February 17, 2013

Last Sunday night we made and frosted cookies for Lily's teachers and some church friends.  Since the girls are not to be trusted with frosting, I let them do the sprinkles.  Apparently they cannot be trusted with sprinkles either.  I was cleaning sugar out of the grooves in our table for two days!  They were so proud of their creations.  I suppose a little mess every now and then is a good thing.  And the sprinkles did look good on the cookies - just not on the walls, my table, the floor, and their clothes.

As the baby's due date draws nearer I am realizing how quickly Lily and Annie are growing up.  The other morning Annie was sitting on my lap and holding her blanket over her index finger - the same way she has since she was a tiny baby.  I had to snap a photo to capture this moment before she outgrows this habit.

Now that Lily is four she insists on not taking a nap.  I think she likes the time alone with Mommy while Annie rests.  But some days a girl just needs her sleep.  On Tuesday Lily passed out around 4:00 in the afternoon and  nothing we could do would wake her up.  We put her to bed a 7:00 p.m. and she finally woke up at 1:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom.  By then she had been sleeping for nine hours and she wanted to have a snack and play.  Mommy agreed to stay up with her if she would color quietly.  The coloring lasted two hours - while Mommy was asleep on the couch.  What a relief when Lily woke me to say she was ready to go back to bed. 

 Annie was happy to enjoy a night alone with Mommy and Daddy while Lily slept.  We played games, read stories, and let her "fly" on Daddy's legs.  It was nice to focus so much on one child and we could tell it meant a lot to Annie to have us all to herself.

 We had a great Valentine's Day.  Lily helped Mommy decorate, set the table, and make a pie for Daddy's gift.

 Daddy brought home balloons and a box of chocolates for each girl.  Our favorite babysitter Cassandra came over to watch the girls so we could go to see "McManus In Love" in Blackfoot.  The show was funny, but the seats were not very comfortable for a Mommy six weeks away from giving birth. 

 Lily had dance class on Valentine's Day and earned this purple jewel ring for doing her dance without any mistakes.  She is so proud of it and has a special box to keep it in when she doesn't want to wear it.  She also is going through a Jessie (from Toy Story) phase.  She wants to be a cowgirl all the time.  Kind of a nice change from all the princess stuff.

 Here's Lily and Annie at our Valentine Dinner.  Lily was so excited to get a gift from Daddy and to eat breakfast for dinner.  We had cream cheese stuffed french toast with raspberry sauce, strawberries, and whipped cream, sausage, and orange juice.  Plus a neighbor brought over red snickerdoodles and we had chocolate.  Love is sweet in the Hall house!

 I "mustache" (must ask) you to be my Valentine!  Our babysitter Cassandra brought these over for the girls.  They originally had a sucker poked through the middle so that when you suck on the sucker it looks like you have a mustache.  The girls were so excited to show us their mustaches Friday morning.  I love that Annie's is upside down.  They've been wearing their mustaches - "like Papa" - all weekend.

 We got another surprise Friday morning - a Valentine gift box from Puna and Papa.  Annie loved the cards and stickers.  Lily was excited about the watercolor paints and a new movie "Rio".  We saved the movie until night time so Daddy could watch it too.

 Friday night we built a tent fort in the living room and snuggled down for "Rio".  The girls loved the music and all the colorful birds.  Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it too.  Thanks for the fun gifts Puna!

Saturday morning a friend from church brought by a shoebox full of headbands, bows, clips, and flowers her daughters have outgrown.  Annie was so happy she dumped everything out to take inventory and play.  It kept her entertained for almost an hour.

Behold the fierce icicle of terror!  This thing has been growing on our house for weeks and finally achieved a length of over four feet.  Jeremy snapped a photo of it Saturday morning and sometime during the day it broke and fell.

Annie was trying to put snow gloves on her feet Sunday after church.  Mommy was tending Lily and didn't notice that Annie fell asleep - on her face while wearing a raincoat!  Once Mommy realized the house was way too quiet she went looking for Annie and found her right behind the living room couch like this.  We promptly got her to bed, after taking a picture first.

Saturday morning Lily woke up with a cough and slight fever.  She continued to get worse through the day so we took her to the doctor.  She was tested for influenza but came back negative.  She has been coughing and struggling with the fever.  But she's in good spirits.  We're just trying to help her rest and stay hydrated.  Hopefully she'll kick it without spreading it to the rest of us.  Daddy stayed home from church with her because Mommy needed to accompany the choir and play the piano in Primary.  Thanks for taking good care of Lily Daddy!