Backwards and Inside Out

Dinner at our house is often entertaining,

rarely boring

and ALWAYS messy!

Yesterday I let the girls have popsicles. 

Both wanted to let theirs melt,

so that they could drink the juice.

I told them that that would be okay,

but the juice would be their dessert.

Supper consisted of bbq'd steak, hash brown casserole and steamed broccoli.

I'm not lying when I say that I had to bribe BOTH girls with broccoli

in order to get them to eat their steak.

Honestly.

I used the sentence, "you can not have more broccoli until you eat some meat"

with BOTH of them. 

Crazy kids!

They are pretty darn good eaters and I'm incredibly thankful for that.

Even lunch was impressive.

We went to Charlottetown to run some errands.

On the way Piper asked if we'd be eating lunch at a restaurant.

I said yes.

She asked which one.

I said I didn't know.

She asked who got to choose the restaurant.

I said that we'd all choose together.

(Do you see a trend here?

Piper asks a LOT of questions!!!!)

Finally she asked if we could please go to the restaurant

that serves chicken noodle soup.

She means Swiss Chalet.

Piper and Elliotte love their soup

and their mommy loves that lunch only costs $10

for all three of us.

($3 for a cup of soup for each of the girls and $4 for a bowl of soup for me!)

Of course I agreed and was so proud

that she wasn't asking for a Happy Meal or french fries. 

Now...

if only I could get her to stop talking long enough to eat at a normal rate.

While Elliotte is shoving as much food as possible into her mouth

and making herself gag,

Piper nibbles every bite. 

She will eat a large portion,

but it takes an HOUR.

I try not to complain about how slowly she eats,

but it's pretty evident when Preschool sends her snack home

in a baggie with her at the end of the day. 

Fast talker - Slow eater!

xo

xo

Elliotte is refusing any help when it comes to eating.
That makes every meal an absolute mess!
I officially hate soggy rice krispies and oatmeal.
That stuff sticks to EVERYTHING!

Making sure she doesn't miss a drop.

And Miss Piper STILL eating her supper
long after her little sister has finished dessert.
While Elliotte is learning to feed herself,
Piper is refusing help when it comes to getting dressed.
THAT is evident in the tag that you can see near her throat.
Yes.
Her dress is on backwards AND inside out.
I didn't bother to tell her.
I was just proud that she is finally dressing herself.

The Bawling Chair Meets the Naughty Chair

A while back we introduced the Bawling Chair to our household.

Piper must sit there when she's bawling for no reason

and isn't allowed to get up until she stops.

We felt we had no other option but to create it,

since nothing else we tried worked to get her to quit

whining and bawling so much.

It worked.

Not magically.

She didn't stop whining and bawling all together

(I'd be getting it patented if it did),

but it did make her think twice about bawling

and often times stop.

We even put it away for a few months.

We took it back out of storage again last month!!

And added a friend named the Naughty Chair.

Naughty Chair joined us for times when Piper

decided that pulling hair, snatching or hitting 

were good choices. 

Piper likes the Naughty Chair even less than she likes the Bawling Chair.

Elliotte is on her way to warming these little seats as well. 

Oh boy. 

Double trouble!

xo

xo

Piper warming up the Naughty Chair.

And Elliotte warming up the Bawling Chair.

Elliotte pretending to bawl for the camera
while Piper pretends to be grumpy.

And this is how you land yourself on the naughty chair!

Swimsuit Envy

Piper received the most perfect swimsuit for her birthday.

(Thank you Stanley and Lianna!)

She tried it on yesterday to be sure that it fit.

After she took it off, 

Elliotte came over to me and tried to take her own clothes off.

She wanted to try it on too!

Once she had it on,

she proceeded to do every ballet move that she has learned from her big sis.

AND she absolutely refused to let me take the swimsuit off of her.

Ohhh the trials and tribulations 

of being a little sister.

I know all about it!

xo

xo

All ready for swimming!

Elliotte decided to try to take off her own dress
as she brought the swimsuit to me. 

Our teeny tiny ballerina.

Ages later and I still catch her doing her ballet poses!

The Pamperer Gets Pampered

The girls thought this was a great idea

and a lot of fun.

Mommy thought it was rather painful,

but it was worth it to see how pleased both girls were

with their handiwork. 

xo

xo

I don't think they paused to gently brush/comb out any tangles.
They just conveniently ripped them out!

Milk Monsters

Both of my kids are crazy milk monsters.

They can't get enough of it. 

I actually have to limit the amount they drink each day,

because they would honestly drink so much

that they wouldn't sleep.

Elliotte still uses a straw sippy cup,

but Piper has moved on to a big girl cup for a long while now.

Still, this night she used a sippy cup

to teach Elliotte how to get the very last drop out of the cup.

Big sisters are sometimes awesome!

xo

xo

The trick is to keep the cup flat so the straw touches the middle of the bottom!

Pudding - Cake - For Goodness Sake!

Each year Aunt Donna makes us 

a steamed Cranberry Pudding for Christmas.

It is our favorite. 

Mark and I usually refuse to serve it when we have guests

because we hate to share.

