Say What?

*One night while trying to get the girls to eat their dinner*
Dad: You know how you have to pay for food when you go to a restaurant? That's what we're doing here. If you don't eat your food you have to pay me.
Eden: Well, I will have to destroy you.

Dad walks in on the girls playing in Hope's room. Her big pink bunny is on the floor with animals all around it.
Dad: What's going on with him? (referring to the pink bunny)
Hope: They're eating him cause he's dead.
Dad:.....well that's not good.
Hope: The eagles were eating him, but he had worms.

Mom: Take off your shoes.
Eden: Whatever you say princess.

*Eden has woken up just hours after falling asleep one night and isn't feeling well. I've been sitting on her bed for a good twenty minutes trying to get her to go back to sleep.*
Eden: I wanna go out there.
Mom: No. You need to go back to sleep. It's still night night time.
Eden: But I can't sleep.
Mom: You need to keep trying.
Eden puts her face in her pillow, lifts it again and says: It's gonna be a long night.

Say What?

Eden: I'm speaking Spanish. 'Blah bloo blee'.

Hope: Can I help?
Mom: Why don't you just let me do it cause I'm just about out of patience.
Hope. Okay. But, mom? How many more patience do you have?

Mom: Would you like me to help you put on your jammies or do you want to do it yourself?
Eden as she jumps around her room naked: By. My. SELF!
Mom goes to help Hope brush her teeth.
Eden continues running/hopping throughout the house naked.
Mom: It seems like you need some help with your jammies.
Eden's naked tushy hops down the hallway and mom continues helping Hope.
Eden: HOP. HOP. HOP.
Mom sits on Eden's bed as Eden twirls and hops around the room.
Mom: Would you like some help?
Eden: Yes. Cause I am OUT of control!

Hope: How do you scare a lobster?

Eden: Knock, Knock.
Hope: Who's there?
Eden: It's me, broccoli.

Say What?

Hope is spending some time with daddy at his work and says: I don't understand why you're here. It's boring here.

Same day - One of Ben's co-workers comes into his office and says to Hope: You make sure he's working hard okay?
After he leaves, Hope says to dad: Why does he care if you're working if he's not?

Our home teacher asks Eden: What were you for Halloween?
Eden: A witch.
Home teacher: Did you cast an evil spell on somebody?
Eden: No. I didn't have a wand.

Eden is playing with her McDonald's cash register toy.
Dad says: What is that? (referring to the cash register)
Eden says: Um....a chicken nugget thingy.

Eden: I liked that. I like smiling.
Mom: You're adorable.
Eden: That what I was gonna say.

Mom: Maybe you should try to go peepee.
Eden: Well if I go you have to pay.

Eden singing a song: Patta cake, patta cake, baker's man. Bake me a cake and don't pitch a fit! (It seems like she may have said this before, but I didn't want to go through all my posts to see.)

(2010)

Eden's Joy School Graduation Party

Little Eden made some cute friends this year and LOVED school- except when I was teaching. I don't think she actually considered it school when I didn't drop her off somewhere. She was so excited each Wednesday morning (she called it her "school day")...until after preschool was over and then she was so disappointed that she didn't get to go somewhere for school.

This year she learned the days of the week, how to trace, how to glue lots of things, how to color with effort instead of just scribbling, and lots of social skills. All the girls learned this little saying, "You get what you get and you don't pitch a fit." Which is actually something that Hope learned from one of her classmates early in the year and I applied during preschool when all the girls wanted the purple cup. I only have two purple cups. Lesson learned....buy the same color for all the girls. Which is why I brought them all a purple balloon for graduation.





For graduation we had a water party in Mrs. Sandi's backyard. The kids had a picnic and then played in water.



Eden & Lilah watering flowers.



Eden with Mrs. Sandi (Brooke's mom).



Eden with Carter (Lilia's little brother). Eden kept jumping and landing on her bum in the pool with would splash poor Carter in the face. Thank goodness he loved it.



Lilia, Brooke, Eden & Lilah



Singing ABC's & the Days of the Week song.



Getting her diploma that Mrs. Aubrie (Lilia's mom) made. They are super cute and I'm so glad she thought to do it.

 

Aubrie was also thoughtful enough to get a picture of the first and last day and give a copy to all the moms. Thanks Aubrie!!!

 First Day

Last Day

 

Brooke, Lilia, Lilah & Eden

Look how they've grown into little ladies!

"Dime"

Today, Eden came home from pre-school with this little gem.

Her teacher took each child aside and asked them questions about their moms.

Here is what Eden had to say about me.

 

 

My mom is (90) years old.

My mom weighs (3 and 4) pounds.

My mom's favorite color is (red).

My mom's favorite food is (food and food).

My mom always says ("dime").

My mom cooks the best (squash).

My mom's job is (to have time).

If my mom had time, she would love to (I don't know).

My mom and I like to (do math).

My mom really loves (to have hair).

I LOVE my mom because (I want her to stay right here because she is nice).

By Eden

Say What?

Eden: Look, I'm a bunny! Ribbit, Ribbit
Dad: Rabbits don't say 'Ribbit'.
Eden: Rabbit, Rabbit.

Hope: Mmmm. My hands smell good. I want to eat them.

Hope: I am sadder than sad.

Hope looks in the mirror and says: Hello handsome girl.

Dad to Eden: I'm gonna hang you up by your toes.
Eden: Are you really?
Dad: Don't you believe me?
Eden: No.

Hope: I want to go look at the pregnant people.

Eden to Hope: You are my best friend ever.

Noah helping Eden ride his skate board.

Eden Turns 3!

 

On the fifth, we celebrated Eden's third birthday. Ben described her entrance to this world as," a watermelon size bullet" and my friends, that is exactly what it felt like. Remembering that day is still a little overwhelming.

 

Daddy took the day off from work and we spent a lot of time at the store looking at toys. Daddy was frustrated with our lack of birthday fun, but Eden loved it. She played with all the toys and when we left she said, "I have FUN!"

She opened her presents and we sang Happy Birthday and ate birthday cupcakes. She really only ate the frosting though.

 

 

For the next several days she would say it's her birthday. She also sang Happy Birthday to herself.

 

What Eden likes:

frosting (as noted above)

teasing her older sister

playing outside, specifically swinging

snuggling on mommy's bed

My Little Ponies

bathtime

pre-school

nursery

story time

playing with her siblings

helping with laundry

snuggling with Muffin and Zoe

the bookstore (Barnes & Noble)

the library

going for walks

washing her hands all by herself
using the remote to open and close the garage door
asking LOTS of questions
when daddy comes home
making messes
doing stuff she knows you don't want her to do

 

Say What?

Eden: Mom, look! My bum is freaking out.

Hope: Can we get another dog?
Mom: I don't think so.
Hope to mommy: I wish a puppy could come out of your tummy.

Eden: I'm HUNGRY!
Dad: What do you want?
Eden: Chi...Ch....I can't seem to remember.

Mom: Are you feeling better today?
Hope: Yes. But my head hurts. I think it's cause my hair is so long.

Dad is leaving for work one morning and says: Bye. I love you.
Eden: I love you! Come again soon!
Dad: Okay, I will.
Eden: Be careful of the ice!

Dad: Why don't you go poop in the potty?
Eden: It just comes out.
Mom: Well when you feel it start to come out you need to say, 'Oh, I need to go potty.' and then hold it till you get on the potty and then you can let it come out.
Eden: THAT'S A GREAT IDEA MOM!!!

Valentine's Day 2013

This year, Hope needed to make a box for her Valentine party at school. I found several cute ideas on Pinterest and let her pick which one she liked best. Of course she chose the horse. It was daddy's idea to make it a unicorn though. Since it was mostly cutting and hot gluing pieces together, daddy and I assembled the box and Hope drew on it.

 

 

It is hard to see from the picture, but she drew all over it. She gave it a "Cutey Mark" (which is the mark that My Little Ponies have on their hip) and drew hearts and eyes...oh, and a butt crack. :)

 

I also got to help with the party and made sugar cookies and frosting for the kids to decorate cookies. Hope and Eden enjoyed playing with the dough scraps. Amazingly enough they didn't eat the dough.

 

 

Daddy brought home Valentine treat bags for the girls with a balloon and stuffed unicorns. They were quite excited.

 

 

 

But not as excited as daddy. Look at his face. He loves his girls!

 

*On a side note, last week Hope was the spotlight student and on Friday I got to read a story to her class. Since it was also "Dad's & Donuts Day", Ben took the morning off so he could be there for the story too. At one point in the morning I turned the corner to walk down the hall and Ben was headed my way with a big smile on his face. I asked what he was smiling about and he said, "Hope's the spotlight student. That's exciting!"*

 

 



Say What?

Eden has poked and squashed a piece of zucchini to smitherines, puts it back on her plate, picks up a piece of squash and says: Your turn.

When dad gets out of the car to go into the gas station Hope says: Please don't leave your family here all alone.

Noah: What do you call a job that makes nuts?
Hope: What?
Noah: A nut job.

Hope to her friend Mason: Look at this new dinosaur toy. It's from Rob. He's in my class. He looks pretty sometimes, just like you.

Hope: Where did all this stuff come from?
Dad: I don't know.
Dad starts dancing and shaking his shoulders from side to side.
Hope: Is that a clue?

 *Seahorse*

 *The First Vision* She came home with this one Sunday.

*Licked by a Horse*

Las Vegas With the Maxwells

This past weekend Ben's brother, Ian, celebrated his 21st birthday in Las Vegas and Jeff was generous enough to make sure we were there to celebrate with them. The girls have never met their aunts Amanda and Emily. They only met uncle Ian and Grandma Patty once, and they always love to see grandpa Jeff, so they were very excited.

We drove, which we were a little nervous about with Hope and Eden, but they did surprisingly well. There were no complaints from Hope and Eden only had one real outburst on the way there and one on the way back. We were thinking they might sleep for at least a couple of hours, but no one slept on the way there (besides mom cause I was sick and yes, okay, driving makes me sleepy) and Hope and Eden took only a short nap on the way back. Noah had some new books to read so he was fine...until when we arrived home and he learned that he had to get back in the car and drive another hour and half to Grantsville. He was pretty upset about that.

It was dark when we got there so Las Vegas was quite a sight as we drove up to it. The kids were amazed at all the lights and the cool buildings. Then we got to the strip and pulled up right behind a driving billboard with three fully clothes women who wanted nothing to do with anyone being advertised. Imagine the extreme opposite of what I described and then imagine my horror of having my 11 year old son in the back seat. The spiritual assault of the city was pretty smothering until I was talking with Ben about it that night and realized that I just can't let all the bad stuff get in the way of all the good and that it is better for our children to be exposed to this kind of thing with us (so we can talk with them about it), than being exposed on their own or with their friends. Amazingly, the only thing Hope had a comment about was a guy dressed up like a Transformer on the side of the street to which she said, "They have weird people here." Of all the drunken half-naked people surrounding us, she chose that to focus on. Thank goodness! Noah had more of a problem ignoring the "sin" part of the city, but hopefully when he looks back on it, he will mostly remember family and a lot of cool buildings.

The kids thought our hotel room was awesome cause it had hide-a-way beds and two rooms. They ran around till dad decided to be a party pooper and told them to stop. 

The next day, Eden found one of her favorite things about Vegas - the complimentary soap. She carried around till she unwrapped it and I took it away, then she was off to find another...which she did...several times.

When the girls met Amanda and Emily they both became really quiet and just stared with smiles on their faces. I could tell they thought their aunts were beautiful. Right away Hope seemed to want to make up for lost time and be around them as much as possible. She held Amanda's hand for quite a while, walking around the hotels and asking her LOTS of questions.

Aunt Emily and Amanda were both great sports about it, and it was nice to see the girls getting to know more of their family. Hope was very impressed with Grandma and Grandpa's hotel. It had beautiful gardens with ponds full of huge Koi and some flamingos!!! All day and the next morning Hope kept saying she wanted to go back to Grandpa's hotel.

*Grandma Patty, Grandpa Jeff, Noah, a flamingo, Hope, Eden and Daddy*

I know what you're thinking, "Wow, she actually posted a pic with her in it...and her eyes are closed." Well, if I were going to be picky I wouldn't have posted it cause of my ginormous rear, not the closed-eyes...but I need to just get over it. Besides those points this is a very cute picture of my beautiful little family. Eden was trying out some funky new camera faces that day, as you can see.

There was also a big bird cage inside with parakeets in it that the kids thought were cute. One of them tilted it's head all the way over to one side and then back again several times looking at Hope. She thought this was adorable. Okay, me...I did, it was freaking precious and when I think about I still want to say, "awww."

In another hotel there was a big fish tank where we stopped to take some pictures.

Eden and Grandma Patty had a conversation about the statue in the water. During this trip we have learned that Eden does not care for statues. The fact that this one was sunken in a fish tank may or may not have helped. We'll see.

I posted this second shot because I LOVE Noah's pose.

In the next hotel we saw gondola's in a big indoor river. Eden loved the boats and kept saying she couldn't reach it.

There's little sunshine with her hair in her face. On the days she doesn't want to wear a barrette, her bangs fall in her face and are long enough now that she has started to chew on them.

Then we saw a beautiful Chinese garden.

It was wonderful to spend time with the Maxwells and get to know them better. We definitely need to do it more. Especially since the girls are saying how much they miss everyone already. Thanks to Grandpa Jeff for making sure we got out there and to Uncle Ian for letting us celebrate his birthday with him. We love you guys!

Say What?

Hope: It's weird on the planet today.

Hope: I've been feeling like snuggling with you all day.

Hope: Why do big people have big long hairs in their nose?

Eden keeps putting her little foot on Hope's reading book while she is trying to read and
Hope says: EDEN! You're going to get this all stinky with your STINKY foot!

Dad to Eden who has been throwing Zoe's bone across the family room: Don't throw that.
Eden: She likes it! *throws it again*
Dad: I don't care if she likes it. Don't throw it.
Eden hands on her hips: But she LIKES it!
Dad: Don't throw it. (I actually can't remember what he said here but this fits)
Eden: I DON'T CARE!
Dad: It isn't your job to care....
Eden: It's none of your business!
*Mom and dad burst into laughter*
Eden smiles and says: I just kidding.

Hope: Can I come?
Mom: No, because I can't watch you while I'm getting my hair cut.
Hope: I can watch myself.
Mom: You are too little to watch yourself.
Hope: No I'm not. See look at me watching myself.



Summing Up January

January has come and gone and EVERY day I have thought about blogging. There were several things that I wanted to post about, but now that time has past I've forgotten a lot about them. Next month I plan to do better.
 



 

Ignore the messy house (if you can). One day I will learn how to keep house & home better...or not to take pictures in my messy kitchen.
They are growing up fast! Hope now insists that we call her HOPE not Hopie and is reading like a pro. Eden has been without a pacifier for several days and doesn't even whine about it. Every once in a while she'll ask about her "jabider" and say that she misses him.  She also goes potty on the potty often (though she still thinks it's funny to go on the floor sometimes. Grrr.). Full on potty use is next!!!

Zoe has been an indoor doggie for the past couple of months. I am happy to report that Eden now goes potty on the floor more than Zoe. No...wait. I am not happy to report it. But it is nice not to have to clean up after two "kids" ALL the time. During Zoe's transition into indoor doggiehood, she and Eden have developed a great little friendship. Quiet storms in our house don't always result in disasters anymore. Sometimes I find Eden and Zoe wrestling or cuddling. Eden likes to hug/smother her and she lifts Zoe's face to hers with both hands. It's adorable and one of these days my camera will capture the moment. Zoe loves this too. She doesn't run away, she sits while Eden tries to love her and she'll even follow her around. Mostly I think she is waiting for her to drop something on the ground that she can chew to bits or lick her face clean. Sometimes, however, they unite forces and destruction does ensue. Like when Zoe got the toilet paper out of the bathroom and was chewing it up. While I was putting Zoe outside Eden was unrolling the remaining toilet paper. But their friendship is apparent and reminds me of myself & Pepper Sr. I love it and it makes me smile.

 

Noah's hair has been driving me crazy for months. He hates getting it cut and likes to wear it long. It makes me want to pull my own hair out. Last Friday I finally accessorized the problem. Don't let the face fool you - I peeked in the bathroom and he smiled the whole time he was taking those barrettes out. :)

 

 

We also visited the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake.

 

 

 

 

Next month we have a trip to Las Vegas, Valentine's Day and by golly a hair cut, and if not...more accessories.