F is for Friday and Family

I love Friday’s.  It’s “Family Movie Night” in our house and it really helps us all decompress after our busy week.  We look forward to it so much we clean up the house completely the night before because once we get in the door around 5:30 on Friday, all we want to do is peel off our clothes, change into our favorite pj’s and collect whatever pillows and blankets we need before we rush downstairs to the living room.

We either rent a movie or pick one we have at home.  Some nights we’ll just watch a kid flick like Princess and the Frog and The Parent Trap, but we alternate every other week and introduce classics like to Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball, BIG and Back to the Future.  We’ll order takeout or make pizzas together and eat popcorn and ice cream.  Once Rory gets tired, we’ll bring her upstairs and then we spend the rest of the night having a Gilmore Girl marathon until we fall asleep.  I definitely recommend picking a night out of the week that works for your family and make a date.  It doesn’t have to be anything specific, just a set time aside to hang together.

Each Friday I think I’m going to start recording my favorite things for the week.  I feel like I take them for granted lately and really need to be able to look back and remember how good things are even though they are not perfect.

Haley personality is going from sassy to classy.  These past few months she’s really been testing us with how far she can push.  Since last weekend I see that she is really working on respect more.  Rather than “no” and “I don’t want too”, she’s finding ways to communicate her disagreement without all the door slamming and tears.  I think she realizes she was spending more time arguing with us than it took for her to actually do what was asked and that maybe we’ll agree to more if she found a better way to ask.  I couldn’t be more appreciative.  She’s turning 10 this month and I am really treading carefully and trying to allow her to grow into her own person.  I hope I’m guiding her well.

Haley is also really enjoying sports. When we decided to give her a break from her 5 years of dancing, it was hard.  I just wanted to open her eyes to other activities and then if she decided she wanted to continue dancing (3 days a week, 3 hrs+ a day and the driving back and forth and OMG! the rehearsals and recitals, please no more!), we would sign her back up.  However, she really found a love for soccer and lacrosse and she’s becoming really good at it.  Plus it’s fun to watch so it’s a win/win.

Rory on the other hand, is giving us a run for our money.  She is growing so fast. At 18 months, she is 28lbs and 32.9 inches.  She talks so much now and we can actually understand what she’s trying to say. Some of her vocab include:

Hay-yee = Haley

Falfee = Ralphie (our dog)

Whe-yah Munkey = Where’s Curious George or any other monkey for that matter.

Puck = Cup

Shuck = sock

Along with up, more, peeese and of course, no.

She climbs everything or tries to, including all of our baby gates.  She watches movies from the comfort of our laundry basket, which she calls Choo-Choo.  She prefers vegetables and cheese over a cookie or ice-cream any day.  She will stop to dance at the sound of any music and hug and kiss anyone who crosses her path.  She is strong-willed and independent and her eyes light up with each new thing she encounters. I love watching it. I love my girls and I hope even with the years between them, they grow up to be as close as I can imagine sisters to be.

So at 4:30, I will run out the door to my car and home to them. I can’t wait.

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