Christmas 2010

 

 

I did a poor job of documenting Christmas morning.  I was torn between taking video, taking photos, and soaking in the experience with the girls.  The latter won, thus the limited number of quite terrible photos.  But, it was a fantastic, albeit tiring, day.

Rowan and Harper scored a sweet kitchen, plus play dishes and food.  They are loving it.

Harper was quite content playing with her stocking toys--couldn't have cared less about opening anything else.

With every present she opened, Rowan exclaimed, "Oh my goodness!" or "Look at this _______ Mama! It's so beautiful!"  It was quite funny, and Justin and I had to hold in our laughs.  There is nothing like a kid on Christmas, really, there isn't.

And for those of you who did not get our card:

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

a dance recital

ro-ro had a little recital for her dance class in december.  i must admit, i was surprised that she participated for most of the time!  normally, when i watch her in class, she just watches her teacher when they do the actual dance routines.  and, almost every week, about 3/4 of the way through class, she starts to run around the room.  which provokes all of the other 2 year olds to do the same.  yes, my kid is the trouble maker.

however, she participated! and had fun with it!!  it was very cute, and i'm hoping, wishing, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed that as the next few months go by, her attention span will lengthen and she'll enjoy dance more.  if not, maybe we'll try out gymnastics :)

cousin buddies

These two.  They're fun to watch, and they love each other.  I love having cousins close to us, it makes having kids that much more fun.

Yo Gabba Gabba

Yo Gabba Gabba came to town in November, and while we didn't get to see their show, we did hear that they would be at a cute little local toy store for a small meet and greet.  My mom and sister were in town, so we thought it would be fun to go.  After about a 30 minute wait, the characters finally arrived.

Rowan was so excited, I loved her reaction.

And she got to give hugs:

Needless to say, she did not want her turn to be over, and threw a little fit when we had to leave.  But, I'm glad we went.  It was exciting for Ro, and fun for us to watch her excitement.  Isn't that what we do it all for?

my little models

Obviously I am biased, but I have the cutest models to use whenever I need product photos.  Love them.

Halloween 2010

The cast of characters:

Not pictured: the mom.

Halloween was super rainy and cold, which was kind of a bummer.  Rowan said she wanted to go home after we'd only done about half of our little neighborhood.  She had fun walking around with friends though, and we made it through all of the houses.  Justin stayed at the house with Harper and handed out candy, and then when Rowan and I got back:

Harper ate everything.

Just kidding, she had a couple things, as did Rowan, and then...the next day it was forgotten about! I threw the candy out, and never heard another word about it.  I have to enjoy it now, because I really don't think we'll be so lucky next year!!

October 2010

October was filled with fun Halloween activities:  pumpkin carving, Hee Haw Farms, a ward Halloween party, and of course, trick or treating.

Dad did most of the work...

Ro helped..kind of.  She mainly loved playing with the lids. 

And the nugget stayed out of the way.

and the final result!!

 

We didn't choose a great time to go this year--by the time we got there it was dark, all of the animals were pretty much put away.  That's Ro's favorite part.  She did enjoy going down the slide by herself though.  The kid loves a rush, I think, and just kept going and going.

Harper was pretty bored--she couldn't see the animals, the poor thing just had to sit in the stroller while we walked Ro through the different activities.  We plopped her in the corn pit for a few minutes, and she enjoyed it, but since she puts everything in her mouth, we didn't leave her in there long.

Dance!

Rowan started her little dance class last week.  It's just a little combo class for 2 year olds, but she's excited about it, and I'm excited for her.  I think her favorite part might just be her little dance clothes, but I think it will be really fun for her.

The first class went well, but when asked to show you what she learned, she just talks about her clothes.  Hopefully she'll learn more next time :)    She does looks so cute in her clothes though!

{poor picture quality due to shooting through a window}

pretty girls

I just love this photo of Rowan.  She looks old, but she looks so pretty!  It's times like this--when she's sitting still for one second and being super sweet--that I have to force myself to (sort of) look past the fact that a few days prior she's saying "CHILLAX MOM..."  and "NO! I don't WANT to do (insert whatever I asked her to do)."

And yes, I straightened her hair.  Don't judge me.

And then there's Harper.  I think directly after her bath is about the only time during the day that her face is clean.  No really, no matter how well I think I've cleaned her up after eating, she somehow manages to find food somewhere and get it all over herself.  The fact that she's now crawling should really help.  But anyway, she's pretty too.

stuff rowan says that i want to remember

when asked to do something: "ummmmmmm.....................no thanks."

"you're a bank robber" (huh? i'm trying to figure out what she' s really saying with this)

"i slept good, mom"

told me the other day "you're beautiful, mom"... if that doesn't make your day, i don't know what does.

"i'm so happy" to which i reply "you're happy? good!" and she says "no, i'm not.  i'm sick!"  wha??

i love roro.  she's so hilarious.

*post edit-- rowan just said "hey mom...chill out" i'm in for a wild ride when she's a teenager, aren't i?

my girls

i kind of like them.  just a titch.

