Cousin Visit!

Hello and happy day!  This past week Andrew and Maren came to visit for a day and a half!  I guess there was a flood at their school, so everything was remote (look's like a pandemic stepped in and helped them be prepared there!).  There was also a big snow storm predicted for Wednesday night, so seminary was a call as well!  It was the perfect "storm," and so they came down to visit/help with the kids.  It was a lot of fun to have them here, and honestly I felt a bit bad, because they would be in school calls all day and trying to get homework done and there were Brooke and Winry, waiting to play at every available moment!  Andrew is a super baby lover and held Grayson basically all day long.  Everyone had a great time, and everyone was able to get all of the stuff they needed done (kids did school, I worked, Monica napped....(Note from Monica...ha, I wish I napped!).  Here's Andrew playing the marble run (to the extreme!) with the girls!  I somehow didn't get a picture of Maren... sorry Maren!  Maybe next time.

On Monday Monica enjoyed the warm weather we started the week with by taking everyone on a walk.  Brooke even helped push the stroller. This was Grayson's first time going in the stroller without his car seat!

I also remembered on Monday to get a picture of the new kitty alarm clock.  Here it is when it's sleep time.  The clock stays red all night (starting at 7 pm, which is now our goal of when to be ready for bed by since kitty is going to sleep) and turns green at 6:30 am to let the kids know they can get up and come out of their room.  Today they even both slept passed green, and Winry came out at 6:40.  She also woke Brooke up because the cat was awake, so they both HAD to get up...

On Tuesday Monica took the girls to the park.  The one they went to even has low swings, so Brooke could swing herself!  Grayson went in the swing for the very first time, and Brooke had a lot of fun pushing him!

We all went for a walk to the park on Wednesday, and Brooke rode her bike!  We're going to have to keep up with that plan as we don't want a triple stroller!  Anyway, Brooke did great and rode all the way out on her own.  After playing for a while we headed back home.  We came back a different way and ended up going over some ice, so I helped the girls to make sure they didn't fall.  Shortly after we got past the ice Brooke took a turn a little wide and her training wheel went off the sidewalk and she tipped, luckily it was onto grass!  She was okay, but shaken.  She rode in the stroller the rest of the way home, and I put Winry on the bike and pulled her along.

Here's a cute picture of Grayson.  I really like the heart up on the wall behind his head.

I put Grayson down for bed one night.  He enjoyed reading the dinosaur tails book with me, and then we had a tickle fight (spoiler, I won).

This was a bit of a slow week.  There were a few things I missed pictures of, like Maren's presence, or the fact that we got like 8 inches of snow Wednesday night and went and played in the backyard Thursday afternoon.  I feel like the adventures have slowed down recently, but sometimes it's nice to have a break.  Unfortunately, it hasn't felt like a break lately.  Tell ya what, I'll try to do better at taking pictures next week!  Have a great week!

 

Family Play Time

Why hello!  It's been such a night.  There was a lot of screaming and crying and shenanigans while trying to get ready for bed.  Fortunately Grayson was a good sport about it all and didn't need to be held, while everyone else needed to be.  Speaking of being a good sport, Grayson is also more than happy to play with his sisters!  I'm glad they all can get along so well!

Grayson has been very happy lately.  I think he was up on counter with me while I was making breakfast one morning, and he was just as happy as can be!

I got an air fryer from Monica for Valentines day.  I made donuts right away!  They were very good, though they definitely could have been better.  I'll have to work on the recipe a bit and see if I can get them more donut shop quality.

Thursday night while we were getting ready for bed, Winry had to take a moment to be a pirate.  Can't you tell with that realistic eye patch?  Or the authentic sailor garb?  Or the vintage galley?  Nailed it.

On Saturday the girls both watched the Friend to Friend together.  They really liked drawing the picture, especially since they already love to watch Art for Kids Hub videos.  There were lots of great spiritual messages in it, and the girls loved it the whole way through.  I really liked it, especially with how well they paid attention to the stories, talks and lessons.

Grayson was there too, though he was taking the jumper for his first spin!  He's been enjoying it a lot lately.  He typically leans forward in the seat, and sometimes hunches down so he can get the edge of it in his mouth.  

