Big Britches

Our days are absolutely full of fun and giggles , as you can imagine. A pile of laundry is not even safe around these girls. Before the clothes could be folded and put away, the girls had grabbed our clothes and were role-playing being mom and dad.

Gotta love moments that bring fun to the mundane chores of everyday.

Trumpet lessons

Bryan is beginning trumpet lessons with the girls. They are so excited and love to see Daddy coming with the trumpet. I have to say, the first few lessons have been.., well, um, good. I actually am pretty impressed with the sound the girls have been able to produce. I was a little hesitant when Bryan mentioned starting with the girls because I didn't know if they would be able to make any sound. But, guess what, they can make....sound!

I have actually given it a try also and didn't do to bad, if I do say so myself. Well, that's all for tonight. Keep us in mind as we all begin this new journey with the trumpet. May our ears and patience all endure until the end.

We are back!

I know, I know, it has been forever since I posted on this blog that no one is even checking it anymore. But here goes for starting it back again. We have had no Internet at the house and are schedules have been so busy that posting a blog didn't ever make it into the schedule. But...I now have a device that I can post from. So here's for hoping I can continue to keep everyone updated.

The girls are getting so big. Emma is five and Erin is four. They play so well together and fight just as well. They love princesses and dress up and a week doesn't usually pass without a tea party. Superheroes and dinosaurs are also on their list of favorites. You just never know with these two. Emma is thoughtful and curious. She is constantly saying things that completely catch us off guard. She was singing a song she made up about God and someone asked where she learned it and she responded, "It came from my heart." Erin is sweet and always busy doing and imagining something. She loves to play with her figurines. The other day she was playing and made up a movie. The plot went like this. "The slime monster ate a bunch of people then went to the bathroom. The end." I love to watch them play. They are learning at such lightning speeds that it is hard to keep up. We started homeschool this year and we are ALL learning everyday. Even though, it is not all fun and games, we are trying to enjoy each other and the process of learning. 

Well, thanks for stoping by and giving us another chance at this blog.

Here are just a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Gotta love grandparents! My dad gave the girls these overstuffed monkeys this Thanksgiving. We all made the trip home in our little Prius. 

Fun in the snow!

Family picture. I think the last one we took was when Erin was 10 months old.

Christmas pjs. I made the shirts last year and the pants this year. Don't want to do too much at one time, right?

My first attempt at a quilt. The girls approved.

Emma in her new ballet slippers on Christmas morning.

SUPERGIRLS

If you have not met me, my name is Super Emma. Well...I may not be a real superhero with special powers or anything, but I really am a big girl and I can do all kind of interesting things.
I have some really good friends and I try my best to be a good friend too. I like to hold hands and play and help. Erin is my best friend and I help her lots by telling her what to do. She doesn't always listen to me, but I make sure she hears at least.
Erin is really tough and has the special power of not getting scared easily. She touched a baby frog that Aunt Linda found. I said that I was scared of frogs, but not Erin! She is really brave. But...I might have taught her that.
Guess what! I can fall asleep by reading a book to myself. My bed is really comfortable and my books are very interesting.
Even when slides are really fast and high, I can climb to the top and slide down all on my own. See, I am brave too. I knew Erin had to learn it from somewhere.
A few weeks ago, we got to keep some baby chicks for a few days. They were fun to watch from across the room. Mommy learned the very funny superpower of chasing chickens. She's not very good yet and I don't think she wants the practice to get very good...that's what she says anyway.
I told you that we were big girls. We help Mom in all kinds of ways around the house. Last week, we helped her paint the house. I know she just gave us water, but I think it was practice for the real stuff.
Erin is learning to drive. We don't trust her out on the road yet, but give her a few weeks.
I just finished my training to work in food service. I don't know prices for everything yet. I think everything is $2, but they tell me there are actually different prices. I guess I will learn that later.
Well, that's who we are and what we are doing. Like I said, not exactly superheroes, but maybe superheroes in training. After all, we are doing lots of important things and helping the world around us become a little more interesting.

Spring is here!

We are so excited that spring has finally arrived. If the weather is even half-way decent, the girls are itching to go outside. The other day they had a ball playing in the rain. After all, what are raincoats for if you can't go outside in the rain?
The girls really are great friends and love to play together. Erin cannot stand it when she wakes up and Emma is still asleep. I have found her on Emma's bed trying to wake her up numerous times.
Emma is growing up so fast. She surprises us everyday with the new things she says. Most of the time when we sit down to dinner, she acts so surprised and says, "Did you make this, Mom?" and then she says, "You are a good cook!" The other day, she loaded up her little cart and headed out her door and said, "I better go before I get back." She is our little comedian.
Erin is quickly becoming a little girl instead of a baby. She can count to 13 and is trying to sing the ABCs. The tune is correct but the letters have a little ways to go. In the last few weeks, her speech has really taken off. She is putting several words together to make sentences and short stories.
A couple of weeks ago, we went to Pittsburgh with Bryan's biology class to visit the zoo and the conservatory. The girls had a ball! Emma makes a pretty good meerkat.
Show offs!
At home, we are staying pretty busy too. The girls love to help me do anything in the kitchen. They really are becoming good helpers. They like to help set the table and Emma even likes to wash the dishes.
The girls love to make things. We save all kinds of boxes and bottles to make anything we can think up.
Kites, Kites, Kites. Daddy made us a kite and we have had a blast flying it. The girls have loved to read about and talk about kites, so it has been fun to see them actually get to fly one.
Another kite day.
Puddles can keep us occupied for a very long time. I love playing with these girls. My days have continued to get busier and more fun since they were born.
I can't wait to see what other things we are going to do this spring and summer. I will try to keep you updated and involved. Enjoy your springtime.

