April 13, 2012: A few of my favorite things...

I'm a little behind this month with the blog.  On top of work and the usual, I'm also doing an online Spanish program through work to refresh my skills.  It's great and I am surprised to find I remember a lot more than I thought.  My other biggest distraction is our newest piece of furniture.  Now that we have a treadmill in the house, I'm on it almost every night :)  My incentive is a girls trip with my high school best friends this summer, so hopefully I can keep this up!  So a little less time for blogging, but I'll get it in.  Here is an April re-cap so far, excluding Easter...I want to do a whole Easter post next once I go through all my pics. 

Playtime at the nature preserve...after Bryn and I went on a stroller jog and the boys went "hiking for a lost city" :)

Playing and lunch at the mall with Mommy...this is the first time that we have been back to the play area since Liam's concussion (Aug '11)...therefore it was Bryn's very first time in the play area!  Luckily we all survived, no injuries :)

Cheering for the Cardinals in the final four...Bryn wearing Amelia's cheerleading uniform from 23 years ago...

Game night...

Kiddie car wash...the car wasn't that clean, but they both really enjoyed helping Daddy!

And all that outdoor time caused a little bit of wheezing...few treatments for a few days and she's good as new!  Daddy is learning to be a very good nurse as well...

Nick's been working hard, mostly long hours lately.  But we had a special treat when Daddy came home early one day AND made us chicken/veggie stir fry....

I made another special dinner treat this week...Grannie's Meatloaf!  A treat because it's so good and we rarely eat red meat anymore...

 and where there's meatloaf, there's Dallie :)

Sweet boy in his 'handsome' shirts...Liam is just the coolest kid.  I know most moms must think this, but he's just so fun, smart and I love watching him learn and grow.  He's at that awesome age, where out of the blue one day as he was putting on his shoes he looked up and said "you're the bestest mommy"...ahhh he will never, ever know till he has kids how much that meant to me.  I know that I will be able to picture and remember that moment forever.  We recently had some crazy tornadoes go through this area.  It was a school/work day and even though we were all fine, I hated not being able to run over and grab the kids from school.  Liam told me all about going into the hallway when the sirens went off later that day.  I asked if he was scared of tornadoes and his answer was "No Mom.  Tornadoes happen when cold air fights with hot air and then there is a storm with rain and then the clouds make a tunnel and when it touches the ground it's a tornado".  Every day at dinner he still tells us the silliest part of his day and we talk about upcoming events and sometimes even the future.  Recently he's deciding between being a 'brain doctor' or baseball player as his career :)

While Bryn and I had doctor's appointments one day, Liam stayed with Mallie.  She had been playing games during his nap, and when he got up she set her ipad aside.  We were all hanging out after Bryn and I got back and even though I saw Liam on the ipad, I assumed he was doing puzzles like he usually does.  Little did I know he was playing backgammon online!  Mal asked him if he knew who he was playing and he said "No. But I'm the white team!"  Beware online gamers, you might be playing (and losing to) my 3 year old son :)  (but not really since mommy shut down his access online gaming for at least another 10-20 years)

Precious girl with her firecracker smile and 'tude...at 17 months old she is sooo much fun!  She sometimes refers to her brother as "Batman", sometimes as "Liam" but lately she mostly just calls him "Boy" :)  She also says no to most things asked of her these days...it's cute but getting old fast.  I can't count or write down her words anymore because she's just fully speaking...2-3 word sentences, new verbs and nouns everyday and repeating everything!  She's also learned how to make commands "Mama sit", questions "Dada, are you?" and observations "Mama cook" (when I'm standing at the stove).  She has been in the naughty spot quite a few times now.  So much so that one day from the garage Nick told her she was going in the naughty spot when they got inside...she walked straight in and around the corner to sit down in the designated spot herself.  Then she gets up and says 'sowwy' unprompted and gives a hug :) Since she is very verbal now, she gets upset when she's not understood.  I mistook her breakfast order of Rice Chex "ry check" for Rice Krispies "ry kripeez" the other day.  She shoved her bowl across the table screaming 'ry check ry check ry check!!!"  I took that to mean "I said I wanted Rice Chex you ignorant moron!!!"  I almost couldn't help laughing at my pint sized diva...but I did hold the laugh in and she went back to the naughty spot.  Oh well I'd rather get the terrible two's over with anyway, and so far she's a very spirited but overall very well-mannered toddler.

Bryn at her follow-up at Scottish Rite...xray looked good and no findings on her hip exam.  They will follow her a couple more times over the next 15 years, but there's no reason she couldn't be an Olympic athlete :)

Back yard play time...there is sooo much to do now and the kids play outside for hours!

Catching bubbles...

Playing in the fort with Mommy...

Soccer with Daddy...

Peek-a-boo Brynnie!

Grilling and dinner outside...

Gliding with my boy...

Garden party at school...we helped the infant class plant their flowers...

Bryn's favorite friends: Rhys (calls him "Ree-cee") and Kreesha (calls her "dodo" which is how she says milk in her language...I guess she asks for milk so much, Bryn thought that was her name!)

Girl time...I love this picture that Nick snapped of us.  This is our morning routine with Bryn sitting on my bathroom counter going through my make-up and brushes while I do my make-up.  LOVE LOVE LOVE