Annie aka "Swiper the Fox"

Tonight confirmed two thoughts 1) Annie is consumed by treats and will do anything to get them and 2) Annie knows how to get what she wants. Picture this...

Kate and Annie are in the basement playing. Kate puts her treats on top of their play kitchen set because Annie keeps trying to get them (she already finished hers). I am upstairs finishing dinner. Annie comes up and goes into the tupperware cupboard and then goes back downstairs. Two minutes later, Annie is back in the tupperware cupboard and then disappears again. I wonder what she is doing so I look in the cupboard and there I find a bowl that Kate had her treats in downstairs...only it was empty! I go downstairs to find a chair in front of the play kitchen and Kate's treats are no longer there! I ask Annie what she has and she responds "I got my treats!" and smiles at me with her big cheesy grin!

That little stinker knew enough to change out the bowls so Kate would not think Annie was eating Kate's treats!!! When I told Kate what Annie did she said..."Mom, Annie is just like Swiper the Fox!" She is always swiping my treats! I couldn't help but laugh and I must admit...maybe I am a little proud that Annie has such good creative problem solving skills at such a young age ;) Lord help us when she is 16!

The Listening Chair

It seems as though the girls have been a little naughtier than usual lately! We have had some recent outbursts that have tried our patience. Like Monday night when Kate was copping an attitude and got mad because I did not have "soft" corn, aka cream corn, and decided to throw her entire plate of food on the floor. TIMEOUT Annie kept yelling from the kitchen chair where she also proceeded to tell me "I No Like" which seems to be her choice of words for all dinner food now except fruit! Which of course causes tantrums when we tell her "you get what you get and don't throw a fit" no fruit if you don't eat your dinner!

Tuesday night wasn't much better. Annie decided to pee in the tub right when I stuck her in. So...as I was getting them out to drain the tub and put new water in, Kate thought it would be funny to pee too but instead it landed on me and the floor! I was NOT happy considering I had just scrubbed the floor on Sun. night because they both peed on it over the weekend! Annie then did not want to get back into the tub and continued to scream loudly throughout the entire two minutes that I forced her to get clean. She was so pooped from screaming that she sat and cuddled with me then for 10 minutes while Kate took her bath.

And tonight...just as they were on their way to Super Balls in their bowl (which means they get a special treat - and you know how they love treats!) they proceeded to jump on the bed (laughing hysterically) after numerous requests to stop. We are like a broken record every night when it comes to NO JUMPING on the bed! Kate was put in her chair and Annie hers and they lost their treats :( They then decided to just jump on their pillows instead...always finding a way to have fun!

I know that our rules and discipline are sinking in even though they may choose not to always follow them. Kate sat down and crossed her legs at her table yesterday morning and told Annie that she needed to come to the "Listening Chair" for a talk! Annie was throwing a fit about something or another and Kate took it upon herself to discipline her...which she tries to do all too often. She sat on Annie's jacket and told her that once they had their talk she could have her jacket and they could go to school. I had to laugh pretty hard because it just goes to show that while she may pretend not to pay attention to us...she is definitely listening to what we tell her!

Annie too is listening to what we say...one of her new words lately seems to be "damn it". Oops!!!!

These are just a few snippet into the fun times we have had recently. We love our girls more than ever but boy can they be exhausting! And we have many more fun times than we do naughty times so I guess I can't complain! :)-

I mean seriously...how can you not just love these little faces!

Spring Time Fun!

So the weather has finally been somewhat decent over the past two weeks so we have taken advantage of that and done some fun things outside. Two weekends ago we decided to go to the MN Zoo...I think everyone else had the same idea because the place was packed!!! We still had a nice time and spent a few hours looking at animals, of course had to visit the little playground, and then enjoyed a picnic lunch basically in the parking lot on some grass where Kate discovered we were sitting in an area with a lot of goose poop which of course she couldn't stop looking at! Annie was a little afraid of the animals this year which shouldn't have surprised us since she is afraid of dogs outside when she is inside and doesn't like the roar of the lion on the opening credits of movies! One other thing that was solidified at the zoo...Annie only wants to walk places and she does not watch where she is going! She is definitely in the independent stage, Lord help us!

This past weekend we went to the park near our home and also had a picnic. Kate is climbing all of the monkey bars which of course scares me that she will fall but Brian seems to think she is fine. Annie too is not afraid of anything and tries to do whatever it is Kate does! Can't take our eyes off of her for a minute! It was another nice day until it was time to come inside for naps and then we had a few tantrums erupt and Brian actually had to walk down the street to help me bring Kate home kicking and screaming while I walked with Annie carrying two bikes in my hands!

Happy Easter!

