Family Movie Night

Since the girls are getting a little older, and Lesley has a new "appreciation" for the TV, I thought it would be fun to implement a family movie night. We recorded Beauty and the Beast on our TV not long ago, and she really seemed to enjoy watching it, or at least clips of it from time to time.

I decided to rent a movie from a near by RedBox so we could watch something together. My pick was the movie "Rio", a newer Disney film. We popped some popcorn and settled in for the feature presentation on the couch.

As I expected, the event started out great. Lesley sat and watched intently with her popcorn....for about 15 minutes. Then, she was done and ready to play.

My girls just don't get into the TV much, and I'm okay with that. But, I was a little bummed our movie night didn't last longer. I love snuggling up on the couch with soft blankets. Granted, in my pre-kiddos days, this usually meant I'd fall asleep part way through, but still, it's always nice to just sit and relax instead of trying to watch something while juggling laundry, dishes, clean up, blogging, etc.

Leah had more fun dumping her popcorn on the floor and picking it up. Just to do it over again.

I'll just say that "Rio" made a pretty good date night for Jason and myself after the girls were tucked into bed. He was willing to snuggle on the couch with me for more than the 5 minutes Lesley gave me. And, I'll also admit that I fell asleep and had to finish the movie the next day.

Funny things the girls have done lately

Leah didn't want to settle down for bed one night and I finally asked her if her teeth hurt. She shook her head yes. Then I asked her if she wanted some Tylenol to make them feel better. She ran over to me, and tilted her head to the side. I'm pretty sure she thought I was going to give her ear drops, or maybe she was also trying to tell me that her ears hurt. Ha! Makes me sad to think she has had so many rounds of ear drops that she knows what it means. Although, we haven't actually given her ear drops more than 3-4 times since she got tubes back in October.

My early riser, Lesley, slept especially late one morning, i.e. ~7:30am when I was home alone with the girls. I had to get her up to head out for the day but knew she would be groggy. She is a gal who needs a little transition in the morning, i.e. some Mickey Mouse clubhouse or snuggles in Mommy's bed. So, I went in to wake her up without turning on the lights and just told her that I would get Leah dressed and come back to help her in 5 minutes. She said, "But Mommy, I'm still tired and I want to sleep." I left her room, leaving the door open and the hallway light on. Pretty soon I catch a glimpse of her in the hallway shortly followed with the light turning off. She then raced back to bed and jumped under her covers. I guess she wasn't joking when she said she wanted to sleep longer. But of course, we were all giggling and laughing about it and getting dressed wasn't quite as bad as she thought it would be.

One Sunday, I was lazy and didn't change the girls after church. So, they wore their church dresses and tights all day. It was an especially nice January day so we went for a walk and then played outside for a couple hours that afternoon. Lesley rode her bike (with training wheels) and she did so good on it! I was totally impressed and shocked! At one point, she got off her bike and was pushing it around for whatever reason. She stumbled and scraped up her knees through the tights. As I was brushing her off, I commented "we should have changed into jeans after church. They would have protected your knees better than your tights." Her response, "We need to stop going to church." Ha! Hopefully God knows she really just meant that we need to change our clothes.

I have always loved getting my hair brushed. In fact, the best part about going to the salon for a hair cut is getting it washed and my scalp massaged. So, every once in a while, I try to get Lesley to be my stylist and brush my hair. She was totally into it one night and brushed my hair, then said she needed to iron it. She sees me use my flat iron often and pulled that out to use. Next I hear, "now I need to paint your hair." What?! I quickly said, "Lesley, we don't paint people's hair." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized that I was wrong. Lesley witnessed me getting my hair colored just a few weeks ago. From the eyes of an almost 3 year old, I did in fact get my hair painted.

The Dentist and the Eye Doctor

It was time to take Lesley to her first dental check up! I was very nervous about having her go, mostly because I hate going to the dentist. Pregnancies have not been good for my teeth and I totally dread going now. But, thankfully Lesley was on board with visiting and did awesome. We had been talking about it for several weeks, and how the doctor was going to look in her mouth and make sure her teeth were in good shape. Like most things, Lesley seems to do better when she has warning and some time to process what is going to happen.

