Random happenings

These pictures can't just hide out in their picture folder on the computer any longer.  I have to share because, well, these are my two favorite people and they are just too cute.

Can you guess what we talked about at our Family Home Evening a few weeks ago?

Alayna still prefers to call herself a prince, but  we'll pretend there is both a prince and a princess in this picture and the princess is NOT Dan.  :)

My exercising helper.  She LOVES to exercise with me.  But on this particular day she even asked for me to put in an exercise video after I had exercised, just so she could do it all by herself.

 These are "her" weights.  Perfect for a little three-year-old wanna be exerciser. 

See?  Too cute not to share.  Huh?

Goin' to church in style

Once I found the little bag for Alayna's "Crispers", I told her we could decorate it.  Just days before finding her little bag, I came across a tutorial to make a ruffle bag. 

And because every girl likes ruffles, we decided to make said ruffle bag.  Only, a miniature one in her case.

Layna picked the fabric.  And I did the creating.

Turned out pretty darn cute, huh?

In fact, I thought it turned out so cute, that I made a mom-size version for me. 

I have to admit, I like hers better, but alas, not all my church "stuff" would fit in her bag.  So I'm stickin' with mine.

I've got a little helper

And I am putting her to work.

Just look at how good she is at folding the towels.

Now if I could just get to her to fold the rest of the laundry, then we'd be in business.

Baby steps, people.  Baby steps.

Only when living in Arizona.....

Can you use the money your parents give you for a summer gift as a winter gift instead. 

Winter or summer, Alayna still loves it!

Can you say cheese?

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa L.  Layna loves her sandbox!

I have to tell you a few things

....about this little girl.

She seriously is at the funnest age right now.  I really am loving three for so many reasons. Don't get me wrong,  I am not liking three as well.  In fact, I think it's more the terrible threes than the terrible twos, but I still want to go on the record and say that I like it more (way more) than I dislike it. 

And since this is such a fun age, I have been trying to write down a few things about Miss Layna as of late.

*As mentioned in this post.  She LOVES her "Crispers".  She is really into reading them, and carrying them around.  After she got her miniature Book of Mormon in the mail, I realized that I had a bag that may be perfect for them.  (It just so happened that I had one left over from when I taught Sunbeams like 7 years ago.)  When I found the bag and gave it to her, she tried to put her scriptures in and was ecstatic when they fit and said, "It's perfect!  Thanks, Mom!" 

I think that's the first time she has declared that something was perfect.  Too cute.

*I think one of the main reasons I am so in love with this age is due to the fact that we are involved in imaginary play almost 24/7.  I just love that she will say, "Mommy, will you play with me?"  And then she will take me on some imaginary trip.  We fly in airplanes to see our Grandmas and Grandpas a lot, and we also drive in the car to play at friends' houses.  But no matter what we do, I love that she wants to play pretend.

*Often while we are pretending, she will declare, "You are the Princess.  I am the Prince."  I don't know why, but not once has she wanted to be the princess.  Always the prince.  And if we are playing as mommy and daddy, guess who has to be the daddy?  Yep.  She does.  It's really no wonder, considering she is about the biggest daddy's girl there is.

*Her friends.  Oh, how she loves her friends!  Only, she doesn't always call them her friends.  They are "her people".  Whenever I tell her we are going to be somewhere where some of her friends are and I list off their names, she'll respond by saying, "All my people!"  Guess they're her peeps.  :)

*Alayna is quite the little dancing queen.  She loves to dance in front of our sliding glass door at night so she can watch herself.  She comes up with quite the moves and really impresses us at times with some of the moves she does.  The other night she even busted some moves in between tables at Burger King.   And was not shy about it.  If there is a good enough song on the radio, it will get her up and moving. 

*I love that she can communicate so well at this age, but I love even more the fact that not everything is entirely correct.  For a few different sounds at the beginning of words, such as j's and ch's she says the sh sound.  So, she says shammies (jammies) and shocolate (chocolate).  I.Love.it.

*One thing I do NOT love is the fact that she has started talking baby talk at times.  I can't stand it.  It is driving me batty!  Where do kids learn that?  We don't have a baby that we talk baby talk to....yet.  And Dan and I do NOT talk baby talk to her or each other.  Although, the last couple of days she hasn't done it as much.  Let's hope it stays that way.

*For a long time now when there is a fly, Alayna will say, "Shoo fly, don't bother me!"  And over time she started saying it to other animals as well.  "Shoo, bird!  Shoo!"  Well, the other day she said, "Shoo, Mommy!  Shoo!"  (I was in her way, and apparently that was the best way to get her point across.)

*And for the last bit of info.  Alayna got her hair cut for the second time ever.  She got her first hair cut over a year ago and she was definitely past due for a trim.  She got a few inches cut off, and I can tell her hair is much healthier.  There were only a few tears for the first couple of minutes, but then she did great.  The girl won her over because when she was all done, she put Alayna's hair in pigtails.  (Alayna's favorite.) 

A before.

And after.

Get a load of that belt.  Classy.

A Sunbeep, A Sunbeep

Can you believe this little girl is a SUNBEAM!?! 

Or a Sunbeep, as she used to say a couple months ago.

Our primary waited until the second week of January to change to new classes so yesterday was Alayna's first Sunday as a Sunbeam.  She was SO excited to go to "Mommy's class" (since I am a counselor in Primary and she sees me for sharing and singing time).

But the main reason she was so excited about Sunbeams was because she got to carry her bag that holds....

Her very own miniature Book of Mormon.  Complete with her name inscribed on it.  And let me tell you, she LOVES her "Crispers" (Scriptures).  She got them in the mail the day before and COULD.NOT.PUT.THEM.DOWN.  She even carried them around the store when we ran errands. 

She loved her Sunbeam class and her Sunbeam teacher, "Gwenna's Mommy".  In fact, I don't know if I have seen her so friendly and chatty church.....which may be good, and then again, it may not.  :)

Here she is after church with her very own "I am a Sunbeam sticker!"  (She was SO done with getting her picture taken, but I told her we had to get a picture of her sticker....and then she was somewhat okay with it.)

Crispers

Sometimes, as a parent, there are moments that melt your heart.  And you think, "Maybe I am doing something right." 

The other night, we had one of those moments.

With all the excitement and busy-ness of the holidays, Alayna's bedtime routine has been a little off.  She has fallen asleep in the car more than once over the past few days, and couple of the other nights, she has been so exhausted that we are doing good to just get her in her jammies. 

Anyway, the other night Dan was woken up to Alayna poking his arm at 4 in the morning.  He looked at the clock and said, "What's the matter?"  To which, Alayna responded, "Crispers, my crispers."  By now I had woken up and was trying to figure out what was not going on.  Dan said, "Your slippers?"  (Alayna got some new slippers for Christmas.)  She quickly responded, "No!" and grabbed Dan's hand and led him to her room where she kept saying the same thing, "Crispers!" all while searching around her room.

Dan was at a loss for what she wanted.  And after a couple minutes, Alayna just started bawling.  She was beside herself about something and, Dan just couldn't understand what she was saying.  Over and over again he tried to figure it out, but to no avail.  Finally after a few minutes of crying, she settled down and went back to sleep.

Dan came back into our room and told me all that happened and we went back to bed. 

The next morning at breakfast, I asked Alayna why she came into our room the night before and why she was crying.  She told me she started crying because we "Borgot crispers".  I said, "You forgot your slippers?"   

"No!" she said, "Crispers!" 

And then it dawned on me.  SCRIPTURES! 

"Scriptures?  We forgot to read our scriptures?"

"YEAH!"  she exclaimed.

Bless her heart.  We forgot to read scriptures the night before and she came to tell us.  When we didn't know what she was talking about, she went to show Dan, but searched and couldn't find them in her room. (They were left in our room from the previous day.)  And that's when she started crying....

Boy, did we feel bad.  But completely proud at the same time.  What a sweet little girl we have that just wants to do what is right and read her "Crispers".  :)

Christmas Day

Christmas day was of course filled with fun at our house. 

Alayna woke us up bright and early at 6 a.m.

