Just Say "Hi"

A few weeks ago I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and I looked over the counter and saw Kiersten in the family room playing church with her dolls. I'm not sure what she was doing - she was either giving a talk, giving a lesson, or reading a scripture, but she said, "Jesus said, love everyone. If you can't do that, (pause), well, just say "hi." Then she got embarrassed because she realized I was listening and didn't say anything else.

That constantly runs through my head, and I try to remember her advice. When I don't feel like being nice, I try to at least smile and say hi.

(The picture doesn't have anything to do with the story - it is from when we took the kids to the Gila Valley Temple Open House. I just happened to like it, and it looks like my kids like each other!)

A Family Af"FAIR"

A couple of years ago Kiersten and I enjoyed our first county fair. Last year we didn't make it, since we planned our Disneyland trip at about the same time the fair came to town. Kiersten regularly brings up the fair and how much fun it was, so we decided to go again when it was in town this year. We picked Nate up from work and ate a picnic dinner in the car so we could get as early of a start as possible (because heaven forbid the kids go to bed late, and I have to deal with cranky kids the next day!).
Kiersten was obsessed that night with the Ferris Wheel. I didn't even know she knew what a ferris wheel was, but that was where she wanted to start the night. Thankfully we were able to talk her into going on the carousel first (another favorite), so that we could start the night out with everyone getting a ride.When we started our ride, Kiersten was a little nervous. Ok, I was nervous too! It was kind of freaky to be going backwards and up and just when you start to get a little momentum, you stop and wait for the next car to be loaded/unloaded. Once we made it around the first time, and we started moving continuously it was much more fun. Kiersten relaxed and was able to enjoy it, thankfully! For the rest of the evening that was all Kiersten talked about, and how she wants to go do it again!

Even though Tanner was technically too short to ride a lot of the rides without Mom or Dad, most of the operators (well, the 2 we asked!) were really nice and let him go anyway. We just had to assure them that he wouldn't try to climb out of the ride while it was moving or anything. Even though we assured the operators he wouldn't, I wasn't so sure! Thankfully he had such a great time on the rides that he didn't even come close to climbing out.
I was really impressed our little county fair this year. They had the things that I remembered from last time - the rides, games, animals (this year the kids even got to pet the pigs - they have really wirey/bristle-y hair), booths, and places to take our picture (after we tried to get one of the kids, Kiersten insisted on taking one of Nate and I),
but this year they seemed to have a lot more than I remembered - they had a fire dance show that I found fascinating (although I worried as I watched it that Kiersten and Tanner might get some crazy ideas. Thankfully so far we've been safe!),
and they even had a sea lion show with 3 sea lions who did all sorts of tricks. Tanner was completely fascinated. (Unfortunately it was getting dark - this was one of the last things we did - and none of the pictures turned out.)

Doesn't that look like a boy having a great time?

We ended the evening with funnel cakes, something I remember and love from my teenage days working at, and going to, our local amusement park (Elitch's Gardens) - yummy! I thought one was plenty for us to share, but there was some sort of miscommunication between Nate and I and he thought I told him to order 2, so darn! We ended up with two! :)

I'm Ca-ca!

In the last couple of weeks, Tanner has developed his own name for Kiersten. I don't even know exactly how to type it . . . the closest I can get to what it sounds like is "cu-cu," as if you were saying "cup" but forgot the "p" at the end, and repeated yourself. Kiersten loves that he now has a name for her. (He's been saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" forever, and he calls himself "baby" but he hasn't had any sort of a name for her, until now.) But, when she calls herself Tanner's name for her, it sounds more like "ca-ca." She goes around the house saying things like, "Tanner, Ca-ca's here." or "Look, it's ca-ca!" Nate and I just laugh- she has no idea what it sounds like she's calling herself!

It's bad enough that Tanner has a Whinnie the Pooh ball and notebook that he loves and when he's looking for them he walks around the house calling out, "Pooh!" Or, when Kiersten finds them, she says, "Look, Pooh!" which always gets me running. One of these days I'll learn!

On another note, Tanner's speech therapist is pretty convinced that he's caught up enough that he doesn't need therapy any more (he's got more than 50 words and he's starting to put 2 words together), so we're down to just once a month.

Why do I bother boying toys?

This is Tanner's favorite way to spend the day . . .
He can go all day without playing with a single toy, as long as he can have the vacuum! He takes the plug and "plugs" it into the end of the attachment and he's ready to go.
Unfortunately I can't use this to my advantage. He won't play with it when the vacuum is really on, so I still have to go back and vacuum. But, thankfully if I need him to be occupied while I get something done, I can say, "Tanner, go vacuum the family room," and I can count on him being occupied for at least 10-15 minutes!

Our Little Princess is 5!

