chris + erica

Happy heart day.

2012-02-14T14:42:00.004-07:00

Ivy was so excited to help put together her little friends valentines today!
She even sat for about two minutes while I tried to snap some pictures of them.
As soon as Olive wakes up from her nap we're heading out to deliver them...
hopefully all of the suckers won't be eaten by then.
Gosh I love holidays with little kids!!!

Tuesday tidbits

2012-02-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy loves to stand on the scale - as soon as the number shows up she says, "45 pounds!"
(ha every single time)

02. After another relapse with a sore bum we went back to the doctor to find that her urine sample was positive for a urinary tract infection.
Poor girl. I'm hoping with meds it doesn't bother her anytime soon.
03. She loves our doctor (as do I) and before we went she colored her a picture to give her...
I thought no way is she really going to remember/actually give it to her - but she totally did!
She was so proud of herself.
04. She loves to be in charge of pushing the button to the automatic doors in the van.
She thinks it's the greatest thing in the world? But who doesn't?
05. If I ever respond to her with just a noise (uh huh, hmm, nah, etc.) she'll say,
"talk mom!"

:: olive ::

01. Olive just likes to stand on the scale because Ivy likes to.
Crazy that there is only 6.5 pounds difference between the two.

02. Every single night while we read scriptures Olive brings in a can of green beans from the kitchen.
03. Chris taught her to say drink "dink" - but she still won't say it when she needs one.
04. We have a new toy that plays music when you push a button and every time she sees the toy she can't resit pushing the button and busting a move.
05. She is getting better at eating with a fork at dinner
(she wont ever eat her cereal with a soon - always her hands)
and wants to drink out of a cup like a big girl.
I rarely give into this because it makes a mess without fail every time.

Instagram update

2012-02-13T09:27:00.001-07:00

(In complete random order as they were taken)

:: Visiting the fishies at Nordstrom ::

:: At instacare for yeast infection while in St. George ::

:: Left over Toms deli from Dad's big surprise party at work ::

:: Spying on Ivy in singing time. Completely melts my heart ::

:: Ivy and Claire ready for ballet ::

:: Helping Apa Eric blow out his birthday candles ::

:: Love these two little people more than anything ::

:: After ballet snack. Ivy said she wanted to stay in the van until she was done...we were there awhile ::
(yes we finally got a van!!!)

:: One of my guilty pleasures - lounging on the couch with Miss Ivy while Olive sleeps ::

:: The girls going crazy in the new car while Chris was doing the paperwork ::

:: Daily ritual - coloring ::

:: Love her ::

:: Sunday in the snow ::

:: Getting baby girl up from her nap ::

:: Happy meal toys keeping the kids entertained during the rain ::
(and by kids I mean Chris)

:: Ivy and her cartoons ::

:: My little mamas ::

:: Valentine decor is the best ::

:: Playdate with Miss Scarlett ::

:: Right before the shopping cart tipped and Olive went rolling ::

:: So excited for ballet! ::

:: Must be doing something right. Ivy wanted to sleep with her new Book of Mormon and was so excited to take it to church and talk in the microphone ::
(her words)

:: Nightly bath tub ::

:: Pre dinner snack of chocolate animal crackers...sure, why not? ::

:: My little shopping buddy while Ivy was at a play date ::

Sunbeam

2012-02-09T14:10:00.001-07:00

{January 9}

Ivy's first week in Primary was a success and I missed it because little sister was sick.
I was a little worried how the transition from nursery to primary would be since she absolutely loves nursery...has from day one. Thankfully during the month of December the primary slowly brought the nursery kids in for a little while at a time to have them get a feel for singing time.
Chris said she was a little hesitant to go to her class but warmed up quick and was fine.
Seriously, when he was giving me the report it was like I had a pit in my stomach because I wasn't the one to spy on her like he had.
The next week wasn't quite as easy....the hour before church started she kept telling me how she didn't want to go to primary -- she wanted to go to nursery with Olive.
(I actually somewhat wish this too since Olive hates nursery...maybe she'd like it with Ivy in there?)
When the time came to drop her off she had a small meltdown in the hall and wouldn't go in the classroom. So I picked her up and went to class with her. She sat on my lap for about 5 minutes and then I moved her to an empty seat by her little friend.
Within minutes I could tell she was going to be just fine so I left.
I stood at the door window waiting for her to come after me but she never did.
So grown up.
As her classroom went in for singing time the next hour I watched as she and her friend walked down the hall holding hands.
Thank heavens for little friends.
Each week is getting better....she still says she wants to go to nursery instead but I think she's transitioning just fine.
Now if I could only get Olive to like nursery and stay, I'd be set and feeling the spirit every single week :)

Tuesday tidbits

2012-02-07T12:53:00.001-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy got out the tools this morning to "build a few things" she said.
She takes her work very seriously.

02. She doesn't like when Olive has to go down for a nap - she says she wants her friend to stay awake. I am loving this stage they are in - they really do love each other.
03. Ivy is such a sweetheart. She keeps telling me that she's growing up - and then she'll say, "it's okay mom, don't be sad"
(seriously though, why do they have to grow up?)
04. She insists that Megan's baby is a girl - if anyone mentions it being a boy she'll correct them.
We'll see in a few months if her intuition is right.
05. She is always wanting to get new games on my phone...she'll say, "is it free mom? can I get it?"

:: olive ::

01. The last couple of weeks Olive has been doing this hilarious silent laugh where she raises her head, opens her mouth and smiles but no sound comes out.
02. She wants to be doing everything her sister is doing - and right by her side always.
03. When she is up to no good she'll walk by you and say "hiii"
04. She is constantly running up and down the hall.
She's actually quite fast - sometimes I can't tell if its her or Ivy's feet making the noise.
05. She poops all day long. Probably because she eats all day long.

Snow day

2012-02-06T12:17:00.003-07:00

{January 8}

I cannot believe how mild this winter has been.

I can actually count the number of times it has snowed on my hands -- miracle!

The few times we have been graced with the white stuff the girls were thrilled...

scratch that, Ivy was thrilled!!

Olive had fun for a bit but she was mostly just interested in eating it.

I admit, because we haven't had so much this year - its been actually fun to watch the girls run around and make snow angels.

Olive and I called it quits early and watched from the window as Ivy and dad had a snowball fight.

(we still haven't invested in snow pants for her and I was getting a little worried she was freezing)

Ivy was so cute and came to the window every couple of minutes to say hi to her sister.

I love my little penguins.

Tuesday tidbits

2012-01-31T17:06:00.001-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy has been begging for a backpack for weeks now - she says she's ready for school.

I finally bought one yesterday and she hasn't taken it off since.

Too bad she's still got a few years before school.

02. We spent the weekend in St. George celebrating my dad's birthday and the first night we got there we found our self at the instacare for sore bum. Yeast infection is what the problem was.

03. The next day she spent a good two hours of screaming because she was in so much pain.

04. She is already talking about her fourth birthday....she says she wants a rainbow party.

05. She has a few imaginary friends. The ones that tend to come around most are...

"wah tang" and "tinga" -- yeah not real sure?

:: olive ::

01. Olive is always wanting to be in front of the cupboard finding something to eat.

02. I kid you not, while in St. George she did not stop eating.

It was incredible.

03. Addie taught her how to say "hi"

We're pretty proud to add another word to the list.

04. She loves to take a book to bed with her.

05. Her hair is growing longer and looking more and more like a bad mullet.

Hopefully the phase passes soon.

Instagram update

2012-01-31T10:57:00.003-07:00

I am really struggling in the blogging department as of late.

Occasionally I will go through spurts of complete burnt out but this time it might be a little different and I am absolutely hating it.

I have always just blogged for myself to keep record of things and also for my family to be able to know what is going on in our everyday lives since we don't live in the same town.

(not that they don't already know since I talk to them multiple times throughout the day)

But Instagram has put a whole new spin on things....

I actually feel like I am even more connected to my family and friends.

But I'm missing out on the documenting of it all - and that has got to change.

Not sure how or when? But it has eaten at me the last few weeks and I must do something about it before I totally fall off the blogging bandwagon.

I rarely ever pick up my regular camera anymore.

Blah. What has gotten into me?

I love blogging. Always have, and especially love when the dedication and hard work pays off when I order my blog books.

Bare with me as I try to figure it all out.

(And sorry for all my instagram followers who have already seen these pictures weeks ago)

:: Delicious homemade fudge recipe from my mother in law. To die for ::

:: The extent of my reading these days. Catching up on latest celeb gossip in the checkout line ::

:: Bestie in town for the weekend - we had a night out with my sisters sans kids ::

:: Then after dinner, we topped it off with frozen yogurt ::

:: Auntie Laura reading books with Ivy ::

:: Morning cereal and cartoons on the couch ::

:: Enthralled by the snow ::

:: My little penguin ready to brave the weather ::

:: Family in town for the MLK weekend ::

:: Convinced Laura to come up early and help my put together Relief Society birthday gifts for the year ::

:: Mission accomplished. Couldn't have done it without her ::

:: Not prepared for the winter weather ::

:: Lunch at Zupas. The girls were thrilled with their chocolate strawberry reward after they ate their lunch. Nothing like bribery ::

:: Apa Eric and his girl ::

:: Breakfast with the big girls ::

:: Originals pic ::

:: Inside my bag ::

:: The girls playing school. "Ivy the teacher, Olive the kid" ::

:: My not so morning baby throwing another tantrum ::

:: Getting her own way -- eating yogurt with her hands ::

:: The girls attached to Ammy Phoebe's hip as soon as she walked in the door ::

:: Group picture after Zupas ::

Tuesday tidbits

2012-01-24T16:04:00.004-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. She is back to wanting to color every day.

