Snow White and her Little Dwarf

I found this Snow White dress on Craigslist for $5 and couldn't resist. Kennedy has dress-up clothes, but none of the actual "Princess" dresses. She's pretty much not taken it off since we got it. I thought she looked so cute eating her breakfast at the counter with her legs crossed, but I was trying to get a picture of her without her noticing. However, she turned just as I was taking it.

Ansley, the little dwarf, is certainly not Sleepy. I don't know what her deal is! She has been waking up in the middle of the night screaming at the top of her lungs. We used to be able to just go in, rock her for a few minutes, and put her back in bed. However, recently, she will not stop crying and points to our bedroom. If we take her in there and put her in bed with us, she immediately closes her eyes and goes back to sleep. I'm not sure how this happened, because she has never slept in our bed before, and I certainly don't like it! She is quite the wiggle worm and I have a hard time sleeping with her there...not to mention I don't want to start something that is hard to break in the future! Last night, Jeremy wasn't feeling well, plus he had a meeting at 7 am this morning, and she would not stop crying! Being extremely tired myself, I brought her to our bed, but she just tossed and turned. So I got up with her, got her some milk and ended up laying on the couch with her the rest of the night. She ended up sleeping most of the night, although I can't say I really did much. Any suggestions or advice out there for me? We have tried letting her cry it out, and she cried for over an hour one night (with no signs of letting up), until we couldn't take it any longer and brought her to our bed. Letting her cry it out is risky too, since it could easily wake Kennedy and then we'd be dealing with two kids that wanted to sleep with us. If you have any advice I'd love to know it!

Dora Fan

We are having a great time this weekend with Nana (Jeremy's mom) here. Jeremy and I got to go out with friends Friday night and then had a dinner that we attended Saturday night. Tonight, Kennedy asked if we could leave again and put Ansley to bed so she could have Nana all to herself.

We've discovered Ansley has a new love. When Kennedy was her age, she was obsessed with Elmo. Click here and here to see a little about that. However, Ansley barely knows who Elmo is. Kennedy thinks she is too big to watch Sesame Street, so instead we watch Dora in the mornings during breakfast and while we are trying to wake up. I've noticed Ansley really paying attention and getting excited when Dora comes on. I've even caught her saying "baa-paa" (backpack) when the purple backpack comes on and sings. Tonight she found a Dora DVD in our drawer and carried it around for quite some time. She was trying to say "Dora" too. She also very clearly said "Swiper" and if you know anything about Swiper, everyone says "Swiper no swiping!" and he replys with "Oh, man!". I would say to Ansley "Swiper no swiping!" and she would say "Maaaaan!". It was too cute. We'll have to try and get it on video soon. She kept us very entertained.

Tomorrow Nana gets to go with us to watch Kennedy at tumbling, and then I have to take Ansley for a follow-up appointment on her ears, to make sure the tubes are doing their job. I think they are, but we'll see. I'll leave you with a picture of the girls and me from last weekend. I was trying to get a cute one, but apparently I didn't get the memo to open my mouth wide!

Race Day!

Ansley thinks Mommy and Daddy are number 1 regardless of what place they finished!

Today was race day! Originally my sister Betsy and I were going to run together for our first 5K. But we can't do that until May 9, so we both decided to run one before that time. Jeremy graciously volunteered to run with me today so I wouldn't have to do it by myself. He was so kind to slow his pace and run next to me (okay maybe a few steps ahead of me) the entire time. I kept telling him he didn't have to do that, but secretly, I wanted him to.

I did have brief flashbacks to when I was in labor with Kennedy. After 3 hours of pushing, Jeremy kept telling me "You're doing great!", and I finally said "YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I'M DOING GREAT!" I figured if I was doing great I would have popped that child out 2 hours prior. At about 2.5 miles he kept saying "Just one more corner!" over and over. I finally said, probably not so kindly, "I know! You've told me that 8 times!" I clearly did not see one more corner, and it was at least 1/2 mile away. Not too mention, I've been averaging 14-15 minute miles (super slow I realize!) and we were averaging around 12 minute miles!

We finished at 38 minutes. That's 7 minutes faster than my normal time. That tells me a few things: 1) I can run faster than I have been 2) I haven't really been pushing myself as much as I could 3) Running with someone makes me push myself more.

Honestly though, I could care less about the time. I'm just glad I didn't walk, and I finished. Not to mention that I made a goal, and 3 months later, actually went through with it! However, I do feel that I need to push myself a little harder in 3 weeks to do at least that well, if not a little better. I'm thinking I can do 36 minutes. We'll see!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone had a great Easter! Here are a few pictures of the girls checking out their goodies.

Yum...raisins.

The Easter Bunny brought Kennedy The Little Rascals dvd--one of her favorite movies.

Kennedy enjoying breakfast with all of her new stuff. The Easter Bunny found little princess castles for a bargain on Craiglist! Check out the new jelly shoes he also found...probably her favorite gift.

Yesterday we also ventured out to the Cardinals game. Unfortunately we thought it was nice and warm when we left and went dressed for spring weather. The problem was, it only felt that way in the sun, and our seats were not in the sun at all. We only made it through the 6th inning, and then left shivering. Apparently it tuckered the girls out though, as you can see from the following pictures of our ride home.Here are some pictures of when we took a trip to the zoo with Aunt Betsy a few weeks ago:

And lastly, a cute picture of Jeremy and me from our Murder Mystery Dinner we went to. It was a 20's theme:

Home Improvement

The girls and I spent a few days up in Peoria this week so Jeremy could rip out our carpet in our living room and put down wood laminate. He's not quite finished, but it looks really good so far! Here's a picture of Kennedy (although when she wears this outfit we have to call her "Gabriella") doing her best cheerleading move on the new floor.

Here's an up close version of what it looks like.

Today our plans include coloring Easter eggs, making a trip to the mall to see the Easter Bunny (and I have a coupon to spend at New York & Company--$15 free! If you want the link to print it off let me know--it's good until tomorrow!), and I have to get my running in today! Next Saturday is my first 5K. Jeremy's mom is coming to town to keep the girls so that Jeremy can run it with me. Although I'm not sure I'll like running with him. Here I've been running since January, and he ran for the first time yesterday...yet he'll finish way before me and I'll be huffing and puffing the whole way! Oh well! I hope everyone has a great Easter! I'll leave you with a picture of the girls.

It's Pudding Time!

Ansley has been sick with croup all week and does not want to eat! Desperate to get some food in her, I tried something new. You'll be able to see from the video it was a hit!