Will work for cupcakes.

We went to a birthday party today. It was for a 2 year old, so Dani was among her kind. They all took turns crying. Well, Dani didn't really cry, she was busy making kids cry by trying to play with them. Seriously--there was one kid who did cry alot...probably because she kept walking up to Dani with toys, and Dani kept helping herself to them.

The birthday girl's mom had cupcakes for all the little kids. I'm amazed to say that my little kiddo (who was channeling Jackie O with her faux fur neckline and cuffs) ate rather daintily while sitting in a big girl chair.
Really, she did. I knew that the hostess was planning the kiddie cupcake fest, and I brought a change of clothes because I figured Dani would be caked in frosting. Turns out, she prefers her cake with a fork.
Once she tired of the cupcake, she played with various toys, and then walked up to adults and stuck her finger into the frosting on their cake. It was well received. I had Tori on my lap, so could only offer the lamest of Dora references to Dani, "Dani, no swiping." I failed.

Lesson two for today was that kids whose parents buy them new toys have WAY better toys. Little Dani is perfectly happy in our second-hand toyland, but the birthday girl had a Mickey Mouse kitchen and Dora backpack and so many awesome toys that Dani never knew existed. I told her that her birthday was coming up and she would have a party soon, and she sang "Happy Birthday to Dani" all the way home.

In perhaps the best example of the fact that all our stuff is used or hand-me-downs, I had this sweet dress for Dani to wear. No black leggings or tights to go with it, so she wore grey leggings, grey socks and blue crocs, because that's what we had. Seriously every other kid there had shoes that matched their outfits and looked so cute. My kid just needed a sharpie-drawn cardboard sign saying "will work for cupcakes". I was really worried she's start opening presents or gift bags, because at home it's a free-for-all, but she just played very nicely near them, and when I told her not to touch, she didn't.

Tori, on the other hand, was adored by all. She was the only baby at the party. She happily sat on laps and had many a stranger pinch and stroke her chubby cheeks. My chubby mcdubbs was a big hit with the elders today.

It was great to see Dani and Tori interact with a decent crowd, because with the holidays and Dani's birthday coming up, this is a good indicator of what to expect.

Arrrgh, Pirates are we!

After dinner tonight, Captain Dani sword, the fierce pirate, wanted to play. So we broke out the hats and foam swords!

Even Pirate Tori got into the game!

Here's our pirate video.

And, post-pirate, Dani channeling Dora the Explorer.

This age is just soooo fun!

It's a bird! It's a plane!

It's Super Dani!
In this pose, she's "flexing" to show off her muscles. Guess who taught her that move?

North Carolina, a Dani AND Tori guest post!

Hi everybody, Dani here. And, hey, it's me, Tori, I'm here too! We want to tell you about our trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house, so we decided to do it together. Well, mommy kind of made us do it together because it was close to bedtime and she said we had to share. Dani doesn't seem like she's sharing too well. Pipe down Tori, or you won't type another letter.

So, we left for North Carolina on Wednesday. We all packed into daddy's car and drove and drove and drove. Tori went to sleep for a while, but I didn't. I stayed up the whole way to North Carolina, because I'm a big girl! Mommy was so surprised that I could stay up that long, because we drove for about 14 hours and in the middle of the night, but, hey, I'm a night owl when I want to be. I'm already working on my college sorority skills--I'm going to be an AOII just like my mommy.

Anyway, I had so much fun. I love my grandma and grandpa so much! Grandpa read me books.
And grandma and grandpa took us to this neat town called Shelby, which has a train and a merry-go-round that we got to ride on.

We were the only ones on the train, and we got to ride 'round and 'round the park.

Grandma called the merry-go-round a carousel. It had so many neat horses on it. Daddy and Tori rode in a sleigh (she is a baby, after all), and mommy walked all around and took pictures.

Grandma and I played with bubbles. We had bubble kazoos, and pipes and wands, and just had so much fun. And it was so nice and warm there. Before we left, there was snow at home, but in North Carolina, I got to wear short sleeves! Grandpa let me wear his cowboy boots!
We did so much fun stuff that it's hard to tell you. Did you know that Grandma and Grandpa are my mommy's mommy and daddy? They bought me some neat toys that are just like toys my mommy had when she was a toddler like me....I don't know why they didn't just save my mommy's stuff for me, but even if they didn't, I'm glad they remember my mommy's old toys. There is a neat shopping cart and groceries and lots of other stuff, too!

HEY DANI. YES, YOU DANI. ITS ALMOST MY BEDTIME AND YOU ARE TAKING TOO LONG. MY TURN. MY TURN. MY TURN OR I WILL TELL DADDY.

