Feeding the Giraffes

I thought I was done, but I keep remembering things I forgot about and finding cute pictures and videos. Here's one cute video my Mom took while we were at the zoo. The giraffe licks Meredith's hand and then the little hand that actually feeds the giraffe something is Emily's. And then she jumped up and down after the giraffe ate out of her hand.

The Twyman Family Adventures (Part 1)

I'm hoping that our trip back south to our home will be uneventful so there will be no need for part 2, but with several trips to and from Utah under our belt there is hardly a trip that's gone by that hasn't been...interesting.

This time around we thought we might travel at night while the girls were sleeping. Well, it started snowing and we decided against it. We were going to start early the next morning instead. So, we headed out the direction that would be the fastest only to find that the road wasn't plowed, so we took the long way around. After going through lots of scary road all of the sudden we ran out of windshield wiper fluid. We stopped to get gas, have Emily make a pit stop, and to buy some of that most precious fluid (any fluid in a car is precious if you are running low). We found out, our windshield sprayer wasn't working. We decided to get as far as we could and ended up calling up my Mom to find someone in Moab to fix our sprayer for us. When we got to Moab the guy lifted up the hood and the sprayer just worked. So we went on our merry way and it stopped working again. We stopped several times for the dumb sprayer and are grateful that we made it safely to our destination. That is no small miracle.

Zoo with My Family

My family came to visit us for a day and while they were here we went to the Zoo. Emily couldn't wait until Uncle Matthew got there. We sort of missed getting a picture of Emily feeding the Giraffes. I'm going to have to keep going to the zoo until I finally get a picture of the girls feeding the giraffe.

Just for the record, I'm not afraid of snakes. For the most part. In New Mexico they have a Rattlesnake pit and when you walk near the pit all of the snakes start rattling. That would give anyone goosebumps. And just in case you have any nerve left after that you put a balloon on the end of a fishing pole and you stick the balloon into the pit and the snakes pop it. I'm told that they have a little program where a man gets into a sleeping bag with several rattlesnakes in there. Just an interesting thing. This snake was not poisonous and Emily enjoys petting the snakes that we see at the zoo.

Here's just a cute picture in front of a giraffe that's really stretching to get that one leaf, if he can.

Ring-a-round the Rosies

And a cute pose in front of the Elephant.

Happy 4th Anniversary

Nathan and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on the 18th. We celebrated it with our girls. (And we celebrated while packing our bags to leave the next day.) We went out walking so that Emily could ride her bike (I usually take her while Nathan is at work and Meredith is sleeping. We just go in front of our home and take the baby monitor so we can hear Meredith if she wakes up. It was fun to have him and Meredith join us.)

We've had 4 wonderful years together and 2 children that have brought us so much joy. We only have the rest of eternity to spend together and that can't possibly be long enough.

Happy Belated Birthday

I wanted to make a birthday cake for my brother's birthday, but it turned out that we weren't there that day. So he took a raincheck and I made it a few days after. Jessica helped me to decorate the cake.

We made the car out of a circle cake and Nathan even helped me with the template. He's the best husband.

Emily helped Matthew blow out the candles. Someone helped her on her birthday, so I guess she figured she was supposed to help Uncle Matthew.

"Are you OK"

My girls are so cute. If I get in a hurry or I'm upset Emily will ask me, "Are you ok." To which I answer, "yes, I'm ok, are you ok?" "Yes," she says.

Two nights ago Meredith woke up because Emily was coughing and after a little while of being in bed with me Emily coughed again and Meredith went over to her and said, "What's wrong? Are you ok?" What sweet little girls I have. I really enjoy hearing them talk, although I'd prefer hearing them talk at 7am instead of 5am, but 3-year-olds and 1-year-olds don't really care, now do they.

Pre-Christmas Present Opening

This year we will be at Nathan's parents' house for Christmas, but I wanted my parents to be able to see the girls open the presents my parents were giving them and I wanted to see Matthew (my brother) open his present so perhaps I wouldn't be so incredibly homesick for Christmas (for those that know me, I get really homesick. Quite literally, I get sick.) So, it ended up being a Pre-Christmas Present Opening Party where we opened the presents that were either to me, Nathan, Emily or Meredith or from us for those presents that were to or from my family.

This picture is of meredith hugging her dolly (that she absolutely LOVES). We couldn't get that dolly out of the box fast enough for her. And Matthew is showing us his cool present from me.

Funny story for this picture. I was talking to my Mom in her room and had Matthew's present with me because I was supposed to wrap it. But I was in a chair and very comfortable so I just put it next to me kind of hidden and forgot it was there. After forgetting about the present being there Matthew came in and sat on the bed. He saw it and says, "cool". I was mentally shooting myself because I just KNEW I should have wrapped it before when I had a chance. I gave him a hard time and said I'd have to return it to get a present that would be a surprise. Poor boy, he started crying because he really wanted the toy. I had to tell him I wouldn't return it and he helped me wrap it. I did get little additions to the watch that were a surprise though.

Nathan got some nice basketball shoes. Meredith helped him try them on.

This was one of my gifts from my parents. My Mom bought me a knew Christmas decoration which I love. It was bells that were the 12 Days of Christmas. I collect bells, so it makes it even better. Of course, I don't just collect any bell. It has to be something special. And these bells are definitely special to me. I also got some knives, which I haven't got to try out yet, but they look really nice and I can't wait to go home and use my gifts.

