Goodbye 2011

It seems as I get older, December 31st becomes more and more a day of reflection on the year gone by. Maybe that is because it seems the years go faster and faster as I get older. Or maybe it is because I seem to get busier and busier each year. Whatever the reason, I sit here once again thinking about 2011.

It's been a fantastic year with many blessings and memories. We have watched our children grow and flourish, which of course has been the most memorable parts of the year for us.

Laura would probably say the highlight of the year for her was her Birthday, or maybe more recently Christmas. She is already talking about her next birthday. Although, she can say the months of the year, she really has no concept of how far away November is from now. We were at Meijer yesterday, and she was telling Matt everything she wanted on her birthday list.

One of the most fun things to watch is how the girls play together. They love to play and pretend together. This morning they were playing camp-out in the living room. They had their nap mats, which are similar to sleeping bags, and they were pretending to see shooting stars in the ceiling. They had their books and toys that they had brought with them to camp. Laura reminded Hannah and me several times that she was the boss!

Hannah adores her sister. It will be fun to watch them both with a new sister. I predict that Hannah will have some jealousy adjustment issues, but I'm sure she'll grow to love her sister. I think Laura will embrace her from the beginning. She talks about the new baby almost daily. She likes to give us name suggestions. Hannah has made remarkable developmental progress lately. She has been going to the bathroom, taking off her diaper herself, and going on the potty. She is very independent. Whenever she doesn't like me doing something for her, she firmly with a frown says, "No thank you Mommy!" Unfortunately her scolding is usually followed with her hitting me or someone else (whomever she is scolding). As I mentioned above though, she loves her sister fiercely. The very first thing she says in the morning is, "Ra Ra (laura), where are you?" If Laura walks into the room, Hannah says with an very excited expression, "Ra Ra! Hi Ra Ra!" She loves to hug on her and of course, wrestle with her. They play "chase" around and around our living room. That is probably one of their favorite games.

Laura is really getting into make believe and pretend scenes. She will play with her playsets or whatever and make believe scenes with them. The most popular of course are school scenes that mimic those at daycare. She often lines up the characters and one will be the teacher. For instance last night, she had a group of dinosaurs she was playing with in which she had lined up the kids. The mommy and daddy dinosaurs were up on the couch, "working." And there was a teacher dinosaur instructing the kids. I'm not sure this is good or bad!

We had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas morning Laura got out of bed and peeked through the gate at the top of the steps to look downstairs. Then she excitedly reported to my mom that Santa had come. She was practically jumping out of her skin! She ran into the bedroom to tell Matt and I that Santa had come. She did really well when it was time to open presents. She took her time and helped her sister with presents too. So, remember my prediction about Hannah taking a long time unwrapping gifts? Wrong! Hannah did great. She unwrapped each gift pretty quickly, gave it Papa, and went back to the tree to get another one. Both girls had so much fun! That of course was the most fun part of Christmas. Later that night, my mom's family came over, and we did another round of gifts. Hannah did not want to wait for Papa to give her a gift, so she would just walk over and grab one. Well, about five times in a row, she grabbed her own gift! It was kind of funny. But statistically, most of the gifts were for the girls. Laura and Aunt Ellen played dentist that night with the playdoh kit that Laura got for Christmas. Laura loved drilling out the cavity bugs and filling them with pink fillings. Yes pink...we are on the West Side! I think Hannah enjoyed the presents of Christmas, but her favorite part was probably Max. My dad brought his yellow lab, Max, down to our house, and Hannah just LOVES Max. She went outside to see him a hundred times. She often said, "No Mac!" with her stern face.

I took the week after Christmas off work, which has been awesome. I am truly dreading next week. The kids and I played and played and played and took naps together. It was great. When Laura was playing with her dentist set, she told me that she was going to be a dentist with Aunt Ellen when she grows up and they will be best friends. So cute!

Tonight we will go spend the last evening of the year with good friends and look forward to what 2012 brings! Happy New Year!

Twas the Week Before Christmas

We had the Adams family Christmas party last Friday. A good time was had by all as usual. Laura was so excited to open presents. She just kept asking over and over again if it was time. Of course, when it was time to open them, she tore through hers like a race horse in the final straight away. Hannah was a little overwhelmed I think. She went really slow! So I guess we know what that means for Christmas morning! While we were waiting for the rest of the clan to arrive, Laura and Chelsea built towers out of the plastic solo cups, and we watched Christmas Vacation for the first time this season. I think it replayed again later in the night. Matt wore a very festive black dickie underneath his white shirt. See the picture above...so cute!

Saturday we had a blast at the Childress' baking cookies. Well, Rachel and I baked cookies and the girls played. Laura was so happy to see Avery. She has been asking the last couple of weeks to see her friends, Avery and Maddie. Avery and Laura built forts out of the couch cushions and hid from each other and the dads. Hannah had a big day too. At one point, she wanted to wrestle with Peyton, but I don't think Peyton knew what to make of it. I don't think she and Avery wrestle like my girls. Hannah eventually conked out on the couch. Our cookies were a success; in fact, Matt polished off the last monster cookie today. Monster cookies are my grandma Prochaska's recipe and Matt's favorite.

Sunday was kind of a lazy day. Grammy and Papa visited in the afternoon. The girls were happy to see them, but Hannah wanted to see Max, Papa's dog. They will bring Max next weekend for Christmas. She just loves dogs. Thank goodness Mom and Dad have one and Uncle Alan has one. Whew!

This is the last week before Christmas. Both girls are very excited. Every day they each get to open the door on the Advent Calendar. They are talking about Christmas stuff at school. Laura says to me last week, "Daddy, Santa has elves, and we have Target." Smart girl!

We have watched several Christmas movies over the last week too, including Dora Christmas videos, which Hannah loved. When she hears, "Swiper, no swiping!", she says, "Oh man!" It's the cutest thing.

Fighting Worms

This has been the most fun Christmas season yet. At first when Laura was a newborn, I remember thinking how much more stressful Christmas was than before we had a baby. But now that the kids are getting to the fun toddler age, and we have gained a little more experience, it just gets more enjoyable every year.

It has been raining for days in a row here, and so there have been worms all over the drive way. One morning when we were loading the kids and all the stuff into the van, Laura saw two worms all wrapped together. She said very matter of fact, "Look, those two worms are fighting." I'm not exactly sure that is what they were doing! Observations of a four year old.

Matt posted this Laura conversation on FB this week. She is such a riot.

