Random Stuff

All Dressed Up With Nowhere to Go
Grace just needed to dress up, do her nails, make-up, and hair. She wasn't preparing to do a dance performance or go anywhere. Just wanted to feel pretty! So we snapped a picture. The little swing in her hip looks so natural, doesn't it?

 And Millie wanted to join her in the picture taking...

And so did Claire...

Crazy Hair Day
It started out like this, but the wire hurt so she made me take it out. At least we got the picture!

Gracie's birthday card and presents for Mommy
She didn't just give them to me. She hung them on the wall above my bed. She would have just kept adding more and more hair bows to tape up, but I suggested that was enough.

Sexual Discrimination
And so it begins! The first note to go up on a bedroom door, announcing that some in the home cannot enter. There was a major typo in the first draft--to not allow girls! Boy, they fixed that one quick! I'm not quite sure who they were trying to tell not to come in. We still don't have any boys except for Daddy...I think we NEED a brother in this home to set some things straight.

Claire Meets Snow
Well, she met it last year, but everything still feels like new because she was too little last year.

Pure cuteness!

Brushing Power Struggle
This little thing is the most difficult one to get to brush her teeth! She will NOT let us brush her teeth! I'm worried about the amount of cavities she'll have at her first dentist appointment. On this particular night, she just lounged in her Tinkerbell chair with a look as if she is IN CHARGE! A little reminder that we have no power over her when it comes to the teeth.

Beauty Queen in Jammies
Doesn't matter if her hair isn't done...all she has to do is smile!

Ballerina in the Making
Grace has come up with some new ballet moves! She is becoming quite the dancer! We love every performance she does!

Tickle Time with Daddy
Even though it seems we don't get enough time with him ever, Daddy sure knows how to make it "quality time' for the girls. He started out with a tickle game tickling them, but in the end, they got him down on the ground in laughter.

Roller Skating Lessons
Millie has a new pair of roller skates so this gives her an opportunity to master yet another skill. She loves taking a difficult task and figuring out how to do it.

Making Cookies with Mariana
These little women were in heaven making sugar cookies with Marianna, our dear friend.

Gracie's Prayer Tonight

You had to be listening closely to catch the words of the dinner prayer tonight. Why doesn't God answer this prayer? Believe me, she isn't the only one praying for it!

"...And please help us that we won't be mean. I've prayed for that one-hundred times and you haven't answered it yet, so please remember it this time..."

Halloween and Such

Halloween
Oh, it's easy to please our little girls with Halloween costumes! All they wanted to be was what they try to be most days: ballerinas and fairies with mommy's make-up on!

We thought it would be pretty cold that night, so Gracie was concerned. She really doesn't like wearing a coat, leggings, or anything too warm. During her prayer over lunch she prayed that it would be warm enough while trick-or-treating that she wouldn't have to dress warmly. We were surprised to actually have nice weather, and for awhile there, these costumes were enough!

Halloween Parties:
Our Ward party was such a blast! Here is our family picture. Millie was a pirate, Grace was a praying mantis ballerina, and Claire was a dancer.

Grace and Millie both went to Miss Kristi's preschool party. Grace was dressed as an Ant Ballerina (because she couldn't find her praying mantis glasses), and Millie as a Fairy.

At Grandma and Grandpa Yorgason's Halloween party, Millie was a queen. She asked Grandpa to pull out her tooth that has been dangling for a couple weeks. Grandpa gave it a good pull, then he left the last part for Millie to do on her own. She gave it a quick tug and got it out herself! That made for a VERY happy Millie Mae!

Fall Art
Grace's rendition of Painted Pumpkins...

Real leaves from our hike, made into a tree by Millie...

Leaves we got from our hike, rubbed with fall colors...

And Millie's fall tree with poked holes for sunlight to shine through...

Wedding

It was a joyous occasion one Saturday in October to have our very own family wedding in the backyard!

The Bride, Tessa, looked as beautiful as can be...

