Our Favorite Things - 2 Years, 8 Months

I am just going to breeze right past the age in the title, because, let's be honest, I might just start bawling my eyes out because there is NO WAY they are that old. Impossible, mkay?

It's time for another Favorite Things post, since I haven't done one in forever!


Activites: Hmmm, what are their favorite things to do? Pretty much anything they want. Haha. They are hard to keep still, hard to keep content for long. They love their trains, dolls, cars, blocks and balls. They love building towers, cars, a sand castle and a school bus with their blocks. It's funny they all end up looking like a tall string of blocks though...hmmmm. Oh, to have the imagination of a two year old! They also love to just run, run, and more run. They have started playing MUCH more with one another, which makes my life easier (Haha, again, because let's be honest. They play together for about 60 seconds until I hear, "Ahhh" MAMA!!!" As someone has stolen a toy, hit their head, etc) They love the zoo, and love going for walks, and LOVE to go swimming!
Books: I was just telling Jake tonight how cyclical they are with their favorite books and what they want to read all.the.time. For a while it was Go Dog Go, and we had to read it absolutely every night. Then it was Good Night Gorilla, and we read that one every night. Now it is a Neighboorhood Numbers book by Baby Einstein. I'll say that we switch out book number 2, but there is always a dominant one. It's so funny. We have also named all the characters in Neighborhood Numbers, which is why I think they like it. It's like seeing their friends! There is Patches and Ralph, Joe and Moe the penguins, and Pinky and Stinky the mice.
Electronics: I think it's safe to add this category in here now, because my babes are super smart when it comes to computers. We bought the Leap Pads for them for Christmas (which I absolutely hate), but they didn't use them much. However, they LOVE our ipad, iphones, and their ipod touch. I will do a post later on our favorite games and apps, but they are so smart with them and  adore them.
Foods: We have gone into toddler hell here. I am really trying to still have some variety in what they eat, but they really love their chicken, french fries and and other "every toddler" food. But I sneak in some vegetables as much as I can. Now that they have started school, I have really liked packing good lunches for them. I know they probably don't eat all of it, but am hoping peer pressure changes that :) They are still a huge lover of any and all fruit. And hate chocolate, cake and ice cream. Weirdos.
Songs: Top of the list right now (again, songs are cyclical too) is Mockingbird. They want to hear it every night before bed. We rotate lots of other faves around. Lucky for the babes I am pretty musical (hehe) so our songlist includes everything from kiddie songs to showtunes, to The TN Waltz, Peter Paul and Mary, to Disney songs, to Christina Aguilara, to the really fun chorus music I sang in school. I also am really good (according to the babes) at making up songs too. Another random thing is that we sing the same three songs by request at night: Mockingbird, the Mickey Mouse song (um, not Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, the one with Annette. I'm really not 60 years old, I swear) and a song called Josh and Jules that I made up.

Toys: Jules' go-to things are her mouse lovey that she sleeps with and "Baby Foofa". They sleep with a big Foofa/Brobee pillow pet thing, but she loves her little pint size Foofa thats as big as her hand. Also, she is obsessed with her tacos (blankets) and takes them everywhere too. Also, she a huge fan of playing catch. (wanna play catch mama??) Josh has recently become attached to his Blankie, which he loves. Now, Josh, bless his heart, gets attached to the ODDEST of things. He might find some random object and become attached to it for days at a time: a keychain, a bracelet, a Napolean Dynamite pen, etc. It's so funny!
Shows: They pretty much love shows now, which probably isn't good. However, I will say that I have been amazed at how educational shows are nowadays. Josh's favorite show is UmiZoomi, which is awesome at math skills. SuperWhy is a wonderful show about reading, letters, and spelling. Dora (eh) of course introduces Spanish. Bubble Guppies they used to like, but it's taken a back step now. Jake and the Pirates just happens to be on during breakfast, so they sometimes watch that one. And of course, they still adore Yo Gabba Gabba and Mickey Mouse. My darling Jules, though is OBSESSED, I mean crazy obsessed with Fresh Beat Band. Holy Moly, if she could watch this show all day, every day, she would! They don't get to watch it that much, though, so it makes it special when they do. They still aren't into movies, and I'm not sure why. It's hard to understand!!

