Unpacking

TODAY I am going to start out by unloading all the photos that were on my camera.... As you can see, the photo shoot with the cousins was very extensive. A lot of the pics started looking the same to me as I flipped through but the girls' expessions just crack me up.... oldest & youngest Kelsey loves making sure pacifiers are in place....

Haha Calla's face cracks me up here:

Get that paci in there! (Kels calls it a "ba ba")

As you can see, it was difficult for me to actually get a pic of Haley....

Brown hair & brown eyes...(-:

Katelyn helping Calla "hold" Haley!

a typical view of Kelsey (from my perspective)....it seems I got the "little people" sitting down for a formal dinner to the right...

Checking out facebook pics of Aunt Corinne...

This will be me in 4 and a half months! Eek! (kidding, i'm excited)

"Is this right?"

Yesterday.....Calla reviewing the safety instructions before take-off.....Always Be Prepared...

Notice baby is strapped in...actually this baby's name is "Teeny"....

Kelsey putting on her seatbelt provides hours of entertainment for her (or "struggle")....

TODAY was a rough day. It's always a hard day for me to wake up and get back to normal life. The girls must not have felt the same way, because they were up early enough to see Daddy off to work. Daddy put a show on for them before he left, which gave me 25 more minutes of laying in bed before they ran in to shout (literally) that it was over. Time to face the music, Mom!

We were greeted by three big suitcases in the living room, all needing to be unpacked. We decided to cheer ourselves up by ignoring the mess and going through the Dunkin Donuts drive-through for some munchkins for breakfast. I drove slow on the way home as we munched on our munchkins....Calla must have noticed because she said, "Mom I'm ready to be at home now." Haha.

The unpacking was put on hold to give the girls a bath. I think they could have played in there all day. Sometimes they get in this mood when they can sit in that bathtub forever!

Why unpack when you can shop, so we headed out to Target for some necessary groceries. I also got the girls toothbrushes, since I think I left theirs at Mimi's. (No matter, Mimi, we should keep a couple there for them anyway!)

By lunchtime the unpacked suitcases were finally starting to drive me crazy, so I unpacked the girls' clothes before feeding them lunch. They were sooo tired by this point; they were practically requesting their afternoon nap! Calla slept for three hours and Kelsey for two and a half. (I'm not going to lie, I snuck in a 90-minute nap after I was done unpacking!) We all had to catch up I guess!

I woke up to the sounds of the neighbor kids outside playing, which gave me the idea to take the girls to a park nearby for some fresh air. It wasn't super warm but it was sunny and I dressed the girls warm. (They do NOT like to be cold!) Calla calls it the "Polar Bear Park" because one time when we were there she pretended to be a polar bear. Ha. She met a new friend (just a random girl) and the two did the see-saw for a long time together. On our drive home, she recounted to me their entire conversation. It sounded like Calla did most of the talking.

Tonight we got a special treat in seeing Poppi! Jonathan and I were trying to remember the last time we saw him (he has been at his vacation home in Florida since Christmas). Opa had a surprise up his sleeve, because we thought we were only joining Poppi, Mema and Opa for dinner.

We sat Calla and Kelsey up on one side with our bag of tricks (which was actually just my recycled bag of tricks from the airplane! ha - hopefully they didn't notice). Soon Kurtney arrived (Kurt and Courtney), Stephen + Alicia + Braxton, and then Opa's surprise was a surprise entrance by uncle Ben! We haven't seen Ben since our Christmas-in-January with the Brust side and somehow I must have forgotten what he looked like because when we he first got there I thought he was Stephen! Haha. (I crack myself up.)

Fortunately Calla and Kelsey weren't as easily fooled. Calla sat on Uncle Ben's lap for a bit (she also asked to sit on Uncle-to-be Kurt's...she told him a story about her jacket ha). Uncle Ben didn't get there until later on (he was driving in directly from Wisconsin....imagine Aunt Rin driving in after class and arriving by dinnertime?!??) so unfortunately we didn't get too much time catching up. Calla and Kelsey's internal clocks must still be set on EST, because by 8 Calla was complaining she was tired and Kelsey was becoming as clingy as a koala bear.

So we bid farewell, especially to Poppi who we may not see until he gets back from Florida. He gave me the full weather report down there and I don't blame him. In fact I might just sneak into his suitcase tomorrow and go along. I think the girls would miss me.

Callaism~

~ Calla's friend Norah is in Arizona, and Calla often gets Arizona and Texas mixed up. I asked her if Bea was still in her tummy (she was for a time, you know) and Calla said, "No she's in Arizona." Suddenly she gasped and said, "No, not Arizona! She's in Texas!!" Uh hate to break it to you Calla but Bea isn't anywhere. Of course I always nod along, "Visiting cousin Haley of course!"

Kelseyism~

~ new word of the day: a phrase really - "fall down"

TODAY was pack them up and mOve them out day! Before we did that though the girls and I joined Mimi at her weekly Bible study. Calla and Kelsey are in thE same class which I think was really fun for Kelsey. When I dropped them off, Calla was inviting Kelsey to do a puzzle with her on the floor. I can't think of anything less suitable fOr Kelsey right now haha. Worth a try, calla!

The study lasts a couple hours, and I really came at a perfect week because they were finishing up a Precepts course on the book of Daniel and spent a significant amount of time summarizing the book. When Mimi and I picked up the girls, the adult helper was teaching Calla how to make some animal sounds. Calla's favorite today was a chicken sound. She's pretty good at it!

Once we got back to mimi's, we were joined by Grandma and grandpa and aunt Kelly, who came to eat lunch and say goodbye. (Caleb worked today so he said goodbye to the girls this morning...after a long period of playing People with calla). Mimi made a big lunch since we wouldn't be getting a significant dinner. I can't speak for everybody, but I know that I ate for two!

Aunt Kelly stuck around to play with Calla while I packed and Kelsey napped. Pops didn't pick us up until 3:45 to leave for the airport so I really felt like I had my ducks in a row. (this is very unusual in regards to packing!) I am sure I forgot something, as usual.

Aunt Kimberly stopped in after teaching to say goodbye, and then Mimi and Pops drove us to the airport. I think the hour drive there can be the worst for Kelsey since she isn't a big fan of being strapped in. The plane ride is a piece of cake since she's loose and easy in her own seat!

Mimi and Pops always park the car and help me with the luggage, tickets, and then watch us go through security. The girls love to wave bye over and over as we stand in line and as we go through the security machine. They took that to a whole new level today though....I had sat them down on a bench next to the security belt as I threw everything on there. They are used to this and usually sit nicely. Lo and behold today they decided to climb down and run back through the security line to the glass half wall separating Mimi and Pops and the security line. They were still waving and yelling "goodbye, goodbye!" with a lot of gusto. I am not even sure how long they were over there (where Mimi and Pops were unsuccessfully trying to wave them back to me) because I was too busy throwing my stuff on the belt.

It couldn't have been that long when I was calling Calla back to menin a very threatening voice (I dint even bother yelling for Kelsey; she just follows Calla everywhere anyway). Mimi texted me later that she and Pops were pretty horrified, and I was horrified too as I envisioned the security people asking me to take all my stuff off the belt and get back into the security line. Breach in security! But the security guy was very good-natured, and Calla and Kelsey followed me through the detectors and sat on the bench on the other side while I loaded the stroller.

We had some time to kill so I got a happy meal for them to share on the plane and then vanilla ice cream cones for them to eat while we waited. Calla was thrilled and ate the whole thing. Kelsey made a mess of course, but I think she appreciated it in between all her exclamations of "cold! Cold!"

The plane ride started out rocky because we were stuck waiting to take off for 40 extra minutes. I hate feeling like I am going through my bag of tricks before we are even airborne, but there were planes taking off on the runway next to ours so that provided some entertainment for sure.

We were finally in the air (Kelsey says "weeee " as we take off!) And had a great flight. The girls were very obedient and pretty pleasant despite being tired. Kelsey had two messy diapers, so changing them took up a big chunk of time! Calla refused to go on the potty until the last 20 minutes of the flight when she couldn't stand it anymore. She told me she is scared of the loud noise in the airplane bathroom and I even put a diaper on her because she requested to go in that insteAd. Apparently the thought of sitting in her pee grossed her out because she conquered her fear of the scary plane potty!

We got in at 8:15 or so central time and daddy was here to greet us. The girls were excited to see him but very tired! I out their pajamas on before we drove home and they were asleep within minutes. They were pooped.

Photos to follow tomorrow!!

TODAY Kelsey must have heard that cousin Haley was leaving because she got up before dawn to spend time with her. She was literally awake at 5:30 am and although I kept her in bed she could not fall asleep. It felt awful! I had not gone to sleep until 1am or so the night before and the rooster crowing in the form of Kelsey's loud voice was not welcome (and thats an understatement). Eventually I gave in and took her downstairs. She ate breakfast with pops while I caught some shut eye laying in the middle of the living room floor. She always came over to poke me and make sure I was awake.

