After finally digging out of the snow, we have spent the past two weeks on playdates, Mommydates (Melting Pot, Japanese Steak House and PF Changs all in one week make for one fat Mommy!), choosing preschools (we found an awesome one!), applying bandaids, creating websites (for my new project) and setting up more volunteer projects… and did I mention I have full time job? It has been crazy.

Lily has been busy squeezing in extra “sleepovers” with Aunt Mynn and Emilie spends her days proving she will have no problem holding her own in a fight. (The kid can scream MIIIIIIIIINE! like a champion as she chases you down if you take a toy she wants!)

The lack of pics is because I am camera-less at the moment. Still waiting to make a decision about which camera to get. The good news is I was able to find some choices that have everything I want, including video, so now I just need to make a final decision.

So, long story longer, we are busy and happy. More to come…

As I have vented, frequently, this week marked the end for my laptop and camera. My laptop (only 40 days new!) met a tragic end when it hit the floor. And my camera somehow cracked in what I like to call the horrendously horrible hotshoe homicide (that’s an example of alliteration for any of you preparing for the MSA… ha!). Of course this happens right before the coolest snowstorm so all my pictures were taken with my old point and shoot (which was a blessing in disguise since the camera fell in the snow MANY MANY times).

So… now I am waiting (patiently???) for my new laptop parts to come and for next week’s photography PMA conference so that I can decide what camera to get as a replacement. I really want a sturdier body but I also want video… so I am hoping Nikon announces something with a decent compromise. Thank goodness for tax refunds and electronics insurance!

Between the Scott Kelby training this month and the Me Ra Koh conference in May and several shoots for Children’s in the works… I am trying to be patient. Trying being the key word

We have become a very loud house these days… now that Lily has gotten into the habit of reciting every line from Annie and Pocahontas and Emilie is busy learning new words every day…. I thought I would share some of my favorite things heard around our house these days.

Emilie: Emilie has picked up a slew of words (and only on is unmentionable!) and is pretty demanding when she uses them. She now says: Happy, kitty cat, baba, Lily, Mynn, Momma, Dada, Grandma, milk, down, up, thank you, Get Down! (to Happy), cheese, Uhoh, Ewww, stinky, nightnight, bye, hello, no and mine (although she thinks mine means laptop).

She uses a lot of her words in context. She picks up the phone and says hello, if you give her a purse she puts it on her arm and says bye bye and she says stinky when she sees a diaper. Today she kept saying down, down, down! and I kept helping her off the couch thinking she wanted to get down. Finally she looked at me and patted the couch… she wanted me to sit down. Bossy at 15 months… I am in trouble.

Lily: Lily is going through what I like to call a phase of insanity. Well, I tell myself it is a phase so that I don’t throw myself out of a window… We have been doing a lot of role playing to give her strategies when she is feeling angry. So now she goes and sits down in a huff and tells you she is “frustulated”. I find this funny… she does not find it funny when I find her funny… so this leads to even more huffing and frustulating…

Other than that Lily is busy finding boys handsome and gets upset when a specific “handsome” boy in her class looks at her. (Her words.) We are going to be in trouble in 10 years…

Hope to update with more stuff soon!

Today we made a gingerbread house, baked cookies, painted pottery and built a tower to beat all towers. Throw in lots of play time with our 1,012 new toys… the kids started off 2010 with a bang.