Happy Birthday Kylie!

I can't believe my sweet baby is two!  She has been such a fun little girl.  She is growing up way too fast, but I love every new stage she goes through-even her temper tantrums.  She's so cute that it's hard to stay mad at her.  She keeps us busy and laughing these days.  She likes to tease and play with Brandt.  She's a little monkey who likes to climb and get into everything.  She's already figuring out the potty thing pretty well.  Developmentally she's ahead of the curve (at least according to her well child check earlier this week) and her height is above average as well-measuring at the 96th percentile.  She can talk up a storm and repeats whatever she hears.  She likes to sing and dance (especially to the  "Move it, Move it" song from a Dancing with the Stars episode that we have on DVR).  She knows quite a few of the primary songs-with actions- and loves to point out pictures of Jesus and President Monson.  She's an animal lover and likes to spend time outside with the cows, horses, and dogs.  Actually, she loves to be outside period, and it's quite the fight to get her to go in the house.  She loves snow and begs to have handfuls of it to eat whenever she sees it.  The poor girl has had a rough winter with a cough that never goes away, but we finally loaded her up with medications to treat asthma, and she has now been cough-free for about 4 weeks.  She's finally able to run and play and sleep through the night without coughing.  For the most part she's such a happy and active little girl and we just love the heck out of her.  She makes everyone she comes into contact with smile.  She has the best smiles, the cutest little giggles, and the prettiest brown eyes and curly hair.  I love the way she calls me "Mame or Mamie" and more recently "Jame or Jamie", the way she calls Bryce by name and calls Brandt "dude" and grandma "damma".  She is a cuddler and I love that, too.  She has cheeks that I just love to kiss and squeeze.  It's the cutest thing ever the way she does thumbs up by using her pointer finger instead of her thumb and the way she does "2" using her thumb and pointer and says 2 when asked how old she is-it looks a little like the loser sign at times lol.  I could fill an entire book with things I love about her, but what I love the most is that she's mine and she makes me so happy.  I'm so thankful that our family was blessed with such an amazing surprise.  Kylie is just one of the many evidences that my Heavenly Father loves me and knows what I need before I do.  I look forward to watching my princess continue to grow and learn-I just wish that time could slow down!  Love ya, sister!

First thing this morning telling me that she's 2.  Love the awesome bed head! :)

Big words for a little boy

Brandt has always been a few steps ahead of the game developmentally, and his vocabulary is no exception.  He loves using big words that he hears, like magnificent and dispensation (one of his favorite songs is Praise to the Man).  He usually uses them correctly, too.  He catches me off guard at times with words and phrases that I would never expect a 4 year old to use.  A few days ago Kylie was trying to play a game and Brandt said, "Kylie, that is not the proper way to do it."  Another time he was teasing his dad and called him a "ridiculous man."  We were busting up at first because the first time he said it he left off the "rid" part and made the rest of the word into 2 syllables only.  Once in awhile he uses a word out of context, but I still love that he knows such a variety of words. Yesterday Kylie was showing Brandt her hair after I fixed it for her and he said, "oh Kylie, you're hair is super duper beautiful!  And so organized, too!"  LOL!  Now, have you ever heard such a nice compliment?  And he was so sincere, too. Oh, how I love talking to my buddy and wondering what he'll come up with next.

Beautiful Baby

The other morning when I carried Kylie out of the bedroom, Brandt took one look at her wild bed head and said in the sweetest voice, "well, good morning beautiful baby."  Then he started teasing her about her crazy hair.  I love it when he says such nice things to her and I don't worry a bit about the teasing because we're starting to discover that she can hold her own in that department.

And Brandt's right, whether her hair is fixed or not, she is the most beautiful baby!

Working Hard

I have always been thankful for my many family members who have taught me to be a hard worker, especially my parents and grandparents.  I am hoping that I can teach my children the same thing.  I love seeing their joy when they help out and accomplish something "grown up" like in these pictures where they are helping to haul wood and shovel snow.

Kylie escaped while I was trying to catch a picture of Brandt helping his dad-notice that she has no coat and no shoes on.  She was MAD when we made her stop shoveling and go back in the house, though.

This outfit cracks me up. The little pants are out of my mom's "magic drawer" and were Curtis' when he was little.  The hat is way too big, but she looks pretty cute anyway.

Kylie and Mckenzie

Brandt's Goldfish 2/21/12

In Brandt's word's: 

This is our fish town.  These are my fishies-Nemo and Sharkbait.  I got them when I was a three years old kid.  I liked to watch them and feed them and help daddy clean their tank. I took these pictures all by myself. Then they died last week-they looked like they sticked together and floated to the top of the water.  Daddy put them in the toilet.  Now they are in heaven so they can come back and be resurrected and have their bodies back.  Amen.

Snowball Dance 2/18/12

The snowball dance in the words of Brandt:

Me and Rylie danced.  We ate cookies.

Me and Kylie danced.  We were both happy.  Then me and Rylie were sliding-we went the same way. And we were spinning around on the floor.  We won cat food but then we traded it for dog food.  We had lots of fun.

Valentine's Day-2012

Our Valentine's Day was a full and fun one this year.  Brandt had a manner's party and dance at preschool; they do the best stuff and we had the best day!



Getting a boutanier from Miss Stacey so he'd be ready for the party

Chillen' out watching a Valentine movie with a few of his friends

And the highlight of the party-the dance.  Here he is with Kacie (one of only two girls there today and he snagged her) doing the twist.  Other favorite dances included the Hokey Pokey, the Conga, the Limbo, the Chicken Dance, and Looby Loo.  He is a dancing man for sure!

At the manner's dinner Brandt was the first to jump up to get chairs for the two "ladies" in the class.  So cute!

Which animal am I??

Brandt helped decorate the Valentine tree the day before and then got to take a picture with his favorite valentine-for now anyway...

We had Amanda Jean for the afternoon while Jana worked and my parents went to Logan for injections in my dad's back.  We packed in all the fun we could from painting faces to cutting out hearts for heart attacks.

Kylie was happy to be right in the middle of the action all day!

She had fun helping with the heart attacks.  This one is at my mom and dad's

And at the Hillier's...

And at Miss Stacey's

We need to work on being sneakier next time since we got caught at 2 out of 3 houses!  I love watching my kids find joy in making others happy.  Valentine's day was definitely a day full of love for us this year.