My Little Readers

My girls love their books. Holland and her ABC books, although in this picture she has the Rapunzel book. Eliza loves reading just about anything. Miriam is into non-fiction books about cool animals but also loves her other shorter chapter books like Junie B. Jones, A to Z Mystery, and others. Love them.

No Longer A Baby

Holland is getting so so big. She turns two next month, and I feel like this Spring has been such a time of growth and change for her. She really has become a toddler over the last few months and not a baby.

For example, she threw her first big tantrum. Why? Because she wanted to nurse before lunch. Which is a problem because most days she nurses to sleep, so she can't nurse before lunch or she'll fall asleep with not enough in her tummy so she won't be able to sleep as long. I tried and tried to make her happy before filming this video, just in my defense. Nothing would do. The sight of the phone made her kind of chill out for a minute, but before this she was clenching her fists, stomping her feet, and throwing the biggest fit of her life (literally). I really did feel so bad she was so upset, but it got to the point where I just had to film it. Of course, she won the fight. (explanation: 3rd child)

Over the last month and a half, Holland's interest in the ABC's has skyrocketed. Her favorite book by far is Dr. Seuss's ABC. We have read it so. many. times. over the last month and a half. She has really learned her letters though. She didn't know hardly any (if any) before and she can identify pretty much all of them by now. (Today she identified all of them except W. She still has a hard time saying W, but I think that it is more stubbornness than anything on her part.) It turns out we own quite a few books about the ABCs, and Holland loves them all. She loves identifying letters she sees anywhere. On signs, shirts, and other books of course. Her favorite letter to identify is S, but she also really likes F, O, and Y. Of course, she knows none of the letter sounds, but she does identify the capital letters pretty well.

Holland is growing up and learning a lot of new tricks. Not featured in this family flick is her newest word "No" that she loves exploring. She also loves putting on her shoes. We got her shoes that she can work independently.

She has really been teasing us recently about potty training. She became very interested in it when her friend that is about 6 months older came over and was potty training. Holland talked a lot about the potty after that. She tells us all the time when she is going pee pee. She tries to hide when she poos. Well, I got out the potty seat for her and she loved it! She took to it like flies to honey. We had never been so successful so quickly, but the problem is that she isn't even two yet. Also, she doesn't really communicate that well yet, and she can't reach the sink even with the stool. That didn't stop her from giving a good tease about the whole idea though. One day she would go pee every time I put her on the potty. The next she wouldn't go at all. This continued for about two weeks, when I started forgetting/choosing not to put her on as often. Since then I put her on occasionally but it has been a long time since she has actually gone pee on the potty. I hope we didn't miss our window! We have a lot of traveling coming up, and I really didn't want to deal with a newly potty-training kiddo.

Holland loves, loves songs. She finds the "blue songs" box almost every day to have us sing to her. It is a favorite tool at dinner time to get her to eat. Right now a favorite is "The Wise and Foolish Men." She also really loves "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes," "If you're happy and you know it," and many others. The problem comes when she wants a particular song, but we can't understand what she is saying, like in the video below. She is such a babbler. She talks to me all day long, and it is weird now that I am actually starting to understand a few of the words she is saying, "Dee, dee" means drink, which could also mean any water she sees.

Her favorites right now are her teddy bear, ABC book, bunny, going outside, the Foot Book, milk (whole milk), dress up shoes, and singing songs. Occasionally she still really loves to nurse. She says "nurse" so clearly now. It is adorable. I love nursing her, but I can see it coming to an end sooner rather than later. She is almost two so maybe that is okay. :)

The other day Miriam had the worst mosquito bites (for some reason, if anyone is going to get bit, it will be her). She was so itchy so I suggested she have some Benadryl. Of course, she thought it sounded fun to have medicine, especially if it was going to affect her some way like making her sleepy. So she was all for it. She didn't seem too sleepy until an hour or two later when she asked if I wanted to go cuddle with her in bed. I told her that I needed to finish making dinner but I could cuddle on the couch with her for maybe 10 minutes. She laid down on me and within 30 to 60 seconds she was fast asleep.
Holland was all over this. She thought it was the best thing to climb up on my lap too, and especially be able to get all over her sister without getting attacked in return. Miriam didn't wake up despite all of the commotion, sweet girl. She eventually did wake up once I decided that I really did have to get up and finish dinner, but she sure zonked out while I was under her. I love the crazy pictures of Holland being so thrilled about Miriam being asleep.

