet has done something Millie is not happy with and Millie has thus pushed her... tears

Opening up a birthday gift from Auntie Norma and Uncle Doc... Toy Story Chewies... one of her favorite gifts of all time!

Enjoying a meal together

Violet enjoying some cherrios... and her paci!

Aunt Lele and Millie... they are related can't you tell! :)

Showing Grandpa and Grandma how she can ride her bike!

Aunt Lele painting her toenails blue! She loves this!

Already Planning for Next Year

2011-11-22T08:40:00.002-05:00

Millie informed us that she knows what she wants to be for Halloween next year:
Superman
Batman
Buzz Light Year

She's mentioned Superman and Batman more than once... Sam told her she had to be Batgirl and she said NO! She was going to be BatMAN!

Better start figuring out how I'm going to combine those two :)

If she was Batman, Violet could be Robin :)

The Kirkpatrick Circus

2011-11-21T09:40:00.000-05:00

I've mentioned before, but our dear friends Kari and Jeffy are having twin boys! Kari has made it to 33 weeks and keeps plugging along. I wish we lived closer so we could help out and snuggle those babies! AND attend their baby shower but since they live in Pennsylvania and it's winter, and I have two small daughters, there was no way I could make the six hour drive on my own with the girls this time of year. BOOO... O-well, when the weather is better and the boys are a bit bigger, we'll head their way and snuggle those boys :) and catch up with our dear friends.

I emailed her mom a while back to see if I could make the invites. I wasn't sure when it would be or if we could come, but I really wanted to help in some way. So I had some ideas based on the boys' room of doing the invites in stars and circles or a cute little cowboy boot for their little "buckaroos!" but then the shower givers came up with the idea to do "Two Peas in a Pod".... equally cute so while Mom and Dad were here, Mom and I got to work and created a cute little invite.

I had the little buckaroo theme in mind, perhaps trying to live vicariously through them, and thus came up with these two Bizzy Kid Quilts. At first I wasn't wild about them. I thought they were TOO busy and two loud but as I put the borders on them, quilted them and then did the binding, I fell more in love with them.

I loved the idea that while they looked VERY similar, there are a few differences that make each quilt a little different and unique... similar to twins eh!?!

Their shower was yesterday and I've been dying to share these with you all but wanted to wait until they were opened at the shower!

Wagon Rides

2011-11-20T09:10:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, Dad kindly put the red wagon together for our enjoyment and use! And we've been using it a lot! A few Sundays back when the weather was fantastic (and it was November!) we walked out and about in our neighborhood... burning off some energy!

I love the last video when they both looked and waved... If I had my camera I would have hoped to catch that still shot!

Walker Fun

2011-11-19T09:59:00.002-05:00

We've been having fun with the walker lately! Millie hopped in here the other day and spent about 5 minutes before hurting herself and figuring out how to get out on her own since I was laughing too hard!

A November Zoo Trip

2011-11-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

Our weather lately has been crazy. Last week we had gorgeous weather in the 60's but only for a few days. Of course when it was time for the zoo, it was kind of windy, but it wasn't too chilly. Days like this are always great because most people won't come to the zoo when it's grey out. We got lucky too because there were a ton of animals out!

The sea lions were popping up to say hi and actually scared Millie they got close to the fence on the bridge. The otters were out playing with squash in their water pond/river thing. The giraffes were even outside! The zoo also has a baby gorilla, Amari who is so cute and has been out a lot lately so we spent some time observing her. Then we went to the Bison and Millie shouts... "Momma! They are right before my every eyes! I see 4 Bison!" Cracked me up!

We also got to use the red wagon! You might remember Millie got this when she turned ONE. There was an operator error when it got put together and it didn't work right so we got a new one, that has since sat in a box where a certain operator refused to put it together. So when Mom and Dad were here, Dad kindly put it together so we could use it! Violet loves it!

Millie loved it too even though I always hope she'll run her brains out at the zoo and be so tired she'll nap when we get home! On this day, she really wanted to ride in it so there was no nap :(...

But Millie figured out that the map we get every time is actually useful so we spent a lot of time trying to read it and figure out where we were going! This is one of the few times she was out of the wagon, but that is because she likes to push the buttons to open the doors for us to get the wagon through.

Ah giving loves in the wagon!

In the month of November, we've been to the zoo now four times! This is crazy as the weather has been pretty great. Not TOO chilly and we just layer up to make sure we are toasty! I hope this doesn't mean we are in for a bad winter once it finally comes

The Everyday

2011-11-17T09:02:00.000-05:00

Violet lives in fear I swear... but for some reason she still likes her. (Do you see her eyes?)The choke hold seen here is normal at our house. Lately we've come to see more pushing. Or Millie shouting... MOMMY HELP ME as she tries to remove Violet from her belongings or away from something Millie has deemed not okay. Separate they are great, together they are chaos.

