Thursday, April 29, 2010

How To Eat Applesauce

Starring: Frances Yost

Frances has started to enjoy eating on her own, with her own two hands. This frees up much of my time, and I am able to eat my lunch at the same time as the girls. But, it does have it's downfalls. For example, Frances likes to hold her spoon in one hand while scooping the applesauce into her face, sometimes her mouth, with the other. When she does use her spoon, it is usually facing the wrong way. While this technique is interesting, it is proving to be quite ineffective. For example:

Note, the spoon is being used in the correct manner. A rare event indeed.

Sigh. I had to wash that off...

Frances was done. By the end she was covered, including her hair and eyelashes.

Teresa, the innocent (and clean-ish) bystander.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My Mother Would Be Appalled


What? Doesn't everyone build sandcastles in their fancy dresses?

Friday, April 23, 2010

Bedtime Blues...

Cara looked at me yesterday and told me that she is concerned Teresa will not last pre-school.  I chuckled, because I know she isn't serious and I know what she means.  Teresa seems to have finally bought into the 'terrible twos', and we have two options either snap or laugh, and thusly we laugh.

Teresa has become newly fussy, primarily about times when Cara is gone, to which she will cry to the heavens and be inconsolable.  She also doesn't exactly listen very well, and yes I know where that comes from, like last night when she sang all the way through dinner even though we asked her regularly not to.  Nevertheless there are always some funny moments.

Teresa has always been a great sleeper, and she still is...  when she gets there.  Teresa's afternoon nap is quickly disappearing into the ether and is being replaced by quiet time in her bedroom.  "Quiet time" is one of the greatest misnomers ever though.  It normally begins that way, and as time passes you will hear a quiet singing voice, then it progresses to a louder singing, then she is umping on the bed and banging on Frances' wall.  On weekends, I then get up from my nap-like position (this invariably occurs right as I am about to fall asleep) and quiet her done, thus hitting the reset button and beginning the process anew.  When I am going out to for a bike ride, or making beer, or getting in the van, or cleaning the back yard I also see a cute little face peering through her window, as she uses her side table to stand on...

Bedtime at night is at times a similar story.  Of course her lack of sleep during the day causes her to be tired and fussy for the few hours I am home on a work night, followed by the struggle of getting her to bed when she is so awake she will cry to prove her lack of needing to be in bed...  Sigh.  The best is that she now seems to think she is sneaky.  We will put her to bed.  15 minutes later her door will open and she will 'go to the washroom'.  Two nights ago she announced to Cara all surprised "Mommy, I still had pee in me!".  Way to blow your cover agent!  A few days back I heard her door open a second time.  I peered around the corner and saw nothing.  I waited a bit, heard nothing more, but decided to check in on it anyways.  Suddenly I hear the "THUMP THUMP THUMP" of her always dainty feet, then "SLAM - THUMP THUMP THUMP - PLOP - CRINKLE!" with her jumping on her plastic covered mattress...  I find it hilarious she thinks she is subtle.

When the weather was bad I had begun cycling in the basement in preparation for spring, normally after Teresa was put into bed.  Almost every day I would find Teresa doing something involving being out of bed, including peering down the stairs.  The best story though was early on I found her sitting in the La-Z-Boy 'reading' stories.  You can't get mad at that so I gave her some more time, and then we went back to bed.  It became so bad though that I had to leave EVERY light off upstairs.

Anyhow, I found the last couple of stories amusing so I figured they should be shared to the masses.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Up to Stuff

I know you haven't heard from us lately, but we have been up to stuff. Just normal stuff, the same thing we do everyday. Frances is running and climbing and trying to imitate our actions and communicate, all while killing us slowly with all the heart attacks she seems to induce throughout the day. Teresa is either hilarious and sweet, or a crying, whiney beast who is trying to avoid bed time. Either way, the two of them seem to make doing the same thing everyday fun and interesting.   So, here are a few pictures of our everyday.

Teresa loves to paint.....Frances loves to eat the paint.

Who loves Vanilla Rice Krispies? This girl right here.

Frances' new love is putting things into things.

See.

A rare shot of the Teresa in flight.

Mommy, you drive fast, so I must wear my helmet.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Easter, In Photographs

This Easter was lovely, and, as always, chaotic. Although last year was technically Frances' first Easter, this was the year she followed Teresa around while T looked for her basket. Always the generous older sibling, Teresa found Frances' basket first.

Teresa and I spent Saturday afternoon dyeing and decorating eggs. This was hers.

Easter Morning, the search begins!

Even Frances is getting in on the action.

Success!

After a bit of guidance, Teresa found hers as well.

Although she liked the book, she was especially excited about the chocolate.

Ponytail time!

One little lady, and one very cute exhibitionist.

At some point in their lives they will smile and look at the camera at the same time....and I will faint.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

Happy Birthday Cara!

Happy 31st Birthday Cara / Mommy!

For those unaware, my wife is a true April Fool.  As you are all obviously aware she is a fantastic mother, working hard for our sweeties.  I was looking through the pictures for evidence of the great things she does, I realized that our pictures are 96% candid shots of the girls, 1% Rowdy, 2.8% pictures of other people, 0.18% pictures of me and the girls and 0.02% pictures of Cara.  Fortunately we take about 1.3 trillion pictures a year, so that translates to a few shots to use :)

So here you go, Happy Birthday Cara.  I should mention that if you want to follow her daily travails, you can go to her blog "Waiting to Perspire"

Toute la famille


Posing with #2 (order of birth, not amount of love :)


Posing with #1 


At Princesses on Ice, which I seem to recall being a big hit with both of them

Have a great day.  I have to go buy and wrap some stuff now.