BJAM FAM

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T21:01:00.002-06:00

Tried to take a picture to possibly use in a Christmas card . . .

Santa at the Children's Museum

Merry Christmas!

Bag Lady

2011-12-20T21:31:00.002-06:00

For Christmas, I helped the girls make presents for each other, backpacks for their American Girl dolls. The older two girls did quite a bit of the sewing themselves and were excited to their sister open the gift on Christmas Day.

For Christmas, I made these 8 "church bags" for the grand-daughters of a friend in our ward. The names of the grand-daughters are embroidered on the other side of the bag. Since the 8 grand-daughters were in 3 different families, I was able to make 4 different bags for the girls who were all in the same family, and then a similar bag for one of their cousins in a different family. As I spent a lot of time working on this project, my husband started calling me "The Bag Lady."

I made this bag for my daughter's friend as a birthday present. I found some cute pens and things to put in it too at the Runnings .99 cent store.

Gymnastics!!

2011-12-15T20:40:00.003-06:00

Both Lulu and Bella had a blast at gymnastics this year!

I wish Bella were as into reading as she looks in this picture!

Daddy's Birthday!!

2011-12-06T20:23:00.003-06:00

Homemade Carrot Cake (with cream cheese frosting) and Seafarers of Catan! What more could you ask for?

Orchestra Concert

2011-12-01T20:15:00.001-06:00

Ruby is taking viola lessons and had her first orchestra concert. If I could figure out how to put a video on here, I would post her playing her viola on here. I can't figure the video thing out though, even though I've tried and tried! Here are some pictures of Ruby (and Bella) at the concert. (Somehow we don't have any pictures of Lulu at the concert even though she was there too.)

Annual Horse Club Petting Zoo

2011-11-30T20:01:00.001-06:00

It was our first time attending the Horse Club Petting Zoo. They had a Mommy and baby camel, sheep, llamas, horses, cows, water buffalo, rabbits, hamsters/guinea pigs. They let kids ride the horses too. It was REALLY cold!! The camera battery was really low, so I did not get many pictures.

Fall Fun!

2011-10-31T19:17:00.002-05:00

Saw these in one of those parenting magazines . . . they were fun to make and eat!

Carving pumpkins!

Bella wanted to imitate a picture she saw of a little girl surrounded by all her stuffed animals.

The older girls were on a Harry Potter kick for a while. Ruby was Harry and Lulu was Hermione.

Reading Baby Mouse and The Magic Eye Harry Potter Book. The older girls have to accumulate a certain amount of AR points for school. Ruby has been taking AR tests as she finished each Harry Potter book and has over 100 points. Lulu's teacher promised to take her students out to lunch once they reached 25 points. So Lulu took the AR test for the fourth Harry Potter book, got 28 points and enjoyed a nice lunch from Arby's with her teacher!

Trunk or treat - Lulu was a pioneer girl, Ruby was Luna Lovegood and Bella wore her Fern the Green Fairy costume from last year.

Second round of trick or treating, Lulu decided to be a witch. With a basket :)

Daddy ingeniously made Bella (aka Fern) a broom also (from a back scratcher and ribbons), so she could be like her big sister.

The yummiest HOMEMADE German Chocolate Birthday Cake ever! Made by my sweet husband!

Super-delicious birthday presents!!

I wish I remembered what was going on here . . . Bella got into my mascara somehow and had some fun!

Wild Water West, Back to School

2011-08-31T18:47:00.000-05:00

In August we went to the Wild Water West water park. the girls LOVED it!

The older girls spent lots of time in the wave pool. Bella would go in when the waves weren't going and then run out when the buzzer sounded that they were starting again.

The black slide in the picture is nicknamed "the black hole." Both Ruby and Lulu went on all the water slides, including the black hole. Their favorites were the twisty slides.

Bella wasn't quite tall enough to go on the slides, but she enjoyed dancing and watching her shadow.

We played a round of mini-golf waiting for the sun th come back out.

This month we said good-bye to our green car.

First day of school!

Happy Birthday Lulu!!

2011-07-15T17:48:00.008-05:00

Lulu decided she wanted to celebrate her birthday at the pool this year with family and friends.

She is now 48 inches and tall enough to go down the big slides!

Her (real) name was spelled out in M&Ms on her cake, so I tried to make it unreadable :)

At first I couldn't get this video to post, but when I checked just now it worked. This is Lulu saying thank you for her birthday presents.

Arts Festival and Cheer Performance

2011-07-09T15:50:00.008-05:00

All three girls took a 6-week cheer class and performed at the Arts Festival. As we were waiting for their performance to start, I tried to figure out if the camera could record a video. I thought I had it figured out and so I tried to get close to the stage to film since I didn't know how to get the camera to zoom in. Then, the performance started and I tried to push record and instead turned the camera off. So I missed the very beginning of the cheer, but it is still really cute.

Then we walked around and looked at all the different booths. There was a man dressed up like a pirate that gave each of the girls a sparkly ring. Lulu was eating Cheetos so he gave her an orange ring to match her orange fingers. He said that because he was a very smart pirate, he decided to give Ruby the biggest ring and Bella the smallest ring. In the picture below, Ruby is sampling the extra-large onion rings.

Lulu loved watching all the dragonflies flitting around and found a way to get them to land on her finger. Ruby is behind her finishing off a stick of lemon flavored rock candy.

Bella really just wanted to drink some "lemalade" and to play on the "playplound". While I wasn't looking, she managed to ditch her shoes and socks and accomplish her objective of getting her feet really dirty.

Daddy was getting Grandma and Grandpa at the airport, but we made sure to bring him the one thing he has wanted to try since he saw people walking around gnawing on them at last year's Arts Festival - a smoked Turkey leg. He was willing to share with everyone at dinner so we ended up all getting a taste.

Scripture bags

2011-06-27T16:42:00.004-05:00

A few years ago my mom made some adorable scripture bags for Ruby and Lulu, that have been brought to church every Sunday. For a couple of years, Jim has been asking me to make one for Bella too. And so you know how it goes, you make one for one child, and the other two say, why don't I get one too? So now they all have a new church bag for their scriptures and sundry church items.

Happy Birthday Bella!!

2011-06-06T16:24:00.006-05:00

Bella is 4!!!! She had a great birthday. She opened up presents from family in the morning and was very excited to try on the dress from Grandma C with a matching dress for her doll "Elizabeth." In the afternoon she had a party at the park with her friends, with a requested heart shaped chocolate cake with pink frosting and jelly beans. It was fun to watch her enjoy her special day. She often lets anyone who will listen know that now she is 4!!!!

Training Wheels are OFF!!!

2011-05-11T17:11:00.000-05:00

Hooray for Lulu! She has really been hoping to get her training wheels off for quite some time. Now that the weather has finally gotten somewhat decent, Daddy was able to take them off. I was at church with the youth, but Daddy says she took off like a shot, he didn't have to run along side her in case she fell or anything. She has been riding her bike to and from school when the weather has been nice enough.

She also has finished another term of gymnastics. She has learned so much! Look at that smile!

Guess Who?

