Those Girls

Brooke just loves her blanket. The other morning she was dragging it behind her as she wandered around the house. It was so cute, so I went and grabbed the camera to take a pic. As soon as she saw the camera she immediately stood up against the wall and posed for me! (I train them young!)

After much stopping and posing I finally got her to keep moving so I could take the pic. I wanted.

The other day for lunch both Brooke and Aubrey wanted to say the prayer. I asked Brooke if Aubrey could help her say the prayer. (Aubrey has been dying to do this, but Brooke hadn't been cooperative thus far.) This time she said "yes". It was so sweet. Aubrey would say a phrase and Brooke would do her best to repeat it. It was such a sweet prayer! I love to see those two interacting and learning from each other.

The other day I called the family in for dinner. Brooke ran into the kitchen and said, "eat". Then she folded her arms and said, "pray". I'm happy she has learned that we pray every time we eat.

Jeff and I sometimes make funny faces at the girls to make them laugh. Lately every time we do this Brooke calls us "silly."

Brooke has also started singing songs with us. In a few songs she is able to anticipate the next lyric and will sometimes sing it even before we do. She really likes the Sunbeam song and after hearing Aubrey sing it only once or twice, she caught on to the jumping up on the "beam" part. Kids just love that!

I had to take Aubrey to the doctor the other day. When Brooke heard that we were going to the doctors office, she pointed to her leg and said, "shot." She remembered what happened to her the last visit. Then when we sat down in the examination room, she immediately started to cry. I think she was really afraid that she was going to get another shot the poor thing.

Aubrey loves the little crafts she makes in her preschool. Here she is with her turkey headband.

Brooke was sick to her stomach a few days ago. I had gotten her some pedialyte and was trying to convince her to drink it. Aubrey jumped into the conversation and said, "Brooke you gotta drink and eat your food because it will make you big and strong." She held out her arms and then continued, "Do you see how big and strong my arms are? If you wanna be big and strong like me you gotta drink your drink." Too cute. She also kept pointing out at the grocery store that she was able to help Mommy put all the food in the cart because of her "big strong muscles."

The other day Aubrey cleaned up her whole room all by herself. I wasn't even in the room with her. I was vacuuming and asked her to go to her room to pick up so that I could vacuum. When I got to her room I was so happily surprised that she had done just as I asked!!

Aubrey thinks very deeply about things that we have talked about. The other day we were eating lunch and she asked, "Mommy how do we get back to Heaven after we die?" I responded with, "Well our spirits leave our bodies and it's our spirits that go back to Heaven." She responded, "Yeah but, HOW does our spirit get back to Heaven?" Hmm I'm already stumped by my 3 year old's question. I think I'm gonna be doing a lot of research in the years to come to answer my Aubrey's questions!

She has also been thinking a lot about when she grows up and is all on her own. Frequently she asks things like, "When I get baptized will I still live with you and dad?" I have to reassure her that it will be a long long time before she will move out of our house. Then she'll respond with something like, "Well, when I'm a Mommy and have my own baby and I live in my own house, you'll come visit me right?" Too which I respond that I will. One day she then asked, "Well what will Brooke be when I'm a Mommy?" So I explained that Brooke will probably be a Mommy too. She just really ponders about things and tries to figure everything out. She completely understands that her Grandparents are Jeff and my parents and that her Aunts and Uncles are our siblings. She thought it was really fun when I explained that I'll be the Grandma to her and Brooke's babies. I just love how I can peek into that fascinating mind of hers though the questions and conversations that we have!

Cutest Big Sister

Last night as I was starting to get Brooke dressed for bed, Aubrey came over and started helping me. After Aubrey finished undressing Brooke she wanted to help with her diaper. She's really good at putting one on her babies so she was thrilled that Mommy was gonna let her put one on Brooke. She soon discovered that a moving target is not so easy to diaper!

 It was seriously so funny to watch Aubrey trying to put a diaper on Brooke. First getting Brooke to lay on the diaper on her backside was hilarious. Aubrey kept saying, "No Brooke lay down right here on the diaper." Brooke would then lay on the diaper, but on her tummy. "No Brooke turn around on your back" Aubrey would say. I finally had to step in and position Brooke on the diaper.

She thought it was gonna be easy from there - think again Aubrey. "Brooke move your leg so I can pull the middle up.", "Brooke stop moving." Are some of the things Aubrey was saying in her frustration. Brooke was finding the whole thing to be both fascinating and funny.

I thought Aubrey would be done after that, but nope, she asked if she could put Brooke's jammies on her.

Brooke tried really hard to lay on the jammies and be cooperative (something she NEVER does for Mommy.) But, letting Aubrey control her feet enough to get them in the jammies was another story. I finally got Aubrey to agree to let me help with the feet. (Letting me help is something Aubrey rarely lets me do.)

Once the feet were in, Aubrey did a fantastic job getting her arms in the sleeves - and Brooke was very cooperative for her.

I thought the zipper was the cutest part. Brooke was standing there so still while her sister finishes her pj's.

Look at that cute smile on Brooke, I think she was proud of Aubrey for being able to help her get dressed!

It must have tickled Brooke when Aubrey was doing the snap, because she was just cracking up!

 

 Hurray she did it! (She must have been exhausted!)

I just love those two girls!

Dance Picture Day

Aubrey had dance pictures taken this week. They were ridiculously overpriced, so I decided to try and take my own. I wanted to make my own collage of group and individual dance pictures. The group ones unfortunately turned out blurry, so I'm not sure how the collage will turn out. Maybe the group ones will have to be really small! Oh well, at least it's something!

 

 

You get the best smiles out of these girls when they have their arms around each other!

 

Brooke wanted to join in for the pictures. She ran right up to the wall and stood with the girls.

Cutie Updates

Brooke is doing and saying the cutest things these days. When I ask her to do something for me she usually says, "sure" and then runs off to do as I asked. Her little "sure" is so cute.

When we ask her if she wants something she'll respond with, "yeah I do." I love how she's tacked on the "I do".

When I am correcting her behavior and she is in a cooperative mood she says, "Ok". Otherwise I hear a lot of "nos" coming from that little monkey.

She has learned the colors pink and purple. I think purple is her favorite color because she will point out that something is purple quite often.

She has also learned the number 2. When she is holding 2 of something and I say for instance, "You have your baby." She will hold up both and say, "two."

This week she actually corrected me when I was wrong. I'm in big trouble if my 1 1/2 year old is schooling me! She was in the bathroom and wanted to brush her teeth. I handed her the toothbrush and walked down the hall. She followed after me, handing the toothbrush back and saying, "Sis.". I said, "No Brooke this one is your toothbrush." She kept insisting that it was her sisters. Finally after the third time I realized that she was exactly right, I had given her Aubrey's toothbrush that looks similar to hers. What a little smartie pants!

My little Aubrey is all about board games these days. She had so much fun playing games with her Aunts on Halloween that she wants to play all the time now. When we get a new game out she will grab the instructions and say, "Hmmm let me read the instructions so we know how to play." She looks at the paper as if she is reading it. Funny kid. She is doing very good at following the rules and not cheating. I have been trying to teach her to be happy when other people have success and win, so I don't always let her win. And I make sure she gets excited and cheers for me when I win and I get excited and cheer for her when she wins. I don't think it's ever too young to teach about being a good sport.

Grandma Bagley gave Aubrey the book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" when they were here last week. We read it once a day for the first four days. The next morning I was reading books to Brooke. Aubrey came in with her Grinch book and said, "I know how to read this book now, so I want to read it to Brooke." She then proceeded to tell us in detail the story, even quoting word for word some parts. I think she was always on the correct page too as she was telling us the story. I shouldn't be amazed anymore by her memory - but she still surprises me with her steel trap mind!

My Thoughtful Little Girls

Both Brooke and Aubrey can be so thoughtful of one another. Brooke was watching me take down the decorations from preschool the other day. I took a balloon down and handed it to her. Before she would even take it, she pointed to another balloon and said, "Sis." She wanted to make sure I didn't forget to take one down for Aubrey.

At the party Aubrey went to on Halloween she won a little game. She told me that she got 2 candies because she won. She then said, "I ate one at the party and I saved the other one for Brookie." Then she proceeded to go through her treat bag, found the candy and gave it to Brooke.

Last night Brooke said her own prayer for the first time. (She repeated the words that I said.) It was really sweet. As soon as she said, "Amen", Aubrey jumped up so excitedly and exclaimed, "Brookie, you just said a prayer. Oh Brooke I am so proud of you." She was genuinely so excited for Brooke's accomplishment. It was such a sweet little moment.

