It has come to this people

I recently had to add this piece of art to my bathroom decor.  Isn't it lovely?  Because apparently somewhere between the excitement of getting the bum wiped and washing the hands WITH soap, a very crucial step #3 was getting missed.  Again and again and again.  And while I love a good poo aroma wafting through the house as much as the next guy, it was time to take some action.  The culprit appears excited about the step by step.  In fact, after it was shown to her she invented her own little musical ditty to go along with it.  But as we all know, actions speak louder than words....or songs.  So we shall see.

Say a little prayer

A couple weeks ago when we were saying the dinner prayer, we noticed Charlotte doing something that looked strangely like folding her arms.  So then we started paying attention to the little smarty pants.  And sure enough, whenever she hears the word prayer, she immediately does this:

We'll work on bowing her head and closing her eyes later.

These girls love their daddy

I love how much my girls love their dad.  And he is such a good dad to them.  Here are a few recent snapshots of them playing together.

And here we have Idaho, winning her way to fame

For show and tell a couple weeks ago, Ava had to bring something that started with the letter "I" and she was super excited to bring Idaho and show off all her family that live there.

The poster we made

Uncle Bub

G.G. and Grandpa G.G.

Grandma Kathe, Poppy and Aunt Nonny

Magic

So if you want your 3 year old to be SUPER excited about staying home for the day and cleaning bathrooms, you just have to make her a "cleaning bathrooms" utility apron. Oh, and let her wear it over her pinafore.

So helpful

So, remember this post? Ava and I planted some flowers. Here's how Charlotte helped.

Boy she looks mischevious in this one.

We all scream...........

.........for ice cream!  Charlotte had her first ice cream cone the other day. I think she enjoyed it.

This is all that was left.  Pretty sure she ate some paper.

Strength in Numbers

Last night for Family Home Evening, Rob gave a lesson based on this talk and how a family functions better when everyone is trying to work together and do what's right. And as we do whenever we can, we found a way to turn the lesson into throwing things off our second floor balcony. We tied one string around a weight, threw it off and pointed out that only one string can't handle it and broke. Then we put three strings together and did the same thing. Ava thought it was incredibly fun and seemed to understand the concept as she mentioned it later in her prayers. Charlotte, on the other hand was only somewhat in on the action. Apparently being able to see the ground below through the slats in the deck was unnerving to her and she kept herself right smack dab up against the door. She really wanted to be out in all the action but would take one step forward and then immediately pull back up agains the door. Good thing mama can hold her.

Throwing the weight with one string

Broken String

Throwing the group of strings

Whoa! It didn't break

"This doesn't look stable to me."

There's a tiger in there somewhere

Tonight during bedtime routine, Ava says "I want to choose which book."  Then she completes the choosing process:

"eenuh minah moe, possa tynah toe, you are not it." 

One day

I bet I'm gonna miss these.........................................

Planting Partners

A few months ago we got Ava a playhouse to put in the yard.  It has been well-worth money spent as she plays in it everyday as long as weather permits (which means there isn't a tornado about to pick it up or grapefruit-sized hail coming down).  It came with these two little pots and Ava has been dying every since to "put some super special flowers in them."  So today during the break between sessions of conference, we were planting partners!


Choosing which flower to plant





Perfect placement in the pot




The finished product all tucked in place. (Now if I can remember to have her water them)



How cute is that!

These days................

this is how Rob plays basketball.