Fall Time

I wanted a picture of the girls in the leaves, but of course, I couldn't get both of them to look at me at the same time while trying to do it myself.  I called Jennifer to see if she'd get a few for me since Joel was still in the fields and I didn't have anyone to help me at home.  She ended up getting a couple good ones of Lily, but of course, Ainsley wanted nothing to do with getting her picture taken.

Joel finished in the fields earlier this week, so I now have my husband back, and the girls have their Daddy home at night.  It's pretty nice being able to actually clean up the supper mess that night instead of waiting until the next day because I'm too exhausted to even mess with it by the time Joel would get home!

7 Months

Lily was 7 months old on Monday.  She's changing every day and becoming more independent.  

She likes to play on the floor with her toys.  Of course, her sister's toys are even better, but big sister doesn't let her have them for very long before snatching them away from her.  Lily can pretty much get to where she wants to go (within the same room) by rolling and scooting.  She will get up on her hands and legs like she's going to crawl, but she's far from actually crawling.  She's packing around a lot of weight that's holding her down!!!

She's finally figured out her jumperoo.  Instead of jumping up and down in it, she jumps side to side.  It's still fun, though.

 
I'm pretty sure I'm her favorite at this point and she gets upset if I leave the room.  She gets very upset when someone takes something away from her.  I'm talking about a full meltdown if you take something away from her.  You know when a good cry is coming, because she'll pout her bottom lip out before the tears.  It's the most adorable thing ever!

Lily's 6 month pictures

I had Lily's 6 month pictures taken about a month ago.  Here are some of my favorites!

Love her face in this one!

Yep, they're sisters.  Just look at the way they both hold their hands!

Lily does so much better than Ainsley ever did at getting pictures done, so I'm hoping that she only continues to be good for me on picture days.  I am happy that we did manage to somehow talk Ainsley into sitting for a couple of pictures.  She can be such a stinker!

Countdown to Christmas

The toy catalogs have been appearing in our mailbox.  These catalogs are now laying all over our house.  At least once a day, I'll catch Ainsley flipping through the pages of one. 

Let me just say that she's just a little excited about Christmas this year!  I'm not going to lie.  Mommy is too!

I've had quite a few people ask what they can get the girls for Christmas.  I decided that a "wish list" on Amazon would be an easy way to let everyone know what the girls want, and they can even order directly from there.  Ainsley enjoyed sitting on my lap, looking at all the toys on the computer, and telling me what she wanted Santa to bring her.  She now asks if she can "go shopping on the computer" a few times a day. 

Of course, Lily doesn't need much since she has all of Ainsley's old toys.  Puffs, yogurt bites, diapers (size 5), wipes, baby wash, and lotion are all things Lily would definitely use.  There are a few things that I found for Lily, which are included in the Amazon wish list, but books are also something that both girls enjoy.

You can go here to find the wish list I created.  Here are some of the things Ainsley's into this year:  Mickey Mouse, Bubble Guppies, Dora, Max and Ruby, Lalaloopsy, books, seek and find books, tractors, combines, cows, music, and instruments.  She's adamant about getting a "Mickey bike" from Santa, and I've been searching high and low for the one that she wants.  Jim and Rita have a Mickey tricycle at their house, which Ainsley loves.  She wants that exact one, but it's not sold anymore.  Santa will not disappoint my little girl, even if it means stealing the one from Grandma and Grandpa's!!!!

Leaves!

Ainsley is loving all the leaves on the ground.  She'll look at them out our dining room window and beg to go outside to play in them.  Every day when we leave Lisa's, it takes me a few minutes to convince Ainsley to get in the car because there's too many leaves to play with in the driveway.  It's either been too chilly or wet lately, but we did have a nice day a few weeks ago and I was able to get both girls outside. 

Ainsley kicked, threw, and jumped in the leaves, while Lily tried to eat them.

