The girl loves her corn

As soon as she saw the camera, she had to stop to say "bye bye" to "Coat" (That's Cole - her cousin). Pause the music at the bottom of the page before viewing video. :)

Butterfly House

 

Ava just loves the butterfly house, so we visited again today. We were last there about a month ago. She fell in love with a peacock butterfly that she dubbed "my sweetheart." Over the past few weeks she's wondered how her "sweetheart" is fairing at the butterfly house. "I really hope my sweetheart didn't die!" (When we were there we did notice quite a few deceased butterflies...lead to discussions on the relatively short lifespan of butterflies.) So, we went again today to check on her sweetheart. She's convinced she saw him. Who am I to tell her otherwise? It's a really beautiful place. Check it out if you are in the area.

Potty Time...psych....

So Michaela is showing quite a bit of interest in going on the potty. She pretends all the time...tells me she needs to pee...tells me that she's "stink," etc. Of course, the best is when you ask her if she's got poop, she bends over - feet & hands on the floor, butt in the air for you to take a peek. I'll have to snap a pic of that one. Anyway, the other day she told Miss Jacki that she needed to poop...on the potty. So we tried. She just sat there saying "toot and poop," but didn't do anything. At least she's showing some interest. Far better than her sister, who at 3 years and 2 months said, "going on the potty is NOT for me!" (She decided it was about 3 days later and has been pretty much accident-free since.) Hopefully this one will be a bit easier...one can dream....

Serbian Picnic 2009

 

Well, we finally made it up to Flint for the annual Serbian picnic at his dad/step-mom's church. Pete used to go just about every summer, but hasn't been since we were married in 2004. You know, a wife and 2 kids just drag you down. We went for the weekend and had a lot of fun. It's true - bread dabbed on a lamb cooking over open flame is quite tasty. He's been talking about this since I've known him. Of course, Ava skipped out on all things meat (can you imagine that there were no chicken nuggets?), and ate 3 hamburger cookies, some bread, and a bag of cheetos. Michaela tried everything, but really liked the cevaps (cevapici), which is a sausage made from scratch.

My Kiki - what planet does she live on?

Michaela (a/k/a "Kiki") is 1 1/2 now. It's so fun to see her personality develop. She is a riot. She loves to tease her sister...Ava gets annoyed...Michaela laughs. She's also chattering up a storm. Almost overnight she began speaking in sentences. The usual: "Where my daddu?" "Daddu" is her daddy...the love of her life. Talk about a kid having her dad wrapped around her finger. Although it's hard to say no when she's got her head cocked to the side batting her big blue eyes at you. She's also quite the singer. She carries a tune pretty well for a baby...yes, she's still my baby. Her favorite is "Twinkle Twinkle." She's almost got all of the words down pat. Sometimes she makes up her own words. My personal favorite is the "momma dadda" song. My niece (who will be 2 in a month) sings, too...maybe they'll do duets someday. She's so different from Ava in a lot of ways - if Ava falls, gets hurt, etc. while doing something, she tends to get back up and do it again. (after the tears are dry, of course). Yesterday Michaela fell down the stairs and now she won't go down herself. She looks down from the top and says, "fall down," and holds her arms up to me for a lift. She also thinks fingerpainting is "ack." She definitely does not like being messy. Highlights of Michaela's current words:

• Daddu gone bye bye...stands at the front door when he leaves for work craning her neck to see him until he rounds the curve
• Mama...tickle [holding up her arm]...again
• Apple...apple...apple." (over and over until she gets one)
• Cook-cook = cookie
• She says "cheese" and gives a big grin every time she sees a camera. Of course, then I have to take her picture
• We are going through a throwing phase, so she says "no throw." Yesterday I threw a diaper at Pete and she looks at me and says, "No throw!" Busted.
• The best, though had to be when she was trying to convince me to let her nurse. She looked at me with her pretty blue eyes and said in her sweetest voice: "I no bite you, momma" Such love. Of course, she's also a "food" critic since at times when she's nursing she complains that it's too "hot"...signs "hot and then blows on my boob.
• READ! with a book thrust into your lap
• she gets her shoes...and my shoes (or Pete's) and says "side...side," which means outside. She also gets shoes when she wants to go "bye-bye" or go on the bike "BIKE! BIKE!" That is daddu's job. She repeats just about everything you say to her. Like a little parrot following behind. I guess I better watch my mouth. ha ha ha.

As for Ava, she's just full of questions. About a year ago she learned her planets from a chart given to her by Auntie Kelly for Christmas (yeah, and Uncle Steve, too). Right now she's reviewing (relearning) her planets, so its constant questions: what planet do we live on? What planet is Michigan on? What planet does kiki live on? Do people live on Jupiter? Why not? The best, though, was when she was pestering me about how babies get out of the tummy. I had her call Auntie Jill, who explained it to her with medical precision. 'nough said. She left that one alone.

Yesterday Ava gave me a piece of paper with "hi" written on it. She's teaching herself to write. Yes, I feel slight guilt because I'm not sitting down with her teaching her how to write new letters. But, she sees them and writes them...doing fine on her own. Homeschooling will be a breeze! Yeah right.

Vacation - part 5

Vacation - part 4

Vacation - part 3

4th of July

Vacation - part 2

Vacation pictures

I have a ton of vacation pictures, so I'm going to post them in a "collage"format. There will be several different posts. There is also a movie on you tube, which you should be able to access via the link on to the left of this post. We had an awesome time in Michigan. It is such a pretty area. The girls had a ball making friends with the Wortz kids, and also spending time with their Michigan cousins.

Vacation - Part 1

Girl talk

One of the purposes of my blog is so that I can record cute things the girls say (well, I think they are cute)

• Ava: Momma, I really don't like red caterpillars like the ones that I saw at Grandma Barb's. I only like the yellow caterpillars with the black spots. So, I am going to ask God to get rid of all of the red caterpillars. (7/8/09)
• Michaela: In one of her attempts to convince me to let her nurse..."I no bite you." (7/7/09)
• Ava has started to add this phrase to things that she tells me/Pete: "and that is the truth!" Can you tell we've had a few issues with lying?

I'm sure there will be more later....