Parenting Trials and Tribulations

Last night, right before Azalea's bedtime, Azalea was going from room to room yelling at the top of her lungs "Leo." Leo is a "Little Einstein" figurine that came with her "rocket" toy she got for her birthday. Since Saturday she has had Leo in one hand and Annie (the other figurine from the toy) in the other. She even brought them to church on Sunday. So apparently we lost Leo. I knew she wouldn't go to bed without it. So we looked and looked knowing that it could be anywhere. After about an hour Mike finds it! "I saw her eating pretzels" he said. There was Leo sitting on the shelf in the bottom cupboard of the kitchen. She must have needed to put Leo down in order to get into the bag.

The Sun Came Out!

Hello, boy were we happy to see the sun. We have been outside a lot these last two days. Using the new wagon Azalea got for her birthday from her grandparents. I was happy that she wanted to share it with her sister. She hopped in and said "Baby, too" and patted the other seat. We got back from a walk and I noticed she didn't have the toy drumstick that she had on the trip so we had to go on another walk in the afternoon. But I couldn't find the brand new toy. When we got back and put the wagon away I found the drumstick on the shelf in the garage next to her other toys. She must have put it there when I wasn't looking. Our neighbor said "she knew where it needed to go."

Happy birthday Azalea!

Naomi would rather eat her teething ring.

Time to eat. Subs from Subway and fruit salad.

Naomi was ready to party.

Azalea's birthday party

Elmo came to visit!

Riding around in her new wagon from Grandpa Ron and Grandma Debbie.

Opening presents. The cousins got to help. Which was good or else we would still be opening them.

She carried around her elmo balloon all day, until it popped. She ran up to me and said "It broke!"

Happy Birthday Azalea!

Well it's been a very busy week. Wednesday was picture day for the girls. It took all day long, pretty much. The appointment was for 10 am at Sears Portrait Studio here in Willmar. My mom came at 9 to help get them ready and we left at 9:30 and everything was looking good. But the mall didn't open untill 10 so we were early. Then when we got in right away I knew it wasn't going to be easy. They were training in 3 girls. And all 4 were going to do the portraits. I think it must have been their first day. The girls were happy but they just couldn't get a good picture. And they didn't know how to pose Naomi because she can't sit up on her own. So after an hour and half I gave up and we decided to get some lunch and maybe come back. We went home and then at noon Azalea was still in a good mood so I thought lets just try again with just her (Naomi was sleeping). Here is where we thought we locked ourselves out of my house with the car keys inside. And it's raining. But I found them in the diaper bag. So off to the portrait studio we go. This time it was an experienced lady and no trainees. Azalea did really well and smiled for the camera and we even got good ones of Naomi. But then...the trainees went over the pictures and packages with me. Which took forever so I had to bring the girls and my mom home and go back when they were sleeping. So what a day that was.
On saturday we had Azalea's 2nd birthday party at my parents house. It was fun and I think Azalea had a good time. Elmo came to visit and gave her a present. She wasn't afraid, although, she was a little shy. She just smiled and stared. She did sit on Elmo's lap. By the way, Elmo was really my cousin's wife Sally dressed in a costume my mom made. After the party and the many presents (thanks everyone) she was very tired and took a long nap. As did her parents and grandparents.

Fall pics

Azalea played outside with her grandma, Karen. They played "catch the leaves" as they fell from the trees. The trees dropped their leaves all at once after that freeze.

This is the first fall Azalea gets to play in the leaves. We only had one dinky tree in IGH.

Fall pics

Naomi, bundled up, enjoying the leaves, too

There are a lot of leaves in our yard to rake. Mike bagged 20 bags and that's just the front yard we still have to do the back and side. Most was in the front though, and I'm proud to say we were the first to rake up on our street.

There are a lot of leaves in the street. We used to go for walks and say "Oh, it's just like the tree tunnel in Hawaii." Well.... They will probably all blow into our yard. It's fun to see the cars go through them and blow them all around.