Easter Sunday

Happy Easter from the two cutest girls in the world!

Liberty-isms

I wish I could write down everything that Liberty says! I really need to try to more often. Here are a couple of things she said today:

She was singing in the car on the way home from church today. She loves singing in general, and especially in nursery. She often comes home singing songs that I didn't even know she knew! Today she was singing, "The wise man built his house upon the rock..." She sang it pretty well, and then said, "Mom, I don't know how to sing that song!" (The, "I don't know how to..." is a phase she is going through.) I started singing it with her, and realized she knew the song really well... so well, she would correct me! Here was my favorite part...

"The rain came down and the flowers came up..." (supposed to be floods)

It was definitely way too cute to correct her!

Another thing she said today, which comes up often these days.

Trever let her watch Dora (her favorite show) tonight, eventhough it was bedtime. I said to Liberty, "Wow, you have a really nice dad!" She responded, "He's a handsome boy! And girls are prettiful!"

Spring Break

Trever didn't have a Spring Break this year, but he was able to take a day off so we could enjoy a little road trip. Also, since the schools around here had a break, there were plenty of opportunities to join in the fun!

We decided to opt out of the Disneyland this year where some of our family went. (SHHHH, don't tell Liberty!) We figured Liberty would enjoy and appreciate it more when she gets a little older. Plus, we knew it would be quite stressful taking Liberty and Hadley. There's always next year! So, we decided to take a little road trip ourselves. We are always talking about how there is so much to see and do in Arizona, and being here our whole lives, we still haven't experienced it all! So, we decided to take a trip to Tucson. We left Sunday afternoon, and got a hotel that night. On Monday we drove up to Mt. Lemmon. It was about an hour's drive to the top, consisting of lots of twists and turns. Unfortunately, Liberty got carsick about halfway up, and threw up, but luckily it didn't make a huge mess, and we were able to clean it up quickly on the side of the road. (Most of it ended up in mine and Liberty's hands. My "Mom skills" kicked in and I was surprisingly able to handle it without getting too sick myself.) The drive itself was beautiful! It was amazing how we started out in desert landscape, then passed through the high dessert terrain, and ended up in the mountain and pine scenery. There was even quite a bit of snow on the ground! When we made it to the top, there was a little ski town that we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather and surroundings. We even bought some tasty fudge, which Liberty particularly enjoyed. After we soaked it all up, we made it back down the mountain. Next, we headed to a Spring Training baseball game with the Diamondbacks and Rockies. Despite the lack of shade, it was a fun experience! We got lawn seats and enjoyed kicking back while Liberty danced and played, with an occasional, "Go, D-backs!" We love exposing Liberty to new things like a good ol' baseball game. After the game we finished off our trip with dinner at Outback. Liberty's favorite part was her bowl of sliced cucumbers... dipped in butter. The trip was nearly perfect! We were stress-free, got to see part of Arizona we hadn't seen before, and enjoyed time with our little family! And to top it off, the girls slept the whole way home!

We also joined the Bair’s in celebrating Ashlyn’s 8th birthday on Tuesday. Liberty of course had a blast hanging out with her cousins. I was taking a picture of Liberty and Hadley in their green, and some of the girls wanted to join in. There was no shortage of cute little girls that night!

For Lily’s birthday on Thursday, Liberty, Hadley, and I joined the Lines Family, Heather and Adam, Kasen, and Becky for a fun-filled day. First, we rode the light rail to Phoenix, and went to the Phoenix Children’s Museum. The kids had so much fun there! Liberty could have played there for a week straight! My favorite part (and probably Liberty’s too) was the play market. There were shelves with real (empty) food boxes and cans, a realistic produce section, grocery carts to load up, two checkout lanes complete with cash registers and a place to scan your purchases, and even an area to load and unload the delivery truck. The thing I loved most about it was how serious all the kids were as they shopped and “worked” at the grocery store. You could definitely tell they had all been grocery shopping with their mom’s! They were all so systematic about it. Liberty enjoyed loading her cart up, taking it to the checkout, unloading all her food, and then going back for more several times. I wasn’t surprised when she was really upset when we had to leave.

After the museum we headed back on the light rail. Unfortunately, it was pretty crowded, and we had to stand up the whole time. And, Liberty was worn out, and wanted me to hold her while she slept. So, I held onto the double stroller with Hadley in it, held Liberty while she slept, all while trying to balance myself and not fall every time the train stopped and started. But, we made it!

Once we made it back to town, went to Costa Vida for dinner/lunch, and then enjoyed some frozen yogurt.

Lucky Us!

Trever and I tell each other all the time how lucky and blessed we are to have such beautiful and healthy little girls!

Liberty and Hadley definitely didn't get pinched this St. Patrick's Day!

...well, at least Liberty didn't.

Liberty sure loves Hadley's "chubby cheeks."

Nic-nic

Liberty loves "nic-nic's" (picnics). A nic-nic can be as simple as eating snacks on the kitchen floor, to packing a lunch and heading to the park.

On this particular day, Liberty wanted to have a nic-nic during lunch at her little table. She also wanted to invite "kitty-cat." After I took a picture of her and kitty-cat, she decided she wanted more in attendance at her nic-nic. She was very particular as to where each item sat, and took a lot of time setting up her nic-nic. Even her toothbrush got to participate.

The Big 2-8

I had a great birthday this year! After taking forever to decide what to do, we finally made the plan. I had talked Dad into babysitting the kids while the girls went out. He gave us a 2-hour limit, so we planned wisely. Heather, Jessica, Emily (and Graham), Becky, and I (and Hadley) did a little shopping at Dana Park while Mom took the first babysitting shift. Then Devry and Mom joined us for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. It's always a treat to enjoy a nice, quiet meal without having to help feed and take care of kids. Afterwards Heather, Emily & I went to a couple of more stores, and then headed back to Mom & Dad's house for awhile. Mindi had come across at great sale at Desert Surf Co., and told us about it. Devry, Daisy, and I decided to go check it out. Everything was 80-95% off! It was crazy! Most of the stuff I bought was for Liberty and Hadley, but I bought a couple of things for me. I ended up saving over $500 and spending less than $100! I bought cute pink carseat covers for both Hadley and Liberty that were regularly $118 for $23! I got myself a cute bag that was regularly $56 for $2.80! I also got a few pairs of super cute Reef sandles for Liberty for $1.60! I got several other shirts, shorts, etc. for Liberty for some great bargain prices! I always enjoy sales like that!

After that, Trever had finished his shift at the hospital, so we went to dinner at Oregano's. I figured since I hadn't spent a lot of the day with Liberty that we'd take the kids. Unfortunately it was bad timing for Hadley, and she needed a little extra attention during dinner. We decided from now on if we wanted a relaxing dinner to leave her with a babysitter! The food was delicious of course, and since it was my birthday we got a Pizz-ookie! YUM!

My mom had made an angel food cake (my favorite) for someone, and sent some home with me for my birthday. Before she went to bed, Liberty wanted to sing Happy Birthday one more time, and blow out the candles. So, I told her we couldn't eat the cake since we already had dessert, but we could sing and blow out the candles. So that we did! She absolutely LOVES birthdays - she loves singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles. The best part about this story... we repeated it the next night, but ate the cake this time. She can't get enough of singing and candles!

Liberty is very into colors right now. She knows everyone's favorite colors, and is always pointing out whose favorite color something is. I really had to convince her that it is okay to wear or have something that isn't pink - her favorite color. I also had to convince her that it's okay to like other colors, even if it's not her favorite. Sometimes she still needs a gentle reminder. She also relates birthdays to favorite colors. If I tell her it's someone's birthday party, she asks, "What color is it?" I still am not sure if she means what color is the cake, or what color is the party. Either way, anytime the topic of birthday parties comes up, she reminds me that her birthday was pink. So, in honor of my favorite color red, I dressed the girls in red for my birthday. I know Liberty appreciated it!

Days like my birthday always remind me how grateful I am for Trever, my girls, and all of my family!

Liberty language

I switched purses today for a purse that I hadn't used for a long time. Liberty saw it this morning and immediately said, "Mom, that's gorgeous!" I didn't understand her at first, so I didn't respond to her. She repeated herself, "MOM, that's gorgeous!" This time I understood it and just about died! Trever tells her every once in awhile that she is gorgeous, so she must have really liked my "new" purse!

Yesterday, we had Sunday dinner at Emily's house. She had been looking forward to "Emily's party" all day long. She had fallen asleep in the car, and woke up when we got there. As we parked in front of Emily and Troy's house she looked outside and said, "Emily's house is... beautiful!" Of course, I laughed and said, "It is beautiful, huh! You'll have to tell Emily that. She would like that." And she said, "I'll tell Emily and she'll be SO happy!"

As you can tell, Liberty really picks up on compliments. She is always complimenting everyone, and regularly tells people, "You look beautiful!" Or, saying things like, "Mom, your hair looks pretty!" She'll even say things like, "Mom, your pants are 'tute' (cute)." She is such a sweetheart!

Hadley - 3 months

I really can't believe Hadley is already 3 months old! Time sure has flown! I can't even begin to say how thankful I am to have her in our family and how much we love her! She is a REALLY good baby. She does have her moments, but I really can't complain! She is a great sleeper (thank goodness, because I was worried for the first few weeks), loves to smile and laugh, adores her big sister, and will actually just sit and chill for longer than 5 minutes (unlike her sister was at her age). When she wakes up at night, she doesn't even cry. She just grunts and sometimes even just babbles until I get her. She loves napping in her swing, and is starting to really enjoy her bumbo chair. We love her cheeks, her giggles, and her chubby legs! We love our "Had-ster" as Liberty would say!