Growing up

These girls are just growing up SO fast! Abi is now a Sunbeam. Can you believe it? She is such an amazing little girl. I wanted to write a few things about her so I don't forget. Abi is so caring and concerned for others. We read a story in the friend a few months ago about a little boy who's friend had cancer. He sold a bunch of his toys and gave the money to this other boy's family. After we read it, Abi started going through her toys and pulling out things that we could sell to give money to kids. One day she brought some scrap pieces of paper to me and asked if I would buy them. I asked how much. She said Twelve Dollars...Each! I asked what the money is for. She said to give to little kids. Whenever she makes money by doing little chores, she usually wants to give the majority of it to Jesus. She understands she can buy candy with it but she wants to give it to others. She even gave me a quarter last week to buy milk (don't ANYONE take that the wrong way--we're doing fine right now. We can afford milk. She just wanted to help out). Abi shares so well with Kate. She lets her play with all of her favorite toys. We just love our Abigail Maye!


Kate is such a joy and pleasure to us. She is hilarious and knowingly gets in trouble quite often. She loves to climb up everything. She is the reason we purchased a new garbage can. Finding your baby eating out of the garbage is more than disgusting! Kate loves to get us to laugh and she loves playing with her big sister. She has been trying really hard to help out around the house. She tries to put her dishes in the sink but can't quite reach yet...she tries to throw things in the garbage...sometimes garbage but also sometimes toys and i think a cell phone...She has a low little grunting laugh sometimes and she is obsessed with Daisy our neighbors dog. She has begun to engage in imaginative play and she loves to twirl and play tag and jump with mommy.

Movie Night:

Kate loves popcorn but she loves to feed us popcorn even more.

See...she does have SOME hair!

Denver

In October, Richard had a business trip to Denver, Colorado. Since it was relatively close he could drive and WHY NOT bring us along? We had a wonderful time traveling there and back with Daddy and spending a little bit of time at night with him. We left snow in Utah and enjoyed 75 degree weather during the days. During the day the girls and I had a blast going to the Denver Children's Museum (SOOOO WAY MORE THAN AWESOME), walking around downtown Denver, and going to the Zoo. We got to see our friends the Grays and that was SOOOO SWEET of them to invite us over to dinner! We even made it back JUST IN TIME to go trick-or-treating. We LOVED Denver and the drive out. It was soooo beautiful. We are SOOOO going to go back for a trip. And someday when we live in Spanish Fork, we'll be 20 minutes closer :).

My favorite picture from the trip:

Stretching our legs at a mall on the way:

We thought this play area at the mall was the coolest. We wished we had one in Utah. NOW we do!!! Hooray! Haven't seen it? Go to Provo Towne Center Mall by the theaters.

The night we drove in, we stopped at the Children's Museum. We were kind of raggedy from our long drive but had so much fun and we were glad Daddy could go with us. The girls and I went back the next day. I didn't take any picture that day. I had my hands full of two little girlets.

Dinner at a diner on the 6th Street Mall strip.

The zoo was awesome. There were 4 baby tigers and like 2 or 3 baby giraffes. SOOO COOL!

It was hard to take pictures when someone was doing this all day:

The girls and I walked around downtown Denver. It was an adventure. Here is an old church:

Public park (I think this is a Non-White park :) ). I turned so many heads with me and my two whiteys. We were fine as I knew we'd be. People looked pretty shocked though that I was daring enough to walk through.

The state capitol:

I tried to get Abi to stick her hand up and "pick" the nose. She refused. :(

The Grays:

Abi and Bayli became quick friends! :)

Getting a load off

I hesitate to ever speak my mind because I always seem to offend. This is not intended to offend, I just need to speak my mind. I understand that things come up and this is not meant to make people feel bad. I just need to express how I feel.

Is this bad luck or what: about 70-80% of the dates we have planned since we had Kate have fallen through. Yeah, 70-80%.

Sometimes the reasons are totally legitimate like people get sick. I say THANK YOU for not sharing!!!! Here are the reasons though that I love:

"I forgot"
Me:"Are you still able to watch the girls tonight?" Them: "No, I have other plans."
My favorite: "Someone else needs me to babysit tonight, and they REALLY NEED IT."

hmmmm....

When I have asked people to babysit I've gotten shot down...a lot. Here are some of the reasons why:

"I have grandkids." hmmm...
"You need to have your family do it."
"I'm just too busy this week. Ask me again someday." (Do you know how many times I babysit when I'm exhausted and extremely busy and it is absolutely inconvenient?)
My favorite: "I have to clean my house." I've gotten this one more times than I am willing to mention.

We tried planning 2 dates this week. They both fell through. I just am at the point where I can't take it any more. I'm the youngest (yeah I know that explains a lot) and I'm just not the best at parenting. We love our girls so much and we want to be really good parents. We just need a break now and then to refocus and be more refreshed to be better parents and to keep our marriage going strong.

I don't have family here. I don't have anywhere to go to put my feet up and have a break for a few minutes. I feel like I'm all alone sometimes. Yeah, I know my perspective is skewed and it needs help. I just feel like I'm drowning and can't even focus enough to try and change my perspective!

We want more children....LOTS...but I have no idea how to do this all alone? Heaven help us!

Elf Yourself

We couldn't resist either. I love this!

Our Christmas Letter

Don't feel bad if you didn't get a Christmas letter. Only my Grandma in Georgia is getting one. We're having a low key type of Christmas and so this is all you get: :)

Dear Family and Friends,

This year has been filled with a lot of fond memories. We were able to go to Disney Land as a family towards the beginning of the year and more recently a trip to Denver, Colorado. We've also been able to get out to several other local family destinations and watch the girls explore new places. Abi (3 years) has become more independent and since Kate (1 year) has learned how to walk, they have begun to play together more and more. The best entertainment we have now is watching the girls play together and playing with them.

I had the chance to be in a car while it started on fire, which was quite exciting and Dedra has been developing new talents such as sewing and improving her existing talents for cooking and crafts.

We are now starting in on a new adventure as we have placed our house up for sale. We are not quite sure what will happen but we are doing what the Spirit directs us to and we know that things will work out however they are supposed to.

We hope the Christmas season finds you with peace and happiness and that you are able to remember the first and best gift of Christmas. We love our Savior, Jesus Christ and we are grateful to be able to serve him.

With Love,

Richard, Dedra, Abigail, and Kate

Boutique anyone?

So if I did a boutique in my house say on a Saturday, would anyone want to put anything up for sale too????

Our Big Secret...

FOR SALE:

Details for potential buyers: http://251n450e.blogspot.com/

Great Bow Tie/Hair Bow Sale

Friends and family sale now through December 4th.

Prices are as follows:

Un-packaged Bow Ties (0-3T)/Hair Bows: $1.50 each (I sell these at boutiques for $4)

Packaged Bow Ties (0-3T)//Hair Bows: $1.75 each

Custom orders: $2.00 each (Sizes: 0-3T, 4-6, or 7-8) Orders must be received and paid for by November 23rd. There are many different color and style options. Tell me what you'd like and I'll see if I can find it. Custom Orders will be ready to pick up or ship no later than the 15th of December.

Ways to Order:

Locals--Please schedule a time to come see what I have in stock. I have over 300 bow ties!

Non-Locals--Please view my etsy shop -- http://www.modishpodish.etsy.com and let me know what you like and I'll make a custom listing for you with the discounted price+shipping (usually $2-$2.50 depending on how many you order).

Everything else in my etsy shop will be discounted to you at 20% off till December 4th. Happy Shopping!

Kate Kate's Birthday

Kate Kate, Kate-ums, Pigskin, Grundle, Esther Goat, Esther Mouse, or just plain Kate...Whatever you call her, our sweetheart turned 1. How did we survive without her. We definitely didn't laugh as much. She is hilarious and when you combine her with her big sister, we are always laughing.

Kate loves to cuddle toys, or socks for that matter. She holds objects up to her face and gives a lovey. She loved to crawl with shoes on her hands but since last Sunday, she has been walking like crazy. She doesn't love food as much as before. She is obsessed with the humongous syrup bottle we have. On her 2nd day of walking she carried it all over the house. The toys of preference this last week have been a wire whisk and empty spice bottles. She loves the kitty cat we are watching--he just doesn't love her back. She can also say "kitty cat." It is hard to discern but I swear she is saying it. Her first 2 words were Hi and then daDAAAA and now kitty cat. isn't mama supposed to be in there???? Kate has this low, kind of gruff ha ha type laugh. We love it! Kate will now chase Abi when you tell her to. Abi is such a great big sister and she and Kate play a lot together and also are naughty at times together. They love making huge messes together. Kate is really good at cleaning up. Her kisses are really slobbery (she comes at you with her tongue sticking out) and she gives really good loves when she feels like it. She is finally letting me read stories to her again and she really enjoys Little Einsteins and a few other cartoons (which Daddy is really happy about). We love our little girls and we're so happy to have Kate as part of our family. Happy 1st birthday Kate Kate. We love you!!!

Abi made her this crown:

Esther goat eating the Rhino I made for her

Grandma & Papa came for dinner

Big sisty

When Kate saw Grandma and Papa coming in, she thought we were going to leave and she got pretty worked up. Poor thing.

She didn't eat much of her cake

Big changes lately

Milestones I've recently experienced:

• Sharing our house with now 2 houseguests: 1 human. 1 not. David and now Nizmo the cat. Never had a pet. Never had a houseguest for more than a week. So far so good.
  
• Drove through a major city in another state BY MYSELF with 2 little girls in tow. Explored various attractions and even walked through a downtown park where I certainly turned heads--being very Caucasian with 2 little girls in our big ol' PINK (not the red I ordered) stroller.
• Made a dress and actually wore it in public---3 times.
• Made a pillow pet for Abi's birthday and a stuffed animal for Kate. They both LOVE the pillow pet.
• Making compromises with Abi about messiness. She gets mess days. I get a few clean days. We're now getting along better.
• Took an internet vacation. I didn't check email for 4 days. The best thing I've done in a long time.
• Gave in and checked out how to "coupon." Why didn't I try this before?

There's more but that's all I'm willing to share.

You've been waiting...It's finally here.....

Questions...

What should I charge for this? And....do you like my design???
Each letter is an individual block measuring 3 1/2" square. As pictured, the sign is almost 3 feet long of if you lay it out flat, then it is almost 4 1/2 feet. Anyone interested in buying it? I'll consider offers! I'll have more holiday ones coming soon....