Sisterly Love

There are times where Lilli and Abbi do not get along.  At all.  I mean like black and white.  Sweet and Sour.  USA and Afghanistan.  It makes me (somewhat) regret that they were born 363 days apart. 

And then there are those brief moments of pure bliss and happiness.  Segments of time when they happily play for hours, when they take turns, when you can hear little bits of "It's your turn to have the crown first."  It makes my heart melt.

Abigail can play independent.  She disappears into her world of make-believe with long stories about her dolls and horses and fairies that fly in and save the day.  Lilli needs demands almost constant one on one attention.  She wants you to sit there, not necessarily to interact, just to be present.

I often wonder how close they will be to each other as they get older.  They have never gone to a school apart from the other one since Abigail was born.  They are even in the same Sunday School class.  There are days that Lilli still holds Abbi's hand as they walk into St. Emily's.  The big sister.  The protector.  The one who is most likely to turn around and bop her on the head if she doesn't agree.

It's an interesting journey, one that keeps me on my toes, one that makes me appreciate the moments like the one below....just two best friends, two sisters, together forever....

What do you mean it's still Winter?

Really Chicago?  Really?  It's so dang hot I almost wanted to turn the air conditioner on.  Which I WILL NOT DO in MARCH!  However, it was a great background for our St. Patty's Day dinner...and the kids loved having dessert on the back porch.  Our mistake, we bathed them before the cupcakes.  Lesson learned...

Green little leprechaun

This one...this one needs to stop growing up...

Abigail always smiles so sweet...

Spring has Sprung!

Our fabulous babysitter, Becca, took these pics of the girl at the park the other day and I had to share!  I am amazed at how well they came out, considering she took them from her phone....

Catch The Beat?

Those of us with kids in the 2-7 age bracket will appreciate this.....

Some days it's hard enough to listen to the same program over and over and over again, especially when the songs are always the same and the jokes are kinda lame.  So, I am not sure what came over me when I begged Jim to buy tickets for us to take the girls to see The Fresh Beat Band Live.  Wow.  Hundreds of screaming children (and parents)...but let's start at the beginning.

We decided not to tell the girls that we were going because I didn't want to listen to a day of, "Is it time yet?" or "When are we leaving?".  It ranks right up there with "Can we open presents now?" on Christmas.  We showed up at the theater, and there was no outside signage, so they still had no idea.  We walked inside the Akoo Theater (formally the Rosemont Theater) and there was a HUGE banner right in our way.  I looked at Lilli and asked her if she knew what is was that we were doing.  She asked if we were going to see a Fresh Beat movie.  I said no, we were going to see their concert.  She looked at me like I had lost my mind.  "Are they really going to be here?"  I told her yes, that they would be on the stage and singing live.  I don't think it sunk in; she asked about 10 more time if they were really here.  Abigail just didn't get it at all....she just clung to my hand and followed close.  We made a quick stop in the bathroom (because they always have to check out the bathrooms in a new place, I think it's a rule they made up to torture me), bought the over-priced blinking-do-hickey that I wanted to hide within 5 minutes, and settled into our seats.  Great seats.  We were on the balcony, the first row of the second section.  Extra leg room, and no one directly in front of the girls to block their view. Phew...

The show started about 10 minutes late (awesome), and when they Fresh Beats finally came out and started singing and dancing and doing their thing, what did my girls do?  They sat there.  They sat as still as I wished they would sit through Easter mass.  No clapping.  No singing.  Heck, Jim and I were clapping and singing to try and get them into it...and little to nothing.  Uggg!!!  I finally dragged Abigail onto my lap, and clapped her hands for her.  When did they get into it?  The song before intermission.  Awesome.  At least for the second half they were slightly more pumped and danced around a little.  In between each song, though, Abigail asked me if it was time to go home.  Home?  Sister, do you know what I paid for these tickets?  We are staying for the whole dang thing.  (However, when we did get home I took her temp and it was 100.0.  Good job, Mom of the Year.)

So, what did I learn from this experience?

A.  Bring Cash.  Parking was $20 and they only took cash.  (what a rip-off).
2.  Bring more cash.  We were able to get into a shorter line for the light up do-hickeys because we paid in cash.
c.  A concert is only as much fun as you make it out to be.  When I started to enjoy the show myself, clap and sing and respond to their questions, the girls got more comfortable.
IV.  I am not doing that again for at least a year.

"We had a great day.  It was a super way to spend some time together.  We had a great day.  The very best day.  And nothing could be better."   ~  The Fresh Beat Band

To Paci or Not To Paci

We have a paci-problem in our home....and it's time to kick it.  Austin is addicted... I mean co-dependent... I mean completely reliant on his paci.  Or, as you can see from above, several pacis.  I count 12 that I know of, but could only locate 9 for their photo-op.  I know that some of you might be mortified that my 2 1/2 year old still totes this luxury, but hey, he is my last baby and I am letting him do everything a little slower than the girls. The girls at this age where also in toddler beds where he is still in his crib, and they were both at least in pull-ups where Austin is still figuring out how to sit on his potty.

So after picking Austin up from daycare today, I tried to have a conversation with him about the Paci Fairy and about how she was going to come and take Austin's paci's to the babies who do not have any.  And he took the paci out of his mouth to say, "Uh-Uh, pacis go to Santa Claus".  Ummm....Santa?  In March?  So, I then asked if we could give them to the Easter Bunny who could pass them along to Santa.  Out popped the paci again long enough to say "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer".  Oh, he is really going to make this tough on me.  See, we can't drag this habit out until Christmas this year because Austin will be starting at St. Emily's in August with the girls, and I am pretty sure the 3's room does not allow for pacis.  So, with a big sigh and some thought, I am gonna have to figure out how Rudolph and Santa are coming for a mid-year visit to claim the pacis....but until then, I am more than content letting him go to sleep with one in his mouth, and one in each hand.....

Judge away, Judgey McJudergson, but I am he is just not ready.

Could you really take a paci away from that face?

School Projects Make Me Sad

Abigail has a Lenten school project that is making me sad and weepy for times when she was little.  Well, we could look past the months of colic and screaming beast-like child and just focus on the fact that she was super smart....she slept through the night like a champ, she weened off the bottle fast, she was fully potty trained even before Lilli was...and she had this head of black, curly hair.  I swear, if I didn't see them take her from my stomach I would have sworn she was the wrong child....

Anyway, the project is to make a book about your baptism and it includes pictures, so I thought I would share some...

This is Jim and his Grandpa...notice that he had that same dark curly hair that Abigail did!  

Abigail also wore the same baptismal gown Jim did.

See?  They look a lot alike.  My sister, Julse, is her Godmother...

And my brother, Rick, is her Godfather...

Look at that adorable baby on her baptism!  Oh, wait...that's me!  

Can we all check out the shoes that Rick is wearing?

 Nana and Grandpa

Grammi and Papa

And the new family!

Pretty sure the picture above with Uncle Matt and the picture below we took the other day happened only a few weeks apart....not the almost 5 years in reality...

When adults play with play-dough.....

This is what happens when adults play with play-dough while their children do...

I generally do not like playing with play-dough because the colors get all mixed, but it made for a cool cow...

And this is Lilli's creation....it's Wilbur and his trough and a fence behind him.  See it?