Chore Chart

I've mentioned that Neely loves Otis Redding. Well Paige and I like to sing Cupid to her, and when he sings "..straight to my lover's heart.." we change it to "my Neely's heart", and then I do Paige and Cason's hearts too of course. Cason usually just listens and smiles, but we were driving out to pick Jess up yesterday afternoon, and that song started playing. Cason heard the intro start and he goes "TO MY MAMA'S HEART! MY DADDY'S HEART!" He's a good guy.
Pretty soon he and Paige and I were singing it and dancing in the car. Then I wondered how many people don't see the kids in the back, and think I'm having a crazy dance party in my car alone.

Our kids tend to have dry and sensitive skin, and Cason gets really itchy if I don't put lotion on him like every day or two. Last night he got really itchy and ended up taking his pajamas off at some point. He was awake scratching a lot, and slept in this morning. Paige and I were on the ground playing with Neely on her quilt when Cason woke up. He came stumbling out of the bedroom with messed up hair, in a pullup and socks, unable to open his eyes yet in the bright living room, and scratching his belly as he walked. I started laughing as soon as I saw him, and thankfully had the camera right by me.
Barby and Karl babysat Neely for a while so Jess and I could take the other two to see Gnomeo and Juliet. It was okay, but I figured the kids loved it since they love most things they watch. When we got home I asked Paige if she liked it and she goes "Yeah! A little bit, but not very much." Haha.

It was a good day. SO nice out, and I baked us cookies. While they baked I realized we were out of milk, which is pretty much a disaster. So Jess ran to the store, and the rest of us hung out front waiting for the cookies to bake and him to return.
It was like 70 degrees, but Paige dressed like this, anyway:
They were all business when the cookies were ready.
Especially Cason.
They also have chores now, as of a few weeks ago. They love it. We made up a little chart, which is on the fridge. Jess thinks it's the cutest thing ever. Paige's chores: Feed Gia in the morning, and then brush teeth. After lunch put dishes in the sink. After dinner fill Gia's water dish. Cason's chores: Same exact thing, but he gives Gia WATER in the morning, and FOOD in the evening. They're so funny, and all into having their jobs. Cason tells me all the time, "I have a job. Yeah, yeah, I have a job. It's not your job, it's my job feed Gia. And, and it's Paige's job too."

Hand Holder

Neely pretty much always holds tightly onto my arms or hands when she sits in my lap now. I love that. She thinks she's big.
She was EXTRA social this morning, squealing and cooing and laughing at all of us, and calling sadly to us if she was left alone for more than 2 seconds.
Oh, and Cason told me he "tied" his shoe for the first time today. It was wadded up so tightly it would work as well as a real knot I think. :)
Yesterday Paige told me she's going to be a scientist when she grows up. Then Cason told me "Yeah, yeah, and I grow up I'm gonna be Buzz Lipeyeard."

Four in a Fort

I've been a boring mom lately, so today I tried to be more fun and we made a fort. Only it wasn't really a fort, it was our space ship and we were aliens from the planet "Orbador". I don't know if Paige got that from a show or if she made it up.
We aliens had laser guns and guitars.
Tonight I had Jess calling MANY Old Navy stores, in search of this shirt for Paige and/or Neely:


They disappeared from the website, and the stores we've called are out of 5T and 6-12 mos, which are the sizes we need. :( If any of you are in an Old Navy any time soon and see it in either of those sizes PLEASE get it for us and we shall reimburse you and then some. I love it so.

While we called stores, Neely hung out with us of course, but Paige and Cason were talking to each other through the video monitor. Ha.

'Tar

Neely got her new guitar today. :) It's so cute. It's a little wooden teething toy, and it came JUST in time, because she's all into holding her toys and chewing on them all of a sudden. I was hoping we'd be suddenly rich and I could buy cute ones for all the babies we know. Maybe I'll use our entire tax return on some. For now though, Neely has her guitar and it's the cutest.
Cason calls it her "Tar".
Her little personality is showing more and more. It's crazy how early you can see what they'll be like. She has such a cute little sense of humor already. When she does her little laugh it's like she's being hilarious WITH us, not like we're making HER laugh. She's wonderful.

I Love....

Listening to Cason talk on the phone. He's sitting for THIS talk, but usually he does the same hand gesture while pacing in circles around the living room. He was telling Grama: "And Paige had apple gum, see? But it's all gone, see? That's why."
I also love the outfits Paige puts together.
This girl doing tummy time in shirts as snug as scuba gear.
And all three kids posing together.

SOOOO Thoughtful

Yesterday Paige and Neely and I went to a really nice baby shower. Echo let Paige have a couple of balloons to take home, and Paige asked her for an extra to bring home for Cason. On the way home I was telling her it was thoughtful of her to get one for Cason. She asked what "thoughtful" meant, so I explained. When we got home she and Cason were jumping around with their balloons, and Paige made up a song. The only lines I can remember are: "Echo gave me a balloon, it was soooo nice of her. She's so thooooooooooughtful!"
Cason still poses the same way, in case you were wondering.
I asked Cason to take a picture of Neely and me together. So...
Ha.

Neely's starting to try and play with her toys.
AND she still likes to be naked.
Very much.
She and I are home alone together, and she's sleeping in my lap. Jess took the other two to Veronica's to watch the Superbowl. I thought it would be a good time for some alone time with the little girl. Plus, not gonna lie, I love playing sports, and I love watching if I'm AT a game. But I just can't seem to care about televised games. Neely trumps the superbowl any day.

Cookie Taste Tester

Alex and Faith brought a bag of old stuff for Paige to have, when they spent the night. One was this leotard with tiger tail attached. She ran around in it a lot today, and Cason told her "I wike your kitty tail."
Tonight I'm making chocolate cookies, which I saw on Megan's blog and had to have TONIGHT. Thanks for posting the recipe Megan!

Cason "helped", which means he stood completely naked on a chair watching and asking repeatedly "I try it? Can I try it? Can I? Okay!" and sneaking tastes every few seconds.
The little lady seems a little sad tonight.
But she was 3 months old yesterday. We didn't have an appointment, so I had to do her weight on our scale. So who knows how accurate it is, but she's supposedly 14.5 pounds now. I still need to measure her length.