Waldo-Horvath Girls

Year in Reveiw

2011-12-25T23:24:00.002-05:00

2012 is quickly approaching, here is what we did in 2011

I flew to Maryland

We played soccer on the deck for St. Patty's Day

Arabel turned 3!

We hunted Easter eggs

mom and I went to a Bob Seger concert

Emma had her last day of school

we got a swingset

the girls were flower girls

Rob and I watched the sunset on Lake Michigan

We visited Marilyn in Chicago

Emma and Arabel were pirates for Halloween

Emma donated 16 inches of hair

Emma turned 7!

We celebrated Christmas!

We are very lucky to have had such a wonderful year! I hope that your family was as blessed as we were!!

And now she is 7!

2011-12-25T22:28:00.001-05:00

Since the last post Emma has turned 7!!
Hard to believe that my little girl has gone from this:

to a little lady

We are on christmas break now and I couldn't be happier. We have been sleeping in and enjoying time off right now.

I will be back with a christmas and year end round up post. I just wanted to take a special post for Em and her birthday.

Here is what we have been up to.

2011-11-06T20:43:00.001-05:00

Since the last update, here is what we have been up to.

Emma is in first grade now. This is her on the first day. She loves her teacher and is in the same class as her best friend.

Halloween came and went. Both of the girls were pirates. They asked that they be princessy type pirates, hence the tutus. Arabel wasn't feeling well and only made it to a couple house. Poor girl.

Emma decided to cut her hair and donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, an orginization that makes wigs for women with cancer. She decided to do it all on her own, I was just there to get the information for her and take the pictures. I am really proud of her. She decided to donate her hair in honor of a schoolmate that she lost a few weeks ago to cancer.

The before:

The cut:

The ponytail!! 16 inches to donate!!

The after!!!

She loves her new haircut! I am thrilled that we no longer need to spend 20 minutes washing her hair or 15 minutes combing it.

Home sweet home.

2011-08-16T17:57:00.000-04:00

I love to travel. I love to be somewhere other than home. I also love to come home. After being gone for 6 days with both girls, the excitement I had to pull in our driveway was unexplainable.

Tuesday evening: We left to drive approximately 4 hours away to break up the 7 hour drive that was originally planned for Wednesday morning. I will say one thing... thank goodness we decided to. It turns out that the alternator on the car decided to die the very moment we pulled in the hotel parking lot. Had we waited to leave, we probably would have been left stranded on the side of the road. At least we were safe and sound. Rob dealt with all the car business and I wrangled the girls. We ended up getting it towed and fixed, we got a rental car for the next couple days.

Wednesday: We got to the hotel which was amazing. The girls had their own room complete with bunk beds and their own tv. We went to dinner and took the girls swimming. They couldn't have been happier.

Thursday: Rob worked most of the day. The girls and I took a walk and watched planes take off from the airport across the street. Swimming was the girls' favorite activity by far.

Friday: We headed back to pick up the car and return the rental. After playing switcheroo with all of our stuff for the trip, we were on our way to Chicago.
Arrived in Chicago and the girls were thrilled that we were so close to O'Hare. The number of planes that went by was crazy. We were also very close to an EL station, so they got to watch the train quite a bit as well. We ate some italian beef from Al's and weren't disappointed.

After getting settled in we decided to take the EL into the city and explore. We ended up at Millennium Park.

We even got to catch a concert in the park complete with a full orchestra and choir. After that, we decided to head back to the hotel for the night.

Saturday: We met up with Aunt Bev and Uncle Tom at Paradise Pup for lunch. They were featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri. GO THERE. Hands down the best burger I have ever had. The girls loved eating out on the picnic tables and having fun with their aunt and uncle.

Since it was also our 7 year anniversary, we figured the city was calling our name once again. :) We headed back into the city and got caught in a down pour. The girls couldn't have been having more fun, we were out in the rain, on purpose. We went to the site of the controversial Marilyn Monroe statue. Emma giggled at the sight of her undies.
After a trip back to the hotel we got some dinner and called it a night.

Sunday was filled with driving back home.

We saw lots, did a ton of walking, lots and lots of driving and spent countless hours of family time together. Check out the rest of the pictures on the flickr link on the top of the blog. I can't wait to tell you about our next adventure. :)

On the road again

2011-08-07T21:58:00.000-04:00

The Waldo-Horvath family will be on the road again. Wednesday morning we will leave to spend some time in Bloomington, Illinois. Rob has some work to do and when he is done we will be heading to Chicago. We plan on hitting up the pool and a couple children's museums. We will hopefully hit up Millenium Park and eat some delicious food. We will be meeting up with Aunt Bev for lunch and playing the weekend by ear.

Rob and I will be celebrating our 7 year anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been together that long. :)

Daddy won dad of the year by bringing home a pool for the girls. They have been bathing beauties all summer and are so tan!

Next time you check in, I should have some good pictures of our adventures. :)

Summer is flying by

2011-07-17T17:58:00.000-04:00

Summer has been flying by. We have had a BBQ complete with friends and family to celebrate the fact that the girls have a swing set in the backyard now. :) (Hooray for living in a place with a backyard!) We owe a huge thanks to my aunt and uncle, they are the ones that hooked us up. We took a trip up north, went to a fabulously fun wedding. The girls were flower girls, and damn adorable ones at that. We came home, unpacked and I repacked the girls to spend the week with my parents camping. Rob and I decided to take a mini couple vacation while the kids were away. While they were camping and playing on the beach, we were hitting up breweries and exploring towns in Michigan that we have never been to. Everyone is home now, and it feels great to have us all home and under the same roof.

apologies and brags

2011-06-16T15:44:00.000-04:00

I apologize about the severe lack of posts. I looked at the blog the other day and was kind of embarrassed that it had been so many months. Since it has been so long I have lots of fun updates and brags.

First about Emma. She has recently requested that she be called Emmy spelled E-M-M-Y because she likes having 4 letters. I am happy to oblige at least it was a decent nick name rather than something completely unrelated to her actual name. :) Emmy is officially a first grader!! She left kindergarten with a bang! I just opened her last report card to learn that the books she was reading at the end of the year are 2nd grade reading level. She met or exceeded all expectations and we couldn't be prouder of her fantastic work ethic and hard work this year. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer in her classroom at least once a week, volunteer for school events, go on field trips & generally be there as a helping hand. We were very blessed with an amazing teacher, Mrs. Brace. I only hope that they are able to maintain a fantastic relationship as she grows older.

Emmy also lost her first tooth! The tooth fairy even let her keep her tooth & gave her $5! I hear that the tooth fairy gives more money for the first tooth these days. I remember getting $0.50!

Arabel is stubborn and hilarious. She is as smart as a whip. I think having an older sister has helped! She knows most of her letters and some of their sounds. She can definitely identify numbers up to ten. (Thanks Nick Jr. & Disney Jr.) Arabel has quite the artistic streak in her as well. She makes the greatest pictures. :) Now, if we could just master potty training I would be ecstatic! She has started speaking as if she were a ring master of a circus. Arabel starts sentences with a rousing "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..." proceeds with whatever she is doing and then ends with a gigantic bow.

Never a dull moment.

Happy Birthday to Arabel!

2011-04-18T16:42:00.000-04:00

Arabel is 3!
4/17/2008
11:42 am
8 pounds 8 ounces
21 1/4 inches

From this:

to this!

3!!

I couldn't be happier to have this wonderful little girl in my life. :)

spring break is here!

2011-04-04T00:14:00.000-04:00

Emma is officially on spring break. :) We don't have plans to go anywhere, but we will be enjoying her time off. Unfortunately, on Thursday night she was messing around at bedtime and managed to bust her lip open. She got to start her spring break with a fat lip. Guess she will take me serious when she is told to not jump on the bed.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-18T22:20:00.000-04:00

I know, I know... I am a day late. As an apology here are some pictures of my little gals wearing their green.

This was an impromptu game on soccer on the deck.

Arabel being cheesy.

Daddy with his girls

my gals

me and the little ladies

Dentist appointments

2011-03-10T17:48:00.000-05:00

The girls had their first dentist appointment this afternoon. Emma is a nervous kid when it comes to things like that, so I was a little nervous for her. Arabel on the other hand is a fearless child, so something told me she would have zero problem. I have been talking to Emma about what was going to happen for a couple days, she was originally going to go first to show Arabel how easy it was. Getting there was a different story. Emma started getting really nervous, Arabel was showing no signs of being nervous so she went first instead. Arabel did wonderful. They said her teeth look great! She ended up getting an exam, cleaning and a fluoride treatment. The hygientist was awesome with both girls. She saw that Emma was really nervous and talked her through everything. Emma was brave enough to get an exam, cleaning, fluoride treatment AND x-rays! Her permanent teeth are just waiting for her baby teeth to fall out, the dentist guessed that it would be anytime now that she starts to get wiggles. Both girls ended up in the no cavities club!

All smiles in their new shades, courtesy of the Valley Dental Spa!

Conferences and other news

2011-03-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

I had Emma's conference today. We have about a bajillion reasons to be proud of her.

Her report card is "graded" by developmental level: 1- area of concern, 2- needs more time & experience, 3- making progress & 4- meeting outcomes

We were told at conference #1 that 3's are what they are hoping for, most kids won't have 4's across the board. She had some 4's in her work/study skills and her personal/social skills area for the first marking period. (December)

Today, she had almost all 4's and a couple 3+, which is pretty darn good. She has jumped to the top of the class in most of the areas of math and language arts. The teachers (her teacher and her student teacher) couldn't say enough about what a great kid she is. She is kind to everyone she interacts with, she is compassionate with other kids, she loves to help others, and her listening skills are wonderful. She is never in trouble, and seems to be really loving school. All wonderful compliments to hear when you are parent. At one point they told me to keep doing whatever it is that I am doing, it is working wonders. If that isn't a parental ego boost I don't know what is.

I was beaming, I couldn't have been prouder. Well, I was wrong.

The teachers then told me that Emma has jumped 4 (!!!!!!!!!) reading levels in the past 2 months. They are beyond impressed with her. In fact she has already met or exceeded all the expectations they have for kindergarteners before they go to first grade. (She still has 3 months of school left!)

She has graduated from an emergent reader to a beginning reader. She also went from being an experimenting writer to an emerging writer. The reading and writing stages are for kindergarteners - 2nd grade. She is on step 2 of each, which is really good considering she couldn't read AT ALL and couldn't write anything but her name in September.

Her writing vocabulary is around 30 words (up from 6 in December). In fact I saw some of the testing they did with her. The teacher says the sentence, "I see a big cat playing in the sun with a red ball." The kids then write that down. Emma's first testing looked like this : I C A B C P I F S F R B - basically using the first letters. This time... she wrote every word like they sounded, she almost spelled playing right (she missed the L). It was mind blowing to see all that she has learned in the past few months.

Basically, I left the room beaming. The teachers are so happy with her amazing progress and attentiveness to lessons.

Arabel is still conquering potty training. :) She even went to take her nap today with underwear on rather than a diaper. (More thanks to daddy forgetting to put her in a diaper.) She woke up dry! One more step is down!!

The girls have their first dentist appointments on Thursday. Fingers are crossed that everything goes well. I am kind of nervous. Emma is normally a kind of nervous kid when it comes to new things. She assures me that she is going to go in and NOT be scared. We chose a dental practice that is called a dental spa, they use aromatherapy (no yucky dentist office smell), music or dvd's to watch/listen to during your exam and cleaning, paraffin wax dips for your hands, a massage therapist to massage your neck/shoulders is you get tense, and a massage chair in the waiting room. One of the dentists even worked in a pediatric practice for over a year. After we get the girls through their appointments, we will be getting ourselves appointments. Here's to hoping for no cavities.

Lots of fun updates

2011-02-28T19:53:00.000-05:00

It seems as if everyone is actually healthy now. Getting the ick out of here is a huge accomplishment. I could do without the kids throwing up for... well, ever from this point forward.

Arabel has decided that she is done with diapers. She asked for panties last week and we haven't turned back. She is currently only wearing diapers at night and nap time (though, we could probably nix the nap time diaper) or if we are planning on being out of the house for an extended period of time, just in case. She is doing awesome! We have had ONE accident in a little over a week. I am incredibly proud of her. We told her she could get her ears pierced when she potty trained, so she is continually asking about it. Rob and I made the same deal with Emma, she just chose to wait until last year. Arabel is also looking forward to being able to go camping with Grammy & Papa this year. They started taking Emma on a camping trip to Big Bear Lake for a few days when she was potty trained. Arabel has been talking about going and I think that it has been the final push to get her thinking about getting rid of diapers for good.

Emma celebrated her 100th day of school a week and a half ago. She took in 100 dried cherries for snack. All of the other kids in her class brought in 100 pieces of snack and they traded around to get a whole platter of different things. She is now counting to 100 by 5's and 10's. Rob and I are excited about conferences next week. We look forward to seeing how much she has learned and how much she has grown. I go in every Wednesday for reading group, so I get to see how she grows on a weekly basis. She brings home reading books everyday, we rarely have a book for more than a day. The idea is that they keep the book until they are able to read the entire thing perfectly. Most books she reads through the first time with no problem. I have her read them more than once, just for practice. I think that we are going to see a big difference compared to conferences at the beginning of the year.

