The Beginning of the Storm

A big storm started moving in tonight and when it started, the flakes were really big! I tried to get a picture of them falling but it is pretty hard to catch them on camera. Here's my best shot - this is the view from our back door.
Snow day tomorrow? Please?

Ouch!

Tonight, as the kids were getting ready for bed, Emma tripped (or something - no one really saw it) and hit her head on the gate at the top of the stairs. It instantly swelled in to a huge goose egg and she got a little cut. Poor girl. This picture was taken just before John cleaned it with rubbing alcohol - which, of course, made her cry again. It also made it bleed. We are noticing that she has a really high tolerance for pain!
Poor Ems!

Big Girl Emma

Pardon the lighting of this photo, it was taken in our closed (therefore, dark) garage - too cold to open the door before we are all safely in the van. :)
Because Riya got her new booster seat, Emma got upgraded to Riya's old seat. I took the pads off and tossed them in the washer so she could start with a "like new" car seat. Until now, she's been in the rear facing infant carrier - she loved facing forward!!  We were going to check out some more houses and on the way, she kept staring at John while he was driving. I realized that she's never seen that before and it was fascinating to her!
Look how happy she is - with those fingers in their usual position. Haha.

Big Girl Booster Seat!

Riya is just growing up in all sorts of ways! Today, we finally got her big girl booster seat in the mail - I had been putting off ordering one because I wanted to check reviews/avoid shipping charges. Plus, we have basically any store you can think of here in our town and why pay shipping when you can drive to buy it? After much begging from Riya (everytime we got in the van) I ordered this baby online and because John is a student, we got free 2 day shipping. Oh yeah! Riya was almost in tears on Friday because it didn't come until after we picked Jayden up from school and we had errands to do before that so she had to sit in her "baby" carseat. I'm pretty sure the fedex guy was watching us because as soon as I pulled in to the garage, he pulls in to the driveway and gives us this glorious box. :) She was SOOO excited!!
This prompted me to get very ambitious and clean out the entire car - vacuuming so thoroughly that EVERYTHING that was in the car came out. That was a lot of stuff!! Seats were folded every which way they could to allow the most precise cleaning job possible. :) As I was emptying the van, I was just putting things on the floor in the kitchen... shortly after I was finished, someone knocks on our door... who could it be?? My visiting teachers, of course! My house looks like a tornado threw up in it and I forgot they were coming. Lovely. They got to see my house in it's best form! I love those girls though - so, oh well!

Passie Fairy Visit

Last night, Riya's beloved "passie" went missing for the billionth time and we decided to see if the Passie Fairy might come visit her if she was willing to be a Big Girl and not sleep with it. We've been trying this for several months now but she always decides that she needs it. She is only allowed to have it at night, in her bed - and during nap time.
We were a little shocked when John said, "You don't need it, you are a big girl now" and she answered with, "I don't need it. I'm a big girl!"
She went to her bed and then started whimpering about needing it so I got out the Bye-Bye Pacifier book that she's read a million times and she didn't want me to read it but I did anyway. We told her about how the Passie Fairy might come and leave her something under her pillow if she can say goodbye to them for good. She giggled and agreed. She slept all night without it and woke up to find a dollar!! She decided to spend it on chocolate and so we did. :)
She then slept during nap time without it too!! Yea Riya!!!

PS - Seven years ago today, I was supposed to be due to have Jayden (I had a probable due date of January 18th but this day was my official due date)... did he come? Nope... stay tuned to see when he actually made his appearance. :)

Book of Mormon Stories

As previously mentioned, we were challenged to complete the Book of Mormon in 80 days. Tomorrow is the activity for the finale of that challenge. I made these little notebooks (with some assistance from John - thanks, babe!) and candy bars for the activity. John put on The Karate Kid (Jaden Smith version) and we taped/mod podged/folded away while watching the movie. I didn't watch much but it sounded like a cute movie! :)

Baby Bathtime

My girls love to take baths. Emma loves the idea of getting in the bath and then she loves playing/splashing but as soon as you ask if she wants to get out, or if she sees the towel, she is ready to get out! Then she likes to be wrapped up in her towel, snuggled up tight and held like a baby while we tell her over and over again that she's our baby. She just giggles and squirms! Then if we show her what she looks like in the mirror all wrapped up, she gets so excited. Riya does the same... she always says, "I want to be your baby" when it's time to get out. We love it, they love it. Bath nights are win-win nights for us all! :)

PS - Right after I took this picture, I put Emma's diaper on and went to look in the dryer for PJs for her. I was then notified that she had climbed back into the tub with Riya and was playing again. Lovely. When I went to see her, she was just sitting there playing gleefully. She looked at me like, "What, Mom?"