Okay Tori, it's almost your turn. (Peeps, don't worry, I'll post more after the baby stops babbling). Tori--just keep crawling around after the cat, and once you catch him, it's your turn to type.

DANI, NO FAIR. I'M TELLING DADDY.

Here you go, Tori, but just so you know, everyone probably stopped reading already because they like me best.

WHATEVER, Dani.

I'm going to tell everyone about my FIRST road trip! It kind of sucks having to ride backwards in a carseat for so long. On the way down, we left at 1pm and got to Grandpa's at 3:30am. I tried to sleep as much as I could but it was SO boring and carseats aren't really very comfy. But we made it--I guess some bad stuff slowed us down on the way, because the way home took much less time.

Anyway, when we got to Grandma and Grandpas, Grandpa met us and took us to our very own apartment. Mommy said that was so nice of Grandpa to get our own space for us--sometimes Dani's naptimes are kinda unpredictable, I guess. And Grandma and Grandpa are pretty old, so they probably needed to go to sleep early or something like that.

Grandpa also gave me lots of kisses.

I love Grandpa kisses.

Sometimes I think it is more fun to be the little sister. No one really is paying attention to what you are doing because your bigger sister is just so much more fun, so you can play with extra fun stuff. Here, I snagged Dani's shoe AND a magifying glass. It took a while for anyone to notice. Cool!

We did so much fun stuff. We went to a motorcycle place and did something for charity. If you bought something at this Harley dealership you could turkey bowl and maybe win a turkey. Mommy, Daddy and Grandpa all had a two chances to roll a big frozen turkey down a lane to knock over pins. Nobody won. Mommy did really bad--she didn't even knock over a pin! But the fun part was that after that, we went out to lunch. It was my first time in a restaurant! I sat in my very own high chair too! I hope I showed mommy and daddy that they could take me out more often!

Anyway, before I sat in the high chair, I sat with Grandpa. He let me chew the menu.

I had so much fun at lunch, that I got tired. I fell asleep on Grandpa's shoulder. He's super comfy. I totally recommend him if you need a nap.

TORI, no one cares what you have to say, and it's bedtime. You have to go to bed NOW. I'm the big sister so you have to do what I say. NOW.

Okay, Dani. Tell everyone night night for me, okay?

Whatever Tori, just go away.

Geesh, Tori's finally gone. Isn't it so annoying when she thinks she can post stuff? Like it's her blog or something. Well, anyone, just humor her, okay? Well, it is getting pretty late and I need to get ready for bed too. It's time for brushy brush, washy wash, nighty night. Bye bye!

Over I-81 and I-77 to Grandmother's House We Go!

We left, actually early, on Wednesday....thinking we'd be in Hickory, NC, shortly after midnight....
.............we were so wrong!

Road construction, traffic, and an event serious enough to close the interstate had us arrive at about 3:30am. My dad secured us our own apartment in the complex he works for, so he met us at the entrance to take us to our place.

Tori slept like a champ. Dani literally slept about 90 minutes the entire trip. She never slept in the carseat as a baby, and apparently won't as a toddler. Good thing is that, unlike when she was a baby and she just wailed (on the Great Chicago Road Trip of 2009) she just sat in her carseta singing songs and talking to us for twelve hours. I was amazed she didn't tire.

We pulled into the parking lot and Dani saw "GrandPA". Grandpa told her Grandma was sleeping (it was 3:15am). So everyone slept.

But, as soon as the kiddies were awake, it was Grandma-Grandpa fun time! Here's Grandma helping Tori crawl forward. And kisses from Grandpa.
Grandpa also gave horsey rides! And Grandma did double-duty with Dani and Tori!
Wow, just like Dani, Tori seems a little camera-focused......

Fun, fun. Kiddie road trip tomorrow to a town with a kiddie train and carousel!

One for you, one for me.

Tori is so close to crawling forward, so close!

Last night, I asked Dani if she wanted to feed Tori, and of course she loved the concept. Like most toddlers, the concept worked for about 22 seconds. Here she is feeding Tori:

Seconds later, it was Dani's turn to take the bottle and pretend to feed herself. (She won't really drink from Tori's bottle, and exclaims, "Baby milk, yuk!") As you can see, at this point, I am helping Tori to stay on the chair, as Dani has lost all interest in holding her.
Dani then started to slide off the chair with Tori still on her lap. Needless to say, Dani won't be babysitting anytime soon.

I'll fix her little red wagon, a Tori guest post.

Hello again, it's me, Tori. You remember me, right? I'm the little sister. Well, just so you know, I'm not so little anymore. In fact, I'm pretty big. I'm way bigger than Dani was when she was 6 months old, and I'm awfully strong. I'm good with my hands too, and I like to pull mommy and Dani's hair, just because.

