Buddies

I've been watching the boys some days this past month, and although it is crazy and hectic at times, they're all really cute together too! Elle still constantly wants to help with the babies, especially now that Noah's around, she's been begging to give him his bottle. I've been having to remind her that the babies are real and not like her toys, since she's been trying to pick Lauren up or drag her by her arm. Elle really does love her baby sister, though, and I actually can't remember the last time she tried to hurt her (it just usually happens when she's trying to play with her and doesn't remember to be gentle!).

My Artist

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago, after we bought Elle a new easel from IKEA (I love that store!). She loved painting in a new way and I can't wait until it warms up. so we can take it outside. Here's my little artist at work:

My baby is growing up...

I can't believe that Lauren is 5 months old! She's definitely getting more personality and in some ways has become more like her big sister. We thought she would be the quiet, laid-back one, and she is still more easygoing than Elle, but she's proven us wrong in many ways! She's really found her voice recently and loves to try out her new vocal skills (which are just as loud and high-pitched as her sister's used to be!). When we're out places, she's usually content in the moby wrap, but at home, she gets tired of the swing/bouncy seat/etc. pretty quickly and isn't content with me just carrying her around while I do stuff. Instead, she wants a lot of face-to-face interaction. So, I've been trying to give her as much face-time as possible, and she is sooo cute when she's having a "conversation" with us! I'm still trying to get it on video. I think Lauren's just trying to remind us that Elle's not the only one who needs lots of attention around here, and it's soo fun to see this new little person forming!

Yes, Lauren, you are #1!

Concentrating

Here's Elle with a very special ice cream cone! She been using the potty for a while, but I told her that if she went #2 in the potty, she would get to go out for ice cream. Well, she certainly remembered the promise and as soon as she went, she said, "Ice cream cone, Mama? I go dance!" So, we took her to her favorite ice cream place which has a juke box that she loves to dance to, and as you can see, she really enjoyed her ice cream cone. Now, if I can only get her to do that every time!




This is Elle just being goofy as always. She came out of the bathroom with this pick in her hair, said, "Look, Mama," and struck this pose! She makes me laugh everyday!



Last week, we had a little music/art playgroup that was Valentine's Day-themed, and Elle had a blast with all her friends. She's a big fan of Valentine's Day now that she realizes it means making fun cards and getting cards and treats from your friends. Here are the valentines Elle and I made (she's very into googly eyes right now and asks to put them on all her art projects--the note said, "Eye'm glad you're my friend!"):

Tasting her decorated cookie

Being goofy again--I swear, I don't where she gets it from!

Keeping Busy...

Elle has been saying some of the cutest, funniest things recently; I love discovering more about her as she's able to communicate more and more! The other day, I made some mini-muffins, since we were hosting our neighborhood playgroup at our house, and after eating 5 of them (she went on to have at least 5 more throughout the morning!), she said, "Mommy, I want to eat muffins ALL the time!" Then, the other night, we were saying our prayers before bedtime and she started talking about baby Jesus (which she's been obsessed with since Christmas), so I explained to her that Jesus grew up and started talking about how He died on the cross for us in language that she could understand. She listened quietly and then a few minutes later, she said, "Mommy, I'm not Jesus! I'm not Jesus!" She sounded really scared (similar to the way she says, "I'm not taking a bath!" because she still hates the bath), so I'm not sure where that came from, but I assured her, that no, she's not Jesus!
She's also in "love" with everything and will tell me that throughout the day, i.e. "Mommy, I LOVE this balloon!" or "Mommy, I LOVE pancakes!" And apparently, I say the word "cool" quite a bit because she's been using it pretty often too, and she's become all about birthdays recently, constantly singing, "Happy Birthday to Elle!" and asking to blow out a candle and have a cupcake. So, I'm planning to throw her a little half-birthday party next month, just like my mom did for us as kids. If you're wondering why there's exclamation marks after all Elle's words, it's because that's how she is. She gets excited about everything; it makes her soo fun to be around! I can say, "Elle, do want to go clean the bathroom?" And she'll say, "Yeah!" I love her!

We've been trying to keep busy indoors, since we had all that snow, but we've had a couple of nice days sprinkled in too. Here are some pictures from the past two weeks:

Lauren's way too small for this thing, but she can already sit up pretty well, so she likes being upright!

I watched both Sam and his little, brother, Noah, for the first time this past week, so here's Lauren with her new buddy.

We tried out a new indoor gym/play area, and Elle loved it, so we'll definitely go back. She's still very cautious, though and won't try a lot of the inflatables and other things.

Playing with snow indoors!

She's pretty much got all her letters, so we've been working on colors. She loves color sorting with mini-M&M's!

She was a lot more excited about this than she looks. We made gingerbread playdough, which smelled soo good and then made snowmen and monsters with them, using googly eyes, yarn, and pipe cleaners--she can't get enough of googly eyes these days and wants to add them to all her art projects!

Finally, some time outside! She definitely liked the snow a lot more in the warmer weather!

She loves her new shirt and even when she's not wearing it, if you ask her what her shirt says, she'll respond, "My daddy wocks!" I just have to get her to do it on camera!

Indoor fishing


And Elle and Sam's favorite new activity: