Trying not to freeze!

Ok, so the differnce this winter from previous ones that I have lived in the Midwest (which is 5 now), is that I actually have to leave the house most days no matter how cold it is! It is so cold here and will be for the next few days! And we have had a lot of snow! A good thing for Ellie, not so much for Shelby. We have school 3 mornings a week, gymnastics one morning and ballet the other! So, before if I didn't feel like going out I stayed in. Now, I have to be a responsible parent and take my child places. And, even though Shelby is walking, quite stable I might add, I still have to carry her through sloppy parking lots and what not! I know...bitch, bitch, moan, moan!!
So, Shelby is quite fussy compared to her sister and much more high maintenance! However, she may be my little superstar! She has gone poopy on the potty. Ok, so I put her there, but she still went and thought it was fun. And she has gone tee tee twice today. The second time, she pointed at her diaper and I asked her if she needed a dry diaper. Usually the answer is No, with a shake of the head! She HATES to have her diaper changed!!! Well, this time she talked to the bathroom and pointed at the potty! Now, all I have to do is teach her to get up there and hold her balance. Maybe we need our "little" potty from our Tecumseh house sooner then we though!

4 kids??

There is a reason I don't have 4 kids! I sometimes wonder why I have 2!! But most days I love it. I have Ellie's friend Julia and her older brother here for the day while their mom has a minor surgery. They have been here since 5:30 this morning! THe hardest part...getting 3 kids ready for their Christmas program and to school! Oh, and then picking them up from school. Right now I am trying to ignore the arguing from 3 over tired kids!

Ellie's Christmas Program

Ellie's Christmas program was rescheduled from before Christmas when schoold was cancelled due to bad weather. Here are a couple of pictures and a video.

Playing outside

It was nice to get back to school today! Ellie was so excited and had a great day. I took the girls out to play a little this afternoon. Here is my first try at a slideshow, so I hope it works.
http://slideshow.com/galleries/8428

Back to school..

I am looking forward to getting Ellie back to school, as she is too! She was sick the week before break and then the 2 week break. So, she has been off for 3 weeks and really misses school and friends. We had a few play dates, but she is really looking forward to going back to school. We have had a very lazy few weeks and a lot of jammies. I don't think we will have too much trouble tomorrow though. Ellie picked out what she wanted to wear tomorrow on Friday!

Family dance night

We all had some extra energy to burn off tonight before bed, so we put on some music and had a blast dancing. I think at one point Shelby was break dancing. Of course the best stuff happens when the camera is not around, but here is a glimpse of the activity. And, yes, I know, I still haven't figured out my camera and the video is sideways again. :)

Shelby can walk...finally!

Shelby is finally walking! She has been a little here and there for a few weeks and gets better every day. She still is much faster crawling, but is easily amused with her ability to walk! The video is sideways because I haven't loaded to editing software on my new computer yet. Yep! New computer! YEAH! That is why I have been better aboout updating my blog. My old computer was SOO SLOW! that it just took to long to do!

Sick, sick, sick, sick!

Yes, that is 4 times sick. First Ellie, then Shelby, then Jeff and I at the same time. What is worse then being sick and trying to take care of two kids...both Jeff and I both being sick and trying to take care of one who is recovering from being sick and not 100% yet and a 3 year old who is still wound up from Christmas and misses having company here. Of course, we managed to get sick after all of our company was gone, so no one was here to help. Better for them, worse fo us. I had the stomach flu and I haven't had coffee for a few days. So, I have a serious caffiene headache right now!

We all felt better today and took the girls and a friend of Ellie's to a local Hands On museum. They had fun, but it was a really crappy one. It is safe to say we won't be going back. The kids were free, otherwise I might have complained. Half of the exhibts weren't working and half had instructions in Spanish. Thair are others to try, so we will do a different one next time.

Can you hear that?

It's quiet!! After a very full house all week, it is empty, and quiet! The girls are both playing by themselves, Jeff is at the walk-in clinic because now he is sick and ... AAHH! It is quiet! We had a nice time with everyone, but it sure is nice to have my house back. I've cleaned the main level, now it's the upstairs and then the basement. I can't believe I actually want to clean. I am so excited to have my house back to normal (whatever that means), that I want to clean it too! Scary! Jeff is off this week. Ellie is off from school and activities this week. So, we are just hanging! It is nice to do that sometimes!

Merry Christmas!

Ok, it has been way too long! I know! But, now I have a new super fast computer and A LOT of family in town to entertain the girls so that I can post!

Christmas was a lot of fun this year with Ellie. She loved what she got and took the time to play with stuff as she opened it. Not sure she has a favorite new thing, I think she was over whelmed by what she got and a lot of new things she had to learn about. She just wasn't sure where to start. Her cousins on Jeff's side are here and they got a Wii and all they did was play that all day and wouldn't let her. All she wanted was for them to play with her and turn the games off. That didn't seem to happen.

THe most popular gift amonf ALL of the kids (nephews are 7 and 9 years old) was the Webble Wobbles and their house and treehouse I got for Shelby. I can't even tell you how many times I had to remind them that they were Shelby's and to let her play with them too! Who would've thought!?
We were so late getting our big Christmas meal put together that Ellie just about fell asleep at the table. We forgot to make the fresh green beans, the homemade bread didn't get done and we just had our pie at 10pm! It was good food though. Thankfully everyone was about done when Shelby puked on Grandma Ann at the table. She is sick and Jeff and I spent some time this afternoon at the walk in clinic. On the bright side, it was a REALLY NICE clinic ands we really liked to doctor.

I hope everyone had a great day! Merry Christmas!