march madness

March Madness usually pertains to the NCAA basketball tournament (which we have been enjoying), but it has been a somewhat crazy month for us as well. Here is a recap of things we have been going through this month.

1. Sickness. Over the past two weeks, we’ve been hit with strep throat. Jamie is the only one that has avoided it so far. Hopefully he does not get it!

2. Visitors. Brian visited in early March with his four kids. The cousins all had a great time playing together and Olivia & Violet still talk about baby Owen (even though he is not really a baby anymore)! We played hide-n-seek, Simon Says, red light/green light, and went to the park. We also enjoyed a visit later in the month from Granny and Grandpa Thronson. The girls hadn’t seen them since they got back from Arizona, so Olivia and Violet were super excited about their visit. Unfortunately, my dad wasn’t feeling the best, so they cut their visit shorter than they were planning. We also enjoyed an afternoon visit with my cousin Kelley and her five kids. It was great to catch up with her!

3. Persistence. How many times can a 3-year-old ask the same question? Hundreds, it seems.

4. First nightmare. Olivia woke up last night screaming hysterically. When I went in her room, she said that a mousie bit her on the hand and it hurt really bad. She never really got back to sleep, so her dream must have been pretty traumatizing!

5. Foreign languages. Olivia and Violet have developed their own language (or so it seems). They will talk to each other in nonsense that Jamie and I can’t understand, and then they will giggle and go off to do whatever they were talking about. Already conspiring against mom and dad? Probably!!

6. High energy. This would be Olivia and Violet – not me and Jamie! They have been so hyper at times that they just get goofy. They run around like crazy kids and all sense of listening and reasoning go out the window. This usually results in one of them crying eventually.

7. Daycare fun. The girls’ daycare class had a visit from a sneaky leprechaun on St. Patty’s Day, who left them a pot of gold. Later in the month, Olivia and Violet dressed like cowgirls on Rodeo Day. They ate baked beans, biscuits and s’mores. They had two helpings of beans and couldn’t finish their s’mores. They also roped cows and rode horses (for pretend of course). They often ask on the weekends if they can go to daycare. I guess mom and dad must be boring!

And best of all.....
8. Best friend status. I was going to take Olivia to the grocery store last Saturday because Violet got to go with me last time, and Violet started sobbing hysterically that she wanted to go to the store too. I thought it was because she wanted go to with me, so I decided to stay home and Daddy was going to take Olivia. She started crying harder and then I realized she wanted to be with Olivia – not me – when she started sobbing “B-b-b-but Olivia is my b-b-b-best f-f-f-friend!”

it's a guy thing

We went for a walk yesterday, and the girls again proceeded to pick up sticks off the ground and draw in the snow. We've been trying to work with them on learning and recognizing letters, so Jamie thought it would be fun to write words in the snow and have the girls sound them out. He started out with spelling Olivia, Violet, Mom and Dad...and then his guy instinct kicked in and he wrote the word "fart." Olivia laughed hysterically and yelled, "I want to write the word BUTT!"

how time flies

We've had a busy few weeks, so the month of February is flying by. Jamie was in New Orleans for the week of February 7th. He attended the national physical therapy conference. Unfortunately, the weather was not the greatest, but I think he enjoyed the trip nonetheless. Olivia and Violet sang in church on Sunday, February 13th, with their preschool class from daycare. They sang two songs - "For God So Loved The World" and "Jesus Loves Me" - which fit in with the service's theme of love. Olivia did a great job singing while Violet spent most of the time looking around and playing with her friends. Oh well - we were proud of them anyway!

The girls loved Valentine's Day this year. They made valentines for their daycare friends and were very excited to wear their valentines outfits to daycare. Actually, their daycare had a different dressup theme for each day of that week, so the girls thought that was a lot of fun. Their favorite was "wacky day" where they wore completely wild and mismatched outfits. Anyway, back to Valentine's Day! They had a party at daycare and came home with a whole bunch of goodies. I planned a little scavenger hunt for them, which brought back memories for me since my sister and I used to make scavenger hunts for each other when we were little. I gave the girls a note that gave them a clue of where to look for the next note (for example: Look somewhere that is very cold), and in the last place they looked they each had a little gift (a puzzle). Olivia totally got into it and RAN from clue to clue to find the next note first. Violet enjoyed it, but she lingered back a bit and let Olivia do most of the work. It was fun though!

February 17th was the girls' last night of swimming lessons for this session. They really improved over the course of the lessons, and we will probably start them up again in March. Violet was very comfortable in the water, and by the end she was putting her face in the water willingly and floating on her back by herself. Olivia is still a little hesitant about getting her face wet, but she improved over the course of the lessons. They were both very sad when they found out their session was over!

My sister Rhonda and her daughter Emma visited us on February 19th. We met at my sister Terri's house and had a great time hanging out there for the day. It was so much fun to watch Olivia, Violet, Emma & William run around and play together. After naps, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese because Emma has been dying to go. We thought we might beat the supper crowd, but boy were we wrong!! There was a line just to get in the door and there were kids running around EVERYWHERE. Emma was able to get her picture taken with Chuck E, but Olivia and Violet were too scared of him to be in the picture. The kids had a lot of fun playing games and climbing in the play area. Jamie was not with, so I was a little stressed out trying to keep track of Olivia and Violet, but it worked out okay. But never again will I do that on a Saturday. :)

On Sunday, February 20, we were hit with more snow. It was pretty warm the week before so most of the snow on the ground had melted, but then it was replaced all over again. We went for a walk just as it began to snow. It was a nice, light snow so we had a good time walking in it. Olivia and Violet found sticks on the ground and spent a lot of time "drawing" pictures in the snow. When we got home from our walk, they did not want to come inside. However, they started chasing each other around with their sticks, so I decided it was time to make them come in!!

Latest funny saying: When we were on our way over to Terri's house last Saturday, we saw several airplanes flying in the sky. I said to the girls: "Would you like to fly on an airplane someday?" Violet said: "Yes! I want to fly on an airplane to the Eiffel Tower!"

Violet & Olivia ready to sing in church:

My sweethearts on V-Day:

Violet, Emma & Olivia at Chuck E Cheese:

Violet on a ride at Chuck E Cheese:

Olivia on a ride at Chuck E Cheese:
Olivia and Violet chasing each other with sticks: