Friday-Saturday

FRIDAY was a pretty low key day.  David had to work and left really early and the girls and I got up and took our time getting ready.  We were meeting the Caldwells at a kid's educational store down the road because every Tuesday and Friday they have a story time followed by a craft time.  This week's book was the Hungry Hungry Caterpillar and the craft was to paint a caterpillar using potatoes.  Haley listened really well during the story but I think Emily was even more captivated, I should take time to read to Emy more, she was really into it.  After the story Haley made her caterpillar craft and then spent a while playing with the toys in the store before we headed out.  We got home and I started on lunch while we waited for a lady to come and pick up a big screen TV she bought from us online.  It was a huge TV but pretty old we think.  Anyways, David liked to say, 'at least I can say I owned a big screen tv at one point, haha.'  

The girls went down for naps and while they were sleeping David got home.  When they woke up we met the Caldwells at the splash pad.  David and Ben followed the girls around and Amanda and I stayed with Emy and talked.  Emy likes to sit at one of the smaller little fountains and hit the water.  Her only problem was anytime the water stopped she would crawl up to where it comes out and start playing with it and she always ended up getting splashed in the face.

After a while the kids started to get hungry so we all decided to have dinner at Five Guys, a burger place that originated up north and has made it's way to Texas.  The burgers were good and they give you tons of fries so we ended up even taking some of those home.  Haley's favorite part was the peanuts.  They have them in a box on the counter and Haley ate tons of those which was great unless you were the one shelling them for her, haha.

The Caldwells gave us the next Star Wars movie so we put that in after we had gotten home and put the girls to bed.  David fell asleep during it, haha.  I guess we can officially say he's not a huge fan.

SATURDAY we all slept in for a little bit and then went to the gym.  David and I ran while the girls played in childcare.  Well, Emily played but Haley probably sat the whole time and watched a movie.  After the gym we came home and played.  The girls were acting kind of cranky so I put them down for a nap around 12:30, about an hour earlier than usual.  They both went right to sleep so I guess that was a good decision.  David went to the Caldwells to help paint their new baby room.  Once the girls woke up I packed them up and we also went.  I helped watch the kids so Amanda could help with the painting.  They watched Toy Story.  Haley laughs super loud and obnoxiously at any point that is remotely funny.  Usually it is during the slapstick humor parts, like when somebody falls or something.  By the time they were finished painting it was time for dinner so we invited them to come over and have hotdogs and brats with us.  I came home first with the girls and ran by Wal-mart to pick up hotdogs and buns.  Haley was excited to see Evelyn and Lucy again, we had to pull them away from toys to come eat.  Haley and Emily ate two hotdogs between them!  Well, Emily dropped a lot of pieces in her chair but she attempted to eat a lot.  The Caldwells headed out soon after dinner and we let Haley and Emily stay up and play a bit before putting them down.  They were both tired and went down right away.

Haleyism:

Haley loves to describe everything that Emy does.  "Look, Emy is crawling.  Look, Emy is saying da-da, look Emy is crying."  

Emilyism:

David and I think that Emy's favorite person is probably Haley.

More fun on Haley's bed

We went in to check on the girls the other night and Emy was sleeping like this

Got herself stuck in a little pickle

Laughing it up at Five Guys

Eating peanuts.  I think that guy behind her might be pregnant!

Major big time catch up

TUESDAY morning we all got up in the morning and went berry picking with a couple families from church. David did not have to leave for work until noon so he got to come along.  I was really glad he did because otherwise we would not have gotten to bring hardly any berries home.  Between Haley using their porta-potty THREE times and Emily wanting to be held, I was pretty busy not picking berries.  Haley was infatuated with the port-a-potty, she always asked to see the boo boo, gross Haley.  David was also especially good at berry picking because I suspect he is a bit taller than their usual pickers, he got all of the ones up high.

After berry picking we came home and said goodbye to David and then headed to Chick-fil-A to meet a couple moms for lunch.  Some girls I know through MOPS were there and then Amanda and Suiledy came, they had been berry picking with us.  Haley ate a bunch of chicken nuggets, I was so impressed.  I think it helped that she was sitting next to Evelyn and across from Lucy and witnessing children eating normally.  I guess she realized that food isn't poisonous after all!  Haley went and played in the playground for awhile after eating and I held Emily and talked with the other moms, it was really nice.  We ended up staying until one and then headed home for naps.

While the girls napped I worked on posting some of our storage unit stuff online.  This will definitely be our most profitable unit, everybody needs a 40" tv apparently.  Also, I already mentioned the spiderman toddler thing, I had people messaging me and trying to have me secretly sell it to them even though they didn't see it first, oh my.  In the end, twelve people wanted that!  Haley took a three hour nap, that was kind of a nice surprise.  Emily only slept an hour, kind of a mean thing to do I thought.

At four I took the girls to Masons so I could tutor Caroline.  The girls played with Bonnie and the boys while I met with Caroline and then we stayed and visited for a little bit before heading home.  When we got home I started on dinner because we had invited Suiledy and her 4 month old Thiago to eat with us.  Suiledy's husband Gustavo is in Kenya on a missions trip with EMI and David was overnight in Washington D.C. so I had invited her over.  I decided to do breakfast for dinner since we had just picked all of those blueberries and I had a bunch of eggs that were going to go old soon.  Suiledy brought some orange juice and some blueberry jam that she had already made with some of the blueberries.  Um, impressive!  After dinner she stayed and talked for a while and then headed out.  I let the girls stay up a little longer and then they went to bed.  Emy gave me a bit of a hard time because she kept pulling up on the crib and then I had to go in and put her back down.

WEDNESDAY we went to the gym in the morning.  I ran and then took a shower.  Emily started making a sad face when I first dropped them off but I ran out of there as quickly as I could and I don't think she ever actually cried.  I think she's pretty easily distracted.  After the gym we came home and I cleaned while the girls played.  Then we had lunch and I put the girls down for naps.  Emily was awake after hardly an hour but I put her in the swing and she went back to sleep while I finished cleaning.  Once both girls were awake we vacuumed and made our dish for the church potluck.

Through the summer we are meeting in people's homes for the potluck instead of the building we rent because it is cheaper and so many people are gone anyways.  This week's potluck was at the Caldwell's house and Haley was pretty excited about it.  She played really nicely for most of the time, we had to break up a few fights here and there though.  David came straight from the airport and met us there, Haley and Emily were excited to see him.  After the potluck we came home and went to bed.  David put the girls to sleep and they both went down super easy.

David wrote for Thursday on Thursday, so that's why he is writing as if everything happened today:

Today we woke up around 7:30.  Katelyn was already awake and doing her devo's.  I heard Haley open her door and then shut it again.  I got up and saw her bunny in the hallway as I walked up to their door.  When I opened the door, Haley was trying to climb in to Emily's crib and Emily was standing up in there watching her.  Both babies were still sucking on paci's.  I got them out and made them waffles which they ate rather quickly.  Then mommy took a shower while I watched them eat.  I jumped in later with Emily who was extra sticky.  I used to think that Haley was messy till I met Emily.  After my shower I went to meet a guy at starbucks while Katelyn had the ladies over for womens' Bible Study.  Actually, it was woman Bible study because only Meg came.  I got home after a while and they were just finishing up.  Haley was playing really silly with Sarah Kate.  They were pretending to nap and I think Haley was supposed to be the teddy bear or something because SK was holding her, both of them laughing their heads off.  After they left, Katelyn went with Emily to visit a friend who had come back from out of town for a few days.  I stayed home with Haley.  I tricked her into eating some applesauce while she watched Elmo on the iPad.  Then I put her to bed.  Katelyn came home not long after that and put Emily right to sleep.  Then we got to work folding laundry and organizing stuff to sell.  Katelyn had to put together some christmas trees to verify they were easy to set up and all the pieces were there.  Christmas in July to the limit with the mercury rising to 102F.  She put them together outside... Then I left to run an errand and when I got home, the girls were awake.  We played a little while and then put the trees and one other item into the car and went to Hobby Lobby where Katelyn proceeded to meet a woman to sell her the Christmas trees at 4:30, followed by shopping for paint and some picture frames for her youth group tonight, followed by another meeting at 5:30 to sell the other item which was some storage bins for toys.  I have never felt more like a drug dealer in my life, in fact, I'm pretty sure we were being followed by some undercover cops.  We ditched the fuzz by running inconspicuously to Kohl's to buy some baby clothes.  When we were leaving a family was walking in and subsequently walked out within 15 seconds.  I overheard the son say to the mom "This isn't Target idiots!"  Haha, they totally walked into the wrong store before noticing.  By the way, Target is 1/4 mile away in the same parking lot...  That's what you get when you trust your GPS.  Then we came home and I made some spaghetti while talking to Sarah on the phone about her new friend and Katelyn played with the girls.  Then we ate dinner.  Katelyn went to pick up her youth group girls while me and the babies ate popsicles on the front porch.  Popsicles are baby perfume, at least they think so.  They rub the juice all over their bodies.  We then went straight to the tub with Haley saying "No toque nada!" all along the way. (don't touch anything)  I got them in jammies, well actually haley is currently in a diaper, and we watched some dorah while Emily ate a couple mouthfuls of spaghetti.  Then I put them to bed.

Haleyism:
Haley's favorite question is now:  what are you doing?  Great question, unless it is the tenth time she's asked it and you're still doing the same thing!

Emilyism:
Emily loves to crawl up into this little car, I took a picture below.  Our only one of the day, sorry!

She thinks she's sixteen or something

Emily was acting crazy tonight!

Sunday-Monday

 SUNDAY David had to get up early to do Sunday worship and the girls and I got up a little later.  David and I were with the kids during the sermon and we brought Emily with us.  Emily had a great time playing with toys during the lesson and David made her dance along with the songs.  I think she was kind of a distraction to the other kids, especially when her father was making her do break dance moves.  After church the Caldwells had us over for lunch.  Haley was really excited to play with Evelyn and Lucy, she was so busy playing that we really didn't see her too much except when we ate.

The Caldwells are really into Star Wars and have been trying to get David to watch the movies since he's never seen them.  Anyways, David must have been in a pretty good mood because he suggested that we put the kids down for naps at their house and try to get a movie in.  The Caldwells were all about it so we put Emily in a pack 'n play and Haley slept in Evelyn's bed because she was skipping her nap anyways.  All three girls were in the same room and Emy fell asleep right away but Haley and Lucy messed around for at least an hour before they zonked out.  David said the movie was only 'okay' but he's been asking me about what happens in the next ones so I'm guessing he actually liked it.  Either that or he is just an extremely curious person.  Anyways, he's been pulling out corny Star Wars jokes and phrases that he thinks he made up based on watching one movie when they are in fact old jokes that I've heard for years!  Oh my, May 4th next year is going to blow his mind.

After the movie was over we woke up Haley because it was already almost five and went home.  We had actually planned for a game night at six so I put some meat for tacos in the oven and we straightened up the house a bit.  The Grubbs and Richard came over around six fifteen and we ate tacos and played games.  Haley watched her Dora movie for a little bit and then she and Emy went down for an early bedtime.  We played Ticket to Ride which David won, then Settlers with the ships expansion which I won and then Bang which I won.  All in all, it was a win for the Canches.  Oh, right before Settlers Kelsey went and grabbed 1/2 price shakes from Sonic for all of us.  They have tons of flavors for the summer and chocolate peanut butter is AMAZING!

