The girls start learning to swim

THURSDAY morning the girls and I had women's Bible study for church.  Emily slept in almost until it was time to go and I thought I would maybe leave her with David but then she woke up so I brought her along.  It worked out because Dave ended up going out for coffee with his friend Jon.  Since most of the kids are out of school right now, our Thursday morning Bible study now has Ella and Chloe baby-sitting while we meet.  It's so much nicer and we were so less distracted!  Ella and Chloe dressed all of the little girls in dress-ups and paraded them around outside.  I told them to make sure to get some pictures and they did!

Sara Cate, Haley, Evelyn, and Lucy

Emy Lu!

Haley LOVED the dress-ups.  Notice she has two headbands on.

Haley had a great time playing while we were there, she was actually pretty mad when it was time to go.  I talked to one of my friends Meg while we were there about what she did for her little girl Sara Cate when she was little with swimming.  Meg always talks about how Haley reminds her exactly of how Sara Cate was when her age and is tiny like Sara Cate was.  Anyways, I wanted to know what they used for her in the pool so I could try the same thing with Haley since she is so small and easily worms her way out of everything we've put on her.  Meg said that Sara Cate did the same thing so they just taught her to swim.  Sara Cate's Birthday is one day before Haley's and the spring that she was Haley's age now (2 years old) she learned to swim.  I couldn't believe it but Meg said they actually learn faster when they are young and they didn't even have to reteach her every year.  Meg also happens to be a certified swim instructor so I had her give me all of her pointers and I'm now seriously thinking of teaching Haley to swim, we'll see.

After Bible study we came home and had lunch with David and then we put the girls down for naps.  The girls must have been pretty tired after their exciting morning because Haley slept three hours and Emily slept over FOUR hours!  She woke up as fresh as a daisy!  I put her in the den with Haley and David who were playing in the kitchen while I made dinner.  We had pork chops and mashed potatoes for dinner and Haley and Emily both ate a bunch of the pork chop, I was super impressed.  Haley kept saying, "I like pork chops!"  After dinner I went and had Bible study with Chloe, Ella, and Amanda at a new cafe in town and David went to the park with the girls.

David said the park was pretty empty so Haley had most of the thing to herself.  It worked out because she kept climbing up the slide the wrong way.  After the park they came home and David gave them baths and then gave them applesauce and pizza for snack and then put them to bed.

TODAY we did not have much on the agenda.  Haley woke up just after seven and came to our bed and slept another hour and a half.  We were out of waffles so I made pancakes for breakfast and Haley and Emy ate a bunch.  I'm not sure how many Haley ate because she just kept taking them off the plate herself.  After breakfast the girls played for a while and then we went to the gym.  David and I ran together and then I took a shower while he did weights.  Haley did not want to go to the gym at first but she ended up going right in and she was happily watching a movie when we picked them up.

After the gym we came home and had lunch and then we put the girls down for naps.  Haley slept about two and a half hours and Emily slept about three.  After naps they played in the den.  We also spent a little bit of time outside watching the contractors.  We are getting our sewage hooked up to city sewer so the contractor came today and worked on the city part of the job.  The city is paying to extend the line in the road to our house and we will pay to connect the house to the road.  Pops and David went to the city and talked to them when Pops was here in April and that really was a genius idea because our contractor just can't believe that the city is offering to pay for anything, he says that NEVER happens.

We decided to have a family date tonight so we went to Chick-fil-A.  We bought a coupon booklet a couple months ago so that is our little excuse to go, we'll take any excuse to go there really.  Haley and Emily both ate pretty well, Haley especially.  Haley also played on the playground there for a while.  She's just gotten big enough to open the door to the playground by herself and that makes it a lot more relaxing for David and I!  After Chick-fil-A we came home and changed into our bathing suits and waited for some people to come by and pick up an end table from the storage unit for $22 which puts our total up to $111!  After they came we packed up in the van and drove to the gym for their Friday night family swim.  We decided to work on some of Haley's swimming techniques.  We worked on teaching Haley to hold her breath under water and kick.  Haley actually did really well, she did not mind going under water for the most part and was kicking really hard.  We were in a resistance pool except we were going with the current so I think that helped too.

In my research to find tips for teaching Haley to swim, I actually found a lot more stuff about teaching babies to swim, babies like Emy.  I tried some of the tips on Emy and she did so good!  She naturally holds her breath under water and naturally kicks and uses her arms.  Everytime she'd go under water she'd come back up with a huge smile on her face, next time we'll have to take some video.  She actually kind of swam from David to me a couple of times.  It's hard to tell if she was actually propelling herself forward on her own though because David pushed her and I'm sure the current helped.  It was only a foot or so between us but she never sunk or anything.  Emy was actually a lot better at swimming than Haley overall.

After our swim time we went straight from the gym to Kroger to pick up a few things.  They are having a huge meat sale and we wanted to pick up some ice cream for dessert.  We made it in and out fairly quickly, although Haley did use the bathroom once.  After Kroger we came home and ate ice cream except Emy had applesauce and then we put the girls to bed.  They went right to sleep, I think they were tired from their swimming!

Haleyism:
On the way home from the park with David yesterday Haley randomly said, "I like chicken!"

Emilyism:
Emily's first tooth popped out of her gums!  It's her lower right tooth.

Climbing at the park

Can you find Haley?

Little monkey

In the swings

Playing kitchen

Haley loves serving up the food

Emily was so happy after her long nap

Emily loves this bear that Aunt Rin got Haley for her 1st Birthday.

I like Haley in this one

Church at our house

WEDNESDAY morning was our first morning in a long time that we didn't have BSF.  It was kind of sad actually.  I had a spot for Emily at the gym so we went there instead.  I ran and then showered and got ready for the day.  On the way out we stopped by a little farmer's market they had set up in the parking lot.  Apparently they have it there every Wednesday morning.  I was looking for sweet corn but it's not in season yet.  After the gym we came home and I put Emily in the swing to nap while I cleaned.  Haley played in the den.

I waited too long to pull lunch out because all at once Haley got super cranky which means she's hungry.  I made her a sandwich and basically had to bribe her to eat it and then she ate it and calmed down.  She is so odd with that.  When she's hungry she gets so cranky and mad that she doesn't want to eat.  Unfortunately the only thing that helps her snap out of it is eating.  She ate half of a sandwich and was a different child.  Her crying had woken Emily up so I fed Emily and then set her and Haley up in the den to play while I started sweeping and mopping.  They play really nicely together but every so often Haley is mean and takes things from Emily and says 'mine!'  Sometimes Emily cries and when she does Haley gives it right back and tells her, 'it's okay Emily, here it is.'  She hates to hear Emily cry which is ironic since she is usually the ones that makes her.

I put them to bed around 1:30 and Emily didn't even sleep two hours before she woke up crying which woke Haley up.  I thought that was super odd since Emily consistently takes three hour naps.  I had just finished mopping the hardwood and it was still a little wet too.  Kind of a bummer.  They helped me vacuum the house and get everything ready for church in the evening.  For Wednesday nights in the summer we are going to be having our potluck at people's homes.  Our house was Wednesday night so I didn't have to make anything, I just had to provide water and paper products.  It was actually a pretty easy gig.  At 4:50 we loaded in the van and I met two people at Kroger to sell a table and some Christmas ornaments.  They had already bought it online so I was just delivering and collecting.  It was nice that both people could do the same place and same time.  My total profit on the storage unit is now $89.

When we got home David was just pulling in from work.  He played with Haley while I fed Emily an early dinner and church people started to arrive just before six.  Haley was starting to get hungry-cranky again but as soon as the Mason kids arrived she was all happy and ready to play.  We had the food inside on the kitchen table and then people went outside and in the living room to eat.  Haley ate outside at the picnic table with Evelyn and Lucy.  Emily was super cranky from her short nap and I'm about 99% sure she has a tooth coming in.  I can see it coming but I don't think it has quite poked through yet.  I held her a lot of the night but she wouldn't really go to anyone else, not even David.

We set up the bean bag game in the backyard and that was a big hit, good anniversary gift Mom!  People kept referencing me for rules and to be quite honest, I ended up making up quite a few.  I figured if I sounded confident saying them than they would believe me and they did.  Do you play to 21?  Everyone started filtering out around 8:30 and I think the last people left just before 9.  We gave the girls some applesauce for snack and then put them to bed.

I was going to write for today too but I think this post is plenty long!

Haleyism:
Haley has a HUGE crush on a little boy named Owen.  He is eight years old and she constantly talks about him.  On the way to Kroger to exchange my storage unit stuff she started chanting Owen over and over.  She  kept tabs on him for a lot of the evening too.  He's a nice kid I guess but I'm not exactly sure what she sees in him...

Emilyism:
No crawling today, just the weird bear crawl pose.

Emily thinking about it...

Getting in position

Got out of position, now just thinking...

Emily pulls herself up!

