Mobility Matters

Both of my girls have been learning things about mobility lately.

Mabel has started rolling over and using her fine technique to get her around to the fascinating objects which continually litter my living room floor. The other day she found my Readers Digest. She seemed to determine that it tasted wonderful and proceeded chewing and slobbering over most of the pages. She also seems to love Emmelines shoes. But really, whatever she can find makes her happy.

Emmeline has discovered the exciting game of "backseat driver." "Green--GO!!" is what we hear every time a stoplight turns green. She doesn't seem nearly as interested in "red-stop." I guess she knows that stopping is a bad or boring thing. . .why mention it. . . .but going, now thats something worth screaming about!

Snaggle Teeth

I am happy to report that over the course of the last week Mabel has gotten her first two teeth. They are her front bottom teeth and they are adorable. She hasn't given us any grief or much crying over the matter--but she did give us a lot of drool. I love the first little baby teeth peeking through. They are so adorable!!

Valentines Day (plus a little note to my valentine)

For Valentines Day this year Brett came home during the girls naptime and brought Surin for lunch. MMMMM. We snuggled up on the couch and finished up a movie we had started the previous night. Then later that night after the girls went to bed, Brett watched a good valentiny chick flick with me. (The Notebook). It is so nice to have a permanent valentine--someone who I love everyday and whats more someone who shows me they love me everyday of the year. I teased Brett about this being his worst valentines day ever because he didnt get me flowers. But thinking about it has made me remember and re-appreciate all of the things Brett does on a daily basis to let me know that he loves me. So Brett, I just wanted to write some things down for you. You let me know that you love me every night when you thank me for the dinner I made. (Even the fact that you finish your whole plate lets me know how much you love me some nights). and I know how much you love me each night when you wash the dishes. Especially when I'm up at the sink and you drag me away and wont let me touch another dish. I know you love me when you read Emmeline stories and put her to bed each night. I know you love me when you change Mabels diapers and snuggle her close so she will go to sleep. I know that you love me when I call you during the day and ask you to come home with no explanation. . .and you get here as quick as you can to help me and give our daughter a powerful priesthood blessing, I know you love me because you always let me have control of the remote control. I know you love me as you toss the "darks" into the wash and pull out the "whites" and start folding.
I certainly know you love me when you risk death by toxic fumes twice a week as you empty out the diaper pails and other garbage cans. I know you love me each time you let me get so engrossed in a book that I seem to forget about you and the girls for a couple of days. I know you love me when you come early with me to primary activities and help with all setup, duration and cleanup of activities. I know you love me every time you make me laugh. Looks like I didn't need flowers on valentines day after all. I already know that you love me and I hope you know how much I love you back!!!!!!

Bowling

Last Friday Feb 8, we took the girls bowling. I wasnt quite sure how Em would do with it, but we had some tickets and figured we might as well use them. I needn't have worried. She loved it. First of all, they had bowling shoes in her size. They were so adorable and Emmeline loves shoes. Then as we got bowling, she would be sitting at "her" chair eating nachos while Brett and I bowled, then Brett would go over to her and tell her it was her turn. Her face would light up and she would jump out of her chair and run to the balls where she would go straight to "her" green one. With Bretts help, she would lift it up and take it over to the lane where she would put it between her legs and push. After the each roll, she would turn around and run to give Mabel a hug first and then give me a high five. Only after that would she look and see any pins she may have knocked down. Then she would run back to her chair where we would eat nachos and cheer for dad (or mom if I was taking my turn.) The tickets were good for two hours of bowling. I figured we would maybe get in one game, but we played two whole games. I wont mention the final scores (not because my two year old daughter scored better then me. . .okay, thats exactly why lol) but we had so much fun.And of course Mabel just liked being out and about and watching this strange world. Now I cant wait until she can bowl with us!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

On January 26 (I know I'm a couple weeks behind in my blogging. . .sorry) Brett and I took the girls to the Circus. It was so much fun! The greatest part was watching how mesmorized Emmeline was for the entire show. She kept saying "big clown, baby clown. Big pppppp (air blown threw lips--which means elephant), baby pppppppppp". We sure saw the clowns and the elephants. We also had all of the other neat things you'd expect at a circus: Tigers, horses, acrobats (even though some of the acrobatics were things that no human being should ever have to see. . . .I dont care how flexible you are. . .men should not put their legs behind their heads. period.) Of course there were lots of lights and lots of music. It was great fun. When it was over all Em could think to say was "more, more." "Dont worry Em," I said, "We will definitely have more circus next year when The Greatest Show on Earth returns to Birmingham!" Just a warning for those planning on attending the circus when it comes to your area. . .cotton candy costs 20 bucks. No that was not a typo. 20 big ones. . .for what I think is a fairly disgusting textured treat. You can imagine the cost of all the light up spinny toys and trinkets. We brought our own light up glow necklaces and bracelets which I had previously purchased at the dollar store. Emmeline still got to glow like the rest of the kids and we paid almost nothing for that excitement. Genius.

p.s. no, we did not buy the cotton candy. :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

On Saturday January 19, 2008 it did something here in Birmingham that I didnt know was possible. It snowed. It was so much fun. At about 10:30 in the morning I took Emmeline and Mabel outside to see for themselves what this wonderfully fun thing called snow really was. I was afraid that Emmeline wouldnt actually see snow until she was many years older. . .which was very sad for me since I grew up in Utah and had tons of fun in the snow every year. Making forts and skiing and playing snow football and other games. But on Sat morning I got to do some fun things with Em. We made snow angels and lots of snow balls. She caught snowflakes in her mouth and just enjoyed watching it fall. I'm glad we got up to play in the morning because it was all gone by the afternoon, but hey, down here in B'ham, I'll take what I can get!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

A couple of weeks ago my sister Lydia came to visit us here in Birmingham from Provo Utah. We had so much fun. We spent a lot of time just hanging out and playing games on the Wii. Then on Tuesday Brett came home from work early to watch the kids so Lyds and I could go out on the town. We had pedicures and manicures and we got our eyebrows waxed (just because). Then we went to the mall. We were gonna spend an hour there and go to dinner around 7:30. But we were having so much fun the time just slipped away. All of the sudden we walked out of a store just to have them pull their doors shut behind us. As we walked along, we noticed that all the stores were closed. oops. Guess we would be having dinner at 9:30 instead. We headed on over to the cheesecake factory and enjoyed a delicious dinner there. Dont worry, we brought Brett a piece of cheesecake. Anyway, it was so much fun to visit with my sister.