The Marlow Memoirs

Waco for Lunch

2011-11-30T23:18:00.000-06:00

This morning, as usual, I brought a few toys to our bedroom so the girls could play while I showered and got ready. One of the toys I brought in today happened to be a butterfly net. Alegria put it on over her head and I found that to be hilarious!

As I was getting the girls dressed, I got a great idea for a picture...or two...or three... ;)

After having some photography fun with my little Alegria butterfly, we left to go to Waco. Cameron needed me to purchase a few things at the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Store in Waco for a pack meeting tomorrow night where he would be handing out some awards to some of his Cub Scouts. He was at work and couldn't make it over there in time before it closed this evening, so here I came to save the day! :)

I'd never been to the BSA store before, but Cameron said it was easy to find...so both girls in tow and with the car full of toys, a Christmas DVD playing, and snacks at the ready, we were on our way.

Cameron was right. It was easy to find and it was not very busy in that little store, so we were in and out of there within ten, if not five minutes.

The girls had been such good sports on that drive that instead of having them wait to get home for lunch, I decided to treat them to McDonald's before going home.

Obviously, Alegria had had too many snacks on the way down because she didn't want to eat...she just wanted to play. I had to coerce her to at least eat one chicken nugget...which took her almost a whole 30 minutes to eat as she held on to it and played rather than ate:

When she finally came and sat with us, all she ate were her fries:

She was very interested in the toy, however:

My two precious little girls and me:

Time to play!

The last thing on our agenda today was an FRG meeting. We got there late, though, so it was pretty much a wasted trip onto Post...except that we got to see handsome Daddy for a few minutes before heading back home...and seeing him there again! :)

Once home, the evening routine was...well...routine.

Now the girls are in bed and soon it will be my turn...

Good night!

Sock Mitts

2011-11-29T22:47:00.000-06:00

Sweet potato pancakes...

...they ate them all up! :)

In the afternoon, we played in Alegria's room. Odette again found Woody:

And Alegria prepared a very nice afternoon tea for us:

All of a sudden, as Alegria was picking up a tray of treats to hand to us, she exclaimed, "Ouch! It's too hot!" And then she proceeded to put on a pair of socks as oven mitts!!! I tried getting her to say the whole "It's too hot!" thing again...

I love how imaginative Alegria is!!!

Odette had to excuse herself early from our tea party, though...she had some important emails to write:

Odette: "Haha! Look at what my friend posted to her Facebook!"

Me: "Odette...I thought you couldn't stay and have tea because you had some important things to do on the computer..."

Odette: "I do. Facebook is important to ME. Now be quiet, please...I've got a great comment I want to write about my friend's post...!"

Odette: "Let's see what you say to THAT! Haha!"

Odette: "Ok. Play time is over. I DO have to get this paper done now... Darn Facebook. I wasted thirty precious minutes on there...now I'll be up all night."

Later on in the evening, Odette found Alegria's Crocs and put them on all by herself...on the wrong feet...but on nonetheless!

Awesome. :)

Have a great night everyone!

Decorating for Christmas!

2011-11-28T22:38:00.000-06:00

It was an uneventful morning.

After lunch, the girls played nicely together for a little while:

Then I put Odette to bed...and learned yet AGAIN that I must not leave my makeup bag out...when will I really learn?! :oP

Here's Alegria posing for the camera wearing "Mommy makeup!"

After we got her cleaned up, I had Alegria practice writing her name:

At first she started to write dots, just like I'd done:

So I had to trace her "dotted" name once first to show her how. Then she got the hang of it:

Odette finally woke up and after I had her diaper changed, she went over to Alegria's room to find something to play with (because she apparently doesn't have enough toys in her own room!)...and came back with Woody. She pulled on his pull-string...

...and loved that he talked to her!

Alegria will not like that Odette likes and wants to play with Woody...

As we played in Odette's room, I caught a video of Alegria singing "5 Little Monkeys" and making her little Cookie Monster toy "jump" on the "bed" (she was using the diaper genie as the bed! Lol!). SOOO cute!

Then we moved on over to Alegria's room and played:

At dinner, Odette gave herself a real cool 'do' using applesauce as her hair gel:

And then it was finally time to start decorating for Christmas! YAY!!! :)

All smiles!!!

After looking at our ornaments, we decided that they were too old and worn to be used, so we left our tree "bare" (except for a few 3rd ACR ones and Cameron's and my "First Christmas" ornament) for the time being. We'll have to go buy new ornaments some other day to decorate our tree with.

The decorating done, the now-empty boxes had to be put away! Or WERE they empty...?

Alegria loves looking at Baby Jesus:

Daddy and his two dear daughters:

Once the girls were in bed, I put together one last decoration...the table centerpiece:

Our Christmas decor is simple, but our Christmas spirit is rich.

Good night everyone!!!

Poor, Sick Baby!

2011-11-27T22:48:00.000-06:00

I was putting Odette to bed last night and as I was about to put her in her crib, she vomited all over me...and herself...and the floor. That was the beginning of a very long night.

Odette vomited about ten times last night...probably more. She couldn't sleep and couldn't drink a thing...even water made her vomit. Poor thing! At one point she tried holding it all in...to no avail.

Cameron had a meeting to attend after church today, so he slept on the couch so that he could get some sleep. I stayed in our bedroom with Odette on a thick towel that I had folded over...she'd already dirtied up every waterproof changing pad we own...and I even had to switch out towels a couple of times...until finally her poor little body had nothing more and she was just dry heaving...

Needless to say, I did not sleep much last night, so today, both Odette and I stayed home from Church.

Thankfully, once the night was over, Odette was able to sleep for a few hours. While she slept, I gave Alegria hugs and kisses once Daddy had gotten her dressed and then went to the kitchen and got some pictures of her looking oh, so cute for Church!

After Alegria and Cameron left, I was able to sleep while Odette slept. Then she woke up, had a little water and medicine and then she slept some more.

At that point, instead of staying in my pajamas and going back to sleep, I decided to get ready for the day. I showered, put on a dress that I know Cameron loves on me, and got prettied up. Then I tidied up the house.

Originally, Cameron and I were both supposed to go to a meeting after Church today, so I'd already asked Abilehi to help us out by switching cars with us so that she could bring the girls home, give them lunch, and put Odette to bed...all for the sake of the girls' comfort and not having to make them wait for who knows how long for our meeting to be done and risk them being hungry and fussy. Abilehi still switched cars out with Cameron so that she could bring Alegria home. I've got such a nice sister! :)

When Alegria and Abilehi arrived, I didn't really know what to make for lunch (or better yet...I was too tired to want to make anything!), so we opted to just have some Ritz crackers with cream cheese. Alegria loved that option and was very handy with a knife all by herself!

After lunch, I suggested to Alegria that she take a nap...but she didn't want to...she wanted to keep playing, so I let her. She pretended to feed Big Bear at the table on Odette's booster seat...SO cute! :)

Eventually, she CRASHED on the couch! Haha!

