11 months and counting

Three teeth, officially! She loves walking with assistance, getting much better at doing it with just one hand holding and sometimes requests you get up from what you're doing to walk with her.

Logic of Adoration

Abri has a Wish Bear, her "Care Bear Baby" that she sleeps with each night. We had the misfortune of leaving it at my parents' house a week ago. She was really brave about not having it, but she was so disappointed. I had thought she was over it since she hadn't mentioned it since the first night. Then tonight we each shared a wish, and Abri surprised me: "I wish for my care bear baby back." Later at bedtime she couldn't go to sleep because she was thinking about it so much. I offered her some suggestions of other animals and here are her responses:
Yellow kitty: no, it's too small
Flower teddy bear: the thing around its neck bothers me; (when I say we can take it off) and its tummy is too soft
Brown bear: no, its tummy doesn't feel like Care Bear baby
[few others I can't remember]

Finally:
sheep [with a half-smile]: it's soft like my Care Bear baby. ok. [then off to bed]

Moral of the story: kids have their reasons for their favorites. I didn't ever appreciate just how much thought must go into those preferences.

Train's a coming. . .

So, here is our not so exciting home video from Jan of this year with the girls acting out a train. . .I thought it was sweet. The grandparents will enjoy it I hope. We don't do videos often, but after posting the video of Emma's musical I thought, hey why not add another. They add a refreshing change of pace to the blog even if I find the video itself rather unspectacular.

Eight is Great

After cancelling her baptism originally scheduled for 3/6 due to a 24-hr stomach bug in our house, Emma was baptised on 4/17. When the first service was cancelled in March, she was disappointed; in true drama queen fashion, she felt like her baptism was going to be postponed indefinitely and we would never get around to it. We explained patiently that that was not at all the case and that she would get baptized and the time would go pretty quickly since it was only a six week delay.

On the day of her baptism, she spent some time on her "Baptism Quiz" as I called it--a packet of activities from the primary presidency with questions about preparing for baptism, a crossword puzzle, fill in the blanks, etc. She enjoyed the challenge of seeing what she had learned in primary, in our family home evenings talking about it, and mini lessons with Daddy using the missionary discussions.

After she was baptised, I asked Emma how she felt and her reply was "COLD!" She was shivering from the water that wasn't heated in the baptismal font. When she received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I asked her how that felt, and she said, "Happy All Over!" I thought that was a perfect description of what the spirit feels like in that special moment.

After the baptismal service, we enjoyed dinner back at our house for family and friends that had attended the service. I love attending baptisms and it was all the more special to see Emma getting baptised. There is such a sweet spirit that accompanies the performance of baptisms and I am so grateful for the witness of the spirit as it teachs and affirms truth.

Move over High School Musical still pics

Here are still pics of the 2nd grade musical on 4/20. First three are self-explanatory. Fourth is the girls with their Uncle Chad, Todd's brother who was visiting from out of state for Emma's baptism. I thought we had a family shot that night but I think it was only on my mother-in-law's camera.

Move Over High School Musical

Emma participated in her 2nd grade musical a few weeks ago on April 20th. Todd took this video clip of the song just prior to her speaking part. The title was How does your Garden Grow and told the story of a gardener named Herb who was inundated with weeds and how Herb and the other garden animals and plants chase away the weeds. I admit that between poor seating, mumbled speaking parts, and general audience noise, I couldn't follow much of the 30 min play. Watching Todd's video was actually the best view I ever had of Emma in her part; as much as I strained and craned to see her on stage, my glimpse was fleeting of her magical moment to speak 4 lines as a bunny who talks about how pretty the flowers are. Emma had a lot of fun doing it and was so excited about it. She didn't get nervous about being on stage and she had learned her lines as soon as they started practices 2 months earlier. She wasn't the loudest speaker and could have slowed down, but not bad. It was great to see so many fun costumes on the kids and the set was well done for an elementary production. Enjoy!

What makes her Smile: Camilla

Successfully clearing the nightstand of its contents
Tearing papers out of your hand
Putting her hand in your mouth and pinching your lip
Hearing our family bedtime songs
Seeing Mommy after she's been gone
Being rescued from Kayla's grip
Being allowed upstairs with the big girls
Chocolate muffins (I know, horrible parenting, right?)
Getting taken out of her crib
When she rolls away during a diaper change
When she can successfully keep her jaw closed and keep me from getting what's in her mouth

I know, I know, these make her typical.