Hair Today!

We have the opposite ends of the hair spectrum going on at our house right now. Bella's is thick and full like always; my hardest challenge is keeping it out of her face when she's eating and off her neck in the hot summers. Evelyn's hair is growing in slower, but she has this thick swatch of hair right at the nape of her neck! It's so funny! It looks like a little soul patch of the back of her head!

This would be awesome with a mini eyes and mouth taped to her head!

Bella's first braid! She looks more and more like a little girl instead of a toddler. (Sniff!)

Ready for school in two weeks!

Trip To The Zoo!

My friend, Emily, invited Bella and I to join her and her daughter, Ally at the zoo today! A few other moms came with their kids, and we had a great time! It was sooooo hot, but luckily, a lot of the exhibits and walking trails were in the shade.

Flamingos...they're the first exhibit, but Bella has no clue what they are. She kept calling them giraffes; I think it was her one-track mind!

Ally and Bella were pretty excited to see the elephants walking around and eating!

I actually showed some discretion and decided not to post the picture of the elephant pooping and peeing, but I'm not going to lie, it was incredible. After dumping something on the ground that was about three times the size of Evie, it sounded like the elephant turned on a fire hose. The kids that were watching loved it! The adults may have giggled, too. (Whaaaaaaaat???)

Just checking in with Little Miss Evelyn. She did so great and stayed awake most of the trip. She spends much more time awake now, and Bella and I have fun invading her personal space for kisses.

The giraffes! Or, as Bella would say it, "LOOK!!!!!!! GIRAFFES!!!!!!!" Bella has about seven giraffes that all sleep with her (even the small, plastic ones), and she was over-the-moon ecstatic to see the giraffes walking around and eating! After the elephants, she wanted to know when the giraffes were going to go yuckies. I didn't make any promises.

What do you do if you're a dramatic three-year old and you've just been told that you have to leave your favorite giraffe exhibit??? You cling desperately to a giraffe statue in hope that Mama might let you stay. When she doesn't, you whine, "Oh, Muddeeeeerrrrr!" Thanks for that, Bells.

The gorillas were in full-on alpha mode; lots of charging and chest thumping! There were some babies, too, that Ally and Bella loved!

Yep. All of these strollers are ours. We had fours adults, four toddlers, and two babies; we were quite the caravan!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this because it was so awesome! The tigers were awake and pacing in front of the glass the entire time we were there! Bella was enthralled and absolutely loved it when they would jump up on the glass! P.S. Took a moment to be thankful there was glass!

Melting in the heat while carrying Evie! Thankfully, we were in the shade, and she finally fell asleep!

Loved checking out the goats close-up! We washed our hands, really really well after the petting zoo!

Slightly less excited after a hot morning in the sun! Bella probably could've spent double the amount of time there, just staring at the animals. As you can tell, she did NOT want to leave.

Only a few meltdowns between 6 children, and so much fun in between - it was definitely a success! So thankful to have other stay-at-home moms that we can do fun outings with!!!

Evie's Tree

Evelyn's room has a short, narrow hallway as you walk in, and I haven't known what to put on the walls. I had a design epiphany yesterday (and thankfully, a husband who trusts my epiphanies) and finally decided what to do! Between Target, Wal-Mart, and Goodwill, the entire wall only cost me $40.00! I probably could have done it for about half that if I had any artistic skills of my own, but I had to rely on wall decals. I LOVE the finished product! It's exactly what was my head, but it came out even better than I hoped!

The blank wall...very grey. Because it's so narrow, I can't put up shelves or anything too bulky.

The tree without leaves yet. This is a wall decal that I bought at Target for $20.00. If I had been brave enough, I probably could have painted something similar with paint I had on-hand, but I didn't want to complicate an easy project.

With leaves...

Now I wanted to add small frames with black and white pictures of Evie. I found 10 frames at Goodwill for $12.00, and grabbed a can of spray paint from Wal-Mart.

Adding the final touches! I found a shop on Etsy that had some graphic art designs, and I fell in love! The green quote on the right says, "you make me happy", and the teal picture is a quote from Coldplay's song, Yellow. It says, "look at the stars; look how they shine for you". Not only is it a cute quote for a baby, but Steve and I danced to this song on our honeymoon, so it has good memories for us. I love the pop of color that the prints add! 

The orange print on the bottom is a version of I Samuel 1:27, "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me my request." The purple frame on the top is a quote from Elizabeth Edwards that just struck me as a beautiful, I-want-to-raise-strong-girls kind of a quote..."She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails." I am so incredibly thrilled with how it turned out, and that I was able to get it done in an afternoon!

And one last piece! Mel bought Bella and Evie adorable prints with the alphabet and their names on it. One of my Goodwill frames fit perfectly, so it's now hanging by Evie's window. Thanks, Auntie Mel!

A close-up view. Evie's "E" is pink, and Bella has one just like it where the "B" is yellow. Bella's response was, "Oh, wow! I lub (love) it!"

This is how Evelyn passed the time. She looks like she's doing crunches, because she always wants to be sitting up!



Three Months Old!

  Our little squirt is getting so big! How has it been three months? Her "new month" day was actually last Thursday, but I finally got to take some pictures.

Such a beautiful little girl!

What's up, everybody!

Trying to get a picture while sitting up. I'm pretty sure she's thinking, "Why is Mama making me hold this stupid sign???"

If only I could get them both to smile at the same time!

Kisses for "Ebelyn" to make Mama happy.

All three of us on the floor!

Me and my baby girl.

Being silly for the camera! It takes a lot of bribing to convince Bella to sit still and smile sweetly for the camera! "Silly" is just easier.

I'd Pay Money To Read Her Mind

In the car today, Bella told me, "Mama, I lobe peoples!"

___________

The last song we sing before bed each night is one I was taught when I was little.

The main line is "There's something mighty sweet about the Lord."

Bella pronounces it, "Dares sumpin' mightee sweet 'bout da Lorwd!"

Yesterday, while brushing her giraffe's hair, it was,

"Dares sumpin' mightee sweet 'bout giraffes and da Lorwd!"

___________

A woman stopped us in Wal-Mart last week to peek at Evelyn and ask Bella about her little sister. While we were talking, Bella started interrupting with, "Mama. Mama. Look! Look!" I tried to discreetly smile and hush her without losing track of what the woman was saying, but Bella was persistent. I finally had to stop and ask Bella to be quiet, and looked at what she was pointing to. She had picked a booger out of her nose (a big one!) and was wiping it ALL OVER the handles of the shopping cart! It was so gross, and I was just praying that the woman wouldn't look! I still don't know if the woman noticed, but I ended the conversation as quickly as possible and dug into my diaper bag for a wet wipe!

She's a lot of fun! I think she may have a personality disorder, but she's a lot of fun!

Indoor Picnic

What do you do when you're trying to create fun on a Saturday night with two small children? You stage a picnic on the floor!

Roast beef pinwheels! Deli roast beef, fresh spinach leaves, cream cheese, and red peppers, all wrapped in a spinach herb tortilla. They are so yummy and I'm not just saying that because I made them!

Our three-year old took this picture! I'm just impressed that both of our faces are in the frame!

For dessert, we "roasted" marshmallows over a candle. Bella loved it, but Steve said it made the marshmallows taste "candle-y". You can't be picky when you're being ghetto!

Just chillin'. She tends to look at us like we're crazy.

Adventures With Kumquat And Squirt

A couple of new Bella-inspired giggles (she's the kumquat; Evelyn's the squirt)...

Bella's new word is "prob'ly", so our conversations sound like this:

Me: Bella, would you like some more juice?

Bella: Hmm. Prob'ly. Yes.  

She's very matter-of-fact about it and sounds very adult.

Every night at bedtime, Steve asks Bella which song she would like to sing. Last night, Bella answered, "Daddy, let's just talk." When he asked her what they should talk about, she said, "Rex. And Rex's herthday." (birthday) They discussed all of his possible presents, and then moved on to Mama, Daddy, and Evie. I had a great time listening in!

Bella learned the word "mother" from Tangled and has figured out that it's another word for Mama. (I was kind of hoping she would just think it was the woman's name, but oh well.) She can't pronounce the "th" very well, so it comes out as "Mudder"; she sounds like a little street orphan from an old movie.

Bella: Mudder?

Me: Yes, Bella?

Bella: Mudder, are we going to the red store?

I now officially have four different names from Bella...Mama is the one she uses the most; it's her everyday name for me...Mom is the quick one; she'll yell out "Hi Mom!" as she's chasing Steve or Mel around the house. Sometimes "Mom" is her teenage word and she'll say, "Oh, Moooo-ooom" when she's being overdramatic about something...Mommy is usually busted out when she's turning on the high-power manipulative skills. It comes out very high and very soft; she also tends to be stroking my hand while doing it, it's kind of creepy...Mudder is her newest addition. It's only every once in awhile and seems to be judging our reaction to it.

Evelyn is so talkative! Last night was her first night in her crib. We both survived the entire night, but it was rough starting out. She ate around 7:30 and I put her right down. She was asleep without a sound until 10:00 when I went in to feed her one last time before bed. She was passed out without a care in the world until Steve and I went to bed at 11:00.

How do babies/kids always seem to know when you want to sleep? Evie suddenly became very fidgety, and I was up with her three more times between 11:00 and midnight. I finally nursed her again at midnight just to see if that would settle her, and it seemed to work - she slept fine until 3:30. Not too bad!

It would have been a lot better if she had started that sleep process at 10:00, but I think she was still getting used the new crib. I nursed her at 6:30 and she went back to sleep until she woke up cooing at 8:30! Those are the sounds I love to hear over the monitor!

Foreshadowing of many sister moments to come, I'm sure! I loved sharing bedtime with my sister, and I'm sure they'll love it, too!

Dinner Out And Family Pictures

We always do a big dinner out when we're together and our usual restaurant in New Smyrna Beach is The Garlic. It's a good ol' fashioned Italian place and has some pretty good food! It also gives a chance to dress a little cuter and take some  pictures.

Our little family; I have to admit, I'm still in the gooey, sappy stage of talking about our girls. (Steve is, too, he's just not as obvious.) :)

Just the girls...this week was a great chance to spend time with Rachel that I don't normally get!

The whole family! We missed having Mel with us so much! Her vacation time had to be taken the week before, so she spent the week down in Florida with mom and dad, but she couldn't come to the west coast with us.

The "grandparent picture." I usually only remember to take these when we're with Grandma and Grandpa Wires, but I actually remembered to take one with my parents.

Me and Steve...my handsome date!

Right before this picture was taken, Bella reached up and pulled my head over so that our faces were touching. She's a doll! 

Summer Vacation 2012...Beach Bums!

We spent a great week in New Smyrna Beach, Florida with my family! Steve and I were excited to go on our first vacation with the our two girls as a little family! It was an incredibly relaxing week of beach time, reading, playing with Bella and Evelyn, and eating (of course!)!

Bella's mantra all week was, "Come play with me!" She was very convincing when trying to get us to go play in the water at the beach, or tackle a playdough project back at the house.

Steve was Bella's #1 playmate this week! They had so much fun and literally spent hours playing in the waves!

It doesn't get much better than this! This is the only beach I've been to where you can drive right out onto the sand and it makes beach-going so much more relaxing! Especially with small children! We didn't have to worry about the amount of toys or gear that we brought, and it was really nice to be able to just slip into the backseat when I needed to nurse Evelyn.

It was a little different to have traffic lanes right on the sand, and we had to keep a close eye on Bella as she ran back and forth to the water.

I love this picture! It looks like she ran right to the edge of the water and then stopped suddenly!

Papa and Mimi got a ton of fun playtime in with Bella and snuggle time with Evelyn. Bella would tell Papa that he was "in big trouble" and then chase him around the room. Mimi was pretty much at Bella's mercy for whatever game or activity she was in the mood for! Stickers, coloring, and playdough animals were very popular! Right before we left, Grandma Wires sent a huge book of stickers and coloring pages, and Bella could barely be convinced to put them down! She was obsessed with them!

Bella and Steve dancing in the water.

Getting fun rides from Daddy and Papa!

Bella was hilarious with the different birds on the beach! She would yell, "Mama! Look! A bird! I gonna catch it!" She would run and run until we finally called her to come back to us.

"Mama! Come play sandcastles with me!" But that didn't keep her from knocking them down as fast as I could build them!

Evelyn did great! We brought along our bassinet so that we could lay her down in a cool spot, but she spent most of her beach time being held by Mimi, so I got a great chance to either play in the water with Bella and Daddy or lay in the sun!