Gracie's and Gramee's birthday parties

My cousins daughter, Gracie, turned 2 the week before Ella turned 2. She had a birthday party at Build a Bear. It was Ella's first time. I was surprised how fun it was! Ella picked out a cute little doggy.

Cirdan helped Ella dress her dog. What a good dad.

Afterwards, we went to Red Robin with everyone. Ella was getting really tired so we left hoping that she would fall asleep in her stroller. That night we were meeting my mom's side of the family to celebrate my Gramee's birthday at a Mexican restaurant. But before that we met my brother and Amy in Factoria to watch Emma while they went to the temple. While we waited we walked around Factoria mall. Emma was really good...Ella was a little stinker. We finally got to dinner and it was good to see everyone and to wish Gram a Happy Birthday.

This was the only picture I got of dinner...and only half the people there.

Math Concert

Math concert? I had never heard of one until Kaiya came home with a flyer inviting the parents of 2nd graders to come listen to their concert. The music teacher at the school had been working with the 2nd graders on songs that have to do with math and it was really cute. It was funny to see my little performer so shy and not wanting to dance around. The kids did great and it's fun for them to be able to learn math and have fun with it!

Kaylee's Birthday

My little sister turned 20! She wanted Mexican food so Cirdan's asked his employee's mom to make some homemade tamales and I took a stab at making authentic rice and beans. They actually turned out pretty tasty....and the tamales were delicious!!
We ate, the kids played and wrestled with Papa and we ate cake and ice cream.
Happy Birthday Kaylee!! We love you!!!

Stacey borrowed my Dad's glasses for the picture...

Then we tried to put them on the kids....

Funny story - Kaylee and I went to the dollar store last week and the girl at the register asked us if we were sisters. I said, "yes" and she then asked if we were twins. I replied (with a chuckle), "no, there is a 10 year difference!" She then asked if I was the older or the younger one. I told her the older one and she said, "wow, I would have thought you were the younger one!!"

And that was one of the best days of my life. Sorry Kaylee!!! :)

Easter Bunny Pictures - Past and Present

It was fun to pull the Easter pictures out and to see the girls each year. Kaiya has grown up so fast and looking at these pictures makes me miss my little sweetpea.
I had taken Ella to the mall a couple of times the last couple weeks and I would make sure to stop by where the Easter bunny sits so that Ella could see the bunny and hopefully not freak out when it was time for pictures. Each time we went she wanted to see the bunny but keep a distance. She would wave but when I would start getting closer she would start getting scared. I had a brilliant idea about an hour before we went to get pictures that maybe if I pulled out the pictures of Kaiya and the Easter Bunny she would see that it wasn't so bad. It worked! She talked all the way to the mall about sitting on his lap and when we got there she gave him a couple high 5's and she was ready to sit on his lap and smile! We were all so proud of her.
The pictures begin with 2004 and end with this year 2010.

She's definitely my daughter...

Olives for breakfast!

The word on the street...

Baby Imbler due to arrive the end of October!

March Update

I just realized I haven't posted anything since February! I haven't really been feeling like sitting at the computer these days. This month has been fun and adventurous. I have been trying to get Cirdan to do a post about his new office and hopefully one of these days he will have the time! :)

Kaiya - She has still been busy with dance and piano. Kaiya got her report card last Friday and did VERY well. Almost all the marks were a + which means Above Grade Level. She increased in reading by an additional 38 words per minute since the 1st trimester. At school she is a Greeter which means one of the few students chosen to welcome the new kid and show them around the school. Kaiya turns 8 on May 3rd which means she will be baptized on May 8th. She is really excited and so are we!!

Kaiya was so excited to pull green out of her closet and find something to wear for St. Patrick's Day. She looked cute.

Ella - I've been working hard with Ella these past few weeks to get her to learn how to behave better. The last month we have been struggling with taking her to the store because she doesn't want to sit in the cart. She fights and its impossible to sit her down. We now just walk her back out to the car and put her back in her car seat which she sometimes doesn't mind (ha ha). Its been a struggle but I think she is finally realizing that she is better off sitting down in the cart. I have also taken a lot more time sitting down with her at her level and talking to her when she is looking in my eyes. I've learned this works much better.

Ella and I started a Mommy and Me class at Kaiya's dance place last week. She did great!!! There were about 6 other little girls and I was proud that she listened and tried to do the stuff that the instructor had them do.

Cirdan - Since he now has an office we hardly see him anymore. It went from him being at the house during the day almost all the time to him never being here and getting home from work around 8 at night. Its been different but he has really been putting all his energy into building a successful business and all his work is really paying off.

Heidi - Other than cleaning the house over and over and over and over again I try to get out and meet my friend Sandy or go shopping. It has almost been 1 year since I was laid off and this past year has been nothing but fun and good times. I am busy now planning Ella's 2nd birthday and Easter in the next couple weeks. The weather has been beautiful and I really need to get outside and do some yard work.

We booked our flight for Hawaii in May!! Greg and Staci (friends) and Cirdan and I will be going. We will stay at a condo on Turtle bay. I am so excited! A little scared and nervous about leaving the girls that long but it will be nice to just be able to lay on a sandy beach and relax. We are looking forward to it!!

Parks, ducks and pulling weeds!

The weather has been so nice around here lately. I even noticed the other day that my rhododendron bushes were starting to get little buds on them...and its only February! With the nice weather we have been trying to do lots of stuff outside since I know that the rain will be here in no time. Kaiya didn't have school last week. I love when Kaiya is out of school.We went to the park in our neighborhood a few times...Stacey and Casey joined us one day for a picnic and playing. Ella likes to play on each toy for a span of about 8 seconds and then on to the next toy. Kaiya is a big helper, when Casey is with us she likes to tote him around and play with him.

My friend Sandy moved from Oregon a couple weeks ago and I am sooo excited!!! The girls and I went over to check out her apartment which is on Lake Washinton at Coulon Beach. She walked us down to the water to feed the ducks. Ella loved the ducks and kept saying, "nice...nice". She wanted to get close and try to pet them so I had to stay close to her and make sure the crazy geese didn't get her. Sandy bought 3 bags of bread to feed the ducks. Ella's bag was gone within 10 minutes...Kaiya likes to take her time and it was funny to see her bag 3/4 full still when Ella's was gone. Kaiya also had a couple duck friends that she named Shirley and Bob. After feeding the ducks we went over to the big play area with slides and swings and toys. We then went to a sandwich place and a frozen yogurt shop in The Landing. The sandwich I had was delish!! I love sprouts on my sandwiches and they had sprouts!

On Saturday morning Stacey called to see what I was doing. I was going to run some errands for a baby shower I was throwing this week but she asked if I wanted to go to my Grandma Jean's house. I hadn't see her for a while so I thought that it would be fun! Stacey then told me that she was going there to pull weeds and that was her present to Gram for Christmas...she also said that I could just go and hang out with Casey and Ella. When I got there I knew I was in for it. I was not dressed for weeding but I also wasn't going to sit there and watch Stacey and my Grandma do yard work! I took off my heels, rolled up my pants, took off my sweater and got to work. It actually turned out to be really fun and it was wonderful to visit with Gram. She gave me some flowers from her yard. On the way home I decided to stop by the cemetery to drop some of them off at both of my Grandpas graves. I have been thinking a lot about my Grandpas lately and I miss them a ton! I wish they were around for my girls to know.