Wednesday, March 8, 2017

February Happenings

Acelyn started the month off by hanging in her carseat, peeking through her Covered Goods cover while out shopping. 



She went crazy dancing and shaking it up while holding on to the baby gate on afternoon... We go a little stir crazy sometimes... can you tell!? 



She's been obsessed with blowing raspberries lately, and makes the absolute cutest face while doing so.  (This might be one of my favorite pictures ever of her!)


We celebrated Scarlett's birthday at Color Me Mine, where Nolan painted a fun puppy bank and we all got to hang out with lots of friends and have the best time!  The kiddos played musical chairs and Nolan had absolutely no clue how to follow, but he loved being included and just did what he thought everyone else was doing!  Once it came time for him to sit the round out, he wasn't a fan... but got over it quickly to move on to some games of freeze dance!  I can't believe Scarlett is already six!  She's growing into such an amazing little lady and we're so happy we've been able to watch her grow through the years.  Happy Birthday, Scar!  




The kids are obsessed with The Yeti in my Spaghetti game that they have, even when they play it like this half of the time:


Nolan and Harley had a picnic in the house with pretzels and dog treats.  Nolan is obsessed with Harley and always wants to play with him, whereas Harley typically keeps his distance... so this was a welcome surprise when he joined in on playtime and Nolan thought it was the best.thing.ever!









We finally finished up Nolan's big boy bed, transitioning his crib-to-toddler bed-to full-size bed.  We had been waiting for some bedding to come in and once we received it and washed it up, he was so excited to try it out and get all his stuffed animal friends in their spots!



We had dinner out at Freddy's, where Nolan chowed down on some ice cream for dessert and Acelyn had her first taste at it, too!  {She approved}



On Superbowl Sunday, the kids got in the spirit and showed their game faces for some cute pictures.  Later, we enjoyed the game over at the Luks', which really meant eating yummy food and hanging with our besties. Becks and Acelyn have been bonding more and it's the best thing watching them interact!  








I booked a much needed day at the spa while Jason watched the kids, and it was super relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I had an awesome massage, spent some time in the sauna and whirlpool and just zoned.out.  Afterwards, I stopped at the grocery store to shop alone, which was weird, and then enjoyed some bakery cookies all to myself on the drive home.  Pretty sweet day.


Acelyn learned how to toss back and forth and showed off her skills with Daddy. 


We had a picnic at the park with Grandpa one afternoon, where we ate lunch and fed the ducks and geese, which has always been one of Nolan's favorite things to do.  Acelyn didn't know what to think once they started flocking around her- she would scream in excitement but looked a little weary at the same time.  She definitely wanted to get down and chase them, which obviously wasn't an option, but she quickly sat back and just enjoyed watching their every move.  Afterwards, Nolan scootered around while sis chilled in her stroller, and both got super tuckered out for a great nap that afternoon.  















Acelyn turned 9 months old!

She's all over the place with toys, and her favorites are her big brothers trucks and this Sesame Street book.  She literally pulls it down from the bookshelf a million times a day and screams in excitement at it each time.  She flips the pages by herself and really loves it when we sing the songs inside together.





We had a park date arranged for the AM one weekend morning with our friends, but the weather was yuck so we rescheduled for a movie night instead!  We had pizza and snacks, and the kids played like crazy all night.  Acelyn got to finally hang with her friend Perry, who was born just two days before her.  They are adorable together and actually look like little twinnies, and I can't wait to see their sweet friendship grow!  The bigger kids had a blast dancing and singing to Trolls and we had another fun night with great friends!





Acelyn worked on pushing around her walker, gearing up for Valentine's Day in the upcoming days, and looked adorable doing so.  




Later that day, the kids crafted some Valentine's hearts with paint- Nolan did rock rolling in a box for his heart, while Acelyn fingerprinted in a ziplock bag (mess free, yay!)  She thought all that shaking was pretty cool, so she just shook herself the whole time while Nolan shook his box.  Silly girl!  The end products came out super cute, even though Acelyn got a little too excited and ripped hers.