(I probably shouldn't say that, should I?!)

We thought we'd be safe with the kids until they were our age,

because really, what kid likes fruit cake and steamed puddings?

MINE!

Piper gets giddy when she sees us making the sauce

to pour over the pudding. 

Then she begs for the piece with the biggest berries. 

Two nights ago an argument was added to the mix.

Elliotte saw the pudding and started squealing "cake"!

Piper replied with, "no Elliotte, it's pudding".

But of course, Elliotte keeps screaming "Cake cake cake"!

(She may like cake. Just a little bit.)

Piper refused to give in and yelled, "pudding" back at her louder.

Really?

It was the loudest piece of pudding I've ever eaten.

Though we did give in and share a small piece with our kids,

we may have secretly had second helpings 

once they were gone to bed!!

xo

xo

CAKE!!!

PUDDING!

Thanks Aunt Donna!!!!

Come Back, Jack!

Piper has always adored Jack.

Elliotte hasn't gotten to know him very well yet,

but this visit helped a lot.

She followed him around quite a bit,

saying "Gak, Gak Gak".

We were all sad to see him go,

but it's Elliotte that goes a little wonky when she sees a photo of him.

GAK!!!

Come back to visit soon, Gak!

xo

xo

Goodbye hugs.

Elliotte will miss her pajama buddy!

Lordy Lordy Aunt Kiss-ta is 40

Yesterday was Aunt Kiss-ta's 40th birthday!

Hooray!

Since we only had two cakes and coconut cupcakes 

for Piper's birthday on Saturday,

we decided to have more chocolate cupcakes on Sunday

to celebrate Aunt Krista's milestone birthday. 

You know what they say...

40 is the new 30!

Happy Birthday to my big (and much older) sister!

We were so glad that we could see you this weekend

and help to celebrate your birthday!

xo

xo

Piper wanted 40 candles,
but I was afraid we'd set off the smoke detectors. ;-)

No lack of help to blow out the candles. 

And no lack of birthday love!

Cousin Cuties

Having cousins visit is always fun...

especially when they get along and are this cute!!

xo

xo

Jack sandwich!

Elliotte and Uncle Harold having a cuddle and sucking their thumbs.
I wish you could hear the way she calls him "Harold".
So clear and so cute!

Mr. Serious Eli

Piper was so graciously offering cookies to everyone
after coming home from ballet.

Jack hugging the ballerina
(who doesn't seem to mind one bit).

Pajama twins.
I knew Jack would be wearing these pajamas this day,
so I dressed Elliotte in them first.
When Jack saw her he exclaimed,
"Elliotte!! You're wearing my clothes!
MOMMA! Elliotte is wearing my clothes!"

Pajama twins... again!
Would you believe that not only are these two wearing the same pajamas,
but they're the same SIZE!
Yep! No joke.
Elliotte is almost 2 and Eli is 5 months old.
Both wearing size 18 month pajamas!

Cuteness overload!

Everyone playing the Piper's new Dora and Boots toys.
Thank you Nathan and Miles for this awesome gift.
Everyone loves it!

Two Popes, Two Martins and Two Lynches

With all of the birthday celebrations

and having Nana and Poppy Pope here to visit,

it's been really hard to find time to sit and blog.

Now that everything has calmed down 

and our visitors have left (sadly),

I will try to get back into the normal swing of things. 

There are still lots of fun photos to share 

of Nana and Poppy's visit,

but also of Aunt Krista, Uncle Harold, Jack and Eli's visit.

The cousins were super excited to play together,

but nobody was happier than the grandparents

to have all grandkids together in one house!

xo

xo

Four little monkeys... and two big ones! ;-)

Piper's 4th Birthday Party

Too little time to type. 

I'll add photos now and add captions later. 

xo

xo

Piper wanted a Dora AND Boots cake.
Since I couldn't find one....

... she ended up with TWO cakes.
They took me more than 4 hours to make,
but Piper's reaction of "these are the best cakes ever"
made it all worth it!

The birthday girl and a friend from preschool.

Jack happy to be at the birthday party!

Blowing out the candles
She asked Sylvie to blow out the ones on the Boots cake!

Balloons are always fun!

Messy little sister!

Piper loves veils.
She was forever asking me to try to attach a blanket or towel to her head
to act as a veil.
Lucky for her, her Aunt Krista is crafty and made her one for her birthday!

Piñata time!

Jack took his time lining it up!

Elliotte may have used the wrong end of the bat,
but at least she tried!

Highlight of the party!

Party - Pooper

Piper had her birthday party yesterday!!

It was busy and hectic, 

but she had a blast. 

As she sat gazing at her cakes

(yes cakeS - she had two)

she told me that it was the best birthday ever!

Her day was filled with friends, family, food and fun!

I'm so glad that she had a great day.

Elliotte had fun too,

but that's not the highlight of her story.

Her highlight is that she pooped in the potty again tonight!

That's time number two that she did number two in the potty,

and she's not even two yet!

(That's a lot of twos!)

