Belated Christmas Post!

Well, my last blog post was over two months ago, but it hardly seems like that much time has gone by. It seems like yesterday, our little girl was turning 5, and we had just finished celebrating Thanksgiving. It's true that time passes in the blink of an eye, but the past two months have seemed even faster than usual. Let me recap!

On December 23rd, we had an inspection on our home. We hadn't expected to pass, and our builder kept insisting that we try not to get our hopes up. However, we were surprised and thrilled when we were told that we could move whenever we wanted! So we went back to my parents' house, packed as quickly as we could, and spent one more night as my parents' tenants. On Christmas Eve, we spent the day at my grandma's house, and then drove to our new home to spend our first night on air mattresses, setting up our miniature Christmas tree, and waiting for Santa! On Christmas morning, we excitedly opened presents, and spent the morning in our pajamas, enjoying our new home! Movers came the next day, and we've been attempting to unpack ever since! It was definitely a Christmas we will never forget!

Looking at the Christmas tree at our family Christmas party

Yep, this is the best picture I could get of the girls at the party. Madelyn still has not come to appreciate photography! 

Eric and my dad admiring Lillian! 

Lillian's First Christmas! 

Santa found our new address! 

Christmas morning

Thankfully, McDonald's was open Christmas morning for our breakfast coffee! 

Christmas visit from Bapa, Mar, and Aunt Mimi

So now, we are thoroughly enjoying our new home. We are still drowning in boxes, haven't put a thing up on the walls, and are using plastic cutlery because we can't find our spoons... but we are very happy! 

Maddy is fully immersed in her Terrible Two's. Here she is,  being a boss!

Playing Mrs. Donna's piano

Playing with pretend snow at the Frozen party at the library!

Coloring!

It took us weeks to get through the laundry in our new home! 

Yes, we do have a new pet - Mr. Bunny!

The girls love playing with Mr. Bunny. Too bad they don't love cleaning or feeding him! 

Dress up! 

Taylor Turns 5!

Happy belated birthday to our beautiful, charismatic, outgoing, energetic daughter, Taylor! Her birthday was on November 24th. We enjoyed a family dinner out that evening, and then she had fun with her friends at Ball Factory last Friday!

It's hard to believe that Taylor will be in kindergarten next year! She is ready. She loves to read and practice her handwriting. We have a word wall and have practiced some phonetic blending to try to get her ready for kindergarten. We've also started doing some math games to help prepare her for simple addition and subtraction (can you tell I'm a primary teacher?!).

She loves going to gymnastics at GymQuest, which she does every Saturday morning.  She also loves doing art projects, singing, dancing, and listening to music. We are enrolling her in an acting class in January, which will be right up her alley. She has matured so much in the last few months. She is easy to take out places now, and really appreciates going to new places. We love taking her on "dates" with us to museums, plays, restaurants, and even just to the store.

With her newfound maturity has come some more sassiness. We are not looking forward to dealing with that as she gets older. She is one strong-willed girl!

Here are her current stats:
Height: 43 inches (66%)
Weight: 46 lbs (82%)
Shoe Size: 11
Clothing Size: 6

Taylor likes...
Singing, reading, dancing, gymnastics, art, drawing, writing stories, running around, playing outside (but not if it's too hot or too cold), imaginative play, playing with her friends, Hannah Montana (yep... sigh), Super Why, Frozen, family movie night, board games, painting her nails, dressing up, cooking, decorating (see pictures below), and being the center of attention!

Taylor dislikes...
Sharing a room with her sister (temporarily), being told "no", scary noises, being in the dark, being bored, playing by herself, going to bed when there's something fun going on (like mom and dad wanting to watch TV!), Maddy invading her space when she's trying to do something, getting her hair brushed.

Preschool Halloween Parade! 

Taylor stole the show at our family photo shoot. 

Love this picture. 

This is her personality in a nutshell. 

My little Anna and Elsa. This was the best picture I could get of Maddy on Halloween. 

Very upset that she lost to another Elsa in a game of "Hot Potato"

Preschool Buddies

Posing in her new room!

Celebrating her birthday at Ball Factory

Just an example of her "decorating"

Elsa

Putting on a magic show... in a very eclectic outfit

My favorite picture- making mud pies in her "wedding dress". I will be saving this for her real wedding some day

Madelyn Turns 2!

