Libby singing!

Libby has been so into the Frozen music lately that we broke down and bought the soundtrack to avoid the commercials on youtube. She has most of the soundtrack memorized already. I caught a few bits on camera for your listening pleasure. She is so cute and smart. I just love hearing her sing. It really makes my day. She often sings primary songs too, which are so sweet.

 

Libby's birthday interview

I did a birthday interview with Libby! Here are the results:

 

Note: Self portrait she drew has teeth in the mouth, which is why it looks a little creepy. She also drew her future baby sister (she really wants it to be a girl, few more weeks and we'll know for sure!!)

Libby also got to have her "SUPERSTAR" day in preschool where she got to be the center of attention for about 10 minutes and talk about all the things she loves. We made a poster that got to be hung up in the classroom and she brought in a few of her favorite things.

Best friend Lila is front & center there!

Libby's Birthday Festivities

My little girl is 4! I can hardly believe it's been that long!

Posing for the camera

Being cute in her "Anna" apron

and silly of course

 Libby requested a Frozen party and it was actually really fun to put together thanks to pinterest and my love for themes and crafts. Libby helped a lot, she helped make the invitations, several of the snacks (most of the white pretzels and stirred the jello) and really tried helping make the pinata but it was a bit messy.  she also helped decorate. The party was a big success and she loved every minute. I think there were 12 kids in our apartment plus a lot of parents so I was amazed it didn't feel more chaotic. Libby was so excited her best bud from preschool even made it! (all I hear about when I ask about preschool is her and Lila played frozen together)

Enjoying the ring pop from her goody bag

Food Table: Pretzels, Jello and a huge (store bought) CAKE!

Pin the nose on Olaf (only 3 kids wanted to stop playing to do it, but that's ok, it's cute and Libby loved it)

Found this princess version of the fishing game for $2.25 on clearance at Walgreens a week or so before the party. The kids are obsessed! It's been on almost constantly since Saturday

Pinata collage: It was funny to watch the different kids. Most the girls barely hit it, especially the littler ones. One definite difference between boys and girls, 2 yr old boys think it's awesome to hit things with a bat, girls...not really seeing the point yet. The 5 year old boy was the only one blindfolded and he had no problem getting that thing open even with Richard moving it all around. Overall a big success though.

Elliot clearly enjoying his ring pop!

She has loved every present too. We scored a free tricycle with our pampers point accumulation from the last 4 years and 2 kids (plus a little help from some awesome people who donated codes)! Elliot is pretty jealous of the bike and luckily Libby has been pretty good about taking turns. She loves her fancy Nancy book and is so excited we can have it at our house all the time! She also is having fun with her Elsa Barbie that goes with the Anna one she got for Christmas. She also got birthday money which she was way excited about, she bought a Doc McStuffins doll (that may be losing it's batteries soon as they won't stop pushing that darn stethoscope). Oh and a new dress from Grandma is another favorite thing, it's pink and ruffley, can't get much better than that! Spoiled girl!

Hot kool-aid

A few nights ago I had a bad case of pregnancy brain. I wanted some lemonade and I thought I was being smart by turning the water on while I grabbed a pitcher so it would be really cold. I put in the crystal light and added the water and stirred it up. I then went to drink some and realized I turned the water to hot, not cold! It was not what I expected and need a lot of ice. Anyways, it reminded me of this funny YouTube video that we watched a few years ago.

Happy New Year

puzzle announcement that I put together while I was too nauseous to do much after the teeth extraction. I got really bored, there's only so much Netflix a person can watch in one day

I am very excited for this new year. It's already had a bit of excitement. Jan 2nd I got my wisdom teeth out! Rather painful. It wasn't THAT bad since I didn't need surgery of any kind, just simple extractions, but I was very sore and felt kinda terrible for a few days. I wanted to get it done before we moved since I found a low income clinic that only charges $54 per tooth, which seems to be a great deal. Besides getting some teeth out, this year will have LOTS of changes. Richard graduates in April and then we'll be moving and starting a new job (fingers crossed). We are hoping for something in Washington or near some of our other family members. Another exciting thing happening in August will be expanding to become a family of 5! We got to see the little peanut already and see the heartbeat which was nice and strong. I've been a little nauseous, but not too bad, mostly extra tired. (Getting my teeth pulled with morning sickness might not have been the best plan, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been). Growing a baby while keeping up with my 2 munchkins wears me out. Libby is hoping for a sister, but we won't know for awhile. She is already picking out names, luckily she isn't too picky and likes most of the names that will actually be considered. Elliot doesn't understand yet, but he loves babies and is very gentle with them. Maybe when my belly is big he will figure things out. I think it's another boy since I've been craving similar things to my pregnancy with Elliot, but who knows. Richard thinks it's a girl, I think it's because he hates all boy names, so picky. I'm excited to find out and also a little scared to have 3 kids. Hopefully no scary hospital visits this time around either.

