This and That

This is a catch-up post of things I don't want to forget!

Cyrena was star student a couple of weeks ago.  We got to keep Clifford for the weekend.  Her eyes are red in this because she was crying about having to take Clifford back to school--she wanted to keep him.  The only way I got her to stop crying was by offering to take this picture of her, Clifford and her poster.

We did a lot of 'playing' with our Halloween candy.  I found Natalie like this one afternoon and David helped Cyrena build a house with hers.  Eventually we let them each pick about 10 things and we threw the rest away.  But it was fun to play with it all in the meantime!

 

 Anna loved rolling around in all of it and making a mess

I love rare moments like this where I don't know where the girls are and then I find them like this.  Natalie got Pinkalicious and Purplicious for her birthday and she loves Cyrena to read to her.

One night during FHE Anna was having a hard time so I had to skip out and start bathing her and get her ready for bed.  I told David he could play pictionary with the girls on our whiteboard for the activity.  Just informal pictionary where they thought of something, drew it and had someone else guess.  Cyrena's drawing is above.  100 points to the person who can guess what it is. HINT: it's church-related and he's not wearing hat...that's his hair.

Normal nights.  Cyrena is circling things in a toy catalog and Natalie is playing Doctor to Anna.  Do you notice something on Anna's head?  She's wearing an infant cranial band.  She has a noticeable flat spot and we're trying to correct it.  Fingers are crossed that it works.  She adjusted to it amazingly fast.

Some 'just because' flowers from David for an overwhelmed mom.  Awwww....

This owl landed in a tree in our neighbor's yard.  There is an owl family around but we hadn't seen them this close up before.  Very cool.

Cyrena bore her testimony for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  She was nervous but did a beautiful job.  She really does have a strong testimony that will serve her well through her life.

Natalie is 3, David is 32!

Our little Natalie is 3.  This girl doesn't ask for much.  She didn't even know she was getting presents until I asked her when she wanted to open them.  "you bought me a present mom??!!"  I volunteer at the school on Monday mornings so Natalie spent all morning playing outside with her friend Taylor--she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  Afterward, I took her to the store and let her pick out a balloon.  She always wants one so this was a treat.  I think it was her favorite present. 

She had to nap with her balloon clipped to her shirt

David and I couldn't stomach anymore goodies so we had some extra cookies I had made for something else and we put her candles in that.  She didn't eat it, just blew out the candles. :) 

After trick or treating instead of eating candy we dished up ice cream cones....because it's Halloween yet still in the high 80's.  Natalie picked out grasshopper ice cream for her birthday-yum!

Natalie with her new pajamas and her new nightlight.  I was so excited to find this purple Twilight Turtle at a discount store.  We've been wanting to get the girls one for a long time and purple is Natalie's favorite color! 

This girl has grown so much in the past year.  She's still a little spitfire but is so loving, compassionate, and sweet too.

She wants to wear a skirt everyday, takes great naps, her speech has improved, and she has become a much less picky eater.  

Here are 3 of my favorite things about Natalie:

1.  She is super cuddly and gives the most amazing hugs....seriously.

2.  She uses her entire body while she talks; especially her hands, eyebrows, and hips

3. She makes me laugh ALL. DAY. LONG.

Stats:

Weight:  32 lbs

Height: 37 in.

We celebrated David's birthday yesterday.  Now this man definitely doesn't ask for anything for himself. I told him I wanted to bring Paradise Bakery cookies into his work for a treat.  I asked him what kind he would like and he said 'whatever you get is fine'  to which I responded 'don't forget it's YOUR birthday and you're KING today!'  So the girls and I brought some cookies and a Superman balloon into his work.  

 

After work he opened some presents and we headed out to meet up with some friends for dinner.  And for a real treat, David didn't have to do any of the bedtime routine...he got to sit on the couch and watch a nature show while eating an ice cream cone! :)

Here are 3 of my favorite things about David:

1.  He laughs at all my jokes, even the not so funny ones

2.  He is always there for me and the kids

3.  He is steady, dependable, a hard worker, and oh so cute

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people!!

Halloween 2011

We had a fun and busy Halloween.  The girls had so much fun at the ward party and then again trick or treating last night.  We carved pumpkins Saturday-you can't do it too early in AZ since it's still hot.  Sunday the primary program was AWESOME (if I do say so myself---but really it was all the kids).  That night we headed to the Blounts (David's boss) and had an unbelievably tasty dinner, pumpkin hammering, giant sparklers, and pumpkin bombs.  Really...they made bombs and blew up pumpkins.  No one was harmed and we were all entertained.  The girls love going over there, they'd stay all night if they could! 

I love my little trick-or-treaters.  Supergirl, a cupcake, and a candy corn!