Muddy Yard

What do ya think of this yard? You can only imagine how nice and clean our wood floors remain once our dogs are finished frolicking through the mud! Particularly after a day of heavy rain. It makes me feel like Hillary looks, below. Somebody be lovin' their Bumbo!


Below is Miss Jacqueline taking good care of her dolly. This doll has been chewed by Hannah as evidenced by the chewed up hat on the doll's head.
And last but certainly not least are the fruits of my labor. I spent Monday and Tuesday priming and painting my butt off and I absolutely love the color. It's like an entirely new and improved bedroom. We had sea green wallpaper before, which would be cool if our furniture was wicker and our bedding was coral because then I could at least channel the Golden Girls... but that just wasn't the case. Our furniture is mostly white- mixed in with some unfinished gems from Jim's bachelor days. Our room looked more like a flea market- with bottles and mismatched crap and seriously ugly wallpaper. This is a great improvement.

Thanksgiving and Some Other Stuff

What you are looking at above is precisely what Jim will be grumbling over come Christmas Eve eve (We are heading up to his sister's for Xmas, so Santa is coming to our house a day early). His future misery is palpable. This morning at Target I then realized that while her cousins are opening gifts from Santa Xmas day- she will have already opened hers and will have nothing to open. Sonofagun. So I picked her up a mini doll, a mini doll bath tub and a mini doll cradle at Target while grocery shopping this morning- if I throw in some sort of ball and maybe a race car or 2, she will be in heaven. So this is the plan.

I haven't uploaded my pics from T-giving because I can't find my freaking camera cord. That cord is the bane of my existence. Anyway, Jackie obviously had a good time and Hillary is more and more expressive by the day.

The girls hung out with Aunt Betty from Chicago this weekend. Jax calls her "Boppy," which is really cute. After a "Sell This House" marathon on Saturday, Jim finally decided to give me the okay to start painting our bedroom. With a 3 month old and a 22 month old, I have no business starting any home renovation project. Like, none at all. But Jax is at daycare today so I'm going to paint in between taking care of Hills.

I will upload those pics soon!

Black Friday

I'm pretty tight with one of Jack's old daycare teachers and I was also really nervous when she moved up to the 1 to 2 year old room. So this particular teacher (Miss Jenna) sent me pics of Jax during school. Above is Jack on the playground and below is Jack making herself at home at a little table. These pics are from last spring.
I love the picture below- it's Jackie right around Easter when she got her new leather chair. But my favorite part of the picture is Lou in the background. She looks like she needs a drink!
We did no shopping today, but both girls were so crabby that Jim and I were both going nuts so we went on a drive just for some peace and quiet.

Almost...

the picture I used for our Xmas cards...

Big Times

Can you believe it? Santa brought Jackie's duck potty early this year. I figured we might as well have her get used to the idea. She took off her diaper and sat on it like a big girl and then got up - she didn't use it. It brought tears to my eyes and I put a diaper on her and decided not to rush the matter. I am not mentally stable enough for this stuff! She is getting too big too fast. She'll be 10 and I'll still be willingly changing her diapers. Eek... maybe we'll just wait until she turns 2 or until she insists or something.
We picked up the jungle playmat from Grammy's and H-ster freaking loves it and Jax kind of likes it too again.
We turned Jack's car seat to face forward, which is 1.5 months earlier than the recommended time, but we had our reasons that are too boring to type here.
Lastly, we decorated the Xmas tree last night. Jackie saw the huge thing of glass balls and started screaming "Ball!" She wanted to throw them and play ball. Not good. So we waited until she went to bed to put them on the tree. She had fun watching Dada put up the tree and also looking at ornaments we have with pictures on them.

I would've had this tree up November 1, but Jim has archaic ideas about not having a tree up before T-giving. We compromised, as my dad's T-giving was Saturday. So, by one side of my family's standards, Thanksgiving is over.

Matching

Definitely never foresaw myself as a parent who dressed her children in matching outfits but.. alas, that is precisely what I am. In the wee hours of the morning, I designated yesterday pajama day. Neither Hillary, Jax, nor myself would get dressed. I even bathed Jackie (she was filthy) and then put her in fresh PJs. Above and below are relatively clear Hillary shots at 11.5 weeks.

Hillary's favorite place to be these days is directly in the zone of danger: on the floor next to a 22 month old who has mixed feelings about her. Haha- I kid. The sibling love is in the air.. most of the time.

Below is Jackie watching Yo Gabba Gabba, her favorite TV show, in the leather recliner that the Easter bunny brought her 2 weeks late.


Jackie got a cool gift from my mom's friend: a pillow case that you color on. When you wash it, the color sets. We colored intermittently all day. It was so much fun - as much fun for me as it was for her. In fact, I want my own.
Jackie has become learned in caring for a baby. As you can see, her doll Richie Omar receives the same loving treatment as Hillary. While watching TV or relaxing, Jackie feeds Richie and then is always sure to burp him. She will then take him for a walk in his stroller, at which time Hannah steals him, Jackie starts crying and Hannah starts hiding. Richie needs a bath.
And above is my little character. She gets funnier and funnier every day. She lets me know now if she wants milk or water to drink. She tells me when she wants a snack. She isn't really into TV, but when she does watch a show, she wants me or Jim (or Grandma) to sit next to her while she watches it and sing along and/or discuss what's on. What can I say? A budding intellectual.

Random Photos from Summer 2011

Above is a pic of Jackie from a visit to Grammy and Pops in early summer, I believe. I love that outfit. She only wore it once, though, because I quickly learned that it needed to be ironed.... and that just wasn't going to happen.
Above is Jax hanging with Dada and Lou. The crayon she is holding has long been eaten and digested by a certain 70+ pound golden retriever. Along with every other crayon in the pack.
And I include these photos simply because I love the outfit. This was after daycare one random day this August.

And here is Jack again-sitting on a bumble bee pillow.....and we all know how she feels about bumblebees.

She is currently sitting to my right, quietly engaged in playing with tupperware. Hannah is laying about 3 inches from her, desperate to be somehow involved in every single thing that occurs in her life. I gave Hannie her Xmas gift early this morning because she was driving everyone nuts- a stuffed Xmas tree. Then Jackie decided she wanted the stuffed Xmas tree. D-mned if you do. D-mned if you don't.

The Little Zoo

ZOO PHOTOS FROM MAY

There is a little zoo near our house- admission is like $4 and the main attraction is a tiger. We took Jax last Mother's Day (along with everyone else in DE) and we took both girls on Saturday. The pictures above and below are from last May. Jax enjoyed the zoo much more this time around.

Jackie and I are petting the pgymy goats above. We went into the pen and pet them last time and they started ramming each other.

ZOO PHOTOS FROM NOVEMBER (SATURDAY)
Hillary's big debut was Saturday. She slept most of the time. Below Jax and Jim were enjoying the sight of the alpacas.
Below is the new tiger. It was so close. Very cool.


On Sunday Hills got to meet Uncle Brian, Great Gpa Shoemaker, Aunt Lauren, and the rest of the Shoemakers for Gma and Gpa's 60th wedding anniversary. Pictures to come on that one. A photographer was there, so hopefully she got good pictures that I can post here.

Comparison at 9-10 Weeks

Jack
Hill
Hill

HillJack


They look so different to me.

Yum

And you better believe she ate from that same spoon afterwards.

1st Birthday

Yet another flashback: Jackie Turns 1. I wanted a huge blow out, but Jim convinced me that was a bad idea. Anyway, the decorations are below.
I think this is Jackie eating her lunch.

I made that cake the night before. I was up super late, but I was happy with the way it turned out.
And here is Jackie enjoying her cake.


And, lastly, the crowd shot. Just family. I didn't get any pictures of her opening her gifts. Or even a full pic of her in her country western skirt. I'll have to remember to be better about taking pics.