Little Miss Tessa

Looking so grown up with grandma's glasses!

Making the Bed

Siena decided she was going to make her bed for the first time- all by herself! I am really proud of her!

Siena's Skates

We finally figured out why Siena kept dumping all the toys out of her collapsible buckets. She calls them her skates and skates around the house in them. Or hides in them and then asks to play hide and seek. Oh, and she didn't feel like getting dressed today.

Circus Circus

The Jordan Circus came to town, and we got 2 for 1 tickets, so My mom and I jumped at the chance to take the girls. They did pretty well for the first 40 minutes, but soon got restless and hungry. I took the girls on a ride on the elephant- only $10 a person (kinda ridiculous really, but when else do you get a chance to ride on an elephant?) As soon as we got off the elephant, Siena asked to ride the ponies, and when I said no, she had a complete royal tantrum. Wow.
Siena was only interested in the animals- they had tigers who jumped through hoops on fire,(regular variety & 2 white tigers), bears who rocked on a rocking horse, and walked on their hind legs while pushing a carriage, elephants who rolled over and danced around an over-sized drum, and dogs who jumped really high. For human performers, ever time Siena saw somebody do something dangerous, she would say, "I never do that before!" and I would assure her that this was the very reason she was still alive. We saw tightrope walkers (one who slipped when he tried to jump over the other- I'm proud of that pic!), jugglers, a guy who stacked 10 chairs and stood on the top, woman rope acrobats, trapeze artists, and a guy that was walking the wheel of death, who very nearly plunged to his own certain death. The just couldn't walk straight the first time, and tripped himself while trying to not only walk, but jumprope on top of this large, quickly revolving wheel. Then he tried it again-- blindfolded. Brilliant. Oh, and did I mention there was no net to catch him? Yeah.

I have decided that there is a very fine line between taking performance risks and complete, sheer idiocy, and many circus performers don't see that line....
I have heard that circus folk are a breed unto themselves, and I really believe that now.
Overall, it was a pretty impressive performance, but one we won't be repeating until the girls will remember it, enjoy the whole thing, and know how to sit still for 2 hours straight. It might be awhile (mostly because of that sitting still business :)

I'm being eaten by a Boa Constrictor!

In Siena's Preschool class, they have a cute song about this:
I'm Being eaten by a boa constrictor and I don't like it one tiny bit!
On no, he's up to my toe,
Oh gee, he's up to my knee,
Oh fiddle, he's up to my middle,
Oh heck, he's up to my neck,
Oh dread, he's up to my head!

A pic of Siena being eaten by the boa constrictor.

First Sunbeam

Siena had her first Sunday as a Sunbeam in our ward this week. Now that she is 3, she gets to go to the "big kid" class in primary this year. She already performed with the primary for the Christmas program, and did an amazing job. We are so proud of her!

Icky Bugs

Siena loved her homework assignment this week- a counting book called Icky Bugs, and we got to make our own bugs! She, of course, wanted to make a whole family of ladybugs, to match her backpack.
Also, a random pic of us, playing with the camera :)

Happy Newy Year 2012!

Happy New Year! We celebrated the New Year in Cedar City, playing card games, making silly new year hats, and enjoying pear Martinellis, and double chocolate cake in style. We played Ring around the Rosie with the kids (with the words "Happy Happy New Year, Party! Party! We all fall down!") The kids loved it!
I talked to Siena about New Years Resolutions, and she said she wants to listen more to mommy. That would be a miracle!
Do you have any inspiring New Years Resolutions you want to share?

Happy Santa

I think Santa is the only happy one in this pic! It reminds me of this picture from my childhood where my brothers and I are all on Santa's lap and hating his guts.

Tessa's favorite activity

We have to monitor the bathroom at ALL times, or this is what we find! I love how she is so proud of herself!!

Siena's pearly whites

Siena had her first visit to the dentist. She did awesome the whole time! She watched mommy go first, and then got to do it herself. They even took x-rays, and she is cavity-free aka "No Tooth Buggies", Yay!
Her favorite part was getting the flossers in her gift bag (our dentist is awesome and gives every new patient a whole gift bag- totally great!)

Happy Thanksgiving and early Christmas!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, with all of my siblings coming to town to celebrate. We had an ugly sweater photo shoot, the guys went shooting, we went rock climbing, ate at India Palace, made some fabulous meals, and had really fun, artistic activities, including making gyosa, fingerpainting, painting crystaline leaves, pumpkin shooting, rock climbing (I made it all the way to the top of this super scary, tricky wall!) and the guys all went snowboarding (and Thad ran into a tree and bruised his ribs, but that's a different story).
Since we only see them about once a year, we decided to celebrate an early Christmas together the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And this year we decided to do a home-made Christmas... so for the last month and a half, I have been going crazy making crafty gifts for the family members. Here is my list of things I have made so far:

• a Baby Sling
• Christmas tree ornaments made from cookie cutters, glitter and acrylic
• Spy bottles for the kids (my girls helped me make them with colored sand)
• Healthy Kettle Corn (popcorn with melted coconut oil, agave and salt) mmmm!
• Dried Apples (worked around the clock to dry enough apples)
• Hoodie Towels for all the kids, with their names embroidered and an iron-on patch
• Framed name letters for each family
• crocheted beards for all the guys and boys (they double as face warmers)
• 4 hoodies from scratch (by far my biggest feat!
• The girls even helped me make our own gift bags by using brown paper bags and potato stamping Christmas Trees, stars and presents on them!

Whew! I am exhausted even thinking about it! More crafts to come for real Christmas with my sister who will be back up to celebrate in December!

Siena's bangs

Siena first cut her hair a couple of weeks ago at my aunt's house in Las Vegas. Then yesterday I was working on a sewing project, and Siena got ahold of the scissors and too a big chunk out of the front, so I had to cut the rest of the front to make bangs. She was very upset by this at first, but seemed to be adjusting pretty quickly. The only problem with Siena having bangs is that she has a huge cowlick in the front of her hair, so the bangs won't ever lie straight. Oh well, right?

Happy Halloween!

This year we decided to do a Peter Pan theme for Halloween. Thad was Peter Pan (of course), and all the girls were fairies. The grandparents were supposed to be Captain hook and Wendy, but they decided to take a Caribbean Cruise instead....
Anyhow, the weather was perfect, and we all had a great time!

Riding Horses with Aunt Mush

Siena loves horses! And more than that, she loves riding horses, especially Aunt Mushy's horse "Jackpot" in Vegas. She loved feeding them and riding with her sister and cousin Jairus. Michelle was so good and patient with all the kids too!

Pumpkin Festival

We went to the Pumpkin Festival in Cedar city! For $5, each kid can play countless games with prizes, including fishing, basketball throwing bean bag toss, etc, cookie decorating, pumpkin painting (Siena painted her entire pumpkin blue. It was really cool! Face painting - Siena was a butterfly and building a project from Home Depot (Siena chose a bug catcher because of her affinity to the little leggy creatures). We had a fabulous time!

Tessa's 18 month Vocab inventory

MOM!
DAD!
shoe
hi
hello (ewo)
bye-bye (aye-aye)
dog (gog)
MINE!
NO!
NO, DON'T!
No way! (no-wee)
uh-uh
eww!
That (dat), as in 'I want "dat"'
more (moy)
banana (nana)
water (wawa)
juice
book
up (bup)
done
go go
on
balloon (ba'oon)
please (pease)
Eat!
baby (bee-bee)
bubbles (bubu)
Siena (Se'a)
Tess

and Tessa's favorite word: "POOP!" (She says it very loudly anytime someone checks her diaper. Or sometimes just for fun.)

RIP Banjo

End of a Banjo

Husband (to "Pinkie"), and martyr to Siena, Siena's "lovey" is officially retiring. After 2 overly-loving years of being slowly eaten to death (Siena's comfort has been to pick off small bits of fur and eat them....), and after countless warnings, Banjo was officially taken out of circulation.
He was a good, faithful stuffed dog.
Banjo is survived by his wife "Pinkie" and his replacement, "Back-up-Banjo," who is intentionally and significantly less furry than his predecessor.

