My Attempt at "Good" Photography

I decided to try and get some good shots of Layne today (we will get to Hayden the nut later in this post). The chest in the background is one that my grandmother gave me when I was a teenager. We repainted it and had a friend paint the quote on it for Hayden's nursery. Now, Layne has it. I didn't even mean for it to be in the background, but I like it! Hayden has a good picture with this background in the March 2007 archives.

One of my favorite pictures of Hayden is one just like this! check it out. I am so happy that I have one of Layne too!

You can see at least one of her bottom teeth kind of well in this shot.

Can't quite reach....

Got it.

Sometimes when Hayden is just waking up from her nap I will put Layne in bed with her. As soon as Hayden sees Layne she gives her a big hug and kiss and says, "Morning Layne". She doesn't understand that you only say, "good morning" in the mornings. She doesn't even know the difference between morning, noon, and night yet...so she wouldn't understand the whole good morning thing. It's cute!

Daddy heard us in Hayden's room so he came in for the party too.

While I was taking pictures of Layne this afternoon Hayden was playing in Layne's crib. Here she is hanging over the edge so I could get a picture of her.

What a nut!

When we were done in Layne's room Hayden pushed Layne around in her walker. She is very careful not to bang Layne into things.

We've Discovered A Few Things...

I was looking through some old pictures today because I wanted to find one for a bulletin board at school. The one above is the one I picked. But, what we discovered is that if you cover up the bangs and the buck teeth it looks like Hayden!!! Click on it to enlarge it and give it a try!!

Who's The Bigger Geek?

Jeremy seems to think that I am the bigger geek in this set, but I am very certain that he wins that race hands down. So, we would like you to be the judge here. Take a close look at the two photos and then vote for the bigger geek using the poll to the right......

Rain, Rain, Come And Stay...

Don't know why, but I love rainy days. It's probably because we don't have too many of them. After lunch today we decided to go on a little field trip outside. So, I got Hayden ready to go. Well, she did put her slip on shoes on all by herself....on the wrong feet!

We just walked around and listened to the rain hit the umbrella. And of course we took some pictures too!

Little Layner came with us too and she loved it! She loved being under the umbrella with mommy.

Just a little update on Layner-she is working on her third tooth. This one is up top. Jerm said that she is crawling, but I haven't seen it yet. I will get some footage once I see it!

I guess you can tell which days I got to work and which days I am home by the blog activity!!

Are You Really Surprised!?

Since all of you know Hayden, I am sure you aren't surprised that Hayden climbed into Layne's walker. She feels the need to experience everything that Layne gets to experience. I'm sure this is just the beginning of that with both of them!

Mime Goes To The Store

Last night we all went to the grocery store together. Hayden went to get socks, but came back with these gloves instead. So, this is how she went to the store. I'm sure you weren't able to notice, but she had big girl undies on too! We figured that if we took her to go potty right before we left she would be fine. She really doesn't go potty very often and she doesn't have accidents at home anymore. So, we got to the store and found one of those car grocery carts. About half way through the trip Hayden said that she went pee pee in her undies. Sure enough she had! Nothing we could do but keep it moving. About 10 minutes later she said that she had to go potty and I told her that she already did that and we kept shopping. About 5 minutes later I caught the familiar sent of poopoo. So, we decided to just keep moving and finish the shopping. The key to shopping at that point was to keep the cart (with Hayden in it) moving at all times so the scent would not overwhelm us or anyone else. Once we got to the check out line I took Hayden and we did a clean up in the bathroom. This clean up involved throwing her undies away because I just wasn't going to......well, you know what I wasn't going to do-I will spare you with the details. Hayden wasn't too happy with her "Elnom" (Elmo) undies going in the trash. Hayden ended up walking out of the bathroom with shoes, socks, a pull up, and her t-shirt. Quite a fashion statement! We got to the front of the store where Jerm and Layne were waiting for us. He had already checked out but our cart was in a holding area behind the costumer service desk. Jeremy did not have his wallet so he had no way of paying for our groceries while I was cleaning up Miss poo poo. So, I paid for them and we got the heck out of there!!

Walker

Layne just loves her new (to her) walker! She has also figured out that she can scream when she's happy. Oh joy!

Hayden wanted to help open the stuffing tonight. She got the scissors out and snipped away!

She is a little sponge that takes every little thing in!!

A Day in the Park

Since it wasn't too cold outside and the sun was out we decided to go to a playground. We went up to the church playground right up the street from us. The girls had a great time. I think we will be going back there often!

They had two play areas with lots of slides, swings, bouncy toys.

I thought this picture would be cooler than it was. I was on the ground in the wood chips taking this shot. Oh well.

Daddy and one of his favorite girls.

Hayden knows that mommy is going to have her pose even when we're having fun!

We call this hairstyle her "Dora Pigtail" look. She has a Night Night Dora doll that has pigtails. Once I told her Hayden looked like Dora it was her new favorite look!

Going crazy on the froggie.

Time to go back home again.

Sing Your Heart Out

Hayden loves to sing. She has finally gotten to the point where she is ok with me video taping her singing. Medley song list: Happy Birthday, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Skidamarink, and the Alphabet song. Oh and she throws in a bonus track at the end-the Dora "We Did It" song. Right before the Dora song she is singing something else (and really gets into it too!) but we aren't sure what song she's trying to sing.

Attempting to Crawl

Layne is getting really close to crawling....as you can see. She has figured out a way to get where she wants to go. Hayden is a nut (as usual) in this video. She had to come up with something creative so daddy would video tape her too. She she pretended to sleep! And she does have undies that fit her, but they are all in the laundry so we had to put these on her!

