Random stuff

Just a little peek at what we've been up to lately...

Leah started playing hide-and-go-seek out of the blue the other day; she goes into the corner, covers her eyes, and starts counting and then when she gets to seven, jumps up, and "finds" us (I'm usually in plain sight cooking or cleaning or something) and then does it all over again. I don't know where she learned it, maybe Abbie or church or TV?

She also loves doing puzzles and is pretty good at them. Even though I don't think I've ever sat down with her and shown her how to do this one, she can do most if it by herself!

Abbie has been getting pretty good at writing her name and has been practicing a lot by writing on Valentines. She loves showing me her name when she finds it written on things and I guess it's time to start teaching her more about letters and sounds and how to read.
Abbie is also so silly and funny. She loves playing games and pretending. She has a stuffed animal elephant that she loves and is always pretending that he is tired so she sings him a song at bedtime or that he's hungry and needs a snack or needs a toy (so she can have extra, etc). She loves to play freeze tag and just tonight we taught her how to play "Fruit Basket" and she wanted to play over and over. She's a typical 4 year old and it's crazy how fast she is growing up!

We were watching a friend's baby (no, I didn't suddenly have another without you knowing!), and Abbie and Leah were both so excited to feed him a bottle. They thought it was awesome that he actually drank it unlike their dolls who don't do anything fun like that.

Jared loves sushi and has always wanted to learn how to make it so we bought a kit and some basic ingredients and made some great California Rolls. They were pretty fun and easy to make and really yummy!

Here's my latest decorating project: I finally ordered my pictures from Leah's 2 year old photo shoot and decided to do this black and white photo collage on the wall. I found this great sign at Target and these black 8x10 frames and printed off some snapshots for the 3 openings one and voila! I just love the pictures of the girls close-up, it really shows their individuality and fun personalities.

There's also one other thing I've been busy with. I competed in a Biggest Loser competition with some friends at my church and amazingly, I won! I couldn't believe it, I was behind another girl for most of the 3 months we did it so I thought for sure she would win but at the end, I somehow pulled it off and won the jackpot (and went down a clothing size, it feels great!) Now I'm working hard to maintain what I lost but it's hard what with Valentine's chocolates and cookies and ice cream and brownies calling my name...

We kept Leah up from her nap the other day so she would go to bed earlier than usual (since we were going out on a date) and here's what happened during dinner. She was happy and eating really good and then the next thing we know, she conks out mid-bite. This NEVER happens! She wouldn't wake up so I carefully cleaned her up, changed her into her pj's, and was about to put her to bed when she woke up with a start and and said "I want to go play for one minute!" Guess she is like me and with a little catnap, gets a second wind and is good to go! (Don't worry, we put her to bed about 10 minutes later after a tantrum and a meltdown.)

Well, my second wind is about over so I'd better get to bed. Good night!