Calla joined us at 8am and shortly after Haley "came down." we got to spend our morning gawking over tiny Haley. My girls' favorite thing is to help Katelyn change Haley's diaper. Kelsey always fetches the changing pad and Calla is in charge of the wipes. Aunt katelyn taught Calla how to warm the wipes in her hands so they weren't cold on Haley's bottom. The girls loves helping Katelyn with baby stuff! Their favorite was assisting by keeping Haley's paci plugged in her little mouth!

At 11ish we had to say goodbye to katelyn and baby Haley. It hard to say goodbye when we aren't sure when we will see them again. I really envy families who all live nearby to each other. Haley will look/act so much older the next time we see her!

I didn't have much time to dwell on it since this afternoon I had a jewelry party at my friend Linda's home. She had very graciously offered to host a party as a way to help my "business" and it was a great party. I was gone for about three hours, and aunt Kimberly, Grandma and Mimi took care of the girls. It was no easy task since Calla somehow did not nap (after staying up until 11pm last night!) and Kelsey's nap was short. But when I got home Kim was playing with the girls and they seemed really happy. I was hoping they'd last that way during dinner and this evening and for the most part they did.

After dinner Calla played "little people" with Pops and read their devotions and I put them to bed early to hopefully make up for last night's short night. The plan was for me to follow suit bit somehow I always get a resurgence of energy when they are in bed! Must be the peace and quiet!

Callaism -

- Mimi served corn for dinner and Calla kept saying, "Kelsey LOVES corn!" at one point she added, "and it makes her boo boo (or poopy) really funny!" Mimi and Pops and Caleb tried to keep straight faces as I told Calla that was gross to say at the table. She agreed.

Kelseyism -

- new word of the day: Haley! Aunt katelyn was proud!

Finally Some Pics!

TODAY I am going to throw in some pictures off of Mimi's camera. I will put up the pics off my camera tomorrow.....I am sad this first one is so dark because it is such a cute one of Calla and baby Haley! First documentation of the girl cousins!

Hanging with Haley....

The girls at the Women's Retreat....

Well for some reason the pictures aren't allowing me to put captions with them, but obviously the last few you see are of the baby shower we threw for Kelly. I need to put some more up for the sake of Aunt Corinne who wasn't able to be there. We got to Skype with her though so she actually WAS there for an hour!

If it makes Aunt Corinne feel any better, Kelsey was unable to attend much of it! I let her enjoy the first thirty minutes (and enjoy it she did) but then I gave her to Pops to put to bed. She was getting too wild and it was already 7:30. She's an early-to-bed girl, unlike Calla who sat so sweetly for the entire shower. The gifts took a long time and she sat in her little chair and watched Aunt Kelly very closely. Usually after Kelly would hand a gift over to me to put aside, Calla would ask to "feel it" or "hold it." She is a gift-person! (-: At first she thought the gifts were for Haley but then I explained about Kelly having a baby in her belly.

Aunt Kelly gave Calla a couple gift bows and Calla told me she was going to take them home to Chicago to give to "OUR baby." I guess she wondered where all the gifts for our baby was! Hahaha. You got them, Calla!

Backtracking....for most of the day, Katelyn and Mimi and I worked on the shower. I wasn't much help because I spent a lot of time keeping the girls out of the way. I also got my fair share practicing having three kids by tending baby Haley as well so Katelyn was free to help with food and decorations. Uncle Caleb took the girls over to Grandma and Grandpa's at 11ish or so and they played there for a couple hours. Katelyn, Haley and I joined them for lunch. Haley's first lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's! (Her lunch food is legendary in our fam haha.)

This afternoon the girls napped and then Pops took care of them so we could put together last-minute details for the party. It was really nice that Mimi decided to host so that Kelsey could be part of the festivities for a little bit.

Calla didn't end up in bed until 10 after most guests had left, and then as we were all chit-chatting about the shower ("de-briefing") low and behold she walks down the steps at 11! So I shutter to think about what a cranky girl she will be tomorrow morning! Hopefully she can sleep in a bit. Kelsey makes it pretty impossible to sleep in!

Tomorrow we say goodbye to baby Haley which will make all of us cranky! We love her!

