Thursday, October 15, 2015

19 months, 20 months, 4 1/2

 reading to herself
 "CHEEEESE!" 19 months! This beauty loves to read more and more. She's started communicating with more and more words and sounds. She loves to trot/run to keep up with her sister. She enjoys playing in the toilet :/ putting things in the trash (usually appropriate things!) Her heart soars when she is singing. It is the sweetest little sound I've ever heard. I wish you all could hear it. Juni was always so happy dancing and would sing a little, but Genevieve is so happy singing and will dance along a little. It is so fun to see their differences as they grow.
 "Shhh!" She's pretending to sleep!

 Ballet dress-up to see if the hand-me-downs fit before class started.

 Juni and her "pet dog" made out of Wiki Sticks
 Genevieve's well visit. I missed her 15 month visit :/ Whoops. We were in Nebraska in May and I planned to make the appointment as soon as we got back and then of course forgot. Her percentages are on track. High 80s for height, mid 50s for head, teens for weight. She's long and lean, like she's always been.
 Look at that smirk. She feels special sitting up by Pops.
 Yoga Girls
 Papa had a crazy Summit weekend where there were online presentations around the clock. We bought fun stuff to make giant bowls of popcorn trail mix and he hardly left his computer. He was having fun!!
 "I see you!"
 Juni can be prompted through a lot of "school" work, but she did this 100% on her own, including her name. (Obviously I wrote the word zebra)
 20 months!!
One night we played musical beds..... I started in bed with Juni, then by myself, then with Genevieve, then with myself. In the morning, Genevieve was in Juni's bed and Juni was in my bed with me. I heard Genevieve get up, come to my door, then say, "Shhhhhh!" and close the door. I listened carefully to see what she would get in to as she has ALWAYS come straight to us if we aren't with her when she wakes. Well, I must have fallen back asleep and when I woke up an hour later, I nervously hopped out of bed to find her like this! With her toothpaste by her side and her toothbrush on the floor. She woke up, got her toothbrush and toothpaste out of the bathroom cabinet above the sink!, brushed her teeth, then fell back asleep on the couch! For those who don't know, yes, I "still" nurse her to sleep. She won't go down for nap with Zach, no matter the times he has tried, so for her to just "fall asleep" on the couch like this was a great blessing!! Especially to a tired Mama and Juni!
She is saying SOOOO many words now.... watch, pee pee, poopy, boogie, ewwww, stinky, Mike, Maura, outside, go, phone, remote, more, talk, close, light, high, drink, "I don't know," and more I can't think of. And all of her other words (milk, noodle, hello, cheek, eye, etc.) are becoming so much clearer!!
She is FEARLESS at the playground. Always wants to walk herself now. Is trying to figure her trike out. And is holding her own while fighting her sister :/ The fighting is too much for me, but we do our best to work through it each day. There, of course, is still a lot of love!
 Zoo day adventure






 This girl loves her some ducks!!!

 Spraying himself down! So fun to watch!

 in the tunnel to spy on the meerkats





 In 8 years of going to this zoo, we've "seen" this lion (lying down, a bit of back hair) twice!! They have a very large enclosure with lots of space for them to retreat. For some reason, they had the female fenced apart from him, closer to the viewing area, and he came right up to piss on her cage and roar to stake his claim, I think? Nobody was really sure what was happening, but everyone there was surprised to see him up and about, not hiding back in the trees on the hill.
 This girl has fallen in love with Sydney (Mike and Maura's dog). If she hears ANY bark, she wants to go outside and find Sydney! Here she is saying, "Sydney?"
 "Inside?" She wants to know if Sydney is in Mike and Maura's house and if she can go in to see her!
 This girl is becoming a scooter-riding pro!!

 Oh my goodness, I love her!
 Oh my goodness, I love her!! ;)
Oct marks 4 1/2 for Juniper Opal. 
She is wanting to be Mama to Genevieve, sometimes too much. She LOVES gymnastics and like ballet. She makes a new friend or more EVERY time we go to the park, while Genevieve keeps to herself. Every night she tells me how good her dinner is and thanks me for making such yummy food. She is absorbing crazy amounts from our daily pre-school sessions we do while Genevieve naps. She still loves to run and race down all the slides at the park. She's loving her scooter more and has even ridden it to the park and back. I spotted a prowler in our neighbors back yard one day and spoke with Juni about our increased safety measures and how we were staying inside that morning while the police were coming. I think it's made her a little uneasy as she's had some bad dreams lately of monsters trying to take her away. She's been asking for lots of cuddles lately and has enjoyed sitting on my lab and being carried more than ever. I think she is feeling her independence growing and wants to make sure that we still love her as much as always. Her sweetness still oozes out. She still often tells us she loves us, unprompted.
 family of blocks
 post-nap cuddles
pre-bed cuddles :)
We sure are lucky to have these two girls.

phone pics from the last 6 weeks

 Juni and Mama working together on Juni's first little sewing project. We will finish it one day :) and then we will show you what it is.



Our good friends were moving, and leaving a lot of their furniture behind. We took too much of it! Ha! So we are having a garage sale next week to purge some of our old stuff so we can walk in our house again. This is a learning tower for the girls to stand on/in and help in the kitchen. Genevieve was quick to claim in as we were still loading everything in out of the U-Haul that night.
 Juni was lovin' on this little table that we still haven't found a good spot for :/
 Genevieve was riding to town on this wooden rocking horse! I'm sure she'll outgrow it soon, but for now, she's loving it! (and so is her sister!)
 A pit stop on the way home from the Farmers' Market to eat some strawberries.
 Little fearless climbed up this ladder at the playground all by herself and then sat on top of the equipment like, "What mom? This aint no thang!"
 This strange fish-bone climbing feature is pretty high off the ground. Juniper has never had an issue climbing it before, but she's always needed a boost to get up and on it. This day she pulled with all her might and got up there all on her own! She was so proud! And so was I :)
 She started blowing her way through her LeapFrog pre-k book (numbers, letters, early math, early reading)
We actually just finished it today! She has a couple of other books we started doing but I don't like them as much as this one. Thinking about getting the K one to see what she can handle :)
 I had gotten 2 pairs of warm pjs for Genevieve b/c Juni's pjs from this size are summery, but Juni saw them and asked and asked to have them too so she could match :) She loves days when she can pick out her clothes and Genevieve's clothes and our clothes too, if we will let her!
 PJs made by Grandma Susie. They turned out too big, but we'll hold on to them until they stay up :)
 First day at gymnastics with her teacher Gigi behind her. She is STOKED! And still is, like a crazy girl, every Wednesday!
 Genevieve's first alone time with Mama and Papa. She was eating all the fluffy bread her little fingers could dig out :)
 Can you see Juniper on the rings?
 We used up some old Toys R Us giftcards to get these (not princess) costumes! Astronaut Juniper!
 Astronaut Genevieve!
 At Town Center to play with their friend Billy but Billy didn't want to be in the picture.
 Costume number two, police officer! with handcuffs :)


 If I ever set my credit card down the girls pick it up, so if I'm submitting an online order, I hold it in my mouth until I need to enter the number. I had my wallet zipped up next to me, so Genevieve unzipped it and did this! Ha! What am I teaching her?!?!

 This is right before her first ballet class. We changed into her clothes into the bathroom and she was practicing her ballerina moves. She was SO excited she couldn't handle it. She had picked ballet over hip-hop and some other choices we gave her. She still is excited to go, but doesn't like the rigid structure of her Alameda Ballet Academy class. She wants to twirl and spin and not the structured exercises to build her form. She is a free-spirit who wants to be moving. When the 10 week session is up I suspect we will continue with gymnastics, but discontinue ballet.

 I love this one! So Juni.
 A snapshot of her Halloween activity book.
 I didn't take these, but lots of local friends have been posting beautiful pics of the sunsets lately, so I wanted to share a few with all of you. Incredible, right?!


 The first-ever double pony day! Yiiiiiiiii!
 I was somehow randomly selected for a Facebook research study. Since their office is about 40 minutes away, and they gave me a $75 giftcard to do a 45 minute session, I thought it would be fun. They had these crazy paper chairs that were oddly comfortable. I just kept thinking, I better not spill my coffee on this paper chair! Ha!
 Am I really at Facebook? This is so strange! I want to take a crazy selfie, but I'll probably get in trouble, so I'll just take this sly one ;)
 Because of carpool/traffic/fun Zach actually drove the girls down too, took them to a park for my short session, and then we ate at Texas Roadhouse after! We don't have one near us so it was a special treat. The girls were LOVING the warm soft bread. Who doesn't?
 My co-worker, Sherry, and Juni adore each other. Sherry found this yellow kitty at Target and had to get it for Juni. I don't think it has left Juni's side since then. She was SO excited!!
 Her ponytail is just TOO cute!!! Did you know I'm so excited to have girls?!?!?!? Well, I am!! :) :) :)
 These are their "cheese" faces!


 I was trying to get them to look at each other, so I said, "Genevieve, where's Juni?!" and this is what I got!
 So excited to be at gymnastics she even posed for me!
After leaving the studio while Juni has her session, I asked Genevieve again, "Where is Juni?"
Her response, "I don't know?" with arms out and puzzled expression.