I was taking her out of the bathtub tonight

and she pointed at the toilet and said "pee, Mommy".

So I asked her if she needed to pee.

She said yes.

I put her on the toilet and she sat there

with a very serious expression on her face.

Mark came in and stated that he thought she was pooping.

We then asked her if she'd rather sit on the little potty.

She said yes again.

We sat her on the little on and took out a book for her to look at with us.

Within a minute we had success!

Once again she was shocked by what she found in there when she stood up.

She kept pointing at it and saying "uh-oh".

So sweet!

My girls are both growing up so quickly!!

xo

xo

A quick family photo with the birthday girl.
I'll add more photos tomorrow!

A Bear in the Cave

The photos will follow tomorrow,

but they will be worth it.

Today we went to Moncton with Nana and Poppy.

The first place we visited was the Bass Pro Shop.

It was amazing!

Of course it was the perfect place for Poppy,

who loves to fish and hunt,

but little did we know that it would be a great spot

for Piper and Elliotte too!

There was a giant aquarium with giant fish,

lots of stuffed animals (like real ones, not plush)

and a cave!

A CAVE!!

The cave was beneath the aquarium

and was really more of a tunnel than a cave,

but you couldn't tell that until you got inside. 

Well, Piper was standing next to Poppy and peeking inside

while asking him what was in there.

I went around to the other side and noticed the exit to this 'cave'.

I got down on my hands and knees and crawled through.

When I poked my head through to the part where Piper could see me,

I thought that she would get excited and run in to join me.

That's not what happened.

The poor little thing just about jumped out of her skin

and launched herself behind her grandfather.

It took me calling out to her and him reassuring her

for her to eventually look again and see that it was only me.

My poor girl. 

She then joined me in the 'cave' with her little sister

and while her little heart was still beating vigorously,

she told me that she thought that I was a bear. 

(It doesn't help that there was a big stuffed bear standing next to the cave.)

I strongly anticipate a little visitor joining me in my bed tonight.

And perhaps for the next 200 nights that follow.

Elliotte didn't seem to get the same fright,

but she was quite the funny little thing there.

The 'cave' wasn't very big, 

but neither is Elliotte.

She watched Piper and I crawl on our hands and knees to go inside,

so she did the same...

even though she was totally small enough to walk in without bumping her head.

Ohhh those two kids!

xo

xo

Photos tomorrow!

Our Sweet Girl Turns Four

Piper is FOUR!!!

How did that happen?

FOUR!

Piper, you are so incredibly determined, imaginative and beautiful.

I love that you dream bigger than i  could have ever wished for

and that you do not believe in limits.

I love that you are so quirky

that restaurant butter sandwiches have become a staple in our house.

Sweet girl, you may give us a run for our money each day,

but you're worth every penny!

We love you to the moon and back! 

xo

xo

There is no better way to turn four than...

... sharing your first ever banana split with your little sister...
(Elliotte is not taking her eyes off of that prize!)

... and your nana and poppy!

More Story Time Cuddles

Happy happy children!

The girls love story time before bed.

They love story time before bed with Nana and Poppy

best of all.

xo

xo

No need to share...

... when you can have one grandparent each!

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Mark and I finally had our little getaway to Moncton

WITHOUT the kids!

That was our very first time away by ourselves

in FOUR YEARS! 

It was so lovely.

It was like Mark and I were dating again...

except instead of talking about where we planned to travel next,

we found ourselves talking about Piper and Elliotte.

Isn't it funny how that works?

You get run down and exhausted

and would give anything for a break once in a while,

but then when you get it,

all you can think of is the kids.

I was actually emotional when we first pulled out of the driveway.

I couldn't believe that I was leaving my kids for an entire night.

I knew that Piper would be fine because she understood 

where we'd be and that we'd be back.

It was little Elliotte that I was worried about.

I was scared that she'd want me at bedtime and start to cry.

Well, apparently I'm not that great or important.

The girls did great!!

They each had one weak moment of asking for their mom,

but Nana and Poppy were amazing at distracting them

and everything went better than we could have hoped.

And as for sleep.

I slept.

Thanks to a hockey tornament in town

and loud drunk chaperones in the hotel,

I din't sleep until 1am,

but at least I slept after that!

We even had a big sleep-in until 8:30.

It was lovely.

Nana and Poppy did not. 

Things weren't THAT amazing!

Elliotte woke around midnight and asked for me.

That's when Nana and Poppy took her into bed with them

and stroked her little face until she fell back to sleep.

They were afraid to try to move her back to her crib

because if she woke up she might cry for me again.

Instead, they let her stay in bed with them all night,

causing them to lose a lot of sleep. 

And then Miss P had them up at 6:30. 

Good morning!!

Needless to say,

Nana and Poppy had naps today

and are gone to bed on time tonight.

Thank you both SO incredibly much

for allowing Mark and I to reconnect after all this time

and for giving us the peace of mind

that our children were not just being well cared for,

but being loved while we were gone.

xo

xo

So deceiving.
They only pretending to sleep!

By the time Blue got in on the action,
Elliotte was done.
She's still there.... well her feet are at least!