1st snow

We woke up to our first snow of the season on Monday. Saying that Morgan was excited is a serious understatement. At 7 am she was running back and forth between the window and our bed, where I was laying, wishing I could have just 30 more minutes. As soon as she announced that there was snow she asked "Can I go out and play in the snow Mama?"- at 7 am. Later that morning we made a quick trip to Target to get her some snow boots. While there, she told anyone who looked at her what we were getting. It was pretty funny. She was very patient as she had to wait all day before she got to be up close and personal with the snow. Things are a little more tricky with Miss Adrienne on the scene. So here are some pictures of the girls all bundled up for our walk. Morgan loved stomping in the snow. And of course Dave, being the great dad he is, stayed out with Morgan to play after the walk, while Adrienne and I went inside to thaw.

And Adrienne was a good sport, as usual, even though she couldn't really move. I laughed at myself for putting those toys there. Not like she could play with them all bundled up.
There is just something extra cute about kids all bundled up for the cold.

On the move

Adrienne has been working hard these past few days. Sunday night as I was getting the girls' bath ready she just grabbed the tub and pulled herself up with the greatest of ease.

I love those surprises!

She has been flirting with crawling for the past couple of weeks. Yesterday she finally figured it out. Before you see any pictures of her crawling I have to show you my favorite pre-crawling move. When she still wasn't sure how to get moving the way she wanted to she would get on her hands and feet and stick her butt way up in the air. It was the best!

Here is our Lemonaidrienne working hard to get to her sister's doll house. It was so fun to watch her. We were all so excited. She felt that vibe and you could tell by her face that she knew she was doing something big.

Way to go Adrienne!

Morgan at 3 years old (words from her Daddy)

A lot changes in three years!

Morgan is very interested in dressing up and what it means to be a "pretty lady".

Morgan is using phrases we use with her back on us in everyday conversation..examples include asking a question and then when i answer in a way she approves of i get a "yes daddy, your right!" or "we need to eat a good supper and then we get desert, understand" or "you need to say excuse me" those are some my favorites, "daddy, you need to listen when mommy says something" is a bit down the list depending on the context. I love being parented by a 3 year old.

Morgan is also very interested in anything Adrienne does, the two play well and she enjoys making Adrienne laugh, bringing her toys, or testing the boundaries of what's appropriate for Adrienne to play with.

Morgan's attention span is growing, we've moved into some longer books like the Berenstain bears and Dr Suess. She can listen and quote books amazingly, we read every night before bed and often other times throughout the day.

Other activities Morgan enjoys include dancing, running, and playing tag or hide and go seek. We also have fun daddy / big girl time Saturday mornings running errands like going to the bank or grocery store. I get a chance to show her off and she gets a chance to sweet talk the teller's for balloons, stickers, and most importantly suckers. Morgan also has an impressive memory and she often amazes us by bringing up people's names or situations from the past with extreme clarity. She is already better with names than her dad. For example last week at the bank she asked "dad are we going to see your friend Paul?" Paul does work at the bank but we hadn't seen him for over a month, and that's the only time we ever see him. I couldn't believe she remembered his name! I hope she keeps that gift. It is just great to see her growing so fast and see those "wheels turning" inside that head of hers, she will surely keep us on our toes as time goes on.

Tagged from A to Z

I have been getting a kick out of reading these games on other people's blogs. So I was excited to join in on the fun when Kristi, my cousin (in-law), tagged me. Here we go ...

