Havin' Fun this Spring

We had a couple of really warm days a couple of weeks ago, so we got out the water toys. The girls were thrilled!

 What's more fun than a sprinkler? Two Sprinklers! I set them up on opposite sides of the lawn and they ran back and forth, back and forth.

Almost the whole time Brooke was running in the sprinklers she was saying, "This is fun!" Too cute!

Then they thought it would be a great idea to wash off all of their outdoor toys.

Then Aubrey thought it would be fun to set the sprinkler by the swing set so she could swing into the water.

 

This video was taken a few months ago, but I had forgotten about it. Aubrey had been begging me to teach her how to play "Twinkle Twinkle" on the piano. I seemed to never be able to get around to it. So finally I labeled the keys on the piano with their letter names and wrote out the letter notes to the song and let her have at it. She loved it and picked it up right away.

 Here she is singing as she plays. She now has the song memorized. She's been asking me to take a video of it, but we keep forgetting.

One afternoon the girls wanted to work on riding their bikes. Aubrey on her big girl bike, 

 and Brooke on her tricycle.

 After practicing for a while, Brooke finally got going on the tricycle. We aren't beating any speed records, but she's so happy to get going a little!

 Here's Aubrey going up hill on her "new to her" bike.

Aunt Esther's pool opened at her apartment, so we had to go for a swim! These girls were so excited about it!

 This little one is such a fish! I took off her swim vest for a while and she kept trying to wriggle out of my arms and swim. She has no fear!

Here's Aubrey jumping into the deep end. Which Brooke had no trouble doing either, but somehow I didn't get a pic. of it.

And doing tricks. She was sliding into the water on her back.

 Isla decided to take an extra long nap that day and finally came out right when we had just gotten out of the water. So I let the girls jump back in for a few minutes.

They sure do love baby Isla!

 Aubrey's glow in the dark lantern that she got from Grammy Buell.

 Both girls LOVE this magnet castle from Lilia, and play with it pretty much every day. Aubrey got a write your own book kit from Lilia and started working on it. She told me her story while I wrote it down on scratch paper and it is darling. She's started illustrating it and then I'm going to have her write the words in her own hand writing next.(It's about a Princess named Analeigha who has a birthday party.)

The girls loved looking through Jeff's welding mask at the solar eclipse. This is the best shot we got, I think it's through the mask.

I sure do have fun playing with my girls. I really just want to freeze time and keep them this age forever!

Aubrey's turn at Toys R Us

Aubrey was very excited to have her turn at Toys R Us to spend her birthday money from Grandma & Grandpa Bagley. She had a cart full of choices and it was hard for her to decide. We were at Toys R Us for 3 hours!!

 Here she is surrounded by all her picks.

 It sure is hard to decide.

 Good thing Isla was there to help her during the deliberation!

  And the winner was a basketball hoop!

Tball

My favorite sport to play as a kid was Softball. So when I saw Aubrey was old enough to play tball this year I was so excited! I showed her little video clips of kids playing tball and she got very excited too!

Here she is at her first practice learning to throw the ball.

Learning to field a ground ball.

First time hitting a ball off a T.

What a cutie!

Run Aubrey run!

Playing first base. She's running to first to get catch the ball and tag the base.

Her first game is about to start! What a cute little out fielder she is!

Taking her practice swing.

 Her first at bat.

  

 Aubrey at her second game.

 

I love watching my girls try and learn new things. And I'm happy that they are always up for a new challenge!

More Ice Skating

 We enjoyed Ice Skating as a family so much we decided to go again. The girls were very excited. So was I - I was determined to learn how to skate without holding onto the girls walkers or the wall!! About half way into it, I reached my goal and was skating!!

 Aubrey saw some other kids skating by themselves with the walkers and decided she was brave enough to try it. (Last time she wanted one of us to hold onto it with her).

 She just took off and became quite the speed demon on it!

Here she is whizzing past Jeff as he tries to take a pic.

Of course then Brooke wanted to try on her own. She couldn't quite get the pushing the walker then skating up to it action down. Several times she just pushed it away from herself. Which was not good because at that point I couldn't skate on my own and we would both be stuck stranded! I think that's what gave me the motivation to let go, cause I had to chase after her walker!

Daddy trying a new method with Brooke. It's much easier on your back this way!

Fun times! We planned to go again the following Monday (this Mon.) but for some reason they dropped the evening Public Skate and moved it to the morning. So I braved it alone! Brooke finally got the walker thingy down better and Aubrey skated a little alone without the walker. I was proud of both of their progress! I'm glad we decided to brave the ice rink this month - it's been a lot of fun!

They Loved Swim Class

 My girls sure did love their swim classes. They both cried when I told them it was over. I think Brooke smiled the entire time of all of her classes. That kid has no fear in the water which is one of the reasons I really want to get her swimming. (to protect her from herself!)

Aubrey learned a lot during the course of her class and is swimming a little. I was very pleased with the class and how the teacher was able to teach each child at their own pace. (She was in Level 1 for kids 5+) All the kids in her class were so cute with each other. When they saw each other coming and going or in the locker room they were all so excited to see one of their friends and would talk to each other. It's so cute to see Aubrey becoming so much more friendly with kids she is just meeting.

Here she is doing a pancake float on her own.

Brooke's teacher was absolutely darling and I don't think I've ever since Brooke have as much fun as she did in every second of every class. However I think it was a little beneath her level. She should have definitely been in Preschool 2 (which is what I wanted to put her in, but it was full.) So I didn't see much progress from her, but at least she had an absolute blast!

Here are a few very short clips from swim class.