It has been forever!

I know I haven't posted forever, but I am here now!  My girls are getting so big!  Maggie was 3 at the end of  May and Molly is now 7 months!  They are literally changing everyday!  Maggie is getting sassier and more interdependent! ;)  I love watching her do things for herself and really love watching her do things for others.  She has the kindest heart...when she is in the right mood!  Maggie's imagination and little personality are blossoming too!  My favorite moment that happened recently... we were driving home from work and I was just wanting a little quiet.  Maggie was watching her movie.  From the backseat, "Mommy?  Mommy? Mommy?"  Sound familiar?  ;)  "Yes, Maggie?"  "Mommy, I love you!  Let's talk about birds."  And the conversation continued on about birds and and butterflies and dragon.  She was so sweet.  She would take it all in and I could tell she pondering what I had said. Then she would say, "Let's talk about..."  I love how she tries to keep little grown up conversations!  It is so fun seeing her grow into a little person!

Molly is on the go!  She is not fully crawling, but scooting and climbing and cruising furniture like a wild woman!!!  She has the silliest little personality!  Molly loves to play with her sister!  She thinks Maggie is the best thing ever, even when Mommy doesn't like how rough Maggie is.  Molly loves to make her sister laugh, she really loves to make anyone laugh!  I can't believe how fast these last 7 months have flown by!  Molly is very much a momma's girl.  Though that is frustrating and it doesn't give me much alone time, I know that in no time she will be too busy for me!  For now I will try to savor every second of my little love!

Lately I have been trying to live in the moment, stop stressing about what needs to be done and just soak up my girls!  I often find myself willing my brain to remember these moments!  Rather it is Maggie singing so sweetly while she plays, me snuggling Molly while she sleeps or watching from a distance as they play sweetly together.  These are the moments that I want to remember when I am old, these are the memory snapshots I will cling to as my girls grow up and leave.  *Sigh*

My happiness to share...Adorable new photos of my gorgeous girls! I took both girls by myself to get there 3 year and 6 month (actually 7) pictures done.  We were outside and I was worried how my girls would be.  Maggie with her need to be clean and fear of bugs and Molly's fear of other people!  Well it was amazing!  The photographer did an amazing job capturing them and it was so relaxed!  I have only seen a few photos, but what I have seen is beyond adorable!!!

Molly's first cereal...

So tonight we gave Molly rice cereal for the first time! She has been so interested in everyone else's food for awhile, I decided it was time! She saw the bowl and practically started flying she was so excited. She loved every bite! The only time she got upset was when it didn't come fast enough!!! Here are some pictures:

We started in the Bumbo, but she kept leaning forward to get the food faster and squishing her little tummy!

I had to add more cereal to make it thicker!  She was not a fan of the soupy cereal!

I love this picture!  I have fed a lot of babies cereal and never met one who got so excited their first time!

It was a great way to end the weekend! :)

A great girls night!

After having several weeks of awful evenings with one or both of my girls being crabby, we finally had a perfect night!

The day started a little rough!  Molly had her 4 month checkup and shots yesterday, so she was a little off and Maggie was just plain crabby!  Both girls took good naps and woke up happy and hungry.  Maggie loves Perkins and Saturday's kids eat free, so I decided we would have a little girl's dinner.  This was not our first girl's dinner, but it was hands down our best yet!!!  Before leaving the house, Maggie insisted on wearing her apron and chef hat.  She looked so cute and it really wasn't worth the fight!

Outfit of the evening!

Upon arrival Maggie asked to have her face painted.  I told her let's wait till after dinner since the line was so long.  We had no fights, no whining, no "but whys", just an "okay Mommy!"  We sat down and I ordered her food right away.  Molly was awake the whole time and fussed a little, but overall a good girl! After we finished dinner, my Maggie patiently waited 15 minutes to get her face painted.  She was thrilled with her rainbow!

Happy girl!

We made a quick stop at the bank, which is next to Target. My Maggie loved Target and asked very sweetly if we could go, "just for a tiny baby bit!"  Molly was due to eat soon and I had a feeling it would go bad.  I decided to chance it since Molly was sleeping, but said we had to leave as soon as Molly started fussing.  This was the first time in a long time that I had nothing I needed to get!  We just wondered around.  I let her walk instead of riding in the cart and we stopped and looked at whatever caught her eye.  Every time she saw something she wanted, I told her we would add it to her birthday list.  No fights, no begging, just plain fun!  We stopped in the girl's clothes section and she adorably held up dresses to herself and spun around like a little princess.  I found adorable matching dresses for the girls!  I have no idea when they will wear them, but they were 50% off and too cute to be left behind!

$15 for both!

Molly woke up half way through out trip and I was bracing myself for a meltdown.  She just smiled and cooed at me.  After a quick stop in the dollar section where Maggie picked out one thing, we headed home. Maggie asked for ice cream and I chanced it!  We stopped and got ice cream to take home, Molly still not screaming and over an hour past her normal eating time. On the way home we rocked out to Hey, Soul Sister and Sexy and I Know It!  Molly was squealing and giggling from the back seat and Maggie was singing along!  I was just beaming!  What a fun night!

This wasn't from tonight, but is the same cute, happy face I was looking at in the cart!

We arrived home meltdown free!  The evening continued in to be filled with smiles and giggles and meltdown free bedtimes!  *SIGH*  It doesn't get much better than that!  :D

Maggie's Birthday invites!

