Height & weights 11/13/14

Before I lose track of the measurements, I wanted to log them here.

We measured the girls tonight - getting so big!

Natalie - 5yr, 1 mo - 39lbs, 44.5 inches
Rhys - 3yr, 3mo - 28lbs, 36 inches

Goodbye Curls

Natalie donated her curls to Locks of Love today.  Sad and Happy day at the same time.  Hair has been a battle for a while around here.  She hates having it brushed and braided in the morning before school and it was difficult to wash and comb at night.  We gave her the choice, she could sit still for us, or she could cut it if she wanted.  She chose to cut and has been begging us to do it for a few weeks now.  We finally had the time to deal with it.

Here's the before, after and during shots.

 

PJs and Piggies

I put Natalie's hair in pig tails and Rhys begged me to do hers too.

The next morning she also requested "2 tails" and couldn't wait to show her BFF Lily at daycare!

Gymnastics

The girls started Gymnastics last month.  Natalie loves it and Rhys is warming up to it.  They are both actually pretty good at listening to direction, bouncing on the trampoline and balancing on the balance beams.  I think their favorite is jumping into the foam pit and hanging from the rings.

Thank you to Anna for the leotard hand-me-downs.  Rhys loves them!

Death Valley trip

We took a long weekend in February and drove to Death Valley with our friends.  It was the first time we had ever been - and boy is it a long drive!  The girls did great though.  We broke the drive up by driving to Tehachapi on Thursday night, then the rest of the way on Friday.  We stayed until Monday morning and then stopped in Lancaster to visit family.  We got stuck in 45 minute traffic delays in both directions, so that added to the trip too.

We did some little mini-hikes with the kids.  8 adults and 7 girls.  Lots of fun as always!

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Rhys!

Rhys turned 2!!

The girls helped me start the cakes last night.  They were super excited to wear their aprons and mix the cake.  We made mini-rainbow cakes for a rainbow theme party.

 

The birthday girl at her party:

And a cute one of Natalie & Grammy

At 2, Rhys is trying to do Everything that her big sister does!  She loves to play dress-up, she loves her baby dolls, and she loves to play outside.

We are still working on the potty training, bribing her with Dum-Dums.  She will usually sit and eat the lollipop and then she is off and done.  No sitting around for Rhys (we used to have to play videos, read books, and all kinds of tricks with Natalie).  She's doing good.

She is a really good sleeper.  She's usually in bed by 8pm, and sleeps until 7am.  And still takes a good, solid 2 hr nap during the afternoon.

Rhys is still a girl of few words.  She's got: mama, dada (this is a new one!), Na-na (for Natalie), up, down, ball, bath, bubble, no, mine, go, hello, bye-bye..and maybe a few others, but not many.  Talked to the pediatrician about this at her 2 yr appointment and he said to just keep watching.  She should be doubling vocabulary every few months and that if we are still concerned to call him in a few months.

I have to look back at the Dr. sheet to get Rhys' official stats, but here are the rough numbers: 
Her height and weight were both between 10&20% (off the top of my head!)

Height: 31.5 in
Weight: 25lbs
Clothes: size 18mo / 24 mo shirts
Shoes: size 5
Diapers: size 4 - but gone soon, I hope!

Happy Birthday, Rhys-ie Pie!

Camping - Doheney 2013

We went down to Doheney Beach for a long camping weekend with friends.  I only managed to get a few pictures (I thought I had more?? - maybe on my phone).

Since we were going to be outside for 4 days, I figured it was the perfect time to ramp up the potty training for Rhys.  I was bribing her with Dum-Dums.  Worked pretty well too!  She would sit there as long as she had a sucker and was pretty successful most of the time!

The kids had a blast riding scooters and bikes around the complex.  It was hard work to keep up with them!

(kid on the end was a neighbor camper, he came along for the rides)

We rode bikes down to San Clemente for a pancake breakfast and festival on Saturday morning.  Great ride and was fun for the kids.

The kids like riding in Daniel's trike! (Natalie, Tali, Heidi & Anya)