Hiking and Kartchner Caverns

A few weeks ago we took advantage of the reasonable temperatures and went for a hike up Telegraph Pass. The kiddos did great! It is fun to think back to how little they were the last time we hiked that. I can't believe that Miriam is older now than Eliza was when we moved to AZ. Actually Miriam has spent more than half her life in Arizona. Crazy!

They were all about getting their picture taken on this hike. And they kept stopping because they thought it was a good picture spot. (This behavior is what I am creating...)

It was fun to see the petroglyphs because shortly after we did a preschool lesson on different kinds of petroglyphs. I often hate doing preschool with my kiddos because it is just a battle, but sometimes it is so good. I hope they remember the good times as well!

Once again, more picture spots. :)

A few weeks later my mom came to visit and we took a day trip down past Tuscon to Kartchner Caverns State Park. We weren't allowed to actually take anything in the caverns, let alone take pictures, but it was fabulous. So some of these photos are from outside.

Lizards, caterpillars, and a blooming agave. I really wish we could have taken pictures inside. One of the remarkable things about these caverns was that it was somewhat recently discovered (It only became a state park in the last 15 years), and there is no evidence of any humans in the caverns ever before the modern discovery. This means that the formations are free from vandalism. They were just beautiful. There was a 21 foot long soda straw and a massive column that was over 60 feet tall. Breathtaking!

We rented a minivan for the day so we could all drive together. It was kind of a pain to go get and take back at the end of a long day, plus the extra expense, but it was well worth it to make the day so much nicer.

Sweet Eliza fell asleep on the way home. One other memorable incident on the way home was when we tried to have a scenic picnic overlooking Tucson from the 'A' mountain. Although the view was nice, the crowd was not. There was blaring music from multiple vehicles, a dumb girl riding around on the top of an SUV with an idiot who was obviously recklessly driving. We were approached a limo driver who was also a photographer. Great... Well, you win some, you lose some. :) Those caverns were fantastic though.

Singing in Stake Conference

Our little darlings sing too cute at church. They enjoy singing and project when they sing (particularly Eliza). This leads us to get asked to sing. This time it was in stake conference. The song we were asked to perform was "I am Following My Savior." None of us had heard it before. It is a beautiful song. And really, singing in front of people isn't so bad either. No one is listening to me and John.

It was so sweet one Sunday morning I came downstairs and heard Miriam singing along with John practicing the song. Her little voice was angelic to me. I had to record it. 

Of course we have to bring out the big guns to get their best performance behavior, so they each got to pick a dessert to have afterwards. Eliza picked ice cream, and Miriam wanted chocolate cupcakes. I did a rainbow cream cheese frosting, which I thought would be cooler than it was. Oh well. :) 

We were asked to sing in the Saturday night session of Stake Conference as part of a evening of music. Wow! There are some talented, real musicians in our stake. Our kids loved it, even though they were the only kids under 14 there.

Holland was adorable during the song. I don't know if you can see it in the video, but at one point she waved and even clapped. We received a lot of comments about how sweet our baby girls are, and we agree!

Holland 11 Months!

11 months old!

Our little Holland is 11 months old! We sure adore her! One of her biggest changes this month was that she went from the 'worm' crawl to a normal baby crawl.

Hands and knees that is the way she gets around these days. This was only a problem when mommy left the door to the bedroom open. Right outside the bedroom door is the top of the stairs. Mommy turned around right in time to see her head drop and her feet fly up as she fell down the stairs. Fortunately it is only a half of flight of stairs and the carpet is quite soft. So there weren't any bruises, but a pretty shaken up baby (and Mommy!). We have since installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs.

Her favorite tricks are still sniffing and clapping. Occasionally she will wave and point. Sometimes she will even pull up to her knees and feet. Stop growing up baby girl!

One or two days before her 11 months birthday her first tooth popped out. It was followed shortly by the second one. I miss her gummy smile, but those first two teeth are about the cutest thing ever!

Her crawling has changed more than just a baby gate. We now have to make sure to close the bathroom, closet, and other doors. I have started telling her no-no for the first time. Turns out she likes the vertical blinds in front of the sliding back door.

Holland is still really attached to her mommy and daddy. She is also pretty happy to go to just one or two of the child care staff at the gym. She will reach for big sisters on occasion too. She hates everyone else. 

We have started to give her more solids. She hates pureed anything, but will eat almost anything that is fed to her from a fork. Silly girl. She has started to feed herself things too. Cheerios and rice puffs are the absolute favorite though. Black beans are pretty good too.

Despite being so big and mobile, she is still surprisingly happy in the baby carrier. This is nice because she goes in it a lot, especially when I am shopping or otherwise out and about. 

Taking pictures these days are a bit more tricky. It is dangerous to put her on the table. Also, she moves and tries to crawl at me. Also, she wants to eat the props.

John is making the sniffing face that gets her to copy it. She loves it!

We love you sweetie! Happy 11 months!

She is getting so big compared to her little bunny.

I Love Age 4!

Oh my Miriam! I love you so much! I love how you sing songs about what you are doing. I love your sweet smile and giggles! I love how serious you can be about the silliest things. I love, LOVE the things you say: (I am sure that so many of these things aren't as funny when you aren't in that moment, but at the time...oh my, so funny!)

Miriam told me one morning that her goal was to not blink for the rest of the day.

Miriam told me once in the bath, "Girls can wear ties to work, you know." I asked her what made her say that. She said she wants to wear a tie like you to church. 

This is her "happy, pretty smile!"

One thing that is so funny/sad about Miriam right now is how scared she is of being locked in stores. She doesn't want to go even close to the time when a store or the library is closing. Sweet girl!

One time she was saying the prayer at dinner and thanked God for this delicious food. It was just so cute!

She is such a martyr sometimes. One time she got shampoo in her eyes in the shower. She told John that "that is how life is sometimes."

One night before bed, John gave me a great big kiss. Miriam, who was watching, said, "I want to lick your lips too."

I am trying to do more projects for preschool. She loves it!

She lined up all of her toys--including Holland!

As always she is obsessed with how old she is. John taught her that she is "four and three quarters" now. I love it whenever she tells someone that. Although one time she told me, "I am four so I am like a five year old."

One of my favorites was when I was showering with her. I do this often and let her play with some shaving cream while I shave my legs. She told me she wanted to use the whole can of shaving cream right now and play with it. I told her that it would be wasting it to use it all right now. She replied with, "Well then you shouldn't have had me or Holland or Ellie if you didn't want to waste things because that is what kids do." Haha! We went from not wasting shaving cream to I shouldn't have been born in one sentence!

I love it when she asks me to take her picture!

She told me once at dinner, "Can we have kid food? I am really into kid food right now."

One time she was describing my perfume, "It is a good smelling juice that you don't drink." I love her!

Instead of saying switch, every time she says "swip, swap." It is adorable!

I can't help but think of how close Kindergarten is coming. She is doing great at preschool and her reading is coming along great! It is still surprising to me to have her just read something she sees. She is going to do great at Kindergarten, but I am dreading losing her in the morning. Thank goodness there is a half-day option!

Anyway, one of my goals running through my head is trying to make the most of everyday. So I have been trying to sign the kids up for more stuff, do more crafts and projects, and take time to play with them more.

We did this borax crystal craft. It was way trickier than I thought it would be. However, we did two batches, and I got it more figured out. I was going to do a third, but for some reason when I turned the heat on the stove to start melting the crystals, some suction formed on the lid, and it exploded all over the kitchen. It was such a mess. One reason it was so difficult to clean up was that when the water cooled the crystals started forming everywhere. And these crystals are hard! I was trying to pry these out of the pot with a screwdriver. The only way to get it off was to pour really hot water everywhere to dissolve it, and then quickly wipe it up. Yeah...it was an unintended long project that night, cleaning it up. So you win some and you lose some on these projects.

Never again.

I love her hair! So does everyone else! She regularly gets comments about how adorable it is.

She told me once as she was sitting patiently waiting for me to be done nursing Holland. "I like to have my big persons near." I love her!