Rain, Rain, Rain

The kids had a great time playing in the rain! Lily hung out and did what she does best...EAT!! Her newest past time is climbing on the dishwasher. I can't tell you how annoying it is to try to fill the dishwasher with her climbing on it.

Lily's 1st Birthday!!

Lily turned 1 last week! We had a birthday party at Aunt Jenny's house. I don't think that she really understood what the heck we were all doing, but she sure loved her cake! We had super yummy tostadas for dinner. Isn't Lily's cake cute? I was going to try to make it myself, but when I got to the store it seemed so much easier just to let them do it. I must be getting soft. Lily needed a little help blowing out her candle. I got a birthday cake too! Lily helped me blow my candles out. Lily really got into her cupcake. Bonnie and Maddie are such big helpers when it comes to Lily! Lily got soooo messy! She and her cousin John ended up in the bath to wash off all the frosting. Lily had no idea what was going on when I tried to get her to open her presents. She just sat there. But she had plenty of cousins willing to help her!

Fishing Frenzy!

This morning was the annual fishing thing they do at Horseshoe lake. I am sure that there is a more technical name for it, I just don't know what it is. It starts at 7 am, and the earlier you can get there the better. You will beat the crowds, and possibly have room to fish without hitting the elbow of the angler next to you. Brett and Ethan have gone camping, and so I decided that it would be a great idea to take my girls and try our luck. Luck really has nothing to do with it. They stock the lake with about a million catfish. You could probably walk right into the lake and scoop a fish out. Anyway, as I said, the earlier you get there the better. So the girls and I got there around 9:30 am. Bright and early, and just in time for the mad morning rush. We got our pole that was generously provided for us, and our cup-o-worms. Then we set out in search of the perfect spot to catch our prize winning fish! Actually, we were just searching for a spot on the shore that wasn't already inhabited by other people. It was pretty tough, but we finally found our niche. Right in between two nice families. I was the lucky one to put the worm on the hook. Bonnie thought about doing it, and then realized what it really means to bait the hook, and she wasn't interested anymore. I cast our line out into the water trying not to hit any of the small children running around, and trying not to tangle lines with any of the other 500 lines already in the water. Then I gave the pole to Bonnie, who immediately reeled it in again. Eliza wanted a turn to hold the pole, so after I cast again, I gave the pole to Eliza. She looked very official standing there with her pole in hand. Bonnie was getting a little bored with this whole thing by now started to play by the water. Eliza, without taking her eyes off of the bobber in the water, very sternly told Bonnie, "Don't play in the water!" I made Bonnie hold the pole for a few more casts, and then she was done. She asked if we could go to the kiddy pools now. So off we went. Nothing is as exciting as catching a fish that has already been hooked for you. After "catching" our fish, we headed up to the cleaning station. A very nice service if you ask me, but a little traumatizing. They hit, no, smashed the fish's head with a club, cut its guts out, pull its skin off, and saw its head off. All behind a nice clear plastic barrier so you can follow your fish from dying fish in a plastic bag to headless fillets in a plastic bag. All in all, a pretty successful fishing trip if you ask me.

February At A Glance

I can't keep remembering to blog about the stuff that happens when it happens, so I have got a back log to blog. Try saying that out loud, it's fun! Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Eliza and Bonnie do the silliest things together! They love to play and have a good time. It is so cute and endearing to see them helping eachother, mainly it is Bonnie helping Eliza, so sweet. Bonnie lives in her PJs. She always wants to have them on. When she comes home from church, the first thing she does is put on PJs. If she went swimming and had to change her clothes, she would change into her PJs. Yesterday, I told her I needed her to change out of her jammies and into some regular clothes because we had some errands to run. She said, "Why mom, I'm just going to put them right back on when we get home?" Right, sound logic...Or possibly not! Don't argue with your mother child, just do it!!! Eliza has started playing house with me. She gets very serious and says "you, you, you, you, Nae nae(Delayne), I, I, I, I, mommy!" She is studdering her words. Anyway if I don't call her mommy she gets agitated and says "NO!!!! I not Zia zia(Eliza) I MOMMY!!!" She has a mommy voice even. She says, "what honey?" "Oh, honey" "No, no honey" in her grownup voice. She puts me down for naps, and feeds me cherrios for luch. She is a very attentive parent! I have to say though, it is a little embarrasing in the grocery store when she says she is the mommy, and I am walking along pushing the cart and saying yes mommy, or no mommy or horray for mommy. I have gotten some wierd looks from cashiers. All I have to say is don't judge me man, I do what I've got to do! Ever wonder why that roll of toilet paper doesn't last? One minute it is there, and the next an empty roll, just sitting there mocking you. And you're thinking why couldn't I have checked the toilet paper before I sat down? I recently went into the bathroom after Eliza, and this is what I found. A toilet full of paper. All I could say was WOW, that is an impressive amount of toilet paper! Eliza likes to get Ethan's camera and tell me(it is really more of a yell, but that's just volume), say cheeeeeeeeeeese! Then she pretends to push the button(she doesn't know where it is), and says "Click!". Nothing adds authinticity like sound effects! Eliza just loves her little sister! She loves to hold her.... Kiss her.... And then make her cry! What a good big sister! Eliza LOVES this pink tutu! She has talked me into letting her wear it to bed on more than one occasion. She is pretending to be a ballerina kitty. In this picture she is being the kitty. And in this picture she is the ballerina! Lily's Aunt Shannon made her this absolutely gorgeous valentines dress! Lily looks so adorable in it. And look she is sitting up all by herself! I can't believe she is almost 6 months old! I made her headband. Totally stole the idea from someone else, but isn't it cute? That makes it ok, right? Ethan is being totally silly! He loves this pull up bar Brett put up. And let me tell you that kid is super strong! I don't know how many pull ups he can do, cause he will only do 5 or 6 and then quit. Don't ask about the rope and pulley thingy, it's all Brett! Lily learning to sit up. She is just so darn cute! Last year Ethan wanted to surprise his dad with something, so he went out to the garage and came up with this masterpiece! In case you were wondering, it is a shelf for Brett to hang his tools on. Brett took Ethan fishing a couple of weeks ago. This is what they came home with. I had some errands to run when they got back, so by the time I got home, that thing was cooked, eaten, and gone! The guys had a great time fishing together.