The Bridesmaids were joyful and supportive...

The Maid of Honor helped serve refreshments prior to the ceremony in order to entice the bride and groom to stick around for a few minutes...

And the matchmaker was honored to actually perform the wedding...

Here's the post-wedding kiss (that we hope sparks romance for these two)...

And the entire wedding party gathered for one last picture...

We REALLY hope these two decide to have babies soon!

Our Best "Treasure Hunt" Ever

We had a very memorable treasure hunt with our girls a couple weeks ago. They went to the first clue and found this...

The second had this...

This was the third...

And the fourth...

And last, but not least...

Still, they didn't get it. So we set it all out (asking all the while, "why was there a diaper, and bottle, etc?) and helped them sound out all the words. Finally they got it! Millie had a big smile and asked, "Is it TRUE?" She was ecstatic about the news! Gracie, on the other hand kept repeating all day long, "I don't want you to have another baby!" She got over the bad news by the next day, and is happy about it now. But she insists that she wants us to have a girl! Claire is still pretty oblivious, but she'll catch on eventually. 

We're so excited to have another child coming to our family. We had a little scare at first with some tests and thought we were going to have another miscarriage. So when we went in for the ultrasound, and saw a heartbeat right away, we were filled with gratitude. Now we're 14 weeks along and due April 25th. I'm finally past what was a very difficult first trimester. The fatigue this time was worse than ever before. It's SO nice to have my energy back again! As for finding out the gender, we are still in limbo. Paul would love another surprise baby. I'm not so sure I want to wait that long to find out. We'll see who is more convincing!  :)

Tooth Fairy Alert!

Part I
Millie noticed at least 6 months ago the slightest bit of looseness to her front tooth. Since then, she has announced to everyone that she has a loose tooth. And she has been asking for months when she will lose her first tooth. We've read plenty of library books about the Tooth Fairy, and the suspense has been high!

One blessed morning in September, just minutes before going to the dentist (incidentally), Millie tried opening a container of play-dough with her teeth. In her words: she said it hurt her teeth, and she thought it might have made them come up. She worried her friends would think she looked funny, so she ran to look in the mirror. That's when she saw the missing tooth and the blood! She quickly grabbed some toilet paper and called out the exciting news!

We never found her tooth! So her story was, "I lost my tooth, and I lost it!" Throughout the day, I would find her sneaking in front of the mirror to get a look at her teeth. She asked a few times, "Did I really lose my tooth?" and "Are you sure this looks different than before?" So funny!

Luckily, the dentist had a nice plastic tooth necklace for Millie to put under her pillow so that the Tooth Fairy would know to come. Millie came in during the night (proving her Mom's suspicions) to tell us what the Tooth Fairy had left her: a tooth-shaped note and a dollar bill! The next day, she took her note and dollar everywhere she went to tell the story to all. She got thinking at one point, and asked us, "Is the Tooth Fairy really real?" Our reply, What do you think, Millie?

Part II
Now, a few weeks later, the new tooth is pushing it's way up, and Millie's second front tooth is being wiggled loose. She is again SO excited for it to come out. Every day she gives it lots of wiggles to loosen it, and she has begged relentlessly for Daddy, Mommy, and even Grandpa Yorgason to pull it out. She is a brave soul when it comes to something she really wants! Here's one (real, not staged) attempt by Daddy to get it out...

Hopefully not a Tattoo!

Over General Conference weekend, we were enjoying a nice Sunday up with family in Paradise when Paul accidentally got a tattoo. He was trying to stop a go-cart that was headed out of control when he leaned across the engine and burned his forearm. Here's a picture...

As you can see, the engine burned a pretty little (big!) design on his arm. Twice, while in Bishop interviews, ward members caught a glance of it and stopped mid-sentence to ask, "Bishop, do you have a tattoo?"

It seemed so bad at first that we started to wonder if it would leave a scar.  I wondered what it would be like to have to explain that story over and over again. But the body quickly got to work with the miraculous healing process, and we are now hopeful that most of it will fade. Still, crazy to see what a little go-cart accident can do!

Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park

We had a fun family outing on Saturday at Liberty Park, trying to help the girls experience something new while enjoying the nice fall weather. They were fascinated by Tracy Aviary's bird show, where we got to see big birds (including this eagle) up close.

We walked through the park, following wild birds...

And for a minute there, we thought our girls turned into birds!

 Then we headed to the park's pond to feed the ducks and geese...

And ended up in the fun park for awhile...

The First Day of School

A couple weeks before Kindergarten started, Millie started getting so excited. It seemed like she grew up a lot right in time and she was so ready for it! It was fun going to the first day of school together for orientation info...

But then it was "boring" waiting all week until her class really began. SO on the "real" first day of school, she was VERY ready to go. She made a cute pose for the picture, gave me a hug and a kiss, and was off to school! No tears. No sadness. All smiles! She has Mrs. James, who we really like. Today Millie commented that "Mrs. James doesn't seem like a grandma or a mom." I couldn't quite figure out what she meant by that! I asked, "Does she just seem like a teacher?"

Grace is following in Millie's footsteps and attending Ms. Kristi's "Oceans of Learning" Prcschool. It is all very familiar, and she has adjusted well. Mommy is a teacher assistant some days, and she finally decided that she likes that. I think singing is her favorite, because she loves coming home and performing her songs for us. She also loves playing house for choice time--I've watched her take charge and tell the other girls who they are and what they can do. I guess that's a perk to being one of the oldest!  

 

Monarch Magic

Every year we hunt for monarchs. This year, we found 11 cute little caterpillars to share with cousins, friends and classmates. They ate and grew and ate and grew, and headed to the top of the jars to make a chrysalis. Ten days later, we had some very excited girls! They loved holding them and watching them learn to fly. And I always love the reminder from watching the entire process: We were made to be so much more than we can see in ourselves right now--we are "created in the image of God" and have a "divine destiny and purpose" (Family Proclamation).

Gracie, the Birthday Girl

Grace waited patiently, but anxiously for her 4th birthday! She knew months ago that she wanted to have a "Tiana" party. She helped with the planning and writing up invitations. Then Daddy took her to deliver them to her friends. And the count-down started again!

When her birthday finally came, Grace's friends came dressed up in princess gowns with big smiles on their faces. They colored and decorated princess crowns, then played "kiss the frog" (hot potato with a stuffed frog), "Princess, princess, frog" (duck, duck, goose), and a princess balloon game. We sang, ate frog cupcakes, ice-cream cones, and then opened presents. With their party favors in hand, the little princesses left happy as can be. Again, we proved that a simple party can please these little ones!

My favorite moment of the party was when they were eating ice-cream. We started going around saying what we love about Grace. They said she was nice, that they love her smile, her clothes, her hair, etc. and then her dear friend, Lucy Taylor, said, "I just like Grace!" and then clarified again, "I like her!" It was so sincere and sweet! She taught us all a lesson--to love the person, not just things about them.

Here are some fun facts about Grace at age four:

Favorite Activities:
playing with Barbies
coloring--she is an efficient and meticulous artist!
reading--she loves when we read to her, but she'll sit down daily to read on her own as well
dress-ups and dancing
preschool with Ms. Kristi
"quite time" with a show

Favorite Foods:
oatmeal
pepperoni
pears
lil' smokies
Parmesan cheese
mangos
pizza
rice
apples
noodles
gum
blow-pops

Less-known Facts about Grace:
She has a very loud cry, which means she has great lungs for singing!
She has strong nails that are beautiful, but dangerous at times
She intensely loves her Sunday School teachers, Brother and Sister Williams, and sometimes contacts them during the week
She has a very compassionate heart
She is quick to express love and affection
She is careful to do what she is supposed to do
She loves to laugh at Claire

Grace, we love you so much and don't know what we would do without you in our family!