Bye-Bye

Curtis is so nice to me! On Sundays, he takes Maren with him to High Priest Group so that I can enjoy Relief Society. He said last Sunday they were in the classroom, Maren got down off his lap and walked over to the door. She turned around to the High Priests, waved, and said, "Bye!" She couldn't get out, the door was shut! :)

Today, she went to the doctor for her 15-month check-up. She finally weighed in over 20 lbs(20lbs 1.5 oz, to be exact) so we can switch her car seat forward-facing! Yeah Maren!! We were waiting for the doctor and she was walking around in her diaper. She gave her shoes and socks to put on and I did. Then, she gathered the rest of her clothes in her arms, walked to the door and told me, "Bye!" hehe...She didn't get out looking like that! The doctor asked if she said 2-3 words other than mom and dad. I informed her the truth about my talking Maren-- she knows 20-30 more words!! I guess it is good for me because I understand more often what she wants.

Talking Apples

I was just cutting up apples for dinner and Lydia starting playing with another apple. She said in a high voice, "Am I next?" (Then she informed me that it was a talking apple.) She would say things in her voice and then in the "apple's voice" carrying on a lovely conversation. Then, it was time for me to cut the apple.

I slice it in half and heard a high pitched, "Ahh!!!"

I continue cutting and slicing and then putting the slices into the bowl at which point the slices say, "Whee!"

My daughter has a great imagination! I never know what is coming next...


P.S. Here is an easy recipe for Carmel Apple Dip that my whole family enjoys!
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Pizza or Hamburgers?

Last night I really wanted pizza for dinner. I asked Lydia, "Do you want pizza for dinner?" She replied, "No. I want a hangamer. Go to the hangamer store and get one." I told her I didn't think that was going to happen. She replied, "I will ask Dad to get me a hangamer!"
I think somebody thinks daddy will do ANYTHING for her!! It probably is not that far from the truth. If you are wondering, no, we didn't have pizza or hangamers...we had leftovers!

Bows, Flowers, Clips

Yesterday my sister-in-law and I made bows, flowers and clips for our girls' hair. Here is a sampling of what we accomplished:



We had lots of fun and I think we will do it again another day!!

Maren's Words

Maren is talking more and more. My baby is growing up! She says words like mom, dad, ball, go, book, yeah, down, hi, bye, etc. The other night she was in the bathtub and we started blowing bubbles for her. She was laughing hysterically as Lydia tried to pop them and she kept saying, "bu-bble" bubble, bubble."

We were at my mom's house and having ice cream. We had chocolate or green mint chocolate chip. We were asking the kids if they wanted chocolate or green. Maren said, "I want green!" It was as clear as day!!! I could not believe it!

The other night we were getting finished with our Family Home Evening Treat and asked Lydia, "Do you know what time it is?" She never answered. So, we said, "It's time for...." and Maren replied, "bed!" What a smartie!!

Dogs and Shows

Lydia has an incredible imagination and as a result we never know what we will experience in a day! Our stairs most recently have been an icy mountain. We have to rescue fallen people on the mountain and take them to the hospital among other things.
Uncle Marty gave Lydia 101 Dalmatians to watch. Ever since that time we have had dogs living in our house, 101 to be exact. Don't worry--they don't run free--they are in cages. There are cages all around our living area, up above the piano, by the stairs, etc. In fact the 2 big dogs have cages on the couch! Curtis is told to feed them regularly by Lydia. In addition to the 101 dogs, we have 2 cats and 5 kids. (Lydia has five kids and a pink mini "ban"(van). They love hangamers and pink lemonade...go figure). Curtis was feeding all the dogs the other night and was asking questions to Lydia.
C: "What are we going to feed the cats?"
L: "I have some cat food here."
C: "Oh, ok. What will we feed the 5 kids?"
L: "They can just have cat food."

I am glad she isn't my mom!! ;)

Then, Curtis asked what his pay was for doing all this work. The reply: "Oh, nothing. I just write it down when you do it." What a nice daddy!!

Last night while I was gone to Relief Society, Curtis and the girls were watching a show. Lydia was looking disgusted and with her nose turned she said, "Ugh. BOY shows." I guess she didn't like Curtis choice of shows!

Surgery

On January 6th Maren had surgery at Primary Children's Medical Center. She has had a plugged tear duct almost since birth. The probing in the office didn't fix it, so she needed to have a Crawford Tube inserted in her lower punctum. The tube takes up space so that as it heals, it will heal around the tube, providing more room for proper drainage.

We got to walk with the anesthesiologist down the hallway towards the operating room and then he said, "Now, there will be a time where I will have to take her from you. Will she come to me?" I told him she might cry. He responded, "That is okay. This is still my favorite part of the job!" I felt a lot better when he said that, because I knew he cared about kids. I am grateful we have such a wonderful children's hospital so close to us!!
Surgery went really well. She was under general anesthesia and all the fun stuff that comes with the hospital (IVs, intubation, etc.). The doctor said it was really plugged again, but once they got through all the tissue, the tube went in very easily. She was upset in recovery, wanting to rub her eye and take out the IV, but soon calmed down and went to sleep. Just before we were going to get her dressed and ready to go home, she woke up, pointed at the TV show and was very alert. On the ride home I asked her how she was and while nodding her head she replied, "Good. Good." She didn't seem nauseous at all. (A huge blessing for us all!!) We got home and she really seemed back to normal- wanted to eat(she hadn't eaten since 8pm the previous evening), play and have a nap. She woke up from her nap wanting a piece of chocolate and chocolate milk!! She didn't even need any more pain reliever since the last dose they gave her in the hospital. I am glad that it is over!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

My sister and brother-in-law were kind to host a New Year's Eve Party at their apartment. It was a great time and my kind of party!! We ate dinner and celebrated the new year, followed by seeing the lights at Temple Square.
My brother-in-law had a countdown timer set up on the laptop. Notice the time of our celebration! (This is my reason for loving the party!!! ;) )
This luminare said, "Oli- Oli" (meaning Joy in Samaon). We often call my nephew, Oliver, Oli.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Making Christmas Gifts

So, we have been introduced to the idea of handmade gifts at Christmas. It has turned out to be a lot of fun and truly a labor of love. Each of us could hardly wait to give our gifts!!!

I was to give to my brother-in-law who happens to love fly fishing. So, I made flies and put them in an cigar box! I got a young man in our ward to teach me how to tie them. They are probably all weighted wrong so they won't cast properly, but I tried. I am sure the pink ones (Thanks for the feathers, Lyddie!) are going to be his lucky flies!!

The Box
The Flies

My dad and brother-in-law are big scouters, so Curtis made them a Scout Trivia game and Game show buzzers. I didn't get a good picture of them before they were wrapped. David (in green) is holding one of the buzzers and my dad is holding the base unit.

For my sister, I stitched a picture of the temple and their Forever Family name and year. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of it. I also made her an "I DO Love you" block. The idea is that you show those who live with you how much you do love them by performing an act of service and leaving the block behind. For example, Katie could make the bed for her hubby and leave the block on his pillow. Then, when he finds it, it is his turn to do something loving for her, like making her lunch for school and leaving the block in the fridge with her lunch. I liked the idea and so I made enough for all the families! Here are a few pictures of the blocks:

The girls got to make homemade gifts for their cousins. So, I made hooded towels for each of them in their favorite colors. Then, Lydia made soap for each of them and the girls painted a towel rack we made for them. Lydia kept saying, "they are gonna love this, mom!!!"
(Sorry no pics of soap and the COLORFUL towel rack!)

In return, Lydia and Maren got pink and purple purses hand-decorated with bling, princesses, and fancy artwork! They loved them!

My dad made me 6 DVDs- 24 hours worth of Family Home Videos!!! And my sister-in-law made me a beautiful daisy wreath.

Curtis got a dancing chickens pillowcase, BRIGHT orange slippers with penguins on them, and a Chicken Chucker (a gun-like thing that catapults small plastic chickens across the room). Curtis is our bird lover--chickens, penguins.... He was also given a geo-caching kit from my sister. Complete with hundreds of geo-caching clues in 5 different zipcodes he frequents and toys to trade as well!!

For my cousin who was my roommate in college, I made her a new Sunday bag to hold he scriptures, Gospel Doctrine lesson manual, marking pencils, hymn book, etc.

This and That

Holy cow! I don't know why it is so hard for me to get posts on the blog lately! Ihave plenty to write. So, here is a little of this and that...

My mom made the girls Christmas dresses. They turned out BEAUTIFUL! Thank you, Mom!

Lydia got a book called Pinkalicious for Christmas! It was perfect!! She loves pink and so does the girl in the story. She eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink and eventually red. The pediatrician says that the cure is a strict diet of green foods and no more pink cotton candy, bubble gum, or cupcakes! So, Curtis and Lydia made chocolate cupcakes one day. I bet you can't guess the color the frosting had to be!?!?!? PINK! BUT---The "small" cupcakes were reserved for Maren and Lydia. I guess Lydia didn't want to turn pink!
Another day, she told me, "You need to eat a strict diet of greens!" Funny girl! Here is a picture of Lydia on two different occasions being read the beloved book.