Holland is 4!

 My littlest is 4! I am a little heartbroken about this, but it is also the best. I really think that so far age 4 is my favorite. They say the funniest things, are a little bit more reasonable, and oh so sweet. She loved waking up to decorations on her birthday morning. I hope my girls remember how magical it felt to wake up to a house decorated for their birthday and not just remember all the things I didn't do.
Our morning took a unexpected turn when John and I dropped everything to go look at a van which had been posted that morning. Turns out that it had been sold the day before. Whoops!
But we still had a fun lunch (mac and cheese is a special treat at our house) and Sophie came over to play, which she loved.

This girl picked pizza and watermelon for dinner, and then we had presents and angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries. It was a hit.

For presents Holland received an Elsa dress up ensemble. We particularly laughed at/loved the long braid. Honestly this is a perfect fit for Holland right now. She loves wrapping a cloth around her to be her cape like Elsa and pretending to freeze everything with her frozen/ice powers. Not to mention she asks her hair to be braided "long long" like Elsa. It's been a hit.

 Holland also received another season of Sofia episodes to watch. She loves those. I also made her a couple of cute necklaces that she wasn't very impressed with. And last but not least, she got a stockpile of gum. This is good sum of Hollands favorite things: Elsa, shows, and gum.

We love this girl so much! She is such a light to our lives. She loves going to other people's houses. She still especially loves the Davises. Good thing we're such good friends.

 I love she makes up songs and dances constantly. It is adorable. She is my little buddy and I can't believe she is getting so old so quickly. I swear it took Eliza twice as long to get to 4 than it did Holland.

 She says the best things: "Do you like my beautiful lips?" "I want to kiss you with wet lips." "That is my best part. What is your best part?"

 "I want to sing you a song" (after John had sang to her at bedtime, she made up the sweetest primary song. "I want to do Jesus' example. I want to do the work with him. Now I want to be. Now I want to be. Now I want to be."

"I want to keep you." "Want to see my best dance?"

 Then there are the less sweet songs. One day she made up a song about how she wants us to leave her alone in her castle. She sang about how she didn't want us around. I blame Elsa.

 Yet, on the other hand, just a day or two after the "leave me along in my castle" song, I heard her singing asking if she can stay with us.

 She is still progressing well at reading lesson and preschool pages. She isn't quite as happy to do it as she used to be, but craisins and fishies "help." I probably doesn't help that I am not as consistent about it as I would like to be, but we'll get there. I loved the day that she told me "I am doing a LOT of work." She had just finished up some preschool pages that were dot to dots and tracing a path. Pretty rough stuff. :)

 I also loved it when she declared in the middle of reading lesson that "SHINE, sun shine is my best word." We had just read it, and she pronounced it her best.

 She is almost always pretty sweet and happy, but there are some tactics we use to get the desired results from her. For example, the best way to get her to do something that we ask her to do is by going into pretend to be puppies/kitties mode."Okay, puppy, can you go get your clothes and take you jammies to your drawer?" "Puppy, it is time to pick up toys."

 One of her most common sayings right now is "I am careful with fragile things." She has been given some fragile toys and she is certain that she knows how to handle them. She brings it up regularly.

 One of my favorites is how she can totally insult us without meaning to "Daddy, you have a poofy neck." Then there was the day that she was singing into the microphone about loving a person. I asked her who she was singing about, and she answered, "Someone else."  Not me, obviously. :)

 I love the dramatic things she says (sometimes) "If you give me too much watermelon, I will DIE."

 She is also talented at stating the obvious. "Gum is my best gum." "I need to go back to bed." This last one was said at 2 am when she was asked what she needed.

 Just this morning, she was sitting on the potty before church. She was concerned, "My hair is getting longer. It will fall in the toilet." Honestly though, there is almost nothing that bugs her as much as finding a hair stuck to her, or on the rug, or in the bath. This is unfortunate because we have so much hair all over. I have to clean out that vacuum roller regularly.

 "I am good because I like friends and I am happy." She is such a good girl, who loves so many people around her. She told me the other day that she loves one specific boy who she has only played with a couple of times.

 As much as Holland can throw down the zingers, she can make you melt with her sweetness. The other day I walked in to see Ellie reading to Holland. "Is Ellie reading a story to you? Ellie's the best, huh?" Holland nodded, "She is."

 We just love Holland and think she is adorable. I love how much she likes to just sit and look at books. It seems like sometimes she is almost relieved to get a timeout and go to her room and calm down while she looks at books.

 Holland is super affectionate and loves giving kisses. I love her cuddles, and she lights up the whole room with her smile.

 One funny thing that she had done a couple of times is tried to put something she likes so high that "Miriam can't reach it." Still working on that possessive/sharing thing.

 At bedtime prayers she always starts "(Whoever) is super nice. And he/she always plays with me and ..." It is really sweet.

 This girl seriously loves bandaids and wants them always for anything. Unfortunately lately she has had a lot of bug bites which need bandaids. It is so sad to see her tiny arm covered in big swollen welts.

 Holland filled in the blanks. Something great about me is "riding bikes." Something funny about me "climbing trees." Something I love is "music." My best song is "Eyes on You." "My favorite thing to do is EAT BIRTHDAY CAKE!" Something that makes me sad "getting a time out." Something that makes me laugh "I like to read Mom and Dad stories. And putting my sparkly cape over my head."

