Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 12.1.12

Happy weekend!  We have one of my favorite holiday activities planned for Saturday morning, getting our Christmas tree!!  We go to an awesome tree farm south of town that has horse drawn wagon rides to the tree fields, Santa waiting in the barn with hot chocolate afterwards.  I am looking forward to it, but haven't told the kids yet.  It's killing me to keep it a secret, but I know Claire will be be up at 5 am if I tell her about it.  I hope everyone has a great weekend of fun!!

I am hosting the Saturday Laughs Blog Hop for my friend Melissa while she's on vacation.  Come and join us in the fun!

5.  I absolutely love our daycare provider!  I am so thankful to have someone in our life to love and care for our girls while I am at work.  Miss Cynthia often sends me text messages to share funny stories about the girls.  So this one came directly from her.  They were talking about matching and Claire said, "Miss Cynthia, my shirt matches your phone's suitcase!"  And yes, Miss Cynthia has a pink phone case.

4.  Claire has been very inquisitive about mixing colors as of late.  She is constantly asking, "If I mix color A and color B together, what color do I get?"  Typically, she asks color combinations such as pink and orange or purple and green.  She asked one color mix that I had no idea, so I told her that I wasn't sure what color it would make.  She then informed me, "Daddy knows everything about colors, maybe you should ask him." I cracked up, Ryan is not the foremost color expert in our house - at all!

3.  Ryan had taken the girls next door to his mom's house.  They tore into the house and ran straight for the play room.  Grandma wasn't expecting them and had put their unwrapped Christmas gifts in the room.  Grandma quickly told them to stop and Ryan followed up with, "Grandma's underwear are in there, you don't want to see them!"  This kept the girls out.  When they came home, Claire told me, "Mom, Grandma's underwear were out so we couldn't play in our room.  We did NOT want to see that!"

2.  My family has this awesome tradition of group Black Friday shopping.  We make a list of all our needs, a plan to hit each department and then we divide and conquer.  We always have a blast, laughing more than people around us probably appreciate.  My mom always ensures we have Christmas music playing.   When The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) came over the radio, my mom and I instantly cracked up.  We then had to share with the ladies the reason behind our laughter.  When my dad (Jeff) was younger, he thought the song opened with, "Jeff's nuts roasting over an open fire..."  Needless to say, whenever we hear that song we think of my dad and laugh.  At midnight, this was seriously hysterical and we cackled like crazy!

1.  I don't need to say much with this laugh, Natalie spent the majority of her time at Grandma's doing the same thing over and over!  This video is long - I couldn't figure out how to trim it from my phone and the multiple apps that I tried didn't work.  So make sure you watch the first 15 seconds.

I already have four really good laughs for next week that happend today!  I can't wait for next week to share them!

Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 11.24.12

Happy Thanksgiving weekend!  I absolutely love this holiday!! Nothing is better than spending quality time with our loved ones.  We are blessed to live close to all of our family so we don't need to travel.  This also means that we have multiple celebrations throughout the weekend!  I will surely need to wear the fat pants after all these meals.

I must admit that all five of these laughs didn't happen this past week.  A few of them are from the unused list of weeks past.  I didn't do a good job writing down our funny laughs through the week, so I am bummed that my memory stinks!

5.  My girls love to play kitchen.  We actually have their play kitchen set up in the kitchen so we can cook side by side.  I was cooking dinner one night and Claire was cooking the dessert to go with our meal.  She popped the cupcakes in the oven and told me, "they will be ready shortly mom, in about 16 hours."  I must have looked at her a little sideways since she followed up with, "Is that a long time?"

4.  Natalie has figured out a new way to entertain herself while wearing footie jammies.  She takes objects (favorite is play phones) and hides them by dropping them down through the neck until they reach her feet.  She then puts her hands out like, "where did it go?"  She giggles like crazy while we unzip to retrieve the object.

3.  Claire was picking her nose and I asked her if she needed a tissue.  She said, "I already got it mom."  I then brought her a tissue for the said "it" when she told me that she already wiped it on her pants.  She then went on to tell me, "When I'm at daycare, I turn my back so my friends don't know I am picking my nose.  Then I wipe it on my pants."  We then had to have a conversation about the need to use tisses.

2.  We got our Elf on the Shelf, Ernie, out this week.  Natalie gets so excited when she realizes Ernie's new hiding spot.  She then babbles on pointing to the last spot he was at and the newest spot.  I imagine she is trying to tell us, "He was over there and now he's up here!"

1.  Claire was pretending to be me when she took her purse, waved to me (I was Claire) and said, "Bye honey, I have to go to work, be a good girl."  I asked her what she did at work and she told me, "At work, I have to do all the boring things in the world.  If you and Natalie came with me to work all you'd do is sit there because my work is SO BORING."  Apparently, Claire thinks selling brick & stone is a boring job.  Trust me it sounds much more boring than it really is!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  If you are looking for some more laughs, be sure to check out Melissa and the other great blogs that have linked up!

Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 11.10.12

Friday nights are much less anti-climatic when I know I have to go to work onSaturday morning!  Thankfully, I only work until noon.  I am looking forward to celebrating my amazing mom's birthday on Sunday!

I had a bunch of laughs so choosing five was rather challenging, so if that is my worst problem for the weekend  - I'll take it!

5.  Claire was looking at an old photo of Ryan and I (before he started shaving his head).  She asked me, "Mommy, who is with you in this picture?"  Ryan walked in the room just in time to hear the question and told her that he was in the picture with me.  Claire looked at him crooked and responded, "But you have hair daddy, that can't be you!"

4.  The girls love to play dress-up, they seriously play all the time.  One night after their baths, they decided they needed to put on their tu-tu's.  Natalie was so excited that she ran around the house, shrieking "TU-TU!!"

3.  I am a huge snuggler.  I love to cuddle with the girls and kiss their cheeks all the time.  Thankfully, Claire has started to become a little love bug too.  She gave me a random kiss and smacked her lips late.  She quickly said, "Let me do that again, my kiss didn't come out right!"

2.  Whenever Ryan or I sit on the floor, Natalie runs up to us, taps our head while saying "duck".  Then she runs away giggling hoping we will chase her.  I guess she's a little young to understand duck, duck, goose :)

1.  On Election Day, Claire's friends at daycare were able to go vote with their parents.  I voted after I dropped the girls off and Ryan went at night.  Claire was distraught when Ryan was going to leave saying, "Daddy, but I want to go boating too.  All of my friends got to go boating today, ppppllleeeeaaaasssseeee take me with you!!!"

I am linking up with Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles.  If you like funny posts, this is the place to find them!

Top 10 October Laughs :: The Catch Up Edition

It has been a solid month since I blogged our family laughs. We have had plenty to laugh about so I have a huge list to choose from to write our October Laughs!  Needless to say, there wasn't any way to choose just five.

These aren't in any order since I had a really hard time trying to decide my favorites.

• In late September, our very dear friends' son had a birthday party.  We took Claire and left Natalie with my parents (it was her nap time).  They had a pinata and everything!  After we left the party, Claire kept talking about the pe-nayta.  Every time she said the word, she would get angry that it didn't come out like she intended.  I really had to turn my head so she wouldn't see me laughing.
• We were able to have a face-time chat with Miss Grace one evening before bed.  We even let Claire stay up a little late.  The next time she put the same pajamas on that she wore when we talked, she informed me, "These are the jammies that I wore when we talked to Miss Grace - for real mom."  Is she three or thirteen?
• Since the weather has not been very nice for playing outside, we have to be creative to keep the kids active while inside.  Our latest family activity is to put on hats, scarves and mittens so we can have a snowball fight (we use bouncy balls).  The girls giggle the entire time!

• Natalie has an obsession with wearing Claire's clothes, especially her undies.  She puts them on over top of her diaper but never properly.  She puts her waist through the leg holes and every other combination you can think of.  If you try to help her, she runs away.  She is one independent little girl!
• Claire loves to pretend all the time.  She was playing with my sister and Andria said she was a statue and couldn't move.  Claire responded with "if you're a statue why are your lips moving?"
• Natalie was running at Miss Cynthia's when she kicked a toy and fell down.  She was upset that her foot hurt so she bent down kissed her toes and ran off to play again.
• I have a box of my old barbies that Claire loves to play with.  Her latest obsession is with the Ken dolls.  One of the Ken dolls is a rocker Ken with rather large hair (80's rocker) and the other is a traditional malibu Ken (he was wearing a swim suit).  Claire was examining the Ken dolls when she said, "I like the naked Ken.  He's more handsome."  Her dad will be so proud.  
• One day Claire ran out into the living room as a lion

RAWR!

• Claire's birthday is March 1st.  When Miss Cynthia asked her when her birthday was, she answered, "Marched up".  
• As I said before, we have had some nasty weather here lately, cold and rainy.  We decided to bring the bounce house inside to let the girls burn off some energy.  You have to check out this video of what happened shortly after. 

That girl is a daredevil!  

Happy November!  I hope to be able to blog our laughs weekly again this month!!

Happy Halloween

As I mentioned in our Trunk or Treat post, we had a low-key Halloween planned.  Of course, it was busy fitting everything in after work but a ton of fun!!

I left work a little early and picked up the girls from daycare.  Ryan met me with pizza at my parents house.  My sister and her husband brought Tyler over too so we able to have some cousin time!  The girls scammed Grandma and Grandpa out of a ton of candy (ask Natalie how to get anything from Grandpa - she has that figured out!), played and entertained Tyler (see photo below).

After a little dinner, some more candy and lots of photo attempts we headed for Ryan's mom and step-dad's house. We got to meet up with Ryan's sister Jessica and her son Cameron.  So the girls got double cousin fun for the evening!  Instead of eating their candy while we were there, the girls opted for ice cream (what else do you get while trick or treating at a house with an ice cream truck).  Then the kids had a great time in the bathtub.  

Happy Halloween from Doc McStuffins and Natty Zebra!!

Changes!

I can't believe this is a the first post from the newly redesigned and named blog!!  I had a really hard time trying to come up with a name.  I was chatting with the wonderful blog designer extraordinaire Tiffany from Tiffany Kuehl Designs about the craziness that is our everyday life.  Eventually she suggested Life in the Craziness and the name evolved into Between the Chaos which will probably be a name that will always fit our life.

Working with Tiffany was easier than I had ever imagined.  I have never had a real blog design so I had no idea what to expect as my name moved up the waiting list. She has an awesome Pinterest board of color inspiration and I selected the palette for the blog after a lot of deliberation - that was hard for me!  With minimal direction, Tiffany took off on the header, background and button.  She was so fast in her changes and more than willing to entertain some of my less than stellar ideas.  I would highly recommend her to anyone with blogging, branding or social media design needs!

Thanks for stopping by to see the new look, I am so thrilled!  Now to work on some of the new pages :-)

Halloween Fun :: Trunk or Treat!

We live in awesome town.  Actually our city (not really our town, but the city that we are a suburb of) was voted "the best place to raise a family" in the US.  We have lots of Halloween festivities that are family friendly.  We went to a local church this afternoon for Trunk or Treat.  This is a day-time trick-or-treating from the trunks of cars and from themed tables set up inside the church.

Claire couldn't have been more excited to get in her Doc McStuffins costume.  She has been practicing for weeks now.  My wonderful mom completed the lab coat today so we had all the components for a perfect Doc.

Natalie on the other hand wanted nothing to do with her costume.  I asked her if she wanted to put on her zebra costume and she shook her head no.  I held it up so she could see it and she shoved it away.  So under protest, we put on the tights and under shirt with the hope that she would put the rest on once we arrived.  That being said, I didn't even get a before photo of Natalie in her costume (which she gladly put on once she saw all the other kids in costumes).

