Sounds that make me nervous

There are two "sounds" that make Derek and I a little nervous when we hear them:

• when the girls are playing upstairs or in another room and we hear a loud thud followed by Winnie saying "she's okay mommy"
• when the girls are playing upstairs and we go to check on them but are instead greeted by Ellie at the top of the stairs saying "no mommy, you don't come up here, you go back downstairs!"...makes you wonder just what exactly is she up to?????

Sorry its been a while!

Wow - has it really been over a month since I've posted anything? Sorry about that - life has been pretty hectic here, but I'm now enjoying a 3 week break, soon to be joined by Derek for his 2 week break where we can all get some quality time together before his schedule gets crazy again in January.

Winnie and Ellie are getting excited for xmas - they had their pictures with Santa (to be posted soon!), helped pick out a tree and decorate it and now can't keep their hands off the tree. Thankfully it's still upright and nothing has been pulled off and broken. Trust me, that's a miracle in our house!

We hope everyone is doing well and is ready for the holidays!

Maura, Derek, Winnie and Ellie

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Gondek Gang! Winnie and Ellie had a full day of Halloween festivities and trick or treating. They started with a party and parade at their morning out program, then on to the real deal that night in the 'hood with mom and dad. There was also a costume swap mid-day: Winnie started the day as Ariel and Ellie was Snow White....but then they swapped and Winnie was Snow White and Ellie was Ariel for the night time trick or treating. It's now 11:30 on Saturday morning and Winnie is still in her Snow White dress...we're going to a hockey game tonight and she'll probably wear it there as well.

Enjoy the weekend!

Maura

So what will we be for Halloween?

The lastest discussion/obsession in our house is what will we be for Halloween...Winnie is pretty much set on Cinderella although she did change it to Dora on Thursday....but only for an hour or so. Ellie is a different story - she started with Diego, then went to Ariel (really Winnie's suggestion), then Sleeping Beauty (again, Winnie) and then the latest is Cinderella like her sister. Which surprisingly Winnie is fine with. So who knows...as Derek says we'll wait till the last minute for Ellie's costume. She's not as in to dress-up as Winnie is....the attached photo is her latest favorite dress to throw on - she calls herself a princess. I think she looks like a 1950's cocktail party hostesss.

It's been a while

Wow - didn't realize it's been over 2 weeks since our last post...just goes to show how exciting our lives really are. We had a good weekend celebrating Derek and Jody's birthdays - Winnie and Ellie LOVED having Jody, Josie and PopPop visit for 3 1/2 days. They love an audience and any opportunity to show off. Winnie is talking up a storm (latest favorite sayings are "wait a second guys" and "I have an idea") and Ellie is doing a bit more singing these days (Old McDonald and When The Saints Come Marching In are current faves).

Elmo and Friends made an appearance on Ft. Bragg tonight thanks to the USO so of course Winnie and Ellie went to see their friend Elmo. Ellie LOVED it and Winnie...not so much. She's not a fan of characters coming to life so a full sized Elmo, Cookie Monster, Rosita, Grover and Zoe was a little too much for her to deal with. After stating a few times that she wanted to go home, Derek took her outside for a walk where she kept saying "Mommy Ellie watch Sesame Street, but I don't want to". But she was perfectly content with her Daddy time. Disney and Sesame Place will have to wait a while for these girls.

Not much to report

Not much going on in our neck of the woods - girls are good, Derek is good (and back from his Alaska trip - yay!) and school is good. Derek had off today so we had a nice family day running a few errands and getting some much needed books for the girls - Teeth Are Not for Biting for Ellie and I Can Share for Winnie. Yes, Ellie was THAT kid on Tuesday at her morning out program - she bit another kid, and it wasn't Winnie who is her usual target. I'm now officially "that mom" - the mom of the biter. Ugh.

So in the middle of Barnes and Noble Winnie announced she was hungry and we should go to lunch. So off to McDonald's we went (they had to be the slowest in America) where Winnie promptly got stuck in the climbing play-thing. So I had to go in to get her out...that's a nice visual for you...and for the other patrons of the play area as well. Derek came in with our food just as I was extracting myself from it....he almost dropped the tray of food. Oh well.

Enjoy the snaps of Ellie snuggling up with some books, Winnie dressed up in Derek's BDU top and beret, and some raspberries from our bush.

Cheesecake Madness

We're on a little bit of a cheesecake kick chez Gondek...2 weeks ago it was Raspberry Ribbon Cheesecake (oreo cookie crust with a layer of raspberry in the middle) and this week it is Caramel Brownie Cheesecake. Winnie and Ellie are in to helping me in the kitchen and like turning the mixer on and off as well as adding ingredients after I've measured them. Derek says their future husbands will be thanking me for teaching them these skills. Weight Watchers will be thanking me for keeping them in business!

Full Moon Madness

Okay, while we're not quite at a full moon yet we're just about there - Sept 15 is the next full moon. But it never fails as one approaches or when we have one - the sleeping cycle of Winnie and Ellie is completely disrupted. Don't know what it is but they just go crazy and start waking up during the night...sometimes more than once. Like the two times last night. Is it just us or is this happening to other kiddos as well? Anyway...we also had a visitor on Wednesday night on the windows by the front door - always think it's neat to see. Took the pic with our video camera so it's not as crisp as it could be - sorry.

Oh, and Winnie is currently obsessed with her flip-flops and insists on putting them on herself...with the usual result you see to the left. Ouch.

Winnie's picnic

Winnie hosted a picnic today for some of her nearest and dearest friends. Mommy was on the guest list but was told to bring her own cup as all the others were taken.

We survived Hannah!

Glad to report we survived TS Hannah which blew our way last night and early this morning. Lots of rain and some wind but no problems getting through the storm. Derek had the day off yesterday so he was able to see the girls get a haircut - Winnie was all over it and sat by herself as she normally does, but Ellie wasn't too in to it and had to sit in Mommy's lap. Their new favorite band is the Beatle's and they request them for their post-bath dance party...which is usually just jumping on our bed. Although Ellie did throw in some hip shakes last night. Today we did an art project which resulted in a huge mess which Ellie helped us clean up. And Winnie helped Mommy make peanut butter crackers for lunch. All in all a good day.

We hope everyone survives Hannah with no major problems!

So this is what is growing on our vine outside - from Roger Mercer who writes a gardening column for the Fayetteville Observer:

"Those are Passiaflora edulis, also called passion flowers. The white flesh is fairly tasty"...

I'll let you know if/when I taste the flesh....they also have a big white and purple flower which is pretty. I'll see if the one we had is still in bloom and if so will get a photo up tomorrow. Before Hannah blows through over the weekend and blows it away.

Oh, and one more thing...Ellie hasn't escaped from the crib again. Yet. I have a feeling she's tried a few more times, but just hasn't been successful at this point.

Labor Day Weekend

Hi everyone -

It's been a nice Labor Day weekend for the Gondek Gang...Derek had Friday off so he got to spend some time with his girlies. Saturday we went to Raleigh for the Flea Market (overall disappointing) and the Farmers Market (great, we'll visit that again). Winnie and Ellie spent a lot of time outside on their playset and in their playhouse on Sunday and enjoyed watching the frog Derek caught for them the night before. Hop, as we named him, we released back in to the wild on Sunday morning. Winnie and Ellie also enjoyed some cherry tomatoes fresh off the vine in our backyard and we discovered crap apples (we think - do they grow on a vine?). All in all a good weekend and we hope you're enjoying yours.

The End Has Arrived

Today, August 28, 2008 marks the end of naptime as I know it...Ellie successfully climbed out of her crib.

As is often the case, I could hear the two of them laughing and giggling in their room for about 90 mins after I put them down for their nap. After about 20 mins of silence I then started to hear only Ellie whining so I thought I'd check on her and see if maybe she needed a new diaper. As I approached the door I could hear her saying "I go see Mommy" and then the door knob turning. As I opened the door Ellie met me on the other side. She'd probably been out of the crib for a while because everything from their dress-up box was out and all around the room, every toy from their crib was also tossed all around - not unusual for the two of them, but some toys seemed to reach new distances and were in further corners then normal.

They've both been redressed (oh yeah, they were nekkid exept for their diapers) and put back to bed with much protest from Ellie. I can hear her voice again down there....little bugger has probably gotten out. Again.

What we're in to

A lot of people ask what the girls are in to so here goes:

Ellie: building block towers, hanging with Mommy, playing with the neighbor's cat, counting to 10 (and sometimes higher), singing the ABC's, The Wiggles and Blue's Clues, putting on her tutu to dance, and trying to climb out of her crib

Winnie: taking anything that Ellie has, anything Princess related - current faves are Cinderella and Ariel, Doodlebops, dancing, singing, being the jokester

We're new here

Okay, so we're finally trying to get in to this blogging thing.....have tried MySpace and Facebook but figured this would be easier for a few people to adjust to...no signing in and getting a user name and password just to see what's going on with those crazy Gondek Girls.

It's been a busy few months for Winnie and Ellie - Daddy (Derek to the rest of us) came home in April after 15 long months away just in time for bday #2, great family time with Daddy in June, beach trip in August with Josie, PopPop, Jody, Timmy, Patch, Tim, Kristen and the McGlones, new friends moving to the area (Avah) and old friends moving away ("my" Gracie)...yes, at 2 years old they've dealt with their first friend moving away thanks to the USArmy.

As for Derek and Maura, Derek is back to work - just came back from the 82nd ABD convention in St. Louis and is gearing up for a trip to Alaska next month and Maura is back in school. Yeah, fun times. But it's gotta be done.

We hope all is well with you and we'll try to keep this thing updated often.