Saturday, December 13, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Can you believe it?

It is snowing! And it is actually sticking to cars and roofs! Too bad both of the girls are asleep so they won't get to see it. These pictures make it look much more dramatic than it actually is. There isn't even a 1/8 of an inch and it isn't sticking to the grass, so it really doesn't even count as snow in most other parts of the country. But it is still exciting for Houston so I thought it deserved a post.


Forts are fun

Especially when you have two cats to play with you.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Want free camping stuff?

I found a great website that enrolls people in beta testing of camping equipment. I haven't received any of the stuff yet, but it looks promising. Check it out:

http://www.outpacker.com

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

A conversation with a 2-year old

Sean: I bought Charlotte at the store for thirty dollars.

Addie: No you didn’t! Charlotte came from Mommy’s tummy!

Sean: I bought you at the store for thirty dollars!

Addie: No! You didn’t buy me at the store!!!

Sean: Where did you come from?

Addie: I came from Daddy’s tummy!

sad day

We had a really tough morning, everyone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, sharing was hard, and both girls wanted all of my attention all of the time. To make matters worse, Addie decided that she wasn't going to fall asleep and Charlotte decided to wake up 10 minutes after I put Addie in her room for her attepted nap. So no break for me.

After "nap" time we went outside to play. All of our morning troubles seemed to be a thing of the past. Everyone was happy. And then Addie heard the ice cream truck.

Addie: "Mom, do we have enough money for ice cream?"

I usually tell her we don't have enough money when she asks, but today she was so cute and I wanted to keep the happy mood, so I started to consider it. She obviously caught me hesitation because she got a HUGE smile on her face.

Addie: "We have money inside! It's in your closet!"

Okay, I'll cave. We run inside, grab some money and race back outside to find the ice cream truck. Addie jumps on her bike and races to the end of the block as fast as her little legs could take her. But it was gone. We were too slow.

She doesn't seem too traumatized about it, we had some string cheese when we got back home. Maybe Daddy will bring some ice cream home.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Okay, I admit it. I'm a Texan.

Sean would tell you that it happened a long time ago, but I would have argued that I still had some thick-Northern blood running through me. For the past two years I have laughed at these Texans who bundle up their babies the moment the temperature drops below 80. My first winter here I was scolded on several occasions for not dressing Adeline properly, at the same time, I was wearing a skirt and short sleeves. I don't think I wore a jacket that entire winter, and everyone kept saying how it was an unusually cold winter. For one week in November it did get chilly, the highs were in the upper 40s. On Friday that week we decided it was finally cold enough to turn on the heater. But when we turned it on it didn't work. We were still in our apartment and it was after the office had closed for the weekend, so the maintenance crew was gone. No problem. We tossed on an extra layer and put a space heater in Addie's room at night. When I called on Monday to let them know about the heater they seemed shocked that we were able to survive 3 days without a heater. I was informed that if this were ever to happen again that I should immediately call the emergency line. Right-o. I hardly consider 40 degrees an emergency, but okay.

Anyway, that was the old, April Conaway. Today it was 55 degrees and I wanted to take the girls to the park. I dressed them in pants and long sleeves (the thickest I could find). I put on their heavy coats. Then I started to look for hats and was shocked that we didn't have any winter hats. Okay, I guess they'll be fine, their coats have hats that they can wear on our bike ride, they'll survive without hats at the park. But I did put hats on a mental list of things to buy.

In my defense, I only wore a sweatshirt and not a coat. Do I get points for that?

Sunday, November 30, 2008


A few days ago we decorated our tree, here Charlotte is helping out... with carrot all over her face...

A cute thing that Charlotte has recently learned is how to shake her head no. If you offer her food that she doesn't want, she will shake her head. If you try to take something away from her, she will shake her head. If someone tries to take her away from Mamma, she'll shake her head. It is cute because she definitely knows what it means, and she is very firm with her opinion. But I know it is probably not going to be cute for very long!

The Zoo

Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, our zoo has a free day. This year Sean was so nice and he took the girls out for the day and let me do some studying. Everyone had a great time. I enjoyed the peace and quiet. The girls loved the animals. And Sean enjoyed spending some time with his girls. Trying to juggle two excited girls by himself, he understandably didn't get very many pictures.

Adeline loved the flamingos, she is still talking about them 3 days later.

When she saw the bears she started saying, "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Velveteen Rabbit

Addie has a new favorite book, The Velveteen Rabbit. She has two different versions and it is not unusual for her to request both of them as her two books before bed. This afternoon as I was reading one to her she started pointing at the different rabbits and saying, "this one is real, that one is a toy." I started to expand the concept beyond pictures and told her, "Pepper and Danu are real kitties. This kitty in your crib is a toy. Charlotte is a real baby, this is a toy baby." Then she started naming off things herself, "This is a toy bunny. This is a toy. That dog is a toy. Tigger is real. Yeah! Tigger is REAL, he really, really is real!!" For those of you who don't know, Tigger is her favorite stuffed animal, for the longest time she couldn't sleep without him. I guess she gets the message of the book.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Happy Birthday Charlotte!


