way to go Daddy!!!!!!!!!!!! this is long:)

I will post pics later of Chase and the girls in the bath tonight:)

But right now I have to say, way to go Daddy!
Phil is in Orlando for his national sales meeting. Tomorrow is his one year anniversary at ePlus . Last year he resigned from Gateway where he worked for 8.5 years! It was a huge deal for us that he was considering leaving and resigned. Phil's always been a very hard worker. He worked full time all through college. We used to have dates at like 10pm b/c he worked retail at Circuit City then Best Buy. He was the computer department supervisor his last year or so in college. Gateway had just started opening their retail stores and they head hunted Phil and several of his colleagues at Best Buy to come work for them. He was the small business sales guy for this area and had a small office in the back of the store. He ended up working from home before we got married and he had an office in our basement at this house until last year! His job grew from small business to companies with 500+ employees, he started traveling and covering both Carolinas and southern VA . He swore he would never work out of an office again, he really enjoyed working at home, haha. I annoyed the crap out of him when I was off in the summers, but it sure was nice when we had babies! We have a bajillion Gateway products like computers, projector, even a DVD player and plasma TV (courtesy of the stores going under, haha).
Anyway, so he took the plunge last year after feeling kind of stagnant in his career and not really being very happy and went to work for ePlus, in an office in N. Raleigh. It has been nothing short of FABULOUS! They are very nice people, people actually care about him and our family, yet pretty much allow him to do his own thing, They have perks like parties and hockey tickets. He has an office, haha, but he's usually only there a few days a week some weeks, more other weeks, none probably some weeks...He works cooperatively with a lot of vendors like HP, Lenovo, some with Gateway still, Okidata, and others. He still hates Dell which is hilarious b/c we won a basket at the preschool fundraiser raffle and it had free Dell crap in it.
Anyway, people he works for are actually NICE and complimentary to him!

And today, he went down to his meeting and he won Rookie of the Year for the company. He's had an awesome year. (As have I, he's actually travelled less lately!) I guess he's sold more and closed more large deals than any of the other newer people. I said, uh, did you get money? A prize? He said he got plaque. But he's there until Saturday so we'll see. We didn't get to talk too long b/c they were off to dinner and drinks then Olympic themed contests. Which I'm sure will be fun after dinner and drinks.
Yeah! We're so proud of him!

Mollie

Well, in Mollie news: she peed on the ottoman thing that the girls use in the playroom to use the computer. Sydney sits on it, Mollie kneels. And pees apparently. We let her run around diaper-less sometimes hoping the urge will strike her to go to the potty. Apparently that's not such a good idea. She was very proud of herself for coming to tell me that she peed. I said, "where? On the potty?" She said, "no! on the stool in the playroom!" Super. It's brown faux-suede. And may never be the same. Maybe I can find a Dora Goes to the Potty computer game, haha.

Patrick and Vincen?

Who are Patrick and Vincen you might ask...
We ourselves were not sure until tonight. We're upstairs putting Sydney to bed. Both standing on the bottom bunk talking to her laying on the top bunk. She had been doing her traditional 3 songs after prayers and book/journal. I had been putting Mollie to bed and came in on her request for a 3rd song. She wanted to do "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Strange, out of season, but fine. So I'm trying to say it and I can't really remember, but am trying to make it sound as good as possible. I thought I had finished and Sydney says, "what about Patrick and Vincen?" I said, what? And Phil died laughing. Apparently he got it before I did. She said, "yeah, and like, Rudolph". Apparently it was Prancer and Vixen!!!
It was quite funny:)

I know I've had a few entries about Sydney now. Need to think of something for Mollie, haha. They both got their hair trimmed today! Looks cute. Phil took them to my parents' house for the weekend. They also spent a lot of Saturday with his brother and his 2 girls and saw his Mom. They had a great weekend. As did I on my scrapbooking/girly trip:) We didn't really scrapbook the whole time. Mainly from like 9 or 10pm until 1 or 2 am! We've had a lot of rain/storms this evening.
Until next time...

a few things about Sydney

Sydney has an ear infection, blah. But the good thing is that it has not seemed to affect her in any way other than to randomly say, "my ear hurts". So I took her to the dr. this morning and yep, it's infected. Off to Target we went to get her antibiotic and she hasn't mentioned it since this morning.
We then went to Chickfila to get some food and took it to Annie Jones park to meet Dawn and Ava and play/eat until about 1:30! It was great out. And luckily the park has a fair amount of shade. Poor Dawn really can not stand up for very long. Those babies (2) are taking up a lot of room these days. She has about 5 weeks left.

There are 2 things Sydney has learned to do recently that I don't want to forget about.
1. fixing her hair.
She seriously knows how to operate a ponytail holder and frequently changes her hair throughout the day. As you can imagine she does not brush it at all and so it ends up looking a big "upkept". Luckily we have no major photoshoots or fancy events to go to any time soon where it matters:)
2. she can swing!
She has finally figured out how to not just pump her legs, but move her body in a way to create the momentum to swing. So as long as the swing's not too high she can use her feet to get going, then use her legs and momentum to go higher and higher.

this weather

We're really enjoying this great weather! It's so nice to see different clothes and Sydney is so happy to legitimately wear shorts and short sleeved shirts. This weekend I'm going away to Emerald Isle with Ashley and Daniele (teacher friends) to scrapbook. Ashley's mom has a house there on the sound and it's so nice and I get a ton done since I'm a year behind! We've been doing it for a few years. Phil will have the girls and is probably taking them to Mocksville and Yadkinville to visit family and see one of our neice Emma's ball games. They'll have a great time I'm sure. As will I!

strollers R us

I got a new stroller:) Again. But it's used! I got it on Craigslist. A Sit and Stand
http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Trend-Sit%252d%2591n%252dStand-Stroller-Parent/dp/B000IHVHH0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1208894025&sr=8-2

I sold our Graco Duoglider that I got before Mollie was born. Got $70 for it and bought the Sit and Stand for...$70! I wish I had gotten one like a year ago when I first thought about it, but I thought surely Sydney would grow out of it. Uh, no, still likes to ride. But she does like to hop in and out. So the Sit and Stand model *should* be perfect for her. I certainly didn't want to buy a new one at this point in the game though. And as much as I did love the Duoglider, it was pretty darn heavy! The side by side did not quite work for these 2 handsy girls.

Here is my stroller-roll:
1. started out with my Graco travel system, the stroller and car seat combo. I sold that last year at a yard sale.
2. had the cheap Babiesrus umbrella stroller. Well, Phil's 6'1". He was always hunching over, it had no basket for stuff, and was well, cheap. Sold that on Craigslist.
3. Got a single jogging stroller (don't mean to confuse you, I don't run) on ebay that I hated so I sold that for $10 less than I paid for it and got a new one at BRU. Still have it.

4. My mother in law gave me some $$ to put toward a double stroller and I knew I wanted one that would fit the car seat so I got the Graco Duoglider LXI, really nice, black so it would match my car seat b/c I care about those things, etc. I think it was like $170. Now it's gone:)
5. got a MacLaren double umbrella stroller at a consignment sale for $60. I thought they might enjoy that for less formal trips and when we didn't need the car seat anymore. The girls could not handle being next to each other. Even the 4 or 5 mo. old Mollie. She would accidentally touch Sydney and Sydney would hit her. We were forseeing a problem. So I sold it on Craigslist for $90. See? I made some $$ on it.
By this time Phil is getting a little annoyed with me:)

6. I got a Chicco C6 umbrella stroller that is by far the best one I've had. That was when Mollie was about 7-8 months old. Still use it quite often.
7. Now my Sit and Stand! Phil really didn't mind since he's the one always pushing them and I didn't lose any money this time.

From what I hear this is a common problem:) Don't laugh too hard!

oops

So as you can see I've been playing around with my blog layout some. The link to Mr. Al does not work, but I can't figure out how to edit my text now!
Anyway, the site is
www.mralmusic.com

MR. AL!

Today was a day we had been waiting for for a few months. Our Mr. Al concert! I have a few of his CD's and had been to 3 Mr. Al concerts on field trips when I was student teaching/teaching K, and had kind of been on the look out for him to come back to Raleigh again. When I checked in the Fall I couldn't find any dates. Then some time in Feb. my Mom mentioned that he was coming to NC! So I organized a group of 31 of us (moms and kids) to go see him this morning! It took me 45 min. to get downtown from my house, haha. Traffic was a bear with all the construction downtown. But everyone did a great job all getting there around the same time and we all got in just fine and got great seats. The interesting thing was that they sent me one ticket that said 31 tickets instead of 31 tickets. So we all had to be together to come in. But they were only $5! We paid $7 to park and $5 per ticket if that makes any sense. Anyway, I'm too long winded, sorry.

We had a great time! Mollie LOVED IT so much I can't even describe it. She was so excited to go in and then she stood in my lap much of the time and danced and sang the songs she knew. Sydney is a little more reserved about things like that, but was so happy to hear songs that she knew and sit next to Matthew:)

I Love You, a favorite book

As I was reading to Mollie before bed I was thinking I would share one of our favorite books. We have hundreds of books. Hundreds. Mostly b/c I saved all my books from my classroom and had gotten a ton for the girls before they were born and when Sydney was a baby. But anyway, here is a really cute book that your baby/toddler/preschooler will be able to read by themselves:
It's called I Love You and it's a rebus book. The text follows a pattern and has pictures to cue your child with what to say. My first experience with this book was in my class when I had a cute little girl named Michelle. Michelle is Hispanic and spoke little to no English. During that year we "found" an IEP and developmental evaluation that somehow didn't make it into her folder for a while. Turns out she had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome (which we suspected) and that she couldn't see! The Lion's club donated her eye care and our ESL teacher and Speech teacher (spoke Spanish) took her to get her glasses. She was like a different kid after she could see as you can imagine! Anyway, by the end of the year she was reading this book. She ended up repeating kindergarten to give her a chance to be successful as long as possible, but was transferred to another school so I'm not sure what happened after that year.
Great book! I had the paper back, but got it in a board book when Sydney was a baby. I've given it for gifts as well. Very cute.

TGIF

Wow, it's already Friday! It's been a nice week. The weather is gorgeous!!! I took the girls over to the NCSU field lab where they were holding a Farm Animal Days thing today. We were going to go first thing this morning, but we have having a hard time getting moving. I ended up taking them around 12. Odd for me b/c I'm generally a stickler about Mollie's nap and didn't want her falling asleep too early in the car. I had heard though that 12/1ish was a good time to go b/c school field trips were heading out. We saw rabbits, turkeys, baby chicks, quail babies, horses, cows, a 2 week old calf, sheep, goats. Mollie was much more adventurous about touching the animals than Sydney was. The girls got to climb on tractors and get ice cream. The food science department is kind of famous for their ice cream that they make and they give it away for free there. Sydney ventured out and had strawberry which was a surprise and Mollie had chocolate. I just had a bite, can you believe it? A big hit also with them was drinking water out of little paper cones from a cooler.

Mom's been here since Tuesday. It's her Spring Break. She's going to the Wake Co. job fair tomorrow so lets pray that that goes well and that she'll soon have a job here.

