Tuesday, April 21, 2015

More outdoor fun, a show and a birthday party

The girls are really enjoying the parks around our house. When we're at the park, they are so independent. Avery's favorite thing to say is "big girl mommy" meaning she wants to do whatever it is by herself. I used to tell her certain places in the park were off-limits and for big girls only. Now that she proclaims she is a "big girl", she thinks she can do anything!

Bubbles and balls in the backyard with Mama and Papa

Cousins doing the crab walk - not sure why - ha!

They think they're too big to ride in the stroller - "push it mommy"

Swinging!

Higher Mommy!

My little monkeys

Big girl swings are so fun

Look both ways before crossing the street

This past weekend, we took the girls (along with their cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncle) to see Sesame Street Live - Let's Dance. The girls do not watch Sesame Street, so I wasn't sure how they would like the show. But, I read the reviews and they were all pretty positive and said that kids 1-3 yrs old would love it. The girls were really good throughout the show. They both danced and sang some with the characters. Avery was really into it and danced and jumped up and down! It's so nice to see that side of her, because she's usually a very reserved kid in new situations. Matt and I got such a kick out of watching them enjoy the show! :)





On Sunday, we celebrated Brett and Sandi's birthdays with a BBQ at our house. Of course, the BBQ started at 4PM and the rain started at 5PM. So, Matt was grilling in a downpour. Ugh! But, we had a great time and the food was yummy and the kids were exhausted afterwards! Perfect!





The girls are so "helpful"
Morgan put her babies in the carseats

Nolan cooking up some tea/soup

Avery all dolled up with grandma's jewelry

Friday, April 17, 2015

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Backyard

The backyard is the girls' new favorite place to be. And with the nicer weather, we have been spending quite a bit of time out there. Morgan requests to be in the backyard all the time (well, at least when she isn't asking to go to the zoo.)

Snacks on the back deck

They are obsessed with bubbles

Coloring in the backyard

Balloons

We had a play date at Grayson's house yesterday and he had a balloon. It's all Avery could talk about afterwards. She asked if we could buy her a balloon at Target. (Because you can get anything at Target in their minds. Avery told us the other day she wanted a new yellow iPad from Target.) I told her we could go after her nap today. And wouldn't you guess it, the first thing out of her mouth when she woke up was "buy balloon now mommy?"

So, we stopped off at Party City on our weekly Sunday trek to Target and picked out some balloons. Morgan wanted blue, her current favorite color. Avery picked purple, which is not surprising at all. They were in awe of all the different balloons at the store. We got 2 extra balloons - one for me and one for Daddy. That turned out to be a good thing because when we stopped off at Target, Morgan's new blue balloon somehow escaped the car and blew away. It is currently stuck at the top of a tree near the Target parking lot. So sad! When we got home, Avery told Matt "Mo's balloon in tree at Target".



Friday, April 10, 2015

Happy half birthday!

We took the girls to their 2.5 year check-up this week. Morgan is 36.75 in tall and weighs 31.8 lbs. Avery is 35.4 in tall and weighs 33.2 lbs. The doctor said they are doing well. :)

Now, a little about what each of the girls have been up to lately...

Morgan

Little Miss Morgan is such a happy, funny, little sweetheart and is usually sporting a big mischievous grin! She loves to keep us laughing. She thinks she is hilarious! She has the sense of humor of a 14 year old boy. She says things like "No eat poop, mommy! Ewwwwwwwwww!" and laughs and laughs. She knows she is being silly and as long as she gets a laugh out of us, she keeps on going. She pretends to burp or toots on purpose and laughs about it. She laughs at herself a lot, which makes things even funnier, because she can't catch her breath to keep doing whatever it is she thinks is so funny. The other night at dinner, she was cracking herself, Matt and me up so much, we were all in tears. I think we have a future class clown on our hands!

She had a slow start on the whole talking thing, but is doing much better now. I'm constantly amazed at the words she knows when she's pointing things out to us. She loves puzzles and books and playing in her toy kitchen. She mothers her baby dolls - feeds, burps, shushes and puts them to "ni-night". She is very active and constantly on the move. She wants to be outside and is like a monkey when we go to the park. Every night when we get home from school she asks if we can get the bikes out.

Luckily for us, she is a good eater and not too picky. Her favorite foods right now are peanut butter and jelly, crackers and yogurt covered raisins. She is usually a pretty good sleeper. Lately, she's been having nightmares. She has this major fear of dogs and I think she’s been dreaming about them biting her (not that she's ever been bitten by one and I'm not sure how she even knows they bite?). But, if she actually wakes up after her nightmare (instead of just screaming in her sleep) and I ask her what's wrong, she says "doggy bite" or "no doggies, no doggies" which is her way of confirming there are no dogs in the house. One night she told me a doggy bit her and Papa (Grandpa). Not sure where she comes up with this stuff.

