Catching Up

Here I go again. I can't seem to keep up with the blog lately. I start them, but then I don't have time to download pictures or I just run out of things to say so they sit unpublished. I'm a little burnt out on writing, the painful process to post pictures, and even following other people's blogs. I won't stop because this blog has been the one place I have decently documented Emily & Ellery's amazing journey but please forgive me if I'm a little MIA. I've realized that I'd rather be playing with my daughters, sharing experiences, and getting my hands dirty with them rather than trying to get pictures of it all. I need to find the happy medium though because one day I will regret that I didn't have my normal 150 pictures for July 2010 in my Kodak online gallery and I'm sure those of you that see the monthly emails will wonder why the quantity of photos is dwindling....or maybe not. ;)

Here's a little recap of what we've been doing in July.

Swimming lessons are on Sundays and the girls are loving it! Still stressing the water safety elements which I love and we are having the girls go under water a lot more (which they DON'T love). Every time they come up from being under water they scream "I need a towel....my eyes". We let them wipe their eyes in the bathtub with a towel after we wash hair so it seems we've created a little towel dependency here.

For the 4th of July the girls went to Seaside with G&L and Andy and I stayed in Portland to help celebrate a wedding of some of our closest friends. The wedding was spectacular all due to the amazing creativity and vision that Lindsay had of her dream wedding. She included so many details and really planned a fun and gorgeous wedding. She should quit her day job and do this for a living. I'm telling you, I've never seen anything this fabulous.

Lindsay the beautiful bride

Last weekend E&E went down to Eugene for a fun Grammy Bobbi and Grandpa Bill (tweet) get a way. Andy and I threw a wedding shower for another one of my good friends and after having a blast at that party we headed down to Eugene to spend time with the family. The girls loved seeing Uncle Cody, the petting zoo at the farms in Junction City, swimming in the back yard, and eating Popsicles. Popsicles are a new thing for us. So incredibly messy - last night I asked Andy if it was ok to let them eat Popsicles in the bathtub so that I don't have to clean up the mess. I can't figure out how to keep the Popsicle experience clean. We tried outside but it drips everywhere and when one of my little love bugs tries to come over for a hug and kiss it ends up on me.

E&E and their new loves.....Popsicles!

Good
Yum yum

Happy Customer Emily

This weekend we've got a few fun birthday parties and some downtime which we haven't had in a long time. The following weekend we have another wedding of some great friends. Andy is the best man and the girls are flower girls. I'm also honored to be the flower girl escort. I've never been a flower girl before. I'm soooo excited. ;) Can't wait to watch the wedding of this amazing couple.

We've been really lucky the last 6 months as far as colds and stuff go. Until last week we haven't been in to see the Dr since their 2 year well baby appointment in Feb (except for El's ER trip). That is awesome. The fact that they are in daycare with other kids but seem to fight all the nasty germy stuff makes me so happy. Sure we have a runny nose here and there but that is normal. Ellery was the child to break our 6 month Dr run though. She woke up wheezing and gasping on Thursday. She sounded horrible but looked fine, was running around, hadn't been sick, slept great, no fever, no cough, no nothing. I ended up taking her in and she sounded totally better but the dr said she thought it was croup even though Ellery was perfectly back to normal by the time we saw the Dr. Oh well not sure how you came up with that diagnosis but whatever.... they gave us an oral steroid to take and said that she'd be fine. Ellery never had a single cold symptom after that either. Still not convinced it was croup, but I'm glad she didn't have any other symptoms because that morning was a little scary.

Emily's first denim mini skirt!

Ladies who lunch in Eugene

Emily and her "Mommy Heather Singer"

Ellery has started hanging on my camera strap as I try to take photos. She would not let go!

Really....does this kid look sick??

Emily

Ellery

Ellery knows the water is cold!

Emily

Ellery

A Bit on E & E

Ellery
When you ask her what her name is she will say "Ellie Bellie Singer". She loves pink and will tell you that at the most random times "I love pink". If we have coordinated outfits she always get the pink one...even if it is Emily's size. She wants a pink truck when she grows up. She favored pink before I even realized it. I bought them Pottery Barn chairs in green and pink when they were almost a year old and had their names embroidered on them. Ellery had green and Emily had pink. They have never sat in the right chairs and now I realize it is because of the color. Took me a long time to catch on (see photos below). Minnie mouse if her favorite and she has at least three Minnies (big minnie, pink minnie, or little "mini" minnie") and she sleeps with them all. She has a lower voice than her sister, makes funny "big eyes" faces, is an inch taller, 3lbs heavier (28lbs!!), wears 1/2 inch bigger shoe, and is almost a whole size bigger in clothes. She will get toys for her sister and be the first to do something nice but will also be the first to push, hit, or bite Emily. Luckily for us she only bites Emily....no other children. She goes to bed easily, takes longer naps, and is the last one up on most mornings. She was the first to crawl, walk, and do anything physical. When she wants a snack she said "um I want somethin". She has two freckles on he face - on on her cheek and on on her nose. Now you can tell them apart!

Emily
Our little Emily calls herself "Emily Elizabeth Singer". She will say "I love brown" but really she loves any color other than pink. Poor girl can't wear pink unless we have two pink items because Ellery will have a fit. She wants a blue truck when she grows up. She has a higher pitched voice and can scream so loud and high pitched I swear it could shatter glass. She loves Mickey Mouse and while she has many Mickey characters she can currently be found toting Angel Bear (her beanie bear from the NICU, "mini" mickey, and this weird big head dog figurine. She takes them to bed, in the car, and all over the house. If you are missing one...it's trouble in Singer city. She fights going to bed every night. Once you get her to lay down you will hear "My arms need to be covered, my legs, I have a hair in my mouth, my nose is runny, I'm poopie, tuck me in, I miss you" as you are trying to get out the door. This girl can procrastinate like no other. She always takes shorter naps and is the first one up in the morning. While she wasn't the first to walk or crawl she was the first to start talking and she speaks a lot more clearly than her sister. On a daily basis in the car she will say "mommy pick me up" and I'll say "I can't, I'm driving" and then we all laugh. Every Single Day. Emily can throw a tantrum that has scared me so much I had Grammy Linda come over because I thought we needed to go to the ER. Nope. She just can scream and throw her body around like she's in pain. For what reason....most times we don't know. Emily is the smallest, but I think she is the boss. Last week she was at school while Ellery was home with me and Em was all out of sorts. Her teacher told me it is because Ellery usually does things for Emily and she missed her assistant. The more I think about it, it's true. Em calls the shots and has Ellery do her dirty work.

Both girls love to sing and have memorized many songs off of our car CD's and even some of the songs I sing them from my favorite musicals. Before bed both ask for "more songs please". They are into saying "I love you" at any moment in the day. They like to snuggle and sometimes ask to be "held like a baby". When I drop them off at school they say "Just one more hug". You are all saying "oh how cute" right about now but they also like to hit us when they are frustrated and they've just started saying "I don't like you, daddy, mommy, Emily, Ellery" and "No way Jose". Not so cute anymore...eh? Both girls have curly hair that is starting to form into ringlets when left alone. They also both have identically placed scars on the back of their heads from two separate falls requiring ER trips.

Every day is a new fun, challenging, frustrating, exciting adventure. I wouldn't change a single thing!!

Sitting in the incorrectly named chairs...
Ellery (purple shorts) saying "I want to kiss you Emily"

Ellery giving me her "big eyes" and sitting in her chair with Emily's name on it.