Oh, brother.

We have a lot to catch up on!  Two holidays, a road trip, family visits, we're having a boy...and, most recently,

...another haircut at home.

Last Thursday.  Girls left alone for ten minutes (maybe) while Daniel and I were talking in another room.  It's the sort of thing that truly only happens when you least expect it!

In her own words, "My hair was too long!"  Her bangs took a pretty bad hit, along with one whole side of her head.  She got her first trip to a real [kids'] hair salon to attempt to even it out.  I tried to get a few pictures afterward, but really the best way to see it is in this video.

Later I got these adorable pictures of Little Sister...who, by the way, also got a few snips/bald spots.  I was taking pictures of Hollie brushing her teeth, and felt a tug on my shirt, again and again.  This is so normal that I mostly ignored it...until I looked down and saw this!

I must say...that's a new one!

I hope to back-track and post photos from the last few months, and then get back in the habit of posting regularly, or at least more often than every few months.  

No more summer

Well, after that short week of sunshine, summer came to an abrupt halt and we've been under the rain and gloom ever since.  Except for those eerie moments when it rains while the sun is shining.  Isn't that weird?!

This has made the kids, especially Hollie, surprisingly antsy.  We've taken a few walks in the rain, but a recent bit of congestion has kept outside time to a minimum.

So, we've been keeping busy...experimenting in the kitchen (dijon-maple chicken, seafood gumbo, pumpkin bread, mmmm), visiting the library, preparing for a visit from Abuelita and her parents (see you tomorrow!!), and converting antsy into artsy...

Yep, we visited the pumpkin farm with Hollie's school, and lived to tell about it!  

In case you're wondering, she is holding a tiny kitten.  

Keeping the kids rapt attention + giving instructions to the big people.

When I found out that I would be driving one other student, and that I would be responsible for him and Hollie, I decided to leave little Blake with my friend Heather, instead of take her along as I had planned.  I'm very glad I did.  This farm was a madhouse of school groups being herded from one activity to another...and there was a LOT to do.  We played on a playground, watched a duck race, visited the petting zoo, rode a tractor trailer out to the field where we chose our pumpkins, and rode back to cap off the afternoon with some ice cream.  The little boy who rode with us, Cole, was a bundle of energy...and not a hand-holder.  He certainly kept me on my toes!  The best part of the trip (for the parents and teachers, I think) was going out into the field to choose pumpkins.  The open fields surrounding the pumpkin patch prevented any kids from making an unnoticed escape, unlike amid all the farm buildings where we were constantly mixed in with other groups and we could barely keep track of each other much less the two or three kids we were each responsible for.

The best part for the kids, I'm guessing, was the ice cream.  Because we were on a farm, naturally I expected that we were going to sample some homemade pumpkin ice cream made with fresh milk from a nearby dairy farm, or something like that.  I was sadly disappointed.  

The kids weren't!

You may have noticed Hollie's unusual outfit.  She likes to pick out her own clothes, and I like letting her.  She usually lets me point her in the appropriate direction for long vs. short sleeves, shorts vs. pants, etc., but that day, she started without me and came out of her room wearing this...

That's Cole, by the way.

That's a black skirt over blue pants with white spots.  Daniel and I saw her at the same time, and I think our jaws both hit the floor!  Of course, we never asked that she change.  It's just a trip the farm...if it had been for a nice dinner (with a three-year old??) we might have had to make some gentle suggestions!  Anyway, the more I looked at her clothes the cuter she looked, and her teacher loved it too.

It was a fun, busy day!  That's all for now.  Can't wait to see the girls' great-grandparents and show them our new home!

Second summer

For the past week or so, we've been enjoying a spell of unseasonably warm weather!  Before that, it was starting to get chilly and gloomy, and I was coming to terms with it, and then...poof!  Here comes the sun, little darlin'.

One Last Trip to the Beach [most likely]

This was the very first photo I took when we arrived at the playground, and I still had the camera on an indoor setting.  This photo is still definitely a keeper though!

Maybe you can tell...Blake does NOT like holding hands.  She is super affectionate in every other way...she has even started giving the most adorable kisses!  Not a hand-holder, though.

Anyway, upon arrival we were greeted with cries of "Hollie! Hollie!!" from the swings.  Two of her classmates were there!

Here is one of them (I didn't get her name), waiting patiently to use the monkey bars.

Hollie insisted on bringing her umbrella.  She cannot wait for the first rainy day, so we can go for a walk in all our rain gear!  We brought the umbrella "just in case".  Blake happily held it for her while she played with her friends.

What a back-drop!

Beautiful.

I think she really looks like Daniel here.

The only picture I got of them together.  They're not fans of that routine.

The three classmates!

We even got to see a train go by on the tracks that run along the coast.  

Blake was SUPER EXCITED!

Have I mentioned that I love living here?

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One night last week we got to babysit our friend, Cian!  In the past, he has made Blake a little nervous, especially when I hold him (mom holding another baby = not cool), but this time, she didn't mind so much.  

She even gave him a few kisses!

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I'm feeling much better.  We had another ultrasound which gave us a solid due date of April 13th (not a Friday, I checked).  Definitely getting a little belly.  

Last night was Mom's Night at Hollie's school.  All the moms got to spend an hour in the classroom letting the students show us around.  The hour went by really fast, and Hollie made it clear what her favorite things were.  She traced some shapes with a pencil on paper, had me read a book to her, and we did ALL the puzzles.  She loved it.  

Occasionally when I pick Hollie up from school, her teacher, Miss Cindy, tells me how much fun Hollie is.  She is always happy at school, and the other kids love her.  So strange for me to hear, because of course at home she has bad days and bad moods - though I have to say, since starting school, she seems happier in general.  

There's probably more, but I can't remember.  We still don't have the pictures from our photo shoot yet.  We have a busy couple of weeks coming up!  Can't wait.  :)

All in one day?!

There were three papers in Hollie's school folder this afternoon.

One was about her very first field trip, coming up next week.  This terrifies me, to my core.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to chaperone.  They're going to a pumpkin patch (aka child abductor convention, right?).  Lots of deep breaths.

The next was about the first round of parent-teacher conferences.  Not so terrifying!

And last, the proofs from her very first school portraits, which were taken last week.  The only danger here is of me crying every time I look at them.  She's such a cutie!

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All of this made me completely forget about Blake's photo session at a local park this afternoon!  We made it just in time, and she did great, and Hollie even jumped in for a few shots.  I'll be getting all the pictures electronically, so I'll be able to post them when I get them sometime next week.  :)

 

More pictures!

 We had another ultrasound on Thursday, which helped us get a better idea of our due date.

Awww

So, the new due date is April 13th, 2013, which makes me 12 weeks as of today.  That is pretty close to what we got last time.   

I was pretty sure already that I was getting close to the end of the first trimester.  My morning sickness is lessening (I still have bad days, though) and I'm getting some energy back.  I definitely have a little growing belly, too!

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I have more pictures from last week, too!

I got some shots that pretty well sum up what most of my pictures look like.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B 

Anyway, I finally got a chance to put Blake into this adorable onesie that my mom gave to Hollie a few years ago!  For whatever reason, maybe it didn't fit while the weather was warm, Hollie never got to wear it.  At the beginning of this summer, it was still too big for Blake, but now at the end of summer as the weather cools off, I knew this was the onesie's last chance!  So, on a warm afternoon, it made it's first (and maybe last, for Blake anyway) appearance, for a trip out to the playground.

Everybody loves the buttons

Hollie says she wants to draw something before we go 

I don't remember who she said she drew!

Her face, though?  Probably the result of this being the 20th attempt to get a clear picture.  She's a trooper! 

Finally at the playground!

Yes, we got some animal crackers!  Hollie can't resist the box with the string, and Mommy can't resist the nostalgia.

Hard at work!  I think she was trying to trace letters in the mulch, and it wasn't working very well.

What Blake did, mostly.

Happy girl.  :)

I call this one: "Not yet, Hollie, I want to take a picture!"

Funny story

So, this afternoon Hollie's school had their annual picnic lunch at a local park.  It was a potluck, so that morning I made a big ol' pan of jambalaya.  The girls had both been a little congested yesterday, but they were good as new this morning.  We probably should have skipped it, just because they had been sick so recently, but I had been really really looking forward to meeting some other parents, so we went (hence scrambling to cook a quadruple-quadruple recipe on the day-of, instead of the night before as I had intended).

We got to the park just a few minutes late, but it seemed like there weren't very many people there.  Maybe five families.  I let Hollie loose and carried the food to a table (left sleeping Blake in the car).  The few other moms that were standing around told me right away that someone with a smartphone had checked their email and seen a message sent out this morning that the picnic had been cancelled due to weather (which obviously no one present had seen).  It was overcast and I think it had rained overnight, but we hadn't had a drop all morning.  I learned (later) that last year's picnic got quite a bit of rain and it was a bit of a disaster, and I guess maybe they cancelled this time because they figured with even a slight chance of rain, people would be scared of a repeat experience.

Anyway, someone said, well we might as well eat, but we quickly remembered that the school was going to provide the plates and utensils, so we had nothing to eat with.  I heard scattered mumblings of, well that's a shame, and I guess we'll just let the kids play for a few minutes and then head home.  I just looked at all the bowls and platters of food on the table and said, Whoa-whoa-whoa, let me run down to the Fred Meyer on the corner and I'll get us some things to eat with.  Someone said, hmm, good idea! and the others agreed.  It seemed like an obvious solution to me!  I couldn't believe they were all about to just leave!!!  So with Hollie under another mama's watchful eye, still-sleeping Blake and I drove a half-mile to the grocery store and were back in twenty minutes with plates, utensils, and paper towels.  All we were missing was something to drink, which the school had said they would also provide.  Someone brought a few water bottles from their car, and we had ourselves a picnic.  At that point I think we had two main dishes and about four desserts, so it was a sugary lunch at first, until more people showed up late (unaware of the email) with salads and other main dishes, thankfully.

We had a great time, plenty of food, and everyone commented that they were really glad they had stayed.  I hope the school reschedules the picnic, so we can do it again!                   

Picture overload

I have a lot of pictures to post.  I intended to do one enormous post, but it was too much, so for the sake of your time and mine, I'm going to break it up.  More to come in a few days, maybe!

First "real" day of preschool - September 5th

...and somebody sneaking up behind!  (Little Sister loves the backpack)

A little before-school game of chase-[the backpack]-around-the-table

Fast forward a few weeks...

Headed outside for some playtime (and off she goes!...)

My girls :)

Hold everything...there's something in my toes!

action shot

They're drumming on the dark blue one together

Jammin'

Love this one!  She was holding onto me, just watching Hollie play behind me.  I tried a few times, and this was the best picture I got.

I'm not sure what happened here...whether Blake got pulled or Hollie got pushed.

Either way they both thought it was great fun.

My cuties.  :)

That one of Blake is our new computer background.  We occasionally put different icons in her mouth.

Big smile!

Blake is one serious baby.  It takes a lot for her to crack a smile like this.  I was trying (unsuccessfully) to play hide-and-seek with Hollie (she always told me where she was going to hide, or wanted to tell me where to hide), and here, Blake found me!

After we got inside - dancing (sans music) in the kitchen.