Grandma & Grandpa Bagley came for a real quick visit last weekend.

Aubrey and Grandma playing baby.

Brooke, reading her story to Aunt Summer.

Now reading it to Grandma & Grandpa.

Playing games with Grandma.

Grandpa dancing with Brookie bug.

Aubrey teaching Grandpa her Twinkle Twinkle Little Star dance.

Now, teaching Grandma her "Mommy kissing Santa" dance.

The girls are loving the homemade playdough. And since it's so cheap to make, I don't even mind that they mix all the colors together.

Both girls love their tutu's I crocheted for them.

 

Little Dancer Little Blessing

This last weekend Aubrey had a dance performance at the mall. I reminded her in the morning and she was very excited about it, UNTIL, she asked if Daddy was going to come. I explained that Daddy had to work so he wouldn't be there. She got very sad and started crying. I even reminded her that she would have another performance in a few weeks that Daddy would be at. That did not ease her disappointment. Jeff had all 4 of his timeslots scheduled and it didn't look like there was any way he could come. My heart was broken for her and called Jeff and told him if by any miracle his first appointment cancels last minute he should run to the mall, because Aubrey very much wanted him to be there. I hadn't heard anything from him, so didn't really expect to see him there. After all, how likely would there be a last minute cancellation at the exact time of Aubrey's show. About 15 min. before the show started, in walks Jeff. Lo and behold the appointment he was supposed to have right then, cancelled! I had him go find Aubrey and let her know that he was there. I saw her little face light up when she saw her Daddy there - it was so sweet! What a sweet little blessing for my sweet little Aubrey.

The little cuties excitedly waiting for the show to begin!

I read that with my new camera you could take still shots while recording video, however I did not realize that it would interrupt the video. So there's a few funny moments on the recording.

 They had a dress rehearsal before the show began these pics are from that one.

Aubrey starts running off the stage the right way . . .

. . . then for some reason turns and goes the opposite way.

Still going the wrong way - but looking oh so cute! She must have her Mommy's sense of direction!

Here's Aubrey's fan club (minus Daddy who had to run back to work as soon as her dance ended.) She was so excited that her Aunts and Uncles came to see her dance. Thanks sibs and Jeff for coming and making Aubrey's night!

Brooke has always loved babies and faces. One of her favorite books is babies displaying different emotions. For the last few months she has started remembering the emotion that goes with each face. Recently she has learned them all, and loves to read this book herself. Here she is reading it to me.

Preschool Pajama & Pizza Party

We had preschool at our house this week - and if you can't tell from the title, the letter of the day was P. We had a blast doing all things that start with the letter P. With P as the theme, you have to have a Pajama Party!! They all looked so cute in their Pj's.

The night before I had decorated the room with Pink & Purple balloons and streamers.

After doing our usual beginning things (ABC's, counting, days of the week & weather), we read "If you Give a Pig a Party."

Then we Played games. First was the Penny drop. I had them all count out 10 Pennies. Then they took turns dropping the Pennies and trying to get them into the jar. Brooke had a ball collecting the Pennies that didn't drop into the jar and putting them in herself.

 

 Then we Played Penguin bowling. 

We got this as a gift several years ago. After each game they got Prizes. (The left over Halloween candy came in handy for this!)

 

 Then we opened Presents. (All of the craft items and activities were in presents for them to open throughout the day.)

Inside the first present was the supplies needed to turn Pumpkins into Poultry.

Here's Aubrey's finished turkey.

When it's at our house, I let Brooke participate too, otherwise she would be very unhappy. So, this is Brooke's finished turkey.

Then they all made their own individual Pizza's topped with Pepperoni, Pineapple & Peppers.

While they cooked they made Prince/Princess crowns.

Aubrey wearing hers hours later, when the glue finally dried!

After they ate their pizza we played with Playdough for Playtime.

We ran out of time (as usual) to do everything I prepared. So, I sent them home with their last Present - a Penguin Puzzle.

 

The kids had a lot of fun and every one was on task the whole time. (This is why I plan a lot of short activities, so we can keep changing it up and keep their interest.) I was so pleased with how it turned out. We did end up with quite the mess afterward though - but it was all in the name of education and fun, so that makes it worth it!