The Great Easter Egg Massacre of 2011

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What? March already? How?

I don't know where the time goes. I guess we're just having too much fun.  :)

Well since October, Ana has turned one, Katen has turned three.
We took a trip to California to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Remer. We'll not be flying with the girls again anytime soon.  Ha!

We moved into our new house a week before Christmas. I think we're finally getting settled. There are a few curtains up and I'm embracing the fact that the house will simply be decorated in beige, white, and black because those are the colors I feel safe with. I'm a little decoratively challenged.

The girls are growing up so quickly. Ana and Katen are taking showers now instead of baths. Ana looooves the water. She's our little fishy. Katen... not as much but she tolerates the shower because she can avoid the stream. Before each shower she says to me, "Please no 'dishner today mommy?"  She hates having shampoo or conditioner washed out of her hair. Unfortunately to keep it under control, she requires a lot of conditioner.

Ana's favorite things to do right now are running and jumping, followed closely by climbing. She climbs onto our ottoman and leaps from it. Thank goodness she's a tough cookie. She's also a good mommy to her dollies. She's a little more domestic than Katen in that she likes to love her babies, love/snuggle with Katen, and help me clean. Katen, on the other hand loves to make crafts and cook with me.

Katen has taught Ana the art of pretending, so I'll often catch Ana playing like she's filling cups or cooking. Then she'll take a pretend sip. Sounds effects and all. It cracks me up.

Ana is really starting to say more words now. By FAR her favorite is Mommy? Mommy. Mommy! Momeeeeee!  She's a big daddy's girl too though. One of her favorite daily rituals is snuggling with Daddy before she tells him goodbye for the day. I think "Bye Bye Dada" was one of her first two-word phrases.

Katen continues to enjoy dance classes. There are times where I think she gives her (really awesome) teacher a run for her money, but she is the youngest member of the class after all. I have a feeling that Katen would enjoy tumbling or soccer more though. She just needs to be another year older for those things. Katen isn't really into the typical "princess" stuff that many other girls are. She loves to dress up, etc but she definitely evens it out with her love of sports and being active in general.

Tomorrow I will sign both girls up for another session of story time at a local library. Last session, I only had Katen signed up, as she's old enough to attend on her own. Ana and I would play in the play area while Katen was in there but Ana missed her so badly that she'd just hang by the door and peek in looking for Katen. It's so sweet the bond those two have. They love each other when one is hurt, and Katen often tries to show off her "baby sister" to anyone in the grocery store who will stop and talk with her. Although Ana is nearly the same height and weight as Katen, I think she will always be her "Baby Sister." Someone asked Katen is we had a dog the other day. Once again (this has happened before) she replied, "Nope we have Ana."

 Here are some of the cute things the girls have done or said recently that I have written down.

I'm sitting here watching Ana very carefully line up her blueberries across the table. She transfers them from her bowl, to a muffin cup, to the lineup. I swear she's going to be a surgeon or something that requires great detail. She's definitely a "details" girl. Things have to be just right. :)

My Grandma used to hang Easter Eggs on her front bushes in the Spring. As a kid I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Since we don't have any bushes yet, we made an Easter egg... "branch" for our centerpiece. The kids love it as much as I remember loving it. :) Katen said, "Thank you for making the Easter Egg tree. It makes my heart happy."

I just dust busted my children after snack time. Crumbs everywhere! Katen thought it was awesome and Ana might need therapy. lol!

"MOMMY!!! Ana flushed my pants in the toilet!" Argh. Bed time yet?

Oooh dear. Ana has learned to cross her arms and turn her head when she's not happy about something. She learned it from the master, Katen. I'd hoped we could wait a little longer for this type of attitude out of Ana. Katen only just started doing it. argh. lol!

Spent almost 4 hours in the ER last night getting Katen's fever cooled down (strep). Crawled into bed at midnight. Ana woke at 2:15 refusing to go back to sleep. Katen was back up at 4am and then woke Ana and I both up again at 6am. Nights like that make me appreciate the normal ones much more. :) 

I asked Katen if she was turning into a bird. (her comforter sheds feathers) She said, "Yeah I'm a quail." ...and I asked, do you lay eggs? "Oh no! Not in the house!" LOL!!!

Katen is sitting at my desk writing a letter to mamo (grandma): Hi Mamo, I love you. I hope you love me too. Then end. Love Katen.

