rushley & crew

Dear Ada,  You are 8 years old! You've been anxiously awaiting this birthday, both because you're excited for presents, and because you're excited to get baptized! You frequently talk about how much you love Jesus and how you want to follow Him. You say the most lovely and heartfelt prayers for specific things and specific people. You love primary songs, and you sing them beautifully. You are so creative and imaginative. I love that you are still little, and you still love to play pretend. You still play Barbies and house, and lately you're very into creating what you need out of paper and/or cardboard -- a small backpack, a notebook, a room for your Barbies, you name it! My favorite thing is to see you and Holly playing together happily and creatively. You LOVE to read. You've been in an online reading class for about a year now, and your skills in and love for reading have both grown so much. You're reading chapter books now, sometimes passing hours doing so. ...

Dear Holly, What a year it's been. When you turned 3, you were THE SWEETEST child, and this year has been a little bit of a wild ride 😅 You're starting to get back to your sweeter roots, but you still have a mean streak! You like getting your way, and you are not afraid to voice your disapproval when you DON'T get your way. There is just no reasoning with you in so many situations 😅🤣 You are silly. You love to ride your scooter. You love to sing, but usually not all the right words 😊 You love to dance at your class. You love to color and cut at home. You love to tell other people when THEY are not following the rules, nevermind the times that you don't follow them. You're still a mama's girl, and you prefer to be near me, even if I'm working on something else. You always want to come with me to the grocery store and to help me in the kitchen. You don't *dislike* books, but you're not crazy about them like Ada has been. You've learned how to w...

Dear Ada,  How on earth are you seven years old?!?! There is so much that is fun about you growing up. For instance, you listen to a lot of audiobooks, and then you'll use vocabulary and phrases that aren't common around our house, and I'm always surprised because your world is expanding and I'm not the only one giving input these days! Sometimes you'll use a word, and then because I make a face (maybe a face of surprise, maybe a face that lets you know you used the word wrong), you'll immediately say something like "I don't even know what that word means!" Which is funny to me because adult-me wonders why you would use it if you don't know you're using it correctly, but that's just how kid-you learns! You're also getting good at things that required a lot of training on my part in the beginning -- things like cleaning up your room/playroom, folding/putting away laundry, doing table tasks. You're responsible and do those things ...

Oh my sweet, sweet Holly, I love you so much! I can't even describe accurately how special I feel our bond is. It's just easy to love you because you love me so freely. Of course you still have tantrums and blow-ups, but most of the time you are truly so calm and sweet and kind. Your little voice is sooo cute. You are the biggest snuggler (with me, at least) -- you snuggle me in my bed after I get you up, in your rocking chair before and/or after sleep times, and almost anytime I sit down on the couch, you make your way over to snuggle with me. Plus you tell me frequently that you want to snuggle me on the couch 😍 I'm excited for us to add a little brother to our family, but I sometimes worry about how it will affect our relationship -- you love to be close to me so often, and I know I won't always be available to be so close once baby brother gets here. I know we'll all figure it out, but I just hope you always know how much I love you through that big change. I...

   Dear Ada, You're six years old!  You are fiery 🔥 You are creative, curious, and you soak up knowledge like a sponge! You can be so kind and empathetic…you can also lose your MIND if you don't get your way 🙃 You and Holly are the best of friends (and the worst of enemies 😅), and you're so excited to have another little baby around here in a few months. Although you weren't a snuggly baby or toddler, you now LOVE to snuggle. You like mermaids, princesses, and you still have a thing for Star Wars, though MUCH less intense than a year ago. You recently figured out how to pump your legs on swings (finally 😅😅) and are obsessed. You're full of energy and ideas, and I love you so! Stats 45.2 pounds (about 53%) and 44.75" (about 42%) 5T-6x fit best. Milestones Switched to a high-back booster at about 5y5m. Pumping legs on swings about a month before your birthday. Doing math randomly, just because you feel like it. You've already memorized some simple additi...

Stats 25.0 lbs (26%), 33.12" (36%) Size 4 diapers Mostly wearing 24m or 2T these days Words At 21 months, she was saying roughly 45 words, and now she's easily saying 100+. She basically just talks a ton, though she's definitely in the stage where she needs mom and dad as translators for other people. She says sentences up to about 5 words ("What you doing daddy?" "where Ada go?" "milk please, mama")  Some of the words she started saying before I stopped taking notes: Anna (from Frozen ) toot snuggle hat cat meow pumpkin sock leaf eye panda fish (sounded like "fee-ah" at first, now says "fishie") I love you cup show moon ready soup washcloth ("Shash-sauce") shower Elsa sleep sack Weston cheese blueberries cake monkey cereal lid She also likes to add -ee endings to things, like hug-ee and ice-ee.  She won't say "santa," but instead calls him "papa." With words that end in -er, she often swit...