The Plothows: June 2017

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Happy Father's Day to two pretty terrific Dads!

My parents were up in Downers Grove this weekend to babysit the girls while Matt and I went to a friend's house for dinner. They brought up my old piano in a trailer. It took four guys to get that thing in the house. Just as they were setting it down for the final time, Matt somehow pulled a muscle in his back! Not the best way to spend Father's Day... in pain and not able to bend over. We're hoping it heals fast, so he can bend down to put socks on again soon! :(

The girls were happy they got to celebrate Father's Day with both Daddy and their Papa!

On Saturday night, Mama and Papa took them out to dinner at Steak-n-Shake. Definitely a fave! Matt and I had a great time with our friends at a "grilling party". Everyone had to bring a small plate to share, but it had to be something grilled. Matt brought these shrimp boil foil packs for our shared plate. He also grilled peaches to have as dessert with ice cream - delicious! We had some really good food... and drinks! :)

On Sunday morning, the girls gave Daddy and Papa their Father's Day gifts. Both Avery and Morgan had to open the cards they got for Daddy for him. They wouldn't let him open them because they were so excited to show him their cards! :)

Then, the girls had swim lessons. This was the first week Avery was in her new class and back with Morgan! I was a little worried that she wouldn't want to do all the new swimming moves they do in the next level up. The other kids in Morgan's class have all been in Level 2 for a little while, so they are all pretty comfortable with the Level 2 swim strokes. But, Avery did amazing! She had to watch Morgan do a few things first before she would do them, but she tried everything and kept up with the rest of the kids in the class. She had the biggest smile on her face when she finished the swim lesson.

Just in case you were wondering how great of a Daddy the girls have, here are some things about Matt that the girls would like us all to know.

Question: What is your Daddy's name?
Avery: Matt Earle Plothow
Morgan: Daddy Lee Plothow Matt

Q: How old is your Daddy?
A: 20 years old
M: 10 years old

Q: How tall is your Daddy?
A: as tall as Mommy
M: this tall (showing me with her hands)

Q: What color hair does your Daddy have?
A: No hair
M: None!

Q: What color eyes does your Daddy have?
A: Brown
M: Brown

Q: How much does your Daddy weigh?
A: 20 pounds because he's 20 years old
M: 100 and 1,000,000

Q: What does your Daddy do at his job?
A: Just works
M: Works in a seat on the train

Q: What is your Daddy really good at?
A: Cooking
M: Cooking

Q: What is your favorite memory with your Daddy?
A: Coloring with Daddy
M: Cooking marshmallows with Daddy and our family dinners

Q: What is your Daddy's favorite food?
A: Steak
M: Hamburgers and hot dogs

Q: What is your favorite thing to do with your Daddy?
M: Super kicks in the air

Q: What makes your Daddy happy?
A: When I do good things for him

Q: What does Daddy always say?
A: He loves me
M: Sure!

Q: If Daddy could go on a trip, where would he go?
A: Florida
M: Amazon to get us a toy (she's talking about the website Amazon here, not the jungle)

Q: What would he take on his trip?
A: Me!
M: All of us, like a field trip!

Q: How are you like your Daddy?
A: Because I stay in the lines when I color

Q: What is something you really like that your Daddy does?
A: Cooks me mac-n-cheese because he knows I love it
M: Gives me Eskimo kisses and he makes the goodest dinners

Q: If you could get your Daddy anything, what would you give him?
A: New cooking supplies, a recipe book, gardening supplies for all the things he likes to do (which is actually mostly what we did get him)
M: A new blanket (no clue where this came from!)

And, I always knew that Papa was a good Dad, but he's turned out to be quite an amazing grandpa as well! The girls love him to pieces!

I asked the girls a few things about their Papa and this is what I found out:

Q: What is your Grandpa's name?
A: Papa Stan
M: Papa

Q: How old is Grandpa?
A: 21 years old
M: 50 years old

Q: What color is Grandpa's hair?
A: Light color and no hair on top
M: Whitish grayish

Q: What color are Grandpa's eyes?
A: Blue
M: Black

Q: What is Grandpa's favorite food?
A: Celery and peanut butter (this is just one of the random things we tell the girls that Papa puts peanut butter on, so that's what Avery remembered)
M: Hamburgers and hot dogs

Q: What does Grandpa like to wear?
A: Hats
M: Sweatshirts

Q: What does your Grandpa like to do?
A: Come to our house
M: To see us

Q: What does Grandpa do that makes you happy?
A: Tease me and say silly things
M: Plays in the basement with us at my cousin's house (by the way, Morgan rarely actually says "Grayson" when talking about him... she always says "my cousin")

Q: Why do you love your Grandpa?
A: I love him because he teases me
M: Because I just do

Friday, June 16, 2017

Some other pics from the past week...

Just some other things that happened in the past week...

Picnic in the backyard

Ready for field trip day at school

Eating spaghetti-o's spelling out her name

Tried it, but was not a fan

Fun times at the father's day bbq at school

Meeting baby Calvin

The girls got to meet baby Calvin this past weekend. Morgan could not wait to hold the baby! Avery just wanted to touch him, but wasn't too jazzed about holding him just yet. :) Calvin got A LOT of attention!

Trip to the zoo

Last Saturday morning, we went to the zoo for the first time since the weather got nice. The girls were so excited and mapped out all the animals they wanted to see and what they wanted to do while we were there. Of course, the carousel is a must on our list every time! And face-painting! We also brought along some lunch for a picnic. Though we had a uninvited guest on our picnic (a very persistent goose!) and Avery was very unhappy about that!

Trip to the store for picnic essentials before our zoo trip

The girls found Dory!

A butterfly landed on Avery's head!

Morgan posed on the lion at the end of the day...

But Avery was too exhausted!

Major accomplishment

So, this girl graduated to the next level in swimming lessons!!! If you recall, she's been on the slower track compared to Morgan and Grayson... and probably most other kids. :) She had a big fear of the water and it took her quite a long time to even put her face under water. But, she's made big strides in the past couple of months. She is SO proud of herself! And we are definitely proud of her as well. She is very competitive and I think being in the lower level really bothered her. She wanted so badly to move up, so that was a major motivator in getting her to go under water and swim. She's so excited to go to the next swimming lesson, because she will be in class with Morgan again. :)

Pajama walks

Now that it stays light outside later, we've been taking short walks around the neighborhood after bath time in our PJ's. The girls get such a kick out of wearing PJ's outside! :)

I loved this... they were just walking along talking and holding hands.

Avery was doing a lot of the talking! :)

Sometimes we make a stop off at the park by our house for a little drum duet.

And other times, we just make a stop to give our best poses. Avery will stop and pose and say "take my picture". Sometimes she even tells Morgan to move out of the way so that it can just be Avery in the picture. That girl!

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Peter Piper... and lots of giggles

Such silliness after bath time!

School pictures

The girls recently had pictures taken at school. The company that does the pictures always has some sort of cute outfit for the kiddos. This time, they had super heroes and baseball. The girls got to choose between Cubs and White Sox. I had actually forgotten it was picture day, so I'm glad the photographer had them wearing hats and the headband. Their hair was probably a mess!