Annabelle’s Valentine’s day party is at school tomorrow. She was requested to bring in candy (I wasn’t thrilled about this, but I did get her some M&M’s to take. I prefer to be the “fruit tray mom”.) and 11 Valentine’s for her school friends. Of course Annabelle was very excited about her Dora Valentine’s and sat down eagerly to sign them for her friends. We started with the 11 for her friends at school and quickly expanded to “How about Rhys and Wyatt?” and then “How about my Jackie and Baby Ben?” and then “How about Andrew and Baby Hanna?” and then “How about Madison?”…  this lasted until all the Valentine’s were used and she had worked her way through all her friends and cousins. I have to admit I was quite impressed with her little memory. She named so many friends and all her cousins. It’s amazing what that little mind is capable of when she’s trying to avoid her bedtime!

Showing off her handy work…

Taking her Valentine’s very very seriously

So very…very…tired…but…must…keep…going….

Poppy was heading home today but he headed down from Breckenridge and spent time with us. The girls were very excited to see him. I guess they did not get the memo that they could sleep in!

They were up an hour past their bedtimes last night seeing Mickey & Friends, but were still up and at ’em at their regular time. I was still dragging a bit so we had a lazy morning watching Monsters Inc.

The girls were very excited to see their Poppy and we had a great lunch. It’s been years since I’ve been to PF Changs – I always just kind of forget about it when we’re thinking about options for dining out. It was delicious!! Miss Gwyneth amazed me by plowing through lettuce wraps, lo mein and rice. She ate so well! Annabelle dined on lo mein, crab wonton and egg rolls. She was entertained by Poppy’s chopstick abilities and wanted to give it a try. We got her kids chopsticks and she scooped up her lo mein. Who needs a fork?

We’re glad we got to see Poppy before he had to head home. Can’t wait for him to come back again soon!

We just can not keep healthy this year. I am at my wits end!! I have a nasty cough and I’ve coughed so flippin’ much it has irritated my throat and caused me to lose my voice. I knew there was nothing they could do for me, but with B’s insistance I headed to the doctor. They gave me a prescription for cough syrup with codine and a strict order to get some rest.

We had tickets to meet the Fessler’s for Mickey & Friends Live.  I didn’t want the girls to miss it, but knew I needed to take the night off.  Sarah graciously offered to take my place and help B take the girls to the show. The girls were thrilled to see her and Annabelle insisted that “my Sawah” ride in her car. I slept and slept while they were gone and it seems the girls danced and danced their way through the night. No accidents from our big girl Annabelle – she used the potty and B reported that she loves the auto-flush toilets. He said she stood back and said “watch Daddy, FLUSH!” and the potty flushed for her. Apparently the Wells Fargo theatre has magic potty’s too – look out Morton’s.

Annabelle gets two M&M’s when she goes potty and she savors them. She reminds me a lot of my sister, Stacy, when we were little. Stacy would save her desserts and candies and I would scarf them right up. My girls seem to be following the same pattern. Annabelle uses this cup to accumulate her M&M’s and savors them through out the evening. At least I have one girl (G!) who still understands instant gratification with sweets.

Miss Gwyneth ready for the big show!!

Thanks to Sarah for helping B out at the show. The girls were so happy to see you and we all love ya!

Oh, am I ever a sucker for a personalized shirt. I’ve been asked if I keep the girls labeled at all times and if I answer honestly I guess I’d have to say “yes, most of the time”. Even their diapers/underpants have their names on them (that’s a daycare thing so don’t think I’m too nuts!).  I often think if their shirts have their names on them then it will make it easier for B to help put away laundry or dress them – not so much. He doesn’t mind sending Gwyneth to school in an Annabelle shirt, doesn’t mind at all.

My new printer has been quite the blessing and I found a function where I can print tshirts. Oh, imagine my delight! I decided to give it a try and make the girl Super Bowl Tshirts. I found el cheapo t’s at Target ($1!!!!) and designed the logo’s/names on my computer so these cuties cost me less that $2 to make! How can you beat that?

This is my first attempt but they turned out so darn cute I have to step up the quality and make them some more. I bought a package of onesies for my niece, Eliana so I can get some more practice.

Backs:

Fronts:

My girls are going to be extra cute rooting for the Saints on Sunday!

We woke up Thursday morning to find Miss Gwyneth’s eye very red and swollen. We thought for sure she had picked up pink eye at daycare (the girls pick up EVERYTHING from daycare), so I worked from home to hang out with her and we made an appointment to get eye drops. They usually just give the prescription over the phone, but since she’s had such a runny nose lately they decided they wanted to see her. Lucky we took her in because it wasn’t pink eye at all, poor girl had a sinus infection that have migrated to her nose and was working it’s way to her little ears. They gave us some heavy duty antibiotics and she was already starting to shape up by the end of the day.

Gwneth was so good at the doctor’s office. She is weighing in at 24 lbs now!

Ready for a good nap – she needed to call Annabelle to let her know.

I received a great offer for lower level seats for the Nuggets game, through my work, so B and Brad took advantage and headed to the basketball game. While the Nugs captured a big win against Sacramento the girls and I hung out and played with baby dolls.

Miss Gwyneth is going through this crazy phase where she wants to hold/carry everything she can get her hands on. Here’s a perfect example….

our little bag lady

She gets frustrated because she can’t always keep everything in her arms and leaves a toy trail wherever she goes. It’s hilarious to watch. I also have no idea how she gets any sleep at night because her bed is FULL of toys, babies and yes, her calculator! She sleeps with her calculator every night, takes it in the car with her and would even take it in the bath with her if her momma wasn’t so mean and would let her.

She has taken to stashing her loot in the Dora tent. Perhaps this is a 2nd child trait? Her big sister stole from her for so long she now feels the need to stockpile?

Are you beginning to wonder if I ever wash these little faces after dinner???

Who needs chairs when we have bins to sit in?

I ended my evening completely frustrated. The girls went to bed without a peep and no potty accidents for Miss Annabelle! She’s an old pro now. No, my frustration lies in my inability to set up a basic photo printer. I’ve started making my own photo cards (yes, add that to my extensive list of crafty hobbies) and I purchased a new photo printer so I can print them out at home…along with my digitial scrapbook pages. I wasted 2 hours trying to get the stupid thing set up. When did I become so technologically challenged? Beyond frustrating!  If I ever get that flippin’ printer set up you can look for your super cute card in the mail.

Day 2: Annabelle woke up dry! She has even woke up dry from her naps. I’m so impressed with how quickly she is catching on.

She cracks me up when I take her potty because she’ll tell me “wait, listen, do you hear it?”. As soon as she starts she exclaims “I get two M&M’s!!”. She stays on top of her potty rewards.

Day 3: Miss Annabelle has got it. She’s been accident-free and even stops playing to go potty without being reminded. It’s amazing what can be accomplished with the incentive of M&M’s. I suppose this is true in quite a few avenues of life….

I followed the 3 day potty training guide I received from my friend, Melissa, which is pretty intense and requires the potty trainee to basically be on house arrest for the first three days. Although extremely effective, this is what Annabelle looks like after being cooped up for 3 days…. MANIAC!

After dinner we headed over to Little Monkey Bizness for family night. My girls were extremely disappointed when we got there and found out it had moved from Wednesday to Tuesdays. Oops! Daddy saved the day though by suggestion we go grab some frozen custard. The girls smiles were quickly restored!

Look at this sass….

What I get when I ask for a smile…

It’s no Little Monkey Biz, but custard sure does hit the spot. Abbots has the best options for kids – they have real frozen yogurt or custard in infant sizes which is not even a full scoop. They get the taste, but not all the sugar!Yum!

Miss Gwyneth’s first cone!

Annabelle wanted half in the cone and half in the cup

Delicious! Gwyneth licked her bowl clean.

Gwyneth has fully reached the Elmo loving age. She has liked him for quite some time, but as we were flipping through the clothes in her closet this morning she screamed for him. She HAD to wear her Elmo shirt today. Annabelle is way more into Monsters Inc and Dora these days, but she humored her sister and wore her Elmo shirt too.

Loves playing Peek-A-Boo

There’s Gwyneth!

I do enjoy our comfy little house in the burbs but it’s enough to drive a momma mad being cooped up for too long. With all our illnesses and B being out of town we haven’t been out to do much lately. I’m happy to report we’re back and we’re on the go again! Phew – it was touch and go there for a while. Ok, maybe that’s being a bit dramatic, but I needed to get back in the hustle and bustle.

Saturday morning we met up with the Davey’s at Little Monkey Bizness. They recently opened a location in our neck of the woods. I prefer it to the Cherry Creek location and if you arrive early enough it’s not very crowded. It’s nice to have one close, but B is just a little bitter because he had been scheming with Keith to open up a location up north. You snooze, you lose, I guess. I guess he’ll have to go back to selling knives (that’s a joke for Anthony, if he’s reading!). Anyway, the girls were thrilled to see their friend Chandler and they played hard.  Chandler and Annabelle are just a few weeks apart and started at daycare the same time. It’s amazing to see how big these little monkeys have become.  The girls all hugged it out when we left and Gwyneth had so much fun with another little girl she met there she gave her a big ol’ hug too!

Let’s go play!

GG rocks those snow boots!

So very excited to go play with Chandler!

For Christmas, B’s parents gave us a gift card for dinner and the request that we drop the girls off with them when we use it. We have met up with the Merrill’s a few times since we’ve been back in Colorado and it’s been great getting together with all our girls. Katie’s parents live just a few blocks from B’s parents so we all took advantage of the grandparent’s offers to babysit and we were able to meet up for dinner sans the kiddos and catch up. Aaah, nothing like a double dinner date in Aurora! Oh, the good old memories that brings back….  We had a great time and it was really nice to meet up with Katie and Seth. The girls had a lot of fun with their grandparents. We’re still trying to figure out how much sugar they were given….Annabelle talked and sang the entire way home about cookies and candy!