Pictures

It's late, so I'm just going to try to post some pictures from the day. Enjoy!

Opening presents - I love the expression on M's face.
With her cake....purple is her favorite color, can you tell???

She didn't really pull C. out of the newspapers - C. was standing next to the basket holding on to the handle and proclaiming something loudly and the next thing I knew she was sitting in the basket, holding the handle and still proclaiming something loudly. So I had M. sit next to her so I could get a picture, and just as I took it, C. made a break for freedom. M. was trying to stop her, but it takes a bit to stop C......

I love, love, love this smile - I'm so glad I finally caught it on camera....

One of M's presents was a new purple backpack that came with a toy phone, lipstick, nail polish, etc. So she spent all afternoon and evening talking on her new phone and carrying her backpack around, getting things out and playing with them and putting them back in. At one point, I saw her sitting on the couch, pretending to paint her nails, while carrying on a long conversation on her phone, and was hit with 2 simultaneous realizations - 1. my baby is really growing up, 1. God help us when she's old enough to want a real cell phone for herself.

Party's over....

So, M.'s friends have left and the clean-up is about done. The girls had lots of fun.....at one point, as they were all giggling and talking all at the same time, W. looked at me and said, "there is way too much estrogen in this house right now." Poor guy, he's outnumbered normally....and with 4 extra girls, well, it was crazy. But fun....pictures to follow...a nap comes first.

Time to party

So, M. turns 4 on Tuesday. Time flies, doesn't it - but that's another post. So, she is having her birthday party tomorrow morning. She has invited 5 friends to come - 1 is out of town this weekend, so there will be 5 little girls here for 2 hours in the morning. We are having a tea party - M. is quite excited. Today I cleaned house and we iced her cake (baked yesterday - and I remembered to grease the pan this time, so no sticking.....) and made little sandwiches for lunch. It should be a fun time....I will try to post pictures of it soon.
And now, to bed for me - must be rested for the princesses.... :)

The sound of silence.....

The rest of the family, including all the animals, is asleep for a Saturday afternoon nap, so I might be able to catch up on stuff I've wanted to blog about. I've been sick this week - bronchitis - which, since it causes my asthma to kick in, is really no fun. Mommy gets very grouchy when she can't breathe well. And tired. So, I'm on day 4 of antibiotics and feeling much better. Other thoughts/updates:

• The LDS Church had their semi-annual General Conference last weekend. Two times a year the bigwigs all give a series of lectures over a weekend. Lots of folks here go downtown to hear them live - and they are simu-cast to LDS churches around the globe. Anyway, there was an article in the Salt Lake Tribune last Saturday about the first presidency of the Relief Society. For those who live outside Mormon-land, the Relief Society is the women's association of the LDS. The first presidency is the top 3 leaders of said association. I have lots of thoughts about the Relief Society, but the article last weekend made me want to scream. These 3 women were asked to give up their jobs and lives basically for 5 years (one left a husband who is serving overseas in LDS mission to come back to Salt Lake to serve, another left a fairly high-power corporate job) And they are not paid. Let me repeat that - they are asked to serve the church full-time for 5 years and are not paid. Not a dime. Now, you may know that the LDS pride themselves on not having paid clergy (don't get me started on that). But, all of the leadership hierarchy who work in Salt Lake at headquarters get a "modest support stipend." The actual amounts are not published (none of the LDS church's financial information is published for review, another soapbox I will avoid for the moment), but the "prophet" of the church happens to live in a $1.2 million condo in downtown Salt Lake City. That is public knowledge because the city council voted to allow the church to not pay taxes on, as it is church-owned property. If that's where he lives, I kind of doubt that he's paid a stipend that I would consider modest. And the women aren't paid......yet another reason I would be a lousy mormon woman.
  