MONDAY was a pretty big day because there were tons of storage auctions.  David didn't have to work so I decided to try and go to all of them.  The first one was in Gladewater which is about twenty minutes away and they were selling four units there.  Apparently every one was saving their money for the rest of the day because hardly anyone was bidding.  I would have totally bought the first one but I was helping Haley go pee behind one of the buildings and I missed the action.  It was a huge unit with a bunch of stuff in it including three beds and a pressure washer and it went for $75!  I was pretty annoyed with David for not buying it but it ended up working out because our perfect unit was the 3rd one.  The third unit had tons of toddler stuff in it along with a big screen tv, a mower, and some furniture.  We bought it for $125 and it is probably the best unit we've gotten so far.  Only one other person bid, everyone else stood there like statues, haha.  Anyway, here is a picture of it:

Yay!  I'm standing in front of the mower so that's why you can't see it.

The best thing about this unit was that it didn't have tons of clothes and it didn't have any junk besides those gross twin mattresses in the back.  Usually we have to go through so much stuff and throw away tons, but all of this stuff should sell.  In fact, see those red spiderman cushion things in the back?  I thought they were so gross but I put them online and in minutes TWELVE people wanted to buy them!  I am still grossed out thinking about them but apparently twelve people want their toddlers sitting in used cloth spiderman chairs for $8.  Whatevs.

After we bought that unit we just kind of went to the other auctions for fun.  We would maybe have bought again if it was a perfect unit but after the first auction more people started bidding.  The last place we were at the units were going for three and four hundred dollars and they were not any better than the first ones, at least I thought.  There was a break between the second and third place we went so we went home and ate lunch and David ran to the airport to update some airplanes.  The girls fell asleep in the car on the way home so we took advantage and went to our unit and loaded up the van with some of the stuff to take home.  Then I stayed home with the girls while David went and got the rest.  

When David got home we unloaded the stuff and posted some of it on the online sites.  Then we had dinner and cleaned up the house because men's prayer meeting was at our house at 7:30.  The girls were tired from their long day so I put them to bed almost right away and then folded laundry in our room.  We have put some of the stuff online and so far we've sold the TV and a bunch of the toys.  I still have a lot more I have to post online though.  I think I can get the most by posting it opposed to having another yard sale.  I let Haley play with a bunch of the toys and let her keep some of the neutral ones but a lot of them are for boys.

Haleyism:

When we were on vacation I was making sand castles with Haley and she pointed to one of our towers and said, "Snow princess tower."  She was connecting our tower with the Snow Princess's tower from one of her Dora episodes, oh my.

Emilyism:

Emily now says ya-ya, ma-ma, na-na, and some other phrases.  Her favorite is still, BY FAR, da-da

I included a bunch of pictures from our vacation.  

Hanging out on Haley's couch bed

the hallway between the rooms

Kitchen area and balcony

The room looked a lot bigger when Haley's bed was put up

Our room, don't mind the bed, we were on vacation from making beds

bathroom

Daddy at the pool with the girls

It was an infinity pool, haha

Emily left her hat on for half a second and I snapped a picture quick

As you can see, she's been eating sand.  Thanks to Grandma DeWalt for Haley's towel, she loves it!

David riding some waves

Knock-kneed Haley

Yes Emily, it's supposed to be on your head

Organizing her buckets

playing in the sand

sand castles

She can't believe that none of us wanted to eat sand too.

Sand castle!

Happy Birthday Great Grandpa DeWalt, Love Haley and Emy

Friday was Grandpa's 80th Birthday!  I finally got around to putting a tribute together, Happy late Birthday Grandpa DeWalt!  We were bummed that we couldn't be with Grandpa on his Birthday but we are excited that we will see him soon this summer and be able to deliver his gift in person.  We definitely owe Grandpa and Grandma a visit because they have visited us numerous times in Texas!  Here is our tribute to Grandpa:

Grandpa and Grandma and the girls when they visited this past September

Grandpa and Emily, this was taken when we visited PA for Ellie's baptism

Grandpa, Grandma and Haley at Clark's baptism

Grandpa and Haley in the fall of 2011

SATURDAY we got up a little earlier because it was our last day.  Haley woke up around eight and went with David to pick up donuts while I packed and Emy slept.  Emily ended up sleeping in until just before nine!  When Dave and Haley got back we ate our donuts and finished packing.  Check-out was at ten so we headed down to the front office around then and checked out and then headed to the beach.  We decided to stay there as long as we could and then head out and eat lunch on the way home.  I brought some snacks along to hold the girls off.

We ended up playing at the beach until close to 2.  Emily fell asleep in my arms for about thirty minutes around noon.  David and Haley went to the pool for a little bit while Emy slept.  They also built a sand castle and collected shells.  We walked down the beach a little bit too, Emily loved the seagulls.  Around two we packed up our stuff, rinsed off at the outside shower and then changed in the van.  Then we called Grandpa Wybenga who recommended that we eat at a little place called Salsas.  I was really glad he told us about it because I ordered tacos and they were amazing.  Haley ate a bunch of rice and tortillas and Emy ate refried beans.  David had enchiladas.  Once our bellies were full, we headed out for our four hour drive home.

Our drive home did not go quite as well as our drive there.  The girls fell asleep about thirty minutes into the drive but Haley only slept an hour and Emy only slept maybe an hour and a half.  After that I held them off with snacks.  The last hour got kind of hairy so I ended up giving Haley the Ipad and giving Emily a bottle.  We got home a little after seven and I put a frozen pizza in the oven right away while David unpacked the car.  Then I changed Emy's diaper and I felt bad because she had booed and was starting to get a little bit of a rash, no wonder she was sad!  We ate our pizza and then we all took showers and baths before bed.  The girls were pretty tired and went to sleep right away.

Haleyism:

When we were putting the girls to bed Haley had to use the bathroom so she started calling for David by yelling, "David!  Davey-doo!" over and over.

Emilyism:

Emily now crawls!  She crawled across the room today!

They had casserole horses outside of Salsas, the girls loved them.  You can see a piece of tortilla in Emily's mouth, haha.

Together

Family Vacation!