Yesterday she drew some awesome pictures -- one was an octopus that pretty much blew me away. Today she created cards for basically anyone and everyone.

02. She is so quick to say she is sorry.

Melts my heart.

03. Had a tiny melt down before going into Primary but ended up being fine.

(more on that later)

04. She loves the cartoon Max and Ruby.

05. She is always wanting to "show me something"

:: olive ::

01. Olive is obsessed with "Ivy's world" she goes nuts every time she looks at it.

02. She wants to eat yogurt raisins all day long.

03. She rarely makes a peep when she wakes up from her nap - so I don't ever really know when she's awake.

04. She loves when Chris comes home from work.

05. Can't wait for breakfast every morning. Sits down and eats her bowl of cereal and then finishes off Ivy's.

New Years Eve

2012-01-24T11:53:00.001-07:00

{December 31}

I'll be the first to admit that New Years is one of my least favorite holidays.

This year we had an early party for the girls before we put them to bed....

and by party I mean, let them dance on the table while wearing hats and blowing noise makers.

We managed to stay up until the new year but hit the sack pretty soon after.

I know, lame.

But just how I like it.

Christmas leftovers

2012-01-23T08:45:00.002-07:00

:: Ivy's favorite thing to do at Ammy's - bake with her ::

:: Visiting sister at The Village Bank ::

:: Rating the break room of all their cheese and crackers ::

:: Getting lessons from the more experienced ::

:: Olive not feeling great on Christmas Eve ::

:: Opening presents ::

:: Christmas breakfast for a princess ::

:: Olive feeling a tad bit better Christmas day ::

:: Possibly one of the greatest pictures - on our way to Grammy's for Christmas Eve ::

:: Best Christmas jammies ::

:: Starting them young ::

:: Late night games. "Cinderella" had taken a nap so of course she was still up ::

:: Intense game of Hungry Hippos ::

:: Daddy + Daughter time. Pretty sure Chris was just as excited as Ivy about this gift ::

:: Entertainment at Aunt Julies - Ashlee showing him the ropes ::

:: Besties ::

:: Necklace making at Grammy Terry's with cousins ::

:: Last day of December and we were playing at the park without a coat. Only in St. George ::

:: Sleeping Ivy dressed in princess attire and still holding on to her princess wand ::

:: Game night with the in laws. Hilarious night! Name game. Best game ever ::

:: The girls swinging at Vernon Worthen Park while Chris and I were in Vegas ::

:: Obsession ::

:: Popsicles by the fire ::

:: My moms cousin/sister lunch ::

:: More popsicles ::

:: Helping Dad fix Ammy's sink ::

:: Playing with the new Kindle fire ::

:: Self picture with Addie ::

:: The love continues for Addie ::

:: Sisters pics ::

:: Like mother like daughter ::

:: Putting our high school shirts to good use. T-shirt quilts for everyone ::

Viva with the man.

2012-01-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

{December 29}
Chris and I took advantage of my family being willing to watch the girls
and headed on a little getaway to Vegas for the night.
It seriously was hea.ven.
We spent the day looking/test driving vans,
and a little shopping.

Terry and Duane happened to be in Vegas as well so we met up with them for dinner
at Cheesecake Factory.
It was fun to be able to have a quiet conversation without the kids being crazy....
not to mention, the miso salmon never tasted so good!

We later went to the movie at our hotel (War horse, not my favorite)
and then enjoyed a slice of cheesecake at midnight.

Before heading out of town we stopped by the Apple store
to pick up Laura and Addie's belated Christmas presents,
and I became the favorite sister for the day :)
Thanks again family for letting Chris and I enjoy 36 hours of piece and quiet!

Cousins Vegas trip

2012-01-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

{December 27}

The whole gang.

Truman girls.

Ludlow + Lundin girls + Toni.
(we missed you Brooke and Ashlee)

Lunch at Brio, a little bit of shopping, and a whole lot of girl talk.
Such a fun get together.
Possibly a tradition?

Tuesday tidbits

2012-01-17T16:12:00.001-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy isn't as obsessed with my phone as I was afraid she'd be...
probably because for the longest time I didn't have any games on it.
Today she wanted to "hey tell" all the family members and listen to messages they left over the weekend.
(it's like text messaging except you talk the message)
I'm apologizing now to all those she has text messaged...she's bound to get to all my contacts sooner than later.
02. Ivy got the Preschool Prep videos for Christmas and she loves them...
although I don't think she's learning much from them...?
Mainly her letters...she knows colors, shapes, etc already.
03. She calls mail "email" its the greatest part of the day when I go get the mail and she screams, "email is here!"
haha, gets me every time.
04. When we come to the stop lights while driving I will tell her when to scare the light to change colors. She thinks she's magic!
05. Her eating habits have drastically changed in the past two weeks.
She will actually say she wants to try something and she always ends up saying she likes it!
Yay! Let's hope it stays this way forever :)

:: olive ::

01. Olive's dog she got for Christmas got named by Ivy over the weekend....
"Zoe" is her name. Not sure how she came up with it - but it's stuck now.
(and yes, Zoe is dressed in a swimsuit - the girls were playing house and their dogs were the victims)
02. I think we are on the fritz with Olive being in the highchair.
She tends to throw a fit when we go to put her in it....
if we distract her good enough she'll be fine - but I don't think it will be much longer.
03. Not only does she love to pull Ivy's hair but she loves to play with it and stroke it.
If you tell her to braid it she'll lift up a few pieces and pretend.
04. She holds everything in her hand for about 5 minutes before she eats it.
05. If you ask her if she's stinky when she is she'll pat her bum.

Christmas at Papa Dennis'

2012-01-17T09:43:00.002-07:00

{December 26}
Round three Christmas was Monday morning at Papa Dennis' house.
We had the traditional breakfast -- homemade Belgian waffles and a delicious quiche
before presents were opened.
Torture for the kids!
Papa Dennis did have dancing/singing reindeer toys that kept Ivy, Olive, and Tyler entertained
(and the rest of us annoyed....ha I swear they were on repeat for a solid hour)
The kids dancing that came along with it was worth it I guess.

Papa got his annual Disneyland book from us,
and Ashlee and Nick made a darling Disneyland video as well.
(still waiting on our copy :)

After watching the video it was finally time for the kids to open their presents.
Ivy was thrilled with her train set....but more excited once we got it back to Ammy's so we could get it all set up.

Of course Ivy practically opened Olive's present, while she sat back and observed.

She love love loved her shopping cart....as did the other kids!
Might have been a few meltdowns because of the lack of sharing.

Haha, this picture kills me of Olive guarding her shopping cart for dear life....
like I said we had issues with sharing that day.
(that is our new lego table we also got that she is sitting on!)

The day was perfect,

and we couldn't be more grateful for all that we received.
Thank you, thank you
Papa Dennis and Terri
We love you!!

An update.

2012-01-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

Since I'm obviously slacking in finishing my Christmas posts

(which only results in getting further behind on this blog)
I decided to do a quick update of January so far via Instagrams.
Some may/are quite random as I am participating in a photo a day challenge for January.

:: breakfast. Still hoping one of these days I'll bust of the vitamix and make something healthy ::
:: hiding under the table. love them more than they will ever know ::
:: letterbox containing all my special love notes, I'm sorry's, thank yous, etc ::
:: make shift tool belt. They came up with it all one their own. Chris was so proud ::

:: friday afternoon trip to ikea ::
no work friday's for Chris is heaven.

:: afternoon snack while grocery shopping ::
:: first snow day of the winter ::

:: photography by ivy ::

Thanks to her, Chris and I hardly have pictures together anymore.
:: weekend ritual. Cafe Rio and a movie on the couch ::
:: I'm totally that mom you see who lets their child dress up in costume in public ::
:: the girls at story time, sitting oh so close together ::

:: Ivy's first week as a Sunbeam ::
:: Olive is always at my side as soon as the make up comes out ::
love the company, hate the mess
:: close up of my everyday wear ::
lost one of the charms that day - prayer is real, miracles do happen.
:: cleaning out my closet ::

*do you instagram?
isn't it the greatest invention ever?
I'm making a goal for myself to get this blog caught up by the end of the week!
Wish me luck!

Christmas afternoon

2012-01-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

{December 25}
After church and breakfast at my parents house
we headed to Chris' moms for round two of presents.
This year was a whole lot quieter since it was just us and the Mathews there...
Ash and Nick were headed down but hadn't made their arrival yet.

Ivy was so excited about the "zoobies" she got from Grammy
(I think they are actually called zoobles)
but wanted to know where her "work things" were after she opened them.
Chris had been talking to her about getting work tools from his mom....
haha, Terry actually bought her some but then returned them because she wanted to give her something more girly.
Long story short.
We returned to zoobies to get tools and when she later opened the tools
she told us, "she liked zoobies best!"
haha. Strike two on our part.

Lucky Broc got to sneak in a nap.

Ivy would sit forever looking at all of Grammy's Christmas trinkets.
Arranging and rearranging as she wished.

I caught miss Olive on the prowl,
hiding between Chris' legs with baby all gone
I'm sure hoping Ivy didn't find her.

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as years past at all our Christmas festivities...
to be honest it's nice just sitting back and taking it all in.
It's only now that I'm wishing I had more.

Christmas morning

2012-01-11T20:24:00.001-07:00

{December 25}
Christmas morning came bright and early -
my parents have 9:00 church and since Addie refused to open presents after church
we woke the girls up to get started.
I was a little hesitant to wake Olive up since she hadn't been feeling all that great the day before
(Ivy too - but I knew there was no way I couldn't wake her up)
but I am so happy we did!
All it took was a minute for her to warm right up.

Santa left the girls a nice thank you letter for the yummy cookies
and Ivy giggled the entire time I read it.
The letter itself could have made her Christmas!

Olive loved her rocking "moose"
(Ivy makes sure to correct you if you call it a rocking horse)

Santa also brought Olive her very own doggie...

no more sharing Ivy's Jesse dog.
Ivy was hilarious when she first saw it,
she raced over to look at it...noticed the tag, realized the tag said "Olive", tore the tag off,
and then hugged the dog like it was her own.
That was our first realization that we might be in trouble with gifts.

Surprisingly Ivy was thrilled with all the clothes she opened up.

She kept saying, "oh my gosh!" and then show them to everyone.
She did ask for clothes so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised?

Chris was surprised and thrilled with the video camera I gave him.
I'm trying to get him to follow in my dad's footsteps and get our girls life documented in video.
He's pretty excited about it...and so am I!

"Baby all gone" was a highlight to watch Ivy open.
It was close to the last ones she opened and as soon as she spotted her she held it up above her head and screamed!
Best Christmas moment ever.

Although it was soon crushed when I looked at Olive and she had her hands held out like she was wondering where hers was.

Seriously rip my heart out.
The killer fact is that I actually had two but returned one of them the day before.
My mom knew better and questioned why I wasn't keeping it for Olive.
But I just figured she wouldn't care - plus we have a million babies in the house!
Chris and I are taking notes on this whole present business thing,
pretty sure next year Santa is bringing two of the exact same things for each of them.

Chris still checking out his camera :)

My mom surprised Addie with a t-shirt quilt out of all her air jordan shirts.
And actually made the rest of us girls one out of all our cheerleading shirts....
those ones didn't get done quite in time to be wrapped under the tree,
but they are awesome!

Grammy pulled through with another of Ivy's favorite present...
a dress up box full of princess dresses, shoes, jewelry,
you name it, its in there!

The rest of the morning was spent going from one toy to the next in a different princess dress.
Heaven. The girls were in heaven!

Church was perfect,

minus the few episodes of 'baby all gone' talking
(I just couldn't make her leave her home)

It's safe to say "round one" Christmas was a total success.
(minus the baby all gone heart break from Olive)

Tuesday tidbits

2012-01-10T13:21:00.002-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. I got Ivy dressed yesterday and after she ran to her room saying she needed shoes.
Next thing I know she's beaming from ear to ear in quite the getup.
Frilly socks with shoes, beanie, leg warmers on her arms - she was so proud.
She likes to dress up but she hardly ever will change out of the clothes I put her in....
she just adds accessories or puts dress ups over.
This I like :)
02. I always find her stroking the bottom of her hair.
03. She loves to play I spy - especially in the car.
She's actually really good.
04. Since Olive has been sick lately when we give her medicine Ivy will make herself cough and say she needs medicine too.
05. She always gets into bed at night from the foot of the bed.
No matter what, she always walks around.

:: olive ::

01. These two pictures pretty much sum up Olive's behavior the past three days.
She throws a fit (over who knows what) but will stop and makes sure you're watching out of the top of her eyes.

02. Almost positive she's getting one of those killer canine teeth so I can't blame her for being miserable.
Plus she's still pretty cute when she throws a fit.
(well most of the time)
03. If you have a hoodie on she always wants you to have the hood up...
and keep it up at all times. haha.
04. She will always pick out Chris in pictures and actually say "dada" never anyone else.
She does know who everyone is though and will point to the right person when you ask her....
she even has most of her cousins down.
05. The other day I was painting Ivy's toes and she came right over and put her foot in my hand for me to paint them.
She held still the entire time.
I was shocked! Ivy still hardly holds still.

Christmas pajamas

2012-01-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

{December 24}

As soon as we got home from Christmas Eve at Grammy Terry's
Chris and I got the girls in the bath and just as we were preparing a plate of cookies for Santa my family came home from the Bowler Christmas Eve party.
Perfect timing for the girls to open their new jammies!
Then it was off to bed for visions of sugarplums to dance in their head.
It didn't take long before the girls were out.
I was hoping/praying by morning they would be feeling a lot better.

Mama did not disappoint this year with the big kid jammies!
"clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose"
Thank you friday night lights :)
and aren't the socks and mocs so great too?

Christmas Eve

2012-01-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

{December 24}

Christmas Eve this year was spent with the Patten family.
Terry slaved away all day and made a delicious dinner,
the crowd was pretty small which was actually quite nice --
unfortunately both girls (and Tyler) were sick and pretty miserable.
So even though not many were there it sure felt like it with all the meltdowns the little kids were having.
Ha, Olive about had a heart attack when Chris' uncle Carvell walked through the door...
I guarantee she thought he was Santa Claus.
She immediately latched onto my shoulder and wouldn't even look his way.
Must have been the white beard?
Poor girl.
(the only picture of him is in the background of Broc holding Tyler)
Things got better for the kids when Grammy Terry let them take all the Christmas decorations off of the table in the entryway and onto the little table of their own.
They had so much fun playing with them.
Whatever makes them happy right?
That was our motto for the entire day.

2011 year in review

2012-01-05T09:16:00.001-07:00

Since I'm slowly in the process of getting Christmas pictures off my phone I decided I'd do a little recap of 2011.
I did one last year and I thought it was kind of fun.
This year was full of lots of ups and downs...
but isn't that life?
enjoy.

:: january ::
-At seven months Olive started sitting up on her own.
-On a whim I decided to potty train Ivy.

:: february ::

-backsplashed our kitchen.
-celebrated valentines.
-Olive got sick (rsv) and had to be hospitalized.

:: march ::
-hosted book club.
-cousin Ashlee got married and had her reception in Grandma Bowlers backyard.
-crafted with mom and sisters a wax paper chandelier.

:: april ::

-met blogger friend Jessie for lunch and became real life friends.
-all my hard work paid off when my blurb books arrived.
-Mom and Aunties threw a fabulous Easter party at Grandma Bowlers where Laura dressed up as the Easter bunny.
-Annual Easter picnic at the park with the Pattens.

:: may ::
-Jessie came back to Utah, this time bringing the whole Pennington family....life long friends.
-Apa Eric came to town and graciously watched the girls while Chris and I went on a long awaited date.
-Said goodbye to Ivy's panties. She just wasn't getting it....too much stress for me.
-Spent my birthday in St. George and had cousins lunch - Chris surprised me that night by coming down.

:: june ::
-Laura and Kassidy came home from Denmark.
-celebrated Olive's first birthday with a tiny party with all our family.

:: july ::
-spent our first 4th of July at home and had a blast at the neighborhood party/parade.
-dear sweet cousin Wes passed away.
The entire Bowler family was together to celebrate his life.
-Ivy started swimming lessons at the Jones'.
She loved it!

:: august ::

-First annual Ludlow reunion in Midway at the Zermatt resort.
-Family pictures taken by Jylare.
-Spent an afternoon up the canyon and tired to catch some fish.

:: september ::
-Ivy started ballet lessons.
-celebrated Ivy's third birthday with a pink fairy party per her request.
-Disneyland trip with the entire Patten family.
(where the majority of our little family got sick)

:: october ::
-Olive started taking steps at 13 months.
-Halloween parties + trick or treating.
Ivy was Olivia the pig and on some occasions a witch...Olive was a strawberry.
-Chris and I went to Colorado for the big structural engineering exam.
I spent my days reading + shopping while Chris was slaving 8 hours a day taking the exam.
(my parents were partying with the girls in St. George)

:: november ::
-our water pipe bursted in the middle of the night.
Chris took action into his own hands and fixed the majority of the problem saving us lots of money...but still costed a pretty penny.
-spent Thanksgiving in St. George with family.
weather was amazing!

:: december ::
-had fun creating Christmas memories + traditions with the girls.
-spent the holidays in St. George with family.
had a magical Christmas!

{hope 2012 goes a little bit slower}

Pre Christmas Instagrams

2012-01-04T09:37:00.001-07:00

:: first picture with new phone ::
:: the girls picking out their annual Christmas ornament ::
:: babysitting. 5 under 5. It looks good on Chris right? ::
:: olive for once not screaming while getting dinner ready ::
:: feeling loved this Christmas season. should have make two wreaths to hold all the cards ::
:: mantel. wish it was Christmas all year round ::
:: running errands without Ivy. amazing what I can accomplish with one child ::
:: Ivy reunited with her bestie. The old navy mannequin girl ::
:: playing with my silly girl while Olive naps ::
:: caught the girls dancing to Christmas music. If only you could hear the giggles ::

I have to admit I am loving my new phone...especially instagram :)
Although I hate to admit that I'm not taking out my big camera as much as I should...
I only took pictures with it a handful of times over the Christmas break. blast.

