The girls both woke up very early and as hard as I tried to get them to go back to sleep, they just wanted to get up and play! Guess I should have stopped singing karaoke with Scott and gone to bed a little earlier last night! Today was one of those lazy days of doing nothing. The girls didn't even get out of their jammies until I gave them a bath tonight! Scott left on his first overseas trip today to pick up the rest of his squadron who have been deployed for 120 days. It is a short trip, thankfully. I know we are back in the real Air Force now, but I loved having him home every night in Florida. I am really going to miss that! I know the girls are going to miss him too:( At least Scott got in a game of Candyland before he left today. I know how disappointed he would have been to miss out on that! Abby found a Christmas hat I was planning on throwing out and decided it was a good "bed hat".  

Mckenzie is such a little stinker! She decided to stick two peas up her nose at lunch. We got the first one out pretty easily and thought that was the end of it. We didn't realize there was a second pea stuck up there until she kept saying "nose, nose" and rubbing it. Got the flashlight out and low and behold, there was a second offender lodged way up! We tried everything from pepper to saline drops. Nothing was getting that little bugger out. We finally gave up. It wasn't impairing her breathing and Scott thought that maybe if we gave Mckenzie her pacifier, the pea would just fall out. He was right and we could finally put her down for her nap.  Abby never did anything like that so it was quite the experience for us! Abby never did a lot of things Mckenzie does. I wonder if Mckenzie does so many things she isn't supposed to just because she sees Abby doing them and it's ok for her to do them. I don't know. I just hope Mckenzie doesn't stick anything else up her nose.  We went to look for a TV stand for the guest bedroom and found one that will work. The we went to dinner at a diner. Someone at work told Scott you have to do the diner experience in New Jersey. I didn't get what was so great. It was just another family restaurant. Decent food, decent service. Mckenzie likes ranch dressing so much she dipped her whole hand in the container. What a mess. Normally she licks the ranch off whatever food she dips in it, but apparently that wasn't good enough tonight.  In the picture you can barely see Abby's head, but she cuddled up next to him during her rest time.  So sweet!

Yay! We got a new dishwasher installed today! No more half clean dishes!!!! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be excited about a dishwasher.  Abby decided to throw another tantrum this morning when I told her she couldn't go outside and play. It was way too windy and it was still snowing. So, I told her she was going to lose a star from her rewards chart and that sent her over the edge. All I heard was "I don't wanna lose a star." Maybe tomorrow she will think before she throws a tantrum. Mckenzie is trying to learn to jump. She doesn't get either foot off the ground, she just squats a little and comes up on her tip toes. Its cute. I will be sad when she actually gets her feet off the ground. That means she is less my baby and more a little girl :(  They both are growing up so fast. Every time I turn around, each one is passing another milestone. Abby knows how to write her name now. I know it won't be long before she can read or write sentences. I look at her now and it amazes me to see how much she has grown. She has gone from a helpless infant to an independent little girl who likes to do as much on her own as possible. Of course she has those moments like tonight where her legs were "too tired" to walk so I had to carry her. We took the kids out to Red Lobster tonight. Both girls get so excited to see the lobsters. They behaved so well and it was a great night out to eat. Oh, out of the blue this afternoon Abby asked for pickles. Both girls love pickles. Needless to say, I need to add pickles to my grocery list! Scott talked to Abby about him having to leave for work on Sunday. Abby then kept saying "Daddy's going to be gone for a couple of days. He is going to pick up some people. I can't go with him cuz I have school". I love how she tries to be so grown up and explain things to Mckenzie.

Abby is "helping" Mckenzie jump in this picture!

"It's snowing outside Momma! It's snowing outside!" Those were the sweet little words that woke me up today. Abby just loves to watch it snow and she must think I love getting out of bed to watch it as well :)  Mckenzie woke up shortly there after with her screams of "Maaaa maaaa Momma!" She just shouts my name until I show up and every morning she is standing up with her bear in her hand and her pacifier in her mouth.  We ran to the grocery store this morning to pick up some milk. I think we are constantly at the store buying milk. If I had more space I think I would have an extra fridge just for milk! We came home and played until lunch. Then it was time for Mckenzie to take a nap and Abby and myself to play some Candyland. I think four games is my limit. Abby could probably play all day. We did take a break to bake some monkey bread. It is so fun to let Abby help. She pours stuff in and stirs as best she can. And the monkey bread was pretty tasty. Abby had another major tantrum over dinner. Tonight it was over hot chocolate. We told her she had to have something else to drink first, like milk and then after dinner she could have hot chocolate as a treat. Well, that did not go over at all. She screamed and cried the entire time the rest of us ate our dinner. She stopped long enough to ask why we were all leaving the table and then she started in again. She finally gave up on the whining and came to the table to eat. She even managed to apologize. We have a rewards chart that when she does her chores or brushes her teeth, she gets a star and eventually a prize. Tonight we decided that she can lose a star if she has a tantrum like that again. We told her the new rule and she wasn't too happy about it at all. She told us she wasn't going to throw fits like that again. Right. We will see. We played a little Wii again and Abby is getting really good at the bowling. She scored a 175 tonight!! YAY Abby. Mckenzie likes to "play" too. We give her a remote and she waves it at the screen. I just love these two! Abby wanted funny face pics again today. Mckenzie had just finished dinner when I took hers. That is why her face is a little dirty :)

Abby had her second day of preschool today and it was even harder for her than Monday. She cried and clung to me like crazy. I had to do a little bargaining and give her lambie. She finally went into her classroom. Mckenzie and I just chilled at the house after running to Bed Bath and Beyond and Target. I was looking for a toaster since ours has started burning our food. For awhile it would hardly toast it and now it is doing the opposite. I didn't find one cheap enough though that I liked. I figure the first one we had was an el cheapo and it lasted us 10 years. Why should I spend a fortune on this one? When I picked Abby up from school, she said she had a great time and was super excited to show me the monkey bread she made in chef class today. It was ironic they made monkey bread because I bought a monkey bread mix at Target today for the very first time. I asked her teacher how she was doing and Ms. Dipola said she was doing great. She was playing well and minding her manners. That is good to hear. I was a little worried as to how she was adjusting, especially since this morning she asked me if we could move back to Pace, Florida so she could be with her friend Jordan. Of course Abby asks for all kind of things. For example this afternoon she asked for a baby brother. I don't know where it came from but we were playing in her room and she just told me she wanted a brother. She said she didn't need another sister since she had Mckenzie. Our pics today were at the request of Abby. When we got home after school, she asked if her and Mckenzie could take a picture together outside. Sure why not.

It is another cold, rainy day. I think Dakota is the least excited about the rain. Last night I forgot to let her back in and she got soaked before we remembered she was out there. Poor thing. Now she stinks and really needs a bath. Maybe I will see if I can get her bathed at Petsmart tomorrow. Of course, that would require me finding her records, so maybe not. We really didn't do much today. Abby had a couple of tantrums, but that is nothing new. Apparently she didn't want mac n cheese for lunch. She finally did eat it, telling me how good it tasted. Then for supper we had baked chicken and she didn't want anything to do with that either. I think the only reason she finally caved in and ate it was because Scott was running out to Lowe's and she wanted to go with. The latch on our sliding glass door broke this afternoon so Scott needed to get parts to fix that. I swear he is doing more little fixer upper projects now as a renter than he did as a homeowner. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a little. Mckenzie was pretty cranky again today. I feel so bad that her teeth are bugging her so much. She gets so excited when I grab the bottle of teething tablets. Her hand it out waiting for me to give them to her. Abby dressed herself today, apparently unaware as to how cold it really is outside. She put on a tank top and shorts. Meanwhile Mckenzie was very aware as to how cold it was because she kept saying "brrr" when she was getting out of the car.