THURSDAY morning we got up around seven with the intention of leaving for Galveston at eight.  Well, it took a little bit longer to get packed and on the road than we thought so we didn’t head out until 8:45.  The drive to Galveston is about four hours so I was a little nervous about the girls but they ended up doing great.  I brought some toys for the car but we didn’t end up breaking them out until the last hour or so.  At ten thirty both of them fell asleep.  Haley slept about an hour and Emily slept about an hour and a half.  I couldn’t believe that Haley napped, she hasn’t taken a morning nap since she was one!

We had planned to eat somewhere on the way but the girls were doing so well that we ended up driving all the way to Galveston and then ate at a little burger place about a mile from our hotel.  Haley used the potty several times during our drive.  The first time she went she peed so much, I was afraid she was going to fill the bucket up if she went again like that but she didn’t.  The next time she went she booed and then we were super happy that she had peed so much because the boo (I know this is way TMI) was completely submerged in the pee and it didn’t smell at all.  I realized this when I dumped the bucket at the restaurant and it smelled so bad.  Had she not peed so much at first it would have been terrible.  Anyways, sorry about that…

After lunch we went to our hotel, it was called the Holiday Inn Club Vacations and Resort.  I know it doesn’t sound like much but it was valued as the #2 hotel on the Island according to Tripadvisor and I am SO GLAD that we stayed there.  It was the only place that I could find that was right on the beach.  All of the other places are super close to the beach but you have to cross a four lane road to get there and the beach part is pretty small.  Plus there are stairs that go from the beach to the road and Haley is obsessed with stairs and I just knew she would be climbing up and down them all the time and would eventually get run over or give me a heart attack.  Our hotel was further west from all the other hotels and you walked on a little boardwalk thing from the pool to the beach (it was maybe 30 yards).  We paid a little more to stay at this place but I kept telling Dave that I thought it was worth every penny, I think he agreed.

Check in time at our hotel was not until four and when we got there it was more like 2.  David asked if our room was ready yet and they said it wasn’t but they would call us when it was.  We changed into our swimsuits and headed to the beach while we waited.  At 3:15 they called to say it was ready so David went and took all our stuff from the van to the room and then came back.  Haley and Emily both just loved the beach.  The water was SO warm, I didn’t have to get used to it or anything.  It is pretty gross water, brownish/green with very little visibility, kind of like New Jersey.  I had already heard people talk about how awful the ocean is at Galveston though so I was prepared.  I think part of the reason is because the sand is pretty dark so it makes the water dark.  Anyways, the beach is on the Gulf of Mexico, not the Atlantic or anything so I bet that makes a difference.  We could see oil drilling rigs way out in the distance. 

Emily liked to put her hands in the sand and try to crawl around but her favorite thing to do, by far, was eat the sand.  I tried to stop her the first couple times and then I thought that maybe if she ate a mouthful she would realize how gross it was and stop.  Even after getting a mouthful, Emy kept going back for more.  She liked eating it and then spitting it out.  So, needless to say, I spent a lot of time intercepting Emy’s hands to her mouth and cleaning her mouth out.  She didn’t do it nearly as much by the last day so maybe she did eventually learn her lesson.

Around four thirty we went in and took showers and headed out for dinner.  I fed Haley and Emy some applesauce before we left because I thought they were starting to get hungry.  Well apparently they weren’t actually hungry, they were tired.  We got about a half mile down the road and both girls were completely zonked out.  David and I decided to take the opportunity to explore the Island a little bit.  He drove down the main strip and we picked out a restaurant to eat at and looked at some of the other attractions.  Then he stopped by Walgreens and I went in and bought some pacis because we had already lost Emy’s.  When I got back to the van Emy was starting to wake up and we figured that Haley shouldn’t sleep much longer anyways so we went to the restaurant.

It was a seafood place so I ordered shrimp and David had a patti melt sandwich.  I got macaroni and cheese as a side and Haley ate some of that.  Haley got to try her first hush puppies, she wasn’t too impressed.  Emy liked them though.  After we ate we drove up the road a ways to an amusement park looking place we had seen when the girls were sleeping.  We parked and then walked over to get a look and saw that it would cost us $36 just to get into the place, that was without paying for any rides or anything!  We were hoping to let Haley ride a merry go round but once we saw how expensive it was to even get into the rides we changed our plans.  There was a an ice cream place across the street and down a ways so we went there instead.  Haley got a vanilla ice cream cone with M&Ms on top, her choice.  She ended up sharing some of her ice cream with Emy.  David and I ended up waiting and we got shakes from Sonic on the way back to the hotel instead, we really can’t resist their strawberry-banana shakes.  We also stopped by Academy on our way home and bought some chairs for the beach and a boogie board. 

When we got back we put the girls in their jammies and they went right to bed.  Our room was actually more like two rooms.  One of the rooms had a queen bed and a closet and TV and everything and next to that was a bathroom.  The other room had a kitchenette and a sitting area with a couch that pulled out into a bed.  We put Haley in the couch bed and brought the pack ‘n play for Emy.

FRIDAY the girls must have known that we were on vacation because they slept in until after nine!  Our hotel did not have breakfast so we loaded up in the van and went to a little donut place down the street.  It was super cute because it had low counters and bar stools that we could sit on while we ate, it reminded me of Two Toots in Wheaton.  After breakfast we went back to the hotel and changed into our suits and went to the pool.  The pool was not huge but they had a perfect little area for babies to play.  Haley spent a lot of time filling up her buckets and mixing the water with her shovels.  She kept saying she was making stuff.  Some of her more popular dishes were biscuits, spaghetti, and cookies.  Around lunch time we went back to the room and pulled out our leftovers from Thursday.  I had brought some food from home so we also ate some of that.

We decided to brave the beach without naps so we headed there after lunch.  We played in the water and sand for a while and then I nursed Emily to sleep.  Haley laid down on her towel for a little bit but she never fell asleep.  David went out on the boogie board and ended up getting stung  on his foot by a jelly fish.  We had heard that pee is the only thing that helps so he asked Haley to pee on his foot and she did right away, haha.  She has great control of her little bladder!  David ended up going back to the room to find another remedy.  He saw online that soaking it in hot water and scraping it with a credit card also work so he did that and then came back to the beach. 

