Spring Break

Chris was able to have time off during the girls' spring break again this year, which was so nice. We wanted to take a little trip somewhat close to home, so we rented a cabin for a few days in Indiana. For the first night, we left the girls with my parents and had our first overnight away since Kate was born. It was such a treat to have some time alone. Then we picked the girls up and had two great nights as a family. The weather was rainy, but we had a blast spending time in the hot tub, playing the wii, watching movies, playing games, and just enjoying one another's company away from all of our usual responsibilities. The last night that we were there, my parents joined us for a little barbecue and mallow roast. It was such a nice little vacation. Sigh.

The hot tub was great. All three of the girls loved it. Chris and I did too.

Morgan and Rachael playing the wii. We all did our fair share of wii playing this trip. The game of choice: Harry Potter Years 1-4. Chris and I may or may not have stayed up late each night playing this game so that we could earn coins, characters and spells 'for the girls'. The sacrifices we make for our children...

Kate in the Wiggles Zone. We brought along the portable DVD player for the drive, along with a few of Kate's favorite Wiggles videos. She loves the Wiggles. -We discovered the Wiggles when Morgan and Rachael were very young. They enjoyed them, but Kate truly loves them. She will sit mesmerized, dance along, and then sit some more. On this trip, Kate learned how to open the DVD player and turn on the Wiggles herself. She is 18 months old. Oh boy.

Roasting mallows. For some reason, this never gets old.

Grandpa, Rachael, Morgan and Daddy in the hot tub.

Just For Fun

One Saturday in March, it was sunny and quite pleasant. The girls decided to eat lunch on the deck. They didn't want to eat at the table, so they moved their chairs together. The fun thing was that Kate just thought she was so grown up, eating out there with Morgan and Rachael. She laughed and babbled with them and had such a great time, I just had to take a picture.

And the Winnder Is...

I really love St. Patrick's Day. I know it is one of the smaller, less significant holidays, but it is still so much fun. Many see it as an excuse to get plastered. As we abstain from alcoholic beverages, we celebrate in other ways. We wear green, eat green food, and even get a visit from the leprechaun who turns our milk green. It is quite fun. This year I purchased green shirts and made green hair bows for the girls. I was pretty excited to snap a picture for the old blog. The only problem was that only 2/3rds of the girls being photographed were in the mood to be photographed. It didn't help that we had to rush to get out the door to a dentist appointment before school...Kate was more interested in her toy phone than looking at the camera. Anyway, I couldn't find that one golden picture to post on the blog, so I thought I would let you choose.

#1
Naw. Kate is not even looking up...

#2
Definitely NOT. Kate is looking up this time... It does sort of look like I am torturing her though.

#3
Not so much... Looks like she still has not forgiven me for taking the previous picture.

#4
Just might be our best option. You can see that they are all in green and nobody is crying or giving the Stink Eye. What do you think?

Happy St. Patty's Day!

The Lip and Girl Power-Type Jammies

The Lip is a little trick that Morgan used to do when she was Kate's age. We would say, Hey Morgan, bring our lower lip over our upper lip, and then she would mimic us. It was really cute. We have a video of it somewhere...I just need to have Chris help me find it. Anyway, out of the blue, Kate just started doing The Lip. It was too funny. There has not been any rhyme or reason to when she will whip out The Lip. Sometimes she will just turn to us with the super cute lip face. Other times, we will try to get her to smile, and she will do The Lip instead. It makes me smile every time. On this particular occasion, I was trying to get her to smile, and out came the lip face.

The Bat-Girl jammies are one of her new favorite pairs of p.j.s to wear. Having all girls, we do not really get too into super heroes around here. I was shopping last week and these were on super-clearance at Old Navy. ($4! I had to get a pair because they were cheap and cute. I may or may not have purchased some pink Super-Girl jammies for the same price...in more than one size.) She LOVES these jammies. Obviously, she doesn't know about batman. (Morgan and Rachael do not even know about batman...) They are just so soft and comfortable. Furthermore, I think she likes the colors. Anyway, if she sees them in her bin of clothes or the dirty laundry basket, she brings them to me to put them on. *Chris also likes the baby pink and blue versions of the super heroes from his youth.*

Gospel Haiku

Recently, Morgan was given an assignment to write a story, a poem, or a play about the gospel. She opted to compose three haiku poems. With her permission, I am posting them for your reading pleasure.

*We helped her brainstorm and/or tweak a word or two to make the syllables match the pattern of the Haiku. However, most of the work was her own.*


Temple
Beautiful building
Our Heavenly Father's home
Eternal families


Baptism
Have faith and repent
Rise from the water perfect
Now I'll follow Christ


Eternal Families
Find Mister Perfect
Sealed for all eternity
Keep our covenants

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This year, we celebrated by having heart shaped food. For breakfast, we had pancakes with whipped cream in the shape of a heart on top. At school there were fun parties to be had with plenty of sugar in the shape of hearts. For dinner, I made teriyaki meatballs, rice balls in the shape of hearts, and green beans (since they are good for your heart). For dessert, we had a heart-shaped cake. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of said cake before we cut into it. It was a super-yummy butterscotch chocolate chip cake...we just couldn't wait. :) Here are some fun pics for you to enjoy!

Kate in her usual spot in the kitchen. I can't help taking her picture here...I have several on the computer and more than one or two on this here blog.

Morgan and Rachael at dinner.

The rice balls. They were fun. And good. Who doesn't want to eat rice in the shape of a heart?

Bookmarks

A few years ago when Rachael was in preschool, she colored a skinny slip of paper and proudly brought it home to me. I gushed over the simple art work, told her how much I loved it, and told her that it would make a perfect bookmark. For some reason, this idea of mom loving bookmarks stuck. She made me dozens upon dozens of bookmarks. I could not throw them away because if she saw them in the trash she would have been hurt. I began tucking them away in my top drawer because I could not think of a better place to keep them. I also made sure that she knew I was using one of her bookmarks whenever I was reading. She made me so many that I eventually had to start slipping some of the older ones deep into the recesses of the trash can so that she would not see.

As she has gotten older, she still occasionally brings me a bookmark she has made. The librarian at her school has a supply of bookmarks that she makes from old cards and thicker paper. The children are welcome to take a bookmark home with them if they like, and Rachael will often look through the pile and find one that she thinks I will like and bring it home to me. This simple gesture is one of the sweetest things that Rachael does for me. One way that Rachael shows love is to give a gift or trinket to someone. I know that when she brings me a bookmark, she is really saying, I love you mom.

One day last summer, Rachael made a bookmark holder for me out of envelopes. What a great idea! The envelopes make perfect pockets to store slips of paper inside. In addition to making said holder, she hung it up on an existing nail in the wall in my room, and she filled it full of the bookmarks that I have collected over the years.

As we celebrate love in February, I thought it fitting to post a picture my bookmark holder since the bookmarks were tokens of a sweet little girl's affection for her mother. This is truly one of my most treasured gifts.