Expecting the Unexpected: Baybay & Baybee: Week 84 (3/13-3/19)

84 weeks old!

The girls have started saying their names! They both say, "My" for Maya and "La" for Ella. It's really cute to hear them call their sister by her name. Ella has also been very enamored with the mirror this week. She makes faces into it and babbles at her reflection. Yet another new thing is that Ella has started to share Maya's longtime desire to put on her own socks/shoes.

Ella and Dada smell the orange tulips at the Smith College Bulb Show.

Me holding both girls. The flowers were lovely, but the place was packed with people and it was a little claustrophobic walking down the narrow aisles. Also, Maya and Ella both really only wanted me to hold them. We didn't stay too long.

All of us in a somewhat quieter room at the greenhouse. Ella was really ready to go home at this point.

On Tuesday, we got more snow! After Brett left for work, I tried to get the girls to come outside with me to help shovel, but all they wanted to do was put their snowsuits, socks and shoes on, and then take them off again. I tried saying please, but in the end we just stayed inside. Two against one.

Brett was smart and parked his trailer at the END of the driveway the night before. There was still quite a bit of shoveling to do to get it out.

Watching Dada. Maybe this is why they didn't want to go outside and shovel.

We played with snow inside, instead.

Is Dada home yet?

Brett got the girls to go outside with him later. They cleared the paths...

...Made show angels...

...And built a snowman!

Marbles are a lot of fun right now. I have a whole bunch from when I was a kid and the girls adore playing with them. They know not to put them in their mouth or push them all over the room, and for the most part, they respect these two rules. It's interesting to watch the girls sort them into sizes and colors and it's fun for me too, because I love playing with marbles!

Ella and many marbles.

The marbles on your sister's side are always the best ones.

Hah!

Seeing how many fit.

Months ago, my Mama found a LIKEaBIKE at a thrift store in Florida and when they visited last time, my parents brought it up to us. Well, for a few months now, the girls have been enjoying sitting on it when they go down to the basement to do laundry with Brett. This week, for the first time, Maya can get on and off of it by herself! And on Monday, Ella did a few pushes on it all on her own for the first time! They both need to grow a tiny bit taller to really use it, but they are on their way!

Now we have two! Guy found this one online and together with Grandma Kathy, they bought it for the girls. Uncle Guy came over and put it together with two very eager helpers. This bike is a little taller than the other, so it will be a while yet before they can ride it, but it's still exciting to have two!

In the meantime, Dada can ride it!

And this horsey is pretty good until the girls grow a little taller.

Food! Here are a whole bunch of pictures about food.

From my cooking class. We made stuffed cabbage, hummus and many other things this week!

I made this coconut cream pie one evening!

I made Chicken Tikki Masala for dinner one night. Maya approved.

The bulk section of the co-op is a very exciting place.

To each their own.

If you see two girls running with a bag of spinach and an apple, you can be pretty sure they just came from the farmer's market.

Before the snowstorm, we were almost out of snow. It's a good thing it happened because I was beginning to think Spring was here. Below are a few more pictures from the adventures we had during the rest of our week.