Big Girls

When Jillian was done with the Quad, Bridget got on.  Jillian is good about turning off the power and drive switch when she's done so it won't go until both switches are on.  So I asked Bridget if she wanted to go.  Of course she did so I showed her where the pedal was and turned it on.  She figured it out right away, the pedal made it go.  She couldn't steer yet so I just cranked it to turn in circles and she rode for a long time.  Jillian would follow her around in her scooter or jeep.  Once when Jillian tried to get on and ride with Bridget on the back, Bridget would have none of that.  Bridget thought she was one big girl now.

"Silly Girls"

Daddy was feeding Jillian and Bridget some mac & cheese the other night. They were doing pretty good until Bridget decided to stick her tongue out - while she had her mouth full ... so the mac & cheese fell to the floor. Jillian laughed out loud, which made Bridget laugh, too. Apparently, Bridget likes to make people laugh, because she proceeded to do the same thing again on the next bite of mac & cheese. Daddy said "no, Bridget" several times, but after a couple more attempts at feeding Bridget (with the same results), it was decided that feeding time was over. Jillian was still laughing, and she said: "Daddy, we're silly girls. We're laughing and playing, and not listening." So true, Sweetie-Pie.

Blanket Ride

Here's Jillian and Bridget's current favorite activity ... getting pulled around the family room while sitting on Grandma Myrtle's blanket. Both of the girls like to take things along with them, such as babies or pillows. Jillian likes to yell "faster, faster" the whole time while Daddy pulls them around in circles. The game ends when Daddy gets too dizzy to stand up. When that happens, Jillian will go ahead and pull Bridget around herself.

Winter Bike Ride

There hasn't been much nice weather lately, so when there was a little break today, Mommy decided to take advantage of it. She got Jillian and Bridget dressed and retrieved their bike and trike from the garage, along with their helmets, and took them outside for a little ride. Needless to say, they were both very excited to finally get out and ride around! It was actually Jillian's first outside ride on her new bike.

It was supposed to be a short ride down the block and back, but it turned into a much longer one, all the way to the "new park" on Lake Sacajawea. We had to watch Jillian carefully, since she's still learning how to use the brake ... she'd rather just drag her feet, or steer off the sidewalk and run into something. After playing for a few minutes at the park, due to the chill, we made a dash back home, with Jillian setting the pace on her bike and Bridget needing to be carried (she lost her focus and wouldn't keep hold of the handlebars).

Horses and Lego

Well, not really a horse but to Bridget I'm sure it seemed like it.  Mocha was very patient to lay there while Bridget sat on her back.  We had to keep telling her not to bounce.  Generally when Mocha is bugged by the kids she will lick their face until they do something else.

Jillian spent a lot of time on making this flower garden (as she called it).  Once in awhile the "destroyer"(Bridget) would come along and needed to be pointed in another direction.  We kept telling her to go play with Papa.  Later Daddy would sit down with Jillian and help build a tower taller than her that would hold animals.  She is getting very creative with her building.  Note the swimming suit top.  This is how she dressed after her nap but with a skirt too. 

Rainy Days

This was last Friday.  Now that I let Bridget play with Play-Doh once, she wants to do it all the time, but the only safe place I could think of was in her high chair.  Mainly she likes to rip it up and put it in something.  Jillian saw her playing so she joined in and made an island (I had to make palm trees.) and Bridget would start destroying it.  Jillian was very patient with that as it was Bridget's Play-doh so she would build it again.

Sometimes something simple will entertain for a long time.  I flipped over the portable crib and covered it with a blanket so they could have a little house.  I opened the front for the picture but they liked it closed up with the blanket.  They pretend slept for awhile and then filled it with toys and books.  Sophie tried to join in the fun too. 

More Snow

As soon as the girls had breakfast they were excited to go out in all the snow.  One small problem for Bridget, she couldn't move in the 10 inches of snow.  We moved to under the trees where there wasn't as much snow so she could move around.  Then I got the sled so they could take rides on the little hill by the house but that didn't last long as I had to pull them up the hill each time as it was too hard to walk up themselves.  We then went in and shed the wet clothes.

We weren't in very long and Jillian saw a lot of the cousins had come to sled the hill by Aunt Julie's house and Rielee was there!  So it was get dressed again to go out.  Jillian and Rielee took this ride down the hill while Brock, Ty, Parker, Tierney, Austin, and Macee wait their turns.  Des gave them a little push and they went really fast and rolled over on the steepest part at the bottom but got up laughing.  Jillian decided she didn't want to walk up the hill by herself which was now doable since it was packed down, but when no one came to her rescue she trudged back up to go down many more times.  Of course Bridget wanted to go out too and spent most of the time watching, but went down the hill with Tierney and a little way with Auna.

Bridget spent a lot of time watching in this same pose.  The first time she went out her gloves got wet.  I didn't have any more small gloves so I put socks on her hands and she didn't know what to think of that. After lunch both girls were more than ready for a nap.

Snow Day

Jillian was so excited to look out the window this morning and see a blanket of white. There was about an inch or two on the ground, enough to play in. We told her that we would go out and play after she and Bridget got dressed, and after Mommy and Daddy had some coffee.

Some kids across the street were building a snowman, so Jillian wanted to do that, too. We put together a very small little snowman, and Jillian put the rocks on for the eyes and buttons, and Mommy plugged in the carrot nose. While that was taking place, Bridget was running all over the yard, trying to figure out what the white stuff was. Mommy had to chase her down many times.

We made a short walk down to the RAL fields with the girls to find more snow. Everyone took part in making a really big snowman ... we even gave Bridget a small snowball that she carried around for a while. Jillian helped with the rolling, and when it got too big, Mommy gave a hand.

Out for a Spin



Chilly but nice day for a spin outside in the jeep.  Bridget loves to ride with Jillian and we set the jeep to low speed.  The jug Bridget is holding is the pretend gas for the jeep and Jillian gave it to Bridget to hold in case they needed it.  (Really it's windshield washer fluid.)  Once in awhile they will stop and Jillian will fill the tank.  Once Bridget was climbing around in the jeep by herself and she accidentally stepped on the accelerator and the jeep took off.  Boy, was she surprised and I had to sprint over to take her foot off the gas.  It's a thrill a minute.

Big Girl Seat

At first Bridget didn't know what to think of the upright seat but she was soon smiling from ear to ear.  She had fun pointing to things on the way and looking at books.  And she stayed awake so she would be ready for a nap sooner than later.

Hitching a Ride

I finally relented and helped Jillian attach a tow to Bridget's little car.  I was going to follow them around but I didn't need to worry as when Jillian tried to pedal and pull Bridget, she could hardly go.  It was cute as Bridget was trying to help by pushing with her feet.  After about 3 times around Jillian decided it wasn't worth the effort pulling the load behind her.  Notice Jillian is still in her pajamas.  She and I got a good laugh about that when I was fixing lunch and looked at her and said, "You're still in your pajamas!"  We were so busy that I didn't even notice.

Bridget Playtime

When Jillian is at pre-school Bridget will play with things for a long time now.  Today she got the baby stuff out and spent time putting baby to bed, giving baby a bottle, and feeding baby.  The dogs slept or watched contentedly behind her, happy she was giving her attention elsewhere.  At other times she would spend a lot of time at the doll house.  The bib drawer is near the floor so when we were in the kitchen she would throw the bibs all over the floor and when we asked her to put them back she would put them all back, and then repeat it several times, loving the praise for being a good helper.

Chilly Beach Trip

All of us took off for the Ocean Park beach house last weekend, to take a break and relax. Jillian and Bridget had other ideas, though, as they wanted to play, play, play. It was pretty cold and rainy and windy most of the time, so we didn't venture outside much. It was decent enough on Sunday morning to make a trip to the beach, first for coffee at the Full Circle Cafe, and then to the sand (definitely not the water this time around). Daddy dug out a small trench and made a mound, and the girls did the rest ... digging with their little shovels and just enjoying finally getting to play around in the sand. Even though Mommy and Daddy got chilled and needed to go back to the cabin, the girls probably would have stayed longer if they could have.

The rest of the beach trip was spent inside the cabin, with the girls playing with the toys there, reading the dozens of (new) books, and watching Redbox rentals and old VHS cartoons.

Dress up Time

When Jillian was getting into the dress-up bin she would hand Bridget clothes and I would put them on.  She was so happy to be included.   She even left the wig on for quite awhile.  I wanted to get a picture of both of them dressed up but Jillian would have none of that.  

Trike and Kennel

Since Jillian was about 2 years old I have tried to get her to ride the trike.  She never showed any interest so it was put away in the shed.  Lately, as she has been riding everything in the shed, she found the trike and said "Look what I found." and got on and has been loving riding it ever since.  In this picture Bridget is doing her best to try to go too.  At one point Jillian was trying to tie a ribbon on the back of the trike so she could tow Bridget around.  Since she can't tie a knot yet and I wasn't going to do it for her, she gave up on that.  (I can imagine the mayhem if I had tied it for her.)

Bridget found Sophie's new kennel and decided it was just right for her.  This is better than all her climbing she's been doing lately.