Months 19-23

Oh my Eleanor, poor second child. Mom has definitely not been good at blogging and keeping up to date with your monthly posts.

You are so cute and chatty and loud! You want to be into everything and anything. Nothing is safe left out when you are close. You follow your big sister around and always want to be doing what shes doing.

 Baby in a trench coat. OMG, so cute. Although, you are really not a baby anymore. You love to talk and chatter away. Your favourite word lately is "why". You really don't know what it means, but it's constantly whys. The vocabulary you have at this stage, certainly is wider and broader then Audra's was at this time, but with her constantly talking to you, you have picked up so much.

 You are such a little hammy. You now say "cheese" any time there is a camera out.
You have great moments of eating, and then other days barely eat anything. At least you are healthy and it's not a big deal if you don't eat like your sister had to.
You are getting better daily with spoons and forks and your motor skills are definitely coming along.

 We did some gymnastic classes that you loved. Running around and being crazy, right up your alley.

 This is the "what? don't look at me pose" I am causing mischief!

 Yup mischief.

 Getting so big. You love playing at the playground and chasing after Audra, or the kids at daycare.

And your newest favourite obsession is stripping. Great.......So it's backwards pj's and duct taped diapers.You think it's absolutely hilarious.

My little, not so little girl anymore. Your second birthday is just around the corner. Hard to believe. You are still a handful. Still get into absolutely everything. You love to screech and scream for some reason. Won't lie, Mom and Dad have thought about getting a water bottle with a sprayer and see if the pet trick of spraying naughty behaviours, might help curb the screaming. But as your dad points out, you don't scream for 20 hours a day now.
No matter the bedtime, you are up bright and early every day. 630 is sleeping for you. Ugh. It's rough, but we get through it.
You are understanding so much now. You love to have stories read to you, and hopefully you'll be a reader like your sister. You don't really have any favourite toys. You want to mess with whatever Mom and Dad have. If you are quiet, it usually means you are getting into trouble and touching something you aren't supposed to be. Or you have gotten ahold of a phone or ipad.
You are crazy and we love you so much.

Summertime

Summer was a whirlwind and hard to believe it's done already. We did so much and had a great summer. I was off for a couple of weeks, and the bonus of Starbucks is having week days off.

 Aunt Kat and Uncle Paul, bought their first house, and we were all very excited for them to take possession at the beginning of the summer. They have a pool, and even though it may not have been the best summer, we still frequented it enough to enjoy the water.

 Audra became quite the good little swimmer. I got her that puddle jumper type of floater, and it gave her the confidence to use her swimming lessons and not be afraid of the water, the deep end or even jumping in.

 Happy Canada Day! My two patriotic girls.

 Lots of time outside. And how do you get two girls from fighting over 1 water table? Give them both their own buckets!!!

 Audra and I did some strawberry picking. Only a bit of jamming, as we apparently still have lots from last year.

 Park around the corner, our go to, very rarely anyone there park. They both love sitting in the chair. Audra says it's the throne.

 Best rainbow of the summer! Gorgeous.

 A day at the beach with friends.

 Dutch Mill, another go to, quick and fun place for us to visit, run around and see some animals.

 We took both girls to the Fairy Festival at the RBG. We met up with Leslie and the family, (finally got to meet cute Elias, but why take a picture? Duh!)

 Audra was completely in her element.

 Eleanor wasn't too sure about the whole event.

 Face painting went surprisingly well.

 Park time. We went to Lasalle for a birthday party and the girls loved it there.

 The pool was fantastic, and we will definitely put that on our list for next summer.

 We went to the Brantford Twin Valley zoo again. Busy chasing two girls, so not many pictures were taken. Story of my life lately.

  Picnicing at Dundurn Castle and enjoying all the green space.

 This picture cracks me up, Audra not wanting to stop long enough to take a picture. And Eleanor not really understanding that she needs to put her head into the whole so I can see her. lol.

Love how happy they are in this picture. Labor day, and we were at the close park again, having fun and savoring those last few moments of summer.

Little Dancer

 My little dancer. Looking so old and grown up with a face full of makeup. lol. June saw dance class finishing and recital time approaching. I will have to upload the photo from class pictures. So cute.

 The recital theme was Candy Shop. Audra did so good on stage. She wasn't nervous and did awesome. We were so proud.

Hopefully the video loads. She is the one right beside the teacher in black, dancing her little heart out.

Summer of Tball

 Audra decided this summer that instead of playing soccer, she wanted to play tball. When asked why tball instead of soccer, she said "because I'm good at it". Well then. Can't argue with the logic of a 4 year old. Even though she has never picked up a bat or worn a glove, we jumped into tball. She played up in Greensville, and was on Mike's team. Mike is Kristin's husband, who she knows and likes. And James and some kids from her class were on the team as well.

 Beginning of the season started out well, and she was happy to play and participate.

 How cute as the catcher?

 

But as the season wore on, so did the novelty. It became a chore and a battle to go to every practice and game. Getting her to play and participate was draining. lol. Playing in the dirt and not listening, became the weekly battle. Problem is, when she did play and did participate, was actually pretty good. lol. Near the end of the season we got a good game or two out of her. (there may have been bribes of ice cream)

Not sure if tball will be Audra's summer activity going forward. We'll see what next summer brings. lol.

Day in the Falls

 Way back when, when both Jamie and I were off, we pulled Audra out of school and we went down to the Falls for a day. This was the best picture I actually snapped of the Falls. We did walk down there, but no hands or time for more pictures with our two active girls. 

 We went to the Fallsview Indoor Waterpark. The girls loved it. We didn't think that they were old enough for Great Wolf lodge yet, so choose this one instead. It was so nice and quiet during the week.

 Eleanor was a little hesitant, but definitely warmed up and was later running all over the place.

 Audra on the other hand, didn't need any encouragement, she was all over the water slides and running around. And had an absolute blast!

 This big water structure was the perfect size for Audra. She had a bunch of different water slides to choose from, it was big enough for both Jamie and I go up into and help her out. A little big for Eleanor at this point, but there was a huge splash pad part that she got to have fun at. At the end though, she wanted to join her big sister on the water slides.

 After the waterpark, and seeing the falls, we took the girls to the Rainforest Cafe. I don't think I have ever been there before. It was fun, and the decor certainly kept the girls entertained.

 And of course, we wandered over to the Hersey factory, to get some sweets and a great photo!

Such a fun day.
Believe both girls were asleep before we even got out of the car parkade.
We will definitely go back again. Think it's a great place for both girls. Once they're older we'll attempt great wolf.