Eve is 2

Eve climbed onto the counter to snack on the candy sprinkles in that yellow bowl in the background.

Dear Eve,

Sorry we don't have any pictures of you from your actual birthday. Seems like my camera battery always dies when it's important. For your birthday we gave you the CD player in our car, since it was on that day that you stuffed a bunch of pennies in it and it no longer works. You are into everything!

I can't believe you're already two years old! Where did my little baby go? You're definitely not a baby anymore. You are independent as could be and try to do everything you see your sisters do. You are talking all the time, often telling me about your babies (it's an obsession with you). You love to dress up, but you also love to be naked. I think I've had to put your diaper back on you at least four times already today. You are so funny, you even tell us knock-knock jokes. You love to play with the dog, to sit on Mom's lap and read books, and to dump the crayons all over the floor. Every night you insist that Dad sing you songs before bed. You are happy and sweet and I love you to peices. Thanks for being in our family. We wouldn't be the same without you.

Love, Mom

White Christmas

Yesterday was the first day of Christmas break for my kids, and since we'd gotten a good 6 inches of snow the night before, we had to play in it!

 Our snowman. Kate says her name is Rosabelle. Of course it is.

 I hauled my kids up and down the street on these sleds for a while. What a workout! Especially when I tried all three at once!

 Gotta have hot cocoa to warm up.

 While we were drinking the cocoa, Anna said "This is the best day ever. I love playing with my sisters and mommy." Love you too!

Eve had to have her cocoa in a sippy because she's so messy. But she loved it as much as anyone else! (Notice Daisy's nose in Eve's lap? That's how it is EVERY time we eat. Eve drops stuff and Daisy licks it up. It's a symbiotic relationship)

Yesterday was so great. We had a lot of fun spending time together-- playing in the snow, baking Christmas treats, reading books. I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe homeschooling wouldn't be too bad." then around 4 pm they were whining at my feet, "Mom, I am so BORED. What can I do?" And I realized once again why I send my children to school.

Also, let it be known that our darling snowman was buried last night. We got another 14 inches during the night, and now there are mountains on the side of our driveway from where T shoveled it all off. What a fun Christmas break! Even though we haven't been able to leave the house...

It's All About Kate

This month Kate has been a busy little beaver! She had her Christmas performance for her dance class earlier in the month, then her preschool Christmas concert last week. We're so grateful to supportive grandparents for coming down for these occasions, even though they only lasted a half hour!
Kate is a great performer. She did a great job at her dance concert-- which basically means that she didn't just wander the stage aimlessly while music played. She really did the little dances. Two of them were from the Nutcracker and it was simply delightful to see these little 4 year olds up there dancing with dolls like Clara. So sweet!

At her preschool concert, Kate's voice could be heard above everyone else's. She loves to sing, and she did a great job memorizing her songs. And, she was in tune most of the time, which is quite an accomplishment. Way to go Kate!

28 Random Things About Me

Birthdays always give you a little chance to evaluate yourself. While I am generally happy with the person that I am, I can definitely see areas for improvement. But who wants to talk about that? What you really want to hear is randomness, right?

1. I buy green onions every week. I feel like they go with pretty much every meal.
2. My favorite station on Pandora is Wicked, as in the musical. This is ironic because I've never seen the musical. I put the book on my Goodreads list once and then got a comment from a friend that it was a totally creepy book and I shouldn't waste my time. So, I just like the music, even if I don't really know the entire story.
3. I have a secret aspiration to write a book one day.
4. I'm kind of a quitter. For example-- (for those of you who've been around for a while)-- remember Marathon Laur, Speech Pathologist Laur, Boutique Laur, Early Morning Aerobics Laur, Journalist Laur? Apparently I have a hard time sticking to things when they get hard.
5. My Christmas list this year includes boring things like a new ironing board, a salad spinner, and a melon baller. What kind of lame-o am I?
6. I love to read historical fiction, lately WWII is my favorite.
7. I am genuinely sad to be getting released from my calling teaching the Sunbeams.
8. I love how beautiful it is each morning while I drive Anna to school. Winter + mountains + rural Utah = Glorious.
9. I never obey the speed limit. Unless I'm in a school zone. Or driving by a cop.
10. If I could look like anyone, it would be Reese Witherspoon.
11. I love milkshakes. Unfortunately, I've developed a lactose sensitivity and they always end up making me sick.
12. I shower with Eve every day. I don't know what else to do with her. Please hurry up and get interested in TV, little one!
13. I look at library fines as donations to buy more books. Therefore, I don't really care when I accrue them. I know I've paid at least $40 in fines this year, thirty of which was from 2 different books that Daisy chewed up.
14. Getting the dog might be my biggest regret in life. But everyone else loves her, so she stays. And dang it, even though I make no show of hiding my true feelings for her, that blasted animal still gives me love all the time. She's determined to win me over.
15. I have a deep desire to eat at Bombay House. It's my fave, but T literally gets sickwhen we go there. He must be allergic to deliciousness. Anyone want to come with me?
16. I love ruffles. And sequins are growing on me. Am I destined to never have a boy?
17. I really believe that the most important thing we can do in life is help eachother.
18. I fall asleep pretty much every time I watch a movie. Which is embarrassing when you're doing it with friends.
19. I could go the rest of my life without eating Hawaiian Haystacks.
20. I love to dance around while cleaning, music blaring from the iPod station. Usually "Good Morning Baltimore" or "Save the Last Dance for Me."
21. I have really dry feet. No matter what I do: lotion, creams, pumice stones. It's a little embarrassing.
22. My least favorite chore is cleaning the bathroom. Gross!
23. If I could go back to college, I would totally change my major.
24. Long fingernails really bug me. I like to see barely any white hanging off the edge. My kids think I'm the fingernail Nazi.
25. I feel a little sad that we didn't move to St. George. But I'm sure I'd feel a little sad if we had moved too, so it's okay.
26. I have a hard time with poetry, but I do like country music. Maybe the two are related?
27. The fourth of July is my favorite holiday.
28.I REALLY want to go to Chicago with Trav next summr. Which means I'd better hurry up and get pregnant, since that's the only time we ever go on trips together.

