January Favorites

We had quite a few snowy days in January. One warm snowy weekend day, Chris took the girls out to build a snow fort. Addie didn't stay out for long, but enjoyed watching Emily and Dad through the window.

Elizabeth has been watching her sisters play ever since she was born. Now that she's on the move, she is able to get in on their play more and more. It's always fun to watch all three of them playing together.

Being on the move, one of Elizabeth's favorite family room obstacle courses goes under the table and through the woods.

Addie's a big helper around the house, and in January, she became obsessed with "fixing" the chairs after every meal. She would gather her "tools" - a rag, a fork, and a spoon - and work hard fixing all the screws.

Found a piece of food in this one

Proud Helper

This was quite a sweet moment. It had snowed and I put Elizabeth next to the window to look out at the white landscape. Emily and Addison both got so excited to tell Elizabeth all about the snow. They got down on either side of her and told her all about it.

Peek! Love this girl's little tongue. She's showing it off a lot these days.

Emily found that she was able to shimmy herself into Elizabeth's snowsuit and enjoyed sliding around the floor pretending to be a baby.

We got a mini trampoline from the neighbors a few months ago, and the girls have taught themselves to flip over the bar. It's been a great source of indoor exercise on all these cold winter days.

Tunnel play with Dad!

Believe it or not, the girls were almost three years old before they got to experience the messy fun of finger painting.

One of Addie's favorite things to do is play with her box of dress up dolls and My Little Ponies. She likes to line up the dress up dolls after getting them all dressed and ready to go, and then plays pretend with them. Sometimes they're going to a party, sometimes to school. It's pretty cute when it's school, because then Addie's the teacher and she'll read them a book.

I just love the smiles on these gals!

And we'll end with Emily, showing me her injured finger. Ouch!

Artists

Yes, my daughters are artists, and I love watching them create their art. January was a month of watercolors, and Addie and Emily began demonstrating very unique styles. Addie is very careful with her brush, choosing colors carefully (often blue - the color that ran out first in her palette) and using light slow brush strokes to make very small lines and shapes of color. Emily, on the other hand, is a bit more wild with her brush, making broad strokes with bold colors (she was very sad when her black ran out). Emily began using a napkin to blot her brush between colors, and a napkin is now a staple for her when painting with watercolors.

Elizabeth's On Her Feet!

It is so fun to watch Elizabeth do something that makes her proud. Her face lights up, her eyes sparkle, and her smile stretches from ear to ear.

Walking and standing were Elizabeth's big accomplishments last month, and boy was she excited to to both!

Here she is walking with her new walker...


And here are a month's worth of standing pictures....

Ten Months!

Dressing Up

The dress up box and mirror came up from the basement last month, and have provided hours of entertainment for these two little imaginative gals.

Fun in the Kitchen

(Click on the logo above to visit Sticky Fingers' website. Among other things, you'll find tons of great recipes!)

The moms in my twins club meet one evening a month and there's usually a speaker. This month, we had a chef from Sticky Fingers Cooking come to talk about how to get kids inspired to make healthy choices when eating, and getting them in the kitchen to help with meal preparation. One of her suggestions was having the kids take turns making the dinner salad each night, and another suggestion was having kids use a lettuce knife to practice cutting skills.

In an ideal world, I'd have my kids in the kitchen every night to help me with dinner. The girls love pulling chairs up to the island to help with whatever they can get their hands on. But in reality, 5:00 is the witching hour and all I want is a few moments to myself while I throw something together for my family to eat. This weekend, though, with Dad home and focusing his attention on Emily and Elizabeth, I invited Addie to pull up a chair and make the dinner salad. She put the lettuce, carrots, and celery in the bowl and then cut up the avocado to put on top!

She was ecstatic, thrilled, glowing. She made the salad and then beamed as she brought it over to the table and immediately began serving it up to all of us. Throughout the meal, she reminded all of us that she had made the salad, and we all had many compliments for the chef. The most exciting thing for me - she ATE her salad! And so did Emily. Success!

Christmas Happenings

I love watching my kids play when they don't know I'm watching them.

Both Emily and Addison's imaginations have really grown in the last few months. Emily really enjoys playing with dolls, stuffed animals, grapes, or anything else you can make talk with someone else. She likes handing me a toy, commanding me to "play this" and then waiting for me to begin the conversation between my toy and hers.

 Addison, on the other hand, has a very private relationship with her dolls. She has quiet conversations between them, sometimes having them talk to each other, sometimes reading to them, sometimes teaching them their ABCs.

When the Nativity was out for Christmas, these figurines became Addison's favorite playthings, and I often walked through the living room to find her lost in a world with her new "dolls."


We talked a lot in December about how Christmas is Jesus's birthday. Here are the girls practicing wishing Jesus a Happy Birthday.


Emily and Addison got to go shopping for presents for Elizabeth this year! I brought several toys they'd outgrown up from the basement, and they each got to choose one to wrap up for Elizabeth for Christmas. Here they are, very excited with their choices...

Tub Tummy Time

Elizabeth had a first in December...she flipped onto her tummy in the tub and decided that tummy time in the tub is just about the best thing in the world. She's always loved bath time, but now that she's on her tummy in the tub, it's become a really fun play time for her!

This is Elizabeth's signature side kick-stand pose for play on land and in the water