Blurbs of thought

LOVED Tangeled!  Watched it as a family last night, and we all loved it!  Elizabeth even sat mesmerized through it all.

Elizabeth loved sitting in her own seat...her booster seat with tray {of course}.  She also loved hanging onto the bowl of popcorn.


Loved running around with E and B before bed last night.


I love watching my baby take care of her babies.


I can't believe how lightly I am packing for my trip.  Still have over 5 pounds, and that's with all the books I am taking back.  So glad I don't need to pay to check a bag.

I love packing with Ziplock bags!  See through, categorized stuff, get out excess air, and can label.

Only one carry on suitcase and diaper bag!  That's for both me and Elizabeth!


I have been asked to take pictures at the funeral.


Love that Elizabeth is now saying prayers by herself.  When I picked up dinner yesterday, she knew I had food and wanted to eat it.  So...from the backseat we saw her fold her arms and heard her pray with a big 'Amen' at the end.  She knows what we do before we eat, and she wanted to eat!

Life lessons: simplify

Recently I have stumbled upon a few blogs about Minimalism.  As I have been reading them, I have come to feel that what they are saying really 'speaks' to me.  Minimalism is about living with only the things that make you happy, and cutting out the junk.  It's about simplifying your life so that you have the time, and energy for the things that you love.

I love this concept on so many levels!  I am often hating myself for getting so bogged down at times.  I hate feeling like my home and life is overstuffed.  I often feel like I have to choose between a clean house, a happy toddler, a happy husband, or being sane.  Reading about minimalism makes me feel like there is something that can help me have all three.

I have started to work towards this by first getting rid of clutter, and extra stuff in my home.  This hasn't been easy and I still have a long ways to go, but it feels wonderful!  I get so excited by each bag we take to the garbage, or Goodwill.  I have been making more space everywhere, which is great when living in a small apartment.

I am looking forward to a more simpler life.  Spending less time cleaning, running around and getting nothing done.  But most of all...I am excited to take the extra time to spend it with the people I love, doing the things I love!

"You!"

We just watched "Toy Story 3" as a family the other day, and Brian and I like to copy the scene when Ken and Barbie saying "I love you."  They each take turns saying a word in the phrase...

Barbie, "I."
Ken, "Love."
Barbie, "You!"
Ken,"I."
Barbie, "Love."
Ken, "You!"

Well, today when we were in the car getting ready to drive home from the river trail, this is the variation that we had...

Brian, "I."
{Kiss}
Me, "Love."
{Then we heard the sweetest little voice from the backseat}
Elizabeth, "You!"

Can't get better than that!

Snow day fun

Elizabeth is finally better, the temperature was moderate for winter, and there is snow on the ground.  These all combined made it perfect to finally take Elizabeth outside to play.  She was so in her element!  We walked, and tromped through the snow, and ended up at the playground.  Can you believe we had the whole place to ourselves!  Elizabeth loved the slides, especially the big twirly one, that I had to go down with her.  It was so slick we almost ended up in the snow at the bottom, and I found that I need some snow pants too.  I am so glad that I was able to take her outside, it's where a toddler should be.

Big A, little a, what begins with A?

Today was a really good day.  I think what helped me today was having a kind of 'game plan' to keep me focused, especially when it came to Elizabeth.  I started today to do some teaching time with Elizabeth, or planned play/craft time.  It was so good!  I found a site that has curriculum for toddlers, and modified it's ideas.  We made 'apple pie,' worked on learning to sign apple, and I told her about Adam (as in Eve).  Her favorite part, by far, was coloring her 'apple pie.'  She was on a coloring spree today!  I spending the time with her, and teaching her new things.  I loved that I had things planned, but we went with the flow (didn't know she was going to color as long as she did).  I was great too, that while she was doing some of her coloring, I was able to get a few things done around our home.  I think she had a great time, and I know I did!  I hope I can keep this up, and keep learning with her.

Bumps

Poor Elizabeth has had a hard day today.  To begin with, she fell while standing on her chair, and hit her head on an edge of a bookcase.  This gave her a nice bump on the back of her head, and you can even see the line from the edge.  After waking up from her nap she wasn't in the happiest mood, and when I went to put things away she followed me crying, with a blankie for me to wrap her in and carry her.  I quickly finished what I was doing, and rushed back to her, but too fast.  As I reached for her my fingernail scraped the bridge of her nose, and poked her in the eye.  She really latched onto Brian tonight when he got home, and I don't blame her.  I hope that tomorrow is a better day.

Kinect fun

Went over to Justan and Jessi's for dinner and some fun tonight.  For Christmas they got Kinect, and we all got to play today.  It was so much fun to do, and a bit of a workout too.  It's so fun to be up and moving, and it was fun to see all of my families moves.  Elizabeth even had a great time joining in.  She loved getting right along side and helping you do your moves.  She also loved dancing to the music.  We need to get one!

One for me, a handful for you

Elizabeth loves to do things for Brian and I, like we do things for her.  A cute example of this from today when she was having a snack.  She would be eating her goldfish, and then put one into my mouth to eat every once in a while.  When she ran out she asked for more, and each handful she would give me more of them.  She really had fun feeding me, and would get insistent that I eat what she offered me.  In the last handful of goldfish I think she only ate one of them, and she shoved the last bunch quickly into my mouth.  It's a good thing her handfuls are smaller than mine are.

Walking Buddy

You always hear that it's best to have a buddy to exercise with...well, I found one.  She's full of energy, always moving, very optimistic, full of smiles, and always ready for something new.  She's perfect to workout with!  She is also learning the English language (as well as ASL), she weighs 20ish pounds, stands at about 30 inches, and the cutest little workout partner there is!

For my workouts I usually watch a YouTube video for walking inside.  Often I wait for Elizabeth to go down for her nap, but today I decided not to.  Elizabeth saw what I was doing, and decided it looked fun, so she joined me.  She loved the kicks, sidesteps, and got a kick out of walking forward and backward, and reaching up high.  It sure made my workout time more enjoyable having Elizabeth do it with me.  I am so glad I didn't wait for her to go down for her nap before I exercised.

Side steps...

 Reach up high...

Making faces

Elizabeth loves to read books!  I have found a great trick to get her to lay still and happy while I change her diaper, it's to give her a book to read while I do it.  There is one book that she has been reading a lot the last few days called "Counting Kisses" that she's been enjoying a lot.  She loves it when I kiss her feet, and each time she picks up the book she lifts her feet to me, and makes kissy noises.  She also loves pointing out the dog and cat each time she gets to those pages.  But the thing that amazed me today while we read the book together is when I had the first page open.  On it is a picture of the little baby is crying with tears going down it's cheeks.  All of the sudden I heard Elizabeth start crying, I turned to her, and she then looked up at me with her fake cry face, and then it quickly turned into a huge grin on her face.  She had recognized from the picture that the baby was sad, and mimicked the emotion herself!

Elizabeth has been having a great time making lots of faces.  Not only with the book, but she loves make faces at herself.  She has been loving reflections for this.  Not only does she enjoy the mirror, but she has also found that the TV screen shows her reflection, as well as the computer screen, windows, and other glass surfaces, etc.  She also waves hello and goodbye to her friend in the mirror whenever we go into or leave the bathroom.  She is always on the look out for her friend in the reflection, to practice her silly faces on.

I love my girls creativity!