We are in quite the routine here at the Collins house. During the week, Jeff and I get up around 5:00 (lately it's being stretched a bit...hard to drag ourselves out of our comfy king-size bed - best purchase EVER - when it's chilly in our room), and on Mondays and Tuesdays one of our parents shows up at 6:00 to take over child care duties. On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, one of us is out the door by 6:15 to get the girls to school. We have to wake them up at 6 on these days, which we feel bad about but they do well for the most part. Austen jumps right up, and Kaitlyn burrows deeper into the covers until we drag her out, but then is mostly fine.
Lately, Kaitlyn refuses to wear jeans on day care mornings. She says, "I don't want to wear that, I want to wear comfy pants." I keep telling myself that at least I have another girl to pass all of the cute, unworn jeans to. ;-)
Kaitlyn has been taking swim lessons on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which have been going great. We didn't realize when Jeff signed her up that she would be going in by herself. Jeff even wore his suit to the first one. :) We pack everyone up by 6:00 to head over to Mountlake Terrace and can't get enough of watching our big girl in her lesson all by herself. She has been back floating, blowing bubbles, and putting her face in the water. Austen usually does well sitting with us for the first half or so (it's only 30 minutes), but then gets wiggly and wants to get down and move. We have to keep a tight grip on her, or she would end up in the pool with her sister.
Every Thursday evening, any time between 5:30 and 9:30, I head down to Magnuson Park Arena Sports for my indoor soccer game. I am currently playing in a coed league, which I've been enjoying a lot. I played on a women's team there for a few years, took time off when pregnant, then switched to coed. I have to say that I am enjoying the change from drama-infested women's games. ;-)
With both girls talking up a storm, we constantly have good reasons to laugh. We just couldn't be enjoying these ages any more. Yes, they come with their challenges as well...but we must turn to each other at least five times a day to say, "We have the funniest, cutest kids ever." (Yes, I know you do, too ;-).)
This morning, Kaitlyn took it upon herself to wake Austen up at 6:30a.m. Being Saturday, Jeff and lounged in bed for as long as possible as long as the girls were playing okay. Kaitlyn played in Austen's room for a bit before she was out of her crib, and I hear from down the hall: "Hahahahaha! You tooted! Say excuse me." Then, in Austen's high-pitched baby voice, "Scoos me." Getting to laugh before 7 in the morning is a blessing, if you ask me.
The girls have been playing more "make believe" lately, and one thing they like to do is go shopping. They were pushing a box around the other day, which had a bunch of toys in it, and I asked Kaitlyn what they were doing. "We're buyin' stuff."
So, when we were at the grocery store recently, it didn't surprise me when Austen started putting things into our cart. Did I mention that she doesn't want to ride in the cart anymore? She does very well hanging onto the side and walking with us, so we let her. So as she "shopped," we would put things back that we didn't need. A few hours later at home, Jeff asks me, "Why did you buy carrot juice and country biscuits?" "I was wondering the same about you." We both looked at Austen, our sneaky little shopper, and realized our answer. How she managed to get a huge jug of carrot juice (Odwalla, I might add - the girl doesn't have cheap taste) up and into the cart, and without us noticing, is beyond me!
Kaitlyn and I went shopping at Goodwill a while ago, and as I was bending over to get something, she points out nice and loudly, "I see your boo-boos!" Haha, cute. We keep shopping, and all of a sudden my child is exclaiming, "I smell nipples!" I have no clue where this came from other than she was tired and delirious and somehow derived it from the boo-boo sighting. Fabulous...at least I was at the Lynnwood Goodwill - nobody really batted an eye. ;-)
We were watching Kaitlyn's current favorite, Tangled, and she turns to me and says, "I think that witch needs a hug." Smart girl!
Austen's current bedtime routine is to read a book, then sit on the edge of her crib to look out the window (Jeff started this with Kaitlyn when she was about that age). She likes to look for kitties in the neighborhood, so we ask, "Austen, where are the kitties?" Lately, her response is "Ummm...nigh-nigh." (Kitties are sleeping.) The other night, after our window-gazing, she turns to me to pick her up, points at the rocking chair and says, "nuggle." Oh, how this girl makes me smile.
As Jeff and I were squeezing in as many minutes as possible in our warm bed this morning, the girls headed downstairs to the play room. It wasn't long before we were summoned out of bed by Austen's "I'm mad at something Kaitlyn did" cry. I go downstairs and Austen immediately points at Kaitlyn and says, "Push." Kaitlyn looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and admitted that she did push her sister. Don't get me wrong, she is always honest (not that I think this will always be the case ;-)) about what she's done, but I think she was shocked that Austen was actually able to tell on her.
I will stop with the typing and add a few ordinary, "at home" pictures (taken between July and September).
Grandma Bonnie inherited this from a neighbor, and it turned out to be one of those unexpected "hours of entertainment" toys.
Love these eyes
First pony tail!
Not every "few minutes of silence" has to end in a toddler mischief mess. This is how I found them one day: Reading together on Kaitlyn's bed. Add this toward the top of melt-mommy's-heart moments
Big sister to the rescue!
Exploring Daddy's new boat
This was our original license plate on the Pilot. She was "The Slut." We had to change the plate (couldn't get ourselves to pay $20 to keep it), and couldn't do it without documenting the memory.
Dancin'
Kaitlyn is still in love with painting
