Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

From what I hear I am in need of some so called teeth. According to mom and dad, even just the bottom two will do. The people around here aren't giving me any of the tasty food I see them eating and they aren't falling for my pleading stares. They just say that I need these teeth first. I think you know I deserve this, especially since I so happily smile and giggle through all my big sister's rough play.

From a nice boy,

Tank


Dear Santa,

As I am sure Ed the elf has reported to you that I have been pretty nice this year. It has been a big year for me adjusting to a new city and a baby brother. I think I've done a pretty good job adapting. So, I'd really like a robot this year. Mom and dad keep frantically saying that I want a dollhouse from you, but this is not the case.

From a nice girl,

Little Bug

PS: I do have an important question for you. Was it my grandma that got run over by the reindeer?



Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread making

Interesting fact; Little Bug will not eat cakes and cookies, but she will happily eat gingerbread that has sat out on the counter for two weeks.

Dasher and Prancer

We were graced with Dasher and Prancer visiting our little town. Little Bug wanted to know why Santa was letting them be there. We had gone earlier in the week to give them some treats (raisins and oats), but Little Bug said she wanted to come back with carrots because they were longer. I don't blame her, they are pretty intimidating.

There were lots of stare downs such as this. Little Bug not quite ready to muster up the courage to fork over the food and the reindeers eying what was hopefully soon to be their treat.


She is just not too sure about that reindeer's intentions.

Ballet

Little Bug started taking ballet a few months ago. It is by far her favorite activity of the week, even ahead of swimming. It is pretty cute watching a bunch of 3-5 year old girls dance around in pink tutus. I had visions of getting really cute photos with puffs of pink everywhere, but they don't let the parents into the actual dance studio during the session. You instead watch through glass windows. So, I had to settle for being an obsessed mom by poking my camera through the door.

Here she is her first day outside our house.


All lined up and ready to dance!


And a sticker for doing such a good job.


We have since gotten her ballet shoes that fit.

Three years

Little Bug,

We were in awe the first time we gazed upon you. Your dad cried tears of joy and I thought you were the cutest baby I'd ever seen. Thank you for all the love, energy and kindness you bring to our home. Happy 3rd birthday to our little girl.


This year also marks the year of finally figuring out what Little Bug will eat for a birthday cake, tart! Her two previous cakes went untouched. She loved her very own personal sized tart decorated with pink sprinkles and candles.




Things we must remember about our 3 year old Bug;

• She loves cleaning dishes in the kitchen sink, but the dishes have to be clean first.


• She loves cleaning the bathroom sink (with mass amounts of water) a wash cloth and special cleaning soap.


• She loves cooking with her own kitchen supplies.


• She is still afraid of the vacuum.


• She refuses to use her bathroom stool and toilet seat cover because she is a big girl now. She has only fallen in the toilet once.


• Every time I make the bed, she hides underneath our pillows, then jumps on them, and finally tosses them overboard. Every time.


• She hates shoes and socks. Seriously. They come off in stores, shopping carts, the car and if they are somehow still on when arriving back home, they're off within seconds. And now she is even pulling Tank's socks off.


• She likes having control over the tv remote. It must be beside her while watching netflix.


• She still will not eat fresh fruit, but loves fruit leather and dried blueberries.


• Her most frequent meal is noodles cooked in olive oil and salt.


• She must dance while running around the couch every night before bed, preferably with "loud" music.


• She thinks getting dressed and doing her hair in the morning makes for a fun game of chase.


• Lately, she is saying she doesn't want to do things because "it's not fair." We thought that was suppose to start in 10 years?!

Happy birthday Little Bug!

First snowfall

Andrew taught Little Bug what to do with a snowball.


Daddy:0
Little Bug:1

My Tank

Five

To the man who still opens the car door for me. I often wonder how I got so lucky. Happy 5th anniversary!

Happy Halloween!

From our good little witch


and ferocious lion.



This was the first year Little Bug went trick or treating. It took a little coaxing to get her to that first doorstep, but that's all it took for her to get hooked. Soon she was giddily sprinting from house to house. Tank was a trooper and his fearsome looks also scored him some treats that mom and dad enjoyed.

