Fairy House

Because they are cute

Village

School is in full swing for both of the girls. Yesterday it was summer vacation and then I turned around for one second and suddenly we are already 3 weeks into the school year. That is how time seems to pass around here. So quickly that the last week of summer when Millie was sick with the barfing flu and ended up at Primary Children's Hospital is already a distant memory to me and to her. ("Mom? Do you remember when I was so brave and I got that needle in my arm so my blood could have a drink?" I remember. And Grandma Tammy hurried to our house in the morning so I could go to the hospital? And the next day Grandma Bullough came over? Yes and yes.)

That is not an illness I wish to repeat. Ever. But the one thing it did make me realize is how lucky we are to have family and friends who drop everything to help out. Tammy was at our house within an hour of my scared and tearful and exhausted phone call. My mom came over the next day for moral support and just in time for Laney to get sick (not as bad as Millie). William and Ann brought the girls a laptop (a laptop!) that is theirs to keep forever. You should see Millie play Majong Titans on that thing. Tim and Camille made us pizza when we were too tired to feed ourselves.

...Sometimes it really does take a village. And what a good village we have.

A 6-year-old smile

Last Night

Before the girls go to sleep I usually sing them a lullaby. They take turns picking the song. Currently there are 3 in rotation: Sleep My Child, Hush Little Baby and Favorite Things. Last night was Laney's turn to pick. Keep in mind we're still working on potty training. Here are her requests:

Me: What song should we sing?

Laney: (smirking) Hush Little Toots?

Me and Millie: (Simultaneously) Noooooo!

Laney: giggle

Millie: Laney! No toots, farts, poops or pees! Okay?

Laney: ....(mulling this over for a minute) Toot Little Baby?

Me and Millie: (sigh) No.

Laney: Oooootay.

(wicked little smile) Favorite Toots?

Even though it's potty humor it's still pretty funny. Don't you think?

Laney is 3

New B!

Candles!

Dear Laney,

You are 3 years old! Good job, little one. You almost always have skinned knees and elbows--a testament to the way you throw yourself into everything you do. You are as brave as can be. Sure, you might cry for a minute over an owie, but then you shake it off, slap a Bandaid on it and go on with your day. You're pretty tough! Sometimes I need to remind myself that even though you are so tough you are still a sensitive little soul.

You have some very particular likes: Bs (blankets) and candles. In fact, that was all you wanted for your birthday and you meant it! Last week your daddy, Millie and I took you to Toys R Us to pick out some birthday gifts. We were hoping you might choose a bicycle. On our way to the bikes we walked by the baby stuff and you zeroed in on a B with monkeys on it and you HAD TO HAVE IT. We let Millie get it for you for your birthday and then we asked you to look at some bikes too. You didn't give a hoot about the bikes. Sure, you sat on one to make us happy, but then you wanted to get off and snuggle with that B. We felt defeated.

We decided to let you walk around the store and look at some other stuff. After all, we were in a giant toy store. There was bound to be something else in there that might catch your eye. You wandered the aisles, new B in hand, looking for fuzzy things. You would rub the fuzzy thing between your fingers and then announce, "That's not a B!" as if the joke was on us. So we gave up and bought you that B, some games and a couple books and called it good.

Your sister noticed I was a little annoyed at the whole situation and she, in her 6 year old brilliance, reminded me, "Mom! It's OK! Some people like princesses, like me, and some people like Bs, like Laney! Both are good." You know what? Millie is right. You have 10 Bs now and that's just fine. Can you maybe work on not needing them all at once, though?

I love you, Laney.

Mama

Krazy Kar!

These Girls

I know this won't always be the case but right now these girls are the best of friends. It nearly kills Laney when Millie goes on a play date and she's not invited. She'll ask, "Where's Miwie?" and look for her around the house until I remind her she's not home. Then she pouts and asks when she'll be back.

Millie is mostly very tender with Laney; with some teasing and harassment thrown in for good measure. Those of you who know Laney, know she does her fair share of harassing and maybe even starts it most of the time. But she's tender too. She's quick to comfort Millie when she's hurt and she's good at soothing boo boos. I know this won't always be the way it is but I can hope.

