Hint of Spring

Well it's not very pretty (yet) but today the weather was over 40 degrees so we jumped at the chance to get outside! While I was at a Young Women's activity this morning, Lance got the house ready for a showing we had in the afternoon and then came and met me at the church with the girls. And after cleaning up, we headed to the grocery store, picked up a few "picnic" items and then hit the park! We thoroughly enjoyed an extremely windy (but not the kind of windy that makes your face want to fall off) picnic and playtime at the park. I was so excited to let the girls play in the backyard while I was making dinner, something we haven't been able to do in a LONG LONG time (it feels like). They entertained themselves for quite some time slipping and sliding on the few remaining pieces of snow/ice in our backyard.

Madelynn showing me the fruit snack she was devouring!

Mia enjoying her juice and catching a tiny ray of sunshine!

Lance's Favorite Moments

One thing Lance and I have always loved about Maddi is that she is a cuddler. Mia was never this way as a baby/toddler so it's all new to us and when Maddi isn't feeling well and has a hard time sleeping at night Lance jumps at the chance to pull her out of bed and hold her for awhile. Most of the time I can't believe how old she is getting but when I see pictures like this I think, "You're still a baby!!!"

Making cookies with Dad

Silly Girls

So Cute

Mia rarely takes a nap these days but this particular day she told me that she wanted her bed set up on the bean bag and I walked in a few minutes later and was surprised to find her actually asleep.

Shower Power!

We had a day a couple of weeks ago where I woke up and it was like Mia had litterally grown up over night. She has decided lately that she really likes taking showers and would rather take a shower then a bath. One morning she wokeup before Maddi and wanted to take a shower so Lance and I let her take one in our room so that we could try and stay in bed a little longer. As we were laying there we heard her singing and Lance said "How does she know how to sing in the shower???" and I said that I had NO idea and that maybe it was just innate. :) Then we a few minutes later I said, "She has been in there for a really long time what if she uses up all the hot water...I need to take a shower too." and Lance said, " I need to take a shower too you should go tell her to get out", so I went over the shower and opened the curtain and saw Mia standing there with shampoo in her hair (because yes she can do the whole process by herself) and I told her that it was time to get out, and she said, " Mom I'm still washing the shampoo out of my hair and then in a minute I'm going to wash my face so can you please close the curtain?" I had no words at that moment so I just shut the curtain and walked back in our room where Lance was dying laughing. I just kept thinking...have we REALLY entered this stage?!!!! Well then Mia got out of the shower, I went to get Maddi out of the crib (where I found her soaked due to an overfilled diaper), and when I got back to our bathroom, Lance had already gotten in the shower himself and I found Mia lotioning herself with my Body Lotion which she had gotten out of the"Child-locked" cupboard, and she informed me that she had opened my makeup bag and put on some lipstick (really just some tinted lipgloss)... I no idea she even knew how to open the child locks! To top it all off she proceeded to ask me if she could borrow some of my clothes. And I thought okay we are DEFINATELY not at THAT stage yet! :) After my incredibly cold shower that morning I decided her showers will have to wait until AFTER Mommy and Daddy have finished getting ready. Now I knew this day would come (I grew up with 3 sisters) but I expected it at like 13 not 3 1/2!!! It gave us a good laugh though.

Awesome Outfit

The older Mia gets the more fun it is to see the crazy outfits she comes up with. In this one I think we have the bottom half of a Cinderella outfit topped with a pillowcase (formally used as a Nativity costume). She has layered the top half of the Cinderella outfit with a plastic cow print vest with a Hawaiian lai around her neck, and it wouldn't be complete with out the mini mouse ears worn as a headband!