I had to include these pictures at the last minute of Holly and Daddy. Melt my heart.

Eliza's Baptism

I don't know why I have thought so much about this, but for some reason Baptism Day has always been a big (dare I say looming?) event when I think about my children's childhood. The day they change from a little kid to a big kid. She is accountable now. Whoa. It is just a big deal. I can't believe it came so fast. I remember years past when I would see friends whose kids got baptized and I thought about how they were the parents of older children. Well, when Eliza turned 8, baptism age never seemed so young.

As much as I was so happy/sad about it, it was a wonderful day! In anticipation for the big day, we let Eliza pick out and order a special baptism (confirmation) dress. Not surprisingly she picked the most 'princessy' dress out of the options that we showed her. It really was lovely though. I love this first picture because she is clearly showing how proper and fancy she felt in this dress. That doesn't change her enthusiasm for most everything though, so when I pointed out the pretty blossoms behind her, she forgot all about herself and adored on them.

Right before these photos at the Gilbert Temple, my grandma took Eliza to Deseret Book to get her, her very own set of nice scriptures with name engraving and case. Needless to say, Eliza was beyond thrilled. The triple combination was the perfect accessory for the photos.

I love the grounds there. She took the scriptures home and over the next couple of days read all of First and Second Nephi. Say what? She really did! It was Spring Break, and she devoted most of her day to it. She is such an example to me.

 This one with the red flowers was her favorite photo. :)

Okay I can't resist. Eliza and I side by side, I see it! 

It was so nice of Grandma to get those for her. They are surprisingly expensive! Since that day about a month and a half ago she has read the majority of the Book of Mormon. She reads at least 15 minutes every single day (talk about being a good example!). She is already into Ether. I bet she'll finish before the two month mark. I know it isn't all about how fast you read it, but she isn't just breezing through it. She just showed me today where she thinks she read about the origin of the Urim and Thummim. She said in a recent letter to Grandma that her favorite parts have been when "Ammon meets King Lamoni and when Christ ministers to the Nephites after his resurrection." She actually used the word "ministers"! I love her.

I love the progression of the next few. It was surprisingly difficult to get a genuine smile from her during these pictures. (It shouldn't have been--but that is always the most difficult part of taking my kiddos' pictures!) I can't even remember what happened, something about a bug... But her face clearly shows her personality. I love it!

Aren't the temple grounds pretty? I loved all of the agaves in bloom. It always makes me a little sad though since I learned that an agave only blooms in its last year of life. It always dies after it shoots up these cool blooms. A ton of the agaves around the temple were blooming this year, so there is going to be a lot of replacement plants next year, I bet.

The baptismal service was so nice. I was pretty disappointed that we couldn't do it at Lake Powell, where I was baptized, but it was still a nice day. The stake did the meeting before the baptism, which was nice, albeit impersonal, but the meeting for the confirmation was just about our little Ellie.
She was so cute about being baptized. She and John practiced on dry land a few times so she would know how to move, and it went flawlessly. I was surprised and grateful to everyone from the ward who came to support her. A lot of the little families came to see her. So nice of them to give up part of their Saturday to do that!

Eliza and Miri sang a duet, "When I am baptized." The bishop and primary president talked. My girls love, love Sister Heinrich. She just has such a loving disposition. Miriam told me recently that she wasn't sure who loved her more, me or Sister Heinrich. Ha! I also spoke, which I included my little talk below. Maybe it isn't normal for the mom to speak, but I needed to make it more personal. :) And it was great!

