Not another Novel...

I’m trying to stick to more pictures and less words this post…

Carolyn has been continuing to wear pants…wore them 3 times last week. Here she is posing for the camera in her pants… (I love this girl)

And, our sweet Angela making faces for the camera...

I love how these two love doing just about everything together...
Two of Angela's favorite things to wear: a bow and her silk pj princess top. She gets mad when I take her bow out of her hair (so, yes, she sleeps with a bow in her hair and won't have it any other way :)...and she loves wearing this shirt everywhere! What a little girly!
Andrew has been insanely busy with work (he's so amazing!) Although his hours are cRaZy, he still finds time for the girls and me.




We still love doing a lot of puzzles around here...Angela is getting pretty impressive with them. Her favorites are animals ones :) She loves making her animal sounds...I love when she "meow"s - it's my favorite :)
Last week the girls and I started a new tradition that we all love! I love where we live. One great thing is the stars really shine over here at night! Every night before bed, Angela, Carolyn, and I look at the window, look at stars, and sing Primary songs (or other favorites)...I love it! After Carolyn goes to bed, Angela and I look out her window in her room and sing a few more songs together...I love this new tradition!

Stories, Snuggles, and Songs

One of my favorite times of the day is right before Carolyn goes to sleep. After we do our normal bedtime routine (books, brush teeth, prayer, scriptures, etc.), I tuck Carolyn in her bed, turn off her light and snuggle with her. During this time, we first tell stories. Carolyn loves the little stories I tell her (probably her favorite stories are the ones where she goes on adventures with The Little Einsteins). I love when Carolyn tells me a story (I love hearing her creative little adventures she makes up), but sometimes it’s just me telling the stories. Anyways, after stories – I sing her her “I love Carolyn” song:


(Sung to the tune similar to “I love you, Conrad” on Bye, Bye Birdy)

I love you Carolyn
Oh, yes I do
I don’t love anyone like I love you
And when you feel sad, I feel sad, too
Oh, Carolyn I love you

After I sing her her song, she sings me an “I Love Mommy” song…it melts my heart every time when she sings it…it’s the same song I sing to her, but instead of “Carolyn” she sings to “Mommy.” I love it and it’s always a perfect ending to a day for me. After that, we tell each other how much we love each other and how special we think each other are…I love being a mom - especially to my two sweeties!

This Week's Happenings...

Just in case you were wondering, yes – Carolyn has still only worn dresses everyday of her life(ever since she was two, she insisted to only wear dresses…we pick our battles and I decided that that was one I didn’t want to fight…she looks adorable wearing dresses anyway). Well, Carolyn and I have always talked about that when she turns 4 she needs to start wearing pants sometimes. We talk about how when she turns 5, she’ll go to school and often times there, she'll need to wear pants for gym class and stuff…so at age 4 she needs to wear pants to “practice” before she turns 5. Anyways, last Saturday, we went to the park and, since it was cold, she needed to wear pants out. Well, this was a life-changing moment for her. She decided that she looked quite old in pants! Today she wore pants and a shirt -all on her own! I don’t think that it’s going to be an everyday thing (she’ll still wear dresses quite a lot, I think)…but we are on our way to a pant-wearing girl! She looks so cute in her little pants... I’ve been loving the cute change (although dresses are adorable on her, too - so it will be fun to see her in both now).
Angela has become our little spy. Maybe the neighbors will think it's creepy...but, she loves looking out our playroom window at all the neighbor's backyards (there isn't much privacy in the yards here :)...of course, she is looking for their cats and dogs (which are out quite often - she loves finding them). Anyways, she pulls this little orange chair over to the window everyday so her and her baby doll can find some animals.
She found a cat!

Our 3 1/2 Year-Old Carolyn

Our sweet Carolyn became a Sunbeam a few weeks ago! She was really weary of being in Primary because her “favorite friends” (as she calls them) are in our old ward. She always thought of Primary as a time she’d be able to reunite with her Prince (he’s a year older than her and in our old ward) and be with her best buds in her class so she was nervous to be in primary in a new ward…but, it turns out that she LOVES Primary despite her worries of being in there in a new ward! Last week when we got home from primary, she taught me a little lesson about how Jesus loves me..She loves primary and it seems that she is learning from it, too. Our ward has a lot of kids in it- Carolyn is lucky to have a class where there are 13 active kids in it (there are more than that, but 13 come regularly on Sundays)...hopefully she'll develop friendships in her class so some of the kids in our new ward will be her "favorites," too...

After her first day of Primary, a sister in the ward that has a boy Carolyn’s age came up to me and told me a little story. She told me that her son was really nervous about being in Primary…this sister brought her nervous son into the Primary room and sat him down next to Carolyn…This sister told me that Carolyn made him feel good about being in Primary. She said Carolyn started talking to him and made him feel comfortable to be there. That is Carolyn for you. She has such a kind and sweet heart – it amazes me.

I also think that she is such a peacemaker (most of the time :) When she is around kids and there is some contention going on, she does her best at resolving whatever issue is going on. For instance, if a toy is being fought over, she reminds them that they need to share and she figures out whose turn it is to play with the toy.

Carolyn continues to dance and sing (her two most favorite things to do). Winter time is always when we bring the puzzles out more often – she continues to be a puzzle-wiz. Last year when she was just 4 months over being 2 years old, she could do little 63 piece puzzles all by herself. We still do her "easy" puzzles a lot, but now we enjoy doing 100 to 150 piece puzzles together...she can't do them by herself yet (I don't think it will be too long til she can do them), but she amazes me with how well she does them with a little help from me (I know, I'm being a proud, biased mom :)

Carolyn is also such a sweet older sister. I love watching her and Angela interact together. Those two love each other. Carolyn loves teaching Angela and helping her do things around the house. I love it when I see Carolyn’s hand on Angela’s little back guiding her to where she needs to go, or when I see her teaching Angela where a puzzle piece goes on a puzzle, or when she "reads" to Angela, or when she shows her how to use the potty, or when she laughs at Angela's silliness, etc, etc. I just love my two little girls.

Carolyn also loves art…here are some examples:

She loves to paint....

...and draw (these are her flowers she draws)...she also getting so good at putting detail on the people she draws (eyes, nose, hair, mouth, etc.)... ...And she loves to color...
We love our Carolyn! Andrew and I feel so blessed to have her in our family. She is such an example to me and helps me to understand more why we are taught to become as children are...she's an amazing little girl.

Our 20 Month-Old Angela

Angela is the most maternal little girl I know! It is amazing how her gift of being such a nurturer is so evident at such a young age. Seriously, her life is about babies. 98% of what comes out of her mouth is "baby;" she doesn't go anywhere without one of her dolls; when we go somewhere, the entire purpose of going to that place (in her cute little head) is to find babies (during sacrament meeting, she just looks for babies most of the time); and her day is filled taking care of her dolls. Her day consists of putting her babies to bed (she puts them to bed several times a day...and makes sure we all give her dolls a kiss before she puts them down), she feeds her babies (she has a little highchair for her dolls...or she puts them in her own highchair), she rocks her dolls, gives them lots of hugs and kisses, pushes them around in her stroller, snuggles them, etc., etc. Seriously, this little sweety loves caring for her baby dolls. And she does such a good job at it. I love watching her when she wraps her doll in a blanket, then snuggles her while rocking her, and then she gives her baby lots of kisses. She has such a nurturing and sweet heart.

Angela is also a fantastic helper! She loves helping me with anything I ask her to do. She's so good at bringing people their shoes, coats, etc. when it is time to go. She's also excellent at running little errands around the house. If I need to get something to Carolyn or need to put something in another room, Angela very happily helps. If I need something, she loves running to get whatever I need and brings it to me (I also just love her cute little run!). She's such a sweety.

Angela is also my little snuggle bug. She loves snuggling and loves tickles. If you want to be her friend, just give her little arm gentle little tickles and she'll love you. I love it when we snuggle...often times when we are, she pull her little sleeves up on her arms and hold both arms out to be tickled. It's so adorable!

Angela has never really been interested in television (a great thing) until a couple weeks ago when we introduced the beginning of "Tarzan" to her (the part at the beginning when Tarzan is a baby). We have to fast forward the part where the jaguar is trying to get the baby (Angela watched it once and her sweet little heart couldn't take it - that little baby being chased by a scary monster was too scary of a thought for her)...Anyways, she now will ask for her "Tarzan" quite a bit. This is how she tells me that she wants to watch "Tarzan":

There is a little basket next to our couches with pillows and blankets. To let me know that she wants to watch her little show with me...she'll first pull out a pillow for me and then for her...then she'll put out a blanket for us to use. She sets up the pillows and blankets so we can be comfortable while watching the baby on "Tarzan" while snuggling. Then, she come and get me...she points to the TV and says "baby" and then acts like a gorilla (she'll pound her hands on her tummy while making gorilla sounds)....and then she lay down on the pillow and blankets and show me where she wants me to lay next to her...

...Now, really....how do you say "no" to that? :)

We just love the spirit our sweet Angela brings to our home. I could go off forever on things I love about my little girl, but those were just a few. She also loves coloring. Here is an example of her artwork:

A Few More...

Here are a few more pictures from our fun with Ponka and Nana! Thanks for the pictures, Janeil!

A Typical Day

A few days ago, I read someone's blog where they wrote down what they do with their kids on a typical day and thought it was a fun idea!

I just put together a new schedule for me and the girls that I am so excited about (I thrive on organizing my time, if you can't tell :) I love Januarys - I love making goals for the year and a new winter schedule (this schedule will last us until mid-March when it starts getting warm outside and when Andrew's busy season is over). Obviously, we don't always follow this schedule exactly....we skip things all of the time. I just love having something to go by everyday...it's my effort to try to get everything in that I want to do with the girls as well as finish tasks I need to get done for the week. And, of course, there's Visiting Teaching and other regular stuff that isn't in the schedule - we just follow this when we can and I'm not being lazy :) If you are reading this, you should post a typical day for you! I LOVE reading what you stay-at-home moms are doing! :)

OUR LOVELY SCHEDULE:

6:30 – 9:00: I'm really making it a goal this year that this time is for my time with the girls ONLY! I'm trying to do all I can to put this time aside for uninterrupted play time with my girls (I don’t do any cleaning or projects of my own). I feel that it is important for my girls to start off the day with time with mom. For my girls, I have found that making the first few of hours of their day time with uninterupted mom-time helps them to play better together and individually – and I love having this time to just be with them, too! They are so fun! During this time, we eat breakfast and I get the girls ready for the day (I get them dressed, fix their hair, brush their teeth). The rest of the time I mostly spend on the floor playing with whatever toys, games, or puzzles they choose to do and I spend the time reading with them. Also during this time, Carolyn and I fun teaching Angela preschool.

