Post-party

Ethan and Sydney's friend, Brynlee sent them a present after their birthday.  I couldn't resist snapping a photo of 'Elsa' from Frozen--one glove and all.

Ethan discovered my laundry bags that I was going to take to a thrift store--and made hair out of them!

I started styling it for him as well.

I purchased a shoe rack for the front closet and worked for an hour trying to put it together. I determined that it was defective.  When Doug came home Friday, I showed him the 'stupid' thing and he spent 5 minutes and got it together.  I was happy and extremely irritated at the same time.

My kids love to sit on my lap while I am rocking Lyla or feeding her.  It usually is extremely annoying, but today it was so cute.

Soon Syd came and we were all on the rocking chair together.

We broke out one of their presents and Sydney was so excited (opening her hands open, shut, open, shut repeatedly) when she put it together.

Ethan enjoyed it in a much more layer back style.  :-)

DaNcE pArTy

We are in love with dance parties.  We couldn't help but have another one and have our cousins and friends come in a costume and dance our hearts out!  We found a disco-style light bulb that rotates inside of a lamp and picked up a tall lamp stand at Deseret Industries this week.  It was excellent!!  We rocked out to Frozen music and other favorites:

My friend, Tiffany, made them capes which they loved!  She didn't know that they had asked me for capes, and I had purchased fabric and some matching ribbon--but had no clue what step to take next.  It was a great night!

4th Birthday

I remember when I was pregnant with twins, I had many other 'twin moms' tell me that "if I could make it to age 4, then it got so much easier".  They were right!  Although, I noticed a big shift a few months ago where they would play together without needing me by their side.  This was a momentous occasion and Ethan and Sydney have been excited for weeks.  Where did the time go??  I love these kids and this fun stage we're in right now.

We opened presents over a pancake and sausage breakfast with Doug before work.

Then we met their friends at the chapel to ride bikes in the cultural hall at 10:00.

We came home to my mom in our driveway with their gift--a play kitchen!

We met up with the Dansie cousins after lunch at Boondocks, courtesy of my brother, Matt.  He used to work there and he lets us use his "bucks" (credit) to play in their play place.

We ate dinner with Doug and opened their last presents--prince and ballerina costumes for their dance party on Friday with cousins and friends.

And I was lazy and bought them a pie.  Good thing they were happy about it.  Whew.  It was a fun-filled day and we're already looking forward to their party tomorrow.

Exciting happenings

We had an eventful week!  Doug took Ethan and Sydney to the puppet show at the library while I got some things done at the house for work.  They loved it!

Snapped a photo of Lyla all dressed up for church.  Love this girl and her big eyes and long eyelashes…the smile that melts me (and everyone she comes in contact with) just with one glance.

The painters finally finished up the last items in the house and painted our pantry door!  I'm in LOVE.  We matched the pendant lights at Lowes and it turned out fantastic.  Now for new countertops and painted cabinets…but we'll wait for the budget.

We have been searching for our 'Pass of all Passes' that allows us into venues like the waterpark, Utah sporting events, and some local "play places" and after two weeks of searching, I found them today!  I cheered and told Ethan and Sydney who were overjoyed (understatement) and immediately began planning a 'party' to celebrate.  I was working out and then making my breakfast (oatmeal, everyday) and didn't notice that they had been tearing up packing materials and styrofoam into teeny tiny pieces.  I let go of my neat-freak-ness and played and danced with them instead of cleaning up.

Ethan insisted that I wear a dress for our 'dance party' and said, "I will pick it out for you" and ran to my closet.  He chose this strapless dress and I threw it on just for fun.

It was truly a giant mess.  Ethan and Sydney cleaned up most of it themselves--they are quite the cleaners!

When we arrived home after a short drive this week, Ethan showed me what he drew--our family.  I was totally amazed.  Doug kept asking Ethan why he drew him to be so tiny (he's in the middle, the size of Lyla).  :-)

We had a play date with my cousin, Nicole, and her boys this week.  I think I immediately was demoted to 'lame mom' when they saw the bikes to ride around in the kitchen.  It was a great time.

And tonight, we got the kitchen all prepped for the BIG FOURTH BIRTHDAY for our babies.  I cannot believe their going to be 4 years old!!

Worn out

Doug texted me from work today and told me that a CLIENT has pointed out that he had a massive hole in his sleeve.  I was dying laughing.  He has had this shirt for a while and it is a favorite. He told himself he'd only wear it with a sweater on top when there was a small hole and he forgot.  It became a huge hole!

Even better?  He came home that night and showed me the hole and I had to point out to him that he had huge holes in BOTH elbows.  I'm sure he looked CLASSY at work today.  :-)

Book signing

My aunt Jennifer has written several books, and I finally made it to her first book signing!  My cousins were there and I love those people too.  It was a super fun night.  I even found a corner to feed Lyla in the Barnes and Noble.  

We were joking about how small Lyla is and my sister, Tiffany, mentioned that Lyla would fit in my purse…and we tried it.  She is right!!

Party time

Ethan and Sydney were at Grandma Marchant's house and she gave them their Christmas presents.  We had been sick for so long and she didn't want to get sick herself.  We don't blame her!  It was awful!  They rocked out with their guitars.

We saw the Disney movie Frozen.  I thought I knew what it was like to have a son dress up in dresses constantly…until we saw Frozen. We have added accessories--hair (laundry bags), necklaces, gloves, and dress shoes.

We are also into hair.  Ethan wants to watch me do Sydney's hair everyday and give input as to what she should have in her hair to "make it beautiful".

We go to great lengths to imitate Elsa.  Great lengths indeed.

I have tried to convince Doug that we should sell his weight bench.  He said "we finally have a house big enough that it has a place."  I responded that he never uses it and won't use it.  Well, it has gotten some use…as a train.

Sydney has increased in her 'hand excitement' that she uses.  She will open and close her hands fast when she gets excited…about anything.  She can tell me something she learned, show me a picture she colored, tell me about a TV show they watched, and the entire time she's opening and closing her hands.  I have started to limit her TV time and it's helping where it isn't so frequent.  But, she is so cute.

Sydney is such a character.  She has started to enjoy dressing up more.  Love these two.

Getting close

Oh. my. goodness.  

Doors, sidelights, and window installed

Drywalled

Finisher completed mudding and it dried

Painters came and finished

Carpet comes tomorrow!  Woo too!!

Saturday, Kyle came to help install a new water softener that Doug bought a few days ago.  Glad Chad and Dustin were here when we ran into a few issues.  We have soft water!  Our dishes will look so much better.

When Doug found our certificate for a free stay in a Hilton hotel Saturday afternoon, we dropped everything and packed our bags!  I was so happy to have clean floors to walk on for one night.

When we were going to bed, Ethan asked last night if we could stay in this hotel for 3 days until our house is clean. The next morning, Syd said she "hates our new house." Made me a little sad. I guess I'm not the only one hating living in a renovation.  So, I went home and dropped Doug and the kids at church as I'm still under the weather and so is Lyla.  I cleaned the floors.  It took a LONG time with all that nastiness, but I did it.  This was the first time my bare feet touched these floors.  Felt good!

A few days later, Lyla appeared to be feeling better.  It's great to see her alert again with open eyes!

Friday night we had our good friends, the Nelsons, over for dinner and games.  We set the game up…and we chatted the rest of the night until they woke up their boys and went home.  Haha.  Good times.

Ethan is loving holding his baby sister.  He's so gentle and sweet with her.

And she adores him.  Many times when I carry her into the room where he's playing, she starts smiling and kicking her feet.