Posession is nine tenths...

Janie's hitting her "terribles" I think. Maybe she's just teething some big molars. Who knows? She's been much grumpier the last couple of weeks and is giving Gracie something something that's been coming her way for a few years now.

One of the funny things that she's started doing is beginning words with "my" when it's something that belongs to her or that she wants. She has a little stuffed black cat that we call Halloween Cat. She now calls it Myloween Cat. Yesterday we went on a little tricycle ride to get in some practice. She calls it her Mycycle. You get the picture.

What's the deal with my children and riding bikes anyway? They absolutely hate it. All the other 4 year olds in our neighborhood ride two wheelers. Gracie shudders with fear at the sight of one. I'm really kind of frustrated and irritated that she doesn't want to even ride her tricycle for more than three minutes. Oh well. I guess we're just the wierdos of the neighborhood. Maybe I should just calm down and not want to fit in so much. (sigh)

Quote of the Day:
"The mother-daughter relationship is the most complex." ~Wynonna Judd

song of the day, kenny chesney, never wanted nothing more

A "Mom" Moment

Yesterday I had one of those profound "I am definitely a mother, and dang, I am awesome!" moments. Joe, Gracie, Janie and I had been out and about getting a few things at IKEA. We decided to go to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants while we were in the area, so we sat down in a booth and immediately Janie says, "I'm poopy!" with that darling grin of hers. I took her out to the van because I don't carry a diaper bag with me all the time, but I do keep an emergency one in the car for occasions just like this one. As I was rifiling through the bag I began to realize that there were indeed NO DIAPERS to be found. I knew that I just could not let her be dirty for the next two hours (because that is the amount of time it was going to take for us to eat and then drive home). I was seriously desperate for anything with which to cover the poor thing's bottom. And then my motherly inspiration hit! I had a cloth diaper (which I used as burp cloths for them), all I needed was something to fasten it onto her. I grabbed our emergency kit that I keep in my car too, and found some medical tape. I put the cloth diaper on her bummy and wrapped medical tape around the waist of it three times. Ta DA!!!!! Instant diaper! I was laughing the entire time I was doing this, and so Janie was laughing too. It was a moment I don't think I'll ever forget, it was so funny. But hey, she was poop-free and feelin' fine for the entire dinner!

(By the time we left she had completely soaked through the diaper and her shorts. In retrospect, I suppose I could have fashioned plastic pants out of the shiny silver emergency blanket, but I really think that would have been going too far, don't you? ;)

song of the day, buddy holly, peggy sue

Such a good Daddy...

Here are a few shots from Father's Day this year. Joe is such a great daddy to his little girls. He loves them so much and they adore him in return.

He let Gracie decorate his face with Hello Kitty stickers :)

Whenever he gets home they immediately want to be in his lap. Poor guy can't get 5 minutes peace until AFTER they go to bed. Too cute :)

Quote of the Day:
"One father is more than a hundred Schoolemasters." ~George Herbert, Outlandish Proverbs, 1640

song of the day, it must be love, alan jackson

"Picture" Perfect

We broke out our art easel a few days ago and the girls had some fun dripping paint on the deck ;) I love this picture because it is such a idyllic scene...french doors thrown open to a beautiful summer day, two sweet sisters expressing their inner selves through painting, etc. A big part of me though was having a heart attack hoping that the paint would come off of the deck, the railings, etc. without much trouble. Why is it that I have to be so darn tense all the time when it comes to my children? So what if a paint splat made it's evil way into the house? At least my girls had a small moment of carefree, childish happiness. (Now where is that Magic Eraser?)

Quote of the Day:
"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~Lewis Grizzard

music of the day, sweet home alabama, lynard skynard

Janie Two-Spout

Here's a picture I took yesterday of my Janie. I think she is so beautiful. She is a perfect little messy porcelain doll. I'm afraid that she's growing up so fast that I'm soon going to be missing her when she was just like this...

Life has been good the last few days. The girls have been getting along fairly well and it makes me so happy when I see them chatting with each other or just sitting together sharing a few toys. They are both addicted to OtterPops, but other than that we're pretty healthy and happy !

