favorite k&m moments: feb 2012

favorite k&m moments: jan 2012

gymnastics

Since Kapria was no longer going to preschool, we knew we wanted to get her into some kind of activity that would help build her confidence. One of my good friends has her daughter in gymnastics and suggested that we check it out.

I signed up Kapria for a tryout class for four year olds and Mila in a parent participation class for toddlers. Since the classes were at the same time, I dropped off Kapria in hers, then went with Mila to a different room for hers.

And they both loved it! So here we are on our second day of gymnastics, with lots more of these days to come.

gymnastics 01.31.12

a special kind of lip gloss

superheroes

rainy day

utah writing trip: part 1

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.

everyone needs a mermaid tail

at this very moment

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

haircuts part 3: the results

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

 

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

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?

play doh conversations

 

reading & rocking

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:

what else we've been up to

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

what we do

We've had way too many sick days, but we've also had a lot of fun together. Here are some of the things that kept us happy in January:

Trav built several different castles for the girls.

This was the first model.

We picnicked on the porch.

We snuggled up and watched movies. We colored.

We played princesses.

Okay, so a lot of those things we do all the time anyway. Just a lot more often when we're at home being sickies.

sisters

Kapria and Mila love playing together. They read together, share toys, help each other, laugh a lot, and take turns pushing each other around in the doll stroller. They're learning to love each other, and they're learning to forgive too. Like when Kapria tries to pick Mila up (which is pretty much all the time), or when Mila takes the toys Kapria is playing with and runs away. Kapria is also learning to be patient with her sister: she wants Mila to play princesses with her all the time and gets frustrated when Mila just wants to play by herself. But then ten minutes later, Mila wants to play and Kapria wants to be left alone. But every day they have fun together, and that's the best bit to see.

bedtime fun

Nighttime at our house can get a little crazy.

December 1, 2010

happy bath

Mila used to hate taking baths. But now that she can sit up and play on her own, she likes them a lot more. This is her first bath where she was smiling and laughing and splashing instead of crying and screaming. Until this point, she only liked showers.

Now she cries to get IN the bath.

reading together

Kapria loves doing everything with Mila, especially sharing a good book.