Emily slept about an hour and then woke up and we played a little more in the sand before heading back to the room around four.  We rinsed the girls in the shower and then put them down for naps while Dave and I showered and got ready for dinner.  Haley fell asleep in seconds but Emy was still fresh from her beach nap.  We let Haley sleep about an hour and a half and then we headed out.  We found a nice restaurant a little inland called Clary’s.  It was definitely the nicest restaurant we have ever taken Haley to but it really worked out.  We kept Emy in her infant seat because she never had fallen asleep and we knew she was tired.  They seated us in a corner of the restaurant near an empty part room or something so when Emy got tired I went in there and swayed with her carseat for a couple minutes and she went right to sleep.  David had Red Snapper and I had scallops and Haley ate rice and bread.  She is more of a carbs girl.

 Haley did so well at the restaurant, she didn’t even ask for the Ipad.  David and I were getting kind of nervous because there were not any other children there but after a while they seated a family next to us with two young kids.  One of them looked to be Haley’s age and one looked a little older and they were both sleeping on their parent’s shoulders!  They slept most of the time that we were there, it was crazy!  I was so glad that we ate at this place because it was really nice and everything was so good.  Also, even though it was a nice place, the food was pretty fast and I’m sure that helped Haley be good.  I got chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert which Haley helped me eat and David got key lime pie. 

After the restaurant we went home and ordered the movie Horton Hears a Who from the front desk.  They had a whole library of movies and that was the one that Haley chose, she wanted that one over Chicken Run!  We watched the first forty-five minutes or so but then the girls were getting tired so we put them to bed.  It took a little while for Haley to wind down but I laid next to her and she eventually dozed off.

Haleyism:

Anytime Haley wanted to use the potty when we were in the car she would say, "Mommy, I really need to use the potty!"

Emilyism:

We ended up finding Emily's paci that we lost on Thursday, on Friday.  It was on the boardwalk thing on the way to the beach, haha.

Playing on the beach, not the cleanest beach as you can tell...

Lifeguard Daddy

Emy and Mommy

Out on the town

Mommy and the girls standing in front of the rides

Getting donuts Friday morning

Here's Haley and I at the nice restaurant.  You can see the empty party room behind us where I put Emy to sleep.

Emy gets around

TUESDAY was a pretty low key day.  The girls were up by 7:30 or so and I had a spot at the gym for 9:30 so we took our time eating breakfast and getting dressed.  A guy from Longview Pest Control came around 9 to do a periodical spraying.  I know this particular guy has come to spray before because I sorta recognized him but Haley greeted him like he was a long lost friend.  She then followed him around the house as he sprayed and was talking to him the whole time.  She is usually pretty shy around new people, especially men, so I was pretty surprised.  He did have a super friendly face, he looked kind of like Yogi the Bear.

I ran and showered at the gym while the girls played.  Well, Haley doesn’t really play, I’m pretty sure she watches whatever movie they have on for the whole time.  She didn’t want to leave when I came to pick her up, they were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  When we got home both of the girls seemed tired so I put them in their beds to sleep or rest.  We had small group in the evening so Haley wasn’t going to take a nap so that she could go to bed super early but I figured if she napped at 10:30 then she would still be able to have an early bedtime.  She had been walking around with her bunny and paci and looking sleepy but as soon as I put her in her room she was wide awake.  I could hear her singing in there and getting all of her books out.  She came out twice to use the bathroom.  Emily was not very tired at first either, I think she was distracted by Haley.  The two times that I helped Haley use the potty, Emily was sitting up in her crib playing or standing up and holding onto the side.   I did some cleaning while the girls “rested” and then I eventually let Haley out so Emily could sleep.

  David got home just before lunch.  He was supposed to be gone until late afternoon/evening so it was really nice to have him home early.  He played with the girls and grilled brots for lunch.  Emily did not sleep very long so she just ate a later lunch.  David played with the girls in the den while I swept and mopped and then went to the Mason’s to tutor Caroline.  He said they did pretty well while I was gone.  The Masons gave me a car riding toy and a car seat for Emily which was super nice and hardly used.  Well, I did pay for the car seat, Bonnie had texted a bunch of girls from church and said she had it for sale and I told her I wanted it.  It was only $30 and it is a Graco that goes through the stages with the kid, eventually you just have a booster seat.  I definitely got the best end of that deal!

When I got home from Masons I started dinner for small group while Haley played in the new car.  The car is one of those things that they kids sit in and it has a long handle for the adult to push the kid so they think they are actually driving it somewhere.  Mimi has two of them at her house I think.  Our small group started to arrive around 6.  I could tell Haley was getting tired because she was being pretty outgoing and kind of silly.  Haley and Emily ate pot pie with us for dinner and then David put Haley to bed and about fifteen minutes later I put Emily to bed.  Emily was still eating, she loved the pot pie.  About halfway through the study Haley started crying and I went in there and she had fallen out of bed.  Random, I don’t know the last time that happened.  Anyways, I put her back in and sat with her for a couple minutes until she got over it, she was pretty disoriented.  After that she slept the rest of the night.

Emily is teething so she didn’t have such a great night.  We gave her Tylenol at some point during the night, maybe 3, and then she slept better.  WEDNESDAY David did not have to work so it was kind of a family day.  It started out at the gym where David and I ran together and then I took a shower.  I love taking showers at the gym, maybe you’ve noticed.  After the gym my co-coordinator for MOPS, Janette, came over so we could meet about MOPS stuff.  She brought her two kids, Karys (5) and Zane (2).  The kids played pretty nicely while we met.  They really liked watching David who was mowing the lawn.  David came in when he was finished the back and got them all ice pops and took them outside.  I think he just wanted one but knew that he couldn’t eat one in front of them , haha.  Towards the end of the meeting Haley randomly hit Zane on the head with one of her toy pots.  It was pretty blatant and awful so I ended up spanking her.  After her spanking I was holding her because she was still sad and she hit me!  Oh my, she went right back to the bathroom and got another spanking, a harder one this time.  After that she spent the rest of the day talking about how she’s not supposed to hit.

