Watch Out Boys!

Addi is as "Cute as a Cupcake" and Ella is a "Future Heart Breaker!"

Really, I tell my girls every day that the only boys they are allowed to like is their Daddy and Papa....and MAYBE their uncles....as long as they keep my girls out of trouble. I tell them they can't like boys until they are out of college. Think brain washing works this early? Ha!

James, The Crab

My friend Jon recently posted a status update (on Facebook) about his daughter's fish dying. Apparently she paid it more attention after death than when it was alive.

For some reason this incident made me think of James, the Hermit Crab that I inherited the first year I taught kindergarten. As it happened, I took over for a teacher that was moving to Austin, TX. She left her hermit crab in my care. That was a huge mistake. I was new to teaching and that crab was the last thing on my mind. I was preoccupied running around trying to plan and teach lessons and get my feet underneath myself. I should have given up then. That was the hardest year ever!

Anyhow, James came into my care, and not having the time to take care of the poor thing, he suffered greatly. One of my kids was assigned to soak his sponge each day so he had water, but no one knew what James ate and I was not briefed before the teacher moved that left him in my incompetent hands. Maybe if I hadn't been so preoccupied with all the things that come along with my first real job, I would have thought to look up the care of hermit crabs on the Internet. But no, poor James starved to death in my classroom. I did sprinkle fish food in his cage, but apparently crabs don't dig fish food because James crawled out of his shell and died.

My kids learned about democracy that year and what it means to vote. We voted how his body should be disposed of...by land or sea. A kindergartners logic is this: "he should be flushed so he goes back to the ocean." How does one argue with that? Poor James was carried very carefully on a paper towel across the hall to a neighboring teacher's classroom. (I didn't have a bathroom in my room.) We disrupted her class to pay our final regards to James and flushed him in his watery grave with hopes he would return to the ocean. Poor James.

I learned a lesson that year...NEVER accept a classroom pet you know nothing about. Stick with fish, they are the safer bet!

Calling All Golfers...

I have my own personal driving range. Here's the proof...

Are you jealous?

It's a shame there's a shed right in the middle of my driving range, but I make it work. However, there is a perfect dent with countable golf ball dimples in the side of that shed! It's too bad I can't train the horses to retreive my balls! (I don't hit balls into the pasture when there are horses out there! I would feel horrible if I hit one, and knowing me, I would!)

Long Overdue Update!

So I've been a little busy lately...I can't imagine what keeps me so busy (note my sarcasm), but I'm finally around to updating and promise to be better about keeping our blog current!

Addilyn and Ella are five months old now. Here's what they are up to...

Addilyn...

Addi is up to 13 pounds 3 ounces and is 24 inches long. She rolls from her back to her tummy, but usually has one arm pinned under her because she won't take her hand out of her mouth. If you help her out, she tries to get her knees under her and scoot. She has no problem rolling over to her back. Addi loves to suck on her fingers and makes a big drooly mess! She grabs her toys on her playmat and likes to put them in her mouth. Addi LOVES bathtime! She can be tired after a busy day and still find the energy to kick her little legs and drench me with water! I gave up bathing the girls in their little tub a long time ago. She loves swim time during her bath! Addi also says "hi". It's so cute! She has such a little voice! She's been saying hi for about a month. Addi is pretty outgoing. She doesn't care who holds her or feeds her. She loves to look around at the park or restaurant or store.

Ella...

Ella is up to 12 pounds 14 ounces and is 23.5 inches long. Her chubby cheeks make her look bigger than she really is! Ella rolls over to her tummy almost immediately, but doesn't like to roll back to her back once she's on her tummy. I think it scares her and she usually cries. Ella is a little more timid about bathtime, but seems to enjoy it more every day. Ella is getting a mind of her own. She is trying very hard to hold her own bottle and will pull it into her mouth. Sometimes she misses and gets her nose! She is also a chatterbox. She wakes up talking in the morning, talks herself to sleep at naptime, and says "mama" when she is upset and wants her mama! Ella is a little more reserved around people she doesn't know than Addilyn. She has to warm up to you first, but generally does okay if you give her enough time to decide that you are alright!

Both girls are in bed by 9:30 p.m. and sleep until 7:30-8:00 a.m. They eat first thing in the morning, at noon, 3:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. We start bathtime around 8:15 every evening. At their 3:00 feeding the girls get veggies before a bottle. So far they like green beans, sweet potatoes and squash. They are not a fan of carrots and peas. I've been mixing peas with green beans to get them to eat them and saw carrots mixed with apples in the store, so I might try that. We will start fruit when they are eating all their veggies good!

The girls take about 4 short naps during the day. I don't let them sleep longer than an hour at a time. If I do then they don't sleep good at night and I am up and down putting pacifiers in mouths! I like to avoid that! The girls are funny at bedtime. They scoot until they are touching each other before they will fall asleep at night. They sleep with their heads touching! They are both in size 1 diapers and still able to wear their 3 month size summer outfits. Last month I started putting them in 3-6 month size sleep n' plays but we still have to roll the sleeves up.

Here are pictures over the last couple of weeks...