Easter Girls 2008

Here is a picture of our little ladies after church on Easter Sunday.

Too cute for words.

A picture of health.

Here is a picture of Kermit and his little girls on his 43rd Birthday! "A picture of Health." I asked Kermit what this quote means. He said that it comes from his father. Every year on his dad's birthday, he gathered his four boys around and made them sit on his lap for a photo, even when they were fully grown. The annual photograph was always referred to as "a picture of health." Maybe his dad thought that the children gathered around him made him feel young and vibrant, healthy. Maybe because good health is also one of the best wishes one could be granted. Whatever the reason, a birthday picture with the young ones gathered will forever be referred to as "a picture of health." So here's to another year of good health and happiness. Happy Birthday sweetheart. May all of your birthday wishes come true.

The Snow Day Struggle

Isn't it supposed to be spring now? For some strange reason I'm not totally bummed out about the snow today. I think it's maybe because I'm looking forward to a fun weekend with my family. I'm having a half full kind of day. Now, if this goes on for weeks where it is just too cold to get the kids out at all...then...I may be a little more than bummed.

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So for our snow day today, Annaliese and I made cookie dough. (Maybe tomorrow we'll bake them?) Annaliese requested "the kind you can make into shapes." I thought that would be perfect, then we can share some with the kids at church for Easter, so we made a double batch of sugar cookies.

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When the dough was all mixed and ready to be chilled, I found myself wrestling with this thick double batch of dough. I couldn't get the Kitchen Aid to release the dough mixing attachment thingy.

Annaliese asked, "Mom, are you struggling?"

"Yes," I say.

That is the second time this week I've heard her use the word struggling. A new word in her vocabulary. I start thinking that she probably learned it from her nightly story time with her dad and all those new library books. Maybe she learned it in preschool from her great teacher. I knew I hadn't taught it to her.

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I ask, "Annaliese, where did you learn the word struggling?"

She replies, "The lady on TV."

Oh.

All about Adeline...

11/12/2007 - Has a thing for slides! This week she has gone on the slide over and over and over and over....never stopping just thrilled every minute!

11/25/2007 - Is GREAT at puzzles! Matches up pictures and can turn the pieces to fit the puzzle. She's good!

11/25/2007 - Little stripper! Stinker! Tonight I had to put her PJ's on backwards so the zipper would be in the back! Also...takes her coat off in the freezing cold! What's up with that?

11/25/2007 - LOVES jumping, jump, jump, jump. She is quite good. We think she is quite coordinated!

12/09/2007 - For the first time this week in about a month, she is eating better and sleeping through the night again! FINALLY! She has been sick with runny nose and very whiny. Poor thing. I'm seeing glimpses of my Happy Addie again!

12/09/2007 - Her counting is perfect now...1-10 perfect! Good girl!

12/09/2007 - I think I never mentioned that as of about 2 months ago, she has been sleeping in her own crib at night in the same room with Avrie...(well most of the night, if and when she wakes in the night she sleeps in our room in the pack & play.) But hurray b/c we don't have to tiptoe around our room at night anymore!

12/09/2007 - Won't let me leave nursery! She was doing so great until her favorite teacher was released a few months ago. Just a phase that will soon be over I hope!

12/16/2007 - Happy Addie is back! She has such a cheerful personality! She has a bad cough and runny nose but feels fine...I know because she is happy!

12/16/2007 - LOVES jumping! Everyday she jumps, jumps jumps. She's working on a gallop sort of jump, very cute.

12/16/2007 - LOVES to color! AND loves reading! It's so cute to hear her "reading" as she turns the pages and then close the book and hear her say clearly "THE END." So cute!

12/16/2007 - LOVES to dance! I love her trademark moves! SO cute!

01/2008 – Figured out that Sunday nursery is fun & that we will always come back to get her! No more crying! (Perfect timing because I now teach primary and could not have stayed with her!) She LOVES it now! She and Avrie have a LOT fun playing together. I keep hearing from everyone how cute they are playing together.