I have been planning Maggie's birthday for months! She will be 3 on May 25th! She wanted a purple party and then she decided to add Rapunzel.  I have been searching Pinterest for ideas and found these adorable invites!  http://stefanieburt.com/blog/?s=tangled

Step 1: A trip to the craft store for supplies...then another trip for different yarn and and some ribbon I forgot. I got 12x12 glitter paper, 8x11 (or whatever the letter like size is) metallic paper, a hole punch and yarn.

The first yarn I bought was too thick, since I plan on mailing them.

This is what I used.  I had to get thin ribbon,  to tie the hair.

Step 2: I printed the text...a lot of work went into alignment, font and sizing.  The best advice I can give for this is to print a few on plain paper and play around with it. The challenge was to get it small enough to fit into the envelop once I added the tower roof.  Also, a bit of advice, the metallic paper does not absorb the ink right away, so be careful handling the paper.  I smudged a few.

This was a mistake one.  I smudged the words and had to shrink the font.

Step 3: Cut it all down. TIP: Do not center the text as you cut, leave some room on one side for the "hair"  My final pictures will explain what I mean.

The roof took some playing around with to get it the right size  for the envelop.

Step 4: I punched a whole and then started the gluing process. The original one I saw, just had a window, I added a picture of Maggie.

Step 5: The "hair!"  This part was a little tedious, but so worth it.  I originally was going to braid the hair, but Maggie said Rapunzel doesn't have a braid in the tower...a little relieved I had one less step!  I simply cut six strands of yarn and tied them with thin purple ribbon.

Step 6: Glue the "hair" on.  I used my hot glue gun, because I knew it would stick.  On the center aligned ones I glued the yarn in 3 places and on the left aligned ones I glued it in 2 place.  I like the look of the free flowing hair.

The final product:

The one on the left is glued in two places on top and once on the side.  The right one, just has two dots of glue on top.

So that was my project the last few nights!  I am glad it is done.  Next up...braids for "Pin the hair on Rapunzel!"  I am very excited for May 19th!!!

Easter craft

I am sorry I haven't posted for awhile. It had been a crazy few weeks. I just wanted to share the Easter craft I made with the kids!



Another hand/foot print project! I used her hand for the head and held her fingers in a 'v' to form the ears. The body is her footprint and some fingerprint arms. I just drew on a face and there you have it! I think it turned out pretty cute, though Maggie calls it a kitty! :D

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A week of milestones!

We have had quite a week filled with some pretty exciting milestones and events for both my girls!

On St. Patrick's Day, I was getting Maggie ready for bed and Molly was fussing. She had on cute St. Patrick's Day jammies, with a shamrock on her butt that said, "My First St. Patrick's Day!" I was getting Maggie dressed and all of a sudden I look over and see a cute butt! Yay for Molly!!!

First time she rolled over, 3-17-12!

She is loving her new found movement! She goes from back to tummy and tummy to back, before I know it she will figure out if she keeps rolling she can get to her sister!

On Thursday night, we were getting ready to leave my mom's and I started playing peek-a-boo with Molly. All of a sudden her smiles and sqeals, turned to giggles! Amazingly I was able to capture it on video!

On Wednesday we took Maggie bowling for the first time and she loved it! It was so cute how excited she got just to see the ball go down the lane, it didn't matter if it hit any pins. My favorite was her little bowling shoes!

She had just let the ball go for the first time!

Cutest little bowling shoes!

Yesterday and today Maggie has had button down cardigans on. Today she was so proud when she figured out how to get the whole thing buttoned! I was pretty amazed! I love her persistence! She spent the better part of the day trying to do it. Then she continued to unbutton and button over and over! I was amazed that the first time was perfect!

So proud of herself!

My little girls had a big week! For me it is bittersweet to see them growing up. I wish I could push pause and keep them tiny forever...but only the good moments! ;D Looking at these pictures I am filled with such joy and pride! I must be doing something right.

Pay it forward...

Remember those moments as a new mom (or dad witnessing them), when your emotions were all over the place and your husband bringing you the wrong burp cloth sent you into hysterics. Or having someone hold the door for you made you feel like they just gave you the moon. I remember these moments with both my girls. With Maggie, I had no idea what I was doing when it came to breast feeding. I called a friend and had her talk me off the proverbial ledge. When I hung up the phone, I thought to myself how wonderful it was to have the help of another mom and hoped that one day I could pay it forward. Tonight was my chance...

I was in the formula/breast pump aisle at Target tonight with my huge stack of formula coupons for all the different brands. I was trying to decide what to use and what to leave on the shelf for someone else. I nurse and we only use formula occasionally, so my 5 coupons that expire next week were a bit excessive. While I was debating Enfamil versus Similac, I overheard a very young, new mom talking on the phone to her mom. She had a very teeny, tiny baby girl...days old and possibly premature. She was trying not to cry, but tears were streaming down her cheeks. She was saying she wasn't sure she had enough money to get the breast pump stuff and formula and she didn't know what things to get. When she hung up, I offered her my Enfamil coupons that can be combined and add up to a can of formula. She was so grateful; I was surprised she did not break down in the aisle! I then helped her get the breast pump stuff she needed. I walked away thinking nothing of it. That is just what we do,\ a community of moms helping each other out any way we can. Maggie asked me what I gave her and I told her coupons to help buy formula. She replied, "That’s sweet mommy!" I didn’t even realize she had been watching the whole thing, taking in and hopefully learning how to pay it forward.

That new mom has a long road ahead of her. I hope my little bit of help tonight made her journey a little easier and one day, she can pay forward too!

I will leave you with a picture that makes me smile!

My chunky monkey, Molly, so happy to be outside!