16 Months

Baby girl is 16 months old today.  I looked back and didn't post at 15 months. Oops.  Well, let's see what you have been up to the past few months.

You are 24 pounds and 15 ounces and 33 inches long.  You wear a size 18 to 24 months or a straight 24 months.  Your shoe size is 4 to 4.5 depending on what store the shoes are purchased.  And you most definitely need your shoes since you are walking!!  Over the past week I will catch you walking more than crawling.  You practice by doing laps around the island in the kitchen.  Sometimes your body moves faster than your feet and you do a little giddy up to catch up.  So cute.

Talking, talking, talking!  You have so many words now.  "Go!" is one that you use frequently.  I love that I can tell you time to go and you will get up from whatever you are doing and shout "Go!" and walk or crawl to the door out to the garage.  You are trying so hard to say Hayley and Luke.  You love them so much.  When we go to pick Hayley up from school, you spot her out on the curb and start to shout, squeal and kick your little legs.  In the afternoon when you get up from nap, you always point to the door and listen carefully for Luke's voice.  You have started to call him Bubba since L's are a little hard to say. 

You are so curious and love to see how things work.  How does it open/close?  What happens when I push/ pull?  I love to watch you figure things out.  Books are still one of your favorite things.  You have just started finding your favorites, and bringing them to me to read.  You crawl up in my lap and snuggle up for a good read.  I LOVE it.

You have 8 teeth and there are 6 on the verge of coming in.  We have had many rough nights due to teeth, and everyone will be so happy once they have broken through and are no longer bothering you.

In these pictures, you were busy making a little "hiding" spot in between the stools.  Lovely rearranging job I might add......

A before shot of the stools.

Growing so much and we are loving every minute of it.  You make our little family complete and we fall in love with you more and more each day.



Yes, It's February

Wanted a few shots of Luke and Hayley getting ready to help Chris wash the car in February.  Check out their attire. 

My goodness!  You would never know by looking at this child, but he eats us out of house and home.  Oh, what I would give to have a metabolism like his!

It was a lovely 82 degrees that day.

Longing for 82 degrees to sitck around........

Playtime

A couple of Saturdays ago we took the crew out to the park at the Locks.  It was super windy, but the weather was clear and just gorgeous.  Hayley and Luke played on the playground for a while, and Hannah enjoyed sometime on the swing (previous post here).  Chris and I were able to talk and just watch everyone have a great time.  I am looking forward to more Spring weather and days at the park.

Luke is a magnet to trees.  He loves to climb them.  He does NOT like the decent. There in lies the problem.  I think when he has to actually look down and see how far up he has gone, he gets nervous.  Due to a bad experience with a decent a few years ago, many times he will freak out a little.  I was so proud of him on this day because he got himself down after he had climbed very high up.  No freaking out, just simply and calmly placing his feet where they needed to go to get down.

And Hayley, she too loves to climb trees but for a different reason.  Not to see how high she can climb, but to get in the best possible pose for a picture.  Unfortunately, my picture turned out blurry but she sure looks cute posed in her tree.

Sick Day

Last Monday was a sick day in the Steele house.  We had been battling coughs, runny noses, an ear infection, and some new teeth for a couple of weeks.  This day was the first where all three kiddos were down for the count so I kept Luke and Hayley home for some rest and recovery.  I hate it when they are sick, but I love the snuggles and slow days when they aren't feeling well. 

We watched movies, read books, listened to music, and played a little. 

Thankfully, everyone was feeling much better in a few days, and now we are back to our regular routine.  I love days spent with them when there is nothing else to do but just be still.

How blessed I am a to be their Mama.

Pure JOY!

This baby girl LOVES to swing.  I wish you could hear her squeal and giggle with delight.  Such wonderful, pure JOY!

Friends

A few weeks ago we had our dear friends and neighbors over while their wonderful parents were able to get out and spend some quality time together.

Here are the girls playing happily in the kitchen.  I love when sweet Madeline says Hannah Beth's name.  "Banna Beth!  Come play with me." or "No, Banna Beth".    Hayley is quick to resolve any problem between the little ones.  She is the best little Mama to these two. 

Hayley declared it craft time.  She got out the pencils, scissors, glue, stickers and the girls crafted and created whatever their little hearts wanted. 


Picnic dinner out on the front lawn suited every one's taste.  PB and J and the company of friends.....what could be better.

