The Hansen Family

....Eleven Months....

2012-01-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it, just one more month until our little girl is one year old!

I know that I say this every time, but she is growing so fast! She is walking, but not all of the time. She still prefers to crawl, but will walk short distances. She has 8 teeth and is working on #9 and #10. Charlotte has also started talking, she can say "mama" and "dada". She has been babbling for a while, but now she will point at Tyson and say "dada" and reach to me and say "mama". She is also pointing to things to indicate what she wants. Our girl is just growing up!

I swear, the piggy must have shrunk, remember when they were just about the same size?

It was tough to get pictures of her this morning, she is such a busy little bee, always on the move. I'd sit her down in the chair and by the time I lifted my camera she was up and rocking the chair.

Charlotte is also becoming very interested in her toys. She cuddles her babies and her piggy, and tries to mimic Lily when playing with blocks and coloring.

Lily really wants Charlotte to be walking. Every time Charlotte stands up to walk Lily runs over and yells "hands" and holds her hand and helps her walk around the room.

My sweet girls!

Silly Growing Girls

2012-01-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

Time keeps passing and these silly girls just keep growing!

Earlier this week Lily had a first, as in, her first piggy tails that didn't require extra plastics or clips to hold all of her hair in. It is FINALLY long enough!

Charlotte is still goofy as over, her new favorite is to climb up on my lap, stretch out, and

get me to tickle her tummy.

Lily received some foam building block shapes which she calls her Christmas tree, because she was given them for Christmas and apparently built a tree the first time she played with them, and now everything is a tree and she always has a star to go on top. Her daddy helped her build this structure.

This afternoon Lily heard Charlotte wake up from her nap and went in to get her. She decided to climb up into the crib with her sister.

And then cause all kinds of trouble. I know that Lily's pants are inside out, she is on an "I do it!" kick lately and wouldn't accept any help with getting her pants back on after her post-nap visit to the potty.

Charlotte takes her apple eating very seriously, she can eat an entire apple if you give her long enough, core and everything.

I love this silly face though.

Lily took a break from her game of Candy Land to eat her snack as well.

Her break didn't last long, she wanted to get back to her game.

Getting Things Organized

2012-01-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

I like to cook and I'm a little bit obsessive compulsive. I like things organized and I function best when I have systems set up. I've been making menus and planning our meals since we were first married, and sometimes I do better at it than others. I also love to try new recipes. I have more cookbooks than I could ever use and yet I still spend a lot of time online looking for recipes and ideas. I've ended up with so many sheets printed off all over my kitchen counters and menus written on shopping lists on the fridge and I finally decided to buckle down and organize it all. This is what I have come up with:

I started with a binder, just an ordinary binder, some plastic sheets, and dividers. I found this cute cover the binder here (she also has several other color options). I went online and printed out a calendar for the year, that's right, all of 2012. I found this particular calendar here. You should have seen Tyson's face when I told him that I was printing off an entire calendar for menu planning, poor guy thought that I was crazy enough to plan out our meals for the entire year all at once! I put all twelve pages in one sheet protector, that way I can see two months at a time, but I also have past months to refer back to for ideas. We tend to get stuck in a rut and repeat meals so this way I can see when we last ate something so that I can space them out better.

Before filling in any spaces I went over our normal calendar and made adjustments for days that we would not be eating at home, like date nights or time out of town. Then I marked our leftover days. My husband has a crazy schedule so two days a week he is only home for breakfast. Those days we have leftovers. I make sure to plan meals that will leave lots of leftovers for the day before our leftover day. Sunday is also crock pot day in this house because I have such a limited amount of time to get dinner ready between church and the time that Tyson has to leave for work. I also write down the primary vegetable that I plan to serve with the meal, one less thing to think about when it is time to grocery shop or cook. With these things in mind, I turn to my meal ideas list and then fill in the calendar. My list continues on to the back and keeps growing. No more meal ruts for us!

The meal ideas list is a lifesaver, it will save you so much time and frustration with your menu planning. I made a list a few years ago and recently updated it with new favorites. To make the list I went through my favorite cookbooks and printed recipes and wrote down the names of all of the recipes that we have tried and would like to make again. I wrote today's date in the corner and as we try new recipes I'll write them on the list and every few months I'll add them to the doc and reprint it. This is my current list of meal ideas if you want to some ideas. And if you would like any of the recipes just shoot me an email, I love to share! No secret recipes here!

Behind the meal idea list I have my recipes. No, I didn't type out the recipes from my cookbooks, I'm not that nuts. This binder organizes the recipes that I find online or friends give me. I like having systems for things and loose recipe cards and sheets of paper, pages take out of cooking magazines just make me crazy! I type them up, and put them in sheet protectors, organized by category. I use the sheet protectors for 2 reason; first they keep the recipe clean, and second, because I can keep things in alphabetical order. I love having things in alphabetical order, they are so easy to find that way. I've seen a lot of people just put the recipes that they printed off or clipped from a magazine right into sheet protectors and that would work great, but my OCD wants them all to be uniform in typeface and format so I retype them.

Isn't that so nice and clean? I love it! I have to admit, I am way too excited about this binder! My husband can't quite understand my excitement, but I'm sure that there are others out there who can.

....Ten Months....

2011-12-27T12:19:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe it, our little Charlotte is already 10 months old! She has gotten so big and grown up recently. This last month she has started clapping, waving, and even WALKING! She babbles, says "ma ma ma" and "da da da" all of the time and she loves to play with her big sister, Lily.

She is such a happy girl, her smiles are just so joyful and sweet.

Our girl with her piggy, my goodness she has gotten big. Just a few months ago that pig was just about the same size as she was, and now she dwarfs it.

As I mentioned before, our little girl is walking now. She still crawls most of the time, but she stands unsupported a lot and can take 4-5 steps at a time. She is so proud of herself when she takes steps! I just know that soon she is going to be running all over the place.

Charlotte has also started playing with toys more and more, she loves her new baby dolls and her My Pal Violet. It is so cute to see my baby girl cuddling her baby doll.

Christmas Morning

2011-12-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

I have been so excited for Christmas this year. I've always loved Christmas, I love everything about it, and now Lily is old enough that she has been very excited too. We hadn't kept the presents out by the tree because Charlotte is into everything these days so when the girls woke up they found presents all around the tree this morning.

Lily was so excited! The first gift that she opened was a book called Alice the Fairy. We checked it out from the library a few months back and she loved it, she asked for it to be read to her several times and was sad when we had to return it. With that kind of a reaction to a book I figured that it was worth purchasing and she was happy to see it again.

We gave Charlotte a baby doll so that she would stop taking Lily's.

This was a fun project. I had been toying around with the idea of making the girls a stick horse and I mentioned it to my friend Candice and she thought that her kids might like some as well so we got together one day and made a few stick horses. They were a lot of fun to put together, and I think that all three of them turned out so cute!

We mimicked one of Lily's first Christmas gifts and gave Charlotte a My Pal Violet because she plays with Lily's all of the time. I had pre-programmed it so it knew her name and was all ready to go.

Look at this happy girl!!!

I knew that this would be Lily's favorite, she LOVES Belle and all things Beauty and the Beast. She waited ever so patiently while Tyson cut the doll loose.

And then carried it with her the rest of the morning.

I made the girls some little rag quilts since their baby blankets are getting a little small, or rather, they are getting too big for them.

We gave her one last gift to open and instead she had Belle dance on the box.

Finally we persuaded her to open it.

Seven potato heads all in one!

Such a great Christmas morning!

We spent the morning at home together, opening presents, playing, and for breakfast we had the Hansen traditional aebleskivers and sausage and then got everyone dressed and ready for church. I made the girls some new Christmas dresses, but we were running late and I forgot to take a picture. I'll get one though, because they looked so cute together!

We spent the rest of the day with family and it was wonderful!

More of Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

We spent the afternoon and evening of Christmas Eve at my parents home with most of my family. It was great because we finally got to meet my new nephew Jack. My brother and his wife live in Virginia so we don't see them often, and little Jack was born in late October so we hadn't seen him yet. Charlotte loved him! Maybe a little too much...

Lily was into everything! The other kids her age are boys and she has started to assert her authority...also a little too much. But she had good moments too. While grandma played a Christmas carol on the piano she climbed up and helped.

We also did our sibling and cousin gift exchange last night because Christmas Day's schedule was packed solid. Charlotte got her first baby doll from baby Jack.

And Lily got a doll stroller and bassinet from baby Grace.

Grandma and grandpa also gave Lily a stuffed (and scented) kitty.

And Charlotte was given a stuffed elephant.

Of course the girls fell asleep in the car on the drive back home last night, which was perfect because I had some work to do to get ready for Christmas morning.

December 24: Open a New Ornament and Christmas Story

2011-12-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is finally here, and it has been a busy day! Our advent activity this morning was simple, but fun. Each year on Christmas Eve we get the girls a new ornament for the tree and a new Christmas story book that we read as our bedtime story that night.

We knew that we would be at my parents' house for most of the day so we decided to let them open their ornaments and the book this morning before we left.

Charlotte has no idea what to do, but she did what she does best, meaning she ripped at it with her teeth. Finally Tyson helped her get it started and she took it from there.

Lily's a pro, but she takes her time unwrapping, getting a small piece of paper off, setting it aside, pulling of another scrap, setting it aside (repeat)... It seriously takes ages.

She finally got her ornament out though. This years ornament is the silver sleigh bell from Polar Express. She loves the "train" book.

Charlotte's ornament is a little lamb that says "Baby's First Christmas".

Their story this year is called "Little One". It tells the story of the first Christmas from the perspective of a donkey. A sweet little story to help teach my girls about the true meaning of the holiday.

I grew up with the tradition of getting new pajamas on Christmas Eve. While at my parents' house this evening all of the kids opened their new jammies.

Almost all of my nephews and nieces in their new pajamas, we were missing little Gracie this year, but next year we hope to have her and her parents here with us.

I'm such a dork, I got them matching pajamas. Someday I'll stop making them match, I promise!!! I think that they look rather adorable though.

