February 2012

Happy Leap Year! February was an interesting month. We had a nice Valentine’s Day with a heart-shaped pizza and lots of candy and chocolate. We mostly hung out inside since the weather was weird this month, but the girls had fun playing together, doing some arts and crafts projects, making a mess downstairs, and harassing us for shows, food, or whatever else they wanted.

I had some more kidney stone pain this month, so my doctor had me go to the hospital and get an ultrasound to confirm the kidney stone diagnosis. We got the results a few days later and my kidneys looked great. I didn’t have kidney stones (good news) but that meant that my pain was being caused by something else (bad news). It turned out that I had another ovarian cyst that would need to be surgically removed. I had a similar situation nine years ago, but was cut open and in the hospital for four days. This procedure was to be much simpler and done laparoscopically and as an outpatient procedure. It was a little nerve-wracking to get this news, but we’re lucky to have family and friends that are very supportive and helped with the girls so we could go to our appointments without them in tow. I was scheduled to have surgery on March 1^st and am currently posting this from bed. The surgery was a success and I now have eleven paid days off work, so I’m taking advantage of this time and catching up on the blog, reading all my magazines that have been piling up on my nightstand, and doing nothing (Garrett’s been very good at making sure I stay in bed for most of the day).

In girl news, Brooklyn continues to get better at speaking in sentences. We often have to translate for "outsiders," but I'm sure a lot of parents run into understanding their kids when no one else does. She says her sister's name so cute and gives us great hugs and kisses. Kami is getting much better at writing and can spell her name and my name. She can't spell "mom," but she can spell "Tessa." It's the little things, right?

Since we were dealing with my health stuff, I was a bit preoccupied and didn’t take a ton of pictures, but we caught a few good moments. Enjoy!

**I gave the girls some nail polish for Valentine's Day with the intention of them getting their nails painted by an adult. Brooklyn wasn't very fond of that idea...I didn't really think anything of her being gone for a few minutes after I told her no, but then I counted the nail polish bottles and realized both she and one of her bottles were missing...this is what I found in the bathroom...**

Blowing on her toenails.

Yup, I caught her.

She did surprisingly well for a two-year old.

Crunching the eyeballs off the poor chocolate puppy.

Mmm...dig right in!

I tried to get her to show me the puppy and smile, but she couldn't take her eyes of the chocolate.

She was anxious for her blankie to get out of the dryer to be "all keen!"

There it is!

The girls doing some Valentine's Day crafts. I've decided I'm going to try to get them to do a painting for each holiday/season. The canvases were about $5/2 at Wal-Mart and we had the paint and brushes from a previous craft and they did a pretty good job!

These girls love their kitty towels. I find myself buying a lot of pairs of things. Two identical towels, two of the same candy, two of the same shirt...

This girl falls asleep in the weirdest positions. This night was on top of my pillow parallel to the headboard. When she's out, she's out.

Welcome to 2012!

We welcomed 2012 in with a bang by staying up until 11 and then hitting the hay. I know, party animals. We had another party for Kami’s birthday with my family and Kami got to pick out her own cake. Luckily, we were able to steer her towards the small princess cake instead of the $50 Disney princess cake for the eight of us. She loved being the center of attention and we always have a good time with my family.

Garrett and I got to go on a few dates this month which was fantastic. Sometimes, Kami gets a hold of my camera, so it’s always fun to see what kind of pictures she takes. There were a few pictures that she took when my dad was over “babysitting” one night. You can see below that the girls have the run of the house when he’s over, and they love it.

I also turned 31 and Garrett and the girls were sweet enough to get me flowers and took me shopping. I’ve had a good year and my family makes it even better. I did ring in the new year with some kidney stones and horrible pain, but other than that, a good January!

Cute picture of my dad and Kami. I can't believe I've got a five-year old who will start school this fall! I'm already emotional about it...I can't imagine what a train wreck I'll be when it comes time to drop her off for her first day!

She was so excited about this cake; she got to pick everything out, including the filling, frosting, dress decorations, and writing.

Pretty excited about her Team Umi-Zoomi shirt.

She made some wishes, but she couldn't tell us, because then they wouldn't come true. Brilliant.

These girls have lots of fun with bubbles.

Kami's such a good big sister and tries to help her sister blow bubbles.

**Here are the pictures from when Grandpa baby-sat the girls on one of our date nights.**

Cookie face!

