Keira turns 3 on Easter! - April 2011

Keira's birthday was on Easter this year so we had her party the Saturday before and went to the Doug Allen Sportsfield in the morning for the Easter egg hung before going home to get ready for her Cinderella party. Cindy Cross made her beautiful Cinderella cake. That night a bunch of us went to Bothell Landing for our own Easter Egg hunt. Ella and Keira dyed eggs on her birthday. Avery also came to visit from West Pasco. We also had an Easter egg hunt at Bothell Landing.

Sea of blankets - March 2011

At this very moment, the girls are covering every inch of our upstairs with every possible blanket and pillow that they can find:) Speaking of blankets...Ella was coloring yesterday afternoon on some paper on the floor in her bedroom and I sat down to watch her for a few minutes before heading off to my presidency meeting. I laid down on the floor on my side. She took one look at me, made a sweet face, and headed for her bed. She got a pillow, her cat, and her special blanket and gave them all to me to snuggle with and make me feel more comfortable. I thought it was very sweet of her. The group picture was taken on March 10th, our last preschool day with Avery.

First Swim Lesson, snow, and a princess cake just because - Feb 2011

Ella had her very first swim lesson today at Mount Lake Terrace Pool! I was very proud of her...except when she said that one of the other swim instructors (an older slightly heavy set lady) had a big bottom:) Ella was ever so sweet and matter of fact when she said it so it was hard not to smile. She has never said anything like that in public that might offend someone. Fortunately she didn't see the smile on my face (really mature right!) and I told her that was inappropriate. Her instructor looked a bit like a slim version of Chris Farley and was really great with joking around with the kids. His name is Roy. There were three boys and one other girl in her class. The other girls name was Lucy and I sat next to her mom who was really nice. Ella loved it as evidenced by her smiles in the pictures but afterward shared that she wished her teacher was a girl. Ella got to swim after class for free time with her friend Lucy all by herself. It was a big moment for mom to let her do it by herself. Keira played Doodlebuddy on mom's touch while she waited. Also pictured below are the annual super bowl cupcakes.

Christmas in January 2011

Keira still likes us to sing her Christmas songs at bedtime. Just las night I sang her Jingle Bells and I saw Mrs. Claus kissing Santa Claus.

To sleep or not to sleep...or to change my clothes...or to snuggle... - January 2011

Keira has been coming out of her room more lately after being tucked in at night. And last night she kept coming out as has been her norm lately. But this time, sick mom thought it'd be a good idea to just let her have her lights dimmed and tuck some books in her bed and ask her to stay in bed and go to sleep after reading books. Ella will do that, so why should our second child be any different? About an hour later after hearing her cough (she is getting over a cold too) mom checks on her. She is not in her bed. She is not in her PJ's anymore either. She is curled up in the rocker glider resting her head on the armrest apparently sleeping and wearing a whole new outfit which included a skirt exposing her bare little legs to the cold. The skirt she was wearing was one with shorts underneath and she managed to fit both of her little legs into one of the sides of the undershorts. Mom had to refrain from laughing and felt bad about her exposed little legs. When mom picked her up to take her to bed she woke and explained she was taking a little rest on the chair and got all excited when mom told her she needed leggings and socks and got some books off the floor while mom got socks. She was ready for another sleepover party to begin and made sure that she put her socks on herself. But she did go to sleep after that...only to wake up at who knows when, alegedly 5:20 according to Ella, and slipped into Ella's room to play with her. Dad heard them giggling at 6 AM so they were playing together for who knows how long! And then tonight Ella conked out pretty quick, no doubt because she was up so early. But Keira played a little while. After checking on her about 20 minutes after tucking her in she had found her way into Ella's room again only to find Ella already asleep. Keira told mom that she wanted to snuggle with Ella. And mom found Keira with new pajama pants on. Same shirt this time, just different pants. Oh they are so sweet!

Park time:

Charlie Brown Christmas - December 2010

We've watched Charlie Brown Christmas a couple of times this year and the girls love it. Dad turned it on today for them to watch while mom was getting ready for church and when Linus came on for the first time with his blanket Keira pointed at the TV and said 'he has a stupid blanket.' Dad thought it was funny because she said it to point out that she knew this because she'd seen it before and remembered that Lucy called his blanket stupid.

Also today, Ella sang in church for part of the Christmas program today and she did a beautiful job and looked beautiful doing it. She had a great time and paid close attention to the choristers and did sign for some of the songs. I was INCREDIBLY proud of her. She is an angel.

Caroling - December 2010

The girls got a taste of the Christmas spirit today because they went caroling to some members of our ward at the North Creek Rehab Center. Dorothy was dancing along to the songs they sang. They sang Away in a Manger, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Merry Christmas. When I had the girls practice Rudolf we did it with all of the little extras i.e. 'light bulb' and 'Pinocchio' and 'Columbus' but any time there was a pause Keira would defalt to 'Columus' each time and she would sometimes get upset when I tried to correct her that Columbus does not have a shiny nose. Anyway, Ray was touched by the girls and grateful for their visit. He wanted the girls to see some paintings of flowers he'd made and the girls thought they were beautiful. He had a sign up that said 'Happy Birthday Ray' in his room and Ella read it and turned to me and said 'that must be Ray.' :) Both the girls sang well and had a good experience with their friends.