Dixie 11 months

 Only 1 month till her big day! I can't believe it. She gets bigger and more adorable every day. And I've got the pictures to prove it! Check it out:

First time on the rocking puppy!

Her little sits are adorbs. 

She loves her books- finally! She reaches for the every time she finished nursing.

She's rarely laying down any more but she had to get her stretches in.

Climbing shenanigans.

Cutest winter babes ever. The cold doesn't seem to bother her at all. She's constantly kicking off her blanket on our walks.

And she loves to watch the snow while smudging up my door. (Maddie's problem, not mine, thanks to the chore chart.)

She loves to crawl up and peek at me over the side of the bed.

My best tiny sidekick!

Seriously who could resist that face? Not me! You get whatever you want, sister. 

Some things about Dixie in the past month:

~She grew her first two teeth within a few days of each other (see above) and loves to chomp things with them- luckily not me anymore! She tried that for about 3 days.

~Still nurses 4 times a day- can't wait to starting weaning in a few weeks.

~Sleeps all night but has been having crying periods during the night when she wants snuggles.

~Loves to eat real food and baby food. She and Lance have this system where her literally just pours it in her mouth from the container and she sucks it down and it takes 8 seconds and doesn't make a mess so who am I to question it?

~Crawls like crazy and tries to climb anything that she can.

~Takes a few steps with her baby stroller walker but isn't too interested in walking.

~She has stood on her own for 1-2 seconds a couple times this week.

~LOVES water. Like so much. I give her her water bottle and she guzzles it like it's a bottle of milk. I have to pry it out of her hands.

~Loves playing in her playpen by herself for extended periods of time (15-20 minutes).

~ Takes a morning and afternoon nap every day (1.5-2.5 hours) and when we're home, she loves a 3rd evening nap still and I have to wake her up at 6 so she can go to be at 7:15. Girl loves sleep.

~Adores all of her siblings. She is always trying to playing with them and is so happy when they give her attention.

~Doesn't say many words but will say up, all done, dada on occasion and my favorite aa-ts (??) all the time.

~Gets fussy when she has to spend too much time in her carseat, which unfortunately happens a lot these days. 

~Still wearing a mix of 9 and 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

~Weighs 19 lbs 5 oz- 50th percentile exactly. 

~Really enjoys going on walks with me and Blade every day. She is seriously silent, taking in the world the whole time.

Happy 11/12 birthday, Ducky!

Valentine's Day

 With President's Day and remote learning on Friday, we basically had a 5 day weekend for Valentine's Day, and we made the most of it!

Th girls spent the weeks before in anticipation, with lots of pink clothes and treats. Maddie chose pink cupcakes for her FHE dessert.

And Daryn showed off her adorable new dress from Gigi.

Reagan and I spent a lot of time working on her Valentine's box- my first time making one as a parent! It turned out so cute. She chose an oven as a tribute to her love of baking.

Reagan and Daryn both worked hard on their Valentine's for their class. Reagan made custom bookmarks for each one and Daryn made these adorable critters (and posed them with her butterfly painting). And the best part was, they did them all by themselves!

The girls had fun parties at school and then it was time for a party at home! We invited a few little friends over on Friday afternoon for a Valentines tea party. We spent Thursday night and Friday morning getting everything ready!

And everyone had a great time! 4 big girls and 5 little girls. 

They were all very fancy and proper for about 20 minutes and then ran around screaming for an hour. So exactly what you'd expect.

Immediately after the tea party, Meagan arrived to babysit so Lance and I could go on a date!

The kids love when she comes. We're lucky to have her!

First stop on our date was picking up my car, which had been in the shop all week. (Cramming everyone into Lance's 4runner while he took the train was not super fun, but I'm grateful we all fit.). My car was getting fixed because I was in an accident on Feb 1, when I didn't see a car coming and pulled out of our neighborhood and hit them. Scary stuff. Everyone in our car was fine, but they did have some minor injuries and their car was totaled. 

