A bunch of everything and nothing and maybe something big

My problem with blogging is that I never have anything interesting to blog about. And every time I sit down to blog, the girls attack me. They don't like me on the computer... they don't like me to read, sleep, shower, visit the bathroom, anything that takes me out of view or their attention... so I don't get around to blogging much. I have momma's girls.  But I figured since it's been 2 months since the last update, I should try to throw something together.

Three weeks ago, we moved to Idaho Falls. So far it's just been a lot of traffic in between errands, but once the house is finally put together the way I like it, we might have time to do exciting things in the "city." The townhouse is a hundred times better than any apartment we've ever lived in. We have so much space now, and the girls have a fenced yard to run wild in. And we have a real life dining room with a hard floor! No more scrubbing mac and cheese out of carpet! So far since we've lived here, Gwen's broken the blinds off the large glass doors so now everybody can look in and see our business, especially at night; Phoebe slid down the stairs on her behind with a large load in her diaper that I spent a half an hour scrubbing off each step; battled through our first October colds and fevers; chased away countless salesmen from our house; went to the wrong ward; and I couldn't even tell you how many times we've been to Walmart to find screws, filters, tools, and anything else we've either lost or broken in the process of moving. But we're loving our decision to move out of Rexburg. Who knew there was such diversity in Idaho? All of our neighbors are smokers, the people in our church beat their kids in public, and I even got a phone call from the Methodist church inviting me to a single mother's support group... not sure what that was about, but I was impressed that there is a Methodist church nearby. It's been interesting, but not as interesting as what I was used to in NJ. So much better than NJ!

Gwen is psyched for Halloween this weekend. All the wards that meet in our church building are hosting a community trunk-or-treat, and Gwen's been talking about it nonstop since we got them costumes. Last week we took the girls to Halloween City to pick out costumes, and Gwen picked out a cutie witch, and Phoebe wanted to be a pumpkin. I'm excited for Halloween this year because Gwen understands what to expect. Though visiting trunks in a parking lot instead of knocking on doors might throw her off a little. Phoebe doesn't know what's going on, but she'll have fun anyway. Hopefully it won't rain! That would be awful. We would have to walk the girls around to different parts of the house to find treats. Not as exciting.

I haven't been taking many pictures since we've moved. I keep thinking I'm going to get the house unpacked and decorated very soon and I'll take pictures then, but I'm having a hard time getting everything done. Keeping up with every day chores and the kids are hard enough, especially since I'm much more tired and queasy lately. Which brings me to my next paragraph -

Maybe I should have mentioned this earlier, but I'm pregnant again. I haven't announced it to the whole world yet (meaning facebook) for some reason, I guess I'm waiting for after my ultrasound. But since mostly everyone on blogger already knows, I didn't see the point in not sharing. If you didn't know, surprise!  I'm 11 weeks along now, and my due date is May 16th, just three days before Logan's birthday. We think it just may be a boy this time, because my morning sickness hasn't been as bad as it was with my girls. Or I could just very well have another girl and have three like my momma. We're kind of leaning toward wanting a boy this time, because he would be born around his papa's birthday and we could name him after him. Gwen was named after somebody born in July, and Phoebe was named after somebody born in February. We want to keep up with tradition, and we don't have any other family members born in May. But a girl would certainly be welcomed, especially since I have four full bins of baby clothes for girls! I wouldn't have to buy a single thing! Gwen is excited, kind of. She's been looking through baby magazines and understanding somewhat that there's a baby in my belly. Sometimes she kneads my stomach and talks to the baby, which is adorable. I don't know how small children can understand something like pregnancy. Saying "there's a baby in mommy's belly" makes it sound like I've eaten a baby... but she doesn't seem bothered. I guess she understands more than I give her credit.

I'm not the only one pregnant either. I have two sisters-in-law who are pregnant, too! 2011 is going to be an exciting year! Good thing too, since the world's going to end the year after that, right? Live it up!

Kids and Things

It's been a while since I posted last. Just the same stuff happening, really. But I guess I can update a little bit on the girls. I mean, some new stuff happens to us. We have lives (sort of.)

Phoebe has started nursery. She does really well! I never had to stay with her. She sat next to her sister at the play dough table ( I made sure to tell the leaders that she will try to eat it as soon as their backs are turned every time) and I left them. The leaders told me she cried a couple times when she noticed I wasn't there, but it never was for very long. She's easily distracted. Yesterday was her second time to nursery (we put her in a week early) and she opened up more to everyone. She talked to them. The leaders have told me that I should get Gwen's speech checked, because she's very hard to understand for a three-year-old, which amazed them because she's so "sharp." (She's the only kid there who knows her alphabet and numbers.) Phoebe's not that way, I guess. Gwen's very talkative, and I can usually figure out what she's saying, but she does have a hard time communicating with others. We'll see what happens. Anyway, back to Phoebe - she is learning her letters. She knows what letters are, but she can't see one and name it correctly. When she sees words, she points to them and says "B O I E." She's getting there! She talks a lot. She asks to sit on the potty, and she sings "Bye Bye Pee Pee, Bye Bye Poop." It's disgusting, but most potty training dvds are. She'll probably be trained before her sister. Seriously.

Gwen is in her terrible threes. She has as much energy as ever and she keeps me on my toes. She's a sweet heart, too. She loves her sister very much even though she knocks her down a million times a day. I think she's getting bored with the apartment.

