Erin - 14 months

I wish I could put Erin in a bottle and stop her from aging. Right now, she is in that sweet spot right in between squishy, affectionate infant and fun, giggly  toddler totting around everywhere. She doesn't talk back, she really tries to make us laugh, and she doesn't require a huge amount of work.

Two of my favorite things she does right now:

1) When she's standing in her crib, refusing to lay down, we'll say "Go ni-nite" and point to her mattress. She'll immediately belly flop onto her mattress with her head to the side and pretend to sleep. Hilarious!

2) She'll hum "nuh uh" (no) to EVERYTHING that she knows is naughty. And the more we say "nuh uh," the more she repeats it. SO CUTE.

Derek's Birthday

Happy 28th Birthday to Derek!

He stretched the celebration out over 3 days. On Thursday, he took monster bars to work, took his family to the Goat for supper (wings), and opened his gift (a tool).

He and I decided a couple weeks ago that we would take Friday (the 26th) off together. The girls went to the sitters and we got quite a bit done around the house. We then went to Waterloo to begin looking at purchases for our bathroom project. It was a little strange not including the girls in our day off, but I must admit it was nice shopping at an adult's pace and having uninterrupted conversations as we made our plans.

Tomorrow, we are hosting a group of friends and family over here for a meal and fire. Can't wait to see everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Happy 35th Birthday, Everett's Service!

The girls had a blast on Saturday visiting Elkader, strolling in the parade, and celebrating Derek's grandma's business of 35 years!

No Shirt, No Problem

The girls taking after their daddy and opting to go shirtless.

Take me out to the ball game

It's starting to feel like summer. It's unbearably hot. The bugs are everywhere. And life is busy! We've been enjoying a lot of time on our deck, attending grill-outs, parades, and catching the last of Jada's softball season. Coming up: camping this weekend! At this rate, it'll be September when we start constructing our bathroom. :)

Tonight, we actually took the girls to the Waverly pool. Ella had a blast, she is getting better in the water all the time. Erin did great, as well, but got pretty tired. She laid her head on my shoulder for most of it as I waded across the pool several times.She might be feeling a little ill, she woke up with a fever around midnight.  Hence why I'm blogging at 3:30am. (And had to order something online.)

My niece, Jada

Missy & Erin

Jada, an awesome pitcher!

Like a Boss

Me (at the end of my rope): "Ella! Stop being so bossy! You're not the mom, you're the kid. Do you take care of the kids? Do you cook? Do you do all the laundry!"

Ella: "I help you fold clothes sometimes!!!!"

Dancing Peanut

Our little Dancing Peanut at 6am!

Erin - Almost 14 months

Somewhere overnight, Erin has quickly turned into a fun, curious toddler instead of my sweet little baby! Here are some new things she can do:

My favorite: She'll squint her eyes at you and giggle.
She can walk 5-10 steps (when she wants to)
She can climb onto almost anything
She can drink out of any kind of cup (with assistance)
She can dance (holding her arms in the air and pivoting her belly from side to side)
She can empty a cupboard in under 20 seconds
She's always giving out kisses and hugs right now
She can take her own diaper off
She can climb out of high chairs and shopping carts that don't have seat buckles or are too loose.

Time-Out, Let's Do Take-Out

Our family has now entered the phase where it's no longer fun going out to eat. We spend every second in the restaurant picking up silverware/food/paci's/cups off the floor, keeping Erin in her chair, and keeping the girls content. Erin is SO busy right now, and just wants to roam everywhere.  There isn't much fun to restaurants when you're stressed out the entire time. Thinking its time to pick out some take-out options!!

4th of July

Happy 4th of July from our little firecrackers! We had a nice long day in the sun boating on Clear Lake with my parents! We stopped at state park to check out the carnival. The girls did fairly well considering we made it a few hours past nap time. They stayed awake long enough for ice cream on the way home, and then it was nap time for all three girls. :)

Pushes and Shoves

6:30 am: Breakfast time. Today, we gathered in the living room. Not a minute after Ella got all wrapped up in a big fleece blanket and situated at her princess table ready to eat her Alpha Bits, Erin walked up and tugged on her blanket so hard that Ella fell on the floor. Er-Bear then went after the unattended bowl of cereal. I'm so glad there were giggles, not tears.

Oh, Ella

She just cracks me up. Tonight, she was calling Derek (who was on vacation). After the second ring, she says, "Well........what the heck! Why is he taking forever!" Turns out he was busy reeling in a fish. :)

Later that night, she was telling me about someone "hurting her feelings." She followed the story up with "Where does your feelings hurt? Right here? Or right here?" (Trying to locate it)

Haircuts

Derek and I both got haircuts last night at pretty much the cheapest, most desperate place we could: Cost Cutters. It was absolutely critical that this happened before we went on vacation. We had both girls, so of course this was a rat race trying to keep everyone happy.

This event sparked my next blog idea!

Every 6 or so weeks, Derek's hair gets really shaggy. He always knows its time to get a haircut when I call him "Mr Noodle." For those of you who are not Sesame Street fans, I am referring to Mr. Noodle (the other Mr. Noodle's brother):

It must be summer!

True signs of summer this week:

We had our first set of fireworks

Erin had her very first boat ride

Erin had her first BLT/sweetcorn supper with us :)

We've eaten on our deck the last 5/7 nights

We used our new inflatable swimming pool for the first time

Father's Day Weekend

We had a very busy weekend with Father's Day and Readlyn Days!

We enjoyed a night of fireworks on Friday, which was quite amusing. While Ella had ear plugs, and both her and Derek's hands over her ears trying to cover them, she was still shaking like a leaf and not liking the noise. Simultaneously, Erin was giggling at the fireworks and trying to swat her hands at them! Polar opposites. :)

Saturday was meant to be a nice sunny day on Clear Lake with Gpa Mike and Gma Kathy. Unfortunately, a very abrupt thunderstorm chased us off the lake. Most of us were soaking wet, the kids were crying, and our spirits were soggy. But we had a lot of laughs.

Saturday night we had a small campfire with a few friends to plan our upcoming vacation!

Sunday was spent in Readlyn with Gma Lorrie and Gpa Tom! We had a fun yummy cookout and played badminton in the backyard all afternoon with the crew!