travis.shar.kapria.mila

book parties

2012-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

I want to throw book parties for my kids when we read good books together. So I'm starting to gather ideas. Please - send me links to your favorite ones!

I'll start. My friend Erin threw THIS Ella Enchanted party with her family once they finished reading the book together. Such fun food and activity ideas! I will for sure be using this one once the girls are big enough.

Now let's hear some ideas for book parties you've thrown or attended or ones you've seen others blog about!

in which mila reads a book

2012-01-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

mila conversations: 2.5 years old

2012-01-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Mila talks really well, and we have great conversations. Most of the time I can understand everything she says. But every so often she says a word or two that I just can't understand. Of course this has happened every since she started talking. But how the conversations end always makes me laugh (and leaves me surprised and a little sad too).

This morning, Kapria and Mila are watching Return to Neverland.
I'm cleaning the house, and Mila wanders over every so often to report what's happening in the movie.

Mila: Jane yelled at her mom and brother.

Me: Oh, that wasn't very nice of her, was it?

Mila: No it wasn't. Jane's {running}.

Me (not quite understanding that last word): Jane's running?

Mila: No. Jane's {running}.

Me: Jane's . . . yelling?

Mila: No.

Me: I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're saying. Can you tell me one more time?

Mila: No. I don't want to tell you one more time.
And she's done and runs away.

This happens any time I don't understand her. She'll look at me for a minute, then if I ask her to repeat it one more time, she'll say, "No. I don't want to tell you again." She clamps her mouth shut and the conversation is over: you got two chances, and that's that.

It does make me laugh, but I feel sad that I'm not understanding what she wants me to know.

So I'm warning you now: If you're ever talking to Mila, you better use your chances wisely.

photo skills

2012-01-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

Nov 2011

Kapria found my camera and decided to take some pictures of her own. I love seeing what she captures on camera . . . though we've made it a point to explain that she can't sneak mom's camera and use it on her own. I've already had one camera break from her little hands dropping it. I don't need the replacement broken too. (Since I'm posting this late, I can tell you that every time I pulled the camera out, she and Mila would want to take pictures themselves. So we got Kapria her own kidzoom camera for Christmas. It's been a big hit! They both love it.)

for grandma & grandpa

2012-01-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

Click HERE to see all the videos on our blog!

superheroes

2012-01-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

an evening with grandpa keith

2012-01-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

newport

2012-01-05T23:07:00.000-08:00

We met a friend up in Newport on the most warmly beautiful day. How is this January? I love it.

Whenever we go to the beach, Kapria routinely wants to make a mermaid tail. Mila has never been interested in burying her legs under a mound of sand - in fact, she was scared of sand for the first year we lived here. But now she loves playing in it, and this time she even got brave enough to join in on the mermaid fun.

It was a lovely perfect day of surfing (for Trav), playing and running and chasing (for the girls), relaxing and talking and enjoying (for me).

I wish I could live near the ocean always.

merry happy wonderful days to you

2011-12-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

disney day

2011-11-16T21:23:00.000-08:00

We met up with our friends Jen, Paiton & Ellie, and Emily & Cailyn at Disneyland. We decided to check out Ariel's cove to see if she was there and found Cinderella and Aurora there as well - with no lines! The girls were so excited to see that many princesses. And of course we had to see the fairies. Kapria keeps hoping to meet Iridessa or Rosetta, but so far no such luck. But she and Mila still love Vidia and Tinkerbell, so all is well.

My friends watched Mila so that I could take Kapria on a roller coaster in Toon Town. She was so excited to finally be tall enough. And the line was short enough that we got to go twice! I love how much her excitement showed in the pictures:

wedding!

2011-11-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the 9th we drove to Arizona. The girls were so great in the car and we had an uneventful and even enjoyable drive down. I love the ages that they are now because they play together and are understanding of each other and love to talk to us.

We got to Trav's parents' on Wednesday night. Thursday morning Trav went with his mom to help set up for the reception and the girls and I hung out at home. Kjerstin and Jeff had arrived late late on Wednesday night, and Kapria and Mila were so excited to play with McKay. Those three spent every moment playing together. They had so much fun.

Thursday night was the family dinner, and Mom hired a sitter for the kids so we were able to make it a date. It was fun to get to know our new sister's family. I liked learning more about Jamee through her parents' point of view. And I officially want to adopt her parents into our family too. That's allowed, right?

Britt & Jamee: Less than 24 hours to go!

On Friday, 11.11.11 Britt and Jamee were sealed in the Mesa, Arizona temple. The ceremony was beautiful and simple and best of all, eternal. I felt so honored to be there. And loved hearing the reminder of what Trav and I committed to and why.

The reception was super fun and the decorations were amazing, but I didn't even pull my camera out for most of the night to capture any of it. I tried to get a couple shots of the girls together, but they wanted nothing to do with cameras and sitting still. They were running around dancing, eating candy, and playing all evening.

On Saturday we tried to sleep in a little, but the girls got up early anyway. And yes, played with McKay. They played in the backyard a lot, too. They love swinging. Mom and I went to the Day's to see Jamee and Britt open all their wedding gifts (in which cookie pans and bowls were a major theme; I remember mine and Trav's theme was George Foreman grills. I think we got four.). We stopped by Hobby Lobby on the way home and having never heard of it or been inside, I was a bit overwhelmed. That store is huge! And has so much. And had I any money, I could spent a ton in there. I got out with a Christmas gift for someone and some hooks for the girls' room (thanks, Mom!).

Saturday night we went out for pizza with the whole family, then met up with Britt and Jamee, who were gracious enough to come say goodbye to the girls (Kapria cried the whole way home on Friday night because she didn't get to hug them goodbye before they left).

Welcome to our family, Jamee! We're so glad you're part of it.

It was a great few days. The only sad part for me was being sick. I didn't get to hold baby Ashton the whole week. Now that I'm finally better I need to go visit him and get some snuggles in!

preschool fieldtrip to tanaka farms

2011-10-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

We went with Kapria on her first preschool field trip to Tanaka Farms. We got to pet goats, take a wagon ride, pick a pumpkin, and pick vegetables from the garden. Our friend Autumn joined us with her girls, Taylor and Alice. It was a great day!

date night swap: october 2011

2011-10-22T22:44:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned this before? I can't remember. We do a date night swap with our friends Alma and Alex where we watch each other's girls once a month for four hours so the other couple can go on a date. We started (I think) in August, and it has been fantastic! Our girls get along really well and my girls adore Alma. In fact, Mila often wakes up in the morning and says, "Alma's house today?" If I have to answer no, she starts sobbing for Alma and Vicky (she also adores Vicky (6) who is often at school when we get together with Alma and her two younger girls).

Let's just say that we've found some great friends and we all love spending time with them. :) We feel so lucky!

Here we are having fun on our babysitting night.

warm fall weather

2011-10-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

. . . is absolutely wonderful!

I fully recognize that next year we most likely will be living in a completely new place (wherever Trav gets a job), and few places in the US have such amazing weather as where we're living now. So we are enjoying every ounce of sun that we can. That means we head to the park several days each week. And of course we love meeting up with friends while we're there.

When Mila isn't asking to play with Alma and Vicky, she's asking for Crue, Paiton, and Baby Ellie. Yes, still feeling lucky to have so many great friends.

PS. Kapria has worn that wig every day since this one (the day we bought it). She's pretty excited about her Halloween costume.

sunday dinner

2011-10-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

We live only thirty minutes away from Kjerstin and Jeff, but we realized we haven't seen a lot of each other in the last year. So Kjerstin and I are trying to be better about planning things. One of our plans is to do a monthly family dinner, which we are loving! They invited us down on Sunday, and of course I had to take some pictures, especially with our adorable nephews. I just can't get over Ashton and those darling little lips. He is such a pretty baby. Kapria, McKay, and Mila play so well together. Keith and Grandma Petersen came for dinner too, and we had a great time catching up. It's always fun to see our family. Thanks for a fun night, Kjerstin and Jeff!

kid dates

2011-10-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

playgroup begins again

2011-10-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Now that Kapria is in preschool, Mila has been asking when she gets to go too. So I decided to start a playgroup for her. We asked several other moms of 2 and 3 year old girls if they'd like to join us, and ta-da. We have an official playgroup going.

