Our little Swan

Emma had her first ballet performance. It was the Utah Regional Ballet production of Swan Lake. We were so proud of Emma. The week before her rehearsals and performance, a bench fell on her big toe. It was in pretty bad condition. I took her to a couple doctors. The first doctor drained her toe because there was so much blood built up under the toe, hoping it would relieve some pressure. Then her pediatrician told us how to care for it in preparation for the toe nail to fall off. He felt confident she could dance in her performance. I was SO stressed that whole week. But after all was said and done, she made it! She danced her little heart out and did beautiful! It was very entertaining watching her and her cute class. 

The last night of her last performance they let us take pictures of the dancers at the finale. Look at these pictures. Emma was SO ECSTATIC to find us in the front row. She really felt like a star! :)

Emma showing her cousin Lucy some dance moves.

 

  

Here she is with one of her dance friends, Sophia.

She was so thrilled to find her loved ones there to support her. Here she is with Oma and Uncle Dylan.

Auntie Kimmy

She looks so serious in this picture.

She was so excited to go get a treat after the show. We took her to Iceberg and got some shakes and fries. She was a happy camper. Sure proud of you Emma girl. WAY TO GO!

Chicken Whisperer

 Oh our sweet little man. Thomas has been named the "Chicken Whisperer" in our home. He is outside morning, noon and night wanting to play with the chickens. Luckily the chickens are SO patient with him as he picks them up constantly and tosses them in the air. It's even a bigger treat for Thomas to go in the cage with them, oh man it's a mess when he's done with that. He'll walk around the house and outisde bawking like a chicken, "bawwww ba ba ba bawwwwww!"

 A few weeks ago I was in the yard with the kids. I was on the other side of the yard and I looked over and saw Thomas riding Spot like a horse. Poor Spot. I yell, "Thomas get off of Spot, she's not a horse!" I wonder which of my neighbors may have heard that. :) It probably sounded weird. 

 I love when he's outside in his diaper and snow boots. :)

That's our little Chicken Whisperer! :)

twins...

Emma: "Mom, we're twins?"

Me: We're twins?

Emma: "Yes, we're twins because we are both girls"

I love our daily conversations in the car. :)

Super Thomas turns 2

Super Thomas turns 2 !!!! He is SUCH a big boy and we love him to pieces! Here are some of his two year old pictures we took. He was mostly intrigued by a dog around the park and kept throwing the gross slobbery ball to the dog. Nevertheless, we did get some cute shots of this super boy!

Some of Thomas' favorite things...

He loves to watch balloons fly into the air. Totally opposite from most children. Usually they will freak out if there balloon slips from their fingers and floats away. He freaks out until he can get that balloon outside and see it float away, then giggles the whole time it soars off.

He loves the classic movie "Winnie the Pooh." The one we all watched when we were tiny :) When tigger does his bouncing and singing, Thomas will jump jump around along like Tigger.
He loves jumping anytime, anywhere.

He still LOVES balls. He can't get enough playing ball.

We call him the "Chicken Whisperer" because he is obsessed with our chickens, Spot and Sarah. Every morning, noon, and evening he LOVES to go out in the back yard to tease the chickens, feed them leaves, poor buckets of water into their cage. And if he's lucky, he sometimes gets to play in the cage with them. Lately, we have found him being a little rough with them like kicking them in the bum. He's learning that's a no no. I have also found him sitting on one of them like a horse. Poor poor chickens. They do put up with him though and let him pick them up. He also goes around clucking like a chicken, "Baaaa ,ba ba baaaaaaaaa!"

He loves his milk.."Mi, Peas"= Milk Please

He still loves playing in the dirt.

He loves copying, harassing and playing with his big sister. Oh how he loves her. He is now copying everything she says. It's SO cute to hear him. I love the sound of them playing together.
He loves books, all kinds. Especially potty ones, golden book classics with farm animals, ABC's, numbers, shapes, etc...

