Teija-isms

For as long as she could talk, Teija has been cracking me up multiple times a day with the things she says or does. A few nights ago, we got a TON of rain (surprise, surprise). This rain seemed to bring all the mosquitos in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana to our campground. We went to a park today for a bbq for lunch before my parents headed back home and the mosquitos were bitting like crazy, we were all covered in bites by the time we left. Later I brought Teija to the grocery store with me and she told me "Mom, the bugs are sorry, they didn't mean to eat me!"
I made stir fry for supper (one of my favorite meals). Teija was not eating good at all. I told her that she needs to eat her supper or else she can't have a popsicle for a bed time snack. She said "But Mom, I'm full! Do you know what full means? It means that you are very, very, very, very, very full, and you can't have little girls eat any more!"
The last one I am still trying to figure out... For the past few weeks, every once in a while when I'm putting Teija into bed, she tells me that she still needs a bedtime think. She has tried to explain it to me, and I still don't know what a "bedtime think" is...
Eleanna has finally joined the world of walking! She still crawls quite a bit, but is trying to walk everywhere :) Finally!

Little Girls, Jobs, and Space Rangers

We have been so busy here the past few weeks. The weather has been GORGEOUS, so we have been spending the majority of our time at the park or the pool. The times that I have been online have not been much longer than the time it takes to check my email or facebook, so my original intention of keeping up on this blog every few days has not been happening. So, I'll try again!
My girls look so much alike, but their personalities are becoming more and more different. Teija is so imaginative and has taken on this bit of a sassy attitude, but I can't help but laugh at her half the time. Last night I was packing up clothes for us to go take a shower. Teija was sitting on the couch shaking her head and muttering "you're driving me crazy, you're driving me crazy, you're driving me crazy!" After the shower I told her to take her shoes off and she told me that I'm the one who put them on, so I should be the one to take them off! Sassy, yes, but everytime she says or does certain things, I realize how much she pays attention and listens to me. Yes if she is being difficult and wont listen to me, I tell her that she is driving me crazy. She did not want to take a shower, and I just kept on bugging her telling her that I reallllly want her to come with me. Apparently I was driving her crazy, or whatever crazy is in her mind :) Her imagination has really expanded since we moved out here. I feel bad that she doesn't really have any friends her age to play with. However, Teija doesn't seem to mind too much. She spends her days playing with Dora, Diego, baby jaguar, or whoever else she decides to play with! She will request lunch to be served to her friends and often asks if they can sleep over! At least she is having fun right? I'm pretty sure that she has inherited auntie Lia's imagination! She has also decided what she is going to be when she grows up... she is going to be just like Blueberry Muffin (from Strawberry Shortcake)! I really wish I could know what exactly goes on in her head half the time. Just the other morning she woke up telling me about the space ranger that was pushing soap in her ear!
Eleanna is growing so much and I can't wait for her to start talking! I have a feeling that she is going to be a very bubbly funny little girl. She is always smiling (Teija too), and it takes next to nothing to make her laugh. She is always picking on her big sister and thinks its funny to make her mad. Little jokester? I think so! She is always blabbering away and then giggles at herself like whatever she said was hilarious. She still won't stand up or even try to walk. I was hoping that being outside at the park all the time would encourage her, but she is still content crawling and has no interest in standing! My favorite time of day with Eleanna is right after she wakes up in the morning and Teija is still sleeping. She always wakes up with a big sleepy grin on her face that wakes me right up. How can you not be happy and awake with a toothy, sleepy eyed, grinning, curly haired face right in yours?
I am really enjoying and appreciating my days with my girls. After a long year of school, studying, studying, and more studying, I am loving that we wake up in the morning and have no set schedule! No running the kids to a babysitters to leave for the day and not see them again until many hours later. We can spend the entire day together, and I LOVE it! Unfortunately, I think my vacation from the real world is almost over. We came out here to make money and get out of debt, so I turned in a few job applications a few weeks ago. I had a job interview this morning, and was promised a job as soon as I pass my boards. I'm hoping for a night shift a few days a week so that I can still spend as much time with them as possible. No matter what happens though, I am still happy to be out here! I have met a few more people, and best of all every night we get to have a few hours after Tony gets home from work to spend time as a family.

Where we live

Our Home:

This picture was taken a few months ago, so no we don't still have snow. However, the mud situation is exactly the same. It seems like the mud hardly has the chance to dry up before it rains again! North Dakota is already reaching a record high for rainfall this year, and it is only June! I can't wait for summer to really kick in and dry all of this slop up so that I can take the girls outside to play! As you can see... there isn't really any where for the girls to play outside of the camper, but the guy that runs the place mentioned to me that he would like to put a swingset up by the wash house sometime (hopefully soon). There are a lot of parks here that I have been taking the girls to, but with all the rain we have been getting, this lovely Dutchman is where we have been spending the majority of our time. When I first moved out here, everyone was telling me that the land is flat with no trees. The no trees part is pretty accurate, but the land where we are is definitely not flat. There is a national park a few minutes away from here where there are some really cool looking hills. There are a lot of buffalo that live at the park and Teija loves going to see the "effalopes" :)

Trying to figure this out...

So, I have never kept a blog before, but after looking through different blogs last night, I decided that maybe it is something I should do. A month ago the girls and I moved out to the oil fields to be with Tony. I wasn't sure what to expect, being that this is a completely new and strange place to me. Coming from an area I have lived in for just about my entire life, I wasn't sure what to expect. Will I miss my family and friends? Will there be anything to do? And stupid, I know, but this did also cross my mind: What if I get bitten by a rattle snake or big spider? Coming out here however has made me realize that home is where you make it. Sure, I do miss my friends and family, and the U.P. will always be a part of me (hopefully permanently within a few years), but it hasn't taken us long to feel like our little camper is home. Home is where the heart is. We went 5, almost 6 months apart, and it feels so great to be back together again. I love that I wake up in the morning, and Tony is there. I love how when he gets home from work every day, the girls rush over to cover him in hugs and kisses. My point is that you can be in a completely foreign place, and as long as you have love, you are home.
Anyway, the point of this blog is to keep everyone up to date on our lives out here in Oil Country, and of course to share pictures of the girls :) And no I have not been bitten..... yet