Ta dah!

I'm SO excited this is done! And for the first time ever, I did it by myself! No that's not true - Cooper helped when he could, for which I was amazingly grateful!!! But I did it without my mom for the first time, which was scary. But it is done! And I want to just revel in that for one night, because tomorrow we'll have to clean it all up!

Our official big girl

Jenelle is 100% binky free. This is a great surprise to us. Last Christmas when she lost her last binky, we thought it was time to give them up for good. After 3 nights of no sleep, we broke down and went and bought new ones. Sometime in the spring, when she had lost those, we told her all we had were yucky baby binkies that she didn't like, so it was those or nothing. She chose baby binkies. Granted they were only for sleep, but sleep didn't happen without them so we were worried.
After weeks of explanation, and having turned 3, we went to Toys R Us and allowed her to pick out a toy she wanted. We showed her all sorts of really cool or beautiful toys, but when she saw this rather ordinary looking, small and rather cheap doll that came in a backpack, she gasped, held out her arms and said, "This is what I want!" Really? Okay. We went to the check-out stand, she gave the lady the doll, pulled her money out of her purse and handed it over. Then the nice lady held up the trash can and one by one, Jenelle threw away every white baby binky we had. She did it so matter of factly that I almost cried. It was just so ... mature? Okay that might be too strong of a word, but so not babyish at least. On the way out she announced contentedly, "This is so much fun that I have no more binkies!" Never thought I'd hear her say that - although the fact that she'd just played with dozens of toys for an hour, picked and bought a new doll, rode the little flying contraption that cost a quarter, and got candy out of the little vending machine (even though mom thinks they're dirty) on her way out certainly helped.
But even after the fun was gone - success! She has slept fine during the nights and whenever she asks, I counter with, "but what did you do with your binkies?" and she responds "I threw them in the trash," and we move on. This is still rather shocking. There has only been one show of weakness - she cried for Cooper when she was supposed to be napping and when asked what was wrong, she replied, "Meri won't give me her binky!" Oh boy. Luckily, that too, was quickly explained and accepted. And luckily, Meredith is no push-over.

Happy Anniversary Love!

Thank you my love for another wonderful year! When I think of all the different phases our relationship has gone through - classmates in 3rd grade, acquaintances for years, best friends starting in 9th grade, a confusing "what are we?" stage right before your mission, an "is she going to wait" followed by "is he going to wait," dating, engaged, married - I definitely like being married to you best of all (I would love to add pictures of all those times but we're on vacation and I don't have access to them)! Even having known you that well, I couldn't know what a lovingly attentive and supportive husband you would be, and what a fantastic daddy that does diapers and dishes without even being asked! When I see little cute couples getting married I feel like giving them a big hug because despite not knowing them I get so excited for all the things they'll see! I'm glad that Lyndsey was there to keep me from freaking out when you went and put the moves on when I'd been home from my mission a whopping 3 days! Way to take things slow love. She told me that what I needed to realize was we (coop and I) couldn't just be best friends forever. If we married other people, I'd lose you as my best friend. If I wasn't okay with that, I needed to really give our relationship a try. Obviously, I decided I couldn't bear to lose my best friend! Best decision ever! Happy Anniversary my love! 

Happy Birthday Baby!

Much to her delight, Jelly Belly turned 3 yesterday! She has been talking about this event most of the last year. And in fact, yesterday morning, she announced to me that she will be 4 (said with massive enthusiasm). I told her no, you are turning 3 today and she patiently explained to me, "Yes, but next time I will be 4!" Too true, but let's take this next year one day at a time. Because honestly, I can't believe she's 3. When did that happen? But honestly, we couldn't ask for more. She's such a little spitfire, and so much fun. As a bonus, she's a really good, protective big sister (the nursery leaders have to separate the girls because Jenelle won't let anybody near Meri without yelling, "That's MY sister!"). We love her and can't imagine life without her. Happy Birthday my little princess-wanabee!

I'll post better pictures later that I know others took, but at least here are a couple of cute ones of the girls enjoying the big day.

Party prep is sometimes just as much fun as the party itself!

The anticipation for the cake is almost too much to handle!

We're a little bit of a sweaty mess here, but who cares about that when it is finally time to eat the cake?!

And it is going to be hard to convince her that we don't open presents everyday. She is so happy that everybody loves her so much!

Loving the Summer Concerts in the Park

We love music, we love dancing, we love any excuse to get out of the house and enjoy the remaining days of summer, especially in the cool evening, so we have a blast at the free concerts in the park!

One of those cute, sisterly love moments to hold on to!

We're still working on that modesty concept. It's twice as hard when dancing, because without a partner, one must dance with one's skirt.

The girls were pretty excited when Nana and Bopa showed up. And mom was relieved that there was somebody else to help chase down wanderers! Plus they brought snacks.

Loving my girlies!

And, naturally, this picture is my favorite. We love daddy! And are glad when he's able to get home from work and join us! Oh, and is there really any question who she looks like?

