According to my phone this is what I do: make treats and eat the whole batch with little help from the kids, I run and take sweaty selfies to have proof that I did it, we eat a lot of food, and my kids are crazy and hilarious at the same time. Want to take a look?


First lets talk about Ellenor. Our crazy puppy loving Ellenor. She literally acts like a dog for more than 50% of the day. Yesterday she was driving me crazy because she had to go to the bathroom but said that her paws couldn't pull her pants down. Most of the time its cute... until we go out in public and she pretends to eat like a dog! 

I made the mistake of telling her that she could go to school when she learned all of her letters and numbers. We started the other day working with the letter A and after every little thing she would ask if she could go to school now. I finally told her when she is four then she can go to school. Now she just asks about ten times a day if she is four so she can go to school. And ride on a yellow airplane with her dad.

Both girls are obsessed with peanut butter... Obsessed!

Ellie loves to dress herself and pick out her outfits. For some reason that means socks on her hands... or her paws. 

She loves to build train tracks and will spend a long time driving them around in circles.

If there is a dog, she will find it!

She is a daddy's girl. If he is home, she is right beside him.

I introduced Ellie to the world of Harry Potter the other day while making waffles for lunch (her request of course (the waffles, not Harry Potter). We watched the first few minutes together before anything scary happened and she loved all the animals, the owls were her favorite. I didn't even get to show her the broom part but she already knows what to do. She's got magic in her blood!

 I still can't believe Ellie is old enough to be in primary! She is interesting though... The second week I went to pick her up and she way laying face down on the floor not participating at all. The next week a friend told me that whenever they would sing a song she would cover her ears and howl like a dog. 

 

 She can be such a sweetheart and has a soft spot for her grandparents and great grandparents. Yesterday she stopped playing and informed me that she missed her great grandma and grandpa and that we needed to go visit them.

Every Wednesday the  girls go to Cody's mom's house while I go to mutual and Cody is at scouts. This morning after breakfast Ellie ran to get dressed and came back telling me she was ready to go to grandmas house. She was a little upset when she found out she had to wait until tonight. 

But she is definitely a little girl. She screams a lot and thinks its fun when Kate copies her. She throws the biggest tantrums and fits, we already butt heads and its tough sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. But then she does the sweetest things and loves on her sister and makes up for all the grief.

Kate is my little side kick. She has to know where mom is at all times. Lately while I make dinner she can be found lying on the floor next to me if shes not screaming and tugging on my pants. 

Kate is starting to talk a lot more and its been fun. Except for her little "no" which is still too cute coming from her.

She is pretty fearless and climbs on the table, a lot! 

She is our good little eater. Ellie would rather eat cheetos and fruit snacks and while Kate does like those things to she also loves healthy foods like apples, oranges, and bananas. She even LOVES green beans! Score!

She is constantly on the move. But she also likes to snuggle and I love that! 

She'd be naked all the time if I let her. Thank heavens she hasn't figured out how to unzip her pj's or take off her diaper! 

 She is a little trouble maker and likes to get into things. Like markers and my make up when I'm not looking.

 She already knows how to push her sisters buttons and teases her. Worst of all she pulls her hair! AHH! 

 

She LOVES to read. She will pull all the books off the shelf and sit on top of them and just read and look at books. Last night she didn't sleep, she just laid on my bed and read books while I tried to sleep. And then stuck her toes in my arm pit, wiggled them, and said "tickle tickle!"

 

 These girls definitely get into mischief together and egg each other on but they sure do love each other and have fun.

There is a lot of things not pictured and a lot of those things are the time with Cody. Not pictured are the screams when they see his truck and the biggest hugs they can possibly give. The tears in the middle of the night and Ellie saying that she just wants to snuggle with her dad. The fingers under the door and the knocks on the bathroom because they can't wait another minute to play with him. Also not pictured: the countless texts a day asking how I am doing and wishing me the best in dealing with our two kiddos. The help in the kitchen when I haven't even thought about dinner at 6 pm. 

