Writing our name today

Liesl did a great job writing her name today. So proud of her

Finally catching up

Wish I would have gotten some pictures of the birthday party yesterday but I had my hands a little full. Will have to ask John and Kelly. They had tons of ppl taking pictures. Here are a few I think I have missed. I need to start taking pictures more and be ready for Jeannie's first steps.

Liesl and Jim got "beard heads" which are super cool hats that they love. The girls and Robbie got their pictures taken. Jeannie has been really into spaghetti. Wait.... No more like everything. Liesl is still into the dinosaurs. Colton And Kayla have been coming over for play dates all the time which is great. Love the company and sharing toys and projects is fun for the kids. Colton had no idea what play dog was! Who knew. Face paints are a blast. The kids love to get them done and I offer them up whenever the kids come to play. Hopefully we will be able to have our make up sleep over at Grady's this week.

Oh and how could I forget the wonderful Fleis girls. Hoping to hang out more with our 5 girls

Over the plague

This past week all 4 of us spent trying to get over the flu that we unfortunately caught. It was horrendous, will spare the details other than when Jeannie got it I was glad to be over it and on my game. I woke up at 2:30 with her sunday night and the poor thing had thrown up all over herself. I had to plop her in the tub and clean it all up. I made a bed for us on the floor and slept with her through the night on layers of towels and recieving blankets. Hers lasted about half the time of ours thank god and Ihad too many scares with it. She was happy for the most part all yesterday regardless of lack of sleep. I was so behind on housework that i had 4 full loads of dishes and tons of sheets, towels and blankets of course. Glad it is over.

Last week I got a few breaks with babysitting and cleaned up the basement. Not a small feat. I still hadnt unpacked many things from many moves and had to make decisions to take  lot to the trash and alot ot good will. We have been rewarded with a clean floor and a clean laundry room a workable gym, and a TV and play area for the kids. There is still some work to got before the kids are ready to go down there though.

Jeannie has started in on the blocks now, the puzzles and the stacking toys and trains. The kids love to play together with them in Jean's room. Jeannie has also figured out her xylophone on her own. She found the mallet and went to town on it the other morning. She has also come to love walking along the fireplace edge and trying to climb up on the entertainment center....uuuuugh. I just quit blockading it and put something soft down. She made it past everything i put there. One of her favorite pastimes is pulling all the dishtowels out of my kitchen drawers after the fireplace hearth of course.

The kids were invited to an awesome birthday party at Goldfish Swim School Sunday that we attended. That place is amazing. There were all kinds of toys in the pool including kid size canoes and floating atvs. How awesome was that. It was Skyler Swanson's birthday and her daddy John was happy that she had a friend there other than from pre-school. The girls had a blast. Liesl ran around freely in her lifejacket and Jeannie splashed around in my arms.

Liesl missed her first swim lesson witb the flu laxt week so she starts up again wednesday and gymnastics today. She and i are excited for a routine again. She has been working on a second level of BOB books and doing well on the first. I cleaned up the playroom and organized all her art supplies.so she is loving that. We worked on projects for Valentines day. Hearts with glitter of course and she has been chomping at the bjt for another. We watched Mary Poppins because I learned a new trick that allowed me to play all my video files on the TV and she now likes cleaning up again. I pulled out all the tents in the Family room and the kids have been running through them playing Camp and Pirate Ship. What fun. Liesl cant get enough noodle soup and Jeannie is very good with any food now and can bite pieces off on her own and feed herself.

Little reader

Jeannie, the other day, before naptime, grabbed a book amd brought it over to me and handed it to me and crawled up in my lap. I took it as "read to me momma" and she brought over several more before she was ready for bed. That is a big step for a little person. Liesl has lao been doing a lot of reading on her own too. I am hoping to maybe get a little math in before september comes. she has been taking swim and gymnastics classes again starting tomorrow. Her sister should start soon too. Jeannie still does not have teeth and has not walked and still has little vocabulary but momma. She is very into eating. Loves exploring foods. She visited the doctor last week for her 9 month well visit. She was 18lbs 13 oz, 28inches long and crown was 17.5 inches she is getting big but the doctor wanted to say something because she dropped to the 50th percentile in weight but said she wasnt too skinny. She has definately leaned out with all the cruising. The kids have been hanging out with Oma Ronnie a little to give me a break. It is nice to be able to see movies before they get on cable. It doesnt happen too often so i really appreciate it.

Think I might be catching up

Well as it always goes just when you think you are catching up something breaks down that puts you back behind. Today Liesl and I did some cleaning in the house and got both the girls rooms back up to snuff. Daddy had fun playing with the girls in Liesl's room while I got a load of diapers on the line and a load of dishes in the washer. I tried something that I have been meaning to try. I converted bar soap to liquid soap. I managed to make about 3 gallons out of 3 bars. I really didnt mean to make that much....it just happened. I think we should be good for a long while. I might even put some kind of oils in it like maybe lavender from the garden. Ohhhh i cant wait to garden. What crazy weather we have been having. Yesterday Liesl was making "snow gargoyles" on the front lawn, today we have "Lake Michigan" in our driveway. It was nice to have mom and dad back after a long weekend of them working on the cottage. Mom says this is close to finished for now and looking forward to having some fun up there. We had a nice dinner from Vince and Joe's and played some fun games. Liesl has a new game we have named "Ladybug Picnic". It's great for the kids because there is no winner. You all are on the same team but it is still fun. Jeannie has been trying all kinds of new foods. She is really into strawawberries and when I want her to sit quietly she is content going to town on them. She really likes spaghetti too and does really well with the noodles. She really liked having free range of her and Liesl's rooms today after they were all clean I let her crawl down the hall and be a "free range chicken" as Jim puts it.

