Sharing?

Ever since Abby has become mobile Ryan and I have had to sit Sarah down and talk to her about sharing numerous times. Sarah will be clear in the other room and can sense Abby picking up a toy (even if it isn't Sarah's). Sarah will run into the room {usually growling}snatch the toy from Abby and set it up where Abby can't reach. I'll admit this at times can be helpful when Abby is getting into something she shouldn't, or its nice not having to bend over to the floor when all of the toys are piled nicely on the couch, but for the most part it just frustrates me that Sarah suddenly needs the toy Abby is playing with and is being so selfish. 

So we've had bedtime stories about Princess Sarah sharing, FHE lessons about how Jesus is happy when we share and talk after talk right after the act (usually accompanied with a short timeout on the stairs). But all to no avail, she still is stubborn and gets mad at Abby. I have even started explaining how Abby won't want to be friends with her (which at the moment Abby hasn't really had a problem with toys being snatched out of her hands left and right, but that won't last forever). 

So how should I feel when I am doing the dinner dishes this morning (I'm a lazy house wife, and didn't do them last night... don't judge me) to find Sarah sharing with her sister?

Wait, didn't I just feed them breakfast? And HOW did she get those crackers?

Well, I guess I am supposed to be happy and proud of this sweet little moment. 

Until I see them grinding the crackers into the rug {the nice clean rug I had just vacuumed}. 

Not that you can tell with the toys strewn about the room {those were just picked up as well}. 

{sigh} I am happy they are sharing. But maybe next time it can just be the toys...

...and not a crumbly mess on my clean floor. 

Zebra & Horsey

I just had to jot down some of the dialog from Sarah's pretend play.

Hi, my name is horsey

                  Hi my name is Zebra.

How are you today?

                   I need to take a nap for a minute I am so tired.

I am hungry

                  You want something to eat

Sure, OUCH! Ouchy!

                  Are you okay?

I’m okay

                  Take a nap

Mommy, I want my mommy

                  She wants her mommy.

 (runs over to me) Sarah: Horsey wants her mommy, mommy.
(I fish out the mommy horsey from the depths of the church bag)

Mommy horsey, I want my mommy. There you are mommy! (has horseys give hugs)

                  I want my mommy too

(comes back over to me) Sarah: Mommy, the zebra wants her mommy too! 

(unfortunately we don't have a mommy zebra, so I had to spend 5 mins explaining this)

Let's take a picture with the camera

                  Thats a good idea, you like it?

Yes, I like it!

Sarah: Mom, I want to take a picture with the camera. 

(mom takes some pictures)

(Notices Zebra is missing a leg)

Sarah:  Mommy, I broke zebra's leg, can you help me find it? (heaven knows how long ago this happened)

This girl sure does know how to make blogging easy for momma. 

Summer do's

I feel bad, the picture of Abby didn't show of her cute new little do. So I decided I better post a few more. And hey, I don't get any complaints from posting too many pictures of lil' Abby. 

And does Abby like it?

Oh yeah!

Oh, and here is a little picture of my haircut. I love it.

Short and off my neck! YES!!!

The bangs got more chunky, and if I do them right (not like in the picture) they look more like bangs. 

I'm learning. Hair has never been my strength. 

Can you even tell the bangs are chunkier? I am having a hard time myself, so don't feel bad.
I definitely can feel a difference, and I love it! 

PS - Sarah took this picture. She is really getting into picture taking, 

almost makes it hard to pull out my camera. 

Meet Buzz-Bee

This is Buzz-Bee, the faithful Bumble Bee that Prince Cornelius rides in Thumbelina. 

Buzz-Bee has been having fun flying around our house, playing in our yard HAS to go "buh-bye" in the car with us...always (even if it has caused him to lose both of his cute little wings). 

He is a wonderful Bumble. 

Never has a lawn ornament been loved so much by a little girl! 

Thank you G'ma Lisa for bringing Buzz-Bee to our home. 

Too Short!

That visit was just too short! We already miss you G'ma Lisa. We had so much fun, and are so grateful that you were able to come and have a perfect weekend with us. 

Sarah loved bouncing like a bunny through Joann's with you while mommy perused the fabric. 

The Children's Museum was ten times more fun with you there. 

The Slides were faster, 

and twisty-er!

The Bubble Teeter-totter was filled with bubbly laughter. 

In fact there was more bubbly laughter everywhere!

Water Play had more splishity, splashity fun. 

It was a great day and we had so much fun. Even though mom and dad took you to a yucky Indian Restaurant that evening, you made up for it with Cold Stone and puzzles. 

Life doesn't get any better than THAT!

The next day was a blast as well. 

We had so much fun at the Carnegie Science Center with you. 

With more Splashing, 

and exploring. 

Going to demonstrations and running EVERYWHERE!

It is too bad the camera died so early in the day, there were so many fun moments that we'll just have to hold on to in our memories. 

It was so cute watching lil' Abby almost take her first step with you that evening. 

Ryan and I loved staying up late playing the card game, "Lucky" that you taught us. The next day was the best Sunday ever. I really appreciated having you at church with us, and that you even helped out with Nursery! You made my Sunday so much more enjoyable having you there, and that you were there to see so many cute things.  

