Little Ballerina

Grace started her ballet class three weeks ago. She calls it "Miss Lilly's Ballet School" (from the book Angelina Ballerina.) I think she really thinks her teacher's name is Miss Lilly.

The first week she absolutely would not participate. She sat next to me the whole time and watched the other girls dance. Afterwards she was in a very grumpy mood and we stopped by Aaron's office on the way home to say hi. When he saw her he asked her what was wrong. She folded her arms and with a frown said, "Dad, I danced badly." He asked her if she would dance for him if he came to her class the following week and she said yes. So, the second week Dad showed up and she was delighted. She was a different child and was dancing without hesitation. It was cute to see that having her daddy there gave her so much confidence. Now she looks forward to going to class, and is quite social. I think she enjoys talking to her little friends in-between turns as much as the actual dancing part! Up above is a picture of her with her cute little class, and down below is Grace practicing with her teacher.

Nursery

Eve is officially part of the Nursery class at church! She has been going for a few weeks and seems to love it. She has absolutely no problem saying good-bye to Mom and Dad for two hours, and hello to toys and treats! It certainly beats having her disrupt Sunday School time again, and end up crying in the halls. It is so hard to believe that she is a big-girl now (relatively speaking.) and that I have my Sundays back!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

The other day it was pouring down rain and making all kinds of fun mud puddles in our backyard (which right now consists only of dirt!) Grace really wanted to go play outside, but I told her it was too wet and cold. She responded, “I know, I could put on my rain coat and boots and then go outside!” I had to admit it was a good idea, so that’s what she did. After being out there a little while she popped her head into the kitchen through the sliding door and said, “It’s raining so our flowers will grow!”

Today it was sunny again, although very windy...we're still waiting for those backyard flowers (we may be waiting a long time!)

Easter

Easter was such a nice break from all of the moving-in chaos. On Saturday morning we had a lovely brunch with Aaron’s family in their backyard. It was followed by egg dying for the kids, and of course a super-fun egg hunt afterwards. Grace had a ball playing with her cousins and was really good at finding hidden eggs. Eve was satisfied after finding one plastic egg and sat down to eat its candy insides upon finding it! That evening all the adults went to go see the final performance of Savior of the World (the 5 Stake production that Aaron has been a part of.) It was fabulous. It was such a wonderful play, and I’m so glad I got to see it and be reminded of the blessing of Christ’s resurrection. The next day we went to church with Aaron’s family and had a really enjoyable day.

Grace and Eve in their Easter dresses.

Promised Pictures

Chelsea e-mailed me the pictures from our little rendezvous in Southern California a while ago, but of course with the move I haven’t had the chance to post them. Well here they are…these kidos were so cute together!

Boston, Chelsea, Grace, Maren, Eve...what a fun bunch!


Eve enjoying the "baby-talk" with Cassidy

The Move

Moving is not fun! I feel like my life has been consumed by this move over this past week (not to mention the weeks before that in preparation for it.) No, but really things are going well. We moved into our new house a week ago. We had a lot of help from people in our ward and from Aaron’s family. Two of Aaron’s brothers even stayed over the night of our move and helped us with misc. moving in stuff the next day. Grace and Eve stayed at Aaron’s parent’s house for about a day and a half while we did the bulk of our move. They were very excited to return home to a new house (at least Grace was…Eve is still getting used to the idea.) We are very grateful for everyone’s help.

It’s amazing how long it takes to get unpacked. Part of me just wants to unpack from sun up ‘til sun down until absolutely everything is unpacked and we can call it home. But of course that is not possible. The only time I can really get anything done is during the day for two hours while Eve naps and at night when both girls are in bed. Considering that, I think we have actually done quite a bit. The kitchen and bedrooms are almost all done, there’s just all the miscellaneous stuff that goes in the hall cabinets, in the office, and in the garage (what a disaster…we can’t even park in there yet!) We’re just glad to be here.

