A few more Grace antics

Grace's hair is always tangled and so I finally bought an extra conditioner for her hair.  The other night she said to me, "Don't worry mom.  I already used the shampoo and the air conditioner.  Hilarious.

Grace is taking her Spiderman obsession to a new level.  She picked out a new Spiderman toothbrush today and when we went to a birthday party today of three different kids she had a choice of Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake and Spiderman plates and treat bags.  Yep, she chose Spiderman!  Awesome.

Charlotte... oh Charlotte

Charlotte is very challenging right now.  We just spent the entire day today with no problems.  We went to church, out to breakfast and to a birthday party and she was wonderful the entire time.  She actually fell asleep on the way to the party and slept for about the first hour on a couch.  Other days, it is quite the opposite.  Charlotte and I have a love-hate relationship right now.  Actually that about sums up everyones relationship with Charlotte.  Potty training has been a total joke.  She was doing so well until I spent a night in the city and was wearing pull ups the whole time.  Since then, she has had accident after accident so I keep putting her in pull ups.  We need to spend some serious one on one time when we feel we are ready to try again.  In the meantime, Charlotte seems to be in her own world.  She definitely still needs naps but fights them, she is so smart and yet so stubborn.  If she gets to tantrum mode, there is no turning back.  Every day I need to hit the refresh button because she can be so sweet but so challenging at the same time.  She has managed to put holes in several of our screens, ruined a professional print I ordered by stepping on the glass frame which scratched the picture and gets into trouble daily.  She loves the word "No," and single handedly has made me sweat in many different situations.  When she poops in her pants she says, "That's disgusting... I not never not ever do that again."  She refuses to put clothes and shoes on when asked and is definitely in a "I will do it myself stage."  She managed to lock Grace, Julianne and I out of the house this summer but also figured out how to turn the lock to let us back in.  She knows how to get out of the house by breaking off the plastic parts that supposedly baby proof the locks.  So much for those.  She won't let me put her hair up in a ponytail but neither will Grace so I'm used to that.  Last week she took the sunscreen stick and proceeded to get it all over herself, her outfit and her shoes.  She gets into everything and anything.

On the flip side, she loves Julianne.  She loves her so much that I have to worry about Charlotte pulling on her legs and arms too hard but she always has a kiss and a hug for her.  She defends Grace whenever she can and tells people to "Be nice to her sister."  She loves any kid who is smaller than her and calls them all Baby while touching their faces.  She can count to 25.  She knows her colors, how to say Grace at dinner and knows the signs of the cross.  She eats a ton.  We never have to fight with her to eat her dinner.  Getting her cleaned up is a different story.  She loves to dress up, steal my shoes and jewelry and always compliments people by saying, "Your necklace is beautiful."  I always tell the girls, "That is absolutely beautiful" or "That is absolutely wonderful." Well Charlotte has begun to repeat and says to me, "Mom, that is ABSOLUTELY," as if absolutely is the actual compliment.  Hilarious.  Right now she thinks that everything that has Belle on it is hers and wants a Belle birthday party in November.  Right now she is torn between wanting to be Belle again for Halloween and wanting to be Clifford.  Not sure where that came from.  I wouldn't trade Charlotte for the world but some days I know I am not nice to her.  Again, each day I hit the refresh button and remind myself that she is only 2.  

Julianne's Baptism was wonderful, despite me meeting Paul and Grace at church with Julianne and Charlotte because I needed more time to get the girls ready and to get our house together.  Julianne fell asleep and had to be woken up for the ceremony.  She cried while the priest was talking for about 5 minutes and then was a perfect angel throughout the rest of the service.  Grace and Charlotte were eager to see the Baptism itself but were really excited because we ordered a Bounce House for the party.  They were calling it a Bapitism and Bapitize-em.  The day before I had told Amy that Grace was calling it that and so she said, "Hey Grace.  What are we celebrating tomorrow to which Grace responded, "The Jumpy House."  Well I'll have to explain Baptism to them one day but for now, "The Jumpy House" kept all of the kids outside.

Stephanie, my cousin Brittany, myself and Amy

This is house Charlotte fell back asleep.  It looked like she was praying.  What a doll.

Grace and Charlotte joined us for this part.

Mark is Julianne's Godfather and Stephanie is Julianne's Godmother.  We switched the date so that she could come in.  We were all so happy she could be there.

All the cousins minus Julianne, Jack, Keane and Baby Vince.

Happy 4th of July

As Kara Lou captioned this picture, "Happy F*ing 4th of July!

Julianne sleeping in a bouncy chair next to the pool.

We spent our 4th of July with Meghan and Patrick O'Neil and fam and Jill and Ricky Olszta and fam this year.  Lots of fun.  We BBQ'd and then walked to the Frankfort fireworks.  The kids had a blast and Julianne was an angel.

All wearing their puddle jumpers.  Seamus and all the ladies!

Here are all the kids including the babies.  I mean this picture is ridiculous.  Grace wanted to hold Baby Ricky though so we let Olivia hold Julianne.  

So much fun!!!!

Family picture at the fireworks.  

The best we could do!  The girls loved running around.  Charlotte was not as in to the fireworks as I thought she would be.  

I tried to get them to take some pictures outside our house.  Not the best photo shoot.

Poor Julianne was not up for this at all.

My three little ladies.  Hm... we will have to work on these photo ops.

Minnesota: The Good, the Bad, and the Truck... Part 2

Ok so there aren't more pictures to go along with this post however, here is the rest of the story.  Regardless of the fact that Grace and Charlotte had a good time during the trip, there was definitely more to the story.  About two or three days in, Paul took his dad and Dean out fishing.  As they were heading out for the day, Paul briefly took his hand off of the motor and before he could fully grab the handle, the boat lurched to the side.  Paul tried to steady the boat causing Dean to fall and Paul's dad as well.  Paul's dad tried to keep Dean from going in the water, and because of that he hit his ribs on the side of the boat.  Paul broke several blood vessels in his hand from grabbing back onto the motor, Dean had a few bruises but the worst of it was that Paul's dad ended up breaking three ribs.  He was not able to go out fishing for the rest of the vacation in the boat and even took a trip into International Falls (the closest town) to get xrays and meds.  After that the trip just seemed to be a little more depressing.  On top of all of that a few days into the trip, I went to take Grace to the visitor center to get her Junior Ranger badge and the truck was dead.  We hooked up the battery to our battery charger (which you need for fishing so we had it) and we charged up the battery and was able to drive it.  The day before we were set to leave to come home, the truck died again.  Well we put it on the charger again, but Paul was out fishing.  He didn't end up getting in until about 7 and we couldn't get the car started.  Well then people started getting crazy asking me what I wanted to do, what my back up would be if we couldn't get a battery, etc.  Paul and his uncle went to one store looking for a battery, Paul's mom and aunt went to a second and we were able to get a battery for the truck before all of the stores closed.  Well now it was dark and the battery was in and guess what, the truck didn't start.  I had three kids sleeping in three different rooms of the cabin, thank god so they did not witness all of the chaos.  Paul ended up on the phone with his uncle back in Illinois who is a mechanic and he determined that he thought it was the fuel pump.  Paul was told to get under the truck and bang on the fuel pump with his heavy stainless steel massive coffee mug and sure enough that got the car started.  We left it running for a while, packed up all of the cars and got to bed.  The only other car that we had that would fit all three car seats was Rita's and she wanted to leave at about 4:30 in the morning to drive home.  Paul said he wanted to leave a little later in order to get some sleep because it was already really late.  Needless to say, when we woke up the next morning all ready to go with the kids in the car, guess what?  The car wouldn't start again.  At this point, Rita had already left so our only option was to bang on the fuel pump again, and cross our fingers that we would make it home.  

Paul's uncle told us that once our car was started, that we could not turn it off so we had to drive the entire drive as hurried as possible.  Well good thing I had pumped enough milk throughout the week because we could not stop for me to feed Julianne and would have to give her bottles.  I will tell you though that I was unable to pump in the car so yeah... imagine the state I was in by the time I got home.  Anyways, we obviously had to stop for gas several times and so we kept the car running when we ran in to get snacks, go to the bathroom, etc.  We decided to stop at Subway for lunch and Paul was going to drive around while I got the food.  Grace wanted to come in with me so I took her out and brought Julianne and her in with me.  When I entered with Paul's mom there was no one in line.  Perfect... well not for long because simultaneously, Grace said she had to go to the bathroom and Julianne decided that it was the perfect time to poop.  The poop was coming out of her diaper on my shirt (keep in mind, I didn't bring in my bag) and I had to get out of line to go to the bathroom with Grace.  At the same time, Paul's dad came in the restaurant with Charlotte who walked in with no shoes.  I mean, you have got to be kidding me.  I took all three with me to the bathroom, told Mark to call Paul to come back to get a diaper and wipes and had all three in the bathroom.  It was ridiculous.  Grace went potty while I changed the other two as fast as I could while wiping my shirt.  Of course I didn't have a change of clothes for me.  To make matters worse, as soon as I got out of the bathroom,  there was a huge line and I had to proceed to wait to get the food.  This is why people go through the drive through of McDonalds.  

We got the food, got back in the car and kept going.  We made it until we were about at Black River Falls, WI which is just North of the Dells and about 4 1/2- 5 hours away from home when our truck started to die on 94.  Paul remained very calm as he pulled the car to the side of the highway.  His parents pulled behind us and we had to figure out what to do next.  Well we couldn't get service on our phones to find the nearest mechanic so we called 911 to which Paul explained that we had three babies on the side of the road.  Seriously the fastest I've ever seen a tow truck and state trooper pull up.  So Julianne got her first ride in a tow truck.  We put the two other car seats in Paul's parents car while Paul, his dad, Julianne and I rode in the tow truck to the mechanic's garage.  At this point, Paul's Uncle, Aunt, Cousin and Grandparents found out what happened and came to where we were as well.  We got a quote for our truck but of course it couldn't be fixed until Monday and we didn't really want to come back 5 hours to pick it up.  The truck cooled off and we determined that Paul and his dad could nurse it home.  They got it started. So Julianne and I rode in the back of Paul's uncle's car, while the girls rode with Paul's mom and Mark, and Paul and his dad rode in the truck.  It ended up adding an extra hour onto our drive and eventually we made it home.  It took us from about 5:30 in the morning to about 7:00 at night.  Obviously when I got home I pumped immediately because I was in pain from 13 hours without feeding or pumping.  The girls were absolutely amazing the entire time.  I didn't like having everyone in different cars but what could we do.  Needless to say, I was happy to be done with this vacation and we ended up getting a new fuel pump that following Monday.  Eh...

Minnesota 2013 ... The Good, The Bad, and The Truck Part 1

 Minnesota was an interesting trip this year.  Definitely not my favorite year but even though I had many complaints, there were still good parts too.  To begin with, I drove with the girls and Grandma Gen up to our hotel about 8 hours into the trip.  The girls were amazing on the ride up there.  We did stop for lunch and even a treat and coffee at McDonalds.  When we got to the hotel, the girls went swimming while we waited for other members of the family to get there.  When they did, we had a picnic outside and watched the ducks in the water.  Grandma Gen took Julianne to her hotel room after dinner and the girls swam a little more.  We then bathed and went to bed while I waited for Paul and his dad to get there.  They arrived around midnight and Paul drove us the rest of the way to the cabin.  Again, the girls were awesome.  So far, so good.

 Our traditional first stop on the way to the cabin.  We made it!

The whole trip had ups and downs.  We all slept in one room.  The girls had sleeping bags and Grace slept on the floor in her sleeping bag the entire time.  It was amazing.  She even sleeps in the sleeping bag now at home some times.  Julianne was a wonderful baby and Charlotte and I slept very close every night.  We pushed two twin beds together and had Charlotte in the middle.  Not a Honeymoon but honestly everyone was so good that I didn't even care.  During the week, we visited the visitor's center, went shopping, played by the beach, took the canoes and paddle boats out and fished.  Grace even got to see the state flower of Minnesota which is the Lady Slipper (and apparently is very rare and only blooms once every 14 years or something like that).  Here are the "good" moments in pictures.

If you look in the background, you can see the Minnesota State Flowers. 

Grace playing with the minnows.

Hawks Win... and yes I am wearing my Jersey!

At the gift shop.

Grace and I playing at the gift shop.  Grace took this picture.

Dressing up Julianne!

Heading down to the ice cream social with Gram, MaryJane and Pete.  Clearly Charlotte felt she need a ride.

A deer right by our cabin.  Very cool!

Great Gram and Grace watching TV.

 Ready for playing at the beach!  Julianne slept in the stroller right by my chair.  Mommy got to get a little sun... at least for one day.

Minnesota Pictures Cont.  Basically from all of these pictures, you can tell that the girls loved the vacation.  

Pretty much both of their positions all week in the cabin.  I think Gram loved having Julianne to rock next to her.

Julianne being a complete angel and sleeping in the rock n play next to Great Gram!

The reason why we keep going year after year... enough said.

Grace got to reel this fish in all by herself.  It was so fun to watch, especially because she was getting really upset that she wasn't catching any fish earlier in the week.  Put it on the board!

I finally got to go out in the boat with Paul on one of our last days in Minnesota.  This is the weather I got to fish in... rain.  I didn't catch any fish.  Oh well!  Next year.

I don't know how to rotate this picture but this was Julianne cheering on the Blackhawks.  We got to watch them win the Stanley Cup while in Minnesota!  Go Hawks!

I have no idea whose fish this was but Charlotte looks awesome holding it.  She is definitely an Augle!

Charlotte reeled in this fish all by herself.  She absolutely LOVED fishing and hanging out on the dock.  In my opinion she liked the minnows a bit TOO much and was rubbing them on her cheek.  EWWWW!  Baths every night

Charlotte and her fishing gear.  She had her tackle box with her make up and her fishing stuff plus a little minnow net to play with the bait.

Pigtails!  

Oops... where did my fishy go???

"No, I will not jump in the water, dad"

"Oh, yes, you will... let's go"

"The water is too cold so I am going to hang on your neck."

"Whew. We made it back to the ladder!"

This was our sleeping set up.  What you see is where we all slept.  Julianne was being the bed and the wall in a rock n play.  A pack and play would not have fit.  Only benefit.  We had a bathroom in our room.

Visitor's center.  Grace got to apply to be a Junior Ranger.  She had to do a packet and bring it back in later, hence the other pictures of just Grace and I.

Charlotte learning about the loons in Minnesota.

What not to feed the bears at a campsite.

Building bracelets of beads

Rita and Grace caught their fish at the same time.

Paul showing Grace how to hold the fish.

Grace holding it by herself.

Isn't she pretty???

Julianne hanging out with Papa and drooling all over the place.