September 2014

Fall is in full swing...even if it is still hot outside.  Although we have had some cooler mornings lately and our highs haven't been 100.  I was more referring to all our activities kicking off again.  =)  Preschool choir and Bible Study have started and I decided to join MOPS (Mothers Of PreSchoolers) this year.  I am also teaching a Tiny Tots, mommy and me music class, this semester.  We are busy, but my girls are enjoying having lots to do and ask every day where we are going.

At the beginning of the month my mom told me we didn't have a "cover worthy" photo of Abigail yet for her photo memory book this year.  So on Labor Day was took Abigail by herself with THREE adults to do a mini photo session while Hannah played with G-Pa.  Abigail has very strong opinions about things and can be difficult to photograph.  We told her if she cooperated she could pick out a sticker.  She was SO VERY good and we got some ADORABLE photos.  Here's just a few of my favs.







Took a break from photos to look at the turtles swimming in the water.  Love this sweet Daddy moment!


On days we are at home I am trying to be more intentional and engaged in playing with the girls.  They are getting so good at playing together it's easy to just let them play while I work on the computer or around the house.  I still do that, but my goal is two or three days a week for about 30 minutes to work and/or play with them.  I started about a month ago and it's going really well so far.  There are TONS of cute crafts, learning games, etc. out there on the internet.  I spent time over the summer gathering info, planning, and preparing stuff.  Some weeks we focus on a specific letter, other times it's fine motor practice, sorting beads, counting pom poms or domino dots.  I'm having fun and so are the girls!!  They both love to learn and so I figure it might as well capitalize on that.  =)

One final photo...Hannah was enjoying looking out my parent's kitchen window and asked my mom to take her picture with her kitty.

July 2014

The girls and I had so much fun at VBS last month that when I was asked to help out with preschool music camp, I jumped at the chance.  The camp was 4 days and went from 9-2.  Although, I was done by lunch every day except Thursday, performance day. The kids learned 6 songs and did a program for their parents at the end of the last day of camp.  Hannah and Abigail had so much fun, but it was definitely hard on Abigail to mess with her nap schedule. They laid down in her room, but she never really slept. The theme was Kids Under Construction.  Hannah's teacher accidentally wrote her name on her costume so she got to keep it.  Oops!  All in all it was a great experience and I will gladly work next year if I'm asked. =)

We were hanging out with my family on 4th of July and I asked my mom to take a few family photos.  It was hot and we didn't want to frustrate the girls so we only spent about 10 minutes.  These may not be the best shots technically speaking but I LOVE THEM!  They are real and genuine.  Hannah was not feeling the camera love that day, but Abigail was being a total flirt! These are just my 2 favs.

Lately I've tried to be more intentional in our play activities, especially with Abigail.  When Hannah was 2, I worked with her all the time to learn her letters.  Not so much this time around.  Abigail is just as smart as Hannah and the same desire to learn.  She's known about half the capital letters for quite a while (most of which she picked up on her own or from Hannah).  After a few fun learning games she now knows all but about 4 or 5.

And Hannah is reading or trying to read everything she can get her hands on.  As she told my mom the other day "Grammy my only problem with reading is that I can't stop!"  He he, so cute and VERY true!  Lots of readers in the family on both sides!  =)

A few weeks ago we decided to get out all the art supplies.  Neither of the girls really enjoy being messy and we're attempting to teach them it's OK to get dirty.  Happy to report that they both did paint and get dirty, but it was not their favorite.  Next time we will try painting with brushes.  Both thoroughly enjoyed the chalk!  Fun times!
 

Twenty Three Months

Watching Abigail try to keep up with Hannah is so fun.  She copies her and tries to do everything just like big sister.  Thankfully most of the time it doesn't bother Hannah.

Abigail is starting to do more pretend play with is fun to watch.  She will cook in the kitchen, feed the food to her stuffed animals.  And the other day she set up the dishes on the coffee table, brought a chair to sit in and sat down to pray before she "ate."  So cute!

Abigail has also become very interested in letters.  She knows A is for Abigail and can find in everywhere. I'm pretty sure she also knows W, and maybe S and T too. She has recently started pointing to other letters and saying "what that mommy?"  Looks like she loves to learn too.  YEAH!

Back in October my parents agreed to babysit the girls while Nathan and I saw The Lion King at Fair Park.  It was an amazing show and the girls had fun too.  It was a beautiful day so they enjoyed playing outside after nap.  Abigail was fascinated by the mini pumpkins my mom had on her front porch.  She had SO much fun playing with them.

Sweet girl LOVES her G-Pa.
 

Twenty One Months

Abigail knows several shapes now: circle, square, triangle, star, heart, and sometimes oval.  She is also trying very hard to learn her colors.  She knows that blue, green, orange, etc are color words.  She just doesn't always identify them correctly.  She'll catch on quickly I'm sure.  She also knows the number zero.

I mentioned in my last post that Abigail can be very quiet in public.  She is the opposite at home.  She talks, laughs, and sings all the time. She has recently starting doing a very shrill squeally laughter and yelling things.  Hoping that is just a phase because it is LOUD.  We're trying to teach her about using an "inside voice."  =)

It is very hard to get photos of little miss.  At this age Hannah wasn't quite as mobile and not NEARLY as strong willed.  We've pretty much resorted to capturing Abigail in the moment, because she does not sit still long.  She happened to sit for a minute next to Hannah on my parent's front porch stoop.  Thank goodness for editing software with the ability to crop in for a close up.  I do love all the colors in her eyes!

We gave Abagail a bag and let her pick up leaves from the yard.  She was happy as longs as she was walking.  I think she's actually saying "down please" in this photo. LOL!

My mom bought this hat for Hannah when she was about a year old, in hopes of photographing her wearing a frilly diaper cover, long necklace and the hat.  Hannah screamed and cried every time we put it on her head so it never happened.  My mom grabbed the hat a few weeks ago to see if it still fit on Abigail's head.  Not really...however, she had SO much fun playing with it.  She gave all sorts of flirty smiles and took it on and off several times.  

Keep forgetting to mention Abigial's teeth.  She is FINALLY getting more.  Two of the 4 one year molars are in and the other two are half way in.  The bottom teeth on either side of the front bottom two have also broken through the gums.  They aren't fully in yet so they don't show up in pictures yet.  Thankfully she's been pretty happy even though all 6 teeth were trying come in at the same time.

9/12/13

Both my girls love books so we went to library story time most of the summer.  We'll probably try to go some this fall as well.  Our other fall activities have kicked off in the last two weeks.   You may remember me writing about taking Hannah to a mommy and me music class at church back when I was pregnant with Abigail.  This semester I signed both girls up and we had our first class this morning.  They both LOVED it!  Hannah also gets to do preschool choir at church now that she is three.  So far she's having a great time and already knows one of the songs.  Nathan and I are teaching 4 year old choir down the hall.  We have 20 kids so it's a bit crazy at times. =}  Should be a fun adventure though.





singing the Hokey Pokey

We took the girls to a small splash park at the beginning of August.  They are both so cautious they mostly just watched the other kids play.  We finally got them both wet and I think they had fun.

Hannah still loves to learn.  She knows almost all her letter sounds now.  We're working on writing a few more letters.  And we recently let her practice cutting with scissors.  We had a big talk about how it was hard and we don't need to get frustrated.  She did surprisingly well.  Love her concentration in this photo.

 

One final photo...just because.  My little girls is growing up!