Milestones

It seems like nothing and a lot of things have been happening all at the same time around here. I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s how I feel.  What I mean is nothing "big" has happened. No vacations, births, graduations, visitors to the house...nothing is going on. BUT on the other hand, SO much has happened with the girls in the past few weeks!

#1: Hayden is potty trained!!! She is doing AWESOME and rarely even pees in her pull up at night (we usually put her to bed in underwear). I can’t believe how great she has done for such a young girl! Of course now it annoys me even more that we can’t seem to get rid of the binky. I mean really?! You can pee on the potty and hold it ALL night, but can’t manage to survive without a binky? I dunno, it just seems a little silly to me.

#2: Bryar is mobile.  I wouldn’t really call it crawling yet (more like an army crawl/scoot) but she is SUPER close to real life crawling and can get anywhere she wants to (and she gets there fast!).

#3: Bryar waves. On purpose. As in not just flapping her arms around, but actually smiling and WAVING to say hi.  It makes me happy :)

 

#4: Bryar claps! Man she’s done a lot of stuff lately! She pretty much seems to be big into the imitating these days, which is making is easier to teach her to do things and I love it!

#5: Hayden has learned how to jump. As in off both feet at the same time. Doesn’t seem that exciting, I know, but it’s a developmental milestone and has brought with it a lot of fun, laughs and a little terror, because she now jumps off EVERYTHING. Side tables, bar height chairs, couches, you name it and she is climbing up to jump off.  I’m convinced that she is going to be in the x-games some day because she is such a crazy girl! And slightly fearless. Which in turn scares me to death.

I can’t believe how much the girls are growing up!

On that note, Hayden went to her first official movie! (Technically she’s been to a few, but this was the first one where she was actually supposed to be watching as opposed to snoozing in her baby carseat.) The big feature?! TOY STORY 3! We loved it so much! We saw it in 3D, partly because I think 3D movies are fun but mostly because I wanted to get pictures of Hayden with the ridiculous glasses on!  She did pretty dang good for a first movie experience, except for the part where she choked on sierra mist and proceeded to puke up pop for a bit…that was a rough patch! She also decided she had to pee with 10 minutes left in the movie, but hey, when a 20 month old's gotta go she’s gotta go! She seemed to love the whole movie experience and it was fun for Ben and I to take her out on a little date by herself (Bry stayed with grandma Leffler). 

P.S. I know I said Hayden is probably going to be in the x-games someday, but if that doesn't work out then perhaps gymnastics will be a back up plan:

Summer time

A little sunshine and some rain too

This winter I realized that I have FINALLY, after over 10 years, become accepting of Nebraska winters.  Maybe it is to compensate for poor Ben, who has lived here his whole life and yet told me last week that he is already getting depressed about winter coming (umm hello, it’s june…?!?). ANYWAY, I used to hate the snow, now I don’t. I used to hate the wind…I still do…but I have accepted it as a part of life here. I have become increasingly impressed with myself to the point where I really wondered what the big deal was about summer. So it’s warm…so what? The cold isn’t so bad, right?! And then came this BEAUTIFUL weather, and now I am sitting here questioning my sanity and how I could ever, even for a second, think that summer is anything but the most amazing season that exists.  I mean really, snow Heather?! What was I thinking?! Summer is where it’s at my friends! Need examples of why I was crazy to think winter was even an acceptable season? Read on…

1. Family outdoor car washing! How cute is it to watch little Hayden grab her soapy sponge and scrub dirt off of the car?! (And the cement, and Ben’s hair, and her clothes…)

Could you do that in the winter? I suppose you could but then I would be forced to question YOUR sanity!

 

2.. Memorial day. There is a reason that doesn’t happen in winter. It is a day meant for swimming, barbequing, s’mores, picnics, and all around outdoor enjoyment.  This year Ben didn’t work (thank Heavens he doesn’t work at V.I. anymore and can actually enjoy a holiday with the fam!!!) and we had a blast doing ALL the things meant to be done on Memorial day.  We enjoyed our day with our friends Courtney and Dan and basically relaxed! We had a picnic at the park (Hayden is SO obsessed with swinging!) then went swimming at Star City Shores:

Then we had a fabulous barbeque of hamburgers and hot dogs (and chips and cheetohs puffs and cookies and pop and all that delicious/terrible for you food) and then roasted s’mores. It was a BLAST!  

 

  3. Summer storms! I mean really, the word SUMMER is in the name because they just don’t happen in the winter. Tornado season is upon us and our family is loving it! Crazy thunder, lightning, sudden downpours…all the makings of some great pictures and an AWESOME nights sleep. Really, we LOVE storms.  One of our favorite family activities is sitting outside and just watching the skies go crazy…it’s so beautiful!

 

Hopefully when winter comes I will once again be able to put behind me my love of beautiful summer weather and remember that winter really isn’t so bad, and that summer will be back again soon…but with as well as this summer is already going it might be a harder task than I thought it would be!

Well, I think that’s about it for today, but I wanted to leave you with a lovely photo montage (as if I haven’t already posted a zillion pictures!!!) that I like to call “The world according to Hayden.” Enjoy :D

 

The end!