World's Best Daddy Let's Mommy Nap

A while back, many Sundays ago, but still fairly recently, I was SO tired that I took a nap and Daddy was left in charge. Here's what kept them occupied for part of the time.

Playing with Masking Tape! Who'd have thought. I think I left it out from my staff project. Oh, you have to have a picture of that one now. I made a giant staff for my piano students. I LOVE it. Meredith is SO interested in taking piano lessons that she's faster at finding the notes than a some of my students. After reading lessons though.

Meredith with her "belt"

Emily with her house made of masking tape.

World's Best Daddy. I have NO idea who was in charge of the camera. Meredith?

A Reader and a Talker

Emily is really enjoying reading. She loves to read now. She reads by herself and here she is reading to her sister. I love it.

One random picture of the best Daddy with two of his beautiful daughters.

Rebecca is talking on my phone. She says, "Hi!", as she puts it up to her ear. She'll walk around the house with it saying, "hi, hi, hi." When we play peak-a-boo she says, "Hi!" When Daddy comes home she says, "Hi!", with her fabulous great big smile. She's so funny. She's so social and yet she doesn't want anyone but Mommy. She will walk around the room at church and sit there and stare down a person until they look at her and smile and then she'll just give them when of her great big smiles back. And then she runs back to me. Let's just say, I love being the favorite.

Rocket Flier

Rebecca has discovered the Rocket Flier. She discovered it without the sounds. She'd use it to stand up and then she'd just explore it. Daddy showed her how we use it. Then in the morning he put batteries in it and now it is once again the favorite toy in our house.

World's Best Daddy

Here's Daddy reading "Fancy Nancy" and "Pinkalicious" to his girls. Rebecca's idea of storytime is eating the book and the other two girls love "Fancy Nancy" and "Pinkalicious". At one point in "Pinkalicious" the Mommy asks the little girl what color she wants to make the frosting for her cupcakes the girl replies, and so do my girls as the story is being told, "Pink, Pink, PINK!" As you can see, that's got to be the world's best daddy to read that over and over again. :)

Conference and the Prelim

Nathan was able to go to a conference in Washington D.C. He didn't think he'd be able to do any sightseeing, but found that his motel only a couple of blocks from all this.

Nathan did his Preliminary exam? (a.k.a prelim) a couple weeks ago. He passed. :) One more step to finishing school. He'll need to take an oral exam fairly soon. Now I keep asking how long before he gets to do a dissertation. Ooh, I can't wait. (I'm sure that is not what Nathan is thinking.)

5 Years

Nathan and I celebrated our anniversary last night, the 21st. Our actual anniversary was on the 18th, but Nathan had a report to write and I was helping decorate for my sister's reception.

What I've found after 5 years of marriage. I can't wait to spend an eternity with Nathan. :)

U of A Experiment

Nathan's First Experiment at the UofA for his Ph.D. I'm thrilled to see it and helped him out by testing it for him. Now I can't participate, but you can. You can check it out and see how good you are at knowing if people are lying or not.

How good are you at detecting a lie? The researchers at CMI want to learn more about what makes a good lie detector. Visit http://cca.cmi.arizona.edu to test your lie detecting skills! The best performers will receive cash prizes. The entire test should take from 30 to 40 minutes. After judging the credibility of 20 interviewees, you will be given a performance score reflecting your lie-detecting ability. This online experiment is open for participation through Friday, October 2, 2009. Good luck!

Senses

I love September. This is when all of the senses start to pick up. It's the start of decorating, seeing (one of the senses); and baking, smelling, and tasting, for the holidays. I've got some of my fall decorations up, it's raining, and I smell some freshly baking banana bread. :) Oh, the joys of life! I also love listening to the thunder that comes with the rain and listening to the wind.

We just enjoyed a weekend at my parents house. It was wonderfully relaxing and a great break. I also grabbed the pictures from my parents computer (including some Meredith birthday pics) and took some great pictures. I'll have fun updating the blog.

Emily is at another milestone. Her speech has improved a lot and she's started coloring people. Her last picture she had a dinosaur that she had colored in. I really love this milestone. The girls continue to come up with new things to imagine and pretend and I LOVE it.

On the flip side of reaching new milestones there is the frustrating. A while back Meredith found out how to get past our childproof front door and undo the top lock. We turned the childproof "thing" upside down so we had to push the lever up to get out of the house and she has just figured out how to get out the front door today with it upside down. She's been out a couple of times today. Of course, Nathan and I have been right on her tail, but it's still scary.

I also love how Emily is smelling the baking bread. "I like that smell, mom." She says. As she's loudly smelling so I can hear it. What joys these girls will be during the holidays, the good and the bad. :)

Fall is also a very romantic season for me. It's when Nathan and I met and courted. Oh, I love the fall.

Busy, Busy BUSY!

I love to keep myself busy. Too busy probably, but I thrive on it. So here's what I've been up to.

Most of them are preschool file folder games.

This little game is for Emily and learning her numbers. She has down her "3" and "4" REALLY well. I have no idea why she'd learn the ones in the middle the fastest.

I really like to see the pieces. I tried gluing on freezer zip loc bags to the back of some file folder games two years ago, and they didn't stay very long. So this time I laminated it inside and cut a slit with a razor blade for the opening. I think it would work better with laminate rather than the contact paper that I used. I have a laminator but it doesn't do this big.

Here are my singing signs. On the back of the "Stop" sign is a "Go" sign. We've had fun with that one besides singing with a fun little game. (Red Light, Green Light which is a little easier for my girls to use the sign.) The lion is for loud with a mouse on the back for soft and the bee for "Zzzzz" and a ghost on the back for "Ooooo". We Love to sing at our house. We sang "I Love To See the Temple" together in church last Sunday. I had forgotten that it was the day Nathan and I were supposed to sing. I was still trying to convince him that he wanted to do it with me. We got to church to find our names in the program and practiced "I Love To See the Temple" together as a family. (Luckily I have to be there early for choir and could postpone choir practice just long enough to practice our song.) The first time we sang Emily didn't know what to think. The second time she started singing with us and the third time you could tell she absolutely loved it and was singing to her primary music teacher that we asked to see if she could hear us in the back. Meredith was content to let Daddy hold her and she would sing in his arms. When we came up to perform it Emily did REALLY well. I was so impressed. Both of my girls won't sing in primary, but they performed in front of the WHOLE congregation. After we were done and walking away Meredith yelled, "MY TURN!" The congregation got a good chuckle out of that one. It was a nice dream come true for me. I loved singing together with my family.
Here's Nathan helping me teach Emily her numbers.

We've finally turned to numbers for Emily because she has all of her letters down including most of her lower case letters. (We get the lower-case p and q mixed up as well as h and n.) Meredith has learned her letter sounds before her letter names. It's cute. She knows most of the letter sounds and can tell me most of the names. I really haven't focused on lower-case with her yet. She also loves to sit next to me while I'm reading a book (my book, the kind without pictures.) She'll point out the letters. "O says ah, T says "T", R says "r", etc." So cute!

Emily gets VERY excited when Meredith wakes up for her nap. It's so cute to see how much she has missed her sister. Meredith skipped out on her nap for the first time to my knowledge (I'm kind of suspicious about one other nap that I'm not sure was taken.)

I've also been enjoying making a LOT of nursing covers for friends having babies. Boy, there are a lot of babies being born around here it seems like. Including matching wipes case covers. One of these days I'll post pics.

Happy Father's Day

I loved the Matt and Mandy in the Friend magazine this month. It's perfect for Father's Day. So this makes a nice little tribute to the fathers around me. First to my Dad who is a wonderful dad and set such a wonderful example for me, even in what kind of a man I would eventually marry. To my husband, for being a wonderful husband and father. He is always doing things for me and for the girls. And to Nathan's Dad, for showing Nathan how to be a wonderful husband and father.

The Horsey

Horsey is kind of a weird word to spell, but little kids like putting on that "y" or "ie" ending, so I had to spell it that way. (I now know that the webster dictionary considers horsey and horsy correct. lol. Just in case if you're looking for a bit of silly trivia. :) Anyhow, here is Nathan taking the girls to go brush their teeth after scriptures. He usually take the girls in a funny way because, surprise, surprise ;) they don't want to brush their teeth because then it means they have to go to bed. So, here's our "horsey".
Nathan is such a great Daddy! And a good sport for letting me take pictures. :)

Come What May and Love It (Learning to Laugh)

My favorite talk in General Conference was Elder Wirthlin's. I believe I've already said this, but I'm saying it again. I had learned earlier in the year that I had to laugh in order to keep my sanity. We had just moved and Emily, while exploring her new surroundings, was learning that she could do more than she was able to before. She was a better climber, better at getting into things and therefore a better explorer. And the sidekick who could run around after her and take the blame for things was great. :) I would get so upset when I would come from doing something (the dishes, laundry, you name it) to find that the two little girls had gotten into a huge mess. Finally, I realized that getting angry at them was just making me grumpier and doing nothing for the good spirit in my home. I learned to laugh. I can even remember the first time I did so instead of getting angry (see What a MESS!)


Anyhow, what am I getting at? Ok. So we're in Sacrament Meeting and we're almost done (whew, it is hard to get Meredith to be reverent that long) and Meredith decides to dump the whole bag of cheerios. I looked at Nathan and he could tell I was quietly laughing. I just handed Meredith over to Nathan and started cleaning up the mess. The people behind us helped me out by having their little boy help me pick up the cheerios (thank you to that person, btw). Later in Sunday School someone told my husband, (this was the gist of it) "boy, I thought your wife was going to die after all of those cheerios got dumped." My husband replied, "No, she laughed. I was the one who was dying."


(And just in case you are wondering, no, I don't just hand a bag of cheerios to my child. We hold it together, unless of course by holding it she's going to rip it out of my hands and dump the whole bag of cheerios. On the other hand by doing that she could just decide to do it anyway so I need to remember NOT to look away :) Anyhow, have a good laugh.

Mismatched and Interesting

Here are the girls riding their "bikes". Meredith asks for a bike, and for right now the radio rocket is the only thing she knows how to ride (of course she pushes it too). Nathan helps me dress the girls sometimes, and I of course don't say a word because I'm glad he helps me. We also didn't go anywhere that day. I'm sure he knows that a pink shirt doesn't go with red pants that was just the quickest thing available (ok, I hope he knows). And Meredith's outfit is ok if you ignore the overly big t-shirt that just so happens to be Emily's. Todays outfit consisted of one girl being mismatched and the other girl having her shirt inside out. If I'm not feeling better tomorrow (darn cold) we'll see what interesting things Nathan can cook up in the clothing department. Otherwise, things will go back to normal and I won't come up with any more funny pictures (for the time being).

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.

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.

Attack of the High Chair

When Nathan comes home he plays with the girls either while I'm making dinner or while I'm doing the dishes (he does help me clean up a little first, like putting food away). I love to hear them squeal and laugh while he's playing with them. This time I had to stop and get the camera though. It was funny.

Fun Pictures

Nathan took some pictures of the girls a couple Sundays ago while he was watching them after church. I was visiting teaching. Emily is in her pajamas and Meredith is dressed and they are playing in the backyard.

Emily, of course, has to show off her flower. We love flowers at our house, especially in our hair (note flower in hair. Can't be without one of those :)

Swing

I have another post! I'm sure if anyone is reading this they realize that I always have a new post. Well, it's fun. But more than that, this blog has in a way replaced my journal. It just hits more birds with one stone and it's fun, and it's fun to have pictures with the journal, and it even has a hint of scrapbooking to it. I also made the mistake of not journaling enough when Emily was Meredith's age. I got better and better as time went by, but it is still never enough. I have a pretty horrible memory. I think most people do. People remember a lot of something but spend so much time remembering the one thing that they forget the others. Anyhow, that's my excuse for blogging so much. I still keep a journal for some of the more "personal stuff". The labels are fun to use too. I can find the stuff I want to look at quickly. I can click on milestones and find all of that stuff. In my journal I was using stars and hearts. One for one girl and one for the other. This labeling stuff on blogger is a little nicer :) They grow up so fast I want to record all of the memories I possibly can.

Anyhow...

For Family Home Evening we put up our swing. We bought it on Saturday for a family outing and then Nathan went to get the hardware on Monday and then set it up. The girls couldn't wait. They stared at him the whole time.

Emily in the swing

Meredith in the swing. (Learning to take turns is hard :)

And last. A video. Turn down the volume (the girls were very excited and loud). Emily wanted to push Meredith in the swing, and Meredith was squealing she was having so much fun.

Fixing the Computer

Nathan's laptop just died the other day. We just bought it a few months ago. So, we sent it back to HP and they are supposed to fix it. In the meantime Nathan needs something for classes that begin on Monday (the computer will take up to 2 weeks to get here). So Nathan took the old laptop and stripped it down to get to the power to fix it and then he put it back together. He must be even better than the computer factory because he didn't need as many screws as they did :)

More Sunday Posing

Daddy took pictures of the girls while Mommy was getting ready for church. These pictures were taken before Mommy was able to do their hair. But they are still very cute little girls.

We dream. We dream of one day potty-trained children. :)

If they'll sit on it, we'll put it just about anywhere.

It's so fun to sit on the potty chair. And take Mommy's mascara and smear it on the walls (see streak top center)