Here is Emily undressing her dolly. She likes to undress her dolls so that I am ALWAYS looking for clothes to put back on the dolls.

New Calling

So they called me to be the Ward Choir Director. I think they are trying to tell me something, like how about the fact that I don't go to choir practice at all, and yet I am musical. That will be new to have a calling not behind the piano and I'll actually have to put forth some effort, I can't just show up and play (Thanks to a wonderful Mom who made sure I had piano lessons even while kicking and screaming, ok not quite that bad, and later when I wanted them she paid for them, and now I can just sightread the music so I don't have to practice). Did I mention that I really enjoy playing the piano in primary and don't want to leave, especially because Emily is going to be in Primary in January and it would be fun to be in there with her. Not to mention I think I'll be less nervous about her being in primary (the poor new sunbeams don't understand why the cruel parents and adults won't let them go play in Nursery and then make them sit still some more.) This morning I started thinking about it so I talked to Emily. "You're going to be a big girl soon. You won't go to nursery anymore but you'll go to Primary with the Big Kids!" Emily, "Wow". There's a couple of changes right there that will happen for 2009. And as Emily says, "Wow" :)

To a Special Daddy

I'm still here, it's just gotten really busy around here so the time to blog has dropped to an all time low.

So, I figure there has to be a correlation between exercising and having a clean home and being happy. Exercising helps being happy and having a clean home. Being happy helps you want to exercise and have a clean home. Having a clean home helps you want to take the time to exercise and definitely adds to my happiness :) I usually go walking with a group of friends every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. Since starting this I have found it easier to keep my home clean and it has been a much happier home. Of course, between being gone for Thanksgiving and now the girls are sick I haven't been walking for over a week and I'm feeling pretty grumpy and my house isn't as clean as I want it to be, and I really don't feel like folding my laundry. If they were just sick I would take them and just keep them away from the other little kids, but Emily has had a cough (they are all strapped into strollers the whole time so they don't get near them anyways unless I let them afterwards). I think she's getting better though, so hopefully by tomorrow I can go :).

I was reading a post earlier and it was about a father tucking in his little girl and singing to her. My favorite part of the day is when Nathan comes home. I love it best when I'm finishing up dinner while he plays with them. I love hearing the squealing and excitement from the girls and I think it is so peaceful to cook while everyone is happy. Another thing I love is when Nathan tucks the girls in bed and sings them to sleep. I love tucking in my girls and singing to them and sometimes Nathan and I both do it together and sing together to them (Emily will even chime in now and then) and I love it, but I also love seeing Nathan take care of our girls and love them and sing to them and I'll just hang outside the door to watch because I love it. Nathan has also taken it upon himself to check on our girls every night and put on an extra blanket (the nights here are fairly cold and we still haven't turned on our heater because we haven't really had to). To Nathan - I love you. Thanks for being such a great Daddy.

We're eager as a family to have a Christmas break. Nathan has had to put in some late nights with all of the finals and projects that are coming due. I'm hoping he just skips out on the cold the rest of the family has.

Doctor, Doctor, Who's Got a Doctor?

Today was our THIRD time to go to the doctor's office in the past two weeks. Meredith was really struggling with eczema and the hydrocortisone was not helping. She also she had a diaper rash for a long time so I took her in. The diaper rash turned out to be a yeast infection. After a week of doing what the doctor told us with two different perscriptions her eczema actually got worse and the yeast infection still wasn't gone, so we went back. We came out armed with a 2 stronger perscriptions and the doctor had me use hydrocortizone for her cheeks and then Vaseline on top of all of that. When we left for Thanksgiving I took a small bag with all of her creams (3 creams, vaseline, lotion). I had to do all of this twice a day, and the diaper stuff 4 times a day. I feel like for the last week all I've done is put creams on my baby. She's tired of it, she thought it was interesting to have Mom smear cream on her twice every day for a while and then she started fighting me. Hearing me do bedtime should be positively hilarious. I have to make all sorts of silly sounds to make her laugh and think we're just playing a game. Whew! And then to get out in the mornings...I have to add 5-10 minutes onto the typical routine, only 5 minutes if she's cooperative. We went again today and came out armed this time with an oral perscription on top of every thing else of course. My poor baby. I hope this is over soon.

25 Days of Christmas Begins!

Tonight the girls and I did the first day of the 25 days of Christmas. We pretended we were Wise Men on our Camels (using of course the wise men and camels from our nativity scenes) looking for the Baby Jesus. Then we made a 25 days of Christmas chain. I figure that we could switch off and one child tear off the paper chain and the other do the advent calendar. We're just sad that our Daddy couldn't join us today, but he gets to go to his sister's wedding We're excited that he gets to go and we're excited for his sister.

I have at least the first 11 days of Christmas done, and now I'm just finishing up the rest of them. I definitely see this as an evolving thing. Next years' will probably be different. I posted it on my FHE Blog

Busy Christmas Season

I'm not posting alot, and the pictures are pretty much scarce, but I'm thinking about Christmas and I'm feeling fairly frazzled because I have so much that I WANT to get done but I don't know if it is going to get done. Here's for hoping. But, I have one thing to add to the Thanksgiving Holiday Blogging and one for the Christmas Holiday Blogging.

