New wheels!

President's Day was the big day. Paige officially filled up her reward jar and we went to pick out her new scooter. She's been waiting for a LONG time. Seriously, over a month. That's really a long wait for our Paige of little-to-no patience. We hit the store after lunch.

There were no pink scooters. "It's o.k. mom, I'll just have a green one."

She really wanted the scooter in her hands at that very moment.

I said, "No, let's check one more store. I bet we can find a pink one."

I may as well have told her to wait another month. The drama. "The store is 5 minutes away, you can wait that long to get the scooter of your dreams, I swear."

Luckily, the next store had just what she was looking for, equipped with a bell and streamers.

She rode proudly all afternoon and even advertised her good behavior to the neighbors.

Today, well, today is another story. We're hanging out in front with Heidi and the girls. I had just finished a piano lesson with Hailey and Hailey hops on Kylee's bike and takes off down the street.

Paige is pretending not to notice.
Hailey is in preschool and can ride without training wheels. No biggie.
Yea right! Paige is miss competitive.
After Hailey leaves, Paige hops on Kylee's bike and in a matter of minutes is taking off down the sidewalk. Mind you, she knows how to ride on the grass but has been scared to death (up to this point) to ride on the pavement.

I'm a proud mom, yes I am.

Now, she's the master of 2 sets of wheels. I think she's smiling in her sleep, she's so proud of herself today.

On another note, Tyler picked out of the treasure box and looky what he found. hee hee!

Serious Business

It was an early release today.

We headed out to get the goods.

We hemmed and hawed in the isles of the store.

What to get for girls.

What to get for boys.

It's all political you know.

Making valentines is VERY serious business.

There is no laughing, there is no joking

Just pure concentration

After all, we wouldn't want a boy to get a valentine that reads: "Love Ya"

And we certainly wouldn't want a girl to get a valentine that reads: "Marry Me"

Rumors would circulate, ponytails would be pulled, teasing would not be avoided on the bus ride home.

It could be very ugly

If any mistakes

were

made.

See, the serious concentration above

and the intense eyes below

If you give her a gumball, she'll smile, but only for the picture

Then, it's back to work

He has them all lined up here. Boys get the first pick. Anything leftover is meant for those nasty wasty girls.

Morgan is not concerned with any of this yet.

She's just concentrating on what shoes go best with her diaper. She wants to look her best for her best Valentine. . . DaDa, of course.


Happy Heart Day! Don't forget to tell you favorite Valentines how much you love them!

Helper

I have a little helper today. We're supposed to be paying bills. She wouldn't have any of that. She said we were supposed to eat strawberry fruit snacks and blog surf.

It wasn't hard to give in.

She's arrived

Mo has really arrived. Today was her first day in nursery. That's right folks. . . the big 18 month mark to the day. Handled it like a pro. I put her down. . . she saw the toys. . . she never looked back. That's my girl! I have to admit I teared up a little when she didn't look back. Silly me! I also teared up a little when I peeked in for the 30th time and she was doing Itsy Bitsy Spider.


Oh, here she is now.

Mo. Morgan. Mo-Mo

Can you tear yourself away from your little people for 1 second while I ask you a few questions?

yup, yup that's your horse. Let's focus here.

Put the thumb down . . . I repeat, put the thumb down and nobody gets hurt.

We're going to have to make this interview quick folks, she's already lost interest.

Let's start out simple. . . Can you say cheese?

Good, good, now on to the more advanced moves.

Can you show me your pits?

Where's your neck?

Where's your elbow? (or upper arm/bicep. . close enough.)

Ooooo, now we're really getting into it!

Where are your toes?

and your scary teeth?

Show me your belly?

Now, where are your eyes?

And where is your arm?

(Raise your hand, raise your hand if you're sure!)

Thank you for your time miss Morgan.

Just one more question,

Can you show me those grumpy eyes?

And, there you have it folks. 18-month-old-Mo in a nutshell.

It's all goots.

(translation: GOOTS anything she doesn't know how to say. "Milk", "good", "Paige", "crackers", "I need a drink", "Mom you're pretty much the coolest person around". . . . etc.)

Hiking

Almost 2 weeks ago we spent our Saturday afternoon hiking the San Tan Mountains. Here's what we heard on the way up:

(Put on your best whiney voice)

Where is the top?

How much more?

When are we going to be there?

Can we stop for a snack? (2 minutes into the hike)

Can we stop for a snack? (4 minutes into the hike)

Can we stop for a snack? (5 minutes into the hike)

UHH!

I need water

Dramatic Crying (After Shane hiked on Tyler's ankle)

My ankle feels like it's broken! (as he's hiking further up the mountain . . . like that's believable)

More ankle drama

and even more ankle drama

Then, we reached the outlook.

Magically the ankle was healed

Suddenly, nobody needed a snack

AMAZING!

A nice man with his 2 little girls snapped this picture for us.

The hike down was much different

Here's what we heard.

"I'm tired and my knee hurts"

"which knee"

"my elbow hurts and I have to go to the bathroom"

"I asked you about that 5 minutes ago"

"But I didn't have to go then"

"I don't wanna walk any more. . .can we stop"

"Russell, if you don't hurry up the tigers will eat you"

"There's no tigers in South America . . . Zoology"

"Aw for the love of Pete. . Go on into the bushes and do your business"

"OK! Hold my stuff! I've always wanted to try this!"

"Mr. Fredrickson. . . do you dig the hole before. . . or after?"

insert HYSTERICAL laughter

and on and on and on

They've watched "UP" one too many times I'd say.

But, there was no REAL whining or crying or ankle-injury-faking

The trip down is always so worth it. Ty and Paige are best buddies on the way down. Maybe it's all the oranges, bananas and pretzels they ate. Or maybe it's all of the laughing from quoting movies. Who knows. It's worth the hike up, just to watch them on the hike down.

Christmas came and went

The holidays flew by like a whirlwind! Here is a little recap of the festivities!

We visited Santa. Some of us were more excited than others.

We swapped family photos sessions with Keira and Dan.

We enjoyed our first week off of school by watching the grinch and making treats. Peanut Butter balls and rice crispy treats. . . . yummy!

Grandma Barbs and Grandpa Hars arrived Christmas Eve with plenty of time for stories and Christmas Eve Dinner!

Shane carved the roast beast!

Santa came, despite the disbelief of one certain influential person who claimed it would not happen. (Bishop. . We hope you got coal in your stocking!) One very smart ward member left a copy of this on his doorstep:

We papered up the doorway!

We headed to the park to work off all of the holiday treats.

Paige doctored us all with her new medical kit. She told me that I shouldn't be worried because there is a vet in our family now.

On the 28th we went bowling to celebrate Ty and Barb's birthdays.

We were entertained by several great puppet shows

Ty is also working on performing his first gig on video with his new guitar. I'll post that later.

It was such a fun Christmas. We are blessed to have such wonderful family, friends and ward family around us. May 2010 be just as blessed.