The girls enjoyed seeing all the other costumes and getting candy.  We skipped the majority of the inside tables since the girls just wanted to play with the toys (the church is also a preschool).  Their favorite was the playhouse that Claire made her clinic in true Doc McStuffins fashion.  After we ate dinner we went out to see the beloved horse (good thing Aunt Jessica has horses or the girls would have wanted one!).

After all the fun (and a few pieces of candy) we made the not so wise decision to take the girls to church.  They were bouncing off the walls - but really why did we think that wouldn't happen?

A BIG bed!

Last September we took the crib rail off Claire's bed, giving her a toddler bed.  Recently, she has been having a hard time settling down at night.  Lots of rolling around and restless legs until nearly 10 pm.  When we've gone in there to tell her to lay still, she would beg to go to our bed.  She has never spent the night in our bed, so this was a very strange request.  After a few days of the same story, it dawned on me that she could be getting too BIG for her toddler bed!

Claire is a big girl for her age.  She's three and a half, but wears a 5t and I have actually bought her some size 6 pants.  I was a giant kid (I've been 5'8" since the fifth grade) so I anticipate that she will grow early too.  So this weekend we decided to make the final conversion on her bed and take the plunge into a full-size bed.  It hit me really hard that this is the bed she will have for the rest of her time at our house.  

We initially took Claire to Bed Bath & Beyond to pick out her own bedding.  She selected an elephant themed set that included and elephant stuffed toy.  After we got home, I realized that the six piece set wasn't a bed in a bag and didn't even include sheets.  I then went back to the store to get a more suitable set for the price, and settled on a darling floral print.  

Ryan made a bunkie board (a support board in lieu of a box spring so her bed wasn't too tall) and we rearranged her room to accomodate the big bed.  Claire has informed us that she no longer needs to go to our bed since she has a comfy bed of her own!  She is having a little bit of a hard time falling asleep, but it is due to excitement rather than an uncomfortable bed.  

Happy 18 Months Natalie Sue!

Everyone says it, "they grow up so fast."  In the sleep deprived early days, you vaguely are aware that there are different days.  Before you know it, your baby turns one.  A blink later they are no longer a baby, but a full blown toddler.

As I was reading books with Natalie tonight, I took a current inventory if you will.  When she sits on my lap, her face is directly in line with my shoulder.  She is at the perfect height that I can kiss her sweet cheeks.  Her legs are so long that her feet nearly reach my knees.  Her hair is just above her shoulders and has soft curls.  When I hold her, she rests her head on my shoulder and her knees actually rest on my lap.  These are the little things that I am trying to burn into my memory, things that I never want to forget.

As far as developmentally, she is actually running these days.  Running absolutely everywhere.  No longer does she look like a sand lizard with her arms and legs flaring as she runs.  She tries her very best to keep up with her sister in everything.  Natalie loves to climb and there isn't much in the house that she hasn't climbed at this point.  She is busy all the time and enjoys the following things:

• Stomping her feet
• Dancing
• Playing dress-up (loves fancy shoes)
• Picking out food from the refrigerator and pantry
• Brushing her teeth and washing her hands
• Tackling daddy
• Putting a purse over her shoulder and waving 'bye' 
• Playing catch

She's still on the small side so I am hoping the pediatrician appointment this month doesn't show her down another percentile (she's dropped every month since 9 months).  I think that she's grown recently as she feels heavier.  In clothes, she's in 12-18 month across the board as of this month.  Her pants are good for length but too large in the waist and the shirts fit a little large.  

Verbally, she tries really hard to talk.  She will repeat two word phrases, however if she wasn't repeating something I don't think that I would know what she was actually saying.  Words that are in her everyday vocabulary are:

• Claire
• Dog
• Yes (Yeah)
• Ice Cream
• Drink
• Thank You
• Kitty
• Blankie
• Baby
• Paci

Natalie is a VERY strong willed little miss.  She doesn't like it when you help her without her consent.  She likes to pick out her own clothes (read: has a tantrum if you put her in something she doesn't want to wear).  She still holds her own hair for comfort and often pulls out her ponytail in the process.  She stands up for herself when her sister takes a toy that she thinks should be hers.  

I took a stroll down memory lane and pulled out photos from her birth.