The girls love the peanut butter crackers. Mostly the peanut butter.

Grandpa had some TV watching to do and Brooklyn had some silly faces to make.

Mmm...Oreos...

Exactly what this girl needs...more cookies.

Pretty impressed with her self-portrait skills.

Close-up of her Squinkie.

I don't know what it is with kids and flashlights, but both of ours love them.

She stood like this for about an hour. Glad I stocked up on batteries at Costco. Or "the Costco," which is what Kami calls it.

Yeah, we've got two nudists on our hands.

This is a prime example of what the girls do while I'm at work. They're so cute that Brooklyn falls asleep in the chair that they're both sitting in and Kami just stays in it and finishes her show.

Anytime Garrett lays down on the floor, Brooklyn runs over and jumps on top of him.

She gets pretty excited about him rocking back and forth!

Kami decided to get in on the acrobatics.

It was pretty funny to watch these three!

I was "treated" to a concert from my two pianists.

Such sweet dorks.

We took advantage of a nice, clear day with some sidewalk chalk and paint.

I always enjoy looking through my pictures to see who's gotten a hold of my camera. Can you tell that Kami took a few shots?

She's such a good picture subject for her big sister.

Merry Christmas!

December was a good month for us. We got a lot of the little tasks done around the house and got to enjoy some time off with our families. Garrett’s parents came to town during Christmas, Kami turned five years old, we didn’t get any snow, and Santa was good to us.

During Christmas, we had our traditional clam chowder on Christmas Eve with both sets of families, turkey with Garrett’s family on Christmas, and rib roast with my family a few days later. For Kami’s birthday, we went to the mall and Kami built a bear, or a Hello Kitty named Jeans to be exact, got a pretzel for lunch (her choice), and then went to Pojo’s and played some games. We also did a birthday celebration with a princess cake, some candles and balloons, and a few presents.

Brooklyn is starting to talk in more sentences (I can't do it, It's stuck, Where Kami at?) that we can actually understand but shows no interest in potty training. Since it was so stressful the first time with Kami, I figured she can choose when she wants to start crapping in a toilet because I’m not going to go through that stress again. Maybe I should just make Garrett handle it…

Kami is still our wonderful, creative, brilliant girl. I can’t believe that she’s five years old already! It constantly blows my mind that she’s our sweet girl that used to be a tiny little baby. She’s getting pretty good at her math and writing skills, so I’m hoping her transition to kindergarten this fall will go well for all of us.

Enjoy the pictures of our fun month!

Each girl has their own parent's iPhone to watch a show on, because God forbid they share...

Grandma helping the girls decorate some Christmas cookies.

It's hard to get everyone to look and smile at the same time.

Brooklyn was more interested in wearing her potty seat than using it.

It was also a ride for her.

More cookie decorating. Aren't my girl's cheeks the cutest?!

Kami picked out the cookies and wrote the letter for Santa. She was very pleased with herself.

Grandma and Papa got B a "Mommy Ellie."

The girls got La-La-Loopsy dolls from Santa this year.

The girls were very "helpful" when opening my presents.

Our snack table that stayed up throughout the holiday season.

Brooklyn was hooked by Tom and Jerry's Nutcracker.

Another exciting morning of opening presents.

More elephant toys for Brooklyn.

She was so excited about her stocking stuffers, her pigtails were moving!

And another present-opening morning, this time with my family.

My cute nephew, Jonah.

"It too heaby."

She loved the tutu from Uncle Nick and Aunt Patsy so much that she had to put it on right away.

Kami, Molly (my dad's girlfriend), my dad, and Brooklyn. Again, it's tough to get everyone to look and smile at the same time.

Brooklyn decided she was done with opening presents, so it was time to watch a show on someone's phone.

Kami was so excited for Build-A-Bear.

It was kind of pricey, but so worth it!

Her lunch of choice, a pretzel and strawberry lemonade.

Dad, the photo bomber.

I don't know who was more excited for the bumper cars...

Riding a reindeer round and round.

Driving her Tonka truck.

Kami Flinstone.

Kami likes to bowl overhand.

Kami was nice enough to let her little sister help open her presents.

Both the girls were waiting for dad to tune the ukelele.

Pretty excited about her birthday ukelele.

Brooklyn's head gets stuck in her shirts a lot.

As excited as she was about Jeans, Bear-Bear still manages to be the favorite.

The girls trying to see some stars out the window.