Heidi & Luke

I'm behind with writing about my Sister Heidi's wedding reception October 20th. It was a very busy time for my family! We all did our part to help out - the benefit of a big family. I did all of Heidi's flowers and helped her in any other way that I could. Overall, I think things turned out elegant and classy. Above is the picture of the cake that my mom made...yep, she made it - and the dress too. I added the flowers to the cake for the final touches. It tasted as good as it looks!


Guest table. I think this arrangement was my favorite. I got to take it home afterwards to keep. I wish there was a close-up because I found this great red tinted greenery which made it fun. I also used cranberries to fill in the vases. It was amazing how much color that added.

The happy couple. Heidi and Luke actually went to High School together but didn't date until He served his mission over a year ago in Taiwan.

The family. It was fun to have my Aunt Ann, and cousin Karen with her family out for the reception. It was nice to visit with them - they were also a huge help with the reception.

Finishing touches before the reception. I wish I would've take some close ups of the flowers from the front. This is more of the side/back view. Heidi did a chocolate fountain too, which was kind of fun...messy, but fun.

Heidi and her bouquet.

The highlight of the whole reception had to have been all of the kids dancing, especially my five year old nephew, William. He was hilarious! He started doing semi-robotic, semi-hip hop dance moves. At one point we got the crowd clapping for him. He LOVED it. A few minutes later, there's William again, but on the stage bustin' a groove! I'm having trouble loading more pics but might add one of him later, as if it would do the whole thing justice though! Gotta love uninhibited kids!

Blogging Plug

Blogging is such the craze now. I personally like to blog for a few reasons: to post pics and updates for free to share with family and friends not close by, and also to keep a family history/record/journal of sorts. I also enjoying keeping up with people that I might not be great about corresponding with otherwise, by reading their blogs. I hope to copy Michelle and make a yearly book using blurb or mypublisher websites.

Anyway, blogging has been great for me. I've been thinking for a while about people I wish would blog or at least blog more. Funny thing is, recently a few of those people are doing just that....Cheryl, Nora, & Heidi. I aslo recently stumbled across a friend from HS, Amelia's blog.

People who I think might enjoy blogging or at least I'd enjoy it if they were blogging:
My friends from HS: Cheryl, Nora, Asna, Kelly, my sis Heidi, my SIL Vanessa, my cousins Karen, Laura, Gma Patty, my friends Melissa R., Rebecca S., etc.

There are lots more but this is just a start. Start a blog today!

Can I just say...

I LOVE BABY ELISE! I'm not the biggest fan of newborns. Yes, they are very sweet and provide many tender moments of awe and amazement...However, they cry a lot, are hard to read and don't fill your day with tons of smiles and giggles. Some of you might remember the days back in April or so when, as my friend Nora so affectionately puts it, I sounded "like I was going to kill [my]self". :) Those tough days are behind me and I can finally see myself possibly- in the distant, distant future, having more children.

Elise is 7 months old now. I think this is my absolute favorite baby stage. She's happy, learning, enjoying life, and can't get into everything yet!

What I love about Elise right now:

1. I love her chubby cheeked, dimpled filled smiles!
2. I love that she almost always wakes up happy, even if we have to wake her up early for some reason.
3. I love that she just laughs and laughs at her big sister.
4. I love that she laughs every time I pretend to nibble on her cheek or neck. It's a ritual for me now to nibble her chin or neck before I lay her down to sleep. With her eyes closed and binky in her mouth, I see, hear, and feel her giggling.
5. I love that she loves her momma. She looks for me and is happiest when with me. (Now, of course while this makes me feel special - it has it drawbacks too.)
6. I love how excited she is to learn new tricks. Recent tricks include: clapping hands, waving, scooting herself on her bottom on the slick kitchen floor, saying "momma", "dadda", "babba", pretend singing, putting her binky in her mouth turned the right way all by herself.
7. I love how I can wrap her up (still swaddling), lay her down and she'll go to sleep all by herself! I remember rocking and rocking Ava to sleep every day. Sometimes Elise needs more singing or for me to lie next to her, but for the most part she's out. She also sleeps more than Ava did - love that.
8. I love how good and happy she is at stores and other places usually, as long as she can watch and see what is going on.
9. I love that I can sit her down for a few minutes with a few toys, which she's enjoying banging together - cause & effect, and she's happy for long enough for me to get something done.
10. I'm loving that she's learning to feed herself - holding her bottle, stuffing cheerios and puffs into her mouth, trying to drink from a cup...
11. I love how chubby and full she feels. It's so fun to cuddle a baby that feels so healthy and robust.
12. I love how much she likes to watch our doggies. She'll reach out & pet them or laugh or smile when she sees one of them.
13. I love how her feet kick really fast when she's excited.
14. I love how even when her nose is running and you know she's sick, she's still fairly happy and in good spirits.
15. I LOVE that I get to be her mommy.

Recent Snapshots

Chris got Ava this cool cutting set from Melissa & Doug. Ava loves cutting so much we had to take it away so she'd go to sleep.

Here's Ava doing laps around the Jayhawk.

Mommy & Ava during our OKC visit.

Bunch of Pumpkins

Happiest Bear on the Block!

Twins?

I.CRY.EVERY.TIME.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index

Halloween Festivities

PLAYGROUP HALLOWEEN PARTY:
October was such a busy month! It was fun to enjoy some Halloween festivities. The first was our Playgroup's Halloween Party. As you can see above, Ava was not going to pose for a picture and Elise didn't have much choice.
The party was fun. They did a craft, coloring page, got to play with special orange dough and decorated cookies. I think Ava decorated about five cookies and ate probably 2 1/2. I brought our new parachute (got it at Costco for $14.99!) for the kids to play with.

CHURCH TRUNK-OR-TREAT:
On Tuesday, we went to the annual Trunk-or-Treat at church. I think the crowd was a bit lighter than previous years when it was held on Halloween night, but all the same, the kids had a good time.

So, our official costumes this year....we decided, actually it was Chris' idea, to go as Goldilocks & the Three Bears! We were thinking of having Ava go as a princess like Cinderella for a while. We knew Elise would be going as a bear since we had the costume when Ava was a baby.

I made Ava's costume (with LOTS of help from my friend Rebecca -thank you). It turned out really cute. I think I may be sewing more dresses in the future. On a side note, I bought some after Halloween sale costumes for dress-up and the quality is so poor compared to a handmade costume. I may have started a tradition of making costumes. Tune in next year to see if that sticks. I also made the ears, bow tie and bows so that we all coordinated. The saddest thing was when at least 4 different people at first thought we were mice. ;)

We had to hurry and teach Ava the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I actually found a cute British cartoon of the simplified story here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-goldilocks.htm We watched it several times and then checked out books from the library. Now she definitely knows who was sleeping in Baby Bear's bed.

Elise is so photogenic! She loves to smile for the camera.
Here's Ava with her little friend Payton the Giraffe. So cute!
Here are 4 of the 5 cousins: William the Ninja, Ava as Goldilocks, Elise the Bear, and Kate the Ladybug. Ava's other cousin, Ryan, went as Steve from Blue's Clues. We met up with him on Halloween night.

HALLOWEEN EVENING:
Since the Trunk-or-Treat was the night before Halloween, this left us time on Halloween to try something new...Trick-or-Treating Downtown. We had never been so didn't know what to expect. It got really busy towards the end and I don't know how many suckers and tootsie rolls she got - tons. It makes sense that they'd be giving out cheapy candy because of all of the trick-or-treaters. Sadly, most of this candy will end up going to charity (like Chris' workplace) or into the circular file.

Here's our little family. Ava really got the hang of trick-or-treating this year. She learned quickly to say, "Trick or Treat", and also usually remembered to say "Thank You!"
I like this picture, taken by my sis, Heidi, of Ava and Elise. We like to "beep" noses at our house. Ava must have thought Elise needed her nose "beeped".

After trick-or-treating downtown, we met up with family at my parents' house. Then, Ava and her cousin Ryan, went trick-or-treating for real, up and down my parents' street. They were so funny! First of all, Ava was trotting along in William's shoes (at least 2 sizes too big) because her other shoes hurt her feet. That didn't stop her. She and Ryan loved knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell. The only thing was that Ava would knock, knock, knock, knock, until someone answered the door...the same thing with holding the doorbell button down. She also wanted to grab the candy out of the bowl. After several houses, Halloween etiquette learned.

Overall, a fun week of Halloween.

It's Bunko Time!

Friday night, we had our now annual Halloween Bunko Party! First, I must mention the instigator of all of this bunko madness. Without Camie starting the Bunko tradition while she lived here just a few short years ago, none of this ever could've happened...so, a shout out to Camie!

This is the 2nd year I've hosted Bunko at my house. Thanks to Gaia for hosting with me this year. We had a great turnout, 20 people - that's FIVE tables of 4.

I had each person draw to see what costume they would wear, and had the costumes ready for them. The costumes this year included: Girls: cheerleader, cat, angel,

flapper, bunny, devil, punk girl, movie star, princess, and a Southern Belle. For the Guys: coach, pirate, cowboy, cop, rat, geek, clown, Jason, wizard and an ambiguous super hero.

I wish I would've taken a picture of the food. It was really yummy. I made my cheeseball with crackers, we had veggies and dip (thanks, Livia!), chex mix and punch (thanks, Gaia) and a chocolate fountain. Yumm. Dipping items inlcluded: pretzels, marshmallow, strawberries, bananas and peanut butter balls that I made. Those were my favorite! After everyone left, I dipped the rest of them in chocolate and put them in my fridge. Better than Reeces if you ask me. I then shared them with my visiting teachees.

If you want to see more pics, you can visit Livia's or Sammy's blogs. I'm not pictured in the group photo I posted but am in Livia and Sammy's. I couldn't leave out our Bishop's wife.

By the way, our bishop had the highest score. He also told me that he reads some of our blogs. So way to go, Bishop! (now you have to leave a comment!)
Thanks to everyone for making it a great party!

Art Class & Pumpkins

We enrolled Ava in an Art Class for 2-3 year olds through our Parks and Rec dept. Tonight was the 2nd time for the class. Ava LOVES getting messy and being creative. It's so fun to see your child go for it in a new environment. I think every house needs a messy room like this art room - somewhere you can just be creative and not worry about paint on clothes and furniture, etc. (On a side note - one mom got splattered with paint AND then her kid put a big dark purple handprint on her white shirt. The teacher said it was supposed to be washable but I don't know. I guess we'll find out next class.)
We came home and did our pumkin decorating. We found this light/peg set, similar to a lite bright idea, and thought it would be good for Ava since no cutting was involved. She did get to use a mallet. You'll notice the cheapy one in picture 1 and then the heavy duty one in picture two.
I didn't get a great pic of the pumpkin lit since the light it came with is a flashing one. You get the idea though.

GROWTH SPURT

Elise woke up this morning looking like this...we're not sure what happened.

MEGA BLOG

I'm finally updating my blog...since I'm so behind, this will be a MEGA BLOG! Since I like to use it as somewhat of a journal, I want to highlight certain events of the last several weeks.

1. OKLAHOMA TRIP, Labor Day Weekend
We took a trip to Oklahoma City to visit my grandmother. We really enjoy our visits and always leave feeling uplifted. I love spending time just talking to my Grandma. She is so positive and so spiritual. Love her! We also got to spend time with my Aunt Ann, her husband, Doug and my cousin, Karen and her family. We had a great time playing Grunt, a card came, aka President or Scum, etc. Above you'll see Ava doing a puppet show at the Omniplex in OKC.