The big day arrived in early January and Daddy took her that day because his schedule was less hectic. He did not, however, take any photos. Boo.

He commented that it was like a circus - balloons and stickers and prizes and movies! Leah tagged along that day so she also got to enjoy the 'circus'.

Lesley was excited to tell me all about "Dr. Jim" when I got home. Actually, the dentist's name was Dr. Jill but Lesley always gets the name mixed up. She said that Dr. Jim made her teeth sparkle with her special wand. Although the Dr. didn't actually clean her teeth, she gave Lesley a good report and said keep on brushing!

That same week, I had scheduled appointments for both girls to see the eye doctor. I don't necessarily have concerns at this point but I am certain they are both destined to wear glasses some day. Unfortunately their genes will likely require it! I went to a new eye doctor in December and they recommended bringing both girls in. The visit was fully covered under our insurance and the eye doctor indicated that there are certain eye problems that can be corrected if caught early enough in children. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything so we lined up appointments and took the girls in.

Again, Lesley did amazing at this appointment. She was able to follow all the instructions and they could even get a good read on eye vision without having to dilate her eyes. She had almost perfect vision according to the pictures she identified. All the equipment and contraptions were pretty cool for her. And, she was very excited about the coupon for the free McDonald's ice cream cone she got at the end.

Leah is too young for them to check her eyes the normal way. So, they had to dilate her eyes. She also did outstanding though. Daddy stayed with her in one exam room while Mommy was with Big Sister, but there were no tears or screaming. We got another good report from Leah's exam! At least for now, the girls seem to have almost perfect vision.

During the exams, Jason figured out that the doctor was also Benedictine College grad and Jason played football with his brother. Small world!

Leah rode home with her eyes closed because it was so bright and sunny outside.

Since, it was another beautiful, warm January day we wanted to enjoy the outdoors while we could. But, with Leah's dilated eyes, she kept walking around squinting and running into things. We finally solved that problem with sunglasses.

And, of course, Big Sister wanted to wear them too.

Stylish

Lesley wears her cowboy boots all the time! Sometimes even once she has her jammies on.

This shape sorter is one of Leah's favorites right now. She will seek it out on the toy shelf and bring it over to dump and play. I'm pretty impressed with how good she is, and also think it's funny when she gets very frustrated when the triangle doesn't fit into the circle. I have witnessed her giving up and throwing whatever plastic shape happens to not fit. I have also witnessed her giving up, taking the top off, and putting all the shapes inside before replacing the top. Cheater!

Our very own race track

I got this modified idea from a co-worker who had a Mario and Luigi birthday party for her 5 year old son. She set up many "lanes" throughout her house for all the boys to "race" around.

We used blue tape and made a mini version. Daddy thought it was great! Oh, and the girls kind of liked it too.

Vroom, Vroom...

Mommy decided that the race track needed a barn and house to go with it. Leah liked "parking" her monster truck next to the barn.

The monster trucks were Christmas presents from their daycare friend. My girls play with a lot of cars and trains since they are outnumbered 2 to 3 with the boys at daycare.

We even left the tape on the floor for a few nights. Mostly because Daddy needed something to play with the next night too.

He especially had fun making the monster trucks race off the ramp.

This really was great entertainment for (all!) the kids in the house.

A Daddy Project

Jason is definitely not one for crafting with the girls but Mommy has the little ladies convinced that playdough is only for Daddy. In reality, Mommy just doesn't like playdough and basically refuses to get it out....unless she can hand it off to Daddy.

Thankfully Daddy doesn't seem to care and usually tries to get creative with the girls.

Some Cookie Monster letters and food!

About 5 minutes into the project, Leah is typically off wandering around and this night the empty box kept her occupied for a LONG time.

Setting the Table

I asked them to set the table one night as we were preparing for dinner guests.

This is what we witnessed:

Teamwork!

Do you think we'll have enough plastic kids utensils and straws for the dinner party?

And, yes, Leah is standing on the chair. She sort of does what she wants and there are only so many times this mama can say no and remove her. At least it's not on the table.

She has figured out how to push the kids' chairs or stools over to the counter and climb up. Just the other day, I turned around and she was munching on an apple in the middle of the kitchen island. That girls is fast! I swear I only had turned around for 30 seconds. We put the stools behind closed doors in the office, but Lesley can get them out. It already seems like they are working like a team, against Mama and Dada, these days!

Tolerance

Our cats continue to be tolerant (or just plain stupid!).

We tell the girls over and over to be nice to the kitties, but often have limited success. Jason and I usually just shrug it off and think, "they would run off if they didn't like it, right?!"

Leah's latest "idea" is to sit on poor Charlie Brown. But again, I'm going to go back to the stupid thought. Seriously, doesn't he know that when she backs up towards him what is about to happen. Move it cat!

And this my friends, she will do over and over again.

If only laundry was really this fun

My girls have always liked to help with the laundry.

This night they needed a milk break. What better place to drink it than in the laundry basket?

I wish I could have gotten them to look at me.

Then the basket of silly girls toppled over and there was lots of laughing and giggling.

Just a normal day

Just a normal day for these gals...you know, the ones where it's fun to empty the entire toy box and hang out inside.

Jason and I are to the point where we just sit and watch. Next steps would be to enforce clean up. Leah is pretty good at helping but Lesley is not. One complaint about the babysitter, if you can even call it that, is that she does not require the kids to help clean up toys at the end of day. Unfortunately, Lesley thinks she can get away with not helping at our house too.

I think Leah had an important call to make and felt like the toy box was the ideal location.

As you can see from the series of photos, Lesley just wanted to enjoy her "warm milk in a warm milk cup" while in the box. Since she was a baby, she has LOVED warm milk, always asking for us to warm it up for her and even before she could talk she would point to the microwave at times. Now, she requests a warm milk cup since apparently at our house there is a difference.

Silly Willy

Sometimes I call Lesley Silly Willy when she's being goofy. This was one of those nights.

One comfy boot and one cowboy boot. Wierdo! But, she wanted to pose for a photo so I snapped one and of course thought it was blog worthy. Hope you enjoy!

Connect Three

I am a game loving gal. I remember snow days growing up when my brother, sister, and I would all get to pick one game for us to play with my mom while we stayed home from school. We spent many hours playing games and drinking hot chocolate on cold, snowy days. The Farming Game, Life, Monopoly, Backgamm0n, various card games, and so many more!

So for Christmas, I decided it was time to get Lesley some games she might enjoy playing with us....and some that helped her with her colors and counting. One of the games we selected was Connect Four. I don't actually remember playing this as a kid, but Jason was excited for this one. And, Lesley has loved it!

We had a little different approach and tried "Connect Three" instead of the normal four pieces.

At one point, we asked her if she knew was the purpose of the game was. "To block Da-duh!"

We realized she didn't quite understand that she was trying to get her colors in a row too. Oops.

We also didn't really count or have a winner. We just filled the spaces and then had fun emptying it to do it again.

Leah wasn't so much into the game.

She just practiced her rodeo skills with Babe that particular night.

These boots were made for walking

...and that's just what they did. Only, they both had the wrong pair of boots on.

It's so fun to see their imaginations and watch them play together!

My little bakers

Lesley got a new apron, hat and some cooking gear from Aunt Aimee this year. She loves it! And, she loves to cook!

So, one day we got busy, first with some banana muffins. The girls are weird about bananas - one day they gobble them up and the next several days they refuse to eat them. And, since their mama only eats green bananas (no mush please), our bananas will sit for a bit too long. The only logical thing to do is turn them into tasty muffins.

Lesley got busy mashing. Daddy complained that there were chunks in the muffins so I guess next time he needs to make them...or mommy needs to follow up on Lesley's work and perhaps mash a little longer before mixing in the bowl.

