Our Week

I've had a cough for the past month. I'd start to go away, but then was back. I finally went in to check things out. S was totally entertained with the small chairs while we waited. 

We've had great weather again this week. We took some time the same afternoon to hit up the park. I love that we can walk there in a matter of minutes :)

We had se friends come for dinner Wednesday. They were moving and I thought the last thing they should have to worry about was dinner. S loved "helping" me cook. 

It was Uncle Ben's birthday this week. S insisted on dress-ups before we left. We stopped to visit him at work with birthday treats :)

Sorry. This one is a bit blurry. She's a mover :) She was hanging out in her nightgown and insisted on the candy corn hat too. 

Winter Outings

A friend asked me today how this week was, and I thought back on it. It was a REALLY long week. Why is it that weeks that have vacation days sees the longest. Since it was MKL Day on Monday and there was no school we didn't do piano lessons. Instead, we met up with Grandma and Grandpa and cousins to do a little shopping at the outlets and seeing a show together. This wasn't the best pic of grandpa, it was of S...so here you are :)

In one of the stores grandpa had a great time trying hats on S. I love the cute smile she struck with this fedora :) We didn't get it, but she had fun while we were there.

After shopping, all the cousins that live in Utah, their moms, and grandma and grandpa all went to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible....at the movies. It was pretty fun, and S really enjoyed herself :)

My sister and the cousins :)

When we got home I put S straight down for a nap. She was so tired and really needed to sleep! She wasn't happy to go down, but zonked out pretty quickly. My dad brought Scarlett this cute outfit. We tried it on as soon as we got home and she was thrilled with it!

The weather this week has been pretty nice. We decided to hit up Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. S loved all of the animals and made sounds at each of them. Even though the sun was out, it was chilly. She was a good sport and didn't complain once :)

That night at dinner her conversation with her dad went something like this:

S shows dad her stamped hand and said "animals".

D: You saw animals today?

S: Yes. Horse. On it.

D: You rode on a horse today?

S: big smiles with a "Yes!" 

I was so proud of her for forming complete thoughts to communicate with her dad about what she did earlier that day. She was also said "horse" instead of "neigh" which is the norm for her. All in all I'd say she had a great time.

We read lots of fun books this week. This is part of a new set of board books we got that she really loves. One of my favorites was her pulling 5 Monkeys and a Crocodile and reading it to me. She did a pretty good job!

We also spent some quality time at the park. It was a little chilly, but she didn't mind at all. We played outside for about an hour and a half. I carried her home, close to tears, since she was completely happy to just be outside!

This was one of my favorite moments with her this week. I pulled this out of her closet (where it has been for years) for her to play with. She has been "mothering" her babies all week. She reads to them, shares her snacks with them, changes them, and puts them to sleep. This is a cradle that my grandparents gave to me when I was 4 for Christmas. It warmed my heart to see a gift from my grandfather who passed away in the fall bring such happiest to my daughter now!

Birth Family Time

We have had very lifeless balloons kicking around the house since S's birthday. She discovered from her aunt and uncle who watched her Saturday that if you pull back at the knot and let it go, it will fly a pretty good distance. She would bring all of them to me, then tell me the color to do first. She wanted to do it over and over again, but was continually covering her eyes and plugging her ears to the sounds!

She is becoming such the little mom. She takes this baby with her lots of places. She says "change him" when she thinks he needs a diaper change...followed by "wipe him, clean, diaper". She gets out the changing mat and wipes to change him. 

She said "baby walk" the other day. She helped him start walking, but then said that he needed shoes. So, she put hers on him and continued to help him walk.

 She really loves the Duplo train that she got for Christmas. I would be willing to say it is one of those things that we play with everyday. She'll often grab my and with the other wave at me saying, Play, play!"

This is one of the easiest, cheapest, and funnest activities I have found on Pinterest. You use craft foam and cut out snowman pieces. All you need is a little water to get them to stick to the window. We first did this on Thursday, and she is still loving it!

We were also lucky enough this week to be able to get together with S's birth dad. We met at a mall where they have an indoor playground for kids (not kowing what the crazy weather around here would be like).  They played together for quite a while, and really enjoyed each other. His dad and one sister came too. They brought Christmas and birthday presents for her. We had wanted to meet up over Christmas, but with my grandpa's passing it made it impossible. 

This had a Minnie on a bike. As soon as she saw her she kept saying, "Mouse, mouse!"

"Meow. Pink. Soft."

Totally engaged in her book. Books are her favorite :)

Playing with "mouse" at home. She's now referred to as "Mimm Mouse"

Birthday Week

S turned two this week. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since she came home from her hospital with us. We also had an emergency within our extended family that caused us to have cousins for a few days.

