I'll take one of everything please.

This weekend Kevin and I decided to rent a hotel room and take the girls on a mini-vacation.  We chose one with a very large swimming pool and requested an early check-in.  It was VERY fun!  We all played in the pool and oscillated from pool to jacuzzi for several hours.  Kendall practiced her belly-flops (at least that is how it appeared) and Sidney was actually jumping all the way into the pool by herself.  Kevin and I had a lot of fun as both of us are pretty strong swimmers, but rarely take the opportunity to do so nowadays.  Kevin impressed us all by swimming from one end of the pool to the next without coming up for air.  Both girls were amazed that their parents could do "stop bad guy, stop" and "ice cream scoops".  Oh what skills we have! 

 After a long pool time, the girls and Kevin went up to the room while I ran out and grabbed some food for dinner.  We gorged.  Then Kevin did the biggest party foul of them all.  He dropped a brand new bottle of Bailey's on the tile floor.  WHAT???  Of course that was totally unacceptable, and he quickly ran out for a replacement bottle. 

The girls snuggled up into the bed and watched cartoons while Kevin and I sat in the other room and watched football (Kevin) and developed a landscaping plan (Heather).  The Bailey's turned on my creative side and I came up with an outstanding plan.  We'll have to see what we think of the Bailey's infused yard arrangement in a few more days...

This morning Sidney's eyes were open at 6am and her first words were "I am ready for breakfast".  So, I took her down to show her the buffet.  She was in awe.  In fact she literally sampled everything on the buffet.  I will list just a few:  oatmeal, french toast sticks, waffles, banana nut muffin, bagel, sausage, froot loops, apple juice, milk, etc.  It was hilarious.  She literally ate one bite of everything.  I have never seen anything like it.  When we returned to the room, she complained that her stomach hurt.  Gee, I wonder why.

After breakfast settled, it was time to hit the pool again for a few more hours of swimming.  When we got home Kendall sat on the couch and fell asleep in about 2 minutes.  It was a great time.  Something so simple, yet so much fun!

Miss Marissa

Marissa is one of the swim instructors at the Y.  She is in fact Kendall's first swim instructor.  She seems to have a special fondness for the girls.  We see her often at the pool either life guarding or instructing and she always comes to say hello.  Sidney has just recently started swim lessons and she is not too sure about the whole thing.  We have been very fortunate in that we are essentially getting private lessons as Sid is the only one in her class.  Her teacher is Miss Sara and she has been incredibly awesome and patient with Sidney.  In fact, Miss Sara has been inviting Kendall in the pool to be her "helper".  Kendall demonstrates to Sidney what to do or helps Miss Sara round up the rings for another game.  It has been a lot of fun.

Last week we had a fun surprise.  Miss Sara was not able to make it to swim, so who took her place for the night?  Marissa.  The girls were ecstatic and Marissa grabbed the bull by the horns.  She has a certain comfort level with the girls and myself so she just jumped right in.  She had Sidney putting her entire face in the water, blowing bubbles and even jumping around in the middle of the pool.  Sid even stood on the side of the pool and acted as if she was going to jump in, but not quite yet!  It was great to spend the evening with Marissa.  After about 5 minutes in the pool, Marissa started laughing and said, "Sidney is just like Kendall was when she first started and look at Kendall now."  It is hard to believe that it was just 8 short months ago that Kendall was terrified of the water.  These young ladies that teach swim have been amazing.

Here are a few pics of Kendall and Sidney with Miss Marissa.

Go Griz!

Grandma Terrell spoiled the girls with these cute little cheerleader outfits.  The only thing is we had to sneak them on while Kevin was at the store.

I have to say that when we received them in the mail, Kendall was ecstatic.  She had been asking for a cheerleader outfit.  She did say there was something wrong with it though.  She pointed to the dress and said "This should be blue."  Then she pointed to the pleats and said, "This should be orange."  Grandma is going to try and turn her into a Grizzly yet.

