Who Needs Toys?

This is a question I ask myself almost daily as I more often than not find the girls so entertained and occupied with regular, household items. Such as this storage basket:

Go Giants!

We took the girls to a superbowl party today. We decided to root for the Giants, because the girls could actually say "go Giants". "Go Patriots" proved to be much harder. So, in order to be unified as a family, we went rooting for the underdogs. As is my tradition, I dressed in the colors of the team I wanted to win (although, this year, it could have been either team), and this year I had two little ones to dress that way as well. Gosh, they looked so cute in their red, white, and blue, it made me so excited for the fourth of July!

As the pictures clearly show, the girls were WAY more interested in the snacks and in playing than they were in the game (doy)! They humored me, though, and said "Go Giants" a few times, and sat on my lap for a few seconds of the game here and there!






Enjoying cupcakes with their friend, Juliette!

Cutie Girls

Okay, I don't have any pictures, but I have a couple cute sayings for you. Well, the first one isn't cute, but I think it's my favorite thing that Rayley says!

Rayley- calls her sippy her "pissy"

Apple- when I ask her if she wants help and she doesn't she says "NO. I'll help you" (like she's telling herself she'll help her)

Rayley- yesterday we were driving and it was SUPER foggy and she was looking out the window naming all the things she normally sees out the window saying "tree, where are you?" "cars, where are you?" "tractors, where are you?" (there's lots of road construction lately so we hardly ever go anywhere without seeing tractors).

Apple- climbed into my lap this afternoon and looked at me and said "hanging out"!

The Mischeivious Sleep-fighter

So, the girls take turns going through phases of being our "sleep-fighter" (which is exactly what it sounds like, fighting sleep) and it is currently Rayley's turn. We put them down for naps this afternoon and Apple went right to sleep. After about a half hour I realized I hadn't heard Rayley for a while, so I peeked into their room and saw this:

Look carefully and you can see Apples hand next to the railing. Yes, Rayley crawled out of her crib, and was busily (but quietly) covering Apple with toys. If you need proof that Apple was really sleeping under all of that, here's a different angle:

Tide Pool Time!

This afternoon was such a beautiful day, and low tide was in the middle of the afternoon, so my friends Laura and Kali and I walked the girls down to the beach to check out the tide pools. We saw countless anemones and a handful of sea stars. Not to mention all the rocks, shells, hermit crabs and, Apple's favorite, dogs (they were on the beach with their owners, not in the tide pools!) My theory that Rayley likes animals that are smaller than herself has some further evidence, as she loved to touch the creatures. Apple, on the other hand, my child who fed an alpaca out of her hand and begged to go into a corral with huge horses, wanted no part in touching them. I handed her a sea star and she threw it and then cried!

Fingerpainting

First of all, I'd like to update those of you that read about the "big girl beds" in my last post. Pretty much two seconds after I published the post, Carey went out to the garage and got Rayley's crib. So, yes, she got demoted! She's much happier in her crib. Oh, and on a similar note, we finally had TWO nights in a row during which they BOTH slept through the night. We've had LOTS of nights where one of them sleeps through the night, but very few when BOTH of them do.

Okay, enough about sleeping. Onto the real reason for the post. I had the girls fingerpaint today and, of course, they loved it. I think the pictures really say more than anything I could write, so I'm gonna let them do the talking!

Big Girl Beds

Well, the girls have "big girl beds" now. They are super cute (the beds and the girls!). Apple is doing great with it! Rayley, on the other hand, might have to go back to a crib. Originally we just set up a bed for Apps, because Rayley tends to not like change, so I thought she wouldn't want to switch to a big girl bed. Then, when Rayley saw Apple's bed, she was so sad. She kept saying "Rayley bed?". So, the next day we set up Rayley's bed, which she was SO excited about until it was time to actually sleep on it. Then she wanted her crib. Tonight is her second night in the bed and Carey went in there to check on them and Rayley was off her bed busily putting all of their baby dolls on top of a sleeping Apple. Now she's screaming because I basically swaddled her because she kept getting off her bed and bugging Apps. Oh boy! Anyway, here's pictures of them with their current beds.