His vocabulary has totally improved. For a few months we had him with "Kids on the Move" in their intervention program and he has TOTALLY taken off. We don't even need to meet with the therapists anymore. He is repeating us now and saying two to three word sentences. Way to go buddy!
Some of my favorite things about Thomas is when he wakes up in the morning and/or nap time, he is so loveable and cheerful (most of the time). When we come in his room to get him or wake him up, he'll usually say with his sweet voice "Hi Mom".

He gives the best hugs and kisses.
He LOVES potty books. We have one that is called, "Once upon a Potty." There is a part in the book where it writes, "he sat and sat and sat.......................". Thomas thinks that is HILARIOUS. He'll say "and sat and sat" and bust out a huge gut laugh. Next thing we're both laughing hysterically. He'll laugh so hard, sometimes he'll get the hiccups. Oh it cracks me up.

 

We decorated Thomas' room with balloons and number 2's all over his walls. He was so cute sleeping there. He always turns on his lamp when he goes down to bed so he can read his books. So it was left on for us while we decorated. He woke up his birthday morning in heaven with all his balloons.

We took little man and Emma to 'Discovery Gateway' to play, play, play. Of course his favorite part was playing in the ball area.

Emma's tradition is going to the play house at the museum and collecting all the flowers to pass out to people. She did that, then she decided to go into construction. I just watched her work with the other children, (but mostly by herself) lifting blocks and lifting them with the crane. That was a new interest to her this time. She had such a concentrated look on her face the whole time. :)

That is one happy birthday boy!

Emma and Thomas attended a class at the Museum. The lesson was on BUTTERFLIES! Their favorite!

Oh and don't forget about getting lunch at one of his favorite places, Noodles and Company. Look at him down that mac and cheese. :)

 

Here are the Superhero cupcakes. POW, BANG, KABAM, POP, BOOM!

Thomas running with his superhero bear. We made Thomas' cousin Finn a superhero cape! They both looked SO cute. He loves his cousin Finn. The dog you see on the table is something I stitched up and framed for his room since he LOVES dogs "doggy" or "Ruff" is what he calls them.

 Blow out your candles big boy! He finally had the blowing technique down and got very excited to blow out his own candles. Look at him look at the candles in delight.

 

What a fun party! Thank you to all the family that could come and celebrate with us.
Happy 2nd Birthday sweet Thomas boy!
We love you!

Easter Day!

After church we took some pictures in our neighbors back yard. Thomas LOVED the rocks and kept throwing them in the waterfall. The kids also received there Easter baskets and we spent some time going through them. Emma got spring shirts, Thomas got pajamas and little knick knacks. I also made the children some super hero capes for their favorite stuffed animals; Emma's bear shelly and monkey and Thomas' little brown bear. 

Easter morning

 Early Easter Sunday morning Derek and I taught the children an Easter lesson about our Savior's resurrection. I made some Resurrection rolls that were hollow inside to represent the Savior's tomb. Emma helped out with explaining the story of his Death and Resurrection. It was a beautiful morning. 

I love his morning hair and sweet morning eyes. 

HAPPY EASTER

Easter egg hunt part one

We had a little Easter egg hunt and colored eggs with some neighbors and friends. The kids started at the top house and made their way down a few houses, ending with ours. Here they are getting ready to start.

 

This is so funny. I still don't quite know why Emma was raising her hand. Maybe she was signifying she was ready to begin. 

 

And she's off!! 

 

It took Thomas a minute to figure out what in the world he was supposed to do. He would pick up an egg and we would tell him to put it in his basket. He would, and then put it back on the grass where he found it and go find another egg and so on, hahahha. He got the hang of the real game, real fast. 

 

He was smart. While the other kids rushed down the hill to the other homes, they missed a TON of eggs at the first house. I think Thomas spent the majority of his hunt up at the first house and was quite successful.

 

Emma and Thomas enjoying their yummies after the hunt. This was an awesome realization to Thomas that there was actually candy and treats inside these eggs. Heaven. Emma loved wearing her bunny ears. They really did have a fun time. The sun was right in their faces, it was a little hard to get a smile out of them without being blinded by the sun.