It's hard to believe that Kiersten is finally 5. We've been talking about this day, and counting down for (what feels like) months, and it is finally here! She started out her birthday morning by putting decorations on her cupcakes she was taking to preschool for show-and-tell. (A friend in preschool brought cupcakes for show and tell on her birthday, so that's what Kiersten figured she should do to.) She was very proud of herself - she even helped me make the "flowers" we put in the middle - her job was to stick on the "5" in the center. She did a great job!


Since we did a big party for Kiersten last year, that's what she figured we'd do again this year (even down to playing some of the same games!). I spent several weeks explaining to her that Daddy and I had decided we would do big parties every other year, and that on the years we didn't do a party she could choose a friend and go do something fun. She decided to invite her friends Hailey and Macy and go have lunch at Chick-fil-A and play at their play place. (She picked Chick-fil-A not for the food, but because of the play place!) So I picked up the girls from preschool and we headed out to lunch. Here they are waiting (not so patiently) for their food so they can get eating over with and get playing!
When they had had all the fun Mom could handle we loaded up and came back home. Earlier I had asked Kiersten what she wanted for her birthday dinner. I fully expected her to choose Sweet and Sour Meatballs, because that is what she usually chooses when ask her what she wants for dinner. I was completely surprised when she choose Velveta Shells and Cheese. So, that's what she and Tanner had (Nate had class that night so he came home later and I made something else for dinner for he and I). I told her she had to choose a vegetable and a fruit to go with it, so she chose carrots and ranch dressing (another surprise - I thought she'd choose corn) and cantaloupe (although, the cantaloupe I had in the fridge was moldy, so they had canned fruit cocktail, her second choice). Not what I would have chosen, but I wasn't complaining because it was a super easy meal to make and she and Tanner were happy and ate it. (Of course, it probably didn't hurt that they were starving - I realized later that she was so excited to get playing that she only ate a couple of french fries for lunch.)
After dinner I got them bathed and ready for bed and then Daddy got home. Kiersten got to open presents (her favorite part of birthdays she informed me). She was delighted with the Barbie set from Grandma and Grandpa Berrett (when she opened it she said, "This is just what I was hoping I'd get for Christmas!) and the princesses and stationary from Grandpa and Grandma Larsen (she thought it was amazing that Grandma Larsen happened to send the two princesses she didn't have).
After presents we finished the evening with cake and ice cream. She surprised me here too - she wanted carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for her cake and the cupcakes for preschool. This cake was the other half of the cake mix we used to make the cupcakes. I was not about to make up 2 cake mixes, because I didn't want that much cake around the house!

Sadly, by the time we finished cake and ice cream it was well past her bed time, so she had to go to bed without getting to play with her new toys. (We used the excuse that it would take a long time to get the presents out of the packages, so they wouldn't be ready to play with until morning anyway.) But the poor thing was so excited that she had a hard time getting to sleep that night. I think she was still awake when Nate and I went to bed that night at 10:30. But she was in heaven when I let her get up the next morning and play with princesses and her new Barbies before she had to get dressed or even eat breakfast!

Now that we've survived this birthday, she's already planning her next birthday . . . only 352 (or something like that) more days to go . . .!

Easter Pics

I finally got a picture of the kids in their Easter clothes - yeah!!! I had hoped to do it the week after Easter, but Kiersten was very adamant that she was not going to wear her Easter dress that week, but she was going to wear what she wanted to wear. Thankfully Grandma asked her to send her a picture of Kiersten wearing her Easter dress. So Kiersten was a little more workable the next week! (We've even figured out how to do sponge rollers in her hair for Saturday night so she's really easy to get ready - we do 3 pony tails - one on top, that stays in on Sunday, we just add a bow, and then one above each ear - that way the curlers don't get in the way while she's sleeping. Nate can even do her hair on Sundays if he needed to, although he looked a little green when I told him that!) Thankfully Tanner isn't nearly so picky - he'll wear whatever you put him in. He did think it was pretty neat to have a tie like Daddy has. He walked around all day saying, "tie" and holding up his tie for us to see.

'Lella!

Not too long ago we were at Payless looking for shoes for the kids - they needed it all: church shoes, summer sandals and tennis shoes. Tanner had absolutely no interest in trying on any shoe . . . that is until Kiersten found this pair of light-up princess flip flops. When she showed them to Tanner, he was smitten - he fell instantly in love with them. He wore them all around the store, walking and stomping because these shoes light up with each step he'd take. (I think he figured that the harder he stepped, the more it would light up!) And, of course, they were twice as big as Tanner's feet, so he had a hard time keeping them on. It was quite entertaining. Unfortunately, this discovery didn't help our shoe shopping mission - he still wouldn't try on any of the pairs of shoes I wanted! I ended up guessing what size to buy (and I think I bought a little too big) on one pair of church shoes and then had to carry him out of the store crying as loud as he could, "'Lella! (Cinderella!)" and "light!" But really, Nate would not have been pleased if I had spent $18 to buy Tanner a pair of light up princess flip flops that were 6 sizes too big!