Lyla is 11 months

I can't believe she's almost a year. She wants to walk soooo bad, but has only been successful with a couple of steps at a time. The first signs of her having curly hair are emerging over her little ears and nape of her neck, but we'll see. She is such a smiley sweet baby. More to post on this sweet girl in a few weeks!

Sunbeams

My itsy bitsy little girl started SUNBEAMS this year.
I'm sure I looked about like this when I dropped her off.

Poor kid. Jared and I have decided that we are going to be the most embarrassing parents on planet earth. Jared sat out of sight to make sure she did alright and I chucked her at her teacher and ran out attempting to not let her see me cry while she screamed after me "MOM DON'T GO! STAY HERE!" It was traumatic. I can't even imagine kindergarten. If I even let her go. I don't think it helps much that I just received a calling in nursery, which I love, I just don't like that Eva's too big to be in there. They probably gave me that calling so that I couldn't lurk outside her class room. Since church is in the middle of naps the nursery calling works out really well. Jared teaches the priests the 3rd hour, so Lyla hangs out with me which helps distract her from the fact that she's insanely tired.She's trying to convince me that her expression does count as a smile.

Just for fun. A picture of her on her first day of nursery.

More visitors

After Christmas my mom, dad and baby sister were able to stop by for a day and a half. I'm such a knuckle-head I'm always determined that I will take plenty of pictures while they are visiting, but inevitably I forget. While they were here we made sure we hit the little Venezuelan restaurant we recently discovered for my dad, who served his mission there. My mom celebrated her birthday during their visit, and I had fun taking her around to all of the places you can snag free food on your birthday (and then batting my eyes and stealing bits and pieces of her goodies). I made her dark chocolate cupcakes which were intense, even for a die-hard chocolate fan like me. Poor Lyla was sick and cranky the whole time they were here. Apparently they made quite an impression on Eva who has talked about nothing else since they left.Happy Birthday mom! Apparently only 3 years old too.

Abba took Eva on several walks which she LOVED. They were tricky to get a picture of.

New Years Eve Jared's best bud from Washington, Russ, and his wife Christiana spent the evening with us...until they realized how old we were and our non-stop yawns sent them home around 10:30. :) We promptly flopped in bed and started the new year right...snoring. Naturally I forgot to take a picture on this occasion but I'm sure the boys would have just given me the "you're kidding right?" look anyway. WHEW. only 2 more catch up posts to go.....

Our Christmas

Dang I'm behind on blogging. As usual.

We had a nice Christmas this year with several visitors which is always fun. The weekend before Christmas, my sister Megan had her baby, so we spent a few days in Tucson watching their little boy while she was in the hospital and taking care of her (or at least attempting to) when she arrived home. Christmas Eve Jared's brother Aaron, his wife Kjerstin, their little girl Aelyn and Kjerstin's grandparents hung out at our place and we had a lot of fun eating fondue. Eva thought that eating everything off of a stick dipped in cheese was the greatest invention ever. Then when the chocolate fondue came out the stick became unnecessary. Her hands, arms and elbows worked just fine. We saw them again on Sunday before they left. It was so fun to see them since it's been quite awhile. We had a couple more visitors after Christmas, but I'll save that for another post.Eva and cousin Aelyn

Nose picking while reading "The Night Before Christmas"

Christmas day we were by ourselves which was good since I had positively no intention of getting out of my pajamas. The girls finally woke up at 8:30. They usually get up around six, so we were just sitting around cameras charged and ready for HOURS. Eva's alarm finally went off at 8, so I waited outside her room and yelled "MERRY CHRISTMAS" when she came out. Her response was to glare at me, shut off her alarm, slam the door in my face and hop back in bed. I so look forward to the teenage years with this one. :) I expected a big reaction from Eva over her requested tiger and cement truck, but it was just kind of like "oh. there they are". and that was it. The Tiger. He goes everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE that we do.

Lyla was digging the traditional cereal under the stockings so the rest of the gifts were kind of pointless. It reminded me a lot of the Christmas when Eva was near that age. We spent the rest of the day painting and installing doors and baseboards. That's our idea of fun on Christmas day. :)

Mmmm...cereal.

It was kind of a bitter sweet Christmas for me. I kept reflecting on the differences between this Christmas and last Christmas when we were unemployed. This Christmas we has a real Christmas tree. Last year we whacked a limb off the pine tree in the back yard. This Christmas I wasn't upset and worried about not having a store bought gift to give to Jared or the kids. We did home made gifts last year. It was a BIG deal when we received a subway gift card last year and that was our big celebratory meal on Christmas Eve. This year there was a full course menu. Last year we were at the mercy of others generosity. This year we were able to decide how much to give to those in need this Christmas. Last year we spent a great deal of time on our knees being THANKFUL. We were (and are) so blessed in a lot of ways. My testimony that our Savior knew us personally was strengthened tremendously last Christmas. This Christmas took a little more effort to feel the real spirit of Christmas. After all the gifts were unwrapped I looked and Jared and said "Last Christmas was better". Not in the unemployment aspect, but in the "This was really special" kind of feeling. I guess I need to work on having that feeling every year no matter what circumstances are going on. A very Merry (and very late) Christmas everyone!

Letter to santa and random going-ons

Eva "wrote" a letter to Santa today. She is BIG into writing letters lately and has used up the measly amount of stamps we had to begin with. Anyway, it was cute so I thought I'd share.

Dear Santa,

Hi! My name is Kitty. A cat. I'm 3. I've been a good girl this year. Puppy cries a lot. A puppy doesn't say "waaah waaah" when they cry they only say "OooOOOoo!" I jump and help mommy clean the kitchen. I help lion too. I'm not shy with anybody. You're kinda scary, but I like your big fat belly. I already have a present but I want you to bring me a tiger. A big tiger. I want it to roar. His name will be "two" and I'm three. I'm going to make you cookies. A heart, flower, moon and star. I love you sweetie santa.

Love,

Eva

What else is on her wishlist? A cement truck. She's kind of a strange kid. :)


An update on Lyla: Just popped her seventh and possibly eighth tooth. (She won't let me look). Mom's best guess as to what she'd like for Christmas would be paper and electrical cords, but she will end up with something baby safe. Maybe a helmet to protect her from her loving sister. We debated back and forth as to whether it counted as her first word, but she is now saying "HI!" and waving emphatically.

I'd like to add something about Jared and I, but who am I kidding. The only thing we do all day relates to work and the little stinkers.

Playtime and Taking a break

First off I've come to the conclusion that I need a break from the computer. Not that I'm spending horrendous amounts of time on here. I only check my email and read a few blogs, but I'm finding the time that I'm spending thinking about what I need to blog about and the brilliant idea so-and-so posted and oh geez I know I just painted the whole house, but I NEED to do that to my dining room etcetera etcetera. I feel like I'm living in a fog during the times when I'm not on the computer. So I'm self imposing a week long computer fast and seeing if that helps snap me out of my electronic daze. Maybe when I come back I'll better be able to discern what's worth my time and what is just making me crazy.

In the meantime, here are a few random pictures of playtime over the past few months.La la la...this is fun

Ooo...what's in here?

Meanwhile Lyla's thinking....hmmm..this isn't going to end well.

You can't see Lyla's face, but she thought her predicament was quite funny

Spiking sisters hair

I need to tell Jared to quit taking pictures of me while I'm reading to the kids. Not good for the self-esteem! :)

Further proof that Eva has Jared wrapped around her finger. HE LET HER PAINT HIS TOES! Of course he was under the impression that I let her paint mine. YEAH RIGHT. I forgot to take a picture of all the stickers she stuck all over his precious car "for decorating" the fact that he left them on there and thought it was cute just blows my mind.

Happy 9 months Miss Flounder!

Dog-gonnit. This kid insists on continuing to get older. She is now NINE months! We're on the slippery slope to a year and I am NOT happy about it. Not happy at all. I am loving the age range she's been in the past little bit. Still cute chubby baby, but big enough to interact and show off her funny sense of humor. These days she is referred to as "Flounder" or on very special occasions "Sheriff Woody" by order of Eva who decides what we will all be called on a given day and strictly enforces it. She loves to play and have baths. Her favorite game is plowing head first into Eva's giant pillow lion and the rolling all over it while laughing like a mad man. I don't get the point of the game, but it's a several times per day event. She does not like to play peek-a-boo or really anything that takes mom out of her line of sight. She thinks the most random events are hilarious and is always reminding me to lighten up.

*random side note: Do you know the sign for "all done?" It involves waving both hands in the air like you're pushing food away from you. She can't quite get it, so she alternates waving hi and clapping until we get the point. At least I hope that's what she's trying to convey otherwise she probably is wondering why we keep taking her food away in the middle of dinner!