Stake Conference

Last night Jordan was my knight in shining armour. I had been home all day while he was out with the scouts helping with the scouts fundraiser (aerating lawns). It was also the night for the adult session of stake conference. This year they changed it so that all members ages 12 and up were invited to the session. It was already extremely difficult to find babysitters for that session, but this made it impossible. Although Jordan was supposed to go up just before the adult session for a priesthood leadership meeting (with the conference center an hour away, there wouldn't have been time for him to go to that and come home so I could go to the adult session), Jordan suggested that I just go to the adult session and he would stay home. It was a beautiful session and when I came home I found that he had folded the mountain of 2 weeks worth of laundry, done the dishes, bathed the girls and had the entire house clean and tidy. He is super man and the man of my dreams.

While getting Lily ready for stake conference this morning, I asked how she wanted me to do her hair, and suggested "ballerina hair" (a high bun), to which she replied, "No, that's just like having a building on top of my head!" She looked at me funny while I had to sit down from laughing so hard, she hadn't said to it be funny, it was simply how she felt.

During stake conference Lucy fell asleep on the hard wood floor - crazy girl.

At dinner time I gave the girls a side of strawberries. We've always had a difficult time getting Lucy to eat fruits and she NEVER eats veggies although I still put them on her plate everyday. Tonight she proclaimed,  "strawberries help me grow big! Not peas. Peas make me grow small." Nice try little Lucy. I know she's a smartie, today when we were decorating mini cupcakes, and she had already had her share, she told me that she wanted one for her baby. I thought it was sweet and told her she could give one to her baby doll. She walked 1 foot away from the table with the cupcake in hand when she said, "My baby no like cupcake. I eat it for her.". Oh dear. One impression I had felt during the adult session of stake conference was that when Lucy is a teenager, she will benefit greatly from doing family history work. I know all kids would benefit, but I felt that will be one of the keys to helping Lucy stay close to the family and the gospel.

Tonight after the girls had been in bed for an hour, Lily came out of her room with tears in her eyes. Jordan asked her what was wrong and she said, "I just keep lying in my bed, worrying and worrying about things, like Baby Elephant breaking." We hugged her, reminded her that we, her Savior and her Heavenly Father love her and she doesn't need to worry. We started to play the happy game and when it was her turn she said, "I'm happy that my mom knows everything!". Umm... no pressure. I was actually thinking just yesterday that I feel like I'm faking this whole parenting thing. At least I have my 4 year old fooled.

Good Friday - Indy Zoo

I love living in Indiana - where Good Friday is considered a holiday and Jordan didn't have to go into work. Lily declared it Baby Elephants birthday and requested that we take her to the zoo to see her friends - Jordan called to see if there were any discounts available and talked them down on the membership so that it was only a little bit more for a year's membership than it was for our family to go once. Sold. 

We brought the stroller out of hibernation and the girl's were eager to show it how much they had missed it during the winter. 

As always, the penguins were one of the biggest hits of the day for all of us. Lucy walked away in tears only because she didn't understand why the zoo keepers were able to be in there with the penguins and she couldn't. 

The butterfly garden was the next top hit - although we didn't stay long because of the heat in the gardens. Of course, the dolphin show was the next big hit for the girls. 

RWARRRR!

In the end we convinced Lily to leave Baby Elephant at home (we don't know what kind of therapy Lily will need if we ever loose Baby Elephant). 

Easter 2014

Easter Egg dying and decorating - Lily kept repeating, "This is the best day ever!". She made one for each person in her family, one for baby elephant and one for our friend, baby Elise. They lasted a few days before they started to stink and we had to toss them. Until then, Lily and Lucy loved to cradle their eggs. 

Jordan did the Easter basket purchasing this year and I think he did a stellar job. He even was sweet and purchased a "Princess Adventure" book - a collection of stories of the princesses on adventures. He knew when he bought it that we would be reading and rereading the stories over and over - but this is what makes him such a great pink daddy - he bought the book because he knew it would make the girls giddy. 

With our having to leave for church at 7:30 am put a damper on the Easter egg hunt and baskets - after church we went for a walk down to the pond, but right before we walked out the door, Jordan needed to use the "restroom" - the girls and I waited downstairs while Jordan hid the eggs and brought out the Easter baskets so that when we came back from our walk, Surprise! The Easter bunny had come while we were gone!

The Easter egg hunt was extremely noncompetitive. Each Lucy and Lily took their time getting the eggs. Lily chose to open each egg after finding it - Lucy soon caught on and started to round up the eggs as fast as she could - while Lily really didn't care that her little sister collected more eggs than herself.  

Of course as soon as the eggs were all found, the next important task was to read half the stories in the book - while Lucy sneakily ate all the candy in her eggs. 

Brown County Tree Watch

There was a howling and gnashing of teeth coming from the girl's bedroom the morning of our first spring family hike. I went to go check on the commotion and found both of the girls on the floor crying, their whole world in shambles. What happened is simply that Jordan put his foot down and told them that they were not allowed to wear skirts or dresses on the family hike. They were ready to stage a full on revolt on that decree until Jordan reminded them that they could get candy once in the car. They still weren't happy about wearing their darling pink shorts, but they put them on. 

After how many visits we made to the state parks last year we decided it would be worth it to just buy the annual pass this time around. The closest is Brown County, just a 15 minute drive from our house with several camping sites, 10 different walks and several playgrounds, pools, picnic areas, ect. We decided that we are going to stop at this look-out spot each time we go to watch the trees change from now until the end of autumn. 

7 months pregnant

There are 2 different .75 mile easy hikes here that we love, each involving bodies of water. Of course, with the munchkins, a .75 mile hike takes 1.5 hours to complete! 

When I asked Lucy what her favorite part of the hike was, she exclaimed, "rocks and sticks." - Lily loved the butterfly and the playground we found at the end of the hike. 

Jordan showing the girls some little tadpoles. 

Post-hike crash

March 2014

The park is always more fun with friends- and of course we usually stay longer if I have an adult to keep me company as well.

"Leave me alone." I never know with Lucy, sometimes she loves to have me play with her and sometimes, she tells me the above statement with quite a bit of spunk (it's not called "attitude" until they are teenagers, right?)

sword fighting in the park.

Lily is my little helper - she loves to "surprise" me in the mornings by getting dressed, brushing her teeth, getting her shoes, jacket and preschool bag without my having to ask her. I can now ask her to help Lucy do things such as get her shoes and socks on. I feel like Lucy is more cooperative with Lily sometimes than with me. Other times she refuses to let anyone but me help her. 

Yet more dancing pictures. 

Lily's arabesque 

Lucy's arabesque

Taking their bow at the end of the performance. 

April Showers

I almost feel everybody who didn't spend a childhood in Seattle, Washington is missing out. I love the rain. Not cold winter rain, because we didn't get too much of that in Seattle. I love to walk in the rain, listen to the rain, I love falling asleep to thunderstorms. This might be due to walking to and from school in Washington in rain or shine - there was nothing else to do but learn to love it. One can stay inside and mop or just go outside and play anyways. I wish I could give this to my children - but at least there have been plenty of spring rain storms and we go outside to play in them every chance we get. 

Lucy likes to pretend to be afraid of snakes. At least I think it's pretend. Here she is talking about an imaginary "snake" that is blocking her way. The nose crinkle face is new and adorable. 

Following the leader. And yes, sticks are a necessary part of playing in the rain to these girls. Sticks and rocks are important every time we step outside. 

Lucy always makes sure everyone gets one of her outside "treasures".

Lucy's classic "cheese" face. 

We found a muddy swamp and turned it into a witch's potion. Here Lily is casting her "pink spell". 

I don't know what to do with soggy leaves either Goose. 

Girl's week in California

After Columbus's worst winter in 30 years (the area made it onto this year's top 10 worst winter cities list!) - by February we were more than ready to head over to the land of eternal spring and spend a week in the sunshine with my favorite people. 

Waking the girl's up at 5:30 am wasn't exactly fun, nor was trying to keep an eye on them during a 3 hour layover in the very busy and crowded Vegas airport. However, the end was very much worth the means. 

Lily was beyond excited to have playmates around 24/7! Plus she got to sleep at the top of the bunk bed. I slept in the bottom bunk and Lucy slept in the pack 'n' play. We tried to get Lily to sleep with Laney and Cali in Eli's room, but she said she just wanted to be with me. I don't know if it was the excitement of the bunk bed or being in a new place made her a little nervous, but she stuck to her decision the whole week despite it bringing Laney and Cali to tears. It was probably for the best anyways since Lily and Lucy never really adjusted to pacific time, and woke up between 4am-5am each morning (lucky me). 

Lily couldn't get over being able to go outside in the backyard whenever she wanted! No jackets needed either! "I'm going to go play in the sunshine!" And they loved the beautiful weeds that grew along the sidewalks, they collected each and everyone they saw. 

Laney was very patient with Lily and Lucy, even letting Lily color in her frozen coloring book. 

The ride to the beach! Lily would have been happy with just the car ride. Someone to play figurines with and Tess packed them a "snack pack" - a zip lock baggie with craisens and string cheese. Not too different from the snacks that I pack her, but these were together and called "a snack pack" - she thought Tess was the best Aunt ever for doing this. After returning home Lily continued to comment at how wonderful that was and told me, "I wish you were more like Aunt Tess!". Of course she was currently in the car eating a granola bar I had packed for her in my purse, but it wasn't a "snack pack" so it wasn't cool enough. 

"Waves!"

The crew!

I was so proud of Lily - last year she cried for 30 minutes about being afraid of the moving water and had to have her back turned to the ocean for the remainder of our beach stay. This year she decided to be brave and try something new. And she found that she loved the ocean - I had to drag her away from it when I noticed that it was getting too cold from the chilly breeze. 

Lily during last year's visit

All 4 of these girls are extremely different. However, one thing they all have in common is their love for mermaids. 

Lily and her Granny!

Lucy shows her love for birds by chasing them. 

Enjoying the sunshine

The girl's after last year's visit to the farmers market

This year Eli was big enough to hold his own flower! Such a little stud!

There were moments of tears, especially since bed times were late, wake ups were early and nap times were missed. 

We were able to help celebrate Eli's 2nd birthday during our visit! A bubble gun is always a hit!

Lily and Cali helped Eli put together his new train set :)

Pre-church beauties!

Lucy loves to collect sticks and rocks. 

Granny and her ipad were quite popular

I loved loved loved spending time with Tess, her family and my mom, but we also missed Jordan who wasn't able to come with us due to being busy at work. Lily asked several times over the weeks following our visit, "why didn't we choose to live in California?" And, "when are we going back!?". 

The flight home went a little better, due to the new toys I brought for them to play with (Jake figurines and fairy figurines), along with their exhaustion and only having a 1 hour layover in the Vegas airport.