The Beach

The beach was so much fun. The girls loved the sand and the water, Ellie really loved the dogs and the birds. (Dogs were pointed out with an enthusiastic "Geegee! Geegee!" (for 'doggie') and birds were pointed out with a, "Buh! Buh!" And lots of laughing and clapping and waving. It was adorable.) Annie was very brave, getting really wet both times we went to the beach, despite it being REALLY cold water. Her and her Daddy made sand castles and dug holes, and she helped bury Grandpa alive in the sand . . . when he was ready to get out, feeling a bit claustrophobic, she told him to stay put and kept reassuringly saying, "It's OK, Grandpa, it's OK!" while piling more sand on top of him.

Vacationing with my Family

Here's a bunch of vacation pictures of me with my family . . . be prepared for the clones . . .
(A woman in line at the Matterhorn actually informed my Mom that she looked just like her girls and that her 'three daughters could be triplets' . . . we pointed out Talina, the fourth, and the lady agreed she looked a lot like the rest of us, just littler. So true. Talina is my mini-me!)

Star & I

Lacy & I

Cody & Star

Talina and David . . . awwww, so cute!

The sisters -- Talina, Lacy, Star and meAnnie was off riding rides, or this would've had all the girls --
Talina, Lacy, Ellie, me, Mom & Star

First day at Disneyland -- Star, Annie, me, Ellie and Lacy in the big 'A' outside California Adventures.

Star, Cody and I in line for the Grizzly River Run for like the fifth time . . . we were very wet by this point.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures I came across looking at pictures this morning . . . Star and I, cracking ourselves up over something.Most of my favorite people: Greg, Talina, Cody, Lacy, David and Star . . . FIRST in line for Indiana Jones for the day at Disneyland. We were oddly proud of this 'accomplishment'.

Disney Characters

I mentioned before how much the girls loved seeing the Disney characters up close and personal. Here's some pictures of their encounters.

Here's Ellie with Mickey Mouse. This is after she'd sucked on his nose. They bonded.

This is right after Annie had seen Mickey . . . I apparently didn't grab the photo of all of us with the mouse from iphoto . . . I'll have to do that later.

Annie loved Goofy. We stopped and got pictures with him multiple times during our three days in the park.

I don't know if Annie could look much more excited. Ellie loved Pooh Bear and Tigger the most.

My children practically mauling the bear.

A plethora of princesses (although, none of Annie's very favorite ones unfortunately, but she didn't seem to mind.)

Ellie and I right outside the princesses area.

We Are Back

I had such an amazing time, and things went so well! The girls were wonderful, everyone had so much fun, and other than the stress of dealing with two little kids WAY off their sleeping schedule, things went way better than I could've hoped for.

I have approximately 1100 pictures of the last week, so that'll take some sorting. :-) I'll probably post a few pictures from each outing in different posts over the next few days, but here's the things that are first and foremost in my mind:

• I knew Annie would love seeing Mickey, Pooh, Dora and all the other characters 'in person', but I had no idea how much Ellie would love them. She literally dived for and tried to hug and kiss anyone who came within 15 feet of her dressed in a costume. So adorable. Greg just added, "She practically made out with Mickey."

• Ellie became an expert 'waver' on this trip. She's done the cute little baby wave for awhile now, but only randomly, if she felt like it, which was almost never. On this trip she waved to everyone and everything. She also spent a huge portion of our trip pointing out stuff to us. She'd point at anything and everything that caught her attention (especially balloons, Annie, dogs and birds) and just babble on and on like she was telling us all about it.

• Ellie's hair, with the aid of sunscreen and some humidity, is showing some huge signs of some serious curls.

• Annie's hair was gorgeous in the humidity. Absolutely perfect. We had so many people come up to us and tell us how beautiful it looked. And at Einstein Bagels some lady told me if I soak it in chamomile (I think) every day that it'll stay light.

• Loved going as a whole family. It added so much variety to the vacation. I feel vaguely guilty that I 'missed' so much of what the girls were doing, but I got to ride all of my favorite rides with my husband and with my siblings, got some time for just Greg and I to explore the parks with no kids in tow, and other people got great bonding time with the girls sans Greg and I. Which really did the family a world of good. Sure, Ellie still won't go to anyone who's not me if I'm in sight 99% of the time, but she now has a great time with everyone as long as I can't be seen or heard. It's a big improvement.

• Still trying to figure out what Disney has against people who can hear. Seriously, it's like every single ride or show was designed with the sole purpose to deafen me. Anyone who'd need the sound up that loud already has a hearing aid in and would have to turn it off not to have their ear drums blasted. So obnoxious. I couldn't believe how many things I left with my ears throbbing and a big of a headache. I constantly worried about my girls ears, even on kiddie rides and shows. Bugged me. What's up with that?

• Loved watching Annie and Ellie at the beach. Annie chasing and then running away from the waves. Ellie eating sand. Watching Annie bury my Dad in the sand. Forgot how much I love floating out in the ocean. And how much I suck at boogie boarding. Only looked mildly ridiculous in the wet suit. (Ridiculous enough though that once I was out of it, I never put it back on.) Forgot how icky and gross you feel after having been out in the sand, salt and sun. Proud that my girls made in through their first full day at the beach without a sunburn. Go me, the amazing sunscreen-applying-Mom. Kinda laughed that all the adults walked away with at least one part of their body that made them scream in sheer agony if someone else touched. Even though every single one of those adults swear up and down they applied sunscreen no less than 47 times.

• Still trying to block out Annie crying and yelling, "Let me out of the car seat! Let me out! I want out!" through the entire Virgin River Gorge. Good times.

I had the best time. I'm also impressed that Greg, and my brother in law David, did so well and survived yet another family vacation. It ain't easy to vacation with my family if you're not used to it. It's a nonstop ride that'll leave you more exhausted at the end of the trip than when you left, but well worth it. But I love going with my family, because for me there's no other way to vacation. And fortunately, Greg's the most laid back, adaptable person I know. So it works for him too. :-)

Driving Day

It's somewhere between four and five AM . . . I'd just look at a clock to tell, but I'm all bleary-eyed. Not just 'cause I woke up at 4:20 in the morning, but 'cause while trying to apply makeup on approximately four hours of sleep, I got mascara in one eye. And eyeliner in the other. Stupid vanity. We're driving 12 hours today, and it's 4AM . . . did I really need full eye makeup!?

Ellie was a little fussier than normal yesterday. Then last night she felt warm. Then this morning she's running a full on fever. Good timing. Hopefully the tylenol cools her down . . . and helps her to sleep many, many hours of this long drive. Maybe if she's just kinda sick today, it'll be a blessing in disguise, 'cause she'll sleep more on the way. I just hope she's feeling well enough while we're there to be dragged from one side of the Magic Kingdom to the other from sun up to sun down. Wish us luck.

Anyway, so we're off! We'll be back in a week or so. I doubt I'll be up to the internet at all, so don't expect anything 'til we get back . . . feel free to go back and reread stuff, you can pretend like Annie is just doing all the same funny stuff all over again! Later!

(And for those wondering why in heaven's name I'd get up at 4:20AM and be blogging when it's time to go on vacation, I'm nursing Ellie before we leave, and there's not very many other multi-tasky kinda things I can do to help. I'm kinda stuck. In this chair. So, blogging.)

Breakfast of Champions -- and the Very Messy Day

Only in a packing-and-cleaning-for-vacation-frenzy would I be this short sighted . . . but, this morning when Annie said she wanted to feed Ellie breakfast, I was all, "Sure!"
Yeah, I'm a real genius.

(Before I got the camera, Ellie was actually having a great time. But by the time I unpacked the camera and started taking pictures, she was very, very done with the whole thing.)

As far as I know, Annie hadn't actually been feeding her with her own fingers the whole time. At one point, at least, there was a spoon involved. But I think once the whole thing evolved into what was basically Annie finger painting with yogurt, the spoon was a thing of the past.

There's my floor.

One of my daughters, at least, was still having a great time with this.

The other was done though.

The aftermath.

