Baby Jesus at Park

I hear those words about 10 times a day if not more from Brailie, "baby Jesus at park mama".  First we saw the stable set up and the manger but no baby Jesus yet.  We had to walk by daily to see if he was there.  And then on Wed the 23rd he was there and I had two excited girls.  These are pictures from our first visit. 

At first the girls were a bit timid with all the figures around.

Getting closer

Close enough to touch Him now

Allie holding Him which she asked if she could

You can see how excited she was from the look on her face

People in town driving by must wonder if we are vandalizing or what.  I have to say everytime we stop by I am nearly moved to tears at the experience.  The girls speak in a whisper and are so gentle and caring.  We even went another time and took a blanket (which was their idea) and a wipe for the baby.  We took the wipe because he was really dirty.   The girls cleaned him off as well as the other figurines and the sheep and camel.  Allie thought that maybe we needed to take him some diapers because he was a baby but I told her that Mary would take care of that.  It is all things Baby Jesus at our house right now.  The nativity sets are a major hit, we sing songs and read stories and it is all with no prompting on my part.  I feel blessed that they are so excited and enamored with the Savior of the world.  Brailie's Christmas list to Santa reads, "Dora, Diego and baby Jesus."  I am humbled and consider myself taught everyday. 

Kitchen Help

Everytime I am in the kitchen trying to do anything at the counter Brailie comes and says, "I help you mama" and pushes up a chair.  It is wonderful and difficult at the same time but I usually don't mind.  The problem with my miss Brailie is she is super smart and inquisitive and therefore is into everything.  If something is within her reach that must mean she has to have it.

This is Allie playing with some noodles in a pot.  That was a major hit.

Richfield Preview

November 18th and 19th marked the first games of the season at the Richfield preview.  The girls rode the bus with dad and I drove (which was so nice cause it gave me a chance to listen to some talks from the Mormon Channel) and we spent the night at Grandpa and Grandma Parsons new house in Monroe.  The girls had a blast though I think they kept waiting for Sarah and Melissa and Cady (seniors from last year who have all gone to college) to show up and be their buddies.  We really miss those girls.  I sent the girls on the bus with dad in style-wearing camouflage tutu's from Grandma Parsons.  They were a huge hit!!



Backyard Fun

Yep, I know i am behind once again on blogging.  this week has been really busy.  Since Greg got out of school on the 23rd in the afternoon we have just been going non stop.  I have been doing projects, painting my countertops (more to come on that), getting a Christmas tree, seeing the lights on temple square and now having the flu-it has been a busy week.  I am doing some catch up on pictures this week.  These are from an afternoon in the backyard with perfect weather.  Allie is all about raking the leaves right now and Brailie is really into swinging.

No news is good news

And that is pretty much what I have-no news.  I uploaded all my pictures from my camera and guess what I only had about 7 of the girls.  We have been doing stuff but I guess just ordinary-not picture worthy stuff.  We have hit the park 3 or 4 times this week-I think 3 actually, we went to the library, we checked out the Thrift Store and we have played inside and outside and that is about it.  We went to a BYU women's basketball game with Greg's team on Friday and my girls have been chanting "Go Cougars" ever since.  I am one proud mom.  Thus begins the plugs for BYU as their number one university choice for the next 16-18 years.  I just wanted to include these pictures for Uncle Steven.  He bought this cute green coat for Allie 2 Christmas's ago and she wore it but wasn't overjoyed with it but Miss Brailie is in love with it.  She is so proud of it and always asks to wear it even when it is warm.  What a cutie. 

Oh and I guess I do have other news-Brailie is now an official big girl bed sleeper.  She has been doing that all week.  I usually sit by her for two lullaby songs and then either sneak out of tell her I am going.  She has stayed in her bed every night and during naps too.  I had to let her keep her binkie to make the whole thing work but she has that only for sleeping so I don't consider it a big deal. 

Also miss Allie is adding one new item a week to her Santa wish list.  It is really cute.  I know she will be thrilled with whatever she gets but it is cute to have her want certain things.  I know someday it won't be cute any more. 

And lastly I am including a scan of Allie's name writing book from this week in our preschool. She is so smart and can write her name.   