Today started out a little earlier than usual because Haley woke up around 7:15.  It's actually a miracle that she didn't wake up earlier than that because she woke up wet with pee because someone forgot to put a pull-up on her before bed.  I had a MOPS organizational meeting at 9:30 and I had to go early to make some copies so I decided to just start my morning early.  Haley was a little loud so Emily was awake by 8 and David got them breakfast.  He had to work today but didn't have to leave until 8:45.  The early wake-up time actually helped because we ended up getting out the door in plenty of time.

Emily and Haley were in the same class so I dropped them off together and then went to my meeting.  Emily still doesn't have any separation anxiety, she'll go to anyone.  I told them that she might be tired and when I went to pick them up she was sleeping in the baby room.  She woke up as people started picking up her kids so I went and grabbed her.  There was another kid in there zonked out in a swing.  My friend Amy had invited all of MOPS steering team to her in-laws house to swim and eat lunch.  Those of us who went packed lunches and swimsuits and we went there right after the meeting.

Amy's in-laws have a gorgeous pool, I really should have taken a picture.  First off, it's huge.  It has a diving board, hot tub, slide (not a plastic cheap one, a big one that's built into the side of a stone wall thing, hard to explain), waterfall, and a shallow part for babies to play.  It really is the perfect pool for all ages.  We decided to swim before we ate because Haley was too excited to focus on eating.  However, I don't know if she was quite as excited as Emily was.  As soon as I put Emily in the pool she started flailing her arms and legs and doing a kind of shriek-laugh that she does.  I sat with her for a while in the baby part and then eventually I put her in an infant floatie and she spent a lot of the time in that.

Haley also actually spent a lot of time with that infant floatie.  She held onto the edge of it and I pulled them around.  Haley did pretty well kicking along as she held onto the floatie, I think she may be a good swimmer like her daddy!  Haley also liked to jump off the edge to me.  I let her go under water when she jumped to get her used to that, she didn't seem to mind.  Another mom was there with her little boy who is about four months older than Haley.  I don't think he went in past his ankles.

We headed out after 1 and the kids were in bed for naps by 2.  Haley said she was hungry and I told her I would give her a snack when she woke up and she seemed okay with that.  She seemed okay, but apparently her hungry tummy kept her awake because she sat in her bed and talked and sang for an hour!  She kept singing the Doxology over and over.  Finally I went in there and gave her a tortilla (strange but true) and she ate some of that and then fell asleep.  She woke up with some dry gross tortillas in her bed but whatever.  Emily woke up at 4:45 and I let her talk and play in her crib until she woke up Haley.  David was home then so he played with the girls while I posted more stuff online to sell.  I sold a TV tray today for $6 which puts our total up to $64 and I am going to meet someone at Kroger to give them a random table for $15 which will put us up to $79.  Sadly this is a dollar short of what David makes in 2 hours of flight instructing, haha.

We fed the girls an applesauce snack and then headed to the gym at 5:30.  David and I ran outside and then did some weights and stretches inside.  When we went to pick up the girls Emily saw us and immediately started crying.  It was kind of sweet, I think she was tired.  We went home and ate dinner right away.  Then we realized that we needed some light bulbs and duct tape so we made a quick trip to Wal-mart.  It worked out that we did because then Haley and Emily got to have some dessert.  We went to the bakery area and the lady gave us four cookies!  Haley gave one to Emily and polished off the rest.  Maybe she shouldn't have given any to Emily because after a couple minutes Emily looked like this:

Yucky baby

She is a mess

After Wal-mart we came home and played with the girls in the den.  Well, Daddy played with them by himself at first because I was selling some Christmas ornaments online, haha, another $10!  Then Haley helped me fold some laundry while singing a thousand verses of 'Wheels on the Bus.'  When Haley gets a song stunk in her head, it is in there for a long time.  Finally around 9:15 we realized that it was 9:15!  We put the girls in their pajamas and put them to bed and they went right down.  They were just playing so nicely that we didn't think about what time it was.

Haleyism:

Haley was helping me carry laundry to her room and as I was putting it away she told me that she was going to go get more laundry.  I said okay and she hurried off.  About thirty seconds later she came back into the room and yelled 'Just kidding!'  

Emilyism:
Emily pulls up on stuff!  David kept telling me that she could pull up because she pulls up on him but I kind of thought he must be helping her.  However, tonight she pulled up on the laundry basket, no assistance needed.

This girl can pull herself up, and eat clothes!

Digging in the laundry basket.  See if you can find Haley in there.  I'll give you a hint, she had just climbed in and the skin part is her lower leg and foot.

Emily's fingernails get so sharp even though David cuts them all the time.  Tonight he filed them to see if that would help, it didn't really.