Sam I Am

Tonight for dinner we had Tacos. Of course in the true Grace manner of doing things, she turned her nose up at it and said, "I don't like that." I told her she had to at least try it. After nibbling a few little bits she exclaimed, "I like it, I like it!" I could see that she was excited and I asked, "Are you Frances trying a new food?" (Side note: Grace loves to pretend to be different characters from books she reads. Frances is the title character in Bread and Jam for Frances which is about a little animal who will only eat bread and jam, but finally realizes she is missing out on all kinds of other yummy food.) Grace responded, "No...I am Sam I Am!" (The creature from Green Eggs and Ham that finally persuades his friend to eat the bizarre dish.) She continued to eat her taco, but insisted that she have her copy of Green Eggs and Ham open at the table so that she could look at "Sam I Am" while she ate!

Eve also did something pretty funny tonight. I watched her move a chair from the kitchen table over to her high chair. She then climbed up onto the chair, then up onto the high chair tray, and into the seat of it and sat herself down. I guess that was her way of saying, "I'm hungry and would like to eat now." Also, as you can see from the picture, she is improving on her fork skills!

By the way, things with the new house are going well. We are moving in next Wednesday!

San Diego

We returned late last night from our short trip to San Diego. Aaron had a National Prudential Convention to attend, and the girls and I went along for fun. He stayed in a downtown hotel right by the convention center with his dad (who was also attending the convention.) Grace, Eve, and I stayed with Aaron's sister Angela (husband Jared, and kids Julia and Dallin) who lives down there. They were such great hosts! We really enjoyed our stay.

While Aaron did his "conventioning" the girls and I played! On Monday we went to Birch Aquarium with Angela and her kids. We had a lot of fun seeing lots of marine life...Grace was amazed by all the different creatures that live under the sea! We picnicked outside the aquarium and took the rest of the day pretty easy while the cousins played. The next day there was a lot more playing and cousin fun! It was a cold, overcast day but we went to the beach anyway to let the kids dig and run around. Grace was so excited. When she found out we were going she exclaimed, "I've been waiting to go to the beach all morning!"

I also got to see my life-long friend (literally...since birth) Charlotte while I was there. She lives and works there in beautiful San Diego. Angela was awesome enough to offer to watch the kids for me while Charlotte and I had a girls night out. We had a blast! We ate wonderful sushi and later got ice cream sundaes at Baskin Robbins. We talked and laughed (almost constantly.) It was really fun to be carefree for a few hours...I felt like I was in high school again!

Tuesday evening the girls and I said our good-byes to Angela's family and headed downtown to pick up Aaron at his hotel on our way out of town. By chance, another childhood (through adulthood) friend, Chelsea, was vacationing in nearby Newport Beach. She, along with her husband Travis and kids Boston and Cassidy, had been there a few days. We met them for dinner on our way out of town and had fun catching up. Boston (2) and Cassidy (2 months) are so darling! All the kids seemed to get along really well and chased each other all over the restaurant (except for baby Cass of course!) I forgot to bring my camera in, but Chelsea got some good shots that I'll post as soon as she e-mails them to me.

It was a great trip! Now we are home, escrow closes today, and the reality of just how much we have to do over these next two weeks is really sinking in!


Grace and Julia by the whale fountain in front of the aquarium.


The girls looking into what Grace referred to as "the big fish tanker."


Charlotte and I on our night out...I just love her!


Eve at the beach. She wasn't a big fan of the sand. She got mad when it stuck to her feet!


Dallin, Grace, and Julia making what they called their "scary" sand castle. These cousins had a ball together!

Busy

Busy, busy, busy…that’s what our life is going to be like over the next three weeks. Last night Aaron and I sat down together with our calendars and realized just how packed and stressful the coming weeks will be. We have appointments to keep (like signing escrow papers and the final walk-through on our new house), a four day trip to San Diego (Business for Aaron…pleasure for me and the girls!), escrow closing on the 21st, arranging work we’re having done on the house separate from the builder (i.e. tile, carpet…), dress rehearsals or performances almost every night for two weeks straight (Aaron is in a five-stake production of “Savior of the World”), doing the rest of the packing and actually moving it all to the new house, not to mention that work for Aaron is very busy right now with lots of people wanting to put their houses on the market. Its all good stuff…it’s just a lot all at once! Needless to say we are looking forward to the second week in April!