Eliza wrote this about her baptism day: (I'll leave her spelling--she did this independently. :) )

Yesturday was my baptism! I got this pretty locect (locket) from Jane. I also got a photo ablum from the Burdicks. I felt really happy when I got baptized and confirmed. I know I did the right thing. Daddy blessed me, and I received the Holy Ghost as a constent conpanyn. Some of the things Daddy blessed me with was to continyu being a good example, to learn to recenize the promtings of the Holy Ghost, to know how much Hevenly Father love me, reconize people's needs and help stranthen people. Jane and Zuzu came down.
I love her.

Kylee's Talk:

Eliza's dad and I wanted to take a few minutes today to talk about our sweet daughter. First, we want you to know, Eliza, how incredibly proud we are of you. For this huge decision today, and many other smaller decisions over the last eight years. Eight years ago you made us parents. From day one, you have surprised us with your kind and thoughtful nature. A familiar scripture often comes to mind when I think about your sweet disposition.

Mosiah 3:19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becoment a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

This scripture never really hit home, until we had a child of our own. Eliza, you really do exemplify these Christlike qualities in our home. You make all of us want to be better.

One example of a time when you were trying to choose the right and also influencing your sister to choose the right, was when you kiddos set up your SM's. What does SM stand for?

A couple of months ago, we noticed our girls whispering and giggling while setting up a secret club. This isn't unusual. They often have clubs that involve notebooks, passwords, and stuffed animals. They referred to this particular club as an SM. This went on for a couple of days before we really took note of what was going on. One evening after dinner we went upstairs to check on them, and they both had a Book of Mormon open on the table in front of them. It was completely dark, but they had a lamp on the table spotlighting the Books of Mormon. They were taking turns reading aloud to each other. They had made it through all of the introductory pages of the Book of Mormon and were moving on to the actual books. It was so wonderful to see you and Miriam using your free time in such an important way. I remember how you girls would include in our family prayers, "Please bless us that we can keep doing our SMs." It didn't last forever, but it was a great example to your family about what matters most.

I am so proud of you for taking this step. I know that you have worked hard to prepare for this day. Here is a diagram Eliza made about the covenants and blessings of baptism and confirmation. She shared this with us at FHE this last week. Also this week she has done some marathon reading in the scriptures, reading the entirety of 1 and 2 Nephi in just two days.

We hope you'll keep trying to follow the Savior and continue to nurture these attributes found in Mosiah 3. We feel so blessed to have you as a part of our family, and we know that the decision that you made today to be baptized is going to lead to many blessings in your life. And if you continue following the gospel plan, you will come to appreciate your baptism more and more. The gospel is true.

Patti took a couple of great photos just with her phone that day. She got some good shots of the confirmation and things.

The girls sang, "When I am Baptized."

So happy that Grandma could come.

The whole family that was there. I am not sure what Miriam was doing...

Visitors for Eliza's Baptism--Saguaro Natl Park

My brother David and his family drove down to Phoenix for Eliza's baptism. That is such a long drive, and it was so so nice of them to come. They had one play day other than the baptism day to be here, and they really wanted to visit Saguaro National Park.

It was such a fun day. My only major complaint was that I had to drive a car down there, and I am a big baby about driving. So that was kind of painful for me. Once we got there, it was super fun though.

The kiddos completed the junior ranger program, in which they had to go through a booklet and take an oath, and then they got a badge!

Not only that but their achievement was announced over the intercom at the visitor center. They were so shy/proud of themselves. :)

I still think you have to live in Arizona to fully appreciate how cool cactus are.

I loved this hike up to the viewpoint over the valley. It looks like you are on the edge of the world.

Luke and the four girlies!

Saguaros are huge! See how tiny John is next to them!

It was windy there on the edge!

We went on one more little hike and loved the sunset view!

Such good friends!

My grandma was such a trooper about the whole thing and even went part way on one of the hikes.

Our girls just loved having our cousins around, and we loved seeing the adults too. Not quite enough to wrestle them in our excitement though. :) Poor Zuzu's wedgie! :)

I was so glad it was nice and warm/cool because the kiddos ate outside played on the new trampoline a lot. Luke was such a good big cousin and played a ton with them. Our house was pretty full with everyone, but we loved it! We were pretty happy though to be able to send the crazies outside to play/eat though. Our poor neighbors. :)

Miriam's face in this photo says a lot. ;) They had so much fun together.