these girls

I thought it was crazy that my cousin posted about doing this activity with her boy the same day that I did this with Abi. She did a better job at showing the process in photos than I did. You put baking soda in a dish and then use a baby medicine dropper to squirt colored vinegar onto the baking soda. Abi was so proud of her creation and told me she wanted to keep it forever. I finally had to convince her a photo would do justice.

Lately in our parenting lab we have introduced the job jar. It is a jar with tons and tons of jobs that I need done around the house. If you disobey or throw a tantrum, you get to pick a job out of the jar. It has come in handy so so so much! I have had my appliances cleaned, the bathrooms cleaned, windows washed, and the floor mopped in the past two weeks. It has been a success! There are even kid’s choice jobs and one free pass in the jar. I just typed up jobs and punched them out with my 1” punch and then glued them behind the clear décor glass stones you can find at the dollar store. I need to take a photo of it… if I ever remember.

Now check out this goose-

Notice anything different?

That’s right… a picture with no bottle! We have been officially done with the bottle since the first of this month. It has been a rough time. She has been so ornery and has been cutting molars in the meantime. But we are finally to a stage that she only screams at night for 20 minutes before she goes to bed, Abi can handle that long now, and when she cries during the night, I just put my neon orange earplugs in and we are all set.

I have been busy with weddings the past week. The girls were spoiled by having a lot of time with friends. But when they were home, they were both right by me “helping” me. Abi is actually a big help and loves to be creative with all the left overs… oh wait, Cinderella to be exact.

Abi’s prayers have been hilarious lately- she is very personal and thoughtful. We have had prayers for Santa to come early, that monsters won’t eat us and eat other peoples’ toys instead. She asked Dan tonight if he would help her pray in sign language (later we figured out she meant Spanish). She also has prayed that her cousins will be nice to each other while they are in their own worlds.

She is way sweet and thoughtful.

paparazzi

The other morning (a freezing one btw) the girls and I spied on Dan as he lifted this deep freezer into the back of the professor with his superhero powers…

Just another reason why I love him.

date–rock climbing

One Saturday morning Dan and I took off for a nice morning date of climbing. We were the only people there for about half the time we were climbing. We had such a great time. There were seven climbs ranging from a 1220 to a 1299 (indoor rating system for difficulty) and from 30-60 feet high. Dan and I just plowed through each one. It was the most amazing time! I was so proud of myself and impressed by Dan’s spider like abilities. It was a great work out and we can’t wait to go again.

outing–the treehouse museum

Up here in Ogden, there is the most amazing children’s museum. A couple of weeks ago, Dan’s sister Jocie came up with her kids and we played for the morning there. So much fun! I loved that Abi and her cousin Rome just took off and played all on their own and we never saw them. Then we just trailed after the toddlers and baby the whole time. Dan’s mom came too and I think she had the best time out of all of us :)

thomas family photo

This past August we were able to get family photos with Dan’s family. It was the first time in eight years and the family has doubled in size between new spouses and grandkids… me included. The last time was when Dan and I were dating.

I think the photos turned out nice and everyone handled it superbly. No major breakdowns or problems which always seems to happen with family photos.

Oh l love my family.

This photo was my favorite! Dan was making faces to get Capri to smile and instead got Abi making faces. Then Rome was being so funny and hanging onto the bush next to him for no reason at all. Don’t we all have photos like that in our family pasts? I know that my family has some of me sticking out my tongue and I know that Dan’s family has one hanging up of his sister Jenny being funny. We were all laughing hysterically.

I think this is the first photo where the boys aren’t trying to see who is the tallest. Earlier in the shot you can see Dan on his tippy toes which is just hilarious because he is on the downslope of the photo.

I also love this photo of Lon and Bev. I think it turned out quite nice.

Am I allowed to say that I felt the photographer is loosing his touch? I know he has taken the photos of Dan’s family for at least 12 years but I so didn’t care for the boulder covering people in all the photos. And he just didn’t really pay attention to making bodies look the most flattering for the females. And he took some crazy ones of Chase and his wife.

But, for these photos that I have posted, they look good. I will still be printing these and remembering a wonderful afternoon and lunch with the Thomas family.

You can see some of the photos that I took this day here.

our halloween

The night before Halloween, we attended a ward potluck. The girls and I had just gotten home from Colorado about an hour before it started and they were on the meltdown, but we still made it, just a bit late.

Let me tell you about the story on our costumes. Last year, Abi was a mermaid and of course, she loved it but already had plans for next year to be Cinderella. It worked out perfectly for us. I put together all the costumes. Most were from scratch but a couple of them were altered pieces. Overall, HUGE success.

Cinderella

Gus Gus

Prince Charming

Sadly, there were no pictures of me the night of the party.

Then Halloween came-

Abi loved getting her hair done and being able to wear eye shadow and “lips” (lip gloss). B kept her ears on all night and chased her tail quite often.

Getting everyone ready took longer and I wasn’t able to do my hair or anything, but I am the fairy Godmother.

We had quite the night. The girls fought back and forth about their candy buckets and my wand. Abi enjoyed changing everyone into pixies with my wand. I tell you what, glow sticks were the way to go with being able to see where the girls were when they were in groups from the neighborhood.

our night ended early with tantrums and tears – that I am sure, scared the neighbors more than the haunt of the night. But that is what parenting is all about.

These costumes are for the borrowing if anyone remembers next year.