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.

Little funny

Today, after Andrea and I were making Lumpy (Pooh Bear's baby elephant friend) sounds, I asked Andrea what Roo says. "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy." I laughed out loud, told her "Good!" and gave her a big hug. I wondered who else would she surprise me with her answer? I don't remember the order I asked, but here are some of her answers: Tigger - "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy." Kanga (Roo's mommy) - "Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy." Pooh Bear - "I like honey!" (Made me laugh!!) Rabbit - "Carrots!" (Made me laugh!!) Eeyore - not the answer I expected and I can't remember now what she said. I can't remember what she said for Christopher Robin. I couldn't make out what she said for Owl.

Tonight my mom turned on the movie "The Sound of Music." I was excited to see it, but did not think we would be able to watch it long, thinking the girls would get bored. They did so well!! They loved the singing (especially Andrea) and loved the dancing (especially Andrea, who kept asking for more dancing).

Fun pictures!

These are not in the right order, but they were all taken in December.

A game the girls love...



This time with Grandma!



The first big snowstorm! Greta helping Andrea get a snowball:



Andrea not really knowing what to do with it:





Cheering for Andrea. "You hit the window!!"



Playing the computer.



Showing off the birthday poster she made to share with her class.

No guesses?!

Fine.

"Mommy ict ah ahm" = Mommy licked my arm
"Uh oo Tuh" = Love you Greta ("Tuh" used to be "Tuh-tuh")

Last week (or was it the week before??) she asked me to read the "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?" story. I might have been too slow to start reading and she started doing it herself. She had me rolling! But she did so well. And I was so surprised.

"Po (not to be confused with poo. It's Po, like the Teletubby) Beh, Po Beh, wuh oo he-uh. I hee uh ____ (usually "peatot". She loves the peacock picture) uh uh e-uh." (Translated is "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear? I hear a ____ (peacock) _____ (whatever sound they make, which she doesn't usually say) in my ear.") She knows all the animals in the book. Her current favorite book is an oldie Golden Book, "Donald Duck and the One Bear" - AKA "Pizza book." I'm not sure if it's all the pizza that makes her love the book, or if it's the story, or Donald, Daisy, and Donald's nephews.

Greta is doing better, but still very hoarse. When I got home from work Monday I walked right past her lying on the couch. She didn't tell me she was there, and the sounds of "Mommy!!" is usually where they both are. Her grandma had told her she needed to get lots of rest so she could get better, so she was. I asked her how she was doing. Her response: "Not well." She is mostly surviving on popsicles, because right now she can get away with it, but she did eat her whold corn dog from Dairy Queen yesterday. Her outfit today.... yikes!! I need to take a picture. There was a day several weeks ago that I took her picture, then took her out in public. LOL! She's a kid, and she can get away with it. At least she's happy.

What I wouldn't give...

To have a webcam on Andrea all the time! She is the funniest kid! She had my mom and me rolling tonight during dinner while she ate "neddles." One of the funnier things she said was "Mommy ict ah ahm." Can you figure it out? And she is the loviest kid. I come home from work or school and get "MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!! MOMMY!!!" and HUGE hugs that go on, and on, and on. Just a little bit ago I overheard the girls playing with Greta calling Andrea "Annie" and Andrea saying "Uh oo Tuh." Makes me laugh trying to spell how she sounds, but she makes perfect sense to me! ... Most of the time.

I tried posting a few pictures of the girls from Andrea's birthday dinner, but I had them sized huge in photobucket. I'll fix it... later. Now I'm going to read bedtime stories my little sick-os (Andrea has a runny nose, Greta sounds like a little man with her hoarse voice).

Should have been embarrassing, but....

The night before Greta's birthday as I was tucking her in and kissing her goodnight she asked me to give her a surprise party. Um.... Okay.... I started thinking that maybe I could call my sister and see if she would mind if I picked up her 4-year-old daughter on my way home from work and I would take the two girls to McDonald's for ice cream cones. After telling my mom she suggested having people meet at McDonald's instead. Okay. That would work. On my way to work Wednesday morning I called my sisters and sister-in-law to let them know about the surprise party. After work I called my mom who mentioned what a nice day it was, and that it was too bad we weren't going to have the party outside. ......Okay. I was stopping at a store to pick up balloons. She called and changed plans with my sister and sister-in-law while I changed plans with my brother-in-law, then called and left a message for my sister. But then we didn't have snacks for the party. Luckily there is a Wal-Mart between work and the park. We had a great time (even with the locked bathrooms - what the heck?!).

The next day, Andrea's birthday, I wanted to do something fun. But what?! I had picked up Chick-Fil-A for our family the week before and the girls loved it. I suggested getting it for dinner again, thinking Andrea would have a fun birthday dinner. My parents and the girls met me after work. We ordered the same exact food, only this time neither girl touched her chicken. I was shocked!! All Andrea had was her lemonade. The next day was the first big day of her cold, so maybe that's why. ??? While sitting in the food court Greta commented on a worker at a hot dog stand's hat (is it Hot Dog on a Stick??). I had my back to that restaurant so I wasn't really paying attention to what was happening. Out of nowhere Greta yells, "THEY'RE OUT OF THEIR PEN!!!! HE'S OUT OF HIS PEN!!!!" I started laughing, guessing who she was talking about. I turned to check, and it was the hot dog worker. She was on the outside of the restaurant, washing counters. Kind of makes me want to take her out like this more often. Seriously.

Happy birthday to my beautiful girls

We had a busy day for Greta's birthday. Now I'm up too late and it is Andrea's birthday. There are a lot of pictures that I would love to share and remember. Here are some that were easy to share.

I love you princesses! I hope your special days are extra special.

Nov 19, 2003

Nov 20, 2006 (pict taken Nov 21)

Nov 20, 2006

Nov 18, 2008

Nov 19, 2008