We've made the best of it... going out when we can, making a snowman, sledding, and climbing the "mountains" of snow piled up when out for a walk on the warmer days. We've also got more creative inside rollerskating, crafting, and make-believing.
Crazy big snowman thanks to daddy's muscles!
Taking a walk on a warmer 40 degree day!
Lauren's getting quite good at roller skating!
Hanging out at the mall with mommy
Dress up time!
Baking cookies! Just another fun indoor activity
Noah's artistic side
Valentines day was fun this year! Lauren had a valentine party at school and got to make her own valentines to hand out to her friends. She did a great job cutting the hearts out and helping mommy glue them together. Her and Noah also helped cut and decorate sugar cookies to celebrate her 1/2 birthday with her class.
Focused!
Surprised at work with 2 dozen long stemmed roses from my sweetheart
Lauren is now 3 & 1/2 and growing up fast! She's loved preschool this year and is just learning so much! Her ability to follow instruction, pay attention, and growing independence has really flourished. They write their name everyday and it's fun to see how much her handwriting has already improved and how well she using a pen (still lefty). I've saved her first sheet from one of her first days and midway through the year. It's neat to see how much things change. One other thing that really impressed me was her cutting and pasting skills. One minute she needed all this help and the next she was doing amazing herself. They started the basic reading books on how to put consonants and vowels together so that's exciting too! Lauren's favorite things to do at home are play princesses, dress up, read, puzzles, and recently roller skate. She's a great eater and is officially out of pull ups at night now :) Lauren will literally get out of bed to use the potty whether middle of the night or early in the morning and climb back into bed until her clock turns green at 6:45 in the morning. Mommy is so proud!
Noah now 22 months is also changing and growing so fast these days. His vocabulary has really improved over the past few months and he's saying new words all the time. We're working on putting words and syllables together still but we're all happy about being able to communicate better! His favorite color seems to be yellow and was the first color he learned how to say (go figure one of the hardest!). He knows some colors now and is starting to count 1-3. Two of his favorite songs to sing are twinkle twinkle little star and ABC's. He LOVES music and dancing and enjoys playing dress up with his sister. Yes... even wearing princess dresses! A new found interest is the i Pad or mommies phone. It is a nice distraction when needed but also irritating when I cannot leave my phone in sight without being begged for it. He's getting pretty good and figuring out the apps! We're not really working on potty training yet... although he does follow us into the bathroom regularly and tells us when he needs to be changed. I think it's really me thats not ready to deal with that yet. Lauren was 2 & 1/2 and I feel like that was a perfect time for it. Maybe end of summer! First goal is to get rid of the paci at night!
Both the kids have been involved in gymnastics on Saturday mornings since January and really enjoy it. Either Sam or I go with Noah for 30 minutes and then Lauren goes by herself for 45 while we wait. It's been a good way to get some energy out this winter. I am planning on signing Lauren up for a hip hop dance class soon and swim lessons for 2 weeks early this summer. We've been getting more involved with our park districts lately now that they're older.
Illness has really been a problem for us this year. Up until this past week our family has not been healthy all at one time since August! One or more of us is fighting something constantly though nothing serious and we just spread it to the rest. I've been praying this whole week for a longer stretch of health and protection on our family. Building strong immune systems over here!
Overall our family is doing really well and I've been enjoying having kids out of the "baby stage". Being parents is hard and each age brings its challenges but we love being together as a family whether we're just hanging out at home dancing or being silly; or out and about exploring! Hopeful for warm weather soon!
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