Cute Pictures of My Girls

Here are a few cute pictures of the girls that I took when we were waiting for Daddy so we could leave for church. Both girls are sporting their addictions; Eliza and her paci and Sadie with her milk. We will have a pretty miserable car ride if we forget either one of these two items. At least their addictions are better than mine...chocolate, ice cream, and blogging.

My neighbors are the best

We are so lucky to live next door to a great family. I have mentioned before how Eliza loves their 4 year old boy, Alex.. She watches out the window for him and announces to me whenever she sees him, or his Daddy's car, or his bike or whatever. Their daughter, Daniela, turned 6 and had a birthday party last Saturday. Eliza and Sadie had such a great time.

They really enjoyed the pinata. Sadie was so cute; she was so proud of herself... after each swing she'd stop and look around with a big grin on her face to see if everyone else saw how awesome that was! After the candy dropped all the kids ran and picked up as much candy as they could, of course they did, thats the beauty of the pinata. David and I were holding Eliza's and Sadie's goodie bags. They would each pick up one piece of candy and bring it to us and drop it in the bag before looking for more. I was glad they hadn't figured out a better candy gathering strategy, they got enough anyway. After all the candy was collected and the pinata was abandoned, Eliza picked up the stick and kept whacking the chick's head. Ruben (the dad next door) was kind enough to indulge her as he was standing on a ladder holding the rope so he could adjust it up or down, depending on the height of the child.

After singing "Happy Birthday" to Daniela, I took Sadie in the house for a diaper change. She protested the whole time saying, "I want happy cake." I promised her she could have birthday cake as soon as we finished, and she didn't forget it. When we went back outside she headed straight for the cake table saying, "Mommy, happy cake, happy cake." I thought it was adorable that she kept hearing, "Happy Birthday" and "Birthday Cake" and in her little mind it added up to "Happy Cake." Adorable!

As we were getting ready to leave Ruben (the dad next door) said, "I know your daughters love our swing set and sandbox. You are welcome to come over anytime, whether we are home or not and use them. Please, anytime." I would feel bad to actually just go over there and use their stuff but I know he was sincere in his invitation. Our neighbors are awesome!

Flying a Kite

Eliza likes to run around the house with a string dragging behind her exclaiming, "Look, Mommy, I fly kite!" Finally Eliza gets to fly a kite for real and she was thrilled!!!

Fun times with our real life friends... amazing

Last weekend our friends came over for dinner and to play. We had a great time. Seconds after they closed the door to go home Sadie says, "I wa play Peeza again." Later on we gave the girls a bath and afterwards I was dressing Sadie and she declares again, "I wa play Peeza." She missed her friend already! (Peeza, by the way, is Melissa. Eliza and Sadie call her that, which is the same word they use for "pizza." They both love pizza so I think its a compliment).

Sadly, Baby Kayla didn't get much camera time this time. Sorry, Kayla! Eliza talks about you often. There is a diaper cream commercial that she sees now and then. Every time it comes on, Eliza stands right in front of the tv. She carefully watches it and narrates it for me:
"Baby Kaywa is crying! Baby Kaywa is sad!" (very concerned tone)... (Baby's Mommy finally tries amazing cream)..."Baby Kaywa is happy! Yay, Mommy, Look! Baby Kaywa is happy!" (Eliza is very relieved, that commercial was stressful).

Sadie talks to Diego

If you are unfamiliar with educational toddler shows like Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go, then let me explain... These interactive shows ask kids questions and pause to let them answer.

Well, this morning Sadie verbally interacted with Diego for the first time. Diego asks, "Is a leather- back sea turtle black and green or black and white?" Sadie answers, "Green." Diego replies, "Right, White!" (Good Guess, Sadie, you usually see green turtles).

Then I get the camera, rewind the show, and film this event. The second time Sadie hears the question about the color of leather-back sea turtles she answers, "white." She learned! Wow. How amazing! I am not exactly bragging about my how smart my 20 month old tot is, I'm just recognizing that her brain works very well!

Who is sorry now?

Yesterday, Eliza said "Nooooo" to Sadie in a very demanding voice. Sadie cried.
I said, "Eliza, 'say sorry Sadie'."
Well, apparently Sadie heard, "Say sorry, Sadie." (Punctuation really change the meaning of a sentence sometimes).
So Sadie repeatedly says, "Sorry, Eliza. Sorry, Eliza."
Eliza says nothing for several seconds. Then she looks at me and very sincerely asks, "Mommy, why is Sadie saying sorry to me?"

I had a teaching moment here but I blew it because I just started laughing hysterically and then both of the girls joined in the laughter too.

Father's Day Tribute

I am so glad I married a man who is not only a caring husband, but a wonderful, involved father. Our little daughters adore him and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are happy we have him in our lives.

I created a montage especially for Father's Day. The first song in the montage is "There Goes My Life," by Kenny Chesney. The lyrics in the song start off telling a story about a young man who is scared to be a father and thinks he is giving up his life to become one. Well, that part of the song does not reflect David at all. David was very anxious to become a father and extremely happy when our daughter was born. I included the song because the rest of the song has a sweet sentiment that does relate to David. Also, I know the montage is really long (almost 14 minutes), I don't expect many viewers. Thats okay!

Happy Fathers Day, Daddy David!

My Baby Counts

My wee little 20 month old baby can count now. In this clip she counts to three but she often counts like this:
"one, two, three, four, five, six, sever, eleven, twelve, furteen"
I really need to capture that on video.
I'm pretty sure she's brilliant. :)

Random Stuff

I am not a cool mom like Nikki, so my poor kids can only "play beach" with the seashells she bought them. They also tip cups upside down in the bathtub and say they are making castles. They don't know what they're missing.









Eliza showed me this and said, "NuNu go night night.... he's so tired." Eliza's so thoughtful; she put him to bed with the Curious George Monkey that she sleeps with.

Wyatt's house is so fun.

Yesterday the girls and I went to Aunt Molly's house to watch Wyatt and Elliot. I was gone to the bathroom for just a few minutes. When I came out I saw Sadie (19 months) and Elliot (9 months) on the floor. Sadie looks up at me and says, "I feed baby Ewiot." Elliot was crawling around and Sadie would crawl around after him. When he stopped, she'd sit down and put the bottle in his mouth. He would chew on the nipple for a few seconds and then crawl off. Sadie was very proud of herself for taking care of her cousin.

Just before we left, Uncle Jeff was chasing the girls with a stuffed alligator. They loved it and I had a hard time getting them to leave. I loaded them into their car seats and then I sat down in my seat. Before we even pulled out of the parking spot, Eliza says, "Wyatt's house is so fun... Jeff is so fun!!"
Then this morning Eliza tells me again, "Wyatt's house is fun. Jeff is sooo fun." I repeated, "Uncle Jeff is so fun?" She confirmed, "Yes! Uncle Jeff is so fun!"

I am not a complete failure! Hooray!!!

There is a window above my kitchen sink that over looks our sunken family room. This morning I was loading the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and the girls were playing in the family room. I heard Eliza say, "Okay, Sadie." I looked up, through the window, and I was so delighted at what I saw. Eliza and Sadie were each kneeling at an end of the ottoman. Eliza began to say a prayer, "Heavenly Father, good day, Jesus Christ. Amen." I almost cried! All on her own, without direction from David or I, she and Sadie knelt down for a prayer! It was a wonderful moment for me. I feel like I just don't have a clue what I am doing sometimes. I wonder what in the world I am doing wrong because my little ones are so wiggly and noisey during Sacrament Meeting. Moms need moments like this. It made me feel like I am doing something right. Of course, I immediately stopped doing dishes, grabbed the camera and tried to capture this moment before they stopped doing it.

Friends Are Fun

Our friends, Nikki, Melissa and Kayla came over to play yesterday afternoon. Eliza giggled with glee for about five minutes after they arrived (literally). She never said hello, she simply laughed. She meant it to be a welcoming greeting. She was so happy her friend was home! They had finally come back from their long vacation to the beach!! While they were gone, Eliza would frequently talk about how "Peeza" (aka, Melissa) was at the beach.

I am reminded of a funny story Nikki told me. I am going to retell it now. A few months ago, Melissa was lying in bed at night. She didn't know her mom could hear her and she was chatting away to herself. She said, "I am not Peeza. I am Melissa." It is so sweet. Poor little toddler is up at night thinking about how her friends calls her "Peeza." Sadie calls her "Peeza" too because she always copies Eliza. Sorry, Melissa! We are working on it!

Big Imagination!

Eliza has the best imagination! I know kids are known for having imaginations but is still amazing to watch it develop. It makes being a mom so fun!