Sisters & Brother

My aunt was nice enough to take some pictures of me and the girls with my belly. I loved having pictures like this when I was pregnant with my girls, and although it's really hard to get cooperation out of two year olds, I love that we got some pictures of the girls with their baby brother!

Baby boy, you could be here any day and I am so excited to meet you. But I beg of you, hang in there for at least another week!! I have a lot to do before I am ready to bring you home!
You are loved little man!!

{7.25.16 - 7.31.16}

I bought a bassinet for Baby Brother and decided that the few scratches on it would bother me too much, so I made up my mind to refinish it. When it came time to paint, the girls wanted SO BADLY to help me! I probably should have let them paint more on it, but my OCD kicked in a little more than I would have liked, so I found a new project for them. We had some old cut outs from the Wood Connection that have never been done, so I let them pick. Alya picked the Easter Egg and Lyly picked the kitty. They did an awesome job painting their projects all by themselves and were so excited that we could put glitter on them! :)  

I sure like these girls!

{7.18.16 - 7.24.16}

I love listening to them read and look at stories together.  

Alya - wanting to be big so she can fit into my glasses. Stay small, my girl!

-Alya- 

Lyla's expression is usually the one I get from both the girls when I want them to pose for a picture for me.  

-Lyla- 

Matthew stayed out late every night of our 24th of July camping trip to catch crawdads. The girls wanted to keep them as pets, but of course, we (and by we, I mean Matthew) boiled them. The girls tried them and I think they enjoyed the meat, but they couldn't get over the fact that what they were eating their buddies.

{7.11.16 - 7.17.16}

Alya did NOT want to go in the water. She was afraid the fishies would get her. 

Alya // Lyla 

It's really hard to take a picture of these two! (This is one of many attempts) I could NOT get one with both of their eyes open. Like father like daughter, I guess!

{7.4.16 - 7.10.16}

I have been seeing them give each other lots of hugs lately! I LOVE it! 

"Hello Baby Brother!" - Lyla 

Alya // Lyla

{6.27.16 - 7.3.16}

Jeni was nice enough to let me use her teacher pass and got us into the Dinosaur Museum. It was pretty fun! The girls really enjoyed digging for dinosaur bones and playing at the water tables.
- Lyla is watching me put these pictures on the computer and just told me "we will have to go back another time." -

(Lyla is in the pigtails, Alya's hair is down.)

{6.20.16 - 6.26.16}

The girls pulled out their coats to wear this morning. I finally had to force them to take them off.  

Alya - gathering weeds.

The girls have been getting more brave lately. They don't need someone right next to them or holding their hand in order to explore. It's fun to watch them wonder off together.

 Lyla - she likes to find flowers wherever we go.

When Alya is actually engaged in fishing, she cannot for the life of her let her line stay out in the water for any amount of time. And I love it!

We went through a phase where we tried napping every third day. They always fell asleep in the late afternoon for as long as I would let them sleep. The way they were posed this day was particularly funny to me.

{6.13.16 - 6.19.16}

Don't they just look like they are plotting something? 

The girls have really enjoyed pretending that they are birdies. They always build a "nest" on the floor out of all of the couch pillows.  

We had some friends over for dinner. Thank goodness these kids' moms had more energy than I did! Just watching them haul our kids around in the wagon made me tired!