She likes to watch, I couldn't get her to look up at me!

Finally she peeled her eyes away

Memorial Day

Today was not a normal day, it's Memorial day!  I decided to forgo cleaning in observance of the holiday.  I did do laundry though, that really couldn't be pushed back.  Haley woke up around 8:30 and Emily slept until  after 9.  I actually headed out at 9 to meet someone at a random feed store because they wanted to buy one of the shelves we got from the storage unit.  I thought she might change her mind when she saw them in person since they really don't look so great up close but she took them right away and didn't even try to negotiate the price!  That put us up to $53 on storage unit profit.

After I dropped the shelf off I came home and David was just finishing feeding Haley, Emy was still sleeping. Then David went out to mow the lawn and Haley and I played until Emy woke up.  Then I got both girls dressed and we played some more in the den.  A lady came by to pick up a stool from the storage unit she claimed online which put our total profit to $58.  Then I loaded up the girls in the van and we went out to grab some things for our Memorial day dinner.  First we stopped at the Dollar store to get some hotdog and hamburger buns.  I know that seems random but the Dollar store sells name brand bread for $1!  We get loaves of Nature's Own for only a dollar!  Somebody just told me about this a month or so ago so I'm still pretty excited about it.

After the Dollar Store we ran by Old Navy to take a shirt back.  Then we went to Wal-mart for some ingredients for a dessert I wanted to make.  We stopped by the bakery for a cookie and ended up having to stop by the bathrooms too.  Wal-mart bathrooms are the worst but Haley always seems to have the urge to go anytime we walk in.  We were in and out fairly quickly and then came home for lunch and naps.  Emily hardly ate anything, I think she was too tired.  I ended up putting her to bed and Haley followed after a couple bites of a tortilla.  It worked out then because David and I could eat lunch together in peace.

While the girls napped we made the dessert and got everything ready to go so we could walk out the door as soon as they woke up.  They ended up waking up after sleeping two and a half hours and then we went to the Smith's pool right away.  Haley was a little uncertain about the pool at first.  They had a baby pool set up and she spent a lot more time in there.  Leeland was sleeping when we got there but after he woke up he jumped right into the big pool and I think that inspired Haley.  She mostly stayed on the steps of the big pool but she was a lot less nervous about everything.

The Smiths and the Creechs were also there and it turned out to be a great afternoon and evening.  Emily was super easy and loved being in either pool, she loves water as long as it's not too cold.  Haley loved swimming in the big pool as long as it was with Daddy.  He put her on his back and gave her sea horsey rides all around the pool.  She also jumped off the side of the pool to David and Jon over and over again.  David even let her go under most of the time and she did really well with it.  We had bratwursts and burgers for dinner with a baked bean casserole thing, everything was really good.  I had packed a banana for Emily so she ate that and some roll.  Haley ate a bunch of cheese slices and most of a hamburger roll.

After dinner the kids played in the baby pool while the adults talked.  Then I changed the girls out of their swimsuits and put their pajamas on and Haley and Leeland watched an episode of Arthur inside.  We ended up staying until around 8:30 and then headed home.  We gave the girls a snack when we got home and then put them to bed.  It was a great Memorial day but we were sad to not see our Grandpas on Memorial Day.  Grandpa DeWalt served in the marines and Grandpa Wybenga served in the army, we especially think of them and thank them on Memorial Day!

Haleyism:
Haley loved watching Weston and Jon jump off the diving board.  She would yell "that's a crazy one" everytime.

Emilyism:
David was holding Emily and she was fussy and Meagan wanted to take her and as soon as David passed her off she stopped crying.  I guess she was getting sick of him or something.

Emily and Kinsley hanging out

Haley trying to join their club

Well the baby pool was warmer so yeah, Sarah and I sat in there with the kids for a while.

This picture is too wide or something but Sarah took this of Haley after she and Leeland were done playing in some 'sand' that Meagan made with flour and baby oil.  She saw it on pinterest, it was a cool idea.

Happy Birthday Abuelita! Love, Haley and Emily

Today was Abuelita's Birthday!  We were sad to not be with her on her Birthday but we look forward to visiting her in Michigan sometime soon this summer.  I'm hoping for a visit in June, David is still working on getting some time off.  Anyways, Happy Birthday Abuelita, we miss you!

Abuelita giving Haley a bath in Mexico

Haley and Abuelita in Mexico.  We visited Mexico for Christmas in 2011

Haley and Abuelita playing piano at Christmas just this past year

A squeeze for Emily at Christmas

This was taken when Abuelita, Abuelito, and Chris came to our house for Thanksgiving this past year.  It was so fun to have them and it was our first Thanksgiving to stay in Texas.  We really appreciate them coming!

