Sisters

I think that Brooklynn looks a lot like Bailey.  Yesterday I put Brooklynn in this adorable outfit that Bailey wore.  I knew that I had a picture of Bailey wearing it too, so it was just a matter of finding it.  I found it rather quickly this morning!  Now realize that Bailey is around 8 months old in this picture and Brooklynn is 3 months.  Here are the two pictures, you be the judge:

Brooklynn

Bailey

Every Sunday I try to get a good picture of the girls in their cute dresses.  This past Sunday's was a struggle--mostly for Bailey.  I was making crazy noises and holding up toys to get Brooklynn's attention, but Bailey kept looking up too.  So Bailey was either looking up way too high or when I'd tell her to look down, I'd get her old lady librarian  look over the glasses...

so by the end this is what we got.

Pretty in Pink

Posing for the camera

I also always try to get a good one of me with the girls, but I have yet to accomplish that.  My hair is looking sweet.  I need a haircut any suggestions?

Have You Ever. . .

...wondered if your child really does have some weird disease that makes her scream and cry when you cut her fingernails?  It drives me nuts how Bailey cries and runs away whenever I have to cut her nails.  The other day I was wrangling down her foot to cut her nails and I thought, "Well, maybe she does have some super freaky thing where she can feel pain in her nails as I cut them."  Most likely not, but you would think she did!  Due to this, I have become the world's greatest and fastest nail cutter in the world!   This is also the reason that sometimes her nails go unchecked and rather long.  I promise I do look at them, but sometimes it's just not worth the fight.

...heard of a "daycation?"  Bailey has officially coined the phrase.  I'm thinking of taking a patent out on it.  For some reason, Bailey pronounces her "v" sounds and "d" sounds.  So whenever she says the word very, it comes out dery (sounds like dairy).  Sometimes I correct her when I say it back, but usually I just let it go.  Lately, everyday she talks about how it's going to be a dery special day  with a dery special daycation.  I love it!  We have vacations, staycations, and now daycations.  It's when you do something very special, according to Bailey, all in one day.  Bailey has had many daycations--in fact, her life is filled with daycations every day.  She'll wake up in the morning and ask, "What's the plan?"  I've always given her plans for our events of the day and now she uses it too.  When she was tired and super grumpy the other day she was crying, "I need a plan!"  So if you aren't going on a fun summer vacation this year, just plan a fun and short daycation.

...put one child down for a nap the same instant that the other one wakes up?  This has happened to me a lot lately.  I'll put Brooklynn down and seriously the second I do, Bailey opens her door and wakes up from her nap.  So much for getting anything done!  I just need to be better at keeping Bailey up until Brooklynn is ready to sleep.  The days when the dual naps happen are quite magical.  It's fun too when they don't nap together because then I get alone time with each of them, but sometimes mommy needs alone time too.  I'm just trying to soak up and enjoy each day since I don't have to work!  I think I'm doing a pretty good job of it too!

...looked into the eyes of your kids and wondered how you can love someone so much?  I love my little girls!!  I took Brooklynn to get pictures taken yesterday.  The first half turned out awesome; the second half not so much.  I pick them up next Friday and I'll scan them and post them right away.  When we got back home and after naps, I took this pic:

Not so coordinating, but Bailey loved it!  I will have to go back again in a couple of weeks to try round two for pictures.  I had Brooklynn in this adorable outfit and Bailey was wearing a matching pink tutu.  By that point in the session, Brooklynn was done with pictures.  I finally became a member of JCPenneys so now I'm going to go all the time--or at least that's the plan.

Those are my random musings for the day.  And yes, both the girls are sleeping right now so this is how I use my time :)

Happy Anniversary to me and Brian today--6 years!





Feeling Domestic

Typically, I write about our life on the go.  Today I'm going to write about our time spent at home.  Bailey woke up sick Monday, so it's slightly forced time at home but it's been quite nice.  She started antibiotics yesterday so she's already feeling much better.

