Got Spaghetti?

My girls are fairly independent all day long. They need me for the occasional snack, diaper change, story, lunch, band-aid, etc. But other than that they like to do their own thing.

EXCEPT, when it's time for me to make dinner.

All of a sudden there's this frenzy of needing mom for this, that, and the other. For Cyrena it's opening something, or fixing her shoes or hat (which is a post in and of itself) and for Natalie she's just plain nosy and wants me to hold her so she can see what is going on in each and every pot and bowl. I know a lot of this happens because it's that time of night and they're hungry for dinner. And they really want to be in the kitchen with me.

Anyone feel my pain?

Well one way to combat this problem is to keep them BUSY so they don't notice the amazing smells coming from my cooking in progress-Haha! So one night, I was making spaghetti (gourmet I tell you!) and I noticed the core of a pear sitting on the counter. I'd been cutting off pieces throughout the day for Natalie. An idea was born.


I stuck 2 pieces of raw spaghetti into the pear--you could use a bit of play-doh if a pear is not readily available :)--gave Cyrena a bowl of Cheerios and let her have at it. She loves that kind of stuff and it kept her busy until dinner was ready. Great fine motor practice. After she ate her dinner I let her eat the cheerios.


As far as Natalie is concerned, she loves to watch her sister but is also now fascinated by the dishwasher. So sometimes I let her fill up the dishwasher with anything she wants. It definitely keeps her BUSY. I need to take a picture, it's quite funny what she puts in there.

Truth revealed

Have I told you?

Just how very much

I love

1 year-olds?

T-BALL {skills}

Cyrena had the opportunity to take a t-ball skills class in November/December. To say she loved it would be an understatement. To say it became an obsession would be closer to the truth. However, she learned a lot, had fun and she was actually pretty good. It was so entertaining to watch her every week.

She started off with a good stretch every week

She learned how to use her muscles for a proper throwing arm.

Here she is rounding 1st, running the bases was always the highlight

This is what Natalie usually did during T-ball

Her first time hitting off the T

Showing her 'ready position' for fielding

Cyrena with Coach Kyle, who was such a sweet man and a great 1st coach!

Videos of Cyrena fielding and batting

Let us sled

This was our official first time sledding as a family. Why haven't we done it years past you ask? Well that's because Cyrena has always hated anything remotely adventurous. But somehow turning 3 1/2 and now 4 has given her the confidence and courage needed to try new things. I will show you some pics to show her progression.


First, here's a picture of her 'playing' in the snow 2 years ago (it was bad)

Now here's a picture of her actually sorta playing last year (red-rimmed eyes and fake smile....baby steps)

And on to this year....full-blown snow playing adventures!! David and I couldn't believe it; we are amazed at how much she's changed and matured.
Despite the melting snow, we had a great time!

Funny that she's wearing the same scarf/hat combo each year. A good investment obviously.




If you know Cyrena you know she's a talker. So as soon as they would get off the sled, she'd be telling me everything. In this video she kept telling me they "went backwards!!" I'm just glad they didn't run over the other kid.



A real, un-coerced smile with no red eyes...success!



Natalie enjoyed a little belly sledding, now that girl is adventurous! She loved every minute of her snow time.

Cyrena always loves doing things with Jacob, he has a lot of patience with her.

Love this video. We found a short hill so the girls could go together

We had homemade pizza and salad that night

New Year's

Seriously I just have one more winter break post after this, I promise.
Life gets busy I tell you!

New year's Eve consisted of bowling in the morning, karaoke in the evening and the sign game until the wee hours of the morning. Good times. Here are the pics.

Natalie was such a sport being dragged everywhere and missing naps

YUM lunch! I also saw one of my former students there who is now in JUNIOR HIGH and just 'friended' me on Facebook. Can I feel any older?!

Cyrena having fun with her 'big' cousins

Let the karaoke begin!

Natalie had to be in on the action, too cute

David got his groove on as usual, it was quite the sight. When he gets on a roll there's no stopping him.

And here's Cyrena. She shied away from karaoke at first but the pull of the microphone was just too strong. Sorry the video is a little dark.

And now...Christmas

I'm sorry you have to read yet another Christmas post. It's not really 'mid-January' yet so I don't feel too bad. :)

Christmas Eve always starts out with a yummy dinner then the annual sled races. We all make a candy bar sled then we race them. There's a bracket and everything, it's very official and fair.
Sled construction
Our sled...every year David gets his hopes up to win. This year we BARELY lost! So close, sorry honey

We always have a program where we (or our children) can perform, we share stories, etc. Natalie shared her favorite Christmas board book and Cyrena sang 2 primary songs

Grandma with 11 of her 19 grandchildren. Natalie was feeling feverish so we ditched her sweater
Christmas pajamas....look at her sickly eyes...not good
Eagerly and impatiently waiting to come downstairs Christmas morning
Natalie got a baby and stroller which she loves
All Cyrena wanted was a calculator and a telescope. Santa pulled through.
Puppets from Grandma and Grandpa Dean
This was Natalie most of the morning....she'd unwrap then just lay in the paper with her thumb and blanket. She did NOT feel well.
Playsilks from Grandma and Grandpa Lemmert
Her favorite present....a scripture tote!

Natalie got some new books
Grandma Taylor made the girls quilts with this adorable frog material. They're very snuggly and warm

Cyrena is 4...finally!!

Everything the last few months has centered around Cyrena turning 4. "When I'm 4 I will wear my shoes loose" "When I'm 4 I won't throw fits anymore" "When I'm 4 I will go to the dentist" "When I'm 4...." "When I'm 4....." "When I'm 4....."

So now it's official.....she's FOUR !
(and believe me, you'll hear about it)

We went to a Christmas movie and lunch with a few of her chums the Saturday before her birthday

Here's she's sporting a watch and chopsticks she received from Logan. He (and his mom) know her well.

A free birthday sundae...could this day get any better?

A couple days later was Cyrena's official birthday. While we were at the store, I let her pick out a doughnut. She's only done this once before so it was a BIG deal. She picked out a Christmas doughnut and we let Natalie have one too...you can see how much she enjoyed it.

She got a 'new to us' bike courtesy of Craigslist

She requested a train cake, it was fun to make

A few words that describe Cyrena:
*stubborn
*smart
*friendly
*talkative
*short-tempered
*spiritual
*musical
*interested
*observant
*memorable
*technical
*bossy
*fun