Good thing, too, I guess, because we're moving. Next month we're getting out of Rexburg and moving on to something. Not sure what that something is yet, but we're moving toward it. We're staying in Idaho, that's all we know.

No pictures this time, because I have them all on facebook. Nothing to illustrate anyway. I just wanted to post to let people know we're still around, but not for long. Thank goodness!

Princess Gwen Turns Three!

Gwen's birthday was Saturday, and, as everyone keeps telling me, I have a three-year-old! Sometimes I can't believe it's only been 3 years. Sometimes I feel like she should be a teenager already. But most times I can't believe she's not a baby anymore. She speaks in complete sentences now (and I can understand her more than half the time), she loves pizza, she helps take care of her sister (when she's not pushing her over). She's no longer my little ball of energy... she's now my big, gigantic, how-the-heck-am-I-going-to-catch-her ball of energy. She may be a little hard to handle at times, and she can be strong-willed and hyper, but I think those qualities will make her a successful person. She's going to be great at sports. I need to figure out how to contain that energy, keep her safe, and make sure I don't discipline the love of motivation right out of her. This little girl is awesome.

Gwen on the morning of her birthday. She's so excited to be three! All day long she chanted "It's my birthday!" and while at the grocery store picking up party food, she told everybody she was three. A woman from the bakery even gave her a free cookie. Yay for more birthday sugar!

She was so happy she even gave her sister a hug without being asked to.

And gave her many kisses, as long as I was taking pictures.

Since I forgot my camera for the first half of the party (what kind of mother am I?) I didn't get many pictures of the party. But here's one of her opening a present - Snow White! She loves Disney princesses, but she only had The Little Mermaid. She now goes around the apartment singing "Hi Ho! Hi ho!"

Here's Gwen in her new princess bedding, wearing her new princess sunglasses and new princess outfit. She's not exactly a girly girl (her favorite color is blue, believe it or not) but she certainly loves her Princesses!

Rockin her new glasses before church. I'm surprised she let us take them off of her before she left.

Happy birthday, love!

Random Pictures This Week

We're off to Soda Springs for the weekend! I thought I would post some pictures before we left. No reason. Just felt like it.

Potty Training Blues

How in the world do you potty train a kid?! We've been trying to get Gwen to use the potty for a while now, and recently we bought a princess potty to go on the toilet and princess training pants, which she absolutely loves, but still she refuses to go. She asks to sit on the toilet multiple times a day, but still nothing! She'll be three in a month, so what do I do? Tell her she can't start preschool until she uses the potty? I've tried bribing her with chocolate, even. Nothing's working. I'm sure she'll get it eventually, right??

Seriously. Any tips?

Ducks!

Because of the gorgeous day today, we walked to the Nature Park for some fun. The girls get absolutely crazy being cooped up all the time in the house, so it was a much needed adventure. We ran into a bunch of ducks and got to feed them our cracker snacks we brought us. Those ducks were brave. They came so close to us, I couldn't resist taking pictures. We could have hand fed these ducks if we wanted to. But we didn't. I've seen enough funny home videos to know that these things can get grumpy and attack. The girls were very excited to see quack-quacks up close.

Gwen never fails to make me laugh!

Sometimes Gwen can make me want to jump screaming from the window (good thing we live on the bottom floor) but this girl can make my day brighter in an instant. One minute, I'm pulling out my hair and the next I'm practically rolling on the floor laughing. I love this crazy one.

Right before Logan and I go to bed, Logan goes in to Gwen's room and tucks her in. This is how he discovered her the other night...

How in the world?? Which reminds me - Gwen's been "reading" up a storm lately. She has three books that she wants read over and over again lately, and last week I told her to read "Go, Dogs, Go" to me (I was sick of the story.) So she began to recite the book back to me word for word! She was startled, I could tell, that should could "read" the book. She kept laughing hysterically after each page and jumping up and down excitedly. She now doesn't let me read it to her anymore. All I have to do is turn the pages. She can also recite "PJ Funnybunny" and a lot of "Are You My Mother?" She's a clever little girl!

And the other day while I was making room in her closet and making a pile of things I was giving to DI, she found her old diaper changing pad, strapped herself into it, and walked around in it for over an hour. She would even lie down in it to watch tv. When she was a baby, her changing table would settle her down out of the most terrible crying tantrums. I guess it proved to be still comforting. Now another baby will get to be comforted, as I still gave it to the DI. She doesn't miss it...

I just love it when she lets me put her hair up!

In other news -

Last week, Logan and I had eye doctor appointments and we got new glasses! Well, Logan got new glasses, I got glasses for the first time ever. Before I got pregnant with Gwen, I had great eyesight and prided myself that I was the only one among my friends who didn't need glasses. Well, pregnancy hormones made me near sighted, so now I have my own pair of corrective lenses.

Logan's hot, new glasses. I don't know if you remember, but his old glasses were silver and slightly too big for his face. Now he's even sexier, don't you think? Yes? I thought so.

I'm not quite as stylish in glasses. Not all all. I think they're too big, or something. Maybe I just need to get used to them. I look like a strict librarian.

Good thing I don't need to wear them all the time. Just when I want to see at a distance, when I'm watching tv, at the grocery store, or while driving. Stuff like that. Logan needs his all the time. He's going blind. Sad day. Good thing he looks so good in them!