She did it!

I realize she has her middle finger up but honestly it
is innocent and we don't have many pictures together
so I decided to post it anyways.


So, I don't know if it's persistence on our part or determination on Charlotte's but she finally earned her princess water bottle and no ordinary princess water bottle that is. I mean the shape alone rivals any boring water bottle (it's in the shape of a chalice) and of course there is a floating Belle princess at the bottom that dances when you shake the bottle. Of course in order to earn this she had to go....what is even the right word to use without sounding like a dorky suburban house wife or so comfortable talking about my children's bodily functions that I have no shame...but she pooped! I never believed in my life I would be so thrilled that my child was going to poop in the "potty," another word to make me feel like, "wait, I have a college degree right?." And it's almost as if you have earned the victory as much as they have. We all jumped up and down and showered Charlotte with praise. In fact we even reduced ourselves to chanting potty songs to popular tunes sung on the radio. As silly and embarrassing as it is to be a fly on the wall watching this all happen it truly is awesome and amazing. Well, much to our excitement Charlotte has done this 3 times in the past 24 hours and has now earned a Construction set complete with a tool belt, hammer, wrench, pliers, nuts, bolts, screws and boards to work with. Oh, and of course we can't forget the goggles and the construction hat. She has been talking about that prize for a while now but until now has refused to compete the task to earn it. So, I have to find some more goodies to entice her until this is a daily routine. I think I may need to do some garage saling tomorrow and get some ideas. Any suggestions are welcome.

A picture is worth 1000 words

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words and when you have no camera ...well, there's no picture! So, I decided we needed to just get a new camera and be done with it. Poor Maggie's going to feel so shafted when she gets older and wonder why so many of her infant pictures were taken in only 4 outfits. Although, being the youngest of 5 I've seen like 3 infant pictures of myself. Our next one may not even be mentioned on the blog.....the nerve of me!
Suffice it to say, we will be getting this new camera within a week and then I will be able to take many more pictures of the girls and not have to look back at the pictures and wonder where we were and what we were doing in them. So, look for some new pictures coming soon.

So, it's been 4 months......I know!

I realize it's been months since I've blogged. I can chalk that up to having not much time to spare and a lot going on. Well, Maggie is now 4 and 1/2 months. She is smiley as ever, just like Charlotte was at her age. She is chattering A LOT!....I wonder who she gets that from?! She is also chubby as ever. I'm a little late on getting her to her 4 month check-up so we will be doing that at the end of the month. I'm looking forward to seeing her stats. Let's just say she fits comfortably in a size 3 diaper, which is for baby's 16-21lbs. Charlotte was 20 lbs. at 6 months and I'm sure Maggie will be right on course for that.
As for Charlotte, she is going through the wonderful phase of being a 2 year old. She's talking more than ever, again don't know where she got that. She is very independent and of course stubborn. She's learning her ABCs, brushing her teeth on her own and is going through the wonderful trial of potty training. She's got peeing down great, now if she could only master the other. I do have some fun prizes to entice her so hopefully that will work. I did tell her though if she can do everything on the potty she can go to Ballerina School. (Charlotte wants to go to school sooooooo bad but she doesn't meet the cut off so she has to wait for pre-school until next year. So, in order to get her motivated to use the bathroom ALL of the time I told her she could go to Ballerina School and she is very excited about that and yet still has no desire to complete the entire potty training task). Well, maybe things will change by the time she is 3, which by the way, I can't believe is coming up so darn soon. When I look at Maggie I see so much of Charlotte and I swear it was only months ago she was that age and now she's turning 3. It's such a bitter sweet experience as a parent. You want them to get older so they can become more independent and you can do more things with them but when they get there you just want them to be little again. I'm just banking on Maggie staying little forever!
As summer is winding down (yeah I know, what summer?) we are gearing up for fall, my absolute favorite time of the year. But before that is the state fair and I swear I mentioned it once to Charlotte like a week ago and every day she asks when we are going to the fair.

Kevin is still working in investigations. He is really liking it. I enjoy the schedule but sometimes miss his old schedule. I know! How ridiculous of me but it was so nice to have the middle of the week off together. We've tried many times looking for places up North to visit on Lake Superior but those darn weekend rates are over twice as much. Honestly though, thank goodness we are so fortunate to have a cabin to retreat to in the summer. It's so beautiful there but it has still just been too chilly to swim in it. I'm hoping next year will be different.
As for me, I'm still serving at the restaurant. I actually enjoy it a lot and while it's not my end all be all with my career (Thank God!) it suits us just fine now. Besides, it's just nice to have a break from mommy land and be with adults, and it's even more nice to not have to bring work home with me. In fact, the restaurant will have been open a year the end of next week. It's funny how time flies.
So, I'm going to do my best not to wait 4 more months to post something. I think I will try to make a realistic goal of once a week...so if you see only two entries a month don't be surprised!
Above are some recent pictures of the girls. Our camera has been broken for a while to I have to use the old one which runs on batteries and lasts like 30 minutes so most of these photos were taken the same day. Enjoy!