Stir Up Days 2010

Gracie's waving hi to the dog on the float.  She would say "Gimme some candy!" to the passing by floats. She ended up with lots of it and a couple ice pops and two beach balls!

Of course, it had to be smoking hot at the parade (high of like 95 degrees and humidity of like 100%). Luckily Evie was able to get a nice spot in the shade. Poor poopsie was still smoking, though. She was just enjoying a bottle of milk here.

I love this picture. After the parade, Gracie noticed the ponies and wanted to ride them with her little friend Emma.  She kept giving Emma the thumbs up while they were riding. God it was cute!  I had her give us one.  We went home after the parade and loved up the a/c.  We went in the morning to the smile contest and Gracie just gave a half smile and Evie was scared. So, we didn't win. Maybe next year!

Playhouse 2010

Hoff and Dad are putting together the base of the playhouse here.  It started out being just a playhouse for the girls and has expanded into a garden shed for me once the girls have outgrown the playhouse part.

This is day 2. The walls went up on this day.  It took them quite some time to get things going as they were figuring and building as they went.

Day 3 and 4 was completing the roof and getting the finishing touches on the building.  We need to find a little door for it, which may be kind of tricky as its a 30" x 5 ft door entry. We are just taking it slow. Hoff has built the girls a little wooden bed for the house also.  It's in our living room now and Gracie likes to lay on it and watch tv.  I'll put more posts later of the finished product, but Gracie already likes "my house."

"I Gotta Go Potty Mom!"

We finally bit the bullet, started potty training and I think we have it pretty well bagged. We started off going potty every hour the first day and we had a lot of accidents. I was thinking to myself  "This isn't going to work!" She'd either pee like 20 minutes after we had gone or like 10-20 minutes before the hour mark. The second day was similar to the first but we were about 50/50 for getting to the toilet.  Same for the 3rd day; much less pee in the pants and more in the potty.  We were doing diapers at nap time and bed time and have eliminated nap time diapers. We are only making her wear diapers at bedtime now.  We have the occasional accident but I'm calling her pretty well potty trained at 31 months! Yea for you Gracie and victory for Mom & Dad!!! Whoo Hoo!

I'm Moving!

I am now crawling around everywhere. I really like being able to roam around on my own, but really I want to just walk.  I am standing at the furniture side, but I am not brave enough yet to walk holding on yet.

I am really into electronics. I LOVE the remote control.  This is me crawling to check out the camera.  For some reason I really like this picture - wish I could see her eyes though.

So I'm moving around but the greatest thing I started doing is .....sleeping through the nights!!!  It only took me 8 months, but boy is it nice.  I think once my teeth finally made it through, I was feeling a lot better and it was smooth sailing through the night! Yea!!!!!!!!!!

Memorial Weekend 2010

Well, it was my holiday to work; Friday night and Monday (Memorial) day.  Saturday was pretty much shot; I slept the day away and then Colleen, Laurie and Dave came over for supper and we just hung out outside cause we have not turned our air on and it was a sauna in the house.  Sunday, Colleen decided to have a gathering/housewarming party where we enjoyed food and family. It was good times.

My New Friend

Evie liked looking at herself in the mirror and thinks she made a new friend.

Boob Job!

Gracie and I were playing in the ball pit when I decided to put some balls in her tank top for some boobs. Oh my God was it funny.  I was laughing really hard and then Gracie was laughing cause I was laughing.  They didn't stay in too long but man was that a good laugh.

First Swim of 2010

May 23rd was the first day we got to swim this season. Pretty early if you ask me, but it definitely was warm enough.  This was Evie's first time swimming.  She liked it, but always wants to stand, like usual.  She liked chewing on all the bath toys the best I think.  Gracie just loves "swiming in the water."  She makes big splashes.  Our pool is pretty small, but big enough for the girls and I don't want it any bigger - I am within hands reach if someone decides to drown.  I'm sure this old pool will get plenty of use this summer.

I'm Tired

Evie was taking her morning nap in her swing and this is how she was sleeping for a little while.  It didn't look too comfortable but it sure was funny.

