Brooklynn and Harper Turn 2!

My sister and I are lucky enough to have had our second children 1 week apart from eachother. In the spirit of turning 2, my niece Brookie very nicely shared her birthday party with my little Harper (who will be turning two on Sunday). Here are some pics of the event. :)

The Trip to Oregon

Ok, so, we drove 1713.3 miles in 3.5 days to make it to Andrew's Aunt Margaret's funeral in Forest Grove, Oregon. Lots and lots of driving. I have figured that we drove for about 28 hours total. Well, when I say we I really mean me. I drove all but about 100 miles of it, because it was my car, and Andrew follows people really, really closely.

Part of this drive was out to Seaside, so that I (and the girls) could see the ocean for the first time. Now, I've seen the ocean, I've just never been to the beach. So, without further ado, here are some pictures of the beach.

On the way, we stopped at Multnomah Falls (mostly for a break from the car). Here's a couple pics...







All in all, a good trip, outside of having to go for a funeral.

Potty Training - The bane of my existence

I'm frustrated. Potty training sucks. Seriously. It's rough when you know your kid can do it, and she just won't. Ridley is said kid.

She's so darn stubborn!!! She knows when she has to go potty. She knows how to use the potty. She'd rather pee-pee in her pull-up than go to the bathroom.

Grrr....

Here's proof that she can do it.



So why won't she do it when she's supposed to?!?

My mom bought quite the neat little invention. It's called the Potty Watch. It plays music every 30, 60, or 90 minutes, depending on what you set it to. And it won't play music any other time, which is cool because it is supposed to remind her to try and go potty.

We'll see if this works. In the meantime, give me some suggestions. I need all the help I can get!

Ridley Claims She Hates Me.

So, recently, Ridley has taken to telling me two things.

1. She HATES me (yelling it usually).

2. She wants to watch me die.

This is, needless to say, somewhat depressing. I realize that all kids go through this stage, some longer than others. But...

It still hurts.

Work has been a total drag lately. Our house is way too small for the four of us and our cat. And our fish. (The fish takes up a lot of room, I know.)

I don't need to be coming home to her "hating" me all the time.

We were at the store today, for instance. I wouldn't buy her some M&M's. She was already way too hyper. So what does she do? Screams at the top of her lungs that I'm a mean mommy and she wants me to die.

Where do kids get this crap anyway? It's not like we're running around all the time telling people how much we hate them, least of all the girls.

I've decided that every time, from now on, no matter how frustrating the situation is, I'm just going to tell her how much I love her.

"Well, I love you and I'm the only mommy you have, so deal with it."

Or -

"Well, I love you, and you hurt my feely goods, so you'd better say sorry."

Or (My personal favorite) -

"I love you and that's all there is to it."

Do you have any other suggestions? Because I'm listening.

Harper said "Hi!"

Not the hugest deal in the world. But, when you had a day like I did, it was awesome!

I walked into daycare to get the girls today, and she'll always crawl right over to me with a huge smile. But today, accompanying the smile was a big "Hi!"

It was great!

So, in the fashion of my last blog, here is a slide show of the youngest of Youngs, The Harper.

Missing the Monkey Chow

So, I have really random nicknames for my kids. Stinker, curly, baby-babe, funky face... Monkey Chow is my personal favorite.

I was told today by Ridley that she doesn't want to be Monkey Chow anymore. She's just Ridley. "Mommy, I'm just Ridley Young. Man."

Bummer.

It got me to thinking about when she was younger, and as such, here is a little slide show to drown my sorrows in.

BTW - I think it's really funny that the only differences in Ridley and Harper's looks right around this age are chubbiness and eye color. hehe.

Harper's First Birthday

Well, it's official. Harper is now a 1 year old.

Time flies when you're busy, that's for sure. Between work, daycare, cleaning, cooking, playing... we have no time to ourselves anymore!

Ridley is having the time of her life being a big sis. She loves to teach Harper how to say crazy words, and Harper loves the attention. They'd play forever if we let them!

Harper's first birthday was a great one - she was able to share it with her cousin Brooklynn, since they were born just a week apart.

Instead of a cake, we had a cupcake theme, which was great! The girls had lots of fun, and so did we.

Harper's 1st Birthday Cupcake Carnage!

A little Birthday Hand Holding!


Brooklynn's Cupcake Didn't Stand A Chance!