I am amazed at the difference that 18 months makes!!  

Happy 1/2 Birthday Little Girl!!

Fall Fun :: Pumpkin Patch!

Fall is upon us here in Michigan.  It was a chilly, overcast day on Saturday when we took the girls to a local pumpkin patch.  Miss Grace was home for the weekend and she even joined us!

We have never visited this pumpkin patch, but the girls were thrilled as soon as they got out of the car.  There was a big corn box and a some ride on toys that commanded immediate attention and excitement.

Next up was a hayride through the fields and woods.  The hayride was a scavenger hunt for scarecrows and everyone was counting to see who could find the most.  They also had little Native American scenes set up throughout the woods.  

There was a HUGE 5' diameter drain-tile that was turned into a slide.  Claire conquered her fears and went down by herself (after a fit at the top of the slide).  Daredevil Natalie, on the other hand, would have gone down with Ryan many times if we would have let her.  

There was a mammoth corn-maze, one entrance for adults and another entrance for kids that lead to a shortened path.  We also visited the animals at the petting zoo.  Of course, Claire thought the animals were too loud.  Natalie loved the quack-quacks and the oooohhss (cows).  

My favorite part was the actual picking of pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.  The girls selected their own pumpkins to take home.  Claire picked up an odd shaped, white pumpkin since it was the most beautiful pumpkin in the whole patch.  

We ended our visit with some apple cider and pumpkin donuts for dessert before dinner.  We had soup waiting at home for us in the crockpot and after dinner we painted our pumpkins (confession, we have yet to ever carve pumpkins as a family).

The girls were so glad to have the chance to spend some time with Miss Grace!  We were so thankful she was able to join us!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

My husband turned 32 last week.  I haven't hardly talked about him on the blog since I primarily talk about the girls, but he is a super laid back guy.  Because of this I tend to be a little too lazy complacent when it comes to birthday plans.  The day of his birthday,  I still didn't know what I was going to get him!  My boss encouraged me to have a mini-party for him that night, so I left the office a little early and headed to our local one-stop shop.  I picked up a little cake, candles, a couple of packages of Snickers and Reece's Peanut Butter Cups (his favorites), party hats, noisemakers and a bottle of Crown Royal.  When I went to checkout, I realized that I didn't have my ID with me and therefore couldn't buy the whiskey (I couldn't believe I actually got carded, but seriously?!).   I called my father-in-law and asked him to meet me at the little convenience store not far from home so I could actually come home with the good part of the gift!  So after the small detour, I was home with my little family and ready to celebrate.

The girls had a riot at Daddy's birthday party!  Claire absolutely loves playing birthday so this was such a treat to have an actual birthday and real cake.  We had a great time until a nasty migrane wiped me out.  I felt so awful heading to bed and leaving the birthday boy to clean up all the mess.  What a happy birthday for him...

This past weekend was full of celebrations with family.  Lots of good food, laughs and gift cards (my husband LOVES gift cards).  What a blessing to be able to celebrate with everyone!  

Ryan I hope your 32nd Birthday was wonderful and I hope your 32nd year is full of joy.  I love you more with every passing year and cannot be thankful enough for your support, help, encouragement and love.  The girls and I are so blessed because of you!

Top Five {Four} Saturday Laughs :: 9.29.12

It was a long week here, I am super thankful for the weekend!  For our post this week, I didn't write five laughs down.  As I sit here with my laptop, I cannot even think of another funny moment, oy!!  So I'm just going to write four laughs this week with hopes of more laughs next week.

4.  Natalie has been getting rather regular when going #2 so we are anticipating the big event a little better and putting her on the potty.  She gets so excited when she actually goes (which has only happened twice), she claps her hands and screams mmmmmm while pointing at the container of M&M's sitting on the counter.  Somewhere during all the excitement, Claire comes in the bathroom clapping and cheering, "Wa-hoo!  Go Natalie!!"  while jumping up and down.  How the excitement of Friday nights has changed over the last few years.

3.  Thanks to help from Miss Cynthia, Claire has been working on keeping her mouth closed while eating.  However, most of the time this translates into Claire tattling on everyone else who has their mouth open while eating.  Ryan and Claire were pretending to eat the play food and Claire even corrected him for fake chewing with his mouth open.

2.  I posted about the big Backyard Bash earlier this week.  Natalie had so much fun dancing!  Her new favorite dance move is to run between my legs, then circle my leg and back between my legs again.  I wish I could describe it better, because it really is quite adorable.  She finds it hysterical, giggling the entire time.

1.  We had a pig-roast at the party last weekend.  Claire told us after the party, "I'm a little sad, we were supposed to have a pig at the party and all we had was some ham!"

As always, I'm linking up with Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles.

Enjoy your weekend!

Backyard Bash X!

Ryan's mom and step-dad put on this huge party called the Backyard Bash annually in September.  The event started when Arn was given a piano to burn on the fire.  So we invited everyone we knew and used the old piano as a kickoff to the night's festivities.  Of course, everyone liked it so much they asked him what he would be burning the next year and the tradition continued.  For every bash, Arn built a 'surprise' object (out of wood) that started the fire. This year he created a collection of miniatures of each of the items he had built in years past and created a huge structure to display them all properly out of pallets.

Year 1: Piano

Year 2: Boat
Year 3: House
Year 4: Airplane
Year 5: Tank
Year 6: Windmill
Year 7: Outhouse
Year 8: Birthday Cake (also Ryan's 30th Birthday Party)
Year 9: Tiki Hut

Every year, Arn worked diligently to collect a ton of pallets to make a fire to be seen from space.  It was a common occurrence that 5-10 pallets at a time were thrown on the fire on top of a huge heap of coals.  The fire is absolutely HUGE and kept us all very warm.  

Three years ago, we celebrated Ryan's 30th birthday and hired Double Barrel Band for the first year.  Needless to say, they've been back every year since.  The backyard becomes the dance floor and we have a blast!

One would think this would be enough for a night, but nah, not for us!  In recent years, Ryan has become earthen oven pig roast chef extraordinaire.  No one goes home hungry!  

I didn't have a chance to get photos of the fireworks since I was putting Natalie to bed (The luxury of having the party next door!  Don't worry we had a sitter).  We did see them through the trees as we stood on the front porch - they were beautiful and the kids just love them!

I took a ton of photos, so here is a collection of some of the favorites:

I just wish all the photos could convey how much fun everyone had!!  Thank you for putting on a wonderful party the last 10 years Mom & Arn!!!

Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 9.22.12

Thank goodness it's the weekend!  What a very long week that ended with two sick little girls.  Both of my girls have come down with some type of crud.  The biggest struggle of the day was trying to keep those crazy girls resting.  Thankfully they are not any worse after today!

I am looking forward to the annual backyard party at the in-laws tomorrow night.  This is the tenth and final year.  I am just praying for the slight chance of rain to move out so we can enjoy a beautiful night around a mammoth bon-fire.

Here are our top laughs from the past week:

5.  Last Sunday we attempted to get a photo of my parents and their grandkids.  The key word in that sentence is attempted.  My kids were not having it which made my nephew upset too.

They all pretty much looked like this

4.  Claire and I were watching Ryan and my dad cut down some dead trees from the perimeter of our yard.  Claire loved watching the trees fall down and asked a million questions about the process.  At one point she turned to me and said, "Cutting down trees is sssssoooooo dangerous mommy.  That's why it's a boy's job."  It was adorable, but I had to tell her that girls can learn to cut trees down too ;)

3.  The girls love playing on their play set.  Lately, they have been in mega competition to see who can climb up and slide down first.  Natalie gets so competitive that even her breathing is intensified.  Both Ryan and I are quite competitive so I think we are in BIG trouble with these two!

2.  Miss Cynthia was encouraging Claire to color inside the lines (she typically won't even try).  Claire told Cynthia that she knew how to color in the lines.  When Cynthia checked her progress, she discovered a picture with lines drawn all over it.  She's a literal girl!