Like Abby's snooty face, 

all covered in milk. 

Thank you for cutting everyone's hair (except snoozing Sarah, you wore her right out). 

We all look so cute, even after waking up in the morning.  

We love you so much G'ma Lisa, and can't wait until your next visit!

Two Days and Counting!

Until G'ma Lisa comes to visit. 

We are just so excited. 

It is terrible, I use this information to get Sarah to be cooperative. Is that bad? 

"Sarah, do you want G'ma Lisa to come and visit?"

"Yes Way" (Sarah's been saying 'yes way" and more annoyingly 'no way' to just about everything)

"Then you need to help clean up."

Speaking of "If you want that, then you need to do this first" moments, I have to share one that made me laugh today. The Relief Society at my church was teaching a cake decorating class today. I have always been fascinated with those who can decorate cakes, so I decided I better not miss this activity. Sarah was on one, and didn't want to play in the nursery with the other kids. So, I decided, I'd let her taste the yummy frosting and then tell her that if she was good and went and played with toys, that I would make her a cake. The resulted in a classic Sarah scowl followed by "NO WAY!" I drug her over to the nursery, kicking and screaming and had to tell her about three or four times that she had to play with the toys before I would make her a cake. What a terrible deal for her right? Playing with toys = mom makes me a cake. *sigh* What am I going to do with her. 

Anyway, back to the real purpose behind this post! G'ma Lisa coming to visit. 

I have been so excited and anxious about getting the house ready for a visitor. We moved Sarah and Abby into the same room a couple of months ago and turned the teeny-tiny third bedroom into a study/sewing room. Then over spring break I found a set of bunk beds and decided we should put Sarah's old bed in the third bedroom so it could be a guest room. 

It honestly looks like a dorm room. Cramped with room for only a bed and desk (oh yeah, and we even have a white board hanging on the wall - Ta-cky!). AND, it really felt like a dorm room to me because the comforter that I threw on there was the same one I used in college. It was driving me more than a little batty. 

(Small tidbit about this quilt, most of the fabric I used were leftover scraps from old outfits my mom made me when I was little, fun huh?)

See? Cute, but not very "guest room" -ish. No Shams, decorative pillows, the busy-ness of the quilt isn't very relaxing... which after a day of playing with Sarah and Abby, you will definitely want to relax. 

So... I used a Small $35 Target gift card that I had to buy a quilt/sham set (stretched that baby and even got a set of sheets too, much better than the two king sized flat sheets that I had on their before). It was a little too grandma-ish for me, so I had to throw some flavor in there. 

And can you guess what fabric I used?

Yup, I am addicted. I just love it. It makes my heart happy. 

The Flavor.

Aren't they so cute! 

I stole the idea from my favorite craft blog, and put my own little twist on them. 

I think the ties are just so fun. 

I LOVE the way the ruffles turned out on the bigger yellow one. I used a sheer satin-ish fabric that I got with some upholstery fabric off of Freecycle. It was probably planned to be a curtain liner or something. But it is really loving its home on my pillow! And, I had an old shirt that matched perfect so I cut it up for the matching flowers (which I may be addicted to those little flowers, they are cute and easy to whip up). 

Definitely a HUGE improvement from the dorm room look before. 

And bonus, all of the fabric that I used I already had. I felt very resourceful. 

Okay, anyone else want to come visit ?

Tulip

Picked for Me!

Spring flowers

AND DIRT!!!

Dogwood

They are one of the prettiest flowering trees EVER!! 

And this variety in my yard is absolutely exquisite! 

Thumbelina

Sarah got this movie for Easter and LOVES it! 

I think it is pretty cute too. 

I have caught her dancing several times to the movie (which is rare, Sarah is NOT a dancer, and usually stops when I pull out the camera). I was so glad to catch a few shots of her adorable moves. 

And she was spinning over and over again, so I couldn't resist...

(you all know what is coming)

Yeah, like I said before, I'm addicted. This isn't my best, but they are still so fun! 

Happy Easter!

We really got spoiled this year. 

The Easter Bunny came almost entirely in the mail this year. (Thank you grandmas!)

The Easter Bunny had left a trail of marshmallow bunnies for the girls to follow in the morning. Well, some little stinker (SARAH) headed downstairs with out mommy and daddy to check it out. She came up to our room and woke Ryan and I up with a bag full of mallows that she had collected.  Oh well, maybe Ryan and I got an extra 5 minutes of sleep. She sure was excited to have us come and see the Easter surprise. 

Here is Sarah's Easter

and Abby's

(and yes, she slept in her outfit from Yesterday)

We had a lot of fun and had plenty of distractions for the girls so Ryan and I could listen to conference. 

What a wonderful weekend. 

PS - while I was working on Easter dinner, and Ryan was studying, Sarah decided to play with her new bubbles (after mommy told her to wait until after dinner) and dump TWO bottles of bubbles on our rug. Ugh! When I asked her what happened, she explained how she was "sharing" the bubbles with Abby. 

Dying Eggs

Sarah was so excited to play with brightly colored water...

Not that you can tell, she is so focused in all of the pictures. 

Abby at least gave me some big smiles.

Sarah wanted to make Monster Eggs, one of the many reasons why I love Sarah!

They turned out pretty cute.