Pigtails!!

Guess who lets me put pigtails in her hair sometimes? Miss Penelope!! Now, it isn't easy. It requires bribery. I give her a piece of chocolate to hold still and let me put 'bows' in her hair. And I invested in some teeny-tiny plastic hairbands that are hard (for her) to pull out of her hair. This first picture is the first time she let me put pigtails in:


She pulled them out minutes later. But the more she wears them, the more she leaves them alone. And I think they are just so cute!

Guess where Oliver's new favorite hangout is?

Diggers

We were a little bored between General Conference sessions so we headed across the way to check on the construction equipment. Parker was a little nervous and wouldn't climb on them until we told him we didn't have the keys so we couldn't start the machines.

Oliver had no such qualms:

And Penelope was ready to take this digger out for a spin!

Another sleeping photo

This is how I found P and P when I checked on them the other night:

They are so sweet and peaceful when they are sleeping!!

Toddler Beds

This post is long overdue. When Parker was about 16 months old, he began to climb out of his crib. If he just got out when it was time to get up, that would have been one thing, but he was waking up at 5am and getting up which in my book is just an unnatural time to start the day. So we decided to invest in a crib tent. It worked like a charm. By the time we moved to Hawaii, we didn't even need it, Parker didn't try to climb out. Another change that came with our move is we put Parker and Penelope back in the same room. They shared from birth to 8 months. Then, for a variety of reasons we put them in their own rooms from 8 months until we moved (when the twins were 28 months old). A couple months after we got to Hawaii, Penelope started to climb out of her crib. She didn't try to come out of their room, she just would go over to Parker's crib and visit! We finally decided to just bite the bullet and convert their cribs to toddler beds. While the transition wasn't entirely smooth, it wasn't too terrible either. They love being able to get up and play in their room and get into one another's beds. We often find them asleep in the same bed (mostly in Parker's bed, I think Penelope gets lonely!). The transition has been hardest on naps. They will often play for most of nap time rather than nap. Then they will fall asleep just a little bit before they need to be up in order to protect their bedtime. For awhile I would go in (after I put Oliver down) and sit between their beds until at least one fell asleep. But 9 times out of 10 they nap. And since Oliver is down to one nap a day, they all nap at the same time, hallelujah for me!! Here are a couple of pics:


Oh and here is a photo of this cutie drinking his milk just after he woke up:

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day the kids and I made some chocolate chip cookies and took them to Tory's work. Penelope decided she wanted to look pretty and wear a dress so we got ready and headed off to the base. The kids had such a great time seeing daddy at work. They were pretty excited to see dad and to eat some cookies. We then stopped by a park before heading home. I took some photos of the kids, it was fun because the park had swings.



That afternoon I went out back and this is what I found:


Now whenever Oliver goes out back, he ends up on top of the train table, the little rascal!

'Me' Time

I have found that as a mother of young children, 'me' time is hard to come by. My three little ones do nap at the same time every day (for the most part) but mostly that time is used to eat lunch, clean up the house a little, get something started for dinner, make any calls that need to be made, answer emails and occasionally sneak in a nap too. I don't really consider that 'me' time. As I have mentioned before I'm not great about leaving my kids with a babysitter (I'm working on it though) but my hubby is really good about being willing to take all the kids somewhere when I need a break. But, I almost always use that time to mop my floors. Its just so hard to mop it with a new walker (Oliver), he wants to be near me but isn't totally steady on his feet and he inevitably ends up slipping and falling so I can only mop when he is not underfoot. But today, today I decided I needed some real 'me' time. Tory took the kids and even though our house was messy and the dishes not totally done, I just left. I hopped in the car without having to buckle anyone except myself and took off. And where did I go to take advantage of my new-found freedom? I went to Borders. I have had a Borders gift card since last May and today I decided it was time to use it. I LOVE bookstores, I could spend hours there. Before Tory and I had kids we would often go to a bookstore just to peruse and he was always ready to go before me. So today I grabbed a couple books (travel books - I'm researching a little trip I'm going on next month) and a magazine. I spent way too much money for a little something to eat at the Starbucks attached to Borders and found a comfy chair and settled in. It was so nice to not have to worry about anyone else, to not have a timetable and to just read. I came home calmer and more relaxed. The evening was good, I wasn't totally out of patience by the time the kids went to bed. I think I might have to make this 'me' time a more regular thing.