BYU Homecoming

Some pics that were taken at the BYU Homecoming School of Education event. The girls had a great time, with all of the planned games for kids. And I even won a CD in a drawing! Yay! The only thing better than a sale is FREE STUFF!!

Parade Parody

This picture pretty much sums up the morning, trying to get the girls ready.

We went to the BYU Homecoming parade this morning and had the best time ever! We were behind the ROTC, which would let off an occasional
cannon fire, which set off car alarms. Very entertaining!"Grandpa John" was in charge of the floats in the parade this year. He was in the class of '71, so we were on the 40th anniversary alumni "float", which happened to be on my mom's '54 blue Chevy pick-up that she inherited from her Dad. There was
just enough room for the girls and I to squeeze into the cab. The truck has had a lot of work done on it, but needs a lot more work done on it now! With all the stopping and slow-going, the clutch completely burned out (there was smoke coming out of the hood, and it reeked! Some passers-by put their shirts over their noses to try not to inhale. The truck died on us 18 times during the 2 miles or so of the parade route. My favorite quote from one of the '71 graduates riding in the back of the truck "Don't get too close to that [brand new] Mercedes in front of us. The exhaust on it really stinks!" (No sir, that's us!!)

The best part of the parade: Tessa waving hi and Siena yelling out the window "BYU, BYU, BYU BOOGERS!!!" Only one guy in the crowd even noticed she was yelling "Boogers" instead of "Cougars." That look was worth $1,000,000. She really got the crowds going, and everybody loved it! Especially with Tess waving too and waving her pom-pom. Siena was working so hard to keep the chant going the whole time, she siged a big relief "fffffewwwfffffff!" when it was over! I don't remember the last time I have laughted/cried that hard!

Grass Helpers

Siena loves bugs especially "grass helpers". She was so excited when grandma found a grasshopper, and she could keep it as a pet. We now have 4 pet "grass helpers": 2 alive, 2 dead.

Hello Hello Hello!!!

So... my grandma is kind of a big deal. She raised 12 kids, was on the Letterman show like 12 times as well as Wayne Brady and Donny & Marie. AKA "Mad Baking Lady." She is best known for her grandiose "Hello Hello Hello!!!!" when walking into a room, her famous orange rolls, and scolding David L for not kneading the dough the right way (as well as throwing hard taffy at her grandchildren and showering them with $2 bills). I think she is on a previous post from the reunion this summer.
She is at a care facility now, as dementia is setting in. She just turned 90 years old this year, and her ticker is still going strong. Unfortunately, as dementia sets in, her mind is not so firm. We visited her last weekend. The kids had a grand time eating her treats, jumping on her bed, winding up her dancing ballerina and crawling on her chair. Try as we might, we were also dealing with a major D blow-out of the newborn variety (most intense), while I was attempting to repair some of grandma's over-sized gaudy clip-on earrings (a staple in any ensemble of hers). Well, the blow-out got cleaned up, but unfortunately, my trying to repair the earrings caused them to fall apart completely, so I discretely slipped the pieces into my pocket to fix later. I made her an extra pair. So in this pic, the orange ones are her originals, and her fav color pink are the ones I made from scratch. Definitely not a style I have ever made before, but considering... I think she will love them. Afterall, as grandma Bev always says, "Pink is the new red!" (Growing up, she only ever wore red. As you can tell from the pic, she truly lives this mantra.)

Perfect Dinner Everywhere!

When I went raw (raw vegan) and sugar-free last Fall, I wasn't sure how the family would take it. It only lasted about 6 weeks. I ate raw 1 or 2 meals a day, and lost about 20 pounds, and miraculously kept most of it off, even during the holidays, when I couldn't resist the treats that came along with the season.
I think they are starting to warm up to the idea this time around. I am re-starting my raw Fall genesis. We will see if I can make it past the holidays this time. I am not sugar-free yet, but trying to get back into the raw swing. Tonight I made a yummy spaghetti with zucchini for noodles and a spinach pesto sauce and tomatoes, a nice green salad and a green smoothie (my staple).
I was delighted when my 3 year-old said, "Mommy, this is the Perfect dinner everywhere!" very enthusiastically.