Halloween, a queen, a princess, and a table.

A table!?

More on that later.

First, let's do the Halloween stuff. It's our first Halloween in the US that really counts for Marion and boy, was it fun.

I started off the evening by making them pose for pictures.

Everytime I take pictures of them in front of our house I'm struck with the realization that I hope to be taking pictures of them before first days of school, graduations, and proms in this very spot. Kind of weird after several years of a transient existence overseas.

Marion was the queen of hearts and loved yelling, "Off with their heads!" at random times during the day.

Bettina was a princess. Somehow that morphed into a "pirate princess" according to Marion.

Our first stop was our next door neighbor's, home to a young lady named Hannah who Marion is in love with.

Our next stop was to Marion's friends house a few streets over. They said hello and then started running around. Marion had to tell him to slow down because she was wearing heels.


After that stop, we finished off at my parents neighborhood. Marion was thrilled with her candy and asks me non-stop if she can have some. Brian and I are working on depleting her stash; we love Halloween!

Oh, yes, the table part of my post title. Have you heard of the Knock-Off Wood blog yet? I found it this summer and my list of things I wanted to tackle grew and grew. Brian was a little skeptical but I assured him that we could definitely do this! And so, we decided to tackle our first project, the farmhouse table with stretcher,last weekend.

We started collecting everything we thought we'd need. Tools from my dad, tools we had stored away, glue, wood, and screws from Home Depot. But you know how that goes... with every project, no matter how many lists you have, you never get everything.

Of course, we thought we did. But then the saw needed a new blade, we didn't have the right sized square, we needed clamps... I think we've made at least 7 trips to the big orange store in the past week.

Not that I'm complaining. Every first go at a project has some hiccups. And these hiccups were worth is because lookit! We almost have a table!


We are so close I can taste it. But we are going to take the night off and see how the elections turned out. Don't worry though- you'll get a whole post when we finish this table. And more posts when we try to tackle Ana's other projects. I am obsessed with her blog!

So, how's that for an excuse for ignoring the blog? Definitely a new one for me :)

Hope you all enjoyed your Halloween! Happy election/candy eating/resting night!

Just when you think the transition is going well...

Today at school Marion's class had a visitor. They were talking to the woman and she asked them where they lived. Marion's answer? "Switzerland."

Last week we were in Hilton Head, SC for a family wedding. Brian put Marion to bed one night when Marion started crying, saying how much she missed her friends. Then she listed every single one of our friends, adults and children, and asked when we were going back.

*sigh*

It breaks our hearts to see her react to the move like this. I'd wish for her to settle in and stop saying things like this but then that would be like wishing her to forget. We definitely don't want that.

I guess we will have to schedule a visit soon! Yea, I like that solution. :)

My two monkeys

Brian's been away for work but that doesn't mean life is boring here.

Marion's discovered the joy of playing with Betti in her crib. Yea, I don't get it either but it keeps them happy for a solid amount of time.


Unfortunately, I waited to long to grab my camera to capture this moment. Marion was getting antsy.


Can you hear her frustration in these pictures?


"Mooooooooooooooom, I WANT to GET OUT of HERE!"



Yep, she's full of drama and energy and she doesn't stop at any point in the day. That's probably why she crashes so hard at night.

She doesn't look like she is going to move at all, so snuggly in her bed with her headlamp. But this girl doesn't stop for sleep. I've seen her sit up and then put her head on her knees and sleep in that position for awhile. And then she'll decide to sneak up on Brian and I in the middle of the night and sleep (kick, snuggle, elbow) in our bed.

What am I going to do with these two?!

Marion turned 4!

And I didn't even blog about it.

*hanging my head in shame*

So here is her post.

Our original plan was to barbeque at a local park. But it ended up raining and didn't stop for weeks. So last minute we were able to rent a party house on the lake in our town. It is a fantastic place- has a kitchen, a yard, and plenty of space for Marion and all of her friends.

Brian managed to get a pinata for Marion's birthday and it was a huge hit. And when I say huge, I mean literally, this thing was huge.

Everyone got a turn beating the crap out of this dog. Some were more enthusiastic than others.

But that dog was well built and was not budging. So some of the dad's helped it along. The placement of the hole was rather unfortunate...

but it didn't stop the candy grabbing madness.

I bought candy for the size of the pinata and not for amount of kids so everyone ended up with a very large bag of candy. Sorry parents!

Afterwards, the beating on the dog didn't stop.

Poor thing. The dogs pieces quickly became costume pieces.


Ahh well, money well spent, right? A pinata and dress up wear!

Then it was cupcake time. As you can see, Marion was waiting very patiently to blow out her candles.

Finally! Look at that huge grin on her face!


And then she dug right in.


Amazingly enough, my 13 month old finished her cupcake before my 4 year old.

This girl loves to eat.

Before the celebration was over, we attempted to get a family picture. All I wanted was four people looking at the camera at the same time.







Maybe we should have attempted this before the sugar high set in.

Now, my four year old. Four sucks. Two was manageable- distraction worked really well for Marion and she never had huge tantrums. Three was a little harder but bribery worked wonders. Four. Wow. Well, Marion has always been confident, independant, and social. She is an outgoing person and knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say so. But it was manageable until a couple of days after her fourth birthday. Then a switch went off and from that point on, it's been difficult. Imagine Brian or I asking her to do something and one of two things happening:

1- She will ignore you.
2- She will tell you no, I don't want to.

It makes me want to tear my hair out.

However, aside from her asserting her independance, she continues to be super sweet. She enjoys talking to people, says hi to everyone, and is kind to others (she told me she liked my jacket the other day). Half the time I wonder where she comes up with the things she says; the other half I wish she would just settle down for a second!

Sooner or later, we will figure out a way to handle her asserting her independance. Or we won't and she will walk all over us for the rest of her life. I hope it is the former :)

So here's to you, my four year old with a mind of her own! We love you!

And then you wonder, when did I learn that?

Marion had an unfortunate incident in the bathroom the other day.

She told me about it after: "Mommy, the crumby water splashed in my face and made me sick!" *cough*

Translation: As Marion was going number two, she happened to look down and was splashed in the face as her poop fell into the water.

Now, before she goes to the bathroom, she announces to us that she will never, ever look down again so that the poop water doesn't splash her in the face.

Life lessons people, we all learn them at some point. And sometimes, you learn them after getting poop water splashed in your face.

Poop water or no, it's fun to watch Marion learn her life lessons.

Marion's world

Last night I bought some socks, brought them home, and asked Marion to put the pile on my bed.

She said she was counting them out.

Right now Marion's enjoying her lounge chair in the nice weather while Betti naps.

Strawberries and bubbles add that special touch. Unfortunately she has a special habit of shaking the bubbles bottle and spilling it everywhere.

That doesn't stop her from making it work.

Such a cutie, I wish she would look at me when she smiled once in awhile.

What is that about?

Gotta run, she's created a 'beach' outside and wants me to join her on the lounge chairs. She'll be the perfect spa partner one day!

She's a tough one

Marion and Betti's rough housing resulted in blood today.

I guess the good thing that came out of this is that I now know when Marion really knows she has done something wrong. In the time it took me to get to Betti, Marion had booked it into her room and into her tent. She wanted no part of what was to come.

Hopefully that means Marion will not lay on top of Betti and hit her face into the floor again anytime soon.

And my little toughie... she stopped crying and was giggling again as soon as I picked her up. Rugby may be in her future.

11 months.

So, in one month I'll have a one year old. How did that happen?

Anyway, Betti was eleven months old yesterday. She's walking and moving all over the place. She's growing way too fast for my liking; she weighs 10 kilos already! I am quickly running out of clothes for her. And Grammie, no, that does not mean you should go out shopping and send her clothes.

Other than the extremely mobile 11 month old, we have had one crazy week!

We managed to get out of the house on Monday but have been housebound ever since due to a nasty virus Betti picked up at some point. She's been a mess.

A cute mess.

And of course she gets this whopper of a cold when Brian is out of town for work. Isn't that always the case?!

Marion's been handling being stuck home a variety of ways.

Dancing, Drawing

on the wall.

And learning to write her name!

Thank goodness Brian came home last night.

Ice skating on the mountain

Or, Marion's first ski lesson.

For some reason she calls it ice skating. We don't know why. Anyway, she wanted to try it out and we figured, 'Why not?'

So off Marion and Brian went during our trip to Chateau d'Oex. Except her lesson was in Gstaad. Fancy schmancy.



She did really well! The instructor said she was coordinated, balanced, and athletic for being on skis for the first time.

Maybe all she needed was some skis for her to be graceful? God knows she isn't balanced or coordinated on her own two feet!

10 months.

Ten months old.

Well, my littlest monkey is getting in to everything these days. She is a fan of anything electrical so tends to go for laptops, the TV, DVDs, the DVD player, etc. Just when I think everything is out of the way, she shows me that I don't have a clue about babyproofing and finds something to eat/chew/destroy.

Betti is so close to walking it scares me. Marion was starting to crawl at this age. Betti is crawling, standing, cruising, and walking when holding onto hands or anything that can be used as a walker. She is exhausting!

As she gets older, her personality shines through even more. She is a happy baby but is definitely more shy and apprehensive than her older sister. She also has some separation anxiety. I wonder if it is because I was working when Marion was a baby and now I'm not? Who knows.

Here's a great example of the difference between my two girls.

Now Marion would have loved this as a baby. She would have laughed and laughed. Betti? Well, not so much as you can see!

They continue to enjoy each other. And I continue to try to teach Marion the word 'gentle'. It's not an easy thing for her. She is definitely her father's child.

This is what I deal with about a million times a day.

Sometimes it ends with a giggle. Other times it ends with a scream.

Today Betti wasn't so sure about things.

Anyway, just two short months before Betti's first birthday. Where has this year gone? She has grow up entirely too fast. Insane. Cliche, but insane.