Easter this year was not a traditional Easter...no church, ham, or family gathering :( The night before Easter we got around to coloring the eggs which was a lot of fun! Both Kate and Annie had a great time and were actually a big help. And amazingly we only had one cup spill! Easter morning was a blast with the girls enjoying their baskets full of treats...as you can imagine Annie was in HEAVEN!!! The Easter egg hunt was also a big hit especially when Kate found money in some eggs!

I made a big breakfast for us all to enjoy but both Kate and Annie decided they wanted their usual...cereal and Brian unfortunately came down with the stomach flu. So while Brian stayed home and relaxed, I took the girls to see Mikey (my nephew) play baseball at the Dome (who knew the Gophers played games on Easter!). I was amazed at how well behaved they were considering Annie seemed to have a little case of the big D and neither had naps. They especially enjoyed it when I took them to the Dug Out Club and they got free food! Kate made a friend who gave her a dollar and Annie looked at him and said "Mine, me too!". I told him he couldn't just give one girl a dollar!

Overall it was a nice day but we sure wish Dad could have joined us. Maybe next year we will go the traditional Easter route! Here are a few pics of our egg coloring fun!

The Bouncy Ball

The Easter Bunny brought Annie a Dora bouncy ball.....here are a few clips of the fun....well at least until the end. I will say that upon a slow motion review of the spill; Dad was wrong and Annie did smack her nose on the floor but she was over it in about 10 seconds as you'll see when she forgets about her nose and starts to yell....."Mine!!!!!!!!" after she realized Kate snagged the ball while while she was still laying dazed and confused on the floor! In Kate's defense, she is an incredibly loving and protective big sister.....just not at that particular moment.

Future Dr. Kate!

This winter the Clemens' household dealt with 6 bouts of strep throat, 4 bouts of stomach flu, 2 ear infections, painful diaper rash and countless other viruses! What next you ask...bring on Fifth's Disease! Yes, that is actually the name of a spring virus commonly seen in children during the spring months.

After a fun trip to the zoo on Saturday (pics soon to be posted!), we thought Katelin and Annie had some sun/wind burn on their cheeks. Well Annie's seemed to go away but Kate's just got worse. At daycare on Monday the teacher said she thought she had Fifth's Disease (Slapped Cheek). It is a virus that has cold or flu-like symptoms (or no symptoms) and the bodies way of reacting is to break out in a rash. It starts with a bright red blotchy rash on the cheeks that can then spread to the entire body and can last for weeks! Unfortunately you are contagious before you know you have it...once the rash appears you are no longer contagious.

So...I took Kate in the to the doc on Monday. She was so brave! First they made her do a strep test cuz her throat was red. The little peanut got scared for a minute and then just opened her mouth and had no tears...I guess after 4 tests this winter she is getting used to it! The doctor couldn't confirm it just by looking at her cheeks so she decided to do a blood test and a CBC so off to the lab we went! Of course inside I was thinking "This is not gonna be a fun experience" since Kate has never had blood drawn from her arm. I told her what she could expect and she said she was ready to go! All I can say is Kate definitely does not take after her mom as I cried during college when I had to get a shot and I used to pass out with the needle in my arm so they made me lie in a chair from then on out! Kate on the other hand, sat on my lap, watched the needle go in and was amazed at all of her blood coming out! Never a peep of fear from her!

The nurse told Kate she could get a sticker for being so good but Kate said she already got one upstairs so she didn't need another one! When the nurse told Kate someday she might be a doctor because she did such a good job, Kate said "Yes I might be a doctor"! This would be good news since a number of people in our family are hypocondriacs and we could use some good medical advice!

Go Kate! :)

Oh....we are still awaiting the results of the test but Annie too now is starting to get a little rash. If it isn't this, then back to the doc for further evaluation!

A Star...correction: 2 Stars Are Born!

For now....they seem to get their dance moves from Dad! I'm sure once the dance recitals, which are clearly in the future, kick in they'll take after Mom. The set up is that Kate and Annie were watching "Annie" the movie on Friday, AKA Family Pizza and Movie Night, and out of nowhere started to dance along with the Rockette's scene. We rewound it and grabbed the camera - enjoy Take 2!

It's Gone

Well, Friday the 3rd marked the end of an era - The Volvo was sold and picked up by it's new owner after less than one week on Craigslist . For those of you who had the pleasure of riding in it, you know it's a real loss for us and for those of you who never had the opportunity...... I can only think that you would have been proud to have experienced the 850 during your lifetime. Eh, who am I kidding, nobody wanted to drive or ride in it except for me! I'll miss it though; it started to grow on me. We're looking forward to the new car....er eh....minivan (can't believe I just typed that) but not having a car payment again.