For Cameron

She's this many:

She rides on two wheels:

He drools (the little one):

She dresses herself:

And he's getting "tall":

Vay-Cay!

Chris had a business trip in Wenatchee last week, so the kids and I jumped in the car to join him at his hotel the last night. We swam in the pool, ate at Red Robin and then tucked these cuties into bed:

The night was about the same as at home, only Moira fell out of bed around midnight. After a continental breakfast, I packed the kids back in the van and headed for home. Chris had meetings all day but managed to make it home only 5 hours after we did.

Also this week:

Clark discovered his hands are fun to suck on

Moira has begun yelling "Wu-be-kuh!" to call me from her crib

increasingly, Ellie knows what we're saying when we S. P. E. L. L. (unless it is L. E. N. G. T. H. Y. or D. I. F. F. I. C. U. L. T.)

I ran a 10k with some friends

Backyard fun

This is what the girls did this evening while we waited for Chris to get home from church. Good mom that I am, I watched them and took pictures instead of keeping them from falling. Luckily, no one fell.

Don't you love the upside down swimming pool with a stepstool and a push toy on it? Our little engineer built something surprisingly stable.

This is how she gets down. Swing:

And hang and drop. Moira swings beside her on the low branches. Luckily Moira is scared of heights so I don't think she'll climb any higher. Come on up, Moira. You can do it!

So high:

Another funny Ellie story: On Friday she came in the house distraught because something scratched her foot. I tended to her foot and then asked her if she had been outside with out shoes.

"No, Mommy," she said. "My shoes are camoflage."

"Camoflage?"

"Yes. They look like my feet."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. They're new. Last night when you were sleeping the birds came inside and measured my feet and then they made me these shoes that look like my feet and they gave them to me today."

"So," I asked, "do these shoes protect your feet outside?"

"No," she laughed, "because they're made out of skin."

Obviously. And then she went back outside to play. (without shoes, of course)

Baby Stuff

We're busy anticipating this baby in the next few weeks.  Chris is working away at his dissertation.  I've developed the dropsy and my feet put on five pounds each every evening:  

A group of friends threw me my first live and in-person baby shower last week.  I felt a little silly being the center of attention, but it was so fun to see everyone and eat delicious food.  We got so many lovely gifts: clothes, lotion (that Moira has claimed as her own), diapers, hooded towels, wipes, thermometers, blankets.  Here is a picture of a watercolor that a friend of the family painted: 

It's blurry and shadowed because of my photo skills, not her painting skills.  Didn't she capture the girls so well?  I love that Ellie is in all pink and that Moira has a step stool. And, of course, the pig tails.  

Moira is also getting read to have a brother (or possibly a dog, it varies) to love:  
Isn't she going to be a big help?

PS:  Thanks for everyone's comments on the last post! 

Memory lane

Last Friday, Chris and I celebrated our sixth anniversary. I'm one of those cheesy people who get sentimental. Here are just some of the things we've experienced in the last six years:

2 kids
3 cars
4 college degrees
5 houses
6 wards
8 callings
10 moves

Will it Blend?

I'll freely admit we're nerdy:

(those are my glasses.  I'm almost blind)

(shorts for Moira, winter coat, leg warmers, socks for Ellie)

We saw an article on BYU grad and Blender Enthusiast in the BYU alumni magazine and had to go check it out. Apparently, he developed some amazing blenders that will blend anything, and then he started making You-Tube videos to show what it can blend!  Some of our favorites include

Glow sticks.

Light bulbs.

And, for my dad, golf balls.

Good thing the blender is $400, or I'm pretty sure we'd be trying this at home!

We're home

And we've been busy.  

Here are the girls in the Easter dresses I narrowly finished in time:

And the egg hunt at home:

And at Aunt Chris's:

Decorating eggs: 

Wearing matching skirts from my Nana

Playing in the swimming pool.  Ellie decided it was warm enough.

And remembering all the great toys we'd gotten bored with over the winter.  Here's Ellie all decked out as the teacher:

and her student Moira:

And "storytime":

It's nice to be back.  And we're so glad Dad's surgery went well. 

