five favorites (07/02)

Whew! Although I thought maybe we’d have a busy week because we’d have a baby… The littlest lady is still comfy-cozy in there, so we’ve been filling up our time with a lot of other fun activities. Here are my favorites from this past week and weekend!

ONE. We’ve had a few visitors this week! The girls were really looking forward to having both grandmas here, and they were counting down the days until their arrival. Grandma Debbie was able to spend the weekend with us for Kaelyn’s birthday party, and Grandma Gina has been here all week, waiting for baby!My mom cooked up a huge batch of homemade chicken nuggets for us to enjoy (instead of our usual fallbacks of sandwiches and cereal) because I haven’t been able to cook for most of this pregnancy, so we enjoyed those for a few days. She also spent a lot of time coloring with the girls and helped clean a bit.My Mom-in-law and I have cleaned/nested just about everywhere else in the house this week (so now it’s time for the baby to come, right?)! It’s been so nice not to be alone during the day, too. Not carrying Nella all around is also a big plus!Grandpa Skip came up just for this past weekend! Kaya and Kaelyn were so excited to see him. They snuggled a lot and watched some “Shaun the Sheep” together, which is something they look forward to doing every time they see Grandpa!Nella took a while to warm up to him this time, so I don’t have any snuggly pictures of them together, but I do have one of him wearing her hat… Who couldn’t love this goofy guy?TWO. Kaya had her first-ever piano lesson from Grandma! She wrote out all the notes to “Once There Was a Snowman” so Kaya could practice something fun that she recognizes. She’s not reading music yet, but I am impressed with how quickly she’s memorizing songs and picking up on everything.She practiced hard all week long so she could surprise Grandpa Skip when he arrived!
Of course, the little sisters like to have a turn, too.THREE. We took Kaelyn out for her special birthday dinner this week (not-so-coincidentally on the same day that Red Robin was handing out free milkshakes)! She was the happiest girl in the world when the waiters sang to her and she got her birthday sundae at the end. This is a genuine-Kaelyn smile!We might be the silliest people in Red Robin any time we go…Kaya hopped from one side of the table to the other to be in both pictures. Yay!FOUR. Kaya’s been saving her allowance from helping out around the house, and we told her that once she paid tithing at church, she could spend some of it on something she wanted. It took her a while to be willing to pay her tithing, but she finally made her own decision to do it last weekend.

She’s been asking for her own camera for a really long time, so I found a deal on this little Canon Powershot for her for $29. It’s definitely a decent starter camera! She’s been bringing it just about everywhere, making videos, and trying to take the sharpest photos she can. It’s been really cool to see life from her point of view, and it’s also fun to have another little photographer around.“Let’s take a picture of each other taking a picture!” It was all her idea.FIVE. It’s been hot outside, so Michael picked up a little sprinkler to surprise the girls with on Saturday night. They liked running through it for a few minutes, but ultimately, they really wanted to play with the kiddie pool and the slide.

And yeah, I’m married to a total goofball (but I love it)! They always make the funniest faces once they hit the water!Nella really wanted a turn, so Grandma helped her out. She kept saying “WHOA!” anytime someone splashed!These little girls with big smiles… melting my heart.Simple evenings are my favorites. I never wanted to go inside.

Happy Monday!