30 on the 30th

Well, it is official. I have left my 20's and entered my 30's. As many of you know, this was a hard birthday for me - so I think that is why my husband threw me the birthday bash of the century. I arrived home after picking up "cowboy food" to find my children and husband decked out in Wild West gear. My birthday was as country as they get. There was even Tim McGraw's song 'The Next 30 Years' playing in the background. Mattea had fun and I believe Paloma did too although she did not enjoy her cowboy hat as much as I did. I am so not a country girl by any means, but it was fun. I told Dave that there will be paybacks in February when he turns 35!

Gymnastics Fun

Mattea had such a fun day at gymnastics today. To begin, her skills are improving which is making it much more fun to participate. She also got to finally learn some skills on the bar. She was so excited and asked her teacher all through class if she could "swing." She learned the "tuck" and the "straddle". Her "bridge" is also getting much better, and she learned how to do a backwards roll. I was so proud of her as I watched. She looked like she was really enjoying herself.

Scary Hair

As I was busily trying to get ready for church this last weekend, Mattea came into the bathroom and said she wanted her hair done too. I told her she would have to wait or do it herself since at that moment I was a bit busy - and this is what we got. I obviously had to intervene.

Sick Day

Today was a sick day at our house. Both of the girls woke up febrile and vomiting. We all laid around the house in our pajamas, (which isn't out of the ordinary for Mattea) drank Sprite and watched just about all of the shows on PBS. Believe it or not these photos were captured just shortly before round two of the afternoon sickness.

Our Christmas Tree

Dave decided this was the year to take the family into the forest and cut down a "real" Christmas tree. We drove over an hour out of Boise to find legal forest land where we could cut our family tree. The girls did well. Paloma slept much of time, Mattea enjoyed the little bit of snow that she saw, and well Dave - he was stuck cutting the thing down. When we arrived home, we realized we had only 9 ft. ceilings and our monster mammoth tree was 12 feet. It was a bit of an adventure, but makes for a great story. We do agree though it is not a pretty tree by any means - but Dave says its as natural as they come.

Festival of Lights

After enjoying a great Thanksgiving dinner (compliments of daddy), the family bundled up and headed down to the Boise Botanical Gardens for the Festival of Lights. Despite the cold weather, we all had a good time.

Happy Thanksgiving

What is she thinking?

Any guesses as to what is running through my daughter's mind? I'm sure I will be getting these kinds of looks from both my children in the years to come. My hope was to grab a photo of Paloma and I right before surgery - just in case anything were to happen at least I had one last nice picture. And this is what I get???

My Darling Daughters

Just an adorable Kodak moment.

Pajamas in the Morning, Pajamas in the Evening

It is a bit embarassing, but Mattea has taken a sudden liking to pajamas. She wears them for bed, she wears them for naptimes, she wears them to the supper table, and most recently she wants to wear them in PUBLIC. Being the "easy going" mother that I am not, of course I posed some resistance. But you know what - I truly have bigger battles to fight. So my baby girl can be found most any hour of the day in her pajamas.

Missing Child?

Does this child belong to anyone? Because dressed like that, she certainly isn't mine... This is apparently what happens when I relinquish control over Mattea's wardrobe in order to promote independence.

Sisters

A small reminder of why I had children.

Mommy's Little Helper

Mattea is all about helping out in anyway she can these days. The satsifaction on her face when she is allowed to help with a task or chore is priceless. I struggle a bit because when Mattea "helps out" it usually means "more work" for me. On this particular day, she wanted to set the table and feed the dogs. Although her skills may not quite be developed, her heart is certainly in the right spot - and that's all that matters.

Peek A Boo

Paloma's new favorite game is peek a boo. Her sister loves to get her started and giggle along as they both attempt to hide their eyes before the other. Mattea has conviently learned that although we are not happy about a game of peek a boo occurring at the dinner table, we do absolutely nothing to stop it. The laughs and giggles from both of the girls is a welcomed sound at our house.

Bath Time

We have recently begun splitting the girls up for their bath times which makes our nightly routine long and drawn out. Paloma has always enjoyed bath time, but lately she loves to kick and splash and have a great time in the water. Mattea hates it and whines through the entire bath. If a little drop of water gets in her face, Dave and I hear, "my eyes, my eyes" as if they will be permanently damaged. So now Paloma has free reign of the tub to splash all that she wants without listening to her sister complain.

A Day at Kid Planet

After gymnastics was abrubtly canceled this morning the kids and I had to quickly come up with an alternative for the day. We decided on an indoor playland called Kid Planet. The girls had a blast and needless to say both are asleep in their beds.

Day of Surgery

After a long morning, Paloma is now home resting comfortably. We had a fabulous doctor who said her adenoids were "huge" and reassured us we had done the right thing by having them removed. The above picture is our little Polly Rae laughing and giggling prior to surgery, and then of course the second picture is after surgery. She woke up from anesthesia pretty hard. She is a trooper but both Dave and I are hoping this makes life easier for our little girl.

Caramel Apples

In celebration of the fall season, our family made some caramel apples. Dave allowed Mattea to "stir and dip" and she was so thrilled. Her favorite part was obviously enjoying the apples afterward. I have to admit, they turned out really good.

My Little Gymnast

After thinking long and hard about ways to channel all of Mattea's energy, Dave and I decided to enroll her in gymnastics. It is actually a tumbling class at the YMCA. So far she loves it. We are so proud of you Mattea. Maybe you'll take after your Aunt Kim.

Imagination at its best

Mattea was more than excited to receive a package in the mail the other day from Grandma Dean. After ripping it open, she found, amongst other things, two very fancy firemen hats. She attempted to put one on Paloma which didn't work out so well. She then placed one on and began posing for the camera. Thanks Grandma!

Dessert

So the other night, Dave came up with the idea to have ice cream sundaes as our bedtime snack?? Mattea was excited to say the least and had a lot of fun putting the hot fudge and whip cream on top.

Baby Blues

After waking up from a nap a few weeks ago, I entered Paloma's room to find her in an extremely good and playful mood - in which I took advantage by grabbing the camera. I think this picture reveals her beautiful blue eyes. Mattea has taken on her daddy's green eyes but I am hoping that Paloma will keep her baby blues. We will see.

40 Nights and 40 Days

I just have to share this little story...
The girls and I were driving along a couple of weeks ago and Mattea and I were talking about Noah and the Ark. We went over how Noah built the ark and how the animals were led on 2 by 2. We read the story often but I always wonder if she is ever listening. Well I decided to ask her how many days it rained. She then quickly responded, "40 nights and 40 days mama." I had an instant mommy moment.