Despres Family Who?

UGH! I really wish I was one of those people who kept up with their blog. Why do I even have a blogspot??
Anyway, since I blogged last, LOTS has happened. The girls and I moved back to Denton to clean up the rental property and get it ready for the market. It is really hard being away from Cliff all week! The girls miss him, and he misses them more than he can stand!
I went back to work for the same attorney I was working for before we moved, and I got the girls into the AWESOME school that is right behind my office. They are both doing really well there and learning so much!
It is nice to be back here with all our friends, and the house is coming along. Cliff is in the process of fixing the fence in the backyard (which is ginormous, by the way) which was pummeled by dogs (we won't mention whose).
I am still in school (surprise, surprise!!) and I am very proud to say I have a 4.0 so far. I have always been so lazy when it came to college, so I am proud that even with all the obstacles I have right now, I am keeping up and staying motivated! I am soooo loving my drafting class right now. I have an obsession with floor plans, and being able to draft them is just the awesomest thing.

The girls are so super cute every day. Aidenne has the biggest imagination, and is constantly talking. I love hearing about her day, she remembers a lot of it, and loves to tell what happened! Jossie is talking so much now. She says "Mommy" instead of "Mama" which I soooo LOVE! Some of her other words are "uh-oooooh" (one of our favorites!) Oh yeah, you have to imagine these words said in a cute little raspy baby voice (she sounds as if she was a smoker in a previous life!) She also says, "no", "puppy", "more", "hot", and she thinks that all dogs are named Pebbles - Aunt Morgan has a puppy named Pebbles, so anytime Joss sees a dog, she says "Pebble." She also started sleeping in her "big-girl" bed last weekend, and did really well with that!
Aidenne has started gymnastics classes at the Little Gym. She loves it so much, and almost every day she asks to go to "mynastics." We are actually having her 3rd birthday party there in 2 weeks. (WHAT? We have a THREE YEAR-OLD???) I am still going to try to make the cake since I have made her cake every year, and I have a few ideas - I might be going 3D this year!

I am off to bed now, since even though I did no homework, I still stayed up way too late eating oreos and watching Knocked Up again since it comes on HBO every day. Don't you just LOVE these kinds of nights?

Posted pics:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59101&l=8fe77&id=634823803

Off to Florida

The girls and I left for Florida yesterday morning. I was very nervous about flying by myself with 2 toddlers, but it turned out much better than expected! Aidenne LOVED the airplane...she sat by the window and decided to report on everything: "I see the ground! I see the cars! We are in the clouds!" And when we hit turbulence she would scream "Whheeeeee!!!" The whole time. Luckily, Joss had her own seat as well, since even on an almost full flight, NO ONE was crazy enough to sit by the lone Mommy and 2 small (but very loud) children. Jossie did not enjoy the plane ride as much...she was scared into silence during take-off and landing, so that was nice, but the rest of the time she was up and down in her seat, crawling all over me, kicking Aidenne, not wanting to just sit and watch the DVD player. But it all went by very quickly!
We got to the airport where my mom was waiting for us. Aidenne said "Hey, Gran, we are coming to see you today!" HAHAHAHAHA!! And she has been the main source of entertainment since. We had to wait an hour and a half for our luggage to come out on the belt. UGH. But the girls were glad to be able to get up and walk around, so they were really good during that time, too.
So we just kind of hung out when we got back to the house, and this morning we decided to go to Pine Island which is a little beach with a playground and some shops. It was really fun, it was the first time at the beach for both girls. Joss jumped right into the sand and the ocean, and Aidenne had to be coaxed against her will to come with us near the water! We finally convinced her that she could make a better sand castle with the wet sand, so she came with us. Aidenne did not want to get all sandy, so she didn't really seem to be impressed by the beach. Joss loved it, she put her toes in the sand and just wiggled them around and she walked all over, even into the ocean with Pops!
We saw lots of stingrays and even a baby shark swimming close by. It was awesome! Aidenne didn't seem too concerned that there was a shark in the water...she didn't want to go in, so I tried to coax her in saying "come see the shark!" But she didn't care! I guess that's ok since mommies should usually keep their kids out of shark-infested water!
So now we are back at the house and just hanging out. Tomorrow we will just chill, too, and maybe have relatives over to see the gloriousness that is my children.
I posted more pics:
June 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45261&l=d1498&id=634823803
and Florida trip:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=46118&l=b0919&id=634823803

Where are all the dinosaurs?

