Life as We Know it : Toddler Hodge Podge

March is oddly low key for us and I'm trying really hard not to complain because I know the months in our very near future are going to be crazy! Since nothing is really happening, we have been trying to fill our time with ordinary every day things. Luckily the weather is allowing us to play outside because otherwise I think I would be going crazy by now. And I still can't believe how much a toddler Kelsey is. I'm mean, its just crazy!

My most recent favorite Kelseyism, is her obsession to the word "Gotcha!"Whenever she wants us to chase her she runs up to us and yells "gotcha!" and then runs away. When we chase her and catch her, before we can say anything she yells "Gotcha!"And when she sees anyone chasing anything, she yells "Gotcha!" (She learned it from her monkey book)

I don't know if these videos are loud enough but if you listen hard you can hear her saying it.

Video 1: She is pulling a spool of ribbon which she did for about an hour and the whole time would yell "gotcha ya!" which was hilarious because SHE was the reason the ribbon was chasing her in the first place

Video 2: She is chasing the ducks at the duck pond and yelling "gotcha!" so they will run. Its very faint compared to the quacking so maybe just enjoy watching a toddler run.

One of the beautiful mornings we had recently, I decided to run up to the Y and let Kelsey "hike" around a bit. I haven't been up to the Y in many years and forgot how beautiful it really is. (I also forgot how steep all the hills are and had a very VERY hard time catching my breath after we reached the top!)

On Friday March 7th we went to spend the weekend at the Layton's cabin. This is the 6th year in a row that we have done this now and what started out as a bunch of single kids crashing a snowmobile has turned into a very fun family tradition. Slowly but surely everyone has gotten married and has had kids so the dynamics have changed drastically but it is still a very fun weekend full of good food, lots of games, and great friends.

As fun as it was, Kelsey had one of her worst nights EVER. At 1:30 in the morning she woke up asking for breakfast. Not just crying because "I'm tired and I want mom or my blankie", but talking and asking for toast. I tried bringing her into bed with us and she just started jumping and running around. She did this until 5:30!!!

She did take a small nap and fell asleep with her bum in the air

Kelsey loves to "Dance" in the car AKA listen to music. As soon as we get her in her car seat, she asks to dance, which means turn on the music. I have done a few experiments and half way through a trip I will turn off the radio and she will start yelling "Dance?! DANCE!" Super awesome.

These videos have actually nothing to do with the music but they are pretty hilarious to this mom.

Still loves to read and I never get tired of it

On Sunday we were playing Yahtzee with Hannah and we started yelling Yahtzee a lot. Well obviously Kelsey picked up on this right way and realized that it was hilarious.She now yells YAHTZEE any time she is proud of herself. It kind of has replaced YAY! Luckily I was able to catch a couple of her proud moments where Yahtzee was used correctly!

I got this easel at GOTHE and I finally got some butcher paper for it and it is a huge hit around these parts (Yes. Kelsey wrote her own name. She's brilliant)

Kelsey LOVES Ethan. I mean really really loves Ethan. One time I heard them laughing in Kelsey's room and so I walked in to see what was going on. As soon as I walked in, Kelsey ran up to me, pushed my legs and yelled "out!" She really likes Ethan.

I have tried like 80 times to get her to ride on my back and she refuses. Don't worry I don't get offended but it would be nice if she liked to play with me too sometimes.

The other day, Kelsey and I decided to go to the bounce house. I was talking to a mother of twins who were also crazy, and we were talk about how wonderful it is to have a toddler who loves to climb. Then we looked at each other and laughed and she was like " Only at places like this I guess!" It was a cute mommy connection for me.

Climbing up the slide

These videos are REALLY REALLY loud because of all the fans, but they are still fun for us to watch

Kelsey has started to understand friend. She doesn't know that friends are people we know, but knows that friends are people her size. Right now anyone is a friend. Her BEST friend is Sadie and Sadie is everything to Kels. We play with Sadie every day and it is the best part of our days.

The duck pond now has a boardwalk and a railing!! Its AWESOME!!

Okay so there was this puddle at the duck pond and I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden all the moms were looking for someone, all the singles we concerned, and I couldn't find Kelsey. Well apparently she fell in this nasty mud puddle and although sad because she was cold, she was totally fine. I started laughing and all the singles looked at me like I was the worst person in the world. Maybe I am but it was very funny. Luckily Jamie thinks like me and started snapping pictures so I was able to capture the moment a little bit. It's killing me that I don't know what happened!

We were able to make a quick wardrobe change and once we did the tears stopped instantly and she started chasing ducks again with Sadie. She was fine.

"HELLOOOOOOOOOO!"

Their favorite game is to run up the stairs leading to the Maeser but they hate coming back down. I didn't want to chase them all the way up, so I showed them if they hold hands they could come down the stairs together. Worked like a charm!