Little jumper

Reading and Talking :)

These girls of mine are growing and changing so quickly. Ryland is on the fast track to reading and Natalie is talking up a storm. I'm am surprised daily by the things they do and say. We spent some time with our friends, including Ryland's best friend Aviley, the last couple days. The girls played for 8 1/2 hours straight on Friday. She was wiped out by the end of the day! When we first got there, she laid on the couch and read a bunch of books to her friend. It was so cute, and she was really reading them!!

Natalie on the other hand spent the day copying the big girls and doting over the baby. She was talking up a storm, too! Which is becoming so helpful for knowing what she needs and wants.




Silly girl



Playing dress up, and hanging with Boden.



Ryland reading books

Growing Girls

In the past few weeks Natalie's vocabulary has exploded, while Ryland's ability to count, read and write has done the same. Watching these girls learn and grow is incredible. The other day we were at Ryland's school for "Bear Night" in the library. They had story time, crafts and snacks. Ryland loved it (as you can see from the picture below), and Natalie was thrilled by the snacks that were provided. I'm pretty sure this girl has no limit when it comes to eating wafer cookies. She even pointed to Ryland eating one on our way out of the building and said "have that, Pete no like it". This was after Natalie had eaten about 5 or 6. This girl is one smart cookie! Ryland did not give hers up, however.

Ryland is loving kindergarten. She comes home with stories galore, and spends lots of her time counting. She is so proud of herself, and it's great to watch that. She is counting by fives, tens, and all the way up to 100 by ones. She is writing us notes all the time, and doing really well with reading. I am so proud of who she is becoming.




Natalie relaxing


Playing at the playground


Bear Night


Cookie eating


Crazy family selfie with Natalie photobomb

The light switch

Natalie recently discovered how fun it is to turn the lights off and on. In the video she is saying "turn that light", meaning "let me turn the light on or off". She could have done that for hours that night. She was having so much fun.

Natalie Facts

5 things about Natalie:

1. Suddenly she tries to repeat every word we say, if she is in the mood that is. New words include: Princess, money, read that, drink, ide (outside), and Care Bears...

2. She loves olives.

3. She likes to play in the dirt always. She is constantly wanting to go outside and get dirty.

4. Every night when Ryland falls asleep, Natalie and Champ usually hang out in the living room. Most nights Natalie tries to run down the hallway to where Ryland is sleeping and laugh at the side of her bed. Luckily, she has never woken her up.

5. Natalie loves books, maybe it's because she has been reading them with us since she was just a few days old. She will sit and look at all the pages pointing out what she sees. Her favorite book topics include: babies, babies and more babies. Oh and doggies and kitties too!


Here are just some pictures of the girls this past week :)

Kindergarten

Ryland made it the whole way through kindergarten jumpstart without any tears. I've been nervous for years about school because Ryland hasn't had much experience being away from mom and dad, but low and behold, she loves it! She is even sad that real school doesn't start until next week. On the way to school on morning, I told her that she would probably go on a field trip one day and that mom or dad could go with. She said "well, I'll probably be with my friends on the bus and there won't be any room for you guys". Apparently, she is having a good time being more independent . We are so proud of her!

School

Summer is coming to an end quickly. Ryland is headed to Kindergarten in less than a month. I cannot understand that time has gone by so quickly. Wasn't she just born? Aside from missing her while she is at school, I know someone who might miss her more...Natalie. These girls spend a lot of time together, and I know that having Ryland to follow around the house is one of Natalie's favorite things. Luckily, we live so close that we plan on walking her to and from school, which will be nice for all of us! She also gets home pretty early so we will still have lots of time to play together.




















Natalie is now almost 16 months old. Here is a list of words she says (usually placed in between big long sentences of what sounds like German)

Doggie, dada, mama, nurse, Natalie, Ryland, bread, shoes, water, Butah, Peeto (peekaboo), night, up, ami (help me), hi, bye, baby, and the list goes on and on...she says more words each day.

