People say . . .

. . . that Kylie looks like me. What do you think? :) Ha, ha, ha. Have you ever noticed how if you feel like wearing a certain color in the morning, that your baby automatically ends up in the same color? Or maybe I'm the only one? Anyway, it happens to me a lot. On this particular morning I had decided that I was not going to get dressed until I had vacuumed the floor. I had been trying to get this done, unsuccessfully, for the past three days! Hence the reason why Chris found me and Kylie in matching outfits on the couch at 2 pm. I guess my subconscious knew that I was destined to be in my PJ's all day when I got Kylie dressed that morning. (The day ended in success though, with a nicely vacuumed carpet. Of course, it was messy again two days later, but let's not dwell on that fact . . . )

Here is a picture of Aly wearing her new roller-blades. She had been saving up her money all summer and finally had enough to get them. Of course, she said there's no way she's saving up for knee pads (she's wearing a neighbor's in the picture). I guess those will have to be a birthday present.

Analise's exciting news is that she has her first loose tooth! Aly started losing teeth at 4 years old, so Lise was getting worried when she started first grade and still hadn't lost one. She really wants to get the "tooth necklace" that Mrs. Shugars gives out to hold her tooth in once she loses it. Maybe her Halloween candy will help her with that. . .

And speaking of Halloween candy, Analise was wearing her candy corn shirt earlier this week and so we did her hair as a "candy corn" with a row of yellow, orange, and white, clips. Can you see it? :)

And finally for Lise, there's Foxea (Foxy). Analise got this little guy while she was on vacation with Grandma and Grandpa this summer and he has been by her side ever since. Literally. He sleeps with her, rides her scooter with her (while tucked into her shirt with his head poking out of her neck), goes to school with her (he has to remain in her backpack), you name it. She reads Fox books to him like "Fox in socks" and let me know that his favorite movies are Disney's "Robin Hood" and "The Fox and the Hound". Above she can be seen playing a game of UNO with Foxea (Foxea won). For Christmas, she even asked for "Fox stuff", whatever that is. I mean, it's really cute, but seriously, a fox?

Here's Kate being Kate. I was trying to get a picture of her hair and she was trying to "pose". I've made a deal with Kate that if she goes to preschool happy in the morning that she doesn't have to have a nap that day. So far there's only been one day that she didn't have a nap.

Here's Kate holding her baby sister. I have to say that Kate has been an awesome big sister! She loves to help me with Kylie - get diapers, help me give Kylie a bath, pick out clothes for her to wear, etc. If it has to do with Kylie, Kate is all over it. She loves giving her sister hugs and kisses and loves listening to Kylie's sounds, claiming, "Kylie's talking to me". I think she sees Kylie as some sort of pet, like a little puppy, that's come to our home. Of course things will probably change when Kylie's old enough to start crawling around and getting into Kate's stuff, but for now, I'll take the absence of sibling rivalry.

As for Kylie, she has begun cooing and "talking" to the family. It is super cute. Kylie also likes being talked to by members of the family. She is very social and gets most fussy when she feels she has been abandoned. I love the hat in the picture above (even though my mom said it made her look like the pope. Love ya, Mom!)

I also think Kylie looks very cute in purple . . . or just about anything. And, last but not least, Kylie has started smiling! It is so cute and makes my whole day! The funny thing about it is that from the moment she was born, Kylie has always been big on sticking her tongue out and moving her tongue around all the time. So, of course, her tongue is a big part of her smile as well. I love seeing her little personality emerge . . .

From the Redwood Forest, To the Gulf Stream Waters . . .

This Land was made for the O'Gwin's to see! For Labor Day we took a drive to Muir Park to see the Redwoods. It was awesome!! The forest was beautiful and so peaceful. There were some hollowed out trees that the kids could fit into and we saw a doe and her fawn eating grass no more than five feet away. Very cool. On the way there we also drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. I've only seen it before in movies, so while we were driving over it I totally thought that some monster was going to come out of the ocean and smash us or Spiderman was going to swing by and rescue somebody. (Don't worry, I felt the same way the first time I visited New York City - there's just something about visiting somewhere that always gets destroyed in the movies! :)>)

Now leaving the Redwood Forest and on to the Gulf Stream waters . . .

We bought a house! (Or we will . . . we're closing at the end of October) Isn't she a beaut? :) The home is 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, 2878 SF, built in 1999 by the current owner, an engineer who designed the home himself. The home is on a golf course and is in a very nice neighborhood. We're feeling really excited to live there! So, if you're in the panhandle of Florida sometime in the next three years . . . stop on by. . . MI CASA ES SU CASA!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

This week Aly went Hiking with Chris for their Daddy Daughter date. It's hilarious, because Aly's only 8, and already we have to coordinate with her social calendar to spend time with her. Between roller skating, talent show practices, activity days, and friends calling, it's hard to keep up with that kid. And . . . Congratulations to Aly! She and her posse made the talent show! Shoobop sha wadda wadda hippity boom de boom!

Also this week Chris took Lise and Aly to see the play "The Princess and the Pea". Analise's school teacher played the role of the Gypsy and it sounded like it was awesome! (I wished so bad I could have gone, but I couldn't with Kylie. Oh la, I'm sure there will be other times. *sigh*) Lise's quote of the week revolves around leftovers. For some reason, leftovers seem to multiply in our fridge. So much so, that one night when we were having a dinner Lise particularly liked she said, "I'm definitely having this on leftover night." Pretty sad when you're putting dibs on the leftovers.