It's awesome because now Mila has two hours of time with her friends each week, and I have two hours of one-on-one time with Kapria. Everybody's happy!

The first day we met, only two of the four other girls could make it. Rebekah asked if we could get out the play-doh, and we said, "But of course!" It's been a favorite activity around here lately. I think I need to start coming up with some other things to make with play-doh besides our normal sea creatures. But here we are, having fun.

we're having cereal for dinner: a conversation with mila

2011-10-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

My favorite part of this video is hearing how Mila says her own name. I don't call it out when I'm talking to her, but can you tell when she says it?

And "favorite" - that's a word I love to hear her say. I just wanted to get on video how much she's talking. I love hearing what she has to say!

And yes, sometimes cereal and a movie are the only logical options to the end of a long day.

disney day with rebekah

2011-10-12T23:06:00.000-07:00

Note to self: As much fun as it is to take the girls to Disneyland, do not ever go again in 100 degree weather. Ever. For real.

play-doh & mermaids & family night

2011-10-10T23:05:00.000-07:00

a bedtime song for our pet tiger

2011-10-09T23:41:00.000-07:00

08.18.2011

time out for mom

2011-10-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

I had a great overnight trip with one of my favorite people. Click the picture to read all about it. (Thanks Mckenon, Dad & Mom for watching the girls for me!)

rainy day

2011-10-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

dessert conversation

2011-10-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

The girls are sitting on the bench eating their ice cream cones.
I'm eating a bowl full of my current favorite kind, too.
I share a spoonful with Kapria, then a spoonful with Mila.
Then Mila dips her finger in her ice cream and says, "Here, Mom, taste mine."
So I do.
"Do you like it?" she asks.
"Yes, it's delicious."
Then she hands me her sippy cup and says, "Here, have a dink."
I say, "I need to drink from my cup."
She says, "Please, Mom," and pushes the cup toward me.
"I have a runny nose," I say, tapping my nose. "I don't want you to get my germs."
She looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Use your mouf, Mom. Not your nose."

I love her logic!

(And then I realize that I've already spread my germs by licking her finger. There's no point trying to keep the cold germs confined around here. I forget just as soon as I remember. So I take a drink, and she smiles quite happily now that I've accepted her sippy cup benevolence.)

mila's favorite things: 2 years

2011-10-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

OTHER FAVORITES

Movies/TV Shows:

A Bug’s Life

Shrek

Lazy Town
Hercules

Books:

Busy Little People

God Loves You

Songs to hear at bedtime:

"tarzan song" — You’ll Be In My Heart (Tarzan sdtrk)

"your favorite song" — Come Thou Fount (Mom's favorite)

Songs to hear in the car/dance to:

Blast Off (Stevesongs)

I Won’t Say I’m In Love (Hercules Sdtrk)

Dynamite (a capella cover by Mike Tompkins)
Entire Tarzan Soundtrack

Things to do:

Read books, especially to herself

Do anything with Mom

Be chased by Dad

Wear flip-flops (especially Kapria's)

Carry her baby dolls around and take care of them
Talk to babies
Play with Kapria
Play with snap 'n' style dolls
Put puzzles together
Listen to what people say and help them (like getting books for Kapria if she wants to read or getting a pillow if someone says they're tired or doing any little thing that she thinks will make you happy)

Foods:

bagels with cream cheese

strawberries
blueberries

yogurt
hot dogs
cantaloupe
slice of bread
goldfish
raisins

Treats:

nerds

m&ms
ice cream
mints

Dislikes:

watermelon

loud noises

anything that might be "sceery"

general conference

2011-10-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Mom, Dad, Mckenon, and Melissa came up on Sunday to watch conference with us. It was so great to have a full house. I love when everyone comes up, and I love hearing the messages Heavenly Father has for us. I didn't get to focus as much as I used to when I didn't have little kids running around, but I heard enough to feel strengthened in my testimony of a Savior who loves me, of the truthfulness of his church, and of his love for me and my family. And it was enough.

I especially loved President Eyring's words:

Your copy of the Book of Mormon may be hidden from your view by cares and attention to all you have accumulated in your journey. I plead with you to drink deeply and often from its pages. It has in it the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only way home to God. . . . I leave you my sure witness that God lives and will answer your prayers.

I'm working harder to drink from the pages of the scriptures. We've been reading the scriptures together as a family every night, and I know it's helping us to be more loving and patient with each other. Now I need to focus on studying them myself, as well.

And from Elder Hales' words:

Waiting upon the Lord gives us a priceless opportunity to discover that there are many who wait upon us. Our children wait upon us to show patience, love, and understanding toward them. Our parents wait upon us to show gratitude and compassion. Our brothers and sisters wait upon us to be tolerant, merciful, and forgiving. Our spouses wait upon us to love them as the Savior has loved each one of us. . . .

Every one of us is more beloved to the Lord than we can possibly understand or imagine. Let us therefore be kinder to one another and kinder toward ourselves. Let us remember that as we wait upon the Lord, we are becoming “saint[s] through [His] atonement, … submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father.” . . .

. . . I express gratitude that “in my Gethsemane”⁴³ and yours, we are not alone. He that watches over us “shall neither slumber nor sleep.”⁴⁴ His angels here and beyond the veil are “round about [us], to bear [us] up.”⁴⁵ I bear my special witness that our Savior’s promise is true, for he says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”⁴⁶

I have felt the angels round about, bearing me up through my trials and weaknesses. I'm trying my best to wait upon the Lord. I'm trying my best to be who I should be, and even if I don't feel it's good enough, I know He loves me. I know it. I hope I can help my girls know it, too.

aliso beach

2011-10-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

With this being Trav's last year of school, he is super busy. Three or four nights a week, he doesn't come home until about 11pm. I usually end up working every night immediately after the girls go to bed until about midnight. So we're pretty tired by the weekend and love to spend those two precious days doing as much together as we can. We decided an afternoon at the beach was just what we needed to rejuvenate. I only wish I'd gotten a picture of the sand city that Kapria and Travis built. Exploring and relaxing together while we watched the sun set made for a positively perfect day.

kapria conversations: 4 years old

2011-09-30T23:03:00.000-07:00

I like to post snippets of our conversations with Kapria on facebook. But I thought it would be nice to have them here on the blog for us to remember and enjoy. So here we go.

9.27.11 fyi: the password is "jungle jimes" (just in case you come over and want to get past kapria at the front door.)

9.26.11 last night at dinner kapria kept bugging mila: poking her, touching her head, putting her arm on mila's chair. so we had a conversation about personal space. it started off like this:
trav: everyone has their own bubble around them.
kapria: then i will POP it!
yeah . . . it took awhile to convince her that that was not an option.

9.22.11 kapria told me today that she's training mila to be good. sometimes i just wish she'd take her own training advice, too.

9.19.11 we have a new niece! when i told kapria that aunt chelsea and uncle rob hadn't picked her name yet, she said, "They can call her Sparkles!"

9.13.11 conversation at the dinner table tonight goes like this:
kapria: what are you scared of, dad?
mila: what you scared of?
trav: the only thing i'm scared of is you girls getting hurt.
kapria: the only thing i'm scared of is being eaten by crocodiles.
mila: yeah! crocodiles!

disney day with friends

2011-09-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

We went to Disneyland with several friends and had a great time together. The kids all got along really well, and it's always fun to have other moms to go with. I loved talking with Leslie and Jen. We went on Small World, Teacups, Winnie the Pooh, the Tiki Room, Tarzan's Treehouse, and ended with the Ariel ride. By then the kids were exhausted and ready for naps. Baby Ellie was a sweetie and SO good the whole time. And I learned that there's a great baby care room with tiny toilets for the kids to use! New things to learn about every visit. Ha ha ha.

first day of preschool

2011-09-27T23:23:00.000-07:00

Kapria loves going to Miss Laurie's Preschool. She adores Miss Laurie, who is also the primary chorister and just the most amazing, energetic, happy, and sweet person. Miss Laurie is always full of praise and excitement when she sees the kids, and I know she's the perfect preschool teacher for Kapria.

