Fun and games (or a pretty normal week)

The last few weeks since school started for Emilia have been pretty laid back at our house. During the day, Mira and Cecily and I either run errands or hang out around the house.

Tuesday morning Ceci had a doctor appointment (regular 15 mo. check-up), but he then sent us to have Cecily's legs x-rayed because they seem to be bowing more than they should. He called later that day to say she doesn't have Blount's Disease (it causes excessive bowing in children's legs), but he'll keep an eye on her over the next year or two.

Tuesday night Steve had a meeting for his calling at church. He leads the music in Primary and a new Primary Presidency just got put in, so he met with them. The Primary program (where the kids all get to sit up front and say a line and sing during Sacrament Meeting) is coming up and they wanted to make sure everything was on course for that. Wednesday night, I went and visited some sisters in the ward for my calling. We are trying to meet every sister on our rolls before the end of the summer.  We're almost there!

Thursday our neighbors had us over for pizza.  But not just any pizza. The pizza where they hand-make the dough and cook it in their wood-fire brick oven. They are planning on opening a pizza place sometime this year and wanted to try out topping combinations.  I told them I will be their guinea pig any time!

Steve also had Ben and some of their friends over to play LOTR card game Thursday.  I always enjoy having a big group of guys around. Don't know why, but I do. We were supposed to go up to see Nicole and Tristan (Jane and Meg, really) ;) on Saturday, but something came up, so we will have to reschedule that. That did open up our schedule to go to Cari's birthday party Saturday afternoon.  She had a Frozen party.

On Friday night BYU had their first football game of the season, so of course we had to watch it. They did pretty good if you overlook the 15 penalties that they incurred for 150 yards lost. Oy. We were able to watch it with our good friends the Childresses, so that was even better.

Steve and Cecily watching the game.

I'm including this one only because that look is so classically Cecily.

I did have one traumatic experience this last week. (Facebok friends, you'll have to ignore this.) I went outside and was doing some weeding when I heard a buzzing noise. It was too loud for a bee, more like an electrical short or something. On further inspection, I found in one of my iceplants, a praying mantis had caught a hummingbird (which wasn't dead yet--that's what I was hearing--it's wings flapping) and was eating it.

We went to the park one day, too. I can't remember which one. Cecily is so fearless! She just climbs up to a slide (the big ones, too!) and steps off without a second thought. She has a lot of gusto for life that makes me smile (when it doesn't terrify me). :D

8 years together! and Facebook funnies

I only took one picture this week (okay it's two, technically):

The rest of the week was pretty busy, but I didn't take any pictures.

Emilia started first grade this week. It was a great thing and a hard thing. It was hard mostly for me. I didn't cry when I sent her off to her classroom, but I did much crying the week before.  I was not ready to send her to someone else all day. She has had a wonderful time and is enjoying the learning and eating in the lunch room.  On Monday, she gets to be queen for the day. I'll have to try to remember to take pictures of her in her crown.

On Friday, we had a family photo shoot.  Steve's cousin Amy Hill has a photography business and she agreed to trade with me. So she took us to this great place in Pleasant Grove on Friday and then I will do photos of her family in October. I'm SO excited to have family photos done by a professional! It's just so gratifying to see my family looking as cute as I think they are.

The problem with professional photos is that I freak out over us looking great. I spent two entire days shopping for and putting together outfits.  I ended up only spending $5 on the outfits we used for the shoot, although I did buy some clothes for the girls for school/fall.

Saturday we ended up washing all the windows and blinds in our house, inside and out. And then Steve and I went on a date to celebrate our anniversary. We were going to see Edge of Tomorrow, but we really wanted to eat at the Bombay House (awesome indian cuisine) and we ran out of time. So we ended up doing some window shopping at B&N and a couple of game stores. We were going to buy ourselves a new game, but they are just so much more expensive at local stores than they are on Amazon. So we bought some specialty ice cream and ate it while watching an episode of Bones. We have been married 8 years.  Can you believe it? It's been a great ride and I'm looking forward to many more years with him.

6/29/14
We were at a baseball game this last week and while we were there, I noticed that Emilia's eyes have a hint of green in them. Being the fan of "10 Things I Hate About You" that I am, I told her, "Emilia, your eyes have a little green in them." Immediately she begins to rub her eyes and says, "Can you get it out?"

7/10/14
Emilia: Mom, when I am older and I tell my kids what you looked like when you were a mom and not a mom *and* a grandma, I'll say you had brown hair that was curly and darkish lightish skin. Because you look kind of white to me.
Mira: I'll say, "Momma was quite small."

I think I like Mira's better.

7/15/14
I just spent 2.5 hours shopping at 3 different stores, one of which was a grocery store, with 3 children under the age of 6, 2 of whom should have been napping. And I didn't even buy myself chocolate.

7/18/14
Me (at dinner): We need to eat our fruits and our vegetables so we can grow up healthy and strong.
Mira (sing-songy): Are fruits and we are vege-tables.
Emilia: We aren't vegetables! (pause) We're meat!

8/10/14
Steve took the older two girls camping for 3 days while I stayed home with Cecily. It was fun for all of us. They just got back last night and already they're being cute.
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The first thing Emilia told me: Mom! I got the tube!
Me: You rode the tube?
Emilia: It was round. And fluffy. And it had handles. And it came with a yellow rope. It was fun yesterday. I rode it today, too, but it was more fun yesterday. It was a little scary today.
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The first thing Mira told me: Mom, you missed out on all the fun.
Me: I did?
Mira: Yeah, you missed riding on the boat.
Me: Was that so much fun?
Mira: Yeah. And I peed in the bushes. And in the lake.
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Mira: When Cecily grow up, she'll be called Aunt Cecily. And I will be Aunt Mira. And you will be Aunt Momma. And Daddy will be Aunt Daddy. And Emilia will be Aunt Emilia!

One more...
Mira: I want to watch a show.
Me: It's Sunday. (We don't let them watch television on Sunday.)
Mira: Really? Sunday, like go to church?
Me: Yes.
Mira: Uhh! That's so rude!

8/11/14
I love the prayers of little kids. Mira tonight:
Thankful that Jesus loves me, thankful that I'm the mommy to my dolls, thankful Momma is the mommy to me...

8/25/14
My kids at breakfast this morning -
Me: Mira what kind of cereal do you want?
Mira: Chex, I presume.
Me: Emilia, you are taking forever to eat your breakfast.
Emilia: Oh. Because I was having a fashion show with my fingernails.

Great Grandma, Garage Sale, Giant Moose, and a Good Helper

I'm going to go all Utahan on you and say that this week was heck-a busy. Monday my washing machine went on the fritz because I washed an outdoor rug whose backing disintegrated and clogged my drainpipe.  What a mess! I got to fix that by myself so that later that night we could go visit Steve's grandmother for Family Home Evening. Emilia is so sweet with Great-Grandma Watts. She is always happy to give her hugs and tell her about what is going on in her life. And of course, dance. Grandma always asks to see her dance and Emilia loves to comply. Great Grandma has a rose garden in the community where she lives and the girls each got a rose to take home, too. A few of Great Grandma's friends came to see the girls, too. They were a hit. :)

Cecily thought the puppy was utterly fascinating.

We had to go get some tables from Grandma Watts' house on Friday because we were having a garage sale on Saturday with my mom and Megan.  Since we were up that way, I decided to take the girls to the Monte L. Beane Museum on BYU campus. Cecily's favorite part was this giant moose statue outside.

I have such cute girls. Cecily is so big! Especially compared to my petite Mira.

Mostly what they have at the museum is stuffed/taxidermied animals for the kids to look at and learn about. Also, a random slide.

Emilia was quite an expert, telling Mira all about the exhibits.

Our garage sale on Saturday was a big success. We sold probably 75% of what we had. There was tons of traffic like last year. Springville is a great city to do a garage sale in, I guess. Good news for us!

