Rachel 14 Months

Rachel is seriously FUN! She and Mary are good friends and play together all day, everyday. Rachel is saying a lot of words including mama, dada, baby, mary, more, please, all done, bye-bye- I want bye-bye, where are you, what's that and a few other phrases that sound like phrases because she says them with the right intonation although there are a lot of consonant sounds missing, we and others seem to know what she is saying. Rachel likes playing with balls, baby dolls and CLIMBING! Rachie will ask for kisses by pursing her lips together and smacking them. Rachie likes Barney, Elmo, music time with our mother's group and playing with other children.

Nap

Mary stopped taking naps some time ago and bed time was moved up to 7:00. She has snuck in a few naps the last couple of weeks. I found her asleep like this and took a picture before I put her in bed.

Silly String

Mary and I picked up a can of silly string when we were at the store. While we were playing in the toy room with the children I surpised them with it and Mary didn't like it too well! There have been a few surprise attacks at our house and everyone is on their toes a bit. Mary particularly likes to recruit daddy to "get mommy".

Valentine's Dance

Our ward had a fun dance on Valentine's Day. I dolled the girls up in hearts and different shades of pink and red. I spent the day sewing ruffle skirts for them. I didn't finish because the tension on my machine got thrown off. Their skirts were held up with safety pins and whatever else I found that I can't remember. We didn't get a lot of great pictures but these will do.

The daddy daughter dance. Murray with his girls.

There was limbo and a chocolate dessert contest. I actually brought a store bought chocolate cake because I decided to spend the day sewing skirts ratther than baking. I didn't realize it was a contest until we got there, VERY funny! No, my dessert didn't win 1st, 2nd or 3rd but my feelings weren't hurt just embarassed!

Ice

We had an ice storm this month and it was VERY cold. We were in the house more than usual. The girls did want to venture outside a few times to check out the ice. Brrrrrr!

Mary is wearing Rachel's hat and Rachel is wearing Mary's hat. They love sharing clothes, funny! They are only different in weight by a pound or two. Their height is off by much more!

Artist

Mary hasn't always been a fan of drawing but lately she has become more skillful at it! Here are a few of her latest pieces.

Mary said this is her baby doll "Evra"

An airplane. For the rest of the day she was asking to fly to California to see Grandma and Grandpa.

Check List

Our girls love to go on walks around the neighborhood! I made Mary a little check list of things to look for. She was gone awhile with Murray. She wouldn't come back until she found everything on her list! She even added a few extra things that she found.

I drew pictures of things for her to look for and wrote the word as well. Some of the things on her list were a mailbox, bicycle, icicles, puddle, bird and trashcan. Some of the extra things she added were dog and children.

Mommy Got Sick

If there is ever a good time to get sick I picked it! I started getting some flu symptoms on Wednesday night. Murray took Thursday off and stayed home so I could stay in bed. Friday I wasn't much better and there ended up being an ice storm and school was cancelled for Murray. I stayed in bed again ALL day wishing I could sleep and regretting not taking the time to get the flu shot! Saturday and Sunday looked much the same way. Four days Murray took care of the girls and me by himself and was unable to leave the house because of the ice storm. Murray did laundry, cleaned dishes, made me jell-o, did a great job taking care of the girls and took good care of me too! I think he is pretty amazing! Thank you Murray!!!

He came in and told me he wanted to be like me as much a possible and tried to make cookies. He forgot about the first batch in the oven and they came out a little crispy:) Multi tasking and baking can be tough when you haven't had a break in 4 days!

I found Murray trying to escape and have some quiet time to read!

The girls hit the treasure chest when they managed to find my purse and pull everything out of it!

Family Night

Mary looks forward to family night all week long! I love that she loves it! She has become much better at saying prayers. Last night she said "sank you for helping mommy get better (I had the flu) and helping me and Rachie not get her germs and get sick too." I really enjoy her prayers and often she makes Murray and I chuckle. Mary likes to pick the lesson out of our purple lesson box and participates the entire time. Her favorite game to play these past few months is "harades" (charades). Rachel has started to join us by getting down on her tummy like a snake or running around the room growling like a lion. Monday night is pretty great at our house!