Lara Beware

Luckily this ended with no injuries. Lara is still loved (too much) by Claire.

We attended Corey Hansen's wedding a few week-ends ago, and it was fun to dress the girls up. I thought the desserts would be too rich for the girls and I would begrudgingly have to finish them, but I've trained them too well. They love their chocolate, and the desserts at this reception were incredible. We couldn't complain about the company as well. Brock has a wonderful extended family. We always enjoy seeing Ashlyn Tracy's namesake and the reason Brock and I met and fell in love:), Tracy Bentley.

With their love of sweets, it's a good thing Claire likes to brush teeth now. It is amazing how some battles seem like they will never end. She used to clench her mouth shut every night. She opened up fine for the dentist, but not for me. Now those fun times are behind us...


The Saturday before Memorial day we stayed most of the day at the beach with my siblings, parents and Aunt Cherryl and Uncle Leo who were visiting from WA. Ashlyn picked out some sunglasses that are pretty snazzy and enjoyed chasing squirrels with her cousin Sarah. Claire and cousin Eric are turning into playmates which is cute. I never thought my mom's big bug glasses (on Lara) would ever be in style again, but I guess fashion revolves in a circular fashion.

We also had a fun beach day with the Davis family two weeks ago. Katie and Cordell were visiting from West Virginia.

We made an ingenious baby trench so Lara and Elijah could hang out in the shade. Eve and Ashlyn had fun playing, and I think that making 'smores at a beach bonfire should be the end of every day.

All smiling, all looking...what are the odds. A mother's day miracle!

This last week-end a dear friend chastised me for not updating my blog...she was quite the motivational speaker. So to recap a few highlights...
There the girls are striking a pose, and Lara in her jumper...finally one of our kids likes hanging from the door frame and bouncing around. Easter was awesome. It is fun with Ashlyn getting more excited about traditions and celebrations; I guess the trick is to not let the real meanings get lost in the treats. In the picture you have Claire in her bunny costume from Grandma Solano, too cute. I don't know if it is better to let them eat their candy like crazy for a few days so it is out of the house or to ration it like I did. I just threw out our last few stale peeps yesterday.

Our little 2 year old Claire. What a fun age. She cracks me up. My favorite is when she pretends to sleep in her car seat; she has a great smile and giggle. Her Great Grandmother Plumb calls her "my little Swedish girl" and sneaks her Oreos whenever she asks for a cookie (she learned that word very early on). My mom calls her a wild card because you don't always know what to expect from her. She has a strong 2 year old sense of what is MINE. While I am folding clothes she will watch me and yell out what item of clothing belongs to who. "THAT's ASHY'S SHIRT!" "THAT'S CLAIRE'S" Spoken as if I was handling things that I shouldn't. She is now wearing pull-ups and potty training herself. Is mom ready for this....

Our four year old Ashlyn. She has a fun sense of humor and she is still making up stories and her stuffed animals and little figuines are having a contant flow of conversations. She definately likes to run the show. If you ask her who is the boss she will tell you it is mom and dad, but that has not been internalized.

We were up in Henderson NV on the girls birthday to watch my little brother Jesse perform in the musical Savior of the World. He was Joseph, and has quite an amazing voice both singing and speaking. Way to go J-man. We stayed at their house along with my bro Spencer's family and cramed 10 kids under 9 years of age (with 3 nursing babies), and 6 adults under one roof for a memorable sleep-over. I don't think Ashlyn could have asked for a better present. We all went to the Childrens discovery museum on Saturday and had a great time playing together.

Here's Brock demonstrating the giant bubbles to Claire. (Reminded me of the movie Abyss)

The newlyweds and the oldyweds. Becca married Tim Skaggs on March 21st and my parents celebrated 35 years of marital bliss. Cute couples. They missed the 6am wake-up call at our sleep-over by staying at Cami's sister's house.

In an older post I showed Lara in between her two body guard cousins. Their cheeks have since grown slightly smaller and Lara is gainging, so here they are again. Lara enjoys her new sitting-up skills until she falls over onto her face. She's such a happy baby.

The great crust debate

Now I know that lots of kids are anti-bread crust. They eat the middle of their sandwiches and leave the crusts on their plates. As a kid I remember eating the crust first off my bread because I favored soft bread. I know crusts are dry and hard to swallow. However I am having a hard time swallowing the "fact" that quesadillas have "crusts" that Ashlyn will not eat. Here are two that I found on her plate after lunch today, as you can tell by the look on her face, she thinks I am the one who is crazy. What's the big deal mom?

FAQ:Wheredababygo?

If I had a nickle for every time Claire asked me where Lara was...
The questions that immediately follow: HOLDER? Sit on my yap?

Ever since we had a curious George theme for her third bday, Ashlyn thinks every party needs to have a theme. For Brocks bday back in February she said he should have a cougar theme. Brock's parents came down, we decorated with blue and white streamers and if you wanted cake you had to dress like a cougar fan and sing the fight song.

highlights from Dec 2008

Matching PJs and Mexican Hot Chocolate...look at those great moustaches. If you've never had mexican hot chocolate before, you are missing out. Abuelita brand is my favorite. Heat up four cups of milk, put a round tab of Abuelita chocolate into the blender. Pour the hot milk on top let it start to melt and then blend it up. Its a tradition for Brock's family to have it Christmas morning while opening presents...its my tradition to have it year round, and on the night we decorate the tree.

We celebrated Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve with our Plumb family. Here is a group shot of the festivities; 4 of my siblings were there. It's amazing to me how well my mom plays the piano. Some carolers stopped by and sang a couple songs and after they had already begun singing, my mom was able to sit down at the piano and match the key they were in. It was a bunch of little kids and she was able to join right in without making them change to a different key. It was amazing.

We spent the rest of Christmas in Paradise with Brock's fam and had a wonderful time up where it was a little colder. Ashlyn and Claire enjoyed their cousins and Lara enjoyed having lots of people to sleep on.

We celebrated Grandma Bonnie's 90th birthday, and had a fun Rockwood reunion/party.

I love this picture of Ashlyn peeking around her chair on Christmas morning at the presents. The week was spent playing with toys (feeding a playdough ice cream cone to tickle me Ernie), tormenting the dachshunds, and of course more mexican hot chocolate...

Which inspired these photos...

Here are a few other photos to wrap up the highlights for Claire and Ahlyn. Here is Claire having Tim and Becca help her open gifts. Aunt Becca lived with us when Claire was a baby and I swear some sort of imprinting took place, she LOVES her aunt Becca and now her fiance Tim as well. Claire also loves the baby play mat/mobile we have especially when her baby is in it. I find it hard to give Lara consistant "tummy time" or rolling time on the floor...too vulnerable.

Ashlyn is enjoying her Joy school group (one of the boys is missing from the group shot, there are five in the group and all the moms rotate teaching two days a week). We did a fun Christmas party and Ashlyn got to be the angel for the nativity. She was very excited about her gingerbread man as you can see, and she still often makes reference to what happened around Christmas time and what we should do next Christmas.

Voila I filled in the big gaping hole in my posting of Christmas/December 2008 and can now resume with more current events next time.