My girls + Barbies = Hours of Entertainment (for me)

My girls take after me in a very important way- They love to play Barbies. Sydney plays the same way I did; gives them pretend names, does pretend things with them, etc.
Payton, however, is unique. Her Barbies take on the lives of people she knows. For example, she has a girl and a boy that have become Dayna and Brian. In fact, we all refer to those two barbies as Brian and Dayna. If Payton cannot find these two particular dolls, she asks, "Where's Brian and Dayna." And, sadly, I know exactly what she wants-- and it is not me or her dad! On a more comical note, 'Dayna' is always wearing the wedding dress and 'Brian' has dark curly hair (actually he is a Black man).

Dancing Queen... with stage fright

Payton has always been a pretty outgoing child. She has never been very shy around people-- until lately.
In September Payton started taking dance. She is in a class made up of about eight 3-year-old girls. They have learned basic motor skills like jumping, hopping, skipping, galloping, etc. I must admit, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen to watch eight little girls trying to skip! They concentrate so hard and get so frustrated, but they just can't seem to get it. And then, one day, it just clicks!
Payton has enjoyed dance so much that I think we'll keep her involved next year, too. There's just one catch: Our poor little Payt has stage fright! She had a recital in December and one in May. Both times, our sweetheart just stood in the middle of the stage with the deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. She works so hard on her dances and knows every move and every word of each song. But, once she gets on that stage she is frozen! Keep trying, sweetie, you'll conquer your fear!

We're Idahoan!

Brian changed jobs in December of 2010. He worked at Melaleuca for almost 10 years, and had some great opportunities-- including a three week business trip to Singapore and Malaysia. But, it was time for a change. Now we are true Idahoans! Brian works for a company called Idahoan. The company makes instant mashed potatoes. My brother thinks it's hilarious that we live in Idaho, work for a company named Idahoan and deal with the thing Idaho is famous for-- potatoes! We're a walking advertisement for living in Idaho!

Molly Lou Melon

Like most children, Payton has a favorite book. The book is called Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. It's by Patty Lovell. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. Payton has this story memorized. She does voices and everything. I want to record her 'reading' the book. When I do, I will add to this post.

I've slacked... but I'm back!

I look at my blog every day when I turn the computer on-- it's my home page. Every day I feel guilty for letting it sit for almost TWO YEARS. But, yesterday my mom called and told me how much she loves my blog and my sisters' blogs. She also reminded me that my blog is not just a fun hobby, but a journal for my kids. That's what got me going! I can't backtrack the past two years, but I can give a little prelude to what's going on right now.

Annual Bear Lake Vacation

We have had a busy summer and one of these days I will get around to updating about t-ball, our garden, huckleberries, etc. But for now I need to add a picture of our whole family. This is one of the only pictures we took on our vacation. We had so much fun that I forgot about the camera! This picture was taken at Bloomington Lake near Bear Lake. Don't be surprised if you see it on a Christmas card. It's one of my favorites of all of us.

Goodbye Crib

Payton is a big girl now. I made her crib into the toddler bed and she loves it! I was worried it would be a hard adjustment, but it has been super easy.

Sydney is six-years-old!

Wow. I am old! I can't believe Sydney is six. Unfortunately I only have one picture of the occassion. She was being camera shy on her birthday. But, we had a fun day with friends and family. Sydney even decorated her own butterfly cake.

Camping disaster

We decided to become campers! For a while we will be tent campers. I am ok with that, but it means we are also fair weather campers! Last Friday we got all ready and went camping. It was cloudy, but nice. We set up our tent, we walked around, we had dinner with Melissa and Adam. It was great-- until about 7pm. Just as Brian and Adam were getting a fire ready some crazy looking clouds started moving in, fast. As soon as the clouds reached us all H-E-double-hockey-sticks broke loose. The wind collapsed Melissa and Adam's tent, Brian held on to ours, it started raining and Sydney started screaming because of the wind. As all this was going on, my phone rang and Brian's phone rang. Both our parents were calling to see if we were ok. My dad advised us to pack up and go home because of the weather advisory he was watching on the news. Then we looked at the clouds that make our decision for us. The clouds above us were swirling in a circle. I really thought we were going to witness a tornado. So, we packed up as fast as we could and went home. Sydney cried most of the way home (Payton slept through it all!) but was fine after a while. When we got home Syd was so upset about missing out on s'mores that I made her one in the microwave. I think it helped! Anyway, moral of the story as quoted by Sydney, "Maybe you should check the weather before we go camping." Nice, advice from the six-year-old.

Kindergarten Graduation

Sydney has had a great year at school. She has learned so much. I can't believe how fast this year went. Unfortunately we had a misunderstanding about when first grade would start: On the last day of school I told Sydney we could go out to lunch to celebrate. She was so excited. On the way to lunch she listed our upcoming events: No school Thursday, camping Friday, her Birthday Saturday, church on Sunday and then, "First grade on Monday." Uh-oh. I thought we'd talked about summer break, but obviously not how long it is. I tried to explain that before first grade we had a fun summer and she wouldn't go back to school until August--after Payton's birthday. She immediately burst into tears. I am just glad that she likes school so much!!