Mom's Water

Why does water always taste better out of Mom's cup?

Don't know. But it most assuredly does!

4 kids + 3 dogs = tons of fun

Once upon a time, not too long ago, I found myself with a pretty full house. In addition to my two sweet girls and my one energetic pup, I added two more kiddos and two more (much bigger!) dogs. 

2 Labs. 

1 Beagle. 

4 kids, ages 3.5, 2.5, 1.5, and almost 1. 

And just one me.  All day.  I was excited, but also anxious. And that morning, before the mayhem began, I said a little prayer that I would be ok with getting nothing done other than supervising the fun. 

Turns out, though, it's true what they say. Adding a few more kids doesn't neccesarily add more work, in fact, it may even make it easier cause the kids can entertain themselves.   The day could not have gone any smoother!  

We watched a little Sesame Street.

Ate a little lunch.

Had some snack.

Made some granola.

Played "getting married". 

Side note:  At one point, Papillon's friend came to find me, with something very important on her mind.  

"Does God say you cannot marry a girl?" she says. 

Taken aback, I respond, "Well, yes. If you are a girl, God says you may not marry a girl"

"Well, God says you can't marry a girl, and Papillon wants to get married!" 

*scandalous!* haha

Her solution:  "I'm just gonna marry J." (her brother)

Brilliant. 

It was such a good day. And such a huge blessing that it went soooo well! It was a ton of fun. Very productive. And at the end of the day, I felt hugely accomplished, but also hugely blessed.

Football!

I don't watch a lot of football. Generally 1, sometimes 2 games a year. But the 1 or 2 games that I "watch" (I use that term loosely, since for me its less about the game and more about the people watching with me), I love. 

The Superbowl is my one constant in the world of football. It was an added bonus that the home team was playing (and won!).

The girls wore purple just for the occasion.  They loved our friends oversized bean bag chair!

Chillin' out before the game.

It got a little late, and Papillon got tired and snugly.

But the little girls were going strong!

We made it until just after halftime before the girls crashed and it was time to call it a night.
It was a great time!

Train Party!

Earlier this month, we got to celebrate our little godson's 3rd birthday. Here he is two years ago.  My how time flies!!

It was a Train themed party, and it was brilliantly planned and fantastically executed!

What a fun cake!

Hibou had a fun time.

As did Papillon.

As did the birthday boy's little brother. Was it national goofy face day and I missed it?

The birthday boy!!

Friends, enjoying cake together.

The birthday boy and his lovely mom.

Visiting Nannie

We recently had the opportunity to visit Nannie. It was a lovely lovely visit...with a tasty tasty cake...

Nannie makes the best cakes. No joke. 

Hibou clearly had fun.

Papillon also had fun. Nannie always does a fancy spread on the table, and Papillon is a big fan of the special little cup that Nannie has for her.

Special special times.

Hibou: 11 Months

Last week, Hibou turned 11 months. Almost 1 year old!!

Some comparison posts - here she is at 10 months. And here is Papillon at 11 months.

I don't know how much she weighs, but I feel like she has had a serious growth spurt lately. We jumped up in clothes - she still fits in 9 mos, but is starting to fill out some 12 mos too - and she just feels much more solid.

At 11 most Hibou...

....goes to bed around 7:30 and gets up around 7:30.  HUZZAH! She sleeps through the night. All the way. Uninterrupted. Usually, that is.  Not 100% consistent yet. But definitely most of the time.

...takes 1 or 2 naps per day. If we are home all day, its 1 quick nap and 1 longish nap. If the morning is packed full of fun, it's just one long afternoon nap.

...nurses 3 or 4 times a day. Yeah, that dropped off fast. If you asked me last month, I would have said we were gonna be nursing for months and months longer - we were nursing all the time. Then we cut out nighttime snacks, and suddenly day time snacking slowed down a lot too. It's cool though, we'll definitely make it to a year which was my goal, and I'm not in a rush to quite after that. So we'll see what happens.

...eats 3 meals a day, plus a snack. Favorite foods are cheerios, crackers, pancakes (yes, she's a carb-avore!) avacados, sweet potatoes, oranges.

