A Bug Story

Ellie loves tiny things, whether they be creatures or just small items. She sees them and her voice gets very high pitched and sweet as she scoops it into her cupped hands and croons lovingly "oooh, you're/it is such a tiny little ___________ <---you fill in the blank"

Anyway, I was giving her a quick shower tonight instead of a bath and as she stepped into the tub we noticed a very tiny beetle bug of some type. She immediately scooped it up and told me it was just a tiny little baby bug and wanted to know if she could keep it. I told her we could put it into a cup to look at it after her bath. She excitedly talked about her baby bug throughout her shower and could not wait to be done to be with her bug again. She got out and I told her I thought we needed to get the baby bug outside so she could find her mommy. She insisted that it was not a baby but a mommy bug who had baby bugs and a mommy and daddy and family all outside waiting to find her. I let her carry it around for a little while and she stared and stared at it and would occasionally pick it up to look closer (poor bug!) At one point she said to me with fear and on the edge of crying "mommy, I think my bug is dead!" I assured her it was not and she looked in and said rather panicky, "mommy, I think it is missing some leg-is" I somehow got the little bugger to move to reassure her and told her I would take a picture of her and her bug before letting it go. So we took a photo which is below and you can see how truly proud she is of her bug (it's the larger black speck in the bottom of the cup, the tiny black speck is some of the unfortunate missing leg-is!) We then carried it to the door where we let it go into the dark, frigid night. She was so proud and happy with herself and I was proud of her too for being so good to our littlest creatures. And although the poor little bug had a rather rough ending to it's life and is probably none to happy to be outside tonight after having legs go missing-she meant well and I'm giving her credit for that!

Walk this Way!

So Miss Maggie has been a busy little thing! We thought Ellie was an active baby but Maggie has given her big sister a run for the money. She never sits still! She has been crawling forever and has been cruising for awhile now too so we've been waiting for her to walk for at least a month and she has finally found her feet! She's definitely a beginner at this point but over the weekend she started walking more than crawling so she's pretty much got it and prefers it over other modes of getting around. Since she is still so tiny (but definitely not skinny if you have held her you would know!) we are hearing the all too familiar comments from strangers about her size and ability and questions about her age and whether she was a preemie. We answered those a million times about Ellie and seems like they just stopped (although we do get them every now and then still about Ellie) and now it's begun again for little Miss Maggie. She is the sweetest little baby around and has the best personality. She is so laid-back and just goes with the flow and is definitely not high maintenance. We thought similar thoughts about Ellie but now realize how much a diva Ellie was compared to Maggie. We drag her everywhere and she is quite happy. She loves her big sister and laughs and laughs at everything she does. She does have a temper and if you happen to make her mad she will let you know in no uncertain terms that she is not happy but most of the time she is just a joy and we love her to pieces! Enjoy a few cute photos of Mags and some videos too. (I'll have to do the videos later, it's not working at the moment . . . stay tuned!)

Sister Act

First Steps (not the actual first ones but some of the first!)

Maggie's tricks

Potty Time!

Well despite the laziness and non-motivation of her parents, Ellie if for the most part potty trained. We are excited for her but must admit that the newly potty-trained stage is hard. She goes days without accidents but then will out of the blue pee all over everything. School requires we have 6 pairs of panties and at least one complete change of clothing on their hooks at all times, including a pair of shoes. I cannot tell you how much extra laundry this has made while she perfected her art but as far as potty-training goes she was a quick study. Brian and I are trying to feel good about this but do admit that diapers just feel easier for us. I hate public potties and have become even more grossed out trying to fit a tiny little bottom safely and cleanly on the public toilet seats. Ellie has no inhibitions and just grips onto the seat no matter where or what condition and I am trying hard not to bring her into my phobic ways so I just have to take deep breaths and be sure I help her wash her hands really well. She looks so cute in her little panties (pull-ups make up good hats!) and she is so proud of her big-girl self so we are happy for her and proud too!

Welcome Back!

So obviously I've had no time to keep this up. It's on the bottom of a long list of priorities these days although I really want to keep you up to date on Ellie and Maggie. In addition to just being busy with two kids, house, husband and work I have also started working on my masters using the online program from Indiana Wesleyan University. It's nice to do it online and I'll be done by next January but it is a LOT of work and a lot of busy work that must be done everyday so needless to say it is not much fun and takes up the last remaining free minutes I had in my day. I'll try better to keep this updated and hope you will resume checking back every now and then to look for changes. Enough about me, this blog is about Maggie and Ellie!! I'll write some more later but for now here is a family pic from the Kettering tree lighting ceremony last Friday. It was FREEZING and we were only able to be out for a short time but it was pretty and the kids loved it.

Maggie needs more pictures on here!

There are not enough pics of Mags on here yet so here are a few-she's so cute!!!

Quads

Early in the Spring I went to a local church's kids sale and picked up a lot of great clothing and other items for the girls. While there, I found a baggie with four little rag babies in it for $2.00. They were too cute to pass up for that price and I figured Ellie would enjoy them. She LOVES these babies!!!! She quickly named them Ryan, Sarah, Perrin and Maggie. Why those names? We had just been to Chillicothe a few weeks before to visit our friends Chuck and Meva who were in town with their triplets (click here for their blog) and Ellie really enjoyed the visit. Up until this visit, all babies were Maggie only so this was a big honor to the Kennedy triplets and the funny thing is these babies still have those names and Ellie really knows who is who. These babies come along almost everywhere with us and Ellie will play with them and sing songs with them, etc. My favorite thing is that she attaches their little hands (they have Velcro on them) and plays Ring a Round the Rosie with them. Too cute! Lately Ellie has been sharing these babies with Maggie and we will often find Mags with a stack of babies all over her as Ellie has "shared" them with her.

With all this playing and travels, these little ones get dirty so recently when we went to the laundry mat to do a lot of loads at once we stuck them in with the laundry. Elie found it hilarious to see her babies in flipping around in the little "windows." I took these photos because I thought they were so funny. If you look in the first window you will see that the Ryan baby (purple pants) is mooning us! In the second photo I had taken the laundry out of the dryer and was wheeling it to the folding table when I noticed that Perrin was trying to escape, rock-climber style, out of the basket while poor Ryan had lost her purple pants entirely as it modestly covering up her "privates!" You may not find it as amusing as I did but I had to share it anyways!

May

We've been doing lots of fun things since the weather has gotten nicer and Maggie has become a little more portable! Here are few highlights:

We've got season passes to Kings Island this year and took both of the girls for the first time! Ellie is still too short for most of the kiddie rides but she eagerly rode the ones she could ride over and over again. She as no fear this kid! She's so close to being 32 inches, the "magic" height in kiddie land!!

My aunt Tina was married to her longtime boyfriend Ken over Memorial Day weekend and the wedding was held at my Aunt Terry's beautiful historic home in Tipp City. Here's Ellie on the porch.

A dear old friend Anne Royer came to visit for an evening and ended up staying the night due to several nasty storms and two tornado warnings! She had never met our girls and Ellie was smitten by her new friend Anne. Here's Mags enjohying a meal with Anne.

That Day in May is a annual event in Oakwood, the community we are one block away from. They have a parade and festival that we have never been home for until this year. Ellie LOVED the parade once she realized people were throwing her CANDY!!! She got quite the stash and really enjoyed her first parade experience. We then went to the festival and she really enjoyed riding a few little rides and sitting inside the CareFlight helicopter. A fun little festival and especially nice as it was only a few blocks away!