Mollie hiding from me after church yesterday.
Sydney flying at gymnastics last week. After this she did 3 back flips by herself in the air. I have a video of that.
Sydney ate scrambled eggs! Can you believe it? We were having omelets for dinner and Phil had the eggs out about to make them (he does eggs best). We didn't really mention whether they would eat them or not. I thought that Mollie would, but wanted to see what Sydney was going to say about it (that she wanted macaroni). Sydney said, oh, I want my eggs plain. I told her that we were going to have omelets and that it was kind of like a quesadilla with egg on the outside. She said "I want them plain like at breakfast". We rarely eat eggs so I'm assuming this came from Gramma and Grandpa on one of their IHOP trips together!
So Phil scrambled up the girls some eggs with a little cheese and they ate them like they'd been doing it for years! I was shocked. We're really making some head way with Sydney's foods lately! Mollie's always been a pretty good eater, but sometimes what Sydney wants influences her.
Just regular old life going on here:) We generally stay pretty busy. The girls were on Spring Break this week, but it didn't phase us much. Except for the fact that I am used to having those hours to myself during the week that I haven't had! Thursday my friend Jennifer invited the whole class over to their house to play in their awesome back yard. The weather was beautiful so we played outside all morning. I had to drag Sydney out of there. She's been having a hard time with transitions lately. Friday she also had a hard time leaving our lunch with friends at Panera. Today we went to a teddy bear picnic at our friends Dawn and Ava's church which was super fun! Well, just Sydney and I, and once again, when it was time to leave Ava's house, meltdown from Sydney. Phil and Mollie had a special sneak to Chickfila while we were gone:)
Sydney woke up from her nap today really cranky and kind of hoarse so I think she's coming down with something. Tonight we ate at Rudinos with our friends James (aka Jamie to the girls) and Michele.
From the minds of little kids:
Sydney~
2 girls walking their dogs down the sidewalk. "wow, I think those girls are 9"
"when I was little I used to call Chickfila chich-chil-A, but now I'm big so I say Chickfila"
"Peeps are healthy foods, they are good for your teeth" (uh, no)
Mollie~
"wanna see my new one malmation?" (one hundered and one dalmation she got in her Easter basket)
"I'm a mean witch!" (not sure where that came from, maybe Wizard of Oz which Sydney loves to watch)
"my name is Eliza. It's my birthday" (her friend from school who she constantly talks about. The funny thing is that we were invited to Eliza's birthday in Dec., but Mollie was sick and didn't go. But she's been playing her party with her Melissa and Doug birthday set.
First of all, this is a sobering thought, there was a fire today at the apartment complex where I used to live!
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2633723/
I lived there for a year right after college graduation with my roomie Laurin and Nikki who lived on our hall. We were all so poor. We had the rent divided up by amenities of your room, haha. We drew straws, but I prayed for the cheapest room. Laurin payed more b/c she got the master suite and Nikki paid like $10 more than me b/c she was right next to the bathroom. I had the room in the middle and had to walk through the living room to get to the bathroom. Did I care? No! Anyway, it really brought back memories to see this building, which was probably not even our building, up in flames. We lived on the 3rd floor also. That's where we lived the year we got like 30 inches of snow in Jan. 2000 and could not get out. Phil had 4 wheel drive and could get as far as Duraleigh road, but not around to our building. It was Laurin's 23rd birthday while we were snowed in so we hiked to the "main road" and he dropped off a 12 pack of beer to us. Which did not really go far with 3 stranded girls, haha. But our neighbor college boys were jealous. OH, what fun.
Anyway, tonight I took the girls to see Horton Hears a Who! It was really cute. Sydney got a little crazy and it didn't really make sense that Mollie would pay more attn. than she did, but Sydney's been very well, let's say outgoing, lately. It was great b/c there were only 3 families there for the 6:20 showing, but I think it gave her the sense that she could be as loud as she wanted and stand on chairs! Phil is gone for the next few nights so it was our special sneak that ended up costing me like $30!! It was about $21 for tickets and $9 for popcorn and my diet coke which I did have to have. I even brought their cups in with us!! I'm really looking forward to the summer movies that they show at 10am during the week with $1 tickets for kids, free for parents, $1 drinks and popcorn.
Oh, and my hint for if you're sharing popcorn among/with children. Bring dixie cups and stick them in your bag and put the kids' popcorn in it. I did not do this of course, but had the idea when I'm in there. They wanted me in the middle which complicated the inhaling of popcorn a bit. Yes, I'm sending that in to Parent's magazine:)
Switching topics to cleaning: It's impossible I've discovered to have a clean house. Well, neat house. As soon as I get one room cleaned it is at the cost of having another room all messed up b/c the kids are playing in there while I'm cleaning the other room. The girls play much better in the play room when it's neat and they can find stuff easier. But then they mess it up and don't want to clean up. So then they don't want to play in there, haha. Ugh! Viscious cycle. And why do I have a dining room? Really, that was not a smart idea. The table is always a clutter spot.
So I'm currently taking a break from trying to make the dining room look normal again and I'm listening to music on TV. I like the hit list channel on cable. Phil would be annoyed that I'm also watching it. He likes to "conserve the plasma" by turning the screen off when listening to music. So I'm being a rebel b/c it makes me feel like someone else is here:)
Tomorrow night I have a ladies night out thing and I managed to get a babysitter since Phil's gone. What's funny is that he's actually at the beach. Conway and Loris hospitals (right outside of Myrtle) are some big customers of his. But he doesn't want to stay at the beach house b/c if he stays at the Hampton Inn down the road he gets more points!! Our trip to Disney next Jan. is already paid for by his Hilton points, haha. But we aim to never pay for a hotel again!!!!!!!
Chase came over today while Nancy went to the dentist on her day off. He is so cute!!! Really, I love how he's getting so big, but is still so little. I'm not sure Mollie was ever that small. Well, maybe in her first 2 weeks of life. And by 5 months Sydney was starting to pork out a bit more too. It's nice to carry him around and not feel like my arms are getting tired.
We had a great weekend at the beach! Wow, I really didn't want to leave. It was a great feeling though. The girls had a great Easter. They did lots of egg hunts together outside and played and played. Then crashed in the car on the way home. Sydney did not nap at all there so she was really tired by today. Chase was a very good boy too! We intended to get out to the beach a little more and take some good Easter pics, but that never got done, oops. 
Kitchen and back door taken from living room:
We're in our new beach house! I'll have some pics to post when I have a little more time, but we closed this morning and it's great! We definitely have some work to do, but the inside is nearly perfect. Fully remodeled kitchen and new appliances. Need to move a few beds around and change a comforter or 2 that are really ugly:)
We got everything in the house including some Poptarts and paper towels and other personal things of theirs like soap and shampoo! That we don't necessarily want, haha. It literally seems like they were staying here then walked out and didn't come back, haha!
We have a list of things that def. need to be done that are big. But it is 30 years old! We can't wait to bring more people down here with us!
We'll probably be setting it up with a rental company this weekend also. And tomorrow the sea wall guy is coming b/c we need a new one. I had the girls out in the back yard at high tide to show them that there really was water in the channel and she said, "is our house floating???" It was so cute and really kind of made sense the way I'm sure it all looked to her. More later! Gotta go to bed!
I've been having a hard time lately with the fact that things that seem like they were "just a few years ago" were like....7. I have no idea who I got to the place where I have a 4 year old! I just don't feel that old! Yesterday I took the girls to Chickfila to eat lunch. I was tired, didn't feel good (sinus infection and no voice at all) and didn't feel like coming home, making lunch, then cleaning it up before their naps. I had intended to just go through the drive through until I remembered that I couldn't talk. These 2 older ladies were sitting behind us and asked how old the girls were. I told them 4 and 2. She said, "you don't look old enough to have them." I whispered, "thanks! but I am." I know it's really a compliment, but I just don't think I look especially young either. Maybe my $12 wrinkle cream is working. I did get carded for buying wine at Target one day.
