favorite faces: february 2011: mila

favorite faces: february 2011: kapria

what else we've been up to

February 2011
reading, playing, making cookies, working out, puzzling, gaming, dressing up.

grand love

family goals

We are working to hold more regular family home evening and family scripture study. (Hide and Seek is one of the favorite FHE activities at our house.)

And it's making a difference for us - more peace, more joy, more togetherness.

disneyland with jane & elsie

I took the girls to Disneyland for the first time without Trav. We met our good friends Allison, Jane, and Elsie. And it was so much fun!

We first went on the teacups, which the girls all love. Then we went on the Peter Pan ride. You float up in the air on a flying ship, and Kapria loved it but Mila was terrified. We saw Tarzan's Treehouse, which Kapria had been wanting to see so badly. She loved it! She heard Tarzan yelling and said, "Mom, when is Tarzan going to get here?" Hmm...I just can't see Disneyland hiring someone to dress up like Tarzan and greet the kids, can you?

We had a relaxing time eating lunch and loved being with our friends.

park day

owie

Mila was playing chase with Trav when she fell and hit her mouth hard on the corner of our bed frame. She cut the inside of her lip and got a fat lip from it. We iced it pretty quickly after it happened and the swelling went down a lot. I couldn't get a very good picture of it, but it's there.

mila's prayer face

Mila likes to say her own prayers...and it's so cute I had to capture it.

saturday date

Kapria got to go on a date with Dad! She was really excited, but didn't want me taking pictures.

While Kapria and Travis were gone, Mila and I played at home together.

baskets of fun

dinner with friends

Some friends in our ward are in grad school also. Since John and Travis have late nights at school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Morgan and I started getting together for dinner once a week. We were really good about it last semester, but with us being sick so much we kept missing dinner nights this year. We finally had a night where all of us were healthy - and we had a great time playing and catching up with our friends.

mariah night

I met up with my good friend Mariah for a girls night. When she moved from Utah to California about two years ago, I was so sad. Then she moved to the old neighborhood where I grew up, and we moved just a short hour away. I love being able to see her more!

I love that Mariah is a planner like me. And we can talk about anything, not always agree, and still love each other when we don't. She makes me laugh. And helps me see things differently. And loves a good concert together. And writes about real life in a real-life way. And pretty much is the bomb-diggity friend, which is why I think everyone needs their own Mariah.

notes

We got a fun valentine package in the mail from Nicole and the boys. The girls and I had so much fun opening it. Kapria got this note from Weston (with an added sticker from Mila):

As she was holding it in her hands I said, "Kapria that's awesome - Weston drew a picture of you!"

She said, "I love it so much!"

Then she looked in the package again.

"But where's Mila's? Did he draw one of her?"

I said, "I don't think so."

She was still holding the picture in her hand. She looked down. Then she turned the paper over.

"Oh look, Mom, he did!"

And so he did:

Thank you West - for *both* our pictures!

celebrating valentine's day with a pink party

We had a pink party to celebrate Valentine's Day. Allison, Jane, and Elsie came over and we made valentines for the dads, ate yummy cupcakes, and read valentine's stories.

The girls all love to climb on the lovesac with Trav when he gets home and then he tickles them all while they laugh uncontrollably. Pretty awesome.

Trav and I decided we wanted to try the new tradition Nicole talked about, so we each picked a book for the other. Trav got me Tiger's Curse and I got him Incarceron. We love this new tradition!

happy valentine's day to you

favorite books about valentine's day and love

For February I pulled out all of our books about Valentine's Day and any that had to do with love. We've been having so much fun reading them together. Here are the favorites:

 

 

And one of my favorite books of all time (which Kapria now loves too):

 

In case you'd like the typed up list:

• I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak
• I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont
• The Day It Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond
• The Love-Me Bird by Joyce Dunbar
• The Best Thing About Valentines by Eleanor Hudson
• You and Me by Martine Kindermans
• Fancy Nancy Heart to Heart based on the creation of Jane O'Connor
• A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes* by Elizabeth Garton Scanlon
• Lilly's Chocolate Heart by Kevin Henkes
• All the Places to Love* by Patricia MacLachlan

*On my personal list of Best Children's Books of All Time

valentines

We started making valentines early this year. Kapria has loved the art project time together. And Mila likes getting all the markers out and taking the lids off every one of them. I've included my favorite valentine that Kapria made.

singing singing

Kapria loves singing her own made-up songs. They are so random. She makes me laugh every time.

february playgroup

One of the other moms needed to switch playgroup dates, so we ended up having it at our house last-minute. Which I actually kind of prefer, because then I don't stress for two weeks about what activities to plan for 7 three-year-olds. When it's last-minute, I just throw something together the night before and know that it'll be fine.

And it was.

On Thursday Trav helped me make a photobooth to take our family's valentine pictures. I had wanted to go to a real photobooth in the mall, but someone was always sick (remember that yuckiness that lasted for three months at our house?), and then I realized that in order to get some really good photos I would probably go through a ton of photobooth pictures, which we can't afford. SO, we built one in the girls' room out of couch cushions and sheets. And it was so much fun!

So we decided to keep it up an extra day, and I had all the kids sit in the photobooth and have their picture taken so that I could send their parents a little valentine from each of them (which I subsequently forgot to send until two weeks later...oops).

