Fun on the swingset...

This has been a very mild winter.  Hardly any snow at all!  We've had several warm days but they've always been accompanied by lots of rain.  It's been so dreary and the girls have been cooped up in the house.  So when I noticed a glimmer of sunshine, it was time to kick them outside!

Such a good big sister

I don't think I've ever met a happier kid.  Evelyn enjoys life to the fullest!!  So happy!

Sister love?  I'm not sure....Evelyn looks like she's planning something...

Evelyn is very much into pictures and posing right now...

Sweet tooth!

Scarlet definitely has a sweet tooth.  We made some Valentine's Day cupcakes and she's been trying to get at them all day! So after dinner, I undressed her and let her make a mess.  She really enjoyed herself.  She was very careful at first.  I think she thought she could only eat the frosting and I had to help her break off some cake too.  Cupcakes are hard to eat when you have a little mouth! 

"For me, Mommy?"

First taste...

Yup!  It's a winner!

Ok, now we're getting down to business...

Cupcakes are slippery little suckers

Can I get every last bit into my mouth?

Cleaning off the fingers...

Definitely enjoyed her treat!  At the end she actually started licking her highchair tray...

Dust the blinds, Cinderella!

I have discovered new punishments for the children.  Chores!  It seems to work better than taking away screen time or time outs which can sometimes just lead to tantrums.  If the kids are misbehaving, I'll warn them with however many chores they'll have to do...  Well, Lorelai usually puts up a stink about having to clean but once she gets going she usually starts to have fun.  She's getting pretty good at cleaning too!  It's a win-win situation!

In the scenario below I don't even remember what Lorelai did to warrant a few chores.  I punished her the night before.  This morning we woke up and I told her we have to get ready for company coming to visit soon she she said, "Mommy, remember I have chores to do?  I can help you clean the guest room."  And that's just what she did.  Swiffer Dusters are perfect for kiddos and she was actually a big help!

Dusting the blinds...a job I hate to do.  This is why you have kids...

See? You don't know it...but this kid is being punished!

Scarlet helps too.  She makes sure the bathroom cabinets are fully stocked...

January wrap-up...

Some leftover pictures from January...

Practicing her "noise-making" skills...

"Daddy!  Wake up!!"

Just happy all the time...

She loves this stroller.  It really helped her to learn to walk but she still plays with it all the time.  I find all kinds of things loaded in the stroller: dish towels, magnets, utensils...

Maybe it's nap time...

Dear LORD.... this is what happens when your child is on her third round of antibiotics trying to kick this ear infection. 

Future pathologist??  She is always so interested in learning

We are on a weekend trip to Bowling Green, KY.  Checking out the local venues...we're in the country now!

This little girl loves to snack.  More so than any of our other kids.  If she sees the pantry door open, she beelines for it and grabs any snack she can get her hands on.  People are going to start thinking I don't feed my kid!

Poor, tolerant, sweet Addie girl...

Hanging out with the orangutans!

Evelyn climbed on this statue and yelled, "MOMMY!!! TAKE A PICTURE!!!"  and then struck a pose...

A full belly makes for a happy baby...

A rare moment when everyone is getting along

I've started to notice that a lot of Scarlet's pictures contain food...

Hurricane Scarlet strikes again...

More reading...

In one week Lorelai has brought home three different packets of reading homework.  I talked to her teacher about it and she said, "Well, she picks it up so fast so I'm going to keep going with it.  The second she gets too frustrated or has trouble, we'll back off and move on to something else."  She loves to read.  She takes her packets in the car and reads them over and over...sometimes 6-8 times straight in one trip.  I'm too proud!

Really cruisin' now!

Scarlet took her first steps December 7th...however, she hasn't been too motivated to walk since then because she is much faster at crawling and she is constantly trying to keep up with her big sisters!  She improved VERY slowly but is now walking like a pro!  She hardly ever crawls now and likes walking so much she doesn't like to be carried much anymore.  She follows her sister to their classrooms at school, likes to cruise the aisles of Target, and navigate a restaurant on the way to our table.  Slows this busy Momma down a bit, but I love to see her walking around with such pride on her face!

So....I guess she reads now?

Lorelai came home from school the other day explaining she had some "homework" to study tonight.  When I got home and looked at her work, it turned out it was a list of words and a story.  She can read??  I had no idea she was this close to reading!  She's still in preschool!!  I didn't learn to ready until first grade.  I'm very proud of her.  I can tell she's going to be a good student.  She takes it very seriously and is quite the perfectionist (like her Momma).