Tis the Season

This was the basic message of the lesson I taught today. I showed this at the end of the lesson. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I have. I also love this song.

To watch the video click here

Shadow Dancing

Nice Noelle

Because all goats need help walking. You might have to watch it twice to get the real effect. Look closely.

Naughty Noelle

I sure hope she likes it, because it will be there for a couple of days I'm sure.

You Know It!

Today, as with every other day, Noelle got a little sad as I was brushing her hair (apparently too hard) and the following conversation ensued.
Noelle - "I want my Daddy." (crying)
Mom - "Why do you want Dad? Don't you know I'm the coolest?"
Noelle - "Oh."

Crying stopped and all was right with the world for two seconds.

*Noelle always wants which ever parent is not currently home. Always.

Thoughts on a Christmas Card

Well its time to send out Christmas cards and I'm already a week behind. This is the one time of year that I make a special effort for people who we don't talk to regularly and spend a little more than postage on them all.

This year there won't be glitter and cutting and ribbon. I'll just be happy to get the stamps on them. The hard part this year was getting a decent picture. We barely did and boy am I glad I didn't spend big bucks on a professional after the experience we had.

Here are some of the losers that will give you an idea of our time spent taking pictures.

Auntie said that Noelle can sometimes be a tool and boy was she right. Needless to say, we didn't make it to McDonald's for ice cream after.

Halloween Recap

We had a great, easy Halloween. Noelle had decided early on in October that she would be a black widow spider. Boo and I started discussing how we would go about making a spider costume that was really cool without being too expensive. We also looked at spider costumes online and decided they were to cheesy. Then a miracle happened. Like any other three year old, Noelle changed her mind. She was now going to be Cinderella and a spider. After many attempts at explaining that you can only be one or the other she decided on Cinderella with tap shoes. (curses on those tap shoes). I nixed the tap shoes for trick-or-treating, however for the school costume day she insisted. I figured why not let someone else suffer those tap shoes for a couple hours.

We started our Halloween week celebrations with some classic sugar cookies. I learned not to mess with a good thing. I altered the cookie recipe and was sorely disappointed. But as you can see, Noelle and her friend didn't mind.

Noelle's friend showed up ready to get her cookie on. She also brought an apron for Noelle.

Cinderella getting ready for school.

Watch out Miss America, Noelle's been practicing her wave.

This is the Riff-Raff. Captain America is my favorite and the giant fairy wings that nearly took out an eye.

This is the best picture for featuring the tap shoes and the static cling of Noelle's dress. She's going to need therapy for this picture.

This is Noelle's friend Dyllan L. She can't say his name without also saying his last name. Its pretty funny. She always tells me about him when I pick her up.

Halloween Night! Cinderella and a purple dragon.

Noelle was afraid of this house and she thought it had a stinky smell. (fog)

Viva Las Vegas

We took a weekend trip to Las Vegas so that we could cheer on the Utes at the Utah vs. UNLV football game. Thanks to our good friends the Stringhams we had a weekend filled with golf, a tiny bit of shopping, beading, swimming and a three day playdate for Noelle and Trey. The babies did great at the game, all things considered.

TRADITION! Cookies at the condo are one of the traditions we have. Yum!

Noelle playing hopscotch in her PJs.

Swimming

Check out the Riff-Raff

Noelle and Sydney sporting their "Go Utes" sweaters.

Thanks to Grandma Nay for making them so they would have matching.

Sydney's sweater was a group effort. :) Ask me why I ever even try knitting anything.

No Shame

I've entered Noelle into a photo contest. Its not even the first time I've done it and I don't feel bad either. She's cute and our last entry was a success coming in at second place. In this contest I'll take top 20.

If you're willing to go through the trouble of creating a log in for yourself we'd love any and all to participate in the voting. You can vote daily. I can think of at least five people that will join me on this daily quest. Thanks to all five of you even if we don't win.

Click here to go to the voting page

Baby Girl ID: 102066115

By the way, I think these pictures are pretty awesome, even if they didn't make the cut! Also not bad for setting up a sheet in the corner of my bedroom so I could have good afternoon light. Hobo home studio.

Also, as if Noelle's pictures weren't enough, look at her sister. This girl melts my heart.

FHE

I guess the time has come to officially start, or at least try to have Family Home Evenings. We've done small things and called it such, but last night we really gathered together and talked about good things and tried to keep it simple for Noelle. Boo even had a game that was simple enough for her to play. All in all, it was a disaster. She was terrible. Running around the house, literally rolling around on the floor and throwing pillows at her sister. Boo and I kept looking at each other with a very clear understanding of expressions. "We're doomed." I wasn't sure if I should laugh or cry. I think I did a little of both, seriously. Our whole experience may have lasted all of ten minutes. We both kept thinking about Elder Bednar's talk in conference about how FHE went in their house. We even laughed a little.
The only saving grace was that this morning, while in the shower Noelle asked me if I remembered that we had FHE last night. It opened up a little discussion about it, she thought it was fun, couldn't remember anything we had tried to teach her, but knew it was FHE. So here's to hoping that next week we have a little less running around and flailing limbs and that she learns something.

UPDATE: Noelle has been asking to play family home evening. I told her we will do it again on Monday. She doesn't know when Monday will come, but boy oh boy is she ever excited.

Summer's End

We bid a fond farewell to the summer in New England by visiting its shores, our family, our friends and the places that we love so much. We even felt cold at times. It was delightful.

Noelle at Scarborough Beach, ME - She was the only brave one to go in the water from our group. It was frigid.
Ian enjoyed the delicious desserts at the Pop Over Cafe in Portsmouth, NH.

We found a cute yarn shop, which I bought red yummy yarn for a sweater for Sydney. Turned out cute. Maybe I'll post it sometime. Noelle couldn't make a normal smiling face to save her life.

We built "temples" with blocks at Great Grammy's house. Noelle was just aching to knock it down, which she did after we took the picture.

Noelle and Boo at the Clam Shack near Two Lights State Park, ME.

Stone Chairs with the whole family.

Noelle on the stone chair. Can't remember the name of this lighthouse, but its now privately owned.

Ferry boat ride through Casco Bay, ME. We stopped at a few of the islands, saw some wild life and then had a delightful seafood lunch afterwards.

Sydney Smiles! Sebago Lake, ME

Noelle and Cousin Andrea floating in the tube at Sebago Lake, ME

She was so happy to be outside for ten days straight.

Sydney in her new sun hat, ala $.50!

Family Fun Day/ BBQ.

Boo and some law school friends. We went to Boston for our good friends' wedding and got to see people from the past. They couldn't believe we had two kids. My how time flies.

Boo and Rach at the wedding.

Thanks D for the scarf. It saved my life.

Noelle, Sydney & Lauren. These girls were loving "baby sister" - I'm not sure

she could say the same about them. Also, once again Noelle couldn't just smile, she had to flex her huge muscles instead.

Noelle Update

So to be equal opportunity here I must post updates for both girls so that they don't need as much counseling when they're older.

Noelle started preschool. She likes it. She won't tell me what they do there or what they talk about, but she's happy to go and is happy when I pick her up. She's very excited to be going on a trip in a few days to see her Great Grammy and Great Papa, and her regular Grammy and Papa will be there with us too. She's been very full of funny stories lately and one of them has to do with a monkey that poops either on a glass slipper or on Uncle Daniel, just depends on the day.

On this particular day she came in and told me she was going to be a "gymmastic." I corrected her and said, "A gymnast?" She said, "No Mom, a gymmastic." She then asked if I'd take her picture and told me she would smile "like this." And she did.

Notice that her leotard is inside out and backwards.
Here she's playing in the water fountains at the water tower in downtown Gilbert. Its a new favorite spot that has great food and people like to walk around and hang out. Noelle was very concerned that she didn't have her swim suit. We told her it was fine to just play in her clothes and that we would take them off before we got in the car. It took her a minute to realize we were serious.

Sharing her special pink silky blanket with Sydney.

Playing dress ups with some of the new bling from Aunt Kati.

Sydney Update

The only update is that she's still pretty cute, oh and she's starting to smile, but I couldn't capture it on camera because I'm too slow and I can't make funny faces and talk like a moron and take pictures all at the same time. Sorry I'm just not that cool.

A half smile - she and I look very similar as babies and if I ever get my scanner to work again I'll show you the proof.

A favorite dress; my favorite because its cute, Boo's favorite because its not pink.