Pumpkin Patch

We love pumpkin patches around here! This year, Little Bug was able to catch her first "real" roller coaster, aka a simple up and down loop. This is the before shot. She was pretty darn excited.


I was too busy consoling her afterwards to snap the after shot.


Now, if only Little Bug would be consistent with what she wants to be for Halloween...

Fight

Recently my dad has had a slew of health problems. About six months ago we found out he has serious heart disease. The doctors were amazed he had not had a heart attack. Especially considering the week before he was diagnosed he had gone snow camping with the scouts. High elevation and cold weather should have slowed his blood flow enough to have caused a massive heart attack. We were grateful to God for his life then.

About three months ago he had a very rare and severe reaction to his heart medication that left his liver unable to function. Such a sever reaction to the medication led the doctors to discover he has stage 4 lymphoma. Usually lymphoma is very treatable. However, he was diagnosed with both the intermediate and aggressive subtypes making it difficult and risky to treat. The doctors had him on chemo days later and stated if the cancer had gone undiagnosed for two more weeks there would not have been anything they could have done. We are grateful such a severe reaction led the doctors to the bigger problem and feel blessed to see the hand of God in his life. I know the Lord will take him when he wants him, I just hope it is not quite yet. I now suddenly have the painful realization I will never be old enough to loose my father.

He is on a particularly hard and rough chemo cycle. He spends two and a half weeks in the hospital and roughly a week and a half at home to complete one round. He needs a total of 6 rounds and should be done with chemo at the end of February/beginning of March next year.

I just had the opportunity to spend 3 weeks at my parents helping out and most importantly visiting my dad daily at the hospital. I am grateful for many things: for the miracle and blessing of his life, for the privilege of having a father who did nothing short of providing me with a wonderful life and ever inspiring example of generosity and goodness, and for the fight he has within him.

It should be mentioned...

I turned 30 and am thereby now suddenly filled with all the wisdom, knowledge and experience to be taken seriously in life.

I was still at my parents on my birthday, so Andrew surprised me by flying into town early! It was so nice to share my 30th surrounded by family, including my father. Little Bug helped put the candles on my tart and I laughed when I saw a candle so creatively placed right in the center of a tasty raspberry.

Pasta

The other day I wasn't feeling too well and a friend brought over some homemade chicken noodle soup. As I got to eating it, I noticed that the noodles in the soup were also homemade and extra tasty. This reminded me that my mom had gotten me a pasta roller for Christmas 10 years ago. Yes, 10 years ago and I have been carting it around with me ever since (it is pretty big). The funny thing is, I asked for the pasta roller that year. So, today it finally got pulled out of the box (I am pretty impressed I even knew where it was). After wiping the dust off of it, I got to work making my own homemade noodles. The dough was pretty easy to make and very fun to roll out. Can't wait for dinner tonight!

Sweet dreams

Straight hair

I have been curious for a while what Little Bug looks like with straight hair. I was never able to convince her to let me use a straightener on it. Today I let curiosity get the best of me and offered her a bag of fruit snacks in exchange for doing her hair. I am pretty sure I could have gotten it straighter, but I only had the length of time it took Bug to finish her small bag of fruit snacks. I actually think she looks quite a bit different. That, and I am afraid it is almost time for her first haircut. We will have to see if her curls last after such an event. I think it is going to be more traumatizing for me than her.

Our little man

Not quite a fish

In a few weeks the outdoor sprinkler parks and pools are closing for the season. We thought we should test Little Tank out in the water before this happened. Here he is ready to be plunked in.

I would describe his experience as indifferent.

That is until he got submerged more into the water. People at this point just thought we were cruel snapping photos of a crying baby. Bug really didn't understand why he would be crying doing one of the greatest activities in the world: swimming.

So she tried to console him with a kiss.

According to her this did the trick. However, we think being lifted a little out of the water had something more to do with it.

For some reason I can't get over it

I had no idea it would bring me such great joy to go out to my backyard and pick a large bowl full of tomatoes and by evening have a pot of freshly made spaghetti sauce for dinner. Next summer, I am definitely planting eight tomato plants again.

