Prayer...

This morning on our way to Omaha Maggie said she was going to teach Gracie to pray. Once Gracie mastered folding her hands and closing her eyes to Maggie's liking, then Maggie prayed. "Dear God, I want you to know, it smells really bad in here. It's half Gracie's poop, half Reagan's bad breath and half my stinky feet. In Jesus name, Amen."

While the content was a little strange it does make me happy that she knows she can have a conversation with God and that she wants to teach her sister to pray. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Can't make this stuff up....

Gracie is a very independent (read stubborn) child! We've been having lots of stand-offs lately. She wants to use her own spoon, close the door, climb on the furniture unassisted, go up and down stairs, etc.

Our most serious stand-off has revolved around the toilet. Her potty training was going great and then one day she decided she wasn't going to go for me anymore. I speculate it has to do with the level of assistance it requires from me. SO, I ordered a new potty chair with steps....the chair came this morning. I put it together and on the toilet and took Grace in to see it....she happily climbed the stool and took her seat in the throne. She immediately peed.....woohoo!!! I clapped, gave her her m&m, told her what a good girl she was, blah blah blah....she told me she was done so I coaxed her to climb down by herself. She did it and was very proud. Then she turned around and I thought she was checking out her new seat but really she was POOPING on the floor! Seriously! I know in her mind she was saying, "do whatever you want but I'm still the boss around here!" I wonder where she got all the stubbornness from??

The uneven bars!!!

Maggie's new session of gymnastics started last night. She got to move up to the next class and you could tell how proud she was to be a BIG girl. Her favorite part was that she finally got to use the uneven bars.....she's been waiting for that since the day she first walked in the building. She got to do a flip over the lower bar a few times, her teacher even helped her do it again so Arnie could watch.

She couldn't wait to tell me about it. She was REALLY excited about the chalk all over her leotard, I'm not sure she'll let me wash it.

Grandma and Pops emptied the pool yesterday, to have some work done, she thought it was pretty funny to "pretend" to swim in the bottom.

In other news, Grace decided her favorite way to go down the slide is spiderman style....

 When I got home yesterday morning, these 3 were waiting in the middle of the yard to greet me....

Soggy weekend....

We camped at Mahoney this weekend. We did less playing outside then usual, but we still had a really good time. Friday night we went out for supper (it started to drizzle just as we got out the grill), when we got back the weather had cleared up and we had a nice fire and of course SMORES (or barely warmed marshmallows in Maggie's case.)








Then Saturday we played at the park for a little while, until the rain started. It was predicted to be a pretty wet day, so once the rain started we headed for the SAC museum.
































Saturday afternoon we headed to Lincoln for a picnic with a few of my college girl friends and their kids. It's always so fun to get together and it's fun to see our kids play together. The weather cleared up enough that the kids could mostly play outside. Grace found the sandbox and was COVERED from head to toe. She had sand in her hair, her clothes, her shoes, her ears, her mouth, her diaper....I could go on and on. It was a mess.



Gracie showed off her many talents on the ride to Lincoln :) while her sister slept.











On our way out of Lincoln, Arnie happened to notice this street. We made a quick u-turn and went back for a picture...I have a feeling we'll visit that spot again.





When we got home we had to scrub Gracie....I don't think we got all the sand, but we made an effort. She wore pigtails for the first time yesterday, but this is really the only picture I got of them. They were pretty cute.


This morning we got up and played for awhile, but it was really muddy and wet. So we decided to pack up. We met my mom and dad in Omaha for lunch and to get Reagan, then headed home to unload.














Looks like a peaceful nap :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Big girls!

Both girls had to go to the dr yesterday for regular check-ups. Maggie for her 4 year and Gracie for her 15 month (I know, I know, way late on both). Everybody did awesome. Maggie needed 4 shots, she was SO brave! She laughed during the first 2 and shed a few tears during the last 2, but quickly recovered.

The nurse asked Maggie if she could count to 10, I think Maggie may have responded with an eye role and she definitely had an 'are you joking' look on her face....and she said "yes, and I can read too." Apparently we need to work on tact :)

Both girls are still in the 97th percentile. Maggie was 50lbs and 43.5" and Grace was 29lbs and 34".

A few cell phone pictures, just for fun....

Hey mom, we're out of diet coke!!!


Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Guess what, the whole bathroom is soaked :)


Maggie and mom went for a long bike ride, she was so excited because she made it all the way to the park by Aunt Keeli's. She's getting pretty good.


We stopped at Grandma's for a minute and Gracie kept wanting to check on Rory.


Gracie is getting pretty good at using her utensils. She tries to eat everything with her spoon (including goldfish crackers).

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

First day, well sort of...

Maggie's preschool never really stops, she went a couple of mornings a week all summer, BUT today is the first day of the new school year. She'll start staying all day, at least one day a week and they'll go back to doing more school and less playing. So around here, we called it the first day of school.....

This is the start of Maggie's 3rd year at Montessori. She has done so well there and her teachers have been awesome. She seemed so grown up this morning...she seemed so little when we took her their the first time, I can't believe how fast the time has gone.



This picture was on her real first day of preschool, she wasn't quiet 2 and a half.



Catching up....

Whoa, I'm behind (again!). As the days go by I think to myself, "we didn't do much today, I wouldn't have anything to write about"....then after several days I realize I'm behind....the little things add up.

The big news is Miss Lauren had to go back to college yesterday :( We love having her around in the summer. Friday night she came to watch the girls and they had a pajama party. By 6:30pm they all (including Lauren and her sister Jill) had on their pajamas and were picking out a movie. Maggie told me they were going to eat lots of junk food and stay up really late. Lauren is so good to our kids. She's much more then a babysitter, she's part of our family. Our girls are so lucky to have her (me too!) Fall softball starts in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we'll get to go see her play soon.

At the first Panther Softball game of the year.

Clare let Maggie hold the "book", who knows what she wrote in there.
I'm doubting it was ball and strike counts :)

A few other pictures & captions from last week and the weekend.....

It was raining in Omaha on Friday, so Maggie and Grandma made an
bike obstacle course in the garage....then played follow the leader. :) She's
asked me several times in the last few days if I'd move my car so she could
set up our garage.

Friday afternoon the Dr removed one of Maggie's ear tubes. That little blue
thing is it. I swear he told me it was blue and the size of a straw. He must have meant
a stir stick. There is no way we'd ever have noticed it if it just fell out. He let
Maggie bring it home, she was excited to show it off.

Maggie and Lauren made cupcakes, they used 2 WHOLE bottles of sprinkles :)

Who needs toys, when you have dishes!

Now that's static!