Baths and Birthday parties

Here are the girls last week, during their first shared bath.


Elsa looking innocent in her Hello Kitty towel. This face reminds me of most of her baby pictures - deer in the headlights!


The kids love to sit on our bed and play with the blankets. Elsa always says,"I looove these covers, Mama!"


Today is not only my friend Trinity's birthday, but also her daughter Sophia's. So, this afternoon we went to Sophia's 2nd birthday party in Minneapolis. In the past, Elsa has been pretty quiet and shy. I've noticed this year at school that she doesn't seem to be as much, and the party today was further proof that she's definitely becoming less of a wallflower, to say the least. When it was time for cupcakes, she kept shouting,"I want to choose one, I want to choose!" She was so insistent, someone gave her a cupcake before the birthday girl even got to have her cake! During the birthday song, as I smiled at her and sang along, she looked me straight in the eye and yelled,"I'm NOT going to sing, Mama!". At one point during the gift opening, she went to the bathroom. I casually walked out and she followed behind, suddenly hollering to everyone,"I PEEEEEED!" Then clapped for herself. I had to remind her a few times,"It's not your party, Elsa!" :) She had such a great time, she didn't want to leave. And Sophia had so many new and interesting toys for her to play with, including a huge play kitchen - her favorite. Tim said when she got home, the first thing she said to him was,"Daddy, Sophia has a WONDERful kitchen!"

Sophia and Elsa eating their mexican feast (it was a Dora themed party).


Sophia and Elsa, excited to dig into the awesome Dora cake Trinity made.


Elsa playing in the upstairs playroom with Sophia's toys.

Happy St. Valentines!

In keeping with the theme of love, here are the kiddos looking quite lovey-dovey, of course.




Lilas first Valentines Day.


This Valentines day isn't quite what I had in mind. Both kids are sick. Elsa is such an excellent sleeper that this hardly phases her. She never wakes up and wants me, even when she's having coughing fits. Lila, on the other hand, is up two hours at a time, miserable and screaming from a minor case of the sniffles. It's amazing how different they are. Except...

Another set of lookalike photos:
Elsa, 5 months old.


Lila, 7 months old.


Elsa with one of her many beloved blankets. It doesn't matter which one it is - it just has to be a receiving blanket. She stuffs a good part of the corner into her mouth, and that's her comfort. Lila has gone from thumb sucking, to the pinky finger and ring finger. When she gets tired, she still likes to rub her fuzzy baby head.



Happy Valentines!

Quotes and cuteness

All is well in the household. Lila is getting bigger and happier by the day. She learned to clap this week! I'm too cheap to upgrade to Quicktime Pro, so you'll have to watch the video sideways.


Lila continues to be very smiley... unless she isn't. Her screech is closer to a dog whistle than anything else. It's so loud you almost can't hear it. Very wild. Here she is all bundled up for -20 weather.


Lila looking angelic with uncle Shane at a recent family shindig.


Elsa in Great-Grandma Vera's "rolly chair".


I don't know if i've been too busy with Lila or what, but it seems like Elsa's been talking the same way for quite awhile now. Just recently, her speech has changed. Her sentences are longer, and she's been using I, me, and mine a lot. To hear her say,"Mom! Come wipe the poop off my butt!" makes my day. That's a real sentence! Yeah, parenthood definitely changes you.

Other things she says? She calls me "Moms", or "Momski". I have no idea where she picked this up, but it's hilarious. She'll also randomly say,"You know, some people - just like to run around!" What? Where does she get this stuff? Every day it's a new hilarious phrase. And we swear she has a photographic memory. She can remember stuff that happened 6 months ago. The name of my childhood blanket (that I mentioned once), the name of the restaurant we went to for grandma's birthday in October, etc. She amazes us every day. The other day I heard her count to 20, even though I rarely count to 20 with her. The other morning she said,"Mom, this looks like Mickey Mouse!" I went to check it out, and she had three grapes put together so two (the ears) were on top of one (the head). Pretty cool.


A perfect example of Lila's faces. Here she is in the bath, with her normal face.


Now here she is with her face that she makes when she... has to go to the bathroom? I don't know, but it makes her face 3 times as wide! So cute. Did I mention we call her Butterball?!