I'm hoping to get to the Christmas posts soon...
its felt so good to have a little break from the blog,
but I hate knowing that each day I'm getting more and more behind.
And don't even get me started on the fact that 2011 is over which means I've got to get cracking on the blog book.
Ahh never ending.

Tuesday tidbits

2012-01-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. We're now home from our 1.5 week stay in St. George for the holiday.
The weather was amazing down there...and thankfully it isn't too bad here now.
We have been outside yesterday and today for a little bit trying to soak it all in.
(its still pretty chilly - but beats not having snow)
02. We took down all our Christmas decor yesterday and Ivy was not thrilled.
She kept saying, "where is Christmas going?"
We have tried to explain that Christmas is only once a year but she's not really understanding it.
She keeps saying that we're going to Ammy Phoebe's soon for Christmas again!
Boy is she in for a rude awaking next time we visit.
03. She mentioned to me a few times before we left for St. George that Santa was going to leave a present under the tree at our house for when she got home.
I figured she'd totally forget about it, but sure enough on the drive back she said that Santa left her more toys under our tree.
Luckily "Santa" didn't put their new winter coats under Ammy's tree so we were saved.
And she was thrilled!
04. I'm positive that it was the first time she didn't throw a fit or whine on the trip home that she wanted to go back to St. George.
She was actually excited to go to her house!
(ha it was probably because she was thinking of that last present under our tree)
05. She is loving all of her presents and goes from one thing to the next every 15 minutes.
Dress ups to play-doh to coloring back to dress ups etc.

:: olive ::

01. Olive is hilarious.
When she knows you want her to look at you she will look away and then slowly out of the corner of her eye she'll see if your still there, and then she busts up laughing.
02. She's still teething and has two more new teeth.
Top molar and then a baby tooth on the bottom.
She actually isn't a terrible sleeper when she teethes (thank heavens)
she wakes up and cries for a little bit but will go back to sleep herself within a few minutes.
03. She has been walking around on her tippy toes lately.
So funny to watch.
I'm not sure why she's been doing this.
04. She rocks like crazy on her rocking moose.
She loves that thing.
05. She is a dancing queen!
The second she hears any type of music she starts moving her body back and forth.

12.25.2011

2012-01-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

Eighteen months.
How is this possible? How is my baby eighteen months already?
In just six short months she is going to be two!
Holy cow. If you can't tell I'm kind of freaking out.

There is so much to say about Miss Olive Grace.
Before I started this post I looked back at Ivy's to read what I put...
I basically could cut and paste the first few paragraphs for Olive.
I didn't realize how similar they really were/are.
(read Ivy's post here)

Olive is a character.
She utters very few words so the majority of the day is hearing her grunt and pointing at the things she wants. Drives me crazy but at the same time I feel like its keeping her a baby.
Ha, better than her yacking my ear off I guess?
(at least that is what I keep telling myself)

She is an awesome sleeper and goes to bed at 7 o'clock and wakes up at 7:45 - 8:00.
Unless we aren't home then she wakes up much earlier.
She takes just one nap a day but could use two to keep her less cranky in the afternoon.
I wasn't very happy when Ivy transitioned to one nap but this time around I almost welcomed it...
Ivy loves having Olive to play with and its easier to be out and about when I don't have to worry about being home to put Olive down again.
It was easy when I only had one child to be home because I could do things for myself,
but that's not the case when a three year old is running around the house.

Speaking of the girls playing together - they have their good days and their bad.
Olive love love loves her sister, but she can also drive her crazy.
Her main retaliation method is pulling hair.
Ha, it gets Ivy to stop whatever she is doing every time.

Olive's eating habits used to be so so good.
She would eat anything and everything you'd give her.
Now days...not so much.
The reason being is that she insists on feeding herself,
this only means she gets frustrated when she can't get it into her mouth,
thus throwing a tantrum and tossing the food off her tray making a huge mess.
Awesome.

Regardless of all her crazy habits,
Olive is the sweetest little girl around.
She loves to cuddle and give hugs all throughout the day,
and is the best snuggler at bedtime.
She'll just lay on your shoulder forever while you rock her.
Oh how I love it!

Her hair continues to grow (much like Ivy's at this age)
but Olive's is more fine and has a tiny bit of curl.
Hooray!
I pray the the curl sticks around as it grows.

She is a mama's girl to the millionth degree.
And has 100 percent of daddy's genes.
Seriously a spitting image of Chris' baby pictures.
I love her more than she will ever know.
Thank you Olive for being mine.

I'm pretty sure this stage is one of my favorites.
(okay I say that every time)

I haven't gotten around to taking her in for her 18 month well check
so I don't know her statistics...
but I do know that she weights 25 lbs.

Love you Olla Walla.
You make me one happy mama.

Tuesday tidbits

2011-12-27T00:21:00.002-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy and cousin Tyler have loved playing together. They get along so good. If only we lived closer.
02. Surprisingly she was thrilled with the clothes she got for Christmas.

Every time she opened one she'd pull it out and say, "ohhh my goss"

03. She hasn't been feeling top notch.

She's been coughing and has been running a bit of a fever.

04. Is obsessed with her new princess dress ups.

Changes her outfit every 3 minutes.

05. She's eats nothing but sugar.

Technically she did have a couple bites of french toast Christmas morning but it was drenched in delicious home made syrup that tastes just like candy so that probably doesn't count.

:: olive ::

01. I painted Olives fingers for the first time ever.

I can't believe its taken me this long.

They look so cute on her dainty little hands.
02. She hasn't been feeling that great either.

Poor girl whines all day long and just wants to be held.

03. She got a rocking moose for Christmas and she loves it!

We find her multiple times a day just rocking in the room all by herself.

04. She still isn't talking very much.

Like at all really.

She just grunts and shakes her head when she wants/needs something.

05. She is the best cuddler!

She'll give hugs on demand and loves to lay on your shoulder.

I love this.

(Ivy never did this)

The 14th day of December

2011-12-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

The girls have loved opening a present each night before bed,
its basically routine - dinner, tub, race to the tree to pick one out.
On occasion Ivy will let Olive help in the opening...but not very often,
that's okay though, Olive prefers to pick up all the wrapping paper and throw it away.
(I taught her well right? :)

As I was attempting a self timer picture with the girls, Chris jumped in at the last second to join.
So we attempted a family shot.

Take one.

Take two.

Take three.

Take four.
As good as we got.
(and I look like one tired mama)

Itty bitty ballet

2011-12-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

{December 14}

Ivy + Claire

Each girl took a turn skipping around the circle of ballerina's...
Ivy basically sprinted.
Ha, it was awesome.

Looking in her makeup mirror.

"jack in the box"

Where Miss Natalie said they love popping out and doing scary faces.

The ballerinas

The doting parents

Ivy's ballet class had a little end of the year parents watch day.
Let me just say, she may or may not be the crazy girl that tends to do her own thing at times...?
but I loved watching every second.
I know she felt special having her daddy, Laura, and Olive there watching
because she continues to talk about "that time that everyone watched her do ballet"
Goodness, I love my little ballerina.

A visit to Santa

2011-12-22T15:46:00.001-07:00

{December 16}
It didn't go as well as we had hoped...
but pretty much as we had planned.

Both girls nearly had a heart attack.

Little stinkers.
The second I tried to put them down they put a death grip on me,
this was the first year that Ivy got scared - which surprised me it took this long. haha.
Santa's workers pulled a fast one on me and wouldn't let me take my own pictures this year,
so Chris snapped from a distance.
Still wishing I had a close up even if they were in tears
(I think those pictures are hilarious)
Although the girls would probably kill me if I tried to take them back.

Ha, they were both pretty quite after that --- hope I didn't traumatize them too much.

They warmed back up pretty quick as we shopped the mall along with the rest of Utah.
And yes, Olive is riding in the mesh bag -
only fair when they both want to ride in the car :)

The results are in....

2011-12-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

He passed
Christmas came early tonight when I heard a knock at the door while laying down with Ivy.
Chris was at mutual so my first thought that it was the young men door bell ditching our house (again)
I took my time getting to the door and when I did I found a folded up piece of paper with red ribbon tied around it.
I quickly untied it and saw the "NCEES"logo in the top corner
(engineering licensing company)
I scanned the writing and saw Exam Result :: Pass
I seriously thought someone was playing a joke -- Chris wasn't supposed to get the results until mid January.
I looked out the window to see if I could see anyone,
little did I know Chris was behind the whole thing...
there he was peering in watching my reaction.
(I guess it was a pretty lame reaction on my part since I was so confused)
He had gotten an email the previous afternoon saying he could download his results if he wanted to. Haha, he said it took him about an hour before he got up the guts to do it.
Thankfully the news was good!
He wanted to wait until Christmas to tell me - but he couldn't wait any longer.
I can't even begin to describe how proud I am of Chris.
He seriously worked so hard studying for this exam,
I always knew he would pass but it feels so good to actually have the results.
Merry early Christmas to us!!
I can't imagine how Chris is feeling right now, especially if I feel like I'm on cloud nine.
{Let the celebration begin}

Dear Santa,

2011-12-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

{December 12}

Ivy was so excited to write her letter to Santa this year.
She spent nearly twenty minutes making it perfect,
tracing every single letter exactly and then signing her name at the end. Twice.
She was so proud of it and couldn't wait to get it stuffed in an envelope and outside for the mailman to come.
Lets hope it makes it to him safely :)

*Ha are you dying over all her crazy poses like I am?
She's something else I tell ya.

