Road Trip - day 3

White Sands

Before hitting the road we visited White Sands National Monument. It was fun sledding down the dunes. Niki loved eating the sand.

We finally made it to Sierra Vista with time for dinner from Pizza Hut. The girls were so well behaved! With only one potty accident, they finally started to melt down an hour before we arrived. Considering we drove for 3 days, we had a great trip. We're looking forward to the trip home.

Road Trip - day 2

Cloudcroft, Sunspot, and Alamagordo

For those of you who are following along, we spent then first night at Lake Brantley state park. We had everything we needed for camping on the beach EXCEPT TENT POLES!!! Oops. So we slept under the stars ontop of the tent instead. We also went to the "Star Party" where Lily got to play on the jungle jim and we looked at Jupiter.

Then next morning we went to church in the nice town of Artesia, Cloudcroft ski resort (the closest resort to our house), Sunspot solar observatory, and the Kid's Kingdom in Alamagordo. We realized how much we miss the mountains during the beautiful drive.  The crisp fall air, the moutain sun, the smell of pines - we even stoped for a picnic in the park. 

That night we stayed at Holloman AFB in TLF.  AFBases are so much nicer than Army Posts.  It was nostalgic.  Anyways,  here's the pictures...

ROAD TRIP - day one

Enchanted Rock

We stoped and hiked at the Enchanted Rock State Park.  It seamed like a huge mountain to us compared to the hills we live by.  Lily liked the "little swimming pools" at the top and we had a hard time getting her to stop splashing and hike back down.

Sitting Up

Niki and Lily are starting to play together.  Niki intently watches everything that Lily does.  One day she found the bottles that Lily was feeding to her animals.  She got so excited, she knew just what to do with them!!!

Niki is growing too fast. Now she is sitting up. She sits with a pillow behind her because she still falls down, but she'll be going solo soon. Here's some video of one of her first attempts. And another of her giggling.

Lily fell asleep on the toilet.  Ha ha ha.  Future black mail picture for sure.

Under Where?

No, not underwear, though with Lily potty training we've been talking alot about that lately.

Today I left Niki playing in the study and came back to find her missing.  I found her and just laughed at her.  She was pretty frustrated about being stuck under the bed, but I made her wait 'till I got the camera.
Then later at lunch, she managed to scoot her walker under and back out from the table.  She was very proud of herself for completing such a neat trick.  Of course Lily's praise and amusements made her feel even more accomplished.

Project Complete

I'm not very good at decorating.  I attribute this to my mother who also lacks this skill, mostly due to her choosing curious and independent kids over fancy stuff.  Anyhow, I would like to improve on this.  Here's a big THANK YOU to Lisa who kindly donated her unfinished project to me.  After some painting, it looks pretty cute and will serve it's purpose all year long.  The pieces are quite kid-proof too which is perfect.  Thanks a bunch!

Rolly Polly

It's official.  Niki is rolling.  I even caught it on camera the first day she did it.  Now she rolls all the time, but she usually gets stuck on her belly.  She's growing so fast!!!

Fashion Queen

Fresh from the designer line of Lilia K, a great look for summer and potty training.  Here she models this latest trend for the camera.  Silly girl.

Girls, Girls, Girls

All I have is girls.

Things a Picture Can't Capture
Lily can do a somersault.  I have no idea how she learned it.

Niki rolls with laughter whenever she gets to do something like Lily.   We helped her jump on the bed with Lily and both girls begged for more for 30 mins.

Lily is potty training.  She noticed some of her friends going to the bathroom and wearing underwear.  Then she told me she wanted to wear underwear.  So we got some and we got some potty treats.  We've only had a few accidents and she's starting to get the idea of holding it.  She gets upset when we make her put on a diaper to go to sleep.

Aug 12
Lily's hair finally fits into a pony tail.  Well, kind of.  She still has so much fun playing with her dolls.

