Talmage Turns Two

I can't believe I'm actually posting about something the same week it happened (Dallin is studying for his test so I get a little time to myself). Talmage turned two on Friday (the 1st). Even though he is almost as old as Kaia was when we moved to PA, Talmage is still my baby boy. I still love to cuddle him to sleep at nap time (and catch 5 minutes myself) and I find myself carrying him way more than I should. Not that I care when my kids hit certain milestones, but it is interesting to note the differences between Kaia and Talmage at the same ages. Kaia is my quick-learning, independent, leader. Talmage is happy to follow and is quickly showing me what a boy he is (today was the first time I had to scrub "artwork" off the walls). We have had more than one person tell us that Talmage always seems to have a little mischievious sparkle in his eye and grin on his face. This ought to be an interesting year.

Since our Stake Conference was scheduled on Friday night, we prolonged Talmage's B-day and celebrated by going to Chuck E. Cheese's on Saturday and having cake and presents on Sunday. While we were out on Saturday I got some helium balloons and hid them in the trunk. Talmage was very excited to see them on Sunday morning. Finally, we were able to enjoy some truck cake despite the gravitational challenges (the bumpers and lights didn't want to stay put). Also note the "flat" right rear tire- Talmage had already found and helped himself to his unassembled cake. Silly boy. (Kaia took the picture above- not bad!)

We love our happy, sweet Talmage!

Easter

Easter is absolutely my favorite holiday- the colors, fresh flowers, bunnies, pretty dresses, chocolate, new life, hope, breath of fresh air, warmth, ......... and Peeps- what's not to like? We didn't do a lot for Easter, but after church we did have an egg hunt and the kids had a good time. Growing up, my mom would always hide our baskets at the same time as the eggs and we had to find our own basket before we were able to pick up ANY eggs. I think it was her way of leveling the playing field for the big kids vs. the little kids, but I like the tradition and have stuck with it.

This year I also included a large, empty plastic egg in the baskets to help us remember the empty tomb. Since it was the first egg they were able to get their hands on (and it was the biggest) Kaia immediately opened it up, but was a little disappointed to find it empty. This was exactly what I wanted and I took the opportunity to ask her, "Why do you think the egg is empty?" Since I hadn't talked to her about it I didn't expect her to know, but she answered something like, "It's empty like the tomb." Wow. It's nice to know that she has such a great sunbeam teacher (thanks Christina!) AND that she is starting to listen. (Kaia is wearing a dress that my mom made for me.)

After that, the eggs were a free for all and they have been enjoying one a day since then.

Kaia's B-day!

Although it was forever ago, Kaia had a great time on her birthday (Jan 25th). She is a very grown up 4 year old and I am so proud of her. Now that she is four, Kaia has taken on more responsibility for herself, but she still can't wait until she is big and can do this or that when she gets all the way down to 14 (as she tells everyone). Apparantly that is the magical age when she will be able to do everything and be like Mom and Dad. If only she knew....

Kaia had a huge friend birthday party, but since it was the dead of winter we had to pack everyone into our house. It was a madhouse, but I think Kaia enjoyed finally having her day after Christmas and all the other January birthdays of friends and family. The only real request Kaia had was a pink flower cake which she had talked about for weeks before her birthday. I was happy to oblige and she even helped me make it.

We love you Kaia!

Own Little World

What is it with kids and having to squeeze into the smallest place they can find? Whether it be in a fort, a playhouse, a cabinet, under bedcovers, in a box, behind the couch or any other nook or cranny they can find, my kids manage to play in the smallest spaces possible. Here's proof.

And my personal favorite:

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was wonderful. I'm not sure what time everyone else's kids wake up and/or what time families start opening presents, but since I have always slept in on Christmas morning I'm not too keen on changing that now that I have kids of my own. Lest you think we are terrible, mean parents, the kids are free to get up at any time they want and can get into their stockings. However, presents have to wait until Mom wakes up and then makes breakfast (a fancy one of course), because we all know that "if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy" and Mama's not happy without a good night sleep and a full belly. Well, at least I'll just have to see how long I can slide this idea past my children. I'm guessing my days are numbered. Oh well, I thoroughly enjoyed it this year. Obviously, the kids had a great time too.

Christmas Eve

Dallin and I are still evolving our family Christmas traditions, but here's what we did this year and we had a great time. Growing up, my family always did most of the celebrating on Christmas Eve including the fancy Christmas feast, reading the Christmas story, opening presents, and eating See's Candies, english toffee, peanut brittle, and whatever else my mom had baked up. On Christmas day we had a fancy breakfast and saw what we got from Santa in our stockings then just spent the rest of the day playing, eating and sleeping. Dallin, of course, grew up with the traditional Christmas morning hoopla which always included a box of .22 shells, biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and an orange in the stocking. We wanted to combine traditions as well as keep Christmas Eve more on the spiritual side, so we decided to have the fancy Christmas dinner (I insisted), tried to read the Christmas story, and opened a few special presents.

As for the dinner, even though I had tried to keep it down to the essentials (ham, creamed potatos, jell-o salad, and orange rolls) it still took me all day to prepare. However, it was delicious as ever. When Talmage got done eating, he wandered around as usual playing here and there- until I realized that he was under the table and was being very quiet. He was fine, but my last batch of rolls that were still sitting on the heater to rise on the other hand, well let's just say that the one year old thought his finger made a very interesting indentation in each of the little dough balls! Fortunately, when I put them in the oven they filled right back out. After dinner, we had some time so we cut out and decorated the cookie dough I had previously made. The kids both loved this. (Notice the flour on Talmage's forehead).

Then we attempted to read the Christmas story (from the scriptures), but that didn't go over too well, so next year we will have to try a kid friendly way of conveying the story. We'll probably try to act it out or read one of the kids' stories.

Then it was time for a couple of presents. We tried to help Kaia understand what Christmas was all about so we explained that we had the presents because we were celebrating Jesus' birthday. Instead of understanding, she was really quiet, got a really sad look on her face, her bottom lip began to pout and she nearly cried when she responded, "But if Jesus opens all of the presents, then Kaia won't get any." Of course it was funny, but it was also heartbreaking to see how upset she was. (Knowing her birthday was "soon", she also had a hard time swallowing the fact that first it was Jesus' birthday, then it was mama's birthday, and THEN it would be her birthday.) Anyway, she perked up after she got to open some presents. For Christmas Eve we decided to let them open the presents that I plan on giving them each year- a Christmas book, an ornament, and jammies. (Thanks for the inspiration Amy.)

It was a wonderful, peaceful time just being with our little family.

Update

OK, so I know it IS past the next holiday this time, but for my own memories I needed to post about Christmas. We were so busy working on our house over Christmas, then Dallin started a new rotation (which always means a different routine), then I was busy planning Kaia's birthday party and making invitations, then my mom and sister came to visit us for three weeks (and helped us do more work on the house), meanwhile Dallin's brother Dennis also visited for a day, and now I took advantage of the last week to do pretty much nothing, so here it is the end of February and I'm just now getting to blogging about Christmas. By the way, I took so long that Dallin just started his second rotation since Christmas. The first one was in Cardiology, which he enjoyed, and now he is in the first of his last two rotations which are three months each- one in internal medicine and the last in family practice. Can I just say "woohoooo" because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel?! Even though I have no idea where we will end up or what we will be doing, I'm still very excited to move on to the next step. Dallin on the other hand, is a little bit more nervous about the prospect because of what he will be required to know and do, and then have to prove it on his certifying exam and at his new work place. We're rootin' for ya, dear!
I know it may sound silly that we are doing all this work on our house when we will most likely be moving soon, but we are basically going for the "Designed to Sell" theory. Trust me, the improvements we have made will certainly help our house stand out from this crowd. Besides, it just makes me happy every time I look at something we have improved and I will still be able to enjoy it for a little while. Hopefully I will be able to complete some of the finishing touches so that I can show you the "before" and "after" pictures soon.