 I finally had to put Lily in the swing so I didn't have to worry about her choking on a leaf, and of course, Ainsley was jealous.  The jealousy quickly subsided when I told her she could push Lily.  Ainsley thought that was pretty cool being able to push Lily in the swing.  That was, until the swing came back and hit Ainsley on the forehead because she wasn't paying attention.  It's almost a given that if you come to our house, at least one kid will be crying.

 

 

It's no secret that a lot of baking happens at our house.  Ainsley loves doing it, and I like the end result (even if my waistline doesn't).  Lily likes being part of the action and sits in her bumbo seat on the island while Ainsley and I get everything together.  Ainsley has discovered the yummy goodness of batter.  Cupcake, brownie, cookie dough batter....it doesn't matter.  It's all good! 

 

Brownie batter is the best!

We love listening to Ainsley, and the stories she tells.  Some of the stories are pretty good.  She told us over the weekend that Grandma Rita cut her (Ainsley's) hair while she was at Grandma Rita's house.  I just looked at her and said:  "Ainsley, did Grandma Rita really cut your hair?"  She replied with: "Yes, with scissors in the bathroom."  I have no clue where she came up with that because we haven't cut her hair yet!  I even had to verify with Rita that she really didn't cut her hair.  (She says she didn't.)

Waiting for Daddy to get home

Another one of Ainsley's newest "tricks" is telling us she can't sleep.  If she's suppose to be laying down for bedtime or a nap, she'll look at us and say:  "I can't sleep."  When we ask her why, she'll reply with "Because I just can't sleep." 

Love these two!!!

Ainsley's been getting in quite a bit of trouble lately.  If we tell her "No" or get on her for doing something and she starts throwing a fit, we'll tell her that if she's going to cry she needs to go to her room.  We haven't even had to tell her to go to her room lately.  As soon as she starts melting down, she'll walk herself back to her room, close her door, and sits on her bed and cries.  A few minutes later, she'll usually walk back out (still sobbing a little) and tell us that she's all done crying. 

She was sent to her room the other night and I found her reading a book in bed when I went to check on her

It's amazing how much I've learned listening to my two year old.  I now know some of the things that come out of my mouth the most.  I was trying to feed Lily one evening, when she kept blowing raspberries every time I'd put a spoonful of food in her mouth.  I kept telling her if she didn't stop, then she was going to be done with supper.  Of course, Ainsley was sitting across the table while I'm saying this to Lily.  Ainsley looks at Lily, points her finger at Lily while shaking it back and forth and says:  "No, no, no, no Yiyi".  "Bad Girl!"  "Stop crying, or go to your room......NOW!"  Oh boy!  Ainsley even had the "Noooooowwwww" part down exactly like I say it. 

I caught Ainsley on video another evening after I told Lily she couldn't talk while she was eating.  Here's the video.  Ainsley says:  "No.  Stop it.  Bad Girl.  Bad Lily.  You can't talk and eat lunch.  I eat mine.  Is Lily bad?  Is Lily bad girl?  No, no, no, no, no Lily!"  Of course, I was egging Ainsley on a little.  And, our routine every night is to strip down to diapers for supper, because immediately after supper is bath time.  I've never really thought of it before, but I'm eventually going to have to let the girls wear clothes while they eat or they'll think it's normal to strip for supper!

For the past few weeks, Ainsley has thrown a fit every time I pick her up from Lisa's.  She thinks that Grandma Rita is going to pick her up and wants to go to Grandma's house.  I started telling her every night that I would pick her up the next day and before she leaves the house of a morning, I make sure to tell her that I'll come get her from Lisa's later.  As soon as I walk through Lisa's door, the melt down begins.  Ainsley cries and doesn't want to go with me because she thinks Grandma Rita is going to pick her up.  Here's a video of a melt down after I tell her I'm picking her up from Lisa's the next day.

A few of the girls from high school got together last weekend, and Ainsley had fun playing with Hadlee and Drake.  I don't know if it ever sunk in that the Drake she was playing with really wasn't her cousin, but she sure liked playing with him!