1.  Natalie has been learning various body parts, she loves it!  She was in the bathtub and pointed to her boob and said "boob".  I died laughing which only encouraged the behavior further (and gave me the opportunity for the photo).

Enjoy your weekend and as always, I'm linking up with Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles.

Time to change my thinking

Tonight Natalie went to bed at her normal time.  An hour later, she was up screaming.  While she hasn't been sleeping through the night as of late, this was very uncharacteristic behavior to be up so early in the night.  I let her try and settle down on her own for a bit, but that didn't happen.  I finally went in to see if I could calm her down.

I picked her up and she snuggled in close.  I stood there swaying with her on my shoulder, fully prepared to put her back in her crib as she settled down.  Instead, I took her to the glider, held her like a newborn and rocked.  I was thinking about how I would probably kick myself later for this move since now she would want to be rocked back to sleep whenever she woke.  Then I started thinking...

How I wish she was a better sleeper.
How I wish I had sleep trained when she was younger so she could be a better sleeper.
How I wish I had more time home with my girls.
How I wish my work "to-do" list would shrink rather than grow.
How I wish I could have all my chores caught up around the house.
How I wish I was less rushed in our daily lives and enjoyed the time I actually have with my kids more.

Then I was quiet and I cuddled my sweet baby.  It was in the quiet that the soft, still voice of God spoke to me and simply said, "Be thankful."

So I made the commitment at that moment to change my thinking...

I am thankful that I get a chance to cuddle my baby, one-on-one.
I am thankful that I did sleep train, because she would probably be up more than once a night if I hadn't.
I am thankful that my job allows me to be home for bed every night and I get to be home in the morning when they wake up.
I am thankful I have a fabulous people in place who love and care for my girls when I am not able to be with them.
I am thankful I have a job and a bunch of customers who hopefully want to purchase from us.
I am thankful I have a house, a washer and dryer, clothes to be washed, food that makes dishes dirty and toys for my children.
I am thankful that God entrusted my children to me and allows me to be their mommy.

I really needed this change in my heart.  I am so thankful I decided to rock my baby girl!

Wordless Wednesday :: Sisters

Bloglovin - I'm jumping on the bandwagon

 Lots of my twitter friends have blogged over their love for the new reader, Bloglovin.  So I have officially claimed my blog!
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Here goes nothing!

Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 9.15.12

When I typed the date, I realized that September is halfway over.  When did that happen?!

I have spent the majority of my time as of late helping to plan a Girls Night Out at work that was on Thursday.  Everything went beautifully, I felt so blessed by the whole thing!  Now I hope to work less during the evenings and blog more.

I hope everyone had a spectacular week and has fun plans for the weekend. I will be working Saturday morning and then spending time with my family!

Our laughs this week are primarily from Claire.  I am sure that Natalie had plenty of funny moments, however my writing them down so I actually remember skills were drastically lacking.

5.  Since we have two little girls our home has its fair share of drama.  When Claire's throwing a tantrum, making herself cry (so forced it's unbelievable) our dog Boomer whines right with her.  It really is quite comical and makes it so I don't totally lose my mind!

4.  Natalie is very into making animal noises.  Whenever she sees a picture of a bear, she growls.  It is adorable and she is so proud.

3.  Miss Cynthia sent me a text with this laugh.  Claire was telling her that Riley Grandma (Ryan's mom - named after her dog Riley) has two Sleeping Beauty movies at her house.  Cynthia asked her why she had two.  Without missing a beat Claire told her it was in case one fell into the washing machine.  You can never be too prepared!

2.  While visiting my parents, Claire was playing with a ride on truck that my siblings and I grew up riding. The truck has a lever that you pull and it makes engine sounds.  It also has a compartment to hide things. Every since she was a toddler, Claire has put various balls in the truck.  She was riding around pulling the lever repeatedly.  I asked her why she needed to be so loud while she was riding.  She responded, "that's cause I've got balls.  Wanna see em?"