Janette left right before lunch so I fed the girls as soon as she headed out and then put them down for naps.  Haley had a hard time falling asleep, I’m not sure why.  She was talking and singing and playing for at least an hour before she fell asleep and then she hardly slept an hour!  Emily slept right through her shenanigans and then napped for over three hours.  Haley woke up super cheerful so I guess all she needed was an hour of sleep.  She must have been hungry because she ate five slices of cheese and a cookie for snack, gross. 

In the afternoon we worked on folding laundry and getting the house ready for us to leave.  We decided on Wednesday to head out Thursday through Saturday for a short family vacation to the beach in Galveston.  We had been waiting for a good weekend for us to leave.  Basically we just needed for David not to be on any trips because he doesn’t have any vacation days left.  We figured Galveston is close enough that if a trip does happen to pop up that he could make it back home in plenty of time.  Anyways, I hate leaving for anywhere with a dirty house so we were straightening up and packing for most of the afternoon.  David is leading worship on Sunday so he had to get the songs and powerpoint all made so he wouldn’t have to think about it on vacation.

Wednesday night we had our church potluck.  The usual family that brings pizza is gone on vacation so we just picked up two Little Caesar’s hot and ready pizzas as our contribution.  Unfortunately the Masons had also thought of that!  I had texted Meg and told her I was going to, I should have texted Bonnie too!  I thought Haley would be a mess by the end of the night because of her short nap but she actually went strong the whole time we were there.  She ate some pizza and played outside a lot of the time.  Emily ate a bunch of pizza and got passed around a lot.  I played with her on the floor during the discussion time, she kept trying to pull up on stuff.  Bonnie was outside with the kids during the discussion time and she took a bunch of pictures of them and sent them to me so you can thank her for our blog picture today.  After church we came home and put the kids right to bed.  Then David and I stayed up and tried to get a good hotel on priceline.  I think priceline is a little too risky for vacation and there are just too many junky places in Galveston that I was afraid we would get stuck with.  We ended up just paying full price for a place right on the beach.  We’re actually driving on our way there now, we’ll let you know how it goes!

Haleyism:

This morning Haley woke up before Emily and she was whining to go and get her  but I told her she had to wait until she woke up.  Finally Haley sighed and said, “Emily is just so cute.”

Emilyism:

Yesterday I was vacuuming the guest room and Emily and Haley were in the den.  When I finished and came out, Emily was in the living room, she had climbed the steps!

The Masons have a bounce house!

Playing in the water

Playing in the sand

I guess you can kind of tell that she didn't have a good nap!

Berry picking and Emily's 9 month appointment.

MONDAY David left early in the morning for an overnight trip in Ohio.  He thought that maybe he would get to visit with his family in Michigan but his passengers thought that they might be done early so he decided not to risk it and it was good he didn't because his passengers did finish early.  The girls and I started the morning by going berry picking with a couple girls from our church.  It ended up being a perfect day for it because there was a storm coming so there was a nice breeze and it was overcast.  I thought that we would get hot and want to quit but we were still going strong when it was time to leave for Emily's 9 month well check-up.  I felt bad for Haley because everyone else stayed to berry pick but she didn't seem too fazed.  We paid for our blueberries (1.75 a pound, what a steal!) and then headed home.

The berry patch was about twenty minutes away in Hallsville and we ended up driving right through most of the storm.  It wasn't too bad, just super heavy rain.  I was glad we didn't get caught in it at the berry patch!  Haley was a bit worried when we arrived at the doctor's.  I kept telling her that we were there for Emy and as soon as Dr. Bagnell walked in Haley pointed to Emily and said, "Emily."  As if to say, you are here to look at Emily, not me!  Emily is kind of a peanut, she's not as small as Haley was at her age but she is definitely smaller than average.  I can't find her stat page anywhere but I remember that all of her percentages were in the teens.  She weighed 16 lb. 14oz (I think it was 14 percentile?), I think she was 27.75 inches tall which I think was in the 18th percentile.  Her head circumference was in the 12th percentile but I don't remember the measurement.

The funniest part about the appointment was when the nurse was measuring Emily's head and height.  She was laying on the table with her arms and legs all spread out like she was midway through the spread out part of a jumping jack and she was just laying there frozen, it was so funny.  She laid completely still while the nurse did all of her stuff, she was watching the nurse pretty closely.  Dr. Bagnell said Emily looked healthy and seemed to be developing normally.  I filled out a survey on how she is progressing and have noticed since filling it out that I said she couldn't do several things that she actually can do, I just never noticed her doing them.  Oh well.

Dr. Bagnell listened to her lungs for a long time and asked if she ever coughs and I said she does but only once every couple days or so.  She thinks that Emily may have some kind of allergy thing where the symptoms are heavy breathing and coughing.  I told her that Emily does not ever have a runny nose and doesn't sneeze like I do when I have allergies and then she explained how allergies worked and went into this super long explanation and I totally got lost somewhere in there.  Anyways, what I got from it is that she maybe has some form of asthma that is triggered by allergies.  Whatever the case, Dr. Bagnell said that if it's not affecting her mood or her sleep than it is probably not bothering her.  Emily had to get a shot while we were there but she hardly cried, she is pretty brave when it comes to shots.  Haley ended up benefiting from the whole visit because she came away with a sticker.  I was surprised she chose a Mickey Mouse sticker over a Dora sticker.

After the doctor we came home and had lunch.  Emily ate a bunch of our freshly picked blueberries and Haley ate a leftover biscuit.  Then I let them play a little bit before putting them down for naps.  While they slept I put a couple things from our unit online and started doing some cleaning.  A friend from church who works for the Longview News Journal e-mailed me and asked me some questions about the online site where I sell stuff because he's writing an article about it.  Later he sent me the link to the article where I am quoted, I'll have to put the link on here.  You will all want to be selling stuff on this site!

