My Baby Girl

I finally made it in for Charlotte's 1-year pictures...3 months late. Good thing they turned out so cute to make up for it! Charlotte has two loves of her life: her Snuggly (Made of Minky...who wouldn't love it?) and shoes. I have NEVER had a child love shoes as much as she does. All my other kids couldn't wait to kick their shoes off. Charlotte finds her shoes and begs for them to be put on. I think this might have something to do with Jana setting us up with more baby girl shoes than I own for myself. More fashionable than my own shoes, too!

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Cake-filled Weekend

This last weekend was the first of MANY years we have to look forward to of two birthdays one day apart....two girl birthdays, no less.  Let the pink frosting overdose begin!  This year was especially crazy because Sadie got to have her first "Friend" birthday party.  So last Friday, 7 little girls descended on our house for a Little Mermaid Birthday Party. 

 Sadie INSISTED on a "Pin the tail on Ariel" at her party.  Since a poster size Ariel is not to be found, I was not sure what to do.  But at 11:00 the night before, Dave and I figure out a solution.  We printed a bunch of coloring pages (which I made Davis and Claire color the next morning right before the party) and taped the pictures all over the door.  Ariel was in the center and we pinned the tail on her picture.  Good enough for me!

Musical Chairs

 This was the highlight of the party.  For Davis' Webelos badge, he needed to make puppets and write a puppet show.  HE came up with the idea to do it for Sadie's party.  So Sadie gets all excited for a puppet show.  Two days before, Davis loses his nerve and says, "I'll make puppets, but I'm not doing the puppet show."  Try telling that to Miss Stubborn herself, Sadie Mae. Or try telling that to your Mother who sees that you only have 4 months left to earn your Arrow of Light and LOTS of things left to do and is starting to panic. So I convinced Davis to write the script and make the puppets (the morning of the party, I might add.).  I thought there was going to be arguments or complaining.  But during my piano lessons, he worked away and made paper bag puppets.  (Can you see the Ariel one he is holding? :)  Then he performed a (remarkably well written) play it to the great delight of all the little girls.  What is is about a puppet show that is so fascinating?  Even after Sadie opened all her presents, all the girls just wanted to play with the puppets. 

 

Instead of cake and ice-cream we did cupcakes and Blue Jello cups with Swedish fish inside to look like fish in the sea.  BY THE WAY, if you make jello cups the night before and put the Swedish fish in to set in the middle, by the time your party rolls around the next day, the candy fish have started to dissolve, so they taste like gluey, slimy gross things with a little frozen center and 5 year old girls will be grossed out and not eat the rest of the Jello because of the yucky Swedish Fish.  Or so I've heard.

 

Fish Pond on the trampoline for their goody bags.

 

Everyone loves a good party favor!

The day after Sadie's party, we went to Utah for a Wedding reception, with fruit pizza and wedding cake.  The next day, Sunday, was Sadie's birthday, which we spent going to two baby blessings and the accompanying goodies.  That afternoon, we celebrated Sadie's birthday at Dave's parents' house since we were already down and there were cousins to share in the fun.

 

Opening presents

 

Sadie and her Birthday Cake

 The very next day, it is now Charlotte's 1st Birthday.  Which is a cause of great celebration.  But I am beat after the weekend and I had a less than stellar attitude about making ANOTHER cake mix and colored frosting.  I realize I don't even have another white cake mix  in the house...or powdered sugar for any frosting.  And in the meantime, I'm trying to decide how to change up Sadie's  leftover party decorations so they're not EXACTLY the same, while I think, "The baby won't notice anyway, right?"  But after a semi-crazy day, we pull it together and have a fun Family Night with Charlotte for her big day.

 

Caterpillar Cake....with Snowcones since our baby can't have any dairy. I thought it would be cruel to eat ice-cream in front of her, so we all shared our Snowies with her.  HEAVEN!

We gave Charlotte a push/riding toy which she LOVES to push and walk with..until she hits a wall/table/couch and it stops her progress.  Then she  howls until someone turns her around and off she goes again.  We also gave her a baby swing for the swingset.  I need to take a video of her in it; she laughs infectiously.  She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the swing.

What a sweet little Mama's girl this baby is.  She has been different from all my other kids in SO many ways.  She wakes up at 6:15 every morning, she is allergic to dairy and eggs for the time being, she is a little shrimp; barely in the 10th percentile for her weight and 25th percentile for height.  She still isn't walking, but she's close.  She just cut 8 teeth in 3 weeks; and her molars all came in before her front teeth!  But oh, what a ray of sunshine she is in our home.  The kids love her, and I love to watch them with her.  And she definitely loves me more than the others ever did at this age.  She has not crossed over to "Daddy's girls" just yet and while this means that she howls whenever I enter/leave a room without picking her up, I love that she still loves me.

Spring Fever

Now that Preston has finally unearthed itself from the Frozen Tundra and Perma Snow that was December through February, we are ALL ready for warm weather and outdoor fun.  Too bad it didn't arrive for Spring Break until the end!  The prospect of everyone still kicking it around the house for 10 days while it was still too cold to be outside meant that to save all of us from killing each other, I made plans elsewhere.  We went down to Salt Lake to see our new nephew Max blessed and that gave us a reason to spend a couple of days down where there are things to do.  First stop was the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum.  It was awesome!  It is very interactive for kids and we had a good time.  Their "Science of Sound" exhibit was just as entertaining as all the dinosaur activities, especially for Dave and I.  Sadie loved the "Galaxy Tunnel"  and the magnetic wall of dinosaur bone puzzles; she and I were there forever. 

