The weekend...last weekend that is.

FRIDAY of last week I did not feel very well so I spent most of the day laying around.  I threw up in the morning kind of randomly and it didn't get much better from there.  I didn't even shower which is saying something because I always shower.  David was still gone in South Dakota so I watched the girls from my place on the floor or couch and counted down the times until naps and bedtime.  We watched a Dora movie in the evening which I thought would make things easier but as it turns out, Emily really does not sit still for movies and just stands right in front of the screen and makes Haley mad.  Julianne made some popcorn and then Emily sat on my lap and ate that nicely.  Amanda had texted and asked if we wanted to do dinner with them and I told her David was gone and I felt sick and around 7:30 she stopped by and dropped off a chocolate cupcake, it was so super nice of her.  As I recall the kids went to bed fine.

SATURDAY I still did not feel great but I felt better than Friday.  I laid around again in the morning and then I took a shower during naptime which I think helped me feel a lot better.  I slept during the rest of naptime and then started dinner.  David got home just as I was putting dinner in the oven which couldn't have been better timing because I peaced out and laid on the bed while David played with the girls.  We ate dinner and then David played with the girls more and then I think we just went to bed.

Saturday night I slept really well and felt much better  on Sunday morning.  David led worship so he had to leave early and the girls and I came an hour later.  Haley was being kind of clingy during the worship time but Emily wanted to be down on the floor rummaging in the diaper bag so it kind of worked out.  After church we came home and ate and then watched a little bit of the Eagles game (bad decision, they lost) before laying down and taking naps ourselves.  When the girls woke up we took them to the park because they were both a little cranky and we thought a change of scene would help.  They were happy to go but Haley was sad when it was time to come home.  We made a frozen pizza for dinner and then let the girls play a bit before bedtime.

MONDAY David had to work and we didn't have too much going on.  Sorry, I feel like if you haven't already fallen asleep during this post, you are getting close.  I didn't feel very good during the day so there was more laying around.  I really think I must have 'morning sickness' because it does tend to wear off by evening.  This was good because David and I went to a Young Life Banquet in the evening.  Julianne and Todd graciously offered to watch the kids while we were gone for about three hours.  They said they did really well but Haley was still awake when we got home around 9:30.  David and I are big softies after we leave the kids with baby-sitters so we let her lay in our bed and look at pictures on David's phone while David and I read.  Then we put her back to bed a little after ten.

David playing doctor with Haley

Waiting for their Daddies

I guess it was mouth surgery

Awful picture of Emy

Emy getting the puzzles out

Catching up!

I know I am super behind on this blog but I do have two good excuses.  First, I have not been feeling well.  Not sure if it's the baby or something 'real' but whatever it was, it was bad.  Secondly, our internet bill went up (our promotion trial period ran up) so we decided to see how much internet we use just by using Dave's hotspot on his phone that his company pays for.  So anytime I want to use the internet David has to be home, and his phone has to be there, and the laptop, and the stars have to be aligned just right so that it works.  Well, the star thing is not really true but it is kind of tricky.  Anyways, all that to say, I am well aware that I am over a week late but not to fear, we actually did not do too much in that week so there's not too much to cover, haha.

MONDAY of last week, David worked all day and the Feenstra's were still out of town and I felt really good (I wasn't feeling sick yet) so the girls and I cleaned the whole house top to bottom and did the laundry.  That's what I used to do every Monday and man it makes for a pretty boring Monday.  I felt pretty good at the end of the day though, when it was all over.  The girls were really the ones that made it possible though.  They played really nicely together all day and stayed out of trouble.  Usually they would move from room to room with me while I cleaned and play on the beds or just watch.  I distinctly remember deciding that night to fold laundry instead of write the blog...

TUESDAY the Feenstras were home.  Haley was so happy to see Jay again.  We didn't have MOPs which worked out because I felt pretty awful.  I laid around and attempted crowd control from my spot on the couch.  The kids played nicely most of the day.  Julianne had to work in the evening so there was a short time where I had all of the kids while we waited for the Dave and Todd to get home, they're all still alive.  David has been graciously taking over as soon as he walks in the door which has been a life saver.  I think the kids are pretty tired of me by that point anyways.  On Tuesday night we gave the kids baths, it was pretty uneventful.

Tuesday night I slept pretty bad so I was pretty tired Wednesday morning.  I decided that it would probably pass as soon as I got to BSF.  That was laughable.  I was sitting at my table listening to the lecture and it was all I could do to keep myself from laying my head down.  It was a great lecture and everything but I was just so tired.  I was glad we went though because the girls had a great time and quite honestly, they were nice and tired for their naps.  I fed them lunch and put them down and then took a nap myself.  David didn't have to work so that was nice.  He had been busy in the morning getting physical therapy for his back and working on some stuff for church while we were gone and then he was home for the rest of the day.  It was super nice because he played with the girls while I made the casserole for Wednesday night church.  We had the little kids during the meeting part.  David led a rousing game of Simon Says and then we split up into our groups.  It was really rainy last Wednesday and a bunch of people were out sick so I only had three kids in my class, score!  We did the lesson and then did prayer requests.  The nursery was right next to the room we were in and I didn't hear any crying so I guess Emily and Haley did well.  When we got home we put the girls to bed but I remember they had a hard time falling asleep.  Emy was especially emotional for whatever reason so I rocked her for a little bit and then she went right to sleep.  She doesn't really fall asleep in my arms anymore, it's kind of sad to me.  Even when I put her in her crib after rocking her she was still wide awake and then as soon she got in that crib she went to sleep.

