Chicken Noodle Soup

A few days ago we had a little blizzard.  What’s better on a cold, snowy day than Chicken Noodle Soup?  It was perfect.  Bentley especially thought so; although, I’m not sure eating soup with your fingers is the best method to get it to your mouth.  It seems though, that her favorite part is drinking the broth out of the bottom of the bowl.

This method of eating tends to get quite messy.

I mentioned that we had a blizzard here a few days ago.  Prior to the blizzard we were actually at D’s parents.  D had some work close to his parents’, so I dropped the girls off at grandpa and grandma’s then met D.  We had a nice evening away from the girls, and I also had a few hours to run some errands that I needed to run.  We spent the next couple of days with his parents.  On Saturday we headed to SF for a farm toy show and little bit of shopping.  We even met up with my sister who’s at college in SF.  After dropping off a baby gift at our friends’ house we headed back to D’s parents, then made our way home.  The original plan was to come home Sunday afternoon, but the threat of a blizzard sent us home early.  We made the right decision, and spent the next two days comfortably in our house while the snow blew.

I’m not sure how well the pictures show the snow we received (they were taken in the middle of the storm).  Previous to this blizzard we could see all of the ground.  Today we received even more snow.  We have just as much snow as we did before it all melted last week, or at least it seems that way.

Sun and Fun

Today was just an amazing day.  I knew the forecast was for about 50 degrees, but I didn’t expect it to actually get up to 67 degrees.  The girls and I spent a good portion of the late afternoon and early evening outside.  We found all kinds of things to do.

Getting the tractors out after months of seeing them just sit in the garage was a lot of fun.

Bria had fun walking through the snow in her goulashes.

After walking in the snow she had to dump it out of her boots.

She also enjoyed jumping in the mud puddles.

Bentley thought it was fun just to touch the snow with her bare hands.

She tried walking on the snow some, but wasn’t very steady.

The girls also ran around on the driveways and played with sidewalk chalk.  A little later when D came home we were able to go for a walk.  It was warm enough that D didn’t even feel the need to wear a jacket.  I know this weather is only going to last a few days, but it really brings on the Spring Fever.  It was nice to have some days to get outside after what has already been a long and cold winter.

Special Visit

This last Saturday my parents made a quick trip up to see us.  The girls love it when any of the grandparents, aunts/uncles, or cousins come.  It was especially nice to have them come up this time because I was really sick.  No matter what is going on, the girls, think that they need my attention rather than Daddy’s.  When the grandparents are here, however, they don’t need either of our attention.  While everyone else was playing I was able to rest. 

A game of “Duck, Duck, Goose”.  We didn’t get very many pictures since I couldn’t really move off of the couch.  I don’t even know what all they played while they were here.  Bria says that they colored, drew pictures, played in the cardboard playhouse, played hide-n-seek, and cooked in the play kitchen.

Bria, of course, is looking forward to the next time we can see any of the grandparents.  Fortunately for her, that will be very soon.

As far as my round of illness: I am doing better now, but still get a funny feeling in my stomach every once in a while.

Adorable

It has been a while since we have posted recent pictures of the girls.  Today they cooperated for just a few minutes for me to get a couple of shots.  This is the only one where neither of them is blurry nor has a goofy expression. 

In my eyes, they have grownup a lot recently.  The things they know amazes me.  Bentley can say one two word sentences.  She stands up on the piano bench, by the window, and says “Ba-bye Daddy”.  I’m not sure that is what she actually means, however, because her pronunciation of Daddy, doggy, and Bentley all sound the same.  She is working hard to say more words, but like the other example several of them sound the same and I can’t always tell what she means.  Bria is as talkative as always, but is always wanting to know about animals, numbers, time, and anything else that may cross her mind.  She started figuring out some addition all on her own earlier today.  The days of the week are always something is she is asking about too.  Bria knows that certain things happen on certain days, and is always figuring out what day it is based on what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow.

I’m sure it is not unusual for little sisters to follow around their big sister and to copy everything they do.  Bentley is no exception.  Bria has never liked to play by herself too much, so I I could never just send her to her play room in the basement to play.  Now that Bentley can go up and down extremely well and stays out of most things that she shouldn’t be into, Bria will ask Bentley to go down and play.  They can spend quite a bit of time together down there. That has made it at least a little bit easier for me to get things done around the house.  Bria does still appreciate it if an adult is down there with them.

It sure is fun watching them change and build a friendship with one another.

Too Much or Too Little?

It seems that either we have so much going on that I don’t have time to update the blog, or we have so little going on that everything I would write would be a bore.  We seem to keep busy enough, but not with anything exciting or out of the ordinary.  After a couple of busy months we are actually very glad to have things back to normal. 

We have had a few small thing activities or changes, so I will just give a brief update.  A week ago (or maybe two—I’ve already forgotten) we rearranged the furniture in our bedroom.  The new arrangement is a much better use of the space and doesn’t make us want to remodel some of the features that we previously wanted to remodel.  The girls love it too because it makes it easy to crawl onto the bed (which is now the greatest place to play).  Bentley is definitely down to just one nap a day, and only takes two naps if she has had a few late nights in a week.  Last night we had a Superbowl party at our house.  Out of all or friends, church family, and bible study family, we are one of just a few families who have cable.  Most of the people we know find other ways to fill their time or just use the internet to watch the programs they like.  We also have the largest TV of any of our friends.  Our house, therefore, is the natural choice for having a Superbowl party.  Football is not big deal to people here either, so the party was just a small group. 

Even though we were able to put the girls down to bed at about the same time as usual last night, they still were extra crabby this morning when they woke up.  Bentley is currently sitting on my lap, making it very difficult for me to type.  I guess that means I need to be done for now.  Hopefully, I will be able to post some pictures soon (if I even have any new ones).