Flurry

It has been a flurry of activity lately!

December has felt pretty chaotic, and we've had both really fun and really sad things going on. First for the fun stuff! Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon came for a visit in early December. They got to spend lots of time with their two nutso granddaughters (I have a hilarious video of Sharon trying to feed them breakfast, but it won't upload. I'll keep trying!) They left a singing snowman thing that the girls love to dance to:

The girls also got to meet Santa in early December. I was a little worried about how they'd do sitting on a hairy stranger's lap, but they must have already sensed that Santa was a good guy because they did just fine!On December 13th, Claire and Abby's cousin Lily turned 1! I can't believe its already been a year since she was born. Lily had a great party at Grandma and Grandpa's house with her family and friends.

Lily got tons of great presents, but I'm sure she loved this spinning Elmo chair from her Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ryan, and cousins Claire and Abby the best. :) You can see more pictures soon at my sister's blog: www.woyak.com.

Chryst Family Christmas

As soon as Lily's party ended, us Lamberts hopped in the car and drove to Eau Claire for a housewarming party for Ryan's brother, Scott, and his wife, Emma, who just moved into their new house. We also had part one of our family Christmases and the girls' first ever Christmas celebration. We partied it up with Grandma Gwen, Grandpa Rich, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Andy, Cousin Alex (2, pictured above with her parents), Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma.

The girls (Claire, left, and Abby, above) got cute mouse ears from Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Andy, as well as these cool puzzles with their names on them. They also got a turtle that projects stars and moons on the wall around their room from Uncle Scott and Aunt Emma. Alex seemed to like the Tinkerbell book and Thomas duplos we got her, too. We all got great gifts from Grandma and Grandpa, too, including story book pillows, new sleepers, snowman magnets, and more!

Campbell Family Christmas

And the Christmas fun continues! We spent Christmas Eve at Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Mike's house with Aunt Jill, Uncle Jason, Cousin Lily, Uncle Greg, and Great-Aunt Pat. We discovered a new food we love: green marshmallow jello salad. Yum!

The girls wore these beautiful dresses that Grandma Sharon made for them (can you believe she made them?!?!). Abby, in green, and Claire, in red, looked so adorable! I would have loved to get a picture of them in their dresses WITHOUT pacifiers in their mouths, but they've been teething pretty badly lately and scream any time they're without them. It's made for a fun few days with the girls!

There were also many more wonderful gifts at the Campbell Christmas! The girls got a Radio Flyer wagon -- complete with seat belts, cup holders, and a canopy -- from Grandma and Grandpa. They also got a Little People musical ride-on toy, which they are loving, and a book rack from Aunt Jill and Uncle Jason. And of course, Santa brought them lots of toys and treats! It was a wonderful first Christmas! (I was also incredibly excited and surprised when Ryan and I got a camcorder from Jill and Papa! Woo hoo! I'll put it to good use and you can expect more videos from me in the future, I'm sure)

Good-bye Grandma Great

By far, the biggest (and saddest) thing that happened this December was the loss of the girls' "Grandma Great" (my grandma and my mom's mom) Dorothy Stinson. Grandma Stinson lived a wonderfully long 93-years, and was very healthy for most of those years. However, a very bad gall bladder infection left her with no other choice but to go through surgery, and the recovery became too hard for her. She passed away the afternoon of December 14th, surrounded by her three children and others who loved her.

When I think of my Grandma Stinson, I am sad that my girls won't ever get to hold her soft hands, or play with her beautiful snow white hair, or eat the delicious food that only she could make, but I am so very grateful that she got to meet my girls and spend at least a little time with them. Her family brought such delight to her, as she told us often, and I know each one of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren had a special place in her heart, as she did in ours. She was an incredible woman with a great sense of humor (even at 93!), and she will be missed very much.

My brother and I visited our grandma in the hospital the night before her surgery. I told her that she was in every single one of my big memories from childhood, and it's true! My roommates in college used to refer to my family as "the herd" because we went everywhere together. I realize now how lucky I was to have that. What kid gets not only their immediate family, but also both their grandmas and their aunt, for every birthday and holiday celebration and every trip to the cabin? She has left me a legacy of wonderful memories, and a family whose strength and warmth grew from her own. When it comes down to it, and especially at Christmas, it's the best gift I have ever been given.