I just got back from a trip to see my best friend in Maryland. She had a baby at the end of December and I was dying to meet the little guy. The temperatures were in the high 70's while I was there. I enjoyed a glass of wine, outside, while wearing a tank top and flip flops, in mid February!! Unfortunately, I flew back to Michigan the day after SNOMG part 2. I landed at the airport and was greeted with 8-9 inches of snow and bitter cold. I am holding out hope that warmer temps are in the future for us. The kids are over winter, in fact they busted out their swimsuits and were modeling them the other day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T19:07:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone had a great day filled with love!

SN-OMG 2011!

2011-02-02T23:46:00.000-05:00

We have survived Snowpocolypse, SnowMIgeddon, Sn-OMG... whatever, the kids are calling the blizzard of 2011. We ended up getting just under a foot in the span of about 6 hours. I think the grand total was somewhere in the area of 14-ish inches. Emma was thrilled to learn she had a snow day. *side note: she wouldn't have attended yesterday anyway, due to the nastiness she had. Rob and I spent an hour outside trying to make a dent in the snow piled in the driveway. We ended up giving up and calling a plow company. It was the smartest decision we could have made. The end of the driveway (thanks to the city plows) had piles of snow about 2 1/2 feet deep. Not surprisingly, Emma got another snow day tomorrow. I am sure that many people in the area are stuck with unplowed streets.

I hope everyone else is safe and surviving sn-OMG!

I spoke too soon

2011-01-31T18:27:00.000-05:00

This whole sick kid thing is the least fun thing I could imagine. We were on our way home from Toys R Us (using gift cards from Christmas for the girls) and Emma pukes everywhere. Seriously, what in the heck can I do? I hear it is a nasty virus that is taking like 2 weeks to get out of their system. I just really don't want Emma to be missing much more school. Please tell me winter is almost over.

finally healthy

2011-01-30T22:26:00.000-05:00

We have finally seemed to shake the sickness here. Em has been back at school and is very happy. Arabel's fever broke and she is feeling better as well. As a celebration of recovery we took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese. I know, Chuck E. Cheese the breeding ground of sickness and germs... We sanitized our hands lots and everyone seems well. :) The girls had a blast. We ended up with a couple pictures and two very tired girls at the end of the day.

Fingers are crossed that we stay well.

We are getting last minute essentials together just in case we get snowed in later this week. We are under a winter storm watch over the next couple days. Looks like if all goes as planned, we may end up with over a foot of snow on Tuesday/Wednesday. The girls would be thrilled. I will be less than amused while shoveling over a foot of snow.

Everyone stay well and warm. :)

What we have been up to

2011-01-24T23:46:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. We have been camped out in sicky land for the past week.
This can give you an idea of what our house has looked like. This is Emma all hunkered down on the couch. This was her spot for a solid 5-6 days.

Arabel decided to join in on the sicky fun.

Poor feverish Bellie.

I promise to update just as soon as I finish disinfecting the house.

A year in review

2010-12-31T01:18:00.001-05:00

2010 in review:
Emma got her ears pierced

We went out to dinner

Arabel turned 2!

We went to Minneapolis via Chicago. Emma wore a fantastic hat.

We had a picnic complete with s'mores

We went swimming

Emma started kindergarten

I met Stevie Wonder

The girls went trick or treating

We took a family picture

and another one

Emma turned 6!

We had a very merry christmas.

This year was filled to the brim with excitement, sadness, joy and every emotion packed in between. We had a fire, moved and kept on plugging.

I can't wait for what 2011 will bring, though I am hoping it isn't nearly as eventful. :)

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from all of us!!

She is 6!!

2010-12-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

Emma is now six!

Here she is just born: 12/17/04 12:02am 8 pounds 7 ounces

First birthday

2nd birthday

3rd birthday

4th birthday

5th birthday

the big 6!!

I am incredibly lucky to call this wonderful little girl mine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T19:03:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that your bellies are all full of delicious food and you have many blessings to be thankful for. :)

Love,
Kimm, Rob, Emma and Arabel

long needed update

2010-11-17T23:15:00.000-05:00

Rob and I went to Emma's conferences. She is a delight to have in class. :) Zero problems with behavior (which we figured, she is a pretty darn good kid.) She is incredibly kind and sensitive to other children's feelings. So, pretty much we are kicking ass at raising a good kid. Pat on the back for us!! Academically, she is making progress. Since this is her first school experience, she started behind other kids. She does demonstrate a major motivation to learn and master concepts, and she is making progress at a great rate. She could identify 20/26 letter sounds in mid October. As of earlier this week she is only getting confused with the letter "e" so I would definitely say that she is soaking everything up like a sponge. She has started VERY basic reading and writing so we are being blown away daily about how much she improves on a daily basis.

We are incredibly proud of how she is doing. Emma told me that her favorite part of the day is phonics. :) Hooray!

Arabel is still hysterical and talking more and more. She knows the entire alphabet and can count to at least 20. Emma is teaching her the letter sounds, so she is picking up on that as well. Her drawings are now looking like more than just lines and circles, so it fun to guess what she is making now.

new job??

2010-11-06T21:17:00.001-04:00

I interviewed for a new job on Friday. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I should know something by Friday. I would love to post with news of a new job. :)

New pictures up

2010-10-21T16:53:00.000-04:00

Check out the flickr stream, I added new pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch. The girls had a blast checking out the animals, watching the pig races, going on the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and picking out pumpkins.

The girls have picked out their Halloween costumes and I can't wait to show pictures of my little witch (Arabel) and my queen (Emma). I am sure that I will have plenty of pictures. :)

Sunday Funday

2010-10-11T03:33:00.000-04:00

I got the chance to meet Stevie Wonder today. It was awesome. :)

pictures!!!

2010-09-07T21:08:00.001-04:00

Check out the flickr stream!! I have pictures up from Emma's first day of kindergarten. :)

Long awaited update

2010-09-02T21:09:00.000-04:00

I apologize for being so behind on the blogging as of late. I haven't really had a ton of extra time or the drive lately. I am sure people are awaiting pictures as well. Pictures will have to wait until I find the card reader I bought for my laptop, it was purchased during the fire and has been "misplaced". My charger didn't make it, so a new camera may be on the horizon. :)

We LOVE our new place. It is big, with a huge yard, a garage, basement (storage!!!) and brand new carpeting and flooring. We are still settling in, but for the most part are back to a normal life. Rob and I have both struggled with a bit of anxiety, but we too are back on track. I recently have signed up to be a Pampered Chef consultant (in addition to my regular job bartending and managing the bar). I am excited about the new venture and am already loving all of my new kitchen gadgets. It has even inspired me to cook a bit more at home, which I am sure Rob is thrilled about!

