What the girlies did all day

I counted it up at the end of the day, and it looks like the girls spent close to 10 HOURS outside today!  They left their breakfast partially eaten so they could go play in the yard, and Michael and I took what we thought would be a brief opportunity to clean up a bit inside.  3 hours later, they were still playing happily (while we were quite exhausted from cleaning and unpacking!), so we ate lunch outside and they continued to play for another couple of hours!  We took a break to do some laundry (which requires going to our other house as we don't have a washer/dryer here) and went to Target to walk around in the a/c.  By the time we got back, we decided that we must turn our air on!  I was very against it at first, as I'm pretty sure our HEAT was on last week, but after I walked into a steamy 83 degree kitchen in a house that has only 1 ceiling fan, I relented!  The girlies, of course, ran outside as soon as we got home and played until dinner.  They are now asleep and I imagine they will rest well tonight!

Maya "posing" to show me her new dress

 

The water table is definitely one of the best things Michael has made for the girls.  I'm amazed at how long they will stand there and pour water back and forth, pour water on each other, pour water onto the deck, fill the table with water, empty all the water...

Photo Shoot, Bare Feet

The girlies were looking especially cute today (in my obviously unbiased opinion) so I tried to stage a quick photo shoot before heading to church.  It started out like this:

Holy bad exposure, Batman!  Sorry you have to witness that!

Well, that clearly wasn't going to work!  I told Maya to put her arm around Charlotte, so she put it around Charlotte's neck.  Um, no :)  So I moved her arm to under Charlotte's armpit, and then she thought it would be silly to pick Charlotte up, then they both started laughing, and the rest of the shoot was PERFECT! :)

**note to self ~ do not take pictures in front of a window unless shooting a silhouette ~ live and learn ;)**

 

After church, while I was making dinner, the girlies asked if they could please go outside without any shoes on.  Yes, yes you may :)  I love how much they love playing outside!  And while I've always enjoyed cooking, I am liking it even more lately now that I can hear the girls laughing and playing outside through the open window and screen door <3

"Cheese!"

Oh Canada

So we've been in Canada this week, and I'm going to now make sweeping generalizations about the differences between the US and Canada, based solely on my 3 days in London, Ontario.

1. No Hulu.  What???  We don't have cable at home, so the only way we can watch shows is for free, online (usually quite a good plan!).  I was looking forward to catching up on "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice" since their season finales were last week, but alas I must wait until we are back in the states.  Boo.  

US - 1, Canada - 0

2. No Pandora.  I KNOW!  

US - 2, Canada - 0

3. In Canada there are more Tim Horton's than there are McDonald's in the US.  It's craziness!  The donuts are amazing and the coffee is made fresh every 20 minutes (which would matter more if I drank coffee :)).  

US - 2, Canada - 1

4. They don't sell ice cream at drug stores*.  Um, what???  

US - 3, Canada - 1

5. People are SUPER friendly.  

US - 3, Canada - 2

6. Except for border patrol.  This is where the people who are too unfriendly for the DMV or Post Office go to work.  

US - 4, Canada - 2

7. Wal-Mart IN the mall with a McDonald's IN the Wal-Mart.  Not sure who wins this one, as that seems like a very US concept to me.  I'll call that a draw, so we're still at 

US - 4, Canada - 2

8. Most places in Canada accept US currency, while an email recently went out at Michael's company they they are NOT to use Canadian currency to pay for coffee.  

US - 4, Canada - 3

9. No tornadoes last night in London.  

US - 4, Canada - 4

10. Hockey.  Hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey hockey all the time.  

US - 4, Canada - 5

11. There have been family restrooms everywhere we've gone so far.  

US - 4, Canada - 6

12. It's raining today (and I refuse to check the Stow forecast so I can only assume that it's beautiful and sunny there).  

US - 5, Canada - 6

13. I don't think I'm ever going the right speed limit, and I am certainly not dressing my children appropriately.  I mean, 60 seems a little fast for a residential neighborhood, but ok!  100 on the freeway? Woohoo!  It's 15 degrees outside?  Time for snowsuits!  Boo to the metric system.**  

US - 6, Canada - 6

So basically I think it's a draw.  There are pros and cons of each.  Maya told me last week that Canada is "gross" ~ next time I'll have to correct her, "not gross, just different" :)

*this is a fact as I went to a drug store last night with the sole purpose of buying ice cream, and left empty handed.  I assume that every drug store in Canada is exactly the same.

**j/k.  I <3 the metric system and think the US is just being stubborn, but we needed another point to tie us up with the Great White North.

Picture time!  This is just an assortment of photos from the last couple of weeks that I haven't posted yet. Enjoy! :)

The girlies' new "big girl" beds that were my mom's then mine and my sisters' and now the girlies' :D  Thanks, mom!  The dresser came from her, too.

These are pictures from my sister's shower ~ this was the "toilet paper wedding dress game".  While "Amish on the top, party on the bottom" (picture #3) came close...

 

"10 Carat Diamond Ring" took the cake :)

 

Maya kept putting the wedding veil on "Baby J" :)

Picnic on the deck

Michael said she looks like she's modeling in this picture, lol :)

Charlotte taking on the rock wall, like a boss.

"Two Thumbs Up", getting ready to help me make french toast (yum!)

 

Making bread with Mommy.  We baked 12 loaves that day!  Maya was a big help measuring the yeast and pouring in all the ingredients :)

 

Oh, Charlotte (ramblings)

My silly little girl :)  She is growing much much too fast for my comfort, and in less than 6 weeks she will be turning 2 (what???!!!  I know.).  She tries to be very independent, but every once in a while, like this morning when the housekeeper came to clean our hotel room, she shows her sweet side and just wants to cuddle with me while big sister entertains (and entertain she did...I think she used up all of her words in the 15 minutes the cleaning person was here, and also got to "help" make the beds and clean the mirrors).  Yesterday after naptime, I realized how big she is becoming when I asked her to point to her nose.  She looked at me funny, like "why would I want to do that?" when she used to point at it, beep, and giggle.  She desperately wants to be big enough to do things like push elevator buttons, but alas she has been blessed with small stature, so it seems that it will be quite a while before she is tall enough.  Two Charlotte stories...

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We were practicing colors this morning by me picking out markers from the art supplies bag.  After missing the first 5 colors, she apparently was getting discouraged and needed a win.  I pulled one out and said, "what is it?"  She said, "um, a marker."  She gave me a silly look, too, so I know she knew what I was actually asking ;)

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After lunch today, I let the girlies have a granola bar each and then asked them to put on their "nap jammies".  Maya came out of the room a few minutes later and was reading a book in her chair, when I realized that Charlotte was being much too quiet.  I went back to check on her and found this:

She tried *so hard* to put on her own jammies, but just couldn't get it quite right :P

That's the granola bar she had been eating.

And if you look in her hand closely...

You'll see the rest of it :)  You can't tell from the pictures very well, but she has her shirt around her waist, and both legs in one pant leg.  Don't worry, after getting pictures I put her on the bed and took off her jammie bottoms :)

I suppose she can still be my sweet little baby for at least a little while longer :)

Glimpses of Sunshine

This weekend we had pretty amazing weather and spent as much time as we could outside.  The girlies are loving the swing set, and especially love swinging on their bellies.  Michael taught Maya how to propel herself higher by pushing off the ground with her feet, so now we don't have to go through the "push me higher no not that high why did you stop pushing me slow down slow down slow down" game that she seems to like so much!  We're working on teaching her to pump her legs...it will be an exciting day when she gets that one all figured out!

In other news, I'm into my 3rd trimester!  Holy moly!  I am so excited to meet this new little person, and have been loving sharing the pregnancy with the girlies.  Maya told me today that the baby in my belly is Charlotte's and hers, not mine.  And, if you're on facebook, you also know that she told me my belly is "huge" :)  3 year olds are so good for the self-esteem!  This baby is so SO active, much much more than the girlies were ~ I think I definitely have a gymnast in there!  I told Michael that this is the baby's way of saying, "just FYI, Mom, I'm never sleeping.  Ever."

Pictures...

 

 

Charlotte, following in Maya's dress-up loving footsteps.  She is carrying her "cape" :)

My Schaub girlies love them some corn-on-the-cob!