Having A Ball

Claire and Abby have been having such a blast together lately!


The girls LOVE hats. They giggle hysterically whenever they and/or their sister is wearing one. A week ago, they received new knit hats from our friend Erik's mom. They loved them! They also enjoy trying to take hats off of their sister. Crazy babies!



Also, Grandma Gwen clued me into another little thing the girls like - kicking each other! (Can't you feel the love?) We strap them into their swing (which they haven't been in for about 4 months), and they get really excited when their sister gets into prime kicking position. Check out the video below and notice how happy Claire gets when Abby gets closer.



Did you notice Abby standing? She's pulling up on whatever she can now. She's just not sure what to do with herself once she gets up. She's also doing plenty of crawling, which I think is just so adorable. Watch her go!



Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Sharon are coming to visit this weekend, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more pics after that. That is, if I can stop running after babies long enough to grab the camera!

Social Butterflies

Hallelujah, I have found my digital camera! I feel much better because our couch had eaten it, so really, one can hardly blame that on me. Here is Zach Shipman doing an impression of our hungry couch:
Zach was also the cause of one of our many recent social outings. He turned one on Oct. 10th, so we headed to Prescott, WI to help him and his family celebrate. That's Claire in the top picture with our friend Hannah, who was also there. Hannah is awesome with babies, and you can tell Claire is having a blast with her. Isn't Zach an adorable 1-year-old?We also went to my sister-in-law Stephanie's house to visit with her, her husband Andy, and daughter Alex (below) for a family barbecue. Rich and Gwen also joined in on the fun. Alex loved running around the yard and playing with balloons. Hanging out with Alex always gets me excited for when the girls are a bit older and can play more.
The beginning of November has included an annual event for Ryan and I for the past 9 years - The CTV Auction! We headed to Eau Claire to volunteer in the phone room for another fun and exciting auction event. Rich and Gwen watched the girls, and brought them to CTV to meet everyone, which was a lot of fun. We can't walk away from the auction without buying something, and this year it was this huge stuffed bear. Seriously, it's huge!

This past Tuesday, Nov. 18th, the girls and I went to Target to visit Ryan at work. We've been a few times now, but everyone was amazed by how big the girls are getting. I was pleasantly surprised that the girls stayed happy and smiling the whole time. Nice job, ladies!

Even with all this running around, we made sure to fulfill our civic duty on Nov. 4th. The girls came with me for their very first presidential election (Ryan headed to the polls after work but we went during the day for fear that it would be uber-busy in the evening). Because of this early exposure to the excitement of politics, I'm certain we now have a future President in our mists. Who will it be - Claire or Abby? Only time will tell. . .

I'm sure the socializing will continue as we head into the Holiday Season. Stay tuned for more updates from Life at the Lamberts!

A Bear, A Duck, and Girls on the Move

Sorry for the very long lapse since my last post! Things have been a bit hectic around here, plus I seem to have lost my camera again (!) so I'm a bit lacking in pictures. But I do have some cute Halloween ones courtesy of Aunt Jill. (Yea for Aunt Jill!)

My sister Jill, niece Lily, my parents, Ryan, the girls and I headed over to Grandma and Aunt Pat's house on the afternoon of Halloween to show off our costumes: Abby Duck, Lily Ladybug and Claire Bear. We had a nice little photo shoot, and Abby got so excited she kept almost falling off the couch.

I started thinking that maybe we should wear costumes every day if they're this happy about it. It was adorable! Then, Ryan and I said good-bye to our girls as we headed out for a date while they headed off to spend the night with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Maggie. The rest of the group (minus Grandma and Pat) went to Jill's neighborhood in Robbinsdale to trick or treat (minus the tricks and the treats) and meet some of Jill's fun neighbors. All in all, a pretty eventful first Halloween!!
BREAKING NEWS: Forget about the Presidential Election, this is what you really want to know! Last night, the girls started crawling!! They were playing in the room next to the kitchen when I saw Abby moving forward out of the corner of my eye. I had to do a double take to make sure she was actually crawling, and she was! Not wanting to be outdone, Claire did a tiny bit of crawling soon after. I got some video on my cell, but it's not very good. I will try to find the camera and take some better video so I can post it for you all to see. I know all babies do it, but I was so excited and proud! It's great that they're crawling but after watching my sister and girl-on-the-move Lily, I'm not looking forward to everything they're going to get into. Stay tuned!

