Easter 2015

Neither of the girls wanted to get near the Easter Bunny this year, so we got a cookie instead.  Marlee will make just about any face except a smiling face and Laynie is always on the move.

 Then we rode their favorite ride.  It cost a dollar!, so our rule is that we only ride once.  Laynie doesn't like that rule. 

 This pretty much sums up what Marlee thought about dying eggs...just not enough action for her. 

We celebrated Easter Saturday night at Memaw & Papaw's house.  Papaw smoked some really good ribs and Memaw made all the fixings.  Then, we did an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. 

By the time I got Marlee to smile, Laynie was over it!

These are the two best group shots.  Either everyone is clear and Marlee isn't looking (suprise, suprise) or everyone is looking and Laynie is blurry.  Why do my kiddos have to be so complicated??

 The Easter Bunny came to visit at Memaw & Papaw's house

 After church on Sunday, we went to Jami's house for lunch and another egg hunt.  It was cold and wet, but stayed outside for a little while.

  It was fun, but we were all worn out.  Marlee refused to let go of her goodies from Memaw and Papaw on the ride back up to Fayetteville.

 

Tulsa Zoo

Margaret and Jim were going to Tulsa to watch Maggie dance, so they asked us to tag along and go to the zoo.  Marlee really wanted to see the zebras, but we never did find them.

  Laynie slept the majority of the time we were there, but woke up just in time to ride the merry go round before we left.  She DID NOT want to get off and threw a pretty big fit. 

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch after the zoo.  Laynie enjoyed playing checkers outside.

And Marlee was not leaving without this umbrella.  She has an obsession with umbrellas right now.  She likes to use them to build her tents.

Swimming in the hotel pool was the highlight of Marlee's trip.  She keep asking Dada when he is going to get us a pool at our house.  sidenote: she started calling us Mom and Dad this week instead of Momma and Dada :(  And yes, this is the best picture I have.

They both loved playing in the hotel and sleeping with us.  I really like sleeping in hotels with them too.  All of us in one big bed gives me the best feeling. :)

We stopped at Steak and Shake on the way home and the girls got their first milkshake.

We all had a great time but we were all pretty exhausted.  Marlee feel asleep as soon as we got on the interstate...under her tent, of course.

March 2015

I think someone in our family was sick the entire month of March.  Marlee had a virus, I had a stomach bug, Marlee got the flu, James got the flu, Laynie got the flu, Marlee got bronchitis, and Laynie is welcoming lots of new teeth, and Marlee got another virus.

We built a lot of tents during our snow days...and we are still building tents every day.

 Laynie at a doctors appointment.  They always act like nothing is wrong once we get there. 

 Marlee wouldn't take her antibiotic for her bronchitis and told us she wanted a shot instead.  The poor girl was not prepared for how bad that shot hurt.  We bought her this mermaid costume for being so brave.

 Marlee and I did get out of the house one Sunday afternoon to go skating.  She didn't want to leave until it closed down and she was SO exhausted, but she loved every minute of it.  She is constantly talking about going back

The girls had spirit week at school.  Here they are dressed up for pajama day.

 Laynie had her 18 month appointment.  She is between percentile 10 and 25 for height and between the 5 and 10 percentile for weight.  She is just a little bitty gal.  She is talking a lot more, but I am probably the only one that can decipher what she is saying.

Here she is saying "I don't know".  She still stands by the door when she is ready to go bye-bye.

Marlee loves to dress herself and she loves her cowboy boots.  She was so proud of her outfit for school last week.

The girls are really starting to play together.  I will often find them walking around the house holding hands. :)

Laynie gets so tickled at Marlee.

Laynie also likes to help.  She will hand Marlee all of the blocks from the drawer so Marlee can build a tower.  The only problem is that once the drawer is empty, Laynie thinks she needs to tear down Marlee's tower and put them all back in the drawer. 

I am so blessed with these two girls and this great Daddy.

Mid-January through Mid-February 2015

We have been hanging out inside for the most part...since it has been freezing outside for the most part.  We did have a nice weekend so the girls got to try out their new Frozen Mustang.

 It was a big hit for about 15 minutes.  Marlee has so much anxiety about it.  I do believe Laynie would drive it if she A.Cared to drive it and B. Could reach the pedals.

  James took Marlee to the Lady Razorback basketball game with Gina and Peyton.  To say Marlee loved it would be an understatement.  She has talked about it ever since and CANNOT wait for her next Razorback experience.

 I'm not real sure what this face is all about.

 We took the girls to the library one cold Saturday.  Marlee was in heaven with all of the books.  Laynie was in heaven with all of the wide open spaces.  James and I spent the entire time switching off who ran after Laynie.

  We have spent a lot of time indoors painting (Marlee) and sorting crayons (Laynie).  Laynie is pretty much into sorting just about anything these days.

 Dada even got in on the fun.  These two seriously crack me up.

Marlee still spends a lot of her free time dressing up and role playing.

Little miss priss had a meltdown before school on "wear red day" because she didn't have a red dress like little sister.  This photo cracks me up because she is looking Laynie up and down.

She also likes to put all of her books on the floor and make a "hotscotch".  This is so fun to clean up.  She helps me, of course...but her picks up one book to my twenty.

 Her latest facination is pretending to be a mermaid.  She wants James and I to get in on the fun, so we have spent the majority of every night this week flopping around on the floor pretending to be mermaids. 

Laynie spends most of her time getting into anything and everything, moving things from one place to another, and playing with this shape sorter.  It is her new favorite pastime.  She has gotten even better since this video and likes to praise herself by clapping and saying "Yay!" after each shape.

 She is getting quite a little attitude and gives me the look quite often.

Little miss attitude recently learned how to dip her food.

After so many consistent ear infections and a ruptured ear drum, Laynie finally got tubes in her ears.  It has been so nice to finally get some sleep after 2+ months of sleepless nights.

Here she is at the Dr. after her ruptured ear drum. :(

And here she is before getting tubes.  She is the cutest hospital gown wearer I have ever seen. :)

She started talking a little more the week before she got tubes and has been talking much more since then.  For example, she got stuck between the couch and ottoman last week and said "I'm tuck!".  She is also repeating more after me.  She said "sock" and "shoe" after me this week.  We also find her spinning around in circles a lot, saying "asthes,asthes".  She loves to play ring around the rosie.

 We finally got some snow this week.  Marlee and I spent 30 minutes of battling it out getting Marlee dressed to go outside (she didn't like anything I put on her because it wasn't "pretty enough").  After I finally got Marlee outside with James, I decided it wasn't even worth it with Laynie so I just put her in her high chair with a sucker (she would probably rather do that anyway).  And it's a good thing because Marlee and James were back inside 15 minutes later because Marlee got snow in her boot and she was over it.

We spent the rest of the snow days watching movies, eating Valentine's candy, and playing in a tent on Marlee's bed (we even watch a movie in the tent! :) ).

  Other than that, Marlee got a hair cut.  She didn't know what to think about it.

Laynie tried her first cookie cake and she loved it.  Dada was recovering from an intestinal infection and sure doesn't look that great.

And Marlee faked sick one day to miss school and hang out with me.

I sure do love these girls with all of my heart and I love making memories with them.

And because my main goal in all of this is to have something for them to read when they get older, I want to let them know that Momma and Dada got out for a date. :)  We went to eat a really nice dinner and then met a friend at JJ's bar and grill to watch the Razorback basketball game.  It was a nice break.