Naughty or Nice?

Okay, this post has many different aspects to it. One, Brooke is on a major naughty streak right now and I don't know what to do about it. 1) She cut her barbie's hair 2) she's drawn on her closet wall and on her slide

okay, so this is cute and we'll probably keep this but STILL,
drawing on things is naughty!

3) she went outside and broke the branches off our little apple fruit tree (We flipped out over this because now our beloved fruit tree is probably ruined)

4) she's been on a kick about having a major fit when we tell her no

What are we to do? After the fruit tree incident, Blake made her work outside with him for two days picking up leaves. I am also thinking of putting some kind of prize up on the fridge for her to earn if she behaves and doesn't have any timeouts that day. I also know that we need to give more positive praise and have more positive interactions with her, and we do try to do that. We make an effort to play candyland or watch special movies with popcorn with her after Porter goes to bed. Anything we're missing here?

I know there is a nice girl in there somewhere. She occasionally comes out. Like in these pictures taken on St. Patrick's Day.

And speaking of holidays, have you read this article? So many things I agree with in her writing about holidays. Espeically how they are getting seriously crazy with the amount of work/time/money people are starting to put into them. It makes me wonder if we are doing it for the kids or to impress/compete with the other parents in the keeping up with Jones's/facebook/blogging/pinterest world we now live in.

This article and those thoughts were for me. So please don't be offended if you love to go crazy during the holidays. No judgement from me. I just remember last year on St. Patrick's day looking on FB at all these photos of leprechaun footprints and furniture upside down and feeling like the world's worst mom because all I did was dress my kids in green. I didn't even have enough creativity to dye the milk green! Then I see how other holidays have become like mini Christmases (or just like Christmas) and I feel all this pressure to perform so my kid doesn't feel jipped. I am now realizing that I just need to do my best and not give in to that pressure, especially when it goes against what I want my children to know/learn about that holiday. There may be certain traditions i start with my kids, and i need to figure out my limits. Okay, I am done with my rant.

And finally, speaking of holidays, I do like to celebrate and be festive although my craftiness is pretty limited. I just took down my one Valentine's Day decoration a week ago and put up my one Easter decoration. See, like I said: limited

 If you want a print for yourself or others , you can get one free HERE

A Breath of Fresh Air

I had to do 3 posts today because it seems like every time I go to blog, I have tons of pictures I need upload. 

My kids have been trying my patience this week BIG TIME. Brooke is not listening, she is defiant, telling me "no" all the time, she hasn't wanted to get dressed in actual clothes for weeks now, I told her to go upstairs and get dressed and found her playing with toys in her underwear....Porter is teething again and when he is teething he gets a cold/cough and is just generally grumpy. Blake and I have some plans on Saturday, just the two of us, so looking forward to that is making this week especially drag.  And I think all of us have major cabin fever. The weather has been teasing us and all the snow in our front yard finally melted so we took advantage of the sun and relative warmth and headed outdoors.

Welcome Spring!

Our day in pictures

Blake and I were recently talking about how much we love that photography has become so accessible. I remember my parents saving his precious film shots for "special occasions  and then not seeing the prints for weeks or even months later. I love that I can take pictures of my kids and document their growing up years, especially when they are young and actually want me to photograph them & put up with me following them around with my camera :) Here is a typical day at our house:

Most days, Brooke just stays in her PJs. Even if I make her get dressed she will quickly change back into her PJs as soon as she can. She spends a lot of time doing her "crafts"

 Mr. P just loves his blankies. This yellow one is by far his favorite

 Whenever I can't find Porter I know that he has probably gone up to Brooke's room to play with her little people house. He loves the door on it and opens and closes it.

 Putting his binky inside the house and shutting the door

 Two soft blankies, he didn't know which one to choose

I am so thankful to be able to remember these little things.

Glitz & Glamour

One thing I have really appreciated about our town are the free family events that are always happening. Our library put on a "glitz & glamour" activity for little girls and Brooke loved it. Towards the end, I started getting a little claustrophobic with all the people, so we didn't stay super long. We managed to hit all the highlights and grabbed some goodies.

They had a photobooth for the girls to dress up and take pictures

coloring and decorating a princess crown and wand

Porter was a good sport

getting her nails done

Time for treats!

 Probably my favorite thing was that as soon as she got home, Brooke took off her princess dress and started looking at the books we had checked out. This girl loves to read and can't wait until she can actually read the words on her own!

What We're Up To

It's been a while since I have posted what we are up to:

Blake: is busy with work and is loving his new job. It's truly been a huge blessing for our family. Blake is happier when he comes home and enjoys what he is doing so much more than he used to. He is also training to participate in a triathlon in April. This prompted us to buy passes for our family to the rec center. Blake swims, I run, and the kids play to their content in the childcare area. Probably the most exciting thing in Blake's life right now is this:

 This is his new baby. He even sacrificed his parking spot in the garage so it can be parked there. Brooke and Blake often go out and sit in the boat and pretend to fish. They can hardly wait for the lakes to thaw.

Courtney: School keeps me busy and I was just informed today that there are 11 more Mondays left until summer vacation. YIPPEE! I shocked my students into a stunned silence after informing them that when I was there age people didn't have cell phones. One stunned student gasped, "How old are you?!" I've been slowly trying to get back into shape after taking an exercise hiatus from November-Now. I am sad that after all my hard work training for the half marathon, I have to start all over. I have been reading like crazy. Some recent favorite books are The Graceling series, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and The Divergent Series  I've also realized that I look scary in just about every recent picture
Giving Baths

 Reading stories early one morning

 Me and my boy

Brooke: She is busy, busy! Her imagination cracks me up and so does her random break-outs into song that narrate our day. She almost never uses a toy for it's intended purpose. Lace up animal cards cards are pets on leashes, colored blocks are nail polish, a stick is a magic wand....Brooke is also going through some baby jealousy, I think. Porter is getting to the stage where we are wanting to capture his first milestones on video and we ooh and aah over the cute things he does. Brooke wants to get right in the action and usually her head is blocking the shot of Porter we want to get and mom and dad get frustrated. Plus, seeing a 4 year old crawl across the floor is not as cute as a baby doing it for the first time. I have really been trying harder to give Brooke more positive praise and more one on one attention.

I am too lazy to flip this picture, but one day when I was changing the sheets on my bed, Brooke decided that yellow sheet could be Rapunzel's hair, she already had her princess dress on and a spatula from the kitchen drawer (not unusual for her)

Recent Brooke-isms:
Getting in her snow clothes, Brooke proclaims, "I look like a vampire!"
Me: You do? Where did you hear about vampires?
Brooke: Oh,...well, if they scare me I just knock their heads off (I still never found out where she learned about vampires)

Brooke: I don't want to go to the daycare at the gym!
Me: Why not?
Brooke: That lady is old. She has old hair. (There is a gray-haired lady who sometimes works at the daycare at the gym)

Porter: He getting so curious and mischevious. He has started to like sneaking into the bathrooms to play in the toilet. If he doesn't like what I have given him to eat, he just throws it over the side of his tray. Seriously today I broke up a piece of French toast for him, turned around to get something else and when I turned around the pieces were all over the floor.

loving his books

He thinks he is so big and can climb the steps up the slide like the big kids

Will crawl for food...especially cake