A peacock, a strawberry, and a kangaroo

Halloween 2012!!

We thought she should show off her new haircut  by wearing the Minnie Mouse costume to Braden's squadron party.

Since Maisey & Lila spend the majority of the lives pretending to be puppies together Maisey was ecstatic to wear this costume and did quite a bit of panting. She wanted to wear this trick or treating on Halloween also but I simply had to see her wear the kangaroo so I told her she wouldn't get any candy unless she wore it. She agreed on the spot.  

We always love to put our 2 year olds in the Kangaroo. She fed her Joey several pieces of candy throughout the night. 

This is her watching trick or treaters by and declaring their scariness.

We discovered this year that Lila is virtually unscarable. She appeared  mildly entertained by all things goulish and deadish, but no signs of hesitancy or fear. I hear peacocks are sort of that way though.

It was fun to watch the girls get candy and fun to have Braden with us this year. It's been a few years since we were together on Halloween so that was exciting for me. As I was putting Maisey in her bed she was still begging to eat more candy..." I'll eat them one at a time, please....more candy?!"

We are really extra super good parents

The following story is just one example of why.

"Nice save, Anabelle"!

"Way to go, dude"!

"Way to get in there"!

"Yeah, Anabelle"!

"Doing great, kiddo"!

"Nice"!!

"Way to go"!

But then after she already had the ball in hands this cute little guy from her church class kept kicking. And he kicked her finger. And she screamed. And cried. Bunches.

Be grateful there's not an audio clip to accompany this picture.

"You're fine. Shake it off. It hurts because it's cold out here. You'll be okay. Just  keep playing".
"IT REAAALY HURTS! I CAN'T MOVE MY FINGER! I THINK IT'S BROKEN!"
(Said awesome parents rolling eyes at each other).

"Anabelle, get back in your goal, here comes the ball"!
"I CAN'T. IT REALLY HURTS".
"Turn around. Here comes the ball".

"There you go! Good job. You're okay".

And she saves a few more balls because we force her to because we know that she is dramatic and that her finger is just fine.

But then it swelled up. And Braden called from the hospital to say it was broken.  "Way to go us! Parents of the year"!

Maisey's 2nd Birthday

We gave her this bear at night after her party. Because we felt like we really needed more  huge kid items that take up lots of space. Oh, but look at her face. She has cleverly named him "Big, Big, Big, Big Teddy Bear".  And she calls him that every time. 

It was so fun to watch her at her party. Because she is so fun. Everything is exciting and funny to her.

I got her this cake because of her nickname Hug Bug, which she earned for continuously giving high quality  hugs.

And I do always like to watch her eat cake. Because she really likes cake. 

We got her a $2 ball. And then she provided the entertainment for the rest of the party.

I've said it before and I'll say it again...I love age two. And I love Maisey. So I'm kind of obsessed with how much fun a 2 year old Maisey is.

Sesame Street! Live from Layton!

Two days before Braden came home, I took the girls to the USO Sesame Street show. It was open and free to active duty military. Each kid got a spinning light up Elmo toy to dance with during the concert and take home after. I really wish Braden had been home for it. It was so fun to watch the girls dance at the stage and interact with the characters. 

This Honker came down off the stage and honked Lila's honker.  Now how many kids can say that?

6 Years?!?!

I can't believe we have owned an Anabelle for six years. I am even more amazed at the joy she has brought to us in that amount of time. She took two poor, kind of stupid, college kids and made them parents. And what fun it has been. She's had my heart from day one and she keeps me on my toes. 

She insisted she wanted ANOTHER snake cake. It kind of looks like a worm. Partly due to Maisey climbing up and eating the tongue I made. Her birthday was on a busy Wednesday so we had her traditionally requested dinner of ravioli & brocolli, ate the snake/worm/caterpillar, and then she opened some presents. 

We threw her a small science party on Saturday with a few friends. She is really into science and why things work so it seemed like a good idea to get a group of small children and watch things explode.   

And we had a very special scientist show up to run the experiments. He called himself Professor Fluffernutter. The kids went wild with giggles.

Making elephant toothpaste. We also made oobleck, lava lamps, and exploding soap. All the kids said it was the coolest party they have EVER been to. And their parents said they went home saying the same. If you want to rent Professor Fluffernutter for a party his Saturdays are open in late afternoons for a nominal fee. 

Maisey told me she didn't like the cupcake. She sure doesn't look like she doesn't like the cupcake. 

 

I am a soccer Mom!

We are having fun with Anabelle in soccer. She was really nervous about playing and was not excited that I signed her up against her will. But after the first practice she walked away telling me that she wanted to live her life on that field. She has only had 2 games so far, hopefully by the end of the season she will stop chewing her nails and putting her hands inside her sleeves and twirling her jersey around. 

This beast of a girl literally took about 15 shots.  Anabelle had 2 goals scored on her but did really well as keep.  It was fun to watch.

This is when she comes out of the goal. Yeah, she's the one sitting down. I think we have a keeper on our hands.

One little kid on the other team who was also freakishly good and took several shots on her, with only one being successful,  walked up to her at half time and stood in her goal. And she looked a little scared. And then he said," Hey goalie!" and she said with great hesitance, "Yeah?" And he said, "You're really good. You saved LOTS of balls." And she looked at me. And I smiled at her. And then she looked at him and smiled. And said "Thanks" in a rare-for-her shy-ish voice. 

Shown here are Anabelle's two coaches. The official one with the "Coach" shirt on,  and her Dad with an actual soccer jersey on. Because he's played soccer before and he knows what he's talking about. Needless to say it is a bit of a challenge for Braden to sit on the sidelines and watch.

Her only non-yelling fan

This was my favorite save of the game.