"Hey Dad. Did you know that snake slobber is poisoned? Yeah, if you touch it or eat it it will make you sick and you will stay sick. It will make you throw up a lot. ...You don't want that."

Another good Laura story. Matt bought the girls the Elf on a Shelf this year. Laura is completely into it. She looks for Mr. Johnny (her elf's name) every morning, and she plays games on the website. Well she started to get concerned that Johnny would report that she was bad, and so she started to prepare a sign. She colored on this sign that she had started at daycare. It was her hand that made a Thanksgiving turkey, and she drew snow and rain all around it. When she completed it, she announced to Matt that she wanted to put it on a stick and put it in the yard. She wanted Santa to know where she lived and that she was good. Matt told her that it would get all wet in the rain, but Laura was adamant about it. So Matt took it the next to work and had it laminated. He brought it home and stapled it to a wood post, and they put it in the flower bed in the front of the house. She feels much better now.

Whenever Matt and I are busy with something, we tell Laura that she has to go play, we are working. Well, this backfired on me the other day. Laura was doing something I didn't want her to do; I don't even remember what it was now. But she was frustrated that I was telling her to stop, so she yelled at me, "Mom go do some work!" Whoops.

Hannah is developing in leaps and bounds. She seems to be growing rapidly right now, and she has started to show interest in using the little potty. Whenever Laura goes potty, Hannah toddles after her and sits on her little potty. Last week she actually had a few successes. She was pretty excited about it, but she has not been consistent. It's still early. She is talking so much more now too. She repeats just about everything anybody says. She loves to name everyone in the room. Her teacher says at school that she likes to name all of her friends. She is not a vegetable fan. One night we thought she was saying "yucky bubbles" and she was really saying "vegetables." But usually she spits out vegetables that she tastes and then says yucky. She also loves Ariel, Dora and the movie Rio. She sings "rio, rio!" And she quotes Swiper on Dora, "Oh Man!"

Last weekend we kicked off our Christmas preparation by going to cut our tree. We went to Saum's tree farm again in Amanda. They had a little pen of goats this year for kids to pet. That was Hannah's favorite part. We did that first, and when we went to pick our tree out, Hannah just kept saying, "goat. goat" and pointing towards them. Laura was the leader in picking out our tree. She showed us the ones she liked and said that we picked the perfect tree. She also picked out a tree for Uncle Alan. Matt and Alan were disappointed that Josh didn't come along since they had to lay on the ground and cut the trees! Too funny! Then we went inside and the kids had hot cocoa and a cookie. And to top of the day, Laura got to sit on Santa's lap. She was super excited about this. She told him a bunch of stuff that she wanted and everything started with "brand new." Hannah didn't want anything to do with the big man, except that she took a candy cane from Mrs. Claus. It was a great trip!

Of course when we got home, the real fun began. Matt wanted to rearrange the living room first before bringing in the tree. This is pretty typical; he's usually itching for a furniture change around Christmastime. Anyway, once we finished rearranging, Matt brought the tree inside and commenced an epic battle with the tree and the tree stand. I recall these same battles between my dad and Christmas trees past. Many years it seems we had twine string or some other support measures holding our tree up straight. Laura was trying so hard to be patient the whole time. She asked several times, "Can we decorate the tree yet?" Finally we started to decorate the tree. Laura and I did the bulk of it. Laura loved every minute. It was like a treasure hunt looking through the boxes of decorations and finding ornaments. Hannah "helped" too. She dragged garland all over the floor and took off as many ornaments as Laura put on the tree. But we had fun, and it looks great! We have the living room decorated, but we haven't done the basement yet. Usually we put up an artificial tree, Buckeyes themed, a train set, and a village set. The kids are enjoying opening a door every morning on our Advent calendar. It's a house that sits on our mantle. They didn't really get it last year, but Laura loves it this year. And Hannah wants to do it too, since big sissy is doing it.

We had another meaningful event this week. Grandpa Prochaska passed away on Tuesday. He had been sick for awhile, but he was tough and feisty. I have many happy memories of him and the Prochaska Christmas around this time of year. When we were little, we always celebrated Christmas Eve at their house. We would all take a drive and look at lights, while Santa came to Grandma and Grandpa's house. When we got back, the living room was full of gifts and we commenced the opening. As kids, we were so excited while we were on that drive "looking at lights." Grandpa always led the passing out of the gifts. He would start with stocking stuffers, like socks or gloves or lotions. The passing out was the fun part. He sat down by the tree and would yell your name and say from Santa Claus and toss it to you. So there were all kinds of things being tossed through the room. It went something like this, "Marie, Santy Claus! Ellen, Santy Claus! James, Santy Claus! Joe, Santy Claus!" We loved it. My husband thought it was the best thing when he joined our family and came to his first Christmas party. There are many more memories like this. As I spoke to my cousin Joe, this week on the phone, we recollected that we are so blessed to be in our thirties and have had so much time with our grandfather. Of course he will be missed, but we know that he is in a better place.

Thanksgiving Week

I took vacation time the week of Thanksgiving this year. It is the first year that I have done this, and it was glorious! The kids and I had a blast this week. This is my last day off :( I'll describe the week's events chronologically.

Monday I had a doctor appointment at around lunch time, so Matt watched the girls for me. Of course, the doctor was running late, and so I get a text from Matt, "How much longer? The troops are getting restless." They were hungry. After my appointment, we did a quick lunch and then headed home. The girls and I climbed into my bed and napped from about 2:30 to 5:30. Yes! It was awesome. A perfect beginning to the week.

Next Tuesday I took Laura for her 4 year check up at her doctor. She did fantastic. But we didn't have to get an shots this time. She got the mist for her flu vaccination. She is 3'6" tall and weighs 38lbs. She is in the 95th percentile for her height and 50th percentile for her weight. I was proud that she did everything the doctor told her to do.

Tuesday I also took on going through our toys. Toys have been taking over our living room area. They are lining the area behind our couch and along the front window. They are lined up beside the fire place and in various other places throughout our small living room. Matt and I decided that it was time to thin them out before Christmas. Well, that was a much larger challenge than I anticipated. The more I sorted toys, the more the kids (mostly Hannah) wanted to play with them and scatter them everywhere. I posted a picture of my living room at one point on FB that day. Eventually, I did get through them. I threw out all of the little "junk" toys from McDonalds and other restaurants. Then I packed away all the baby toys. Then I made a tote of less popular toys to pack away for now. We will bring them back out in the spring, and maybe the girls will have more interest in them. It felt good to thin them out a bit. Even with all of that cleaning, we still have tons of them. But I suppose that's life with small children!

Wednesday we enjoyed a playdate with Isabella and Emma Miskell. The girls had so much fun! They played so well together. Bella and Laura had a camp-out in Bella's closet. It was cute. Hannah was just enthralled to play with a bunch of new toys. At lunch Beth served Macaroni and Cheese and green beans. Guess who ate tons of that?? Yep, Mac and Cheese is Hannah's favorite! She had three helpings. The girls all had fun. We will have to do it again sometime.

Wednesday night we had dinner with Alan, Jayne and Chelsea. We haven't seen Chelsea since summertime, long before went back to college. Back at their house after dinner, the girls had a great time leading their dog, Joe Joe around the house. He is such a good sport. We watched a little of White Christmas. And then Matt, Jayne, Alan and Chelsea played Euchre until about 1am. The girls and I fell asleep on the couch :) We had a great time, and I'm glad we got to see Chelsea.

Thanksgiving Day was a wonderful day. It started by waking up and watching the Macy's parade, which the girls LOVED this year. They watched the whole thing. They especially loved the Dora inflatable and the Fresh Beats float. But they loved many of the other acts as well. My kids love dancing and music. So any show that includes those elements, they are glued to the screen. Next we headed down to my Uncle Marty's and Aunt Dena's house. My cousin, Molly, is about two years older than Laura, but they play pretty well together. Needless to say, Laura and Hannah had a fantastic time. Laura and Molly played and Hannah chased behind yelling, "Rara!" Laura was a good sister and included her during their play. Dinner was hilarious! Dena had a little table set up for the little kids. I wish I had a taken a picture of this. Hannah sat down with her little plate of potatoes and other food. Instantly, she spotted a bowl of M&M's on the table. She started grabbing handfulls of them and putting them on her plate. She put them in her mashed potatoes and would eat bites of potatoes and bites of M&M's. It was a scene right out of the movie, Elf. I think Laura ate jello squares and graham crackers. Mmm...lovey Thanksgiving dinner. In reality, Thanksgiving dinner was decadent! Almost everything came from my uncle's garden, and it was delicious!

Friday was of course shopping day. Matt was a trooper and watched the girls all day. I came home, and they were still in their jammies! But they had taken naps! On the way home, Matt texted that he had apple pie in the oven. Wow. What a husband!

Saturday was the downer of the week since we lost to that team up North. Next year. Enough said.

Today is the last day of the glorious week! Not sure what's in store yet. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Fall Birthdays

Well here we are, and November is half over already. I will start where we left off. Halloween!
Halloween was so fun this year. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed it. By mere happenstance, the costumes that we found for the girls both had wings. Thank goodness! Otherwise, I'm afraid they would have been constantly fighting over wings. But as it turned out, Laura was a "scary bat," and Hannah was a lady bug. Laura's costume had a skirt that had LED lights in it, and Hannah was absolutely adorable. The first night we put it on her, she ran around the living room, "buzzing" like a lady bug. They both had head bands too. Whew! They dressed up for their school parties on Halloween during the day, and then when we got home that night, we added some face paint to their costumes and some layers underneath to keep them warm. I took the first round of trick or treating, while Matt passed out candy. Hannah rode in the stroller and was pretty shy at first. But Laura knew the routine and was instantly engaged and excited. As we were going down one street, Laura spotted a man dressed as a gorilla across the street. She was so excited to get to that house. She told me, "Mom, he's a scary monkey, and I'm a scary bat!" When we got to that house, she just stood and smiled at him. He waved to her. I told them what she had told me, and she just gave him a grin and raised her eyebrows. They all burst out laughing. She such a little drama queen. Matt took round two of trick or treating, and I passed out candy. Hannah got much more into it this time. She was saying trick or treat and counting her loot in between houses. It was a great night!

After Halloween, all Laura could talk about was her birthday. It just could not get here fast enough. She was beyond excited. We told her that we were having her party at the zoo, and she just couldn't wait. Well her school was closed on the Friday of her birthday for in service. So on Thursday, I decided to bring a treat in to her class. I bought the little cups of ice cream. There is a little girl in her class that has the same birthday. That little girl was wearing a princess birthday ribbon that pinned to her shirt. When we went into the cafeteria for afternoon snack to have the icecream, the other little girl took the pin off and gave it Laura for snack since we were celebrating Laura's birthday. I thought that was the sweetest thing! That little girl was all too happy to share her birthday with Laura. I was so impressed. Laura's class sang Happy Birthday to her, and we ate icecream. It was a nice afternoon. I took the kids home for the weekend after that, which they loved getting to go home early.

In between Halloween and Laura's birthday is one other fun event - my birthday! It was a great time this year. My mom and dad took the girls for the whole weekend, and Matt and I tailgated the football game. Kara and Adam came down to tailgate with us, and we went to a movie afterward with them. It was an extremely relaxing weekend! (Probably not for my parents:))

Last weekend we celebrated Laura's 4th birthday at the zoo. It was nothing short of perfect. The night before, her actual birthday, she and I baked her a monkey cake, and we let her open presents from us. Then Saturday we had her zoo party. I was very impressed with the zoo's birthday package. The zoo played games with the kids first. They had these little pads that had cords attached to them. The kids held onto the cords and jumped like frogs. They had races with these. They were moderately successful, but comical to watch. We ate pizza for lunch, and then we did presents. Next everyone sang her Happy Birthday, and we had cake, which was delicious. And then the zoo brought in four or five different animals. The kids loved it! They had a mouse/rat looking animal, a snake, an armadillo, and an alligator. It was pretty cool. Then we walked around the zoo for awhile. Afterwards a few people came back to the house, and Laura played with her new toys until late that night. She had a wonderful day!

The week of Laura's birthday we had some other exciting news. We had our second ultrasound and found that we are having our third girl! We are very excited! Laura is happy to have another little sister, and Hannah doesn't really understand. She will like her when she gets here!

This weekend we tailgated the last home game of the season, Penn State, and it was a little colder than we expected. We still had a good time. There is a funny story from the morning. While we were getting ready Saturday morning, the girls found a lady bug upstairs. Hannah loves bugs. Well Laura picked it up and gave it a "bath." She put some hand soap on it and washed it off in the sink. She said, "he's so happy because he's all clean!" Then she thought she should bring him into the shower with us. I drew the line there. That bug was not long for this world! I have mentioned in previous posts that the girls love to run around the upstairs after their baths. Well, after we showered Saturday morning, it was no different. They were hilarious chasing each other around the upstairs with nothing but their hooded towels hanging on their heads. At one point, Laura was holding on to Hannah's towel telling her to heal, like she was a puppy. Hannah didn't mind one bit, probably because she loves puppies.

Last week they saw a princess show that showed all of the people dancing after Cinderella's wedding. Ever since then, whenever there is music playing, Laura tells Hannah, lets get married. And she and Hannah hold hands and dance around in circles. It's so cute!

Well the Holidays are just around the corner. We are so excited! Laura is sitting here watching a Christmas movie on Netflix right now. Although, I like to enjoy Thanksgiving first, we have been listening to some Christmas music already. The season will bring some fun stories and happy memories. I plan to share them several times in the last six weeks of the year!

Girl Fun

I can't believe we are in the last few days of October! I cannot tell you where this month went. But I will try :)

One weekend we went to a wedding in Akron, which was a blast! Congrats Desiree and Chad! Ellen stayed overnight at our house with the girls. And they had SOOO much fun. Aunt Ellen had a jam packed weekend planned for them. The flow of events went something like this:
1. They went to Target toy shopping
2. They went to Ellen's house and jumped on the trampoline
3. They made glitter pumpkins back at our house
4. They painted pictures on paper and wood Halloween cutouts.
5. They baked cookies
6. They played on the swing set outside
7. Ellen taught them how to play hopscotch. Laura is actually pretty good at it. Hannah is adorable watching her try to hop.
8. I think they watched a movie in there too somewhere.

And to top it off, my house was clean when I came home! Ellen was totally exhausted. She went home and took a nap on Sunday. She asked how I kept up with everything. I told her that I don't! I don't play with the kids and clean the house at the same time. And I typically don't have near that number of activities planned. But it was a very special weekend for the girls, and they LOVED it.

Last weekend we helped my parents move. Yep, they don't live at 613 Rogers anymore. Kinda sad, but I am happy for them. It will be a new chapter in their lives. Another fun thing we did last weekend was buy Halloween costumes for the girls! Laura had fun with this activity. I don't think Hannah cared. I could have put her in anything. I won't say what they are. You will have to see pictures next week!

Laura is very excited for the next few weeks. She know that Halloween is coming up, and she is literally ecstatic about her birthday. We told her that we were having a party for her at the zoo. So of course, everyday about ten times per day, she asks if it is almost her birthday. It will be an exciting few weeks, and then we will be into the Holidays already. It's crazy how fast this year has gone by. I'm excited for the Holidays this year. I'm sure it will be busy, but it will be fun with the girls!

Here are a couple pictures. One is of the girls on a Saturday morning. Laura is in her bathrobe, which she loves. The other is of the girls at their drawing desk in the basement. They would rather draw pictures than do anything else! That is scary to Mommy!

Horse Play

October is moving fast and furious - we are already half way through! We tailgated the first week in October, and Aunt Jaynie came and watched the girls. One highlight of the evening was "the running around the tent" game. Matt bought the girls a $20 princess tent at a book fair awhile back. They had one before this one, but it fell apart and was junk. So Matt found this one, and it has been awesome.

So anyway, the girls play a funny game with it. One of them will hide inside it, and the other one will run around the outside and try to "hit" the girl inside. They giggle and laugh and chase each other. It is so hilarious to watch. Of course, it makes me nervous too, being the worrying Mom. Our living room is not huge, and I am always scared one of them will crash into something when they are running around the tent.

Speaking of running, Hannah has learned full - on running this month. She no longer toddles fast. She runs. It's so cute. She's getting so big! Twenty months already! Of course this fast running has caused her to take a couple of spills. Last night Laura and Hannah were playing "chase" upstairs after their bath. Hannah tripped and hit her face on a plastic bucket of toys, and it scraped her face pretty good.

Adorable!! Right now Laura is inside the castle and Hannah is giving her kisses through the castle's mesh window and giggling.

Another cute thing the girls have started lately is that they take turns on the rocking horse. Hannah will ride the rocking horse and say, "giddy up!" And Laura will push her through the kitchen. And they try to switch places; of course, Hannah is not strong enough to push Laura. So Laura just has to rock back and forth. They sometimes ride the horse together too. It warms my heart!

Another funny Laura quote:

"Mommy, did you know that when their is a huge river and then a huge waterfall, that that's China?"

We were watching the Duggers on TV and they were at Niagara Falls. That was Laura's comment.

I was supposed to go to the pumpkin patch with Laura's class on Wednesday, but it got rained out. Instead I took both girls with me, and we went to the Polaris Mall where they got to play on the animals there. Turned out to be a fun Mommy and Girls day. Matt is going to the pumpkin patch with Laura's class on Monday. There should be some good pics after that trip.

September Stories

I have several stories to document/share.

Several weeks back, my mom and dad watched the girls for us while we attended the Akron football game. Matt was marching in the alumni band, and I went with a friend. Well, they brought their dog, Max with them. You will remember, it was hotter than hot that day. So to keep Max cool, Dad and the girls sprayed Max with the hose. They both loved it! Hannah has no fear and loves dogs anyway, but she is especially taken with Max. She petted him and sprayed him. Even when they came in the house, she stood at the back door and said, "Mac, Mac." She wanted to go back outside to play with him. (He's a huge yellow lab; so he can't come into the house.) Everyday for about two weeks after that weekend, she asked for "Mac." Laura played fetch with Max. She liked to throw the dummy, but she was not fond of taking it out of his mouth. He brought it back to her, and she asked Dad, "What does he want me to do?"

Hannah is at the stage where she likes to read the same book over and over again. Her favorite one right now is the one with all the pictures of animals in it. She brings it every night to Matt's or my lap and says, "buk, buk." Of course, if we don't promptly bring her to our lap and read the book, she throws a tantrum. Her favorite animal seems to be horses right now, which she refers to as "neigh, neighs." She gets confused between the sound the sounds the animals make and the names of them. She prefers the sounds. Her favorite a while back was the gorilla. She likes to pound her chest!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the row dinner that our friend hosted for the sousaphone row of the OSU marching band. Our friend owns some horses, and his wife took Laura out to feed the horses treats. Laura loves this activity. Well as they were walking out in the pasture to the horse, Laura told Sue, "I don't want to step in the poop. Will you lift me over it?" Hilarious. She was very concerned about stepping in a pile of poo!

You may have seen a few posts on facebook referencing the "fun" birthday party we attended last weekend at Chucky Cheese. (If you can avoid that place, I recommend do so at all costs!) It is a chaotic room of kids running in all directions and playing games that involve noises and flashing lights. The one upside - the pizza is pretty good. So anyway, we survived the birthday party, with the intent of not going to that place again, if at all possible. We got home about 7pm, and Laura walked to the couch and immediately fell asleep. I took Hannah upstairs for a bath. After her bath, she likes to run around upstairs naked for awhile. So I let her do so, while I put away a basket of laundry. I picked her up and took her to the changing table to put on her jammies. To my horror, I laid her on the changing table to discover my arm was covered in poo! Oh, yes. Hannah had pooped somewhere in the upstairs. I yelled for Matt. He comes upstairs, but not immediately to my aid. He first wants to find the pile of poop, which turned out to be in our bedroom. Lovely. I cleaned off my arm while he cleaned up Hannah. Then I cleaned up the mess in the bedroom. Guess we learned our lesson!

We had Matt's birthday this week. He turned 37! We gave him presents Friday night, and then I made cupcakes for the tailgate on Saturday. Laura was very worried Friday night that no one was coming to his party. So cute! We explained to her that the tailgate would be like his party. So she was OK with that. We sang to him, and the girls helped him open his presents. One of the highlights - Laura picked out some presents at Target for him. Her and his favorite was the package of M&M's that we wrapped up! She know what her daddy likes!


Last weekend Matt and Chuck hosted their first tailgate of the season. It was a beautiful afternoon. I took the girls down to the tailgate, and they had a wonderful time. Laura actually went down on the bus with Matt. She is such a social butterfly like him. We got to visit with Wendy, Steve, Bryce and Caitlin, who we haven't seen forever. So that was enjoyable. There was a good turnout at the tailgate, about fifty people. It was a great time. Matt, Scott, and Dom played the group a Buckeye song on the sousaphone. Very cool. The girls played with sidewalk chalk and some other toys they brought. And of course the best part was that the Bucks won! We are tailgating again this weekend! (Not sure if the kids are attending though.)

We were watching the Duggars on TV last night, and they were at Niagara Falls. Laura is watching and she says, "Mom, did you know that if there is a huge river and a huge waterfall, then that's China?" Hmmm...didn't know that.

Fall is Here!

Well I totally slacked off the last month of summer. August was a busy month filled with festivals and parties. And although we had a great time, I am really glad September and, more importantly, FALL has arrived.

I'll give you a synopsis of August. We went to the Bratwurst festival and had an awesome time. We ate tons of junk food, like fried cheese and apple dumplings. Laura and Hannah loved the parade and they got to see their daddy. Matt marched in the parade and played the concert. The girls had a wonderful time with Papa and Grammy too. There is of course a funny story. Saturday night of the festival Mom and Dad watched the kids for us, and Matt and I went to my friend, Dawn's, house to hang with some friends. Well I drove the girls up to the Elks to drop Michelle off for a while. As we passed my parents' house, there was my dad in the front room doing this funny dance that looked like a semi jumping jack. SO HILARIOUS! On the way back, he was doing another dance, shaking his hips from side to side. We laughed hysterically. As it turns out, Dad and the girls were camping out in the living room, and they were having a dance party. Very cute!

Later in August we went to Avery's birthday party. Laura and Hannah had a great time there as usual. They love to play with Avery and Peyton. We went to a bounce house where the kids ran around jumping on everything, and then we went to lunch and had Rachel's awesome chocolate cupcakes, the highlight for the adults! Then we took the kids back to the Childress', where they played all afternoon. I think the adults could have used a nap, but the kids played to their hearts' content.

At the end of August, we got to share our big news. We are having our third child in March. When we told Laura, she was very excited. She keeps changing her mind as to whether she wants a brother or sister. And she has plenty of name suggestions for us. When we asked her a few weeks after we told her if she had told her friends at school, she said, "No, I will tell them when the baby gets here." She was very matter of fact.

September has finally brought some cool weather. Matt and I are very ready for that and of course football season. (We've just blocked out the first game that was 100 degrees!) We hope the cool weather stays. Laura has started preschool at her daycare. I am very impressed with her teacher and their curriculum. I think that Laura will enjoy this school year. She is so independent these days and yet so distracted. She wants to do everything by herself, such as putting on her jacket and buckling herself into her car seat. But when we are getting ready in the morning I have to tell her about fifteen times to do one task, like brush her teeth; she continually, will get distracted by Hannah or a toy on the floor or a song on the radio. It seems we are getting to work later and later these days! It's amazing how much she has grown though. She is such a little girl now. Her baby and toddler years went so fast.

Like her sister, Hannah has grown up a lot in a month too. She moved into the Toddler room at daycare. She transitioned seamlessly. It was amazing. She is still the most laid back kid alive. She needs virtually no warm up time in the morning when we drop her off. She just puts her "this" (pacifier) in her cubby and starts playing. However along with moving into toddler hood, she has started having the famous temper tantrums and impatience. When she's not getting what she wants or not getting it fast enough, she will start crying instantly and saying, "Noey." That is pretty much her favorite word. Generally, she is a happy, independent toddler. She and Laura love to dance to the Fresh Beats on Nick Jr. And playing chase is another of their favorite games. They chase each other and then fall on the ground laughing. It's precious to watch.

We have many fun things planned this fall, so I will have some stories and pictures of course.

HHI - Part II

Part II is coming a little late. I intended to write it either at the end of vacation or soon after we arrived home, but here I am a week later, just now writing it. Of course, there is a reason - the trip home was horrible! We flew through Myrtle Beach and then drove to HHI. We likely will not do that again. We were delayed on the trip home in Myrtle Beach for nine hours. But let me back up, because the fun really didn't start there. It started as we pulled into the airport to turn in our rental car. As we are pulling up to Enterprise, it was very chaotic. They were hurrying people along; they had a large line of customers. And several of them were screaming already at the attendants. So Matt pulls up our van in line, and Laura promptly pukes everywhere in the rental and all over the rented car seat. Then as we begin to unload and I am starting to clean Laura, my mom falls. (Thankfully, she was OK.) So dropping the van off was chaotic and gross. By the time we cleaned everything and managed to get everything up to the airport entrance, we were dripping with sweat and stressed to the max. And - we had not even entered the airport yet.

We walk through the doors to the airport, and right in line with Murphy's law, there was the line for security. Yes, it was backed up all the way to the front doors. Lovely. So we made our way to check in and then through the security line and finally up to our gate. That is where the majority of the fun happened. We arrived at about 10:00am that morning. We were supposed to depart at 12:30 for Columbus and arrive at approximately 2:00pm. As you now know, that didn't happen. We sat in the airport until 8:15pm. The kids did pretty well surprisingly. But there was a lady that was continually rousing the crowd and attempting to incite a riot. She yelled several times that the airline wasn't adequately communicating the situation and then she started to chant. The airline counter lady told her to be quiet or they would call the police. Security came up anyway just to monitor her. There was another flight at 6:15pm that left on time from our gate from our airline. So I think they were concerned the people on our flight might get upset, but it went smoothly. Crazy day.

That was a long-winded explanation for why I didn't write last weekend. I was exhausted from that fiasco.

The remainder of vacation was extremely relaxing. On Tuesday when it rained, we took the kids to a bounce house on the mainland. It was a good way for them to release some energy. On the way there we saw a seven foot alligator crawling across the bike path. That made me re-think my morning walk I was taking with Hannah in the stroller. Yikes! We could have been breakfast! Wednesday it rained again, so we took a day trip to Savannah. I was a little disappointed by it. I thought it would be this very formal, polished southern town. But it only has pockets of that. It has poverty and dirtiness throughout it. It was also super hot that day, making it extra comfortable. :)

Thursday we spent at the beach, and Friday we spent at the pool. Laura much preferred the pool, and Hannah liked the beach. Hannah, even without her nap, played in the sand for hours. As expected, she tasted it. She didn't cry though, just made a funny face. Much to my surprise, Hannah absolutely loved the ocean too. I thought she wouldn't like the salt and waves, but she loved. She ran right into it! Friday morning as we were walking along the beach, she kept edging her way towards the water. I had to keep leading her away from it (she didn't have on her bathing suit). Laura was just the opposite. She didn't like the waves at all. They didn't lend here enough control. We couldn't get her out of the pool. Right before vacation we bought her a Dora life vest, which she loves. It keeps her afloat; so she can "swim" by herself. She is on top of the world when she is swimming all over the pool all by herself. She actually threw a temper tantrum when she had to get out to go home.

Although Laura loved the pool, she says her favorite part of vacation was fishing with Papa. Thursday morning, dad went down to the beach to fish. They went all the way to the end of the inlet area, and it was more muddy and less populated. There were tons of shells and snails, and crabs all over the area from high tide. Laura was in heaven! As I've mentioned in previous posts, she loves hunting things. Well she hunted to her heart's content. She caught starfish, crabs, and snails. Later Papa caught her another crab, that wasn't in a shell. I don't think that my dad had much luck fishing. Laura told him, "Next time, I'll show you how, Papa." She still remembers her fishing trip with Uncle Alan when she dropped her line in the water, and a fish bit her hook. So now she thinks she's an expert fisherman. We ended our last night at HHI with Jake's Pizza from the Salty Dog. It was awesome. I'm sad that vacation is over, and I have to face reality. I'm still in denial. Oh well....back to the grind.

HHI - Part I

Ahhhh.....vacation. This is our life this week. It has been awesome. It is already Tuesday, and as usual the week is flying by fast. We left on a late flight on Saturday, and then we drove about five hours through the night to get to Hilton Head Island. Amazingly, the kids traveled fabulously. They had a great time on the plane, and then they slept in the car. We have of course been to the beach and pool a couple of different times. Laura is quite the swimmer this summer. She has a Dora life jacket, and it has given her a new sense of independence. She swims all over the pool all by herself. She even will talk to other kids and make friends. The first day, we watched her talk to a little girl and start playing catch with the little girl. She is our little social butterfly. Hannah loves swimming too, but she is not quite so independent - in the the water that is. Everywhere else she rules the roost. At the beach, Hannah was fearless of the water. I thought she would be timid with the waves rolling up to her and the salty water getting in her eyes and mouth. But she was not one bit afraid. She loved it!

We had Maddie's birthday party last night. The girls had a lady bug party. They each had little tee shirts that said Lady Bug Club and had their names on the back. We had cake and homemade ice cream. It was an enjoyable evening. On the deck that evening, Laura had on about ten glow bracelets. We were all sitting around talking, and Laura started to lead everyone in cheers. She would go around to each person and tell them what to say. Then she would go to the middle and tell everyone to yell together. Papa was being stubborn and would only yell Buckeyes cheers, so Laura was constantly saying, "No Papa" and correcting him. It was the cutest thing. At one point in the evening, we noticed that Maddie went upstairs. She told us that she just need a break. Hilarious! I think we are all a little too much for Maddie sometimes. It was an enjoyable evening.

This morning it's been raining a little, so the kids watched Rapunzel. Hannah has taken to carrying around little purses. She will often pick one of Laura's up and start filling it with some things. And then she will tell us "Bye Bye." She has developed quite the personality. She has made up to my dad and gotten comfortable here. She's napping at the moment.

To a relaxing rest of the week! Cheers!

The first picture is of the Laura and Maddie decorating Barbie dresses (something Maddie got for her birthday). And the second picture is Hannah cheezin'.

Hunter

First I have to tell you that Matt and I went to see Harry Potter Friday afternoon, and it was awesome! It was everything I hoped it would be. I am someone who likes movies that wrap everything up at the end, and they did a great job of that at the end of the movie. I have read the first two books. I think I will read the rest of the books, even though I know how it ends.

Ok. Now onto the kids. Ever since 4th of July, Laura has been very into hunting bugs, and now she also likes to hunt frogs. She has found several small ones in the last week. She has been letting them go at night. We tell her that if they stay in her box all night, they might die. Thankfully, she chooses to release them. She keeps the bug box beside her bed, and I would hate for her to wake up with a dead frog.

We hit the zoo Saturday morning. It was Kidfest there, so we were a little disappointed at first since there more kids there in the morning than usual. But it turned out to be really fun. There were all kinds of interactive activities. Laura stood right beside a flamingo (which she loves the flamingos.) And she got to touch a lizard and an armadillo. We finished the morning at the polar bears, my favorite exhibit. We have never went underneath the glass at that exhibit, and we did that this time. It was really cool. The bears were swimming a lot since it was so hot outside.

Matt pumped up the tires on our bikes and the bike trailer, and the girls and I went on a bike ride through the neighborhood. And we finished the night with the kids running through the hose in the yard. Hannah loves the hose. It's hilarious; she just keeps going back and forth through the water and laughing and cooing. Even when she seems freezing, she keeps going. The girls and daddy played golf in the yard too. I think the girls won that game. :)

Sunday Ellen and Ty came over for a cookout. We got the pool out for the girls. They had a great time. They splash and laugh and play together so well. Watching them is pure entertainment. I was attempting to get Laura with the hose, which she was running away from me, and instead I got Ellen all wet. Ha ha!! Then Matt scared her with a rubber snake. That was so funny. Hopefully they come back :) Matt and the kids and I went on another bike ride this evening. It was nice. Matt worked really hard this weekend. And our garage is clean. Hmmm....best husband award goes to Matt!

Hannah is very into giving raspberries on Matt's and my bellies. Lovely. She thinks it's hilarious though and laughs a deep laugh. So we certainly can't deny her, our sweet little thing. She also likes to be swaddled at night for bed and at nap time. So lately when she's playing, she will drag out a blanket and lay it out and try to wrap herself in it. Funny.

One more week till vacation. So excited. The top picture is Laura with the tooth fairy at the zoo at kidsfest. She had a mouthful of sugary bubble gum! The second picture is Hannah enjoying the water from the hose.

Independence Day

Or "Indedence Day," as Laura said. We had an awesome 4th of July weekend. Very spontaneously, we decided to head down to Red, White and Boom Friday night. We went to the Manley party, which did not disappoint. We had a blast! (No pun intended.) Our view of the fireworks was perfect. We essentially sat in the front row on the other side of vets and watched the show. Laura sat on Aunt Sandy's lap, and they talked about which colors were there favorites and what some of the looked like (fireflies, etc.) I was concerned that little Hannah would be scared of the loud booms, but she did just fine. She sat on my lap and watched without concern. It was a relaxing evening.

Saturday Matt golfed with his brothers, and the kids and I went on to Uncle Alyan's and Aunt Jaynie's for the day. Laura had a wonderful time all day. We started the day with Alan's homemade biscuits and gravy. So yummy. Laura helped him make the biscuits. Later that morning Laura also did one of her favorite activities at Uncle Alyan's - "walk" Joe Joe, his dog. I say, "walk" in quotes because it's closer to dragging. Poor Joe Joe. Laura drags him around and around their house. At one point, he just laid down and tried to stop her from walking him. But he lost the battle. He's such a good sport. Aunt Jaynie gave Laura a bug box that evening, and Laura caught about fifty lightening bugs. And she loved her bugs. She dragged them around all day the next day. She enjoyed time with her cousin, Chelsea, too. Chelsea dressed Laura up as a princess, and painted her fingernails and toenails - happy memories. We ended the evening with a yummy dinner at Pizza Crossing in Logan. (Best pizza in OH.)

Sunday we headed to Findlay to my Aunt Jane's house for the Prochaska family gathering. Matt played in the traditional Firecracker Five Hundred golf tournament. Laura played with my cousin, Molly, and we enjoyed good company and good food. Hannah pretty much stuck to me the whole time. I thought that she would loosen up, but I think there were just too many people.

We had a little bit of a rough week this week, mostly because we had a busy weekend, and it was just hard to readjust back to our schedule. Hannah and Laura struggled at school. And neither slept good this week. But we made it through. Thankfully.

We've been getting treated to little girl dance parties recently. There is some show on Nick, Jr, of which I'm not sure of the name. Anyway, it has a band that plays, and my girls love it! They just dance to their little hearts' content. Hannah will try to mimic anything that Laura is doing. So if Laura does a summer sault, Hannah will put her little head on the ground too. It's the cutest thing. We are going to have to video it the next time we get treated to a dance party.

Princesses

"Here's your beautiful princess girl! Happy Fodder's Day. Here's your card, Daddy. One for you and one for me. We will wait for sister's day." These were the words that Matt woke up to on Father's Day. So precious. That morning Laura also knew that there was chocolate in the house and began pleading for it as soon as we got downstairs. I told her she could have some maybe in the afternoon after lunch. So every few minutes she would ask me, " Is it dinner yet?" I said, "no Laura, we haven't even had breakfast." She responded, " Well, is dinner in the oven?" Geez, Mom, get on it! Toddlers have no patience.

I have been missing several of Hannah's pacifiers. This morning, Hannah was playing over where we keep all of the toys, and she comes back with a "paci" in each hand. Apparently, she is keeping a stash of them, just in case I decide to cut her off from pacifiers.

Matt drops off at daycare in the morning, and Hannah has been giving him the whole gamut of facial expressions each day before he leaves. He puts her in her chair at the table, and she starts with the scowl. She furrows her eyebrows and narrows her mouth. Then she tilts her and smiles at him. Next she does her wide-eyed, scared look. Then she will wave goodbye. Sweet.

We have struggled this week with Hannah's sleep habits. From the time Hannah was born, she has been a champion sleeper. Well about a month ago, the wheels fell off the bus. The situation has progressively gotten worse each week, and now we are at the point of her sleeping with us the whole night. Well, we are spoiled, and want her to sleep in her bed. So we attempted this week to get her back in her own bed. I will not go into minute detail. Suffice it to say, we failed.

Laura has continued to be obsessed with the little boy at daycare, Julian. It is hilarious to hear her talk about him. She will say that Julian is her husband but that sometimes he marries Brooklyn. I knew he was no good! Poor Matt. He is not ready for this. Little Hannah kissed a boy in her class on the lips this week too. I think it about sent Matt over the edge. He's ready to send them to an all girls daycare! (I constantly poke the bear too!)

We went to Peyton's first birthday party yesterday and had a blast. Peyton's sister, Avery, is one of Laura's best friends. So she played till her heart's content. There was another little neighbor girl there too, and they all three ran through the sprinkler. Then they decided they wanted to dress up as princesses. So they put their princess dresses on over their swimwear. Nice! Hannah stuck pretty close to me, except during cake. The three little girls were in the yard at a small table eating cake, and Hannah was right there with them. They were all feeding her! She loved it.

We ended this weekend with Laura getting her very first haircut. I have trimmed her bangs periodically, but never anything else. It looks much better; it was getting a little stringy.

I wrote this post last weekend, but I never got it posted.

Summer Developments

I haven't blogged for about three weeks, and I could probably write about two months worth of stories. Both kids have hit some big developmental milestones in the past two weeks.

I will start with Hannah. She has come full board into toddlerhood. On the upside, she walks everywhere, like she's been doing it for years. On the downside of toddlerhood, she now is in the temper tantrum phase. She has become increasingly independent and impatient. So if she doesn't get what she wants, when she wants it, watch out. She will throw herself on the floor and scream like someone just told her Santa isn't real. All that said, she is still my adorable little baby girl. She toddles around and looks at me and gives me her scrunchy smile, that just melts my heart. Whenever she sees Matt, she yells, "Daaa! Daaa!" And then she will tilt her head to the side and grin. She is just so sweet. She is quite the cuddle bug. She loves to nestle into the crook of my or Matt's neck and cuddle when she's tired. Which brings me to yet another development. She is NOT sleeping in her own bed anymore. We have tried just nearly everything to get her back in there. Hannah has been a champion sleeper until now. It was an overnight change. She had a dr appointment this week, and the dr said that she is teething pretty good. But we have even given her ibuprofen, so I'm not sure what else we can do other than just tough it out. Her dr appointment went pretty well. She is much smaller than Laura was at this age. She is only in the 32% in weight and the 45% in height. Laura was in the 90's% in both. So it looks as though Hannha takes after Matt's dad and my mom.

Laura has also made some major strides. She is now finally sleeping her in own room consistently. She did it before, but not very regularly, just once in a while. Well now she has done it two full weeks in a row, by herself. She has a little routine she follows. It has been so AWESOME!!! And I am so proud of her. (Yes, I know we traded one kid for the other, but I will take it!) She is so grown up, which makes me a little sad. Time just moves so quickly. She has been getting bored in daycare. She is ready for the next room, which is the preschool room. She was really ready for it last fall, but that's another story for another time. Anyway, we are trying to get her involved in some additional activities at school this summer. They have two programs called Tap and Tumble and Stretch and Grow. I think we are going to enroll her in one or both of them for the summer, just to change things up a bit. I feel bad that she has to go to school five days a week, all year long. I have such fond memories of my summers as a child, and I wish that she could have that too. But life is what it is. She loves being a big sister to Hannah. She is always trying to carry Hannah around the house, which ends up being dragging Hannah around the house. She has also started feeding the cat for me. Bonus!

She has had a some fun summer "times" this month. She got to play with her friend, Maddie and her friend, Avery. We had ice cream with Maddie, and she got to swim in Avery's blow up pool. She LOVES both of them. They are her two favorite friends. Last week we also went to our parish festival, and she made fast friends with two little girls there. She jumped in the bounce house a few dozen times and had a great time. Little Hannah so wants to be with her sister, but she's just too little for some of those activities yet. She watched outside the bounce house longingly. Hannah did walk up to a little boy about her size and "talked" to him. So sweet. She is not a shy one. And then this week, I had Friday off, so we picked the kids up early and went to the zoo. They love the zoo. We spent a couple of hours there, and then we had pizza with Ellen and Tyler. Laura loves Aunt Ellen's house too! We were supposed to be in Iowa this weekend for a family reunion, but we decided not to go since my parents couldn't go. That was a little disappointing, but otherwise summer is starting off fun!!

Laura has a little boy at school that is infatuated with her. His name is Julian, and Daddy is struggling with this one! Laura says in the morning, "I want to dress pretty for Julian." "Julian is my prince." Well, Matt finally met Julian and his dad last week at daycare. Apparently, Julian talks non-stop at home about Laura. He even has a bear that he named Laura. Kinda weird. I don't know what we are going to do when she's a teenager!!

Sydney is at our house right now, and Laura and she are watching a movie from the movie pile (Netflix). They are watching a thumbelina movie. Hannah is playing quietly; hence, I have a few minutes to write this posting!

Memorial Day Weekend

We have had an awesome start to a long weekend. The girls are playing quietly, so I have a few moments to write this post. Here are some highlights of yesterday.

We went to Uncle Alyan's and Aunt Jaynie's house. (Matt's brother, Alan and his wife, Jayne.) We decided to go fishing. Alan knows a guy with a farm pond that is stocked...well, probably over-stocked is a better description. Laura brought her Dora the Explorer fishing pole. She held it just over the side of the dock, and before her bobber even hit the water, she had a fish on the hook. She probably caught twenty-five fish. It was truly the way a 3 year old should fish! She could not have had more fun. She did an amazingly good job reeling the fishing in to her. She wasn't afraid to touch them at all. (She even kissed a couple of them. Ewww!) She kept saying, "Daddy I'm a good fisher." We have several good photos from the day.

Next we went home and husked corn and sliced potatoes for dinner. Well Alan sliced potatoes, and Jayne husked corn, to be exact. Hannah was loving the corn. It was her first corn on the cob experience. At dinner time, she even liked it. Laura has had it before, and she loves it. Dinner was delicious! (Ribs, corn, potatoes, and strawberry pie!) Summer has officially begun!

We played cards after dinner, and Laura was sitting on Uncle Alan's lap. She was helping him throw cards out each time it was his turn. Well at one point, he did something she didn't like, and she said, "Don't give me that face!" She is repeating everything these days. I'm sure I have said that at some point.

Hannah also is getting quite the attitude when she doesn't like something these days. She will look at me with a scowl and sometimes hit or push. Or sometimes she just scowls. I will have to try to capture it sometime on camera. She still does the cute scrunchy smile. She is really developing vocally too. She tries to repeat things she hears. For instance yesterday, Alan got her to say, "I love you." And she called for their dog several times, " Joe Joe!" She is walking pretty good these days too. She can easily walk across a room, and she walks outside. She doesn't mind the grass on her feet. I will say the one downfall of this moment in time is that she is still teething, getting her first molars, so she is waking up a lot at night.

A couple of funnier stories from earlier in the week. So Matt and his brother, Alan, are working on remodeling our master bath. It has not been usable since we moved into this house. That's another story. Well we had a leak to fix from that bathroom that was dripping onto the kitchen ceiling. This week, while I was out of town for work, Matt and Alan worked on it. They had to cut a hole in the kitchen ceiling. Laura did not know what to think of this. She asked Alan, "Uncle Alan, did you break our house?" Then Matt and Alan were upstairs working on it, and Laura was watching TV downstairs, and Laura yelled up to them, " I don't want to be by myself with the hole!" So funny. Clearly she does not like construction in her house.

I'm sure there will be more later. I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend.