Some February Pictures

We had a picnic for lunch one 80 degree day when I was teaching preschool. These girls are so much fun!
Here's our 3 carseats in 1 car. Not what we had planned, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Hopefully we'll be able to get a used minivan before the summer. Otherwise, I'll be home-bound a lot. Dan's car doesn't have AC, and it's pretty unbearable here without it. So he'll need to use the Camry.
This is my friend Shelby's new baby. Anne. Isn't she beautiful? She looks a lot like her oldest (Laurel) did when she was born. I love living close to Shelby again. I'll be so bummed this summer when they move.
The kids' Valentine's Day party! We had a great time at the Stubbs house. They hosted the preschool group and the local homeschool group, so we had plenty for a great party. The food was amazing. I think brunch should be an official meal each day. Why is it reserved for special occasions?

Crafting at the party:

The kids (and Dan) love building with Duplos and Legos. It is so much fun to see them create different things - usually vehicles of some sort. It looks like Bethany -in the background- was building with them on this particular day.
Here is a picture from Elena's little dance class at the rec center here. She's the one closest to the camera. The class is only 6 weeks and Thursday is the last week. They're doing a little demonstration of all that they've learned, and I'll have to miss it because I'm getting induced on Wednesday. I've asked my parents and sister to go and document it for me.

Big smile!

Washington DC

We had so much fun going to stay with my cousin Matthew and his wife Corie in DC a couple of weeks ago.
They live in an amazing condo right next to the (National) Mall, so we just took the elevator downstairs, crossed the street and had museums galore all around. Here are some of the rooftop views. Amazing, right?

Zoomed in picture of the Washington Monument:

We were only there for a couple of days, but we squeezed a lot into the trip and had a great time. Get ready for lots of pictures because that's how I roll. :)

On the way home from church on Sunday we drove around to see the White House, a ton of embassies, various statues, etc. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. The kids loved playing with their cousins Carolyn and Claire. The girls were very sweet about sharing their toys. Kevin was excited to play with this train all day Sunday.
Elena wanted to be a mini-mommy to Claire.
Monday was museum day. We went to the Museum of Natural History first. Taking a picture from below is not the best idea for someone whose due date is only one month away, but we wanted the elephant in the picture. :)
I asked them to pretend to be scared of the T. Rex and this is what I got:One of their favorite things at the museum was this seating area that doubled as a slide. :)

Then we strolled over to the Air and Space Museum. The weather was amazing by the way. This is the Spirit of St Louis and SpaceShipOne.
Apollo 11 command module:
A hands-on area that the kids really liked:
Next, the 2 year olds went home for a late nap, and Elena and I had a Mommy-Daughter date at the National Gallery of Art. She was very excited to see some paintings by Monet and Degas since both of those artists are featured in a Fancy Nancy book. We also got to see Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, and others. I loved sharing this with her. I remember my mom teaching me a lot about art when I was little too.
Tuesday, Dan and I were able to go to the temple. It was beautiful of course. We hadn't been back to the DC temple together (we were married there) since our 1 year anniversary.
Matt and Corie were awesome and they took all 4 kids to the Natural History museum to see a butterfly exhibit that is only free on Tuesdays. How great is that?! Elena and Kevin had a fantastic time and love playing with the polished rocks that they got at the gift shop. After a late lunch on Tuesday, we headed home and somehow didn't get stuck in traffic. Thanks, Matthew and Corie for EVERYTHING!

SnOw FUN!

We were shocked that it snowed here Saturday night. It has been the warmest winter overall. The kids couldn't have been more excited. I sat on the porch and took some pictures while they enjoyed playing in the very wet snow. Kevin has been very sad to learn that snow really does melt - just like the snowman song he learned at church.

Kevin was enjoying making tracks and snowballs. Elena was hard at work on a snowman.

Their little snowman! Grandad helped of course. He's so fun.

Elena's giant snowball:

A New Resolution

It took me a couple of weeks, but I came up with a really good resolution. It is not my only resolution; I still have the usual stuff in mind too (daily scripture reading, working out, and something that has to do with housekeeping). I was quite excited about this resolution though because it's new and easy.

Emma's new resolution for 2012: Wear makeup every day.
To many of you, that sounds so simple, but I always had a horrible habit of forgetting to put makeup on (or just wearing eyeliner). Sometimes, in my head, I still look all tan and well-rested like before I had children. Ha! The truth is, as a 30 year old woman, I look much better with makeup on. So, that's my resolution: to wash my face everyday and put on a full face of makeup. It's only a 5 minute process since I don't wear foundation or do anything fancy. Another part of the resolution is that I'm trying to put it on at home and not in the car (while parked of course). I've done pretty well with it so far even though I've remembered it at 4pm a couple of times. The true test will be when the baby is born. :)

Did you make a new resolution this year? How is it going for you?

