We’ve been busy, yes, lots of activities and goings on around here.  Surprisingly winter is speeding along, some days are starting to feel like spring, and all of us are ever growing and evolving so I thought I would take a closer look at those changes.

Brooke:

• She has an insane memory…and largely for facts.  I can tell that she retains lessons learned at school really well, like when she informed me that Washington was a president the other day and she points out planets in the sky.  She will also not let it drop if you promised her a week ago that you would paint her nails or promised her something else fun to do.
• She’s still on the outs with Madison, despite our best attempts to get them together at the park, for a playdate, or at dance class.  She keeps a grumpy face on around her and I just can’t understand her deal.  Madison seems fine, it’s all on Brooke.
• We did have a great playdate with her old buddy Maya and their family when they came over for dinner a few weeks ago.  They danced, they laughed, they got dressed up, sang songs.  It was very cute.
• She’s loving dance class and gymnastics class but she does not love the first five minutes.  She needs at least this long to ease into the class and be okay without my presence or by her side.  This means I get to partake in warm up and stretching at dance class every Saturday morning…
• She is still a girly girl who loves dresses, dressing up, painting nails, braids in her hair (but don’t dare brush or style her own hair), glitter tattoos, hand tattoos done by her sister, high heels and as much jewelry as she can put on her body.
• She still is the one that keeps us up at night.  The girl doesn’t go to bed until after 9 each night and it doesn’t really matter whether or not she had a nap that day.  She needs apparently only as much sleep as a full-grown adult.
• She’s getting more comfortable in water.  Reese and her baths have become mermaid lay down sessions and their play in the hot tub in San Diego made it evident that she’s okay getting her face some wet and not needing contact at all times when in the water.
• Her safe foods are still a short list and I can’t get her to budge on that.  Even if she sees Reese eat veggies or try something she cannot be coerced.  I’d love to see what they got her to eat at school some days.
• She’s getting much better at her balance bike and scooter.  She’s had fun riding around the playgrounds with Reese and friends lately and she’s now ridden her bike to school a handful of days.
• Her hair is starting to get a bit longer and really has a lot of large curls in it.  She had her first haircut so they evened it all out but I expect it to start growing quite a bit here soon.
• She really loves her sister most.  And her sister’s friends.  She is as excited as Reese when any of Reese’s friends come over and hangs out with the big girls the whole time.  She doesn’t like doing things without Reese and certainly doesn’t like to go to school if she knows Reese is not in school.
• She’s been doing great without wearing her pullups lately, except at night she still wears them, and that is a blessing because we had several weeks with a bunch of accidents and were starting to wonder what the deal was.

Reese:

• Reese is in swim and gymnastics class right now as well as Girl Scouts once a month and loving it all.  She really has been into practicing handstands, headstands, and cartwheels whenever she can and also swings and twirls on her bar in her bedroom on a near daily basis.  I’m glad that she seems to be starting to make friends with the girls in her Pre Team at gymnastics and they play and try to teach each other things before class each week.  Reese likes people that will challenge her.
• Reese is still tied to the hip with Georgie and Lottie and those are her besties.  They are noticeably easier and more natural playdate guests than any of her other friends which is a good thing because we have them over a lot.
• Reese has been a really great big sister lately.  She’s been super patient with Brooke even when she is being a bit of a stinker or when Brooke really is dependent on me and she includes Brooke in a lot of what she is doing.
• Reese has been a bit more interested in trying some new foods or at least giving them a taste.  She’s still not at all an adventurous eater but she’s definitely more up for giving some things a try and at least doesn’t flat out refuse like Brooke every time.
• Reese has been starting to doodle and write on her own more.  She’s been bringing her little notebook with her on the bus and spends some time writing or drawings stories to share with me later and I love it.
• On Mondays when Reese rides the bus home, I’ve let her walk the one block home by herself and she loves this!  Of course, I can see her from our upstairs window and watch her the entire time but even this small amount of independence seems to really excite her.  Our Miss Little Independent Dependent child lol.
• Reese continues to be all things Barbie, princess, Gabby, and all of the things-that-make-Bryan-cringe obsessed.  We’ve had many a debate on which movie to watch at night but we have managed to watch a few oldies but goodies including Sound of Music, which she ended up really liking, Mary Poppins, and Harry Potter, which is the one movie that scares her and she refuses to finish for that reason.
• She’s really into color by numbers and asks me to print some for her fairly frequently.  We’ve done a few more of the sewing stuffed animals from a kit we got.  And recently she has requested me to teach her to knit, which I don’t know how to do myself.

