OH MY!!!

Emma is graduating from preschool in May. They told us that they would be taking pictures a few weeks ago & they came in today. What a cute idea. She looks so big!! I'm definitely in love with my 4 1/2 year old.

Arizona!

So last Thursday the girls & I drove down to Arizona & got back a few hours ago. I miss living there so much! We had a great time visiting with aunt Shannon, uncle Robert & Nana. Plus we got to see my good friend Shannon, her husband Joe & their kids Brooke (Emma's bestest friend), Dillon and the adorable three week old Blake. Oh & uncle Chad graced us with his presence on Friday evening for a bit ;-) (we love you too uncle Chad). The drive was easier than I thought it would be. All I have to say is THANK GOODNESS for car DVD players!!!! Seriously, every parent's greatest invention. I don't think I could've done it without them. Coray stayed home to work & uh....sleep? Actually his latest obsession is watching American Idol on You Tube. He has a serious man-crush (or is it boy-crush) on David Archuletta. Granted the guy is dang good but watching him every day?? Hmmmmm. Anyway, the girls had a blast staying at Shannon & Robert's house. Gracie just loves Robert, it's the cutest thing. About the time we got to Wickenburg on Thursday (maybe two hours from Phoenix) she started saying "uncle Robber" over & over again. He has a small remote control helicopter that Emma was obsessed with and they had fun playing with the Magna-tiles the Easter Bunny brought the girls. He'd build something & Gracie (or Emma) would get a kick out of knocking it down! They also got to color easter eggs with aunt Shannon & hang out with Nana too. We ate at Costa Vida (one of my favorite restaurants), went to the Phoenix Zoo with my friend Shannon & Brooke & Dillon & to this cool park in Chandler. A lot packed into about 2 1/2 days! Getting back to work tomorrow is going to be depressing. Pictures below (it's a slide show & you can click to enlarge).

AZ trip

Happy Easter!

We can't ever seem to get a family picture when we're all dressed up... since we don't have anyone to take the picture, so we get Mommy & the girls and Daddy & the girls!

Daddy & the girls

Our Easter angels!

I'm sorry but damn we make cute girls!

We're trying to teach Emma (at least) about the real meaning of Easter. But it's hard when you're little to think about Jesus when the Easter Bunny is around! Did anyone else think Easter came WAY too early this year??

Attack of the alien sucker hand monsters!

Didn't everyone do this as a child?

Bedtime battles

Gracie is nocturnal. I swear it. She's a night owl just like me. It's gotten to the point where I just dread 8:00 (that's "bedtime" around here). It's like the witching hour & I'm kind of at a loss what to do about it anymore. I battle with both of them to get to sleep. I can't leave them alone (they share a room now) because they sit & play or continually run out of the room....especially Grace. Emma will eventually fall asleep, I'd say around 8:30 or so. Not so with Grace. Last night was particularly fun, I think she finally settled down & fell asleep just before 10:00. Now, I HONESTLY wouldn't mind her staying up so late IF she slept in! You'd think if she was staying up until 10:00 that maybe, since she's TWO, she'd sleep in until say 9:00? I'd even be happy with 8:00. But no, she was up at 7:00. That's only nine hours of sleep for a two year old. Add an hour daytime nap in there & she's still only getting ten hours of sleep. Yes, some nights it's more, some naps are longer but honestly I just don't think she gets enough sleep. The thing that really is frustrating to me is that I feel like I "waste" my whole evening trying to get them to sleep. I really look forward to some quiet time, ME time. So I end up staying up until midnight just to have a couple hours of peace & quiet. My only hope at this point is that she'll grow out of it like Emma has. BUT...it's still a no win situation for me. Once Gracie is asleep, she almost never wakes up until morning. Emma still wakes up at night, once or twice, and comes & gets me up. I can probably count on one hand how many full nights of sleep I've had since before Emma was born. Coray thinks I'm crazy for even considering the possibility of having another child. His continual comment to me is something along the lines of "do you ever want to sleep again"? Too funny. Still, I would really like to find some technique(s) for settling Grace down at night. I have to say I find most of those baby books overrated. At least nothing so far has worked....crying it out, routines, baths, stories, songs, snuggles, reasoning (HA!). If they ever develop Ambien for kids I'm so there. Now before this whole post starts becoming too whiny or completely sounds "poor me" I have to mention something I spoke about in a talk I gave in church last November. I'm going to quote myself directly from my talk here: "And as frustrating as it can sometimes be, as tired as I sometimes am the next morning as I drag myself to the computer to start working, I wouldn’t trade the guarantee of one solid eight hour night of sleep for all of my nights of broken sleep for anything in the world. Because they’re only little once and they’re growing so fast. I know the day will come, much sooner than I think, that they won’t need Mommy at night anymore. Someday, the rolls will be reversed I think, and it will be me reaching out to them, though maybe not in the middle of the night."

So there you have it. Bedtime & sleeping...it's definitely a love/hate relationship for me. I know it won't always be this way but I'm definitely looking forward to the end of the bedtime battles!

Teaching a two year old about the potty

So last night I was getting the girls ready for bed. Gracie loves to brush her teeth, well more like chew on her toothbrush but whatever...I'm just happy she is getting the idea that brushing is important. I started to help Emma brush her teeth & glanced over at Grace just in time to see her pulling her toothbrush out of the toilet and begin to bring it up to her mouth. I freaked. I scared her so badly as I screamed out "NOOOOOOOOO"! It was one of those surreal slow motion experiences as I lunged towards her to grab the toothbrush out of her hand. I don't think she got it to her mouth, I can't be sure though because I think I blocked it from my mind. YUCK! I ran & threw the toothbrush away (she has two anyway). When I came back she was crying in the bathroom. I put the lid down on the toilet & pulled her onto my lap & we began to discuss what EXACTLY the potty was for. I *think* she got it. I certainly don't think she'll forget Mommy's reaction for a good long while. She kept saying "never, never" as we discussed what we do NOT put in the potty. Ah, the joys of having a two year old.