The Shoe Circle

These girls wear me out!  You can probably guess who ended up on "clean up" duty after this lovely circle was put together by the little ladies.

 

I think this was also when Mommy sorted shoes, pitched some, and packed away others.  Certainly they don't wear all of these, right!

Playing Cards

Lesley likes playing cards - usually some version of Go Fish.  She's getting better at it, but still doesn't fully understand the "tricks" to the game.

 

I guess her and Daddy will have to keep practicing!

Like Mommy

The girls have been on this kick where they get into my closet and pull out my shoes, purses, and clothes.  For awhile, I would let it go on for a bit, but then get frustrated at the disaster left behind.  This may have been one of the last allowed moments for them to get into my things.

Hotel pics {May Vacation}

I forgot to post these photos from our vacation but had uploaded the pictures so here they are.

 

They kept busy and were such good sleepers in the hotel.  We are thankful for that!

 

I always hate how with one room you have to be quiet and keep the lights off once the kids go to bed.  But really, it wasn't much of a problem for us while on vacation since Mommy and Daddy were always exhausted at night and wanted to crawl in bed too.

We stocked up on some healthy food and snacks to keep in the hotel room - from Trader Joe's and all the Farmer's Markets around.  This was a life saver at times!  We could avoid over-expensive snacks on the go and could mostly stick with a healthy eating option.  With no plates or real utensils, we had to be a little creative but managed pretty well.  Alexis let us borrow a cooler which was very helpful, and all the hotel rooms came with mini fridges.

I think I've mentioned this before, but Jason has become Leah's hairstylist.  She doesn't like Mommy doing her hair, and honestly Daddy is better at taming her head of messy curls anyway.

 

So, part of our morning routine was getting Leah's hair under control.

Bowling {Let's pretend it's April again!}

The same weekend we ran into Lilliann at the zoo, we also attended her birthday party at a nearby bowling alley.  Lesley was so funny getting ready for this party, you would have thought it was prom nights.  She thought and thought about what she would wear and also helped Leah pick out her clothes.  And, she thought it was the coolest thing to go with Mommy to pick out a birthday present.  She insisted on something with Hello Kitty since that is Lilliann's favorite!

 

And, Lesley was the sweetest big sister and let Leah do some bowling too.  They pretty much took turns for the entire game.

 

And, when Leah wasn't bowling, she was hanging out with Mommy.

 

Mommy in her eyeglasses....this was during her vision issues and wearing glasses seemed to help a bit with the blurriness.

 

She did pretty good when using the ramp.

Daddy still had to help her set it up and carry the ball.  I don't remember if there were any spares involved, but you can see she got 7-8 pins down this time.  That's pretty good!

Lesley with the birthday girl - so silly!

In total there were probably 10-12 kids running around and bowling.  It was fun and interesting to watch the dynamics of the kids.  Who hung out with who, who followed who around, etc.

After they finished bowling, there was pizza, cake, and of course lots of presents for Lilliann to open.  A good birthday, but not sure this mommy is ready to host something like that.  Perhaps we can find something a little different for Lesley's 5 year old party since I'm certain she will request a party with her school friends.

Zoo Trip {Let's pretend it's April!}

I found some OLD posts that I apparently never finished and published.  So, although the details will be sparse, the photos are still cute and I wanted to get them posted.

 

We took our lunch and found a picnic table in the park outside the zoo.  I can't remember why we ended up going in mid-day versus in the morning like usual, but it was great to sit and have a bite to eat before going inside.  I really love the photo above of my sweet girls.

The zoo is in a very large park with lots and lots of cement picnic tables.  There is also some playground equipment and a splash park, though we have never used those since we are typically focused on getting inside the zoo.

Leah was in a bit of a crummy mood this day, but we overcame and still had fun.

She wanted the penguin but held on for dear life!

My silly, smiley girl.

Still not impressed.

And, we eventually abandoned the penguin before the carousel started and decided on the bench instead.  That made for a bit of a better ride I think.

This girl insisted on the deer.  Of course.

Lesley and Mommy rode the train since Leah was still a bit cranky and under no circumstances thought the train was a good idea this day.  The Tulsa zoo is pretty small, so Leah and Daddy just walked to the other side and were waiting for us by the flamingos.