THURSDAY we had women's Bible study in the morning.  David didn't have to leave for his flight until two thirty so I left the girls home with him.  I hadn't slept well Wednesday night either so I was pretty tired again.  I don't know why I haven't been sleeping well, I have never had that problem.  I thought I should stop taking naps but it's not that I'm not tired, it's almost like I'm overtired.  Anyways, enough of that, talking about it makes me tired!  David and the girls were just starting to eat lunch when I got home.  He said they played and it was fun, his words not mine.  The girls were still napping when David left.  Todd and Julianne offered to watch the girls so I could still have Bible study with Chloe and Ella.  There was a pumpkin carving/painting contest at a pottery place down the road that I wanted to take the girls to so we went there right before the study.  We picked up Ella on our way and she helped me with the girls.  It was a pretty big event because they had all of the contest pumpkins on display, a hay bale maze, employees dressed up in costumes and handing out candy, and a bunch of places set up to take your kids to get their pictures taken.  I felt like the entire city of Longview was there it was so packed.  I was really glad I had asked Ella to come along because we really needed to each be holding a girl or we could have easily lost one.  Julianne and Todd brought their kids a while after we got there and then I gave them my two and switched vehicles with them so they could have the van.  Then Ella and I headed out to Bible study.  While I was at Bible study I got a text that Julianne couldn't find Emy's paci, AH!  She ended up giving her one of Carrington's so the crisis was averted but I felt bad!  She had it at the pumpkin patch and I guess it got lost in all of the crowds.  When I got home Haley was still awake so I let her climb into bed with me because David was gone overnight.

That's all I'm going to write for now, but here are the pictures I took at the pumpkin patch!!

I took a picture of Ella and the girls in front of the pumpkin display that her class made.  They didn't win and honestly, it was way less crowded in front of their display, haha!

Haley refused to look at the camera

Sometimes David and I refer to the girls as our 'things'

David mentioned that the girls are actually switched, Haley should be 'thing 1' and Emy should be 'thing 2'

Saturday Sunday

Saturday we slept in till around nine. We had stayed up the night before playing games till pretty late. We got up and fed the girls breakfast but decided to skip breakfast ourselves since we were going to go on a date. We had arranged for Ella to watch the girls around eleven for a couple hours so we could go on a lunch date. We took turns getting ready and watching the kids while they ate and played. Ella's mom texted to say she would drop her off, so that was nice and we didn't have to spend time going to get her. At one point though, katelyn started to feel sick from not having eaten breakfast so her and Emily and haley shared an apple. When Ella got here we told Haley that she had to obey miss Ella and she said she would. Katelyn and I went out to cheddars for lunch. We hadn't been there in a while.  It was fun to talk and eat without babies.  Also it was nice not to have to take anyone to the potty.  After lunch we ran by the dollar store to see if they had any bread...they did not.  Then we ran to Burlington coat factory in search of a present for Chloe Watson, who was turning three.  She likes Disney princess stuff as you can imagine so we were looking for some dress up stuff.  We ended up finding a sort of ballerina duffle bag with the Disney princesses on it.  She takes ballet so that really did work well. When we got home, the girls had just gone down for a nap.  Katelyn took Ella home while I convinced haley to actually sleep. We didn't let them sleep very long because the birthday party was at 2pm. We didn't check the invitation carefully so we didn't see that the party was not at their house, but at Somme random house on our side of town, so we were a little late.  It was ok though,  the girls still had fun.  Chloe's big gift was a Disney princess power wheels. Not sure she noticed the bag...  They also had a bounce house which Haley did not want to go into. That was alright though because it was raining outside just a little and I didn't feel like getting wet. Emily ate great over there, everything from fruit to a pbj sandwich to brownies and a cupcake Haley dropped on the floor. I talked to Gustavo (another engineering professor from church) about us getting motorcycles but it was in Spanish so katelyn doesn't even know. After the party we just played with toys for a while. It was rainy so katelyn decided to try her hand at making tomato soup from scratch. It was super good. I told her to write down what she did. Emily loved it of course, and Haley only tried one bite of course, and that with much coaxing/threatening. Then we decided to go to the LeTourneau men's soccer game. I had been texting the coach and they had been delayed for the rain and we kind of didn't want to deal with wet kids but we decided to go anyway. We were so glad we did.  Letu was up 3-0 when we got there just before half time. Then tho other school scored 3 goals, the last one with 26 seconds left on the clock. They went into overtime and the other team scored but they were offsides and then LeTourneau scored to win. Both teams needed this game to stay alive so it was huge and stressful.  Emily stayed in her dora chair the whole first half almost. She is a great fan.  She would clap and scream. She even stopped the ball under her chair once! Haley on the other hand wanted to play with the Haesecke kids who were running around in another field doing who knows what. I didn't rain while we were there which was nice.  After that we headed home and katelyn wrote some blogs while I watched some Cosby shows. "JUSTINE JUSTINE! DON'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEEN!"

Sunday we woke up and got ready for church.  I had to work immediately after church so we drove separately.  That actually worked out because we had donut duty and I went to Walmart alone instead of dragging the girls over there.  This Sunday was a special day because our church was being officially proclaimed a particular church in the EPC.  Some people representing different functions of the EPC came to install Dr. Liebengood, our pastor and do the ceremony installing elders and commissioning the church body to faithful living trusting God to equip us to do his will. Haley must have still been tired when she woke up because she was pretty horrible.  She kept whining and wanted to be held.  Typical baby stuff.  Needless to say, when the pastor forgot to tell the kids they could go to their classes, we were more than happy to stand up anyway and take our kids back to the nursery.  There was a lunch afterwards catered from Newk's. I had to leave before the service actually ended but Katelyn said that she got help from the little girls at church.  They love Haley and Emily.  She fed them but the other little girls at church were more than happy to hold Emily and play with Haley.  She really thought it would be awful without me there to help but she says she was pleasantly surprised. Then they came home and the girls went down for a nap.  Haley was super cranky, so instead of waking her up after an hour, Katelyn just let her sleep till I got home.  Once I got home, I ate some leftovers for lunch and I played with Haley for a while.  Pretty soon it was dinner time.  Katelyn had some leftover fried rice from "Lil Thai House" that she shared with Emily.  We figured out that Haley looks more Mexican, but Emily is actually more Mexican.  The rice was pretty spicy and Emily ate it as if it was candy. I think she could go to the trees and just eat jalapenos right off of them.  I don't remember what Haley and I ate.  I think I had lunch so late that I didn't need anything.  Then the Creech's invited us over.  They just spent two weeks in South Africa, visiting Jon's extended family and visiting the country. The pictures were pretty cool.  They had gone on a safari and it was amazing to see the details God invented when he made the animals.  It seems like they had a pretty good time. Sarah made domino cookies (chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips) for us to eat while we looked at the pictures.  Emily and Haley ended up eating their fair share for sure.  For not having any toys at their house, the girls really did pretty well.  Emily really enjoyed sitting on the ledge by their fireplace.  She would just sit down and laugh like a crazy person.  Haley liked to look at some of the animals, but also enjoyed walking around touching fragile things she wasn't supposed to be touching.  After the pictures, we came home and put the girls to bed and then we read some Robinson Crusoe.  I know, we really need to just finish that book.

Haleyism: Haley thinks bathroom humor is funny.  She says things are poopie or that she wants to eat poopie. Not sure where she picked up on that.  I think it is funny, but I don't say those things.

Emilyism: Emily seems to only get worse at walking.  I think she sees it as just a one time event, not a lifestyle change.

Emily stuffing her face at Chloe Watson's Bday party

You can't tell, but Haley has a bad attitude.

True love for the game.

We definitely gotta wash that chair.

No wonder we've been getting so much rain.

Regular bed time routine, with a triple axle dismount

Emily was somewhat of an obnoxious fan.

Mid-week catch-up!

I guess I'm starting to get a little behind on here again...
WEDNESDAY Julianne, Jay, and Carrington left to visit her family in Plainview until Monday.  They were gone by the time we woke up so it was weird getting up and getting ready for BSF on our own.  After Bible study I had volunteered to stay an hour later and watch the childcare leader's kids while they listened to a recording of the lecture.  We packed a lunch and basically ate our lunch with the other kids during most of the hour.  There was one other lady in there helping me and she had one son and together we watched three other kids besides our own.  Haley and Emily were actually the youngest children in the group and definitely the most high maintenance so I didn't feel like much help!

When we got home I put the girls right down for naps and then took a nap of my own.  When the girls woke up they played in the den while I did my Bible study at the table.  They are getting a lot better at playing together.  Then they sat on the porch and waited for David to get home.  Emily loves sitting in chairs so it really does work out to just have them sitting out there.  David got home around four thirty or so and played with the girls while I made our potluck dish for church.  I fed Emily a bunch of yogurt before we left for church because it's hard for me to know if she's getting enough when she's eating real food.  For some reason it's more reassuring to me that she's fed when she's had a cup of yogurt or applesauce opposed to a bunch of random foods torn up into pieces.  Anyways, she ate tons of yogurt and then still ate tons of random food at the potluck.  Haley and Emy did well in their class during the adult time but they did awful during bedtime once we got home.  I think Emily was still hungry or something because eventually we just gave her a bottle of milk and then she went right down.

THURSDAY the girls and I had women's Bible study.  We were meeting at a house where we've met once before but Haley definitely remembered it because they had lots of dress-ups.  As we were walking up she started talking about the dress-ups.  Once we got inside she started asking for them.  I quietly told her that I didn't know where they were and she answered, "they're upstairs in the girl's room."  Oh my.  Eventually she and her friend Addy made their way upstairs and came down dressed in gowns complete with shoes and wands.  We are planning on getting Haley a bunch of dress-ups for Christmas, I don't think she'll be disappointed.

When we got home from Bible study I fed the girls lunch and then put them down for naps.  Haley was so tired that she hardly ate anything.  It was pretty early when I put them down so they both woke up before 3.  I napped while they napped, new baby makes me pretty tired.  When they woke up I did my Bible study while they played and then we went outside to wait for David (sounds a lot like yesterday, we lack variety apparently).  Haley insisted on waiting outside for David but he really wasn't supposed to be home for another hour so we were out there for a quite a while.  First we sat in the chairs and Haley evaluated every car that went by as "not daddy's car."  Finally Emy got out of her seat and went over to the Feenstra's umbrella stroller on our porch and started asking to get in.  I put her in Haley in together and I pushed them around the driveway for at least thirty minutes until David finally got home.  He then watched the girls while I made dinner and then continued watching them while I had Bible study with Chloe and Ella.  They watched a Dora movie on our bed and he said that after a while Emy started climbing up on his chest and laying her head down so he just put her to bed and she went right down.  He put Haley down not too long after, early naps make for wonderful bedtimes.

FRIDAY was a busy day.  The girls and I slept in because we didn't have any plans but my friend Amanda texted around nine to say that she was going to the park around ten.  David didn't have to leave for work until ten so we got ready for the day and hung out with him and then headed to the park.  I brought a push toy for Emily to walk behind and a wagon for Haley.  I think Emily walked behind her toy for two minutes at the most but the wagon got a lot of use out of Haley, Lucy, and Evelyn.  First they filled it with the recycled tire pieces that covered the playground and then they had the great idea to send their wagon down the slide.  That ended up taking up the rest of the time.  They filled the wagon with pieces and then sent it down the slide over and over.  Emily spent most of the time in the swing.  She was not interested in pushing her toy and she didn't love crawling around on the weird turf.  Anytime she was crawling it was to make her way over to the swing and beg to get into it.  After a bit it was lunchtime and the park was super near our house so I invited Amanda and the girls over for lunch.

I made hot dogs for the girls and grilled cheese for Amanda and I.  I would have made grilled cheese for all of us but we were almost out of bread.  Emily ate her lunch and then I put her down for her nap.  Haley played with the girls after lunch for a bit and then they headed out and she and I went down for a nap.  Naps are great and make me feel so much better but I have noticed that not too much gets done while I am taking them.  I ended up having to wake up the girls from their naps because it was getting late.  I gave them a snack and then we headed over to our neighbor Francis's house for a visit.  She had called on Thursday to tell us she was back from visiting her family and wanted to see how much the girls had grown.  Unfortunately when we got there she was not feeling well so we told her we would come back another time.

We got home and decided to go to Chloe and Ella's volleyball game.  It was their last game of the season and they won!  Haley played around on the bleachers for most of the time.  After the game we met up with David and some friends at a restaurant downtown called 'The Little Thai House.'  We grabbed some take out and then went to the LeTourneau soccer game.  The head coach for the boy's team goes to our church and he told us that they were playing the #12 team in the nation!  They ended up losing 2-0 but we still had a great time.  Emily and Haley both ate a bunch of rice and did great watching the game.  We brought their little chairs along so Emily probably spent about 90% of the time sitting or standing in her chair.  Towards the end she got up and crawled over to our friend Michael Grubbs and sat in his lap.  It was so random and she sat there the rest of the game!

After the game our friends the Grubbs and the Yeakley's came over.  We put Emily right to bed and I let Haley watch Dora on our bed for a little bit because she wasn't tired yet.  We made smores in the oven (random I know but so good) and played the game 'Ticket to Ride' as couples.  David and I ended up winning with a score of 180, best we've ever done!  After the game they stayed and talked for a while and then headed out and David and I went to bed.

Haleyism:
Haley likes to say that she is "too big" to do things and she says that Emily is "too little."  Emily is maybe four pounds lighter, haha.

Emilyism:
Emily doesn't like salmon.  I gave her some at the church potluck and she spit it out.  This is significant because it is seriously the only food she's ever had that she hasn't liked!

This is our newest video of Emily walking.  It's actually from last week but I kept forgetting to upload it.

Monday and Tuesday, Happy Birthday Aunt Carly!

Monday was a rather slow day.  David was still gone and we did not have anything going on so we went to the gym in the morning.  Then we came home and I made some hotdogs for lunch and we went outside to the picnic table to eat.  There were a couple flies flying around and it bothered Haley so we came inside and finished eating at the table which worked out well because David called and wanted to Skype so we skyped with him while we ate.  Then I put the girls down for naps and work on laundry.  It was the first afternoon in a while that I didn't take a nap at the same time as them.  I was feeling pretty good so I wanted to get some things done.  That kind of backfired because as soon as Haley woke up I suddenly felt exhausted.  Haley played with Jay while we waited for Emily to wake up.  After three and a half hours Emily was still sleeping so finally we went in and woke her up because we wanted to go to the park.

