Singing All the Time

Lena Kate is such a singer. The girl sing songs her regular conversation half the time drawing out the last word for emphasis. I don't know if it is cute or bordering on annoying at this point. Oh, I do love all that personality though. She just can't contain it. We went on a walk today and while Ainslee slept Lena Kate talked...the WHOLE time. The girl likes to hear herself and I'm ok with that:) She does have her quiet moments, but they are few and far between. Did I mention that she didn't inherit her Leelee's singing voice? Let's just say it is painfully cute.

Today I let her take her shopping cart to the grocery store and she shopped right along side me. It was fun and I think she made a few people's day. As long as we go early in the morning there are few people shopping and is plenty of room for us both to shop. She LOVED it. I love that the simple things make her so happy, she is just a happy girl (most of the time). She is also a bit spoiled and gets a donut when we go to the grocery store-her new favorite is chocolate covered with sprinkes. I can't blame her.

LK loves to tell people that she has a princess guitar and and princess bike. She also shares that her favorite color is red. She speaks of her cousin Charles often. She really loves him. I'm not sure if I mentioned it already... I think I did, but she is definitely wanting to go to Disney World, school, Chuck E Cheese's, and the zoo.

We are getting ready for a rummage sale at church and Lena Kate was such a good girl when we went to help the other day. She played with the toys, didn't even mention the ones that used to belong to her that I had carefully removed from her room. I guess she was more involved in the other toys. She came home with a tool set to help Daddy work. She is a well rounded girl because along with the tool set came a Barbie bike. Apparently she is making quite an impression on the church crowd since last Sunday several of the Winter Texans mentioned they look forward to children's time every Sunday morning. So far she hasn't said anything too embarrassing, but I know it is coming :)

While walking today a car passed us and Lena Kate asked me who it was. I said I didn't know. She decided the ladies name was Mary and she was from Tanzania-where did that come from?! She wants to know everybody's name or give them one.

Over the last week she has decided that she has an imaginary friend-an orange cat named Quasi. The name came from one of her favorite shows-Octonauts. The cat goes with us and sleeps in her bed with her.

She still is very fond of her sister and loves to play with her...when Ainslee isn't taking her toys, but LK tends to take just as many of A's and I have to reminder her of that.

Rocking out in what else but Princess sunglasses.

Hope you enjoyed the LK update. I hope she reads this one day and laughs!

8 Months and San Angelo SNOW

The girls and I took a trip to see Leelee and Paw the weekend before last. It was super fun. On our way we stopped and played with our San Antonio friends. There were three 3 yr olds and 3 under 3. It was a little wild but the kiddos and Mama's had a great time. Thanks to Bethany for letting us destroy their craft room. We all enjoyed pizza for lunch-mmmm Papa John's. After the kiddos were nice and tired we said our goodbyes to Rachel and Bethany and David, Catalina, James and baby Lucas and headed on our way. The girls were so tired the slept most of the way to San Angelo and didn't fuss a bit! We spent the rest of the weekend with Leelee and Paw. We got lots of visiting and fun in. It was super cold so we stayed in mostly. We did venture out to the mall on Saturday for LK to play in the new indoor playground and had Chic Fil A for lunch. On Sunday we had a fun surprise of SNOW. It was the first snow for the girls to see. Lena Kate was super fun and I was so happy they got to experience it with Leelee and Paw for the first time. I love making memories with my girls! After a fun weekend of visiting-we also got to see Great Mimi and Great Kelley-we loaded up and headed home. We stopped for lunch with my old boss Tim and let LK play at CFA-again. It was nice to have an extra hand getting in and out with the girls by myself:) A stop in San Antonio for lunch seems to be the best way to time a trip to Angelo since the girls did so well. Here are some pictures of the fun we had.

watching it snow

Paw helping get her coat on to go out in the snow

Trying to catch it on her tongue

snowballs with no gloves

My hands hurt!

Dogpile Mama!

Sisterly love

ready for bed

Leelee love

Bowen gal love and snuggles

I'm outta here!

Valentine's heart marshmallows in hot chocolate by the fire was perfect after stepping out in the cold!

Our little Miss Ainslee is 8 months old today! I can't believe it. She is such a joy and so much fun lately. She is getting better at sleeping through the night from about 9 pm until 5 am. If she wakes she can usually go back to sleep on her own within 15 minutes. She gets to snuggle with Mama for about 2 hours after I feed her at 5 am. I love those times. She is such a good snuggler. Little sister is ALL over the place and enjoying her mobility. She pulls up on everything possible. She is just a tiny thing to see standing up. She loves to play in Lena Kate's kitchen like a big girl. Ainlsee is also a pretty good eater. She likes her baby food and LOVES puffs and Cheerios by the handful. She is going to be a good eater, I think. She really wants table food but I'm holding off based on her doc's advice. She said the stop liking baby food as soon as you introduce other stuff and it is better for them to get the baby food and cereal for a few months. I'll start other stuff in a month or two. Mimi has given her an Oreo twice. She LOVED it. I think Miss Ainslee is going to have her mommy's sweet tooth, whereas Lena Kate would take a bag of chips over cookies any day.

I have been in a major Spring cleaning mode these last few days. I'm trying to purge out some unneeded stuff. We have a rummage sale at church next week, so hopefully I'll have time to pile up some more unneeded stuff!

She is going to be our sneaky one. I tell her know and she looks at me and then just grins!!! Uh oh! She is also very persistent. Oh, does she love Big Sister. Lena Kate enjoys entertaining her and Ainslee just eats it up. LK calls her "Ains" sometimes-so cute. I can't believe she is going to be one year old in a few months.

