One Helluva Housewife!

Puppy children

2012-02-10T09:59:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, we went to Walmart for a few items. Walmart was promoting the new release of the Disney classic Lady and the Tramp, and employees were giving out free balloons and other things, among which was a dog mask. Annabelle and Jillian each got one and couldn't wait to get home and try them on. For the rest of the day, they were crawling around on their hands and knees wearing their dog masks. It was really funny to watch.

New bunk beds

2012-02-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

In only a matter of weeks, we'll need a crib available for a new baby, which meant that it was time to get Jillian out of it and into a real bed. So, Michael and I decided that instead of moving Annabelle downstairs to a room in the basement by herself (I wasn't ready for that), we would get bunk beds and have the girls share the room that Annabelle has. After waiting for weeks, the bunk beds finally arrived last Monday morning. After Michael got home from work that night, he got started putting them together. It took a little longer than expected, but he got it done and the girls slept in their new beds that night. They were both so excited. I was a little nervous about how Jillian would do. Annabelle has slept on a top bunk many times before at grandparents' houses, and I knew she would be fine. But now that Jillian didn't have the bars of a crib to protect her from falling out at night (and she is a mover when she sleeps- I would usually find her feet where her head should be), I was nervous. But she certainly was excited.

That night, they both did great! Jillian didn't fall out and I think she slept better than she ever did in her crib. It was funny to see her in the bed though because she's so small and can get lost in the covers. It's been a week now and neither kid gets out of their beds once they're tucked in. Jillian seems to be sleeping better and I'm loving it.

They also love playing pirates on their beds. They have lookout towers and they use their blankets as flags. It's so fun to see them playing so well together. The only downside of their sharing a room is that they wake each other up in the morning. Before, one of the girls would usually sleep in longer than the other and because they each had their own room, it wasn't a big deal. But now, they both seem to wake each other up a little bit earlier than usual. But so far, it hasn't been too big of a deal. I have early morning piano lessons three days a week so I'm up already anyway. The other days, if I haven't slept well (which is pretty much every night now), I can ask the girls to go downstairs and play for a half hour and they do it. Although they do try my patience pretty often, I really do have some great kids.

Cute pictures and videos

2012-01-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Jillian loves to get up close and personal to Annabelle and watch her play on the ipod. It's really quite funny to watch.

Jillian recites her ABC's.

Happy sisters playing together.

While we were waiting for the bunk beds to arrive, Michael and Annabelle made good use of the mattresses that would go on the bunk bunks.

Jillian's Birthday!

2012-01-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

Has it really been two years since Jillian was born? She is such a wonderful kid, though she is definitely much more emotional than Annabelle was. She counts, almost knows the alphabet song, usually speaks in mostly complete sentences, and is just so dang cute. She also is really good at throwing tantrums and acting like a 2 year old. But we love her and can't imagine our family without her. We had a nice family celebration together. Happy birthday, Jillian.

Pregant and playing ping pong

2012-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

In anticipation of some friends coming over for dinner and then playing ping pong with us, Michael and I have been working on skills at the table. The dinner and ping pong ended up not happening, but I hope that it does soon before I get too big too play at all. Even if it doesn't, I've decided that playing ping pong is not only a great activity for Michael and I to do together, but it also provides me with some form of exercise. Since I've actually been playing somewhat well for being so pregnant, I decided I'd video a short game. Michael and I played to 11 (instead of 21). Now, I should point out that Michael is playing left-handed. If he were playing his very best ping pong with his right hand, I would probably not be able to get more than 2 or 3 points before he won at 21 points. He is amazing! But to make things a little more fair, he played with his left hand, which he could still dominate me if he wanted to.

Happy Birthday, Michael

2012-01-05T15:50:00.000-08:00

Michael has turned another year older and is now ___ years old. We celebrated it on Sunday, since Tuesday, his actual birthday, he had other things going on, such as the Iowa caucus. After an early morning of church, we all took a much needed nap, and then had a lovely dinner of lasagna and breadsticks, chosen by the birthday boy. After dinner, Michael opened his presents, which included a money jar that electronically counts coins as you put them in and an office chair to use in his new home office (basically, we turned one of the guest bedrooms downstairs into his office in the hope that maybe he'll work from home and be home more often). And of course, Michael's birthday wouldn't be complete without his favorite dessert- lemonade pie. Happy birthday, Michael! I hope it's a wonderful year. And just as a side note, Annabelle, Jillian, and I all happened to put purple shirts on after we changed out of our church clothes. Poor Michael is going to be super outnumbered when this third little girl comes.

That's weird!

2012-01-01T21:16:00.000-08:00

Here's just a few random pictures and videos. Annabelle and Jillian love to spin in circles, trying to make themselves dizzy enough that they fall down. Why they find this so fun, I'll never understand.

Floating Jillian! How is she doing that? During our Thanksgiving trip, Jillian was doing the funniest thing. She was jump right onto her bottom. Of course, when Michael tried to get it on videotape, she didn't quite do it right, but it was still funny.

Snow playing

2012-01-01T20:57:00.000-08:00

We have had one of the most mild winters thus far- warm temperatures (for our standards, anyway) and no snow. I think we did have a little snow to make for a white Christmas, but it melted the next day. So when I woke up yesterday to see about an inch of snow on the ground, I knew I had to take advantage of it. I got the girls into their snow suits and we spent some fun time outside. It was very bright and sunny, but cold. Of course, it warmed up as the day went on and the snow was mostly melted by late afternoon. Jillian was wearing her snow suit for the first time and even though it's size 24 months and she'll be 24 months in a few weeks, she was drowning in that suit. She seriously looked like a big pink marshmallow. It was so cute to see her try and maneuver around in the snow. She didn't mind wearing it though and loved the time outside. Annabelle would have stayed outside all day long, if I would have let her. She probably tells me at least once a day that she can't wait for summer. I got some exercise in for the first time in a long time by shoveling the driveway and sidewalk, which of course was silly since it was all melted later anyway.

Christmas

2011-12-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

This Christmas has definitely been the best by far. Annabelle and Jillian really got into it this year and we had a great weekend. Christmas Eve, I made my first "big" meal (something equivalent to Thanksgiving dinner, though perhaps not quite as fancy). I was so happy with how everything turned out. It was delicious.

Christmas morning, Annabelle was so excited to see that Santa ate all the goodies she left out for him and we enjoyed opening presents together. Sorry for all of the pictures, but it was a big day. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Jillian counts!

2011-12-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

We've been playing a lot of hide and seek lately. Jillian now understands how to play and she and Annabelle love the game. Because of this, Jillian has learned to count to 20. Well, sort of. She can count to 12 by herself (although she does skip 9), then she'll jump from 12 to 18, 19, 2o. It's really cute to hear her.

2011 Christmas Piano Recital

2011-12-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

There is almost nothing better than seeing people you care about succeed. Last week, I had a piano recital for my students and I was so proud of all that they've accomplished. It is so rewarding and fulfilling for me to see them progress and become more confident with their growing talent. I love getting to know their different personalities. They are each so special and unique and I feel so privileged to be apart of their lives. Though three of my students were unable to attend the recital, it was an exceptional evening and everyone did awesome. I couldn't have been happier with the performances. Good job, kids!Thus far, every recital I've had has been at a different location. It's been difficult to find a place to have a recital that will accommodate the number of students I have and their families. Thankfully, the public library recently expanded and built a large community room that includes a brand new baby grand piano. I was so excited when I learned about it. It is large enough for my recitals, has an awesome piano, kitchen, chairs, etc. It was perfect. Here are my lovely helpers.Here was my contribution to the recital. Merry Christmas!

