Toes and Toys

Eve is getting so big. She discovered her toes this month. She loves to try and pull her socks off, and Emmy is always happy to help take baby's socks off. She plays with her feet and sucks on her toes.
Eve also likes to play with toys more. Everything goes in her mouth of course. The other day I found her sitting in her high chair with this little plastic bottle in her mouth. She was looking around like it was no big deal to have a plastic bottle jetting out of her mouth.
She is sitting up very well. We still have to stay close because she does topple over if she loses her balance reaching for a toy. She always has smiles for her family, but she cries if a stranger says hi to her. She is in peak stranger danger. Sometimes she even cries when Grandma and Grandpa say hi.
Eve moved downstairs to her new room a week ago. I am so happy to have the room finally finished. It feels like our house got so much bigger. The upstairs room is now a playroom for the girls. It's great to have all of the toys in one place. Eve loves her new room.

So Jealous!

Two days after I got back from Iowa, Aaron had a business trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He took some pictures for me of the beach to make me jealous. I chose to go to Iowa instead of Florida; next year I'm going to Florida.

Trip to Iowa

In February, Eve and I headed to the middle of America for a little adventure. We flew into Omaha so that I could visit some dear friends from high school. It was so much fun to visit and catch up with Bruce and Amy. I also loved meeting their adorable girls. Amy took me around Omaha and Papillion (where my family lived my senior year of high school). The area has changed a lot in the last 10 years.

Bruce, Annika, Eve, & Amy

Our home in Papillion. This is the first time I have ever went back to visit a place I used to live; it was a lot of fun to see how it has changed. I don't remember our house looking that small. :)

My first job - Subway!

My sister Tiffany and her family drove to Omaha to pick Eve and I up. We spent the next week with them in Iowa.

Here are the highlights: going to the outlet malls; trips to the mall, children's museum and library with all the kiddos; helping Tiffany decorate her kitchen and hang some pictures on her bare walls; volleyball on Tuesday night; some shopping without kids and then out for a girl's night to Hamburg Inn (Thanks Mark for watching all the babes.); watching chick flicks and figure skating; trying to cram in way too many projects into 6 days; and taking pictures of Eve and Susanna in matching outfits. It was so wonderful to spend time with my sister and her family. We had so much fun just being together. However, Iowa is much colder than Utah. I have decided that I will try and visit Tiffany in the future during warmer months.

Eve & Susanna in matching PJs.

The boys liked to jump in at the end of the photo shoots.

Pretty princesses!

I love their faces. So serious.

We ended the week with a girl's trip to Chicago for a few days before Eve and I flew home. We were quite the city girls taking a shuttle, train and buses around to the sights. We had pretty low expectations with a 5 month and 8 month in tow which helped it to be a great trip. The highlights are me riding in the back seat with the babies trying keep them happy for 3.5 hours; missing a 25 cent toll since their was no cashier and both babies were screaming and cars piled up behind; trip to IKEA; staying at a hotel in the semi-ghetto and having quite the interesting breakfast experience; toting around the babies in the carriers and hearing all the oohs and aahs; visiting the Art Institute of Chicago and having it be free February; enjoying the downtown feel of Chicago; eating real Chicago deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Due (It's amazing!); watching movies with the portable DVD player and headphones while bouncing tired babies.

Ready to hit the road!

Asleep before we even left town.

We got to see some amazing things at the museum.

Check out Chicago in the reflection.

Eve and I had a wonderful time. Thanks to my sweetheart and my mom for watching the other 2 girls so that I could go visit friends and my sister for 10 days. He and the girls had the house spotless for our arrival home; I think Aaron came away with a great appreciation for all that it takes to keep things going smoothly at home.

Emmy's 5th Birthday

Emmy turned 5 back in December. Life got really crazy starting in January. I added more students for tutoring, and I went from 4 hours a week to 8 hours a week. My evening free time is now occupied with tutoring. The weekends are usually crazy trying to catch up on projects and have a little family fun. So, the blog has suffered greatly from my lack of free time. I actually posted these pictures to the blog last week, but I have not had any time to write about them. Emmy is playing at a friend's house right now and the babies are sleeping. HOORAY! I got to take a shower, and I have a little free time. So, I'm going to try and cover some important events from the past 3 months.

We decided to have a bug party for Emmy; she wanted a ladybug cake. She wore her Halloween costume for the party, and some of her friends dressed up as their favorite bugs. We played stick the dot (oreo cookies) on the ladybug, broke a pinata, and had cake with ice cream sandwiches. My mom had just got a new camera for Christmas, so we took a lot of fun pictures. I registered Emmy for Kindergarten a few weeks ago. It is really hard to believe my baby will be heading off to school next year.

Eve and I dressed up as flowers for the party.

I gave the kids gummy worms as party favors. Alison sat down and ate her entire baggie of treats in about 10 minutes. She has a sweet tooth!