Fun Milwaukee Weekend!

We were just in Milwaukee about a month ago for a couple weekdays while Alec worked there. We had a fun, quick trip.  Stayed with friends (Dan and Melanie) and got to see a few other people as well. 

We didn't get to see our friends Brad and Jesie though; so decided to come back and make a long weekend of it! We stayed with them and had so much fun hanging out just like old times. 

Other friends in the area (Shane and Jody) had a baby recently and we got to go to their house and see their new daughter. It's been a while since I held a newborn and I forgot how tiny they are! They have a 2yr old daughter as well, and she is adjusting great. They actually have one of the craziest birth stories ever with their new baby; she was born in the car on the way to the hospital!!! It was fun hearing the story in person and we actually got to listen to the 911 call they made! 

We did a lot of fun things this weekend:

 - Jessie and I went shopping; one outing with our kids and another outing just the two of us. I am sure you can guess which outing was more fun.....  Shopping with toddlers is not exactly advised. 

- Alec and Brad installed child locks on their cupboards and then went on a distillerary tour. 

- They taught us a new game, Hanabi, which was really fun and we can't wait to play it at home! 

- We got a babysitter Saturday night for the two kids and we went out for dinner followed by Yo Mama, our favorite frozen yogurt shop. 

Bennett (10mon old) and Brie had a fun time together.  They are a little young to play together but definitely entertained each other, and we had fun making them interact! 

And this is what parents of young children do at night, especially when these young children both woke up at 5:30am.....

We had such a great weekend, thanks Brad and Jessie for hosting us!!!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is kind of a ridiculous holiday, but a fun excuse to celebrate the people you love! Brie and I were so surprised when we were delivered beautiful flowers from Alec! Josie of course tried to rip off the head of the delivery man.....

Brie liked the little card that came with her rose far more than the flower. She carried that thing around all day. I dressed her in pink pants and a pink shirt, maybe a little much but definitely festive! 

I found an idea on Pinterest for a heart shaped cake, and really wanted to try it! It was fun and turned out really well I thought! 

When Alec got home from work I had a little present for him (new sunglasses for our AZ trip coming up!). And we had a present for Brie, an Elmo (or 'Elma' as Brie says it) valentines book and new pjs. 

(This is Brie's new 'cheese' face....attractive isn't it?!)

I had big plans for making a family dinner, but neither Alec or I were that hungry. So we all just ate left overs and had cake :) 

Talking Toddler

Well finally the toddler talks! Well, more or less. She has been saying so many more words recently, it's so fun! 

Probably the cutest thing she does is her animal noises. Not exactly talking, but close enough. She will make the animal noises no matter how grouchy or tired she is. Many of the noises sound the same, with very minor variations. The animals she knows are:

Horse: shakes her head and makes neigh sound. 

Goat: (see horse)

Pig: some sort of a throat noise 

Dog: ooof

Cat: a nasal meow (probably my favorite one!)

Monkey: ooo ooo

Lion: rahr

Cow: Booooo (no, not a typo) 

The words she says changes from day to day, sometimes she will say a single word all day and then we won't ever hear it again. She will randomly try and copy a word you say; but never ever when promoted too. Some of her words are:

Mama: not always appropriately though, will point to random people and say it. But if you ask her where is mama, she immediately points to me. 

Go-go: dog

Nigh nigh: good night

Mo: more

El: help

Er go: here you go (whenever she hands you anything)

Nooooo: drags it out every time, doesn't ever just say no. 

Hi: to everyone, everywhere! 

I'm probably missing some, but that's about it. She understands everything, it's crazy! She knows who most of the family members are, and points to them appropriately when asked "where is ____?"  

I'm sure the parrot stage is not too far off. It is really fun to watch her learn this all and continue to develop. She is so precious and such a blessing to us! 

Snow and Cold.....and repeat

Like everywhere in the Midwest it has been so stinking cold and we have gotten so much snow!  Everyone is starting to get a little sick of it around here; we know spring is a long ways off but it sure would be nice to be above freezing temps for a few days.

Alec and Mike spent almost an entire Saturday clearing off our roof of all the snow.  I'm not entirely sure this was a job that HAD to be done or they just thought it would be a cool adventure.  Either way they got an amazing work out, there was tons and tons of snow piled up there!  It is a huge roof....should be fun to re-roof it this spring! 

Josie has been stir crazy this winter, acting like a crazy animal sometimes with all her cooped up energy!  Here she is jumping up on the snow pile to try and go get Mike, but just couldn't move after she got up there!

We took Brie outside one day to have her check it all out.  I found her puffy coat and snow pants at Goodwill a while back, only had socks for mittens though.  Although I will not be buying her mittens, because she did NOT exactly enjoy being outside.  

Mostly we have been staying inside, which is getting a little boring.  So we are going to be making more trips the different libraries in the area and I just signed up Brie for swim lessons.  There is a place about 15min away, they say the pool is 90 degrees.  Hopefully she likes it!  I figure we will just do it for a few months; as of now she still doesn't really enjoy bath time, and with us having a pool I'd love for her to be comfortable in and like the water.  We shall see how it goes.

I made Josie a 'nest' with this blanket, she didn't move for HOURS!  Lazy......