A Few of My Favorite Things...

 The arrival of spring is my favorite time of year.  One of the reasons...these little guys.  Every year they usher in the new season with a welcome chorus every night.  No matter the temperature outside, every night I open the window of our bedroom so that I can hear their song loud and clear from the greenbelt that borders our back yard.

 Another favorite, the pink blossoms on the trees lining the streets in our neighborhood.  And this year, the addition of a sweet little pink bird house crafted by the hands of J and the Girl last summer.

Last but (definitely) not least.  The lengthening days and more frequent appearance of the sun.

Bonded

 These two.  The Girl exhibits a certain level of patience for Baby Miss that she doesn't extend to Little Sister.  A nurturing.  Today in the warmth of the sunshine that graced us, she helped Baby Miss put a helmet on and hone her amateur scootering skills.

"Fwimming"

 This one is a fearless fish when it comes to "fwimming" (as she calls it).  J takes her to open swim at our local YMCA quite frequently because she asks to go all the time.  She jumps in without the slightest hesitation and if her head goes under, all the better.  When J pulls her up to the surface she just grins and asks to go again.

Little Sister, on the other hand, is a swim lesson drop-out this year.  In her second lesson of the class the instructor (who is one of the best, in our opinion) had the kids doggie paddling on their own.  All it took was for Little Sister to slip under once and although the instructor was right next to her and brought her back up quickly, that was it.  She was done.  The instructor could barely get her to finish the lesson, nevermind getting her anywhere near the water the following lesson.  So now J is taking both of them to open swim.  While he can hardly keep one on the edge, the other won't dare let go.  A tale of two sisters...

Bedtime stories.

My favorite part of any night is this.  Needs no explanation.

Sunday Morning Special

 This morning J and the Big Girls, still clad in their pajamas, ran out to the store to get milk.  He's a sucker and they talked him into getting them donuts.  The Girl debated between the classic maple bar and a chocolate frosted donut.  Her solution, a chocolate covered bar.

Of course Little Sister picked a donut with the most pizazz, with decorative frosting drizzled over the chocolate frosting and a

 generous portion of mini M&M's sprinkled on top.  For Baby Miss they chose a cake donut appropriately adorned with green sprinkles for St. Patrick's Day.

 Love how she's checking to see if there are frosting and sprinkles on the underside of the donut as well.

 Cautiously consuming a few sprinkles first.  Our ever extremely picky eater, she wasn't sure if she wanted to try it or not.

That was all it took to convince her!  Hmmm...wonder if that would work on other things?  A few sprinkles on this, a few sprinkles on that!!

A natural.

 What to do on a cold, wet, windy day?  Why, go to the motorsport store, of course.  When J saw this little bike he just couldn't resist pulling it down for Baby Miss.  Her immediate response

was to disappear down the maze of racks (with me following close behind) until she came out the other side in front of the display of helmets.  I found the smallest size, stuck it on her head and she weaved her way back to J and slung her leg over the bike like she'd done it a million times.  It was a proud moment for both of us, for me - safety first and for J, well...do I really need to tell you why?!

In Utero

Last night Lil Dude experienced his first concert, in utero.  We went to see/hear Maroon 5 compliments of his auntie.  Based on his near constant movement, I'd have to say he was a fan!

Mmmm...eggnog!

 Everyone, including strangers are always commenting on how this one is J's little look-alike.  And it's not just her appearance...

 She has a lot of her Daddy's personality as well.  And this morning we discovered that she shares the same tastes.

 We put a little bit of eggnog in a glass for her.  Knowing that it was something different and unfamiliar, she eyed it with trepidation but tried a tiny sip.

 No sooner had she swallowed then she was lunging for the glass and another taste of the creamy goodness that her Daddy loves so much.

Ah, holiday breakfast of champions!

 And, she couldn't quit licking her lips and cheeks.

Then there was this.  Another shot of Baby Miss, also taken today, side-by-side with a picture of the Girl (which I just happened to stumble upon while going through some old pictures while making a calendar to gift to the grandparents) at almost exactly the same age, a mere 19 days apart with the Girl being older.  They could nearly be identical twins!