Forts

A few weeks ago I ordered 72 plastic storage bins when they were on sale for less than $1 each (I bought 36 and my sister bought 36). What a fun day when they arrived on the porch. I brought them in a stacked them in the entry way. By the end of the night, the kids had found their little hiding spot in the corner.

The next day I moved them into the office and built them an actual fort complete with windows and a blanket roof. The kids went nuts and LOVE it. Unfortunately, I've had to slowly take it down as I have opened the boxes and started filling the storage bins. Now instead of a fort, it has turned into a little maze that they still LOVE! Wow how their little imaginations are running wild!

I'm Working!

Brooklyn loves to mimick everything we do. One day I found her sprawled out on the floor with her laptop, pens, paper, and crayons. When I asked her what she was doing she quickly replied, "I'm working mom!" It's hard to see in the pictures, but my favorite part was how she stuffed as many crayons as she could into her one back pocket. Most of them had fallen out by the time I grabbed the camera. You can only see 2 green crayons, but I thought it was hilarious!

Movie Night

We have never done a movie night before. So one night we decided it would be a lot of fun to rent Toy Story 3 and pop some popcorn. Brayden LOVED it, of course. Brooklyn did quite well and made it til the last 15 minutes before she decided she was done. Here is a picture of Josh with the 2 kids snuggling on the couch. I think it's adorable how Brooklyn is resting her head on Brayden. She loves him SO much!

Twins' Birthday

Rachael and Jacob had their birthday on the 15th. We all celebrated by going to a new Japanese restaurant in Ft. Union. It was a lot of fun and the food was fantastic. We were at 2 different tables across from each other. I loved the kids' reaction to everything the chef did. They both watched closely when they were flipping the knives around. Then came the fire...the Brayden and Brooklyn did not like it very much.
This is how Brooklyn sat the majority of the time:

Brynlee was good like always!

Brooklyn finally was enjoying everything until the table next to us started their dinner. By then she had had enough and ended up "hiding" under the table watching her show until we were done.

Happy Birthday Rachael and Jacob! Thanks for all you do for us! We love you lots!

Valentine's Day

The kids have been sick the past week, so I decided that we shouldn't go out. I tried to be creative with stuff we had around the house and we ended up having a pretty fun day. We started by decorating hearts and setting up a treasure hunt for dad. The kids loved coloring, painting, and putting stickers on all the hearts. I left my nice camera at the Ericson's so don't mind the poor quality of these pics:

For lunch we had heart shaped sandwiches:

Here is part of our treasure hunt. Josh had to follow the hearts that lead to his treasure. It started at the front door: Went up the stairs:

Around the hallway: And ended up in the baby's room:My mom stopped by and left valentines with tatoos in them for the kids on the doorstep.
It's become a semi-tradition to go to Training Table on Valentine's day with the kids. We've done it quite a few times since Brayden was born, so we thought it would be fun to keep it going. Josh's parents met us there and we had a great dinner.

After we put the kids to bed, I got out my "special" dessert. I had decided to do this during the day, since we've never done fondue before. I was planning on melted chocolate chips with a few things I had in the kitchen to dip. I mentioned it to my sister, Rachelle, who is living in the basement. Ironically, they were planning on doing the same thing. The only difference was that they were prepared. Rachelle came to my rescue and shared a lot of their stuff - their dipping chocolate (SO yummy), angel food cake, bananas, and fresh pineapple. I made rice krispie treats for all of us and gave them some cinnamon and gummy bears. Thanks Rachelle!!! Josh and I sat on a blanket eating way too much while we watched the Bachelor. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

4 Months!

Has it been 4 months already?! I can't believe how fast it keeps going. Brynlee continues to be a calming presence in our home. She is smiling all the time now and giggles and laughs and just about anything. She rolled over for the first time yesterday! And now that's all she wants to do. She loves tummy time and plays on her tummy multiple times during the day. She now HAS to be in the upright position all day. She doesn't even really like the bouncer anymore...all she does is try to sit up. She is very curious about everything, yet loves to just chill with us as well. I finally have her naps scheduled to coincide with Brayden and Brooklyn's, which means I have my 2-3 hours to myself every afternoon again (I'm SO loving that.) She sleeps quite well at night, and is starting to go to bed earlier which is nice. We are so in love with this little girl. The other kids adore her and love playing with her. We love you Bryn!

Brynlee's stats:
Weight - 12.1 lbs (25%)
Height - 23.75 in (75%)

Superbowl

For the superbowl this year we went to Jeff and Amy's house. His parent's were there as well as Adam. We had an enjoyable afternoon. All the kids do so well together we don't have to worry about them. The only picture I took was of Claire and Brooklyn watching the little DVD player. So cute! Thanks Jeff and Amy for a great Superbowl!

Brynlee

Brynlee just keeps growing and growing! She still loves to be on her tummy. She also is starting to become very interested in toys. So naturally it was time to get out the exersaucer. She's still a little small for it, but she's so dang cute that it doesn't matter. Here she is chillin' on her tummy:Probably one of the best things we've ever bought: