Anyone watch the dog show?

We had a very nice and quiet Thanksgiving and hope all of you did as well. We watched the Macy's Parade on TV and even part of the dog show that follows it. Surprisingly, the dog show was funny! Not intentionally, but nevertheless quite amusing. Who knew? I may even tune in next year.

Despite an apparent hunger strike over the Thanksgiving Holiday, Miriam has decided to eat solid food again. Hannah got to feed her the other day and loved it! Emma hasn't fed her with a spoon yet, but regularly takes it upon herself to stuff Miriam's mouth with Cheerios. We're working on that, don't worry.

Miriam isn't spitting up nearly as much as she used to. !!!!! It's so nice. Occasionally she still tags us, but that's okay. We've gotten really good at stain removal. The Bleach Pen is a wonderful invention. I firmly believe one should be included inside each package of white baby onesies.

Miriam continues to love her baths. She starts squealing the minute she enters the bathroom. She would dive into the tub fully clothed if we didn't hang on to her. Usually, all the girls take a bath together, but sometimes she gets the tub all to herself.

When Hannah was in Preschool, Emma and I used to walk her to school most days. I hadn't been making the trek this year, but decided to start. You know, now that the weather is cold and rainy. I don't mind walking in the rain and, thanks to my friend Ashlee, we have a great jogging stroller that has a rain cover! The girls stay warm and dry.

Here's Miriam napping with her Teddy bear tucked under her arm. I often find her sleeping like this. Thanks Teddy! She sleeps much better now, in case anyone is wondering. She will fall asleep on her own for bedtime and naptimes. She still wakes up to eat once during the night, but I'm not up to fighting that battle yet.

Ah, yes. I tried to take some pictures of the girls in their Christmas dresses. Some pictures turned out better than others. I just liked this one because of Miriam's facial expression. My second favorite has Hannah and Emma smiling perfectly, but Miriam leaning way forward trying to lauch herself off of the couch.

Fantastic 4

It's been said that the twos are terrible, but I would disagree. Three has been my hardest year with both Hannah and Emma. And so, it is with great excitement I announce that

EMMA IS NOW 4!!!!

Yippee! We have left the land of timeouts in triplicate and temper tantrums. Mostly, anyway. She seems to have decided, after much testing, that when Mom says "if you do ____ again, you'll get a timeout" Mom really means it. And repeating that behavior WILL land her on the naughty mat. Hmmm. Better to just heed Mom's warning than sit in the timeout.

So, before we had our little birthday celebration tonight, I interviewed Emma:

• Favorite color: red
• Favorite movie: Barbie's Princess and the Pauper
• Favorite thing to do: play with Hannah and Miriam
• Favorite thing to do at Preschool: play legos with Jolene and Caitlyn
• Favorite song: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
• Favorite church song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam
• Favorite food: Mac and cheese
• Favorite book: The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• Favorite place to be: Preschool
• Best thing about having a birthday: presents!

So, here she is, opening some of her presents:

When Emma opened up the scissors, Hannah said, "oh yay for cutting out coupons!"

Emma had a great day. She was convinced that she was taller and heavier than she was the day before. Hannah picked her up and confirmed that, yes, she was heavier. She tried on some of her new clothes and an admiring Hannah said, "oh wow Emma you look FIVE in that outfit!" (That is, of course, one of the highest compliments she could give.) Emma responded, "no, I look 16." Oh, boy.

Turley Lurkey Doo and Turkey Lurkey Dap

Emma's still wearing her turkey hat from her Preschool party earlier this week. She plans to wear it while singing "Oh I'm glad I'm not a turkey" at Grandma's house later this evening. We'll see if she follows through on that. She likes to talk big.

I had to take a picture of the cute cupcakes from Emma's party. The one pictured is already partly eaten, but let me tell you, these were the cutest things. Fruit roll ups cut up to look like the turkey feathers! !! Emma liked it so much she ate not just the frosting, but the entire cupcake. Now you know it must have been good.

Hannah seemed a little sad that she didn't have a Thanksgiving party at school. She's a big first grader now and life is tough. Kidding aside, she loves school. The other day she asked me, "Mom, do you know what I don't like about school?" I told her I didn't know, though I might have guessed that her least favorite part of school was having to use the school restrooms. She said, "Nothing!! I like everything about school!" Whew. During her recently-completed science unit on sea life, she decided she wants to become a scientist. She's taught me all sorts of things about the ocean that I never knew. For example, since the word "twilight" has been a frequently-used word around here lately, she told me all about the twilight layer of the ocean. Then, she asked me if I knew what bioluminescense was. (I can't even spell it. Thank goodness for Google.) I still can't define it as well as she did, so I'll refer you to my friend wiki for a definition.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Eric Tweaks Twilight

I'll admit it, I didn't love the movie version of "Twilight." I really really (yes, really really) loved the book, but the movie... not so much. Maybe I'll like it more if I see it again, but when I watched it the other night I spent much of the movie irritated because Edward was too mean and scary, Jacob was wierd, there was too much Charlie, Carlisle was too pasty white, etc. I kept leaning over to Ryan and whispering, "that wasn't in the book!" Pepper spray? Really? Maybe the squealing teenage girls sitting all around me in the theater had something to do with my annoyance with the movie? I expected excitement from the crowd, but not squealing through the ENTIRE movie. Wow.

Admitedly, I hyped the movie up in my head too much and disappointment was inevitable. I know I'll see the movie again and probably enjoy it more now that I've got more realistic expectations.

I may be the only Twilight fan who didn't think the movie was great. That's okay. Whether or not you liked the movie, you may enjoy Eric Snider's take on the script here. If you were at BYU back in the late 90s, you probably know of Eric. He wrote a "Titanic" screenplay for BYU's Daily Universe that was excellent. His sarcastic non-P.C. writing is, in my opinion, hilarious and his Twilight screenplay is no exception. Enjoy.

Meanest Mom

Someday, when my children are teenagers, they may suggest I'm the meanest Mom. This picture may be used as evidence:Here's my defense: I haven't had a full night's sleep in months. I'm tired. Mostly, I'm tired of getting up every two hours with a baby who shouldn't be getting up that often and certainly shouldn't need to eat that often. So I'm imposing the tough love/cry it out approach to sleeping. I've had very little success so far, but my desire for sleep keeps me trying. Tonight, I put a very tired Miriam in her crib. She'd been recently fed, diapered, and swaddled. She'd only slept one hour all day (her choice, not mine) so she was probably over tired. Once I left her, she cried which is normal. She got pretty upset at one point, but I was dealing with a Hannah and Emma wrestling match downstairs at the time, so I didn't go check on Miriam. By the time I'd separated Hannah and Emma and cleaned up the Halloween candy that they'd thrown all over the family room like it was confetti, I noticed Miriam was quiet. Good. Once I'd started Hannah and Emma on getting ready for bed, I peeked into Miriam's room to check on her. The picture above is what I saw. Apparently, Miriam's more urgent cries started when she realized her arm was stuck in the crib's bars. Hmmm... I guess it wasn't that uncomfortable because she ended up falling asleep that way. Right? Right. And, after I took the picture, I did move her back to her normal sleeping position. This, of course woke her up and more crying ensued. Fortunately, she fell asleep more quickly this time. Hopefully, all her limbs are in the crib this time.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward's Trunk or Treat and Halloween party got off with a bang... or a siren, I suppose. The Young Men (leaders?) were in charge of the Spook Alley and their smoke machine set off the church's fire alarm. This brought out the local fire truck and Ryan had to explain what had happened. Never a dull moment around here! It was actually kind of convenient that we were already at the building for this fire department call since we usually get late night phone calls to inform Ryan of fire alarms or other building emergencies.

Since all the partygoers were already out in the parking lot, we had our Trunk or Treat before the inside party.

Here's Miriam as the Great Pumpkin. Though she's incredibly cute, she did not love her costume. Once in it she proceeded to spit up and chew on the green collar for most of the night. Spit up, chew on it, spit up, chew on it.

After the fire "drill" and Trunk or Treating, Hannah and Emma were frozen so we wrapped them in some blankets.

Hannah was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Emma was a cat, and Ryan was the "Candy Inspector." (Not pictured: Ryan's "candy inspector gadget" also known as a wall stud finder.) Here they're participating in the cupcake walk. Hannah got a white cupcake.

Emma chose a chocolate cupcake. She, of course, ate the frosting and then was done.

Here's the Halloween family.

And here's Miriam in her Jumperoo because she loves it and she's just cute.

Preschool Pics

Miriam and I attended Emma's preschool class last week. I'm doing the preschool scrapbook pages for this month, so I got to go take some pictures of the kids. It was fun to be a "fly on the wall" (as much as that's possible with a 5 month old baby hanging in a sling off the front of me) and see what Emma does at preschool.

Here she's playing on the playground.

And eating her Teddy Bear Biscuit that she made earlier in the day. They've been "studying" teddy bears for the past few weeks. Now, they're on to studying farm animals which will include a visit to a local farm. She is very excited about this excursion. In other news...

Hannah and Miriam are sick with colds, sore throats, etc. Hannah was home from school Friday and will probably be tomorrow too. Needless to say, sickness has not helped Miriam's sleeping habits. Not only is she up during the night, but it's almost impossible to get her to sleep at night. She's up for hours just crying no matter what we do to try to help her. This is tiring for Ryan and I and is compounded by the fact that neither Ryan nor I were getting much sleep before Miriam got sick. Ryan's been working at night into the wee hours of the mornings trying to get a big project done for work. This project was stressful for him and became even more so recently when Washington Mutual, the company he works as a contractor for, was bought out by JP Morgan Chase. We are waiting to see how all the dust settles as the two companies merge and as they figure out how Ryan's company, CB Richard Ellis, will fit into the mix.

AND, I've not been sleeping well because I got the cold/cough bug that Hannah brought home from school in early September. I had it for weeks when, last week, I started having bad chest pains. As crazy as it sounds, the pains were bad enough that one night I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to the doctor the next morning and was diagnosed with costochondritis. Essentially, I have inflamed cartilage in my chest. Not totally sure what caused it, but I think it has to do with weeks of coughing to the point where my ribs said, "ENOUGH!" Anyhoo, the doctor says "it will get a little bit better every day." Hmmm... that's helpful.

So, Ryan and I kind of feel like the walking wounded/exhausted. It was nice to have General Conference this weekend and just take it easy. We all took naps this afternoon which we haven't been able to do in a long time.

Hannah and Emma put an umbrella over Miriam in her bouncy seat. All three of them loved it. Hannah and Emma were so excited they couldn't even sit still for this picture. Miriam continues to be unimpressed with her solid foods. Here she is tonight, eating some applesauce. Yum? Boy, if she doesn't like applesauce, we're in trouble. Maybe we'll just feed her coupons.

P.S. Jenni, notice the flower clippy in Miriam's hair? Thanks for the inspiration!

Beginnings

Summer is now officially over and we're well into our first month of school. Before the school year started, I gave Hannah and Emma hair cuts. It was hard to cut all of that pretty hair, but they seem pleased with their new 'dos. Ryan almost cried when he came home from work the day I cut their hair, but he kept his composure and eventually decided it was fine.

Here's Hannah, Miriam, and Emma eating breakfast before Hannah's first day at school. Pink frosted mini wheats, Cheerios, and milk is the breakfast of choice.

Hannah sporting her pink pack. You may not be able to tell, but she's so excited the buttons on her jacket are about to burst.

Here's Emma, a few days later, outside her Preschool. She'd been waiting for this day for 2 years. She cried when Hannah would get to go into Preschool class and she couldn't. Now it's her turn!
Emma having a Teddy Graham and Apple Juice snack at Preschool. When her teacher announced the snack for the day Emma made the most excited face you can imagine. So much so that the other parents in the room were chuckling and whispering, "she must like those Teddy Grahams!"
So, Hannah started First Grade, Emma started Preschool, and Miriam... well, Miriam started solid food.
She doesn't love the rice cereal or oatmeal. Does any baby like that stuff? None of mine have seemed to. Miriam always makes a horrid face when the first spoonful reaches her tongue. She'll even do a full body shudder to emphasize her dissatisfaction. We'd hoped a bowl or two of cereal would help her sleep through the night again since she stopped doing that about 6 weeks ago. No luck so far.
So now we're back in the swing of school, dance classes, homework, show and tell, fundraisers, and book orders. Hannah has homework 3-4 nights each week and, unlike when she was in Kindergarten, she actually likes doing it. Emma tries her best to distract Hannah from doing her homework - just because she's so excited that Hannah's finally home and she wants to play. I've been trying to keep Hannah on task by sitting her and Emma at the table and giving Emma a pencil and paper so she can do homework too. Emma's imagination takes over from there and she'll draw pictures and write stories until Hannah's done. Miriam is content to roll around on the floor. She can roll both ways now and can pivot on her tummy to get to most things she wants. I keep forgetting her new-found mobility. The other day I put her down on my bedroom floor and walked away to take care of someone else. When I came back to her, she was halfway under my bed, trying to roll under it! Oh, boy.

We Had A Great Summer

Here's a quick review of our summer - in pictures! Enjoy.

One day, while Ryan was away at Girl's Camp, we painted our toenails! Thanks to Samantha for the picture idea and to Ashlee for the suggesting the use of a highchair for baby toe pedicures.

We rode the Duck! Here we're on Lake Union in Seattle. We went with Ryan's family and had a blast. Who knew amphibious war vehicles could be so much fun? The other day Emma said we "needed to go ride the Duck again."


Miriam liked the Duck too. Despite the wind, yelling, music, and rocky ride, she fell asleep in my lap.

We took family pictures with Ryan's family. Above, Aeneas and Natalie are helping Gracie (the girl's cousins) get to the picture location. Antonio and Kristin are to the right.

We threw rocks into Puget Sound. Pictured are Antonio, Gracie, Staci, Emma, Hannah, and Natalie.

We spent a week on the Oregon Coast with Ryan's family. We all had such a great time and made so many fun memories. We flew kites (you may notice the kite is flying itself in this picture), played games, watched games, soaked in the hot tub, built sand castles, fed seals, ate saltwater taffy, and toured a cheese factory! Our camera never seemed to make it out of our bag, so we have very few pictures. Hopefully, everyone else will send us copies of theirs. Hint, hint.

We barbequed at both Grandma's houses and enjoyed visiting with Julie, Dave, and little Natalie from New York.

We went out to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Kane.

We swam at the pool with Auntie Ann, Grandma Carlson, Auntie Julie, Uncle Dave, and Natalie.

??? This is just a funny Emma picture.

Grandma Carlson and the girls taught cousin Natalie how to play Water Monster. Water Monster is any game played outside that involves lots of water and screaming.

We almost went crazy.

We played at the beach.

Miriam and Hannah bonded.

It was a great summer. Thanks to all of our family who traveled so far to come visit us. Memories are made of this!