Cute Little Stories Catch-Up

I feel like I'm so far behind on recording all of the "cute little stories" that happen everyday in our life. The girls give me more than enough material, it's just a matter of having enough time to record it all (and remember it all!). I've tried to remember some of the more recent moments that have in some way, shape or form left a smile on our hearts. Hope you enjoy them like we do :)

Maryn's speech has skyrocketed lately. She is putting two, three and even four words together to form little sentences. She is picking up new words at such a rapid pace that I'm not even sure if I know everything that she is able to say. She surprises me daily. With her new found confidence in her speaking abilities, also comes some character (imagine that in our family!). She has hand and arm motions that are just a scream. She is so dramatic! Her favorite is to point her finger and shake it at you when she's trying to make a stern point. Makes us smile every time!

Monday Maryn and I were on our way to pick up some cookies from a downtown bakery so we could drop them off to Josh's office for his birthday. We had to drive by his office first and Maryn was just losing it "Daddy! Daddy!" She couldn't understand why I wasn't stopping at his office. So I explained to her that we had to go get some cookies first and then we could go to Daddy's office. This seemed to calm her down and she got quiet for a few moments. Then after driving a few more blocks she says to me "Cookie, Elmo, Big Bird, Mommy! Yeah Cookie!" I just started laughing. The child's first reaction when I say the word "cookie" is to think Cookie Monster from all of her books (since she has very rarely even seen the actual show)! I think she was disappointed to see the three dozen cookies instead of her big blue furry friend!

Makenna is as busy as a bee. She loves her new schedule (as it allows her to see her friends a lot) but it definitely has taken it's toll. During the first few weeks of school, she was falling asleep in the afternoon on a fairly regular basis. This prompted me to start a mandated quiet time every afternoon for an hour in hopes that she will fall asleep. Of course she has yet to actually fall asleep during the quiet time, but it has cut back on the amount of random naps she was having.

One thing that has helped ease her schedule is that she didn't like dance class at all (which was shocking to us) and after three weeks of making her go, we decided that she could quit. No use in paying the money if she didn't like it. Finally on the last day I think the truth may have slipped out... she made some comment about wanting to go to a dance class with "older kids." Her class had a lot of younger, quieter kids which doesn't flow with her personality very well.

Now soccer on the other hand, she LOVES. She never wants to leave. Much faster pace (compared to dance) and she never stops moving. She is the only girl on her team, but it only seemed to bug her once so far. Otherwise she's right in there with the boys. She's not overly aggressive, but I'm not sure if that's her personality or just a comparison to all the boys she's playing with. At her first practice a bunch of kids were all kicking their balls into the goal at the same time and they all ended up in a heap by the goal. Here is my sweet little girl saying "Excuse me, excuse me" while trying to get her ball out from the bottom of the heap. Josh and I just smile! She has taken a number of good biffs so far but doesn't seem to mind at all. She just shakes it off and keeps going. And the other best part of soccer is watching Maryn on the sidelines... she stands there clapping and yelling "Go Nenny! Kick the ball!" Over and over and over! I think she likes to watch almost as much as we do!

As Makenna matures we try to give her more responsibilities that we feel she can handle. One of the big steps for her recently is that she can cross the street by herself to go to her friend's house (only if mommy or daddy are standing in the yard watching). Well to say the least, the kids in our neighborhood are oblivious to the street or looking for cars. We have hounded Makenna about this hoping that she doesn't follow their bad behaviors. Well a few weeks ago, she went across the street like typical (giving me her two thumbs up after she successfully made it across!) to ask her friend to play at our house. I was watching them come back and sure enough her friend just bolts in the street without looking. Makenna stood at the curb, yelled for her friend to come back and I hear her tell her "You have to stop here and look both ways otherwise you could get hurt by a car." I was SO INCREDIBLY proud of her at this moment! When she got back to our yard I took her aside to tell her just how proud I was of her - she was beaming ear to ear!

A few weeks ago I had a party to go to, so Daddy took the girls out to eat. I told the girls to milk it for all it was worth but they picked (yet once again) the gross playstation at McDonald's. Josh said the girls had fun, and Makenna was in big sister mode that night :) Josh could hear the girls up in the tubes and apparently some of the older kids must have been yelling at Maryn to move. Josh hears Makenna yell back "Hey don't you yell at her. She's my sister." Yes my heart is melting, but it gets even better. They were getting ready to leave and Josh asked Makenna if she knew where Maryn was up in the tubes. Makenna got a panicked look on her face, rounded up all her friends (that she just made while she was there) and says "Come on, you gotta help me find my sister!" And sends all these little kids in different directions in the tubes to find Maryn! I'm so proud of the protective big sister she has become. Can't wait to see what she does when she has two little siblings to protect!

Maryn is on a Dora kick. It's so extreme that Josh has mentioned renaming her Dora. She loves this character so much. She got the DVD for her birthday and is absolutely glued to the screen when we let her watch it and cries when it is over. She sings all the songs and yells all the phrases. It's so endearing. Part of me thinks she likes it so much because it's her own thing and doesn't have to share it with Makenna (Makenna doesn't care for Dora all that much).

And two random funny quotes from Makenna. One day last week when Josh was out of town for business, totally unprompted any time I asked Makenna to do something she replied with "As you wish!" I thought it was a joke the first time and almost started laughing but then watched her do some foo-foo thing with her hands and kind of dance away. The "As you wish" continued all day long and made me smile every time. Then last night as she was getting sick and in the middle of throwing up, the dear child looks up at me and says "I think I got your cold mommy." Poor thing. She's feeling much better now.

I'll end with a moment that absolutely melted my heart. It was one of those moments I always dreamed I'd have with my family. Usually Josh and I put the girls to bed separately (I'll take one, he'll take the other and we'll switch off every night to get equal time with the girls). Well last night for some reason everyone was mingling around in Makenna's room reading books and we were waiting for Josh to come upstairs with all the stuffed animals. Well the girls and I all crawled into Makenna's bed and laid there waiting for Daddy. As soon as Josh walked in and told Maryn it was time for her to go to bed with him, she laid her head to the side and started making snoring noises like she was sleeping! She wanted to stay with Nenny! So Daddy hopped in bed with us and decided to tell bedtime stories all together in Makenna's room. I know I can't put into words the sweet interactions between the girls and Josh as he was telling one of his famous made-up stories, but it was absolutely priceless. Maryn had a comment for everything he had to say. For moments like these, I thank God with all my heart.