Well, there you go. Hope you weren't looking for inspiration or anything. Just randomness.

It's the holiday season...

We set up our Christmas tree tonight. The girls were so excited about it and I was pleased to see that they remember so much from last year. As soon as the tree was decorated, Anna ran around turning off all the lights so we could sit under the lights of our Christmas tree reading Christmas stories and munching cookies.
May your Christmas season be merry and bright!

Better Late than Never

It's been forever since I posted.... but I'm doing it tonight!
First, Anna's birthday was last month and she is six! That is so old! Because she is our eldest, we're not 100% sure of what is typical six year old girl behavior and what isn't, but she's definitely testing the limits lately. At the same time, she can be so sweet and helpful with her sisters or doing chores for Mom. We're going to keep her, either way! Anna is loving school-- she's a super reader and great at math. She is also involved in a community theater production of Robin Hood and thinks it is so fun. We love this chica!

Anna wanted a Halloween themed birthday party this year, complete with creepy cupcakes!

Can you believe she had this many kids at her birthday party? It was a madhouse!

This is Anna with her BFF Addie. They are so cute together, and we're totally bummed that Addie's family just moved to Idaho.

Kate continues to be a ray of sunshine in our family. She loves preschool and dance class with Miss Danielle. She's spent a lot of the past month feeling sick, and I'm really hoping she can finally kick this bug. (fingers crossed, it's been 2 days so far) Kate is highly motivated to learn to read and spends a lot of time trying to sound things out. She's so independent about it, though. If I try to help her she scoots away and says "How will I learn to read if you always do it for me?"

Kate and her BFF Allie at the preschool Halloween party

 

Three little witches for Halloween. I made Eve's costume, the others I bought at Savers.

Practicing scary witch faces

We had a great time on Kate's fieldtrip to the pumpkin patch. My girls with our neighbor Allie on the tractor ride.



She loved this pumpkin.

 Eve is into the terrible twos already. She gets into everything, is independent minded, and says "no" all day long. But she's also tons of fun, especially as she's picking up language and can let us know what she's thinking about. She loves babies and tonight we got out all the Christmas decorations and she went crazy over the Baby Jesus. We have one that she can carry around with her and she loved it. Every three seconds she would come over and say "My baby" and hold it out to us. It had to sleep in her room with her tonight. So funny!

I tried to take some pictures of Evie in the fall leaves. It was impossible! She only looked at the camera for these two shots. And, unfortunately, I didn't notice when I was taking the shot that stick that looks like it's slitting her throat. My bad!



Too cool to smile for Mom.



The girls are loving the snowy weather we've had this past week. As for me, I keep wishing we'd moved to St. George. Notice how I wouldn't even go outside to get  decent photo.

Thankful to Be A Mother

So I haven't posted anything on this blog in forever.... and I have lots that I need to. But I've been a little busy this month. On my craft blog (http://www.smallandsimpleut.blogspot.com/) I have been doing a feature called Thankful to Be a Mother. I've been sharing parenting tips, thoughts on motherhood, and activities to do with kids each day in November. If you haven't done so, go check it out! We've even had some great guest posts from ladies who are incredible mothers. Lots of fun!