keeping busy

For a short month, February has seemed so long. It has been cold and snowy, and Chris has been really busy with rehearsal plus he was out of town for 9 days; so we have been finding a lot to do to keep busy.

Luckily we have 2 girls who really love playing together so that makes life easier.

they played cars (Caitlin is putting something in the trunk)

Ashlee discovered she loves doing puzzles

they searched maps (or "mats" if you're Ashlee) to locate far off destinations

they traveled on trains

they played in the snow

and did more puzzles

they had many play dates, but I only have a picture of this one.

they had a tea party which they love.

hooray for March and at least maybe less snow......?

No longer scared

Which describes Caitlin's relationship with the water.
She is AWESOME in swimming lessons now.
She loves bobs, and touching the bottom.
She loves floating on her back or swimming on her front.
She loves to put her face in the water.
She loves getting water on her face.
She can swim without the teacher holding on to her.
She loves the before and after showers.
She no longer cries at swimming lessons, ever.
She loves the hot tub.
She loves jumping in off the side.
She loves jumping off the diving board.
A complete 180 from last year.
She is a changed girl!

The teacher is mostly there for spotting now, Caitlin does most of the swimming by herself.

You have to see it to believe it!

Untitled from Beth Will on Vimeo.

I'm so proud of her. She has come soooooooooo far.

pampered

My mom became a Pampered Chef consultant last fall, so I hosted a party while she was here.

Apparently, other people like pampered chef as much as me and my family, because I ended up having a lot of orders. In fact, it was my mom's biggest party to date.

Everyone's orders:

It took quite a while to sort it all out.

And this is what I ended with. $515.00 worth of stuff for just $73.05!!

One of my favorite things I got is this, and we used them last night. The girls LOVED using them to help cut up the veggies for dinner. Brilliant.

We had a great Valentine's Day. The girls went on a treasure hunt to find their valentine's that ended with them in the bathtub.

We also opened some fun gifts from "my" Annie and Grandpa and Grandma Berta. Thanks!

no accidents...

.....since last Sunday.

that is a whole week!

i can barely believe it.

the girl who was having an accident pretty much everyday has finally figured it all out.

it's about time.

hooray for Ashlee!!

wand art

I was decorating a conducting wand for church* so the girls wanted to decorate their wands too.

*I am the chorister in primary as of about a month ago.

A Hard Walk

We are having some nice weather (in the 40's!!!) so we headed outside to enjoy it a little.

Caitlin rode her bike, I walked, and Ashlee rode her scooter (oh wait, no she didn't, she hates riding it) so she pushed the car.

This winter has been cold, and we have had alot of snow. But our street gets direct sunlight, so most of the snow has melted, and there is none to speak of on the sidewalks.

Fast foward to us getting around to the other side of the block which DOES NOT get direct sunlight. We ended up pushing the bike and car almost the whole way through a bunch of snow.

We were worn out by the time we got home! Next time I think we will just walk up and down our own street.

The Other Outfit

And Caitlin's outfit, also very cute.
She couldn't wait to wear it to preschool today.

As she was getting dressed, she said to me, "Mom, this is soooo cool!"

A few more things said by the girls in this house: (Caitlin first)

• A few days ago she asked me, "Mom, what does hilarious mean?" I was surprised she knew the word, but she still remembered the definition I gave her when I asked her about it last night.
• Chris asked her if I yelled at her yesterday when she cut Ashlee's hair? She said, "yes, but not as loud as her regular voice." (I think she means my regular yelling voice, and she's right, I didn't really yell at her, just talked to her and made the punishment)
• Then she said, "Mom wasn't mad anymore after nap time, and even though I was in big trouble, she still loves me."

And from the other girl:

• "At nus-wey we sang head, shoulders, shoes and nose"
• "I need some wo-sin, I fweezing" (I don't know how lotion helps the cold, but...)
• "I need my bwod nose" (nose blowed)
• Here she is putting on her "bwace-wets and neck-waces" from my hair bag.

I thought of a few more:

Caitlin got a CTR ring at church and ALWAYS calls it her TCR ring.

When Ashlee is tough, and not crying and in all ways acting brave, she says, "Mom, I so braid"

It Happened

I thought we could be the family that avoided this situation, but I was wrong. This morning I went to make breakfast and opened the garbage; there inside was hair, long hair! I questioned the girls and low and behold, Caitlin had cut Ashlee's hair!!

I looked at Ashlee's hair to assess the damage. Caitlin took a handful of hair, right about where Ashlee's terrible cow-lick is, and cut it right off.

Caitlin, of course, is in trouble and is spending the day by herself in her room.

I don't cry about many things, but I cried about this.

Ashlee, who didn't even have any hair for nearly 2 years.

Ashlee, whose hair is soooo thin and I struggle to make it look cute.

Ashlee, who just got a hair trim to help even out her hair that wasn't growing at the same rate.

Ashlee, who already has a terrible cowlick that stuck up, but now has inch long hair that sticks straight out.

I know it is just hair, but I was super upset.

Luckily, it could be ALOT worse. I parted Ashlee's hair the other way and was able to hairspray the short part down, and position a longer part over it. So you can't really tell by just looking at her.


And on a happier note:

The girls each got a Valentine gift from Grandma and Grandpa Will. Along with a few little things, they each got a new outfit.

Isn't Ashlee's sooooo cute?

She put her hand in the back pocket which I thought was hilarious.

You can't even tell we had a hair mishap from these pictures.

*Caitlin's pictures will have to wait until tomorrow, as she lost her privilege to wear her new outfit when she did such a naughty thing*

Organizing

Ashlee is still learning how to be good at cleaning up, and she doesn't seem to really like to clean up. So I was surprised when she was cleaning up their shoes and organizing them so nicely.
She must have pulled all the shoes out of the basket to start over about 10 times, but she had to get it just perfect. She needed each shoe together with its match and she kept checking to see what shoe would fit best in the space. Perhaps she will inherit my packing skills (I don't like to toot my own horn, but I am fairly good at making everything fit, no matter the space).
At this point she had about 1/2 the shoes in the basket.

Valentine's Crafts

Valentine's Day has always been one of my least favorite holidays, so I never really decorate for it.

Well, last year I made our first Valentine's decoration,
so this year I decided we could expand a little more:

I stole this idea from my friend's house (thanks Sarah!)


Then my friend, Jessica, arranged a craft night to make these beauties


And since we were in the Valentine making mood, the girls and I made these to mail to some special people. Caitlin was great at weaving the paper, and Ashlee was great at picking a paper for me to weave next.