Hello family and friends....so today was our second visit to a church we recently discovered. We left the girls in the children's room last week but it didn't go so well. Even though we were able to stay throughout the whole service, we could hear Noelle crying hysterically from the floor below the sanctuary. Not exactly a success. We had much better luck this time around! Both Noelle and Kaira did great! In fact when I walked in to the room to get them, Noelle turned in her chair to face me and said as calm and pleasantly as could be, "Hi Mama" and then promtly went back to her coloring.......I was shocked! I guess I should give the girl more credit....

Here are a few pictures from this last week:

Looks like Downward Dog but she was really practicing Gorilla pose:


We've tought Kaira how to say "Happy!"


Checkin' out the great outdoors:


The kids did a collage using SOFT cotton balls and ROUGH sand paper. And lots of glue!


Noelle's:


They really do like the horse....they just aren't sure about being on it at this point:


Boinga, boinga, boinga:


Playing with the rice bins:




****Gotta cut in for a second and tell you how cute Kaira is being. I'm sitting on the couch with the laptop on my lap and she is crouching behind it saying "Ah mama go"? (By the way...AH means WHERE in their world) Then she jumps up and says "Boo"!!! Okay...back to the pictures....

Playing with the water bin:


They pretty much do everything with the highchairs except for actually put their dolls in them:



Finally, here's a picture of my beautiful new roller skates that Steve got me for Christmas. Roller Derby here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


More to come next week!

Random Pictures

Hi friends and family! Here are some random pictures of the girls taken this last week and a half.

We did a little painting project last week:



Noelle had a few days where as soon as Steve got home from work, she'd beg for his jacket:



Noelle loves to read, especially with Papa!


Another shot of Noelle playing with a Christmas gift from Grammy and Grandpa:

Fingerpainting (otherwise known as wth was mommy thinking?)

Today we decided to embrace messiness and do some fingerpainting. So as not to cause too much craziness, I made some non-toxic paint by dyeing (sp???) a few things of vanilla pudding (one green, one blue) and threw in a chocolate for good measure.



We start out fairly well....notice she's already tried to taste the paint though ( I never indicated it was okay to eat by the way)



Across the way, N is working studiously...never once does she try to eat the paint. I almost felt bad for her and am still debating giving her a pudding snack later today. (K is cut off!)


Pan back over to K.....mmmm...this tastes yummy....s'ok mama...quality control


Let me just check this out here...


I like finger painting mama!


Meanwhile....here is K after I took away her "paints". Because let's face it...what 16 month old needs to eat 3 pudding snacks in one sitting?


I think it might be a while before we try finger painting again. :-)

"Painting" the new fence.

Yay!! Look at our new fence! I'm so happy to have it....no more running after the girls as they take off in different directions down the sidewalk. Steve did a great job!


I set out a bucket of water and some unused paintbrushes so the girls could paint the fence


Noelle would rather use the brush like a sucker


Kaira is mesmerized by the water

a couple of updated pictures for grammy and grandpa

I set them up with "feelie goop". Basically a mixture of cornstarch and water. It's so simple but has the most interesting consistency. Notice how neither girl could stop from sampling it.

Can't wait to see you guys in a few weeks!









I set them up with "feelie goop". Basically a mixture of cornstarch and water. It's so simple but has the most interesting consistency. Notice how neither girl could stop from sampling it.

It's a Start...

...not the best video, but it counts... those are steps...

Good Morning, Grammy & Grandpa...

What another post...but it hasn't been 3 months yet?!?!

Yep, that's right....we're in an update frenzy. Check out the (semi-)cool things we did this week:

Noelle enjoys challenging her new-found ability to stand by engaging in the edgy new x-treme sport: toy surfing

Here's a replay:

the crowd gasps:

She's happy.... believe it or not:

Noelle poses for the new Guitar World Magazine cover (typical guitar pose):"I hear things"

Pride comes before a fall... and so does laughing at your kid's fall..

Who knew watching a video of your daughter falling on her face could be so funny?

Confession: I've probably watched this video, maybe 70 times... died laughing... don't judge me! If there's one thing I've learned from watching Ricki Lake Show reruns all winter its that "we dont judge". okay? fascist.



To ease my conscience,though, I have to tell you, Vanda and I watched it together at least 50 times... it just seemed to get funnier the more we watched it... but the very next day I got what I deserved in the form of my own ridiculously clumsy fall up the stairs, at a certain unnamed public place! Mercifully, no one else saw my sad crash landing.

...feel free to watch and laugh at our sweet daughter taking a header as many times as you'd like, laughing out-loud in the anonymity of your own home...

...by the way, Noelle is and was 100% fine... she never even cried...

Record Time

...thank you for your interest in our family....we'll take caller 10 right now if you wanna win tickets to the next baby jamboree (i.e., Tour de Babysitting)...

In the meantime, I'll get right to what you all came here for....pictures:

The other day, Kaira and I hung out while Vanda and Noelle were out running errands. Kaira loves the shiny black spinning things, which I tell her are called "records" and "albums" and "180 gram virgin carbon-blackened vinyl". As it turns out, she really likes the artwork too:

...she's going through a bit of a "January 1969" phase lately:

"Cream are, hands-down, the best 3-piece ever" - Kaira Ragland...the turntable is safely out of reach... for now

...then Noelle and mama came home and joined the fun... and Noelle returned to her spotlight, beside Kaira.....and we all played records. Kaira set aside a few to show Noelle, including Shiny Lady (i.e., Aretha Franklin)

...then we danced...
Kaira sports the tongue-out look a lot lately...even if she's dancing
...while Noelle digs the box
..then, the girls unwind with a quick jumparoo session before goin' "night night"It was a great day.

P.S. ...the Excersaucer (TM) no longer fulfills the emotional needs of this eight-month-old