E-Mealz

I literally gasped out loud and got giddy with excitement when I found this website via this blog today. Basically, for $5/month or $1.25/week, this website will create a menu complete with recipes and a shopping list for whatever store you shop at, and it's based off of what is on sale that week. Genious! The only thing better than this would be if someone would come to my house and cook it for me. Why didn't I think of this? My mind is blown, and I'm signing up for this ASAP. I signed up for the giveaway so fingers crossed I win a month's subscription. Join me in saving time and money and sign up too!

Teddy Love

Some of my favorite moments with the girls happen on our bed in the mornings. Now that they are turning into such little people, they are becoming more and more aware of their "Big Brother." Most of the time (sadly) the Tedster gets a little neglected and/or stepped on because I can't see underneath hauling 2 girls around from room to room. But in the mornings he gets some special snuggle time from the girls, and they usually take a break from pulling his ears/grabbing fistfulls of hair/gouging out his eyes and let him curl up next to them while they snooze. Other than when he catches a stray piece of turkey/cracker/cheese cube off the highchair, I'm pretty sure it's his favorite part of the day, too.

xoxo

Ten Year Reunion

This past weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. So insane that it's already been ten years. I must say that everyone looked amazingly great, and it was an absolute blast seeing/talking to everyone and just seeing this group of people all together in the same place again. It brought back such great memories.  I had grand intentions of taking lots of other pictures, but never seemed to find the time to take more than just one! This was at the very end of the night in the midst of lots of dancing. You can see the top of my head if you look closely. :) I hope I don't have to wait 10 more years to see everyone again! 

Goooooooo Bulldogs!!

xoxo 

Nine Months

Ok, I'll spare you the whole "I can't believe they're so old" line...again. But seriously, I can't believe they're so old. Do you know what this means? I have to start at least kinda sorta thinking about what we're going to do for their first birthday. Let me just say, I'm in complete denial. To the point that I might consider thinking about their first birthday party on October 22nd. I was thinking the other day that I can't believe it's been 9 months since that day at the hospital when they pulled the 2 sweetest babies I'd ever seen out of my belly (yikes, that's maybe a little graphic, but true). I blame the sleep deprivation, countless hours of worrying if I'm a bad mom/feeling guilty/realizing time is slipping through my fingers for why it's hard for me to remember what it was like gazing into these tiny sweet faces just days after we came home (I actually have little recollection of the first month or so). All I remember feeling was immense exhaustion and love all at once. I even had a break down or two because I felt like we didn't take enough pictures of the girls for the first 6 weeks or so. What if I forgot how they looked sleeping at 4 o'clock in the afternoon? Have I mentioned I was a mess of sleep deprivation and hormones there for awhile (and maybe still)?
Ok, I'll move past the weepy reminiscing and onto more fun things, like all the exciting things these little 9 monthers are up to.

Sophie Kay

This little chunky monkey makes me laugh nearly every day. And not like the giggling laugh we all do at our babies, I mean she literally cracks me up constantly. Her hilarious expressions, screaming when she doesn't get food fast enough or you're not paying enough attention to her, her delirious belly laughs in the evening when she is so tired and I swear she understands every word of our conversations, or her insane bouncing in her jumperoo. I could go on and on. This girl is hilarious. She is also, incidentally, the greatest little snuggler in the world. Every time I pick her up, she grabs me has hard as she can, hugs me, and squeels with delight. It makes me want to just squeeze the life out of those rolls. She is a great eater, an even better sleeper and all in all just pure delight.
As far as her "tricks", here are a few...
-clapping her hands and feet with equal expertness
-is now able to mimic us shaking our head back and forth (again, cracks me up)
-goes from sitting position to all fours, to stomach, then screams out of frustration while kicking feet and hands (much like the superman position) because she hasn't figured out this crawling thing yet
-would rather stand while holding onto you or any piece of furniture than be in any other position
-can successfully roll to something she really wants (like the laundry basket, remote, or my phone)
-talks and talks and talks and talks. we are hearing new consonant sounds all the time (however, yet to hear my name yet). Says "dada" pretty consistently. When she gets really excited, she starts repeating "a-ga-a-ga-a-ga" in this whispery/hyperventilating voice. It's hysterical.
-still gets scared incredibly easy. If I run the disposal, blender, or vacuum in the same room as her, she screams like she just saw a ghost. It's hilarious and so sad at the same time.

At our nine month appointment, she was 19 lbs. 12 oz. and 27 in. Which puts her in the 50th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight.

