Willkommen zu Hause, Papa!

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This is the sign on our front door. Translation: Welcome Home, Daddy! You can tell who colored which letters. Genna colored the "Papa." Hannah and I split the other words.

The first words out of Genna's mouth to him were, "Daddy, outside?" She wanted him to take her outside. Hannah was eager to show him the dinosaur that she colored for him, and to make sure that he saw the huge sign on the door that we all colored.

We pretty much hung out here all day getting housework done in preparation for daddy's return. Hannah learned to fold a hand towel today. I showed her once how to do it, and she folded it perfectly! She had a harder time with the regular sized towels, but I was still very impressed how well she paid attention and followed directions.

Genna got put in the "Naughty Corner" for the first time today for screaming. She did not like it too much. When her time was up and I explained again that we don't scream, I asked her, "What do you say?" She apparently has been paying attention to the drill with Hannah, because she surprised me by saying, "Sorry" and giving me a hug. Then she surprised me again by biting me on the neck during the hug. Then she got a little swat on the tush. She's a fiesty one when she wants to be! Where did these girls come from? Brian and I were nice compliant children, right? I guess I forgot my genetics when I pictured what our kids would be like. It didn't even cross my mind that they might have genes that my sister has. (Just kidding, Kristen!)

Tomorrow's the day we've all been waiting for!

Daddy comes home! I, for one, can't wait, and the kids are getting antsy too. Hannah prayed at naptime, "God, please, bring Daddy home safe and sound!" We usually just pray the Angelus, and I add in a couple prayers usually asking for the girls to take a LONG nap so I can get things done. But when we finished the Angelus, Hannah added in her own prayer for her daddy! So sweet! I know her daddy will be happy to hear how loved and missed he was these two weeks. Plus, we have another surprise for him when he gets home, Hannah has memorized the Angelus as well! I am so proud of my big girl! It is certainly no short prayer for a 2 1/2 year old. I love how she says the words "Incarnation" and "Resurrection." It's so cute!

Hannah got a nasty bump on her head today. We were waiting for the car next to us to pull out so I could get the girls in the car seats, and when it pulls out we start walking to the back door. I have Hannah's hand, and I kind of stop her with my hand before I swung open the door. She is not paying attention because she is saying "thank you" to the lady in the car (I give her credit for good manners) and keeps walking right into the edge of the door as I am opening it. I can't tell you how many times this has almost happened because she isn't paying attention. This time, however, I was rushing and didn't catch it in time. She has a big bump on her forehead! I am just glad she is short and it didn't get her eye. The way things are going lately, someone around here is going to turn me in to CPS. All is well, and all will be better tomorrow when daddy returns to rescue us from ourselves!

The girls are feeling better!

Here is a picture of the girls in their scrubs from the other day.

Well, the girl's are feeling better now. I have a sore throat but am surviving. Today I watched one of Hannah's friends because it was a German holiday and her mom still had to work. She brought dress up clothes, and I got a great picture of them dressed like princesses!

Hannah's not a midget, by the way, her friend is 5 years old! Just in case you were wondering!

We went on a crazy long walk after dinner for an hour and a half. With the 50lbs of kids and the weight of the stroller going uphill half the time, it was quite a workout. Hannah talked and wiggled the WHOLE time. Genna was almost unconscious by the time we got home. :) She just zoned out, I heard her singing on and off at the begining to her baby doll (or maybe to herself, I'm not sure). I love my children. I can't help but want a million of them!

Die Toilette Humor

I mentioned before how Genna started sitting on Hannah's potty a week or so ago. So today while I was cleaning the bathroom, she plopped down (fully clothed) on the potty again. Then she points to the toilet paper and says something that sounds nothing like "toilet paper" or any other word I know. I asked her if she meant toilet paper and she did her nod and "Uh huh." I was curious where this was going so I gave her a square. Sheryl Crow would die if she knew I gave away a square of toilet paper knowing it would be wasted, but it's for educational purposes. Anyway, she took it and immediately knew what to do with it. I cracked up and ran to get the lousy temp camera. These are the pictures I got. The last one is of her throwing the toilet paper into the potty when she was finished.

