fashion divas

Jennifer has been making quite the fashion statements lately. Her big thing has been tights. If given the change Jennifer would wear tights everyday and everywhere. Not a big deal you say. It is when she does not want to wear pants over the tights, yes that it right she simply wants to wear the tights with nothing over them. On several occasions lately I have told her that her teachers at school will not let her wear tights to school! Finally, Jennifer wore a dress to church on Sunday and so she got to wear tights, pure happiness let me tell you (I'm not sure where this is coming from I hate tights!). When we got home she finally took her dress off but of course wanted to keep the tights on. She picked out her shirt and had a great outfit for Sunday afternoon!The next day Jen's fashion sense got even better! She had jeans on with the sweatshirt earlier in the day but once she got home from school those came off and the sweatpants came out! Top off the none matching outfit with dad's headband for outside and you have yourself one good looking outfit put together completely by Jennifer!Mikayla got to make her own fashion statement a few days ago as well. She had to have a twenty-four hour EEG and so the poor little girl had to have all this on her head from about 8:30 Friday morning until about 11:00 Saturday morning. She was a trooper as always, once they were done gluing stuff to her head she was in a good mood even with all this stuff. Mikayla is ok no need to worry one of these days I will share why she had to have this done.

a bird?

We are not early risers in our house. So on school mornings I set my alarm to make sure we have ample time to get ready and out the door. The girls are usually our alarm clocks and depending on the morning they both will sleep in so as much as I hate the sound of the alarm clock it has to be set. This morning Jennifer was already awake when the alarm went off but we were still laying in bed, she was of course in bed with Bill and I. As the alarm starting going off Jennifer looked at me, "What's that?!" She has heard the sound before so I'm sure what made her ask. So I responded, "It's the alarm." Jennifer's response back to me, "It's a bird!" Me: "What a bird?" Jen: "Yeah, a bird. Dad it's a bird." Me: "It's the alarm saying wake up, wake up." Jen: "Dad, a bird, its a bird." I have no idea where the idea that the alarm sounded like a bird came from but she was pretty convinced it was a bird. The funny thing is that I think I may dislike birds just as much as I dislike the sound of the alarm. Always great to start the morning with a crazy conversation with your four year old.

Happy Birthday Rylee!

Today is the birthday of my favorite people in the world. Today is my friend Rylee's birthday. So today I am wishing Rylee a Happy Birthday!!! She turns 11 today and a few days ago when we asked her how old she was going to be her response was great, "11 baby!!" I love it, she's 11 baby. It has been almost seven years since I first meet Rylee, she was actually the same age as Jennifer is the first time I meet her. I got the chance to get to know Rylee so well because I worked with her mom (my dear friend Chris). Often times after school Rylee would come into my room and want to play. Seriously, would I rather work or play with Rylee, the answer was easy, this little girl had a way of making me want to stop what I was doing and play a quick game of let's go fishing or build something with blocks. Rylee opened my eyes to a new way of looking at life, she captured my heart. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that God brought this little girl (and her family) into our lives for a very specific reason. Two years after meeting Rylee, Jennifer was born. When Jennifer was just a few weeks old we were told she had Down syndrome and while we went through a grieving process it didn't last long because I often thought Rylee and what an amazing little girl she is. God had used Rylee to prepare my heart for an incredible new journey in life. Almost seven years later the girl still makes me smile. She loves our girls to pieces, Jennifer has sort of lost her high ranking since Mikayla came into our lives, it is fun to watch her love them both so much. Rylee's older brother watches our girls on Sunday nights when we have small group and I laugh as we see her in church on those mornings. "Mikayla, Jennifer my house tonight!" is what she always says with such excitement. I thank God for bringing Rylee into our lives, what joy she has brought to us. So Happy Birthday Rylee, enjoy being 11 baby!This a picture of Rylee and Jennifer when Jennifer was just a few weeks old. I searched my pictures and could not find a recent (good) picture of Rylee with my girls, so this will have to do for now.

happy girl

Over the past week Mikayla has been in a great mood! It brings a smile to my fact just thinking about it. Lately we can simply look at Mikayla and she will start to giggle. We can start to talk to her and she will giggle. We take a step towards her and she giggles. As you can tell pretty much anything will make her giggle right now! She watches Jennifer with a huge smile on her face. It has been so much fun to watch her. What joy this sweet girl brings to our home.

Ok so this picture isn't of her smiling but it makes me smile. One day last week Bill was feeding Mikayla some lunch. She was getting tired and fading fast but she kept eating. She would close her eyes a little bit and her head would start to fall. Bill would then say "Do you want a bite?" Mikayla would slowly lift her head and open her mouth, take a bit and then close her eyes again. Bill and I were cracking up. This happened several times before Bill decided maybe he should just let her go to sleep. She just needed a few more bites before really going to sleep. I sometimes wish I could just fall asleep like this.

lunch anyone?

Today at lunch we were trying to figure out what to have and I suggested macaroni and cheese. Jennifer thought this was a great idea, here is what process looked like next...

Bill asked Jennifer to get the pan out for the roni cheese (as Jennifer calls it) and you can see her choice of pans on the counter behind her, Bill's choice is on the stove in the background.

After much discussion between Bill and Jennifer about which pan would be the best choice to use the actually make the roni cheese Bill decided to let Jen do her thing. "No dad's pan, my pan" was Jennifer's response. Dumping the roni onto the pan.

As you can see she thinks this is pretty great!

Here is where Jen's recipe differs a little from the original. As we were deciding to have roni cheese for lunch Jennifer thought yogurt was a great choice as well. So she decided that maybe we could just combine the two. After dumping the roni on the pan Bill asked her what was next. She picked up the yogurt and wanted to dump it on the roni. (This was our last box of macaroni otherwise Bill said he would have let her dump the yogurt, just for fun!) Lastly comes the cheese, Bill had to be quick on this one because just like the yogurt she would have opened it right up and dumped away. Jennifer finally gave into Bill's idea after much discussion. I was feeding Mikayla during this whole process and I must admit I was pretty sure the roni was going all over the floor right here! Bill handed Jen the pan to take her picture, not a great idea in my mind but it worked out fine.

Jennifer with all her ingredients for roni and cheese. Helping out by stirring.
Finally enjoying the finished product. If anyone is ever interested in lunch (or any meal for that matter) we have a great chef on our hands, come on over!

funny girl

Jennifer has been full of silliness lately. She is coming up with weird and funny things all the time. Here are few of her latest silly moves...

Jennifer thought it would be funny to put Bill's coat the other day. Once she got it on she proceeded to spin in circles singing in the kitchen.

I'm not sure how Jennifer made this discovery but she realized she could fit between the couch and the wall the other day. Before making this wonderful discovery she thought it would be funny to put on Mikayla's hat. So here she is wearing Mikayla's hat and squeezing behind the couch.

Jennifer loves to help us do pretty much anything. So the other day she "helped" Bill do the dishes. First her shirt got slightly wet so she had to take it off and when Bill was done she decided she needed a drink. Why get a cup when the faucet is right there?
What will this girl come up with next?!

meeting

Tonight Bill had a meeting to go to and whenever Bill has to go to a meeting we have to start preparing Jennifer a few hours before he leaves. Jennifer is very much a daddy's girl, if you didn't know, and really hates it when he leaves. So this afternoon shortly after Bill got home from work I mentioned to Jennifer that dad had a meeting to go to later. Jennifer's response was immediate, "Daddy, no meeting!" She repeated, "No meeting dad" and then said, "Mom go to meeting?" Really I think she would have been fine if I had to leave just not her dad! Later at supper Jennifer had prayed and was then was asking Bill and I to pray. During my prayer I said something about Bill having a good meeting, as soon as those words came out of my mouth Jennifer calls out "No meeting!" Then she had grand idea, "I go to meeting!" She was really convinced she could just go with Bill to his meeting and repeated several times, "I go to meeting!" Bill and I were cracking up at her. Her face and voice are what made it so funny. She was yelling with excitement at this grand idea of hers. Needless to say she did not get to go to the meeting and had to settle for an evening at home with mom and Mikayla, in her mind not as fun as a meeting with dad.

all is well

This morning we headed up to Rochester for Mikayla's check-up with her cardiologist. It was a lot of driving for not a very long appointment but I guess that is good. The doctor thought Mikayla looked and sounded good. She has been doing amazing since her surgery. What can I say the girl loves to eat so she is gaining weight well and is a happy, laid back baby. We will go back this summer and have a full check-up with an echo and a few other things but for now all is well, with her heart. Jennifer went with us to the appointment today and she of course thought she needed to be checked out by the doctor as well. Lucky for us our doctor is a kind man who was willing to listen to Jennifer as well. Jennifer is due for an echo this summer too, so we will make a marathon trip with both girls having echoes and seeing the cardiologist on the same day, that will be interesting I'm sure!

On other notes both girls are making progress on important stages in life. Mikayla is rolling over, hooray!! She had that task down before her surgery in October but after surgery she had to stay off her tummy for a while so we can kind took a few steps back. Once she was able to be on her tummy again she had no interest at all, in fact up until a few weeks ago she sort of hated being on her tummy. But this week she has started rolling from back to tummy again. Bill and I were laughing tonight because she really could do more than she is, she is just choosing to be a little lazy! And today Jennifer went almost the entire day having a dry pull-up! Hopefully the end is in site for potty training, what a process it has been. Jennifer has been showing from the minute she was born that it is all about her timing, we cannot push that girl to do anything she is not ready to do. I have learned time and again to enjoy the waiting process with her. Although it may take a little longer for certain goals to be reached that is ok, there are certain things we get to enjoy a bit longer than most parents. It is funny how Mikayla is proving to be like her sister in this way. She could be rolling over yet she is taking her time. Once again I will simply enjoy her where she is and let her take her time.

cheese

When I picked Jennifer up from preschool she was in a goofy mood. Really it was making me laugh. She talked to me the whole way home. First she thought we should go to the store for popcorn and butter. Then she wanted go to the bank, they give her candy in the drive-thru window. Then she was just talking, I think she was telling me about school and what she wanted to do when she got home. The girl has so much to say, I just wish I could understand it all!

Once we got home Jennifer helped me make lunch and part way through noticed the camera and decided she needed her picture taken. Here are her goofy smiles!

This was from a few nights ago in the bath, of course you can kind of tell she was saying "cheese" as I took the picture.
Mikayla was not all about having her her picture taken today. She was getting hungry and just wanted to be held, she was not as impressed with pictures today like her sister.
Yes, it happened again. There is something about this exersaucer that makes this girl tired! She sort of looks like she is kissing the baby though, which is kind of sweet.

snowman

These pictures really should have gone with the previous post, so here they are...

Jennifer and Bill's snowman, with charcoal for eyes and a mouth, a hat made of snow and gloves that don't match. Jennifer was very proud of the snowman, until it was time to come inside. Bill said he had to convince her not to tackle the snowman and knock him over!