Busy Bee's

I am happyto report that the girls have been doing SO much better together....mommy is regaining some of her sanity! My little Kira who has always been a breeze when it comes to sleep has been putting up a little resistant on occasion. "No, not yet!" is a common phrase we're hearing from her, and a couple of odd napping days too. WHo knows?! They're always changing at this age. SHe is quite ecstatic about her new Elmo shirt, and wore it to bed last night and has had it on all day today too. Pretty soon, she is not going to fall for the, "Oh, it's dirty honey" trick. I knew I couldn't get away with two girls who had no opinion on their daily attire! She reallyloves going to preschool a couple of days a week when I go to the gym, and is very affectionate with the other kids. Family movie night was a big hit too...thanks Papa Jefe and G-ma Susan! Meeting Santa oat the Pearson Air Museum was very exciting too, and both girls loved him! No shyness to speak of! Flying a helicopter got high points too. Our fingers are crossed as we head out to Seattle for the Santa Train tomorrow...no getting sick...please!!!!

Thanskgiving

Mom, and the Moreno's braved the I5 traffic to spend Thanksgiving with us this year, a real treat! The girls had a lot of fun together and loved putting up the Christmas decor. Poor Eva had a 24 hour flu thing...par for the course, but she still managed to muster some spark to help decorate the tree...until she felt nauseous again. I fear she has gotten my weak stomach...the lady who gets food poisoning at least once a year! Eva has really come into her own, and is much more even-keel that she used to be. She uses her imagination really well and goes with the flow much more now. Just as her sister moves into the two's......................

Halloween

OK, a bit tardy (December, instead of Octber) but I am doing it! Halloween was very exciting with the girls. Eva picked out her very own costume from the hundreds at the store. It was narrowed down to a princess, Darth Vader, and a witch. A girls after her daddy's heart! Kira got to wear Eva's old costume! Trick-or-Treating was pretty fun, although Eva got a belly ache almost right away (who knows what it is with er and getting sick on holidays...remember last Xmas, and this Thanksgiving too!) so she stayed in the stroller, and her sister wold bring her candy. Kira thought it was the greatest thing ever, the candy addict. She gets sweets plenty, but she is one of those who is angry and mean about it if she doesn't get it. I guess she'll eventually learn all her her drama will get her nowhere with us. Mike, Toby, and I all dressed up to...all for the immense pleasure of the girls!

Sibling Craziness

I know I am certainly not alone. Sibling strife has been around as long as we have! I remember distinctly some very aggressive altercations between me and my sister (Kirst). And we love each other today very much. That being said, my kiddos have been less than pleasant to deal with for Mike and me lately@! They have this weird dichotomy of adoring each other and insisting on being next to each other at almost all times, but it has been truing to conflict almost instantly. Since Kira's birthday, we have been trying to survive this mayhem, but finally I reached my threshold. I was angry at them all the time, they were sad and mad most of the time....this did NOT feel good, and our ideas were not helping the situation any. So what does any self-respecting teacher do? Research!! I got a hold of a whole battery of highly rated books at the library. I found a particular gem, "Love and Logic from Birth to 6 Years". Short, to the point, lots of real world stories from the parenthood trenches. And I suppose the most telling bonus, the ideas resounded with me. Week one of tweaking? Well, my house feels a WHOLE lot different! My cute little sisters actually PLAYING together with no conflict for large chunks of time?! I keep holding my breath..but it seems to be working! As Cesar Milan of Dog Whisperer likes to point out, it's usually the owners that are the issue, not the dog. Now this may not be 100% true, we have definite genes and personality at work here in our spawn, but it is interesting to think about! We all are trying the best we can, and when you're trying to feed the dog,make dinner, clean up, change diapers, and discipline all in a few moments time....well, I certainly have a breaking point. It's important to take those few deep breaths, re-center, and deal with your kids calmly and not with anger (repeat, repeat, repeat....in my head all the time of late!). And some cute pics, just cause you got to post pictures too!

Happy Birthday Kira Sorrel!

Kira's 2, and I am still trying to grapple with that! We had a mellow day celebrating by doing simple things she enjoys, likes a trip to the park, then an evening restaurant visit for rice and chicken and tortillas, and finally an outdoor neighborhood cake celebration. She loved opening her gifts, definitely old enough to be into it now. Of course Eva was trying to open all the gifts for her ("I just trying to help her!") Yes Eva, we know Eva, but back off anyways! And Eva was also easily as excited about the new gifts as Kira too, I am sure it will be like that for a while. Kira seemed very into the Birthday song, and was singing it as we walked back inside to go to bed, she strings little sentences (3 or 4 words) together now, quite cute!

Crazy Sisters

Yes, Kira and Eva have really been driving me crazy lately. Here, they are just sweet little peas having fun at Ace's 2nd b-day at the Pumpkin Patch. Fast forward to time at home together...well it is a different story. They do everything physical to each other. Last night, Kira found a pair of child's scissors somewhere (I know, how did she get those?! Who knows...she can climb up onto ANYTHING these days, including the kitchen counters to access the upper cupboards--oh yeah, you read it right.)They can't stand to be away from each other, but quickly get frustrated with one another, and do something physical to express that....hit,pinch, kick,pull, spit...you get the picture. I wonder in my head, "My lord...where have I gone so miserably wrong in rearing my children that they do these things?!" I think I need a book on siblings, I am feeling quite inept as a mommy right now. On a positive note, Eva did quite well after a several month break from swim lessons yesterday..picked up right where she left off! And when I finally figure out why my camera cord is not registering my camera's presence, I wil upload some new videos of the girsl too....

Kiddo Roundup

At the end of another day with both the kiddos home..I relish the quiet around me. No one screaming their sister, no crying, no naughtiness, just peace and quiet. I feel like my life sometimes reads like an Erma Bombeck story, but really, which of us in the parent trenches can't claim the same thing? Eva got to harvest several of her garden wares today..she found stray carrot at the community garden plot (which she promptly gobbled down) and them we dug up our sparse school-project potato plant. It never really grew, but lived, so the 4 fingerlings dug out will be all hers! She thought it was very cool to dig them up, and wanted to replant them all right away...we'll try that again next year! She is my avid little gardener, totally in love with watching her plants grow and produce food!
Kira has been especially into fine motor things lately (puzzles, tinker toys, etc) and has become quite adept at her peg puzzles. She can still be pretty shy, but little snippets of coming out of her shell peak out now and then. She is putting basic sentences together now, and loves to climb and jump. Her new catch phrase is "Silly!", which was once an Eva one too! "What's Sat?" is another phrase used alot with books and out and about. She is getting big so fast.