Bear Building and New Foods

For the girls birthday they each got a gift certificate to Build a Bear from their friend Mahogany. Today we met Megan and her little girl Anna at the mall and we let the girls build a bear. Anna is Avery's BFF...seriously, you may think 2 is too young to have a BFF but you would be wrong! One day at open gymnastics Anna and Avery were walking side by side and Anna put her arm around Avery and said, "You are my best friend." It was about the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

By the time we got to naming these poor bears the girls were tired and I was loosing patience so they ended up with the lamest names on earth. "Baby" and "Bear"...sad, I know...

Here is how BAB (Build a Bear) works. They pick a an animal they want to build. They have them on display all stuffed and looking cute, but what you get, that you need to stuff, is a pelt...and quite frankly kinda creepy looking. So they pick that out then a nice lady stuffs it and they put a heart in it. Then you brush it and clean it up. After that you can pick out lots and lots of different clothes and accessories that all add up-to BIG $$$. Lucky for me the girls had just as much fun brushing their new bear as they did picking out an outfit. After that you take it over to a computer and input all your info and name the new addition to your family. It really is quite cute.

After BAB we met mom at Queen of Sheba for lunch. It is an Ethiopian restaurant. I like Ethiopian food and I like to introduce the LGs to different foods. They love Chinese, and Thia. They liked Ethiopian but not as much as the 1st two... They had a good time though.

Here are some pictures from our Ethiopian experience:

Singing in the Rain... or the living room...

There is a deep love of umbrellas in this house. The girls love umbrellas so Julie found the video of Gene Kelly Singing in the Rain and they loved that. The other night Julie decided to combine the two and the girls were dancing with their umbrellas while watching Gene Kelly actually sing in the rain. The cool thing is you can see them watch Gene Kelly and try to do the same foot work.

Julie started saying prayers with the girls before bed. Neither she nor I are very religious but we are actually both very envious of people who have faith. We want the girls to be exposed to all types of religion and if they are religious great if not that's fine too. ANYWAY... I am actually quite thankful for the prayers at night because the girls look forward to them and literally jump right into bed after them. It's a great way to get them into bed to be tucked in... I think what they like most about it is the saying of all our friends and families name. They will repeat every word. Tonight Julie was saying the prayer and they were repeating everything. Julie said, "and bless grandma, and grandpa, and ummm" and Emerson with out skipping a beat said, "ummm" I busted out laughing.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR AVERY!

This morning, during naked time Avery came over to me and said something about poop and pointed to the bathroom. I asked, "do you need to poop? Let's go sit on the potty then." We walked into the bathroom and low and behold there was a pile of poop in one of the potties! I can honestly say I have NEVER EVER been so excited to see poop! I was so happy I took a picture. Gross I know, but I wanted to document her HUGE milestone. Dont worry, I wont make you look a the poop picture.

Later in the day. Emerson looked at me grabbed her crotch and said, "PEE PEE!" I asked her if she needed to pee she confirmed that she did. I asked Julie to take her diaper off and help her get on the potty. Seconds later I hear Julie exclaim, "You did it!!! You peed on the potty!!!" So we all praised her everyone got a Skittle and I went to dump the little potty into the big potty. When I looked into the little potty there was a little water in it from the earlier morning festivities, but no pee. She put one over on Julie. She sat down on the potty then hopped up with excitement and declared she had peed. Julie saw the water and assumed it was pee.... little sneak! She has tried to do this to me too, but I am on to her wiley ways.

Shy Pee'er...

Someone is peeing in the potty but not telling me when they do it. I give them naked time every day. Every time they have NT I tell them if they need to pee or poop sit on the potty. 3 times I have found that someone has pee'ed in one of the potties, but I dont know who it is.

A few days ago when I took their diapers off I told them, "If you have to pee or poop sit on the potty and then tell me and you will get a piece of candy."

While I was in our bathroom getting ready (Emerson was in there with me) Avery came in and said something about pee pee and the potty. I asked her if she went pee pee in the potty and she said, "Ay Yah!" (Oh Yeah). We went in there to look and sure enough there was a lot of pee and a little piece of tp in one of the potties. So I praised her like she was a child prodigy then took her into the kitchen to give her a Skittle.

The other day I went to the bathroom and the seat was wet. I looked into one of the potty chairs and saw a little pee and a little tp. When I say a little I mean like 2 or three drops and the soft ring that they are suppose to pee on was on the floor... She had pee'ed and then dumped it in the toilet. So not only is she PT'ing herself she is also cleaning up after herself.

Then tonight after baths they were running around naked. Emerson kept asking for "Kay Kay" (Candy) Julie told them if they wanted candy someone had to pee pee on the poty. They both went running to the bathroom and Avery asked for a book. I went to hand her a magazine (one of Julie's gossip mags) and she said, "No, boo!" So I left the room to get her one of her books, get back to the bathroom and she had already pee'ed on the potty.

I think she is a shy pee'er!!! I think she needs her privacy to be able to pee on the potty. How funny is that!?!

Needless to say everyone got a skittle...

Well Coiffed Moms and TACO BUS!

Today I took the girls to our monthly LLL meeting. I like going because there are other mothers there that are still nursing their toddlers and they are all nice. Today was an especially good meeting...but, it has nothing to do with nursing and everything to do with well coiffed moms and the best restaurant EVER! TACO BUS!

At the meeting there is this mom of a two year old. The child is never there, but she swears she has one, and she talks like she has one. This lady is actually pretty nice and funny. The problem with her is she looks so FREAKIN perfect! Her clothes are always crisp, linen that fit her as if they were tailored JUST for HER. He hair is long and straight, blond and beautiful. She was sitting next to me today. And I could not help but noticed she smelled fabulous and had on gorgeous shoes. Im sure her little girl is in the best preschool money can buy and that is why she is not at the meetings with her perfect mommy.

Today as I reached behind her to get my $1 coffee from McDonald's I accidentally picked up some of her hair with it. I apologized. Then I looked behind her head. When I picked up her hair I uncovered a HUGE knot! I was elated! I said, "I think you have a knot in your hair." She said, "it's probably just static." "No, this is a pretty big knot. Here feel." I pulled it around for her to feel. I proceeded to help her get it out as I explained to her that to me she is the "perfect mom" and I am so happy to see she is just like me. I was running behind because of my kids this morning so I skipped the make-up. She was dealing with her little lovely so she neglected to brush her hair completely. She and I are best friends now. Well, not really but I no longer am looking for a reason to hate her.

Twice I have driven past this place called Taco Bus. I was curious so I asked a girl at the meeting about it and she said it was YUMMY! So she, her kid, another two moms, their kids, me and the LGs headed their after the meeting. The kids had a great time. I think there favorite part waas saying, "Taco Bus!" on the way home Avery and Emerson were both yelling it in a chant. Then it got quiet. A few minutes later I heard Avery whisper, "Taco Bus." as she drifted off to sleep.

LG to Engish Dictionary

Avery and Emerson have their own words for things. There are the obvious ones like wawa for water but there are some really not so obvious as well. I thought I would make this blog an ongoing dictionary for them. Some words they both use and some only one uses. Im sure that the spelling of these will not be to their specs but it's the best I can do...

Both
Gawk=milk=nursing
Joshish=my turn
Pooper=Cooper

Emerson
Key key=Candy
Chai chai=Chocolate
Ty ty= Tylenol (I think we have an addiction to the Tylenol melt aways)
I carry=Carry me

Avery
Ikey=Blanket
Nana=Banana or Grandma or Nina from Imagination Movers
Dots=we have no idea. She says this ALL. THE. TIME if I figure it out I will update.

We've Been a Busy Busy Family!

So busy that its taken me a bit to update the blog... We're gonna work backwards today... Do you know what Gasparilla is??? No??? Ok, open a new tab, google it and then come right back!

Saturday was the parade for kids we decided we would give it a try this year cause we thought the LGs would enjoy it and if we loose one it's ok as we have another. Well, it was crazy, but we had a blast and we learned allot for next year...like dont park 2 miles away!

We went with our friends Pam, Katy and their son Graham and some of their friends.

We had to really make some big promises to get them to even consider the eye patches. Here is Emerson downing one for like 2 seconds.

Avery was willing to wear the scarf, but only for a minute or two.

There was this one float that royally pi$$ed me off. Keep in mind this was a parade for KIDS. It was crazy and the only place we could find to stand that we would be able to breath was a few feet past the end of the parade route. As the Molly Brown float went past the flags a lady on the float over a microphone said (very rudely) "THE PARADE IS OVER STOP MUSIC AND DONT THROW ANY MORE BEADS!" There were literally 100's of kids and adults just past the end markers. It was only the 3rd float the parade was no where near being OVER. Julie heard little kids asking their parents, "does this mean we dont get any beads?" "Is the parade over?" I wanted to yell some really nasty things at this lady. Instead I yelled some kind of nasty things at her. I mean, why did you have to do that over the mic? And why the nasty attitude? I hate her... Unfortunately its a foundation and not a company I can boycott... Oh and get this they enrich the lives of children!!!!

Monday the 18th was MLK day so Julie had the day off. That night we went to Acropolis with Pam, Katy and Graham. We had a great time. We danced, we ate, we had a blast!!

I love this family shot. Julie and I are looking all happy and look close at the attitudes of these girls! The teen years are gonna be a pain!

Earlier that day we went to zoo with Katy and Graham.

Emerson and Avery rode the carousel for the first time. Julie and I of course rode along beside. Can I just tell you I thought I was gonna hurl! WTF!

The kids always love to feed the birds Graham and Avery have something in common they let the bird land on the stick then they shake them off like a bad cold.