A Visit from Grammy and Grandpa Sam

My mom and dad have been here the whole first week of November.  They came on the 29th of Oct and left Nov 6th.  We have had a fantastic visit with them.  The girls loved having them.  They took turns asking Grammy or Grandpa Sam to sit by them at the table.  They watched their every move.  The girls loved jumping on Grammy's bouncy bed (when they left Brailie said "Grammy come back and bring bouncy bed please.")  We loved having their help.  My mom helped me organize my fabric scraps and cupboards, she played school and peoples and babies with the girls.  She bought us a bunch of meat to fill our freezer (we are so thankful for that).  She helped me make two huge batches of raspberry jam, we had a thanksgiving dinner, went to the park, took the girls shopping and then my mom and I had a shopping trip too (which I loved-shopping at our own pace and visiting-we stayed out way too late).  It was so wonderful.  My dad helped Greg fix our back step, put shelves in the gun cabinet he build in high school, chop wood and they went for lots of drives.  I think they will probably get home and sleep for a week from the exhaustion of it all but we had a blast.  I am so glad they came.  It was not in the plans but i am glad we were able to change the plans and have them together.  I knew my mom would come as often as possible but I didn't think my dad ever would and it was a real blessing to have him.  Now we have to get back to real life-what a bummer.  My parents play so well with the girls and are so generous too us-especially with compliments and praise.  We don't get that enough so that has filled us up tremendously.  Thank you both for coming.  We love you.

Playing dolls with the girls.

Swinging at the park (this didn't last long because of a cat incident-which my mom and I will not ever be allowed to forget).

Tickling and marching on tummies

Dad and Greg fixing our back step-hallelujah

He is slower and more feeble but he still has some work left in him.

More swinging-there is never enough around here.

What a fantastic picture.  What a great visit.

Trick or Treat

This year for Halloween Allie was a pea and Brailie was a carrot.  I was originally going to have them be fairy princesses but then i found this costume idea I had pulled out of a magazine years ago and decided now was the time to do it because they weren't going to let me choose much longer.  Next year we will wear costumes that involve no hats, not extra outerwear and nothing itchy, poky or anything that may resemble something that is itchy or poky.  We will also not be attending the Halloween carnival.

 This is the gang right before the carnival.  Greg was a chef.  They looked so cute.  We decided to go to the carnival-they have games for the kids and then a parade of costumes in which you can win a prize.  The girls were excited to go until we got there.  The man announcing things spoke in a scary voice and that freaked the girls out (imagine a pea and carrot walking with their fingers plugging their ears).  I was ready to smack said announcer because there were tons of tiny kids and his voice was uncessary but I had a carrot clinging to my body the whole time so it would have been useless.  Also since the carnival is for the whole town there were way too many people crowded in a small space with way too many scary costumes.  Allie saw a wolf costume first and refused to move from her seat the remainder of the night.  It made me grateful for my mom who never let us be anything scary for Halloween.  She never let us do scary things or wanted us to scare anyone else.  It was always a day of fun.  I appreciate that so much.  My kids were not thrilled about scary stuff.  We left the carnival after the parade of Allie's age group happened and a kid wearing one of those cheapo plastic jumpsuit type costumes dressed as a skeleton won the prize.  LAME-just sayin.  We went to trick or treat and things did not improve much from there.  We saw a cat at the second house which happened to be grandma's and it all went downhill from there with screaming, crying, wanting to be carried, not wanting to go to anyone's door.  We hit about 6 more houses and went home.  And you know what the kids didn't care one bit.  They were happy as clams and Allie was glad to help answer the door at our house.  I wish our town was more trick or treat oriented so that we didn't have to drive to houses but could just walk everywhere.  Like when I was a kid and you tried to get the whole town (a small town) before dark-and that was in Canada and we usually had our snow pants and boots on under our costumes.  Those were the good old days.  Oh well-it was a fun night and a good day to celebrate Brailie's birthday.

Brailie Turns Two

Sorry to be so behind on blog posts but my mom and dad have been here and so I have had many other important things to do.  Now I am catching up starting with Brailie's "Hoo's Two" birthday party.

The cake

Take home prizes for kids and adults

Owl masks for the little kids

Candy bars for the kids

Cupcakes

Graham crackers (note-don't make the night before-oops)

The birthday girl

We love Dora-so thank you Aunties that bought this.

Plate and cup set from Auntie Cathy-she loves the cup especially and is so cute when she uses it.



Princesses from Grandma and Grandpa-she loves those (as does Allie)



She loves her new baby doll (I finally got it right and bought the right gift that has been played with more than 5 minutes)

Baby accessories from Uncle Steven-so much fun for the girls.



Loaded up with all her gifts



This picture was taken on Halloween-her actual birthday. 



Things we love about Brailie:
-She has such personality-she keeps us laughing and snickering in moments when we should be serious like saying prayers, family home evening and during time outs.
-She loves her sister
-She has beautiful, sparkly eyes
-She loves to sing songs and currently loves ABC song, Three Little Witches, I am a Child of God, and Scripture Power
-She loves food and is so independent in eating
-Her adorable little gallop
-How she loves to be tickled and laughs
-She loves to give slobbery kisses and big hugs
-Her facial expressions are the best
We are so grateful to have Brailie in our home and as part of our family.