So..Two months later...

 Sorry about the lack of blog posts!  I just checked my blog and I haven't posted since Halloween and here we are at almost Christmas!  You haven't missed out on a ton, maybe that's why I haven't posted much because there hasn't been a ton to write about.  This season the girls have enjoyed decorating for Christmas, their elf Gumdrop Piggy Elf-Elf is back and we find him every morning, their advent calendar to countdown the days, zoo lights, hot chocolate Christmas walks at night, and sending out Christmas cards (still working on this one!).  I have captured some cute pictures leading up to Christmas that I just have to post.

The girls decorating their own tree

The culprit of many broken ornaments

Showing me what cranky elves would look like 

One of the favorite mornings when the girls found Gumdrop roasting a marshmallow on a candle

Only in Arizona can you put up Christmas lights naked.  You should have seen Drew. :)

Cambry's favorite day of finding Gumdrop.

Yes...I will make my children dress as elves as long as they will let me!

Halloween 2012

 Since Cambry has had her Halloween costume since June I thought that it might be a bit anti-climactic by the time that October 31st actually rolled around.  However, she could have not been more excited.  Every day in October she woke up and asked if it was Halloween.  Finally when the day arrived she was so excited, and we gave her one final touch that made her day.  "Crazy-curly hair that's orangy-red" as she called it.  She has been waiting to sleep in sponge curlers, have her hair sprayed orange, and have freckles added. I took out the curlers, put her in the tub to spray her hair, added her freckles, and then I lifted her up to my mirror so she could see the end result.  Her eyes bugged out of her head and her smile was beaming.  She WAS MERIDA!!!  I think it was the best day of her life.
As for Colbie she flip-flopped a lot over who she wanted to be from a cucumber to a giant.  Her number one choice was Prince Cornelius.   Who is that you might ask?  I would like to know as well.  Apparently he is some random prince who has wings in the movie Thumbalina a movie that I, and I would say most people, have not seen.  I envisioned myself going door to door to our neighbors with my baby girl as this winged prince claiming to be Cornelius.  Funny, but for the sake of having no idea how to get a Cornelius costume I steered her into another directions.  She loves cats and specifically loves a girl cat, Kitty Soft Paws, from the movie Puss In Boots.  That I can handle.  Unlike her everything-has-to-be-exact sister, she didn't have to have every detail of Miss Soft Paws, so she was comfortable in a black cat outfit and just corrected people on her identity if they had mistaken her for merely a black cat.  

 

My favorite picture of Cambry, I mean Merida, of the day.  That's her "Merida" face. 

 Oh the curls and sprayed hair that brought so much joy.  Some even thought is was a wig, but it was her awesome hair. 

 If pictures had sound all you would hear is meowing.  She meowed all. day. long.

"I'll shoot for my own hand!!" She said in her Scottish accent.

A goofy lunch

I'm not sure why the girls were so hyper, but they were cracking Drew and I up at lunch the other day.  The funniest part of this video is about 15 seconds in when Colbie (who turned three and has become a comedian) makes the most random face and voice.  You can hear by my laugh it was the first time she had done it and I captured it on video! Yes! The rest you may not even think the rest of the video is funny but I do and i wanted to remember what life is like at this stage, and I think it will might entertain your kiddos. 

New gig

As most of you know I have been doing hair out my home for years now.  It's been a great blessing to have clients who are dedicated enough to forgo the salon experience and stick their pretty little heads in my kitchen sink.  It's been a huge blessing to stay home with my children and work while they are with me.  Up until recent times things have gone very very smoothly, however, this ideal situation quickly went down hill.  The girls became very aware what they could get away with while mommy had her hands full.  This involved multiple pee's on the carpet (thank you Colbie T.), mental breakdowns, milk wars, emptying the paper shredder and leaving a shredded paper trail all through out the house, and mean streaks.  Mischief and disobedience in many different ways started to rear its ugly head.  Unfortunately, when I was with a client there was not much I could do until they were gone to put out the fire and discipline the fire starters.  And let me tell you they were turning into little pyromaniacs.  I was feeling disheartened and frustrated at what had gone on with the girls after each client.  They were getting into so much trouble, but being that they are unsupervised three and four year old's of course they were.   It didn't seem fair to them, to me, or to my clients. What was working in the past was no longer working.  Not just because of the girls, but I was also getting exhausted taking my kitchen and turning it into a salon and turning it back into a super clean hair-free kitchen multiple times a week.  It pretty much came down do two options: a very early retirement, or going to work in a salon.  I really love doing hair, so I picked going to a salon.  I'm so glad I did!!  I had my first day last Monday and it was awesome!!  I didn't go into work until 2pm so I had all morning with the ladies.  We went to had breakfast, went to dance class, did some schooling, played, had lunch, and then I got ready for work.  It felt like I got to see them and and then Drew was home by 5 so he had a fun evening with them.  (Don't worry there was a sitter in between those the time I left and Drew got home)  I'm only working one day per week so it is nice that I have all of my clients in one day and the rest of the week to be a mom.  It was a magical day and a huge confirmation that I made the right choice.  It seems that everyone is happier and we actually have more time together.    