We had the best Saturday EVER this weekend. We started by going to the zoo in the morning. Aidenne was so excited over all of the animals, especially the baby monkeys. She would say "oh, look, they're so cute!" and "look, the mommy is kissing the baby's feet!" It is so awesome to see the world through a toddler's eyes. She also kept asking to see the dinosaurs - I didn't want to tell her there weren't any there! Joss also loved the monkeys, she would point and grunt in her usual raspy voice! Joss also liked to run away from us, and there were so many people at the zoo, she was usually running into someone's legs. Luckily she is super cute, so they didn't mind too much!
It was soooooo hot though, and I kept telling Cliff that the zoo in Colorado probably isn't that hot! I am hoping that when we visit my sister later this year, he will fall in love with Colorado just like me!
Then we came home and stayed inside for a while and just chilled while Joss took her nap. When she woke up, we went out to dinner. We came home and swam in the pool until bedtime. Aidenne can now swim with just the floaties on her arms, which is the cutest thing ever. She is so proud of herself when she is swimming on her own, and she just kicks her legs and bobs around. We can never get her out of the pool, she wants to swim constantly now. After we get back from Florida next month we are going to start swim lessons for her and Joss. Joss also likes to be in the water, but she doesn't like to just chill in a float - you have to hold her, and she likes to bounce up and down, in and out of the water. She gets the biggest smile on her face!
I am keeping up with my school work, just barely. We are drawing people for the next couple weeks in my drawing class, and I drew Cliff's profile for my first assignment...it didn't turn out too badly, but it really doesn't look like Cliff! I think I am going to have a hard time finding people who will want to sit for me for an hour or so while I draw them.
By the way, I am not using flickr anymore to post pictures, I only post on facebook now since it is MUCH easier. Here are the links to a few recent albums:

Michaela's pictures of the girls:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41140&l=15986&id=634823803

Colorado pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42606&l=4fe87&id=634823803

May 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40770&l=60bc4&id=634823803

April 2008:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38018&l=2d1c0&id=634823803

Joscelyn's 1st birthday:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37860&l=44448&id=634823803

Also, I have started to "middle name" Aidenne when she is doing something wrong. I see her about to fling a yo-yo at Jossie, and I say "Aidenne Camille Despres" in my best mean-mommy tone. The other day when we were playing in the back yard, Aidenne opened the door and said "Mommy, come inside!" I don't know what I was doing (probably trying to stop Joss from falling in the pool), but I didn't answer her right away, so she said "Mommy Camille Despres!" It was hilarious. Its funny that she probably has no clue that that is her full name, she just thinks it is what you say when you really want to get someone's attention.
Aidenne has also been going to the potty a few times a day this week. She doesn't even want to use her potty seat, she always just holds herself upon the big potty, which is nice for me since I don't have to clean up 2 potties. Woohoo, we are about to cut our diaper and wipes bill in half!!
Joss is getting really good at sign language. She says "more" all the time, and she is getting better at "eat." We just teach her one at a time, so hopefully she will really understand what they mean. She goes around saying "mama" all the time, which I absolutely LOVE. She loves to play with the big basketball in the back yard, and when she sees it, she yells "BALL!" Aidenne loves to blow bubbles, and Joss yells "BUBBA" when she sees them. She is too cute, she has the raspiest little voice, like she has been smoking for years.
Anyway, I think I just heard Aidenne, she is going to want breakfast ASAP!!

