S'more Kind of Night

Tonight we grilled some burgers and corn so s'mores naturally followed. Jane wouldn't eat her hamburger so after eating a smore in front of her I told her I was going to go on the balcony, roast some marshmallows for her and if she didn't eat all her hamburger (it was like a 1/3 of a burger) by the time I came back in I would eat her s'more. It worked. When I walked in Brandt was cracking up because as soon as she heard the door open she shoved the meat into her mouth so it would be gone when I came in.

Here are some pictures of Janie eating her first s'more of the season:

 "This is a what?"

"Ok... I don't know if I can pick this thing up..."

Taking the most delicate/hesitant first bite.

Deciding if scarfing all her food and almost throwing it up was worth it.

And we have an answer.

"It IS good! It really is!"

Although, after it started to get all gooey and fell apart she decided she didn't like it so I gave her an unroasted marshmallow or "smashow" and an unmelted chocolate bar and she was a happy camper. After she was all done she walked up to me and said, "Ugh! Mom! Now I have all this goo in my beautiful hair!" Oh, the torture I do to my children.

Jane Elizabeth at 4 Years Old

I'm sad she's already 4. I told her she couldn't grow up and she told me, "But I will still love you and still hug you and still give you kisses when I'm big." I guess that's ok then and I'm trying to enjoy every minute of Jane as a little munchkin.

She loves to laugh. I'd say she is actually laughing about 80% of the day. She is constantly asking us to tell her jokes, asking to be tickled (which I love doing until she pees her pants...) and jumping or running like a mad woman. The other 20% would probably be her upset at Wendy. Jane loves Wendy in her heart but boy do they not get along. Part of it is probably because they are completely opposite and that's ok. I love my crazy Jane and snuggly Wendy.

She is doing great in preschool. She has 2 really good friends there who jump up and down when they see me dropping Jane off for school. I love that she can play sweetly with the girls but can also hold her own with the boys. She knows most of her letters, is starting to spell words that she sees and is asking what they spell. She's obsessed with cutting paper which is great for fine motor skills but bad for mom with a bad back who has to pick up millions of tiny pieces of paper off the floor every day. She's really good at memorizing things and now knows 5 Articles of Faith!

Her other current obsessions are asking us to be our "baby dog who likes to clean up" who doesn't actually help clean up, chocolate milk and root beer (not mixed of coarse), BBQ chips, and still loves to collect sticks and rocks. Just as I thought, "Is she still changing her clothes 10 times a day?", she opened her bedroom door and asked me to zip up a dress she just changed into so yes, another obsession is changing her clothes all day BUT she is getting better about putting her used clothes away. She DOESN'T like or as she puts it, "not a fan of", cooked vegetables (has to be fresh), shredded meat of any kind, old people that are strangers (I mean, REALLY old people and not quite sure why), stickers (but still asks for them where ever we go), getting hair that's fallen out on her hands (she freaks out till I get them off) or jelly beans (cause they have dots).

She is in swim class and is doing really well. Today is the last day and she has learned a lot. The first 5 minutes of the first class she fell into the pool because she got too close and slipped in. I thought it was over... $25 wasted, but even by the end of that class she had gotten over being scared and is my water baby again.

She loves to sing even if it's not a real song, thinks every thing she can't understand is Spanish, and is really good about knowing which streets are "new" streets that we haven't driven on before. She is funny, clever, and forgiving.

At her 4 year Dr. appointment, she weighed 38lbs (75th %) and is 41 inches tall (75th %) so she's a perfectly proportional and healthy little girl.

I think I've got the best 4 year old for me. Here's that little crazy girl on her actual birthday:

Trying some modeling moves:

And... giving some "BIG" hugs to the tree:

Catching some bubbles that dad is blowing:

Riding her new scooter for the first time:

She's a pro:

And a spectacular, adorable, super fun, life-loving girl:

Who we just so happen to love more than a sun loves to shine.

Happy 4th Janie!

The Hurricane Turns 4!

Jane requested a pink party for her birthday this year so that's what she got, which is actually interesting because pink is not her favorite color... yellow is because she has "yellow hair". She also requested rootbeer, a pink diamond pinata and sushi so she got that too minus the last request.

Here are some pictures from the party:

Here's the little birthday girl showing me how she's going to "rock out" at her party in the dress-up SHE chose to wear since it's pink for her pink party.

But then decided that might be a little too crazy and needed a minute to compose herself before friends arrived.

Some of the food and the magic wands every princess and prince needs.

And, of course, some pink cupcakes which I ate way too many of.

I made what Jane calls a, "pink pompom rock wall", which she promptly asked to climb after it was hung. The answer was an immediate no.

And you can't have a Brinkerhoff party without stuff hanging from the ceiling.

Here's my princess's pink diamond pinata. 2 days and 2 broken needles later and it was done! Hand stitched felt-covered cardboard. Best $3 pinata ever.

All the kids lined up ready to take turns pulling the strings out.

Princess Lydia using her big girl muscles!

 Jane got a little bored in between turns so she started a game of "run around the rosy" with her sister.

