Its just that age...

I'm not sure where its, coming from but all of the sudden Ellie is full of a tun of attitude, I guess its just that age! We are still in the middle of trying to potty train the girls..they go the whole day in "Big girl panties" but still have accidents every now and then, and need to still be asked if they have to go potty for them to actually GO potty in the toilet.
Sidney had already potty so now all I had to do was worry about when Ellie was going to go. "Ellie do you have to go potty?".."No not yet" she would say, and this time I tried to believe her (because typically she'd say no and about five minutes later she'd wet her pants) So i waited about a half hour and asked again, still she said "No not yet". Another half hour or so goes by and I just said "Okay Ellie its time to go on the potty". She turned around and yelled "I SAID NOOOO, NOT YET!!" I then decided that it WAS indeed time for her to go, and sure enough once she got on the potty she went a lot!
The stories not over yet...It was about time to go upstairs and the girls played with so many toys today that the downstairs was a MESS! I decided that I wasn't going to be the only one to clean the mess up so I gave each of the girls a job that they had to do in helping clean up. Sidney's job was to put all the costumes in the treasure chest, and Ellie's was to put all their jewelry in back in the basket. Both not very hard or time consuming jobs...you'd think! Sidney went straight to work and got her job finished very quickly, Ellie on the other hand took her time and pretty much ignored I had said anything at all. I asked her a couple more times and still she didn't do anything to help clean up. As I was helping Sidney go potty I said to Ellie "I don't want to ask you again, please pick up the jewelry and put it in the basket". As I'm walking toward the bathroom with Sidney I hear Ellie say "DON'T SAY THAT TO ME! DON'T SAY THAT TO ME!!" I asked her "Don't say what to you?" "Don't say 'put the jewelry in the basket', don't say that to me" I honestly couldn't believe she'd said that, I kind of laughed to myself (because she was DEAD serious) at her comment and then later explained how she needs to listen..etc..
Sidney on the other hand has been hilarious lately! As I'm putting the girls down for their nap Sidney decides to mouth words to me. "Hey Leah....(and then mouth a bunch of stuff)" I start laugh and say something like "Oh Sidney you're such a goof ball" But Ellie gets frustrated and says "Leah..LEAH...turn the volume up on Sidney!" Haha I about died of laughter!
Sidney is one of those girls who absolutely loves to dress up, and notices all your jewelry or new clothes. She care a lot about how she looks. Today in getting Sidney ready she looks in my eyes and says "Leah you have pretty blue eyes.." "Thanks Sidney" "And you have PRETTY pink lipstick on (which i had no lipstick on actually)..And pretty earrings and neckless...LEAH..you're a pretty princess!!" Now who wouldn't want a compliment like that?:)

The Itsy Bitsy Spider....

It must be that time of year when spiders just want to be inside, and the twins are just like me and can spot even the smallest little spider in the room. Unfortunately (for me) since I'm older than they are, I have to be the one to kill the spiders. For those of you who don't know me very well, I am TERRIFIED of spiders, I'm talking can't breath, need to leave the area type of fear. Today was a hard day because there were spiders everywhere...
The day started out like usual, get the girls dressed, start making breakfast and head down starts to play. When we get downstairs immediately Ellie says "Hey Leah come here, I want to show you something!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the corner of the wall and there it was...a SPIDER!!! (Just a couple feet away from where we found another spider just a day or two before) It was curled up in a ball, so I calmly told the girls it was dead and walked away. But, the girls are a lot smarter than to believe that so they started blowing on it. "LEAH LEAH LEAH GET IT IT'S NOT DEAD ITS ALIVE!!" Once i got back over to the corner there i say the ugly thing, alive as can be. Sidney kept yelling "KILL IT LEAH KILL IT!!!" And Ellie kept on saying "Its okay Sidney, Leah will get it". What faith huh? So I guess the only thing i had to do was actually kill it. Ellie followed me into the bathroom to get a HUGE amount of toilet paper while Sidney stayed by to keep an eye on the spider. It was a big one and I was so scared and really didn't want to get near the ugly thing. The girls must have sense my fear, because the next thing I know I hear Ellie say "Here, hold my hand Leah!!" I look over and the girls are both holding hands looking at me as if I were their only hope and both reached out a hand for my to hold. So with one hand holding both their hands and another I killed it (screaming of course) and QUICKLY ran to the bathroom to flush it down the toilet! -Girls followed of course! Yes it was scary, but hearing both the girls say/sing "Bye bye Spider, GOOD JOB LEAH you did it!" made the whole experience all worth while!!
Oh but the stories not done yet! We then head up stairs after a couple of hours to start up lunch, when Gwynne (their mom) informs me that she saw a spider on the ceiling upstairs and it somehow went missing! OOOH great!! So for the next hour all the girls were concerned about was finding the spider.."Come here spider, where are you spider?" I'm thinking...NO I DON'T WANT TO SEE ANOTHER SPIDER, but it would be nice to find it and kill it so I know its dead! I'm sad to say...we still have yet to find that spider.....eeek!!