Side note, since the girls are sick they are both wearing their matching scrubs today. Normally we would all stay in our jammies on these days, but we were running low on milk, bread, and medications so we had to go to the grocery store. I will try for a picture of them together when Hannah wakes up from her nap.

My precious baby girls...

...are both mysteriously sick with different symptoms. I hope this doesn't mean they are going to switch diseases and then we'll all be miserable for twice the time. Genna has a cough that is unfortunately waking her up many times a night and causing an early end to her nap as well. Hannah has her signature "high fever with virtually no other symptoms" disease.

Last night was one of those difficult evenings where both children were basically screaming nonstop until I put them to bed early to stop the madness. With Brian away, these are the times I sometimes go crazy, but by the miraculous grace of God alone I didn't do too badly. Anyways, this was my warning of what was to come...two sick kids.

However, this morning was better. Genna only coughed while sleeping and so I thought maybe this is minor and will go away. Hannah seemed symptomless and back to herself. At naptime it seemed to finally get sunny and feel like it was in the upper 70's so I filled up the baby pool (which I have yet to get to do with the incredible lack of summer temps here). Hannah has been asking everyday to go swimming, so I thought this would be a nice surprise for her. By the time we got out there it was clouding up again and a little breeze had developed. I felt bad saying we couldn't swim when they were dying to get in. Well, even they weren't crazy enough to actually get in the water to stay. They climbed in, realized it was a little chilly, and then were content to sit outside of the pool and play in the water. Thirty minutes later it's raining and we're packing up. I did sneak some pictures of them before the rain though.

So we come inside get in warm clothes, and suddenly Hannah is laying on the floor under a blanket. Having done this countless times I know what this means. She has spiked a crazy fever again. So we head up stairs to get ready for bed and dose everyone up with a mixture of Tylenol, Ibuprophen, and some vicks vapor rub (for Genna's cough). The girls both lay on Hannah's bed and watch a little bit of a movie on the portable DVD player. Then off to bed for the kids and off to blog for me.

And so this day ends with a plea for prayers for our sick family who still has another week until her husband gets back.

Oh, and one other thing, I am including a picture of part of my bathroom because this is something i forgot to include earlier and my tub is one of my favorite things about this house.

These are a few of Hannah's favorite things...

Hannah's favorite songs are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Rockabye Baby. Her favorite color is red (like her fish). Her favorite prayer is the Hail Mary. Her favorite princesses are Ariel (b/c of the red hair) and Belle even though she's never seen the movies, just read the books. Her favorite animal is a tiger. Her favorite foods are strawberry yogurt cheerios, spaghetti, and PB&J. And her new favorite facial feature is a beard!

No one we know ever has a beard (obviously, with Brian's line of work). This new fascination came about today when she was looking at her Children's Bible. She said, "Mom, I want some color on my chin too." I looked at the page she was on and realized she meant a beard because all the men had them in the picture. I laughed and said, "Oh Honey, only boys can have beards." I explained what they are, but she kept insisting that she wanted some hair on her chin too. I told her that just wasn't possible, but maybe she could ask Poppa Boat to grow one next summer when he comes to visit. That seemed to satisfy her for the moment. Then as I was thinking about it, I thought I guess I could draw one on her for fun. But then that seems kind of weird, so I didn't mention it.

I just figured out how to leave an option for comments. So, please, feel free to leave comments now!

Dino night at the community center!

Last night I took the kids to a fun Kid's night at the community center. They had more bouncy things, and the girls loved them again. Hannah got her hand painted with a butterfly. She wanted a dragon on her face, until she heard the girl's mom behind us convincing her daughter to get a lady bug. I don't know if she thought it was a better idea once she heard it, or if she froze up when asked and said the last hing that she had heard. Genna got a T-rex fake tattoo on her upper arm. Hannah made a playdough dinosaur and a dino snout out of a styrofoam cup. It was a dinosaur theme night. Hannah ran into one of her friends and just had to show off her ladybug on her hand. She looked like such a big girl running over to her friend and talking to her like that. My first baby is growing up too fast!