I had a friend ask for this recipe, so I'm just going to share it with everyone.
Thanksgiving - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (soft cookies)
2 c. brown sugar
1 c. oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. cooked pumpkin (I just add a whole can)
2 tsp. soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 stp. salt
1 stp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
4 c. flour
2 c. chocolate chips
(other options I don't use)
2 c. raisins
1 c. chopped nuts

Compine sugar, oil, and vanilla. Next the pumpkin. Then all of the dry ingredients and then stir until smooth. Next add the chocolate chips (or other options). Bake at 350^ for 12 to 15 minutes (I bake mine for 10 and they are done, but I like mine not so done so I bake it for 9 minutes).

Next, I love this tradition. This is to help the kids to remember to be good this holiday season and that Santa watching. This tradition reminds the kids every time they see an elf hanging around your house. Check out this blog - Elf Christmas Tradition

It's Not Fair

Sunday when I was making dinner for my family, Emily comes over with a chair and stands next to me by the stove. "I want to help," she says. I love having a little helper, and she really is just a joy to have around in the kitchen, but I had just burned my finger so I just wanted to get dinner done so I could sit down and keep my finger in freezing cold water (I got it pretty good). So I said, "You would help Mommy most if you would go sit down in your chair." Well, Emily wasn't happy with that answer so she says, "It's not fair. I want to help." I couldn't believe she said that. It's not fair? Where did she get that. I finally remembered where that came from as I was putting the DVD into the player. The Evil Magician on "Frosty the Snowman" says to Santa, "It's not fair. Evil magicians have to make a living too." The positive side of things, Emily getting better and better and being able to carry on a conversation.

Christmas

Wow! I was checking my Aunt's blog and found this cute widget (see right side) that is the countdown to Christmas. Let's just say, it's making me just a little bit nervous. I still want to get my 25 days of Christmas Scripture Study done. That's a lot of work, and I only have 11 more days until we start that. So much to do, so little time. Is anyone else starting to feel the crunch? There's the ward Christmas Party, then there is a piano recital, all of the crafting I'd LIKE to get done before. Black Friday should at least take care of all the rest of the presents I need to get. I think that is plenty to get done all before December 25th.

Christmas carols have always been sung early in my family. We couldn't help it. My mother was a piano teacher and as soon as the Halloween recital was over, her students began their Christmas music. So early November is quite normal for me to be singing Chirstmas carols. Of course, the Christmas decorations didn't go up until the day after Thanksgiving (even if we begged :). You know, maybe one time we did decorate after we were done with Thanksgiving dinner. ??? Nathan and I have been singing "Christmas Bells are Ringing" from the Primary Songbook with Emily for a while now. She's getting quite good at it, and the girls love the little bell bracelets that I made for them to use while we sing this song.

The Chicken Story

My girls, of course, LOVE nursery. I think that is the most helpful thing while we are getting ready. If Emily gets unmanageable I just say, "Do you want to go to nursery?" And then I tell her what she has to do in order to go to nursery. Like get dressed, or sit still, or put on her shoes, or even that she can't cry. Meredith is such a good little girl during nursery, she listens really well to her teacher and doesn't wander around (at least from what I've seen).

Emily's favorite part of nursery is the chicken. Her nursery leaders think this is just so funny. When they get out the toys they will hide the chicken sometimes when they don't feel like having Emily cry when she has to put away the chicken before we leave. I thought that by now she would be over this because for a while she had to have her bear and her camel go to bed with her. She hasn't done that in a long time so I just figured it would be the same with carrying around the little chicken EVERYWHERE with her in the nursery. She holds that chicken during singing time and snack time and through the lesson. Now that I think of it, we had a chicken just like that. Is that our chicken? Maybe I'd better check, LOL.

Funny Counting Stories

I have been working with the girls on their counting. My Mom bought Emily a little counting book for her birthday and I realized that I definitely should be teaching her how to count. So we've been counting ALL the time. It's actually saved me a couple of times too. Like when I'm making the girls their sandwiches. What 3-year-old or 1-year-old do you know that is patient? I tell them, "Ok, I'm making sandwiches. Let's count to ten. What's first?" Meredith likes the game the best so she starts it out. "One." Of course, Emily is not about to be outdone by the one-year-old so she says, "two." And then so on until we finish to 10.

Meredith at one point was in trouble for something (like I could possibly remember ALL of the things these girls get into or get in trouble for :) so I said, "I'm going to count to three." (I can't even remember what she was supposed to do by three.) "One...Two..." and then Meredith says, "three, four!" LOL. She says the cutest things.

Last night when we were picking up Nathan at the school (we don't do this very often) Emily and Meredith were pointing to the cars saying, "Look, cars" So Nathan says, "See all of the cars. Look, one car, two cars, etc. So this morning I told Emily, "let's count". Emily starts out, "One car..."

Meredith is really pretty good with her animals and their sounds. When Emily isn't there she says them all so fast, but when Emily is there she has to say it really fast so she can beat Meredith to it, so Meredith doesn't do it when Emily is around.