Nancy and I had been talking about how really, at 31 and 32, we're not old. But we're not young. I mean, don't make me feel like a teen mother, haha, but don't make me feel old either! Can't you just be in the middle? I never wanted to be middle-aged, LOL! But now I do. Anyway, I think I just make myself feel old. I guess no one else had made me feel old, people don't really tell you those things. It just surprises me when you realize how much time has passed without you really realizing it. Like I was telling someone that I had been to the dr. yesterday and have a sinus infection. So I said, "yeah, I had sinus surgery a few years ago." Scratch that, 7 YEARS AGO! Oops. I've had the tube that was in my ear for 2 years out for 5 years!! No wonder the system is shutting down!
This also means I will have been married for 7 years in October. (At least that also went by fast and didn't ddrrrrraaaaagggg on, that woudl be a bad sign;)
But I still really picture myself and like a 25 year old. I think that was a good age. I'll just be 25+6!
On another note, Sydney is having a "green lunch" at school today for St. Patrick's Day since they didn't have school yesterday. I can't wait to see if she ate any of it. Maybe the green pancakes, but I had already fed her pancakes for breakfast, oops. She starts Spring Break on Thursday so this will be the last day of school for a while. I guess she goes back in 2 weeks! That's a long break (for me). I think they're talking about Easter when she goes back to school. Wish me luck getting any of those precious St. Patrick's Day shirts away from her.
This afternoon we have an Easter party and egg hunt with our Wed. playgroup friends. Maybe I'll have some cute pictures!
We close on the beach house Thursday morning and will be spending the whole weekend at the beach! Wish us luck, lots of work to do and $$ to spend I'd imagine!
So, the girls apparently think that the reason we shop at BJ's now is to get new cribs for their babies. They like to take the extra cardboard boxes that we take the food home in and put blankets in them and fix them up for their baby dolls. They are so cute. Today as we're leaving BJ's Sydney gets all excited when I got a few boxes and said, now we have more beds for the babies!! All excited, haha. Then Mollie repeats what Sydney said, b/c well, that's what she does!
After that Mollie fell asleep in the car on the way to Target so Sydney and I went speed shopping for a few extras and some new white sandals for her that were on sale this week. Luckily she agreed to the shoes I picked out (after she tried them all on). When we got home Phil moved Mollie to her bed and she slept till about 3:45! About 3 hours!
Yesterday we had a birthday party at McDonalds which was pretty fun and then my friend Dawn's shower which went really well. It was fun. Seeing the 2 car seats made it really cool! Sydney is obsessed with the fact that she is having 2 babies. She just can't figure it out and now has all these questions about how she and Mollie were in my tummy together. I was like uh, no. To top that all off there was a Dateline tonight right after dinner about conjoined twins and she was very interested in that. We had to reiterate that Dawn's babies were not going to be stuck together like that. So she wanted to know why she and Mollie were not stuck together and all that, haha. I guess b/c she was so little when Mollie was born she doesn't really remember me being pregnant and all that stuff.
The most exciting part of my day today was picking up my check from the consignment sale I did and I made $173! I was very happy b/c it goes into my allowance fund. Phil asked what his cut was and I told him he could have $5 for helping me load it into the car. But I did all the work.
Anyway, I'm fighting off more "head" stuff and I can just feel my bad ear throbbing. I'm assuming it's getting infected again. And I can barely talk, haha. I'm just holding off for a real dr. tomorrow.
Today is Courtney's birthday so Happy Birthday Courtney, 29!!!
Apparently I missed the boat on the Veggie Tale movie. No longer playing in Cary where it was. That's okay b/c Horton Hears a Who starts today!!!! And they have several showings in Apex. I probably won't take my little Mollie into a crowded theater though. But this will be a super cool thing to do maybe on Sunday or maybe next week after naps!
So, Mollie woke up with the gooey eye again. I guess it was late Jan/early Feb. when she had it last. Well, the other time she had it before then it was accompanied by an ear infection. And Sydney has had that happen 2-3 times also. The ear/eye thing. Yesterday Sydney said her ear hurt, but I think she was making it up. Or she just like bumped or laid on it wrong or something. But then when Mollie woke up with pink eye I just decided to haul them both into the dr. Luckily it's just the pink eye and just for Mollie, well, so far!