There's a lot that you can't capture with the click of a button, things that happen in the home that are too sacred to be able to describe in words. This is what life is about. This is why life is worth it at the end of the day, to see a happy family and know that our home is one filled with love. 

These girls have been giving me a run for my money lately. But it's been fun, at times. Ellie says the funniest things, she likes to say things like "but mom! It's so fun!" when I tell her no to things like jumping on the bed. Kate loves to slap her hands on her legs and tell everyone NO! 

Ellie is very sensitive. She loves dogs and lovesit even more to pretend like she's a dog. Yesterday while eating lunch she informed me that she was done pretending to be a dog for the time being. I got excited and told her I wasp glad to have my Ellie back. She changed her mind and said she wanted to be a puppy and I pretended to be sad. This went on for a few minutes with her giggling every time I pretended to be sad. Finally I said something along the lines of I guess since your a dog I'll find a new Ellie. That was the wrong thing to say. She burst into a heavy sob saying that she wanted to be my Ellie. I felt horrible bug finally got her calmed down. 

The other day it was almost 60 degrees outside with no wind! 

I also introduced Ellie to the world of Harry Potter. Well the first few minutes where she got very excited about seeing cats, a lot of owls, and a huge snake. She will be a Potter fan, I'll make sure of that! 

If Cody is home during the day, Ellie won't nap in her room.

About a week ago Kate got her first gooseegg. She was throwing a fit about not being able to brush her teeth anymore and threw herself on the ground and right into the corner of the door frame. After I got her calmed down I put the kids I the bath. I always get Kate dressed first and while I was getting Ellie dressed Kate was in the bathroom using makeup. I got her cleaned up and started washing the counter when I heard Kate screaming from the back bathroom. She had gotten her fingers pinched in the Toilet seat lid and couldn't get them out.  She definitely earned her nap and me one to! 

One time I didn't blog for a long time and then deleted all the December pictures off my phone. True story. I'll do a December recap one of these days when the kids are napping... And after I finish reading Harry Potter. At least I have my priorities straight! 😜

 What's new in our house? Well the girls are growing and getting bigger everyday. They are the best of friends and the worst enemies just moments later.

Ellie says the funniest things and loves to be a gate and make you say a password to get through. Kate really, really hates this game and I often find her facedown on the floor in front of Ellie's sprawled legs. Today I informed Ellie I was going to run on the treadmill and she set up post right in front of it. With her hands straight out and her legs spread wide she said "you give me a penny and you can run on the treadmill." I handed her a play money and she still asked for more and finally let me pass.

Kate's a little stinker and LOVES to tease you. She likes to take whatever you have and run away laughing. Sometimes it funny and other times it's... Not nearly as funny. She loves to scare you and will hide in a room and run out screaming "booooo!" 

We switched Ellie into her own room. She refused to sleep in the same room with Kate and always slept on our floor. We let her pick out a poster from the store and of course it was a puppy poster. Her bed and nightstand are filled with stuffe animal dogs, dog books, and small dog toys with a few princesses here and there. Her favorite dog on the poster changes daily. 

The girls got aprons for Christmas that their grandma made and they love to wear them to play and to help in the kitchen. 

I've been running, as usual, but did somethig crazy yesterday. I signed up for my first full marathon! It's in May in utah and I'm a little nervous but I just have to remember to focus on the week of training I am on and not look forward a few weeks to the 20 mile runs! 

And Cody isn't a huge fan of working as much as he is. December was awesome and he was able to take a lot of work off and it is their slowest month of the year. We got spoiled having him home so much and the girls are missing him not being home during the day. But he's good and enjoys his job so that's all we can ask for. 

We have been trying to do something everyday that reminds us of Christmas. We went to the library and checked out a bunch of Christmas books and a movie(it has puppies and of course it was Ellie's choice), we went and visited Santa and saw the festival of trees where the girls' cousin was singing with her class. 

Tonight we decided to decorate the tree. Well attempt to. After we got the garland up we knew that it probably wasn't a great idea to have two toddlers help put up breakable bulbs. But we did put the pink tree up in their room and they were very excited. 