Happy 2nd birthday (yesterday!) to our beautiful daughter, Madelyn! I would have posted all of this yesterday, but with work and the birthday celebration and Maddy deciding that 2 year olds don't have to sleep, I just didn't get to it!

Maddy is officially 2, and is definitely acting like she has entered the Terrible Twos. We hear a lot of "no, that's mine!" and "go away now". The tantrums have also begun, especially when she doesn't get a toy or object that she wants. She has become very picky about food, and has made the decision that sleep is overrated. It's way too much fun staying awake and getting into trouble. 

Once upon a time, we were worried that Maddy was slightly delayed in meeting her milestones. Well, let me reassure everyone that it is no longer a concern of ours! Maddy is talking ALL of the time now, and is learning new things every day. She can already count to 20 and knows every letter in the alphabet. She knows all of her colors, and loves identifying them wherever she goes! She loves books, and has memorized her favorites: "The Monster At The End of This Book", "My First Book of Numbers", and "Little Quack's ABC's". 

We spent her birthday evening out to dinner at Home Run Inn, where she ate a little bit of pizza, and devoured her ice cream sundae. She then spent the night in our bed, not as a special birthday treat, but because she was keeping her sister awake! 

We love our little Madelyn and are so proud of her! 

Here are some stats:

Height, weight, head circumference: tbd at her doctors appointment on October 7th! 

Shoe size: 5

Clothing size: 2T

Diaper size: 5 

Some of our favorite Madelyn phrases: 

"So, what do you want to do?"

"That's a big tower, huh?"

"Mama read Monster ehehehsss Book" (Monster at the End of This Book)

"Oh no, it's a terrible mess!"

"What happened? I don't know either." 

"Haha, funny!" (She says as she's laughing)

Maddy likes...

Reading books, watching "Clifford's Puppy Days" or "Super Why", coloring, going to gymnastics, counting, identifying her numbers or letters, cuddling, playing with her sister Taylor, building with blocks or Legos, dressing up, making messes, playing with her "Baby" (red sock monkey), swimming, listening to music, her new cousin Lillian, shoes of all sizes and styles, and playing outside. 

Maddy dislikes... 

Sleeping in the pack and play (sorry Maddy, only a couple more months until we are in our own house again!), sleeping in general, getting her nails clipped, being told "no", smiling for the camera (as seen below), having toys taken from her, and getting her diaper changed. 

The girl loves her sweets

Posing with her sister

Looking at an ant... this was a source of entertainment for about 20 minutes!

Birthday dinner - she wouldn't dream of turning her attention away from her ice cream sundae for this picture! 

Pumpkin patch!

Again, this girl with her sweets

Couldn't sleep... naturally, watching TV with an American flag is the answer

Welcome Baby Lillian!

Congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law on their new arrival! Lillian Everly Forst was born on September 10th. The girls were able to meet their beautiful new cousin today! Taylor was in awe the whole time, and talked about her all the way home! Maddy kept saying "so cute!"

When Dad's Away, the Girls Will Play!

Sam was able to fulfill one of his childhood dreams this weekend: seeing Frank Thomas inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame. He and his friends took a road trip to Cooperstown, NY, for the big event. He is on his way home now, and will inevitably have more pictures and details for me to share. However, this blog post is going to focus on the fun weekend that the girls and I had! So while Sam was away doing things like this... 

We were out and about, doing things like this: 

The Park! Initially not one of our more successful trips, we ended up having a great time!

Blackberry Farm! The girls absolutely loved this place. I can't believe we haven't been before! We will definitely be going back. 

Downtown! We took a trip into the city and explored Millennium Park and had lunch with our good friend, Natalie! 

Movie Nights! Each night, we wound ourselves down with a movie. We watched Ella Enchanted, Shrek Forever After, Monsters Inc., and Beezus and Ramona. 

Outdoor Fun! We spent a lot if time outside this weekend! Bubbles, sprinklers, parks, and bikes kept us busy and active! 

We also went to gymnastics, went out for lunch with our friends Erica and Sophia, made cookies, and had a sleepover together in our bed! I certainly loved every minute that I spent with my girls this weekend! I also am looking forward to Sam being home and sharing in some of the fun, too! (AKA some of the work!)