I Love My Seven-Yr-Old Sweetheart!

Robyn was so cute and had a backpack full of Valentine's decorations she made at an after-school art class to put up and surprise Carly and Macy after they were in bed. When she comes home from school, she sings Mary Poppins songs with Macy and reads Junie B. Jones books to Carly. A family friend told me that she's very friendly and polite, always saying thank you. A few of the messages in her Valentines Mailbox at school said, "I think you are very smart. You are funny. I think you run fast. You are nice to everyone." Sometimes, I can't believe she is 7. Other times, I have to remind myself that she is only 7. I love her and am so glad she's in our family!

L-I-N-C-O-L-N, One Great Man!

Happy Presidents' Day from Abe and Robyn! I have to admit that Myles forwarded me the e-vite to Abe's 200th B-day celebration as a joke, but when Robyn came home from school estatic to attend, we decided to go. My mom happened to be in town from the Great Land of Lincoln, so she was excited about the big bash, too. (She got a day off from work for Lincoln AND Presidents' Day). As a kid, I learned how to spell Lincoln's name with this wonderful song: Abraham Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, One Great Man! L-I-N-C-O-L-N, One Great Man!

I Love My Fam!

Macy: We have arms because we can hug people and rock-a-bye babies.
Macy (to me): I love you. I want to keep you forever...I want to keep everyone forever!
Macy: I love you so much, my stomach hurts.

Carly's Christmas Cactus

Our Christmas Cactus turned 5 this year! How do I know? It was waiting for us when I came home from the hospital with Carly when she was born. Janell and Edyn had cleaned the whole house, bought a new rug for our living room and had set the cactus in the fireplace. Every time I look at this cactus, it reminds me of their thoughtful acts and Carly. This year, it didn't bloom for Christmas, but it did bloom in time for Valentine's Day!

The Beauty Salon is Open!

Macy: Why don't you wear make-up?
Me: I don't know. I have pretty light skin...it's a pain to wash off...I don't know.
Macy: Well, if you don't wear make-up, you gotta git out of the Beauty Salon!

When Gram comes, the Beauty Salon is open! She lets them put on "make-up" with her and loves to do their hair all cute. Can't she just stay as their personal assistant?

I Love My Little Sweethearts and My Mama Sweetheart!

My mom was in town for all the festivities. We loved having her! The girls were excited about their Valentine shirts from her. I love my mama and my girls!

I Love My Big Sweetheart!

I had a sweet day with my sweetheart, beginning with his tradition of pancake making and ending with a super fun time at Comedy Sportz. He also helped me set up for my Primary Activity, which is where we had our photoshoots. Myles would do anything for me, and I'm so glad he's mine!! He says he looks bald in this picture. I guess I chose to cut off his head instead of the cute heart pancake.

Livin' in an Internet World and We are Internet Girls...

Me: You can find everything online.

Robyn: No, you can't.
Me: What couldn't you find online?
Robyn: A light switch eating a hamburger.
Carly: Rows and rows of meat dancing in the moonlight.
Robyn: An eyeball collage as big as the White House.

Actually...

Sampling of our 6 AM Wake-Up Calls

Macy whips open our bedroom door and demands, "Is this the swimming pool?" She has her blanket wrapped around her waist like a towel, dives onto the floor flailing her arms and legs and belts out, "Let's go swimming, let's go swimming, yeah, let's go swimming...on the bottom of the ocean!" (A song from dance class).

Once that's over, she announces, "I am the Man with the Yellow Hat and you are Curious George, and I'm going to make you some popcorn!"

The fun just keeps on going. It's early, but at least she's happy!

Feeling Good About Myself

Macy: Mom, what are those stripes on your forehead?
Me: Wrinkles.
Macy: Do you like sprinkles?
Me: Wrinkles. No, not really.
Macy: Where did you get them from?
Me: From getting old.
Macy: Yeah, there's stripes, stripes, stripes all over!

(When we remember, we paint a special nail polish on Macy's thumbnail to help her remember not to suck her thumb).
Macy: Mom, you should paint your toenails so you don't suck them anymore.

Back to Dance!

After a winter break, Macy and Carly are happy to be dancing right next door again. We love seeing friends and cousins every week! As Macy was putting her Tinkerbell tutu on, she excitedly exclaimed, "Mom, Miss Amber knows English!" So, I guess we pay her to teach dance and to speak English!

Pasta Party!

So there's Pampered Chef parties, chocolate parties, and scrapbooking parties. Why not pasta parties?

Carly worked hard at preschool mastering her pattern-making abilities and fine-motor skills to bring home a collection of necklaces and bracelets made with brightly-colored pasta. Thanks to Carly, we're fancy now! Nancy would be proud.

Pizza, anyone?

When Macy had to stay home from dance with croup, she was sad. But, when I told her she could break out the Playdough, she was estatic. (She asks me to play with it often, but I've got to be in the right mood to say yes). She whipped me up a blueberry pizza.
Me: Wow! This is delicious! Did you make it all yourself?
Macy: Oh, no. My husband helped me.

Then, it was her idea to make a nest with little eggs in it. The eggs hatched and we morphed them into little birds. She rolled out some worms and fed them. Myles, later: Too bad you didn't get a video clip of that. It would've made a great "clay"-mation video!

PS The lovely colors are from leftover Halloween Playdough.

I wear my sunglasses...

I never knew you could need sunglasses in the winter...until I moved to Utah!

Macy's quote of the day: We need a boy kid. We don't have a boy kid. We just have a boy dad, but we definitely need a boy kid!

Robyn's Up-Do

Robyn came to the breakfast table with a new do she did all by herself! She also likes to do Macy's hair when she lets her. Robyn's really growing up this year with new glasses, new teeth, and new hair-dos!