100th Post

Well, todays my 100th post here. I wanted to do something amazing and awesome for it, butt couldn’t think of anything particularly flashy, so I’m going to go through 100 highlights from my posts. Yesterday involved some drama, Leilani spilled a cup of water on me, Natalia, the floor and the computer. I didn't have any computer for the second half of the day. Fortunately, my hubby managed to fix it and I still have a computer!

Here's my list:

1. Natalia was born, a nice, healthy, eight and a half pounds.

2. I had a lovely home water birth

3. Leilani got to help catch Natalia

4. We went vegan

5. Princess “Camp” and all the crafts we did with it

6. The girls dressed up as mermaids during “camp”

7. I started cross-stitching Natalia’s birth record

8. We got to watch the helos land downtown for Marine Week

9. We stayed in a nice hotel for Marine Week

10. Because of my hubby’s position for Marine Week, we got to do all kinds of cool things – go out on the tarmac, go on the baseball field, drive places instead of having to walk there, and see the airshow from the air conditioned vehicle

11. Leilani enjoyed climbing through all the big equipment at Marine Week

12. Leilani got to play with some Marine bomb-sniffing dogs and met a police dog

13. The wreath laying ceremony at the Traveling Vietnam Wall, it was incredibly moving

14. All the new, fun foods we’ve been trying since becoming vegan

15. The fact I can go through and remember all the things I’ve been thankful for over the past months

16. That I have a record of a lot of the funny things Leilani has said

17. Seeing the fun we had on our stay-cation – Leilani loved the lake waterpark

18. Having the memories written down by the pictures, so they’re not just pictures and I don’t have to wonder what was going on there