December 23: Read "The Night Before Christmas"

2011-12-23T19:13:00.000-08:00

Good golly, is tomorrow really Christmas Eve? You'd think that with doing and advent calendar it wouldn't sneak up on me like this. Not too much left to do, but enough to keep me busy.

Today's activity was easy because I anticipated a busy day for today when I came up with this whole idea last month. Our plan was to sit by the tree in our PJs and read "The Night Before Christmas."

Once the girls were ready for bed this evening Lily climbed into Tyson's lap and I set Charlotte next to her while he read the story.

It was one of my favorites as a child, I even had it memorized a long time ago. It brings back fun memories for me of my own Childhood at Christmastime. I hope that these girls learn to enjoy it as much as I always have.

December 22: Visit the Botanical Gardens

2011-12-22T19:56:00.001-08:00

Today's Christmas advent activity was a visit the the Botanical Gardens with two of my sisters and their families. Every year the Idaho Botanical Gardens puts on their "Winter Garden Aglow" and this is our 3rd year going. There are just so many beautiful lights in an interesting setting and the girls really enjoy it.

It was sure cold, but we bundled up and survived. Charlotte only managed to stay awake for the first half hour or so, but during that time she was cheerful and enjoyed the lights and the fires.

I tried to take a few picture, but they don't even come close to doing it justice, it is such a pretty setting.

I love Christmas lights, they just make my heart happy.

Lily loved the little trees with the flower lights on them. She kept going up to them, touching the lights and telling us what color it was.

This was also the first year that Tyson was able to come with us, poor guy always has to work, so it was fun to have him come along.

December 21: Make Christmas Candy

2011-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas is getting so close, and even though my list of things to do is getting shorter and shorter, there are still some major projects that need to be finished in the next few days. I'm not stressing out though, everything will get finished in time.

Today's advent activity was one that I grew up doing with my family, and that was to make Christmas candy.

Today when we were done reading about what our activity would be Lily jumped up and yelled "scrip" which is "scriptures" and ran to get daddy's scriptures so that we could read our Christmas scripture for the day.

In past years we have made more things, but we simplified a bit this year and just made caramels and fudge.

Because of the nature of this project, the girls couldn't participate to much, but Lily was happy to be there, and of course to lick the spoon when we were all done.

I let Lily help me make today's pizza dough though, since she loves helping me add items to the mixer. We had BBQ chicken pizza for lunch on a bianca crust, Tyson's favorite pizza, and boy was it yummy! Totally worth the 3 hours to make the crust.

December 20: Make Christmas Cookies

2011-12-20T17:15:00.001-08:00

Our calendar has almost disappeared! Only a few more activities and then it will be Christmas! Today's activity was making and decorating Christmas cookies.

Lily loves to help me bake, though up until today she has just stood on her chair and watched. She has started an "I do it!" phase and wanted to help. Her first job was to hold the mixer, not that it needed to be held, but it made her happy to "help".

I let her add a few ingredients and she loved it! Until she poured the flour all over the counter top, but such is life when baking with toddlers.

Our first cookies were Lemon Crinkle cookies that I found on Pinterest. I made them last week just to test out the recipe and they were so good I decided that we needed to make them again. You must try them!!! Once we had to the dough made I set everything up.

I rolled the balls and Lily helped me set them on the tray to bake.

While the lemon cookies baked it was time to roll out and cut the sugar cookies. My Lily, being her mother's child, first had to get out all of the cookie cutters, identify the shape, and sort them out.

It took her a few tries, but she figured out how to use the cookie cutters.

She was a little confused when the cookie dough got stuck in them though.

While the sugar cookies baked and cooled my girls played peek-a-boo in my cupboards.

Finally it was time to frost the sugar cookies.

Lily was very serious about frosting her cookie, and even more serious about eating the frosting off of her cookie.

Charlotte participated by eating a cookie and trying to get her hands on many many more.

These are our finished lemon crinkle cookies, forgive the bad pictures, my kitchen has terrible lighting.

Our delicious sugar cookies!

December 19: Decorate a Gingerbread House

2011-12-19T15:27:00.000-08:00

Less than a week! Christmas is less than a week away! I'm amazed at how much I am looking forward to it this year, I mean, honestly, I'm 29 years old, but to my girls everything is just magical, especially with Lily right now and everything Christmas makes her eyes sparkle.

I completely forgot to include this advent activity when I first made our calendar, but I adjusted things around because everyone needs to decorate a gingerbread house.

I had planned to do graham cracker houses, but when I stopped by Target to pick up a prescription I noticed that they had their kits 50% off and for $5 I was sold! I assembled the house this morning, because heaven knows these two girls aren't going to wait for that.

Lily started with the cookie, she has just woken up from her nap and was a little cranky, but put a cookie and frosting in her hand and she got over her crankiness really quickly.

Charlotte was happy to watch, and Lily gave her a few little candies from time to time.

Lily picked up candies and I showed her where to put them.

She even got little tastes of frosting. Of course she smeared it all over her face.

Our finished product!

We signed the back, forgive my horrible frosting handwriting.

December 18: Do a Christmas Puzzle

2011-12-18T17:01:00.001-08:00

One more week until Christmas! I'm really excited that it is getting so close, and that I'm pretty much ready for it. My list of things to do is getting shorter and shorter, I just might make it!

I like Sunday afternoons to be quiet and relaxing, so today's advent activity was just that. I made a couple of little Christmas puzzles for the girls. Of course Charlotte tried her best to help, but really, she just wanted to chew on the pieces.

Lily didn't quite get it together on her own, but she sure had fun matching up the edges and trying to make out the picture. She is still playing with the pieces and identifying the characters in the nativity picture.

December 17: Watch "Elf"

2011-12-17T17:02:00.000-08:00

Today's advent activity was wonderfully simple, we watched one of my favorite Christmas movies, "Elf."

And really what is a movie without popcorn!

Lily loves the elves, ans she tries to sing along with the songs.

December 16: Make a Snowman

2011-12-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

Today's advent activity was to make a snowman. Lily was very excited because she loves Frosty,

And Charlotte was exited because Lily was excited.

I was hoping that we would have snow by now, but no luck. It was alright though, I had a back-up plan. We made a snowman out of cotton balls, paper and glue. I drew three little circles on the paper and put some glue inside the circles for her and Lily placed the cotton balls.

It didn't take long at all for Lily to catch on, she went at it and even tried to get Charlotte to help.

Lily was very proud of her finished product, like I said, she loves Frosty!

December 15: Go Look At Christmas Lights

2011-12-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

Today's advent activity was to out and check out Christmas lights. Lily was thrilled, Charlotte, well, not so much.

I didn't take any pictures because we stayed in the car, but we saw some great Christmas lights and Charlotte eventually got into the spirit of the holidays.

December 14: Go Out For Doughnuts

2011-12-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that it is only 10 more days until Christmas Eve? My goodness December is flying by! We are loving it though and today's advent activity was simple and a lot of fun. This morning we took the girls out for doughnuts.

There is a little doughnut shop around the corner from our house and in the nearly 4 years that we have lived in the house we had never gone there. This morning we finally checked it out.

Leave it to my picky-eater here to be wary of a doughnut.
We gave Charlotte little bites, but certainly didn't get her her own. Instead I packed her a banana. Next December she can have her own.
Lily finally warmed up to it and after trying a bit of the frosting and sprinkles decided that it was safe.

And she's up!

2011-12-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

We are in some serious trouble around here. A couple of days ago Charlotte discovered that she could stay standing without having to hold on to anything.

And then today she started trying to take a step. Could someone please tell this girl that she isn't even 10 months old yet, cause she's not listening to me!

December 13: Paint Picture Frames

2011-12-13T20:34:00.000-08:00

It was another busy day in the Hansen home, but we managed to find a little bit of time for our advent calendar. Lily is insistent on it now, she makes sure to remind me if we have't gotten to it early enough in the day. Today's activity was to paint some little picture frame.

I painted them all white and the idea was for the girls to do a few hand prints on them.
Lily had other ideas. I learned something new though, Lily loves to use a paintbrush! No more finger painting for her, I need to get her some brushes.
Charlotte on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the process.
After Lily finished painting hers, she actually did well covering it all, I added some glitter, because as everyone knows, glitter just makes this better.
Charlotte refused to touch her frame, so I finished it up for her.

December 12: Make a Wreath

2011-12-12T18:02:00.000-08:00

We are now halfway through our Advent calendar (good gracious December is racing by!) and today's activity was another craft. I love crafts! Shocking, I know. This afternoon the girls and I made a new Christmas wreath.

First we ran to Michael's to pick up a few supplies. Lily picked out the poinsettia, she was so excited about the big red flower.
She played with it while I got everything set up on the table.
A simple little wreath for the Hansen home. My girls don't sit still for anything that takes more than a few minutes.
It is nice to have a wreath by the entry way now. And for those wondering, yes, I did do the Christmas lights wrapped around a tomato cage that has been all over Pinterest.

December 11: Color Christmas Pictures

2011-12-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Hooray for a simple Sunday activity! Today's schedule was very busy, so I'm happy that our advent activity for the day was to color Christmas pictures.

Lily takes her coloring very seriously these days.
She was kind enough though to share with her sister. Charlotte however has no idea what to do with a crayon, well she does, she chews on them.
Lily even colored some gift tags to put on her presents to her cousins.

December 10: Bake Cinnamon Rolls

2011-12-10T14:01:00.001-08:00

Today is day 10 of our Christmas countdown, and today's activity was to bake cinnamon rolls.

My grandma has the best cinnamon rolls recipe, and because they are so good I don't make them very often, in fact it has been years!
The idea was for Lily to watch and help while Charlotte played in the kitchen. Lily had a lot more fun playing with Charlotte than helping mommy.
They were sure cute though, and happy.
And the cinnamon rolls turned out so yummy! I think that I need to send a bunch to work with Tyson tomorrow to get them out of my house.
Here's a short video of the girls "helping me" in the kitchen.

