Totally Tubular!

Yesterday we went tubing at Gorgoza Park in Park City. It was a BLAST!! Hannah, Brent, and I went with our friend Sarah, her friend Johnny, and Sarah's niece and nephew. I told Hannah this was a special "big girl mommy date" day because her sisters were too young to go. It's nice to have special things just for big girls sometimes. Grandma and Doug graciously agreed at the last minute to watch the babies. I am so grateful for them - their friendship, their help with the girls, the way they love them (and Grandpa, I'm so thankful for you, too!). I hope they know how much it means to me to have time to myself/time with just one of the girls. Sometimes Brent and I feel like we don't have the individual time with each of the girls that we would like to have. We hope they know they are individually precious to us and that even with the busy pace of life in our young family, they are certain that they are special.

OK, back to tubing. Holy Cow, what a RUSH! Highly recommend it. Hannah, of course, loved the big runs - the kiddie runs were boring for her. She's our little daredevil. I love how brave she is.





One of the coolest parts of the tubing is riding the lift up the mountain. They just hook your tether to the lift and up you go! If the tubes had been longer, I seriously would have taken micro naps on the way up the mountain every time. Not only was it a comfy ride, but it provided a perfect opportunity for Brent to throw snowballs.






Afterwards we were all tuckered out and went into the cozy yurt to warm up with some hot chocolate.



We will definitely go back next year!

Charlotte

Charlotte is growing so fast. She melts our hearts with her huge smiles. She loves to be with people and does not like to be left alone in a room (except when it's time to sleep - she's really good about that). She enjoys baths, walks in the stroller with Mia, solo singing (group singing often makes her cry), and her big sister Hannah. If Charlotte is crying, Hannah can usually get her to stop and smile. Her favorite place is in Mom's lap just watching whatever Mom is doing. I love my sweet baby girl. She is such a blessing to our family!

Tomato Update

March 12




March 18



My tomato babies are growing like weeds!

My Amelia Solenne

Mia is at such a fun age. Her language is exploding and she is so cute as she signs the words before she speaks them. Her favorite words/signs are "more" and "bath". Boy does she love to take a bath! She enjoys chugging the bath water and making herself choke as well as pretending the water coming from the faucet is a shower.

Mia is our little mother. Whenever she sees Charlotte (even if she has just been out of the room for a little while) she has to give her big kisses. She carries baby dolls around the house and takes good care of them. If she hurts her sisters she gives them healing pats with her little hand and hugs and kisses. Her kisses are more open mouth contacts than anything else. She makes this funny sniffing noise with her nose and crinkles it up and then leans in for the kiss. Cutie panoonie!

Mia is also a thinker/comedienne. She loves to try to figure people out by staring intensely at them. That girl can keep a straight face! She also loves sounds she has never heard, songs that are silly, and playing our digital piano like a master-mixer. She is already so musical.

Mia being cheesy - get it, cheesy? Ha!



Mia loves books! This is a new Beatrix Potter book that Tutu sent her. The first thing she did when she got it was give the soft Peter Rabbit on the front BIG kisses.




What a kool kat! She can go up and down the stairs all by herself, but we stand behind her just in case...




Mia, I love waking up to see your beautiful smile, making you laugh, and watching your adorable quirky ways. You make my heart sing, my little Mia Sophia!

Pink Elephants

It occurred to me as I was talking to Mia this morning that once my kids are grown past this stage of "very young" I probably won't have the pleasure of saying such strange things on a regular basis. For example, when else in everyday life will I say, "please don't eat Mommy's book" or "we don't kiss the toilet?" How about, "good job going poopies!" or "why are you banging your head against the wall for fun?" Other favorites I will miss are "its not food, it's lip gloss" (said yesterday when I found Mia sucking the contents of a tube of lip gloss - that by the way had the warning "Do Not Ingest" written on it - down her throat), "she's not a doll, she's a baby" and "why is your bum wet?"

About a month ago we decided we needed a fresh approach to discipline with Hannah. We thought we'd include her in the process by asking her to assign special words that we could use in our family for praise when a good deed is done or good attitude shown and for censure when a poor choice was made. All who know Hannah know she has a special knack for assigning names to things. She told us for a good deed we should say, "PINK ELEPHANTS!" and for a poor choice, "purple mashed potatoes." On a daily basis she earns pink elephants and receives minutes of bonus playtime with Daddy accordingly. If she earns 25 or more "pink elephants" she gets 5 extra minutes (on top of the usual 10)at the end of the day. For every "purple mashed potatoes" choice one "pink elephant" is taken away. This system has worked pretty well. It's a way to reward her and also give her a warning (purple mashed potatoes) before more severe consequences are given (such as losing a minute outright or having a time out). When later in my life will I get to go around all day say saying "PINK ELEPHANTS!" and "purple mashed potatoes?"