Great photo shoot for the cousins

Saturday the girls and I kidnapped Melisa and Robbie for a photo shoot. I hadn't gotten Liesl's pictures done since she was 2 and a half and Jeannie's since she was born. I felt it was about time to get them done. I am so glad we did. The Oma's are super excited to get hold of the pictures of the grand kids. Although the photo shoot was like herding cats. As soon as the kids hit the floor there was arms and legs and fingers everywhere. There were some great moments captured and some hilarious moments captured looking at the rest of the discards. I am excited to get these on the walls and shared out. Last night we went to the fire and ice festival in Rochester last minute and hooked up with our friends Jason and Tina and their 3 girls. Liesl was so excited to be meeting up with her "girlfriends". All the girls except Jeannie got their faces painted and they all came back for princess movies,popcorn and hot cocoa. We have 5 girls between the 2 families with all of them super close in age. It was a blast watching the older 3 play dress up and the younger 2 in the baby play area together. Can't wait to go skating at their house soon. We also met up at Sandi's this week when Dee came in town with Grady. It was nice to watch the kids play with their new tea set. Thank you Sandi for everything. The kids had a great time and it was great visiting. January has been filled with fun times including the Great Wolf Lodge. Had so much fun there splashing around. The water slides were amazing, kiddie hot tubs, lazy river, splash zone, character visits, magic quest was super fun allowing Liesl to interact with the hotel and make things talk and respond to her. Can't wait to go again. It is our new fun spot. Jeannie is all over the place. She has been climbing like crazy and loves climbing the stairs at Oma's. She still hasn't gotten even close to getting any teeth in. I am thinking she is going to be walking before that even happens. She still doesn't have much of a vocabulary, it is all momma, momma. We missed her 9 month appointment . I really need to reschedule this week before she is already 0 months. Bad momma! Liesl has been really getting into audio books and her Nabi. She does a lot of reading on there and listening to books. Today she read squirrel road on a road sign. Good job girl. She asked us why we were taking the secret squirrel way.

Happy birthday Mom!

It was a fantastic birthday in Frankenmuth for mom. Filled with grandchildren and her favorite, games with family and friends until the wee hours. Jim and I got up there mid afternoon with Jeannie. Liesl went up early with Oma Ronnie after an overnight. The party was in full swing when we got there with a whole block of adjoining rooms. Jeannie spent some time with Oma while Jim and I got to spend a relaxing lunch together in "Oma's". We had been looking forward to the new water slides in the Bavarian Inn and the slides were awesome but Liesl is an inch and half too short unfortunately and they took out her favorite part of the pools to make it. She did have a good time swimming regardless and so did Jeannie. Scott and Melisa and Robbie showed up in time for dinner and we all went for chicken dinner together. Thanks again dad! It was fantastic. Liesl had been coming down with something and it really started to hit her hard. By the time we were going to take a walk to see the lights she was done for and Jeannie had passed out so we waited to play games with the Omas. What fun we had playing ticket to ride and dice to the wee hours. When Jim and i got to bed we had so much fun listening to liesl talking in her sleep. She was dreaming of giant chocolate milkshakes. She couldnt get out of bed in the morning but desperately wanted pancakes which she slept through in my lap until her medicine kicked in. Thankfully she felt a little better and was able to enjoy the rides downstairs in the fun center with grandad and uncle Scott especially riding the motorcycle game.

Jeannie was especially happy to get home tonight and get her pooping done. I didnt ever think it would happen after the mountain of food she devoured at Oma's birthday celebration. She loved the squash and noodles. She was also very happy to have some freedom to roam the house. Babies and hotel rooms dont mix. We enjoyed a relaxing fire at home for new years with a short visit from Oma and grandad on the way to thier party for a toast and some cocoa. Daddy did a phenomenal job with dinner and the fire. We were hoping to listen to an audiobook with Liesl in front of the fire but Jeannie wasnt cooperating and we ended up watching the polar express until midnight. I missed out on breakfast at tiffanys :( will have to try that again. More fires to come hopefully.

Seems like Jeannie will be walking soon here. She is so fast with the crawling and cruising. She loves to wave at everyone. She definatly is working on vocabulary. Knows momma and dadda. Loves dolls! She goes crazy when a doll is put in front of her and gets into hysterical laughter until she can have it. She does excellent sleeping in her own bed every night. Sometimes i wish i could snuggle her but the other one has regressed and crawls into bed with me every.night.