Nursery

Meredith has been going to nursery for about a month now. It started when Nathan could no longer keep her quiet during Sunday School (I of course am in primary playing the piano for both hours.) Luckily when I got the calling the Bishop's wife told me she would watch Meredith during the last hour while Nathan went to Young Men's since we didn't want her to make learning for the priests any harder. So, when Nathan took her to nursery he stayed during the first hour and then the Bishop's wife checked up on her from time to time during the second hour. Now, she is just in the nursery and she LOVES it and I love it too. I can actually go and see my baby now and spend time with my girls. I go in during the nursery singing time with the music chorister. Meredith was SO cute. They asked her which song she wanted to sing, they do this by showing the pictures, and she points to a picture and says, "that one." They were pretty impressed by the words she was saying, including me. I'm awed at how much she says especially because Emily just prefers not to say anything. Emily must have got that from me (not that I'm like that now. For those that know me I talk WAY too much.)

I baked snowman cupcakes for the girls. They couldn't wait, but I made them take a picture first. They said "cheese" just to get the cupcakes (LOL).

Nathan took this picture. I just thought it was cute. Meredith loves to go for a ride around the house. Nathan was running around with the stroller with her in it while Emily was baking with me. (you can see her in the back.)

Meredith wasn't being very cooperative when I wanted to get her picture of her very cute hair. No smile, but it's cute. I LOVE doing my girls' hair.

Cute Fall Hair bow pics

I just wanted to do this post because of the picture. I dressed the girls up to take pictures of the hairbows but this was the only picture I got (the camera died. Need to get a new camera.) I was chasing them and they turned around just perfectly in unison and I took the picture at just the right time (boy, that doesn't happen often :) So you can see the bows on top. I tried a new style of bow with the little curly ribbon I baked in the oven. Picture and instruction link (plus my modifiers) coming up.

Painting and Talking

This is really the first time I've let Emily color with a paint brush and with very messy paints (painting is messy, these really aren't any messier than others). She LOVED it. And I think she could have spent at least 30 more minutes sitting there painting (now for a 3-year-old, that's something.)
Emily has pretty much gotten over the "terrible two's". We only have a moment here and there. Can't really think of one for this week and that is something. But Meredith...I'm afraid it's only just begun. Meredith does some absolutely adorable things though. Like this morning.
Me: Do you want socks?
Meredith: Yes, please.

She has lots of words down, and she is pretty vocal. She uses please quite a bit which is definitely a plus. Like, "shoes, please. shoes, please" until I put on her shoes. Or eat, diaper change (yes, my little 17-month old has been asking for a diaper change for a couple of months now. And no, it's not because she sits in it for a while. She asks RIGHT after she does a job. Now all I need to do is have her tell me about it BEFORE and we're good to go :)

Cooler Weather

The weather is BEAUTIFUL here. Which means the rest of the people I know are freezing. Sorry about that, but like my Mom said this morning as I was talking to her I DESERVE it. And so do my poor kids who have been cooped up in a house WAY to long. We withstood a cold Utah winter and then just as the weather was turning beautiful moved here to the HEAT. Talk about bad timing. So now it just feels so cozy (like fall for everyone that isn't in a dessert) and I LOVE fall. It is my Mom's favorite season and when I was growing up it was probably the last on my list of favorite seasons (Favorite #1 Winter, Favorite #2 Spring, Favorite #3 Summer which always rotated to being #1 just before changing to that season and for the first part.) But while fall was definitely beautiful I don't know that I every claimed it to be my favorite. And now that it is "Fall" here (it's in the 60's for the heat of the day, I call that fall in a way) I'm ready to start baking. See -


Baking hairbows! :) Now that Halloween has passed I'm making the girls Thanksgiving and Christmas bows. Here's part of one idea.

Cousins

The girls have one more cousin. It's a girl! Yay! So now the girls have 3 cousins. 2 girls and 1 boy. So for Nathan's family that is 4 girls and 1 boy. Maybe we'll have a boy next to even the odds a little more (or a girl and we'll just make it a girl family :)

Halloween Party Pinata

The girls enjoyed the pinata that was at the party. Emily enjoyed taking a wack at it, and then the girls discovered the candy afterwards. Emily wanted to just get all of the boxes (nerds). I'm not a really big fan for 3-year-olds and 1-year-olds with candy and even less of a fan with candy that makes bigger messes (ex: nerds). So, I started pointing out other candy to her.

Meanwhile, Nathan had Meredith. He told her to pick it up and put it in her bag. She was doing it like she was just cleaning it up. Then we went inside and Meredith saw someone eating candy, so she ran over there. It took Nathan a little bit to show Meredith that there was candy in her bag, and as soon as he did, she took her bag and dumped the contents on the floors to eat the candy. So cute.

Halloween Pictures (Yay!)

Happy Days are Here Again! I've got my camera cord. Ready, set, post!

Nathan came home from school and said that someone was having a party that started at 5:30. Of course, he told me this at 5:00 and it takes 20 minutes to get there. So, I threw in a pizza and dressed the girls. I had been working on a red cloak for Meredith, but it didn't work out. I was in a rush, and you should never sew in a rush if you want to doing everything right. (One more reason that makes me a terrible seamstress.) Luckily we had Emily's costume that she wore 2 years ago.

My happy girls (after the party).

That serious face means that she is really enjoying herself :)

Hopefully next year we'll be able to go to the ward party with the trunk-or-treat. The girls were sick this year (wonderfully timed cold). I'm not a big fan of trick-or-treating unless we go to people's homes that we know, and since our ward is pretty scattered that wasn't very convenient. I'm glad we had a party to go to instead.

Baby Crafting

Here's what I've been up to. Crafting! I go through these phases. I go through crafting, reading, playing the piano, singing, baking, blogging, etc.

This was the first go at a wipes case cover. There are definitely some things I'll do differently next time.

I made a nursing cover as well. I know I can't use it right now, but someday (just to clarify, no, I'm not pregnant :)

I actually bought a pattern on ebay when Meredith was born so I could make one, and it was a horrible pattern. This pattern was free and it is fabulous, it's just like my bebe-au-lait cover and better yet, I made it myself and it is just perfect. I added two little corner pockets with the (insert the right word here since my mind just freezed) towel-like cloth :) That part wasn't in the tutorial. You can find the tutorial to the right in the sidebar under tutorials. I also made a baby sling to match the set, but It just looks like a piece of fabric unless it's on me, so maybe I'll add a picture later. It was fun, fun, FUN to make all of this stuff. And of course, I've made a ton of hairbows, but I'm not going to add pictures of all of those.

Posting and Picture Famine

I do realize that I haven't been posting a lot lately, and that pictures have come to an all time minimal, so tomorrow (or Monday) I will make up for it by posting what in the world I have been up to :)

Halloween

We had fun for Halloween. We went to a party instead of trick-or-treating. Of course I'm well known for forgetting my camera, but I remembered it. But, I didn't have a memory card in it, so we used the internal memory. It was full, I thought there was a memory card and that we were deleting the memory card, but we deleted the pictures that I couldn't take off the camera. I can't remember all of the pictures that we deleted, I can only remember one that I could just cry about, so I really don't want to remember what else was on there. It wasn't very much because the internal memory is minimal. So now I've got a cord coming for my camera dock (since the original one got lost) and I should have some Halloween pictures up. We also went to the zoo today with my family. It was fun. "Pictures?" you ask. Well, we won't mention the fact that I forgot my camera, but my parents have pictures. When I get the pictures from them, I'll post them.

Fun Travel Activities

My reason for posting these here are two-fold. First, it's for me. Second, It's for you (my beloved reader. All 5 of you, LOL). Which my reasons for even blogging are the same. This is basically just my journal.

Anyhow...
We have several long trips coming up for Thanksgiving and Christmas where we get to go visit family and friends. And you're asking, "How do you do that with a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old?" And my answer is, "Ha. I don't know." That being said, here is what I'm going to do this time around.

Paper Doll Printables

Papercraft Trains

Dot Art

Dot Art

I also ran across some tips that someone did. Some of them I enjoyed and some of them, well, what do you think?

1. (And this one is questionable) Play-doh. And the tips said that even after the dough is gone the kids enjoy the container. (Um. Where does the dough go? And if you're going to say the carpet, is that even worth having a non-crying kid if you have to take it out? Maybe I should just cover everything in plastic!)

2. Blue Painters Tape. Just let the kids play with it. That is a much cleaner idea isn't it. Of course, Emily, I don't think is quite old enough to get the tape off all by herself, but maybe.

3. Pipe Cleaners - This one I honestly think is fabulous.

4&5. Books and Music - Now I ALWAYS have traveled with music and a book, but quite honestly I didn't even think of bringing a normal book for the girls until I had a friend wrap up a book for us (like a present that would entertain Emily with the unwrapping part too) for our move here. I did bring quiet books for the girls though.

6. Dress-up clothes

7. Crayons and a notebook

8. Catalogs

9. Deck of Cards (I would definitely take one that I'm willing to throw away, like the old beat up deck of Uno cards.)

10. Colorforms / reusable stickers.

11. Fingerplays - Click Here

My ideas, beyond what I've found on the internet.
1. Printing stuff from the friend. (The friend homepage is fabulous.)
2. (This idea from a friend.) Wrapping the toys separately. So when they get bored you toss them a wrapped toy, that'll get you another minute (and in our case 1 down 720 to go!)
3. The small boxes of fish crackers.
4. Go to the toy section in walmart and there are some $.88 toys. (Little cars, bracelets, animals) And who cares if they get lost.

If you've got a great travel idea, let me know. (12 hours of travel one way. That takes some REAL creativity.)

Haunted Houses

The girls and I invited a friend over to do haunted houses with us. Of course, I've been really bad lately about making sure the camera gets charged, so I don't have any pictures, but as soon as I get some from the friend that came over I'll post them.

Here is Meredith's Haunted House. I put a couple dabs of frosting on there and put one on for her and then gave her the other one. I pointed and tried to tell her where it was supposed to go, but it promptly went to her mouth along with the other one. I gave up. Graham crackers are much healthier than the candy :)

I actually finished the side on the right and Emily took some of the candy off from the left before I could take a picture.

Here is what Emily did. Her good side was on the left. I may have helped a little.

We had fun, and I definitely suggest it for a wonderful activity (after lunch).

Here is a link for the instructions on how to make your own Haunted House. Haunted House Instructions

Happy Halloween!

