A Day With Grandpa

While Wei-Yand and I were off house-hunting last weekend, my dad volunteered to watch the girls.  By himself.  He didn't have to work on Friday, and my mom did, so despite my slight concerns (not at all for the girls, but for my dad who was going to have to wrangle two very active little girls all day long), Wei-Yand and I headed off to look for houses before the girls even woke up.

I should also mention that while my dad is about the most amazing grandpa you could ask for, he doesn't change diapers.  He said that he changed enough when my sister and I were little, so as long as someone else was around to do it, he wouldn't be the one to have to deal with that.  The night before we left he told me that he left the hose out in the sun so the water would warm up so he could just set the girls loose in the back yard and spray them off if need be.  He was joking, and I think I found it much more amusing than my mom did.

My dad has been really good about sending me pictures and messages on the days that I've had to leave the girls, and last week was no exception.  In fact, I thought it would make for a good post:)  So, here is the girls' day with grandpa:


7:53 am - Good Morning: Woke up ornery, but we are happy now!



8:05 am - Breakfast

8:17 am - Peek a boo



8:39 am - In the immortal words...: ...of Jackson Browne ... I thought that it would kill me ... but I'm alive!  Poopy diapers ... yuck.

11:23 am - Where's my bottle?



11:23 am - Nap time is over

12:00 pm - Lunch!

12:08 pm - Noodles are Yummy: We don't need no stinking meat!

1:08 PM - Happy Girls: We took a 2 hour nap, then drank our whole bottles. Had fun at lunch but didn't eat all that well  we love pears but don't care much for meat. We played for a while with Grandpa then took a walk. Tannah got mad and screamed until Grandpa carried her. We are back now and love playing with Grandpa's cane. Tannah is acting sleepy.

1:16 pm - Best toy ever

 1:17 pm - (no subject)

1:11 pm - It's all fun and games ....: ... til somebody cries

 1:24 pm - It's all fun and games ....: (from Grandma) Hopefully it was you that got bonked!!!  I'll be home soon!

1:27 pm - It's all fun and games ....: Just put them down.  Very sleepy.  So are the girls.  Haha

I think my mom made it home by the time the girls woke up from their nap, and that was the last of the pictures.  My mom told me that my dad still had enough energy to cook dinner that night, so I considered the day to be a smashing success!

A Special Gift

When we were in Michigan over the holidays, we got a chance to stop by my great-aunt and uncle's house to introduce them to the girls.  It's been a very long time since I've seen them - my uncle mentioned that the last time he saw me I was wearing a softball uniform, which means that it was at least 15 years ago.  Time flies.  Before we left, my aunt gave the girls a very special gift.  She has a Cabbage Patch Kids collection, and she was saving a few for her granddaughters.  She ended up with only grandsons, so she asked if she could give two of them to the girls.  I had several Cabbage Patch Kids when I was younger, so I was very excited about this gift. 

The girls are very into hair these days (they love to grab my hair), and they both LOVED the baby with hair.  I'm sure that the bald baby will get more attention once the hair phase has passed.

Family Time

One of the benefits of spending a whole week in Michigan was that we got to spend some time with my aunt and uncle and their family who live in Switzerland.  We usually end up heading out of Michigan on the day that they arrive.  The girls got to meet some more of my cousins:

Tannah and Emily



Zach and Harper

Tannah and Katie

My aunt takes excellent pictures, and she got a new camera for Christmas, so we also got some great pictures of the girls.

Snoopy was one of my toys when I was little.  It was another toy that my mom saved for the day that she had grandkids.

It was really nice to get to spend some time with them.  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get to Europe for a visit before they move back to the U.S.!

Four Generations

We were able to get a picture of me, the girls, my dad, and my grandma while we were in Michigan.  I love this picture.

Wedding Showers

The girls and I traveled to Michigan for my sister's wedding shower last weekend.  We left right from daycare on Thursday and met my sister and her fiance in Chicago.  We stopped to feed the girls and got them ready for bed, then we drove the rest of the way to Michigan.  The girls were little angels in the car.  They basically slept the entire way to Michigan.  They were also so well behaved at the shower.  Several guests commented that they wouldn't have even known that the girls were there because they were so well behaved.  Those of us who know the girls know that they were a little overwhelmed by all of the people, and they were quieter than normal because of that.  They were back to their happy selves after some of the guests left.

The girls got passed around from person to person without complaint all afternoon.

Grandma and Grandpa's House

September was our month to travel to Michigan to visit my parents, and we decided to take the ferry to cut down on travel time.  The girls were very good on the trip over, and they wore their "Nuts about Grandma" shirts for the occasion. 

On Saturday, we decided to check out their local farmers' market.  I'm very excited that it's Honeycrisp season again!  I love those apples!  We took a family photo for daycare while we were at the market.  I have no idea what the girls were looking at.

On Saturday the girls wore some camouflage since my dad gets such a kick out of it.  My mom worried that people would think they were boys, but I don't worry about that anymore.  They can be dressed identically in hot pink dresses, and inevitably, someone will ask if they are both boys.  Whatever, they're adorable either way.

Visiting grandma and grandpa threw a slight wrench in our sleep training, but we're getting back on track (and we moved Harper back into the nursery, so the girls are together again:).

Beach Babies

I've mentioned before that I love Lake Michigan.  I grew up just a few miles from the lake (and still live very close to it although on the not as nice side).  Every summer when I go home I like to spend at least one day at the lake.  This year, I was excited to take the girls.  We bought baby hats, swim suits and diapers, and a big umbrella since the girls are still too young for sunscreen.

The girls were looking awfully cute in their bathing suits.

Unfortunately, that's the last picture of the day because Ia was a bad mom, and I forgot the camera.  Here's how it went down.  We got to the beach and set up.  My mom and I took the girls down to the water to dip their toes.  Tannah started screaming the second her toes hit the water.  Harper was a little more tolerant. 

There's a little channel between Lake Michigan and a smaller lake that little kids like to play in because it's usually a lot warmer than the big lake (which was actually quite comfortable the day we were there).  We tried that as well.  Tannah was still not having any of that, but Harper actually sat down in the water and splashed a little bit.  Tannah didn't calm down until we got her out of the swim diaper.  Then she was happy as a little clam laying under the umbrella on the beach.

Hopefully next summer will be better.

Lots of Love

Every time we've brought the girls back to Michigan several of my parents' friends have dropped by to see the girls.  This makes me very happy because two couples in particular were a big part of my life when I was growing up.  We used to take family vacations together, and it's really fun having the girls get to spend time with them. 

Further Adventures in Michgan

This post is out of order, but seeing as I'm behind in my posting, it will have to do.  While we were in Michigan, we were also fortunate to get to see some of my parents' friends from high school.  How cool is it that they still get together a few times a year?  They live in the same town as my grandparents, so they stopped by to meet the girls while we were visiting.

Brad and Harper

Brad and Tannah

Tannah really liked Brad - he got her first laugh out of her!

Kara with Harper and Brad with Tannah



Adventures in Michigan Part Five/Father's Day

We decided to head back to my parents house right after my cousin's shower so we could spend some time with my dad on Saturday night and Sunday morning before we took the ferry back to Wisconsin to spend Father's Day evening with Wei-Yand.

For some reason, Harper decided she didn't want to nurse that day, which was freaking me out and made me really worried for how the car ride home would be since we drove in the middle of the day.  One of my cousins rode with us part of the way, so my mom sat in the back seat between the car seats which ended up working out really well.  We stopped twice to feed the girls (one time coincided with dropping Cayme off), so the trip went pretty well.

Despite sleeping most of the ride home, the girls were very tired Saturday night, but they got to have some special time with Grandpa Sunday morning.

I was really glad that my mom came back with us on the ferry, because it would have been much more difficult to do it myself than the trip across.  The ferry was completely full, and the girls were very good, but awake for most of the trip.

When we got home the girls got to spend a little time with Wei-Yand for Father's Day.  I wasn't feeling well, and I ended up going to bed at about 7 pm.  Luckily my mom was there to help with bedtime or it might not have been a very happy Father's Day for Wei-Yand.

This isn't exactly my ideal Father's Day picture, but that's what we got:)

We had a great time in Michigan, but it was really nice to be home!

Adventures in Michigan Part Four

With all of the aunts and uncles that I mentioned in my previous post, you can imagine that I also have a lot of cousins (six on my dad's side, and over 20 on my mom's side).  Despite the fact that I am the oldest on my mom's side and the second oldest by only six months on my dad's side, several of my cousins beat me to the punch when it comes to having kids of their own.  Apparently not everyone wants to wait until they are in their thirties to have kids:)

The girls got to meet some of their first cousins once removed and second cousins while we were in Michigan.  I think I have those titles correct; anything past first cousins has always been very confusing to me.

My cousin, Jennifer, with Tannah and her kids, Clara and Colin

My cousin, Sarah, with Tannah

Sarah is expecting a baby girl of her own in September, and we were fortunate to be able to attend her baby shower.  She looks great!

My Cousin, Cayme, with Tannah

My cousins, Dan and Cayme, with Harper

 Dan with Harper

Dan with Tannah

Clara with Harper and Colin with Tannah

My cousins, Katherine and Jessica, and my Aunt Tina with Tannah on the left and Harper on the right