Delivering

Laura woke up this morning in a mood to craft. She had made a card for Daddy even before I finished breakfast. Then she took it in her head that she had to "deliver" that card to him at work with some cinnamon cookies. Naturally, I said "yes" to all of the above suggestions.We had a marvelous time making snickerdoodles together. She helped me count out everything on the recipe, run the mixer, but had the best time of all rolling the dough into balls. Please note I dressed her in short sleeves for the rolling occasion.Of course she noticed that we had way too many cookies for just Daddy and home, so she made a card and bag of cookies for Grandma and Grandpa too. She insisted we tie a bow around the cookies for delivery. It was great fun to drop off cookies and a card today. Projects are just the best!

Blessed

My parents have a friend who whenever you ask him "How are you?" he responds "Blessed." This is how we feel right now.

Not only are we blessed with another little spirit coming into our lives, but also we signed papers and it is official that we will be building a new house. Everything just fell into place with finances, timing, design, etc. It’s only about 5 minutes away from our current house, but it’s in a different city and different school districts. (When did we get so old that good school districts have become a priority in our life?) We can see the temple spire from our lot and we are still really close to Grandma and Grandpa in a great family neighborhood. The most exciting thing is the stability this will give our kids– they'll grow up in the same house from Elementary School through High School.

Right now we have just finished our plans with the architect and are waiting on the city for permits to get started. We'll let you know as things progress. Here is a pic of our little family at our piece of dirt.

Bike Riding

Whenever the weather is good, Laura wants to be outside riding her big girl bike. She has gotten great at pedaling and is improving at steering. She's getting fast and it just shocks me at how old she looks with her curls streaming out of her helmet as she rides away from me.

Stupendous Saturday

This past Saturday was the most fun ever! We started off the day by heading up to the Zoo. Our annual pass to the zoo is one of our favorite family things. Laura decided she was a big girl and was going to do the whole trip without the stroller. It was marvelous. She picked up one of the free maps at the entrance (these maps are totally kid-friendly with tons of pictures) and directed us all around the zoo. Here she is checking the map to let us where we were to go next. (I believe this particular time, it was to the bears).

It was a beautiful day at the zoo...not too hot and not too cold. And, it wasn't crowded at all. Plus, all the animals seem to prefer it when it's cooler. We got a great look at the cougar and spent some grand time with baby Acara. Laura got to see everything she wanted to see and got thoroughly worn out. Here she is with her Daddy at her favorite animal: the zebra.

Laura's exhaustion was important because she had to take a rare nap in order to be all prepped for the evening activity. Laura and Mommy got to have a special "Mommy/Daughter Date" to Ballet West's performance of Sleeping Beauty. Our friend Karyn got free tickets and three of us Mommys and our little girls braved the performance. Yes, we were all a little terrified to take three 3 year olds to an evening performance.

The little girls were all VERY good. They all were dressed like princesses and got piles of priming in the car. Laura surprised the socks off me and lasted the entire 2 ½ hour program. She was very quiet (I think enraptured might be a better description) and loved to see the dancing and the beautiful costumes. I can't believe how big she has gotten. (Then again, a love of ballet is in the genes.) The only outburst she had came during the wedding pas de deux when she exclaimed with an "Oh, Mommy, they just had their second kiss," in the middle of a penche. But, it was adorable. I'm really grateful I get to go to the performance again with Jason because I think I only saw half of it for staring at my darling little girl. Here is a picture of all of us after the performance.

Bad Times / Good Times

This week had some definite high and low points. The low point was the dentist. Laura went to her first dentist appointment. She was all revved up and did great with the x-rays and laying down. The problems started when the cleaning began. Poor girl inherited my very pronounced gag reflex. She ended up on my lap for the last part of the cleaning and the exam. I'm sure glad we went to a pediatric dentist who has no problems with doing an exam on Mommy's lap. But I sure did learn something from this experience: when nauseous from pregnancy, do not take your gag-y daughter to the dentist.
One of the high points was working on all the valentines for her friends, cousins, and grandparents. This love of crafting just seems to grow and grow. It's truly adorable.
The other high point was all the excitement generated by the fact that she is having a little sister. She woke up the morning after we found out it was a girl and decided it was time to teach her little sister a thing or two. So, she got dressed up in a dress and taught her little sister how to "spin". Click on the picture to watch her!

It's a GIRL!!

We went to the doctor today and we found out with a pretty strong assurance that we are having another little girl! Laura is the luckiest kid ever to get a sister close in age to her. Yep, this gives me many excuses to go totally girly with Laura (bikes, clothes, etc.) because it all will get tons of use by girl #2.

The baby girl is super healthy, nice and big, and SUPER busy. She moved the whole ultrasound. Here are some fuzzy ultrasound pics for you all to enjoy.

Sunny Days

The inversion seems to have blown out and the sun has decided to show it's face here for the first time in a few weeks. Laura is taking full advantage of the nicer weather and is playing outside every chance she gets. She's built snow castles and trompsed around in the remaining snow as well as playing on the swingset. However, I think most of the allure is because she can wear her "buggy boots" when she goes outside. It's amazing what kind of joy a $3.74 purchase can bring. Or maybe the allure is that she always gets hot chocolate after she plays outside. Regardless, she's so fun to watch while she's playing!

How Can I Argue...

With logic like Laura threw at me on Wednesday? She was attempting to play with my wedding ring--to which of course I took objection, as I also did to her climbing atop the tall dresser to obtain the wedding ring--and was very upset when I took it away from her.

Naturally Laura argued with me about taking away the ring. (Side note: each time she asks me why I need to get my wedding ring before we leave the house, I respond that it's so people know that I am stuck to Daddy forever) She told me that she was stuck to Daddy and Mommy forever and so she should be able to wear the wedding ring too. How could I respond? I told her we would get her a wedding ring of her own. By the way, finding a ring to fit 3 year old fingers is no easy task. Here she is showing off the ring.She takes marvelous care of her wedding ring. It is either on her hand or carefully put away in a little box on her nightstand. What a big girl!