Our Favorite Things - 20/21 Months Old

These are our favorite things for 20-21 Months old! (I have completely slacked on these posts and am so sorry! Where has the time gone?)

Activites: Oh my, they are into everything lately. They love laughing. They love dancing. They love singing. They love playing chase and getting "scared". They love playing "beep, beep" when you beep their belly button. They LOVE LOVE being outside and can just run around forever. (and this is new, because they used to have to be constantly entertained). They love going to the playground and can slide so shorter that 2,307 times.  They love animals. They love our cat, Gus (we have another one, but she doesn't come near them lol). They love walking around the neighborhood and looking at all the dogs and occasional squirrel. They love just being active! And I love that they love to run around like little crazy people. They are also constantly climbing on things. Their favorite things to do in our living room: climb on the ottomans, climb in our leather recliner, and climb on our upholstered chair. Seriously. They also love going on outings. They love going  the zoo, and love going to indoor play places, like those that  have a bouncy house, or Gymboree. They love their weekly music class and storytime at the library!  

 

At the zoo looking at the pink flamingos

At the playground!

Books: Their love for books is nothing short of amazing. They really, really love them. And I am proud to take credit for it. There is a collection of books in every room in our home. There is always easy access to a book. Their favorites still consist of Sesame Street and Pooh, but they also like Dr. Seuss and any other very colorful books with words and pictures. I bought a book called Boz Says at Goodwill, and they love it too because the whole book is "Boz says clap your hand, hop, etc" and they love going through the book and mimicking everything. We have recently began learning our ABC's and they are rock stars at this. So, any book that has large letters that they can point out is also #1 right now.

Reading with Daddy

Reading with Grampa

Foods: Foods are pretty much the same. They have been better at eating sandwiches. They like most pastas and anything creamy or cheesy, lol. Josh is really good at eating vegetables, while Jules is not so much, which is still ok, because I try to feed them high fat foods because they are still small, and I still obsess over it. They love avocados still. They have recently become obsessed with juice. I don't offer it very much, hardly ever, and if I do, its low sugar without the Satan Blood high fructose corn syrup (hehe, joking, but I do try to avoid it, lol). They don't like sweets much, and if I offer them any type of chocolate to get a taste, you would think I was offering them gasoline. So, I'm not 100% sure these are indeed my kids.  

 

Songs: "If You're Happy and You Know It" has taken the Number 1 spot at our home in the past couple of months. And the cool thing is that you can sing "If You're Happy and You Know It" with ANYTHING!! You can do it with: going to sleep, sit in your chair, touch your head (or other body parts) eat your food, drink your milk, clap your hands, stomp your feet, do a dance, give mommy and hug (shameless). It is an awesome learning song, and also one to help them mind you! :) We also still love Wheels on the Bus and also the ABC song. We also march around the house in a little Mom and Kids parade to "The Ants Go Marching" just about every night. We also do our parade to "The Alphabet Parade" by Melanie Dill (they love this song too) Arts and Crafts: They are now SUPER into coloring, and have done little arts and crafts projects, and they love them! Coloring Wearing our new construction paper crowns! Toys: They are now into a doll/stuffed animal phase and we take them with us wherever we go. Mickey and Minnie Mouse are Jules' favorites, with Minnie being attached to her at all times. Josh is abig fan of Pooh and Elmo and they both want to take everyone with us when we go on our afternoon wagon ride (and yes, almost daily a neighbor has to come to my door with something we have dropped along the way) They are still really into puzzles. Bubbles and balls are also still a favorite. We have a bit outgrown our riding toys, but they still love them. I think new ones on on our Christmas/Birthday list. Jules is really into "dressing up" and loves bracelets, fairy wings, necklaces, etc. Josh also loves them, but not like Jules does! J.J. with Jules A caravan Hanging out with our pal Minnie Hugging Pooh and Piglet Shows: Yo Gabba Gabba is still up there as their favorite show. They also still love their toddler Baby Genius music videos.  They have also started watching a bit of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which they like now that Mickey and Minnie are a new obsession. We have been watching Sesame Street some, its still a bit too much talking that they like. I have just quit turning Barney on. That solved that. Other than that, we don't watch a lot of TV. They do like music videos and like to watch people sing. They are still obsessed with The Band Perry, and Taylor Swift. They also really like Blake Shelton for some reason, which is weird. Bath: Bathtime is still our favorite time of the day. They splash, they play, and say their letters and numbers and colors. They wash their hair, THEY brush their teeth (they won't allow you to do it anymore). This is just the most fun age yet!! Don't forget to vote!!

