Family Pictures!!!

So I know this is a lot of pictures....way more than I usually try to put in a post, but I had to pick (most) of my favorites for you to see!!! Thank you so much Charity for doing our family pictures! If anyone is ever in VA, they should look her up and get their family pictures from her.

Here are my favorites.

(Matt loves this one because Nathalie looks like a monkey child)

(Look at Emily's face!)

For some reason my face doesn't smile even when I think I'm smiling. Weird.

Wow.

Typical Nathalie.

Possibly the prettiest three-year-old EVER.

Don't you love those flowers?

Emily's sad face. Which she is trying to do without smiling.

Funny Moments with the Girls

NATHALIE
-- knocked on the nursery door on Sunday. The nursery leaders opened it up and she walked right in, straight to the toys. She knows what she wants!!

Sneaking a ride on her sister's bike while her sister is in the tree.

--learned how to say the word "soft" (comes out "saht") AND what it means. Now she goes around to the family members and says "saht" while stroking their arm, leg or face. For some reason, she loves to do this over and over and over again.

She's adorable. And she has red hair.
--likes to pretend "sleep". If there is a blanket on the ground, she'll lie down on it then look up at you and wait for you get her then shrieks with laughter when you do.

EMILY
--got some plastic kitchen utensils for her birthday. Her favorite is the spatula to get the cookies off her cookie sheet. My favorite is that she calls is a "spatuwa".

What a pretty girl. Her hair is just so blonde and curly.

-- Pulled out a kids lawnchair in the hardware store, sat on it and then rocked her baby back and forth for a long time. When I told her it was time to go she said, "Mommy, I have to rock Baby. She's still sad."

A climber, just like her dad. Here's to hoping she's not as accident prone as him.

--Matt found her hiding in the closet today. He asked, "Emily, what are you doing?" and she said, "I'm hiding in the woods, Daddy!"

What are your Sacrament Meeting rules?

It became apparent to me today that I need to be a little more strict about my children's behavior during Sacrament Meeting. (For those of you who read this blog who are not members, Sacrament Meeting is the main, hour-long meeting of our church where we listen to speakers and partake of the sacrament, or communion. Our children attend this meeting with us.)

I play the organ (surprise, surprise) and Matt is unavailable to sit with us. Previously, Matt would take and teach the girls about the Sacrament. But now, as someone else will have to watch our kids for a portion of the Sacrament Meeting, I need some more strict rules to keep consistency.

This is what I've got so far.

1. The girls have to stay on the pew. They cannot turn around and play with people behind them and they cannot play on the floor. Nathalie is sometimes allowed to stand up because she's still little, but Emily has to sit.

2. Emily is allowed to sit with her favorite person, but if she leaves her favorite person once during the meeting to come to me, she is not allowed to return. (This completely failed today as I played 4 hymns and Matt watched on while Emily went back and forth).

I think I'm going to ask special permission to leave the stand before the Sacrament instead of after, because I really want to be with the girls and teach them about the Sacrament. I also am recruiting some of my young women to sit with my family so I'm not handing them off and collecting them 3-4 different times during the meeting. But what other things should I begin to make the meeting run smoother?

I'm thinking that maybe they have to sit with our "family" (read: Emily and Nathalie have to sit together with said young woman) until after the Sacrament--no leaving early.

And what about toys? Now that Matt can't help during the meeting, I'm finding myself a little desperate to keep them occupied. Nathalie is a handful at best and I'm always fighting her to keep her quiet, sitting and happy.

Much advice is appreciated!

Emily's birthday was not so great for Nathalie

By the end of the day, Nathalie had fallen off a chair, fallen off a bench, rockeeted off the end of a wet slide, fallen on the ground, slipped in a tunnel and thrown several tantrums. Believe me when I say I did not ignore Nathalie today, she just had a really rough day and I think it's because she subconciously knew her sister would get attention today.

Emily at one month old.

Emily had a good birthday. Swimming and my grandparents in the morning, pizza for dinner (her choice) and party at the park in the evening, complete with pumpkin cupcakes and presents. And while I don't usually "rate" presents, I was really pleased that all of Emily's presents were books, puzzles, games or imaginative play toys. My grandma even got a book of preschool activities so I can work with Emily this fall.

All in all, a really great third birthday. And if you ask Emily, she will proudly hold up three fingers and say, "I am three years old now!"

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And I'm also really really grateful for the adults who came to the party, since I couldn't have thrown this without your help.

Spoiled Rotten

Matt and Nathalie at my visiting teachee's house. Way out in the country. Nathalie adored the four-wheeler, Emily refused to get on.

My grandparents visit for Emily's birthday. Oldemor and Emily playing her new matching game.

This picture is a little fuzzy but I wanted you to see 1) the chocolate milk stains from the resuraunt on their shirts and 2) that hotel beds make the best beds for jumping.

Oldefar on the phone with Grandpa (my grandpa on the phone with my dad) while Nathalie smiles on.

Hotel pillows also make the best for cuddling.

Emily trying to comb Oldefar's hair with Oldemor's comb. He thought it was hilarious.

We were spoiled. They took us out to eat for dinner and breakfast and let us swim in the hotel pool. Emily was spoiled. They gave her some really great presents. But we had a great time and are so glad they came to visit for Emily's birthday!!!

Quiet, but nice.

Today was our anniversary (4th). We decided not to do presents, but instead spent the day together and saw a movie tonight. It was really quiet, but I soaked in the family time.

For the sake of not being cheesy, let me just say that I would do it all over again. And the best part? I get to be with him forever. Forever.

The Letter I REALLY Want to Write

Remember how we have a big garden this year? And we're doing it "with" a friend (who hasn't done any work...but that's okay since we went into this project knowing he wouldn't do any work). And also remember how the other half of the garden belongs to someone else?

Well. That "someone else", conveniently named Mr. Smith for this post, has turned out to be a not-so-great garden-mate. So, after a summer of complaints and accusations, here's is the letter I am writing in my head.

Dear Mr. Smith,

We are terribly sorry about the outcome of this year's garden project. We're sorry you hated having garden neighbors. We're sorry we rototilled the garden for you. We're sorry we acquired and put down fertilizer for you. We're sorry we made furrows for your plants. We're sorry we put up the netting to keep the deer out.

We're sorry we didn't weed every day like you. We're sorry that the entire garden project was left up to Michelle, since Matt's new job turned out to take more time than we originally thought. We're sorry Michelle had to bring their children with her every time. We're sorry they cried, screamed and fought as she weeded. We're sorry they occasionally picked off unripe tomatos from your side.

We're sorry we repaired the deer netting after it broke. We're sorry we staked up all 30 of your tomato plants when it looked like you had abandoned this project. We're sorry we weeded your peppers. We're sorry we picked some of your ripe tomatos when we noticed 20 rotting tomatos on the ground. We're sorry we might have picked more than you wanted, but we honestly thought that with your other 50 tomato plants you would have more than enough. We're sorry we tried to water our side of the garden and angered you so much that you turned it off.

We are certainly sorry to have thought this would be a good idea. Don't worry, we won't be bothering your garden next year.

Sincerely,
Us

We will be doing the garden next year because we loved it so much. And even in the same location! But we'll definitely be putting up netting between our halves of the garden.

Also, don't worry. I will to be kind when I return his tomatos tomorrow because he accused me of stealing them. We're just going to make some changes next year.