January

  
We don't do a lot, especially now that we are just kind of trying to get as many appointments as possible over with and get ready for the baby, but here are some simple things that have occupied the kids so far in 2015.

Cute outfit of Arabelle's that she wouldn't wear last year, but now is more than happy to show off.

She thinks she always needs to pose now.

Family picture Charlotte drew, includingt he new baby.  The big one is daddy.  You can also kind of see the black eye she gave herself on her new bed.

The craft table has been an integral part of these girls' lives for the past year.  They spend sometimes hours a day at it.  I leave stacks of scrap paper on it (usually the backs of Jeffrey's papers he gets from school since he brings home like 15 a day), and the girls are just drawn to it.

I had a bag of expired rice so I decided to make this mini sensory table, and it has been a huge hit.  Charlotte has spilled her share of rice, but it has been worth it for the hours she has spent playing with this.

Once again, the black eye.

She was really proud that it was her turn to have Elsie sit by her (the girls fight over Elsie)

 This is one of the scenes that Arabelle set up while playing.  It is funny because she doesn't seem to care about relative size or having the toys be from the same "set".  I heard her say the transformer was the dad.  She kind of reminds me of the little girl on Toy Story 3, in fact.  I find it very creative because when I was her age, this would have driven me nuts.  I had to have complete sets of coordinating toys in order to be able to play.

Jeffrey had to make a "reading rock" for school.  He could decorate it however he wanted, I guess he was supposed to read to it in the reading center.  The girls of course wanted to make their own, see if you can guess which rock goes with which kid.

Arabelle's version of the "awkward smile" phase.  She thinks she is supposed to pose cutely somehow, but she's not exactly sure what to do.

My fashion star.

Charlotte made this for John out of play dough and then brought it to him and sang her version of Happy Birthday.

Jeffrey wanted me to take a picture of his reading rock on this chair.  He did tell me that he wanted it to look like Papa, and he named it Ted.

Of course Charlotte also wanted a picture of her reading rock on the chair.

Jeffrey has become a real reader in the last couple months.  I had been sitting by him and having him read about 15 minutes a day, and I would help him with the hard words.  A couple months ago, I noticed he really didn't need me sitting there anymore, he knew the vast majority of the words in the simple books, and was very good at figuring out most of the rest.  I have been putting the girls to bed at 7, but Jeffrey can "stay up late" if he wants to read.  He  will usually read for a good thirty minutes before I tell him to turn out the light.  I just got him a set of 12 box car children books, and in the past week he has finished the first 2 in the series.  He seemed to really understand and enjoy them and the stories were quite nostalgic to me.  Although I remember even as a first grader being annoyed by the repetitive nature of the Box Car Children books as well as some of the plots and descriptions.

This is what happens when Uncle Phil sits down.