Activity Update

Emily had her last game today. I got video of her being the leader for one of the cheers.



We weren't impressed with the organization of the YMCA. If Emily decides to continue cheering, we will sign her up through another company that teaches more of the tumbling, which she really liked. Overall, it wasn't something that she absolutely loved though. She's actually thinking about gymnastics instead so we might try that in a couple of months. Right now, March is designated for swim lessons for Eliana and Emily so more on that next week. My hope is that they will be able to swim well enough for the pool this summer.

New Habits

Sarah has picked up a couple of new habits lately, one of which makes a lot more work for me to do. She loves opening cabinets and drawers. She loves taking books and school supplies off of the shelves. She will go from one room to the next leaving things all over the floor. I am constantly coming along behind her cleaning it up. I do have locks on the important doors that she must not open, but there are others that don't have dangerous things, just messy things...like crepe paper. She had rolled out two rolls of party crepe paper all over the floor when I walked into the kitchen today. She has figured out how to take the basket from her play kitchen into a room with her, flip it upside down, and use it as a step stool to reach things that she can't reach with her feet on the ground. We are having to watch her at all times. I caught her in the act of opening a drawer the other day.



If we surprise her, she will slam the drawer or door shut and give us a smile. After a long, hard day of getting into trouble, her other new habit just started yesterday. I was sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV. Usually, Sarah will sit on the couch beside us. Instead, she went over to the chair in our living room and took off the pillow and blanket there. For some reason, anything she sits on has to be free of all objects, no matter how comfortable they are. So the blanket and pillow came off. Then, she patted the chair until I put her in it. As soon as I sat her down, she leaned back and folded her arms over her tummy like she was lounging. I tried to sit down beside her and she started trying to push me out! Apparently, she liked having the whole thing to herself. So I went back to sitting on the couch and she leaned back against the chair again. Every few seconds, she would stand up in the chair, but as soon as I told her to sit down, she would sit and lean back again and put her hands back over her tummy.



When she saw me get out the camera, she took her hands off her tummy, but she is still leaning back a little bit in the above picture. I don't mind the relaxing habit at all, but I hope the destruction habit doesn't stick around too long!

Valentine Decorating

For some reason, as soon as I mentioned the holiday this month, Eliana thought it was mandatory that we decorate cookies for Valentine's Day. So I got some sugar cookie dough, icing, and sprinkles. The girls had a blast and Andy and I did too!





I tried to decorate the one on Eliana's plate above that has the heart with the I and U, if you can tell which one that is. :) Andy made a couple for me. I think he is very talented!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day! I want to take this opportunity to say I appreciate you all and I am thankful you are in my life!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Art Award

Emily got "Honorable Mention" for her drawing in her school's Art Reflection Contest. She was really excited! The theme was "Beautiful Is".

Happy 7th Birthday, Emily!!

Today is Emily's 7th birthday! It's hard to believe that she is getting so old. We will be going through her baby albums and keepsake boxes tonight. Here are some pictures from when she was a baby and toddler:









She has asked for cheese fondue with dipping bread, steak, and broccoli for supper tonight. Her cake will be a round chocolate cake with a smaller strawberry cake on top of that with 6 strawberry cupcakes around the edges and 1 strawberry cupcake on top of the entire cake. I'm hoping it will turn out ok. :)

Baptism Day

All of the girls were baptised yesterday whenever Andy and I decided to join the church we have been attending for two-and-a-half years. I had gone shopping the week prior to find dresses that would double as their Easter dresses this year. I found a cute dress that I call the Neapolitan dress because it is pink, brown, and white. It was really cute and the Sam's had it in all of the girls' sizes. Unfortunately, I can't just go buy clothes for Emily and Eliana now without them having something to say about them. Emily didn't like the Neapolitan dress and wanted a white dress with flowers and a purple belt. She had her mind made up so I tried to get Eliana to go with the dress Emily wanted as the store also had all the girls' sizes in that one. She didn't want to wear it so I decided to give up on the idea of matching dresses. Since the older girls wouldn't be matching, Sarah couldn't be matching either one so I got the third fancy dress that was available.

I woke up early on Sunday morning to curl Emily's hair with hot rollers. She was so excited as I have only done this two other times in her life. I had forgotten to buy Emily some white shoes and all she had to wear was black! Thankfully, we were able to borrow Olivia's shoes for the day. Just as we were about two minutes from walking out the door, Emily comes downstairs with a shiny mask on her face.

Andy -- What's on your face?
Emily -- What do you mean?
Andy -- You have a shiny mask all over your face!
Emily -- Oh, that...that's makeup.
Andy -- Did Mom say you could wear makeup?
Emily -- No, I didn't ask her.

Andy brings Emily in to see me as I am getting ready to go. Emily had put a sparkly LIP GLOSS all over her face. It looked like a shiny wax. I guess she thought it was face glitter or something, I don't know. To make matters worse, she started having an allergic reaction to it and her face started getting red blotches over it. I took some soap and water and tried to scrub it off with a washcloth. Of all the days to do something like that, she had to pick that one. She starts bawling and I felt bad for her. She was just trying to look extra nice that morning. I did manage to get it off and I think she learned her lesson of asking before putting anything on. Her face was looking normal by the time we went up before the church.



Besides Sarah screeching for more Cheerios every few minutes, the baptisms went well. We celebrated afterwards at IHOP. The girls have always wanted to go there and we have never taken them. It was really good and we will have to go back sometime.

Incredible Day

This past Saturday, we took the family to Incredible Pizza Company to celebrate Emily's birthday. We decided to not have a huge party this year. Andy's mom was able to fly down for the event. I had told Emily that only the family was coming, but we surprised her with picking up her friend, Olivia, at the last minute. Emily was so busy reading her new Clubhouse magazine that she didn't even notice when Olivia got in and buckled up between her and Eliana. After we had driven down the road for a while, I finally had to call Emily's name to get her to look up. She was really surpised to see Olivia sitting there. I almost wished I hadn't called her name just to see how long it would take for her to notice on her own. :)

Olivia's sister, Ella Grace, met us there and the parking lot was packed. We got in without too many problems though and ate lunch right away. They have a huge buffet of pizza, baked potatoes with fixings, soups, spaghetti, and lasagna along with an assortment of vegetables, chicken tenders, and desserts.



The girls had a blast playing games and riding the bumper cars.



Sarah had never ridden on a ride before and didn't want to get off the carousel. We all played a round of minature golf in the dark as well.





We finally finished playing after almost 5 hours. After cashing in their tickets for prizes, we were headed out when the girls wanted to get a drink. Somehow it was suggested that since it was around supper time, we should just stay and eat supper there. So we did! I think we have gotten our fill of pizza. My diet has been shot!

Emily said it was the best day of her life so far. That made my aching feet (from walking) and back (from carrying Sarah -- I had forgotten the stroller) worth it!

Super Bowl Funnies

Andy and I decided to cheer for the Saints because they have never been to the Super Bowl before. Emily and Eliana decided to cheer for the Colts because they are named after horses.

Eliana looked up at the TV in time to see the Colts running through the banners onto the field before the coin toss. She said, "YAY, the Colts won!" We had to explain that the game hadn't even started yet.

Eliana -- What team is God cheering for?

Emily wrote a banner with SUPER BALL on it. We had to let her know that it was a BOWL and she couldn't understand why it would be a BOWL and not a BALL.

Little Miss Agreeable

Sarah hasn't learned the word "No" yet, which is a good thing because we don't have to deal with an attitude yet. However, it is hilarious because anytime you ask her a question on anything, she will always nod yes.