The Big TWO!

It's official, Mary's a big girl! 

At least that's what Avery keeps telling her, "You're a big girl now!"  

Then Mary shouts, "BIG GIRL!!"  

Mary's second birthday was yesterday.  We did most of the celebrating on Saturday, 

but did have some fun on Monday as well.

On Saturday we took some pictures of Mary.

We got some really nice ones of our sweet girl.

During Mary's nap Avery and I made cupcakes for that night.

After her nap that day we got ready for a little mini party just the four of us.

I prepared her birthday dinner, (peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, and chips)

After our dinner we opened up her presents.  

She really wanted nothing to do with it.  She just wanted to get down and play.  

After presents we sang to her and had cupcakes.

Mary DID NOT like the candle!  

She wouldn't even eat her cupcake after they were in there.

She was able to enjoy a cupcake the next day though.

On her birthday I was able to take Mary and Avery to the Jump Zone.

I knew my little jumper would LOVE it!

These next pictures are all from a phone, so not the best quality.

It was so much fun watching Mary have so much fun!

She loved to jump, climb, slide, and even did the rope swing!

She is an adventurous one.

We are so thankful for Mary in our lives.  She is such a happy spirit in our home.  

We love watching her play and learn.  

Some of our favorite things about Mary are:

Her cuddles

She love of animals, especially horses

She loves books

She will knock on doors or on the window and sings "Do You Want to Build a Snowman"

She's always happy to see us

She's always polite and says thank you to us for everything

The way she jumps

Happy 2 years Mary!

All About Becca

Becca:  

I am 25 years old

Becca's Personality:

This is hard to write.  I actually started this post several months ago, but couldn't figure out what exactly my personality is.  

I am a quiet person.  I always have been.  

As a little girl I was the one hiding behind my mom when we met new people.  

It takes me a while to get out of my shell when I meet people.  (like our little Mary)

For that reason I think it's harder for me to make friends.  I've been working on that lately.  

I am a nice person.  I like making people happy and feel good.  

I get very sad when I see others who are sad or who are not being treated well.  

Even in movies and TV shows.  Like on Parks and Recreation,  I just hate how they treat Jerry, Gary, Larry (he had so many names in that show), why can't they just be nice and appreciate him??  

Becca Loves:  

I love to read.  It wasn't something I always loved doing, but once I started reading Harry Potter as a young teenager (probably) I finally learned to love reading.  Thank  you J.K. Rowling and Mom.

I love cooking.  It's something I've always been good at, (again, thank you Mom) but didn't love to do until last year.  

For almost a year now my sister-in-law Alisha and I have been taking turns making each other dinners.  We switch back and forth every Thursday.  

It has really helped me love cooking and branch out on the things I make.  

Speaking of food.  My favorite thing to eat is pizza.  Seriously pizza is the best. 

I love being a wife and mother.  

I love watching my kids play and learn.  They are such good kids.  

I love making meals for my family and packing Louis' lunch for work.

I love being able to stay home and take care of our home and my family.

I love doing what I believe to be the most important thing I can be doing in my life right now.

Becca Knows:  

I know how to make worksheets for my girls so I can teach them at home. 

We took a long break from our at-home preschool while I had morning sickness.

Avery missed it a lot.  I'm glad I've taught myself this skill so I can help Avery and Mary learn, which they both love to do.  

I know how to turn just about everything into a teaching/learning opportunity.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church.  

I know there is a living prophet on this earth today, President Thomas S. Monson.

I know that our Heavenly Father is mindful of us.

I know He loves us all perfectly.

I know that we have a purpose here on earth and if we live faithfully we will be blessed.

If you'd like to know too.  Talk to me.

Things Becca Can Do:  

I can sew.  I'm not awesome or very confident with my sewing, but I enjoy doing it.

I've made a few things for my girls to wear.  I've also made several blankets and burp cloths.

For Christmas this year I plan on making aprons for the girls.

I can drive a stick shift.  I'd like to say I'm better than Louis, but I know he wouldn't agree with me.

  I'm at least better on hills than he is.  

I can throw a really good party.  I really enjoy planning things and think it's something I can do really well.

I can do a fishtail braid.  I just taught myself yesterday, so I'm pretty proud of that right now.  

It's a lot simpler to do than I thought.

That is Becca, I had a hard time at first with evaluating myself.  

Hopefully now though you all know me a little better.  

To read the "All About Avery" post, click here.

