Easter & Raindrops

I know it was over a week ago, but I didn't want to forget the nice Easter we had!  And since I don't blog often enough, I have to couple posts together :)

Amidst all the rain, we enjoyed quality time with Bill's parents who flew in to see us.  As I mentioned there was a lot of rain, and accompanying  the countless raindrops was a lot of chocolate.  Man, we ate a lot of chocolate.  Overall, it was a nicely paced weekend - we really enjoyed it all.

Why can't we get 1 picture where everyone is looking in the same direction??

And speaking of raindrops, Claire is currently obsessed with the song "if all the raindrops." And along with the song obsession, she likes to carry this little umbrella around, and when she is watching the raindrops video (it's a terribly made silly songs video) she puts the umbrella over her head.  Isn't it a funny coincidence that she loves this song while we are enjoying so. much. rain?

Looking at the rain filled river from Eden Park

She calls her umbrella "my wain-dops"

The Junklesons & Our Little Latina

You may remember me blogging about Sophie's imaginary brother, Andy.  Well meet the next door neighbors, the Junklesons.  I can't help but chuckle at this.  Sophie made it up all by herself and she named them the Junklesons!  I hope that's how you spell it :)  Jasmine Junkleson is her friend, she's 9.  Her brother, Aladdin is 2.  He's just a baby she says, a baby who can't watch Veggie Tales or The Incredibles yet, only Baby Einstein.  Wonder where she got the names...?

Anyway, I love her imagination.  We are constantly playing something or being some characters from a show or story.  I'm never just Mommy during the day, but rather a mouse, a princess, an evil step mother or an evil sea witch.  What a fun age.  I love the experiences with a first child...you really don't know what stage is coming next but it's such a joy to go through it with them for the first time.

Of course there is no less joy or surprise with the second child, either.  Claire is becoming more and more of a little person.  She is in a very "me, my, mine" stage.   A little on the selfish side at the moment...What cracks me up is her line-up of sentences.  The 3 basic sentences she has are: "I need...", "I want..." and "I like..." whatever the item is.  The best part is when she doesn't actually like something instead of saying I don't like, she still says "I like" while shaking her head no.  

She has a couple of words that she says backwards, and this is where the Latina part comes in.  She can't say Yes, and instead says "si."  It sounds like saying yes in Spanish.  She is constantly saying "si mama."  It's so a part of her vocabulary right now, we just laugh.

And I leave you with some pictures from our super sunny sunday!

We tried to have a picnic lunch in the backyard.

This picture just cracks me up.  Clearly, she is re-fueling during our visit to the playground which she calls  play-town. 

Enjoying the playground, and no the Junklesons weren't at the neighborhood playground this time.

Non stop fun

Visitors, Visitors, Visitors!

Since March 15th, we've had several sets of visitors - all that we thoroughly enjoyed being with!


We began with a visitor from Texas - the manager that Bill worked for while in TX was in town for a meeting so he graciously accepted our offer to have dinner with us.  The girls charmed him with their sweetness,  and it made him reminisce of the time when his kids were younger.  We were glad to have a little Texas reunion!


Later that same evening, we were anxiously waiting for Nana (Bill's mom) to arrive.  She got here right before the girls' bedtime and they were thrilled to see her!  We're thankful for Skype, but other than Skype we had not seen Nana in person since way back in August!  We had a lot of fun.  She brought clothes, games, St. Patty's "decor" and more.  We took our first zoo trip of the season.  We shopped a little, Sophie and Nana did puzzles, and we all played outside because the weather was amazing!  As usual, we had a great visit and are already waiting for Nana to come back!  

Sophie and Nana - don't they look pretty?

Here we are, all decked out in St. Patty's attire courtesy of the Christmas Tree Shops and Nana :)

Sophie modeling one of her new outfits

Claire and her "cheese" face - she looks more constipated than like she's smiling for  the camera though

And Claire getting use out of our new accessories

 In between visits we were able to visit a family here in Kentucky we had not seen since way before we moved to TX.  I met Yukie (from Japan) at a library story time when both of our girls were 1.  We realized that our husbands work together and have gotten together several times.  Well it had been quite a while since our last visit, and it just so happened that Bill and her husband were on the same business trip so it was a perfect opportunity for the rest of us to get together.  I introduced them to Jet's Pizza...only the best for my friends. :)  Yes, this is a plug for Jets.  We LOVE it.  But more than the pizza, we loved spending time with Yukie and her kids.  Her daughter and Sophie really enjoyed each other.  We look forward to more playdates with our sweet Japanese friends!

The next day, my family - mom, dad, and 2 grandmas came in to town.  Another great time.  The kids definitely entertained everyone, they really loved playing with Dziadek (pronounced ja - dek, Polish for Grandpa).  My grandmas especially were amazed at their energy level... :)  As usual, we did a little shopping and took time to celebrate my mom's birthday, a couple days early. After they left, Bill came back from Mexico - perfect timing!  

That is my mom playing dress up with the girls (you're probably thinking that she looks too young to be my mom, she gets that all the time, a problem I would like to have one day!)

Fast forward one week, and our last set of visitors.  Our friends, Josh and Jessica, and their sweet baby Caroline came in a for a visit.  It was our first time to meet Caroline.  She was perfect and sweet, and the girls adored her, at times a little too much :)  but Caroline was a good sport.  We got out to the Levee,  walked on the purple people bridge (though Sophie was not convinced that it was purple), had some Jet's for dinner (can you tell we like it?) watched basketball, and chatted about their jobs as Apple salesmen...hehe...we really had a great time!

