St. Patrick's Day

Having kids makes the smallest of holidays super fun. Like St. Patrick's Day. Growing up we always had green breakfast (green eggs, green pancakes, green milk, etc). Well, I didn't do that much but I did remember to quickly change the milk green before Molly woke up. When she did wake up I told her that a leprechaun had snuck into our house while we were sleeping and changed the milk green. She couldn't believe it. It was magic, and the rest of the day felt a little like magic to her too.

She got quite upset when Justin pinched her while she was wearing her purple Tinkerbell pajamas and we quickly made a rule that pajamas don't count. But she wasn't going to take any chances and quickly ran upstairs to change. Green underwear, green skirt, and a green shirt. Also red tights, ballet shoes, and a "colorful-ish" headband.All morning long I heard, "I can't believe that leopard changed our milk green!" or "Can you believe that leopard changed our milk green? What a silly thing to do!" or "How did that leopard do that?" And finally, "What was that animal called that snuck into our house and changed our milk green?" So I explained that it was called a leprechaun...a little man rather than an animal.

Molly also asked me, "Mom, why do we have to have the word 'Saint' in St. Patrick's Day?" And before I could answer, "Oh I know! 'Saint' is probably just another word for green! Because we have to wear green!" Such a smartie!

We went to the grocery store that morning and Molly pointed out every person who was not wearing green. "They are going to get pinched...but not by me!" She thought she was extra special when the checker told her that she had a perfect St. Patrick's Day name...Molly is an Irish name, after all.

At school we made St. Patrick's Day cookies and green playdough and all her friends had to have a sample of her green milk.

That afternoon, "Mom, do you know what my very favorite color is? Green!" (On any other day, it's purple.)

After school we picked Justin up from work and headed to Park City where we met my parents, shopped around at the outlets, and then went to dinner.

Grandpa didn't even wear green, and Molly thought Grandma's shirt looked more blue than green. Sorry Grandma! But our family was all decked out in our green...
On a side not, going to dinner is something that we are not doing for a very, very long time. It was very chaotic with our two kids. The waiter was very relieved to see us go, I think.

On the way home, "Do you know what my very favorite holiday is? St. Patrick's Day!" I'm wondering if she thinks that dinner with Grandma and Grandpa is what we will do every St. Patrick's Day. Hmmm...

A problem solved

The problem: Dad's birthday balloons are out of reach. The strings are a tangled mess.Solution #1: Stand on a kitchen chair. Still out of reach.

Solution #2: Stand on her little table. Still out of reach.

Solution #3: Stand on a pillow on top of her table. Still out of reach.Solution #4: Stand on a couch cushion on top of her table. Close, but still out of reach.

Solution #5: Stand on two couch cushions on top of her table. That was the trick.Success!! It was fun to watch Molly solve this problem. She did it all on her own while I just sat back and watched.

God Speaks to Prophets

Molly gave a talk in Primary a couple weeks ago. After a shaky start, she did great. She's a little silly in this video, but you get the general idea...
(I have no idea why this video is so big!)

What the kids are up to.

Hiding
This is Molly's new favorite game. Anytime I leave the room, she thinks it is an opportunity to hide and quickly does so. We hide from dad as soon as we hear the garage opening when he gets home and we hide from him at night when he comes upstairs for prayers. It's quite funny, really, because she's not great at finding hiding spots (unless she has help)...like the other day when I was doing the dishes and she says, "Mom, get off the rug, I'm trying to hide from you." Then she hid under the rug...right next to where I was standing.
Outfits
The first thing Molly does everyday when she wakes up is pick out an "outfit" to put on. It usually always consists of a pair of tights-red, brown, pink, or black-her polka-dot skirt, a shirt-preferably with puffy "Cinderella" sleeves-and shoes. If we don't go anywhere I let her wear it all day long; if we do go somewhere, I make her change. And then there's always those days that I just really don't care. Like when we went visiting teaching a couple weeks ago and she was wearing her Ariel nightgown with sweats with red hearts underneath. Cute!
Crawling, etc.
Stockton has been crawling for a few weeks now, and he is getting so fast! He is enjoying exploring, with his favorite place being under the computer desk. All those cords are so fascinating! He is now pulling himself up on things. Consequently, we've had a few tumbles and he is now sporting a nice purple bruise on his forehead from one particularly nasty tumble. He's figured out how to pull himself up but he has not yet figured out how to get back down. He's just stuck until he falls or until mommy rescues him. This is under our table.He broke his first tooth last weekend...on top of an ear infection and a nasty cough...it was a rough few days for him. But his smiles and giggles are finally returning...

In the eating area, I am at a loss. He doesn't enjoy sitting in his chair for longer than a few minutes, he will not eat baby food, and he won't let anyone feed him. He wants real food and he wants to feed it to himself. So I feel like I'm a little limited in what I can feed him...we stick with peaches, pears, bananas, peas, cheese, and bread. Any other ideas? I need something that he can pick up easily as well as something that will go down easy since he only has that one little tooth.

I'm enjoying this stage. I've finally figured out Stockton's napping schedule (finally!) which means I have more time to spend with Molly and keep the house clean! At the end of the day, I actually feel like I accomplished something. And that's a great feeling!