These girls are so fun. I wish somedays I could just keep every memory trapped in a box so that I can never forget how they are at this exact moment in time. Today Kate was whining a little and needed more attention than I was giving her. I took her in the playroom and we hid in the tent. She'd open the doors, turn her head from side to side and then breath really fast as she'd jump on my lap. A minute after we had gone in Cody came crawling in and she started squealing with delight and screaming. She'd poke her head out or Cody would stick only his hand in and tickle her feet and she would laugh and laugh as she climbed on my lap. Ellie joined in on the fun to and it was perfect. Sometimes they enjoy playing together so much and it makes all the hard times worth it. 

There's a lot that happens when a kid is sick. There's a lot of crying, not just on the babies part, a lot of snuggling, and a lot of attention on that kiddo. It can be extremely miserable and make for long days and nights. It means daily schedules are thrown off and for us it means that the house is a disaster. It means I'm lucky to get a shower at all and staying in sweats well past noon. 

But there is also something so magical. The feeling of being needed and knowing that only you, out of everyone in the world, can give your child exactly what they need. That they only want you to ix their problems and make them feel better. What you don't see from the outside are those precious moments of love and it makes our home feel a little more sacred and close to heaven. 

The girls were finally both happy and playing in the living room so I snuck back to my room in an attempt to tackle one of the many growing loads of laundry that has piled up on our bed. As soon as I pick up the first article of clothing Kate comes walking in, crying. I pick her up and immediately she puts her head on my shoulder. As I'm rocking her she's rubbing her eyes and you can tell just exhausted. She starts humming to me so I start humming back. She smiles and closes her eyes and just full relaxes. 

I don't want to look back on these years while my kids are young and remember them as being hard or long or miserable. I want to remember that they are worth it. That in that one instance that I was needed and that only I could fulfill that for them. That they wanted me and no one else. That to them I meant the world and nothing could be as comforting as a hug and a snuggle with their mom. Because they mean the world to me. They give me the most joy and fulfillment and nothing could ever replace that. 

I never know what to blog about after I haven't written in a while. So here's a few random things that I have pictures of on my phone. 

1. Kate's evil laugh. It all started around Halloween time, I made an evil laugh and ever Kate copied me. She throws her head back and squints her eyes and does a funny laugh. It's the best. 

2. Halloween was fun! Ellie was actually excited to wear her costume and that made me extremely happy! Last year she refused and ended up wearing her pajamas. 

Ellie picked out a Sofia the first costume and loved her amulet and crown and Kate wore the Snow White costume we got last year that never got used. On Wednesday night we went to a church Halloween party where we ate amazing soups and cinnamon rolls and the girls got to play all sorts of different games. After dinner we headed out to the parking lot for trunk or treating. Ellie loved saying "trick or treat" and was so cute to say thank you to everyone. 

Friday, Halloween day, we headed to te library for story time and treat! We also had a play date with some of our best friends and the girls did not want to leave. 

Halloween ended with a family Halloween party. Ellie loved being able to wear her costume everywhere and play with her cousin Halloween night. We even got Cody to dress up, first time since we've been married!! 

3. A few days before Halloween we had a few errands to run in Twin. Ellie said the only thing she wanted for dinner was quesadillas and that meant we had to head to cafe rio! I didn't even encourage it at all and I am so proud of her choice, it's also my favorite place. 

Being at target is sometimes better at bed time. It was empty and the girls had a blast running back and forth from the candy to the costumes screaming for joy! 

4. Storytime has gotten a lot more difficult now that Kate can run straight for the front door. But when we do get to sit through the entire thing the crafts are fun. 

5. Holding hands during our daily dance parties. It's the cutest thing ever and I love hearing the laughs from these two when they get along. 

6. We finally made it to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago. Cody and his mom had never been to one before so it was fun to have them come along on what has become one of my favorite fall traditions!

In the picture Kate is wearing Ellie's underwear. It's become a new thing and its hilarious. It took me a few days to understand what she wanted when se would carry around a few pairs of Ellie's undies and wave them at me. She also does it with socks, Cody got her dressed this morning and showed up at church with Minnie Mouse socks over her tights.