Olympics 2026 here we come!

This last week we went to my parent's house in Bend. We had a blast! But the morning we were going to leave, Jell got up and packed herself:
Meaning of course, she emptied most her drawers in a big pile on her bed. Helpful!
The hope for this trip was that we'd get the girls up skiing for the first time. My dad, the avid weather channel watcher had picked the perfect conditions and was super stoked. Just getting them up there and in all their equipment took quite a bit of doing but we finally succeeded and even got them to their lessons nearly on time. We got out there and were reminded of the blinding nature of a sunny day with white snow all around. We had to go buy sunglasses for Meri so she wasn't like this all day:
She did so great! Her instructor was super nice, and although she never once said a word to him, I think she liked him too. Her skis were so stinking little!
Documentation of her first fall ever:
Oh and she never smiled during her first lesson but she gave everything a try and said she enjoyed it:
And look, she even did some all by herself!! What a perfect pie :)
Sadly, we didn't get any pics of Jell actually skiing because every time she noticed us during her lesson, she wanted us to get her a snack or something else distracting like that. So we watched from afar. Plus I got tired out from tromping in the snow and parked myself at a table with a good book and all our supplies for most the day. But Jell loved it too - her lesson didn't take her to the lift and the bunny hill and so as soon as she was done, she was begging Bopa to take her over there. She didn't even want to take a break.
Meri had told us she was all done, but we finally convinced her after some "warm chocolate" (they don't like it hot) to go back out with daddy. From that time on they were both really hooked. They only reluctantly stopped for breaks when daddy and Bopa's knees or backs couldn't take anymore. I really wish I'd got pictures of Jell with the harness (that's the blue thing she's wearing - it's not a swimsuit) or Meri between daddy's legs, but the bunny hill was a bit of a hike from my picnic table. It didn't happen.
Even though they didn't want to stop, they enjoyed all the food mommy had lugged up there. And don't they look cool? People all around me would laugh and aaaah every time the girls came to see me. They looked so cute and Meri so teeny tiny to be on skis! I guess that most of the time they were skiing down the bunny lift, they kept yelling out, "I got another gold medal!!!!" Next time Jell will have to master turning left. This trip, she could only ever figure out how to turn right. That does become a problem after awhile! Thanks so much Bopa for giving them one heck of a perfect day! Can't wait to go again!

Can't wait to meet #3!

So I thought I'd better get around to officially announcing it, although by now most of the world knows because
a) you've seen one of the girls in the last few weeks which means that they have proudly told you (they've told everyone - as proof they told the bagger at the grocery store the other day) or
b) you caught on when you either saw me running to the bathroom gagging or heard how many naps I've been taking lately or
c) someone in the ward told you. Word travels fast once it gets out.
Anyway, it is true - I'm pregnant! We're very, very excited even while we have the foreboding feeling that we're getting in way over our heads. 3 sounds crazier than 2. I'm also happy to now be in my second trimester as the first one wasn't much of a joy ride. Translation= I've been sicker than a dog. At least 10 x worse than the other two times, but hopefully, hopefully, hopefully things get better soon. The girls are beyond thrilled. Since telling them, we've had all sorts of fun conversations (most of which have been repeated again and again), such as:

Meri - "It doesn't look like you have a baby in my tummy. Are you sure?
Me - "Yep, it's in there."
Meri - "Can I see it?"
Me - "Not really." (never stops her from trying)

Jell - "Is the baby sleeping right now?"
Me - "Probably. It does a lot of sleeping."
Jell - "Does it sleep when you sleep?"
Me - "A lot of the time, yeah."
Jell - "Does it sleep while you go potty?"
Me - "I have no idea. Maybe I guess."

Me - "What should we name the baby if it's a boy?"
Meri - "I don't like baby boys. It's going to be a baby girl."
Me - "It might come out a baby boy though."
Meri - "Nope. It'll come out wearing a beautiful dress like me (as she twirls)!"
Me - "Actually, the baby won't come out wearing any clothes. The baby will come out nakie."
(Meri and Jell both just stared at me for like 5 seconds, and then both started laughing their heads off. We spent a few minutes explaining that I wasn't lying to which they kept lying. However, at least Jell has decided to believe it because I heard her explaining to an adult the other day, "the baby in my mommy's tummy will come out nakie." Excellent.)

Jell - "How does the baby in your tummy eat?"
Me - "It gets the food that I eat."
Jell - "So you eat the food, and then it eats it with it's mouth?"
Me - "Not exactly. It doesn't have to eat it with it's mouth. It just goes into the baby from mommy."
Jell - "So it eats with it's mouth?"
Me - "Nope, it couldn't do that very well - the baby doesn't have any teeth."
Jell - (laughs her head off) "When the baby is born, will it eat crackers?"
Me - "Nope, it still won't have teeth for awhile. It'll just drink milk."
Jell - "Where will it get the milk?"
Me - "From mommy."
Jell - "But you can't make milk. Where will you get the milk?"
Me - "Uh, I'll uh, have the milk."
Jell - "Can I color now?"
Me - "YES! I'm done with this conversation too."

Also, Meri asks me daily when the baby is going to come - which is going to make the remaining months very long. And oddest of all perhaps, is they've already starting hiding their valuables up high (like a pretty purse on the top of a tall lamp) "so the baby won't drool on them." Classic.

Princesses galore

On to her princess party with friends. This was about as cute as it can get. When we went outside to blow bubbles, no joke people on walks and even cars stopped to say hi, ooh and aah, and comment on their adorableness. There were too many cute pictures to choose from so I had to make a slide show instead :) I'm a sucker.

And thank you for all the help from family that made pulling it off possible!

Meri's birthday

So I know her birthday was nearly three weeks ago now, but these pictures are too cute to not get posted - even if they're EXTREMELY late. These are from her actual birthday when we celebrated just with family. So here they are:This was the best reaction of any of her presents from anybody. We were at home just opening the presents from us, while she sat in the "birthday chair," aka car seat. She opened it, stared at it for awhile, then in slow motion changed her face to expressionless to this face and then hugged the Disney compilation (mostly princesses) cd we'd made for her with a look of pure blisss. Yeah, I think she liked it.
We'd been working on this for weeks beforehand, but she is now very proud to show anyone and everyone how old she is.
Our beautiful princess enjoying her "Happy Birthday" song.
And then enjoying her unladylike no-hands method of devouring her cupcake ... or actually of just devouring the "good" part of the cupcake that had frosting and sprinkles. She left the bottom half.

AGAIN!

Hello, all! I know you'd all rather hear from Alisha, but I worry she won't post this, and it NEEDS to be posted.

Some of you may remember this post from September (http://coopedup.blogspot.com/2009/09/never-ceases-to-amaze.html)--I think it was the last time I posted. It was the first time she had a painting accepted into the Watercolor Society of Oregon (WSO) fall show. Well now I'm posting to say that she just got accepted into the WSO Spring show! The accepted painting is "The River's Dance:"


It blows me away that with all we have going on in our lives, she still finds the time to be incredibly talented!