This Weekend

TODAY I have to catch up for the weekend. Pops and uncle Caleb had the girls for the whole weekend until 3:30 this afternoon when the girls got back from the retreat. We got to hear the full report of their fun weekend together. Uncle Caleb was on the dreaded nighttime duty. It takes a pretty brave uncle to spend the night with the girls. (Calla had the twin, Kelsey has the crib, and Caleb had the Queen bed.) Kelsey woke up twice each night. Caleb said the first time she woke up in the middle of the night that it took 15 minutes for her to fall asleep but fortunately the other times did not take long. (he said at one point he just hollared, "Kelsey, lay down!" Grandma and grandpa hosted Pops, Caleb and the girls for mealtimes which was so nice of them! They also came over to tend the girls on Saturday for a few hours while Pops was working and Caleb was out. Pops promised them if they were good that he would take them "swimming." they must have passed the test because Saturday night he and Caleb put them in the big Jacuzzi tub to "swim." this is the same tub that Calla pointed to and asked Pops, "is this where you gave KC her baths when she was alive?" haha. It looked like the girls had a lot of fun in there! He said before the end of the bath they filled the tub more (so the water was above the jets) and then he turned on the jets! As he suspected, Calla was NOT a fan and tried to get out! So they quick turned them off even though I'm sure Kelsey would have gotten a kick out of them! In the meantime, I got to enjoy an awesome weekend at the Women's Retreat. Of course Haley came along so I got to hold baby Haley (when there wasn't a waiting list of other women wanting to hold her) without Calla and Kelsey standing by begging to hold her too. I looove the newborn stage and it made me excited for August! I have photos to (finally) post tomorrow morning so stay tuned!!

Mommy Leaves the Girls!!

TODAY the girls woke up at the same time, headed downstairs with me, and immediately Kelsey was asking where the baby was ("Baby? Baby? Baby?"). We had to explain that Haley is still young enough to sleep in! (-:

This morning Calla and Kelsey played with all of Mimi's toys. Aunt Kimberly had got a couple Barney DVDs for them from the library, so I gave them their breakfast in front of the TV (I like to do this so I have 25 minutes to lay on the couch with my eyes closed!). I was sure after their big day yesterday that they'd sleep in, but they were both up at 7 (6am central time).

They got to see Uncle Caleb!! Caleb had art until 10pm last night so the girls didn't see him, but they got to greet him this morning! We tried to get Kelsey to say "Caboo" but she wasn't buying it. That girl keeps her name vocabulary very limited!!

Today was a low-key day, because Mimi was busy getting ready for the women's retreat this weekend (she's in charge of the retreat). Aunt Katelyn and I helped out a little, but mostly hung out with the little girls. Uncle Caleb and Calla played a couple rounds of "Memory." She has challenged Pops to a game of "Candyland" over the weekend.

This afternoon I also prepared for being away for the weekend. Aunt Kelly, Aunt Kim, Aunt Katelyn and Haley, Mimi and I are attending the retreat. So Pops and Uncle Caboo are tending to the girls. I hope it's goes okay! I certainly know the days will be fine; it's Kelsey's sketchy sleeping at night that makes me nervous. I would feel bad if she decided to have a horrible night when I was away! I left a couple pages of notes on the refrigerator for the boys to reference if need be!

Aunt Kelly and I left for the retreat at 5 just as Pops was coming home from work. He took the girls to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner which was perfect timing because they were distracted and didn't mind that I was leaving too. Of course I explained Calla the whole retreat thing (I said "Mommy is going away on a mommies-outing while all the daddies and pops and kids stay at home. So you and Kelsey are staying at home with Pops and Caboo." She was like, "Okay!") so hopefully Kelsey is cool with it too.

The last time I was away from the girls was back in June when Jonathan and I were away for 4 days to celebrate our anniversary. I was weaning Kelsey so that trip away was even more nerve-wracking, but the girls did great! So this time obviously Kelsey is fully weaned (haha) and shouldn't have any problems.

I'm looking forward to sleeping the day away tomorrow. Just kidding! It's a retreat so breakfast is at 8:30. (-:

SORRY for another boring post without pictures....I don't have my camera. )-: Promise I will catch up with a big photo post on Sunday!

Callaism~

~ Mimi was playing the piano today and Calla ran breathlessly into the living room and shouted: "Play Dashing through the Snow!" (Jingle Bells) Haha; I guess it's never too early to get warmed up for Christmas.

Kelseyism~

~ new word of the day: she took a day off

Calla & Kelsey meet Cousin Haley!

TODAY I am sad that I can't post pictures off my camera; I took a lot of the three nieces (Calla, Kelsey and Haley) but alas my computer connection is in my laptop case....which is at my dad's office due to the fact that his computer guru is trying to de-virus my laptop. I will go fetch it tomorrow though!

here's a sneak preview....

Haley pointing and yelling "Baby!!" Little Haley is so cute; she is still only about 8 pounds and so even though we are meeting a 5-week old we feel like we are meeting a newborn!