Summer time

Life has been busy. These girls have been having so much fun this summer so far. We've been to Seattle to visit a new baby, gone swimming, played at parks, went on bike rides, and spent lots of time playing in our very own yard. Natalie wants to go outside all the time. Anytime she sees anyone opening the back door she races to it in hopes that she too will get to go play.

Aside from loving the outdoors, Natalie also loves babies. She has watched Ryland play with baby dolls tons of times, so she knows just how to feed them, wrap them up with a blanket, and carry them around. She is always pointing out real babies when we are out and about, even ones that are older than her :)


The Cook girls in the kitchen...


Here are the girls in one of many matching outfits. They sure are cute if you ask me.


Here's a picture of Natalie's curls after a bath. These curls really suit her personality I think. She's adventurous, silly and goofy.


Oh, and she's a trouble maker too, as you can see...


Ryland is constantly saying "mom, Natalie's going into the bathroom!", "mom, Natalie's climbing the stool!", "Natalie's playing with toilet paper!"....the list goes on and on. Ryland is my little reporter.

Cheese!

Natalie was holding my phone last night while it was on the camera. She could see herself and started saying "cheese! Cheese!". She gets so proud of herself for knowing how to say new words. Her words so far are:

Cheese, doggie, hi, eye, bye, moo, mama, dads, "whatsthat", "whatsthis", poop, happy, and she tries to say Ryland. Her vocabulary is quickly expanding!!

Ryland the Photographer

The other day Ryland had my phone and was snapping pictures all around the house. She loves taking pictures and we usually get a few pretty good ones from her. It's always cute to see her perspective of things. The other day proved to be no exception, when I scrolled through the pictures I came across this...




Yep! Looks like Ryland is already trying to get her sister in trouble. Natalie was apparently coloring on the table (which did not surprise me in the least). Pretty funny that before telling us, Ryland thought she better snap a photo. Natalie the trouble maker and Ryland the reporter :) Love my girls!

Doggy!

Natalie is obsessed with dogs. Constantly pointing out every dog she sees. We love her little voice, so cute.

The Toothbrush Thief

Of all the wonderful toys we have in the house, Natalie has found her new favorite. Ryland's toothbrush. What I once thought was just an infatuation with one certain toothbrush, is actually a love for any toothbrush that is Ryland's. You see, the other day we bought the girls new ones. After bringing them home and using them, Natalie quickly decided that she wanted to see Ryland's. It was all over from there. Most babies or kids cling to a stuffed toy, but not Natalie, she loves "her" toothbrush. Now, being the nice girl she is, Ryland let Natalie have it, and we bought a Ryland a new one. Although I bet you can figure out what happened...the picture says it all.




This past weekend we had a mini vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. This is a picture I snapped of Ryland sleeping in the hotel bed. Happy dreams? I think so :)

Climbing and playing

Here's a video of Natalie rocking in her favorite chair (which used to be Champ's). She is climbing in it constantly, and I have to be very careful to watch her because she tries to stand up on it and rock. She is developing her own little personality more and more each day. Most of her days are spent following Ryland around finding ways to get into all of Ryland's toys. Ryland has done a great job at sharing, but definitely needs to shut her door sometimes to keep Natalie from messing up what she is doing. I love to see them interact. Ryland always tells me that Natalie is the best person in the whole world. She loves her so.

"Look dad! A polar bear!". The polar bear put on quite a show yesterday. Jumping into the water and showing off his swimming skills. Most animals at the zoo were pretty quiet, but this bear was ready to play. Natalie really enjoyed watching.






Natalie searching through Champ's pockets. She's only one and is already looking for dad's wallet.





Ryland spending time with the clay ghost she made at the Children's Museum a while back. She saw it in the bookshelf and insisted on holding it. She is very proud of her little ghost.





