Thankful for Daddy and Homemade Noodles

We had a great Thanksgiving.  I was especially thankful that Jason was off of work this year and had the following day off as well.  That was nice.  We had a nice long weekend full of family time.

Maleah and Carissa were especially thankful for noodles I think.  Homemade noodles are their favorite.  Maleah couldn't wait to get to the Oestreich Thanksgiving and eat some of Aunt Janet's noodles.  She and Carissa both thoroughly enjoyed them.  By the next day, Maleah was excited and ready for some of Aunt Kay's noodles at the Cooper Thanksgiving.  They both thoroughly enjoyed them as well.  Someone asked Carissa at the Cooper's "What are you eating?" and she immediately replied in a very matter-of-fact voice "Noodles."  Her whole tone was sort of like "duh!"  What does it look like I'm eating?"  Up until that point, I had no idea that she could even say noodles.  Add that word to her list of new words for the week. 

I am very happy to report that I have most of my Christmas shopping done and it's not even December yet.  I just have a few things left to pick up and know exactly what I need to buy.  I just haven't done it yet.  Now I just have to find the time to wrap it all!  I did manage to get the tree up and the decorations out over the weekend too.  Each of the girls have their own tree in their room and then we have a big tree in the living room.  Carissa can't leave the big tree alone.  She keeps taking off ornaments and playing with them.  She tries to replace the missing ornaments with random other things.  Right now there is a spot on our tree with nothing on it but a few lights and a paper towel that is wadded up.  We probably do not qualify for the prettiest tree in town, but I like it and the girls love it.

The girls are getting really excited about Christmas.  Well, actually Maleah is.  It's hard to say if Carissa really is or not.  She may not really understand right now but I'm pretty sure that she's going to be super excited on Christmas morning.  It will be a lot of fun to watch her unwrap presents this year.  She is going to love her presents!  I hope Maleah does too but I'm a little nervous about one of them.  I didn't buy her exactly the same scooter as the one she wanted because it wasn't appropriate for her age.  I tried to explain to her that it wasn't but she thought Santa would be able to find her one that was a little bit smaller.  Let me tell you, Santa tried.  He couldn't find that exact scooter that was a little bit smaller.  So he bought her one that was a little bit different but the right size.  She said the other day that she really didn't like any scooter except for the one she had already showed me.  Uh oh.  I hope we don't have a disappointed kid on Christmas morning when she doesn't get a full size electric scooter that goes 15 mph and is for girls ages 12-15.  It looks like this:

Cute, isn't it?  It would be until my kid runs it into the ditch at 15 mph and ends up in the hospital.  I have serious doubts that she could even balance on it.  It's basically a small slow motorcycle.  Is it even legal to drive on the street?  I don't know.  I did pick out another electric scooter for Santa to bring that is more her size and it is the kind you stand on instead of sit on.  She is very good on a regular scooter.  I'm not worried about her being able to handle it at all.  It's just not what she had in mind.  Wish us luck with that!

I probably won't be able to write all of my Christmas secrets on here next year since Maleah is starting to read at such a fast pace...

Hermione loves Harry

It's a been a funny week around here.  One of the funniest things happened just tonight.  Maleah and I were in the car together on the way home from a birthday party.  Our 10 year old friend and neighbor, Dawson, was with us.  Out of the blue, Maleah said "So, what's it like sleeping with Dad?"  Hmmm.  Okay.  Deep breath.  I suppressed my laughter and said "Well," (big pause) "it's no fun at all.  He hogs the covers and talks in his sleep."  This answer pleased her and she said "Well, that stinks".  Yes.  It does.

Other, less funny, things that have happened over the past week include getting all of the Girl Scout cookies delivered and the money collected, me reading a book to Maleah's class, the Harry Potter premiere (yay!)and roller skating, among our regular day-to-day activities. 

Carissa continues to amaze me.  She is becoming obsessed with the moon and the remote.  She wanders around the living room, shrugging her shoulders and putting her hands up saying "mote?, 'mote??"  She is thinking "Where is that thing?  I want to turn it to Dora".  She loves the remote way more than she likes sitting still to watch a show.  She also is totally in love with the moon right now.  She is always looking for it outside and telling me over and over that she has spotted it.  "Moon!!  Moon!!!" she'll say.  Tonight she bit a round tortilla chip in half and handed it to me.  She said "Moon!" and handed me a perfectly shaped crescent moon chip.  How smart is she??  I was totally impressed.  I think that shows several things about her intelligence.  1:  She is able to associate the things in her memory with what she is doing now.  2.  She realizes that the moon is sometimes full, sometimes not.  3.  And she has an imagination.  I know everybody thinks their own kids are super smart but mine really are!  Hey, it's my blog.  I can brag if I want to.