...is still "almost crawling". She can turn herself around in any direction. She can scootch lots. Usually backwards. Occasionally forwards. She will pull herself up onto her knees occasionally, but not all the way to standing yet. Still not officially crawling....any day now would be great kiddo :-)

...still just 4 teeth. 2 on top, 2 on bottom. That's it.

... does a few baby signs. Not a lot, cause I haven't taught her a lot. But she will sign "more" and she understands it when I sign "all done".

...loves people. She loves to be in a crowd and watching the goings ons.  For our 11 month photo shoot, we had a little company. Which made for extra fun.

Squish!

Ok, maybe a little too much squish.

Being offered two bottles at once. So many little moms!

....is still my sweet prankster. She will hand you something, then pull it back, and laugh. And whenever she smiles, you can tell there is a lot more going on behind her smile than you can tell.

...get's her helmet off on TUESDAY!!! AHHH!!! So excited. Look at that round round head. Perfection in a skull. Or something. ha.

Happy 11 months, Hibou!!

Cute

I love these two sweethearts.








That is all. :-)

Dog Party!

A friend of the girls recently turned one, and we were delighted to attend her Dog-Themed party. 

There was a sweet dog-cake...

...and a cardboard dog house that was super cute...

...complete with windows (hello Bithday girl!).

Hibou thought the biscuits were tasty!

Peeking!

Hibou is pretty good at using a cup...

...but gets confused when the water is all gone.

Happy Birthday to the Birthday Girl!  Papillon thinks you are lots of fun, and one day, Hibou will catch up with you in terms of mobility and you guys can run around and play and have lots of fun!

Cold Day Trip

Earlier this month we met up with Mon Amour's parents in a nearby little city that has a great little downtown to walk around.  Only...it was FREEZING!  It was a good time nonetheless. We popped into a few cool places to warm up. 

First there was yummy lunch. 

This is Hibou's "smile for the camera" face. No joke. I love it.

And Hibou loves french fries. Yum!

And of course, cheerios. Can't go any where without the cheerios.

Then we walked around a bit more, before needing to thaw out again with some coffee. Or, in Papillon's case...a milkshake! Counter intuitive, but delicious!

Fun times all around!

Babysitting Swap

Recently we have discovered the joys of babysitting swaps. They are fabulous!  Not only is it fun to be able to get out without the kids, but its also been fun to have some friends over to play with out girls. 

So much goofiness....Hibou can't believe it. Ha. 

This particular evening ended with some quiet snuggles on the sofa to watch some old disney movies. Such fun!

Snow

Papillon loves snow this year.  It is definitely a little magical to her, cause she hasn't quite figured out why it comes and goes (which it has been doing a lot this year...nothing sticks around for very long).  She says "Look mom, the snow came back!"

Hibou, so far, has been enjoying snow from inside. Mostly cause I am too lazy to get both girls bundled up, so Papillon and I enjoy the snow while Hibou is asleep. Next year, Hibou, we'll get you out in the snow too!

Sleep

Guess who sleeps through the night these days?

This sweet pea!

We are like 95% at the consistent-11-to-12-hours-of-sleep-at-night point.  As in, its consistently every other night; one night its 11 uninterrupted hours, the next its 12 hours, with one break for a few minutes of fussing.  So yeah. We're just about there. 

I've loved our middle of the night snuggle time. But yes, it is lovely to sleep uninterrupted again.

Papillon's Duck Masterpiece

For Christmas this year, Papillon got a make-your-own-Rubber-Duckie kit.  Initially I was going to wait a little bit before letting her paint it, figuring that 2.5 years was far too few to do justice to such an amazing art project.  But, one night, it just seemed like a duck-painting kind of night and so we went at it. 

We gently suggested to Papillon that she paint the whole thing yellow, and then decorate it. She took step one very seriously.

And was determined to get the whole thing yellow.

So focused!

Then is was time for customizing. Some spots here. Some green eyes (to match Papillon's, she said!). Some white stripes. Etc.

Tada! The finished product.

She was so pleased with her work. This was a number of weeks ago, and she still recounts in great detail the time she "painted the duckie"