Bryan:

• Bryan is in a battle with cars as of late.  Three weeks ago, on his way home from work he got hit by a car while driving.  He was fine but the car was badly damaged and has been in the shop ever since.  We’ve had a really undesirable Nissan Altima ever since and they quoted us our car back on 3/14.  
• Then, last Friday, on a gloriously sunny afternoon, he went for a bike ride on our Magnolia loop and on his way back and down the hill in Magnolia, him and a car collided while he was riding in the bike lane.  I was in Columbia City with the girls for gymnastics and I was very worried about him when I got the Garmin alert and could see his little blue dot on the Find My Friends wasn’t moving.  He sprained both wrists, has a gash on his ankle, but other than a little bruising, him and his bike are surprisingly okay given that he was going about 30 mph when the accident happened.  I’m still so relieved.  The girls like telling anyone and everyone about his hurt wrists.
• Bryan’s been working down in Renton in his old stomping grounds since about mid-January.  It’s a work assignment that suits him well, given his past experience and knowledge, but isn’t the type of work he wants to continue on in the future or stay with forever, but a nice little reprieve from his time in Everett and an opportunity to figure out what he ultimately wants to do and where he wants to be.
• Bryan has been better than me about getting on his bike and already logging in several 20-mile bike rides.  Of course, he is now on a bit of a hold from that to wait out the healing of his wrists but I am very proud of him for getting himself out there and training even in the cold.  I will need to catch up to him for sure.
• Bryan and Philipp have been pretty good about getting together on a monthly basis for dinner and drinks and the guy’s group is still going strong as they are currently planning a 40^thbirthday trip for many of them to go fly fishing, hiking and rafting in Alaska this summer.  Bryan is pretty excited about this trip.  Now I need to finish working out the details for our trip out East with his high school buddies.
• Bryan’s latest obsession would be finances and sorting them all out.  I blame two things:  taxes and working in Renton since he has more downtime for these thoughts.  It’s a good obsession though as he gets our whole life straightened out.
• Bryan and I finally got to the law office to sign our estate.  Two plus years in the making, two years since all of the paperwork was finalized and ready for our signatures, and we finally got there to do it in person.  Can’t say it was the most fun but did feel like a good thing to have gotten done.

Chelsea:

• I’ve still been loving playing on my women’s soccer team.  This was the first winter season I played and we’ve had some chilly games but also some really beautiful ones.  I did sprain my wrist in early January in a game but am pretty much all healed up from that.  We are losing a few of our good, young players but still have a pretty strong and balanced team.  8v8 has been fun but I’m ready to get back into the 11v11 soon.  I’ve managed to score a few goals this season which has been enjoyable as well.
• I’ve been trying to do a little more baking, both with the girls and by myself.  Nothing too challenging yet but mostly sweet quick breads that the girls really enjoy (banana, pumpkin and apple fritter breads) and am now pretty good at a three ingredient no-knead round loaf.
• My abstract for a conference in October in Nashville was accepted which means I now have to finish the rough draft before our trip to Hawaii in April.  I have not found much time to research or write this paper, unsurprisingly to me as I tend to procrastinate with writing research papers.  But this is a good fun challenge for me and Mom might be available to go with me to the conference.
• I’ve done a few FareStart volunteer gigs for some of their gala auction items and that is a lot of fun for me.  I like to see these events unfold and brings me back a bit to my catering days at Michigan.  Plus, it’s fun to meet and witness some of these great chefs do their magic and of course try their food.
• I’m at the end of my 18-week journey with my Invisalign to fix my bite and help with grinding of my teeth.  It’s been more painless than I was predicting and I am very glad that I went ahead and did it.  Having said that, I’m also glad to be soon going to only wearing a retainer at night for awhile and be able to go without anything during the day.  Still not sure when that will be as I had my appointment yesterday where they removed all of the buttons on my teeth but are going ahead with their “refinement” period which will have them order me a few more trays that I won’t get for a few weeks.  I’m hoping it’s only like five trays but don’t know yet.
• I had my first day of skiing with Bryan in 6 (but more like 8) years in January and it was so freeing and so much fun.  It felt like old us and I felt more confident on the slopes than I did 6 years ago when I was a new mom.  We had beautiful sunny skies and zero crowds.  We have two more days we need to get in and I can’t wait, especially since I just got new boots for the first time in probably over 20 years.

— 
Chelsea