According to Katen: "Mom you can't just go around tickling people when peoples are eating. Some peoples might choke... like this *#&@&@&#."
Well... she has a point. Sorry kiddo. :)

I'm lucky that my kids will eat pretty much anything. (sushi, salsa, meat, etc) The funny part is when they find something completely normal that they just detest. I found today that Ana hates Ranch dressing. She took one taste and made a face like it was the most vile substance she'd ever put in her mouth, even gagging for added drama. Who doesn't love ranch!?!?

Heard from the playroom: "No babyzilla. No no! Ana stop! Bad Anazilla. Moooooom! "

Katen had a great Dr visit. 1 immunization and no tears. Ana actually lost weight. (No more super mommy milk)
Ana is 24lbs and 31 inches tall (90%)
Katen is 29lbs and 36 inches (25%)

So I was changing Ana and reached for a diaper. In that moment she sprang up, scaled the side of Katen's train table, and peed in it. Nice. I'd hoped to wait a little longer for those kinds of shenanigans.

I asked Katen if she needed a spoon to eat her cake with. She said, "No I can eat it with my face." ahhh true. :)

 

 

 

 

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October

It's been way too long since I last updated. Here are some of the things that went on during the month of October...

Ana learned to walk at about 10most, 2 wks, very similar to her big sister. Now half way through November she's an expert and can even dance a little bit if there's music that moves her.

The girls had fun on Halloween. We carved pumpkins and I let the girls play with the seeds and guts. It kept them busy for a good hour at least. Katen was a bee and Ana was a butterfly. We drove over to our new neighborhood and did our trick or treating there. At one of the houses, they asked Katen to tell a joke. She proudly asked them, "Why do bees have sticky hair?" When they said they didn't know, she jumped up and down and said in an excited voice, "...because they use honey combs!"

She picked that joke up on the way to Night Eyes at the Zoo the night before. Night eyes was packed and walking through the zoo was a very slow process. I think both girls (and definitely both parents) were ready to be done by the end. We may or may not have skipped a few stops just to get it over with.  :)

We also took the girls to a couple of pumpkin farms. They had a blast trying to tote the pumpkins around and the weather was great. One of the farms had a animals, a giant slide, a trampoline, and best of all, a huge corn pool. The girls had so much fun playing in the corn pool. Katen liked the slide into it, and Ana had fun running it through her fingers. Amazingly, Ana didn't try to eat any, but plenty came home in her diaper.

Katen has started dance lessons and really seems to enjoy them. Her teacher, Miss Evie, is amazing, and when I say amazing I mean AMAZING. She has the energy of those three year olds (Katen is the youngest) and then some. I don't know how she does it, but she's so fun and so animated that the girls just soak her up. She's the perfect first "teacher" for Katen. Katen prefers to call her "Abbie Cadaby." I don't know why.

As Katen nears three years old she's become very independent. She can pour her own drinks, make herself a peanutbutter sandwich, dress herself, get shoes on, and she's been potty trained all summer now. She's known her ABC's for almost a year and she's counting up to 20. She has something against number 16 though and often chooses to leave it out. She also knows her letter sounds and has been known to graffiti her name on the garbage can. (Not very sneaky.)

Ana has four teeth - the bottom two and the top two. She's currently working on a few more. I always know when a tooth is about to emerge because Ana is the calm and easy going baby. Nothing really gets her upset unless she's teething. Then watch out. It's also the only time she drools.

Ana is learning her signs as Katen did. She's doing well with milk, more, all done, and dog. She's fascinated with animals of any sort and can make the sounds of some of them as well. My favorite is her Whoo - Whoo for the owl. It's precious.

Ana can climb the stairs both up and down so we have to baby gate everything. She gets upset if Katen is napping and she is not because she wants to climb up to see her. Ana is Katen's biggest fan and for the most part they play together pretty well. There are some sharing issues at times but overall they play really cute together. They have a little play house that they love to spend time in. Ana peeks in the window at Katen and then busts through the door. Then they giggle and do it again. They also cook together in their play kitchen.

Earlier in the month, my father was killed in a tractor roll over accident. The girls made the trip with me two days in a row so that we could be at the visitation and the funeral. That meant napping in a different place and trying to behave during a very serious time. I feel like both girls did as well as they possibly could have  and I'm so proud of them. I think they may have brightened up a very difficult time for a few people too. I know having them with me helped lift my spirits for sure.

Here are a few random snippets of our life at home that I wrote down so that I wouldn't forget how funny my kids are:

Katen has taken all of the stuffing out of her lovey's head so it's flat, and she likes it that way despite my efforts to restuff and do surgery multiple times. Today she says to me, "Mommy look, Moe didn't look both ways." [when crossing the road] 

November 1 

Katen is sitting here singing the Super Why song at the top of her lungs as she colors at her table, and Ana is rearranging the animal shaped fridge magnets, making animals sounds. How did my kids get so stinkin' cute? 

Katen: "Hey Mommy! Ana has the hip hops!" [hiccup]

The girls are soundly sleeping after having a blast running around the apple orchard. Ana kept trying to ride the pumpkins and Katen kept trying to climb into people's wagons but all in all it was a great day and a fun time.

October 15 

"Katen, do you have a doggy at home?" "No, I have Ana." :)

October 14 

I let Katen play in her bee costume this morning. After a while she came up to me with a very serious face and said, "Mommy I can't go buzzing around with this butt sticking out." (her "stinger" ) LOL! I'm not sure what we can do about that. ;)

October 7

Mom will you straighten my hair too?

‎"You're a ham." "I'm not a ham, Mom. I'm Katen."

Construction Month 1

Finally we got a start, and if the monsoon rain season subsides we can finally get this show on the road!

As of now, the basement is poured, the support beams are in place, the first floor is framed, and lots of brush has been cleared. Mike and some helpers also took down a very large thorny elm tree and tons of little trees that were in the way. Today the framing for the main stairway (there are two) should go up and next week the trusses arrive to start the roof portion. The builder wants our spaceship... errr I mean shower delivered the first week in September, so that's sooon!

This is what I mean when I call our shower a spaceship.

Here are some pictures of the progress so far...

Living room

Above: Dining Nook, Below: Poker Room 

Above: Living Room, Below: Rec Room

Dining Nook

Katen's Room, Girls' Bathroom

Rec Room

More soon!!

Summer Wrap Up

Well... our Fall 2010 Hawkeye Football tickets have arrived. That means that summer is almost over. We've had so much fun though!

It's been a summer of record rain. The third wettest summer on record to be exact. We've built tents, played with water, and terrorized the library play areas on the rainy days. We've even painted pottery - which is not for the faint of heart as the pottery store has many breakables within reach of curious little hands.

 

The dry days have been filled with trips to the park, many zoo visits, strawberry picking at the strawberry patch , blueberry picking at Berry Fresh Farms (which Ana was actually pretty good at too) , raspberry picking at Grandpa R's office (and some awesome black raspberry crisp as a result), splashing around at the splash pad, and lots of other random activities to keep us busy. (and wear us out for nap time.) 

  

The girls even got to see their first play - Charlotte's Web - this summer. Of course the time they spent sitting in the chairs for this picture was probably the longest stretch of time they actually sat still.  :) 

Katen spent a couple of mornings at daycamp and did really well. She came home very proud of her "work" and didn't have any problems with mommy leaving her there for a while. In fact the conversation went something like this...

Mommy:  "Katen is it okay if you stay here and mommy leaves for a while?"

Katen: "Bye mom."

 Unfortunately she also got her first bite by another kid. The boy got her in the eye of all places. I have no doubts that Katen told him in no uncertain terms that it wasn't nice though. 

Ana has really come a long way this summer too. At 8 months she began to crawl and two weeks later decided that wasn't good enough, so she started pulling herself up on things. Now she's an expert cruiser along the furniture and toys. Yesterday she even stood on her own for a while. Katen handed her a toy and she forgot she wasn't holding on. When she realized it, her face was priceless. You could see the "uh oh!" look on her face and then she went plop. She also has her first two teeth and is working on a bunch more. Only having two doesn't slow her down much in the food department though. She'll eat pretty much anything. She even stole Katen's hamburger off her table one day and ate half before Katen could get it back - ketchup, mustard, onions and all. 

We spent our last day at the splash pad on Monday. It closes for the winter this weekend. Both girls had a blast as most of the kids were in school already. Ana likes crawling through the water and splashing. Katen loves pouring water into buckets, etc and practicing swimming. (in the 3 inches of water.) 

Yesterday we went to the fair. I'll have some fun video of Katen riding the big slide to follow. This weekend we're heading to Minneapolis for a short weekend vacation with the girls. We're planning to go to the zoo and do some shopping for sure. It will be interesting to see how the girls do in the car and how everyone sleeps (or doesn't) when we're all in the same room.  :: fingers crossed! ::

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