I think Daddy really likes these birdies.  They always seem to get his attention.

Lesley in the sea lion exhibit.  The water was a little murky this day, but we still like to go underneath and check out the two animals swimming around.

Then we found a great surprise in the rainforest!  Lilliann from Lesley's class was there with her family celebrating her birthday.  The girls thought it was great they could walk through this exhibit together, though it appears Lesley was in the stroller for part of this "hike".

Lesley checking out the jaguars with the birthday girl.

I wanted a good snapshot of the girls on the wagon similar to one we took last year.  This is the best we got.  Poor Leah.

Then, since Leah didn't use her train ticket and had fallen asleep in the stroller.

One last stop on our way out was the floating globe.  Again, one of Daddy's favorite parts of the zoo.

 

The Tulsa Zoo is not our favorite - some of the exhibits are pretty old, and many are under renovations.  We love the KC one a lot more, and of course the Omaha one is always on our minds to try and visit.  But, we make do and plan shorter adventures to the Tulsa zoo from time to time.  This year one of the local furniture stores offered a discount on season passes where they paid for about 1/4 of the cost.  As a lover of numbers, I quickly did the math and figured out with just two visits, we'd get our money's worth from a pass.  So, that's what we did for the 2013 season.

Crafting at the Aquarium

One Saturday morning while visiting the Aquarium, we found some fun crafts to do.

 

Of course our "artsy" girl loved this and jumped right in!

She worked for quite a while on the crafts and I think would have been content to stay in the atrium area and not even checked out the fish and other animals that day.

 

Leah wasn't quite as impressed with the noodles, markers, and glue, so we had to split up and one of us went with her to find Nemo.

 

We don't go to the Aquarium on Saturdays very often, but I'm going to need to keep my eyes open for these fun, project days.

Waiting for Baby

I may have mentioned some of these in other blog posts, but I have been accumulating comments that Lesley has made over the last several months related to the baby.  She is so excited and has said some pretty funny and sweet things.

~ Miss Karen said I can be a Mommy one day.  Leah, did you know that, I can be a mommy one day.

~ We have to get ready for when that baby comes out of your tummy.  (This involved packing a diaper bag so we are prepared.)

~ Whoa Mommy, that belly is getting big!

~ How did it get there?

~ How will it get out?  (She always wants to drive by the hospital where we have told her the baby will be born.  I go back and forth whether I want the baby to come while the girls are away at my brother's wedding.  She might be quite disappointed if she doesn't get to visit us in the hospital, but on the other hand it would certainly help with our lack of plans for what to do with the girls if the need arises for us to go to the hospital in the middle of the night or while they are not at school.)

~ Will it be here next week?  (Now she answers her own question and tells everyone that the baby is coming for Leah's birthday.)

~ What will the name be?

~ While at a restaurant checking in with the hostess, Mommy said, "Two adults and two kids" and Lesley said very excitedly "And a baby!"

~ She loves to give the baby hugs and kisses, and rub/pat my belly.  Every day when I drop her off at school, the baby automatically gets kisses and I have to remind her to give Mommy one too.

~ We just don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl, we have to wait until the baby gets here to find out I guess.

Splash Park Fun

Summer has finally hit!  We had been enjoying spring weather but I think reality has set in and the heat has reared it's ugly head.

 

Thanksfully we have lots of options for outdoor fun in the heat.  There are a ton of splash parks around Tulsa!

 

On Sunday, the 16th, we decided to ignore naptime and head to one of our favorites.  It's a favorite because there are plenty of benches and areas for the non-swimsuit wearers to sit and observe that are in the shade.  And, if you are late enough in the day, even part of the splash area is shaded which is also a nice break from the sun.

 

We had gotten brunch after church, so sort of skipped lunch since no one was hungry at lunch time.  On our way to the splash park, we went through a drive through and got some tacos to take with us.  It was just enough to tide everyone over while we had fun in the water!

Leah was a little slow warming up to the thought of running through water, but she eventually figured out how awesome it was!  She's our girl that has loved showered for quite some time so I knew she wasn't afraid of it, just a little shy.

Their favorite by far was the "purple umbrella".  They spent a ton of time under that feature and were always bummed when the water turned off over there.  The way the park is set up, is that the water kind of rotates around so there is different intensity at different places.

It was so fun to see them giggle and laugh over there!

Last year we learned that if we took some of our pool toys with us, the girls lasted longer playing...even if they never really could fill that water canning or their buckets.

There she is again, over at the umbrella.

They also acted goofy by trying to sit on the sprays of water.

 

"My tushie is getting wet!!!"

 

It was a fun trip to the park and instigated late afternoon, long naps for the girls.  So glad they are flexible with their napping and it still meant a decent bedtime.

 

We went back yesterday afternoon, Sunday the 23rd only a little sooner.  There were a lot more kids there, but we decided to put clothes on over the swimsuits so the girls could play on the equipment before getting wet.  I'm a stickler about wearing shoes and not using the equipment if they are wet which is hard for them to understand.  But, that's this mommy's rule.  Lesley and Daddy played for a LONG time on the slides but Leah decided to head over to the splash area and check out the purple umbrella sooner.  It was nice that we could split up and both girls could do what they wanted, despite all the people that were there.  I think there were a few birthday parties going on, and there were some baseball games at the fields adjacent to the park so I saw several kids in jerseys with what appeared to be siblings running around.  Still, a great trip to the splash park and the girls played in total for at least an hour and half before we headed home for naps.

 

One funny story about yesterday's trip involved the ice cream truck.  He always appears on these hot days where the kids are congregated.  Obviously.  Well, our girls don't know what he is selling at this point.  Fingers crossed that lasts for a while.  But, I guess at some point one of us told Lesley he was selling food.  As he drove past, she nonchalantly commented "there goes that food truck again."  I feel bad we have never spoiled them with treats from the truck, but honestly they kind of spook me.  Vans with no windows and unfamiliar people handing out food, not mention the sort of creepy circus music that plays.  How wouldn't that make a mommy nervous?!

 

No worries though, Daddy still had the idea to give them Schwan's fudge cones after dinner that night.  Still spoiled, don't you think!

Sickness {Lesley} and One on One time {Leah}

Poor Lesley was fighting a bug of some sort last week.  She kept saying her tummy hurt one night but other than that seemed ok.  We sent her to school the next morning because she didn't make any comments and was ready to go to school.  She actually gets kind of upset if she doesn't get to go to school.  But, by lunch time, I got the call from the education director that Lesley wasn't feeling well and was really, really upset.  Ms. Karen said they got her lunch unpacked and all situated to eat and she just sat there, stared at it, and eventually started crying.

 

So, I picked her up early and she did quite a bit of sleeping that afternoon.  And, threw up some too.  Poor thing!  It ended up turning into dry heaving because there just wasn't anything in her tummy.

 

The worst part was I had to cancel a playdate we had arranged with one of her dance friends and the little sister.  Lesley wasn't too upset, probably because she just felt pretty crummy.

 

Leah, on the other hand, was quite distraught that we weren't going to Chick-fil-a to play with her friend Kennedy. 

But, in the end, Leah got quite a bit of special attention since Big Sister just slept on the couch most of the evening.  Playing on the iPad and NOT having to share (except for with Daddy).  Bliss for this two and a half year old!

And, Mommy took her on a walk by herself!  Heaven!  Actually, it was kind of awesome for Mommy too since there were no arguments on what color stroller each girl got to ride, and who Mommy was pushing, which way we were going to walk, etc.

 

Leah was quite chatty on the walk, pointing out every single American flag that we spotted.  Thanks to a very learning specific Flag day at school, the girls are certain to squeal with delight when they spot one.  I even picked up a few tiny ones they could take with them on walks which have been a big hit.  Thank you craft store for your $0.39 sale!

 

She also talked about how she wanted to share the crib with the baby when the baby joins the family.  I think she's a little nervous about moving her mattress into Lesley's room and apparently her way of saying she wants to stay in her room is by moving back into the crib.  Probably not going to happen.  Our plan is to transition her to Lesley's room after our summer vacation to give the girls a couple months to get used to sharing before the baby comes.  And, if it fails, we'll just move Leah back to her room and plan on trying again once we are ready to move the baby out of Mommy and Daddy's room.  Leah slept in the master bedroom for close to 8 months after she was born so if our timeline is at all similar, we'll have lots of time.  Though, Leah had her own little sitting room with a nice nursery type set up.  Our new bedtime isn't as big with that side space, so we'll see how it goes.  I mostly just want to get all the girls' clothing in one closet!  And, that may happen anyway even if Leah continues to sleep in her room.

 

Leah also informed me on our walk that "the baby can have the red stroller when the baby comes, she will ride in the green stroller, and Lesley can walk."  Ha!  I wonder what big sister will think about that plan.  Again, I'm hoping we can get the baby used to a carrier right away and hopefully avoid disaster during walks for at least a little while.

 

We also could see the moon during our walk.  Leah pointed out to it and yelled "BUBBLE!"  I cracked up....why wouldn't you think that was a bubble in the sky?  Too funny!

 

Leah was also excited to feel the baby moving in Mommy's tummy when we got back from our walk and settled into the car together.  I don't actually know if she is feeling the baby because she would get so excited at times when I wasn't feeling any movements but then have no reaction when my tummy would move significantly from stretching or kicking on the inside.  Oh well, I guess perception is enough to make her happy at this point.

 

And, can I say that her piggy tails she came home from school in were the CUTEST!?

 

So, we felt pretty sad for Lesley, who quickly made a turn around the next day and proclaimed that Mommy is boring when she is working from home, but it was kind of fun to hang out with just Leah and spend some one on one time with her.

Cheesey girlies

Snack before bed included string cheese on this particular night. And, why wouldn't you just lay on the stairs to eat it?  It sure did cause a lot of giggling!

Dear Leah

June 20, 2013,

Dear Leah,

Sweet baby of the family…times are changing!  It seems like you are growing up so fast these days.  I guess part of it is that you really are growing up, and part of it is that we are making space for a little brother or sister.  I don't know how you really feel about that second part, but you've still got a few months to accept that you'll be the middle child.  No worries sweet girl, I know exactly how that feels and I promise you will always be my Leah no matter what.

We are seeing some signs of jealousy these days.  You are clinging to mommy at times you never have before, and you get jealous if Big Sister is getting too much attention.  As an example, she was sick the other day and just wanted some snuggle time.  Well, soon enough, you were claiming that your tummy hurt and you needed to sit on Mommy's lap and you also needed to drink 7-Up.  It was kind of a smart move on your part, but it made mothering difficult when Big Sister really and truly needed assistance.  Now, if you had offered to hold her hair back while she was throwing up instead of trying to squeeze between me and the bucket.  But you did love when Mommy took you for a walk around the neighborhood by your self and then Daddy played the iPad with you and you didn't even have to take turns since Big Sister was sleeping on the couch.

The biggest accomplishment for this past month was that you gave up sippy cups!  Likely it wasn't exactly your choice but rather forced upon you by mommy, but still…it feels so good to have those things packed deep in the closet for some time.  We were sick of warm milk and having to assemble and clean the pieces to the sippy cup.  You are even now asking for "cold milk in a big girl cup" and it's amazing!  Our grocery bill has gone down too since you are consuming a lot less milk.  No worries, more cheese and yogurt.

Your speech continues to progress even though you are a stuttering stage.  We aren't concerned since it just appears you are trying to communicate longer thought processes and putting more sentences together.  It also doesn't help that you have Big Sister who is ALWAYS trying to jump in and finish your thoughts, or speed you along.  Recently we hear from Lesley, "I just have a short story, then Leah can talk" when we ask her to wait her turn and let you finish.  You just have a lot to say these days!

Some of your favorite foods right now are  hummus and cereal.  Actually, much to our dismay, you love anything that is processed and full of carbs.  We still push/force fruits and vegetables but you would give those up in a heartbeat for animal crackers.  Your sister did convince you that you liked blueberries – peer pressure in a good way I suppose.

A funny thing going on right now is that you don't really like mommy doing your hair, other than brushing it.  If Daddy isn't around to put a clippy in or a piggy tail, there's not a very good chance you'll be patient with mommy.  Even the other day you told me, "Miss Ashley can do it at school".  I guess Miss Ashley and Daddy are the only allowed hairdressers right now.  You do look awful cute in piggy tails….those curls, they just get out of control some times!

