Because We Get More Comments If We Post Pictures

You'd think I'd learn and post one picture per entry, instead of the current "feast or famine" method. But I am not a patient person and here we are, with an entry full of pictures.


First off, we have Annika. I believe the phrasing here was "Look Momma! I'm standing on my head!"

Secondly, we have the result of some amazing sales at the grocery stores I haunt. Meat went on sale all at once, as did the frozen pizzas ($2.99 a pizza. How could I pass that up?). And there are waffles, because the kids aren't completely cold-cereal proficient yet and I don't do breakfast. I eat it, lest you worry about my health, but if it takes more than five minutes to make, I'll find something else to eat. Rare is the day when we have omelets and bacon and fresh fruit, much less pancakes. Usually Mat's home on those mornings.

Here is Afton's big girl bed. She picked the bottom sheet out all by herself. And the plaid alternates, which will probably show up in some future post, but I'll forget to point them out, so I'm telling you now.

If you thought Afton's bed looked familiar, here's why:
Annika has the exact same frame! Why, it must be a set of matching bunk beds!

Despite all the hard work we put into setting up that bed, occasionally this is where we find Afton after her nap: (this picture was taken in a dark room by the way--our flash is incredible)

Of course, the flash woke her up. Which is why Mat was in the room in the first place, but she was resisting his chosen method of simulating sunrise.

Lastly, we have the sisters, who have finally learned that it's more fun to play TOGETHER instead of fighting over the same set of toys. Life has gotten more bearable, decibel-wise. Now if we could just get them to clean up....

Moving on Up in the World

We've had a couple of momentous things happen this week. First of all, Afton has moved into a big girl bed!! Yay!! She's actually adjusting to it quite well, which is happy news. Saturday night, the first night, was the worst, since I'd kept her from napping in hopes that she'd fall asleep quickly. No such luck. So I sat in the room for 45 minutes, in the dark, listening to her and to Annika scream and cry every time I put them back into bed. (Thanks to Amanda for the adjustment idea!) But last night went much better, as have naptimes.

In other news, I took the GRE again last Saturday. It went very well, I think, given that in two categories I improved my eight-year-old score by 100 points. We'll see how I do on the essays.

And now, our -isms:

SCENE: Our apartment. It's cloudy outside. Afton hears a little thunder and turns to Momma.

AFTON: Momma! We win!

(She thought the thunder was fireworks from an ASU football game.)


SCENE: We've just gotten home from church and have been invited out to dinner.

ANNIKA: (twirling) I want to keep my dress on so I can be pretty for Papa!

The End

A Load of -isms

The -isms continue:

Annika generally supplies her playtime scenarios with dialogue. This is what I heard a few days ago:

"What are scissors for?" (gleefully) "They're for cutting!" I believe she is looking forward to the day in which she actually gets to use scissors.



Also, the kids are fascinated with our refrigerator magnets. Annika makes shapes and builds giraffes. Afton uses them as steering wheels: “I drive cars, Momma!”




Here is Mat’s very well-used apron, given to him by my mother for Christmas a few years ago. Annika was staring at it while we were eating dinner Sunday night, then pointed to the white area (the part with "Don't mess with Texas!") and said “That’s Dallas!” Then she pointed to the white star and said, “And that’s where we live!” Mat laughed and explained that we live in Arizona, a place not on the apron, but yes, Lubbock is approximately where the star is. We think that a certain Nana has been coaching her granddaughter in Texas geography.




The final –ism comes from last night. Afton woke up screaming at 2am, so I went in to comfort her. We rocked in the rocking chair for a while and she requested a couple of songs to be sung to her. After I finished, she said sleepily, “Bes’ fren, Momma.” I asked her if I was her best friend and she nodded. Sweet kid!

Really, You're Here for the Pictures

We had a very busy weekend two weeks ago. It's best portrayed by this picture of Afton.
We always love having family visit, and it makes for some great photo opportunities, like the one above.


However, I'm clueless about how to load pictures in order on the blog, so we will step away from chronological order for the moment. Firstly, as a refresher, here is one of Afton's Thanksgiving antics from last year:

And here we have Afton from last Sunday, reprising those same antics.

For some reason she thinks it's hilarious to climb into the tub in full Sunday dress. I guess jokes don't get old when you're two.

A little more from the Afton department--post-nap on Saturday, she decided to climb into the baskets, which are full of old pillows:


Lastly, can you find the toddler in this picture?


So, two weeks ago, we had numerous out of town visitors. First to descend were Nana and Granddad (Mat's parents), and Aunt Elise, who was on her way back to BYU and really REALLY wanted to see her nieces again.



We all found out the hard way that two and three year old minds don't have the endurance to play a full game of Sorry! But at least we tried!
Here we have Granddad and Afton. I don't know what Granddad is perturbed by, but Afton seems to be indifferent....
The next day we got to spend sometime with my brother Stephen and his girlfriend Heidi. Well, she's not his girlfriend anymore, as of last night. She's his fiancee! Yay! It was nice to get to know Heidi a little better. She's a great fit with Stephen and we like her very much.

Adventures in Sacrament Meeting

I hesitate to admit it, but even after all the spiritual experiences of a mission I struggled to find going to church all that interesting... and then we had kids.
Last week, right after the first sacrament prayer Annika leans over to me and tells me that she really has to go to the bathroom. So I take her into the men's room, but she won't let me follow her into the stall. She told me, "I need my privacy Daddy". So I let her go for it. Everything seemed to be going fine until I hear her gasp and yell in a very small, surprised voice, "DADDY!". My first reaction is to say, "Are you Okay?", and the response I get is, "I fell in". This is said in a tone of "I can't believe I have to say this out loud". (Annika is a teenager in a 3 year old's body in many ways). So I go in to assess the situation and sure enough she is folded in half with her face shoved into her knees and most of her body actually in the bowl. And yet when I got her out she had managed to keep all parts of her clothing dry. And the best part, even through all that I was able to get back in time for the water!
Then this week Afton was being particularly noisy, or at least I was being particularly sensitive to it. So we spent a good amount of time out in the foyer. When I do this I make her sit on my lap and she is not allowed to get down at all. So she was fighting and crying, and I kept explaining to her that if she would show me that she could sit quietly that we would go back into the chapel where she could play with her quiet toys. I also explain to her the importance of not creating a distraction during sacrament meeting.
We finally went back into the chapel and she was being pretty well behaved. Then she wanted to give me a hug, and started playing with my tie. She was running her hand up and down my tie and was fascinated to find that the tie continued under my collar.
Now, I was wearing a shirt with a button down collar, and she ran her hand right through the hole that is made by the button, but then she couldn't get her hand back out. She started yanking at my neck, and was getting a little distressed over this. I was trying to get her out, but I was having a hard time being able to see what was going on. I tried to undo the collar button, but she was pulling so hard that I couldn't get any slack to get the button through the hole. Finally Karie saw our dilemma and saved the day.
Of course the people sitting behind us couldn't help but notice what was going on. So the whole time I'm struggling with Afton I can hear them giggling behind me. (We are friends with the couple and they are Annika's primary teachers) So much for not creating distractions. ;)