Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

Since we bobbed Emma's hair short, it really compliments her face and personality. But, I do get tired of the same old little pony tail to pull the bangs, that we are trying to grow out, away from her face. So, I have recently been hooked on several little girl hair idea websites. Emma, who is such a girlie girl (with the exception of her bug fascination) has really enjoyed being my guinea pig and trying out some new do's. So, here are some of our successes or attempts I should say.

This is called a knot. We have also done this one parted in the middle with one on each side. For detailed instructions on how to do it, click here.

Here are her corn rows. We call them "twisters". I think if I did this when her hair was wet they would have been tighter. But either way, after a busy windy day at the park, they still looked cute.

For more ideas, check out these blogs: Little Girls Hair and Girly Do's and the one I mentioned above She Does Hair

Red Slide Park

The girls and I tried out a new park yesterday, "red slide park". The girls had so much fun and luckily for me...they were so captivated by the swings & slides that they did not notice the huge s-a-n-d box (aka bacteria breeding cesspool). I'm not a huge fan of sand boxes imparticularly ones at public parks, ya know? There was also a 4 person teeter totter. Emma & Lucy got on one side and I got on the other...they loved it. Emma said "I want to show this to Daddy" as if she had had an amazing discovery, it was cute. We would have stayed there longer except there was a HUGE wasp following us around. I had never seen such a big wasp...it was about 2 inches long, no joke. Anyway, he did his job and chased us away...I wonder if that's why there wasn't anybody else at the park on such a beautiful day?

stick 'em up

I just had to show you this. It makes me laugh. We went to a cute little amusement park, Knoebels (pronounced ka-no-bells), while we were on vacation in PA. The lady working the ride, said "hands up" and the girls put 'em up and just trusted that the outcome of the contraption that they were being strapped to would be favorable...and it was! :-)

Our American Girl Experience

Yesterday, was a BIG day for Emma (and Lucy). Grandma Witz and I took the girls downtown Chicago for an American Girl experience (Emma's birthday present)! It was a full day of fun and adventure. We started by picking up Grandma & getting on the train at Big Timber in Elgin. We took the train all the way to Union Station in Chicago. Then, we hopped on the free trolley that took us down Michigan Ave to the American Girl Store. We had 11am lunch reservations at the AG Cafe. It was quite the girlie girl place...from the pink daisy light fixtures, to the polka dotted pony tail holder napkin ring souveniers. Not a single detail was missed. The entire cafe was hot pink, black & white. They gave Emma a high chair for her baby that hooked to our table, and they let Lucy pick out a doll to borrow for the lunch. Then, they brought out wine goblets with pink lemonade for the girls and little saucers & tea cups for the dolls. The first course, was sticky buns. The second course was a fruit kabab sculpture surrounded by veggies, dips and baguettes. Oh, I almost forgot, there was a little box on the table filled with conversation starters on little strips of paper. This was high amusement for 2 little girls...not the conversations, but rather the little strips of paper. After loading up with fruit, veggies and bread, the girls barely touched the main entree. Then they brought us each a plate with 3 cute little desserts: a chocolate mousse flower pot (which Lucy thoroughly enjoyed), heart shaped cakes and daisy shaped sugar cookies (that we saved for the train ride home...yummy!). The food was very good and the restraunt was so cute. Emma & Lucy were very good girls. After lunch however, Lucy let everyone know that she needed a nap by crying hysterically in the store. Emma picked out a backpack carrier for her baby and started crying when she realized that it didn't come with a new doll (like the one in the display). We made our decisions quickly and got out of there. The store was so crowded and a bit confusing for first timers. Once we were outside, the girls were good again. Trolley, train, drop off Grandma & back to Belvidere. Whew, I was exhausted! We will definantly do it again...maybe in a year or two. (One thing I was surprised about, was the amount of older girls (like ages 12-15) that were having lunch with their dolls.) Anyway, It was a special day, I hope Emma remembers it.

Family Function Fiasco and 5 Lessons Learned

For my Dad's retirement/birthday party we had planned on all wearing t-shirts with my Dad's top 10 sayings as a surprise (I think I posted about it a month or so ago, in fact). But, of course, nothing good happens when you wait until 2 days before the event to make the t-shirts. First lesson learned, when the t-shirt transfer package, says "for use with ink jet printers"...this means they will melt inside your laser printer. So, I decide I'll just go to Scrap Inn and print them up. Second lesson learned, when you drive 20 minutes to get somewhere, you should probably make sure you have the KEY. Feeling completely frustrated, I decide to take everything over to Kinko's and print them there. Third lesson learned, Kinko's does not have any ink jet printers but they sell laser jet t-shirt transfers for $5 EACH! I only paid $3 for the shirts, I wasn't about to pay $5 for the iron on! Though feeling exasperated with the situation, I did contemplate this solution, but just couldn't do it. Fortunately, my lovely husband came home and could sense my frustration (this could be because I was literally FREAKING OUT), so he drove out to Scrap Inn and picked up the printer! Yay, t-shirts, FINALLY finished (at 1am).

This past Spring, Emma's preschool class had a Rockford Riverhawk (minor league baseball) ticket fundraiser. So, I convinced everyone in my family that this would be the perfect way to celebrate my Dad's retirement/birthday and bought the tickets. Fourth lesson learned, read the fine print...which I did not do and realized the day before the game, that we had vouchers, not actual tickets. When we got to the ticket window at the stadium, the nice boy tells me that the game is sold out because the Steel Workers Union has bought out all the tickets for the game for their employees, but he will give us standing room only tickets for free. Well, trying to remain positive here, I had 2 realizations: 1-our vouchers are still good for another game and 2-more than likely I will not be asked to coordinate another family function. So, I take the free tickets and within minutes the entire family has arrived at the stadium. While they all stood there (looking so cute all in matching shirts..heh heh) I explain the little predicament that we are in. Amazingly, nobody razzed me for being such a dufuss. Fifth lesson learned, don't assume the family is going to freak out. In fact, they decided to go on into the game and just wing it. Sure enough, there were plenty seats! It was a really nice stadium and a great game, there were fireworks after the game and the kids got to run the bases. Everyone had fun...and we do still have vouchers for another game! How about that for a potential disaster with a happy ending!

There he is, the guest of honor...who almost got us kicked out of the game, but that's a another story.

My brother Kenny, sister in law Amy, nephew Sam and niece Shea. Awww look, they're wearing matching shirts. :-)

My sister Kelly...back from Korea and looking cute!

The Fishing Derby

Yesterday was the annual Fishing Derby at DelWebb. The girls each caught a fish! Emma really liked holding the cup of worms (I'm not kidding...sometimes, I wonder if she is really MY daughter). Lucy liked the free Cheetos and juice boxes. Papa helped his granddaughters reel in their fishes and took them to get their prize (a brand new fishing pole!). It was alot of fun. Grandma Witz (also known as Karen "Baits"), Auntie Kelly, Uncle Kenny, Sam (and Sam's friend Enrique), Shea, Auntie Kim, Kohlman, Ben and Caed also took part in the fun. How fitting that I've included several pictues of Papa Witz since TODAY is his bithday! Happy Bithday Papa, we love you!

Are You Going to Wear THAT Shirt To Heaven?

Our inquisitive little 4 year old asked us some BIG questions today at dinner. It started off with her naming off all her Grandmas..."I have alot of Grandmas...my Grandma Witz, my 2 Great Grandmas and my Grandma Lantz." Then, I told her that her Great Grandma's are in Heaven. And she asks "When do they come out of Heaven?" At this point I called Sean in for back up because such a great teaching/learning opportunity was presenting itself and I didn't want to mess it up! Sean told her that "after we leave Earth we live in Heaven for eternity...and we will see our Great Grandmas when we get to Heaven". And without even pondering this concept...or the word eternity for that matter, she then says "How do I get to Heaven?" Great question Emma!! How cool that we get to explain this to her at age 4?! Sean went into a brief yet detailed explanation about believing that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and accepting Him into your heart. I backed him up with a more toddler version "You love Jesus, talk to Him everyday and follow all the rules and then when you die you will go to Heaven". Then she asked "Daddy, are you going to wear that shirt to Heaven?" LOL! Reasonable question though since Sean was wearing a tacky 'I heart NY' t-shirt. Anyway, it was great dinner conversation and we continued it at bedtime by reading to her from the Bible in Revelations 21 about what Heaven will look like.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot!

Emma's Birthday

So, I was just going through our pictures from vacation and I remembered that we celebrated Emma's 4th birthday with Gma & Gpa last week. Janet & Emma made the cutest cake shaped like a butterfly...it had an Oreo body, Twizzler antlers and Fruity Pebble wings outlined in Mini Oreos. What I'm trying to say here, is that is was totally delish! And Emma, who loves anything crafty (hmm, I wonder where she gets that)...was so excited to "help" Grandma. Thank you Gma & Gpa for making Emma's birthday so special. In case anyone was wondering what a 4 yr old gets for her birthday...a Lowes gift card (power tool...or finish off that blasted playset...decisions, decisions) and Polly Pockets. What more could I girl ask for?!

Side note: Emma and Lucy practically lived in the large pink striped tent in the background while we were at G'ma and G'pa's...while the rest of us had to shimmey around it just to get to the couch. ;-)

the progress continues...

After a couple weeks of praying, wondering and probably way too much worrying it seems as though Lucy is really starting to make some progress. WooHoo! We had a bit of a "scare" last week when Lucy fell out of bed...satin pj bottoms onto wooden floor, she fell hard. And it seemed like we took 2 steps back with her road to recovery. Sean & I thought that maybe she hurt her foot and I even took her for an xray today and have been on the phone with all the doctors (I'm sure they think I'm a basket case paranoid mom)...but as it turns out, her limping is to be expected with the pelvic osteotomy and her foot is fine with the exception of a couple mosquitos bites that she has scratched to a bloody pulp. She will eventually, in time, walk "normal". She walked across our kitchen with out holding onto anything a little bit ago. And here she walking while holding her helpful big sister's hand. She gets so excited when I see her walking. It's so cute. Her progress is truly a blessing. We are so thankful!! Yay God!

The Big Apple

We had an amazing opportunity to leave our kiddos in PA with Grandma & Grandpa and spend a couple days in New York City! Neither of us had ever been there...and we thought this would be a great way to celebrate our 10th Anniversary! And it was, for sure!! There is SO much to see in NYC, we tried our best to get the bulk of it in during our 2 short days there. Enjoy our video. NOTE: Parental Advisory Warning (due to a public display of indecency).

God Bless America!!

We spent our 4th of July in Pennsylvania with Grandma & Grandpa. There was a great "local" parade that we went to. Then at night we introduced the girls to two great American "S" things: sparklers and smores. Can you guess which one they did not really care for? I was quite surprised...but smores are not yet delectable to them. Sean & I on the other hand, enjoyed every bite of ours (thank you Grandma!). One last thought this 4th of July...I'm wondering, are Emma & Lucy particularly sweet or do mosquitos find your children tasty as well? p.s. Calamine lotion helps with the itchy spots and little girls really like the pink polka dotted effect. :-)

Gummi Peach Ring Fungus

We just got back from our road trip out East. We had a great time! It was 14 hours in the car each way. To help pass the time, I had many snacks & activities planned for the kids. However, I had not planned for the snacks to become the activities...see Lucy stretching a gummi peach ring around her foot! Yum ;-) (FYI...She did attempt to eat the pictured gummi peach ring, but we stepped in with some tough love parenting "Lucy don't eat that it's disgusting.") More on our vacation after we catch up on some sleep!