Thank You, Costco

As you might recall, we found ourselves without a Christmas tree last year when Costco dragged their feet over whether or not they would be able to fix the glitch in their pre-lit trees in time for the holiday. Alas, they never did, but we were able to make do with our own crafted substitutes.

When it came time to decorate for Christmas this year, the girls could not have been more excited to make their own trees again. So, I suppose I have Costco to thank for my girls' new favorite Christmas tradition! Tree or no tree, fake or real, these girls had their hearts set on making their own.

And so we watercolored...

We sponge painted...

We painted over white crayon swirls...

And we finger-painted.

We even glued and glittered. (And vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed. Glitter projects with toddlers have a way of involving the vacuum.)

Then we let the papers dry overnight, the patience for which just about required a Christmas miracle! They could hardly wait to get those trees decorated!! When they were primed and ready, we cut out circles to make the ornaments.

Finally, it was time for the main event: tree decorating!!

They loved putting their very own ornaments on their very own trees.

The proud artists (and princesses!) enjoyed showing off their work.

And were more than happy to share an ornament or two each to decorate a tree for baby brother.

I'd say the project was a smashing success once again, and no doubt a new family Christmas tradition.

In fact, the girls had so much fun, the project has now spilled over its holiday bounds. Reeve has taken to cutting out shapes from any and all paper scraps and using her "ornaments" to decorate her bed. So I suppose the festivities can continue year-round.

Thank you, Costco, for brightening our holiday with a new Christmas tradition!

You're Welcome

Reeve has been known to have some pretty awesome morning hair, but the other day she really out-did herself. No one does insane but endearing quite like Reeve. If these don't make you smile, then I'm sorry, but I just don't know what will.







To temper your jealousy at not being able to wake up to this sweet face each day, I will provide you with the fact that this breakfast involved a serious tantrum over the color and shape of her plasticware. (There were tan and orange round bowls and a pink oval bowl, but the round pink bowl was currently unavailable for her cereal consumption, an apparently unacceptable standard for her high-minded expectations.) But it's hard to be upset at one with hair as awesome as this. Tantrum or not, seeing this girl in the morning makes waking up just a little bit easier.

Libby and the Primary Program, Year Two

Libby worked really hard to prepare for the Primary Program at church this year, completing her song practice chart and memorizing her individual part.


Her lines for the program, which she wrote herself, were, "Heavenly Father sent us to earth in families so that we wouldn't be lonely. My mommy and daddy help me by playing with me, reading me scriptures, and teaching me about Jesus. And they help me reach the treats when I'm not tall enough." (We keep our treat stash in a basket on top of the fridge. Glad we can be of such service!)

She practiced and practiced, and had her part down pat. (As did Reeve!)


On the big day, she did a great job singing along with all of the songs (with Reeve singing along in the audience, as well. We've had the Primary Program CD of songs on repeat in our house for a few months, and Libby's not the only one who has them all memorized now!)

When her moment in the spotlight came, she stood up to the microphone and began, "My mommy and daddy help me by playing with me...."

Uh oh. She immediately froze, and I saw the look of momentary panic come across her face that she had skipped the first line. I could see her mind racing, searching, and then I started to worry about what would happen next. She's a simultaneously sensitive and outgoing kid, and such a mistake could easily reduce her to tears or induce a moment of wild improvisation.

Suddenly, I saw a look of clarity come over her face, and with a slight smirk she pronounced, "I was just teasing you!" After which she completed her part from beginning to end.

As she hopped down from the podium, Reeve cheered and shouted, "Good job, Libby!"

Yep, good job, Libby indeed.

He's With Us

Besides how cute (and squirmy!) he is, I think the top comment I get about Briggs is how much he looks like Libby. I have to say I quite agree. I see so much of Libby in him, even in a lot of his expressions and mannerisms.

Briggs, about 3 months:

Libby, about 3 months:

Briggs, about 4 months:

Libby, about 4 months:

(Sadly, I think Libby is clearly winning in the hair department in the above picture. And I've mentioned before her lack of hair growth. I guess that's good news for my abilities to keep up with a short boy cut!)

Perhaps this resemblance has something to do with the reason 99.9% of people used to guess that Libby was a boy, even when she was in pink, frills, and hair bows galore, yet I've only had one person mistake Briggs for a girl, and she quickly corrected herself about one second later.

I see a little bit of baby Reeve in him, too, but not as much.

Reeve, about 3 months:

The chin(s!) are similar, but I see the resemblance in them mostly in the eyes, and the expressions they both make that's a mix of wonder and bewilderment.

Reeve, about 3 months:

Briggs, about 3 months:

Either way, I can definitely see the "Asbury" in him. I'd say he's a keeper!

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Sadly, this Halloween was marked by some seriously nasty head colds among the family ranks, so we took it pretty easy for most of the day. But we did manage to get in the most traditional celebrations, starting with pumpkin carving.

The girls were having a hard time making a final decision on what kind of face they wanted for the family pumpkin (spooky face... no, wait-- a sad face... no, wait-- a happy face! NO! Wait-- a ghost!... no, wait-- just a spooky face....) Round and round we went, so I decided it would be much better to just leave the artistic work up to them, and I would carve it out.