We asked her if she remembered who came to our house last night (since she fell asleep in the car looking at Christmas lights the night before).  It took a little prompting, but she remembered Santa came.  We grabbed the video camera/camera and headed into the family room to see what Santa brought.  She quickly ran to her gifts and grabbed her Purplicious book and exclaimed, "My purple book!" while giving it a hug.  (Side note: After reading Pinkalicous almost nightly, she would turn the book over and tell Dan that she wanted the "purple book".)

And I think Santa pretty much won her over from then on out.  I later asked her if she liked Santa and she said she did and then added, "He comes when I am asleep."  I still don't think she would like him if he were to come during the day, but at night is fine with her.

It took several minutes for her to even notice the "bigger" gift that Santa left her (a highchair for her doll).  She was just so content with her "Purple book" and the other smaller gifts Santa brought.

Opening presents.

Holding up her Wyoming t-shirt from Grandma and Grandpa L.

Playing with her train set from Mommy and Daddy.

The doll highchair.  Santa (and Mrs. Claus) spent a few hours in their workshop making it.

We think it turned out pretty great.

Watching her movie from Santa.  The old version of The Parent Trap.  I think it's safe to say, she was quite into it.

Alayna set up a tea party for her baby with her new tea set from Grandma and Grandpa L.

Later we played one of her new games: Candyland.

I had to add this picture.  This is such a typical "cheese" picture.

A picture of Daddy's presents.

And because I know you were all dying to know what Alayna bought Dan....a play tool set.  Right up his alley.  He loved it. 

I somehow missed getting my picture taken by my loot.  But here it is anyway.

And Alayna with all her presents.  She just had to hold up her nail polish.

I think it is safe to say we were all spoiled and it was a great day!

Sugar cookie man

Grandma L. surprised us and sent a Christmas treat: a huge Gingerbread man cookie kit. 

It was the perfect thing to pass the time.  Layna loved making her sugar cookie man.

Sitting next to the finished product:

A pic of the sugar cookie man himself.  She decorated him all her self.  I only helped when I was told to.

And another picture just for good measure.

Can you believe how old my little girl is looking in these pictures?!?  I can't.

Because my child is terrified of Santa...

I took a picture of another kid on his lap, (This is actually Alayna's friend, Carter) just to document that we did indeed go to the Christmas party, Santa was in fact there and I did help decorate this corner (Santa's Corner). 

And when I say that my daughter is terrified of Santa, I really mean she is terrified of him.  In fact, when he first entered the room, we were standing right by the door that he entered, and my friend told me that she missed her kids' reaction to him because she was completely caught up in watching Alayna freak out and run to me. 

There was NO way she was going to sit on his lap or even go near him.  In fact, it was a miracle that she even let me carry her to get a treat bag.  Mind you, there were still tears, but she did get a treat bag.

Since seeing him, she does not want to watch any of our Santa Clause movies (which she used to watch all the time) and she informed me the other day at the store that she does not want him to come to our house.  I then told her that he only comes when we're sleeping so she won't have to see him. 

I think her opinion of him might change come Christmas morning. :)

A little shopping

Layna has shown an increased interest in gift giving this year...especially gift wrapping. 

She got to pick out Daddy's birthday and Christmas present.  It was actually quite fun this year since she really understood what she was doing.

We went to the dollar store for his Christmas gift.  I told her all morning that we were going to the dollar store to pick out Daddy's gift.  So when we walked into the store, she immediately went over to the baskets and grabbed one.  I asked her if she wanted me to carry it for her, but she said, "No!  I do it myself."

As we went up and down the isles, it was so fun to see her thinking about what Dan would really want.  She would put something in her basket, then see something else, take the first thing out of her basket and put the new one in.  This happened several times before she found IT: The.Perfect.Gift.For.Daddy. 

And really, I am surprised at how well she did at finding something that is so Dan.  But you'll have to wait until Christmas for the final reveal. 

Until then, here's her wrapping job for his Christmas present.  She did the cutting and taping.  I just had to help with the folding and holding the paper where she wanted it.

And his birthday present.  I believe there were six or seven bows total.  Do you like her choice of "birthday" wrapping paper, ribbon and bows?  I think Dan likes pink.  And if he doesn't, he's gonna have to learn to like it because I have a feeling there will be an awful lot of it in our home in years to come. 

An attempt to keep her entertained

As any mother of children knows, sometimes it is, shall we say, a bit of a challenge keeping kids entertained during church. 

I have especially learned that when you are by yourself, and out of patience, it can be really hard to keep your cool with a certain attitude filled three year old. 

So, I took matters into my own hands and decided to finish a project that I started over a year ago. 

Yep.  A YEAR ago. 

And here is the finished product after countless hours of coloring, cutting, gluing and cutting again:

File folder games. For church.

For any of you not familiar with these, they are basically activities in a file folder.  Each file folder has pieces that are attached (velcroed) on to the folder to complete a game. 

This specific game is about the Armor of God.  They are supposed to dress each man in their appropriate clothes (aka: suit for the missionary and armor for the warrior).

The pieces are kept in a Ziploc bag stapled to the folder.

This one is a color matching game.  You have to match the child being reverent to the chair that's the same color as their outfit.

I made ten games in all and let me tell you it was a lot of work.  But SO worth it when my child was entertained during Sacrament meeting.  Now, thanks to some suggestions from friends and family, I have a few other purchases/projects up my sleeve in hopes to keep Miss Layna better entertained during church.

Beware: When bringing file folder games to church, every kid within a few rows will want to join in on the fun.  It might be a good idea to bring enough to share.  :)

Big girl bed

In anticipation of the arrival of our little one, Dan and I decided that it was past time for Alayna to transfer into a "Big girl room" and thus a big girl bed.  She has been sleeping in a toddler bed for quite sometime now, but it converts into the crib, so we needed to upgrade.  And that gave us the perfect reason to switch Alayna's room. 

The change was made a few weeks ago, and she is LOVING her big girl room and toys.  (We put her kitchen in her room and she thinks she is in heaven.)  It took a couple nights for her to be totally convinced of the awesome-ness of the big girl bed, but she loves it now.

We had to include pictures of the big girl bed for Grandma L. because Layna has been telling her that her new bed has flowers on it.  And indeed it does.  I searched online one night for what seemed like hours (and I think it was) for the perfect bedding at a decent price.  I didn't want it to be too baby, yet I didn't want it to be too themed to where she wouldn't like it in a year or two.  So, after the massive search, I narrowed it down to six different bedspreads and I let Alayna choose.  I was surprised when each time I showed her the pictures, she did in fact choose the same one.  The "flower" one.  And lucky for us, it wasn't even the most expensive choice.  So the "flowers" it was.

So, what do you think?  Does she have good taste?

I am thinkin' so....she must take after her mother. 

Check it off our list

Thanksgiving came and went.  It was wonderful.  We spent it here, with friends.  We are doubly loved because we had breakfast with one family (Crepes with all the delicious toppings) and dinner with another family.  We talked to some of our family on Skype in between meals.  It was fabulous.  The only thing better would have been to actually be with family and snuggle my newest niece who was born the day before Thanksgiving.  But all in all it was great.

Thanksgiving marked the first day of Dan's seven off.  Basically, I live for Dan's seven days off.  When you work a crazy schedule like he does, any extra time to have him all to ourselves is heaven.  And all the time at home means projects get done.

Such as hanging Christmas lights on our first home EVER. 

We learned a few lessons along the way....like don't let your wife help.  She just complicates things.  I did make his job a little harder at one point, but it was on accident.  I promise.

Might I add that he did a pretty fantastic job.

 And over the weekend I was able to finally cross these babies OFF my list. 

I have been writing, printing, cutting, taping, address-labeling, stamping, and licking (Well, I enlisted Dan and Alayna's help) envelopes for our Christmas cards.  And tomorrow the post office will be mailing them. 

Whew!  Thank goodness it's only once a year that we do this.  In fact, I informed Dan that since I am the one that pretty much does all the work, he can go ahead and spend a little extra money on me.  :)  I don't think he's goin' for it.

Our house is in full Christmas mode.  The tree is up. The house is decorated.  The presents have been bought. (Some are wrapped.)  Christmas music is playing.  Christmas movies are being watched.  And Alayna is singing Jingle bells.

Life is great.