The Latest Bad News and Something Funny

Ok, well, it turns out that my backup system, where I was making sure ALL my picture files, music files, and document files were all organized and backed up just crashed and erased itself. So....that means I don't know if I have all those files in areas where I can get them all back together and re-organized.....and I don't know that I have an area where I have access to all those files again to make more back ups...WHY does this happen? I have no good answers, except that it seems like it happens to me a lot. Hmmmm....Well, we're gonna do our best to find all the files and get some pictures up here, as soon as the computer wizzes give our computer and external hard drive back.

In the meantime, the my wonderful girl has started doing the funnest thing. We have decided licking with our tongues when we are pretending to be a cat or dog is not really ok. So yesterday, Elise came up to me and rubbed her nose on my cheek. When I asked what she was doing she replied, "Giving you nose licks." She is so great! She has been giving nose licks to me and her Daddy whenever she can today. She is also getting to the point where she wants to play with the stuffed animals we've gotten over the years. She named my soft baby cougar from BYU Kisa, and carries her around a bit, as well as a small, soft puppy I got in NY. For lunch time today, she helped them fold their arms for prayer, and had them sit with her while she ate. Since we don't really see lots of people during the week, it is fun to have some other 'friends' to play with, including Elmo and Abby, and all kinds of other animals. The biggest step she's taken lately is that she is also willing to play with puppets too, which she was so nervous about before, but is now comfortable with. We're having some fun time together, and she is getting really good at pretending to be dogs and cats and giving some good nose licks!

She also woke up one day last week and told me she had imagined Grandma while she was sleeping. It was very cute. We are pretending a lot of things she did with Grandma during her visit. She sat in one of her toy boxes today and pretended to call Grandma, and then her aunts and even Daddy to tell them all about pretending dance class today, and building a tower with blocks. What a great girl she is, and how blessed we are!

So for now, we're going to try to get more updated on our blog, without pictures, until we can figure out our computer glitches. A bit frustrating, but always an adventure!

What was that topic assignment again?!

Logan and I got a phone call one Sunday, in mid-November, and were asked to speak in sacrament meeting the next Sunday. Logan was the one on the phone with Brother Williams, and I asked him what the assigned topic was. He relayed the question to Brother Williams, and then turned to me with a puzzled expression on his face, and said, "protecting the Saints." I said, "Protecting the Saints from what?", and he relayed that question to Brother Williams. Brother Williams replied, "Well, if you pray about it, I'm sure something will come to you." As we sat and thought for a quick second, I realized he probably meant something else...I said, "Does he mean PERFECTING the Saints?" And Logan said, "Oh, do you mean perfecting the Saints?" After we got the affirmative response to that question, Logan admitted that he had been trying to imagine taking his gun in and giving tactical drills, and thought that might have been a bit wierd for a sacrament meeting.
Anyways, we did our preparing, even though we thought it was wierd to not be speaking about gratitude the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We did our best, and even practiced ahead of time. Mine was about 11 minutes and Logan's was about ten. When we got into the meeting, the youth speaker used lots of the quotes I was prepared to use, and Logan had told me to not cut things out so he wouldn't have too much time, so I was a bit worried. I ended up cutting out some of the quotes, but used more personal experiences from my life where we are given the chance to become better people, but we don't always see it that way. It turns out I ended up speaking for about 20 minutes, and Logan had to cut his talk short. But it all worked out ok, and Elise did great and was patient while we worked on that challenging assignment. And we're both doing great in the nursery. It is fun to be back with the kids who have the most energy in the smallest packages, and to get to go over lessons with Elise during the week as practice for teaching. She really enjoys playing with all her friends. She has become better about sharing, and even about playing with stuffed animals, puppets, and even dolls now. Although she is having a bit of trouble playing WITH the other kids....I think at home she gets to make lots of those play time decisions, and when other kids are involved, it can get tricky. I'm glad she has the chance to learn those great interacting social skills, and that I'm there to help/observe, and we can talk about things after wards, and figure out ways to handle situations. She certainly is growing up FAST! And I love that we can be buddies!

Grandma Came to Town

My mom was able to come for a visit, and until I get the pictures thing figured out, the story doesn't make as much sense. What I can write about the fun time was that Elise (who is getting very grown up, and is doing MUCH better at new situations with new people), did great!!! She didn't have any awkwardness with Grandma, and seems to be remembering her very well. They had a great time and played many things, read stories, went on tours of the house (which means basically pretending each room in the house is a different place like the park or library, and they are all very far so you have to walk to different places), danced with scarves, played dress up, and all kinds of fun things along those lines. We got to run some errands, and it was fun to listen to Elise sing in the back seat. On our way home one day, Elise was singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle" and we told her she was doing a great job. We asked if she could sing, "I Am a Child of God." She sang the first lines, and then called out to us, "Sing with me guys!" It was so funny! And of course we sang with her. While we were shopping, she wanted to hold Grandma's hand, and did not want to help me, or ride in my cart. I think she enjoyed that greater independence and freedom Grandma's presence allowed. And the other memorable moments involved some interesting things that seemed hilarious at the time, and may not come across so funny on the blog. One morning we were working on cutting out fabric for one of our Christmas projects. Elise was trying to be involved with holding the fabric down, or really moving it all around, and then got that look on her face....you know the look, the one that says very clearly, "I am filling up my pants"....well, I am still working with her on the whole special seat training thing, and I asked her if she needed to sit on her special seat. She declined, and then the funniest thing happened. She got this worried/concerned look on her face and looked down at her leg, like she was expecting to see something other than her pant leg. It was hilarious, and I guess is only funny if you had been sitting there as Mom and I were....we got a really good laugh. The other really funny thing came about because we've been talking about our body. She was learning that we have a body and need to take care of it. When she is sick we need to make sure her nose is clear so she can breathe, and we keep our teeth clean and so forth. We were all sitting around talking one afternoon, and she mentioned that she had ears for listening. I asked her what her nose was for, and she replied, "picking out." Then I asked her what her toes were for, to which she replied again, "picking out." Elise is really interested in making sure there is no lint in between her toes. She has ALWAYS been like this, and still periodically will take off her socks and get all the lint out. Needless to say, it was really funny!

Mom also brought some magnetic activity pages, which Elise has really enjoyed playing with, and was amazed at Elise's imagination. We pretend lots of different scenarios during play time, and Elise loves to add sound effects. Unfortunately, the one she uses the most is one I would like to modify. I guess ultimately, I think she was trying to imitate my sound effects, and the one I guess I use a lot sounds like, "boop", you know like on Sesame Street when they are pretending to be robots and they make the noises, "Beep, boop, beep". Anyways, it turns out Elise's most often used sound effect is, "poop". She doesn't use that word for any bodily functions or anything like that. But she does use it when she is pretending to press the buttons on the microwave, or other equally mundane tasks. It is pretty funny, but I'm still trying to get her to modify that first consonant sound....

Anyways, we had a great time with Mom here for a visit, and made sure we got to enjoy the cool weather, the snow, and even some hot chocolate. Logan and I were able to have a date night, which was fun. And we were able to get input on many of our upcoming projects, which just need that second opinion sometimes on fabric choices and placement. All in all, it was a fun time had by all. We love Grandma Parker!

She Picked It All By Herself

While we were at the fabric store getting thread and needles, we saw some sample projects hanging on a display. Elise fell deeply in love with them and wanted to take them home right then, but instead we bought the pattern, and then went to the other fabric store (Ok, so we went to JoAnn's and Walmart to buy the fabric, where we can actually afford the stuff they have, instead of those fabric boutique stores....yikes they get expensive!). Anyways, we went to the fabric stores. There, Elise made her first fabric selection for this project: a Care Bears print. The second selection was more guided by me, as it had to coordinate, and ended up being a fun yellow. We brought everything home, and over the course of a day or two, we got the item all sewn together. What was the item? you ask....well, it was a little bag with the main compartment for a pad of paper, and slots/pockets for crayons on the front of the bag. She LOVES it!!! She carried it around and would pause to color almost anywhere the fancy struck her. I had a small spare notepad from my tidepool trips, which had a piece of yarn tied on it. She calls it her scrapbook, and has been coloring lots of pictures in it. When it was time for lunch, she brought her bag, and told me it needed to stay right next to her while she ate. It is so cute that she loves this thing so much!

Now she is busy helping choose fabrics for all my projects, and helping me rearrange them all when I try to lay them out. I have a picnic blanket quilt I'm trying to do for her, and when I lay the blocks out, she tells me they are hopscotch, and jumps on them....or tries to rearrange them. Sewing is more challenging when she is in the middle of it, but the result is always something she loves! About the only real problem I had was when she sat down with her new Care Bear bag and crayons while I was laying out fabric to cut for quilt projects, and proceeded to color on my fabric with her black crayon......Luckily black crayon washes mostly out, and it turns out they sell washable crayons!!! There are some real geniuses out there who are working hard to make my life a little easier and less stressful!

And also a funny thing about the crayons...they have inspired my girl to be creative. I found her later trying to put one crayon between each toe! It was so funny! She was very meticulous, and used pretty much all her crayons. So, of course I grabbed the camera! I thought it was funny for my girl, who is so concerned with keeping the lint out from between her toes that she will double check them every chance she gets, to be purposely putting these crayons between her toes!

Cute Girl

I found a pattern for a way cute fleece winter dress coat for Elise, and we got some gray fleece over the summer. I got to finish putting the coat and hat together in November, and it came out so cute!!!! I was really pleased it came out as good as it did. She looks really grown up in it, and it is a warm option for the snowy Sundays we've been having....too bad I can't get the pictures up here to show you right now....but we'll keep working on it!

AND she found it....sort of...

To report back, she did climb up on the pillows again as I was trying to finish sewing a seam and I heard a voice say, "A DOLL!!! Mama there is a doll down there!" To which I responded, "Um, no I don't think so, um...how about we go over here and do some really fun pictures!" Right, so we've now forgotten all about the secret hiding place behind the stash of pillows.......and I put Logan's quilt project (which is waiting to be quilted) on top of the whole thing so NO ONE can see anything! For now at least......
I am having a bit of trouble quilting Logan's quilt, because the invisible nylon thread I want to use is a real challenge, and the other options I've tried haven't worked nearly as well as this one should....so we may be putting this one on hold until I can figure out something brilliant!

Learning to Whisper

We have been trying to help Elise learn to use a quiet voice, as this is advantageous and appropriate in certain circumstances, like in Sacrament meeting at Church on Sundays.
We have a quiet book that talks about being reverent and thinking about Jesus during the sacrament. I read it with Elise before church one Sunday. It tells about having quiet hands and feet, as well as a quiet voice. I told her we could practice our quiet voices. I leaned close to her and whispered, "I love you", then asked her to practice her quiet voice. She leaned close to me and whispered, "I love you." I told her she did great. We went to church and were sitting in the meeting when she turned to me and said, "I want to sit next to Daddy!" in a not so quiet voice. I reminded her softly that we needed to use our soft voices. She leaned over to Daddy and whispered at him, "I love you," then she turned back to me and said, in a not so quiet voice, "I want to sit next to Daddy!" It was pretty funny....apparently I didn't help her have enough practice with the right phrases. We've been practicing for a while now, and she is getting lots better. Except when she gets excited about something, but its a work in progress!