Pardon the lack of updates on my website. The atmosphere around here is chaotic, what with trying to get this new business up and running, raising two very rambunctious girls, and just keeping myself afloat with all the daily tasks that need to get done. The plan is still for us to drive up to Bethesda on tomorrow morning and return Friday night. Perhaps we will find housing this time around, but we have to prepare ourselves for the possiblity of arranging another trip later.

Mimi is now weened and walking. Surprisingly, I had no pain in the weening process, still some tenderness though. As mentioned in a previous post, Mimi was not keen on drinking whole milk at first. We tried giving it to her in a cup with no lid, a cup with a straw, a sippy cup, and a bottle. I don’t know how she came to like it, but I just kept giving it to her. Eventually she relented, and now Mimi is officially addicted to whole milk if in a bottle. If she even sees a bottle, all hell breaks loose. Mimi’s walking skills aren’t great, but she is doing it roughly half the time between that and crawling. She can be easily knocked over which her big sister does frequently. She does look quite cute when she walks. It almost looks as if she’s on her tippy toes while she takes these short, quick strides. Much different than Annie’s first steps. I have been noticing that Mimi has been picking up on certain things like knowing where socks and shoes go. Whenever I put sock #1 on a foot, she will raise foot #2 to receive sock #2. Then the other day, I caught her trying to put one of Annie’s shoe on her little foot. Mimi will also occasionally repeat certain phrases such “all done” and “bye bye”.

Annie is finally seeing the buddy quality in Mimi. I will sometimes catch them giggling up a storm at silly things Annie will do. They also both love to torment the dog. All I can say is that Lucy begs to go outside when the girls are around. On the contrary, Lily is warming up to Annie. She sometimes jumps into bed with Annie at storytime. Of course, we’re not comfortable yet with Lily sleeping with Annie at night. Annie surprises us each day with the new sentences that she spews forth. Her new thing that I just get a kick out of is when I ask Annie a question she will sometimes reply with, “Ummm…” before divulging her answer. When she sees me laughing at her, she always has to laugh, too. She’s as cute as can be. Another persistent habit is Annie’s quest to know where everyone and what everything is. After hearing, “Where’s Daddy?” for the trillionth time during the day, it can really wear on the nerves. My favorite is when she continually asks me, “Where’s Mommmy?” while I’m standing right in front of her. She also likes to ask, “What that?” when she sees something unfamiliar to her. However, I question if she’s really unsure what something is everytime she asks. I’m pretty sure that by the eleventh time she asked what the vacuum was yesterday that she knew darn well what is was. As exasperating as it can be for her to do this, it’s still fun to see her learn, do, and say new things each day.

So, like I said before, we are going to be out of town all week. I probably won’t be making any posts between now and the time we return. Wish us luck in our search for yet another home. Talk to you soon!

Sorry no new pictures to post:(

Well, I said I would do it, and I did. My photo jewelry hobby is now a business. If you can believe it, Mike is really the one who pushed me into taking it to the next step. As many of you know, he took some jewerly classes in high school and has always wanted to get back into making jewelry. We toyed with the idea of casting some silver into some cool pendants (similarl to the stuff seen here: www.sundancecatalog.com) while he was in dental school, but never got around to it. So when I started making these photo jewelry pieces, Mike really showed an interest. Me being computer-obsessed had to design a website for the biz. I spent a few late nights getting it up and running. We don’t have much to offer yet in the way of products. There is a pearl design in the works. Hopefully, we will be adding a couple more pieces in the near future.

Our business is called “Snappy Chic” (don’t laugh), and the web address is: www.snappychic.com. Let us know what you think. I’m sure there are a few bugs yet to work out. I’ve even got a shopping cart and can accept credit card payments. I’m scared to death! Just a sneak peek below:

How can I put it other than I’ve just been plain lazy about updating the site. Sorry for that. To make up for it I have lots of pictures. Some from Christmas and the others are just goofing off around here. Our lives are pretty much back to normal with Mike home, but now we have to prepare to move again. Ugh!

Coming up at the end of this month we are traveling to Bethesda. Mike has a week-long course to attend, so I thought I would take that time to start looking at housing and getting to know the area. We decided we will probably just rent a house instead of going broke with buying a half-million dollar home. I’ve been doing a little internet research and have found many rentals that fit our needs. I’m actually kind of excited about it. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it will be a really fun place to live. We’ll be very close to D.C. and Bethesda has a ton of stuff to do, too. I think the girls and I will have a blast. We will certainly have to make the most of it since Mike will be super busy once school starts.

Christmas was spent at home this year. No visitors, just the four of us. Mike got a 4-day weekend off from work and another one during the New Year’s holiday. It was so nice to have him for so many days. This was the first year that Annie understood the idea behind presents. She was even opening presents before the special day. The girls received lots of gifts from grandparents Hauer and Olsen such as a Barbie laptop, Legos, Cabbage Patch Kid, blocks, Leap Frog Stories, and much more. Annie received several clothing items as well and immediately wanted to make sure that each garment fit properly. Mimi’s favorite gift was the Mary Jo Beth Sue from Raccoon Ridge doll. That’s not her official name, but after losing one of her pigtails (courtesy of Mimi’s love) she looked like she was wearing a raccoon-skin hat. Upon losing her 2nd pigtail she looked quite androgynous, and that’s being polite. My mom has a new hobby of decoupaging, so she made both girls a lamp to match their rooms and a clock to match my living room. We had loads of fun even if it was a small group this year. Pictures from our “magical” day are posted on the memories page under “Christmas 2005”. There is also a link from the girls’ January album. Have a look-see!

Annie NEVER stops! Enough said. But seriously, you would think she could run marathons with as much energy that’s within her. Come 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. there is hardly a moment’s rest. Thankfully, she does still take her afternoon nap that can last up to 2 hours. And even more thankfully, Mimi usually sleeps at the same time. My mom says I was the same way at Annie’s age, but I just don’t see how. Oh well, I just need to get used to it. Annie loves to sing. She expects her c.d.’s be played in the car at all times so that she can sing along. Mike and I are amazed at how many songs she already knows. Her favorite is still “The ABC’s”. Mike has been cracking me up with his obsession with a song called “The ABC Song” where a word is said for each letter of the alphabet and it’s sung to the same tune as “ABC’s”. I’ll hear him sometimes (when he thinks nobody is around) practicing. Shh! Don’t tell anyone. Annie is taking on disciplinarian with Mimi and Lucy. She loves to tell Lucy to “go bed” or to “stop it”. Annie is discovering the good things in life and asks for them frequently. I gave her a Hershey Kiss one time from the cupboard. Now she asks daily for “choc-it” whenever I’m close to that same cuboard. I also think Annie may have OCD. Anytime something new is changed in her routine, she adopts that habit. For instance, the other night her bed was wet from naptime sippy, so we put a blanket under her. The next night when I went to put her to bed she asked for that blanket to be put under her again. Now we have to do that every night. And she also remembers every lovey that stays in bed with her. If one is missed during roll call, she notices. She also has a habit of trying to repeat EVERYTHING that people say. We had some friends over the other night, and they even commented on this. So watch what you say around her, eh.

Mimi is so close to walking. She will take 2 to 3 steps at a time. I think she thinks that crawling can get her to her destination much faster. I can’t blame her; she’s the fastest crawler we’ve ever seen. Her first tooth is finally starting to grow in on the bottom. I’m not worried about the delay since Annie’s teeth came in at about the same time. Mimi babbles all time. She really likes saying “th-th-th”. I don’t know where that came from. She will also say “bye, bye” on command. More finger foods are being given to Mimi now such as spaghetti, beans, cooked carrots, peas, bananas, mac’n’cheese, and much more. Basically, anything soft goes. I’m starting to ween Mimi from nursing. Well, guess what! She hates milk. I’ve tried everything to get her to drink it, but she always spits it right out. We never had this problem with Annie; she took right to it. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I suppose it’s a common problem that can be easily remedied. I will just need to do the research. Mimi remains a Mommy’s girl. She’s not much for strangers and sometimes Dad holding her. Mimi is starting to figure out how to get Annie in trouble, too. She has this cry that always worries me. Well, I’ve caught her using it when Annie takes something from her or if Annie won’t share. What a drama queen! There is now a January album of pictures posted on the girls’ page. Enjoy!

Below are some pictures of Mike shucking some local oysters. We had them on the grill the other night. They weren’t as good as eating them raw, but they were still yummy. He, of course, got lots of fishing time while on break. Sadly, the girls and I were not able to join him at all during the break. Oh, darn!

Have a great week! We’ve got a busy planned for us.