Gymnastics Performance

Paige's 10 week long gymnastics class concluded last week with an evening performance. For her solo trick Paige did a forward roll.

waving to mom and dad

taking a bow

climbing the ladder

fantastic gymnastic buddies

Ready for Spring

The crazy weather in our state has given us lots of teasers of spring lately, only to throw us right back into winter. Monday and Tuesday of this week were about 70 degrees. This morning? - it snowed.

I'm SO ready to decrowd the closets, put the winter clothes away for good, and leave room for only the cute spring and summer outfits. Even though the first day of spring officially arrived on Saturday, March 20th, it obviously isn't quite warm enough yet to consistently dress like it. But I couldn't help myself last Sunday with Easter just around the corner and so I dressed the girls for church in these adorable smocked dresses, snapped a picture to send to Honey and Papa to show them just how much Paige loves her birthday present, then wrapped a blanket around Claire, put a sweater on Paige, and off we went.

"But, Mom, I'm 3 now!"

I'm missing the days when Paige was two, unquestioning and immediately obedient. I used to be able to say that she was such a reasonable toddler. Now that she's three she is much more capable of reasoning and she has a rebuttal almost everytime I ask her to stop doing something.

For example:

Me: Paige, please stop jumping on the couch.
P: But, I'm not wearing my shoes!

Me: Paige, don't play with the big clock.
P: But, Mom, my hands are not dirty!

Me (while walking through a store): Paige, I need you to hold my hand. Don't let go.
P: Why? We're not in the parking lot!

Me: Paige, stop doing that to your sister.
P: But she's not crying!

Me: Paige, I want you to wait for me to help you wipe your bum.
P: But, Moooooomm, I'm 3 now!

Yeah, I noticed.

Mirror, mirror on the wall . . .

I have a problem. The more I fill my house with pretty stuff, the more I like it. I try not to let an unfinished room affect me, but it does. It drives me crazy.

BUT

for the past few days I have been content because there is finally a large round mirror on my living room wall. FINALLY! I have known I wanted a large round mirror there for several months, almost since the moment we moved in, but since we needed lots of more functional furniture as well, the mirror got pushed towards the end of the home decor budget list.

This is the mirror I've had my eye on since oh, maybe September. Isn't she pretty? And even though the price is pretty good for a mirror of that size, I thought I could do better. And I did.

At Home Goods in Salt Lake last Thursday afternoon (after spending the better part of the day at Temple Square), I found this beauty (at more than half the price and a full 6" diameter bigger). And it makes me smile every time I walk into my living room.

Visitors

Ben's sister and her family drove from Oklahoma to Utah last week to go skiing and to show their two oldest children where they fell in love (BYU) and where they got married (SLC Temple). We were lucky enough to get to spend two whole days with them.


On Wednesday we shopped at the BYU Bookstore, wandered around on campus, ate at the Creamery on Ninth, played at Kangaroo Zoo, dined at Cafe Rio, and stopped in at the Distribution Center where the Oklahomans got to pick out their own unmentionables, thank you very much - a luxury we Utahns take for granted.


On Thursday we drove up I-15 to Temple Square (passing 5 temples along the way), saw as much as we could and ate lunch at Olive Garden before we caught a whiff of a storm rolling in and our visitors had to hightail it home to avoid getting stuck in the snow somewhere in Wyoming.


They made it home safely, but not without getting delayed somewhere in Wyoming.

Thanks for coming to visit! You're welcome anytime! And don't wait so long next time.

19 Weeks

Here's how Claire measured up at her 4 month checkup a week and a half ago:

Length: 25" (75th%ile)
Weight: 13 lbs 12 oz (50th%ile)
Head Circ: 42 cm (75th%ile)

I can't believe she's gained over 3 lbs in the last 2 months. I found a copy of Paige's old medical records and at 4 months she was also 25" but only weighed 12 lbs 8 oz. It was after this that Paige's growth really started to slow down.

Anyway, I'm always surprised when two kids from the same family are so different.

Here's a picture of Paige at 6 1/2 months
wearing the same outfit that Claire wore today at 4 1/2 months.
And I think Claire fills it out better.

Paige's Princess Party

We had Paige's 3rd birthday party last Saturday. We rescheduled twice to try and accommodate Ben's work schedule and eventually just had to go ahead and have it without him. Since the party was at 11am I prepared everything the night before, after the girls went to bed. The first thing out of Paige's mouth the next morning when she saw the living room and kitchen was, "This looks GREAT! Mom, you planned the PERFECT party for me!" It's so nice that she's appreciative.

It was ALL princess. The girls came dressed as princesses, we had princess music, princess hair glitter, princess coloring, princess bingo, princess gift wrap, princess bracelet making, princess place settings, princess balloons, princess punch, princess cake, princess pinata, and princess goodie bags. You might say that I went princess crazy and as a result I now have princess burnout :) I actually had at least 6 other princess themed ideas for the party that I didn't use (princess: tea party, cake walk, make-up station, story-time with a "real" live princess, inflatable castle, . . .). I had to stop somewhere; after all, the party was for a 3 year old.

Here are some pictures: