Parks and Messes

Claire

Almost every morning these days she has asked to go to the park and play on the slide, so we were able to go a few times this week when Chris didn't have studying. We found a way for her to be nice and play with Shay better this past week by telling Claire to show Shay how to do things. The iPad is usually something I have to hide when both of them are awake because they scream and fight over it, but now that Claire can help Shay with the animal learning game, they can play together for a while. She also likes to copy me when I do strange things like ice my ankle after hurting it on a run! She also helps me cook, especially if I'm working with flour, and always wants to show me things when we watch cartoons together in the morning.

Shay

She loves getting dirty and also can't help but get dirty when she is eating, so after every adventure outside, we end up in the bathtub. As much as we try to keep her away from dirt, our backyard hasn't been well taken care of and there are patches that are unavoidable so I've accepted bath time as an after outside routine. If we don't add the bubbles (that barely last 2 minutes) she will grunt at us and point to remind us, and she likes to splash as much water out as possible. She even likes getting wrapped up like a burrito afterwards and carried to the living room to be re-diapered! Sometimes when Claire sleeps in and Shay gets to play the iPad without an over-helpful toddler, she shows us how much she is like me! She can do the little cat puzzles that put together a 3-piece ball of yarn and a 7-piece mouse back together. It's one that Claire was good at early on too and its fun to see Shay getting so smart. I wish she was my baby and cuddled with me more, but I did get one sweet cuddling where she fell asleep next to me this week.

Parks

There aren't many people at the parks during the day, even though the one we like is fully shaded by trees and we bring lots of water. If we went during the evening when everything cooled down a little or maybe in the morning before the heat hits, we might see more people and kids for Claire to play with. There was one day that Claire made some friends and had a hard time saying goodbye when we had to leave. When we visited the park Shay has her own sense of adventure and only follows Claire if she is doing something extra fun like swings or riding what she already wanted to ride.  Most the time Shay is off climbing benches instead of playing on the play sets, but she does like the slides and is very brave now going down all on her own. The worst part about it all for almost everyone is the walk back home when all the fun is over and the novelty of being outside has worn off, that is when us prepared parents bring out the snacks! Gold fish keep our girls happy and as long as we remember to put them in the far cup holders so they can't steal from each other it lasts the whole trip home.

Yet Another Birthday!

Claire

Wow this girl is just the cutest and yet sneakiest little 3 year old I know! She loves reading books and her favorite has lots of the animals she can make the sounds for so I had to let you guys experience her reading skills (video below). There is no barricade strong enough to keep her out of somewhere she wants to go, only the sturdiest of fences keeps her in our backyard. Apparently there isn't a baby proofing that she can't figure out either because she can open doors even when they have baby proof door handles! Yet another thing we are trying to prevent is her turning on her light or closet light and waking up her sister at bed time so we put the lid of a Lysol wipes container over the light switch so we can block it off at night.

Shay

We are getting more attitude from Shay the more she gets understood and its fun to see her realize we understood what she wants because she says "yay!" Many times its asking for some kind of food or toy that we keep out of reach.  I've noticed if we try to give her something she doesn't want she looks away like she doesn't see it and won't have to take it. I think Shay is learning things so fast from Claire because she is so observant; she can ride the wooden horse and loved getting the marker lids on her hands like her sister. She reaches for door handles and tries to copy Claire with almost everything she does, but then when Claire wants to continue to play after Shay is done things get ugly.

Chris

We finish out our birthdays for the month with Chris who honestly is so low maintenance and didn't require a lot of fanfare for his celebrating. Birthdays for adults are so much more low key and especially when we are being extra frugal with spending!Per this year, we weren't buying anything so we spent reward points on Buffalo Wild Wings, his favorite restaurant, to get free wings for his birthday dinner treat. I made him his favorite no bake cheese cake he can enjoy for the next couple of days, and he got birthday kisses from Claire and Shay. I'm lucky to have such an amazing man in my life and I tell him all the time that I'm grateful he makes me a better person in so many ways. I usually don't get too lovey dovey on this blog because its mainly to keep you updated on the cuteness of my girls, but Chris is such a great man and father.

Heat Wave

Most of this week was full of 110 degree weather here in California and with that we are usually out playing in the water or sitting next to a fan. We did get to go to the park for a little bit early this week and have learned that if we go in the morning, bring lots of water, and stay in the shade, its manageable. Most of my pictures have the girls in just diapers and that is helping them keep their temperature down while saving money on our electric bill. I'm very jealous of them...but they are handling it better than me. After the heat broke, California started to burn and the air was really smokey to the point that our chairs in the backyard got covered in ash!

Crafts

I did a thing this week! I've been wanting to do this for a while but first didn't know where to start and then wasn't sure if it would turn out good. Once I told Chris my idea, he asked about it and then it motivated me to actually get it going and the result is a cute really tall giraffe on the side of our book shelf. I printed out the cute normal sized giraffe and then cut the head off and taped extra paper to extend the head high enough for us to keep track of the girls heights from now on. I honestly which I would have been doing this for a long time so I could see how far they've come, maybe since Claire could stand and start walking would have been smart...better late than never! Oh, and we have colorful ghosts in our house this morning...

Another Birthday!

Birthday girl

Watch out world we have a 3 year old running around! We tried to make her birthday special and planned a play date with some new friends in the area and let her play with ALL the toys we’ve been hiding up in boxes since moving here. She was very excited when we sang happy birthday to her and knew to blow candles, even though she missed. The presents she got from family made her even more excited and she will even share with Shay when she plays. First she got a container full of coins and enjoyed dumping them and collecting them up again. Then she got a bubble machine with a huge bubble refill, and a building flowers toys. There was also a collection of 10 mini Biscuit books that will help her read later and a big toy box that she can't use as a stool but has a lion on it.

Claire

She enjoyed a solo trip to a new park when Shay was busy napping and she asked for a slide. She learned how to play patty cake with daddy one day we were outside and we’ve been having fun playing in the water these hot days. It’s fun to read books with her because she will say the words out loud that I say! She gets really excited to watch cartoons in the mornings too because she can say “look” and point to all the things she knows, or say hi and bye to the characters that come and go. Whenever I catch her doing somethings she isn't supposed to, she gives me this 'I'm totally innocent mom' look that makes me smile and ruin my disciplining.

Shay

She is becoming more opinionated and sometimes gets tired of being bossed around by Claire. They play a lot together and only hit or get made at each other a few times. She gets up early and gets to be awake and play all by herself for a while in the mornings. She does point at Claire very concerned when she is sleeping because something is obviously wrong with her when is asleep. She now has a sound for bubbles which is just “bo” but it’s pretty cute because it’s always “mo bo” or more bubbles. She has four teeth coming in all at the same time and is really good at chewing on everything, and drooling right now.

Visitors

We hosted a dinner for the missionaries in our ward who reached out wanting to share a message and meet with us as new members. The girls were very excited to have visitors and loved playing under the table after dinner while we talked. One of th elders could juggle really well and Claire LOVED watching and trying to juggle with him. It was a treat that they got two visits this week with Claire’s Birthday play date and missionaries. The play date was really fun for me because I got to talk to my new friends and the girls had fun with the toys. Claire has a power struggle with the other biggest infant and they always wanted to play with what the other person had by the end. Hopefully we can get her some more experience playing with kid who aren't as much of a push over as Shay has been, or maybe Shay will start sticking up for her toys.

Garden

Remember that planter box Chris made for me before we moved to California from like two months ago? My plants are FINALLY starting to grow fruit! I got it planted the first or second week here and have been watering and checking it almost every day. Now I have one cherry tomato starting and a few yellow peppers appearing! There have been only two or three times that I’ve caught the plants looking droopy because they need more water, I usually water every other day but some days are really warm and sunny. I also had to tie them up straight because they were leaning pretty bad but I'm excited to see them growing.

Birthday Month

Claire

Our talkative girl has been really great at copying sentences and loves to say "Look!" and point things out she knows or makes. She gets really excited to read books and will name them by what she thinks they should be named so we have to figure out which one she wants like "read snow" is a Christmas book. Next week she is turning 3 years old and I can't believe how fun and weird it is to have a child this old already, even if she is the size of a 2 year old at 26 lbs. She is never stopped by any obstacle I try to put in her way and finds ways around my barriers which means I try to make her understand not to go places (like my sewing room) and play with things (like needles!). I got her to say happy birthday to me and give me a kiss so hopefully she understands birthdays and presents because hers are all wrapped up and waiting for her to open them next week.

