Seriously...What is Going On???

I love this child. I really, really do. But right now she is frustrating me SO bad! She will not sleep in her crib! I do not know what is going on! She used to be the most easy-going, laid-back child in the world and now she is causing my hair to gray quicker than it already was. I need help from veteran parents here...what do I do??? Right now, I am approaching hour 2 of listening to her cry at naptime. Just before I put her in her crib she was falling asleep on her changing table as I changed her diaper...so I know she's tired. But as soon as I put her in her crib, the screaming began. This has been going on since Friday for all naps and at night. Either Jeremy or I have ended up on the couch with her every night since then. She'll sleep just fine then...of course Jeremy and I aren't hardly sleeping. We are determined to let her cry it out...but seriously, 2 hours of crying with no end in sight? How do we continue with that? We even took her to the doctor yesterday because I was convinced she had to have an ear infection...she didn't have any symptoms, but that is the only time she has ever done anything like this. But no, she's just fine, according to the doctor. I am getting ready to go away for the weekend with the girls by myself, and we have got to get this cleared up before then! It's rough with help, I can't imagine doing it by myself. Any suggestions or advice???

Happy Father's Day!

Jeremy was gone all last week at camp, so the girls and I spent some time preparing for Father's Day. Technically, he already got his Father's Day/Birthday present when he bought himself a new iPod after his last one got stolen, but we decided it wouldn't be any fun to not get him anything. He's been wanting a fire pit for our backyard ever since we moved in, so we decided that would be the perfect gift. And what better to go with a fire pit than s'mores? So, he first opened a bag full of marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey Bars, followed by the fire pit. Tonight we spent the evening outside roasting marshmallows and enjoying the s'mores.

I am so thankful my girls have such a wonderful daddy. Even though he spent a long week at camp with very little sleep, he still came home and played all day with the girls. They adore him and both missed him quite a bit when he was gone. We had a couple of rough nights going to bed because they missed his tucking in. They love to wrestle with him and climb all over him.

Here's a picture of Jeremy with his girls, post-s'mores on Father's Day.

Walking Fashion Statement

Today, Ansley insisted on wearing white dress shoes all day long. However, the white dress shoes that I just bought her for Easter (size 4) no longer fit her, and the next size I had were 5.5 that were Kennedy's old shoes, which were a little big, but she didn't care. She wore them around all afternoon. This evening, while I went to Walmart, Jeremy had to run somewhere with our friend Jimmy, and Jimmy's wife Amber kept the girls at her house. We sent the girls in pj's and of course, Ansley was still wearing the infamous dress shoes. However, after that, we all decided to go to Dairy Queen for dessert, so both my girls went in pj's and Ansley was also sporting the dress shoes out in public. Quite a walking fashion statement, I must say. They get it from their dad I think!

Pigtails

Here's Ansley's new hairdo...need I say more?

KJ's Big Race

Ever since I have been running, Kennedy has mentioned a few times that she would like to run a race. I found out a few months ago that the Magic House was having a "fun run/50-yard dash" for 2-4 year olds, so I asked Kennedy if she wanted to do it. She said yes immediately, but I didn't sign her up right away because I wasn't really sure she would do it. However, pretty much weekly she would ask when her race was. So I decided to sign her up after she saw one of my races, to make sure she understood what she was doing. Today was the big day. Jeremy and I were still pretty unsure about whether or not she would actually participate when the time came. I hoped she would, but I wasn't going to be heartbroken if she didn't. It only cost $12 to sign her up, and that got her a t-shirt and entrance to the museum (which is normally $8.50!) so I didn't figure it would be a waste of our money.

She surprised us though! She woke up this morning and debated on what she should eat to give her the most energy. She finally settled on a leftover pancake that Aunt Betsy made earlier in the week. We got to the race and she was so excited and couldn't wait for her turn. We watched a few heats and then finally it was her turn. She ran against 5 other kids and came in second in her heat. We were very proud of her! After she finished she said "Did I win?" and we told her she got second place. She really didn't get what that meant, but I assured her it was great, and that it was the same place Aunt Betsy got in her first race. She was excited, and wanted to immediately call Aunt Betsy to tell her the news. Then the race excitement was over and she was ready to go play in the Magic House. Jeremy and her are spending some much needed daddy/daughter time there today before he gets ready to leave to camp for a week...and I am enjoying a quiet house while Ansley takes a much needed morning nap!

***I forgot to mention that there were 2 unexpected visitors at the big race! There is a Dora Live! show going on in St. Louis right now and Dora and Diego surprised all the racers to cheer them on! They were only there for a minute, but it was a neat surprise!

Happy Birthday Kennedy!

From KJ's birthday Party

Today is Kennedy's 4th birthday! I can't believe she is four years old. It seems like not long ago I pushed for FOUR long hours to bring her into this world! The festivities began on Thursday when my mom and Dave got here. They let her open a couple of presents that night. Then on Friday we spent the day at Grant's Farm, which was a lot of fun. Friday night, Aunt Betsy got here and she opened more presents. Saturday was the big princess party. We've always just had big family parties, with one or two close friends of hers there, but this year was a "friends" party. She was so excited. For weeks, she toyed between a High School Musical Party or a Princess Party, and finally settled on the latter...which I was glad about because it seemed easier to pull off! We played "Pin Cinderella in the Castle Window", "Hot Tiara "(like Hot Potato) and Saturday morning a few hours before the party she reminded me we hadn't bought a pinata yet...so I made a last minute trip to the party store for a pinata. I hadn't really forgotten about it, but I thought she had, so I hadn't bought one...whoops! We did learn that she has quite a baseball swing...we may have to look into softball in the next few years. She made Aunt Betsy proud! We enjoyed our castle cake, she opened more presents, and then we played outside for a little bit. Overall, I would say it was a success! This morning she got to blow out candles in her donuts, and chose Steak-n-Shake for her birthday meal after church. We were going to go to the park, but it turned into a rainy day, so we played on the playground at the mall and finished by watching Bedtime Stories together. Click on the picture for more.

Sleeping Beauty

The other night on my way to bed, I stopped in to check on Ansley. At first glance, nothing seemed strange, until I realized I couldn't see her legs. Where could they be?

Oh wait! There they are! How could this be comfortable?