Lake Benson Park

Another day at the park with the girls. This day was not such a good one. Maddie was throwing tantrums and crying and wouldn't eat her lunch and she wasn't listening. I've been trying to get them out of the house before afternoon naps to expel extra energy but they both tend to fall apart a lot easier during this time because they are tired. They nap better, but it makes me wonder if it's really worth it when what is supposed to be a fun outing turns into a battle ground. If only Charlotte would drop her morning nap, then we could go earlier and not cut it so close to afternoon naps. Maddie ended up eating enough lunch for me to allow her to go play, and both girls had a good time until it was time to go, then more tantrums ensued. I don't know where I'm going to take them tomorrow, but maybe we'll stay closer to home (in our backyard) before nap time and see if things go any smoother!

Fun plastic bubble

Some older kids were at the park and LOVED Charlotte
They were petting her and totally entertained her.
Who needs babysitters?
Just take her to the park and let other kids watch her! :)

She ended up squatting down in the water again
and got her shorts all wet!

rub-a-dub-dub

My bathroom has a big frosted glass window right over the bath tub. It allows light in, but you can't see through it. I generally end up bathing the girls in my tub because it's downstairs and is more convenient than hiking upstairs....and sometimes Maddie doesn't take a bath at the same time as Charlotte and it's easier for me to stick my head out into the living room to check up on her than if we were upstairs. My tub is also a lot bigger and there is more space all around which makes it more fun for the girls and roomier for the wash woman (me) Anyway.......the lighting in the tub area is fantastic.....nearly perfect, which makes for some great pictures. So different from either of the bathrooms at our old house. None of these pictures of Charlotte have been edited......maybe they need a little tweaking, but not anything drastic and I am feeling lazy and haven't blogged in a long time so I just wanted to get them up. I have some shots of Maddie from the same bath, but since she is not nearly as compliant anymore with picture taking I have a bit of editing to do to those shots before I post them. Check back though, they WILL be posted eventually! :) I think these pictures of Charlotte are adorable and I was actually a bit bummed that I already ordered the prints for my project because I would love one of these edited and on my wall. But, I think that is going to be a feeling I have all the time forever because I am always taking new pictures that I love, and I can't print and hang everything. Maybe I will eventually become a crazy lady who has every inch of every wall covered with pictures of my kids. That wouldn't be weird right? You'd still come and visit me and bring me house plants and picture frames right?!!?

obstacles

Today was a great day! We chilled this morning and watched cartoons and read books and then after Charlotte's nap we went to an a-ma-zing park. It's called Lake Benson Park and it's only 3 minutes from our house......I've seen the signs for it since we moved here, but never really paid much attention to them. Obviously, it's at a lake, but there is a great covered playground with tons to do, a few shelters with fireplaces for the winter, many walking/hiking trails, and of course the beautiful lake. I was planning on bringing my camera but at the last minute decided against it so that I could get around on the play equipment better (my SLR is a great camera but a little cumbersome on ladders and slides) I totally wish that I had taken it along. This park is breath taking!! We will be going back there many many more times.....and next time I WILL bring my camera! The girls played and then we walked down to the lake and threw rocks and pine cones into the water. Another little girl and her mom showed up and said mom allowed the girl to take her shoes off and wade in the water. Well, there was no way I was going to get out of allowing Maddie to do the same unless I wanted a huge tantrum. (it was right before lunch time....low blood sugar and all lol) So, I took Maddie's shoes off and her and the little girl played around in the water. I took Charlotte out of the stroller and helped her stand in the water too. All was going well, but then Maddie went out a little too far for my taste (knee deep) and then sat down in the water. Charlotte then flung out of my grasp and landed on her butt in the water too. So, we ended up leaving the lake with a mini tantrum anyway, and two wet kids who got stripped down to their diapers for the car ride home. Fun. But it was pretty fun! :) Next time I will go prepared with a towel and some type of waterproof clothing.....do they make waterproof clothing for toddlers?

After the girls got up from their afternoon naps we headed out to the park in our neighborhood and played around for a while. We left when I started getting mosquito bites. I hate those things!! There seriously isn't any purpose for them to be alive other than to drink my blood. Can't we figure out a way to wipe them off the planet?? This evening the girl's were having SO much fun playing together. It's fun to watch their relationship grow, and the closer Charlotte gets to walking the more I see Maddie taking an interest in hanging out with her. It's like she finally sees that Charlotte is a kid and a built in playmate! It was a bit awkward though with the two of them under the rug in front of my stove, right at my feet while I was trying to cook dinner. Apparently that particular rug was needed to keep them warm because they were so cold. Never mind all the other rugs, or blankets, or pillows, or throws we have around the house.....they needed the one directly under me! lol So funny. After they were sufficiently warmed, Maddie decided that Tyson was sick and needed a doctor (doctor is her favorite pretend game right now) so she put the rug on him and proceeded to "doctor" him with a bag of coffee. Poor Tyson! But he is a good sport, and they all seemed to have fun.

Here's hoping that tomorrow is as good a day as today. Probably not for Dan though since he is now sick with the cold we are all getting over. Poor Dan.

P.S. I've started letting Maddie pick out her own clothes when she gets dressed and I try really hard not to edit her choices. So, you may be seeing some interesting ensembles in the future. This is the reason why she is wearing a flowery top with a striped skirt.....at least the color pallets match-ish. But hey, maybe it will spark her creativity for fashion and she will be a famous designer when she grows up.

Being a doctor is very serious work

(thus the serious face lol)

Home tour: living room

We are almost completely unpacked. That doesn't mean that everything is where it is supposed to go.....we'll probably still move things around a bit and once we find a good rhythm there will be things that need to move so everything flows better.....if that makes any sense to anyone other than crazy Gina!! Being unpacked doesn't mean that our house is any less messy than it was when we were in the midst of unpacking chaos! We are just a messy family I guess! I have about 5 loads of clean laundry on my bedroom floor that I need to fold, there are constantly dishes that need to be put in the dishwasher, Maddie has a constant rotation of pillows all throughout the house that she drags around and hides in. The girl's room is always littered with toys, and the diaper champs seem to always be full! That's just life in our house. Both Dan and I are cluttery people.....clutter follows us around. It is a huge effort to put things back where they go, and it is a day to day battle that we fight. Not with each other, but with the nature that is us. Clutter. Anyway......here are some pics of our living room/eat in kitchen area. They look presentable right now, but normally there are library books, and toys and pajamas that Maddie never seems to keep on. We have actually managed to keep things tidy for a few days now.....who knows how lol! There will be more rooms on the home tour as things get a bit more organized, but for now this is all you get because I'm not gonna show pictures of all the laundry on my bedroom floor, or the unmade guest room bed.

kitchen table (you can see the screened in porch through the window)


(pics from the upstairs landing)

popsicles

We are starting to feel better around here. Maddie and I still have some lovely hacking coughs, but there is less snot and just slightly less moodiness. I have been trying really hard to not get Charlotte sick, but yesterday her nose started to run a bit. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it will just stay up in her head and she won't get the chest cold. Coughing babies are the worst.....especially when they can't sleep at night.

The weather has continued to be really hot. The temp isn't so high, but the humidity makes it so much hotter than it really is. All you have to do is walk outside and you start sweating! I am not a fan of the summers here, but at least this summer I am not pregnant and not recently postpartum. It's a bit easier to handle the heat without the hormones and hot flashes involved with the making of children! lol

We have been eating a lot of popsicles lately. It's something cool that the girls can enjoy outdoors and really.....why not? We have the cool juice pop kinds that you can make with your own juice, and we have ice pops and regular fruits pops. Maddie enjoys picking out what kind she wants, and Charlotte enjoys eating whatever I give her. :) We have spent a lot of time in the garage/front yard while Daddy works on organizing his man space. He works, the girls eat popsicles and I sit in a lawn chair watching the day pass by. Good times!

sick

I'm not dead.....just sick. And I barely feel like feeding my family, so photography and blogging are pretty much out. Who knew that I would get whacked with a horrible cold right at the start of summer? I guess I should have expected it since I was pretty sick this same time last year! Maddie is sick too and Charlotte is teething.....either that, or just extra grumpy/yelling a lot/not napping. So all in all our house is a totally fun place to be right now! *sarcasm* Dan has been super helpful with picking up the slack but I do feel bad for him.....he seems to be the only one who doesn't get sick when the germs come around and so he is always the one to have to deal with us girls! lol Charlotte is currently crying because she wants to be on top of me and smothering me, but not held by me....I just gave her a chapstick, maybe it will distract her for 30 seconds!! It's not even 7:00 yet, it's too early for her to be this cranky.....maybe she should sleep later than 6:15 every morning......didn't she get the memo? Anyway, I'm still around, just up to my elbows in snot and children with bad attitudes. Anyone wanna come over for a cup of tea?!?!? Yeah, thought not. lol I'll be back soon.

bubbles and birdie treats

Despite the hot and humid weather we have been experiencing we have spent a great deal of time outdoors. I try and get the girls out in the morning or late afternoon when its a little cooler. One of my favorite times is around 7:30 after Charlotte has gone to bed. Maddie and I get some one on one time and since we have daylight until 8:30 or later we play until bedtime. Her current favorite thing is bubbles. She likes to run through a cloud of them, but her most favorite is when I blow really big bubbles. They don't last long before she pops them, but for some reason (she's two!) the big bubbles are the coolest! A few days ago we made some treats for the birdies. Pine cones we found at the park, peanut butter, bird seed and a string. Super easy, super messy and super fun. I think that Maddie ate more peanut butter than she put on the pine cone, but she had a good time and that's really all that matters! We hung the birdie treats on our little tree in the back yard...I was too nervous about the raccoon to put them on anything bigger, and I wanted us to be able to watch the birds. Well, the next day all that was left was the string, and one of the branches on the tree was mangled so much we ended up cutting it off. I don't think the birdies even got the chance to eat our treats.....squirrels? Or maybe the raccoon?!? Poor birdies, no treats for them. But, we did get to see the raccoon again and this time Maddie actually got to see him. He's kinda cute, but still freaks me out. I'm worried about my dogs, and I'm worried that he will try ad get into the garage to eat their dog food. I'm also a bit weary about what he will do to my garden. I've read that they eat EVERYTHING and I would hate for my future garden to be solely consumed by a raccoon. I planted my tomatoes this weekend, so it will be a good test to see if he leaves any tomatoes for us! We may just have to hire someone to find a new home for the raccoon. You're on probation Rocky....you know.....Rocky the raccoon! :)