Shay

I thought I would be used to the way a 18 month old asks for things after Claire, but its been 18 months since then so I have to get used to it again! I keep thinking she doesn't know what she wants but she is more and more understanding and will come stare at you until you acknowledge that she wants something like food or to go outside. She hasn't yet taken my hand and dragged me somewhere but she points and gives insistent grunts and sounds to tell us things. She does know how to say more pretty well and I know what it sounds like even if Chris hasn't caught on and I have to tell him that what she wants. Other than her progressing communication, she has a lot of fun with dirt in the back yard and tests our barriers but still can't get past them luckily.

Sewing

I've finally got a set up sewing room for the first time in my life and a barricade to keep the girls out and not mess with everything. My first projects were the baby gates and then rice bags for cooling and heating since Claire got stung by a bee a few weeks ago and we didn't have a good ice pack that wasn't too cold for her. As I was going through the fabric I've had in my stash for a very VERY long time, I also found a fabric book that I remember getting as a remnant from Hancock Fabrics so I made that too and Shay likes reading it (turning the pages and not letting me read it to her). I hope to find time to make more things like matching cloths, but for now its just a simple craft room using a massage table with folded out cardboard.

Birthday

The first birthday to start this month was mine just yesterday and I enjoyed being an adult and getting practical gifts and making my favorite meals. It's been interesting to see how different I think when my birthday rolls around and I look for gifts that are useful instead of fun where this year I got an accessory kit for my instant pot which can be both I guess since cooking is fun. Since we are on a tight budget now Chris and I only exchanged homemade personal gifts and I got gifts of kisses from my girls and took a bunch of pictures. I'm now starting my last year of my 20s and I'm looking back at them so grateful for the blessings I've had in my life.

Growing Up SOOOO Fast

Claire

  

It seems like her ability to talk has jumped a lot within the last week and I am hearing a lot more sentences and conversations when I talk to her. Out of no where she started giving me a thumbs up and saying "Good job, mommy" when I do something for her. She is able to tell me things and answer questions really well, even though sometimes she pretends to not understand so she doesn't look like she's doing something wrong (usually when being mean to Shay). She also had the funniest thing all week by saying "True and Bartleby" when I asked her if she wanted to watch that show then it was so full of attitude I just kept saying it so she would repeat it with her facial expression. I couldn't stop laughing and it went of for a full minute! She also now poses as well as says cheese when I take pictures of her so if I want to catch her doing anything I'll need to be more sneaky. She also likes to come get me so she can show me things she makes or does like her lego dino she was very proud of and made me help remake a bunch of times. In a less than two weeks she is going to be rocking 3 years old and it is so WEIRD!!

Shay

This little...wonderful child...likes to get as dirty as possible as often as possible! When we play outside, she goes straight for the dirt hoping to find mud, but starts playing in it and throwing it around. When she is eating, she will rub her face with her hands and spread the food all over her hair and face, sometimes it is mac and cheese and she ends up orange and not able to open her eyes very well. She then gets mad at me for trying to wipe off all the food after meal time or spray off all the dirt before coming inside, so I'm the bad guy. She is at least understanding a lot of things and I've got her to sign please multiple times so get what she wants. She understands sentences with hungry, outside, shoes, up, and no even if she won't stop when I say no, she does understand I said it because she will look at me. Almost nightmare worthy moment this week was finding her holding her own poop in our hall, after I had sent her to throw the diaper away. We are 99% sure she didn't eat any...and luckily it was only on the floor and her hand and not spread anywhere else.

Life In the Heat

Now that we have lived here for 2 1/2 months we have been able to see how expensive some of the bills are and have become hyper aware of the energy usage. I've been focused on only cooking and using appliances in the morning because we are on a time of day plan with our energy provider. We are trying to survive as much as possible without using our AC, and let me tell you how fun that is! NOT MUCH! The mornings are really nice because we open the windows to take advantage of the cool nights, and we spend time outside in the evening to get shade form our backyard. The worst part of the day is 2-6pm when its hot outside and inside, and sitting in front of the fan is the only way to be cool enough. The girls run around in diapers throughout the afternoon until bed time because they are way too active for layers and this heat.