December 9: Watch "Frosty the Snowman"

2011-12-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

We are now 9 days into our advent calendar activities, and I'm glad that I spread them out the way that I did because I was ready for a simple activity today, this last week has been nuts and I still have so much to do before Christmas. Anyway, today's activity was to watch "Frosty the Snowman" together. Lily has a book about Frosty so she was excited all afternoon about watching the movie.

We made some caramel corn and sat down together on the floor to watch it.
The girls loved it, simple activity for mom and a lot less clean up than some of our crafts.

Tomorrow's activity involves baking, stay tuned.

December 8: Make Snow Globes

2011-12-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

On to day 8! Today's advent activity was to make snow globes. My girls have been playing with the 2 snow globes that I have so I figure that they might enjoy having one of their own.

They are so easy to make, seriously, you should all try them. I gathered up 2 pint jars, 2 little figurines that I purchased at the dollar store, some star shaped "snow", hot glue, ribbon and water.

We glued the lids together and then the snowmen to the lid of the jar, filled the jar mostly full with water, added our "snow" and then screwed the lid on. Seriously, SO EASY!
Charlotte loved hers, she had trouble shaking it, but she likes to hold it and stare.
Lily wouldn't stop shaking it! I couldn't get a picture of her smiling at the camera because she wouldn't take her eyes off of Frosty (because, you know, all snowmen are apparently named Frosty).

December 7: Learn a Christmas Song

2011-12-07T21:28:00.001-08:00

Today's activity was much simpler, or at least in theory, than the last few days' have been. We've been doing lots of crafts so for today we scheduled learning a Christmas song. I didn't really think this one through, because Lily still doesn't use long sentences (like anything over 3-4 words) so how I thought that she would learn a song I don't know. She has started singing along though, when I sing, to the radio, TV, any time she hears music she tries to pick out words and sing them. We stuck with the plan and I decided to teach her the chorus of "Jingle Bells" because it is so simple and has a lively tune. I sang it to her and she tried to sing a long for much of the afternoon and in the end she caught on okay. Maybe by Christmas she will be able to do it on her own.

Poor Charlotte doesn't get to participate in these activities too much, but she is such a happy girl and loved listening to mommy and Lily sing.
Just for your enjoyment I've added a short video of Charlotte laughing. Can't help but be happy when listening to these baby laughs.

December 6: Make Christmas Cards

2011-12-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

On to day 6! Today's advent activity was to make Christmas cards.

To get started I had the girls color some little pictures that I had printed out.
Lily takes her coloring very seriously these days, and Charlotte, well, Charlotte has decided that it is fun to eat crayons.
Once they finished coloring their little pictures I cut them out and mounted them on some card stock and then on cards.

December 5: Make Ornaments

2011-12-05T19:37:00.000-08:00

We are on to day 5 and today's activity was to make Christmas ornaments.

While the girls played I made a little bit of salt dough. I added a bunch of gold glitter to the dough, and while it doesn't show up well in the pictures, it makes them sparkle when they are hanging on the tree surrounded by little twinkling lights.
Anyway, we made four ornaments, we did one of Charlotte's hand print. Lily didn't want to do a hand print so I asked what she would like and she said a star and so we made her a couple of stars and then mommy made a candy cane. We baked them for about an hour and a half.
And when they were done we got them out and used a little glue and glitter, well, lots of glitter. Seriously, I'll be cleaning glitter off of my floor for weeks. Anyway, I let Lily pick what color we used to decorate the stars and Charlotte's hand print. When I pulled out the camera she yelled "ta-da" and spread her arms wide. After doing that a couple of times Charlotte started to mimic her.
It was a fun little project for today.

December 4: Paint Hand Print Christmas Trees

2011-12-04T16:35:00.000-08:00

Day 4 is here and Today's activity was to paint hand print Christmas trees. Don't ask my why I thought that this was a good idea. We've done lots of finger painting of course, but outside, where I can spray everything off afterwards. We survived though, with minimal mess, and the girls had a lot of fun.

Of course I took their cute dresses off before I sat them up to the table to paint.
Lily did great! She loved the paint all over her hand, but let me guide her hand to make the tree shape. She was a little distressed when she got some green paint on her tummy though. Charlotte also did really wall. She kept squishing the paint around in her hand, she didn't want to open it up, but after a bit she did and let me guide her to make the tree shape.
Lily had a lot of fun using her finger to put on the red ornaments, she was enjoying it so much that I let her put the ornaments on Charlotte's tree too.

This is turning into a really fun activity for us. Lily is excited to do the calendar everyday, and she knows the routine of opening it up, reading the activity, going over to the couch to read our scripture, and then following me for our activity.

December 3: Make a Candy Cane Star

2011-12-03T10:19:00.000-08:00

Today's advent activity was the first craft on our list. Our plans for this morning, make a candy cane star to hang in our window.

Charlotte isn't interested in the strips of paper yet, but she sure likes the ornaments.
Lily got one of the extra candy canes to eat while we worked.
Charlotte all ready in her chair to watch as we make our star.
I found this idea on Pinterest, but not a tutorial so I did my best to imitate it. We started by making 6 little candy cane hearts.
Then glued them together in sets of three.
And last of all placed one on top of the other and glued the heck out of it. I love how it turned out! I need to put a coat of krylon sealer on it so that it doesn't get sticky and such.
Lily loved watching it come together and she helped by handing things to me. Charlotte liked having us both close by. Lily kept her entertained, she is such a great sister!

December 2: Attend the Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-02T20:04:00.000-08:00

On to day 2 of our advent calendar. Tyson helped Lily get today's baggie down, they shared the treats,
read today's scripture about Jesus' life,
while Charlotte and I watched and listened,
and then this evening we attended our church Christmas party. I forgot to take pictures while we were there, but here are mu girls just after we got home. They wanted a little snack and Lily felt that they should sit by the tree while they ate.

Family Pictures

2011-12-01T19:08:00.001-08:00

This afternoon my little sister Ali took a few new family pictures for us. Lily was a little grumpy which made it difficult, but we managed to get a few cute pictures. Good thing since the current family picture hanging in our living room doesn't even have Charlotte in it, and she is 9 months old!

December 1: Decorating the Tree

2011-12-01T18:24:00.001-08:00

We made an advent calendar for the girls this year. There is a baggie for each day, and in each bag there is a treat for each girl (though daddy is eating Charlotte's), an activity for the day, and a scripture about Jesus' life to read.
Today's activity was decorate the Christmas tree!
During nap time Tyson and I set up the tree and then this evening we pulled out the decorations. Tyson put the tree skirt on Lily and she loved it!
Charlotte was very excited by the bin full of ornaments.
It took longer than usual, but we got everything on our tree. I love it! It feels like Christmas!
Lily was fascinated!
She had to examine every little bit of the tree. She kept telling us how pretty everything was.
Charlotte enjoyed crawling around under the tree. I don't think that we will be putting Christmas presents under the tree anytime soon.
We got the rest of our decorations up as well, the stocking are hung,
my nativity is all set up,
and the girls' nativity is ready to go.

Christmas Lights at Temple Square

2011-11-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving down in Utah with the Hansens, and since we were in the area we decided to take the girls up to Salt Lake City to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square. Lily was so excited to see more Christmas lights. Earlier in the week I had taken the girls to the tree lighting at the capital and Lily was in awe of the big tree and the lights, so I knew that she would love going to Temple Square.

Charlotte was wide-eyed most of the time, it was cold, but she was happy.
Finally, a picture of all four of us. We don't have many of these, and even fewer pictures where Tyson smiles. I love this one!
Lily was so happy! She spent most of the time on Grandpa's shoulders points at the lights and yelling "Christmas!" over and over again.
I love how magical this season is for my little girls.
The lights were just beautiful, as always.

....Nine Months....

2011-11-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday our little Lottie turned 9 months old. We were away from home so the pictures had to wait until today.

Charlotte is getting so big! We are packing away for 9 months clothes and pulling out the 12 months wardrobe. She is such a good eater! She has decided that baby food is lame and has insisted on feeding herself so we have moved on to soft, simple table foods. She eats everything that I give her, it's amazing! Charlotte is also into everything, all of the time. This girl does not sit still, not for a second. She's cruising along everything and has started letting go and standing up on her own for a few seconds at a time.

Here's our sweet little girl in her monthly onesie.

Charlotte and her piggy
We struggled to get pictures of her this morning, because every time we sat her in the chair, she whirled around and climbed up the back.
My sweet girl! She is such a squirmer, it takes a lot of effort to get this little thing dressed.
We purchased a Little People nativity set over the weekend and the girls are loving it (and I'm hoping this will keep them from playing with my nice one). Charlotte got to play with it all on her own this afternoon while Lily napped.
I can't believe that we are 3/4 of the way through her first year!

Blah...gging

2011-11-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

I've been a slacking about blogging this month. We've just been in our routine, no big events or anything, just life as normal in the Hansen home. I've been a slacking about uploading my photos as well so while uploading a months worth of pictures (which is a lot around here) I selected a few from the month to show what we have been up to.

Of course the fall weather is here, and it has been really cold. We had a warm day last week though so Lily and I went out to play in the leaves while Charlotte napped.

It didn't take long for her to become completely enamored with them, she was very sad to have to go back into the house.

Lily is always up to something. Last week I came home from my morning job to find this. She is obsessed with coloring lately and takes it very seriously.
My girls are become best friends. Lily loves to help Charlotte and Charlotte always wants to be wherever Lily is. Here are my girls enjoying snack time together. Lily loves to share her snacks with her sister. Charlotte has inherited my goofy grin apparently.
Another snack time sharing a banana.
My girls love to torment the dog, all of the time. Don't be fooled though, Oscar loves the attention.
Lily likes to dress herself up. here she has on daddy's work boots, my ear warmer, a necklace, and she is using a knitting needle as a wand.
Another day she insisted on wearing my boots. They were not as easy to walk in as she had anticipated.
Charlotte is growing like a weed and her 5th and 6th teeth have popped through. She has also managed to chip one of her front teeth. No idea how that happened, but the chip is small.
She loves to do what she sees Lily do and tries to copy her when playing.
She is cruising along everything these days and will even let go of everything and stand on her own for a bit. Not okay, she needs to wait a few more months before she starts walking.
Here are a few silly video clips of my girls being, well, sill as usual.

Such a Smart Little Thing

2011-11-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Lily amazes me sometimes. For so long she was way behind, she wouldn't speak, not for anything. A few months ago she started speaking and now she seems to be learning new things everyday. She has mastered the alphabet, she knows her numbers from 1-10, and this last week has been asking about colors. She has also learned a lot of shapes. It amazes me because just a few months ago I was begging her to say ANYTHING and now she is just off and running. Today, she even spelled her name all on her own. She asks me to write her name all of the time and I have taken to asking her what letters I need to write. Today she told me all four letters, in the right order 3 times.

She potty trained herself essentially overnight. For several days I'd been trying, but she refused to use the potty and would wait to go until nap time or bedtime when I would put a pull-up on her. After a few days of that, on afternoon, she just said "potty," I took her, she went and has only had a few accidents since, and it has been over a month.

This last week she has also started putting herself down for a nap. Once lunch is over I tell her nap time and she goes downstairs, shuts her door, climbs in bed, pulls up the covers, and flips through a book for a while. I was shocked the first time that she did it, but she keeps doing it.

I love this little girl, she is such a sweetheart, so loving, and the best big sister.

Halloween

2011-10-31T20:41:00.000-07:00

The holiday season is officially here, at least for me it is. I always consider Halloween the beginning of the holiday season.

I managed to get a slightly better picture of Lily in costume today before we left the house. She wouldn't stop dancing so I had to sort through all of my action shots to find this one.

This afternoon I took the girls to downtown Nampa. On Halloween the businesses in the old town area are open for trick-or-treating. Lily did great holding onto the stroller and she really caught on to how to trick-or-treat.
It was chilly so Charlotte just hung out in the stroller chewing on her toys while Lily trick-or-treated.
It was lovely.
Afterwards my girls and I went to my parents' home. In their neighborhood everyone gets together and lines up in camp chairs around the park and the kids go around the loop to trick-or-treat. It was great for Lily because it didn't take too long, and she didn't have to knock on any doors.
We had a lot of fun this evening, despite the cold. Lily loved to be in her costume and Charlotte was a trooper helping me hand out candy to all of the little trick-or-treaters.

Boo at the Zoo

2011-10-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was "Boo at the Zoo" and it was lovely! The weather was perfect, and this year it wasn't just Lily and I, we of course had Charlotte with us, but Tyson also managed to get the day off AND Grandma and Grandpa Hansen and Aunt Katie were also in town visiting for the weekend so we had quite the little group. Lily was so excited to be going to the zoo, in the car she kept saying "Zoo! Zoo!" She was a little nervous when we first got there, but soon warmed up to the animals and got very excited about them, and was eager to learn their names.

Here she is standing in front of the Condor's cage. She was scared of him the first time that we walked by, he was perched with his wings spread, but when we came back by she was no afraid of him at all.

Charlotte was not thrilled about being in the stroller so she ended up being held most of the time. I don't mind, I kinda like holding my baby.

These are the best pictures of them in costume that I managed to get while at the park. Lily got to pick one treat out of her beg and was gleefully running though the park.

Charlotte was so happy to be set down and free to roam around.

This is the best that I could do with getting my girls together in one picture. We'll try again tomorrow.

....Eight Months....

2011-10-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday our Charlotte Elizabeth turned 8 months old!

(blogger was having issues so I couldn't upload pictures yesterday)

She continues to grow and develop so quickly. Charlotte is an expert crawler now and cruises along the furniture really well, even moving from one object to another. She has also found her little voice and is starting to babble all of the time. Her favorite thing however is to blow raspberries. Last Sunday during Relief Society Charlotte wandered around the room the entire time smiling at everyone and blowing raspberries for nearly the full hour. Charlotte is trying to learn how to go up stairs, and for the most part has figured it out, but still needs to work on getting back down them.

Charlotte is also working on two more teeth so she has been chewing on everything, and everyone. Poor thing already managed to chip one of her front teeth, and I'm not even sure how, I just noticed the chip.

Here's our sweet little Lottie, getting so big!

And with her piggy! This was a hard picture to get, this girl does not sit still for anything and she kept getting up and rocking the chair.
So happy!
We had our playgroup Halloween party yesterday so Charlotte got to wear her little costume for the first time.
Charlotte is a champion eater, but so independent. She prefers to feed herself and often takes the spoon from me. It won't be long at all until we totally transition to finger food for her.
Her eye color has not really set yet. They are still mostly blue, but some days there is a bit of brown in them. I suppose that we will just have to keep waiting.

We love our sweet girl!

A Nice Fall Day

2011-10-18T19:49:00.001-07:00

This afternoon the weather was perfect! It has really started to cool down here so we have been spending much more time inside, but today was very comfortable so after our walk and a trip to the park the girls and I spent some time playing in the yard.

Charlotte is still not certain what she thinks of grass, sitting on it is one thing, laying on it apparently is not acceptable.

I did finally manage to get a picture of her smiling with me though.
She really is such a happy girl. I still think of her as cranky sometimes though. I think that I let the colic formed my ideas about her personality, because she is really so cheerful. She is a busy little thing, and hates to be held down for anything, but she has such a happy disposition.
She has hair, I promise. It is just short and a white blond, just like her mama's was.
Lily spent her time digging up one of my flower beds. So long as she doesn't dig up my bulbs I don't complain too much.
She would carry the dirt around the corner to her bucket.
She would then dump the shovel full of dirt into her bucket and then dump the bucket into the wheelbarrow.
She is a silly little thing, but we love her dearly!
And these girls sure love each other!
Yesterday we had another first. Lily is stingy with her speech, always has been. She has started to talk a lot more in the last few months, but she won't say a single word that she doesn't want to, such a willful little thing (no idea where she got that from). Yesterday we were playing, just rolling around on the floor and being silly. I gave Lily a hug and kiss and said "I love you," and she hugged me back and said "I love you" back to me. That was the first time she has ever said that to me, and it melted my heart. She said it again this evening after bedtime stories when I gave her a hug and a kiss and said goodnight. It is these little moments sure make all of the messes, tantrums, and lack of sleep feel totally worth while.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the girls to a local pumpkin patch. The farm also had a small petting zoo so we started there since Lily has recently become obsessed with farm animals. We found out that she likes them just fine in books and looking at them from the car, but up close she was scared and kept her distance. Charlotte wasn't sure about them either.She was better when I held her, she enjoyed the baby camel scarfing down the feed.
They even had a baby kangaroo and a young zebra!

Lilt was much happier when we got into the fields. She wanted to pick up every pumpkin.
Too bad she couldn't quite lift them on her own.

Lily finally found the right ones for her and Charlotte!

Running back to the farm from the fields.
Getting 2 little girls to look at the camera and smile at the same time is impossible.
They love their pumpkins though!
But it was time to go home.

Potty Training and Other Adventures

2011-10-04T20:13:00.000-07:00

We have been working on potty training over the last week. We've given it a try a few times before, but with no luck. I finally decided that I was tired of buying diapers and Lily was tired of having diapers changed. Over the last few days Lily has decided that she likes to use the potty. In the last few days she has only had one little accident, so other than nap time and bedtime when she wears a pull-up our little Lily is wearing big girl panties from now on. She loves wearing panties instead, so much so that this evening she thought that Charlotte might also enjoy them and tried to put some on her. I'm so proud of her, such a wonderful girl!

Our little Lottie is getting big too, my little girl looks so different with her top teeth, she is growing up so quickly!
Here's a sneak peak of this years Halloween costume. Charlotte's is almost ready too, I'm so excited to dress up my girls.

....Seven Months....

2011-09-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Well, she just keeps growing and growing. Today our little Lottie is seven months old!

This has been an eventful month for our baby girl. She has mastered the art of crawling, no more army crawl and lunging for her. Charlotte is also pulling herself up on the furniture. She isn't cruising yet, but she is getting confident enough to take little steps so I don't think that it will take long for her to start cruising.

Charlotte also welcomed her two top teeth this month, giving her four total right now. She loves to play with her teeth so she is always sticking her tongue out and razzing which means that he chin is almost always covered in drool.

This morning we took her seven months pictures and she was so cheerful, it was easy to get pictures of her smiling.

Here's our little girl with her piggy, she is getting so big!
She is such a sweet girl. Her eye color has started changing again, they aren't really blue anymore, but they aren't any other color yet either. I guess that time will tell.

Not Content to Just Crawl

2011-09-24T19:18:00.001-07:00

Apparently mastering the art of crawling was not enough of an accomplishment for one month, Charlotte decided that she needed to learn to pull herself up as well. At first I thought that is was just an extension of crawling, like when she would try crawling over Tyson's legs or onto a short box.

Nope, she didn't limit herself to short little climbs, she pulls herself up on everything now. The couch is an obvious choice.

The bathtub seemed like fun to her, but it scared me to death.
The crib is another obvious choice and one of her favorites.
The ottoman gives her a challenge because it rocks, that doesn't stop her though, she loves to pull up, and scoot around it. She isn't really cruising yet, but she is taking tiny steps. Not okay with this mommy.
Anything works really, the girl just wants to be standing.
Could someone please tell this little girl that she's not even seven months old yet and she is too little for this!

She's on the move!

2011-09-19T20:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently army crawling and lunging are no longer acceptable to our little Charlotte. This sweet girl has decided that crawling is the way to go now and is all over the place!This last week she has perfected moving from a sitting position to a crawling position and then back to sitting. Here's a short little clip of our girl on the go.

She also decided that she needed two more teeth, her top two have popped on through and boy does she ever like to use them!
Good thing she is such a cutie!
She sees Lily playing with this all of the time, and try as she might, she just can't seem to figure it out yet, but she puts forward a valiant effort to mimic her big sister.

She just seems to think that she should get to be a big girl already. She has even started trying to pull herself up to standing which is so naughty for this baby girl!

Swinging

2011-09-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

This morning the girls and I went for a long walk and ended up at the park. Charlotte is just now getting big enough for the swings so we decided to give it a go. She LOVED it!

Lily always loves the swings. She usually swings on her tummy on the regular swings, but wanted to try the toddler ones today.
Such sweet sisters playing together!

Story Time with Daddy

2011-09-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago we got a little off schedule so while I fed Charlotte and put her to sleep Tyson took Lily downstairs to get started on bedtime with her. When I finished with Charlotte and went downstairs this is what I found.
Our girls are so lucky to have such a sweet daddy that loves to spend quality time with them!

Random Updates

2011-09-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking, no blog posts in two weeks!

That's probably because it seems like not much is going on around here lately, we are running in "life as usual" mode around here right now. Tyson is back in school and is taking a very full load and is very busy these days. The girls and I keep ourselves busy everyday doing who knows what. We are anxiously awaiting Autumn and the cooler weather that comes with it. Summer was fun, but we are ready for it to be over.

Charlotte is crawling, kind of. She crawls for a few steps and then falls, sometimes she lunges, but no matter what method she uses this girl gets everywhere and into everything.

Lily has mastered the alphabet, upper and lower case. Her most recent fixation is her name, she brings me her magna doodle and asks me to write her name several times a day.

The girls are really starting to play together. Lily gets annoyed sometimes when Charlotte gets into her things, but she shares really well and is such a sweet big sister. Charlotte is fascinated by Lily and always wants to be near her.

Kesler Family Reunion

2011-08-29T14:04:00.001-07:00

This last weekend was spent up in Donnelly with my family. Everyone was there, well, almost everyone, Eric is still in Iraq. It was a lot of fun to have everyone together, kinda crazy, but tons of fun!

We love to spend time on the lake and mom and dad brought up a boat and jet ski.
I don't go behind boats anymore, not since a prop tried to cut my foot off about a decade ago, but I love to ride in them.
After a long day in the sun we relaxed together and watched a movie. We rented out a home right off the lake.

My girls got to play with their cousins. Charlotte and Carolyn played together quite a bit. However Carolyn likes to put her hands in peoples' mouths and Charlotte likes to bite anything in reach...you can guess what happened.
Lily ended up a little sick an spent quite a bit of time the second day sleeping.
Friday afternoon a few of us decided to go into McCall for a little while. Charlotte just chilled in her stroller.
We got Lily a marshmallow dipped in chocolate, it turned out to be a huge mess.
Thankfully we came upon this little fountain as we walked by the beach so Lily ran over to wash up.

When we got back to the house we relaxed and just enjoyed everyone's company. Charlotte tried to eat her feet,
while Lily and Tyson read her bedtime story.
Also this weekend we got to meet Liz's new baby, Grace. On Sunday afternoon the family got together at our parents' house for her blessing.
Lily was still feeling icky so we just cuddled most of the afternoon.

....Six Months....

2011-08-28T20:36:00.001-07:00

I'm a day late on this one. We were out of town for our Kesler family reunion, but we got home today and we got Charlotte's six months pictures taken.

Yesterday our Lottie Lou turned six months old. She has grown so much over these late six months and the time has passed so quickly. I've still been thinking of Charlotte as my brand new baby girl, but after spending the weekend with my sister and her one-month-old daughter Grace I realized just how much Charlotte has grown up already.

She is such a happy child, most of the time, and loves to smile and anyone who smiles at her. She also loves her feet. She grabs them, plays with them, and occasionally bites them...and then cries.

Charlotte is not quite crawling yet, but she manages to scoot around to get to whatever she wants. She'll be crawling any day now.
She has been trying out this position for crawling, but it hasn't been working out well. Nice form though, she is going to be a yoga master.
Lottie has mastered sitting up on her own now. She loves to sit up and look around.
And smile, did I mention that she loves to smile?
She is ALWAYS on the move, always. She doesn't just sit on a lap, cuddle in your arms, she is always trying to get somewhere.
Have you ever read the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books? Charlotte is my own little Sunny Baudelaire. She loves to bite anything that she can, all of the time.
Over the last couple of weeks Charlotte got her first ear infection. We have been giving her antibiotics and she seems to be feeling better, she is thankfully sleeping better which makes everyone happier.

We love our baby girl! She is such a blessing in our home!

Hogle Zoo

2011-08-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we drove down to Utah to visit Tyson's family and while we were there we took the girls to Hogle Zoo. They started out very cheerful. While we waited in line Lily played with her aunts.

And Charlotte relaxed in the stroller and smiled at her mama.
Lily loved the birds that they let wander free.
But her favorite animals were the monkeys, and Hogle Zoo has no shortage of monkeys.
I tried to get pictures of the girls in front of one of the elephants, but Lily just wanted to watch the elephant,
and Charlotte wouldn't look at the camera for anything.
I managed to get a picture of her with one of the giraffes though.
Okay, funny story about the T-Rex. Hogle Zoo has several of these large animatronic dinosaurs throughout the park. They move, roar, and some spray water. Lily didn't really care for them and mostly ignored them, until we came to the T-Rex. She stared at it and kept an eye on it while she walked past it, and then it roared, and she BOLTED! No tears or screams, but she wanted to be as far away from that thing as possible. I wish that I had it on camera, we all got a great laugh out of it.

We got a picture of Lily in front of this wall when she was 4 months old, she was about the height of the infant gorilla then, clearly she has grown. Charlotte was drowsy so I didn't take her out of the stroller for a picture. We'll make sure to get one next time.
Lily was grumpy and needed a break, thank heaven for a little playground. This was a large snake slide and she really enjoyed it.
We managed to wear both girls out, they slept all of the way back to grandma's house.

Swimming with my girls

2011-08-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

This evening I took the girls swimming over at Lakeview park again and I remembered to bring my camera this time. We go to this pool probably every other week, but I'm usually too busy to take any pictures. This evening there weren't a lot of people at the pool so I pulled out the camera for a few minutes.

Charlotte loved to stand in the water.

She was less certain when I sat her down in it, but didn't fuss at all.
Mostly she liked to sit at the edge of the water and play.
She watched the little waves as they came up to her.
She is so much happier now that she can sit on her own.
Lily was all over the place. 2/3 of the pool is between 1 foot and 1-1/2 feet deep so Lily can go all over the place. She stands on her tiptoes to move the elephant sprayer that is on the little island.
There is also a splash pad that she enjoys.
Running under the waterfall.
And playing with the sprays.
There is a giant turtle that she likes to climb, or at least try to climb.
Today she finally managed to get to the top.
The girls had a blast playing in the water and now they are both sound asleep so mommy can get some rest.

Lily got her ears pierced!

2011-08-09T19:13:00.001-07:00

I broke down today and I did it. I kept telling myself that I would wait until some arbitrary age or date, but I couldn't take it anymore, so I took Lily this afternoon and had her ears pierced. Of course we picked up an ice cream cone for the brave little girl on out way home.She was such a good girl. She was a unsure about the lady drawing dots on her ears, but when it came time to pierce them she just sat on my lap and held my hands. She only fussed for 10-15 seconds when it was all over and then was running around, saying goodbye to the lady who pierced them, and reminding me that I had promised her an ice cream cone.
She came right in the house when we got home and got back to playing with her doll.
I think that it looks adorable. She was good tonight about letting me clean them before bed as she looked at them in the mirror.
My baby girl is growing up so fast.

Lottie loves to eat!

2011-08-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Charlotte has mastered eating her rice cereal and is constantly going after everything else at the table so yesterday I finally made some baby food and we gave it a go.
For her first food Charlotte had pureed sweet potatoes and she LOVED them! She had another bowl this evening and easily would have eaten more if I had given it to her. Lily wanted to have a bowl with her dinner as well, not that she ate them, she just didn't want to be left out.
We will be trying butternut squash in a couple of days and then we'll move on to the green vegetables.

On the move...already?

2011-08-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

All babies are different, I've always known this I guess but I'm not sure that it really sunk in until I had my second child. Charlotte and Lily have such different little personalities. Lily was a very calm baby who stayed in one place and examined her surroundings, Charlotte, however, is always on the move and exploring.

Lily didn't crawl until she was nearly 10 months old, but Charlotte will not stay in one place. She has learned to get up on all fours and is now launching herself around the room. She is not even 5 1/2 months old yet and my bet is that she will be crawling within a week. I'm not ready for this!

This video is 4 days old and even in the last 4 days she has mastered being up on all fours and scooting.

Learning her Letters

2011-08-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

I'm not the type of mom to just randomly go buy my girls toys. However a few days ago I left the morning for a couple of hours to get some quiet time and I stumbled upon this foam mat on clearance for $7. Who could pass that up? Lily loves the alphabet and I thought that she would enjoy the mat.
When I got home I handed the container to her and she unzipped it pulled out the pieces. I put it together and she was so excited!
Charlotte loves it too, the colors and textures are interesting to her and she scoots all over it, because she does that these days. She can push herself up onto all fours and is going to be crawling in the next few weeks.
They played very nicely together!
This is what Lily does with her letters, I love how excited she is! I really don't know how she learned them, we read together and she has some ABC books, but we never really worked on learning them. I was very surprised a few weeks back to find out how many she knew.

....Five Months....

2011-07-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Today our Charlotte is 5 months old!

She is learning to do all kinds of new things everyday. She can now sit up on her own for a little while. Sometimes she props herself up with her hands, but she can sit unsupported and is getting better and better at it every day. Lottie has her first two teeth, they came in a few days after she turned four months old, and she loves to chew and bite. She laughs and smiles all the times and loves to "talk" to anyone that will look at her.

She is getting so much bigger too, we are phasing out her 3-6 month clothing and starting to pull out the 6-9 month wardrobe. The only problem is that all of our baby girl clothes that size are for Fall and Winter so we have to pick up a few new things to get us through August.

Here is our little Lottie in her 5 months onesie!

It is getting so hard to get pictures of her on her back because she would rather roll around or play with her toes.
And here is our Charlotte with her piggy. She is such a cutie!
Lily climbed up onto the chair to sit with her while we were taking her picture.
Lottie loves the Jumperoo and has mastered catching the parrot.
Also, a couple of days ago we started giving Charlotte cereal. She has been grabbing at everyone else's food when we sit down to eat and trying to get it into her mouth so we decided that it was time. She liked it, but did not eat much. We'll keep working with the cereal for the next few weeks and then we will start in on some veggies.
Could someone please tell father time to slow down a bit, my babies are growing up way too fast!

It's working, it's working, it's working!

2011-07-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Lily's therapy is really working! This afternoon for lunch I made chicken cream cheese rolls. I've made them before and last time Lily played with it a bit, eventually took a bite, but then stopped when she got to the filling. Today she played for a while, eventually took a bite, and then ate almost all of it! It was so exciting to me to watch her eat a new food item. She also ate half of a tortilla pizza a few nights ago and is playing with other food items more and more. I keep serving veggies, she only eats carrots (YAY!), but I'm not to stressed about them right now because I sneak enough veggies into her diet that she is getting the nutrients that she needs. But new protein and entrees are a big deal around here because they are the hardest to get her to eat.

Also, Lily's "Big Girl" sticker chart is working as well. Lily gets so excited to get to put a sticker on her chart when she accomplishes on her her tasks. This morning she accomplished a new on, she PEED IN THE POTTY! You know that your life is consumed by parenting when your toddler peeing in the potty is the highlight of your week. I don't mind, I'm very excited about it. We aren't hitting potty training hard this week because I'm going to be very busy, but next weekend we are diving in head first!

Why do they have to grow up so fast?

2011-07-20T18:54:00.000-07:00

Someone needs to tell my girls that they need to slow down and take their time growing up, because they are getting way too big way too fast!

Charlotte thinks that she gets to sit up on her own now. I snapped this picture after she sat there for a couple of minutes this evening. It is just so naughty to be growing up so quickly!

We are back to trying to potty train Lily and I decided that she needs to have some more structure and a couple of little tasks that she needs to do every day. They are little tasks, like getting dressed, brushing her teeth, going potty, picking up her toys at the end of the day, things like that.
I wasn't sure how she would respond, because she has never seemed interested in things like stickers, mostly because I don't really keep them around, but when I put it up and showed it to her she was very excited. After we brushed her teeth this evening she ran to her chart and asked for the sticker. It is going to be a bit of a process getting her to understand it all, but so far so good.

We went swimming today with friends and Lily learned out to hold herself up in a tube.
Charlotte relaxed and even napped for a minute in her floating ring. I have a couple of water babies!

A Normal Week

2011-07-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

With two little girls every day brings something new and this week we have had a lot of fun.

Lily has started playing dress-up. I'm not sure where she picked this up, she has never played dress-up anywhere, but she is loving it. Earlier this week I had her half dressed, clean shirt but she still wanted her pajama pants on, when she came to me wanting to wear her apron and matching kerchief. She was playing "mommy". This is not what mommy dresses like, I promise! I get dressed every morning, I only wear an apron occasionally, and very rarely do I wear a kerchief.

She played like this for a while.
The next day we had her appointment with her SLP and Lily insisted that with the rest of her outfit she needed this little skirt. It was actually kinda cute.

An update on our meetings with the SLP, things are going well. We have changed to going every other week because Lily is making some great advances. They seem small, but they are big steps. Lily has started to eat peanuts, almonds, and carrots. She is starting to put new foods in her mouth, she is even licking a lot of food, though not eating it yet. Her diet hasn't expanded much yet, but we are getting there. We just need to keep working on it.
Lily loves to color, she LOVES it, even at the park.
Lottie is also gaining new skills every day. Her new favorite thing is to stick her tongue out. She loves to razz and play with her tongue. She is also playing with her feet now.
Charlotte is getting more and more mobile and it is just naughty! I can lay her on the floor and she will be across the room in a minute. I snapped this picture and by the time that I stood up she was 3 feet away. She can also spin herself around and get toys that are out of reach.

I can't decide who Charlotte looks like. She isn't looking as much like Lily as she used to, she is growing into her own little person.
I LOVE watching my girls play together. Of course Charlotte doesn't play much at this point, but when she sees Lily she smiles big and watches her play. Lily loves to take care of her sister, she is always bringing her toys, blankets or anything else that she might like.

The other day I framed a little picture of the two of them and Lily carried it around with her all day. I laid Lottie on the floor to play and Lily brought the picture and put it in front of Charlotte and laid next to her.
She laid there for a while playing with her, then she would get up and do something else, and then come back to Charlotte. This was another sweet moment that I caught.
This afternoon while I was doing the dishes I turned on a movie for Lily and when I looked into the living room this is what I saw. Lily had her arm around her at first, but then switched to hold her hand.
I love how much they love each other. They are the sweetest little sisters and I hope that they grow up to be good friends. They've had a great start.

A Few Little Videos

2011-07-10T19:15:00.000-07:00

I have cute kids. They can make me crazy sometimes, but they are sweet and sure make me laugh. Today I caught a few little moments on video.

Bath Time

2011-07-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

Bedtime is something that I look forward to every day. I love my girls, I love playing with them and caring for them, but it can be exhausting work so when 8 o'clock rolls around I'm excited.

Part of our bedtime routine includes baths, usually, unless mommy is really tired and just not up for bathing two little girls by herself. My girls LOVE to take baths! If I need to kill 30 minutes before bedtime a long bath always does the trick. The other night I managed to take a few pictures while they played in the tub.

We piled onto Lily's bed for stories, another part of our routine, and Lily held Charlotte while I read to them.
This is probably my new favorite picture of the two of them together. They are such sweet sisters! Charlotte's face brightens up and she smiles so big when Lily plays with her, and Lily just loves to play with and help take care of her baby sister.

Independence Day!

2011-07-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

We had a great time yesterday celebrating the 4th of July!

We went to Settlers' Park in the afternoon with friends and let the kiddos play. As always Lily had a blast in the water.
She kept trying to get a hold of this water to drink it.
Charlotte lounged in the shade with me and the other grown-ups.
She was happy though.
My little sister Hailey came with us.
Apparently to eat and apple it must first be place on a fork.
Around 9 o'clock we left the park and went to my parents' house. Their neighborhood gets together and does fireworks and shares treats. Lily needed my sunglasses I guess.
The last couple of years I had pretty much stayed home on the 4th because Tyson always has to work and going somewhere alone never appealed to me. It was so nice to get to be out with friends celebrating such a wonderful holiday.

Goofy Girls on the Go

2011-07-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

Oh what a day this has been!

This morning Lily dug through Charlotte's closet and found a sock monkey that I made about a year ago and a tutu and decided that it was time to play. Apparently she and the sock monkey were going to go for a ride.

She then climbed into my bed and grabbed my copy of Jane Eyre and read to herself for a little while.
She then found my cell and chatted away!
This afternoon I made a hodgepodge throw everything into it smoothie and Lily loved it! 1/2 veggies and 1/2 fruit and Lily downed it.
And of course some time was spent outside playing in the yard.
Charlotte is getting so big! She has learned how to sit up on her own, she can't stay up for long, but she can hold herself up for a little while. She is way too little for this!
She is getting more interested in the play gym now and plays with it all of the time.
She also likes to be on her tummy more. Today she mastered rolling from front to back (she has been rolling from her back to her front for a little while) and now she is rolling all over the house. I can set her down and a minute later she has moved 5 feet. Again, it is WAY too early for this!
On Friday Charlotte's first tooth broke through!
The second tooth is almost through, but until it breaks through chewing on mommy's finger will have to do.

....Four Months....

2011-06-27T10:23:00.001-07:00

Today our little Lottie is 4 months old!

Her doctor appointment isn't for another week so I won't get her stats until then, but she is sure getting big. Her 3-6 month onesies are getting a little tight already.

Charlotte is such a happy girl and she is very interactive. She loves faces and she smiles at anyone that will smile at her.

As she gets bigger and bigger she looks less and less like her big sister. She is her own little person with her own little personality.
She holds herself up really well and is sure a mover. She is very proficient at rolling herself from back to front. She has rolled from front to back a few times, but she hasn't mastered it yet.
Charlotte is also working on her first two teeth. The will be breaking through any day now and we will all be happier when they finally do.
Lottie and her piggy!

Charlotte loves to be upright so we set up the Jumperoo and she loves it already! She moves around in it quite a bit and Lily stands in front of it and plays with her.
This baby girl is just growing up so quickly. We are already 1/3 of the way through her first year and time just seems to keep speeding up.

*UPDATE* Charlotte's 4 month stats (10 days late) 15 lbs 6 oz and 25-3/4 in long.

Lily Ate Pizza!

2011-06-25T12:46:00.001-07:00

Today at lunch Lily ate 1/2 slice of pizza!!!

It is kinda sad just how excited Tyson and I were as we sat at the table with her and watched her eat her lunch. She also ate a bite of carrot, only a bite, but she ate it and didn't spit it out so a big success. Maybe these therapy sessions are doing some good after all!

She was so proud of herself! Jennifer, her therapist, has us cheer for her and she loves to join in.

Finger Painting and a Trip to the Lake

2011-06-24T20:01:00.001-07:00

I bought some new finger paints the other day. I've been looking for activities to keep Lily busy. The more that I can keep her occupied the happier she is. I've discovered that most of her tantrums stem from boredom so we are trying to avoid that.

I draped Lily in one of her dad's ratty old shirts and set everything up outside on the patio (no point having this mess in the house) and let her go at it.

She dove right in. No fingers here, full hands playing in paint.

She had as much fun painting her palate as her paper.
So to wash up, I changed her into her swimming suit and handed her the hose.
Today we decided to head to the lake for the afternoon. Of course we chose the coolest day of the week to go, and it was rather breezy, but we still had a great time.

Charlotte was happy the entire time that we were there, which was awesome, so that made everything better.

We have learned that grapes trump water with Lily. Lesson learned. When I want to get Lily to come in out of the pool should offer her a few grapes and I'll get her out of the water without tears.

I'm pretty sure that this will be an activity often repeated this summer.

Sweet Sisters

2011-06-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Lily loves to be a big sister and she REALLY loves to hold her baby sister. At least once every day Lily either climbs up into my chair or sits down on the floor and sticks her arms out. This is how she tells me that she would like to hold Charlotte.

I place Charlotte in her lap and Lily usually gives her a kiss.

And then a good cuddle.
Or two...
She usually gets tired of holding her and then releases her. When I pick Charlotte back up Lily puts her arms out again and we repeat the process.
I have the sweetest little girls and they just love each other!

Summer is finally here!

2011-06-20T21:14:00.001-07:00

And not a day too soon, well I guess it came one day early as tomorrow is the official start of summer. But if the weatherman is to be believed (which honestly he never is) this next week should be full of beautiful warm weather.

Now that the weather is nice we have been spending our mornings at the park with friends and then our afternoons are usually spent at home, but we have the occasional outing. Last week we went with our playgroup to the zoo and today I took the girls to Lakeview Water Park in Nampa. I was very proud of myself for taking both girls swimming all by myself. I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was scared to death to do it, but we all survived and had a great time. I didn't get any pictures there because, well, my hands were full.

But we came home and continued with the water play on the back patio and I did manage to get a few pictures of that.

Charlotte is turning into such a big girl! I can't believe that she will be 4 months old in just one week.

She loves to be outside, but she gets very upset when the sun is in her eyes.
Lily loves to be outside as well, and she especially loves to wear her sunglasses.
She also loves the flowers. I made the mistake of letter her pick a bachelor button a few weeks back and now she wants to pick every flower.
I love my girl and her big pink ball.
Being outdoors has been so wonderful for the girl, but I think that I enjoy it even more than they do. It is amazing what some sunshine and exercise can do to improve your mood.

Getting Outside

2011-06-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

It was another beautiful day! I don't want to jinx it, but I think that Spring might have finally shown up in Idaho, and not a moment too soon given that next week summer technically begins. Anyway, the nice weather means more time spent outdoors. We spent the morning at the park with our playgroup and then the afternoon was spent playing in the yard.

I snapped a few pictures this afternoon because, well, because I do that. I love to have pictures and my camera is always near me so it doesn't really take much effort.

I didn't put the stroller away right away which meant that it was the perfect seat for her to relax in.

Oscar killed Lily's last ball so we picked up a new one this afternoon and it is almost as big as she it!
She has really figured out kicking and kicks it all around the yard. Apparently this afternoon Lily could not do anything without keeping a firm grip on a puzzle piece.
Lily climbed up and asked to hold Lottie. She's getting better at it, but Charlotte still gets worried.
Our little blue-eyed girl! I'm amazed how well she tolerates lying in the grass.
She preferred when I helped her sit up though.
Baby toes!

Tomorrow promises to be another busy and fun day.

ABC Quiet Book

2011-06-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

I finally finished my ABC quiet book! I made it for the girls, though Charlotte is a little young yet, to take to church and help keep them entertained and quiet through the meeting.

The cover here is a green microsuede.

A is for apple and it has a flap that they can lift to expose the inside of the apple. B is for butterflies and they can be removed from the net.
C is for clock and D is for Dress-up.
The E is for elephant. The ear is stuffed and a flap and made from denim. F is for flowers and they button on.
G is for grapes and they assemble to bunch of grapes. H is for hair. The bows at the bottom are removable so they can learn to braid.
For the I they can build ice cream cones. J is for Jack-in-the-box.
K is for kite and the bows are removable. L is for lollipop. This page is about matching colors.
Mail is for mailbox with a flag that moves and a box that opens. N is probably my favorite page. It has a nest with little red birds that come out of the eggs.
O is for owl with eyes that spin and a beak and wings that open. P is for puzzle. The pieces stay in a little pouch on the page.
A stretch but Q is for quack and the duck are buttoned on. R is for rainbow and if they lift up the little hill there is a pot of gold at the end. The rainbow is even accurate. I still remember ROYGBIV from grade school.
The S page has a shoe for learning how to tie. And T has a tic tac toe board that folds up with a pouch containing playing pieces.
U is undersea. There is a large blue flap that they can lift up to see a fish, octopus and starfish. V is a basket full of vegetables.
W is for weave with strips of felt for them to practice weaving with. The X is for xylophone. It doesn't do anything, but not a lot of fun things start with X.
Y is for yak and it is just a texture page, soft and fuzzy And the Z is for zipper. The little pouch has a few crayons and a small notebook.
It is FINALLY finished! I'm not letting Lily play with it at home, mostly because there are a lot of little pieces and I want it to be a special toy for church so that she is more interested in it when I give it to her. So I guess that we will see how she likes it on Sunday.

Charlotte Talking

2011-06-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

I thought that I would share a short video of Charlotte talking. It is hard to get it on film because once she sees the camera she goes silent and just stares at the camera. Charlotte has also discovered her giggle, but it is also hard to get on film. When I get it I'll share.

Fun in the Sun!

2011-06-05T18:55:00.000-07:00

We finally got some warm weather around here this weekend so we took full advantage of it. Saturday afternoon the girls and I went to Settlers' Park in Meridian. It is the best park, they have several HUGE playgrounds and splash pad that runs all summer long. I brought Lily a couple of times last year, but she was a little nervous about it last year, but this time she really enjoyed it.

Charlotte hates the sun in her eyes and was a little fussy so I wasn't really able to get any cute pictures of her.

Lily stuck with the smaller fountains, but even with the smaller fountains, she got more and more adventurous as time went on.

After playing in the water for a while Lily wandered over to the playground. This playground is AWESOME! The ground is recycled tires, but there is something soft underneath it so it is kinda bouncy.
She thought that this was a solid walkway and was unsure when it started wobbling.
Lily ran and ran all along these walkways for quite a while and was not thrilled about having to leave to go home.
Here's a short little video of Lily playing in the water. Maybe next time we go she will venture away from her one little fountain.

The Garden is Finally Planted!

2011-05-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a cold Spring and so it has taken us longer than usual to get our garden planted. Everything is finally in the ground now, so if it will just warm up already they might start growing a little faster. We rearranged the garden this year, and expanded it a bit. I'm excited to watch it grow. We have already used some of our spinach. Fresh food out of the garden always tastes better.

My flowers are also starting to take off. This year I planted a lot of nasturtiums and they are just now starting to bloom.
My friend Holly sent me a few day lilies earlier this Spring. I wasn't sure how they would do after being mailed from Illinois, but they have taken root and are growing really well. I probably won't see any blooms this year, which is why I planted some zinnias and petunias around them, but next year they should be great.
And finally, I have the best husband. I mentioned that it might be cute to have a flower box below the window of the garage. Our house is very old (96 years-old to be exact) and the garage was added in the 30's and I'm pretty sure that these windows are original. Anyway, Tyson spent his days off building some new shelving units for the garage and used some left-over wood to build me this box. He also picked up some petunias while at the Home Depot. Isn't he great!
I'm so excited for July. By then the garden will be full, my flowers will be large and blooming, and hopefully it will finally be warm!

Eating

2011-05-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

Some of you know, most of you don't, that I have trouble getting Lily to eat. I know I know, she certainly doesn't look like she's going hungry, but it has been my greatest struggle with her. The list of things that she will eat is so short, we're talking less than 20 items. She will not try new foods, or even old ones that she liked as a baby. Veggies are a no-go, so are meats, cheeses, beans, pretty much any protein besides yogurt and peanut butter. I've resorted to hiding the veggies and protein that she needs in various concoctions so that she gets the nutrients that she needs.

At Lily's two year check-up I talked to her pediatrician about it again and he recommended that she go see a counselor about it. I said sure, I wanted the help, but honestly I was so confused. A feeding counselor, seriously, who even knew that those existed and what can they do that I haven't already been doing? Well, Dr. Roy sent in the referral and this last week they called. They had an opening the next day and wanted us to come in. So Lily and I went, and honestly I was nervous, I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

We met with a woman named Jennifer who is a speech and language pathologist and apparently feeding issues fall into that category. We talked for about 45 minutes, she asked about Lily's habits, what she would and would not eat, how she behaved when offered her food, etc. And then she started talking about what the plan would be. She was so reassuring! I have felt like such a terrible mom because of this. So many people have told me just to give her the same plate at every meal and when she gets hungry she'll eat. Jennifer told me that that method works for normal eaters who are just being picky, but for kids like Lily it is not the way to go. She told me that I had been doing an excellent job and that she feels like we can fix this problem in just a few short weeks.

I felt so reassured when I left her office. I wanted to cry out of relief. This has been weighing so heavily on me and to see a light at the end of the tunnel felt so fantastic. This week we have our first real session. She gave me a list of food items to bring and the plan is to step by step get Lily to interact with them, smell them, taste them, and hopefully eventually eat them.

....Three Months....

2011-05-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today our Charlotte Elizabeth is three months old. I know that I say this every time but I can't believe how quickly time seems to be passing by. We are already 1/4 of the way through her first year and I still feel like we just brought her home.

Lottie is learning all kinds of new skills. She grasps toys, smiles spontaneously, and she can even laugh. I don't have current height and weight stats, but she is growing! Charlotte is also sleeping 9-10 hours at a stretch almost every night, which makes for a happy momma. We have also decided that her eyes are going to be blue. They are still changing a bit, but never go brown, just blue.

So here's our little girl in her 3 months onesie.

And sitting with her piggy.
This is the only smile that I managed to catch on camera today. She has been smiling, but as soon as I pull the camera out she stops.
Look who's rocking the bumbo.
Lily read her book to Charlotte. I love it when they play together.
Charlotte grasping a toy on her activity mat.

Babies Don't Keep

2011-05-22T19:44:00.001-07:00

This afternoon at church I was out in the hallway, yet again, because Charlotte was fussing. I finally got her to sleep and I was getting ready to go back into Sunday School when a dear sweet sister named June rolled up to me. She has always loved playing with my babies and she came to take a peek at Charlotte. She said to me to enjoy my time rocking my sleeping babies and reminded me of a poem that I heard ages ago.

Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

So here are my babies.They are growing up so quickly, every morning they wake up just a little bit older and I just want to bottle them up and keep them as my babies forever.I will cherish my time with them and make sure to take the time to get down on the floor and play and also to just sit down and rock them.

Spring Evenings

2011-05-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

We spent this evening outside. It was a beautiful and busy day and when things calmed down a bit we went back outside to plant our tomatoes in the garden and a few more flowers in my beds. While Tyson and I worked Charlotte laid in her bouncy chair near us and Lily played in the yard. I looked up and saw her walking at me with two large tulips in her hands. She was so excited about them and she would not let them ago. I suppose that she finally figured out that the petals are prettiest on the flower rather than in a pile on the ground.

Here she is showing them off to her little sister.
Running around examining them.
A girl and her tulips.
She climbed up to the patio table and apparently expected dinner because she folded her arms for prayer.
Lily would not drop the flowers, not for anything. She wandered the yard the entire time that we were working in it holding on to her precious tulips.
My little Lottie just sitting in her chair watching her momma plant more flowers.
Tyson wanted to see how Charlotte liked the grass. She didn't.
Charlotte and daddy playing while I planted some more flowers.
This is part of the bed in front of our house. It is full of columbines (which have bloomed), daisies, poppies, hollyhocks, peonies, and a hydrangea there in the back. In the next month it is going to be full of blooms and I'm so excited to see it.
This is the bed running down the west side of our home. I'm working on getting a few things to put in behind the columbines.
Just a few of my many beautiful columbines. I love them. The shape of the flowers is just so dynamic and interesting.
I planted the bare root for this bleeding heart last year. It barely came up last year so I wasn't sure that it would survive, but it came in with full force this Spring. I just need to get a few things to plant around it so that it isn't so lonely.
I'm so excited to see how everything comes together over the next month.

Playdough

2011-05-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

It was sunny for a while this afternoon, during nap time of course. By the time that Lily was awake it was cold and rainy again.

I bought some playdough a while back, but we hadn't gotten it out yet. I decided that today was the day and sat Lily up to the table and set it in front of her. She had no idea what to do with it, she figured that it was food and put some in her mouth (which gave me an idea about feeding her new foods, but that's another story). I showed her how to make a few things and then she was off!

She especially enjoyed smashing the things that I would make.
Here she is asking me to make another doggy. She had smashed the last one and wanted another.
She's checking out the rain outside.
A happy girl!
It really thought that by mid-may she could be spending every afternoon outdoors, but so far it has been raining all week so we are stuck inside waiting for the sun to come back to visit.

Bye-Bye Sippy Cups!

2011-05-16T15:37:00.001-07:00

Well, the binkie went away when Lily turned one and now that Lily has turned two the sippy cups are making a disappearing act.

I decided that since she is perfectly capable of drinking from a normal cup they are no longer needed so today I boxed them up and put them away. I bought Lily a little water bottle a while back that we fill with water and she keeps it with her. I carry a water bottle with me everywhere and she loves to take mine so she got her own. For meals she will continue to use a regular cup.

Now if I could only get her to eat her dinner...

Of Toddlers and Tulips

2011-05-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Oh, the joys of gardening with a two-year-old!

Yesterday we were outside playing and I ran inside to take care of something. I came out a couple of minutes later and found a pile of tulip petals.

I thought it odd that this cluster would drop all of their petal all at once. I turned the corner and came upon this little scene.
Lily gleefully pulled off yet another petal and showed it to me.
Lily, in just a few minutes, had managed to pull the remaining petals off of nearly all of my tulips. Oh well, it was near the end of the season for them anyway.

It was perfect weather yesterday, the warmest day of the year so far. We spent a lot of time outside in the yard. Charlotte is still getting accustomed to the breeze.
She'll be happy if I hold her hand though.

Lily's 2nd Birthday

2011-05-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Two years ago we started on the most amazing adventure!

On Tuesday May 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pm Lily Ann came into this world weighing just 6lb 12oz and measuring 20 in long. She had a bit of a rough time getting here, but she has been such a joy ever since.

Today Lily is measuring 32.5 in tall and weighing 30 pounds. She loves to play, especially outside, and is so adventurous. Lily is the best big sister that any little girl could ask for. While she doesn't care to speak much (even though she can) and refuses to eat nearly everything, we love her dearly and we are we so grateful to have her in our lives.

This morning Lily got to open her present. She was very excited to see the little cars and was amazed when I showed her the ramps.

It took a while for me to convince her to get dressed and eat breakfast because she wanted to play.

We took a little trip to the zoo since it was going to be a beautiful day and we thought that Lily would enjoy it.

Here she is checking out the tigers.

And waiting patiently for mom at the petting zoo. Charlotte was getting kind of grumpy and needed to take a break.

At first she was a little scared of the goats, but she liked the babies.

She was very excited to get to feed them. She loves to feed Oscar from her hand so she knew just what to do.

She got a little excited with the other animals. I guess that we need to work on staying behind the ropes and off of the fence.

After the zoo, because we were downtown, we stopped by Guido's Pizza to pick up some lunch and then went up to Camel's Back Park for a picnic. For the first time ever Lily took a bite of pizza. She actually had a few bites. Normally she just munches on the crust and leaves the rest.

I've decided that I need a pair of sunglasses like hers in my size.

Afterwards we came back home, had naps and then went outside to play. She hopped right back on her trike.

She loves to store things in the basket and figured out to have the flap down when carrying her doll and up for everything else.

When we came back in she got right back to playing with her cars and ramps.

For dinner I made her favorite foods and then of course birthday cake. I even made Lily her own mini-cake. She didn't understand blowing out the candle, she just wanted to touch it.

She seemed to like her cake though.

And she was very happy to find the lemon filling.

Overall it was pretty much a perfect day.

*This should have been posted on the 12th, but blogger was having issues so it is a day late.

Story Time in the Spring

2011-05-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Spring has finally shown up here in Nampa, ID and we are taking full advantage of it! This morning we walked to the park and this afternoon we played outside in the yard. Since it was nice and warm Charlotte even got to come out and play.

We even had story time outside this afternoon. We spread a blanket under the maple tree and piled on.
I am reading one of my favorite books to the girls, The Little Prince. Lily usually sits through about 2 chapters and then is up and moving again, but we will get through it.
Because the weather was so nice and we were spending time outside Tyson and I decided that we would give Lily her birthday present 2 days early. I bought it nearly 2 months ago and I have been dying to let her play with it. Her friend Hailee has one and she loves it. I pulled it out and she climbed right on. She mostly pushes it with her feet, but she is starting to figure out how to pedal.

Lily's baby doll came along for the ride.
I can hardly believe that this sweet girl will be 2 years old in just 2 days!
Apparently Lily was planning to take her baby doll for a walk and needed to belt her in first.

I can hardly wait for Thursday! We decided not to have a party this year. Instead we are spending the day together as a family and having some fun outings.

A Very Busy Weekend

2011-05-09T14:17:00.001-07:00

We had a very bust weekend!

First, we got on a plane on Thursday and flew to Salt Lake. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified to take these 2 girls on a plane. I just knew that they would scream and cry the entire flight and that everyone would hate us. As it turns out, my fears were unwarranted. Lily sat and colored the entire way there and Charlotte ate and slept. The one hour flight was so much easier than the six hour drive and totally worth it!

Here are the girls on their first flight.

Friday morning we got up and drove down to Circleville, Utah (ie: middle of nowhere) to attend Tyson's brother Stewart's wedding. It was a lovely wedding, the setting was beautiful, and the weather was great. We had a great time and we are so happy for them. Congratulations to Stew and Pam!

This is Lily right before the ceremony started. She noticed all of the rocks around the trees and had to go play with them.
Lily was in heaven! She always is when we get together with Tyson's family because she gets so much attention and there are so many people who want to play with her. Here she is swinging with her aunts.

Saturday morning we drove back to Sandy and spent the day with Tyson's family. Since Lily and Tyson both have birthdays coming up in the next week or so we had cake and ice cream. Lily went right in for the frosting balloon.

Aunt Brittany was sure brave letting Lily sit on her lap while she ate her cake. Needless to say Lily went right into the bathtub.

Charlotte was sweet and happy with grandma during the cake festivities.

Finally Sunday was Mother's Day. We went to church down in Sandy and then had dinner with Tyson's family. Brandi took a new family photo for us.

Afterwards we got back on an airplane and flew home and went straight to my parents' house for my brother Josh's birthday party. We finally got back to our house Sunday evening and while we LOVE spending time with family, it is always great to be back home.

Tummy Time

2011-04-27T16:28:00.001-07:00

The faces of tummy time:

Apparently tummy time is a group activity in our house. When I lay Charlotte down on the blanket everyone else seems to want to join in.

....Two Months....

2011-04-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Our Charlotte Elizabeth turned 2 months old today. Time is flying by so quickly, I just can't believe it!

We have a doctor appointment on Friday so I'll get her current stats then. She is getting big though. We are starting to put away the 0-3 months clothes and moving into the 3-6 months size.

*update* Charlotte currently weighs 13 pounds (90th percentile), she is 23 inches long (75th percentile) and her head is 41 centimeters around (98th percentile). She can hold her head up to 90 degrees when on her tummy and got a clean bill of health from the doctor.

She does have some hair and it is actually decently thick, but it is just VERY blond so unless the light hits her just right, it is hard to tell.

She was being stubborn this morning so this is the one picture that I got of her smiling.

A picture with her piggy.
Playing in her chair.
We are starting to grow out of the colic, finally. She still has some cranky evenings, but she isn't screaming as much and she is more willing to be soothed. I'm so grateful that it is getting better. I knew that colic was rough, but I never knew how hard it was to deal with and how it can just drive you out of your mind. Thank heaven that it is starting to pass and hopefully we will have happier evenings in our future.