Sunday, November 21, 2010

Nightmare on Fribourg Street


About a week ago we made a decision to put the girls in toddler beds for the first time ever. We have been putting this off forever because we dreaded what would happen once they were no longer "caged". Well, the nightmare has been going on now for over a week and it doesn't look like it will be letting up anytime soon apart from major divine intervention (which we are continually praying for :) For the first two nights, this is what their toddler beds looked like:

DO NOT BE DECEIVED by these pictures. They portray two little girls contently and happily laying in their big-girl beds as if they are about to quietly go to sleep. These pictures were taking right before we turned off their lights and walked out of their room on the first night of the "transition"....
The events that followed cannot be captured on camera....it's just not possible :) At first they laid there for a few minutes and talked and laughed with each other...then it hit them...."WE CAN GET OUT OF BED!!!....YAY! IT'S PARTY TIME!!!"....the party (or war...which ever perspective you have) lasted for about 3 or so hours the first night and then several times throughout the night. Nice. Mama tired.... Daddy tired.... What have we done?!?!?

We thought it may help (we were willing to try anything!) to get some sort of rail for their beds to help them feel more secure and also provide at least somewhat of a barrier so they just weren't rolling out of bed and running around the room like crazy monkeys....

Here are their beds with the rails up....AGAIN...do not be deceived by the pictures of little angels you see here....
Jocie even pretending to be asleep....not a funny joke, Jocie :)
SO, on the first night of the rails, it only took about 20 minutes or so to keep them in their room/bed and then they fell asleep! We were so pumped....we thought we had found the answer to the nightmare. WRONG!! The following night was by far the worst up to that point. We put them to bed at 7pm and they didn't go to sleep until after 11pm. They were running around the room, jumping in and out of each other's beds, opening the door, doing flips on the floor....and every single time we would go in their to spank their booties and put them back in bed...they would LAUGH....like it was this hilarious game we 4 were playing. NOT FUNNY. NOT FUNNY AT ALL. Since that night we have been trying several different "approaches"...some we've read about or heard about or friends have suggested to us....none have seemed to work quite yet. There was one other night a few days ago that wasn't horrible and we got our hopes up again until the next night when the nightmare returned :( I'm not even going to go into nap times....you can imagine how those have been :) Needless to say, we are tired, frustrated, did I mention tired?!? This transition has been SO much harder than I had anticipated! Several friends have wrote on FB and encouraged me with their experiences, advice, and prayers. I very much appreciate that! Please continue to do so! I will keep you updated on what's happening in the war-zone :) Hopefully the nightmare will end soon....

This past week....

We talked daddy into eating dinner with us at our tiny table.... :)


Mommy took us to Mrs. Coweeeeen's sister-in-law's house to jump on the trampoline....
and ride a John Deer....
And eat dinner... (will you please take note that they moved these bar stools over to the table they were eating at so that their babies could eat with them just like they do at home!??! unbelievable :)



We went to a surprise birthday party for Mr. Scott....
Mr. Scott's birthday cake....we guess pink is his favorite color! It sure was super yummy!!
Here we are with all our friends at the party....


We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner with Gigi & HayHay.... (OK, is it just me or does Jocelyn look 5 in this picture?!??!)
The Gabster is not nearly as fond of picture taking as Jocie....

When we were leaving Cracker Barrel, we asked Gigi for these HUGE bears and she got them for us!! (wow...that is SHOCKING! :)
We watched lots of slide shows on HayHay's computer....we are currently obsessed with looking at pictures on the computer :)
Our bears ate breakfast (and lunch and dinner) with us....

I (Jocie) started doing gymnastics on the couch every night after dinner.... (side note...if she isn't a gymnast at some point in life, I will be shocked...seriously...)

Saturday, November 13, 2010

HayHay & Gigi come to town!!

Last week Gigi and HayHay came to visit for a few days. The girls were WAY excited to ride their "big bus"......
HayHay took the girls on a little ride on the bus...
They thought it was SOOOO cool...especially beeping the horn :)
Gabbie just did her first horn beep...
Exploring.....

Jocie's favorite thing about Gigi coming to town....endless supply of GUM....

The girls went and had their 2nd haircut ever. They were super excited...

Jocie went first...

Gabbie watching Jocie
Look at all that hair....

Total cuteness. Of course she got a sucker afterwards....
Gabbie's turn....
Jocie driving her red convertible while she watched Gabbie....
The blow dryer kind of freaked her out a bit...as you can see :)


She looks SO old!

Prize time!

Sparkles and "fairy dust" in her hair to make her look like a princess :)
After their haircuts we went to have lunch at chick-fil-a....yes, I know....SHOCKER!
Gabbie feeding Gigi some ice cream...
Jocie doing what she does... :)
Hangin with HayHay....
Gigi entertaining the girls while they eat dinner :)

Gigi and HayHay went with me the next morning to take the girls to their school.

Ready to go!
Lunch boxes....check

Gigi having "teacher talk" with one of their teachers, Mrs. Tracy

Later, the girls helped Gigi cook dinner....


Showing daddy the cool new pink jackets Gigi and HayHay got them....

And their super cool froggy PJ's....


Chillin right before bedtime....

Playing at the park the next morning....


Saturday afternoon we went to the USA homecoming football game....
It's so funny....Jocelyn literally sits still the entire time and watches everything very intently. The Gabster ROAMS the bleachers....she doesn't sit still for one second....




See Jocie's awestuck face?? It's because the band was performing....that girl LOVES her some band.... :)
The girls got hungry so HayHay went to the concession stand to find them something to eat. He came back with these ENORMOUS pretty nasty looking hotdogs (that costs like $20 a piece I'm sure :). The girls ate every last bite....Jocie took the ginormous weiner out of the bun and ate it by itself.....uhhhh, it almost made me gag! haha





Gabbie.....just go ahead and make yourself comfortable, OK?!?
Shane preached at church last Sunday. We tried to get a few pics of the girls in their cute dresses and jackets they were wearing to church....here's a few that were decent.... :)



We ended Gigi and HayHay's visit with lunch at FireHouse Subs....yum....
Little Miss Firefighter...
HayHay and Gigi - Thanks for coming to visit us! We had so much fun! Come back really soon :)