Niki loves playing in her walker.  It's a great break from laying down all of the time.  If she stretches really hard, she can push off with the tops of her toes and scoot backwards.  She started eating solid foods.  Now she whines and signs eat like crazy when it's time for dinner.  She doesn't want to be left out.  She sits and chomps on a rice cracker or I feed her some oatmeal or squash during our meal.  She gets so excited to eat like the rest of us.

One night we gave in and let Lily eat some apples as a snack just before bed.  Apparently she was more tired than she thought.



Aug 2
I went to get Niki out of her crib and found that I had not attached her diaper properly during my half-awake middle of the night feeding. Her but was bare, clothes were soaked, and sheets needed changing. Then we had breakfast which Lily gets all over herself lately. I had just finished cleaning that up when I discovered what Niki had been up to while we were eating.  Poop.  Gross:

Some days I say to myself sarcastically "Oh that's all right. It's not like I was planning on doing anything with my day anyways."

Hooray for Captian West!

(can you guess the Disney movie quoted?)

Tyler put on Captain this week. We were very proud of him. I even made a cake for the occasion. The party turned out well for only have a day's notice to plan.

At ThE BeaCh...

Oh how we miss the beach!

We drove 4 hours to Corpus Christi last weekend.  Our friends Devon and Sarah came too.  It was fun very hot and felt even hotter due to the humidity, but we had fun anyways.  That's what Vacations are for.

It took Lily a while to warm up to the ocean again.  She was mostly concerned about the sand that was getting her dirty and felt funny on her feet.  But soon she realized it would wash off with the water and that she could splash the waves with her hands as they pushed her around.
Funny Story - Lily is potty training and needed to poop.  There were no bathrooms so we tried digging a "camping potty" hole.  She wouldn't have it.  Soon she was screaming and crying from the torture!  "I want to go on the potty!!!"  So we tried holding her up like a seat.  Then we tried just going in the water.  Finally, after a good 20mins of tears we constructed a seat using her sand pail and a diaper pail bag liner.  I can't believe she held it in that long.  Silly girl.

Niki just loved splashing and jumping and acting like Lily.  She slept a lot in the beach bouncer too.

We did all there to do in Corpus Christi:

• We rode "Captain Cook's Flagship" paddle boat around the bay.
• We drove over the bridge and around the town and along the bay view.
• We took a quick swim in the Navy base pool before it closed.
• We stayed in the Navy Lodge impossible-to-get-during-the-summer suites.
• We went to the aquarium and watched the dolphin show.
• We went to the beach and even caught a few small waves on the boogie boards.

Climbing Wall

Tyler and I haven't been as good as we should about our "date night" recently.  We finally got out and the only thing we could come up with to do so last minute was the climbing wall at the gym.  While it may not seem like much, the time we get without the girls is AMAZING regardless of what we do.

Ode to Jenni's Mom

"When you have a crab,

put it in WATER."

This little piece of advice from Jenni's Mom has stuck with me.  No matter the age or ailment, it ALWAYS WORKS.

Why are mom's always so smart?
Forget a PH.D., I'm working on my M.O.M.

A Fountain at Twilight

Lily couldn't resist playing in this fountain.  We were just finishing our tour of the SAN ANTONIO river walk with one last stop in the town square.  Lily was overjoyed by the small, "BABY ONE" because she could touch it without getting sprayed in the face.

She was having fun staying dry 'till a corner of her bumpkins got wet.  Then, oops, there goes part of her dress.  Oops again.  You guessed it.  By the end she was SOAKED, but it sure was fun.

ABC's and Graduation

Niki has GRADUATED to bathing in the big tub.  She loves to kick and splash.  I think she even splashes more than Lily, though Lily's splashes end up on Niki's face more. 

Lily is learning her letters.  She put all the letters she knows up in the tub.  I can't believe she knows 16 along with a word that begins with that letter:  "D for daddy", "T for Tyler", "C for Cookie", "U for Go Utes" she says.

Niki likes the letters too, but in a totally different way.  She's teething and loves to gum on them.  She whines when she drops them 'till Lily gives her a new one.  The sibling manipulation has begun.