Dress up monkey,sickie girl and the pacifier addict

All those terms describe Rory in the past few weeks...
Jolee loves to dress up Rory in anything she can get her into. This tutu seems to be Rory's favorite as she is pretty willing when she sees it. Jolee is just so happy to have someone other than me to play dress up with , and so am I . Not that I don't love playing dress up every 10 minutes of the day, but when I answer the door to the UPS man and he addresses me as your highness, I suddenly remember that I have forgotten to take my tiara off. Luckily , I think he's used to it by now :) So needless to say, I am happy that Rory has taken to her sister dressing her up so I have a bit of a break.

I mentioned earlier in one of my blogs that we have all taken turns being sick this month and unfortunately, Rory did not escape it. She was so sad looking and like Jolee, she just wants to be held all the time while sick. I took this picture one night after she fell asleep on the couch with me. We ended up sleeping there most of the night together as she just breathes better when someone is there to prop her up. Poor thing, and poor Mommy, but it was so cute!

And last but not least is my pacifier addict! Rory loves her Pacies and the more the better as you can see.

how do I look ?

Jolee posing like the princess she is

sick , sleepy monkey

I might be willing to share

but I might be able to get both in my mouth

not quite fitting

ugh.. I guess not, let me think on it

A ballerina is born

Jolee had been wanting to start Ballet for quite some time now, but she couldn't start until she was 3. I tried to have her start right after her birthday, but it was the end of everyone's dance season so that didn't work. Well the day has finally come and Jolee could not be happier. The pictures below are from just before her first class last thursday and she would not stop prancing around the house long enough for me to take a picture.
She has now been to 2 classes as of today and LOVES it. She has learned a lot of stretching, how to run on her tippy toes, and today they did a crab walk as well. She is doing really good and loves her teacher Ms. Denise. So far Ms. Denise says that Jolee listens well, follows directions and takes turns very nicely. I wish I could say that :)
I can only see a little bit through the window in the door so I haven't taken pictures at class. Hopefully soon I will be able to take some more of her.
I love and hate how grown up she looks in her Ballet "uniform" .
She has already told me that she is going to sing and dance as her job when she grown up. I can only hope all her dreams come true !

bad hair day

Rory's mohawk is back.. sorta. Her hair is getting so long that she is getting crazy bed head. And then Jolee just wanted to get in on the fun :)

foot in water dish

no explaination needed. Just cute pictures :)

Hand me down porsche

Some of you may remember that Jolee got a Porsche for her first Christmas from her Nonno. Well, When she got too big for it, we put it up in the attic and this past weekend I took it back out for Rory. She loves it!! Who wouldn't be happy with a hand me down Porsche right ? Jolee has also loved playing with it again and even loves pushing her sister on it.
Anyone have a hand me down Porsche for me ??

pigtails and playdough

Hi Everyone,
I know it has been almost a month and I apologize about that! The last month has flown by. We have been so busy, we were also all sick so it's been crazy around here.
to update you on us.....
Jolee is going through a naked phase. She suddenly hates clothing. We have set strict rules that if anyone comes over or if we are going anywhere , she must be dressed. Other than that she loves to run around like a naked crazy girl. I have had to edit some pictures of her so that I can post them. I will have plenty of proof for her though that she did go through this phase! I have been told it's a completely normal phase... I just want to know how long it's going to last. I am really tired of fighting to get her dressed and tantrums over putting panties on!! Oh well... this too shall pass :)
Rory is getting so big, so fast. She is walking and playing like such a big girl. She walks quite a bit now , but she knows that her crawling is faster so to chase Jolee she still crawls. She is laughing at everything, and eating really well. She shocked me 2 weeks ago by quitting nursing cold turkey. I am still not sure why , but for some reason she no longer wanted to breastfeed or even take a breast milk bottle. It was really weird and also hard for me since I wasn't ready to let go ... but she is a big girl and she weaned herself so there was nothing I can do. She is now getting formula as well as regular food. She is doing a great job and still growing so I guess I can't complain. I can complain on the other hand about the price of formula! It has added another $30.00 / week to my grocery bill!! That part sucks, so I am trying to wean her of it asap! We'll see :)

In the pictures below you will see Rory's first play dough experience. She only ate a tiny bit. Thank goodness for non-toxic :) Next time we are going to make our own so if she eats it, oh well! You will also see the heads only pictures of Jolee's new found love of braids . She looks so cute with her hair done , so I am so glad that she is letting me do it these days .
Enjoy and there will be a few updates back to back here in order to catch up !

Utah, Walking , Tantrums... oh my!

Last weekend Rory and I were lucky enough to go and visit my beautiful Sister Johanna and Brother-in-law Tyler in SLC ,Utah. Each time I fly west ( almost always to visit my sister), I forget how much I love the mountains. It has been hot in SLC, so we spent one of my days up in the mountains cooling off a bit and going on a mild hike. A mild hike was a necessity since as you will see below that Johanna is 9 months pregnant. She hiked as if it was nothing not even breathing hard. I am sure she is in better shape pregnant than I am normally!

Rory loved being outside and was so content to just look around and sing to herself the whole time we hiked. We got to see a pretty waterfall and I put Rory's feet in the ice cold water. She didn't really like that though . The waterfall was called Donut falls because the water flows through a "donut hole" formation of the rocks. I am forgetting the name of the mountains it's in..... but I am not going to just make up a name like some other people we know ;)

While in Utah, Rory decided that she would start walking. She went from not even taking a step to taking 4-5 at a time in a matter of 3 days. I can't believe that I actually got a picture of her taking those first group of 4 steps ! She was incredible and has only gotten better since we got home. She is now walking about 6 steps at a time and I am sure that she will be running behind Jolee in no time at all.

We had such a nice visit, but it went too fast. I wish that I could spend more time with my big sister. No matter how old we get , I still feel like a little kid in awe of my big sis and how great she is. She and my brother-in-law are going to be amazing parents very soon.

While Rory and I were away Joe and Jolee stayed home to play. Jolee is becoming quite the handful recently. That half birthday is coming soon so her brain is changing it's patterns or something! Her tantrums have become almost unbearable and her mouth is too smart for her own good. After coming home she actually told me that I should go back since she had more fun with Daddy and Gam. How is it that my 3 year old knows how to hurt my feelings. It made me laugh but I know I am going to need to have thick skin to keep up with her!

Enjoy all the beautiful pictures of SLC and surrounding areas :)

at the start of our hike

Johanna and Rory taking a break


Donut falls

Tyler and I

the log/stick bridge we used to cross the waterfall

downstream

Johanna and Tyler

Rory and I in front of a lower part of the falls

Rory standing and letting go

Letting go and taking those first 4 grouped steps

Rory enjoying playing in the soft grass

crawling in the soft grass near the sunflowers

Johanna, Rory and I