The girls having fun

I’m Blogging Again–I Know You’re Shocked

 

Much has happened in the last several months, but I just wanted to share a few stories from this week.  First, Samuel. 

Today at church, as Sam wandered the back aisle of the overflow (we’ve starting sitting in back so he can meander without distracting everyone behind us), he paused and looked up at the chair he was standing behind.  He saw something black, something that looked like it wasn’t part of the chair, so he reached out and poked it.  It was squishy!  He poked again, and the person sitting in the chair looked around and smiled at him.  It was someone’s back! 

Way cute, right?  Except then, having figured that out, he decided to try it out a few more times.  Walk up behind a chair, poke the squishy part as hard as you can, and wait—sure enough, every time someone turned around to smile.  It was great! 

Adam and I, of course, instead of stopping him, got the giggles and just sat there, laughing helplessly, while he distracted everyone in the back of the chapel.  Yep, we are those parents. 

Here are some pictures from Sam’s birthday last month, a fine and festive day. 

 

Next Anna.  Earlier this week, we were all having a bickering, unpleasant morning.  I, in all my perfect-mother glory, told Anna that I was going to sell her.  Instead of being phased by that, she looked up at me with a delighted grin and said, “Mommy, would you sell me to the Frei’s? (a family in our ward)  They like me.”  “Sure, Anna,” I laughed.  “I’ll ask them.”  Then she thought for a moment and came back with “Actually, Mommy, you might make more money if you just invite all your friends and Daddy’s friends over and have them talk about who wants to buy me the most.  And then the Frei’s can win.”  I answered, “That’s called an auction, Anna.  Should we auction you?”  “Yep,” she said  happily.  “That way you can make lots of money on me.”

She really is Adam’s daughter, isn’t she? 

And last, but never least, Mariah. 

Mariah loves to pretend.  This week she has spent a significant amount of time being a beagle named Lou, a Pegapony (thank you, Barbie) named Sparkles, and a Planet Hero from Earth named Ace.  As we were walking into Fred Meyer on Friday, I said, “Okay, Mariah, we’re going to go potty.”  She said, “No, I’m NOT Mariah.  I’m Ace.”  “Oh, sorry, Ace,” I apologized.  “I am not a girl,” she emphasized.  “Got it.  Sorry.”  “Girls don’t wear clothes like this, Mommy.”  “Um, like what?” I asked, looking at her pink skirt and green shirt.  “Like this orange shirt and blue pants and big boy shoes that I am wearing, Mommy,” she answered, obviously flabbergasted by how dumb I was.  “Oh, right.  My mistake.”

Luckily, little Ace had no problem going into the girls’ restroom. 

Sam learns to walk

Since so many of you weren’t actually at our house when Sam learned to walk I thought I would post a few videos of the fun progression from non walker to walking maniac.

Of course, anyone can walk if they have a chair.

First steps, at least on video

There is a lot of controlled falling before they can actually walk.

This is Sam almost really walking. It was always hard to get him on video though because he always goes after the camera.

And then the distance gets greater:

And here is Sam showing us that not only can he walk, but he can go between two girls yelling "Have a Merry Christmas" while holding a broom.

And just because this has to do with walking:

The End of the Year (Ok so not anymore.)

The end of the year is always exciting. Here are some pictures from ours.

For Halloween Sarah made lovely matching Diego and Alicia costumes for the girls.  And of course, since Sam was big enough, he got to be a the duck.

Anna got fun stuff for her Birthday

Sam, before he could walk. Ok, so it has been a long time since we updated and Sam has grown a lot.

We actually got to see Snow this year because we went to Utah for Thanksgiving. And once again, during the drive home, I remembered why I don't like going to Utah at Thanksgiving.

A boy and his dad.

A boy and his mom.

The wise men from the '70s.

Christmas Morning. I don't really remember much about it, except that once again the kids got way more toys than we planned. It just never seems to work out that they get the right amount of toys.

More Christmas toys.

And more Christmas toys.

Another one of Sam with Sarah, both of them being cute.

This one is just great.

From Christmas to New Year, half my family came up to visit us. We went to all sorts of fun places, like the zoo. We didn’t get a lot of pictures of them, but here are the kids sitting on a bronze, I think, elephant.