My Artist

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago, after we bought Elle a new easel from IKEA (I love that store!). She loved painting in a new way and I can't wait until it warms up. so we can take it outside. Here's my little artist at work:

My baby is growing up...

I can't believe that Lauren is 5 months old! She's definitely getting more personality and in some ways has become more like her big sister. We thought she would be the quiet, laid-back one, and she is still more easygoing than Elle, but she's proven us wrong in many ways! She's really found her voice recently and loves to try out her new vocal skills (which are just as loud and high-pitched as her sister's used to be!). When we're out places, she's usually content in the moby wrap, but at home, she gets tired of the swing/bouncy seat/etc. pretty quickly and isn't content with me just carrying her around while I do stuff. Instead, she wants a lot of face-to-face interaction. So, I've been trying to give her as much face-time as possible, and she is sooo cute when she's having a "conversation" with us! I'm still trying to get it on video. I think Lauren's just trying to remind us that Elle's not the only one who needs lots of attention around here, and it's soo fun to see this new little person forming!

Yes, Lauren, you are #1!

Concentrating

Here's Elle with a very special ice cream cone! She been using the potty for a while, but I told her that if she went #2 in the potty, she would get to go out for ice cream. Well, she certainly remembered the promise and as soon as she went, she said, "Ice cream cone, Mama? I go dance!" So, we took her to her favorite ice cream place which has a juke box that she loves to dance to, and as you can see, she really enjoyed her ice cream cone. Now, if I can only get her to do that every time!




This is Elle just being goofy as always. She came out of the bathroom with this pick in her hair, said, "Look, Mama," and struck this pose! She makes me laugh everyday!



Last week, we had a little music/art playgroup that was Valentine's Day-themed, and Elle had a blast with all her friends. She's a big fan of Valentine's Day now that she realizes it means making fun cards and getting cards and treats from your friends. Here are the valentines Elle and I made (she's very into googly eyes right now and asks to put them on all her art projects--the note said, "Eye'm glad you're my friend!"):

Tasting her decorated cookie

Being goofy again--I swear, I don't where she gets it from!

Keeping Busy...

Elle has been saying some of the cutest, funniest things recently; I love discovering more about her as she's able to communicate more and more! The other day, I made some mini-muffins, since we were hosting our neighborhood playgroup at our house, and after eating 5 of them (she went on to have at least 5 more throughout the morning!), she said, "Mommy, I want to eat muffins ALL the time!" Then, the other night, we were saying our prayers before bedtime and she started talking about baby Jesus (which she's been obsessed with since Christmas), so I explained to her that Jesus grew up and started talking about how He died on the cross for us in language that she could understand. She listened quietly and then a few minutes later, she said, "Mommy, I'm not Jesus! I'm not Jesus!" She sounded really scared (similar to the way she says, "I'm not taking a bath!" because she still hates the bath), so I'm not sure where that came from, but I assured her, that no, she's not Jesus!
She's also in "love" with everything and will tell me that throughout the day, i.e. "Mommy, I LOVE this balloon!" or "Mommy, I LOVE pancakes!" And apparently, I say the word "cool" quite a bit because she's been using it pretty often too, and she's become all about birthdays recently, constantly singing, "Happy Birthday to Elle!" and asking to blow out a candle and have a cupcake. So, I'm planning to throw her a little half-birthday party next month, just like my mom did for us as kids. If you're wondering why there's exclamation marks after all Elle's words, it's because that's how she is. She gets excited about everything; it makes her soo fun to be around! I can say, "Elle, do want to go clean the bathroom?" And she'll say, "Yeah!" I love her!

We've been trying to keep busy indoors, since we had all that snow, but we've had a couple of nice days sprinkled in too. Here are some pictures from the past two weeks:

Lauren's way too small for this thing, but she can already sit up pretty well, so she likes being upright!

I watched both Sam and his little, brother, Noah, for the first time this past week, so here's Lauren with her new buddy.

We tried out a new indoor gym/play area, and Elle loved it, so we'll definitely go back. She's still very cautious, though and won't try a lot of the inflatables and other things.

Playing with snow indoors!

She's pretty much got all her letters, so we've been working on colors. She loves color sorting with mini-M&M's!

She was a lot more excited about this than she looks. We made gingerbread playdough, which smelled soo good and then made snowmen and monsters with them, using googly eyes, yarn, and pipe cleaners--she can't get enough of googly eyes these days and wants to add them to all her art projects!

Finally, some time outside! She definitely liked the snow a lot more in the warmer weather!

She loves her new shirt and even when she's not wearing it, if you ask her what her shirt says, she'll respond, "My daddy wocks!" I just have to get her to do it on camera!

Indoor fishing


And Elle and Sam's favorite new activity:

Cousins

Winter Storm 2009

So, we've had some crazy weather here recently, but thankfully, we still have power right now. I'm praying that we don't lose it before all the ice and snow melt! My parents came up along with my niece, Bella, this past week to help with the girls, since I had lithotripsy on Tuesday (basically, it's a procedure to break up kidney stones, and I'm sure most of you who read this have heard that I was diagnosed with kidney stones a few weeks ago), and Elle had a blast playing with them. She woke up this morning and the first thing she said was, "Where's Nana?" And then asked for Papa and Bella also. Here's a link to some pictures I posted on facebook, if you haven't seen them:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=212944&l=b5e16&id=904380857

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007454&l=78c78&id=1608531088

Lauren

Lauren's been a little neglected on here lately, so I wanted to post a few pictures from this past week. She's 4-months-old now, which I can't believe! I'll post a journal-like entry about her soon (like I used to do with Elle), but I wanted to get these up while I had the chance. Lauren is the sweetest baby and really easygoing compared to her sister. And, I know I'm biased, but isn't she the cutest?!?!

