hearts

*FYI, for those of you who are envious of my acorn wreath but are snowed in and/or acornless, I saw that someone had done the same thing with lima beans. Let me know if you try it!*

Kate: "Mom, what do hearts do?"
Me: "They pump blood to your body and help you live."
Kate: "What would happen if you didn't have a heart?"
Me: "Well...you wouldn't be alive anymore because your body needs a heart."
Kate: "Well...what would happen if I gave my heart to Heavenly Father?"

I then realized that we were listening to Kate's new primary CD ("My very own CD" as she calls it) to theme song for the year.

My heart I give to Him
I know that my Savior loves me

I suppressed my giggles and tried to explain exactly what the song was meant. I sure love her and her smart, inquisitive self!

a little bit of decorating

I don't know what has gotten into me. Usually when I come across a fun decorating idea, I tell myself to wait until "someday" when I have my house. Recently though I have come across some stuff that is just too irresistible to wait!

I saw this on made and I couldn't wait to start collecting my acorns! Luckily it is more fall like than winter here so we could still see the ground and there was an abundance of acorns. We took a Sunday family trip to the park to collect them. I started making the wreath the next day and realized I was going to need lots more, so we had family home evening at the park and collected acorns again. Kate was just as excited about the entire process of this wreath as I was and we're both really happy with the result!

I found this one here. This was so simple to make and would have taken me no time...except I ran out of felt and had to go back to the store (which took a week)!

And finally, I made these silhouettes. I have been looking and looking for affordable oval frames for a vintage feel but I finally gave up and just used some I had.

This decorating binge was fun! Now I really can't wait for my "someday" house!

playgroup at the zoo

Today playgroup was at the zoo and it was the perfect day for it. We walked around and saw the animals and talked with our friends. It has been a while since we've been and it was fun to hear Sawyer making the animal sounds. My favorite is the elephant!

Sawyer couldn't get enough of the big boys and was trying to do everything they were doing...including laughing hysterically at the funny things they were saying.

My kids loved it and I need to take them more often...even though I come home a little worn out!

artistic letters

Kate had painted the day before so we used some of her pieces of art as stationary.

This is her letter to Devin:Dear Devin,
I got in the shower and used my mom's gel. I said the prayer in primary. Love, Kate


Here is her letter to Jesse:
When we got out Jesse's she said, "I want to just write my own letters now." and she wrote all of those pretend letters while telling Jesse lots of funny things. Hopefully he gets the message...somehow!

bye bye pacifier...updated

After the struggle the first night, I had another battle with his nap the next day. Usually he gets done with his nap and I say, "Give your sister a kiss, its time for your nap!" and he'll run and kiss his sister and then run into his room for his nap. I did that and then put him down and walked out. I think it took him a minute to realize he didn't have it and then I spent an hour and half trying to coax him to sleep. He doesn't say very many words yet, so all of his communication was through his screaming. Sounds like a relaxing afternoon, huh?
He finally tired himself out and went to sleep. When he woke up from his nap he was pointing behind his crib. Often we would have to pull his crib out and look for pacifiers to give him. I started to pull it out (hoping and praying there wasn't a stray binkie still there!) and showed him that they were all gone. That gave me the idea to start saying, "Sawyer, where is your pacifier?" and then I would hold up my arms and say, "All gone!" and then tell him what a big boy he is and give him all sorts of kisses and squeezes and happiness. After that nap I kept saying, "Sawyer, where is your pacifier?" and he would hold up his arms like I did and smile really big. And we haven't had a problem with it since. The pacifiers are now out of my "just in case" hiding space and in the trash!
We are pacifier free!!

