Disneyland

Whew.  We knew that this trip would be a little different from the others, because we have never taken a baby before.  And babies don't care for sitting in a stroller or being carried in line ALL day - Jasmine wants to crawl around and explore and get hours of nap time on her schedule.  Thankfully, she adapted and survived, but it certainly wasn't ideal.

I brought my sling so I could carry the wiggler in line all day, and that did save us a lot of headache.  (And cause a lot of backache.)  And the miracle was when she fell asleep on the boat rides!  She has been a particular little sleeper, falling asleep when she is in her crib all alone, and she HATES cuddling.  So when she laid down her head and dosed off in Small World and again in Pirates of the Caribbean, it was a huge victory.

The part that made it more fun than usual is that Tyler and Kaitlyn are getting older.  First of all, that meant they were easier than ever to take care of.  Sure, we had to talk them into not climbing while waiting in line a bit, and Tyler ducked away from us a few times, but I remember from previous years that after days of trying to keep them from wandering off/touching things they weren't supposed to/running into people  I wanted to come home, turn on the TV, and not tell them what to do for a day or so.  And right now I want to wake them up and talk to them about what their favorite part was!

And as a bonus for having older kids, they are now tall enough to ride cooler rides!  Last year Tyler got to ride the Matterhorn, and this year I got to take him.  But the most amazing moment was when we got in line and he looked at the ride and told me I had to look out for the monster.  He remembered something . . . from a YEAR ago!  This kid forgets things from an hour ago!  In fact, when Grandma Skarda was dropping us off at the airport, he said that Mommy and Daddy were going on an airplane.  We've talked to him about Disneyland, and Kaitlyn has been counting down the days for a month, but he was convinced that he was going to stay at Grandma Skarda's while we were gone like he did while we were in Napa.  So we asked him if he wanted to go to Disneyland or stay at Grandma Skarda's, and he wanted to "go to Grandma's."

So the fact that he remembered the Yeti on the Matterhorn was totally awesome.

I asked him to tell me about the monster, thinking that he would make a scary monster face for me, but mostly he just looked really thoughtful and told me about the red eyes.

Tyler wore his Santa/Mickey hat the entire time, by the way.  And Jasmine decided her main goal in life was to yank it off his head.

She succeeded more times than I can count.  And Tyler just loves her so much that he would laugh and laugh.  He doesn't even complain when she grabs a fistful of his hair and yanks.  He just laughs and says "awww, baby Ja- mine likes me!"

Tyler also got to go on the Tower of Terror with Daddy.

He was a bit scared, but did alright.  The awesome moment was when they cut off the lights to make it more scary and Tyler said "turn the lights on please!" while everyone else was silent.  Christopher said he got a few laughs from that honest plea.
And when they were all done, he asked Tyler if it was fun.  "Yeah."
"Do you want to do it again?"
"No."

I took him on one of my favorites, the Thunder Mountain Railroad.  It's actually a fairly fast little coaster, and has three different climbs.  So when we got to the first pause, after racing through some tunnels with the red eyes of "critters" around us, Tyler turned to me and said "was it scary?" (He often asks us the question he wants to be asked, like when he is hungry and hops up in his chair to say "what does Tyler want?")
"I don't know Tyler, was it scary?"
"Yes!"

When I asked him if he wanted to do it again after that one, he told me no because "I already did fast train."  He does like checking things off his lists a lot.

The main attraction for Kaitlyn, however, is meeting characters.  She likes the rides a lot, but meeting the Princesses is what she talks about for weeks afterward.  She told me that she thought that it was just people pretending to be them, but her friend Lily told her they are really them, so she believes her.

And so I whipped up one more Tink costume.  This was my weakest effort by far, but it was the third time I have made Tinkerbell shoes, so I guess the challenge was just lost.  I sewed a green strip onto a T-shirt, dug out the skirt that is now too short (well, that probably makes it more accurate, actually), and called it a day.  Tink and her sister Periwinkle loved her shoes, so all was well.