I can't believe it has already been a year.
I had high hopes for Charlotte digging into her cake and getting messy.
"Here is your cake, Charlotte. Would you like me to dump it in your lap?"
Mom, what do I do with this?
"Don't worry," said Addie, "I'll show you how."
Okay, maybe I'll try it.
Ahhhh, my hands are messy! I'm done with this.
Okay then, I'll eat it for you.
I just had to post this picture of the girls enjoying Charlotte's new toy. It has a handle in the back so Addie can push her all over the house.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Addie's Favorite Things

Wearing hats. She got this hat when she was two months old and she thinks it is the coolest thing because it has a monkey on it.

And standing on her head. She's constantly doing this. Actually, tonight as I was singing her goodnight song she was standing on her head in her crib.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Charlotte's Favorite Things

I love when they play together. Here Addie is helping Charlotte with two of her favorite things:
1. Pulling items out of a basket.
2. Climbing into a small space.

Besides making messes and climbing, Charlotte enjoys wearing shoes. Nearly every day she will find a shoe and bring it to me - then she whines until I put it on her. Here she is modeling one of her sisters shoes. She was so proud! Of course, the shoe was too big for her and it fell off somewhere around the house. Now Addie is missing one brown shoe.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Well. . .

We just got back from trick-or-treating. There is a good assortment of candy on the floor, and just the proximity to that candy has made Addie pretty loopy. Right now, she's going after a purple sucker. Of course, about thirty-seven percent of that sucker is all over her face, neck and chest. April looks at Addie and laughs, "you're getting all purple."
To which Addie replies, "Well, it IS purple."

Happy Halloween!


Friday, October 24, 2008

Then and now

This basket is so much fun - at least the girls think so. A few nights ago Charlotte had a blast pushing this around and climbing in and out of it. I couldn't help but think about Addie when she was roughly the same age.

Charlotte, 11 months:


Adeline, 10 months:

Fall Fun

A few days ago the playgroup from our church took a trip up north to a place called the Oil Ranch. I was a little nervous because a lot of the activities at the ranch involve farm animals. The last time Addie was around animals like this was at the rodeo and she was terrified. But, we don't get many opportunites to get out in the country, so I decided to risk it.

First up was the hayride to feed the cows. Addie wasn't too thrilled, she wanted to sit on my lap the entire time, but it did go better than I was expecting. The cows put their heads right into the wagon and would eat out of your hand... we just threw our food onto the hay and let them eat it from there. Considering the cows got within two feet of Addie, I am very proud to say there was no screaming involved.


After the cows we went to a hay-maze. Much less frightening.

Next we had a picnic lunch. Charlotte was so tired from the cow excitement that she almost fell asleep on the grass.

After lunch we rode on the train. This was Addie's favorite part of the trip.


After the train ride we headed off to the petting zoo and pony rides. This was the only interesting picture I got at the petting zoo. Charlotte was zonked out in her stroller and Addie wanted nothing to do with the animals. But they did have this chicken which I thought was really funny looking.


Out of everything that day, I was most surprised by Adeline's reaction to the ponies. She doesn't even like the 25 cent mechanical horses in supermarkets, so I was completely shocked when she rode the horse! She was a little nervous at the beginning, I had to hold her hand the first time. But after she was done she actually wanted to go again! These pictures are from round #2 when she was comfortable enough to ride without me.

Then we tried to put Charlotte on a horse. Not to ride, just to get a picture. But she wanted nothing to do with it.

Here we are at the end of the day. Charlotte is half naked because we had snow-cones and she enjoyed hers a little too much.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

6th Folder Tag

Okay, I am actually doing a tag! Only because it is super, super easy. If you get tagged, you have to go to your Pictures folder, open the 6th folder and post the 6th picture from that folder. Then you tag 6 people (well, it was originally supposed to be 5, but I thought 6 worked better with the 6 theme)... so I tag Scott, Susannah, Holly, Shannon, Lisa and Kelianne.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

The important stuff

I've been trying to teach Addie her letters recently. It didn't seem like it was really sinking in, she could pick out O and B, but that is about it. Well, today I gave her some M&Ms. She was munching away when suddenly she looked at one and said, "Look, Mom, an M! M is for Mommy!" I guess it just takes the right motivation to get her to tell us what she knows.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Naptime at Wal-Mart

Charlotte got up really early today and shopping was just a little too much for her.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Cheeks!

I wanted to say thank you to my friend who showed me a great secret to taking cute pictures of kids. You say teach your kids to put their cheeks together anytime you say "cheeks." They think it is funny and you get a cute shot with their heads posed almost perfectly.

We tried this with Addie and she had a great time. Take a look at our results!


It doesn't work as well with Charlotte and Addie together, but I'm sure the kinks will work themselves out in a matter of time.