The Humdrum of Life

I would by no means say we go around doing really exciting things, but I am enjoying what we are doing.

First off, I didn't get the blog updated last week because I was being crafty. I made myself a skirt. It has pockets and a zipper. It wouldn't win any awards at a fair, but it fits, looks cute, and makes me feel very accomplished so I would say a success. I was so afraid that is was going to be too small because  I bought the wrong size pattern, but luckily it turned out and I loved wearing it to church. Here is a picture of me styling my skirt.

Here I am with weird face.

As for the humdrum of life we are loving the warmer weather. It makes me super antsy for summer, but I still love it. The girls and I have been going to the park, riding bikes, taking walks, and opening up the windows to let the warm golden sunlight fill our home. Kylee is getting really pretty good at riding her bike. It takes her a lot of effort to pedal still, but she loves. She makes many, many a loop between "Brian's house" and ours. Tia also likes her bike though not quite as much as Kylee. However, Tia is officially a walker as of today. Today she crawled like maybe 2 times. All of her other movement was walking, and she LOVES it. I think it makes her really tired, but man that girl keeps chugging along until you leave her alone to fall asleep.

Like I mentioned above both the girls and I love going to the park. I love letting them swing, climb, slide, play in the dirt, and just be free to run around. These two girls of mine love to follow each other, laugh, scream, and copy one another. It is so funny.

Green waffles to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

We got our new back door yesterday. It is so nice. I love that my curtains can stay tied back all the time and yet no one can see me if I don't want them to. I also love that there are no strings attached to the blinds, both the door and the screen lock, the girls can open the screen if it is unlocked, and it looks so clean and pretty. I love it.

On Saturday we got our yard spruced up a bit. We still have some weeds we need to take care of, but the bushes are trimmed and the dirt turned and few weeds pulled. While I was pulling weeds Tia decided to take her first trip into the road. Good/bad thing my neighbor saw it. It was good he told me, and bad that it made me look like a bad parent, and I am NOT. It was just a moment. Anyway, I was of course paranoid thereafter that she would head to the road, so it made it that much harder to get work done.

Kylee started swimming lessons on Monday. I just about cried when I had to send her down to the pool all by herself, and then I counted my blessings that Kindergarten isn't for another 2 years. I am just not at all ready for that. Anyway, she walked bravely leading her class down the stairs and by the pool, and then slowly got passed by each of her classmates and they marched further into the pool and she stopped walking and then turned around to head out. They couldn't get her in the pool until like the last 10 minutes when an assistant carried her into the water. However, she did let them pour some water on her head which is good, because she hates when I do that to her. Also, she does talk about swimming lessons with excitement and she wants to go back. Hopefully she will improve and get in there and learn so we can really learn some good swim techniques. Other than swimming Kylee is her normal self. She still loves her books, attention, chocolate and playing.

Kylee pretending she is getting married. I let her borrow my bouquet for just a couple of minutes. She thought it was so great.

Tia has finally started making some noises that sound like words like "Mama" and "Dada." She is also getting very good at signing water, more, please, and all done.

That is kind of how we are rolling around here.

3rd Annual Merrill B-Day Bash

Honestly, I really don't know what to blog about, so this is what you get--another Birthday celebration post with no pictures. Anyway, when we moved out here to Colorado we got to meet our wonderful bishop's family and wouldn't you know it there last name is Merrill and so is ours. We thought that was super cool and became friends. Well fast forward almost a year and we had a baby. That sweet little Kylee girl happened to be born on Heather Merrill's birthday (that's the bishops wife). So, when Kylee's first birthday came around of course they wanted to help us celebrate and we have been having a birthday celebration in March ever since.

This year we did it on the 7th which happens to be the Merrill's twins birthday. It was the perfect day. We decided to do pizza for dinner. I made bread sticks and a salad to accompany the pizza they provided. I really want to one day find out how to make R&R bread sticks but I haven't figured it out yet, so I have to keep experimenting. This round of bread sticks I used my mom's crescent roll dough recipe, and then cut into strips twisted them. Then I brushed them with olive oil and baked them. Then when they came out I brushed them with butter and topped with garlic salt and Parmesan cheese. They were really good. The only things I would really change is maybe more butter, and possible garlic powder instead of salt. However, they were still pretty good. Anyway, dinner was scrumptious and the company marvelous. After dinner we talked for a bit, and then their kids wanted to play Apples to Apples. I think as mom's we could have just talked and called it a wonderful night, but the kids I think wanted to be included. Anyway, we played for until 7:00. It was so fun and very interesting to play with a people who are ALL very literal. Almost no one went for the opposite, or funniest, but just the one that best matched. That was a little different for me. After games we had quick brownies and ice cream and then came home. It was simple party, but really fun. Also the girls got a new "bike" out of it and have loved playing with that for the last three days. It is kind of fun because now they both have something to ride around the loop.

In other random news, Tia is walking a lot more now. She still mainly crawls, but she walks quite often too. I am hoping to get a video of her doing it before she goes pro, but we will see. Kylee got her scholarship from the rec center, so I am going to enroll her in swimming lessons for the next session. Both Kylee and Tia are still loving the pool and are getting braver all the time. We are starting to get rid of Tia's morning nap and soon her pacifier. My girls are growing up and life is wonderful.

3 Years Old

Well my sweet Kylee girl turned three. I can't believe I have a three year-old. It really blows my mind and makes me feel really old. However, I wouldn't trade her for anything and I am so glad that three years ago she entered my life and completely changed it for the better. I love being a Mom and I am lucky to have my Kylee for a daughter.

So, to celebrate this momentous event we celebrated in style. We started off the morning, presents. I had set it all up the night before so that when she came down there was her birthday sign, balloons, and presents. Anyway, she took her time opening the presents she wanted to play with everything, so we let her. She opened two presents before Gaupo had to get ready to go to the dentist to have a cavity filled and then we squeaked in one more present before he left. While he was gone we played with the toys she got, talked to Grandma and Grandpa, and video chatted with Oma. Kylee was loving all the attention and Tia was so confused about where all the attention that she normally get had gone. Oh it was pretty funny.

Kylee first thing with her balloon, birthday sign, and up of milk.

Kylee opening Oma's present. Tia wondering what it is.

Kylee with her bat. She has been playing 'bat' with sticks and balls so now she has 'real' bat.

Princess stuff.

All dressed up in her princess stuff.

Wooden block set made mostly by me.

When Gaupo got home from the dentist we had breakfast. The only thing that Kylee wanted was hot chocolate, but being the awesome mom that I am I also had eggs and muffins to help her try and balance out the amount of chocolate she wanted. She ate her eggs, tolerated the muffin, ignored her smoothie, and LOVED her hot chocolate. When she makes up her mind she really does know what she wants and likes. After breakfast we put Tia down and then Kylee opened up her last two gifts. It was fun to watch her because one of the presents was clothes and she wanted to try everything on, so we let her. Then she finally picked the outfit she wanted and wore it for a bit and then changed again and kept that on the whole day. The rest of the morning was spent playing.

Her box of clothes.

Butterfly tunnel. She played and still plays a ton with this.

She probably spent about 30 min or more going through it just like this.

Lunch was nothing special, except I did get Kylee some cottage cheese which she loved so for her it was a big deal. Then it was naps. Kylee really wasn't interested in one, but I knew she was tired, so I told her the plans for the day and told her if she wanted to stay up and do all of them than she needed to go to sleep. Guess what? She did she just laid down and fell asleep no problem. Oh what a silly girl.

So after naps and when Jason got home for his "lunch" we had hamburgers. That is what Kylee said she wanted, but I was sure that she would turn up her nose and tell me "ewe gross." But as always I was wrong and she loved it. Then we had her "cake." It was pudding that I made kind of layery and then topped with M&Ms, Hersey's bars, and gummy worms. She ate like a bit and then ate the gummy worms. I don't know about that kid. I just cant seem to get the cake right, but she seems to love all the pieces just not all together. Oh well, maybe next year we will get it right.

This girl is kind of like me, not real big on fire.

My wonderful little Kylee.

Daddy and his little girls.

Me and my girls.

Following dinner and sending Daddy back to work we went swimming. It was probably one of the best days we have had at the pool in a long time. They both had a blast. They splashed, went down the slides, walked around, and laughed. Tia got really brave and did the slides all by herself and managed to stay sitting up. She also tried to walk by herself in the water which was okay for a bit and then she would face plant. I was kind of worried she would have a tummy ache for too much water, but she slept great so I guess it was all good. Kylee was also very brave and walked under the features to get to the slides.  That is a first for her because she hates water of ANY kind over her head, and by that I also mean the shower or water that is not falling on her. It was a big move for her.

After swimming we came home and had baths and put Tia to bed. Then Papa called to wish Kylee a happy birthday and then we watch Frozen. Kylee has been wanting to watch that movie for awhile so she got to stay up and watch it with mommy. It was super fun to cuddle on the couch together. After the movie she went to bed. It made it a late night for her, but I think she had a great time because she will still sing Happy Birthday to herself, and ask me if its still her birthday.

I love this amazing girl. She is great at living life to its fullest. She loves to sing, dance, dress-up, talk, eat chocolate, talk on the Ipad, go to the park, go to babysitting, and play with Tia. She is a good big sister and she is really good at getting Tia to laugh. Kylee can do all kinds of cool things like somersault, tell you colors in Spanish (its mostly memorization, but it has to start somewhere right?), she can count to 10 in both Spanish and English. Kylee can sing a ton of songs. She can get dressed almost all on her own. Her favorite things to wear are shorts, jingle socks, and her sparkly shoes. She loves all things sparkly and princessey. She also loves dinosaurs, trains, stickers, and books. She is a wonderful girl. I am so excited we get to spend all day everyday together.