Anyway, can one of you guys talk to Dani for me? I can't talk yet, but I figure she needs a warning. She needs to be warned that pretty soon, I'm going to be big enough to not get stuff taken from me. Actually, daddy thinks that I'm going to be bigger and taller than Dani, so pretty soon I'll be the one taking toys from HER!

Anyway, here's how it went down. Daddy got out a Chicago Bears winter hat, and put it on my head. I'm crawling on the floor, looking cute (natch).
Then, faster than you can say "Jay Cutler sucks", somebody snatches the hat off my head. Good thing daddy caught it on camera, I'm thinking of filing robbery charges or something.

Then, to add insult to injury, Dani puts my hat on! Oh yeah. I'm making a list, and rest assured, I'll be checking it twice once I can fend for myself, and it's going to be all about getting my stuff back. Hey big sis, I hold grudges and my memory is loooooooong!

That's right, Dani. Look cute and smiley for now, but when I can walk, I'm coming for you, and my stuff. Count on it.

I'll fix your little red wagon big sis.

Put your hands in the air!

Hip hop hurray, ho, hey, ho!

Fun day with the kiddos! We carved pumpkins and played all day! Dani is still loving her bunny ears...she likes to be "bunny Pete" from a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode. So cute!
As Tori gets bigger and more interactive, Dani and she are having more fun together. Here, they are snuggling on the couch.
Tori is trying hard to crawl. She can crawl backward, but not forward yet. But, she can do military pushups--no lie! As you can see, she pushes up on her tippy toes and her hands...and she does up and downs. Not bad for my little chubby mcdubbs. When Dani sees Tori on the floor, she tries to climb on Tori and says Giddybup! It's pretty cute, but means that now we can no longer leave Dani in the room with Tori on the floor alone, lest Tori get smooshed by her loving sister.
Yes, bad mommy had to take a picture as it was happening---I figured Dani was on Tori's calves, so it's not like Dani could do any harm, so I took a picture!

Carved some pumpkins this afternoon, roasted some seeds. Looking forward to Dani's first real Halloween!

6 month Tori report, a Dani guest post.

Hi everybody, Dani here. Mommy said that I could post tonight and give you the latest Tori news. She had her six month baby doctor visit today, and wow, she's big. She's 26.5 inches long and weighs 17 pounds and 5 ounces. What a hoss! When I was 6 months old I was 26.5 inches long too, but I only weighed 15 pounds and 12 ounces! (somebody's got to lay off the formula, if you ask me.)

Don't tell mommy and daddy, but I like playing with her. I pretend I'm not so interested, but I really do like spending time with her. Tonight during dinner, mommy let Tori sit on my lap.
Okay, well enough about Tori for now. There will be a video at the end of this post so you can see more Tori. For now, it's all about me! Today, I spent some time at Ruth's because Daddy had to take Tori to the doctor. She made my hair look really neat with lots of hair ties. When I got home, I took off my shirt and pants and put on daddy's socks. I think it's a really good look for me.
I also have this super awesome wagon that my local grandma Deb got for me. It has a seat for Tori, but Tori's too little for it now, so it's all mine! I like to go for rides in it--it even has cupholders! But remember, if you're going to drive the wagon, stick to juice. Don't drink and wagon.

Did you know that my mommy has tap shoes? She calls them heels, but I think they are tap shoes. When I put them on, each time I take a step it goes tap really loud. It's so much fun. It's kind of hard to walk in them because the heels are high and make me stand on my toes, but I love the sound they make. When I get bigger, I'm going to wear tap shoes too! And, in this picture, I put my Dora sunglasses on myself:
Ok, now some video for you. I feel like I have to tell you that my mommy's a lawyer, and the beginning was filmed without my knowledge. I might have to talk to her about being filmed playing with Tori without my consent. Anyway, here it is.

Okay, okay, I admit it, I like playing with my little sister. Busted. Anyway, mommy says I have to go to bed now, night night!

Halloween parade.

Still no teeth, but super cute!Our city has a huge Halloween parade every year. The parade, like most. runs along our street--we live in the old historic part of town, and it works well for those types of things.

I've been doing a poor job of updates. but will do better, I promise!

Tori almost crawls.

Tori, trying to crawl, humping the couch instead.

Too funny!

Co-conspirators.

They're already plotting the ways they will torment me as teenagers, I'm sure of it.

And somebody named Tori started crawling...backwards!

When did my little baby Dani turn into a kid? She's currently obsessed with the moon. We go outside on the porch every evening and sing "hey diddle diddle" repeatedly. Anytime I mention something outside, she volunteers "the moon" as an answer. When she wakes up in the morning, she says, "look at the moon". It's too cute.

Pumpkin patch.

We went to get pumpkins at a friend's farm this weekend. Dani had a blast.

She would have taken them all home if we'd have let her.

She was loving her sunglasses, and for the first time, didn't try to constantly remove them. After we got home with 6 big pumpkins, a friend of mine brought over 6 more for us! So we have a ton of pumpkins...stay tuned for jack o'lantern pictures!

Six years.

Yesterday was our six year anniversary. It's odd, because it feels like it's been so much longer. I met Big Man when I was freshman in college. We dated for a bit, and he was one of my best friends afterwards. He's still my best friend today, and so much more.

Super dad, super husband...lucky me.

We are doing our Halloween prep. Picked up pumpkins yesterday, and are working on photos in the costumes. Dani's still a bit obsessed with dressing like a pirate.

Tori is teething, and teething and, well teething. But she's just too good natured to cry about it. She just drools instead.
Caught some video of the kids being silly yesterday.

Shortly thereafter, the kids went to bed, the sitter came over and Big Man and I went out to dinner.

Things I like, a Dani guest post.

Hi everybody, Dani here. Mommy said I could tell you about things I like tonight. I like my little sister Tori. She's starting to be pretty fun, and she laughs at everything I do.

I like pumpkins! We have a whole bunch and they light up. Mommy says that soon we can get real ones. It's for halloween, and I get to dress up too! Tori is going to wear my old bumblebee costume (but she probably won't look as cute as I did last year). I have an Elmo costume that I'm probably going to wear. For now, I like to dress up as a pirate. Mommy got me a pirate hat and sword. I keep telling her "eye patch" but she won't let me have one. Did you know that I know all my colors, and I can tell mommy that the pumpkin is orange. I'm really good at talking.

I like to wear mommy's glasses. I put them on and it makes the whole room look funny.

I like to be silly. It makes Tori laugh. Tonight during dinner, mommy was holding Tori and she was so much fun. Mommy made a video of it.

Okay, well I just wanted to give you all an update (especially you, GrandPA!). I'm going to go play with Tori now, bye bye!

Killin' me.

Tori has decided that she'll sleep for 11 hours or so at night. They're just the wrong 11 hours. She is ready to go to sleep by 7pm. She will wake up by about 5:15am, on average. Now, I know I can't really complain too much because my kid sleeps NONSTOP for 11 hours...but I will anyway. Dani was always a great sleeper too (still is) but when she was little, I would "top her off" and change her diaper around 10pm, give her a bottle and put her back to sleep. This move re-set the clock, essentially, so that she would sleep through the night and later into morning. And, the morning wake up was stretched out with the pacifier--my friend Gail mentioned that when her kids would first wake up at the crack of dawn, she'd give them their pacifier, and they'd often go back to sleep or just chill...but it helped lengthen the time they went between bottles and helped them to be better sleepers. That worked for Dani, as she looooved the pacifier, until she found her thumb. And she still looooooves her thumb--it actually has a callus on her suckin' thumb--I'm guessing from sleeping as she doesn't do it much during the day.

Tori's never used a pacifier--she spits them out--and she doesn't suck her thumb. She kind of chews on her hand, but that's because she's teething. So, she's going to wake up when she's going to wake up. And she lets us know she's up. First with little noises and then, if I wait long enough, with all out crying. (It doesn't usually get to that, but at 5am, I don't exactly rush out of bed, I usually say a little prayer that she will fall back to sleep--sometimes it buys me another 20 minutes or so.)

We're all programmed differently. Some are earlybirds, some night owls. I can handle lots of things. I am really good and productive in the mornings--as long as it's after about 6am or 6:30am. No matter how early I go to sleep, 5am always kicks my ass.

There are literally mornings where I hear Tori, and I promised Big Man that I would get up with her, and I lay in bed justifying waking him up to do it, and/or being pissed that he gets to sleep. (yes, resenting my saint of a husband who raises our girls all day and fights crime all night on about 4.5 hours of sleep). I'm just not at my best at 5am.

The only thing that makes it bearable is this little cutie. She is literally smiling and giggly the second I pick her up, and so, tired and grumpy makes way for tired and happy for my little snuggle pup.


And, Big Man took this cute one of Dani, who will sit still for approximately .003 minutes for me to do her hair, sat still so "Wuth" could give her cute little ponytails!


Here's a video of Tori, just being Tori. As Dani likes to say "spit bubbuws".

Expect more posts this week--Big Man heads back to work tonight. :>(

Also, Grandma Deb bought the girls a Radio Flyer wagon with canopy. Tori's a little small for it, but Dani and I will test it out tomorrow!