Hooray for Dora!

Eliza LOVES Dora the Explorer. She watches her everyday, and it shows. Today at the grocery store, we were walking out, but we weren't out yet. The sliding doors hadn't opened yet, and as we walked up to them, Eliza, with all the confidence of a three year old said, "Abre", and the doors magically opened. She was pretty proud of herself, and I was pretty relieved that I don't let my daughter just sit and rot her mind in front of the TV. Dora is educational! Hooray for Dora! Eliza just learned how to dribble the basketball! She's a natural!

Eliza's 3rd Birthday and Other Random Tidbits

Eliza's Birthday was this month. She is now three years old. And boy does she know it! Her birthday was on a thursday but we didn't have our family get together until Sunday. We had a waffle bar. It was so good! Well as good as waffles from pancake mix get. But the toppings were to die for!! A thanks to Aunt Jenny and Uncle Spencer for letting us invade their home. Eliza has really gotten into the idea of presents recently and this was a great birthday for her! She got to open presents on her birthday, at the party on Sunday, and more on Monday! Among other things, her friend Eliza gave her a wooden dress up doll(she tried to put the clothes on the doll in the manner provided, but when that proved to be too much she taped and glued them in place, with the help of her older sister. She then taped the doll to her bed frame. The next day she ripped the doll off, and broke it's head, arms, and feet off. Then I threw it in the trash, sorry Lia lia). Lia lia also gave her some chapstick(which she ate like candy). On that subject, that girl is going to have the smoothest unchapped lips EVER, or a very well lubricated BM, possibly both! That's the Pooh Bear we gave her, she LOVES Pooh Bear. At Aunt Jenny's on Sunday. That is her friend Eliza picking her nose. They are quite the team of Eliza's! Nothing says Happy Birthday like a birthday balloon! This is our cousin Ryan, my Eliza, and our friend Eliza. Right now they are all tolerating eachother. I bet in a year or so they will be best buddies and then watch out humanity! Probably the animal kingdom will be in trouble too! Since we didn't have cake on her actual birthday, we had icecream sundays. Mmmmmm. Possibly Eliza's favorite thing this birthday was the card she got from Nana and Papa. Sorry to everyone else, but this card trumped y'all. She took it everywhere with her, in the car, and to bed. When you opened it, it said, "In the magical world of make believe, birthday fun lasts forever. Hope yours does too!" I could have repeated this back to you about five minutes after she got it. Not because I am that good (although, I would like to think so), it was because she opened it that many times. It took three days for this card to be opened and closed enough to rip at the fold. Then it wouldn't play anymore, poor Eliza. Hooray for mom and dad! We dog sat over the holiday vacation this dog named Pedro. He was very friendly and mostly quiet. In fact, most of the time he sat on the couch and slept. However, he didn't like my vacuum at all. I don't think it or he will ever be the same! It was really fun to have a dog for a while though. It was kinda like practice for the real thing(which won't be for a while yet, to the bemoaning of my kids). Recently for FHE, we painted pictures. It was really fun and a bit messy. Eliza made an elephant, Bonnie made a volcano, Ethan and I went with a floral motif, and Brett did a nature scene. Eliza somehow got paint all over her face. I don't ask how these things happen, I just go with it and clean up afterwards! Anyways, we had a great time, and here are the pictures to prove it! Lily feeling a bit like Moses. "OK water, part....NOW!" Ethan, Bonnie, and their cousin Kenzie went outside to play. Thank goodness they restrained themselves to just thier hands. I have had to deal with much, MUCH muddier children. They were trying to wash off in the puddle, good luck with that guys!