1.  Claire was writing on a Magna Doodle.  When I asked her what she was writing, she told me she was writing Chinese.  I asked her if she could write anything in English (hoping she would try some letters).  She enthusiastically answered, "yes, hola!" put her head down and starting frantically writing.

Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 9.8.12

Happy Saturday!!  I wish we had a couple more Saturday mornings in a week.  It has cooled down here in Michigan and this morning was a beautiful day to play outside.

I had a difficult time choosing my five laughs for the week so you actually get six.  We had quite a few cute moments this week, however nothing that was seriously hysterical.  To have a super funny laugh,  must go check out my friend Tracey's blog - #1 will seriously crack you up!

5.  {This laugh comes from a story Miss Grace shared with me} Natalie has finally started to attempt talking again.  She had pointed at one of the dogs and said "dg".  Claire was so excited that she spoke, exclaiming "She talked!!  Now I am going to teach her how to do a cartwheel."  When Miss Grace probed if she knew how to do a cartwheel herself, she responded with "Maybe I'll learn to do a cartwheel first then teach Natalie."

4.  Claire woke up with an arm that had fallen asleep.  She was trying to describe what was happening and told me, "Mom, my arm is wrinkly!"

3.  The girls love watching Ryan juggle.  Of course, Claire always attempts to juggle herself.  This week, Natalie tried to juggle too.  However, she just started throwing objects at Claire.  I think that's a skill learned later in life.

2b.  Natalie has been attempting to whistle.  However the whistles are either just a puff of air or a squeal.  It really is super cute!

2a.  Claire typically gets up in the mornings before Natalie.  One morning, when Natalie started to fuss, Claire grabbed the monitor, handed it to me and said, "It's for you mom"

1.  Recently, Claire has started watching Gaspard and Lisa on Disney Junior.  They use the word "catastrophe" in every episode.  Naturally, this word is now in our three year old's vocablulary.  However, she pronounces it catastro-feelings.  It makes me chuckle every single time.

I hope you have a great weekend.  If you're looking for a bunch of funny posts, make sure you check out the blog hop hosted by Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles.

Top Five Saturday Laughs :: 8.25.12

Happy Saturday!  I feel as if I'm cheating since I wrote these early so that I could guest post for Melissa from The Mommyhood Chronicles, but at least they're actually on the blog and not just a note on my phone!  Sometimes, I can't seem to keep up with my life.  Either that or I need to learn how to function on less sleep?

I actually captured some photos to go with our post this week.  Of course, they're not with my awesome new camera that my husband surprised me with for our anniversary/birthday/Christmas/valentines day (for the next three years).  However, they were on my phone. I did Instagram them so that has to count for something?

5.  Much to her talkative's sisters disapproval, Natalie is finally becoming more vocal.  Claire enjoys speaking for Natalie and likes to be the center of attention at all times.  Now when Claire wants Natalie to be quiet, she attempts to put her hand over Natalie's mouth.  This is followed by Natalie licking Claire's hand and hysterical laughing from both girls.

4.  Claire has this new fascination with trying to wink.  I was able to capture her "practicin' her winkin'" at the dinner table.

3.  We live next door to Ryan's mom and step-dad.  They own an ice cream truck (yes this is very bad when you're trying to lose weight).  If you ask Natalie if she wants to go to Grandma's house, she starts smacking her lips while nodding her head. It makes me think she may want something?

2.  Once we go to Grandma's house, Natalie will stand with her arms behind her back with the ice cream obsessed look in her eyes.  When we ask her if she would like some ice cream, she responds like this:

Every. Single. Time

The excitement is just adorable!!  She LOVES popsicles, devouring them in no time flat.

1.  My mom and I had a dance party with Claire on Sunday.  Claire yelled sung a made-up song with lyrics such as "We are cool girls.  We are rockstars.  Watch us shake our booties!  No one can stop us now!!"  We even had pretend rockstar costumes to wear while she had the real deal.  First she would dance with my mom while I cheered for them, then she would dance with me while my mom cheered and finally my mom and I would dance while Claire cheered for us.  We seriously laughed so hard making up crazy jumping, flaring, booty shaking moves.  

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!