Family Vacation

We have made it through the first leg of our journey without too many physical or emotional scars :) I think the escalator was by far the scariest thing on the whole trip.

Here we are at the beginning of our journey in the rental car from the house to the St. Louis airport. The girls were great and handled the transitions wonderfully.

I took several pictures at the airport, but I didn't have the camera set correctly and the pictures are worthless. So here is a picture of at Mom and Dad's the next morning.

On Thursday we visited the Desert Museum near Tuscon. Lots of cactus and we made it back home with out bringing quills back with us!

UHG!!!!!

After 4 failed attempts at nabbing a Cannon S2 camera on e-bay, several late nights trying to get in that final last bid, a slow a$$ Internet connection, I am TOTALLY frustrated! I am beginning to wonder if maybe getting a new camera at a great price is not in the works right now.
I am feeling even MORE desperate because we leave in 7 days for our vacation, and I really wanted a camera to take with us. Finally tonight, after another failed attempt, I typed in our old camera model number and there are 2 of them out there that are going really cheap, so now do I go with the really nice one and just keep plugging along and hope for a break or do I put in a high bid on the old style camera, which I really like, that ends in 22 hours. Oh the pain and agony!

I will let you all know tomorrow night what transpires.

However through all this, I am getting a little better feel for The Youngest sleeping habit, which as an adult seem to be HORRIBLE. Does the typical 3 year old wake up multiple times a night with nightmares? This is all new to me and I just don't know what to make of it. Because of the Prednisone for my pneumonia & the new obsession with eBay, I have been staying up until 2ish in the morning and hear every little sound Lexi makes. For the last week she has consistently cried around 10 pm (about 2 hours after bed time) and then between 11 and midnight. Then around 2 a.m. on 3 nights, she actually got up out of bed and came out of her room. With the earlier times, I have been comforting her while she is still in that sleepy, bad dream state and as long as I don't kiss her, which normally she loves to get pecks on her forehead and cheek, she will go back to sleep. The 2 am one is a bit tougher because she is a wake and coherent. I have been walking her back to bed and rubbing her hair until she falls back to sleep - about 10 min. later.
I know she has been through a lot of transitions lately and even early in her life she had a lot of neglect for her basic needs - but I just want someone to say, do this or do that or you are doing okay.

And then, what happens when I finally start being able to sleep at my normal time? Half of me thinks it would be better to at least wait up until 11ish now, instead of my normal 9 pm.

This was not in MAPPS class!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh the Agony!

Outside Photos Only

Well, with the flash non-repairable, we have been limited to outdoor pictures only so far, and in January those are few and far between. But here is what we have been up to in Jan. I can't believe it is gone though. We have been plagued by everything imaginable I think. The latest count has been an ear infection for our oldest, which she is happily over now, bronchitis for the youngest, which she just finished up her antibiotics, and pneumonia for Christine, which is finally starting to clear up after two rounds on antibiotics and prednisone. I typically LOVE winter; however, I will be all too happy to usher this one out.

Oh, we also had an interesting surprise in Jan. when one sunny afternoon I ventured out to mess with the horses, only to discover Black Beauty was making a bag. Sometime between now and the middle of March, we will be adding an addition to the farm, which the girls are quite excited about. However, with all this baby/pregnant talk the girls have taken to role playing with their baby dolls. They walk around the house with the babies up under their shirt and then, at any given moment the babies fall out and they are mommies. Cheyenne and Lexi both keeping asking when they can be a mommy. For now they are quite satisfied with, "When you are responsible enough to take good care of a baby, like feed it, have a house for it, and a job". And it has led to good conversations about how to take good care of a baby and what a mommy should be like. And for now, we are feeling overjoyed that they haven't asked, "How do babies get in to a mommies tummy"?

Cheyenne and Lexi feeding the goats hay. Cheyenne is much happier about being outside than Lexi - she is about a 10 min. kind of girl. And Meeka is finally warming up to the girls, after many scratches and hurt feelings.

Major Set-back

Well, over the holidays our camera bit the dust, so the blog entrees may slow down a bit. I am hoping it is just the flash and it can cheaply be repaired - if not, we will have to save up for a new camera. Keep your fingers crossed.

New Years Eve Christmas

This year we decided to have our family together on New Years Eve and it was actually rather nice - to celebrate the end of the year with family. Th only downer was that Mom and Dad were sick and had just gotten back from Iowa City Hospital.



Kyler got stuffed Pokemon things, and a new fleece hat.



Lane got a camera, and then he was messing around with the girls make-up kit and the sparkle fairy threw up all over him.



Thank-you Julie, for giving The girls a Hannah Montana dress-up kit - we love the pink hairs that shed daily.




Princess and Aunt Julie trying out the make-up kit Aunt Julie got them.

Swimming Outing

Over Christmas break, We got a room at Fun City and discovered that the girls are great swimmers. Our younger one is much more adventurous about going without a life jacket - but her sissy was no scaredy cat. We also took the older child care kids with us, and Lane and Kyler. We all had a great day and enjoyed getting out, when the weather was so crappy outside. The kids all play so well together - it will be fun watching them all go up together.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We got everything we wanted, except John's front left tooth, but he will get that on the 5th.

Rock'n around the Christmas Tree, Christmas Eve.

Amoung the Chaos - can you even see us?

Thank-you Grandma and Grandpa Trochesset, we love our dresses!

More pictures to come later, after I recoupe :)

All I Want For Christmas. . . .

Is my left front tooth.