I'm really enjoying both of the books I'm reading. Though I don't usually read "self help" type books, it's a good change from the hugemongous Gabaldon novels I've been into...and I have one more of those to read before the new one comes out in September. Oh well. For now I'm enjoying what I'm into. But I am worried about retaining all of the information that is contained in each of them. How the heck do you remember all the tips and advice you're given?

We're getting excited for our upcoming Torrey trip! I am a little worried about the girls getting into trouble and hurting themselves though. We had a BBQ at my brother's house on the 4th of July and Janie stuck her hand onto the grill lid not once, but TWICE!!! Whoever said that if you let them burn themselves once then they'll never do it again was out of their gourd. Janie is apparently of a scientific mind..."I wonder if this is hot. Ouch. I wonder if it's still hot. OUch. Hmmm. It's been ten seconds. I wonder if it's still hot. OUCH!" Poor thing.

Quote of the Day:
"A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after." ~Peter De Vries

(music of the day: listen to the music, the doobies)

Last Cruise Pics...

These are the last of my cruise pictures. It's nice to have all the ones I liked the best here on the blog. I'm planning on having my blog printed up into a book as a sort of scrapbook for our little family, so it will be nice to have them all together here. I haven't really "Scrapbooked" in years. This is a good substitute for me.

The ship behind her is the one from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Little Janie was plum tuckered out. She's taking a nap with mama.

Here's Ryck's Castaway Cay creation! Cool, huh?

Dining in Palo, the Disney Magic's gourmet restaurant. Yum!

At Palo.

I think Gracie's had enough vacation, hm?

Beautiful Florida.

Zoe and Leah playing with Janie for a few minutes while we waited for our shuttle back to the airport.

The twins! Cute!!

It's been a long week! We were all ready to be home after having so much fun on our cruise!

And one of my favorite Jimmy Buffet songs of all time for the finale...

(song of the day: Jimmy Buffet, Son of a Sailor)

Cruise...

I had a strange dream last night that we took a cruise with all the adults in Joe's family. It was one of those tiring dreams where you have to go over and over the same thing. I had forgotten everything except clothes (i.e. toiletries, underwear, swimsuit, books, etc.) and had to keep borrowing items from my sisters and mother in law. It was exhausting! I took it as an omen that I need to finish posting cruise pics ;)

Arrrrr!! Andrea brought a bunch of awesome pirate loot and shared with everyone. It was so fun!

I think the gold hoop earring is really workin' for Dad.

They were actually within strangling distance and paused in their efforts for a quick picture! Amazing!

Janie had this face for a large percentage of the experience...as did Gracie. LOL.

The kiddos were in LOVE with this huge lizard who wanted to bite their fingers off. Aunt Andrea flinagled a big piece of lettuce from one of the zoo workers so all the kids got to feed it. She's such a great Aunt!!

The Disney Magic is the boat on the right. (Our boat.) This is on St. Thomas at the top of the mountain looking down.

Cutie pie Janie!

This is such a cute picture, it's a shame that it's a bit blurry. Oh well! Isn't Minnie's outfit cute?

A chip off the old block...

Grandma Sue and Leah Sue in the Walt Disney Theatre.

"Those that say you can't take it with you never saw a car packed for a vacation trip." ~Author Unknown

PS. "Thriller" is our music of the day in tribute to the awesome, the weird, the recently deceased Michael Jackson. (Let's face it, it's his greatest hit!)

Higher Education

I love this picture of Janie because she looks so serious...which is opposite her silly, carefree personality. I also love it because she's "reading" Homer's Odyssey. That's my girl!

"I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." ~Anna Quindlen

Tuesday

"There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child." ~Frank A. Clark

Gracie the Artist

Gracie has the spirit of an artist. She's fiery, unique, tender and intelligent too. Every time I take a moment to ponder the child that is my Gracie, my testimony that God is our father and the creator of our spirits and bodies, grows. She came down to earth with more sass than I've got in my little finger. SOMEONE must have made her that way.

Here's what she did the other night while Joe and I enjoyed our dinner toward the other end of the table. I was surprised at how cool it was! It's Picasso-ish to me. (It's a face, by the way.)

