Spring,

We are waiting ever so patiently for you, but our patience is growing thin.

love,

Us

Today we enjoyed some snow while the sun shone so brightly. Although we can't really complain because it only lasted about a minute.

The streaky white things are the snow

And the sun shining strong during the snow.

My patience would be better if the grass was at least green, or almost green.

While we are waiting we have been doing some spring cleaning.

The girls playing nicely and reading books on the cushionless couch while I cleaned them. They were being more help then they could possibly know :)

Washing toy totes from their bedroom, which happens to be the only room which has had its full spring cleaning done.

snow, wind and drifts

We are having a full out blizzard today

so we are finding things to play with inside.

As for Easter

we dyed eggs

and got sandbox toys from Grandma and Grandpa Bishop.

We enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend watching conference with an occasional trek across town to some friend's house for parties and dinner. (happy birthday Anna)

Just Kiddin'

Not about being sick, we really are sick.
But about the end being in sight.
I decided this morning that we wouldn't be sick anymore. We cleaned, played, washed bedding.....but as the day progressed Ashlee seemed to be getting more sick, and after nap time it was apparent that we would need to make a trip to the doctor's office.
Turns out that she has a REALLY BAD ear infection; but she is now on ear drops and antibiotics, so maybe now the end of all this sickness really can be near, at least we sure hope so.

Day 9

Today is the 9th straight day of sickness in our house, and we are ready for it to END!

It started with Ashlee and a terrible cold.
She passed it on to Caitlin who got a cold with a terrible cough (which always accompanies her colds).
And I think they both passed it to me, which is a bummer because I usually can take Vit. C and drink lots of water and flush a cold out before it starts, but not this time.

We are hoping Chris doesn't get it since he is busy with his show right now. But luckily, since he does have rehearsal, he isn't home very much so maybe he can escape.

Needless to say we haven't gotten a lot accomplished this past week or so and we have spent a lot of time at home, alone. But I think the end is in sight!

embellishments

We got new easter baskets at the dollar store, but they are the same and not very fancy.

So we made them different and fancy by adding embellishments.

Thanks to the Will Grandparents for some fancy, sparkly stickers that worked great!

Can you guess whose is whose?

Hint: Caitlin can often be heard saying "pink and purple are my favorite colors"

I know you are all wondering how I could possibly be posting in this 3 o'clock hour when church isn't over until 4? Well, Ashlee still has tons of germs that we don't really want to pass around to everyone else in nursery, so she and I stayed home.

singing a little JasonRobertBrown

Chris has been practicing this song from "Parade" for an upcoming event at school, and Caitlin learned it also.

poor ash

The worst thing about her being sick, besides the fever, continually running nose, crying, hoarse voice, night wakings, short naps, loss of appitite, terrible cough, and sneezing, is that our sweet little girl just feels so misrable.

How she looks a good portion of the day and night- either resting on Mom or Dad.

Summoned

Chris was summoned for jury duty this past week.
I have had it several times since we got married, but this is the first time for him.
No big deal, most of the things seem to be settled out of court and you don't even have to go.

Here's the kicker:




He is summoned for 1 YEAR



For one full year he will have to let the courts know if we will be out of town, have special events, be gone for work or anything else that may conflict with his availability as a juror.
Kind of crazy.
But I know my Mom would be loving it if it happened to her :)

Spring Break- part 3

One afternoon we did something that is kind of crazy, but the girls loved it.

We drove around to all the grocery stores, not to shop, but to ride the rides out front.

Our grocery stores don't have these fun things, although I think we have some at the mall. The girls loved it so much that I think we will be heading to the mall on a cold day to ride the rides.

Arizona Spring Break- part 2

We drove 15 3/4 hours yesterday to be back home. It was the first time we have driven the entire way in one day, and we made it! But today we were NOT getting in the car for anything.

Our trip was so fun and can be adequately described in this one picture:

It was beautiful weather and we enjoyed our time together.



From left to right, top to bottom:

• looking at some rabbits at a landscaping store. They could go no closer because of the poop that was everywhere.
• picnicing in Tucson prior to our spring training baseball game and the zoo.
• Roper Lake
• looking at a horse at afore mentioned store, and going no closer for fear the horse may bite
• playing the piano with Grandpa
• chasing ducks at the same store
• shelling pecans (there are tons of pecan trees in my parents town, and they get tons from their friend, free, every year. We just have to shell them. There is nothing like fresh pecans, yum)
• having a tea party. Ashlee was old enough to use the nice dishes and was so careful with them
• watching a chicken at same store
• a natural hot springs hot tub at Roper Lake
• looking at baby chicks, again at same store
• chicks again
• laying in the new blanket my Mom made for Ashlee (did I ever mention that my Mom is an amazing quilter?)

"Hat"


It was fun to be outside so much. We are really itching for spring now.

Spring Break!

We love spring break!

It gives us time to go somewhere warmer and actually enjoy spring, instead of enduring our never ending winter at home.

Arizona is our destination this year, and it has been beautiful weather for us so far.

.

Blah- work over spring break :(

Luckily he got it all done in one day so even he gets a break now.

Cooking with "her Annie"

Planting flowers at Annie's house.

The sun was shinning so bright and it was so warm, we even had to use sunscreen, hooray!

The girls will have probably nearly forgotten about this planting adventure by the time we plant in our yard in 2 months.

its over

We finished our first ever swimming lessons.

Caitlin did make progress:

• She no longer death grips her teacher while swimming
• she will swim on her back without getting scared
• she will put her mouth in the water
• she will go all the way under with the teacher only- never by herself
• she doesn't cry when jumping off the diving board (well actually being dropped off the board)
• she will get in the hot tub and not just sit on the steps
• she just seems more comfortable with the water in general

That being said, she still has far to go to even graduate out of her current class but I'm glad that she liked it and had fun.

We will resume lessons in the summer or fall.

Since this post is about Caitlin, lets finish with a glimpse of how good she is getting at writing her name. Which is a good thing because it is misspelled by others more than spelled correctly.

sickly

Its no fun being sick.

She apparently caught some kind of stomach bug and spent literally all of yesterday with her head in a bowl.

Luckily she is feeling much better today, just very tired and worn out.

someone got a haircut and someone is 18 months

and that someone is Caitlin.

I chopped off a few inches the other day.

She really likes it, and we all think it turned out cute. It looks the cutest when she lets me curl it under just a little, but that wasn't happening today.

What a cute girl she is.

(please excuse her dirty face as she was just finishing eating her snack)

As I'm sure I have mentioned before, Ashlee is now 18 months old (as of Feb 7th).

We went to her 18 month check up on Monday and she was a superstar.

Here's how she measures up:

33 inches tall

28 pounds heavy

19 3/4 inches of pure brains :)

She continues to be in the 90th-100th percentile in all categories.

She loves Caitlin; playing with her, mimicking her, following her.

She has a wide vocabulary of maybe 100 or so words, and we love hearing her little voice talking.

She is exactly opposite of Caitlin at this age in that she loves all foods except bread.

She is brave and adventurous and doesn't seem to be afraid of much.

She is into everything, which is good and bad.

She gets out all the "hair stuff" and brings it to me at least 3 times a day (the "hair stuff" include a bag of accessories, a brush and a water bottle)

She has a funny personality that I think she gets from Chris.

She loves anyone who will pick her up and give her a snuggle.

I forgot to say what really makes her a superstar- she had 3 shots and didn't make a peep. I was surprised, but she is a tough girl.

We love our Ashlee girl.

yum, yum.....snow

Last week we had snow almost everyday, but it would also melt the day it fell.

Saturday we had more accumulation, so the girls got bundled up to play while I shoveled.

We played at just the right time because it melted away a few hours later.

Like most other kids, their favorite thing to do with the snow is eat it.

Surviving

Today marks day 6 of Chris being gone on a trip for work.

And how are we faring?

Still smiling.


But the real question is how am I faring. I am probably smiling 80% of the time, which really isn't bad.

We even had ice cream cones after dinner tonight!

The girls play well together most of the time, which helps, and we have been trying to keep ourselves farely busy.

The girls earlier in the week watching a movie.

Although the week hasn't been too bad, I am glad that Chris will be coming home tomorrow (even if he doesn't get home until about midnight.)

Date night

Saturdays are our date night.

We are in a date group with 3 other couples, so we can go on a date 3 times in a month, and watch all the kids once. It works out great.

This week we don't get a date because of Chris's seemingly endless rehearsal schedule (he's exhausted because he has had so much on his plate this week), but we did get 2 last week, so that was a bonus.

This was taken at our ward's ADULT ONLY! Valentine dinner last Friday night. It was fun, and fun to socialize with NO kids around.

Saturday we went out to a local diner with some of our great friends. Nothing beats a good burger and fries.

playdate

Caitlin and Ashlee had fun with some friends tonight.

Dress-ups are always a hit. Ashlee loves that hat and it covers her whole face! She puts it on and walks around. She must like looking out the tiny holes between the stitches.

And we can't forget the little army man. He was totally outnumbered by girls, but was a good sport about it.

We hope you were able to have a fun date Alex and Anna.

trucks

You know you have girls when one load of wash is just pink, red, purple things.

But I am glad we have a few trucks.

This truck gave Caitlin a lot of playing pleasure today.

church bags

I followed this tutorial and made little church bags for the girls. Caitlin has her little Book of Mormon in hers, and Ashlee's will be filled with little books and toys to keep her occupied.

Caitlin loves to do my hair, but she really just brushes it and nothing else because she can't figure out how the hair things work. Yesterday I showed her how the little barrettes work, and she put every single one of them in my hair. Styling.

Excuse my completely "un-done" self.

everyone needs some exercise

After I was done exercising Caitlin and her friend, Kayden, decided it was their turn.

They did these front lifts (which I think I should try, it looks tough).

back lifts

push-ups

and ended with somersaults.

singing together

Ashlee likes to sing, just like Caitlin. She has a nice little voice. At Nani's funeral Chris sang a song and Ashlee sang right along with him, I had to really focus on the piano music so I wouldn't start laughing.
Here they are singing a couple of songs. Mostly Caitlin, with Ashlee helping some.

If you look really close you can see how Caitlin likes to wear her dress-up clip on earrings, clear on the top of her ears.