Since we're stuck in the house today and Sydney wanted a beach towel when I was putting the linens away... I decided to let the girls put on their bathing suits. They've been having a beach party and look so cute! Sydney loves bathing suits so much (hence the winter Luau for her birthday) so she's very happy. And Mollie easily fit into one of hers from last year that she had grown out of, heehee, so we didn't have to dig out her summer clothes.
We're hoping to make it outside in a bit where Mollie can't really infect anyone! Until the neighbors get home from school...
Or I was thinking of taking them to the Veggie Tale movie after naps...I'll disinfect the seat after I promise!
Tonight I'm having some girls over for scrapbooking, tomorrow is another birthday party then I'm having a baby shower here for my friend Dawn (and her TWINS!) along with her sister.
Hope everyone enjoys their weekends!
Just had to share this tidbit so I'll remember:
Yesterday we were sitting down for lunch and Mollie was climbing into her seat. She has been really into the "dress up" clothes lately and being a princess. In fact, Grandpa became the most fun princess partner this weekend, heehee. So Mollie's climbing into her chair and says, "hi mommy." I say, "hi Mollie." And I get "no, say hi princess." So I say "hi princess." And she says "hi mommy!"
Really, I have to call her princess already? Or whatever else she wants to be that day? She's just over 2!!
We had such a great weekend! Friday we picked Mom up downtown. She had taken come to Raleigh on Thursday for an overnight field trip with the 4th grade at her school. Her principal said it was okay for us to pick her up downtown instead of her going all the way back home.
Then Dad came in and we had some dinner at home as it was so rainy/windy/stormy all day! Saturday was my birthday. Mom and I ran a few errands then we went to the Loop for lunch. Yum! Phil, Dad, and I shared a spicy bbq chicken pizza, my favorite. That afternoon Phil and I left of our adventure and Mom and Dad spent the night with the girls. This was our virtually free night out:
Wings/munchies at Playmakers. I'm not a big wing eater, but I really like their medium bbq wings. My friend Lauren who I've known forever (well, since we were 8) came to hang out with me:) We had so much fun! So I let Phil bring a date too, haha, his friend Jason. Then we went to the Hurricanes hockey game. Phil's company often has company seats in a box thingy so we went to that (free food and drinks)...oh, and hockey. They won in over time. Not that Lauren and I were paying much attention to the game. After that we went to watch the end of the Carolina/Duke game. Then Phil and I went to our hotel that we also got for free with his hotel points, the good thing about him traveling so much. They had the most comfortable bed/pillows ever and it was almost the only time my back didn't hurt at all in a new bed! Not only that, but we got to sleep in and I got to go to the bathroom by myself which has been a rarity these days. Mollie's been going through a bit of an attachment thing lately.
Sunday morning we came back and got cleaned up a little for our birthday lunch. My sister Courtney's birthday is next week and my cousin Laura's birthday is the same day as mine so we had a big family lunch. My brother even made an appearance! So we had Mom and Dad, Nancy, Travis and Chase, Courtney and Cameron, Laura, Zach and Chloe, Michael, + us! We had hamburgers and hot dogs and Phil not only cleaned first, but made almost all the food b/c I was talking too much to pay attention.
Then last night our neighbors and very good friends James and Michele came over with surprises for the girls and a bottle of wine so we could catch up. They've been gone all week to Las Vegas on a little vacation. They probably just wanted their mail, but they pretended to be happy to see us:) James is restoring and old (can't remember what year) VW Beetle and Sydney is obsessed with it. They found some little toy Beetle cars for them so Sydney will know what it will look like later. She prays for the little "buggy car" every night. And it needs it!
It really was fabulous for not even being a very big birthday! So I guess I'm really in my 30's now.
AND, both girls slept until 7 or after this morning and Phil was late for work b/c we're used to our Sydney or Mollielarm going off earlier than that:)
I really am so glad that Sydney and Mollie have each other. I know that they have the ultimate love/hate relationship and I'm sure it will stay that way for a long time. But they are so, so cute when they are playing together! In the mornings Sydney gets up pretty early. Well, they both do, but Sydney's been getting up earlier and coming in our room and sleeping on the floor. She was sleeping next to Phil's side of the bed, but well, he's blind as a bat so I was afraid he would step on her. So now we keep a pillow at the foot of the bed in case she wants to come in and sleep. I mean really, anything for one of us to not have to actually get out of bed any earlier than necessary!
