Kira's Christmas Dance

Here's a quick video of Kira's dance class performance (edit: I can't get the videos to load off my camera).  She was distracted by the candy canes, Christmas tree, candles and parents.  She really loves being in dance.  But if you accidentally stand on her butterfly, you are likely to get gently nudged, stood on, or pushed down.

Christmas Tree

The girls really enjoyed decorating the Christmas Tree.  It's a little ornament heavy on the bottom with a few limbs holding several ornaments but they are very proud of it.  Kira told her Grandma today, "I hab a tree, I made it."  The boys helped a lot too.  The barest part of the tree is the top where only I can reach.

Here they are rearranging the ornaments after church.  I made them skirts for the holidays.  They are slightly different but you can't tell from the pictures.  

Halloween

Morgan rocking her cute pirate costume.  She will wear a mouse costume for trick or treating because it will be so cold.  

Summer

Six weeks of summer goes by really fast.  It took us a few weeks of sickness and busy days before we remembered that it was going to go so fast.  We went to Raging Waters, Bear Lake, Cowabunga Bay, camping, and a quick morning at Gateway's Fountains.  My kids just love water. So, they're all pretty happy with the way it turned out.

We hope to get it some fun trips during their breaks this year.  So, look for us on vacation all year long.  Here's some new pics with all of the kids.  I haven't done that in a while.

Kira was throwing this foam at everyone (mostly adults that were trying to stay dry).  Her brothers got her but she's not mad, she's showing off.

Morgan loves the water more than Kira. She was tired before I got out the camera.  We have some great vidoes of her playing in the water. And, we have some cute pictures on my phone of her playing at Cowabunga Bay.  I really don't know how to get the pictures off.  Good luck with that, eh?

Kira's Birthday - 3

Kira turned three today. She loves Tinkerbell so she had a Tinkerbell cake and wands. She enjoyed singing the birthday song to herself and blowing out the candles. The buttons on her shirt look like jewels and she was very excited about it.She wanted pictures with every toy. She really had a great birthday.

She really loved the Tinkerbell dolls, Princess doll, Princess and the Frog coloring book and Tinkerbell slippers.

Will Spring Come Already? Will Morgan Walk Soon?

Here's a picture of what my kids really did today outside. Kira even tried to make her own snowman. It was warm but wet so they had fun.

Here's a video to show off what a great crawler Morgan is. She doesn't need to walk when she can crawl like this. We're hoping she'll walk by Jeff's wedding but she still doesn't seem too interested.

She actually crawls faster than this at church but that is because she's trying to escape. Let's hope she doesn't need therapy because her mom chased her around the house with a vacuum.

Swimming Bag

Here is a cute swimming bag I made for the girls out of a towel. Kira loves purses and this one is no exception. I got the idea here and even used the same towel from Target. Idea Room has too many ideas to even make but I can try for a project a week. I added the flower and pocket with the one creative bone I have.
It's too cold for swimming today but that doesn't mean Kira can't keep talking about it.

Off-Track for March

The boys are off-track all month and since there aren't friends to play with they want mom to take them somewhere every day. It's exhausting but fun, too. We bought a pass to go to a bounce house place as much as we want. We've been swimming, to the zoo, lunch downtown, camping and Jonah went skiing with Grandpa Utah. I can't believe how old Kira is getting. She'll be three in less than a month. Hopefully, she'll be potty trained and behavior-trained before her birthday. This picture is at Hogle Zoo. She put mascara on her eyes and wouldn't let me take it off until it was too late. Here's a picture of Morgan at the zoo. She is 15 months and still won't walk much. She's perfectly happy to crawl and she's fast enough on her knees.
We weren't the only wild animals at the zoo. It's fun to go to the zoo in the spring and here's a picture of the baby elephant.

I took the girls to Disney on Ice and we had so much fun. Morgan likes to dance and clap. Kira just sat and stared through the whole thing but loved it.

I love this picture even though Kira's eyes are closed. I only got two pictures of them and in the other one Morgan's eyes are closed. And right before that I got this cute one of Todd and Kira with the same thing. Kira's eyes were closed in one and Todd's closed in the other. I need to really learn how to use my Adobe and fix that kind of problem.

Try-It Thursday

I got a recipe for Orange Chicken at Sisters' Stuff and it was so yummy. Jonah said "It tastes just like orange chicken (Panda Express Orange Chicken)."
http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/orange-chicken.html

Todd reminded me (too late) that I have Panda Express Orange Sauce from Costco in the fridge. We've just used it as a quick dip for chicken but next time I make this I will try their sauce after frying it.

Valentine's Boxes

The boys' old school didn't make valentine's boxes. They were really excited to make tanks. It took a lot of work but they're really excited about how they turned out. We put several boxes together. They colored the camouflage and painted the guns and paper towel roll tires. The track is foam. Luke's will be trashed as soon as he gets hoem from school because he likes to play with it like a tank.

Talents

I don't usually post anything extra on my blog. And, I know I don't post consistently enough to have a bunch of followers but this post is for me. So, here goes.

This is a video clip of Kseniya Simonova, the winner of "Ukraine's Got Talent". And, here's what it taught me.

1. Use the talents that you have and increase them. This is not the type of talent that I would expect to see on this kind of a show but I didn't want to blink for fear of missing something. She has a great talent and even though it's unconventional she has made the most of it. So, even if my talents aren't showy or exciting, I can work on them and be the best I can at them.

2. I'm grateful that I haven't been deeply affected by war in my life. Some of the pictures were a little confusing to me and yet people in the audience were crying. I know very few details of the war (like 1 in 4 Ukrainians dying in the Great Patriotic War) and I'm grateful for that. I hope that my loved ones can continue to be safe but I am grateful to those that have paid the price for my freedom. And, even though I know it's not going to happen, I wish that peace could prevail around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo

Holidays

My New Year's Resolution is to take more and better pictures. So, I need to start by taking my camera places. I didn't have my camera in St. George where we celebrated Jonah's birthday. I don't have any pictures of Christmas, eeek! My kids are going to be very deprived of embarassing and cute pictures.

Today was Morgan's 1st birthday. She had a great day. She loved the presents once they were open and she loved eating the cake. Unfortunately, she is only allowed to play with some of her toys because her sister thinks they belong to her. Someone told me she would get better at 2 1/2 and she certainly has not. But, it's unbelievable that Morgan's already one. This year went really fast. She's doing great. She loves kids, babies and smiling.

We had people over on New Year's Eve and so now after two days of partying, I'm exhausted. It's only 8:12 and I'm ready for bed. Todd's busy painting so I don't think I can go to bed when I have him so busy.