It was Abby's first day of preschool in New Jersey. She was up and ready to go, telling Scott she needed to get dressed so she could go to school. The day was little difficult for the both of us, but I think Abby did enjoy being with kids her own age again. When I went to drop her off, Abby got really shy and started clinging to me, not wanting to go into the classroom. The director of the school was fabulous and she brought another little girl from Abby's class into the hallway so Abby could meet her. Abby then decided it was ok to leave me and go see her new room. What a relief. I was ready to cry and ready to pick her up and take her back home. I went to pick her up a little early and was happy to see that she was busy working on her science projects in her Ooey Gooey Science class. They were learning about brushing their teeth. She was so excited to see me and came crashing into my arms. I love those moments. Scott and I asked her if she wanted to go back and she said no. Then she changed her mind and said maybe Monday. I think by Wednesday she will be ready to give it a go again. Of course, I could always tell her it is Monday if she protests. She still doesn't really know the difference...

Mckenzie is such a little ham. She has started yelling at Dakota. For instance, Dakota will bark and we will tell her no. Well, we don't need to bother anymore with little miss Mckenzie. She is right on top of that. Screaming "no, no, NO" and shaking her finger at the dog. Mckenzie gets this little frown on her face when she is telling the dog what to do. I just love it. We unfortunately had to do more glitter art tonight. Abby's friend Jordan sent her a Valentines card and Abby decided she needed to make her a glitter picture. We ended up making several to mail to her friend. I love doing art with the girls, I just wished the dog liked to eat the glitter so I didn't have to sweep it up. She eats everything else. Her begging at the table is terrible and I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Mckenzie takes a bite for herself and then drops one for Dakota.

Who would think getting this toy out of the tunnel would be so scary? But for our Dakota,it must be very scary. She barked at it, swatted at me as if begging me to get it for her, and kept getting closer and then backing off. Of course I didn't get it for her, it was too funny to watch her. As I type, Scott is getting his butt kicked playing Wii. Does he have a friend over? No, Abby is officially whooping his butt in tennis. She just told him "You didn't win Daddy. I did. That's why I have sparkles over my name." He really is trying, but she is doing good. Mckenzie is really cranky tonight. I think I am going to put her to bed early. She is getting another molar in. Poor thing. I have been filling out the paperwork for Abby to go to preschool tomorrow. It has been wayyyy too much work. Since I have to volunteer in the classroom, I need to fill out paperwork to have a background check done. They want all my addresses since 1990! Seriously? I wasn't even in high school then. I hope I am remembering them right. Let's hope Abby's first day goes well.

It was a quiet day at our house, not much going on. Scott had to write a paper for his master's class and I really didn't feel like doing much of anything. Even Target didn't sound fun today. I had to run to the post office and Target and I think I would have rather just hung out in my pjs all day. The girls played so nice together today, which doesn't happen every day. Abby played some Wii with Scott and it is so cute to listen to her. If something doesn't go as she planned, she screams "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?".  Abby wanted to do more glitter art (it is way too messy to use everyday!), but we distracted her from that idea with taking a bath instead. Our kids love baths! You just start saying "its bath night" and Abby is already naked and Mckenzie is trying. Good thing she doesn't know how to undress herself yet, unless it is zip up jammies. I made chili for dinner tonight and I don't know why we give it to Mckenzie. She doesn't like the tomato flavor or hamburger so normally she just eats the beans, which we have to suck off the sauce. Oh, and if you were wondering, Abby is wearing the same clothes as yesterday. She wanted to sleep in them and then she didn't want to change this morning either. I figure why argue, it means less laundry for me to do!

I checked out a preschool for Abby today and it looks like a good fit for our family. So, she gets to start on Monday! Yeah!! They have a science class and a chef class which I think she will really enjoy. She was a bit shy about checking things out today, but that is pretty typical of her. I just hope things go smoothly on Monday. Right now she sounds excited about going so hopefully she will feel the same when I try to leave her on Monday. They don't offer daycare so I don't know how any of this will work out if I decide to look for a job, but we will cross that bridge when we get there! It will be fun to have some one on one time with Mckenzie. Abby is starting to act out at bedtime again. We had problems with her not wanting to sleep in her room before we left Pensacola and she had been doing pretty good while we were travelling, but lately, she keeps saying she can't fall asleep or doesn't want to go to bed.  I don't know what her deal is. Last night I was so tired I just took her to bed with me and Scott put her back in her own room when he got home from his flight at midnight. I know I shouldn't do that, but...

Mckenzie has been using the potty off and on and tonight she told me she had to go and actually went! It is so exciting. I would love to have her potty trained by 2! Abby really wanted to do arts and crafts with glitter today. Her actual request was to make a cat and use glitter. So, my fantastic drawing skills came out and she decorated my cat (which was hideous by the way) with glitter and made it beautiful! We even made handprints in glitter. It was so fun. She also asked to do her "school work" today. We give her a book and assign her pages to do. She gets such a kick out of it.

Dinner at Olive Garden rounded out of day. Abby was begging to go to the lobster place (Red Lobster), but we told her it was closed as we didn't really want to go there tonight! Little white lies are ok right?

Yesterday was a very busy day for us between cleaning and running to Target and the grocery store. I was busy doing laundry and Mckenzie was helping me in her own way. I heard a strange noise coming from the hallway and it turns out that strange noise was Mckenzie coloring on the wall! Fortunately, it came off the wall because neither Scott nor I want to paint the foyer! The girls were good and helped me clean up the mess. Mckenzie is such a little stinker! Today, she was trying to sit on the dog. Poor Dakota, she just takes it and looks at us with her big brown eyes as if begging us to make Mckenzie leave her alone. Mckenzie also likes to have Dakota give her kisses. Her face, belly, pacifier, anywhere the dog will lick he r. Mckenzie squeals in delight! Both girls are loving having the dog back. I caught Abby and Dakota taking a snooze together this afternoon. Let's hope Abby doesn't stay up too late! During dinner Abby and I were talking about how old you had to be before you could do certain things since she is always saying "I'm 4. I can do xyz..." I asked her how old you had to be to drive a car and she said 16. Good answer I thought, but I then asked how old before you could have a boyfriend and she said one!  Guess she still doesn't have the whole concept of time down yet!  Scott's friend, Gabe, came for a visit yesterday and we had a great time. We hadn't seen him since Pensacola so it was nice to see a friendly face. And his visit forced me to get the house in order for the most part. I love waking up and seeing our photos on the wall, especially the beach pics we had taken before we left Pensacola. It is really making this feel like our home instead of just a place to hang our hat! Now if we can get that dishwasher problem resolved...

Well, this post is a little late, but we have been rushing around the house trying to get it in order. Scott's friend is coming for a visit tomorrow and this house was in no shape for company. Fortunately, it is looking bettter, there are pictures on the walls and now all I need to do is clean tomorrow! I never thought I would be excited to clean, but I am! I am just so happy the house isn't littered with boxes and junk. There are still some things I need to sort, but it isn't anything urgent. Abby was so excited to get pictures put up in her room. She squealed in delight when Scott put her name letters on the wall! This afternoon, Abby was playing upstairs while Scott and I were working on things downstairs. She needed help with something (I can't honestly remember what now) and she said to Scott "Why don't you just come up here and do it!" Where does she come up with these things? I need to make a mental note to myself never to let Abby take a nap again. We didn't realize she had fallen asleep and it was a big mistake! She was up until 1130 tonight telling us "I just can't sleep". Oh, Scott took the girls with him to the recycling center today. On the second trip there, Abby noticed a box left on the ground (Scott accidently left in there because the one container was full). Abby scolded Scott saying, "Daddy you can't leave boxes on the snow. Silly Daddy!" I think we need to put a helmet on Mckenzie. She bumped her head again today. She loves to climb and you never know when she is going to do it. Today it was from her chair in her room.

