Big Girl Date with Betsy

After five days of the Black Plague (or a really bad stomach bug) Betsy and I went on a big-girl date alone! She deserved it, we tried our first night of potty training and it was a success :) We went to Target and she picked out a new tooth brush and tooth paste, a new chap stick, and some stickers. Then we headed to Yo-Yo's frozen yogurt shop where she had her first soft serve experience.
SHE. LOVED IT.

I had cheese cake and strawberry swirled with mini chocolate chips.

She had chocolate and strawberry swirled with lots of sprinkles.

She kept alternating which one was hers because she liked them both so much. I suspect this is going to be a regular family outing now!






I love that big girl! And her little sister too!

First day of school pics

A few pictures of my sweet girls, on Ella's first day! Betsy loves when Ella dresses "LIIIIIIIKE BETSYYYYYY!". Ella had a good day, but only napped 30 minutes and was sleeping when I picked her up from my in-laws house, and fell asleep early at home. She was a bit more attached than usual last night and wanted some extra snuggles I was happy to share with her.

Still in PJs.

This is one of my old Zeta shirts from college and Betsy looooves wearing it.

Sweetie pie Ella!

When did Betsy's legs get so long?! And that's a big apple for a little girl, huh?

Both my silly girls before we loaded up the car.

Big girl Betsy

I'm surprised by how quickly Bets has mastered potty training. We're still using diapers at night, but she had only 1 accident all last week, and two this weekend (one while sleeping). She takes initiative to go on her own, though I do try to remind her throughout the day. This development led to Bets getting moved up to the three year old class at school starting this morning.

She's so self-sufficient and independent. Potty trained, sleeping in her big girl bed, making her own snacks, drinking out of a regular cup, feeding herself. This morning she wanted an apple, "Not cut Mommy, I want the whole apple."

I think I love the most that she's such a little helper. If she starts melting down she usually snaps out of a tantrum if you assign her a task. And she is SO good with babies. And if you hurt the feelings of someone she loves she is NOT happy. I need to catch her defending William (a couple of weeks ago she flipped out when Ben carried Will to the car crying) she said "GET OFF OF MY COUSIN!" in the most shrill, demanding voice I've ever heard.

She was very sweet this morning when I dropped Ella off for her first day of school. She made an announcement that "This is my sister Ella, she's in the baby class." And at night she keeps an eye on her sister, "Don't play in the 'nauzer's bowl Ella. No eat the paper Ella. Mommy, her trying to eat the 'nauzer's food!". Who needs to baby-proof when you have a big sister hall-monitor?

Love that kiddo :)

It's a girl party!

I'm a big fan of celebrating babies. Not just first babies deserve to be celebrated, ALL babies do! My dear cousin Cynthia is expecting a baby girl, after having a boy and a nephew. This will be the first granddaughter for her parents!

Our very generous family contributed to buy some wonderful gifts for Cynthia, and I threw a small brunch for her on Sunday to surprise her with the goodies! Betsy had fun playing with her cousin Isaiah (they are the exact same age!). They colored, blew bubbles, watched Barney and tortured the dog. Ella slept through the first half of the party, and cousin Brody was a little walking machine power-walking around our house like a champ! Brody turns 1 this month.

Cynthia picked pink and brown to decorate her baby's room. Baby will be named Mia, which I love. She's going to be a little princess!! I made the 'Mia' letters and quilt for Cynthia's nursery and hopefully in the next week or so I'll be over at her house helping her set up.






The menu was mini bacon quiche, scones, bacon, fruit salad, apple slices, fruit dip and cupcakes. The food was yummy!

Big happenings

There's tons happening in our neck of the woods.

First I'm in the middle of registration. Literally, the middle. We've completed 2.5 weeks and have 2.5 weeks to go. I think my department has done an excellent job working together! I've also gotten busy with sewing lately, and crafting and it feels really good to kind of move out of the 'I'm in shock! I have two kids and all I do is work, care for kids, and do the necessities to survive!' phase I was stuck in for a while.

Ben is back to coaching two sports. Cross country practices in the mornings at 7:30, soon to move to 6 am. Football from 4-6 pm. In the middle of the day he's organizing his CC stuff because the season starts in about a week! Soon he will be practicing in the mornings, have school all day, practice after school, football on Fridays and Cross Country on Saturdays. It's BUSY, but we really cherish our home time when we're this busy.

Ella Coy is growing SO FAST! She's standing holding on to stuff and *almost* letting go and standing unassisted. She walks behind her push-and-ride-lion. Betsy was doing these exact things at this point so I suspect Ella will be walking in about a month. CRAZY! Ella's first two teeth have broken through and it wasn't too bad for her. She did have a couple of rough nights when she ended up in bed with me, and snuggling is like a sedative it knocks her out. I'm not complaining, I know how hard it is to get Betsy to sit still, so I'm relishing in cuddle time knowing it's short lived. Ella also starts daycare Monday! She's starting part-time, 3 days a week, and my in-laws will keep her the other two days. I like this arrangement because it gives her a little time to adjust rather than jumping in full time. I think we'll switch to full time in a few months. Ella is 8 months old, and she's wearing 9 month clothes, I even put her in a 12 month sleeper last night.

Betsy Jane is a MESS! She is potty trained as of this weekend. NO diapers during the day, but we're still using one at night. She didn't have any accidents the past two days at school per her teacher this morning. Betsy is SO EXCITED about the potty training. She gets to place a sticker on a chart each time she goes and loves it, and we're giving her a Popsicle when she goes too. I bought a variety of small toys over the weekend and we gave her prizes every couple trips to the potty. She's such a talking machine. She has FEELINGS and talks about them. Ben is in trouble with all these women in the house. She is so protective and loving with Ella, and we can even leave them alone in the playroom just peeking in every now and then while they play together. I find it a bit miraculous that they don't push, or fight, that they share, and enjoy each other's company so much. Betsy is such a little busy-body, she never sits still.

Cousin pictures

Saturday morning we loaded up our girls, and met my BIL, SILs and nephews at the portrait place to take pictures of the cousins. These kiddos spend so much time together in some ways they are more like four siblings than four cousins. We had fun getting them together to do this and were pretty happy with how the pictures turned out.

These are the best of the bunch!












Four kids under three...there were bound to be some out-takes.