What We've Been Up To...

Since Natalie's birthday weekend, we have stayed consistently busy with our routine so I'll try to update what everyone has been up to lately...hardly any pictures though since I haven't had my camera out much.

I can say that we will all be happy when Spring is here and this Winter is FINALLY over!!!  This feels like the longest, coldest, most annoying winter I can remember!  So much so that we are seriously considering moving to a warmer more constant climate (no timeline on that though).  I can't wait until we can consistently go outside and get some fresh air...both the girls and me with running!

Here is a glimpse of our recent average weekly schedule:

Monday: Bobby works; the girls and I play, go to the Y in the morning, naptime in the afternoon (usually only Aubrey though), play catch up on cleaning/laundry/etc; make dinner; Natalie goes to gymnastics; bathtime

Tuesday: Bobby works; I work; girls go to school; hurry up and make/eat dinner; basketball game; bedtime

Wednesday: Bobby has early morning small group; Bobby works; I work; girls go to school; dinner and play usually, but I'm sure we fill this night up with something most weeks as well; usually bathtime

Thursday: Bobby has early morning small group; Bobby works; I work; girls go to school; hurry up and make/eat dinner; evening small group

Friday: Bobby works; girls and I go to the Y in the morning; sometimes meet Bobby for lunch; play catch up from the week; night in lately

Saturday: hodge podge of things between traveling, photo shoots, working on the house, etc

Sunday: church with once a month Bobby volunteering basically all day and another day a month I volunteer with the kids during church; if we've traveled this is usually driving back day

We actually enjoy being busy, but sometimes in the midst of it, we get overwhelmed, especially on the days we have to rush dinner just to get to the next event/activity. Obviously we bathe the girls more than 2 times a week, but it's pretty random and not necessarily routine other than those days I listed. :)

Now I'll try to update on each member of our family:

Rusty (our dog): he likes to sleep a lot and basically gets neglected... :/

Bobby: M-F he works, which a lot of the time seems like he's always working! He plays basketball on a men's church league at least once a week with an open gym sporadically thrown in here or there. He recently went to a guys' poker night, which might get turned into a monthly ritual I guess. As soon as basketball season is over, softball season will start on the same nights with Fridays possibly thrown in too for the co-ed league. He's wanting to start studying to get some certifications to back-up his experience from his current job in case we really do move.

Me: Tues-Thurs I work and lately I have been really busy with work, which is nice, but a little overwhelming sometimes because I like to use my lighter caseload days to run errands without the girls since hauling them places sometimes seems more of a chore than the errand is worth doing!  I have recently joined the local Y since my usual workout partner, Rebekah is gone most of the week and I rarely see her on the weekends now because of her job and her husband now returning home. Hopefully, I will get to see her at least once a month once "running season" begins when we do a race at least once a month. The Y has been really nice because they have ChildWatch every morning, which I utilize every Monday and Friday for a Body Pump class that I really enjoy! I try to fit in a run or workout at the gym before I pick the girls up from daycare if my work schedule allows.

Natalie: She's doing gymnastics every Monday evening and we have definitely seen improvement in her over the last several weeks, not just in her skills she's learning, but also in her listening. This new session she's in averages about 5 girls every Monday vs the last session that only had 1 or 2 girls each class. I feel bad for the teacher because have 5 3-4 year olds who are all over the place has to be mentally exhausting...it is for me and I only have 2 girls! :)  Starting in April, her gymnastics class will end and she will start swim lessons, which should be interesting because it will be the first time she is with an instructor and not Bobby or I. We call her our "daily commentator" because she basically gives us a play-by-play of everything!  She talks non-stop!  She's really loving doing puzzles, playing with her Frozen toys and her princesses (little people). She is no longer wearing pull-ups during the day for naps only...now she only wears them at bedtime only because we are too lazy to want to wake up and change a wet bed right now!  She is getting so independent and Bobby and I are really, really enjoying her age right now!  She's just so fun to interact with and is so inquisitive!

Natalie drew this all by herself...her first "person"  I personally think she did awesome for a 3 year old!

 I wish that warm weather we had a couple weekends ago would come back!  That was such a fun day because we got to play outside, with NO coat!!!

Aubrey: Ugh...where do I start?!  I know I should probably start with the positive but her crying/whining/screaming is just insane!  She is a very hard 1 year old and if her 2's are going to fall into the "terrible two's" category then we are in BIG trouble. We decided tonight after all going to Natalie's gymnastics class that Aubrey will no longer be going!  She is very difficult to entertain and she cried non-stop tonight!  Actually, we kind of hate taking her anywhere because she is so high-strung and embarrassing at times. Plus, she hates riding in the car...STILL!  When will she outgrow some of these awful stages?!  Hopefully very, very soon!  At least she is still taking a good afternoon nap and for the most part sleeps through the night. She enjoys mimicking everything Natalie does and has now started showing interest in using the big girl potty. Between yesterday and today she actually did pee twice!  I'm not getting any hopes up though because if she is anything like Natalie, then we still have a good year to go. However, maybe she'll catch on quicker since she wants to be like her big sister. She enjoys looking at books and playing in both our kitchen cabinets and her play kitchen in the play room. She has started saying more words but more so of just repeating them, not saying them necessarily without prompting first. Her preferred method to get what she wants continues to be grunting/whining/crying probably because we try to shut her up as quickly as possible so that works for her instead of using words, but we have really been trying to reinforce her words rather than her rude, obnoxious behavior! Aubrey will be starting parent/child swim lessons in April too!

I'm exhausted just talking about what everyone has been doing! :)