As for resolutions go... mostly keep myself and the kids alive and healthy! Hopefully find some good doctors where ever we move. Reading scriptures and having family home evenings more regularly are some goals as well.  I want to do some sort of mommy school with Elliot to help increase his vocabulary and communication skills, I used to be good about doing that with Libby when she was his age. I am also hoping to potty train Elliot. He was in underwear most of today and had some successes and accidents, but hopefully it will go well. I am afraid I will give up soon and have to try again in a few months. Any good motivators?

Parent Teacher Conference

So apparently pre schoolers have parent teacher conferences too. It was super thorough, probably since it's government funded. I just wanted to record a few of the things they said. Libby switched from am to pm preschool this week and was sick 1 day so she has only been 3 times to the new class. The teachers were amazed that after the first day she knew EVERY child's name in her new class. They told me they think she has a photographic memory. I'm pretty sure it's true, she doesn't forget anything (a blessing and a curse sometimes). She has made lots of friends too and they said most the kids know her name too. She is getting better at writing her letters and only occasionally needs reminded how to make some of the lower case. She is excellent at rhyming, which she thinks is really funny. Excellent story teller. Understands some basic science things like mixing colors. Plays really well with the other kids and has some best friends. She follows the rules well and she tells the teacher when someone else does not (might be a tattle tale). The only thing they really said she could work on was catching a ball....not really too worrisome and she is doing it the way most 3 year olds do. It was nice to hear from someone else that my little smartie pants really is a smartie pants.

Christmas in the Sun

I am happy to say we did not have a white Christmas this year. For the first time in our married life, we did not have Christmas in our own place. We drove down to Arizona to enjoy some time with the Cox family. It was nice to go from the negative degrees to the 60's. I was sad to leave. I can see why some people have winter homes there, it was wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed spending time with family too. We hardly saw Libby and Addie, they were busy playing up in Addie's room having some cousin bonding time. Elliot and Carter both love cars and other vehicles so they had lots of fun playing with the Christmas spoils. There was minimal fighting as well, few little fights about toys, but i was amazed at how well they played. It will be fun to see them play together more as they get older. Brynn was a delight as well, such a sweet happy baby! Love her! The adults enjoyed lots of card games and visiting and yummy food. Penny and Tim came the day after Christmas too which added to the fun! The kids of course loved all the presents they got and especially the stocking candy (I"m pretty sure Libby's was gone the first day).  We also got to see some of the awesome parks around the area, which is something we've missed here in Rexburg lately. I also got to see my beautiful cousin Jill get married in the Mesa temple to her boy Tristan. It was a beautiful day. It was awesome to see my cousins for a little bit, they all live far away and it's been years since I've seen them. I was sad not to be able to attend the reception, but with kids and such, it didn't happen. The car rides were pretty good. We did have to stop in Mesquite on the way home and get a hotel because we stayed up way to late the night before and driving on 6 hrs of sleep was not a great idea. The hotel was nice and we got plenty of sleep and a huge breakfast before finishing our drive back to Rexburg. The kids shared a bed too which was really adorable. We were surprised they did so well especially with us in the same room watching netflix.

Picture time, in no particular order...

We went to lots of parks

Carter and Elliot riding a dinosaur at the park

Christmas Eve before bed in new jambes

Cute girls

Awesome Train Park

Girls on the train ride waving to everyone we passed

Elliot watching the trains go by in the train museum. He could've stayed in there all day. Little boy heaven

Riding in Santa's sleigh 

The nations tallest fresh cut Christmas Tree

Short little hike in the desert

Lots of trampoline jumping occurred

I made Elliot a new blanket and he LOVES it. It's so soft, I tried to steal it in the car and he wouldn't let me

I made Libby a princess bedspread that she loves. She was using a soft blanket I had in college, but it wasn't pink, so she was very excited to get this one.

I made these fun little car holders for Carter and Elliot. They fold up nice so you can keep it in the church bag. 

Since I haven't blogged in awhile, a little kid update as well: The kids are in a great stage right now where they are becoming friends and play pretty nicely together.  I love hearing them giggle together in their room. Elliot is starting to increase his vocabulary which is very nice. Not many sentences, but he gets his point across much better than before. One of his few sentences is really random, one day he started saying "Hi, I'm Nemo." for no reason. Libby thinks it's hilarious though and they will say it back and forth over and over laughing hysterically. "Come with me" is another very common one as he pulls you by the hand to something he wants. Elliot is figuring out how to get attention though when he should be sleeping or letting us sleep. He knows if he says "poop" we will get up and take him to change his diaper...only half the time he isn't poopy, he just wants me to get up with him and tries to convince me to turn on a movie. He did this in the car 2x on the way home as well when he was sick of the carseat... he might be getting too smart. He also likes to say "owie" to avoid bedtime. Libby has a wonderful imagination. She still regularly insists on being called by different princess names and will correct you if you forget. She asks me all the time for new dress up clothes. Maybe I'll actually make her a dress instead of my practice aprons for my etsy shop. Libby loves preschool. We are going to try out afternoon instead of morning though since she takes after her mommy and has a hard time waking up. We were late most days this last month because I couldn't get her out of her blankets and dressed in time (and never remember account for scraping the ice off the windows).

sharing a bed