To read the "All About Mary"  post, click here.

Bye Bye Binkie

A few days after we got home from our trip I planned on getting rid of Mary's binkie.  So we did just that the Sunday after we got home.  This is a big deal for our little Mary people.  She has been sucking since before she was born.

That mark on her hand is from Mary sucking on her hands while in the womb.  She is a sucker my friends.  

When I first starting thinking about getting rid of her binkie I tried just limiting it to bedtime and nap time only.  That didn't go over so well.  So I decided it would be best just to get rid of it cold turkey.  

I did the same thing I did with Avery, I cut the tip off of one of her binkies and threw away most of the others. (I did keep some for future kids)  I gave her the binkie and she took it out of her mouth looking at it confused.  I asked her if it was broken and if we needed to throw it away.  She took it to the trash and threw it away!  That was it!  

She did have a hard time that evening.  She kept asking for her binkie and I would remind her it was broken so we had to throw it away.  

Eventually she calmed down and by bedtime she had no problem at all going to bed without it!  It went so much better than I expected!  It's been just over a week now and she'll occasionally talk about her binkie.  She'll say it's broken and we threw it away.  She'll also sing this song.  Which is adorable.  

I am very proud of Mary for doing so well with it and I am proud of myself for not caving and give her a binkie. . .yet.

East Coast Part 2

Saturday when we arrived at Charissa and Don's we really just dropped off our stuff then we got in the car to head to the church for Chase's baptism.  

It was very exciting to be able to go to the baptism, especially since Louis would be meeting some of my family that he had never met!  The baptism was wonderful and full of the spirit.  After the baptism and confirmation was over they had dinner.  The gym was decorated for a Minecraft party.  If you don't know what Minecraft is, don't worry neither do I.  The decorations were fun though!  I am wishing now that I had taken a picture.  The only picture we came away with from the night was this one.  

On Sunday we went to church then came home and had a relaxing afternoon at Charissa's.  After dinner Charissa and I went on walk, it started sprinkling a little bit which made it so it didn't get too hot.  We ended the night by having some very yummy peach crisp.  

Monday was Labor day so the kids didn't have school.  We started the day out by having scones and bacon for breakfast.  After breakfast Charissa, Emma, Leah, and I went to have our nails done. 

After that we went shopping.  I got a very comfortable cardigan that I've already worn several times and a cute sweater.  I also got a new Sandra Boynton book (she's our favorite) for the girls.  Happy Hippo, Angry Duck.  It is one of our new favorites now, Avery has even slept with it every night since we got home.  

For dinner that night Charissa and Don had invited the missionaries and a new couple from their ward to join us.  They were all very nice to talk to.  

On Tuesday Don took us to get our rental car so we could drive down to Sarah and Jared's.  On the way to the Moran's we planned on stopping at the Washington D.C. temple.  It was wonderful and the first time going there for both of us.  

After the temple we headed back out.  We stopped at the church next to the temple to connect to their WiFi so I could get the directions we needed put onto my phone.  Then we headed out.  Things were going well we hadn't come across too much traffic and then we missed our exit!  Having Google Maps on your phone is a wonderful thing.  The only problem is that if you go the wrong way and it needs to re-route you, it can't do that unless you have a data connection.  We did not.  We were lost!  

We probably got set back about 45 minutes because of our missed exit.  We tried to find a McDonald's or somewhere to stop at that would have free WiFi, but the problem was there are so many stinkin' trees on the side of the freeway and you can't see a dang thing!  Sure it's pretty, but it got really annoying after a while.  On the bright side, because of our detour we were able to see the Washington Monument, the Capital, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Pentagon from the freeway.  

We got off an exit and found a hotel.  We were hoping they would let us use their WiFi, but instead they very kindly printed off directions for us.  We were on our way again!  

We got to the Moran's a little after dinner time.  We visited and helped them put away many of their things that had arrived at their new house that day.  In the evening after their kids were in bed we taught Sarah and Jared a new card game.  

The next morning we went to a Farmer's Market and walked around.  It wasn't as big as it usually is since it was a Wednesday, but it was fun walking through the different shops.  We found a globe for our sister-in-law, and Sarah and Jared found some chairs for their home.  

We then returned home because Sarah and Jared were expecting the rest of their belongings to be delivered soon.  We spent the rest of the day helping put things away and later that night we headed out to Baltimore to stay at a hotel.  

We had originally planned on leaving from the Moran's the next morning to go to the airport, but with us getting lost on the way there I was nervous we wouldn't get to the airport on time.  I also wasn't sure what to expect traffic wise driving by so close to D.C.  I think we made the right choice in getting a hotel.  We were able to sleep in until 6:30 instead of 5:00.  

We returned our rental car that night and the hotel shuttle picked us up from the airport and took us back to the hotel.  The next morning it took us back to the airport and we were on our way home!  I did not miss our kids while we were gone.  That may sound mean, but I think it was a blessing.  I knew they were in good hands back at home.  I was able to enjoy our trip much more than if I had been missing them the whole time.  

When we got back to our kids it was wonderful!  Avery ran right past Louis and into my arms!  She then proceeded to talk non stop (as usual) about all sorts of things.  Then I went to wake up Mary.  I took her out of bed and she sleepily looked at me and said, "whoa!"  We headed home and were so happy to be together as a family again.  

East Coast Part 1

Louis and I just recently got back from a wonderful trip together!  We got to see many new things and visit with lots of family.

We started out at Josh and Megan's house and got to meet our new nephew Lincoln!  On Wednesday and Thursday we were able to babysit baby Lincoln.  He is a wonderful little baby, very relaxed.

The one thing Louis said he wanted to do on our trip (besides be with family) was go to Philadelphia.  So on Friday morning we all got in the car and headed out!  This is pretty much the only day I took pictures the whole trip, so enjoy it.

We started by going to Independence Hall.  The building was really beautiful, but it wasn't my favorite stop of the day.  

definitely click to enlarge this one

After Independence Hall we went over to see the Liberty Bell.  We were lucky to get there when there was a really short line.  Just so everyone knows, we did not lick the Liberty Bell.

After the Liberty Bell Louis and Josh walked over to Benjamin Franklin's grave, and Megan and I sat on a lovely shaded bench so she could feel Lincoln.  We were entertained by birds and squirrels.  

After this we had planned to go and have a tour of City Hall.  When we arrived we found out that all the tours were full for the day.  The outside of the building that we saw though was beautiful.  Maybe if we ever go back to Philadelphia we will try to go earlier so we can get in a tour.   Instead we walked to a park and had lunch.
Oh first we stopped at the Love Park (not sure if that's what it is actually called) we had thought about having lunch there, but there was some protest like thing going on as well as some dude dressed like John the Baptist taking people into the fountain.  We just decided to take a quick picture then keep moving.  Luckily you can't see the John the Baptist impersonator in the background of our picture.

While we were eating lunch we saw some construction near by and Josh thought it might be the temple being built.  A quick online search confirmed that and also told us that they had a visitor's center set up.  After lunch we decided to walk over and take a look.  

The visitor's center ended up being closed so we just walked around then headed onto the Franklin Institute.  I believe we ended up staying at the Franklin Institute for 3 1/2 hours.  It was a bit expensive, but sooooo worth it.  

It is a huge interactive museum.  There are so many different exhibits to walk through.  Some of my favorites were Sir Isaac's exhibit, the electricity exhibit, and the gift shop was cool to walk through. 

Louis also got to ride the sky bike!

After the Franklin Institute we attempted to walk over to the Rocky steps (Philadelphia Museum of Art).  We were not able to get over there though because of some big street concert they were having.  So that ended our day in Philly.  On our way out we stopped at Geno's for a Philly Cheese Steak.  Our verdict, good, but it needed some kind of sauce.  Maybe that's because we got Provolone cheese instead of the processed American cheese.  

The next day we were heading down to Cumberland to go to my sister Charissa's.  Before we headed out though, Josh finally convinced Louis to shave his head.  Pretty much from the moment we got to their house Josh had been asking Louis about it, not to mention the years before this that he has been trying to get him to do it.  I told Louis he could do what he wanted, he might as well try it out once.  If he didn't like it, his hair would grow back quick enough.  After it was done we found out that there was a bet between at least three of Louis' sibling and Josh that Josh wouldn't be able to convince Louis to shave it.  It looks like Josh will be getting plenty of Crown Burger when they come out for Christmas.  I kind of feel like Louis was tricked and I don't like that.  It's a good thing Louis ended up still looking hot.

That was the end of our time with Josh, Megan, and Lincoln.  We had a really great time and are very grateful for all they did for us while we were there.  We look forward to seeing them in December.  

Next post I will write about our time with Charissa and Don, and Sarah and Jared.