9:00 – 9:30: During this time, I turn on music for the girls to dance to (or pull out the keyboard or something) and I get ready for 15 min. and spend the rest of the time putting a load of laundry in (and hanging the clothes up to air dry), cleaning up the house a bit or whatever else little needs to be done.

9:30 – 12:30: Snack and...
Mondays – Play with Kaylen (switch houses every week)
Tuesdays – Spend 2 hours at the library (Our library has storytime and a play area -
2 hours are easily spent there). We get home around 12:00 from the library and
spend the rest of the time reading books we got there.
Wednesdays – Every other week, go to Sprouts (an amazing produce store) and a friend’s
house – the other week, we have a friend over to play.
Thursdays – Grocery Shopping, fold laundry, bake together (bread, tortillas, etc.)
Fridays – Have a Friend over to play

12:30 – 1:00: Lunch and Angela goes down for a nap

1:00 – 2:00: Carolyn’s Quiet Time (she watches her show for the day - usually Sesame Street or Little Einsteins) and I get stuff done.
Mondays: Scriptures, clean
Tuesdays: Scriptures, finances
Wednesdays: Scriptures, blog
Thursdays: Scriptures, clean
Fridays: Scriptures, work on calling

2:00 – 3:00: On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I do Preschool with Carolyn.
On Tuesdays, I do puzzles with Carolyn and/or a big craft.
On Thursdays, I play games with Carolyn and Carolyn
has computer time (I try to encourage her do to www.starfall .com, but she
also likes the Sesame Street website). During her computer time, I get some cleaning done.

3:00 – 4:00: Snack and I do Creative Play with the girls
Mondays: Music Class (make instruments, play instruments, learn new songs, sing,
etc.)/bathtime
Tuesdays: Dance Class (the girls get all dressed up in their ballet clothes and I attempt
to teach them ballet, tap, jazz, and gymnastics)
Wednesdays: Build a fort with blankets - read books inside
Thursdays: Music Class/bathtime
Fridays: Dance Class

4:00 – 5:00: Angela and Carolyn’s playtime together (I play with them a little, but this is the time where they can just play together as cute little sisters…while they play, I use a lot of the time to work out (sometimes the girls like to work out with me for some of their playtime) and for the rest of the time, I get some cleaning done and make dinner (it is busy season for Andrew so that's why I don't spend a lot of time making dinner - he doesn't eat with us during the week... and I'm lazy about making dinner when he's not around :) I usually cook quite a bit over the weekend during his busy season and then us girls eat leftovers and such for dinner every night).

5:00 – 5:30: Run around downstairs in the basement together (the girls love it when I go in the basement and play with them – they usually want me to pretend I’m a mean queen or something so I chase them around while they run or ride on their bikes– this way, I get some more exercise – and so do the girls :)

5:30 – 6:00: We have Puzzle Time or Craft Time together

6:00 – 6:45: Eat, clean up dinner

6:45 – 7:15: Clean up toy room and read books and scriptures together

7:15 – 7:30: Put Carolyn to bed

7:30 – 8:00: My one-on-one time with Angela (Carolyn gets her time during Angela’s nap time) - we usually sing or read together…or just snuggle).

8:00 – 8:20: Clean up house/finish up some tasks while Angela runs around playing.

8:20 – 8:30: Put Angela to bed

8:30 – 9:00: Shower, relax (check email, facebook....etc.)

9:00 - 10:30: Get some work done!
Mondays: Iron all of Andrew’s work clothes.
Tuesdays: Make a week’s plan of Preschool activities for Angela and Carolyn – and put
together a FHE lesson
Wednesdays: Deep Clean something in the house
Thursdays: Organize things in the house or work on my calling
(when I do my nightly tasks, I will often times will be watching a movie...or starting SOON, "American Idol"!)

Well, that's our schedule! I really am making it a goal for myself to follow the schedule when we don't have other stuff going on as best we can....often enough, I get lazy and skip some things on the schedule, but this year - I am really trying hard to follow the fun activites I have planned everyday for the most part! But, you know, instead of reading books together before bed last night, us girls sat on the couch in our pjs cuddling and watched a movie together (you've got to have some days like that- right?) And, of course, there are also those days when "Little Einsteins" is on more than it should be :)

Anyways, if you were brave enough to get down to the bottom of this very long post - I want to know what your typical day is like! Like I said, I love knowing how other moms fill their time! I am excited for this fun winter we have planned! I think that the girls and I are going to have a blast together!