 My favorite game "Zingo." My favorite family member "let me get Zingo out and also Daddy and Mommy. I love Mommy and Daddy."

 We love you so much Holland! You are such a blessing and delight in our lives.

Mother's Day 2019

 This Mother's Day was awesome! It was coming off of kind of a heavy week for me. The last few years the week before Mother's Day has been a stressful one for me. It is teacher appreciation week, which wouldn't seem so bad, but I put too much mental energy into it. I just need to decide what I am going to do with for my kid's teachers every year, do that thing, and not worry about it. But there is always, should I do the group gift, is this lame, how can I show how much I appreciate all they have done for my child, $25 to Target is nothing compared to what they have done for my kids, $25 per teacher per kid is $100 in gift cards--sheesh that added up! Anyway, I need to stop over thinking it. Basically, in the future, we're going to do a little gift with a card from my kid with a gift card.
Then there is Mother's Day, which is wonderful, but I like to do a sweet card to all the grandmas for Mother's Day. This year, I just printed a photo and did a little note with compliments and a little message from each of us. It wasn't too bad.
Then there is the pie sale for the YW girl's camp fundraiser. This is the third year I have been in charge of it, so to be honest I was feeling confident in how it would work out and not too worried about it. Ironically, it was a bit of a fiasco this year with them losing my bulk order, and then we had simultaneously too many and not enough pies. And then, only one pie was dropped face down during all the prep work, and it was dropped by me.
Then, there was just other stuff. Braces coming off for Eliza. Van shopping for me and John. A school project for Miriam. All normal stuff, but it was just busy and a lot.
So finally the pie sale was done, gifts delivered to school, cards mailed, and it was time to relax for me. Unfortunately, John had to speak on Sunday, so he was kind of stressed going into Mother's day. I told him to take it easy on the Mother's theme of the Mother's day Sacrament Meeting. And he did. It was perfect. He said something sweet about me at the beginning, shared a couple of tender thoughts about mothers, everyone loving and caring for children, and the love of the Savior. It was great! I had a ton of people come tell me what a great job he did. Unfortunately, he especially did a good job compared the other adult speaker, who was doctrine-light in his talk. One funny thing was that at the beginning of his talk, John made a joke that his talk was his gift to me for Mother's Day. This was funny because if you know John and me at all, you know he is the most considerate husband ever. He went shopping for and made me breakfast, lunch, dinner, helped with dessert, had the kids make me cards, did a little video interview of them, and got me presents (both what I asked for and a couple of little surprises). Basically, there are no boxes he didn't check. So his joke was funny that he wouldn't do anything else for me except give a talk. The funny part to us though was how many people came up to me concerned that he wasn't doing anything else for me. No one in our ward said anything to John about it except for the local member of the Seventy, Elder Tilleman, who mentioned that John should also make me dinner. :)
But I had a wonderful day, full of relaxing, yummy food, and lots of spoiling. I got a couple of pics with my girls. We had chocolate german pancakes for breakfast, chopped mexican salad for lunch, fresh grilled burgers for dinner, and a decadent chocolate pretzel pudding pie for dessert. Yeah, it was delicious.

I got lots of sweet cards and presents. I especially liked this note from John and Eliza. "We love you more than ice cream, garden fresh veggies, eating at Cafe Rio, movies, soft blankets, sweaters, and so forth, all combined." They are the cutest. I received  a couple of yummy chocolate treats, new earrings, a new gym bag (that I asked for), and lots of cards and coupons.

I loved Holland's card from preschool. A cute hand print with a little questionnaire sheet. It was perfect.

The girl's cards from school were fabulous. Eliza was told to decorate the cover of hers like People Magazine, but she thought that was like the magazines in the checkout line I tell her not to look at so she designed it as the cover of the Ensign instead. I don't think that girl could be any sweeter.
Miriam did an awesome job on her card. I can tell she really put a lot of time and effort into making it just perfect.


Eliza wrote an article in her magazine about why I am special. She said it is because I am involved, kind, and hardworking. I love how much she loves one on one time with me. I need to do that more.

Miriam had the cutest little poems on the back of her card.

She also wrote a sweet letter to me inside her card. She thinks I am the best mom in the world because I am an at home mom, the best playmate, and I comfort her when she is scared. It is adorable and sweet.

And Daddy had them make extra cards at home. I liked Holland's drawing of me. It is super!

And then there are all the coupons I received. Yeah, I am going to be using these. I had to chuckle at Miriam's "Watch movies together." She told me that expires at the end of May. :)

Well, these kiddos wrote that I am the best mommy in the world but in reality I am the LUCKIEST mommy (and wife!) in the world. I love them more than I can express.  

Braces Off

At the beginning of the school year, Eliza got braces put on the upper front four teeth. She has been a champion about them. She has flossed almost every day that she has had them. Seriously she is a gem. This last week, they got taken off. We had to do some before and after shots. Notice that she is wearing the same shirt and hairstyle. I think there might even be the same car in the background. :)

 And then after! What a beautiful smile!

 Of course she is darling either way, but I think she'll be happy that we got those front teeth a little straighter. Also, I can't help but notice she is looks a lot older in the after photo. It was only a little over 9 months, but it looks like she aged like 4 years!! I love that she looks so confident in her after picture. This girl is much, much more than a pretty smile, but I am glad we had the opportunity to get her teeth straightened.