No Peas Please

 

So far the only baby food that Genni hasn't liked is peas.  She has chowed everything else I have fed her with such fervor that at first I can't seem to feed her fast enough.  However, when it came to trying peas for the first time, she absolutely hated them.  It was hilarious to watch because she made a face at every single spoonful of it.  I couldn't help laughing halfway through feeding her because the disgusted faces she was making never stopped.  Thankfully she has grown to like them and will eat them without fighting me now.  The expressions on her face were priceless though!!

 

Ewwww

I am going to spit this out right now.

 

What is this dribble you have fed me Mom?

 

Please...no more...it's torture!!

I am so glad we are all done!!  Please don't feed me peas again!!

Just Some Pictures

 

Just some pictures of the girls from the past few months.

 

Gwen discovered that she could stick a toothpick in between her two front teeth and it would stay there on its own.  We explained how normally this wasn't something she should do, but got a good laugh out of it first.

 

Gwen and I decided to pretend we were Cousin It, though I had to explain who Cousin It is.  She suggested we looked more like a bigfoot.  We were laughing like crazy.  I love moments like these where I can be silly with the girls, but bond with them and become closer with them at the same time.

Grace made two headbands at school to celebrate 100 days of school.  This was one of them.  She loved wearing it around the house, even while dressed up as a princess.

 

I check on the girls every night before I go to bed.  I had to leave the room quickly because I was laughing so hard when I saw this.  Apparently one of the best things to snuggle with while falling asleep is your own hand...inside a sock puppet.

I have mentioned before that Georgia is obsessed with the movie Tangled.  I made this hair for her the year she dressed up like Rapunzel for Halloween.  She wears it all the time.  I keep trying to pack it back up in the Halloween stuff, but because we're still trying to organize our garage, the tote with all the costumes has been in a very convenient place for her to raid it.  So, for now, we enjoy having Rapunzel in our home on a regular basis.

 Georgia is our only child who will tell us "Mommy...Daddy...I'm tired.  Can I go to bed?"  She climbs in her bed, or falls asleep wherever she is, whenever she feels tired, whereas the other girls will fight to stay awake during the day.  Georgia has been like this since she was a baby though.  I went to check on her because I hadn't heard her in a while, and found her asleep like this.  I can't believe that she could sleep like this...it would drive me crazy (and yes, we do have bunk beds...Robbie is just fixing them right now so we are letting the girls sleep in the toddler beds since they are too scared of bugs sneaking in and crawling on them to sleep on mattresses on the floor-doesn't matter how many times we tell them that we have someone spray to keep bugs out).

I just liked this picture of Genni and decided to put it in here.  It's the only beanie we have for a baby instead of those little baby hats, and it's so cute...and it finally fits!!

Pigtails!!  I was so excited to see that I could finally put pigtails in Genni's hair!!  Her hair has gotten so long since her birth...it's crazy.  Sadly only the top part fits in right now, but the back is getting there!!

 

Genesis cracks us up.  It doesn't matter what baby food she's eating that day, or if she's eating rice cereal or having a bottle...she growls like this at every feeding. 

I love the moments these girls share with us!!

6 Months Old!!

 

A few photos from when Genni turned 6 months old.

 

Cross eyed while looking at the camera

Yummy toes

 

Mmmm Daddy's hand.

 

I love this sweet little girl!!

Valentine's Day

 

I finally got around to posting again-hooray!!

 

This year for Valentine's Day we didn't do anything special like having a super huge dinner or even going out to dinner like we have before, or giving each other big presents.  Instead, we just spent it at home as a family, giving each other simple, hand made items, and it turned out to be one of the nicest Valentine's Days we've had.

 

Gracie got to make her Valentine's box at school, but Gwen's teacher decided that the kids should get creative and make their own at home.  Gwen decided on a monster and we found a few cheap supplies at Hobby Lobby and I helped her make the monster box pictured below.  Some of the kids did robots, some just decorated a box, and one girl even made a castle out of boxes and toilet paper rolls.  I got to see all the different and creative ideas the kids came up with because I am (or was...I have just been promoted) the assistant classroom mom, and I helped with the Valentine's day craft and snack at school that day.  It was great to see how each child's personality affected what they made their box into.  Gwen was so excited about hers-it was a mash up of a bunch of different ideas.

 

My sweet Gracie, all dressed up for Valentine's Day.

Georgia all dressed up and excited for the day.

Gwen had 2 boys this year ask her to be their special valentine, and she was so excited (and I couldn't believe we were already dealing with little crushes!!).

My tiny little baby girl Genesis on her first Valentine's day...such a cutie!!

So I have been telling the girls for a while now that I would make them chore chart tally sheets, cause I am apparently horrible at keeping track of the money they earn for chores.  I have been told just how horrible on multiple occasions.  A while back I had bought a bunch of sheets of chalkboard vinyl from a great site (pickyourplum.com) that offers a daily deal every Monday-Friday, and I had been trying to figure out what to use them for.  When the girls started really complaining about me not keeping track of chore money back in January, I came up with this idea.

 

We sat down shortly after Valentine's Day and looked up things that they would like to save their money for.  Once they found an item they couldn't live without, we printed off a picture of it, wrote the amount it costs onto the picture, and used the clothespin that's glued on there to hang up their goal prize so they may look any time and be reminded of what their hard work will earn them.

 

As much as this present may be lousy to some people, my girls have been thrilled and it has made chore time so much easier.  They do it without complaining (usually) and they even try to find more things they can do to earn extra money.



I even made one for Genni (though her real present was a jumper-the most expensive present, but it was something she really needed so she can develop some more strength in her legs), and I love how they turned out.  I bought the 8x10 picture frames at Walmart for $3 a piece, and everything else I used I had laying around the house.  I will post how I made them (thought it's pretty easy to see) on my craft blog sometime soon.  The girls get to tally up the money they earn for each chore every day on the bottom half, then add it all up and add it to the total on top every Saturday night.  We do it on Saturday because we do not have them do chores for money on Sundays, so it's the perfect time to add it all up.  We take the total for that week and have them pay 10% to tithing at church, and we also require them to take another 10% of the total for that week and put it in their piggy banks to save for either their wedding or a mission (and yes, I know that at some point they may get into their piggy banks and spend all the money in there, but for now I can dream, right?).

 

The girls also got their favorite drink and a Valentine cake pop from me, and a bouquet of carnations from Robbie (what an awesome Daddy he is!!).  As soon as Rob and I finish the presents we are making for each other (yeah...we're still working on them...life has been keeping us pretty busy from me finishing a blanket for him, and him finishing a quilt rack for me), I will post about them on the craft blog. 

 

We had a wonderful, peaceful day, that ended with lots of gratefulness in my heart, and I really couldn't ask for a more fantastic and loving husband or sweeter little girls.  I am also so thankful for my Heavenly Father and Savior's love for me and my family.  I love my little family so much!!