July Potpouri

Wow!  Can't believe it's the last day of July already!  The month has flown by and I realized I didn't take many photos this month!  Here's a few random ones that didn't fit in their own post!  But first, here's what we've been up to:  Lots of weekends at the cottage, many fun playdates, swimming, children's museum visits, visits to Monkey Joe's, playing at the McDonald's playland, park visits, library trips and story times, Farmer's Markets, art projects, gymnastics (which I need to remember to take a photo of), and lots of playtime!

Makayla will be 4 on August 2nd!  Wow!  She's very independent and directive (a nice way to say sassy and bossy).  She loves to help me with about anything I'm doing and she rarely wants help with anything she is doing!  She can also be very dramatic, which is significantly worse when she's tired!  She has been transitioning out of napping, which has been a challenge!  We are pretty much through the nap transition, although she's been on a kick of getting up early, which makes for a rough day!  About the only way I can get her to nap is to trick her into it by letting her watch a movie in my bed...Baby Einstein is great for this!  Makayla is starting to enjoy playing games... especially cards!  She is pretty good with numbers and I've been trying to teach her some strategy with the cards.  She loves looking at her "High Five" magazine and she loves playing outdoors and having picnics!  She likes playing princess and school and she loves art!  She also loves her gymnastics class and can't wait for her next round of swimming lessons...she wants to learn to swim on top of the water!  Makayla will be attending 3K at St. Nicholas School in Freedom next fall and she's excited for her new school!  She loves wearing fancy dresses and her "heel" shoes!  She doesn't like me combing her hair or putting any type of pigtails or clips in her hair!  She has a love/hate relationship with her sister.  Most of the time they play together nicely, but once in a while they turn on each other!  However, Makayla always looks out for Lydia when other kids are involved!  :)  Makayla loves princesses and she plans on being a princess when she grows up.  Her favorite colors are pink, purple, and blue!  She loves fruits and veggies and is a very healthy eater!

Lydia is almost 2.5 and she's definitely not a baby any more!  She can vocalize pretty much anything she is thinking, although she can get frustrated if I don't completely understand her.  She likes to try to keep up with Makayla and has picked up on Makayla's independence!  She also loves playing outside and can even pedal her little 12 inch bike!  She loves to jump around... especially jump off my couch!  She's also pretty good at playing on her own for short periods of time.  She will even wander downstairs and play by herself in the basement!  She loves her baby dolls and her stuffed animals.  She and Makayla will play baby or dog for quite a while!  She understands some emotions like sad, happy, and scared and will vocalize when she is sad or scared!  She doesn't like sandals or flip-flops and will typically choose socks and shoes!  Unfortunately, she doesn't like wearing dresses!  She also doesn't like me combing her hair or putting any type of pigtails or clips in her hair!  She has no interest in potty training even though she knows when she's going and she asks for "privacy" while she's doing her business!  She loves princesses and Mickey Mouse and her favorite color is yellow!  She likes having hot chocolate with me in the morning while I drink my coffee!  She hates most veggies and is pretty picky about which fruits she eats!  Her favorite foods are probably pizza and chocolate!  She is also very good at pretend play and she and Makayla will pretend all sorts of things!  

Chad and I are also doing well!  We celebrated our 10 year anniversary on July 6th!  Wow!  I've been busy with the girls and also getting some much-needed "me" time with my girlfriends each week!  I've been working on eating healthier and enjoying the variety of fresh summer fruits and veggies!  Chad's been busy with lots of little projects associated with our rental properties!  He's also lovin' the nice summer weather and lots of water skiing!

Here are the girls snuggling on the couch and watching some TV.  Neither one of them will sit for long in front of the TV most days....they are usually running around and playing!

We all got haircuts and both girls got braids in their hair!  I took out Lydia's braid at the end of the day and she looked like she stepped out of the 80's with crimped hair!  LOL!!

Here's Lydia, Makayla, and Addison at the Van Helvoirt Family reunion!  (Chad's Mom's side of the family)

This was the cutest activity at the reunion...home made bubbles!  The kids had a blast with this!

Happy July!

More Cottage Fun

We had several more fun weekends up at the Evers' family cottage!  Below are the girls and a few of their cousins doing some art!

Whoops!  Shouldn't have have walked away!  Lydia decided to color herself!  She has never done this at home any of the dozens of times we've used markers!!  There was even red marker in her belly button!  And it wasn't washable!  Jeez!  

The girls always love 4-wheeler rides!  I love the 10 minutes of quiet time!  LOL!!

Makayla and Addison

Here's a photo of Lydia on the ski trainer and here's a link to a video of her on the ski-trainer!  Pretty cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vBcqT2R3qo

Here's Makayla on the ski-trainer and a link to a video too!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXk_xoMqq5Y

Lydia has gotten brave enough to swim around the water by herself!

Makayla and Addison swimming!

