Thunder Rolls...

Last night we had a HUGE, BIG, GINORMOUS thunderstorm and it was soooooo scary that at about 1:30 in the morning we both woke up SREEEEEEAMINGGG our little heads off! Mommy and Daddy were so scared they BOTH jumped out of bed and ran upstairs - Mommy got there first (don't mess with Mommy when she thinks we're in trouble. I think she has supernatural powers and actually teleported herself right to our bedroom in a nanosecond) but when she got there she saw us both sitting up on Anna's bed and I was holding Anna.
I said to Mommy, "Anna's scared. So I'm holding her."
And yes, Mommy felt just like that.
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Swim Along, Little Doggy

These pictures are SO misleading, and it's the wonder of blogger that of course they are in reverse chronological order which means Mommy is going to somehow have to cleverly craft our swim lesson story backwards. No worries, Mommy is always up for a challenge. That all started when she married Daddy, and then had us two wonderful little peanuts. We digress (as usual). As mentioned in earlier posts I started "big girl" swim lessons a few weeks ago. Today was week 3. These pictures are from Week 1.
You would know these pictures are from the first week because here, I am actually smiling, instead of screaming my head off like I did today - incessantly and nonstop - because I'm 3, and I can. Mommy heard from someone that she was quite similar when she took swim lessons at this age, but my Babi had a secret weapon and that was a camera. Instead of being behind the camera like she is now, Mommy loved to be in front of it - loved it. It was the quickest way to diffuse a tantrum for Babi and Duda (though Babi actually informed Mommy just yesterday that she never had a tantrum when she was little. She saved those for high school.)
And here, shockingly and completely unbelievable to anyone who saw me today - I am listening to my instructor. *GASP!*
And here, actually excited to get in the pool vs. kickingscreamingbeggingfightingcryingwailingsobbingpanicking as I did today. And how heartless is Mommy?

She laughed at me. LAUGHED! I mean, hell, what else can she do? I'm having the mother of all tantrums and it's lasting a full 30 minutes and everyone - I mean EVERYONE in the pool area and Mommy's vicinity are staring at her as if to say, "Well, are you going to do SOMETHING?" What can she do? I mean, really. What do you do? It's not like Mommy can pull me out of swim lessons and just say, "Looks like ya don't like swimming, let's try another important life skill like gymnastics." NO! It's KIND OF IMPORTANT to learn how to swim (or at the very least, at this point Mommy's just hoping I learn how to doggy paddle to the side of the pool - which won't serve me very well if I'm in say, a lake or something!) So Mommy sat right by the pool, clapped at me while I was screaming and laughed at me when my back was turned; deliberately avoided my gaze in the hopes that maybe the lack of attention would get me to stop wailing; avoided the gaze of every single person who gaped at her in open-mouthed disbelief at what a drama child I can be; and then nodded politely when my teacher said at the end of class:

"You might want to try not being here for the next class - maybe watch from that window in the lap pool where she can't see you?"

"Yes," Mommy said, "yes, why don't we try that?"

Love,

Lilly and Anna

First (?) Day of Preschool

Stupid Blogger. I think Mommy needs to swing the $20 a year to add storage to her own account to fix the picture problem she's been having since she bought this stupid Mac. Well, anyway, these photos are in REVERSE chronological order which isn't as cute and funny as if they were in the CORRECT chronological order. Sobeit. Mommy can't deal with organizing and reorganizing photos right now, my friends. As you can see above, I am soooo happy and excited! Why? Because I am in my first day of PRESCHOOL!!! Today was an assessment day to determine what class I should be in come August! I got to spend the whole half day there with new friends and it was FAB-O!
As you can see here, though, I wasn't without my reservations. Mommy and Daddy told me I'd be going to preschool this week and I repeatedly said: "No, I don't want to" and "No, I want to stay with Mary Lou" etc. etc. Daddy then decided it would be better to call it "Fun Camp" but when we got there this morning I realized it was more like Sunday School, less like camp.
I'm a very good sport, aren't I?
Aren't I?
Eh...well, I am 3 years old, after all.
After I had been in class a few minutes I turned to Mommy and Daddy and simply said, "Bye bye!" and went about my business. Daddy knew it would be okay. Mommy asked Daddy special to come with us this morning because last week when she toured the preschool, she actually cried - on the tour. Ms Ann was so sweet about it and said nice things like, "Oh, I understand (why you would cry when you are walking the hallways withOUT your child and with six months to go before she would even come here)" and "Really, it's okay - we see this (like, never)" Having Daddy there made today a lot easier on Mommy because she doesn't like to cry in front of Daddy or he'll call her a "Sissy-baby" which is some term I really don't understand but he laughs when he says it, and really Mommy says it more to Daddy (heh heh).
Mommy came to pick me up today and Ms Shelly said, "Lilly told me she really misses her baby sister, Anna." and when Mommy picked me up (literally) I said, "Mommy, that lady is going to miss me." When we got to Mary Lou's, Anna ran to me, not Mommy and Mommy got verclempt (sp?) - again. She's very emotional, no?
In all, it was a great day. I learned about the letter S. I will begin Pre-K in the fall and then next fall, Junior-K. After that, watch out world - KINDERGARTEN.
Mommy still can't believe how fast this is going.
And she might even be crying a little bit right now...
Love,
Lilly and Anna

Happy Birthday Grammy!