Then we played some games and made valentines for the people we love. And we snacked on grapes and strawberries. I also made cupcakes, but they weren't cooled enough to frost until after the kids were done eating, so I just sent them home with messy cupcakes in baggies. Oh well. That's what happens when things are last-minute (see how great that is?!).

After dinner the girls and I enjoyed our cupcakes. Kapria was SO excited to frost hers. And that's about all she did with it. She kept frosting and frosting and frosting it until I think there was more frosting than cupcake.

Love it! 

weekend at nonny & grampa's

Saturday 02.05.2011 thru Monday 02.07.2011

We had such a great weekend at my parents' house at the beginning of February. We drove down on a Saturday. The girls were so excited to see Nonny and Grampa...and Oso. They can't talk about Grampa without talking about his dog. Mila is pretty nervous around animals, so we were surprised when she walked up to Oso and petted him. Kapria still adores animals of any kind, but especially dogs, and especially Oso.

Mila gets her blue eyes from Nonny Kare. So beautiful!
Kapria and Nonny went on a date together.

We spent a lot of time outside this trip because the weather was so nice. Dad and Trav went on a motorcycle ride.

We had fun inside, too: Kapria and Nonny made cupcakes, Mila ate a ridiculous amount of marshmallows out of the Lucky Charms box, the girls played in toy buckets, Grampa read to them.

One of the qualities I love about my parents is that they're always willing to help us with projects. I had bought a whole bunch of felt to make some kind of valentines decoration - I had no idea what. On Monday Mom had her sewing machine on the kitchen table and I said, "Mom, if I cut out some hearts, would you sew them for me?" She said, "Sure." So we worked away and came up with these (which I hung all around our apartment):

I also made our valentines headbands. I was determined not to leave until they were finished...since I had all the stuff out on the counter the entire weekend. So we didn't leave until Tuesday morning because it took most of Monday to finish (working on and off between being Mom and completing work projects).

And while we were working on hearts, Dad spent the morning drilling hanging slots for all my "special project" boards. I am so excited to show what that project is once it's hung in the girls' room!

Such a fun (and productive) weekend. Thanks Mom & Dad!

And here's Mila right before we headed home:

dating again

Trav and I are making an effort to go out on a date at least once a month. Since we have passes, we decided it would be fun to go to Disneyland together. We called up our friends to see if they'd like to join us, and we made a night of it. I was so excited all week. And I know Trav was too, which made it that much more fun!

We drove together so that we could talk on the car ride. Once we got to Disneyland we were all starving, so we ate dinner at a restaurant there to save some time (since we started out late, then had to wander around looking for a gas station...I forgot the car was on empty). Next time we'll just bring our own dinner, though my chicken quesadilla was delicious (I chose the least expensive item on the menu to offset Trav's buffet that was pretty pricey. But also because it had guacamole, which I cannot resist.)

Then we went to California Adventure Land and rode the Hotel free fall and the Screamin roller coaster - both SO FUN. I love roller coasters and could not stop smiling the whole time. It was awesome. We also watched World of Color. I did like it, and the effects were amazing, but I was so tired from our loooong week that it kind of made me want to go to sleep. Once they closed (at 10) we went to Disneyland and rode a couple rides.

It was a great night and so fun to get to know Paige and Blaine better and relax for a few hours. Thanks for a fun date nite, Babe!

kapria's favorite things: 3.5 years

Movies/TV Shows:
Hercules ("Parcules" as she calls him, no matter how many times we try to get her to say "HERcules")
My Big Big Friend
Backyardigans
Phineus and Ferb
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Go Diego Go


Books:
Princess and Dora books

Songs to hear at bedtime:
"the angel song" — Goodnight My Angel
"the tarzan song" — You'll Be In My Heart
"the ____ song" — fill in the blank with Mulan, Belle, Tinker Bell, whoever she was playing with that day. Then she wants you to make up a song about them or sing a song from their movie.

Songs to listen to in the car:
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
I'll Make a Man Out of You (Mulan Sdtrk)
I Won’t Say I’m In Love (Hercules Sdtrk)

Things to do:
Dress up in princess clothes and pretend to be Rapunzel, Jasmine, or any princess 
Go to Disneyland and talk to the princesses and fairies
Play pretend, especially with Mila, Mom, or Dad
Play with Mila (she gets really upset when Mila doesn't want to play with her)
Use scissors to cut paper
Read books, especially to herself or to Mila
Go to the park - she loves climbing slides and rock walls
Go to the beach - she loves digging for crabs and getting buried in the sand
Look at bugs
Climb anything
Take a shower and play in the bathtub
Hold any baby
Hold and pet any kind of animal, but especially dogs and cats 


Foods:
raspberries
blueberries
yogurt
tortillas
whole apples
watermelon
chicken nuggets
taquitos
smoothies
olives
corn

Treats:
ice cream
peanut butter m&ms
nerds
starburst

Dislikes:
sandwiches
cantaloupe
cheese
cake
cookies

i'm your momma

February 3, 2011

Apparently I've been taking a lot of videos of Mila and not so many of Kapria. On this day she asked if I would take a video of her playing. Of course! She is so great at playing on her own...until she loses one of her children.

animal charades

I found this game somewhere online and can't wait to play at our next Family Home Evening. Or maybe just today on this cold February afternoon. I think the girls will love it.

Animal Charades

Materials:
Variety of stuffed animals
Pillowcase

Directions:
Place several stuffed animals in a pillowcase.
Close your eyes while your child takes one out and looks at it.
Have her put it back in the case then act out the animal.
You try to guess what it is.