In other news, I finally got an i phone and got rid of our home phone. It just didn't seem worth paying for, so that allowed me to get a data package and upgraded phone-yippee. Lane has been good to me lately :)

Lena Kate is a fun as ever. She is now into imaginary friends. She has a cat named Quasi that she has been keeping around for the last few days. It cracks me up. She also has a list of places she is going to go: Disney World, school, Chuck E Cheese's, and recently added the zoo.

Children's time story of the week: Pastor Patti was asking LK what a bag of school supplies were and she named them all and said that Daddy used a ruler (which he does). She asked LK where we take all these things and her response was-to the dining room table. This was the right answer for her! She does crafts and uses supplies at the dining room table. Of course, Pastor Patti was looking for the answer school. LK then said, "I'M GOING TO SCHOOL, and DISNEY WORLD!" One day, my child, one day.

I've given up candy for lent and am trying not to bake anything just to have around the house-wish me luck!!!

A girl and a mirror.

This mirror was hanging where A's crib is now, so on the floor it sits until I can get my hubs to help hang it. I love it, and I inheritted it from my great Aunt who passed away about 2 years ago. it is heavy! Don't worry it is secure and can't fall on the sweet girl!

New recipes FINALLY to be posted soon over on my recipe blog. It has been ignored-sorry. I have so many things I should have posted over there, hopefully I can dig them out of my memory and post a few of my new favorites. Check there soon for Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake, Cake Batter Dip (my version), Mexican chicken and rice casserole, chicken and rice soup, molasses cookies and who knows what else!

Beachin it in January.

A few weeks ago Gus (my brother) and Charles (nephew) came down for a few days and we decided to all pile in with my parents and go to the beach in Port Aransas for the day. We let the kids run the beach for awhile. It wasn't the warmest day we've had recently, but the kiddos still enjoyed looking for shells and running, and running, and running...and scaring away the seagulls. It sure is nice to be an hour from the coast. We then had fried shrimp for lunch and stopped at the bookstores in Corpus on the way home.

The 5 minutes ferry ride to the island.

Like father, like son

Love these two guys...Gus had his eyes closed-oops, posted the wrong one!

Charles was willing to pose-thanks little buddy!

She was not! She would NOT stop running for me.

Looking for sand dollars with Papa. Those two kiddos love each other! They are almost always this close to each other.

What a fun day :)

Just like her mother

Although Lena Kate may not look too much like me, she likes her snacks just like her Mama. She likes her food so much so that she had a tray of food in her bed incase she got hungry at night...I'm glad it was plastic food!

Just Mothering

I've found myself thinking about how hard it is to be a mother often lately. Three year olds are tough yall, especially strong-willed, independent, spirited firecrackers like mine. I can tell her not to do something over and over, and what does she do-the same thing...day after day. I know that consistency will eventually work, but man, constantly disciplining gets old.

I also find it comforting to know that I'm not the only one in this situation. Why does it make us feel better to know that others struggle with the same issues? I guess nobody likes to be different or alone in tough times, but when you think about it, it just seems wrong to be comforted by such a thing. So, if you are having a bad day know that there are other moms out there going through the same thing. Pick up the phone and call one that you know and I bet you anything it'll make you feel better. I'm so thankful for the moms down here that I get to visit with on a regular basis. I'm so thankful for my mom friends down here as well as those that are my bloggy friends. You can't imagine how encouraging your words are to me even if we've never met in person.

While these times are tough, they are also beyond a blessing and my cup runneth over for my sweet (most-of-the-time) girls. God's mercy and grace keep me striving to be a better mother and knowing that tomorrow is a new day and new opportunity to be the best mother I can and raise the best daughters I can.

I try to keep the girls occupied and busy. This tends to keep them out of trouble. Here are a few things we've done lately.

We made heart marshmallows valentines for your friends. I use Dana's Homemade Marshmallow recipe over at www.tastykitchen.com and it has never failed me. You must also use Mexican vanilla if at all possible. Trust me, they are that much yummier.

We eat snack out of these cupcake holders my sis-in-law got me for Christmas. She likes to get fun things on sale and neat little baking things for me. These make cute little snack cups and hold just enough for a 100 or a little more calorie snack...good for Lena Kate, and good for me too.

We made play dough to share with our friends. We are going to stop in San Antonio for a play date with our San Antonio friends so I made some Kool Aid play dough to keep the kids happy.

Recipe:

1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1/4 cup salt, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 Tbs cooking oil. Combine in a pan over medium heat stirring constantly until a ball forms. Remove ball from pan, let cool, and store in an air-tight container.

Big sister , just opened one of her Christmas presents I had put away for a rainy day. I got it for Christmas because I knew it wasn't something they carried year-round. It is a magnetic princess paper doll set. The dolls are "boards" like in a board book, and the dresses and accessories all have magnets on the back and stick to the dolls. There were a few dresses and purses included that Lena Kate and I got to color and decorate ourselves. She is princess crazy these days and tells everybody that she has a princess guitar and whatever else she comes up with at the moment. She can usually be found with a tiara on about 90% of every day.

Miss Ainlsee likes to eat as long as you combine the veggies with the fruit and oatmeal mixture. The girl can also put down a serious amount of puffs...by the handful.

With every passing day the girls are starting to play together more and more. Ainslee follows Lena Kate everywhere and LK is pretty good to little sister.

Happy Wednesday!

Things are good around here. We are loving the mild winter. Down here in South Texas we are not tough and if it is less than 60 degrees it is COLD and we stay in most of the time! Fortunately, we've had many days in the high 70's low 80's lately.

Lena Kate likes to sing and I managed to get her on video. She unfortunately inheritted her parents' inability to carry a tune.



I'm going to try to do a better job of blogging. I've found myself in a blog slump and that is no bueno. Maybe I'll even post about more than what we are up to, or maybe not, we'll see :)