• There are so many things about M. and C. that I want to remember. C. loves, loves, loves to crawl into the kitchen and over to the dog's food and water bowls to play. Such play is not sanctioned by the Mommy-of-the-house, so I will say to her in a firm voice, "No, C. - not yours" and she responds by laughing at me. Real concerned about obeying authority, that one is......And when she starts to get hungry and I sit down with her to feed her, she will grin and clap her hands and get so excited.....And the way she loves to pet the animals - she also laughs exuberantly when they brush their tails in her face - and they are pretty patient with her. M. is so free from inhibitions at this age. I just love that - watching her run with wild abandon down the sidewalk on our evening walks, singing at the top of her lungs. She also loses herself in imaginative play, making up whole elaborate scenes and stories. (Heaven forbid that we don't make sure her baby gets into the car or something - she gets very upset if one is left behind, and many of them are imaginary - not dolls - which makes it hard for Mommy to see them.) Look out world, here comes M. - and I'm not sure the world is quite ready yet....
• We all survived W. being gone for 2 nights at a conference this week. He had to go to a conference in Jackson Hole, WY - poor thing. (ha, ha, ha) I was a little worried, because the day he left (Wednesday) was the day I found out I had bronchitis and my blood oxygen saturation was down to 94% (normal is 99-100%) at the doctor's office. I was tired and worried how I would deal by myself with 2 kiddos for 3 days. But, a good night's sleep and antibiotics and breathing treatments got me back to able to cope pretty well, and we had a good couple of "girls days." It is good to have W. back, though. He got home after the girls were asleep last night, and when C. woke up this morning and saw him she started giggling and crawled over to him - it was really cute.
  
• One of my grandfather's many favorite sayings was, "off and moving like a herd of turtles in a cloud of dust." I've started saying that when headed out the door with the girls - it aptly describes the pace at which we move most days. M. has started saying it too, but she says, "off and moving like a herd of dust and a cloud of turtles!" with great exuberance, usually while jumping up and down the length of the porch.
  

Well, in the middle of this post, everyone woke up, we had dinner, walked the dog, gave the girls baths and washed their hair, and put them to bed. Now it's time for me to do the same....

Free Burma!

More information to be found here
As More Cows said, O for a world....
O for a world, indeed.

Water, water, everywhere (almost)

Both of the girls decided that yesterday was a good time to experiment with water, and the whole series of events is one that makes you either laugh or cry as a mom - so, in the hope of laughing myself and perhaps sharing one with you, the story.....
So, I was doing some work on my computer yesterday when M. came up to me and asked if she could drink the water that was in the water bottle she was holding. Not knowing when the water bottle in question had been opened, I told her she should rinse it out and then put fresh water in and she could drink that. S0, she sets off to the bathroom to do this. A few minutes later, she comes running out saying, with a good bit of urgency in her voice, "Mommy, mommy, I needs help!" So, I grab C. and start towards the bathroom and I realize that I hear the sound of water spraying against something. Sort of like the sound of the shower running. I start to wonder why in the world M. would have tried to rinse out a water bottle in the shower as I look in the bathroom to see that (thankfully, I think) the shower is off. I turn to look at the sink. The water bottle in question is sitting in the sink, where it just barely fits under the faucet. The bottle is full. The water is on....and now spraying out all over the bathroom. The counter-top, floor, walls, all are wet. I turn off the water and ask M., as calmly as possible, "what happened, M?" Her answer, "I got scared, Mommy, because the water got loud, so I came to get you." I have to say, I find her unwavering belief in my ability to fix anything that is wrong charming. I know it won't last, so I try to enjoy it while it does. However, the practical side of me really enjoys the fact that she is growing up and learning to fix a few things by herself.
Fortunately, we have towels. Lots of towels. Many of which were used to clean up the water that is now all over the bathroom.
Part two.... I am getting M. ready for bed. C. has decided she is not sleepy and so is playing on the floor of our bedroom, where I can see her as I help M. get her pj's on and such in the bathroom. All of a sudden, I hear what sounds unmistakably like water splashing....on the floor of my bedroom. I look, and C. has found the bottle from earlier, that M. for some reason put in there, and found that the lid was not on tight. So she could shake it around and spray water all over the floor. What fun! She was very proud of herself. I sighed. And went to get more towels. And reminded myself that I am really lucky to be the mom of 2 beautiful girls and I shouldn't scream (not too loud anyway). And I want them to explore and learn about the world. Really, I do.....and we all have to learn to clean up messes at some point.