Ryland enjoying the sandbox at the zoo. She could play here all day long. I love seeing the joy and happiness in her smile when she plays. Now Natalie, on the other hand, spent most of her time trying to eat handfuls of sand.





Baby feet in the sand.

No Steps Yet

This video was taken the other evening. As you can see, Natalie is seriously contemplating walking. She hasn't really taken a step yet, but she looks like she is about to all the time. I know she is going to be so happy once she figures out that she can walk and run!

Natalie's Top Ten

Natalie's Top Ten Favorite Things:

1. Butah our cat. She loves him so much. She has been following him around the house trying to pet him. So far he's been pretty ok about it, but I monitor closely so he doesn't scratch her.
2. Playing in the kids cup drawer. She does this several times a day. It's a real lifesaver when we are trying to get dinner made.
3. Anything that Ryland is playing with. Natalie loves Ryland and wants to be with her at all times.
4. Little things she can put in her mouth. Anything tiny that has been left on the floor will be found...by Natalie. It will then go straight into her mouth for inspection.
5. Markers. Whenever Ryland gets out the markers to color, Natalie crawls right to them. She has been pretty good about not putting them in her mouth. She has even done some coloring herself.
6. Outlets. Ours have protectors in them thankfully. Natalie loves to grab at the outlet in the hall and shake her head as if to say "no, no, no".
7. Books. Natalie loves playing with books. Opening them and turning the pages is one of her many talents. I'm assuming this love for books has come from us reading to Ryland nightly since the day Natalie was born.
8. Bathroom. Natalie is obsessed with the bathroom. We keep the door shut for this very reason. If not, I would be carrying her out of the bathroom every 2 minutes all day long.
9. Toy babies. Natalie seems to really love babies. She hugs them, pokes them in the eyes, holds them. She loves when Ryland leaves the drawer open with all her babies it in.
10. The IPad. Natalie can hear the IPad from a mile away, and once it's heard, she has to get to it. Whenever Ryland plays with it, Natalie insists on touching the screen and closing the cover. We usually resort to playing with it when Natalie has some other distraction to keep her occupied.

Almost One

Natalie is changing by the minute. Everyday there is something new with her, and before I tell you anything else, let me say that she is amazing. Before I had her, I couldn't understand that there could be anyone I loved as equally as I love Ryland. I didn't know there could be anyone as sweet, beautiful, and amazing. But, sure enough, Natalie was born and it turns out that her and Ryland balance out the scale.

Over the past few weeks Natalie has been standing up, trying to cruise around furniture, testing out new sounds she can make with her mouth, grinding her teeth, getting new teeth (she now has 6), and much much more. Yesterday we took the girls to have frozen yogurt, and this time Natalie even got to try some. She definitely enjoyed it, but it seems she enjoyed playing with my spoon even more. This little one's birthday is only a short time away. I love her so.

Nightgowns, Sun and Shopping!

Ryland showing off her new nightgown. She refuses to sleep in pants, so these are her favorite. Look at that sweet face...I sure do love her.

Last week we had a few really nice sunny days. We ventured out into the backyard and let the girls play. Ryland ran around the yard playing with all the outdoor toys she could find, while Natalie watched her and became seemingly jealous that Ryland could get to all the fun toys. Natalie is a very determined child. When she sees something she wants, she will find a way to it. The grass, however, slowed down her crawling, and she was not to happy about it.

Grocery shopping is now a ton of fun that the girls can sit together in the cart. Ryland kisses and hugs Natalie the majority of the time, while Natalie smiles and kicks her feet. Who knew grocery shopping could be so fun?

Dr. Suess's Birthday!

Yesterday I took the girls to the learning palace to celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday! We ate cake, played games, did crafts, and even listened to story time. Ryland had a lot of fun, and Natalie enjoyed crawling and grabbing things off of shelves in the store. Let's just say it was a workout for me!












On a side note, Natalie has been pulling herself up to standing more and more lately. It's a pretty cute site to see.