My Silly Girls

My girls are always making me laugh with their fun and unique personalities. I had a meeting to go to on Sunday so Andrey was in charge of putting Emma down for a nap. She kept telling him that she was not going to take one because she was three and a big girl. When I got home from my meeting, two hours later, I peeked through the door nob spot (we need to put the door nob in) and couldn't see her on her bed. "Where is Emma?" Andrey said she should be in her bed taking a nap, but she was being stubborn. I looked a little harder and around the room some more and there she was, being stubborn in her ways (like me, Andrey always says) and tried to stay up as long as she could, but crashed....here is how we found her:
When she woke up, I said, "Emma, you were sleeping on the floor. Why?" "I TOLD you I think I don't need to go to sleep in my bed." Every day this week, she ends up sleeping on the floor during her nap time. Silly kid!

Ellie had her funny moment when I was in our room talking to Andrey and went to check on the girls (they were a little too quiet and we all know what that means). Emma was into her movie, "Dora The Explorer" and ...wait a minute? Where was Ellie? I looked in all the rooms and couldn't fine her. Hm...I heard a little noise in the living room and went back in there looking some more. This is how I found her:

Ellie likes to talk on my cell phone, so when it dropped under the end table, she was determined to get it and cram into that little space. What a cutie. She laughed hard when I found her.

Letter 'G'

Yesterday we focused on the letter G. Emma and Ellie colored the letter 'G' for "grapes." I then read them Goldlilocks and the Three Bears. Emma and Ellie love books more than anything-and I love that cause it's fun for me to get to take that time each day and read to them, acting out the parts with different voices, and actually finding two people that think I'm funny. LOL. We went to my grandpa's house in Taylorsville a couple of weeks ago and Emma, Grandpa Sampson, and I collected accorns. We then had peaches that night and as we went to throw away the pits, I had this idea. It's too late to really plant flowers because it's getting colder, and I don't have money now to buy bulbs, so Emma, Ellie and I planted the seeds/pits that we had collected....trying to tie in that the letter 'G' was for garden. I showed Emma how you plant something and then we talked about how to care for a plant. She is so excited and every time we go outside she has to run over and see if her tree is there. =0) Afterwards, we went on a walk and pointed out the letter 'G' items and when we got back, of course, we had to go check out our trees. It's going to be a looooong winter. We then ended the preschool with an attempt to still potty train Emma, but sitting on the toilet. Ellie is all about this and loves to participate (I am just glad that at Emma's doctor's appointment, the doctor had a talk with Emma about going 'poop' and 'peepee' on the toilet....hopefully it works).

Ellie, My Sweet Child

Ellie has such a big heart and I loved stumbling upon her playing in the girl's room. She always goes for the dolls and holds them and rocks back and forth. Before she puts the baby down, she'll kiss it and grab another one. She is the sweetest thing and I thought this was so cute.

Our Anniversary

So I never told anyone what we did for our real anniversary. This was the simplest, but nicest time we had with our girls. We went to visit our Grandpa Dean, who is really sick and might not be with us much longer. He is such an amazing man. He is so independant and loving. I love visiting and seeing him. We drove to Bountiful and stayed there for a little while catching up with him, and then on our way home, I was telling Andrey about this great malt shop that is somewhere around there before you get onto the freeway. Just as I was saying that, we passed it. Yummy in my tummy! We HAD to stop and get malts and frenchfries. I got a raspberry flavor and Andrey got vanilla with oreo (weird, i know), and then we got the girls their french fries that they love. we had a good time hanging out with one another. Okay, I just really love icecream. LOL!

My Baby is Three Now.

Emma is officially three years old. She turned three yesterday and it was a fun, relaxing day. She was singing to herself all day. It was so cute hearing her little voice. We had a party at my parent's house for family. We had cake and Icecream. I had fun making her cakes. We frosted them in pink and chocolate and then put Princess stickers on suckers and candies and then put them all over on her cakes with sprinkles. It was a very pink party. It was great visiting with family and watching her open each of her presents. My favorite was her shock when her Glover Grandparent's gave her a card with a lot of money. She stood there holding it in her hand with a look of shock. She had never been given that much money before and was loving it. Thank you everyone for coming and for all the fun presents. Our living room is a mess right now with her presents all over the place. Ellie is loving it too. She gets to play with all the empty boxes. Happy Birthday, Emma! (pictures will be posted later)

Happy 4 year Anniversary! For Real

Andrey, I love you and hope you know that. Yeah for being married for 4 years....now only..hm....forever more to go. Tee, hee, hee.

Favorite Pastime

Emma and I discovered something she loved and can play with for hours. Grandma sent Emma home with a big bag of playdough and then for Emma's birthday, she got a lot more. I got all our cookie cutters and letter her have at it. She was in the kitchen for over two hours playing, cutting, smashing, pressing with cookie cutters, etc. I have never seen her sit this long doing one thing-besides watching "Enchanted." Ellie had a fun time playing peek a boo underneath the table and trying to eat all the scrap pieces of play dough. It was fun to see them being easily entertained. Thank you Mr. Play Dough.