Olympic addict

I LOVE Olympics! I really really do. That said, I have a few complaints. First off, to the IOC: Your new gymnastics scoring sucks. Even your judges don't understand it and take so stinking long to decide on a score. What exactly is wrong with the idea of someone achieving perfection anyway? Shouldn't it at least be our goal?
Second, I've thought about it lots I still have no idea what you were thinking when you chose to have the Olympics in China. I don't have any problem with the individual people, but come on, the Olympics is more about countries. And I do have a problem with their government. Really, don't get me started. I would start with the toxic crap they put in kids toys and would not end anytime soon. Which is part of the reason that I thought Canzano's article in the Oregonian was awesome. You really should read it.
Moving on. Oh wait, what's wrong with the idea of female volleyball players wearing clothes? Okay, now I can move on.
Dear NBC,
You're driving me crazy. I want to watch Olympics while I can still keep my eyes opened. And I want to watch more of it. Last night, you didn't even show us all of the US men's gymnastics (how about, instead of trying to cram too much into too little time, spread it out. I'm home all day!). You keep saying it almost doesn't even matter what country these athletes are from. It's just so great to watch them make their dreams come true. Baloney. USA. I want to see USA. I want USA to win. I may occasionally get suckered into a sad story like of the Korean who fell into the pool last olympics and got dqued when he should've taken home gold(1st time ever for South Korea), but even then, if there's an American in the pool, I'm hoping the Korean gets silver. Plus, if you just show me the Chinese men on the still rings event and keep saying how they're so much more amazing then everyone else in the world, but don't show me anyone else in the world, I'm not super impressed. I don't have anything to compare it to. You aren't letting me understand (and the rings is really just one example among many). And you aren't explaining diddily squat (spelling anyone?). When Raj dismounted off the pommel horse (again, sorry for the spelling, I'm way out of my comfort zone here), you both gasped and immediately said that was at least a .3 deduction. And that's all you said. Honestly, the paumel horse always looks incredibly awkward to me. I have NO idea what he did wrong. Thanks for helping out. Oh, and I must not forget. Please stop lying. Take the LIVE graphic out of the top right corner. When the scores have already been posted on your own website, it is not possible for you to be showing us LIVE coverage. It may be LIVE on the east coast. But we are not on the east coast, are we? How about showing it to US when it is LIVE? That's an idea. Because, again, then you could show more Olympics because you'd have more time! I love it! All right, I think that is all. For now.
GO USA!

Gotta love it

This morning when we were finally leaving for church, Jenelle threw open the door and stepped out into the sunlight. Seeing a lady walking on the sidewalk, she yells out, "HI!" The lady kindly responds with a "hi." Jenelle then announces, "We are on our way to church!" Lady: "Oh, isn't that nice." And before lady can escape, "Jenelle throws in, "And isn't my dress pretty?!" Oh my vain little budding missionary!

Earlier this week I had to go to the doctor and bring the girls. In the time it took me to fill out the paperwork, I had to change Meri's diaper twice and take Jenelle to the bathroom once. Never mind that while I filled it out in between bathroom stops, the girls alternated with "Mama? Where is the doctor," and "Mama? ba da ba dubba da." But that's beside the point. As we entered, Jenelle marched right up to the receptionist and announced, "My mommy hurts and the doctor NEEDS to see her!" Because everybody needed to know. (By the way, I'm fine)

We inherited a number of Barbies recently which throws us into a whole phase of life that I'm not sure I'm ready for. Regardless, while helping Jell I put a pink and a purple shoe on Barbie because they were the two closest shoes. Jenelle looked at it and muttered, "no, no, no, no, no. That doesn't match." and wandered off, only to return with two matching, miniature purple shoes. Really? She knows? And it matters?

There's always the helpful announcement, "Meri's crying!" Just in case we lost our ears. Not to mention the fact that when we ask why we either hear, "because I poked her," "because, because ... I didn't hit her, " or we see that Jenelle happens to be holding Meri's binky.

Which reminds me to mention some of the things that have come of them sleeping in the same room. One time we opened the door to find Jenelle sitting on her bed with NOTHING on but a rain coat and princess shoes. Meri was wearing a cowboy hat and immediately asked me to help her put on the Mexican dress. Another time Jenelle had every single piece of dress-up clothes on at the same time - which is a lot. Meri often throws everything out of her bed, including the essentials for sleeping (binky and tassled pillow). We're really just lucky she hasn't figured out how to throw herself out of it. I'm a little worried that Jell might help her one of these days. Dolls must be wrapped tightly in blankets before we leave the room or they'll never fall asleep. And of course, there tends to be giggles, screams, and "Mamas" until one of them falls over with exhaustion at around 10 PM. So I'd say it's working rather well.
(Only, of course, because the hours of sleepless chaos and anarchy have resulted in two little buddies that play together endlessly and hate to be apart. Cute examples: Meri always bring Jenelle her shoes when it's time to go, and Jell always holds Mer's hand when she's nervous about walking down big steps. Aaaah.)