Haley and Abuelita at Thanksgiving

Putting Emily to sleep at Thanksgiving

Hanging out with Haley at Thanksgiving

She has not lost her touch!

 Sunday was such a relaxing day after our busy Friday and Saturday.  For whatever reason, Haley was up and at 'em by 7:30.  Emily woke up around 8 and I fed them right away.  David had to leave early for church because he was helping lead worship so I was on my own to get everyone ready on time.  They were both pretty gross after their waffles so I put them in the tub while I showered and then I filled it up and let them play in there while I got ready for church.  Then I pulled them out and got them ready and we headed out.  Haley was being super helpful when we were getting ready to go.  I asked her to put a couple things in the diaper bag and give Emy her paci and she did everything right away.

The goodness must have worn off when we got to church though.  David was playing up front so I had Haley next to me and held Emily.  For whatever reason, Haley really wanted to be held.  She kept trying to climb up me and at one point started half throwing a fit and kicking when I wouldn't.  I put Emily down and took her to the back bathroom and gave her a spanking.  I felt like she just needed a spanking and that would knock it out of her.  Well, it actually made her all weepy and clingy and almost worse so I sat for a lot of the worship part so I could hold Emily and cuddle Haley at the same time.  Fail.

Haley was still a little clingy when it was time to go to her class but I dropped her off and left right away and she did fine.  Maybe she was just tired of me and didn't know it.  Emily contributed her fair share of mayhem by booing in her diaper...twice.  After church Haley ate an entire donut and wanted another one but there was only like one left and she had just eaten one so I told her no and she was sad.  I think her whole attitude may have been partly because she was hungry (and yet entirely because she is sinful!) because when we got home she ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich and some of a quesadilla.  Then we put Emily and Haley to bed and they went right to sleep.  They both slept almost three hours and then Emily woke up crying and Haley woke up from that.

We played with the girls for a while and then I got started on dinner because we had invited the Caldwells over.  David went out and grabbed some tortillas and chips and I made Mexican rice and put the meat in the oven.  They arrived around 5:30 and we ate shortly after.  Haley, Evelyn, and Lucy played so nicely together for most of the evening.  We had to break them up maybe two or three times.  The Caldwells had just been yardsaling on Saturday and had bought one of those four-wheeler things that you can ride on and they brought that along.  Haley was not too impressed and was so bad at driving it.  She kept running into stuff, she definitely could not understand the concept of turning.  It was a bleak look into our future of her as a sixteen year old.

After dinner we went outside and talked while the kids played and took turns riding the four wheeler.  Then I got out some ice cream for dessert and we ate that and talked some more.  The Caldwells didn't end up heading out until nine so I feel like it was definitely a successful evening.  We put the girls in their jammies, gave them a snack, and then put them to bed and they both went down right away.  I've noticed that when Emy has a snack before bed she sleeps twelve hours through instead of waking up at 5 or 6.  It prolongs bedtime a couple minutes but it is so worth it.

Haleyism:
If David is playing rough with Emy Haley will scold him and say things like, "don't do that Daddy, she doesn't like it!"  or "be careful daddy!"  It's really cute.

Emilyism:
Emily is not crawling but she can propel herself forward in a kind of army crawl thing.  David calls it crawling and I call it creeping.  He took a video of her below:

 I feel like this is more like a creep than a crawl

We buy a storage unit

Well we have had a pretty busy last two days.  It all started on Friday morning.  I wanted to go to another storage auction and David didn't have to work so we all went together.  It started at ten so we had plenty of time to get showered and eat breakfast and get out the door.  We arrived in plenty of time and ended up waiting a couple minutes for the auction to start.  They were only selling off four units so it was a quick sale.  

The first two were really just awful.  They had super gross couches in them and tons of junk strewn all over the floor.  The auctioneer tried desperately to get people to bid but no one wanted any part of it.  By the end he was asking for five dollars and we were all just standing there staring.  Both of the units got closed up with no buyers.  As we were walking to the third one I heard one guy say, "that was about the worst unit I've ever seen."  The third unit did not have any super big items in it and was not near a full.  There was a crib and a couple other items that looked nice so I asked David his opinion and he said it was a green.  We ended up getting the unit for $100 which was fine except that was the highest we were going to go so we paid the most we were willing to pay.  Not going to lie, it felt pretty crazy.  We closed it up and acted like we knew what we were doing and then went to the fourth unit.  The fourth unit had one big over-stuffed chair in floral fabric in it and a tv.  The people who won it got it for $20.  Afterwards the storage unit owner came up to us and said that he would give us the first two units if we cleared them out.  We declined telling him we only had a minivan and there was no way we could get that stuff out of there.  I felt like saying, "dude, if we didn't want it for $5, we don't want it for free either!"

We paid the lady and then headed back to our unit.  I got my picture taken with it:  

David pretending to be Barry from Storage Wars

Then we got to work cleaning it out.  We let the girls play in the van while David and I loaded up the back.  We got about half of the unit loaded up and then closed it up and took it home.  Emily fell asleep on the way home so we quickly unloaded what we had and went back for more.  Emily woke up on our way back to the unit.  The second time we got everything except a table and an old stereo which David said he would go back and get later.  Then we went home and I cleaned up some of the nicer stuff and posted it on craigslist.  Then I fed the girls lunch and put them down for naps.  While they slept I went through most of the boxes and sorted stuff for trash and yardsale.  

After talking it over, David and I decided that we might as well do a yardsale Saturday morning because we didn't have anything else to do and we wanted to get rid of everything asap.  I posted an announcement on craigslist for that.  The girls took great naps.  Haley slept almost three hours and Emily slept almost four.  When they woke up they played in the den and outside while David and I continued going through stuff.  Our big surprise finds were a Nintendo DS Lite and a Coach purse.  We looked up a bunch of stuff online to figure out if the Coach purse was real and we found that it is real but it was bought at a factory store.  We couldn't find a charger anywhere with the DS so we weren't able to see if it worked but it was still a good find I think.

For dinner we fed  the girls frozen pizza and then I went and picked up Chloe to baby-sit because we were going out with friends.  We went with a young married couple from church named Michael and Kelsey Grubbs.  They don't have any kids yet but they are probably pretty okay with that since they've just been married a year.  We went to a place about thirty minutes away called Los Pinos.  It was a really beautiful restaurant situated on a vineyard.  I think Daniel took Aunt Rin there once.  It was nice to hang out with another couple without the kids and I felt even better when Chloe texted me and said that the girls went to sleep without any trouble!  We got home around 11 and Chloe said that the night went great for her.  We had told Haley to 'obey Chloe' when we left and Chloe said that Haley kept repeating those instructions over and over.  I took Chloe home and stopped by Wal-mart on my way home to pick up poster board for the yard sale.  Then I came home and David and I went to bed.

TODAY David and I both got up bright and early to get started on the yard sale.  David went back to the storage unit to pick up the last two items and I brought all of our stuff to the front yard and arranged it.  Haley woke up just as we were finishing bringing everything to the front.  David took her with him to break a twenty so we had change and put out the signs.  The rest of the day was pretty low-key actually.  We sat in our lawn chairs and waited for people to come.  People always seemed to come in spurts.  Whenever one person pulled in, two or three would follow.  David ended up pulling Daniel's car up in our front yard so that it would look like someone was always at the sale.  I guess we should give Daniel a cut of our profits.  

It ended up going a little differently than I had thought.  A lot of people came by and bought small items that I considered trash.  Such as an old wooden cutting board (um, gross), a cell phone charger, silverware, an old super heavy tv (we actually had 2 of those, they both sold), an old stereo that only had one speaker (it looked like it was from the 90s), and a black ceramic panther (sooo random).  There were a couple pyrex baking dishes and those went super fast, keep your eyes out for those, they are hot!  It wasn't until the end of the day that the crib sold and an old couple came in the morning and then came back in the afternoon with a Nintendo charger to see if the DS Lite would work.  It did!  We sold it for $25 which was a good price for not being sure if it worked but a steal since it did work.  I was happy to let them hunt down the charger and everything anyways.  

The girls hung out with us for most of the time.  There were a couple times where David or I took them inside to play or eat.  Emily went down for a nap just before eleven and then David and I took turns manning the sale and taking showers.  I'm sure business improved once we didn't smell worse than the stuff we were selling.  Haley went down for a nap around 1:30 and Emily ended up sleeping 3 1/2 hours and woke up at 2:30.  By then the sale was winding down but I still sat out there just in case.  Around 3 we loaded up the van with the junk that didn't sell and David took that to Goodwill.  There were quite a few bigger things left including a lamp, an end table, folding cabinets, and a stool.  I listed them on a Facebook group called Longview Garage sale and the stool sold on there after about ten minutes.  Apparently they're going to pick it up tomorrow.  Without the big stuff sold we ended up profiting $30 with total sales adding up to $138.  I kept a couple of the small things too including a hand-painted Satsoma bowl.  I had it listed for $2 but come to find out that there are a bunch on Ebay for $50 and up!  I don't like selling on Ebay though so we'll see.  The Coach purse also didn't sell so I'll probably put it on that Longview facebook site too. 

We were pretty pooped after the yard sale so we decided to pack a dinner and go to the splash pad.  It was not super hot out but we figured it would still be nice to get out.  Actually the high today was only 82 and it wasn't very sunny so it ended up being a perfect day for a yard sale.  The splash pad was pretty full but it started sprinkling shortly after we left so a lot of people left.  We sat under one of the pavilions and watched Haley play, she totally didn't notice that it was raining.  She is getting a lot more brave with the water, there were a couple sprinkler things that she ran right through.  After about an hour and a half it started to get windy and then we heard some thunder and decided to call it quits.

We stopped by Kroger and picked up some ice cream for ice cream sundaes when we got home.  Haley could probably eat her weight in ice cream.  She prefers a little bit of Hershey's syrup and a few sprinkles on hers.  Emily had fallen asleep on the way home so she missed out on dessert.  After the ice cream we let Haley play for a while because she had taken a three hour nap in the afternoon.  Emily woke up in her infant seat after a bit and I fed her and then put her back to bed in her crib.  Haley played nicely and was still going strong at 8:30 but we decided to put her down and she went right to sleep.

Haleyism:

We all sat out on our lawn chairs and watched people come and go, it was kind of fun.  Anyways, at one point Haley was sitting there singing the Doxology really loud, she was being a good witness.

Emilyism:

Emily got a lot of compliments from people at the yard sale.  They mostly commented on her blue eyes.

Yardsalerism:
Some people stopped by to look at the 'dolls' they saw sitting out.  They said they were shocked when they got out of their car and realized they were real children, haha.

If you look closely you can see that there are two girls in this stroller!

This was after the splash pad, I packed their pajamas and just put them in them after they were done.

Emily puts up with Haley pretty well

Hanging out at the yard sale.  That had didn't sell by the way, haha.

Yeeaahh, neither did those gloves.

Dancing at the splash pad

More dancing at the splash pad

Everyone goes to the splash pad

Thursday morning we had been invited to go to the Splash Pad with a bunch of other moms and their kids.  We packed a lunch and headed out around 9:30.  Emily had slept in until almost nine so I decided to just skip her morning nap and stay for the whole morning and lunch.  It turns out that a lot of people decided to do that on Thursday.  When we got there two buses were just pulling up with a bunch of kids from one of the elementary schools in Longview.  There were a lot of kids.  Most of them were pretty well behaved and there weren't too many running around and knocking kids over (although there were some).  The biggest downside was that it was just really loud.  I could hardly have a conversation with the moms next to me because of all the laughing, shrieking, and yelling.  Haley played with her buckets and spent a lot of time just staring at other children.  Amanda was there with Evelyn and Lucy so she ran around with Lucy for a while and Meagan was there with Leeland so she spent some time with him too.

We ended up eating lunch rather early because Haley was hungry.  She has never seemed to enjoy peanut butter and jelly but she was hungry enough to get over it because she ate almost an entire sandwich!  Emily also ate pieces of sandwich and some of a banana that I had brought.  There was a short interlude where all of the Longview kids stopped playing and ate lunch and then it was a lot quieter.  We decided to head out around 1 because it was time for naps.  Unfortunately, that was the time when the buses pulled up and all of the school kids left too.  I guess next time we'll show up at 1 or something.

Haley and Emily were pretty tired after their busy afternoon.  Haley ended up sleeping almost three hours and Emily slept four!  Emily actually didn't sleep four hours straight.  She woke up after an hour and a half but still seemed tired so I fed her and put her back in her crib and she went right back to sleep.  After Haley woke up she hung out in the kitchen while I made dinner.  When David got home we ate dinner together and then sat out on the porch for a while.  I had made some no-bake cookies for dessert and Bible study and for Haley they are so messy to eat so that's why we went outside.  Then David stayed with the girls while I went and picked up Ella and Chloe for Bible study.

While I did Bible study with the girls, David bathed Haley and Emily and then they watched a Dora movie on the laptop in our room.  Then David gave the girls applesauce for snack before bed and put them down.  I think we're going to be feeding applesauce to Emily every night before bed now because she slept through the night until 8:30!  She had been waking up once during the night around 5.

Haleyism:
Today Emily was in her high chair waiting for me to bring her food and she was fussing.  Haley walked up and said "it's okay Emily!"  Then she went and found her paci and put it on the tray.  Haley is a great big sister.

Emilyism:
Today David was playing wild with Emily and had her all crazy and upside down and she threw up in his face.  We'll see if he's learned his lesson!

Hands in her pockets saying cheese.  So cute.

Running around with her cookie

I love her pointed toe

Watching Dora on the bed

Sisters

Back view

First day in the pool!

Today felt a lot like a Monday because I decided to clean and have Lucy over today instead of Monday.  David was supposed to work but he ended up not having to so I was able to go to my BSF share time in the morning.  The last BSF meeting of the year does not include child care because the children's workers are in with everybody in case they want to share.  I didn't share anything but it was so cool to hear everyone else talk.  There were some people that seemed to be living through every lesson we were learning in Genesis, it was so neat.  While I was gone, David was at home with the girls.  He gave them baths and got them dressed and fed them.  Lucy arrived around 9:30 and he said that she and Haley played nicely.  Emily got tired around ten thirty so he put her down for a nap.  When I got home David was laying in the middle of the floor of the den and Haley and Lucy were playing around him and walking over him/on top of him as if he wasn't there.  I got right to work cleaning bathrooms and dusting.  Haley and Lucy wandered into the bathroom every so often and used the potty or just watched me clean.

David woke Emily up around 11:30 so that she would sleep later and then we all had lunch.  Amanda had made us cookies since it was our last time with Lucy before the summer and Haley and her had already eaten most of the plate so they didn't eat too much for lunch.  I gave them one cookie each but when I walked by the plate later, most of them were gone.  I guess I should have put them out of reach.  After lunch the girls played outside for a while and then I put them down for naps.  Lucy went right down but Haley and Emily kept eachother awake with crying and talking.  They took turns being loud and after over an hour David moved Haley to our bed and then both girls went right to sleep.  Emily only slept about an hour and a half and then she woke up, lame.  Haley ended up sleeping so long that we had to wake her up.

 Lucy woke up and Ben came and picked her up while Haley was still sleeping.  Actually, Lucy went boo boo in the potty for me!  I know they have really been working on that lately and if you may remember, she booed in her pull-up last week and I hosed her off.  Today, before she went for a nap I reminded her to tell me when she had to go boo so that I wouldn't have to hose her off.  She must have remembered because when she woke up from her nap she went right away.  I was pretty excited for her and I had some ice cream in the freezer so I gave her a bowl of that and she ate it outside.  Hopefully she got the message: boo in the potty gets you ice cream, boo in your pants gets you hosed off.

This evening we did our church potluck a little bit differently.  We all met at an older couple from church's house and had a wedding shower for a couple in our church who are getting married this July.  The people had a pool and we all got them some kind of 'tool' so the theme was 'tools by the pool.'  Amanda did the decorating and everything looked so good, it was very impressive.  We brought our bean bag game and that was a pretty big hit.  The pool water was actually pretty warm so I ended up putting bathing suits on both girls and they both got in.  Haley had to warm up to the idea at first but I was really glad about that because last year she jumped off the side with reckless abandonment.  This year she was a lot more timid thank goodness.  Emily loved the water.  She was kicking and flailing her arms like a crazy baby.  We had burgers and hotdogs for dinner and ice cream sundaes for dessert.  One of the games was to guess what your spouse was going to put on their sundaes and David guessed mine perfectly:  bananas, whipped cream, chocolate, and chocolate sprinkles.  I guess rainbow sprinkles, and caramel for David but he just put rainbow sprinkles on.  When I asked him why he didn't put caramel on he made a face and said, "not with the sprinkles!"

Haley probably asked to use the potty about four or five times when she was in the pool.  I kept having to get her out and take her to the potty.  After she got out and was all dry and dressed, she had an accident in her clothes!  I thought it was ironic because I would not have cared at all if she had just gone in the pool but I totally cared when it was in her clothes!  Emily did really well at the party much to my surprise, I thought she might get cranky after her super short nap.  She got passed around a lot and spent a lot of time in the pool.  We left around 9 and Emily fell asleep in the van right away.  When we got home we put them in their beds and they went right to sleep.

Haleyism:
Haley kept moving her legs back and forth in the pool (one at a time) and she would yell, "look mommy!  I'm swimming!"

Emilyism:
I thought Emily would hate the pool since she hates the water at the splash pad but she loved the it.  Also, this was Emily's first time in a pool!

Hanging at the pool

Everybody kept commenting how Emy looked like she was doing a swimsuit ad

Lunch with the girls