Later on Saturday I was in the basement with the girls while Monica was doing some vacuuming.  None of the kids like how loud the vacuum is (which is ironic when you hear how loud they talk first thing in the morning), so we went to the basement to play as it had already been vacuumed.  While we were there, I thought I'd "play" preschool.  Earlier this year Brooke told Monica that she (Brooke) could teach preschool because she just had to fall asleep on the couch like Monica always did!  Anyway, I was a grade A teacher! :)

It snowed last night too.  It was a really heavy snow.  It came down really fast.  The streets and sidewalks were pretty warm from the day though, and while they are covered in this picture, by the morning it was almost all melted off our sidewalk/driveway.

Today the girls decorated cupcakes for my family's Nailed It competition.  The theme was valentines and a bug.  Brooke, and by extension Winry, wanted to do a dragonfly.  Here she is with her final product.  Brooke even won the contest!!

And here is Winry's cupcake she decorated.  It was also really good.

Today Grayson woke up from a nap and didn't have pants on!!!  Monica said they were hard to get on, so he didn't get any more.  I wrapped him in my jacket.  I thought it seemed a bit cold in the house, so I didn't want him to get cold.

Well, that's all I've got for this week.  Hope you have a fantastic week ahead.

Death of a Onesie...

Happy Valentine's day!  Grayson woke up and peed out of his diaper onto Monica while she was feeding him, so he got to get in his church clothes nice and early.  He took his morning nap and woke up with 3 minutes to go until church, and when I lifted him up he left poop behind...  He really wanted to make sure we were even late to virtual church...  Here's a picture of his onesie... yuck.  This was a two person job for sure.  I held him in the air over the changing mat while Monica got him cleaned up.  What a Valentine's day treat!

Last week Brooke was reading a book to Grayson.  We have a book called "Jesus was Just Like Me."  It talks about things that kids do, and that Jesus also did in his life.  While Brooke was "reading" it to Grayson, she made up the following page "Jesus always came out of his swaddle and slept terribly too, Jesus was just like me."  Classic!

Grayson has "outgrown" laying down.  He doesn't really like the play mat, being on the changing mat beyond a diaper change, and other forms of being laid down entertainment.  He's all about the sitting.  Anyway, he also really likes to be in carriers right now too.

Monday night to Tuesday morning we all wore our elf pajamas again.  Here are the girls the next morning right after getting up.  I don't remember if there is a real story to this picture, but they look cute.

Brooke's second tooth came out!  She was hoping for it to come out on Monday in the car while heading to dance class, but she had to wait an extra few days this time.  She was very excited, and is now missing both front teeth on the bottom.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Pokemon releasing.  As such there's a Pokemon thing happening at McDonalds, so I took both the kids out for a date this past week.  I took Brooke out for dinner on Thursday night.  We had a picnic in the back of the van because it was really cold outside, but it was a lot of fun!  We got some Pokemon cards and deck boxes in our Happy Meals!

Also, that night while Monica was getting Grayson ready for bed he laughed for the first time!

The girls love to lay with and play with Grayson.  He loves it too!  Here's Brooke in the morning helping him stay happy while I got breakfast ready.  Grayson will tolerate the playmat if someone else is there to play with him.  Brooke was willing to take up that job until he pulled her hair.

Saturday I took Winry out for a lunch date!  We also went to McDonalds to celebrate Pokemon, and we got sticker sheets!  Winry had a lot of fun putting the stickers on, and I saved mine to give to Brooke when we got home!  Winry and I did have to try 2 McDonalds because the first one we went to was all out of toys.  I don't know if you've seen anything about this, but people are going to McDonalds and buying 100+ kids meals so they can resell the Pokemon cards online... sigh...  Fortunately the ones in Parker were both fine, so it seems to be more tame close to home.

I went for a run after Winry and I got back from our date.  I waited until the afternoon so I could run in the balmy 5 degree weather.  I got a little frosty while I was out, and sometimes when I blinked I could feel my eyes stick shut a little bit.  I'm glad my eyes never froze shut!

Last night Monica planned our date night, which was a Valentines spa.  Here she is, taking advantage of my cucumber blinds...

This morning, before the blowout, we were trying to get the girls ready for church.  We asked Winry to get dressed and she said she couldn't because she had a baby in her tummy.  Looks rough...

Before Grayson headed down for the infamous nap we swapped gifts for secret valentines, and he did a great job unwrapping his present!  Everyone got a perfect gift, including me who got a picture of shipping information!  Monica got me an air fryer, specifically to make donuts, so look forward to that next week.  SO MANY DONUTS (I hope)!!!

The girls were really good for the sacrament call today, but boy was primary with Monica's family rough.  Brooke is a good listener, but Winry spent some time playing on the floor with Grayson before wearing Monica's slippers around the house, and then putting them on her hands and running around the house.  She also took a moment to show everyone on the call...  Fortunately the camera is way back on the laptop we use, so the actual distractions were minimal.

Other than being a bit cold, things are going great here!  It sounds like it's cold in many places, so wherever you are, stay warm!  Have a great week!

Brooke Loses her First Tooth

So, last Monday Monica took Brooke to dance class.  Brooke's loose tooth was getting REALLY loose.  They got to dance a few minutes early, and Brooke asked if she could try to pull her tooth out, and then pulled it out!  Right there in the parking lot!  Brooke was SUPER excited about it, and of course the tooth fairy came.  She got a gold dollar coin, and a tooth pillow she can put future teeth in when she looses them.  The once next to the one that came out is getting pretty loose too, so it might be coming out soon!

We got some double step stools a bit ago, and the girls pulled them out and were playing... some dancing game on one.  They were having so much fun.  Winry loved getting danced all around by Brooke.  They'd swap positions too, but I feel like they definitely had the best time when Brooke danced Winry around.

We got some snow last week, but not much.  We headed out the next morning to play, and it's good we did because by the end of work the lawn was mostly cleared.  The girls ganged up on me in a snowball fight, which is typical.

We did a bunch of sledding around the law.  The girls took turns pulling each other around.  I had to crawl behind and push the sled when Winry was pulling, which was pretty rough, but the girls had a great time!

We made spring rolls one night sometime in the past two weeks, and the girls helped out.  After getting the mixture all together it was time to fill and roll the spring rolls.  Brooke and Winry even made them all on their own!

Grayson has enjoyed sitting in this seat.  It's a new fun thing to do, and we put things on the tray and he works on learning to pick them up.

I took the girls out to swing in the back yard.  Notice the lack of snow?  Things warmed up... some...  It was still decently cold.  Grayson came out with us too so that Monica would work on dinner.  We all had a good time, and everyone stayed nice and warm.

Last Sunday Winry worked on her make up for church.  She put a little eye shadow on, and put some on the back of her hands too.  She really likes doing make up.

Sometimes I like to put Grayson in the carrier.  He really likes to be in there, and it's a lot easier to hold him in there for long periods of time.

Monica helped the girls build a fort this past week.  They really liked it, though chairs changing positions around the table since then has somehow been a large and never ending problem.  I'm not sure how they keep getting re-moved into the "wrong" spot, but the girls always want the padded chairs.

When Monica took Brooke to dance class (and her tooth came out) Winry wanted to go out and chalk the driveway.  I was worried about Grayson getting cold out there, so I put him in the bear suit!  Then we all had a good time.

The girls ate lunch at their picnic table they got for Christmas.  The weather was pretty nice a few days this past week, so it was a great time to head outside!

Winry has been putting her Fox jacket/stuffed animal to bed in Grayson's bassinette/our bed non-stop for the last week or two.  I'm not sure he's left our room since... a long time.

One morning when Winry woke up her hair looked like this.  She must have had a very exciting night sliding her head on her pillow!  That's a poof and a half!

Winry drew this picture recently.  I really like how she draws her people.  I'm pretty sure she said this was "Winry and Mommy."

With the little seat out for Grayson the girls have re-discovered their love for the seat.  They're great at doing buckles, but less so at getting them undone...

Jelly has been sleeping in Brooke's bed a bunch recently.  She's moved up to sleeping next to Brooke's pillow, to Brooke's delight.  Brooke loves when Jelly is in her bed.  Maybe sometime Jelly will start to sleep their all night.  Brooke would love that so much.

Today we went over to see the temple.  It is, of course, still closed, so we just sat on the other side of the street.  However, it was SOO windy, so we didn't stay for very long.  Here's everyone enjoying the view!

Monica and Brooke did a water color "class" together.  Monica has started watching an instagram that posts a weekly water color class and follows along.  This last week was an elephant, and Brooke really liked it and wanted to do one too.  Today Monica did another one, and Brooke painted one too!  Look how great that is!  Natural artist.

Well, that's all I've got for this week(s).  Sorry I missed last week, I'm not really sure what happened...  Anyway, have a wonderful week ahead!