Stylin'

 

Yesterday, we went and got our hair cut. Elaina and I just got trimmed but Keira got a new hair style. She is loving the short hair. She has been asking for it for a while because she HATES having her hair combed. I decided it might relieve some tension in our house so I let her get it cut. I must say I really like it. It is very cute. She was a little mad at me this morning when I said that she still had to comb her hair. I guess she was under the impression that if it was shorter she wouldn't have to comb it at all. Elaina wanted her pictures taken too, and this is how she posed because she was SO excited that I was taking her picture. What cute girls!

Also, thanks Elisa for cutting our hair! You always do such a great job!

Birthday Party

On Saturday Keira got to go to her first birthday party for a friend from Sunbeams. They had it at a dance studio and got to do a lot of fun things. I kind of wanted to stick around and see what was going on but she didn't mind me leaving, so I wanted to encourage some independence.  She has gotten so good about letting her parent's leave her places and trusting that she will be ok and that we WILL be back for her! What a big girl! Anyway, she got to have her fingernails painted for the first time (they were shocked that she had never had her nails painted. I don't even own nail polish!) and she picked bright pink for her debut. So cute. She also got a cool valentines day sucker for a party favor and was so excited about it. We have been listening to stories about the party all weekend so I am so glad she had a good time.

Flowers

 

My husband and I aren't much for celebrating Valentines Day but he brought me home flowers yesterday. He doesn't do it often because I am the only wife in the world who isn't big on flowers but it was nice to be thought of. I love you Rick!

Napping and Playing

 

Keira hasn't been taking naps for a good 6 months or more. She absolutely refuses and since she isn't usually crabby we have decided that it is ok (even though it means I don't get a break).  Yesterday she was playing on the couch with some toys while her sister was taking a nap and I was working on the computer. I noticed that it had gotten quiet so I turned around and this is what I saw. I guess all of the errands we ran had worn her out. 

We have been having so much fun with Addai over at our house 3 days a week. Both girls love playing with him but Elaina is my helper. She is always bringing stuff to him, helps throw out his dirty diapers (one disappeared a couple days ago when I was changing him and I found it later in a diaper bag. The logic is sound I guess), and cheer him up when he is sad. She loves to come up to him and say "hi" and tickle his belly just like I do. She imitates everything I do with him including trying to pick him up one day. Thankfully he didn't even leave the ground. Keira isn't too into babies but Elaina is really loving them both, real and baby dolls. It is fun to watch.

Elaina

 

Elaina had her 18 month well child appointment this week and is a growing girl! She is 34 inches tall and weighs 30 lbs. She is in the 98% for both and is the average size a of 2 year old. She is a big girl but healthy and happy and so much fun. 

In the top pictures we see her gangster/stripper side. She decided she didn't want to be dressed the other day and was successful at getting off her shirt but not so much with her jeans. 

She used to be attached to just one blanket but now she wants three! No kidding. One is not good enough. If she gets upset, tired or just needs to snuggle she get all three out of her crib or stands there and screams until someone else does if she can't reach them. Today she was also chewing on a teether because she has some teeth coming in so it was even more cute. I can't wait until it gets warmer and I can phase some of the blankets out of her crib. It does get to be a bit much. I love my girls!

Living the Life

We have been doing a whole lot of not much at our house lately. I started putting some pony tails in Elaina's hair and then tried to get her to sit still so I could get some pictures of them. Silly me! That girl has no time to sit still.

Keira had me build her bunk bed into a fort which we haven't done for awhile so she insisted that I take a picture of her with it. She also wanted me to get her brand new pajama pants in the picture. Yay for clearance racks!

I started babysitting a little 4 1/2 month old boy named Addai last week and we have been having a lot of fun with him. He is so tiny and sweet and loves to play with the girls. He thinks they are hilarious! I propped him up so he could play legos with them and he loved it and hung out there for the longest time.

Update: Keira is still going to Sunbeams by herself and LOVING it. That girl just needed more structure in her life I think. Nursery is too big of a free for all for her. Elaina has been going to nursery for the past couple of weeks by herself and doing so good too. We did get a little scared when we came out of Rick's setting apart yesterday (he is the new ward executive secretary) and someone told us that they had found Elaina wandering the hallways. She had escaped nursery! Scary! Thankfully they knew who she was and who she belonged to but they couldn't find us since we were in the bishop's office, so they took her to the primary president, who took her back to nursery. I am glad I didn't know she was missing until she had already been found again. That girl!

Sunbeams Building Space Needles

Keira and Elaina both love playing with legos. They have gotten legos for the past two Christmases and Grandma Marcia has tons of them too. They are always building things and Keira has gotten really creative. Today she brought this one to me and told me it was the Space Needle. Pretty close! I like how she added the flower on top to give it the look of the Space Needle. She has only seen it once in real life when we went and visited her Daddy at his office and she is fascinated with all of the big buildings of the city.  We will have to get rich one of these days and take her up in the Space Needle. She would love it.

On another note, Keira has officially gone to Sunbeams twice so far. As many people know, she hated going to nursery by herself. She didn't mind going to nursery but Rick usually had to go with her. We were afraid it would just carry on to Sunbeams but with a little bribery and blackmail she went last week all by herself. She had so much fun and was so excited, when she left church, that she had a crown to wear (handout from the lesson) and some goldfish to eat. On Sunday, I didn't even have to ask her if she wanted to go. She kept asking me all through Sacrament meeting if it was time for Sunbeams yet. Her teacher was sitting right behind us and I said as soon as her teacher left than we could go. You have never seen a kid bolt for the primary room as quickly as Keira went when her teacher got up. She sat down right in the front row and started talking to the Primary presidency (talking?, to adults? amazing) about how her teacher was on Facebook (I showed her that her teacher was on Facebook to get her excited for Sunbeams and it worked! That girl loves technology). Since I am the primary pianist, I get to watch her in singing time and sharing time and she loves it. She was singing along and participated when her name was drawn. I am so proud of her! I think she loves the structure more of Primary then she did with nursery. Here is hoping for a much smoother ride from now on. Elaina officially starts nursery at the end of the month so we are excited to hopefully be kid free during church. It will be nice.