So many big-girl things!

The most exciting news lately... our girls are growing up!!! Olive has decided to get two front teeth on the bottom (which I cannot get a picture of because she is so stingy with her smiles!), and Emma has decided to ride her bike without training wheels!!!!!!! BIG GIRLS THINGS! Olive's teeth have been coming in for a couple of weeks, and I think she handled it pretty well, just a couple of doses of Tylenol, a few teething tablets, and they were in. Emma, on the other hand was a little bit faster on the whole learning to ride with two wheels on her bike. Monday afternoon we went for a bike ride/walk and her training wheels were so bent she had to lean to the side of her bike! I suggested she just take off the training wheels. She told me she wasn't ready. No biggie, she is only going to be 5 in a few weeks. But, as I was leaving to meet all the neighborhood women (10 all together that night!) for dinner, I told Elliott about it. As I was leaving the training wheels were coming off, and when I got home two hours later I saw the video of her riding on her own!!!!!!! She still needs a little help getting on and off/stopping, but she is ALL on her own. So many milestones this spring, it is so exciting to see her accomplish things and to feel so proud of herself! Love it...

Our quirky girl LOVES icicles, and found this giant one in her sled a couple of weeks ago - she saved it in the freezer and ate on it for a few days!

I took the girls to go visit my Dad and Jackie in Michigan finally (it had been two years!), and as always it was wonderful to be there. Nana is amazing with babies, so it is always so comforting to see her interplay with Olive.

Papa and Olive - only took a couple of days for her to get used to him, I suppose it helped that I was around the whole time? In general, she is not a fan of men!

Papa and Nana live on a pond and feed the ducks and birds daily, so Emma HAD to ge the binoculars out and check every few minutes to see what was out there. Actually, she became obsessed with them the third day we were there! They came with us to the store and to the butterfly museum/arboretum.

Olive investigating one of the butterfly's, in Nana's arms. Of course Olive was pretty mellow and went along with the flow, allowing Nana to hold her a good portion of the time that we looked at butterflies.

My mom has Olive two days a week when I am working, and took these beautiful images of Olive at 5 months. I think they are just stunning! Too bad Emma put a sticker on Olive's leg in the top one!

I know I am just a little biased, but I think she is a beauty!

I have given Olive cereal a couple of times now, and of course Emma wants to help! She is such a little mom, it is a bit overwhelming to say the least, even though I know she means so well! I swear she would stay at home with Olive if we let her. Olive isn't quite sure what to think of the food, and I am in no hurry! Isn;t that terrible? It just means one more thing I need to do in the day - silly, huh? I better get going though, she will be 6 months before I know it.

Poor Goldie finally died. He was a Koi that we had for a good 9 months (that's a long time in our house!!!). He was a meanie, however, and I glad he is gone and that we can put the fish tank in storage - don't tell. Anyway, we had to have a burial for him. Emma and Elliott gave a little eulogy and prayer! The neighbor girls helped out - there are 19 kids in 8 houses, 2 baby's on the way, 5 kids moving in next door, and a good 8 houses left to be built on our street!!!!!

Emma had to say a few words...

Olive and I spend a lot of time on the front porch while Emma plays with the kids. Somehow the norm here is for the parents to sit out in the driveways while ALL of the kids play up and down the street! We are so lucky to have moved in here!

Look at those cheeks!!!!!!

I am choreographing the flying monkeys for the ballet The Wizard of Oz, on Sunday evenings, so Elliott has the girls for a couple of hours. Here he is getting ready to take Olive over to the neighbor's for a little outdoor b-day party. She could not figure out who was holding her and would crane her head all the way back to try and see! She usually cries for Elliott the whole time I am gone, but she is SLOWLY changing her ways!

More to come... Love to all....

Holy Crap - if you only knew what it took to get this post done.....

OK, Forgive this post please!!! If you only knew how many times I started it and then lost it, and had to start over, you would understand why it looks the way it does. I promise to be more on top of this for those of you far away!!!!! This time though, you just gotta deal:)

OK ok OK, I know! It has been over a month. Finally I sat down last night to catch up and as I fell asleep at the computer typing, I somehow lost the whole post! Argh...
So, here we are with an almost 5 year old - who I am registering for KINDERGARDEN today - and almost 5 month old. Where does the time go?
I went back to work on Feb 6th, teaching dance at Gustavus College, in Saint Peter, MN. Thankfully my mom was willing to watch Olive during the day and then pick Emma up from daycare, and Elliott watches the girls from 5-8pm. However, poor him (or poor Olive?), Olive often cries the whole three hours! Double argh!
I have enjoyed every minute of being back in the studio, even with the pumping and the 2 1/2 hour total drive time each day.
So... to catch up...

Here is sweet Emma in a crazy outfit concoction that she came up with at my mom's place. Of course it was taken so long ago I do not even remember why we were there! Emma has had a real breakthrough lately, slowly getting over being so mad at me for having to split my time between her and Olive. Don't get me wrong, she LOVES Olive and dotes on her all the time. I am certain she would happily take care of Olive all on her own if we would let her. She laments daily about how much she loves being a big sister - but her behavior towards me in the past four months would suggest I have broken her heart!

Before I went back to work I took my mom and the girls to American Girl Store for dinner - they all had to wear the matching dresses that my mom made them for Christmas.


Emma surprised us with a loose tooth!!! She was telling me in the car one night, how her tooth was wiggling. After many previous false alarms, I didn't really believe her. When we got into my mom's house that night I was SO surprised to feel it actually wiggle!!! It was such a fun moment, to be part of that milestone. Above is a picture of Elliott getting ready to tie some thread around her tooth to pull it out. Emma decided she wasn't quite ready:)

Olive officially 4 months old and roley-poley! 95th percentile for weight and height, very similar to Emma. I finally bough her some 9 month PJ's today (she is almost 5 months old now that I post this blog!) and they have some room for her to grow, but fit nicely!

Finally, Valentine's morning, Emma lost her tooth! Actually, she pulled it out after the root broke free when she was eating heart shaped pancakes. She was so excited! Apparently the Tooth Fairy was not prepared that day, because not only did she leave Emma's tooth for her, but she also left $10!!!! How ridiculous is that? The Tooth Fairy told Emma she would be better prepared next time, and the rest of her teeth would not bring so much money. Fortunately, Emma was more excited that the Fairy LEFT her tooth for her, just like the other kids at Carol's house!

A rare quiet moment...

DATE NIGHT!!!! THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!!!

The "Spy Kids"...
Olive, turning 5 months next week (and Emma 5 years this month!!!) has finally figured out rolling back to front, but can't get herself back to her back, much to her anger:) This past week she finally found her feet and toes - and they immediately go in her mouth or at least her hands the moment I put her on the floor. She is also a real talker, making noises just about all the time. If she is quiet it usually means she has positioned herself so she can see the TV (not my intention of course!). She has smiles but does not give them away too freely, and her laugh is one grunt that /i work very hard for. She laughs the most at silly Emma, and even then it is more like a grunt than a laugh!
Emma is becoming such a big girl - very sensitive to all that is happening around her. She tried to put her hat on oer her bike helmet the other day and I laughed. She immediately took it off and said she didn't want the other kids to laugh at her:( Currently (at 6:45 am) she is in the basement riding on the new Razor scooter I bought her as a surprise yesterday! She was SOOOO EXCITED! All the kids in the neighborhood gather and ply each afternoon, and I thought Emma was ready for something more than her $5 garage sale princess one with a wobbly wheel:)!!!!
We are waiting to find out if Emma will get to go to the STEM Magnet school next year, she is number 7 on the waiting list. We think it is something she could really sink her teeth in to and the curriculum is very hands on.
More current pictures to follow soon - I PROMISE!!!

LOVE TO ALL