A. Attached or single? Attached

B. Best friend? "best" is all relative - I have several close girl friends

C. Cake or pie? cake

D. Day of choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? hair dryer (and brush) oh and gum

F. Favorite color? green

G. Gummy bears or worms? neither

H. Home town? Kalona

I. Favorite indulgence? designer jeans

J. January or July? July

K. Kids? two Morgan(3 yrs) and Adrienne (9 months)

M. Marriage date? 08/31/2002

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 2 older brothers - Chris and Mitch

O. Oranges or Apples? Apples

P. Phobias? snakes

Q. Quotes? Morgan "Here's a booger Mama. Do you want to put in your pocket?"

R. Reasons to smile? my girls - watching them love each other

S. Season of choice? Summer


T. Tag 5 people: Shelly, Lindsay G, Liz Y, Tiffany D, and Hillary

U. Unknown fact about me? I played the violin when I was little

V. Vegetable? Corn on the cob

W. Worst Habit? cracking my knuckles

X. Xray or ultrasound? Ultrasound.

Y. Your favorite food? Italian

Z. Zodiac sign? Scorpio

Those words

I remember as a child sitting at the dinner table by myself, with a serving of peas in front of me, with the task of eating them before I was allowed to get down from the table. I even remember that my dad had taken my water away because he didn't want me to just "wash" them down. However he might say he doesn't remember that today. Can anyone relate? It's funny since I really like peas now. I would even go as far as ranking them in the top 5 on my favorite veggie list.

Today for the second time in her life Morgan heard those words. Those words that came out before I even realized what I was saying. You know "You may not get down from the table until you eat your _____." Today it was sweet potatoes - ONE bite to be specific. After what seemed like way too long, she managed to get it down - gaging and shaking all the way. After taking a drink of her milk she announced

"Mama, I just like to sssssuck it down my swoat."

My girls ROCK!

... and I'm not talking about my boobs. :)

Our doorbell, or as Morgan says "dinglebell", rang at 6:00 this evening. As Morgan and I opened the door I was shocked to see the excited faces of Shelly and Lindsay. The shock factor continued to rise as they burst through the door holding balloons saying "Happy birthday!" ... and here's where it gets really good...

"We're stealing you for the night!"

To which I responded like any good mom would

"I haven't even showered today!"

They assured me that they would give me time to get ready for our lady's night out. I looked over at Dave. He just smiled as the sweat rolled down his face. Apparently he isn't real fond of lying to me, which is a good thing. As I was upstairs getting ready I just kept thinking ... no matter what happens tonight, this is the best gift they could have ever given me.

So after a quick picture to capture the moment we were off. I'll spare you the details, but be assured that we had a great time!
Thanks Dave (and Luke and Vinny) for helping my crazy friends pull off their awesome idea!
Shelly and Lindsay - you ladies ROCK!

Morgan's birthday party

I have always (all three yrs of her life) had fun planning Morgan's birthday parties. I was up way too late the night before her party decorating her cake and filling the house with balloons and all the birthday party essentials. I'm glad I did, because having her wake up on her birthday to a "party" house was worth all the lack of sleep, and then some. As soon as she headed down the stairs she shouted "Look mama, balloons!" She then proceeded to run through the house looking at the decorations saying over and over "Thank you mama! Thank you! I love it!"

You can't get better then that.

This is the first year that I was able to ask her what kind of party she wanted. Her response was "purple". She also told me at one point that she wanted a frog cake with a purple bow on it. I thought it was a little random since she doesn't seem to be excited about frogs. Well, as her birthday got closer and people asked her what kind of cake she was going to have the frog came up again. So I googled it and gave it my best shot. It's not perfect, but I've learned to be OK with that. :) She LOVED it and that is all that matters. Oh and that it tasted really good. That counts too. :)
Our family pancake kings, Grandpa Chupp and Dave, were happy to serve us up some of Morgan's favorite food. They also sweet talked uncle Steve into making the eggs. Thanks for your help guys. It was super yummy!

After we were all stuffed full of pancakes we brought on the gifts. Morgan has recently entered the "princess" stage. However I like to call it the "pretty lady" stage for Morgan because she always wants to dress up like a pretty lady. That also doesn't make me cringe quite like princess does. Well, Morgan's dress up box went from a few things to overflowing after opening her gifts. Here she is sporting some of the goods.

Every pretty lady needs lip gloss right? Morgan is no exception. Thanks to her aunt Sarah she has everything she needs and more to spice up her lips and nails.

The little girls were also fascinated with the pretty things. Grace already has an obsession with shoes so she was loving it. Adrienne was happy just chewing on them, but Grace actually tried them on and took them for a spin,

with Grandma's help of course.

