3.27.16

We have have some super cold days lately compared to the beautiful weather we had a week or so ago. Monday we were able to go play at the park. We met some friends there and spent a few hours. It was a good way to get wiggles out, and be happy on one of the few days we knew would be good weather. Sure enough, we had snow the next day.

S had has a lot of fun with pretending lately. She put all these little princesses out and had them "go to the ball". She helped each of them dance. It is pretty fun to see her imagination at work.

We had some friends over this week. First it was dress ups, then they all wanted to go to school, we played outside, and made Easter crafts. I love how many little friends S has around here that she can play with. It is a really great area to live in! I have lost count of how many little girls we have that are her age, but it is alot!

I think it was Thursday evening that we got around to dying eggs. Brett had scouts on Wednesday. We bought tickets weeks ago to go see a play at the elementary school on Friday night. Saturday we were committed to doing yardwork at Nana and Papa's house, and I had a General Women's church meeting that evening...so if we wanted to get it done before Sunday Thursday was the night. In case you can't tell, she had a great time doing them!

dying eggs with dad

enjoying one of the eggs that split open

I'm not going to go as far as saying it was warm enough to ride bikes, but if you put a coat on it was tolerable. For this kid though, anything to be outside and ride her bike is good! She has this bike down! She is totally ready for pedals. My brother has one that he offered to us months ago, I just need to take a drive up there to pick it up. With how well she can balance on this one I am sure she will have that down in no time.

We went with some friend to see the play Annie Jr. on Friday. S has this "friend" Ella (10 yr old that she sits by during choir practice on Sundays) who had the lead in the play. She is really friends with her little sister, Claire (in the picture), and talks about her often. We also had several other kids from our neighborhood and primary class that we were there to see. They all did such a great job. S majorly got the wiggles at one point because of no nap for two days (completely of her own making), but said that she liked it. I told her we needed to look nice to go see the play, which we kept describing to her as singing and dancing. She told me that she needed to wear her special flower dress. Hooray for grandma's and clothes they buy just because.

"flower dress" picture we had to send to grandma

We decided we wanted Easter Sunday to be a day focused on Chirst. So, we chose to do baskets Saturday morning, along with our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. One family in our circle has been sponsoring it for at least 10 years. We all fill eggs, write our last name and "prize" on the outside of any that we want to give out to others as prizes and take them to the given house. That person gives all the prize eggs to different homes, but you get your own eggs hidden in your yard by volunteers. So, Saturday morning we had prize eggs for three different homes (since that's how many we gave) that S got to go collect. She got things like a can of soda or Yoda candy dispenser. I love our little circle and the fun things they do!

crown and necklace from her basket

hunting for eggs

We spent a good chunk of time at Nana and Papa's house doing some major yard cleanup on Saturday. There was weeding, tree trimming, hedge clipping, garden prep, ornamental grass cuttings... the list goes on and on. Their home is on about 1/2 acre, so you can imagine how much landscaping there is. I went home around 1 to put S down for a nap. Somehow in all of the work this is the only picture I got...two cute little cousins reading books together. 

So, this is the fun dress that I bought for S for Easter. We went shopping together (S and I), and I wanted to let her pick. There were tons of Easter dresses, and she continually came back to this one. Have I mentioned that she loves green?! It made me happy at how much she enjoyed it. I had several people at church tell me how much they loved it. One friend who knows us well commented on how she loves that we did green for her, knowing of her love for the color. She definitely isn't your Pinkalicious girl. I think if I could find enough green girl clothes, she'd wear them everyday.

weekly family photo

We have started somewhat of a tradition that my family did as kids, Disney's Sunday night at the movies. Back in the day that was a thing on TV that we would all enjoy together with popcorn. Tonight we opted for Monsters Inc. I love watching her about as much as I love watching the show. 

Our tripod (minus the camera) was still set up from family pictures and S started pretending that she was taking pictures with me. I told her if she was super careful dad could help her do it. So, they aimed it together, set the timer, and she ran to jump in the picture with me. Below you have the result :) Such a fun kid!

S-ism this week:

-S singing "happy family" and suddenly stops, looks at me, and says, "Mom. We are not a happy family anymore?" I ask, "Why not?" She responds, "Because Dad is not here!" (he was at work).

3.20.16

How does it happen that I have fun things to blog about, but don't get it done that week?! I blame a large portion of it on not being home when I normally would have done it...the other on school work and not feeling stellar this week.

That being said, this was one of my favorite days last week. I brought up a large box of books a little over a week ago largely filled with Dr. Seuss to help us celebrate Dr. Seuss day. S is totally taken with Green Eggs and Ham. She has had times that she has gotten it out and just read it to herself. This morning she brought me book after book from the Dr. Seuss box to read. We sat and read one after another after another.

We started getting ready for Easter and talking about it earlier this week. We wanted it to be a special day, and not just special because of a new Easter dress, or special Easter treats. S got out special chairs for us for our family night lesson about Jesus. Brett taught her that Jesus lived and died because he loves her. Her instant reaction was, "Only me! Not you mom!" Brett quickly explained that He died because he loves all of us: mom, dad, nana, papa, grandma, grandpa..... She had to add, "And He died because he loves my friend Claire too!" 

After our lesson it was Pi Day, and I had really good intentions that didn't come to fruition. So, we ended up making apple tarts together for our special family night treat.

My sister and her family were taking their kids to see Zootopia on a cheap movie night and invited us to come along. S always does better if we can go to the movies with someone we know (kids..must be kids) and sits to watch the show better. One of my favorite things about taking this cute girl to the movies is that she always gets up and dances after with the music they play while they roll the credits. It's usually dancing in the aisles. This time we got comments from several other people on our way out about how cute she was. She would change her style of dancing to go along with the music being played (typical for her)

When we left the theater it was snowing. She had to catch snowflakes on her tongue!

We had several friend days this week. These two play so great together. S has lots of little characters. They got out all the princesses and animals to play with together.

One friend had some car troubles this week, and we needed to give her and her kids a ride while they waited for the tow truck. Thankfully there was a play ground because we waited for close to an hour. I'm glad it was such a beautiful day. We talked while the kids played...it may have been just what we needed for S to get a good nap in :)

We met grandma and grandpa on Friday night. We all went out to dinner together. Grandpa had a lot of fun helping S pick our everything her heart desired at Chuck-a-Rama. Grandpa likes to take the grandkids there...there is no wait time, they can pick what they want, and eat to their hearts content.

S rode with Dad and Grandpa to our next stop together. S thought she was SO funny making faces at us!

We gave Grandma and Grandpa passes to a place called Toad's for Christmas last year that they are still using up. They have an arcade, mini-golf, go-carts, and lots of other fun things. Grandpa helped her play everything her little heart could want. Then was the fun part of cashing in all the tickets she won. I love that she gets to make so many great memories with both sets of grandparents.

We stayed the night at my parents on Friday night before leaving S with my parents and taking a little trip of our own. For Christmas I gave Brett a night at a B&B in Logan. It has taken us this long to use it :) I guess that's a little perk on an experience as a Christmas gift. We did make our reservation a month ago, and this is something we have been looking forward to. We went to a local cheese facotry, grabbed lunch and spent some time on campus, enjoyed downtown Logan, and had a special dinner out. 

old main

us on campus

chocolate souffle

creme brule

S had a pretty grand time, herself. She had one on one time with Grandpa. He took her out to see the Golden Spike, and got her lots of fun train things from the visitors center there: engineers hat, pink bandanna, and a train whistle. She went shopping with grandma and got to go to the park. I'd say she had quite a lovely time of things!

We went to the Provo City Center dedication while my parents watch S, then we had her nap (or at least try to) while they went and we all had dinner together (thus the lack of my blogging time). So, here is our very casual Sunday family picture. 

3.13.16

This is one of the funniest things that happened this week. I seriously laughed, and was informed by this 3 year old that "It is not funny!" So, here's the story. S got a little matryoshka for Christmas, and she has really loved them. I was making dinner one night and she came to me in tears with something like, "Mom! My baby is stuck! My baby is stuck!" It took me a minute to figure out what she was talking about. Check out the right nostril. I'm just glad she tried it on the monkey and not herself!

This week we had some pretty good weather. S and I worked outside getting some of the needed yard work done. She took a pretty decent shot of mom working :)

I have loved how light it has been getting while we have been exercising in the morning. We were able to see some pretty great sunrises this week. On the same note, I am totally bummed by daylight savings! Starting Monday we get to exercise in the dark again :/

With the nice weather and week we took time to go to the Farm. Riding the horses is always her favorite. It was really fun to see the brand new baby lambs and goats too. I think we may need a visit up to see Aunt Ashley and ride horses with her. S would be in heaven!

S was the victim of a toddler having a little fit while we were at the farm. It left her in tears. It was right before we went to see the ducks. I often bring a quarter for food for the ducks. I forgot today. Add the tears caused by the other child to mom forgetting quarters and it was pretty sad! The sweetest grandma came up and handed her a quarter as she overheard our situation. I'll call it a blessing in the form of a grandma that someone was thinking of us!

We have had lots of bike rides this week. On Friday we went on a ride to see Nana and Papa. She loved riding her bike there, and playing for a bit. We actually ended up having breakfast with them...well, S did at least. I had already eaten. She had too, but she was happy to gobble up anything that Nana made for her.

We decided to hit the Children's museum Friday right around dinner time. It was SO nice. It wasn't super packed with people. We were able to hit most everything there, and she had a huge breakthrough. She went exploring in the jungle (aka huge contained playground, 1 in, 1 out) all by herself. She tried out things she had never done on her own before. We were both so happy for her! I love that they have these little doors made at the entrance especially for the little ones.

vet office with dad

We were able to attend the baptism of my nephew on Saturday. It was nice to have so much family together! We were only missing my brother's family. It is kind of fun to have a family photo of all of us now. It is amazing to see how much we have grown. We have one sister that is expecting in June too, so we'll be due for a new family picture (with everyone) in the near future.

Of course we had to do our weekly family photo. I love how her personality comes through so much in the second one. I'm really looking forward to compiling all of these at the end of the year. 

3.6.16

I have to start this off with happenings from last Sunday evening, since I had already done our blog post last week by that point. S had an aunt come to visit since she had a her accident, and brought her lots of fun things. One of the things she brought were bubbles. We had SO much fun together doing bubbles! Some of these expressions we caught it's like you can almost here the squeals of delight we heard that night. 

 I am loving the spring weather that has finally arrived! S has loved getting to play outside so much more, ride bikes, go to the park! We are lucky to live so close to her paternal grandparents. This walkway takes us all the way to their house, which is where we went on Monday. I think she's about ready for a new bike. This balance bike has been great to us, but she mastered it last summer. My brother has one that his kids have outgrown. We just need to go get it.

We spent most of Tuesday morning with my sister and her kid(s). She has one in kindergarten who was gone most of the time, but we were able to play with her youngest. They recently got a playground set for their backyard. The girls had lots of fun playing together.

We had a friend come over and play Wednesday morning. Her mom had a baby a few months ago, and we have had her over several times so both of them could have a break! We spent about an hour and a half at home, and almost the same amount of time at the park. I love that we have so many parks within walking distance of our house!

We really try to eat a pretty good variety of foods. We've had Kiwi before, but it has been a little while. When S saw my buy some at the store she has asked for one almost daily...sometimes more than once a day. She often likes to use her little step as a mini table for herself.

I was teasing her one morning about her having "special drink" (smoothie) on her face. She asked to "please take a picture". I swear, this is one of the best things I have done for the sanity of everyone in our house. I take them up to her each morning as she wakes up, and it makes for a much happier morning if we can get some food in her immediately :)

....and another day at the park. The house may not have gotten cleaned, but we sure enjoyed the outdoors this week!

We had several other friends over on Friday (missing from the picture are 6 month old twins) to play. There was a parent reading morning at the school with the older kids, so we had siblings over. Bubbles and sidewalk chalk were some of the things we were able to enjoy while we played outside. 

S helped us to finish putting a second coat of paint inside her dressup closet. She loves green, so we did the interior that way, especially for her :)

Then we have today. Our weekly family pictures. S was really excited to do special pictures all by herself. I love how fun it is to take pictures with her. She is so full of life! P.S. I should've had her try on this dress from last Easter/Ben's wedding before shopping for Easter dresses this year. She picked out what she wanted herself. I'll have to post a picture next week :)