Bedtime Routine

Sometime in the last year, we started telling each other secrets as part of the tucking-in portion of the bedtime routine. I'm not even sure whose idea it was, but the girls won't go to bed without it. I usually give the girls some sort of compliment or tell them thanks for being a good girl, and then remind them about something we have going on the next day. Liberty's secret for me is always the same, "I love you more than any other kid loves their mom, even in outerspace." I love it! Hadley' secrets are often times a bunch of jabbering with a few random words in between the nonsense. She takes it pretty seriously though. Recently, she has actually tried to say something that makes sense, like tonight: "Mom, you are a beautiful ballerina princess." That is pretty much the highest compliment she can pay anyone!

Laughing Bowen

I wish the quality of this video was better, but it's still super cute! I love how he can barely control himself because he is laughing so hard. I also love that he laughs just anticipating what is making him laugh.

Emergency?

This morning Bowen was playing with the house phone - nothing out of the ordinary. A little bit later I hear a loud knock at the door. I was a little startled, because I wasn't expecting anyone. I'm always a little hesistant to answer the door when I don't know who it is. I looked out and saw someone standing to the side. I slowly opened the door, and found a police officer standing there. He asked, "Is everything okay?" I was a little confused and told him that everything was fine. "We got a 9-1-1 from here and the line is still open." Uh-oh, I remembered Bowen playing with the phone. Bowen must have randomly called 9-1-1! What are the chances???!!! The officer was very nice, asked me a few times to make sure we were okay. I apologized, and he left. I was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing... especially since Liberty and Hadley were both in only their underwear and I was still in my pj's! If CPS contacts us about unclothed children, we will know why!

Happy Easter

Trying to get a decent picture of the 3 kids together is nearly impossible... especially when trying to get to church by 9:00am! Bowen kept crawling away, and Liberty & Hadley wanted to do ballerina poses.

And, introducing the newest members of our family... Rainbow, Liberty (Jr.), and Watten-Totten. We got 3 baby chicks for the kids for Easter. Liberty and Hadley love them! Liberty even drew a picture for Rainbow.

Nursery Rhymes

It's amazing how quickly kids learn nursery rhymes. Today Liberty got out one of our nursery rhyme books for Trever to read to Bowen. They were reciting them together. Liberty knows a lot of them really well. Of course there are a few words here and there that Liberty doesn't use the right word. Our favorite tonight: "Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep and doesn't know where to find them. Leave them alone and they'll come home whacking their tails behind them." It's always sad when kids learn the real words.

The Wilkins Family

Here is a Spring version of our family by Liberty.

First day of Spring

Yesterday was officially the first day of Spring. It didn't feel like it here! And, today it has been snowing. Nice! It's not sticking, but still. On Saturday I bought a plastic tote so I can put away the girls' winter clothes. Guess I'll have to wait another week! We have had some teaser weather off and on, but I am ready for some consistent Spring weather - for a LONG time. We will see!

Heather bought Liberty & Hadley these adorable pink dresses. Hadley of course thinks her is a ballerina dress. And Liberty loves that hers is sparkly. I got out Liberty's old white church shoes for Hadley to wear, and she has been wearing them every day since.

This last picture portrays the kids' personalities very well. Liberty is often taking care of and loving on Bowen. Bowen is usually very happy. And Hadley, well, is usually happily trying to do what she is supposed to.

Trever was in Flagstaff this weekend for some ER training. We did our best to keep busy without him. We even made it to 9:00am church on time (with a few minutes to spare)!

Cuteness...hot off the press

I just overheard this conversation in the other room:

Liberty: Maybe Jesus created "Last Vegas" on the last day.

Trever: What? (He was a little confused.)

Liberty: Maybe Jesus created "Last Vegas" last of all.

Trever: Why do you think that?

Liberty: Because, it's called Last Vegas.

Trever & I: (Trying to hold our laughter.)

Also today:

Hopefully today was our last snow of the year. I think it's the 4th time it snowed this season, so I can't complain. The snow doesn't stick for long, and it's fun for us desert rats to watch, so I don't mind the snow here. It's the cold I mind! We are ready for Spring. We just got back from visiting Mesa for a few days, and it was nice a warm there. Liberty was disappointed that it's not still Spring like it was a few days ago in Mesa. I just hope Spring here lasts longer than 2 weeks. Liberty and Hadley got all dressed for the cold and played in the snow for a few minutes. They enjoyed eating the snow the most.

Oh, and we finally fired up our fire place today. But, only after filling the living room with smoke first. I'm sure many would have laughed to see us frantically filling up cups of water and pouring it on the fire, and Trever grabbing the log and taking it outside. Liberty refers to it as the "campfire." She wanted to roast marshmallows. Too bad it's just a duraflame log.

Today Liberty and I went to church while Trever stayed home with Bowen and Hadley because they have been sick. During sacrament meeting Liberty asked, "Aren't you glad there's only one kid today?" I told her that I missed having Hadley and Bowen with us. I did miss them, but I'll admit, it sure was easier at church today!

Family Portrait

Dad, Hadley, Mom, Liberty, Bowen

We haven't had pictures taken for a long time, so here is Liberty's rendition of our family. She drew this back in November and it's been on our fridge since. I love it so much!

"Me two!"

A mini-scenario today:

Liberty needed help with something (I'll leave out the details. It'd be TMI)

Liberty: Yelling from across the house, "Mom, I need you to come help me _______!"

Mom: (I was feeding Bowen) After asking Trever to help her, "Okay, Liberty, Dad will come help you!"

2-3 minutes later, Liberty walks in the room where I was feeding Bowen, Hadley was playing, and minding her own business, and Trever was in the adjacent room on the computer.

Liberty: "Mom, I thought Dad was going to come help me!!!!"

Mom: "Me too!!" (Hint, hint to Trever)

Hadley, "Me two!!! (In her demanding, mad voice with eyebrows lowered.) You, doody-nine!" (I am 29 years old)

We sure got a kick out of that!

Hadley is pretty "possessive" of her years of age these days. Just earlier today after she woke up from her nap I asked her how she was doing, etc. She must have thought I asked her something about how old she was. She said, "Me, two. You doody-nine." I was very surprised she remembered how old I was! Then I asked her how old Liberty is, "She put her finger up to her lips, looked upwards with her eyes, and said, "Hmmmm." I'd never seen her do that before. Her expressions these days are hilarious!

The other day Liberty came up to me and began reminiscing about something. I don't even remember what it was about. Hadley was nearby, but not in the conversation. Liberty began her thought with, "Mom, remember when I was two..." And Hadley quickly came over and interrupted Liberty saying, "Me two!" And she gets real mad about it! Liberty and I laughed, then Liberty repeated, "So, remember when I was two..." Once again, Hadley jumped in, "ME TWO!" She even did it another time! Finally, we had to say, "Yes, Hadley, you are two!" And Liberty was finally able to finish her thought. It was hilarious!