March and April Happenings

*I apologize in advance for the length of this post. It’s what happens when I get weeks behind!

I’ll start with the most exciting news of the last few weeks…and no, I’m not pregnant….

But Alisha is…with TWINS!

We are so excited for them! Life is going to get really loud and chaotic this fall. There will be 5 kids under the age of 4 at lunch on Sundays…haha. We’ve joked that we’ll just take turns heating up our food in the microwave because nobody will eat when the food’s warm! ;) It will be exciting though. They are planning to find out the gender of the babies, so naturally I can’t wait for that either. I’ve always thought it might be fun to have twins, so now we get to experience it as Uncle Travis and Aunt Erin. I’m pumped!

A few weeks ago, we got a big load of mulch delivered to our house. We were planning to put some around the swingset and use the rest in our flower beds in the front yard. Going in, we didn’t have a clue how much mulch it would actually take to fill up that space around the swingset. It’s a 20×40 foot area, and they recommend that you make the mulch at least 6-9 inches thick. That equals a lot of mulch! Travis was originally planning on borrowing a truck and picking up a few truckloads himself, but we soon decided it would make more sense to just have it delivered to us. I think Travis would have had to make 14 trips back and forth to get it all himself….haha!

It took most of the afternoon to rake it all around the swingset and take wheelbarrow loads up to the front flower beds, but we finally got it finished (with some help from Cici for a couple of hours). Brooklyn loved playing in the big pile of mulch! She also got to push the button on the flatbed truck to dump out the mulch…that was cool! The driver was really nice to let her do that. At this point, the mulch is all in place, but we are still wanting to put some kind of border/edging to keep the mulch off the grass. So, that’s still to be done! It’s looking better already though, and at least Travis doesn’t have to mow under the swingset anymore!

It has been so neat to see how Brooklyn’s artwork has progressed over the past year or so. Now, when she draws a person, it actually has a head, legs, feet, and eyes! :)

She likes to draw “cards” for people and have one of us write a message on it for her. So sweet!

Brooklyn took her 2nd round of swim lessons over the last several weeks. We signed her up at Dublin Park just like last year; the only difference was which class she was in. This year, she did Level 1, which is designed for kids who are afraid of the water or who cannot swim without constant assistance. There were about 10 kids in her class, and she seemed to be one of the youngest. I think several of the kids had taken that class before because they seemed to know what to do, but Brooklyn caught on pretty quickly! She’s not swimming by herself (or even close!), but she did make some progress over the 6 lessons. She enjoyed it and looked forward to her lessons!

Waiting to get in the pool before her first lesson – she was excited!

There she is right in the middle – she didn’t like hanging onto the side of the pool, so after the first night, the instructors started letting her sit on the side instead.

She loved playing “Red Light, Green Light”!

This was her favorite instructor :)

As much as anything, swim lessons taught her how to wait for her turn (with 10 kids and 2 instructors, she had to do a lot of waiting!), and also how to stand in line. She had no clue how to “line up”…and still isn’t great at it ;) I’m sure she’ll get better!

Walking in on the second night :)

Ready for “red light, green light” again :)

The little boy with the goggles on cracked me up!

Brooklyn wasn’t comfortable jumping in from the side until the last 2 lessons; the first several times she barely jumped and wanted to hold the instructor’s hand the whole time. But, she got better! It didn’t help that she slipped off the side of the pool during her first lesson and went underwater for a couple of seconds. I think that scared her :/

One night before swim lessons, we got pizza and ate it on a picnic table by the soccer fields at Dublin Park. It was a beautiful evening! We were planning to let the girls play at the playground for a few minutes after supper, but the playground was already locked for the evening. Brooklyn was very disappointed, to say the least ;)

She kept asking to “go play with her friends” on the soccer field. She was so interested–she just walked around holding her piece of pizza and watching the whole time :) Maybe a future soccer player in the making?

Savannah did pretty good at most of the lessons just sitting and watching!

Brooklyn’s fan club on the night of her last lesson! :) Cici also came to a lesson, and Paw and Rae Rae came to one as well. Brooklyn loved having her grandparents there to watch her! We could tell a big difference in how well she “performed” for Paw and Rae Rae than she had done in her previous lessons. Wouldn’t want to disappoint that Paw! ;)

They practiced swimming with and without a board to hold onto.

She doesn’t really have the concept down of rotating her arms and kicking at the same time, but she’s getting better! :)

She does NOT like to lie on her back in the water! She tries to hold her head up and her legs up rather than lay back :)

But she still got a high five from her teacher anyway! :)

Here she is after finishing her last lesson!

“Ready to move on to level 2”? I’m not so sure! We will probably repeat level 1 again just to get her more comfortable. We were proud of the progress she made though!

She got to pick out the flavor smoothie we got after her last lesson and chose “Rockin Raspberry”. It was yummy!

Looks can be deceiving: Sometimes they are so sweet to each other, and other times they hit and push and take toys from each other. Even Savannah is hitting and pushing now. Wonder where she learned it from? :) I just have to enjoy the moments like this when they happen!

Surely this sweet thing wouldn’t hit and push! ;)

Anytime I pull out the camera to take Savannah’s picture, Brooklyn wants hers taken too :)

We don’t go to Sam’s very often, but I love their carts with the 2 seats in front! Brooklyn isn’t quite obedient enough to walk beside me in a store most of the time, so she really needs to ride. But it’s hard when the carts only have one seat!

I know Easter was weeks ago, but I can’t let it pass without posting a few pictures of their dresses…made by their very talented Cici! She also made the matching hair bows. I thought they turned out so cute!

Of course the girls didn’t smile for the same picture. Typical!

Savannah looked so cute at church that morning!

It was raining on Easter, so after lunch at Cici’s, we had an indoor egg hunt. Brooklyn and Carter were really the only ones hunting, but I’m sure Savannah will be interested next year!

Savannah was more interested in the Easter grass in the baskets. And I think she ate her first jelly bean at some point ;) Brooklyn thought it was fun to feed cousin Carter jelly beans too!

What else has Savannah been up to besides eating Easter grass?

A picture’s worth a thousand words!

She is exploring all over the place and checking out everything she can find!

Brooklyn and Carter have graduated to their own table at Baugay’s house when we eat lunch there. They have fun together! Last time, they were shouting “Mah!” at each other and bursting into laughter. It was so funny!

I love my little helpers in the kitchen!

Doesn’t that mulch look lovely? ;)

The weather has been so nice lately! Brooklyn enjoyed adding some colorful rays to my sunshine last week :)

Brooklyn also had a dentist appointment last week. It was her 3rd dentist appointment, and her first one with our new dentist, Dr. Curtis. He took over Dr. Beitel’s old office in Madison, and we decided not to drive out to Airport Road just to keep seeing Dr. Beitel. We really like the new dentist so far!

The two times she saw Dr. Beitel, he just looked in her mouth. This time, she actually let Dr. Curtis clean her teeth. She was so brave! She never cried or acted scared at all. He did a great job explaining everything to her, and he let her pick out her flavor of toothpaste. She chose chocolate, of course! (She is my daughter after all!).

She loved getting a prize at the end. Even Savannah liked Dr. Curtis—she let him hold her and didn’t mind a bit. I was very surprised and impressed! I was thankful that the visit went so well.

We also recently started reading a new Bible story book with Brooklyn at bedtime. This one has a little bit more detail to the stories, and we felt like she was ready for that. Savannah will have to start joining in before too long :)

We don’t always go to story time at the library on Mondays, but we try to go at least a couple of times a month. Brooklyn always asks to go to the playground nearby afterward, so we try to do that too for at least a few minutes :)

Sister is always tired and hungry by this point because I usually have to wake her up from her nap to go to the library. But she handles it pretty well!

Those girls!!

Savannah’s hair is slowly but surely getting longer—at least in the back!

I can’t believe she will be ONE in less than 2 weeks!

Sometimes, she will hang out in the walker for a few minutes while Brooklyn and I eat lunch on the patio. It will be nice when she is walking and I can just set her down. I just hate for her to crawl on the concrete or in the grass!

Savannah doesn’t walk in her walker, but Brooklyn is happy to push her in it ;)

A beautiful spring day!

Friday night, we went to a graduation party for Melissa at the community center. I didn’t get any other pictures, but I did capture this one of Grandpa holding Savannah. I think it’s the first time he’s ever held her!

Last night we celebrated Emily’s and Tyler’s birthdays at our house. Cici provided all the food, and Travis grilled the steaks. It was a fun night! The kids made a big mess in the living room, but it’s amazing how fast it got cleaned up with so many adult helpers. I wish we could recruit help like that every night! :)

Carter and Savannah were playing side by side for a while. Soon, they’ll be playing together! Can’t wait!

At one point before dinner, Savannah found a rubber stamp of Brooklyn’s and proceeded to gnaw on it without anyone noticing. When I found her, her tongue was bright blue, ink was all in her mouth, on the carpet, and all over her. That girl! I have no idea how she got the top off of it! It took a good scrubbing, but we finally got most of the ink off of her in the tub last night. Who knows if it will come out of her outfit? And, yes, we did call Poison Control just to be on the safe side. Apparently, kids’ stamps are usually non-toxic, but thankfully she didn’t have any kind of reaction from it…other than bright green poop with chunks of stamp in it today! :)

Brooklyn Quotes and Other Notables: 

• 3/13/16 – “Carter shared part of his roll with me. He’s a good little baby.”
• On National Cone Day – “Do you remember when Daddy brought me an ice cream cone outside by the water table?” (talking about a whole year ago on National Cone Day! How did she remember that???)
• 3/28/16 – “Thank you, God, for the food we have to eat. And thank you for dump trucks dumping mulch. And thank you for my little sister. And thank you for sandwiches. And thank you for Aunt Alisha’s babies to be healthy. In Jesus name, Amen.”
• “Cock-a-wittle-DUDE!” This is what a rooster says, according to B. She’s been pronouncing it like this for a long time, but I wanted to record it for posterity :)
• Savannah lost her sock at Publix, and we were almost ready to check out by the time I realized it was missing. I decided it was too much work and effort to go looking for it across the whole store, but one of the managers brought it to me before we left! I was so impressed! That’s why Publix is the best!
• One day, Brooklyn had to walk around the store at Publix because they were out of the grocery carts with 2 seats/steering wheels that we normally use. She did pretty good for having so much freedom! When we got in the car, I thanked her for staying nearby, for helping push the cart, for opening the freezer doors, etc. etc. I thanked her for each thing individually. In the middle of me thanking her, she interrupted and asked, “Are you praying?” Haha!
• Last week, Brooklyn put all of her stuffed animal friends and dolls into the laundry basket and covered them with blankets. She said she was tucking them in to go to sleep. I couldn’t see any of the “friends” though. I asked her, “Can they breathe under those blankets?” She thought about it for a minute and replied, “No, they can’t breathe. They’ll probably have to go to the hospital.” Haha!
• And, one of my favorite quotes of all time: This was February 2015, but I’m not sure I ever blogged about it. Carter was coming over the next day for “Daddy Daycare” for the very first time, so I said to Brooklyn: “Guess who’s coming over tomorrow! Baby….?” She didn’t hesitate for a second and shouted, “JESUS!” Hahaha!

That’s all for now! Hopefully I will find the time to blog about Savannah’s first birthday before she turns two! ;)