Entertaining

Elia knows how to entertain herself. We found her in the playroom last night with lots and lots of toys stuffed down her jammies. I have a video, but durn blogger won't let me upload it. Every time I watch it I almost cry I am laughing so hard. Too bad you can't watch it! Here are some pictures for you to get the idea.

This is everything she had in her jammies:

I Feel Pretty

Last week, at the end of our prayer time before bed, Gianna said, "and please God help me be more stylish." Gianna then told me that stylish means pretty in Spanish. Oh dear. I tried to tell her that it is more important to be kind and sweet than pretty, but I'm not sure if she quite got it. We are working on it though.

Ice Day Part 2

So the past two days were great- Chris' office was closed Tuesday and Wednesday- yippee! Sadly, this morning he only had time to enjoy a quick tea party with his girls and then had to be at the office by 10. I was determined to take the girls out, even for a little bit. We ended up "painting" the snow with some food dye and water.

It isn't even snow- our street is a freaking sheet of ice.

I'm glad Chris is going to and from work during non-rush hour times of the day. It is treacherous. So treacherous, that we could only really walk on the grass without falling.

Poor Elia. I was about to take a pic of the ice and boom, she fell. For the 20th time.

The girls have been really sweet with each other lately. The 3 of us literally haven't gone anywhere since the gym on Monday morning, and we have not driven each other crazy! Last night Chris and I overheard Gianna say to Elia "Elia, you are my sister AND my friend." Whenever Gianna got some m&ms, she made sure that Elia got some too. Here they are sharing some hot cocoa after our paint session outside today.

PS 6 comments? Thats awesome. I think its a first. Thats what I get for posting on facebook. Thanks for the love!

Ice Day!

Even though we had temperatures in the high 70s this weekend, it is like 18 degrees out right now! Chris' office was closed, so we had the laziest day ever. It was great. We watched a lot of tv, and didn't do any chores or anything reno-related. We did, however, make the effort to go outside. I think it literally took 30 minutes to find all of our scarves and mittens to get bundled up and then it took Gianna about 7 minutes to say, "I'm cold, can we go in now and have hot chocolate?" Which we did. It wasn't even really snow- it was little ice pellets which isn't good for snowmen or any other fun snow activities. So we stayed warm and dry inside. What a much needed day off for Chris!

All bundled up!

Attempting to go down our driveway:

Elia wouldn't let us keep the scarf above her chin. She would just pull it back down!

Playing with Daddy. According to G, they had to take a boat across the family room to build a house. Elia is hammering here.

Oh, and I made this yummy apple pancake for breakfast. Easy, and everyone loved it!

Spa Day

I told you I would be enjoying my time with the girls...

Today we decided to do a spa day. After organizing all that bathroom stuff I found about 10 bottle of nail polish, 3 or 4 of which I didn't even know I still had! ( I also found 6 travel sized bottles of hand sanitizer-wah?) So I did the works with the girls. We dipped our toes in the water and scrubbed our feet and hands. It basically became a bath for Elia. Then I painted finger and toe nails and they turned out veryyy pretty.

Elia is starting to talk about colors- right now she can say pink and purple- so she kept asking for pink! I love little painted toes- too cute!

Pink and brown toes and orange fingers for Gianna.

Pink fingers for Elia. She even looks dainty licking the ketchup off her fingers!

My Bags are Packed...

I have kind of been drawing the whole going-back-to-work-situation out in my head. L is due February15th so that puts her at about 38 weeks right now. Technically, she could go into labor anytime, which means I could be going back to work anytime between now and then! I have been really good about staying on top of household chores, keeping the house clean and organized, and prepared for that first day that I have to go back. Its like I am pregnant and I am getting ready to have a new baby, or even like I'm a kid waiting for the first day of school! I have an outfit picked out for the first day, I have a bag packed to take to school (pics of my family, stuff for my students, some files, etc.), and I have a bag packed for the girls for their sitter. Last week I wrote up my own version of "sub plans" to help the girls transition better with Ms. Eleanor. In my plans I wrote all about their schedule, discipline, important info, etc. I hope all of this preparedness makes everything seamless and smooth. (yeah, right)

Now all I have to do is enjoy my time with the girls and wait...

Weekend

Today marked a milestone in our little renovation. I was able to use my bathroom for the first time in 2ish months! Chris installed the toilet (after a huge scrub-job) and caulked it. He also fixed the leak in the shower so the bathroom is completely functional! And can I just give Chris a shout out- on his ONLY day off this week he did 1 million honey-dos around the house! The baseboard is installed in both rooms, and caulked in the bathroom. The tile is caulked around the toilet and shower. He also fixed our Honda door, which has been broken for a month or so. It was pretty obnoxious dealing with that- I had to twist around in my seat to unbuckle Gianna, and then she would have to get down and open the door for me so I could get Elia out. Just another "obstacle" among many when trying to get 2 kids in and out of the car. So that was pretty exciting. My big project for the weekend was painting the inside and organizing the linen cabinet in our bathroom. I don't have any before pictures, but this is what it looks like now:

Pretty great, right?

Chris did have to work on Saturday, but he got home around 4 so we were able to take advantage of the absolutely gorgeous weather. We put the girls in our hiking backpacks and walked to the duck pond. Its been a while, and it felt great getting out!

Besides that, the weekend was pretty laid back.

G insisted on making her own sandwich this morning. So grown up!

Double Fisting

Oh man, this girl LOVES to brush her teeth. She even figured it out when Chris spelled the word t-e-e-t-h to me. Anytime she hears the word teeth she just runs to the bathroom yelling TEEEEEEEEEEEEEETH! Today I was cooking with G in the kitchen and Elia was just a little too quiet. We found her in the bathroom, double-fisting her and G's toothbrushes!

Sister Sister

One night this week, after bath and before daddy came home, I put a show on for the girls while I picked up a little. I caught them sitting like this:

Of course it didn't last long, but I'm glad I caught that sweet moment on camera!

G's Open House

Last night we all got to see what Gianna is doing in preschool. She was so excited to show us everything she does at school. Her teacher seems pretty great too, always patiently explaining things to her students and to the parents.

When we had Open House when I was teaching, we would send notes home ahead of time saying this is not a parent conference opportunity, this is just to show what we do in school and you can schedule an appointment with me at a later time. Well it took everything in me not to ask about Gianna last night! I wanted to see if she is on the same level as the other kids, if I can work with her in any way at home, etc, etc. But I refrained. That didn't stop other parents though. Maybe part of the reason I didn't ask her teacher about G was because every other parent was doing the same thing and I couldn't get a word in edgewise! Gianna did a great job showing off. Here are some pics of the big night:

Sorting. She lines them all up first, which you can see with the blue figurines.

Hanging up socks on a clothesline. Her teacher said this was a big hit with the whole class.

Boom loved it all, but especially the kitchen and baby stuff!

I have flirted with the idea of homeschooling someday. After seeing all the things these kiddos do, I know that I won't ever do it for preschool age. There is so much going on, and I couldn't possibly do as much for them! I am so pleased with her new school!