they just grow too fast!

In the course of just a week Adeline started waving, clapping, crawling, and had 2 teeth come in & rolled over to her tummy during the night -- both of which allows her & me to sleep through most of the night! Yippee!!

The first time I found Adeline on her tummy in the morning.

I noticed today that Tyler was able to wash his hands in the bathroom without standing on anything. And the pants that were once drowning him are now right at his shoes -- where they should be. When did he grow?!?!

Although will all the growing up my life becomes a little bit harder. I'm constantly getting something out of Adeline's reach, or pulling something out of her mouth -- she really hates it when I have to stick my finger in her mouth to find the junk she has found to put in it. And Tyler has a little sassy mouth on him! He also thinks that he is more independent than he is. He's already going to friends' houses without asking me let alone telling me where he's going! I thought I didn't have to worry about that for a few more years! He's also started to pull out the water works. Anytime he doesn't get his way he cries. We never give in, so you'd think he'd stop. But no. He cries.

The Scoot

Adeline has since started crawling -- before I was able to get pictures of her scooting. :( I think I might have to get some still frames from the video. But here she is scooting around on the floor.

Belated Easter Pictures

Playing the Piano

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the past couple of months. Adeline has started to scoot across the floor -- sideways using one arm & one leg on the same side. Our lives will never be the same! She's also waving now, which is always fun to try and make her do. Sometimes I feel as though I'm showing off my trained puppy. Like I need to carry around doggy snacks or something...

Tyler made this "self-portrait" at his first Primary Activity.

Easter

We spent Easter going to church and Mom & Dad's. I tried to get some cute pictures of the kids in their Easter outfits, but didn't get them just as I wanted. We might try again this Sunday!

Nauvoo

Last Saturday Dallin & I took the kids to Nauvoo. Our ward had a youth temple trip that same day, and my parents were going to help out. They wanted to do a session before the youth got there, so we worked out that Dallin & I would go through a session with them, and Mom and Dad would bring down my brothers to watch the kids. It was so nice being there. It's been so long!

Random Daily Happenings...

The other day Tyler & I were dancing to some music, and he told me to come dance in a certain spot. I said, "No, thanks. I'm just fine over here." Then he proceeded to count -- while using his fingers -- "1, 2,...Mom, if you're not over here by the time I get to 5, you're going to be in big trouble!"

Yesterday while Tyler, Adeline & I were in the car running errands, Tyler said, "Mom there are 3 of us in the car." "Yes there are." "And when we pick up Dad there will be four of us." "Yes. Yes there will be!"

A week or so ago, Dallin accused me -- in front of Tyler (but that's for another time) -- of not doing things with Tyler. I asked Tyler right then and there if he was sad that I didn't spend time with him. He said, "No. You spend time with Addie." I then asked him if he would rather I spent more time with him. He said, "No. I like Daddy more." 'Nuff said.

Adeline plays peek-a-boo with her hands or whatever is in her hands at the time. She's trying to move around -- she can go from sitting to on her knees back to sitting. And she can scoot around the room on her behind. While I'm excited to see her progress, I'm dreading the day when she actually figures out how to move around!

She also find everything on the floor and puts it in her mouth. She has tantrums when something is taken from her. She has tantrums if I leave the room, and she wants me to stay. She has tantrums if she's put down but wants to be held. She has tantrums if she wants to be put down, but has to be held instead.

Adeline loves her brother, and her brother loves her. They have a special relationship already. She gets just as excited to see Tyler as she does to see me -- very humbling. She loves spending time with Dad, which is really nice.

Listening to the Spirit

I am the Primary Chorister in my ward and today I taught the 1st verse of our song for this month -- If the Savior Stood Beside Me by Sally DeFord.

My day was just awesome! And until I walked up to the front of the room, I still wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do. I didn't even bring in any pictures or anything from home. I went through the pictures in our file in the closet, and found a picture of Christ & of someone getting baptized. Then I grabbed a bag of chalk/easer. I did basically the same thing with Jr. & Sr.

I put up the picture of Christ on the board and drew a picture of a stick figure with a thought bubble and the commandments. Next I drew a CTR shield next to that. And finally was the picture of the person being baptized. Then I explained the structure of the song -- that it has 3 parts and the first 2 parts ask questions & the 3 part gives answers. The 1st part talks about actions. And I asked them to listen for those actions. I sang the 1st verse for them, then went through it line by line. I repeated the 1st phrase and asked them what were some things they would NOT do if the Savior were visiting our primary? They listed things like, not spitting on Him, not paying attention, not playing with toys, etc. Then I asked what they WOULD do. The list included singing, sitting reverently, etc. Then we sang that first phrase. Next we talked about my poorly drawn pictures and sang that line and then sang the 1st and second lines. Next we talked about the baptism picture and how when we are baptized we are following Jesus' example. And how if we are nice to our friends we are also following Jesus' example because Jesus was nice to his friends, too. Then we sang that line & then all 3 of the lines. Then we did the last line and I told them that all 3 parts of the song ended with this same line. I asked them to really imagine what it would be like to have the Savior standing next to them -- we also discussed the word "nigh" -- as we sang through the song. It really worked! Sr. Primary sang so well they made me cry! I also bore my testimony to both groups -- which I don't always do -- and I cried again in front of Sr. primary! The kids went around telling their parents that they made me cry! "Oh, but in a good way, Mom." :)

This was a total testimony to me of following the spirit. I had a very nice & uplifting weekend at a TOFW in Chi-town and learned some things about following and trusting in the spirit to guide us. I had been praying & thinking about this song for so long, and trying to come up with some great and glorious way to teach this song that I thought would just be so difficult for the kids to learn, and I had a complete stupor of thought. But when I got up there with my dinky little drawings and my testimony of this song, the kids just learned it so quickly -- Jr. primary especially surprised me because they were so rowdy and just had ants in their pants. But when I asked them to imagine Jesus right next to them they calmed down.

Sorry this is so long. It was just such an amazing day -- oh, and I lost my voice over the weekend as well, and so really couldn't sing very well -- and I almost scrapped the whole plan for the day. I am so glad I didn't!! I'm also glad that I chose to listen and follow the spirit today. I know the kids felt it, and I know this song will be a favorite with them -- especially if they can make me cry! :)

TOFW Chicago

Friday & Saturday I spent in Chi-town with my mom & Adeline at a Time Out For Women event. If you have never been to one of these -- YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!! They are amazing! I went to the one in Minneapolis last September and then Chicago this last weekend, and I want to go to more! Here is a link where you can learn more about them:

http://deseretbook.com/time-out/schedule

Here's a link to the people we heard from:

http://deseretbook.com/time-out/event?event_id=333

It was such a great time! I met Cherie Call, Dean Hughes, Chieko Okazaki, and Jane Clayson Johnson -- who by the way is absolutely beautiful! The theme for this year is Joyful Life. And that is just how I felt going to this event! It's not a cheap weekend by any means, but it is so worth it! The tickets are reasonable and accommodations can be split. I definitely recommend it!

doctor visit and an eclipse

Both kids had a doctor's appointment last week. I was able to get both kids in to see the dr. at the same time. While we spent 2 hours at the office, I only had to make one trip, and to me that was worth it! Tyler & Adeline are both healthy, and growing nicely. Adeline is 18 1/2 lbs. and 26 3/4 in. She is in the 75% for both height and weight and in the 25% for her head circumference. Tyler is 37 1/2 lbs. and 3'5". He is over 1/2 as tall as his mom.
I have decided with Adeline to give up trying to spoon feed her. She won't do it. But she will eat finger foods. So in order to use up the baby food I have already bought, I dip her Gerber puffs or Cheerios in the baby food before I feed them to her. She doesn't mind one bit. I also discovered that she loves peas. She is definitely her mother's daughter! She will also eat the very tops of broccoli and cauliflower. She does okay with carrots, but they're not her favorite. I bought sweet potatoes and butternut squash at the market the other day, and I plan on baking them and cubing bits of them so she has the finger food in those veggies as well. She's eating a lot more food during the day as well. She still loves to nurse, and as she hasn't bitten me yet, I'm willing to let her continue. Here are some pictures from this last week.

I took this on a Sunday at 6:58 a.m. Both kids were fed and dressed and ready to leave. We still had an hour and a half before we had to leave for church. Do my kids look tired? It's cuz they are. Tyler got up before the sun, and never wanting the rest of us to miss the sunrise, got the rest of us up as well. I swear Tyler is tired 99.99% of the time but will not sleep past 6 a.m. or take a nap in the afternoons. But he does crash at 7 p.m. so I guess it's a trade-off. Adeline only gets sleep if I entertain Tyler for the 2 hours that she needs to sleep, and if I keep him happy so he doesn't shriek/scream during a tantrum.

Moon Eclipse 8:17 p.m. CST

Moon Eclipse 8:45 p.m. CST
Moon Eclipse 8:53 p.m.

Moon Eclipse 9:00 p.m. CST

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I posted something. Since I have so many pictures to share, I've put them in slide shows. I apologize to anyone who might be bothered by that. I will make sure I keep up on the updates better!

These are pictures of my little princess. She is just so cute!

The big happening in our house was Tyler's 4th birthday. We had a friend party & a family party. The last 2 years we have invited about 6 or 7 kids over for Tyler's friend party, and only 2 or 3 actually come. This year we invited 10 kids over for lunch -- pizza & cake & ice cream -- and 9 of them came! So I had nine 4 year olds running around my little 2 bedroom apartment! Actually, they did much better than I expected. Tyler had a blast. I had to remind him about "entertaining his guests," a couple of times, but overall, he was a perfect host. Our family party was with Grandma & Grandpa Ensign, and the boys -- Alan, Brian & Jared. Tyler just adores his uncles! We had Mac & Cheese, green jello, green salad, and cooked veggies -- all of Tyler's favorites.

I've been trying to capture some quiet everyday moments with the kids. Here is what transpired during my latest attempt.

We've had a ton of snow lately. So much so that school was canceled, businesses closed early, and we all hunkered down for a couple days! We went sledding at Grandma & Grandpa's last Saturday. It was so cold!!! But Tyler had the time of his life!

President Hinckley

Where to I even begin? We all knew it was coming. I mean he was 97 years old. And yet somehow I thought he was immortal. I thought he'd be here forever! President Hinckley was so amazing. He had a way of touching your heart and helping you realize you needed to fix a few things, but he did it in such a way that you still felt good about yourself, and gave you the confidence to make those changes. He always praised women and reminded us not to feel guilty about not "measuring" up. We are all works in progress. He was also straight forward in defending the Church and explaining our beliefs to others. He never apologized for what he believed in, but stick his ground. He reminded all of us to "stand a little taller," "do a little better." We need to live on the moral high ground. We are a peculiar people for a reason, and we should never shrink away from that. They say every prophet has had his own "mantra." President Hinckley's was temples. He has overseen the literal fulfillment of the prophecy that temples will dot the earth. I love that. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for President Hinckley and the life that he led. Because he was such a great example, he made me want to be better, and he helped me to realize that I could be better.

I know the next prophet will be just as wonderful, but there will always be a special place in my heart for President Gordon B. Hinckley.

Here is Glenn Beck's tribute from his show last night.
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/200/5127/

New Background

Thanks to Ashley for her great work! Love her site!
http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/

What's New With The Kiddies

I thought it was time for a little (ahem) update.

Tyler is officially in Primary! He is now in Sunbeams and absolutely loves it! I was really worried about how he would do with me in singing time, but he is doing much better than I had anticipated based on his behavior in Nursery singing time. In fact, his class of Sunbeams behaves "china" better than the Sunbeam class last year! The best part for me is when I hear him sing little snippets of songs we've been learning in Primary at home. I hear parents all the time tell me that their little ones sing the songs at home, but to actually have evidence in my own home is heartwarming. So many Sundays in Jr. Primary are spent feeling like I'm the entertainment for the next 20 minutes; they just sit and stare. It's nice to have that reassurance every once in a while that I am getting something through to them.

Tyler has also been playing with his Thomas Trains non-stop! Just about every day we have a new track made. I'm so glad we opted for Santa NOT to give him the Thomas stuff, but gave it to him ourselves. We are SO cool! ;) However, as much as I love him to have a favorite toy...I'd like him to play with other toys as well. Develop imagination somewhere other than the Island of Sodor. I will wait until the end of February to start rotating his toys -- and Thomas will be the first thing rotated out. I'm waiting because his birthday is coming up, and I know all his friends' parents know he's into Thomas, so he'll probably get a few more things from friends and grandparents maybe, and I'd hate for him not to be able to play with his new toys right away. So, I'll just wait 3 weeks! LOL I've decided to do a 3 week rotation instead of a 3 month rotation like I was thinking before. That way he can still play with his favorite things fairly often.

Tyler also amazes us with his conversation skills. Often times I'll say to Tyler, "Here's the deal. If do such and such you'll be able to then do such and such that you want to do. Deal?" Most of the time, he says "deal." But every once in awhile he'll come up with his own little plan. More often than not his plans are fine, and I negotiate with him a little bit. Other times his ideas are SO in his favor that even he laughs at himself for proposing such a plan. LOL A few weeks ago we were sitting at the dinner table, and I was telling Tyler all the things we, as a family, needed to get done in order to do the fun we had planned. Tyler said, "Okay, Mom. Here's the deal. I will follow your instructions and do the silverware [He puts away the clean silverware from the dishwasher.], and then I can watch a movie." Huh?! Where did this kid come from? The best part was he actually did what he said he was going to do!

In our Primary we do a scripture count every Sunday. For each set of scriptures brought by a child or adult to Primary, we add a penny to our penny jar. When we reach $2.50 worth of pennies we earn a Book of Mormon to send to a missionary from our ward with a picture of the entire Primary and a testimony from one of the Primary classes. When they serve in a foreign speaking mission we send them a copy in that language, and when possible, have the testimony translated to that language. The new Sunbeams in the Primary for the most part don't bring any scriptures to Primary and so don't get to participate in the scripture count. Our wonderful Sunbeam teacher decided when we started this that she would get a Book of Mormon for each Sunbeam to have to hold up during scripture count. It is their own copy with their name on it and her testimony of the book inside. She also gives them little canvas totes that they decorate in class in which to carry the books. Tyler got his today, and we spent the entire afternoon reading verses from it. Just about every hour I heard, "Mom it's time to read scriptures." I'm not complaining by any means! I'm bragging! He keeps me in check all the time! I am so blessed.

Adeline is growing too quickly. With Tyler I couldn't wait until he was older, and with Adeline, I just want her to slow down! We've had difficulty getting her to eat solid (pureed) foods. I even started with the sweet stuff hoping to get her interest peaked even the slightest to no avail. She only showed interest in what I was eating. She would grab for it, and fuss when I took it out of her reach. So, I tried giving her parts of a banana I would mash between my fingers, and then give her my finger with the banana. She loved it! After a couple days of this, I thought, "Okay. Her interest is peaked. At least I know she likes bananas. I'll try giving her the pureed bananas again." Boy, was I wrong. She would not even open her mouth for the spoon at all! She would clamp down her jaw and move her head away -- or just reach for the spoon -- but never put it in her mouth even -- I had purposely left some food on the spoon once thinking she'd put it in her mouth, and the food would get in that way -- it worked once -- the food came out immediately, and she's never put the spoon in her mouth since! However, she will take more solid foods from the spoon -- but only after I give her some on my finger first to show her it's not the baby food. Last week she had super soft pieces of pear, and loved it. Tonight I boiled tiny pieces of apple and gave her some. She ate them up! She still can't chew very well, and the swallowing thing is hard for her if the pieces are too large. So I make everything mushy enough that it will melt in her mouth. So far so good. I go grocery shopping next week, and I'll have to pick up some more fresh veggies to soften for her. I also have to remember that she doesn't have to eat a lot of solids right now. This is the introductory phase.

She also rolls over like it's no big deal. She just flips right on over. She can still only roll from back to tummy, but the way she arches her back around she can do a 180 just by rolling over! It's amazing! She also gets frustrated when something she's reaching for is just out of reach -- or rolls out of reach as she's reaching for it. She also fusses when something is taken from her. Most of the time, lately, it's big brother trying to get a reaction from her -- darn those older siblings. She's also very attached to her mom. I mean, really, who could blame her? She cries if I put her down and walk away for a second. She has to be able to see me at all times -- unless distracted by a really great toy -- or Tyler taking such toy away. She throws fits the same way I did apparently. She arches her back and her arms go straight out to her sides, and she just stiffens up that way. It is very cute, actually, and I almost laugh her tantrums are just cute -- right now. It's just so adorable to see all this frustration and opinion given so strongly from such a little person!

She's also very cute when she sees someone she knows. Her excitement makes her entire body just wiggle! And she opens her mouth wide, and her eyes get HUGE! Sometimes she even shriek, for lack of a better word, at the person. Last Sunday, while the deacons were passing the Sacrament, she caught sight of Brian sitting behind the Sacrament table. We sit behind the deacons, so with their seats vacated, she had a clear view, and she gave Brian the whole works, the wiggling, the big eyes & mouth, and the shrieking. Ah yes, the shrieking! LOL Brian tried so hard to ignore her, but really it was hard. He smiled at her, and of course that set her off again! LOL Can you blame her, though? I mean he is her favorite 16 year old uncle!

Tom Cruise Ramblings Scrapbooking Style

Has everyone seen the Tom Cruise Scientology video making the rounds?
If not, you need to watch it first. Here is the link:
http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress

After you watch that, watch Cathy Z's parody here on You Tube. Cathy Z is a scrapbook "celebrity," and works for Simple Scrapbooks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvwh7uAVc2E

Take the Quiz here!

Iowa Caucus

Dallin & I went to the Iowa Caucus Thursday. What an interesting experience! It felt really neat to be a part of it.

Within Dubuque county there are many precincts. They had a couple places for the Republican caucuses, and had the precincts divided among them. We met at one of the middle schools here. It was absolutely nuts! The traffic was incredible! We couldn't even park in the school parking lot -- we had to park at the strip mall across the street from the school. Some of our friends had to park down the street and hoof it 1/2 mile back to the school. And it was FREEZING outside that night! The parking lots were actually closed by the local police at one point because they were just too full. There was literally no where for anyone to park. It was insane.

Once we got inside, we signed in as though we would for any election. We had to find our names on the list of registered Republican voters, and initial next to our names. Next we went into the school's auditorium -- it holds about 800 people -- every seat was full, we had 3 rows in the back of the room of standing room only, people were lined along the side walls, and both doorways were jammed with people, and they streamed into the hallway just outside the auditorium. In the auditorium we heard short speeches on behalf of some of the candidates to help persuade the undecided votes, or to convince others to change their vote. Senator Sam Brownback was there and spoke to us about McCain. That was kind of neat. He's a lot shorter than I thought he'd be.

After the short speeches, we were sent to separate rooms based on our precincts. Once in the room, a temporary chairman -- put in charge by the county GOP -- conducted the meeting. His first order of business is to see if there are any nominations for another chairman or if the appointment chairman will remain as such. No one else wanted to be chairman, so he remained the one in charge. Then he asked for someone whose birthday was closest to October 8. That was me. Guess what I won?! A survey from the University of Iowa about my caucus experience. Yippee!! *eye roll* Slightly ironic since I think I've been polled on the phone from every Jane, Dick and Harry with a polling question! Anyway.

Once I got the survey, we marked on our ballot the candidate of our choice. It was really informal -- the ballots were hand made on the computer with check boxes on the left and the names on the right. (I saw one county on the news who just used pieces of paper from a note pad, and the people had to write the first & last name of their candidates.) Then we just handed over the ballots to the chairman, who then turned them over to whoever was counting them. Once your ballot is cast, you are free to leave. Dallin and I stuck around until the ballots were counted. In our precinct Romney had 40 votes, Huckebee 19, Thompson 7, Paul 4, and McCain, Guliani, & Hunter had a few votes a piece -- I don't remember exactly. So, we left after the ballots were counted. But those who remained voted for a delegate to represent the precinct at the county GOP convention.

At our caucus I believe Romney swept. As we walked out past all the other rooms, we heard little snippets here or there about Romney winning in their precincts. As we were walking to the car, a woman and fellow Mitt supporter, got a phone call from a friend who said they were already declaring Huckebee the winner -- we had just barely called in our votes!

Anyway. My mom told me about this website, and I thought I'd share it with you. It's from the NYTimes.

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/results/states/IA.html

I thought it was rather interesting. Romney won in nearly every heavy populated county -- and a couple rural areas. That's interesting because that's where there are a large number of members of the Church. It seems as though in the more rural areas Huckebee won. We all know that Huckebee won because 60% of the voters were Evangelicals -- who don't like the Church. It could be that in those rural areas there just aren't enough members of the Church for people to really know what we are like. Anyway. Just my 2 cents.

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

It's been a while since I posted last. Here are some pictures and video of our Christmas Eve.

It's a tradition in our family to sing Christmas songs around the piano. Our choir was a little sparse this year, but we still had fun -- and even sang some new songs.