First Big Snow of the Year

All ready to brave the cold (actually at 29 degrees, it's the warmest it's been in a while!):


Very excited about stomping through the snow:



Trying to get mama:



Tasting the snow:

Elle's Rendition of the Chicken Dance

The Christmas Season

Well, the past few weeks have been crazy with preparing for and celebrating the holidays and traveling to visit family and friends, so I'm just now getting a chance to post something. Even though I felt a little rushed and stressed at the end, I thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas season. It was so fun to watch Elle's reactions to everything and I know future Christmases will be even more fun. Elle loved the advent calendar I made and got really excited about getting her treat everyday and about blowing out the candles on our advent calendar. We went over the story of Jesus' birth many times, and my mom even sent us home with paper cutouts telling the story, so Elle loves to lay it all out on the floor while I tell the story. She especially loves anything that looks like baby Jesus and makes sure that the Wise Men are next to Him, since they're bringing Him presents!

Elle was also introduced to Santa this year and, as with so many other things, including animals and any dressed-up characters, she loved him from afar. She would be get really excited to see him, but freak out when we got close. We even took her to go on a sleigh ride with Santa pulled by a horse and she couldn't wait the whole time in line. She kept running after the sleigh waving and saying, "Stop, Santa, come here! Come back Santa!" However, when it was our turn, she started crying when she got close to him. We figured she would calm as the sleigh started to move, but she screamed the entire time! I guess there's always next year!

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here at our home in Louisville, and it was so nice to begin some family traditions of our own. We went to mass as a family and then had a ham and appetizer dinner complete with eggnog and cookies that Elle and I made earlier in the week. Elle and Lauren opened just one present--new pajamas, before heading to bed early, so "Santa" could set up her big presents. We had bought her a play kitchen and it took Kyle about 3 hours to put it together, since it seems that NOTHING was put together in the box. I couldn't believe how many pieces were spread out on the floor when I came down from putting Elle to bed! Luckily, Elle's Mimi (Kyle's mom) was here to help. Elle's other big gift was a tricyle from Mimi (it only took about 20 minutes to put together!), which she, of course, loved. Christmas morning included brunch and mimosas and lots of time in pajamas enjoying Elle's new toys, before packing up for our whirlwind trip. Lauren obviously didn't really know what was going on but has become such a smiley baby lately! She's so cute when she get all happy, and still remains a much more laid back baby than Elle. Who knew a baby could sit in her swing and have fun batting at toys for 15 minutes?!?!?

We visited lots of family beginning on Christmas Day, and Elle had a blast everywhere we went. At Kyle's family in Bowling Green, KY, she went up to almost everyone there and talked to them and roped them into taking care of her new baby doll. I have never seen her more outgoing! Then, in Augusta, GA, she had soo much fun with all her cousins and can't stop talking about them. She and Grant (Tarolyn's little boy who is 5 months younger than Elle) chased each other all over the place and the older cousins were so sweet about looking out for Elle and including her in what they were playing. We definitely need to visit again soon! We also attended my parents' vow renewal ceremony while in Augusta, and I think Elle had more fun than Nana and Papa. I warned them ahead of time that you can't expect a 2-yr-old to quiet during the whole ceremony and Elle certainly proved me right. She kept yelling, "Nana, Papa, come here!" as they walked down the aisle. And once she discovered that her voice echoed in the church, it was over. She even yelled, "Oh yeah!" while we were standing at the altar for their vows. She danced the night away at the reception, and all of this with only a 30 minute nap! After the vow renewal, we were so blessed to be able to have my dad perform Lauren's baptism, since he's now a deacon. Tarolyn and Dan were the godparents and they were a perfect choice, especially since they're little girl (due in March) will be so close to Lauren's age. Our last stop was in Macon, GA and Elle always enjoys seeing her Mimi!

Here are are few pictures from the Christmas Season, but please click on the following links to see more pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=203766&l=d4e37&id=904380857

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=202367&l=c31a7&id=904380857

It's Cold out Here!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while...the past week or so has been a little crazy. One of my very best friends here had her second baby boy (Noah) last week, and within the first hour after his birth, he started having trouble breathing. He was admitted to the NICU and diagnosed with pneumonia, and after a very scary weekend of him not doing well, he's started to improve this week and should make a full recovery! Praise God! Noah is still on a ventilator though and still has a ways to go before making it home, so if you have a chance, please say a prayer for this little baby boy and that he can hopefully make it home by Christmas.

In other news, we've been having a lot of fun this advent season, despite all the cold weather, and Elle gets soo excited about pulling down the day's number on the advent calendar (especially since there's a hershey kiss in each one!). We have yet to set up the tree, since it seems we have been really busy lately, but we hope to have it up this weekend. Elle's already discovered Santa, though, and she's ecstatic every time we come across him. She starts jumping and waving and calling to him, "Hi santa, hi santa, hi santa!" However, she's terrified if he waves back or approaches her, and she's definitely not okay with getting close to him! Oh well; maybe next year! Lauren's been doing really well too and has become more smiley lately. Elle and I both love to hold her and try to make her smile at us. Lauren's started rolling over more recently (just front to back) too, which has been great to see, since we were told she could be a few weeks behind, since she was so early. She is still a more easygoing baby than Elle, but she's certainly not as laidback as many babies I've seen. She's decided recently that she hates the car, just like her sister did at that age, so our trip home after Christmas should be fun!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the girls from the past few weeks:

She looks a lot like Elle but doesn't have that chin dimple and she has a lot more hair in the front!

Her new hat from Nana--I won't even tell you what my husband calls it!

After playing in the snow the other day, Elle had her first experience with hot chocolate and marshmallows--Let's just say, she's definitely a fan!