Ya know, the dishes I got done, and the packing I got accomplished, was probably a wash when you consider the cleanup I had when the feeding was all said and done. Oh well, it kept them occupied for awhile, even if it caused quite the mess. Which is basically our theory behind letting Annie play with paints and play doh too.

~~~~~~

Not an hour after the breakfast mess, I came downstairs after putting Ellie down for her nap, to find that Annie had gotten into yellow food dye. It was everywhere. I think she'd tried to use it as lotion, but the look of her hands. Now that is a nasty mess to clean up. Yogurt's nothin'! I threw away every last rag that I used, as well as Annie's clothes she was wearing, 'cause they were just bleeding yellow and I didn't dare wash them and have it like dye the inside of my washer or something. Annie's hands are like freakishly yellow-orange, and it's kinda cute. My hands are a light yellow from clean up, that just kinda make me look unhealthy and jaundiced. Always an adventure (or a mess, at least.)

Dare to Compare

One of the first questions I get from strangers in public after they notice the near-baldness of my nearly-one-year-old girl (well, along with, "Is it a boy?" Um, no, she is not. I was cleverly using the pink sweater to indicate that) is, "Was her sister this bald at this age?" as they stare (adoringly) at Annie's blonde curls.

I tend to answer, "She had a little more hair, but not much," or when questioned specifically about the curliness, "Her hair was just getting long enough to start to flip a little around a year old." (Ellie's getting her first 'flips' in back . . . we're excited to see where this leads.)

I thought I'd pull up some pictures to do a little comparison. Interestingly, Annie has a tad more hair than I remember, and their color is more similar than I thought (but that could also be the camera). I think Ellie's hair is just month or two behind Annie's, and I personally think it'll end up curly, but not as much so, and maybe a bit darker (even though it seems lighter now, maybe that's just thinness though?) But only time will tell . . .

What do you think Ellie's hair will do?

ABCs of Me

A - Age: just over three weeks away from the big 3-0!

B - Bed size: Queen -- I take the top right side, my portion of the middle, and the bottom left hand corner. I think sleeping diagonally is the best. Greg just makes room for my legs.

C - Chore you hate: The ones that are never ending. You know, dishes, laundry, weeding . . . surprisingly, I don't mind vacuuming, and we do that like 4-5 times a day around here (Ellie's in the seek-and-eat phase of babyhood. If it's on the floor, she will eat it.)

D – Dessert: Strawberry shortcake. Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls are a close second. This is all I craved the whole time I was pregnant. (But only Cinnabon. And they're not around here anymore. Anyone flying into Salt Lake airport wanna pick me some up? I'll pay you back).

E - Essential start your day item: Water. I guzzle it in the morning like I've spent the night in the Sahara.

F - Favorite color: Um, brown to wear. Pretty shades of blue and green.

G- Gold or Silver: Um, white gold. It wasn't an actual option, but vastly preferred.

H - Height: 5'6", I think.

I - Instruments you play(ed): Ha! My musical talent rounds up to be a big fat zero! I took like 8 years total of piano, and right now I couldn't play Happy Birthday in any kind of recognizable form. I also took a year of clarinet. I wish I could play the harmonica. That'd be so cool.

J - Job title: Mom

K - Kid(s): Annie (three years old in 12 days) and Ellie (one year old in 13 days).

L - Living arrangements: Cute, little two story house with a big ol' backyard (which sucks to weed).

M- Mom's Name: Karine

N - Nicknames: Hil would be the most common I guess. Annie when I was really little and Hilary Annie when I was growing up. (Thus the name we picked for our first born. We really didn't pick it just to steal the name of second counsins once removed.) Greg calls me the following: Weiniehead, Punkus, Crazy Lady. He really does love me, I promise.

O - Overnight hospital stay: When I was born, or giving birth. For surgery like ten years. That's all I can remember.

P - Pet Peeve: Bad drivers. Not very original, I know, they just bug me.

Q - Quote from a movie: Can't think of any right now. Dang, that would've been one to humorously shine on, but alas, I can come up with nothing.

R - Right or left handed: Right, with not the teeniest, tiniest hint of ambidextrousity.

S - Siblings: The best. A bunch of sisters and a brother. Each one is my very favorite, just ask 'em!

T - Time you wake up: when Ellie and/or Annie does.

U- Underarm deodorant?: Yes, every day.

W - Ways you run late: Constantly underestimating the time it takes to get two kids into a vehicle with all their various crap, a freshly packed diaper bag, and then kids strapped into carseats. You think by now I'd have learned to allow more time for it.

X - X-rays you've had: My teeth over and over and over again throughout pregnancy, when they have the habit of randomly breaking. And my index fingers when I was little, but I don't remember that.

Y - Yummy food you make: I'm told I'm an excellent cook (by Greg, whose best interest it would be in to keep me cooking), but I don't think he's ever told me a favorite. I like my spaghetti. And I tend to be the one who makes desserts for things. I have a couple recipes that are awesome! My peanut butter oatmeal cookies rock. (I now use half whole wheat flour in this recipe, and 1 Tbsp. wheat germ and 1 Tbsp. flax seed). Annie thinks I make the best toast with peanut butter in the world.

Z - Zoo animal: Probably the orangutans. Well, just the baby one (who's like 4 now, actually) at Hogle Zoo. It actually does stuff. I love the zoo best during the winter though, 'cause the animals just seem to be so much more motivated to move (to keep warm and survive, I guess.)

Don't Piss Her Off . . .

Annie's taken to yelling lately. She's constantly getting in trouble for just snapping out at everyone and everything around her. At me, at Greg, at Ellie . . . at inanimate objects. That one is my favorite. Just today, while driving home from visiting Greg's Grandma, Annie yelled the following things:
"Sun! Get out of my eyes! No sun! Stop it! Sun! NO!!"
"Hair, NO! You are in my face, Hair, stop! No, you hit my eyes, hair, STOP!!"
"CARSEAT, STOP! You are too tight! Stop, carseat! No! Stop! Tooooooo tight!!!!"
Then all of these statements were immediately followed by screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Can anyone guess how I relieved I was when things finally fell silent around the Lehi exit and the kid had finally fallen asleep?

(On a fairly regular basis, she hurtles such comments to Ellie as, "Stop laughing!" "Stop looking at me!" "Stop crying!" "Stop touching me!" and "Stop, Ellie, STOP!" That last one is apparently when Ellie is looking, breathing or existing in a way that's not to her older sister's liking. Seriously people, three is looking WAY harder than two.)

Unrelated to the crazies that reside in her head, I've determined that Annie is, in fact, an artistic prodigy or genius or something. (Well, maybe not so unrelated . . . those artistic types aren't known for their even keeled sanity. Yeah, I'm lookin' at you van Gogh.)

Anyway, yesterday while painting adorable pictures for her various grandmothers for Mothers Day, Annie told me she wanted to paint her own name on the top of one of her masterpieces. I was washing dishes at the time, and didn't keep track of what she was doing, and it wasn't until much later that night, when both girls were in bed that I got around to cleaning up the painting mess, and found this:

And mind you, this was all done with supplies purchased at the Dollar Store. I'm just saying, with better tools, who knows what she could've done!?

Either way, this one is going in the scrapbook. (Y'all can read the word "Annie" there, right? It's not just me?)


(He he he . . . OK, so unrelated to the above . . . you know how I talk about Annie being SO horrible about going to bed. She has slept on the floor of her room the last four or five nights 'cause she has now decided she will never sleep in her bed again). Tonight was one of the really bad nights. This time it was Greg who was failing miserably at putting her to sleep. And you know, when it's not me in charge, it's kinda funny to watch her antics to stay awake. Anyway, around nine o'clock, Greg came into our room, shaking his head, muttering, "She. IS. CRAZY." It suddenly made me picture a little ticker or something on the side of my blog, a Greg vs. Annie bedtime scoreboard. Starting today, it would've looked something like: Greg 0, Annie 1. This may be a future feature of the blog . . . )

Not Much to Report

I'm kinda just coasting right now. Emotionally, my roller coaster of the last week has kinda leveled out, but it's left me kinda blah-feeling, and a tad exhausted. I went out with my sisters last night, even staying out for ice cream 'til after 11PM, and it was so much fun, and it further convinces me that I can't possibly laugh harder than when surrounded by my family. But then I ended up not going to bed 'til like 1AM, so the whole exhaustion thing kicked into high gear. (Ellie also 'helped out' by waking up at 12:30AM, 5:00AM and 6:00AM, then waking up at 7:30AM this morning.)

We're leaving on vacation at the end of the week, and I am getting so antsy (can I pack almost everything now, or is it too early!?) This week better go by quick. Annie woke up this morning and when I mentioned it was time to get ready for Church she excitedly told me, "Mom! This is the LAST nursery before Dizzlneyland!" She's really getting this 'passage of time' thing, she knows Daddy has to go to work 5 more times now, then the next day we'll go ("instead of making waffles" she says, like we normally do on Saturday mornings.) We threw her off a little bit today though, Greg left for a meeting, and when he got back (less than an hour later), Annie was all, "Yay! Daddy's home from work! That's one!" Had to explain that wasn't work, and doesn't count towards our 'five' countdown of work days. In other news, she's still doing that whole 'terrible nearly-threes' thing that is killing me right now, with the constant tantrums, freak outs and probable demonic possession that flusters me so much. Tonight, after dinner with Greg's parents, Annie freaked out mightily. Greg's Mom & Dad laughed; Grandpa started crying out, "Oscar! Oscar!" Oh, I wish, oh how I wish! If ONLY it was a performance for her grandparents; a big act for the sole purpose of being the center of attention . . . unfortunately, it's no act . . . it was complete and told loss of control from a tired and grumpy toddler who can't quite contain her emotions under stress. Sigh. I really wish it was just an act. That's kinda my problem with disciplining it . . . it's not OK for her to flip out and yell and scream and throw a tantrum in front of people (or at home, of course). She can't just get away with being so, well, unpleasant, to be around. But, at the same time, it's not fair to punish a small child for acting out when they're no longer in control of their emotions 'cause they're overly tired and too young to really control themselves under the circumstances. I can't just tell her to 'settle down' or 'stop freaking out'. I really think she would if she could . . . it can't be fun to be wigging out all the time. (I'm talking the meltdowns that aren't about the public spectacle for manipulative purposes, but like the emotion overload that seems to plague Annie towards the end of the day when she's so easily upset and emotionally-injured because of her fatigue. She's genuinely hurt by what she feels was an 'attack' on her or her independence.) At home, it's easier. Time outs let her wind down without an audience; and sometimes she just needs to be held and soothed until she calms down enough to take some deep breaths and can apologize for her freak out. But when she does it when we're out, it's hard to react as well. Both, 'cause I'm more stressed about it in a way I don't get at home, and because she's not in a familiar or safe place where she can decompress a little. She'll grow out of this soon. Right?