Lazy Weekend

Sleepy girl!

Daddy worked at an AAU tournament this weekend so the girls had mommy all to themselves.  We played and played and played!  It was nice not having to go anywhere or to do any work and to just be with them!  On Saturday Claire came in to wake mommy but ended up falling right back to sleep.  Stella woke her up for breakfast but not until 8 o'clock!



During Claire's quick nap on Sunday Stella wanted to play Just Dance. 

Big Girl Bed & Frozen!

Daddy set up a toddler bed (compliments of Grammie & Pa! - thanks you guys!)  for Claire on Monday and she was so excited about it.  She's such a big girl and has gone to bed great every night this week.  Mommy may not have been ready for this but she definitely was! 















We bought the Disney movie Frozen this week and had a movie night on Friday.  The girls weren't sure what to think of the movie but when Gigi and Cami visited for a sleepover on Saturday and wanted to watch it again they were so excited about it.  Now Stella says it's her favorite movie!  Of course Mommy doesn't mind at all because as usual, Disney did not disappoint - Olaf makes us all laugh!

We had a lazy, lazy Sunday afternoon and all enjoyed a nap, even Lily!

Other news this week: The girls enjoyed swimming lessons again and Stella is definitely not afraid to jump into the pool anymore!  We had dinner at Aunt Mary Jane's and Uncle Neil's on Wednesday and that was a great treat - mommy didn't have to cook and we were sent home with lots of leftovers!  Very thankful to have them just down the street for unexpected treats like that!

Final Four

This weekend daddy went out of town for the state basketball tournament so mommy and the girls had a sleep over at Grammie and Pa's.  Everyone had such a fun time!  On Thursday we started parent-tot swimming lessons and both girls loved the pool and are excited to go back this week!  Claire is growing and changing right before our eyes.  She's doing great with the classroom environment at Gymnastics and when she's being scolded at daycare or home it breaks her little heart.  She's so sweet but is also such a little monkey!

March 2014

This was a quiet week but an enjoyable one with daddy between seasons and home with us a little extra than we are used to.  On Thursday Claire asked to go out to a restaurant for dinner and since we didn't have anything going on and she's not easy to say no to we had a mid-week treat at Pizza Hut.

We don't have much news but can share that our growing girls love technology! They always want to play games or watch shows on the iPad. Who would have thought at age 2 and 4 we are limiting computer time! They also love to play birthday party or tea party, love hide-n-seek, and their new favorite show is Strawberry Shortcake. They also color everyday but also have fun making crafts and recently want to play with play dough a lot. It's funny how they have so many toys but often play with the same things every day!

We are all looking forward to Spring and some warmer weather!

Disney on Ice and Time at home

This past week, Randy had winter break and was off from school.  Beth also took a few days off and we spent lots of time together at home.  We also made a trip to Ottawa to see Disney on Ice.  The girls loved it, including Beth!!  Claire's favorite part was The Lion King section, and Stella's was when all the princesses were on the ice at the same time.  Randy's favorite part was seeing all the smiles on their faces.

Claire wearing a Mickey Crown, and eating cotton candy!

Stella with Minnie ears!

Our New Pet

This weekend we welcomed a new pet to our family.  Her name is Lily and she's almost two years old.  Both girls are so excited to have her! Lily has been a little shy but we haven't had her 24-hours yet so we know she'll be roaming around here in no time.  Thank you to the McCarthy's for giving Lily to our family!

While Lily and Mommy napped today
Stella took a few pictures!

This week Randy is on school break and will be home with the girls.  Stay tuned for next week's update when we'll share our trip to Ottawa to see Disney on Ice!

A Busy Saturday!

This week was mostly quiet but we had an eventful weekend.  The girls started gymnastics class again and were so excited!  Claire still has trouble staying  with her group but she remembered the usual routine and as always loved swinging like a monkey on the uneven bars!  Stella was super excited to wear her new gymnastics outfit Auntie Caroline gave her for her birthday and was so happy to have her friend Gigi in class with her!  After Gymnastics we headed over to our friend Wyatt's first birthday party.  It was football themed and was a nice change from Dora and Princesses!