2011-05-05T18:09:00.000-05:00

Guess who can wrap a spool of thread quickly and quietly around an office chair in less than 15 minutes?

Guess who found a new way to secure the file cabinet?

Guess who loves to play with my measuring tape?

Or with any string/rope/bendable object?

Guess who filled my slippers with these treats?

Guess who this is?

Guess who wanted to see something on the computer so badly that she brought her potty chair downstairs and put it on the piano bench?

Bella of course! Here she is outside at preschool showing me something else she created, her "castle" (pieces of rock stacked on top of each other)

Winter Quarter's Temple

2011-04-30T19:33:00.004-05:00

We took the girls with us on our last trip to the Winter Quarter's Temple. We were able to switch off with a family in our ward so that we watched their kids while they attended and then they watched our while we attended. It was a nice day - there was even a bride outside being photographed for her wedding!

We went into the visitor's center also. Inside there is a replica of a small cabin such as the pioneers might have lived in while they were in Nebraska. When you step inside, a dim light comes on and a recording starts to play. A woman named Mary Richards explains about the hard times. One of the girls we were with looked up to see where the sound was coming from and asked, "Who is that (speaking)? Is that Joan of Arc?" No, I said (trying to think where this idea possibly came from), it is a pioneer named Mary Richards. Lulu was looking at a butter churn and then said, "Look this is where they put the compost." (how does she even know what compost is?) Her friend says, "No, that's the butter smasher, that's where they make the buttermilk!"

Afterwards we got ice cream cones at Zesto's - mmmmmmm!!

Dance Recital

2011-04-29T17:24:00.001-05:00

Ruby decided she wanted to try dance instead of gymnastics and has practiced hard for her recital. Before the recital started, the announcer said that if any of the dancers got stage fright, someone would stay with them backstage and so we didn't need to feel worried if we didn't see our child onstage. When Ruby's class came onstage, I did not see her anywhere. I waited, wondering if maybe not all of them came in at the same time, but a few minutes later I still didn't see her. Lulu was sitting next to me, repeatedly whispering, where is she, where is she? Finally, I saw her. The dance was almost over, so I tried to get the camera to zoom in and focus but just ended up holding the camera and pressing the button over and over, and the pictures didn't turn out so great. You can see her though, if you look closely!

She is the farthest left dancer in this picture.

Here she is second from right, in the front.

She is in the middle of the stage.

I'm not sure where she is in this one!

Once we realized which one she was, it was really exciting to see her perform!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T16:51:00.001-05:00

The table on Easter morning. There was a poem from the Easter bunny on each basket.

Ruby's poem:

It’s been a year since Easter last

And many things have come to pass

You’ve been baptized at the age of eight,

Had a sleepover and stayed up late

You’ve learned how to cheer and do your best

You’ve even taken the Dakota Step Test!

You played recorder, piano, & glockenspiel

You make an awesome omelet meal

You’ve learned so much it is plain to see

You are growing up as fast as can be.

After she read the poem, she said, 'How does the Easter bunny know about the Dakota Step Test?"

Lulu's poem:

You’re such a sweet girl, with a sweet smile

You work hard and often go the extra mile

You know the Articles of Faith – all thirteen

You’ve tried a new food – a lima bean

You help with a smile, even a laugh

You shared a whole egg, not just a half

At gymnastics you work hard and at piano too

You have enough stuffed animals to open a zoo

You’ve read more books than a second grader

You’ve had a good year, hope the next one is greater!

At the Easter egg hunt (no pictures as I forgot the camera) she saw that one of her friends was unhappy because she did not get as many eggs as she had wanted. So Lulu ran and got one of her eggs to give to her friend.

Bella's poem:

This year has had some changes for you

A new class at preschool and at church too

Now in primary you’re a sunbeam

Sometimes it’s not as fun as you dreamed

You love to show how you dance on your toes

Sometimes you even wipe your own nose

We love how you organize and say “sure thing”

You love to eat hamburgers at Dairy King

You love to swim, paint, sing, help and more

And in just a few weeks you’ll be turning four!

(Bella calls Dairy Queen- Dairy King)

Playing duck-duck-goose after church.

Birthday time!

2011-04-23T18:36:00.003-05:00

Ruby wanted to have a sleepover birthday party and she and her friends were so excited!

Happy 9th Birthday!!!! The Jelly Bean Cake was a big hit!

Ruby was so excited to receive this skateboard - just what she wanted!

Family present time - on Ruby's actual birthday

Ruby received a set of dolls she has had her eye on for a few years.

Each girl painted to ceramic figures to take home with her after the sleepover.

This was the first time we have had a "real" sleepover, and it went pretty well.

I'm curious though, when it is time for bed and the sleepover group is not settling down, what are some things you have tried or recommend doing to encourage going to sleep (or just quieting down so younger siblings can fall asleep)?

Ruby has been practicing "Jingle Bells" on the piano

Ruby made a table setting for one of her dolls. She even made her a book to read at the table, one of the girls' favorite activities!!

I love how Ruby arranged the dollhouse with some of the dollhouse furniture she got as a birthday present. I especially like the grandpa, in the bathroom reading the newspaper!!! (this is not a direct imitation of any acquaintances of Ruby's, specifically not one of her own grandfathers!!)

Lulu's Choir Concert

2011-03-24T19:09:00.002-05:00

Lulu's First Grade Choir Concert was wonderful. She was very excited and did a great job. There was even a song sung by a special visitor - Snow White!!!

Lulu was prepared with a good book to read to kill time before the concert started.

Bella dressing up at the Children's Museum.

The house Bella and Lulu built.

Niobrara

2011-03-04T19:21:00.003-06:00

The girls had Friday off school and Jim had been hoping to go visit Niobrara, Nebraska ever since we moved out here. So that morning, he said, let's all go visit the site at Niobrara where Newel Knight is buried. So we did. We even saw a bald eagle.

I had the special privilege of holding Ruby's doll, Katie, while Ruby took this picture.

Gingerbread Houses and Happy New Year

2011-01-01T16:21:00.003-06:00

We made gingerbread houses they day after we got home from Texas while the snow fell and fell and we waited for Daddy to finish driving home. (I helped Bella a little with her house).

For Lulu's half-birthday, Daddy made her a half-birthday cake!

Bella had previously manifested a strong aversion to snow pants and boots. It was a huge relief when she decided it would be all right to put them on and spend time outside shoveling and playing in the snow.

Bella has always liked playing with snow (don't worry she didn't really drink it through these straws!)

Lulu wasn't feeling well but her temperature was only 98.8 so I sent her to school. Then I took Bella to preschool and went to volunteer in Lulu's class as usual. Lulu still wasn't feeling well so we went to the nurse's office and sure enough, her temperature was 101.2. So she came right back home with me. She asked to have bangs and is very happy with them.

Ruby asked for me to make a nightgown for her doll, Katie. We were all happy with how it turned out!

San Antonio

2010-12-30T16:18:00.000-06:00

While we were in Texas visiting Grandma and Grandpa, we took a trip to San Antonio to see Jim's sister's family who had recently moved down there. We only had a short amount of time, so even though it was drizzling, we went down to walk around the River Walk and see the outside of the Alamo.

We had a fun time visiting with you all!

Dreaming of Christmas in Texas

2010-12-30T15:26:00.006-06:00

When I think of going home to visit, I think of playing games together with family, hanging out and talking, watching the kids run around and play and have fun with their cousins (who they won't see for three years while they are in Japan). We did all those things and it was really fun to be home.

These first few pictures are at the park near the Elementary School I went to as a child. Grandpa brought bread and the kids quickly tore it to pieces and fed the ducks. Then they played on the playground (much nicer playground equipment now than when I was a kid!)

Grandma found Lulu's FAVORITE cereal at ALDI. They have since stopped making this cereal, and Lulu does not like the name brand or other store brands. As you can tell by Lulu's smile, that was a special surprise.

This was the big Christmas surprise for the girls - American Girl Dolls from Grandma and Grandpa C (with matching dresses)! Bella named her doll Elizabeth.

Ruby named her doll Katie.

Lulu named her doll Natalie.

A good friend told us about this park a few years ago. When it looked like the rain was clearing, we went here for the kids to run around outside for a while.

The weather was SO NICE. When we first got to Texas, they were having a "cold spell" and it was somewhere in the 30s. (It was great. Anything in the 30s actually considered quite decent in South Dakota.) Then after a few rainy days, it warmed up! Up to the 50s. It was so nice that you don't even bother wearing a coat. As a matter of fact, the day we left, it was so nice that I completely forgot my winter coat, until we had driven for about an hour, which if you are familiar with the traffic in Plano nowadays means we were not that far in distance from my parents house, but there was bad weather forecast for South Dakota and I wanted to get home before it hit. So I just called home and asked Mom to ship my jacket to me and kept driving. We left Plano at about 9 AM and it was just me with the girls since Jim had gone to Ohio to get a van his brother was selling and drive that home. The drive from South Dakota to Texas can take around 17 hours if we don't stop too much or for too long anywhere. It is a long day in the car but the girls usually travel really well. We had beautiful weather for most of the time the sun was up. When my cell phone had coverage, I would either call my mom and tell her where we were or call a friend in S0uth Dakota and get a weather update. The roads were good and clear all the way to Sioux Falls, which is about an hour from where we live. Then I could see streaks and patches of ice on the road. It was now about 12:00 midnight or 12:30 in the morning and there were hardly any cars on the road. As I traveled, the road got icier and icier. I went really, really slow and was really grateful for my friend who stayed awake and let me keep calling her and asking about the weather. I was so grateful when we got to our exit and made it safely home. The highway was closed from our city north all the way to Canada. The next morning I let the girls sleep in as much as they wanted and then we rushed to the store since we had to find something to put in our empty refrigerator. As we walked out the door, big, heavy flakes started falling from the sky. We made it to the store and back and then stayed inside the rest of the day while the snow fell. This was the day Jim was driving home from Ohio. After I put the girls to bed, I went to sleep with the phone next to me so I could answer it quickly when he called to update me as he drove home. He got home safely early in the morning on New Year's Day, much to my relief. The girls were happy to wake up and see that Daddy was home. (They were also excited to finally be able to open the rest of their Christmas presents.)

Merry Christmas (2010)

2010-12-30T14:28:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures from Christmas 2010, decorating the tree, painting ornaments and opening presents. These are the presents we opened after we came back from our trip to Texas to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We also got to see some Aunts and Uncles and cousins, some in Plano and some in San Antonio (will put pics of these in others posts).

I found this Barbie castle at a garage sale and hid it until after we got back from our trip. The girls have really enjoyed playing with it. Since we weren't home on Christmas, we spread the presents out - they opened books and things to use in the car before we left, opened a few presents in Texas, and then could not wait once we were home to open the rest. However, they had to wait until Daddy drove home from Ohio with the van he bought from his brother. I don't think the girls liked spreading out the present opening so much but I thought it was great!

Christmas dresses!

2010-12-11T19:50:00.004-06:00

Here are the three girls before Ruby's choir concert in their Christmas dresses. These were going to be Christmas presents, but they got to "open" them early (they weren't actually wrapped yet). Ruby got to be in a group that played an accompaniment on the glockenspiel during the song "Christmas time is here". The bow in Ruby's hair was made by her Aunt Rachel. Somehow it got here the day of the concert - perfect timing - thanks Rach, we love the bows!

This is a picture Daddy took before church on Sunday while it was snowing.

I think this should be our Christmas card picture (assuming I send one out this late in the season!)

I kind of like this one too - if only Bella had her eyes open.

I wish I knew how to edit pictures or use photoshop or something, they just didn't all look at the camera at the same time in any of the pictures :)

Here is a depiction made by Ruby of the dresses, and the Christmas tree we haven't set up yet, and the snow she is asking Santa for for Christmas.

Halloween!

2010-10-30T19:09:00.002-05:00

Any day can be dress up day at our house! These pictures were actually taken sometime in the summer before school started.

Power Monkeys! (And Sorceress).

This is representative of what they got at the trunk or treat at the church. The older girls were very disappointed that we did not go trick or treating around the neighborhood because Halloween was on a Sunday this year. We did enjoy the downtown trick or treating (at participating stores) that was on Saturday and as you can see, they got plenty of candy! We still can't figure out what happened to Bella's plastic pumpkin that we lost at the church trunk or treat. She had it when we got there, but lost it in between the games and the trunk or treating. We grabbed a stretchy hat from the car and she was happy filling that up with candy, but still the question begs to be answered - where did her pumpkin go? How can a bright orange plastic pumpkin just disappear?

All the girls wanted to dress up as one of the "Rainbow Fairies" - a popular book series with amazingly similar plots and an endless number of fairy groups who mostly have all lost something that takes about 65 pages to find. Here, Bella is "Fern the Green Fairy." I was running out of time to make her costume, so I did the best I could having about 2 hours total to cut the pattern pieces out and sew it all together. I left Bella's costume for last because she can be extremely particular about the clothes she will wear, so I was worried that she would refuse to wear any costume at all and I thought, why go to all the trouble to make a costume if she isn't even going to wear it? She surprised me by not putting up any fuss at all.

Bella really loves lollipops!

Here is the fairy Bella was dressed like.

Lulu wanted to be "Amber the Orange Fairy." Daddy helped her make some very cute wings which she chose not to wear.

Lulu was somewhat disappointed that we were unable to recreate a wand that would pop out orange scented bubbles like her namesake fairy does in the story.

Amber, I mean Lulu, was ready to brave the blanket maze, a maze made out of chairs covered with blankets in a dimly lit room. She is holding a glow stick to help light her way. Ruby and Lulu quickly found their way through the maze, and thoroughly enjoyed showing many others the way so they did not have to figure it out on their own.

Ruby wanted to be "Inky the Indigo Fairy." She is not wearing her wig or her wings in this picture, which add a lot to the outift. She also wore this ensemble to school to do her book report on the book "Inky the Indigo Fairy" about a lost fairy who needs to be found to restore the indigo color back to fairyland.

Ruby and her friend with their prizes from the cake walk.

Daddy helped the girls carve pumkpins this year. They carved them while the weather was still quite nice and sadly it the pumpkins got pretty squishy before Halloween came.

Happy Halloween!

I actually enjoyed my birthday, since it was on a Sunday and we didn't go trick or teating, it was a nice, quiet day.

Ruby drew me the card that says "Dear mom, we love you. We hope that your birthday is a happy one. I hope me and Lulu won't fight so much on your future birthdays. We are going to try and help you by not bothering you when you are busy. I will try and help Bella too. Me and Lulu are going to try and be more help now. I love you mom. Love Ruby and Lulu." Then there is a picture of "Thing Mom" (as in the cat in the hat) and it is floating in the "pool of love."

Lulu wrote in her card, "Dear Mom, We love you. We hope that your Birthday is a fun one. I hope that me and Ruby won't fight so much on your future birthdays. Love Lulu and Ruby." There is another Thing Mom picture, also floating in a pool with floating pink hearts.

Thanks girls! Love you too!

School Pictures

2010-10-10T19:03:00.001-05:00

Here are the girls' school pictures for 2010. We had to have Bella's picture retaken, and even though I was there, this was the best we got! I guess it is just hit or miss with school pictures.

First Day of School!

2010-08-18T18:25:00.003-05:00

All ready for school! It started early this year - on August 18th. Looks like Bella has her lunch box packed and ready - she loves to be like her big sisters. (She also loves her "rainbow blanky" that is wrapped around her shoulders, it was made by a good friend in New York).
Being silly!

And sillier!

Lulu and Ruby opted to do dance this year rather than gymnastics. We have a lot of impromptu dance parties around here.

**Cheers and Applause!**

Family Pictures

2010-08-12T12:25:00.011-05:00

These lovely pictures were taken by Jim's sister (to see more of her photos go to redbucketphoto.blogspot.com). Which one is your favorite?

We have to take credit for this photo, taken while the girls were playing a game they have aptly named "Pioneer" Can you tell who is "Pa", "Ma" and "little Helen"?

Lulu's 6th Birthday

2010-07-15T17:50:00.002-05:00

Lulu wanted to play at this park for birthday this year.

First the kids ran around and played (this is my favorite part!)

Then it was time to don aprons and frost sugar cookies.

Everyone got a chance to play charades and pick a treat.

Lulu requested a 3-layer chocolicious cake (she really wanted 4 layers but it didn't work out).

Wow this is making me hungry just looking at it.

She was excited to open her presents - especially these baby zhu zhu pets. Seeing as how we aren't allowed to have pets here (well technically we are allowed to have fish and we did briefly have some sea monkeys) these pretend pets will have to substitute for the real thing.

Happy Birthday!! Have a great year!

Family Reunion

2010-07-05T16:23:00.001-05:00

Beautiful clouds before a storm (the camera could not capture the whole view which Ruby compared to a clamshell)

Ruby thought these clouds looked like pebbles in the sky

Clouds viewed on our return trip from a family reunion

These pictures are in reverse order and I don't have the time or the inclination to reverse them all

This is how you really enjoy a rootbeer float

Bella tagging Grandpa many times over in sticker tag

Outside the Kirtland temple doors

In Kirtland

Sitting on the rocks at the splash park

Cousin picture

Lulu at the splash park . . . interesting bunny sculpture, not sure what else can be said about that. Actually, we were just looking back at these photos and Ruby said "Oh, look , there's the trash bunnies!" And that was another interesting thing about them - they were made of recycled materials. I didn't have a lot of time to look at them, but I did note something that looked like part of a knife blade, as well as scissors and other similar items.

The girls immensely enjoyed spending time with their cousins and were sad to go. We were blessed to have a safe trip back (just over 17 hours in the car). Bella's burn, that we never quite found out how she got on her finger on the 4th of July, healed completely. I was worried she would be in a lot of pain on the car ride home, but she wrapped her finger up in her special blanket and hardly complained. A few days ago, the two older girls actually said, "we can't wait for school to start again!" And in about two and a half weeks, they will get their wish!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-25T11:03:00.001-05:00

Since the two older girls are busy playing with the new toys Bella got for her birthday (and Bella is amusing herself with toys we have had for years) I am going to briefly blog about Father's Day. I have no pictures of Father's Day, therefore no proof of the amazing breakfast we prepared or the mock lemon merengue cake that I made! The girls had lots of fun helping get the food ready and making lots of Father's Day cards for Dad and Grandpa's. They also made cute cards for Dad in Primary. I just wanted to post their answers since I enjoyed reading them.

Ruby wrote (and drew many pictures, one of my favorites is below):

My Dad likes to play soccer

My Dad likes to play catch

My Dad likes to eat eggs

Together we like to play catch me in the water

My Dad likes to read about color

My Dad likes to watch RTV (retro television channel)

I love my Dad because he is the best

Lulu wrote (and drew the beautifully detailed picture):

My Dad likes to cook (I think this is a picture of Daddy making homemade pizza which is always delicious!)

My Dad likes to play onu (Uno)

My Dad likes to eat salad

Together we like to oun (play Uno)

My Dad likes to read booky

My Dad likes to watch olympics

I love my Dad because help me!

We love you Daddy!

Happy Birthday Bella!!

2010-06-25T10:24:00.001-05:00

Listening to Grandma and Grandpa sing Happy Birthday!

Did she enjoy her chocolate cake with chocolate chips or what?

I tried to get a few nice pictures for Father's Day cards.

I didn't end up using any of these pictures for the cards after all.

Bella at her friend party at the park. The weather looked like it was going to rain but then turned sunny and bright!

Finally the wind died down so we could light the candle - which she blew out quickly.

Happy 3rd Birthday Bella!!

Happy Birthday Ruby!

2010-05-22T17:43:00.001-05:00

Ruby wanted to be outside for her party, however, the weather did not cooperate. We did the experiments outside, because they were all on the messy side.

Ruby wanted a science experiment party theme for her 8th birthday party. The made a volcano (out of homemade playdough), got to make it explode and also did the experiment where you put a few mentos into a bottle of diet coke and watch it explode. The kids thought the experiments were really fun!

Because the weather was rainy and cold, we moved indoors to the church and things got a little wild!!

The microscope cake created by daddy to go with the science theme.

Ruby's Baptism! Family picture outside the church - Grandparents came from California and Texas (it was great to see everyone!)

Ruby and Daddy, before the plunge.

Ruby with a gift and her beautiful cake made by a very talented friend of ours.

A cake to celebrate Lulu's first primary talk!!! Even though Mom was standing by her she read almost all of it all by herself!!!

Ruby being cute.

Lulu lost her first tooth!!!!!!

Bella and Daddy being goofy while waiting for their food.

The ice cream must be better when eaten from the bottom.

Bella and one of her baby dolls.

Ruby with her gold medal for all her hard work - she is such an enthusiastic gymnast!

Lulu with her "gold medal" from Gold Medal Gymnastics. She has learned so much this past month - how to do a cartwheel and has overcome her fear of going all the way around the bar.

The girls got to have their faces painted at the EMS Rodeo after the last day of school when they got out at noon. Lulu wanted a tiger.

Ruby asked for a rainbow that spanned her entire face.

Bella asked for "Big Bird" but the face painter wasn't sure what Big Bird looked like so she improvised this lovely creation.

Happy Blog Update! I might do this more often if it didn't take so long to upload the pictures (but then again, maybe not!)

Other March Pictures

2010-03-20T18:28:00.001-05:00

Here is Bella with a string of pop beads. I don't get these beads out very often since Bella very much enjoys pulling them apart and throwing them as far as she can and in as many directions as she can. She has remarkably good aim. It has been hard to get decent photos of Bella lately, since she has been going through a phase of taking all of her clothing and diaper off frequently at home. We had the missionaries over for dinner a few nights ago, and try as we might to catch her before she gets them off, she removed her clothing four times. So, this has also led into potty training, and that hasn't been too terrible so far, although this is only increasing the demand for our one bathroom that is often occupied. I tried to reward Bella with her favorite treat, M&M's, but she as was previously accustomed to getting a handful of M&M's on occasion, she was downright insulted at first to be offered only 2 or 3 for going potty. She does occasionally ask for the M&M's, but does not always ask for the external reward. I was content to wait longer to potty train if necessary, but when her teachers at preschool mentioned that she had tried to go potty at school coupled with the streaking streak we figured we should give it a try and see how it went.

Here is Lulu in the spring picture taken at school. I had actually forgotten that they were doing pictures that day but Lulu had chosen to get dressed up that day. I have to say, the background isn't my favorite.

Here is Ruby in her spring picture. She had also chosen to dress up that day, coincidentally. Her hair is getting longer, but she has been asking me to cut it again. She really wants to get bangs, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that!

Easter, Choir Concert

2010-03-20T18:27:00.000-05:00

Going on an Easter Egg Hunt!

Happy Easter!

Ruby dressed in regalia for her "Keep America Singing" 2nd grade Choir Concert (in a dress Grandma made two years ago that still just fits!)

Ruby was excited to be told she had a "solo" part . . . with about 12 other soloists :)

For their esteemed solo they sang the 2nd verse of "America the Beautiful." Ruby practiced it often and she loves to sing and does have a beautiful voice!

March Activities

2010-03-20T17:36:00.001-05:00

For a family night the girls made paper doll chains to show how our family can be together forever if we make good choices and follow Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for us on earth (I get most of my FHE ideas from the 2010 FHE packet on sugardoodle.net)

When I was gone for most of the day at a stake Relief Society meeting the girls entertained themselves by dressing up in Daddy's clothes, stuffing pillows in their shirts and calling themselves "Big Fat Daddy's"

They even have on Daddy's shoes!

The girls had a few days off school and the weather was decent enough to be outdoors for a while so we enjoyed a picnic at a local park (they wore boots to better navigate the mud and puddles)

They like to play their own version of baseball (usually it's all girls, so they aren't as stringent about hitting the ball out of bounds, etc.)

It has been great to see the sun occasionally. Everyone has really enjoyed being outdoors again!

Ice skating and Bella is in the news

2010-02-06T14:43:00.000-06:00

This year the older two girls wanted to learn to ice skate. Here is Lulu "skating" in her preferred way, with a walker for support.

Lulu loves to turn the walker around because she discovered that it provides her with a nice seat when she needs to rest for a moment.

Ruby took to ice skating enthusiastically right away and is fortunate enough to be assisted by another skater who very patiently helps the older members of the beginner class.

Wow! No walker!

Always smiling!

Bella is a little hard to entertain during the lessons. She would very much like to be out there skating right along with her sisters. Maybe we should have enrolled her also - two of the five skaters in the class are 3 years old.

The caption for this photo of Bella in the local paper could have read "Windmill beats young golfer on the head." After Bella was able to hit her golf ball through the windmill, she happily tried to continue on the path and was subsequently shocked when she was smacked on the head by the turning windmill blade that wasn't there a second ago. She recovered quickly as you can see in the final photo, which displays her triumphant reaction upon putting the ball into the hole.

Daddy's Birthday!!! (and the rest of December)

2009-12-13T14:43:00.001-06:00

Surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!! We threw a surprise birthday/graduation party at the church.

He turned a nice shade of red.

While we were singing "Happy Birthday"

I had told him there were a bunch of people getting together to play games (he is holding the food we were supposedly bringing to share). I forgot to take pictures so I am grateful to those who had the presence of mind to capture his surprised reaction.

The amazing cake made by a very talented friend of ours. The largest cake was chocolate/vanilla swirl, the middle sized cake was carrot cake with cream-cheese frosting (the birthday boy's favorite) and the smallest cake was chocolate. I tried all three and they were super-licious!

For our home celebration, we brought out the bubbly! Lulu is always excited when soda is involved!

Ruby and Lulu with our cake-from-a-box carrot cake.

The finished product. (I love how Bella is trying to hold her Dora bowl tilted up like Daddy is tilting the cake plate.)

Wow! This picture makes me feel like I can still smell the smoke!

Should we be alarmed that the smoke detector did NOT go off?

And now for the rest of December (I meant to have a separate post for this but time got away from me and so I had to tack it all on to the birthday post I started a while back):

Lulu on "parent's night" at gymnastics

Lulu with her ribbon. She had an unfortunate run-in (literally) with another young gymnast and was quite upset and embarassed for the remainder of the time.

Ruby demonstrating her balance beam routine.

The amazing gymnasts!

Making Christmas cookies.

Bella loves to try and do as much as she can by herself. She also loves to try and eat the raw dough when no one is looking.

We want cookies for dinner tonight!

What Lulu and Daddy were doing instead of making cookies (Lulu had made some cookies earlier). Lulu can't resist having someone read to her, especially when it's one of the Black Lagoon books.

New jammies from Grandma C.

Monkey see Monkey do :)

Playing on the snow bank outside the elementary school. When it is too cold for outside recess, they ask to play outside for a bit after school (it helps get the wiggles out).

Doing a backward roll.

Fun!

Bella enjoyed Ruby's holiday class presentation (especially the candy bowl).

Merry Christmas!! We can never have enough blankets!

Bella opening a present and her new trike in the background.

A happy Bella (she's in the wear-as-few-clothes-as-possible phase).

Bella's gospel ABC book.

Ruby and her new hip pack for camping!

Lulu excited about getting chocolate chex for Christmas (she had never had them before, was dissapointed that they weren't in all actuality completely made of chocolate so I ended up eating most of her box . . . and Ruby's . . .)

Snow tunnel :)

Lulu sledding down the mound of snow created by the snow plow pushing the snow out of the parking lot.

Once there was a snowman . . . (or snowmound)

We made our gingerbread houses after Christmas (when the kits were half off . . .)

Happy New Year!

Halloween!

2009-10-17T14:05:00.001-05:00

I don't remember what I was going to document when I started this post back in October. So since I never got around to posting Halloween pictures . . . here they are at last!

Lulu prefers everything in miniature . . . including pumpkins!

Ruby had a blast carving pumkins. She loves holidays, decorating, and she loves to wear holiday related apparel . . . such as her candy corn shirt and halloween socks.

Bella had no qualms about scooping out the slimy pumpkin seeds.

Lighting the candles in the jack-o-lanterns.

Bella was not fond of her witch hat so I had only seconds to get this picture!

The rest of the three little witches so excited for the trunk or treat and impatiently waiting to go trick or treating.

It's so fun to experiment with baby powder while Mom is busy vaccuuming the rest of the house.

Excited to have curlers in their hair.

This is the only picture we have of my birthday. Maybe next year we will celebrate it separately from Halloween since it just gets lost in the business of the holiday.

Three little monkeys!

Conference October 2009

2009-10-09T14:10:00.000-05:00

We all enjoyed conference. These are some pictures Ruby drew of some of the speakers.

Elder Robert D. Hales (the quote balloon says "And he will have love and he will have the love of God . . .")

Elder Dallin H. Oaks (quote says "And the Lord will know that he will . . .")

Elder Jorge F. Zeballos. His talk was shorter and Ruby didn't have time to finish this one completely. His quote is incomplete and says "we will have . . .")

These were all from the afternoon session of conference on Saturday.

July, August, September 2009

2009-08-31T14:03:00.000-05:00

Here's a review of the last few months. The pictures are somewhat in order.

Swimming Lessons! Lulu passed level 1; Ruby almost passed level 3 but has to work on her front crawl and one of the other strokes before going to the next level.

Buddha! The girls love to see Buddha outside on nice days.

Safety town! Lulu enjoyed riding the tricycle.

Traffic jam!

Ruby rolling along.

I should have brought a jacket for Bella. It is mid-July in this picture but so windy that it was a little uncomfortable.

Pretending to mail a letter.

Ruby graduating from Saftey Town!

Lulu graduating also.

Playing at the rocket ship park in Texas.

Ruby demonstrating her climbing abilities.

Lulu and Bella journeying into the unknown.

Ice cream! So good after all that swimming. Mmmmmmmm!

Playing at the splash park :)

All the cousins :)

Liberty Jail

This was outside one of the rest stops we visited. It was over a mile down a narrow lane and to our surprise, there was a large group of people inside sitting in a circle listening to someone playing the guitar.

Apple pie :) We have friends who often give us apples from their orchard. Last year after one of my first attempts to make an apple pie, Ruby looked at it and said (rather increduously) something to the effect of, "Wow, mom, that looks like it could be a real apple pie." It's real all right! Even made the crust on the one in the picture!

Lulu before school (forgot the camera on the first day of school so this is either the 2nd or 3rd day)

Ruby before school.

Sisters!

Lulu got to bring home the classroom teddy bear for a weekend. Ruby christened the bear "Foo-f00" and many stuffed animals got to borrow some of Foo-foo's clothing for a few days.

Changing the animals into pajamas after church on Sunday.

Bella looking through the gravel for a rock to carry around.

Happy 5th Birthday Lulu!!!!!

2009-07-12T16:01:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Lulu's birthday early this year. Lulu requested a similar cake to the one she had for her 4th birthday - an animal cake - she picked the animals and created a cross between a farm and a zoo.

Lulu was really worried that it would be too windy to light her candles. We were lucky to have a really nice morning for the party (we had it at the same park we had Ruby's party at in April) and the weather was great.

Pulling the animals off the cake.

Mmmmmm! We served the cake and ice cream first because we forgot to bring a cooler to keep the ice cream from melting. We were so lucky that our neighbor stayed and helped keep an eye on Bella.

Next we painted! Lulu was so excited to paint her pony just the way she wanted it. (We used washable paints :))

Bella also really enjoyed painting. She not only painted her pony, but also her hair and her hands.

Ruby enjoyed being creative with colors.

Lulu and her sweet smile.

Time to open presents!!! I think Lulu was most excited to get this packet of M&M's - her favorite!

A new toothbrush and her very own toothpaste in her favorite flavor - bubblegum!! (She requested these when a neighbor asked her what she wanted for her birthday :))

A porcelain tea set from Bella. Lulu saw this when we bought a present for Bella's birthday and asked if she could get the tea set for her birthday. I told her no because the girls already have a plastic tea set and I worried that this would break. Lulu has always been so patient when it is someone else's birthday (meaning she doesn't sulk or whine because she isn't getting presents or attention) and gets so many hand-me-down clothes and toys that I wanted her to get something she really wanted for once. She has loved playing with it - see the pictures below.

Using the tea set to eat the pack of M&M's she got at her party.

Using the tea set to drink water and her own improvised chop sticks to eat zucchini bread. (I think she is imitating something she saw on Sesame Street where a little girl went to a restaurant for her Grandmother's birthday and poured everyone tea and they all ate their food with chop sticks.)

Later in the day we went to the Arts Festival and Ruby got her face painted like a butterfly. Lulu didn't want to get her face painted but really enjoyed playing on the playground and watching the jugglers.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-12T15:47:00.001-05:00

Lulu riding a pony at the Uncle Sam Jam 4th of July party.

Ruby and her pony.

Ruby and Lulu on their favorite inflatable slide.

Sharing a car for the train ride.

Enjoying the train ride circling the parking lot.

We were in a celebratory mood and went to the store just to buy a bottle of A&W root beer. I even put in 50 cents so the girls could actually ride the little carousel ride.

They just had to pretend on this one like they usually do.

Lulu was tuckered out and started falling asleep in the chair.

Bella was napping while we were out playing so here are a few pictures of her.

Ruby and Bella after a happy July 4th.

June 2009 - Mt. Rushmore, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah

2009-07-12T14:46:00.000-05:00

On our way to Idaho we stopped to see Mt. Rushmore with Grandma and Grandpa B.

The girls with Grandma and Grandpa B.

Ruby and Lulu in front of the teepees on the trail that goes a bit closer to the monument.

The monument again . . .

The 1880's train Grandma B. treated the girls to a ride on.

Ruby and Lulu with their tickets.

Me, Grandma B, Ruby and Lulu in the authentically restored train car "Oreville."

Lulu riding tall in the saddle at a restaurant in Rapid City.

Ruby in front of the sign for Independence Rock.

Bella showing us a special rock she found while waiting for Daddy, Grandpa, Ruby and Lulu to finish climbing the rock.

Daddy, Grandpa, Ruby and Lulu on the descent. Anyone know where Great-great-great-great Grandpa C carved his name on the rock? I didn't climb th rock, but I looked all around the bottom of the rock and didn't see it anywhere. The ones who climbed up thought they found a carving that could possibly have been it but we're still not sure.

All the family (including the bunny) at Independence Rock.

At Martin's Cove with Devil's Gate in the background.

Martin's Cove is a little off the beaten path but was well worth the visit.

Ruby, Lulu and cousin's waiting to see their Uncle running in a marathon in Rexburg.

Bella stuck in the car because she refuses to put on her jacket to go watch the marathon runners.

Uncle M running down the street in front of the Rexburg, ID temple.

Bella loved meeting her new cousin. She loved to sit and hold her for as long as she could.

Lulu was happy to get a turn holding the baby too.

Now Lulu seems to be the baby with the other girls running around her in circles.

Stopping by cousin's of Grandpa B's in Orem, UT.

In front of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple after going through the open house.

Lulu and Ruby in front of the temple.

Mt. Rushmore again - with friends from New York!

Group picture before we parted ways at a Sam's Club in Rapid City where we had to put two new tires on the van.

Bella showing off a dress from Grandma C. for her birthday.

Ruby and Lulu at the water park.

Ruby, Lulu and Bella in the sand area (where they go when it is too cold to play for long in the water area).

Ruby watching the water spraying everywhere.

June 2009 - Laura Ingalls Wilder Historical Sites

2009-07-12T14:38:00.001-05:00

In June, Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and we went to DeSmet, SD to see the original surveyor's house from the Laura Ingalls Wilder book By The Shores of Silver Lake.

The white building in the background was the school Laura attended in De Smet. The brown building on the right is a replica of the Brewster School Laura taught at.

Bella and Grandpa in front of a stone with the quote "The future is in our hands to make it what we will" -Laura Ingalls Wilder

Bella and Ruby in the children's activity place making some pretend soup.

Mmmmmm - carrots!

Lulu hitting the books.

Lulu at the teacher's desk.

Hard at work.

Bella's 2nd Birthday

2009-06-22T08:35:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Bella's 2nd birthday at home with just the family. She loved being sung to and was able to blow out her candles all by herself.

She clapped for herself after we sang Happy Birthday.

Ruby and Lulu helped Bella put on some jewelry appropriate for the occasion.

Bella's favorite presents were a Dora (Doh-doh) video from one Grandma and a baby doll (Baby-Deh) from the other Grandma. Sometimes we can't find Baby-Deh and every now and then we find that Ruby has temporarily appropriated Baby-Deh for her own private use. This seems fitting since Bella has been trying unsuccesfully to snatch the baby doll Ruby got for Christmas for her own personal use without much luck.

We are glad Bella enjoyed her big day.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-11T11:28:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures of the girls over the last week or so. Lately the weather was nice enough to go outside with just light jackets and play at the park. Lulu loves to climb trees. Ruby was showing me how she can climb backwards on the monkey bars. On Saturday, Jim helped the girls put some nice things together for Mother's Day and Lulu was so animated on the phone when telling Grandma all about the flowers, the card and the cheesecake that she just couldn't stand it that Grandma couldn't see everything herself and she made me promise to post it on the blog so everyone could see. Ruby arranged the flowers so that one vase could stay downstairs and the other could be up in the bedroom, the card was ingeniously designed to also function as a wall hanging and the cheesecake platter had four different kinds of cheesecake to choose from, chocolate, strawberry, apple swirl and New york style. Too bad I didn't take a picture before we devoured most of it :)

Reading Rocks

2009-05-01T10:16:00.000-05:00

A while ago, Ruby decided she wanted to "teach" Lulu how to read. She picked a book she thought was too hard for Lulu to read ("Are You My Mother" by P.D. Eastman) and was sorely disappointed when Lulu was able to read the majority of the words without help. Now we frequently find Lulu reading to Bella. Here they are reading about Bella's favorite person "Do-do" (Dora).

I think we were all a little surprised at Lulu's reading readiness. She knew all her letters and sounds and had been helping Daddy sound out words in the scriptures most nights which must have helped out more than we realized.

Ruby wore her new "rock" shirt for Spring Fling at school. She was able to participate in the "Learn to Dance like Hannah Montana" class and go on a field trip to the town movie theatre.

Last Day of Preschool

2009-04-28T13:34:00.001-05:00

Lulu had her last day of preschool today. She said good-bye to her wonderful teachers.

She gave them these treat baskets to say thank you.

There was a good-bye picnic afterwards at a nearby park.

Bella was quite proud of herself for climbing on the back of this yellow turtle

7 years old

2009-04-27T17:28:00.000-05:00

Ruby is 7 years old!

Ruby had a wonderful 7th birthday. She asks to paint quite often and so her party had a painting theme.Cutting the first piece was very difficult. Once I pulled it out in a few pieces, I noticed there was something inside the cake. There is a long thin metal cake tester that was stuck inside the cake unbeknownst to us by Lulu. I still can't figure out how she got it so far into the cake after it was baked without leaving a gaping hole in the side of the cake.

We lucked out and had a nice enough day to have the party outside at a park. It was quite windy so trying to light the candles proved nearly impossible.
The present Ruby most wanted - a webkins! The night before her birthday we invited our neighbors over for some pre-party cupcakes and ice cream. There were quite a few kids running around for a while. Bedtime got pushed back that night and just when I thought we could all enjoy sleeping in a bit, at 6:00 AM in the morning the alarm clock in the girls room went off. Someone must have been pushing buttons on it and set the alarm without realizing it.

Ruby insisted on giving an invitation to her teacher and to her great surprise her teacher came for the first little bit! Ruby and her classmates were so thrilled!

Here is Bella laughing as the girls throw water balloons everywhere.

Lulu worked hard to create her own beautiful painting. Lulu somehow managed not to put on a smaock before painting. She got quite a bit of red paint on her favorite jacket. Anyone know how to get dried acrylic paint out of fabric?

Here is Bella before church the next day.

Happy Easter

2009-04-20T11:39:00.000-05:00

All right, here are the best pictures of the girls on Easter Sunday! Lulu picked her clothes herself, she is very, very particular about what to wear to church. There you have it. Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday to Jim

2009-01-30T10:48:00.000-06:00

I've been gently informed that I need to update the blog. I don't have a lot of chances to use the computer uninterrupted. Bella is usually very insistent on helping me whenever she sees me using the computer and demands full access to the keyboard and mouse so I don't usually use the computer when she is awake. At night, Jim is most often using the computer to work on his dissertation so I am trying to update while Bella is taking an unusually long nap.

Here is an unprecedented picture of all three girls touching each other and no one appears upset. How they got Bella to actually sit still for a quick picture is still unknown.

In early December, we celebrated Jim's birthday. The girls loved helping decorate the cake and help Daddy open his presents.

Jim has been so busy working on his dissertation, we haven't even opened the new games yet!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday bright and early in the morning and ate cake for breakfast, yum!

To respond to inquiries about the weather, today it is a balmy 14 degrees, quite pleasant. When the wind picks up and it gets below 0, it is really quite uncomfortable to be outside for any length of time. Ruby is not allowed to go out for recess when it is below 0 and this is often quite upsetting to her. During indoor recess, she reads Rainbow Magic or Magic Treehouse books, finishing about one a day. She continues to protest at having to go to school, insisting that it is very boring.

Lulu is about to start preschool, finally. Well, her first day was supposed to be yesterday, but it turned out she had strep throat. She has improved quite a bit since starting an antibiotic. she detests liquid medicines and it has been quite an ordeal to get her to take any flavor or amount of needed medicine. While strep normally is accompanied by a flat rash, Lulu broke out in hives and they are still visible on her face.

Bella's vocabulary now includes her favorite person "Dora". I try to limit the number of times the girls watch Dora (for my own sanity) and usually hide the movie once they have watched it the allowed once a week amount. Bella loves it when her sisters wear an item of clothing with Dora on it, loves to look at books with Dora in them and loves the Dora bath dolls that her sisters are reluctant to share with her. She loves to play alongside her sisters while they play polly pocket or barbie and has a funny preference for removing all clothing from any doll she can find. She also prefers to spend as much time as she can without clothes on and protests when it is time to get dressed. We are thankful for the free utilities we currently enjoy so we can keep our townhouse nice and warm no matter how brutally cold it is outside.

All right folks. Bella just woke up and needs close supervision so that's all for now.

From the child's mouth

2008-11-19T09:59:00.000-06:00

I saw this on several blogs and thought it was hilarious. One blog said “I think anyone who reads this should do this with their kids. Make sure you post it so we can all laugh. :)” I asked the questions to Lula about a month ago and then while I was asking them to Ruby recently, Lula chimed in again with her responses, sometimes just repeating Ruby and sometimes being rather original.

What is something mom always says to you?
Lula1: I don’t know
Ruby: Clean up
Lula2: Clean up

What makes mom happy?
Lula1: When I make you pictures
Ruby: I suggest hugs
Lula2: flowers

What makes mom sad?
Lula1: When I don’t obedient you
Ruby: OK, here’s another situation I got, I have no idea if we don’t clean up or we don’t clean our table or things off the table . . .
Lula2: No one cleaning up
[note: they were supposed to be cleaning up while I was asking the questions]

How does mom make you laugh?
Lula1: When you tickle me
Ruby: Tickle!
Lula2: Tickle

How old is mom?
Lula1: 30
Ruby: 33
Lula2: 33

How tall is mom?
Lula1: 10?
Ruby: 13 inches
Lula2: 54

What's mom's favorite thing to do?
Lula1: type on the computer
Ruby: look at books, read books
Lula2: read books

What does mom do when you're not around?
Lula1: you find stuff with Bella
Ruby: put the baby down (for a nap)
Lula2: put the baby down

If mom was famous what would she be famous for?
Lula1: me
Ruby: circus, you would be a clown
Lula2: reading books

What is mom really good at?
Lula1: typing on the computer, drawing pictures for us
Ruby: helping me draw sometimes
Lula2: you could be really good at doing sports

What is mom not really good at?
Lula1: You’re not good at playing soccer because you’re not allowed, it’s only for little kids, you can watch me, ok
Ruby: carrying a truck
Lula2: driving a train

What does mom do for her job?
Lula1: cover us up
Ruby: put the baby down (for a nap)
Lula2: read books

What is mom's favorite food?
Lula1: I don’t know, macaroni and cheese
Ruby: lasagna
Lula2: macaroni and cheese

If mom was a cartoon character who would she be?
Lula1: me
Ruby: Cassie from dragon tales, actually Emmy from dragon tales
Lula2: a clown

What do you and your mom like to do together?
Lula1: Do a puzzle
Ruby: draw
Lula2: draw

How are you and your mom the same?
Lula1: We get the same clothes on
Ruby: we have lots of jeans
Lula2: we color together and play soccer together

How are you and your mom different?
Lula1: We don’t have the same clothes on, we don’t match
Ruby: I don’t put the baby down (for a nap) actually actually . . .I don’t change the baby’s diaper and you do
Lula2: we don’t have the same clothes, I have black pants and you have jeans, I have a stripe shirt and you have a white shirt

How do you know your mom loves you?
Lula1: Because you snuggle with me
Ruby: because we’re you’re daughters
Lula2: because you drive me everyplace and you drive me to school

Happy Halloween

2008-11-18T10:22:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed a chilly Halloween here in South Dakota. The girls went trick or treating with some friends. We let them get as much candy as they could for about an hour and then tried to catch the trunk or treat at the church, but ended up getting there too late. For my birthday, Jim bought me a new digital camera. Now the only excuse I have for not posting pictures on the blog is my lack of ability to figure out how to post them in the middle of a post. Never mind, I think I figured that out.

Here is a picture of Ruby and her semi-toothless grin.

Here is one of Lula, all ready to go get some candy:

And Bella, who really thought it was unfair that she couldn't play with the new camera:

Gotta go wake Bella up from her nap and get Lula from preschool.

Brrrrr!

2008-10-01T15:44:00.000-05:00

It's been quite chilly here lately. Due to the early cold spell, the leaves are already changing and falling off the trees. We've done the best we could to squeeze into our approximately 900 square foot townhome (my rough approximation does not include the unfinished basement we use for storage). Despite her frequent requests, Ruby still does not have her own room. One of the nice things about living in a row of townhomes is that there are lots of other kids for the girls to play with and it has been great for them to have a sidewalk to ride bikes on with their friends.

The Primary here is on the small side and Ruby has had some assignment for a talk, scripture or prayer almost every week. Lula, who is almost always the only Sunbeam, has been asked to give the prayer at least once. Bella went to nursery ok for about two weeks and since then has learned to pitch a big fit and get taken out to Daddy (or Mommy but Daddy usually hears her first). Ruby continues to act as if school is the most boring thing in the world and is often difficult to get ready in the morning. This morning after I tried patiently to repeatedly encourage her to get dressed, eat breakfast, pack her backpack, and get her coat and jacket on and then had dropped her off right before the bell rang for school she turned to me and asked, "Mom, why do you always make me late for school?" I told her we'd talk more about that later. Then I took Lula to preschool. She likes to go in the building a different way than the other kids usually do and we call this our "secret way." Then Bella and I go home and I try to get somthing done in the two short hours before picking Lula back up. Lula usually comes back home singing all the cute songs they sing in preschool.

We haven't done anything too exciting since we posted last. We are mostly thankful that we made it through the last 6 weeks between insurance coverage without needing any medical care. It is such a relief to know that now if something comes up, we are now somewhat covered. We've heard the state benefits here aren't all that inclusive but they're better than nothing.

Jim has worked quite a bit on his ebay CTR Superheroes store to get it ready for his ad coming out in the October LDSWA online magazine. He's looking for feedback if you have a chance to check it out: http://stores.ebay.com/CTR-Superheroes

Ciao!

The Move

2008-09-11T12:15:00.000-05:00

We finally made it to South Dakota! Jim has started teaching at South Dakota State University. Ruby has started 1st grade, learned how to ride without training wheels and lost her 3rd tooth. Lula can't wait to start preschool at SDSU next week. Bella is adept as always at getting into every possible thing that isn't blocked off or tied shut.

The ward here is rather small. Initially Ruby and Lula were both in the same primary class. There is a total of four classes altogether in the senior and junior primaries; they have since been rearranged and the girls are no longer in the same one. Jim has been called as the ward mission leader, again.

The nursery has invited Bella in several times despite her being only fifteen months old. We have gladly handed her off for as long as they can stand her being in the nursery - how nice to actually sit down and attend sunday school or relief society/priesthood! When I asked a nursery worker how Bella behaved in there she said Bella has a tendency to hurl objects at people's heads. We have also noted at home her remarkable strength and aim in throwing.

Our apologies for the lack of pictures. While in Utah, I accidentally dropped the camera and it no longer focuses.

Since I posted this, Jim asked that I not use the girls actual names on the blog, so I have substituted pseudonyms for them - Ruby, Lula and Bella.