Our Favorite Things - 16 Months

Right now we love to play. We love to climb, we love to run, we love to just "play"! There are no certain 'toys' that are our "favorites". We love them all, then we throw them down and play. Then we pick them up again, and carry them around, then we play some more. Gymboree (above) is our favorite place ever, because we can just run around like crazy kids and climb on absolutely everything with little monkeys.

We use our little table that I DIY painted ALL THE TIME. ( and yes, in case you are wondering, Jules is in the blue chair, and Josh is in the pink, lol) It is the perfect place to read books, please with puzzles, and eat crayons (yeah, still not mastered that coloring skill yet) It was so weird. All of a sudden they were in the chairs - just like that. One day they were too small to climb up in them ,and now they can sit in them like little kids. Its crazy!

Love, love, LOVE books. It is their most favorite thing to do. They go to them the moment they get down from their cribs in the morning, all day, and the last thing they do at night. favorites right now are anything Pooh, anything Sesame Street, anything with bright colors and shapes, and anything with a "lift-the-flap".

Favorite foods are blueberries, cheese, yogurt, grapes, mandarin oranges, goldfish (not Annie's organic, they seem to prefer the goldfish), avocado, beans, and pasta. They just haven't developed a liking yet for veggies, It seems all that time slaving in the kitchen to make all their baby food to avoid this happening just didn't work.

They LOVE music and love to clap, dance, and even sing - yes sing! (I must post a video soon because its precious). The shows they love must be 75% music and 25% talking, or they are bored. Their favorite show is still Ya Gabba Gabba, but have recently taken a liking to ...wait for it....Barney.

Jules loves her sunglasses. Josh does not.

Poor Gus. For some reason he just lets the kids do whatever with him. Zelly is never in pictures because I still think she refuses to acknowledge that we have to small people living in the house. The babes love Gus though!

Kitchen time is still our favorite. They love getting out the mixing bowls and spoon and trying to win the award for the loudest kids on the planet.

Now that its summertime, the babes LOVE the pool. Josh had a hard time at first with it, which was surprising because he is such the little water bug (we think because it was cold), but now they absolutely love it.

We still love bathtime! Favorite part of our day!!

And finally, we love our wagon. If you haven't bought one yet, I highly recommend one. They love it so much more than their stroller. (unfortunately for mall trips, zoo trips, etc) Alas, I don't have a picture of this due to stupid computer. So, I posted one of them outside, because they also love being outside!

Our Favorite Things - 15 Months

Don't know what happened, but realized My Favorite Things at 15 months got deleted. So, here is is again. Sorry for the mixup.

Blocks! We are loving blocks right now. We have the classic wood blocks and well as the giant leggos (seen below)

Cannot say enough about our wagon! They know exactly what it means we we say "Wanna go for a wagon ride?" I mean, you can clearly see how excited these babies are!

Wearing our cutie pie converse on our wagon ride...

The babies have a serious love affair right now with Yo Gabba Gabba. I am tyring to introduce them to other things, but they seriously love it.

Books are hands down their favorite things right now, (still!) I just love, love, love it.

Running, running, running, and running. Everywhere they go they run. They love playing chase. This is them playing chase around the kitchen island.

Favorite foods right now are pasta, chicken, avacado, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, goldfish crackers, and cheese.

Bathtime! Our favorite time of the day :)

We have been going out alot to the playground. Although the babes love to swing, they are also little monkeys and have started wanting to climb the stairs to the slide.

We love our playroom as well!

We love dancing. Here is Josh as he is slow dancing with his best bud, Elmo.

We are loving the catepillar! Although I just got it back out because one little girl kept chewing off the attena, they love it! Its really low to theground, so they can climb off and on with ease.

BUBBLES!1 Oh, how my babes love bubbles!