Drake, Hadlee and Ainsley watching Finding Nemo

Lily is growing so fast and is such a happy baby.  Ainsley found a pacifier one day and gave it to Lily, and of course, Lily thought it was the greatest thing ever since it came from her big sister.

I love that little smirk!

Here's a video of my big girl playing with her high chair toy.  She's one smart cookie!

My "baby" is now wearing some 24 month clothes.  She's won't be 7 months until next week!  She's definitely bigger than Ainsley was, and may even catch up to her big sister in the next year. 

24 month outfit...yikes!

Trick or Treat

I had one very excited little girl this year for Halloween.  She couldn't wait to put her costume on, and would tell everyone she was going to be Little Bo Peep and Lily was a sheep.  Ainsley has a mind of her own, and I didn't think she'd actually like dressing up, but she surprised me.  She even wore the little hat, and only complained about the shirt when we were putting it on and then she quickly forgot about it being itchy. 

My poor little lamb has a problem with her crack hanging out of her diaper!

Ainsley started calling the top of her costume a "princess shirt".  She would get excited every time I told her we were going to get dressed up and had to make sure Lily was going to get in her costume too. 

All the cartoons have been playing special Halloween episodes during October, so she really got the idea of Halloween and trick or treating.  It's so much fun watching her get excited for the holidays.  I can't wait for Christmas!!!!

We had lots of places to go and people to see for Halloween.  So the girls got to dress up a few times over the last week.  I was able to borrow the girls' costumes from Callie, and we had to compromise a little.  Both costumes were a bit snug, so Lily's legs didn't stay velcroed together, and I had to leave the top Velcro by her neck undone also.  Ainsley's pants didn't quite go up high enough, but her shirt covered them up.  But, who noticed all of that when you had two adorable little girls to look at!!! 

Tuesday evening we met Mom, Mark, Elizabeth and Rowdy at Passavant for their Halloween party.  The employees can take their kids/grandkids in and they have games, prizes, pictures, and snacks for the kids.  Ainsley didn't really get into the games, but wanted the candy/prizes instead.  Of course, she wouldn't sit in the chair with Rowdy and Lily for their pictures, so we had to try to get some in the lobby.  Rowdy was Uncle Si, and even had his tea jug with him! 



Ainsley wouldn't even let Papa Mark take her picture, so I had to get one with just Lily.  At least she'll take a picture with her Mommy!!!

Grandma Shelly and Ainsley

Uncle Si without the beard and his Mommy

On the afternoon of Halloween, we got the girls in their costumes and ran into the bank to trick or treat.  Aunt Jennifer thought we could get all three kids in a picture.  That's a chore with my daughter!  Drake knows the drill and to just stand still.

We couldn't leave town without some ice cream from Placke's.  That's the place to go while you're trick or treating.  Brad gives out full size candy bars.  Score!!!

Candy and ice cream wore the girls out, and both got a pretty good nap. 

We stayed home Halloween night, and turned our porch light on.  I think Ainsley was more excited about having trick or treaters come to her house than actually going herself.  Every time the doorbell would ring, she'd jump off the couch and run to the door yelling "I'll get it".  She would have to tell them "trick or treat" and yell "bye" as they left.  She had a lot of fun!

Thomas, Jamie, and Hudson all came home for the weekend so we took the kids around trick or treating Saturday.  Ainsley couldn't wait to see Hudson, and loved that he was a pirate!  The kids came home with too much stuff, especially candy.  I think I've already gained a few pounds from it and that's not the way the scale is suppose to go! 

These two are going to be so much fun next year!

Captain Stinker!

Isn't that the cutest pirate you've ever seen????

 
I think Ainsley could have stayed a little longer at every stop we made, but we had lots of people to see and everyone had plans for later on that afternoon.  It was nice to see everyone, even if we only got to see them for a few minutes. 

J.D., Lily, Hudson, and Ainsley

Aunt Doris with her hands full!

I know that the next few Halloween's will continue getting better, but this one was pretty fun.  I loved every minute of watching Ainsley get excited during the last week.  I can't wait for Lily to join in on all the fun!