Few of my Favorite Things

The girls are growing up so fast that it makes me sad.  I love all the new things they are learning, but I also miss those days where they will just cuddle on my chest.  Alas, I guess that is what you have to deal with when you have kids. 

I haven't blogged in FOREVER.  I realized I have a love/hate relationship with blogging.  I like updating people about what has been going on but then I figure most of my immediate family knows what is going on in our lives so what do I actually share on the blog that people would find interesting.  And then one of my sisters pointed out that I often forget which people I've told what to and thus it would be better to blog. UGH!

So here are some of my favorite things that have happened this last little while

• Peanut butter playdough.  So I have this cousin who I swear does all these awesome things with her kids!  We have copied quite a few of them and modified them for the girls.  One of the girls favorites was pushing golf tees into Styrofoam.  It kept them occupied for a good 20 minutes.  So I decided to go out on a limb and make some peanut butter play dough for the girls to explore their artistic ability.  I believe at this time they were 14 or 15 months old.  I knew I could expect them to not eat the play dough thus I made peanut butter play dough.  I found a great recipe online and read about things other people did to make it more fun for their kids.  I got the girls in just their diapers and moved our Kid-Nic table to the kitchen.  I got the creative area ready and the girls and I were ready to go.  I gave each of the girls a big blob of peanut butter play dough.  I turned my back to go grab other fun things to put in the play dough and when I turned around both Eve and Savannah had their mouths FULL of peanut butter play dough.  They were SOOOO happy.  I just figured they were naive and needed my supervision and once I showed them the creative things they could do with the play dough they would no longer want to eat it.  The internet suggested having the kids put chocolate chips or other food items in the play dough.  I went with chocolate chips.  I grabbed the chocolate chips and the girls and I were ready to be artistic.  I got to the table just in time to prevent Savannah from taking another huge bite out of the peanut butter playdough.  I gave each of the girls a pile of chocolate chips and was showing them how cool it was to push them in the playdough.  Eve on the otherhand had another idea.  She got this cute little grin on her face and started shoving the chocolate chips in her mouth.  She thought I was so so silly to think that we should put the chocolate chips in the playdough and not in their mouths.  Sav also thought I was pretty silly to think they were going to decorate this delicious playdough with chocolate chips.  I tried all sorts of things to make them understand that we were going to play with the play dough and not eat it.  I made little balls with the playdough so we could make snow men but Eve thought that I was making the little balls so she could shove them more easily in her mouth.  To say the least peanut butter play dough was an EPIC fail!  The girls loved eating the delicious sweets but I can't say they gained any artistic ability!  Guess I'll have to try some other activity next time.
• Dancing.  The girls love to dance.  We have a dance party at least once or twice a day.  They will say "dance, dance" and proceed to start twirling or shaking their cute little bums.  I love turning on the music and just watching them bust a move.  They love to watch each other and me dance and they have such a fun time.  They will even get their "baby" or "dog" to come and dance with them.  It is super cute.  This seriously brings back memories for me because I totally remember my mom dancing around our house.  I'm sure I got some of my awesome moves from her.
• Tickle.  The girls have just started to say "tickle, tickle, tickle".  It is my favorite.  They will go up to each other and while they are tickling each others toes or bellies they will say "tickle, tickle, tickle".  Their little fingers aren't really tickling anything but they sure find each other funny.
• Talking.  The girls are starting to learn some new words which is awesome.  They can say: up, out, shoes, please, fish, dance, hi, head, eyes, nose, tickle, baby, and Ari.  I think Ari is my absolute favorite word they say.  Ari is my cute little niece who we see once a month or so.  Ari is about 5 months old and she is a doll.  The girls love her although I'm not quite sure if Ari loves all the attention they give her.  Whenever the girls see Ari they will proceed to say her name over and over again.  Even this morning they were saying her name over and over again because we saw Ari last night.  We are trying to work on other names but so far Ari is the only one they like saying.  I have been trying to work with them on "Mommy and Daddy" but they won't even say that.  Guess we will have to keep working on those words.
• Laughing.  I love watching the girls interact with each other.  Even though they fight and get mad at each other my favorite thing is watching them make each other laugh.  The other day Eve was sitting on the couch with Dad and Savannah was sitting on the floor with me.  They just kept on copying each other.  One would start humming and then the other would start humming and they would do that for a while before they'd both start laughing.  Then they would repeat the process over and over again.  Ben and I had so much fun just watching them have so much fun with each other.
• Shoes.  The girls LOVE shoes.  They understand that shoes mean you can do something like go on a walk, or go outside to play.  They will find their shoes and bring them to me so I can put them on.  They will even sit on your lap if you ask them to sit down so  you can put on their shoes.  They absolutely love to be outside and we usually go outside a couple times a day.  They also know to bring you your shoes otherwise they won't be able to go outside if mom or dad don't have shoes.  I love it to watch Eve in the morning while Ben is getting ready to go to work.  She always tries to bring him his shoes in the morning so he can go to work.  She is a great little helper.  My other favorite thing is watching Eve try to walk in my shoes.  She loves to put on my flats or flip flops and walk around the house.   She doesn't get very far with both shoes on but she is getting much better.  Sav has tried putting my shoes on and walking around but she hasn't gotten the hang of it like Eve has.
• Dogs/Stuffed Animals.  The girls love dogs!  When we go out in the morning for our walks the girls will get so excited if they see a dog and will start panting like a dog does.  They can't say woof yet so we taught them how to pant.  It is super cute.  We have a few books that have pictures of dogs in them and when they see one they just start panting.  Over conference weekend we went to my parents' house and Trisha and Lori and their families were there.  Brooke and Drew had these dog pillow pets and the girls LOVED them.  They kept wanting to hold the cuddly dogs.  Savannah saw a stuffed dog at church and tried to go up and get it from the cute little girl who was holding it.   Savannah didn't understand why she couldn't play with the cute little stuffed dog.  They also love any stuffed animals.  Whenever they see a stuffed animal they will try to grab it and cuddle with it. 
• Nursery.  Ever since Ben and I got called to the nursery a month or so ago the girls have been adjusting to nursery.  They still aren't totally used to it but they are getting used to the fact that not all kids want to share.  One thing that I think they picked up from nursery is hitting.  Eve and Savannah have started to hit each other when they don't get their way and it is definitely not my favorite.  I am working with them to teach them that hitting is not nice but it is slow going.  I'm hoping that they will learn more good things out of nursery then bad things.

We are excited for Halloween and I'll have to post pics of the girls in their Halloween costumes.  Hopefully I'll be out of my blogging slump by then.