Now for the Skater Bug. How, may you ask, may I get such a RAD 80's hairdo as the one I see Kate sporting below? Well, let me tell you. It all started innocently enough when we were cleaning up the girls room and I told Kate to put her pullup in the diaper genie. She was gone for like 15 minutes. When she finally came back I was like, "Kate, what took so long?" to which she replied, "I got my head caught in the diaper genie." I looked up and this is what I saw:

Her hair had been in a braid and I guess she got it caught in the blade. But why was she sticking her whole head in the diaper genie in the first place? That's the real question.

In other Kate news, for better or for worse, Kate's preschool has made her even more independent than before. They let the kids cut with scissors at school and pour their own milk for lunch. So we've caught Kate with scissors a few times (cutting tags off of stuffed animals, mostly), and she refuses to use a sippy cup anymore. Of course she uses Kylie as her excuse for everything. She lets me know that "big sisters don't use sippy cups", "big sisters don't wear bibs", and "big sisters don't take naps". Now, if only I could use this to my advantage by saying "Big sisters don't throw temper tantrums" and have it actually work, we'd be onto something!

And finally, here's some Kylie lovin' for Grandma.

We Go Together . . .

. . . Like a rama lama lama, ka dinga da dinga dong
Together Forever as shoobop shawadda wadda yippity boom deboom
Chang chang changitty chang shoobop
That's the way it should be, wha oooh, yeah!

About the song . . . Aly is trying out for this year's talent show with the kids on our street singing and beboppin' to this particular song from the Grease soundtrack. I've watched them practice and they are really good! Aly's been trying to memorize the words and singing this song nonstop - we even got "shushed" by the receptionist in the dentist office when I was singing along with her in the Lobby. Hee, hee.Here is a picture of last week's family home evening. Aly wanted to do the lesson from an object lesson that was done in her primary class about David, how when he was doing what the Lord wanted him to do he was able to slay Goliath and eventually become king, but then when he gave into temptation, he slowly got wrapped up so tight that he couldn't break free. (The saran wrap is the temptation - obviously.) She did a fantastic job and, as you can tell, her sisters loved it as well.

Well, Grandma left on Tuesday and we already miss her. Of course reality hit the moment she left. I dropped her off at the airport and headed to Target to get a few things - my first excursion with Kate and Kylie on my own. All was well until we got to the checkout counter and Kate decided to wander off in search of a polly pocket while I was paying. Luckily we found her a couple of minutes later - Kate is no longer allowed to walk with the cart and I'm going to plan my shopping around when she's in preschool. Also, the day after Grandma left Kylie decided to have her first major diaper blowout all the way up her back just as I was ready to head out to the grocery store. Welcome back to Mommyland!

Before Grandma left we were able to take a trip to point lobos. It was nice to get out of the house and I felt pretty good that I could hike around a couple of miles three weeks after having a baby. Chris took the girls exploring and this time they found a huge starfish. Pretty cool!

The househunting is going well - I think we'll put in an offer on a house in the next couple of days. Chris had this to say about buying a house online, "I feel like I'm getting a mail order bride that I have to marry the first day I meet her." I just told him not to worry because "you only have to be married to her for 3-5 years and then you can get a divorce when we get stationed somewhere else. This isn't an eternal marriage." Now all we need is a prenuptual agreement. :)

Here's some pictures of Lise and Kate when the girls were doing each other's hair. Lise has been missing Kindergarten a little bit and doesn't like all the "hard work" she has to do in 1st grade. She was talking to me about it in the kitchen when Aly said, "Tell me about it. I've been doing it for 3 years!" to which Lise replied, "You were in 1st grade for 3 years?!?" I Love it.

And Kate, Kate, Kate. She has been on this "cutting the tags off all her stuffed animals" kick, and this morning she wanted me to cut the tag off of her shirt. So I'm thinking, "no way!" because the minute I cut off this tag I'll be cutting a tag off every single day. So I tell Kate no and then she immediately starts looking for Chris. I tell her that if she asks her Dad to cut off the tag in her shirt then I'm going to give her a spanking because I already told her no. A few minutes later Chris comes upstairs and this is what Kate says:

"Dad, I want you to bite the tag off my shirt."

Okay, so technically she didn't ask him to cut it off, so I can't give her a spanking, right? Her logic is impeccable.

So then she proceeds downstairs to have breakfast and Chris pours her a bowl of fruit loops. She starts pulling all the yellow Fruit Loops out to feed to her stuffed puppy, Butter, because "Butter is yellow and so he needs to eat the yellow Fruit Loops."

Now let's skip to lunch. Kate asked for a peanut butter and jam sandwich with turkey on the side. She ended up putting the turkey on top and eating it all together. At least it was a nutritious meal. . . and on and on the day goes.

This is a picture that was taken when I was actually trying to take a picture of Kylie and Kate couldn't stand not being the center of attention. 'nough said.

And Kylie is already on a schedule - the schedule of "I'll sleep whenever you want me to as long as I'm attached to my mom in some way." So the Baby Bjorne is coming in handy, and it's always a successful meal when I can finish eating without spilling anything down her neck!

And that's my crew!

"Chang chang, changitty chang shoobop

We'll always be together, wha oooh, yeah!"

(And yes, I do hope you have this song in your head for the rest of the day! ;)>)