Cutie Pies

I had a few photos from the past few weeks that I just LOVED and thought I'd let you enjoy them too!

Totally posing...love it!

One morning the girls went and got their blankets and sat on the stairs and Emmie read to Ellie. Emmie is reading Ellie's all time favorite book...Little Mommy. It was clearly written before the feminist movement but it is Ellie to a tee. All of us, including Emmie, have the book memorized word for word. The wonderful thing is that we can now pawn the reading off on Emmie since she has it memorized and she loves to read to Ellie! 

This picture cracks me up! I love these little girls and they make me laugh all the time (you know, except for all those times they're making me pull my hair out because they're coloring on the wall or Ellie is drawing all over herself with markers)!

I also have to share our adventure from tonight. We went for our walk after dinner and I put Ellie in the single stroller and Emmie was walking (the double stroller is sooo heavy so I try to get Emmie to walk whenever I can). A few minutes into our walk Emmie fell and BARELY scraped her hand but there was a spot of blood and she was TRAUMATIZED. So I carried her for a few houses (remember I'm also pushing Ellie in the stroller and I have Franklin on the leash) and then refused to do that anymore (we weren't even half way around the neighborhood yet). I put her down but she kept fussing so I laid the back of the seat back a little on stroller and squished her in behind Ellie (I was going to take a picture of this but got sidetracked by the upcoming events). So now I'm pushing 2 kids in a single stroller, and praying it doesn't break, and walking Franklin on the leash. We got to the last third of our walk and a cute little Lhasa Apso came trotting up to us. I know the neighbors dogs pretty well and knew for sure that he didn't belong to anyone in the surrounding houses. There was a house on the street that I thought he might belong in but I was pretty sure their dog was much smaller. I debated knocking on their door but the dog had tags on (but none with an address) so I figured that when we got home I'd call the number and see if I could find the owners. Franklin was none too happy with our new friend (he's very skittish around other dogs) so now I'm pushing Emmie and Ellie, CARRYING Franklin, and trying to keep an eye on the other dog, especially since it didn't seem super aware of the cars going by. We finally make it home and I put Franklin in the house and pick up the other dog and manage to hold on to the dog and call the number on it's tag. After being on hold for about 5 minutes while trying to hold on to the dog so I can read it's ID number and keep the girls somewhat in line I finally get in touch with someone and she was able to correct me to the dog's owner. They had just realized the dog was missing when the phone rang. Funny enough it belonged at the house where I'd almost knocked on the door...wish I had! Apparently the other time I'd taken the dog back to their house (apparently he has a habit of getting out...might be why he had 3 ID tags on!) he'd just been a puppy and was much smaller. So I loaded the girls back into the single stroller and put the dog on Franklin's leash and we went and met up with the owners. So Vincent was returned safe and sound to his people (there were 2 children who were VERY glad to see him) and the girls were invited to come pet him anytime they wanted (unlike Franklin, he loved having the girls pet him which they also loved and he was super soft). That was our adventure for the night and I am WORN OUT!

A Special Visit

This week my mom and dad were able to come visit us for a day. We were so excited as this was the first time we'd gotten to see my mom since her stem cell transplant. We hadn't seen my dad since January! The girls were so excited that Gran and Grandaddy (aka Boo) were coming to visit. We colored a lot, took Franklin for a walk, the girls showed Gran and Grandaddy their garden and they played outside for a bit. We had a wonderful visit with them and we all celebrated Paul's birthday with a yummy steak dinner that evening. The girls discovered after dinner that Grandaddy is GREAT at playing tag and hide and seek...they had so much fun!

My parents brought the little table from their house to put in our newly designated craft room (more on that another day!). The girls had the best time coloring up there! Obviously Franklin was so happy to have his Gran back at his house...he was glued to her the whole morning!

Gran and Grandaddy brought some new dress up hats...the girls were quick to put one of the headbands on Grandaddy!

Grandaddy of course made  good use of the hammock!

Emmie helped Gran make biscuits.

Country Adventures

Thursday our playgroup went to Country Adventures, a local farm. It was so neat! They let the kids pet the animals and we took a hayride! I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids!

First up the baby chicks. When we left I asked Emmie what her favorite animal was at the farm and she answered "the baby chick!" These were Easter Egg chicks so they will lay blue and green eggs!

Emmie and Ellie petting the Nanny goat. Ellie was a little hesitant to touch the animals at first but she gradually warmed up to them (think the giraffe at the zoo has probably chomped on her fingers a few too many times...lol!).

Emmie and Ellie in the covered wagon.

Love this one of all the kids! Ellie wouldn't come up to the front but you can see her bow poking out right beside Emmie.

The sheep.

Emmie LOVED the peacocks. She was amazed at how pretty they were. She informed me that she loves peacocks and lizards...what a combo!

