Daddy's Girls

For Father's Day, we surprised Paul with some pictures of all his girls together. I was proud of Millie and Grace for keeping our secret for over 2 weeks. We sure love our Daddy!

18-Month-Old Claire

Claire is at such a fun stage! She is growing so quickly! It's no wonder we view 18-months as an important milestone--there's just so much that happens between age 1 and 2. Her vocabulary is multiplying daily. She is a little person with a mind and will of her own. She adds so much love and laughter to our home each day. Here are a few fun facts about her at 18-months old:

• She is as sweet as they come!
• So good at obeying, even when it's not what she really wants to do
• Is very social
• Loves to copy what her sisters are saying and doing
• Cares for her dollies each day
• Sings "Twinkle, twinkle" many times throughout the day (with the right tune but wrong words)
• Loves singing "Five Little Monkeys" and other fun songs
• Runs away from us EVERY time we try to get her dressed--she loves this game of chase!
• Always takes her dish to the sink when she is done eating
• Says words like: No, uh-huh, ice, mama, dada, dink, pease
• walks around imitating our words and sentences all day long
• Talks to Dadda on the phone every day at lunch, starting out with "hi, dadda!"
• Loves to be held

Millie at age 5

Words that describe Millie the best: determined, thinker, fun, social, smart, curious, tricky, creative, daring, excited, energetic, busy, feminine, friendly, negotiator


Favorite activities:

• practicing cartwheels and handstands and the splits in the living room
  
• drawing, coloring, & painting
• printing and making copies to color (sometimes 20 at a time)
  
• writing notes to friends and teachers by sounding out the words on her own
• riding her 2-wheeler bike as fast as she can down the sidewalk and back
  
• dressing up as Snow White
• listening to fun music and dancing around the living room
  
• playing make believe the she is someone else
  

Favorite foods: mac'n cheese, potatoes, lasagna, chinese
Favorite treats: brownies, cookies, 'smarshmellows', smoothies, and of course, bubblegum!
Favorite color: black, white, and all of the colors
Favorite Disney character: Tarzan (she has informed us that she LOVES him and she even wrote a letter to him this week!)

If she talked to you today, she would tell you...that she is 5, and she learned how to ride a bike in 2 days, and she knows how to skip "for reals" (followed by some skipping).

What we love and appreciate about Millie:

• She is always willing to help out with younger sisters
• Even at a young age, she loves to teach
• She responds well to responsibility and respect. lately, she has taken on the responsibility of feeding the rabbits and she has done very well with this.
  
• She loves Heavenly Father and Jesus. She wants to bear her testimony each month, and today she did it all by herself. Also, today, we found her crying in our closet because she had found a picture of Jesus that we had replaced. She was so sad that we had taken it down, and wanted all of the pictures in our house taken down until we had put Jesus back up again.

Irresistable...

The pie? Well, yes, that was too! But when Claire starts making a good eating mess, how can we not pull out the camera to capture her cuteness?

A Very Big Birthday

Millie has been counting down the days until her 5th birthday and whenever she talks to anyone, she is sure to say, "guess how many days until my birthday!" The day before Millie's birthday, Grace told me that she was going to be so sad on Millie's birthday. She was worried that Millie would change or not be her friend when she was 5.

We planned a last-minute party for her friends and Millie insisted on having a jungle theme. This was kind of random (we would expect princess, ballerina, or something girly--not jungle). But Millie has informed me that she loves Tarzan because of his muscles (boy, we are in for it!), so I'm guessing this had something to do with it.


When Millie woke up, Gracie graciously began giving her all of Gracie's favorite things. She offered her butterfly blanket that she sleeps with every night, her favorite stuffed animal "kitty", her two favorite stones, and more. Then we got to work doing party preparations. Millie spent the entire day practicing and conquering the skill of blowing up a balloon. What a determined girl!



Our living room was turned into a jungle. We played many fun jungle games and did all the usual birthday stuff. Millie got some great gifts from her friends. She was so surprised at how many gifts she received and how many surprise visits she got at the door. She started to think it was just going to keep coming and coming. At one point, she said something like, "I'm going to go look out the window to see who is coming next to bring me a present!"

Match #3--Eric & Rachel

We set up Eric Willison {from our ward} with Rachel Barlow {family friend} last Spring. He had a battle with cancer while they were first dating, and miraculously overcame it. That was a huge miracle! And the fact that Rachel stuck around, even when things were scary, was another miracle. They were sealed in the temple April 30th. It was a very joyous occasion! They are so perfect for each other and will be such an amazing couple. We are so glad to be numbered among their friends.

They gave us a huge trophy for setting them up, completely unaware that we have received a matchmaking trophy from Kent & Sara. A little ironic!

"The Sun'll Come Out..."

We've been on a big "Annie" kick lately. We took the girls to see a high school play and then we had to watch parts of both movies.


I love that they know the music now and we can belt the songs together in the car. As we drove to the library yesterday during the non-stop downpour, Millie decided that we needed to change the words to "The Rain 'ill come out...tomorrow!" It was fun to pretend that we love the rain and clouds and gloominess. Singing about it almost convinced me.

Whenever I feel like complaining about the rain, I think of Sister Wilkerson, my mission companion from Elko, Nevada, who LOVED the rain. She often thanked the Lord for the rain, and I was always surprised because I wasn't so grateful. I guess when you live in a dessert, you are always grateful for the rain. And I guess since we live in what is also considered a dessert, we should be grateful for the rain. But it's hard when there is flooding and day after day of grey weather in May.

On a brighter side, I am SO glad we got our gardens and pots planted over Mother's Day weekend before all this rain.




And here's what we have been doing inside lately...


Millie got a hold of more dress up make-up. She put sparkly lip gloss all over her eyes, and eyeshadow on her lips



which gave us good reason to play dress-ups and play all over the pillows


{Claire felt extra special with two tutus on--the fluffier, the better!}
Gracie prefers no tutu at all



And we discovered a new way to build. We used skewers to make 2-dimensional houses for the petshops.
Gracie did a fun hair-do with 6 ponytails

And Millie came up with some good art projects

Childlike Honesty

The other day, Grace touched my arm lovingly, and then said, “Mom, your arm feels squishy like Claire’s.”

“Oh,” I thought, “I’m pretty sure I know what she is saying.”

But then to reinforce the idea, she asked, “Mommy, are you going to be a Grandma soon?” I quickly answered, “No...”

So she added one more comment. “Mommy, you have arms like a giant!”

If she wasn't so naive and perfectly innocent, maybe I could have been a little offended about that. But I just had to laugh.

We are really working on communication right now, and boy, she got the point across clearly!

I know Summer is just around the corner. I know I'll be wearing short-sleeved shirts. So, thanks, Gracie! Now I have more motivation this week to wake up early and exercise! I'll try to think about that when I lay in bed at 6:45, trying to decide if it's an exercise morning or not.



And just now as I was talking with Millie, she randomly asked me to open my mouth wide (I thought for sure she would mention my fillings).

Then she said, "Mommy, I know some of your teeth are going to fall out!"

"Yeah? Why is that?" I asked.

"Because some of them are moving and going to pop out."

I had to wonder, should I get braces again? Then I quickly decided, na! That was not fun!

Again, no harm intended by little ones. Just the truth. And somehow, I don't mind, because they love me despite my imperfections and flaws.

Easter Egg Fun

Thatcher Family Easter Egg Hunt
We got to celebrate all month long, starting with a Thatcher cousin egg hunt over General Conference weekend. Grandma Thatcher loves giving a special gift to each grandchild and those are always a hit!






Coloring Easter Eggs
It just wouldn't feel like Easter without coloring eggs! Grandma Yorgason is best at keeping this tradition going, but since she is out of town, we took the initiative and did it on our own! This is one of those things that just gets more and more fun every year with kids. The girls loved experimenting with new techniques and double-dipping to mix colors. I wish these pictures captured how beautiful the eggs really were! I have struggled to crack them open and eat them because I love how they turned out!







The Easter Bunny's Surprise
We expected the Easter Bunny to come on Saturday morning, but he didn't! The girls didn't even remember though, so it was fine! And then he surprised us and came right in the middle of the day on Saturday! He sneaked in while we were having "quiet time" and managed to leave before we even saw him! The girls were ecstatic! They each wrote a note for the Easter Bunny, and luckily, he found the notes and wrote back to them!





Gracie ate all of her candy in one sitting! I was glad that there was only one jelly bean in each egg. That was a last-minute modification that turned out to be best!

This picture is making it in because it's proof that Gracie actually can share with Claire. We are working on that right now. Nice job, Grace!

Millie's Preschool Graduation Program

It's sad to see Millie's preschool experience coming to an end. They had an excellent graduation program at the Bountiful Library last week. The children each remembered their speaking parts well and they sang so many cute songs with adorable actions--all about "change." Millie was very conscientious and tried to perform perfectly. She knew her line so well and even had two singing solos she hadn't mentioned to us. We have loved Miss Kristi and are grateful for all she has taught Millie.

Grace-erella

This is probably the all-time cutest video clip we have of our Grace! The candid camera captures her cute singing when she is in her own little world and her ability to stick to it until the job is done. I can't help but start singing her song each day while I'm cleaning, and it has helped me laugh a lot more lately!

Art Class with Miss Dani

Millie and Grace were in an online art class the past 5 weeks with Miss Dani, our friend in the neighborhood. We learned so much about painting materials, basic art elements, and how to do more art at home. It has been very fun! If you missed her class, but want to buy a PDF with all the information and instructions, click here


Here are some highlights from the class:

Art Class at Dani's


(Here's Lucy, who happens to be our "favorite artist")
Art Projects at Home
What is it about getting paint all over your hands that turns the sillyness on?





No, this wasn't a part of class, but it was a way to use our leftover bubble paint. It cleaned right off!


Field trip to the Utah Museum of Fine Art
When we left the museum, Gracie said, "That was so much fun to see those art projects!" and she has since asked, "when do we get to go there again?" It's surprising that a 3-year-old would like a museum so much!







Art Exhibition

What a fun event! The kids felt so special as they displayed their beautiful art for all to see. And besides that, there was candy at every table and colorful balloons to take home! We were so glad that Mariana and Carolyn could come! The girls got to stand up in front of everyone and tell about their favorite piece of art. They were adorable!