Laura Teaches Table Manners

Laura's teaching the girls table manners.

Emily's First Supper at the Table

One day when we build our own house we're going to have cement walls, floors, cabinets, and countertops so that after supper we can just hose the kitchen down for a quick cleanup. Emily now thinks that she's old enough to sit at the table rather than in her high chair. She is so funny. She climbs on top of the table and just grabs food from the serving trays or from other people's plates. We're trying to teach her manners, but she still doesn't understand "no thank you." Allie reverted to our baby and wanted to sit in the high chair and drink out of a sippy cup. Crazy kids. Haley likes being the boss and I don't see that changing any time soon.

Allie is so funny.

Emily was trying to use her greasy hands to touch the camera lense.

This was right before she started a food fight.

Haley ate all her supper and is content just sitting at the table until everyone else finishes.

Allie kept begging me to take another picture of her.

Wii Love to Ski Jump

We have family nights on Thursdays and Sundays. This past Thursday (yesterday) was the college football national championship game between Alabama and Texas. We tried to have the girls nap on Thursday during the day so that they would be ready to watch the game, but they grew disinterested in the football game quickly - Alabama is just that good. Knowing that Thursday was out for family night we had it on Wednesday night. The girls enjoyed playing the Wii with us. Although Laura is prenant, she still holds the record for the longest ski jump.

The white screen is for the projector. The flash eliminated the picture on the screen.

Now she's trying to stay within the flags as she races down the hill.

Haley is very competitive. She loves to play boxing on the Wii because she can beat most anyone she plays. She's also good at the ski jump.

That big smile is because she just jumped 135 ft.

She's a natural. Next week we're foregoing sledding and heading straight to the mountains for some real ski jumping. Wish us luck.

Don't Mess with Tess

Tess is David and Kathy's Australian Shepherd. It doesn't like Emily and she's alergic to it so it stays outside. It loves the snow and it also loves me. It always wants to play fetch. It has a stick that it likes to use. Throwing the stick is a science. Being that the stick is so big you cannot throw it high or the dog will try to catch it in its mouth. I've learned from experience to throw it long and not high. Anyways, I just thought this was crazy and that you might get a kick out of it.

La Mona

Ever since she was old enough to count to three, Haley has sought thrills and adventure. She loves to climb. When she climbs she has one goal in mind, making it to top. She has succeeded on every occasion that she has climbed. She has climbed the tallest tree in the backyard so many times that now she tries to get to the top as many different ways as possible. She definitely has no fear of heights. I can remember loving to climb pine trees as a youngster in Wetumpka, AL. I can remember climbing so high that we could see into backyards almost all the way down the block. The higher we went the more fun we had. Haley has inherited that gene I suppose. Don't worry about her falling, she is very hard headed.

She was on her way down by the time I grabbed the camera.

As long as she doesn't think she can fly we'll be okay. For anyone afraid, this was as high as she climbed.

Sorry about the gray, I think our camera is dying. I've never seen her climb with a big jacket and gloves. It was a little scary at first, but she was confident that she could do it without any problems. Maybe she'll be a roofer.

Allie's Daydreaming

Jennifer (Laura's sister) and Brian were married on December 29, 2009 at the Mt. Timpanogos temple. It was a beautiful Utah day, filled with single-digit temperatures and snow. The girls loved it! Jennifer loved taking pictures for an hour-and-a-half outside. I am reminded that Laura and I were married in December as well. However, we were married in Alabama and the temperature was probably 60 or so. Hopefully our chicas will choose to be married in the Birmingham Alabama temple, regardless of the weather or season. Allie and Haley were excited to play in the snow and Laura froze. I liked the snow and cold weather.

This is typical Allie behavior - she does her own thing while everyone else is engaged in something important. She is in her own little "happy place" most of the time. Humming, dancing, singing, talking, and playing is her form of daydreaming. She is always so happy and cheerful. Allie is also our little snow bunny. She loves the snow and the cold weather. In that aspect she is definitely a daddy's girl.

Haley soon followed and then she and Allie were running all over the place. There were 13 weddings that day and Haley and Allie were unintentionally in pictures for 8 of those 13 weddings. The girls were sliding in the snow with their silk dresses. They were pretty funny.

Emily was so cute. I had to stop the recording abruptly to help Laura cover up Emily. No worries, Emily was okay and she warmed up pretty quickly.

We went to Chuck-O-Rama (an all-you-can-eat restaurant) after the pictures were taken. We found some beautiful landscapes on the way. My "iron boogers" failed me and we got lost for about 15 minutes on the way to the restaurant. I tried to convince Laura that we really didn't get lost, we just went sightseeing. She didn't believe me.

Found 'em

After thorough investigation, we finally found Emily's M&Ms stash. The chocolate on her teeth was enough to convict her this morning.

As you can see, she left us a little present in the crib. She was bathed immediately.

She hid the M&Ms on the changing table behind two baskets of clothes, under a pair of pants.

We confiscated her stash and disposed of all the M&Ms.