Odette, on the other hand, after some medicine and much-needed sleep, was up and playing and being her usual, happy self! :)

It seems Odette just had a 24-hour bug and is now over it. She even had some mashed potatoes for dinner tonight and kept it all down, so I'm a happy Momma. :)

Now I'm off to bed for a much better night of sleep!

Good night y'all!!! :)

Partying with Max and Chuck!

2011-11-26T21:46:00.000-06:00

We started off our day on a good note...homemade waffles! It being a holiday weekend and all, I let the girls indulge with candy sprinkles on their waffles...and I even let Alegria pour her own!

YUM!!!

Then we just had fun coloring and playing:

Look at this little belly! Odette eats well and I can't for the life of me see why her doctor has been worried about her growth! She has a weight-check appointment coming up because she lost weight from her 9-month to her 12-month appointment and went down to the 1% in weight for her age group. Cameron and I have smaller builds...so can't it be that we just have small babies...?

And look at these cute little curls on the back of her head...! Alegria's hair used to be straight...but then it started getting curly in the back, just like Odette's hair is doing! Will Odette also have a full head of curly hair like her sister...? Only time will tell!!! :)

Oops! It's my fault for teaching Alegria to pinch booties! Haha! Every time I'd be dressing Alegria, I'd give her a little pinch and say "pinch-y, pinch-y!" Now she does it to Odette! Lol!

Odette: "I'm good, right, Mommy? I've gained enough weight, right?"

Odette: "What do you mean you're not sure?!" :(

While I finished getting ready, I sent Cameron to go finish getting the girls ready. A little bit later, I took a glance at Odette and asked Cameron if she dressed herself...so here he is explaining to me why this shirt and pants DO match...

His explanation? There's white in the shirt AND white in the pants...as well as the other colors, too.

Sorry, Hun...um...no.

We were finally ready to go and headed over to Chuck E. Cheese's. A high school friend of mine just recently moved to Killeen and she invited us to her little boy's birthday party...he's turning three and is about Alegria's age! I was very excited to go...not only because Alegria loves Chuck E. Cheese's (even though this is only her second time going!), but also because I was going to see my friend that I hadn't seen in so long!!! :)

As soon as we arrived, Alegria and Cameron went to go play...

...while I stayed with Odette and renewed an old friendship with Nancy. :)

While we visited, Nancy's brother and sister-in-law asked me how old Odette was...guessing 7 months...? And I told them that no, she was 15!!! They were surprised, but said that she looked so little compared to their little boy who was only 10 months and good-sized!

No matter...I love my little tiny, dainty Odette (even though she was being REALLY fussy ever since we showed up at Chuck E. Cheese's):

I don't know why Odette was being so fussy...well, actually, I do. I had tried getting her to nap and she didn't today...of all days when I really wanted her to take a long nap because I knew we were going out tonight! Of course...it always happens that way, right? Poor thing...I wished she would just fall asleep in my arms while I talked with my friend, but she didn't...so then I started getting worried if she was sick...

Once the pizza arrived, the children were rounded up to come and eat and Cameron offered to take Odette with him back to Hobby Lobby to return a few items so that I could enjoy visiting with Nancy and so that Alegria could also enjoy the party. So that's what we did.

The Birthday Boy and his mommy!

Excited for cake!

Giving the Birthday Boy a Birthday Hug!

Playing with the lizard toys she got with her tickets from playing games with her tokens:

Max's birthday cake:

Chuck arrives and the festivities officially begin!

Unfortunately, Odette was still being very fussy by this time. She had fallen asleep for a little bit in the car while Cameron drove over to Hobby Lobby, but then she woke up when they went in to return some stuff...and then she just kept whining and crying and crying and whining...so they came back and we left before the cake was cut and served. Alegria was a little sad at first, but then she got happy when Nancy handed her and Odette a gift bag full of candies and prizes to take home. :)

It was a fun time...I only wish Odette had been in a better mood for us all to enjoy a night "out on the town!" :)

Now it's home again in hopes of getting Odette to sleep so she'll feel better in the morning!

Good night all and Happy Birthday Max! Thanks for inviting us to your party! We had fun!!! :)

Crafty Man

2011-11-25T23:16:00.000-06:00

We started Cameron's day off doing some laundry...

Then we followed Cameron to Harley Davidson to get a regular check-up/service on his motorcycle:

We should have called Harley first, though...they were booked. So the rest of our errands, we had to run them on two separate vehicles. Oh well!

Once home and while Odette napped, I worked some more on my advent calendar and Cameron and Alegria took a walk with Isis. Alegria insisted on holding the leash and both she and Isis did a pretty good job!

After Odette's nap, we went back out. Cameron had an idea for a centerpiece he wanted to make using the antlers of the two bucks he's shot the last two times he's gone hunting, so we headed over to Hobby Lobby to get some materials:

Today Cameron learned how absolutely expensive crafting is...but he also learned how thrilling and exciting it is to shop at Hobby Lobby! Haha! :)

Home again, while I prepared dinner, Odette got into her usual shenanigans and played in the tupperware cabinet. She also found a sticker and tried applying it to her face. She's starting to get a love of stickers...just like Alegria!

We had dinner and then played until bedtime:

After putting the girls to bed, both Cameron and I got to crafting. We tried out different ways to place the antlers:

Then Cameron sawed some slits in them in order to tie them together with floral wire so that they'd stay put:

Finally we began the task of arranging the floral pieces in the antlers:

I only helped Cameron a little with his project. He did all the rest:

And I must say...it came out GORGEOUS!!! Cameron amazed me with yet another hidden skill he has!!! WOW!!! He could sell this:

And that was our day!

Good night!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!!!

2011-11-24T23:08:00.000-06:00

Oh, how I love living in these highly technological times! All I did was put a pre-cooked turkey breast in the crockpot...

...and then I got the girls and myself ready and headed out to the park...not a worry on my mind at all!

At the park, Alegria played with her elephant:

And Odette and I watched Daddy play some football at the annual Turkey Bowl!

Touchdown!!!

Good game...good game...

Cameron left the field with a small battle wound...all for the fun of the game!

The girls wanted to keep playing outside, so we headed over to the park next to the field the men were playing football at and played on the playset for a little while:

Finally it was time to go home. Cameron led the way:

Upon our return home, the house was filled with the wonderful aroma of our delicious turkey cooking in the crock-pot! We still had a little bit longer to wait, though, so in the meantime, Odette went down for a nap, Alegria played, Daddy watched football, and I finished getting the rest of the meal ready.

At about 2, we woke Odette up from her nap and sat down to our Thanksgiving dinner:

Then it was time to eat!

Yummy turkey breast (so far Cameron and I are the only ones who end up eating the turkey and we both prefer the turkey breast, so why buy a whole turkey?!):

Odette loved the stuffing most of all:

Her favorite way to communicate? Pointing. More of THAT please! :)

When she'd had her fill, Odette played on the floor at my feet:

Unfortunately, Alegria was not very keen on the meal placed before her and only had the few required bites of her food and then asked to be excused. Isis, on the other hand, loved what Cameron gave her and gobbled it all up!

