Afternoon Walks

This warmer weather has given me spring fever, so I took the girls out for a walk around the block. It's something that we often do in the afternoon during the spring and fall, but I needed to get out of the house.  Kali always rides her bike and Sadie insists on riding her scooter. That decision usually changes after we get to our next door neighbor's house. They literally are next door, but it takes her almost five minutes just to make it that far. She doesn't have the same drive or energy that Kali does and she can't seem to stay focused on what we're doing. This time, however, I was surprised because she actually made it past our neighbor's house, and the next house, and the next house.... and I thought we might make it the whole way around the block. That is until we passed by these rocks. The pictures show it all.

Our walk around the block took 45 minutes when it should have only taken 20. And after she had collected all the rocks she wanted from this rock bed, she was done with the scooter

Kali in the meantime, rides around the cul-de-sacs or waits for us begging to go on. Unfortunately, my rule is that she has to stay where I can see her and she can see me. That often leaves her waiting for Sadie and I.

And Ashlyn was simply content in the stroller. Last year she didn't like the stroller so I always carried her. This year I think the newness of being outside is enough to keep her happy.

Crazy Hair Day

It was spirit week at school this week and today was crazy hair day. Kali wanted to color her hair pink for it. I immediately thought of junior high and my best friend Meagan. We colored our hair on several different occasions with Kool Aid. It can be kind of messy if you don't know what you're doing, but it's much cheaper than the spray-in color. All but two boys in her class had colored their hair and only Kali and one other girl had colored theirs. I vaguely remember the Kool Aid staying in my hair for a few days afterward, but Kali's washed out nicely the very next day.

Valentine's Day

Here's the valentine Josh and I gave the girls. It was Sadie's idea to take the picture from the back and it turned out pretty cute. The girls have practically lived in these wings since we gave them to them. Sadie even asked to sleep in them.

Their Valentine's Day wasn't an ideal day because they were all sick and Josh had school. So I tried to make it fun by letting them make heart pizzas and then taking them to deliver handmade valentines to their grandparents. I guess it turned out well in the end because Kali kept saying it was the best Valentine's Day she could ever remember.

I must admit that I got the best gift of them all. My Valentine's Day wasn't just a day, it was practically a whole month of homemade cards from the girls. These are just a few of the ones Kali made me. My favorite is the small one on the right that says, "I love mom. I will love you for efr" and there is a pop out heart on the inside.

Fingernails

This is what happens when you live in a house full of girls. Not only was there a request for hearts on the nails, but we even had the brilliant idea of painting Ashlyn's nails (brilliant until I had to keep her distracted long enough to let her nails dry). Don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon.

Miss Personality

Ashlyn has some of the cutest faces. Most of them involve crinkling her nose in some way and showing her two teeth. Maybe I'm biased, but you can't help but smile when you see such a cute expression.

She also holds everything out like she's trying to show it to you or offer it to you. This includes her food even after it has been in her mouth. So we're always saying, "No thank you."

Service

While getting the girls ready this morning, I walked into my room and found this. When I last left my room, my bed was still unmade. Kali loves doing secret service and is always trying to make my bed. Usually I hurry her out of my room and tell her she needs to get her chores done before she starts doing mine (because she barely has enough time to do hers before we're off to one place or another). But today she somehow managed to make my bed in addition to finishing all that she needed to do. She is such a thoughtful child and even though the comforter is on sideways and the pillows aren't in the right places, it still made me smile.

Reflections Contest

Kali's school recently had their reflections contest. I asked her if she wanted to write a book because she enjoys doing her annual Christmas book for her grandparents so much. She got really excited and came up with a book called The Butterfly. It turned out really cute and she won first place in the literature division for kindergarten through 2nd grade. Her story will now go on to regionals.

Stairs

Ashlyn has discovered that she can crawl up stairs, and even better, that we have a lot of them. In her mind, they're more fun than any toy we own. Unfortunately, that means I have to keep close tabs on her because she hasn't figured out how to go down them correctly. She's already taken one tumble and even after lots of tears and a souvenir goose egg on her forehead, she still tries to crawl face first down them.

10 Months Old

Ashlyn has reached the next stage in toddlerhood (don't worry, I know that's not a real word). She thinks she's big stuff because she can open every drawer and cupboard in the house, she knows how to fake cry just to get her way, and she's a lot of fun. Her favorites include: pat-a-cake, mommy, dropping things just to see how many times you'll pick it up, playing with the toys she can stand up to, eating finger foods, and saying "uh" for anything and everything.

Primary Talk

Sadie got to give her first talk in Primary today. She was assigned the topic of 2 Nephi 32:3 "feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do." We had her tell the story of Esther because it has been one of her favorite stories ever since we read about it in the friend. Last year, she and Kali would take turns giving a spiritual thought at Family Home Evening and every time it was her turn, she would pick the story of Esther to talk about.