So, the moment I had been waiting for was Friday night.  The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere!  I was so super excited!  So was my friend Bethany and her husband, Mat.  We had all decided to dress up for the event.  I went as Hermione, Bethany as Tonks, and Mat as Lupin.  Bethany's friend Dee Dee met us there and she went as Professor McGonagall.  We looked so awesome!  It was so much fun!  We were the only ones at that theater that had dressed up but that didn't matter.   I think it made it better actually.  I would've been bummed if someone else there had a better Hermione outfit than me.  We even had wands and I carried a book that said "Hogwarts:  A History" because Hermione loves that book.  I wore a "time turner" around my neck.  I know some people probably thinks it's hilarious that we dressed up but we really didn't care if we looked a bit ridiculous (but I don't think we did) because we were having so much fun!  Just because you're a grown-up doesn't mean that you can't have fun.  I don't want to be boring.  You only live once, people!  Anyway, Jason couldn't go because he had to work and we didn't want to wait on him to have a day off.  No, just kidding.  We would've waited on him but it was also deer season.  So it would've been a really long wait and he's just not into Harry Potter like I am anyway.  He didn't care that we went without him.   We heard several people say "Man, I wish we would've dressed up!" and "Why didn't we think of that?"   Here are some pics of my and my friends at the theater.  By the way, the movie was awesome!!!

Today we went to a skating birthday party for Maleah's friend Katrina. Maleah loves to skate so much and had a great time. Here are some pics of her having some skating fun.

I feel like there was a lot more to write about this week but I can't remember what it was!  Ha Ha!  I must be getting old.  Or maybe I'm just tired.  Yeah, that's it.  That's got to be it.  Have a great week everybody!

Just chillin', chillin', mindin' my business...

Well, not much has been going on around here this week.  We have been chillin' and relaxin'.  This makes me very happy.  I have slowed our schedule down for the month and let me just say I'm lovin' it!!!!  

Maleah has been so good lately.  Not that she is ever really bad but she is just such a blessing to have around.  She is a lot of fun to be with for one thing.  She is an a very good listener and she is extremely helpful.  She goes out of her way to please me and Jason.  It makes me so happy that she is growing up into such a nice, caring, and loving person.  She thinks I'm the best mommy in the whole world and tells me how much she loves me all the time.  She is so sweet!

Carissa has been good too.  She has gotten into some trouble lately though and has had to go to time-out.  She likes to hit me or pull out my earrings when she gets frustrated.  So, we're working on that.  I think her frustration comes from the fact that her communication skills are not 100%.  She says new words every day and is very determined to keep up with her sister.  She tries to do everything Maleah does.  She really wants to have a conversation with us.  She just can't quite get it all out.  But she is smart, that's for sure.  You can tell that she understands everything we say to her.  Carissa is Maleah's little shadow and if Maleah runs, Carissa runs.  If Maleah does a front roll, Carissa does a front roll.  If Maleah gives me a kiss, Carissa gives me a kiss.  If Maleah cries, Carissa laughs. 

Something funny that Carissa has been doing is that if she gives one person a high five, she has to give everybody in the room a high five. And there is no getting around it either.  She walks up to you and puts out her hand and waits until you give her the high five.  After you do, she will move on to the next person.  I'm really hoping that nobody at church asks her for a high five.  She is also like this with kisses.  If one person kisses her, everybody has to.  You've been warned.  Another funny thing she's been doing is bringing handfuls of dry cat food into the living room and throwing it on the carpet.  Wait, that's not funny at all - just annoying. 

Well, like I said, it's sort of been a slow week.  I can't think of one single exciting story to tell you.  I'm sure by next week I'll have something funny to report.  And maybe I can show off some great pictures from my new favorite camera...

Oh, the bright side...

I like to try to find the bright side of things.  Most of the time there is a bright side to every bad situation (not all, but most).  So this week I have had the stomach flu.  The really really bad stomach flu that nobody wants the details of.  That one.  I thought I was going to die.  I didn't and for that I am thankful.  But what on earth could the bright side of that be?  I'm guessing that I lost right around 3 or 4 pounds in 2 days.  That, my friends, is the bright side.  Since I don't actually own any scales, it's hard to say for sure, but that's a pretty close guesstimate.  I had been up a few pounds for the past month and although the flu wasn't the way I had planned to get back down, it worked!  So, I will be headed to my Weight Watchers meeting tomorrow to double-check my own guess.  If I can find the bright side to the flu, surely you can find a bright side to something too!

Other than that, everything around here has been going great!  The girls are doing good.  And, fingers crossed, they won't be getting the flu anytime soon.  Carissa has really been doing a lot of growing lately.  She suddenly looks and acts more like a 2 year old than a one year old.  She is talking so much, repeating everything.  I understand almost everything she says.  Every one else understands probably about half of what she says.  But she tries and that makes me happy.  She is really into Dora all of the sudden.  Dora makes her laugh out loud.  She giggles every time she see that big football-shaped head. Tonight, Maleah gave her the big, soft, fleece Dora blanket that Grandma Debby and Grandpa David had given her several years ago.  It was a touching moment.  I was very proud of Maleah for doing it because if any of you know Maleah very well, you know that Maleah treasures her blankets.  They are her friends.  But the Dora blanket had been tucked away with some other, less-often used, blankets in the family room, and I put the idea into Maleah's head that if she ever came across that blanket that she might want to let her sister "borrow" it because Carissa was really into Dora right now.  Maleah immediately said "I know right where it is!" (not a big surprise at all) and "She doesn't have to borrow it, she can just have it.  I have lots of other blankets." (Also not a big surprise because this is all how I planned it.  I so know how to work it.  Had I have told her to give Carissa the Dora blanket or had I have asked her to give it to her, the answer would have probably been no.  I am not an evil genius, just a genius.  Thank you very much.)

So, thanks to Dora, I now have several Christmas ideas for Miss Riss, where as before, I had none.  So that will be fun.  I once I had so much Dora in the house that I really couldn't imagine having to buy some more.  But apparently I sold it all at rummage sales because all I can track down is one Dora doll and the Dora blanket, along with the DVDs.  Since Carissa is pretty low on the totem pole, she hardly ever gets to pick what we watch on tv.  But the DVDs are coming in handy for the car, because she has her own screen she can watch her little Spanish friend the whole time I am driving around.  She loves it.  Even if she won't leave the headphones on and can't hear a word of it.

Now, Maleah, on the other hand, is just convinced that Carissa gets loads of tv time.  She thinks that Carissa gets to stay home all day with me and watch Dora all day long.  So not true.  I tried to explain to Maleah that Carissa watches one Dora episode in the morning, one in the afternoon.  She is so not buying it.  In her most defiant and slightly whiny voice she said "I know Carissa gets to watch tv all the time and I never get to!  All I want to watch is Arthur and I can't because it's always what you want to watch! And it's not fair!"  To which I replied "No, she doesn't.  Yes, you do.  No, it isn't.  And yes, it is.  Get used to it."  For the record, I dvr Arthur for her every day and she is always caught up on her Arthur schedule.  I like Arthur and I love that at least she is quiet for 30 minutes a day.  Like I'm really going to pass on that opportunity?  I don't think so!

On a side note, I think my parents would love to remedy this problem by buying each of the girls their own tv for their own room.  For the record, I don't believe in televisions in bedrooms, they know this, so they haven't yet done that.  Jason and I don't even have a tv in our room.  We are a one-tv-kind-of-a-family. I think I have finally convinced them of this though.  You might be wondering what the big deal is?  I am often asked about this and I just see it as your bedroom should be a place of relaxation and little distraction.  My girls would never fall asleep if they had a tv.  Also, I am too controlling to let them have their own tv at the tender ages of 5 and 1.  They are too little to be trusted.  I say who, I say what... I say who!  Okay, that was a little bit of a Pretty Woman quote.  But do you get the point?  I determine how much tv they watch and what they watch.  There is honestly very few things on tv these days that I find appropriate for them.  On a side note of my side note, there is very little on the radio that is appropriate for them these days.  Yes, I know there are family channels, Disney channels, and kids channels on XM (which is what we have in the car) but I can not deal with that all of the time.  I like all types of music and can't stick with one station for very long.  This is why Maleah knows the lyrics to some country, some gospel, a little Lady GaGa (yikes!), and a lot of 80's music.  This week I've been stuck on XM 10, the Roadhouse.  It is all really old country music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.  I thought it would be a pretty safe bet and not any risque lyrics.  I was wrong.  I turned it as soon as I realized that I was singing "Tell me now why do you drink?  Why do you roll smoke...  So if I get stoned and sing all night long, it's a family tradition!"  I turned the channel.  Nothing was said.  Thank goodness I wasn't asked what any of that meant.  Thanks a lot Hank!  No wonder your rowdy friends don't come over any more!  They all have kids that they don't want to grow up into druggies!

In other news this week, Maleah won a 5 pound Hershey's candy bar from the Flora IGA.  It was very exciting!  It was a costume contest open to anybody that showed up at Flora's IGA in their halloween contest.  Only four people did.  I think they would have had a great turnout if they would have had it on trick-or-treat night but they didn't.  Oh well.  Of the three other contestants, only one was any competition numbers-wise.  They were all very cute though.  The pictures were displayed on facebook and whoever got the most "likes" won the contest.  There was a cute little girl dressed up as a monkey that was getting quite a few likes.  Maleah was determined that the monkey was not going to win and that she herself was going to win.  There was not a doubt in her mind.  When I told her that she may not win, she said "Oh, don't worry.  I will."  I was only trying to prepare her for the worst.  But it didn't matter because our friends and family rallied around us and she ended up winning.  It was pretty exciting for her to hear me read all of the comments that our facebook friends (and even some strangers) were making.  Our little Elvis has a lot of fans out there!  Here is a picture of her picking up her candy bar.  I wish she would've been looking at the camera instead of me.  Oh well.  A big thanks goes out to everybody that voted for her!  You really made her day!  She kept saying "Hershey's is my favorite!  This is my dream come true!"  And for years now she has said "I dream in chocolate!" (in a real sing-song voice).  She even has that saying in Uppercase Living next to her bed.  It is so true.  She is a real 100% choco-holic.  It is in her blood, from both sides of the family.  She didn't stand a chance against the love of chocolate. 

I hope you all have a great week!  I know we will.  We have five pounds of chocolate to eat!

Sixteen Days Until Harry Potter!!

Okay, so I changed the theme of this blog to Harry Potter.  It was time to get rid of the Halloween colors.  I could've went straight to Thanksgiving, but why would I have wanted to do that when Harry Potter is right around the corner??  It is the next to the last movie in the series and I can't wait!  I will be one of those crazy people who show up hours before the show to get tickets and I might even be wearing a black robe...

So, what's new with my Mini Coopers?  Well, they have both been cutting teeth.  Carissa has been getting in four new baby teeth (all four incisors) and Maleah has been getting in two new permanent teeth.  Carissa has been having a language explosion.  Although she isn't talking as plain as Maleah did at that age, she is still doing great.  She is a little mockingbird and tries to say everything.  New words this week:  thumb, jump, bread, fork, and many more.  Her favorite words/phrases:  oh, boo-boo (in a sad voice, wants a kiss), spoon (has to have one to eat anything, even bread), Dad, Sister, Mama, Grandma, PaPa, BaBa (bottle, which is actually a sippy cup), hi, bye, and poop (she then goes and sits on the potty seat).  I hadn't really considered potty-training her this early but she definitely is showing some interest, so we'll see.  She has to keep up with Sister, I guess.  In Carissa's mind, she is five years old too.

Maleah has learned to read!  Woo hoo!  It has happened pretty quick really.  She has a good handle on phonics and has known her letters and sounds for a while now but she just suddenly started putting it all together.  We had her parent/teacher conference on Friday and it went great.  The teacher said that she is very smart (although she did not say that Maleah was the smartest kid in the class even though Maleah is adamant that she is) and that she has a lot of friends.  Oh yeah, and she likes to talk.  She also said that Maleah is ready for beginning reader books.  We went to the library later that day and got a couple of Dick and Jane books.  We came home and she read them to me!  How cool is that??  I was so proud of her!!  She is really good at sounding out words.  She is learning so fast.  It's just amazing really.

I always forget to mention Jason in my updates.  I know some of you love him too and want to hear about him.  So here's the update on him:  he's fine.  Ha ha!  He is just fine and it is just not as interesting to talk about him or me as it is the kids.  He's been deer hunting once this year and that's it because he never has time!  If he's not at work, he's busy doing something else with us, so he just hasn't had a lot of time for that.  But hopefully he will soon!  I really don't mind deer season, it's coyote season that wears me out.  It feels like it goes on forever!

There's not really much else going on this week.  I have been getting rested up from the crazy week last week.  I even (gasp!) canceled an appointment I had on Monday to get my car fixed and let Maleah skip tumbling so that we could have a night at home.  We had fun.  While I sewed, she watercolored (is that a word?) next to me, and Carissa played with baby dolls on the floor.  Carissa also played in my scraps and tried to push buttons on my sewing machine, but we won't go into all that.  We had a really nice evening!  Hopefully, the rest of the week will go just as nicely...