After dinner, everyone went outside and played on the trampoline for a little bit:

Once we'd had time for our food to settle, it was time for pie!

Here's the pie sitting next to a cute turkey decoration Alegria made at preschool on Monday:

I placed the pie on a fall placemat I found in my oven mitt drawer. We have a set of six somewhat-themed placemats like this one. We got them as a wedding gift almost 6.5 years ago...but I can't for the life of me remember who gave them to us! They look handmade and they're beautiful...I just wish I knew who made them for us!!!

My homemade pumpkin pie was a hit! Even Alegria couldn't wait to dig in!

Cameron's comment was, "If I had a store-bought pie and your pie in front of me and I took a bite out of each...I wouldn't be able to tell the difference." :) Awesome. :)

After dessert, it was back to reality...and laundry. Thankfully, Odette helped me with it:

Sort of. :)

What a wonderful Thanksgiving Day we had today! We are so grateful to have our family complete this year...that Cameron came home safe and sound from Iraq and that all of us are healthy and happy. We're thankful for the love and support of all of our family and friends...and most of all, we're thankful for the many blessings that the Lord grants us each and every day.

We hope your Thanksgiving Day was just as happy as ours was.

Good night and God bless.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

2011-11-23T22:56:00.000-06:00

I finished some calligraphy work that my sister-in-law had asked me to make for her and barely made it to the post office in time to send it off! The line was a lot shorter than I'd anticipated for it being the last working day for the post office before the Thanksgiving holiday, though, so the girls and I were in and out of there within ten minutes. They behaved well, too, so that was a plus! :)

On our way home, I called Cameron to see where he was in the process of running an errand for me and unfortunately, he was still in line...he'd left before us, too! Poor guy!

While we waited for Daddy to come home, the girls and I played in the living room:

Finally Daddy was home and the girls and he jumped on the trampoline...their favorite activity to do with Daddy!

Odette kept wanting to try to climb down on her own, but she never actually ever got the real courage to do it:

After dinner, Alegria was so exhausted that she crashed on Daddy's chest while we watched O'Reilly. I was afraid she wouldn't go to bed if she napped that late, but I guess she was so tired from the day's activities that it didn't affect her sleep, thank goodness. :)

Once the girls were in bed, I got to the task of making a homemade pumpkin pie (minus the crust!) for tomorrow's Thanksgiving feast:

I was EXTREMELY happy with the end result. The house smelled amazing while the pumpkin pie baked...and I can't wait to have some tomorrow!

Good night everyone! :)

Tea Party With Daddy!

2011-11-22T21:05:00.000-06:00

Today we went to story time and afterwards, Odette was so inspired that she took out a whole collection of Disney story books that she got for her birthday from Quinn and Madden and read each and every one:

After lunch, Odette went down for a nap and I painted Alegria's fingernails and toenails:

When Odette woke up from her nap, we all played with blocks in the living room. Alegria built this...specifically with a steeple and then said, "Mommy, it's the Temple!" What a cutie!!!

Odette had some important phone calls to make:

And used her walker as a scooter:

Alegria pretended to be a dog and that the bar stool was her dog house:

Daddy came home with dinner and I didn't even cut Odette's pizza up this time...she's getting to be such a big girl and is eating more and more like one every day!

But sometimes she still eats like a chipmunk and stores her food in her cheek...for later:

Then we had a tea party with Daddy! It was tons of fun watching this football lovin', deer huntin', steak eatin', tough Army man pretend to eat delicate crumpets and sip delectable tea with his two little princesses:

Alegria: "It's hot!"

Blowing on her tea so that it's not hot this time when she sips it!

Apparently it was Alegria's birthday today, too!

Blowing on his tea...

The tea party all done, then it was time to clean up...I had no idea Alegria was strong enough to carry both of her chairs at once! Boy, she's strong!!! :)

What a fun day!

Good night! :)

Monday

2011-11-21T22:48:00.000-06:00

There's really nothing interesting to post about today...

I worked out, the girls and I went on our walk, Alegria went to preschool, Cameron went to work.

I DID try one new thing on a beloved recipe for the girls: mini-pizzas with sweet potato in the sauce mix. They had no idea that the sweet potato was in it and they ate it all up (the cookie cutter was for the bread...I have stopped buying bagels recently and so instead just cut circles out of Mrs. Baird's 7-Grain Bread for the pizzas...healthy and delicious!):

Aside from that, we pretty much just had a fun, relaxing day.

Odette tried on Jessie's hat:

Alegria was creative while playing with her animals, as usual:

I sort of liked my hair today, even though it was pulled back:

And then Daddy came home and the girls had a ton of fun jumping on the trampoline with him:

It's a bird...it's a plane...no, it's a flying baby!!!

Alegria said, "I'm a bat!"

And that was our day!

Have a good night! :)

Simple Sunday

2011-11-20T19:47:00.000-06:00

As Odette ate her yogurt for breakfast, I fixed her hair...two pigtails. At first I was thinking that I'd only put one rosette bow in her hair...but then I decided two was even better! Don't you think she looks like those cute little Japanimation/Japanimé cartoon girls?!

SOOO stinkin' cute!!!

Anyway...

We made great time this morning! In fact, after breakfast, we literally had to slow our pace and just chill for a little bit so we wouldn't get to church 20 minutes early! Yes, that's right...we were ready to leave the house at 8:30! I was amazed! :)

Church was fine. I played the piano in Relief Society today. For the opening song, I left Odette with Cameron, but she was NOT wanting to leave my side today, so she screamed and screamed and after I was done playing, I went outside to get her from him. For the closing song, I just kept her with me...I gave her a few things to play with and kept her on the floor next to the piano bench as I played and she did well like that. :)

Finally we went home and Odette was finally able to nap.

While Odette napped, Cameron decided he wanted venison for lunch:

Um, Babe...I think you need to cook it a LITTLE bit longer...

Just kidding! He didn't actually eat that! Hahaha! :) He worked on cutting up the last of the deer, though.

At 3, we went back to church for tithing settlement.

Back home, we all just relaxed, watched some football, and then Abilehi came over for dinner. We hadn't planned a menu, so we made the easiest thing we could think of...rice and stew:

So simple...so yummy. :)

During clean-up, Alegria was singing the song, "Once There Was a Snowman," and Aunt Abilehi showed her the actions to the song. Before I post the video, though, let me write the words for those who may not know them...you'll understand what Alegria's singing/doing if you know what the words are:

"Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman. Once there was a snowman, tall, tall, tall. In the sun he melted, melted, melted. In the sun he melted, small, small, small."

And that was our Sunday...wonderful as always! :)

Service Project and The Hunt

2011-11-19T23:06:00.000-06:00

Cameron and I woke up at 3:30 am. He got ready and left to go hunting somewhere near San Antonio. Once he left, I went back to bed.

I got up a little before 6, worked out, showered and got ready, and by the time I was done, the girls were waking up. I got them dressed and fed...mmm...Toaster Strudels!!!

Then we left.

We stopped by Abilehi's place first to pick her up. Then we met up with a few other people from church at the church building. From there, we all went to Shawn Camp Insurance, where there was already a large group of people ready to Keep Copperas Cove Beautiful! :)

First things first, we were all given t-shirts. They ran out of the white long-sleeve children's sizes, so Alegria and Odette got to pick out short-sleeved t-shirts from last year's leftovers that were in various colors. Alegria, of course, chose blue. I chose pink for Odette.

Next they had donuts and juice for the helpers. As soon as we walked into the building, I just HAD to get a picture with none other than...drumroll, please...FLO!!!

Alegria having her second breakfast, Abilehi having her first:

Odette was bored being inside and wanted to get out and start working already!

While Abilehi and Alegria finished their breakfast, Odette and I went out to find something to do.

As part of a program to get the community involved in keeping Copperas Cove looking beautiful, different companies throughout the city invite volunteers to come and help beautify their businesses and in the process, this gives them some free help and free advertisement for their companies...so it's a win-win!

I found a lady who looked like she knew what she was doing and asked what I could help with. She handed me a paintbrush and a can of paint and asked me to paint the top of a cement block where their company name is. She warned that the paint was oil-based, so if it got on my clothes, it would never come out...so I was extremely careful, especially since the wind was blowing! At one point, a gentleman came up to me and told me that I wasn't really painting because my clothes weren't all covered in paint, saying that he paints a lot and that his clothes always have paint all over them! Lol!

In the meantime, Odette was sweating up a storm with the difficult job she had of supervising me and the job I was doing:

And Alegria helped pick up fallen leaves:

Once relieved of our duties, I let Odette run around a bit...she was glad to be out of the stroller:

We had a super fun time rendering service today! :)

After the service project, we went to Abilehi's house so that the girls could play with Maverick and so that I could see how Abilehi has decorated the walls of her and Ryan's home. The girls LOVED petting their cousin Maverick:

Odette had to be coached in the fine art of being "soft:"

Odette was quite intrigued by the table that you could see through!

Cute piggies!

After a while, Maverick had had enough of the touching, so he hid behind the couch. Alegria would not accept the fact that he didn't want to be petted! She tried convincing him to come out by saying, "Come out, Maverick! I be soft!"

Finally we left, not only because it was getting close to lunch time, but also because I'm allergic to cats and in 30 minutes of us being there, even without touching Maverick, I had already begun to sneeze like a maniac. So home we went, with Abilehi following behind us in her car.

Abilehi made a French Toast Casserole for lunch for us today:

It was sublimely delicious!!! Mm-MM!!! :)

Then both girls went down for naps and Abilehi and I hung out and watched a chick flick. Fun times! :)

At 3:30, twelve hours after Cameron had woken up this morning, he finally returned home from his hunting trip. Boy, it had been quite the trip for him!

On the way, the water pump in the truck busted, so Cameron ended up having to call the gentleman who's property he was going to hunt on to come and pick him up.

Cameron shot a nice buck:

We will have plenty of meat to last us a while! YUM!

After skinning the deer and while it drained, Cameron went to go see about getting his truck fixed.

As soon as Cameron got home, he showered and began cutting up the deer into filets, roasts, and lots of other cuts of meat that I would have no idea how to cut myself. I don't think I would have made it as an Indian Squaw! Haha! Cameron, though, is a pro!

It sure was a full day today!

Good night everybody!

Another Successful Recipe!

2011-11-18T22:24:00.000-06:00

This morning it was the usual routine...workout, walk, shower, play.

We would have had preschool, too, but while we were on our walk, Andrea texted me to tell me that she was sick and that she had to cancel preschool (she was teaching this week). So, we walked a whole nother lap with our friends before heading home to play. :)

While we played, Alegria did some fun stuff, as always:

For breakfast I made French Toast using my new cookbook. I'm using sweet potato in as many recipes as I can this week, so that's sweet potato you see plopped in that shallow dish along with the eggs and cinnamon:

My healthy French Toast was a hit! Both Alegria and Odette loved it and ate it all up (don't be fooled...Alegria really did like it...she was just engrossed in a cartoon she was watching and so she didn't smile!)!

Something else Alegria did today during playtime:

When Odette woke up from her nap, I gave the girls the leftover Wafflewiches for lunch. They were more than happy to finish them off!

Odette also had some applesauce...

...and boy, was it messsssy!!!

I almost had to give Odette a bath before we headed over to see our friend, Heidi...

When we got to Heidi's house, as we were standing on the porch waiting for the door to be opened after we'd already rung the doorbell, we could hear Heidi's boys running around...so Alegria said, "Hi kids! It's me-eee!" It was SOOO cute!!! Lol!!! :)

While Beth and I visited with Heidi, Alegria and Odette played. Alegria went straight to the boys' bedroom to play with their toys. Odette stayed in the living room and played with some toys that were out there.

Finally we went back home.

At the same time that we had been visiting Heidi, Cameron had been making some remarks at the Fox Troop Change of Responsibility Ceremony:

1st Sergeant Villalobos is leaving and 1st Sergeant Morgan is taking his place:

Lots of pomp and circumstance in the Army!

When Daddy got home from work, the girls had fun having him swing them up into the air! I got more pictures, but they came out really blurry...still getting used to the fast action feature on my new camera, but those just didn't come out at all, so I will only post this one:

Later on, I accompanied Alegria into the bathroom. Odette always wants to come in there with us, but she tends to open the cabinets and wants to play with things she's not supposed to and touch things she shouldn't, so I usually close the door behind Alegria and me to keep her out. She sometimes whines...but for the most part she just sits out in the hallway until we come out.

Well, today, I could hear her...and then I saw this little hand sticking into the bathroom from under the door...and this is what I saw:

What a cutie!!! :)

Since we'd already had dinner and it was bedtime by the time Alegria and I were about to leave the bathroom, I decided Alegria should just brush her teeth right then and there and get it done before Odette had to come in to brush her teeth so it wouldn't be too crowded. Well, Alegria got lazy and didn't want to use her stool while brushing her teeth tonight:

And that was our day!

Have a good night! :)

Birthday Lunch with Friends!

2011-11-17T22:43:00.000-06:00

It's been so fun walking in the mornings! Not only have I become stronger (from pushing two children around!), but the girls and I also get some fresh air in the mornings, AND we've made great new friends in our neighborhood! One such friend is Carrie...and we all went out to lunch to celebrate her birthday today!

I've never been to a restaurant with Alegria and Odette "on my own" (without Cameron) before, so today was quite the experience!

We went to Logan's Roadhouse, where they had peanuts on the tables as an appetizer. Alegria had never opened up a peanut before, but once I showed her how, that kept her content and busy. She'd also never eaten a peanut before and at first didn't want to try one, but she saw me keep eating them and out of the corner of my eye I saw that eventually she began eating them, too, not just open them up for me! :)

The conversation was lively and fun and the girls behaved pretty well, though they didn't eat most of their food...thank goodness the children's meal I purchased for the two to share (that they didn't even eat half of between the two of them!) was only $3. :)

Finally it was time for cake! Shannon made a delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting and gummy Army men as decorations to celebrate Carrie's (10th year celebrating her) 29th birthday!

