Personality

This picture was taken last night as the girls and I were leaving the house to go pick up Kirk from the airport. The girls had been playing dress up when I asked them to get their pajamas on so we could leave. As they gathered their blankets and turned to leave the house I cracked up laughing. On their own accord and fitting to their true personalities, Kirsten is a butterfly and Audrey a monkey!

Reminiscing

Last week my aunt emailed me a couple pictures of our family taken at Garrett's wedding that she had recently found. Garrett got married three weeks after Audrey was born. Two and a half years ago. We look young, is it possible to age this much in two years? Audrey is so tiny! It reminds me how wonderful it is to be the mother to a brand new baby. The little stretches and yawns, the snuggling up and sleeping against my chest. I miss my little babies, but I sure love the little people they have become!
And although I took terrible in the picture of me with Camille and my mom I love it anyway. I don't have many pictures with my mom and sisters and it just makes me happy. I love that we were visiting and having fun together before this picture was taken.

Little Friends

My friend Layne was selected for jury duty so we've been watching her kids a couple days a week. Audrey has LOVED having Adam here to conspire with and make heaps of messes. Audrey also takes it upon herself to care for Ellie, holding her every chance she can. I have really loved snuggling with Ellie, there's nothing more fun than snugly babies. Anyway, we caught Audrey and Adam kissing again (and then made them do it again so I could take a picture).

A night with Audrey

We had family in town this morning and had a slow start on our day, I didn't shower until 1:30. So the girls took it upon themselves to get themselves ready for the day. After 15 minutes of dressing and finding the perfect accessories the girls were adamant about leaving the house. There is no where better to go dressed up as a princess than Walmart, so grocery shopping we went.
We arrived home about 3:30 and the girls were down for naps by 4, later than usual but no biggie, or so we thought. At 6:30 I attempted to wake Kirsten (who is sleeping on the couch) by talking loudly about blueberries (her favorite treat). Guess who perks up? Audrey, that girl sure doesn't miss a thing. From upstairs she starts yelling that she wants a blueberry. Kirsten never woke up, so we didn't leave the house as planned. Instead Audrey and I snuggled up and watched Little Mermaid (she was super frightened at the shark part and loved Ariel and Eric dancing when he showed her around the kingdom). Then Audrey danced around the room showing Kirk and I how to jump and land hard on our bums. At this point it had been 4 1/2 hours since she had gone to the bathroom and as her parents we were slightly concerned for our carpet. We were relieved when she declared it potty time and ran off to the bathroom. But imagine our surprise when 2 seconds later she returned with panties in hand saying "no potty yet". Then she calmly sat on the floor and put her panties back on. Uhhhhh, ok?! Dancing, twirling, jumping and plopping on the ground continues while Kirk and I wonder in amazement at her refusal to let an fluid out of her body. Finally ten minutes later she officially surrenders and gave in to her bladder bulging belly. The three of us then take 45 minutes worth of pictures. Audrey must have noticed my I unappealing ponytail hair because she ran and got her Dora comb and then proceeded to comb my hair, stopping every few minutes to fluff it and say "eauiful." We finally con her into going back to bed and after the routine when Kirk starts to leave the room Audrey whimpers out a "Kirsten!" Kirk promptly scooped up the (still) sleeping Kirsten and now everyone is happy.
Sometimes good nights just plop down from heaven and leave smiles on our faces.

My Little Helpers

The girls have been super helpful in the kitchen lately. Every time I head into the kitchen my little shadows aren't far behind. They pour, stir, turn on the mixer, roll out dough, and watch me cook on the stove. It's fun to have them in the kitchen participating so much. Hopefully our little chefs will start cooking for us soon :)

Potty Trained

It's true, our house is full of people who wear underwear. No more "did she poop" or "where are the wipes" or "go get a diaper please" or "did you put diapers in the bag?" And most importantly we just got $40 richer a month! Six months ago I did a crazy thing and decided to potty train both girls, by myself while Kirk was out of town. They both caught on really well and Kirsten was fully trained when we made her wear panties 24/7. Sure she had a couple accidents but she caught on quick and has had only two accidents since. I was not brave enough to pull them same thing on Audrey, so she kept wearing diapers at night. In the following 5 months we made five trips to Utah so I would potty train then put her back in diapers because I didn't want to deal with it while traveling. This confused the poor girls so even though she was ready she wasn't quite fully trained yet.
Well Thursday Kirk and I decided it was time. We got rid of the few diapers in the house and made her wear underwear. She didn't go down without a fight having 4 accidents in one hour (how is that even possible right? Leave it to Audrey she finds a way). The frustration was boiling over our rooftop, but we persevered. She caught on that underwear doesn't do much when you pee your pants and mom isn't very happy when you pee in the cart at Walmart (YES we apparently are those people!). And I am happy to report that in the past 60ish hours we have only had one accident including bedtime and naps! We were ecstatic when she woke up dry yesterday and took her out for ice cream. Hurray for the Howcrofts (we can finally all pee in the toilet!)

Sunbeam!

Today was Kirsten's first day in sunbeams! Four weeks ago when I picked her up from nursery the leader mentioned it was her last week in nursery. My draw literally dropped, I was totally taken back. Wait, what?! My baby girl is all grown up and going to primary?! Because of Christmas being on a Sunday and no nursery held she was headed straight for primary. I refused to acknowledge the facts and pushed the thoughts of her going to primary back like a bad dream. Ever since being released as a sunbeam teacher I have been incredibly bummed that I don't get to be Kirsten's teacher, I was really looking forward to it. Letting her go to primary without me in there was just, illogically, really hard for me to do. So it worked out well that the girls were sick last week when Kirsten was suppose to start primary. It gave mom a little breather time so no one (and I mean me) cried today when she became a full blown kid. She was ecstatic to go and really enjoyed it. When asked she totally preferred primary to nursery. Which just means she is in good hands even if they aren't mine. :)