Julianne stayed home with Jay and Carrington because Carrington was sleeping but Haley, Emily, and I went to the park for about forty-five minutes.  I packed a snack and they ate their crackers while I pushed them in the swing.  Then Haley got out and went down the slide a bunch of times.  When Haley goes down the slide she gets going so fast and she's so light that she always flies out the end of the slide and lands on her bottom.  I think she thinks that that's how it's supposed to be because she always just gets up and dusts herself off and does it again.  Meanwhile all the nearby moms gasp when they see her and wait for her to cry but she never does.  We left when it was getting close to dinner.  Julianne made burgers and french fries for dinner, they were so good.  I had small group so I ate and fed the girls and then headed out.  While I was gone Julianne and Todd took all of the children to The Children's Place to find some jeans for Jay.  Apparently both Haley and Jay were really awful while they were there and kept running around and being wild in the clothes.  Haley tends to do that in clothing stores so I had warned her before I left that she needed to listen and obey.  She didn't.  David got home from his flight before I got home from small group and when I walked in he was making Haley apologize.  I told him that I told her specifically to be good and had said she would be punished if she wasn't so he ended up spanking her.  She totally knew why she was getting spanked, I know she hadn't forgotten or anything.  Julianne and Todd had put Emily to bed so all we had to do was put Haley down.  That shouldn't have been too hard except I guess she wasn't tired because she fought sleep until after ten.  She kept calling us in and saying she was scared.  Then we would ask her what she was scared of and she would say, "uh...pause...uh....pause...elephants."  I'm not really sure what to do with that one because if she can't think of what she's scared of then she is obviously lying.  We were not very sympathetic and tried to be stern and everything so hopefully she got the picture.  David is writing Tuesday's post in honor of Aunt Carly's Birthday, a tribute will follow!

Tuesday Katelyn had MOPs and decided to leave the kids home.  They don't really like going and I like to get to spend time with them whenever I have a day at home.  I was not scheduled to leave till 2pm, so it was really nice to get to spend the morning with them. After getting them dressed, we played in the den for a while.  They both played nicely with each other and myself.  We read some books and played with their toys.  Haley pretended to be a puppy dog for a little while.  Emily followed suit simply because she was crawling around after Haley.  Emily really enjoyed playing with her blocks.  I don't exactly remember what Haley was like at this exact age, but I think Emily may be a little more advanced in stacking blocks.  We played in their kitchen for a while.  Haley made Emily and I bananas and a donut to eat.  Emily really liked the donut.  Emily likes to climb up on the little chairs and stand facing the back. The only thing is that sometimes the chair wiggles a little and at the slightest movement she gets terrified and freezes.  It is kind of funny except that she screams and cries even if her feet are still touching the ground.  After playing a while, Haley decided she wanted to pretend that she was Carrington (spelling?).  All this amounted to Haley basically acting like a retard, no joke.  She would make this weird nasal-ish sound and not be able to walk or reach for stuff or really do much of anything.  It was kind of funny.  They started getting kind of fussy after that so I gave them some string cheese and made a grilled cheese sandwich. Emily ate half of it, I ate a quarter, and Haley nibbled on a quarter.  Haley really did not eat much.  Katelyn got home around noon and I showered to go to work.  The girls took naps and after they woke up they played outside for a while.  Katelyn says Haley and Jay were throwing dirt at each other.  Suffice it  to say, they were in desperate need of a bath. When I got home, we ate dinner and cleaned up a little bit.  Then we headed out to Albertson's because Katelyn had seen there was a sale on boneless, skinless, chicken breasts only $1.48/lb.  We found it and as we browsed the store to find a few other items, Katelyn's phone was lost.  Haley had it in her pocket, but it fell out...and it was on vibrate.  We had almost exhausted all our options when we were about to check out, but I figured I would walk back through once more and quadruple check.  I found it under a rack of spices.  In one of those aisles there were some blow up Halloween and Autumn themed blow up yard decorations.  One of them was a turkey wearing a pilgrim's hat coming out of a pumpkin. Haley was pretty scared.  She covered her eyes and said she didn't want to walk that way.  I don't know if she was scared by the thought of a bird coming out of a giant gourd or the fact that consumerism is driving American culture into fusing Halloween and Thanksgiving into one.  Either way, she seems to have valid reasons for her fears.  Then we went to Wendy's.  They sell these little books of coupons: if you donate a dollar they give you 5 free frosty coupons.  Well, turns out their valid date begins Nov. 1.  Good old Dave Thomas (R.I.P) suckered us again into buying two of those frostys even though we had three coupon books in the car.  Then we headed home and put the girls in the tub.  They were both so dirty and really seemed to enjoy the fact that they were getting clean.  Then we pretty much put them to sleep.  Emily screamed for a while.  We were about to let her cry it out thinking she was being stubborn about wanting a bottle when Katelyn went in there and discovered she had a poopy diaper.  Fail.


Haleyism: Haley gave me a toy banana from her kitchen to eat and when I stuck it in my mouth, she said "No! Spit it out! That's disgusting!"
Emilyism: Emily would stack one block onto the tower of blocks I had built and just laugh hysterically.

Emily wearing her pageant sash

Haley looking up at some balloons at Albertson's

Emily doing flips

A busy Saturday and restful Sunday

SATURDAY we all slept in until about nine.  David got the girls their breakfast and then skyped with Aunt Adj. and Isa, Bennett, and baby David while they ate breakfast.  It was fun to see baby David on Skype, he is super cute and a good combination of Bennett and Isa although he looks more like Isa's baby pictures.  After breakfast we went to the gym for a bit so David and I could walk together and work out.  I also showered there so David was all ready with the girls when I walked out of the locker room.  When we got home David quickly jumped in the shower and then we all headed downtown to an annual Longview event called 'Touch a Truck, Feed a Family.'  I laugh a little bit every time I hear the title because it sounds so dumb.  The touch a truck part is because there are a bunch of city service vehicles there that you can get into and honk the horn and everything.  The feed a family part is because the fee to get in is a jar of peanut butter and it goes to the Longview food pantry.  I think we were cutting it a little close to be going right before naps, Haley was definitely seeming tired.  She was not interested in getting into any of the trucks or helicopters.  Emily was in a good mood so David took her in the trucks he wanted to go into.  I thought it kind of worked out that Haley was being a crank because a lot of the trucks had lines to wait to get into the trucks and they were all pretty boring to me.

Last year when we went to this event it was super cold, maybe a high of fifty and windy.  This year it was a high of ninety and super sunny.  We spent a good chunk of time indoors looking at some of the booths that were set up.  Haley and Emy got their faces painted and we spent a long time in the Longview public transit bus (it was air conditioned in there).  We saw our friends Josh and Libby Black with their two kids Ruthie and Jude.  Haley and I just had breakfast with them yesterday in case you forget who they are.  We also saw Amanda with Lucy and Evelyn.  We hung out a while with them and then we headed out.

When we got home we put Haley and Emy right down for naps but we only let Haley sleep about an hour.  After the girls woke up we played with them in the den for a while.  Todd and Julianne were in charge of dinner and they made some delicious tilapia with rice and carrots.  It actually got really cold in the evening, it was maybe in the sixties, so David and I decided to go out and get some stuff to make smores.  We ran to Wal-mart with the girls after dinner and got all of the supplies.  Then David made a fire in the back and we made some smores, it was super fun.  Emily was more into the actual marshmallows but Haley like the actual smores.  After the fire we came inside and put the girls in their jammies and put them to bed.

Saturday night Emily woke up probably three or four times coughing.  I'm not sure what that is all about but she was coughing throughout the day on Sunday too.  We did the nebulizer with her Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon and I think that helped.  The high was 77 today and it was colder in the morning so we got to wear socks and shoes and sweaters over our dresses to church so that was kind of fun (except, David, he didn't wear a sweater or a dress).  By the time the service was over it was warm again and we were pulling off our sweaters.  We came home and David made BLTs for everybody for lunch.  Emily went down for her nap fairly easily but Haley fought her nap for a while.  She ended up not falling asleep until after two and then slept too long I think.  David had to leave for an overnight trip somewhere in Texas today at 2:30 so we said good-bye and then really just spent the rest of the night hanging out together.  I made pancakes for dinner and Haley and Emily each ate three.  Haley and Jay played really well together this evening, they were in the play kitchen for a long time.  Emily seemed a little under the weather and she was still coughing so I gave her some Tylenol before bed.  Haley fought bedtime for a while, that's why I think she slept too late.  She kept getting up to use the bathroom.  It's ten right now and the last time she got up was maybe ten minutes ago so I hope she's done doing that.

Haleyism:
This is probably too much information but Haley is very interested when she goes #2.  She loves to go and then analyze the results.  She talks about the color, the size, and their placement in the potty.  Then when she finally slushes she says 'bye' to them...in English and Spanish.

Emilyism:
Emily is turning into a screamer.  It anyone does anything she doesn't like, she screams at them.  It is getting ridiculous.  I'm not sure if she was doing more than usual today because she wasn't feeling well but I hope that was the case because I felt like she was screaming all of the time.

Emy and I at the fire, she liked to stand in her chair

She looks so big!

Haley and Jay acting like an old married couple

We took this picture so you could see their painted faces

Emily was kind of an angry bunny

Sitting in a fire truck, wearing a fire hat, and holding her paci, haha

See if you can find David and Emy

Emy getting her face painted

Haley wearing a Mr. Potato Head Santa hat at church....random.

Two days with Daddy

Thursday morning I had women's Bible study.  I brought both of the girls along because David wanted to mow the lawn.  We were gone until almost lunchtime and we ate as soon we got home.  Haley had stayed up late the night before, until almost eleven I think.  On the blog I think that she went right to sleep but we only thought that was true.  She ended up getting up several times before finally falling asleep.  Anyways, I had to wake her and Emily up for Bible study and they were both ready for naps by noon.  Haley was so ready for her nap that she left the breakfast and table and went to David and I's bed and fell asleep.  I had told her that she could either eat her macaroni and cheese or go to bed so I guess she chose the latter.  Emily would not skip a meal if her life depended on it so she ate all of her food and then went down for her nap.

While they slept I worked on cleaning the house and David worked on the toilet in our bathroom which had been leaking.  That toilet project ended up taking all day.  The girls woke up and I played with them inside and outside and Dave kept working in that bathroom.  At dinnertime I went to the freezer to pull out my chicken and I didn't have any...oops.  Fortunately, Jon Creech had come by in the morning and given us some giftcards because David mowed their lawn and watched their house for them while they were gone in South Africa for two weeks.  Anyways, one of the giftcards was for Chick-fil-a so we went there for dinner.  It was freezing in the restaurant (I thought) and pretty nice outside so we sat at a table outside and watched the ridiculously long drive through line.  I felt like telling some of those people to just park and run inside because there was no line inside!  After we ate we let the girls play in the play area for a while and then headed home.

I played with the girls outside until bedtime while David finished up the toilet.  He finished just in time to kiss the girls goodnight.  I had only let Haley sleep two hours for her nap and it worked out because she didn't give us any problems going to sleep.  She did wake up crying after about fifteen minutes or so and when I went to her she said she saw Calla and Isa in her room.  She even went to the rocker in their room and looked behind it because she was sure they were there.  I think she must have a weird dream or something.