Placing the candles on the cake:

Copperas Cove Mom's Club friends!

Lighting the candles and then we sang!

Happy Birthday, Carrie!!! Hope your day was every bit as great as you are!!! :)

Lunch at a restaurant with both girls was not bad at all! The only problem arose when Alegria asked to go to the bathroom. Not all bathrooms have a handy little child's chair with restraints like they do at Walmart, and since I didn't want Odette crawling on the floor or touching anything that I didn't want her touching, I asked our friend, Sam, who was sitting next to us, to keep an eye on Odette while I went with Alegria to the bathroom.

Well...I secretly call Odette "Static" because she likes to cling to me...moreso than Alegria ever did...and as soon as I was out of her line of sight, she curled her bottom lip down for a minute...and began to cry (is what Sam told me when she came to the bathroom with Odette only a minute later, looking for me so that Odette could see me). Oh, child! Lol!

I think the commotion of it all gave Alegria stage fright because then she decided she didn't want to relieve her bladder after all. Oh, child! Lol!!! :)

So we all went back to our table and everyone was getting ready to leave, so we began gathering our stuff together, too.

And then we came home.

Daddy came home early from work today and washed his boots clean (the left boot, actually, was the one that needed to be cleaned because it has gotten a scuff from the pedal on his motorcycle). Tomorrow they're having the Regimental Change of Command and he has a speaking part, so he has to look even spiffier than he already looks every day. :)

We played outside and then came in for dinner.

The rest of the night we just played and then Daddy stayed with both girls at home and put them to bed while I went to church for our monthly Relief Society activity. Today we learned about heating resources during power outages as well as water storage. It was interesting and I learned a few new things. Abilehi showed up after work, too, so it was fun to see her there tonight. :)

Finally I went home to a quiet home and spent the rest of the night with Cameron, watching football and relaxing.

And now it's off to bed.

Good night, y'all!!! :)

Wafflewiches and Snakes!

2011-11-16T21:51:00.000-06:00

It was No-TV Wednesday in our home again today. This is the second week in a row. After our walk this morning, Alegria threw a little fit when she asked to watch a movie and I explained to her that we wouldn't be turning the TV on today and that we had lots of toys to play with. Eventually the fit ended and sure enough, she and Odette played well together while I got ready for the day.

Odette went down for her morning nap, and when I went to get her after an hour, she looked so cute cuddled up with her baby doll, I just had to get a picture...and I realized that I used to get a lot of pictures of Alegria sleeping and I have hardly any of Odette sleeping...so here's one to make up for it!

Then it was time for lunch and I was excited to try a new recipe from my new cookbook. Today I chose to make Waffle Sandwiches...or "Wafflewiches."

The ingredients:

The ingredients in the Magic Bullet and ready to be blended (except for the bread, of course!):

I love my Magic Bullet! It blends so well! What a creamy mixture of cottage cheese, brown sugar, sweet potato, egg, and a tiny bit of salt!

Ready to be waffled (I don't think that's a word...):

YUM!!!

Even Alegria cleaned up her plate! This recipe was a success! :)

After lunch, we played in Alegria's room for a little while.

Odette, our Darling Little Daredevil:

When Odette went down for her afternoon nap, Alegria and I worked on some crafts.

First, we made a snake. She made a lot of little short tubes by gluing strips of green paper together using a glue stick. Then she helped me string the tubes together using a needle and thread. I had to finish most of that last part...she had trouble putting the needle through the paper, so I did that and then let her pull on the needle to pull the string through:

Then we made a zebra and she had a lot of fun playing with the two!

Shortly after Odette woke up, Daddy came home and had brought home some dry erase markers for Alegria to write on her white board with. Up to now, she only had a black one, so getting an array of colors was so very exciting...as you can see by the sheer joy in Odette's face!

Alegria consumed with coloring:

Odette clearly wanted to color, too, but dry erase markers are not something we want her playing with, so we gave her Color Wonder markers to color with...and that was just fine with her!

Thank you, Crayola, for inventing Color Wonder markers! This is EXACTLY why we are glad we didn't let her play with the dry erase ones!!!

Odette: "Come closer so I can draw on you, too!"

When it came time to get dinner ready, we all headed over to the living room and played out there. Alegria and Daddy invented some kind of game where Daddy wore one of Alegria's Pillow Pets on his head as a hat:

After dinner it was bath time. Alegria has been helping me wash her hair recently (of course, only after I've already made sure it's been washed thoroughly first!):

Then we played some more in Alegria's room...since the bigger and better toys are in there. :) Odette even wore Mrs. Potatohead's glasses to read:

And that was our fun-filled Wednesday!

G'night! :)

Lunch With Daddy!

2011-11-15T22:02:00.000-06:00

I got up, worked out to Supreme 90, got the girls ready, we went on our walk, we came home, I showered and got ready, and then we went to story time...phew!

It may not sound like much, but for someone like me who likes to take things slow and easy, I surprise myself at how fast I do things nowadays. You should ask Cameron...back in the days before we had children, I would take my time and spend about 2 hours getting ready. Now I have to not only get myself ready (shower, clothes, hair, makeup...), but I also have to make sure the girls are dressed with their hair done, toys for the car picked out, and diaper bag packed with snacks and diapers and everything else that we may or may not need while away from the house! So for me to make it to things on time and put-together...well...I think it's quite the feat! :)

Anyway.

Story time was fun, as always! We talked about bedtime today, so the craft was sleepy moons!

I had already helped Odette make her craft, so while we waited for story time to begin, Odette played:

After story time, we left Copperas Cove and went to Fort Hood to bring Daddy a truck part that he needed. When we arrived, Daddy asked if we wanted to go have lunch while we were there, so we went to a Subway in Killeen for a bite:

After taking Daddy back to his office, the girls and I went home. Odette took a nap and Alegria and I played. Once Odette woke up, we played some more...and made a mess of the living room! Haha! :) It was fun, though, as always! Our little girls are so cute and I love the way they play with each other! They're going to be the best of friends, I can tell!!! :)

I think Odette's head is still a little large for her body, as well as her eyes. She still has that disproportionate-very-babyish look to her, but it makes for such a cute little face that I just want to smoosh in and kiss, kiss, kiss!!!

Ahhh...sweet Alegria!

Wearing Big Bear in his carrier just like Mommy used to carry Odette:

Do you see how she has positioned her animals on top of each other? She is so imaginative! Cameron and I think she should work at a zoo when she grows up!!! :)

Cousin Cadee called today! I talked to her for a little bit and then she and Alegria had a nice conversation over the phone! It was so cute! :)

Odette trying to take a picture of herself:

First of all, Odette, you need to turn the camera ON. Second of all, you need to face it towards you. Hahaha!

Odette: "Is that what the problem is?"

Odette: "Well then, will you please take a picture of me?"

I got this in the mail a couple of days ago...a picture that Alegria colored in her preschool class. :) She must have left it there and Betony mailed it to me...or it was meant to be mailed because they learned the letter "M" last week and "mail" and "mommy" start with the letter "M!" In any case, it was so fun to get something personal in the mail!!! :)

I can't tell what he's thinking...