Fancy Elena's Birthday Party

The theme was Fancy Nancy. Nancy has curly hair, so Elena sat still for me the night before while we put her hair into 10 braids so that it would be extra fancy in the morning. I didn't get any close ups of her on Saturday, but it did look really cute.
Elena was allowed to invite 5 friends over for her party. She invited: Laurel, Lynnea, Sobe (isn't that the cutest nickname for Isobel?), Chloe, and Sydney. Aunt Bethany was formally invited as a guest too, so she crafted and ate lunch right along with the girls.
Once everyone was here, we began with a craft. They decorated their cups with sequins and then made door signs for their bedrooms with their names and foam shapes. Then we had a snack of these ladybug cookies which were so fun to assemble. They are Nilla Wafers with red frosting, mini chocolate chips, and Junior Mints. I added a little extra edible glitter from the cake (further below) just for fun.
Next it was manicure time and the girls voted for rainbow nails (10 colors - one on each nail). It actually worked out really well. Bethany did the right hand and I did the left and they just all sat around talking about each color as we bounced from girl to girl painting one color at a time. Then we had them pose for pictures. Elena and Sydney both had dogs named Frenchy with them, just like Fancy Nancy. Next we ate our "fancy" lunch of heart shaped sandwiches and different kinds of fruit. My mom hung white Christmas lights and check out the flowers that my dad bought her for the party. :) This picture is apparently of snack time, but you get the idea.
The sandwiches were originally put together, but apparently Elena wanted hers pulled apart.
Here's the cake. Don't look too closely. The picture on top was printed out by a local cake decorating shop. They'll print out anything that you bring to them for $13. I was so glad because I did not now how I was going to manage to make a Fancy Nancy cake otherwise. I frosted it and then put the picture on top. The swirls are so sloppy, but I'm learning. My mom bought edible glitter to put on top, so that really made it look cool as far as 5 year olds are concerned.
I didn't get a picture of the pinata (it was a pink cupcake) and that was the last thing that we did. Elena was so sad that the party was over she started to cry when it was time to walk people out and say goodbye. She wants us to plan play dates with all her friends soon. They're all such sweet girls!

Dan and Kevin had a father-son outing during the party. And he couldn't resist buying Kevin a new toy. Even though Christmas was less than a month ago. But I digress. Kevin loves his new race track, he shares it with his sister well, and Dan had fun putting it together and playing with them. I got some pretty cute of videos of Kevin saying stuff like, "Gentlemen and ladies, start your engines!"

My Big Boy

There are no words for how much I adore this little guy. His most recent favorite phrase is, "No, never!" The first time he said it, it was so unexpected that we couldn't help but laugh. So now he uses it all the time.

"Kevin, pick up your cars."
"No, never!"

"Kevin buddy, please stay at the table with us until dinner is over."
"No, never!"

He must have learned it from a movie or something because although he does yell it, it's not angry sounding at all. Even though I hope it doesn't last long, I still think it's hilarious.

p.s. Guess who is not potty trained, but randomly asked to go on the potty yesterday? His attempt was successful, and I was so proud!

Elena is 5!

Bethany took Elena to see Beauty and the Beast 3D on the Saturday before her birthday. My mom and I tagged along. My dad stayed with Kevin and they played and watched the Bluray version at home.

Tuesday was Elena's fifth birthday. She had been counting down daily for weeks. First thing in the morning, she wanted to open her package from Abuelita and Abuelo. She loved everything, but thought that the ten $1 bills that were tucked into the card was the coolest thing ever. She also got a new puppy stuffed animal that she named Winter, and she adores her.

I taught preschool that day and so it was mostly business as usual except all the girls had cupcakes for snack. I let Elena skip her usual 1 hour quiet time and gave her a present to open early and play with instead. Then, Dan got home just before 4:00! That was a real treat. Then he and the kids watched Mr Popper's Penguins which was cute. I kind of watched too, but I was mostly in the kitchen. Her birthday meal request was chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and french fries. It would have been so easy, but my pregnant stomach couldn't handle the thought of all that processing, so I made little fried chicken nuggets and baked some seasoned potato wedges. We did have Kraft mac and cheese of course, but I added in a salad and broccoli. It was actually a really good meal even it was a little more work than it needed to be.

Kevin liked the cupcake too.

After dinner, we had heart shaped cupcakes and Elena opened presents. She got her first set of Legos (rather than Lego Duplos), lots of books, clothes, a puzzle, and a Sleeping Beauty doll. She loved and gushed over everything. It's so nice that she's appreciative. We all played together for a while and then it was bedtime. As soon as her birthday was over, she immediately started to ask, "How many days until my party?"