Kapria is the only girl in a class with four boys, and she's also the oldest. She's always gotten along really well with boys, so I know she'll do great. She already came home and told me how much she liked playing with Kody and Aaron. And she got to cut paper, which is one of her all time favorite things to do. I guess I need to let her cut paper more often at our house.

I'm excited for this next adventure for her, but I'm not ready for her to be in school yet. Good thing we have two more years until kindergarten. She could probably start next year (she's right on the edge of some state cut-offs with her September birthday), but Trav and I have thought about it a lot and researched and talked to many many family members and friends, and the conclusion we've come to is that we want her to start when she's six. That way she'll be the oldest in her class rather than the youngest. And most importantly, we want all the time we can get with our girls at home with me before we start school for the next 20 + years of our family's life.

So I'm enjoying these next two years as much as I can. I love love love being home with my girls.

my little bro is 22

2011-09-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

It's so fun living close to my parents now. We get to celebrate birthdays and holidays together. So for Mckenon's birthday we all went to Chin's. Chinese food - yum! Uncle Paul joined us, along with Mckenon's friend George. The girls did a pretty good job, considering the fact that they don't like Chinese food. Good thing there was ice cream cake. Gotta love ice cream for dinner.

Happy Birthday, Mckenon! We're so glad you're home and we can celebrate with you. Kapria's face in that corner picture pretty much sums it up. Love you!

arrived!

2011-09-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Our newest niece arrived!

She is darling and has lots of dark hair like her big sister Reverie. And look at those adorable rosy cheeks - I just want to hold her and kiss her! This is the first time I haven't been close enough to help my sisters when one has a baby, and it makes me so sad. I am really missing them. Somehow I need to get to Utah in the next few months so I can meet this beautiful girl.

We're far away, but we love you, Tanneah!

being awesome

2011-09-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

the pinklish party: part 1

2011-09-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

Kapria loves pink. She's always called it "pinklish" (no, we haven't read the book Pinkalicious, but I will need to read her that soon). So when I asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday this year, she said, "I want a pinklish party!"

Trav was such a good sport to help me turn our living room into a pink wonderland for the big day. So here's part one of our party: Decorations and Food.

I pulled out every pink stuffed animal, doll, toy, and frame we have to use for the decorations. Then I searched through my bookshelves and found all the red and pink books to put on the shelf. I switched out all our photos to show pictures of Kapria. (This was by far her favorite part. She loved seeing so many pictures of herself. But Mila kept thinking the little ones were of her. They had a few arguments over that.) I used wrapping paper to cover the mantle and the magnet board and wrapped a few books to keep things pink. It was a lot of work, but definitely worth the happy results. Everything was pretty much free or inexpensive, aside from the balloons and flowers.

mila loves her blankie

2011-09-03T23:58:00.000-07:00

And her Aunt Abby!

family beach party

2011-09-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

of dvds and other things

2011-08-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Kapria: Mom, can I put the dvd in the xbox?

Me: No, that's my job.

K: But please? I can do it, Mom.

M: I need to do that. You can't touch the dvds because they get scratched, remember? And when they get scratched, they don't play anymore. Remember how Monster's Inc is broken because it got scratched?

K: But please, Mom. I'm a big girl now. I can do it on my own.

M: I'm sorry, but you can't hold the dvds, Kapria. I will put it in and you can push the button to close it.

K: But I'm bigger than Mila.

M: You're right. You are bigger than Mila. But you're not big enough to put the dvd in the xbox.

K: So when I'm a mom I can?

M: Yes, when you're older, you can.

K: And when I'm a mom, I can let my kids put it in by themselves?

M: Yes, when you're a mom you can decide the rules for your house.

K: And when I'm a mom I'll have boobs?

M: !

M: Um. Yep. When you're a mom, you'll have boobs.

K: Okay.

M: And just so you know, women who aren't moms have boobs too.

K: I know. Can we watch Mulan now?

potty diaries: has it been almost a year already?

2011-08-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Kapria:

The last time I wrote about potty training, you had been going in the potty for a month. I kind of forgot about writing more because you've done so well. By November, you almost never had accidents. I learned that if a certain combination of things happened, you would always have an accident.

The accident combo = you're overtired + you get upset about something and start throwing a tantrum + I put you in your room to help you calm down + you haven't gone potty recently.

If those things happened at the same time, you would always have an accident. So now, if you're upset and need to go in time out, we go to the bathroom first. And you haven't had an accident in a long time. In fact, it's been so many months, I can't remember when the last time was. Good job!

You're really good about going potty when I ask now. The main thing that helped was talking to our friend Allison. Her daughter, Jane, is your friend. Sometimes Jane doesn't want to go potty when her mom asks. So Allison always lets her choose: "Do you want to go now, or in two minutes?"

I started asking that as well. And once you got to pick your time to go to the bathroom, you were better about going. You always chose, "In two minutes." (And you still do, months later. Except now you say, "Five minutes, please Mom.")

You wear pull-ups to bed at night. We call them your nighttime undies. Most days now you wake up dry, but but maybe once a week you don't. In the last few weeks you've even started waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. When you do, you're not sure what's going on because you're still kind of asleep and don't want to be awake. So you cry and sometimes even kick and yell. (You're really groggy and out of it.) So I carry you to the bathroom and then carry you back to bed. But you're learning and growing, and when you're ready to wear undies at night, you'll let me know. We're taking our time because growing up doesn't need to be rushed.

Love,
Mom

tiger mountan peasant song

2011-07-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

I heard this song for the first time about a month ago. I love it. (Aren't these sisters amazing? And I love how they look at each other at the beginning and end.)

Then I played it for the girls, and Mila fell in love, too. Now she asks to hear "the girl song" every day. And this is what it looks like as she listens.

Today at lunch:

Yesterday morning (in which Kapria interrupts with a knock):

swimming!

2011-07-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

fourth of july celebration

2011-07-05T12:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went to my aunt's neighborhood luau. They had a bounce house, roasted pig, the bird man, horse rides, and games for the kids. It was a lot of fun.

Here's Kapria practicing for the hula hoop contest:

We spent the weekend at Nonny and Grampa's, and on Monday we went swimming and had a barbecue with friends. Mila was tired (no nap), so she got mad every time I tried to get a picture of her. Come to think of it, none of us look that great in any of these photos. Oh well. Have to document our holiday anyway, right?

Kapria loves being in the water. She hardly got out the entire time we were there.

The girls were so exhausted that they fell asleep in the car on the five minute drive back to my parents' house. We decided to just drive home, since it was 7pm and they'd stay asleep for the night. So sadly, no fireworks for us this year (again). That means my girls have yet to see any fireworks. Ever. In their lives.

Still a great weekend with family. And fireworks next year FOR SURE.

sweet mila

2011-06-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

May 2011 - Mila is 21 months old. I can't believe she's nearly two! She recently started role playing. Every day now she finds her baby and takes care of her - feeding her, rocking her, putting her to sleep (she even closes the blinds and curtains so the room is dark). She brings her over to me to hug and love on when the baby cries.

Mila's so thoughtful of others, too. She's concerned about Kapria and always pays attention to what her sister needs. If anyone in the family gets hurt, she runs over to kiss you. If someone's upset, she gives you a hug. Most times if the kids are fighting over a toy, she'll give it to the person who wants it rather than keep it for herself.

She loves listening to music, especially Tarzan (still) and SteveSongs. Now she asks every night for me to sing her a Tarzan song at bedtime.

She's warming up to animals now and loves to pet Oso, my parents' dog. Except one day he accidentally backed up into her and knocked her over, so her newfound love for him waivered for a few hours and she'd run away.

She loves coloring. At this age, Kapria didn't really care about it, and she still is only interested in it for a few minutes before she wanders to something else. But Mila could color for an entire hour before getting bored.