02/2008 – Started weekly speech therapy. She is doing great at probably won’t need it long…just some help with a few sounds. She LOVES her teacher! Did I mention she is doing great!

03/13/2008 - This girl loves to accessorize. Loves sunglasses, necklaces, purses, fancy shoes, you name it, she loves it!

03/17/2008 – Shoe girl! Changes shoes 50 times a day. We actually went out and got her new shoes today because she has outgrown all of hers! She very much has an opinion about what she wears on her feet. We bought the ones that she didn’t try to take off the minute we put them on her. And, for once she wore a pair of shoes all day!

03/17/2008 – Addie is not a big TV head. Rarely can I get this one to veg out long enough to take a quick shower. Keeping me company, playing peak a boo with the shower curtain, and climbing up on top of the toilet to get into the medicine cabinet are far more interesting.

03/17/2008 – Loves drawing on one of our many Magna Doodles. She actually is getting good! She doesn’t just scribble, she is very aware and concentrates on what she is drawing! Her happy face is getting good!

03/17/2008 – Loves dress ups. She wears a tutu daily and says she is a ballerina or Cinderella. Loves her sparkly shoes and her ballet slippers.

03/17/2008 – Jumping girl! Figured out that she can jump off the stairs to the landing below in the basement. Yesterday she took a tumble down but I’m not sure she was jumping, I think she was just walking down, not holding on to the railing. I hope that she will remember to be more careful. Stairs scare me!

03/17/2008 – Must be read to before she will agree to lay down for a nap or to bed for the night. Loves to be read to anytime! Likes to read in bed before falling asleep.

03/17/2008 – Chatter box! Loves to chatter and laugh with Avrie before falling asleep every night. She loves to sing in bed too. Tonight she was singing “Roll your hands”. Funny girl!

03/17/2008 – Good little eater! She will usually eat anything we give her. Although she has burned out on chicken nuggets and hot dogs…can I blame her. Her favorite is fruit! She LOVES strawberries and blueberries! Grapes too!

03/17/2008 – When ever I pick her up, she always will put her hind arm around my neck and pat my cheek. Sweetest little girl ever!

Love the tongue. She does that when she's concentrating.....

here she's concentrating on jumping.

(Once she actually jumped too high but held on and flipped over!

I tell you we may have a gymnast here!)

All about Avrie...

Okay, it's Avrie's turn in the spotlight with all her latest and greatest tricks. Life was a little crazy for a few months and I stopped updating just before Christmas so I'll have to think back to get her up to date. Avrie (aka Peewee) is a funny one. As you'll soon see, filling in the blanks wasn't too tough. Here we go....

11/12/2007 - Two days of little stinker Pee Wee & 2 days of Charming little Sweetie....I think there is a sleep connection. That is all I can figure!
11/12/2007 - I'd say she's been able count to 10 now for several months...not sure if I ever mentioned it. She also is great at her ABC song...I love it when she says "Em en en Oh pee" - too cute!
11/25/2007 - I think her looks are starting to change a little....something about her eye shape? 11/25/2007 - Is starting to be more happy more of the time...this is good!! Again, perhaps a sleep connection?
12/09/2007 - Happy child! I'd say 80% of the day this girl is happy! (Up until about a month ago she was miserable 80% of the day!! We could never figure out what to do!) My latest theory...she can talk & express herself more effectively! But its more than that she is darn right CHARMING and so fun to be around!
12/09/2007 - She said today "I'm me!" while pointing to herself!
12/09/2007 - Loves to sing Frosty the Snowman...if you try to sing with her she says "no no no NO, I try it!" Then she keeps singing! Very cute!
12-16/2007 - Loves to ROAR!!! Loves to see people "afraid" of her, she laughs and laughs then ROARS again!
12/16/2007 - Wears her tutu everyday. She calls it her "pincess". Today she told Kermit that she was a princess.
12/16/2007 - Loves to take care of her dolls and toy animals...puts them to bed with "covers" and feeds them. Addie does this too. So does Annaliese actually!
12/16/2007 - We had the "old Pee Wee" back for a few days (grumpy) but now has mellowed out and has become ultra snugly and sweet. She is sick and loves to snuggle (but not crying)!
12/16/2007 - Gotta watch this one! Loves to color which is great, but also loves to color on my walls, furniture, cabinets, floors, etc. Thank goodness for crayola washable crayons! I'm a believer!
01/2008 - Little STINKER!
02/2008 - Little STINKER!
03/2008 - HEAVENLY ANGEL! - From morning until night, laugh, play, smile, snuggle, giggle, kissy, charming, huggy...ZERO time outs per day!

Her Valentine Heart

I just died laughing when I came in to get her after her nap.

Nice socks & undies Avrie!

Ready for the swimsuit competition


Loves to read.

After a sugar high, comes the sugar zone out!

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03/2008- continued...

03/2008 - LOVES dress ups! Every day she wears a tutu! Sometimes she insists on wearing one to bed or out in public....at least she's dressed. It is cute! =)

03/2008 - Loves going on walks! She is the first out the door when we take family walks. She lights up with energy and off she goes!

03/2008 - Loves to JUMP! She is great at it!

03/2008 - Loves to paint and to play with playdoh! Will sit for hours when she gets the chance.

03/2008 - Still a picky eater but getting so much better! Is eating bagels with cream cheese, Ritz crackers, tacos!!!, mashed potatoes, cheesy Au gratin potatoes, sloppy joes, scrambled eggs, pancakes, Dora the Explorer soup, plain pasta, hot dogs, chicken nuggets & bananas. No veggies but I'm able to sneak them into sloppy joes, tacos, & potatoes.

03/2008 - Has the most adorable little voice I've ever heard! She's always been able to melt me with her little voice. She loves to sing too! Her language skills are taking off! It's pretty easy to understand what she is saying most of the time. Can very clearly say, "That's Annaliese's ______." The word "Annaliese's" is a mouthful I'd say!

03/2008 - Has overcome her need for 15 timeouts per day. Recent weeks ZERO timeouts! What a sweet little sweethead!

03/2008 - Loves playing with her sisters! She is great pals with both of them! She is a good little friend. Has been playing "time out" with them lately...hmmm.

03/2008 - Miss Independent. Must do things on her own. Only accepts help if she asks.

03/2008 - Must drink from a pink or red sippy cup (any color lid is fine except yellow. Yellow is Addie's color.)

03/2008 - Has overcome throwing tantrums at diaper changes. The solution, make sure she has a nice comfy pillow to lay on. Can you blame her?

03/2008 - Has overcome tantrums at teethbrushing time. The solution...I don't know, I'm just glad she's getting her teeth brushed once a day instead of once a month.

03/2008 - Loves to sing! Nothing more sweet than to hear her sing "I am a Child of God." Melt me!

LOVE this little girl! I love her spunk & tender heart.

All about Annaliese.....

I like to do a post every few months for each of my girls with all of their latest tricks and cute stories that I don't want to forget and WOW, I haven't updated in a really long long time! Therefore this will be a long one but a fun one for me as I look back at some cute things Annaliese has done since November! She really is growing FAST! I hope someday she gets a kick reading all this like I know I will and do now!.....Here it goes....

11/05/2007 - Tonight as she was recounting the day she was quoting Avrie and she said, "Avrie was like, No and you were like, yes..." LIKE, like, like, like. Kermit thinks she gets it from ME?

11/12/2007 - Funny girl wanted to keep her shoes on in bed... she said that her shoes were called "onners" and that they were meant to be worn on all the time, even in bed.

11/25/2007 - Coming out of the bathroom, "Mom there was just pee in there, no numbers."

11/25/2007 - Likes to pretend to take care of Addie and Avrie (most often Avrie is up for the game) and she will put them to bed, feed them, etc. Very cute.

11/25/2007 - LOVES the new play room that daddy finished this week! She plays down there for hours! She has always been a good player! She also loves to dance. Grandma encouraged her to dance and boy she is creative. Maybe next year I should get her in a movement class of some kind.

11/25/2007 - Still likes to twirl her hair...the difference is she is not twirling it into knots as long as we remind her not to...she has always been a hair twirler since I can remember! Even as a tiny baby! Sweet little girl!

11/25/2007 - While Grandma K. visited she slept in with the twins...she did great! Also, loved to tell story after story to Grandma. She loves her Grandma so much!

12/03/2007 - In her night prayers..."Thank you for my family, Thank you for my lovely mom and dad and thank you that they got married on a date night. Thank you for the snow, and that I could make a snowman and that his name was Snowy...." Love this kid!

12/09/2007 - Is able to branch out a little with her food. Still picky but able to get her to at least TRY new foods. This is good!

12/09/2007 - Loves telling stories with her toys. Loves to help make cookies with mom.

12/16/2007 - Knows tons of Christmas Carols...just from listening to the RADIO!

12/16/2007 - LOVES walking in the snow!

12/16/2007 - Poor little one is sick this week!

12/16/2007 - Two biggies this week! She learned to BLOW her nose! WOW! AND....she learned that she can climb up on the step stool by herself and seat herself on the toilet without any help! This seems trivial but is so GREAT (for both of us)! She has only had one night accident since she has been potty trained! What a gal!

02/17/2008 – Annaliese was a darling birthday girl! She really believed that she turned four right as she blew out the candles. She believed that she grew and was all of a sudden big. Such a precious moment, one I’ll never forget.

02/17/2008 – Still loving those books! For her birthday party we had a book exchange to see if we could get some fresh material for the nightly story time routine. She’s loving Knuffle Bunny Too, Pinkalicious, The three snow bears, Sheep in a Jeep, Olivia, Fancy Nancy, Madeline & Madeline goes to London to name a few. Loves her weekly trips to the library at school. I'm also trying to get her to the public library more often. She just loves it!

03/08/2008 – Yikes! I haven’t updated in a long time! Lately...has an imaginary friend named Sally….(she writes her name S A L E, makes sense). Sally bought her brown mittens for her, wasn’t that nice. =) When Annaliese pretends that she is on the phone she is either talking to grandma or to Sally’s mother. Funny girl. Sally’s dog is named Rock. Sally’s sister is named Blorda. It seems like Sally is living an identical life to Annaliese. She tries to say that her bedroom is not hers, its Sallys. It's like she likes to pretend that SHE is Sally. When she writes "Annaliese" she will often write "SALE" somewhere on the page as well. If I call to her she will sometimes tell me that she is not Annaliese that she is Sally. I was concerned at first (and still am a little I guess) but then my mother told me that I also had an imaginary friend when I was young, Lisa. One day Lisa disappeared out the car window. I wonder what Sally’s fate will be.

03/08/2008 – She had her 4 year doctor visit this week. 36 lbs. (50-75%) & 42 inches (90-95%). Highlight of the visit…she peed in a cup! =) She did great for the whole exam. After we walked to the toy shop and she picked out some tiny little dogs and cats to add to her animal collection. They have been a favorite toy all week.

03/08/2008 – She is still such an amazing artist! She LOVES her doodle pad. In fact I went out and bought her a new one and told her that maybe we could give her old one to a child that is in need of some toys to play with….I tried to explain how nice that would be of her. She started to cry real tears and said, “but I love my big red doodle pad!” Okay sweet girl, you can keep your big red doodle pad. We have 4 now. =)

03/08/2007 – She is LOVING her sunbeams class! Zero problems transitioning. She loves Michelle her teacher! She loves coming home and pretending that she is Michelle the teacher and tries to get the twins to cooperate as she teaches them about the Holy Ghost…. “The Holy Ghost is not a scary Ghost, he is our friend, like a blanket.” Very sweet.

03/08/2008 – Lately has been letting loose in music class. I love to watch her freestyle dance! There is nothing more entertaining! In fact this last Friday as I was watching her, I noticed she was SKIPPING! Step hop, step hop, step hop, is not an easy thing! Good work sweetie!

03/08/2008 - Got new rain boots & matching coat! Loving them! Last weekend it warmed up enough to try out the boots in the puddles. Today when I pointed out that it was snowing outside, she furrowed her brow and said, “NO! No more snow! It’s supposed to be spring!” Later she said, “Don’t worry mom, it won’t be winter forever.” Thanks for the reminder. Bluh.

03/08/2008 – This girl is a wonderful big sister! She helps me out in such cute ways. If I want the twins to eat, I can ask her to demonstrate how to take a big bite of a sandwich and the twins will follow! Before long we have a game going! Also, she loves to play with the twins! She likes to pretend she is their teacher, or mother, or leader depending on what they are playing. She really bums out if the one of them don’t go along with her ideas. We are trying to teach her that it’s okay if one doesn't want to play. Maybe you can play their game now and they will play yours later. She’s getting there.
03/08/2008 - LOVES her shows! If she is watching a show and you are trying to get her attention....forget about it. You literally have to turn off the TV to get her attention! What great attention this one has! Her favorites are still the old standbys - Bambi & Pooh. She still has a hard time with scary parts of shows. She will ask for a show to be turned off if there is a villain of any kind....Cinderella is okay, but no Little Mermaid or even Nemo. Sweet little darling.
03/08/2008 - Was star student a few weeks ago. She made a beautiful poster all about herself. She drew everything perfectly! She drew the family with animal mouths, but that's okay. She did it intentionally, but not sure why, but it was cute. She drew pictures of a dog and cat because she loves animals. She drew yogurt, and chocolate milk. She drew a book because she likes to read. Life's simple pleasures.
03/08/2008 - She has recently been waking in the night crying, "Daddy, come be with me!" until dad goes in and lays down by her side. She doesn't nap anymore (hasn't since the twins were born) but every Sunday we have family quiet time. She will usually sleep then. She loves to be read to every night. She'll always ask for one more book, no matter if you already read her 2 more than you said you would to begin with. If you do give in and let her choose one more it will always be the longest one she can find. Funny girl.
03/08/2008 - Likes to play "solve the problem" game with dad. Also loves to play guessing games. Funny story....she was trying to get Kermit to guess what she was thinking of...she said, "I'll give you a hint...she has a birthmark on her forehead." Good hint little Noodles!

Recent works of art. She's good I tell you!

Avrie takes notes....

...and plots her countermeasures.

Hurry Spring, HURRY!

We've got the fever! CABIN fever! This winter has been COLD, cold, COLD and lots of SNOW! Luckily we are all healthy enough that when we start getting a little too nutty we can bundle the kids up and take a short walk. The fresh air does wonders! This week I've been going through all the kiddy clothes making sure we are equipped for the season ahead. Of course around here it really doesn't officially warm up until June so we have plenty of time, but I'm excited to pull out the summer stuff anyway to wear with a cardigan sweater! Ahhh, can't wait.

Pillow Talk

Playing "Night Night....Good Morning" is a favorite game around here! I'm not sure what it is but Addie and Avrie LOVE to climb into big kid beds and pretend to sleep...then pop up off the pillow and shout "Good Morning". It cracks me up and they can play this game for hours a day! They also love to put all their animals and dolls to sleep too. They love it!

Lately Addie and Avrie have been playing so well together. They still parallel play and enjoy one on one time with big sis, but I really feel like they are developing a special bond. At night they often chatter with each other for an hour before they finally fall asleep. In the mornings they wake each other up (usually Addie wakes Avrie BRIGHT and EARLY). They chatter back and forth, jump in their cribs and sing! Very cute girls!