Attitude Anyone?

Libby and Sarah looked adorable in their new outfits from Grandma Debbi. But Libby decided to throw attitude for the picture.

Libbyism

Derek walked in the door from work today and I said, in my usual excited tone, "Guess who's home?"
Libby, chilling on the couch watching Daniel, said, "What up Dad?"

Merry Christmas!!!

What a wonderful 10 days we just had hosting the Randall Family (or at least 1/2 the siblings and the parents) for Christmas. It was so fun. Basically NO DRAMA! We did multiple nativities, had delicious clam chowder with the Nortons, made gingerbread houses, volunteered at the DI, painted a gazillion nativity figures (actually 48), watched the girls open present after present, ate tons of good food and junk, and just enjoyed each others' company. The girls had a great time. Today it took Libby a few hours before she asked, "Where are Grandma and Grandpa?" Then she was seriously bummed that they had gone home.
The girls got so many gifts I am still sorting out in my mind what came from who. I will start the thank you cards tomorrow.
Last night when I was laying with Libby and Sarah I asked them what their favorite gifts were. Barbie, Ken and the princesses got top billing (and that would be true based on what they played with today too.) But they will get a chance to enjoy everything! I am working on a slide show of pictures, but here are some favorites that Dave took.

Mary and Joseph

At our Ward Party Libby noticed they had a nativity scene and dress ups. She couldn't WAIT to be MARY. She started asking me about 5 feet in the door when she could be Mary. As soon as the actual nativity was over she got a costume on and played with Baby Jesus the rest of the time. Sarah was her Joseph. She called Sarah Joseph the rest of the evening. Sarah enjoyed wearing the costume and cried when she had to leave Baby Jesus to come home.

Libbyisms

Last week in church the primary children sang "Picture a Christmas". My best friend Emmi is the music leader and she taught the song to the nursery kids too and invited them to sing with the primary. Libby LOVED being on the stand. She cried afterward because she wanted to go back up. This week the primary sang again. This week it was a song Libby didn't know. But she wanted to go up on the stand. I tried to convince her that she didn't know the song and she shouldn't go. But she was adamant. Derek was up there singing with the choir, so I wanted to make sure she would just go up and sing and come back if I let her go. I said, "So you will just go up there and sing and then come right back down?" She said, "THAT IS A GREAT IDEA!" So I let her go. I thought maybe she would stand where she couldn't be seen. But no, she got right up next to the pulpit and they put her on the box they use for kids to talk in the microphone. To her credit, she actually watched the director and sang some of the song and did some of the hand motions. Then she came right back down. What a kid.

She has a horrible cold, so we came home after sacrament meeting. Uncle Davey came home with us. A few steps in the door she said, "Uncle Davey, will you please take your shoes off. It is wet outside and we don't want to get wet on the floor."

The other night I told her we were going to a restaurant for dinner. She said, "I have an idea! How about if we go to McDonald's? Then we can have food, and play on the toys and have FUN!" Nope, sorry, we are going to Azteca. But they were so good there! It was amazing. They just ate and let Derek, Dave and I have adult conversation. Wow.

Helping Grandpa

We have had a fun time with Grandma and Grandpa Randall visiting. Sarah especially enjoyed it when Grandpa was working on the table leaf I built for my table so that we could all fit around it. As soon as she saw him working under the table she ran and got her screwdriver so she could help.

Libby's First Dance Recital

Whew. We made it through her first dance recital. I made several parenting errors that made it so that we almost didn't have a dancer on the stage. I will write them out so that I can remember what NOT to do next time.
In the days before the dance recital I DO NOT:
1. Take the girls to a very fun and exciting work Christmas party where they will be with tons of other kids, get riled up and stay up late.
2. Take the girls to the location of the recital to see a performance of the Nutcracker. It scared Libby a little, and she missed her nap, and she became determined that she WOULD NOT dance in the Nutcracker.
3. Let Libby or Sarah miss a nap.
4. Let Derek take the video camera, which led to an extra trip to Shorewood, which led to him having to stop for gas, which led to him missing the performance.
5. Also, on the day of the recital, if she is crying, I WILL STAY WITH LIBBY. This time they took her away from me and she cried for 30 minutes before they came to get me. It was hard to calm her down after crying for that long.

But, I did it. Thanks to a good lesson I learned from my own mom. Bribery. I promised Libby a Blizzard (plum pink perfection--a flavor from Purplicious--with a cone). Ididn't care what I promised her. It almost didn't work, but finally it did. At the last minute, when the music had started I said to her again, if you want a blizzard, you have to get out there and dance. Do you want to? And she did. And she knew her stuff. The teachers are in the wings, and she didn't look at them more than once or twice. Oh I love her.

Update on Trish and Baby

This week I had my 3rd offical pregnant appointment. I think I forgot to blog about it, but we actually heard the baby's heartbeat last appointment, which was pretty early. So, I heard it again this appoinment. It always makes me feel relieved to know there is something living and growing inside of me and that I am feeling tired and bleh for a reason. I am feeling much better as the first trimester ends though. I am still a bit troubled concerning food, but I am far less tired.
Libby did tell me this week that when my belly pops lots of candy will come out. Hmmm...not sure about that. She is still a little confused about the whole baby in my tummy thing.
I think I also didn't blog about my little skin cancer. I found a mole that was concerning, so I went in and had a biopsy. Turned out to be a basal cell cancerous mole. It is from sun exposure (so no more tanning)! This week my dermatologist removed about a 2 inch long area of skin from my back. I have some nasty looking stitches and it has been mighty uncomfortable. They will biopsy the skin she removed to make sure she got it all, but I think she is pretty confident I am in the clear. Now I have to go in every 6 months for the next 3 years to get checked for any more. It is a good thing I live in Seattle and I don't really even get the chance to be tempted to go out in the sun.

Good Helper

Libby has become such a good helper and concerned little girl. I love watching it. When we got home from the wrestling match the other night she said, "Here Sarah, let me show you how to take your shoes off." And she did!

Yesterday morning I asked her if she could get Sarah's milk from the fridge. She took awhile, so I thought she had forgotten. But she came in with it, gave it to Sarah, then gave Sarah a big kiss on the cheek. "I love you Sarah!" she said.

We went to see A Storybook Nutcracker put on by Libby's dance studio yesterday, mommy, Libby, Sarah and our good friend Jen. It was quite good. Libby was so cute when Clara's nutcracker gets broken. She said, "Poor Clara!" several times. She did get tired by the end. The 2nd 1/2 was more dancing and less story. By the time we were on our way out she was really done. We were going to try and go see her teacher and give her a hug. But we came across the big live Nutcracker first and she was scared. So instead we headed out the door. People weren't moving fast enough for her. She shouted and signaled to the people in the way of the door, "Don't STOP! JUST GO!" Everyone got a good chuckle out of that.

Playing Hair

Auntie Ray Ray had a doll (now named Meg) that was a hairstylist. She came with a chair for her clients. Libby and Sarah fit into it perfectly and they actually used it for the right purpose the other morning. So cute! This was especially amazing because Libby hates having her hair combed. But she started it! On Friday after my shower I was watching Toy Story Ken with them (that is what Libby calls it and it kind of sounds like she is saying Toy Story 10) and she combed my hair and even went and got rubber bands to have me put in my hair. She says, "Don't worry, this won't hurt" then tugs a comb through. This time she was more gentle and thorough in her combing than she ever has been before. She is growing up!

Roommates!

I moved Libby and Sarah into the same room this week. I did the work over a couple of days, moving most of Libby's clothes on Monday and the rest on Wednesday. When Libby woke up from a nap on Tuesday she absolutely freaked out that her dresses were missing from her closet. She was seriously very stressed, since her dresses are her favorite thing in life. When I got all the work done, beds moved, dressers moved, they were very excited. Now they could each jump on a bed in the same room! I made one minor flaw in the move. I put the dresser right next to the bed. On the dresser I put the desetin and diaper rash perscription. The girls figured out right away how to get into it. The got a bunch of desetin on the carpet before their babysitter found them. Yikes. I have been working on getting it out all week without much success. I moved the changing table into Libby's old room for now because there is a shelf that makes the desetin inaccessible to their little hands. The only good news was that they didn't get into the perscription cream. This is especially good news because the cream is not only expensive but hard to get these days. Our pharmacy had to get it from another pharmacy's provider because all of their providers were out of stock. We really need to potty train, but December is so busy! In January I think.
Anyway, the room sharing has been a success. We just stay in with them until they fall asleep (and so does the parent waiting) and then Libby can just come out when she wakes up because the door isn't child proof. Only the first day did Libby wake Sarah at 6:30. They also love the empty room to play in!

Go SHOREWOOD!

When my visiting teacher came over and showed me some little dresses she had made from old t-shirts, I thought it was a fun idea, but I didn't see the immediate practical application. Then I realized the girls needed some fresh outfits for wrestling matches. And, since Libby refuses to wear pants without a fight I also realized that making her Shorewood T into a Shorewood dress would make my life much easier. So, off to Value Village I went. I spent $12 on 3 adult size shirts and made t-shirts into cheer outfits! It only took me one afternoon (and I am not really a seamstress)! The beauty of it is that most of the hems are already done for you if you disect the old shirts in the right way. I even just sewed down the sleeves to use the original adult size sleeves. My next project is to make some of my workout tops maternity sized. Hmmm.

Cooperate?

Sesame Street is big on teaching cooperation. I wasn't sure if Libby actually got the concept until last night. We got home from taking Sarah to the doctor (sinus infection I think). Libby said, "Let's watch _Kris Kringle_ and eat popcorn." I said, "We need to eat dinner." She said, "How about we COOPERATE. We can watch a movie and eat dinner. THAT'S COOPERATION!" Yes, indeed it is! (We didn't though. So she is watching her movie as I type.)