Tuesday tidbits

2011-12-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy loves to take all the ornaments she can reach off the big tree and put them on her little tinsel tree.

The other night she got all her stuffed animals and placed them under the tiny tree and said they were waiting for santa.
02. Whenever she wants something of Olive's she'll convince her to share it,
and then Ivy will say to me, "look mom, we like to share"
03. She has reverted a little bit in the potty department.
For some reason she will pee her pants just a tiny bit - but enough to have to change her underwear. A little bit frustrating. I'm trying to just roll with it.
04. When she's with friends they somehow end up playing pretend monsters, ghosts, etc.
And run around the house screaming "draaaggon - ahhhhh"
The things little kids come up with kill me.
05. When she gets mad she'll say, "its not fair"
(This is partially my fault she learned this - I got the cutest little book at the library last week and the girl kept saying "its not fair" I guess I should have known better)

:: olive ::

01. Olive is obsessed with Ivy's boots.

She can put them on herself and will wear them all around the house.
02. Is always sharing her sippy (see #2 of Ivy's list)
but she has to be the one to hold it.
03. She has this new high pitched squeal/laugh that is so funny.
At times I'm not sure if she's crying or laughing.
04. She loves to pretend talk on the phone.
05. She will not eat unless she does it on her own and has complete control.
And she will throw a fit and have a complete come apart if you do try.
Example :: opening yogurt, taking the liner of a muffin, breaking a cracker, peeling a banana, etc.
Holy drama!

Nursery

2011-12-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

{December 18}

Seriously, she's a nut.

Today marked Olive's first week in nursery.
Technically she's not 18 months until next Sunday but since it's Christmas they let it slide.
I honestly can't believe she's really old enough -
(thank heavens she is, she was getting way too hard to take to relief society)
I thought Ivy was so old when she started going...
probably because I was pregnant and knew she wasn't going to be my baby for much longer,
but Olive really is still a baby. At least I feel like she is.
Ha, she's totally not though - she rules our house.
She went in pretty good, didn't cry but was a little hesitant,
I think it helped that Ivy was in there too.
(another reason I was happy they let her in this week is because Ivy will be in primary at the beginning of they year. now that seems weird!)
I peeked on them a couple of times and quite often found my two girls playing together!
When I picked them up the nursery leader commented on what a good big sister Ivy is,
she said that numerous times Ivy would just go sit by Olive and pat her back or give her a toy.
Now that makes for one happy mama.

Sunday morning

2011-12-18T17:14:00.000-07:00

Church isn't until 1:00 so you better believe we stay in our pajamas until about 12:30.
I guess we like to live on the edge.
Surprisingly we were actually on time today,
it's a good thing because Relief Society was amazing...
we had a visiting group of men/brothers that gave a little Christmas fireside
about our Savior and Mary that had me in tears the entire hour.
They each gave a short message with singing in between that was unreal.
If only I could have recorded it to listen throughout the week.

Chris and the Young Men sang in sacrament meeting which meant all the boys were to sit on the stand....which left me to handle the girls. Alone*
The girls must have been in tune that they needed to behave because they were angels!
(and that never is the case in sacrament meeting)
Gosh, they make me happy.

*okay, I wasn't totally alone in watching them.
Thanks to the little friends we were sitting with/by and their toys my girls were in heaven.

{happy sabbath}

Melt my heart.

2011-12-18T10:02:00.002-07:00

I adore these pictures of Ivy and her daddy.
(they were taken the other night during dinner and she kept posing beside him for a picture)

She sure loves him quite a bit!
As do I!
Christopher gave me an early Christmas present over the weekend...
a new phone - and I am so excited!
For all you iphone users let me in on all your favorite apps so I can get all situated....
besides instagram - I got that one figured out pretty fast,
and boy is it addicting!

Really, only one more week until Christmas?
I hope this week goes by slow + fast all at the same time.

Christmas feast + Nativity

2011-12-15T14:20:00.010-07:00

{December 11}
Since some of the Patten family won't all be in the same place for Christmas,
we talked about getting together before hand and have the cousins act out the Nativity.
A big thanks to Shawn + Kristin for running with the idea and acting upon it.
We had a delicious Christmas dinner at their house
(which obviously it wasn't documented because everyone was too busy filling their plates full of yummy food)
and then later the kids got into costume/whatever article of clothing we could find and they entertained us with the Nativity.

Our attempt at getting all the cousins to smile before...
as you can tell it was pretty difficult,
with not much success - Kole didn't make it in one picture.

haha, Olive looks like she's 500 pounds.

The kids getting instruction from narrator Trent.

Roscoe as Joesph
Lexi as The Angel

Olive as a shepherd

her getup had me rolling every time I looked at her.

Hailiee as Mary.
Taryn as another shepherd.

Ivy as A wiseman.
She took her roll very seriously as she carried the Gold to baby Jesus.

Miss Gretta taking care of Baby Jesus.
(she and Kole lasted all of two seconds with their costume on)

I think we have found ourselves a tradition!

To be a kid again...

2011-12-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

{December 5}

I finally got the chalkboard + whiteboard hung in Ivy's room
and the girls have been loving it!...well the chalkboard at least,
the whiteboard is a bit too high for them and I still haven't purchased dry erase markers yet.
One day I'll remember to.
Some pretty good masterpieces have been created so far...
if you look closely you can see how Ivy writes her name and a tiny portrait she drew of Olive in yellow. She insisted I take a picture of her beside each one :)
Olive kills me everyday with the way she looks and laughs at her sister,
I cannot get enough of that girl.

And seriously, can Ivy's hair really be that long?
It's probably time for a little trim so it doesn't end up in the toilet every time she goes potty.
Gosh, she is one lucky girl - lets pray Olive's gets that gene too!

Tuesday tidbits

2011-12-13T11:49:00.001-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. These two are quite the pair.
Ivy has Olive on a pretty tight leash these days...
a few days ago we were driving in the car and Ivy suddenly burst into tears because Olive wouldn't hold her hand. I turned around and sure enough Olive was holding her own hand as far away as she could. Ivy said "please Olive" and just like that Olive put her hand right in Ivy's,
and they stayed that way until we got out of the car.
(ha, if only all I had to say was please - life would be a whole lot easier)
02. She calls Rudolph "nosed reindeer"
03. Whenever I'm on the phone she always has to know who I'm talking to.
When I get off she'll ask what did they say?
04. She can write her name.
The letters aren't always in the right order and the 'v' + 'y' are upside down
but I'm still proud.
05. She can hear a Christmas song twice and will then know the majority of the words.
She wants to sing Christmas songs all day long.
:: olive ::

01. When you ask Olive where something/someone is and she doesn't know she'll hold out her tiny hands in question. I love it.
02. She says "ta-ta" every time she see's Santa.
Can't wait to take her to see him....
I'm almost positive she will be fine and Ivy will throw a fit.
03. She's been teething and now has two new molars with another almost through
and a bottom tooth by her other tiny ones.
04. Loves to play in the garbage, sink and toilet.
Basically anything that's dirty she loves.
05. She is one tough monkey....
just this morning she fell down the stairs and not ten minutes later I took her to play play-doh with Ivy and she lost her balance on the chair and hit her mouth on the edge of the table. I was standing right by her side but it just happened so fast.
She cried for about three minutes and then wanted to continue to play.
(unfortunately her play time didn't last very long and then she was back at my feet...she is still a mamas girl)

If only they lived closer.

2011-12-12T12:56:00.000-07:00

{December 7}

I'm pretty sure our families would be together nearly everyday if we could.
The Penningtons were in town last week and we couldn't have been happier about it!
We managed to snap one picture the entire time in between chatting, eating, and chatting some more.
As cheesy as it sounds, I know that Heavenly Father placed her in my life for a reason,
and for that I am grateful.
Thanks again for always making time for us :)

And yes, Olive rocked Crew's shoes for a good portion for the night.

Dirty habits.

2011-12-11T22:02:00.002-07:00

{December 5}

The bathroom is the first place I look when I can't find Miss Olive.
She is either in the sink getting herself a drink
(she is going through a huge independence phase)
or unfortunately in the bathroom, playing in the toilet.
Nasty I know.
I've learned my lesson on that and will always keep the toilet seat closed...
and actually Ivy is pretty good to close it too,
it is Chris that's the problem.
I swear whenever he is home she knows it's a guarantee the seat will be up.
Dang boys.
The only downside is when the seat is closed she's able to get right up to the sink in two seconds flat.
I guess the answer to my problem is figuring out how to train my husband to keep the bathroom door closed!
At least this obsession of Olive's has been a great motivator for me to keep up on cleaning the toilets :)

And the winners are...

2011-12-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Since you can hardly see the winners names they are....
Janessa, Lindsay, and Jen!!
email me at ericapatten{at}gmail and I'll forward your information on to oh henry.
congratulations girls!

The girls were once again a great help -
they each got to pick a winner, which they think is sooo much fun!
When it came time to take a picture all the silliness came out...
Ivy started throwing the papers everywhere and dumping the bowl on her head
and Olive decided she was hungry.
It's going to be a good day :)

To all those that didn't win...
click here to make your order and get going on your Christmas giving,
(even if it is for yourself :)
Only 15 more days until the big day!

Little bears

2011-12-09T09:17:00.003-07:00

My fingers are crossed that this type of wrestling will always remain somewhat friendly.
I cannot get enough of these sisters.

oh henry print shop :: GIVEAWAY

2011-12-06T23:15:00.001-07:00

You guys are seriously going to thank me on this one!
(or technically thank my awesome cousin duo Abby + Bronson)
oh henry is giving three lucky winners the chance to pick any item from their shop....
you can pick from twelve of their awesome monthly calendars,
have one of your favorite pictures turned monochromatic,
or have a silhouette digitally created from a photo or your choice.
Check out the shop for other goods here.

This is the perfect timing for those that haven't quite figured out what to give friends/neighbors for Christmas.

Personally, the calendars are so much fun to give - and so easy.
We gave them away last year and everyone loved them!
Once you buy the pdf of any item you are able to print them as many times as you'd like.
And they are willing to customize pretty much anything.
Amazing right?

Three winners will be chosen at random on Saturday!
(12.10)
So don't hesitate to enter :)
good luck!

if you can't wait that long...make your order today!

Temple Square

2011-12-06T14:56:00.002-07:00

{December 3}

We headed to Temple Square to check out the lights with the Wimmers.
We figured if we went early in the month it wouldn't be quite as cold...
but the weekend turned bitter - we still decided to go and although the temperature said 30 degrees it actually wasn't too bad.
I guess it was all the layers we were wearing.
Temple Square is the best this time of year, visiting is always one of my favorite traditions.
The girls loved the lights and Ivy loved all the nativities.
At one point she jumped the rope and decided to ride one of the sheep....
haha. It was pretty funny,
but probably not to the family who was trying to take a picture in front of it with some random girl is in the background riding the animals.

She was just too excited to see all the baby lambs :)
My camera died half way through the night,
which too be honest wasn't all half bad!
Then I didn't feel guilty about not taking pictures.
Sometimes its just too hard -- especially when its cold.
We ended the night with a little hot chocolate that Trent had been raving about.
(come to find out ownership had changed and it wasn't all that great)
Thanks again Wimmers for a fun night!

Tuesday tidbits

2011-12-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. If you've ever heard a story from Ivy its likely you've seen this facial expression before.
She does it all. the. time. when she's telling you something.
I love it. She has always been quite expressive and I'm sure always will be.
02. She likes to tease.
(and not necessarily mean teasing)
When reading books or if I'm questioning her on something she will purposefully give me the wrong answer.
For example last night we were talking about baby Jesus and when I asked her where he was in the nativity she pointed to the goat....I laughed and said, "no that's not Jesus that's Mary"
she gets concerned and said, "no mom, I was just kidding. This is baby Jesus"
I think she does it to get a rise out of you.
Or she learned it from Apa Eric. He's always teasing.
03. She says, "awww" every time she looks at a picture after its been taken.
04. She loves to make her bed every morning and then helps me with mine.
05. She doesn't like sleeping with covers.
On nights when she happens to be in our bed and she's pulling off the covers Chris freaks.
Ironic since Chris is always pulling the covers off him.

:: olive ::

01. Olive goes to this position quite a lot through out the day.
Usually it is in the mist of a tantrum but occasionally she does it just for fun.
02. If I'm sitting on the ground she will always back up to me and sit on my lap.
(Ivy did this all the time too)
03. She throws a fit if we don't let her eat her yogurt/applesauce/basically anything that will make a complete mess by herself.
04. She is always giving Ivy hugs.
Cutest thing.
05. She makes the sound "mmwa" when giving kisses.

Days of December

2011-12-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

{December 1}

Every night leading up until Christmas day I have planned a little something for the girls to open.
Most nights it will be a book to read that night,
but occasionally there will be a movie, craft, finger puppets to play with,
or something Christmasy of the sort.
The first night the girls opened a chocolate advent calendar
(thank you trader joes!)
Ivy was thrilled when she opened it up...but soon realized she didn't have a clue what it actually was.
You can imagine how excited she was when she learned she got to open a window each day and eat a chocolate candy leading up to the big day.
Five days into it and I'm surprised she doesn't whine that she wants another one.
Olive on the other hand does, and points to the box multiple times throughout the day for another piece.
Growing up my mom did this tradition of opening a book each night until Christmas day,
I totally remember being pretty old and still loving it.
I hope my girls are enjoying it as much as I enjoy doing it with them.

*Jones fam, I'm laughing that I didn't realize right off about the advent calendar :)
Thanks to you guys we have another one that maybe Chris and I hid and have almost consumed all the chocolate on our own.
You guys are the best.

Random things - probably not worth reading.

2011-12-04T23:45:00.002-07:00

I just sat down at the computer to find a few more addresses for Christmas cards
but instead found myself researching for any latest news on
"friday night light" the movie.
(Addie watch these clips - you'll like them)
Rumor has it they are talking about filming one with the original characters from the tv show.
Oh how I hope it really goes through.
We all know my small obsession with the show.
Seriously if you haven't started it yet - please do now!
(jessie have you watched it yet?)
We had the Wimmers over last night for dinner before we went to temple square and they are in the middle of the series and of course I just wanted to discuss everything that they have seen so far.
Gosh, I'm sounding so lame.
I've already confessed to Chris that I may have a problem...
I swear for about a month after we finished the entire series I was still thinking about the show
and calling my sisters just to talk about it.
Come to think about it, I just may have a problem with certain tv period.
After friday night lights we watched "The Kennedys" on netflix,
and when we finished I was on google reading even more about JFK and the family.
Very interesting show.
Hahah, come to find out I'm not the only one still thinking about FNL...
while in St. George over thanksgiving my mom heard Chris talking in his sleep
saying, "hey, get out of here" or something of the sort.
Apparently he was dreaming that Tim Riggins crazy ferret owner roommate was trying to get into our house.
(if you haven't seen it then you don't know how scary that would be. ha :)
Chris and I are still laughing over it.
Also, don't get me started on Parenthood.
Still love that show....and the family.

Enough of tv talk.
Can I just say how happy I am that I'm getting somewhere with my Christmas cards.
I thought for sure I'd be sending something out the week before Christmas.
I was playing around in illustrator a few weeks ago making mock cards
and came up with one...
I wasn't sold on it - and kind of thought that we'd have more family picture taken.
But here we are three weeks later and since I didn't do anything else about it,
I went ahead and got the original idea printed over the weekend.
Hooray. I can check Christmas cards off my list!

I mentioned that Olive got my phone wet last week
and after days of letting it sit in rice it is still dead.
So I went to sprint to figure out what my options were...
1. pay $100 and get my phone replaced
(and that is with insurance. such a crock)
2. activate an old phone, or
3. pay off my contract, get a new number and get the iphone.
I know I've been wanting the iphone forever,
but now that its actually an option I'm a little hesitant...?
Seriously, I do this all the time.
I want something - and then when I can get it/or do get it, I second guess myself.
So I've been toying with my options all week....
I think why I'm so hesitant is that I don't want to give up my number.
I'm so attached to it.
Ha, so dumb I know, nobody knows phone numbers anymore,
it just seems like a hassle to me to have to switch.
Anyway, on Saturday Chris drove us to the Sprint store and said that I was just going to do it.
(I so prefer anyone to make decisions for me - I am the. worst.)
but just as my luck would have it they had just sold the very last white phone five minutes before....and if I'm going to get one I want white :)
So I walked out of the store without one.
haha. Now I really want one.
Story of my life.

I am loving the Christmas season this year.
The girls are at the best age.
I seriously cannot wait for Christmas....yet at the same time I hope it never comes
just so it stays 'the holidays' forever.
The girls went "ice skating" on Friday night (happy birthday miss Gretta :)
Ivy was in heaven!
Technically she didn't have skates on, but she loved every second of it.
Despite the fact that it was bitter cold that night - the look on her face the entire time was priceless....if only I would have snapped a picture.
We've made a Christmas bucket list of things we want to do and we are crossing off so much and adding more to it everyday.

I really should stop typing now and just go to bed before I put one more thing in my mouth for the night.
Why is Sunday the day of constant eating for me?
Especially today since we only made it through an hour of today's stake conference
due to the girls being crazy.
If only I could paint you a picture....
Olive did not stop moving or wanting snacks or throwing crayons,
Ivy kept begging that she wanted to play at her friend Claire's house
who happened to be sitting a few rows behind us.
(I guess she didn't realize that Claire wouldn't be home if she went there)
Thankfully the Jones' were able to distract her for awhile but we realized there would be no way we could make it the last hour and not be a total distraction to those that were around us.

Okay, really, I'm stopping...
just to end with a bang -
I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
I have two of the sweetest girls
and the best husband ever.
Sounds totally cliche but its true.

good night.
(it's taking a lot of will power to not delete this entire post)

Thanksgiving leftovers

2011-12-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

:: attempted black friday shopping ::
:: quick vegas trip ::
:: craft night ::
:: thanksgiving parade watching ::
:: wishing our other sisters were shopping with us ::
:: photography by ivy ::
:: only store we shopped at...oh yeah, and kmart ::
:: the girls being creative ::
:: self timer pictures ::

Trimming Ammy's tree

2011-12-02T10:14:00.001-07:00

{November 28}

We didn't leave St. George until Monday afternoon,
(thank heavens we were able to avoid all the crazy traffic on Sunday - worst day ever to travel)
Chris had a few things he had to before we left so the girls helped Ammy decorate the tree.
We decorated our own tree before we left so the girls knew exactly what to do,
and boy were they in heaven with all the fun ornaments.
I sat and watched Ivy pile up all her favorites and strategically place them towards the bottom of the tree so she could get a better look at them.
The girls were extra snugly with each other
and of course Chris had my camera - but thanks to my mom's phone I was able to capture a little bit.
Thanks heavens I have these because I didn't take a single picture decorating our own tree.
I love this time of the year....
I hope the Christmas season goes slow.

omg

2011-12-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

I die over that little grin.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-01T13:25:00.001-07:00

{November 24}

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with Chris' family and cousins at his Aunt Peggy's house.
I only took my camera out after two plates of food was consumed on my part
and I was too full for another bite.
I did chase the little kids around trying to get anyone to smile at me...
it's apparent they were having way too much fun to take a break.
Love all those little kids.
My girls are so lucky to have them as cousins.
Of course all of Chris' family was finally together at the same time and we failed to get a group shot.
I sure am grateful for my Patten family.
It's always a good time around them...
love every one of them.
(Christmas is going to be feel lonely with only half of them in town)

The girls busy at work.