She got a new tooth - her lower right incisor (finally)!

She loves talking. She's started adding "uh" on the end of words and sentences: "sippy cupp-uh," "kiss-uh," "two-uh," "help-uh." You get the idea.

Favorite things to say:
"I want a minty"
"Kappy!"
"I wanta color."
"I need helpa!"
"My baby."

We love our Mila Bean!

disney day: last with jane & elsie

2011-06-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

June 1, 2011

We spent a great day with Allison, Jane, and Elsie. It was bittersweet because we knew it would be our last time going to Disneyland together since they're moving at the end of June.

The girls loved seeing Vidia. Kapria didn't want to stop holding her hand. Vidia talked to her a lot (and totally acted the part). She said, "Kapria, who's on your backpack? I see Tinker Bell and all her friends. But guess who's not on there. Me."

She felt better when Kapria told her, "I love you, Vidia!"
(Mila wanted nothing to do with the fairies. She likes looking at them, but still doesn't like it when they talk to her.)

We also rode on It's a Small World and went to Toon Town, where the girls loved exploring Minnie Mouse's house and Goofy's playhouse. I think we stopped by Tarzan's Treehouse, too, since it is still a favorite. And maybe went to the Tiki Room, where Elsie fell asleep.

A great last visit with our favorite friends!

goodbyes are really see you laters

2011-06-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

I know one of the reasons we moved to California was so that we could meet the Wilsons. I needed Allison in my life and God knew it. I'm not so happy that He decided it was time for them to move, though . . . but we've had so much fun together over the past eight months that I can't complain. It was eight months of having a perfect gift that every time you open it you find out new things you love about it and new things that surprise you and make you smile and make you realize how that gift was so perfectly made for you.

Part of that has been how well our girls get along. Jane and Kapria both turn 4 this year, and Elsie and Mila both turn 2 this year. The four of them play together and dress up together and pretend together in the cutest ways. Of course they have their moments - they're normal one and two and three and four-year-olds, after all. But they are also sweet and kind and so caring to each other.

With June being our last month living in the same state for awhile (because I'm determined it will happen again sometime), we packed in as much time together as we could. Here we go:

Saying goodbye was so hard . . . made only a little easier knowing we'll get to spend time together in Utah in a couple weeks. I can handle goodbyes when I know the next time I'll be seeing my favorite people. So Allison, we just have to make sure we've always got something planned.

We love you and miss you!

so you think you can dance

2011-06-23T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Allison invited me to go to a taping of So You Think Can Dance with her last week, which was the perfect last girls night for us before she moved. (What will I do without her here? I could cry just thinking about it.)

We drove up to LA together, then stood in line outside the gate for about two hours. You can get tickets online for free, but then you have to arrive at the gate and be given an actual ticket before you can sit down. Since we arrived close to check-in time (and not hours before), we ended up getting on stand-by. That means that they'll try to get you in as people don't show up to claim their seated tickets. If you don't get in, you're given a priority ticket for another taping. So basically we were waiting for all the other priority people from other days to not show up so we could have their seats. Your party can be divided up to be seat fillers too - they stick you wherever there's an empty seat so that the entire audience is full.

So we sat in the shade and waited to find out where we might be sitting, and just hoped it would be by each other. And we hoped that we would actually get in and not be told to come back another day (which would have meant Allison couldn't go at all since she was moving in a couple days).

We waited until it was nearly show time, and slowly the people in line ahead of disappeared into the building. Then a guy came out with two tickets for us - on the third row from the stage!

So lucky us, we got to sit right in front of the dancers. Live filming is fascinating. Probably the main thing I didn't expect was the low volume on the microphones. Unless everyone was really quiet, we couldn't hear Cat or any of the judges. The music was great though. And Cat was incredibly nice - and is it possible for her to be even more beautiful in person? Yes she was. And the dancers were AMAZING. And just being there was so much fun.

Cat Deeley (love that yellow dress!)

Nigel, Mary, and guest judge Debbie Reynolds:

Top 20 Season 8 (we're on the third row to the right . . . a seat or two out of the picture):

Ryan and Ricky (Jazz):

Caitlynn and Mitchell (contemporary):

Missy and Wadi (Cha Cha):

Iveta and Nick (Bollywood):

Miranda and Robert (Hip Hop):

Clarice and Jess (Contemporary):

Jordan and Tadd (Viennese Waltz):

Melanie and Marko (Jazz; my favorite dancers):

Sasha and Alexander (Hip Hop):

Ashley and Chris (Broadway):

An awesome night!

(The photos all came from the website. Check out the episode here.)

a lunch conversation

2011-06-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

Kapria: The girl at the park told me her friend died.
Me: Really? Her friend died?
Kapria: Yeah, she died.
Me: Did she tell you what happened?
Kapria: Her friend got in a accident. She didn't hold hands when she crossed the street. And she died.
Me: That's really sad. Sometimes people we love die.
Kapria: Is Mack dead?
Me: No! Mack's not dead.
Kapria: Good. Because I love Mack. He's my best friend.

Yep, we're very glad that Mack is alive and well!

utah writing trip: part 2

2011-06-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 16
Went to lunch with our Boot Camp class. It's always great to be surrounded by so many people who are as crazy into writing as you are.

Boot Camp Class: Renae - Amy - Ann - Dale - Rebekah - Andria
Karen - Me - Christian - Neysa - her daughter - Lucinda - (Ernest taking the photo)

Ann Cannon was our teacher, and she is AMAZING. I loved hearing her stories and experiences. I heard her speak at BYU years ago and have read her work and admired her ever since. So I was pretty much in awe every day in class.

Ally Condie was the keynote speaker at the conference, and her speech was beautiful. It was all about finding the heart of why you write and she compared it to the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier.

Met up with my critique group for dinner and met Alisha - the newest writer to join us. I feel incredibly lucky to have these writers helping me. Now I need to actually write something for them to read . . .

Alicia & Tyler - Christian - me - Alisha

Alicia stayed at the hotel with me and we were able to talk and talk and talk. Pretty much we talked until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. We don't get to see each other nearly often enough, so we had to cram it all in to a few hours. I'm kind of amazed we only met a year ago because she's one of those people that just feels like she's always been part of my life.

Friday, June 17
How can it be the last day already? My manuscript was the last one to be critiqued in class, and I was so exhausted from the week that I honestly did not want to hear anything. But I did. I listened. And I'm so glad because these smart, intelligent writers are also really smart, intelligent readers and they had some great feedback that helped me see what I need to do to improve my story.

I drove down to Shawn and Abby's after the conference, and we spent the night watching So You Think You Can Dance (yes, they got me hooked). I love spending time with my family. So so much.

Saturday, June 18
Abby and I went shopping on Saturday. I had to pick up a few things from the Distribution Center and of course had to bring home BYU's chocolate-covered cinnamon bears for Trav. And I found a few little gifts for the girls because mom has to bring home gifts to bribe them to love me again.

After shopping we all went down to Nicole and Jeff's for dinner and games. I spent Saturday night at their
house and had so much fun with my nephews. Seriously, I'm totally happy having all girls because I've got enough nephews to spoil as my own boys!

I asked Shawn to take a picture with me and he just gave me attitude. Fine fine. I can take it. (PS. Shawn, you'll be proud to know that I've started going to the gym again. But I miss you, gym buddy!)

Sunday, June 19
Shawn and Abby drove me to the airport. It was pouring rain the entire drive and I loved it. Utah knows me - it was the perfect way to say goodbye.

Trav and the girls picked me up at the airport and why did I ever think I needed gifts to bribe them? The girls ran to me and wouldn't let go for anything.

Here's a little of what they did while I was gone:

And Trav! When I left he'd been growing his hair out (see above). He'd decided not to cut it the entire two years he was in grad school. He had one year down, one more to go. And then . . . I might have mentioned sometime before leaving that I missed his short hair. That he looked so handsome with it. Because when he came to pick me up at the airport, he'd buzzed it all off. Just for me. Wow.