Feeds

Ok, so some of the people I talk to I think actually go from blog to blog just to see if MAYBE someone has updated their blog. Hmmm. That would take a lot of time to look at all of the blogs I'm interested in. I really thought I was the only one who didn't know about feeds when I found out what it was sometime in June or July. I use google reader. I'm really not good at explaining these kind of things, so I found a great explanation on LDS Media (which btw I am subscribed to their feed as well). If you want to subscribe to this blog you go to the very end of all the posts and click on the button that says "Subscribe to: Posts (atom)" That's to sign it up with the google reader. Try it. If you have a blog on blogger I'm pretty sure you sign up for a google account. Just use the same user name and password. I haven't tried anything else, but Nathan puts all of his feeds on outlook.

Here's the link: What is RSS? LDS Media Talk

And of course if you already do the feeds, good for you. (Confession: I actually checked everyone's blog individually for the first month when I was getting into blogging. What a waste of time! :)

Happy Blogging!

Colds

Two weeks ago we got really busy and I didn't have much time to blog so I didn't put up alot of the updates. Now, the task seems slightly overwhelming. So if the posts seem a little scrambled and out of order I'm just trying to remember it all. The girls have been sick for the last week which is the reason for the shortage of pictures. And we're still sick :(

Walking Backwards - Yesterday Nathan and I were just sitting on the couch talking and enjoying being with our girls. Meredith is so entertaining to just watch. She just jabbers away and runs around. At one point we were watching her walking backwards. Every once in a while she'd turn around to make sure she wasn't going to run into anything. It was so cute. The girls love it when I turn on the music because we dance and sing and run around and do all sorts of tricks - like walking backwards. I take both of their hands and we practice walking backwards, sideways, twirling and any sort of tumbling I can think of that I think they can do. It was fun to watch Meredith do it on her own.

She also says the funniest things. Like, "Here you go baby." LOL. I call her "baby" still. I really need to stop it. But, I'll hand her a snack or a drink and say "Here you go baby." Now, she'll bring me something and give it to me and say "Here ya go, baby." Both of the girls say funny things, but right now that's the only one I can think of. Meredith has a lot of animal names down and their sounds. I have their little halloween bags out, because they are cute and I let the girls play with them. They are little felt bags. One of them has a cat on it and Meredith grabs it and says "meow, meow". Bird is probably her best animal. I like to keep bird food out on the porch because the girls LOVE to see the birds and point them out to me. Meredith is always saying "see, see". Or "look, look." I'm always pointing out things to them and saying "Do you see that?" or "Look at that.". That's typically followed by what it is, either me asking and they tell me, or I tell them what it is, or what color it is, etc. Meredith is growing so fast, but she's still very much my baby, especially when I compare her to how big Emily is. Meredith gets treated more like a baby at her age then Emily did at her age. Probably just because I had nobody else to really compare her to.

Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

This is the cutest dress! I would love to have something like this. (Better yet, I wish I knew enough about sewing to do it myself.)
Marie-Therese Gown GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Birthday Breakfast

Here is another tradition for our family, but this one goes a long way back in my family. I don't even know how far. I think my Mom's family did it. I really wonder how it got started. Anyhow, I couldn't make a decent 3 so I just cut it out.

Emily hasn't been wanting to smile for pictures lately. I tried a couple times and then she was shaking her head and saying and signing "all done".

"All Done" (Maybe Mom will understand better if I sign it for her). LOL

Party

We had a little party for Emily with another family. Emily had a lot of fun with the older girls. I was happy too, because they were talking to Emily (which she needs alot of conversation so she'll talk too) and Emily will play with some of the toys now that she didn't know what to do with before (it's not good enough if Mommy shows her). I'm sad to say that we didn't take pictures of the party, but we got a picture of Emily blowing out the candle, and you can see one little girl with the witches hat on (I leave that out for Halloween decorations so the girls can have some fun with it.)

This was before the party. Can you see her bow on top? I didn't get a good picture of it I'm afraid. Just as I was starting to take pictures our guests arrived. It's a bow with fish on it. The ribbon was blue with fish that I found at Wal-Mart.

Trying to sneak some before the party.

I have alot of fun dressing the girls up with the bows and flowers.

The Fishy Birthday Cake

So, here is my attempt at a cool birthday cake. This is the first time I have ever done something like this. There are definitely some things that I will do differently and that I should do some research on before the next time. But considering I just saw a picture of something like this and made a pattern myself (which Nathan threw away while he was cleaning up the kitchen while I was getting everything out to decorate the cake. Let's just say I panicked for about a minute until I found it. LOL) and put it together without any other information, it's pretty darn good. And it was tasty to boot.

Stroller Chasing

The girls chased each other around with the strollers. Meredith for some reason got to use the new stroller. When Meredith saw the new dolly she wanted it, so we went and got the old one for her. We have two old ones, and one of them looks like it has been very loved (not in the sense that it was well taken care of) and that was the one that we found. Emily wanted that one and Meredith got the other. But, it looks pretty dirty and I can't keep clothes on that baby, so I quietly took it away and I either have to sew clothes onto the doll to keep it on or just throw it away because without clothes on it looks pretty dirty. (I did clean it up, and it has been through a couple rounds in the wash so it is clean.) So for a 3-year-old, new isn't always better. Oh well, I didn't get the present for the doll. I got it for the cute furniture that she really likes.

Birthday (Morning - opening presents)

When she woke up we went and opened gifts. (She's too young to open gifts with friends. Young children don't understand that you should just look. For them every toy is up for grabs.)