Here are the girls with Caroline, Sophie had made a "bed" for her 

We're thankful for family and friends to spend time with!!  Who wants to come next??  

Busy Times

Last time I blogged we were sick.  And a month later, we're just recovering from being sick, again.  It has not been a pleasant winter for us in terms of health.  Spring can't come fast enough!!  But... I was so graciously reminded this morning what light and momentary troubles these are, and what more there is to live for!  Let me share the scripture that has encouraged and refreshed me this morning:


Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:1-6

Besides for being sick, we have been busy and will continue to be.  The girls and I took a trip to Michigan a couple of weeks ago.  It was great to spend time with family and see some old friends.  And a major highlight was reconnecting with my hair stylist from high school.  She did my hair all the time...snowcoming dances to prom to my wedding!  It was so great to see her, and I'm so glad she is still in the area.  I am convinced she is the ONLY person on this side of heaven who knows how to cut  my hair.  :)  Another major highlight was that my Babcia (grandma in Polish) made paczki while I was there.  You might want to see this post to understand the full significance there.  


As far as the girls go, we have signed Sophie up for pre-school.  I'm still feeling bitter sweet about that.  Excited for her, yet can't believe she's already there. She is really interested in the sounds of letters right now.  She is always sounding out letters and trying to figure out what letters are in what words.  She is NOT interested any longer in writing letters.  She gets frustrated and gives up quickly.  So I am trying not to push that too much.  


Claire is saying more and more, in her own way of course.  I'm sure the average person would have NO clue what she is saying most of the time, but we get her :)  She continues to woo us with her sweetness, yet at times exhibits quite the little temper.  


The funniest thing around here lately has been role playing.  Sophie loves to pretend play books or movies.  She also picks who gets to be who.  Here is a little list of what characters she has picked for Claire:
- When we play beauty and the beast, Claire has gotten to be beast
- When we've played fancy nancy, Claire got to be Robert
- The incredibles, Claire got to be Buddy.
- Blue's clues - well she actually got a good part that time - she got to be Joe and I got to be side table drawer :)


You get the picture, Claire is usually the bad guy or the boy!  Guess who gets to be the star???  


That is about it from here.  In march we are looking forward to lots of activities that should keep us quite busy, but they are all good things and Lord willing we will be able to stay focused on what is most important during all of the business. 

You know you're sick...

 Us logozzo girls are sick.  Have been sick.  Continue to be sick.  We are going on week 4 of sicknesses.  If it's not one of us, it's all of us!  Currently, it's all of us.  And it has been sneaky - this virus/infection/cold -whatever it is.  It brings you down for a couple of days, you think you feel better, then BAM!  It hits you again.  Boo, to all of it.  So here's my little list of "you know you've been sick for too long when"...

-  It's special movie time, again.  And again.

- You choose tea in the morning over your beloved cup of coffee.

- A chai tea latte was a NEED today.  No ifs or buts about it.

- There are medicine droppers and cups constantly in your sink.

- Your method for disciplining the kids goes no further than "a look."

- Your kids have a favorite room at the doctor's office.

- You walk out of the doctor's office disappointed that it's just a virus that has to work itself out because   you really wanted antibiotics for them.

- Your daughter (who hasn't napped regularly since last spring) has been faithfully taking naps, sometimes even twice a day.

- Laundry day is always on Monday.  On this Monday, I hope to get through one load.  I'll count that as success.

The upside of it all is extra snuggles, time at home, and a really cute/clever 3 year old who will say things like "I think a movie will really cheer up my heart."  And though we tell her happiness is NOT what we're after, I think it might be special movie time, again.  :)

Oh. Deer.

The buck stopped [slammed] here.  Nice, eh?  

As I was driving to the grocery store last night a deer ran into my car.  It was dark, and a little freaky.  It was so fast, and made quite the impact/sound as it happened... but thankfully I stayed on the road and just kept on to the store.  What's a girl to do?

I guess it was bound to happen living around these parts.  I'm just thankful it wasn't worse and that it was just me in the car.  

It's the second time in my life I've had an accident that left the passenger door un-open-able.  Hopefully the last :)  

It's Only Thursday??

It's been the shortest of weeks, it's been the longest of weeks.  Time seems to be draaaaaging, but at the same time I feel like it's been a really full week.
Let's see, we started the week out getting ready for Bill's birthday which was on Tuesday.  Running errands, looking for presents, baking bread, baking cheesecake - which seemed like the most amazing dessert at the time, with homemade whipped cream.  We had some kiddos over for a playdate, more cooking, celebrating Bill's birthday, eating the cheesecake, opening presents.  Throw in another playdate, and then not feeling quite right.  Got home, yep - felt kind of like someone had beat me up.  Also, was waiting for my mom to get into town as she had been planning on coming in for a few days.  Thank the Lord, that she came, because I was out of commission with a stomach bug/flu thing...not sure exactly what it was.  All I know is that same amazing cheesecake -- I don't want to touch it with a 10 foot pole.  Today I am recovering, not feeling awesome but feeling better.  It's snowing a lot, it feels really chilly, and time is just slowly crawling along.  Definitely thankful for family, blankets, and laughs even in the midst of less than desirable circumstances.