In The Spotlight

Enough time has passed that I need to update my records on Vanna - it's now her turn to be in the spotlight.


-Vanna is very independent. Her most common phrase is: "No me do it!" She wants to open all the doors and close them too, she wants to do up her own car-seat (although she can only do up the top portion of it), she wants to fill her own cup with water, brush her own teeth, get dressed and change her own clothes. She basically just wants to do EVERYTHING by herself and when you attempt to help her we are reprimanded with a vibrant "No me do it!". This is a bit different than Cash - he would still let me dress him and brush his teeth everyday if I let him. This shouldn't surprise me, however, because these kids are the opposite from one another in nearly every way. And while we're discussing her independence, I must mention that she is in the process of being potty-trained which, of course, was her idea and which, of course, she is pretty much tackling all by herself. I am beside myself with excitment - no more diapers!

-Vanna loves to swing, ride her bike (which she can now pedal all by herself of course), run around with little or no clothing on, chew gum, and snack rather than eat a decent meal (we're working on that!).

-We've converted Vanna's crib to a toddler bed (a few months ago actually) which is just another reminder of how "big girl" she is - as if her telling me several times a day isn't reminder enough :).

Talk about bling-bling!

-As you know, Vanna is all girl. Some of her favorite things include getting into ALL of Mommy's jewelry as well as getting into Mommy's expensive smell good lotions. The other day I found her lotion application to be about 1 inch thick on her face (which the picture can't accurately explain). What do you do?

-Vanna is even getting the jist of duck duck goose and hide and seek these days (although she always gives away Cash's secret hiding places away by pointing him out since she was peeking while I was counting).

-Vanna loves to copy whatever Cash is doing - which testifies to me that deep down she really does adore him (although their behavior toward each other doesn't always shout that out to you:)). In addition, I have to add that whenever she gets a treat or such thing she ALWAYS has to get an extra one to give to Cash. She's always thinking of her big brother. So sweet.

-Vanna loves reading stories and is usually found carrying books around or sleeping with them.

-Vanna thoroughly enjoys riding in the car. She is most commonly found singing to herself in the backseat (she loves to dance and sing, period) and shouts, "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy (at least that many times:)-puppy" OR "Uck" whenever we pass a truck OR "ivr" for whenever we cross a river.

-We've discovered many similarities between Mother and Daughter that are almost scary. For example: when things aren't going just right or running in a smooth manner - she is easily flustered or upset, she loves to help Mommy clean, and enjoys reading, singing, and dancing-just to name a few.

-Vanna can pucker so largly that she will completely block off her nostrils. She has figured out how comical this trick is by sniffing in at the same time to cause a funny sucking sound. Weird, I know! But lo and behold we found this in an inherited ability as Ty is quite capable of the same thing :)!


-Vanna has a bed-time ritual that seems to be getting longer and longer which includes: a drink of water, a race to her bed, sitting on her chair to count to three before jumping into bed, kissing Mommy and Daddy to sleep (one on the lips, one on each cheek, one on each hand and elbow, one on the chin, the head, the neck....), piling four blankets on her and finally pushing her musical toy that sings her to sleep. Try explaining all that to the babysitter!!

-Vanna is actually starting to fill out a bit, at least in our book. However, often others still think she's only a year rather than her 2 1/2+years. We get comments like, "I can't believe how well she's running already" but when I explain how old she really is they're no longer surprised at her mobile skills but rather how tiny she is for her age. And while upon the subject of mobility, I jsut have to add that Vanna is a very happy little girl and loves to skip around all over. We call her "skippy" and in light of th holidays, lately we've been calling her "prancer". She's a hoot!

-Vanna is becomming quite the jabber box and is very vocal and loud at home but very soft-spoken around others. She will point to each member of the family and say, "Mommy", "Daddy", "Dash (for Cash)" and "me" for herself. We'll say, "No - you're Vanna and she'll respond with, "No, I me". She won't say her own name yet. She often says something while shaking her head in the negative to mean the opposite of what she's actually saying, such as "I cyin" while shaking her head which means -Look at me, I'm not crying. Some of our favorite new phrases are "big girl me", "beat you" (she likes to race) and finally, "la you" (for love you).

We love you too pumpkin!!!

A Winter Wonderland

Well, we've been busy these past couple weeks - either visiting family or shoveling snow - whichever the case, the statement is true!

For Thanksgiving we headed down to Rigbyand ran into frightful weather. Cars were running off the road right behind us and right in front of us but thankfully (sometimes situations like that put in your mind all you're most grateful for) we made it to his family's safely. And we had such an enjoyable meal and holiday with them. The kids couldn't have been happier than to play with their cousins. And we had a great time visiting, watching movies, and playing games with everyone.

We went bowling with Ty's family. The kids mostly payed around the alley except for Vanna. She rather enjoyed barely tapping the ball enough to make it roll down the ramp and lane toward the pins.

Vanna with a cheesy smile wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

That same weekend my dad and his wife got baptized so we again braved the roads to Lava in order to be there for support. What a special occasion that was. I'm so glad we could be there - the roads were all cleared off which made me feel much better about making the extra trip there.

Dad and Jannie in their white outfits - looking happy as can be.

All the grandkids checking out the font. They were so excited to be all together and to be seeing baptisms too.

The grandkids singing primary songs as they waited for Dad and Jannie to change. Vanna was so cute mimicking the pianist and moving her dainty little fingers along the piano keys as if she was the one playing.

All of us kids were there with our families. It was wonderful! It's an occasion we've all been waiting for for a long time.

However, the roads on the return home were worse than ever. We saw 20-25 run-offs and a couple very serious accidents among them. OOO it was just terrifying (coming from someone who had a somewhat traumatic experience in totaling a car on icy roads). Yet again, our prayers were answered and we returned to our house safely, finding all well. Huge sigh of relief!

What is this picture of you say? My neighbor's car - buried in all the snow!

Within the next couple days following our return home, it began to snow. It seemed to just keep going and going and going. We figure we got 10-12 inches. What a lot of work to shovel all that away. One day I had been out shoveling for about 2 hours (only getting about 1/4 of the driveway done in that time) when our thoughtful neighbors asked if they could plow out the rest with their fourwheeler (as they were out doing the same to their own driveway while I plugged along). I could have sung praises to them and was very grateful.

The snow has made for lots of fun play-time for the kids though.

Cash "chillin" with his snowman - Daddy was helping him with the project and Frosty turned out to be even taller than Daddy!

A couple trouble makers if you ask me!

They love it when I have to shovel. They get all dressed up and have a ball making snow angles, throwing snowballs, etc. I love the snow for the holidays (however after that it certainly has my permission to leave) and am enjoying the winter wonderland it is here!