But she came back right as the candy was faaaaaaallliiinnngg...

 And all the kids swarmed to find a goodie bag with their name on it.

Enjoying some candy with her two princes, Ben and Matthew. A HUGE thanks to Nicole for making those AWESOME prince capes!

Happy birthday little hurricane princess!

First Day of Nursery Celebration!

Wendy turns 18 months old this Thursday so the nursery leader let her go to nursery for the first time yesterday! We weren't expecting it or planning on it so it was a super nice surprise. We both thought for sure we'd have to stay in there with her for the first few months because of her personality but this is how she she made her entrance to her new class...

We meet at a school for church while they build the new building downtown so nursery is in a gymnasium. I walked in half way between the door and where all the kids were playing on mats. Wendy wanted down so I put her on the floor and she RAN with a funny combination of screaming, giggling, laughing and clapping over to the mat, tripped on the edge of it, got right back up and started clapping and laughing with excitement! Everyone in the room started laughing to see this little person SO excited. I thought, "Well, I guess I'll go then...".

She did great and how wonderful 2 hours of childless church was! Apparently after a while she noticed I was gone and found comfort in one of the male teachers who she quickly marked as HER person and after they had snack she was chipper again.

So... to celebrate we did what any family would do on a Sunday evening. We made cookies! Here are some pictures of our little nursery gal enjoying some sugar:

She HAS to have milk to dip her cookie in like the rest of us so Brandt always gives her a little dish with a little milk like this...

Checking to make sure she got some milk on there.

Testing it...

And, yup! Just as yummy as she though. Rinse and repeat.

Princess Wendy

Wendy wanted to wear Jane's dilapidated princess dress so I put it on her and it actually fit pretty well. She's a fan of things on her head (I don't know many children like that) so we put the tiara on too. I think she makes for a very fine princess...

Jane wanted to have a picture with Wendy.

In case you can't tell, Wendy is laughing, not crying. She thinks Jane is very funny which is a good thing but also annoys the heck out of Jane sometimes.

I love this girl's blue eyes.

My little princess.

And my other little princess at about the same age: Princess Jane

I love you like...

 Jane's newest thing is telling me she loves me like something likes something else. My two favorites are...

While in the elevator going somewhere, just the two of us: "Mom, I love you like a cupcake loves his frosting."

Last night while she was using the toilet: "Mom, I love you like Superman loves his friend Batman."

She can be pretty sweet sometimes. Like here, in our laundry room wearing her Belle dress, necklace and her obsession since the beginning of her time, her life jacket (she really wears it for hours every day).

And here she is all back to normal... crazy lady.

This girl rocks. I love her like a banana loves his peel :)

Popsicle Sunday

This weekend was spent inside listening to General Conference. My favorite moment on Saturday was watching both girls climb/wiggle/scream on top of Brandt for his sole attention as he tried to design on the laptop. His look of utter hopelessness and surrender still cracks me up.

My favorite moment Sunday was watching my little family enjoy some popsicles on the balcony that Brandt and Jane made together. We have a Zoku so they freeze in 8 minutes but Jane probably said with a beaming smile, "I think we should check on the popsicles, don't you?" about 40 times during those painful 8 minutes.

Here are some pictures from our Popsicle Sunday...

 3 of my favorite people:

She's always the happiest when she's held or eating so she's in her perfect place right here.

Silly Jane enjoying her lemon outside/peach inside popsicle.

Yeah, it's a little sour.

But it doesn't phase this crazy lady.

Trying to figure out how to eat it without choking herself with the stick (which she did, repeatedly, 10 times.

 Ahh, there you go little girl.

Popsicles are fun. Conference is awesome. Popsicles + Conference + Family makes for one fun day.

See Jane Go Crazy

Ann bought Jane this dog guitar from Target a long time ago and it sure was worth the investment. Jane will bring it out and sing, dance and jump to it for at least an hour straight every time, mostly on my bed or the couch. Here's a glimpse into what she does when she plays with it... this girl has some energy!

Detroit Easter 2013

This year, Brandt had to go to New Jersey the week before Easter for work so I took the girls to Detroit to see our favorite Jenkins cousins after Jane recovered from pneumonia, of coarse. We drove up Thursday, Brandt met us there Friday, we enjoyed a super fun Easter egg hunt and grown-up date on Saturday and drove back to Chicago on Sunday after an Easter brunch. Here are some pictures from the egg hunt:

Wendy sure loves her daddy and he loves his little squishy!

She was so excited to have her own Easter basket. Worth the $1 investment.

Wendy had to find the eggs with the #1 on them.

She did such a great job!

Jane finding her eggs. 

Picking a lollipop from Lollipop Land.

And, so willing to share! Want one?

Taking a break for some love from a dinosaur.

My sweet Jane at an Easter egg hunt the week before.

Meeting the Easter Bunny! 

Jane spent the weekend with black feet... playing in her cousin's backyard and jumping on their trampoline. It kind of broke my heart to bring her back to an apartment in Chicago. I'm so glad we got to venture out to Detroit on such a whim.