Noticing {Day 12}

We had a lazy sick day today. Every once in a while, we'll bring the kid table into the playroom and let the girls watch a movie while they eat. They love it, and it remains a "special treat." This was how our day started.

We headed to Grammie and Papa's to lay around a bit more. Kaitlyn fell asleep on me, and I let her sleep because well...it was a sick day. I always figure they need their sleep when they are sick, but the fact that she's still awake 50 minutes after going to bed is making me second guess that theory. Maybe only really sick naps will be allowed.

But I digress...

Austen stayed busy with dry macaroni noodles:

And in other news: AUSTEN WROTE HER NAME!!! Daddy is the official teacher of writing names in this house. And these Magnadoodles are our favorite:

 One of my favorite things remains sneaking in to see them sleep:

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I forgot to include some pictures yesterday from the big camera:

Noticing {Day 11}

Buried in a book:

A rare, weekday play date with some of our very favorites:

Lots of fresh air today (okay, and one short Christmas movie):

 K decided she wanted to draw something in the neighbor's driveway for their grandkids. This is her trying to concentrate, and little sister dancing and shaking her booty in an attempt to distract her. She takes her job seriously...

And a Happy Veterans Day. We talked today about being thankful. The girls are doing a lot of Thankful activities at school, so especially K was able to join in that discussion. Big girl. 

 Ice cream for dessert tonight:

Kaitlyn started complaining about a headache tonight and is running a little temp. It makes sense now, looking back at her grumpiness toward the end of our park play date, and just generally being more tired than usual today. Hopefully it's just a small bug that passes quickly. Poor thing.

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I forgot to mention yesterday that we had headed to Tacoma for Grandma Pat's memorial service. It was a lovely service and tribute to her, with old friends as well as family in attendance, telling about her from their perspective. The consistent theme was that she was a kind woman, who loved to talk and to help (and graciously host) others and to be of service to those in need.  Jeff got up and spoke of his memories of his grandma. I loved listening to him talk, and I know it meant a lot to others to hear those stories and memories of Pat as a grandmother. I was so proud -- he spoke eloquently and from his heart. 

Noticing {Day 10}

Tonight, as the girls were going to bed, they both wanted to same book to take to their rooms (typical scenario here). I opened my mouth to help, but before I could say anything they had worked out a deal.

"Okay, Austen. If you want the Barbie book, I'll take Sophia and I'll get the Barbie book tomorrow night."

Side note: Kaitlyn seems older to us every day. She is much more patient, and just "gets" things more, especially with Austen being younger than her. Brings tears to my eyes almost every day (emotional here).

She is still five, and still has her moments, but she is really growing up and turning into such a sweet girl. She's always been a sweetheart, but those not-so-sweet moments are just becoming further between.

I'm going to cheat and include a something from a little while ago on today's post. I'm copying and pasting from Facebook:

I just showed the girls our wedding video, and Kaitlyn in particular was SO excited to watch it (they've already been to a good number of weddings). We start watching and K was smiling ear to ear, so happy, then all of a sudden comes down next to me and says, "But Mommy, I feel like I want to cry," and starts bawling. I tried to explain to her that sometimes being really happy makes us cry. I think this was the first time she had experienced that emotion and didn't really know what to make of it.
When she calmed down, she looks at me and says, "It was just so beautiful."
She's been around for almost 5 years, and I can say, without a doubt, that this was my most favorite Kaitlyn moment!

And as long as I'm at it:

Kaitlyn:
"Mommy I have something important to tell you. You picked out the bestest daddy for us.
I have another really important thing to tell you. Daddy picked out the most special mommy." 

We haven't gotten her a pony yet, but she's getting there. Oh, and I do get the "I don't like you anymore, Mommy's" and even an "I hate you" when she's mad at me. It can't all be puppies and rainbows!  

Austen Jean:

Jeff has been showing the girls "movies" of how things are made (inspired by a Mr. Rogers episode they had watched). They watched how jelly beans were made the other day, and he asked what they wanted to see next.

Austen: "I wanna see how people are made!" 

She keeps us on our toes, makes us laugh daily, gives the best runupandjumpinyourarms hugs, and makes us want to pull our hair out. She is, our Austen Jelly Bean.

    
Transferring her cottage cheese container bank into her new (old) owl bank. 
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The Bed Monster. (Daddies are just fun.)

Austen's photography:
 

Noticing {Day 8 and 9)

I've been noticing, just not posting...

I worked on Friday. I enjoyed my coffee and Christmas music on the way in. It took me an hour to get to the school I was working at -- Edmonds can't come soon enough. It was a good day with a sweet 5th grade class, though. 

The girls got to spend the morning with Grandma and the afternoon with Grammie and Papa. My parents ended up keeping them a bit longer so that Jeff and I could go out to a quick happy hour. Spoiled!

Wake-ups since Daylight Savings have been sporadic. A was up at 5:45 and K at about 6 on Friday, so they were pooped by the time we drove home.

Friday nights aren't what they used to. I'm pretty sure we were zonked out by 10:00...

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Saturday started with a crisp, beautiful morning 16 miler for my free weekend therapy. 

That high didn't last too long, as I found out on my way home that Riley had bitten Kaitlyn. She is okay, but this crossed the line and we now need to find a new home for him. More on that later--it is not an easy thing to think or talk about. Riley is part of our family.

We cozied up at home for the most part. 

No eggs yet, but these girls' changes predict that it can't be too far off...

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Kaitlyn has decided that she loves Pho. In the past, she would have fried rice. Now she's all about veggie Pho...with tofu. She requested this for dinner.

K's outfit made her look way too grown up:

 

Watching Daddy fill the hummingbird feeder:

Noticing {Day 7}

On Thursdays, Austen and I hang out (as long as I'm not working) while K is at school. I have been subbing on some Thursdays, so this was the first one in a little while that I've gotten to spend with A. One-on-one with her was just what I needed; 3 year old short fuse and all.

Austen has been giving us a run for our money lately. In a nutshell: Most things are a big deal, no matter how much we don't give in to whining and crying she still tries very often, and she is a sassy little thing. Good gravy. She'll drive you to drink by 4:00. But, we love our little spitfire and she's dang funny and cute.

Today was "Hat Day" in K's class (this week was brought to us by the letter H). I started out by giving her a pony tail this morning, which I had to take a picture of because that combined with the button down shirt made her look, like, 16. Just trust me -- the picture doesn't do it justice (especially because it's an awful pic):

 

 Then I realized that beanies don't work well with high ponies, so we ditched that.

 

This one wanted to pose, too...naturally:

Austen and I went to get my fingerprints done, as the last step for my subbing paperwork in Edmonds! Should be about a week to get through payroll, then life as I know it will change. My subbing commute should go down by 30-60 minutes, depending on location. Needless to say, I'm beyond excited. I will still commute once a week for tutoring, but this will be such a relief.

We had a few minutes to kill, so we stopped by Grammie and Papa's. Austen, again, wanted to pose. She refuses to put her hat over her ears because she says she can't hear. So there the Grinch sits, high on top of her head...

Little miss photographer, and this isn't even half of them:

 I thoroughly enjoyed my morning with my spunky Austen Jean.

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This evening, Gina and I went to the annual training for the Quest proctoring in my school district. We went to dinner (and possibly froyo) afterwards.

A great day, full of good to focus on.