Hooray for snow!!!

This morning when I woke up it felt strangely quiet and I thought to myself, "I wonder if it snowed last night..." . I looked out the window and was pleasantly surprised--it HAD snowed! It was quite warm yesterday so I was not expecting this, and it definitely has made my day. For some reason I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas festivities, but this took care of it for me.  After playing in the snow, we came in and baked and decorated Christmas cookies. And now I feel like having Christmas music on and making more Christmas crafts with Lisa. We probably won't put up our little tree because we're going to California in less than a week, but I'm looking forward to Lisa getting to see the trees at our family's homes. There won't be snow in California, so hopefully it won't melt too fast here and we will make sure and enjoy it for the next few days. Let it snow!

Evidence of how warm it was yesterday...the trikes are still out on the sidewalk and everything. Snow has certainly taken its time getting here this year. 

I haven't really stopped smiling since I saw it was snowing this morning. We were dressed and outside by 9:15am.

Lisa has been asking to bring out her sled for the last month, ever since the last light dusting of snow we had, so I'm glad we could use it this time.

I was so happy that when Tucker saw us from the window Becky brought him and Oakley out to play with us.

Oakley looked so cute in her little snowsuit. She isn't smiling at this second, but when the sled was moving she was laughing her cute little laugh.

Everyone look this way and smile! Oh well...at least the snowman is smiling, right? And looking right at me too! One of our neighbors, Jeff, and his son, Bradley, were outside making the snowman and they let us join in the fun. 

"I need another huuuuuuug!"

In this family, bedtime is always a big drama event every night. We start with letting Lisa know that in five minutes it will be time to brush teeth, the mention of which sends her into a meltdown. After brushing teeth we read books, which can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 20. Then we may or may not lay with her for a few minutes singing songs or just snuggling. Then it's time for mommy or daddy to go out and we give plenty of hugs and kisses. How loud or long she yells, cries, and whines after we go out depends on her particular mood that night. Some nights there is no end to the things she "needs". We've tried to eliminate the constant asking for more things by making sure she has EVERYTHING she could possibly need, such as tissues, sippy cup, wipes (yes, she sleeps with a container of wipes next to her in bed), baby doll, etc. But then she just starts yelling, "I need SOMETHING!" The one that makes me smile the most is when she stands at the door yelling for "another hug". I couldn't resist recording a little snippet of it here. 

Don't you just want to go in there and hug her and then hug her some more?

Happy Thanksgiving sometimes

This year for Thanksgiving, Debra and Aimee stayed in Rexburg and helped prepare a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment. Aimee baked homemade rolls and mashed potatoes, Debra made green bean casserole and I cooked the turkey.  My first attempt at sweet potato pie was a success and Aimee’s marble cheesecake and chocolate cake balls were delicious for dessert. Of course I insisted on using my fancy glasses for the sparkling apple cider. At the dinner table, we took a moment to all say what we’re thankful for. Lisa always says she is thankful for showers, which makes me smile.  I missed being with the family in California, but I was so glad to have Aimee and Debra here. They really made the day so much fun.  After dinner we played Cranium and then pulled out the couch bed and watched a couple of movies. Hooray for holidays.  

Lisa LOVES olives. Ryan got her to put them on 

her fingers like that. 

My second year carving the turkey...starting to get the hang of it!

These pictures are trying to capture the *joy* of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner in my lovely little "hallway" kitchen. I don't think there was an inch of counter space to speak of and Aimee and I bumped butts several times trying to walk by eachother. But the food still tasted great and we are definitely thankful for this apartment. 

After dinner, Aunt Lisa and Gramommy called from California while we were playing Cranium and Lisa sent hugs through the phone. 

Lisa wished Aunt Lisa a "Happy Thanksgiving sometimes"

World of electronics

About a week ago it got very quiet while I was doing my make-up and I thought to myself, "Where is Lisa and what is she doing?" Anyone knows that silence can be a very bad sign when it comes to toddlers. So I went looking and found her in my room settled into our bed listening intently to Ryan's i-pod. No one has ever showed her how to do this or even put it on her before! What a different generation of kids we have. I remember being excited about my first walk man! And I was more like 10 years old, not 3. I'm not complaining though. The portable DVD player, the TV, the internet, and now the i-pod have been great sources of entertainment for Lisa and give me a little break. I just have to be mindful of how we spend our time all day. It is a little discouraging when she would rather stay inside and watch a movie than go outside and play. She used to ask to go outside all the time and now I have to suggest it most of the time. I am hesitant to ever get cable TV because it would just be that much more enticing to let her watch it all day.  Luckily, she does still love to do other things like play make-believe, do art projects, and read books. Truth be told, if I give her the attention she is craving and don't just expect her to entertain herself all the time, then I don't usually have to worry at all about overdoses of movie-watching. It just takes a little more energy to be on top of things that way. But I can do it. It's important! And it is fun.

Waiting for snow

Maybe it's because I didn't grow up with snowy winters, but every year since living in Idaho, I look forward to the quiet stillness that comes when snow blankets the ground. It is rather late this year, but we're trying to take advantage of what the weather has been giving us: light dusting of snow, which melts into puddles, and below-freezing coldness.

Lisa is so excited to get out in the snow, even if it's just a light dusting. She is anxious to use her sled, but I have to explain that there isn't quite enough snow yet to use it. 

When the snow melted, Lisa and daddy had fun splashing in the puddles.

We went fishing in Island Park. It was quite cold, but still beautiful. We didn't catch anything at the first place, but we stopped at one of Ryan's frequent fishing spots on the way home and he caught one there. This was probably my last fishing trip of the year, so I'm glad we went. Three years ago we went fishing at this same place on Thanksgiving day and I fell in! Now THAT was cold. This time I was much more careful and came home dry and warm. 

Fall family pictures

This year we did it right and took pictures before it got to be 25 degrees outside! Last year was SO cold. Becky Hatch asked if I'd like her to take the pictures and I could not turn her down. She takes such cute, creative pictures. She even helped me pick out outfits, which I was so glad for because it always takes me forever to choose. She was able to do some fun photo shopping with a few of the pictures that made them turn out really nice. 

Thanks Becky!!! I love how they turned out and can't wait to get the prints I ordered!

Halloween fun

As much as I claim to go crazy having a toddler, I really do love this age with Lisa. She is so perceptive and is learning so much and makes me smile every day. It has been a fun week of Halloween.  Lisa really got into the idea of "Trick-or-Treats" and loved wearing her Nemo costume. We checked out lots of books from the library about Halloween, so she was very excited to be doing all the things they did in the books, like carving pumpkins, wearing a costume and going trick-or-treating. 

Carving the pumpkin

This is how Lisa "helps" us a lot of the time, whether it's baking, sewing, or carving a pumpkin. Sometimes it's a little cumbersome, but she loves helping so we make it work. And sometimes she does do it her self. She can hold the cups while I pour the ingredients in for baking. 

She didn't hesitate to get in there and get sticky pumpkin on her hands. Which is kind of uncharacteristic of her, actually. She always has to have a napkin nearby when she is eating sticky foods cause it drives her crazy to get it on her. 

 Halloween Party

Lisa and Shad, pulling some pretty priceless faces.

If there's music, you better believe Lisa will be bustin' a move

Lisa and Daddy playing a "Go fish" game.  She didn't want to stop at one turn. We'll have to do this for family night some time. 

How many dads do you know that will attempt to braid their daughter's hair? It didn't look too bad either! That night after the party, Lisa and Ryan had a slumber party and stayed up until 1am and ate ALL her candy!!!

Boo at the Zoo

Tautphaus Park Zoo in Idaho Falls has a Halloween night every year, where they have Trick-or Treat booths, kids crafts, and games. Not to mention you get to see some of the animals at night.  

They had thousands of colored lights at the zoo, which was both confusing and exciting to Lisa. She was so cute she kept saying, "They have Christmas at Halloween!"
We told her she had to say "Trick or Treat!" really loud and after some practice, she got it down. 

This is the song that never ends...

Lisa is ALWAYS singing and I love it. Mostly it is her own renditions of whatever new song she heard or a musical adaption to whatever she happens to be doing. Like...she lives in a musical or something. She is actually starting to match my pitches though. At bedtime we sing together and she will match the notes I am singing. With gusto. 

Monster bites?? Debra's teacher and Taylor's teacher and....all together? I'm not really sure what this is. I think at church they sing a song called The more we get together. I know that song, but this is something new. Where did the monster part come from? 

 

Ryan is taking a guitar class at school due to the fact that he had some credits he needed to fill this semester. Lisa is helping him practice I guess. 

p.s. Notice in both these videos she is missing at least one item of clothing...that is the norm for her around the house. Most kids just want to take their shoes off when they come in from outside, but she insists on stripping down to the bare minimum. 

Passy.

With our visit to the dentist came the life altering news for Lisa that she would soon have to give up the pacifier, a.k.a "passy".  I know most of you are probably thinking, "What?! She still uses a pacifier?!" Yes, she does. The dentist said that it probably is not doing much harm considering over the past year she mostly only has used it for sleeping, but that it would be wise to start weaning her from it. The first day I thought I would do it cold turkey, but that didn't last more than one day. I admit I rely heavily on nap times to give us a couple of hours away from eachother each day, so when she wouldn't take a nap without one I decided we would start by letting her have one at nap, but not at bedtime. The first night she woke up at 1am and 5 am and I layed with her in her bed each time until she fell back asleep. That definitely wasn't going to work for more than one night. The next night I told her I would not be coming in when she woke up and that if it was still dark she needed to try to go back to sleep. She did awesome. She did wake up once and Ryan offered to lay with her, but she said, No! In the morning Ryan woke me to say she'd been playing by herself in her bedroom for an hour! (I had earplugs in so didn't hear any of it) The next night however, she did not go to bed until almost midnight. Our policy has always been that as long as she is in her room at bedtime, we don't care what she does (within reason) because we figure she'll go to sleep when she gets tired enough.  A lot of times she reads and sings songs on the floor by her night light for awhile before she falls asleep. Last night that just went on for about 3 hours more than usual! Sure, there was a little crying and screaming when she would try to come out and we'd tell her to go back, but mostly she was just amusing herself trying to sing her ABCs and peeking out the door. I think she was just waiting for us to go to bed because once we did she settled down a little. Ryan told her to get in her bed when she got tired because that would be more comfy than the floor and she had gotten in her bed by the morning. Hopefully she'll start learning to fall asleep earlier within the next week. Then we'll work on getting rid of the passy for naps too and altogether. Who knows what I will do when the next kid comes. I think the passy has been great to us...I can't count all the hours of strife it has saved us. Road trips, family gatherings, naps, bedtime, you name it. To my knowledge, she never contracted any horrible sicknesses from that nasty dirty thing (face it, kids are going to put gross dirty things in their mouths all day no matter how hard you try. If anything, that pacifier kept her from putting some grosser things in there a lot of the time!) I almost wonder if waiting this long has been easier for us because I have been able to reason with her about why she needs to stop using it and she understands that the dentist told her it can hurt her teeth. Anyway...enough of this novel on the relationship of Lisa and her passy. We will cherish its memory.

Ryan loved it when her smile would show out the sides of the passy. He thought that was so cute.

Ready for the big girl bed? As long as I have my passy!

Easter, 18 months old. I did regret that she was particularly grumpy that day as I knew it would mean that in every picture she would have the passy in her mouth. But I realize now I would much rather have that than screaming and crying and whining the whole time. The moment she climbed up into Grandad's lap is an especially sweet memory. 

Well... the passy used to work when I wanted to do her hair fancy. Not any more. Now she wants treats to let me do her hair. Oh well. Maybe someday she'll let me play again. 

Of course, I don't see how she possibly would have taken a nap at Disneyland without that blessed passy. Thanks for everything, passy.

Summer fun

So...now that we are having 30 degree weather here in Rexburg, I've decided to catch up on all of our summer outings. I've included my favorite pictures from our trip to California and the beach, camping at Cave Falls in Idaho, and our visit to Provo to see Natalie.

Visit to Provo

Jackson is such a cutie. He was still so young when I went to visit, but I did catch a few smiles while I was there. 

Natalie is such a good mom. I snapped this picture just to show how she is always making time for each of her kids, as hectic as that gets for her.

Lisa and Olivia played together so well. If you notice, Lisa had to have her hair done just like Livvy's each day we were there. Natalie was nice enough  to do it for her because we all know she won't tolerate me doing her hair for more than 2 seconds. 

Cave Falls Camping

Aunt Aimee and Lisa are becoming good friends. I am so happy Lisa has had a chance to spend a lot of time with each of Ryan's sisters.

Camping at New Brighton Beach State Park, near Santa Cruz

Fun in the ocean with Cade and Cameron

Our awesome sandcastle. Cade makes a good architect.

Me and my hotty

Wright's Beach, near Bodega Bay

Around the campfire with gramommy and Grandpa Lee

Ryan flying the stunt kite. It was really windy.

Lisa was so fun to watch as she played creatively at the beach. The actual shoreline was a little rocky so we carried a bucket of dirt from the campsite over to where we were laying on our blanket on the beach. She cracked me up when she started "cleaning" the dirt.