Lots of Happenings!

Well we are finally settled into our new home and finding our groove again.  It is really nice to be out of the boxes!  Last Saturday we had the Nelson kiddos over for a sleepover.  The kids had a blast.  We frosted pumpkin cookies, watched movies, played with the dogs.  It was a good time for all.

The kids cookies...

Mom's cookies....

Speaking of Halloween, it kind of snuck up on us this year.  Kendall decidedly wanted to be a ballerina so she wore her recital outfit.  Sid wanted to be a princess.  I thought she would wear her Snow White costume or even one of the velvet play dresses.  Instead she picked out black sweater tights and a pink leotard.  I must say it was much better than the first outfit she tried on.  Picture Princess Jasmine with a belly bearing top and teeny skirt to go with it.  I much prefer her second choice.  In fact Sidney is following in her sisters footsteps and has become quite the fashionista.  Check out the awesome footwear choice!

The girls had a fantastic party at their school.  They played bingo, had a cakewalk, made Halloween ornaments, put their hands inside creepy boxes and did a bit of trick or treating.  I could not tear them away from the bingo table.  I think we were the last ones to leave.  Like mother, like daughters.

We started swimming again this fall and Kendall is doing phenomenal.  She has graduated to an Eel.  Her class starts in the middle of the pool.  No more steps to sit on for her.  She is loving every minute of it.  It is a miraculous change from her fear and panic last spring when we first started.  I started Sid in swimming last week.  She was very excited, but did her first "bob" (aka dunk) last Wednesday and is not so sure about it anymore.  We will finish out the lessons and see how it goes.  As it turns out, she has the whole class to herself. 

Last night we went to Monkey Business and they had a guy there that was operating the rock climbing wall.  Kendall jumped right in.  I did not think we were ever going to leave.  Just think how fast she would have been if she was wearing tennis shoes instead of high heels.  We had a ton of parents commenting on how brave she was.  Crazy girl!

We are in for it!

We just moved so I am at the public library because I am truly addicted to the computer.  I will post more on the move later, but a story about Kendall...

We are in serious trouble (Kevin and I).  Friday I picked her up from school and she informed me that she had two boyfriends - Joey and Emilio.  Perfect, only two weeks after telling me she was chasing boys.  UGH. 

Then last night at walmart I was picking up a couple of shelves.  The nice looking 18 year old boy was helping me out to the car.  He was trailing behind us in another cart with the shelves.  Picture this.  Kendall is sitting in the basket of the cart, peeking around me with the biggest grin she could manage.  Her eyes were wide and she was literally batting her eyelashes.  At one point, I turned around to see how the boy was responding.  He was laughing his tail off!  I said, "I really hope this is not a sign of times to come!".  UGH - again!

Frankenstein - Really!

That is me.  Yes, this Tuesday I had two screws put into my head (well my mouth to be exact).  I literally watched the orthodontist take a screw and a screwdriver and put two screws into my skull.  I am having invisalign done on my teeth.  I feel the need to state that it is not for cosmetic reasons, but the cosmetic results will be a bonus!  Part of the process is to use screws and rubber bands to literally pull my teeth up into my jaw.  Naturally, this will happen over the next 18 months.  So far, it has been VERY painful. 

It was kind of a funny story though...I am not much of a prankster, but I think the anesthetic got to me (good excuse anyways).  The orthodontist came to check if I was numb.  The moment he poked me with the metal pick to ensure I was numb, I began screaming.  Yes, I did.  I am not sure what possessed me.  Of course I could not really feel a thing.  He jerked back in terror.  After a moment I was able to calm him down and convince him that I was completely kidding.  He informed me that no one had ever done that to him before and that his heart was racing 100 miles per hour.  I told him that it was okay because I had never actually done anything like that before.  After we got all of that straight, he proceeded to drive the screws into my head.  In hindsight that was probably not the smartest thing to do, but it sure was funny!

A Look Back...

This post may be boring and mundane for most, but it is meant for the girls.  I want them to be able to look back at their first home.  They may not remember too much about it, so these pictures are for them.  Kevin and I have been married for quite some time.  We had several apartments in college before buying our first home.  I still remember the day that we got the keys to the home.  Kevin was still in California finishing up school.  I remember running through every room feeling like a little kid at Christmas.  I thought there was no way we would ever fill this house up.  It did not take us very long to do so.

We started first with our golden retriever Cooper then followed up a year later with our chocolate lab Coco.  We got Cooper as a puppy from a breeder.  The following year we took Cooper with us to the humane society to pick out Coco.  We were very glad that we took Cooper because the first dog we had picked out did not mesh well at all.  Then we brought out Coco.  It was love at first sight.  They have not left each others side since that day with the exception of one trip where Kevin took Coco on a solo trip.  The day he brought Coco home the dogs nearly ran us over trying to get to each other.

We certainly experimented with color in this home.  I remember the day after we painted the sitting room, Kevin kept thinking it looked like an office building.  It took awhile for him to get used to this one.

When we first moved in, the counter tops were white AND the cabinets were white.  That is way too much white.  We put in gorgeous "Norwegian Blue Pearl" granite counter tops.  The name was a tribute to the Ludefisk and potato sausage we are "privileged" to eat every year at Christmas.  (That was for you Terrell:)). 

 I do believe that every door knob and light fixture has been changed in this house...

We are very lucky to have a mother who does window treatments in our family.  My mom helped me design this one.  She did an incredible job helping us outfit our windows.  I am looking forward to seeing what we end up doing in our next house.  Mom already has her books packed to bring down for the holidays.  We will be busy dreaming up new ideas.

This powder room was one of our weekend projects (before kids of course).  I really wish that we had some before and after pictures of this one.  It was another white room with a huge vanity and plain mirror.  We had a lot of fun doing this.  Kevin even ripped out the flooring and put in wood flooring.  Very nice job!

The master bedroom.  These draperies are definitely coming with us.  I thought for a moment that I could leave them, but my sentimental side won the battle.  My mom made these for us last Christmas with pillows to match.  I was not ready to part with them!

This bathroom was our latest mini-project.  It was amazing what a few cans of paint was able to do.

The girls bathroom was a lot of fun to do.  We went with a frog theme.  They have already decided that their next bathroom will be pink and purple (surprised?).

I will NEVER forget decorating this room.  We were SO excited to welcome our first baby - a little girl - into our family.  Grandma Terrell and Grandma Karen were down for Thanksgiving that year and we did a lot of shopping in preparation for the arrival of Baby Kendall.  It was Mushrooms and Snails for Kendall.

Not even one year later came the news that Baby Sidney was on the way.  We decided on flowers and Ladybugs for Sidney.  It was so much fun to come up with a theme for each of the girls. 

Then there is the man cave.  Yes, Kevin is spoiled.  It has already been decided that he will have another man cave in our new house.  I must admit, I really like the man cave.  It gives him a place to do his own thing!

 We are DEFINITELY going to miss our beautiful deck and hot tub.  My dad came down for Easter one year and helped Kevin put the cover and railing on our deck.  They worked non-stop through the rain.  It was so beautiful when they were finished.

We have had a love-hate relationship with our yard.  For two people that had no clue what we were doing, things turned out pretty good in the end.  Now we get to start over.  Our new house is a blank slate.  There is a lawn and two trees.  The possibilities are endless.  Our downfall is that we will want to do it all "right away".  If we have learned one thing, it is that yard work takes time.  It does not happen overnight or in a weekend.  It will be interesting to see what we settle on.

We are really going to miss this house.  We are excited about the idea of moving on, but we will definitely miss our first family home.  If you would have asked us a few months ago we would have never dreamed that we would be spending September packing up boxes getting ready to move.  Now here we are just a short time away from moving into our new home.  Crazy!