Shopping Balls

Do you know the large round, red balls in front of the new Target's? There are 4 or 5 of them... maybe. We pulled into the Target parking lot and Quinn started screaming "look mommy .... shopping balls!" Hassie Clare then said "we take our picture with shopping balls (imagine her saying this in question form.)"
When we left Target they both waived bye bye and blew the shopping balls kisses until they were out of sight.
Amazing how their little mind works!

Jack's Birthday

I am at Uncle Dave and Aunt Jenny's house. Thought I would slip away and blog about our day. Today our nephew Jack turned 11. Jack is the first baby I feel in love with. I remember thinking to myself when Jack was a baby that I could not imagine loving another child as much as I did him. I simply can't believe he is 11 years old. He was such a beautiful, mild mannered baby. He has grown to be a handsome, polite, loving young man (YIKES.... did I just call him a man?????). I am so proud to call him my nephew. He has a bright future ahead of him and I plan on being there every step of the way.

He had his birthday party at the bowling alley. I had no idea bowling could so much fun with 2 two year olds. We had a great time. Maema was with us and she always helps out so much. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pics because we were having so much fun we forgot.

We all came back to The Hagel's house. We were suppose to play some poker but everyone got to gabbing and well ..... you know the rest of the story.

Kenny Ray

Since I posted some "obsessions" about Hassie Clare, it is only fair that I devote a blog entry to my sweet little Quinn Rayann (we call her Quinnie). She refers to herself as "Kenny Ray" and her sister calls her "Kenny Ray" and they both have called her this since they could speak. We find it adorable so we do not correct them. They are old enough for people to ask them their names. Of course we always have to explain the "Kenny Ray" response but we are already use to explaining why we named one of our children Hassie Clare (that is a story for another blog).

Here are a few current things about Quinn (2.5):

• she loves all her BB's (favorite blankie) and her baby Susie more then life itself.


• She has carried around a tiny, pink, plastic baby that is in the sitting position for about 18 months. You never see it because it hides in the palm of her hand. She calls it "sitting baby."


• she is VERY VERY VERY sensitive. About everything. About anything. Sometimes I can look at her wrong and she will cry for 30 mins. I call her "Sensitive Sally." (this is usually her face when her feelings get hurt ------->)


• she is excellent at school and has never gotten in trouble (except one time for pushing her sister on the playground but that does not count).


• she loves to eat. She loves all kinds of food. I've have yet to find a food she doesn't like ... as long as I can get her to try it.


• she is very nurturing and caring. She already "mothers" her babies and her sister.


• she is just now cutting her 2 year old molars (all 4 of HC's have been in for 6 months).


• she is pretty much a perfect kid. well ... except for those GOD awful tantrums she has for no apparent reason whatsoever. Picture this .... the little girls head spinning in the movie The Exorcist.


• She loves hanging out in her crib, by herself at various times of the day to either calm down from a tantrum or to just be by herself.


• She was the easiest kid in the world to potty train. This is day 12 in big girl panties and only 1 pee pee accident.

When I look at Quinn I see myself. Her appearance (especially nose and chin) resembles her father but Quinn and I are such similar creatures. I feel it with every move that she makes. My mom has confirmed this. Every time my mom is around us she says "I've already raised a Hassie Clare and Quinn." She thinks Hassie Clare and my younger sister Karrie are a lot alike and that Quinn and I are exactly alike.

I already want to tell Quinn to relax and smell the roses. I wish I could somehow get in her head and make her believe that she doesn't have to grow up thinking she has to be perfect at everything. And that it is okay to make mistakes. But I have a strong feeling that no matter what anyone tells her, she will be exactly who she is suppose to be. She melts my heart every time she smiles and flashes those big blue eyes at me. And she breaks my heart every time she pops out a big ole alligator tear. I have a feeling that when she is all grown up that we are going to be the best of friends, at least I hope so.

"I a grown up!"

Hassie Clare thinks every time she does something like an adult does that it warrants her saying "I a grown up!" For example, this was our conversation this morning:

Me - "Great job peeling that orange Hassie Clare."
HC - "Yah ... I a grown up."
Me - "No you are not a grown up, you are a very smart, little girl."
HC - "No, I'd a grown up like mommy and daddy."

Hassie Clare's other obsessions:

• The movie Annie (I will have to devote an entire blog about that later).


• Fuzz balls / dust bunnies / lent - she is petrified of them on the floor, between her toes, between our toes, etc.


• Where's Waldo - she loves finding and pointing out things in books. She has the patience of Job.


• Hospitals - for some reason she is constantly worried that she or one of us will have to go to the hospital. I have no idea where this comes from??????


• Tight places that she can squeeze into. She is the opposite of a claustrophobic. For instance, if I am sitting on the couch then she will squeeze behind me and down into the couch cushion. At night she likes for me to tuck her in as tight as I can with her BB.


• Her BB's (favorite blanket).


• Her posy (any number of stuffed animals that she insists she can't live without).


• Rocks.


• I just realized I could go on and on about his girl's obsession:) She is so unique and quirky ... one of the many things I love the most about her personality.

I will have to pick this topic up again when I have more time. Our sweet little Hassie Clare, life would be so boring without her. She is going to challenge me as a parent. Our minds work so differently. I already wish I could be more like her, especially her free spirit. And she is only 2.5! Such a cool kid!

Potty Training

No one told me how much fun potty training would be (you can't hear the sarcasm in my voice). I guess I didn't prepare myself mentally for this task since this is my first time potty training a child. I had not idea how our lives daily lives would revolve around a bathroom.

Quinn has been ready to potty train for a long time. We have been waiting around on Hassie Clare. A couple weeks ago we just decided that Hassie Clare does not care if her diaper or pull up is wet or dirty and probably never will. So we just decided to go for it!

Thankfully, they have done great! Quinn has not had an accident in her big girl panties since day 1. Hassie Clare has about 1 or 2 accidents a day but they are usually our fault for not making her go sit on the potty every 30 -45 mins. They love their new Dora and Princess panties! But what they love most of all is the M&M or heart candy they get when they use the toilet. They get 1 piece of candy for going #1 and 2 pieces of candy for going #2. Hopefully their teeth won't rot out from all this sugar!

Today was their first day at school in big girl panties! I can't wait to pick them up at school to see how they did.

Here is a pic of them when they first started using the potties. We have pics of them with their first pee and poopoo but I'm positive no one wants to see those:)

For my records ... they have been in panties for 10 days (except at nap and night time).

****UPDATE 4/6/09 - I was trying to remember when the girls were officially potty tained. Thanks to my handy dany blog, I just scrolled down the page to find this blog entry. We never looked back on potty training once we started. Thankfully, Hassie Clare and Quinn caught on to the concept quickly. They have been out of diapers and pull ups (except at night) for 2 months. They no longer have accidents at night in their pull ups but I put them on the girls "just in case." The girls even go to the restroom at home by their self now. Quinn has never had an accident and Hassie Clare has had very few accidents. They are growing up WAY TOO fast! ******

Valentine's Day weekend

I am super excited about this weekend. We decided yesterday to go up to Cape Girardiau, MO to a Valentine's Day party at Jamie's aunt and cousins house. Maema (Jamie's mom) with some other family members are driving down from Union. I am one of the lucky people that actually love spending time with my in law's and their family. Call me crazy but how can you go wrong with good food, lots of spirits, laughter and poker! Yes ... I said poker. They are some poker playing fools! They will use any excuse to get together to play some cards. Don't let me confuse you ... it is not a nice little friendly family card game. I have lost $80 bucks at these gatherings. But at the end of the night .... it is all in good fun. I can't wait!!!!!!

Hassie Clare and Quinn got lots of candy at their Valentine's Day party yesterday at school. They were very excited. I put most of their candy into their "I went potty" bag. Here are a few pics of them before they went to school.

Hassie Clare being her silly self.

Snakes, Nickels and HUH

My thoughts are that I will "try" and post during the week about funny things the girls say, what they are doing developmentally, how I feel as their mother ... basically everything I want to remember someday when I look back and read this blog. Plus, this will help loved ones that live near and far keep up with our crazy lives.

Today's topic: Snakes, "nickels" and the word "HUH"

Now remember my girls are 2.5 (actually they are 2.8 but for all practical purposes we will say two and a half).

1) Snakes
Our wonderful nanny Taylor (AKA Tay Tay) took the girls outside today to play in this outstanding weather. Hassie Clare climbed up in her playhouse and started screaming bloody murder. She was yelling "It's snake Tay Tay, it's a snake." Tay Tay captured a pic with her phone.

But really it was just a little worm crawling up the slide. Ohhhhh good times!

2) "Nickels"

The girls are in a mother's day out program a couple of days a week ... we call it school. So at school today they had a Valentine's party and got lots of candy and stickers. Tonight while I was cooking dinner Quinn was sticking sticker on my legs, belly .. basically anywhere she could reach. So I leaned down to tell her how much I liked her stickers and she started sticking them to my chest while saying "I puttin stickers on you boobies." I corrected her and told her she was putting them on my chest and that my boobies were lower. I then pulled my shirt down to point out the difference of where my chest is and where my breast are and she said "you have pretty nickels mommy." In case you didn't get it ... nickels are also known as nipples in our household. She cracks me up!!!!

3) HUH

I'm not sure if we need to get Hassie Clare's hearing checked or what but she is driving me CRAZY by saying "HUH" after everything thing we say. Is it a 2 year old thing or what?????? I'm not convinced it is her hearing because she doesn't seem to say it when I ask her if she wants to go outside to play or if she wants a snack. I wonder if they have a test for "selective hearing."

I finally joined the blog world!

Well .... I have been following blogs for over a year and I really enjoy reading about other families and watching their kids grow up. Time is going by way too fast and my little baby girls are growing up at the speed of light (okay ... maybe this is an exaggeration but it feels like it). So in all efforts to slow down time, I thought joining the blog world might help me document the little and big events that are happening in this wonderful life of mine. So here I go ..........