Toddler Love

Meet Caius-- Lydia's one true love.  Lydia talks about him all of the time and how they are going to get married (in the temple with a white dress) and live happily ever after.  Of course, this is all more real and wonderful when she is not actually with the boy.  Her face in the first 2 picture is usually her first reaction to seeing him. She follows him around and gets right in his face grinning like that.  But if you look carefully in photo 1 you'll see that he is pushing her away.  Next comes her crying and tattle-telling on him.  She likes him much more from a distance.  

Ok, this kiss was prompted.  But it is still cute.

Who knows, maybe it will work out in 18 years...

Dental Experiences

Today Steve had the biggest test of his life:  passing the dental test of his wife under the drill.    I was nervous, but Steve actually did a good job drilling my superficial cavity.  No pain.  Oh, and I have to say that he did a FABULOUS job at cleaning my teeth.  No, seriously-- I've never come away from a dental chair with noticeably different looking teeth.  He is awesome.

Trying not to be nervous about him drilling holes in my face.

Lovely view I know.  Steve's perspective.

My perspective

My sister-in-law Erika who is finishing dental hygeine school this month came by to say hi.  She's all smiles in the picture but just minutes there after she also fell victim to Steve's drill after a spontaneous decision to take out her wisdom teeth since Steve's next patient didn't show up.  Now THAT is bravery!

Steve had to go back to the school to pick something up so he took the girls with him.  Lydia always has to take her backpack to school.

Exploring Steve's chair

This is a count-down chain K&L made of how many more days until dental school graduation.  Almost there!!!

up and down and up and down...

Counting my blessings

"Tinkle Concert"

One of my favorite things about Lydia is that when she decides that it is time to go potty she drops her pants where ever she is at and waddles penguin-style to the bathroom.  I laugh every time.
Yesterday Lydia came into the bathroom while I was in there
"Mommy I need to tinkle!"
 "ok Lydia go for it"
"mommy, you sit down right there [on the side of the bathtub]and watch the concert.  This is a tinkle concert.  You are the audience.   Mommy when I all done, you clap ok?"
(laughing) "ok Lydia".............
"Ta- dah!!!!" 
clapping  "good job Lydia.  What a wonderful concert!"

Wow I'm lucky. 

Utah/Illinois trip

We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Utah this month for medical purposes.  It was great to be able to see my family while we were at it : )  

 

The most significant event was my brother Brett and his wife Katie having their first baby.  Lindy is so sweet.  

I didn't post any pictures of Katie (although she did all of the work) because I don't think if it was me I would want pictures of me post-delivery posted on someone's blog with out first getting my approval on the picture.  

 We had a few days of break from our medical-necessities in Utah so Steve and I took advantage of the free babyisitting and went to Macomb IL to find our future housing.  The options were grim, but just hours before we left to come home on our 3rd day there we found this  place.  We talked the owner into renting instead of selling.  

Then it was back to Utah to hang with the fam some more.  I would like to pay tribute to my parents for not only being wonderful grandparents, but for going extremely out of their way to make their backyard the most grandchild friendly place on the planet.  Even though the weather was cold, we loved being in their backyard

They've got cars (fun for riding down the hill in!)

They put up a new rope swing while we were there

 My day built a 2 story playhouse that has a playhouse on the bottom and a boys dream-fort on the top (complete with electricity, pulley baskets, telescopes, mailboxes, pipes for communicating, a slide, curtains.. complete furnishings...etc..)  Endless fun!

And of course the trampoline.  Lydia is becoming 1 with nature wearing nothing but her "un-nu-nu"

More of the fun swing-- you can hang from it too!

Thanks Gramps and Grandma for being so fun!  It definitely makes us want to come and visit again soon!

First experiences on the new swing.  Note the differences between Kiera and Lydia.  That is their personalities and life in 1 video

Just a cute video of Lydia blowing bubbles in milk.

Dentist in the Making?

Several weeks ago I took Cambrie to my dental lab and had her practice "prepping" teeth for crowns and fillings. I prepped a tooth and then she would practice on the same or an adjacent tooth.

Needless to say, I think she's a great nurse and does extremely well in that profession.

Cleo the goldfish

*ahem*  So after a year and a half, Kiera finished her 'reading lessons book'  AKA Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons .  She probably could have finished a lot faster if her mom had not been such a slacker.  So as a reward for her reading skills we promised her a goldfish.  We went to Petsmart and bought two 29 cent goldfishes.  Steve asked the girl as she was scooping them out for us (in a serious tone)"do you have a manual or anything on how to take care of them?"  she looked at him like he was crazy (because he is).  She went and printed of a sheet of paper on goldfish care.  From this sheet we learn that goldfish can live for 10 years.  That's funny.  Ours lasted 3 days!  Maybe it is because we put him in a huge water-jug instead of a goldfish bowl.  The instructions sheet also said "this pamphlet is not a replacement for proper veterinary care".  Oh, so that is our problem!  Kiera and Lydia love feeding their fishes Cleo and Nemo and hug the tanks.  they handled it ok when fish #1 died this morning.
My favorite was when we were driving home Kiera is yelling at steve "daddy- drive softly!  Fishes don't like to splash!"  And then she says "when we get home lets make little boats to float on top with one for food and one for water".  Later at home she was playing mom to the fish-- "you guys need to be nice!  No fighting!"

Decision Made

So we've officially decided that we are moving to the the midwest--Macomb Illinois! We were choosing between there an Redding California. The decision was a very tough one. It was weighing lots of things that were important to us versus the thing that was MOST important to us.

Am I nervous? Yes. I'm sad that I'll be so far away from family (and airports).

But, if we could enjoy living in Mesquite NV (and we did), then we will find the joy of living in Macomb. And as someone put it so wisely in sunday school 3 weeks ago "The Lord doesn't really care where you live; he cares about how you live then you get there."

We recently got a puzzle that is a map of the USA so Kiera and Lydia have been learning their states. I asked Kiera if she wanted to live in Illinois or northern California. She said "I don't want either!.....I want to live in Pennsylvania where they make chocolate!"

Lastly, www.bestplaces.net is a great place to compare climates, crime, schools, etc. of different cities side by side.

Just day to day life

This is Lydia's little nest.  It is under our desk.  She has a stash of stuff she keeps under there.  Toys, blankets, and I found food back there too.  I removed it when I found it and later she came to me and said "mommy! somebody took my snacks!"

If you can't tell, they are playing Pocahontas 

 We frequently make play-dough cookies using cookie cutters.

My girls love playing with the blocks they got for Christmas from Grandpa Groneman.  These are the same one's I played with as a child.  Kiera can build towers taller than she is.  Lots of fun.

We don't really have a yard, but we have plenty of concrete to play with scooters on.  My we recently got Lydia's used for free.  It is spider-man black and missing a handle, but she loves it.  I guess it is only a matter of time until she figures out that Kiera's princess one is better.  Until then, we are having a blast and they are both quite good.

Playing babies.  Always a favorite.  I can't tell you how many times they have given birth to their babies.  

And now, the funny things they do and say:

1.  Kiera was frustrated with some toy she was playing with.  She said "that make me have NUTS!"  I realized she was trying to copy the expression I probably use too much "that drives me nuts!"

2.  Lydia has decided she is a kitty-cat.  Thus, she must give kitty kisses.  Which means I frequently end up kissing her tongue.  Yuck!  No more kitty kisses!

3.  Lydia said today "I want to take off my clothes so everyone can see my button like Jasmine!"  We had our first modesty chat.

4.  Lydia thinks M&M's are called "emmy M's" after her cousin Emmy.