We also went berry picking (on Thursday, I think). It was a little rough with Cecily. She didn't want to hang out in the bushes, so Emilia ended up watching her near the front. Emilia is such a wonderful helper.

Emilia starts school tomorrow and I am really sad. I don't want her to be a 1st grader! I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I'm not there yet. I will take some pictures of her and post them as soon as I can.

Have a great week!

camping (and not camping) again

The beginning of this week was spent (for me) trying to decide whether to go camping with Steve and Mira and Emilia or to stay home with Cecily.  I finally decided Wednesday morning to for sure stay home.  It was a good choice. Steve and Mira and Emilia had a blast. Of course, Steve was there and I was here, so there are no pictures. Unless some of my in-laws took some and want to send them to me (please?). I've been told that boating was a favorite of both children, Steve doesn't care much for wakeboarding (I think it's because he's too tall to balance right on a wakeboard), but still loves water skiing, Aunt Cindy taught my girls how to pee in a bush (thank you!) and there was much eating of sweet stuffs.  It sounds amazing.

Here is a picture of Emilia with her 3-day-old braids and sun-kissed cheeks. She's beautiful.

However, it also rained for like 5 hours on Friday, which, besides the other trials of trying to camp with a 1-year-old, would have been a nightmare with Cecily.  I'm glad we stayed home.  It was fun to spend some 1-on-1 time with Her. She has a quirky little sense of humor, and I think we both enjoy a little less noise than there generally is with a Mira in the house. I did some shopping and garage-saling, lots of cleaning, exercising, some writing, and put up some stuff on eBay. And it was relaxing! Because it was all stuff I wanted to do, and I could finish it all at once without interruptions. Yay!

Here is a picture I took of Cecily and me just before I took us out to dinner. That's the new shirt I bought shopping.  And look at those eyes of hers. They kill me!

Kids kids kids

I have three of them and they run my life. Sometimes that is so fun and rewarding and cool. Other times, not so much. But those times that it is fun and rewarding and cool are awesome. Bed times are hard. Kids never want to go to bed. This is so ironic to me. Because as adults, all we want to do most of the time, is sleep. "Please, just let me sleep!" I think almost every morning when Cecily or Mira wake me up at 6:30am. But sometimes, bedtime can be fun. I get to look at these adorable faces every night. It makes my heart smile.

Watching your kids have a ton of fun is also cool and rewarding.  And my kids all have a ton of fun at splash pads.  I don't know why we never had these growing up, because I'm pretty sure I would have thought they were the best thing on the planet.  (That was back before getting my hair wet with chlorinated water was totally not worth the amount of fun I got out of playing in it.)

Utah has TONS of splash pads.  Springville, in my opinion, has the best splash pad in Utah, which makes us one lucky family.  Here is a picture of most of it.  Behind me in this picture is the part that is more like a typical splash pad with the fountains of water jumping out of the concrete.

Cecily watching the fountains.

We went to visit my parents this week, partly because they were babysitting my kids, and partly because we needed to visit them because we hadn't seen them for a while.  They were babysitting for me because I had a professional development class at the University of Utah.  I need to keep my teaching license current so I can keep "working" at Independent Study.  (And it will come in handy if want to teach for real again.) It was a 2-day class on Thursday and Friday.  Steve watched the girls on Friday, but my parents braved the kids all day on Thursday. They're awesome like that.  This picture was our view on the way home from their house.  I was driving, so it's not the greatest pic.  But we do live in a beautiful place.

Saturday we cleaned out our garage. We are having a garage sale in two weeks and it was getting really cluttered in there. So I cleaned out a bunch of stuff and we rearranged a bunch of stuff, so we could clear off the floor again. It's so freeing to de-clutter! We also fed a family of 7 for dinner last night.  That's a lot of food.  I made some roasted zucchini and squash to eat with our dinner because we don't have enough. Nuh-uh.

This next week we are going camping again. With most of Steve's family. For three days. Wish us luck.