Monday, August 31, 2009

Babies Don't Keep

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!
Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful blue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep...

by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton, 1958.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

One Year!






Happy Birthday to my little girl! What a year it's been! Mandy is such an expressive girl, mostly through facial expressions. She loves blocks, pushing cars, stuffed animals (She LOVES her teddy from Grandma Great), nesting cups, outside, "UP", and tagging along after Big Sister. She's a snuggly bug and very affectionate. She gives big, wet, open-mouth kisses and snuggles and hugs everyone. She pats my back when I hug her too! She reaches out to everyone with her beautiful smile! When she's sad or hurt, she prostrates herself on the floor and cries with her forehead on the floor and her arms up by her ears. Too funny! She wants to be independent and feed herself and do all that Katie is doing. We love Amanda and we're so glad she is part of our family!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

July in a Nutshell

Well, now that the summer is winding to a close (how fast did THAT go!!) I need to summarize our fun filled month of July. We spent lots of time at Seven Peaks and Katie has gotten so brave! She loves the "big" slides as much as we do and in the kiddie pools and slides is quite independent. She usually goes without a life jacket.

We had our first experience of the Provo Freedom Festival. Katie loved the Tony the Tiger Hot Air Balloon at the sunrise balloon launch. She also went on her first carnival ride. We loved the Colonial Days downtown too.
Katie turned 3 Years old!! And wow! How much life has changed in those 3 years! She is so independent and smart! She talks constantly! She is a beautiful girl who loves her sister and loves action! She is mastering her new bike--two wheels with training wheels. She continues to amaze me with all that she grasps and all that she can and wants to do. I love her so!

Katie loves to watch for and count all the temples we pass on our way to and from Ogden and Salt Lake. For her birthday, we took her to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It was beautiful! And although her attention span was a bit shorter than the tour, I think she really loved it. She talked about the lights (chandeliers), the pictures of Jesus and especially the baptistry and Jesus got baptized.

Katie also had her first tumbling class and she loves it. She seems to love the bar and the trampoline the most. I think it's just that she loves to run around and do all kinds of flips and rolls with her body!Amanda has mastered crawling and seems content to stay that way. She loves to walk along furniture but anytime we try to get her to stand holding our hands, she thinks it's just a jumping game (she does love to jump). She loves her sister. She loves to push around cars and play with piles and pails full of Little People. She loves to go outside and if you get close to the door and don't go outside when others do, she cries. She loves peas and bananas,, ice cream, feeding herself, and whatever food is on our plate. And she loves her Lamby most of all. (Thanks Aaron and Jenny!) She says a few "words"--Mama, Dada, Up, Uh-oh. She has the cutest "Mhhhm" when she wants to eat what you have! She gives huge open mouth kisses and loves to snuggle people (even the nurse who poked her!) She is so happy and social! She smiles and reaches out (literally) to everyone who will look at her! She is a sweetheart and we love her!!

I'm still eternally behind on scrapbooking. It wouldn't be so heartbreaking except I have the cutest pictures of these darling girls!! Perhaps someday I'll be able to somewhat catchup. I'm getting a bit more stressed about school starting. Who really wants to big farewell to their spouse for 9 months? Well, not me at least. I'm excited for Law Partners activities---the first of which will be my big shindig--I'm in charge of the opening social. It will either be a great hit, or it will swallow me whole! I'll let you know in a month!!


Brett has had time off for the first time in probably a decade! He's been moving mountains. Or just piles of rocks---but still. The rock pathway out back will hopefully be "paved" in the next month or so and he's prepping the area. It has been SUCH a fun summer to have our whole family together to work and play. Why didn't we ever do this before? :) We've gone to outdoor movies, hikes up to Bridal Veil Falls, BBQ's, walks to the park and the Creamery, boating, shoppping, etc. I don't think Brett and I have spent this much time together since 2004! So I guess it's due time.

Anyway, so much more, but there's the nutshell!

Guess who likes fish?

Grandpa and Grandma Greer took us fishing again last weekend at Deer Creek. It was much warmer than last time we went but before the Nichols melted off the boat, Grandma helped Katie catch another fish. Katie was pretty excited! We grilled fish two nights ago (Dad had steak of course). Guess who loved the fish? AMANDA! Even to the point of spitting out her banana (a favorite) to get some more of Mom's fish! Awesome! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma!