St. Louis Valentine's

Because President's Day and Valentine's Day were on the same weekend this year (maybe it's that way every year?), we took advantage of the kids' extra day off school and headed to St. Louis on Friday. We were all pretty wiped after the drive down, so we set the kids up with a movie.

Tim is remodeling our room in their basement, so we all slept on the same floor this time. The boys tried a slumber party a couple of times, to no avail.

The girls did a pretty good job sleeping together, though.

Cousin selfie.

These two are starting to interact more. As soon as Paige hears us talk about St. Louis or "Luke, Lexi, and Grace," her face lights up and she nods her head emphatically.

Tim has their old school Nintendo out. The kids spent at least an hour one day watching him play Super Mario 3. The boys tried their hand at it, too.

Cousin cuddles.

On Valentine's Day morning, we went over to my parents' and my dad made breakfast for everyone.

The kids also did some crafts with Grandma.

That afternoon, this girl was quiet for too long. She came out like this - she had decked herself out in most of the jewelry from my travel jewelry case. Reason #58 why I don't have expensive jewelry.

My parents came over that afternoon and the kids played some games.

We usually enjoy the warmer temperatures when we head down to St. Louis anytime but summer. Unfortunately, this visit was on a cold, snowy weekend. The kids took the opportunity to do some sledding in the backyard. It was pretty entertaining and kept them busy for almost an hour.

On Monday morning, we headed over to see my Grandparents. I'm really sad that I didn't get any pictures of them with the kids on this visit.

Have I mentioned that Paige loves her accessories?

The whole family met for lunch at this great deli before we got on the road back to Wheaton.

It was a great visit (minus the stomach flu that we left with Krissi). Can't wait to see you all again soon!

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Brooke's school does a Daddy/Daughter Dance in early February every year. Matt was away on a work trip, so his dad kindly agreed to take Brooke. She was excited leading up to it and even got a manicure with two friends a couple of days before. She asked to have her hair in braids, and I obliged. Thank goodness she likes the one hairstyle that I can do.

I let her put on blush and lip gloss. Miles brought his chapstick in to join the fun.

My beautiful girl. We had originally planned for her to wear her Christmas dress, but then I remembered her flower girl dress. Dress for the dance was "party wear," and this was probably a little fancy, but why not rock a sweet dress if you've got it? Especially when you're in kindergarten?!?

She's getting too big, too fast.

Photo bomb courtesy of Miles.

Showing off her "heels." She asked if she can wear them again when we go out to dinner.

Showing off her nails.

I even connected her braids with a flower barrette. Take that, Pintrest!

She had a special dinner before the dance at Grammie Deb's and Grandpa's (they surprised her with sushi).

She was excited about her corsage. She may not ever let me throw it away.

She got a little case of cold feet before heading out to the dance, and we figured out that it was because she didn't really know what to expect. I think she was picture more of a recital than a wedding. When I explained what would happen and invoked a little peer pressure ("all your friends will be talking about this on Monday..."), she had a change of heart and she and Grandpa had a great time. In fact, she was so excited when she got home that it was almost eleven before she fell asleep.

Brooke and Kali at the dance.

Don't forget about these two! I let Miles pick a special dinner that night, too. He chose McDonald's.

We capped off the night at Yogli Mogli. Paige was super-excited to sit in her own seat with her own bowl.

(This is her version of a thumbs up.)

The night had a few hiccups, but all's well that ends well and I think we'll all look back on her first dance fondly.

Early February Randoms

Miles is decidedly NOT a dog person. I would say that he tolerates Ozzie, and that's not even the case when he's eating. He can't stand Ozzie and his "stinky breath" near him. Poor dog. But they had to make nice for a picture for his class pet notebook.

Not sure what this one is about, but his pout is pretty classic.

Brooke had some elaborate play scheme that she got the other two in on the other day. It involved sunglasses, books and chairs in her room. It kept them busy for awhile and was really cute.

Brooke had also been begging me to bake "from scratch," so the other day, we started easy and made vanilla cupcakes from scratch. It was a surprisingly easy and pleasant experience, and the cupcakes were really good!

Of course, decorating them was just as much fun.

We might have to try this legitimate-baking thing again.

The Cousins who My Gym Together...

For a couple of months, Paige and Bri are in the same age bracket at My Gym and have been going to the same class. Paige already loved My Gym and Baby Bri, so Tuesday is now one of her favorite days. This picture was hard to get as Paige was very into herself and Bri really wanted my phone.

Notice Paige kissing herself.

The slide into the ball pit was a highlight this week.

As was the "lovebug" zipline. We love our My Gym!

Getting Out

Ah, winter in Chicago. I can't really complain - this winter has been pretty mild. It's still winter, though. We've been keeping busy doing random things, like shopping at Best Buy for a new fridge.

And going to Brooke's soccer games. I let Miles take these. He actually did a decent job, but I'll try to get some closer pics of the next game. She's really enjoying it and even scored a goal their first game! (She's on the far left.)

(She's in the middle of the fray in this one.)

Matt took the big kids to the varsity basketball games at South the other night. They had fun; I think the candy and popcorn helped.

Sibling dinner at a brewery in Naperville. We definitely had 5:30 reservations, but it was fun!

Hopefully a warm-up is in the not-to-distant future and we'll have some outdoor pics soon!

Paige at 21 Months

Paige gets more and more personality every day. She loves to explore upstairs, especially Brooke's room. She'll come out of her room with at least one of Brooke's purses on her shoulder and sometimes a necklace on. She also wants to be dressed as soon as she's up in the morning. Her PT wants her to wear her shoes as much as possible. It took her awhile to get used to, because she wants to take her shoes off when we get home like everyone else, but she's now acclimated. She also likes to have a headband, and sometimes a hat, everyday.

She loves to make others laugh. Another new thing that she's doing is laughing when Miles and Brooke laugh at something on tv, even though I doubt she has any idea what they think is funny. She's been separating pretty easily for the things that we do each week, like BSF and Sunday School. She went through a biting phase but that seems to be at least mostly over now.

She's my most curious toddler thus far. We've had a couple of toilet incidents, including her flushing about 1/4 of a roll and dropping some toys in. She is NOT happy when she gets a firm no. She often throws things to express her displeasure. Her speech is slowly improving. She's imitating words much more and is now saying "Mama" and "Dada." Even without the speech, she's great at getting her point across and understands everything that we say and that's going on.

She's a big dairy eater/drinker and is a pretty good fruit eater. Veggies, meats, and even carbs are hit-or-miss with her, though. That helps explain how tiny she is.

Her gross motor is really improving! She's walking now - I've seen her do at least 10 steps multiple times; we often have to encourage her to stand up to walk distances, though. She's such a fast little scooter! Her PT is really impressed with her progress. She's been working hard.

She can be independent and strong-willed. She's a little firecracker and she lights up our lives. We love you, Paigey!