It's a mommy thing...

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Sometimes I feel inadequate as a wife/mom. 
I'm not the best "Susie Homemaker" if you will.
My house is almost always neat and picked up by the end of the day, yes.
But spic and span clean? No.
I  like to cook, but I don't have dinner ready every single night, and my (oldest) child eats popcorn for dinner.
My husband does the laundry, and I only put them away.
Dishes pile up in the sink, and I never fill up our ice cube trays... (That's for you Matt :) but I love a clean kitchen and feel like I clean it 24/7.
I don't do DIY projects, house projects, yardwork, etc as much as I'd like.
In fact, my kitchen cabinets that we started painting white a few months ago?
They still aren't finished.
I try to bake, but I sometimes fail.
I can't sew. I don't mow the lawn. I like my tv shows and spending time with friends. I also love laying on the couch.
My girls fight, argue, repeat things I'm not proud of... things like, "Go in timeout! You're driving me crazy! Don't do that!" and always want to watch "just one more Dora"
I lose my patience, I say things I don't mean to my husband, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

I work 3 days a week, and I'm home with the girls the other two days, but sometimes it's hard. It's hard to find my role in this "stay at home mom vs. working mom" world. Because technically I'm both. So in my mind I feel like I should have a clean house, and dinner made, and laundry done, and kids fed and happy, and playdates made, and swimming pools visited, and storytime attended, and yada yada yada. Oh yes, and also work during the week too. Don't get me wrong. I love my position. I love to "get a break" and adult interaction for a few hours during the week. I also love spending most of my time with my girls. Sometimes the balance of being a mom is just... hard. But so fulfilling.
It's so weird :)

Anyway, I saw this poem/quote and it struck me, so I thought I'd share. Because at the end of the day, my baby girls (and husband) matter the most. Laundry/dishes/friends/tv/dinner can wait.

     
"Today I left some dishes dirty,
The bed got made around 3:30.
The diapers soaked a little longer,
The odor grew a little stronger.
The crumbs I spilled the day before
Are staring at me from the floor.
The fingerprints there on the wall
Will likely be there still next fall.
The dirty streaks on those windowpanes
Will still be there next time it rains.
Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?

I held a baby till she slept,
I held a toddler while she wept.
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess that's s true.
Unless you think that what I've done,
Might be important to someone
With deep blue eyes and soft brown hair,
If that is true... I've done my share."

Birthday Party Planning

Right now I'm in full party mode for the girls' birthday party! With Lidia's birthday being on July 11th and Carly's being on July 22nd, we will most likely always have a joint party for them. (At least while they are still young and don't know any better!) So just like last year, we are having the party the weekend in between their birthdays, on Saturday, July 14th, but this year we are having it at our house. The theme is Disney Princess/Tinkerbelle and other than sending invites out and waiting on their adorable outfits to arrive, I've really procrastinated on the party. Well I have been drooling over cute princess parties all over the internet and Pinterest, so that counts as party planning right??! Ok I lied, I have collected a few items around the house to use (princess stuff) and my MIL bought a few decorations. We also bought a 6 ft tall coloring castle, oh and I won a blog giveaway for a party pack of decorations! So I guess we're on the right track! It will all come together in the next few weeks right? Right....

So anyway... want a sneak peak of their birthday outfits? Of course you do...

I LOVE their outfits!!! One of my favorite bloggy friends made the outfits for the girls! Cute, huh?? Thanks Shawna!!

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Also, I can now show you the invites, since they have been sent out. I made them myself through Walgreens. I just used one of their card templates, uploaded my own pictures and wording... and VOILA!

And here are some of my Pinterest inspirations for the party!

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What do you think?

Anyone have any princess party ideas for me?!

2 on 22

In (less than) one month, Carly will be TWO!

(itty bitty baby Carly!)

(1st birthday!)

(Almost 2?!)

The baby of the family is turning two, yes TWO in less than a month.

She came into this world on July 22nd at 12:11am. She wanted to make her own statement by coming 11 minutes after the "expected" birthday of July 21st.

This threw off the sequence of birthdays for the girls.... (Lidia the 11th, Carly "supposed to be" 21st, and the twins the 31st but this is no surpise to anyone that knows Carly.

She makes her own rules. She's her own person. And that person? Is pretty awesome.

A few weeks ago, I described Lidia as a princess, sensitive, etc. etc.

Carly? Not a princess. Not sensitive.

Carly is a bully.

She's a little boy.

She's "all Fritz" as we typically say. Aka.... my husband. Allllll my husband and his family.

She loves getting dirty. She loves playing with boy toys. We can already tell that she will be good at any and all sports/activities.

So yeah, that boy we wanted so badly when we found out we were pregnant?

We got him.

Or her.

I mean, we got Carly :)

(See? A bully. ALWAYS picking on Miss Lidia. ALWAYS.)

But she's not always mean. She's actually super sweet too! She gives the best kisses and hugs. EVER.

And she does it repeatedly.

She has recently started wanting to wear dresses, and she LOVES Tinkerbelle.

She won't let me do her hair though.

Girlfriend will have pigtails or a ponytail out in .02 seconds flat.

She loves to dance, jump, and sings ALL THE TIME. She is always singing.

In fact, she knows her ABC's better than Lidia.

She loves "school" because she comes home with a new song everyday.

Speaking of school, her teachers LOVE her. They say she is the sweetest, quietest, best behaved little girl ever.

Ahem? Say what?? Carly?

The one that jumps on top of us and laughs when we get hurt? The one that pulls hair, bites, and pushes people?

Hmmm. Girlfriend is a good actor :) (I kid. She really is sweet)

And she's obsessed with Miss Abby. 

In fact yesterday, she told me she was going to Abby's house. She grabbed her purse (a bag) and walked out the front door. Next thing I know, she was ACROSS THE STREET. She must really love Miss Abby. Good thing too, because next time that happens and I take my eyes off her for 5 seconds, CPS will be called and she might HAVE to go live with Miss Abby. :)

Stats:

Height/Weight: 25 pounds and about 70 percentile for height. (Not sure exact height)

Clothing: 24 months/2T

Shoes: Size 5 and 6

Eating habits: AMAZING. She will eat most anything and eat lots of it. She's always hungry.  Some favorite foods are; hotdogs, any type of pasta, chicken nuggests, string cheese, yogurt, apples, eggs, etc.

Sleeping: Takes one nap a day and ALWAYS has to nap. She's only skipped naptime once in her life. Her typical naptime is from about 1 -4pm. For bedtime, she goes to bed at 9pm and wakes up around 8am... give or take of course. She is still in a crib. I can't imagine switching her anytime soon, but I'm sure we will have to!

Potty training: Has begun!! She will go #1 AND #2 in the potty! She will tell us when she has to go about 50 percent of the time. We haven't buckled down on the potty training yet because she's not even two, but she's off to a great start!

Talking: Umm hello? Where did her vocabulary come from in the last few months? She's literally talking just as much/knows just as much as her 3 year old sister! The other night, Matt took her to the mall with him and a friend and he text me this: "Little known fact; Carly talks ALOT" hahaha yep. She is always talking... or singing... :)

Other random tidbits about Carly:
She hates to swing but loves to slide.
She LOVES the water.
She's currently obsessed with Caillou and Dora. She never used to even watch tv, now that's all she asks for. Bleh.
She's always naked.
She's starting to get very particular with things. She has to have the "right" cup, or her "favorite" shoes, or shirt, or whatever. Makes for leaving the house a pain!
She's freakishly strong.
She's fearless.
I think she's going to have curly/wavy hair!

I love you Sis! I can't believe you are almost two. I honestly can't believe it. Even though you tell me, "Daddy's my best friend".... I love you the mostest. You are my baby girl forever, and for always. You drive me crazy when you climb all over me and when you think grabbing my cheeks and pinching them as hard as you can is "cute and sweet" but let me tell you it's not! What is cute and sweet? You. You are my world. I can't wait to celebrate your birthday, 2 whole years of life with you. You definitely make life crazier, but better. ~Mommy

A petting zoo, motorcycles, and goodbyes...

Sooo here we are.... Finally wrapping up the last two days of our trip to South Dakota.

Let's recap:

Thursday: Drove 5 hours. Stayed the night in a hotel. Went swimming.

Friday: Drove around 4 hours to Rapid City. Played with Grandpa. Went to Mount Rushmore/Keystone.

Saturday: Storybook Island and then....

After Storybook Island we went to my favorite restaurant in Rapid City... Sandfords. AMAZING food. (Seriously check it out if you are in the area.) Then we were off to a petting zoo!

Yep. That's a real goat. On a bridge.

The girls rode ponies!!

...and we watched a 10 second pig race. Hilarious.

After the petting zoo, the girls were EXHAUSTED. I'm talking, Carly literally fell asleep in the car before we even got out of the parking lot! Ha! So we went back to my dad's house for the evening and we got out my dad's bike. DON'T JUDGE. We only went about .02 miles an hour having Lidia on the bike with us. And the bike was tiny! It was like riding a motorized scooter but it was fun! We only drove around his little block also :)

That evening my dad begged for the girls to have a sleepover at his house. I, of course, had to say yes considering he's only seen them twice in his life! So, we got the girls fed, bathed, and basically tucked in for the night before Matt and I left the babes to bond with their grandpa for the night. (Sidenote: We were staying at a little cabin/trailer just up the road from his house, so we were only about 3 minutes away, so that made me more comfortable! Not that my dad can't handle them, but he hasn't had a baby in his care by himself since... ME!)

Anyway, since we were alone for the night on vacation, we decided to drive 20 miles to Deadwood! Have you heard of the show on HBO called Deadwood? Yep, that's the town the show is made after. It's basically an old cowboy/saloon/gambling town. We only stayed about 2 hours because it started raining and we had to drive back through the Black Hills, OH and we LOST ALL OUR MONEY.... but it was fun! The next morning, the babes and Grandpa and Toni came over right away! (thank God! I hate being away from them overnight... and I might have called once, or twice, or three times since the night before....:) Anyway, we made a big breakfast that morning, packed all our stuff since we were leaving that afternoon (Sunday), and set off for our last few hours in the Black Hills.

Sunday was our last day and we decided to go Alpine Sliding and drive through Iron Mountain Road and Custer State Park to see Mount Rushmore through these awesome tunnels, and try to see more wildlife. It was a great last day but it was hard to say goodbye. Even though we were only there a few days, the girls really bonded with their grandpa.They had so much fun! Anyway, we left Rapid City around 4pm on Sunday and decided just to drive the entire way home! Crazy right? But once we got to the halfway point, it was the girls' bedtime and we decided just to let them sleep in the car and then get home to our own beds instead of a hotel! And Matt drove the entire way! Love him. Love my dad. It was a great trip! Until next time Rapid City.... :)