Christmastime

Making the sugar cookies, Haley enjoyed making dough balls and Audrey enjoyed eating the flour and dough.

Eating our creations.

Christmas morning, showing off the goods.  The Cinderella dress has been worn as much as possible since about 2 minutes from opening.

Kinda sums up the day, the shopping cart is a huge hit...for both of them, which often leads to arguments over who gets their "turn" now.

Just before church.

Christmas day and the day after was spent watch Polar Express, they love it (this is after church, notice how the church dresses came off and the Cinderella dress was put on.

We had a great day.  I think that this was the first year in a long time where I was a little sad to see Christmas be over.  Till next year!

A couple of

weeks ago I posted about Haley and her dress-ups.  Today as I was working on the computer I notice lots of hustle and bustle going on behind me.  Audrey is running back and forth gathering all sorts of items for an impressive pile.  Here she is adding her socks to the collection and not to be outdone by her sister's outfits, she's sporting a few things that she can put on all by herself.

When we get into something, we go all the way

Several weeks ago Wes took Haley on a date to see The Lion King at the movies; while I was sick, he bought the dvd and she loves it.  Like most toddlers (I think) when we find something we like around here, it's here in a big way, everyday.  The outfit doesn't have anything to do with the song (really, it's just what she happened to have on) but here she is showing some of her new music loves.  (And my house always looks like a mess in videos and pictures because my house is always a mess, unless it's 8:30 at night or 6 am.)

Super Dad

This picture doesn't really have much to do with what this post is about except that he's a great dad and does fun things with the girls.  This is from the annual cattle drive through Allen to kick off the "Texas Stampede" rodeo that they do.

This week Wes deserves an award, accolades, something.  Friday night Audrey woke up about 10pm throwing up (I was asleep, only woke up to the bathtub running, it was 10 o'clock at night!)  She was then awake until about 2:30 am throwing up every 10-20 minutes, poor girl.  Then Saturday we thought she was on the mend, not really so.  Then Sunday I stayed home from church with Audie while Wes and Haley went to church, about partway through Sunday School I sent Wes a message letting him know that Audrey apparently did not have food poisoning from stealing handfuls of unwashed grapes out of the WalMart shopping cart, because I was now sick too.

For the next 2 1/2 days Wes took over EVERYTHING.  I mean, the girls didn't even enter my room because I was so sick.  He took 2 days off of work, did the grocery shopping, ran to get me 7up and ice from Sonic (they have the best ice, am I right?!) and then came to sit and sympathize with me while I was sick and the girls were in bed.  I'll also mention that Audrey was not finished being sick and he cleaned up more vomit than anyone would want to (uh, actually, probably nobody would want to clean up any vomit but you get the idea...).  Of course never a complaint, never an annoyed sigh.  Daddy and husband of the year in my book.

Dancing Dresses and Prayers

I used to silently judge parents who let their children go out in public looking obviously mismatched and then pretend to chuckle when they said something like, "ha ha, they like to dress themselves..."  Here is our little darling and she likes to dress herself.  I might not take her to the store looking this two year old-ish but I have on multiple occassions been asked if it's a special occassion because she's wearing a crown or has her wand and always a "dancing dress."  I don't mind, I don't even try to tell her otherwise, she loves it and I love that she does.  We are on day 4 of our Halloween costume, it's usually the first thing she does in the morning, even before her cup of milk, get dressed in something spectacular.

Haley is also learning how to say prayers.  She's got the food prayer down and the others are coming right along, no vain repetitions here.  We'll whisper something in her ear and instead of repeating what we say, she'll add her own comment,  example,

W: please bless Haley and Audrey

H: that we won't hit

W: please bless Daddy at work

H: and listen to President Monson

W: please watch over the missionaries

H: that they will be together and not hit

W: that we will have the spirit with us today

H: have a great day at music class

Love it. 

Halloween 2011

Halloween has never been a favorite of mine, I blame my mother, not a favorite of hers either (well Mom, it's true...). This year was really fun though. Haley could not have been more excited for her costume which added to the fun. We did the church "Trunk or Treat" on Saturday afternoon followed by the Zollinger annual Harvest Party and fun was had all around.

Haley thinks it's the funniest thing to have an "Elphaba Daddy!"

 Cheeeeeese

I wasn't really sure I cared about doing actual Trick or Treating but seeing how much fun Haley had at the Trunk or Treat we made a go of it.    They BOTH loved it.  Highlights from the night, after a lady gave Haley some M&Ms she said, "do you like M&Ms?" to which the reply was of course yes. Then as the lady's handing Audrey her candy and Haley reaches into her bowl and in the sweetest voice she can muster says, "I like Smarties too."  At one of the houses the person was closing the door from other kids and Haley is on her way up the walkway and she yells, "don't close the door, we're almost there!"  Audrey had a blast.  When each door would close she would run as fast as she could back down the walkway laughing all the way, Heidi or I would have to run to catch her because her body was going much faster than her legs could sustain (she did fall at one point, too).

 Here you can see Audrey can't contain herself.

Elphaba and Glinda

If you haven't seen the play Wicked, you should, it's good.  We saw it here in Dallas almost a year and a half ago and showed Haley youtube clips afterward, it has been a favorite in our house since.  Someone at our ward Trunk or Treat asked how I'm going to explain how one was the good witch and one was the bad...oh no, that's not how it works.  If you haven't seen the play, Elphaba (the Wicked Witch from the movie/book) and Glinda are best friends, niether is good or bad.  Elphaba has the most singing in Haley's favorite song so she's the one with the broom and "the temple hat."  Here she is playing her part well, I should have turned down the music so you could hear more of her singing but if you listen closely you can hear some, and not to be left out on the musical displays, Audrey does her share of singing and dancing.  I wish you all were as familiar with the particular video we watch because she's imitating what they do on the computer.

Happy Birthday Audrey!

She's 1! 

This is actually the day before her party, I made cupcakes and Haley snatched it off the counter and ran to give it to Audrey, you can see the culprit escaping in the background.

We had her "friends" party at the splash park the day before her actual birthday.  (Big thanks to Heidi for helping me since Wes couldn't get out of work.)

 Another cupcake.

 This was not more than 2 minutes after I put her in the carseat from the park, and then she stayed asleep during the transfer and slept for another 3 hours (something out sun and water that just wears these babies out, we've never had such good naps since summer started!).

 Here is our first activity of her actual birthday.  As Haley would say, "YEAH PARK!"

 Did I mention it's hot here?

 Her favorite treat, smoothies!

Another cupcake.

We love our baby girl.

Here are her year old stats: 80 %tile for weight (23 lbs.) and 99th%tile for height.  She's just starting to take a few steps, she loves to laugh and we often find her giggling to herself, she loves music and will sit and watch music videos with Haley until I stop her, she never keeps bows in her hair and just recently started climbing on everything (and driving me crazy!).

Thankful Party

We love having parties in our house for whatever reason we can think of, so finding a almost full box of thank you cards never used after our wedding spurred this one (we are going to have to be even more creative to use the rest). Everyone got to pick a food they were "thankful" for and then we had a great note writing session followed by ice cream.

What one does...

I think it is expected that Audrey will want to copy her older sister, and she does try and does pretty good.  But it goes both ways in our house, what Audrey gets attention for, her sister will be quickly behind.  Just a few examples:

This is the picture I started with when Audrey was climbing in the laundry.

 This was 30 seconds later.

 I went in to find Audrey had fallen asleep with her legs out of the slats and got the camera for a picture. 

  Haley had yet to fall asleep so after Audrey's picture, it was her turn.

I'm not sure why this video is a little fuzzy but makes my point well. 