Lydia and Papa hanging out and waiting for a boat ride!

Visiting Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Evers.  They have a cottage on the next lake over.  The girls like riding through the tunnel to get to their lake!

A beautiful sunset!  The photo doesn't do it justice!

Children's Parade

The Building for Kids (Appleton Children's Museum) had a Children's Parade in July!  Kids dressed up and then got to decorate their bikes, strollers, and wagons for the parade.  The parade was only about a half a mile long through downtown Appleton and ended at a park that had activities for kids!  After seeing the Disney parade with princesses, of course my girls had to dress up as princesses!  They both had cute costumes with crowns and wands...but the weather was so hot that Lydia didn't want to wear her princess dress!  Makayla kept hers on, even though she was so hot!  It was in the mid 90's!  Below is a photo of the girls before the parade started!  Looking hot but excited!!

Here's the wagon that we decorated and that the girls rode in!  I printed the photos on the computer and Makayla did all the decorating!

She even decorated the seats and the handle!

At the end of the parade, Makayla quickly got rid of her dress!  The girls enjoyed checking out the various vehicles in the park!  Here's Makayla in a fire truck!

Lydia in the fire truck!

Here we are in the school bus!

The girls in a cement truck!

Lydia is in the driver's seat!!

The girls in the back of a police car!

There were a few other things to do, but a big black rain cloud was overhead, so we let the kids play on the playground for a few minutes and then took off!  The rain hit on our way home and the temp dropped from 95 to about 72!!!  Wow!

How's it Going?

Since I've left work, the 2 questions I get asked a ton are:  "How's it going?" and "Do you miss work?"

So my answers are:  "it's going well" and "no, I don't miss work!"  I do miss my adult friends from work, but I've done a good job at staying in contact with my girlfriends via lunches, dinners, happy hours, my stamping group, and playdates!  I get out at least 1 night a week for some time to myself...usually meeting up with a friend.  And I'm starting to meet some more mom's in Appleton since most of my friends live in Green Bay or further north.  I do enjoy hearing the latest work stories and I still check out the Puffs aisle in the store, but I definitely don't miss going to work every day!

The transition with the kids has gone well...probably better than I expected.  At first the kids wanted me to play with them all the time and the days were getting pretty long!  But now, Makayla and Lydia play well with each other and I can sneak away to get a few things done here and there (like update this blog).  Although I always try to stay in eye-sight, or at least ear-shot, since they have a bit of a love-hate relationship!!  We also go on a few playdates each week and definitely have lots of trips to parks, pools, museums, the zoo, and other fun places.  We're getting better at our trips to the grocery store and I don't sweat quite so much when my kids throw a tantrum in public!   I've also found some creative ways to entertain the kids at home.  Makyala has been transitioning out of her afternoon nap, so that has contributed to many crabby days.  However, her mood is improving and she's also getting better at taking some quite time in her room while I put Lydia down for a nap.  Makayla will also play quietly while I work-out during Lydia's nap...usually only about 30 minutes, but I'll take it!  Both girls are sleeping better at night and also starting to sleep-in a bit in the morning...that also helps tremendously with their moods!  Not to jinx anything, but we're finally getting them both to go to bed easier and also to sleep through the night lately!  (perhaps due to my transition to being at home?)  So all-in-all, the transition has gone well and we're starting to get in a groove with our days and our routine!  Below are some random photos of our fun!

These are dried beans...the girls had a blast scooping and dumping them!  The wading pool worked well to contain the mess and keep it outside!  :)

One day Makayla folded an entire basket of laundry for me!  She did a great job!

The girls played with my baking supplies one day...this entertained them for a good hour while I was busy in the kitchen!

Makayla planted a bean plant a few months ago in daycare.  We transplanted it to a larger pot and watered it and watched it grow.  Here are the 2 beans from the plant that Makayla enjoyed eating!  We recently put the plant outside in the garden and it looks like it may not be surviving.

Here's Lydia with the gardening gloves that I bought for each of the girls.  These gloves made the girls very open to digging in the dirt...as seen in the next photo!

As long as she had her gloves on, Lydia had a blast sitting and digging in the dirt!  Her hands stayed clean, even though the rest of her was pretty dirty!  LOL!

Here's an art project that we did one day after reading the book, The Rainbow Fish!

Pretend cupcakes!

Makayla and Addison hanging out!  We like to use chalk to draw out streets and stop signs on the driveway!  Then Makayla drives all around her streets!

Fun in the wading pool!

Getting a running start in order to jump in the wading pool!

More pool fun!

The neighbor girls hanging out with Makayla in the pool!  She loves it when they come over to play, especially on the slip-n-slide!

June Family Photos

I just love our photographer, Pam!  She always seems to get some fabulous photos of the family!  These were taken at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens in early June!  I narrowed it down to some of my favorites, although anyone reading this may think I posted way too many!  Enjoy!