Merry Christmas!

Christmas was wonderful! The girls both got into it so much and it was awesome to see the excitement on their sweet little faces! It was great having family over and being together-the only thing that could have made it better was a little white on the ground.

Well you all know that this mama had the camera out in full force and got tons of pictures. The overall "look" for Shiloh in all her pictures was this crazy little gritted teeth, closed eyes smile. She has never done that for pictures before but it was like she realized that it was Christmas and she had to step up her picture game.

Here are a few samples from the fun:

*This is the look!

*And here it is again! I wanted her to show me her present here but she laid it down and turned to strike "the look"

*Here is a case of the little sister rubbing off on the big one. Waiting for daddy to sling a skillet for Christmas breakfast!

*Grandma Cindi got Gracie her Christmas wish with this little ipod shuffle(pink of course). Ever since her Aunt Rachel won a shuffle at church and we loaded some songs on it for her, Gracie has wanted a shuffle. I know she is only 3 but the girl loves her music and knows how to operate the thing!


*Shiloh also loves the shuffle now. Look at this technique. Shiloh on the balance beam that my dad made for the girls, while jamming to some tunes on the shuffle, all the while manipulating a monkey yo-yo. Christmas just brings out the best in us all!

My brain is out of batteries...

Today was a great day for the Smith gals. I had a 2 hour delay at school and needed to take the girlies with me to kindergarten for the day. Our already short day gets even shorter on 2 hour delay days- we only have the kinder friends for 1 1/2 hours. By the time they get there and unpack we are basically packing them right back up and bundling them out the door. It is crazy!! Gracie and Shiloh joined us for the day today and they had a blast. Gracie latched right onto some friends and they just ushered her around the room and took care of her every need. Another little boy really looked out for Shiloh. I looked over at one point and he was cuddling her. She was just lounging back on him and he was holding her with a giant smile on his face. Too cute! I wish I had my camera. It was quite a full day because we then headed off to Gracie's gymnastics class. Gracie has been working on a move at gymnastics called skin the cat. It is a little move on the bars where they put their legs through and flip their bodies over while hanging on the bars. It is kind of tricky for these little ones. She does it with her coach by her side all the time but then struggles when she gets by herself. She wasn't able to do it today. On the way home from gymnastics class I gave her the whole speech about giving it her best and really trying even when she thinks it will be too hard. I then asked her why she thought it was so hard for her and she replied:
"Mama, it is like my brain is out of batteries when I hang on the bar. I think it needs some fresh ones."
She really replied that way to me. I just looked in the rear view mirror and smiled. I feel like that all the time but never had the ability to describe it quite the way she did!
She loves asking if things need fresh batteries. She really is thinking about how things work and what things are made of. It is very cool that she translated that thinking about batteries to her little brain.
Yes-I did explain that her brain doesn't work on batteries but sometimes it would be nice if it did. Right around 5:00(if not earlier) I could just pop a couple AA's in and freshen myself right up.
Don't you find it interesting that I only required my brain to work on AA? I should of dreamed bigger-maybe C cell?

Christmas Pictures

Every year I try and snap a few pictures of the girls for Christmas cards as well as Christmas memories. Gracie's first Christmas she was chilling in her little boppy gazing up at the tree and we were able to catch the twinkle of the light. I would bust that one out for you but that was still pre-digital time for me. I was still old schooling it with my canon rebel 35mm. Loved that camera but sure wasted some film!

Gracie's second Christmas my sister and I decided to doll the girls(Gracie and my niece Natalie) all up and take them down to the Franklin Park Conservatory with the big Poinsettia tree. We did their little hair, switched their naps all around and put those scratchy little tights on them. We drove ourselves all the way down there only to find that they were closed on that particular day of the week. Why? Why do we do these things to ourselves?

Last year came and it was the first Christmas with both the little sweeties and I managed to squeak one or two pictures out but spent most of the time managing tears. We arrive to this year and we had some fun. Things are getting a little easier but they still get pretty fed up with me and the camera pretty quickly. Here is what we managed:

*One of the first ones we did-they are still fresh loving on one another. They don't stay this fresh for that long!

*Shiloh is seriously up to something here. I do love this picture but I do see this face often and let me tell you she is up to somthing here!

*This is the potty face. It is accompanied by a groan of some sort, an attempt to say potty, and then movement towards the bathroom. If you could see down farther in the picture you would see her finger is pointing to the "region".

*And Shiloh runs! Losing focus here people!

*Gracie is airing out. You can tell these girls don't wear dresses often. Time for a mama intervention complete with picture pep talk!

*Back on track-or so I thought! Shiloh's relies on her quick reflex because she really never can tell what her big sister is going to throw her way. Gracie leans in for the kiss but Shiloh retreats. Gracie then can't understand why. Shiloh has just learned at the ripe old age of 19 months that she "must protect her house"!

*Trying real hard here not to give me the pirate eye picture! So beautiful Gracie Bella!

*And we are now in tears!


*Totally and completely finished with these shannanigans. Mama has lost picture control.

I ended up getting some good ones here but I could help but think back to the olden days of the 35 mm camera. How did I do that? I must have taken 3 rolls of pictures only to manage 2 or 3 good ones. My new digital rebel is justified and we are all happier for it!!

Shiloh Loves the Potty!

Yes-
Shiloh(my 19 month old) loves the potty!
Shiloh has recently demanded to be potty trained. Now, I thought Gracie potty trained pretty early and pretty easy but Shiloh definitely has her beat. The crazy thing is that Shiloh doesn't have near the words that Gracie had at her age but can somehow quickly "tell" me when she has to go potty. She just groans or grunts and pulls at herself and then takes off running for the nearest potty. This all started a few weeks ago when Shiloh decided she was done with diapers. She whined about having it on and would go and find Gracie's underwear wherever she could and bring them to me to put on her. She would grab them out of dirty clothes hampers and baskets and come whining to wear them. I put them on her one time just to let her feel and see how it went and sure enough she kept them dry.
One day at nap I went in to kind of start waking her up and I saw her laying there with bare bottom up in the air. Immediately I figured I was going to have a big pee mess to clean up because the kid had been sleeping for almost 3 hours but when I searched around for the diaper I found that the bed was completely dry and so was she. She had taken her diaper off and stuffed it between the crib and the mattress. Completely dry! From then on I decided that it really isn't about me here-it is about her-and if she wants to potty then by goly-she is going to potty. She pretty much wears her little underwear at all times when we are home and for the most part stays completely dry. She even recently has started telling me when we are out and we just go right into the big public restrooms. It is crazy because I am lining the potty with toilet paper for my baby. She gets both me and Gracie barking orders of "hands off" from the time we enter until the time we leave. She is just a baby still!! I guess she is just a baby who is sick of wearing a nasty, wet diaper stuck all around her little rear end!
We haven't mastered "the deuce" but she is just 19 months old.
Crazy little girl!
I guess just one more cool thing about second children. All Shiloh wants is to be like her sister and I know that is her motivator on this one. Now you all know why it has been so long since I last posted-I am busy dropping everything when she tells me she has to potty like 20 times a day. I sure do love her spunk!