Visit #3

Lilly took a spill while twirling on our hardwood floor last night, and split her chin open. Darn! She was an extremely brave girl while getting stitched up. And, afterward Daddy went to the store and bought her a "very special" Ariel doll (that's what she calls it) and a box of special princess bandaids, so in her mind, it was a great experience! Squirt!

Seriously though....She is three, and she has been to the InstaCare 3 times. Yikes! Look like we have an accident prone kid on our hands!

Fathers Day

Lilly was SO excited about giving Anton presents for Father's Day, but she kept singing"Happy Birthday to you Daddy"!
*Lilly sang to her Daddy in Sacrament Meeting for the first time.
*Gave him a new book with his girls hands traced in the front of it along with their signatures (or scribbles!).
*A new book light so he can read until the early morning without keeping me awake (score!).
*A smoking kit for the grill.
*Spaghetti dinner - one of the Antons favorite meals.
*Cupcakes from Lilly.

We love you Anton. You are a darling father...our girls absolutely adore you.
Happy (late) Fathers Day!

Swim Lessons

We are in the second week of Lilly's swim lessons. She loves them! She is such a happy girl in the water. She was doing so well, so they moved her into a different class to push her a little harder, but the change in the teacher really threw her. She cried every second she was with the new teacher. Today, they asked me if I would like her to go back to her old teacher, but keep her on her level...I was thrilled. The moment she got with her "old" teacher, she was back to her happy self. Funny thing is, the first teacher is more strict than the second. She must just feel more confident with her first teacher. I am really happy so far with how much she is learning!

We get to see lots of her cousins who are coming and going from swim lessons to swim team. And, her cousin Jack is in her class with her. She loves it! I am so glad swim has been a good experience, and not a scary one for her.  

Gratitude

While Lilly has been gone, I have been able to catch up on my reading. I feel like I never get to read anymore during the day. Every afternoon while Claire is sleeping I have been able to go outside and read...I love it. I am still reading Lonesome Dove (looks like Anton might win that bet!), but I also have been reading the latest issue of the Ensign. A lot of the articles were focused on the family, and the importance of family. As I read the articles I, of course, found many things that I want to strive to be better at. While at the same time, I had such a huge feeling of gratitude come to me. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have my own little family. For the opportunity I have to bear children and raise them. Gratitude for my marriage. We fall short of many things, but the one thing we seem to be pretty good at within our little family is love and respect. I was able to attend a sealing in the temple this morning. I couldn't help but think back on the day Anton and I were married. I remember details of our dinner, but I remember almost every detail of our ceremony. I feel so lucky to have found him. He is so respectful of me, is so good to me, and such a darling father. He is a good man, and an honest man. I see how often he is in service of others, and it amazes me. His parents taught him well. Not a week goes by, no joke, without him doing something for someone else. In fact, he has plans this Saturday to help someone out. And, he does it quietly. No one ever knows. He is so humble about it, and yet so willing. I adore that about him. He is not perfect, but neither am I. I feel comfort in knowing we are in this together...that we can learn and grow together. We have plenty of that ahead of us, and I am glad I get to take the journey with him. How can I talk about gratitude without mentioning my girls?! For the gift of being a mother?! My love for them is unmeasurable. And, it will be everlasting. My gratitude and my love of the concept of eternal families grows each day. The only word I can describe on how I feel about my little family at the moment: Gratitude. 

Latest on the girls

Lilly is down in St. George visiting her cousins and Grandma & Grandpa for a whole week! I am really looking forward to the break, and the chance I will get to catch up on some things I have been wanting to do. Claire is still home, but she is so darn easy, she just entertains herself all day long. I, of course, had my panick attack in the shower before Lilly left, but once I got it out of my system, I was pretty good. My greatest fear, like I have mentioned a million times before, is car accidents. So, sending Lilly off was a little hard for me...but I did much better than I thought. And, as soon as I knew they had arrived safe and sound, I was able to relax. I took a nap yesterday for the first time in who knows when. Oh, how I miss those naps! 

Lilly Bug:
*Over the past few months, she has gotten some freckles on her nose and cheeks. So darling.
*Loves to go in her room, and pick out her own outfit and get dressed. She has put on some sketchy outfits, let me tell you! The little number she has on in this picture, is pretty good. Minus the shoes that are about 3 sizes too big!
*Loves anything cooking. About 85% of the time she is pretend playing, she is cooking. She is always cooking her stuffed animals something, she is always cooking me something. Cooking, cooking, cooking.
*Swinging. Another one of Lilly's obsessions. I prefer to go to parks where there aren't swings, because she could swing for two hours straight. No joke.
*She still loves everything princess. Particularly Sleeping Beauty, or "Sleeping Bee" as she calls her. She can't really say beauty very well.
*Has a lisp when she says anything with an "S" in it.
*Is getting really good at her "ABC's" and can count to 12.
*3 has been an adjustment for me. On one hand, she has gotten a lot easier because she is able to do most things on her own. On the other hand, the attitude is a killler. She has an attitude that can give 15 year olds a run for their money. Ugh.
*She has her first real crush, if thats what you want to call it. She is so over the moon, smitten with our friends little boy Dylan. Oh man, if Lilly sees him, she goes into hysterics! She asks if he can come play about 75 times a day, and the other day she came out of her room in one of her killer outfits carrying her princess purse and was telling me she was leaving to go pick up Dylan at school. Oh man!
*She starts swimming lessons on Monday. I am really excited for her, and I hope she enjoys them. It is weird to me that I am entering that stage with my girls where we have "lessons" and have places to be. So far, we have always had a fairly open schedule.
*We are starting to exit the napping stage. Bummer. If she naps, she is up super late, which I don't like very much. So, quiet time it is!
*Lilly still isn't a huge fan on Claire. She likes her, unless Claire starts to come near her and her toys....which for most of the day, is a problem. I keep trying to work with her on sharing, but it's a hard concept for her to get.
*She loves to help Anton out in the yard. She is such a cute little helper, and loves it when he helps look for bugs. Especially spiders and worms.

Claire Bear:

*Pulls herself up on everything, and is the world's fastest crawler. To heck with walking when she can crawl as fast as she does.

*She is working on teeth 11 & 12, both of which are molars. She got her first two molars in a couple weeks ago.

*This child can entertain herself all day long. It is heaven sent. Lilly was never like that. As soon as Lilly left yesterday, I let her go outside and play with Lilly's water table and her toys. She would have stayed out there for a really long time, if I would have let her.

*She has the most beautiful coloring. Everyone always comments on how light her hair is, but how dark her skin is. 

* She is starting to communicate now. She says: Uh-oh, Num-Num (yum-yum)Dada, Mama, Nana, Baba, Bye-bye, Hi, No-No. She waves Bye Bye, plays Peekaboo, puts head bands on (but heaven forbid if I do it), Claps when you say "Yay!", shakes her head when you tell her No No.

* She loves Cooper and always crawls over to pet him....more like pound on his back. He doesn't care though!

*Will eat anything, I mean ANYTHING, in sight. Dirt seems to be the favorite. Sick! Lilly was like that too. But, since she eats anything, she is a great eater at meals. There isn't anything I have given her that she doesn't eat. It is really nice.

*She isn't the best sleeper. So opposite of Lilly. I was telling Anton this morning, that when Lilly was Claire's age, we were getting up most mornings around 9:00, and she was still napping and going to bed at 7:30. Not Claire! She is like her daddy...doesn't need much sleep. I am afraid she is going to be a terrible napper as she gets older. 

*She loves to go on walks. She holds onto the bar most of the time, and points at everything (including people). 

*When she is tired and you go to put her down in her bed, she starts to laugh. It is so funny! It is like she is so excited to get in her "cage" with her softie, blankie, and baba. 

*She gets so excited when Anton comes home from work. When she hears his truck, she starts yelling "DaDa"!

*One of the girls very favorite things in the entire world is when Anton comes in the door from work, they run up to him, he takes them back into our room and throws them both on the bed over and over. It is so funny how hard they laugh, and how much they love it. I love it too...they both adore their daddy.