Lessons Learned From My 3 Year Old

Eliza wanted to go to the library today (even though we just went on Sat.). I told her that it was closed because it was a special day today. She asked me why it was special. I told her it was Memorial Day, a day to remember people who have done something really great for us, people who have died for us. She lit up and said, "Like Jesus Christ!" I had never thought of it in that way before, but what a great day to remember Him who has given his life for us. A few minutes later she said, "And Joseph Smith?" I said, "Joseph Smith died for our Church and what he believed." I love the way little children say things that are so profound and make you realize how wise they are. It makes me wonder how many other things I could learn from my little ones...

Time for a Change

I haven't cut my hair since Nathan was only a month old. I decided I needed to do something new with my hair. Brianne told me about a cute hairdo Chelsea had done recently. An Aline haircut. My friends Megan and Lori told me I should go for it. I decided to give it a whirl. What's the worst that can happen? It is going to take some getting used to, but it'll be perfect for Arizona. It's short, but I can still pull it up- a must!

Tea Party

Last week my sister-in-law, Nancy, had a tea party for my mother-in-law for mothers' day. I thought that was an adorable idea and decided to take off with it. I called Lori and we really got excited and started making plans. We got all dressed up and went to her house this morning to have a tea party brunch. (I am still learning ordering for pictures...therefore these are all backwards.)
Kate enjoying her donut hole. She did use her fancy party toothpick though.
The girls at their table. Lori had cute little doilies under their cups and plates. I could tell she was just as excited as I was about this event.
The little ladies at the tea party. Fancy dresses and all!

The desserts...YUM!!! The cupcakes were the biggest hit with the kids. They were chocolate and had princess sprinkles and pink frosting...need I say more?!

The whole spread. The girls were getting antsy to start and kept sneaking the little peanut butter and jelly sandwiches off of the table. They were a little excited, too.
Kate and Eliza helped me with the fruit. Kate put the grapes on and did a fantastic job. I couldn't keep up with her. I was in charge of the pineapple. I would put one on the toothpick and hand it to Eliza to add the strawberry. She would promptly eat the pineapple and put the toothpick on the table. Our system was somewhat flawed, so I ended up doing both the stawberries and the pineapple while Eliza indulged on the pineapple. That seemed to work out much better.
This is one of my favoites- Lemon Pound Cake with lemon drizzle frosting. Chelsea gave me the recipe for these and I can only make them once in a while or I gain a minimum of 5 lbs. with each batch. No self-control when it comes to these!
Mini Peanut Butter Cookies with chocolate. Eliza liked these, but liked the swirl ones best. The zig zags not as much. I didn't bother telling her that they tasted exactly the same. What's the point? The girl is all about fancy! She thought the swirl ones were fancier than the others. She sure knows what she wants.
The funniest thing happened when Nathaniel came to pick us up. the ladies were helping me pack things up and trading their items with mine so we all had a variety. Eliza saw my friends taking cookies and cake off of the trays and she kept saying, "Stop stealing our food! Mommy, they are stealing our food!" I tried explaining to her what was going on, but she took matters into her own hands and went over to the table, grabbed the tray, and brought it directly to me and said, "Here Mom, they were stealing our food!" And so comes the years of embarrassing things coming out of their little mouths...
Lori and Hallie, our hosts. I love the dress Lori has on. I wish I got a better picture of it. It is so cute!
Eliza sipping her "tea" or pink lemonade to the rest of us. She kept saying, "This is the best tea party EVER!" She is so fun to have around. She is so enthusiastic!
Kate got sick of the pictures I'm pretty sure. I did go a little nuts with the camera. It was all just so cute. She had a really good time and did the best clearing her plate. Do you see how she is almost spilling her drink? Nice!
The Sorenson ladies. Daddy had Nathan and they had guy time. It was very nice for us ladies.
My favorite part of the tea party was this little girl. Look at her! Could you get any cuter? That little bonnet made my day. I could have eaten her up with the rest of the goodies from the tea party. What a doll!!! Girls sure are fun!

Red Dress Addiction

Aunt Nancy bought my girls red dresses. We love them. Kate especially. She finds them no matter where they are in the house and tries to wear them daily. I am not kidding. I have the hardest time washing them because she will take them out of the dirty laundry and put it on in the morning. Then, when I try to take it off of her and wash it, she loses it and cries.

You'd think two was enough, but not with the way Kate eats. She is going to have these worn out by the middle of summer. She loves to wear dresses, but this one is her favorite!!! Thanks, Nancy!

Cute Traditions

Every morning we see Daddy off to school. Daddy gives a round of kisses and hugs to us before he leaves the house, but it is what comes next that is so sweet. Eliza would freak out and cry if Daddy would drive off on his scooter before she waved goodbye to him at the window. Nathaniel and I have always waved goodbye while doing the I love you hand signal. Eliza has learned how to do this on her own and now she and Kate (Kate does different fingers every day, but she is getting close) do that every morning to Daddy at the window. It is the SWEETEST thing. I love how much Daddy melts for his little girls!

Girls, Girls, Girls!

Megan and I went out on Saturday to run some errands together. One of the places we went was to Costco. I wanted to look at the girls dresses, and WOW! they had some cute ones. This dress was one I couldn't pass up. It is reversible. Megan convinced me it was the only responsible thing to do to buy matching dresses and have Eliza wear one side and Kate the other side. I agreed. Everyone needs a Megan. She is the best!

Eliza and Kate were getting carried away hugging and they fell over and then Eliza had to kiss Kate. It is hard to resist. She is so sweet.

Kate has the best facial expressions! They looked adorable...which was good because they were rotten for church. My uncle always told us it was more important to be beautiful than smart. I just hope the people in church thought that it was more important to be adorable than obedient! At one point I got up to leave with Nathan and I motioned to have Kate join me in the hall. Eliza saw me motioning and she thought I was talking to her. Kate saw us leaving and started yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!" as she crawled under peoples feet to get out of the bench to me. I wasn't sure if I should be horribly embarrassed or just laugh at the scene we had just made. Oh well!
Eliza is the kid in the ward that everyone knows. I don't mean that in a negative way, she just gets noticed. Sometimes it is because she can't whisper and the ward members hear her say, "I don't want to sit by Mom!" Or because when the primary children sing, she stands there and doesn't move her lips to sing, likewise when it is time to sit down she doesn't move. She has to have someone prompt her to leave the front. She is infamous in primary for loudly contributing the most random things. For example, she told the ward I had a baby last week. Another time she told them she showers with me. (She does occasionally, but we wear swimsuits. A detail she, of course, didn't add.) This last Sunday it was during testimony that she was noticed. She went up with Daddy to bear her testimony and when Daddy prompted her to close, she said into the microphone, "I'm not done!" Everyone was laughing and I had several people mention it to me later. She is quite a character!

I love these little girls! They sure are fun to dress up!

Yes, that is a hug!

Sweet-toothed Water Snob

Eliza is addicted to sugar (I have NO idea where she could possibly get that from!). This picture is from when my family was here and she lived off of slurpees for days. She loved Uncle Tanner's "chocolate" (brown) slurpees, but the red kind were more abundantly found. She asks for treats the instant she wakes up and doesn't stop until bedtime. Yesterday, I was praising Kate for eating her broccoli so well and out of the corner of my eye I saw Eliza with the "light bulb just went on" look and she started chowing down on hers as well, and then went to grab more. I quickly praised her as well and called her my" broccoli eating dinosaur" and she was so proud of herself that she asked if we could call Daddy to tell him about it. The child rarely touches anything that resembles vegetables. She hardly eats meals and then begs for food (aka candy) the rest of the time. We are working on the being healthy thing with her. Eliza is VERY particular about her water. She doesn't like water that has been left out overnight (even if it is a new bottle that was opened the night before), water that is out of certain water bottles or sippies because she says "it's gross", or out of Kate's water bottle. She will try several water bottles before she finds an acceptable one. I have to use cups all of the time now so that she knows it hasn't been sitting out so it can't possibly be gross yet. It was just so easy to have her get her own water bottle off of the counter, until she got picky. Seriously...she's 3!!!