Stuck INSIDE

When one is stuck inside in the middle of winter, projects are GREAT, especially when it means turning a cold, unfinished basement into a warm, completed one!
So far it's not very warm yet, but Nate has two bedrooms rooms framed as well as a bathroom. He had lots of help for the messy concrete plumbing part:

What else can be done in the middle of a snowstorm? Oh yes, pretend it's SUMMER!!

This was 100% Rhya's idea. Brielle was very happy to go along with it, and even completed her outfit with a winter hat. The laughing and giggling coming from the girls' bedroom was heartwarming.

What do two girls do multiple times per day in the middle of winter? Spend hours and hours reading books.

Most of the time it's Brielle who sits by the bookshelf in the little white chair or on the floor and flips through every single book on the shelf. She just loses herself in them. Sometimes Rhya takes it upon herself to perform a storytime.

When the books and swimming suits and rough-housing and ahem-fighting wear off sometimes it's time for a satisfying snack. Fresh baked bread with warm butter hits the spot.

We have a rug in the kitchen that covers up a bare spot in the linoleum (another future project). It has proven to be the perfect 'snack' rug. Whenever I announce that it's snack time the girls race over to the rug and wait expectantly (and very excitedly, with shrieks of anticipation).

When bedtime rolls around it is SO HARD to hit the hay. Sometimes a flat out refusal results in falling asleep sitting up:

We DO leave the house, on a very rare occasion. Our Sunday highlight was a birthday party for 'The Travis' They both turned 23 five days apart from each other. Mark and Marilyn cooked up a fun bash:

The girls' relationship this winter has changed significantly. There are trying moments and super duper sweet moments. My sleep fighting Brielle was screeching away as I was trying to rock her one day. She started crying out for Rhya. I asked, "Oh, you want RHYA to rock you?" "YEEESSS" she wailed. Rhya grasped the opportunity to perform a very grown up task and rocked her to sleep in under 5 minutes. Brielle laid right down and they put their arms around each other. After Brielle had been sleeping for quite some time I suggested that we lay her in her bed. Rhya looked down at her sleeping sis and said, "Nah, I better hold her longer. She's not super sound asleep yet."

What could it be?

Holiday Highlight

Auntie Jen came home for the holidays! It was a fairly last minute surprise, but we have been soaking up lots of our free time with her.

Rhya was VERY pleased to sleep with Auntie Jen when she spent the night at our house.
We were together at Gpa Mark and Gma Mo's New Year's Eve, and Kylie, Karena, and Rhya all slept in the same room with Auntie Jen. They logged about six hours of sleep. Thank goodness for an easygoing auntie that doesn't mind sleep deprivation.
HAPPY 2014!

Looking back on November

Now that December is over half done, I will post a few 'November' pictures in my usual timely manner:
We were the lucky recipients of the 'Two Jess's' for a weekend:
They were brave enough to come despite our basement remodel (which was their bedroom!)
Rhya helped by washing the stairs (they were good and WET!)

A little pixie! She knew how to win our hearts with her happy little countenance:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I captured the girls' FIRST bite of the Thanksgiving meal. They were quite absorbed.

A Thanksgiving Birthday! We kid him that Thanksgiving was created after him since he was also born on Thanksgiving day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We hopped in the van and met Terry and Sarah at a WI Dells waterpark the eve of T-day.

The cousins had all weekend to get better acquainted. We had so much fun at the waterpark. Here is Brielle and Gabriel having a little 'pre water park' water fun:

We spent the rest of the wknd at Terry and Sarah's new place in the country. 

Nate and Terry engulfed themselves in basement projects while Sarah and I played with the kids and...um played with the kids! Oh yes, we ate like kings and queens (fried fish and chips, chicken, pie, french toast). Two pregnant ladies equals two hungry ladies. :-)

Remembering Grandma

We recently came across the birthday card that Gma Jane gave Rhya for her third birthday. The card brought her to life again. I love how she wrote her thoughts down as they came, perfectly suited for a little girl's way of thinking:

We recently read about Lazarus for our bible study. Rhya was totally amazed that he was risen from the dead. I think it confused her, though.
She asked, "Grandpa is so lonely! Can God make another Gma Jane for him?" She totally thought that God could just re-create the exact Gma that Gpa misses so much.

Role Playing

A day in our life lately consists of LOTS of doll play. 

It's hard work to keep up with FIVE frequent diaper changes, potty breaks, naptimes, book sessions, and feedings. Rhya's five babies are very well taken care of, though. She told me that two of her babies are daycare kids, so at least she only has them during the day. :-)

 

She takes her mommy role very seriously and has even asked me to babysit while she puts away the kitchen dishes. I sat in the bathroom on the stool and held the armful of babies while I heard her attempting to climb the cupboard and put a glass on the shelf!

I attribute the onset of the baby play to the arrival of a certain special little niece: 

She's sat in the rocking chair with Rayna for close to an hour on a few different occasions. She's not afraid of crying either. At one point last week Kristina and I were each busy with our tired one year olds, so Rhya filled in the gap and calmly attempted to soothe Rayna in the rocking chair. All three of us were on different rocking chairs, rocking away!  

sidenote: ***She has her limit, though! The other day Rayna started to get squirmy and Rhya decided to be done. She called out, "Rayna's getting wacko on me! I just can't have this right now."

HA!!! Where does she hear these things? :-)

                                       Oh how we love our little sugar plums:

Sometimes I look at my girls and think, "Wow, this is the REAL thing! I am not just 'playing dolls'. They are real, live, human beings, growing incredibly fast."

Chuckle Worthy

It's common knowledge that Rhya looks like me and Brielle looks like Nate. It's not even debatable anymore. Judging by this picture, do our personalities match too? 

HA! This just makes me snort with hilariousness. Nate, I mean, Brielle is cool as a cucumber, slightly amused, but can't show it too much. I will let you decide the similarities between me and my eldest.

"Ah come on, Mom, can't you leave so I can get the raisins?" 

Actually, she stood there longingly for the longest time, because she'd just seen her cousin dig out the raisins. She wanted more, but knew better. She just couldn't drag herself away from having a stare-down with temptation. Painful but so cute!