Inventive!

2011-11-16T09:22:00.001-05:00

This absolutely cracks me up!

The Girls' Room

2011-11-15T09:05:00.002-05:00

So excited to show you this room! When we first moved in to the house, I had envisioned a really bright, rainbow colored room with quilts that I would make lovingly for my darling daughters and then real life set in! The curtains that Dottie, Mom and I had worked so hard on weren't dark enough and after I found a cute quilt 75% off at Target that I couldn't try to make for that cheap if my life depended on it didn't match, it needed a change.

So on the list of things to do while Mom was here it included new valance, curtains and some decorations for the girls' room. I had purchased some wooden letters that I had originally hoped to make into coat racks for the girls. Then I decided that covering them in fabric would be cuter.

THEN, I got a groupon for some wall art website and found these super cute owl decals to put on their walls and Mom and I got to work! The letters are supposed to be tilted to the left and right. I'm not sure the photo does it justice. But I do LOVE the owls. So cute!

The Everyday

2011-11-14T08:58:00.000-05:00

Violet snagged the silverware basket from the dishwasher and was walking around the house with it. The dishwasher is a beacon for her!

Millie highjacked the girls' seats for her babies and proceeded to pour out a good cup of cherrios on the trays to fee them.

Painting the Toy/Play Room

2011-11-13T10:00:00.008-05:00

So while Mom and Dad were here, I had a large list of things I wanted to complete... A LARGE list! Two of the things on the list including painting... painting the toy/play room upstairs between our two bedrooms and painting the kitchen. As Mom and I neared the end of the week their week, we realized that both rooms weren't going to get painted... Which one was more realistic? Well the toy/play room because the kitchen has wall paper which would be a pain to get down so the play room it was!

Some before photos.... the wall

More walls...

So on Tuesday after I dropped the girls off at daycare (They are still going 2 days a week), I ran to Sherman William and got some paint. I realized as I pulled up that I had no idea what TYPE of paint I needed, just the colors. Ah well, Craig helped me figure it out! A gallon of Springtime and a gallon of Gleeful!

Taping the doors and closets because Mom said, if there is a spot, the paint will find it... notice the fan blades are also covered with news paper!

When I got home, Mom and I taped everything up. At first I thought this was silly but once we started painting I realized how smart and seasoned my mom is! We are BOTH sloppy painters and in the first few minutes I'd already spilled some paint and Mom had it in her hair (her own doing, not mine!). Of course no story would be complete if I didn't realize that AFTER we had taped the closet, I still had my new jeans on and didn't want to paint in them so we can re-tape the door.

Plastic everywhere.... ended up being a GOOD thing.

Plastic everywhere... again a good thing because we are SLOPPY! Mom got to work on the cracks and crevices and I used the roller to paint the ceiling. The walls started off as brown, or perhaps tan and we covered them with Springtime! I used Gleeful to cover the ceiling. I was worried at first that they would be too dark but as we painted, we quickly realized this was going to a BRIGHT room!!!

Working on the cracks

Proof that Mom worked :)

We finished the room on Tuesday in that the ceiling and walls both got two coats of paint. I had said from the beginning that I wanted to stripe the one solid wall so we talked about that for a bit to figure out how it would "work/look"

Complete with the green...

Looking into the girls' room, you can see where the Toy Room ends....

Okay now that the walls are done... stripes!

So Mom got to drawing and I got to taping. Again, I didn't think this task would be so tedious but it took us all day to measure and tape the wall. Five inches apart lines and then while I was taping, I realized that the line inbetween the tape (1inch) would be a great line for another color. Mom had mentioned she thought I should do three colors anyway so when I went on Wednesday when Millie wasn't going to take a nap and Violet was down, Millie and I ran to get some "parakeet" to paint the little line.

Taping DONE... such a long process

Sam got home on Wednesday and looked at me and said... You aren't done?! I quickly informed him that this was time consuming! So we didn't get to paint on Wednesday, just measuring and taping. I agreed with Mom though, straight lines are important!

Now for the unveiling.....

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

And after three days... done!

TA DA!!! So I was so glad that we did that third color. After we got home from a portrait session and getting the girls down, I painted the stripes.... two coats. (It doesn't look like the right wall was painted but I promise you it was!) and then we did the unveiling! It was pretty cool. The only problem was the tape in the crevice where the wall slants didn't stick so well so I have some touching up that I need to go back and do.

On Monday, the girls and I put everything back and hang the pictures from Millie's room that our friend Sue painted before Millie was born including the picture Sam drew when he was 6 :)....