Aaron is still at a rehearsal that goes until 9:00 p.m.(haven’t seen him since 8:00 this morning) so I’ve been a little eager to get Grace and Eve off to bed. In fact, I did everything a little early tonight. We ate dinner at 4:30, had the girls bathed and in their Pajamas by 6, let them savor ice cream cones, and had Eve in bed before 7:00. Grace was not in bed quite as early, but still by 8:00. It was actually kind of nice to start the whole winding down process early, because there was absolutely no need to rush through anything. The picture above is just a fun shot that I took of the girls eating their ice cream cones tonight.

Spring

I LOVE SPRING! I guess it's not technically spring yet, but it sure feels like it. The Hyacinth bulbs are coming up, the trees are all covered with white or pink blossoms, and the sun is shinning warmly with just the right amount of cool breeze. It's by far the loveliest season, but unfortunately it also seems like the shortest. Which is what makes me want to enjoy it so much while it is here...before it turns into another hot summer.

It was such a beautiful morning. A little after 9:00 I loaded the girls into the bike trailer and we went on a bike ride to the park. We spent some time playing there before we rode home. After arriving home we just didn't want to stay inside (because, of course, it was so beautiful outside.) So we spent the rest of the morning playing in the backyard. We pulled out the beach toys and dug in the wood chips, "painted" the patio with brushes and water, and topped it all off with a picnic lunch!

Although the reason I'm enjoying my day so much is in part the nice weather, it's also because it is such a contrast from my challenging yesterday. Eve was in pain from a double ear-infection and we couldn't get a doctor's appointment until 3:30 p.m. She was up very early, was extremely irritable, and the poor little thing couldn't nap more than 15 minutes at a time (because of the pressure on her ears...plus she couldn't breathe through her nose.) She is so much better today. She's been on an antibiotic since last night and prescription ear drops that numb the pain. She's actually napping right now...what a relief!

Flying High

It was a gorgeous, sunny afternoon and the girls and I spent it playing in the backyard. While I was pushing Grace on the swing she asked, "Do you know what I want to be when I grow up?" I genuinely did not know what she had in mind (as it changes almost daily) so I responded, "What?" She replied, "An airplane!" and she added, "Airplanes fly high in the sky!" Come to think of it, that would be a fun thing to be!

Layover

On Thursday Morning my parents had a layover in Oakland for a few hours. They were flying back from Hawaii where they just had spent 11 days on a cruise. They planned a longer layover in Oakland so that we could have a chance to see each other. It was definitely worth it!

The girls and I picked them up at the airport at about 8 a.m. and then headed over to Denny's for a big breakfast. We had fun eating our pancakes and hearing about all the fun things they did on their trip. It had been raining all morning, so after breakfast we talked about where we could go to finish our visit out of the rain. We decided to go to the Oakland Temple visitor center. When we got there the sun came out and it ended up being a beautiful morning. We enjoyed walking around the temple grounds and inside the visitor center. Grace and Eve loved the time with Grandma and Grandpa. After we dropped them back off at the airport Grace cried and said, "I want to go on the airplane with Grandma and Grandpa!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oakland Temple

This past Sunday, right after church, Aaron, the girls, and I visited the Oakland Temple (about a 1 1/2 hour drive.) We had a wonderful time walking around the temple grounds. We took our time smelling flowers, watching the water fountain, and admiring the view form the temple's terrace. It was a beautiful day.

Both girls loved seeing the temple (in fact Grace insisted that we sing "I Love to See the Temple"...and we all did!) Grace kept telling us that she loved being there...that she wanted to live there...that it was her favorite place. While walking around Aaron asked her how she felt, and she replied "I feel the Spirit." Children are so amazing.

We spent some time in the temple's visitor's center as well, which we all really enjoyed. After leaving, we drove out to Mt. Diablo (a state park in the bay area) to drive to the top of the mountain. It was a slow and curvy drive, but we really enjoyed looking at the amazing view. On our way back down the mountain we stopped at a picnic site and ate the picnic dinner we brought along (very quickly since the sun was going down and it was getting cold.) Then we headed home. It was a great day. The kind that I wouldn't mind having over and over again!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

This morning as we were eating breakfast Grace announced, "I'm going to fly a kite today!" I looked outside at wetness and told her that we would not be able to fly one, because it was raining and probably would be all day. She seemed determined and later in the day reminded me that she was going to fly a kite today. I told her that we could go to the library and check out some books about kites. She agreed, and after Eve's nap we set out to the library. As I loaded the girls in the car I was glad to see the sky clearing up a bit...and by the time we left the library, we noticed that it was unusually windy. Grace seemed excited and I told her, "You were right, it is a great day to fly a kite!" As soon as we got home we pulled out our kite and Grace ran around the backyard with it flapping in the wind. She giggled and screamed in delight as she saw it rising above her head. Eve was watching in amazement and screaming right along. I don't know how Grace new it when she first woke up this morning, but it was the perfect day to fly a kite!

Her Words

I just wanted to share some of the words that Eve uses on a regular basis to express herself. Some of them she has been saying for a while, and others are fairly new. Here they are in chronological order (to the best of my memory, at least:)

Dada
Moma
Shoe (sounds like "shhh")
Cracker
Cat
Car
Grace (It comes out sounding something like "gosh"...but she says it very distinctly when referring to her sister!)

Oh yes, and there's "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" (she says this to express just about everything else!)

SOLD

Our house closed escrow early last week! It is sold and now we are renting it back from the buyers for a month or so while we wait for our new house to be completed. It's really nice to have that stress behind us, but now we have a new stress...PACKING! I pulled out a few boxes this morning to get started on this daunting task, and the girls wanted to climb in. They had fun playing in the box for a while, I got distracted taking pictures, and then Eve was ready for a nap. She's asleep now, Grace is watching Sesame Street, and I am putting off packing again! I better go get started.

Thank you

I just wanted to thank all of my family and friends for remembering my birthday! I received phone calls, cards, a package (Mom and Dad), e-mails, and even a blog posting (Julyssa.) It's such a wonderful feeling to know that I'm loved!

I had a really nice birthday. It's fun when you get to spread it out over a few days! On Friday Aaron and the girls took me on a picnic for lunch. I got to enjoy hot dogs and fresh cut flowers that he brought for me. On Saturday, he took the day off and we went to a session at the Oakland Temple, did some shopping near San Francisco, and had a nice Italian dinner (all while the girls enjoyed playing with Uncle Brian and Aunt Sarah at Grandma's House.) This evening we've been invited to celebrate my birthday at Aaron's family's house. I'm excited to have yet another night of not having to cook, and my mother-in-law's cooking is so yummy! She's even making me my favorite dessert!

Sick Day

Both girls are down for a late nap. It's been a long day, and it was an even longer night. Poor Grace has had the stomach flu. We were awake almost continuously from about 12:30 to 4:00 a.m. while our little sweetie threw up five different times. We kept thinking it was over...that she couldn't possibly throw up anymore, but we ended up having to change her sheets and p.j's a total of four times (by the end she was getting the hang of aiming for the bowl.) She remained so calm and sweet the whole time. The experience really reminded me how special and enduring she is. It also reminded me how loving and dedicated Aaron is to both me and our daughters. He camped out in a sleeping bag next to Grace's bed for half the night to assist her in case it happened again. He was her (and my) night in shinning armor.

It's true what they say: that when you serve someone you grow to love them even more, and that blessings can come from our trials.

Silly Sisters

There's no doubt that these two love each other! Even though there are many instances of pushing, hitting, kicking, tackling, swiping each other's toys, etc...they just love being sisters.

It's cute to watch Eve as she follows Grace around the house. If Grace is upstairs, Eve goes upstairs. If she is downstairs...guess where Eve wants to be?! At times Grace acts annoyed, but I know she really enjoys having someone to play with.

If her little sister will hold still long enough, Grace loves to snuggle with her. Sometimes Grace will force Eve to snuggle, which 90% of the time results in screaming. The other 10% of the time triggers contagious laughter. I think it's for that 10% chance that Grace keeps trying it!

Friends Are Fun!

We had so much fun this weekend! Our great friends Julyssa, Adam and their adorable little girl Nyomi came and visited from Arizona. They made a drive through California visiting family and friends in L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento and of course here!

It's hard to say whether we (the adults) had more fun or if the little girls did. Grace and Nyomi played really well together. They had a ball dancing together, chasing each other, screaming together, playing with dolls, purses and jewelry, and of course making each other laugh. Grace would giggle and and say, "Nyomi's so funny!" Eve kept herself busy by trying to do everything the two older girls did.

I really enjoyed having Julyssa here. We had a good time just talking and sharing experiences. We also got to do a little shopping and even saw a "chick flick" while our husbands "played" together. It was a lot of fun.

The picture above shows Grace and Nyomi in their matching jammies right after a bath and the ones below show the fun they had twirling around in delight and then falling to the ground in laughter as they danced to music. Like I mentioned before...Grace dresses herself!

Tis the Season

There is so much going on right now, which is precisely why I haven't written about any of it! Aside from the regular holiday fun of decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, outings, and sewing (I've desperately been trying to get Eve's stocking done this year)...we are also trying to sell our house!

Here's a picture of Grace in front of our Christmas tree that we just got on Friday (by the way, she picks out her own outfits...pink, purple, and orange? Too cute.) We had so much fun picking the tree out. The Christmas tree lot we went to even had a snow machine, so we had fun dancing around in the falling snow!

Today is a special day...Aaron and I have been married exactly seven years! It has been wonderful, and I really couldn't ask for a better man.

I found an easy and adorable fudge recipe that I love (it's from Family Fun Magazine.) It makes a great gift, because it's quick, pretty, and very yummy! Here's the recipe:

RECIPE INGREDIENTS:
3 cups semisweet- or milk-chocolate chips
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Assorted sprinkles, sugars, and candy decorations

1. Place the chocolate chips in a 2-quart bowl and microwave for 1 minute, then stir them with a wooden spoon. If the chips are not completely melted, microwave them again for 30 seconds, then stir until they're smooth.

2. Stir in the condensed milk, salt, and vanilla extract.

3. Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil, extending it about 2 inches beyond each side. (This makes it easy to remove the fudge later.) Lightly spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

4. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan.

5. Chill the candy until firm, about 30 minutes in the freezer or 1 hour in the refrigerator.

6. Lift the foil from the pan and place it on a flat work area. Use 1-inch cookie cutters to cut out the fudge, then lightly press decorations onto each piece. Makes about 50 pieces.

We're moving

Yes, we have been extremely busy the past couple of weeks getting our house ready to sell...and no, we were not planning on moving! It all kind of happened so fast. Probably about three weeks ago, Aaron called me from work to tell me about a house that I absolutely "had to see." He's done this before, being a Realtor he is constantly exposed to the great home deals in our area, but this time he sounded serious.

So, I humored him. I went to see the home...and it was everything we have always wanted! It's about the same size as what we have now, but it's all on one story and uses it's space much better. We really like the floor plan, but best of all (and the only thing that would make it worth moving for) is the huge backyard. Big yards are hard to come by here, builders keep making lots smaller and smaller. Our current yard is very small...and the new one is about four times the size of it.

The real reason I was willing to even consider the hassle of a move was the amazing deal that we will be getting. Because of the way the housing market has been around here lately, housing prices have dropped greatly. And eventhough we won't be able to sell our current house for as much as we could have a few months ago, the builder of our new home has dropped the price so drastically (for one thing that higher price range has taken a bigger hit and they are anxious to get rid of it) that it won't cost much more than what we will probably be able to sell our current home for. So eventually when the housing market turns around, the new house will increase in value a lot more than our current home. For this reason and the fact that we love the new house and see no reason to ever have to move again we feel it's the right 'move' for us.

We're very excited, but also very stressed. It's not going to be easy to sell our current home with the hundreds of other houses for sale in town, so we've been working hard to really make our house stand out. We've been painting, planting, and improving our decor to appeal to buyers...all stuff that is making me wish we did it earlier so we could have enjoyed it more! It has also been tricky to keep the house clean and perfect with two little ones whose jobs are to make messes.

The new house is only a couple of miles from where we live now, but it's a different ward and school district, so there will be some adjusting. In the meantime, we're focusing on selling our current house, which might take a few months. We'll let you know how it goes!

A Lot To Be Thankful For

We were so grateful to be able to spend Thanksgiving weekend with my family. We made the long drive to Utah...and it was definitely worth it. We had a lot of fun in the four days we were there, and the girls surprised us on how relatively well they did on the long car ride.

We arrived late Wednesday afternoon and were greeted by almost my entire family that had come from as far as California, and as near as down the highway a few miles. After unloading the car, it was already time for our first holiday outing. We bundled up and headed to Heber Canyon with my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. There we took a ride on the "Polar Express" (a train normally called the Heber Creeper that they deck out with Christmas decorations.) We took about an hour and a half train ride to the "North Pole" and back while we were served hot cocoa and cookies, listened to The Polar Express (the book) read aloud, and were even visited by Santa Clause and his wife! As you can imagine, Grace had a magical time. She loved the idea of riding on a train and looked around constantly with wide eyes. When Santa asked Grace what she wanted for Christmas she replied, "A bell." (Having just heard the story that was fresh on her mind.) She was delighted when Santa handed her a bell (as he did to every other child on the train as well.)

Grace and Eve had so much fun playing with their cousins. It was so enjoyable to have all of the Grandkids together at one time. I don't think that has ever happened before. Aaron and I also had fun visiting, shopping, and playing basketball with my family. We had a beyond delicious Thanksgiving dinner and pie galore. I am so thankful for Thanksgiving and the opportunity it gives me to reflect on my many, many blessings.

In Her Shoes

Just before she turned one, Eve got her very first pair of shoes. Whenever it's time to put them on she laughs with excitement, because she knows it means she gets to go outside to play, on a walk, or on some other outing. Sometimes she'll even bring them to me and hold them up to signal her desire to put them on.

Her little shoes get quite a lot of wear and tear from all that she does in them. I can't believe how big she is when I watch her keeping up with her sister as they play in the backyard. Eve runs all over the place, collects sticks and rocks, climbs the ladder to the top of the play structure, slides down the slide, and tries to ride Grace's bike (she climbs on and sits there waiting for something to happen!) I think she's officially moved from baby to toddler.

Halloween

Our Halloween started pretty early with a playgroup costume party in the morning. Grace dressed up as a fairy-princess and Eve as a frog. The kids had a fun time playing games and making Halloween crafts. It was especially cute to see Grace and her friends comparing their costumes and acting like whatever they were dressed up as. Afterwards we went to Halloween story time at the library. It was packed with little firemen, princesses, animals, butterflies, and Elmos (to name a few.) There were so many kids there! Grace and Eve had a fun time listening to the stories, dancing to the music, and watching a spooky puppet show. Later that night we put the girls' costumes back on and enjoyed more games and "trunk-or-treating" at our ward Halloween party. This is the first year that Grace has really gotten into all the festivities...so it was a lot of fun.