This is the dessert table (before most families showed up with their treats) and table of gifts from me to my students.

Photo shoot with Dad

2011-12-18T20:25:00.001-08:00

After I put the kids to bed tonight, I uploaded pictures from the camera to use for my blog and I found a few I was not expecting. Apparently while I was out running an errand tonight, Michael had a little photo shoot with the girls. This rarely happens where he gets time with them and everyone (meaning Jillian) is happy. Also, please note the background of these pictures. Michael and I got each other for Christmas a new bed set, including sheets (microfiber sheets are the BEST), comforter, decorative pillows, etc. Who knew that just adding new bedding would change the look of a room?

Cute Christmas Pictures

2011-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Annabelle and Jillian have looked so cute with their Christmas dresses on the last few weeks, I just had to take pictures.
And look, Jillian's very first french braid! Her hair's been long enough for braids for months, but she's never sat still long enough for me to do it. It doesn't look great, but with time and practice, she'll learn to hold still long enough to make it look pretty good. (She's reading a Dora the explorer book- that's the only reason I got one done. What would we do with Dora?)

Sleigh Ride

2011-12-18T19:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, the girls and I went to a fun, little Christmas Festival, where we got to meet Santa (again), have gourmet hot chocolate, and most important, go for a sleigh ride. It was pretty cold outside, but they didn't care about standing in a line for the horse ride. They weren't, however, as excited to meet Santa as they were the first time a few weeks ago. That part aside, we had a pretty fun time.

Quality time with Dad

2011-12-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Due to Michael's job and church calling, he is not home very often and it is not uncommon for him to get home after the kids have gone to bed. Last week, I had a church meeting that I was in charge of and Michael got to have dinner with the kids and put them to bed. In order to make the most of his time with the girls, Michael bought ingredients to make some yummy dessert with them while a pizza cooked in the oven. They made worms in dirt (chocolate pudding with gummy worms in it). I think they all had fun and it makes me happy to see them together. Even Jillian, who is attached at my hip, seemed to enjoy Daddy time (after a very sad goodbye to me). And Michael got some cute pictures of their activity. Thanks Michael.

Random videos and pictures from Thanksgiving and other stuff

2011-12-09T10:34:00.001-08:00

Since I haven't posted in a while, I just decided to upload some videos and you can watch them if you choose.

Weekend with family

2011-12-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we traveled to Utah for some family events. It was so fun to see my parents and brother, both of whom live too far away for me to see very often. I wish my other siblings and their spouses and kids could have come, but I was glad that some of them were able to fly over here. Saturday night, I watched one of the greatest shows on earth- Christmas Around the World, starring my very own younger sister and the BYU International Folk Dance Team. The team performed dances from countries around the world. It was absolutely amazing! I am so proud of my sister and can't believe how talented she is. I plan on attending the show every year while she is in it. You go, Amber! Sunday, my older brother blessed his daughter. It was such a sweet experience. I am so grateful for the wonderful and strong family I was raised in. To see my siblings starting their own families is such a blessing. And of course, I am grateful for my family. I have such a supportive, loving husband and 2 healthy, smart, and energetic children. I don't think I could ask for much more this Christmas. Annabelle and Jillian were obsessed with Katieanne, my brother's baby. It was so cute to see them interact with her. It's just a preview of what is to come in March, I guess. Jillian also loved playing on the blowup mattress.

Santa

2011-12-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Last night, we attended a Christmas dinner party. I'll admit that my reason for being so excited about going was I didn't have to cook the food. Lately (I'll blame it on the pregnancy), I haven't been motivated at all to make dinner every night, even though the kids and I are starving. So, I was really looking forward to it, and I was not disappointed. The food was excellent (pulled pork), the kids were relatively well behaved, and Santa came to visit.

In the past, Annabelle has been too scared to sit on Santa's lap. This year, she's been really anxious to meet him and tell him what she wants for Christmas. Jillian, on the other hand, is so attached and clingy to me, I knew there was no way I could get a picture of her sitting on Santa's lap. To my astonishment, Jillian walked right up to him and sat in his lap and was happy to do so. The fact that Santa was holding a present for Jillian may have had something to do with that. But I was able to get a really cute picture of each of the girls on Santa's lap. Some of the other kids opened their presents right away and of course, Annabelle and Jillian couldn't be left out. Jillian got a little phone and Annabelle got a drawing kit. We didn't take the gifts out of their package, just unwrapped the wrapping paper. When we got home, Annabelle asked if we could rewrap the presents and put them under the tree so there would be more presents to open on Christmas. So, we did.

First snow of the year

2011-10-08T13:35:00.001-07:00

We had our first snowfall of the year. Of course, Annabelle was rearing to play outside, so we got wrapped up and had a blast, although we didn't last for too long because it was so cold.

Future stars

2011-10-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Annabelle has always loved dressing up and singing and dancing in them. Jillian, who loves to copy her big sister, has quickly followed Annabelle's footsteps. They love to have music on and run all over in the house in their outfits. Sorry about the sideways video.

Annabelle's ode to BYU

2011-10-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Annabelle loves to wear her BYU shirt and cheer on her Cougars whenever they play. She has even come up with a BYU song. Of course, if I were to record her song another at another time, it would not even sound remotely similar to this video.

Rough times, cute meories

2011-10-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Even in the midst of a very rough week and difficult trials, I was able to capture a few videos and pictures that remind me how blessed I am.

My new neice

2011-09-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

Yea! My sister-in-law finally had her baby. Katianne was born Monday afternoon, just over 8 lbs. I'm so excited for my brother to be a dad. He and my sister-in-law are going to be great parents. Congratulations!

Pictures

2011-09-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some awesome pictures from Utah. I'm so grateful I got to see my parents. Here is a group picture that includes my amazing sister. She is on the highest team of the International Folk Dancers at BYU. In this picture, she is wearing her costume for her India dance. And in the following picture, my mom is sporting my sister's nose ring from her costume.

Eating some yummy pizza before game time.
In the pizza place, there was this guy walking around, offering to make balloon shapes. Annabelle requested a princess and this is what she got. Isn't that amazing? This guy was making all sorts of crazy things our of balloons. I wish I would have asked for Cosmo (BYU's cougar mascot). I saw him make one for someone else and it was absolutely amazing.

Silly kids

2011-09-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

The other night, Michael was watching the kids as I had a meeting to go to. During the course of the evening, the following events and pictures took place.

Obviously, Annabelle is potty trained and has been since before Jillian was born. Annabelle has a habit of leaving the door open when she uses the bathroom and Jillian likes to come in and keep her company. On this particular night, Annabelle went to the bathroom and when she was done, Jillian pulled Michael into the bathroom, pointed to the toilet, and said, "potty". Michael asked if she wanted to sit on the potty and Jillian eagerly nodded yes as she began trying to pull her pants down. She had such a blast just sitting on it, Michael had to bribe her to get down by letting her flush the toilet all by herself. Unfortunately, she didn't actually do anything in the toilet, but maybe she'll be an early potty trained girl. That would be nice. Here's the picture.Later as he was putting Annabelle to bed, Michael found an inflated balloon that had once been in the shape of a mouse, but lost most of its shape. Anyway, he did a little tweaking with it and made it so he could wear it on his head. He showed Annabelle and told her he was from the future, at which point Annabelle called him "Future Dad". Now every time he wears it for fun, she calls him that, but then asks him to take it off because she doesn't like it very much.

Family visit

2011-09-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

We have officially hit Fall. It came about 3 weeks ago without any warning and the coats and sweaters have been pulled out of storage. I can't be too upset though because I absolutely love this time of year. The cool weather, change of the color of the leaves, and images of hot chocolate and caramel apples makes me happy, not to mention my favorite holidays are the last three months of the year.

