Heart Cookies

Iva loves loves baking/ cooking. She always wants to help with dinner and always asks if we can make cookies or a cake. I give in a lot- who doesn't love cookies!?! We tested out a new sugar cookie recipe this time and it was so good! She is actually a really good helper and is quite talented. Charlie, on the other hand, is really good at playing with his dinosaur while we bake.

 

And so I have the recipe for future reference... Thank you, Whitney.

Q is for Quilt

Did you know it is really hard to teach three year olds the difference between a quilt and blanket?

Iva is so detail oriented. She is always the last one done with her projects at school. Her friends always finish way before her and run off to play. She rather just sit there and finish her work. She must get that from Shawn. I am the queen of starting a craft/project and never finishing it. 

Charlie

Is a goofball. Wild. Cuter than cute. Naughty. Sweeter than sweet. Stubborn. Manipulator. Dimple flasher. Arm flapper. Eye blinker. Cuddler. Caring. Gets into everything.

He is the master of pushing Iva's button. Knows how to get the biggest rise out of her. He sleeps under her bed and scares her. He hides in their closet and growls at her. (And we wonder why she is scared of the dark?) Shawn says he is just being a boy and that I needed a brother.

He definitely keeps us on our toes and we wouldn't change it.  

Cloud Animal

Iva and Charlie love getting a blanket and laying out in the yard to look for cloud animals. Their little imaginations are pretty impressive. Sometimes though the clouds don't cooperate. Such a bummer beautiful, sunny Arizona!

Kitty

Kitty is Iva's best friend. Kitty does everything with Iva and goes everywhere with her. If Kitty isn't allowed to come, Iva either straps Kitty into her car seat or tucks him into his special pocket in my diaper bag. She can't sleep without Kitty.

Kitty ran away in FL. Luckily, it wasn't until our last day there. We told her he went home to take a bath and would meet us there. (Luckily, we planned ahead and found a Kitty on Amazon and had one hidden at home.) 

Kitty was really dirty and well loved. Kitty 2 was not. We told her it was just because we had cleaned him. She thought for a minute and said "ok, but his ears are different". What?!? It is the same exact beanie baby, but somehow the ears are different. Shawn told her we fixed the ears and she went with it. She has her partner in crime back. It really is amazing how brave holding her Kitty makes her. 

We can't decide if we should try and find another Kitty or just let nature run its course if she loses it again? 

Goofball.

Henry is a goofball. He is seriously so silly. He comes up with the funniest little things. The other day it was trying to poke out my eyeballs while we were supposed to be resting. He thought it was hilarious

Selfies

Iva is slightly scared of the dark. Whenever we send her in her room for something at night, she "needs" the flashlight on my phone. Well, she apparently decided she needed to take pictures of herself on one of her trips to find who knows what? There were about 20 more of these pictures.

Outside

We are absolutely loving winter in Arizona. (I better blog now so I can look back and read this when it is 120 degrees this summer.) A day doesn't pass without Iva and Charlie going outside to play. I usually convince them to play in the backyard, but lately Iva has wanted to play out front so she can ride her bike. She zips around on her balance bike and is asking for one with pedals now.

Charlie prefers the backyard so he can dig in the dirt and pick grapefruit. He has picked our tree clean- he even stands on a step stool to pick. Iva and Charlie love grapefruit with sugar just like Papa.

My friend sent me a picture of snow out his office window so I sent him a picture out our back door. I will take it.

Six Months and Sitting

Henry started sitting (when placed) right around six months. We had no clue he could balance. He got an awesome toy for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Catmull that was easier to play with sitting than laying down so we sat him up to play with it and he stayed. He loves sitting up and playing now. I can't believe how big he is getting. If he is laying in the bopping, he can sit up, but we haven't seen him get to sitting from completely laying down yet.

Letter N

Iva is still loving school. She says I am a good teacher and likes when I teach. She has really started to pick up on letters and loves looking for them on signs, shopping, etc. She has even mastered writing her name and recently started to add the C for Catmull.

Charlie loves when it is my turn to teach because then he gets to participate. It always amazes me what he is capable of. He may only be two, but he can hold his own.  

Charlie's School

Charlie's "school" or themed playgroup is still going strong. It is his favorite thing. He looks forward to it and asks everyday if it is his turn for school. This last week, I taught and had a blast. He and his friends went and played in his bedroom and were being so silly. They did lock me out at one point though. After, I got locked out, we did our project and colored "stained glass"- it looked cooler on Pinterest. Iva was home because her school got switched from Thurs to Wed. It was her first time seeing Charlie's friends and being there with them. She definitely took on the role of mom.

Sick Day for Charlie

One morning, Charlie woke up and couldn't really wake up all morning. He would wake up, walk to wherever we were, and fall asleep with his tiny blanket. He had a cough and runny nose so we figured he was just sick. He fell asleep all over the place and only wanted to eat apple sauce. He fell asleep on the couch so we left him and went to play in the playroom. I heard noise so I came out to check on him. He apparently felt better and was helping himself to a jelly sandwich. He LOVES jelly sandwiches.

Dance

Iva took a break from dance because they stopped offering classes on campus (and we did a round of gymnastics instead.) Well, a MWU student's wife, Michelle, decided to teach dance from her house for really cheap for MWU students. She has taught before and I heard great things about her from other students in our ward. So we signed Iva up. This is the first time that we have dropped Iva off and left. She did great. She was a little hesitant, but scooted in the door and hid behind Jane. We read Fancy Nancy Budding Ballerina a billion times before and it paid off. She absolutely loved it and keeps asking to go back. I can't wait for her next class and their recital at the end of the eight weeks. I am really curious to see how that is going to go.

I am pretty sure this is probably how she looked the whole time.