All I ever needed to know, I learned from my mom

• The time when she circled the block a few times because she saw a little boy playing outside without an adult taught me to watch over people, even when it's not your job.
• The time when Jake was lost and she told me to go to my room and say a prayer taught me to turn to the Lord in crisis.
• The time when I got detention in high school because my mom told them that I didn't have her permission to leave campus because telling them otherwise would have been a lie taught me to be honest, always.
• The time when we were listening to the song "From a Distance" by Bette Midler and she said that she didn't like it because God doesn't watch us from a distance taught me that we are seen and heard.
• The time when she sat with me on the stairs and talked about what it was like to feel the spirit taught me to recognize what a testimony was.
• The time when I was 14 and at a 17 year old boy's house with my friends and she called and made me come home and didn't care how mad or embarrassed I'd be for being the young one taught me that it doesn't matter who is watching, we still do the right thing.
• The time when I was called to be YW President in my ward and was overwhelmed because I didn't know what I was doing and she told me, "it's not about you, it's about them" taught me that the most important thing is to love and serve.
• The times when she sat up and waited for us to come home from the dance and then would have Skittles and M&Ms or popcorn (or all of the above) taught me how special moms are for their daughters.
• Every Sunday when she'd make us wear socks, tights or nylons to church because we "dress up for the Lord" taught me to be respectful in all things.
• The time when we heard something on the radio about Mother Theresa and I told her that I wanted to be like that and help people in other parts of the world and she told me that it's just as noble to help people in your little world taught me to open my eyes around me.
• The time when the 5th grade boys were teasing me so badly I came home crying and she went back to the school the same afternoon to get something done about it taught me that we protect our own.
• The time when I told her that I was going to buy parenting books to give me ideas on disciplining a 2 year old and she told me to just pray about it, reminded me where my help comes from.
• The time when I was a teenager and I asked her how you can feel okay about having so many kids when there are so many bad things in the world and she told me that "you do the best you can and then have faith" taught me about faith.
• All of the times when I was called back to "do the job right" taught me the 'art' and 'science' of housekeeping.
• The times when we had to sing the "I'm sorry's" to the sibling we were fighting with taught me that humor is key.
• The times when she told me to never prop up my baby's bottle but to hold them and love them because the time passes too quickly, taught me to slow down and enjoy.

All of the diapers I saw changed, the temperatures taken, the tears kissed the discpline given has taught me how to be a mother. The stories, the "lectures," the disappointments and the praises have made me a better me. The woman that she was when I was growing up and the woman that she is now teaches me. Mother I love you.

Mother's Day

This was the card that I got from Wes today.

With this written inside:

"Sweetheart, As I approached the greeting card section on the night before Mother's Day I was stunned at the enormous crowd that was frantically picking over what used to be the 'Mother's Day' section.  Deciding I was powerless against this mob and not wanting to attempt to make my way through the vast throng I decided my only option was to peruse the section the crowd was ingoring...the 'Father's B-day' section.  Thus the repurposed card.  You'll be happy to know it was only $1!"

Loved it.  (It also had a sweet sentimental part in case you were wondering.)

Pals

I'm just starting to see how fun it's going to be with these girls growing up. For the most part Haley is very patient with her sister getting into all of her stuff and she's starting to try to "play" with her (which usually consists of her grabbing Audrey's hand trying to get her to walk and Audrey falling down and crying and Haley running to tell me).

 These girls love smoothies (thanks Grammie!).

 Yes, Haley has no pants on, and that's a sticker on her foot (stickers on body parts is just about the funniest thing around here these days).

 Haley has a lot of hair, this is when I've taken it out of it's bow for the day.

 I found them like this the other day, just sitting and talking to one another.

 Haley is "reading" Audrey her sticker book.

Easter

Here is our little Easter Egg Hunt with some kids from the ward.  Haley was much more interested this year in it since she now knows what's inside.

 Sometimes she would be in such a hurry to get it in her mouth that the wrapper wouldn't quite make it off.

 Audrey enjoying the festivities.

 Easter morning baskets.

 Candy was had by all.

 Sadly this is the only picture I got of the girls in their Easter dresses, mostly because they are the dresses they are wearing for my brother's wedding next month so they didn't spend much time in them outside of church.  I don't feel that bad because I'm sure that there will be plenty of pictures of them later.

March

Here is a rundown of my month with no blogs.

We had a countdown to St. Patrick's Day (I'm loving these little holidays lately more than the big ones for some reason) so everyday we opened a little bag that had a little activity in it.  Here are a couple:

Coloring shamrocks

 Dancing to Irish music on shamrocks.

 Painting rainbows

 Shamrock foam necklaces.

 I don't remember what this was.

It was fun and I think that next year Haley will enjoy it a little more.  But now she can identify hearts (thank you Valentine's crafts), circles, stars and shamrocks.

 Happy Birthday Wes!!

Opening presents (his diplomas framed, finally).

 Birthday/ St. Patrick's Day dinner.  This may have been the last year we have corned beef, I think it tastes good but we should save our fat intake for cake instead of the meat.

 Birthday candle.

 Heidi's birthday is on the 18th so the Sunday we had a joint cake and ice cream for both of them

 We just added a few candles and re-lit them for Wes.  He better not get much older or we'll start setting off the smoke detectors.

We also had GREAT weather. I even ordered the kids summer sandals because it just feels like spring!