Watching Barney and rocking away!
Get outta the way, dude!
This is my boss Cheryl, her husband Lance, and their neice Bella.
Dani and Bella hugging (Dani's on the right)
I just put this on to show how darn fast these little ones are. When I started pushing down the button on the camera, they were still hugging. When the picture flashed, Bella was off and running! Either I'm turning into Amma or that's a seriously fast toddler!!Danica has a new favorite cartoon called Super Why. The other night Duane and I were reading her stories, and apparently we weren't exciting enough, cuz she yelled out, "Super Readers to the rescue!!!" That's one of the catch phrases of the show. That's the first time she's ever quoted a t.v. show like that, and it took us about 10 minutes to stop rolling on the floor laughing at her.
We had our party yesterday. It was a lot of fun. A few of the people couldn't make it, so there weren't as many kids there for Dani to play with, but the one that counted was there! Her bestest friend, Bella (you may know her as Bel-la-la). OH BOY was she excited to see Bella! They were awfully cute together playing all day. They even got a few hugs and mooches together! We had a pretty good turnout... about 16 or 17 people came and brought some yummy food and fun games. Dani and I cleaned up this morning and all that's left are a couple more sneaky flies. But I'll get those buggers!!!! How do flies know when you're going to get the fly swatter? That's what I'd like to know. I think we greatly underestimate the brain of a fly.
Our new potty! Dani says, "Wanna go pee?" Not sure who taught her the word pee. I'm trying to change it to "potty," but she's pretty stuck on pee. ??
No training yet... just getting used to the potty and sitting on it with clothes on for now.
Cutie little Emma all cuddled up in the blankie. How can you not love her???
Big D and Little D... reading and brushing teeth.
CHEESE!!!!
Checking out the murky water at the pond. You can see Spike in the background hunting for frogs.
ICK!! I had to let go of my own yuck issues and just let her have fun in the muddy water. Lucas is in the background having a great old time playing in the mud.
The fishing gang - Owen, Jack, Lori (the mom), Ella, and the one posing is of course Danica. The girl can work a camera!!
Precious!
Not so precious!
The girls had SO much fun playing in the dirt. They took bowls full and dumped on their heads (obviously), and also dumped on Emma. We all took baths when we got home!
Did you call me a redneck? 
Who's that standing next to me??
A fun day at the beach... Dani with her drink of choice, and Mommy with hers.
Playing in the hole.
She loved the swoshy-swosh! Pay no attention to the giant butt in the picture.
Playing with Ella... or "Lala" as Dani calls her.
And now playing with Bella... or "Ba-lala" as Dani calls her.
What a couple of beach babes!!
The boys working hard on the cabin.
Work shmork... we'll read some books!
Yikes! Glad I don't have to go up and help.
Working on the deck now.
Daddy loves his girls
A very tired Daddy with his... baby?
I showed this to Duane and he said, "It looks like I puked a baby."The other day I was pushing Dani on her swing. Whenever she's done she wants a kiss before she gets down. So I gave her a kiss and she wiped it off!!!! Isn't that supposed to wait until they're teenagers before they wipe off kisses?? My poor broken heart!
We just got back from the park. There's a little water area there too with all kinds of sprinklers and such. Dani was having a ball in the water, and by the time she was done she was completely soaking wet. I figured it was worth it for her to have a fun experience. We came home and changed clothes and all was well.
Okay, so we remembered one of the funny stories we were going to blog about. Duane went into work LAST Monday (and he didn't tell me about this until 2 days ago), and said good morning to Chuck, his operator. Chuck apparently said, "Ya, ya... listen to this!" He took out his phone and played a voice mail message. It was Danica saying, "La lalala la la lalala... Daddy Dada, la la lalala la..." And apparently it went on for about 15 minutes or so. Put yourself in Chuck's shoes (not a particularly soft cuddly kind of guy), and imagine hearing that message over the weekend. Too cute. But we figured it's better than her calling 911... she's getting better!!
She pointed to Duane's arm today and said, "Daddy diwty." I guess Daddy needs a shower!
Daddy sharing some food.
Dani getting stuck... again.
"So comfy!" She says in the highest voice possible.
Goof-ball
Her favorite place to be is on our bed... and who can blame her! Comfy comfy!!
She's in mid-cheese in a lot of these pictures.
We had to put this one up. Did any of you have any idea Duane was such a weirdo??I would just like to put this question out into the universe - WHAT'S WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!!??? I know you've all had to deal with difficult people in your lives, co-workers, teachers, friends, family members. My difficult person right now is a co-worker. It's bugging me so much my insides are churning, and I'm yearning to be one of those people who can easily say who cares and let it go... Madonna comes to mind for some reason. She's an irritating person and certainly not one to emmulate, but also not one to let a couple comments ruin a whole 4 days!! Isn't it bothersome that a virtual stranger can have such an effect on our emotions? Strange. And you nosey ones out there, don't bother asking, cuz I won't tell you who or what was said. Just had to get that off my mind and out my fingers.
I'm convinced that Dani is well beyond her years in manipulation, defiance and stubbornness. She now laughs when being scolded and also has a ball in time out. One of our big struggles is to get her to stop throwing her food on the floor. She looks me in the eye (with a naughty little look) , sticks her hand straight out, and drops food on the floor. Then she yells at me, "NO NO!" Oh, the frustration!!!!!
Another struggle is the yelling. She started because she can easily get Emma to howl and scream, and she thinks that's just hillarious. Now it continues because she knows it irritates us. We had a great time in the grocery store the other day when she decided to show how little control Mommy has over her and yell ALL throught the store. Needless to say, I'll be going shopping in the evenings from now on when she can stay home with Daddy.
I know all you moms and dads out there who've already gone through the terrific two's are chuckling to yourselves.... and yes, i know that it'll probably only get worse. But in the meantime, whoa is me!
Feeling a bit guilty for not writing too much lately, although there's not much to comment on. Danica's been really exploring her independence... and I'm sure it's just the beginning. As a former "strict" teacher, it's very hard for me to be a patient Mommy... but I'm working on it.
Another less-than-positive bit of info... our perfect sleeper has turned into a screaming night owl. Just goes to show, don't get too confident because things change very quickly!! Another lesson learned for us. We're hoping it's just the beginning of the 2 year molars coming in and it will shortly pass. ???
On a lighter note, things are not all bad like I may make it sound. We have a lot of fun every day, and Dani gets sweeter and more lovey every day. She asked Daddy for a kiss last night while he was pushing her on the swing. I had to go get some towels to wipe him up because he turned into a big puddle. And Dani and I had a little dance party yesterday morning after I found some old cd's. It was a lot of fun for both of us. She wanted to hold hands while we danced... so cute!
We went up to one of the beaches on Sunday morning to swim and play in the sand. The water was a little chilly, so most of our time was spent in the sand.
Dani loved the water - as long as we stayed close to shore.
So cute.
She was looking a little like Bill Murray here... 5 o'clock shadow (from the sand) and a crooked fisherman hat (poke-a-dotted, but still a fisherman hat).
Getting tire, hungry, and crankyI'm SO proud of my little drummer girl! She saw drumming on Elmo the other day and has been drumming on everything since then, saying, "big drum!" So I decided it was time to get down her little drum set (drum, sticks, tambourine, maracas and harmonica), even though it says for ages 3 and up. So she's been drumming like crazy! SO cute at first, then I found myself cursing Nancy Olson for buying it for her! DARN YOU NANCY OLSON! She does have the natural drumming rhythm just like her Mama! But I must admit that I've already put it back up though, as the drum wasn't the only thing getting hit with the sticks.
First things first, I've recently started up a facebook page (which I'm having SO much fun with), so if any of you readers have a page, give me a friend invitation!
The other day I was holding Dani and Duane was nearby - I forget what we were doing at the time. Dani tooted a pretty good one, and without missing a beat she says (very accusatory), "Daddy!" She's already learned to blame her toots on Daddy... I've taught her well.
We got some new rugs for the kitchen recently, and she must think they're pretty dangerous. Any time I go near them she says, "Carefull Mama!" And once I'm clear of them again, "You okay Mama?" Such a worrier already, just like Daddy!
Dani was throwing around her "srawberry" last weekend and this is where it landed. The germophobe wasn't too thrilled.
This is Emma's meal-time stance... just waiting.
Her way of helping us paint. She's in mid-cheese here. 
Eating Ramen noodles. This is how Mommy eats them too!It's time to tattle! We were all outside last night walking, playing basketball and driving (Pinks calls riding her tricycle driving). Daddy tried to make a basket and tragedy struck. It hit the rim, bounced on the ground, and in slow motion made it's way to Dani's head. There was a good 5 minutes where Duane could've run to catch the ball, but instead he stayed put and watched as it smacked my poor little girl right in the face. As she cried and we comforted, all Daddy said was, "That naughty ball!" I say, THAT NAUGHTY DADDY! Some days I'm awfully glad that I'm the one who writes this. If he ever has his own blog... well, I guess he'll get his revenge.
We are spending the day painting today... again. We're almost done with the kitchen/dining room and it looks SO great!! We also finally put up curtains in our bedroom. We've almost got the house how we want it now, so I guess it's time to pack up and move!!! That's how it works, isn't it??
My little smarty-pants suddenly knows her shapes. We were watching Teletubbies (don't judge me) before nap time today, and a star shape came on. She said, "It's a star! Look at da star!" I have no idea where she learned this. Naughty Mama hasn't been going over shapes with her, and I'm pretty sure Daddy hasn't either. Maybe she and Emma have been playing school while I'm not looking. ??
So I've been concerned with her height and weight lately. She's nearly as tall as I am, but she looks like a skeleton (Truth be told, she's got the body I've always wanted). I've been trying to fatten her up a bit, but nothing seems to be happening. I got out the tape measure the other day and found out that she's 35 inches tall!!! That's only an inch short of being 3 feet. If the old saying of double the height at age 2 is correct, we're in for a giant of a child!! LOOK OUT WNBA, HERE SHE COMES!!!
Well, Danica got hooked on phonics. She suddenly has taken an interest in her pronunciation. It all started a couple days ago when it was bath time. When asked if she wanted to take a bath, her response was, "Take a bathththth?" (With tongue out like Sylvester the cat). Yesterday when I asked if she could say please for her milk, her response was, "Pleeeaaaaththththth!" (Again, with tongue out and spit flying). Although it wasn't a correct place for a th sound, it is awfully cute, and I'm a very proud mama that my little girl is being so ambitious.
Another big sign of growing up way too fast - Pinky Dinky is suddenly wanting to sit in the big girl chair at the dining table. No more booster seat for her!! Her little face barely clears the table, but OH, THE PRIDE she shows in being a big girl!
She had all of Target rolling with laughter yesterday. We went to get Hannah's birthday gift and I found a little microphone for Dani in the clearance section. I handed it to her and it was instant stardom! She was singing her abc's at the top of her lungs all through Target... with a little Twinkle Twinkle mixed in. Good times.
This is what Pinky and Emma do every day. Any time there are crackers involved, Dani takes off running and Emma chases after. Usually there are a LOT of giggles and falling down involved. Who knew simple little crackers could make them so happy!
