uh-oh

the girls were upstairs playing with me after naps and then I heard charlie calling for me to get up so I went down to get him. while I was downstairs I heard a loud crash. I paused to wait for the cry to see how bad it was and the I didn’t hear one, which I thought was weird. when I went upstairs to check it out I found this. the girls on the chair staring at the lamp on the floor.

at first I laughed. then I had to talk to them about what they did wrong. it was hysterical because they both looked so guilty (just like denver the dog). they were stunned and just kept giving me a “whoops” face. I put the lamp back up and sat them down on the chair and told them they could not touch the lamp. then I acted like I went back downstairs to see what they would do. they tried a couple of times to touch the lamp, but corrected them and they have been good since. I do wish I had captured more shots of their faces, but I am sure I will have many more opportunities ahead.

claire and ellie with their daddy.

claire and ellie with me.

and another little tidbit is that ellie is obsessed with my friend nicole. whenever she is over ellie loves to be held by her, sitting on her lap or just being by her. it is so sweet.

last day in florida and travel home

friday morning we headed down to the beach for our last hoorah. suz had to fly out in the evening so my mom was leaving with her around naptime to get her to the airport (and to shop at the amazing outlet malls).  claire with bubba pointing to the birds and the ocean. their conversations would go like this. bubba “claire/ellie, where is the ocean?” ellie/claire (depending on who was in her arms) “da” (with their arm pointed out). and they always nailed it! here is bubba and ellie. way to find the ocean ellie!

claire loved crashing the waves with nana.

weeee!

all in the ocean. I love how all of the kids are squirming out of our arms!

me and prabee care!

suz and charlie anticipating the next wave. he loved crashing them.

crash!

claire would stand in the ocean constantly. she loves the waves pounding into her.

then we had a photoshoot before suz left and she was looking gorgeous. claire with suz.

either claire saw a bird or the ocean.

we attempted a double honey badger picture, but they weren’t having it.

mom and daughter picture. for future reference – suz and my mom were showered and ready to go shopping and to the airport. I just got up from the beach. but it is still a cute picture of the 3 of us.

we said on the trip that the girls became 25% more honey badger. this is one of the ways – tantrums. both girls are communicating more and more, which is awesome, but they are also getting stronger opinions about what they want. I am not sure what claire was not getting here, but she gives me this face a lot.

me and claire.

this picture is over exposed, but I have to post it. every morning suz and charlie would watch “denver the dog” on youtube. (if you have never watched it you need to do that right now! it is hysterical!). this is charlie’s denver face. he will also say “denver did you do this??” too funny.

ellie and claire were wrestling after naps. it was so precious, but I could only catch the end of it.

eleanore is really stepping up her domination. she is really becoming more dominant than claire and kind of pushes her around. thankfully claire can bring it when she wants to.

saturday was a travel day. while my mom did some quick errands laura and I managed the honey badgers. and by manage I mean we had them ride the suitcases.

here is me with the crew in the airport. people literally stop and stare and smile at the girls. the backpack is holding the car seat that I used for charlie on the plane. the stroller was loaded with bags and if you picked one of the girls up the stroller would flip over.

here is a side view of the backpack (from when we flew out).

the plane ride was ok home. nothing is fun for 3.5 hrs with a twisting badger on you the entire time. this time though I took charlie out of his car seat and he sat on my mom’s lap (in a different row) with a dvd player. then I put ellie who was exhausted in charlie’s car seat and she crashed.

claire on the other hand was in constant motion between me and laura the entire time. by the end I was trapping her with my legs.

we arrived in hudson around 5 pm saturday then crashed that night. we had a bridal shower for mary the following day and bill flew home too so we were able to connect with him after the shower (bill had a good time in peru – learned a lot about what to/not to do for global ent outreach). it was so good to be home. we had a wonderful vacation – I mean – trip. the kids had a blast and we made so many great memories. thank you mom, laura, auntie suz and auntie dotes for all the help!

florida day 5&6

the past 2 days have been a bit challenging around here. still great to be on a vaca, but we had a little bit of cloudy weather (which was actually a great relief) and charlie has only gotten more sick with HFMD.

wednesday it was overcast so we headed to tiger tail park where there is a great outdoor park, lagoon area, and café. ellie cruising around.

charlie had fun on this spinning thing.

after a delicious lunch at the café. we headed to a local park with water fountains. it was incredible! the kids were pretty tired, but had fun cruising around before naptime. ellie and claire stunned by the fountains.

 

claire instantly started goofin, which for her means putting her head on the ground.

charlie and nana going crazy.

ellie getting excited, which for her means squealing at it.

claire and suz.

splashing.

girls playing.

charlie had a blast.

that night we facetimed with bill, which was fun for about 1.3 seconds. it was so precious when the girls heard his voice though. ellie could not stop saying dadadadadaddda and squealing and claire just stared.

sometimes ellie and claire cannot contain their love for charlie. they just lay on him and hug and kiss him. my heart swells. here are some pictures.

a leytal kess.

c+e

c+c

today (thursday), we woke up and charlie’s mouth sores had gotten a LOT worse. the poor guy’s cheeks and lips were swollen and he was cranky from being up a lot at night and up too early because he was so uncomfortable. we still went out to the pool and then the beach for a bit. but charlie spent his beach time like this. playing monkey preschool app. I wanted him outside for a bit, but he was too weak and everything hurt (sores on his feet, etc) for him to be bouncing in the waves. suz was enjoying her iphone too.

ellie munched more shells.

these two were busy busy with these buckets.

more c playing monkey lunchbox.

the honey badger handlers. it seriously takes 4 adults to survive down here! it was enjoyable when we had 5 adults to 3 kids, but with 4 we are just cutting it.

ellie gets a little bored after a while, but claire will play with her bucket, water, truck and sand for a long time. it is adorable to watch.

then she started goofing.

so funny!

ellie insisted on marching around. preferably on the hard shells.

charlie only got worse throughout the day. his mouth is over run with sores and he can’t eat or drink much. he is just crying over and over because his mouth hurts so bad. it is horrible to watch him be in so much pain!

he perked up a bit for some go fish with nana and bubba.

suz leaves tomorrow evening and then we leave on saturday. what a great vacation it has been, but I just wish that my kids hadn’t gotten sick! although if I had been home I would have not been able to do anything so I guess it is better to be here.