Welcome to 2015!

2015 has arrived. And it brought some COOOOOLD weather! 

We kicked off the year celebrating my birthday!

I spent the day with my littles and Maddie made me some brownie m&ms. And then helped me blow out my candles. And then helped me eat them! :)

We had a great day, and then this happened.

Maddie shut the dishwasher door on Sydney's hand. Sydney cried for about 30 seconds and Maddie cried for about 30 minutes. 

Ok, so it wasn't 30 minutes, but it was AT LEAST 15. When we finally got her to calm down we asked why she was crying. And she said, "I am upset because I hurt Sydney." Sweet sister. 

Dane and Quinn gave Maddie a gift card to Build a Bear for her birthday so we headed over after her party.

Maddie picked out a sparkly princess bear and Dane picked out a Ninja Turtle!

Watching the fluff go around.

Filling up bear.

Squeezing her.

Then they went shopping together!

That night, we went to the Fish Market with both sets of grandparents and our siblings!

Maddie and her birthday dessert. 

The girls and I have been living it up on "stay at home mama days."

We've been baking!

And playing in the spice rack!

We've been playing!

We've been to Maddie's dance class. Sydney loves to roam around the building watching the other classes. At night, they are more strict about parents on the equipment so she has friended a young guy worker who takes her down the slide.

We've been shopping!

Sydney's face here cracks me up. She usually loves these rides, but she was NOT feeling this car one. 

She WAS digging this slide though!

We played hair salon and had a mini disaster. I seriously had about 10 minutes where I thought I would end up at a salon leaving with a new hair do.

Yikes!

Maddie and I went to a baby shower for our friend Megan. Big sister Soley was there so all of the moms with daughters brought them.

Our selfie at Maddie's first baby shower!

Assisting Megan with the opening of her presents!

Playing a game with the other girls.

And, of course, with this cold cold cold weather, we've been doing lots of snuggling!

Yes, Maddie is in footed pajamas. She saw these at Children's Place and had to have them. She hasn't worn footed pajamas for 2.5 years and now she's obsessed with them again. So weird!

Can you handle the cuteness??

4th Birthday Party!

On Saturday, we had Maddie's fourth birthday party!

She wanted to have it at the same place as last year. I was all for it. The other birthday options are places we visit frequently (All About Kids, KaZoing, etc) so this feels different to her. 

Except, of course, when we were comparing this year's photos and last year. Chris said, "Well we need to change venues or all her pics will look the same!" I guess we will see what happens for magic number 5!

Maddie had soooo much fun. Because she's only in preschool two days a week, she has a wide circle of friends. We had a large group of preschool friends, cousins, friends we've met from 'stay at home mama' days, etc come to celebrate with us!

Stella Murph!

Audrey, Maddie and Stella in their matching pink and black. 

Sloane made an appearance!

Cousin Charli on the lookout!

This slide was for real. It's hard to tell here, but it was super steep and fast!

Sydney had a great time!

Love her sweet smile. 

Girlfriend POUNDED two slices of pizza. And a banana. And an applesauce. She can EAT.

Singing to the birthday girl!

Maddie wanted to open her presents and it was pure pandemonium. 

We had a great time celebrating little miss turning four. Thanks so much to our friends and family who came to the party!

How I Spent My Christmas Vacation...

Remember when you were in elementary school and you had to recap your vacation? Chris took off the  week of Christmas and New Years and I had grandiose plans for how we might spend the two weeks as a family.

But as they say, "the best laid plans…"

The week of Christmas was a wash because Maddie-cakes came down with flu-monia (flu+pneumonia) so we spent way more time in the doctor's than we would have preferred.

At the tail end, much happier now! (Three visits in one week…no, thank you.)

With Maddie sick, we had to do our best to keep Sydney away. She ONLY wanted her sister.

But, a spin on this bad boy at Walmart made her pretty happy too.

Maddie eating pineapple at 2 am. Yes. Pineapple at 2 am. She woke up and said she would eat. She hadn't eaten anything in DAYS so I was happy to please.

After a crazy exhausting week, we snuck out and celebrated daddy's birthday! Chris and I had a wonderful dinner at Mussel and Burger Bar. YUM.

In his spare time, Chris worked on Maddie's new furniture.

He also watched the monkeys a few days because I was still working. I was in my office one day and heard some commotion. I step out of my office and see this.

HAHA!

Sydney got a new seat and loves sitting at the table with us - no high chair anymore!

Sydney made us laugh every day.

I love her face here. (FYI--she's missing the bottom half of her cheer outfit here. We took it off for nap time.)

Once Maddie was on the mend, the girls had a blast with all of their new toys!

They love this dish set and have been having tea parties.

Notice they are both eating a cupcake. So funny.

Then, they like to wash their dishes at the sink.

They've been loving this mailbox and latch puzzle too.

Sydney thinks her pig is hilarious.

And loves ALL little people!

Maddie got a Frozen umbrella and insists on bringing it EVERYWHERE. Nope, it's not raining here. But she says, "Let's PRETEND like it's raining." We get some stares but mainly laughs.

Stella wasn't left out- she loved her Christmas treats!

New year, new workout resolutions, right? I've been drinking green smoothies for breakfast and really do love them!

We so enjoyed daddy being home with us these last two weeks.

Daddy does KaZoing!

On New Years Day, we took daddy to one of our favorites, KaZoing. 

He loved it!

It is gridlocked up in here, y'all!

Saturday morning we had a fun lunch with Dane and Quinn and nana and grandpa at Pizza King!

Waiting on the train…

Sunday, we went Cabela's. Chris spent a gift card while the girls and I played by the fish tank.

We picked out the biggest fish, the prettiest fish, the funniest fish, etc.

Daddy is back at work today and he's not happy about it! I am too, but since my work is my home, it's not too terrible. :)

Well Visit Check-Ups: 4 and 15 months

On Monday, we went back to the doctor for Madeline's 4 year and Sydney's 15 month well visits. 

I was actually working that day so Chris took the girls and got them signed in. I met them up there on my lunch. I promised Chris there were no shots (we were postponing due to being sick.) and that he wouldn't have to wait too long before I got there.

As soon as I walked in, Maddie showed me her bandaged finger. They did a CBC on her and had to do a finger stick. Oops.

She was very brave and didn't cry at all. 

Maddie Stats

Weight: 30 lbs (8th percentile)

Height: 37 in (10th percentile)

Maddie actually lost about two pounds on her 6 day hunger strike so I'm think she's a little higher in that percentile, but not much. And, as for height, she's definitely going to take after me in that regard. Maddie is meeting all of her speech and developmental milestones so the doctor didn't give us much to work on.  Personally, we are working with Maddie on her competitiveness and whining. 

Sydney, is running a tad bigger.

Sydney Stats

Weight: 21 lbs (53rd percentile)

Height: 30 inches (18th percentile)

Sydney still has her umbilical hernia and her asymmetrical fat rolls. However, the ped was not concerned with either. The hernia we give until at least 2 years of age so we are still hoping that goes away on its own. The fat rolls can delay a child's walking or movement but since Sydney has a problem with neither, the ped said they would just go away as she thins out. She is meeting all of her milestones, though she is on the lower end for speech. She says about 5-6 works and the marker is 5-20. Maddie was a late talker and really didn't hit her stride until 18-24 months. Looks like Sydney may be the same.  So, our focus on Sydney is teaching her how to use her words. 

Side note: As we were leaving, the nurse came up to me and said, "I just want you to know how sweet your husband was with your girls.  He is so good with them!" I am in the doctor's office a lot and Chris rarely is, simply due to him working full time. I know all of the nurses and thought it was so sweet one of them sought me out to tell me how awesome Chris is. Of course, I know this. 

Love my little (and they are little!) ladies!