I admit I sorta love this picture. Notice the stinkeye being given by Miss Precision in the background at being forced to let Reeve scribble all over her masterpiece for mom-mandated sharing. Maybe next year we will have to actually get them their own pumpkins to carve....


Since they are still pretty little, I didn't get them their own carving pumpkins, but I did get them each two of their very own pumpkins to decorate with stickers while I carved the big pumpkin, so luckily that smoothed things over.


Hopefully Briggs won't be offended in the years to come that Libby said she was going for a portrait of Baby Brother. =) We love you, handsome!


Next up on the Halloween docket: dressing up! The girls insisted they wanted to be ghosts this year, and I was sorta proud of them of wanting to be classic, spooky Halloween characters. It seemed fairly out of character for them to go against their typically bright and girly grain, but they consistently claimed they wanted to be ghosts and the costumes certainly seemed like they'd be easy enough to make, so we went for it.


Then it was on to trick-or-treating. Of course they thoroughly enjoyed this part, and were very excited despite their horrible colds, especially since the ward Trunk or Treat that had been scheduled for a couple of days prior had been cancelled because of a ridiculous early snowstorm. Boo!



Briggs had fallen asleep about 10 minutes before we planned to go trick-or-treating, so he stayed home with dad for a little nap, and then I had to feed him when he woke up, and once we were all done it was getting pretty late and the girls were already back home. But since I'd put a whopping, oh, 10 minutes into making him a ghost costume, too, and since it was his first Halloween and all, we dressed him up, too, for a quick photo op. I didn't get one of all my ghosties together because I didn't want to put Briggs with the girls and all their sickly germs. Sadly, poor little buddy caught it a few days later anyway. =(


Luckily all the head colds are beginning to clear (or at least move on to the chests, so there is a symphony of hacking coughs around here), and we are now moving on to sugar comas. A happy Halloween, indeed.

Reeve is Three!

Reeve knows her birthday comes after Libby's, so pretty much every day for nearly a month, Reeve would wake up saying, "Is today my birthday?" Helping her count down to her big day not only failed to help her grasp the time frame, but also fueled her fire to ask constantly. After lunch, after her quiet time, when daddy got home from school. (As if I would have failed to mention her birthday until, say, 4 pm!)

So earlier this month we were so excited to wake Reeve up with a "GOOD MORNING! TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!"


We started the day off right with some gooey cinnamon rolls.


Her birthday fell on General Conference, which was sorta great and sorta a bummer. I love General Conference, but I did feel a little bad that we spent most of the day watching church on TV. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind, and was quite excited to get her General Conference packet of coloring pages and activities. (This coloring and watching lasted, oh, about 2.1 seconds before degrading into running around, playing with toys, etc. Oh well. We tried. Maybe for her 17th birthday we'll enjoy a nice, quiet, spiritual Conference??)


For her birthday, one of Reeve's top priorities was to make party hats, so of course we obliged this request with pink paper hats, glue, and oodles of preschool-friendly decorations.



Reeve's only other request for her birthday were the "letter candles." She had found these candles that spell out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in the cupboard a few weeks before her birthday, and latched onto them. She would seriously hoard them and hide the package in different places around the house to be sure no one else would use them. When I asked her what kind of theme she wanted for her birthday, she replied she wanted the letter candles. I explained she could still have any theme she wanted (pink? Dora and Diego? Princesses?) plus the letter candles on her cake, but she would not be swayed and replied she wanted a "letter party" so she could have her candles. The girl knew what she wanted, and couldn't have been happier to blow them out.


She was quite pleased with how the cake tasted, too. =)


After cake it was on to the other best part of birthdays: presents!


What a lucky little girl!


Reeve is one of those kids who is such a joy to have in a family, and we feel so blessed to have her in ours. She is fun and happy and knows how to get out of trouble with a charming smile and a few well-timed declarations of love and adoration. She follows her big sister around like a little shadow, and dotes on her baby brother. She is imaginative, funny, and just an all-around great kid.


We always welcome the chance to celebrate this girl of ours. Happy birthday, big girl!

Reconsidering My Position

Back when I was a perfect parent (you know-- before I actually was one), I decided I'd never let my children suck their thumbs. It can be such a difficult habit to break, and besides, when you can simply stick a binky in their mouth and then take it away when they're older, there's no point in sucking on fingers. Marrying an orthodontist only solidified this opinion... you know, back when I was a perfect, childless parent.

Well, chalk it up to the long, looooooooooong list of parenting opinions that bit the dust when I became a mother. My girls sucked their binkies like they were sugar-coated and necessary for life and happiness. Briggs, on the other hand, will take one for about 2.1 seconds before it pops right back out of his mouth.

But he started to do this...


And this new trick magically coincided with an ability to sleep through the night.


So yeah, I'm pretty much converted. Sleep, glorious sleep, wins out once again. And besides, if there are some teeth that need a little fixing in this family, well, luckily I happen to know a pretty great orthodontist.