Photo recap aka the easy blog update

Sometime in June a friend my sis, Janelle, and I have know FOREVER was in town with her kids. Janelle knows important people in Heber City and she was able to score us some free Heber Creeper tickets. Thank you Janelle! Above the kids (cousins, friends) are riding or waiting for the Heber Creeper in various poses of not looking at the camera. And there's a little princess photo thrown in just to see if you are paying attention. FYI, always choose the short ride on the Heber Creeper. Trust me on this one.

A little Laney

The whole B thing has become ridiculous. (B=her blankets, in case you forgot) In the photo above there are at least 3 Bs. There are probably more buried under the ones we can see. In her bed right now there are 5 Bs. Her birthday is coming and she only wants more Bs. And candles. Don't even suggest something else like a truck or a doll because those things are ridiculous and what would she possibly do with them. Also, if you are wondering what she's going to be when she grows up, she's going to be a pirate. A pirate who talks in a gruff 2 year-old voice. I love this kid!

This happened:

Finally! No more top tooth hanging by a thread.

Dance

Millie's dance recital was a couple weeks ago so you can see I'm a little behind in my reporting. There is nothing sweeter than a little girl in a tutu. All that sweetness almost makes up for the hell that goes along with putting the hair in a ballet bun. Almost.

The shiny red and blue costume is for tap. Imagine 8 or so 5 and 6 year olds tapping to The Jackson 5's ABC 123 song. Got it? The cute almost kills you.

What I really want to say

Dear Blog,

Why can't you update your own self and just leave me out it?

Sincerely,
Jenny

(Blog did not respond so here are some photos of the girls)

Yes I know. They are beautiful.

B Girl

So You Think You Can Dance just started up again. I love that show! Here's Laney with her audition.

Garden

We started a little garden patch in our front yard. Since we live on a busy street we rarely spend time out there so we decided to put it to use. Wish us luck. We're growing tomatoes, arugula, spinach and basil. We welcome your advice and affirmations.

Field Trip

Last week I chaperoned a field trip to Red Butte Gardens. It should have been awesome, but it wasn't. Nope, not at all. I was in charge of a very sweet group of 5 girls. We decided our collective field trip name would be Girl Train because we held hands so we were a train of girls. Brilliant, yes? OK , that part was awesome. The not so awesome part commenced when we were introduced to our guide, B, she was O-L-D. I have nothing against old, but come on, these are kindergartners. They need someone with energy; someone who can talk above a whisper; someone who walks, not shuffles and that someone was not B.

B told us about poisonous plants and poisonous snakes. She pointed out the Children's Garden. In fact, she paraded us right past it, but told the children, "No, you can't go in there today. It takes too long and it's too cold." Then she herded us back to the Visitor Center to color pictures of daffodils. In the meantime, the rest of the class not in our group was laughing and cavorting in the garden. We heard tale of a pond with stepping stones, but we cannot confirm that such a thing exists because we had coloring to do. Indoors.

And that photo of Millie above? I'm pretty sure that tree is poisonous and there's a Rattler hiding right behind it.

Bring on the sun

It's Spring break around here and I don't know that anything represents how we're feeling about it better than this photo.

The park + 2 popsicles= 2 smiley girls

Potty Training

We're still working on it and we've made some progress. Stuff is happening in the potty, just not on a regular basis or consistently. We do talk about it A LOT and it's made for some pretty interesting conversation, some of which happens at the dinner table whether we like it or not. For example, last week we're eating and laughing and trying to ignore the fact that we have a plumber in our basement again, in spite of a $10,000 sewer line replacement last year, and out of nowhere Laney yells, "HOT POOP! HOT POOOOP!" We know that laughing at such talk only encourages her, but it's so weird and random and accurate, given the plumber in the basement, that we can't help it. So we laugh and lightly discourage her from saying it again. But you know what? I think we're destined to be a family of poop jokes and bodily humor hilarity and I kind of like that about us.

(POOOOOP!)

Walking report card & some dancing

This trimester instead of a parent-teacher conference Millie's class had a walking report card. This entailed watching her do some class work, grading her on it, and, my favorite part, some singing and dancing.

View dancing portion here:

Laney has a dance too. Please forgive it's unedited quality.

Classic Skating Photos

The real reason Jason wanted kids is so he has an excuse to ride a plasma car.