Modern Day Farmer

Dad cleaned up an area out at Grandpa Werts' and then wanted to sow in some wheat so it wouldn't erode the soil away.  He used his 4-wheeler to go up and down the piece of land and then threw wheat out. It took him about 10 minutes to plant. Wonder how long it would've taken the poineers?

Grandpa's House

The past 5 weeks I've been helping Mom clean out my Grandpa's house.  It's really been enjoyable spending time with Mom and hearing about stories of when she was young.  The woodwork in this house is just beautiful; even after all these years.  I would like my next house to have woodwork like this.  This would be an awesome house to live in, however it needs a lot of work put into it.

 The barn is really cool too.  Too bad they are uneconomical these days cause they're really neat structures. They had lots of windows to help the air flow through and keep the barn cool. The roof had tiny holes in it and it would look like stars - barn stars. You can see some of them showing on the floor.  We had a lot of fun in our barn when we were little.  The cats had their kittens up there and we would swing from a rope like Tarzan up there; it was fun.  And then Dad tore it down. That seems to be the fate of most barns these days and its sad.

We Are Proud of You Dad!

We are very glad that Hoff is done with that stupid job out in Morrill, NE.  His last day ended up being April 21st.  The girls and I are glad that he is home.  I get a little help and the girls get to play with their Dad.  He also took his journeyman's test on May 5th and passed with flying colors . . .93.5%.  He makes it a point to add on the .5%.  So, what's next?  Well, currently the Union Hall doesn't have any jobs at the moment, so he may be home for a while.  That is fine with us; we have a lot to catch up on around the house; our life got put on hold for about a year. He'll be putting in applications to a bunch of places and hopefully he can get a permanent job somewhere. Hopefully we won't have to move, but there is always that possibility.

Henry Doorly 2010

We decided to head to the zoo on May 4th. Here is Gracie with the only giraffe outside.  She was scared at first and wanted to leave, but warmed up to the idea of looking at animals once she figured out they couldn't get her.  Her favorite attrations were the little monkey's in the Lied Jungle, the polar bear, and the Aquarium.

Poor Evie really was just along for the ride.  She really didn't look at any of the animals and was sleeping a lot of the time.  When she was awake, she just looked around.

This gorilla was interested in the girls....probably to eat.  He was way out in the middle of his caged area and came up to the glass and sat there for a little while looking at the girls and went on his merry way.  These guys are cool to look at, but if I ever encountered one out in the wild, pretty sure I would be dead; they are powerful!  We did have one (not this one) pound his chest and kick at the glass in anger. Don't want to be there when the glass breaks.  We were there for about 4 hours and that was long enough. At least the weather was good - 82 degrees. Dad (Hoff) had to be the rule breaker and was feeding popcorn and grapes to all the fish and monkeys.

Evie's 7 Months

Evie is getting more mobile.  She does a backward crawl and goes until she gets pushed up against something.  She is still waking up at night . . .usually a couple times; once to eat. I don't think she should be eating in the middle of the night, but she acts like she's starving. I suppose if she slept all night she wouldn't decide that she's hungry. She's got her two bottom teeth and is working on the top two.  Her hair is slowing starting to grow, but we aren't anywhere near ponytail action...not even barette.  She's starting to like being outdoors and loves people to smell her stinky feet.

Happy Easter 2010

Our family Easter photo. .  .yes, we cordinated outfits around the girls dresses.

 

This was Evie's interest during the Easter egg hunt at our house and she made one heck of a mess!

 
This is Gracie after the egg hunt at Grandma Jo and Papa's house. She was playing with her pinwheel and pondering Easter and how much she LOVES to find those eggs. . .I don't think there could ever be enough.

 
And for your viewing pleasure, I thought you might like to see Evie's Easter pictures.  I did the same thing with Gracie and if you compare - they're pretty similar. Unfortunately, Gracie pictures aren't on this computer and I'm not digging to find it. Anyways, turned out pretty good; she did not like the grass-I'm surprised I got a smile.  Happy Easter everyone!