Winter Fun

My last few blog posts have either been monthly/yearly updates on the girls or the big recap of Brooklyn’s birthday party…so I’m really behind on writing about our daily activities over the past month or so. I spent the majority of my “free” time during the first two weeks of February getting ready for Brooklyn’s party, but we had a lot of other stuff going on too. It’s been cold and rainy a lot lately, but we’ve had a few days of nice weather here and there. We’ve made sure to get outside and enjoy it any chance we get! I’ll be glad when spring is officially here :)

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Brooklyn goes over to Cici’s house about one evening/week to eat supper and play (which is so nice!), and I think Savannah really misses her while she’s gone. Those nights are usually Savannah’s fussiest, and I think it’s because Brooklyn isn’t around to entertain her. So, she usually ends up riding around in the Boba while we clean up the house ;) She loves it, and often she’ll fall asleep in it!

Helping Daddy on the computer ;)

This isn’t a great picture of it, but Savannah learned how to clap about a month ago! This was the first day she started doing it. These days, she loves to clap when she hears the theme song from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood; it’s so funny!

Shopping is so much more fun with two little monkeys! ;)

One of the secrets to getting Brooklyn to potty train was using a sticker chart! This was her first one (she has since filled up a second one as well)…

So proud! After she filled up her first sticker chart, I took her to the “toy store” (a.k.a Dollar General), and told her she could pick out any toy that she wanted. She chose a small purple bouncy ball :) And, for filling up her second chart, she chose a big rainbow-colored ball!

Macaroni and cheese lover!

Spaghetti lover!

Basically, she loves any and all food ;)

Mr. Snowman was still outside a couple of days after the rest of the snow had melted, so Brooklyn wanted to check him out, of course…haha. (You can tell how far behind on blogging I am since the snow happened a month ago!).

After the girls’ well visits (9 month and 3 year) at the beginning of February, we hit up “the sandwich restaurant”, as Brooklyn calls it (a.ka. Firehouse Subs). We try to schedule their appointments close to lunchtime since Daddy usually meets us at the pediatrician’s office, and then we can eat lunch with him before he goes back to work. It’s a special treat because we don’t normally see him during the day!

Brooklyn got a sucker at the end of her checkup, so she got to eat it after lunch. She always looks forward to getting that sucker!

For the Super Bowl, we ordered pizza and ate it in the living room together. I think this was Savannah’s first time to eat pizza, and of course, she loved it. She never turns down food! As for the game, we basically watched a few minutes of it while we ate, and then saved the rest until the girls went to bed. It’s hard to concentrate when you’re up every 5 seconds getting something for somebody ;)

I can’t remember what day this was, but I was exhausted by the time Travis got home. So, I sat down in the recliner to rest, and Brooklyn decided to help me sleep by covering me with her blankets, stuffed animals, and a random bouncy ball. I definitely felt loved! Now, if only she knew that she was half the cause of my exhaustion! Haha!

We went to visit Mrs. Dot at rehab one Friday afternoon, and Brooklyn brought her a card that she’d colored and put stickers on. I think it helped for Brooklyn to be able to see who we’d been praying for in person, so she could put a face with the name :)

We went to Birmingham for the day a few Saturdays ago. We went to help get Gran moved into a new room on the assisted living floor at Greenbriar, but we were also there to celebrate her 85th birthday. I thought this was the sweetest picture :)

Brooklyn helped Gran open her gifts and enjoyed singing “happy birthday” to her as well. She didn’t take a nap all day until we left to go eat supper and head home. She fell asleep on the 10 minute drive to Taziki’s and slept the entire time we were inside…haha. So, she got to eat her supper in the car on the drive home. It was a long day, but we got a lot done, and we were glad to be there for Gran’s birthday too!

I love my girls!

And they love each other…

My favorite!

Savannah is getting so big! I need to start planning her birthday party because it will be here before I know it!

Brooklyn loves to have “picnics” with her play food!

Savannah recently discovered the little mirror on the wall in her room. She has fun looking at herself!

Baugay got some cuddles with Savannah at Uncle Gil and Aunt Jann’s house a few weeks ago :)

And when we ate at Baugay’s for lunch this month, the “big kids” sat at a table all by themselves! Brooklyn doesn’t look too happy that Carter has his food already and she doesn’t ;)

Despite the cold and rainy weather we’ve been having lately, we’ve still managed to play outside a pretty good bit. Anytime it’s in the 50s or warmer and dry, we go out there :)

Brooklyn thinks it’s fun to push Savannah in the swing…

I’m not sure if Savannah agrees? :)

It didn’t take her long…

…to figure out how to climb the rock wall all by herself!

