Easter

I love Easter! I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and all he has done for us! Spring couldn't be a more perfect time to celebrate His resurrection. The trees in our neighborhood are all blooming; the world is coming to life again!

On Saturday we had an egg hunt for our girls.






Grandma Dana sent them money to buy Easter clothes and these are the ones Luci picked out. She wanted to match with her sister.



These girls love each other so much! I love watching them interact. Yesterday morning when Clara woke up I brought her into my room where Luci was laying on the floor. She was so excited to see her sister. She pushed out of my arms, scooted over to Luci and planted a big open mouth kiss on her lips. It was such a tender moment! Luci couldn't have been happier.

Today my dear friend watched our girls for us while we took a trip to the Temple. This was the first time in almost two years that we made it in together. What a wonderful day it was! I'm so grateful for the Temple and for great friends!

Lately

This is what Clara has been up to lately . . . .

She climbs in and on everything! She's been quite a handful lately. The other day I was helping Luci wash her hands in the bathroom and I looked down to catch Clara playing with the toilet brush! I took it away, chucked it behind the toilet, thoroughly washed her hands then set her in the family room. Luci still needed my help so I went back into the bathroom to help her. A few seconds later I looked down to see she had the toilet brush again and was putting the bristles in her mouth!! GROSS!!!! That girl is fast and sneaky!


This is what Luci has been up to lately . . .

You probably can't tell, but those are Clara's clothes. Her pants and dress to be exact. I'm always finding Luci with Clara's clothes on. I guess I don't need to buy new summer clothes for Luci this year, we'll just recycle Clara's winter clothes.

Luci has been our stylist and critic lately. A couple weeks ago we were getting ready to attend the temple and Kirk was dressed in his white shirt and pants. When Luci saw him she said "Daddy you look really handsome, but you would look handsomer if you wore your blue shirt instead." A couple of days later I had my hair in a pony tail with my bangs pinned back. When Luci saw me, she made sure I knew I would look better with a low ponytail and my bangs swooped to the side. Good thing I love that girl!

The Barnes and Noble by us had a Fancy Nancy party. Luci got all dressed up in her fancy clothes and we had a girls night out. Afterwards the party we got hot chocolate at McDonald's. It was fun spending one-on-one time with her.

One year old!

My baby Clara is one year old now! I know I say this a lot, but wow that time flew by!

For her birthday I made a sunshine cake. The day she was born it was bright and sunny so it fit perfectly.


She had a lot of fun eating it, and we had a lot of fun watching!

Since it was just the four of us around to eat this whole cake, I figured we might as well let her go to town on it (better to town than on my butt where it would have gone otherwise).

I loved looking over the pictures today and seeing the progression of her destruction.

And, of course, everything has to go on the floor! Have I mentioned how much I love having carpet in the kitchen?

This is my favorite part of all . . . licking the plate clean!


And it wouldn't be complete without putting the plate on her head. She loves putting things on her head!

Clara brings us so much joy! She is at one of the funnest ages . . . always doing things that make us smile. Lately, she's been doing a lot of mimicking. Whenever I leave my cell phone lying around, she'll pick it up and say "Hiyah" (hello). She'll then babble away and occasionally say "Dad". After a minute of talking, the baby in her shines through as she sticks the phone in her mouth for a few seconds. Whenever I brush her hair she rips the brush out of my hand and brushes it herself. Today I was brushing my teeth with her on my hip and she wanted to brush her teeth too, so I gave her her toothbrush. After I spit out my toothpaste, she leaned over the sink and spit too. So cute!
Over the past month she has picked up on a lot of words. The other morning she let out a big 'bubble-jobie' then said "poop". (Only a one year old is cute when they say poop)! She also says Mom (mom-mom), Dad, book, ball, dog, more, computer (ter), up (pu), down (dow), food, all done (ah da), and juice (ju). One of Kirk's favorite things is how excited she gets when he comes home. She flaps her arms and almost hyperventilates until he picks her up. It is really sweet seeing how much she loves her Daddy!
Yesterday I took her to the doctor and I came away feeling so frustrated. I told the doctor that she doesn't nap very well and that she still wakes up two to three times a night. I asked him what I could do to help her sleep better and he said, "Nothing! What do you want to do, tranquilize her?". He also told me it was my fault that she woke up to nurse so much, and that i "trained her to be that way". He made me feel like such an idiot and the worst mother! Ugh!

Sunday night it snowed 9 inches. I figured (actually hoped) it would be the last time it snowed this winter so I bundled up the girls and we went out to play.

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?

Luci and I worked together to make this snowman. We had a lot of fun!

Now for Spring!

Birthday Girl

My baby is now four years old! What a cute four year old too! Kirk was out of town on her birthday so we celebrated it two days early with him. We went bowling, to Chic Fila for dinner, then home for cake, ice cream, and presents.