 

  Here they are at the Erosion Table...plenty of sand and water fun.  I thought they'd  be there forever, but they played for a little while, and then wanted to move on.

 Claire and Sadie on a "3-Horn" and roaring like a dinosaur.  Claire's face reminds of Calvin and Hobbes comic books where Calvin is pulling faces when his picture is being taken.  I'm right, huh! 

Happy Charlotte in the stroller....as long as she had a cracker or cookie in her hands! 

Apparently Davis has decided I'm a horrible person for making him pose for a picture.

We also went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden.  It had been a few years since we'd been, so we had a good time.  They've added some fun exhibits and 2 hours was definitely not enough time.

At the end of the week, the kids and I went to American Falls for a couple of days.  The kids really wanted to catch up with their friends there.  It was a good visit, with lots of visiting.  I wish we could have seen more people, but we packed in what we could.   When we came home, Dad had surprised the kids by setting up their trampoline that Santa brought them for Christmas and has been patiently waiting in the basement for Spring.  Wahoo!

Easter Morning...

 

 

 

 

Charlotte on her 10-month birthday.  She is finally crawling, hallelujah.  She has decided that baby food is horrendous and just wants table food. But a severe milk allergy is making that tricky.  How many times can you eat peas, beans, apples, oranges, bananas, carrots and bread?  I've been trying things like black beans and prunes, which she loves, but we have to space out for diaper purposes!

Then it was back to school and the busy days.  But a few days later, I played deviant and pulled the kids out of school after lunch to go to the Baby Animal Days.  The weather was supposed to turn cold and rainy on the weekend, so we hit the nice day.  It was crazy busy with TONS of people, but we had a really good time. 

Davis and Daniel trying out the hand saw...it took a little longer than they anticipated.  I just felt bad for the poor kid who had to sit on the log and get bounced around over and over.

 

 

Baby Ducks and Chicks were the girls favorite!

 

 

 

Davis complained quite a bit about the "dumb animals"...he was not impressed.  Until he found the baby rabbits.  And then his little frozen heart melted and he didn't want to let go.

 

The girls loved the pony rides..I think it was their first time on a horse.

We also rode a train, a tractor wagon, and a hay ride.  They got to practice writing with quills and ink, Davis tried a lasso, and they explored cabins, teepees, a creek, and barns.  We saw the most adorable baby black bears and tiny baby turtles that they could hold.  I also got my most favorite treat, Cotton Candy.  (And I learned that a cone of Cotton Candy has half the sugar of one can of pop and 1/4 the sugar of a small snowcone.  I will never feel guilty again!)

What were you thinking....

I sent this around on e-mail when it happened in January, but in case you missed it.....

Do you remember this scene from the Classic Movie A Christmas Story?   One of the highlights, right?  Always good for a laugh?





Today, Claire came home from school and this is the conversation as close as I can get it.  First of all, keep in mind that this morning, it was 8 below Zero in Preston, and the high was supposed to be a whopping 16 degrees:

Claire:  Mom, I skinned my tongue today at school.

Me:  (Slightly distracted)  What do you mean?  How do you skin your tongue?

C:  Well, there was some snowflakes that I wanted to lick on the monkey bars at school, so I did.

Me: Umm....and what happened?  (As the movie scene above is flashing through my mind and I'm trying to decide if it really COULD happen)

C:  Well, it stuck.  And so I pulled it off.

Me:  Did it hurt?

C:  Yeah, kind of.  But not too bad.  But then my friend Maren said, "Your tongue is bleeding bad."  And then it started bleeding in the snow and so I went to the bathroom and got paper towels and stuck it on there cuz there was lots of blood.

Me:  Trying so very hard not to laugh and feeling bad about it because it probably REALLY hurt but she is being so nonchalant about it.  "Did Anyone help you?  Did you tell your teacher?"

C:  Yeah, after recess I told her.   She said we probably shouldn't do that.

Me:  Can I see it?

A few moments later, she says, "Oh Mom, I can't have any mayonnaise for dinner because that hurt my tongue at lunch today.  So did the orange juice.  And the yogurt.  And the Cheetos kind of.  And the granola bar.  And the cheese.  But I can eat this Otter Pop!"

Oh dear.  I don't think there will be much eating going on for a couple of days.

I CANNOT believe how calm and cool she is being.  I can't believe I didn't get a phone call from the teacher with a screaming child.  I'm very glad that no Fire Department had to come and get her off.  And seriously, I cannot stop laughing....with her, not at her!!

Sorry, Claire!

I know I am not the most consistent blogger, but I JUST NOW REALIZE I didn't do a cute post for Claire's birthday to follow up the ode to Davis.  I'm horrible. I'm so sorry, Claire!  So here we go...

Claire came into this world the calmest, easiest, most adorable baby.  I STILL remember staring at her in the hospital with that head of red hair thinking, "How did I get so lucky to have this?"   She has been a joy and a breeze her whole life through.  She is the peacemaker in our home, she is easy to please, she plays well with everyone, and she has a charming smile.  She has slept like a champ since she was one day old.  She set the bar WAY too high for a sleeping baby.  Her only downfall might be that she is NOT a morning person, and it takes a far amount of coaxing and prodding to get her out the door.

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, CLAIRE!

This was Claire on her birthday with her "Swimming Pool cake" that she saw online and just had to have.

A couple of weeks ago, Claire reached 100 AR Points and got to do the Walk of Fame with her principal and then pose for pictures.  It happened to be Valentine's Day, so we decided to go with a heart shirt and hearts in her hair.(This was a big stretch for me.  Thanks, Kelly, for letting me call you at 7:30 am while I'm trying to get her out the door to school and helping me over the phone get these hearts to work!)