The Big Move (for the 2 littlest Wolfleys)

This week we moved Makenna and Sage into the same bedroom…and we’re still wondering what the heck we were thinking!  We wanted the girls to share a room so they could get used to sleeping together and because I think it strengthens a sisters bond to be together.  We also wanted to turn Sage’s old room into a playroom so we had a place to contain the toy chaos at our house!  However, since that “moving day”, we have yet to have a night without going in at least 5 times to put the girls back in their beds or tell them to stop playing and go to sleep.  They also wake up about an hour earlier than usual, because the second one of them opens their eyes; they are both up and playing.  Needless to say, Nate and I are feeling a little sleep deprived.  I have to say it is pretty cute hearing them giggle in their room together, but I also feel myself losing my patience after an hour or two of it!  I’m guessing eventually the novelty of it will wear off and we’ll get our great sleeping girls back, but until then, wish us luck.  (And don’t be surprised if you see us – and them – walking around with glazed expressions and red eyes!)

The huge plus-side of it though is that now we have a playroom!  It is still the same room with the same toys as they’ve always had, but for some reason, rearranging it and giving it the title of ‘playroom’ has turned it into a magic kingdom for those girls!  They play in there for hours…alone…without any entertainment from me.  And I can actually clean the house and pay bills and make dinner…uninterrupted.  Why didn’t we think of this before?!!  Okay, so there are definitely pros and cons to this move, but overall, I’d say it was a good idea (even if I am a little tired).  Play away little princesses!

No we didn't make them move into the same bed, too...but this is how I frequently find them in the morning!  Always together in one of their beds, just hanging out.  What good buds! 

How do you keep from laughing?

Tonight at dinner, Kenna was trying to get Sage to sit in her seat...I know, what a little mom!  She put her hands on her hips, tilted her head down at her little sister and in a very stern voice said, "I'm seriously Sage, I'm seriously!" 

McCall Bliss!

For Labor Day weekend, my parents invited us, my sister Natalie and her family to McCall, Idaho!  For those of you who don’t know, McCall is one of mine & Nate’s favorite places on earth!  We went there on our honeymoon (private cabin on the lake – very romantic!), and again 3 years ago with Nate’s family.  In fact it is now turning into an every-3-years tradition…we went for our honeymoon, were there for our 3^rd anniversary & went just after our 6^th anniversary.  It’s been wonderful, but I think I’d like to make it there more often.  We LOVE it!  This year my parents rented a beautiful cabin right on the lake with a private beach, its own dock and breathtaking views.  I was in heaven!  

We started our vacation with quite the adventure.  We flew to Boise out of Portland and on our way to the Portland airport, Makenna threw up ALL OVER herself, me and the carseat (thanks to her over-active gag reflex).  Our wonderful friend Ross drove us to the airport and we thanked him with the lovely smell of vomit for his drive home.  Sorry Ross!!  Luckily we were only about 15 minutes from the airport when the event occurred – lucky because Kenna was covered and I had puddles of vomit in my hands and we had about 1 ½ napkins total in the car.  It was fantastic.  We ended up doing a strip change of Makenna on the drop-off curb at the airport and then mini showers in the bathroom sinks.  Unfortunately my pants and shoe had to stay smelly until we got to McCall. :) Never a dull moment!  Thankfully our flight was uneventful.  Then my studly brothers Zach and Isaac picked us up from the airport and we were able to get Café Rio for lunch, wohoo!!  By the time we made it to McCall I think the girls were pretty sick of travelling.  They ran straight to the beach and spent the next hour running crazy.  We had to pull them away to go to dinner, by which point they both were exhausted.  We had woken them up at 4:45 that morning and neither of them had taken a minute of a nap.  I couldn’t believe they were even standing!  We went to dinner at a fun restaurant and after about 30 minutes my dad told us all to look at Makenna.  The little cutie pie was totally asleep eating her dinner!  She kept doing the head nod and kept her eyes completely closed as she chewed.  It was pretty hilarious!  She must have been exhausted, the poor thing.

The next day my parents rented 2 wave-runners and we had a ball!!  We pretty much made it a beach day & took turns kayaking, tubing, swimming & playing with the kids in the sand.  The weather was beautiful and we all had a great time.  We also made a trip to Ice Cream Alley (our favorite!) and ate out at a fun Mexican restaurant that night.  Can’t get a better day than that!  Sunday was pretty relaxing, we went on a few hiking adventures & I took Sage on a bike ride.  It was also Ammon’s birthday (complete with famous Pitt chocolate cake)!  Then we started Monday morning off with kayak races.  It was awesome!  Each of us got timed paddling from the dock, around a distant buoy and back to the dock.  Nate took first place (what a stud!) and I came in 4^th…not too bad for the Wolfley clan!  That afternoon we packed up and headed for home.  We recently purchased a new car in Utah which my parents drove to McCall for us and we drove it home.  It is a Dodge Grand Caravan - which I swore I would never buy - but to be honest I’ve quite enjoyed the roominess!  We really needed a new car and thought we might as well buy one now that can fit 3 carseats for down the road when we’ll need it.  I never thought I’d be a ‘minivan mom’, but here I am!  As soon as we can afford it, I’d love to swap it out for an SUV, but in the meantime, I’m going to enjoy it. (Plus it has the power sliding doors, which are awfully handy and other features I have come to really appreciate - like stow-n-go seats, bucket seats for the girls so they can walk to the back bench, and doors that slide so I don’t have to worry about them banging into the door of a car parked next to us.  Yeah, I can see why people drive minivans!)  Anyway, my parents ended up accidentally taking the power cord to our DVD player when they left, so we were a little worried about our drive home.  We took detours to 2 different Radio Shacks to buy a new one only to discover they were all closed for Labor Day.  Bummer!  However, the trip turned out surprisingly great!  The girls didn’t complain once and stayed totally happy and entertained the whole time they were awake.  I was impressed!  It was a 10 hour drive (we didn’t get home till about 1 am), but it went smoothly and we all made it home happy.  We’re in for a busy week ahead, but what a wonderful weekend!  Thanks SO much Mom & Dad, we love you!!!

Our little sleepy-head at dinner. :)

 Ice Cream Alley!

 cousins Kenna & Noah

 Cousins Sage & Elizabeth

 Beach Day

 Sage was so pooped, she fell asleep on the tube ride!

 Kenna's awesome bouffant hairdo!

 ...she didn't get much sleep on the trip!

 The Birthday Boy!

 Zach finishing hard

 The kayak race cheerleaders!

 The kayak champion

 My tough momma!

 The girls had a ball playing in the hammock with grandpa!

 On our way home we got ice cream to reward the girls for being so good.  Unfortunately there was a fly in our car and Kenna tried to swat it while holding her cone! :)

What a fantastic trip!

Potty training and other experiences with little girls!

Have I said that my girls are getting big?  Because I swear I blinked and I have 2 little ladies.  Sage is now officially potty trained at 22 months and is looking so big in underwear!  We did the 3-day program with her as well and she did great.  She had been wanting to go on the potty for quite some time (always copying her big sister!) and was very ready to make the jump.  It goes so much smoother with the second child – she had a great example to follow.  Way to go Sage! 

Lately my girls have also been making me smile with the things they say.  They are getting so big and come up with the funniest things.  For instance, the other day Nate told Kenna a secret and made her pinky swear not to tell me. (Something like they were going to sneak ice cream after dinner.) Of course she isn’t very good at keeping secrets, and doesn’t have a clue what a pinky swear means.  We had to run an errand so Kenna and I hopped in the car and, being the sneaky mom I am, I tried to get her to tell me the secret.  By then she had totally forgotten what the secret even was, but was very concerned that she and her dad had a “Pinky Square”.  I laughed, trying to explain to her what it means to pinky SWEAR, but she insisted that she needed to get home to find the pinky square with her dad.  What a cutie!   She also has become very observant.  She has learned the traffic signals and the other day all of a sudden shouted “Dad, don’t drive, it’s RED!”  It took both of us by surprise, and then Nate had to explain that it is okay to turn right if the light is red as long as you stop and make sure no cars are coming.  We might have a little backseat driver on our hands!  Sage gave me a pretty awkward experience at the grocery store the other day.  We were at Winco and ran into a black gentleman in one of those motorized shopping cart/scooters.  He was very friendly and kept making comments to the girls as we went past him.  As we went to check-out, he ended up being right behind us in line.  I started loading things on the belt & left Sage in the seat in the front of the cart, facing the black guy.  All of a sudden Sage burst in to hysterical sobs and was literally screaming “SCARY”!!!  Of course I picked her up and tried to quiet her down so he wouldn’t feel bad, but she kept right on.  If she even looked in his direction, a new wave of cries and tears would come, along with shouts of “scary”.  It was one of those experiences where you just want to die as a mom!  To give her credit, he was very dark in complexion and she hasn’t been around many African Americans.  He also was trying to be friendly by making faces at her, which were a little bit creepy.   Nevertheless, I was horrified by her outburst and was hoping he didn’t feel bad.  Luckily the checker said “Oh how sweet that she’s so concerned about saying sorry!”  I can only hope that gentleman also thought she was screaming “sorry” rather than “scary”!  While I felt bad, it was kind of humorous…and I’m guessing it won’t be the last time I am humiliated at the grocery store!

Kenna also cracked me up the other day with our conversation in the car.  It went like this:

Me: “See ya later!”

Kenna: “Mom, you can’t say ‘see ya later’.

Me: “Why not?”

Kenna: “You’re too old to say that.”

Me: “Hmm, so what should I say?”

Kenna: “Only something nice like ‘hello’.”

So is it just a rule that parents are always old to their kids, no matter how old they actually are?  I have to admit I feel a little old having a daughter that comes up with things like that!  Oh there is never a dull moment with girls like these…