19. We went through the submarine downtown, Natalia slept the whole time while in the Moby

20. Getting to visit Grandma Olalah.

21. The goofy rhymes Jeremy told his grandma

22. Showing off my vast book collection

23. Making dresses for Leilani and me

24. Making barefoot sandals for Natalia

25. Leilani playing in the rain and gathering flowers for us all

26. Watching Leilani at the parade on the 4th of July

27. Watching Leilani and Natalia both enjoy the fireworks that night

28. Leilani and Natalia cuddling, always super cute

29. Sharing some favorite movies with Leilani

30. Natalia starting to seriously suck her thumb.

31. Watching Food Inc

32. VBS and watching Leilani become more independent

33. Skyping with family

34. Getting loads of new diaper covers

35. Getting to take walks during VBS

36. Natalia liking her swing

37. Leilani learning so much on starfall

38. Natalia playing on her playmat

39. A Day in Pictures

40. Reviewing some thoughts from my previous blog and realizing how much I still don’t know

41. Doing loads of school with Leilani while she enjoyed it

42. Arts and Crafts with my girls

43. Making Leilanis’ sensory jar

44. Playing with my girls

45. Co-sleeping with them

46. Picking all the flowers before going to Florida

47. Dad helping us drive down to Florida

48. Getting to Florida and seeing all the family

49. Meeting cousin L for the first time

50. Watching the cousins all play together

51. Leilani learning to swim

52. Getting to spend the day with Uncle Jeff and family before he deployed

53. Natalia getting to meet Grammy Mandy

54. Cousin cuddles

55. Getting to dress all the girl cousins in matching outfits

56. Photo shoot with some of the cousins in shirts our cousin gave them

57. Sophie guest blogging

58. The cousins getting to bathe together

59. Introducing Gracie to some of Leilani’s favorite movies

60. Natalia got to try her cousins’ bassinet and Jenny Jump-up

61. Exploring new vegan foods with Sophie

62. All the baby cousins getting held by their aunties and uncles and PawPaw

63. Trying to do a Shrek marathon

64. Makin vegan Oreo truffles

65. Playing on the beach

66. Natalia’s beach blow-out…got me, the moby, and my swim suit

67. Accidentally eating some of a different blow-out. Definitely memorable

68. Leilani and Natalia watching movies together

69. Making myself use up all the food stuffs I already have so as to not waste
money

70. Being able to share my heart

71. The realtor’s visit – ugh

72. Going down to Columbus to see Uncle Dorr and family

73. Officially starting school

74. The new curriculum finally arriving

75. Natalia starting to grab everything

76. Walking and exploring

77. Finding things to help with PPD

78. Randomness

79. Leilani learning to type her name

80. Getting to read lots to both girls

81. Making cloud dough

82. Getting to dress Natalia in Leilani’s baby clothes

83. Natalia’s sensory play

84. The Yummiest Art Lesson

85. Natalia eating real foods

86. Experimenting with our school – one benefit of homeschooling

87. Leilani “reading” to Natalia

88. Finding my lesson plan book

89. Getting new running shoes and a new diaper bag

90. Going for a jog on Labor Day and Natalia loving it

91. Trying to teach Leilani to ride a bike

92. Finding out Natalia loves avocados

93. Getting to document funny things, like in this post

94. Leilani is a Sparky!

95. Using Leilani’s floppy seat for Natalia

96. Leilani writing her name by herself

97. Getting to see how much we’ve all grown

98. Leilani making a bread sculpture

99. Orders being finalized! We're heading west.

100. Getting better from our head colds - hurray for orange juice and pinterest (I found and made "vicks" diy shower discs, and they worked great!)

Shrek-tastic

This morning, dad, Jeremy and Matt went up to Jacksonville to say goodbye to my brother before he headed out to Afghanistan. Sophie, the kids and I stayed home since it was a tad early for the little guys. We all love Jeff and are so proud of him. And I know prayers for my sister-in-law and her three boys would be appreciated!


We started a Shrek marathon today, but only made it halfway through the third one before everyone lost interest. Leilanis favorite Shrek movie is the thurd one, because "that's where the babies get borned" *smiles*

All the cousins were here for a little while. It's such fun watching them all together! Natalia got some auntie Shay cuddles, while Sophie cuddled cousin L and James laid on his daddy :)

Gracie, James and Natalia all had a nice play on the playmat together.

We had vegan cassoulet for dinner, yummy, filling, and best of all - cheap!

Lazy Daze

Today was a nice, relaxed day at the apartment. Leilani was pretty tired from all the go-go-going of the past few days. Not to mention all the parents were pretty exhausted from staying up waaaayyyy late playing poker and Balderdash :). We had so much fun and so many laughs.

Gracie was introduced to Cinderella today. I'm not sure how much of it she actually watched, but Sophie and I enjoyed it! We (Sophie and I) have decided that we're going to find Pocahontas since neither of us saw it during childhood and we've both always wanted to. While the babies were all napping, Leilani opened her new Twister game and she and Uncle Matt played for quite a while. I'm not sure that Leilani fully "got" the game, but she sure had fun! We then watched Tangled. Gracie got up from her nap shortly before the movie was over, and she and I had a nice dance to the music. She was grinning and trying to keep me moving for a while.

I discovered Natalia loves her cousins bassinet - she laid in there for a while, watching the teddy bear mobile. When she started getting fussy, I turned the vibration part on, and she LOVED that!

Sophie made shepherd's pie for dinner - vegan, and super delicious! Natalia got to hang with Aunt Sophie in the kitchen and discovered all Aunt Sophie's cooking secrets (now if only I could figure out how to get Natalia to tell me *grin*). Gracie thoroughly enjoyed her helping, she smooshed some of it, then stared at her fingers as if trying to figure out WHY it was on her hands. She then proceeded to eat almost all of it :).

Natalia, Gracie and James all sat around me and played with Natalia's favorite toy - a light up star stacker. The babies seemed to like when it played music, but Gracie LOVED when the music played, dancing and grinning!

We ended the kiddos day with Esther: the Girl who Became Queen...one of Leilani's favorite Veggie Tales movies :).

Going Away Party

Today, I have my first ever guest blogger!!! Say hello to my sister-in-law, Sophie!!! :)

Sophie here! This is super exciting. I have never been asked to guest blog before. *grin*
I have to say, it's so much fun having everyone staying with us. I think I may have to keep them here forever. It feels like one giant sleep over. I think Elizabeth and I might be having the most fun out of everyone though.

Today has been busy. This morning Leilani and Gracie went swimming with PawPaw and Jeremy, so we got to stay home and cuddle the little babies. Then when the big girls got home we put on Madagascar 2 and ate humus and crackers.

Next we went to Walmart to get Leilani and new swim swuit. It's super cute and one of my personal favorites, Hello Kitty. We also picked up matching yellow shirts for the girls to wear. We had to alter Natalias a little but it worked out great. She even had her denim diaper cover so they had matching shorts.

This afternoon was kind of bittersweet. It was Uncle Jeff's leaving party. We are so proud of him because he is going to fight over seas. It was nice to have all the cousins hanging out playing together. Including Cousins A and G. There was lot's of food and everyone seemed to have a good time considering it was a leaving party.

