Wild Wild West

 Here is documentation and proof we were out there!  Halfway through March we took our annual trip out West. This time we went to Provo, where my sister and brother-in-law were blessing their new baby.

One hour before we left, Emily was twirling and fell against the fireplace. Matt had to do a little stitching. What a way to start!

 After driving for 24 straight hours to the other side of CO, we stopped in a hotel and then the next drove to see some amazing friends near Richfield, UT. We had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day with them (check out my "Bless This Mess" button to meet these amazing people!) and then headed to St. George to be with Matt's grandparents. This picture of Nathalie is taken the day we were in St. George. The weather was BEAUTIFUL and we took a great walk to a park where the kids were in heaven.

 Matt's grandparents are phenomenal. Nathalie really loved Grandma. They potted some aloe vera plants together.

 Since Nathalie loves gardening and planting she was enthusiastic about helping Grandma.

 At the park.

 We did a little workbook time while Charlotte was napping. Emily only went to school 4 days in March because of illness/travel/spring break. I thought we should keep up some learning, so here we are learning about money.

 Emily played a lot with Grandpa. She still remembers him from the last time we saw him.

 Grandpa is missing his right hand. It didn't bother Emily or Charlotte, but Nathalie was really concerned about it and didn't want him to touch her at the beginning.

 Then we took one last picture and headed up to Provo.

 Nathalie's workbook time.

 In Provo, my parents had rented a house for the week. It cost a LOT of money for them and it was worth every penny! It had 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, nice kitchen, living room, family room with big screen TV and a play structure in back.

 The girls especially loved this swing in front. We are so grateful for my parent's sacrifice. They put Matt and I in charge of food, which we enjoyed.

 Then it was my family time. Here is Charlotte with the man of the hour, my nephew, and the only grandchild other than my girls on my side of the family. She called him "Baby Noni" and now all her baby dolls are called Baby Noni.

 Grandpa is really good at horsey. Look at Nathalie's face!

 Emily is showing Baby Noni how to work his mom's iPhone. The girls loved that everyone had an iPhone and they played them all day. Such a contrast from our house where they have limited media time--that's why they love vacations.

 Matt's dad is called "Papa" and my dad is called "Grandpa". These distinctions are lost on Charlotte, who calls both grandfathers "Papa" and who called Matt's grandpa "Papa". She also calls Matt's mom "Papa", so apparently it's just a general term for grandparent.

 Nathalie holding Baby Noni.

 Charlotte in a bumbo, which she fit surprisingly well.

 My mom is a wonderful grandma. Emily adores her and spent a lot of time following her around.

More iPhone time.

 The girls were sick most of the trip. We're not sure if it's because we pushed them too hard or what, but they weren't themselves. We had lethargy, fevers, vomiting scattered throughout the trip. It was hard for us sometimes since we couldn't do all the things we wanted to do, but there were sweet moments, like Nathalie falling asleep on Granny during church. (Nathalie is usually not quiet during sacrament meeting, so we KNEW she was sick!)

 Nathalie had woken up from a nap after throwing up on the way home. We did not style her hair like this-- it simply looked like this when she woke up! Nathalie has coarse hair and it will quite literally stay in whatever position it is put in. We thought this was so funny!

Precious time with Granny.

All in all, it was a whirlwind of a trip. I know that some of you live in UT and we would have loved to see you. We are sorry we didn't get to see very many people-- family activities and illness made sure we stayed in the house a lot. The next time we come we will have a big party! Providing no one throws up, anyway.

Girls' Room: Before and After

Here are some pictures of the girls room. Above: when we bought the house. If you click on the pic and look closely at the floor, you'll see it was really rough. It had been painted dark brown and then whoever painted the walls/trim didn't put down a drop cloth, so there are paint spatters everywhere. Also, since our house is 70 years old, all the trim and windows need some serious caulking. This room (10x14) took 3 tubes of caulk!

 

 

Above and below: the original paint color (yellow?) right after we got the carpet in. Originally we refinished the floors in the whole house, but the upstairs was still too rough. The house has settled a lot and we would have had to completely replace the floors. So we carpeted which made the bedrooms seem so nice (which also made it warmer and quieter!) and covered the warped floors. 

 

 

Above and below: The room now. In the girls' room I really wanted it to be a little girl's room, without being pink. So the girls agreed on a light purple (to go with the Rapunzel poster) and then I painted all the trim bright white, added a few girly decals and put up girly frames.

 

I don't love to paint, but one thing I really love about painting a room is how it can transform the room in just a few hours. Painting the trim a bright white really made the room seem newer. The purple is really light because I didn't want a dark color in a small room, but it actually makes the room feel very calm and soft.

So far this has been the fastest room. It's small and after the carpet, it only needed some paint. It's so cute though! We all love it. Even Matt, who was worried it would be too girly, thinks it's great.

Sick of this

The week before we left for Utah Emily got sick. So sick in fact that she didn't eat for 4-5 days and we had to threaten her with Matt giving her an IV to get her to eat.she didn't have the stomach flu, just the regular flu with aches, chills and a high fever. Emily recovered the Sunday before we left.

The tuesday before we left, Charlotte got what Emily had. Hers didn't last as long though and she was better by the time we left (on a Friday).

We got to Provo really late on a Monday night. We pushed the kids really hard, driving through the night and seeing/staying at different people's houses in other parts of Utah before we went to Provo.

The morning after we drove into Provo, I woke up to the sound of Nathalie vomiting. She only did it once and seemed a little lethargic the rest of that day (Tuesday) but didn't have a fever. In the middle of Tuesday/Wednesday night, Emily came to my bedside telling me that Charlotte had thrown up. I got up cleaned everything up and Charlotte threw up again that night. She didn't have a fever or anything and was kind of lethargic the next day. Thursday morning Nan throws up again. No fever. She was under the weather most of the weekend, but still never had a fever and didn't throw up again. Charlotte had diarrhea the entire week and Nathalie had it the second half of the week.

We left Provo on  Sunday, got in late to a KOA in Nebraska and Monday Nathalie threw up AGAIN, this time in the van. (Throwing up in the car is NOT FUN FOR MOM.) No fever, lethargic.

We actually went a few days and I thought that returning home would solve this problem. We get home, Matt gets the bug and has been fighting it since Tuesday.

Last night in the middle of the night Nathalie threw up again twice. All over the carpet. This morning Emily threw up.

This is week four that at least one person has been sick and it looks like we'll have a fifth week of it too.

We are never traveling again. Ever.

(Note: I do not deal well with sickness. It's not that I can't stand vomit or anything, it's that I get so impatient that someone is sick that it seriously ticks me off. I really struggle with being sympathetic when someone is sick.)

Borte bra, hjemme beste.

"To be away is good, but home is best." (Norwegian proverb)

We just got back from our trip out west. Yes, we drove it. Yes, I am ridiculously pregnant.

It's good to be back. And it's really good to have my own bed again.

More to come.

Moments with these girlies

Matt got me a Google Nexus tablet for Christmas. It is mainly mine but it does have some games on it for the kids. They don't,t get to play it a lot and so they are always asking to ply. The girls call it an iPad.

The other morning Nathalie wanted to play it and I wouldn't let her. So she turned to me and said," Mom, I can hear the iPad calling my name. It says,'Nathalie, play me. Nathalie, play me!' "

***********************************************************

We have had some sickness running through our family. One night Charlotte was just starting to come down with the bug and so I was giving her some extra love at bedtime. I was singing a song to her and holding her hand. In the middle of the song she said," I love you Mama."

Sweetest moment ever.

He's one special guy

 

Despite the stresses, hard work and sleep deprivation, there have been bright moments. Last week was Matt's 29th birthday! He specifically requested a Kelly Kettle for his birthday. He and Emily plan on taking some short backpacking trips this summer and the Kelly Kettle figured into his plans.

 

So he got one for his birthday! And that morning he tried it out. Supposedly the Kelly Kettle can boil water amazingly fast. It's true too! The first time he boiled water for hot cocoa in 5 minutes. This morning it was 3:25. I think we've had hot cocoa every morning since he got it!

 

 

He also requested that we not do anything for his birthday. No cake, no decorations, just presents. (He really loves presents.)

 

 

So of course the girls and I completely ignored him. The night before, we raced out to the store right after he left for work and picked up balloons. Each girl got to pick a balloon for him-- and I think he loved them! Princesses, Hello Kitty, Finding Nemo...just Matt's style. The girls and I also made a "poster" for him and (you can barely see it) the pieces of paper on the walls beside the door frame are things we love about him-- each person came up with 5 things and wrote them down. Well, Charlotte's piece of paper just says "I love Daddy". We taped them up and placed the balloons so he would see them first thing when he walked in from work the next morning.

I also made a huge batch of Texas sheet cake for our family and for him to take to work, along with some ice cream for work. We had pizza (which he loves!) for dinner and made sure to sing Happy Birthday lots of times.

So ha! We celebrated his birthday anyway! He loved it though. He said it was one of his best birthdays ever. I really wanted to make it special because he's been working so hard and so much. I think we did it! Hopefully he felt loved and appreciated.

I don't mention Matt too much, since this blog is mainly about our girls, but Matt is my constant. He makes my day, even when it's silly things like tickling the girls (or me!) or writing little love notes. He sacrifices nearly everything for us. He is incredible.

Happy Birthday!!!

Unused Muscles

This winter has been a difficult one. Matt and I have had a lot of stressors in our lives and there were (are still) endless weeks of discouragement, grayness, uncertainty. I'm afraid I haven't been graceful in the face of these trials and many a day I've not coped well.

It's taken a toll on our family as well...mostly because we've been so stressed that the girls have reflected this in their behavior. Emily started contradicting and arguing with me a lot, Charlotte has started throwing lots of tantrums (she is turning 2 next month) and Nathalie...well...let's just say that there were some days where I have literally not seen Nathalie EVER be that wild and out of control.

But we're getting brief glimpses of hope. It's March. The sun is out this morning. The bathroom is almost done. Some of the other things are starting to wrap up. I could have this baby girl next month.

Two nights ago as I was saying personal prayer with Nathalie, there was a brief ray of sunshine. Nathalie doesn't like to say personal prayers because we ask her to think of things to say. She would rather say her standard two-sentence prayer which never varies. But on Wednesday night, after another long and difficult day, Nathalie said a beautiful prayer. And when she finished I smiled at her and praised her for saying such a beautiful prayer without being prompted by me.

In that moment I realized that Matt and I haven't been smiling much at all, especially at the girls. And so I smiled at her again. And she threw her arms around me, saying, "I love you so much, Mommy."

So yesterday I tried to smile at them more. I discovered that a little smile can go a long way to improving the hard days. And that my girls love smiles.

Here's to smiling more.