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!

Old Fashioned Fun

Last Sunday was the Clodbuster's tournament at Carillon Park. It was our first tournament at the new place and it turned out great. In honor of hosting the tournament, family members of date players were asked to dress up in our old-fashioned duds for the day. I was excited to dress all of us up for the first time this season but as always it was a million degrees on Sunday with tons of humidity-perfect for donning layers of modest clothing! Luckily the girls' dresses are short sleeved and lightweight so they fared pretty well in the heat. Ellie was running around so she was pink cheeked and a curly headed-sweaty mess but it only made her look even more adorable than usual! She honestly looked great in her outfit which I had intended to make but found the parts and pieces at various used clothing stores. Several cranks (fans) and photographers took her picture, I'll share some great ones I got too. The weather kept us from staying all day but we did enjoy our first official outing of dressed up base ball for the season. Check out the Clodbuster schedule here for more information about our team and this season's schedule!

Quick Update

Hello! Summer is officially here (for teachers, not by calendar!) and Maggie and I are getting to know each other again as we spend our days together now. She is so much fun now as she is very smiley and happy and "talks" to me. She's very interested in the world now and loves strangers and family members and will smile and talk and allow them to hold her but she is definitely a mama's girl and would prefer me to hold her while checking everyone out. She is especially fond of her big sister and follows her every move!! She is rolling over now from tummy to back and back to tummy consistently and can grab things deliberately although she is still not super coordinated with this. We should be having lots of fun this summer together and will get some alone time too since Ellie will still be attending school at least part-time this summer to be with her beloved friends. We are doing well, just very busy and still juggling the change of two kiddos in the household. I'll update more later but wanted to get some fun pictures out while I had a chance. Enjoy!!