Today the girls and I had been invited to a friend's house for breakfast.  Her name is Libby and I know her from a Monday night Bible study I've done in the past.  She has two kids: Ruthie and Jude.  Ruthie is about three months older than Haley and Jude is a month younger than Emy.  Despite him being younger, Jude was walking circles around Emily.  He's also a good head taller than her, he's actually closer to Haley's size and weighs more than Haley I'm sure.  Libby made waffles for breakfast and even let Haley and Ruthie help stir the batter.  After breakfast the kids played while Libby and I talked for a while.  Haley found a dress-up dress within the first ten minutes of us being there and wore it the whole time.  She cried when it was time to go and she had to take it off.  We got home just before lunch and decided to go to the park to eat.  I left the girls in the van and David and I quick threw some peanut butter and jelly together.

We went to a new park that David had found.  We ate our sandwiches and then sat on the swings with the girls for a while.  They had a great playground but Haley was not interested in it at all which I thought was odd.  I think she was tired or something.  We were at the park for maybe an hour and then we came home and put the girls down for lunch.  I was super tired too so I laid down for a bit.  I haven't felt too nauseous lately but this new baby definitely makes me tired.  We woke up Haley after two hours and then she played while David and I finished cleaning the house.  After cleaning we went to Wal-mart to pick up a couple items and then came home and started dinner.  Julianne and the kids got home just as we were getting dinner on the table.  Haley was pretty excited to see Jay, she yelled his name when she saw him!  After dinner they played for a while and then we put them all to bed.  Haley went right down without any problems so I think we've finally got her sleep schedule somewhat under control!

Haleyism:
Haley's newest excuse for doing things is "I can't."  She gives no reason for why, she just simply cannot.

Emilyism:
Last night Haley was crying and being whiney before bedtime and Emily came up, took her own paci out of her mouth, and put it in Haley's mouth.  Haley immediately stopped crying and just sat there sucking on it.  Emily did not attempt to get it back, she is wise beyond her year!

Emy reading books before bed

Emy being odd

Daddy brought some popcorn back from his hotel, the girls were appreciative

Emy looks funny in this picture

Getting ready for #3!

Today we had a fairly busy day.  Emily woke up around eight and I let her cry a little bit so that Haley would wake up.  I wanted Haley to wake up a little earlier so that she would nap earlier and go to bed earlier.  Anyways, eight was as good as it got.  I gave the girls waffles for breakfast and we headed out to BSF.  Haley didn't cry when I dropped her off but Emy got a little teary.  We had to head out a couple minutes before it was over because I had a doctor's appointment.  I picked up the girls about ten minutes early and then we headed out.  I dropped Haley off at the Smith's house to play and took Emily along with me.  I figured Emily would want to see the first person that ever held her, Dr.Hutchinson!  We were visiting Dr. Hutchinson because Emily and Haley are going to have a younger sibling!  Here is what the girls did when we told them: 

Emily was a little upset.  I'm not sure what Haley was thinking

They know that if it's a brother they will need to stick together!

I decided to take Emily with me because I knew it was supposed to be a short appointment and Dr. Hutchinson delivered Emy so I figured she wanted to see her.  Haha, I'm just kidding, I'm sure she didn't but I didn't want to leave both girls with Meagan since her kids were at Mother's Day Out so I was kind of crashing her alone time.  I brought a snack for Emily and she did really well.  She laid on my chest for most of the time.  Dr. Hutchinson had a hard time finding the heartbeat so they pulled out an ancient looking ultrasound computer and found it that way.  Emily was pretty interested in that, she sat on my upper stomach and watched.  

After the appointment we picked up Haley who was having a great time watching a movie.  Meagan said she tried to get her to play with some toys but she didn't seem too interested and as soon as she mentioned a movie she lit up.  I had packed a snack for Haley and she ate most of it at Meagan's.  When we got home I gave the girls lunch and then put them down for naps.  Haley got up to use the bathroom two times right away and then she went to sleep.  I was pretty excited about her going to sleep so early (a little after 1) but then she went and slept three hours!  Emily woke up before her and I let her cry a couple minutes so Haley would wake up.  Who knows how long she would have slept!  I probably should have woken her up but I hate to wake her up if she needs the sleep.

I gave them some crackers for snack and they ate them in the den.  I am planning on cleaning tomorrow so I let them drop crumbs.  They were Saltine crackers so the den looks pretty bad right now.  I made some macaroni and cheese for church and we headed out around six.  David came straight from the airport and met us at church.  The girls both have 'big sister' shirts so we had them wear those as our church announcement but nobody noticed them haha.  Finally, at the end of the evening during clean-up David showed Emy's shirt to Chloe and Ella and then everyone found out.  It's always kind of awkward to tell people that you are pregnant but everyone was super excited and David got a lot of high fives.  After church we came home and put the girls to bed.  Haley stalled for a little bit but went down easier than she has been.  

I thought we weren't going to be telling everyone for a while but I went in for an ultrasound on Monday and my due date is a lot earlier than I thought it would be.  Usually they push my due date back (they pushed it back 12 days when I was pregnant with Emy) but they moved mine forward a week!  The new baby is due on April 14th.  I have been more sick than I ever was with the girls but it's been getting better this week!

