Gingerbread Houses

A couple weeks ago we made a gingerbread house for the first time in our family.  The girls had a lot of fun doing it, and I think more candy went into their mouths than on the house.  Here's the finished results:

Princess M also go invited to a Christmas Tea Party this year, where they made their own little gingerbread (or graham cracker) houses. 

 

Now we just need to help Banana Girl understand why she can't just go eat them whenever she wants. 

Princess M goes Barber on me

Last week, after being thoroughly scolded for using her scissors on her toys, and having her scissors confiscated, Princess M found mine and decided to fix her "bangs in her face" problem for both herself and her little sister. 

She actually cut a fairly straight line, since she cut them off all the way up to the hairline, so I haven't tried to "fix" it at all.  Besides, what can you really do, besides just keep their hair pulled back for the next couple months. 

So I guess, Banana Girl now has had her first haircut.  She definitely didn't need it yet, and she lost some of her beautiful curls in the back, but I tried to find a lock or two on the floor that I could save for her scrapbook.  She's had a hard enough time growing the hair that she does have.  Now she looks more like a boy than ever.    I'm going to have to dress her in pink everyday.

When sisters find the camera

Gila Valley

We did it!!  We finally got out to visit our new temple.  New in that we just moved to the area, and new in that this temple didn't exist when we lived here last.  Although it's a 2 hour drive to The Gila Valley Temple here is southern Arizona, it's still closer than the 3 hour drive to Mesa that we used to have to make.  Close enough to do in one day, without being completely exhausting.  What we used to do is stay with my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Sue in Mesa for the weekend to break up the drives a bit.  And you know, we probably will continue to do that quite a bit still, just because we love visiting them so much.  Be expecting a call from us soon, Wayne & Sue. 

But it was still very nice to visit the new temple and feel the Spirit there.  It's a beautiful temple, very small, and yet just as majestic as all the other temples I've been to.  It always feels like coming home whenever I get a chance to visit the temple.  No matter if I've ever been in that particular temple before or not.  The love of our Heavenly Father is so strong there.  I feel so grateful to live relatively close to a temple, that we can visit on a regular basis.  And I'm very grateful to our friends, the Harrises for watching our kids for us, so that we were able to attend.  It's truely been a very spiritually fulfilling week. 

Thanksgiving 2010

This year we felt very blessed for Thanksgiving.  Despite having just moved here, and not really knowing very many people, we actually got two invitations for Thanksgiving dinner.  The first came from our neighbor, Miss Roberta, a very dear old lady who has taken us in and become like a grandparent to our little girls.  She invited us to have lunch with her and her family at Golden Coral.  We had a great time, and tried to pace ourselves on the food, knowing we had another dinner to attend at 6:00.

The second invitation came from our dear friends, the Harrises, who we've known for a very long time, and we're very happy to be living in the same town with again.  Desi and her family put on an amazing spread, that was both delicious and beautiful.  We felt very lucky to be in attendance, and had a great time with them. 

Here's me with my girls (and pumpkin pie) on Thanksgiving.

 

While playing with all the kids, Alex started this story about how the Winnie the Pooh bear, that our 2 year old was playing with, was really a secret undercover dark lord syth, or something to that effect.  The story took quite the hold of the rest of the evening and blossomed into a saga.  Here's the youngest Harris showing off Dark Lord Pooh with his newly fashioned black cape.

This year in preparation for Thanksgiving, and inspired by the many gratitude talks in the last General Conference, we began a new tradition that will hopefully last throughout the year and not just this month.  After sitting down to dinner, and before saying our blessing on the food, every person at the table has to say one thing that they are thankful for.  This is something my family always did before the Thanksgiving feast my entire life, but we were hoping to make happen more than just once a year. 

At first we wrote everything down every night in a "Gratitude Journal" and the first couple nights all the "big" bases were covered (i.e. family, gospel, home, food, etc.)  However, as the days progressed (and we lost the journal) it evolved a bit.  Now we still say what we're thankful for each night, but it's more a review of that particular day and something specific that we are thankful for that day, like making cookies, or climbing trees, or feeling the baby kick.  And not only do we say what we're thankful for at the table, but we're being sure to thank Heavenly Father in our dinner prayer for every thing that was mentioned that night (no matter how silly it may sound to thank Heavenly Father for My Little Ponies.) 

At first it seemed a little contrived and trite, and honestly, the tradition probably wouldn't have made it, had Princess M not really loved it and reminded us to do it every night.  But now, I LOVE it!!!  At the close of each day, we all have a chance to think over our day, count our blessings, and discuss them with each other dinner.  I've already noticed how my daughters (even my 2 year old) are more aware of their blessings and thankful for them.  A couple times this week, Princess M has stopped in the middle of playing or watching a movie, and turned to me to tell me something that she is thankful for.  It's very humbling to see how she is internalizing Thanksgiving this year.  I'm very grateful to her for her role in establishing this dinner tradition.  I hope it sticks forever. 

We have so much to be thankful for!  There is no way I could even begin to name the blessings that my Father in Heaven has extended to me.  I only hope that I can learn to be more appreciative and find ways to show that appreciation in turn by sharing those blessings with others.  I love Thanksgiving for its yearly reminder of how ungrateful I really am.  And I'm grateful that God has called prophets in our day to guide us, and to help us recognize God in our lives, and know how we can be more grateful children.  I pray for help in bringing His Spirit more into my life; so I may be reminded of how blessed I am, guided in raising my family, strengthening my weaknesses, and used as a tool to bless others by His directions.  Maybe then will I be able to even begin to truly show my gratitude and not just voice my "Thank You." 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Even Better

Ok, so I know I just posted a picture nearly exactly like this one, but if falling asleep during a meal is cute, sleeping while eating at the same time is even better.

She was so exhausted, and yet so hungry as well.  You can't really see it in a picture but get this.  Without once opening her eyes, she would bob her head, fall asleep, Alex would touch the food to her lips, she would open up, chew the food, and resume sleeping.  It went on for about 10 minutes.  It was great.  We tried to get it on video, but I'm not sure we got it working in time.  Bummer. 

Other Randomness from the week

We had some fun painting our toesies in a rainbow of fall/thanksgiving colors.  (Thank you to Rachael for the photo choreographing idea; although I wish we had turned off the flash.)

 I don't know why I think it's soooo cute when they fall asleep in the middle of a meal. 

 Alex's brother generously sent us a new computer this week, carefully packed in PINK packing peanuts.  Princess M thought they were the most wonderful thing she had ever seen.  Feeling in a generous mood, I allowed the girls to play in the mounds of peanuts.  Here's Banana Girl "swimming" in them.

 They really had a ball, but the cleanup was a real beast!  I don't think we'll be doing that again.

Here's my beautiful princesses in their fancy Sunday dresses, that I finally go them to wear today!

 You know they make these dresses so adorable, but I can never get my kids to wear them, because they get doomed with the verdict of "Scratchy" on the inside.  The only way I could get my girls to keep them on today was to let them wear a knit t-shirt/onesie underneath to stop the scratchies.  Princess M had to wear a shirt and skirt underneath the outfit to make it acceptable to wear. 

And finally, just a few fun pictures I love that show some princess personalities:

RIP

The other day we finally held our funeral services for our decapitated toys.  Here are the girls in their black veils ready for the service.

 It ended up being a double funeral, since in the time between Sweetie Bell's demise and the service, poor Mulan also suffered ungluable decapitation at the hands of our other daughter. 

 All the mourning toys arrived in proper black attire (ribbons). The service started with a prayer, several eulogies were said by the ponies attending, and the remains were laid to rest in the kitchen trash can.  Many hand-picked flowers adorned the event and were buried with the deceased(s).  The ponies had a party afterwards, complete with funeral potatoes, cake, and punch. 

Rest in Peace, Sweetie Bell and Mulan!  We're remember you always.  (Especially now that you are immortalized on this blog.)

The Lord Giveth, and the Lord Taketh Away

This past thursday was Princess M's 5th birthday.  She got to spend the morning with her friends while Alex and I went on our trip to Mexico to sonogram the baby.  So her first gift of the day (besides the cookies she received at our friends' house) was the knowledge of a baby sister on the way.  She jumped for joy, for she so wanted another girl. It was late afternoon when we finally got home from that adventure, so Alex took the kids swimming, while I quickly prepared the rest of her birthday festivities.  On the evening's agenda was a fantastic crepe dinner, followed by a "rainbow, spider, barbie cake" (by request: she couldn't decide between princesses and halloween for the theme,) and of course opening presents.  We took quite a few pictures of the festivities for all to enjoy:

Princess M brought me a Barbie Movie (Magic of Pegasus) and wanted Barbie's "Most Beautiful Hairdo" for her birthday.  This was my best effort to mimic the animated hairdo.

All of M's spider rings adorn this barbies skirt.

Crepes were on the menu: both dinner (i.e. broccoli & cheese) and dessert (fruit and creme.)  They were fantastic.

Princess M, about to blow out her candles.

The large exciting present of the evening.

Banana Girl modeling another of one of M's gifts.  She had a hard time accepting that it was not her birthday too.

However, like it so often does, tradgedy struck soon after the celebration in M's world.  The very next day, M was playing too rough with her new mini my little pony, Sweetie Belle, and snapped her head clean off.  After a whole weekend of intensive care (and a lot of super glue that was just not enough for the poor pony) she was declared officially dead at 8:05 pm this evening.  To help the poor grieving family/owner cope with the loss, I was appointed to be the funeral home director and prepare for the upcoming funeral tomorrow (it was too late to do it tonight due to one little girl being up past her bedtime.)  So out came my crafting skills to create an appropriate casket to carry our poor deceased friend safely to the land of all dead toys (the kitchen trashcan, and thus to the dump.)  Here's a picture of the body all laid out in the casket, ready for the services to be held tomorrow. 

We'll be sure to update you all on the funeral soon.  Stay tuned.

Trip to Mexico

 Alex and I took a trip to Mexico this morning.  We parked on the USA side, walked across, went into a building about a block away, stayed over and hour, and then turned around and left back to the States.  Why you might ask?  Well for one reason: they have a great and  inexpensive radiologist there. 

It was really a lot of fun.  The radiologist took his time inspecting the baby from every angle and talking to us the whole time about what they are looking for and why and how they can rule out the scarier genetic disorders by what they see in the ultrasound.  It was really comforting to watch him examine our baby and say "No Down Syndrome.....No spina bifida....No hydrocephalus..."  Everything looked perfect, healthy, growing well and just as it should be.  Not to mention the ultrasound machine had the clearest, decipherable picture, I have ever seen with my pregnancies.  I could actually tell what I was looking at the whole time, and really enjoyed seeing my baby from all angles.  Alex said that the actual screen was even better (I was watching a tv to the side.)  It was a lot of fun.   I chose a nice facial shot to post here, although it doesn't show the body very well. 

And of course, what we all want to know:

Yep, that's right.  We've got a 99% assurance that we'll be welcoming another beautifull little princess to our family.  We already pretty much know her name too.  It's been picked out since Banana Girl was named.  Quite a change for us, since we couldn't decide on names for either of our first princesses until we had to write something down on the birth certificates.  (Of course if it had been a boy, we already have a name picked out for him too.  We're very prepared this go around.  But that name will have to wait for a future child.)  It's very nice not to have to say, "it" or "the baby" anymore.  It seems so much more personal to refer to her as "her" and "she." 

On top of that it was also Princess M's 5th birthday today!!!  But that's for another post when I get the pictures downloaded.  Suffice it to say that it's been a very fun, very busy day for all. 

Do's all around

Alex was gone all week on a trip to Alaska with his job last week.  To celebrate his homecoming on Friday we all got dressed up with fancy hairdos before heading to the airport. 

Here's Princess M new do: a sort of french twist covered in hair loops sporting a brand new flower clip.

This is a very momentous occation for Banana Girl.  This is her first hair do EVER!!!  (At the airport I slipped 2 little ladybug clips onto the piggies just before Alex showed up.  She wouldn't keep them in very long, but they sure were cute while they lasted.)  Up to this time her hair has been too short (or nonexistant) to do anything with at all; except for the beautiful curls at the nape of her neck.  So to avoid the mullet look, we just didn't do anything with her hair.  But finally, after 2 years of waiting, her hair will pull into baby pigtails.  Horray!!  Look out, Mamma has some fun hair time coming with this little one.

 Another momentous occation to note.  I let Princess M do my hair for the first time.  She was very creative, and very proud of her work when she was done.  It pulled a little, and there were some bugging fly aways around my face, but I managed to keep the do in all day long until after she went to bed that night.  She probably says the same thing about my hairdos.  ;)

Halloween 2010

Well, here they are, just a little late: our Halloween Pictures.  With Halloween being on a Sunday this year, we didn't do much on the actual 31st except for make a special dinner full of fun spooky treats including dinner in a pumpkin, bandaged hot dog fingers, deviled eyeballs, and my favorite meaty skull to go with crackers and cheese (sorry no pics of it though.)

 Kids did their trick or treating the night before at the Church's Trunk or treat party.  It was a whole stake event so they came home with PLENTY of candy for sure.  We also ran into some old friends we haven't seen in over 4 years at the event, so it was really nice for all.  Alex had fun with the kids carving our two pumpkins (a cat and some hearts) for the night.  I thought we took some pictures of it, but I guess not.

I love the look of glee on their faces as they eat the candy! 

M the Mermaid has adopted this pose as her standby for anything princessy, complete with tilted head, standing on one foot, hand wave, and the pointed toes.  If you say, "Say Cheese" she strikes the signature pose.

 

"Trick or Treat!!!"

Movie Critic

Princess M had just finished watching a movie when the following conversation took place:

Mom:  M, so what movie did you watch?
M: Monsters vs Aliens.
Dad: Who won this time?
M: Monsters...again!
Dad: Well, when are the Aliens going to win?
M: Never, the monsters always win.
Mom: That doesn't seem fair.
Dad: Yeah, the monsters should learn to share and let the Aliens win now and then...
M: Daaaaddd.
Dad: Would you like playing a game with someone who never lets you win...
M: Daaaaddd.
Dad: Shouldn't the Aliens get a chance to win and destroy the world sometime?
M: DAD!  But then it would be PG13!

And there you have it.

Belated Birthdays

Banana Girl and Alex share a birthday, which just happened to be the Saturday that we moved to Sierra Vista.  As a result, although not forgotten, their birthday did get severely neglected and pretty much ignored for over a week until we were settled in a bit.  Here are some pic from the birthday party, when we finally got around to celebrating.

Here's them blowing out the candles: 2 for Banana Girl turning 2, and a token one for Alex.

Banana Girl definitely figured out the whole opening presents talent this year.

Happy Birthday my darling 2 year old and my dearest husband!  Sorry for the delay this year.