So Mollie wakes up and we hear her on the monitor and lately Sydney has been going upstairs and opening her door and getting her up (their rooms are upstairs and ours is down). This morning at like 6:20 we hear "Sydney! Come get me! Sydney! I'm awake!" Constant calling for Sydney until she gets to her room. This is cute b/c she usually calls for me no matter who is there. Or if Mom is here for a few days she will start calling for Gramma.
Of course as soon as Sydney heard her she said, "I'll go get her" and hauls her little butt up the stairs. She says "hi sweetie" and they hug and say good morning to each other. Then Sydney says she is going to get Mollie dressed. We're just laying in bed half awake listening to them. I'm wondering if she's going to attempt to change her diaper and just praying that there is not poop involved. I didn't think she would go there, and I didn't really want to interrupt them. So she picks Mollie out some clothes and Mollie actually lets Sydney take her pajamas off and get a new outfit on! One that matched! That's pretty impressive coming from the Sydney I know, the queen of picking out her clothes no matter what they look like, haha. But lately she's been a little more into matching.
I hear Sydney ask Mollie if she needs to go potty and I guess she said no so Sydney went. Then they went into Sydney's room and Sydney got dressed. Mollie told her she looked so beautiful and they actually didn't fight for like 15 min. Sydney convinced Mollie to come downstairs so they could show us their clothes. They were very proud. But then they wanted to watch "Big Comfy Couch" so I had to get up:)
They snuggled together on the couch until Mollie kept leaning into Sydney. Very hard I might add. Leaning with her head into Sydney's head. Snuggling her very closely so that they both end up hitting each other and screaming, haha. Sydney of course won't move a muscle b/c Mollie is "in her space". So then I had to sit between them. They did go on to play happily until it was time to go to school thankfully!
http://www.wral.com/news/strange/story/2518499/
and I'm not surprised after being in a CEC myself on Saturday night in Winston-Salem.
I'm not very original on my post titles:) Sydney got to be the line leader at school today so she was very happy. Even though it took me FOREVER to get her out the door to school. She had on shorts, a t-shirt and very messy hair. I was just trying to get her to pick up cards in the kitchen. Some little playing cards she got in her Chuck-E-Cheese goody bag. She would not pick them up. So finally I picked them up and put them in the trash. Every last one of them and her fancy plastic goody bag. I was ticked. I knew she wouldn't miss them, but I think she got the point. She finally got her jeans on and let me brush her hair. Luckily it was warm out so she could wear one of her St. Patrick's Day t-shirts (obsession of hers, she has 3).
Over the weekend she got to take Flitter the butterfly home from school. It's a butterfly beanie baby with a journal and you get to write what you did with Flitter over the weekend. When you bring Flitter back you get to be the line leader. And then you come home with a little note about your school progress. Sydney is doing better with center time. She was having some issues with either wanting to stay in the same center the whole time or flying from center to center b/c she was so interested in what everyone else was doing rather than getting anything done! She's also been sharing and will cooperate when her teachers ask her to do something else without arguing, whining, attitude, etc. I really like her teachers. They're really awesome. And her preschool in general is just very, very good. I really just picked it b/c it's at our church so I'd be able to get them in easily. I really wasn't as concerned with the program itself academically or anything b/c I wanted it to really be more of a social experience. But anyway, it's extremely child centered, professional, and they mean business! It's amazing what they get 3 year olds to do!
Now I'm off to check my e-bay auctions b/c I just got an email that said I sold an outfit of Mollie's from last year for $36 that I only paid like $20 for in the store! Holy crap!
We have a busy rest of the weekend. We have the girls' friend Ava's birthday party this morning at Snip-its. I have to drop off stuff I am selling at a consignment sale at the airport mall. After lunch and naps, we're heading to Winston for our neice Emma's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese at 6. Then we're spending the night with Nana (Phil's mom). Sunday morning we'll go see his grandmother and have lunch with her then head back home.
