I have to start somewhere

I have been wanting to do something like this for so long. I didn't know how much of the past I wanted to include to catch people up, so I kept waiting, and the past keeps accumulating. So I will just start with now and go forward.

Jade is my big helper. Sometimes she likes to help too much, but I definitely need her help and appreciate what she does do for us. She is very organized and loves a schedule. Every day, usually multiple times a day, she asks me what we are having for each meal today and tomorrow. She loves knowing what we are doing day to day and talks all about it. It's usually a bad thing when we have to change the plan, it totally throws her off. She loves being a big sister, dressing up, and reading and doing all three at the same time.
Samara is my active monkey girl. Her nickname is "boom-boom" because from the time she could move she has been falling, bonking her head on things, tripping, climbing on the table, etc. God bless her, she has a high tolerance for pain and takes it all in stride managing only to knock one of her teeth crooked and scare me to death, so far. She also has an incredible natural sense of rhythm. Since about 4 months she could shake her body on beat with whatever song she was listening to. Like big sister, she learns things frighteningly fast. One day she started informing me of all the shapes she was seeing, which I had never taught her. I suspect Jade taught her this. She now takes a magnetic letter off of the fridge and says "Jadie, what's dat letter?" "Ohh, Y! Away?!" puts it back and gets another. She is fully in those terrible twos. Which begin at around 15 months for our girls and then get better closer to three. She is fairly ambivalent towards Siene and I think is mostly struggling with my arms usually being full and not getting my attention whenever she wants it. Things have been getting better these past few weeks and hopefully will continue.
Siene (pronounced like the letters C N) was born August 8, 2008 weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 21 inches long. She looks most like Jade, has a dimple on her right cheek like her and a nose like her, but seems to have more of Todd's look than she does. (Samara is Todd as a little girl with curly hair). Siene was a perfect angel the first few weeks and then the honeymoon was over. She is very sensitive to sounds and activity and is easily overwhelmed by the constant interaction she gets. Which is exactly like Jade was. So we are learning how to give her what she needs to be happy and are really enjoying the smiles and cooing she has just begun doing. She also is a pretty good sleeper, hitting a record 10 hours last night (6 hours was the previous record).

Whew! It has only taken me two hours to do this! Well I guess I wasn't just doing this I was: trying to keep Siene asleep by giving her a pacifier every few minutes, setting up and overseeing play-doh, making lunch, eating lunch, cleaning up after lunch, sweeping, settling disputes over toys, learning how to post pictures and video, joining You-Tube, and putting the girls down for a nap.

While we were eating Jade realized that butter starts with butt, then asked if I was going to put "Poopy and tooty" on her bread as well. Ahhhh, 3 year old potty humor. It's great. Here is a video Sierra made us last Christmas that will catch you up a little on how the girls have grown. Enjoy!