Gettin' Physical, PHYSICAL

Neely and Cason have been sick. :( Neely spent a day and a half feeling warm and crying more than usual. Then Cason had a furnace for a body, and started coughing. He seems really tired today, but mostly just has a runny nose now.
I hadn't done laundry the other day, but it was chilly in the house, so Neely wore her babylegs and looked like she was ready for some aerobics.
There was a wall in Neely's room that still needed something, so I made her this alphabet print and finally framed and hung it today. Paige told me the "wiggly ones don't even look like letters." :)
I really have nothing much to talk about at the moment, but lookie here:
I love the tops of her little ears sticking out under the headband, like a cute little elf baby.

Horse-sitting

I sat out on the rocking chair with Neely today, watching Paige and Cason play. By the way, I like when babies are starting to get hungry and you kiss their cheek and they automatically try to bite you. :)
Paige was driving along the sidewalk, and Cason hopped on top. They drove up to me and Paige said "Hi. Pretend you didn't know me. Pretend I'm your friend." So I said "Oh, hey friend, how have you been?" She goes "Good. This is my son Cason. I'm driving him to his new job. He picks the old berries and takes them somewhere else. That's his job. I have a new job too. Can you babysit my horse?" I said "Sure." She said "See you later."

Someone...

...looks cute in her new shirt.

Bombermen (and Women)

We did a late Valentine's Day dinner tonight. Dad, Trudi, and Colton babysat for us. We were gone an hour and a half or so, and they're hooked on Bomberman now.

Love Love Love

It seems to be easier to get all 3 kids to pose for pictures than it was when we had just Paige and Cason.
But maybe they're just at a more willing stage, because the older two will pose together too.
Haha! I love them so.

I've been on a kids clothing buying spree. Tyra, Chris, Sarah and Jenna, and Veronica and Dan all found that guitar shirt for us in different sizes! So Paige will have one soon, and Neely will have one in several sizes. She'll wear that tshirt all throughout her childhood. :) I also ordered a couple shirts from the website for the girls, Paige got a cute ballet slippers shirt and Neely got THE CUTEST mermaid shirt. I love me some mermaids.

THEN we went to Target and used some gift cards yesterday. Cason's very proud of his new Buzz and Spiderman tshirts.
Now then, I love when chubby babies chew on their pudgy fists.
AND when they gaze into their mama's eyes.
Jess took Valentine's Day off, which was nice. We just relaxed mostly. Neely and I got up before everyone else and baked up some cinnamon rolls and got the table ready for a Valentine's breakfast.I remembered Tyra making us breakfast one St. Patrick's Day when we were little and she colored our milk and eggs green. I loved it, so I did it with their milk today, only pink. (Turns out it tastes pretty weird, I figured you wouldn't be able to tell, but we could) Then I got Jess up and he brought them straight to the table.
Neely watched from her swing, cooing and smiling at Paige.
They got LITTLE gifts. We found a little doll for Paige, which we thought would go nicely with the dollhouse, PLUS her name is "Preppy Paige". Cason got a harmonica. Ha.
It was pretty much a perfect start to our day. Even when Neely had a poop explosion in her swing, because then we got to give her a bath and have a sweet smelling baby all day. While I got her ready the kids and Jess played with the new doll and the dollhouse.
Cason used his "Cason boy" doll. The rest of the doll family played that they were having a normal day, but "Cason boy" was of course living a much more exciting life.
We relaxed. And played outside a little.
And wore new shirts.
And spit up on new shirts and then wore OTHER new shirts.
People delivered Valentine's treats, and Paige and Cason even put on a show for us, while Neely napped sweetly on her daddy. A successful Valentine's Day.

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."