2, Free, or 4

Is the answer you would get if you asked Lila how old she is now.  
Here is how we celebrated her 2nd birthday:

Enjoying the first present of the day from us.  I think big sister enjoyed the gifts as much as Lila.  She even helped her get out the next one and try it out.  :)

We went to the zoo and got there just in time to feed the giraffes.

Lila attempted and then changed her mind.

She thinks she is so big!

Looking at the lions with Daddy.

Decorating new PetShop toys after lunch.

Licking the beaters from her cake.

She got phone calls from Grandma & Grandpa Moore and Aunt Nessa.  Look at that face do you think she liked all the attention?

They watched Tangled for the first time since the theater.

She loved the balloons and has quite the poses.

Enjoying birthday cake.  They were lego blocks stacked on top of each other and I forgot to get a picture of it before we let them eat it--it is on video at least.  As we were setting up the video camera and stuff, Lila kept trying to reach the cake saying, "MINE!"  I put the candles on it and she started crying.  I lit them and there was a brief pause in the tears, but not enough to blow them out--she wanted them off of her cake so I blew them out and took them off.  As I was putting away the candles she pointed at them and blew--maybe next year.  We have to have our kids cry during the cake at least once in their life.  :)

She opened her package from Grandpa and Mimi while video chatting with them and she love the recorded message card with the song.  She played them over and over and over and every time she got that giddy look on her face.

We finished the evening by video chatting with Jakey and then taking baths to get all of the frosting off.

I am so grateful that Lila is a part of our lives.  She adds a little pizzaz and keeps us on our toes.  She is also gentle and sweet--loves to cuddle, pats your back for comfort, and can caress your face with her little hands in a way that will melt your heart.  It took us a little while to get her here and every day I thank my lucky stars to be her Mom!

Tricky Thursday, April Fool's Friday, Sleepy Saturday

What can I say--our weekend was full of fun and surprises. Like spontaneously taking the girls out for breakfast on Thursday.

Lila thoroughly enjoyed my double blueberry pancakes--she does like blueberries and pancakes so I should have known the mixture would be deadly.

The girls wanted to ride their bikes after our breakfast outing so I set up my craft table to work on a project in the driveway and they rode their bikes for three hours.  They were collecting special rocks while riding their bikes and Steve and I noticed yesterday that they very creatively decorated our front door mat with the rocks they collected (if you come to visit their rocks are still on display).  Towards the end I noticed a few weeds and told them I would give them a quarter if they picked them and they were so excited.

Here they are with their newly earned money which has already been spent on a new Hot Wheels car.

Ellie made the following April Fool's joke from Family Fun for her friends at school.

Grow wholesome, all-natural doughnuts in your own backyard!*

Plant by April 1**

Sow in a pile, in a deep bowl.

Cover with 1 to 2 inches of milk.

*Results not guaranteed.

**Really, really not guaranteed. In fact, we are certain that these seeds will not grow anything.

Ellie came home from school on Friday with two worms--they were learning the letter "W".  I was not going to touch them, but before I got everything unpacked from the car Ellie had the bag open out on the back patio and was trying to convince Lila to touch them.

Ellie was really gentle with the worms just moving them around or putting them on something to see if they would crawl around.  She showed Lila which part was the head and really encouraged Lila to play with it.  Once Lila got comfortable with the feel of the worm she stretched it, squished it, and eventually tore it in half--oops.

Here they are with the worms.  Notice Lila is stretching hers and Ellie is observing.

Lila 'chilaxing'.  She loves to suspend herself between the couch and ottoman.

Ellie fell asleep here during the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference.

Ellie's Take on Dinner

I was sauteing some bacon, onions, and asparagus for dinner last night when Ellie came in from playing outside and said, "What are you cooking because it stinks?"  I feigned shock and explained she should never say that to someone who is cooking dinner for her.  I continued cooking and Ellie came in again and said, "It smells delicious now.  You just needed to add some more ingredients."  There you have it from my personal food critic.

Lila's Thoughts on Life

During breakfast one morning, which is when I organize lunches and direct traffic to prepare for the day--you know how it is.  Lila was sitting at the bar eating and watching and all of the sudden she said:


"Daddy wohk."
"Ellie chool."
"Mommy and Lila" and then began a series of chitter-chatter babbling with a giggle at the end.


I thought it was cute that she had so much to say about the time we spend together while Daddy is at work and Ellie is at school.  We usually do a lot of things like run errands, grocery shop, tumble class, park play group, read stories, and play.  I enjoy the one-on-one time I get with her.

Food for Thought

We love food! We love making it, we love eating it, we love playing with it. Here are some of our recent adventures with food.

Today we decided to take the girls out to lunch (thanks Stephanie for the gift card and excuse to go). We were going to go to Chili's but they were closed due to mechanical difficulties so we went across the street to On the Border. Their own drinks with straws and life size chips were a hit.

Lila enjoying the cherry off of their Sundae.
P.S. When we got to the restaurant we  realized Ellie didn't have any shoes on--she said she was so excited she went straight to the van and forgot to get shoes.  :)

We had a chocolate chip tasting on Monday to see which ones we liked better.  I think the girls had decided before the cookies were actually baked--they love eating dough and cookies and their chocolate faces were proof.

We got ice cream while shopping at Costco one evening.

I made 8 dozen cupcakes for Young Womens.  
My first time using fondant-they were pretty cute.

Lila tried to make her own chicken cordon bleu with a chicken nugget and piece of lunch meat. (Notice her chocolate face from licking the bowls after I made all those cupcakes.

We bought 9 pounds of strawberries at the beginning of February and managed to eat all of them within the week.  What can I say my girls love strawberries.

Enjoying some fresh produce--strawberry and mango pit.

  We had some friends over to roast hot dogs and make smores on our neighbors' fire pit.

Think Green

Once again those sneaky little Leprechauns got away.

We tried to lure them in with our gold marbles under the rainbows.  Once they pick up the marbles the cloud basket would drop on them. 

The trap has been sprung.

Can you see their little green footprints?  They escaped out onto our lawn.  Ellie took her binoculars out to follow the footprints, but lost them in the green grass.

Gathering the gold chocolate.

Enjoying the loot.

They turned our eggs and milk green.
They also turned our toilet water green--silly leprechauns.

Tonight we dine on corn-beef and cabbage.

Girls Week

My Mom, Sister Venessa and her new baby Izabella came to visit.  We had a great 4 days.  They arrived late late Tuesday night--they were scheduled to arrive a little before midnight, but their flight was delayed because Southwest computers were down and well we didn't get to bed until almost 2am.  Wednesday was a crazy day--Ellie had preschool, Lila had tumble class, I had to setup for New Beginnings, pick Ellie up then do a quick lunch before taking Ellie to Kinder Roundup then home to do a few little things, dinner and then off to finish the electronic setup for New Beginnings and I didn't get home from cleanup until 9:45pm.  I appreciated their patience and help with the girls to make the day run smoother.  I also think they appreciated a day to relax since it was a late night before.

Lila falling asleep on Mimi while Aunt Nessa watches Beauty and the Beast on Blu-Ray.

My girls loved having a baby around to dote on.  One of the main reasons for the trip was to let Venessa go through all of my girls' clothes and see if anything would work for Izzy.  We sent her home with a whole suitcase full of clothes.

 The weather was beautiful while they were here.  Near 80 every day and clear skies.  We decided to take the girls swimming at the Rec Center.

Friday evening Ellie had her sports class where we all got to watch her "play" flag football (she didn't like the flag around her waist so she mostly just stood there while people ran around her).  It was also my brother Jake's and Steve's sister Stephanie's birthdays so we had to celebrate by going out for yogurt.

Everyone enjoying yogurt and toppings at Kona Berry

Of course there was shopping.

Nessa wanted to get a hat to take to Mexico she bought two and Lila had recently acquired her "pretty hat" and she insisted that we all wear one and take a picture.

Here's to next time!

(who knows maybe little Izzy will be trying to keep up with the girls)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

You read that right.  We woke up to snow this morning.

Coming in to warm up with hot cocoa and waffles.

Daddy kept working on the snowman.

Round 2 after breakfast.

The girls tried to start a snowball fight.

Ironically Steve has to teach today on "The Things that Matter Most".  We decided that playing with the girls in the snow, since it hardly ever happens, was of most importance--I'm sure his lesson will go well.  :)