So pretty!

The turkey. Emmie was walking by and it gobbled and she about jumped out of her skin!

Brushing the donkey.

I even got Ellie to do it!

Emmie was so fascinated with how soft the rabbit was.

You can see the blue and green eggs (in the middle).

Ellie and Lucy having fun!

The hayride! The farm was so pretty and green and we went through a wooded area and it was lovely! In the fall they do a pumpkin patch and hayride and at Christmas they have lights at night and you can take a hayride through the lights.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Paul and Blake's birthday! Hope y'all both had a Happy Birthday!

(Franklin was busy chasing squirrels during the photo op but he says Happy Birthday as well!)

what's cooking...

I think these little divas are going to be excited when they wake up from their naps and see what I made during naptime!

Tuesday

It was another busy day in the Edwards household but we were quite productive!
This morning we got up and headed out to Cottle Strawberry Farm to pick some delicious strawberries! I had planned on only picking one basket but I filled it up so quick that I went ahead and picked another one. Emmie helped me at first but then she got sidetracked with the eating. Ellie wasn't interested in picking...just eating. Strawberries are Ellie's favorite fruit and she GORGED herself today. (Paul had to change the resulting dirty diaper tonight...hahaha!) There were tons of strawberries and we filled up 2 full baskets in under 45 minutes (and by we I mean me).

When we got home we made Mother's Day presents for the grandmothers. They are almost done and they turned out soooo cute and the girls had a lot of fun making them! I can't wait to share them with you AFTER Mother's Day. (However, if you're not a grandmother in our family and you need a Mother's Day idea send me an email and I'll send you a picture and instructions stacyredwards@gmail.com .)

After cleaning up our mess and getting everyone a bath we ate lunch (which included a big bowl of fresh strawberries!) and then the girls took great naps. While they were napping I sat upstairs in our popasan chair (one of my favorite reading spots) and read a book. After some quality reading time I braved the second bonus room. I have been working on organizing it (it's kind of become a dumping spot for all the wrapping stuff and any craft or sewing project I've worked on in the last 5 years, in addition to being our "guest room") and it's a HUGE job. The nice thing however is that it's not a room we use everyday so I can work at my own pace and if I need to stop and go do something else then it's ok to sit for a few days. My vision is to use the middle section of the room as an arts and craft room for the girls and me.

When the girls finally woke up we ran to the grocery store to grab a few things and then we took Franklin on his walk.  When we got back the girls watched movies (Elmo and then Beauty and the Beast...Ellie is on a Belle kick) while I organized some more and fixed dinner (which included another big bowl of fresh strawberries).  Ellie has started wanting to sit at the table while I fix dinner. She doesn't want to color or play with her playdoh...she just sits there. I think she's worried she'll miss out on some food!

After baths tonight we facetimed with Gran. We were going to try to facetime while Grandaddy (aka Boo) was there but he was still at work.

After the girls went to bed I made some strawberry oatmeal muffins...yumm!

I saw this video on Facebook tonight and I just had to share it. In this world where we as women are so critical of ourselves I think this video is a real eye opener. I loved watching the women's reactions to their pictures at the end and seeing the differnces in the pictures.

Tomorrow is our super busy day...bible study and lunch and then My Gym for both the girls...I'm getting tired just thinking about it...off to bed for me!

Monday

Today was a busy Monday (we generally try and take Mondays slow around this house). On Thursday night Franklin started limping and by the time we went to bed he was barely putting any weight on his front left leg. (I work every Friday and so if anyone in my house gets sick it's always on a Thursday after the doctor's office has closed.) I called the vet Friday to make an appointment for Monday and said a little prayer that he'd be ok through the weekend. I was terrified that something was seriously wrong with him...the nurse in me had come up with all kinds of crazy scenarios. Franklin is my first baby and I think I'm even more attatched to him since he was attacked when he was a puppy...we went through a horrific trauma together (although really I was much more traumatized than he was..lol!). When I came home from work Friday he was still limping pretty bad but then he started licking his paw that night and kept messing with it and after a few minutes of that he got up and wasn't limping nearly as bad. Let me tell you it was a HUGE relief to see him feeling better and he continued to improve throughout the weekend. He was still favoring that paw every now and then but nothing like Thursday night. I went ahead and took him in to the vet this morning just to make sure everything looked ok. The vet couldn't find anything wrong although he noticed that his leg/paw seemed a little tender so he gave us some doggy motrin to give to him for the next 3 days to reduce any inflammation that might still be there. Franklin was so traumatized by his trip to the vet that he let the girls pet him for about 5 minutes!
After the vet we dropped Franklin at home and the girls and I went to Trader Joes. We were going to stop on the way and get their haircut but we got to the hair place and apparently it's closed on Mondays so we just went on to Trader Joes. We got lots of yummy things including lobstor ravioli, some soup, whole wheat pizza crust, cookie butter, and some AMAZING blackberries that Emmie picked out.