Violet Joanne....11 months

2011-11-12T09:08:00.003-05:00

Miss Violet has really become playful lately! She was 11 months yesterday and I can't believe her first birthday is only a month away. I guess I better get crackin' on those invites!

Let's see... Violet is a mover and shaker. She loves the freedom that has come with crawling and moves through the house with ease. She is FAST! She pulls up on everything under the sun and today I caught her with a knee on the first step going upstairs. Looks like it's time for gates! Things she loves to pull herself up on... The TV so she can bang on the DVR player, the Coffee Table to see what Millie is doing and her Mama because I guess I am the best jungle gym there is!

She is a silly goosie as Millie calls her. She loves to tease you in that she'll offer you something and then when you go to grab it, she pulls it away. She loves to share her paci and her water and then have you tease her back! She has learned to drink through a straw and loves water. She requests it at every meal!

She is easy with people as long as Sam or I are holding her. Millie was always shy even if we were around, but Violet is much more bold and will "flirt" and play with others, including men as long as one of us has her. She loves to stick her hand out and have you grab it and then pull away.

She's been signing with us and using it correctly more and more. She'll drink her bottle and then toss it to the side and sign "all done" when she is done. Then she rolls over and crawls away! Food, while she loves it, seems to be struggle right now. It could be because she's teething... I can see it almost ready to break through, but she isn't into table food or chunky stuff. We'll feed her something and she'll literally put her hands in her mouth and take it out and give it to you!

Sleep wise she's a solid sleeper and making it through the night all the time now. Naps are hit or miss. Some times she'll take two, other times she'll only take one. If we are out and about she'll nap in the car and then have a longer nap once we get home.

She always wants to know where Millie is which is surprising because Millie is not very nice to her. If she knows Millie is upstairs she'll sit at the bottom of the steps and holler up the steps for Millie. When she wakes up and Millie's not the room, she is on constant alert for her to come in and hollers for her too which is funny! If we are playing she'll try to tickle Millie too which I think is funny. Millie doesn't like it so much!

Lately she's been waking up holding George and wants to bring him out of the crib with her. She'll hold on to him and give him loves which is soo cute and she's been blowing kisses lately too. She also does this adorable good-bye wave which cracks me up! She's been giving hugs to me too and coming in for snuggles which are so cute.

Her paci: Oh how I wish I could get rid of it, but it makes her so happy. It's gotten to the point that if she finds one, she'll take the one out of her mouth and put that one... give it a test and see if she likes it better. If she does, then she's on her way, if not, she'll trade it back out. Pretty funny or sad, depending on how you look at it.

She's wearing 12-18 month clothes these days and just so big! Can't believe she'll be a year old in a month!

Beggar's Night

2011-11-11T10:29:00.001-05:00

Again... a lot of random photos but here is a slew of them from Beggar's Night. I think I've mentioned before that our neighborhood does not celebrate Halloween but the night before it which is Beggar's Night. We had three different neighbors tell us this so we were prepped and ready to go on Sunday.

We invited Amy and Liz and their families to come and celebrate Beggar's night with us... heck why not right! An extra night of candy SURE! We made some Taco Soup and Chicken Noodle with corn muffins so perfect for a chilly night!

Violet The Bumblebee getting ready to take off!

John the Fireman

Belle... aka Sydney

The Three with some bumblebee antennas in the background....

Our Trick-Or-Treating experience started off a little rocky with a dog getting IN Millie's face as the owner of the house opened the door and the dog escaped. He was super close to biting her and this was at our FIRST or second house which was scary crazy. Liz kept mentioning it all night and I was frazzled but Millie was a brave girl and carried on all night!

The Three and the Moms!

She walked up and shouted Trick-or-Treat very loudly and then did this hand thing when shouting Thank You! Her and Syd had a great time. John was a bit preoccupied with all the costumes and this one scary wolf outfit. We walked up our street and back down... about an hour worth of candy gathering and we called it a night.

Violet did her trick-or-treating from the backpack!

Mom and Dad stayed at our house to hand out candy which was nice so Sam and I could both go. He was smart in thinking of putting on the backpack to carry Violet because it was SO busy on our street. The sidewalks are small and there were tons of people. Thankfully after the scary dog incident almost all of the rest of the people were out on their steps handing out candy so we didn't have to knock on doors. It was perfect.

Jessie/Millie the Cowgirl and Bumble Bee Violet

One of the few shots we have of Millie on Halloween in her costume

The Glorious GLORIOUS boots!

The spread... cupcakes, cookies, pretzels, chips and salsa... I just love the table cloth!

We did end up getting ONE family of trick-or-treaters on Halloween night and let them know that we celebrate the night before so they might not be so successful on their candy ventures. We were going to head to see some family on Halloween and trick-or-treat in their neighborhood but we were pooped and it was my last day of work so we called it a night!