The first morning we had cousins here everyone was stir crazy and we really needed to get out. We fit all 3 car seats into the second row :)

We ended up going to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. It was something that kept them entertained, and got a bit of energy out so that the littles took a good nap when we got home :)

Extra large dinosaur puzzle

Playing in the sand and water area. It's pretty massive, and big enough for lots of them to play at the same time.

Sorry, there is a bit of blur to this picture. This is the first time she has let me take her picture by the shark...usually she's to scared.

The birthday girl on birthday morning :)

We took cousins back the morning of S's birthday. Then, since it was her day, I asked her what she wanted to do. Her response was "play".  I asked if she wanted to go to the museum and she screamed "YES!!" So, that's where we went :)

X-raying a dog

They have the BEST giant set of Legos!

She kept putting these in front of her eyes and playing peek-a-boo with me...finding herself very funny!

We had rice bowls for her birthday dinner since it is one of the meals I know she really likes. After dinner we opened presents...I should say that we took a break during dinner to open presents. She was pretty obsessed with presents, and then finished dinner and had a birthday treat after.

Characters from Monsters Inc.

She loves glasses. These were a hit! We thought they'd be fun for her dress-up box.

A cupcake for the birthday girl.

Every day after her birthday she asked for her a cupcake...but in her words "cup-ake". She was happy to help mom "cook" on Saturday to make cupcakes for our family that was coming over to celebrate. I think that she loves the beater more than the actual cooking, but I'm happy to have her be my helper any day.

 Brett made Scarlett this fantastic ball run for her birthday. It took him longer than anticipated, and he had quite a few hiccups but he finished just for her :) She, and all the other cousins, LOVED it. she has been really fun to watch play with it. The expressions she makes as she eyes follow "S's ball" are fantastic!

Since she kept talking about cupcakes all week we did that instead of a cake. She was so excited for them!

I love how much she loved them!

Saturday night we had a date. James and Kerri were kind enough to offer to watch Scarlett for us. I bought tickets for Brett for his birthday to see Sanrda Turley. She did a great cooncert. She played Coset on brodway for 3 years. She had a great mix of music, and it was just what our souls needed. Here are a few of my favorite take-aways from her songs and things she said:

-What other people think about you is none of your business.

-God spares a thought for me (Phantom)

-He can give me loving arms and help me see the sun again (Prayer of the Children)

-Someone is on your side. No one is alone (Into the Woods)

It has been a very crazy and busy week, but I have loved it. I'm blessed to be close enough to family to be able to help them when needed. I have a phenomonal husband. He is patient with me and is always willing to take time to listen. It was such a blessing to have a night out together...it's exactly what we both needed.

Lots of Family Time

We had a very snowy day on Monday. It was the first opportunity that S had to really play in the snow. She loves looking at it, but I'm not sure how much she enjoyed falling over in it. All in all she was a good sport being outside.

Later in the day we went up to a birthday party for S's twin cousins who are turning 5. Scarlett loved the cake and kept called the frosting a "treat". I guess we know which part she'll be loving in a few days here.

They had a kids climbing area that all of the kids played in. S is a bit timid, but has a cousin only 4 weeks older than her who was happy to show her the ropes :)

Playing air hockey with dad after she was done climbing around :)

 We spent New Year's Eve and part of the following  day with Jenny's parents. It was fun for S to be the only little one around. There are a lot of young grandkids, so this was a rarity. She enjoyed some fun air hockey time with Dad.

She LOVES the book Snowmen at Christmas. It was especially fun to be able to have Grandma read it to her :)

One of her favorite things at Jenny's parents home is the horse. Brett's parents have one too, but it the rocking kind not the kind with springs. To S it doesn't really matter. She loves any horse that she can ride :)

Before we cleaned up Christmas we found this little gem. We had seen S playing with the nativity earlier in the day, but hadn't really noticed what she had done with it. While she was napping Brett asked Jenny if she had arranged it this way. It was a surprise to her when she looked up to see the arrangement. This kid loves talking about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. I love how she surrounded Him by as many people as she could.

We got out her dress ups from Christmas again this week. She loved them! She danced around in them, and then just played. The candycorn tutu is pretty poofy and she decided it was the perfect thing to ride her car in :) I also think its great how she decided it deserved a tiara.

S's birthday is coming up this week. She is going to be 2. I can't believe that time has come already. Both of Jenny's parents still work. They took time Saturday to come down and visit her for her birthday :) 

She had to be right there with grandma opening them :)

Jenny's mom has made these elf type hats for all of the grandkids. S was pretty happy with hers :)

S is a huge book lover. She was in heaven to have grandpa reading to her!