Precious Moments

I love this picture!

I want to do a post about random cute, sweet, and hilarious moments with the girls.  Such moments
have been increasing as they grow up, and I don't want to lose the memories!  Our girls are amazing, and we love them to pieces.

I have been walking to the park frequently as the weather warms up.  Isabella and Elizabeth always get excited about our park excursions.  Lizzy will climb into the double stroller and bounce up and down, waiting for us to go.  Bella is getting adept at putting on her own shoes, although convincing her to wear clothes is still a struggle!  I am raising one little nudist here.  "Bella, it's cold, honey, you need to let me put clothes on you!"  "Bella, we're going out, honey, and you have to wear clothes when we go places."  Hopefully she'll grow out of it by the time she's a teenager!

It's a 1.2 mile walk each way, which is a nice amount of exercise for mommy.  I put music on my phone and walk fast, and the girls bounce and sway to the music--Bella is starting to try and sing along when she knows the song.  She always wants me to play with her when we arrive.  No sitting on the bench watching the kids for this mommy!  She pulls my hand and says, "Come on, mommy!  Your turn!  You can do it!"  She makes me take turns going down the slide with her, shouting encouragement the whole time.  "Good job, Mommy!  You did it!"  It's adorable, and I love playing with her.  I am amazed at how she literally imitates everything we do and say.  I can tell if I'm speaking lovingly and encouraging words to her, if that's what she's spouting back at me.

Bella wanted to wear her hat

Learning to take turns

Lizzy Bee

My Bella with the wind in her hair

She finally conquered her fear of slides

First time trying the big person swing

Collecting rocks

That reminds me of a hilarious moment we had recently.  I often make hot cocoa on these chilly winter mornings, and it is the girls' favorite.  I use whole milk and hot chocolate mix (unless I'm feeling particularly noble and make it from scratch).  I was making the hot cocoa in our dining room/kitchen, and I heard a squall coming from the living room.  I came out to check, and Bella pushed me back into the kitchen with a very stern look on her little face.  "No mama!  GO MAKE HOT COCOA!"  she commanded.   It is so hard to correct her when I'm laughing so much!

That smile!!!

It's harder and harder not to laugh at her these days.  TJ was having a stern heart to heart talk with her yesterday and her responses had him in stitches.  He covered his face and tried to get control of his features, as she sat on his lap and looked at him innocently.  Another time he was showing her the work he's been doing in the kitchen.  He's installed the counter top, but hasn't put in the sink yet.  He lowered her into the sink hole, and opened the cupboard thinking she'd like to climb and play.  Normally she would have loved it, but for some reason she got super emotional, howling and trying to climb up out of the sink hole again.  He showed her over and over that she could easily step out of the open cupboard door, but she only screamed louder.  I walked out and let him deal with it because I was laughing too much!

Woe is me, I am trapped in a cupboard!!!

I wish Bella would wean.  She loves her mama's milk, and asks for it multiple times a day.  I have better things to do than nursing a large toddler with a mouthful of teeth!  I have reluctantly given her pacifier back.  I'd rather her chew on that than on me.  Uncle Glayde and Debbie stopped by, and while they were here Bella announced loudly, "Mommy, I want boobies!"  Slightly frustrated, I said "No, honey, you need to wait till you're 13 or so!"  They thought my response was hilarious.

Lizzy feeding Uncle Glayde Cheetos

Lizzy's personality is expanding, growing, and glowing more every day.  She is such a joy to our hearts!  She's learning sign language as well as new words, and is a content little being.  She can play all by herself for long periods of time, but her whole little body lights up and wriggles with joy when she sees one of her favorite people.  She will go and make friends with anyone, hugging random strangers' legs when she gets the chance.  When we arrive at church, she toddles off looking for somebody on which to bestow her dazzling smile and baby coos.  Yesterday I noticed the emergence of two more teeth, bringing the total of toothies in her head to 6.

She climbed into her walker and fell asleep!

It's so interesting observing the differences in the girls' sleeping habits.  Isabella is a night owl, and loves to stay up late and then sleep in the next morning.  She got up at 9 a.m. this morning!  Now that she has her own queen sized bed she has finally learned to sleep in her own bed, praise be to not getting squeezed out of my own bed by an active toddler any more!  She's growing up so fast, my big girl.  TJ and I take turns reading her bedtime story, singing her a song and praying with her.  She is also our snuggle bug.  She loves cuddling in warm blankets, or in a towel after her bath.  Elizabeth on the other hand kicks everything off every time.  I have to put her in fuzzy warm jammies so she doesn't wake up cold and crying at night!  She's our early bird, waking up almost at the same time we do (6:30 except on weekends).  Saturday morning they both woke up before we did.  Bella came into our room, climbed on Lizzy's crib to reach the light, turned the light on, jumped on our bed and said "Wake up Daddy!  Wake up Mommy!"  They both proceeded to climb all over us, and I was like "honey why did we have kids?!"  LOL.

Sisters!

Bedtime stories with Daddy