May's activities in a nutshell

Most of my time is spent taking care of girls and looking at or for houses.

Sometimes other people take care of my girls.  Grandpa Frohlich is trying to take a splinter out of Emilia's foot in this picture.  It didn't work.  Emilia thought we were trying to kill her.

Judy Schachner (the author of Skippyjon Jones) came to the Provo library on the 7th for their Children's Book Festival.  Since we are avid Skippyjon Jones fans, we couldn't miss the opportunity to hear the author speak and get free books.  Okay, if I'm being honest, it was really only me that couldn't miss it.  By the end, Emilia was really wishing she could have missed it.  But, on the up side, she got a free Curious George book. That probably made up a little bit for having to sit through a 35 minute long talk and standing in line for 25 minutes.  A little.

As we all know, May is the month of Mother's Day.  Here is my momento of this joyous occassion.  I am a lucky lady.

Mira finally learned to walk! Wahoo! Unfortunately, that also means she is even better at climbing.  I gotta watch this one.

When Emilia was a baby, she would NEVER EVER EVER fall asleep in the car.  These days, it's much more common.  The ironic part is that she couldn't fall asleep in a nice, soft, perfectly cozy baby carrier, but she can fall asleep like this:

Mira discovering the joys of blackberries.  Of course, this is the one and only time she would eat them.  She is strangely picky.

Everybody needs a cuddle with their Nana at some point.   Not everybody looks this cute doing it, though.  Aren't they sweet?

coolness

It doesn't get much cooler than Emilia in a pair of sunglasses.

Though Bubby is trying hard here. (Seriously.  Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen a 1 year old do?)

Dresses you can spin in are always cool to little girls.  This one, Nana made for her.  Coolness factor increased by 10.  Look at that face!

Nana, Curious George, and a kite

As I mentioned before, Emilia has a serious Curious George obsession. There are two kite episodes on Curious George. So of course Emilia was overjoyed when Nana brought her a kite. It was windy the next time Nana visited, so we braved the cold and attempted to fly the kite. It didn't work extremely well because the wind was pretty gusty, so the kite would go up, but then usually come down again right away. I think Emilia enjoyed it anyway. :)

Little things

You may have to enlarge this picture to be able to see the little accomplishment Emilia achieved recently. If you look closely, you can see plants peeking up through the sort-of soil. We were cleaning out our outdoor closet recently and Emilia saw the seeds leftover from my garden last year. Since Curious George (her most recent obsession) plants gardens in a number of episodes and even has a great seed mix-up, she immediately wanted to plant some of the seeds. Since it's April, my first reaction was "No, it's too cold." But after thinking for a second, I realized it was probably a great time to plant peas. So I helped her make a small trench, showed her how far apart to put them, how to cover them up, and turned the water on to fill her little watering can. She was very diligent at watering them every day. She even reminded me most days. When these poked up, she was ecstatic of course. I was very proud.

This little guy, along with about 12 others, were flying around my kitchen the other day.  We have been having ant problems lately, but this doesn't really look like an ant, if you ask me.  After a search on the internet, though, I discovered that this is most definitely an ant.  In the stage where they are trying to start a new nest.  Great.  As if we don't already have 3,000 ants invading our kitchen and bathroom that even the Orkin man is having troubles getting rid of.

See the little dark spots on Emilia's shirt? You can't probably see the ones on her skirt, her pants, her arms and feet.  She scared the crap out of me.  It's blood.  Her own.  She came running into the house covered in it.  I finally figured out that she had been trying to get off the trampoline when the chair she was using as a stepstool tipped over and hit her in the face.  Sheesh.  Quite the nosebleed, poor kid.

This little one is quite observant.  She figured out where the Cheerios were coming from, and when I wasn't watching one day, she grabbed the box and managed to get at the good stuff.  Little stinker.

St. George

This weekend we went to St. George to be at our niece Haley's baptism. She turned 8 this last month, and we were fortunate enough to be able to go be a part of her big day. Fortunately for us, all of Steve's sisters were able to come, so Emilia had lots of playmates while we were there. Mira loves being around a lot of people, so she was happy as a clam, too. Steve and I were just excited to be in warm weather. It was balmy upper 70s. I just can't understand why Steve wouldn't want to live there!

facebook treats

Taking a bath with her Polly Pocket size Ariel, Emilia says, "I like the real Ariel, but not the movie Ariel." Me: "Why?" Emilia: "Because King Triton yells and yells at her. I'm not going to watch that again."

Yesterday I told Emilia she had to wear green because it was St. Patrick's Day and if she didn't wear green, she would get pinched, but if she did wear green, people couldn't pinch her. As she hurries down the hallway to her bedroom, she says, "But I like my pinches!"

I am currently having a conversation with Emilia about ladybug poop. The things little kids worry about. :0)

I sat down to eat some leftover cashew chicken yesterday and Emilia says, "What kind of food is that, Mom?" I told her, "It's Chinese food." Her response? "Who is Chiny?"

One of my favorite Emilia-words: Moodgy. For example, "I mixed up the batter good, Momma! It's very moodgy." Or "I don't like [the frosting]! It's too moodgy!" (Insert whatever food she thinks is too mushy and sticky in the brackets.)

I left my tripod in my living room last night and as soon as Emilia saw it this morning, she ran and got her camera so she could take pictures. She aims the camera at me and snaps a picture of my makeup-less bedhead. Then, when I wouldn't let her take any more she says, "But, Mom! I need to take your picture for the dinosaur museum!" I think she thought that would help her cause. Ha!

I must have attention issues. I made cupcakes this afternoon and somehow Emilia ate 6 of them without me noticing.

Emilia is constantly making up words. Most of our conversations throughout the day consist of her saying something and then me saying, "I don't know what that means." Often it is frustrating, but sometimes it's quite amusing. For example, tonight. Emi: Nanchi, Momma. Me: What's a Nanchi? Emi: A goodie. Me: Are you a nanchi, then? Emi: No-o. Me: You aren't a goodie? Emi: No. Me: Are you a baddie, then? Emi: *laughs* No. Me: What are you then? Emi: Uhh...a girl? (like, "duh, Mom")

I think lawyers should turn to 3-year-olds for tips on arguing their point, stall tactics, and dodging the issue. For example, tonight--Steve: Time for bed, Emilia. Go use the potty. Emilia: NO! I'm too old to use the potty.

Emilia has apparently watched Tangled a few too many times. Today I asked her to please finish her lunch. Emi (putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head): No! Me: why not? Emi: Because it's MY decision, mother! Me (laughing): No, because you're not 18, like Rapunzel. When you're 18, you can decide whether you finish your lunch, but you're 3. And Momma says you need to finish your lunch. Emi (with a big grin): OH!! Okay, Momma.

first year pictures

Okay, I put the pictures from the photo shoot up on my photo blog. You can see them here: http://blog.sabrinawattsphotography.com/2012/04/sweet-garden-princesses.html