I love this!

This is Addie and Charlotte's favorite thing to do right now. They walk around the house holding hands. Addie will either sing and sort of skip, or she will have a mission for them... they'll go to the "store" (her room), the "library" (Charlotte's room), or the "post office" (the dining room). Charlotte just soaks it up, she loves getting any sort of attention from her sister. I love when they play together.


"Whoa! Slow down, my legs are short!"

"Oh, you fell down? Let me drag you around the room instead."

More conversations with a two year old. . .

Let's file this one under "be careful what you ask for," which is a parenting file that will be forever expanding. April and I, thanks to our friends the Ortizs, managed to sneak away for a date. Upon picking up Addie and Charlotte, the following conversation ensued on the drive home:

Addie: Where are [did] Momma and Dada going [go]?
Me: Mom and Dad had fun tonight on -
Addie: No you didn't! You didn't have fun tonight.
Me: Yes we did. Mom and Dad went on a date. A date is when you go and do something fun with someone you love, like when I take you to the bookstore - that's an Addie Dada date. Dates are fun, huh?
Addie: Yeah.
Me: But, are you ever going to date a boy?
Addie (immediately): No, I'm not gonna date a boy.
(There is silence in the car for the better part of a minute. Little did I knew Addie was contemplating the conversation)
Addie: I'm gonna date TWO boys.

When the chuckling subsided, Addie proceeded to tell us what she did at the Ortizs'. When it came to dinner, she told us about eating a grilled cheese sandwhich (which she pronounces "girl" cheese sandwhich) and produced this great line with much pomp and pride:
"I ate girl [grilled] cheese sandwhiches because I'm a girl!"

P.S.

Enjoy our new song. We did it because we hate these automatic music players. Grrrr...

Okay, if you missed it, it was a Rick Roll. But even that annoyed me, so I took it down.

HO HO HO!

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.

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

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.

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?

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?"