One Big Party for Two Big Girls

(This is the third blog post for today.  And I still have another one I need to do to catch up. Craziness)

48 hours of party!  Well, we didn't hit that exactly, but we did have a lot of fun.  Like I said in Felicity's post, we left for Idaho on her birthday, Friday.  We spent the night at Grandma's house and then on Saturday we went to the park at the Twin Falls for a picnic/birthday party/photo shoot spectacular. Lots of cameras going off.  Which led to an unfortunate accident with our camera: Seth's head:1, our camera: 0.  Seth was fine, he has a hard head, but my camera is out. 
But back to the party.

My family brought 11 balloons, 10 for Felicity and 1 for Abigail.  Abby loved them, until she got all tangled up in the balloon strings.  But she loves the squishiness of balloons and would giggle and squeeze and kiss the balloons.  Very cute. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Joseph and Michael!!  So happy together.
 





 We had pizza and then PRESENTS.  Felicity's birthday is first so she opened first.  Surrounded by cousins who tried to help.  Thank you to all you who gave her wonderful things. She was very excited and couldn't wait to get home to try everything out.

 

 

Abby had fun opening presents, she did get a little bugged by Seth trying to help.  That rubber ducky was so cute. 

 Playground ball was a hit, at the party and after.  That is one of the words she says now.  (the list includes Daddy, doggy, ball, and bye-bye.  She doesn't get all of the sounds in the words, but enough that you know what she means)

Lots of fun things!

 Abby loved the little doll grandma got her and had to give it a good squeeze.

 



More presents!

 

Felicity's cake.  She wanted to decorate it this year, so we made fondant in a lot of bright colors, and her and her cousin cut out shapes.  Then we frosted it (with good frosting, not fondant) green to look like grass and she put in as many animals as she could.

 

For Abby's cake Lissy helped me make flowers out of fondant. 

Lighting the candles.

 The first bite Abigail got was the fondant.  That was a mistake 'cause she wasn't about to eat any more of that cake.

She kept looking at us like, "You really want me to eat this stuff??"

I love this expression.  She does it all the time and makes a funny little whoo sound to go with it.

At this point, she knew she didn't want to eat it even though we kept trying to get her to taste it, but she thought she'd play in it a little.

 

 Now she's getting bored and wants to finish this thing that her parents are forcing her to do.

 



 Now we're done.  Now they won't make me eat it.

 

Finishing it with style.

 Ohhhh, look at mom, she's all clean...

 Do you think I should...

 

Ohhh, yeah, here I come!

 Getting my game face on.

 

 

All over mom's clean shorts...hee-hee!

 

Ha ha, I got her!

Abby, Abby, Abby.  My dirty little girl who doesn't like cake.  But she did love the ice cream.  And she got her first box of Grandpa Milk.

Not a lampshade, but a corky kind of hat.

Happy with the party.

But I don't think she's a big fan of cake.

 

We had a great party for the girls and lots of fun.  Then on Monday we went to Hagerman.  Hagerman is this great little town that has lots of (the sign says thousands, but...) hot springs so a couple hot spring pools are around town.  There's even a place that raises alligators.  Not sure why you would want to raise alligators in Idaho, but to each his own.  We were going to go to Sligers, but they are closed on Monday--who knew?-so we went to Banberrys, which is called Thousand Springs now.  We were in the pool for three hours and all the kids had a blast and were so tired on the way home. 

 

We stayed in Idaho the next week (mostly) and came home on Saturday.  We had a wonderful time.  I really like going to my home ward, it's so good to see so many people I grew up with.  Farris spent Monday and Tuesday up in the mountains with my Dad getting wood for the winter and I helped mom clean out an area in the basement so she could get down some new carpet and start rearranging.  By the way, if anyone wants a pool table with a ping pong tabletop, let me know my Mom wants to get rid of one.  But you might have to go to Idaho to pick it up.  Anyway, we headed over to Burley to spend time with farris' family on Wednesday, including going to the county fair.  Fun!  Then on Friday Farris' nephew got married to a sweet girl in the Salt Lake temple.  We went to the sealing and the wedding brunch and then back to Idaho for the reception.  It was wonderful to spend time with so much of our family and now we've got our Family Fix until the holidays when we get out of school  Unless anyone wants to come visit...we're always open!

Abigail's First Birthday

What a cutie!  Yes, this post is going to be a brag post.  'Cause she's just adorable.  Her huge personality is adorable, too.  She loves to giggle and smile and she's even learned how to tease a little.  She's always on the move, except right now she's fast asleep after a long morning of play, play, play.  She loves to play peek-a-boo and thinks it's hilarious that mom can't find her under the blanket.  It's fun to watch her reactions at stores to strangers, she'll either give them a perfect poker face no matter how they try to coax a smile or she lights up and flirts with them.   Don't worry if she gives you a crusty look, though, it's more about her mood and if her tummy is full and her sleep ratio is good than if she likes you or not.  Mostly she's a sunny baby that sleeps all night long and is always game for something new.  Her favorite things?  Animals delight her and she doesn't even mind the licking from dogs.  Water to swim in, she always is trying to get into someone else's bathwater and when we go to a pool she splashes with the best of them.  She's been such fun and a real blessing.

 

I took a picture of her every month (mostly on her monthly birthday) on the same blanket with her rabbit stuffed animal (she was born in the Chinese Year of the Rabbit).  Well, I took one every month but her 12 month because we had an incident with the camera before I could get that one.  And I took one on her second month, but it's stuck in a flashdrive that won't open.  I'm planning on taking it to a computer store to see if we can get it fixed.  Any suggestions on a good place?

So here she is, growing every month:

NEWBORN

We took this picture right when we got home from the hospital, she didn't even have a name at this point.

1ST MONTH

She hardly ever took a binky, this is one of the few pictures with one. 

Very different from our Binky Boy Seth.

 

3RD MONTH

 

 

 4TH MONTH

5TH MONTH

 

6TH MONTH

Whoosh, al the sudden she's moving!

 

7TH MONTH

8TH MONTH

Such a big change in one month!

9TH MONTH

 

 

 10TH MONTH
 

 

 11TH MONTH

 

 

Hopefully we'll get the camera fixed so we can get a picture of her in all her one year old sunshineiness.

 

We did have my sister take a One Year Picture of her.  My grandpa was a photographer and he took pictures of all the granddaughters on their first birthday. Me and my sisters all hung above the piano for so long!  Since he passed away when I was little, Nicki took over the family photography and all the great granddaughters in our family have special pictures now, too.   

We took these on her birthday at the party at the Twin Falls.  She loved getting her picture taken, except for that pesky flower Mommy kept putting in her hair.  Still, they turned out so cute, thanks a ton, Nicki! 

 Sisters!

 

 In this one, she was trying to put that flower back in her hair.  She managed to blance it on her shoulder and thought it was funny that we were all laughing.

 

Love that cute little face! 

Happy first birthday Abigail!



Felicity and the BIG 1-0!

 Felicity turned 10 this year.  Wow!  Wasn't she just a giggly chubby little baby just the other day? Well, she's still giggly.  Felicity is our story teller, our question asker (if you watch a movie with her, be prepared to answer questions every two minutes), our little mother and our horse lover.  She also reads her books so hard you almost need an explosion to get her attention.  She's grown a lot this year, getting taller and more mature.  She's decided she wants to go by Lissy mostly, maybe because it sounds better than Issy, which is what Seth calls her.

She started piano lessons this year and she loves it.  She'll make up songs or just play with the piano.  She's always been a music maker and this is a fun outlet for her. 

And, of course, she's still our cowgirl.  She's constantly plotting on how to get a horse.  In church the other day a young man spoke and said something about how the youth shouldn't listen to people who tell them they can't do something.  As soon as he said that, I knew we were in trouble (Joseph's little eyes gleamed and I could see ideas jumping around in his head).  Felicity heard it, too, and came up with a scheme about getting a job to buy a horse and all the trappings because she can do anything, including getting a job.  Thank you, Mr. Speaker, we had to have a talk with the kids on how Dreams and Goals are good, but some things you really can't do.  No Joseph, you cannot drive a car.

