Mom, Where do Girls Work?

Yesterday Blake was post call--he worked all night the night before and was able to come home and sleep the next day. After trying to catch some good R&R (not always successful with two busy girls running around the house), I had him watch the girls while I went to go do some mystery shopping to help earn some money for Christmas (I can't wait for Christmas!!). As I was getting ready to leave Kelsey asked where I was going. Knowing she wouldn't understand what mystery shopping is and not really having the energy to explain it to her, I just said, "Mommy is going to go to work for a while." She looked at me a little funny and then asked, "Mom, where do girls work?". Blake and I got a kick out of that one! Mylee asks every morning when she comes into my room where dad is. I always tell her that he is at work. She quickly responds, "Oh, wook." Both of my girls have it pounded into their little brain that Daddys go to work and Mommys stay at home.

I have to say I'm thankful that my sweet 4-year-old has to ask such a question. There are so many women out there who don't have the opportunity to stay home with their children, but I have been blessed to be one of those few. I get to be involved in their day-to-day lives and teach them what is right and wrong and be a constanst influence for good (well I try to be). I admit, being a stay-at-home mom is not always easy and there are days I want to pull my hair out, but overall I love it and I am truly thankful and blessed. I know being a mother is the most important work I can and will ever do and I'm grateful I can put my whole heart and energy into mothering every day.

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for your votes!! White it is!! I ordered them and they should be on their way. Can't wait :)

Help, I'm Indecisive!

Shhhhh!! The girls are getting bunk beds for Christmas and I can't decide whether I should get white or natural wood color. I want to do their room in pink and white. This is going to be their bedding--that will come much after the bunk beds unfortunately.

The walls will have white bead board and then a light pink above the bead board. I think the white will look better, but I'm worried about maintaining painted wood. Do you think the white will blend in too much with the white bead board? Natural wood is easy to maintain and goes with anything. Am I making this too complicated?

What do you all think? WHITE or NATURAL? You can vote on the side.

Trick-or-Treat!!

We had an awesome Halloween this year. We had so many parties and activites that we were involved in this year. The weather was wonderful too. As a kid I always remember freezing around Halloween and especially when I was out trick-or-treating, but not here!! The weather was just right, not too warm, not too cold. Blake had to work tonight so me and the girls went out trick-or-treating without him. Of course he was missed, but the girls had an absolute BLAST!! I couldn't get enough of Mylee. She thought it was the coolest thing ever to get treats from houses. She even learned to say trick-or-treat and thank you when she would receive some candy. Check out the video to hear her sweet voice. Kelsey couldn't go fast enough from house to house and was so fascinated by all the halloween decor and the children dressed in costume around the neighborhood. One adult was dressed as the Grim Reaper (way too scary I think around kids!). When Kelsey saw him she said, "Look Mom, it's King Triton!" You know from The Little Mermaid? I couldn't help but laugh at that one. Appartently she didn't think he was too scary.

We started trick-or-treating at about 7 PM and ended around 8 PM. At that point Mylee didn't want to go up to the doors anymore, but preferred the stroller and Kelsey admitted, "She was all tried out." So I gave them each a treat from their bag and they ate that happily as I meandered my way through our neighborhood back to our house with the kids in the double stroller--thank goodness for the stroller!! When we got home, Kelsey was excited to give out candy to the trick-or-treaters. She was the one who gave the candy out and did a great job at it. I bought a big bag of candy at Walmart and was out in about 30-45 minutes!! There were a lot of trick-or-treaters tonight. I started wondering about some of them though--particularly some adults and even a pregnant lady!! Come on people!!

Mylee trick-or-treating!

Kelsey posing for the camera

All ready to go trick-0r-treating!

Smiley Mylee

I should have held my camera the other way!! Sorry

Carving pumpkins!
Mylee was more the observer. And LOOK can you see Blake, he was home on Friday to be part of our pumpkin carving party--well sort of (he was studying during it)
finished pumpkin--happy spider
Pumpkin candy holder--this one was a big flop!! Kelsey seemed to think it was perfect though.

Cute Halloween Favor Idea

I found this super cute idea for Halloween favors off sugardoodle.net. I made them for my visiting teachees and as a handout for a young woman lesson. Here is the link with the pattern if you want to make them!!

