40 Days.

The other day I realized how much extra time I had when it was just Brielle and Braden.
I am not complaining.  Brooke is SUCH a good, mild mannered baby.
She is not demanding and she is predictable but she is another little human being after all;
a little human being that NEEDS every ounce of my being almost 24/7.

I haven't been taking pictures as much as I would like to and as you can already tell my blogging consistency is struggling!

January brought the strangest weather to Virginia.  We have had ONE snowfall and it has been amazingly warm, the other day we hit 70 degrees, 70! In the middle of winter.

Again, I am not complaining.
I'm glad not to be hibernating.
We have been outside a lot this winter. 

As always we have to go out and play in the snow. 

It never gets old to Brielle and Braden.  

They had a blast! 

These children are in DESPERATE need of a backyard. 

 

I dream of the day when they ask me to go outside and it's not this huge organized EVENT.  

I wish I could just open the door and let them go outside to a nice fenced yard and they can play for hours and hours without having to worry about a parking lot in front of our house or weirdos.

Hopefully soon.  

For now, the front of our building will do. 

Those two sure know how to enjoy themselves. 

I love watching them be mesmerized by this white stuff every year.  

I wonder if it'll ever get old to them. 

Can I just say how amazing I think Brielle is? I know she is my child.  I am most definitely biased.  

Scott and I are just amazed by this child.  The other day, she read a whole chapter of the illustrated Book of Mormon to us.  She LOVES to read.  She learns everything so quickly and she is so perceptive.  She's always been that way.  I have to say that this age has proven to be extremely rewarding for me.  Brielle used to drive me BONKERS with her strong willed personality, my way or I will torture you with incessant whining until I get what I want episodes.  I even bought a book about 'How to raise your spirited child'.  I didn't know how to handle this child.  I felt so emotionally exhausted all the time!!!  She is maturing beautifully.  She excels in school.  I love her bubbly, social personality.  She's kind and loving.  She is still strong willed, but it has gotten so much better. 

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Mr. Braden is taking a science class at the rec center called Little Labcoats.  The teacher teaches simples science concepts and then she shows them what she's talking about with a little experiment.

The other day they made butter.

They had to shake and shake.  Braden was very enthusiastic about it.   

They shook and shook until the whipped cream became butter.  

It was delicious.  I had never made butter before.  

Braden is loving this class.  He's a curious little boy and has an interest for how things work.  He's always trying to build things or fix them.  

I have been proud of this little boy too.  

He finally got all of his alphabet memorized.  He has known the sounds to all the letters for a while but has struggled memorizing the names of each letter...more like 6 specific letters.  He finally got them all down.  We have moved on and he is quickly catching the reading bug.  

Just the other night, he read a little book with easy words.  

I was so happy.  

I burst into tears.  

He has worked hard and often out his own desire.

I am loving this school age stage. 

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Brooke is definitely NOT a newborn anymore.  

She's been hitting so many milestones lately.  

She's busy and is starting to have opinions about things. 

I continue to be smitten by this baby.  I sometimes wish I would have been at this point when I had Brielle and Braden, much more willing to give every ounce of my being. 

The other day I was reminiscing about my teaching days at BYU-Idaho.  It made me miss it, being in control of a classroom, my interactions with students, even grading.  Being me, in front of a bunch of college students, that job was a dream of a job.  I loved every second.  

But I wouldn't trade it for being home full-time with my kiddos. 

I'm grateful I can do that.

Look at this face!

She loves taking baths.  It's the cutest thing to watch her flailing her little arms and kicking her little legs  in the water. 

This little girl started on solids.  She's been wanting this to happen for a while now.  But I've been holding off because I wanted to exclusively nurse for 6 months.  Anyway, she's just been so eager to eat.  

So we started on rice cereal last week.  

She loves to eat.  She doesn't seem too excited but she really does LOVE her food. 

She loves her sippy cup too.

Brielle is a natural mother!:) I love watching her mother her little sister. 

Brooke fits right into our family, she even joins in scripture reading before bed!:) 

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It is so surreal that medical school is coming to an end in 4 months.  It's crazy to think that Brielle was 2 1/2 and Braden was 1 1/2 when we moved to Virginia.  Braden will be 5 on Monday and Brielle 6 on Thursday! WOW!!!! 

Our $1 med school car died last month.  This little chevy nova has been passed on from GWU med student to another for I don't know how long.  We were blessed enough to get it during Scott's second year.  It took him to his early morning shifts to the hospital and brought him home for almost 2 years.   

Junk my car came to pick it up, it was a little sad.  But we weren't too sad when the tow guy gave us $220 for it!

We have to turn in our rank list for residency on the 22nd.  

The countdown has begun.  

 40 days to go 'til match day.