When Haley woke up I was cleaning the bathroom so she sat on the toilet and watched for a while.  I was so thankful that she woke up dry because I had forgotten to put a pull-up on her and I had just put clean sheets on their beds right before their naps.  I invited a lady from church to come over for dinner because her husband is gone on a missions trip to Kenya (with the organization EMI which is who Daniel Iya is with) and David is out of town so I thought we could keep eachother company.  After inviting her I realized that we were out of chicken so as soon as Emily woke up we ran to Sam's quick.  We made it home with about fifteen minutes to spare before she arrived.

Her name is Suiledy (she is from Puerto Rico) and she has a little 3 month old named Thiago.  Thiago is definitely a touchy baby, any sound or abrupt movement seemed to upset him.  That means that he and Haley were completely incompatible, haha.  He actually fell asleep in the swing during dinner so that was nice.  I grilled some chicken and made baked potatoes and Suiledy brought some steamed vegetables.  We ate some of David's leftover father's day cake for dessert, seemed a little wrong without David actually.  Haley couldn't really figure out Suiledy's name, she called her Ms. Lady, haha.  Suiledy stayed after dinner and we talked for a while and then she and Thiago headed out a little before eight because he was getting fussy and ready for bed.  The girls and I did some dishes and then we skyped David before bed.  Haley kept asking him to show her the airplanes, oh my.  Emily definitely realized it was David, she was excited to see him.  After our Skype date I put the girls to bed.

Haleyism:
Haley's panty leaking problem has been fixed by giving her an M&M everytime she doesn't leak.  She caught on right away and now hardly ever leaks anymore.  Now I will have to wean her off of M&Ms again, oh my.

Emilyism:
Emily can pull up onto furniture and creep along it.  That was one of the things that I said she couldn't do and then when we came home I was watching her and she was doing it, oops.

Berry picking

Playing at the doctor's.  Yeah, they'll probably get sick from playing with those toys.

Father's Day!

SUNDAY was Father's day!  David had to lead worship so I got up extra early to make him his Father's day breakfast.  It worked out because Haley also got up early.  She and Daddy had pancakes, eggs, and bacon together for breakfast.  Emily slept in a little longer and then she got up and I fed her some pancakes.  David left for church and the girls and I got ready.  We were right on schedule to arrive to church on time but then Emily booed and we had to stop and change her diaper.  It was only a minor setback I guess.

Haley did really well in church with me and Emily.  David has stopped holding her at all when he doesn't have to play so she doesn't get used to being held during the service.  She was even saying some of the liturgy with me, I guess she's started to memorize it.  After church the Freemans invited us to eat with them at a little Mexican restaurant called Pollo Cacuchon.  There were two other families coming and it was Father's day so I left the decision entirely up to David.  He said he wanted to go so we ran the guitar home and then went and ate with everyone.

The Freemans are the ones who have the eight year old son named Owen whom Haley is currently obsessed with.  When we got there the open seat for her was right to him, it must have been her dream come true.  She asked for the Ipad once while we were there but I told her 'no' and she never asked again.  She spent most of the time talking to Owen and eating chips and rice.  I decided that we need to take Owen along everytime we eat out.  Emily had fallen asleep on the way to the restaurant and she slept for the first twenty minutes or so that we were there and then woke up and got passed around.

After lunch we came home and put the girls down for naps.  Emily was not super tired after her mini-nap at the restaurant so she took a little while to calm down and fall asleep but eventually she dozed off when David put the sound machine in with her.  She was playing and babbling in her crib and at one point David went in there and she had pulled herself up and was standing in there holding onto the rail.  Time to lower the crib!  Emily's playing kept Haley up a little later so I ended up waking Haley up around 4:30 so she would be able to go to sleep at a normal time and Emily slept until after five.

When they woke up we skyped in on Aunt Adj. and Uncle Jesse's gender reveal party for baby #3!  It was so cool to be in on the party.  Adj had gone to a Carter's store and picked out some boy and girl outfits.  Then she gave the unopened envelope to the cashier who opened it and saw the gender and then wrapped up the clothes that went with the gender and hid the others under the register.  I guess Adj. also brought the gift bag and everything.  Anyways, cousin Isa opened the present to reveal a bunch of boy baby clothes!  New baby boy Higgins is due to arrive in August!  We stayed on and talked for a little bit and then I started dinner.

I grilled some brots for dinner, it was my first time ever using the grill and I have to say that it was so easy.  I guess I thought it was hard because men always do it but it's actually rather a joke to operate.  I had made a funfetti cake for dessert which was a good preview for Emily's first Birthday in September.  I do not think she will disappoint as far as cake-eating goes.  She was a mess and so was Haley actually.

Oh, I forgot, right before dinner we had skyped Mimi and Pops to tell Pops happy father's day.  We did it in the girl's room and David lowered Emily's crib while we were talking.  Haley kept showing off for Mimi and Pops by jumping on her bed, bring books over to the computer, and putting on random shoes from her closet.  It was cute and everything but I'm sure Mimi and Pops got a little tired of hearing "Mimi look, Pops look!"  Emily seemed unfazed by the skype session, I think she was a little grouchy that her crib was getting lowered.  After dinner we let the girls play with toys for a while and then we put them to bed.

Haleyism:
Haley had to use the bathroom and she had leaked a couple drops in her panties and David was telling her not to pee pee in her panties and Haley said, 'Shh, Daddy, Emily's sleeping!"  The sad part is, she was.

Emilyism:
Emily can climb one of our stairs in the den.  She gets stuck when she tries to climb the second one.

