So Much Sweetness

Addie was pretty psyched after waking up from nap to find her new Dream shirt ready to change into. She's loving her new hat from CC. Check this blue girl out.

Emily was practicing her eye crossing skills. She can't roll her tongue and asks just about everyone she meets if they can roll their tongue, "you can roll your tongue?" but Chris showed her his eye crossing skills, and she's loving the fact that she can do it. She loves to tell the story about how when she crosses her eyes, DeeDee freaks out.

Like father like Daughter

Everyone showing off their tongue rolling and eye crossing skills. Queen Elsa has entered our home, her outfit became complete after Halloween, when the cape was integrated, the blue high heel shoes became more fully integrated, and the crown came into affect.

So Uncle Eric sent Chris a picture of himself (I wish I could link to this picture because it is hilarious!) with his arm around a cardboard Elsa. Addie was absolutely enamored and Emily said Cathy turned into Elsa. They both just loved that picture. One of them said something about Elsa being Eric's girlfriend.

Emily being her cute precious self.

Playing Go Fish with Daddy. Emily showing off her skills, Addie showing off the Elsa Braid that Dad had put in her hair (isn't it FANCY?!)

An Emily face. Intense Practice.

Addison lovin' all her blue.

Elizabeth, Entertaining all with her washcloth on the head pose. Smiling away after a DumDum after dinner. Ahhhh, the weeks after Halloween.

She's the cutest, and she loves making people smile. Elizabeth is talking so much these days. She is pretty much always joining in on the conversation. With her 4 or 5 "words" told so seriously and we all just nod and say, "yes, yes that's so true." and then she gets all excited when she has the opportunity to show off the words she does know. She'll suddenly nearly poke your eye out and declare, "eye." and then she'll laugh and squish your nose and say "nuhssss" We have some picture books that I have memories of playing games with the girls, "Emily, where's the shoe" and she'd point, "Addison, where's the ball? and she'd point. Elizabeth will not point. She really seems to want to focus on whatever SHE's focusing on rather than bothering to play my game. She likes to find the words she does know and say their names. She chats to herself when I put her down for nap, she chats with herself when she wakes up. She's a talkative gal. And she's sweet, and she's funny, and I love her so much!

Water Spouts

I just have to share this story right away cause I love how smart my girls are.


Addie has been talking so much lately, we have been hearing so much more language from this little lady, and we just love it! Today at breakfast, she was naming the parts of her new princess water bottle, "lello hair, back eckace, boo eyes, pick ips" then she stopped, pointed to the spout on top of Cinderella's head, and asked, "this is?" I told her "spout, it's the water spout." and Emily chimed in with "Spider in there!" At first I was so confused. Spider? Then it came together! The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout! Emily is feeling pretty sick today. Her throat hurts, her nose hurts, she has a fever. But she perked right up to make that connection!

PS The new water bottles came from the gas station down the street. Addie and I stopped to get the car washed after her transition evaluation (to see if she'll qualify for speech services in preschool) and we stopped inside to get a treat because she'd worked so hard during the assessment. She was immediately drawn to the blue princess, but also immediately wanted to get the pink Mini for Emily. I love how these girls look out for each other!

Addie did qualify for services, and will begin her preschool adventure in March. She'll be doing something new without her sister for the first time in her life. We are praying for a smooth transition.

The Art Show Party

Believe it or not, Dale turned five years old last month. What a big kid! Dale is wonderfully creative, and because art is one of his passions right now, Wendy put on an art party for his birthday.

 The girls helped me wrap Dale's present a few days before the party, and they each made him a card. Emily had just begun saying "I love you" at the beginning of November, and she wrote quite a love note to Dale on his birthday card.

The outside of Addie's card:

The outside of Emily's card:

We knew there would be painting at the party, so the girls wore their paint shirts. So excited!

Dale's creativity has definitely been inspired by a creative mama. Wendy set up an art show featuring Dale's artwork for all to admire. For a more detailed look at the pieces that were hung, click here.

 

 

 

Birthday Boy!

We love Aunt Wendy!

Rose was looking quite stunning for the party

Dale wanted to show me how he could carry his chairs around

Thanks for feeding me lunch and cleaning me up, Dad!

After eating lunch and playing a bit, it was time for painting!

 

 

 

After artwork, the balloons started coming down from the ceiling. Endless balloons. Small person heaven.

Rose tries out Dale's new parachute guy.

Wendy's mom, AKA Monga, adopted Elizabeth for the day. Elizabeth had a great time being held, talked to, and showered with attention.

How do you do birthday cake at an art party? You decorate your own cupcake, of course! Genius!

 

 

 

After cupcakes, the party went outside for more balloon fun!

This just cracked me up. All the guys lined up at the fence, drooling over the construction site. I overheard things like, "wouldn't it be amazing to have a nail gun."

The artists with their masterpieces....

We hadn't had enough fun when nap time came around, so Elizabeth crashed on Aunt Wendy and Uncle Mark's bed.

We got to bring a couple of balloons home, and the next day the girls encouraged Elizabeth to scoot after their balloons...

And our masterpieces now hang upstairs by the girls' bedrooms.

June Videos

Emily's Colors

Emily has been very interested in learning colors lately. She was showing her interest by pointing at colors and saying "lello" or "geen" so we took her lead and started doing flashcards, which she just loves. I tried to take a video, and the camera kept stopping recording, so these are all in pieces, but it's pretty neat to see her name the colors!

November Videos

November was full of firsts, and we caught some of them on video.

Addison has been giggling for months now, and while Emily has been talking up a storm, she's been a late bloomer on the giggles. In November, she started giggling in earnest. Here she is doing a funny cough-laugh while playing with Addie.


The girls started eating more solids in November, and shredded apples and toast sticks became a breakfast staple.


Addison learned how to click her tongue, which became a fun trick for awhile.


The stairs were officially discovered in November, and before we put the gate up, the girls had some fun times playing on the stairs,



Emily has been talking more and more, and in November, one of her favorite phrases was bababa.


Addison started crawling on her knees in November.


The girls got their first experience with putting up Christmas lights. Most years, Chris really goes to town...the front tree, bushes, two trees out back. This year, he started...and ended... with the icicle lights along the porch. It was a crazy, busy time of year, and I was proud of him for getting any lights out there at all.