Nov 13: Sweet Tooth

Tonight, Calli asked if we could have dessert. I was looking for fun things to do so I agreed. So I took sugar cookies, frosted them with chocolate frosting and let the girls add sugar and sprinkles! (I have no idea where they got their sweet tooth from!)


I think they enjoyed it!


Notice how careful they are, as they pick the sprinkles off the cookie. LOL!


Mari never did eat any of the cookie, but she got all the sprinkles and most the chocolate frosting off! Doesn't that show she has good attention span for her age ;)

Nov 12: Special event not required

Calli just asked for me to take a picture of her and Mari - how could I refuse? Sorry, I had to post two pictures, they never both smile in the same shot :)

Nov 11: A Girl's Best Friend

Our kind babysitter, Ann, brought over her puppy. Both the girls LOVE dogs, but aren't usually comfortable with the dogs licking them or touching them. But with Lucy who was sweet, they really warmed up.

Nov 9: Playing Together

Our girls get along pretty well, but it is so fun to start to see them play together. Here they are feeding Mimi.

Nov 8: Kids in the Car

Calli hardly ever naps during naptime, but when she is sleepy in the car - she just can't fight it. Mari has the Dora cd memorized. She started saying "troll" during the song about the grumpy old troll. The funniest part was - she knew she was being funny!

Nov 7: Ask, and you shall receive??

Last week, Rich asked Calli if she wanted a baby to come to our house. (No, we don't have any news - but we are open to the idea.)

So yesterday, while we were running errands, Calli says "I want to have a baby brother."

I said "Oh, that would be fun. But we have to ask Jesus if we can have a baby brother."

Calli says" Okay. Dear Jesus, can we have a baby come to our house? Amen"

I said "Calli, that was nice."

She is quiet for a minute and then said "Mamma, Jesus said 'Yes'." I guess time will tell ;)

Nov 6: Quotes from Today

Context: Mari threw food on the floor, AGAIN. I picked up the high chair, with her in it, and moved it to the corner where the quiet chair sits. I set it down, returned to the table, and continued eating my cereal.
Calli: "Mama, you are really strong!"

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Mari, looking for Calli: "Cayyyy-yeeee" (Calli -- the first time I've heard her say Calli fairly clearly)

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Calli, in the bathtub while I'm washing her hair: "My hair is named Becky."

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And that is just from today :)

Nov 5: Library Program

Today Calli started her first library program at the newly remodeled Evanston Public Library. All the kids in her class including Emily and Chloe (not pictured) made these Princess Crowns. Calli loves hers. She wears it quite a bit at home.



At first, Mari wouldn't get close to this enormous bear, but soon she was giving him hugs and kisses.

Nov 4: In Their Sunday Best

Nov 3: Around Our House

The girls watching DVDs on the living room floor.


Mari enjoying the spoils of trick-or-treating: a lollipop. (The girls love lollipops and much to our dismany, would often look into a bowl of mini-candy bars, and happily select the dum-dum sucker. We will coach them more next year to avoid these types of strategic candy selection errors!)

The girls enjoying a game of Chutes and Ladders with Rich. Playing this game really means having lots of discussion about who gets to be Dora, Diego, Swiper and Backpack, and then moving the pieces around randomly, standing the board up in the shape of an up-side-down "v" and then hiding the pieces under it.


The girls actually posing for a picture - imagine that!


Mari in her "dancing dress" which she loves to wear lately, and Rich's boots. I tell you, that girl loves ANY & ALL SHOES.

Nov 1: Mailbox

While Grandma was here, she had the idea for Calli to make letters and then add TONS of address labels and "stamps." Calli loved it. So I took the idea one step further, and made a mailbox for the girls to mail all the letters they made.

It was a HUGE SUCCESS! They sat and played with it for over 10 minutes, taking turns putting the letters in one by one.









In case you do want to try this at home: I took a regular cardboard box and cut a small opening with an exacto-knife. But I made sure not to cut through the inside flap so there would be a little resistance as they put in the letter. Then some construction paper on the front and wha-la! I have to say, I highly recommend it for toddlers: easy to make, kept their attention for decent spans on consecutive days!

Oct 31: First Trick or Treat

This year was the first time the girls (or myself) ever went trick-or-treating. They loved it!
Calli was Winnie the Pooh. She had a cute hat with ears and everything that she accidentally left at Escuela. Mari was a firefighter, but didn't want to wear her hat, so Calli wore it most the night.

Wouldn't you love to see these cuties at your door?

After the trick-or-treating, we went to Lucas' new house for a little dinner party. They had chocolate cake with brigedero (sp??) as icing. I asked for some to take home - it was so yummy!

Rich and Mari

Lucas and Alex

Oct 29: Hiding Out

My girls LOVE tents lately!


Where's Mari?


"Peek!"



Calli "hiding" under the table.


The girls with an impromptu blanket tent.

Oct 28: St. Charles

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, who generously donated their time, we got away this weekend to St. Charles for a little R&R.

While we were there, we also got to attend the wedding of our friends, Burt and Laura. What a beautiful fall day for a wedding. We pray for God's continued blessings on your marriage!

Oct 26: Pooh

Oct 26: Lucas' Park

Out friend Lucas moved. The good news is that he didn't move very far. The better news is that his new house is next to this cool park! It is geared toward older kids, and Calli loves climbing the rock wall and this ladder.

I tried to get a picture of the girls together on the double slide - but no.

Here they are about to go down the big twisty slide!

Who needs playground equipment? After going down the slide together, they started wrestling around, and Mari plopped herself down on Calli and they both thought it was incredibly fun :)

Oct 24: Trains

We had a little time to waste before we went to the gym, so we stopped by Barnes and Noble to play with the train table.

Mari spent most her time trying to get the train to go down the ramp. She didn't really figure out the wheels have to go in the groves in order for it to stay on the track.

Calli liked building a train with lots of cars, and then pushing it all the way around the track.