I can not believe what a kind and thoughtful heart my two year old has. She was racing her uncle Nate, who ALWAYS lets her win but she decided that she had won enough and "let" him win a few times. It is the sweetest thing to see a little girl try to lose to someone who is trying to let her win. I'm so proud of her for being such a considerate and unselfish little girl.

I've noticed since being home all of the time with my kiddos, Katie has made HUGE progress in some basic principles I've been trying to teach her. Recently we've been working on honesty, sharing, and the importance of prayer. These were things we'd be struggling with as of late. Now we are not quite where I want us to be yet, but it's nice to see progress.

The other day Katie had an accident, she ran to the toilet and finished up but her pants were still a little wet. She came to me and told me, "My pants are wet, I didn't pee them though... it's just water."
Uh huh, right... suspicious area to be wet, my dear. Anyway I explained to her I wasn't mad, it was an accident and she needed to keep trying. I tried to let her know I was not as sad that she peed her pants as I was that she had lied about it. She wasn't getting it at all. That girl stuck with her lie (she's two... it's a tough concept even for adults) and yes trust me it WAS a lie... she smelled of urine.

We were playing hide-and-seek. Katie hid in the bathtub behind the shower curtain and had a marker with her. As she was waiting for me to find her, she drew on the walls. I was not pleased at all. I told her she needed to tell her dad what she did. He got home and she hung her head as she told him that she drew on the bathroom wall. He wasn't happy, but we made sure to tell her how proud we were that she told her dad the truth.
Today, she had another accident and proudly declared "Mom, I peed on the floor, BUT I TOLD THE TRUTH!!!" Ha ha ha, at least she's getting it. Maybe she's too young to fully understand the importance of telling the truth but I figure... if I start her young maybe it'll ingrain in her head.

Sharing: We REALLY struggle with this one. It's funny how a toy becomes much more desirable in the hands of Kylee. Poor kid can't play with anything without Katie suddenly deciding she wants to play with that same thing. Kylee will move on to something else... Katie wants that too. We were playing with little people figurines and Kylee took one. Immediately, Katie pulled all of the rest in towards her, hunching over them to hide them from Kylee. I told her no, that wasn't fair. We put all of the toys in the middle and took turns picking toys. Kylee picked one, Katie picked one, Kylee picked one, Katie picked one etc. That seemed to please both girls.
Later that night I was doing some quick cleanup around the house. I left the girls in their room together. They were quietly looking at books. I was in the kitchen when I heard "No, Kylee that's MY book" I was about to go in and intervene when I heard the most incredible thing: "Here lets put them in the middle, You pick one... now me... now you" AMAZING!!!!! She shared without ANY prompt (granted, she ended up getting frustrated because the 10 month old did pick books out of turn). Now, we aren't always like this and since then have still had sharing issues but it's nice to see little glimmers of understanding coming through.

As far as prayer goes, she still has really a hard time kneeling and being reverent. Usually it's like pulling teeth to stop her from running around her room but she at least knows it's important. When bedtime rolls around she calls her dad to family prayer. After family prayer she prefers her daddy to help her with her personal prayers. I'm glad that I'm making that an important part of our routine. When you ask her about prayer she will tell you "Prayer is VERRRY important."

Uncle Nate can't pass a baby with hair without messing it up. It's a compulsion he has ;)

Rock star Kylee

This is at 10! I thought she was asleep and I made brownies for Jeff and I. She was not asleep, caught us with the brownies and... her dad insisted it was only fair we gave her one.

Fridays at the Library. Music and movement, pick our books, and then a little playtime.

More brownie from the earlier picture

My spoiled children

Jeff and I have decided that until we get passed his DPT program, birthday/Christmas gifts for our kids will basically all have to be used (unless we find a phenomenal deal). Which doesn't really matter because all they care about is playing. Let's be honest, kids don't care if it's new or used, as long as it's fun.

We check the DI every now and then, but haven't had much luck as far as toys are concerned. We've decided yard selling is the best route because many of the yard sales, sell things WAY cheaper than the DI (obviously not all, but where toys are concerned, in our experience yard sells are better). This summer we have decided that we are doing most of our kids' Christmas/Birthday shopping on Saturday mornings at various yard sales. Today we began our first yard selling trip for the year. We had to bring the kids because... we are too cheap to pay for a sitter, and I hate asking my family to babysit too often because I feel like I'm taking advantage and that is the last thing I want to do.

I figured it would be fine, if we did find something we wanted to buy, we would have one put the kids in the car while the other buys and secretly puts it in the trunk. Today we found two rocking horses (the ones with springs), one Katie's size perfect for Christmas and one just right for Kylee, probably for her birthday in August. Try hiding that in a little Chevy Cobalt... better yet try fitting it into a little Cobalt, it just was not happening. The smaller one fit just fine, but obviously we weren't getting both at that moment. Even if we managed to fit it, there was NO WAY Katie wouldn't see. We asked if we could come back later and get the second one. Jeff took the girls home and I got my dad's truck to get the 2nd horse and headed to my parents' house to put it in their utility room until Christmas. Since Kylee wouldn't remember that I'd gotten her a horse by her birthday I figured it wouldn't be a big deal if she saw it just as long as Katie hadn't seen hers.

I was almost at my parent's house when Jeff called and said, "Emily, this girl needs that horse, I can't wait."

I told him no, we're not the kind of parents who just randomly get their kids toys whenever they want them and that she could wait until her birthday (decided to push it up at that moment since I didn't think Jeff would be able to wait until Christmas). He told me his little Katie, upon seeing Kylee's horse, said very sweetly, "Daddy, I really really wish Kylee's birthday horsey was bigger so I could ride it too and say YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWW!" He told me he just couldn't wait so... I caved and brought the horse to our house rather than my mom's.

Katie WAS SSOOOOO excited. A little part of me wanted to lie to her and tell her she was getting it because today was her birthday but... being that we're still two months early and I haven't really planned a early celebration, I didn't.

So yes, because those girls have their daddy wrapped around their little fingers and he was able to convince me, my kids got "just because" toys. But they are SO happy!

Little "cowgirl" can not get enough of her new ride

Yes and Kylee's horsey too :)

These pictures look so much like my baby pictures... I'll have to find the ones I'm thinking of and I'll post it later

After we got through playing with our horsey we made a trip up Spanish Fork Canyon at the river park and had a picnic

Kylee was happy for about 30 mins and then... she was done. Not quite the outdoorsy girl like Katie is

Yes that is my husband playing on the kids toys without his kids... ;)

And my dad :) Something about those toys

My crazy Katie who can't ever sit still long enough for a picture

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

:)

Last week we threw my older brother Nate a surprise birthday party... The big 27! He'd never had one before so... I told my lil bro Andy to plan it and he did a great job. Katie wanted to go but it was past her bedtime (started at 8:30). But I made an exception and took her.
Nate got home, everyone hid in the kitchen and Katie ran out and gave him a big hug and asked "What's in the kitchen, Nate?" he went in the kitchen and... There everyone was.
I told Katie she could eat a few goodies and what did she choose?
Carrots!!!! I was so proud. Doughnuts, cake, or carrots and that was her choice.
I usually have to trick her into eating her veggies so that was monumental! :)

Our little getaway

My mom being the kind-hearted person she is decided that since Jeff begins school MONDAY that she would send us on an all expenses paid 24 hour mini trip to Salt Lake together. Sort of our last big outing together before I become a school widow. We really enjoyed it. My favorite part? Hmm... it was SO nice to hold my husband's hand! It's something we don't get to do very often because when we are out together one of us has Kylee, and the other is holding Katie's hand... at that point it's awkward to try and finagle a way to hold hands.

It was wonderful to have one whole day, just me and my sweet husband. There was one moment we had that left me frazzled for a bit. Jeff and I were holding hands walking around temple square just talking (also so nice to be able to have an uninterrupted conversation). I saw a woman approaching us holding a microphone, followed by a camera man. My instinct was to take off running as fast as I could in the opposite direction, but I fought the urge because that would have been obvious and rude.

There standing in front of me was Michelle King. She asked if we had seen President Uchtdorf's talk in General Conference about not judging others. Again my instant instinct was to say... "Nope missed that one, sorry." But my dear, honest husband smiled and nodded his head. "CRAP!!" I thought. She asked us if we'd be willing to answer some questions regarding the talk. This was my chance say to so no, but... I heard myself saying "sure" (though I know Michelle heard the hesitation in my voice because she assured me it would be painless).

Much of the experience is now hazy (because I was terrified out of my mind... perhaps my dislike for cameras is actually more of a full-blown phobia). I remember the questions, and wish she would have given me ten minutes to think about my response and then let me answer because I can think of much better answers now.

Here are some things I've come up with in all my many many hours of pondering our current situation:

These things ARE NOT important

Please note: I don't envy those who are able to afford these things, nor do I think ill of anyone who is able to afford things. This is merely a list of things that I do not care that I can not afford at this time. Not at all saying I will never go back to some of these things because when money permits... I love my cable ;)

• Cable TV, in fact without it we'll have to be more creative in our fun. I had such a great childhood, we had a TV but never cable. We spent more time together making up games and playing together, building bonds. Can you really build those same kind of memories in front of the television? I don't think so.

• What people think of me is not important. "What thinks Christ of you?" THAT'S what matters.

• Brand name, expensive, or even new clothes are not important. That's what Kid to Kid, Savers, and the DI is for. Am I embarrassed this is now where we shop for clothes? NOPE! :) You wouldn't even know unless I told you. We have found some great things for really really cheap. I don't even know if we had the money I'd stop shopping at these places. I LOVE saving money.
• Going out to eat is not important, and I think it'll help me maintain my weight goals to stay home for meals.

• Having two cars was convenient, but not important. We are able to make it work just fine with one. We are blessed that Jeff at least has a scooter to get around when I need the car.

• Expensive Christmas/Birthday/Anniversary gifts are not important. I have been thinking of many inexpensive, fun and thoughtful ideas and am SO excited to try them out. Thank you Pinterest :) I like that we get to do this, I think they'll mean more anyway. It's a blessing to be forced to get creative.

• Going on fancy vacations is not important, what is? FAMILY time... guess what IT'S FREE :)

Our blessings, the things that do make us rich in the ways that matter:

• I am able to be there for my kids, I know so many who are unable to do this (and for about 2.5 years I was among those). I'm grateful for this opportunity to live my dream of being a stay-at-home mommy.

• Having our health! For the most part we've been pretty healthy. Minor things here and there but nothing serious.

• Being together! It is WONDERFUL that Jeff no longer has to leave us for a year! Financially it would have been better but I am truly grateful that we get to keep him around. He's a wonderful father and my kids would really be missing out that year.

• Jeff made a plan B in the event his mobilization was canceled, even though the chances were slim. He still applied to varies schools and was accepted into a very competitive DPT program (actually all that he applied to, wanted him :)). Jeff gets to continue his education, and when it's all done slowly but surely we will pay down our student loans, and he will be able to support us. We may never be financially "rich" but we will always have our needs taken care of, what more could you really want? :)

• We get to stay local! Better to go through our struggles with friends and family nearby, right? I was hoping to go to Baylor but... this really is for the better. Had we gone there we would not have been able to live in Utah again for a minimum of 7 years. I look fondly on my time with Jeff in San Antonio, but when that year was up I was more than ready to come home.

• Despite our financial woes, I do not have any fears of me or my children going hungry, homeless, or unclothed.

• Come what may, I know we are all part of a much much bigger picture and that is perhaps the greatest blessing of all.

and now for pictures of our sweet little family:

Kylee LOVES playing in her crib (so long as either Katie or myself is playing

Kylee can be on table food, and she no longer likes to be fed at all. Miss independant

Silly beautiful Kate

Jeff and I playing in the kids section of a museum... and we did not have our kids ;)

Tracy Aviary. I had never been there but it's pretty cool

Temple square :)

The museum again. We're pretty good at having a blast where ever we go. That's my husband's skill

Our hotel, Anniversary Inn. I must say... It was pretty cool. We enjoyed it. I couldn't see a shower and was a little upset because I don't like taking baths... well I do to relax, not to get clean. we discovered that we didn't need a showerhead. I was a little waterfall that flowed into the tub. Super cool, I can't deny.

Tracy Aviary again

Katie doing a home-made (by Jeff) obstacle course

Dance!!! Too bad her mama is not coordinated to teach her real dance moves.

 I can not believe how quickly my little Kylee is picking up the skill of crawling, she is EVERYWHERE!  It scares me to death because she has a strange fascination with the stairs now.  She can climb up, and... I'm not really excited to see if she can climb down.  I admit, I'm a nervous mother and vividly remember Katie making her way to the stairs the two seconds my back was turned and yes... fell all the way down, stopping on our tile landing.  :(

Kylee has only been crawling two weeks, and is perfecting the skill rather quickly.  I don't know if I'm quite ready for her to be mobile but ready or not... it's that time.

I am CONSTANTLY stopped at the store as people gasp and admire my Kylee's big beautiful blue eyes.  Pictures don't quite do them justice, if you've seen her you know, she has these big piercing blue eyes that catch you off guard because it feels like she is looking into the depths of your soul.  And perhaps she is :)

Kylee has another strange obsession with dog bones.  Anytime Beanie leaves one laying around, once she catches sight of it, she makes a beeline for it (in fact the first time she crawled she was after a dog bone).  This is the look on her face when I took the dog bone she was trying to get.

It's true what they say, if you want your kids to eat well it is IMPERATIVE that you eat well too.  I can never get Katie to eat healthy foods, unless I am eating it and she is taking it away from me. Veggies are a different story, we have to dangle some form of garbage food (cookie, cake, brownie, goldfish etc.) and tell her if she eats her veggies she can have a little.  That is quite literally the only way I have successfully been able to get her to eat veggies.

Kylee learned to clap a few weeks ago and she LOVES to do it

Kylee loves our little dog too :)  I'm glad my kids like animals... except for peanut, Katie HATES my brother and sister in-law's dog peanut who is a bit snippy and will attack unprovoked (snipped at my baby Kylee the other day who was heart broken but had forgotten about the incident after about three minutes).  Poor Katie has nightmares about that dog, but it's good for her to know not all dogs are nice and it's good to be careful.

We have been enjoying this nice warm weather.  Katie would spend all day outside if she could :)  That makes me happy, I am really paranoid about having my kids feeling like they NEED TV, or iPhone games.  I avoid those things when at all possible because I want my kids to learn to be creative in the ways they have fun.  Memories aren't built in front of the TV, I want them to look back on their childhood and have fond memories about all the fun things they did, not all the shows they would watch (but technology sure is helpful when Kylee is sleeping and I am in need of a shower, keeps Katie occupied long enough).

I tried making my blog private for like a week, but was just having too many problems with family members who do not have a blogger account not being able to access it so... no more private blog. Oh well

We are cutting every possible financial corner we can so as to keep our student loans as low as we can. The first thing we wanted to do was eliminate as much debt and monthly costs possible. Getting rid of a car payment was the first item of business. The best option was to sell my already paid off car, to help pay off our newer more reliable car. Jeff got an Auto Trader estimate of 3100, and we were pleased with that because we would only have to take about 2000 out of savings to pay it off.
Low Book Sales called us, telling us they usually like to beat Auto Trader by at least a couple of hundred dollars. We made an appointment and took our car in. The sales person (who was not aware of Low Book's new deal with Auto Trader) offered us 2200, take it or leave it. We were outraged, especially since they called us saying they wanted to try and beat it. My car was in GREAT condition and I was not about to sell it for 900 dollars less that what we had originally planned. I told the sales person there was absolutely no way, and that I would just sell it on KSL. He told me while you can always get more selling it yourself, you have to wait quite a while for it to sell. We decided to take our chances and we listed it for 4500 online. Before Jeff even had time to post pictures of the car we had 3 calls and someone on their way with cash to take a look, and yes 1 hour later SOLD... double the price.
A few days later that same sales person called us, and told us he was just made aware of their deal with auto trader and would offer the full 3100 we originally planned, to which we responded TOO LATE :)
Jeff's grandmother passed away a while ago, and his family was just recently able to sell her home and so Jeff's parents gave some money to their kids.
Here's the good part: With the money we sold my car for and the money Jeff's family had given us we only had 1.26 left to pay, and so we rummaged through some coins and took it all to the bank. Not a single dime out of savings.
We thought being a one car family would be annoying so Jeff found a good scooter for a great deal and purchased that, took a test to get his motorcycle endorsement. He plans on taking that to school in good weather, which will also help us save on gas since it gets 80 miles to the gallon.
We're feeling blessed!!! Things are working out and I am so thankful, all I can say is the church is true and it is a blessing to pay our tithing :)

Whew, that may have been boring to some but quite exciting for us. Now past the boring part and on to some fun spring pictures. Unfortunately all of the pictures from our Easter egg hunts are on our extended family member's cameras, thanks to our SD card that decided to go corrupt. But here's what I do have:

My mother-in-law made matching Easter dresses for the girls :)

The scooter

Katie and Kylee had a fun time playing the boxes from our shed .Fortunately it entertained them long enough for us to finish (with a nap in there somewhere too).

It was fun to watch them. Honestly that was more entertainment than any toy has been EVER