Monday, February 29, 2016

February, Where Did You Go?!?

It's amazing how I can turn around and a month is gone!
Here's what we were up to:
 Audrey's curls - they melt me every time she gets out of the tub! They come in full force and I love it!
 We had some more sun, for a bit. I love how the kids take care of each other. If Adelynn fusses, they come sit by her, if Aaron falls from his bike, Audrey rushes over to help up with a hug, and if Audrey decides to cover her entire face with her hat and trip on the sidewalk, Aaron is there in a jiffy! (In the picture, you can see our compromise. I told her I'd take the hat if she covered her face, so she covered just one eye and paraded around with her finger curved like a "hook" saying "argh! I a pirate!" She came up with that on her own...)
 It's these simple, quiet moments that I love. (This meal brought to you by Mac & Cheese courtesy of GP and Grammy) 
Yeah, she's always this happy right after waking up, before she gets a new diaper...
I need to learn her secret!
 I had a blast going out for pedicures with my good friend, Allyson, this month! The gal who did my toes even managed to cover (mostly) the bruise on my big toe from when I dropped a block of retaining wall on it (one of those projects I should have waited for Eric, but didn't).
 
 The week after Valentine's Day, Eric held true to his promise! He grabbed me flowers and then went to 4 different stores looking for Dove chocolates. How sweet! He ended up getting Hershey's nuggets, but ya know, when the chocolate stash is empty, anything to fill it is perfect!
 
For breakfast, Aaron and Audrey both selected oatmeal.Aaron: I don't want oatmeal anymore (after I made it). I want chocolate, like Adelynn!
Audrey: Yeah!
Me: This is not chocolate, it is prunes...
Aaron: Ok, I want prunes.
... Well, why not? So I gave him a bite.
Audrey: I have one too, pretty please?
... Seriously. They will never complain about oatmeal again. Their faces were priceless. Parenting win.

Eating those bubbles...
Audrey while in the tub: Yay! My toes, warm!
... Well, if you'd just keep your socks on, you wouldn't require the tub to have them be warm ...
  Audrey is all about saying, "as you wish, your majesty," and then performing a theatrical bow.
Adorable, and it means she'll do what I asked, so - win all around!
Did a playdate with my friend Marissa and her kids, Lacey and William. We had so much fun that we only got blurry photos of the babies!
Adelynn started a new trick - standing alone! Aaron loved filming it for us.
I thought this was cute - Adelynn loves to stand at the jumper and let go only to grab on again before she falls. I was trying to get it on video, but Audrey thought I wanted a picture - so she came behind me and started clicking her tongue to get Adelynn's attention. Such a big helper ;)
Let it be known, I'll do whatever it takes to protect my kids from blackberry thorns ... Even climb up on and straddle (for balance) the shed to cut them further back. And, I didn't fall - it's ok if you're surprised I didn't fall ... I know I was! Each time it would appear I was going to fall, Aaron would cry out and as I would regain complete control, Audrey would exclaim, "Mama, you a genius!" Clearly these feats are best done with a child audience.
Eric puts up with a lot... one morning, while eating breakfast, I read something on the milk carton. It said, "Did you know that cows can walk upstairs but not down them?" I instantly pointed out the errors in the sentence to Eric and then got my nerd on as I explained it ought be worded, "Did you know that cows can walk up the stairs, but not down them?" I explained why you would use "upstairs" vs "up stairs," which led to a conversation about "into" vs "in to." He was so patient with me ... and then tonight, even though he got home late, Eric listened to me explain when to capitalize the words, "Mom" and "Dad," when those words use an apostrophe, and their plural forms (thanks to my current editing projects). He's so good at supporting my passions ... and I'm such a nerd because I love this stuff so much! When he came home from work, he then had to suffer through a lesson about step-mom vs stepmom, godmother vs god mother and mothers-in-law vs mother-in-laws, and all of the capitalization and apostrophes for those too... Obviously, Mother's Day is around the corner and that's what the majority of my editing projects are encompassing. He then repeated the morning's lesson to me about into vs in to and I was very proud :)
He's so spectacular with the kids - they love to play games with him!
smile emoticon
This little lady asked me to straighten her hair.
Afterward, the first thing she did was put on a hat... She hated it, typical of a new hairstyle, am I right? But then she pulled off the hat and decided, after she brushed it, that she really loved it!
Eric's parents sent us home with some remote controlled helicopters they had lying around and the kids LOVE them! Even Adelynn just sits and giggles.
Yeah, that landing on the ceiling fan was an accident, but a cool accident, for sure!
I wish this little girl knew just how much of my heart belongs to her...
Audrey loves to sing - loves it! If she doesn't know the words, she'll make them up when a song comes on. I find her singing all the time!
Aaron found Adelynn's food and brought it to me, pinching his nose. "Mom," he said, still pinching his nose, "Adelynn's eating poop..." "That's not poop, that's peas." He sniffed it again, "...Same thing..." Apparently Audrey doesn't like the smell either, haha! Good thing Adelynn loves them!
First, this little lady informed me of how sad she is that she can't see the moon (this happens daily, we're a bit obsessed), so, "I use pixie dust, fly to moon! Pixie dust away!" So we put "pixie dust" on her toes to help her fly. And now... Well, now we think we are the funniest thing since, well, ever... And I'm loving every second of it!
Wait, you're trying to tell me this *isn't* a normal way to sit for every . single . meal ?!? I don't believe you...
And that is pretty much our February in a nutshell - a shell full of nuts :)

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Gems

I was looking at our online photo stash and these were uploaded from Eric's camera. How fun are these?!They made cookies! Surprise!
 Adelynn almost looks like she's photo bombing, lol!

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Packages

It doesn't matter what's in them, my kids LOVE packages.
Lucky for them (and me!) my Grandparents love sending packages! They love it so much that we received two this month!
 Audrey was so excited about the rose GP and Grammy made out of Hershey's kisses! She also loved opening all of the toothpaste boxes to find candy inside!
 Adelynn was already in bed so we taught double A "Don't Eat Pete," their new favorite game, and Adelynn opened her gifts in the morning.
 Seriously, how cute is this little lady?!? And I love how when double A help her open the gifts, they are so cooperative and kind to each other! That morning, we were all about helping and sharing, thank goodness!
One of Adelynn's gifts was a box of pancake mix - one of triple A's obsessions ... so we fired up the griddle immediately!
Thank you, as always, for the splendid packages!

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Bass Family Visit

Oh man, we don't get to see the Bass family nearly enough! Washington is much too far away!
Emily surprised David with tickets to the Basketball game in Portland, so they came down and let us watch their 3 kids for the evening! We then spent time together after the game :)
It is ... very difficult ... to get 4 children looking at once, haha.
But here's Audrey, Eli, Aaron & Tanner! 
 The kids enjoyed dinner, playing, movie watching, and then they wanted to make maps - so I pulled out our craft stash and they had a blast! Aaron and Eli worked together on each other's maps and as they drew, they'd tell the story of what was happening. Those two stayed at the table for almost 2 hours. 
 Eric is so patient as he teaches Audrey the correct way to hold her writing utensils! 
 I love how focused Aaron and Eli are ... and how excited Tanner is!
 Tanner and Audrey fell asleep while Aaron and Eli went to solve mysteries with the legos and the maps they created!
 And here are these two little ladies! Adelynn is 3 months older than Charlotte, but they are surprisingly close in size!
Come visit again! Our door is always open!