I went in to check on Olivia and saw this beautiful sight. She got a Book of Mormon at Sunbeams on Sunday and both BJ and I have been telling her how special it is. She likes to look at it and thumb through the pages. She's been very excited about it. I'm so glad. She has always loved the Book of Mormon, even when she was a baby. If she was fussy, I'd read it to her and she'd calm right down. I love this girl, so much. I hope my children make good choices in their lives. That really would be my greatest joy.
I loved Elder L. Tom Perry's talk today. It made me cry. I love the gospel so much! I don't know how to live without it. What a wonderful gift we've been given to think for ourselves, to choose the paths that we will take, to have families, and to take advantage of the priesthood and the fullness of the gospel. We are so fortunate to live in such a time when it's literally at our fingertips. Heavenly Father must love us a lot. I love him so much. I love his Son so much. And more than anything, I love--that they unconditionally love me more than I could possibly comprehend or understand.
Here are some cute shots taken this last Sunday. The kids were having lots of fun playing... ...smiles all around. My hair really did look good earlier that day! I was super tired, as you can see. :p And I had a good time watching and taking pictures. I love these little stinkers.
I'm sitting here typing away to Sammy when, as often happens, my children came running in to sit on my lap, climb all over me, tear everything apart, etc. Olivia brought in her stool (it's a utility step stool with one step on it.) and put it as close to my chair as possible. She stood on it and turned her back to me ordering me to play "disney songs" on pandora and then waved like she was in a parade for about 15 to 20 minutes. She is very observant in the cars these days. "Mommy! That's a beautiful truck!" And around the house. "I love the colors. My favorite color is red and blue and orange and and and yellow and green and blue and red and blue and orange and orange and green and yellow and purple." "I'm so eskited." (state very matter-of-factly) While she was getting dressed this morning, "I love jeans! Don't hug me, anymore!" and then at night, "Mommy, will you lay by me? Don't sleep in your room, sleep in my room. You need to get off my bed. This is my bed. Not your bed. This is Livi's bed, not mommy's bed." "I not need get off your lap, mommy, I need stay right here." okay now I'm just typing things she's saying right now. I could go on and on.
Ethan--there are just no words. I wish I could describe the cute little nature he has, but there really is no way to do it justifiably. For instance, this may not sound so adorable, but it truly was so much that I rolled in laughter, he walked into the office just now with the stroller, was looking down at the stroller and snuck a peek at me with this devious little look like, "does she see me, yet?" Then I laughed and he laughed and came running over and jumped on Livi's stool to nuzzle then took off again. He loves to cuddle and loves to laugh. He is truly my Cuddle E-Bear. He signs "please" while saying, "eeee!" and "Monny" for "Mommy", he has so many words now. He loves to giggle and dance. We are in constant crack up because of these two little monkeys of ours.
It's interesting to see the difference in my children's personalities. When Olivia was just learning to talk, she would babble babble babble, because she wanted to be a part of the conversation. Even though she has a very strong vocabulary, she still does this and throws in an actual word or idea here or there. Ethan babbles, but it is his real words, like he is really trying to say something. It's not just to make noise and be a part of things. It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. It reminds me of that part on Mary Poppins when Dick Van Dyke sings the love to laugh song, "Then there's the kind what can't make up their mind..." and then he does every kind of laugh possible. That's what it sounds like when Ethan talks only he's really really really trying to communicate something. I really can't describe it. He's adorable.
People used to fuss over Livi and her brilliance and her beauty. They still do, but I think she feels ousted sometimes because Ethan's cuteness is so uncanny. You probably think I'm just being a mom, but if you met him, you'd totally be floored. I have yet to have someone not be. He's just... charming. That really is the best word.
This is a little late in posting, but better late than never, right? BJ got tickets for him and Livi to go to Disney Princess on Ice but then found out that I'd never been and wanted me to be able to go. So he sent me with her instead. It's kind of a dark picture, but you can see that she dressed up in her Aurora costume to go. She was very excited to see all the other "little princesses" when we arrived. Speaking of Aurora, this is her with the 3 good fairies. Here are a few of our other favorite moments and a video of Olivia that is better than the ice show (I think).
I Caught this one at exactly the perfect moment--by accident.
Snow white kept asking the audience if she should try the apple and the result was a resounding "NOOOOO!!!" This is just before she actually takes a bite.
Always a favorite.
After the stepsisters ruined her dress that the mice made.
We had a lot of fun and she is still talking about it every time we go anywhere. I have a lot of pics, none of which are very good because I only have my phone to take pics.
Here comes Cinderella!
When they were trying to find Cinderella, they tried it on a few audience members. This girl was right in front of us. It was cute.
Here is a cute video we caught tonight. Ever since we took her to Disney on Ice, Olivia has been running around the house singing, (to the tune whistle while you work)"Whistle can you fly, ta da ta da, ne ne." over and over. Today I pulled up a snow white movie on Youtube and she has been singing all day. Definately something we'll love to show her later. BJ kept it short for "texting purposes".
Okay, here are some super duper, cuter than ever stories that are sure to get you rolling.
Olivia loves the moon more than, well, most everything. So everytime she's outside and sees it she says, "Mommy! There's the moon! I see the moon, Mommy! I need to hold it. Will you hand me the moon? I need to stand on the moon. I want to give the moon a "Oh boy"! I love the moon. I see the moon! Look at me mommy! Look at the moon! I need to hold it!" for at least 10 minutes.
Ethan is a tease. Any time he can he tries to play sneekies with me. He'll run around the corner and hide and come out and make a sound similar to "Uh oh" only that's not what he means. Then he runs and giggles as fast as he can (which isn't fast at all, but it's so funny to watch that little hunker march/run).
Olivia was jumping on the guest bed yesterday and I went in and told her to please stop. She kept jumping and after a few attempts at trying to be peaceable about it, I had to get very firm. I took her off the bed and told her she needed to be obedient. I pulled her up on my lap so we could talk. She wailed and said over and over, "Mommy! Go away! Don't see me again! Please don't see me again!" I couldn't help but laugh.
Ethan walks around these days with either his hands stretched as far as they can be behind his back or his arms folded like he's praying. Then be babbles and babbles away while he walks around the house.
He also likes to use anything he can get his hands on as a phone. He puts it up behind his head and says, "Hi! Dis dish disgguisu, eh yah he ho." Then looks around while he waits for the response and continues after a few seconds. This is a constant daily task of his.
My sister, Becky, and my mom were in the office/guest room when Olivia came in and said, "I do believe Ethan is quite poopy, Sweetie."
I was making dinner and Olivia said, "Oh no! Oh no! My nose!" I said, "Is your nose running?" She said, "My nose is going away!"
I'm finally getting the pics up for Halloween. I can't believe that was a week ago already! Thanksgiving will be here before I can blink!
BJ had to work and my mom came down to spend the day with us (so fun!). I wanted to get the kids trick or treating out of the way and then go to a pre trick or treat community dinner party at the neighbors house and then put the kids to bed. So we (me, my mom and the kids) went to the hospital first to go trick or treating, but left because they were about out of candy. We went to Dicks Market in Centerville after that hoping that we hadn't missed their trunk or treat. Luckily we got there just as it was starting.
That was actually a really good way to go. I think I'll be doing that every year while the kids are little. They have a fishing pond and free popcorn and doughnuts and free dinner and drinks.
They had the employees decorate their trunks and dress up. It was really fun and cute. Both of the kids got extra candy for being extra cute :)
After trick or treating we went to our Neighbor's house and got to know a few people and had some more dinner. It was really fun and such a fun idea. They just take care of everything for everyone. Talk about service. I guess her husband had a neighbor that did it when he was a kid and he wanted to adopt the tradition. I loved Halloween as a kid, but don't really want to glorify it beyond a "holiday for fun", so I thought it was a good clean way to keep it low key without taking all of the fun out of it. Afterwards all the neighbors went home to man the doors and the kids rampaged the streets. I really do have a great neighborhood.
This video was taken the day we surprised her with her costume. She was literally speechless. She is often quoting this part of Cinderella, and it was an appropriate time for the quote. The arm movements are all her, it is very genuine. She wore it all day and acted very dainty. So adorable.
I was playing hide and seek with Ethan in his high chair today and realized how nice it is just to play with him once in awhile. Then I starting thinking about the times I had with Olivia just one on one. That was the hardest thing about having my second baby. Every time I looked at Livi I would cry hoping that she knew that she was still just as loved even though 80% of the 100% of my attention that she had been getting was now going to a new person she barely knew. I really missed our little talks and enjoying her cute little antics just because that's what we did. I wish that I could have that again sometimes, and I also wish I could have that with Ethan. Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if he'd been born first. I wonder how my relationship with him would have been different. Are these bad thoughts? Olivia is one of my best friends and I hope we always are. I'm trying really hard, especially lately, to recognize her cute little personality. Not just her funniness, but her spirituality and her mannerisms. Things that will never change no matter how old she gets, you know? I'm also trying really hard to recognize these things in Ethan. It's not as hard with him because he doesn't talk back, yet :), but I miss a lot of things with him. I think my typed thoughts will end there tonight.
Today I was elated and bummed out all at the same time as I was welcoming BJ home from training and sent him off again to work for the evening. I was in the bedroom talking with him while he was putting on his gear and Livi came running in with no pants on because she heard Daddy's voice and was very excited to see him. He turned to her and said, "You need to put some pants on little girl. Where did you put them?" She threw her hands up and said, "I don't know where they are! They're downstairs! They're wet! I better go get some new ones!" I told her she'd better hurry so she could watch BJ drive away and then she took off running. I wandered after her to make sure she was actually doing the task and found her playing with a puzzle in the living room. I guided her to the stairs and told her I would help her find her pants and she said, "They're all wet! I need some new ones! Mommy, what are you eating in your mouth?" I had forgotten that I was chewing on some gum and told her what it was. So she said, "You're eating gum in your mouth!" Then I said, "Well, we don't eat gum sweetie, we chew it, so I guess I'm chewing gum." (You have to clarify these things to a 2 year old) Then she casually said, "You're a hippopotomus, Mommy!" I was caught a little off guard by the statement until I realized she was relating the situation to "Mr. Brown can Moo, can you?" then I chuckled and teased, "I'm not a hippo!" So she said, "Yes, Mommy, I'm a hippopotomus and you're a hippopotomus!" Now thinking about it I think she was trying to tell me she wanted to be chewing gum, too. :)
A few weeks ago I was getting the kids and breakfast all cleaned up. Ethan had made quite the mess of himself so I took his shirt off and went downstairs to get a new one. When I came back up, Livi was running around without her shirt on. I asked BJ if he had taken it off and he said he thought she did it because she saw that Ethan was also shirtless. So I ignored it for the moment and went to get dressed myself. Livi came in and said, "Mommy you need to take your dressed (shirt) off!" I said, "No, Livi, we need to be modest." then BJ said, "Yeah. We're not nudists." and Livi tried to repeat, "We're not Nudisises!" and she continues to say this daily.
Yesterday, Livi went potty all by herself (wiped, flushed, the works). I started wondering where she was after she'd been in there for like 15 minutes.
I walked in to find her standing over the toilet... giving herself a haircut. If you look closely, you can see the locks she is holding in her hands. That is about 10% of what was cut off.
There was hair everywhere. I guess BJ had trimmed his hair yesterday morning and left the scissors on the counter.
I tried my best to get a picture of the damage, but she was pretty excited about it and wouldn't stop dancing.
Well, last week, we had kind of a landmark day for us. Both of the kiddies got their first official haircuts. Here are a few pics to make it memorable. Ethan went first. He's happy to see the camera.
Yeah, he's pretty enthused. Just like his daddy, he really shows that emotion like a man.
What was that about emotion? Oh yeah, this kid really isn't like BJ. He has quite the shrill scream if he wants and the most heartbreaking cry you've ever heard. I guess it's a good thing I'm not a sucker for whiners.
He really was pretty good. His cut took all of five minutes. He doesn't have a lot.
Olivia is ready and excited.
Here is the back before.
Still posing.
Here's the back after I was done. Livi did pretty good sitting still... until she ran out of suckers. Then it was like trying to give a squirell a haircut.
Yes, this one is a little creepy. She looks exactly like I did at her age in this pic. Almost the same hair and everything! So crazy! Anyway, Here it is styled. She was wiggling and wiggling and wiggling and
pulling away... so I gave up, and fixed it the next day, the best I could. It's just a good thing that choppy is "in".
I went in to check on Olivia and saw this beautiful sight. 
She got a Book of Mormon at Sunbeams on Sunday and both BJ and I have been telling her how special it is. She likes to look at it and thumb through the pages. 
She's been very excited about it. I'm so glad. She has always loved the Book of Mormon, even when she was a baby. If she was fussy, I'd read it to her and she'd calm right down. I love this girl, so much. I hope my children make good choices in their lives. That really would be my greatest joy. 