Today I decided to make spiders for lunch.  I told Bailey this and she was very concerned.  "Mama are they real ones?" she asked me.  "Nope just fun ones that you can eat!" I replied.  Our lunch menu came from a picture that Keri sent me.  You're first reaction is going to be gross, but then secretly you'll decide that you want to try it too.  There's no better way to tell you about cooking spiders for lunch than through the pictures:

You start out by cutting the hot dogs (turkey dogs) into large chunks.  Don't worry, her hands were washed and the cutting was supervised :)

Then we stuck thin spaghetti noodles (wheat ones so it can count as "healthy") through the hot dogs for the legs.

Added bonus to make it educational we talked about how many legs spiders have and counted the noodles as we put them in.  Bailey did break quite a few noodles, but she learned to slow down and they didn't break.

Here's our plate of spiders.

Brooklynn watched everything happen.  By the time we were done, she had worn herself out and her head was sagging down.

We sang the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" as we put our spiders into the pot of boiling water.  It just made it a little bit more fun.

Once the noodles were done, bon apetite!  We ate our delicious spiders.  I made Bailey also eat spider food--yogurt and peaches--so the spiders would have some food to eat in her tummy.  She probably thinks I'm crazy, but she did have fun.

I've also been looking up fun and easy crafts for us to make this summer.  Bailey loves making crafts thanks to Trisha!  So she asks me all the time to make crafts; I love that I have a crafty little girl. 

Another one of my domestic ventures was for Father's Day.  My dad loves cinnamon rolls, so I made him some from scratch.  I used to make bread and rolls all the time, but I haven't for quite a long time.  I pulled out the old recipe book on Sunday and went to work.  It was not hard at all and they were delicious!  I took a picture of them cooked, but before the cream cheese frosting.

A tiny bite of heaven (once the frosting is on)!

Here's the girls on Father's Day.  They are wearing some of my latest and greatest headbands that I made.  I've been making them late at night while I'm up waiting to feed Brooklynn.  I love how cute they look--my girls and the headbands!

Brooklynn is such a slobber monster.  Look closely to see how much of her dress is soaked with slobber.

This is where most of her slobber comes from.  She chews on her hands all day long and often will try the double fisted move.

So that's the tale of my domestic adventures.  I'll be attempting lots more.  We'll see how they turn out!

Dance Fever

So we're just a little bit behind the trends here.  I know that everyone has been playing this game for a while, but my family just got the Just Dance game for the Wii.  Sunday, after Brooklynn's blessing and brunch, we decided to give the dance game a try.  Can I just say that we played it the rest of the day and night and that many of us were sore the next day?!  My family is just slightly competitive, so we really got into it.  We all took turns and even got my dad to dance too.  It was so much fun and a serious workout (partially because we are really intense and partially because we (I'm) also really out of shape)!  We will be dancing it up for the rest of the summer.  If you're ever looking for a dancing partner, just stop by. 

Here are some pics of our very own So You Think You Can Dance:

This was Brian's one and only appearance for the night.  I love that Brian and Kyle (and Kate) are all doing totally differnet moves.  Which one do you think is right?

In perfect sync!

Ty & Tera breaking a sweat.  Ty thinks he's the reigning champ in the house, but I propose a challenge!

Here's Dad and Kyle doing Viva Las Vegas.  It's kind of a blurry picture, but I love that they are right in step with one another.

I think Toni looks like a real pro dancer with this sweet move!

Half way through the day we started doing duets--they were hilarious!

I have no idea what this song was, but they both look great.

Even the kids can play.  They only score a few hundred points if they're lucky, but they loved it.  Notice how Kate is quietly dancing in the background of most of the other pictures.  She was doing really well and won the award for most coordinated kid dancer.

Keri and CJ you guys better be practicing for when you guys come down.  I know you think you're so great, but we are ready for the challenge!!  I'm going to go buy the Michael Jackson one this weekend and be ready to have a major dance off.  I can't wait because I know the two of you are just a little intense :)

3 Months Old Today

I can't believe that it's already been three months since Brooklynn was born.  It just seems like she's been with us forever.  She truly is my dream baby!  She is an excellent sleeper both day and night.  I always say that she's a great #2 baby because she is really good on the go, and we're on the go all the time.  At three months old, her skills, likes, accomplishments, and milestones are few, but she does have some. 

She loves to: stare at the fan, listen to me sing (she just stares and smiles), eat (I think she would eat all day if she could), get bundled up and go to sleep, chew on her hands, and sneak a peek at the TV any chance she can.  She is smiling more and more each day and I swear she laughed a little bit today.  I just bundled her up to go to bed and I looked down at her smiling face.  I said, "Ohhhh" and she had a little chuckle.  I kept making that sound and it must be an inside joke with her because she kept laughing (just a tiny bit).  I can't wait until she can actually laugh for real at things.  She is really strong and loves to hold up her head.  She's so grown up that she now likes to be held facing out.  I put her in the Bumbo the other day and she is almost ready to sit up and join the real world.  She does not like tummy time or being hungry.  I love my little Brooklynn and I'm so glad she's a part of our family!

On Sunday we blessed her in church.  It was such a great day.  All of the family was here--even my Grandma and Grandpa Mosher drove down for the special day.  She wore the beautiful blessing dress that my Grandma Miller made for me when I was blessed.  The dress has now been worn 7 of us--me, Tera, Toni, Keri, Kate, Bailey, Josi, and Brooklynn.  I love it because I feel like Grandma Miller is there with us on the special day.  I sent Brian up with a bottle for the blessing just in case.  As soon as he was in front of the chapel, she started to cry but quickly stopped when she had her bottle.  Brian gave a great blessing, but he sounded a little bit like Darth Vader.  It was a horrible microphone.

After the first hour of church, we headed back to my parents' house for a yummy brunch.  We had a photo session with Brooklynn in her dress, but she was more interested in her hands than she was at smiling.  I'm going to have to do a take two and try again to get some smiling pictures.  It was a wonderful day and so much fun to spend it with our families.

Here's the day through pictures:

Here's the whole crew.

Bailey was not a fan of taking pictures after church.

Our family with Grandma & Grandpa Mosher

Cute coordinating family pic of Kyle & Sam's family.

with my Mom

Handsome Owen & Ty

Aaron and Josi showing off her new trick of pointing or saying how old she is.

with Roxann and Dan

Here she is in her angel baby dress that my Grandma Miller made for me.

This picture captures how she felt during her photo session.  All she wanted to do was chew on her delicious hand--no smiles...

until the dress came off, but she's still chewing on her hands

This was the best smile we got

But she quickly turned back into focusing on those hands.

Here's half of the table at our lovely brunch.

Brooklynn was just talking away to Grandma Mosher.  Grandma said that she was telling her all her secrets.

Grandma & Grandpa Mosher with the two newest members of their ever-growing family.  We had an early birthday party for Josi since she's turing one at the end of this month.

The Best Week Ever! (as Bailey would say)

Last week Kyle, Sam, and the kids were in town for a vacation.  They recently moved up to Oregon, so it was so much fun to hang out with them.  We packed the 10 days with fun activities for everyone; we were on the go the entire time.  We didn't realize it until yesterday before they were going to leave that the kids got along perfectly.  Last time Kate, Owen, and Bailey were together for a long time there was a lot of fighting, crying, screaming, and other fun stuff.  This time it was pretty peaceful with very little fighting.  I guess it's because they're all getting so much older and wiser! 

Best Buds: this is right before they left to go home.

This morning when Bailey woke up she asked when we could go play with her cousins today.  When I proceeded to tell her that they went home last night, and that their home is far away, she began to bawl her eyes out.  She was truly heart broken that her cousins weren't there to play all day long.  I'm so sad that they live to far away, but we aren't going to let the distance keep these kids apart.  It's important to us that they stay close friends forever.  We had so much fun hanging out everyday and I can't wait until Christmas when we can all be together again.

Here's our fun filled week in review:

They got in Saturday afternoon, so we just hung out at the house and played games.  Sunday was a regular church day.  I had to post these pictures of Bailey and Brooklynn because they looked so cute.

Bailey was a little patriotic in her dress.

Brooklynn was a tiny ballerina.

Tuesday was Legoland day.  None of us had ever been before, so we didn't know what to expect.  My mom was a chaperone with her school for the day, but really she chaperoned all of us.  It was great because she was able to buy tickets for all of us through her school for a true bargain.  It was slightly crowded because of all the schools that were there, but it was still fun.

Here's most of us--Tera, Kyle, Ty, Owen, Kate, Mom, and Bailey.  Toni, Sam, Josi, Brooklynn, and I weren't in the picture, but we were there.

The rides were pretty slow, but the kids loved them.  They rode planes, helipcopters, and cars.

Brooklynn was a dream baby and slept in the carrier for a really long time.  We couldn't resist a picture of her adorable sleeping face.  Later in the day an lady came up and moved her hat because it was covering her face.  I said, "Yes, because she's sleeping, or should I say was sleeping."  I wasn't very happy with her.

This is a classic Josi face!

The kids really did love all the legos.

They had an entire Star Wars land made of legos.  We had to pose with Chewy and R2D2.  (This picture is for Trisha!)

This was my favorite ride.  The kids were all able to drive a car around a mini track all by themselves.  The worker girl asked each of the kids how old they were to make sure that none of them were too young or old.  The kids are the ulitmate lie detectors!  We weren't sure how they were going to do, but I was sure excited to find out.

Here's Bailey and Kate on the straight away.  This was a rare moment when Bailey wasn't crashed into the side of the track.  If I had to rank them, Owen would come in first, followed by Kate, and finally Bailey.  We were cracking up the entire time at their driving skills.

After their time on the track was over, they each got a driver's license.

They were all excited, despite these slightly solemn faces.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were all beach days.  The first two days were great weather; the second two beach days were cold and even misty!  Kids don't care about the weather, they just want to enjoy the beach, sand, and water.  They were all great beach kids and lasted many hours all four days.  It was great because after we were done with the beach, we'd simply walk up to the Carlsbad Inn (where Kyle and Sam were staying)and jump into the pool to swim and clean off.

This was a sunny day.  Bailey could not be bothered to even look at the camera--much better things to do.

Josi is one cool chick!

This is Toni's favorite picture to prove that Josi actually liked her.  Josi was hesitant all week to jump into anyone's arms, except for Ty.  She loved Ty!  So all week we all tried to be her friend, but she didn't truly give in until the last day.  We know that deep down she loves all of us.

This was moments after my mom was teaching Owen one of the finer skills in life--going to the bathroom at the beach.  She was trying to get him to just go while sitting on the sand and none of us were paying attention to the waves.  Right at the wrong moment, a wave came up and kind of crashed on Owen.  The water went right up to his face!  He survived, but might possibly be scarred for life from this experience. 

Josi loved looking at all of the birds at the beach.

Twinners!!

This was one of our cold and cloudy days, but they didn't care.  They ran and played all day.

Brooklynn got all dressed up for the beach--such a beach beauty!

Saturday we had a big BBQ at my parents' house.  It was for fun, for Josi's birthday, and because we had a big jumpy.  This thing was awesome!!  It had three slides, a bball hoop, a pool area at the bottom, and it sprayed water.  All of the kids that were over played on it for at least an hour.  I kind of want to buy one from Costco.  If I had a big yard, I probably would, so I guess it's a good thing that I don't have a yard.  They played until they were worn out for the day.

Aaron was able to come down Saturday afternoon.  What a good uncle!

Bailey wore herself out--not only from the day but the entire week.

Throughout the week we also squeezed in: Xmen movie, Sushi lunch, Padres game, Super 8, lunch at Harbor Fish, shopping, and lots of games.  It was such a fun week with almost the whole family together (Toni stayed down the entire week!).  I'm so glad that Kyle and Sam were willing to make the super long drive.  I truly am already looking forward to Christmas when we'll all be together again.  I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family who actually enjoy spending time together!!