On our way home we passed one of Cottle's strawberry stands so we stopped and got a small basket of FRESH strawberries. Ellie was over the moon excited about them!
We got home and ate lunch (we had a delicious strawberry and blackberry fruit salad as a side!) and then we all took naps...it was so nice. After naps we took little puppy on his much anticipated walk. His last walk was Thursday evening. He had been so anxious to go (he would go sit at the door to the garage and just look at me) but I didn't want to aggravate any injury he might have so I didn't want to take him until the vet looked at him. He was so happy to go and it was a lovely afternoon. After walking we came home, blew some bubbles, played in the backyard and then the girls came in and watched Beauty and the Beast while I fixed dinner and did some chores around the house.
After dinner my friend Brooke brought her little boy Andrew over (he's almost 10mo old) and we watched him while Brooke took Everett to swim lessons. The girls had the BEST time with Andrew. Poor Andrew had no clue what he had gotten himself into with my baby-crazy girly girls!

Emmie helped Andrew talk on the purple phone.

The girls both gave him lots of hugs!

(He's still not so sure about the purple phone.)

(Emmie introduced Andrew to My Little Ponies...he's not so sure about them.)

Ellie had a great time reading to Andrew.

The girls started playing dress up and they put a tiara on Andrew's head...we replaced it with a firefighter's hat which he LOVED. (While I'm ok putting pictures of my own children on the blog that will cause them trauma as teenagers I try not to do it to other people's children...hence no tiara picture;) )

Ellie all dressed up. Emmie thought the purple hair would be a nice touch.

Andrew and Emmie had a music session.

Tomorrow morning we're headed to the strawberry farm to pick some berries of our own and I'm so excited :)

21 Months

I am 21 months!

• I wear a size 18-24mo or a 2t in clothes, a size 5 shoe, and a size 5 diaper.
• I now have 15 teeth..I only have 1 more that needs to come in (and then my 2 year old molars as well).
• I'm still eating really well. Some of my favorite foods this month have been yogurt, strawberries, grilled pineapple and any kind of meat. I have definitely been eating more fruits this month and I will also eat asparagus and brocolli. My favorite treats are cupcakes and yogurt.

• I am talking so much more this month! My speech is also getting clearer...people who aren't around me all the time are starting to be able to understand me.
• I love babies. We were at a lunch with some friends the other day and there were 4 babies there and I LOVED playing with them (especially my Mary Ruth!). I also love to play with baby dolls.

• This month it finally warmed up enough for us to go to the zoo and I had so much fun looking at all the animals. I was even brave enough to feed the giraffes and the goats and I helped Mommy hold the nectar cup for the birds. We went over to the gardens as well and I liked all the flowers. I LOVE going to the zoo.

• I am definitely working my way to the terrible 2s. I have been pretty whiney all month, especially in the afternoons. If you tell me to do something that I don't want to do I will cross my arms and make a pouty face...Mommy tries really hard not to laugh when I do that...it's pretty funny!
• I still love to play with Emmie...she's definitley my best friend! We like to dress up as princesses, play with playdoh, color, read together, play with our dolls, and have picnics. Of course we also LOVE to play outside...I'm an outside kind of girl!

• This month we celebrated Easter. I had so much fun in NC with all the girls! I also enjoyed our Easter party with the playgroup. I was not such a fan of the Easter Bunny however.

• When I see a bug outside I like to try to touch it! (This is very different from Emmie who wants nothing to do with bugs!)
• I sing along to "Jesus Loves Me" and "Wheels on the Bus" when someone sings them to me.
• This month we went to a shower in Summerville for Emily and Blake and I had sooo much fun. I especially liked getting to spend time with Emily and Blake earlier in the day!

• I LOVE to read. When Mommy is reading to Emmie at naptime and bedtime I like to sit in Emmie's bed and read my own book. My favorite books right now are the Franklin the Turtle books and the Bernstein Bears books that we got at Chick-fil-A a while back. I also like Fancy Nancy and Cat in the Hat and of course my favorite book is Little Mommy!

• Most days I still wake up crying in the morning and at naptime.
• One of my favorite TV shows is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I also love Bernstein Bears (Mommy discovered it on Kids on Demand!).
• I laugh a lot...especially if someone tickles me...I'm soooo ticklish!
• I like to be silly.



This is Emmie at 21 months:

( Mommy thinks we look a lot different at this age...she thinks it's the hair that makes us look so different here...I'm also much smaller than Emmie was at 21 months.)

You can click here to see Emmie's 21month post.