It is good to be home.

utah writing trip: part 1

2011-06-19T23:08:00.000-07:00

I spent the last few days in Utah attending an amazing writing conference. The week: pretty much awesome. It was stuffed with lots of writing and reading and learning and family and friends. It was a little weird to be kid-free for eight days, but I'm going to admit right now that it was also really nice.

(Though I nearly cried every time I heard the girls' voices on the phone. Is it possible that Mila started talking even more in the few days I was gone? Yes, yes she did.)

Saturday, June 11, 2011
I flew into SLC on Saturday night and Chels picked me up. I got to spend the night at her house and hang out with my adorable nieces and nephew. And success: Aydrien likes me now! It used to be that he would barely tolerate me giving him hugs and kisses, but suddenly he actually wanted me. He came and sat in my lap, played games with me, grabbed my hand, read books to me. And I loved it. He still wipes my kisses off his cheeks, though, so I guess he's not totally convinced I'm okay.

Sunday, June 12
Chels, the kids, and I drove down to Nicole and Jeff's to celebrate the boys' birthdays. We got out the parachute. I love parachutes. Have you been under any lately? You should try it.

Abby let me borrow her car for the entire week (thank you!), so after the party I drove up to Sandy. I checked in to the hotel and wrote like mad to prepare for a pitch-session with an editor (on Monday). I had to figure out an end to my novel, which currently doesn't have one. Hah.

Monday, June 13
First day of the conference: Awesome. I'm in a great class with twelve other fabulously talented writers and I get to enjoy it with my critique partner, Christian. The only thing that would have made the week better was if our other critique partner, Alicia, could have been there. They're both writing some amazing books right now and I can't wait for the world to get to read them. Hmm . . . speaking of reading them . . . I can't wait read the rest of those manuscripts. (hint, hint.)

I also met with an editor and we talked about my manuscript. She had a lot of questions based on the synopsis I'd written (yes, just the night before). And she had some really good suggestions about the plot of the novel, which makes me super excited to get working on it again. Yay!

After day one, my sisters and sister-in-law came to Sandy for our first ever Abreu Girls' Night. I can't believe that at 30 I'd never had a girls' night with both my sisters at the same time. Luckily it worked out for Nicole and Chelsea and Abby to all come, and we had so much fun being together and not being interrupted by children. Lovely perfect. We went out to dinner, then wandered around Target for awhile (we were just supposed to pick up some water and batteries, but we took a lot longer than that and ended up with a lot more than two items; and yes, even some crazy goofy pictures that will not be posted). Afterwards we went back to my hotel and sat in the hot tub and talked. For a long time. It was fantastic. Chels had to head home, but Nic and Abby stayed with me overnight and I was glad. I hate staying in hotels alone.

i love me my sisters

Tuesday, June 14
This is where I got bad about taking photos of the week and pretty much don't have a single one until Friday. But let's see. Tuesday night Alicia and her husband, Tyler, came up to go to dinner with me and Christian. So a little history here: Alicia, Christian, and I met last year at this same conference, where we were in Ann Dee's writing class together. A lot of writers form critique groups where you help each other by sending chapters of your work-in-progress and critiquing each other's work. That's what we do for each other. Well, kind of. I haven't been very good about critiquing . . . or writing anything, for that matter. But they both write like crazy. And are so so good! And they both encourage me to write, and bug me if I don't, and that's what I need. If I ever get this novel done (I will), it will be in large part because Travis and the two of them won't let me quit writing it (and I'm glad).

So, we had a great night at dinner. Yay!
And the workshop and conference day was awesome, but honestly, I'm too tired to go look through my notes and tell you what we talked about.

Wednesday, June 15
Conference day. Awesome again. Ann Cannon is amazing and funny and smart and I'm feeling so lucky to be in her class right about now.

Went to dinner with my lovely coworker Paige, who drove up just to see me. She seriously made my day. She's one of the many people I miss seeing every day at work. So so much. (And yep, forgot a picture.)

And that's all for Part 1, folks. The last four days coming soon.

arrived!

2011-06-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

Our newest nephew arrived this week:

Ashton James Yates

Sunday, June 5, 2011 - 5:15 am

6 lbs 12 oz - 18 inches

We were so excited to meet him! The girls and I drove Yaya down to Kjerstin & Jeff's, and we got to spend some time with them and the baby. We were all sad to miss McKay, who was still with his Grandma Jodie. But we could have held that sweet baby all day. The girls adored him and wanted to kiss him and hug him (I finally had to force them to go play and let him be). He has a perfectly round head, dark swirls of hair, and the tiniest little nose and lips. He's adorable!

As I held him, I couldn't help thinking of Kapria as a newborn. She was just one oz lighter and half an inch taller - so nearly the same size as him. These precious spirits, children of God, come to us so tiny. Yet so brave and strong. And so very very loved.

We love you so much already, baby Ashton.

squished

2011-06-05T23:38:00.000-07:00

Sunday 06.05.2011

Trav's mom came in town to help with baby Ashton, and we were lucky enough to get to pick her up from the airport and have her stay for a night. The girls were thrilled to have Yaya around to play with them, and Trav and I always love talking with Mom.

We drove her down to Kjerstin and Jeff's on Tuesday. Her visit was so fast that I didn't even think to pull out my camera. But I had to capture this moment of the girls reading with her in the car. Do you know how tiny our backseat is with two carseats on either side? Yeah . . . tiny. But the girls love having Yaya back there with them, and she is always so nice to squeeze in.

shawn & abby are here!

2011-06-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

June 4-5, 2011

Shawn and Abby came to Cali mainly to go on a cruise, but also to see all of us. The best part of having them stay with us was that it helped Mila finally start loving her Uncle Shawn again. Mila's always been scared of men, and especially scared of loud, sudden noises, so she just didn't know what to make of Shawn since he is her two fears combined. She did like him for awhile when she was younger, but then she got scared and would never let him near her.

But all that changed on this trip and now she loves him! He may have bribed her with some toys. And probably candy. But whatever he did, it worked. She even tells me on a regular basis that she wants to call Shawn on the phone. (But don't worry, Abby - she still wants to call you more.)

We spent the weekend all together at Mom & Dad's house.

I'm pretty sure Kapria has a major crush on her uncle. And who can blame her - he pretty much plays whatever game she asks him to AND pretends to be anything she wants.

Mila wanted to play hide & seek, and she found this spot on her own. She was so excited when we found her.

Mom made the most delicious orange rolls, and Trav proved that he can definitely roll out the perfect dough circle. s'mores + superheroes + orange rolls + princesses + hide and seek + family = fun fun fun.

leafy lovey leaf

2011-06-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

"This is for you, Mom. Look! It's a heart leaf!"

That's what Kapria said when she brought me this leaf. She was so excited to share it. And when I looked down at the heart in her hands I thought about how much of my heart she holds. I don't think I've said it enough to the world: I ADORE MY KAPRIA. I LOVE HER I LOVE HER I LOVE HER!

I love her ringing the doorbell at my room each morning by saying, "Ding bell!" I love her running up to me all excited as she shows me something new like the snail crawling outside our front door or the "ant's shadow."

I love her coming up to my desk while I'm working just to say "I love you Mom" and then giving me a kiss before she heads back to playing. I love how she wants so badly to do things for her little sister and can't understand how little sister isn't happy about the help she offers.

I love her joy in all kinds of animals and how happy she is around them. I love how whatever animal she's holding, she leans into it and gives it a kiss, then whispers, "I love you. You're mine." I love how she tells me that she's pretending the animal is hers, "just for today."

I love her singing made-up songs all the day long. I love her excitement at seeing friends and family and how she runs up and gets into their faces and smiles really big and wants to stick right by them. I love how easily she forgives when someone has hurt her (including me).

I love her every faces: proud, ecstatic, tired, thinking, sad, joyful, worried, angry, loving. I love her running the length of the couch and jumping into the love sac - and being so thoughtful about taking turns with Mila every time.

I love her asking for "baroney" for lunch. I love her carefully selecting which sticker to add to her nice chart and which square to put it in. I love her laugh, her smiles, her kisses, her squeezes.