One of our Halloween projects that needs some revamping for next year....

I heard from neighbors that people from other communities actually drive in and park to get candy. One community close to us who used to do Beggar's night switched to Halloween because they were going through 500 pieces of candy in 30 minutes. The main street above us was hopping I guess BUT I was happy with our hour tour of Barnard and getting the candy we did!

Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

Lots of photos from this fun activity. We did it Saturday afternoon after the girls woke up from their naps and we returned from our Horseback riding session.

Originally we had gotten a few pumpkins from Millie's field trip but by the time we were ready to carve, they were soft and uncarvable. We had to carve in shifts because of the size of our table and Violet kept getting into things, but we made it work!

Millie LOVED it! She and Grandpa worked together to get the guts out of two or three pumpkins and then started helping me before getting distracted. She made quite a bit of pumpkin soup with her guts while we were carving :). I suggested with one of our extra pumpkins we carve FOX into one and Sam willingly hopped on that request. My cousin Becky suggested next year we spell out Gillette-Fox with individual letters on each pumpkin!

We'll see what next year brings :) OH and I'm loving our porch and how fallish it looks an feels! Next year I'm buying mums a lot earlier!!

So without further ado... here they are in random order!

Frosting Cookies

2011-11-09T09:41:00.002-05:00

I had bought a few bags of the pre-made sugar cookie mixes where you just add butter and oil or eggs or something like that... anyway for Millie and I to make some Halloween cookies to take to her school. Well with all I had on my plate before my parents arrived... this didn't get done but it allowed Grandma and Millie to do some bonding!

Mixing the frosting

Millie did great with the frosting but the sprinkles were a little stressful for her and Grandma. She couldn't get the idea that you just pinch some sprinkles instead of putting her whole hand in the sprinkles tub.

So Millie got to do a few before I said it was time for a bath and then Grandma QUICKLY finished frosting all of them and getting sprinkles on them!

The finished product.... :)

And they were a delicious treat over the last few weeks!

Visitors

2011-11-08T09:04:00.004-05:00

So as most of you know, we had some visitors for 10 days. Mom and Dad decided to drive across the country to come and see the house and us of course! I had looked into them flying here using miles and stuff but Dad is "anti-fly" kind of guy so they were thinking of the train or driving. Then they were thinking of driving their motor home and towing the jeep behind it. THEN there was a chance they'd just drive the jeep. It was Dad's deal as mom put it SO he ended up deciding to drive the motor home all the way here!

Mom and Dad before their cross country trip!

They saw some beautiful sights and drove a lot everyday

A little number share here... They drove about 500 miles a day give or take... perhaps closer to 450 a day.

Day 1: Yakima, WA to Missoula, MT

Day 2: Missoula, MT to Gillette, WY

Day 3: Gillette, WY to Sioux Falls, SD

Day 4: Sioux Falls, SD to Davenport, IA

Day 5: Davenport, IA to Cleveland, OH

Day 6: Cleveland to Buffalo!

We did A LOT while they were here and I was rarely on the computer which I suppose is how it should be. They were able to squeeze in somehow... just glad I wasn't here when they did it but squeezed in between the house the garage.

Besides having fun like reading books with Grandpa, and playing with Grandma....

We saw some funny things....

like a dog driving a car... or sitting in the drivers seat

We let Grandma give us baths so Mom and Dad got a break (which was amazing!)

And we did some adult things too like going to a Sabres game (sorry no photo of Mom and Dad... we sat in separate places).

And when we lost power on Sunday morning, we enjoyed some family time and breakfast in the motor home!

Mostly though, we just had some good old fashioned family time. We ate dinner at the house most nights, we chatted, we crafted ( A LOT) and did things around the house. Mom and Dad watched the girls a few days while I finished up work and we just enjoyed each other's company.

They left on Friday which was sad and lonely.

Millie won't smile because she's sad

Mom made her some adorable pants... these are the hello kitty ones!

Waiting to wave good-bye on the porch

Bye Mom :(

There they go...

Millie asked all day if she could drive to Yakima to see her Grandma and Grandpa and her dogs :) She asked if Grandma and Grandpa were coming back .... it was definitely sad. So far at the end of day four on the way back to Yakima: Here is their "schedule"

Day 1: Buffalo to South Bend, IN

Day 2: South Bend, IN to Albert Lea, MN

Day 3: Albert Lea, MN to Rapid City, SD
Day 4: Some sight seeing of Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore and then made it to Gillette, WY

My guess is they will try for Missoula today so they can stay with or at least visit Aunt Joannie and Uncle Bob who live in St. Ignatius before heading home. They anticipated it would take them close to 7 days to get home, but with all the time they've gained going back, it might be more like 6, 7 if they decide to visit :)

So much fun! Many posts on the way showing all that we did!