John was removing an old bent nail from a board and the nail decided to remove part of John's tooth. When the nail released itself from the board, it propped its stuff straight towards his mouth. Being it was a Sat. night, we have to wait until Monday to get anyone to look at it. The corner is chipped and there is a crack that goes straight up the tooth to the gum.

With this tooth and his gold cap in the back, John will soon have more money in his mouth than his daughters, who had braces.

John is slowly transgressing to hillbilly status.

Move in Day

is done. . . . and I keep waiting for the fireworks. Instead there has been no spectacular hallmark, just a quiet night and a casual new morning.

This morning all four of us went out to do chores, and we crunched through the snow iced earth to feed the horses. I only fell once, compared to our younger ones umpteenth fall's and John's 0. The older one decided it was best to play dogie and crawl across the icy snow on all floors, she is one smart cookie.

The girls enjoyed the incredible edible icicles, and learned how fast and crazy the sled is on sheets of ice.

Then we went into town to get groceries before the next round of rain/sleet/snow comes in.
It was completely surreal hearing two little girl voices call me mommy - please don't ever wake me up from this wonderful dream :)

Finally we have just finished eating lunch, where the girls have their own private viewing of the birds and they take great pleasure in feeding and watching them.

Trimming the Tree

One of my favorite holiday traditions in decorating the Christmas tree, and this year that would be trees (plural, as in 9 trees). It was fun watching the girls unwrap the ornaments and then hang them on the tree. By the end of the night, all the ornaments were in about three clusters, high, middle, and low.

John then decided to take the girls sledding as I rearranged the the ornaments, so they are a little more spatially pleasing, but it was absolutely wonderful sharing that tradition with two new family members.

Polar Express

On Saturday, Carolyn and Ielah went to the Imax 3D Polar Express with us. We began the day at 10 am, with our 1 1/2 hour drive to Davenport, we ate at Olive Garden, went to the Imax and seen the movie, and then drove back home. It was a wonderful day and we all enjoyed ourselves, at least I think Ielah and Carolyn did. I was very impressed with how well behaved the girls were in the car and out in public eating - I wouldn't hesitate to take them out again.

And they LOVED the Imax. Our older one definitely got more out of the movie, mainly because she kept her glasses on the whole time, but they were both all smiles at the end of the movie.

All Smiles

Our Two Cuties!

Good Night

Night time has been a wonderful time lately. The girls are 2 of the easiest kids we have ever put to bed. Lately though, we have been letting them fall asleep out in the living room with us, and then carrying them to bed (I know mom, a bad habit to get into). It sure has been fun snuggling with them pre-bed time though.

The Shortest Lived Snowman

Everybody loves a snowman. Young and old alike laugh and giggle while creating a beloved snowman. And the perfect snowman is no easy task.

We rotated the snowball just right every so many rolls, so it is nice and even. Then we used the golden triangle to figure out the perfect body and head snowball ratio's. And finally, picked out all the perfect accessories, like arms, and buttons, and mouth and nose, and hat. After what seemed like hours - the perfect snowman was born.

Then, we went inside to enjoy some warm cocoa, only to go back outside - 30 min. later - to find our perfect snowman, laying on its side. Dead from some unknown cause or minor miscalculation of body / head ratio.

Lanes Christmas Program

We were so lucky! The girls stayed with us on a Thursday night and we got to go up to Lane's Christmas program, which was a very nice program. Here are a few pictures the girls took.

How Many. . .

Kids can ride on a rocking horse?



Comfortably 1 - maybe 2 - but since when do kids really care about comfort, unless they are being asked to get into their seat belt!

13 pictures later

and hours of editing - this picture never did make it to the final cut. But I do like it, so I thought I would share it all with you anyway.

Some like 'em Up, Some like 'em down

John has taught the girls "thumbs up" and then they came up with "thumbs down". Or maybe they already knew all about this wonderful hand gesture and John just renewed their interest in it.


The girls spent all week trying out their new sign language on all of us, which was accompanied with lots of laughs.

Last Meal

Unbeknown to them, this was probably their last meat meal in this kitchen.

They look so happy - their last pepperoni bagel bites (thanks to Aunt Julie and Uncle Mat, we raided their freezer for a quick meal), in our kitchen.

John and I have had many discussions about how we are going to deal with the whole meat issue, or should I say meatless issue, with the girls. We spend hours discussing what to say and when they could have it and all that other mambo jumbo adults think are so important. So far not once have the girls said anything about missing the meat. However, I am sure there will come a time when they say they want hamburgers for supper, and I have to explain why we will not have hamburgers at the house. We have decided not to make the girls vegetarians though. They will go meatless here, but if we are out (which happens rarely), they may order meat. What is interesting though, is if we suggest a meatless entree, like cheese pizza, they will choose that. We are secretly hoping they will take our lead and go meatless too :)

Don't they look so happy!

Best Birthday Ever

I am not discounting any past birthday, but currently I can't recall a better birthday night. Money really can't buy everything and this picture proves my point. Sure it took money to have the wonderful house I live in and to feed everyone in this picture - but even if I didn't have any extra $$$ to spend, this would be all I would need.

We all climbed up on the couch, snuggled in and watched Spongebob Squarepants, when Meeka decided she would join us too. The adore the animals, so were thrilled to have the extra company.
It has been funny listening to the girls figure things out. This would have been the first weekend alone they spent with us and they were already staking claims. They would say, "This my dog, right?" and I would say, "Yes, Betsy is your dog." Then they would say, "This my cat, right?" and I would say, "Yes, Meeka is your cat." They spent most of the weekend wanting confirmation that the things they liked were theirs. It was nice to see them making healthy attachments.