Emma is almost officially a school kid. She starts kindy on Tuesday. It is hard to believe that in a few short days we will be watching as she starts her school journey. Her first day is more like an activity day, it will only last a couple hours and I will be with her the whole time. Her second day is a half day and her third day is when the year gets into the swing of things. She is in full day, and I can only imagine that she will be one tired girl at the end of the day. She is excited, but is a bit nervous. She is worried about not being able to read or tie her shoes well enough. We have explained to her that she will learn these things and it seems to have helped calm her fears. I have no doubt that she will have a million friends by the end of the first week and love every second of it. I was excited about the school supplies that I got to buy, I finally had a reason to get them!! I have a feeling that I may shed a tear on one of her first days of school, but can't wait to watch how much she grows and learns this year. One of my friends from high school is a teacher there and has already introduced himself to Em. It does help ease my anxiety a bit to know that she is in such good hands. Hard to believe that I am going to be taking my "baby" to school.

Arabel is hilarious. Her speech has exploded over the past few weeks and she is always good for a laugh. Her personality is much like Emma's (and mine), but has a nice dose of Rob's thrown in there. She is stubborn and opinionated, but laid back and very lovey. She does things on her own terms, but we knew that from the refusing to walk shinanigans. :) I am looking very forward to spending one on one time with her and watching her grow while Emma is at school. I know that she is really going to miss her sister though. I have a feeling that she will be a little lost for awhile before she gets the hang of Emma being gone. I am also looking forward to getting her potty trained. She is completely ready (we will see if she is willing to train though), and I am completely ready to say good bye to diapers. :) I hope that it isn't a year long struggle like it was with Emma. Something about those stubborn kids, I have no idea where they get it.

I hope everyone is doing well, and thanks for being patient. :)

I did it!!

2010-08-03T23:32:00.000-04:00

I got an email yesterday... my picture was picked to be included in the guide to Chicago. Click here for the website. My photo is one of the revolving ones on the right hand side of the page under "DOWNTOWN". My name is there too. Not too shabby!!

fire update

2010-07-22T23:32:00.000-04:00

We have a new house!!!! We are renting (possibly buying) a 3 bedroom duplex. :) We love it! This is going to be brief as I am exhausted from moving things in and cleaning them. Our beds are set up and we are staying here for the first time tonight!

fire.

2010-07-18T22:34:00.001-04:00

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 will be a day that we will always remember. It was the day that our lives as we knew it would be turned upside down.

Emma left with my parents on Tuesday to go camping up north for the remainder of the week. It couldn't have been better timing. I headed off to work on Wed. and when I got there received a frantic message that I needed to get home, there was an emergency. I got back to my apartment complex to find multiple fire trucks, police cars and ambulances. I walked up to see my apartment in flames. Rob and Arabel were able to get out safely, so that was priority number one. Rob had called 911 and grabbed Arabel out of bed. He left the house without shoes or his cell phone. After the fire had been put out we met with the Red Cross when we were notified that the firefighters called our home a complete loss. Jason had come to get Arabel and take her back to my parent's house. They finally let us walk through the place at around 9:15pm.

What we saw was heartbreaking. There was no fire damage to the actual apartment, the fire had climbed the wall and moved across the roof. Due to the mass amounts of water (around 5,000 gallons according to the fire marshall) the ceilings had collapsed and our house was covered in drywall and insulation. The office, girls' room, bathrooms, master closet and laundry room were unharmed. We were unable to find the cats and we were worried. The living room, dining room, kitchen and master bedroom were ruined. We grabbed a few things that night that we could and headed to mom's.

Thursday morning we showed up ready to start digging through the rubble to salvage what we could of our lives. Thursday proved to be worse than anticipated. The fire has restarted sometime in the morning, needing an additional 1,000 gallons of water to be used. Now, the bathrooms, laundry room and master bedroom closet was covered like the rest of the place. The girls' room remained in tact so we were very thankful for that. After hours of digging through 1 1/2-2 feet of wet insulation we packed up what we could in a U-Haul and put it in a storage unit. The firefighters did take our electronics and throw a tarp over them so many of them were saved. They even grabbed my framed photos on the walls and covered them as well. Still no sign of the cats.

Friday we went and planned on getting the remainder of what we could and would then sign over the place to the reconstruction company. After about an hour of Rob and I sifting through rubble Zoe, one of our cats, strolls out of hiding. Rob then went on a mad hunt to find Oscar. Rob found him on the bottom shelf of a shelving unit in the laundry room. He was buried in, matted with insulation, hungry, thirsty and really upset. My aunt took them to her house. I am happy to report that they are doing well. We left Friday night knowing we would never be back.

Emma knows that we are getting a new place to live, that her toys, clothes and bed are safe. We are telling her just enough to keep her happy without over sharing.

The outpouring of support we have received from friends, family and strangers is overwhelming. We will never be able to express how thankful we are. At this point we are remaining positive and looking forward to what comes next. The tears have stopped for the most part and we are ready to move on from this tragedy.

If you need to contact us in anyway... we are staying at my (Kimm's) parent's house. Our cell phone numbers are the same and we can also be reached via facebook. (Kimm more so than Rob on the facebook thing.) If you need any specific information leave a comment and I will get you the information.

apparently, I am a photographer

2010-07-08T15:55:00.000-04:00

I started a Flickr account so that it would be easier to share pictures with everyone. Well, I guess that it has paid off. I received an email yesterday that a photo that I took (and can be found on my Flickr account) is on the short list to be included in the twelfth edition of Schmap Chicago Guide. You can check out the eleventh edition here. It doesn't pay anything, the guide is free... but, if my picture is picked I get my name below a picture that I took.

Here is the picture that may be included.

This is the view out of our window while staying at the Doubletree. Lake Michigan can be seen between the buildings.

newish...

2010-07-05T00:18:00.000-04:00

I just recently uploaded some pictures to Flickr, check them out on the sidebar. They are slightly old (a couple weeks), but they will have to work for now. I have been majorly slacking in the photo department.

Emma is going to be going camping with my mom and Russ in a week. She is pumped, and I think that grammy and papa are pretty excited too. This will be her 3rd year going with them. I am relying on them to take pictures for me. Arabel may get to go next year. This year she will have a week of alone time. I am not sure how she will handle being away from Emma for that long. They really are best friends right now. I assume Arabel will enjoy herself but will miss her big sister.

Nothing new on Rob & I, we are just working like normal.

I hope that everyone had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July. I will try and get some newer pictures up soon!

It's official

2010-05-21T14:52:00.000-04:00

Emma is officially enrolled in school. We went last night to an open house at her elementary school. They immediately whisked the kids away to play on the playground. I was actually a little shocked that Em went with no hesitation. Parents were talked to, papers were handed out, then we met back up with the kids and had a scavenger hunt. We had to find all the important rooms in the school and get a sticker from each. We are all excited to have the process started. Now, all we do is wait for August to roll around to get her placement test done and await the posting of her teacher.

I am not going to lie, I was a little nervous about throwing her into a full day of school. She will actually get a couple "warm up" days. Her first day of school will be 1 1/2 hours long, and I will be with her the whole time. Day #2 is a half day and Day #3 starts her regular school day.

Score one for mom's intuition. Last night I had a nagging feeling that I needed to go and check on the girls. As I was walking back to their room Arabel coughed. I snatched her out of bed and though she felt hot. As I was getting some tylenol around to give her, she pukes. Less than one minute after I HAD to get up and get her out of bed. No mess was made, no bedding had to be changed, no clothes had to be washed (that is due to the fact that Arabel refuses to sleep in clothes). Something must have upset her stomach, but she was back to her normal self after she got sick. a couple of crackers and some water and she was as good as new.

Shots are NOT fun.

2010-05-19T23:00:00.000-04:00

Emma's open house at school is tomorrow. I realized that we needed to get her immunizations up to date before they would officially enroll her in kindergarten. Let's just say that Emma was less than thrilled with that idea. She did great, until we got into the room to do the shots. Then, all hell broke loose. She was screaming and had to be held down. I was crying, it wasn't cute. We managed to make it through and treated ourselves with a frozen hot chocolate for Em, and an iced soy sugar bear for me from Biggby. Apparently, yummy coffee type drinks help heal all wounds. :)

I will let everyone know how everything goes tomorrow.

pictures

2010-04-29T16:04:00.000-04:00

I have figured out an easy way to get our massive number of pictures to the masses!! On the sidebar there is now a link that features my Flickr account. The sidebar will show the latest 9 pictures that were uploaded. By clicking the VIEW FLICKR PHOTOSTREAM link at the bottom of the pictures, you will be taken to my Flickr photostream. From that point you should be able to see all the pictures available there. This should be easy for everyone to do, including me. :)

I am also very good at uploading pictures to facebook, if you have an account and aren't friends with me yet... please request me!

We are back!!!

2010-04-27T19:54:00.000-04:00

We have returned from our trip. :) I have posted pictures on facebook under Alissa's wedding weekend. (If you aren't on my friends list please request me!!) I would post them all here but the process is tedious and I have a TON! I am also working on uploading pictures to Flickr as well. Just trying to figure out the easiest way for everyone to check out pictures. :) Stick with me, I will figure it out one of these days.

Our trip went off without a hitch. The kids did great on the train and the plane. Emma said she likes the train better because she could walk around. Arabel was unimpressed with the whole thing and slept through her whole 2nd flight. :) We did lots and lots of walking, ate a metric ton of delicious food, took multiple modes of transportation and spent quality time with family. We are already looking into going back to Chicago to spend some more time there. Thank you to Bev & Tom for dinner and lunch.... and for the ride from the airport to the train station. Here is a run down of our trip:

Thursday:
train from East Lansing to Chicago
cab from Union Station to our hotel
walk from hotel to Navy Pier
lunch
walk back to hotel from Navy Pier
dinner with Bev at Pizzeria Due
back to the hotel for the night

Friday:
hire a driver/car for drive to the airport
fly from Chicago to Minneapolis
cab to hotel
Happy Hour with the family

Saturday:
breakfast
wedding
lunch at Punch
reception
bed

Sunday:
hotel shuttle to Minneapolis's light rail station
light rail to airport
airport tram to correct terminal
fly from Minneapolis to O'Hare
picked up by Bev
lunch at SuperDawg
ride to Union Station
train back to East Lansing
picked up by Jason

I am a little tired just looking at the amount of stuff we packed into 4 days.

*side note: we didn't get the house. :( I will keep you updated on any news though.

Fingers crossed and updates

2010-03-13T23:24:00.000-05:00

We have some news to share. We have a put an offer in on a house!! We are just now awaiting official confirmation that the offer was accepted, though everyone is very optimistic. :) I promise that I will put up pictures if/when we get the final word. The place would be perfect for us, so please keep your fingers crossed. The house is only a couple blocks from the elementary school, middle school and high school. I hope to be sharing the good news with you all shortly.

Kindergarten round up is in just over a week. I have to admit that as it approaches, I am getting a little nervous. If we end up at the elementary school that I am hoping for (if we get the house) there are 3 teachers for K alone. According to a dear teacher friend of mine with experience at that school, 2 of the teachers would be a great fit for Emma. I can't wait to see how she flourishes. She is showing a bit more interest in numbers, though not by much. I have decided not to freak out if she doesn't know everything in the readiness guides I have read. My guess is she will master all of the concepts shortly after entering school.

Arabel has started talking A TON!!! She sings along with songs, counts, is learning her ABCs, and has a fantastic imagination. She is currently obsessed with all things Toy Story. I actually really look forward to taking the girls to see Toy Story 3 in June. Belle is showing her temper now, which is actually really funny to watch. I can see that she is going to be following in her dramatic sister's footsteps. I wouldn't trade it for the world either.

Nothing much new for Rob and I. I am taking on more of a manager role at work. I am a little bummed that it is changing my schedule though.

now she can be a real princess

2010-02-17T15:10:00.001-05:00

Nothing overly exciting has been happening on the home front, which explains the lack of updates. :)

We have booked our tickets and hotels for a trip out of town in April. My cousin is getting married in Minneapolis and I was not going to miss it. Rather than taking another road trip like we did in August, we decided not to drive. Don't get me wrong, I am all for road trips, but the idea of being in the car for like 30 hours in the span of a weekend wasn't all that appealing to me. We decided that we would take the train from East Lansing to Chicago. I figure that the girls will get a kick out of that, plus it is only a 4 hour ride. We are staying in Chicago that evening, which will allow us time to catch up with some family and enjoy some deep dish pizza. :) Rob hasn't ever been to the city, so it should be a fun mini trip. We will be flying out of Chicago to Minneapolis the next day. (Nothing like turning an 8 hour drive into 1 1/2 hours in the air.) We are doing the same thing in reverse on the way back (minus the overnight stay in Chicago). I think that it will be a fun weekend for everyone.

