The Baby is Trying To SLEEP!!!

Little Nicole is almost 6 months old now and despite that fact, big sisters Maddie and Jamie still tend to forget she is around - at least they forget that when it comes time for her to try and have a nap. It (almost) never fails. She will just be getting sleepy and I'll put her down to fall asleep and.................... "AAAhhhh!!! Mad-DEEE!!!" or "Heeeeyyyy! Jayyy-Meeee!!!"

So, this past week when this happened Mommy here just about lost it.

"Get into your room right now! And, while you are in there the two of you can come up with 5 Good Rules for Behaviour in this house!"

Of course, we already have our rules of behaviour, but I just wanted to see what they could come up with. Plus, it kept them in their room long enough for me to calm down.

Once they were done I made them present the rules to me - just as if they were doing a presentation for class. They did quite well, actually. Here is what they came up with:

1. No Fighting


2. No Being Mean


3. No Making Noise


4. Keep Your Hands and Your Feet To Yourself


5. Don't Make Fun {of others}

Not bad. Not bad, at all. And that little interlude enabled them to get all the rules nice and fresh in their minds...and gave me the time to remember how cute they really are...again.

Ya' just can't stay mad at those faces for long.

I Think I Need an Exterminator.

I began to notice something this morning. It started when I went to change the baby...

and then I almost stepped on this one by the kitchen sink...

When I turned around I noticed these two in the baby's Bumbo. I think they are multiplying.

You know what they say, "If you see 4 in your house, then there are 400 more that you can't see".

Fooled Ya'!!

Okay...

another quick one here. I may have just a moment to share with you the evil April Fools joke I pulled on my poor little girls.

Hey Girls! We're having cupcakes for dinner!

(Cupcakes were really little Shepherd's Pies with coloured mashed potatoes on top to look like icing. Jamie took a bite and said, "Mommy, these cupcakes are icky". Once I explained that they weren't really cupcakes, but meat and potatoes she was able to eat them but, boy, was she mad at me. "You tricked me!" she said while giving me her best scowly face. I was killing myself laughing. Mean Mommy!!)

Okay, I'll make it up to you! You can have spaghetti with meatballs for dessert.

These were really mini-angel food cakes with icing for spaghetti, and jam for the sauce, and little round chocolates for the meatballs.

The girls thought that was a much better trick.

Catching up - Hair Cuts

Okay...

things have been a little hectic around here lately. What with all the problems that were happening around the house/baby appointments/both girls' birthdays/Christmas/Snow/etc. Then I was having difficulty with my computer and I couldn't download any of my photos. All the little moments and special things in my girls' lives I wanted to blog about kind of got put off. I feel really bad about that, so now I'm trying to do a little catch-up. Unfortunately, while I did manage to free up enough space on my computer to download all my photos I didn't come up with enough space to actually edit them! All I've got ready now are the photos from the girls' big hair-cut day. So...I'll share those up here for now.

But...if any of you have any great recommendations for safe, digital photo storing. I'd love to hear them! I bought an external hard-drive, but it didn't work (huge waste of money). I've heard of on-line places where you can store them, but what if they go belly-up or something? I've put some on disc, but that doesn't seem very safe. I have about 5 years worth of digital photos on my computer and she can't take anymore...but I am terrified to erase them!!! Advice PLEASE!!!

And now...

I bring to you Maddie and Jamie's day at the Salon!

Both girls wanted the hair-cuts. Me? Not so much. I was only convinced to do it once their hair actually reached their bottoms. This, as it turns out, is not great for hygienic/potty-time kinda' reasons that I had never even thought about until it came up. I must say, they do look pretty cute now and their hair is so much easier to keep tangle free. But, boy, did the new `do ever make Maddie look instantly older! eeee. Good thing there is another one in my belly or all this growing up fast stuff would be just too much for me to take, I think.

You Did What!?

My Mother-in-Law had the girls yesterday while I was at work and Dave was playing golf. When she returned them home to us they had...TATTOOS!!!

(I'd really like to get one, myself, actually. But, probably only if they hurt about as much as these ones). ;-)

She's Not Heavy...

I just got back from a little bit of an open house at Maddie's school. Her teacher was nice enough to let me bring Jamie along and Jamie sure had a great time. She just wandered around looking at the puppet theatre and building things with the blocks and saying, "Hi" to all the kids. She even met one other little boy who will be in her class this coming fall, but it's kind of hard to believe since that little boy had to be about a foot taller than Jamie! I'm starting to realize that a year, or even a few months, does make a big difference at this age. The difference between a kid who turns 4 in January and one who doesn't turn 4 until the following winter is pretty noticeable! But, I'm not worried about little Jamie. She can't wait to go to school and I know she'll do just fine. Me, of course, that will be another matter.

One of the sweetest things about getting to go to Maddie's school today was the reception I got when I arrived. Maddie jumped out of her seat when she saw me and came flying over to wrap her arms around me. Of course, my heart just melted. I recognized immediately that that was going to be one of those little moments I'll always look back on and cherish. I just love that little kiddo. The other thing that was, maybe, even sweeter than that was watching how kind Maddie was to Jamie. She immediately took Jamie by the hand and showed her where to go and was talking to her in the cutest "mothering" tone. Then, when we left the classroom for a bit to go to the library, I grabbed Maddie's hand and Maddie swung around to grab her sister's hand. "Come on Jamie" she said, "I'll show you where the library is so you'll know for when you come here this fall".

How nice it is that Jamie has Maddie to look out for her, and that Maddie has Jamie to look up to her and love her. Sure, they have their moments when they fight, and yell, and threaten each other with the standard "...then you aren't coming to my birthday party", but behind all that I know that they really, genuinely, love each other. How lucky they are.

How lucky am I.