Star Struck!

I took Neeley on a date last week to go see the movie Kit Kittredge.  On our way there I was trying to tell her a little about the movie so she would understand it more.  I explained to her about "Stars" and how Kit was going to be the star in the movie.  Immediately she started pointing out other "stars" she knows including Hannah Montana, her favorite of all!

Tonight she and Kayla were watching a Hannah Montana DVD for their show before bed.  When I went to check on them she told me, "Guess what Mom, Hannah Montana is playing in Lost Angelest tomorrow.  Are we going to be at the cabin?"  I said, "Yes".  She then said, "Well, another night when we are not going to be at the cabin we need to watch this movie and then we can go to the concert the next night in Lost Angelest!"

Oh, how I wish it could work that way!  But for now we'll just have to keep rock'n out to her music on our blog.  Neeley and Kayla gave an awesome rendition of "Half the Story" just tonight.  Costumes, stage, backpacks, tutus and all!

Getting bigger!

Lilah is getting so big.  Today I gave her some broccoli to munch on and she ate the whole thing!  She is really enjoying new foods, especially if it is not baby food!  And crawling, well, lets just say she isn't waiting till after our St. Louis trip like I wanted her to.  She can get around pretty quickly now, although her tummy never leaves the ground.  She gets her toes and launches herself forward like she is swimming.

Last week we had her 6 month check up.  She is in the 54% for head circumference, 41% for height but only 2% for weight, weighing only 13 pounds.  She really is just a little minute with a big Dopp dome (just like her daddy!).  You wouldn't guess that she would be so small by the way she eats.  She can really pack down the rice cereal and baby food.  She has also been enjoying animal crackers, bread, jello, popsicles, and every baby's favorite: Cheerios!

As far as babble goes she is on top of her game.  Every morning when she wakes up I go get her out of her crib and bring her into our bed to nurse her.  She always looks over at Jer, who is half asleep, and says "dada".  Now we are not sure if this is really what is going on but she keeps doing it and just when she looks at Jer.  Let's pretend it is for real and not just serendipity!

Big sis Neeley and Kayla are already her idle.  If they are in the room she looks for them and loves when they play with her and make her laugh.  Lilah loves to roll around on the floor and play with their pretend food.  She also likes playing in her exersaucer.  As for her bumbo, well she is not fat enough to stay in it.  I had her in it the other day and Kayla came running over yelling she's out, she's out.  Sure enough she was on the floor next to it crawling away.  Maybe when she gets a little more meat on her bones she will stay in it!

I forgot how much fun this baby stage can be.  She is so easy to take care of now, yet so fun to play with!  I will enjoy this stage for as long as it last because I know the next one involves putting my tupperware cupboard back together multiple times a day!

A day!

Sometimes you get going along in life and then you have a day. One that stands out and will be remembered in years to come. Not because of the number on the calendar but rather the moments it held.

Today was special. I started out as ordinary. Baths, going to the gym, snacks, cleaning the bathrooms. Then we decided to make a craft. Not that this is so unusual at our house, but today the girls took their time and enjoyed themselves.

Yes, finally this little one has learned to cheese it up for the camera!!

Then it was nap time and time for me to make dinner for my dinner swap with Nikki. For some reason today, maybe because the house was quiet except for my music, I really enjoyed myself. When the kids woke up my sister Karen came over. I have always been lucky to be sisters with my BFF. The girls played (all of the boys were gone) and we were just able to really chat. After dinner we all sat down on the kitchen floor and did manicures and pedicures. It was so fun to just enjoy being together, rock out to Hannah Montana and pick the best colors for our nails. If you ask me, girls really do know how to have fun!

Haylie entertained us with her silly anticks!
Elizabeth was the nail expert, making sure hers were just perfect. And they were!
Kayla used the foot bath several times over. Even after her mani/pedi were complete!  If you look closely you can see nail polish streaks all over her face.  She kept having an itch!
Neeley HAD to have a different color on each nail. Yes, she is wearing every one of the colors from the bottles you see here.
Today was a day!  One that I will remember because of the ordinary fun we had!

The Thought Process of a Child

One of my favorite things of being a parent is watching the cognitive development of kids.  Having a background in teaching I have studied this quit a bit so it is interesting to see it first hand.  Can't you just see their little wheels turning?

Here are a few of my favorite examples:

Kayla puts her shirt on backwards so she just takes her arms out, twirls it around and puts her arms back in.  And when she puts her pants on backwards she just pulls them down and tries to twirl them around while they are still on her legs.  Why won't that work?

Neeley thinks that she truly can be whatever she wants when she grows up.  She has a list.  Right now it is Hello Kitty, Tinker Bell (she asks me all the time when she will get her "real" wings, not just those dress up ones!), an angel, a teacher and Hannah Montana, in that order.  And apparently the thing you are last you get to be forever!

Neeley just can't understand how she can be older but Kayla's birthday is first in the year.  How could it be that Kayla has a birthday in September and hers in October if she is older?

The other day Neeley asked me how we got pee and poop in our bodies.  It's was like she just thought is was coming from no where.

Neeley is starting to make word connections.  Dogs bark, right?  Well, then the bark we have under our playset outside is really called "dog bark".

Things Neeley says that I just can't correct: breastfast= breakfast, baby=maybe, back and forleth= back and forth, stepschool= stepstool.

The other day Neeley wrote her name perfectly. Backwards that is:  ppoD yeleeN.  I have a hard time doing that even when I am trying to.

Yesterday I said an angel had made the bed for me.  Kayla refused to go in my room all day because there was an angel in there!

And my favorite of all:  Mom can fix anything and everything with a kiss!

Little purse night!

In a life where everything is super sized it is nice to go little once in a while.  Jeremy gave me both purses above.  Both very nice in their own way.  The black Coach beast is the bottomless pit.  In fact it really reminds me of Mary Poppin's bag.  When I went to clean it out the other day I was a little shocked at all of the stuff I found inside.  I am not sure why I thought I might need some of these things but somehow they made it into the purse.  You know stuff like the needle and thread.  One just never knows when they may need to do a little mending on the run.  Or how about the marti gras beads, pair of kids socks (actually those have come in handy a time or two!), the scrapbooking pen and what about that bag of random kids art supplies.  And then of course there are the necessities: burp cloth, baby food, wipes, diaper, extra outfit for Lilah and hand sanitizer.  Oh and that little thing that is really what a purse is for: a wallet.  I'm surprised that was still in there.  Kayla likes to think it's her toy to empty out onto the floor.  Notice all the gum and breath mints.....GONE.  LONG GONE.  Kayla polished those off long ago.  Actually this is a lighter load than usual because the three sippie cups are missing.  NO WONDER I COME HOME EXHAUSTED WITH AN ACHING BACK EACH NIGHT!

This is all why I was so elated to have an occasion to pull out the little purse.  Jeremy brought this little cutie home from a trip for me about a year ago.  Since having the baby I haven't been able to use it.  Well there was that one GNO a couple of months ago where I did a dry run with it when I just had Lilah in tow but that ended up being not such a good idea.  I had to go to the car for a diaper and wipes and well, let's just say it's not all that practical in this situation.  So when I went on  a real date with no baby it was time to pull out all of the stops and us my little wonder.  Barely enough room for my wallet and the cell phone.  Good thing Jeremy likes to drive because keys fitting in there are out of the question.  HEAVEN, PURE HEAVEN!  So if you see me out on the town with my cute little Kate Spade you know what kind of a night I am having!  Who knows maybe I'll go home and bake some bread!  ;)

BTW, little wonder is not so good for everything though.  We discovered this when we went to see a movie the other night.  Kind of hard to smuggle drinks in without the black beast!  You can fit a feast in there!

More Craft Camp!

Craft camp day 3 was decorating bags and making shrinky dinks.  They all turned out really cute!  I ended up making the bags out of some curtains that were in our house when we moved in.  Easy to make but not sure if I am ready to sew another bag in this lifetime.




Day 4 was stick horse and snow globes. Or should I just say day 4 was a nightmare. Hottest day of the week combined with too mature of a craft spells disaster. Thank goodness for Nikki and my neighbor staying to help. The kids played while we made their stick horses. Luckily 2 families weren't there so that took 5 kids out of the mix. We would have loved their company but it would have added to the chaos! The kids were actually able to make their snow globes so they went home with one craft they had made. We got three of the horses done but Neeley and Kayla's had to be made at home after the fact. I guess one good thing that came of the day were some really cute stick horses! In all the camp was really fun. I think now after watching all of this crafting I want to do some of my own (besides the horses!) I think it is time for a mommy craft camp but I guess that is what super Saturdays in relief society are for.

The girls couldn't wait for me to finish their horses.  After I completed them there was a whole lot of whoa's, giddy up's and neigh's going on!  They didn't care who made them.  They just enjoyed playing with them.  I guess that is what it is all about!  FUN!

Crafty Kiddos!

What makes summer fun? 6 girls, 5 boys together doing crafts of course!
The girls love crafting so much I decided to make a camp of it this week. So for four days this week we are rounding up the neighbors for a craft camp! At the park of course where the mess is much more tolerated but the heat not so much!

Day #1
We decorated treasure boxes and made necklaces and bracelets to go in them.



Day #2
We decorated visors and painted magnets! I was shocked at how clean the kids stayed with the paint. I can't say the same about the popsicles!


Neeley and Kayla have been loving a new project each day and can't wait to see what is coming next. Just wait for the cute things we have in store for Thursday!! I hope they turn out as cute as I am envisioning them!