I love that she made me a mom.
I love her I love her I love her.

if i were in utah tomorrow, this is what i would do

2011-06-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

go to
The Utah Festival of Books.

It's awesome.
You should go have fun for me.
And visit my friend Ann Dee, who'll be on a panel at 3pm in The Big Tent. Get one of her books and have her sign it. They're amazing, as you may already know because I loan them out quite often.

There will be lots of other fantastic authors and fun things to do with your kids, including meeting book characters.

Book characters!

Still not sure? Check out the fun Kapria and I had last year at the Provo Library Book Festival. It's not the exact same festival, because the one tomorrow is even bigger.

Yep.
Tell me how much fun you had so I can be jealous.

everyone needs a mermaid tail

2011-05-26T22:51:00.000-07:00

at this very moment

2011-05-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

Kapria and Mila have so much fun playing together and taking care of each other.

may playgroup

2011-05-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

When I asked Kapria what she wanted to do for playgroup, she said, "Bake!"
"What would you like to bake?"
"Pizza!"

So I found an easy dough recipe, cut up toppings, and let the kids make their own mini pizzas. They had a blast! And the pizzas were delicious!

projects to do

2011-05-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

I've been finding some really fun projects that I want to make with the girls soon. Thought I'd share them here (mainly so I don't forget):

life-size collage people {4 crazy kings}
superhero masks {shakespear's stage}
shiny syrup paint {not just cute}
gnome leprechauns {wee folk art}
self portraits {andiland}

quick giveaway

2011-05-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Head on over to my company's blog to enter their Teacher Appreciation Day giveaway. Just leave a comment saying what you appreciate about teachers and you'll be entered in the drawing to win one of five free classroom kits (think stickers, tattoos, window clings, and a poster). The best news: you don't have to be a teacher!

Hurry - you have to enter by midnight tonight. But your chances of winning are great - there are only a few commenters so far.

(PS. may posts coming soon. I accidentally left the camera cord at my parents', so I can't get pictures off my camera yet.)

the rest of our ordinary day

2011-05-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 05.03.11 continued...

After fixing the flat tire, we said goodbye to Nonny Kare and drove to our friend's house for a birthday party. Samantha was turning two, and we got to celebrate with her!

Mariah is so creative and did face painting for the kids. Kapria loved it and didn't want to wash her face. Definitely more awesome than any you can get at SeaWorld, Mariah! :)

At the end of our busy day, we headed home. Time to get ready for our cousin visit!

ordinary day at nonny's

2011-05-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

We drove from SeaWorld straight to my parents' house to spend the night. Dad was out of town for work, but Mom was home and we had a good time playing and talking and relaxing together. The girls and I stayed for less than 24 hours, but we managed to fill our time with quite a few adventures.

When Mila was down for a nap, Mom decided to take Kapria on an outing so I could work. We walked outside to get Kapria in the car, and Mom noticed my car had a flat tire. Like completely and totally flat.

I know how to change a flat tire, but have always used the basic jack and tire iron that come with the car. I'd never used my dad's super-awesome-get-the-job-done-faster-than-a-speeding-bullet tools to do it. So...I kind of didn't know how to use them all. (At first.) With a few phone calls to Dad, we were able to get the compressor and super-heavy-duty jack and speedy power drill figured out and I took off the flat.

See that huge screw? That was thanks to the SeaWorld parking lot. (Pretty sure, since we parked in a back "school visitors" lot that was mostly dirt and had lots of construction going on). I'm just glad we made it the hour drive to my parents' house without getting a flat. And Mom was so awesome - she took the tire down to the repair shop and had it fixed while I worked. (Hmm. I think I still owe you $$ for that, Mom.)

While I worked on changing the tire, Kapria dug in the dirt. At one point she jumped back and said, "Oh!"

Turns out she'd dug up a hibernating frog. Poor guy wasn't too happy to be awake. Since she'd dug a hole out of his home, we decided to give him a new home. We stuck him in the flower pot, and in less than five seconds he'd buried himself down in the dirt. "Good night, little froggy."

We also took turns holding Hades, which the girls are always excited to do when we visit Nonny and Grampa.

Nonny's house + flat tire + animal friends = adventure

remember when we were at SeaWorld and saw the polar bear cave?

2011-05-02T23:37:00.000-07:00

"Remember that, Mom? I was scared."

That's what Kapria said when I asked her what she liked most about SeaWorld. Then she said her favorite thing was: the biggest one that swims in the biggest ocean.

So there you go.

Some friends invited us to join their preschool class at SeaWorld, and I couldn't pass up the amazing price of $11 total for us to get in. Trav stayed home because he had finals week (his first year of grad school nearly done!). I was sad to go without him. Adventure days are always more fun with my hottie around.
The girls and I drove down early in the morning and spent the day with several different friends:

Dolphin and Shamu show with the Wilsons
Lunch with the Wallets and Schvaneveldts
Wandering around with the Mills

And somehow I hardly took any photos. But I did catch a few of our favorite moments:

It was a great day, and I loved spending it with my girls. We climbed in the car sunbaked and exhausted and headed to our next adventure: a night at Nonny Kare's!

happy thirty two to you

2011-05-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

My babe turned thirty two. (Not to be confused with my baby, who will be turning two in just a few short months.)

We are officially into our thirties and it's kind of disconcerting.

But birthdays still call for celebrations in my book because I LOVE celebrating the people I LOVE. So we invited Kjerstin, Jeff, and Mckay over for dinner and I made one of Trav's favorites: german chocolate cake. Kapria was so excited about Trav's cake and kept asking when we'd get to eat it.
"Can we eat the cake now, Mom?"
"Not yet. When Dad gets home, we'll eat dinner and then sing to him and then eat the cake," I said. (Repeat this conversation over and over and over.)

But it was just too much for her to take. She had to have some:

I fixed the cake as best I could. But did you know that one jar of frosting is not really enough to cover a whole round cake? I do now. So, if you ever make a round cake, be sure to either make a lot of your own frosting or buy two or more jars of it.

I did get a video of us singing to Trav (where you can see the lovely cake), but for some weird reason I ended it right before he blew out the candles. What was I thinking? Who knows.

Still, we had fun as a family celebrating my awesome babe. The girls loved helping decorate the house to surprise him when he got home (he was at an art workshop), and then were so excited to watch him open his gifts.

Happy Birthday Trav!

I love you love you and will forever be grateful you're mine.

Yep yep yep.

park day

2011-04-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

easter eggstravaganza

2011-04-29T00:17:00.000-07:00

Friday 04.22.2011
We spent the day with friends at a local Easter event and had such a fun family day together. We started with the egg hunt. Mila liked opening the eggs to see what was inside. Kapria ran around picking up every little piece of candy she could find (it was thrown all over the grass). She ended up with a basketfull of treats. We have yet to get a grand picture of the four of these girls together, mostly due to Mila - she refuses to stand still and smile when the other three do. Oh well, one of these days.

After the hunt we rode the train around the park. I love trees and this park had some awesomely beautiful ones. I especially loved the one that fell over and just kept growing that way - it's trunk was pretty much vertical. Awesome. And there was a pond with several little turtles sitting on the edge of the water relaxing. (Kapria wanted to hold one. I wanted to be one...just for an hour or two basking in the sun.)

We had one ticket left for each girl, and they all chose to jump in the bounce house. Why is jumping so much fun? I don't know, but I love it too. And with how much Kapria and Mila love it, we'll definitely have to invest in a trampoline whenever we're actually living in a house again.

Next we ate lunch, then we walked to the local zoo. It was the perfect size for us to walk through in about an hour or two and they had a petting zoo that the kids could've spent all day in.

The girls all wanted to pet the snake, which is amazing to me because even a month ago Mila was terrified of animals. She has really started warming up to them though (hence the goat hug). I attribute it to my dad's dog, Oso. Mila has slowly gotten comfortable with being around him. And come to think of it, he's furry and black, much like that goat.