Bye Bye Pacifier

When Kate turned a year old, I immediately threw her pacifiers in the trash. She really was only using them at bedtime and she didn't even notice when they were gone. Fast forward to child #2. The child that I have proven to be a little stubborn in the previous post. When he turned a year old, I knew I was in trouble. He was still using the pacifier in his bed and many times throughout the day. I didn't have the energy to try and take it away from him but I did gradually turn it into a bed time only kind of thing. Now, at 21 months, that is all the progress we have made. Still just at bedtime. He sometimes finds it outside of his bed and starts walking around with it but I'll tell him, "Hey, put that back in your bed! You're too big for that!" and he'll smile and take it out and run to throw it in his bed. Unless he doesn't want to.
Ryan and I talked about it and I told him we had to either take it away now or after our trip this spring because otherwise it won't happen until afterwards. So we chose now. This morning I put the 3 remaining pacifiers on a high shelf (why I couldn't put them in the trash I do not know).
We were at the park today enjoying the 73 degree weather with a picnic and he fell asleep in the car on the way home...so no problem with no pacifiers there. Then it was bedtime. We followed our normal routine and then we put him in his crib. He was quiet for about 2 minutes before he started crying. (He's been doing the same thing some nights even with his pacifier.) He cried for quite a while, then Ryan patted his back for a little bit and then he cried for a while longer and finally he gave in to the sleep.
Here's to hoping he gets over it soon! And that we don't give in!

stubborn

This little boy is stubborn!
If you ask him to do something he doesn't want to do...he won't.
If you try and put him to bed before he is ready....he will fight you.
If he sees Kate getting her hair done and he brings you the spray gel...you must spray it in his hair too. (he knows if you try and do a water bottle switcheroo.)
If you're getting his sister dressed for dance and he brings you a pair of tights....you aren't leaving the house unless he's wearing them.
If he sees his sister wearing flip flops...that is the only shoe he will allow on his feet.

And he'll play with the other kids as if dressing like this was perfectly normal for a little boy.

But in his defense...
When its time for bed and you ask him to give his sister a hug and a kiss....he runs to do it.
When you say, "hey, where is my kiss?"....he runs to kiss you too.
When you ask him to smile for the camera....he *mostly* complies!

And I guess those are the reasons why we still keep him around. Despite the fact that he insists on leaving the house dressed like a crazy person.

letters

Dear Uncle Jesse,
In primary I got a new pencil. I like to write with it. It is pink. Because I was spotlighted she said what I like. And she said what I wanted to be and I said a mom. We turned off the lights to see who needs to be spotlighted. I love you Jesse. What are you doing on your mission today? We got my kitchen on Christmas. I liked Christmas. I was excited about my kitchen. I like Grandma Kissell. Daddy is here. Daddy is reading a magazine. what else are you doing on your mission? We're writing letters to you.
Love,
Kate

Dear Uncle Devin,
I really like my new pencil. I got it in primary. It has an eraser. I was spotlighted so I got a pencil. Its pink. Its sharp. What are you doing on your mission? Our windows are dirty. I wonder what you will say when you see the words that our windows are dirty. I like you. I want to see you after your mission. When are you done with your mission? Do you know your letters? Do you like me?
Love,
Kate

Team Coco

Jay's 2004 Announcement - watch more funny videos

If you don't know this about me, I watch a lot of TV. Since the summer Ryan and I have been DVRing Conan (and Jimmy Fallon who we also really like) and watching them when we have time. I have liked Conan for a long time and I think this whole thing is crazy. I watched this clip from Leno in 2004 and it was so interesting to me to hear what he said then and then see what he is doing now. I just hate when people go back on their word.

Kate's camera

Kate was our official grammie and papa's visit photographer after she got her new camera for Christmas. Here are some of the things I just took off of her camera:

Kate and Papa after seeing the Princess and the Frog



painting faces at the Children's Museum

the secret fort Papa and Kate made

kate's finger

the camera case I made her

football

ready for dancing school - she was excited to take Grammie and Papa!

more football

building the largest tower of legos ever

too cold outside...so we went to Chuck E Cheese
enjoying their prize: cotton candy
at Chick-fil-a

Kate always dresses herself in the morning and usually I don't have to fight with her about the clothes she picks out...she usually does a pretty good job and if not then I can make suggestions. She would not let anything change her mind this day

we helped her with some of the pictures, but I love to see the random ones she takes when she's alone. She is a great photographer!

Beautiful baby A

It has been forever since I could spend time with a newborn and even longer since I could take pictures of a little girl (the last beauty, also a little miss A, is now 7 months old!) so it was fun to pack up all the bows and flowers and headbands. Girls are just fun!

Sorry these pictures took so long! Thanks for letting me spend time with you and your family!