A Taste of Summer

On Wednesday we went to a new indoor pool. It was a long trek (45 minutes) but it was worth it. Jen and Blake went with us and Jessica and Sienna met us there. The indoor pool is huge. They have a big pool for laps, a therapy pool, a huge hot tub and a large leisure pool for kids. The leisure pool only goes up to three feet deep and was warmer than the other pools. They had a walk-in area with little fountains that the girls loved. Brooklyn looked adorable in her new swimsuit.


Aunt Jen helped out with the girls, they sure love her.

Laneah had so much fun walking in the pool. She would walk until it was so deep that she had to put her head back, but she wanted to do most things by herself. 
They had a floating snake that the kids could ride on.
There were several slides for the kids to go down on and Laneah went on all them over and over again.

 I am so glad we did swimming lessons with Laneah, she is a lot more comfortable in the water now. The pool had buckets that filled up and then dumped water and Laneah would go right underneath them and let them spill on her. Some kids never mind that kind of thing; for Laneah, it is huge.
Brooklyn loved the pool. She played and splashed and had a great time. She also enjoyed playing with Sienna.

Me and Jess with the babies.

 The pool was lots of fun. It was just nice to be in the water. I can't wait for summer, but at least we got a taste of it.

Disney on Ice

Last weekend Laneah got to go see Disney on Ice. Our neighbor's had an extra ticket and their daughter Ezra wanted to bring Laneah. Laneah was so excited to go. She loves Ezra and Ezra's family. Both the girls needed some convincing to dress up, which was funny because they both love to dress up.Ezra came over to get Laneah.
 
I was bummed that I couldn't go, but it was nice just to spend the evening with Jason and Brooklyn. Laneah was so excited to go that she almost ran out the door without hugs and kisses!


They stopped and got some Chick Fil A and the of course Laneah loved that.

 The girls making silly faces.

Then they rode the Metro to DC. Laneah hadn't been on the Metro in a long time so it was quite and adventure but she did well.

 The girlies getting ready for the show to start.

 The show started and Laneah started dancing and screaming and laughing. Oh my goodness, I can just picture her at a Justin Bieber concert. She is going to be one of those in the front screaming, lol.

 Waving to Mickey and Minnie, her favorite.

 Melissa, Ezra's mom, said the show was spectacular.

Apparently Laneah did really well and had so much fun. They got home late and both of the girls had passed out on the way home. 
Laneah has talked about it all week. We will definitely be taking both of the girls next year.

The Hungry Caterpillar

Last week Brooklyn went to her friend's (Cullen) birthday party. The party theme was from the book The Hungry Caterpillar. Cullen's mom, Laura, had the whole house decorated with things from the book. She even made magnets for the fridge. Cullen is just a month younger than Brooklyn. He is such a cutie.
The kids played with all of Cullen's new birthday toys, but the firetruck was their favorite.

Then it was time for cake. Brooklyn ate two pieces. She just wanted more and more. When she was finished with her second piece, she reached over and tried to take some from her neighbor's high chair. lol. I had to take her into the living room because she kept trying to get to the cake crumbs under all the high chairs.

Cullen's parents made these cute puzzles as the favor.

 Brooklyn had lots of fun, she is a little party girl. Happy birthday Cullen and thanks for having us.

Laneah at 3 years, 2 months

 
Laneahisms:

*"quick-a-lee" prickly
*She calls her privates "pirates". I crack up every time.
*beo- video* "Adorable" She will say, "mom, I look adorable!"
* "Terrible"
* "valtime's day"
*She is learning the days of the week and gets confused with Friday and Saturday. On Valentine's Day, she said "No mom, it's not Valtime's day, Valtime's day is on Fraturday"
*Her favorite movie is "Sickle Me" (Despicable Me )
*If you ask her a yes or no question, she answers with a strange combination of yes and no, like, "noess". It drives me crazy. Please just say no or yes, lol.

Terrible Twos? Apparently it also applies to three year olds
Laneah has been really tough lately. Even more so than before. I love her to pieces, but she is a very strong willed child. These are just a few of the problems we have been having. Feel free to leave any tips or suggestions to the following issues:


*Laneah challenges me on everything, and I mean everything. If I tell her it is raining, she will reply "no it's sunny"; if I tell her it is green, she will say "no, it's blue". It doesn't matter what it is, she does it to me all day long over ever little thing. Isn't that supposed to be a teenage thing?


*Spitting. Laneah spits at me (raspberry type, but still gross), and others all the time. She immediately goes to time out for this, but it doesn't seem to help. The problem is she does it to be rude, not in a playful way.


*Fibbing. I think this is pretty common for her age. But if she gets into something and I ask her she will blame it on someone else. Oh really, daddy made this mess all the way from work? Sure Laneah.


ok, now on to fun things...
 
New and Current Things:

*She loves to pretend to play soccer. She will tell me,  "I play, you be my cheerleader". She will get her Minnie Mouse soccer ball and go into the kitchen. The oven is the goal. She will kick the ball while I cheer for her. I usually spell chant her name. Then she tells me that it is my turn and she will be my cheerleader. Since she doesn't know how to spell my name she just shouts of random letters of the alphabet.


*Laneah is very smart. She is currently interested in learning to read and spell. She loves phonetics. She will say a word, make the sound of the first letter and then say that letter. Example "Ice Cream, I, I, I, it starts with I!

*This girl is the queen of Skype. Every day she begs me morning, noon and night to talk on Skype. I need to add more people, lol.

* Laneah is still a Diva. She changes her outfit between 5-10 times a day. Mostly she likes pajamas. But she also loves her soft princess dresses and tutus.
 
*She refuses to wear pants now, she will only wear leggings.

*Laneah is officially registered for preschool! I can't believe she starts in the Fall. I am excited, she is going to have so much fun.


*She loves her gymnastics class. It is for 3-5 year olds and no parents are allowed on the floor but we can watch. Laneah is already making big improvements. She loves tumbling and the balance beam.

*Brooklyn isn't the only non stop snacker. Laneah doesn't stop eating. Her fav breakfast- peanut butter toast and banana; fav lunch- tuna fish with saltine crackers; fav dinner- turkey dogs and green beans. She is not a picky eater and will eat pretty much everything. Exceptions are butter, mustard, or anything too spicy. She loves to eat sweets too. But she balances it all out by eating healthy too.
 
*Laneah still loves princesses. She has a specific hair do for each princess, so when I ask her in the morning how she wants her hair done she will say "like Belle" (bangs pulled to side), "like Cinderella" (ponytail) or "like Ariel" (half ponytail).


Laneah is such a beautiful girl. She is so much fun and for every ornery moment, she makes up for it with a sweet one. We love her so much!

Brooklyn at 1 year, 1 month

 Brooklyn is now 13 months and turning into a little toddler. Her hair is growing longer and she is loosing her baby look. So here is an update on Brooklyn at 13 months.
*She is doing lots of talking. She sounds like the minions on Despicable Me. Lots of fun nonsense babble that sometimes sounds like a word. Who really knows. It is so funny though, I love it.


*Brooklyn is always adding new dance moves. Her latest is the twist.

*She loves putting things in my mouth (like a toy) and then grabbing them, or I will spit them out at her. She just laughs and laughs

 *Loves, loves, loves remotes.

 *She is very smart and independent. She is always trying to put things together, like puzzles and she tries to put socks and shoes and even sunglasses on.

*Brooklyn loves being chased. She squeals and crawls as fast as she can and then stops so you can tickle her.
*She has a total of 8 teeth now. She had 6 teeth come in from the middle of Jan to the middle of Feb. Yep, that was fun.


*Brooklyn took her first steps, 5 total,  from daddy to grandma on February 13 at church while mommy was in Primary. I stay at  home with her every day and she takes her first steps when I am not there!! I didn't believe Jason when he first told me, but people kept coming up to me and telling me about it, so practically the whole ward saw it, but not her mommy:( She is has taken a few steps her and there since then, but still prefers to crawl, which works for me. 

 *She still likes to use her walking toys and Laneah always tries to sit on it while Brooklyn pushes her around. Sometimes Brooklyn tolerates it and sometimes she doesn't.
 
*After her 1 year check up she had to have blood drawn for the lead test and allergy test and guess what! She can have milk and soy now! I was so surprised and relieved. I thought since it was such a strong allergy that it would still be around but it's not. Brooklyn has been enjoying all the food I have been holding back. She isn't crazy about whole milk (who is?) but she loves yogurt and ice cream (who doesn't:)
*Staying on food, this girl is a non stop snacker like her sister. If there isn't food in her hand, she is not happy. She eats almost everything. She cracks me up because even if it is a food she loves, she has a disgusted look on her face. You can see that in this picture below of her with a sucker for the first time. She had the whole thing, I made the mistake of trying to take it away to wash it off because she had been crawling around with it. But even though she loved it, the whole time she wore expression of dislike on her face.


*Brooklyn gives the best hugs. I have never seen a baby give an actual hug before. She will put her arms around my arms and snuggle against me and squeeze with her hands. It is the sweetest thing ever. 


* She also rewards me with loads of kisses. Love it.

*Brooklyn is a momma's girl. She has been very clingy with me lately. She loves her daddy, but mommy is # 1 right now. If I am holding her and get too close to Jason she leans into me and holds me as tight as she can while she cries because she doesn't want me to give her to daddy.


*This winter we really only got one decent snow so Brooklyn had her first venture in the snow. She didn't know what to do. She just sat there in her ginormous snowsuit and looked at the snow. She got bored and cold pretty fast and we didn't stay out long.
*She is a little scavenger. One of her favorite things to do is to get in my purse or the diaper bag and bring things to me. Mostly it is food and she needs me to open the container, but sometimes she will bring me books or toys she wants to read or play with.

We love our little punkin and can't wait for more adventures with her.