Jess and Luke Luke & Laney in the bouce around

The big girls

Sleepover!

6 Years Old

Millie, 6 years ago from this very moment I was in full-on labor with you. You kind of took your time making your entrance to the world but once you were here it was like you'd always been here. You, and your giant newborn feet. You've grown up so much this past year. You love school and you've become very independent. Today, when we were doing homework you told me you love to read and that was one of the best things you've ever said to me because I love to read too and I'm excited that you're excited about it.

You love school, your teacher and all your school friends. On the way to school you often talk about what you might play at recess. Will it be mousey game? or hamster climbing the wall? or windy day game? It's strange for me to think that you have this whole part of your life that I'm not involved in. It's strange but it also makes me proud because you are so sure of yourself.

I am very pleased to say that having meals with you has also become a bit easier. You used to throw a fit a couple times a week over your dinner, but lately you've been much more pleasant and willing to try new foods. You love mushrooms, broccoli, cooked carrots and of course the staples, like mac and cheese and grilled cheese. It's a relief to your dad and me that you're no longer surviving on pure carbohydrates.

You are very sensitive to other people's feelings, especially your sister's. I love listening to you talk to Laney when you don't know I'm listening. Most of the time you are very tender with her. You take pride in your ability to translate her 2-year-old talk when we don't understand her, which comes in very handy. Yesterday you told me that Laney is a little angel-devil and then you did an impression of her that involved a sweet squeaky voice and a screechy demon voice. You said sometimes you don't know if she's going to kiss you or bite you but you always hope for a kiss. That's one of the things I love most about you: Your willingness take a chance in hope that what you get will be something good.

I love you,
Mama

Birthday Countdown

In one week Millie will be 6 years old. Here is what she has to say about the matter:

Mom, I am almost a lady. I know that now.

This is a photo of her giant lady foot all prune-y from the bath

My intent here was to post another picture of her very-small-in-comparison,-yet-gigantic-for-a- newborn foot. But then I remembered she was born before we had a digital camera. She is that old! So it looks like someone needs to do some scanning.

Happy Valentine's Day

Good news! They've moved my dad from ICU to intermediate care. While I was at the hospital yesterday he was awake and alert. He ate, walked and joked with us. His ICU doc was really on top of things and has come up with a new plan of action to try to avoid future meningitis infections (this is his second go-around). We are optimistic that he will recover yet again.

Dad, please get better. We love you.

Remember When It Was Warm?

To see a slideshow of the girls and their cousin Isaiah being themselves on a lovely end-of-summer day click here

Mom, don't forget to click on play when you get to the slideshow.

The Funny

When Millie saw the rain today she said, "It's a good thing it's raining today, mom. Umbrellas are my passion."

A few weeks ago Jason brought 2 identical stuffed lions home for the girls. Millie immediately started cooing over hers and named her Crystal. When I asked Laney her lion's name she said, "Hair." Then she tossed him out of her crib.

Potty Talk

We are in the midst of potty training Laney. It's not going well. Here is a sample of tonight's attempt:

Me: Good night Laney. Love you.

Laney: I need to go potty.

Me: [knowing nothing is going to happen and she's just trying to prolong bedtime, but then what if she really does need to go and this is our big breakthrough and I miss it by ignoring her request...] OK! Let's go potty.

[We head to the bathroom sans diaper. First she sits on the big potty.]

Laney: I going potty!

.............

(nothing is happening)

Laney: I go on little potty!

[We switch to the little potty]

Laney: I tan do it!

[she's not doing it]

Me: You can do it!

Laney: [yells loud to Jason] Daddy I going potty!

Jason: [yells from the kitchen] Yay Laney! You can do it!

[She's still not doing it]

Laney: Mommy, I talking on the potty! You have a beard?

Me: No, I don't have a beard. Stop talking and go potty. YOU CAN DO IT!

Laney: O-tay. Oh, no beard, mommy? You have legs?

Me: Yes, I have legs. Please go potty.

Laney: O-tay. I love potty. I taste the potty?

Me: NO! Never taste the potty. The potty is dirty!

Laney: [sticks her hand in the potty and then her mouth before I can stop her and exclaims:

B-icious!

(Luckily she's on the little potty; there is nothing in it and it's relatively clean, but still...ewwww)

We wash her hands and that's that.