November

Here are my 'around-the-house' pictures from November! It's fun to look back through all the pictures on my phone and see what we've been up to. It also reminds me that I have super cute kids!

It only took 23 attempts to get a picture of the two of us that wasn't all blurry!

Daddy-daughter date

Annaliese was 'resting' with Lydia and her baby doll. She told me that she made sure they were both cozy!

She's trying hard to find her thumb!

We are trying to teach Haleigh to ride a bike!

We went out for ice cream after her well-check...anyone who gets 4 shots at the doctor deserves an ice cream date!

Not a great pic, but Lydia loved taking a bath with her sisters!

Annaliese is exercising...but my favorite part of this picture is Haleigh in the background!

Sisters!!

Perhaps my favorite picture of Lydia!

At the park!

I went to check on Haleigh before I went to bed and this is how I found her...no blankets, no pjs, but panties over her diaper!

Annaliese's to-do list for the day: Color, Play doh, movie, dress-up, hold Lydia

Relaxing in the fort we made together

Annaliese sandwiched in the beanbag...this is how Daddy likes to play!

Grandpa is doing Annaliese's hair!

They made these at school!

Squires Lake

Kyle and I decided that we need to be a bit more intentional about getting outdoors on the weekends. With the potential for such dreary weather, it is easy to stay inside and not do much of anything. 

Mt. Baker has already received a decent amount of snow, so we thought it might be fun to try snow-shoeing this weekend. However, given the forecasted rain and the possibility of there not being snow at the level of the Sno-Park, we decided to forego the snow-shoeing and go for a hike instead. Turned out to be a good decision!

We went to Squires Lake, just south of Bellingham. It's a relatively easy 2 mile loop around a little lake. Kim, Elias, and Malachi joined us and I think we all appreciated the fresh air and getting outside a bit. We only got a little bit wet and the sun peaked through the clouds a few times! 

Lydia taking in the view...she stayed awake for most of the hike!

Malachi and Haleigh

Annaliese and Elias

Kyle and Haleigh

5 Years Old!

It is crazy to look back at the past five years and see how Annaliese has changed and grown from this itty bitty little baby into a strong-willed, persistent and passionate little girl! Kyle wrote her a birthday letter that sums up this past year:

As I write this birthday letter, I am reminded of all the ways you have grown this year. You’ve grown taller and stronger. You’ve grown in your vocabulary and your ability to listen. You’ve grown in your care and love for your sisters. You’ve grown in your willingness to learn from your mistakes. And you’ve grown in your understanding of God. I am so proud of all the ways you are growing and I know these are only some of the ways.

So what is Annaliese up to these days:

•  Sleeping: She typically goes to bed between 7:00-7:30 and sleeps until 6:30-7:00ish. We do a quiet time every afternoon for about an hour. She usually reads a book or plays a game by herself, but occasionally will fall asleep. She still sleeps with her blankie and every once in awhile I catch her sucking her thumb. We are working on breaking that habit...
• Clothes: Annaliese is in between 4T and 5T clothes; most of her 4T pants have recently become too short and shirts are getting too small as well. However, I just bought some new PJs and the 4T will fit just fine (and the 5T ones will probably not fit until next year!) Shoes are size 11. 
• Favorites:
• Activity- riding her bike
  
• Color- verde
• Food- macaroni and cheese
• Animal- horse
• Other fun facts:
• Annaliese is in a Spanish immersion preschool and when she went to the doctor for her well-check, she answered the majority of the questions in Spanish!
• She loves spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa.
• Her love languages appear to be physical touch (she has no personal bubble at all!) and gifts- she is constantly drawing pictures and making things for other people. 
• She loves making crafts.
• Annaliese loves helping with Lydia and has recently decided that she can stand and walk around carrying Lydia. 
• She now rides a 16" Frozen Themed bicycle, graduating from her 12" Princess bicycle.
• She is learning how to play racquetball with her dad.
• She's better at playing phone games than she should be (she sneaks some game time in when we're not looking).
• She can now buckle and unbuckle her car seat and tries to tighten the seat.
• We are planning her first sleepover soon.
• She loves to write and is always asking how to spell things.
• She loves to sing! She is constantly singing, either making up her own songs or singing parts of songs she actually knows! She sings when she is coloring, when she is getting dressed, when she is going to the bathroom, when I'm doing her hair...you get the picture.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Happy Birthday Annaliese!

Annaliese turned 5 on November 25th, but since that was the day after Thanksgiving, we decided to celebrate early and had her party the weekend before.  She had lots of different ideas about what she wanted her party to be like and what she wanted to do, but we settled on a Frozen theme with a few different activities for the kids to do. 