Emma can now be a real princess. At least that is what she told me. Last week she was lamenting over the fact that all the real princesses have their ears pierced. I told her if she wanted them done, then we would get them done. I have been trying to use getting her ears pierced as a reward for years (to no avail, obviously). She was finally ready. I called ahead and made sure that two people would be available to pierce simultaneously. (If not, Emma would have jumped out of the chair and only had one ear done.) She was ummm.... less than thrilled with everyone when she got them done. The type of cry that she let out was one of those that tugged on my heartstrings. How in the world could I let these girls torture my poor little baby like that? A tear may or may not have escaped from my eye. After an hour of sniffles and cuddling her doll, she was proudly showing off her new earrings. She picked an adorable little set of rhinestone pink (surprise!!) flowers. Here is a picture I took right after. :)
Please notice that she is smiling in this picture, so I guess I didn't torture her too badly.

Another big development... I have received information that KINDERGARTEN round up is in like a month. Yup, Emma will be heading off to school in a matter of months. Oy. When in the heck did this kid grow up?? In 5 weeks I will have details on her first year of school. I don't know that I am prepared for this.

I am going to start potty training Arabel shortly. I got a copy of a book that I am willing to try the method. It is called 3 day potty training. 3 DAYS!! If it works, you will probably be able to hear my screams of joy from where ever you are. A kid that is potty trained in 3 days and before the age of 2?? I may just keel over and die from sheer excitement of the idea. I will keep you updated on how it is working. In the meantime enjoy this adorable shot of Bells. (She was getting the feel for the potty.)

I also wanted to give a giant THANK YOU!!!! to my dear friend Kristin. She made these gorgeous headers for my blogs. Her talents are endless.

milestones

2010-01-20T14:13:00.000-05:00

Since I updated the pictures yesterday, I thought that I would update everyone on what everyone is doing.

Rob and I have been searching for a new place to live. We have outgrown our apartment and are itching for a yard (and storage space). I will keep everyone in the loop when we decide to move. Keep your fingers crossed we find somewhere that we like.

Arabel: She is growing so fast. I forgot how quickly kids learn and grow between birth and two. Arabel doesn't say much, unless you aren't paying attention. She doesn't like to talk to us, but talks to herself all the time. She is starting to use words more now, which is fun. Her vocabulary is huge, you just have to catch her when she isn't talking to you. :) On Christmas day she threw Rob and I for a loop and counted from 1-9, clear as day. (Thank you Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!)

Emma: She is very excited to be starting school in the fall. She is so ready to be in that type of environment. Emma has recently started pouring her own drinks and making her own sandwiches, so she helps with lunch quite a bit.

pictures galore

2010-01-19T13:31:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures for you. :)

Pictures from the Christmas card shoot:

Rob's Graduation:

Emma's birthday party, on her new bike.

Emma's birthday at Peacock Road Tree Farm:
taking the train to the North Pole
meeting Santa for the first time
Arabel meeting Santa
hot cocoa at the campfire

apologies... and lessons learned

2010-01-14T13:53:00.000-05:00

I have been terrible about pictures. I apologize. I have been very busy, as have the rest of the clan. I covered the boss's vacation so I clocked a TON of hours in a nine day span. The girls have been busy playing with the 4,000 different toys they received for Christmas and Emma's birthday. That doesn't even include the new clothes. I guess I am pretty lucky that my 5 year old still is excited about clothes. What I am not excited about?? The fact that she changes her outfits 4 times a day. :)

Today Arabel learned a valuable lesson... we do not hit. It is a good thing that I was standing right next to her... or Emma may have learned the lesson called... let's get stitches. Here is the back story: The girls have been playing with a small flashlight. You would be amazed by the countless hours of entertainment a tiny flashlight can provide. Well, hours of fun until the almost 2 year old grabs it and is set on smacking her big sister in the head with it. I caught her mid swing and must have scared her half to death with the scream of NOOOOOOOO! Arabel was was definitely upset by the situation, but I can bet she won't be swinging objects at her sister's head anytime soon.

busy little beavers

2009-12-13T23:25:00.000-05:00

We have been very busy this weekend. I promise I will have pictures up shortly, I just wanted to write this quick little post, then I am off to dreamland.

Rob has graduated from MSU!! He walked in commencement on Saturday afternoon, and we couldn't be more proud of him. The kids were amazingly well behaved during the 2 hour ceremony. Arabel was running on no nap and managed to make it through the whole thing, minus 10 minutes. Not too shabby for a kid who had no interest in listening to speeches by the dean.
After the ceremony we met up with friends and family to celebrate.

Emma had her birthday party today. Impression 5 was awesome, and I can't say enough about the people. A great time was had by all and we are incredibly lucky to have such amazing friends and family.

I promise pictures will be up soon...

The giving of thanks 2009 edition

2009-11-30T13:35:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures from the holiday weekend.

Arabel adores this hat.

Thanksgiving Day

From my 10 year high school reunion

pre-holiday post

2009-11-25T03:00:00.000-05:00

It is official, the holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, Rob graduates, Emma has her birthday party, her birthday and of course all of the Christmas festivities. Thanksgiving will be pretty easy for us. We are heading over to mom's and enjoying her homecooked feast.

Here are a couple pictures to hold you over for the time being. I will try and get a bunch from the weekend though.

First, a picture of my new very dark hair.
At Impression 5 in the eye
playing the dulcimer
bass
piano time

being weather girl on the green screen
coke model. lol

Lots o pics

2009-11-12T00:09:00.000-05:00

I have been promising pictures, I am always keep my promises. :) Enjoy the onslaught.

Halloween:
Emma & Papa

Bells with her nuggets
Emma trick or treating all by herself. (I was banished to the sidewalk this year.)
Happily trick or treating
Kisses from sissy

Dinner at Zingerman's with my friends Doug, Pat & Savannah (the following pictures were all taken by Savannah):

smiles

pickle
kisses from Bells
Getting started at rolling the eyes early

Kisses from Em
Just an outfit shot
overwhelming choices
E with the 2 cupcakes Uncle Doug bought her.
Frosting on her nose
Happy kid
Bells with Savannah
Bells looking ADORABLE in her coat
Fashionista
Making a break for it
She is a little bit of an attitude.

some from today

2009-10-30T01:29:00.000-04:00

E was being less than cooperative- weird.

I think that A is feeling back to her normal self. She was hamming it up for me today. She loves grilled cheese.

Look at her giant fro!!
She really likes the off the shoulder look. Even at 18 months she is fashion forward.

Be prepared for the onslaught of Halloween pictures. I am hoping that I can get some good ones.

Quickly...

2009-10-28T03:00:00.001-04:00

I wanted to say that there will be a plethra of pictures I will be taking and posting this weekend. :) I can't wait for everyone to see the girls in their costumes. :)

I try my best to keep promises

2009-10-18T20:41:00.000-04:00

My kids looked so freaking adorable when I got home from work today that I HAD to take some pictures. I only wish that Arabel would have been slightly more cooperative.

Quick update

2009-10-16T01:20:00.000-04:00

I apologize for the lack of updates lately. I have been very under the weather and can't seem to shake whatever it is that I have. 2 very ugly ear infections have left me pretty much useless and deaf. (I can't stand or focus on one thing for too long or I get sick, due to the crazy equilibrium problems I am having at the moment.) I am on antibiotics, and was hoping to have some sort of relief by this point. I am just happy that the rest of the family has managed to stay healthy. As soon as I am feeling a bit better I will get some new pictures up. Thanks for sticking it out! :)

new look

2009-09-18T02:40:00.001-04:00

I updated the background. :) I hope that everyone likes the new look.

One addiction down

2009-09-15T15:33:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share that Arabel is officially bottle free. :) We have managed to finally find a sippy cup that she likes and will drink out of consistantly. I am going to say that I am happy we broke her bottle habit before she was 17 months. Which is pretty good considering she never used a pacifier, her bottle was a comfort item. The bottles are being packed up and put away. :)

Some more wedding pictures

2009-09-14T16:43:00.001-04:00

These are ones that I stole from Bob and Tracy. :) Thanks guys. As you can see from the pictures Emma was clearly waiting for her boring parents to leave, so she could party it up.

This was taken right after the ceremony. I wish didn't have that goofy face in this picture. I think it is perfect otherwise. (From left to right: Caity, Blake, Jordan, me, Arabel, Tristan, Emma and Rob.) That is only half of the kids. :)
dancing with Caity and Kelly
Bri and Em
dancing with the bride
Bri, Tracy and Em
dancing with Tracy
I think she might have been getting a smidge tired. :)
Jordan, Lauren, Tristan and E

Wedding pictures

2009-09-13T18:24:00.000-04:00

We all headed out early yesterday morning and was on our way to Traverse City. We had a wedding to attend. I was nervous as this would be the first wedding that either girl would be attending. Arabel lasted a total of maybe 5 minutes before Rob took her out the sanctuary. Emma was clearing not enjoying the fact that she had to be quiet. :) I don't have many pictures of Emma, but I am expecting some from family. Arabel decided to be the inappropriate talker during the blessing and all the toasts. It was so hard not to laugh and encourage her. She learned to say "shh" and put her finger to her lips though. When Rob and I headed back to the gorgeous hotel with Arabel, Emma stayed at the reception. Apparently, after we left she was pretty much a dancing machine. I was really bummed that our time away was so short. Our hotel was amazing. We stayed at Tamarack Lodge and the amenities were awesome. We had a FULL kitchen and a washer/dryer in our room.

A couple pictures of our room: including the amazing view of Grand Traverse Bay.

Arabel walking down the hall to go to the wedding.
At the reception. I had to keep taking pictures, she was actually cooperating with me. :)

Rob & I

Aunt Jordan & Belle dancing

Emma in the bay before we left
Belle in the sand

From Michigan to North Carolina and back in pictures.

2009-08-15T15:36:00.001-04:00

Here are the pictures as promised. :) Please don't judge me for our 3 day fast food binge. It was delicious.

At 4:00am bright eyed and bushy tailed.

Reading in the car.
Coloring to pass the time.
Welcome to North Carolina!!! FINALLY!!
Our first Chick-fil-A experience. It was heavenly.
Bojangles breakfast with fountain Cheerwine.
Emma with her bacon and cheese biscuit.
Hamming it up at breakfast.
The most amazing dinner ever- Cook Out!
My Cook Out (Carolina) style burger. (Chili, slaw and mustard)
Carolina Bar-B-Q for lunch, complete with sweet tea.

The girls outside after lunch.
Emma with her house mouse.
Emma at Maw's.
Arabel running around at Maw's. Bill is in the background.
Playing with rocks at Maw's house.
Not listening.
Thumbs up from Daddy.
Enjoying the ride.
The view.
Bells being silly at dinner.
Smiles from Em.
Laughing it up.
smiles.
My anniversary present from Rob. :)
Welcome to Michigan. Great Lakes, Great Times.

Part Duex

2009-08-13T21:55:00.000-04:00

As I write this I am sitting in a hotel in Marietta, Ohio. (By the way if you get the chance to stay at a Microtel Inn & Suites you should. They are modern and super sleek looking. We have stainless steel appliances- and by appliances I mean mini fridge and microwave, and a flat screen tv. Emma is most thrilled with the window seat that has a cushion, which means you are supposed to sit there. ) We decided it would be best to break the drive back into 2 legs. The girls did fantastic on the way down, but I didn't want to tempt the beast twice. Rob completely agreed, and I think that he was more than happy to not spend 13 straight hours in the car.

Yesterday, we hit up Carolina Bar-B-Q for lunch. It was imperative that if we were in BBQ country to get BBQ. Neither of us were thrilled with the actual pork but we loved all of the sides. I now realize what actual hushpuppies taste like. (Sorry, BGG those hushpuppies are fake.) I had slaw, potato salad and hush puppies. Rob picked fries, pinto beans and hush puppies. Emma hoovered a whole BBQ sandwich and applesauce. Arabel got mac and cheese with sweet potato sticks. Our eyes have been opened to the wonderous deep fried sweet potato. It was amazing. We WILL be figuring out how to make them at home, that I promise. Dinner was Maw's chicken casserole at her house with the family. Emma and Arabel met their cousins for the first time. Emma adored them. I managed to weasel some Waffle House for a late night snack after hanging out a bit more with Steven.

As we headed out of town today we stopped by Cook Out, which is hands down my new favorite fast food joint. (Dear Michigan, Please get a freaking Cook Out. Thanks, Kimm) Carolina burgers have made their way into my heart. I was slightly disappointed that the weather wasn't cooperating with my wishes of getting a tan. I guess Mother Nature wants me to be pale forever. :) Emma's favorite find was a kid sized toilet at a rest area in West Virgina (?) She thought that was pretty sweet.

On an unrelated note: Today is our 5th anniversary together. Rob surprised me by bringing me a dozen red roses, a bottle of Chianti and a Hershey pie to the hotel. I couldn't be happier. :) Hard to believe that it has been 5 years.

Pictures to come. I have to work this weekend, and I will do my best to get them uploaded and posted for you.

Carolina on my mind

2009-08-12T00:02:00.001-04:00

I decided that it would probably be the smartest to break our road trip post up into two. Here is part 1.

