Happy Anniversary and Birthday Monica!

What a celebratory week!  To kick things off, we had Monica and my anniversary on Monday!  We were lucky enough to be able to get tickets to the zoo, so I took the day off work and we headed there!  Currently you can only go one way around the zoo, and they only let in a certain number of people every 15 minutes, so things were very calm and there were not many people around us.  It was pretty nice to not have a crowd, and we had a lot of fun finally getting to go back.

There was also a big Lego exhibit going on with lots of animals made out of Legos throughout the zoo.  Here was a life size rinho!  And in the previous picture the polar bear and cubs were all Legos too.

We of course saw the flamingos.  The girls were very excited to see them again.

Here we all are looking at a rather larger than life humming bird!

The tiger was up close when we came by too!  I think he had recently been fed, because he was licking the ground in the same spot a whole lot!  All in all it was a very good trip.  We were able to see lots of animals, and they were out and easy to see.  We all had a great time.

That afternoon, Brooke had her first day of her new dance class!  She is even in this one with some of her friends from the ward!  She was very excited, and after dance said she likes ballet and tap and tumbling (it's a combo class) more than hip hop!  So I expect she'll have a great time this year.

Monica took Brooke to dance, and while they were out Winry and I played in the back yard.  We were out in the pool swimming and going down the slide.  Winry kept getting "stuck" on the slide if it wasn't wet enough, so I had to make sure I kept it wet for her.

After swimming I swung Winry for a while, and then we did some somersaults and cartwheels.  Winry is not quite a cartwheeler yet, but she was having a lot of fun and was being really cute!

On Tuesday, the girls started preschool again!  In the end we decided to do preschool at home and Monica got a curriculum online to follow.  The girls were very excited to get started.  Here's Brooke, who still very much wants to be a vet.  When we were at the zoo on Monday we passed the new animal hospital and she is very excited for when it is completed.  She hopes to work there one day.

Winry was all raring to go on her first day.  Also, she got really into sunglasses during our day at the zoo.  When asked, Winry said she wanted to be a mommy when she grew up.  When I asked her about it later that day she said she was already big, and ready to have a baby.....

We got a little table for preschool, and the girls have snacks at it, as well as doing other activities.

Wednesday morning was Winry's first dance class!  First one ever!  She was very excited.  We thought we'd end up just dropping her off, but they arranged things so that parents could stay in a waiting room and see the class on a TV.  When I saw the videos I asked Monica "Didn't Winry want to join in?" when I saw the two kids running in circles around her.  Monica then pointed out that Winry was the only kid in her class paying attention and following the teacher and wasn't actually supposed to be running around.  Great job Winry!

Jelly joined me at work while I was in a meeting Thursday morning.  She decided sleeping on top of her bed was too exposed, and wiggled her way in the middle of it.

The girls got to do finger painting at preschool, and loved it!  Monica taped out their names on paper and then they painted all over it.  They had a lot of fun, and Brooke was excited to get to wear a very large shirt.

On Friday afternoon Monica had a doctors appointment so the girls and I headed to the back yard.  There was swinging and swimming, much like earlier in the week.  However, we also got a stadium seat thing earlier in the week to allow the floor to have a back rest, and it's been a pretty hot item with the girls since.  Winry was tipping back and forth in it while Brooke was in the swing.

Brooke wanted to swing and be twisty, and so she was.  After swinging Brooke took the little seat into the pool because one of the reasons we got it was because Monica thought it would be nice to have a seat we could put in the pool, so Brooke tried it out!

On Friday, our new king size bed came!  Monica asked for it as an Aniv-irth-mas present.  So we made a bed swap on Friday.  The bed was heavy enough that it was ripping the box apart to try to pick it up/move it around, so I had to push the box up the stairs to our room.  Once we got there it was time to let the mattress inflate!  Also, after being careful to get the mattress in the right orientation before opening the package we put it on turned 90 degrees, and the original way we laid it down was correct... sigh.

However, you are supposed to give the mattress 24-72 hours before it is ready, which means it was back to the queen bed... in the living room...  I slept great!  Monica less so.

Brooke and Winry were playing queens on Saturday and wrapping their blankets around themselves as capes!

And I was able to make some more progress on Brooke's bed.  It's done to the point of being able to hold a mattress, however I still need to make a railing around it so she can't fall out in the middle of the night.

After months of struggling, Brooke has been doing a great job of going to bed recently, and as a reward I took her on a daddy daughter date to get ice cream!  We went to Butterfields to pick it up, and then ate in the car before heading home.

This morning Brooke was very excited to help make Monica a very special breakfast for her birthday.  She came down and put on her apron to help out.

Brooke really wanted to do an omelette bar for Monica's birthday, which has been pre-approved by Monica!  We put together a menu really quick and took it up to Monica so she could pick her breakfast.

 

We're currently half way through the birthday, so there will be more to write about next week!  Monica is currently being crazy and doing the dishes because her afternoon nap wasn't long enough for me to write this post and then go take care of them, so I gotta go! Have a wonderful week, and Happy Birthday Monica!!!!

Swimming at the Creek!

Hello again!  With the baby getting ever closer we've decided to try to get out of the house as much as possible while we can.  We headed back over to the creek on Monday, and for the first time ever there was someone playing in the spot where we went with cousins a week ago...  I wandered down the creek a little farther to see what was beyond the bridge, and there was another great spot just a little farther down.  It was a bit harder to get to, as you went down a dirt path and through some trees that were about as tight together as the stroller is wide, but we made it down and had a great time!  There was even a cool log in the creek for the girls to sit on!

Rewinding to Sunday, Winry was playing with the T.O.T.S. babies an they all ended up around her plate eating lunch!  Looks like they were hungry!

Sunday afternoon Winry was having a hard time so I headed up to her room with her to help her take a nap.  She was upset enough that she wasn't going to go down on her own, and I was tired enough I didn't make it out... :)  We napped together for a time, and when I woke up I put her in her crib, but she woke up in the process and stood up and started crying "No nap daddy!  No nap!!" so we both got up.

Sunday afternoon, the girls got out some balloon crafts that we got from Niki while on family vacation.  You may remember the flamingo ones they put together.  Well, this time it was toucans!  The girls loved making them, and I believe even made them at the end of the family call with Niki!

On Monday during the day, Monica put out a sprinkler on the lawn for the girls to play in.  The girls had a lot of fun so I ordered a turtle sprinkler that they played with the next day!  It was a little surprising, as the girls typically don't like getting water in their faces, but Brooke was loving it and ran through the sprinklers over and over!

Then Winry and I played this really awesome game where we alternate dropping rocks in a bucket of water.  Once you put them all in, Winry takes them all back out and... you do it again!

Brooke also helped Monica wash the car!  I guess when you're out running in a sprinkler, you're also ready to wash a car!

Once I got off work Monday, we headed to the creek!  Everyone had a great time and we stayed pretty late.  Here I am with Winry!  Also, this spot had a lot of bugs at it, while the other didn't.  We did have bug spray, and after a quick application I think we were all pretty much left alone, so at least they weren't really persistent. 

We brought some of the girls toys and Brooke and I made this castle.  Here we are posing with it before Winry noticed.

And here's where we put our fort.  Right on the bank watching both up and down stream for invaders.  Unfortunately when Winry invaded the troops weren't ready, and one step later the strong hold was gone...  That's okay though, we were having lots of fun skipping rocks and eating chips too!

Once the castle was down, Brooke started doing... this...?  I don't know, but I liked the pictures, and the important part is that we were having fun!  Somehow, in spite of the immense fun, we only made it out once last week.  I think we'll have to go again this week too, though it was a bit of work.

This past week the girls also got to return to a playground!  We picked a really small one in our neighborhood that typically no one goes to.  The girls were allowed to play if no one else was there, and after Monica cleaned things off.  Brooke was a trooper and helped Winry out as they played.  

They had a great time, but apparently 6 months of pandemic was enough for Winry to forget what a slide was!  She was also afraid to go down.  I'm sure they'll get back into the swing of things soon!

A grass hopper jumped on the window to the office this past week.  Jelly was really excited about that.  As you can see she would jump up and paw at it and try to get it.  However, I tried to get a video and she just sat there.  She had jumped up right before, and while taking the video I decided I'd give it a minute max.  The video is 1:06 long, and I kid you not, I stopped the video and she jumped back up at it...  Anyway, I didn't put in the video because it's not that interesting.

On Thursday, Monica went and picked up the girls new dance shoes for dance classes that start next week!  Brooke got new tap shoes, and so I had to bring the "tap board" in so they could dance!  And dance they did.  They had a superb time.

Friday was family movie night, and once we picked a movie, Jelly decided she wanted to be part of the action and promptly laid down on the DVD case.

On Saturday, I continued to work on various projects around the house.  We're working on a new mantel for our fireplace, and we're going to replace the tile as well.  Here's a before.

And then Monica and I ripped down the tile.  We only needed the top tiles taken off so we could put the new mantel on, and having the mantle in the garage was preventing me from working on other projects because I didn't want to coat it in sawdust, etc.  So it was finally time to rip some tile down!

And here's the new mantel up!  Just pretend like there's some really nice looking tile below it.

On Saturday I went to Home Depot to get some more supplies for various projects, and one thing I needed was plywood.  I took the seats out of the back of the van, and it turns out the van is basically exactly 4 feet by 8 feet!  Perfect fit!

I spent the day fixing sprinklers, mowing the lawn, working on Brooke's bed, and more!  Needless to say I was ready for bed last night, and this morning I was rather sore!  I started feeling better once I got up and going and have been having a lovely Sunday.  I'm feeling ready for the week ahead.  With both our anniversary, and Monica's birthday it promises to be a busy week, but it's going to be wonderful as well!  Have a wonderful week!

Summer Dance Recital

Hello, dearest party people. Brooke finished out her summer dance class this past week, and starting this year they have a recital at the end! Brooke had been doing hip hop flip flop, and I think most people who read this have seen her sick hip hop moves over the summer! Here's her ending pose to the dance. To get the pose right, her teacher asked her for a food she didn't like, and she said mushrooms. When she went to do her pose she was supposed to think of us trying to give her mushrooms for dinner and think "you're giving me mushrooms!" As you can see, not a big mushroom fan. The recital was great, and I'll put a link to the video of it down with some other pictures from the dance. Brooke did superb, and we had snow cones after dinner to celebrate!

Rewinding back to last Sunday, we had family in town! We headed over to the creek to play in the water. I think we've been down there before, but never really played in the water. We had a lot of fun, and I've asked the girls if they want to go back, but so far no one will go with me :(.

While we were there, Winry was in flip flops so she walked on out into the stream... and then started walking down stream. She was just going to keep going past where our "beach" was, but I called her back. She said it wasn't too deep, and she wanted to keep going....

After some fun in the water, we crossed the bridge and headed to the rock circle. The kids had fun running around. Brooke tripped and scraped up her knee, so we cleaned it off, and then played in the grass at the park for a little. We all practiced our cart wheels!

Winry found a really special rock! I don't think it made it home, which is probably for the best. We ended up staying at the park until my family call was starting, so I put Winry up on my shoulders and joined the call. Winry and I got to talk to everyone while walking back to the car.

When we got home there was a bunny in the front yard, which was very exciting. Brooke grabbed some really good pictures of the tip of her finger with the bunny, and here's everyone getting as close as possible before the bunny ran away.

Over the weekend I cut and stained shelves along with some other projects around the house. I also worked on a new mantle for the fireplace, and towel racks. The shelves look really nice, and it's amazing how much more "finished" the bathroom in the basement feels now. I didn't think they'd make such big difference.

Jelly continues to help me work. This past week she was super intently staring out the window like there was something moving around. The only thing I ever found was a grass hopper, but it was on the opposite side of where she was looking... Anyway, good work distraction.

Sticking with Jelly news, this past week I turned the water on for her to get a drink, and she put her head under so it was hitting her right on the top of the head! She typically tries to avoid getting wet, but I guess she was just too thirsty this time.

Brooke and I have continued to go on walks around the neighborhood. She is starting to get pretty good at riding her bike. She's good at steering and staying on the sidewalk, and can keep a pretty consistent pace all around. She isn't struggling pedaling up the hill, and she's learned to gently push the breaks to just slow a little, instead of completely stopping every time.

On Friday morning we had muffins for breakfast, and after Monica mixed up the batter, Brooke helped fill the muffin tin! She loves doing this, and she does a really good job too!

On Saturday I got out Monica's old tablet from college to see if I could set it up as a digital picture frame. I finally found a good app that can pull a photo album from Google photos to run a slideshow. The girls like to watch the pictures, and it's been pretty cool so far. The plan going forward is to make a frame for the tablet so it looks nicer, and then we can let it run!

Saturday was Brooke's dance recital! She did a super great job. You can watch the whole thing here!

Halfway through, the back and front switched, so Brooke was up close when she did the coffee grinder! That's been a favorite move to show over the summer!

After the dance, Winry greeted Brooke with a big hug! Brooke got a flower from her teacher for being so great!

This picture got put in a little out of order, but this was Winry and me waiting for the show to start. There's a week off dance before the fall class starts, and Winry will start then too! I'm so excited for Winry to get to start dance class! She loves to dance with Brooke, and tries to learn all her moves! Get ready for double recitals!

Today's been going well for us. Today was the first day we could have gone back to church. We instead watched a zoom broadcast. They muted the video during the sacrament, and we did our own then. It was pretty nice to get to do a slightly more normal church. Right now the setup is that half of the ward will meet the second Sunday, and the other half the fourth. So we could technically go once a month, but we'll be able to watch it twice a month.

That's all I've got for this week. Have a wonderful week!