...probably, "Put the camera down, Woman!" Hahaha! :)

What a wonderful day! :)

Have a great night everyone!!!

4-Days End Way Too Fast

2011-11-14T21:57:00.000-06:00

When Alegria was about 6 months old, I started folding her arms and holding them folded as we prayed so she would get the hang of it and know what we do when we pray. I tried doing the same with Odette, but she would scream at the top of her lungs...so after only a few attempts, I gave up trying and hoped that she would learn by example...and she did! She's been doing this for about a month now, but because of video-upload issues, I wasn't able to get a video of it until now:

After prayer, I let Odette feed herself her yogurt and got a video of that, too:

While the girls ate, I took a picture of a beautiful flower we picked on our walk this morning:

After Odette's morning nap, we had a few errands to run, so we got in the car and went on our way.

Our first stop was Payless. Alegria quickly grew out of her sneakers and needed new ones to run around in, so we had her foot sized (she's a size 8 now!), and went to look for what was available. There were a total of THREE pairs of little girl sneakers in Alegria's size. Luckily, one of the pairs of shoes was white with rainbow colors. The other two were Dora the Explorer ones and she doesn't watch that show all that much, so she wasn't too excited when she saw them, which was good, because they were more expensive anyway.

So we went with the rainbow-colored pair, but before Alegria would be happy with them, she had to make sure the soles looked good, too:

Who knew that the bottom of the shoe (which is hardly ever visible) would be the deciding factor? Well...now we do. :)

It was still early when we got home after running a few other errands, so we just played outside. There was this really cool cloud cover that could be seen from our front yard and I just had to get a picture:

Odette wants to ride Alegria's tricycle so much recently! Her feet still don't reach the pedals, though:

Back inside as we got dinner ready, Alegria colored on her Doodle Bear that she got for her birthday:

Odette really wanted to color on it, too, so we had to distract her with her own coloring book and crayons in order for her to leave Alegria alone:

Then it was time to jump on the trampoline with Daddy!

After dinner and baths, the girls kept right on playing. Odette really loves Alegria's Woody doll (Uh-oh!):

While the girls played, Cameron and I kicked back and watched The O'Reilly Factor. I noticed that we both had our ankles crossed the same way and got a picture:

Daddy and Odette playing "Got Your Nose!"

And that was how we spent the last day of Cameron's four-day weekend. Boy, those four days sure flew by!

Good night!

Cloud Gazing

2011-11-13T23:07:00.000-06:00

We got to church early today...nice. :)

Today at church, the children presented the annual Primary Program. They did an excellent job! There was soft background music played throughout the whole thing, the children sang the songs loudly and clearly, and everyone with a speaking part spoke very well. It was all very beautiful.

During the second and third hours, they asked for a volunteer for the nursery and I went and helped in there. It was a long two hours. For the most part, the nursery children were well-behaved, but there were a few tantrums, a bit of climbing on tables and chairs, and a bit of fighting over toys...nothing that Sister Deluca and I couldn't handle, though. :) While I was in the nursery, Cameron kept Odette with him and luckily, she was well-behaved and not fussy.

On our way home from church, Alegria all of a sudden said, "It's Doralee, Mommy! It's a fish!" So I asked what was and she pointed out that the clouds looked like a fish! She also said that the other cloud was "a dolphin...like in Little Mermaid!" Can you see it?

Back home, Odette went down easily for a nap after lunch and Alegria played with her toys while I napped and Cameron watched some football. Upon ending my nap, Alegria came up to me to tell me hi and give me a hug and I noticed a bulge at the foot of her pantyhose:

She had her baby elephant and her baby rhino in there!!! Silly girl!!! What this child won't think of next!!! (By the way, yes, I know those pantyhose are navy blue and not black...she had no black ones in her size and it was a chilly morning...so she had to make due...oh well!)

Aunt Abilehi came over for dinner, but before eating, she and the girls had a little time to just play...

Pat-a-Cake:

Tickle Monster:

And Airplane:

It was a great day!

Have a great night!!! :)

Deceptive Me

2011-11-12T22:49:00.000-06:00

Back in May, I ordered this new workout DVD set:

Once Cameron returned to Iraq after his two-week R&R stay with us, I worked out to it for about three weeks, but then both girls became sick and because of lack of sleep and therefore lack of energy, I stopped working out to it.

Well, now that Cameron's home, on his regular work schedule, both girls sleep through the night, and all of our vacation traveling is done, I started working out to this workout program again on Monday.

I am happy to say that after 5 days on this program, I have already lost 5.5 pounds. I am excited to continue with it and see even more results...though, believe me, some of the women on these DVDs look way too muscular for my liking and I do NOT intend on looking like them. I just want to lose the fat, build lean muscle, and tone. Good luck me! :)

Today was a fun, slow day. We slept in until...7:15! Haha! Yeah...that's about as late as the girls wanted to sleep in today. :)

We had some breakfast...

Odette is a very messy eater (much messier than Alegria was at this age!)...has been from the time we started feeding her solids. Because of that, I have been trying to feed her myself as long as possible...but recently she's begun to get upset if I feed her. She wants to feed herself. So today, since we had nothing going on and I had all the time in the world for clean-up afterwards, I decided to let her feed herself some yogurt.

She did pretty well, actually. I got a couple of videos, but the darned video feature is still stumping me, so you'll have to settle for still shots:

When Odette went down for a nap, I went outside to check up on Daddy, who was working on the truck again, and on Alegria.

Alegria wanted to ride her trike, so I watched as she pedaled up and down the sidewalk. I would only let her go as far as one or two houses down on her own and then have her come back. She LOVES riding her tricycle!

Then she went back to "helping" Daddy:

On another topic, a friend of mine lent me a copy of a cookbook a couple of months ago. I've tried a few recipes and a little over half have been successful...those less successful I may have to tweak with a slightly lower amount of "healthy" additives and work my way up to the full amount in order to redirect my children's palates a little more slowly. The cookbook reads well and I really love the tips and tricks it teaches about how to get your children to eat more healthily and how to create better mealtimes with less of a struggle with picky eaters, so I bought myself a copy:

So after hanging out with Daddy and Alegria outside for a little while, I came in and while Odette continued to nap, I spent a couple of hours making pineapple, butternut squash, and sweet potato purees that I will be using in a few of the recipes.

For tomorrow's breakfast, I made these Applesauce Muffins (with butternut squash puree in them) that went from looking like this:

To this:

YUM!

Well...at last that's how they looked... We tried them when they were warm out of the oven...our consensus? The topping was delicious...the muffins themselves? A little on the bland side...but I guess when you've been having Halloween candy for a few weeks, your sweet tooth is a little more picky! We'll have to change that... :)

In any case, Odette and I actually finished eating our muffin...but Alegria did not...and Daddy didn't even want to try one. He knows what I'm putting in these new recipes and so the whole deception is not really working on him...and neither is it very appealing to him. Oh well! Now to tweak this one so that hopefully Daddy and Alegria will like them and then on to the next recipe!!!

