best friends

these two love each other.  lots.

they love working on stuff together... not just side by side.

to the point that they share a chair while they do puzzles.

and they love getting their picture taken together.

 

 

elle was reading stories to abigail and the stuff she was coming up with was hilarious.

more reading

i heard them tell me that pooh bear was in the swing.  i have no idea how they got him in there but they all wanted their picture together.

brady got the shaft and was stuck in the bouncer in the corner

they get along so well.  they were so good about taking turns, sharing, saying please and thank you and everything else.  i loved when i walked by as one of them sneezed.  "bless you" "thank you" "you're welcome" and didn't even pause their playing.  i was impressed.

library dance party

every time the librarian started a book baby girl would run to me and say "i'm going to pick out a new thomas movie now."  and then i had to tell her that we weren't doing that until story time was over.  if i haven't mentioned it before... really we just go for the dancing.

 

 

 

see those two girls?  i know their mom.  and now i hate her because her daughters have so much hair.

 baby girl insisted on this outfit... and the hat.  do i at least get cool mom points for letting her wear it in public?!

from liza

my sisters are really great.  last time i was in georgia (which was forever ago in september) my sister, liza, sent me home with a bunch of toys and dress-up stuff her daughter had outgrown.  baby girl has played with that stuff plenty but lately it has reached the obsessive level.  like the second she gets out of her crib she strips off her pj's and diaper exclaiming "i need my pink dress and thomas undies!  i need these skirts too!  i need two skirts!" and there's really no reasoning with her unless i tell her she has to wear play clothes if she wants to go to a friends house/library/store/playground.  but when she's at home, you'll probably find her looking like this...

 

 

 

plus that pink hat that actually made its way in public yesterday.  library, walmart, and the doctor's office.  we got some looks for that one.  but the princess stuff stays at home... i told her it's too big for her carseat and she seems to think that's a pretty understandable reason that they have to stay home.

who's who?

lately baby girl has been learning to differentiate between boys and girls.  i'd say she has pretty much mastered the concept.  to celebrate, let's play a game called, "which one is a boy and which one is a girl?"  it's one of those games where the name of it is also a complete list of instructions on how you play.

ready, set, go!

click here for the answer

maybe i'm totally off on this but aside from the maycock nose, i think they look completely different.  also, baby girl was far easier and better behaved, but my oh my how brady is soooo gorgeous!  they each have their super strengths.  

A sad attempt

More out of boredom than anything else, I attempted to curl my hair. Let me tell you, I don't have the same hair as the girl in my online Pinterest tutorial.

festive cookies!

i had this wonderful idea today that i should be an awesome mom and make cookies with my kid.  well, we ran out of time in our day and it turned into a fun family activity.  i was initially planning green for st. patrick's day but then we did some purple too because it's baby girl's favorite color.  and then honey mixed up some teal for us and we started getting creative with our second batch.  

in case you were wondering about all the pictures... this is what happiness looks like.  

Pink vs purple

The youth all met at my house tonight for our activity. One of the young men leaders had this conversation with baby girl.

Do you like pink?
I like purple!
Do you like pink too?
Purple!!!
Do you like pink better or purple better?
Purple better!!!

He was more than a little confused why she was dressed head to toe in pink when she was so adamant about only loving purple. She's very good at telling people her favorite color is purple but maybe what she really needs to say is "my favorite color is purple but I almost always wear all pink. That's because pink is my mom's favorite color." Seems a little lengthy though. We'll just keep up what we're doing.

Ps- baby girl picked up this hat at Walmart Friday night and we let her wear it around while we were shopping. I had no intention of actually buying it because she doesn't need a winter hat... But it was on clearance for 25 cents. Well, it has been well worth it because she has worn it every waking second since then (except to church... I had to draw the line somewhere) and honey and I affectionately call it her hobo hat. I hope it sticks around for a while.

Percy of the best

"Mommy took a picture of Percy of the best for me!!!"

back to our party of four

i'm so sad.  mother and emmy went home today.  we all woke up early and were out the door by a little after 8:30.  both kids ate breakfast in the car on our way to the airport.  we dropped em off and then headed to cousin sara's house for a delicious coffee cake, bacon, and watermelon brunch.  we hung out for over an hour just catching up and baby girl was in heaven playing with lizzy and eva.  they all got along so well it was like they'd known each other forever.  then it was back to the airport to drop mom off and we were home before one.  the weather could not have been more glorious and we played on the driveway for a while... baby girl riding her bikes and brady lounging in his carseat, smiling for my camera.  something about good weather always makes me feel like "it doesn't get any better than this" which was definitely a good thing since i don't do well with the end of vacations or family leaving town.  the sunny t-shirt weather was my therapy, helping me cope with the loss of the last of the party.

brady and baby girl took naps while i did a few loads of laundry and attempted to get the house cleaned up a bit.  i still have a long way to go.  not like it's trashed (how could it be with my mother constantly doing my dishes and putting things away for me?!) but i have a lot of organizing to do... and i still have to wash and change the sheets on two more beds.  two down, two to go... i'm halfway there!

my honey got home a little after seven and honestly, it felt like he was getting in from out of town... i feel like i've barely seen him or spent any quality time with him in a week since i've just been so focused on hanging out with my family.  and i only spent a few minutes of my time with him telling him how much i'm going to miss waking up in the morning with mom and em and how i was totally spoiled that they would get abigail up and dressed and fed and play with her while i was trying to roll out of bed or get brady up and ready for the day.  spoiled that they're not cooking (i gained three pounds this week), cleaning (mostly my mother), and entertaining my kids and me every second of the day.  i'm wondering how long it'll take baby girl to stop asking about grandpa, grandma, and emmy... where they are and how much she misses them.  i'm kind of wondering the same thing about myself too.

i don't transition well with stuff like this.  i was in mourning for over a week after i got home from my trip to atlanta last september.  this will be hard too.  despite the pain, nostalgia brings, i will attempt to write catchup posts from the last... ummm, two weeks?  yikes, i've been sucking lately.

and fyi, sucking = busy.

Check it out

Check it out! I love my husband! We went to the nuggets game last night with dad and em. How thoughtful of him to save the hawks tickets for us.

Also, Emmy cut my hair this weekend. I repaid her today by giving her glitter toes. Now her feet are adorned with ten tiny pink disco balls. I'll have to update with our matching feet. If only mom would have joined the fun.

it'll come

today was hanging out on the back patio, haircuts, painting toes, a french toast breakfast, lunch at the hilliers, costco with em and mom, and outlet shopping with em and mom and dad and slavic.  the weather and company could not be more perfect.  i need more time in my days.

i have a million drafts and a million more pictures that will eventually get posted as well.  it just might be a few days since i'm busy having fun with everyone in town for brady's blessing tomorrow.  life is good and i am tired.  happy baby blessing day to my sweet brady boy!

ski day

before everyone came to town, friday was declared ski day.  the ski party included my christopher, his dad and nate, slavik, emmy, and my dad.  they all left bright and early before 7am.  mother and i were not part of the ski party.

one of the things in those big boxes my parents brought was this big pooh bear.  now it is baby girl's best friend.  

"pooh bear wants oatmeal too!" "oh pooh bear!  you fell down again!" "stay there!"  "pooh bear's not listening."

we went to the hilliers for lunch (note to self: make cranberry and cream cheese turkey paninis) and hung out with my mother in law's parents.

they looooooove being great grandparents.

after she finished eating, baby girl set up this fleet of disney characters and a million moose toys.  so random.

and my mother in law always sends baby girl home with a bag of trail mix or pretzels or something that i always put in my purse and forget about.  today i just let baby girl munch on them in the back seat.  bad move.

yogurt covered pretzels... everywhere.

a napping brady

my honey doesn't love pictures as much as i do.  but if i stand there and tell him i'm not going away until he smiles, this frown turns right upside down.

and that sweet face goes from "get out of my face" to "is this fake smile good enough?" and it's like we fall in love all over again.  he puts up with a lot.