Two Already!

How quickly time goes by! My little girl is two years old and growing fast. Just today we went to the doctor and she's in the 81 percentile for height and the 76 percentile for weight. Coming from Kent and I, I find it funny to me that our kids are so tall for their age.

For her actually birth day on Wednesday,we went out to Cerreta's chocolate factory for a small tour and treat. It was a mouth watering demonstration and once samples were involved, Keila was all ears, eyes ... mouth!



Afterwards we stopped in at the Pratt's pet store. Keila squealed with delight at all the animals. It's better than a zoo, not only do you see the animals, but many of them you can pet. All the time out, chocolates, a few goods from a Mexican bakery, and lots of animals, she was a happy girl.

The last 2 days have had me working hard on her cupcakes. When I asked her what she wanted for cupcakes this year, she said, "Bunny cupcake!" several times. I'm not sure if that was in response to a fears that Sunshine bunny, our rabbit, might eat her cupcake since it's well known she has a love of chocolate - or if she really wanted to have bunny cupcakes. Either way I took it as my chance, to play around wtih a few things I learned from this amazing lady in my ward. Laurie Martin makes the most amazing things with gingerbread houses and cupcakes, so I took a few notes and came up with my own design of a few bunnies raiding the garden. (something I've seen by experience with our Sunshine!)



The gaps you're seeing are the places reserved for rabbits in the making. They were the most intimidating thing. (as far as rabbits go!)



The cabbages were killer, but I was rather proud once I figured them out. This was my best one.

It turned out a lot better than I thought it would and it was a fun creative outlet for me. Although it took a lot of time, the process of creating was almost as much fun as the response I got once it was done.




We got together with 2 other families and all of Keila's favorite little people. Just having everyone shower her with attention was enough to make her day, but a little cake and presents topped it!





Happy Birthday my darling girl. You're beautiful, inside and out. I love you just the way you are, truly I do!

Chores are a Chore!

Motherhood is such an adventure with each child, every day that sometimes I'm amazed I make it okay. The following is a typical response from Keila with regards to her morning chore.

"Time for chores."

"Awwww ... no, no, NO!" Accompanied by vigorous shakes of the head. A meltdown begins as I drag the chair over to the counter for her put away the utensils. She reluctantly grabs a knife bangs our her displeasure. When no response is forthcoming her body loses form as her bones magically disappear from her body. She hangs dangling legs on one side and her wailing head on the other. The siren shows no sign of stopping.

Unfortunately her older brother has broken in Mama well and so I continue with breakfast as if nothing strange has occurred (because indeed nothing strange is occurring, this is a daily event!) Cute little chubby hands reach out and sink tiny nails into any passerby. This earns her the famous time-out 'corner' where her siren wail changes pitch to one of deep despair. It dawns on her that Mama is just as stubborn or more so than her.

Two minutes later she's back on the chair while Mama hands her each utensil individually. With tears streaming, nose running, her wet little hands stacks them in place. I cringe with how unsanitary it is but to stop her now to wash her hands would mean bracing for another round. It's not worth it. Somehow things get done and huge sigh of relief from both parties. It only takes 25 minutes! Keila's beaming smile fills her face as she echos everyone sentiment and shouts a loud "Hooray"!

Another day begins. I sigh as I set everything up for the chores. Resigned to the need to teach the value of work, yet dreading the job multiplied by ten, I pour out a cup of chocolate milk. Just a little bit of bribery to smooth the way. Wouldn't you know it, less than 5 minutes later, the job is done and a cold brown mustache graces a smiling girl's face. Really, how bad can bribery be?! ;0)


This cutie sure loves Mama's homemade hummus!

Big Girl Bed!

Our baby girl has made the leap to a big bed. I worried needlessly about how she'd do, but everything Isaac does is ALWAYS the best (which includes standing when he wee wees - a problem given her physical limitations and now I'm struggling to convince her otherwise!) so it was only natural that she'd move to big bed. It was a cheap thing we bought off of Craiglist and then built our own head and foot boards. It's amazing what things you can learn on line, like how to remove laminate (as seen here, so easy!)


Just using a wet cloth and a hot iron, peel and pull!



The original head board was just like this drawer with a cheesy plastic blue strip. We changed the drawers into ...



this! Paint, paint and more paint. It was fun.



We re-did the head board and made a foot board to go. In total I think the project cost us about $100 but it'll be her bed until she leaves home. It's extremely high, but she LOVES it. Even Isaac, who has a fear with heights, is envious. I