I love that little smile on her face. She was so pleased. She liked her gift (This is the first one she opened.)

She had to play with it for a little bit before we gave her the next one.

I like that she was still holding her spoon from the last present when she was unwrapping the next one.

Emily's 3rd Birthday (Decorations)

Emily was so excited when she saw the decorations for her Birthday. Nathan and I decorated the night before and she walks into the Living Room (her and Meredith) and she says "wow". Then Meredith repeated her "wow". So cute. I thought I got it on the camera (on video), but when I downloaded the pictures it wasn't there. Oh well.

Here's Emily's present from us. I had fun with it. I found little fish foamies at Wal-Mart and I put to bows together (a green one and a blue one). There was the start of our fishy theme.















There's some of the decorations (found that cute little princess balloon at the dollar store and I thought she would like it. She did.)








I took these pictures the night before, right after we decorated. I wanted to start a new tradition for our family. Decorating the night before the birthday so that they could wake up to all of the decorations. That was definitely exciting for her (me too).

Happy Birthday! sweet little 3-year-old (wow, time flies. I can't believe she's 3).

Zoo with PICS!

We went to the zoo on Friday. We had to drop Nathan off at the school, so we just went to the zoo since it is so close. The girls and I had a lot of fun and then we picked up Nathan and went home again. I was worried that the girls would be tired (They fell asleep in the car on the way!), so I took the stroller. I don't know why I keep taking it, because every time I am sorry. It would be a whole lot less effort just to carry Meredith. The girls are constantly wanting in and out, it's harder chasing them with a stroller, and it's just a lot more effort.

One of these days I'll get my girls to pose again. But you can see that Emily HAD to take the camel with her. It was that or screaming for the next 5 minutes.

Staring down the lizard

Like I said, no posing anymore. Just straight luck if I get anything cute.

The favorite zoo activity, chasing after the birds. (Poor birds.)

The froggy that my girls LOVE to play with is now winterized. No more water will shoot out of that frog's mouth till spring. (I know they shut it off for the winter, but I was surprised that they did so already. Maybe it was just broken this time around.)

Zoo (you'll never guess)

We went to the zoo today with some friends. It was nice and cool and almost cool enough to have a sweater. Definitely too cold to want my girls to play in the water (they actually still had the water on.) I didn't forget my camera this time, I couldn't find it. I'm sure now that I'm home and I'm not in a rush, I'll find it with no troubles, but I was scrambling. Oh well. Just another fabulous excuse to go again. The animals were actually moving around (probably due to the cooler weather). We're loving the weather now. It's supposed to warm up a little again, but it was so beautiful today. It's probably cooler outside then in. This summer I've kept the thermostat at 78 and it's 74 inside and 69 outside. October has to be the best month :) We're actually going to need some long sleeves.

Emily got home and actually fell asleep next to me in the office. I moved her, but I don't know if she'll stay and take a nap now. Even if she was only asleep for 30 seconds before I took her to sleep somewhere else. Emily keeps Meredith up from her nap, so I can't have them in the same room, so she sleeps in the Living Room on the bean bag (there's actually a better chance of her sleeping on the bean bag then staying in her bed anyway). These girls had a lot of fun, and now they're proving it, because they have both crashed.

Growing (Still!)

My girls are getting so big, I told them to stop growing so they would be my baby girls forever, but they didn't listen. They're still growing! And much too fast. They are so tall too. Emily fits perfectly into her 3T pants (with the elastic as tight as it will go because she's so skinny) that I bought her a couple of weeks ago, and if she has one good growth spurt like she just barely did I'm going to have to get 4T pants! When I went to buy Emily her 3T pants I bought Meredith some pants to match, of course, I wasn't thinking and bought her 12 month pants. I was thinking I'd at least have a few months in them. Yesterday though, I put her pants on and put her on my hip so she had one foot in front of me and I saw it. The pants were short! So, I'm very busy putting away 2T and 12 month clothes (with some help from two little girls who think it would be better just to scatter them).

I bought orange juice containers, and graham crackers yesterday. I was in a hurry, so when I go grocery shopping today I'll have to buy candy and we'll make the haunted houses. I'm excited!

Playtime (With tired cranky girls)

We found some new friends. They are so close to our ages, and we're thrilled. They are 3 1/2 and 20 months and Emily is 3 in a week and a half and Meredith 16 months. The girls had so much fun at the park with them. Emily just followed the 3 1/2 year old everywhere and screamed when I was trying to drag her out the door. I was really nervous about how well they would do. They both woke up today yawning and I didn't sleep very well either (Nathan, you can no longer turn the thermostat down at night. Sorry. I'm not sure if that is the problem but there is a very suspicious pattern.) So, cross your fingers for a good night sleep (not that the girls kept me up, but we all woke up very tired.) YEA! for new friends.

Wonderful Quotations for Being Upset

Whenever I'm upset, or my day hasn't gone like I'd like it to I think Anne of Green Gables says it best. "I'm in the depths of despair" or a "Jonas Day" or "I thought nothing could be as bad as red hair. Green is ten times worse." or "Tears don't hurt like the ache does."

And to my new friends (and even the old) I should say: "I know I chatter on far too much... but if you only knew how many things I want to say and don't. Give me SOME credit."

"And I promise I'll never do it again. That's the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice." (Except talk too much. Anne never seems to really get over that :)

And last, but not least, "Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it." (If only it were that easy.)

Halloween Haunted House

I was talking to someone just yesterday about a cute little project someone did for preschool with Gingerbread Houses. It sounded really cute. Then I came across this Halloween Haunted House and it sounded like the same idea, only for a haunted house. So, I don't know if we will do a Halloween Haunted House (Emily sure loved the gingerbread house kit that someone gave her last Christmas), but we'll definitely be doing as Christmas Gingerbread House the same way as this one (only with different candies and colored frosting). Maybe you'll like it too.

A Halloween Haunted House!
A fun Halloween project for the whole family!
You will need:
2 containers (16 ounce) chocolate fudge frosting (or homemade)
Decorations:
pretzel sticks graham crackers
black licorice & red twists candy corn
rice crackers M&Ms
Orange Sprinkles
Foil wrapped Halloween Candy
Colored icing for writing or decorating
2 empty 1 qt. milk cartons, rinsed and dried
1 large tray covered with foil.
Tape each milk carton closed at top. Tape milk cartons together to make a house. Wrap with foil. Attach firmly to the covered tray with tape. Frost cartons with chocolate frosting. Frost the tray also to use as the lawn.
Decorate with the assorted treats!
Some ideas-
*Sprinkle orange sugar on the roof of the house.
*Rice crackers make neat "attic" windows.
*graham crackers for windows and doors-highlight with icing.
*pretzel stick window panes
*M&M "pathway stones" leading to the door.
*Candy corn "icicles" under the roof
The Lawn can have Ghost, Mummy and pumpkin candies.

Cougars

One of my exercising shirts has a cougar on it. I put on my exercise clothes in the morning, take the girls for a walk, make them breakfast, and then read to them before I go exercise. The other day Meredith pointed to the cougar on my shirt and says "doggy". "Cougar, that's a cougar." I said. So she repeats me saying "Coogah". Yea! So this morning we sit down on our bean bag to read and she looks at my shirt and says "Coogah". So cute.

Beautiful Weather

I got out of the house this morning around 7 and it was 54 degrees this morning. It was beautiful. After being in the hot weather for so long though (all of almost 5 months) it was even chilly. It's supposed to warm up a little bit, but it should cool off again soon. I guess we are going to need some sweaters around here, not just to visit family.

Conference and "More" Music

The girls played on the floor while we watched conference. Emily and Meredith even grabbed their little chairs and put it RIGHT in front of the computer and watched it for all of 30 seconds before they were moving there chairs to a slightly different location. Then for the second session the primary children were singing and the girls enjoyed that. I ought to preface this next part with an explanation though. When I put the girls to bed Emily always says "sing, sing", so then I sing "I Am a Child of God" and when I get to the last phrase Emily says "again, again" until I comply. Meredith has learned that from her, so today after the primary was done singing "I Love to See the Temple" she said, "again, again". It was very cute. I've completely lost count of how many words Meredith can say. She says alot. But when I started blogging more often in May I started a list of her first words on the blog.

Zoo (forgot camera yet again!)

I took the girls to the zoo this morning after we dropped Nathan off at school. When we were well on our way I remembered, "The CAMERA!" Ooops. So, yet again, no pictures. But they were good little girls and Emily even held Meredith's hand while we walking to the next animal (But I'm definitely NOT taking a stroller next time. In and out and in and out. I would have saved energy just carrying Meredith (but I think I'll just put her in the sling.)

Decorating for Halloween

October 1st, it's time to decorate for Halloween. That's the tradition I have since being married, I'm not sure what my Mom does. I definitely know that she decorates for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving (we might have been able to talk her into decorating the day of Thanksgiving since nobody was coming to our house for Thanksgiving dinner). Of Course, Nathan wants to decorate a week before Thanksgiving. So we compromise. We decorate after my last piano lesson before Thanksgiving (I allowed that one, because usually we are visiting family during Thanksgiving Break.) Nobody else will see it but us, unless something odd happens because I won't invite friends over to play until after Thanksgiving at that point. But, with that all said, everyone knows, so if I invite you over, expect Christmas decorations up very early.

That all being said...I started decorating and Emily found her Trick-or-Treat bag and a Halloween ducky that my Mom gave her last Halloween (Emily still really loves duckies and fishies). Those items and her are currently inseparable. It's very cute. We've got Meredith's bag waiting for her for when she wakes up.

My Big Girl and the Haircut

Meredith loves being forward facing. (And you can see Emily's new haircut.)

"Look, look" she says. (Discovering the world FF.)

I gave in. Sunday I put Meredith in her car seat and she was so scrunched up. It was like she had a huge growth spurt all of the sudden. It's been getting just a little tight and then Sunday she almost had to sit Indian style to sit in her car seat. I really wanted to let her stay rear facing till 18 months since it is much safer, but I think there is a limit to how scrunched you can make them. So, I turned the car seat around. Meredith LOVES it! She and Emily were pointing at different things and saying "look, look". When we stopped at a red light I turned around and took a picture. And of course you can see Emily's famous haircut. Emily has been a hard nut to crack lately (getting her to smile) so I have to do some pretty outrageous things to get those girls to smile.