October 12 and October 19, 2014

The past two weeks have gone by so fast! Fall is in full swing.  Beautiful sunny cool days and freezing nights.  The garden has stopped producing.  We picked all our onions and carrots and I'm trying to figure out what to do with all the extra kale.  I've heard of freezing it in a puree to add to smoothies.  I think I'll give that a try.  We brought all the pumpkins out front to decorate.  The girls can't wait to carve them.

 

 The days of spending all Saturday morning mowing the lawn are coming to a close.  Tommy loves to just sit with Daddy on the mower.  If Jeremy doesn't take Tommy for a ride, Tommy will sneak out of the house and give us a heart attack by trying to follow Daddy.

This was Annie's last weekend in the cast.  The girls still love their Lego sets from Grammy and Grampy and Puna and Papa.  One year later, and they still play with these every day.

 Annie went to her last dance class in her cast this week.  She can't wait to be able to dance like all the other girls.

 Lily and Annie want to have a Frozen themed birthday party this year.  I let them choose 4 or 5 friends each to invite to their party.  And they wanted to make the invitations themselves.  It was really hard for me to let them.  Everything was glued on crooked and some of the snowflake stickers were covering the words on the invites.  But the girls were so proud of their work and had a great time making them and delivering them.

 We got some huge carrots this year.  The one in the middle wins the prize.  It was the size of a large banana.

 Cast removal day was a success.  We had to get more x-rays to be sure everything had healed up.  And then we waited for the doctor to come and cut off the cast.  Her little foot was so dirty and the cast was almost worn through on the bottom from Annie always walking on it.  I tried to get pictures of all the signatures.  She was quite popular in the neighborhood and Primary.  Lots of fun pictures and autographs were on the cast.

 I tried to prep her for the process at home.  I pulled out a pizza cutter and ran it along the sides of her cast to show her how the doctor would cut it off.  She was feeling pretty confident going in to this appointment until the motor for the machine turned on.  It was loud.  I have to admit I wouldn't be too happy about a loud spinning blade coming at my leg either.  She asked me to sit with her.  She didn't make a sound but I think the concerned expression and very pale face show how nervous she was.

The first thing Annie wanted to do was take a bath.  She was so happy to have a good long soak in the tub and wouldn't come out until the water was cold.

 The second thing she wanted to do was go dancing at Zumba with Mommy.  Saturday morning I took both girls with me.  Annie was a little shaky on her feet and wanted to hold on to Lily to walk across the gravel in the parking lot.  But once the music came on, Annie started dancing just fine.  It was a great way to loosen up her muscles and get her moving again.

 We heard from a friend that Elsa from Frozen would be making an appearance at the shopping mall on Saturday.  The girls got all dressed up and went to see her with Daddy.  It was an awesome Daddy-Daughter date.  They received free goodie bags, and got their hands painted with a sparkly snowflake.  It was the highlight of the week for sure.

It is still an adjustment for us when Monday morning comes and Lily goes off to school.  Sometimes Annie has a hard time with Lily being gone and other days she really loves the alone (almost) time with Mommy.  Annie knows how to take pictures with my camera phone now.  We had some fun reading books and snuggling in my bed on Monday this week.

 This last one of the three of us is my favorite!  Annie took it all by herself.

 Lily was excited to get her dress for Brady's wedding.  She loves that it goes all the way to the floor "just like a princess dress".

 On Wednesday our next door neighbor's daughter turned 4 and they threw her a big party - complete with a bounce house and pony rides.  Annie was nervous about the bounce house because her leg was still feeling weak.  But she gave it a try.  Lily and Tommy had a blast.

The winds got so high that the bounce house blew over while some kids were inside so the adults decided to put it away for the rest of the party.  Some pony rides saved the day.  She was a cute little thing.  Tommy would not go anywhere near the pony.

 Thursday was our usual dance class followed by dance party.  Lily is a bit younger than many of the kids in her class.  She is struggling with the coordination that clogging requires but she loves it and that's what matters most. 

 Tommy figure out the sit-n-spin on his own this week.  He rides it until he's dizzy.  So cute.  He also loves sneaking Mommy's chocolate and banana protein shakes.  He is a chocolate lover.

Jeremy got to take a cool trip with some coworkers recently to Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.  He took some amazing pictures.

 The caves are only open for tours May-September and you have to schedule the tour and buy tickets.  We want to try it as a family next summer.  It takes about 4 hours to get there so we might make it an overnight trip.

That's it for us the past two weeks.  More birthday posts for the girls coming soon!

18 Months!

Tommy turned 18 months on September 27.  Just in time to get into nursery the next day!  Here's a little collection of fun moments from the past month.

 Tommy LOVES lemons and limes.  Just like the rest of us.  He also loves the water.  He wants to take a bath every night and still comes running when he hears the bathtub filling up.  He wants to try and do everything his sisters do - it is really cute to see him standing next to them while brushing their teeth at night and trying to help set the table.  Tommy wants to dance everywhere he goes.  At the end of Lily's clogging class each week, the teacher turns down the lights and lets all the people in the dance studio have a dance party.  It is the highlight of Tommy's week and he cries almost the whole way home from clogging class.

 This past month he has finally cut all his molars plus two more little teeth on the bottom.  He's been eating a lot of frozen popsicles, blueberries, strawberries, and Go-gurts to help with the pain.  His favorite foods are Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuit crackers, Cheetos (oh how this boy loves Cheetos), any drink in a water bottle, popcorn, applesauce, peanut butter and jelly, peas, green beans, apples, steamed broccoli, rice, and of course - chocolate milk!  The other day he somehow squeezed his arm out of the neckline of his shirt for an off-the shoulder look.  Lily and Annie thought it was so funny.

  One thing he thinks he can't live without is the Kindle.  I plug it in to charge and hide it under my pillow so the kids can't see it, but Tommy always finds it and wants to try and play the games he sees the big girls play.

 This boy is constantly messy.  Face, hands, feet, clothes....you name it.  He finds a way to leave a trail of destruction everywhere.  So many of my pretty little things that survived the girls as toddlers have already fallen victim to Tommy's destructive powers.  Boys are a whole different experience from girls.  Most days we just can't keep up!

 These are two of my most favorite recent pictures.  Tommy loved the apple orchard.  He liked climbing the ladders and taste testing every apple he could get his hands on.  I think those cheeks filled with apple chunks are adorable.

 His all time favorite accessory is his "blankie".  We have eight of them; which is great because they are always in need of a good washing.  His most favorite has monkeys on it, but he will gladly take any of the other blankets.  He is on top of the world when we let him have two blankets at the same time.  He loves any toy with wheels - the bigger the wheels, the better.  He can sit and watch wheels spin for a long time.  He loves to ride, push, pull, and spin anything with wheels and gears.

Tommy's 18 months stats:
weight - 23.5 pounds, 19%
height - 32 inches, 24%
head circ - 18.8 inches, 45% 

He has ten teeth and two more on their way very soon.  Tommy sleeps from 8:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. and takes one nap around 11:00 a.m.  His favorite books are "Hello Bee-Hello Me!", "Moo, Baa, LaLaLa" and "Five Silly Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". He still only says da da and ma ma.  But his language comprehension and ability to follow directions is really good.  We're sure he'll be talking any day now.  His favorite thing to do is jump on the trampoline - especially with Mommy or Daddy.

It seems the past six months have gone by so fast.  We know age two is just around the corner.  Happy 18 months Bubba!  Stay out of trouble for one day so we can celebrate.