Happy Birthday, Grammy! We have a 3 day in a row festival of love every February! I'm sorry we didn't get to Skype with you tonight, how about tomorrow, so we can sing with you? Anna has been reallllll grouchy lately and Mommy and Daddy just had to put us to bed. We hope you had a nice birthday dinner, and hopefully we'll e-see you tomorrow!
Happy Birthday!
Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Lilly and Anna

Happy Birthday Uncle Mark!!

Dear Uncle Mark: Happy Birthday! Above is the "After" the party picture and below...
Is "During" the party and you (both) still look fabulous! How do you do it? We sure hope it's genetics.
Mommy is sorry she couldn't find any pictures with us in them, too...she is really having a hard time with this stupid computer and after the day we had today just was not in the mood to mess with it.
So she thought a little love from your trip to New Orleans would do the trick! We hope you had a hap, hap, happy day! We hope you didn't party too hard and we can't wait to see you hope, hope, hopefully sometime soon!
Happy Birthday Uncle Mark!!!
Love,
Mommy, Daddy, Lilly and Anna

My Apoopologies...

Grrr...Mommy apparently is NOT cool enough for a Mac because she still can't figure out quite how to use it despite the fact that they keep advertising how easy it is (liars!) and Aunt Tracey promised Mommy she'd be cooler by virtue (liar!) So Mommy can only post this ONE picture today which isn't as funny as the little pictorial she had set up in her head but she'll try anyway.
So, this past weekend we owe Grammy and Grandpa a HUGE thank you for coming down to watch us while Mommy and Daddy went to live it up with the B------ sibs in New Orleans! Unfortunately though, I owe them an Annapology (or an Apoopologies, apropos, Mommy's on a roll). It seems that I pulled an Anna and pooped - all over myself. And the floor. And my dresser. And the cats. Well, maybe not the cats but I might as well have. I guess the onesie trick didn't work as well as Mommy hoped it might. If its any consolation Grammy, I did the same thing to Mommy and Daddy the night they got back (you're welcome!) Thank you though, so much for coming down. We love you!
Good news, though is that yesterday, at Babi and Duda's house, I actually - seriously - pooped in the POTTY! WHAT!? I'm not even 2 yet! But I did! I did it! I pooped in the potty! and I have used the potty chair almost every day at least once. That is pretty impressive. You might even say, "advanced." But then, you'd have to wipe the poop from my hands when I reach down in my pants and pull it out to see what it tastes like. Maybe Harvard can wait.
Love,
Anna and Lilly

Just Another Crappy Day in Paradise

No, this isn't crap I'm eating. It's puddin!

Right now, I'm upstairs in my room screaming my head off. Mommy and Daddy turned of ALL the lights (except for the nightlight in our room - they aren't cruel!) Daddy just said (for the 72nd time tonight, "It's time for bed! Good night!" and I'm still screaming). Mommy and Daddy are now sitting downstairs about to share the story of our night with you, our faithful readers.

So, what did you do tonight? Did you clean up crap? Mommy did. So did Daddy! Crappy, crap, crap everywhere. First, the kitties crapped. And Daddy said, "There you go, Mommy, go ahead and get mad at the new kitties because one of them crapped." And then he was nice enough to grab the pile of crap but he let Mommy do the scrubbing (at least he picked it up, gag!). He thought this was funny because you know how Garp likes to crap in the basement and Mommy gets to clean up that crap and get mad at Daddy because it's almost as if Daddy craps vicariously through Garp for Mommy's benefit. Well, Mommy got to clean kitty crap again tonight. She's really glad we have 3 kitties now.

Anna started with her nightly, "I poopood! I poopood!" from the top of the stairs approximately 3 and a half minutes after bedtime and yes, she did poopoo - all over herself. Daddy went upstairs to clean it (because Mommy was still working on kitty crap) and God thought this was funny (and admittedly, so did Mommy). Because all's fair in love and marriage.

Hope you're day tomorrow isn't crappy!

Love,

Lilly and Anna