But I digress. The snake:

Great day, great fun, great friends. Love it.

blankie love

2011-04-28T23:12:00.000-07:00

funnygirls

2011-04-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

Jane and Elsie came to play one afternoon while Nate and Allison went to the temple. Trav got home toward the end and, as usual, the girls all mobbed him. Elsie loved his helmet and wanted to wear it. Jane, not so much. But the girls were plenty silly that night.

I love these girls so much!

disney day

2011-04-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 04.13.2011
Kapria has been hoping to meet Silvermist, and luckily her favorite Pixie Hollow fairy was finally there when we were. So pretty much meeting her was the highlight of Kapria's week. Maybe her month.

Mila is terrified of all the Disney real-life characters, but she really liked Tinker Bell's shoes. That was the closest she was willing to get to anyone.

Yes, we will be visiting Tarzan's Treehouse on every Disneyland trip. Kapria loves it so much. She wants to see the leopard and Tarzan and stares at them both for as long as we'll let her. So of course I had to get some pictures of them for her. (I also love this one because the kids can wander around and there's never a line, so it's nice to let them free-play for awhile.)

And the Winnie the Pooh ride is one of the girls' favorites. We're hoping next time we go will be less crowded so we can ride a few times with no waiting in line.

haircuts part 3: the results

2011-04-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

And what you've all been waiting for...

Kapria absolutely loves her new haircut. That night she kept looking in the mirror and smiling at herself. Trav didn't get home until after the girls went to bed, and she had such a hard time going to sleep because she couldn't wait to show him. The next morning she ran into our room and said, "Dad, look at my haircut!" She also was excited to show her friends. It's so fun to see your kids love something about themselves.

Truth be told, I really really miss her long hair. It's like my baby girl is gone and now there's this growing-up-girl that's getting so big so fast. But seeing her happiness makes me happy we did it. The other day she did say, "Now I’ll grow it long again, then I’ll cut it. Then I’ll grow it, then I’ll cut it.” Wait till she realizes how long it takes to grow your hair to lower-back length...

And Mila got a slight A-line trim, which helped with how her hair lays but didn't take too much off the length. (She really did not want me to take any pictures of her new hair and kept running away. So here's the best I got. She still looks cute :)

I love my beautiful girls!

haircuts part 2: getting the job done

2011-04-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

The girls were really good about sitting for their haircuts. Kapria was especially serious. She wanted to go first and she was so quiet and listened perfectly.

haircuts part 1: before

2011-04-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
We'd talked about cutting Kapria's hair for awhile because she hates having it fixed at all and especially hates having it combed. One day after an especially rough time of combing her incredibly tangled hair (and lots of tears and running away), I maybe sorta threatened to cut it all off. To which she replied, "Yes I want it cut!"

But I was sad to cut it and so put off making an appointment for a long time. I love her beautiful hair. Then I finally just called my friend and did it, mainly because Mila's hair was looking so scraggly and needed a trim.

Kapria was so excited. She wanted her hair "Short! Short! Short!" I convinced her that ponytail-length would be short enough. Summer's coming, after all, and we want to pull it back sometimes, right?

easter

2011-04-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Nonny and Grampa's for Easter weekend. We went to their two-ward sacrament meeting and listened to the choir perform a special musical presentation about Christ. It was beautiful. During regular sacrament meetings I don't usually get to listen to a full talk due to Distractions: settling an argument over a toy or pulling a child out from under the bench before they crawl up the next isle or keeping a child inside the perimeter of the bench. So the singing ones are extra special for me because I get to hear the testimonies of others through song and even if I'm dealing with said Distractions, I can still feel the music.
I love music so much. And music about Christ - even better.

Then after church we went home and The Bunny had appeared. Everyone hunted for their basket in a pretty quick way since Mila was exhausted and desperately needed (and wanted) a nap.

After naptime and late-lunchtime we went outside and hunted for eggs and a little surprise from Nonny and Grampa.

An Easter celebration with Chelsea and Rob is guaranteed to include hunting for homemade cascarones (one of Rob's family traditions). So we continued the tradition out here in CA, though I was lazy and bought them at Walmart rather than making them myself. I kind of forgot to mention to everyone that you're supposed to run away when someone comes at you with one of these confetti-filled eggs, so we all just accepted them being smashed on our heads without much chasing. (Trav reminded me afterwards...I guess he didn't feel like running that day.) Next year, though, we'll be chasing each other around for sure!

Then we tried to get some family pictures. Yaya bought the girls these darling dresses, which they love wearing. They hold them out and twirl around like princesses. It makes my heart twirl to watch them.
But by this time Mila was tired and didn't want to be posing for photos. And then it started sprinkling outside and around then the girls decided they wanted to explore the rock, not sit and and smile for the camera. But at least we got a good one of my mom and dad.

Such a fun celebration weekend!

We love our Savior, and we love that this time is set aside to celebrate his life, his atonement, and his resurrection. We might hunt for eggs and enjoy a little too much candy, but we also refocus our commitment to him and his gospel. I'm grateful. So grateful for him.

sometimes dancing is all you need

2011-04-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

gloss

2011-04-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

play doh conversations

2011-04-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

family night at the park

2011-04-14T23:30:00.000-07:00

butterfly art

2011-04-13T00:03:00.000-07:00

Friday 04.01.2011

Kapria's art project from playgroup. They talked about nature and made butterflies by tracing their feet as wings. Love it!

it's not a card

2011-04-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday 03.06.2011

Kapria got mail! When she opened it up, it was a thank you card from her friend Andrew. Even better: a Diego thank you card. She was so excited and promptly took the card and ran off to play.

But a little while later she came up to me and said, "Mom, this notebook is broken."
I said, "What do you mean? It's not a notebook, it's a card."
She said, "It's not a card, Mom. It's a notebook. But the pages won't turn."
She was getting really upset at this point, pointing at the pages and trying to turn them.
"It's just a card, sweetie," I said, "but how 'bout we turn it into a real notebook?"
"Yes, Mom, yes!" she said.

At first she was adamant that I not use glue, but I explained to her that it either had to be glue or sewing the pages in or punching holes and using string (our stapler is broken). So she decided after hearing all the options that glue would be okay. Good thing, because it really was the easiest. I was dreading that sewing option...

And here's our finished notebook:

I love that something so simple can totally make her day happy. She played with it all week and wouldn't draw in it because she didn't want to write on her "stories." Instead she pretended to read stories out of it.

making art with dad

2011-04-12T23:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday 03.31.2011

On Thursdays Trav stays home with the girls until noon while I put in a long morning for work. On this morning Kapria asked if she could use the new watercolors we'd bought. So Trav pulled everything out for some art time. And I couldn't believe (and felt pretty bad) that we'd never done watercolors with her! Trav explained how to rinse the brush between colors, and she got really into it. Mila was happy drawing with her markers the whole time. We love creating!

Here's their collaborative artwork:

five girls = a whole lotta fun

2011-04-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

Melissa and I lived on the same street for a few of our elementary school and junior high years. We spent a lot of time walking down the hill and up the hill to each other's houses. And talking books. And making toast with honey. And playing games and talking in her treehouse and having sleep overs.

After her family moved to Utah I think when we were in eighth grade - or maybe seventh? - we still managed to keep in touch through letters and visits. In college we finally lived in the same state again, and over the last twelve years we've sometimes lived in the same state and sometimes not, but whenever we can we get together. Now that we're in California, we're only about an hour and a half drive from her family. And since it was spring break for her girls (and I hadn't even met her youngest!), they decided to come visit.

We had a great two days together with Ali (8), Ashling (5), and Annika (2) - swimming, watching movies, playing, and coloring. Mila and Kapria adored Ali - they wanted her to carry them around and play with them, and I think she liked going along with all the attention they threw at her. Thanks, Ali!

On Tuesday we went swimming at our pool. Kapria loves swimming, but Mila hates the cold water. She refused to get in and instead sat and ate lunch on a chair. Once she was done, she wanted to wander all over the pool area, so I didn't get much swimming in either. But at least I could catch pictures of everyone else since I was dry.

