February

It was so hard to get a picture of them both looking and smiling. It's usually easy!

Happy Groundhog Day! Annika is wearing her Peter Pan outfit (a green shirt and a grey skirt with a green stripe down the side).

We had a GHD party. Benson is showing the groundhog he made earlier that day at the party. Jenn Leafty and Oliver, Heather, Brooklyn, and Brynlee, and Rose, Chaim, and Amayah. We watched a movie about groundhogs, made the craft, had snacks and let the kids play. It sounds silly, but it meant a lot to me that Heather came all the way from Pasco. She knows how much I love celebrating GHD.

Annika asked if we could make a gingerbread house a few times around Christmas. We never did. But, we found this set on clearance at Leprechaun for a dollar and totally splurged on it! Annika loved it and she made some awesome patterns. I put the frosting on and she did all of the decorating. 

Beusie got the kids this wagon to go for walks. We have used it 4-5 times a week since Papi has been living with us. It's just not cut out for the country life though. I want thicker wheels and higher sides on the wagon. So, this week I sold it for $30 and I'm in the market for an all terrain wagon. :)

My sweet babes before church. This was the Sunday before Valentine's Day. But we had Stake Conference on 2/14 and I wanted Sister Wiltse to see Esther in this outfit. She originally made it for a grandchild but it was too small. She texted and asked Esther's size and if we wanted it. The next day, she gave me a gift bag with this darling outfit that she added bows to and coloring books for the older two. It really touched my heart and reminded me of something my mom would do. I told her that and I hope she knows how much it really meant. I found the same skirt in Annika's size at Walmart on clearance a few days later. Of course, I had to buy it!

"Don't open the trap, Mom!" - Benson. These two play really well together, most of the time. It makes my days so much more enjoyable and brings me such joy to watch them.

He left the seat in position it was since I drove last :) I love that he does things to make me laugh.

Baby's 1st Valentine's Day!

Heart shape pizza! I have been making pizza more often lately and we are loving it!

baby girl loves being outside! I have to strap her down in her car seat when we go for walks now because she loves to scoot down and sit up while holding the stroller bars. 

Zack sent them a GHD package! He went to Punxsutawney, PA to Gobbler's Knob for the big GHD celebration. I was so jealous! He bought souvenirs for the kids and a bunch of candy. We love Uncle Zack!

I haven't done one since. But her hair is getting pretty long and I'm going to have to do something with it soon!

She wore her birding hat from Uncle Zack "in case (she) saw any birds."

Uncle Matt is home! We're so glad he is done with the Navy and we get to see him so often! He is living with G and K for the summer, working at mosquito control with David. He is great with the kids!

Benson loves to put his hands on her head. Fortunately, she usually doesn't mind. Annika looks so grown up!

photo by Annika or Benson. Not sure which one, but it's definitely from a little one's perspective :)

Annika has been sending mail back and forth with our neighbor up the hill, Sunny Ashton. She gets sad when we check the mail and Sunny's hasn't sent anything yet. It makes me sad for her too. But there's not much I can do to speed up that process. The picture above shows her with her stack of like 12 letters for Sunny. She did it all on her own and wrote Sunny on each one. I don't even know what she put inside them. But, I hope it made Sunny's day as much as it made Annika's to drop it off in her mailbox!

carrying the mail in the wagon

Mail lady delivery!

Benson reluctantly sharing his cocoa krispies with Esther :) She loves them! She has amazing eyes and fine motor skills. She was able to pick the dropped pieces up out of the carpet and eat them. Funny and determined girl!

sweetheart!

We have had some beautiful sunny days in the high 50's. I'm so looking forward to spring! I love pictures with all three kids lined up. Sometimes it seems crazy that we have three kids!

I wouldn't have picked this shirt out for myself. But, I love it! Annika picked it out for me at Target. It was $4 and I liked it well enough at the time :)

Esther finally loves baths! It was around 8 months when she stopped crying the whole time she was in the water. She loves to play with the toys. We don't bathe A and B together anymore. We decided they're getting too old for that. So this was the "girls" bath. Actually, Benson doesn't take many baths anymore. He has recently started to love showering with David or me. He's probably getting too old for that too. But, it's nice to know where he is while I'm showering! He usually just faces the wall and doesn't say much while he enjoys the water on his back. It works for me!

We love our 9 month old baby girl! She started army crawling a few days before she turned 9 months old. Now, she is starting to full on crawl more. It's pretty cute to watch her determination to reach destinations. She is eating a lot more table food recently. We've added scrambled eggs, steamed broccoli, and avocados to her list of "foods she loves." I'm making that up about the broccoli. She gobbles it down! She didn't like avocados a few weeks ago. But, now she does!

"Mom, we're watching Sarah's basketball game! Go Sarah! To the left! To the left! Yay, Sarah!" Sarah has been the longest standing imaginary friend for Annika. I love that she is helping Benson develop his imagination. He goes right along with it, perhaps with less enthusiasm. Annika is pretty over the top with her gusto for her imaginary world. I love it!

Annika has asked me to make play-dough many times and I've turned it down. We finally made soft, pink play dough. It's one of those things that Benson makes a huge mess out of, but it's so worth the 20 minutes of captivation. And I know it's good for their development.

We love having Papi here! It has been especially nice for me for many reasons. 1) We go for walks 4-5 days a week. The consistent exercise is good for several reasons.
2) Live-in babysitter (we don't abuse that, but we use it!). 3) He plays with the kids while I'm making dinner or when I need a break.

I had most of a package of princess fairy pull-ups that Annika grew out of. David told Benson they were "Mrs. Batman diapers" and that was all it took! :) They're gone now. But he wore them through most of February! We started potty training Benson in January and he has done well. We still have to remind him (more like force him to be honest) to go pee every few hours. He doesn't have major accidents but he will pee a tiny bit and say, "I have to go potty." I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe he will just figure it out soon. But, it's a pain to get him to the bathroom. It might be time for a sticker chart. We haven't done those at all for him. For the first few weeks we did a small candy for pee and gum or a sucker for poop. Fortunately, he never poops in his underwear. He is on top of that one 100%. It could be worse!