Birthday bash

Andrew's birthday recently came and went. He turned 31! Now it is pretty official he is in his 30's. Little Bug and I thought he deserved a new suit this year. So, the Saturday before his birthday we blind folded him and drove him to the Men's Warehouse. For the record, it is pretty hard fooling this guy what direction you are driving. As in, I'd ask him what direction we were driving and he'd say, "west" or "now we're going northeast." Who knows that?! Especially while driving blindfolded. The only reason I know what direction we are ever driving is because our car has a little automatic dial that tells you. Although he knew what direction we were going, he had no idea he was about to get a new suit. It was a pretty fun surprise. And check out that blindfold. It is a scarf I can't wait to wear in the fall.

On his actual birthday we had family over for dinner and Bug was more than happy to bake him his favorite lime cake for the event.


While creating this post it got me thinking about Andrew's last birthday when he got a surprise visit to Utah. First off, how has it been a year already?! Second, look at how much younger Little Bug looks? How can one go from looking like a baby to practically being a full fledged child in a year?! It makes me a little, ok a lot sad. And finally, wow did Andrew get a much better looking cake last year.

Time is flying by

Our little man is two months old today. We love this new addition to our family. He does everything he is suppose to - eats and sleeps! He is getting lots of cute baby chub and many people respond to him by saying he is huge. Our Little Tank is growing up quick!

He readily gives out smiles to anyone willing to tell him how wonderful and dashing he is. Catching them on the camera is another story. These two blurry ones are closest I've gotten.

Fish

Little Bug is a fish. She came out loving the water. It started with her adoring bath time and led to loving pools, sprinklers, water slides, water parks, and water tables. She even loves watering the garden (mainly because she comes inside drenched from the hose)...anything having to do with water this girl is in. Needless to say, Bug has spent the summer in the water. And I was happy to discover she has Andrew's skin that tans. I'm a little bit jealous of that one.



Bug going strong on hour three at the water park.

Utah

We just returned from a quick visit to Utah. I did a pretty lousy job documenting the trip, but it was filled with boating, trips to the park, swimming pools and snow cones! It was so cute watching all the cousins interact.

I was able to snap a shot of Little Tank meeting Grandma and Papa for the first time.

And a shot of these two cuties. I told them to be silly and this is what they gave me.

Little Bug was pretty sad to say goodbye. She ran up to cousin R and told her "I love you."

Hope we can all get together again soon!

'Playing'

When I was about five months pregnant, Little Bug and I were out shopping when another mom and little girl duo stopped next to us in the store isle. This little girl then looked at Bug and asked if she wanted to play. Little Bug responded by confidently exclaiming, "No, I have a baby brother to play with." Needless to say, it has been quite the wait for Bug. After this, we of course had to redefine the term 'play' by telling her Tank's form of play would be being fed and burped, at least for a while. So here she is with the much anticipated feeding/'playing' with baby brother.

I have to say, I had no doubt in my mind that once the novelty of baby brother wore off she would not like him. Granted, he is still pretty new, but she still likes him! Although I owe Little Bug an apology for completely underestimating her, I am still shocked.

Summer garden

We love our backyard for many reasons. One being, we finally had a spot to plant a garden! It has worked out pretty well; I was excited for the prepping and planting and Andrew has been happy about the maintaining and harvesting. We planted green beans, sugar peas, carrots, basil and tomatoes. In hindsight, we should have planted only one to two plants at a time to get more of each crop. Unfortunately, we don't have that big of an area to dedicate to the garden and have gotten sample size portions of some of our veggies.


Our first carrot. It was an anti climatic harvest.

We have eight tomato plants. I wonder what inspired me to plant that many tomatoes? Especially since I am the only one that likes them...

We all loved the sugar peas. Little Bug happily gobbled most of them up. Little Bug still has yet to expand her meat and dairy taste buds, so this was a big moment.

In addition, while my mom was here helping with Little Tank she planted us a beautiful flower garden in what use to be a dirt patch in the corner of our backyard. It is so nice to look at flowers instead of dirt.



Is it silly to say I am already dreading the end of summer?