Corn, Anyone?

Summer time is cook-out time in our family! And, what is a cookout without corn on the cob?

I had originally cut the corn off the cob for the girls, but was prompted by my grandmother to let them gnaw on the corn on the actual cob. So, I gave it to them and let them go to town. Of course, Ruthie caught right on to the process.

Maddie was another story. Out of pure confusion as to eating this strange food, she promptly sat it on her tray and just dove in, head first, to eat.

She later decided to use her hands, but could not quite master the correct positioning of proper corn-on-the-cob-eating.


At least it helped with relieving some teething issues we are having!

Passing the Time

The girls are finding ways to pass the time while we are up here in NY. We are pretty much running a daycare at my mom's house since we now have my two 20 month olds, my 2 year old nephew, 4 year old niece and a 6 month old baby that my sister is babysitting. Amongst the chaos, I will admit, sometimes we loose track of one....or two....or all of them.

Ruthie was quiet for a little while. I found this.

At least she is understanding the basic concepts of the process.

Since Katie is watching a baby, we pulled out the baby swing, which apparently Maddie was missing.

She always was my swing baby. She sat in there, swinging, and watched Elmo most of the night. She kindly kicked Ruthie and Jamison whenever they came by her to try to sit in the swing themselves.

They do get along when ice cream is involved though.


Lily showing off her amazing bubble blowing skills to Maddie. She was in awe of her big cousin. Granted, Lily can not tell them apart, so she refers to both of them as "my little cousin". When asked which one it is she finally admitted that she didnt know who was who.


The fun continues for a few more days!

She can call me flower if she wants to

We went up to my childhood summer camp, Camp Hunt, for Family Weekend. Ruthie found a "flower" and was enthralled with it for about 5 minutes. That is eternity in toddler time, just in case you thought that is not very long.

She brought me the "flower"...
Ran through the fields with the "flower".....


Sat and examined the "flower" closely....
and even smelled the "flower".

I didnt have the heart to tell her it wasnt a flower but instead a weed that was the main cause of my allergies acting up and me having to take massive doses of Clariton that day. Why ruin a good photo opportunity with details like that!

Too Close For Comfort

I have no idea why Ruthie could possibly have a vision problem. Why would she go cross-eyed? Isnt sitting 6 inches from the TV perfectly normal?

She had never seen a TV down on her level and she was glued to it. She kept touching the screen the whole show. I have no idea how she could see anything that close, but then again, she does walk into objects quite a bit on a normal basis. It is hard to judge when that is your baseline.

Hind Sight is 20/20

Nothing good can come of this situation. I have a feeling one day I will look back and think, "It all started that day she figured out she could get out the doggie door." In fact, that will probably be the opening line to a future blog that goes on to talk about how Maddie slipped out while I wasnt looking and caught a bus to Mexico.

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy!

We spent some time this past weekend up at the girls great-grandparents house, which is on a farm. It didnt take long for them to find this new toy.


I think the following pictures officially make my girls GRITS (or Girls Raised In The South for my northern counterparts that are reading this).

Let the child labor begin!

There are many benefits to having kids. Besides the wonderful tax deductions, one of the things parents look forward to is when they can make their children earn their keep. I mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, did the dishes, etc. It is a rite of passage for any kid. It is when parents can finally relax for a minute after the years of having to do EVERYTHING for their kids. Builds character in them!

Maddie has become obsessed with emptying the dishwasher. I have to watch her because she will try to empty out dirty dishes if I am not paying attention. I, of course, use this to my advantage. She just needs to get tall enough to put them in the cabinet now. Watch what happens at the end of the video when she cant get the last dish out.

I wonder how she feels about pushing a lawn mower?

We're Going to Need More Minutes

It is amazing to me the things that the girls are starting to pick up. I am the first one to admit that I could quite possibly fall over and die if I didnt have my cell phone. So, it is no wonder that the girls know what a cell phone is. We actually bought them some play cell phones for Christmas that are still a hit. But, nothing is as good as the real thing.

Although Ruthie likes to be talked to on the phone, Maddie likes to talk on the phone. She has full on conversations that are completely not translatable. At dinner last night, Maddie sat through the entire dinner with her play cell phone to her ear, conveniently held by her shoulder, so she could continue to eat her chips and dip. It was the funniest thing.

Mark has been gone for the past few days to Harding to see his brother graduate. Maddie has taken this opportunity to bring me my phone several times and say, "DaDa". We then call him and she says "hi", "DaDa" and "bye". After we got off the phone she continued the conversation with him, despite him not being on the other line.

Thank goodness for the keypad lock function on my phone or we would be in big trouble!

Happy Mother's Day!

From my sweet little girls...with a little help from their Daddy.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Choreographing

I dont know if I should be proud or embarrassed that Ruthie can choreograph the entire Wiggles Song, "Rock-A-Bye Your Bear". Maybe they have watched it one too many times. I included the video and then I taped Ruthie watching the song. You cant really hear on the tape, but Ruthie says, "Shh, Shh, Shh" when they are putting the bears to sleep. It is too cute! Also, when she is opening her mouth wide it is because that is what they do when they say "Sing" in the video.

I wish she would pick up on the educational things that I show her like she does the Wiggles!

The Face of Separation Anxiety

Want to know what the face of separation anxiety looks like?

It looks something like this. This is Ruthie throwing herself up against our glass door because I walked outside to let the dogs out. Now, think how many times a day I have to let the dogs out and that is how many times a day I see this....

I cant help but laugh when she squishes her face up against the glass. I can only imagine what my neighbors think of of me as my child is screaming and I am outside taking pictures of it. I dont think they will be nominating me for any Mother of the Year awards.

With the pained look on her face you would think I was outside dancing in a field of ice cream and not letting her out to join in the fun. I seriously am just standing there holding a leash. This too shall pass.....