The rest of the day there was football to be watched, toys to be played with, baths to be had...and our day was just perfect. :)

Good night!

Veteran's Day 2011

2011-11-11T22:15:00.000-06:00

I should NOT have left my sunglasses or hat on for this picture...or even left my sweater zipped up all the way to the top, either! I look like such a dork! :oP Oh well. Too late. The pictures were taken and my hat and glasses and overall attire is horrendous, so please excuuuuuse meeeee!!! In any case, this is just to show how we get all bundled up for our walks...yes, it may look sunny, but the wind makes it REALLY cold. Lol! As you can see, I have a wind cover on the stroller, which works really well to block the wind for both girls. The two blankets on top are mostly to wrap the girls in if it's even colder than we anticipate...so far we haven't had to use them...but I like to be prepared! (Yes, I could technically put them in the basket under the stroller, but they also helped insulate, too!) And you can't see them very well, but both girls have their winter jackets and hats on.

When we got back from our walk, Cameron was working on his truck again:

So the girls and I stayed outside and hung out with him a little bit:

Once she plopped down to the ground, basically, Odette could no longer get back up, so she and I went inside and Alegria stayed outside and played for a little while longer while Daddy worked.

When Odette was down for a nap, I got ready and then finished preparing our hairbows that I had made yesterday night. At first, I had put all of the bows on clips, but because the girls don't have as much hair as I do, the clips made the bows stick up on their heads more than I wanted, so I switched gears and made hairbands instead...the end result was much more to my liking:

Then it was time for us to go get our family pictures taken. We got Odette up from her nap and got both girls dressed and went on our way.

Odette read books and played on the way (I know...Odette's shirt is a little big on her...they only had two of these red shirts left and both were size 3T, so for Odette, we used clothespins to pin the back during front shots and then put the clothespins on the front for back shots):

Alegria took a short nap:

At first, Odette was a little upset and cried, but eventually she warmed up to the photographer and we got some really good pictures!

Finally, after our allotted time slot, the photographer gave each of the girls a lollipop for being so good and we left:

Me on the way home:

Back home, we watched some football and played. Here are Daddy and Odette making an Alegria sandwich!

Alegria, Odette, and Big Bear:

We had a wonderful day today and are so very thankful to be able to have a brave Veteran as a husband and father.

To all Veterans out there...thank you.

Busy Day!

2011-11-10T22:02:00.000-06:00

Since tomorrow is Veteran's Day, there is no school tomorrow and the soldiers have tomorrow off, too, so we decided to have preschool on Wednesday and Thursday instead of on Wednesday and Friday..which meant a lot of running around for me this morning since I was hosting playgroup today.

It wouldn't have been so bad...except last night as I was about to start making the dessert for playgroup (we all decided that the hostess will only provide drinks and desserts and we'll all pack our lunches), I realized that I had bought peanut butter cups for one of the treats...and Quinn is allergic to peanut butter!!! I was stressed out so much that I was about to run to Walmart at midnight to get Rolos (this was the time I realized my mistake)!

Luckily, I instead went to bed and when I woke up at 3:50 (ten minutes before my alarm went off), I was more rested and was able to think clearly and plan my day accordingly...

I got up and made all of the Turkey treat parts that I could and then I also made the Pilgrim Hat treats, which came out cute! These are fudge-striped shortbread cookies with large marshmallows dunked in milk chocolate as the top of the hat and yellow gel icing for the buckle:

By the time 7 o'clock rolled around, I had mostly finished everything I wanted to do as far as dusting, emptying the dishwasher, tidying up, folding laundry to put away, and working out.

I got the girls up, we went on our walk, and then as soon as we got back and I put the stroller away, we got in the car and drove Alegria to preschool.

Then it was a mad dash!

Odette and I went to the Dollar General. On our way there I was silently praying that they would have the Rolos I needed so that I wouldn't have to drive all the way to Walmart! Thank goodness my prayers were answered and they had something even better. No, I didn't find the Rolos, but I found a caramel and chocolate cup! The Rolos would have been a little small, but they would have worked, but the caramel cups were the exact same size as the peanut butter cups and worked perfectly for the Turkey treats!!!

As soon as we got home, I showered up and got ready. As I was getting ready, Odette decided to wear one of my shoes:

Once I was ready, it was time for us to go pick Alegria up from preschool, so Odette and I went and got her and came back home.

As soon as we got home, I put a movie on for the girls and finished the Turkey treats...they came out great! :)

These are two Oreo cookies with candy corn for the tail feathers and a tip of a candy corn for the beak. The body of the Turkey is the caramel cup and the head is a Whopper. I used white icing to "glue" everything together as well as to make the white part of the eyes. I used blue gel icing for the eyes and sparkly orange gel icing for the legs. Too cute!!! :)

Once the treats were ready, I finished the last little things I had to get done before the ladies and children arrived, mainly clean the guest bathroom and sweep the living room and kitchen floors.

Everyone showed up, the kids played and then we all ate...and then the kids played some more and we moms kept chatting the afternoon away. :) As always, we had a great time!

After everyone left, I put Odette down for a much-needed nap. Then Alegria and I played, colored, and just relaxed. The house was a mess, but I was too tired to clean up right away, so I left it for later.

Daddy came home early from work and worked on his truck some more. Alegria was outside "helping" him.

Odette woke up and she played and looked at the fish while I finally began tidying up the remnants of playgroup:

Daddy finished working on the truck for the day, he and Alegria came in, we had dinner, and then we all put our feet up after a busy day...Alegria took advantage and made a tent using Daddy's feet and her Daddy blanket!

Then it was bath time. I bathed the girls, then Daddy dressed Odette and I dressed Alegria. Alegria has beautiful curls!

And of course, what one does, the other has to do...so I had to get a profile picture of Odette, too! She insisted and even posed! Hahaha! Odette's hair is mostly very straight, but it's also beginning to curl at the back! :)

Odette: "Ok! That's enough, Mommy! Time for bed!"

Have a great night everyone! :)

No TV Wednesdays

2011-11-09T22:15:00.000-06:00

Alegria had a "wet" accident yesterday because she was too busy watching TV to go to the potty, so I told her that today she would not be allowed to watch TV at all and that we would have to revert back to taking her to the potty on a schedule since she gets too engrossed in what she's doing to go on her own...it ended up being a very fun day and the TV was not missed!!!

We got up and went on our walk. The new stroller was AWESOME!!! I had read a lot of reviews of it and some people said that it felt like a workout pushing the stroller (what do you expect with two children and a large stroller, people?!)...I, however, found it to be easy compared to what I was doing before! In fact, I cut my walk time by ten minutes! Other people wrote that it was difficult to maneuver on turns...I, however, found it quite easy, too! No problems there! The only problem was that this morning it was extremely windy and I had not bundled the girls up enough on our walk, so they were a little cold...I will have to prepare better for our walk tomorrow, but aside from that, pushing that new stroller with the girls was a dream!