The big guys hangin out and talking about Legos, Wii, and whatnot.



A little after dinner Light saber fight.  Helps with digestion.



Time for  a little princess dress up.



We had such a wonderful time playing with our friends.  Can't wait to have them over again soon.

I'm A Little Spoiled

Well....it finally happened.  Our 7 year old computer bit the dust.  I was trying to upload some new pictures for a blog post and it died.  I called Chris to report the news, and he says, "Why don't I leave work early and go and get a new one."  Really??  I mean, we knew this day was coming.  So we have been talking about getting a computer for about a year.  We finally figured we would hold out until we moved and then  make the purchase.  But......when the old one died and I thought about 4 months of undocumented life here in the Steele house, I began to panic about how LONG it would take me to catch up after the move, unpacking, putting away, starting homeschooling.  AHHHHH!  Yea, in reality the blog would probably lose about half of this year.  Since I don't scrapbook, this blog is how I record our life and then print it into a book.

Fast forward a few days and Ta DA!  I am sitting in front of our new computer trying to pull all the old pictures and whatnot off of the dead computer, and load them onto this fast and WORKING computer. 

So, back to my sweet husband....He rocks. And I am so spoiled.  Ridiculous.

The Hair Says It All

NapChic is the new do this Spring.

On The Street

I wanted to try and capture what most of our afternoons are like (when the weather cooperates) outside with our friends.  We live on a street like the one I lived on growing up.  Our neighbors are more like family than they are friends.  It is such a blast when everyone is outside together just playing like kids should play. 

This past Friday we had a WONDERFUL taste of spring with a high of 82 degrees!  We literally spent from 2:35pm when Luke got off the bus, until 7:30pm outside.  It was heavenly and we all needed the warm sun on our face and the fun laughter that was shared by all "on the street"!

Here are Will and Hayley.  We haven't seen Will out and about in a while due to cold weather.  He and Hayley could be twins, really.  They are about 12 hours apart (and have different Mamas). Will being born  on June 30th and Hayley being born on July1st.  It is so much fun to watch the two of them play.  Hayley was glad to have her friend back outside with her. 

Hayley was enjoying some one on one coaching from Ben, our natural athlete on the street.  He is so patient with Hayley and gave her some great tips on how to dribble correctly.

Trying to get a picture of Kyle, Luke and Alexander (aka The Three Musketeers) is about impossible.  Ben actually got this shot of Kyle and Luke running from the camera.  They all 3 play together so well.  The best of friends.....

    Sue had to bribe Luke and Alexander with candy to pose for these pictures. So I go two pretty good shots of these silly boys!

Sue in her fabulous sunglasses!

                             
                            Renee trying to figure out how to set up a new soccer/hockey goal. 



              The skinniest, palest, boys in America but they sure were happy and enjoying the warm sun!



Oh, how we love life here on Larkspur Lane!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 I heart Valentine's Day. Such a fun day to show the ones you love just how much you LOVE them.  Oh, and I kinda dig the chocolates.  And the flowers too. 

Luke and I made his Valentine's mailbox over the weekend.  He chose the most masculine of the Valentine colors, red, for the theme of his box.  The best Valentine Luke received, in his opinion, was this homework pass from his teacher.  He was overwhelmed by the LOVE!  Much to his dismay, it did not excuse him from the entire week of homework, just one assignment.  None the less, he was still quit excited about not having homework for one night.

      Hayley received lots and lots of candy which in turn has cause lots and lots of tummy aches this week.  I have officially banned anymore candy for the week.  Possibly the month.  Maybe the year.
                                                                       

Chris gave the 3 ladies in his life these beautiful roses.  Hayley and I were touched by his sweet thought.  Hannah enjoyed waving her rose around like it was a magic wand and then trying to eat it. 

 My Valentine knows my love language, coffee!  He gave me this mug to remember our time here in Chesapeake.  And to Sue and Renee, we will continue to live in blissful denial that I am moving until the truck pulls up.  And then I may still remain in denial.

     Here is Hayley as one of the last three in her class in an intense game of Hot Potato.  She was sweatin' it.

             
                          She did not win, but you can tell from the look on her face she didn't mind at all. 

                                                                      My Valentine Girls

Now, this picture is from Chris's bday back in January.  My camera battery died before I could get some pics of my guys, and we cannot locate the charger.  Sounds like a GREAT reason to get a new camera!



Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day.