Felicity has always been a little bit of a Mother Hen (which is a great help to me, usually!) and when a Baby Sister was born, the day after Lissy's birthday, it kicked into hyper drive.  She loves her brothers and sister, even when she has a hard time because they don't listen to her!  Yup. Felicity, I share your pain.  She was so very excited watching Abby take her first steps, and loved taking her to any new places or experiences.  Proud big sis.

Felicity was in her first play this year and did such a good job as Nala in The Lion King.  I think a lover of theater is starting!  Yay, I'll have someone to go to plays with me!

 

The day before her birthday, Felicity had her cousin come over and cut our shapes from fondant to decorate her birthday cake.  She wanted to be completely in charge!  I did tell her only four Littlest Pet Shop animals on top, but as you can see, she squeezed on a few more. 

 

For her birthday...we drove to Idaho.  Let's hear a hurrah for a three and a half hour drive!  She was ok with it, though, because of the fun that waited at the end of the drive.  And we hung birthday streamers for her and had her favorite dinner (pizza) the night before and her favorite breakfast (German Pancakes) that morning before we left. 

 

At Grandma's house she opened one present and then decided to save the rest for her birthday party the next day.  We gave her 10 Littlest Pet Shop animals (ebay, yay) and one to grow on.  She requested horses, so four of them are horses, she immediately started naming them.

 

 

 Saturday was Abby's birthday so we combined parties and had lots of family together. We went to the Twin Falls, just outside of the city of Twin Falls, Idaho.  It's beautiful there and not as crowded as the Shoshone Falls.

I finally decided that I was never going to get a chance to quilt the quilt top I made for felicity about two years ago, so I just turned it into a duvet cover that we could put her current quilt into.  Whew,  so much easier than quilting and one more unfinished project done.  And it was a hit, she loves it on her bed.

 

 

Her grandparents, a lot of her aunts and uncles and a lot of her cousins were able to come, she had so much fun at the party.  Then to continue the celebrations, we went swimming on Monday so we could fulfill her last birthday wish.  Except for that pony, of course.

 

Happy Tenth Birthday Felicity! We love you so much!

Wanting to repaint!

So...I'm awake at 11:09 because sweet little (almost 1 year old!) Abigail took a late nap today and has now decided to pull an all nighter.  We'll see.  At the moment she's pretty giggly and wide awake.  That brings me to cruising around a little on the Internet, and I found this great post from I am Momma hear me roar:
http://www.iammommahearmeroar.net/2012/07/master-bedroom-final-reveal-with-chip-it.html
It's a reveal from her newly redone bedroom and I love it, the colors are fun and the headboard is awesome and the spool reminds me of the giant one we had for a playhouse growing up. AND she's having a giveaway for $1000 visa gift card and $200 at Sherwin-Williams to a lucky person so they can do some remodeling, too.  I could stand that.  And I could repaint our living room--getting tired of the red walls. So go check out the remodel, it looks great and actually doable without hiring a carpenter or electrician. 
And coundown to Felcitiy's 10th birthday as only five days and Abby's first is only 6 days.  Time for that 48 hours of fun we promised Felicity when Abigail was born the day after her birthday!

Joseph: 6; July: 4; Girls Camp: 24; Abigail: 11

We've had a few busy weeks lately! THANKS to those who helped us, particularly my mom and sis-in-law, Tarilynn, who took care of the kids while I was wandering the wilderness with my Sassy Celestialites (more on that later). 

Our Super-Dee-Duper, hilarious, giggly, on the move, snugly boy with a huge imagination turned 6.  I can hardly believe it even though he'll be in first grade soon...gosh, time has flown by since he was born in the middle of the night in Gallop, New Mexico.  Oh, no one can make us laugh like this little boy.  I wonder what he will be doing when he turns 15...25...35...45...heck, it's kind of quiet at the moment, I wonder what he's doing right now  (OK, it's all good, he's just playing). 

The boys got some fun things from Chad and Tarilynn, much more things to throw around, which is always a good idea with these two.  (Please not in the house)

Another always good present, a flashlight.

 Hurrah for after Christmas sales, we got an awesome Cars2 Lego set, he was dancing around the room.  I mean, more than usual. Look at that cheeser grin. Happy Birthday our funny little boy, so happy to have you making our family a little gigglier.

Just a cute picture, Abby loves to help Felicity during her piano practice.  Which, by the way, is going very well, she loves it and is always pushing to learn more songs and fooling around making her own songs.  So glad she gets this chance!

And then on July 4th, we were invaded.  It was just our nephews, but they still looked a little different.  Every year my family meets in my dad's hometown for all the fun small town festivities.   Farris ran the 10K and I did the 5K (I won't say ran, I just "did" it),we ate the town pancake breakfast, rode the Newey family float, had a yummy lunch with cousins I haven't seen for awhile, and just enjoyed the day very much.  During the fireworks we stayed in my aunts backyard and then when it was done, the kids wrapped themselves in glow sticks and gave us a show.  We got into a glow stick fight with my cousin Travis, which ultimately ended after everyone went to bed: Travis got up at 4:00 to head back to work and dumped the nephews out of their tent before he left.  Wait until next year Trav, they'll be prepared!

The Monday after the 4th I headed up to Heber Valley Camp  for Stake Girls Camp as the camp director for our ward.  Such a great place, so amazing.  The stake theme was Tribes and Testimonies, each ward was supposed to pick a tribal name--something with an -ite on the end--for each ward to focus on.  After throwing out the girls first pick (I won't even say it), we settled on Sassy Celestialites.  Thanks for the idea Nicki!  Our girls definitely have a little sass going on, and I wanted the girls to know that they are on the path to the celestial Kingdom and that should be their goal.  Lots of preparation went into this week and it went so well.  We had 24 girls, one just for the last day, and they were wonderful, love them.  So many things I was afraid would fall through or not work, or people would be bored or mad or all kind of things go wrong, but it was smooth, fun, spiritual and very, very tiring!  The campground has a lake to canoe on (and none of our girls tipped over, although we almost had a couple dunks), an amazing challenge course and these incredible couple missionaries that run everything and are excited to be around the girls.  Awesome, awesome, and well worth all the prep we did for it.  Thanks to the other leaders and our fabulous Bishop, everyone worked hard and helped me remember all those things I forgot to do.  Thanks to Farris who worked so hard to get that 24th girl up to camp and made sure everything at home was going smoothly.  What a good week! 

There's our girls!!

In the middle of the week that I was at camp, Abigail turned 11 months.  She did so good while I was gone.  We were afraid, she's such a mommy's girl, but mom and Tarilynn were great.  Me, however, I missed my baby.  Just a little bit.  Heh.  I told just a few...maybe a little more than a few...that she was turning 11 months and that I missed her, and that I hoped she was doing o.k, and that she was So. Very. Cute.  But in the end she (I) lived throught the separation.  So, anyway, here's a few highlights of the past month:

**She got two more teeth, on the top, but they aren't the middle, they are her cute little fangs.  So we have our Vampire baby.  And she does bite, so be careful.

**She officially took her first steps.  She's up to 9 steps at a time, but if you are expecting a show, sorry, she's no performing monkey.  She walks when she wants to, thank you. 

**We have a gate at the top and and one at the bottom of our long set of stairs (no, Chad, not to lock them in the middle), and she's figured out how to crawl through the one on the bottom and climb up all 12 steps.  Coming down safely is still a problem, we'll have to work on that, especially now that she can get through the bottom gate.

**She's still such a happy baby, loves to clap and wave good bye, she likes to be really loud in church and tries to crawl under the benches, her favorite things are her brothers and sister, but mom and dad get good hugs, too.  She's quick on those little knees and dresses bug her because it's hard to crawl in them, she gets up on the hands and feet with her little bum in the air, so cute.  My favorite thing is when she starts dancing, she'll jam to any music.  She likes to help lead the music in church or during FHE, too.  Our musically happy little baby.  Only one more month until she's a year old!  Crazy, crazy. 

There's that cute grin!

 Look out Jedi, here she comes.

I was playing on Picaso, loved how this one turned out.  Nice that I can do it with just one little button, since I'm photoshop illiterate.  I might have to do one of these for each of the kids, wouldn't that be a cute grouping?  Hmmmm, much more to do.