Happy Birthday Violet!

She can walk, dance, wave, blow kisses, empty a drawer in seconds, give hugs and kisses, say bye-bye, give raspberries on her sister's tummy, giggle, attempt to climb anything and everything, eat oatmeal messily with a spoon, go up and down the stairs, pretend to talk on the phone, and clap.... She's our precious Violet Jacquelyn.

Egg Hunting Practice

Cora got to do an early Easter Egg hunt last week. Kissie and Pata provided the goods, and Cora provided much excitement. She loved finding the eggs Pata and Kevin hid, but loved even more finding the eggs when she hid them afterwards! Maybe it is more fun when you already know where the eggs are?? She was so excited, she just couldn't wait to let Kevin and I find them ourselves.
Violet thought the eggs were fun to play with and even enjoyed a mini-Snickers too.

Zoo Day

On the train-- Cora was so excited! We went on the carousel too, which kind of freaked Violet out, but Cora was in awe of all the dancing animals.
With the pelicans.
Cora thought it was so funny that this elephant sang songs. He also makes funny sounds too, which spooked her a bit at first.


With Kevin out of town for the weekend, we filled our days with the Children's Museum, the zoo, and hanging out with Kissie and Pata. We had fun, and the girls were all tired out so I had some relaxing evenings too. The girls had so much fun at the zoo, we'll have to go a few more times before our annual pass runs out.

Saturday

We had a lovely family day on Saturday. I got to go to them temple with my parents, Shad and Jen, and my Aunt Serena and Uncle Albert to do sealings for family names. Thanks to Kevin for watching the girls! Thanks to the temple workers for finding a way to get me in even though I forgot my recommend and didn't realize it until it was too late! Thanks to Mom for lending me cash so I could rent clothes, which I also forgot! I was such a space case that morning--Violet was up much of the night before... I could blame sleep-depravation, except I've done things like this before even when getting plenty of sleep. Anyway, it was a a really wonderful session, so peaceful. It was nice to be in the temple earlier in the morning when it truly was so quiet. Sometimes when we go in the evening, it's so busy, which is great, but not quite the same.

It was fun to see Serena and Al! I hadn't seen them for a while, and there was lots of time to talk. We ate lunch at Granato's -- delicious Italian deli-- and picked up some sweets that reminded me of my great-grandmother's kitchen and the little neighborhood grocery store by where we lived in Italy. Then we were off to do some Temple Square touring...

Cora and Violet loved playing in the fountain on the 10th floor of the JSMB. Violet couldn't get enough and ended up soaked! We took a little tour of the mezzanine and saw where my parents go to church and the historic rooms there in the old Hotel Utah.
Then we took a tour of the Conference Center. It's been ages since I took a tour there, and I loved seeing all the original artwork. Everytime I go there, I remember the family I taught on my mission-- the dad was a sound engineer when the Conference Center was built. He told us he sat in every seat when doing all the sound adjustments to make sure the sound was perfect everywhere. 21,000 seats!

It was also my first time going on the roof of the building. It was a windy day!
There is so much to do on Temple Square! We recently took a tour of the Church Office Building and Relief Society Building too. There's still so much more to see too. Lots to look forward too!

Potty Trained!

Cora has been potty-trained for a few weeks now! I was dreading doing it and procrastinated forever, but it actually went pretty smoothly, and took about a week. She's had some accidents, but has been pretty dependable at self-initiating her potty trips, which is great. We just have to remember to remind her to go before naps and car trips. She's still wearing a pull-up at night, but it's dry most mornings, so we'll have to see about phasing that out sooner or later.

After we totally hyped up going potty in the big potty, Cora still has enthusiastic trips to the bathroom. She'll get an excited look on her face and say "poopies are coming!" and run to the bathroom, and then want us to come check it out. It's cute to see her so happy about it and pleased with herself. Anything is better than changing those big-girl diapers!

Violet's Words

Violet has added a few words to her communication skills...

-'aaah' When she wants a bite
-'tank-oo'Thankyou... I'd call this her first word, besides, mama and dada
-'ut-oh' when she accidentally, or purposefully drops something
-'un-uh' no, mostly when we're trying to get her to take another bite
-'mama'
-'dada'

She's also got her head shakes down-- yes and no.

Violet is such a sweet girl and wants to be just like her sister, doing everything Cora is doing. She loves playing in the little kitchen with Cora, climbing on her rocking chair, doing puzzles at the kiddie table, and bopping along to music. She's a pretty fast walker now, and is getting the hang of sliding down the stairs on her tummy. She loves giving kisses, complete with noises, and hugs.

Violet still feeling a bit under the weather. At her doctor's visit last Tuesday, they said nothing was wrong, but she was so miserable, we took her in Saturday night again, and she had a bad double ear infection. Of course, we got out of the doctor's office a few minutes after 7, by which time ALL the pharmacies in Tooele are closed. So Kevin took a trip to Salt Lake to get her antibiotic. She started doing better in a day or two, but still isn't herself. We're not sure if the ear infection is persistent or her molars are close to coming in! Hopefully she'll feel better soon!

Create

I saw this the other day and really liked it.

Dial "M" for Murder

I'm on my 4th year now for volunteering at Pioneer Theatre. I love it! Once every 6 weeks or so I get to hang out with my friend Emily, hand out programs, and see a professional production for free. Tonight's was especially good... I think it would be classified as suspense. You should go see it too! It'll be on the next two weeks.

Pudding Night

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted! A lot has been going on, so I've put off posting, but it just builds up. Hopefully I'll get some details in soon! We've had birthdays, crafts, outings, swimming, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, and Violet has been walking for a long time now. Well, she took her first steps when Keyton and fam were here mid-January, and has been walking consistently for at least 6 weeks!

Right now we're stuck home being sick. Cora started having a sore throat last Thursday, started a cough on Saturday. Monday we took her in and found out she has strep and croup. The strep is all gone now, the croup is lingering. And in the meantime Violet has a cold and fever that is making her miserable too. Amazingly, she doesn't have strep-- there's a lot of sippy sharing going on here-- but it must be a nasty virus. Hopefully our girls will be better soon! Kevin took a sick day from work today to help out-- or was it to watch BYU basketball???

Meanwhile, it's time for lots of movies, cuddles, and sleep-deprivation.