Poor Little Jellyfish

A couple of days ago,

we needed to get out of the house so that Mark could sleep.

We decided to go and visit Barb.

She took us to a park in Tyne Valley

and met up with a girl that she knows there and her kids.

Piper was delighted to have a little friend to play with.

I was delighted that Barb took the girls to the beach,

so I got to sit on a blanket with Elliotte 

and have an adult conversation with Barb's friend.

Elliotte enjoyed herself also.

She kept eating rice cereal until she was stuffed

and then had a beautiful nap in the park.

As much as I enjoyed my conversation,

I was a little jealous of Elliotte's nap.

xo

xo

Piper and her friend heading to the little beach with Barb.

They found a jellyfish and decided to build it a 'house'.
Aka they put sand on him.

And more sand. 

A LOT of sand!

Showing off her dirty hands.

Happy to have her name in the sand. 

Her sister got quite dirty today, but this little babe is fresh from the bathtub.
I hadn't intended on bathing her this night,
but she was in my arms when I started running Piper's bath.
As soon as Elliotte saw the bathtub and running water
she got so excited that I didn't have the heart not to put her in.

Stopping jumping in her jumparoo long enough for a little thumb fix. 

Picnic Breakfast

With Mark working nights this week,

I've been trying my best to keep the girls quiet in the mornings

so that he can sleep.

NOT an easy task.

It is the most difficult part that I have with him doing shift work.

I really try to keep things quiet,

but I usually fail.

Badly!

On Friday morning, 

things looked promising.

I suggested to Piper that we should have a breakfast picnic downstairs.

She thought it was a wonderful idea

and was ready to go immediately.

Silly me.

I spent the next 20 minutes 

desperately trying to keep her quiet

while I was getting the picnic ready,

but she was so excited about the darn picnic

that she was louder than ever!!!

Oh well.

Like I said. 

I tried!

xo

xo

The picnic all set up and the girls ready to enjoy!

If you look to the left in the first photo, you will see this.
Piper set up a smaller picnic for her little friends!

Piper digging in to her yogurt and kiwi.

Elliotte fluttering her eyelashes at me,
hoping I will feed her some yogurt and fruit too.
(We're almost there!)

Piper gave Elliotte a cup to play with,
but it only distracted her temporarily.
She is still eying that yogurt.

It is What it is, Unless it Isn't

If I've said it once,

I've said it a hundred times,

Piper and Jack are complete opposites.

In everything.

Just another example is in how they play.

Jack was so regimented here in what he was playing with,

while Piper is a dreamer 

and you never know what she is playing with until she tells you.

A skipping rope,

for instance,

is a skipping rope to Jack.

He talked about the skipping rope.

He played with it.

He liked it.

Piper on the other hand,

sees it as a skipping rope,

a fire hose,

a seatbelt,

a circle,

a space ship...

(you get the idea).

It was really funny to have to reassure Jack 

that it was okay for Piper to play with things 

differently than how they're meant to be played with.

On the last morning of Jack's visit,

Piper opened up a box of small square board books.

Sometimes she will ask me to read them to her,

other times she will read them to Elliotte.

Sometimes she will build towers out of them,

and other times she will line them up to be train tracks.

On this particular morning,

the books were most definitely train tracks.

While Piper was busy building the tracks,

Jack came running to me quite concerned.

"Aunt Karla, Piper is using the books,

but they're not train tracks! They're books!"

He was so serious when he said this to me!

I explained to him that it was okay for Piper to do that

with her books,

and if he'd like, 

we could get more little books and help her make an even bigger train track.

For a little guy that LOVES trains,

he did not need any more convincing.

So cute!!

xo

xo

Here's the start of our train tracks!

But it wasn't long before the books became blocks to stack towers.

And, of course, it wasn't long before they became just a mess in the background,
as they moved on to something more interesting.

I bought this little toy for Elliotte.
Good thing, hey?!

I'm not sure the little one will get many turns with these two around!

Hard at work in the kitchen!

Dr. Jack Martin checking out his patient's foot.

Must've been bad.
He's giving her a shot!

Triple Trouble

Trying to get the three of these kids

to stay still and look at the camera at the same time

is next to impossible.

Here are some of our lame attempts on the last morning of Jack's visit!

xo

xo

Attempt #1: No one's looking.

Attempt #2: No one's looking.

Attempt #3: Everyone is looking, but no one is smiling.

Attempt #4: One looking, one smiling.

Attempt #5: One looking, two smiling.

Attempt #6: No one looking, but one smiling.

Attempt #7: One looking and smiling.

Attempt #8: Two looking and smiling.

Attempt #9: One looking, two smiling.

Attempt #10: Two looking, three smiling.

Attempt #11: One looking, one smiling, one falling forward.

Attempt #12: One looking, one smiling, one making a silly face and one tipping over.
I give up!!!!!!!

Twin Twisters

What better way to end a day of waterpark fun,

then with a twist ice cream?

Piper and Jack had no complaints!!

Sorry little Elliotte.

Next year baby girl!

xo

xo

Piper and Jack are opposites in almost everything that they do.
Even when it comes to eating ice cream.
Here Piper is attacking the sprinkles with her mouth...

... while Jack is picking them off and eating them one by one.

I didn't actually have a photo of Elliotte from that evening,
(she was most likely sleeping)
so here is one from today!
Such a happy and sweet girl!

Just a little extra blurb from each of my girls today to make you smile:

Piper: She stood on my bathroom scales today after I had weighed myself. I said, "oh you are 30 pounds". Piper looked shocked and replied, "Am I not 2 anymore Mommy?" :-)

Elliotte: Oh Elliotte. Elliotte. Elliotte. Elliotte. This little pork chop really likes to eat. Our doctor and nurses are always surprised when I tell them how often she nurses during the day, but I say it's a very fair tradeoff for her sleeping through the night. (She sleeps from around 8:30pm until 7:00am.) She now gets baby cereal at lunch time as well, which she really really likes. How do I know? You know how cats come running when you crinkle the treat bag? Well that's pretty much how Elliotte reacts when I crinkle the cereal bag as I'm walking towards her at lunchtime. She goes foolish. It's so funny. And shocking to Mark and I, since Piper has never ever had much interest in food. We were so excited to start Piper on cereal when she turned 6 months old, yet she had zero interest. We gave up and tried again a couple of weeks later. And then a couple of weeks after that. It took forever to get her to eat more than a couple of bites. We called her our little bird. If that's the case, then Elliotte is our vulture! I swear. She tries to eat everything that you put in front of her. I'm excited to start offering her all of the other goodies out there! 

Waterpark Weekend Part 2

On the second day of Jack's visit,

we decided to hit another water park.

The park had pools and water slides,

but it also had other rides and attractions for the kiddos.

While having lunch,

Jack and Piper could see some little kid rides

from where we were sitting.

They were both itching to finish lunch and start the fun,

even choosing which color car they would get in on the little rides.

All was great until it came time to board the car ride.

Piper was brave followed Jack inside,

but then reached for the hand of the first adult that she saw,

thinking it would be me getting on the ride with her.

It wasn't me.

It was actually the guy that was running the ride.

Oops.

That was the beginning of the end!

Krista ran ahead and went to put Piper into a car,

but she promptly changed her mind and didn't want to ride.

No problem.

We waited and watched Jack ride,

which was fine by Piper.

She's often just as happy to watch other kids have fun,

rather than take part herself.

When Jack was finished riding,

we asked them both if they would like to ride the boat ride together.

Both said yes.

We thought this would be a better choice,

since both Piper and Jack could sit in the same boat together.

All was going great.

They both sat in the boat,

both put on their seat belts

and the ride began.

It went around once and we were all happy and smiling taking photos!

Then Piper put her head to the side.

I asked Krista "What's Piper looking at?"

Then Piper's little hand reached backwards.

We couldn't figure out what she was doing...

until the next rotation. 

She was bawling!!!

Crying so so SO hard.

We asked the attendant to stop the ride 

and Krista ran in to get her.

(I was holding Elliotte.)

It was so sad, yet so funny at the same time.

Poor little thing!!

She recovered once we got to the swimming pool 

and the water slides

and the rest of our day was fabulous!

We did a carrousel, petting farm, wobbly bridge, etc.

It was fun!

But get this!

When we got home Mark met us at the door.

He gave Piper a hug and asked her what she did that day.

She looked at her daddy and said,

"I got on a boat ride and I cried"!

SERIOUSLY!!

We were at that water park for almost 5 hours

and she was only on that stupid boat ride for 1 minute!!!!!!!!!!

Yet that's the ONLY thing that she told her dad!

KIDS!

xo

xo

The very beginning of our day started off with the big kids
finding a dragon in the forest!

Jack's car ride... without Piper.

See!
It looks like all is going well at this point!
We're about 10 seconds into the ride here.

And then her little head turned to the side.
Next came the little arm stretched out towards the back,
begging for someone to come and get her. lol.

Miss E was getting cuddles from Aunt Krista here
because her Mom is consoling a sobbing big sister!

The day did get better for Piper.

MUCH better!
They had so much fun in the pool and on the slides!

The big kids weren't the only ones having fun in the pool.
This is Elliotte's very first time!

And as usual,
a certain somebody needed to have a little rest
with her thumb in her mouth.

There was other fun too,
but no matter where we are,
Piper will find rocks to play with!
She's helping Jack's digger here. 

Watching the big kids play in the dirt is exhausting too.

My human babies weren't the only ones cooling off
and having fun in a pool that day.
Blue helped himself to a swim after playing fetch with Jovi!

Uncle Officer

Jack and Piper were still getting along and playing together

super well on the second morning of Jack's visit.

Words cannot say just how excited I am

that these two got along so well.

So.

Much.

Fun.

To.

Come!!

xo

xo

The big kids hard at work,
but thinking that they're playing instead.
Mommy needed the coffee carrousel refilled.
These two were happy to oblige!

Two little doctors giving Gloworm a thorough examination.

Jack thinks that it is super cool that Uncle Mark is a policeman.
He had that fascinated look in his eyes
when he looked at Mark in his uniform,
but even more so when he got to explore the police car...

... and turn on the lights all by himself!!!