Some of her ideas included a piñata, riding bikes outside "Mom, I can ride my bike and everyone can watch me" and playing Candy Land and Sorry.  "Me: I think you will have too many friends to play those games. Annaliese: Well, some friends can play Candy Land while other friends are playing Sorry and I can just go back and forth." Of course, why didn't I think of that! 

Since Annaliese just wanted to be able to hang out with her friends and I was not super excited about the Frozen theme, we kept the decorations to a minimum. Annaliese helped string cotton balls to make icicles and we cut out a few paper snowflakes and called it good! We had a few different coloring pages set out for the kids to color and another table where they could build their own Olaf out of marshmallows. Annaliese opened presents as each person showed up and after playing inside for a little while, they all bundled up and went outside to play!

Busy making snowmen!

We made these fun Olaf string cheeses, but forgot to put them out for everyone to eat!

Blowing out the candles...it took a few tries to get all 5 candles!

"I want sprinkles, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. And I want it to say Feliz Cumpleaños."

Playing with as many new presents at one time as she could!

When we set up Annaliese's birthday party, Elias and Mallory weren't going to be able to make it and Annaliese was super disappointed. So we set up another party on her actual birthday since we didn't have school and Kelsey and Ben were planning on being in Bellingham for Thanksgiving. Although they didn't end up coming up here, we still went ahead and had Grandpa and Grandma, Kim, Thane, Elias and Malachi over for breakfast. After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon, Annaliese opened up the rest of her presents and spent the rest of the day playing with Elias!

Somebody is very well loved by all her family!!

Checking out her new bike! It has Elsa and Anna on it just like she asked for!

 At school, every week at chapel they sing Happy Birthday to all of the kids who had a birthday that week. This week, Annaliese's class led chapel so they sang Happy Birthday in Spanish. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving plans included spending the day at Grandpa and Grandmas, eating turkey, watching football and doing a bit of crafting with Auntie Kelsey and Uncle Ben. However, Kels went to the OB on Wednesday, and they suggested she stay a bit closer to home. So instead of having Thanksgiving at Grandpa and Grandma's house, we relocated to Seattle! Mom and Dad drove down Wednesday evening and Kyle and I headed down Thursday morning. Every time we make the drive, we are glad that they live on the north side of Seattle, but this time we were especially glad as it was a very windy, rainy drive!

Besides the location, everything else went as planned! I made some progress on our family Christmas stockings, Kyle watched some football and Annaliese and Haleigh spent the day playing with Mallory. 

I didn't get any pictures of the meal but it sure was tasty! Grandma made the turkey, Ben put together a salad, and I tried out a few Pinterest recipes for mashed potatoes and carrots. We were all quite full but made room for Sweet Potato Pie and Pistachio Fluff for dessert!

Playing in a fort they built with Grandpa

Lydia with Uncle Ben

Auntie Kelsey working on some Christmas decorations

2 Months!

Crazy to think that Miss Lydia is 2 months old already! I think we have all adjusted quite well and she seems to handle all the love and attention that she receives very well! She has started cooing, smiling and becoming more interested in her surroundings. Annaliese frequently gets excited and tells me, "Mom, Lydia is looking at me. And Mom, she smiled at me too!" Besides currently having her first cold, she is pretty perfect!

Lydia is pretty easy-going and goes along with whatever we might be doing for the day. As a result, we don't have much of a schedule and I think we are both okay with that!

Eating: Lydia eats roughly every 2 1/2-3 hours during the day. The last meal of the day happens close to 9:00 and then she makes it until somewhere between 2:00 and 4:00am. There are 2-3 days/week that she will actually sleep all night and wake up between 6-6:30! Before she had this cold, she was getting more efficient but not being able to breathe through her nose is slowing her down a bit! We have tried a bottle once and she took it with no problems!

Sleeping: Naps are hit and miss (probably due to the lack of a schedule!) She is sleeping in her crib in her own room, swaddled and with a sound machine on. We are trying to get her to bed after her bedtime feeding, which would be 9:00ish, but she generally is wide awake at this time of the day! Typically she falls asleep closer to 10:30! We have also been using a pacifier to help her sleep, simply because we don't want her sucking her thumb! We'll have to wait and see how that works out:) 

Clothing: She still fits into 3 month clothes; things that are 0-3 months are usually too small now. Diapers are size 1. 

Favorite activities: Bathtime, tummy time, and cuddling with Annaliese.