Colbie is 3!!

Today Colbie turned 3!!!  What a year of growth for this little lady!  I love this little girl so much for all of the ways that she keeps this family on our toes.  She is such a goofball that most people don't get to see because she saves it for us, but I can't tell you how funny she has become.  She excels at anything that has to do with language like learning bible verses, or Spanish, or correcting me if I pronounce a word incorrectly.  She loves cats even though in her video of favorite things she says she loves chickens.  I don't know where that came from she is totally going to be the crazy lady with a ton of cats when she is older.  She loves to dance and be twirled around the room.  She has the softest buns I've ever laid a hand on.  She loves to wear her hair down "in a bob"(though I get final say:)), and loves to brush mine which I love too!  She loves to play with her Disney dolls and prefers that they are all in their undies like she prefers to be.  I guess I will let her tell you the rest on her video. 

Started her birthday off with a little cooking. What's under that apron???

Those soft buns!

Then we went to Discovery Park to feed the ducks and turtles

Daddy stopped by too!

We ended our day with a little Swirl It, and called it a night.

The habit that daddy has passed on..

They loved the new chalkboard wall at Swirl it.  What's that?  Both kids are using their left hands?? Yes!!! (to be totally honest I think Colbs is a righty, but I'm still encouraging her to keep her options open)

Colbie T. we love you so much!  We are so so proud of all of your accomplishments!  You are one cool cat and I'm lucky to spend my days with you.  Happy Birthday kiddo, now stop growing up!

Dinosaur hunt

   Last week in The Roberts Academy of Academics, Creativity, & Nudity Awareness we started a series on dinosaurs.  I personally love dinosaurs, so I probably had the most fun.  It started off with a dinosaur hunt.  I bought two packs of little dino figurines at the dollar store and hid them around the living room and then had my little paleontologists find them.   After a few days of being called paleontologist Cambry had to clear things up by saying "Mom, I just want to make sure that I am Paley and Colbie is Tologist." Then Colbie piped up "Yes, I want to be Tologist." I laughed so hard realizing that they thought I was calling them Paley and Tologist instead of paleontologist.  It'scracked me up all week. 

What just happened?

There are many moments as a parent that I have had to stop and say, "what just happened?"  I found myself asking myself that question yesterday after an adventurous morning.  Many of you have heard the story already, but I have to blog about it so that years from now I can pull up my blog to have Cambry read it.  The story of yesterday goes like this:

The girls and I were leaving for the gym, so we headed out to the car through the garage like we always do.  The girls went out ahead of me and I hit the button on the wall in the garage to open the garage door like I always do.  Cambry ran to the garage door to pretend it is her strength lifting it like she always does, while I reached in my car through the passengers side to lean in and start the car to cool it down like I always do.  As I'm looking in my purse for sunglasses I hear Cambry yell "MAMA!!!!!!!"  I panic and look around for her and find her dangling from the garage ceiling.  She had held on to the garage door and went up with it.  I ran to her and grabbed her down and held her.  She had the deer in the headlights look.  I asked her if she was hurt and she told me she wasn't.  I asked her if she was scared and she burst into tears.  I'm going to blame it on being in shock and not heartlessness, but I couldn't stop laughing.  What just happened?
I calmed her down and we prepared to be on our merry way, so I shut the passenger side door that I had so frantically left open to save my child and went to open the kids doors and they wouldn't open.  Then I checked all of the doors and none of them open.  My car was running with my keys, and cell phone (our only phone), and my stroller all locked in.  What just happened?  *By this point there may have been a few more words in that last sentence, but I'll leave them out for the sake of a clean blog.*
I put the girls in a wagon and headed in the heat to walk to my parents house, who were both out of town, but I new that they had a phone I could use.  Luckily, my dad unexpectedly pulled in and saved the day.  He came to my house and after a valiant effort propped open my car door and used a tape measure to press down a window button.  The window that rolled down happened to be one of the backseat child proof windows that only goes down half way and you can't stick your arm in to unlock the door because it's all child proof.  So my dad hoisted me in and I shimmied through the half open window while laughing and got inside my dang car. 
What just happened?
I had to laugh at the day because it was really funny, and no one ended up in the E.R.  so that's still a good day I guess!  Never a dull moment around here I tell ya.

TRAACNA

I had to make the decision on whether or not to send Cambry to preschool this year, and I just selfishly could not send her off!  It's my last year before she goes to kindergarten and I am going to spend every minute that I can with her.  With that said,  I know I have the responsibility of teaching her what she needs to know to be set up for success when she starts school.  Last week we began The Robert's Academy of Academics, Creativity, & Nudity Acceptance.  My nudist children have shown up for every session of school thus far in only their undies, so we decided that would be the required uniform.  (Though teachers and guest speakers are all required to be fully dressed)  They have been awesome about their enthusiasm to learn and try new things.  They ask all day if they can "do learning", and I they are bummed when their session is over.  The girls favorite part was picking out their school supplies.  Cambry picked a Brave pencil box and Colbie picked a Lalaloopsy pencil box which are their favorite.  We are having school in the ex-nursery room for now.  That room is headed for a major makeover very soon!

First day of school  

Laguna Beach Trip

 We recently went on vacation with Grandpa John and Uncle Will.  We flew out and met them in California and had a blast for four days.   We stayed in Dana Point, which is super close to Laguna Beach, in a beautiful hotel with a great view of our amazing destination.  We could walk to the beach so that's what we did the first day we got there!  Cambry was so excited about getting in and jumping through the waves, and Colbie was more of a sand monster burring everyone's feet.   At our hotel they also had a really great kiddie pool and splash pad area that the girls loved. 

*Notice you cannot see his feet because they are burried :)

Colbie was eating a marshmallow that was covered in chocolate.  She made such a mess, but she so stinkin pretty she made a chocolate mouth look cute. 

We also found a wonderful ice cream shop called the Scoop Deck and ate way too much ice cream...Two nights in a row. :)

We drove to Huntington Beach one day to walk the shops and see a different beach, and we happened to time it during the US Open Surf Competition.  It was awesome, but insanely crowded.  They had the streets blocked off and different venders had booths set up.  We came across a booth for the marines and if you did pull-ups you were given some free things.  I and my children love free things even if it's just pencils and stickers, so I talked Drew into doing some pull-ups.  In this picture one marine is showing what counts as a pull-up because they were very picky on their techniques. 

Here is Drew doing his pull-ups and he even did them with his legs straight out - mostly to impress the marines I think.  He did nine of them (that they counted-he did a few more but they were not up to their technical standards).  It was very impressive, but was a bit overshadowed by the teenage gymnast girl that pumped out 16 pull-ups right in front of him.   She was my idol.  

The girls were with us cheering their daddy on, and the marines told them that they could do it too and they were very excited and accepted the challenge.  Cambry had no fear and stepped up first, smiling and beaming ready to show her muscles.  You can see from the video daddy was doing most of the work for her, but she still takes all the credit.  Then it was Colbie's turn.  She was brave and ready to do it to, and she took it very seriously.  When Colbie is around strangers or people she is a bit unsure of she gives the best stone-cold stare.  It's like her eyes are burning through you and looking into your soul.  She is quite the intimidater even to grown men. :)  The marines were cracking up as she had her serious game face on and busted out her pull-ups.  Drew said on Colbie's turn she was doing most of the work and he was just supporting.  She is strong as an ox!  I took a video and she cracks me up to watch.   

 

I am in love with this pic.

...and this one too!

Thanks Grandpa John for a wonderful vacation!  We love you and appreciate you so much!