Emma: 32 Months

Oh my goodness, this girl is adorable! But man is she ever hard to get a good picture of! You know how I finally got her to smile a real smile for the camera (above)? I asked her to say the name of her current crush. I'm not kidding. And just look at that grin. Lock up your boys, people, this girl is on the prowl! (Now I'm kidding!!) In all seriousness though, she loves older boys and goes through phases where she talks about one in particular all the time. This month it's Conner and I might have accidentally said his name once when she was on the potty so now she talks about him every time she tries to use the bathroom....Whoops.

Emma's zest and spunk are contagious. She's talking up a storm now and spends a lot of her free time pushing Isla's buttons or wandering outside trying to get into the Honda. She also loves riding her Strider bike and could do it all day if we let her.

I mentioned potty training. Well....this happened. It was a Monday and I guess I got a crazy hair because I had her don some underwear and banned her to the outdoors. After two pairs of wet pants and undies and one pair of pee-filled shoes (why didn't I think to have her go barefoot!?) we call it quits for the day. I'm hoping she at least learned a new sensation. She did wake up dry the next morning and proceeded to hold it for a couple hours until I gave her a diaper. Progress?

I love this picture of Emma on the stump. She is so FULL OF LIFE and I love that about her! Her shyness is fading and in it's place, a brave, confident girl is developing.

She is getting more independent in getting dressed and can usually do the pants all herself. She's always game for wearing a swimsuit which she often pairs with a tutu. 

Emma remains our goof ball. She thought it was pretty fun to dress up as Gideon (read: wear his clothes) the other day after they decided to take a spontaneous swim in the fountain and her mother came ill-prepared without extra attire.

She's becoming more and more of an early riser. She usually happily chats in bed before yelling that she's ready to get up or she entertains herself by throwing everything out on the crib. The other day I walked in to get her and found her reclined backwards in bed, legs crossed, snuggling her Mickey and water bottle.

She is busy. All the time. I'll pick up and room and turn around two seconds later to find the picture (below). Sometimes I swear she's trying to kill me with her "traps." That step stool is the current bane of my existence as it has enabled her to reach new heights. Quite literally. If the house grows too quiet I know with about 100% accuracy that she has either A) found my phone and put on some Netflix and gone into hiding or B) is in my bathroom applying makeup or rubbing soap all over her legs and lotion on the mirror. Never a dull moment I tell you! The other day she was "down for her nap" when we her wailing. I ran in to find her in her hamper which was tipped over and leaning precariously against the rocking chair. Our crib days are numbered I guess. I consider myself lucky for making it this far anyway!

Exciting news this month is that the girls have gained a growing interest in taking showers! My close friends know bathing my children regularly, for some reason, is a challenge I'd liken to summiting Mt Everest for me. I just can't seem to find time for it. Soooo, this new bathroom bravery is proving wonderful as it not only results in cleaner children but it also entertains while I get ready for the day - win-win!

Love her!

Isla: 56 Months

This girl! She's my needs-no-sleep (or at least she thinks so), non-stop energizer social bunny bundle of joy. I often wish I could approach the world with just a smidge of the enthusiasm and curiosity that she does. She's almost always game for anything (unless it's riding the elevator or her bike without training wheels) and I love that about her. I hate to say she's easily excitable but she is. In a good way. I love that something as practical as grocery shopping - just me and her - or her first "real" haircut (which she had this month) can so easily become a fun mommy date. She wanted it ear-length but Daddy wasn't on board so we settled with just below her shoulders.

It grew even that much more exciting when we learned that the haircut came with a ticket for a complimentary train ride at Bothell Country Village and a lollipop! It was raining and she was the only one on it but I chased the train around to wave and take pictures. After her ride, we played on the playground and then sipped hot drinks at a coffee shop.

The bonus about her freshly trimmed hair is that she is now more enthusiastic about letting me "style" it which really means spray it with water and try to tame it because she only ever wants to wear it down. I did take the plunge and buy a special brush and the product the stylist recommended for her curls. Yes, I spent $22 on hair supplies for my 4 year old (don't tell Graham!) but I am a loss when it comes to curly hair. Just look at my own head and this new postpartum style *cough!* I've got going on. 

Isla has grown so very helpful in recent days. She's been setting the table at dinner and bringing me miscellaneous items throughout the day, even when I tell her I don't need them. She responds with "It's ok Mom. It's ok!" and then forces me to keep them anyway. She LOVES spending time with me and I keep trying to remind myself to embrace it because some day she won't find me so cool. Recently we created "Isla's Kind Words" chart and I'm trying to lavishly hand out stickers when she speaks respectfully or responds with a simple "Yes Mom!" when asked to do something (we are encountering some sass and drama lately...oh joy!) I'm spending a lot of my hours breaking up fights between her sister and her so we're working on ways to manage those challenges too.

 Some days I am so 100% convinced that Isla is an extrovert and then she comes home from preschool and says something like "Emma, I've been around ELEVEN people all day and NEED some time to myself!" I nearly died laughing the first time I heard it but girl, I can relate! On those days when we miss afternoon "quiet time," we pay. for. it.

She still loves dressing up and was in heaven when our pastor's wife gifted us some old flower girl dresses from when her kids were little. The only trouble is that she is so incredibly sensitive to textures be it the seam on her sock, the embellishment on her shirt or the strap on her swimsuit. She refuses to wear denim, buttons, zippers, socks, tights, lace, tulle etc etc. (which basically eliminates, well, everything) and if any of these items are on her clothing, she must wear an undershirt as a buffer which usually helps for about 2 minutes until she insists on changing. I have very little (ok no) patience for this. I took her clothes shopping last week and she ate it up though and picked out a few things (with seems even!!!) that she is actually wearing. Maybe this will be my ticket to clothing her?

She is growing very imaginative and loves being told stories aloud. I'm exponentially grateful for Grandma Crozier and Daddy who are her creative go-tos for this. One day we left the kids with Grandma for a couple hours (a couple hours!) and my wonderful mother-in-law told her stories the whole time.

She often plays pretend that she is a teacher and that she has her "class" of kids. She is almost always creating, be it stories, drawings, beds for her babies, lego houses etc. etc. Recently she's also gotten really into math and grouping up items (often silverware!) to see what plus what equals what. She came back with an excellent spring report card from school and is excelling in almost all areas. She can't wait to start Kindergarten in the fall. 

She also adores her baby brother and is constantly doting on (read: smothering) him. The other day I walked into the room after he woke up just in time to capture this on video:

Oh my word I love her!
So proud to be her mama!

Easter 2014

I am in love with this family shot and am still somewhat in disbelief that we are all looking! And to think it was taken with a timer (no one was behind the camera making crazy sounds to get the kids to smile) and it was only our third try. There is hope people! 

 Graham helped with the music at church all morning so the kids and I enjoyed a quiet (sort of) Easter breakfast at home. Thankfully my mom called me earlier in the week and it just so happened that I was at the grocery store. Something she said reminded me to grab a couple chocolate bunnies - phew (mom saves the day again!) Someday these kids are going to find me out and realize just how much I don't have it together...

 But as Graham reminded me, hey, they got chocolate bunnies, had yummy hard-boiled eggs (credit again goes to my mom who coordinated the dyeing on Saturday when she was here) AND we all made it to church. Dressed!!!!!

 We aren't big Easter basket people over here. Ok, we don't even have baskets (Didn't you see the "Easter Backpacks" in my prior post? The basket Isla was holding was my sister's...) BUT, the one thing I can take credit for is that I did manage to plan ahead enough to order the kids a new Bible as an Easter gift. I haven't figured out the balance for our family just yet but I'd like to keep our traditions centered on Christ's resurrection and the reason will celebrate Easter. We did take time in the afternoon to walk through our set of "Resurrection Eggs" that help tell the Easter story. Isla was so full of questions this year and wanted to read the story of Easter over and over - love it!

And now for the attire...Lumber Jack wore his very first accessories in celebration of the day: shoes and a hat!

 My heart can hardly stand it!

 The kidlets, in all their Easter best. Credit goes to Grandma and Grandpa Crozier for the girls' attire - geez, I guess I really didn't do much this year, did I?! Sometimes it takes a village...

 Grandpa Crozier actually picked out Emma's dress when Isla was little - so sweet!

 

 After church, I let Emma have her chocolate bunny.

 I was only planning to let her have half of it but then I turned around... 

 Oh well! And then disaster struck.

Is it awful that I couldn't help but laugh? 

Happy Easter!

Pre-Easter!

On Saturday, we hosted (read: crammed) my family, minus Ben, in our little townhouse for a Pre-Easter party. Our track record for hosting them when it is raining is 100% which means we basically sat on top of one another for five hours, minus a brief race outside for a traditional Peep Picture. But we had fun nonetheless.

 Graham ordered me to keep the menu simple. But we feasted all the same, with Roast Chicken (thanks Costco!) that we dressed up with Pistachio Salsa, Peppers and Corn and my family contributed rolls and roasted sweet potatoes and wine.

 My pictures of the whole family didn't turn out very well but I'm posting them just the same. We got smart this time and fed the kids first (then put on a movie!!) as fitting 12 around our table ain't gonna happen. This genius plan resulted in quiet kiddos and a quiet meal for the adults.

 And of course I made dessert...look for a recipe post soon!

 Lani provided a nutritious egg hunt for the kids (pretzels, raisins and crackers - love her!) and they had a blast searching our living room.

The kids and their Easter Backpacks. Or something.

Jack's Half Birthday

I must confess were in not for my mother, there is high likelihood I would have forgotten about Jack's Half Birthday altogether. *GASP!* But thanks to her lovely Facebook greeting, the day was saved and we "celebrated" him for the last 4 hours of daylight. (We'd been out of town and I wasn't watching the calendar...what can I say?) 

 We were enroute home from Eastern WA and made a break for the Kirkland waterfront to enjoy the gorgeous 70 degree day. Golly gee if we ever successfully move and don't end up in Kirkland, I'm going to be torn. I love it downtown!

I can't seem to kiss the boy enough!

6 months!? How could that possibly be?

I'm not the only one who can't keep her lips (or teeth?) off that kid!

Happy Half Birthday Baby Jack!