From "The Family: A Proclamation to the World":

"All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."

Memorial Day/Gracie's Birthday

I am a huge slacker in the "birthday party" department, so when April invited us over for a Memorial Day BBQ, I asked her if we could tack on Gracie's party as well. Here are some pictures from the fun afternoon!

She looks so cute and excited :)

Eatin' a cupcake the Gracie way - frosting only.

Uncle Brad and Aunt April got her the coolest present! Her very own aquarium with two goldfish and a tiny froggy! She was SO excited!

I think this was her favorite present. A Dumbo dolly that she saw on our Disney Cruise. We bought it for her on the sly and smuggled it home without her finding it. (Pretty impressive, if you know how much Gracie is into EVERYTHING!) She was really excited when she opened it. It made me so happy.

The first BBQ of the season! Bring on the warm weather!

Baby Calli, Ryan and Val's newest addition :)

The hosts! They always have such fun stuff planned for us when we come over to their house :)

Janie playing with one of the animal decorations. April got her the cute dress for her B-Day :)

Some More...

Are you guys tired of my vacation pictures yet? This is kind of a journal after all, so I'm just going to keep posting 'em!

Zoe and Gracie in the Walt Disney Theatre waiting for a show to start!

On the water taxi to St. Maarten. Gracie had her mouth open in all the pictures :) They had Bob Marley playing in the taxi and it was just so stereotypical "caribbean" that it was almost funny. I really wonder if they listen to the same CD every single day to please tourists or if they just honestly breathe B. Marley.

Grandma Sue in the back and Daddy and Gracie in the front. You can also see our boat (the smaller one) in the background!

We left Janie in the nursery on the boat for a few hours during the morning and when I went back to get her, the family did this awesome sandcastle! Isn't it cool? The Tanners brought all sorts of cool sand building gear!!

Here's the fam (most of them) with their creation! We saw a couple of other people come and take pictures with the sandcastle :)

Here's Janie just hanging out after we got back onto the boat.

Gracie's trying to make a towel animal! She LOVED seeing the animal on our bed each night. The girls would gobble up the chocolates they would place on the bed and disassemble the towel animal in minutes flat each evening. :)

St. Maarten was really fun! The beach was very beautiful and the girls had a good time playing in the ocean. It was my second favorite day of our cruise (right after Castaway Cay). We had yummy coconut gellato and I bought a pretty necklace and black swimsuit coverup that will help remind me of the good times there!

More Disney...

Here are more Disney Cruise pics!!

This was at the character breakfast where we got to meet Goofy (Janie lovingly calls him Boofy) Mickey and Chip & Dale. All the pictures turned out blurry. This is the best one. Which is good because they adored Goofy :)

All the kidlets (minus Stanley) in the Alexander line. This is in the lobby with a cool statue of Captain Mickey at the helm. (A helm is a ship's steering wheel, right?)

Gracie with Minnie's ears on in the store onboard. They had some cool loot!

We celebrated Janie's birthday while on the cruise! She turned two years old! She got some really fun presents from her Grandma and Grandpa, and Aunties and Uncles. These glasses were actually a gift for Gracie, but Janie claimed them as her own, seeing as how it was her birthday and all! Our server brought out this huge piece of cake for her (we're talking like 6x6" here!!) She dove into it, of course!

Janie cuddling with Grandma Sue. Every morning when we would wake up she'd start calling, "SUE! SUE!" She loves her Grandma and we're glad they're back close to us!

Here's Papa Dave rockin' out to his new iPod that us and the Tanners got him for his retirement. I'm pretty sure he's listening to the Beach Boys here :) I loaded a bunch of music onto it and Andrea made three awesome home movies with their old family photos (with music!) that we put onto it as well. It was a fun surprise to give and I think Mom and Dad really enjoyed it! Now we just need to teach them how to navigate iTunes :)

Julie and Dad! Cute!

Janie's getting some Beach Boys action.

Here's our little fam with Captain Mickey! No, I'm not pregnant, I'm just a chunker, okay? I should maybe avoid profile pics from now on, hm?

In the lounge, waiting for dinner to start.

A pixie by the porthole!

More later...