Trying to keep busy...

Winter is a hard time. We love the cold and the snow, but get a little stir crazy. To keep me busy, I've been working on a rag quilt and making felt food (thanks to the inspiration of my sister-in-law; I'll post pictures when I'm finished with everything I want to make). To keep Emily and Nathalie busy we've been dancing, dressing up, going swimming on Saturdays, taking walks even when it's cold and jumping on the bed. Nathalie is 9 months and weighed 22 lbs at her appointment. She's such a happy little girl. She and Emily haven't quite been getting along lately.........but I'm hoping it will pass. Matt's busy in school, like usual and keeps himself busy with building things (like shelves in the garage, a new tool table and another bookcase for me). Only a few more months until spring!

Today I'm Grateful For...

1. A visiting teacher who listens to the Spirit and has love to give
2. The sealing power of temples
3. Friendships that last
4. My family
5. The faith of my friends so that I can see their strength and strive to be better
6. My phone, so that I can tell people I love them even though they're far away
7. My warm house, because it is COLD here!

Emily--3, Mommy--0

Matt and I decided to take the plunge. Today was Emily's first day with panties. As you can see by the title, it wasn't a success. By the time we went to Mutual (when she wore a diaper) she was asking to wear a diaper.

Should I continue? She's very smart, verbal, understands everything I ask her to do. She'll be dry for 2 hours. But I'm hesitant to continue if she's going to ask me to put her back in diapers. Love those cheekers.

Beautiful?

Them, not me. Duh.

Nathalie's face when my mother-in-law was trying to get her smile.

Who Doesn't Love to Dance?

The girls and I have been having lots of fun lately. We try to think of fun things to do in the winter, and one of those is loud music. Actually the reason we were listening to loud music a few nights ago was to get back at our downstairs neighbors who had turned on their loud music, which is rap. So we turned on a little country, Michael Buble, and of course...Winnie the Pooh. I'm pretty sure I heard a loud groan from downstairs when they heard the Winnie the Pooh theme song. But hey, if I have to listen to somebody's music at a loud volume, it might as well be mine.

Pimp My Ride

We're lucky to have a nifty jogging stroller and bike trailer combo. Nathalie didn't like it when I first started putting her in it at 4 months, but now that she's figured out she can stand up in it (when I don't buckle them), she loves it. Here's the proof.

Fun is in the eye of the beholder?

Today I was folding laundry in the living room and I hadn't seen Nathalie in a while. She is my go-go-go baby and often just crawls around the house after people. All of a sudden I heard her giggling, shrieking with delight, laughing and making happy noises from the direction of Emily's room. Thinking, "She's happy and probably in Emily's room playing with something", I left her alone until I finished folding the laundry. Then I checked on her.

She was playing in the toilet, splashing and having a grand old time! She definitely was mad at me when I removed her and washed her hands! Thank goodness it was clean....

Emily sleds

Emily loves to sled. The first time I brought out the sled her mouth opened in surprise and she said, "Yay!". I'm glad she likes winter!

Shocker

Funny.

Is that not the best face?

Wasn't as excited as Emily about being outside.

So it was a bit of a shocker when I got off the plane in Columbus. The day before I left Tucson, I walked to the park with my girls. We took off our shoes when we got there because our feet were hot. We were wearing short sleeves and pants, and I wanted to be wearing capris.

When I got to Columbus, it was 15 degrees and snowing. Good thing I put their coats right on top in the suitcase.

Lucky for my girls, Matt and I both really enjoy winter, especially when it snows. So we've been having lots of fun with the snow, and so have they. The Norwegians believe in being outside all winter long, at least an hour or two a day. We try to get out for about an hour a day and breathe the clean air.

Sledding. Nathalie wasn't so sure, but Emily loves sledding.

Emily and Daddy are buddies.

Snow is fun.

"Is snow yummy or yucky?" "Snow is yummy, Mommy!"

A few days after I got home.

Memorable Moments

Killing time at the airport by taking the tram between concourses. The highlight of Emily's day.

On the day before we left, the girls and my mom were not feeling well so they watched Enchanted and cuddled in my mom's bed.

Bling baby.

Emily's static-y hair.

Sick Nathalie, who snuggled up to my dad and fell asleep on his chest.

Granny and Emily watching a carriage at the temple.

Matt being embarrassed after accidentally walking into a picture.

• Working on Nathalie's quilt with my grandmother, who taught me how to make an invisible whip-stitch.


• The girls being so sick that they coughed all night long and nobody got any sleep.


• When my brother and cousin played basketball with Emily everyday to get her wiggles out.


• Looking for Emily at my parent's house and finding her in my grandmother's room, sitting on "Great-Granny's" lap, eating cookies and singing "Old McDonald".

• My brother Bryan, who got dressed in the dark and ended up wearing blue suit pants with his black suit jacket for the wedding.

How we keep children busy during long hours....

"Where's Emily? I can't find her!"

" Peekaboo Granny!"

" Here, Bryan, I picked these flowers especially for you!" "For me? How did you know I loved roses so much!"

Keeping busy during the rehearsal dinner.

Weddings at Christmas are crazy and we're not doing THAT again!

Pictures from the wedding. The weather was beautiful. Emily loved her dress. Nathalie was annoyed that she couldn't crawl in it. Emily was grouchy the whole time we did pictures, and then Nathalie was grouchy during the reception. 4 generations.

Right before she got grouchy.

Too bad she was sick.

My husband is the handsomest!

At the rehearsal dinner the night before.

Family Time

The first half of our Arizona trip was busy with Christmas and my sister's wedding. We had tons of family come in for both, so it was a crazy household! Luckily, a person from church had an extra house (oh gosh, let me just loan you a house) and the girls and I stayed at that house. It was so nice to go there at naps and bedtime and not worry about noise. I definitely got spoiled with a 4 bdrm, 2 bath house with a nice big kitchen......It wasn't furnished, but it was still really nice. I'll admit, it was a little hard to come home to our 2 bdrm apartment. Someday....... Nathalie checking out her newest uncle.

Emily playing with Grandpa in the princess tent she got for Christmas. Perfect size for Emily, not so perfect for Grandpa!

Bathtime in Granny's jacuzzi tub is so much fun!

Playing Mario Kart on the Wii with her youngest uncle.

It's finished!

After 9 months of hard work, combined with procrastination and an extremely patient teacher, I finished Nathalie's quilt. It's nothing special to you, but to me it represents a success. Success that I made a quilt that was actually beautiful, using correct methods and having (almost) all the corners match up. Yay for me!

We're home. Posts to follow....but don't hold your breath.