Shower mischief

Mom's in the shower, baby's in the cupboard:

Little does she know these will be a lifesaver someday


Natalie: 15 months
weight: 21 lbs. 14 oz. (25%)
length: 30 1/4 inches (50%)
head: 48 centimeters (95 %)

She says:
bath
baby
dad
mom
fishy
sippy
blankie

along with a whole lot of:
whining
screaming
grunting

*She says the animal sounds for:
monkey
dog

*she signs:
more
all done
eat

Flattery...

Can get you far in life, right? Thanks Shannon for this:



Thank you Shannon for the nomination, even though I feel it's undeserved!! I love reading about your amazingly positive aspect on life and seeing how effortlessly you handle life's enormous challenges. You're incredible!

7 interesting things about me. Wow, I am terrible at these kinds of things. Prepare to be unimpressed.

1. When I was 11 my favorite store was 'Wet Seal' and I LOVED Jordan Knight from The New Kids on the Block.

2. I have to eat popcorn with Hot Tamales.

3. One day, while reading Sweet Valley High one of the twins (Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield, remember??) 'raised a single eyebrow' (I don't remember the reason why). I tried it and realized I could do it too. I've been doing it on a regular basis ever since. Books have taught me so much. :)

4. I'm a biter/nibbler. I nibble on each of my children and my husband. They're just so tasty!

5. I have light green eyes. When I was young I always wanted to marry a man with blue eyes so my kids would have 'turquoise' eyes. I married a blue-eyed guy but no turquoise so far, just different shades of blue.

6. I detest artificial lighting and CRAVE natural light. The first thing I do every morning is open up all blinds/curtains.

7. I could spend my husband's salary on school/office supplies. I'm a sucker for post-it's, pens and paper.

Here are some other 'beautiful bloggers' for you to check out:

Torrie: She's always showcasing the amazing talent that resides in her household and has great pictures of her 2 beautiful daughters. Truly a woman who knows what life is all about!

Shelley: (a private blog) Truly a woman to admire! She has been to 'you know where' and back. She uses her time to teach and nurture her amazing boys. And if you want your blog redone, she's the one to see!

Jessica: If you want some straightforward fun check her out. There's always something to make you smile and also great recipes thrown in there!

Kimberly: Another woman that's been through the refiner's fire. She is an amazing mother of 3, 2 of which have been diagnosed with Down's Syndrome. She attacks each day with full force and always finds ways to laugh at the everyday life of a mom.

Debbie: Always seeking after the best food, she shares great recipes that she has tweaked and tested on her family and friends. She's always up to something new!

ShayLynn: Want to find out about sports and princesses? Check out her 2 cute kiddos who epitomize football and frills.

Stacy: Want to know what's going on in celeb land? You don't need People magazine, check out Stacy's blog! :) She also has great thoughts on life, love, and happiness.

Now for those of you I just nominated/awarded all you have to do is the following; in order to accept this award yourself...

-Thank the person who nominated you for this award.


-Copy the award & place it on your blog.


-Link to the person who nominated you for this award.


-Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.


-Nominate 7 bloggers.


-Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

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.