Missing These Faces

Going to work each day; makes me realize how quickly time is flying and how fast my girls are growing and changing, makes me more appreciative of the time we spend together as a family, and often leaves me with a lump in my throat as I am driving away from the house early in the morning...because the fact of the matter is that I miss them when I'm away.
Not that it surprises me...it just catches me off gaurd all the time. I knew I would miss them when I returned to work fulltime I just couldn't comprehend the extent I guess until I was living it. So yes, I miss those faces...a lot.
Lindsay just seems so grown up all of a sudden...her face just looks older to me...I study her face alot. Kendal...well she is just talking up a storm and is so adorable. Each morning when I go into her room to get her out of bed, she begins telling me everything she knows...all at once...while I'm changing her diaper she will go from discussing my shirt and what color it is to the trash truck outside and how Terra is scared and we have to tell her it's okay. It's as if she was sitting in her bed before I arrived and was thinking of all the things she wants to tell me. Then there is the two girls together lately and how they play together. They play dress-up, blocks, playdough, hopscotch...and so on...and seeing them get along and play is enough to bring me to tears daily.
Lindsay will have moments each day where she hugs her little sis and tells her she loves her. Kendal now says "I love you" and that could melt your heart in a minute. In fact we were at my dad's the other night and as we we're pulling away Kendal said "I love you Poppy", when I spoke to my dad the next morning he was still marveling at her words...so cute!
So my point of this very long post (much longer and mishmoshed together than I anticipated) is that I miss these faces multiple times throughout each day...I just do!

The New Oven In Grandma's Kitchen

There are so many wonderful things about my new oven/stove: 1) it was not built in the 1950's 2) it does not make my kitchen 30 degrees warmer 3) all of the burners work 4) one burner on the stove has 19,000 btus and boils water in record time...but best of all the girls can watch things cook and bake inside the oven. I must say Kendal is very excited about this. I usually bake every Saturday morning when I wake up and Kendal sits in front of the oven and repeats "cake, cake, cake"...she loves to watch and check the oven...even when there is nothing in it. In the pictures here I was making pumpkin bread and the girls were watching it bake...I know my grandma is smiling down from heaven at this sight...this was her kitchen once and she did bake a lot...we just weren't ever able to watch from the outside.

Mutt

We love our dog Terra...aka Mutt Mutt and about 10 other nicknames. As I was in the kitchen doing dishes and cleaning up lunch one day the girls were giggling, quiet, giggling, and quiet...hummmm is what I thought...this must mean trouble...I came out to this picture below. Terra was covered in blankets and pillows...Linday looked at me and said "we're making Terra cozy mom". She must have been cozy because she was fast asleep...what a good dog!!!

Minnie and Minnie Minnie Mouse

Yes, my Halloween post is very late. I am waiting on my brother to send me the pictures he took...which include the photo of Minnie Minnie Mouse...Kendal. Both girls were Minnie Mouse. Lindsay was very excited to wear her costume and had plenty of Halloween dress rehearsals before the big day...while Kendal was not so enthused about her costume...she loved looking at it and talking about it, but when it came to wearing it she would say "off, off, carry it, carry it"!. I am not certain at this point if we were able to get a picture of her in it, for the 10 seconds she wore it...the good news is that my sister-in-law was able to get Kendal to wear her Minnie ears...which were adorable. So we'll add some pictures to this post once I have them. We enjoyed our evening together; my dad, step mom, brother, sister-in-law, and our family of four.