Grandma and Grandpa Lambert Visit

And Grandma Sharon taught us an exciting new thing!

Lately. . .(Part Two)

Claire has been prone to random fits of hysterical laughter (and drooling - oh, the drool! Maybe Abby has been shaking her head at her crazy sister). Watch this video close and you'll even see a sister kiss - feel the love!

Lately. . . (Part One)

Abby has started shaking her head. Is she saying no? Is she dancing? Does she like being dizzy? Who knows, but it's pretty darn cute!

Pictures Galore

So I finally figured out how to get the pictures from my cell phone onto the computer - hooray! Bring on the pics!

From September 2008
Claire was super happy to play with Zach Shipman when we went to visit Sean, Kari and Zach in Prescott on September 4th. I mean, who wouldn't fall in love with this adorable guy?


From September 2008

Things have been calming down for me on the work front, which means I actually get to enjoy my new work schedule of only going into the office two days a week (Tuesdays and Fridays, if you're curious). I'm loving spending my days off with the girls. They seem to get cuter and more fun every day!
From September 2008
One of the games we like to play is Peek-a-boo. I throw a burp rag over their heads and yell "Peek a boo!" at them when they pull it off. Yes, sounds thrilling, I know, but they love it! Here I caught a pic of them right when they pulled the rags. Just look at the excitement on their faces!

From September 2008
Here we are playing in the kitchen with some of our favorite toys, Alphabet Pal and Octopus. Claire also got to try on my sunglasses. I think I may have a future diva on my hands. . .
From September 2008

On those days when I do actually have to go earn my paycheck, the girls get to play with Grandma Gwen (who drives all the way in from Eau Claire, WI to hang out with her grandgirls - what a saint!) or Grandpa Mike. I love how much time they get to spend with their grandparents (and not paying for daycare ain't too bad, either).
From September 2008

Here are the pics of the girls giving each other "kisses." As you can tell, Claire's not too sure what to think about all this affection, but I think it's darn cute!

From September 2008

And here's proof of "30 Things" #1 - My sister and I went to get haircuts together on September 5th. I like mine a lot, but I'll keep you in suspence a while longer until I actually take a picture of myself (maybe when the girls turn 18). And my sister's new haircut is awesome! Here she is, post haircut, looking fabulous!
From September 2008

From September 2008

Even though we've been busy, I want the girls know the importance of beauty sleep. So no matter how busy we may get, I make sure to work in plenty of time for napping into our schedule to keep us all (especially me!) happy. Oh, what a rough life!

Has It Been Three Weeks Already?

Okay, sorry! I suck at blog life. I blame my cell phone. Ever since I got my NEW cell phone that actually has a CAMERA on it, I've stopped taking pictures with my ACTUAL camera and have only been using my cell phone camera. FURTHERLY unfortunate, I don't know how to get the pics off my cell phone camera and onto the computer. BUT I am learning, so for the two or three of you out there that actually read this blog, hold on! More pics are a-comin'!!

To entertain you until then, I am using LOTS of CAPS, the key phrase "a-comin'," AND I will tell you why I spent most of this past weekend in tears.

#1 - I was reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Every time - EVERY TIME - I read a chapter from the mom's point of view, I was reduced to a sniffling mess. Hey, you try putting yourself in the perspective of a mom whose daughter is dying of cancer while your two PERFECTLY HEALTHY baby girls are napping in the next room and just try to stop the flood from a-comin'.

#2 - Just when I thought there was absolutely nothing better than the girls attacking me with kisses and snuggles, this weekend they went and did it on each other. Now, I'm not always entirely sure if they're trying to KISS their sister or BITE her, but I'm pretty sure it was kissing and it was gosh-darn adorable. The fun just keeps a-comin' with these two! And I got it on [cell phone] camera, so with any luck, the pictures will be a-comin' shortly, too. Until then, feel free to check out the blogs of people who actually know what they're doing, like my sister!

Oh, and here's a video of Claire splashing in the tub. [If you have dogs nearby, watch out. My high-pitched voice may cause them to spin wildly in circles.]

Abby's Funny Face

If you keep watching this video to the end (it's only 43 seconds, people! You can do it!), you'll get a small taste of the funny face Abby has been making lately. It cracks me up!

(Sorry for once again making you look at your computer screen sideways.)

The List

Here it is! My "30 Things To Do To Celebrate Turning 30" (Bolded items have yet to be done, unbolded ones are already accomplished - yippee!)

1. Get a haircut.
2. Give myself a reward (buy a treat, take a bubble bath, read a good book, etc) every day for 30 days (or longer! :) )
3. Make a list of 30 things you like about yourself
4. Make a vow to do something for myself EVERY DAY!----take a few minutes to meditate, reflect, count your blessings, smell the summer breeze and the freshly mowed grass--just enjoy all the sights and sounds and smells of life!
5. Watch 30 episodes of Gilmore Girls
6. Get a manicure and/or pedicure
7. Make a photo diary of the day. Take a photo every 48 minutes.
8. 30 shots (of beer) – aka get drunk!
9. Fly a Kite
10. Movie Marathon!
11. Hang out with my sister, since she knows my pain!
12. Food Fight!
13. Work out
14. Get a massage and/or a facial and/or some other girly beauty ritual
15. Join Facebook
16. Spend a whole day playing with my girls
17. Family bar-b-que
18. Jump on the bed
19. Go on a date alone
20. Do an anonymous kind act
21. Take a Community Education class
22. Be taken out to dinner
23. Send someone a gift
24. Dr. Mario tournament!
25. Rid my closet of all things that scream, "I'm in my 20s!" Replenish, as necessary, with things that scream, "30 and Fabulous!"
    
26. Reread my journals
27. Meditate for one hour
28. Beautiy my surroundings
29. Plan a trip
30. Smile, then pat myself on the back and reassure myself I’m a great mother and a great person and I am just the place GOD has chosen for me to be! Thank him! (aka take time to recognize my blessings and be thankful)

I want to thank everyone for their suggestions! Some didn't make the cut, but not because they weren't good suggestions. They just weren't things I'd actually probably do. For instance, I'd love to win $10 million by building an unmanned rocket capable of reaching orbit, but rocket building just isn't my thing. Tragedy!

Faceoff

Just a typical day in our house! Yes, I realize I sound like an idiot - Jumpin', jumpin'!

This Too

The phrase that has most been in my mind these last couple of weeks is, "This too shall pass." But, before you start to thinking things must really be going badly, let me explain.
People always say their babies grow up fast, but you really don't understand how fast until it's your babies doing the growing. One minute they can't do something and the next, very suddenly, they can. It's remarkable! Literally, each day they are at least a little different from who they were and what they could do the day before.
Especially now. Six months is such a fun age to watch. The girls are interacting more with us and with their environment. Each day is full of surprises and new discoveries for them. I love watching to see what they will do next. (Lately, it's grabbing something -- their food bowl is a favorite -- picking it up and throwing it back down. Messy but entertaining.)
So, when I say to myself, "this too shall pass," it's not to help get me through the crazy busy episodes that come with having new babies, but to remind me to enjoy them. Even when the girls are crabby and crying, I remind myself to enjoy the fact that I can hold and comfort them. They won't always let me do that.
Rest assured, Ryan and I are having tons of fun with our girls! Moments with them go by faster than I ever imagined they could, and I plan on enjoying each and every magnificent minute.


P.S. Sorry the video is sideways! I can't figure out how to turn it...

P.P.S. I love, love, love that Abby is now sleeping on her side. It is so adorable! I didn't have a clue that babies even did this until I saw my niece Lily sleeping on her side. Is there any other totally adorable things I should be aware of???

30 Things

As many of you know, I'm turning 30 this summer. I considered going into hibernation this dreaded event had passed, but that sounded too boring.
Instead, in an effort to embrace this new milestone, I've decided to make a list of 30 Things to Do to Celebrate Turning 30, and I need your help! I'm looking for your suggestions on things I should do to help celebrate (not run screaming from) my passage into this new decade. Your ideas will motivate me to go from this...



...to this!

So email me, post a comment, give me a call, hire a skywriter -- however you prefer to let me know what YOU think I should do to ring in my 30s. Keep in mind, Ryan and I are not related to the Hiltons, so as fun as backpacking through Europe or buying a convertible would be, it ain't going to happen. Bonus points will be given to those with super cheap, fun ideas!

Thank you in advance for helping me celebrate!