Easter Sunday

We were all excited to come down Sunday morning to see what the Easter bunny had brought.
 Maddy loved her bunny glasses...

Abi was thrilled with the Lalaloopsy movie!

She liked her glasses too. And by the way, her eye is not crossed. She is looking to the side.

Maddy with her fun stuff...

Abi's loot...

My basket .

Doug got lots of candy and the blue ray of TinTin.

For breakfast we had "souper"eggs and orange cranberry scones. I was shocked that the girls didn't like the scones. I thought they turned out great. Everyone always loves the eggs- they look gross but are so good and easy.

The girls got so cute in the new Easter dresses from Doug's parents. Maddy's didn't look quite right with a white bonnet so I used a yellow polka dot one that goes with a different outfit and I think it worked! Of course her shoes weren't that matchy because the shoes that came with the dress were too small and I realized that morning that she grew out of her white sandals. Still cute though!

Abigail Anne

Madeline Monet

After church we had ham, rolls, and mashed potatoes for dinner. Maddy was tired.

Maddy num nums

I know she isn't appropriately dressed for the blog... but I just think it is so funny how Maddy lines up all her friends on the stairs. As you can see, the Little Einsteins have now become part of her Mickey/ Minnie group.

Abi and Maddy made a mess the other day with a bunch of games...

Maddy kept doing this weird thing jumping on the twister mat counting and then coming over to me and showing me her fingers.

I decided to take a video of this game she was doing and then she only did it once and then went all goofy on me...


Then she was mad about something and retreated to her whining chair- yes when she gets upset she always gets in that chair and rolls around. It must understand her.

Romeo and Juliet have nothing on Gus and Felicity

 I am posting this video mostly for my mom. I had pinned it on Pinterest a long time ago but kind of forgot about it until I was doing some re-arranging and organizing of my pin boards this week.
Everyone knows I am a huge fan of L.M. Montgomery and all of her books... especially the Anne series. Well, there was also a tv show based on her Avonlea books on the Disney channel for many years called Road to Avonlea. It is one of my favorites and I own all the seasons.
If you are a fan of the show you will know that the love story between Gus and Felicity is one of the sweetest ever written. One of the things I liked most about Doug when we started dating was that he knew who Gus Pike was. True story.
So, mom, and anyone else who cares, here is a cool montage to Gus and Felicity. It is blurry but I still love it.

The girls this week

Everyone knows I like a theme so I was glad Abi had her school spirit shirt to wear on Martin Luther King day because it has a Martin Luther King Jr. quote on the back:

"Intelligence plus character... that is the goal of true education."

While Doug and I were busy with the furnace guy I got out some markers and paper for Maddy. She decided to "paint" her toenails....

and her legs.... and her mouth...

Funny girl.

Her cold got progressively worse this week to the point where her coughing made her throw up a couple of days ago. So we have stuck around the house. Here she is yesterday morning having a tea party with Clarisse...

More fun...

Friday night the girls and I ran to Target to get some ice melt. While there I grabbed a tube of glow bracelets from the dollar section to play with the next day.

Saturday we played in the snow some more. Abi built some snow people with candy.

I got cold first but I could see the beginnings of a cold coming on Maddy AGAIN so we packed up and went back inside. I took the girls up for a bath. This is when I surprised them with the glow sticks. I saw the idea on Pinterest. I turned off the light and then broke all the sticks and threw them in the tub with the girls. They LOVED this!!!

They played with them for a really long time and then made them into rings and played some more...

a little hula hooping...

When they got out of the bath the fun continued as Abi made them into a huge jump rope and practiced... seriously $1 and hours of entertainment!

Snow much fun

Last Thursday we finally got our first big snow. it was quite funny because when I found out that Doug was going to be out of town for work I told him that "guaranteed the day after you leave it will finally snow."

Well, he left Wednesday. It snowed Thursday.

When Abi got home from school I got them both in snow clothes so they could play in the snow while I shoveled. Of course, I didn't do much good because it was still snowing at this point but I wanted to at least get something done.

Abi was so happy to play in the snow...

The next morning I went out and tried out the new snowblower for the first time- luckily Doug gave me a lesson before he left. 

I had Abi babysit Maddy while I did it. It was definitely a lot easier and quicker!

I got these pictures later that morning when Abi was out waiting for her bus. Maddy brought down her friends to watch Abi and say goodbye to her...

She cracks me up with how attached she is to all her Mickey and Minnies and her Clarisse. She was watching a cartoon while I was cleaning and I thought she looked so cute...

library storytime

 Maddy loves going to story time at the library. Again, this is mostly for the grandparents. Here are some videos I took at the library last week....

Maddy dancing

 This is mostly for the grandparents. It is long. Maddy loves this song and video and here is some proof...

Oldie but Christmas goodie

Both girls sing this song now with the hippo ornament we have so I thought I'd re-post this. Abi is so little in it!

Funny

More kid history videos

It's Friday... every day.

Many of you may have seen the video by Rebecca Black, "Friday" during this past year as it became an internet sensation basically because people were making fun of it. 

I have to admit that Doug and I had quite a laugh over the song and video the first time we saw it. 

Then one Friday morning the girls wanted to dance and I thought it would be funny to put that song on.

Maddy instantly fell in love with it and now we have to listen to it all the time.

Below is a little video of her singing along and dancing.

So, if you ever see us out and here her singing to herself, "Friday, Friday" while she is playing... yes, she is singing this song.

Worth Waiting For

 I did something similar to this for Abi last year for her personal progress. It was a vanilla wafer and a candy bar in our test and she did wait! I think this video is just so cute and funny!

Maddy's favorite song

Maddy has a favorite song. It is by Owl City and is actually a pretty cheesy song about dentists. She loves it. I finally captured on film how she is just normal listening to the song before it but as soon as her song comes on the head bopping and finger waggling start!

It's kind of funny too because Abi was being silly and you can see how she is kind of annoying Maddy... very typical of our girls.

Inspiration on tv?

 Did anyone else watch Expedition: Impossible? I wasn't sure when I first saw the previews for it but then when I saw that one of the teams consisted of Erik Weihenmeyer, one of my heroes, I had to watch. Doug and I watched it together every week and loved it.
It was basically a reality show like Amazing race except much tougher. There were a couple of drama teams that were annoying and one that we really didn't like (the fab 3) that made it to the final 3 but for the most part the teams consisted of really good and inspiring people.
Throughout the season we were surprised to watch people helping each other in a non selfish way. It was the most inspiring reality type show that I have ever seen.
Our favorite teams were No Limits (the one Erik was in) and The Gypsies. The Gypsies were almost always in first place. They are the guys in purple with mustaches. They are just really good guys. At one point they won calls from home and they decided to give them to Erik's team. It was so nice.
The Gypsies came in first in the end and No Limits, despite all odds, came in second.
It was great tv.
I was reading some blogs I found from the Gypsies and No limits and found out that the bonds these two teams made on the show were real and have lasted. They all got together in Boulder for the finale show. That would have been fun to be at!
I also found these 3 videos of No Limits on youtube that highlight each member of the team.
When you realize how hard the things these people did and that this team still came in 2nd with one blind guy and another very injured, it is truly amazing.

Ike

Erik

 Jeff

 When the gypsies gave their reward to No Limits

Hula Hooping

 A couple of months ago I bought Abi a hula hoop. She couldn't do much at first. But now, after practicing every day, she can hula hoop for a few minutes at a time. She also likes to spin in circles while she does it (which amazes me) and do little hops. She wanted me to videotape it the other day. She was too close to the curtains and couch and Maddy was wandering around so she didn't go as long as normal but it gives you the general idea...

Sand art

A while ago I got a flyer from the downtown Kenosha toy store with a calendar of kids events for the summer. They have a few classes that you can sign your kids up for where they do some kind of project that you can buy in the store and then they get an ice cream cone afterward at the ice cream store that is right next to and connected to the toy store. It is only $6 so I thought it would be fun to sign Abi up for one of them. I told her what the classes were and let her decide which one. 

She chose sand art. 

I wasn't sure what it would be like but it was great! They got 4 pictures each and got to work on them for an hour. Abi had one left over at the end so she was able to bring home a little bit of sand to finish it. Here are the three she finished at the activity...

The ice cream cone was huge. She was loving it. This is definitely something we will do every year.

We got a balloon at the dollar store afterward and the girls had so much fun the rest of the day chasing that balloon around.

This is such a random picture but I think it is so funny that she is making this 'duck face'. I have some pictures of me doing it too.

videos of the week

This little short one is just a funny one to me. Maddy LOVES jack in the boxes. I haven't bought one yet because I haven't seen one for under $20 and I don't want to spend that much on one. So, every time we are at the store we have to look at them. This was the first time she did it herself. I just taped the end to get her reaction when it pops out because she does that every time. It never gets old to her.

This one is really dark and hard to see. It is the video I took the other night when the girls were jumping onto the beanbag. I love listening to the laughter!


On Sunday Abi gave her first talk in Primary. She was so excited about it. I asked her some questions about the topic and then helped her to put those into a talk format and then added some more to it myself. I typed it out for her and then put it on the back of some pictures she liked. I wasn't sure if she could read the whole thing by herself but the first time she tried, she got almost every word right. We practiced a few times during the week and then Sunday was the big day.
I was nervous for her as I stood in the back of the room. Six months ago she wouldn't have been able to stand up there and her she was telling me she didn't even want any help!
I wondered if she would get nervous once she was actually up there and if she would need any help with any of it. I didn't need to be nervous!
She did it so well and the funniest thing happened. The kids in Primary were so quiet the entire time and when she was done a bunch of them started clapping!
So funny! I was so proud of her and so happy for her.
I promised my mom I would videotape her reading the talk but I can't get it to give me the embedding code for some reason, so for anyone who wants to hear it follow the link below to youtube....

Abi's talk

Circus World videos part 2

Here are the videos of Abi onstage at the Interactive circus being the magician. Excuse my silly laughing and yelling. I was having a good time. I loved that the girl was surprised and amused by Abi's magic words.



In the second video I had stopped taping for a minute but when she asked Abi if she thought she could turn herself into a bunny I started it up again just in time to hear Abi say, "Yes." This is funny to me because she really believes sometimes that she has magic hands and she really seemed to believe up there that she was magic and could turn into a bunny!

Circus World videos part 1

This wagon played music if you put fifty cents in. I thought it was just for show but these people put the money in and so I got a quick sampling. The older people that were next to us (to the right in the video) were talking about how they remembered the circus wagons rolling through town when they were children. They would play the music and you could hear it all through town so all the children would come out to see the wagons go by.

The above video is Maddy dancing around while we waited for the Children's interactive circus to begin.

Abi brought down two books she hadn't read before yesterday. I dragged out the camera to tape her.