A usual week

This week we followed our usual mid-winter routine and other than a two-hour delay for daddy one morning this week was pretty dull.  The weekend was fun since we had some quiet time at home with daddy because for the first time in a while he was with us both Saturday and Sunday morning.  The kids had a play date with Allie, Nick, and Bella while mom and dad went out to dinner Saturday, and Stella came to children's church with mommy on Sunday to learn about 'Fishing for Men'.  The girls are both excited that next weekend we'll be starting gymnastics up again.  Hopefully these fun weekly classes will help us get through the last of these cold winter months!

Some Extra Time

The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday gave us an extra day to spend time together and for that we are very grateful!  Mom napped with both girls and really loved the extra snuggles!  With every passing the day our girls are growing and changing and we can hardly believe how fast the time goes!

This week the girls went to see daddy's basketball team play.  They really enjoyed most of the first half but then were more interested in having snacks and playing in the hallway!  They also were invited for a sleepover with Gianna and Cambria.  They were so excited leading up to the moment we left and had such a fun time playing with their friends!

4 Year Check Up for Stella

This week daddy had a lot of basketball - four games including the home Coaches vs. Cancer tournament which was a great day full of lots of generous people!  Thank to Grammie for coming over to spend the day with the girls and to have a sleepover with us! 

The only other news for the week is that Stella had her 4-year well-child visit.  She's doing so well and we are so grateful for her health.  She weighs 35 lbs and has shot up to 3 feet 4 inches tall.  We can hardly believe she's already 4!

Happy 4th Birthday Stella!

As our holiday vacation winds down we took a little trip to celebrate Stella's birthday.  We went to Plattsburgh for a night over at a hotel that has some really fun things for children.  Despite our extremely last minute decision to go out of town we were fortunate that our Burlington friends were able to cross the lake and join in the fun!  Thank you to Auntie Caroline, Caleb, and Esme for helping us celebrate! 

Indoor Kiddie Water Park Fun:
 

 Arcade Fun:

When we made it back into town we were treated to dinner at Aunt MJ's with Grammie and Pa who brought a birthday cake for our big girl!  It was a great way to end the week before we start back with our usual routine tomorrow.

Other news this week: Our girls don't know what New Years is about just yet but this year we invited Maddy over for a sleepover and the girls had a great time playing!  Nobody wanted to go to bed!  We also had a visit from Conner and Kasey.  It was fun watching Conner and Randy wrestle around since our girls really don't rough-house that often!

Christmas 2013

We've had a busy but very fun week! Christmas was really special this year with our girls, who were excited and bright eyed about every gift they were given. This year Santa assembled some things and had them out in the open which was super fun! We are so glad Grammie and pa were here for the night and that Aunt MJ arrived to join in the fun just as Stella was waking Claire.  Watching the girls exchange gifts they picked out for one another was such a sweet and special moment!   We were      lucky to be able to stay home this year so we just relaxed and enjoyed the day. We played candy lane  about 6 times and watched Monsters University. The girls also raced around the house on their new scooter (which is now in the basement...) and played tea party. We rounded out the week with a sleepover at Grammie and pa's with the Hooley's!  It was definitely a special holiday season at the Todd's house!

Gemini: Ice Storm 2013

An ice storm has hit our region so we haven't left the house in two days!  It's been nice to relax and have some family time.  Yesterday we made a rice krispie choo-choo train and the girls had such a fun time decorating it with candy and eating it too!  Today Stella started to learn how to find and circle words on a word-search worksheet from a coloring book.  She's doing such a great job identifying letters and this was a great way for her to practice!  Fortunately we have not lost power.  Mommy's good friend Stacy messaged that her husband Aaron has traveled all the way from Maine to Potsdam for storm duty because so many people are without power.  We hope his work is finished quickly so he can return home to be with his family for Christmas!  We are looking forward to it at our house - Stella has been counting down the days and we are all excited!

Christmas Tree, Santa & Snow!

This week we decorated our Christmas tree and Stella thought it was so much fun.  Her excitement continued as we opened each box of decorations.  This weekend we went to a basketball game to watch Daddy's game and afterward the snow started to fall.  It snowed and snowed!  On Sunday afternoon we spent some time with Grammie and Pa.  The girls had fun playing games with them after a fun-filled adventure to Morley for a sled ride with Santa.  Both girls enjoyed playing in the snow waiting for their turn.  Claire really loved singing carols along the way.  We finished out the weekend making some homemade wrapping paper for some gifts for cousins.

