This is what we do on days off

We have picnics consisting of raisins and tortilla chips. We would've

stayed out longer but the bees came out and I was out of there like a bullet.

We have ice cream for lunch

We sing while doing the dishes

We make some nice little drawings on the sidewalk


We put our hair up in crazy ponytails and smile

Then we decide silly faces must follow

We try to fulfill a lifelong dream of Kaitlyn's to do a headstand, but there she is...falling.

We get scared [and scare] sometimes

We jump for joy

We show you some love!

And we show ourselves some love!

I sure do love my sisters :)

(Got to give credit to my handy photographer Steele, without him this wouldnt have been possible. So I love him too!!)

I have the cutest sister!

The other day I was doing dishes by myself. My sister (3) pulls up one of our big heavy dining room chairs up to the dish drain, grabs a rag, and starts drying. First star for her! What a sweetheart to just step up to the plate (literally even!) and help.

Later on she turns to me and says "you're helping me!" I said "no, YOU'RE helping ME!". She gets this big grin and says "well...that's what it's all about!". How do little girls get so smart?

Then she says "I don't know how to dishes!" and I said, "Nope, you just know how to dry them, huh?!" and she said "Yup! With a rag!". What a little stinker.

I love her!

See the World Through the Eyes of a Child GC

Well, I think I've already been doing that through Ande and my posts, like the one of me going on a walk with her, and then yesterday's post about Halloween. But one thing I'm really looking forward to is the Christmas season. I cannot wait to show Ande the magic in Christmas. The bright lights, the elves, the music, hot chocolate, trees, decorations, and SANTA! This will be the first Christmas where she finally knows of these things and gets to see how truly magical this time of the year is. I wish she was old enough to know the spiritual aspect of it.
I am jumping in my seat thinking about all the festivities that are coming up where she can find joy and she can learn and her eyes can become bright with the sweet spirit that is around this time of year.
I simply can not wait.

Halloween 2009

Well, our camera didn't work so I'll have to describe this years costumes

Kaitlyn-Cute Witch:
I wore a black hat with black feathers with little silver strings on it. I had a gray cardigan with a white shirt and a black full circle skirt and gray leggings with black ballet flats.

Steele-Jason:
I made his costume and I was so proud of how it turned out! I took a white tank and rolled it around in some dirt. Then I cut it up and added some "blood". We took a reddish blue plaid button up shirt and left it open so you could see the undershirt. Then he wore some old Levis, his hockey mask, and had a machete

Chloe-Dark Fairy:
We bought her costume at Partyland and it was black with gold star detailing around the bottom. She had on some black leggings and the costume originally came with some fabric for a choker but I talked her into wearing it as a headband for trick-or-treating, which I think looked too cute. We three-barrelled her hair and did "dark fairy" makeup (dark eyeshadow and mascara).

Ande-Tinkerbell:
She had on a purple/lime green tutu with a dark purple crotchet headband with a tulle circle thing that was a barrette, white tights and silver shoes, and of course a magic wand, that she thought really worked. She has just enough broken hair for some cute bangs, and we curled the back of her hair, TOOOO cute. She was a doll. This year Halloween was magical for her. She was running and skipping and talking about "spooky" things. She was soo excited for candy. She would basically go in the houses for it. If they put the bucket down for her to get candy she'd grab a huge handful and go in for seconds and when we'd tell her no the home owners would say "Oh no, she's alright" and give her some more! What a smile she had after that! She'd get scared at the creepy masks but she'd just come and hold our hand and be good. There was one house that was all decked out in zombies and strobe lights but she just had my dad hold her and she was happy, especially since you got a full size candy bar at the end! Towards the end of the night she got really tired and would ask my mom to hold her between houses and lay her head down, but once we got to the driveway, she was up and happy and showed no signs of tiredness to get that candy! Her bucket was the fullest and heaviest out of all the kids.

It was soo enjoyable to see the season through her eyes.
This day was truly magical.


P.S. I'm still doing the gratitude challenge, it's just been things I can't post about, and today's was write about one of your five sense you are thankful for, but I've pretty much already done that in my others, so I don't want to bore you.

Conversation with a Two Year Old

It was 11 last night and Ande was sleeping with me so I was sitting on my bed and she standing on my bed dancing and jumping off and on.

Ande looked at me and said "I did it!" and after a couple of times I said "you did what?"

and she proceeded to tell me

"I did it, my shoulders and mommy said what you doing there" and finished with a laugh, (you have to hear her say "what you doing there" its hilarious)

Then she told me all her body parts from head to toe, she told me "Mommy's went night night in her room"

"Mommy was tired, huh"

"Yes, mommy tired"

Then she sang me a song something about her shoulder, her mouth, bapa, candy, being tired, mommy, her baby, etc

Then I asked her where the dog was.

"outside"

"The dog's outside?"

"yes the doggy oustide, sad"

"Why's the doggy sad?"

"Doggy has an owwie, foot, see?" (and she pointed to her foot)

Then she said

"mama [grandma] is sad"

"why's grandma sad?

"cuz bapa's sad"

"why are they all sad"

"they need babas!! They went in the car"

Then she realized that Chloe was in the room sleeping

"Hi Chloe! (waves) Hi Chloe! Hi Chloe! Chloe tired?

Then she saw a unicorn

"Unicorn night night. (grabbed a book and started reading it) then she layed the unicorn on a pillow and said

"unicorn bed, doggy (new stuffed animal) bed, night night."

Then I decided it was time for bed,

after a tickle war of course!

pretend the image is edited, I didn't have time to, but this is her smile, she has it perfected now, this was in May.

Ande turned TWO!

Last night Ande came up to me and said
"Daddy sleeping?"
I said "No daddy buh-bye".
"Oh daddy buh-bye outside"
"Yes, daddy is gone"
"Where's Luna...outside?" (Luna is the moon to her)
"Luna's sleeping"
"Oh! Luna outside sleeping?" (at that point she brings up her two hands to the side of her face)
"Yes Ande, Luna's sleeping outside, you smarty"
Then she laughed and went on with her day

She can now count to three, sometimes both ways.
Whatever she does, she has to give it to everyone in the room (high fives, hugs, kisses, etc).
She tells me her name, and shows and tells me how old she is.
She gives us high fives, "bams" our fist, and tells us "peace out, dudes"
She can name basically everybody part, even back which shocked me when she said it.
She can name and make a lot of animal sounds.
She loves Tinkerbell, and wants to watch it everyday, and will look for her wherever we are. She also loves 'oobby oo' (Scooby Doo) and tells us about Ariel.
She has pride in the fact that she can jump.
She knows all of the close family members, and she asks about "bapa, mama, and doggy" frequently.
She loves being outdoors, and taking in all of the sites.
And she still loves her baba, and sleeping with her sisters on weekends.

Now we just need to work on potty training.

My Beautiful Sister

Ande and her usual attitudeSniffing a FlowerLaughing at Chloe, for some reason she can't hold

a straight face with her around.

Her hair that will finally go in a cute ponytail

Her pretty smile

I love her. I can't believe how patient

she was, letting me take her pictures.