We spent the weekend in Utah, visiting my family. My parents are from So. IL and I don't get to see them very often, but they were in Utah so we had to make the trip. It was a fun-filled trip. We saw my sister participate in a dancing event. Her Irish hard shoe was absolutely amazing (along with everything else she performed)! Saturday, we saw my brother's frisbee game and prepared for the big rivalry football game. We were all matching in our BYU shirts. I love spending time with my family! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with my most of the time, so there will be more pictures to come. Meanwhile, we were all anxiously awaiting my oldest brother's wife to have her baby. I had hoped that she would have been born before we got there, but now we'll just have to wait to see her when we go back to Utah in a couple weeks.

Huckleberry picking

2011-08-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours asked us if we wanted to go huckleberry picking with them. Annabelle is good friends with their son and we thought it would be a nice outing. I must confess that I have never been berry picking and I was intrigued as to where we were going and what a huckleberry looked like. We went into some woods up on a mountain and went to town picking berries. Annabelle and Jillian loved it. Jillian was constantly wanting to find and pick more berries. She loved being around the trees and of course wanted to walk by herself. By the end, she was pretty tired of someone holding her hand to help her walk around on the unsteady terrain. About halfway through, she decided to eat one of the huckleberries and that was that. She absolutely refused to put the berries in the bucket and ate every one she picked and then demanded "more". I think by the end she probably had eaten about 40 berries. Annabelle and Owen, her friend, loved talking while they picked. It was so fun to see them together. It was truly a great evening.

Visitors

2011-08-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Soon after we returned from Utah, Michael's parents, sister, ad her two kids came to visit. Jillian was obsessed with 6-month old Camden, and Annabelle and 2 1/2 year old Lindley played well together. Michael's sister lives in North Carolina where her husband is a dentist and so we hardly get to ever see her and I was grateful for the time we had to visit. Michael's parents enjoyed spending time with their grandkids and the adults enjoyed some good ping-pong as well. It was sad to say goodbye. We sure love it when they come.

The greatest invention ever...

2011-08-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

Sidewalk chalk! It's amazing. I got to get some for the kids. When we were in Utah for Joel's graduation, we stayed with my grandma who brought out the sidewalk chalk one evening. It was such a big hit. I've never seen Jillian stick with the same activity for so long. She absolutely loved it. And Annabelle was getting so creative with her drawings. I can deal with the fact that they get totally dirty and need a bath after. They were both enjoying it so much that we had very little drama between the two of them the whole time they were drawing. (And my girls have lots of drama all the time.)

Thanks for letting us take over your house, Grandma and Marv. We appreciate it.

BYU Graduate

2011-08-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

My brother graduated from BYU in mechanical engineering and we went to Provo for his graduation. I'm so proud of him. He worked so hard in college and had a job throughout, so he was super busy. My parents and some of my siblings couldn't make it, but those of us that live somewhat close were to able to come. Joel's wife's family was also there to support him. I had a hard time getting a picture of him initially walking in. (Amber and I couldn't keep the tears from coming. What? We're female!)

After the ceremony, we celebrated even more with a barbecue at Hillary's parents' house (Joel's in-laws). They were so kind to make us lunch and had BYU colors up everywhere: balloons, streamers, and even this really cool plaque for Joel. We got up kind of early to make it from Salt Lake to Provo in time for the graduation, and Jillian, who usually gets about a 2 hour nap around noon, was struggling toward the end of the party. By the time we left to drive home, it was about 4 p.m. and she still hadn't slept. As expected, she fell asleep right away in the car (which goes to show how tired she really was because she doesn't sleep well in the car). I guess Annabelle and my grandma's husband, Marv, were really tired too. Check out Annabelle's awkward position, poor girl. Congratulations, Joel. I should also mention that Michael's brother also graduated that day, so Michael spent the day with his family. Way to go to you too, Drew!

Bike riding update

2011-08-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

Annabelle has started getting the hang of balancing on her bike. I think if Michael were able to devote 45 minutes every day to helping her, she would already have learned everything and would be riding completely by herself. But, unfortunately, he doesn't have that kind of spare time. He'll be gone this weekend and Annabelle won't be able to practice with him until next week. I hope she remembers what she's learned thus far. Last night, they went out to practice again, and Annabelle was doing really well.

Michael got super sweaty. I don't think the pictures capture how utterly soaked through with sweat he as. It was dripping everywhere!

International Folk Dance Festival

2011-08-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

Last week was the annual Folk Dance festival. Dancers from all over the world travel here to perform. It's really neat to see. To start the week, they have a parade where each country does short dances from their native land as they walk down Main street. It had been raining all day, but cleared up somewhat in the late afternoon. The kids and I packed up our stuff and got a decent spot. We had a great time until out of nowhere about halfway through the parade, it started to pour and the wind was so strong. I didn't even have time to pack everything back up before we were pretty much soaked. Annabelle was holding the picnic blanket we had set up over her head, so she was somewhat protected. I put Jillian in the stroller while I cleaned up and tried to cover her as best as I could; however, I didn't know the wind was blowing the rain directly in her face. Finally, I had everything ready to go and we raced back to the car. Jillian was screaming her head off (poor thing was in the direct path of the wind and rain), Annabelle was whimpering and whining, and I was thoroughly drenched. Annabelle didn't want to take the blanket off her head, but she was having trouble running with it and was tripping a lot. There were two different people who took pity on us and tried to help. I'm sure we did look pretty pathetic. We finally made it to the car, and by this time, all three of us were shivering. I really enjoy this parade and was pretty bummed that it was rained out. Oh well. It makes for a pretty good story.

Reading

2011-08-02T16:12:00.001-07:00

I try to get my kids interested in books when they're very young. Annabelle never really liked being read to. I would try every night and she would wiggle and squirm and whine until I let her get down off my lap. It wasn't until she was about 3 years old that she started to enjoy and desire being read a story to before she went to bed. Now, it's turned into asking for "just one more" after having read her just one more. She has such a vivid imagination and I've seen how books have just given her more ideas for her many "pretend games".

Annabelle, on the other hand, has loved books for several months now. We read several every night before she goes to bed, and even when she gets up in the morning, the first thing she does is walk over to her closet to pull out a book. I've often caught her sitting in the rocking chair in her room (our "reading" chair- she loves to climb on it all by herself) with a book in her hand babbling away in baby talk as she looks at the pictures. It's so cute.

Here's a video of Annabelle reading to Jillian. Aren't they so cute?! If you haven't figured it out, this was taken before church on Sunday and Annabelle really wanted curly hair.

I'm back..... at least for now.

2011-07-31T19:12:00.001-07:00

I know I've been absent from blogging for a while and I apologize. It's been very busy around here lately, and I've found that when I think about updating my blog, I have no energy at that time to do it. Just to tell you a few things, in the last month and a half, we've had family here about 5 different weekends, Michael has been out of town at least twice, I've taken on 4 more piano students (that puts it at 15 students, 16 if you count Annabelle who has been having a 5 minute piano lesson every week), I've gotten a new, somewhat demanding calling at church, and I have two extremely active children. So, I hope that you forgive me for slacking on the blog.

Here's an update on the girls. Annabelle finished preschool done through the college, and we're trying to decide whether to put her in a private preschool this year, do the college one again, or not do any preschool at all. It's makes me want to cry knowing that one year from now, she'll be getting ready to attend kindergarten. It can't really be that time already, can it? She loves to play outside and be with friends. She is also learning how to ride her bike without training wheels. She's only tried with Michael twice and gets distracted very easily, but I think she'll catch on soon. Michael is very good about showing her how it's done. (Watch the 3rd video.)

Jillian just turned 18 months last week and is officially nursery age for church. I've been taking her there for the last 2 months though because she is very attached to me and I knew it would take some time for her to learn not to scream through the entire two hours of nursery without me. She has taken over Annabelle's old tricycle and loves to push it around (she's not quite tall enough to ride it). For the most part, she is a fun, energetic kid who loves to play outside. She is still a huge mama's girl and wants me to hold her all the time. I know it won't last forever and I should enjoy it while it lasts (which I do for the most part), but sometimes, I need my personal space and time for myself. Here is a video of Jillian's way of eating grapes. The first 30 seconds are the best. I should have stopped that camera after that.

Reading time during piano lessons

2011-07-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

I teach piano to three siblings. They usually come at the same time, and two play downstairs while one gets their lesson. This last week, this is what it looked like: And I forgot to get a picture, but later during the lesson, Jillian brought one of her books out and joined the other three on the couch with a book of her own. It was hilarious. I'm so mad I didn't get a picture.

Zoo trip

2011-07-06T11:22:00.000-07:00

A friend and I took our kids to the zoo a few days ago. It's not bad for a small town, but afterward, I longed to go to the St. Louis zoo. I remember going there so many times during the summer when I was a kid. Anyway, the kids had a blast and I really enjoyed getting out of the house.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone enjoyed our Independence Day. I certainly did. We didn't have a grill, but how do you show your patriotic side more than having a barbecue? So, Michael bought one. We barbecued on Saturday and Monday. The food was delicious, thanks to the skills of Michael, the grill master. (He was really digging that title.)
We went to the parade in the morning and boy, was it long. But the kids seemed to enjoy watching most of it. I think by the time we were getting to the hour and a half mark, they were tiring out. But check out this awesome float. Sometimes I wish I had a cart this big when I went shopping.
Later, we went to see a big fireworks show. Once we got to the park, it was enjoyable. The drive and walk to where we ended up sitting and the walk and drive back to the car and then home was not fun. Jillian, who had been up since 7:15 am, out in the sun for almost the whole day, and had only taken about an hour and a half nap, did not fall asleep until almost midnight. She enjoyed the fireworks show, but was pretty cranky the rest of the time.

I love this country we live in. Happy 4th of July!

A few funny and cute videos

2011-06-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

Take 2

Jillian's camera face and cute Annabelle

2011-06-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Jillian scrunches up her face in a kind of fierce-looking expression whenever I hold up the camera to take her picture. For example, In other news, Annabelle started preschool again and she looked so grownup on her way to school one day, I had to get a picture of her. Look at the cute capris and polo? I can't believe how big she's getting.
And here's how she looked last Sunday (such a beauty):

New pajamas

2011-06-28T19:29:00.001-07:00

Both of the girls were in dire need of summer pajamas. I, of course, picked out Jillian's, but Annabelle got to pick out hers. They're both so cute, though. Don't you love Jillian's bed head?

Daddy's little girls

2011-06-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

So this post is a little late. I was having some trouble getting my pictures to upload to the computer to use in my blog entries.

Happy Father's Day to dads everywhere, although I want to especially wish it to my dad and my husband. I feel so grateful to have these wonderful men in my life. Here's a picture of my amazing dad with some of his grandchildren. Annabelle has been looking forward to this day for the past week. Michael took her to the store with him yesterday, and the lady at the register asked if she had wished her dad a happy father's day. Annabelle gave her quizzical look and reminded her that father's day wasn't until Sunday, and that we already had mother's day and next comes sister's day.

At church today, I reminded Annabelle that she would get to go up to the front with the other primary kids and sing songs to the dads. She responded that she didn't want to go up to sing, she wanted to go up to be pretty. And sure enough, when she was up there, she didn't sing one single word of the songs (even though I heard her singing them all week and I know she knew them), but she smiled and waved to people and looked as though she was participating in a beauty pageant. Oh boy. I'm going to have my hands full with that girl.

I must say though that she wasn't too off when it came to looking pretty. Both she and Jillian looked so cute today. I loved taking pictures of them sitting on the couch with Michael. He is such a good husband and father and I'm so grateful to him. Happy Father's Day, Michael. I love you!

Sledding at the Sand Dunes

2011-06-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

When we had family visiting over Memorial Day weekend, Annabelle went with Michael, his brothers, and his dad to the sand dunes. They were there for several hours and Annabelle had a blast. I should have taken a picture of the pile of sand that formed as I took off her clothes to take a bath. It was huge, and it didn't even include the amount of the sand that came out when I emptied her pockets.

Their trip included lots of jumping off a hill to catch a frisbee or football, as well as Annabelle sledding down a hill on a cardboard box. I wish they had gotten a picture or video of that. That would have been really fun to watch.

The girl likes to dance

2011-06-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

Jillian is very fond of music and loves to dance for whoever will watch.

Are you kidding me?!

2011-06-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

Imagine my shock and surprise when I walked around in our newly finished basement and felt like I was walking on a soaking wet sponge. Apparently during the winter, the pipe connected to our back hose cracked. We used that back hose for the first time Thursday evening, and I discovered the water in the basement Friday morning.

We got the pipe fixed without having to break through the walls, but after removing the destroyed baseboards and some of the dry wall, Michael noticed that the insulation was soaking wet and we had to get the part behind the dry wall dried or else we may have some serious problems.

We had a propane tank blasting heat almost all night long last night to help dry out the carpet and wall, but realized that it was not drying behind the wall. Fortunately, today we were able to rent "the octopus" and we hope that that will get things dried. As you can see from the picture, there are arms going into the wall blowing air. Some of the modern day inventions are genius, and I hope that it does the job and we don't have any other issues with this disaster.

Family and good times

2011-06-05T19:06:00.000-07:00

We've had a very busy last several weeks. My younger sister stayed with us for almost 2 weeks, and we had a blast. She and I have almost the exact some personality. The things that I think are hilarious, she finds them funny, too. We have the same thoughts and just have so much fun together.We also had Michael's parents and 2 brothers visit during Memorial Day weekend. It was so fun to have them all here. Here are a few pictures.

The Facebook Phenomenon

2011-06-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Almost everyday, one of my "friends" on Facebook has a birthday. My typical response to seeing it's someone's birthday is write a little message on their wall and be done. I've often wondered if the 30 seconds it took to write it really means anything.

Last week was my birthday. Like most of you, I've found that as I get older, birthdays don't mean much more than you have to be one year older, and I'm beginning to realize how much I took being in my early 20's for granted. The day before my birthday, I got some disappointing news. Because of that, I wasn't feeling too excited on my birthday. But then I got on Facebook, and holy cow, I had so many happy birthday wishes. It totally brightened my day to see how many people took a little bit of time to write on my wall.

Some of these people I haven't spoken to since high school graduation, yet they still wish me a happy birthday. I was reminded of how much I have to be grateful for, how I can't let this little bit of bad news affect my day, and what great people I've met over the course of my life. What would I ever do without the Facebook Phenomenon?

The many faces of Jillian

2011-06-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

Jillian knows that whenever she sees a camera or someone says, "Smile", she's supposed to make s face of some kind. The only problem is it's never the same face and it's never a regular smile. She is always closing her eyes or opening her mouth, but it's very funny and cute to see.

Grandpa's tongue twister

2011-05-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

My grandma's husband is a real crack-up. He says the funniest stuff. While in Utah, I stayed with them and caught him spouting off this tongue twister.

Mischief Upstairs

2011-05-21T07:31:00.000-07:00

Michael and I have been spending every minute possible working in the basement and getting it ready for the guests we have coming over the next two weeks. A few days ago, I was downstairs and Annabelle and Jillian were upstairs playing. They're pretty good about playing by themselves (usually). After I had been downstairs for almost two hour, I realized that I hadn't heard anything upstairs for a while. Usually, the girls are running around, laughing, or crying. But I hadn't heard movement or sound from either of them. Slightly concerned, for the lack of these things meant that they were either doing something they shouldn't be or they were both so hurt they couldn't cry, I went upstairs to see what was going on. I found them both in Annabelle's room. Annabelle was coloring in her Dora coloring book and Jillian was looking at a book, both quiet and content as ever. Stunned, I walked around the rest of the house to make sure that all was as it should be and found this in Jillian's room: Perhaps the pictures don't look too bad to you. Try picturing Jillian's entire room with most of the contents of the closet scattered throughout it.

And the culprits? I decided to make them lunch with pudding for dessert. They were just too cute to be mad at. Plus, they had been quiet and allowed me to get some work done. I couldn't ask for more than that.

Happy Anniversary!

2011-05-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Michael and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. I can't believe it's already been that long. I think about when we first were married. Michael had just finished his first year year of law school and I was going to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in a couple of months. We lived in a tiny apartment in one of the scariest parts of Salt Lake City. Now, Michael is firmly established in his career, we have two beautiful daughters, I have a thriving piano teaching business, and we live in a nice home. One would think that after 6 years of working hard to get where we are today, we would have a full-out celebration and paint the town red. That is not the case. Instead, we spent the entire day (and I do mean entire day- starting at 10 am and ending at midnight) like this: We are in the process of finishing the basement of our house and have been scrambling like crazy over the last week to get it ready for carpet to be installed tomorrow. And so, we made the kids play together upstairs all day long, while we spent the day downstairs with stuffy face masks on and paint all over us. Pretty romantic, huh?

However, it was not all bad. Michael and I got to "hang out" (if you could call it that) all day together. We immediately realized that painting was not going to be as easy as we thought and it took a lot of patience and compromise to find a method that was effective and efficient. After a while, I started thinking about when Michael and I decided to finish the basement. We had a lot of decisions to make about if we could afford to, how much we were willing to spend, how the space would be used, what colors to paint, and lots of other little stuff. Sometimes, we didn't agree and had to listen to the other person and perhaps meet somewhere in the middle.

I imagine that when it comes to making major decisions, some couples find out just how quickly they can disagree and hard it can be to give up some or all of what you want. In the six years that we've been married, Michael and I have learned how to communicate with one another and how to come to a mutual agreement without either one of us getting too upset. We're definitely not perfect and still need a lot of work. But when I look back over the years, I can see how we have slowly improved our relationship to become one of equal partnership.

Happy Anniversary, Michael. Thanks for six wonderful years. I look forward to sharing many more with you. I love you.

The Wedding...

2011-05-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned in the last several entries that we went to Utah for my brother's wedding. It was so much fun to be with my family. Between my 5 brothers and sisters and my parents, we live in 6 different states, ranging from Virginia to Idaho, so it was wonderful that my siblings, their spouses, and kids were almost all together (my sister's husband and daughter could not come).

Annabelle has a cousin who's about the same age and they had a blast playing together, and towards the end of our visit, Jillian was even starting to branch out a bit and let someone other than me hold her.

There were many festivities leading up to the day of the wedding, all of which were very fun and I could blog about them, but I think would probably bore all of my readers, so I'll just focus on the wedding day. I didn't get a good picture of just the bride and groom, but let me tell you, the bride was absolutely stunning and my brother couldn't have looked happier.
The wedding was in the morning, followed by a really nice lunch, and an amazing reception. It was really a day jam packed with celebration, and by the end, we were absolutely exhausted. I think Jillian got a total of about 35 minutes of sleep during the whole day and the day went from about 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. But I am so happy that my brother married such a wonderful woman. Welcome to the family, Hillary.Here is a picture of me and my siblings the night before my brother got married. As you can see, we have a blast when we get together.
All of my brothers are now married and here is a picture of me, my sisters, sister-in-laws, and mom.

Easter

2011-05-06T17:22:00.001-07:00

We spent Easter in Utah. Since my brother was getting married a few days later, almost everyone in my family had come to Utah and it was so fun to celebrate Easter with them. We had a most spectacular meal and then came to anticipated Easter egg hunt. Annabelle had been talking of nothing else for days. She was so excited, and even Jillian had a blast walking around finding eggs. My girls looked so cute in their Easter dresses.

BYU Folk Dance Team

2011-05-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

My younger sister is amazing. She has been dancing since the age of 5 and is so good. She just finished her freshmen year at BYU and made the BYU Folk Dance team. They learn dances from all around the world and perform all around the world. Currently, her team is traveling to different schools in Utah and doing short performances for the kids.

Last week when I went to Utah for my brother's wedding, I was able to attend a couple of her shows and they were AMAZING! Here are some pictures. I also got several videos. This first one is of American clogging.

Here a Peruvian dance.

This one is of the guys doing and Indian dance.

Piano Recital

2011-05-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

The night before I left for Utah, I had a recital for my piano students. It turned out really well and I was so pleased with all of my kids. They each played so well. I meant to take more pictures and videos but of course I was too preoccupied to do so. Anyway, here are a few pictures.
I decided to participate in the recital as well by playing one of my favorite songs. I've been trying to learn it for a long time now and I finally decided that if I was ever going to really know it, I had to give myself a deadline. Once I decided that I would play it at the recital, there was no going back and for some reason, I had an easier time of learning it. The night of the recital, I brought the camera, but forgot to tell Michael to record me playing it. So I recorded it a few days later at my grandma's house in Utah while I was there visiting. I played it better at the recital, but oh well. So here it is, Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# minor.

Folding arms

2011-05-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

In the last two weeks, there has been so much going on that I haven't had time to update my blog, so forgive me, but I'm going to play catch up over the next several days. I just returned from Utah for my brother's wedding and have tons of pictures from my trip, but I first have to put on a video of Jillian. She now knows how to fold her arms. She does almost every time we have a prayer, but of course, she only stays in that position for a few seconds. But it's so cute. See for yourself.

Going gray in my mid 20's

2011-04-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

If the next time you see me I have gray hair, here's why:
Yes, that's my piano on the back of that trailer. I'm having a piano recital for my students tomorrow night. That in itself would be stressful enough to make me go gray if you add to it that the following morning, I'm driving by myself with the kids to Utah for just over a week and am trying to clean the house and pack in addition to preparing for the recital.

All that I can handle if those are the only things going on. But here's the thing. My house isn't big enough to have a recital for 10 students and their families, but Michael's office is absolutely perfect. There is a huge conference room that offers enough room for everyone, plus it's just a gorgeous office. The only problem is there's no piano at the office. So what's the solution? Transport my piano to the office of course. Wait, transport what?! Now hold on. If anything happens to my piano, I would have a serious meltdown, and I don't have meltdowns.
We were very fortunate to have a few guys offer to help move it to the office and back, and another guy offered us the use of his trailer. So moving it should be no big deal, right? Well now add a few negative factors to the equation. The trailer is not covered, which wouldn't be a problem except that it was raining last night at the appointed moving time.

From the time they left my house to Michael's return was pure agony for me. I kept waiting for the phone call from Michael saying the piano had come off the back of the trailer while they were driving or something. In the end, all went as well as could be expected. The piano is now waiting in the conference room unscathed (or at least that's what Michael told me). Now I don't have to worry again until it's time to move it back home.

Music Festival

2011-04-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's been forever since I blogged. How is it that to me it seems like only one day has passed, but in truth it's been like a week. Our family has been so busy in the last few weeks and it's only going to continue.

Last weekend, I had six of my students participate in a music festival. For the past almost two months, they have been working so hard on memorizing two pieces and learning difficult scales and theory. I know they are all relieved that it's over, and I must admit, I am as well. My students all did so well too. They scored between a 97 and 99 (out of a possible 100 points). All ten of my students will be be playing in a recital this Friday night. I love seeing all of them together and hearing them perform.

Friday night, Michael and I went bowling with a few other couples. I am a terrible bowler, but I still really enjoy it. In the past, my bowling scores usually range anywhere from 50 to 70. That night, however, I bowled an 81! I was so excited. But the real highlight of the night was watching Michael bowl. He's an okay bowler, who usually gets a decent score. This time, he was on fire. He came out swinging, bowling a strike for the first two frames followed by a spare. During the entire ten frames, he bowled six strikes and three spares, giving him a score of 168. It was awesome to see him doing so well. And of course, being the gentleman that he is, he downplayed his score and praised my 81 points. What a great guy I married.

Happier thoughts

2011-03-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

I just reread my blog post from yesterday and realized how depressing it is, so I thought I'd put up some pictures and a video of the kids to lighten the mood. Here is a picture that Annabelle painted yesterday. It's pretty good, isn't it? I was certainly impressed.

This is why I am NOT a couponer...

2011-03-25T11:41:00.001-07:00

Let me begin this post by admitting that I am very frustrated right now and the reason I'm writing this when I'm so frustrated is so that the level of my immense dissatisfaction is quite evident. The following events of my day thus far are the reason why I don't get involved with couponing.

A few days ago, some friends and I were talking about couponing. One of the girls told me about some spectacular deal she got with coupons. I mentioned that if I ever were to get started using them, I would need someone to tell me exactly what coupons to buy and where and when to use them. Another friend told me about a website that does that. So, I went to it and found that there were several items available at Walmart that I could get for free and even make money. (Some Walmart stores has a policy that if you have a coupon for more than the amount of the item, they'll give you the difference, thus you make money.) I called my local Walmart to see if they had that policy and was told yes.

So, last night, I spent about 3 hours looking at this website, finding items that I could get for free or get money back, then searching through several coupon websites to find the applicable ones, and printing them out. I was really excited to make this trip the next day. I thought it would turn out to be one of the most rewarding trips I've ever made to the store. I also planned to buy a few other things that I didn't have coupons for so it wasn't just a cheapskate trip.

I had a list of 13 items that I had coupons for. The thing I didn't account for was that our Walmart is not a supercenter and doesn't have all the brands or items that were on my list. In fact, I was only able to find 5 of the 13 items on my list. That right there was very frustrating.

After spending much, much longer than I planned searching (and unsuccessfully finding most of them) for the things I wanted, I went to check out. By this time, both girls were cranky and hungry for lunch, and to make matters worse, somewhere in the store, Jillian had dropped her pacifier and was in no mood to be pacified without it. Plus, the zipper on my wallet broke while I was trying to pay, making the whole process even more difficult. When the lady told me my total after running the coupons, it was much more than I expected, but as there were people in line behind me, I paid with a Walmart gift card, and walked away. Once out of people's way, I looked back over the receipt to see why it had been so expensive and I realized that the cashier had forgotten to run one of the coupons I gave her and had double charged me for a regular priced item. So, I got back in line of the same register and waited again. When it as finally my turn, I told her of the problem. She double checked to make sure that she had in fact made a mistake and then told me that she couldn't fix the problem, that I would have to go to the service desk. So, I then made my way to the right place and waited in another line.

I explained the situation the the new cashier and she said she could fix the problem. I asked if she could put the amount back on the gift card, which she said wouldn't be a problem. The process took much longer than it seemed it should, only to have her then tell me there was a problem with the gift card and she had to give me money instead. Not only that, she could only give me the amount that the item cost, not the amount of the coupon. Let me explain. The item I purchased cost $2.58. I had a coupon for $3, but she could only give me back the $2.58. When I told her I had made sure that their store did indeed pay you the difference of the cost of the item and the coupon amount, she said that wasn't true. So, she gave me back the money and then told me that I had to turn around and pay her for tax on the item, which was 16 cents, because the coupon doesn't cover the tax.

I can't tell you how upset I was at this point. I am not a confrontational person and am usually very easy going; however, today it took every ounce I had to remain courteous with this person and of course, my bad mood made it difficult to handle my cranky children. And to top things off, on the drive home, another car almost ran into me while trying to switch into my lane. I was about 5 inches away from an accident that wasn't my fault.

I know this isn't a pleasant entry to read, but I needed to let my frustration out and this felt like the best way to do it. To those who use coupons, good job. I'm glad you find it enjoyable and rewarding. I, on the other hand, find it takes up way too much of my time and I have never reaped the benefits that I so often hear bragged about. I put into it. I will, therefore, continue to be a thrifty, frugal person without the use of coupons.

Fruit Pizzas

2011-03-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

Last week, I hosted our book club group and I made some fruit pizzas. I don't usually blog about food and it's not like these are that unique or spectacular, but I decided to post pictures anyway just because they looked so pretty.

Pigtails

2011-03-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

I finally tried giving Jillian pigtails. She's had plenty of hair for them for a while, but it just didn't look good. Well, they still didn't look good, but I decided to keep them in anyway.
And here's a great video, though I don't think Jillian quite understands the object of basketball quite yet.

Fancy Nancy

2011-03-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

Last week, Annabelle was invited to a Fancy Nancy party. Click here if you're not sure who that is. She was supposed to dress up for it, so she wore her princess dress and I tried to create a "Belle" hairstyle. (It didn't work out too well, but hey, Annabelle thought it was awesome so I guess it was a success, right?) So, this is how she looked before the party: This is how she looked after the party: She got cool sunglasses, her nails are painted, she made that bracelet, put jewels on a princess hat, and decorated a purse that contained nail polish, lip gloss, and bubbles. Also, check out the rock on her finger.

Jillian couldn't resist trying on some of Annabelle's "fancy" things. What a fun life Annabelle lives.

This is why you don't play frisbee inside the house...

2011-03-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

(Yes, that was a plate before it was shattered.)

Happy Day!

2011-03-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

I woke up one morning, checked my email, and read the following from one of my piano student's parents:
They [kids at school, including my student] made a poster at school about what their talent is, and he [my student] made a picture of himself playing the piano. There are a number of people in the poster listening to him play, and he drew you sitting in the background saying "You rock". Thanks for helping him feel that way about himself!

What a great way to start the day!

Mother/Daughter(s) dates

2011-03-06T19:47:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, I took Annabelle bowling for a late birthday present. We were supposed to go as a family, but Michael was practically on his deathbed and couldn't even get out bed. (We're thinking it was like a severe case of the flu. He was bedridden for 4 days and lost 5 pounds just in the 4 days. Yikes!) Annabelle had a blast, while Jillian just wanted to crawl down the lane and touch the bowling pins. I asked to put the gutters up only when it was Annabelle's turn, but there was some miscommunication I guess and they stayed up when it was my turn too. Oh well. I'm a terrible bowler so I guess it was just as well. We tied with 94 points.
And yesterday, Annabelle went to the movie theater for the first time. She and I saw "Tangled". It was actually quite entertaining, even for me. And there were tons of adults there without kids that had come to see the movie as well. I was a little worried that Annabelle would have a hard time sitting still and being quite during the movie, but she was really good for the most part. During some of the songs, she got bored and I had to remind her be quiet. But when the movie was over, she said she wanted to see it again right then. She has been talking nonstop about having hair as long as Repunzel's ever since we got back. We don't usually buy movies to add our humble collection, but this one we might have to add.

And the best laugh goes to......

2011-03-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

(Sorry that the video is so long, but it's well worth watching to hear her cute giggle.)

Happy birthday, Annabelle!

2011-02-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

Annabelle is 4 years old! Where has the time gone? Was it really four years ago that she was born? (It's weird to think that she wasn't even due until March 25th.) We had quite a busy day yesterday. Annabelle brought cupcakes to preschool and then went straight to gymnastics, and I used this time that she was gone to make her birthday cake. She requested a bee cake, which I have no idea how to make one so I just did the best I could with the 3 round cake pans that I had. After I taught a few piano lessons in the afternoon, she and I made her birthday dinner of spaghetti and breadsticks. We had some friends come and spend the evening with us. It was a blast. Here are a few of the gifts she received (many were from different sets of grandparents): pajamas, a drum set, a princess puzzle, a fairy dress up costume, and a set of reading cards.

Just some random updates

2011-02-23T11:28:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about getting a new hair style for awhile. I'm not one to spend a lot of time on my hair and so the idea of getting something that might require a lot of time and effort doesn't sound too appealing to me. Yet, the thought of something new and different is kind of exciting. So, yesterday, I went and got sweep-away bangs. A friend of mine has a brother who cuts hair and he did a fantastic job. In other news, it's Annabelle's birthday today (I can't believe she's 4!) and I'll be posting about that later. Michael's brother graced us with his presence last weekend and we sure enjoyed having him here.
A friend of mine makes the cutest clothes. She and her baby girl are always wearing things she's made and it's amazing. She made Jillian some shoes that are so cute. They keep her feet warm in this chilly weather and I love them.

More good deals!

2011-02-21T20:46:00.001-08:00

I posted about finding a good deal on cereal a few weeks ago. Last week, a friend told me about a really good sale on diapers. Buy one pack of diapers, get one free, plus a $2 off coupon. Usually, we buy diapers at Sam's Club, 204 diapers for $38. In this situation, I was able to get 434 diapers for $51. Awesome!!! I would have bought more, but there was a limit of 14, so that's what I got. Too bad we'll probably go through them all in probably 3 months.

All about Jillian...

2011-02-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

These are just a few videos of Jillian since she turned 1. One of the videos is sideways. I was taking the video with our new camera and sometimes I forget that you can't turn the camera sideways when taking a video like you can when taking a picture. Sorry about that.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

It's weird to remember that only one year ago, my girls looked like this on Valentine's Day:
Again this year, Annabelle and Jillian were decked out in their red for the special day and they looked so adorable. Don't you agree? Annabelle really wanted her hair in a heart shape and I had plans to intertwine some ribbon in the heart, but the ribbon I bought was too thick for what I wanted to do, so I had to settle for this. It still looks pretty cute and it was very easy.

Jillian's Birthday!

2011-01-30T20:08:00.001-08:00

I can't believe Jillian is 1. This first year has flown by. Aside from the fact that she's very clingy, she's an pretty good kid. She isn't walking on her own yet, but she loves to walk along the furniture or walk while holding my hands. Lately, she's also taken to letting go of whatever she's holding on to and standing by herself. She can't stand longer than 10 seconds, but she's getting better and I think we'll see some walking in the next month. Here are some pictures from the family birthday party.

Sledding

2011-01-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, we enjoyed a nice family outing. There was some fresh snow on the ground so we decided to go sledding. I had to borrow a couple sleds from a friend (I know, how can we live where we live and not own sleds) and a snow suit for Jillian because the zipper on hers broke. But we had a blast. One of the sleds was big enough for all four of us to go, but Annabelle preferred to go down the hill by herself. All Jillian wanted to do was be pulled around in her sled. Both kids and parents had fun and there were no crashes, tears, or fits, so I'd say it was a very successful trip. Here are pictures and videos.

cereal, Cereal, CEREAL!

2011-01-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

I am not a couponer; however a go, if I happen to come across a good deal, I take full advantage of it. For instance, last week, I went to the store to pick up just a couple of things for my piano students and I saw that our family's favorite cereals were on sale. We are huge cereal eaters in our home and so it only made sense to get a lot, and so I did. In our house, we call cereal by the color of the bag (Annabelle started doing this and Michael (somewhat facetiously) and I do it as well now). I bought 16 white (can you tell that's our ultimate favorite kind of cereal?), 4 yellow, 2 blue, and 4 red. (There are only 2 reds in the picture- I found 2 more bags as I was putting the cereal away after taking the picture.) And boy, did I go through a lot to get the white. Apparently, it's other families' favorite cereal as well. I had to dig through 8 cardboard boxes before I finally found these last 16 bags at the absolute very bottom of the last box. I can't imagine what people were thinking when they saw me almost completely submerged headfirst in these giant boxes filled with bags of cereal.

Now, for the savings. If I had paid full price for each of these cereals, it would have cost me $114.48. Instead, I got 26 family-sized bags of cereal for $60. Now, we are set on cereal for a long time and I can say that we've now officially started our food storage.

Bear Crawl

2011-01-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

Jillian will be 1 next week, and although she isn't walking yet, she is coming up with some creative ways to crawl. Here, she is demonstrating how good she is at the bear crawl. She prefers to crawl this way about half of the time over the regular crawling method.

Snow

2011-01-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Annabelle and Michael spent some quality time together playing in the snow on Saturday. We have plans to go sledding as a family this weekend, so I guess I should get prepared and buy a sled. Can you believe we live in a place where it's winter 8 months out of the year and we don't own a sled?

Don't you love Michael's outfit? He had just returned from a run up to the temple and back. I can't believe he's running in this weather, but whatever. Way to go, Michael.

Panoramic photograpghy

2011-01-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Michael got me a new camera for Christmas. It's really nice and will make uploading pictures and videos to my blog a lot quicker. One of the coolest features about it is its ability to take panoramic pictures. Love it!

Cute ( and not so cute) hairdos

2011-01-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

One of the things I love about having girls is that I get to play around with their hair. Annabelle has been trained to hold still (sometimes for a very long time, which, considering the endless amount of energy she has is pretty amazing) while I try new things on her hair. After years of practice, I now know how to to do over 6 different braids, cool twists, and other fun stuff. Jillian's hair is getting long enough in the back that I can do a ponytail, but her hair in front isn't long enough to be included in that ponytail, so for now, she gets ponytails on top of her hair. She, also, is trained to sit still while I do her hair. Thankfully, it takes less than a minute to do her hair. I don't know if she's capable of sitting still for long periods of time than that. Here are a few pictures of some cute (and not so cue) hairdos:

Gymnastics class

2011-01-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

I enrolled Annabelle in gymnastics and today, she went to her first class. I had to explain to her what gymnastics even was, but once she learned that she would be doing somersaults and lots of jumping, she was so excited. There were only 2 kids in the class and they had both taken gymnastics lessons before, but Annabelle had no problem jumping right into the activities. Her teacher told me that usually kids are nervous or even scared to use some of the equipment the first time, but Annabelle had been very eager to get involved. It was so fun to see Annabelle have so much fun. She can't wait until next week's class. Here are some videos and pictures.

Welcome, 2011!

2011-01-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

What a great weekend we've had. We got to spend more time together as a family that we have in a long time. Friday night, we let Annabelle stay up late (til 9:30) and we watched Toy Story 3 as a family.
Saturday was filled with, what else, but football. Of course, there was a lot of playing around the house going on as well. Speaking of which, what's wrong with this these pictures? Ah, this is better:This year, church is at 1 pm (rather than 8:30 am) so I had plenty of time to get the girls looking cute. And Annabelle now goes to Primary and she came home singing, "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam" and wearing a sunbeam around her neck that she made in her class.

