Primary Program Princess

Laura's primary program was this past Sunday. She had a huge part in the program for such a little person. She gave a perfectly memorized two-minute talk (a copy is below) and sang the first verse and chorus of "I Am A Child of God" in a solo.

She started off the program and had the majority of the congregation (including both sets of grandparents who came to support her) in tears. To hear the perfect faith of my child on such big concepts (who we are, where we came from, and where we are going) was just amazing and certainly brought me to tears.

Laura did so well that I received many compliments on her clarity, memorization, and singing. I also received piles of questions on her age and responses of amazement when people realized that she was only 4 years old. Awesome job, Laura! You impress your mommy! I love you and your testimony so much!

(Laura wrote this talk almost completely by herself)

I am a Child of God and He has a plan for me. Heavenly Father’s plan for me is that I can return and live with Him and Jesus again in heaven.

My Grandma Jo just died not long ago. I was sad that she died. I will miss her. But I know that I will see her again. So I am not too sad. I know that she is in Heaven with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Someday I will live with Them again too.

The night she died I wanted to sing her a song to make her feel better. I chose a song to remind her of Heavenly Father’s plan. I wanted her to remember where she was going to go. The song I sang was “I am a Child of God”. I am going to sing it for you now.

What a DAY!

On Friday morning, both girls were feeling well and we headed up to meet Steph and go to the Zoo. We had a great time there! And I hope with both of our annual passes, that we can do this regularly!

Sara loved the animals and made all sorts of animal noises. I think the elephant was her favorite; she kept making elephant noises and gestures to every other animal in the zoo.

Laura got to get reacquainted with her favorite; the Zebra.

I think Creed's favorite was the drum.

Then we all had a great time hanging out. And we got to see some things that are quite rare. We saw a roaming leopard and swimming penguins.

Unfortunately, by the time we got to the giraffes, Sara started getting a fever. Laura took care of her as we quickly made our way out with a quick stop on the train.

On the way home Sara's fever just kept rising. We drove straight to Urgent Care. Look at this fevered head.

They gave her an antibiotic shot just in case and sent her to the hospital for an IV because her fever was so high (105) that she was getting dehydrated. (This is despite a bunch of chocolate milk at the zoo). It was a harrowing experience to get her poked and hold her still for hours as it drained into her body. Fortunately, the hospital staff was AMAZING and took extra special care of us. She left feeling much better. Thank you to my parents who took Laura so that both Mommy and Daddy could be with Sara. You guys do so much for us...THANK YOU!

Though the next day we were back at Urgent Care with a recurrent high fever (105 again) she avoided the hospital and seems to be great today. They think the fever was caused by her teeth, a reaction to her vaccinations and possibly an infection. What a perfect storm for the little one!

Size Updates: Sara 15 Months, Laura 5 years

Wow, I'm late on this post being that Sara will turn 16 months in a week and a half. Alas, I put off her appointment a bit so that I could do Laura's 5 year old appointment at the same time. So, at least I am early with Laura.

Sara's Stats:
Length: 33 inches (still above the 97th percentile)
Weight: 27 lbs 1 oz (93rd percentile)
Noggin: 48 cm (95th percentile)
Words: ANYTHING. She is a total copycat and adds new words to her vocabulary every day. She is starting to speak in two word sentences like "Ow Mou" to tell us that her mouth hurts from teething or "Lala Boo" to ask Laura to read her a book or even "No No Ow Knee" to tell me that she didn't want shots in her leg at the doctor like Laura just had.
Activities: Climbing. This child is a MONKEY. She climbs everything all the time. Running. I think she waited to walk for so long so that she would be faster at walking than at crawling immediately. I also think that she runs in order to keep up with Laura who she follows around everywhere. Swinging. She could spend hours in the swing. Reading. This kid and I read books all day long. Kissing and Snuggling. Sara is a major lover and dishes out the kisses with reckless abandon. We all love it!

Laura's Stats:
Height: 41.5 inches tall (25th percentile)
Weight 37 lbs (25th percentile)
I'll list her progress when I blog about her actual birthday. But, I think my tender, brilliant, gorgeous little Laura is perfect!

The Happiest Place On Earth

Finally, I am getting to the write-up on Disneyland. Yes, the schedule has been that crazy since we've been home. This was one of my best trips to Disneyland EVER. I mean, how lucky could I be to have my little family and my best girl friend and her son at Disneyland all together?!

Steph decided to accept our invitation and hop in the van and join us on our trip and it made it so much better. Check out the babies in the adorable shirts she made for them!

I think I am just going to let everyone list their favorites from this trip to do our summary.

Melinda (Me)

1. Babies who slept in the car and were so similar that they had the exact same schedule and same cries. The only difference was that Creed had no fear of characters and Sara had no fear of rides. The car ride was much better than expected. Also, I loved getting to know Creed so well.

2. Dream Fast Passes that we used on our own special adult night in the park thanks to Steph's awesome mother-in-law who watched sleeping kids for us. Between RideMax and the Dream Fast Passes we got on EVERYTHING that Friday. It could not have been a more perfect day.

3. Watching the girls as they soaked in all the excitement of Disney.

4. Time with my Family. I just can't get enough of time all together! It seems so scarce these days that I just reveled in the hours we spent together.

Jason

1. Watching the girls faces during the parades.

2. Snuggling and sleeping kiddos.

3. The Dream Fast Passes night with the adults and all the big rides.

Laura

1. The character breakfast again. Always a favorite.

2. A new treat (amazing chocolate cake with ganache, frosting, cake, fudge, brownie, whipped cream and a castle chocolate) that we found at a nice new lunch spot; Plaza Inn.

3. Bigger rides: she really enjoyed herself on Matterhorn and Big Thunder Mountain this time, and Soarin' is still her favorite ride.

4. The new Playhouse Disney Live On Stage show.

Sara

1. Riding on the Golden Zephyr and feeling the wind in her face.

2. Watching the Parades - my goodness those girls got a lot of attention and met lots of characters during them. Sara clapped and waved her little arms off. It was adorable.

3. Horses of any kind - though particularly those on the carousel.

4. Waiting for parades - dancing in the street and eating treats

Steph and Creed

1. I recommend reading her post about it HERE. Which is probably a better summary than mine. Aren't they adorable?!

Busy-ness Before FUN

So, the crazy time continued after the Rodeo and Cabin trips. I had Bunco at my house (though Julie did the catering and prize buying) on Tuesday. So, I cleaned before the trip a day or two early and did a bit of decorating in the basement. Curtains were selected and hung, more light was added and we finally got some family pictures on the wall. I think it turned out nicely. What do you think?

Then on Wednesday, we had a HUGE garden party - that ended up being indoors due to inclement weather - for YW. I thought it looked nice, despite the indoor location. It was a great kickoff to the Personal Progress program for the year. We had the girls make origami flowers to tie the garden party theme in to Personal Progress. Naturally, I did the food for the party. Jason helped me grill 13 pounds of chicken which I cut up on Monday, and I prepped 12 heads of lettuce on Wednesday for a chicken ceasar salad. It turned out super yummy and well received. But, it sure took a lot of time!

Between the setup for the Garden Party and the actual activity. We squeezed in family haircuts with Julie. Look at Laura's new bangs!

In the meantime, I got everything prepped for the spontaneous trip (set out in the living room) and Jason packed it all while I was at YW. Guess where we went!!

Treasure Hunt

My girls had a great time participating in my parents traditional treasure hunt at the cabin on Sunday. It all began with this fabulous invitation. Yes, my parents are that cute!

The the hunting and candy eating began in full force. Sara liked the candy most. Laura liked the hunting most. And I liked the creativity of my parents most.