More family in town!

This week we were lucky enough to get a visit from my Grandma Teddy and Aunt Gail, and also my Great-Aunt Pauline! It was so fun to get to see everyone and spend time together. Kenley has a special place in her heart for Grandma Teddy. They hardly ever see each other, but whenever she sees a picture, she always points out Grandma Teddy. On Wednesday we went to the zoo with my mom, and Gail was sweet enough to come along. Then Thursday we went back over for dinner. We took some cute family pictures!

The zoo:






Hanging out at Dad and Joanie's (sorry, I know it's total overload). I included one of Parker's sweet curly hair because we might chop it pretty soon.

At least we know she's not blind

So I'm reading a magazine on the couch last night and Kenley is looking over my shoulder, asking incessant questions. "What that baby name? What that mommy doing? What that daddy name? What that baby name?" Then suddenly we get to the page in the picture below and she goes, "Oh, there's Elmo!" I look at the page and do not see Elmo for the life of me. Give it a shot...


So I say, "Honey, I don't think Elmo is on that page." "Yes is! Right here!" See him now?


Still no? He's in the bottom left hand corner, just to the right of the bar code. He almost completely blends in because he's red and the box is magenta, but you can almost see his eyeballs. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you want. No lie, he's probably one millimeter wide and two millimeters tall. Sometimes my kid scares me.

Finally some Utah pics

Okay, I am a TOTAL slacker here. See, I was going to do this really funny Utah post, but I never had time to think of it all and write it. So instead of being funny, I'm just going to post the pictures of the trip we took almost three months ago. Oops. There are a TON of these, but James's family doesn't get the face time mine does, so I feel like I should be able to put in as many as I want. :)

Kenley playing with her cousin Connor


Okay, this day was so much fun. It was one of those days where you are having so much fun you can't decide whether to endlessly take pictures and hope you capture the joy, or just sit back and enjoy it. We went up and went sledding with Holly and Connor (left Parker at home), and it was so much fun. Kenley LOVED it. The little cousins were just so darn cute.





Snuggling with my cute niece Annika, holding her in my sling.


Trying to get a picture of four wet kittens in a bag. I mean, four young children. We took like a hundred pictures but this was the best we got. When will I learn that staged pictures just never work?


Annika smiling at her momma


This was the Children's Museum in Salt Lake. Soooo much fun! We spent three hours there and could have stayed longer. There was so much to do! There were two floors and this whole pretend town with a little play grocery store, construction zone, giant water table, a house, etc. Upstairs they had a theater and some science type stuff. Afterwards, we felt like it was money well-spent, but all Kenley could talk about (and still occasionally mentions) was that a girl took a pink pillow away from her. Gotta love toddlers.



Watching a movie together at their sleepover


Hanging out at some farm thing, we had a great time



Cute cousins


This picture is representative of all the friends I was able to visit while I was there. I got to see my old roommates Emily Kim, Emily Hawkes, and Autumn Skousen. I also got to hang out with my San Diego friends Jen Taylor and Sheena Menke. I wish I'd gotten pictures with everyone, this is with the Kim kiddos.


Kenley with Maren and Tyson. This was our first time getting to meet Tyson, who is marrying Maren in a few weeks. We loved him and especially how much time he spent at the Hampton home while we were there. We really felt like we were able to get to know him, and we are so excited for him and Maren. Kenley, at first, was totally scared of Tyson. She would actually turn her back to him if he was in the room, or rearrange food at the dinner table so she couldn't see him. But he kept trying, and one night he and Maren took her out on some errands and came back with a Minnie Mouse animal for her, and she was smitten. She loved spending time with these two. Oh, and she sleeps with Minnie every night.


Cute pictures with Grandpa and Grandma Hampton




Whew! So, all in all a really fun trip. Lots of good food (two back-to-back Cafe Rio trips, yum!) and time spent with family and friends. It was fun for us to get to spend time with the whole Hampton family and for us all to be together. We can't wait to see you all again when we come next month!

The Ups and Downs

Today was actually a pretty hideous day. Both my kids cried for hours, which I am never overly fond of. But there were a few moments that made me smile.

On our run this morning, Kenley tells me, "I need a firefighter for my itchy bum," which I believe originated from me telling her the ambulance speeding by was going to get someone who was hurt.

Then, later she announced that she wanted to wear a swimming suit. "Well," I told her, "you're about to start your quiet time in your room, so you can wear whatever you want." "Okay! I want to wear my bikini over my dog costume!" Huh. I wouldn't have put those two together myself, but then again I am no fashionista.

Hey locals, I need a favor!

I have tickets to go to Time Out For Women this Saturday downtown, and the person who was supposed to watch my kids is doing something else that day. Soooo... I'm trying to find a sitter from about 9:30-4:30 to watch both kids, either at your own house or my mom's. Any takers? I would even be willing to skip part of the day if I could go to at least some part of it. If you're available, e-mail me and we can work out time, place, and payment. Oh, this would preferably be someone I actually know, and not one of my blogstalkers. ;)

Busy busy day

Well, Saturday was quite the day. First we hung out as a family up here at our own house in the morning (the fact that that is so rare that it just made it onto my blog is a little sad to me, actually). Then we headed down to San Diego for April's reception. But first a little side trip to the Allied Gardens Spring Fest. I know, super random. Kirk works down there and they had a booth, so we all went. They had little rides and stuff, and we all wanted Kenley to do the pony ride, but she was insistent that all she wanted to do was go on the bounce house obstacle course. Finally we essentially forced her to ride on the pony, and sure enough, she loved it. Although, when prompted about what we did at the party, she will tell you, "Ate popcorn." Sigh. The highlights for kids are always different from what we expect, I guess.




Then back to my mom's for a little rest, and then up to Ramona for the wedding reception. It was so much fun and April looked so gorgeous! It was great to see so many friends. When April left to go get changed to leave, Kenley kept asking, "Where'd the princess go? Where'd the princess go?" She thinks we went to a ball, and if you slip up and call it a reception or a party she will quickly correct you. Probably didn't help her misinterpretation that they handed out wands with ribbons to wave as the happy couple left.

It was so fun to see Leah and little Boedy, and Erin and all her kids. The four of us old friends managed to come together for one miracle moment, complete with a camera, and actually get a picture at the reception. I miss you girls!


Both my kids LOVE to dance. I have no idea where they got that trait, but it's cute. It's amazing how kids can make everything more fun, even something you think you hate, like dancing. They were holding hands and dancing together, and Kenley had to keep stopping to give Parker hugs and kisses.



So that was our day! And then we went home to Murrieta. I drove about 200 miles in all on Saturday. Please don't calculate how much it cost me in gas. I don't even want to know. :(

A few little movies of Parker...

Okay, I hate uploading movies. Blogger was being LAME and wasn't working, so I used dropshots, and it's cutting off the endings. So later when James isn't waiting for me to get off the computer, I'll upload them someplace else, but for now, you can get the idea. Grrrr....

Well, our biggest news around here is that Parker is walking! Just up and did it one day, and now he's a walking maniac! Check him out...

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I also included a little video of Parker's picky eating. It's not as bad as it sometimes gets, because he's not actually gagging, and he doesn't stick his fingers very far back to reach the offending food, but it still gives the general idea...

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Some cute movies of Kenley

Here is one that I wish was better. It's so hard to get video of Kenley because she always wants to watch it instead. Anyway, she was prancing around listening to a little Jungle Book CD and singing "Bear Necessities" and it was so precious. I got a very little bit of it, and it's pretty cute.


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Then, here is a video I took today. Sometimes my kids' milestones just jump out of nowhere and it hits me that they are growing up. A few weeks ago I was switching some wash, and I noticed some lip gloss in the washer that Kenley had put in her pocket, and I realized I was going to have to start checking her pockets, and seriously guys, it made me SO SAD! Like, what a big girl, you know? So today was another one of those mini-milestones. I go into her room and she has this whole little "event" set up with her Cinderella figurines and her trains, and it's the first time she's really set up her toys like this, other than a tea party or something. And it just seemed like suddenly she was older, like a real little girl. At the end of this video, she is telling me she set it up for a party, but the movie cuts off. Argh...


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Finally, a sort of sober story to end the post, but just a little reminder. One of the interesting things about being a parent is feeling that God is using me and helping me to protect these sweet little people. I constantly feel these promptings about my kids, and they're just so little. And usually I realize them in retrospect, like right after Kenley has puked and I think, "You know, I was looking right at that extra pair of shoes thinking I should throw them in the car for some reason and I didn't, and I should have." But then every once in a while I'll feel something, and I'll do it, and then later it is just clear to me that I had that feeling for a reason. So tonight we went to In N Out with a friend of mine. Before we went in, I debated about bringing my diaper bag. I thought to myself, "I don't really need it, the car is right here if I need to change a diaper...." But then I just felt like I should, so I did. So we ordered and sat down outside, and Kenley spilled her drink so I went to get napkins. When I came back outside she was standing on the bench and walked toward me, and I don't even know what happened, I guess she just didn't see it end or maybe she tripped, but she went tumbling headfirst from standing on a bench, right onto the concrete. And you know what? She landed with her head right on that bulky, pesky diaper bag. She was so shaken up and so was I. I was so glad that we had averted a much more painful and scary experience. So the moral of the story? Pay attention to those promptings, especially when they involve your kids. I'm so glad she's safe.

Easter

I told you I was going to get caught up someday! Plus, I just wanted to stand out a little and do my Easter pics in April instead.

Our Easter was really fun. We did Easter baskets on Saturday because James had to work Sunday morning. We spent part of Easter Sunday at my mom and Kirk's, and went to church with them. Then for dinner my mom, Kirk, Scott, and our family all went over to my dad and Joanie's for a delicious dinner of ribs. Joanie and Dad used Brooke's recipe for ribs, and seriously, it is the best thing ever. Dinner was fabulous, and so much fun. I am so lucky to have parents and stepparents who are willing to spend the holidays together. It's so much fun and so much less work than having to celebrate everything twice.

This is Kenley doing her egg hunting at both grandparents' homes. Note her awesome bedhead. For Kenley, the color of the egg was the MOST important thing. At our ward Easter breakfast, she was content with grabbing about 4 pink and purple eggs, and then just stepped right over all the other more inferior colors.



Here are the Easter portraits I did of the kids. I was all proud of myself because I got them ready by myself with plenty of time to do pictures before going to church. But they just would not cooperate. I got some of just Kenley that I liked, but none of Parker that I was crazy about, and NOTHING of the two of them together. Two cats in a bag, I tell you. Impossible to get a cute picture of the two of them together. The first one of them together is just ridiculous, and then the fourth one down is the cutest one I got of them together. Which, as you can see, is not that great. I really need to lower my expectations I think.






Then the rest of these are just assorted cuteness. I loved these bunny ears. I got them at Big Lots for a dollar. Kenley wanted them so bad and I thought, hey why not? She still enjoys wearing hers. Parker, not so much.

A little help, please?

Kenley has two things on her list for her rapidly upcoming September birthday that I anticipate having a hard time finding. She would like an Aladdin toolset, specifically a screwdriver, and a Lightening McQueen violin. So there you go. She also has 439 other things on the list, so if we don't get her these two things, I doubt she'll notice. As long as she has her cake with Hello Kitty, Lion King, Barney, Cinderella, and Dora on it.

Funny little story: earlier this week Parker was chasing after Kenley, trying to grab toys out of the ever-so-precious Nemo gift bag she uses as a purse. She was really frustrated and finally stomps out the door of my room and shouts, "I am going to find someplace SAFE to live!" Funny girl.

Yappity yap yap

I think this post will probably bore most of you, but I wanted to ruminate a bit on language acquisition. Hee hee, have I already lost you? It's amazing. Toddlers are amazing, how much they learn and how quickly they learn it.

Almost exactly a year ago Brooke and I made a list of the words the girls knew, and Kenley knew about 30 words (including Mommy, Daddy, shoe, bye-bye, etc.). Then around Halloween, just six months ago, I remember being impressed because she said her most advanced sentence yet: "I want candy IN MY MOUTH!" And now, oh man. She is just this little person that says things like, "What is this blue on my leg? Hmmm... maybe it's marker," and, "Can I please break these markers apart Daddy?" and, "I can't reach it by myself!" All of that in a year! And using these phrases that are sort of abstract concepts too, like "reaching." It's so cool to me.

I'm telling you, toddlers are unbelieveable. They learn these phrases on their own, their little brains hear you say something, file it away, and use it in the correct context at some later date. I love hearing her say new words. "Actually, I want to wear the pink shirt." "That is Cinderella getting married." She is hard to understand, but she's a good little talker.

A funny phrase she uses right now is, "That doesn't match!" It has two meanings to her - one, that something is in the wrong place, and two, that something doesn't make sense in her head. A toy in the wrong spot? That doesn't match! Our dog Lucy is actually Daddy's doggy and not hers? That doesn't match! It always makes me laugh.

But her best phrase of all is the spontaneous "I love you!" Oh, I love it! What could be better than that sweet little face piping up from the back seat, "I yuv you Mommy! So much!" Awwww....