Speaking of Papa, Morgan LOVES her grandpa and is so happy when he comes for a visit! She will run right by all of us and straight to Papa if he's around. :) She loves her sister and usually adds an extra “v” when calling her name (“Vavry”). They tell us stories at daycare all the time about how the girls take care of each other, which makes me smile. But, Morgan also loves to help us discipline Avery. If Avery is doing something she shouldn't, Morgan is the first to yell "No Vavery, timeout!" over and over, all while pointing her finger at her angrily. Ha! Morgan is laid back, which sometimes works to her disadvantage when playing with Avery, who likes to be the boss. But, the laid back thing works for us because she hasn't hit the stage where she HAS to wear a certain color or HAS to have a certain cup, etc. (Avery's got that covered for us!) She has mastered the fake cry/whine and we are constantly saying "use your words" to get her to tell us why she is upset.


Avery

Oh, Avery. Where do I start?!? If you were to ask Matt and I who we thought would be the more difficult teenager given the girls' current personalities, it would be unanimous - Avery! She keeps us on our toes! She's demanding and temperamental and changes her mind in an instant. She's the boss and wants things her way. If we say "just a minute", she says "right now"! If we say "no" to her, she brings on the meltdown. Considering I've heard the 3's are worse than the 2's, I just can't imagine what the 3's will bring us!

She is very smart and surprises us every day with the things she knows. She also started out slow with her speech, but has just blown up lately and now speaks in full sentences. She recites her favorite books back to us. She counts and tries to sing the ABC's. She narrates what we’re doing – “mommy brushing my hair”, “daddy making dinner”, etc. She loves books and playing with her baby dolls. She notices everything. If I use Matt’s keys instead of mine, she says “no mommy, daddy’s keys” and then later she’ll tell Matt “mommy use daddy’s keys”. You can't get away with anything around her! She likes consistency and doesn’t want us to veer off the routine.

She is a way more picky eater than her sister. She frequently tells us "no meat" and won't eat something if it has meat mixed in. Tacos with cheese only, spaghetti with sauce only, casseroles with noodles only. Yet, she loves chicken nuggets and meatballs. Her favorite things to eat are mac-n-cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and yogurt covered raisins. She hates chocolate and will only eat sweets if there is no icing on top or candy pieces mixed in. She is a pretty good sleeper. She wakes up earlier than her sister in the morning, but is great about staying in bed and watching shows on the iPad until it's time to get out of bed.

Avery is a very loving little girl. She gives big hugs and kisses and is a cuddler. She’ll randomly tell us "I wuv you" and wrap her arms around our necks and it melts our hearts! She loves her sister and calls her "Mo" or "Mo-Mo" and doesn't like to be too far from her. One day when Morgan was home sick from school, they told me Avery talked about her all day and wanted to nap in Morgan's cot that afternoon. Her favorite teacher at school is Ms. Julie and Avery follows her around everywhere she goes. When Mama (Grandma) comes for a visit, Avery doesn't want to be more than 2 feet away from her. Avery is very loyal to the people she loves and very wary of people she doesn't know.


Sunday, April 5, 2015

Happy Easter

We spent the Easter weekend relaxing at home, playing at parks, searching for eggs and having a blast with the girls. The weather was beautiful and it was great to get outside and enjoy it!

On Saturday, we went to a local park for an Easter egg hunt. The girls were a little overwhelmed with all the craziness. Luckily, they broke the kids up into age groups, so we were in the 2-3 year old group. But, the girls weren't just vying against other kids for eggs, they were up against the other kids' parents! Matt and I couldn't believe how some of the parents were grabbing up the eggs for their kids! It was hilarious!

The girls are deathly afraid of the Easter Bunny. Anytime we mentioned the Easter Bunny, they got upset. :) I guess the Bunny made a visit to their school on Thursday. I asked Avery if she got a picture with him and she said "no, crying". So, I asked her if she was crying and she said "yes" and she said "mo-mo crying too". I'm guessing their pictures with the Easter Bunny from school are going to be bad, if they even got any. Ha!












We got home and the girls wanted to open their eggs to see their prizes. Of the maybe 10 eggs we ended up with, 4 of them had toy frogs! :) The girls love frogs right now, so they weren't too upset. They also LOVE Dora the Explorer right now, so I gave them a couple of Dora books and some stickers.






We went to three different parks on Saturday. Our little park near our house, the park with the egg hunt and another park close to the girls future elementary school. Lots of fun playtime!

I can't believe they are big enough for the "big girl" swings

On Sunday, we did an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. The girls were so excited! They grabbed up all the eggs so quickly! Then, we came inside and let them open the eggs and get out all the prizes.






Avery got some stick on jewel earrings - and she was so excited!


After the egg hunt, we met up with Erin and Grayson for a park play date.

Avery wanted Morgan to go down the slide with her

Avery likes to count to 5 before going, but Morgan got impatient




When we got home later, the girls went back through all their eggs to make sure they didn't miss any prizes. Avery kept opening the eggs up and when there was nothing in them, she'd say "nope" and toss it aside. :)