Thursday, February 18, 2010

Things n' stuff

It seems like I have about four posts that I've needed to do, but don't really feel like I've been very busy.

At the beginning of February the kids and I took a trip to Salt Lake and stayed with my grandparents. My sister Hilary and her kids came and stayed too and we had fun and shopped. Since neither of us live there we always have a list of stuff we want to do while we're there. We went to the Hatch Family Chocolate shop. If you don't know, it's a cute little shop owned by a dwarf couple (I hope I've said that correctly) who have a new show on TLC called Little Chocolatiers. The pot de creme was awesome. A fun little trip that the kids enjoyed too. We also went to Whole foods, it's an organic grocery store. I've been on an organic/natural/whole foods thing for a while now and wanted to see what they had there. They had some interesting stuff. I just wish I had one of these where I live! I took Claire to build a bear to pick out some more accessories for her kitty with her birthday money. Of course our trip wouldn't be complete without a stop at Ikea, Target and Cafe Rio. There were about a dozen other things we did while we were there and of course the kids had fun playing together.

So for Chris' birthday I surprised him with tickets to the Lakers v. Jazz game, it happened to fall right on his birthday and he is a pretty big Lakers fan. So we went back down to Salt Lake for the night and it was really fun to spend the whole evening together-alone. Chris' mom was nice enough to take the kids over night. And, the Lakers won. Unfortunately Kobe Bryant was injured so we didn't get to see him play. It was fun to remember back to the last time we went to an NBA game together --our honeymoon.




I wish I had some good pictures to post but I don't. The kids are great. Jake is loving nursery! He is also a lover of bug squishing and bed coloring! He actually has quite a long attention span for a 20 month old. He plays that little fishing game and is patient enough to wait until his pole falls into the fishes mouth and pulls it out. He's talking a lot and even starting to put together phrases. The other day he said "oh no Claire, don't do it!" he is so mischievous and so dang adorable.



Claire has taken her drawing/coloring to a whole new level. She has developed such an imagination that it shows in her drawings. I'm sure I'm not biased, but I think she is drawing so well for a barely 4 year old. Todays drawing included a school bus, complete with people inside, a road for them to drive on, a stop light, a bed and jewelry box and she actually spelled a word on it, by herself! This is not a word that we've worked on and she spelled it right! (okay, so it had an extra L, but that's not bad!) She is also singing a lot more now that she's in primary (and I'm the primary chorister) and it's impressive to me how much she retains.

Also I wanted to note the BEAUTIFUL roses Chris got me for Valentine's day. Good job honey!

Well I've been up to momming it. It's been difficult! It seems like the kids have had runny noses and coughs the whole winter. The winter time is hard alone with two active children. So when I'm not trying to think of ways to entertain the little ones I've been working out, reading, going to the library, writing, my photog biz, cleaning, baking, and momming. Trying to find contentment in this interesting time in my life! Oh and we've been watching the Olympics too- great stuff!

Awww there, I'm caught up.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Pink Pink Pink

Claire and I threw a pink party for her on Friday. We had pink popcorn balls, pink drinks, pink candy, pink decorations, she got to wear her new pink party dress, we made pink bracelets and ate pink cake. She had 7 of her girlfriends come over to celebrate.



I attempted a fondant cake which was actually more fun to decorate than a regular frosting cake.



Later that evening we had family over and had MORE cake and lots MORE presents.




It was a fun day. I took her to "her" store in the morning (Claire's) so she could pick something out and she ended up with a really cute little music box. Then I let the kids play at the mall play area and then we had pizza for lunch. For dinner she requested spaghetti. It was a nice day simply because I let her do whatever she wanted so there were very few arguments! If only I could do that everyday...

Four is so old. I get worried sometimes that she won't like me when she gets older simply because we butt heads constantly already. But at very least she DOES know that I love her and try to do the best for her and I hope that's enough.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Well checks





I took the kids in for their well checks, Claire for her 4 year and Jake for his 18 month. Jake was about 60% for everything, which I thought was odd because he seems so huge to me. Claire was 85% for height which also surprised me. They are both busy and crazy and keep me very busy. Jake is at the stage where he will repeat most words so he's learning a few new words everyday. He also understands me really well and will tell me yes or no to questions and he seems pretty dead on with his answers which is sooo nice because he never has to whine or cry for what he wants. This is something I am still working with Claire on! Claire is the little mommy to Jake. She dresses him and disciplines and is a good helper with Jake. She still gets devastated when she can't wear a dress. We just got her a twin sized bed that she really likes. She likes to eat "helpy" (healthy) snacks and every night while she's brushing her teeth she does her "night hair". Basically she combs it with water and gets it all wet and then adds some kind of hair product like hair spray or leave in conditioner to make it soft. At one point she was putting antibacterial hand soap in because it smelled nice. My kids definitely keep me busy. The other day I caught Jake dipping his toothbrush in the toilet and Claire was right next to him playing-I guess she didn't seem to think it was a big deal! Then later I found Jake lying on the table eating chocolate and half a tube of Claire's chapstick!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

2009 in photos

I picked one or two pictures from each month.
























My Claire

What would life be like without her? Definitely duller. She is so full of life and I love her for it. Is she really turning 4? The baby is just about out of her and somehow it makes me miss her. I can't even remember that little baby she once was. I took this picture on Sunday. Her first day in Primary. She did great!



Wednesday, December 30, 2009

We had a merry Christmas!


Well most of us. Claire was sick as a dog on Christmas day and lasted long enough to open her presents. Then she threw-up and went to bed for the rest of the morning. The poor girl. She really tried the best she could to enjoy it but I could tell just how cruddy she felt because she was being so mellow. She is now back to her usual fiesty self. We spent Christmas at my Granny and Papa's house in Bountiful. It was so fun to have my whole family there and most likely it will be another 2 years before we are all together again. Christmas morning I made homemade bagels. As far as presents, Claire got the 3 things on her list from Santa-polly pockets, an Ariel doll, and pet shops. Jake got a train set and some balls. Chris got him some GI Joes which he immediately picked up and started talking in a deep gargly voice. We got it on video and it's priceless. Chris spoiled me as usual. We did all the usual things, great food, shopping, Granny's Christmas party, Temple square, food, holding babies, movies (we took the kids to see Princess and the Frog), games, more shopping and more great food. Oh and I might add in a new tradition of Y`outube video-watching. While we were there Jake learned how to get out of his pack and play and has since used those skills to get out of his crib at home. The other night we heard a bang upstairs and a few seconds later found Jake coming down the stairs. I feel so blessed! I got to be around family and we are all safe and healthy and our needs are all met. I feel like the Lord has blest me way beyond what I can even imagine.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

How does she look?


Claire got a new dress yesterday. She came in this morning with it on. "Oh mom, I look dazzling, don't I look dazzling Jake?" she said as she spun around.
I don't know if I have ever said the word around her and I'm puzzled where she might have heard it.