We bought an elliptical machine today and man is that thing heavy! Scott carried up all the pieces except for one which he needed my help with. Holy cow, even just that one piece was ridiculously heavy for the two of us. We managed to somehow get it upstairs with only slight damage to Scott's hand and it is finally put together. Yeah. Now I get to start working out again. While Scott was working on getting it together, Abby kept coming to me and saying "Momma, your heavy thing is almost ready!" Apparently she couldn't remember what it was called because she just kept calling it my "heavy thing". Silly little girl. Mckenzie was busy helping Scott put together a cabinet I bought for all my scrapbooking stuff (which by the way isn't big enough for the scrapbook paper, so now I need to find something else). She kept climbing in it and trying to assist Scott . So cute. I think I have come to a standstill in this house. I can't seem to get anything else put away. I either don't know where to put it, or if I even still want it, or I need to buy something to put it in. Oh and the dishwasher has decided to completely stop working. There is a pool of water in the bottom of it and it won't clean the dishes. I do NOT like handwashing dishes. It takes forever and makes my hands yucky! I hope the dishwasher fairy comes tonight or else we may be eating take-out on paper plates for the rest of the time we live here!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ok, so I haven't been able to post the last few days, but we were gone for the weekend. We drove to Columbus, Ohio to meet Sheri and her family and pick up Dakota! What a great weekend with great friends. We didn't do much, but it was fun to hang out.  We took the kids swimming on Saturday. They had a blast. Abby is getting more confident in the water and Mckenzie, well, that little one has no fear. She kept trying to get away from us in the water.  We didn't get to swim for long as the water was soooo cold. It was indoors, but the kids had goose bumps so we were done pretty early.  We headed to a shopping center, but we didn't get much shopping done because it wasn't a mall, but an outdoor shopping center. It was a really nice place (minus all the little thugs running around) but it was too cold for the little ones. We took them to get dinner and played some games. They all had lots of fun. Sheri and I even had time to get in a movie! It was so nice to have some adult time. Today was spent in the car again. Mckenzie didn't do so well in the car. I think her teeth may be bothering her. Dakota travelled well and Abby kept Scott in line!  Scott happened to drift over the white line and it makes that loud irritating noise. Abby said "Daddy isn't staying on the road too well." She is so funny! It is great to be back home with Dakota. Having her around makes it feel just a little more like home.  I know she has been well taken care of these last few months. Thanks so much Sheri and Matt! We really appreciate it! Being home with our whole family here was a great way to spend this Valentine's Day.

Well today was a much better day than yesterday. Thankfully we had no major tantrums! We took the kids outside to play in the snow while we cleared the driveway and sidewalks. (I know I complained about not having sidewalks when we lived in Florida, but I think I could do without having to shovel them here!) The girls had a great time out there. Mckenzie didn't like it if any snow got on her. She was content to stand there and look around without touching anything. If she got any snow on her mittens, she would hold her hands out, expecting us to clean them off. She did enjoy sliding down the big pile of snow though she had more fun riding in her little car. Abby had so much fun throwing snowballs. She said "It's so much fun to throw snow at Daddy!". Abby and I built a couple of snowpeople today. It was fun, but the snow was so heavy. We went to dinner tonight and the girls got ice cream for dessert. They both just love ice cream! Mckenzie took a huge bite and her eyes got huge and her mouth opened to let in warm air. I wan't sure if she was going to have more after that, but she kept on spooning it in!  We are off to pick up Dakota in the morning! Yeah!! We haven't seen her since the end of September and I have really been missing her lately. Can't wait to see her. And we get to see Sheri and her family! So excited for that too! Oh, when Scott was putting Mckenzie down for nap, Abby said to Scott "I need a nap too Daddy. My eyes are really sleepy". She didn't end up falling asleep. She came back downstairs after 10-15 minutes telling us "I just couldn't go to sleep".

What a day! Abby seemed to have tantrum after tantrum today. I don't know what her deal was today, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. Maybe it is being stuck in the house.  We got freezing rain/sleet and then some snow. It is still snowing out and it looks like it will snow through the night. So glad Scott found a shovel! The trees are so beautiful with the pristine snow gently covering the branches. I hope it doesn't get too windy overnight because I really want to get some better pictures tomorrow. Scott had a snow day from work so it was great to have him around the house. He told Mckenzie it was time for a nap and she went to her little chair, rested her head on the seat and pretended to go to sleep. So cute!  We brought the girls' chairs down from their rooms so they could watch Tinkerbelle today. It was so cute to see them both sitting down, watching a movie. I feel bad they get to watch so much tv these days, but it is the easiest distraction for them so I can get some work done! Abby and I got to play Candyland today and I felt so bad for winning the first two games that I started cheating so she could win the last two. I love to see her reaction when she wins. Her eyes light up and she starts cheering with her hands raised in the air. The girls were busy coloring today. Well, Abby colors, Mckenzie just breaks the crayons and peels the paper off. Abby didn't want her picture taken today, so I had to sneak one in when she was distracted playing with stickers! Oh, I just had to add the picture of our pancakes I made for breakfast. Abby was so excited to have shapes in her cakes! She couldn't decide if she wanted a tree or a snowman. She finally chose the tree giving Mckenzie the snowman.

Well, Target stole more of my money today. Seriously, I think I should have bought Target stock before we moved into this house. I found the cutest rugs for the girls' rooms! They are super soft and it is so sweet to watch Mckenzie roll around on them. She grabbed a blanket, a bear and snuggled down into the rug. I think Abby may be feeling a little neglected with all this house work. Today when Mckenzie was down for her nap I asked Abby if she wanted to watch Tinkerbell so I could try to get some more work done. She got very excited and said sure. Then she looked at me with her big hazel eyes and asked if I wanted to watch with her. I said no, I had unpacking to do. Abby looked at me sadly and said "Can I help you unpack?" That broke my heart. She didn't care what we did, as long as it was together. So, I turned on the fireplace and snuggled with my girl and watched Tinkerbell. Cute show and I loved the time snuggling with my "baby". Mckenzie cracked me up at lunch. I made grilled cheese and soup and gave Mckenzie a spoon to eat her soup. She opened her sandwich and used the spoon to scoop out the cheese. She used her fingers to eat her soup. Go figure!

I think today has been the most productive since we got here! Mckenzie's room is set up minus pictures on the walls, but her room was so much work. She is changing clothes size again so I had to get rid of the things that no longer fit and find room for the new to Mckenzie clothes (aka Abby's old clothes). Boy did Abby have a lot of clothes. I feel bad for dressing Mckenzie in so many hand me downs, but they are still in such good condition. Abby's room is mostly organized. I just put away all her clothes and we are set in there too. There are still so many things I need to do like get rugs for the floors and the pictures and shelves on the walls, but they both have curtains and toys to play with!  Abby has such a little attitude. Tonight we put her too bed and not two minutes later she was out of her room insisting she have two lights on in her room. We told her she had her nightlight and that was enough light. She looked at us, rolled her eyes over and over and said "I ONLY have one light (holding up one finger). I need two lights (with two fingers up). We bargained back and forth for a minute or so until I said one light or none. With very exaggerated eye rolling she said fine and went off to bed! Scott and I could hardly keep ourselves from laughing. She looked so darn cute and grown up leaning against the door bargaining for what she wanted. Scott had a lot of boxes to carry to the garage when he got home and Mckenzie thought she could help him by holding the door for him. Then when he would come back inside, she would put both hands on her cheeks and screech very excitedly. I love how excited she gets to see us.

Well, some of the snow is already melting, but I hear there is more to come on Wednesday. Abby went outside with Scott and made a snowman. It was tiny, but the snow wasn't very wet making it tough to make a big snowman. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. Abby kicked it over after I took a picture of her and Daddy with their snowman. Abby decided to use the area rug in the living room for a slide today and Mckenzie had to follow suit. The things they come up with never ceases to amaze me, though it does make me wonder why I buy toys when a rolled up rug is just as good! Mckenzie was hilarious at lunch, well second lunch. She ate her lunch and then decided to help me eat mine. I had soup and she was using my spoon to scoop the soup from the bowl onto her spoon. Then she would eat it from her spoon. I am not sure how much she actually ate since the table was quite messy when we were all done. Abby was playing the Wii bowling today and when it didn't go the way she wanted, she screamed "Are you kidding me?" Just another one of those things I have absolutely, positively no idea where she picked it up from!