Elsie's Birthday!

Elsie turned 2 on the 21st! We decided to celebrate it that Saturday (a couple days late) for a number of reasons, but she really enjoyed herself! She loved opening all the presents - it was a girly birthday for sure. Here is a little highlight on Elsie with some of her favorites as of late:
Book - a homemade padded nursery rhyme book
Movie - Winnie the Pooh
Color - Pink (of course)
Toy - Whatever Peter has at the time
Song - tie between "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" and "I'm so Glad When Daddy Comes Home"
Hobby - coloring (she's game any time!)

In the morning I baked her cake, so she had batter for her first course of breakfast. Ummmm. She naturally really enjoyed it.

The results....a pink butterfly cake! She really liked the looks of it, but when it all boiled down, her serving remained untouched and she went for seconds on the ice cream instead.


Present time! She loved this part! I was so proud of Peter, he was so excited for her and didn't get jealous one bit.

However, he is asking for a RED tutu for his birthday in July. Hmmm. We'll see.


Elsie caught on really fast as to what a girl's supposed to do with a tutu.


My mom had a beautiful cupcake quilt made and Elsie loves it (almost as much as me)! It is the cutest blanket I have ever seen and the perfect fit for our spunky Elsie!

Exhaustion

My little Elsie runs hard whatever she is doing. But when she crashes, it could be anywhere. Hmmm, I guess I kind of relate to that.

My little problem solver

I try very hard to be aware of Elsie's hunger pains. When she gets hungry, she either yells in my face, "FOOD!" followed by a tantrum, or she takes matters into her own hands, as the pictures below show.

my first thought, what is she doing?

Oh yes, the 4 hour old cold cereal that has been sitting in the sink!

Notice how she is turned away from me while she puts the spoon in her mouth. I think she must have known she was being disgusting.

Oh well, isn't she cute?

Christmas

Note to self: Next year, Rachel, don't worry so much! OF COURSE your children will be excited about their presents you painstakingly picked out for them. Next year, enjoy the season a little more and stress a little less.
There, it is written down now, and hopefully next year will run a little smoother, if I can only remember my own advice. We had a great Christmas this year. It was so fun to watch the kids open their stockings and presents. The biggest hit for Elsie was the candy (never mind all the new toys). She caught on real fast - she put all her candy away and then kept sneaking into everyone else's candy piles and shoveled things in as fast as she could. I have no idea how many pieces of chocolate she ate that morning. Peter loved opening everything and finally finding out what the much anticipated presents were. Santa gave him a couple "plug 'n play" games and he told Mike, "See Dad....I had to ask Santa to give these to me because you would never put on any computer games for me." Hmmm, outdone by Santa, huh?
Anyhow it was a great time and a great season.

7 weeks (plus some)

Here are some cute pictures of Kimball. He is now 7 weeks old and very strong. Today I put him on his tummy on the floor and went to get some groceries from the car. When I came back in he had rolled onto his back! He seems very strong.

Ode to Finners

Saturday evening, we came home from running errands and found Peter's beta fish dead in his fish bowl. I guess after having Kimball, I haven't been the best at reminding Peter to feed his fish, and he hasn't remembered to do it himself, so we starved the poor fish to death. We all felt awful, especially Peter. We had a long talk about the resurrection, and how even though we don't understand it all, that we can have faith that Heavenly Father will take care of Finners. It was a hard, but very hopeful, lesson for Peter to learn.
On Sunday he had to make a choice on what to do with his fish. I told him we could flush him down the toilet or bury him in our yard. It was a tough choice. He didn't necessarily want to flush him because he knew what sorts of things went down the same pipe, but it had just snowed 8 inches outside and that didn't look too comfortable for poor Finners either. After hours of deliberation, he decided to finally bury his fish. So, with shovel and pick ax in hand, we went outside and dug a hole. Peter sweetly kissed the special box we found for Finners, and choking back the tears, buried his dear fish. Oh, why do these lessons have to be so hard for parents as well?
I am so glad to know for myself the doctrine of resurrection and be able to teach that to my son. I hope he gained a testimony of faith and resurrection through this experience, because it brings me such hope.

Polar Express Party!

Last Friday we had a Polar Express Party for Peter and his friends. We had SO much fun! Everyone came in their pajamas and we started of singing Christmas songs, dancing and playing train games. Everyone got their own box to decorate into a boxcar and then we went downstairs, put together our train, and read The Polar Express by the Christmas tree. It was magical. All the children were entranced. One of Peter's friends, Stephen, assigned himself as the conductor and he took us on quite a wild ride to the North Pole! After we read the book, who should appear but Santa Clause himself who handed out bells and candy canes for everyone! Peter was beside himself. As Santa left, Stephen started staring out the window and said, "I'm just going to wait to see Santa fly away in his sleigh."
A friend of mine, Stephanie, who helped me with the whole party said, "Well, I don't think you'll see him, he has to fly North." That sparked all the childrens' interest and they all ran outside to catch Santa. That poor Santa was taken by quite a surprise! We all learned that Santa uses a car, probably so that his reindeer can rest up for Christmas Eve.
Afterward we helped ourselves to some hot cocoa and homemade nugats. I told Mike that evening, "I think I've made some happy memories for myself to last a long time." I think I may have had more fun than the kids even.