Monsters Inc.

Andy turned on the TV for Sam a few Sundays ago and Monster Inc was on the Disney channel. Sam wanted to watch it but she only a few minutes before bedtime. She had never seen it before and lately many of the Disney movies scare her so she won't even think about watching them. But I told her that another day we can watch it if she wants because we have it on DVD.


So a few days later she remembered and asked Andy to put in the movie.

Here are my 2 monsters watching Monsters Inc together....

So after a few minutes Alaina had had enough of the Bumbo chair and I took her upstairs to get ready for bath and bed and Andy let Sammy continue to watch the movie. He was in and out of the family room checking on her and she was just glued to the movie. About an hour later I am nursing Alaina in her room and I hear Sammy yelling "Daddy Mommy" and sobbing. I can hear Andy run into the family room and ask her what was wrong... She says in between sobs..."Boo had to leave." And bursts into tears again. Andy tried to explain to her that it was just a movie and Boo had to go home to her Mommy and Daddy and then shows her the little ending part that shows them fix the door so they could still see each other... Sam then says "I want you AND Mommy" so Andy brought her into Ali's room and Sam gave me the biggest hug and was still sobbing. It was so cute even though she was so sad. It was the first time she really connected with the story of a movie. She has never even sat still for an entire movie that was more than a 30 min Little Einsteins. So it was a real milestone for her little emotional self... The whole time Andy kept looking at me and trying not to laugh and mouthing to me that Samantha was so much like me...

Sisters

We enjoyed a beautiful Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago at the Mall.

matching outfits..

imagine that

I love my Sister.

Future Iowa Dance Team

We got together with a few of my college dance friends so I had my Mom make shirts for our daughters. The 4 of us that got together only have girls. It was GREAT to hang out! The kids were so fun together but it was definitely crazy.

We got to meet Olivia for the first time--they live in Florida. Thank you Nicole for hosting!

We lined up the Dad's with the cameras like it was the girl's first performance or something...

Samantha had to hold both babies and of course let go of her own sister..I caught her...

Wedding 10/4

Congrats to Betsy and Kevin. The wedding was beautiful. Betsy did a fall theme...the favors were taffy apples..yum--the flower girl threw leaves instead of roses--the place cards were placed on little pumpkins. It was so great! We decided to take the girls with us to the ceremony cause Sammy wanted to see Ms. Betsy (she cuts our hair) in her wedding dress. It was at a Catholic church so we made sure they had a crying room but when we got to the church we realized the crying room was in the front corner of the church instead of the back where we are used to them being. Andy and I felt like we were in a human fish bowl--which was hilarious but at least you won't hear Alaina cry on the video but you may see me covered up nursing Alaina and Sam running all over the place. So good plan bad result...Sorry Betsy if you can see us on the whole beginning of the video...

I love dressing up my girls but I am so obsessed with them matching or at least coordinating that I was upset that I couldn't find cool weather outfits that matched in their closets the morning of the wedding but I still think they are SO CUTE! : )

Just another cute picture... 10/4

Birthday Party Fun 9/26-9/27

At the end of September we had a weekend of birthday parties. Friday night we went to our first McDonald's birthday party for one of the boys on our block. It was fun to hang out with other neighborhood adults with kids. Sammy was not a fan of climbing in the play land but enjoyed her ice cream and chicken nuggets for sure.

Then on Saturday we finally had a chance to see a few of our friends and let our kids play! Steph and Pat had a great birthday party at the park district and Sammy and Daddy got to swim and then we all enjoyed snacks and gift opening.

I love the action in this shot and my Sammy just eating her Cheetos...

How cute is this--

it looks like they are too shy to sit next to each other...

Pat's not shy anymore...

Look out Daddy--Alaina is already checking out Cole...

Some of us went to Mike and Nic's house for more "fun". This is when all hell broke loose--Sammy decided to throw up at the park and poor Nic had taken all the "older" kids to the park down the street on her own... then Cort realized Mia pooped out of her diaper on the slide... it was an exciting adventure at the park. Needless to say Sammy being sick cut our evening a little short--Sammy was a trooper--she didn't think we needed to go home and wanted to keep playing until she got sick again as we were trying to leave.

Andy and I should have clued in before they went tot he park that she wasn't feeling well when she wouldn't eat her pizza..she would normally eat 1/2 a pizza on her own if we let her.

Sammy ended up with a high fever on and off for a few days. Thankfully she did not get any of the other kids sick.

Parenthood... we used to hang out until one of us got sick from drinking too much... : )

Day Care fun!

One of the big girls were at daycare today due to a day off of school and she came up with the idea to have a pageant/fashion show with the dress up clothes. They were all announced and walked down the "runway" and posed for a picture. Even Alaina...

She's got the look....Even with attitude...

Sammy's friend Abby

Pretty Alaina

Alaina loves watching the big girls every day and even repeats them cooing at her. I think Sammy gets a little jealous that her friends are paying attention to her sister. The adventures of sister hood begin.

Basset Waddle 9/21

Every year we try to go the Dwight Illinois Harvest Day Festival. Dwight is the home of the Guardian Angel Basset Hound Rescue Center and they have a weekend fundraising event in correlation with the festival and on Sunday the parade starts out with all the basset hounds that are available for adoption as well as the bassets that come from around the WORLD for the festival. Some years there are over 1000 bassets. There is also a great craft fair, park, and car show.

This year my sister was in town for a FIRE game and asked f we would watch her little one Trey so that she didn't have to take him tot he game. This meant we had to take him to the Waddle with us. So Andy and I got to experience 3 kids--3.5, almost 2, and 3.5 months--This confirmed that we are pretty sure we are done having kids! It was actually not bad at all and Trey was so cute riding in the umbrella stroller with his hands behind his head chillin' with his feet crossed. As long as I kept the fish and 'chewies' flowing and a 'dink-- uice ox' now and again he was thrilled! Sammy actually shared really well with him and kept him safe from the dogs ;).

Playing piano before we left.

Crazy Life

So I realized I haven't blogged in a while and I thought I didn't really have much to talk about. HA... I do feel like it is just go to work come home eat get kids to sleep get things together for the next day repeat...every day. But we have had a few fun things going on too. I will post the events separate but here are the "kid" updates:

Alaina started rolling on her own in the last few weeks--front to back and back to front.
She talks so much too and laughs so loud. I love that sound! I wish I could get a chance to upload some of the video I took of her talking... I have no time lately! She sings with you and I swear this morning she said hi mom... She grabs at everything and already puts it all in her mouth. She especially likes to pull the hanging things on her play mat and eats the poor bird and duck. I looked over at her on the mat the other night and she was using her legs and arms at the same time to try and steady that bird to grab it tight. She gets so excited when she gets it too and pumps her legs like she is running a marathon! She loves when we make silly noises at her and sing all kinds of silly songs--she even repeats Andy when he makes the grring noise she can make.

Here is a picture that she actually fell asleep while playing on the mat one afternoon.

Alaina is a bit spoiled--but I guess it is just us trying to keep things moving along at night so she gets tucked under one of our arms as we are on the go around the house! : ) She has been a little stuffy lately and that has thrown off her eating so she has been getting up at around 12 am again and then at 5 am. Which really isn't too bad for a 4 month old. Hopefully once this cold passes she will start sleeping through till 4:30 am again??? She is 4 months today (10/2) but still wearing 0-3 month clothes so she is slightly off season now from Sam's clothes. My sister got her a bunting/coat, a few really cute dresses, and a great Mermaid Halloween costume at a resale recently so I can't wait for her to wear them. I put her in the bunting this morning cause it was 40 degrees! She looked so cute! The cold has come up all of a sudden--I shouldn't be surprised it is October in Chicago.

Samantha is looking more like such a big girl. We can not believe how mature she is at times and of course how very toddler she is 2 seconds later. She wants to do EVERYTHING by herself these days. Which I know is a good thing but I am having trouble remembering what it is she likes to do on her own and she gets VERY upset if I try to do it. She is writing her name more and more and loves to draw these days. She will ask me what I want her to draw and then creates great abstract 3 year old art! Sammy the other night wanted to use the computer and do math--she tried but the mouse was huge for her little fingers so we bought her a tiny travel mouse that is so cute and she is trying to figure out the preschool games I found on-line. And also she wanted to type on Daddy's laptop and spell her name.
She is loving her dance class. I even heard the teacher last week ask if anyone knew what ballet position she was standing in and Samantha answered then she did 2nd position and Samantha answered--then she did the next one and said "Someone other than Samantha..." Her teacher Sara told me at class last week that Samantha really talks well, but a lot--her major in college is speech path.

This is a leotard that Nicole P. bought her when she was born. She is finally wearing it! Yes it looks like she has black eyes--its from mosquito bites on both eyes....
Before it got cold out this week Samantha was playing outside almost everyday with Rose and Sydney--Some of the "big girls" from the neighborhood. She loved it and it gave me a chance to try to get something done when we got home from work. Samantha has made a new friend Kelsy at daycare that loves dolphins and whales about as much as she does. My new adventure is finding her a whale costume for Halloween. So far I can only find them on ebay but they are all 3 sizes too big or $50... I am still trying to convince her to be a penguin (gymboree has a cute one) or Snow White which we have in the closet.