We celebrated Valentine's Day with a fun photoshoot, cute outfits and later met up with our friends Jamie, Coen and Shaw at the library for a fun Valentine's craft followed by a trip to the park for a donut date!  The kids ate their heart shaped donuts and played for a bit and enjoyed the super nice weather we were having.  The boys played together while the babies hung out on the grass, but soon enough they wanted in on the action, so Nolan took sissy for a ride in the car, and then helped her down her first park slide (where I cut his head off being a helicopter mom worried she would roll down... but she did great and loved every second of it!)














We came home where Nolan was able to open his Valentine's mailbox (and help sissy with hers) to get some small goodies inside, and he was so surprised!  We had a fun Valentine's themed lunch and he got to enjoy one of his special V-Day chocolates for dessert. Yum!






That night, we all went out as a family to dinner for the holiday. Usually Jason and I go out for our own dinner sans kids, but this year we decided to switch it up, so we chose to try Borracha for the first time.  While it was a little more hip than kid-friendly, we still had a great night and the kids behaved so well, plus the food was reallllllly good.  Their wall decor is gorgeous and I couldn't help but take a million pictures of the kids in front of it. I'm so lucky to have these three loves in my life and couldn't think of a better way to end my Valentine's Day! 





The weather warmed up so we spent some time in the backyard playing, and Acelyn stayed in her exersaucer (which rarely happens now that she's mobile) contently, enjoying her surroundings. 


...To which the weather quickly changed and we had some rainy days ahead.  The kiddos watched out the window and Nolan even spent some time playing in the puddles outside (which really meant just the water running down the gutter), which he thought was the best thing ever!  





Acelyn hammed it up for the camera in the cutest outfit. 


We decided to check out the new Seaquest Aquarium with Grandma, and we spent the morning interacting with lots of animals and checking out all it had to offer.  We were greeted by some fish that Nolan instantly ran to and said, "Mom! Take my picture!" and it wasn't two seconds later before he darted over to the next tank to check out the swimming lizard (sorry, I didn't catch it's actual name).  The aquarium is super interactive and there are lots of animals to touch and feed, and the first one Nolan got to meet was a tiny lizard that he braved and touched with one finger. 






There was a giant eel that was pretty disgusting looking, and the stingray tank was actually pretty neat.  We were able to touch the stingrays as they swim right up to the top of the water, and after some convincing, Nolan finally was able to feel one as it swam by.



His favorite part was feeding the ducks, which was really cute, and also this water display where you build walls to form a dam which then creates a water feature to go off from the buildup of water.  Acelyn was not having it for a bit in this section because there were two squawking loud parrots that were terrifying her, but girlfriend hung in there and soon was laughing at the silly ducks we were feeding, and was able to take some pictures with Nolan. 





Before we left, we met some birds that Acelyn wasn't scared of, a tortoise, and said bye to some more fishes in their tanks.  It was an eventful morning and the kids took another great nap that afternoon from being tired out. 



Acelyn learned to put her hands "up" when we say it, and makes the funniest faces when she does! 



I took the kids to Ikea during the week where Acelyn matched the rugs and we ate some pizza, chicken and icees for lunch. 



Nolan read to his sissy where she intently listened (for a little bit, anyway).  Moments like this are rare so I melt every time they happen and try to let them last as long as possible before intervening! 


We had a playdate with our friends Jamie, Coen and Shaw at Bounce U, which was our first time.  Nolan was a little hesitant on some things, but overall he did really well!  I was really surprised at how much he loved the wall climb, and how good he was at it!  Acelyn spent most of her time hanging out in my arms, but took a break to play in the gymnastic mat area.







  
When we got home, she was so exhausted from watching her big brother bounce around, that she wouldn't wake up to eat her lunch.  Once  I finally got some food in her tummy, she was a happy camper and had the best giggle fit.  





The next day, she came down with a really high fever that lasted a couple days, so she got lots and lots of extra snuggles and love.  Unfortunately, this was just the start of the horrible flu bug we all came down with at some point within a months time.  Jason started with it and each one of us had it different weeks, and it.was.rough.  Needless to say, the remainder of our month and beginning of March was pretty uneventful and spent inside a ton!


...Here's to next month! (and warmer weather!)



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