Campbell Jane

My sweet little CJ. I love watching both of their personalities develop and see daily how insanely different they are. Campbell is my little observer. She looks all over our house, outside the window, up at the ceiling constantly like she is always seeing it for the first time. I absolutely adore the way her face lights up when she first sees you or something else she loves for the first time. She goes nuts when she hears Kyle's voice when he comes home from work and starts frantically looking all over for him. I ask Kyle all the time if he loves those first few moments of when he comes home and sees both girls grinning from ear to ear. It always makes me think of when my sisters and I were little and my dad would come home. We would run for the door and all grab onto his legs like we hadn't seen him in ages. I'm pretty sure Campbell would run and grab a leg if she could! I can tell that while I don't think she will be a really reserved girl, she will be the one who always laughs at her sister's antics. She loves to laugh (like her mama), and it's the most genuinely sweet sound ever. One thing she does that also cracks me up is her recent ability to "dance." We have no idea where she learned it, but almost every time she hears music of some sort, or the songs on their toys, she starts moving her whole body and head in a dancing motion. My friend, Mary, made the most hilarious observation the other day that I keep thinking about: "How can the Baptists think dancing is wrong? It's innate!" I have to say after watching CJ dance, it must be, because we certainly didn't teach her that (and no offense intended to any Baptists). She has such a little zest for life, and we love watching it develop.
CJ's "tricks":
-thisclose to crawling! she pulls her legs up under her when on her stomach onto all fours, rocks a little, then collapses back onto her tummy. She can also consistently get from a sitting position to all fours and vice versa. I'm telling ya, days until this one is on the move!
-eats because I insist she tries to eat 3 meals a day, but I'm pretty sure wouldn't miss food if I didn't give it to her
-is really good at reaching "into" almost anything. she loves exploring new things/drawers and trying to find hidden toys in places
-working on the sippy cup, but mostly loves to dump out water everywhere
-is very photogenic. I swear she "poses" for pictures, and I can almost guarantee a smile from her in 90% of the pictures I take of her (Sophie's eyes are usually closed-darn flash).
-loves her own reflection. I set her up on the changing table so she can face the mirror almost every morning because she makes the sweetest faces and coos while looking at herself, as if she's thinking, "Gosh, I'm pretty!"

At the nine month appointment, she weighed in at 19 lbs. 7 oz. and 28 1/2 in. which puts her in the 75th percentile for both weight and height.

The girls are really getting into such a fun age. While each stage has its fun parts, they are really turning into little people, and I'm starting to have so much fun with them. Here are a few pics of our summer adventures...

Sophie and Sophie

CJ and Daddy

Summer duds

Ornery

love being messy

notice Sophie has less food on her-not much goes to waste!

A visit from Nana and Papa

Dad and Sophie

Stinkers

Is this hat not hilarious? Aunt Sara brought them back from San Francisco. Sophie couldn't keep it on long enough for a picture.

Playing with our friend, Addie Cooley

Playing with Nana

Playdate with our friend, Bryn Doty

CJ and Daddy

I'm sure you're wondering where the picture of the both of them together is with our chalkboard. These girls are such little busy bees that I seriously couldn't get a single pic where they were both looking/smiling. It was insanity. 

Can't wait to see all the fun we're having a month from now (double digits!) ;)

xoxo

Dance Body

If you know me, you know it's no secret that I'm a fan of dance. Having been a dancer a good majority of my life, it's something I don't think I will ever lose passion for, and I hope so much (but with no added pressure) that at least one or both of my girls will fall in love with it the way I did. No, not the crazy stage mom, hyper competitiveness that it can sometimes be, but just the passionate love that comes with expressing yourself through movement. I can whole heartedly say that dance gave me poise, confidence, and strength (both physical and emotional) that nothing else could. I also credit my 15 years of competitive dance for the quads and calves I still have today (muscular and anything but "tiny"). I wish every so often that I could beam myself back to my dance days and feel the exhilaration that comes with it.
Being a fan of dance, I'm undoubtedly a fan of the show "So You Think You Can Dance." I eat it up and live vicariously through them every week. My own personal front runner this season is Melanie. Not only is she an insanely amazing dancer, her body represents everything I hope Sophie and Campbell aspire to someday in the journey of their own personal body image: strength, beauty and grace.

While most female dancers have rocking bodies, I just especially love hers. Every part of her body screams strength, and I can only hope that in a world that expects girls to eat little and work out hard to maintain a good figure, that my girls view their bodies as strong and beautiful tools that help them achieve their dreams. Like most parents, I hope my children find something in this world they are passionate about. I guess I lean towards the athletic side because I feel like being involved in athletics/dance my entire life, I somehow missed out on that whole pressure to not eat to be thin thing (I did push ups every day in 8th grade because I wanted toned shoulders and biceps) I always used food as fuel for the things I loved most (I still really really enjoy food, minus being extremely active, which is sometimes a problem when you want to lose baby weight). So I'm not sure who I have to thank for always wanting to look muscular and athletic in my childhood like olympic volleyball players and professional dancers as opposed to Kate Moss, but I can only hope we somehow instill that desire in our girls someday.

P.S. Click here to see Melanie and Marko's unreal lyrical hip hop routine! 

And if you aren't watching "So You Think You Can Dance", you should start! Wed/Thurs @ 7 on Fox.

xoxo

Food and Sippy Cups

What do these 2 things have in common? The ability to make a ginormous mess in the kitchen. It's been hilarious (and sometimes frustrating) to watch how each of my girls handles each of these. Sophie eats like she has been doing it for years. And not just baby food, but that girl picks up each and every piece of finger food I put on her tray and feeds it to herself. Such a big girl! She also is really getting the hang of the sippy cup. I would hardly call her a pro at it, but she manages to get a little bit out each time. Campbell Jane, on the other hand, likes pushing her food around, squeezing it in her hand, hiding it in her highchair, and as far as the sippy up goes, she's a pro at making a giant puddle of water on her tray (and floor beneath her), and thinks it's the funniest thing ever to do so. Since I took the little valves out of the sippy cups to make getting water out easier, it also is a huge mess to clean up. I think I could take a picture of them every day in their highchairs. They look so sweet in them, and their dirty little faces are priceless. 

Hey Soph, you have a little something on your face...

I'm too sweet to get mad at...

Big girl!

Big mess!

Incidentally, meal time is also their favorite time to interact with each other. I don't know if it's being up high or what, but Sophie gets Campbell laughing so hard almost everytime we eat. Mostly because she likes to swing her head back and forth, lean over the side of her chair, and try her hardest to wiggle out of it. They also both start banging their hands on the trays as soon as I put them in (thanks Daddy). And almost every meal, I have to separate the chairs because they love trying to grab each others' hands across their chairs. It's heart meltingly precious and a big distraction all at once. 

Whatever am I going to do when they start learning how to throw food at each other? ;)

xoxo

Dreaming of fall...

I don't know about ya'll, but this heat is almost as depressing to me as Oklahoma in Mid January. I feel like the girls and I camp out most of the day inside with the AC, venturing out once or twice a day to avoid going stir crazy (and I never stop sweating the entire time we are out and about). This past spring we enjoyed almost daily walks, taking our jogger to the parks with Kyle on the weekends, and even taking a short stroll to the neighborhood pool. It now seems too hot even for the pool. Ick. And allow me to say, I hate to be one of those people who thinks the grass is greener no matter the season, and I do realize we choose to live in Oklahoma as opposed to say, LA or Colorado. But gosh how I wish I could transport a different climate to our great state right now. So in order to stay sane, I've started daydreaming about fall weather, the girls' first birthday (what?!), cardigans, and one of my top 10 favorite things in the world...PUMPKIN. And I'm talking about edible pumpkin (although I am looking forward to buying some for our front porch this year, pumpkin scented candles, and pictures of the girls with pumpkins. OH the picture possibilities!) Do any of you have foods that you would eat with just about anything? Bacon, avocado, cream cheese, and pumpkin all fall into this category for me. Some of my favorite pumpkin flavored dishes include pumpkin bars (a la my mom's recipe), pumpkin waffles, pumpkin dip served with nilla wafers, pumpkin cream cheese muffins, pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing, and perhaps this delicious recipe I discovered today...

Pumpkin Pie cupcakes with graham cracker bottom

Recipe here.

Word of warning: this looks like quite an intense recipe. You actually have to bake the frosting because it is basically pumpkin pie in frosting form on a vanilla cupcake with graham cracker on the bottom. I'm thinking it sounds totally worth it; alas, this may just be a recipe for those passionate about pumpkin (me).

I realize I could whip up any of these recipes year round, but it somehow only seems right to make these post September. 

But I'm greatly considering breaking this rule, eating my pumpkin cupcake on the back patio, and pretending a cool 70 degree breeze is blowing through my sweat-soaked hair...

xoxo