Were the doctors wrong?

And instead of two girls, did I birth two boys?   Despite the dress, pearls and heels from my previous post....rest assured that at times I feel like I'm living in a frat house with these two.   This is two minutes of my 'girls' throwing themselves on the ground while playing with a box.  A box they found at Lowe's.  Not because we purchased something that was inside of it....oh no...they saw an empty box in the aisle and then carted it around the store the rest of our trip, asked the checkout lady if they could take it home, and here it lives...in our family room.
And the two minute video below. This is not for everyone...as in not much is happening, there is no dramatic finale or funny punchline - this is straight up grandparent material. Although I will say that at the 1:42 mark though there is evidence of some female DNA....



And random side note, but props to Lowe's for the fun, new rolling baskets....the girls were in heaven.

Mobama for the win!

Now I know there are some very (very) disappointed members of the extended Britt/Stiff clan this morning.....however, in this house, we went to bed a happy family.   The girls and I talked about voting and elections all day yesterday....Ryan seemed keen on going with me to vote ('you have to be very quiet mom'....thank you school) - she was a little bummed to learn we had early voted and thus our election day excitement would stem from MSNBC.   But the lady wanted to dress up for the occasion nonetheless.  She raided my closet and joined me in watching the returns:
I assure you I did not force my opinions on her but each time I asked her who should thought would win....Romney or Obama, she easily answered "Mobama".   

Congrats to Barack Mobama!  

Happy Friday!

While the girls were playing outside, enjoying the crisp fall air and one last mow of the yard.....exhibited here:
and here:
I noticed a certain toddler (whom is still refusing to willingly use the facilities for numero dos), making this array of facial expressions:
Any guesses as to what the little lady was up to (before she was promptly rushed inside to the bathroom)?   

On that note.......Happy Friday!  Enjoy the weekend!

Elephant!!!!!!!

So Halloween, my most dreaded of holidays, was adorable, fun, precious, hilarious and Tootsie Roll filled.   The weather was the perfect degree of chilly and fall-like.  The girls were all smiles and good attitudes. The neighbors were out and the fire pits were sending off some much needed heat.  We adore our neighborhood, but nights like last night make us really adore our neighborhood.   And the single best part of the girls being 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 is that we started Trick or Treating around 6:30 and they were done, inside watching Shrek Halloween, eating a few treats and playing with their friends by 7:15.  The adults got to sit back and enjoy the fire pit, have a few drinks (myself not included) and not worry about  tiny toddlers running full speed into an open flame.
A quick pic before they got started.....my little elephant and Tinkerbell, accompanied by Buzz Lightyear and Woody.
Reese started the evening off in her usual Reesey form....crazy. She came out of the house yelling "ELEPHANT" in the loudest, huskiest voice you could imagine. Non-stop. For about 10 minutes. It's like she was announcing her Halloween-self to the entire neighborhood, just in case the completely obvious costume didn't give it away. Here she is mid-'elephant':
The girls kept asking when Halloween started....so once it got dark out, they were anxious and ready to go.
Ryan's jokes were hilarious. As in hilariously bad. She does knock-knock jokes. I have tried to teach her legitimate ones but she prefers to freestyle.
Her favorite is:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Cheese.
Cheese who?
Cheese on the table.
Seriously.  Our lovely neighbors feigned a laugh and proceeded with the candy anyway.  Although she did win props with this one:
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Lady.
Lady who?
Lady who would like some candy please.
Reese was a little more direct in her approach. She tried to barrel through the line (the hell with waiting her turn) and would attempt to stick her hand directly in the bowl of candy before even so much as a hello. We had quite a few 'manners' discussions along the route.
Time to sit and take count of our loot.
Hope you all had a fun Halloween.  And yes, I have already hit up the sales at Target this morning.  Although I'm happy to report there wasn't much we had to have so I walked away spending $3 on a witches hat and $1 on a black tablecloth.

Workin' it....

As part of Grant and Reese's daddy/daughter Sunday, a trip to Grant's office was included.  He recently moved into some kick-arse new office space so the girls love, love, love their trips downtown with him. As always on Sundays....no judgements on hair or outfit please. Or if you want to judge, please direct said judgements at Grant and Reese (mainly Reese).  
The best part of this is that Grant was telling me last night that the office manager asked him yesterday if he had by chance been in over the weekend. A file key was missing, a phone was off the hook and some papers had been shuffled around on a nearby desk. All happening at about the height of a certain pint-sized toddler. The woman laughed because she herself has been in with her grand kids before and was keen to the shenanigans of the under 5 set.  And I'm sure the next person to turn on the TV down there will appreciate it being set to Disney Jr.

Halloween festivities

We hosted our 2nd annual 'Halloween Extravaganza' this past weekend.....basically just an excuse to throw a mid-morning party.   Our Cleveland buddies were in town so the girls were excited to spend some time with Aunt Barbara and Christopher (although Reese is still emotionally scarred from the whole summer biting-of-her-stomach incident).
I didn't take many pics.....my apologies.
The cousins all came dressed in costume.....1st prize for originality goes to Christopher - aka - the old man from Up....complete with walker & balloons.   Nolan scared the bejesus out of me with his hard-core facial expressions so heavens only knows what was going through little Christopher's mind.
Ryan was Tinkerbell and Reese was the ever-recycled elephant costume that both Ryan and Jack have worn (Ryan the last two years). We can only keep Reese in a costumed state for a max of about 10 minutes - the below picture was the last to be had as the derobing had begun.  Christopher (and me) still scared sh*tless by Nolan.
The kids got to pick out a pumpkin....
And then because it was a bit chilly out at 10am, the parents (fine...me) were cozy inside watching football pregame and drinking hot coffee (aka - lazy), we made all the carving tools disappear and busted out the stickers and markers for a fun, indoor, decorating fest.
Boo!

And yesterday, our neighborhood had a little Halloween party for all the kids...It was during Reese's nap time, so she missed out but Ryan and her buddy Amelia got to go and have some fun. The only pic I captured was during the big leaf pile game. That would be Ryan in the blue coat with yellow headband.

29 weeks

I must say, this pregnancy is flying by so far.  Only 11 weeks to go, if that.  The girls are still convinced they are having a brother.   We shall see.  The little guy/gal did me a HUGE favor and relocated from sitting on my 'slightly herniated disc' (from a few years ago) thus relieving me of a majority of my back pain.   Heartburn is still a nightly deal but nothing two Tums can't cure.  My last appointment was at the 27 week mark, so as of two weeks ago I was up about 16 pounds....I'm sure that has increased a pound or two since.  Heartbeat last time was slightly higher - in the 150's and we have lots o'movement.    The little nugget also passed his/her first test......the glucose test.  Which I have just narrowly passed the last two times so I was thrilled and celebrated with some sugar, of course.   No crazy cravings - although if I could sit down and eat bag after bag of Tootsie Rolls, I would.  That and drink fountain soda.  Two terrible habits of which I try not to imbibe very often.   Halloween is going to be the real test.  I may have already broken into our Halloween candy for a piece or two.  To counter that, luckily, I've been craving sauteed vegetables and spinach salads.   All in all, pretty healthy this time around.  
Once again, a bump pic with my trusty helpers.....