Christmas in June

Over the weekend the girls discovered a love they have to "the Grinch who stole Christmas" with Jim Carey. I haven't seen the movie and the girls INSISTED I sit and watch with them! It was a weird experience watching a Christmas movie and singing along to all of the Christmas songs in the middle of June! I will say that it was fun watching it with the girls because they LOVE this movie and consistently asked me if I did too!
Today was a fun day full of a lot of playing and laughter, and only a little bit of crying. We decided to go outside during lunch (Ellie's request).."It's SO beautiful and sunny out today, I LOVE the sun" (using the caps to show how animated she really is). As we're outside the girls decide to water all of the plants, which means I'm filling their tiny green buckets every other minute. Ellie for whatever reason decided to make sure Sadie (their black lab) had enough to drink today so she filled a cup of water and started chasing after Sadie begging her to drink the water. Poor Sadie who probably wasn't thirsty at all of course would run away from her. Poor little Ellie would get so offended that Sadie wasn't drinking the water and just started crying and crying. "SAAADDIE, DRINK YOUR WATER!!!" It was almost as if Sadie just gave in, because even to my surprise Sadie stopped running and drank the water!

Of a Child like faith...

The day started with hearing how the previous night went...
Went down for bed time at 8:30pm and didn't make a sounds. " Oh good they must have went straight to sleep" Gwynne said, until 10 pm when she noticed that their bedroom light was on. She opened the door to see runny poop all over their carpet and a dirty Sidney standing next to Ellie's bed. Apparently there was an explosion, so close to 11pm both the girls took a bath. After spotting the carpet, cleaning the girls, putting sheets in the laundry and changing the sheets, it was time for bed...again!
UNTIL...about midnight Gwynne peeked back into the bedroom to make sure they were asleep and she found Ellie standing in front of the door in a huge puddle of pee and lotion lathered ALL OVER her body....
So when i arrived this morning the house stank from Sidney's poop and Ellie's hair was GREASY!!! But with another bath, more laundry and fabreeze, you would never have known what kind of night the girls had!
Ellie was extra adorable today and Sidney decided to be Ms. Independent! So i had a day full of laughter and gentleness with Ellie. It started before breakfast when i wanted to put some clothes on her, but she insisted that she just "doesn't need to wear clothes". I decided to lose that battle for a little while and started up breakfast, which took longer than usual because I was interrupted every other minute with.."Leah....LEEah...LEEEAAAH"..."Whats up Ellie?"..."Watch THIS"....and then I would watch her naked little body jump up and down a bunch of times! "Wow Ellie you can jump SOO high"...this exact conversation happened about 10 times before i made breakfast!
Next came play time, Sidney was still in her own little world all day, whenever I tried to join her or talk to her, I got glared at. Ellie on the other hand was extra cuddly and clinging. All she wanted to do was cuddle and relax on the couch! (I know, rough life huh?) While we were laying on the couch Ellie starts talking, and this is what I hear.."Dear Jesus, thank you for Mi-Mi (for those of you who don't know, Mi Mi is their Grandma who was just recently diagnosed with acute leukemia) Please help Mi-Mi to heal! Amen". She repeated this prayer over and over again. As i was listening and watching her pray (with her hands crossed and eyes closed) she stopped, looked over at me and said "Lets me tell you a new verse!!" (their mom teaches them a verse every month or so) "For nothing......Leah, can you say for nothing?"..."For nothing".."Is impossible"..."is impossible"...."with GOD"..."With GOD"! We did this a few more times and cuddled a little more. There is nothing in the world more precious than a little girl who has the faith in Christ to do all things.
I am so very thankful for these two beautiful little girls. Not sure what was up with Sidney today, but she still was as adorable as ever (even when she isn't in a loving mood)
Good news!!! BOTH girls stayed dry ALL day in their big girl panties!! Even though i found Ellie with NO panties on at one point, but she at least didn't pee in a corner (that i know of...) Wonder what Monday will bring...

Sidney the little Stinker

This morning was full of a lot of trouble making. A part of my job is to keep up the house hold chores, and today i decided to vacuum! I had made the girls breakfast and put on one of their favorite cartoons so they would be occupied as i vacuumed all the rooms.

(side note)

They are just now starting to wear "big girl panties" on a daily basis, and so that means that are almost but not yet FULLY potty trained. They can go most days without wetting their pants BUT sometimes it happens, specifically Ellie. Poor little Ellie she's always so innocent about it too, once i found her right in front of the toilet standing in a puddle of her own pee. Another time she called for me and showed me by stomping in her bare feet a puddle in the carpet of her pee. (both times are AFTER I ask her if she has to go pee and both times she has said "no, not yet"). I have really been working on either asking her every since hour if she has to go, or just putting her on the toilet every hour.

Before I started vacuuming i specifically asked the girls "Do you have to go potty?" they both said "No" and like usual I ask "Are you sure?" and they both said "Yes" So i went about my business. About a minute or two later i hear a little voice calling "LEAH!!!!" and little footsteps

coming towards me, in comes Sidney. "Sissy (their nick-name for each other) went pee-pee" she said multiple times. I automatically believed her and yelled out "ELLIE GRACE!!!". I walk into the kitchen to see Ellie sitting here innocently eating her breakfast and dry as a bone. She looked up and said "What Leah, whats wrong?", and I look over at Sidney and she's laughing! Where in the world do little kids learn to do stuff like that?!?

Sidney just has a way of pushing some buttons, and Ellie is one of the most innocent/sensitive little girls I know. About an hour after the potty display we start to head downstairs. I stopped about half way to wait for Ellie (Sidney was right next to me) "You can't come down here with us Sissy" Sidney says. Ellie then takes that literally, stops taking steps to come downstairs and starts crying..."Why are you crying, Elle-Belle?" I asked and in a sad little voice and tears running down her face she says "Sidney said I can't come downstairs!!!" I then said "Well I said you could..." "But SISSY said i couldn't..." she said back. Before I could say anything back Sidney says in a kind and sweet voice as if she wasn't the one who made this whole situation happen, "You can come down and play with us sissy, that's OK!" I just looked at Sidney and couldn't help at laugh what I had just witnessed! The rest of the day was full of little episodes like these where Sidney would try and get Ellie in trouble or try and discipline Ellie herself. I actually walked in on Sidney yelling "ELLIE GRACE YOU COME HERE RIGHT NOW!!"

I must say though, it was a good day! Ellie discovered that she wants to be a photographer "when she gets bigger"! "Hoooold still...say CHEESE PLEASE"...."Cheese"...."NO say cheese PLEASE!".."Cheese please!!"..."THERE, I got it!!" (This exact scenario happened at least twenty times today!

How we got to this point

On Feb 14, 2005 the beautiful twin girls were born. First came Sidney Marie and next was Ellie Grace. I started watching the girls when they were 7 months old, and couldn't have been happier with this job. I was blessed with the opportunity to take care of two amazing twin girls everyday as well as build a wonderful friendship with their mom!




The girls have been there with me through many ups and downs; within the first week of working with them, my Grandpa died, but there was always SOMETHING about coming to see their beautiful smiles and hearing their adorable laughs that made life more rich and happy again. Things haven't changed a bit, here I am 3 years later and they've seen me through several different heart aches, pains and struggles of life, but coming to work and spending each day with them some how made all the hard stuff easier to handle.




July 31 2009 I will no longer be their nanny. I have decided to move to Idaho come September to live with my parents for awhile and start a life down there and see what God has planned for me! Its going to be very difficult not being able to see the girls everyday like I have for the last 3 years, but it just is time to move on, but i know for a FACT that these girls and their family will be apart of my life forever.




If you know me at all, you'd know that I frequently talk about the people I love, and so of course I have MANY stories of the girls. This last weekend I went away for a mini-vacation with my family and found myself talking about and sharing lots of stories of the girls, and that gave me the idea that maybe other people would want to hear these stories too!




Now let me introduce you to the girls:






Here we have Ellie Grace, who i like to call Elle-Belle or Ellie-Bell. She is one of the smartest little girls that I know (And I'm not just saying that). Her brain is literally a sponge, you just have to say something to her once and she'll remember it (even when you don't). She has a precious heart of gold that helps her to be the non-rule breaker who will do pretty much anything you say and is scared to do much outside of her comfort zone. She is scared of a lot of things such as "scary witch ladies" on the TV, being in room by herself and "BUGS" (specifically spiders). Some people may see fear such as hers as a bad thing, but I see it as her guarding herself and her heart which is a good quality to have. You'll often see her singing and dancing, even when she's on the potty trying to go poop. She's a busy little girl who loves learning new things and sharing what she learned. She's beautiful!

Next we have Sidney who I like to call Sidney-Bear. This girl is funny even when she's not even trying to be. Starting from the moment i met her, Sidney has had a strong, independent personality. I can already tell she's going to be a perfectionist, because she doesn't like to do anything until she KNOWS she can do it right. Sidney is the drama queen of the two (and i mean that in more ways than one)--She LOVES to dress up and play princess, cheerleader or cook and is the typical strong willed fireball who approaches EVERYTHING all or nothing! She loves to push your buttons and see how serious you are and how far she can go. She's not afraid of much, so trying new things isn't very difficult for her. She usually wears her heart of her sleeve, so you typically know exactly how Sidney feels, whether its happy, sad or mad Sidney will let you know. This is a very strong attribute of Sidney that is difficult to work with at times but make her who she is. She is the most adorable little love bug whose smile can brighten your day and whose sense of humor can make you laugh for hours. She's truly a gift!

My goal here is to share with you all the funny, sweet and precious last few weeks I have with these girls. I promise you its going to be worth reading! :)