Luci tried a few different techniques when she was bowling . . .

The ramp . . .


Throwing the ball onto the lane . . .


and pushing it between her legs . . .

This method proved to be the most successful. She even got a spare!

Luci really wanted a princess cake for her birthday. My friend had the dress pan so I bought a three dollar doll top to stick in it and gave it a shot. I was a cheapskate and didn't buy the fondount, so it didn't turn out that great. It tasted good though!

Luci's main present from us was a doll house that we've been working on for seven months (off and on). I found a drawer thing at the Goodwill that I made it out of. I was so excited to give it to her. She likes it, but I was really hoping she'd pass out with with excitement when she saw how much time I spent on it :). I'll post before and after pictures of it shortly.


Late that night, my parents came into town. Their timing to visit couldn't have been more perfect because early the next morning Kirk left to Seattle for a conference. I was so glad to have their company!

With my parents in town we celebrated again on Luci's real birthday. For breakfast she requested waffles and hashbrowns.

After breakfast she opened her presents from my Mom and Dad and spent the next hour playing with the play-doh cake maker they gave her. It was good to see her 24 colored blob of play-doh being used again.

She then got to skype with her other Grandma and open more presents .


and play some more . . .

I had to teach my class at noon and while I was gone my awesome parents watched my kids, cleaned the house, and whipped up a cake! I love my parents!

It's embarrassing how much better the princess cake my mom made was then mine.

She had a couple of friends over to play and share her cake with.


One of Luci's favorite things to play with are pipe cleaners. She loves to make people and jewelry out of them.

This is her and the boy she claims she's going to marry when she grows up playing with pipe cleaners in their hut behind the recliner.


That night we got a Little Caesar's Pizza and headed to the mall to have an indoor picnic. We sat right by the gum ball machines, so Luci did a lot of chewing, but not much eating.

It was so nice having my parents around. Both of my girls really loved their attention. It means a lot to me that my parents love my kids so much too!


Saying good-bye was hard! Especially since Kirk was still gone.



Kirk got home a day and a half later. We were all so excited to have him back!!


Here's some more pictures just for fun.

Clara loves wearing Luci's scarf. She's always getting it out and putting it on. Luci tried to take it from her once and Clara flipped out. I think she's going to be a girly girl.



Luci has been such a goof ball lately. Her new favorite thing is to stick her bum in front of the camera every time I take a picture. She thinks she's so funny. I can't help but laugh too. It is kind of funny right?

January

I can't believe that January is already over. Here are a few highlights from our month.

Luci goes to primary now! She's been dying to ever since some of her friends started going last year. Because she was so excited I thought it called for a new dress. The night before her big day she and I had special time shopping. Luci loves to buy new clothes (and so do I). It was really fun spending some girl time with her. When we got home we put sponge curlers in her hair so she could have curly hair. Her primary teachers were out of town and asked me to teach their class. I was really happy to be with her for her first day. I loved watching her sing the songs and answer questions.
The primary presidency gave her her very own Book of Mormon. She loves bringing it to church and reading it. When we have family scripture study she has to have her Book of Mormon so she can follow along. When it's her turn to read, she doesn't like us to help her. She usually says something along these line "And it came to pass that the Lord has commanded us that we should do righteous things". She also likes to get a highlighter marker and sit on the couch"pilighting" while she reads.

The other day Luci was sitting at the table coloring (a very common occurrence for her). I left the room for a minute, and when I came back she said "Mom, do you like my new mole?"

She wasn't trying to be funny, which made it funny. I laughed and took a picture and she must have loved the attention because she gave herself moles on two more occasions. I must say it wasn't funny the second time, and was annoying third time.

The other night Luci sneaked into Clara's room (also office/guest room/storage room) and slept on the futon. Initially I was going to get mad at her for getting out of her bed, but I'm glad I didn't. She loves Clara so much and wanted to be by her. The next morning when Clara woke up crying Luci woke up and took care of her. I was able to get an extra hour of sleep! When I finally drug myself out of bed I found Luci playing in her crib with her. Normally I would get after her for that, but it was so cute seeing them bond! Not to mention I got more sleep.

Clara has turned into a belly sleeper lately. I love seeing her conked out on her belly.


She also loves playing in this drawer and throwing everything all over the floor. I love seeing how happy she gets when she's getting into stuff!

Her hair is getting longer lately. She has stopped letting us put headbands in her hair so I thought I'd try a little ponytail.


It's not a very long ponytail, most of the hair was covered with the elastic. She still looked so cute!

I love that every picture has a messy closet, dirty floor, or full garbage can in it. I guess that's how life goes when you have kids. They're worth it!