Emma's busy hands

We do sleep occasionally and when we do finally fall asleep, we will sleep anywhere. I am not really sure if it was really nice of Mommy to take this picture of me, but she says it is cute, so I'll let her have it. But, guess what! We are not asleep long and when we get up, we are ready to play. Mommy tries to have lots of ideas for us to play. She saves everything. Mommy likes to play with cereal boxes, milk jugs, diaper boxes, anything. Mommy really likes to play. She tries to come up with ideas with her trash so that we will play with her.

One day, I heard her say, "AHA!" and in a few minutes she put this backpack on me. It used to be an orange bag but I like to pretend I am going to school or to the store, so she made me a backpack!
Mommy calls these our Picasso glueings. She cut out shapes to make a face and gave them to us to glue. Mine is the first picture and Erin's is next to mine. Mine is a face. Erin hasn't told me what hers is yet, but I think it is beautiful, don't you?
See, boxes! I told you she saves everything. Oh, I forgot! Her very favorite thing is colored duct tape. It is pretty amazing everything that stuff can do. Erin and I already know we are princesses so Mommy made us our very own thrones but they work great for t.v. chairs too.
See my table? It is just my size. We like to do our crafts at this table. Here we made our very own little barns out of envelopes to put pictures of our farm animals in.
We sang "Old MacDonald had a Farm" and pulled the animals out of the envelope as we sang.
Erin likes to paint. I think painting is fun because it makes such a big mess. That is a lot of color in one place! Erin was painting a rock, but her legs were just as colorful when we were done. We are the best masterpiece after all, right?
This is the reason I told you that Mommy liked to play. Look what she did! She took some diaper boxes and made a playhouse for our Weebles. They had a lot of fun with this. They had 2 slides, an elevator, a chute, and a merry-go-round. Well, I am wasting good playing time. Have fun and make lots of memories!

In the meantime...

Where have we been? Well...mostly just right here living our lives and having a blast doing it. I spend my days chasing after, entertaining, cooking for, disciplining, and comforting two absolutely enjoyable and exhausting girls. Hide and seek is a daily game and it never gets tiring...for the girls.
Here is just a little update, however late it may be. We had a marvelous Christmas. The girls were absolutely delightful. Christmas gets more fun with each year they grow older. Bryan and I just found restraining ourselves difficult. Everything you see in the store you can imagine your child loving and playing with forever, even though we all know and have proven time and time again, the boxes can be much more interesting. But we eventually did make our decisions and did pretty well not getting too crazy.
We have had snow, then snow, then more snow. It is quite a chore to bundle up both girls so tight they gave barely move, herd them out the door and into the cold snow, and then try to get them to move and play. But Emma truly enjoyed it! She wanted to just walk and walk in the snow. The only thing that convinced her to move toward the door was the promise of hot chocolate, which we all know is the best part about playing in the snow.
Erin didn't care much for the snow, but the hot chocolate was a different story. The picture above is the reason sippy cups were invented. I don't believe this shirt has been the same since its exposure to large amounts of chocolate.

I am always looking for new ideas to keep these active and growing minds learning and entertained. We try to do a little project or craft each day. The girls love to paint, but my nerves can't handle too much of it. However, I am very grateful for all washable materials. We have made thrones out of boxes, beanbags out of a little duct tape and material, kites out of contact paper, tissue paper,and ribbon, and color our fair share of Curious George pictures.

(I have no idea why this is underlined, by the way! Small technical difficulty)

Of course, the mundane has to interrupt the fun occasionally. The girls are generally patient and depend on each other for comfort and entertainment and sometimes just a good fight.

Dress up of any kind seems to reign supreme most of the time. Princess dresses, Daddy's hats, and Mommy's shoes all make life at home a little more exciting.

At the end of the day, it sure is nice to lean back, relax, and stop moving for the first time since you woke up...and I am sure the girls feel the same way!

Thankful hearts

Last week as I stared out at the ocean stretching farther than I could see, I was amazed at God's creativity and love for us that He would give us such a beautiful and majestic expression of His glory and goodness. However, when I am at home playing with my girls or singing to a sleeping child I am filled with the same wonder.
My heart overflows with thankfulness to a God that would enrich my life with the fun and the challenges of raising two such beautiful expressions of God's creativeness and love.

This week we had the opportunity to visit some family and have had a great time. I am so thankful for family that loves and supports us.
The girls have new and fun experiences all the time. I am grateful that God has filled our lives with fun memories. My days are full of laughter as I watch the girls explore and try to figure out the world around them. Just the other day, Bryan and I were saying that we had two girls just so they could chase each other around the house.
Sweet moments...I couldn't take enough pictures to capture the sweet moments that fill my days!
I would be lying if I said that every time I saw their curiosity displayed, my heart leaped for joy. I have realized how much I grunt or groan in frustration now that I hear Emma making the same noise in frustration. However, I am glad that God gave them curious minds and able bodies that allow them to explore and discover things even though it may cause extra work or momentary frustration. God gives me every bit of energy I need in order to do the job He has given me to do.
Thank you God for sacrificing your one and only Son to bring joy to my life! I am most thankful for my Savior who gave His life in place of mine so that I can experience the blessings of God that this sinful child doesn't deserve.