{It was a} GOOD FRIDAY

Today the girls played with water in their kitchen again.

Gracie wanted to wear my skirt.  I told her it was too big and she said, "Just let me try it, Mom.  Just let me try it."  Speaking of Gracie and clothes, the floral pants/skirt combo with pink shirt that she's wearing today (and has worn pretty much every day for many, many months) is her favorite outfit.  I choose their clothes for when we leave the house but around the house I let them pick out their own outfits.  As you can see in the pictures, Ava chose a white slip as her skirt for the day.  =)

We played in our backyard.
Swinging.

Catching June bugs.

Reading.

Playing in the very wet sand.

Taking a break.

And then I remembered it was their friend's birthday.  Amarah lives right behind us and turned 4 today.  I thought it would be nice for us to go buy a small gift and bring it over to her.  However, Joel had taken the van to have the tires rotated (since he had today off work) and was then going to Sherman, TX (one hour away) to buy a kayak.  I thought I could just put the girls in the stroller and we could walk to Family Dollar to pick up a gift.  But then I realized that the stroller was in the van.  It's a little over 1/2 a mile to Family Dollar but I thought if the girls can run up and down the length of our backyard for 20 minutes at a time, surely they can walk that far.  So they put their monkey backpacks on and we headed out!

We stopped at Subway for juice and cookies.

On the way home we stopped at the park to play for awhile.

Then we stopped to visit with Chloe, a 3-year-old monkey who lives across the street from us and belongs to Amarah's grandma. 

Amarah, along with her mom and baby sister, happened to come by shortly after that so we ended up playing there for about an hour.

AND THEN...we walked over to see Amarah's new fish pond that's in their front yard and of course, the girls wanted to play over there for awhile.  =)
We finally made it home, ate some late lunch, and the girls are now enjoying a much-needed nap! 

Gracie

Is 3 years and 2.5 months old.
Is quite silly much of the time.
Is very affectionate and sweet.
Loves to make people laugh.
Likes to climb.
Sleeps under a quilt and a silky blanket.
Loves her cow pillow-pet and sleeps on it every night.
Likes to 'help'.
Knows all of her letters and is learning the sounds they make.
Is right-handed.
Can draw a very good 'G' and 'A'.
Is learning some sign language.
Likes to count and can go up to 29.
Loves to play outside.

Ava

Is 3 years and 2.5 months old.
Is very affectionate and sweet.
Is strong-willed.
Refuses to sleep with a blanket on.
Likes to wear as few clothes as possible.
Doesn't like to get in trouble.
Gets her feelings hurt easily.
Loves her panda pillow-pet and sleeps on it every night.
Knows all of her letters and is learning the sounds they make.
Can draw a very good 'A'.
Is possibly left-handed, or ambidextrous.
Is very interested in sign language and can sign her name.
Likes to cook.
Loves to play outside.

A day in the life...

Today Gracie and Ava played with water in their toy kitchen.  We do this every other week or so and leave it there for a day or two. 

They received some Easter cards in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa and were very excited to open and color them. 
Ava said, "This is my birthday card.  I need cake."  =) 
The second picture was taken with my phone so its not as clear.

It rained last night so it was too chilly and wet to play outside today, although that didn't stop them from asking several times.  =) 
They rode their 4-wheelers through the house. 
They tried to play with their remote control trucks but the batteries were dead.
They took a bath. 
They took all the empty hangers out of my closet to play with. 
We played chase and hide-n-seek. 
Gracie pulled her chair into the middle of the kitchen floor and sat there 'reading' her new Dora book. 
They each changed clothes several times but are learning to put clothes back in their room when they're done wearing them, and occasionally they even hang them back up in the closet! 
They each picked out a book to read on the couch before their nap, as we do every day. 

=)