Haley eating cake

Emily eating cake

Weekend fun

FRIDAY David did not have to work so we had a nice family day.  It started out with a trip to the gym at 8, well, we were scheduled to be there at eight but Haley decided to sleep in for the first time in about two weeks so we were about twenty minutes late.  It ended up working out because someone had cancelled for the 9 -10 spot so David and I still got the full hour.  We ran three miles and then did some weights.  We had not run that far in a while, we usually do two and my calves are so sore today.  This is too bad because I don't feel like my calves need to be worked, haha, how about my stomach feel sore or something!  Anyways, after our work-out we came home and I took a shower while David fed the girls a snack.  Then the girls and I went the Haesecke's house to swim while David stayed home and worked on the worship service for Sunday.

The Haeseckes are a family from church.  They have an older girl who is in 6th grade I think, and two younger boys in elementary school.  Rebekah Haesecke (the mom) invited us to swim because her husband is gone out of town.  Actually the middle boy, Braiden, was also gone visiting cousins so we just hung out with Leyora (Lee-or-uh) and Logan.  They have an above ground pool that reminds me of Grandma and Grandpa's old pool except a little smaller.  It kind of took me back to my swimming days in Geigertown.  Except this time I was holding a 2 year old and a 9 month old.  Actually, Rebekah held Emily for a lot of the time until Haley was comfortable.  I had tried to force her to wear swimmies, well actually a shirt with swimmies in it, and she got super upset.  She was crying and carrying on and finally I decided that it probably wasn't quite worth it, especially because it seemed way too big anyways.  We swam there for almost two hours and then we got out and Rebekah gave everyone an ice pop.  Then Haley swam some more with Leyora while I held Emy and talked with Rebekah, it was really fun.

After the Haesecke's house we came home and had lunch with David.  Then we put the kids down for naps. Haley slept about two hours and Emily slept closer to three.  After naps we decided to go to the splash pad for dinner and splashing.  We had enough Papa John's reward points for a free pizza so we ordered a pizza and picked up on our way to the splash pad.  Haley hardly ate anything at first because she was too busy playing but Emily ate pieces of pizza like it was her job.  It had been in the nineties all day but as soon as the sun started to go down I thought the water felt cold.  David went in the water with the girls and I took pictures instead.  Here are some of them:

This is one of Emily's favorite to sit at

Haley likes to try and step on them

Emy is wear a swimsuit that Haley wore last year

Sorry this one is dark

Artsy picture

After the splash pad we came home and changed the girls into their pajamas and put them to bed.  Then David and I worked on getting ready for our Saturday yard sale!

SATURDAY morning we got up to start setting up for the yard sale.  Haley must have heard us or something because she was up at seven!!!  We got her dressed and she helped us transport the stuff to the front yard.  We had A LOT of stuff from that last unit we bought so it was quite the set-up.  Plus Amanda had some things she wanted to sell and I told her to bring it over so we were even considered a multi-family yard sale!  Gwen had also asked if she could sell some things and we told her that sounded great but she actually set up in her own yard so I'm not exactly sure why she asked us first but that's okay.

We were hoping to sell a lot of the smaller stuff that we had gotten in the unit and that was basically what happened.  The only big thing we sold was a bike and we didn't even take the loft bed (we thought it was a bunk bed, turns out it's a loft bed) out to the yard because it was a huge pain and we figured we could get more for it online anyways.  Amanda came around 8:30 with her girls to hang out and watch the crowds come.  There were not really any crowds per say but we did have several spurts of people come all at once. We ended up making $103 for the day which brings our total for this unit to $202, still in the red but still with a lot of the big things to left to sell.  

Amanda and the girls stayed until lunch and then they headed out.  David fed the girls and put them to bed while I stayed outside and then we sat out there together for a while.  We decided that we might as well keep it going during the afternoon since the girls were sleeping anyways.  It was really good we did because a Hispanic lady and her daughter came mid-afternoon and bought a bunch of stuff.  I felt so much better about the entire day once she left, haha.  I posted some pictures of the sale on the garage sale facebook page and a couple people claimed things and then came and picked them up later in the afternoon too.  The girls took measly naps so that kind of stunk.  Haley was up after under two hours and Emily slept a little over two hours.  

After they woke up David and I took turns sitting at the sale and hanging out with the girls.  I went in and took a shower with them and put us all in fresh clothes while he was out there.  When we came back out he said no one had come during that whole time so we decided that it was time to clean up shop.  It took a while to sort through Goodwill piles and consignment stuff, I realized that I should have been doing that during the entire day instead of reading, oops.  David loaded up the Goodwill stuff and dropped that down the road (Goodwill is only about half a mile from our house) and then he put the leftover stuff in the shed while I took the girls inside and started dinner.  The Caldwells came and picked up their stuff while we were just finishing and Amanda ended up buying a bunch of storage bins from me.  I gave her a couple other things she had picked out for free so I guess I didn't mind charging her for the bins.  They were $2 a piece which is pretty cheap but it still felt weird to be making money off of a friend.  Anyways, once we were all cleaned up we came inside and had dinner.

Haley and Emily must both be having growth spurts because they ate big lunches, tons of snacks, and big dinners.  After dinner we ran to Wal-mart to pick up a couple items we were running low on (bread, milk, some produce, Father's day card-oops) and then David stopped by Sonic on our way home and surprised with shakes.  Sonic shakes are so good and they're 1/2 price after 8, that marketing ploy has definitely swept us in.  You can get two regular size shakes for less than four dollars!  Haley was pretty excited about the shake until we got inside and started unloaded some of the groceries.  We had gotten some cheese for her since she's been on a huge cheese kick lately and as soon as she saw the cheese she wanted that instead.  Yes, Haley would rather eat a kraft single than a milkshake, so weird.  I got out a spoon and gave Emily some of the milkshake and she loved it.  After their snack we put the girls to bed and they went right to sleep.

Haleyism:

Tonight Haley asked me to leave the door open to her room at bedtime, first time ever.

Emilyism:

Emily likes to get up on all fours and rock back and forth, no forward movement yet though.

David took this video of Haley on Wednesday night when we were at the Freeman's house