I Can Do it Myself!

This boy doesn't appreciate help anymore with picking out his clothes or putting them on.

Yikes!

Maisy - 5 months

Somehow she is big enough to be 5 months old!

 

She is all smiles the majority of the time.  Until we leave home...and then it takes her a bit to warm up to a new place.  She eats well.  Sleeps well.  There's not too much to complain about with this girly.

She may just end up being a two finger sucker like her big brother.  But she does a lot of tongue sucking when she's tired or sleeping like her big sister.  We'll just have to wait and see if either habit sticks.

Mara can get her to giggle more than the rest of us.  She has a special place in her heart for her big sis.  I pray that it'll always be there.

She is rolling and moving backwards quite a bit these days.  Small toys need to be put away as soon as I find time to sort through them.

She even enjoys doing push ups!

And her latest trick!

Kiwi Crate Baking

Our first Kiwi Crate arrived in the mail!

It was a baking theme.

They decorated their baking attire. 

They colored over stickers and then pulled them off to reveal their shapes.

 

And then they began to decorate their cakes.

 One can NEVER have too much frosting!

Candles, sprinkles and fruit toppings!

We used the box it came in to create the stove and oven.

This little box of goodies has provided for several hours of fun already!

 

 

Basement Progress

Two more phases completed in our basement!  The walls are framed out and the heating and cooling is complete.  I NEVER want to build a new house.  EVER.  Way too many decisions for this girl.  I don't honestly care about the color of this or the style of that.  Maybe someday I'll have time to worry or care about those details.  Not right now with 3 kiddos.  The basement is already taking up too much of our family time and energy for my liking.  But I think it'll be worth it in the end to have some extra space. 

 The little helpers have been at it again!

Mean Bull

Watch out or the MEAN BULL will getcha!

 This is a popular game in the evenings at our house.

I know I've mentioned this before, but Lance is so good at getting down on the floor and entertaining our kids.  No toys needed.  This really isn't my thing, so I'm thankful it's his!

Going....Going...

"If you aren't going to feed me any food, then...."

Going......going......

Gone!

Popsicles

The kids got some popsicle molds from Grandpa A and Grandma J for Christmas, so we blended up some homemade popsicle mix and filled them up.

They look really bored but they were super excited to do this.  They begged me for days before I finally got to it.

Several hours later....

Yum!

Frosty

The cold hasn't stopped these two from wanting to go out and play just about every single day!

She's on the Move

I was watching Maisy roll around on the floor the other day, and I was thinking about how much babies change in 4 SHORT months.  They go from itty bitty newborns who sleep all day to miniature people who begin to develop a personality and are capable of moving around a couple of feet.  Craziness. 

She's gotten pretty good at rolling from belly to back.  I was gone the other day, and Lance said she rolled from her back to belly.  But he missed it.  He put her down, went to the bathroom, and she was on her belly when he came back in.  Maybe he just forgot that he put her on her belly.  She tries SO hard to roll to her belly.  I just love to see the determination on her face.  Lots of grunting and squeals.

She can get around if she needs to.  By rolling and slithering.  I put her on her belly on that blanket.  I came back a minute later and found her with her baby a couple feet away.  Not sure how she maneuvered that!

Sensory Boxes

Sensory boxes are great for so many things  Fine motor skills, creativity, hands on learning and more!  Our most recent materials to explore have been rice, oatmeal, beans and kinetic sand.

Kiwi Crate

The kids got a Kiwi Crate subscription from Grandpa A and Grandma J for Christmas.  Their first kit hasn't arrived yet, but they got a rocket ship kit to open up on Christmas.  We dug into that one morning and had a lot of fun. 

Roll.  Tape.  Decorate.

 And BLAST OFF!

 

Basement in Progress

We've started the basement finishing process!  It may not look like it, but moving all the tubs to the old basement was a huge first step!  And our garage is filled with the building materials.

 The kids have been a big help as you can see.

Hide!

The kids like to hide from Lance when he gets home from work.  But what should they do if they're already eating supper and they don't have time to run and hide? 

This of course!

Eggs

We are a bit spoiled with farm fresh eggs from my parents' farm.  The kids love to collect the eggs and see if they can make it back to the house without dropping the one they're carrying.  This used to be quite a task for a certain little girl.  And dropping the egg was rarely an "accident."  Grandma used to have to encourage her by telling her she would write her name on her egg if she made it all the way to the house without breaking it.  And Mara would get to eat that egg for breakfast the next morning.  Thankfully her self control has gotten much better in the last year.

Grandma has some new chickens, so now we get a rainbow of colored eggs.  Really!  Like light brown, dark brown, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue.  One morning we were making eggs, and the kids were so excited to see all of the different colors!  Of course we had to put one of every color into our scrambled eggs.  Because it makes a difference you know.  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for providing a fun chore for us to do at your house!  And we really appreciate the eggs you give us.  You know we go through a lot!