Oklahoma Camping

We were invited to a friends birthday party up in the hills of Oklahoma.  It was in a large cabin and there were quite a crew of us!  We had a fantastic time even though it rained most of the weekend.
The girls loved going outdoors and taking walks so anytime the rain let up we went for walks.  They also loved playing with some Thomas the Train toys that one of the little boys brought.  It is such a privilege to have great friends!

Getting dressed by ourselves!

Kind of!  With a little help from our friends (mom)  Ana can get herself dressed but needs a little help from mom with coordination of colors and patterns!  But she can get it all on by herself and forcefully says "SELF" anytime someone wants to help her.  Even her socks and shoes!  I am proud of how well she is doing!
Emily is still working on getting dressed by herself, but is making great strides!  She loves her dog with glasses shirt.
And they love their gloves! They want to wear them all the time!

Ana

Emily

Cat in the Hat

I found a children's series that is very educational and the girls love it.  They are LeapFrog episodes on NetFlix.
They teach about numbers and letters.  Math and Phonics.  I was pretty sure they were over the girls heads developmentally wise, but they were fun to watch so I didn't worry about that.

Apparently they are getting something from them.  Emily (who I am super proud of) can count to 30 with just a little help with a few numbers on the way.  However, she always missed number 7.  Since she has watched those episodes she now remembers 7 most of the time!
Ana can count to 13 and always missed 5.  But now she has it!
The whole reason for this post is because when the girls are planning on spending more time on the potty than usual they ask for a book to read.  I usually give them a Dr. Seuss book.
Today when Ana got to this page

She said Mommy...(spelling this out) B.O.O.M says bum!  I looked at what she was reading and had to take this picture with my phone and text Ben to tell him what just happened!  It amazed me.
I have been teaching them letters for quite a while now, but I hadn't gotten to sounds or words yet.
But these episodes were teaching how to make words and sound them out while you are reading.
I am still amazed.
I know she can't actually read yet, and she sounded it out incorrectly, but kids are so smart.  I just hope I can keep up! :)

Mittens and Hats

At the wedding we went to for Ben's cousin Ann brought the girls these little hats and mittens.  They LOVE them and want to wear them all the time!  It is the time of year that the weather is cold one day and hot the next so I have not yet turned on the heat and there have been a few days that have been nippy!
So they found a great way to stay warm!

Butch

Butch over the past few years has been a poorly loved 5th wheel.  IT has only been in the past few months that the girls have figured out how to pet him by moving slowly and being soft.  Emily loves Butch and is always petting him. 
Ana doesn't really care too much about petting Butch.  She prefers to pat him.  a little harder than he prefers.

Reading on her terms

Emily has found a new pastime that she thinks is the bees knees.  It is awesome!
She gets this same Thomas the Train book and holds it up for me to read.  Waits for me to say "next page please" then gets a big smile on her face and changes the page then holds it up for me to read the next page.

Haloween

This is the first year we planned to take the girls trick-or-treating, so technically it is the first year they dressed up as anything.  They loved watching all the "Halloween" episodes of Dora and Diego and Thomas.  In the Dora Halloween episode Dora was a cat, so they wanted to be cats. 
Whew!  That is something I can do! So I looked around for tail and ears and they already had black clothes they could wear.
We went to my BFFs house for a Halloween party and then went to a few houses in her neighborhood to go trick-or-treating. So we had a fun dinner with friends and then set out for our first time ever!
The girls thought it was the most fun thing they had ever done!  They were almost running from house to house.  They would knock and then say trick or treat!  I was actually pretty amazed at how quickly they caught on.
near the end Ana kept trying to get a lollipop out of her pumpkin and Ben and I kept putting it back!
At the last house she finally managed to get it out and unwrapped and in her mouth before we could get it!
She was determined to get that darn candy!
They talked about Laura's house and trick-or-treating for quite a few days after Halloween!
It was so much fun for me to see them blossoming and starting to become little girls!