A new cousin!

Greta cried and cried when it was time to leave. Once we did she told me she didn't want Carolyn to come over on Wednesday. (That is HUGE! She always wants Carolyn to come over.) She wants her aunt, uncle, and baby cousin to come over. Such a sweet girl.

Greta sang the funnest song I had ever heard this evening after we left the hospital (second visit of the day). Something about Sammy's father asked him to buy a loaf of bread...??? She sang it at least three times, and there are five verses (she forgot one until the last time she sang it for me). Each verse made me laugh, partially because it is such a funny song, partially because she has such a cute singing voice.

What Andrea said at breakfast

"Tah-tut meok is so dee-ish-us." (Chocolate milk is so delicious.)

She is feeling better!

Yesterday Greta was sick all morning and into the afternoon. I started offering her Pedialyte that I remembered having in the evening when she kept begging for water. Remembering that my mom had said Andrea had a bit of diarrhea the day before I gave her some also. Both girls loved it.

This morning Greta is doing even better. She woke me up at 7:00 a.m. as she ran for the toilet. Luckily she was just hungry and not starting another round of throw up. She ate four crackers, had a couple drinks, and went back to bed for about 45 minutes. When we came downstairs I asked if she wanted more of the medicine drink. Andrea had been given some Tang before Greta and I got downstairs. I poured Greta half a glass of Pedialyte. Andrea wanted some too, so I gave her about a quarter of a glass. She wasn't impressed. She wanted "ohm" (all of it). She didn't want it anymore, and kept reaching for Greta's cup. Her grandpa and I kept asking her if she wanted different drinks - orange juice, apple juice, Tang... she didn't want any of it. Finally my dad pulled out the apple juice and held it next to Greta's cup, saying, "Look! It's apple juice!" Greta seemed amazed. When she had her next sip she said, "It does taste like apple juice!" (It really doesn't.) Andrea was still saying that she wanted Greta's drink.

My dad: "It's okay to want."
Greta to Andrea: "That's what Grandpa tells me!"
Me to Greta: "Do you like it when he says that to you?"
Greta: *silence* "I'm not saying."

That made my dad, mom, and me laugh. She did eventually say that no, she doesn't like it when he tells her that.

I guess I can't make my family live under a rock

Today I took Greta and Andrea with me to Target. Yesterday I had heard about some great clearance sales they were having, so I wanted to see what I might find. I didn't find much. While walking through the girls clothes I started pushing the cart toward a pink shirt with Hershey's kisses on it. I thought Greta might like it. She saw one shirt and one shirt only; a black Hannah Montana shirt. Doh!! I have hoped that we could avoid High School Musical, Camp Rock (or whatever it is), Hannah Montana, and others. But this is what she wanted. When I asked who Hannah Montana is Greta told me "a singer." That's all she knows. But the other girls at school think she is cool. She cried for at least five minutes because I didn't take it off the rack (I was still deciding, and I didn't want to get her hopes up by putting it in the cart like I normally would, just to change my mind and put it back. Okay, really, I just didn't want to get it). We walked around, Greta finally told me that she wanted to go home, so I found the last couple things I needed and we started to head for the front of the store. Then I saw my mom pushing her own cart. Greta also saw her and ran to catch up. She was told about the Hannah Montana shirt right away. "Can we go get it Grandma???" For whatever reason my cart was no longer good enough for my girls. I stopped to look at a few things and lost my family, only to find them closer to the girls clothes. My first time through the little and bigger girl sections I didn't find anything. The second time I found a few things. One of which was a PINK Hannah Montana shirt. I held it up to Greta's back when she wasn't paying attention to see if this shirt would actually keep her belly covered. It looked like it would. I had it strategically folded in the cart so she couldn't see what it was, just that a pink shirt was in the cart. She asked to see it a couple times.

We shopped around for awhile, were walking toward toilet paper, when Greta told me she found the perfect thing to wash the toilets. I think it was a Clorox Toilet Wand. She carried that box around for maybe ten minutes. She would not put it down. She thought that's what we needed. I don't think she knows that I have a toilet brush. She finally put it down after I pointed out a package of tissues that included a Hannah Montana box. Then she didn't want to put that down. I can't remember what my mom finally said, but she put the packageback where it belonged. No tears.

We left the store with Greta not really knowing whether or not there was a Hannah Montana shirt in a cart. But then she thought she saw the checker put one in my bag. She kept asking to look, but I made her wait until we got home to pull all the shirts out. Once again I got zero credit. "The man put a Hannah Montana shirt in our bag!!!" *sigh*

They always make me laugh

Last night I told the girls to find books to read before they went to bed. Andrea said, "Weh's doh-tah soos?" It took me a second to figure out she was asking "Where is Dr. Seuss?" I'm not sure which Dr. Seuss book she was referring to - maybe The Cat in the Hat?

Today in Primary the singing leader had snowflakes that she had the kids sit on. When we got home that's what Greta wanted to do, so I cut papers into squares, folded them, and showed her what to do. We made four (or more?) papers worth of snowflakes of various sizes. Toward the end she said, "This is totally, totally awesome!" I am sure I taught her awesome, but totally...?

At lunch we had yummy skillet dinner. Andrea didn't eat much, but she did tell Greta "Dis is ree, ree, ree, ree good." But she didn't say good. I had to ask her what she said, then figured it out just as my parents told me.

As crazy and wild as these girls are, they have hearts of gold. If I get hurt (even pretending) Greta gets sad right along with me and wants to make me feel better. Greta loves making things to give to people, usually some kind of drawing or painting. She has been wanting us to help her spell out messages that she writes. Andrea knows how to make your heart melt. She is the hardest kid to be mad at! All she has to do is smile at you or tell you that she loves you and she is forgiven. And she has the saddest, most heartbreaking cry. I heard that tonight when I went upstairs after multiple times telling them to be quiet, it's bedtime, etc. It broke my heart and I had to hug and kiss her until she wasn't so sad. She is finally letting me wear a sweater around the house without making me take it off. She used to think that if I wore a sweater it meant I was leaving. And if I give her a kiss she says, "No bye-bye."

Yet another Andrea funny

I have another funny phrase she said a week or so ago, but it's written down at home. Hopefully I will remember to type it up soon!

Today I got home from school. Andrea was being a little cutie (Greta was playing computer games and had not yet noticed that I was home from school, at least not that I could tell). My mom said that if I had gotten home a little bit earlier I would have seen tears. Why? Andrea told me, "Ee-uh ant big bankie. Ga-mah seh NO." (Andrea wanted big blankie. Grandma said NO.) My mom and I laughed and laughed.

Cutest little dancer!!

We were watching a dance competition (I think there were eight countries involved) tonight. Andrea loves dancing. She started dancing along. Since I don't have a video camera, I pulled out my trusty camera. It might have been a bit more effective if I had changed the settings a little so it was taking pictures in a row by itself, but I didn't. You get the idea. She was dancing with the Russians. Sorry the pictures are so small. I didn't notice that I had them set to upload to a smaller size until 31 pictures had uploaded.



She wanted to dance alone. Can you tell?



Andrea got to sit on the couch with me for a couple minutes after that while Greta danced alone.



She didn't dance for very long.

Finally, posey/fun pictures of Greta!

These were taken today after church.





Greta holding her eyes open when I complained about all the close-eyed pictures I was taking.



This is a funny picture. I think Greta had been too close to Andrea in the corner. Andrea has an angry looking face with Wheat Thins, her current favorite food, in her hand and hanging out of her mouth. Greta looking like she did something wrong.

A few Christmas pictures

Santa's snack plate with homemade cookies and chocolate dipped gummy bears. We left the cup empty so that Santa's milk wouldn't get warm in case he prefers cold milk. If he likes milk then I told Greta he could put it in the microwave.



Greta insisted that Santa's treats go on the special red plate.

Christmas morning.



We were drinking orange juice before we could open presents. Their grandpa didn't stop them from sneaking into their stockings, hence the candy cane, fruit snacks, and ornaments.



The girls' gifts from Santa. Big girl beds!



The stuff on the floor (in the picture with Andrea's bed) is what goes with Greta's bed. I had spent most of the afternoon putting the beds together. Andrea's had different parts put together multiple times. Darn instructions. I guess I should have followed them better, but they were annoying.



Doesn't Greta look happy?

I did not many pictures from Christmas. I was too busy playing with them.