New Bed

We bought a toddler bed for Ashlyn so that we could start making the transition from the crib before the baby arrives. We set it up for her in December and she was pretty excited. She would tell everyone that came to our house, "New bed. Come on." Then she'd lead whoever it was down the hall to her room and show off her new bed. Even if you had already seen it several times, if the subject of her toddler bed was brought up, she had to take someone into her room to see her "new bed".

We were nervous to have her start sleeping in it for fear she wouldn't let the other girls fall asleep. She loves climbing up the ladder on the bunk bed during the day and I could just picture her thinking it was even more fun at night. Instead, she pretty much remains in bed other than the one week that she discovered she could reach the light switch by standing on the end of her bed. Her main problem has actually been hollering things. Sometimes it's because she needs her sippy. Other times she wants her pillow pet under her head and her blankie spread out on top. And other times she's simply yelling the girls' names or nonsense just to try and get attention. It usually takes about fifteen minutes before she decides that she's not getting any and then she's finally able to relax and fall asleep. It's been fun to see the transition. Now if we can just get her to stop the hollering.

Care Bears

All of my girls have gone through a phase where they love Care Bears. Ashlyn is currently in that stage. She loves to find all of them and line them up in the hallway. Then she'll come get me and say something like, "Come, show me" meaning "Come with me so I can show you something." Josh has even caught her putting them in "time out".

Almost Servants

I got a wonderful surprise this evening when my girls decided that they wanted to do the dishes after dinner. Granted, it turned out to be a big mess and took an awful long time, but I was able to relax and sit down for a while (which is always appreciated when you're at the stage in your pregnancy that your ankles are always swollen). Kali informed me that it was almost like she was a servant and that she thought it was pretty fun. I'm glad that she thinks serving is fun. I can't wait until this becomes a regular part of our daily routine.

True Friends

One of my long time friends, Jen, decided to serve a mission and will be leaving the end of next month. We had a friend gathering to wish her well. I stayed way too late, but it was so nice to catch up with old friends. It brought back a lot of memories and made me remember how grateful I am for the influence of good friends. There are a few select people that had a big influence on me during those critical teenage years that I will forever be grateful for and Jenny is one of those people. She never said or did anything profound but she was a true friend that was kind and did what she was supposed to do. The power of a good example goes a long way. Thanks Jen, and good luck!

Temple Square Visitor Center

We planned a family home evening trip to the Church Museum tonight since we haven't been there for a while. Unfortunately we picked the wrong day to go. The museum closed early because it's Martin Luther King's Day. I think we did the same thing last year too. To make the most of our trip last year we walked over to the North Visitors' Center at Temple Square. This year we decided to spend some time in the South Visitors' Center. It turned out to be a fun evening. We had the goal of learning something new. Kali found a ton of new and interesting things especially with the awesome model of the temple and the short video clips explaining different rooms. Ashlyn was the first to spot the temple model and went running toward it shouting "Temple, Temple, Temple".

Blocks

Recently, my brothers figured out a way to make a set of blocks that are similar to a set that I had growing up. We loved them and spent hours building some pretty cool things. I was fortunate enough to get Steven to help me make a set for my girls and they have been such a fun toy. Kali and Sadie have been building all sorts of things and are getting pretty good too. The blocks have provided several hours of entertainment. Lately the girls have even been choosing the blocks over the TV or movies and that's really saying something.

Chapstick Girl

I think I mentioned before that Ashlyn has an obsession with chapstick, but I'm not sure I've written about the full extent of her obsession. When I finally realized that she would mutilate my chapstick every time I gave it to her, I began hiding them from her. She was a little too smart and always seemed to find the places I would hide them. Then she'd insist I put it on her lips. One swipe, unfortunately, wasn't enough. She would tell me, "I need it." When I refused to give it to her, she would throw a massive temper tantrum. So I thought of a solution. Why not give her a couple of her own chapsticks for Christmas! She ended up getting a couple from her aunt on Christmas Eve too and oh boy was this girl in heaven. She hardly cared for her other presents as long as she had her chapsticks and candy. The only problem is that she has become inseparable from them. She has to have them all the time and most of the time she has to have multiple ones at a time. Then she smears them all over her lips  and walks around with them. I've given up on keeping the lids on because they're useless. Now the problem is that I'm finding greasy little finger prints or gobs of chapstick on everything. Who knew chapstick could be such a problem.