Last week, we had a couple of days that felt like springtime, so one of those mornings, Alisha and Carter came over to eat lunch and play in the backyard.

We got the wagon out and pulled it around the yard…

Of course, Brooklyn wanted to help pull :)

It’s hard being the youngest child! :)

Carter enjoyed this swing…

…but he especially liked the tire swing! We had a fun morning!

Later that day, I took the girls on another wagon ride down the street and into the cul-de-sac. We’ve gotten a lot of use out of that wagon so far :)

The next day was nice too, so we headed to Bridge Street! We sat on a bench while Brooklyn ate part of her lunch, watched the people coming and going, and got frozen yogurt before we went home.

It was just nice to get outside and enjoy the warmer weather. Brooklyn was wishing that the pop-up jets were on, but we’ll have to wait a few more months for that :) I foresee us going back a lot this summer!

That afternoon during Brooklyn’s nap, Savannah and I snuggled on the couch for a little while :)

Earlier this week on Monday, Savannah decided she was ready to start pulling up. She’d done it a few times before at random, but this week she’s started standing up A LOT.

It makes her seem so big!

Things that used to be “safe” are no longer safe with Little Sis on two feet now :)

For some reason, this is one of her favorite spots to stand up: right underneath the kitchen table. One time she accidentally flipped over the table leg and got stuck on her head. Whoops!

She thinks it’s fun to look at Mommy through the glass tabletop :)

I have another laundry “helper” :)

…and another assistant chef in the kitchen!

“Hey, what’s in this book?”

All that standing up wears a girl out!

They play pretty well together (most of the time) :)

In addition to playing outside, Brooklyn has been painting and coloring a lot lately.

She also got some Play-doh for her birthday from her friend, Nathan, so she’s enjoyed playing with that too!

Brooklyn Says: 

• 1/16/16 – “Where’s the purple on Buzz’s hands?” – because her little toy Buzz’s hands were plain white, but the real Buzz (in the movie) has purple on parts of his hands (WOW! – How does she notice stuff like that?)
• She also noticed that someone in a book was holding a pair of glasses on one page, but not holding them on the next page of the book.
• “I know it’s hard to wait, but I’ll be right there” – Brooklyn said as she was climbing up the stairs of the playset. I was sitting at the top of the slide waiting for her to “help push me”.
• “Can I watch this ‘park’?” – her favorite question to ask at the end of a TV show/movie; she always wants to watch the credits :)
• “I’d like a ‘PB&J jelly sandwich’, please.”
• She prayed for Mrs. Dot’s hip to feel better after surgery and for Mrs. Monica to feel better too.
• We heard some cicadas when we were getting out of the car at Cici’s house. “Shhhhh…Brooklyn, do you hear that?” Daddy asked. Brooklyn listened for a second and replied, “Peace and quiet???” Haha!
• “Bye, you old stinker Carter!” – Brooklyn said that to Carter as we were leaving their house one morning.
• “Can we call Rae Rae? Rae Rae is nice. She’s my Rae Rae.”
• She still pronounces some words wrong: She says “udder” instead of “other” and “togedder” instead of “together”.
• We aren’t very far into age three yet, but so far it’s been full of a lot more whining, complaining, and resisting than age two was. It seems like every time we make some progress in her willingness to obey, then we take two steps back again. I think we’re in a slump right now, but hopefully that will change soon :) Some of her worst behavior comes right after she wakes up from her nap–she has always been grumpy when she first wakes up, but lately she’s taken it to a whole new level. I’ve heard the term “three-nager” used to describe 3-year-olds, and so far that seems to be a pretty accurate description. They’re like mini-teenagers! We still love her to pieces though :)

Well, I think that pretty much sums up what we’ve been up to for the month of February and the end of January: Lots of indoor play with a little outdoor fun mixed in too. I’m looking forward to warmer weather in March! Travis has been pretty busy at work lately and has had to work from home at least one night per week. The week of Brooklyn’s party, I cleaned our house better than I’ve probably ever cleaned it. I’m not a great housekeeper when it comes to cleaning, and I’m not afraid to admit it. It’s just not very high on my list of priorities…especially things like cleaning baseboards and light fixtures. I also organized my part of the closet and got rid of some old shoes. A little early spring cleaning, I guess :) We discovered earlier this week that our hot water heater is dying, so we ordered a new one and it will hopefully be installed tomorrow. We’ve been making do with lukewarm water this week, but it will be nice to have hot water again soon. I almost feel guilty for even typing that because there are so many places in the world that don’t even have clean, running water at all. We are so blessed, and it’s easy to take that for granted if I’m not careful.

“Count your many blessings; name them one by one. And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

Hope you’re having a great week!