Chili Cookoff

My ward has a lot of fun ward activities, one of them being the ward chili cookoff. What they do is have whoever wants to-bring chili (and salads and bread items). There are judges that pick the hottest, most creative (which I won last year...yeah. I think), and the best tasting. This year, the judges were the ward missionary couples. I didn't win anything, but we sure had a good time eating some good food. My family came to hang out with us and that was nice to be able to see them. The girls had a blast running around (yeah, now that Ellie can). playing volleyball, soccer, football, and Ellie, just learning how to walk down the hill and then back up the hill (very cute to watch). She only face planted it about two times. Ha, ha. Emma getting ready in her singing outfit. She sure entertained us while we were eating by singing her little heart out for all to hear-waving her arms in the air and everything. So cute!

It was fun to be able to relax, not have to really cook dinner, and visit with friends from the neighborhood. We had a fun night, which ended with something scaring me on our front porch at about midnight...I was the brave one (okay, I just didn't want to wake up Andrey), I turned off all the lights quickly and ran to the window. I saw something running down the stairs. I hurried and flicked on the porch light and looked out the window in the door and what was there trying to break into our little house? . . . . "Phew," it was only a racoon. A RACOON!!!! I have never seen one alive around our place (always dead in the rode) and he/she was sure enjoying something on the grass. I tried to get video of it (yes, I'm easily entertained) but it was too dark to come in clearly, so use your imagination on what I was seeing. It was kindof cool, and a relief that I didn't have to learn to use Andrey's gun on someone.

Eye Exam

I feel jipped (sp?) now that I have had a REAL eye exam. I have had contacts since I was in 10th grate and never had this extensive of an eye exam before. I had a lot of tests run and then my pupils dialated...who does that?! My head is killing me and my eyes are freaky! My girls look at me like I'm a monster. I can't complain too much because I only had to pay $25 and they did this exam correctly. I was so glad that they were thorough in checking everything. I now have contacts again and next Tues., I get to go pick out some glasses. Andrey is making me. I have the world's most sensitive eyes and I hate HATE touching my eyes or putting anything in them, so I have always slept in my contacts. No eye infections that I remember and every time I go to an exam I get a lecture, promising myself that I will take them out each night and do better, but we all know that this never happens, so Andrey is making me get glasses so I will feel that I need to get my moneys worth and remove the contacts. Does anyone else have problems like I do? I'm such a baby. Well, I don't know if you can see, but here are my freaky looking eyes.

Ellie Is Finally Walking

Now that Ellie is 14+ months old, we decided that she should conquer her fear of falling and heights and just start walking. While cousin Rylee and Emma were playing with balloons at Emma's birthday party, Ellie was getting frustrated 'cause she couldn't keep up with the girls, so she picked up a balloon, stood up, and started walking around the room. It took me a minute to realize what was going on and then I started freaking out calling all my family and videotaping away. I am so glad that she decided to start walking-no more carrying her around all the time (when we go to the store and stuff). She is such a big girl and we are so excited for her and her big steps. She loves walking and tried to run....

Happy Birthday Party Emma

Our Sister in Law is getting married the day before Emma's birthday, so we decided to have a fun girls party (plus Hunter) for her the Sat. that we got back from our anniversary get away. We decorated the house all pink and had princess stuff all over the place. She had about 10 of her little friends come over. Uncle Travis and Aunt Robyn came and made balloon animals for all the kids. We then went into the kitchen and decorated purses and visors (for the boys) that they could take home. We had all the kids, when they came in, pick out a crown, neclace, and earings, so they could all be princesses. We then went into the livingroom and had Emma (and all her little helpers) open presesnts and ate cupcakes and had popsicles. We then watched Curious George (the movie-one of Emma's presents). The kids played with toys and dressed up in princess dresses. We had a lot of fun. We hope Emma had an enjoyable time. I was excited because Ellie felt a little left out that she couldn't run around playing with the balloons, so that is what finally motivated her to walk! Yeah, she is finally walking on her own. Happy Birthday on Sunday, Emma (until then, we're getting ready for our family party).

4th Anniversary

Andrey and I thought we'd celebrate our anniversary a little early since our actual date is Sept. 17-which is a Wednesday. We packed up all our overnight stuff for us and the girls and dropped the girls off at my moms. Now the funny thing is, my mom was running a little late getting home, so Andrey and I unloaded all their stuff into their house, shut the door (to make it look like no one was there) and then took the girls out of the truck, still strapped into their carseats and placed them on the front porch, and then drove into the neighbor's driveway, far back so it wouldn't be noticable. Oh my, it was so funny to see these poor girls stranded on a front porch with no one there to watch them. My mom and sister pulled into the circle and started freaking out...just a little until Bailee scoped out the circle and saw our truck. It was so funny.
(I will post a picture of them when Andrey gets me his phone).
We then went to the Gateway Mall. This is a tradition we started the first year we were married because Andrey had never been there. So, we go once a year, and spend a lot of money and have a lot of fun-just the two of us. We then went to dinner at Benihana (sp?) where we had great food and entertainment as we watched our chef, Leon, make our yummy food. We were sitting next to the cutes family-it made me miss our girls. I'm crazy, I know, I finally get a date night and all I can do is think about Emma and Ellie. Ha, ha.
My aunt Arlene and Uncle Joe paid for us to stay at Castle Creek Inn (thank you so much you two), so we had a great time watching movies, looking at all the scenery (many waterfalls and pretty landscaping), and the great hot tub. We had a delicious breakfast served to us the next morning. We exchanged gifts. Andrey got me a belt that I despretly needed and a Willow Tree Doll, called "Anniversary" where the husband and wife are holding/hugging each other. I collect those dolls so it was so special to get one from him. I got Andrey the picture he's always wanted-the Valley Forge picture with George Washington, and then a book he liked from Deseret Book.
Happy Anniversary to us. I love you so much Andrey!!!

Fillmore Art's Festival

We spent the weekend at the Fillmore Art's Festival. It was so much fun. We got to see all the booths that were set up with different crafts, foods, demonstrations (black-smith, pottery making, etc.). Emma's favorite thing was the bouncy area and the kids stations (chalk coloring, painting, puzzle making, train riding, etc.). I loved the roses that Andrey bought for me (aw...shucks). They were made out of wood. Amazing, I know- and they were even scented. We got to pet the oxen (and I think one of them had a cold...it was disgusting. Ellie wasn't sure what to think). We had dancing and story telling from a Navajoan (sp?) lady-she was beautiful and her dancing was beautiful. There was Willie the Clown who Emma followed around the park all day. We bought cute headbands, jewelery, clothes, and had fun watching the bird show. Ben brought hawks, eagles, and our favorite-the parrot. She played Sleeping beauty for us and would talk to all of us. We ate great food and had a fun night decorating and making a cake for Robyn's 22nd birthday. We then opened presents and then left. My aunt wanted us to take their stray kitten with us but we aren't ready to take care of another cat (poor Tess ), so we got a cute picture of her/him instead (sorry Wendy. Maybe next time).

Uncle Travis

Okay all, I am dedicating a spot on our blog just for Uncle Travis. My brother-in-law is so funny. He is always making us laugh, and the girls just adore him. Before Robyn even married him, he was pretty much the uncle anyway.

Emma always said that she was going to marry him and that she loved him. He has known her since she was in my belly (we worked at Maceys together the last four years). Now, he is married to my sis. and he is a REAL uncle.

Travis was the first person to know that I was pregnant with Ellie (and yes, everyone else was mad, especially Andrey). Emma and Ellie seem to have a special bond with him, and I sure do appreciate his love that he has for them. It is so fun to watch them together. Whenver Robyn calls, Emma will answer it and the first thing she says is, " I want to talk to Travis..." no hello or any other greeting (but they still love you Robyn. Ha, ha.).

Here is a time at dinner at my parent's house when Travis is playing with Ellie. It's fun to see her and Emma always trying to copy whatever Uncle Travis does.

He is their superhero! Thanks Uncle Travis, for being SO cool!

Ellie, Our Little Ms. Independant

Ellie loves to copy everything that Emma does. She noticed Emma putting her own shoes on when she was getting ready for the day, so when Andrey and I were looking for Ellie, we found her doing this:

sorry about the dark video. The funny thing is, when Ellie sees a camera she stops whatever she is doing and has to get right up in front of it...as seen. She is so funny!

Ellie and Her Cup

My little Ellie is so funny. Whenever we go to my parent's house for dinner on Sundays, they give her a sippy cup. Without fail, every time, she will take a drink and then chuck it on the floor, making the water go alllll over the place. Travis, my brother-in-law, found a better way for her to get a drink.

Wonderful Aunts

I was taking my sisters home from school (my mom left to Fillmore a little early so she could get her doll booth set up) when they were waving bye. Now these girls are so funny. They love Emma and Ellie (even though they treat them more like they are sisters...grrrrr-the fighting!), and they take about 10 min. to say bye each time we see them....well today was so funny, that I had to get it on camera:

You got to love Emma picking her nose...ewww!

"F" for Fish

Today Emma learned about the letter 'F'. We talked about fish and the sound that 'f' made-the same sound that fish starts with. She colored her page out of her ABC book and then we colored and traced the letter. I wasn't sure if Emma would understand how to trace the letter (since they don't usually do that until elementary), but she caught on and did a great job.

She loves to say the letter 'f' because it makes her spit a lot. Ha, ha. Emma then picked out her favorite fish pictures and colored that. After, we cut it into a jigsaw puzzle and she got to try to put her fish back together. While she was playing with that, I read her a story about a starfish, Stanley, who was lonely and thought he belonged in the sky with the other stars, until he met another starfish and he was no longer lonely (sorry to ruin the story for those that havn't read it...lol).