Check it out

It's official! Stella is a "big girl". She now tells me EVERY time she needs to "go", and has NOT had an accident in two weeks. Ba bye, very expensive diapers! See ya later, changing pad that was taking over my dresser in my bedroom! I'm stoked, and she is so proud of herself & really digs her big girl skivvies.

Stella, trying to get a glimpse of what her skivvies look like on her behind.

Too bad this picture is a little fuzzy. I had to capture this moment quickly, not giving the camera enough time to focus.

Sharing Mr. Potato Head

I love moments like this, when I walk into a room and my children are playing so well together. No fighting, just sweetly sharing a toy and enjoying each others' company. Sisterly love at its finest. :)

Black-eyed baby

Stella tripped over a nintendo controller cord and went sailing into the edge of our coffee table. The impact was loud, and she was a wailing! Poor little girl. Those darn coffee tables truly are a target for toddlers, why do we even have them, when we know this happens........ ALL the time?

Super potty trainee & Super Mario Bros.

I have been potty training Stella since last Thursday, and today was her best day ever with ZERO accidents. I am stoked! I thought March would be a good month to get this out of the way while it is still cold outside. When Summer is here, I want to focus on being outside and having as much fun as possible. Summer is so busy that I just want to get this out of the way. I am so proud of her and as you can see, she is proud of herself! Not bad for a 22 month old, eh? I am just crossing my fingers that she won't have any major set-backs. I swear that I am saying, "Stella, do you need to go potty?" in my sleep.

"That was worth it." She loves her rewards!

Poor Claire has been a little stir crazy sitting at home with a pottier in training. We have played a ton of the old school Super Mario Bros. She is loving it, and is stepping up her eye/hand coordination. It has been fun watching her and playing with her, it has brought back many childhood memories.

Our little ski bum

My Dad taught Claire how to ski this Winter. At Beaver mountain, children 5 and under get a free season pass with the purchase of an adult season pass (my Dad's), so we thought it would be the perfect time to have Claire learn how to ski. Claire has been skiing 5 times so far, and I am so proud of how fast she caught on and how well she is doing, but most importantly, how much fun she has doing it. I think my Dad is just the best teacher ever! He taught me, all of my siblings, and four of his grand kids older than Claire as well. I am glad he has the patience for this because I know that Claire would not have responded in the same way if Adam and I would have tried to teach her.

Here she is with Grandpa on her second ski day. Gotta love the too small, borrowed snowsuit she is sporting. (thanks Kristin) Thank you also to our friends, Jordan and Matt for letting us borrow Ryder's ski's and boots!

New snow pants, nice snowplow

Grandma Perkins, cousin Rhet, and Claire cruising down Gentle Ben this past weekend. I love how Rhet is holding his arms. He has wings!

Thanks to my Mom and Dad for skiing with Claire and Rhet most of the day while I went off on my own to ride in the powder.

See ya!!

Fun in the sun....... and snow

We celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. day on a sledding hill near my old stomping grounds. We had an absolute blast and I really wish I would have taken more pictures, particularly some actual action shots. My sister, Kristin's friend, Mignon let us use her family's sledding hill in Grace, Idaho. You walk right out the door of Mignon's house and the hill is right there... just one of the perks of country living. It was the perfect hill and we (my parents, sisters, all the grand kids on the Perkins side and Mignon's family) had it to ourselves. The weather was nice, warm and sunny and we literally spent almost the entire day there, stopping only to eat a delicious lunch of homemade vegetable soup (thanks Mignon), rolls and hot cocoa. The highlight of the day was when my Mother accidentally ran into the back of my bro-in-laws super nice snowmobile while driving my sister, Becky's machine. Nobody was hurt and no damage was done, thank goodness, but while they were trying to unhook the sleds, my 3 yr. old niece, Robi Ann got impatient and jumped onto one of those old school long plastic sleds on her tummy and headed down the hill. (Keep in mind, this is a pretty good sized hill and that particular sled wasn't the safest for those conditions.) The sled started out really squirrely then started to straighten and pick up some pretty good speed without ever tipping over. We were all holding our breath and yelling to her to hang on tight. The entire way down she had her head buried in the sled and would just peak up every once in a while. When she arrived safely at the bottom, we were all laughing hysterically. I guess it's just one of those moments where you had to be there to fully appreciate it.

L to R: Robi Ann, Claire, Stella, and another niece, Riley.

Kristin and my Mother. My sister, Kristin looks pretty hard core eh? You HAVE to be this hard core when you are as accident prone as she is!

My Dad, the designated driver.

Utah State, hey Aggies all the way!

Our Christmas gift from my sister, Becky and my bro-in-law, Bryan was fun and very creative. They gave us a bag full of just about every item of Aggie fan paraphernalia that probably exists, and two tickets to a Utah State game of our choice (we chose the Boise State game). We had a ton of fun acting like THE BIGGEST (and probably the most obnoxious to those sitting near us) AGGIE FANS EVER!

my nephew, Rhet showing us how it's done.

My sister, Becky and my Dad posing with our cheering props

And, of course my sweet Adam........ just being Adam. :)

More Christmas

Christmas morning started off with Claire and Stella doing a celebration dance by their new kitchen set from Santa. This is what Claire wanted the very most, and of course Stella was just going along with it.

enjoying a new book by our tree

After opening presents at home, we headed to my parents home in Bear Lake to spend a couple of days with my side of the family. Here's Stella practicing her gift opening skills.

Claire in her new Cinderella get-up

One of the best things about the holidays........ chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Stella enjoyed her fair share.

Grandma and Grandpa Perkins' very tall tree

Christmas Eve 08

Our Christmas Eve was lovely. It was our first Christmas in our new home and it was just our little family. We combined both Anderson and Perkins traditions so our girls could enjoy a little of both. We started the evening with a shepherds dinner. We ate foods that would be similar to those that were eaten by the shepherds/ wisemen on their trek to see the new baby Jesus: Fish, grapes, nuts, pita bread, hummus, cheese, & peas. We ate picnic style with a blanket on our living room floor next to firelight. (Anderson tradition)

Next, we assembled a Nativity scene from a book that Grammy Kathy gave to Claire for Christmas. Afterwards, we read the nativity story to the girls of Jesus' birth. (Anderson & Perkins)

Lastly, we watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Perkins tradition) while we had our dessert. (Egg nog mixed with a little Sprite)

The girls got to open one present on Christmas Eve. What was it? Matching Christmas jammies, of course. I just love kids in snuggly jammies!

December snow

The next few posts are more for me than anyone else, since they are more than two months overdue. I just wanted to document them. Yes, I have been very lazy about blogging. Here's our December snow. So very pretty!

Yum, snow. Watch out for the yellow stuff!