Lots of Love

I just love Chrissie.
I love that today when I had a migraine and was recovering in the shower (when I'm sick, I take to water), Chrissie came into the bathroom and in her sweet voice, with her head cocked to the side, she asked, "would you like some tea to feel better?...Strawberry?" She then brought me some tea. And, of course, I felt better much better.
I love that the other morning while she was getting dressed, she was singing/shouting, "Angels we have heard on high! GlOOOOOOOOOOO-R-I-A!"
I love that the other day while she was mopping the bathroom floor (she decided on her own to clean the floor, apparently, she thought it was dirty) she was singing, "Oh, Sing sweet nightingale! Aaaaaa!"
I love that in the middle of the night Chrissie will come running into our room, hop into our bed, and say, "What's the rule?...Cuddle with Daddy!!" (Sort of a thing Rick started when work got really busy). Rick told Chrissie that if she wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to come into bed with mommy and daddy, that there is a rule: she has to cuddle with daddy. Just the other morning, she woke up and asked me, "Where's daddy?" I replied, "He's at work." Chrissie then said, "But I want him....I want to cuddle with him."

And Matthew...

I love that he smiles at anything and everyone. Anytime someone says "hello" to him he smiles and then immediately buries his head into my shoulder.
I love that he is all boy, but, still a tender little guy. He has flipped himself out of the bebe pod more than I can remember and bruised his head several times (and for some silly reason I continue to put him in it). And when he got shots, he didn't even cry. He just sort of whimpered and stopped the moment I picked him up. However, nothing makes him cry more than when I talk in a stern voice or wipe his nose.
I love that the other night when I had to sleep with him (he was teething) he would cry unless our noses were touching and he was holding my finger. I love him.

And lastly, I love being a mom.

Tea, Tea, Glorious Tea!

There is nothing finer than a tea party, according to Chrissie. About two months ago, I was feeling guilty that Chrissie wasn't getting as much attention from me with a new baby in the family. So, I decided to have a little tea party with her. We wore dresses, hats, and "slippers" (my high heel shoes, it comes from Cinderella's glass slippers). We had raspberry tea with various finger foods, and had one on one conversation (mainly Chrissie just talked in a mumbling, rambling sort of a way while I listened and replied, "oh really!" Chrissie and I often have these "conversations," which primarily occur while I'm doing housework. She will sit there, flip through a book, and just ramble on and on about something. Or she will ask me, "What should we talk about?).
From that moment on Chrissie became a tea party lover, "Mommy should we have a tea party? Should we? That would be fun?!" She would daily request a tea party. She would make me wear the exact dress I wore the first time, requested the exact same food, but, she forgo the raspberry tea and just wanted water; this all became a bit cumbersome. However, as tea parties became more frequent she fortunately demanded less.
And, now, she is having at least five tea parties a day. She is always bringing me tea no matter where or what I am doing. She even brings tea to Rick while he is taking a shower. Or she will set the table for us to have tea while I am busy in another room and then run to where I am and say, "should we have some tea?" And, of course, I accept. The other night as I was tucking her into bed, she sat up and said, "We need to have some tea!"
Our home has become quite British as Chrissie offers tea to any of our visitors. I love it. I love seeing her imagination at work. She doesn't just offer tea in the traditional tea sets. She pours tea into her various dishes, from cupcake pans, to bunt pans, to plates, etc. And she does this every day, multiple times a day. And for some reason, watching her have a tea party with her toys, animals, or me, never gets old--only sweeter.

Halloween Costumes

This year for two different Halloween parties we dressed up as the Incredibles, according to Rick's request. He enjoyed the whole spandex thing a little too much.
I think Chrissie has only seen the movie once, so, we practiced posing at home. And anytime someone would take a picture she started posing. She was awesome.
BTW, I thought I would post a picture of our bishop/one who dressed up as Dolly Parten for our ward trunk-or-treat. I don't think he got the "no-cross-dressing-at-church-functions memo." However, we thought it was great. (Joan, I thought you would enjoy this).
And for Halloween day/night Chrissie dressed up as a pink butterfly. And Matthew was a caterpillar. Chrissie insisted on being a pink butterfly. She came to the fabric store with me. I was picking out blue and black fabric and she saw the pink and shouted, "that's so beautiful!!" And started taking my blue/black fabric out of the cart. Then she saw sparkly pink fabric and once again shouted, "oh! That's so beautiful!" Needless to say, she ended up being a very pink and sparkly butterfly.

Little Witches' Party

Last weekend I threw a Little Witches Party. Thanks to my sister-in-law Mindy for giving me the fabulous idea.
I woke up quite early Saturday morning to prepare and Chrissie was up soon after (Rick got up with me as well to help, he's awesome). Chrissie would skip around the house yelling "a little witches' party," and randomly hug my leg and say, "I love you all day long" ("all day long" is her latest phrase that she tags on to pretty much every sentence.) Each girl was to bring a witches' hat to decorate. We had lunch, decorated sugar cookies, and had a pumpkin pinata.
This party really got me into the Halloween mood with all the extra spooky decorating and cooking. We had a frozen apple juice/7up concoction for our spooky brew, witches' hats cupcake, pumpkin sugar cookies, and broom party favor bags. Plus, a delicious salad for the adults and other simple food items for the kiddos.
Halloween has definitely moved up on my list of favorite holidays (Christmas is first and forever will be). However, I thoroughly enjoyed Halloween this year. We had such a fun October.
Chrissie was beside herself the entire party. She was sooo pleased that all these people came to her house; and so was I.

The second picture is my very happy smile. In fact, I'm so excited that my veins are bulging from neck (nice). I love my little girl.