After getting my car, we went to Zupas, shopping, and then got a couples massage. We stopped by home quickly so I could feed Dixie, then we had a late dinner at Tiburon in Salt Lake. It was a truly delightful and relaxing evening. 

Saturday morning, we had a yummy breakfast and stopped by the church to heart attack the bishop's office (we made the hearts for at-home Activity Days).

We started a new incentive program with the girls, when every time they read 15 new books (Reagan and Daryn love to read, but I noticed they were re-reading the same books over and over again), they got a special date with Daddy! The first one was ice skating. It's been a great motivator, especially for Maddie who is still learning and not always loving it. Reagan and Daryn finished the same day. I'm impressed that it only took them 7 weeks (we got them lots of new books for Christmas to read). 

Reagan was up first, on Saturday evening. Checking out the new Ice Ribbon in Bountiful. 

And TonyBurgers after!

Sunday, we had a nice holiday at home. We got to go to church, so of course the girls dressed up. And we stopped by the temple after- can't believe how fast it's going!

Lots of progress from a month ago to now:

After church I told the kids I wanted one picture of them in their pretty Valentines clothes. They all sat on the couch, and I sat on the table to get the right angle. Unfortunately, right as I sat down, Reagan yelled "there's a chocolate right there!" Yep. I sat right on Daryn's caramel chocolate and smushed it flat. There was no recovering the photo op after that. Even bribery couldn't salvage it. 

The best we could do:

Daryn got her date on Monday. She also chose TonyBurgers. (The real winner was me, who got delicious burgers brought home both nights.)

The girls both had a blast. And they are both officially better ice skaters than me. I can't believe how well they do. They're so beautiful and talented and smart! The perfect end to a great holiday weekend. 

The past month

 Meagan babysat MLK weekend and we went on a date. We finally got to try a restaurant that opened a couple years ago nearby, HuHot. It was super yummy. And then we saw the new Tom Hanks movie, which was pretty good. The kids had tons of fun at home. 

Apparently dress up was the order of the day.

Don't ask.

The next day, it finally snowed enough to go sledding (kind of). We were worried we wouldn't get another chance so we jumped on it. Pretty tame but that's actually how they like it.

Dixie's first time and she liked it pretty well.

Blade was a huge fan even though we had to coax him the first few times.

That day was also National Pie and we celebrated in style with chicken pot pie and cherry pie. You really can't go wrong with pie. 

The next few weeks ended up being pretty cold and snowy (although, as I predicted, we haven't had another chance to sled yet). Lots of time indoor play and snuggling.

This is Daryn's butterfly that she painted at school. Her name is Tasha.

This kid knows how to chill.

 

It may be winter, but a little snow doesn't stop me from walking!

Or Blade from chasing the garbage truck down the street to wave.

Snow play time while Lance and Reagan were at her robotics competition one Saturday. Her team took 2nd!

Those January sunsets are something else. And we get to see lots of them driving home from karate!

I made groundhogs out of nutter butters and marshmallows for Groundhogs day. It's about as creative as I get. 

Reagan painted this beautiful garden marker rocks to donate to the Ogden Nature Center where she volunteered. They turned out so great!

Super Bowl Sunday! We were way more interested in the food than the game so we made it all and watched The Cokesville Miracle. 

Daryn drew this adorable sketch of Daddy when he still had glasses in the shower. 

Comparing arms/hands. We worry sometimes about how slender and almost frail Daryn is (middle). 

She was super brave getting her blood drawn yet again for a drs appointment. 

I love my walks with the kids. Best part of my day. One time Blade just sat down on the sidewalk. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm sliding, Mommy." OK, buddy. 

Maddie and I had an extensive conversation about unicorns on this walk.

Reagan got 3rd place in her school's Invention Convention for her science project Grime Slime- slime that cleans!

Trying Dad's shoes on for size.

Is it spring yet?