Cute Picture Bonanza

The girls have been hilarious lately, so to avoid a super-long post tomorrow (there will be Halloween pictures!), I'm putting some pictures up today.

This is Afton "crying." You see, there's this part in Disney's Sleeping Beauty where one of the fairies cries happy tears and dabs at them with a handkerchief. Now anytime Afton has a dry rag, she "cries"--even going into a corner to do so.


Here we have Annika, talking on the "phone." No idea where she got that one--we didn't watch any shows with the old telephones in them until last night (Mary Poppins for FHE).


This is my little pirate. She pulls the bib over her nose, says "Arrr!" in her tiny toddler voice, then declares "I a pirate!"

A Retrospective--Daddy and Hair

Today's post concerns two of our favorite things: Daddy and Crazy Hair. We have a ton of crazy hair pictures, some of them courtesy of Daddy. You'll see what I'm talking about at the end.

This is from about the time of Annika's blessing in March of 2004. Notice the very similar haircuts father and daughter share. I love this picture for that very reason.


This is sometime in the past year. I do believe that Mat artfully arranged Afton's hair before the picture. She was delighted by the attention.


Afton is a few months old in this picture and the similarities in their expressions make me laugh. Also, I get impatient with cutting Mat's hair in late pregnancy and early newborn stages, apparently--the haircut he's sporting here is eerily similar to the one he had when Annika was about that age.


Afton comes by her crazy hair naturally, as evidenced by this picture.

Here are two of the squirreliest girls alive, being lovingly restrained by their frustrated father for a picture this past Easter.


Last, but not least, we showcase Mat's obsession with spike-haired offspring. Of course, we wouldn't be taking these as blackmail photos for their dating years. Not at all. We're not that kind of parents. Not us!

A Retrospective--Annika's expressions

We've had a cold running around the family this weekend, so I'm feeling less than creative. In lieu of a real blog post, I'll be posting some of my favorite pictures with captions. Since we have our pictures set as our screensaver, I have quite a few. It's always fun to turn around and see Annika's giant face on the monitor, screwed up in one of her particularly individual expressions.This was shortly after Afton was born, while we were still living with Brother Brown. Living with Brother Brown is another blog post entirely....


This is from Thanksgiving of 2006. We were in Aunt Jess' (Mat's sister) backyard, which borders on some horse properties. Annika didn't like the horses up close, but she was content to sit with me on the porch and watch them from a distance.

This is from pre-Afton days, though judging by the pants, I'm pregnant--those are definitely my maternity jeans. Annika was fascinated with all the technology we had crammed into a small space just beyond our front room/management office for Villa Tempe. Managing Villa Tempe...there's another post for another time.

I have no idea what Annika's frustrated by in this picture, but the expression makes me laugh. And it must be just after we moved into our current apartment, because the modem's on the desk--we moved it to a better place not much later. The cords were too fascinating for the almost-two-year-old sitting by them. I'm glad we made that decision, because with the current two-year-old, they'd be out, chewed on, and goodness knows what else.

Again, just after we moved into the current apartment. The stain on the front of Annika's sweatshirt is of the anitbiotic variety--she went through a few ear infections that season. I love the scrunched-up smile eyes and the braids! Her hair's too short to braid now.

There will be more to come--stay tuned!

More on the -isms front

It's been a fairly sedate week for us. General Conference was great--the bits we heard over the girls, anyway. You'd think that watching Conference at home with two littles would be easier. And maybe it is easier than hauling them to the stake center and getting them to sit still, but wow.

Or maybe we just need a louder tv.



Now on to the -isms!

SCENE: Annika is sitting on Karie's lap. She tootles (passes gas). A lot. Loudly.

KARIE: (teasing) What did you just do, Annika?
ANNIKA: (seriously) I was hatching eggs, Momma.

I know it's crude, but it made Mat and I laugh for a long time.
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SCENE: Afton is at her little play table, coloring with crayons. A few fall on the floor and she picks them up with her toes.

AFTON: Thank you toes!
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SCENE: Annika's in full imaginative play mode and makes Karie an apron out of fabric scraps.

KARIE: Thanks, babe! What's the apron for?
Annika ponders for a moment.
ANNIKA: To keep your mind clean.

She corrected herself after a little more thinking, but I thought it was great!
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A few nights ago we were in the rocking chair just before bed and I was singing the girls lullabies of their choice. When I asked Annika what she wanted, she hopped out of the chair and paced for a moment, then requested an Enya song. I laughed and said I didn't know all the words to the Enya songs. She paced a little more, then climbed back into my lap and requested a U2 song.

Fortunately for her, I know one. I sang "MLK"--it was too appropriate.
Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thunder cloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Rain down me
So let it be
So let it be

Sleep
Sleep tonight
And may your dreams
Be realized
If the thundercloud
Passes rain
So let it rain
Let it rain
Rain on me
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Lastly, we have to record Afton's standard answer to our "why" questions: "Because I want to!"
This is fun when we can manipulate the conversation, like so:

KARIE: Afton, why are you in time out?
AFTON: (gleefully) Because I want to!

And so on.