Haleyism:

On the way home from BSF I told Haley we were going to the Smith's house and she asked if Mr. Weston was going to be there.  I told her that he was probably at work and she said, "flying airplanes?"  I'm not sure if she knows that he is actually a pilot or if she just assumes that everyone's daddy is a pilot.

Emilyism:

Emily was not too impressed with Dr. Hutchinson.  Dr. Hutchinson was talking to her and trying to get her to smile but Emy would not smile back.  Dr. Hutchinson's nurse did not give Emily the time of day but everytime she came into the room Emily would smile at her, it was so strange.  I think reverse psychology is going to work on Emy.

Haley thinks she is also having a baby...

Girls night out!

Monday Haley seemed to be completely recovered from whatever was bothering her on Sunday.  She woke up with plenty of energy and fought her nap in the afternoon as usual.  We skyped with David a couple times because he had a trip to New Jersey and he had spent the night with my family in New Jersey.  We happened to eat lunch at the same time as them so we skyped over lunch.  Haley was so excited because David was having pizza with Mimi, Pops, Aunt Kimi, Ellie, Aunt Kelly, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Rin, and Uncle Daniel.  Emy was about ready for a nap so she wasn't too exciting but Haley was fairly engaged for most of the time.  She kept talking about Jay, her favorite person lately.

Emy went down for her nap right after lunch but Haley fought her nap for a while.  I ended up putting her down in our bed because I didn't want her to keep Emy up.  Julianne had to go to work a little earlier than usual so I had all four kids for a little bit until Todd got home.  Carrington is the easiest baby ever so it really just feels like three kids.  Haley was getting really cranky so I ended up making some grilled cheese for the kids.  Julianne had made taco meat before she left but I don't know that Haley would really eat tacos anyways.  It worked out because she ate two whole grilled cheese sandwiches!  Emily ate a half and Jay ate one sandwich.  When Todd got home he cut up some vegetables and ate but I hung out with the kids and waited for David to get home to eat with him.  He got home around 7:30 and we ate and then went to Wal-mart to pick up some groceries.  We tried to make an evening of it and stopped by the fish and walked by the toy aisle to try and tire the girls out.  It worked well for Emily because she went right to sleep as soon as we got home but Haley fought sleep for a while.  She actually fought sleep until after ten!

For whatever reason, Haley had a really hard time sleeping on Monday night.  She woke up sometime between 2 and 3 and was crying really hard.  David and I both tried to get her to tell us why she was crying but she just kept crying harder.  I got her some apple juice and peanuts (her request) and put them on her nighstand and told her they were there and then said I was going to bed.  Then David and I went to bed and just decided to let her cry it out.  I didn't ever let my girls cry it out as babies, but I decided at 2 1/2, I really don't have a problem with it.  She cried on and off for a while and then finally stopped and went to sleep.  Emy gets the all-time heavy sleeper award for staying asleep through all of it.

This morning I had a MOPs planning meeting so we had to be out the door by 9:15.  I know that is not very early at all but I ended up having to wake up both of the girls around 9.  My meeting went from 9:30 until 11:30 and the workers said Haley and Emy did fine.  Julianne had left for Tennessee this morning with the kids for a short visit so when we got home we ate lunch by ourselves.  Haley was asking where everyone was for most of the day.  David actually came home just as we were finishing lunch.  He was here for maybe fifteen minutes to scarf down some lunch and then head out for an overnight trip somewhere in South Texas.  We were happy to see him even if it was just for a short time.

I decided to keep Haley up from her nap to try and get her on an earlier sleep schedule.  I think she needs to go to bed earlier so that she gets up earlier so that she takes an earlier nap so that she continues to go to bed earlier.  Anyways, I read books to her for a while and then let her watch Dora for a bit.  Emy slept about two and a half hours and I turned Dora off once she was up.  We played in the den for a while after Emy got up but Haley was so tired she ended up passing out on the couch.  I let her sleep for about a half hour and then we ate an early dinner because we were going to Ella and Chloe's volleyball game at 5.  It was sunny all day but as soon as it was time to go it started pouring rain.  We decided to brave the weather and it worked out because when we got across town the rain had stopped.

Ella and Chloe won their game pretty fast and Haley was pretty bummed when it was time to go.  I guess she thought we were spending the entire evening there.  I have a Chick-fil-a promotional card that gives one free item every month and it is a chocolate cookie sundae for the month of October so I decided to cheer Haley up by getting a sundae together.  We all sat in a booth and shared the sundae and then we went to the playground and Haley and Emy played in there for a while.  Haley used the bathroom twice while we were there.  I think she probably peed half of a teaspoon each time.

After Chick-fil-a we came home and I made a sandwich for the girls to split because we hadn't eaten for a while.  They each ate a half.  Then I gave them baths and put them to bed.  Both of them went right down, success!

Haleyism:
Haley likes to sing-along to the Dora theme-song when she's watching the video.  I need to get it on video because it's hilarious, she's very serious about it.

Emilyism:
Emily loves to give kisses.  She usually gives them with a wide open mouth and it's kind of gross.  There's a video below of her kissing Haley.

Haley on the slide

Emy and I

Haley and Emy playing

Emy giving Haley kisses in the tub