funny girls

I think my girls are hilarious...here they are with their makeshift parade, using a pump from my exercise ball and some plastic spoons.  Love it!

Adrienne came upstairs today in this outfit (6-12 month size).

A few months ago--out in the backyard, giving each other a makeover.

 Daddy went out of town for a pharmacy conference and brought back a special treat for the girls.

 Jacqui thought they needed to be eaten at the same time!

we celebrated New Years Eve by playing Twister and watching Happy New Year Charlie Brown.  Then we cracked some glow sticks and watched the ball drop at 9 pm (12 in NYC) and went to bed :)

Happy Holidays!

We love Christmastime!  This was our first time our little family stayed home for Christmas, so it was definitely a different one.  Luckily we got to see Josh's family in November, and my parents came for a few days after Christmas, and we got to skype for a bit on Christmas day.  I seriously need to do a better job of taking pictures (and having a camera with me besides my 1 megapixel phone camera).  So here's what I've got:

We went to a really big greenhouse (at a nearby park) that was all decorated with lights--not quite Temple Square, but still awesome!  It was a fun FHE activity with my cousin Alicia and her family.  I'm glad Grant got some use out of his reindeer hat :)

Keeping the tradition--sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas Adam (day before Christmas Eve).  The girls actually slept there almost every night while Adrienne was out of school. 

 Our Christmas Eve snowman family--we each helped build our own snowman.

Christmas day nap with dad while watching movies.

 hanging out by the tree.




We went on a journey to the North Pole--which was a boat ride in Coeur d 'Alene, although the kids are certain it was the real North Pole.  I got a great deal on Groupon, so it was worth it!  It was freezing cold, but we had a blast!  My favorite part about it was the arrival at the North Pole--you stay on the boat and look out where all the Christmas lights are and Santa is outside and reads the nice list.  Of course, all of the kids on the boat get their names read.  Adrienne and Jacqui were beaming when he read their names.  They also noticed Josh's name, but not mine.  Apparently there were no children named Melissa on the boat.  Josh and I had to hold in our laughs as Santa tried to pronounce all the kid's names on the nice list--they were so ridiculous!  I wish I would have written some of them down--it's amazing how many crazy names there are nowadays.  Poor Santa, he was struggling and I could tell he was holding back plenty of laughs himself!  Adrienne was so excited to tell her friends at school about it, and apparently the next day she announced it to the class and told all the kids that had their names read that they were on the nice list!  Then all the other kid's were really concerned if they were on it too.  Anyway, her teacher told me how sweet it all was and that she assured the others that when she went, she would listen for the rest of their names.

waiting for the boat ride

on the boat

more fun in the snow

more fun eating snow

not having fun in the snow--we tried to get him to make a baby snow angel...

nutracker party--we dressed up and had yummy treats, made a craft, and attempted to watch the nutcracker at a friends house.  needless to say, we were the first to leave--but we did have fun!

reading with grandpa in their new Christmas jammies

Some of our other events included:
-- a fun Christmas party at my cousin Nicole's house with her family (I brought fondue--because you HAVE to have fondue at Christmastime)
-- a candlelight dinner on Christmas Eve (basically we had Thanksgiving food all over again because it's just so good)
--singing Christmas songs by the fireplace, complete with toy instruments
--ward Christmas party, journey to Bethlehem (really amazing night with the whole focus on the Savior's birth)

Wow.  that was a lot jammed into 1 month.  now if i can just survive these next few months of dark, dreary winter...yep. it's dark by 4pm. :)

it's been over a year...

 Here are some highlights from the past several months:

Josh graduated from Pharmacy school!  Yeah!

Mother's day with my two sweet girls.

Aunt Taylee's wedding--nicely holding her dress everywhere she goes.

with cousins.  good thing we saw them all this summer, cause it's going to be a while before we get together again.

We moved to Spokane.  It's beautiful.

4th of July. Someone wasn't happy.  But at least we got to be in a parade.

Aunt Leslie's wedding--my girls fought over who got to stand next to Leslie in the pictures, so once again, someone wasn't happy.

 

My little girl is all grown up and off to kindergarten!  She loves it for the most part.  Mainly she just loves riding the bus, eating snacks, recess, and seeing friends.  the learning parts not so much.

At the bus stop on a good day--oh wait, jacqui is still in jammies.

Baby Grant arrives in our family--such a cutie!!!

Halloween: our little tiger

a cute cowgirl, before braiding her hair.  sorry adrienne, I forgot to take your picture.  whoops.

there you are, minus the costume, but with a cute baby.  you are always so helpful and even change diapers sometimes!

Jacqui's turn: she finally thinks he's cute (when I first said he was cute, she corrected me and said, "no, he's cool".)  she loves snuggling him now and seems to have gotten over the major jealousy of not being the baby anymore.

Our first snow here in Spokane: they couldn't wait to play in it--notice how Jacqui is in her rainboots and jammies!

After school--making snow angels, until they realized that it's not quite the right snow for it.  then they tried to have a snowball fight. it was awesome.

giving baby grant a bath. so helpful that I had to re-rinse his legs after getting him out due to too much soap!

Kindergarten Thanksgiving play: my little wampanog indian!

Happy 6th Birthday!  we attempted a doll cake like I used to have when I was little--it's not near as elaborate though.  

 

opening a present wrapped in a diaper box.  she wasn't too thrilled at first.

things we should do and things we shouldn't do

So, obviously I need to update this blog.  I have a lot of fun pics to post from all our fun goings on this summer.  But until I do that, I thought I needed to document Adrienne's list of things we should do and things we shouldn't do:
#1 don't smoke
#2 don't drink coffee
#3 choose the right
#4 have a lot of birthdays
#5 listen to where you're going
#6 be happy where your parents take you
#7 don't complain
#8 listen to your parents
#9 listen to your uncle
#10 don't ruin things
#11 don't complain about your house or your room
#12 have fun at preschool
#13 only moms and dads fast
#14 show your friends that you're being nice to them
#15 don't be mean
She was explaining these to her sister this morning (as she looked at her paper chain we made of the quorum of the 12 and first presidency during conference).  Awesome.
More to come as soon as I get all my pics on my computer...

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July was quite eventful here in Reno for us...

 We started out by getting up super early...we got to the hot air balloon line at 6:15 am--they were offering FREE (tethered) rides. 

 We stood in line for 2 hours--almost got to the front--and then we were told that they wouldn't get to us.  So we wandered off to see what else we could do.  Then they kept the balloons going until the FOUR groups after us got on.  I was quite upset and tired and ornery by then.  Good thing the girls were more easy to appease.  Someone was handing out free balloons and they were happy.  It took me a bit longer to get over it...  At least we all got a nap when we got home!

We later went swimming, played games, and went to watch the fireworks from a distant park.  Sad that we didn't have a parade.  Oh, and apparently here, a "pancake breakfast" is just that--pancakes.  We ended up paying $3 per person for 2 pancakes and a drink--I miss the good old hometown breakfasts and parades!