Hicks Dinner

The second Tuesday of each month brings with it the excitement of dinner with Grandpa, BG, Dyl, Brit, Cal and Anno. While it's a great chance for all of us adults to catch up on life, it's also so much fun to watch the cousins get together and play.

 

Girls Girls Girls!

 After dinner on this particular Tuesday, we came inside for a little dance party fun. Emily and Addison wanted to show Grandpa their newest ballerina moves. Our current favorite dance music came to us from Dee Dee, it's a Disney princess CD, and it has become known in our house as "Ballerina Songs."

Elizabeth dances with Grandpa

 The dancing eventually evolved into gymnastics, and Callie helped the girls invent this couch game, which has not been forgotten and is still a favorite around here. I always know it's coming when I'm asked to move the coffee table so someone can "play couch."

 

Annalea was quite entertained by this game

 

 

You'll get to dance and play soon, Elizabeth!

A Few Fun Things

OOBLECK! Who knew cornstarch, water, and food coloring could be this much fun?

 

Ahhh! Ariel's drowning in slime!

 Bean Bins! These are great "indoor sandboxes" for Emily and Addison. They can scoop, pour, bury things, and dig.

Halloween inspired snacks. The month of October brought a lot of Halloween excitement. These pumpkins and ghosts became favorite snacks all month long.

 

 

 

 

Afternoon Tea

When the girls were about four months old, I made Emily a little tea cup for future tea parties. (Click here for a flashback). About a year later, I made one for Addie. Now that the girls are old enough, I brought the cups out so we could have a little tea party.

 

Addie's cup has a little monkey in it

Emily's cup has a little kitty in it

This is the cup that inspired me to put little creatures inside Emily and Addison's cups. It was given to me when I was a little girl, and there's a little bird inside!

 This reminds me, I'll need to visit Crackpots again soon so I can make a tea cup for Elizabeth. I wonder who will be hiding in her cup?

Cee Cee and Pop Pop Visit!

Back in September, Cee Cee and Pop Pop came out for a visit. They were only here for a few days, but we filled those days up with lots of fun adventures!

Welcome to Colorado, Pop Pop! Let me check out your beard!

 Our first full day together was spent up in Breckenridge, where we walked around downtown, found a fun play area, and had a delicious lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Casa.

Emily and Cee Cee on the coolest slide made out of a giant boulder!

Addie gets ready to explore the climbing structure

Underneath the structure was a cool little hide out

 

Elizabeth hadn't started eating solids regularly yet, so she just got to hang out looking cute at lunch

 

 

3 Generations of Paltes

Of course, Chris took Elizabeth down to the water

Mary's Mountain Cookies were enjoyed before heading back home

 The next day, we headed to the Paul Derda Rec Center pool. Emily, Addison, and I had been there a handful of times when they were tiny to participate in the mom baby aqua aerobics class. This was their first time going as big girl swimmers. This crocodile slide was the biggest hit of the day.

 

 

 

The next day, it was off to the Denver Zoo, where we happened upon an Elephant Show and were lucky enough to get second row seats!

 

Saf-T pops with Cee Cee

Ready to see this elephant show off her tricks!

Wow!

Elizabeth says, "Eh, I can see an elephant any day. Now, Pop Pop's watch, that's just fascinating!"

This was a very special day at the zoo, complete with a carousel ride!

AND a ride on the train!

All aboard!

 Bye Bye Cee Cee and Pop Pop! We'll see you at Christmas!

Two and a Half!

While I was putting Elizabeth in her tutu and wings for her six month photo shoot, Emily and Addison decided they also wanted to dress up in their tutus and wings.

After getting dressed up, they wanted to go out to the deck, where they found rain puddles to slurp up.

Dad was inside with Elizabeth, and Emily kept peeking in the window to see what they were up to.

Addison got right to work drying up the puddles. What a helper.

Can we come in, Mom?

And once inside, it was time to put those tutus to use and DANCE!

Some updates on Emily and Addison at two and a half: 

Emily has really turned a corner emotionally, she is having much fewer meltdowns than she was in the last couple of months. She's been saying sweet things often like thank you and sorry to Addie, Mom, and Dad. She's showing much more interest in Elizabeth, and loves her baby sister very much. She wants to snuggle, and loves butterfly kisses, eskimo kisses, and lip kisses. She talks about when she was a "little baby" and notices the things Elizabeth does or wears and says she did that or wore this when she was a little baby. She will only eat from a spoon, and doesn't even like having a fork put by her plate. She thinks they are pokey and scary. She calls Elizabeth "Lizzybiz."

Addie is a gymnast! She loves climbing, swinging, and tumbling. She still loves baby dolls an looks at Anna, her favorite baby, with love in her eyes and wants her to come along for almost everything. Addie likes to serve herself and Emily when I put food on the table and she's very good with a spoon and is learning to use a fork. She is talking more and more. I can have a conversation with her now, but it still takes a lot of concentration and interpretation. She is so very snugly, she loves to sit on a lap, snuggle her head into a chest, and suck her thumb. She calls Elizabeth "Eh."

Updates 11/18/13:

It's so funny how much things change in just a couple short months. Two months after taking these pictures and writing these two and a half year old updates, Emily has learned to tolerate a fork next to her plate, and will even use it once in awhile. :) Addison's favorite baby, Anna, has been replaced by Baby, her blonde baby doll. Anna still gets love, but Baby gets to go everywhere now. Addie now calls Elizabeth, "Izzy."