"I'm like a bad penny, I always turn up"

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Ok, here it all is together! I had so much fun doing all of this.

The finished hat and whip cupcakes.

Sweet Smells

Today on the way back from getting the mail Hayden and I picked some daffodils. As I was cleaning the kitchen Hayden got up on the table so she could smell them again and again.

Peek-a-Boo

Layne looks terrified in this picture, I'm not sure why though! We were just hanging out in Hayden room yesterday. We were all playing and having a good time together....I promise!

Becca's Birthday!

Today was Becca's birthday. So, they came over and ate pizza with us and then she and Jonathan went to Starbucks while we watched baby Geovanni. Scott is out of town, so I asked Heather if she and the kids wanted to come over for dinner too. So, we all got together and had a fun evening. Here is baby Geovanni.

Hayden is trying to out smart mommy and daddy. She tells us that she has to go potty about every 30 minutes and she manages to squeeze out a few drops every single time so that she can get a sticker and candy! She's not going to out smart us though-we have a new plan. Here she is with a tootsie roll.

When Becca and Jonathan got back from Starbucks we had a birthday pie for her. She loves all kinds of pie, so Heather picked up an apple pie on her way over. Geovanni looks a little concerned that his mommy won't be able to blow out all of those candles-but she did it!

Indiana Jones Cake

Well, here it is! My very first carved cake. I also made chocolate fondant for the first time too. I really didn't like the texture of it, maybe I'll try a different recipe next time. This is for one of the teacher's sons at preschool. I really hope they like it. I'll tackle the cupcakes tomorrow!

Indiana Jones Hat and Whip

Here they are....15 Indiana Jones hats and whips that will go on top of 15 cupcakes. I've been working on them over the past 2 days. Hayden loved to sit on the counter and watch me because she would eat some of the scraps.

We'll see how they look on top of the cupcakes once I make those on Friday-hopefully they fit! I am going to work on the Indiana Jones hat cake tomorrow. Should be interesting!

Miss Mazie

Poor Mazie has been a little neglected. It's just really hard to keep up with everything when you have two little ones. I finally got around to giving her a good haircut last weekend and she is like a puppy again! She's just so happy to be able to see again.

Once Hayden saw what was going on with Layne and Mazie she decided she needed to get in on the action.

7 Months Old Today!

I can't believe that she's already seven months old! Where has the time gone? I feel like I am saying (or at least thinking) this all the time. Jeremy and I are so incredibly blessed to have two amazing little girls. They are both so filled with love and happiness. Well, Layne isn't filled with too much happiness when we drop her off in the nursery on Sunday nights so that we can go to our Fireproof Bible study, but that's beside the point! I just can't wait to see what God has in store for our two precious little ones.

As I was talking to Johnny the other day I said, "Can you believe that Layne's first birthday is 5 months away!?" I was expecting him to say, "I know, I can't believe that she's almost a year old-it seems like she was just born yesterday!" But instead he said, "Ok". What a let down! So, I proceeded to tell him that I couldn't believe that she was already 7 months old and that her first birthday was right around the corner. But he didn't bite. He just informed me that 5 months was a long time away in his book.....not in the eyes of a mother!!

Potty Training Update

Jeremy started working with Hayden on potty training last week when she was home sick. When I got home from work I would continue working with her on it. She's not to the point when she will tell us when she has to go potty. But, we have trained ourselves to ask her and just take her at certain times during the day whether she says she has to go or not. That seems to be working really well! When she goes on the potty she gets to wear big girl undies, stick a sticker on the chart, and gets a piece of candy. The big sticker on the bottom left hand side is because she poo pooed in the potty for the first time this morning! She called it a "major yuck".

Here are some funny potty training moments:

One day Hayden and I were in the car together. We were in Old Town and got stopped by the train. I told her to look outside and watch out for what was coming. When she saw it she said, "That's my potty train! I want to ride the potty train." Jerm had been talking to her about potty training and I guess she was picturing a train the whole time!

Hayden: I'm finished

Mommy: Ok, I'll help you off the potty.

Hayden: No, I'm not done. I'm finished.

Mommy: Ok, are you done?

Hayden: No, I'm finished. Need to go potty.

Mommy: Hayden, done means finished....are you done?

Hayden: No, I'm finished I'm not done yet.

Mommy: Ok, you just tell me when you are all done then!

Valentine Banquet

We went to a banquet put on my the Prime Timers (older group of people at our church) for Valentine's Day. Our Sunday school class decided that we were going to support the Prime Timers attempt to reach out to the entire church-despite the fact that the entertainment for the evening was Elvis. Oh yes, he made it around to every lady in the house last night....including the only very young table in the room. Apparently, the rest of the church did not have the same supportive thoughts that we did! It was a fun Valentine's spent with good friends!

I knew it was coming, but it still doesn't mean I knew what to do. Really, what are you supposed to do when a sweaty older gentleman sits down beside you and stares into your eyes and sings to you. Are you supposed to dance, gaze back into his eyes, look down, hold him close!? Oh the embarrassment!

Mia was the first one that he got in our group. He may have had to hum some of the songs because he forgot the lyrics, but he sure did have the pelvic thrusts and wiggles down pat! I really think that some of the older ladies were in love with him or at least they put on a good act. I guess it brings back memories for them. One lady there has a scarf from the real Elvis. I guess he threw it to her during a concert!

He came to Heather twice! The second time he sat in her lap.

BeDazzle Me Crazy!

This was Elvis's second outfit of the evening. He had the white suit made by someone but his wife got her BeDazzler out and when nuts! She did all of the gem work. He said it weighs about 15 pounds! This is what the BeDazzler was meant to do!