Snuggles and Travels

We've taken a few weeks off from the blog because life has just gotten in the way!  Our evenings largely consist of snuggles on the couch before bed and lately once we are settled in not much else is accomplished!





We were fortunate to have the chance to travel to Ohio over the Thanksgiving holiday to be with the Hooley's.  The girls had such a fun time playing with their cousins!  We also stayed in Erie on the way home for the night and had some fun splashing around in the hotel pool.  Claire thought that was 'awesome' and told us so!

Relaxing with the girls on
Thanksgiving Break

In November we also spent an afternoon at an enrichment program sponsored by the North Country Children's Museum.  Claire had such a fun time playing with homemade dough and playing circle games with the other kids.  She's not shy and jumped right in!  Stella liked making foot prints on paper with paint!  (Fortunately she hasn't asked to do this at home!)










With Christmas just around the corner we put on matching dresses and went to the Canton VFW to see Santa for a few minutes.  Santa gave Stella a Dora board game and she thought it was really neat he knew she loved Dora!  She asks to play the game every day too so he really did a super job picking a gift for her!

Stella and I ready for the Christmas Cantata at Church

Then & Now

In honor of World Prematurity Day and in memory of Trey we thought we'd share a then and now picture of Stella.

Picture above snuggling with Trey in January 2010.  At a few weeks old she was not strong enough to eat on her own yet and needed a a little bit more time in the NICU.

At left learning how to ride a big kid bike this fall.  She's come so far and we are so grateful for her health!

Below playing parade (they pretend to watch...) with Claire-Bear!

Zzzzz's

We've had some sleepy girls lately, but then again, we've been sleepy too. We're happy to have an extra day at home this week thanks to our veteran's!  Today Claire slept until 10am and if she wants to sleep in tomorrow too that will be fine by us!  Last weekend we took a day trip to Ottawa to visit Ikea.  It was a tough trip with the girls but we managed to make it back with a new king size bed that's just perfect for all of us!  The girls sleep in their own beds for most of the night but when they do end up with us we'll have plenty of room now!

Stella has taken a liking to band-aids and will tell us she needs one - we usually go along with it.  She's also had a bit of a cough lately so we've had her take a breathing treatment.   Fortunately she doesn't seem to be getting worse.

We finished up another gymnastics class this weekend.  Claire didn't really want to participate this week but Stella loved her class and was happy to get her certificate at the end!

Rhyming Word Fun

This has been a quiet week compared to our last few months and the weekend was really nice since we enjoyed more snuggle time at home than usual.  The girls had a sleepover with the Britton girls on Saturday night.  The mom's and dad's went to a Halloween party so we missed out on the fun - thank you to our sitters for looking after the girls through all of the excitement!  We also made jack-o-lanterns and continue to look forward to trick or treating on Halloween night.  Stella has asked mommy to dress up as a witch with her.  Claire can't exactly say this so when we ask her what mommy will be for Halloween it often comes out more like a 5-letter word completely on accident which is so funny!  Claire-Bear is dressing up as a pretty princess which she says as 'pretty dress!'.  We know what she means!  It should be a fun night this year because Stella knows what to expect and tells us she's looking forward to it!  We'll post pics next week!

Walking with our girls!

This weekend we participated in our community-wide Crop Hunger Walk.  This is the second year we've walked in support of ending world hunger.  Thank you Aunt MJ and Logan for doing this with us, and thank you to our sponsors too!   We figure it's never too early for the girls to start learning about sharing what you have and helping others!
 

My Cousin Haley taught me this!

Playing with Mommy's glasses while
we wait for Stella to finish her gymnastics class.

This week we've also tried to sneak in some playtime outside in the evenings before dinner.  We also went to gymnastics class - Claire is still having trouble staying at her groups station and taking turns but is making some progress.  We were also fortunate to see some family from out of town at a birthday party for Laila, Randy's cousins little girl who like Claire just turned 2.  The girls had such a fun time playing with all the kids

I can carry this ball AND twirl my ribbon while saying "look at me!"