H and R

can't really explain why i love this photo so much.  it's blurry, but it's the essence of how i think rowan feels about her relationship with her cuz:  unadulterated fun.

fall behind, catch up, repeat

that's pretty much how life has been these past couple of months!  lots going on, lots to blog about.  it's all coming.  soon.

Easter 2010

{the loot...even mommy got some stuff from "E. Bunny"}

Well, I must say we had a nice Easter.  Justin had the day off work {hooray} and we had a nice relaxing morning, watched General Conference, and enjoyed each other's company.  I really wish every day was like that!!

{admiring some of her treats}

I know, isn't her morning hair awesome?  Wait, here's an even better one:

She sweats a lot in her sleep, so her hair is always super curly in the mornings.  And all over the place.  Rag-a-muffin Rowan.  So cute.

We got the girls some $1 bunny ears from Target.  How cute are my lil' bunnies??

We hid a few candy-filled eggs around the house for Rowan to find.  Obviously she enjoyed herself!  I had tried to talk up the Easter bunny in the days leading up to Easter, but by that morning she'd forgotten all about it and only got excited about finding eggs because we made it seem exciting.  We'll get there, along with teaching her about why Easter is really important.

While Rowan found her eggs and dug through her goodies (consisting of bubbles, books, and way too much candy) Harper just hung out like a champ,

sporting her new shades.  Look at that sassafrass.  She's totally digging them!  I love her.  So much that I want to get up right now and go munch on those cheeks.  Yum!!!

After conference and naps, we headed over to Nana's for another egg hunt and some dinner.  I was bummed that the weather wasn't great, but Rowan didn't mind.  She had a great time with this hunt as well.  I have a feeling we're going to need to tone it down with  egg hunts next year....or get her to eat hard-boiled eggs and just hide those instead.

{futile attempt at getting everyone to look at one camera at the same time. I am convinced this will never happen.}

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (two weeks ago...I know, I'm so late)!!  We sure did!

She chose her outfit, down to the headband

Someone woke up at 4:30 this morning (not saying who it was, but I'll tell you it was NOT the baby.  or me.  or Justin) and while this would usually mean grumpy, clingy, and temper tantrum-y, it has been a surprisingly smooth morning.  She's been entertaining herself all morning, and came and got me when she needed a diaper change.*  I changed her out of her jammies (SHOCK!) and after I told her no when she asked to wear a church dress, she settled on jeans, a long sleeve tee, her tutu, and my yellow felt flower headband.  Then, she asked me to turn on the radio in her room so she could dance (and sing, apparently.)


While I don't enjoy waking up (and staying up) at 4:30am, I do love mornings like this.

*we've been throwing in subtle hints to try to prepare her to use the potty.  she usually says no, but she brought it up on her own this morning when I changed her.  maybe she'll be ready soon!!  I don't want to force her into anything, so I'm taking my time, but I secretly (or not-so-secretly) really really want her to hurry up already.

Rowan vs Harper: 4 Month comparison

This is one of my very favorite photos of baby Rowan.  Makes me sad to look back and remember her being that small.

Rowan's hair may have been a titch longer at this point, but Harper definitely has MORE hair.  Rowan's eyes were definitely changing--Harper's are still light.  We will see what happens in a month.

I love the chubby cheeks that look like jowls.  Harper usually has the same look going on when she's sitting up.

Have I mentioned that I just love these munchkins?  

Well, I do.

Easter 2010: Decorating the Eggs

I thought it would be fun for Rowan to decorate eggs this year.  We got an egg dyeing kit {ahem, a *princess* egg dyeing kit} and got to work for FHE on Monday.  We may or may not have gotten brown eggs.....but, I actually liked how the colors turned out, even though they didn't really match the princess theme.  They look pretty cool, right?  Don't tell me if you don't think so...I like them.

So, Rowan didn't help very much with the dyeing process.  She just wanted to stick her hands in the dye.  But, she did help with putting the princess stickers on.  Which, might I add, is one of her favorite things to do.  (Put stickers on things, I mean.  And not just on just eggs.)

{Don't mind the not done hair and comfy clothes.  If you recall, someone has been having a hard time changing out of jammies these days.}

She also tried a hard-boiled egg for the first time {after throwing an egg on the floor, forcing me to peel it} and she DID NOT like it.  "It's yucky" were here exact words, paired with spitting out the tiny bite she'd taken.

The final product.  Remind me why I bought a princess kit?  Couldn't I have gotten something prettier? {Don't tell Rowan I said that.}

And just because she's so cute and squishy:

She didn't help with the egg dyeing/decorating....she must've been too tired from sleeping and being held and cuddled all day long.  Oh, and the coldsores are healing!! Almost gone!!

Cheesin'

Look at this kid!  She's hilarious, and I am seriously so surprised she actually posed for me without a bribe {wait, I don't do that......................ok, I do}.  She was wearing a dress that my mom had given me--one that either me or my sister (or both) wore when we were little girls. 

Smiles didn't last long though....ten minutes later she had the most dramatic meltdown {throwing herself on the floor, screaming, crying etcetera, etcetera} over PAJAMAS and not wanting to eat her lunch.  What?  When did this start happening?  Aren't girls so fun?!? :)