March 2014 - Trying to get back to blogging!

Brandon and I love to look back at the blog to see what we were doing at a certain point in time and also to see what the girls were like. So, I'm going to try to catch up from where I left off so that we can have all these memories in years to come. The posts will probably just be loaded with pictures but at least it will be fun to look back at. Even tonight, as I'm writing this first post in a long time, I can't believe that Halle is now 4 and Blair is 2 and how much different they look and act. They are so much bigger and really play so well together here in Seattle. We are so so blessed to be their parents!

Halle's first Home Depot Workshop - March 1, 2014

We ran into her friend, Lakin, and her Dad there! Lakin was in our co-op preschool with us and we love her and the rest of her family - Sara, Chris and Bennett

Halle's co-op preschool or as she called it "preschool at the houses" friends - Adelyn, Annabelle and Lakin - they are all adorable!

Blair is really into the monkey see, monkey do phase and tries to copy everything!

It finally warmed up a little to enjoy the huge sledding hill right outside our door - March 5, 2014

Halle loved sledding and Blair just liked standing in the snow!

Halle's school carnival at Kingdom Kids

Mema came to visit while Brandon was out of town at the AAOS meeting in New Orleans

Letter P and St. Patrick's Day preschool at our house

It finally warmed up to 40 degrees which felt amazing and Blair got to walk on the deck for the first time. She had no idea we had a car out there under all that snow!

Sweet sisters - at a birthday party for one of her classmates, Colton, at Quarry Nature Center

Monkey see, Monkey do!

A trip to Chick Fil A for lunch and the MN Zoo - also Brandon's last day of before he started trauma forever! (March 29th)

Feels good to be outside!

Blair - 22 Months!

It has been forever since I last did an update on Blair and even blog for that matter but I am going to try to catch up. Blair is almost two and I just can't believe how much older she seems these days. She says the funniest things and has such a fun (and feisty!) personality. Here are some of the things I could think of that she is doing right now. I actually went back to our blog to see what Halle was doing around this time and I could almost copy and paste everything she was doing into this post for Blair which is amazing to me. They are both growing up way too fast!!

• She is talking a lot these days - here are some of the things she says:
• "Awesome!"
• "I love it!"
• "Excuse me"
• "It's funny"
• "Here I come!"
• Says "Tay" for yes
• When she asks where Daddy is and I say he is at work, she says "People?" for fixing people
• Is really good at using her manners - almost always says "thank you" when I give her something
• Can count to 10 except "6" and knows a lot of colors
• Can sing most of "Twinkle twinkle", "Let it go" and "Jesus loves me"
• Just started going to Lily Pad Preschool two days a week from 9-11am and loves it - she even tells me a lot about what they did at school - and she absolutely loves the guinea pig, Baloo, that they get to play with
• Just started gymnastics and really likes it- I was so impressed the way she listened to her teacher ad did all of the skills they wanted her to do! Her favorite things are running around in circles on the mat, jumping from anything and hanging on the bars/rings
• She is definitely testing her boundaries but is so cute in that once she knows she did something wrong, she will either hug you or put herself in timeout a lot of the time - so for instance, if she hits, she will immediately give me a hug!
• Loves to do everything herself...will say "help you" or "self" when she wants to do it herself 
• Does not like grocery shopping- only wants to get down and do it her own way!
• Likes to carry Halle's lunchbox or backpack when taking and picking up Halle
• Every morning she helps me make our bed and shows me where to go potty!
• She loves Halle so much and is always thinking about her - will always gets two of everything- one for her and one for Halle
• Favorite toy right now- the Melissa and Doug ice cream cone set - she plays with this everyday!
• Favorite movie- Frozen
• Favorite foods- Mac and cheese and chicken nuggets- not a huge fan of sweets
• Favorite books- Mickey search and find, My First Book of Colors by Eric Carle, Goodnight Gorilla
• Wants to sit on her potty whenever we change her diaper but she's only ever gone once
• Loves the playground - especially the slide and swing
• She's very enthusiastic- will say "yay" when I tell her lunch/dinner is ready
• One of my favorite things she does is put out her hand and motion Halle to come while she says "come here Halle!"
• Is doing pretty good at sharing
• Her new nickname is "Boo" since we think she looks like the little girl, Boo, from Monsters Inc.
• Is just now starting to wear 18-24 months clothes and I think she is around 22 lbs and 32 in. tall
• Schedule: Goes to bed around 8-9pm and wakes up around 6-7am and usually takes a nap around 1:30-2:30 for around 1.5-2 hrs. She doesn't seem to require much sleep which Brandon reminds me will make her very efficient some day! 

We love you so much Blair Blair!!

February Catch-Up

So when your house looks like this in February, there is not much to do... talk about cabin fever!!

But, here is what we were up to in February...

 Pretending to not notice how cold it was and getting ice cream anyways! Our kids think Cherry Berry is a play area since the couches are so bright!

 Working on our painting skills..I love this picture she painted!

 After finding this light after the power went out, they decided to put it to good use!

 Learning how to take selfies (thanks to Aunt Peggy!)

A dinner out to celebrate Presley's birthday in Minneapolis at Chino Latino

 Practicing braiding with Halle's hair

Disney in February

Brandon had some vacation in February and since our Disney World passes are still good until August, we thought it would be fun to visit one more time! Unfortunately, Halle got pretty sick the day before we left..I wasn't sure whether we should take her since it was a really bad cold and I was worried about her ears on the flight but we decided to chance it. She did great until we started to land and then screamed for about 15-20 minutes because she was in such pain from her ears..it absolutely broke my heart! Once we touched down, she seemed to do better but ended up being sick the whole trip (and passed it to Blair at the end!). Though, as Brandon reminded me, it was better to be sick in warmer FL than in freezing MN! And, Brandon's parents met us there so they were able to help us take care of her and Blair.

The first day after we arrived, the weather was really nice and we went to Magic Kingdom. The warm weather seemed to help Halle and she did okay that day. We went on our favorite rides - the carousel, tea cups, Small World, Dumbo, etc...Blair still loved Small World and Halle really enjoyed all of the rides.

Halle was really sick that night and coughing so much that she barely slept. She had a bad fever and the next morning we just stayed in the hotel. Thankfully, Mema and Papa made everything better by keeping her entertained! She was feeling a little better in the afternoon so after some naps, we went to Epcot to see Anna and Elsa. Little did we know that everyone else was thinking the same thing. So, I waited in line for 2 hours while they all went on the Nemo ride and Soarin. Had I known you could've just seen the princesses from the gift shop, I probably would've just done that, but it actually didn't seem like it took that long once I made friends with the lady next to me! And, Halle absolutely loved seeing Anna and Elsa which was so fun to see since she had been so sick. Blair even seemed to enjoy seeing them! We ate Chinese food at Epcot that night and then headed back to get some rest.

On Valentine's Day we went back to Magic Kingdom. We got there a little before lunchtime so after a few rides, we ate lunch at Pinnochio's Village so that we could see the Small World ride while we ate. We spent the whole afternoon there and got to do Belle's story time again. Halle wanted to play a part this time and got to be the duster! She did a great job and loved it once again! She also got to go on the Goofy roller coaster with Mema and Papa while Blair took a nap in the stroller. We spent the whole afternoon there and then picked up Chick Fil A for dinner and headed back to the hotel. Mema and Papa babysat the kids for us that night so that we could have a date night. We went to Epcot and rode Test Track, watched the firework show, ate dessert in Paris, then headed over to Magic Kingdom and rode a few rides over there before calling it an evening...a perfect Valentine's day if you ask me! Thanks Mema and Papa!!

Our last day, we went to Animal Kingdom and it was definitely the busiest day since it was President's Day weekend.  Though, we saw way more animals than we saw when we went during the summer which was fun for the girls. We left in the afternoon and headed over to the Grand Floridian to have dinner at 1900 Park Fare. The girls were pretty worn out but it was still fun to see them interact with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella. 

Overall, it was fun to get away and to be in some warmer weather. And, Halle and Blair loved spending the time with Mema and Papa. We all enjoyed seeing how excited the girls got at Disney, though I think we have had our Disney fix for a few years! 

On our way to Magic Kingdom!

Blair LOVES the Small World ride

Some special treats from Mema and Papa!

Mema and Halle playing to distract her from feeling so sick!

It was definitely worth the wait to see Halle and Blair with Anna and Elsa

Thanks for the matching sweathshirts Mema and Papa!

Blair loving the activities while waiting for Dumbo though she fell on her head right after this!

Halle was the duster and said "Oh, la, la!"

Our Valentine's date night!!