After the party started winding down we all went for a nice evening swim. Natalia looked so cute in her flower swim suit and seemed very happy floating around in her swim ring. Leilani is getting soooo good at swimming she practised swimming back and forth from Mommy to Daddy and visa versa. I feel very proud of my little neice :)

Tonight was also special because Natlia and James got to take a nice bath together and once we had them bathed and semi settled the big girls got home and took a nice bath together. Then I got the privalage of reading bible stories to them. Leilani snuggled in which is always a treat :)

Leilani was also VERY patcient while her little cousins where getting to sleep waiting for her veggietales. She watched Dave and the giant pickle and ate some yummy oatmeal.

Then the highlite of my night was getting to see baby Natalia in my babies bassinette. I loved watching my babies sleep in it and getting to see my little nephew use it, so it is very special that my neice now gets to carry on the tradition.


Okay that's enough from me for tonight. Handing back to Elizabeth.
Goodnight all!
- Sophie

Here are some pictures from today :)

July 26th

The day started a bit early, or at least it felt early. Natalia nursed all night and Leilani woke up around 7. We all hung out for a bit, then the guys went to ihop for breakfast and Sophie, the kids and I stayed home and had smoothies, milk and bagels :). Then Leilani showed Gracie one of her favorite movies - Madagascar.

Natalia sat in her bumbo seat and we tried her in the jenny-jump-up, but she didn't seem too impressed

We used the vitamix and made smoothies, James loved it!

He also got ahold of Gracies chocolate almond milk, which he also loved, which is in evidence all over his face :)

After the guys got back, Leilani, Gracie, Matt, PawPaw and my hubby went to the pool to swim. Leilani's getting to be really good at swimming! Leilani and Gracie had semi-matching goggles :). They had a blast.

When they got back, we ran to WalMart again. Then, we made vegan oreo truffles!!! I love baking with my sister :). The kids all had fun playing together, they all love each other, and I love watching them all interact :)

Fun in Florida

We've been having a fantastic time with our family! Yesterday, we went up to Jacksonville to spend some time with my older brother and his family before he deploys. We looked at some static aircraft - Leilani loved it. She, and cousins A and G had a blast running around the aircraft, unlike the adults, they didn't mind the heat. All the mommies stayed by the inside aircraft, a biplane in its own little building. From there, we went to get some lunch, then to Whole Foods - I got Natalia a super cute swim diaper that matches her swim suit perfectly, the best part? I can just throw it in the wash and keep reusing it! A super money saver :) We went back to the hotel so the kiddos could swim. Leilani gave us a bit of a scare, she knows NO fear. She just jumped right into the water (fortunately, in the shallow end). She kept bobbing up and down for what felt like FOREVER! Since she was in the shallow end, her feet kept hitting the bottom so she could propel herself upwards. It felt like full minutes, but it was really only seconds :). After that, there was NO stopping her. She floated on her back and was doing a fantastic doggy paddle!

Today, Sophie and I loaded her kids and mine into her van and had a fun time going to Wal-Mart (yep, we're mama's *grin*). Cousin James and Natalia got to ride in their Moby's and Leilani and cousin Gracie each sat in their own carts and we did "cart races" for a while. Then, Leilani decided it was time to ride in the same cart as Gracie. We got tons of vegan foods, it's so nice to be hanging with someone who shares my same dietary outlook! Tomorrow, we're planning on making scrambled tofu burritoes - super yummy :)

After we got back to the apartment, we fixed Leilani and Gracie some vegan grilled cheese, then Leilani, my hubby and PawPaw went down to the pool. Leilani was excited to get to use her new goggles. And today, she just jumped in and took off. Her swimming (according to what I was told, I was at the apartment with Sophie and the babies - I think Natalia's going through a growth spurt, all she's been doing is eat and sleep). Anyway, Leilani just took off and swam.

This morning, before we went to the store, Matt taught us all how to play Texas Hold 'Em. We had lots of laughs....apparently, I'm incredibly readable, but since I never know when I have a good hand, it doesn't do anyone any good *grin*.

Tomorrow promises more fun - we got Balderdash while at the store :)

Florida at Last!!

After 2 days of driving...we're finally here! We had a great drive, really, we took very few stops, the girls both did fantastic, and, at the end, we got to see our family!!!

Tomorrow, we're going to go up to Jacksonville to spend some time with my older brother and his family before his deployment.

Todays blog is rather short, since it's gotten late as we've been catching up, laughing, and enjoying everything :)

Enjoy the pictures!

Arrival

Last night was rough, as I was putting N to bed she woke up and didn't want to go back to sleep :(. After I finally got her back to sleep, I was so tired I got sick :((. By the time I finally got to bed, it was two! And then the girls got up before eight. On a bright note, we successfully used cloth diapers through thde night - ie, NO POO OR PEE EXPLOSIONS :)). Now to figure out long trips and cloth diapering.....

