Finally 40...Degrees

YES, it has finally gotten into the upper 30's and even lower 40's the last two days. We have had 83 consecutive days with snow on the ground...and it's still not completely melted. Anyway, Lauren & Blake actually got out of the house today :) They started their day with lunch out at McDonald's. It's the only decent fast food restaurant in town. Plus, Blake loves her "nuggies". She likes to dip them in the sweet & sour sauce. Then, they hung out in the front yard with the pups. Here are a few pics from today. Blake's ready to roll with her sippy cup and a Gatorade lid that she found on the ground.

What neat rocks we have in the front yard?!

Picking up rocks

Walking on the sidewalk

The rocks are fun to trek across.

We can't leave the dogs out, so here's Maddie & Copa posing for a pic. Maddie looks a little bored with it all :) And, Copa is looking for the flash. She's obsessed with lights of any sort. So, it's always a pain to take pictures when she's around because she knows there's a flash and tends to jump in front of the camera looking for the light. That's why you'll often see Copa's back at the bottom of pictures.

Alright, this next picture has a bit of a story with it. This morning Blake left a bowl of snacks on the kitchen floor and Lauren accidentally kicked the bowl across the room. As they were picking up the snacks, Lauren was telling Blake that she needs to put her snacks up on something so that they don't get knocked over. Now, fast forward to about 4 p.m. this afternoon. Lauren walked into the kitchen and this is what she found.

Blake had found an empty garbage can and turned it over to create her own table for her snacks - too funny!!! Not sure if it actually had anything to do with what had happened earlier in the morning, but it was funny either way. She just cracks us up daily! In other Blake news, she has really started repeating us and mimicking what we do. O JOY!!! Now we really have to watch what we say and do in front of her. In fact, as I'm typing this, Blake just HAD to have her keyboard so she could sit and type too. Well, not too much else going on with us...hope all is well with everyone!

Valentine's Carpet

So, I guess you know you're getting older (NOT old) when you get carpet for Valentine's Day, and it is honestly the best present that you could have ever thought of at the time :) The carpet we had in the living room was really old and was even ripped and discolored. So, we're proud to announce that we finally have decent carpet in our living room - YAY! Don't worry, the dogs were banned from the living room about six months ago...so hopefully, it'll stay good for a long while. It hasn't been too long since we posted last, but we have quite a few pictures to share. Here's Blake hangin' out enjoying some raisins.Blake watching Cars in a somewhat empty living room.
the OLD, nasty carpet
Blake told us that she wanted to "go bye" and proceeded to try to do so by herself :)
the wood sub floor...it's actually not too bad with the exception of one spot in front of the bathroom
Blake sporting Grandma & Grandpa's Valentine outfit that they sent.
Another picture of Blake's cute outfit and a VERY crammed kitchen. Our house isn't very big so emptying out the biggest room in the house wasn't exactly easy.
Blake decided to jam out in the bedroom while we were killin' time waiting for the carpet to be installed.
REALLY jammin'
Blake also decided to e-mail Grandma & Grandpa while we were waiting for the installation...sorry to you both, the keyboard wasn't connected to a computer so you probabably didn't get it.And finally, the NEW carpet...ahhhh, what a beautiful sight ;)

Jabberin' Girlie

Blake is quite the jabber jaws. She just talks and talks and talks. She tends to be especially talkative right when she gets up from naps, so Lauren had the video camera ready to go today to catch it on film. Of course, she didn't go all out like she normally does, but it's at least a taste. She's just getting so big, so quickly. You'll hear her say hi, bye (and go bye), Grandma and/or Grandpa, shoes (there are a couple pairs of shoes sitting on the shelves next to her crib), down, please and who knows what else. ENJOY!

"Cars" and "Wild" at 18 Months

Blake turned 18 months old on February 5th! My, how time flies?! She LOVES the Disney movie Cars. The last couple mornings she has asked for Cars before she even gets out of her crib. In fact, the other day Lauren was trying to get Blake's breakfast ready when all of a sudden she heard the movie playing. Lauren hadn't turned anything on, but Blake had somehow figured it out. So, she doesn't need Mom for that one any more either ;) Blake also has a fascination with Lauren's iPod touch. She loves to play "wild" as she calls it...Peek-a-boo Wild is the name of the game. When Lauren took her to her 18 month well baby check yesterday, Blake had to get 3 shots. We skipped 2 at the last appt. so she could get flu shots...and not have to get 5 shots all in one day, but that meant she'd have to get 3 at her 18 month appt. when they usually only have to get 1. Lauren took the iPod along for support. Sure enough, after her last poke when Mom asked, "Do you want to play wild?" Blake immediately stopped crying and said, "wild, wild, wild" until Lauren gave her the iPod. The nurse was cracking up! So, our "wild" and "car" lovin' 18 month old weighed in at 23 pounds 7 ounces (45th percentile) and is 31 3/4 inches tall (50th percentile). And, her noggin is still in the 75th percentile...big enough for all those brains ;) Well, hope all is well with everyone! We're back in the low single digit temps and STILL have snow on the ground. It's been like 50+ days with snow on the ground here...YUCK! We'll leave ya with a pic of Blake watching Cars. We've had to establish an ottoman's length away from the TV or she'll stand 3" away from the screen. And, our stupid TV randomly activates the closed captioning, so that's why there are words on the screen. ENJOY!

A Quiet Shower?

Bob is out ice fishing, so Lauren & Blake are hanging at the house. Lauren went to take her shower this morning and surprisingly enough it was very quiet. Blake's usually popping her head in and rustling the shower curtains the whole time. She was being such a good girl...yeah, right!!! Here's what she was doing...UH, OH...BUSTED!"Blake?" she asks. She always asks to see "Blake" in the screen on the back of the camera after we take pictures.WHAT A MESS?!Blake was definitely looking for mischief this morning. After she cleaned up her mess, she was carrying around a little bowl of snacks. She didn't know that I could see her. She was in the kitchen watching Copa, who was laying on the floor minding her own business. Blake stared at Copa for a while then Blake picked up one foot and started to act like she was going to step on Copa's tail. She pulled her foot back and got the biggest grin on her face...then she did it! She stepped on Copa's tail; Copa jumped up; Blake went flying and her snacks went crashing all over the floor. She cried for a second then helped pick up all her snacks. We'll see if she tries that one again :) Then, as if she hadn't experimented enough for the morning, she was helping Lauren get the diapers out of the dryer (we've been using cloth diapers). In the midst of it all, she set her snack bowl on the dryer door (front loading dryer) and then decided to be a big helper and close the door for Mom. You guessed it...snacks went flying into the dryer. At least it was empty. Ahhh...the joys of a snowy, Saturday morning!

Potty Time

OK, so this was a little too funny not to post. Blake is a horrible diaper changer in that she will NOT sit still at all. Even if Lauren has everything ready to go, our little girlie finds a way to stand up and try to bolt...that is amongst the kicking and giggling and rolling over, you name it. We have a little strap on our changing table that you can put around her waist, and she's even escaped that a few times. Anyway, Lauren was changing Blake the other day and Blake did her normal flip-over-stand-up-in-less-than-.3 seconds routine. She pulled a decorative hanging off the wall (that's normal - she can reach it when she stands up on the changing table), looked at Lauren very innocently (without a diaper on) and peed all over her socks, the wall hanging and the changing table. So, I guess we know what she thinks about that :)

In other news, Lauren got a chance to hang out with some of her friends from college and their kiddos this weekend. It was so nice to get to visit and we even got to swim at the hotel Kyle & Jess were staying at. We didn't get any pics, sorry! It's a little difficult to hold on to a kiddo in the pool and a camera...O WELL! Hopefully, we'll get another chance for pics soon! A post wouldn't be the same without a picture, so here's a pic of Blake modeling the newest hooded towel that Lauren has made.Hope all is well!

Playin' Around

Lauren & Blake got a chance to visit Suzi, Claire & Gracie last week. The girls had a ton of fun playing. Blake crashed on the way home...she was exhausted. Here's a pic of little Gracie hangin' out on Claire's bed.All three girls: Claire, Blake & GracieAwww...such cute sisters!Our crazy-haired maniac :)And, Blake has recently taken an interest in climbing up on the toy that she got for Christmas. She's been sitting at the top and playing with her phone (or chewing on a travel tooth brush holder).It was so great to get Blake around some other kids. She even learned a few things. Claire had a little plastic hammer and she was walking around hammering on the walls here and there. When we got home Blake decided to hammer on the dishwasher, but she used her phone...guess she couldn't find a hammer ;) Anyway thanks to Bob watching Blake all day yesterday, Lauren got some more sewing done...BUT the hooded bath towels that should have gotten posted late last week won't be up until next weekend or early the following week at http://DeCoteauKiddos.etsy.com (link on sidebar). Hope all is well!!!