Four Years Ago...

we had a good day:
We still really like each other- even moreso (as they say)! My husband is not difficult to like. On the contrary, I secretly hope he won't discover that he has to work harder to like me than I him.

Mia is beginning to say things that we can actually connect with meaning (sorry, David, but "dadadadadadada" had simply been an exercise in consonant formation).

By order of frequency:

1. all done ("ah-DUN") Apparently, Mia is perpetually "over it."
2. "mama"- usually associated with frustration or sadness & "dada"- usually associated with excitement or playfulness...hmm.
3. doggy ("dog-UH") Because she plays with dogs of varying sizes on a regular basis, most species, including horses, are tagged as dogs.
4. balloon ("BUH-oo") We have a long series of family birthdays in the spring- lots of balloon sightings.
5. birdy ("BUR-duh") This has only happened twice, but both times she spotted birds, gestured, and yelled. The first time was in the Costco parking lot with a flock of seagulls. It took about 20 minutes for me and David to calm down.

Despite her budding vocabulary, this is the form of communication she most often prefers (imagine the sound that goes with this face):

Visiting Aunt Jacque's house is like going to a petting zoo- lots of giant dog-UHs.
With the turn of the weather, we have some new beloved pastimes involving our back porch:

"It's great that we make good use of the porch, but when are we going to call a landscaper?"

Post-church attitude

Paschal Week

We are excited about springtime!
We had a full Easter weekend with Grandparents:
Mia worked hard fingerprinting Gma R's spotless glass door...

discovered that eggs filled with jelly beans make a lovely sound...
got acquainted with the prophet...

matched mom...

expressed gratitude for Gma K's Easter gifts...

got a puffy top lip from pulling a high-risk stunt...

and was the center of attention, as usual.

Grand-girl #2

The R family is slowly but surely increasing the estrogen levels in its ranks:

Sydney Marie

was born to

Joe & Lexi

(& Talan)

on March 24th

She is sweet with delicate little features including dimples and a pretty little mouth.

Dad & Daughter

Mia trying to determine how she feels about it all

Thank you for producing a girl cousin for Mia!

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mom...

1. always has her toenails perfectly painted red (and has never paid for a pedicure)
2. finds downhill skiing exhilarating
3. maintains a flawless coif 16 hours of the day
4. made me paper-bag lunches every day until I was 17
5. wakes up before dawn to go running
6. has had some really hard things
7. has had some really hard things that would debilitate most people
8. keeps going despite those hard things
9. like Eliza Doolittle, belongs in a garden
10. was caught singing a lullaby to my rabbit when I was 11 despite her former claim to not like animals
11. wants a dog, but talks herself out of it each time she hears about Izzy & Winston's daily ventures
12. was born and raised on a tropical island
13. willingly chose to move to southern Idaho from that tropical island
14. has had four c-sections
15. has really nice legs... legs that 18 year-olds might envy
16. has sewn 75% of my church clothes throughout my entire life
17. has sewn 75% of the window treatments, comforters, table linens, decorative pillows, etc. for her house
18. has children who crave her cooking
19. is always the favorite employee wherever she works
20. has a brother whose childhood torments toward his five sisters makes for funny stories
21. gets down to business
22. spends all of her vacation time camping
23. is the most organized camper you'll ever meet
24. has a son who swears she has her own personal hole in the ozone layer because of her extensive stash of aerosol hairspray
25. can be really shy
26. used to ask me "would you like me to break her nose?" when I have reported mean girl situations
27. never gossips (even when I want her to)
28. has a serious weakness for cookies
29. is one tough cookie
30. throughout my childhood, always thought trampolines were too dangerous to own
31. when I was just about to leave for college, she changed her mind about trampolines
32. can identify nearly any plant (domestic or not) in a most non-chalant manner
33. chops and hauls her own firewood each year
34. has instilled musical talent into each of her kids through years of lessons and "reminding"(and is still at it)
35. makes desserts to-die-for
36. is faithful to Clinque
37. is way overqualified for every job she has had in the last ten years
38. thinks the scent of plumeria blossoms is heaven
39. has to be outside for a big chunk of time in order to have a successful weekend
40. adores her granddaughter and isn't afraid to show it
41. 's pillow smells like Nexxus Humectress, as does her mom's
42. is really smart even though she doesn't think so
43. passed her frequent need for a nice bath to her oldest child
44. forgave me for losing some of her most sentimental jewelry and lots of other things
45. is a really good primary teacher
46. believes that if one is going to do something, one should do it right
47. is loved and appreciated more than she knows

Burley, Baby!

We love our new purchase!

Neuf

There were a lot of movies in 2009 with the number nine in their titles. Sorry, but here is another nine making it's debut!


Mia continues to revel in bath-time. I usually try to get in a good hair session because I can actually comb it while it's wet and lathered in conditioner, and Mia can be distracted by her rubber duck.
Our weekly post-church photo (note- whatever is on her feet before we leave rarely makes it home in place):

Mia is beginning to look at books on her own now. I am amazed that this increasingly mobile chick can still sit through books as long as "One Fish, Two Fish..." (it really goes on forever!).

I now have good reason to vacuum and mop daily. At her angle, Mia finds things that are invisible to the naked adult eye. Yesterday, she found this cricket (we get lots of visitors where we live) and thought it was so funny to try and catch it as it hopped away. This morning, she put a stink bug in her mouth before I could grab it out of her hand. It sprayed its juices (is that what it does?) and Mia cried. I wasn't sure whether to call poison control, or laugh. She spit it out and drank lots of apple juice to wash the stink down. Yum!
Crawling in dresses & pantyhose on hardwood floors is like having a built-in treadmill.

Mia keeps giving this smirk lately. I like to assume it is a look of contentment. Great Aunt Kathy thinks it's actually a fake smile that she flashes when she's being annoyed. Who knows?