Christmas update

2010-12-29T17:58:00.000-08:00

I have crammed a bunch of Christmas activities into this one blog entry. Enjoy.

This year, our family stayed home for Christmas for the first time since Michael and I were engaged. It was fun to start our own traditions and spend time together as a family. Annabelle, particularly, enjoyed the holiday. She understood what was going on this year and loved seeing Christmas lights, putting up the tree, presents, Santa Clause, and so forth. We talked a lot about the birth of Christ and she understood that that was the reason we have Christmas. But I think she was a little confused about how things like reindeer, Santa, and Frosty the snowman fit in.

Christmas eve night, we read about Christ's birth from the scriptures and then Annabelle set out some cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. When she woke up on Christmas morning, the first thing she did was check to see if the cookies were gone. Indeed they were and the stockings had been filled and presents were under the tree. She was so excited, she flew into my room and started dancing around and yelling that Santa had come. I was just as excited that morning because both girls slept in til 8:30. It was the best Christmas present they could have given me.

I love the way Michael communicates with Annabelle...

Jillian was amusing herself one day while I was making dinner. She also loves to smile for the camera, although it looks more like she's eaten a lemon. (Excuse my hiccups that are present for the 2nd half of the video.)

There was a lot of fun sister time going on between Annabelle and Jillian during the holidays. Here's a sample of some.

Here are some of Jillian's feats that she's accomplished in the last week. Of course, I only got videos of her attempting the obstacle and missed getting a video of her actually overcoming it. Oh well.

Michael should be so proud...

2010-12-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

Annabelle knows where her loyalties lie.

How we entertain outselves during the long winter months...

2010-12-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

A game of chase, involving Annabelle running around the house and Jillian slowly crawling after her. It's quite invigorating exercise as you can see. =)

Annabelle has endless energy so we have to do something to keep her entertained and that consists of doing things like making up silly ways to walk.

Fun in the snow

2010-12-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

The other day, I was bored of being in the house, but didn't feel like packing up the kids and driving anywhere, so I decided to take them outside in our yard. This would be Jillian's first time in the snow and I was interested to see how she'd react. Annabelle, of course, loved it and stayed outside by herself well past the time that Jillian and I came in. After I got Annabelle in her snow suit, I attempted to get Jillian ready. My cousin was kind enough to give us a snow suit that her girls wore when they were babies; however, it's a size 18 months and Jillian is not even a year. Since this was the only appropriate thing I had for her to wear, I put it on her anyway. It totally didn't fit, but I figured we wouldn't be outside for long and it would suffice. In this picture, my foot shows where Jillian's feet are. Once outside, I sat Jillian in the snow. For about 15 minutes, she did nothing but sit there and look around or watch Annabelle play. I picked her up and tried to involve with Annabelle and me, as we were playing in the snow. Here's a video of Annabelle holding Jillian and going down the small slide in our yard. Jillian enjoyed it a few times, but then started to get cranky. I think she didn't like being confined in the snow suit and, as it was too big for her, it didn't allow her to crawl or move freely on her own, which she did not like.

Twins

2010-12-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Annabelle and Jillian wore matching dresses for church. They looked so cute together by the Christmas tree. Oh, how I love my cute girls!Here is a video of Michael having a picnic with Annabelle He's so good at playing "pretend", you'd never know that he actually does not like the pretend food that he eats in real life. However, as you'll see from this video, he's not that bad.

Homemade family photo shoot

2010-12-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

We had our family picture taken back on May, but after a month it was already outdated because Jillian was growing so fast. Now, she's over 10 months old and I decided we needed another family picture taken. The photo shoot took place in the dining room, where we sat on some kitchen chairs. Michael found the right angle for the camera and used the 10 second timer. Annabelle has a hard time holding still for pictures and smiling for the camera, so it took several times before we got one that was satisfactory. When I went to pick them up, the photo lady asked me if I had permission from the photographer to order the pictures. She told me I had to have the photographer sign a copyright waiver. I told her the pictures were taken in my dining room with the self timer feature on the camera and she was shocked. She said they looked professionally done. And here's a cute video of Annabelle and Jillian playing.

Tis the seasn to be busy!

2010-12-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite time of year, but it always seems to be the busiest and therefore goes by way too quickly. Let me start with a little bit of an update. A few weeks ago, I posted a farewell entry to our truck. Since that time, we have purchased a replacement vehicle. We are now the proud owners of a Toyota Sienna. We were debating between an SUV and Minivan and ultimately decided that we didn't want to pay an insanely outrageous amount to fill up an SUV with gas. Instead we're only going to end up paying an outrageous amount every time we fill up. By the way, if you haven't met the swagger wagon family (who also owns a Toyota Sienna), you should check this out.

Jillian is crawling everywhere and likes to pull herself to a standing position. She loves to hold my hand and walk around the house. (Yikes, help me. I'm not ready for that stage yet!) She says and knows Michael and me by name (ma-ma, da-da) and is growing up fast. She's been teething for the last 5 months, but only has her two bottom teeth (which she has used to bite me and draw blood several times while feeding). She's got several more that should be coming in soon. (Although who knows? I've been saying that for the last 2months.) Annabelle's preschool is coming to a close. I don't know how she and I are going to deal with the reality of her being home all day every day. She's getting really good with the sounds the letters of the alphabet make and I have plans to get her started with reading after preschool.

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with Michael's parents and brothers. I wish I had taken more pictures. We enjoyed ping-pong (I was really starting to get good with putting spin on the ball), swimming, pickleball, board games, and of course, tons of yummy food and good discussions. Thank you, Robert and Cynthia. Merry Christmas!

Visitng back home Part 1

2010-11-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I traveled back to my hometown for my brother's wedding. I was very impressed with how well the kids (and I, for that matter) did on the airplane. There were many activities going on and a lot of people around, and we all had a blast. Michael and my sister's husband were not able to come, but the rest family were all there together and I loved it! This post will just have pictures of the wedding and reception, and the entry below will have pictures of other things.
My two sisters and sister-in-law.

Awaiting the newlyweds to exit the temple.

Annabelle and Simon

My brothers in what has come to be known as a traditional pose for them.

The happy couple, my brother and his wife.

Annabelle loved Carolyn's dress and this is them twirling together.

Reception

Our beloved high school physics teacher who taught all six of us kids.

CONGRATS, COLLIN AND CAROLYN!

Visiting back home part 2

2010-11-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of things we did before and after the wedding. Annabelle and her cousin Simon (she's very lucky to have a cousin that's her same age and is so fun to play with) had such a blast playing. They did everything together and I am very impressed that for the most part, there weren't any problems, such as not sharing. There's too much that happened to write about, so I'll just post pictures.

Farewell old friend

2010-11-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

I'm very sad to announce that the truck has died. Yes, Michael's beloved 1989 Ford Ranger is gone. We knew its end was coming soon and Monday of last last week, we talked about being prepared for an upcoming purchase of a replacement vehicle when the truck's days finally did end. However, we were not expecting that end to come only 2 days later, while Michael was driving it. Fortunately, Michael was at about as good a place as possible for the truck to suddenly die and he was able to maneuver the truck to the side of the road. It has since been towed to the junk yard and we are in the process of searching for another car.

Farewell, old truck. You've served us well.

Some good video clips...

2010-11-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

During the last few days, there have many good filming opportunities. Both Annabelle and Jillian have done some really cute things that I had to get on video and now, here they are on the blog.

Video #1: Annabelle and Jillian playing.

Video #2: Annabelle's cute giggle.

Video #3: Jillian's new noises.

Video #4: Annabelle helping around the house.