With our recent trip to California and then a week at Grandma's house not much after that, we are having some rough mornings at drop off.  You are mostly okay, but the actual process of kissing and hugging good-bye as you go to Miss Holly usually results in some tears and fussiness.  We are making progress, especially since your teachers suggested  we send your special blankie and stuffed animal.  Oh how you have LOVED taking pink blankie and moosey to school!  Now we are going to start transitioning away from that!  Ha, it never ends, right?

I mentioned in a previous blog post about your bedtime antics.  They are quick tricky!  Perhaps once we move you into Lesley's room to make space for baby, those will get better.  We are praying they don't rub off on Big Sister because she is a rockstar at bedtime.

Daddy is also concerned about how you pretty much strip down to your panties as soon as you get home.  You are always, always taking off your clothes.  We have so many photos of you just hanging out in panties.  It's kind of humorous and hopefully just a stage that is short lived.

One of your favorite things to do is "play baby".  You are constantly asking Lesley if she wants to "play baby" and then you have to figure out who is going to be the mommy and who is going to be the baby.  It's really cute and it holds your attention for quite a while!  Mommy especially enjoys it when she is prepping dinner and you ladies are busy.

The Get Set room at school has been good for you.  They tell us your favorite thing is the "home center" where you can play with babies (no surprise!) or in the kitchen.  You talk about your friends a lot and tell us when they were upset or if they were crying.  I guess this means you are in tune with their emotions.  You seem to be recognizing your colors better and have started counting.  We were in line at Target a few weeks back and you started counting packages of goldfish on the self.  And you got it right all the way up to 10!  Smarty pants!  Daddy  has since started to teach you how to spell your name.  I can say your name has a l, e, a, and h, but you don't know the order yet and often think things that say Lesley are yours.  We'll keep working on it.

One last thing to note, you love your brown shoes with a strap on them.  They are actually great because you can put them on yourself and get them strapped, and they are closed toed so you are able to wear them to school.  The problem is you are about to outgrow them.  Yikes!  I hope we can find something else to replace those since you seriously wear them almost every day.

Okay, that's a pretty good update for you right now as you get closer and closer to your THIRD birthday, and to a certain life changing event.  I think you'll be a great big sister since you sure do love your babies, but I also suspect we might have some jealousy issues for a little while.  I'm sure we'll get through the transition period and we both, Mommy and You, just need to be patient and caring.

Love you, and as you say at night, "big hugs and kisses",

Mommy

Lesley's "crop"

We decided to grow a few tomato plants this year.  Lesley loves tomatoes and I figured it would give her something to take ownership of.  She has been really good at watering them, when Mommy reminds here (that is assuming Mommy remembers too).

My plan hadn't been to put all three plants in one pot, but that's what happens when you give Daddy the job one night while Mommy was away.  Oh well, it must be working since Lesley found her first RED tomato last night.

She wasn't supposed to pick since it probably could have used a few more days on the vine, but when she moved the leaves out of the way, it feel off.  So, I guess it was ripe enough.  We'll just let it sit on the counter for a bit to ripen up even more. Then, she can eat her crop.

There's several green tomatoes on the plant still so hopefully we'll get more before we go on vacation. Our plants and flowers always die when we are on our summer vacation.  Grrr.

And Leah has been in charge of the mint plant we have.  It's fabulous!  I'm trying to drink more and more water this summer and it's super great to just go outside and grab a few mint leaves to throw in my cup along with a squeeze of lemon or lime.  So refreshing!

Bonus:  We've been told mint is hearty and difficult to kill.  That's good for our house.

So, we don't have a garden, but we've got a few things we are trying to grow.

The girls' Iowa vacation

We had made arrangements for the girls to go to Iowa for a week between the dance recital weekend and the MS walk weekend.  Grandma Nancy was brave enough to drive the girls from Tulsa to Iowa, and we are very thankful for her patience.  She had a few extra passengers/entertainers from Tulsa to KC so hopefully that was helpful.

 

Needless to say, the girls had a blast in Iowa!

 

Grandma Nancy pretty much always wears her hair up while around the house or doing "chores".  Apparently the girls insisted they have their hair the same...EVERY day.

 

I also hear there were a few arguments about Grandma Nancy's monkey sweatshirt.  Looks like Lesley won on this morning.

They had to help Grandma pick strawberries.  They love to pick them and they LOVE to eat them too.  Hopefully the little ladies didn't eat everything they picked so Papa could enjoy some too.

They also planted some sweet potato plants that Grandma Nancy bought at the Farmer's Market while in Tulsa.  Grandma said they were good garden helpers.

Sounds like they also had to tell Papa he needed to invest in another pitch fork.  Another popular item at Grandma's house.

When Grandma sent the photos above, both Mommy and Daddy had the same thought - "it's dull, right?"  Quickly followed by, "maybe we can teach her to mow our yard since she's apparently so good at manual labor."

Seriously, look at Leah march up that row of plants.  If she was that successful every time, I can see why Grandma appreciated the help in the garden.  The dogs just run across everything so at least these "helpers" understand the concept of keeping the rows in order.

Looks like there was a lot of crafting too!  The girls' favorite!

 

Grandma said that when they had to go in and help Papa at his shop, the girls wanted to pack the "crap tub" so they had something to do while Grandma answered the phone.  Grandma isn't sure how many people Lesley told "we're crapping".  After thinking about it, I realized that we don't call it crafting at our house, we just do a lot of projects.

And, of course they had to test the equipment.

 

All the equipment.

 

I think they were so good that day Grandma took them to the park to play for a bit.

Silly girl!

Seriously, she just keep growing and growing.  She is already outgrowing her 4T pants.  She doesn't even ask permission to do this.

Looks like she lost the "monkey sweatshirt battle" on this day so had to settle for Grandma's 2nd best option.

This slide was a new addition to the park when I wasn't much older than the girls.  And, it's cool now they get to enjoy it too.

Then, they had a special visitor for a few days.  Lilly came to Grandma's to play!

Poor Lyssa, Grandma can only fit 3 carseats in the back of her truck. 

 

Perhaps minivan time Grandma Nancy?

Grandma even took the girls to Botna Bend Park in Hancock to see the elk and buffalo.  I hear they had some newborn babies in the group.

I think there was a trip to the library involved for story hour too.  That's seriously the only thing the girls talk about when they make their plans to go to Grandma's.  It must be a pretty awesome story time to leave such a lasting impression.

These girls, they have so much fun together.

 

So what did Mommy and Daddy do while the girls were "on vacation".  A babymoon?  No, not really.  It was the first time I remember actually being home without the girls.  Usually when they are in Iowa, I'm in KC or if I'm working out of town, they are home with Daddy.

 

We spent Sunday afternoon trying to figure out what life was like before kids.  Mommy got a nap and Daddy did the yardwork.  We did a little shopping, talked about what we needed to do and get before Itty Bitty gets here, and went out to eat at places we wouldn't take the girls.  First, we went to a bar and grill type place that serves peanuts.  Hanging on the door is a sign that says "do not enter if you have a nut allergy."  Yep, Lesley would have turned red and probably needed her epi-pen if she was within 5 steps of the door.  The nuts and shells were everywhere!

 

After church on Sunday night, we went to get sushi and had entirely too much to eat.  It was nice to be able to listen to the whole sermon without the distraction of little people sitting with us.  But of course, we picked a seat right behind a family with four kids.  So, still some distractions but as bad as having to tend to our own demanding kiddos.

 

Jason started a new exercise routine at an actual workout facility (never before happened!) and did that almost every night after work.  I went to a yoga class - which was awesome!!!  We also enjoyed long walks and were able to peacefully chat with neighbors along the way.

 

We ate leftovers and planned very little....and didn't have to eat at 5:30 like the girls always request.  And, we had real adult conversation!  (I feel like I keep mentioning adult, quiet conversation.:)

 

Daddy also surprised Mommy and bought tickets to see "The Lion King" which was playing downtown.  We found a new local Mexican restaurant that has healthy cooking and supports local farmers - Elote.  It was so good!  And, it's definitely a place we'd take the kids too.  They would love the black bean hummus and enchiladas.  It was a fun night - like a real date!

 

So, not a real deal babymoon with a beach or anything crazy like that....but a great week overall.  And, we most certainly missed the girls and were ready to see them on Friday night.