On other news, Cameron went on a "Thunder Ride" this morning. He and other soldiers from the 3rd Corps joined up for a two-hour ride on their motorcycles to promote motorcycle awareness.

When he got home, he was chilled to the bone and hunkered under his Giants blanket to get warm:

Is there someone else under there, too...?

Oh my goodness! It's Alegria!!!

Daddy had to go back to work, so the girls and I just played in Odette's room:

An hour later, we were surprised to hear Daddy arriving back home! He got straight to working on his truck again and the girls wanted to help:

Then Odette got disinterested and instead wanted to try to ride Alegria's tricycle:

She got upset when I got tired of pushing her around since she couldn't reach the pedals herself and told her that it was time to put the tricycle away:

Finally we had dinner and then had a family game night! We played "Memory" (Alegria's quite good at that game!):

Built a race track with blocks:

And just plain had fun!

We also danced and Daddy chased Odette and we had fun watching her run away from Daddy, but my video function is still not working, so unfortunately, there is no evidence of that part of our fun tonight!

At the end of the night, we made clean-up fun and made putting the blocks away into a shooting baskets game...Alegria did really well at that!

Finally we rounded the girls up and took them to their rooms to get into their pajamas...but Alegria beat us to her room and snuggled up with her toys on her bed...she almost looks like she belongs there, like a cute little doll on her bed right along with her stuffed animals!

And that was our very fun day with no TV involved! I think we'll have to make this a weekly thing...! :)

Good night everyone!!!

New Stroller!!!

2011-11-08T22:05:00.000-06:00

After our walk this morning, we came home, Odette took a nap, and I showered and got ready. Then we went to story time at the library.

Odette got to work on the craft today! It was good that for her first craft it was an easy one...all the kids had to do was color two stars which already had slits in them and then put the corresponding slits together. I should have gotten a picture of their finished products, too, but I didn't:

There's always room for goldfish...!

Back home, once I came out of Odette's room after putting her down for her second nap of the day, I found this in the kitchen:

Alegria cracks me up! How she even had the idea to have the animals climb on each other to reach up the cabinet, I don't know!!!

Daddy finally was home for the day and he and the girls played outside. Odette even went down the slide by herself today!

Odette: "Daddy...you stand right there and be sure to catch me, please."

Odette: "You heard him, Mommy...he's going to stand right there and catch me..."

Odette: "Here goes nothing!"

Odette: "That was exhilarating! I think I'll go again now that I now I'll be ok...!"

Odette: "Weeeee! That was so fun!!!"

Alegria then decided her elephants needed a turn on the slide, too:

Then of course, it was her turn!

Finally we decided it was time to go and get some groceries for tonight's dinner:

Back home, as I was making dinner, the doorbell rang...and it was the UPS man delivering our new stroller!!! Woo-hoo!!!

For a while I was convinced this was what I'd do and that by the time Odette was too big for the Bjorn carrier, that Alegria would be old enough to ride her bike alongside me as we went on our walks...

Before:

...but with winter coming and the mornings getting so chilly with the biting wind (and Alegria not ready for a 2.5-mile bike ride in the cold), I realized that there was no way that I could get Odette bundled up well enough to face the bitter cold on our walks and that I would have to invest in something better. I've seen double strollers and they look so bulky (width-wise) and that did not appeal to me. Well, my friend, Shannon told me that she'd had a Sit-N-Stand for her two kids and that she loved it and so I've looked into them and read reviews and I finally got one!

After:

Odette now gets to ride up front, and Alegria gets the back, with two options of riding...either sitting:

...or standing!

I can't wait to use our new stroller on our walk tomorrow morning! I'm so excited!!!

And it seems both girls are, too!

Unfortunately, it looks like Alegria really likes the front and Odette really likes the back...I wonder how tomorrow morning will go...!

Have a great night, everyone!!! :)

Low-Key Day

2011-11-07T20:54:00.000-06:00

We went on our walk this morning and then came home.

Once we got home, Odette found Alegria's boots and proceeded to put them on...

...but only got as far as putting ONE on (and on the wrong foot at that!) and then Alegria decided she'd put the other one on! They wore a boot each for a while...

...until Odette got sleepy and began to get fussy. So off came the boot and off to bed she went for a much-needed nap!

Here's Alegria taking pictures of me with my old camera:

Later on, when Daddy was home from work, we went out to the front yard while Daddy worked on his truck. Alegria wanted to play with some flags...

Alegria: "Mommy, here's your flag!"

Odette: "Daddy, can we ride your bike?"

Daddy's Daring Dames:

Aside from that, our day was pretty low-key. I did get a few videos of Odette drinking out of a small cup...but again, I'm having trouble with the video feature on the camera and we haven't found the manual yet (maybe it got lost somewhere between Iraq and here...?), and so I have no idea what I'm doing wrong, even though it seems to be similar to my old camera. *sigh*

Oh well! I'll just have to contact Panasonic and ask them what I'm doing wrong...

Anyway.

Good night!

Daylight Saving Time Ends

2011-11-06T22:18:00.000-06:00

I got up a little earlier than usual today. I wanted to straighten my hair, but it's been so long since I have and I wanted to try a new technique and wasn't sure how long it would take...so 4:45 was the magical hour.

I showered and then straightened my hair...it took me only an hour and a half to straighten it! Amazing! In the past, it's taken me 2.5-3 hours for it to look nice and straight, but today it took less time and it looked great...if I do say so myself! (Now I only wish I had taken a picture of it as soon as I was done! Oh well!)

Then I got the girls up.

As I was setting out the girls' outfits, I was running around from room to room...and when I walked into Alegria's room one of the times, Alegria was holding out a toy cupcake to Odette and singing the "Happy Birthday" song to her...and then told her to "blow it out!" (There's a little candle on the cupcake.) THEN she proceeded to sing the "Happy Birthday" song to herself! Lol! It was so cute and I thought that I had gotten a video of it...but apparently I still don't know how to work the video feature on the camera yet and only got a picture:

Odette is very interested in putting shoes on recently. However, she's more successful at putting on shoes that are slightly big on her...

And of course, once I've taken a picture of Odette, Alegria wants a picture of herself, too!

After playing in Alegria's room for a little while (and making a big mess of it!), we went to wake Daddy up with hugs and kisses:

We went to church and even got there about 5 minutes early! Woo-hoo!

Church was fine. I was afraid Odette would be fussy since she didn't get the memo on the time change and was up a whole hour early...but she actually did well for being as tired as she was.

When we got home, Cameron put her right down for a nap and she was OUT (she'd been having snacks throughout church, so we were sure she'd be fine and not need to be woken up from the sleepy daze she was in from the car ride to have lunch).

Cameron gave Alegria some lunch and I went to bed. I was exhausted! Cameron stayed up with Alegria and watched some football.

Once I woke up, we all just relaxed and then had some dinner.

We played in Odette's room and I practiced taking pictures on my new camera some more:

I wish this next one would have come out better...without that funny yellowing and blur to it...!

More pics...

Attack!!!

Me. :)

All in all, it was a wonderful Sunday!

Good night everybody!!! :)