We've made so many muffins lately that Lesley even knows she has to make a "basin" in her bowl with the flour mixture. Then, the bananas and eggs go in the middle before mixing it all together.

Leah contributed to the process by putting the muffin cups into the muffin pan. I often struggle knowing what to do with her while we cook or do any sort of project. She's not quite big enough to be a real helper, but she certainly wants to participate. And, holding her while I help Lesley is not always a good option and is tough on my back since she's in a stage where she wants to be held a lot. So, I try super hard to plop her in the high chair and give her a task too.

We also made brownies in mommy's new brownie pan. (Actually, I think the brownies came first as evidenced by the batter on Lesley's mouth in the photos above.)

Leah didn't have a "real" job this time, but she still was part of the action.

Did you notice that the girls are wearing pajamas in these pictures? I'm pretty sure this was the day after Christmas when Mommy declared a pajamas only day because she was trying to recover from the weekend whirlwind.

We went to McDonald's for breakfast in our jammies, then to the grocery store in our jammies, and spent all day in our jammies. Lesley wanted to get dressed, but mommy said "No way!" She didn't want to get out of her jammies so that meant the kids had to stay in theirs. There was another family at McDonalds in jammies AND they also ended up at the grocery store too. I guess you could say that all the COOL mommies had the same idea that day!

Love these girls

It was a rough, hectic Christmas for this mommy, but these two make all the craziness totally worth it!

I hope they only remember the happy moments and forget the times when their mommy was frazzled and upset. And, I hope that going forward this mommy can step back and remember the happiness that these two bring to my life...even when things seem a little tough.

Christmas Eve

We started the holidays on Friday night with a little jumping on the bed.

Lilly was a jumpy frog that night!

We thought we were ending the evening watching a movie and having snacks with Papa. But....one toddler didn't like the idea of going to bed so much.

This was the toddler who thought playing with the tupperware was a good idea at midnight. Not a happy mama at this point, but wanted to be sure and take a photo to share with daddy who was peacefully sleeping at the time. I eventually handed her off to Grandma at like 3:30am when neither of us had slept much at all. Thankfully I think Leah fell asleep at that point because I found her in Grandma's bed the next morning. It was a tough night! And, I felt bad for Uncle Andy since he was sleeping on the couch and had to endure the rough night too.

Needless to say, the next day for this mama wasn't as great as she had hoped. We headed to Aunt Aimee's house mid morning to celebrate with her family. She was on call for this holiday so couldn't make it to Grandma's house.

As any one year would think, the wrapping paper was pretty awesome.

Lesley was modeling the hats Papa got for all the girls. Lesley could read her name on packages so she knew exactly which gifts were hers.

I love Lesley's reaction to her new cowboy boots. They were by far her favorite gift this year at Christmas. She was so excited!

She could not wait to get them on!

She was also a big fan of the Tinkerbell jammies Mommy found for the big girls. We wear (and wash) those lots!

Leah was pretty difficult to shop for. I tried so hard to find some things that Big Sister would not claim as hers, but no something too "babyish". She seems to like this purse, but definitely prefers real cell phones to the soft stuffed one here.

The little ladies were caught snuggling on Papa's face. As expected, Lyssa didn't get too excited this year. She was content just snoozing and snacking on milk.

I can't tell (or remember) what she was excited about here, but something inside her stocking was pretty neat.

Remember how I said I wanted something special ONLY for Leah. Well, you can see how that worked out. Both big girls were trying to get into Leah's box.

After we finished opening gifts, we had some delicious soup for lunch and then spent a little time using the new stamps we got the girls and coloring. Aimee got called away to tend to a sick puppy and we had to leave fairly early to make it back to Grandma's house for church and time with Uncle Nick's family. I really wish we could have seen Aimee and her family longer. I guess next year we need to plan events a little better.

There was a little time for Grandma to read to all the girls although I will say that the two on the left didn't last long and Lyssa needed rescued.