Now, we had noticed in years past that Tyler got a little smiley and shy around the princesses, and that his favorite seemed to be Snow White.  But this time, the pretty girls were just too intimidating.

This is the family shot, since Tyler was standing ten feet away and clinging to a banister in case we tried to drag him closer.

So the girls had all the fun.

One of Tyler's favorite stuffed animals is his Tigger, so I was hoping that he would do better with a more approachable friend.

I don't know if this was actually better.  You probably can't tell from this picture, but Tyler ran and dove straight into Tigger, clinging for dear life.  It took some work to get him to let go and stand upright for a regular picture.

He hugged Pooh bear in a mostly normal way, at least.

But when Woody and Jessie came to the company party, Tyler tried to duck between Woody's legs.

Sigh.

And when we were in line for Buzz, he ran away.  So Kaitlyn got a picture and I left baby Jasmine with our friends while I ran after Tyler.

And the baby tried to go meet Buzz on her own.

But when Tyler got there, he ran in, hugged Buzz, and ran away again.

The good news is that he figured it all out in time to meet Merida!  She was less scary, I guess.

We went on a lot of rides . . .

. . . and had fun with our friends.

But my favorite moment of all was the fireside girl costume.  When I saw that there was a "Phineas and Ferb Dance Party" show, I told Kaitlyn that there would be big girls pretending to be Fireside Girls just like her.  I could tell that much from pictures online, but I didn't know what they would do in the show.  Kaitlyn told me that she would wear her costume, and then "they will see that I am a Fireside Girl too and they will have me come dance with them!"  I tried to let her down gently, but she was confident that they would know what a good dancer she is and want her to dance too.

So we went to see the show.  The Fireside Girls spotted her right away (because honestly, they had probably never seen a girl pick such a random character to dress up as in Disneyland) and started a dancing show with Phineas and Ferb.

Which Kaitlyn loved.

And then, the Fireside Girl pointed to Kaitlyn . . . and asked her to come out and dance with them.

Along with 20 other kids.  But STILL.  Kaitlyn was right!

And Kaitlyn was in absolute heaven.  She was utterly focused, from beginning to end, on doing exactly the same dance as the big girls.  And the smile never left her face.

The funny thing was, I think I was more floored than she was.  In her mind, this was exactly how she saw the day going.  And it was just as awesome as she knew it would be.

So that's one dream come true checked off right there!

(Oh, and Daddy took a video, posted here.)

Belated

Some things are just as good late as on time, in my opinion.  Or, at least, this week's events have been.

First up was fixing a Halloween failure, when Kaitlyn picked out what costume I needed to make her the night before Trick or Treating.  She wanted to be a Fireside Girl from "Phineas and Ferb", her new favorite show that is actually really fun to watch.

 She already owned the skirt and shirt set, so she helped me cut the patches for her "stash" and I made her a hat.  Done!

It isn't up to my usual level of perfectionism - the sash goes the wrong way, the hat matches the sash and not the shirt, etc.  But the only thing that matters is that when I finished it, Kaitlyn didn't want to take it off for two days.  She even wore it to preschool.  (As a side note, the first version of that hat turned out just like a chef's hat.  Oops!  That's what happens when I make things up as I go, I guess!)  And she is very excited to see the Phineas and Ferb show at Disneyland soon, dressed up "so I could dance with them!"

And today I have to say I was very proud of myself.  I always feel slightly put off about having Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws.  Obviously the holiday is about spending time with family, and we have a great time, but I have always wanted to try making a turkey dinner!  I was always told that I should be grateful to not have that stress, but I guess I just wanted to prove I could do it.  And since our grocery store gave me a turkey with the "points" I had earned, I got my chance this year.  A week late.

Ta da!

And ya know what?  I'm normally a modest person, but this dinner was dang good!  Rolls from scratch, a brined, juicy turkey, and my favorite sweet potato pone.  Mmmm.  And I didn't even get stressed once.  I figured the event was worthy of setting out fun snowman plates at our actual dining room table - the first time our kids have eaten there, I think (since the table sits on carpet).

And they loved it.

(Yes, Kaitlyn is wearing her PJs.  When her friends had to go home to take a nap, she declared that she was going to take a nap too, despite the fact that she hasn't had one in years.  So she changed into PJs and brought her pillow and blanket down to the couch.  I don't think she ever laid down on it, though.)

And finally, one more wishful thought come true: Minnie Mouse.

I found some Minnie Mouse ears a while ago, and the moment I saw Jasmine in them, I wanted to make her a Minnie Mouse costume.  But she already had the elephant costume for Halloween, and I didn't see any fabric I liked at the store, so I stashed that thought away.  When I found some on another wandering trip later, however, I decided to just go for it.  If nothing else, I can take the Mouse off the front and it is a normal church dress!

So apparently this year, I am making more costumes for Disneyland than Halloween.  Huh.

Baby on the move!

Well, I have to start off this post with my favorite news of all.  After two and a half years of potty training Kaitlyn, and one year of Tyler, they are both TRAINED.  I have always hesitated to use that word, because they would be fine for a week or so, and then have accidents, but they haven't had an accident in a month or two - and I don't even remind them to go anymore!  (Tyler has had a few accidents when he had the runs, but we'll let that slide.)  Hallelujah!  After months and months of Tyler starting every single #2 as a mess in his underwear, I can't tell you how amazing it is to find him running to the potty to take care of it all by himself.

Of course, I celebrated in probably the worst way possible.  I bought cloth diapers for Jasmine.

I have been contemplating this for years.  And especially this last year, when I kept wishing I actually had more to go in the wet and poopy load in the washer.  I didn't want to mix it with other clothes, and I didn't want to delay the load too long, but I also didn't want to run a load for just one pair of messy underwear!  We have a diaper sprayer on our potty already, which is an awesome invention, and disposable diaper liners we used for a while with Tyler too.  So I was basically there already . . . and still throwing out diapers.  The problem is that cloth diapers cost $20 each normally.  Since you need a lot of them, that adds up FAST.

So when I found a company that ships direct from China and sells them for $6 each, I jumped.

The funny thing is that my sister-in-law was trying to figure out why I am doing this, and it just didn't make sense to her.

"Is it because they are eco-friendly?"  Well, that is a great thing, but I'm not exactly an eco-nut.
"Do you think she will potty train better?"  Probably.  Perhaps.  I'll take any help I can get on that.
"Do you need to save money?"  Um, sure!  Who doesn't? I have to wash them 30 times to break even, but after that we're gold.
"Then WHY?"  Because . . . I wanted to?

None of this was very convincing.  And truly, I'm not going to be the most committed girl out there on it.  So far the cloth ones haven't broken in enough to handle overnight, so she still wears disposables at night.  And I'm not going to take cloth diapers on trips with us.  But we'll give it a shot around the house!

And speaking of around the house, Jasmine finally figured out crawling.  I wasn't really in a rush to keep all my floors immaculate and break out the baby gates, but towards the end she would just sit and sob if something she wanted was two feet away, which is just tiring.

So look out world!  She's on the move, and her hair is growing  in to boot!

Everyday life

I realized that all of my posts lately have been about big events, and decided for a change of pace today.  One of the main reasons I keep this blog is to look back and remember, and sometimes the details of daily life are more fun to read about than the red-letter days!

Baby Jasmine seems to get bigger every day.  She was really good at baby food, so I steamed and pureed some carrots and sweet potatoes.  I was so proud of this freezer stash!  For two days, at least.  Truly, two days later, she went from gobbling up the entire thing quickly (and cleanly) to sobbing when I brought the spoon near her and turning her head frantically.  But when I plopped food on her tray and let her go to town, she was thrilled.  So this is now the daily occurrence around here: strip down the baby and give her chunks of avocado, banana, sweet potatoes or carrots to mangle.

Every once in a while the food makes it in, instead of mushed in her lap and all over herself.

And then give her a bath in the laundry sink.  She loves every minute of that!

She has been on the verge of crawling for almost two months now, which makes us laugh.  Some days she does a pretty good army crawl, though she usually gets up in position and then launches herself forward with her toes and flops the belly down.  And then other times she will see something two feet away and just sob until someone comes to get her.  "I can't make it!"

The poor girl has "boy" hair.  Long on top, short on the sides.  But she refuses to let me get that fine hair pinned in any way, and since it is only long in the front she ends up looking like a unicorn if the hair gets into the rubber band.  Oh well.

In other news, she also has one little tooth!  She started growing that right when she got the cold that went through our family, so she hasn't been the happiest camper lately.  Thankfully she seems past the worst of both.

Kaitlyn just cracks me up.  She is in love with TV, unfortunately.  I have to limit her every day, or else she was do nothing else.  The latest has been Phineas and Ferb, which is actually a really fun show.  She will also talk your ear off all day if you are around.  A lot of the time I tune her out when the stories go on and on and start thinking about the laundry I need to do and what we are going to make for dinner and what else we are doing that week and then OH!  realize she is STILL going.

She is also writing us messages and books.  I didn't want to be too harsh, so I have been telling what a great job she is doing and not correcting the horrible spelling.  That comes back to haunt me every once in a while when I do correct her and she tells me that I am wrong; her way is the right way.  This is page 3 and 4 of a book she wrote us lately, which she told me was about the Book of Mormon and had a picture of "Mapunzel" and her long hair:

The notes are so sweet though!  The other day, I found this on my pillow when I went to bed:

The hearts are beating, if you were curious.

Right now she is also big on kissing us on the cheek and saying "bye" four or five times as she waves and trots off to preschool or anything else.  (I have to document this and treasure this, since I'm sure in just a few years she will be rolling her eyes at me when I try to hug her, and telling me I am embarrassing her in front of her cool friends.  At least, I'm told that's how it is going to work!)

For now, her friends come over after preschool to play dolls and kitchen and wear capes and dress-ups and practice "the show" together.

And then there is Tyler.  We always love the randomness from him, since his mind works like a parrot in some ways.  He notices things around him and takes them in, and then repeats them in funny places.  Last year his teacher assigned a color to each student (since many couldn't read their name), and green is for Tyler.  Tyler is now convinced that all things green are his, since green is for Tyler.  "Look  Daddy!  That grass is green!  Green is for Tyler!"  That's been a running joke in our family.  He still wanders around singing to himself.  I don't know where he picked it up, since I don't like this song much, but he really likes the "weeeeEE are never ever ever . . . getting back together" song on the radio right now.  And then last week Daddy got a new soft football, determined to teach him to catch it.  When I opened the box in the car and handed it to him though, he immediately said "my name is called Tyler and I like to . . . run!  Your turn Kaitlyn!" and gave it to his sister to repeat the pattern.  Turns out they had been playing that at school, to learn only one person talking at a time and taking turns.  They kept that going the whole way home that night, and I had a really hard time keeping a straight face when Tyler said that "I like to throw toys" and handed it off like that was normal.

Daddy has also been teaching him some video game skills.  I would make fun of that more, but it is a good thing for him to figure out where he wants the character to go and how to make him get there.  They love the Diego game they got for Christmas last year.

And he seems to be doing well in school, too.  Tyler has his struggles, but we will always feel blessed that he is such a sweet and easy-going kiddo.  That usually means that he has teachers and aides that adore him, which is fun.

One of the aides told me the other day when I came in to drop him off that "we're not supposed to have favorites, but . . ." she laughed, and dropped her voice to a stage whisper, "he's my favorite!"  He has a long way to go in life, but I think that his ability to be happy and friendly to everyone is going to be a big help.

Oh, and one more funny story.  Last month I wasn't feeling well and slept in while Daddy got the kids up and dressed.  But I jumped out when I remembered that it was actually picture day for Tyler . . .and the bus was coming in a couple of minutes.  So I quickly found a better shirt for him and told Daddy to fix his hair.  Every morning when Tyler wakes up he has a tuft pointing straight up where he slept that night.  And when I saw him come off the bus that afternoon, I cringed.  Sure enough, that's what he looked like for pictures.

Christopher claims that he did something else that morning and that one of the teachers must have done this, but I'm not buying it.  And the stunned look on Tyler's face doesn't help anything!

The kids had fun today.  It has actually been nearly 70 degrees for the last week or two, so we tried to make the best of our final outdoor time for the year.  And then today we had a great snowfall, and they were thrilled to dig out the snow gear and play in it all.

And tomorrow Grandpa is coming to visit us!  Well, actually he is flying out because his job wants him to help at the Salt Palace nearby next week.  But we'll take any chance we get to see them!

The end of Halloween

I am actually really glad that we fit in a few Halloween events, because I think it is a great holiday for the kids.  The dress up, pumpkins, candy portion that is - I've never been a freaky, ghost story, haunted house person.

Monday we went to a local pumpkin patch.  These things have really taken on a life of their own around here.  Someone noticed that they got more visitors if they had a slide off bales of hay when you came to pick out a pumpkin, and before you know it, we have this monstrosity.  I think the website mentioned 40 different things to do at Cornbelly's, and in the hours we were there, we only saw a quarter of the property.  The kids had a blast with their friends.

There was a "jumping pillow",

some balloon makers wandering around,

giant lincoln logs,

and a race track for trikes, as well as slides, playsets and of course pumpkins galore.

The next morning, I helped the kids make some ghosts to light up our window.

Unfortunately, that left carving the pumpkins at our house until the last night, and I had a tutoring appointment.  So Daddy helped them and I snapped a few pictures when I could.

This year we figured they could handle the little knives, and that went really well.

Babies always want to be in on the action.  She is actually starting to crawl, so we had to be careful about her.

And then, last but not least, we sent them out trick or treating.  I have had a cold/flu bug that has been particularly mean lately, so I stayed home with my little elephant girl while these three headed out in the warm weather.

And after a street or two (half the usual route), Kaitlyn said she was done and wanted to go home.

"Do you want to knock on doors on the way home?  We are kinda far from our house right now."

"No thank you.  I'm all done."

So they walked home. And even after a rest, she said she was all done, "I have enough candy."

Poor Tyler, who has never seen "enough candy" in his life, just echoed what she said and went back to eating his stash.  And they really did have quite a bit of candy, so . . . they were done.

Of course, when we were putting them to bed, she mentioned going out again and we told her that she couldn't go Trick or Treating for another year.  Which made her break out in tears.  I don't know when she expected to go again, but it was sooner than a year.

Christopher said his favorite part of the night was when they stopped to say hi to one of Kaitlyn's friends on the sidewalk, and Tyler came up to the boy and said "Trick or Treat!"  Needless to say, the little boy did not fork over any of his candy, but I guess it was worth a shot.

My favorite part was Kaitlyn's decision making skills.  I asked her (a lot) when I started making Tyler's costume if she knew what she wanted to be, and she said she didn't know.  A half an hour before the party last Saturday, she said she wanted to be Princess Jasmine instead of a BYU cheerleader with us.  That is a costume in the dress-up box, but . . . we already had the cheerleader ready to go.  The night before Halloween, she decided she wanted me to make her a fireside girls costume (from Phineas and Ferb).

Amazingly enough, she has an orange shirt and brown skirt that match, but I still told her that would have to wait until our Disneyland trip.

And an hour before her gymnastics class, she asked me to make the BYU gymnastics outfit we got at the surplus sale fit her so she could wear that to class.  That one I did pull off, since it was just a three seams.

Somehow, I doubt that is going to improve next year.