Yesterday, as Natalia was sitting on my lap, she wiggled and flopped herself around until she got into the position she wanted:

Yep, both my girls love technology.

Leilani made a fort out of pillows:

And I played with my stash of diapers, well, really, I just put the inserts in so diapering would be easier.

My diaper stash :) - I now have 19 covers :)

I'm all packed for Florida, except the things I need to wash or we're wearing. I'm trying to pack as light as I can, which is difficult, because everytime I pick up anything, I think, "what if we need this? what if after we get there, I discover I left (fill in the blank)?" I'm a chronic over-packer, so this packing light thing is really hard for me.

Today, Leilani decided it was important that we pick ALL the flowers, so as to remember how beautiful they were. Not incredibly sure about her logic, but she did pick every single flower. And since we're getting ready to go to Florida and they were all gonna die while we were gone, I thought "why not?"

She wasnted to decorate Natalia in the Moby with them :)

She quickly reclaimed them

And from there, she tossed them on the couch *grin*. It was fun while it lasted

Dad arrived today around 2:30. Leilani was just a little excited to see him! She ran around in circles, jumped on the couch and did a couple somersaults. *grin* Natalia just stared, first at PawPaw, then at me. Typical baby :).

Tomorrow we're going to pack the car, Jeremy gets back Sunday, and we're taking off pretty much right after he gets back. Off on another adventure!

Visiting

Yesterday we headed up to see Jeremy grandma in MI. We were going to try to leave somewhat early, but that didn't exactly happen. Since Jeremy's aunt and uncle live on the way to grandma's we stopped off there and had a lovely visit.

From there we headed to the nursing home. Grandma was very alert, but didn't make much sense - she kept talking about having bad combinations and a bad political situation because of two names. She was really cute, though :). She got to meet Natalia and see Leilani again. There was also a little old man in a wheelchair who was blind and determined to get across the street (mind you, we're in the nursing home dining room) to get to a building and wait for his daughter. I "helped him across the road" and back to where he was supposed to be. He was happy then. After helping him, Natalia and I went back over to grandma, Jeremy and Leilani. At one point, grandma said "what's in a name?" so I responded with "a rose, which by any other name would smell as sweet" and she grinned hugely. Then Jeremy started telling her goofy poems

I shot an arrow in the air
It fell to the earth I know not where
But I saw it from afar
In the radiator of my neighbors car

and

I sneezed a sneeze into the air
It fell to the earth I know not where
But hard where the looks of those
In whose vicinity I snoze

and she giggled like a schoolgirl - really adorable.

On the way home, I discovered Natalia LOVES Baby Einstein...but in order for her to see it, I have to hold the DVD player for her. But at least she wasn't screaming about being in the carseat! We got home rather late-ish and Leilani didn't get to sleep until 10, but it meant she slept in until 8 today! We ran errands today (thank goodness for Super WalMarts! get everything done at one place!) They actually had a nice little bath seat for Natalia, so now she and Leilani can take baths together. Leilani is super excited!

Lazy Daze

We decided today would be a great day to just chill at the house. I packed up a couple more boxes (boxes packed: 4), made some yummy polenta-pinto bean pie for dinner, and we watched movies, played and read books. Speaking of readin, I need to finish reading the Felicity books to Leilani. Natalia spent most of the day cuddled up, sleeping on me :) Leilani was a boa conatrictor named Beuh, all wrapped around her daddy's neck.

Just a fun day, chilling as a family. We need some of those on occasion :)

Stay-cation: Aquarium, USS Cod, and the Beach

Today, we decided to check out the Aquarium. On the way there, we were listending to Silly Songs with Larry - Leilani was singing along and every now and then, Natalia would let out a nice coo. It was so super sweet and made me smile :).

There were some really cool fish at the aquarium. Leilani really enjoyed them. She got to pet a lobster, sea star, hermit crab and sting ray.











After that, we down to see the USS Cod, a submarine from the World War 2 era. Leilani loved going through the hatches - she kept calling them "magic mirrors" because they did kinda look like mirrors. Natalia, once again, slept through the whole thing in the Moby.











After that, we went to the beach and got some Honey Hut ice cream (I didn't, but Jeremy and Leilani did). Natalia went forward facing in the Moby for the first time, she seemed to LOVE it! Leilani enjoyed playing chicken with the small, pathetic waves *grin*







We finished the night with pizza and Mr. Poppers Penguin's.