It was storming like crazy in East Lansing on Sunday night/Monday morning. It was pouring down sheets of rain, the wind was whipping and the thunder and lightening never let up. Rob and I actually talked about trying to wait out the storm and push back our departure time. (Which I was totally against. I was running on a total of about an hour of sleep and was exhausted. I was ready to get the car loaded, the girls in and us be on our merry way so I could catch some sleep.) We decided to change our route a bit in hopes to "out run" the storm. The car gets packed and the girls get buckled in (wide awake might I add) and we pull out of the parking lot at 4:03am. We were shooting for a leave time of 4am, so I was more than thrilled that we actually made it. The weather was TERRIBLE. It was nerve wracking to say the least. I managed to drift off just before the Ohio border. We stopped for breakfast around 6 am for breakfast in Ohio. (Did I mention that the girls were still wide awake? No? Well, they were awake as they could possibly be.) The rest of the drive was uneventful. The girls did awesome being in the car so long. Arabel would get crabby, so we would stop and stretch our legs for 20 minutes and get back on the road. We managed to get to the hotel 12 hours and 43 minutes after leaving East Lansing. I think that we did pretty darn good on time considering we had the girls with us.

Monday night meant relaxing after spending the day in the car. We ran to Target to get some water wings and water toy for the girls, got dinner (Chik-Fil-A... which is awesome. It was my first experience and I was a happy girl.) and then hit the pool. The girls were worn out and slept like babies all night.

Tuesday: The girls woke up around 9am and we headed off to Bojangles for breakfast. Rob has been craving a country ham biscuit for ages now. Emma got a bacon and cheese biscuit, I opted for biscuits and gravy. After breakfast we lounged around until we met up with Rob's grandma, aunt and mom at Golden Corral. We got our a/c re-charged because the poor thing couldn't keep up with the hot North Carolina weather. After our short detour to the shop we headed back to the hotel for nap time. Arabel went down for a nap, Rob was working and Emma and I headed to the pool. We were enjoying the perfect afternoon when a storm blew in and sent us back to the room. We hit up Cookout for dinner. (Holy moly, the Cook Out style burger is amazing. A burger with chili, cheese, slaw and mustard is A-OK in my book.) After dinner we just hung around the room and visited with Rob's childhood best friend.

I know that we are planning on dinner with the fam again tomorrow, but that is all that is set in stone so far. I am loving all of the new food I have been eating. :) I will have pictures up soon.

To be continued.

Road Trip!!

2009-08-08T14:45:00.001-04:00

Rob and I decided that it was high time that we got out of town. We have a road trip in our immediate future. In the wee hours of Monday morning (think like 4am) we will be packing up and heading to North Carolina. Rob's family lives there, so we will be visiting them. This will be the first time that Rob's grandma has met the girls so it should be fun. While we are there we will be paying a visit to Rob's best friend, and meeting their little boy for the first time too. (Parker and Arabel are 11 apart.) I am looking forward to lounging around the pool in 100 degree weather, and not being in Michigan. It is the 11 hour drive there and back that I am not thrilled about. I will be taking lots of pictures and will update when I can.

cheese

2009-07-29T03:24:00.000-04:00

Belle really loves cheese. :)
Chilling at lunch.
Her Popeye impression.
Emma doing Popeye.
Happy Emma... pre epic meltdown at lunch that resulted in us going to the car. Ugh.

Just a couple more for today....

2009-07-16T22:35:00.000-04:00

I couldn't resist posting these right away. :) Hey, I promised that I would do a good job keeping up on the new blog, so far so good. As a side note, don't be afraid to comment on posts. :) We always love reading what you think!

These are of Arabel enjoying being the "only" child at home.

Unimpressed with all the pictures mom is taking today.

Peek-A-Boo. This is her new favorite thing to do to get laughs.

In fact, she was having such a great time, she fell on her bin of Little People... which resulted in this. :(

Nothing much new...

2009-07-16T15:43:00.000-04:00

I grabbed these pictures yesterday as we were in the car getting ready to go to the park.

We had planned on a picnic lunch with a friend of mine. We got all packed up... and it started raining. We instead came home and had a picnic on the livingroom floor with a blanket. Our lunch was homemade lunchables (deli meat, cheese, and Ritz crackers), fruit skewers, cheese balls and puppy chow for dessert. :) A good time was had by all.

Emma was picked up by my mom last night. They all left to go camping early this morning. I hope that the weather holds out for them. :) Em will be back on Sunday, I can't wait to hear about it.

As promised.

2009-07-13T14:36:00.000-04:00

I didn't get nearly the pictures that I wanted, but something is better than nothing.

A couple of Belle on the couch being funny.

Her painted piggies. :)

Doesn't Arabel look adorable in her Polo dress?

more pics to come :)

2009-07-10T16:59:00.000-04:00

The girls and I will be going to a friend's reception tomorrow. Savannah has been so excited about seeing the girls again (last time was before Easter). I promise I will get some good pictures there tomorrow... who knows maybe Sav will feel so inclined to take some pictures of them as well. (She is a fantastic photographer, click her name to see some of her work.)
I am happy to report that this week has been much less eventful than it started off. No more injuries. :) The girls will be heading off to spend some time with Grammy and Papa tomorrow night after the reception. Rob and I will be heading to Common Ground with some friends.

Belle's 1st concert

2009-07-08T22:57:00.000-04:00

Tonight we went to Common Ground. I managed to score some free tickets from an old friend, so it was a perfect family outing. Billy Squire was playing along with Los Lonely Boys. We didn't stay past 10, the girls were getting restless but Arabel has been to a concert. :) Emma was thrilled that she got to have a gigantic corn dog for dinner.

A corn dog with ketchup. :)

The girls also made a couple friends with another couple little ones. I think Arabel may have gotten her first boyfriend. It was adorable to watch the kids together. They both had a ton of fun.

Belle singing along and enjoying the show.

Emma got her picture taken with the Spartans. (Go Green!!)

July update

2009-07-08T00:44:00.000-04:00

First of all, welcome to the new blog. I sincerly apologize for letting the old blog go to the wayside. I had discovered blogspot and found that it was more suitable for me. I promise that I will do a better job of keeping this one up. :) With that said, on with the updates.

Arabel had her first ER visit on Monday. She had been acting unlike herself all day. Rob and I had attributed it to teething. The poor girl has popped 3 molars through in the past 4 days. Our vibrant 14 month old who is normally told to stay out of things every 2 seconds was just laying on the couch. She seemed to be babying her left arm, we didn't see any bruising or swelling when we checked it out. After I had gone to work, Arabel was in incredible pain and was wailing like crazy. Rob ended up taking her to the pediatric ER. She was diagnosed with nursemaid's elbow which is a partial dislocation. They popped it back into place and she was back to her normal self. It is a very common childhood injury and it was easily remedied, luckily for us. Emma admitted to jumping around and holding on to her arm which is likely how it happened. We are very happy that it wasn't more serious.

Emma has been working hard on learning her letter sounds and is doing a fantastic job. She is going camping next weekend with my parents for 4 days and she is very excited about it. She keeps talking about swimming and fishing. I can't wait to hear all about her trip.

Now, on to the pictures. :)