Thank you Grandma Beth

Okay mom here they are! I need at least ten minutes from opening up the package to blogging about it! jk (We called my mom to say thank you and I had to call her back like five minutes later and she was asking where the pictures were!)

THANK YOU GRANDMA BETH!

Maddy is actually talking to you in this picture.
Well we can all see that Maddy had her tonsils taken out.
Josey said her favorite thing was everything and wanted a picture with it all.
Lilly loved any and all candy. She kept saying, "I lubba cahnnee". I have a cute video of Lilly trying to get her pez candy out but it is taking too long to load and since I have already taken too long to get these pictures up here I am just going to post...post....POST...POST!!!

toe-walking?

Well yesterday we had a stroke of luck or an unfortunate accident, however you want to look at it. Lilly and I were playing out on the trampoline and she caught her pinkie toe somehow and hurt it pretty bad. She was so upset and wouldn't walk all day. I finally got her up and around that night when we turned the music on and she couldn't resist but to dance. BUT she can't walk on her toes!

Lilly has been a toe walker since she could walk. People are constantly commenting on how she walks on her toes and she looks like a little ballerina. Unfortunately it isn't all that cute when you are a little worried that something is wrong. Her pediatrician referred me to a pediatric orthopedic doctor last week to get her checked out.

Anyway I am kinda glad the toe thing happened because I want to see if it stops the habit of her toe walking but I do feel bad because I know how much that hurts! I know that some of you have had some experience with toe walking children. Can you all give me any advice or tell me what your doctors have said about it? I am not sure what to do about it or if I need to worry.

tantrums

Okay so Lilly has been sick with a double ear infection the last week and has been a total nightmare! At stake conference I had to stay out in the foyer with her the first hour and then we switched and Dustin was out with her the second hour. I should have just taken her home. But we sat out there and for no reason she would just fall on the floor and scream for a minute and then make sure I was watching and then get up and start all over again. Fairly embarrasing. This lady was sitting next to me and commented, "Your daughter is very entertaining". I think what she was thinking was "Your daughter is very annoying". She asked me if my boys or girls were harder. I told her I have only girls, three of them, so I guess they are all hard. She said she had five boys (!!!!) and one girl and that she had found that her daughter seemed harder than her boys. (While I am not one who perscribes to this way of thinking in general I can concede that girls emotional and dramatic tendencies can be harder to take than boys rambuctiousness.) So I told her that she was sick and that she isn't usually THIS out of control. She complimented me on being so calm about the whole thing. I think what she probably wanted to say though was, "GET UP! And take your daughter home!" Because that is what I was thinking. Anyway, approaching the terrible two's with full force I found these videos that really made me laugh and I so want to try the first video's tactic and see if it works. I have been tempted in the past but can't quite seem allow myself to perform like that in a store. So funny though!

hilarious tantrum

This totally cracked me up! This is totally Lilly. She throws a tantrum or pouts and then looks up and makes sure I am watching. Hope you enjoy, I know we can all relate!

more basketball

This video is more for the granparents than anyone else but it is still pretty cute. You can get a feeling of what it is like at one of Maddy's basketball games. I think that she takes four steps to eveyone esle's one step. If you watch the video closely you will see many a hop, a cheer and even a turn that she has integrated into her game! Do you guys see more basketball player or cheerleader? I am not sure yet!



She had another great game! She didn't get any baskets but she turned into an aggressive animal on defense. They put wrist bands on all the kids with matching colors from each team. That way they learn how to guard their one person and they don't all gang up on the one with the ball. But Maddy took that to heart and manhandled the little boy. I was actually a little bit embarassed! The boy that she was covering was pretty good with the ball but the defense has to wait behind the midcourt line until the guy with the ball crosses the line. The boy finally got to the point that I don't think he wanted to cross the line because Maddy was in his face so much that he would just end up chucking the ball somewhere like, "FORGET IT!" Which is what is going on in the picture below.
At one point Dustin and I watched our sweet little girl's face contort into a determined animal! You could just see it in her eyes as you watched her that she was going to get that ball away. She ended up just grabbing the ball and stealing it from the boy dribbling! She would not give up until she got that ball away and she got it, which is the picture below. Anyway it was pretty fun to watch and she loves it which is the most important thing!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Moyes

We got our valentines early from grandma and grandpa Moyes and the girls were so excited! Thank you so much. Lilly walked around with these for the rest of the day. She didn't necessarily eat them all she just wouldn't give up the box! We even took a walk down to the park and she had to bring them. It was SUCH beautiful day on Saturday the girls were begging to have a picnic outside. So I finally said okay and they started working on setting up the picnic scene. They said they wanted to have a special valentine picnic. As you can see it was complete with shade umbrellas and flowers. They were so proud of themselves and very excited. Josey even cut out paper hearts for everyone. It was so nice to have such a warm sunny day. A break from the clouds and rain until it hits again in a couple of days.

Farewell Mitt Romney

If you are anything like us in this house we were voting for Mitt Romney and we are so disappointed that he had to resign from the race last week. BUT I love that Joe Scarborough stuck up for the obvious fact that EVERYONE in the news media and the other Republican candidates hated Mitt Romney. It was so frustrating to hear SO much about Mccain and ever Huckabee but hear nothing about Romney. At least nothing positive. So maybe I came upon this a little too late but I feel a little bit vindicated. And I hope Mitt does too.



Does the female news anchor seem very defensive?

The Pacific Northwest According to Jeff Foxworthy:

1 . You know the state flower (Mildew).
2 . You feel guilty throwing aluminum cans or paper in the trash.
3 . Use the statement 'sun break' and know what it means.
4 . You know more than 10 ways to order coffee.
5. You know more people who own boats than air conditioners.
6 . You feel overdressed wearing a suit to a nice restaurant or to church.
7 . You stand on a deserted corner in the rain waiting for the 'WALK' Signal.
8 . You consider that if it has no snow or has not recently erupted, it's not a real mountain.
9 . You can taste the difference between Starbucks, Seattle 's Best, and Veneto 's.
10 . You know the difference between Chinook, Coho and Sockeye salmon.
11 . You know how to pronounce Sequim, Puyallup , Haceta, Yaquina, Yachats, Issaquah , Oregon , Yakima and Willamette . (almost forgot Ohanapecosh)
12. You consider swimming an indoor sport.
13 . You can tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Thai food.
14 . In winter, you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark while only working eight-hour days.
15 . You never go camping without waterproof matches and a poncho.
16 . You are not fazed by 'Today's forecast: showers followed by rain,' and 'Tomorrow's forecast: rain followed by showers.'
17. You have no concept of humidity without precipitation.
18 . You know that Boring is a town in Oregon and not just a state of Mind.
19 . You can point to at least two volcanoes, even if you cannot see through the cloud cover.
20 . You notice, 'The mountain is out' when it is a pretty day and you can actually see it.
21 . You put on your shorts when the temperature gets above 50, but still wear your hiking boots and parka.
22 . You switch to your sandals when it gets about 60, but keep the socks on.
23 . You have actually used your mountain bike on a mountain.
24 . You think people who use umbrellas are either wimps or tourists.
25 . You buy new sunglasses every year, because you cannot find the
old ones after such a long time.
26. You measure distance in hours.
27. You often switch from 'heat' to 'a/c' in the same day.
28 . You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit under a raincoat.
29 . You know all the important seasons: Almost Winter (Winter), Still Raining (Spring), Road Construction (Summer), Deer & Elk season (Fall).
30 . You understood these jokes and will probably forward them.

And if you don't understand ANY of these, then you don't live in Oregon or Washington!!!

Baby......EVERYTHING!

Lilly is obsessed with baby things. She loves to put everything in a family. She isn't so much obsessed with actual babies, as she throws them out of the crib every night because she DOES NOT want them in her crib. But anything that is small she immediately says, "aaah cute baby: sock, doll, kitty, rock, or in this case grape. She had grapes for lunch the other day and she only wanted the babies. Then she would promptly eat them.....maybe we shouldn't have anymore children. But then she would pick up the bigger ones and they would either become mommy grapes or daddy grapes. I would try to convince her that mommy is as small as the baby grape and not NEARLY as big as the daddy grape but she didn't like that. She has been carrying around her baby duck and her mommy duck for the last couple days. She constantly hugs the little baby duck and just loves it. She was even looking for a baby sister for one of the "baby" dolls. So cute. Don't you guys think that we should give her a little baby brother or sister to play with?I mean she loves babies so much, who are we to deprive her of that love?

Our little hoopster!

Well I guess soccer wasn't her sport! Maddy had her first basketball game on Saturday and I am proud to report that she was good! She was really good! She even made a basket during the game and a free throw shot and a few assists. She completely held her own with the boys (they are co-ed teams). Thay have only had one practice before the game and I wasn't even sure if she would inderstand how to play but I guess I was wrong. I am realizing now that soccer may have been a little hard on her legs. You are constantly running up and down a field that is pretty big. While she is still running up and down the basketball court it isn't nearly as long and I think that it is better for her to keep up. She still complains of a few aches in her knees and she has never been a very fast runner I think because of the arthritis but basketball seems to suit her and Dustin couldn't be more thrilled. He isn't the biggest fan of soccer and would much rather watch a basketball game than a soccer game! And I am excited because dribbling a basketball is one of the activities that the optimetrist said would halp with her vision therapy so it is a win win for everyone. It has been really fun because there are two other girls that are on her team that are in our ward and we played our good friends son (also in our ward) on Saturday. So Sunday was full of compliments for her about how well she played even from the big brothers that were impressed with how well she played. She jammed her finger in the last quarter and was so funny about it when we were heading home. It hurt but she told me she has done that like a million times it was no big deal! I don't know what basketball she has jammed her finger on considering that this week is like the first time she has ever dribbled a ball but whatever! Anyway it was lots of fun and we are excited to see how the game goes next week.