Preschool Graduation

Ella had a little end of the year preschool graduation this past week.
We have been part of a "Mom's Preschool" group with some friends from our ward here. There are six of us moms who rotate through teaching preschool at our house 2 days a week every six weeks. We have gone through all the letters of the alphabet, numbers 1-25, along with rotating themes each week. I have really enjoyed being a part of this preschool group and will miss it a ton next year. I have really gotten excited to teach when my turn comes up and love planning lessons and activities that I know Ella will enjoy. I think I will try to do the same thing with all of our kids when they are 3.

Ella has also really enjoyed preschool. She has learned so much--she can write all the letters of the alphabet along with all of the names in our family (including baby). She knows all of the days of the week, months of the year, the pledge of allegience, and has learned so much more! She loves her preschool friends and their moms who have taught her each week. It has helped her to really come out of her shell this year and I would no longer describe her as "shy" (although she still has her moments of shyness. . .like when she is assigned to give a talk in primary). I think it was the perfect thing for us both and really helped us make an easy transition to this new city and state. She will still be going to one more year of preschool, but some of the other kids are moving on to kindergarten so we thought this would be a fun way to celebrate all they have learned this year.

Silly Girl

Our Maggie, who used to not care at all about what we thought, has become a little sensitive. If we get upset with her at all and use a stern voice it breaks her little heart and she just loses it! She has also decided she doesn't like to be laughed at. Last week when we started laughing because of how messy she got with her smoothie, this is the reaction we got: (which made us laugh even more and get out the camera)





She was SO hurt! We also are now getting this reaction anytime she does anything funny and we laugh at her. She just starts crying and says "No laugh at Maggie" in the saddest voice ever! What are we going to do--we are a laughing kind of family! How could this be the same girl who was so thick-skinned just a few months ago?

Best New Game Ever

We are playing a new game in our house as of late--totally Ella's idea. It involves her being the Mommy and Maggie being the big sister. I have become the baby in this make-believe world. The game involves the mom and big sister singing a song to the baby and putting me to bed in Ella's bed. They tuck me in, turn off the lights, leave the room and shut the door. I've been able to get at least a 5 minute power nap in each time. I hope the novelty doesn't wear off anytime soon, because I think this may just be the best game ever for this third trimester! If only we can keep it going once this little one arrives . . .

C & C come to town!

This past weekend our good friends Conrad and Courtney and 2 boys came to town. (Conrad is one of Brad's best friends from high school, and I got to know Courtney at the U of U before Brad and I started dating). We were so excited to have visitors here in NM. The girls just love it when we have people come to stay with us, and if there are little kiddos to play with they are especially in heaven!

We spent a lot of time playing at our house and visiting with the adults while the kids were in bed. We went up to the Balloon Museum one day and attended a little Children's Fair they had there and also toured the museum. We went to Old Town in the evening, enjoyed some New Mexican food, and let the kids run around the plaza. We also headed over to the Children's Museum one day. Brad had the weekend off and was able to take a comp day on Monday, so we were lucky enough to have him around for all of the festivities.

Ella and Maggie are already missing Weston and Will and asking when they can come and visit us again. Please come back guys, we enjoyed your stay so much, you are welcome ANYTIME! And as soon as we can get some more time off for Brad, we will have to come up your way! Thanks again for the visit!
(By the way--I felt terrible when I looked through my pictures and saw that I had no pictures with the adults! Oh well. Just take a look at those 2 cute boys and you can imagine how good looking their parents are!)

BALLOON MUSEUM/CHILDREN'S FAIR





OLD TOWN

2

I can't believe our baby is now 2. She is a bundle of energy, is always full of giggles, and is VERY opinionated about the way her world should be. She wants to be independent and do everything her big sister can do all by herself. Including filling up her own cups, pouring her milk, water, or juice, getting dressed, brushing her teeth, going potty, climbing into and buckling up her own carseat, etc. The only things she doesn't like to do by herself are those things that Mommy or Daddy ask her to do by herself! It has to be HER idea or we will all hear about it!!

She was very excited about her 2nd birthday and still walks around singing "Happy Birthday" to herself daily. In fact, just today Ella mentioned that it was her birthday coming up next and Maggie got very upset with her and said, "No, Ella. Maggie's Birthday!" Oh, what will we do when she realizes someone else gets their special day too? She can't hold up 2 fingers without holding down her other ones, and she also won't tell you how old she is without saying "2" and showing you on her fingers. I had to get a picture of it so we didn't forget. . .

She doesn't like to sleep and will avoid taking a nap as much as she can during the day and then try to do everything she can to keep herself up as long as possible during the night. She has slept in a big girl bed now for about 2 or 3 months since her crib couldn't contain her climbing ways. (She actually already climbs up and down off of the top of our backyard playground--something Ella didn't figure out until last summer. It makes me so nervous everytime, but this girl just loves to climb!)

She loves to play and have fun. She loves to run around and chase or be chased, play tag, hide-and-seek, and loves to dance to music. She still has the best little giggle around, but cannot giggle without getting a terrible case of the hiccups immediately following it. It was like this when she was a baby too--I wonder if this will last a lifetime. She likes to tickle and be tickled (Daddy is the best partner for that). When she hears Brad pull in the driveway she always runs out the door yelling "Dadda" and jumps into his arms--I look forward to this part of the day everyday, for many reasons really.

She still LOVES dogs, though she has started showing some fear to those larger dogs that may jump on her. Anytime she sees a dog going for a walk in our neighborhood she asks if she can go say hi and pet it. She has the same excitement over babies and always wants to hug and kiss any one she sees. I hope she is still so fond of them when we have one of our own that just doesn't go away!

She is good at communicating with us now, while she doesn't yet speak in sentences, she definitely puts 3 and 4 words together in phrases. She can count to 4 by herself, but tends to get a little mixed up after that. She loves to sing. Her favorite songs right now seem to be "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", "I Love to See the Temple", and "I'm so Glad when Daddy Comes Home". Her favorite color is blue and her favorite foods are smoothies, popsicles, and really anything else with sugar!

I think she and Ella balance each other out very well. She is a perfect little fit for our family and we are so lucky to have her. Can't wait to see how she grows in this next year!