Last night I had a fun group of ladies over here for a mom night out. We met in the basement and ordered a lasagna, salad, and breadsticks from Daniel's Pizza Pasta. Yum. It was so much fun. They were here until around 11! When a bunch of women show up with Blue Moon, oranges and a game called Dirty Minds you know it's going to be a good time:)

Oh, and my sister Courtney sent me this, it's a really neat about advice from parents to kids. Check it out:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/parents-know-best-the-contest-winners/?ex=1209182400&en=90e6961c4b276528&ei=5070&emc=eta1

recent sleep developments

Well, after a week of no nap for Sydney I don't think it's coming back:( It's very sad. She does have quiet time in her room for about an hour. I'm not sure how long she'll go for that. We tried something to get her to continue napping--sleeping on the top bunk of her bunk beds. Which we had been set on her not doing until she was 5. She tried very hard to fall asleep, but "was having trouble". So now she just has to be quiet and look at books and play with whatever her imagination can handle up there (which is a lot). Last night she wanted to sleep up there for bed time. I wasn't going to let her, but Phil said we could use it to our advantage b/c it could be a reward. If she's getting into trouble she has to sleep on the bottom again. And I started not to worry so much about safety when she showed me how she could easily climb up and down the side of her bed closest to the wall with no ladder! So we got out the ladder and take it away after her quiet time and in the morning b/c Mollie is NOT allowed to get up there. Also, we explained that it's not a place to play. You don't get up there unless it's a rest time. No friends up there or playing on the top bunk.

I told her that she has to let me know in the mornings before she is coming down so that I can watch /listen out for her. Our room is downstairs and theirs are up so we have a 2 way monitor so we can talk back and forth like walkie-talkies. She also very rarely gets up during the night so that's not a big concern. This morning she said, "mommy, can I come down now?" And she did and she was so happy.
So, this is just another way you break your own rules as a parent! I'm sure there will be more.

We eventually plan to move Mollie in there with her. We have the small dresser built in to the bed and a seperate dresser with mirror, plus a good size closet. Hopefully that will be enough room for their stuff. Well, it will be if I stay out of Old Navy and Gymboree;) We thought they would enjoy sleeping together for a while as they get a little older. Since they're both girls and so close in age. And I think you learn a lot from sharing a room. Then if they're like 12 and want to be seperate again, that's fine, we have the room.

Now Sydney goes to bed at 7:30 if she has no nap. Mollie gets to "stay up late" until 8 because she takes a nap. If Sydney decides one day to nap we'll let her stay up too, maybe until 8:30!!
Here is a picture of Sydney on the top bunk. You can see part of Mollie looking very sad at the bottom of the ladder!

Sydney and her BFF

Matthew. I'm sure you've all heard of him:) Sydney and Matthew are really getting attached to each other! They were in school together last year and we joined their Wed. play group as I think I've said before. So of course we were so glad when they got in the same class this year! And man, they are like little magnets these days. Doesn't hurt that Jennifer, his mom, has become such a great friend of mine! We love their family. His little sister Lindsay and Mollie will be in the same 2's class next Fall. Yeah! Anyway, on Wednesdays when we get to Planet Child they look for each other and lately they've been playing hospital. Yes, they are having 20 babies. So of course they need to go get checked at the hospital! Well, the week after this started they just happened to have a dr. office center at school, haha.
We've had several birthday parties to go to that both Sydney and Matthew have attended and they just hang out together most of the time! At one party Matthew finished his ice cream and did not get up to play until Sydney had finished hers. So sweet.
Today they had a party to go to at 2:30 so we met up for lunch and then I took Sydney to play at Jennifer and Matthew's house until party time. Then I went to get them to take them to the party and Jennifer joined us after her husband got home. They were a hoot. And of course they kept coming back to each other at the party if they got seperated.
Tomorrow we are all doing the church nursery together, haha. So they can play again and Mollie and Lindsay can play too:)

the sun people and our day:)

Here is Mollie drawing her sun people. I'm pretty impressed:

She frequently chooses brown or black...can you draw sun people and go "goth" at the same time? Oh and don't worry, she's not officially a lefty like Sydney. She still switches back and forth. And actually did the right side with her right hand.

Today the girls had preschool, I met my aunt and uncle (Laura's parents) at Panera for breakfast at 10. They are wonderful. We're going to ALL get together Sat. night, but I wanted to see them before then. They got in yesterday from CO.

Then I got the girls and we met Kim and Joshua for ice cream since we couldn't seem to connect for lunch at dinner since they got back from Mexico. Joshua brought the girls some maracas. Mollie calls it her "shaca". She then slept with it and held it until we left for Chickfila with Eliza and her mom LeAnne. Eliza is in Mollie's class. We realized we both would be husbandless tonight so we made some plans. The play area was NUTS b/c it was an elem. school fund raising night so we let the kids play at Kid to Kid (the little door store, kids consignment). It was fun, Mollie and Eliza look very much alike, have birthdays like 2 days apart, and communicate on about the same level. So it's very cute to watch. Their teachers told us the play a lot at school so that we should make sure we keep up with them over the summer!

The girls got baths and went to bed. Sydney did not nap again today. It's been hit or miss lately. It's very sad, but she's not that cranky. Tonight she was, but usually it's not a disaster for her. So I guess it's the beginning of the end. I know I'm lucky it lasted this long. But I was hoping it would end the day before she started Kindergarten! Seriously. And she's going to have to start going to bed at 7:30 if she doesn't nap. And during the summer that just plain sucks. But she is always up by 7 and that's not enough sleep.

OH, this is funny. Sydney has been concerned that someone is going to come in our house while we're gone. At first I was all worried and wondered how she knew about break-ins and stuff, haha. But then I realized that it's Goldilocks! Goldilocks goes into the bears' house when they're not home and she was simply wondering if that was going to happen at our house? Was she going to sleep in her bed? Why is she out wandering alone anyway? Legitimate questions. She's just growing up so fast. I don't really look forward to the teen years. Since I get a glimpse at it daily when she says things like "yes, I do make the rules"and "Um, I don't really feel like it". I really treasure the times that she does let me snuggle her and hug her. She usually says, "no thank you, maybe later".

And today Mollie said something that was funny, but didn't really understand what she was talking about, I don't remember what it was. I was trying to put on her shoes and jacket and was snickering. She said "what did you say Mommy?" I said, "nothing Mollie, it was just kind of funny." She said, "Actually, it's not funny" and made a fake serious, frowny face then eventually started laughing! Ugh!

On a personal note, I will be so glad when the pollen goes away. Not to be a complainer, but this has been the worst allergy season for me in at least 5 years. I am miserable. Those who have seen or spoken to me will agree: it's a good thing I'm not trying to pick up men. If they could get past my red, swollen left eye, haha, once they heard me talk it would be over. OVER. Unless it's the end of the day then they wouldn't hear it at all...!

new pics are up finally!

http://greenehouse.shutterfly.com/action/

Jumpin Beans

We had a fun morning at Jumpin Beans this morning. It's really a good place to go, we used to go a lot when Mollie was a baby! It's small so it's easy to keep up with the girls and they have a little jumper so I know Mollie can do that w/out being trampled. Plus, I still have several $2 off coupons so we can get in for $5 per kid! Today was the first time Mollie didn't need me to come jump with her for any part of the morning. She climbed up with slide things in the little and big jumpers by herself. Sydney of course was like, forget you Mom, and did her own thing. She made a friend who was a little older and really enjoyed herself. A friend from one of our playgroups, Kelly, and her kids came so I had someone to hang out with! We packed a lunch and ate there and of course Mollie fell asleep on the way home. They enjoyed watching the Stacy's Littleland show. He played for about 3o minutes. We have his CD so they were familiar with some of the songs. Mollie was rocking out with the guitar and Sydney was kind of reserved. She doesn't like things that are too loud.





Side note: I'm glad to see Roy Williams wearing a Kansas shirt and cheering them on in the final game of the NCAA. I've always liked him a lot. I think he's a great coach and guy even though I'm not a Carolina fan. Maybe Kansas will win! I'm not staying up late enough to see though. I'm having some sinus issues again. Hopefully I can kill it without another $140 and 18 days of Avelox, haha. Hopefully I'll get my buns to Pilates in the morning instead of worrying that my face will hurt if I bend over:) I really need to go. I think after last Tuesday I was sore until Friday.

What a nice weekend

Before it warmed up on Friday...

A beach tradition...powdered donuts...

Chase says hi!:)

And these girls were GOOD! They deserve a special treat:) We were really trying to get a lot done this weekend to really make it ready to be rented and they did a good job playing around and making a quick trip to the beach each day. Thank goodness Gramma and Grandpa came b/c they did a lot of occupying the girls. Today the weather was absolutely beautiful, but it was really crunch time to get the last minute stuff/cleaning done. They still got to play outside a good bit though. And you know, they do a really good job staying away from the water. I'm sure it's from being at the lake we go to also, but they're really learning to respect water which is what we've been trying to acheive. I mean, we watch them like a hawk when we're down below the house! But maybe one day we won't have to as much as they get a little older. Or they can just run around with life jackets on like they do at the lake.

Anyway! Mollie was probably the biggest hoot of the weekend. She's always been a great sleeper, and still mostly is, but this weekend she started getting out of her bed after we put her down. For naps and bed. She's never done that since we put her in her big bed. The funniest thing is though that she would slightly crack the door so slowly and then peer around the side. And when you see her she'd smile and laugh like that was her goal--to be so cute and sneaky. She figured out last night that she could go through the bathroom and come out in the other room and sneak out that side which was less visible to people trying to watch basketball! We finally got her to stay there after like 3-4 tries, and without crying. So it was a bit bothersome, but so cute, haha. And she was all about Gramma doing everything for her. Like changing her diaper, helping her do things, sitting/laying on her at dinner. Very sweet. Sydney was very excited to be at the beach and mostly played with baby Janet and Chase. She just seems so big all the sudden! She did not take a nap yesterday and she sacked out on the couch at like 5:30. I let her sleep for a while, but it took forever to wake her up! Finally about 6:45 I think I got her awake and to eat dinner. I just didn't want her up until 11!

I think tomorrow I'm going to take them to Jumpin Beans for the morning to work off some energy and as a special treat!

Internet finally

I forgot my laptop yesterday. Oops. Long story short, yesterday I busted my ass to get here by 3ish b/c the cable was supposed to be installed b/w 3-5. The guys came at 5:10 while I'm here with 2 kids, raining outside, no tv, 2 books, and one Mr. AL cd. It was fun. Note the sarcasm. Thank God for the Baby Janets (dolls) who always travel with us.
Dinner, grocery shopping, Mollie woke up 4 times coughing then crying, girls got up today at 6:50. It was overcast until 12. I love when the girls nap, but it stinks for them that they miss the best part of the day with the weather usually! Anyway, we ventured out on the beach at 10:30 and it was very foggy and chilly, but they loved it and were really extremely cute;)
We had lunch, ran to the little IGA and gift shop then had naps, yeah! Mom and Dad got here by 3:30. Phil (and my laptop) and Nancy and family got here around 9:45. That Chase is getting BIG! The girls are going to be so happy to wake up and see them tomorrow!

taking off

I'm picking the girls up early today and we're heading back to the beach! I'm trying to hurry up and pack, thought I could squeeze in the gym, but that's apparently not going to happen. I just realized that I hadn't blogged since Monday! Last night we went to the last hockey game that Phil has tickets to. It was a REALLY good game. And you know I don't usually pay much attention. The Canes played Tampa Bay Lightning and won by a lot. We had a good time. So that's why I didn't pack last night! Oops!
Sydney is so very excited to go to the beach. Hate to burst her bubble this summer when it will hopefully be rented, haha. I'm sure that since this is the first year and it just went on the rental market this week that it won't be quite as full. Hoping that anyway.
We are getting cable and high speed internet hooked up this afternoon so I'll def. have my computer even though I usually do anyway.
Mom and Dad are joining us tomorrow afternoon then Phil, Nancy, Travis, and Chase will come down tomorrow after work. Yippee!