Colorado, the best state in all the USA

Picture this:
I am sitting in my living room alone, finishing a drawing of a teapot and utensil jar. It is about 10:30 p.m. Cliff has taken the girls to his mom's for the weekend so I can get a break. Since it is only 9:30 p.m. in Colorado, I decide to take a break from my masterpiece and call my sis. We talk for a while and realize that we are both going to be alone for the weekend since her husband is going out of town for a week. This spirals into us searching for plane tickets for me to come visit her for the weekend. I call Cliff to see how he is and I casually mention that I was thinking of visiting my sis, to which he did not seem too excited (maybe just because he was really tired). So when on the phone with him, I decide I shouldn't be so hasty and I should just stay home.
I call my sis back who in the mean time had found a flight leaving at 6:35 a.m. Saturday. I immediately tell her to book it, and say "I will see you in 7 hours!!"
WOOOHOOOOOO!
I finished my drawing and got online to turn it in. I did a load of laundry so I would have some clothes to wear. I packed all my stuff and my laptop and quadruple checked that I had the little thingy that lets me connect to the Internet wherever I am. I finally fell asleep at 2 a.m. and set my alarm for 3:15 a.m. so that I could leave for the airport by 3:45. Are you thinking I am crazy yet??
So the one hour of sleep caught up with me on the plane, but I couldn't sleep because of the loud BEEP of the seatbelt sign on the plane kept going off.
I get to Colorado and get a burst of energy since I am finally there and can see my sister. We wait at the wrong baggage claim like dummies. No, I did not fly in from San Antonio, I flew in from Austin, and we are standing at the baggage claim for the San Antonio flight forever, all the while making fun of all the stupid people from my flight who I can see clearly waiting at the wrong baggage claim. I only realize that we are actually the ones waiting at the wrong baggage claim after I go to the office to angrily tell them they lost my luggage. Lets just blame this on only getting that one hour of sleep (and maybe the smelly guy I had to sit next to on the plane).
OKAY, so I was actually in Colorado and my sis and I were really excited to see each other. She had a lot of things to show me, but first stop was Chickfila so I could get a sausage biscuit (yessssssssssss). I also decided to call Cliff again and let him know I was in Colorado since by the time we bought the ticket the night before, he had already gone to bed. I thought it would be nice to let him know I had left the state!
We had an awesome weekend. I got to see all the beautiful mountains of Colorado, which dont even look real, by the way. They look far too gorgeous to be real.
She took me to the hippie downtown Boulder and the yuppy (sp?) downtown Denver. Both were awesome.
We ate out at every meal, having some wontons with questionably-shaped pork inside and some weird (aka gross) Mexican meat on top of giant tortilla chips.
We shopped at little boutiques and I bought 2 dresses, mostly because my sis is the WORST to shop with. She makes you buy everything you see!
It was an awesome weekend, and even though I only stayed Saturday through Tuesday, it seemed longer than that! It was awesome to see my sister, it was awesome to be in Colorado for the first time, and it was especially awesome that neither of us had a hubby or children with us!! As much as we love them, it is so nice to have some alone sister time.
So, hopefully within the next 2 years we will be able to move there too, because I miss my sister WAAAAYYYYY too much!

The Plague

So....
We girls are sicker than SICK. Joss and Aidenne have the snottiest of all snotty noses, Aidenne has pink eye, and I have a sore throat from hell.
The best part of it was when I was telling my mom over the phone that Aidenne had pink eye, and Aidenne overheard and said, "No, my eyes are blue!!" I was hysterically laughing, but since my throat is so bad, I think I sounded like a dying pig.
Anyway, we will all be staying in our pajamas today, and nothing will be cleaned whatsoever (except for the girls' noses of course. eeewww).

For Thea,

I would like to start out this post by saying PLEASE ignore me when I say I will blog more in the future. I am lying, plain and simple.

Since my last post, Joscelyn turned 1. Her birthday party theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar (a children's book by Eric Carle). As usual, the party was held at the house, and I made the cake. It was not as awesome as Aidenne's Blues Clues cake, but I think I still did pretty well:

The party was very nice, I think everyone had a pretty good time, and Joscelyn got a whole wardrobe since I banned everyone from buying toys for her. She liked the cake and playing outside with everyone the most! My sister was in town, too, so we were all SUPER excited about that. But of course the weekend went by pretty fast, and I wanted her to stay longer.

After Joss went down for a nap, but before all the guests left, I played "awful hostess" and left with my sister and Michaela to get pedicures. Thinking back, I guess that was pretty rude. But all I was thinking was FREE PEDICURE and I went with it.

Also since my last post, I started interior design school online at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. My classes are broken up into quarters. Those quarters are broken up into two 5-and-a-half week sessions. The first session I take one class and the second session I take two classes. So now I am in the middle of my first session, taking a computer class, learning Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Three big books and only 5.5 weeks to learn it all. This is definitely my kind of school--go to class when I want, get ahead on assignments if I want, and if I hate the class, it is only a month and a half long--very simple to put up with. As I start my 3rd week, I recommend it to anyone! My first week's grades were just posted and I got 60 out of 61 possible points (damn that last point!!), aka I am making a 98.3 so far. I am really excited about being in school, I have never been motivated like this before. I think given my circumstances, this is the best time for me to go back. It's the first time I haven't had to work while going to school, so I can really make it my main focus (other than running after my 2 gorgeous fit-throwers).

Last but not least, I purchased a plane ticket for me and the girls to go to Florida to visit my parents as soon as I have summer break. Am I crazy? Yes. Flying alone with 2 toddlers is going to be GREAT FUN. I am sooooo looking forward to it. We will be spending a week, but depending on how the flight there goes, I may just move there permanently. I am really excited to go, since we will see my parents and they will get to see their awesome grandkids, and also because neither girl has been to the beach yet, and I plan on taking billions of pictures of that. The two girls with their chubby legs and big heads walking in the sand in cute bathing suits...does it get any better than that??

Now remember, I will blog more VERY SOON!

Funny Aidenne Stories

I haven't blogged in FOREVER, but now we have our desktop computer set up, so I should be able to log in more (at least until I start school next month).

Anyway, Aidenne cracks us up every day, and I thought I would write some of the funny things she says down for your enjoyment (but more for myself, so that I can remember them years from now!)

*I went to my friend Jessica's son's first birthday party. Her daughter, Kristian, is six months older than Aidenne. I told Aidenne we were going to a birthday party to play with "the kids" and never actually told her what Kristian's name was. So about an hour after they had been running around together on the playground, I hear Aidenne say, "Hey, Kid!" hahahaha So I thought I should tell her that Kristian had a name. This was our conversation:

Me (pointing to Kristian): "Aidenne, do you know what her name is?"
(Aidenne stares blankly)
Me: "Her name is Kristian."
Aidenne: "No, she not Frish-chin. She just a kid."

*Cliff has taught Aidenne to say "Pow, right in the kisser!" in his best northern accent, so now Aidenne runs around saying, "Pow, right kissa!" and sometimes she says "I love pow right kissa." I don't really know what that is supposed to mean.

*The next one will fall under the category of cute-when-you-tell-other-people-about-it-but-annoying-to-mommy: Aidenne has become pretty bossy (honestly, I don't know WHO she could've gotten that from!), and so she will tell me to "hush" if she doesn't like what I am saying to her. So, my response has been "YOU don't tell ME to hush." So now, when I tell her to hush, she says "Mommy, don't tell me hush!" Uggghhh. I have created a monster!

*She has started making her dolls be "best friends" with each other, and the other day she told me I was her best friend. Of course later that night, Cliff was her best friend, and today I asked her if I was her best friend, and she said "No, Mommy, not today." So she is only 2, but she has already figured out the mechanics of middle school.

Joscelyn will be one in a little over a month. I am in shock about this because I still think of her as a little baby. I don't know why, since she has been walking for over a month now. Maybe it is because she still cries all the time like a little baby. Hmmmm. Well, the good news is that she will be off formula pretty soon, so that will be extra money for us! Actually, the Art Institute will be taking the rest of our money for the next 4 to 5 years, so I guess I shouldn't get too excited.

OK, I should stop blogging and take Aidenne outside for some fresh air since it is 88 degrees out today, and Joscelyn is napping.

Hilariousness

The other night I did not feel like cooking, so we ordered TGI Friday's and brought it home to eat. I got Aidenne the kid's pizza since it didn't seem like she would eat anything else from their menu. We sit down to eat, and I took off Aidenne's shirt so she wouldn't get pizza all over it. (I know, I know, it's weird to make your child eat naked, but get over it, I hate having to pre-treat all of her clothes.)

So she eats about 1/8 of the pizza, and decides she wants to have her mandarin oranges then. I tell her to eat more pizza first. (Why? I don't know, looking back it seems silly since mandarin oranges are way more healthy than pizza, but whatever.) She starts crying, so we just ignore her and keep eating. Finally her cry turns into just a pout, so I look at her and she says "I'm pretty sad" and puts on her best frown face. To which I am trying my best not to crack up laughing (because she hates that). So I say, "You're pretty sad?"
"Yeah."
Cliff and I try to just carry on normal conversation and not laugh at her. Then she said, "Mommy can I get down?" and I said "Yes, you may" and proceeded to help her down from her chair. Then, with her voice still wimpery and pouty, she says "Can I have my shirt?"

I guess you just had to be there to see her devastated face at the fact that she couldn't have those oranges, and also that her mom was making her eat naked again. Poor thing! I tell you, it's tough being 2...

Eeeeeeeee!!

Joscelyn said "mama" today. I have been working on this so that she would say my name instead of Cliff's name first since Aidenne's first and only word FOREVER was "dada". So HA! It's me first this time. So now she has 2 words: "bap" and "mama". And yes, "bap" is a word.
My children are just brilliant. BRILLIANT, I TELL YOU!

Oh yeah, here is that video I never posted:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=25373466

When I grow up...

...I want to be an interior designer.

Also, I really hate it when people text me back the word "OK" and that is it. Like I say, "call me this weekend." I don't expect a reply, unless you can't actually call me this weekend. If you don't reply, I know you will call me. Saying "OK" is just not necessary. OH! I especially hate it when they do this about 3 hours after I messaged them, so then I have to look back in my sent messages to see what is up. You know who you are. Stop doing this to me!

Have a nice day and look at my awesome pictures on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cvajdespres/

And check out my hilarious baby girls at:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=25369588

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=25370676

there is one more video, but i will have to post it later...it is taking a while to download!