OKAY so catch-up time....YESTERDAY we had a busy day getting ready to go. We had Bible Study in the morning so that made time pass! The girls had a fun time, and Paige (who works in Kelsey's class) taught Kelsey how to blow a kiss. (-: Kelsey also said "Bye, bye Paige!" which I couldn't believe since there are SO many names she refuses to say!

Wednesday afternoon Kelsey napped, and Calla "rested" by watching a Dora the Explorer (she calls her "Dora the Explora") movie. I wanted to keep her up so she'd go to bed early. Later we had Kelsey's friend Blake over for an hour or so while his mom got her hair cut. (-: Blake was my little baby-sitter - he kept the girls occupied while I got some laundry done and got partially packed! It's amazing how a fresh playmate will make all our toys seem more interesting. Ha.

Daddy made us brats for dinner, an appropriate midwest send-off. Haha. He only had about 45 minutes with the girls because he had core groups last night. That worked out because I put the girls to bed very early anyway. Calla became very upset (after helping me pack) that we would be sleeping before going to the airport. "Let's just go to the airport now!" she insisted. I told her we had to sleep first. She got teary. "But I can just sleep in the car! I'll rest in the car on the way!" Hahaha. It was very cute!

The girls finally did get some shut-eye, which is a good thing since we left the house at 5:30AM today.

TODAY we got to the airport and the place was packed! Everybody was wearing flip-flops (it was freezing) and heading out to the spring break destination. I had a few people ask the girls and I, "Are you going somewhere warm?" Nope!

We got through security fine, and since Jonathan always insists on giving us plenty of time at the airport we had time to commence with a donut search. I had made the mistake of announcing to Calla that as soon as we got through security, we'd celebrate with a round of donuts. Well little did I know we'd be in a different concourse than last time we flew! (We got donuts last time, which was the lead-in to my Donut Declaration.)

Well we were only a few yards into Concourse A when I realized it was not the same concourse and I could certainly not make the hike over to Concourse B, to Gate 15 or what not, to find the donuts that we dearly loved from our last trip. But little did I know that I would be searching through Concourse A with a fine-toothed comb for a new donut place. Let me tell you that Dunkin Donuts would make a killing there. From us alone.

Thirty minute passed and I found a couple glorious donuts (tucked away in a cafe in a "Hudson News" shop of all places!). Calla and Kelsey scarfed them down, which almost made all the sweating and pushing and carrying (Kelsey got it in her head that she wanted me to carry her while she pushed the stroller) worth it.

below: Calla pulling her suitcase.

below: the girls waiting for the stroller to be "wanded" at security. They always get a little concerned at this point.

I dont know what my opinion of Southwest would be if I wasn't traveling with kids, but as far as an airline for young families this one takes the cake.

below: Cartoons and little seats for the little ones at the gate. Genius!

Our flight went great. Kelsey had to sit on my lap for the first time in many flights (maybe since she was a newborn!) but after she got over the original disappointment (lots of tears) of not having her own space, with her own seatbelt, she was fine. Calla is a breeze on the plane. I feel like she doesn't even need me. She sits and colors forever. And she totally digs being able to order a drink and a snack. Apple juice is her beverage of choice.

Mimi and Pops picked us up! We couldn't wait to get home to see aunt Katelyn and to meet baby Haley (they got into PA yesterday). OH little Haley was there to greet us. She was sleeping but woke up shortly after so the girls could watch a diaper change. (They get intrigued by diaper changes.) I finally got to hold her! It seems so sad that it took that long but it was worth the wait. (-: Calla and Kelsey are very interested in all things Haley. They each got a chance to hold her! The pictures are too cute.

Kelsey had napped in the car on the way home from the airport so this afternoon we spent visiting. Aunt Kimmi and Aunt Kelly came over and at dinnertime it was a full house. Mimi decided to host a birthday dinner for aunt Kelly (whose birthday is on April 8) since more sisters were in town. We missed aunt Corinne!

But the girls got to see Mom-Mom, Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Josh and Uncle Jon and we enjoyed a big dinner. I thought my girls would be pretty on-edge by evening since Calla had been up so early (and hadn't napped) and Kelsey's nap was so short, but they did great. I guess all that attention is enough to keep anyone excited!

But alas, after some birthday cake and ice cream, I took the girls up to bed. Kelsey fell asleep within seconds! She was pooped!

Callaism~

~ Calla unknowingly memorized her first poem today! I was helping her put on her pajamas and realized she was say something to herself....here she was reciting the poem that's in one of her library books. I only got it a couple weeks ago, so I couldn't believe she knew it. She went down and recited to the family audience. They were all impressed (after all, we're biased!).

Kelseyism~

~ new word of the day: back (as in, Haley's!)

below: Kelsey making her own fun at the airport