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/

Library Halloween Party

Two halloween parties down, two to go!! The library put on a really cute and FREE halloween party Tuesday morning. They had yummy halloween snacks for the kids to eat, oddles and oddles of halloween crafts and fun games. Kelsey of course was in heaven with glue, scissors, sparkly things, paper, pictures, stickers, etc, etc. Mylee was pretty much satisfied with the food--that's my Mylee for you. One of the first things she says to me in the morning is "Eat Mom, eat." Both of my girls are good eaters. I'm very blessed for that!! I was expecting a little halloween party with maybe one craft for the kids to do, but NO--it was a big PARTY, verging on church event because so many members showed up with their kids!! We have a great library here with many activites for kids.

Ward Halloween Party

Kelsey the fairy princess. I LOVE how you can see our temple in the background in this picture!!

Mylee, fairy princess #2. She has to be just like her sister :)

This past Saturday our ward hosted their annual Halloween Party. They had a chili cook-off with all the fixings to go with it and then had hot dogs for the kiddos, which was good. Followed by a yummy dinner there was a little carnival for the kids that the young men and young women put on and then the kids went trunk-or-treating in the church parking lot. Kelsey had a blast. Mylee started off happy, but went downhill as the night progressed. Who knew what was up with her that night? At the carnival they had a bowling, basketball, golf, fishing, and other fun games. Mylee became interested once she found the duck pond and could pick out a duck. Kelsey thought the fishing for prizes game and the bowling game was pretty cool. Trick-or-treating started off rough because I lost Kelsey and Mylee had had enough! Eventually I found Kelsey in her sweet little pink tutu just walking around gathering candy. After about 30 minutes of trunk-or-treating Mylee finally decided it might be cool to get some candy, so we ended our activity with a happy 2-year old--phew!! That silly little girl is so hard to get good pictures of lately, she won't hold still. Kelsey is a pro at picture taking if you haven't noticed :)

Getting ready to go bowling

Going fishing

The duck pond Look I caught a smile on Mylee!!!
Humm, this is sort of cool!
We have to show off the fairy princess hair!!

Pumpkin Trail

A local organization hosted a free event featuring a long trail of creatively carved pumpkins. Unfortunately Blake wasn't able to come, but me and the girls had a great time. There were literally hundreds of pumpkins to see along a nice little path inside the Lubbock Arboretum. Mylee wasn't too interested, but after observing Kelsey for a while she finally decided she thought it was cool too. Can't blame the kid though, I had her strapped in a stroller and she wanted to roam around. But sorry, this prego Mommy wasn't going to let that go down in the dark admist hundreds of people without some spousal support :).

This was the best we could get of Mylee

Kelsey Starts Preschool

Kelsey started preschool two weeks ago and sadly I haven't had the time to report it until now. Me and a couple of friends from my ward got together and are doing a co-op. Each week a mom takes the kids and teaches them a lesson. Kelsey and 3 other kids join her each week on Thursday. On the fourth Thursday we get together for a little field trip and/or activity. This month we are going to carve pumpkins! Kelsey LOVES it and really looks forward to it each week. This week it was my turn and we learned about staying healthy in honor of Child Health Day this past Monday and because of flu season. The kids were great and had a wonderful time.

I'm enjoying Kelsey as she is growing up and I find joy when she is happy and is having fun. Yesterday she went to a birthday party and can't stop talking about it. She is really adjusting well to our new place and we are all LOVING it here. I am feeling at home and very at peace here and have found some good friends. I find I am happier when I associate with people and get to know and serve them. I am also loving my new home and am anxious to get it decorated to my taste. I'm getting there, just very slowly. With some of my birthday money I got a baker's rack for my kitchen that I just love and get excited every time I look at it. I also got some canisters for my counter too that are just beautiful.

Corn Maize

We went to the corn maize this past Tuesday. It was way fun. We met up with some people in our ward and had a great time. The atmosphere was perfect and the girls had a blast. At first it was a little cold and Mylee wouldn't properly pose for a picture because she kept saying she was " 'old" (cold). Eventually the sun came up though and it was nice. They had lots of pumpkins, farm animals, a lake, windmill, a cow train pulled by a tractor, a hay ride, a corn maize of course and food we opted not to purchase. Kelsey was particularly thrilled by the donkey and commented "Mom I have never seen one of these in real life before!" That donkey must get fed really well because the kids couldn't stop feeding it--Kelsey included. Mylee was particularly interested in the chickens and would laugh when they walked around and made sounds. The pig scared her. I have to say I don't blame her. It was funny though because this particular pig was huge and it kept oinking at us. I can't say I remember a pig oinking at me.

The cow train

Mylee admiring the lake and windmill.


Kelsey and her donkey

They also had a mini corn maize for the kids. Kelsey and Mylee had a great time cruising around, trying to find their way through. Mylee is the one in the white sweatshirt. We opted not to do the big corn maize. I thought that was being a little ambitious with two little girls, one of which that just likes to run away (Mylee). I could just see myself with two wild kids, lost in the maize (no thanks!).

Conference Weekend and a Birthday

Conference Reverence Tent

Conference weekend was wonderful as always. I look forward to conference like I do Christmas. I anticipate what counsel I will hear and I look forward to learning new ways that I can improve. I was touched by President Monson's talk when he shared all the precious things children around the world had done for others as a birthday present to him. I cried through the whole thing and had a greater appreciation for my calling as a mother because I get to witness these child-like acts every day in my home with my own children. Children truly are precious and perfect. Mine are a constant example to me of what I should be. I was also impacted by Elder Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon. This past summer our stake challenged us to read the Book of Mormon before school started. I took on the challenge and finished it. Let me tell you that that book has POWER! I have felt more energy and desire to take on the daily and often menial tasks of daily life and I have found the courage to do things that before I was too reluctant or lazy to do or try.

I am also lucky because conference weekend in October always happens around my birthday. This year my birthday was on Sunday. So I got to sit home and relax on the couch and listen to the words of the prophets and spend time with my family. It was a very nice day. Well okay, it was really nice until Mylee had an incident with her diaper that left me cleaning up my living room carpet and a trail through my kitchen--but hey, at least this time I was able to laugh about it and Blake was home to help me. Thank you to those who thought of me on my special day, I appreciate it! It's weird getting older. I was visiting teaching and one of the sisters I visit teach started college after I graduated and now she is a 3rd year student in medical school. That made me feel old! But hey, I'm 27 with a wonderful husband, 2 beautiful daughters, and another one on the way. Really I couldn't wish myself in any other circumstance at this age. Blake made me pancakes and would have made me a cake, but I wanted a homemade German Chocolate Cake, so I took on that task.

Kelsey's Dance Lessons

Kelsey started dance lessons this fall with a couple of her friends. She LOVES it!! She is taking a little ballerina class and it lasts 10 weeks. She loves learning the ballet positions and moves and is doing very well. It's bittersweet as a mother to see your daughter grow up. Kelsey's little body in her leotard is about as precious as you can get. Kelsey and I have become pals. I'm not looking forward to her having to go to school next year. What will I do without her?

Stretching

Just finishing across the floor

Kelsey and one of her little friends

Kelsey's Sleeping Quarters

Last night before I headed to bed I went to check on the girls. This is what I found when I went into Kelsey's room.

Mylee's 2 years of life

Mylee's 2nd Birthday

Mylee turned 2 yesterday!! I can't believe it has been two years since she joined our family. What a joy she is!! I can't imagine life without her. She definitely has our own personality and we have loved watching her lately as she uses more words and tries to communitcate with us. Me and the girls were surprised to hear the garage door open yesterday morning and see Blake!! He had been working too many hours at work, so he was able to come home and take pages from home. So Mylee even got her Daddy home on her birthday.

She opened her presents in the morning per Daddy's request. Blake and Kelsey had gone to the store and picked out a pretty pink basketball. Kelsey found the pink ball. Mylee loves it!! She loves playing with balls. When she opened it she said, "Ball!! Wow!!" I made her a pretty pink and green tutu that she LOVES. Aunt Megan got her some cute puppies that came in a purse. Grandmas and Grandpas gave her some money to go buy something. We feel very blessed!

Mylee in her tutu

Later that evening we went to go get pizza and went to one of my friend's home to get some pumpkins. Her husband is a food scientist and brings home loads of food often. We got lots of watermellon a little over a month ago. The girls thought it was pretty cool to get some pumpkins. Mylee is my little doll. She and Blake have an especially close relationship. Every time he gets home, she is super excited to see him. Mylee is also loves having routines. She says her prayers every night. She doesn't get many words out, but she has Amen down. Then she gives us all big hugs and then says, "Night night" and goes to bed. I of course end up having to take her. We love you Mylee!!