2. ELISE TURNS 6 MONTHS OLD!, Sept. 27th
My little baby is growing up! I know I've said it before, but she is SOOO sweet. She loves being social and watching everything around her. She's now sitting up very well and saying, "Da-da-da-da-da-da." She's in the 91st percentile for weight and the 96th for height...following in her sister's footsteps. She has the most adorable, dimple-filled, smile. We love you Lise!
3. MOMMY'S PRESCHOOL
This fall a group of girls from church and I started a Mommy's preschool for our little girls once a week. We take turns hosting and teaching, which has been fun. Ava and Payton are our 2 year olds and Claire and Erin are 3. They are already learning so much!

4. DONUT GIRL

One special morning, Daddy took Ava to Dunkin Donuts to pick out some yummy breakfast treats. Ava had a blast peering over the counter and pointing to her tasty selections. She was so excited to dig in when she got home. The nerve of Mommy making her smile for a picture first.

5. GIRL'S NIGHT, October 2nd

My sister, Heidi, was getting married on Oct.5th in Nauvoo. We had a "Girl's Night" Party for her a few days before her wedding. It was a blast! We did a Name that Chick Flick game, a 20 Questions game where we asked the groom 20 q's and saw how many Heidi got right - except I video-taped Luke's responses without her knowing. It was fun to see his reactions on tape. We did a few more activities including Karaoke, Heidi's favorite. We had to take a pic of our mom and all of the sisters and sisters-in-laws while we were all together.
These girls were singing away! We'll have to do it again sometime.

6. NAUVOO WEDDING, October 5th

Heidi and Luke were married at noon in Nauvoo. Chris, myself and the girls, and some other family members, were able to travel to Nauvoo to be a part of the festivities there. Activities included: staying up late to make Heidi's temple bouquet -silk this time, a big family breakfast, (Kelly set off the smoke alarm with her bacon cooking - luckily not for long), swimming, touring a little bit of Old Nauvoo, and eating at Alpha's on the River after the sealing. Congrats Heidi & Luke!


Heidi & Luke in front of the temple.
We got back from the temple, mind you it was HOT that day, and the kids were cranky. We were all ready to change and get ready for our late lunch/early dinner. Of course the maid service was cleaning our room right then. We waited out in the stairwell until they finished. Elise didn't seem to mind.
Do you know the difference between a cow and an ox? Do you know why early pioneers often opted for oxen over horses to lead their wagons? Well, I didn't before - but I do now.

7.PUMPKIN PATCH, Oct. 15th

We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch this year. I love seeing my girls getting measured. Each year adds more inches and even a new little pumkin this time - Elise! Ava really got into the patch this year. On the hayride she said, "This is fun!" She picked out a baby pumpkin for Elise, a big girl pumpkin for Ava and a Mommy pumkin and a Daddy pumpkin.
Heidi put Elise in her jacket to help her keep warm. It was a very cold and windy 60 degrees.
I Spy with my little eye...what do you notice about this picture? Look carefully. (You may need to click on it to make it bigger.)
Our little family.
Still more updating to come - but this is a start!

stay tuned

In my short absence from blogging, I've thought of lots of things I could be blogging about...yet haven't made the time, but hopefully will soon. My sis, Heidi, was married this past weekend at the Nauvoo Temple. Upon our return, I am sick, again. I'm so done with being sick but things could always be worse. OH, and Elise now has pinkeye - Ava had it 1-2 weeks ago as well - absolutely hated the eye drops. Other news I hope to write more about soon: Our trip to Oklahoma in Sept, RS Project night at my house, my fall project list, Heidi's "Girl's Night" party I hosted, Elise's 6th month check-up, things I've learned about marriage in general, thoughts on my 10-year high school reunion and why I'm not going, all the cool craft blogs I've been finding, our Mommy's preschool for Ava and friends, and other random tidbits.

Stay tuned faithful blog readers...

The Office Countdown!

I'm so excited for the start of the new season of The Office tonight (Thursday) on NBC. I've never laughed so much at a tv show so I can't wait!

The Things She Says...

Ava, who is now 27 months old says and does a lot of things that you wouldn't expect from a 2 year old...(or at least I didn't).

Some of the things she said recently.
1. Daddy: "Okay Ava, do you want to get your pjs on and get ready for night-night?" AVA: "No, not today." she said very matter-of-factly.
2. Mommy in morning: "Let's change your diaper." AVA: "NO! I don't want you to change my diaper...Ava could die...get ouchy!" (On rare occasion, I've said the word die to emphasize seriousness with dangerous things).
3. Mommy was talking to Daddy on the phone at work, Daddy: "I want to talk to Ava." Mommy: "Ava, Daddy wants to talk to you." Ava: "I'm busy right now."
4.After a long time at Hobby Lobby, Ava: "I ALL DONE WITH HOBBY LOBBY!"
5. Ava: (pouting after Mommy told her No...she's in this pouting and crocodile tears stage) "You made me cry!"
6. Ava: (tell Daddy bye-bye for work) "Have lots and lots of fun!"
7. Ava: (unprompted at the dinner table after prayer) "Ok...let's see..., Daddy, how's work today?"
8. Ava: (mommy changing her morning diaper) "Where's Daddy going?" Mommy: "Work." Ava: "I want to give him a big kiss."
9. Daddy to Mommy at dinner: "She hasn't even touched her chicken." Ava pokes chicken and says, "I touched it."
10. If Mommy and Daddy ever raise their voices at each other, Ava: "Guys, Guys, Stop. Mommy, be nice to Daddy. Daddy, be nice to Mommy."
11. Ava had been kind of yelling at Daddy (a new thing recently). Daddy went into the garage to load the car. Ava opens the door to the garage and says, "Daddy, I'm sorry I yelled at you."
12. Ava speaks in whole sentences and even understands how to use pronouns. At church on Sunday, a little boy showed her a picture and said, "That's Michael (pointing to a boy) and that's me." Ava immediately repeated, "That's Michael and that's you."
13. Ava is also into telling stories and pretend reading books. Here's a recent story: "Once upon a time there was a boy named Nemo. He was a fish. His Daddy's name was Marlin. He liked to swim in the water. The end."
14. Ava also likes to sing songs and knows all of the words (or almost) to: Twinkle, Twinkle, the Barney Song, I'm a Little Jayhawk, Ring around the Rosy, Row, Row, Row your Boat, etc.
15: Ava to Mommy: "I love you Mommy...tons and tons."
16: Ava running in the backyard: "I'm fast...like Dash." (from the movie Incredibles)

A few things she's done recently:
1. Ava loves getting into things and has repeatedly moved chairs or her stool to help her get things. On one occasion, she had moved the kitchen chair all the way through the living room and into the guest bathroom so that she could reach the Dixie cups and princess toothpaste the Mommy had put up high (those two things sure work magic by the way to get Ava excited to brush). On a separate occasion, Ava kept moving the kitchen chair to the cupboard that houses her special cups and some random candy. After the second time, I told her that if she moved the chair again, it was time for crib time (timeout). After a few minutes, things got quiet again. I head for the kitchen, expecting to see a chair missing from the table but they were all there. I turn the corner and Ava has dragged her Little Tikes picnic table from the living room into the kitchen to use as a climbing device. I almost expected her to say, "I didn't move the chair so you can't get mad."
2. I was trying to mow that lawn one day. Gaia had offered to take Ava to the park so I could get it done. While waiting for Gaia outside, I thought I'd start up the mower. I got a chair out for Ava and told her to sit there while I mowed a little. I starting mowing and then noticed Ava was missing. I stopped and went inside to see Ava, a chair moved to the "special" cupboard, the fridge propped open and Ava holding a gallon of milk and a green cup. Luckily, I got to her before the cap come off of the milk. She protested majorly so I gave in and put some milk in her cup. She then spilled it all over the garage...no big deal really. I told her to stay outside. Repeat: Mowing, Ava missing, Mommy heads inside. This time, I see Ava sitting at the threshold of the garage and house, eating jelly beans out of a bag. Mommy: "What are you doing?" Ava: "I'm eating jelly beans." (Duh, mommy) I look inside - chair moved, cupboard open.

I realize that my mommy skills could've been better. I should've only given her one warning before timeout in story number 1. And in number 2, I should've waited to mow until Gaia arrived so that I could've kept a closer eye on her. But then I wouldn't have funny Ava stories.

We love Ava very much. She's really a sweet, caring, expressive little girl. She loves playing pretend, reading stories, watching movies, snuggling and hugging and kissing her baby sister, Elise. We're so happy that we get to be her parents.

Attitude is Everything

We're mostly over our household sickness here. I got it the worst followed by Chris, Elise and Ava, who got away (thankfully) with only a runny nose for a day and a half. I'm having trouble with my pic storage so I've been less than enthusiastic about posting since I can't post the pics I want so here's a boring post...

So I've been thinking about everyday trials and challenges and am realizing how important our attitude towards these things is! I can be such a complainer or worse, a know-it-all. I tend to get annoyed easily and tend to think I know the best way to do things. (picture Chris nodding his head at this statement). I notice that when I try to be cheerful and have a good attitude and/or change my perception of something - things go much better, I'm happier and therefore, my kids and husband are happier too. You really can get through anything with the right attitude. Nothing new...nothing you've never heard before...just something I'll have to continually remind myself of.

Contrast

Chris and I are fighting nasty, nasty colds right now. Being sick as a parent of two makes me long for the days of youth when being sick was completely different.

When you're sick as a child: (Keep in mind I'm talking mild acute illness and when you're old enough to understand you're sick)
1.)You get to stay home. Mom and Dad ran all of the errands. As an adult, you still have to have to get a few things to keep you going - including meds and the work at work is always there. No elves or fairies to do it for you.
2.)Mom and Dad got you 7-up and soda crackers to ease your tummy aches. As an adult, you don't want your 2 year old seeing you drinking 7-up because they'll want some.
3.)You could sleep ALL day if you wanted to. As an adult, you still have to wake up at the crack of dawn with your kiddos and naps are a rarity.
4.)When you're not sleeping, you get to watch TV - whatever show you want, for however long you want. As an adult, rather than running around playing with your kids, best to entertain them with hours on end of Disney and PBS kids.
5.)You gets lots of sympathy and well wishes. As an adult, you're kids just don't know and you're lucky if they aren't extra whiny or at least seemingly so and no one wants to hear you complain or blog about how sick you are. ;)
6.)Mom and Dad take care of you and bring you everything...no having to get up extra for restroom breaks. As an adult, you get to take care of yourself - you still have to get up...especially to wash your hands each time after you blow your nose so as not to infect the uninfected.
7.)You can really milk every cough, every sneeze and every low-grade fever. As an adult, you muffle your sneezes, cover up your coughs and go to the other room to blow your nose, especially if your baby sleeps in the same room as you at night.

Actually, while it's really hard with both of us being sick, at least Ava and Elise are still well. Also, I haven't been sick since Elise has been born which is a blessing on its own. It also makes me appreciate when everyone is well. Oh, and my mom did come over yesterday while Chris was at work to help out and keep us company. Plus - the last few nights after the kids have gone to bed, we've been re-watching the 3rd season of The Office on dvd in anticipation of the 4th season next week!

Snap Shots

With no Kelli France or Kristy Merrill (friends who are talented photographers) nearby, I've resorted to trying to snap (no posing here - you would've laughed watching me chase Ava around trying to take her picture) some pictures of my girls before they're all grown up. Oh how I wish they lived close by! - Although my sis Heidi does pretty well - should make her follow my kids around...

Grammar Girl

I thought it'd be fun to see what the most commonly misspelled words are:

Here's a short list:
accidentally, argument, definitely, equipment, occurrence, principle/principal, receive, recommend, separate, weird. For more - check out this link: Commonly Misspelled Words: http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/misspelled.html

IHere's a website that is dedicated to helping us know when to lay or lie, and accept or except. Grammar Girl Website: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx