Day 194

It's always nice to go on mini vacations, but the repercussions of getting out of routine are not so nice. Almost always we deal with meltdowns a couple days after we're away from home. Today was no exception. There was nonstop whining this morning, so I thought a trip to the park would be a nice distraction. It was. Until we were nearing home. We always let the girls walk once we're on Parkview and Claire knows that. So she immediately climbed out of the stroller and wanted to push it. Claire can't push the stroller with Ella in it, but Ella didn't want to get out. We were at a stand still. Shrieking girls. Tears and runny noses. Fun stuff. So, the rest of our trip home consisted of alternating carrying Claire and pushing the stroller with one hand while Claire kicked and screamed with trying to steer the stroller WHILE Claire also steered and at the same time holding Ella's hand while she cried and walked along side me. I could see the neighbors peeking out windows to see what the ruckus was all about. By the time we walked in the door, both girls were screaming and I was dripping with sweat. I was tempted to put them in their beds and just deal with lunch later. Thankfully, the quieted long enough to eat something before the whining began again. I was extremely thankful when they both fell asleep. Too bad it was a short nap though. Whining resumed once Claire woke up. We had another reprieve when we packed up and met Papa and Granny and McDonald's for supper. Something magical was in those nuggets, because from then on they were finally happy kids. Happy enough that I opted to take Ella to Smith Park tonight to do her 4 year pictures. Not too bad, considering how the majority of our day was.

Day 193

Woke up bright and early this morning (just like every morning!) and hung out at the cabin. It was rainy, so we didn't get to do much outside. After lunch we headed for home, with a stop to Grandma Jump and Papa Smith's first to see the new kittens. Both Ella and Claire were in heaven!

Day 192

I woke up this morning, finished a couple chores and then headed to Vista Royalle to see my girls! We had a fun afternoon riding in the golf cart, swimming and playing on the playground. Tiffany came to the campground this afternoon so that I could do a few maternity shots for her. This evening dad came to visit and of course we all had to get a treat from the lodge. We chilled out a little before bedtime and watched a movie and both girls went to bed without any issues. Busy day for them!

Day 191

No photo today...too busy! Mom took off with the girls this morning around 8:30 am. I had a VBS meeting at church at 9 and then Jeremy met me for church. After church we ate lunch and ran to to the grocery store (amazing how much easier it is to grocery shop w/o kids!). Then, we headed to the Wolf River for some tubing. It was the first time for both of us and we had a great time. We were able to do the short trip twice. I can't wait to go tubing in a large group another time! When we got home I made supper then Jeremy did some work maintenance and I cleaned the girls' rooms, edited Eric & Mel's pictures and ended the evening with a walk. Busy, busy day but I feel accomplished!

Day 190

Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Cross! Your day was beautiful!

Day 189

Tonight Jeremy & I went to the rehearsal for Eric & Melanie's wedding. I got to practice some wedding photography during the rehearsal and was happy with some of the pictures I got.

Day 188

Ok, no photo today but I do have a cute little story.

During lunch Claire bit her finger and started crying. Ella turned to her and said, "Claire, are you gonna live?" And Claire replied, with long wail, "Nooooooo".

Oh, the drama that my two girls take part in!

Day 187

This morning I packed the girls up bright and early and we headed to Stevens Point (Iverson Park, to be specific) to take pictures of Hailee & Jaiden. Hailee will be one in a couple days and Jaiden just turned two, so we did some birthday shots. I was nonstop moving and the lighting was a little tough to work with, but I was pretty happy with how they turned out. After the photo session, mom, Mackenzie, Ella, Claire and I had a picnic lunch. Mom & Mackenzie brought me flowers and cupcakes to celebrate my birthday. The flowers are beautiful and I really need to get a picture of them. Thanks mom!

Ps. Here is one of my favorite shots of the session.

Day 186

Happy Birthday...to me! Ahh, last year in my twenties. On the plus side, I've been pegged as a 17 year old and a 24 year old in the past month. I just might take after my mom and her youthful looks afterall!

Jeremy let me sleep in this morning, which after our busy weekend and a few late nights, I took advantage of. I was lazy for a little while this morning, then got ready to go help Heather register for her baby shower. I miss little baby girl things! It was a lot of fun and we had a yummy lunch at Jimmy John's and a Starbucks treat. (Thanks, Heather!) This afternoon we met Heather, Phil, Mason and Mckenna at the Menasha Pool. Thankfully the weather cooperated and the kids had a great time. Claire was very brave and had no issues walking around in chest deep (on her) water. Ella was braver than usual in the water, too. Mason must have been a good influence on them! We grabbed McDonald's drive thru on the way home. At that point I had to wonder if it was my birthday or the girls' birthdays, since McDonalds is definitely not MY first choice. Oh well, we made up for it with angel food cake and sherbert when we got home. Happy 29th to me!

Day 185

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrate in the old fashioned American way. Kiddie pools, sandboxes, cook out with the neighbors and sparklers. This afternoon we all hung around the Hoffmans backyard and let the kids play while the adults talked. The Abuhls arrived just in time for yummy picnic food and Sara made sure we had birthday cake for dessert. Mmmm. After cake the big people put the little people down to bed and then re-gathered at the Hoffmans for a campfire and some adult beverages. We're so lucky to have neighbors that we can have so much fun with!

Day 184

This morning we went to church. Claire held her hands out, expectantly waiting for her wafer, too. Pretty cute!

This evening we headed to Memorial Park with the Hoffmans. The girls all got balloon animals made and played at the playground. Around 9pm we headed over to our blanket to get ready to see some fireworks. Claire was less than impressed and cried until she managed to snuggle onto my lap in a little ball, one ear pressed against my chest and my hand covering her other ear. She doesn't snuggle as much with us anymore, so I actually enjoyed her insistence of burying in my lap. Ella thought the fireworks were pretty great and sat mesmerized on Jeremy's lap. It took quite a while to leave the park with all the people moving in one direction, so we were kind of worried how the drive out would be. However, thanks to Jeremy & Doug's thinking outside the box, we got out of the parking chaos quickly and smoothly. Both girls were singing away in the car on the way home and then crashed immediately once getting into bed!

Day 183

We kicked off the holiday weekend with lots of down time. We managed grocery shopping this morning and while the girls napped I ran some errands, but otherwise we just enjoyed being home. We finally got out clothesline up, so this evening all 4 of us were outside participating in hanging the first load of clothes in one way or another. Jeremy & I hung them, Ella passed out clothespins and Claire followed behind us and pulled down newly hung clothing. Obviously we could've done without that part of it :-)

Day 182

Today was hot, hot, hot! We cleaned up around the house this morning, then after nap we sought refuge at Monkey Joe's to stay cool. It took both girls a while to warm up and get brave, but by the time we were ready to leave both girls were climbing up and going down the BIG slide.

Day 181

This morning we met Sarah, Wesley & Callie at Smith Park for some playtime and a picnic. After we left Smith Park we decided to venture over to Shattuck Park in Neenah to see Tom Pease in an outdoor concert. We had great timing and walked to the park just in time to hear Claire's favorite song- There's a Dog in School. We stayed for about 45 minutes, then headed home for naps. A pretty great summer day!

Day 180

This morning Heather hung out with the girls while I had my first official meeting as Hillside chairperson. A little overwhelming right now! After I got home Heather took off and I spent the next 4 hours working on Hillside stuff. Dad came over with pizzas for supper to celebrate my birthday a little early. The pizza was yummy, especially the s'mores dessert pizza. Mmmm. Claire had some chocolate on her teeth from the pizza and we laughed so hard because she looked like a little hillbilly!

Day 179

No photo again today...too busy shopping for baby GIRL things with Heather :-)

Day 178

Both girls had meltdowns within minutes of each other this morning and ended up comforting each other.

Day 177

No photo today! We were so busy travelling, that I forgot about a photo today. We left Jeremy & Stacey's around 11am and headed to IKEA. I found some fun new props and a few other necessities. The kids had a great time at first...until they realized how big IKEA is! Thankfully there is a cafe about halfway through, so we stopped for some lunch mid-shopping. Our journey home began around 1:15pm. Claire fell asleep until we stopped for gas in Stanley. That was the only sleeping either kid did the entire way home. We stopped to see Mark and Dawn and ended up staying longer than planned. The girls saw the cows, fished for a while and played on the slide. Next we headed over to see Great Grandpa Mroczenski. Norma & John were there visiting, too. Ella was extremely shy, but Claire had fun visiting. Ella held the bread Great Grandpa made and gave to us in her lap the entire way home. We stopped in Stevens Point for a quick drive thru supper at McDonald's and finally arrived home around 8pm. We quickly gave the girls a bath and put them to bed. So nice to be home!

Day 176

We made it to Minnesota around noon today. The kids had a great time just playing outside in the pool and running around. We all walked to a nearby park to play for a while, then headed back to Jeremy & Stacey's to cook out. A long time ago, before kids, we had always joked about how much fun it would be to all live together Full House style. We got to see a tiny glimpse of what that would be like this weekend! After supper Stacey, Heather and I snuck away to do some maternity photos of Stacey. By the time we got back the guys had a fire going and were putting the littlest ones (Claire & Mckenna) to bed. The rest of us enjoyed the fire and some distant fireworks. Around 10pm we headed inside to get ready for bed. Ella ended up sleeping in Jake's room with Jake & Mason. It was hilarious to hear what the kids were talking about until 10:30pm.