Bows, bows and more bows! :)

A friend of mine showed on her blog how she organizes hair things for her four daughters. She uses an over the door shoe holder and puts different items in the pockets that are needed to fix hair in the mornings. I like it and when I have a bigger bathroom (should be in about 9 months since my current bathroom is so small that I don't think it could get any smaller!) I will probably steal that idea! :)
I realized early on that I needed a bow holder. However a LOT of the bow holders out there are expensive and I don't even like most of them. Some bow holders cost as much as $40 for ONE! I need two! :)
So, I made my own! :) I used the quote "Every Princess needs three rows of bows!" and printed it on scrapbook paper. I framed it with a simple, black frame from Wal-mart and then added three long ribbons about 1 inch in width with a glue gun. You have to treat the end of your ribbon to keep it from fraying. After that, you can attach your bows to the ribbon.
Here is a picture:

Piano playing

Andrew was playing some songs for his grandparents and his sisters decided to join in. Below are some videos of songs he recently played for his group lesson. I had the camera in my hand and forgot to record both songs during the lesson but got him to play them again for me afterwards. I blame mommy brain. :)

Visit with some childhood friends

Most people know that my dad is a Baptist minister. Growing up we went to many different churches (depending on where he pastored). However, one church felt more like home than the others. From age 2 to high school we went there almost every Easter Sunday for “dinner on the grounds” (that’s Southern for potluck) and an Easter egg hunt. My dad pastored the church for 5 years when I was young.
Julie and I were close from early on. I can remember MANY Sunday afternoons playing at Julie’s house or going to her MawMaw’s (grandmother’s) to swim. I remember playing school a LOT. We both ended up as teachers! Go figure. :)
Sadly, in my adult life, my visits with Julie are few and far between. It doesn’t help that I keep moving all over the world. :) Our last visit was when Andrew was about 15 months old. We keep in touch through e-mails so it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Julie had Addison 16 months ago and I’ve kept her announcement on my fridge since I’ve moved back to the states. I’ve been wanting to meet Addison and have been wanting Julie to meet my girls. We talked recently and she told me about her church’s Homecoming last Sunday so I made the trip over to see her and other friends I grew up with many years ago.
Leah and Leila were handfuls (as always) but I did manage to at least speak to many old friends. Below are some pictures of Leah and Leila playing with Addison as well as some pictures of Julie and I over the years.


Saw this HUGE spider right outside of the church. You can see the lovebugs in it's web which gives you an idea of how big that thing was!
Leila
I think Leah is in the back and Leila is in the front
Leah and Addison
Leila and her cousin, Sam
Look at that sweet, pouty face! :)
These three were running all over the church yard.
Leila
Leah and Addison



Julie and I around 1982
Julie and I 2001
Julie and I 2009

Leila's first Leila-ism

I've been struggling with the girls stripping during the time they are in their cribs. I don't care if they take their clothes off but the diaper MUST stay on!!!
One of the things I do when I walk in and see one or both of them without a diaper is say "OOHH!!!" in a tone of you are in trouble!!! Well, yesterday I went into the room and Leah had her diaper off. Leila looks at me and says "OOHH!" :)
Leah cried.

Leah and Leila's birthday party with friends

Yesterday we had Leah and Leila's birthday party with their friends. We did one with family a few weeks ago and with the size of the families, decided that it was easier to do two small parties rather than one large party. I also didn't want to have my family drive hours to come to a party and not get to visit.
So, here are some pictures from their party. I had it at a party place and they did a princess theme and had a bench for the girls to sit in, but they didn't want to sit in it! :) We finally got Leah to sit on it for about 30 seconds. :)
The girls especially liked the dancing with the bubble machine going and the cake! Leila had a fork and a spoon going to shovel her cake in! :)
There were also crafts to do. The older friends helped the girls make their princess picture frames and princess wands.
It was a fun party but I'm glad it's over! :)

Another Andrew-ism

It was a little chaotic here. I had the girls in the tub and all of the sudden, the toilet started bubbling. I spare you the details of what happened next, but it wasn't good.
So I was trying to get things moved out of the way before the plumber came and asked Andrew to entertain the girls. He started singing "Old MacDonald" and went through all the basic animals and was trying to come up with more. The next thing I know I hear "And on this farm he had a wife. E-I-E-I-O. With a "Do this!" here and a "Do this!" there ... " :)

Andrew-isms

I found out this week that I need another surgery. Since this blog is public, I'm not going into great detail, but I've been in a lot of pain and tired. We are looking at a 6 week recovery so we'll do it over Christmas break so my sister can help (She's a teacher) and my neice can help the following two weeks because her semester starts in mid-January. I'm still working on how we'll get through weeks 5 and 6 but I know it will work out. The good news is that the doctor says there is a 75% chance this will be my last surgery of this type. YAY!!!
So, I was explaining to Andrew about it all and he wanted to know what the doctor was taking out. I explained that it is one of the body parts only girls have and he said "I'm glad I'm not you!" :) I told him how I'll feel a lot better and won't be so tired and needing a nap when the girls take a nap. Finally he said "Mom, I don't want you to have the surgery!" Thinking he was worried about me, I said "Andrew, I'll be ok!" He said "I know but when you nap is when I play video games so I want you to be tired!" Needless to say, I explained that he could still play video games!

Yesterday Andrew drew a very detailed picture on our write and wipe board. I regret that I didn't take a picture right away because when I went back later to take a picture, he had already erased it.
However, he gave the following description so I'm sure you can visualize it:
"This is Noah's ark and this octopus here knocked a hole in the ark. Then this surfer came along to help but you only see his legs on the surfboard because this shark here jumped up and bit him in half. Here is the top half of his body in the water. Then Noah was mad at the shark so he shot his cannon at the shark to kill him!"
I think we'll be reviewing the story of Noah and the ark soon.

The girls start preschool

Yesterday was Leah and Leila's first day of preschool. They'll go 3 days a week for a few hours. We went to an orientation on Monday and they played in their classroom while I sat at the table filling out paperwork. They did fine. :) The teachers asked if I would put name tags on Leah and Leila until they could tell them apart. :)

When we arrived yesterday, there was a child who was in hysterics and Leah and Leila were not so excited! We had to walk past this child to get to their classroom but they planted themselves into the ground! I took Leila and she wrapped her legs tight around my waist. Fortunately, the girls' nursery teacher from church was there and picked up Leah and we walked to class. Once we were in their class Leah quickly started playing. Leila had me hold her for an extra few minutes and then I eased her into a chair at the table with Duplos. She played for a minute, looked over her shoulder for Leah, made eye contact, they smiled at each other and they were both fine!

When I picked them up, the director said they had had a good day. When I asked the girls if they had fun, they just smiled. :)

Here are some pictures.