Book of Mormon Stories

Grandma Alert!  You might only like watching these videos if you are a blood relation.

Moira and Ellie both wander around the house singing "Book of Mormon Stories".  All day long. We also have been known to listen to it on repeat in the car.  

However, that doesn't mean I was able to get a video of the two of them singing it.  

Take one: (Moira thinks we are taking a picture instead of making a movie)

Take two (where Moira learned to make the number two for the first time and was thus entirely distracted):

Take three: (probably the closest to the entire song)

And take 4:  (Ellie sings the second verse while Moira picks at her tights.  Yes, I'm their mother and I watch them all day, but I swear, they are so cute I could watch them all day)

Super Crash Arena this SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!

Allow me to introduce you to Princess Sparkle (held by Ellie) and Crabby (held by Moira).  

Don't strain your eyes, Princess Sparkle and Crabby are imaginary crabs that moved in Friday evening after we read Scaredy Squirrel Goes to the Beach.  The crabs are both girls, both red, and they both like hiding where you might not expect them.  Crabby moved in first.  Moira literally used the "He followed me home, can I keep her?" line.  And Princess Sparkle showed up sometime later and participates with less regularity.  Crabby sleeps in Moira's crib, enjoys imaginary food from real plates, and came to church in her pocket.  He (Moira can't or doesn't say "she") doesn't hit.  

Also, Crabby and Princess Sparkle enjoy riding in the cars that the girls made at a free workshop at a home improvement store.  Bet you can't guess which one.

The girls assembled their cars mostly by themselves.  Actually, Ellie followed the picture directions with no help from me while I tried to convince Moira to bang the hammer on the nail instead of the concrete floor,  indescriminate areas of her car, or--WHOA--a little too close to Mommy's eye.  Thank goodness for the free safety googles.  Needless to say, we'll be returning to the class, if for no other reason than to allow me to bring a camera and capture the girls with their protective bug eyes.  

Sunday Evening Update

This week we got to have three bottles of pee on our porch. Chris does a bioassay every so often where work checks to see whether or not he's an X-Man (seriously, the metal claws that come out when he's angry aren't enought?). This means that work drops off empty bottles on Monday and then Chris collects his "output" for a few nights and then we leave his liquid offerings on the porch for some lucky somebody to pick up and test for doses of radioactive nucleotides. The process is surprisingly discreet, but it still makes me giggle to think that there's pee on the porch.

Also, Moira got an owie on her mouth and healed it with this bandaid:












Unfortunately, the bandaid bought us less than 10 seconds of silence before she was restored to health and deposited the bandaid on our friend Kim. Moira has been so talkative and "helpful" (think offering to cut raw chicken and shampoo her mother's hair helpful) that Chris and I could have stood to have the bandaid on a little longer. Maybe we'll try some bandaids on our ears.

Finally, here's Ellie with her skis.

I'm not sure where she heard about skis, but she has been dillegently trying to fasten just about any long thing onto her feet for some time. These cardboard ones were far and away the most effective. I'm also impressed that she came up with her own set of Tinker Toy poles. Maybe next winter we'll get her on the slopes.

I've been working on a love affair with my sewing machine. I finished some valances for my room and made a quick maternity skirt that I'm embarassed to take a picture of because when I showed Chris he said. "Oh. That's modest." Not exactly the thrilling compliment I was hoping for.

A Whole Lotta Love

Chris was away on dissertation business last week, and the girls and I Valentines'd things up at home.    Ellie's favorite holiday (she says) is Valentine's Day, so, thanks to some fabric from my mom, we were able to deck her out not once but twice--for preschool on Thursday and then again for the big day.  We also made some felt heart hairclips.  And a bunch of kisses roses for her friends.

Chris's trip went well.  He flew into Columbus for about 16 hours and then took off for Tennessee to collaborate with the rest of his nationwide group on his project.  He got a list of contacts for jobs, so it looks like applying for jobs and then interviewing is soon to become his hobby.  

Also, a bit of house love, this last week we hit the one year anniversary of living in this house.  It's the longest we've continually lived in one place during our entire marriage.  Yay.

My Children Don't Play With Toys

Why should they?  

Instead they can make a tent with the curtains:

(They were very unhappy that Mommy interrupted their campout for a picture)

Fly to outer space in their rocket ships--or deep sea dive in their submarines
And, of course, play Peek-a-boo with a box

What's up

Chris: Just got a paper accepted to a conference in Paris in September. The lucky guy is definitely the best traveled in our family.

Reba: Heard the baby's heartbeat at an appointment on Friday. According to the doctor it was "144 beats a minute with nearly as many kicks to the doppler." Looks like we'll have another active one.

Ellie and Moira: Somehow transformed from princesses like these on Saturday morning:

To coughing so hard that Moira threw up on the way to dinner at Chris and Shawn's. Thank goodness for Chris, who whisked Moira up to the bath, and Shawn, who took apart the car seat and cleaned the whole thing. (THANK YOU!) Then they watched the girls while I ran home to get the nebulizer for some breathing treatments for poor Moi, who could hardly draw a breath. So far the girls both have bronchitis and are doing much better today after a few rough nights. Also, we have memorized Aladdin.

Busy

I've felt about eight billion times better lately, which has been spectacularly wonderful for our entire family. We're eating food that doesn't constist of crackers, pretzels, fruit snacks and other things that do not smell at all. (Although it's nice to know that Moira and Ellie can survive fairly happily for nearly 4 months)

We've been enjoying getting back into the swing of preschool and another quarter of teaching for me. My class is only 12 students this time instead of 26 and I already like my book much more. I can't say the same for my students, but that's probably because I give them reading quizzes everyday. Ha ha ha, they thought they were just paying for a degree and it turns out I want to educate them.

We also used some of our Christmas money to get some chairs on clearance two for one at Target. The girls liked the boxes best until they discovered the boxes had pieces of styrofoam in them. Then they did this:
Notice Moira's eyes are closed. She's not asleep. She really thinks that you can't see her if her eyes are closed. And you really really can't see her if her eyes are closed and she's curled up in a ball. I might be perpetuating this belief by asking "Now where is Moira?" whenever she hides from me in plain sight. But really, can you see how far they spread the styrofoam in just the ten minutes it took me to shower?

Moira looked like she'd been caught in a snowstorm.

Even if she kept hiding from me.

And this is Ellie on her box/cave/hideout/shelter. At one point in time, she drew a TV on the wall of the box and a rug on the floor. Later the box became a slide.

Here are the chairs. We like them, and it's nice to have a few more seats when people come over.

I've been working on a few sewing projects that I'm excited about, too, mostly stuff for the baby, but also a few things that I had fabric for and then have been ignoring while I was just kind of coasting. I also went to two book clubs in the past weeks. We read Precious Bane by Mary Webb for one and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for the other. I recommend both.

Chris keeps plugging away at his dissertation. We're still hoping for an August graduation . . .

Also, thanks, everyone for participatig in my surveys and for all your encouraging replies. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who is utterly floored by morning sickness. And it's nice to feel loved.

Christmas pictures

For some reason, all my pictures loaded backwards. Hm . . . it's like Christmas in rewind.

Here are the girls eating carrots next to the snowkids we made. Moira kept trying to eat her snowkid's nose, so I had to distract her with a substitute before she made the whole wobbly, slushy thing fall over.

Moira with her new "Hello Balloon" game from Grandma Janie and Grandpa Paul. I think she'd sleep with it if I let her.

The girls with their sleeping bag/flashlight/pillow combo from Grandma Marianne and Grandpa Robert. Invest in batteries, everyone.

Moira eating the candy trail Santa left to her stocking. If this had been the ONLY thing Santa left, she would have been just fine.

And Ellie next to the new easel and blocks Santa brought. She slept in until 7:00, so I think it was a very good Christmas indeed.