May 9, 2016

Ariana is 2!


What? Can I please re-wind? Actually, it does feel like a full two-years since our baby Ariana was born. A lot has happened and like a little family caboose, she is always along for the ride. Now that she is getting older and wiser, she pretty much thinks she's the boss. And because she's so cute, we go along with it. Most of the time.

I feel so lucky to get to spend my days with her. We go to the gym most mornings. Ariana loves the ladies that work in the Kid's Club and usually tells me afterwards that she played with puzzles, dolls and coloring. We spend the rest of our time playing at home, going to the grocery store, walking back and forth to school to pick up Lexi and Zara and playing in the back yard. Ariana loves going to Bebe Jan's house on Fridays. She usually doesn't even want to say goodbye to me because she's so excited to play.


Her favorite things to do right now are to play Zingo!, watch Super Why and Paw Patrol, swing outside, ride her trike, color and read books. She loves her baby and bunny and makes sure they are always with her. She is a great helper and listener and loves to help her big sisters set the table for dinner and help me with the laundry. I have to hold her hand while I vacuum and hold her when the blender is on because they are "too loud!" Ariana loves the water and had a great time playing in the pool and water table outside during the heat wave we had for Spring Break. She never wants to get out of the bath tub and tells us, "I still swimming!"

Ariana was an early talker and now speaks in sentences and uses way more words than I can count. She says "my" instead of "I" and it is the cutest thing. "My do it" and "My help." When I ask her how old she is going to be she says "two candles!" She calls herself "Na-na" and we have all pretty much started calling her that too. When someone asks what her name is she says, "Ari-na-na" Her face lights up with a big smile whenever we sing her favorite songs - Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Row Row Your Boat and If Your Happy and You Know It. She makes sure I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her before every nap and bedtime and I happily oblige.

I am much less structured with her meals and eating habits than I was with the twins at this age, but I guess I've learned it doesn't really matter that much in the long run or I just don't want to fight her. She drinks a lot of milk and her favorite foods are ham, eggs, cheese, steak, pulled pork, french fries, macaroni and cheese, strawberries, bananas and gummy snacks. She refuses to eat most vegetables other than carrots, but she devours my homemade zucchini muffins so I figure she will be fine. Ha.

She continues to be tall and lean weighing about 25 lbs and not sure how tall, but will update this after her next doctor visit. She wears size 2T clothes and size 6 shoes.



Edited to add 2 year old stats: 34" (50th percentile) and 25.5 lbs (24th %)

March 19, 2016

Tieton Farm and Creamery

Tieton Farm and Creamery makes the most amazing sheep and goat milk cheese so we were excited to go to their farm tour today to see the baby animals and get a glimpse at a small local farm. The girls (who always say they are going to be farmers when they grow up) were in baby sheep/goat heaven. The little black one fell asleep in Zara's lap and she asked if we could take it home. They were very cute with their big floppy ears. We also saw a cows, a horse, ducks and chickens. Ariana like the baby animals and enjoyed running around the farm. 

We  came home with fresh cheese and eggs and already ate most of the cheese. Yummy food doesn't last long around here. 







February 20, 2016

Baby Chicks

We now have our first pets, according to Zara. She says the goldfish didn't count. We picked up four baby chicks yesterday at the farm store. Now it's time for M to get to work building the coop! I'm looking forward to fresh eggs and chickens roaming around the backyard this summer.




February 4, 2016

The Never ending Winter...

 So our first Yakima winter has been snow, ice and more snow. Supposedly "it's not normally like this." Alright. I love the snow, its gorgeous. Especially when the sun is also shining. But I do not need two straight months of it. We have settled into a nice routine with school, swimming lessons and mornings at the gym for Ariana and I. On Fridays, Ariana loves spending the day with her Bebe Jan. I try to get a bunch of work done and volunteer in the girls' kindergarten classroom in the afternoon. Here are some quick January snapshots.

Reading books together before school one morning

Zara asked, "Is it spring yet?"




A fun hike in Issaquah - Poo Poo Point

Pretending they are pairs skaters

Cheese!

Daddy's girl

This doesn't happen too often...