Day 58

It was a pretty laid back Sunday. Grandma Jump & Papa Smith came to church with us, then came back to our house for lunch. The girs both took great naps and I caught up all of our scrapbooks (for now). After Claire went to bed Jeremy, Ella & I played Disney SceneIt for the second night in a row. She was so proud of herself when she answered a few questions right without any help and even got one that Jeremy & I had no clue what the answer was!

On another note, we heard today in church that a little two year old girl from our church had a brain tumor removed this past week and will be beginning chemo in the near future. She has been in the nursery with me during Vacation Bible School for the past three summers and is a sweet little girl. She has been on my mind a lot since we heard the announcement. Please pray for Halle and her family!

Day 57

I was menu planning with the laptop Saturday morning before the trip to the grocery store, so both girls needed their own laptops, paper and pen to make their lists, too.

Day 56

Yesterday when we were at Papa's house we pulled out the miniature bride dress that I wore when I was four years old. I showed it to Ella and the look on her face was pure elation! She is thrilled to have a princess dress to wear and wore it most of the day today, along with the garter and veil.

Day 55

Happy Birthday Dad! Thank you for all that you do for us!

The girls and I packed up and did some visiting today with stops at Grandma Brandl's, Papa's (to have birthday lunch and cupcakes with him), Great Granny & Great Papa's and Grandma Jump & Papa Smith's. Four stops in six hours...I was exhausted by the time we got home!

Day 54

We took an impromptu trip to the Building for Kids today. Jeremy had a business dinner, so we decided to get out of the house for a while and check out the new exhibit- Jump to Japan!

Day 53

Busy Tuesday! We had our weekly playdate this morning, then Jeremy took a half day so Ella & I could go to the dentist. Ella did fabulous! Afterwards we ran to the library and to a few stores. Ella was so well behaved while we were out and about, but it seems to moment we walked in the door the sassy bug bit her. At one point Jeremy put her in time out for her sassy attitude. As she was sitting in time out, Claire pulled a chair over next to her and sat with her. I am sure Claire didn't realize what was going on and just wanted to comfort her sissy, or maybe they're already taking a stand together against us! Anyways, the picture of the day shows Ella all bummed out in time out and Claire hanging out with her.

Day 52

Is there anything better than grilled cheese & tomato soup on a snow day?

Day 51

Winter storm Dana hit HARD today, so aside from venturing out for church, we were snowed in. The girls took awesome naps, so I snuck a nap in, too. Ella helped grate the zucchini for the meatloaf we made for supper. The girl loves to cook!

Day 50

Tonight we celebrated Papa's birthday a few days early. We made stromboli and Papa brought a Culver's cake. Yum.

(Side note: I am avoiding all scales for a while after all the yumminess I've eaten in the last week).

Day 49

This morning we hit the ground running and never stopped. Our day went a little like this: pancake breakfast, Dierdre comes to play, Jeremy comes home from work at 12:15pm, Dierdre leaves, Mason & Mckenna arrive, Becky & Crystal arrive to look through rummage sale clothes, Becky & Crystal leave, play with all 4 kids, Heather arrives to pick up M&M and have dinner with us, we eat yummy yummy brownies (thank goodness the calorie count was not listed on the package, better off not knowing how many days worth of calories were in that one brownie- but sooooo worth it), Heather & kiddos leave, bath for Ella & Claire, hold ladder for Jeremy in the cold, windy night so Jeremy can attempt to fix our whistling window, bedtime for girls. And finally, downtime for Jeremy & I. Aaahhh.

Day 48

Mall meet up today with Sarah, Callie & Wesley. We got in a little shopping, (a very small amount of) walking, playing and eating. By Ella's request we had lunch from McDonald's. All of the kids were so cute sitting at the little table :)

Day 47

Yay for a little bit of warmer weather! Today Claire and I opted to walk outside rather than do our usual mall walk. It was around 40 degrees and still chilly, but felt great to be outside. And apparently all that fresh air tired Claire out because she fell asleep about halfway into our walk. Check out her position in the stroller. I have no idea how she was comfortable enough to fall asleep. Though I suppose being up half the night coughing will make you want to sleep anyway you can...

Day 46

Daddy's home! Every single day,the moment the garage door opens, the girls hit the ground running and stand by the door until Jeremy walks in. Usually they're both jumping around yelling "hi dad" and begging to be picked up. He usually has to double arm them so as to not leave one of them left out. They completely adore their daddy!

Day 45

Happy Valentine's Day!

Day 44

I spent the majority of the day marking clothing for the rummage sale in May. So. many. clothes! Pictured is a tote of 0-9 month girl's clothes, a tote of 12 month girl's clothes and a tote of 18 month girl's clothes. I still have a giant tote of 12month-4T boy's clothes, a bag full of 0-9 month boy's clothes and a tote of 24 month-4T girl's clothes. Plus shoes and misc. accessories. Anyone wanna shop!?!

I did get a couple mini breaks today to run with mom and pick out fabric for spring outfits mom is making for the girls (cannot wait to see them done!) and a visit from Heather & Jerison.

Day 43

I feel like today was another go-go-go day. Browsing the Lullaby Shop for big girl bedding and grocery shopping this morning, naps, then Ella & I met up with Papa to buy his birthday gift and a quick stop at Maggie Moos for ice cream. At suppertime Grandma Brandl came to visit and stay with the girls so Jeremy & I could go out for dinner. We ended up at Applebees, mainly for their Maple Butter Blondie dessert. When we were dating we had a deal that the person with the higher GPA took the other person out to dinner. It was usually at Applebees and we always shared the dessert. We were a little disappointed that this time the dessert was not as good as we remembered. Disappointment aside, it was so nice to get out for some couple time!

Day 42

This morning we went to the 3rd Annual Valentine Party at the Ring's house. Ella & Claire had a lot of fun playing with the other kids, making a valentine collage and having yummy lunch. The first time we went to this party Ella was 18 months old and I was about six weeks pregnant with Claire. How time has flown!

Ella has been asking to see Jeremy's new office, so today we went to his office at 4:30 pm. Jeremy had some work to do, so the girls kept occupied by raiding Daddy's treat stash and sitting in the cool big chairs and doing their own "work". They both seemed to really enjoy seeing the warehouse and they REALLY loved running through all the cubicles. Thankfully, by that time most people had left so they weren't disruptive. After a quick supper at Subway we stopped at the outlet mall to check out the Carter's sales. Jackpot! For about $40 we got 2 pairs of shorts, 4 shirts, an adorable raincoat and 2 pairs of pajamas for Ella and a pair of pajamas, an outfit and a 3 pack of underwear (being optimistic here!) for Claire.

A great start to the weekend!

Day 41

I *heart* this girl!

Day 40

Ella got an exciting surprise when I picked her up from school today. Waiting at McDonald's (one of her favorite places to eat) was Grandma Jump & Papa Smith (two of her favorite people). We had lunch with them, then they came back to our house to play for a while. While they were here, Auntie Heather called. Grandma Jump handed the phone to Ella and the picture shows how excited she was to talk to Auntie Heather. Never mind that she was holding the phone upside down and Auntie Heather couldn't hear a word she said :)

Day 39

Busy Tuesday! Ella's weekly playdate was at Lucia's today and Sarah even offered to keep Claire for a little bit so I could get a few quick things done at home. Amazing what can be accomplished in 45 minutes without kids undoing whatever it is that I've just done! Jeremy had a meeting at church tonight, so instead of hanging out at home without him, the girls and I went to visit Heather, Mason & Mckenna. When Mason & Ella were both smaller and Heather & I were pregnant with the little girls we used to get together for dinner and playdates in the evening pretty regularily. It was great having the kids play while Heather & I were able to chat. And of course, what would get togethers with pregnant ladies be without dessert! Mmm, I looked forward to our evening playdates because I always knew I'd get adult conversation and yummy dessert! Anyways, now that the "little girls" are not quite as little and it's easier to manage taking 2 kids out and about, hopefully we can resume our evening playdates. And dessert eating :) Can't break tradition, you know!

Day 38

Bathtime Kisses!

Day 37

Daddy has taught them well...they like to cut coupons, too :)

Today was the Superbowl Sunday! We had a relax morning with a visit from Papa, then ran a couple errands and had pizza at Stevi B's again. Jeremy & Ella love that place. We made it home by the second quarter of the game and were able to watch most of it. Even I was on pins & needles at the end of the game! Great game and GO PACK GO! Congrats on being Superbowl XLV Champions!!!

Day 36

Today we traveled to Wausau to celebrate Mike & Rachel's wedding. Before the reception we met up with Mike & Alisha and drove past our old house. Being back in Wausau always brings up the "Remember when..." and "Would we ever move back..." discussions. The wedding was fun. It was great to catch up with family and the girls really loved running around and dancing. Oh yes, the M&Ms were pretty exciting for them, too. We left the reception around 8pm and made the hour and 45 minute drive home. Both girls were exhausted!

Congratulations Mike & Rachel! Here's to happily ever after...

Day 35

Ahhh, Friday! Funny how pre-kids Fridays meant late nights and busy, go-go-go weekend. Now, Fridays are exciting because it means Daddy is home with us for a couple days and things are a bit more relaxed. The girls & I grocery shopped this morning (a task that Jeremy usually does not like to miss, but knew we needed to get out of the house and grocery shopping gave us something to do). Later in the afternoon Uncle Wes came over to play and have supper with us. After supper Jeremy & Wes took off for the Monster Truck Rally, so it was just the girls & I. We had a snuggly night...baths and stories. Ella loved helping me put Claire to bed. She turned on Claire's cd player, read her a few books and then kissed her goodnight and gave her her nuks. I am pretty sure Claire loved it, too.

Day 34

Thank goodness for play dates, they keep being cooped up inside all winter much more bearable! This morning Sarah, Wesley & Callie came to play and Ella and Callie seemed to especially enjoy playing together yesterday with their babies. All four kids actually did really well and gave Sarah & I some much needed adult conversation time.

After the girls napped we had a special "freezie treat" for snack. Claire was so impatient if I didn't help her squeeze her freezie pop up fast enough and would throw the freezie pop down and throw a fit until she could get more purple yumminess in her mouth. This repeated for the entire amount of time it took her to eat the freezie pop. And does it make me a mean mama that instead of running to her rescue a few times, I snapped pics instead? :-)

Day 33

Thanks to the super cold and windy weather that is causing the snow to drift everywhere, Ella had her first snow day today. She did not have the same reaction most students (and teachers) have when a snow day is announced...the girl was MAD! She insisted that there was not too much snow and church was not closed. After explaining (and explaining and explaining) that it wasn't safe for the buses to drive in that weather, she finally accepted that she wasn't going to school. Instead, we headed off to the mall so I could get my Wednesday mall walk in. Of course the girls were rewarded with some playtime in the play area, too! Tonight the girls made gift bags for the Valentine treats they made. Claire once again ate as much of the paint as she put on the bag, but had fun anyways.

Day 32

Today was our turn to host the weekly "neighborhood girls" playdate and we had an extra friend here today, too. Maddy, Lucia, Hayleigh and Ella all played fabulously together and even enjoyed a tea party with the cookie pops Ella made on Sunday night.