2011-11-30T22:43:00.000-07:00

{November 23}

A trip to the carousel.

2011-11-30T14:20:00.001-07:00

{November 23}

We tried going to the carousel the day that we got to St. George
but of course it was closed.
Ivy threw a fit.
The next morning all she could talk about was going to ride the horses....
so that is exactly what we did.
Multiple times.
It was such a perfect day that we had to soak it all in and play for a bit before leaving.

Always getting into something.

2011-11-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

{November 22}

I swear it's always one thing or another with these girls.
They have the hardest time not getting into every. single. thing.
at Ammy's house....
usually making a complete mess.
One of their favorites is playing with the bowls.
At least its good entertainment.
It's rare when Olive doesn't mess up Ivy's organization,
she likes to transport them to the bottom step
of the stairs and then just sit with them.
Silly girls.

Farewell Frosty

2011-11-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

{November 21}

We figured a few extra days in St. George wouldn't hurt,
so the girls and I packed up and headed down with Laura.
But before we left we had to say goodbye to Frosty...
or in Olive's case - have one last taste of him.

We have a winner!!

2011-11-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

Ivy picked one lucky person...
and as you can tell, she was sooo excited!!!

Congratulations Caitlyn it's your lucky day!!
email me at ericapatten{at}gmail
and we'll get your genealogy poster to you.

Thanks to everyone that entered,
your comments printed, cut, and put in a bowl have been very entertaining for the girls.
Don't forget to go here to buy a poster for that special someone.

Tuesday tidbits

2011-11-29T13:05:00.001-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy is growing up right before my eyes. She seriously is such a character - she loved taking pictures of herself with Ammy's phone. Most of them had an awesome turnout.
02. Her answer is always the same when you ask her what she wants for Christmas....
"baby all gone and clothes"
(haha. I'm sure she'd be really disappointed come Christmas when she opens up presents with clothes)
03. She has started picking her nose - and whens she finds something she comes running to me showing me her boogie. Ha, it's always awesome.
04. She loves to pick out her outfits everyday.
Usually its not bad and I will put her in it...on occasion it's not real acceptable....and I still put her in it.
05. If she or Olive does something that she knows will make me mad,
she'll quickly come by my side and stroke my arm and say,
"it's okay mom, its just Olive...(or just me)"
(this really helps me to take an extra breather -- its hard to get mad at that little voice)

:: olive ::

01. Last night Olive would eat one kernel of corn and then show us her muscles....
this went on for about 5 minutes.
She caught on real quick to us trying to teach Ivy that you have to eat good food for you to grow strong.
02. We met Laura at Ikea this morning and as we were getting ready she was walking around saying, "ya ya"
Of course she wouldn't say it for Laura when we actually got there,
but I'm considering it another word she can say.
(since there are so few)
03. She didn't sleep that great over the Thanksgiving break.
I'm thinking it's because she's teething + got a bit of a cold...
5:30 every morning though was a bit rough -- for Chris.
He's seriously the best.
04. Yesterday at Ammy's house she climbed onto the table and spilled a cup of water which got all over my phone.
I thought no big deal, it wasn't that much water -- but no cigar,
my phone is totally dead :(
(Weird though. I've ever dropped phones in the toilet and gotten them to work)
I can't really blame her - I should have been watching her climb onto the table, but ahh, so crappy.
As terrible as it sounds - I'm lost without my phone.
Hoping to be in contact soon.
05. She only takes one nap now.
It just kind of happened over Thanksgiving break for good.
Now I just have to figure out what that time should be....I'm thinking noon.
Any later and she is a complete mess.

*don't forget to enter the giveaway.
winner will be chosen first thing tomorrow morning!

Family Branches GIVEAWAY

2011-11-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

Boy do I have an awesome giveaway for you from Family Branches!
One lucky person will get this big (20x28) beautiful genealogy chart
to frame -- (fits perfectly in ikea ribba frame) Such a great modern way to display your family tree.
Keep in mind this could be the perfect Christmas gift for just about anyone.

If you don't win...make your order here.

You know the drill, leave a comment before Wednesday, November 30th...telling me a fun Christmas tradition...or just any comment :)

{good luck}

Tuesday tidbits

2011-11-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Poor Frosty is melting by the hour.
Ivy loves her little friend and goes to the window multiple times a day to check on him.
I'm sure by the end of the day all his accessories will be in a small pile.
02. She asks a million times a day when Santa is coming.
03. She loves to play with her friends. She is constantly asking for someone to come over.
Last week she happened to have a little play date everyday...its so fun to watch :)
I find it hard to believe that she is old enough for all this.
04. The other night we left to go somewhere when it was getting dark and she started crying saying she was afraid of the owls.
(she did this more than once - why owls?)
05. She also complains of monsters in her room, and always asks me to come get rid of them.

:: olive ::

01. This little bugger is still climbing onto everything!!
I have no way of controlling it except for being by her side every second making sure she doesn't fall and crack her head open.
02. She loves to play in the boxes of movies.
She'll empty each box out making a huge mess and then be over it.
03. Whenever she finds a tissue/wet wipe/disinfectant wipe/etc. she pretends to blow her nose.
04. She loves sitting on random small steps....like the inside of the fridge.
05. She says "mom. mom. mom" all. day long.
Not mama or mommy...mom!

Discovery Gateway

2011-11-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

{November 9}

We finally experienced Discovery Gateway -
and I feel awful that I waited this long to take the girls.
Ivy, Olive, and Elsie had an absolute ball! And baby Cohen didn't even make a peep.
Pretty sure we should invest in a membership.
Ivy is still talking about going to the museum to grocery shop with Elsie,
and Olive is obsessed with helicopters so being able to play in one was right up her ally.
Thanks Cami for the invite we loved every second.

A cleaning day.

2011-11-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I was determined to get a little cleaning done to my poor neglected house.
(I had been helping out with a fashion show for Enrichment and all house responsibilities had gone down the drain until it was over)
While cleaning in the other room,
I found my little worker bee taking a break on my bed with all her animal friends reading books.
She had been a little sad that Olive was napping and wasn't able to play with her - I had to laugh at her improvisation....she invited her stuffed friends.
I was in the middle of washing sheets + duvet covers when I noticed she did me a favor and made my bed herself....
and she did it perfectly.
the sheets were actually already on - she just organized the pillows :)
She was so proud.
After I left my room to continue my cleaning I peeked in her room to find her shoes neatly organized on her bed.
Ha. She kills me.

Poor Olive.

2011-11-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Poor Olive got the shaft this morning when Ivy ran out the door to go play in the freshly fallen snow.
Ivy had been begging to go out since she woke up (6:45) and saw it all,
of course as soon as we let her go out Olive was awake and rearing to go as well.
But...
1. Olive has zero snow clothes
(Ivy hardly has any herself...I've got to invest in a real snow coat this year)
2. I do not want her getting sick before we leave for St. George for Thanksgiving.
3. Her mother wasn't nice enough to take her out there.
So, I improvised and opened the shutters and let her watch from inside.
She was okay with it for about .5 seconds.
I ended up preoccupying her with a paper towel and she helped me wash the windows.
Judge me if you'd like - they were pretty bad.
Good news - they are clean now...
and will hopefully last the rest of the day.

Ivy was thrilled with the snow and had so much fun building "Frosty"
My extent of the fun was being in charge of gathering accessories from the house.
I then gave Chris the camera and he documented Mr. Snowman for me.
I know, I'm a total wuss and lame mom for not going out with her.
But there will be plenty more opportunities for that to happen,
so I really don't feel that bad.
Chris and Ivy soon came in for some hot chocolate
that Ivy didn't like - but Olive loved,
and we got ourselves in the Christmas spirit by turning up The Biebs Christmas tunes
and putting up the Christmas decor!
Wow, we checked off quite a few of our Christmas bucket list in one morning.
Only 36 more days friends!

Old pipes.

2011-11-19T10:28:00.001-07:00

{November 14}
Last Sunday at 1:30 am I woke to Chris frantically running throughout the house
saying that the water was on and he didn't know where it was coming from.
He had already turned off the line inside but it was still on...
which meant it was coming from somewhere outside.
I laid in my warm bed thinking how would I be any help to the situation?
Guilt got the best of me and I rolled out of bed to try to be of some support.
After quickly bundling in warm clothes I met Chris outside only to find the grass on the side of our house bulging a foot underneath.
Awesome.
Luckily he was able to get the water turned off before it exploded.
Early the next morning Chris called around to a few plumbers for quotes -
after them all coming back around $2-3,000 he decided to take matters into his own hands
and cut the cost way down by digging the hole himself....
(and yes, he really had intentions of actually hand digging a 50 ft x 4 ft trench by himself)
Ha. That thought lasted about 30 minutes before he rented an excavator and got the job done in less than two hours.
Seriously, this boy is something else.
First thing the following morning we had plumbers come put a new pipe in and we were good to go.
(Thankfully we did have water throughout this whole ordeal...the city came in and set up a temporary line right after it happened)

Chris admitted that he had fun digging the trench,
so I didn't feel too bad about not being any help.
Its catastrophes like this that we knew we would be getting into when we wanted to buy an old house.
So we are just trying to roll with the punches.
We are just so grateful that it happened while we were home and could stop it before a real catastrophe hit....like our entire house flooded.
A big thanks to Chris' brother Shawn for helping put all the dirt back in place yesterday before all the snow fell last night.
Minus Chris still in the process of trying to figure out our water pressure
(or something of the sort)
this project actually went pretty smooth.
Ha. We've had quite a few where we haven't been so lucky.
Just another thing to add to the thankful list during this Thanksgiving season.

Bijou.

2011-11-17T23:11:00.004-07:00

I promise you don't want to miss out on this.
It seems like every event gets bigger and better!
Really, what can be better than so many great vendors all in one place?
You can thank me later after you've seen/bought all the amazing goods :)

Olive's first piggies

2011-11-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

{November 12}

Apparently I could have been putting pigtails in Olive's hair for quite some time...
I guess I didn't realize how long her hair really is.
Gosh, she looked so darn cute in them.
I don't necessarily like that it makes her look a lot older -
(well, minus the binky in her mouth...not quite sure where she found it?)
But regardless if she looks five, its not going to stop me from her sporting them.
I'm obsessed.
The down side is that she hated me doing them...
hopefully she gets used to it fast.

Tuesday tidbits

2011-11-15T12:59:00.002-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy is always wanting to take pictures with my camera...
but the latest is her setting up her princess camera for a self timer picture. Haha.
She puts it on the edge of the table or chair (just as I do)
and runs to the front of it and smiles.
Hilarious.

02. She always know when you miss a page reading books. Nothing gets past her.
(sometimes I can't help it - some of the books she picks have way too many words)
03. She is getting a lot more aware of danger.
She insists on holding my hand when we get out of the car and makes sure she can always she me in the store. She always says, "mom stay by me, I not want to get lost"
04. She is afraid to flush the toilet at public restrooms,
I think it's because one time an automatic one flushed while she was on it...
now she's paranoid.
05. She hides or pretends to be asleep everyday when Chris gets home from work.
I vividly remember doing this when I was little.

:: olive ::

01. This girl sure knows how to throw a fit.

I swear she learned it overnight....and it seems like they are occurring more often than I would like.

02. I think her second nap is on the fritz.
Although she still gets so tired and really needs it - but some days she just stays in her crib and jabbers.
03. She loves little purses and carries them around like a princess.
04. She loves lip gloss/lipstick and will open her mouth and stay still while I put it on her.
05. She loves when I get her shoes out because she knows we are going somewhere.

Really??

2011-11-14T09:24:00.001-07:00

{November 7}

Last week in the midst of folding loads and loads of laundry I realized the girls were being a little too quiet.
My gut instinct was right...they had found my bag of lipsticks and were playing "makeup" on each other.
The second I caught Ivy's eye she burst into tears saying she was sorry.
Olive on the other hand, burst into tears when I took the tube of lipstick out of her hands.
Little stinkers.
Of course out of all the lip choices to choose from they managed to grab my two current favorites.
(Ivy actually didn't demolish the one she was playing with like Olive did)
After stripping their clothes and trying to wipe it off I figured the bath would do a better clean up job.
I then quickly snapped a picture of Olive's face for proof of damage...
mind you half of it was already wiped off.
I actually remained quite calm through the ordeal --
even though in my head I wanted to scream.
As I sat and watched the girls in the tub giggle and giggle as water was splashing everywhere I thought to myself,
who cares if they ruined your lipstick?
It's not the end of the world - and it could have been a million times worse...
they were playing on the rug and hardly got a thing on it,
(although its not like the rug is anywhere near clean)
The damage was only done to their clothes which are completely replaceable....
and my lipstick.
I've learned my lesson now though -
my lipstick will no longer be in my purse within little girls' reach.

Oh yeah, to top it all off, Olive decided to poop in the tub cutting the party short.
Sick.
She was on a roll in making mama happy.
not.

Bedtime

2011-11-12T23:14:00.001-07:00

{November 1}

oh how i love my girls in their fleece sleepers.

i kind of wish i had a pair too.

Weekend though an iphone

2011-11-10T12:25:00.001-07:00

{November 4-6}

We planned on heading to St. George for Megan's birthday but as the weekend approached we suddenly changed our minds.
For no reason other than a relaxing weekend at home sounded so great.
Looking back all the puzzle pieces make sense now.
I didn't realize the disappointment Megan felt when we told her we weren't coming wasn't because we weren't going to be there to celebrate her birthday but because she was announcing that she was pregnant and of course wanted everyone to be there.
Well for the next two day leading up to the weekend I felt so guilty that we weren't going down.
I didn't know why...but just had a feeling that we needed to be there.
After discussing it with Chris, he agreed that we should just head down.
Gosh am I glad we decided to go.
I would have been heartbroken if I wouldn't have been there for the news.

We headed straight to my parents house when we got to town Friday morning.
My mom happened to look at her phone just as Jessie instagramed my mom a picture of a Cafe Rio salad saying "she's hoping that her telepathy works and that my mom will walk through the door"
What? Seriously, what are the chances of that??
So I called to tell her to stay put that we were on our way.
(they were passing through, headed to Vegas for a weekend of fun)
I was so happy that My mom and Megan were finally able to meet the Pennington's
and that I was able to meet Jessie's mom.
So fun!
Meg had to rush off to work so she didn't get in on the picture action :(
(Thanks Jess for the pics)

Saturday was Meg's special day...
she opened presents, we got manicures, had a classic ice cream cake and enjoyed a little Just Dance 3 at Molly's party and then later at home.
I didn't take a single picture on my camera thanks to the fact that it was completely out of battery.
So thanks to my mom and megan's lovely iphone the weekend went without being documented.
(seriously now that sprint joined the bandwagon with the iphone I'm begging Chris to work his magic by us getting out of current contract so we can get one)

Lastly, I just die over this picture of Ivy and Tyler.
Thanks Ash for taking it.
They spent the majority of the weekend playing their hearts out.
Love them both.
The weekend ended up being one that will go down in the books for everyone.
Not even sure Thanksgiving will be able to top it.

Her latest obsession.

2011-11-09T15:11:00.001-07:00

Yep, a box of tampons.
(so if you come to our house and they are all over - don't judge me)
For the past two weeks she has been carrying this box all around the house.
She collects all sorts of things along the way...such as cereal, crayons, magnets, etc.
Her favorite is to dump everything out - and then one by one put them back into the box.

Whatever makes her happy right?

The best surprise...

2011-11-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Megan is having a baby!!
Which means I'm FINALLY going to be an Auntie!
(on the Ludlow side)
They spilled the beans on her birthday by opening up this darling onsie with baby's due date.
We were all so surprised - except mom, she already knew...
(us sisters can't ever keep anything from her)
I pretty much freaked out -- and am still freaking out,
I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!
Congrats Meg + Blake!
You guys are going to be the best parents -- this is going to be one lucky babe.
(doesn't Megan already have that pregnancy glow? :)

Tuesday tidbits

2011-11-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

:: ivy ::

01. Ivy has been waking up super early these past few days since the time changed.
(which makes the days seem so long - especially when its freezing cold and I don't want to sit outside and watch them play...bad mom, I know)
So we've been doing a lot of coloring, water paint, play-doh inside...
I'm not sure how long these activities will last.
Feel free to let me know of any other fun indoor activities you do with your kids :)
02. She can still make Olive laugh harder than anyone.
03. She is well aware of when she does/or is doing something wrong.
When I catch her she immediately burst into tears and starts saying "I'm sorry mom"
04. She keeps telling me how much she loves Halloween.
I'm on the search of a good kids Christmas cd because she still insists on her Halloween songs.
(maybe that is why I got over that holiday so quick?)
05. She is doing so good on the potty, only problem is she still thinks she needs candy every time she goes. We had stopped giving it to her for a long time but now that there's Halloween candy she thinks it's her excuse to get it.

:: olive ::

01. Olive wants to do everything her sister does.
Except she is still in phase of putting eating everything....
so when we color she eats the crayons - play with play-doh she eats it, etc.
02. Speaking of eating, she eats like a garbage disposal.
I swear she wants to be eating all. day. long.
03. She can say nana, (banana) mama, dada, iss, (sissy- this one is questionable) shoes
04. I may have mentioned this before but she is a screamer!
Drives Chris up a wall.
If she doesn't get what she wants - screams, excited - screams, tired - screams.
You get the point.
05. I thought after I quite nursing her she wouldn't be such a mama's girl,
but I was wrong...she still is attached to my leg and more often than not tires to climb up my body as if she is trying to get inside my body.
(ha does that make sense? - I'm sure if you've had a child like her you know exactly what I'm saying)