Morgan also got her first dollhouse and several really good books. The new books have quickly become her favorites. I think it's funny how she goes in phases of books, asking to read the same few over and over again. Even though we were all still full of pancakes we brought out the party hats for some cake and ice cream.

We had a great day. Morgan loved being surrounded by her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Thanks for helping us celebrate!

Adrienne 9 months

Is it really possible? I say it every month, but here it goes ... I can't believe Adrienne is 9 months old already! Lets see, where do I begin? My little pumpkin, or should I say banana, is more vocal then ever. Her favorite seems to be aba-ba-ba-ba-ba. This comes in all different voices and volumes. It's amazing the variety of emotions that she can communicate through this simple "word".

Don't let the picture fool you. She isn't crawling ... yet. I feel like it could be any day (I've been saying that for at least a month now). She is getting around fine with her own personal move that goes a little like this - reach, lay, roll, sit, a few bounces, and back to reach, lay and you get the point. It is funny. It doesn't seem like she is moving that much, but she can really work the room. She is also pulling herself up to her knees. She uses whatever is around - our legs, the toy basket, or my favorite, the side of the crib (when she is supposed to be sleeping - grrrrrr). She has started reaching for us. She also gives kisses when she is in the mood. The funny part is that she actually leans in and sticks out her lips, unlike most babies who give you the open mouth slobber fest.
We continue to have to ease her into the baby food through the cereal. She really wants the cereal at mealtime though. I don't get it. At some point she will start to eat other things right? I have given her potatoes a couple of times. Of course she gave me the crazy face, but then wanted more. Who knows. She still loves drinking water out of her sippy cup, and is now able to tip it up herself. The problem now it trying to get her to stop. She squawks if you take it away. Her latest trick during mealtime is not only swatting at the spoon, but actually grabbing the spoon and trying to shove it in to her mouth. That is usually followed by the eye rub. NICE! I now keep a washcloth at the table and use it several times during the meal.

We met Shelly at the park for a play date today since it was BEAUTIFUL. The leaves were so great I couldn't resist setting her down to try to get some pictures. Of course we all know what she did right away ...

try to eat the leaves. Oh Adrienne,
We love you!

Trick or Treat!

I had such a great time with my girls on Halloween. Morgan loved dressing up and trick or treating, and Adrienne was a great sport about having to wear her costume. It helped that it was an absolutely beautiful day. It actually felt like September.

This was the first year that Morgan was able to tell me what she wanted to be. At first she wanted to be a zebra. I looked online and didn't think the zebra costumes were very cute. So I kept asking her until one day she said she wanted to be a monkey. I quickly ordered the monkey costume before she could change her mind again. Oh the mind games. :)

So if she was a monkey, naturally Adrienne should be a banana. Now here is the funny part. I decided I could make the banana costume. Can you believe it? And I did! I kind of made it up as I went, but I'm pretty impressed with how it turned out. I think I may have scared Dave a little - he was wondering what happened to his wife.

Of course when we got together for a play date with my girlfriends, we had to dress up the kids. As you can see some liked it more then others. Shelly, Lindsay and I always get a big kick out of it!

I took the girls downtown Friday afternoon to trick or treat on Main Street. Morgan loved it!

Notice the bows? I really hate it when people call my girls boys. It even happens when they are wearing pink. What is wrong with people! SO they were both wearing bows and Adrienne still got called a boy. Are you kidding me!?

As I was getting Adrienne out of the stroller I noticed a piece of whopper on her sweater. Then I looked and saw that she had opened the package and all three whoppers had little teeth marks in them. Opps. :) I forget how sharp her little teeth are now, especially since her top ones are in.

What a sweetheart. By the end she was so tired. She fell asleep in the car on the way home.

After some good naps we got dressed up again to make a lap around our neighborhood with Dave.

Of course our first stop was at our favorite neighbors house.

Whether she would admit it or not, I think even Morgan was getting a little tired by the end of the evening.

What a fun day!