Having five girls in our tiny apartment got pretty messy - clothes, toys, and shoes were everywhere. But the craziness was fun. On Wednesday morning Melissa made us delicious family pancakes (kind of like german pankakes) with homemade syrup. Yumm. I had to work a little bit that morning, so Melissa watched my girls for that, then we all played hide-and-seek outside during Mila's nap. The day was on and off rainy, so we decided to take the girls out to lunch at Chick-fil-A - where they not only have good food, but they've also got the cleanest play area of any fast food place I've ever been to. Win-win!

It was a quick visit, but I loved catching up with Melissa and meeting all her girls. And now we're excited to drive up to their mountain home next time!

party hats and conference talks

2011-04-08T01:09:00.000-07:00

Friday 04.01.2011 thru Sunday 04.03.2011

Mom came up on Friday to help watch the girls while I worked on my novel (I have a big goal for it and she's helping me make it happen). Then we drove back to her house together that night after dinner. Trav had a late class and met up with us when he was done.

Saturday Dad had a job to do at the neighbor's (building a shed), so he and Trav were gone most of the day working on it. Mom and I were home with the girls, and we watched conference, visited the library, then visited the neighbor's (Cinnamon and Jared) to see how things were going.

Sunday we watched more of conference, and Mom made delicious scones that we all enjoyed. I ate way too many, but I love the making-scones-while-watching-Sunday-monring-general-conference tradition that the Marler's shared with us. Later we had a tasty taco lunch with the neighbors, then spent the afternoon together as a family. AND we finally had our family St. Patrick's Day party, which was awesome. Simple, but awesome. The girls loved the coin toss and wanted to do that pretty much the whole night. We snuck in one other game, too.

hooray!

2011-04-02T15:13:00.000-07:00

done with february posts...now onto march.

then i'll be going backward through 2010...and hopefully keep up with ontime posts for 2011 at the same time.

hope you're all enjoying conference. we're at my mom and dad's listening, playing, eating, blogging, sewing, constructing, celebrating. pictures coming soon.

green party

2011-03-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 03.30.2011
Since we were driving to Arizona on St. Patty's Day (a favorite holiday at our house), we held our celebration a little late. We made it a green party and headed to the park with some friends and family. The kids played on the playground, then we ate some green snacks, made rainbows (which Kapria and Mila weren't really interested in...so we don't have any to show), played a pot of gold game, and ate treats. We had so much fun!

Mila loves blowing bubbles.

family night at ruby's

2011-03-28T23:59:00.000-07:00

Trav had to work late at school tonight. So the girls and I ate dinner, quickly cleaned up (which is a record for me), got jammies on, and headed to school. We saw some of the awesome work that Trav is doing right now (I married such a talented man), then headed to Ruby's for some milkshakes.

The girls got to bed late, but it was totally worth it. We had so much fun together. Kapria wanted some "pinklish ice cream" and thankfully Ruby's has delicious strawberry milkshakes that come in pink. She also wanted to be sure and take a picture of the bike that was right by our booth, and how could we not when Mila kept shouting "Bike!" as loud as she could throughout the hour we were there?

I love family night with my girls and my main squeeze.

reading & rocking

2011-03-28T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today Mila wanted to sit in the rocking chair and read a story. Then Kapria decided she'd like to sit with her and read to her. And Mila liked that idea too.

Reading another of their favorite books:

mila's got skillz

2011-03-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

Mila likes to do everything on her own now, which means she's gotten pretty good at:

putting on her shoes
buckling seatbelts
snapping her bib together
blowing her nose
opening all the bedroom and bathroom doors (curse those handlebar doorknobs)
climbing, climbing, climbing
and today: peeling an orange

You get to see the last one in action (she's pretty proud of herself, and I think she's just so darn cute to watch):

Yay, Mila!

kind of disappeared (but not)

2011-03-04T16:55:00.001-08:00

I know it looks like I kind of disappeared…but I’m coming back soon!

As you may or may not know, I’m still working part time from home. Usually that means I work anywhere between five and ten hours a week (mostly in the morning and during Mila’s naptime/Kapria’s quiet time). But a lot of things have changed at work in the past year, including rapid growth (I think the company tripled in size), new management, and new processes. What does all that mean?

I’ll tell you what: DEADLINES.
Not that we didn’t have them before, but now we have to stick to them. Like really surely.

SO, I’ve been working like mad the past two weeks to make my big deadline that happens to be March 4 (TODAY). Which means I have skipped fun evening events, didn’t even see Parenthood (my weekly dose of TV) this week, haven’t read or blogged or done laundry or returned phone calls – all because I’ve been working first thing in the morning, all during naptime and sometimes beyond if the girls are playing happily, and immediately after the girls go to bed until about midnight or 1am. That five to ten hours a week has turned into twenty to thirty, and it’s killing me. Which is probably why I caught the flu the girls have. Trav’s been working hard at school for his midterms next week, and staying up late in the process, and he caught the bug too.

So we’re working like crazy and we’re all sick and hopefully this craziness will come to an end.
It will. And when it does, I’m so back.

See you then…

favorite faces: february 2011: mila

2011-02-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

favorite faces: february 2011: kapria

2011-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

what else we've been up to

2011-02-27T14:03:00.000-08:00

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

grand love

2011-02-27T13:59:00.000-08:00

family goals

2011-02-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-22T23:11:00.000-08:00

owie

2011-02-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

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

saturday date

2011-02-19T23:32:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-18T23:57:00.000-08:00

dinner with friends

2011-02-17T23:38:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-16T23:54:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

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!

travis.shar.kapria.mila

book parties

in which mila reads a book

mila conversations: 2.5 years old

photo skills

for grandma & grandpa

superheroes

an evening with grandpa keith

newport

merry happy wonderful days to you

disney day

wedding!

preschool fieldtrip to tanaka farms

date night swap: october 2011

warm fall weather

sunday dinner

kid dates

playgroup begins again

we're having cereal for dinner: a conversation with mila

disney day with rebekah

play-doh & mermaids & family night

a bedtime song for our pet tiger

time out for mom

rainy day

dessert conversation

mila's favorite things: 2 years

general conference

aliso beach

kapria conversations: 4 years old

I like to post snippets of our conversations with Kapria on facebook. But I thought it would be nice to have them here on the blog for us to remember and enjoy. So here we go.

9.27.11

fyi: the password is "jungle jimes" (just in case you come over and want to get past kapria at the front door.)

9.26.11

9.22.11

kapria told me today that she's training mila to be good. sometimes i just wish she'd take her own training advice, too.

9.19.11

we have a new niece! when i told kapria that aunt chelsea and uncle rob hadn't picked her name yet, she said, "They can call her Sparkles!"

9.13.11

conversation at the dinner table tonight goes like this: kapria: what are you scared of, dad? mila: what you scared of? trav: the only thing i'm scared of is you girls getting hurt. kapria: the only thing i'm scared of is being eaten by crocodiles. mila: yeah! crocodiles!

disney day with friends

first day of preschool

my little bro is 22

arrived!

being awesome

the pinklish party: part 1

mila loves her blankie

family beach party

of dvds and other things

potty diaries: has it been almost a year already?

tiger mountan peasant song

swimming!

fourth of july celebration

sweet mila

disney day: last with jane & elsie

goodbyes are really see you laters

so you think you can dance

a lunch conversation

utah writing trip: part 2

utah writing trip: part 1

arrived!

squished

shawn & abby are here!

leafy lovey leaf

if i were in utah tomorrow, this is what i would do

everyone needs a mermaid tail

at this very moment

may playgroup

projects to do

quick giveaway

the rest of our ordinary day

ordinary day at nonny's

remember when we were at SeaWorld and saw the polar bear cave?

happy thirty two to you

park day

easter eggstravaganza

blankie love

funnygirls

disney day

haircuts part 3: the results

haircuts part 2: getting the job done

conversation at the dinner table tonight goes like this:
kapria: what are you scared of, dad?
mila: what you scared of?
trav: the only thing i'm scared of is you girls getting hurt.
kapria: the only thing i'm scared of is being eaten by crocodiles.
mila: yeah! crocodiles!