A photo shoot of sorts…

I keep wanting to get some good photos of my girls and keep putting it off. One day perhaps….

We went downtown to the “Dinosaur Mall” as Anna so lovingly calls it, aka City Creek Center and their Dinosaur play land in the food court, to meet cousins, Aunties and Grandma for Maddie and Lily’s birthdays.  We had a great time.  Even got a picture of all the Grandkids with Santa. Priceless.  On our way out we went to look out over the bridge and Auntie Natalie snapped a few photos on her “fancy” (that is what I call any phone other than mine dinosaur phone) phone. It took a little bribery (a sucker from Auntie), but they turned out pretty cute! We even used some on our Christmas card.  I’m thankful they had their hair curled and almost were matching.  Thanks Nat!

 

Voting Day

Some days outfits come together and work well, other days they don’t and my girls end up looking like “rag a muffins.” Today was a good day. Anna went to preschool and I was off to the voting booth, not really a big day, but wanted to be more presentable.  I wanted to put MJ in her new steal of a deal red pants, ($3), and then saw the blue sweater.  It worked for voting day, right?  She looked pretty cute with her hair curled and red, white and Blue ribbon. I wish it was enough to get Romney re-elected….

This was Maddie’s response to the announcement of the re-election….
Okay she really was in bed by then, but I’m sure many felt this way when Romney lost. ):

Anna's best quote about the election...
"Mom, wouldn't Jesus make a great President? REALLY Great President? But he can't be, because he is our Savior!" I just love this girl and her heavenly insight. (:

Bedtime

I am probably going to jinx myself, but I had to mention that these days bedtime had been MUCH easier, especially in the Maddie department. If you know anything about Maddie you would know that she is very STRONGWILLED! VERY! Cute as ever, but determined to get her way.  When it came to bed time we fought and fought. Sometimes she would cry until she would throw up. literally.  It was awful.  She used a bottle of warm milk to calm down and loved cuddling with her blanket, but did NOT want to be left alone. It drove me crazy.  Then she woke up many time s night!

With all of Dave and my trips this year I felt AWFUL leaving her, not only for her separation problems, but mostly for the caretakers and their sanity. She faired well, and they did too. FINALLY when we returned from New York we let her fall asleep with Anna for a few nights, since that seemed to help, then we moved her to her room.  She woke up in the middle of the night screaming.  I put a nightlight in and the middle of the night wakefulness stopped.  Then we got into more of a routine.  Teeth, Prayer, Book with Anna, to our own beds (a Maddie book there), song and goodbye. When I used to sing to her at night she would fight and scream, now she ASKS for Chi-goh (I am a Child of God) or Jesus (Jesus wants me for Sunbeam… thanks to Auntie Holly for that one).   She simply says Night-Night, sometimes asks “sleep?”  Yes I respond, “Goodnight.” Then she says “Dank do Mama!” (thank you) and my heart melts. Typically that’s it for the night, sometimes she needs some more milk, if she didn’t eat well, but then she’s out. I recently FINALLY converted her to a sippy. I know she is almost 2 and a bottle is bad for her, but now that you know how hard bedtime was, you’ll understand.  Now we need to convert to no milk, but I kinda like the routine for now.

Some pictures I captured of bedtime…

Halloween- The Pumpkins

A favorite Tradition at the Miner home.  We went and picked them out at the beginning of the month. We did so with Grand ideas to make it a family night outing to the pumpkin patch, but when we realized that the sun was going down, it was cold, and it would have been expensive, we went to a roadside farm and picked them quickly before sunset. Anna and Maddie were still excited.  Seems like October was a busy month! Dave and I usually think about our pumpkins a little bit before (Dave even prints out extensive, crazy designs, but this year we kept it simple. Seems like that is the motto these days at our home.

Both girls liked carving and had the “do it myself” attitude. Though Maddie wasn’t very fond of the seeds when it came down to it. She just wanted the knife to herself. I carved some of her favorite things right now, Stars, circles, and spiders (fake Halloween ones) then let her go crazy with toothpicks.  It made for a funky little pumpkin! Also, She got a Stye in her eye a couple days prior… so sad looking!

Anna did her pumpkin ALL BY HERSELF! It turned out quite interesting.  Then she went and wrote everyone’s name on their pumpkin.  Pretty good for a 4 year old! (she also took some of these photos with our little camera, hence the awkward angles and discoloration.

Lego Cake

My good friend has always had faith in me and my cakes.  She asked me to make the Popcorn Cake, and though it almost fell over she trusted me to make another cake.  Here is her seven year old’s wish….

Dinosaur Park

We wanted to do a fun family outing on the last day of being together before Dave and I took off for some fun, just us two (more on that later).  We went up to Ogden to see their Dinosaur park and it was awesome!  I highly recommend it, just look for deals before you go, there seemed to be a bunch.  Dave loves Dinosaurs and Anna says she does as well, “But not as much as Chelsea!” (Dave’s niece who is 5 and knows more about Dinos than I do and “wants to be a Paleontologist.”

Inside they had this automated version of Jurassic Park with a T-Rex and Triceratops.  Anna would have sat in here all day if I let her.Maddie didn’t know what to think of it.

Then downstairs they had some real bones, mixed in with casts.  Pretty spectacular too.

It was an amazing atmosphere, tucked right against the mountains! I loved that the most.  Outside they had these large displays of the Dino’s with information about their true size, characteristics, where they lived, etc.  Did you know T-Rex’s were NOT the biggest? Also, the Utah dinosaur did not spray, like in Jurassic Park, and that the MOST DANGEROUS CREATURE is smaller than me? (See for yourself!)

They also had some fun playgrounds the girls, as well as their silly Dad, enjoyed!

GREAT DAY, Don’t ya think?