Emmaisms

Emma has said and done a lot of cute things lately. I figure now, a few days before her 4th birthday, (can it really be?!) would be a good time to share them.

Emma has a very good self esteem. She has a very enthusiastic response to any compliment she gets.
Me: Emma, you are so smart!
Emma: I am so smart.

Me: You are such a sweet girl today!
Emma: I know- I am a sweet girl.

Me: Oh, you look beautiful today.
Emma: Thank you- I am beautiful today.

You get the idea. . .

The other day Emma and Sara were in the tub when I heard the following:
"Dear Hemnly Father, Thank you for this day. Please bless- hey! Close your eyes! Please bless that Sara will get all clean and watch over us and please let the bubbles come back. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Along the prayer theme- this was something I heard while Sara and Emma were playing pretend with some stuffed animals:
"OK Monkeys- its time for the food prayer. Dear Hemnly Father. oooh ooh, ah ah ah banana ooh ooh. Name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

The other day, Daddy brought home some discounted Valentine's chocolate for me. When Emma saw Daddy eating some of the pieces, she went in to him and said very solemnly, "Daddy, we need to have a talk." I didn't hear the rest of the lecture, but it was pretty darn cute.

Emma is so excited for her birthday. Every day she wakes up and says, "Is it my birthday yet?" She takes the negative answers fairly well. Any time we make cookies or cake or other goodies she asks if we are making them for her birthday. I can't wait until it really is her birthday and the cupcakes we make will really be for her. She will be so excited!!

Emma has loved reading the Book of Mormon with us. Sometimes it is hard to explain what we are reading about, but she still loves it. Whenever she gets in her PJ's she gets all excited to hear about what Nephi is doing.

Emma is very specific about her favorite things to eat. Generally, she is a good eater, but she has her favorites that I stay stocked up on because she loves them, they are fairly healthy, and most importantly for my giant lazy bum- they are easy. Almost every morning she has Cap'n Crunch and chocolate milk with an orange. She has to have that combination. She knows that when I get her breakfast I will get her all of that- but when I ask her if she is ready for breakfast she always says, "Yes- I want cereal and chocolate milk and an orange." The worst is when I ask if she is ready for her cereal and she responds with a frantic, "No! I need cereal and chocolate milk and an orange." The same goes for her favorite lunch. If I am making her chicken nuggets, I have to phrase it as chicken nuggets and ketchup. If not, I get corrected and she seems awfully worried that I might leave out one of the most important elements of her lunch. She likes her, "Chicken nuggets and ketchup."

On Sara's birthday when I was getting the girls ready to go and lunch with my friend Emily, this conversation happened:
Me: Emma, can we go have lunch with Emily before we go to Grandma's house?
Emma: Oh- would she be sad if I didn't see her?
Me: Yes, I think she would.
Emma: She really misses me, huh!
Me: Yes- she loves to see you.
Emma: Well, I don't want Emily to be sad. I guess we should go and give her a hug.

We moved the tv and got some rabbit ears so that we could get TV reception for the Olympics and for the next season of So You Think You Can Dance. We also get a few other channels with PBS there in the mix. This means that instead of a movie, Emma can choose to watch 2 shows on TV. Her favorite show is Word Girl. I think it is kind of dumb, but it always introduces a new word to enhance kids' vocabularies. She now regularly uses words like 'awe', 'tremendous', and 'generous'. That is cuteness, and I like that she retains some of those words. Any time World Girl has to fly away, she always points her hand in the air hero style and shouts, "Word Up!", and then flies off. Emma does this all day now. Any time I ask her to go get something or whenever she has to run to the bathroom she mimics Word Girl and gives a rousing, "Word Up!" before flying off. It gets annoying sometimes, but overall it is pretty cute. I suppose there are worse things for her to want to be aside from a super hero whose main powers are flight and an extensive vocabulary. :)

I am sure there are more- they just aren't coming to me right now. I will have to add to this later when I can have Ross help jog my memory. I love my little Roo, and I can't believe how smart she is getting. She is so funny and sweet, and she is a tremendous help to me most of the time. . .

Just Cute

Everyone who has talked to Emma knows that to her, hotels are pretty much synonymous with pools. If we are packing up to go to a hotel, she knows that a swim-suit will be a needed component in that bag, as well as her car and alligator. I don't mind this at all. I love swimming, and while I wish they weren't so nervous about being in the water without floatation devices, I love that my girls enjoy swimming. We plan to get Emma into swimming lessons this summer, and I can't wait to have an excuse to go to the pool that often. These cute shots were taken in the elevator before we got to the pool on Monday to find that it was CLOSED for maintenance and cleaning. (yeah, we had bad luck with the whole maintenance thing that day. . .)

Not to worry though. We had gone 3 times before that, and one of those times was with Dana.

The Dinosaur Museum

We had a fun weekend up in Vernal and Roosevelt. My cousin Spencer, the oldest boy cousin on my side of the family, celebrated his 19th birthday and had his mission farewell on Sunday. We went up to support him and hear his talk. I will post some pictures of our time with the Roosevelt Wallaces after my Aunt Carrie posts them all so I can steal them. . .

We decided to stay in a hotel in Vernal for the weekend so we could take advantage of Ross's day off for President's Day and made a little mini-vacation out of it.

On Monday, before heading back to my mom's house for Dana's birthday party, we wanted to take the girls to Dinosaur Land in Vernal. It is an amazng dinosaur museum where one whole side of the facility is an actual mountain side where archaeologists are still digging out fossils. It is very cool. I haven't been there in YEARS (like 12 or so!), but I remembered loving it. I have heard that it has only gotten better over the years. Unfortunately, it was closed on Monday for maintenance and upgrades. Lame :(

Fortunately, Vernal is famous enough for dinosaurs that there were lots of other little dinosaur museums for us to choose from. The girls had a good time, and even I learned something new. I only got a few pictures before my camera battery died. Lame again. :( When I saw the battery was dying, I hurried and grabbed one of these shots!

Carnivore:

(kärn-vôr, -vr)
n.
1. A flesh-eating animal.
2. Any of various predatory, flesh-eating mammals of the order Carnivora, including, but not limited to the BEARS!

Last Saturday I met my friend Brittany in Draper to return some items to the mall, and to chat over lunch. We went to Texas Roadhouse where we enjoyed all manner of meat and potatoes.

At the end, Ross asked if Sara could reap the benefits of having her birthday the day before, and get some ice-cream. One look into her baby blues, and they gladly accepted the request.

When they brought out the dishes of ice cream (they brought one for Emma too, because my girls are cute like that) and chocolate syrup, she took one look at it, pushed it aside, and asked me for more steak.

Sara Bear's Birthday Cont.

Here are the rest of the pictures from Sara's birthday. For those of you who find endless streams of pictures boring- this is not for you. For those of you who adore endless streams of cuteness and are willing to endure my commentary- this is the post for you! :)

This one is out of order- but I love it anyway, and it adds a sense of foreshadowing to the ensuing adorableness that are these pictures! After enjoying a lovely homecooked meal (or. . . A bucket of KFC chicken. . .) Sara got her cake, which she was thrilled with because it had cookies on top of it!

Then came the important part- the presents!

She was bored with that bag of clothes until she found the burried treasure at the bottom!

Emma was a really big 'help'. The poor thing just really wanted it to be her birthday- but she tried to stay supportive.

My sisters all chipped in to get this AMAZING box of dress-up clothes. It is wonderful! Honestly! It is very, very cool! I am so super impressed, and better than that- the girls LOVE it! It has all kinds of dresses, hats, and props for them to imagine till their energy is gone- AKA FOREVER!!!

This is the telescope that came with the pirate set. I still need to fix it.

Maybe, sometimes Mommy likes to play along too. . . maybe. . .

Heather got these swords for them which worried me until I heard her explaining to them that little girls use swords to tickle with. They listened. Heather is a genius!

Emma has pretty good form, I think!

Sara has a good coach, so she will be just as good as Emma in no time!

Cute little Tinkerbell! I LOVE it!

Grandma got them the Aristocats which is playing in the background. I used to have to watch that movie EVERY FREAKIN' DAY when Dana was little. That and 101 Dalmations were so burned into my memory that I hated ANY mention of ANY part of them for years. After seeing it for the first time in a while, I realized why Dana liked it so much. It's pretty cute, and the girls love it. Good call, Grandma!

The love-child of Tink and Hook.

My sisters ran them around enough to make them drop completely asleep the minute we strapped them into the car. They had a lovely day, and while I still can't believe my little Bear is two years old, I am so grateful to have her in our little family!! Thanks to everyone who made her day so fun and special!

Good Quote

*First, let me state that the comment in my last post about the fact that my girls don't waste time taking naps was not in ANY meant to say that parents who put their kids down for daily naps are wasting time or being bad mothers! It was really me being jealous and sarcastic about the fact that my girls have both out-grown the regular nap-stage if it ever did exist. They just go, go, GO all day. I wish my kids would nap. Napping is not a waste of time. Ever! *

OK- now- onto the reason I have decided to write a post at 1:00 in the morning.

I am currently writing a series of short articles about parenting and taking care of children for a website sponsered by a chilcare facility chain in Texas. My next article in the series is about the importance of adult interaction in the lives of children who are placed in childcare. While doing some research on this topic, I came across this little quote that really struck me, and I decided to share it here.

If I had my child to raise over again:

I'd build self-esteem first and the house later
I'd finger paint more and point the finger less
I would do less correcting and more connecting
I'd take my eyes off my watch and watch with my eyes
I would care to know less and know to care more
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites
I'd stop playing serious and seriously play
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars
I'd do more hugging and less tugging
I'd see the oak tree in the acorn more often
I would be firm less often and affirm much more
I'd model less about the love of power
And more about the power of love.

~Diane Loomans

I know it is fairly simple, but that is what struck me about it. It just made me step back and think a little bit about my current priorities and how I am handling all the different hats I am wearing and all the roles I am attempting to fulfill.

I needed a simple little reminder to cherish these incredibly sweet girls of mine. I needed a little motivation to be grateful for these messy, sparkly, pouty, pretty, grumpy, gleeful, snotty, sweet, huggable, adorable, intelligent, active, destructive, loving, giggly, and all too girly little creatures that I get to raise.

Life is good. I am blessed.

Happy Birthday Sara Belle!

We had a great day on Friday! I had such a good time with my girls. We tried to make Sara's introduction to her third year as special as possible while still keeping costs down!

As most good days do, it started with sleeping in! Woot! I love me a good late morning start. When the girls were both up and awake, I threw them in the tub and made it special by allowing extra toys and a crazy amount of bubbles.

This little girl LOVES her bathtime. They both do, but Sara especially enjoys it. They usually get 2 baths a day- one when they wake up and a second just before bedtime. They will splash around and chat with each other for over an hour, and I LOVE having that time to get things done. It's like most mother's nap times I think (since my girls don't care to waste time napping. . .)

Because they bathe so often, I rarely include bubbles anymore. It just got to be a little expensive. That is what made this sudsy explosion so exciting.

They also got to play in Mommy's big 'Pool Tub' instead of their own 'Too Little Tub'. Admittedly, this is a luxury they get more often than they should as I can actually see my tub while typing on my bed- so it makes me feel better about letting them hang out in there without me right there with them.

After they were sufficiently pruned and lotioned, Sara and Emma got to see their new dresses, and we all got manicures!

When I was in Junior High I had a slight obsession with nail polish. I ammassed a HUGE collection of every color imaginable (as long as it was available at the dollar store). I no longer paint my nails very often- except for my toes which Ross has requested stay a sultry shade of red.

I have considered many times giving away my box of ancient polish to a good cause (AKA Junior High girls) but can never quite bring myself to do so.

Now that I have two very girly little girls, I feel a little bit validated in keeping it. They love when I paint their nails. I don't do it often enough. Emma made sure I got some as well. Emma chose a pearly purple, Sara chose a light blue to match her new dress, and I selected some pink sparkles.

Now that we were all glamored up, it was time to do what all refined ladies do, and lunch with a girlfriend. My Emily friend met us for lunch and we had a grand ole time! When Emma got bored, I let her play with my camera so I could try and extend my rare and lovely time with Emily. Some of them were really cute- like this one.

I took this one. I like it.

Emma took this one. and this one. Aside from my double chin, I love that she captured a fun moment.

Those cheeks!

Thanks for taking the time to come and play with me, Emily Dear! I know you could have spent that time napping or homeworking, or other important and productive things.

After lunch, we to my mom's house where Sara got another grand and unexpected suprise- Dana was there! She didn't have school that day, and the girls could not have been more thrilled. Dana immediately recruited their help in washing the dishes- which they LOVED.

Happy Birthday Sara- you missed a spot. . . :)

After the dishes were completed, Caulene came home, and the chasing games began which meant hard-to-photograph-cuteness ensued.

My sisters are so great!

Their nieces just adore them, and I don't blame them one bit!!

See how Caulene didn't even have time to take off her work tag before she was thrown into this game? That is a sign of an awesome aunt!

There are more pictures- lots of them (and the other awesome Aunt Heather appears in some of those- don't feel left out!).