Play Date

We had a playdate with Ali and Jackson Clayton. It wasn't until the end that is Sarah and I realize that Kate and Ali were little twins. They had a great time. It was so fun to watch them playing together.  It was a little crazy when Ali called out " hey Kate?" And Kate answered "Yeah?"  I don't know why this little exchange struck me so much, but it just sounded so grown up.

Just now

I've had a hard time working on my Relief Society lesson all week. The neighbor kids are coming in an hour so I can watch them. The house is a disaster. The past several days have been really discouraging. But just now I'm sitting on the couch, the door is open to an absolutely beautiful day, Kate and Daniel are in the backyard playing in the water table, and for some reason I feel a unique calm.

... Seconds after I finished writing that paragraph, Kate dumped a container of cold water on Daniel's head, he started crying, Kate ran to hide, Daniel came crawling toward me across the cement, dripping wet and freezing cold.  Kate ran back to him once I'd picked him up to pat him on the head and say "Sorry Baby Daniel Oden Cornish!"  Such is the calm of life right now - short and sweet.  I'll take what I can get :-)

The Swan

The Swan strikes again on a double date at the Hale Center Theater in Orem. Turns out it's the perfect snack holder.

First haircut

I'd wanted to get Kate's hair trimmed for a while, and with family pictures coming up I thought it was a good time. I'm sure I could have done it, but decided not to risk it before family pictures. So, I told Kate what we were going to do as we drove to the salon. She was very shy the whole time we were there, and didn't move an inch during the whole cut. I saved a lock of her hair and smiled at how little she looked in the chair. On the drive home she was very excited about the whole thing. It was a fun little activity for the day. Love her sweet little soul. 

Family Tree

I love before and after shots. This one isn't exactly an accurate before because we did have a collage of pictures on this wall that I didn't get a picture of. However, this is the blank wall before our family tree FINALLY was put up. It's been about 2 years since I started thinking about this idea. I met with grandma Simmons; borrowed Doug and Rosemary's book of remembrance from grandma and grandpa Cornish; sent out emails, went through tons of pictures from mom and dad's stuff, and bit the bullet to actually buy the vinyl tree and some frames. It took several hours to get it all up, but here it is. I love it. Next step... make a book about each side of the family with a few more pictures of each individual and some more information.

Happy Nap

It is usually so fun to go get Daniel after a nap or in the morning. He's so chipper (sometimes he wakes up crying, which is sad. But he is quickly comforted as soon as someone is holding him).  Here he is after another happy nap.

Book Buddies

For the last month or so Kate has been requesting to keep the books we've read to her when she is going down for a nap/bed. She likes to line them up on the edge of her bed (between the mattress and the guard rail) or snuggle with them. She still stays in bed after she wakes up and sings or chats until I come get her. She is a joy. Sweet Angel.

The Gate

We have these gates up to keep Daniel from crawling up the stairs (which he's actually very good at... until he turns around to check his progress or to smile proudly at whoever is behind him - then he comes tumbling down).  Neither he nor Kate likes the gates. I went upstairs to put some things away and after a few minutes I heard both kids burst into tears simultaneously. When I came down to see what was wrong, this is what I found.  They had both come over to the gate and sat/stood by it and cried.

Lunch with this Little Lady

Ever since we had peanut butter and honey sandwiches for Kate's birthday dinner, she has requested a "honey sa-wich" for lunch. Of course that is with a side of any fruit we have in the house (apples, peaches, grapes, "banas," pears, mandarin oranges, apple sauce, frozen raspberries, fuferries (aka blueberries), etc.  And "ice wado" to wash it all down.

Canning Carrots

One of my favorite things in the world is watching Matt work with our Littles.  He's wonderful.  

Grandma Kay

Grandma Kay has been playing with Kate for the last 20 minutes. They've been building towers and stages for little animals to perform on. But then, inevitably, along comes  "The Storm" (aka Daniel Oden) and destroys everything. Mom gave Daniel that name and told Kate, "Storms are supposed to wreck everything. That's their job."  She is trying to teach Kate not to get so frustrated when Daniel knocks down her creations.  It worked... sort of. Love Grandma Kay.

Super Daniel

This little guy hasn't been out in the grass enough. He loved being outside and just pulling on the grass. Not sure how much he ate, but a little grass never hurt anyone, right...?  His bib git turned around during nap time, which he'd just woken up from. He is pretty super, if you ask me

 

Morning buddies

It's been a while since this little guy snuggled up and slept next to me. But this morning I went up to get him when his squawks woke me, I picked him up and realized he was still asleep (this has happened several times - we may have a sleep talker on our hands). I brought him down and he slept between Matt and me for another hour. Once he was done sleeping, he was done!  and ready to eat! So here we are, my little buddy and me.

Wait just a minute

What is this boy thinking, standing himself up all on his own. He's been doing this for several days now. He's got the bruises on his forehead as evidence. He thinks he's all big.

Heaven

I love peeking in on our little people when they are sleeping. They are perfectly peaceful...

Just now

This little Cowboy fell asleep on the way home from running some errands. I tried to lay him in bed still asleep but with no success. He is now as perky as can be. It's hard to feel too bad about it with that darling face looking up at me.

Ready for church

How handsome is this little guy!?  It's a trick finding a tie he can wear. Turns out you really need a neck to wear a tie. He's getting around much more these days, much, much more. Hence the now almost constant bruises on his forehead.

Monkey Bread

I always get super excited when something turns out. So when I tried monkey bread for the first time and it turned out so pretty I just had to take a picture (Don't mind Amy... That's her "I-can't-wait-to-try-this" face :-) We all gathered around it with forks and dug in. It was extra toasty hot at first, but that didn't stop us. And oh how delish it was!

Ready to go...

Grandma Kay came up and announced that she's going to Caroline's house. Kate quickly jumped up and said "Happy ready, too!" At that point she  did have a diaper on but wasn't wearing shoes. So I got those on her. Again she ran around the kitchen saying "Happy ready, too! Happy ready, too!!"  (That's what she is saying in the first picture.  The second picture is when I told her she also had to get dressed before she could go with Grandma.)

Grandma Kay came back in and saw her dancing around the kitchen chanting and had a good laugh.  Of course I knew why. At least Kate knew she needed shoes on and a diaper  BEFORE she left the house.

"Ice Wado"

For the last few months Kate has been requesting "ice wado" (ice water) multiple times a day.  This may be a result of seeing her older sisters frequently drinking ice water. It may also stem from grandma and grandpa's ice water habit. They always have large cups of ice water on their night stands that Kate is drinking out of.  I'm guessing that's where she stole this big ol' cup of ice water from. She just wandered upstairs with it. I'm predicting grandma coming in search of it in the near future.

Buddies (forever, I hope)

Kate has started being more aware of Daniel O. He thinks she is hilarious, and his belly laugh couldn't be cuter, so why wouldn't she want to hang out with him :-) We were at home depot and Kate came up behind him and have him a big squeeze. (I couldn't decide which picture I liked better.) Cute little people!

Upside Down

I know the picture is blurry, but I love that you can tell he's smiling. He's been able to put in his binkie by himself for weeks now, but more often than not he puts his binkie in upside down. His already perky cheeks get an extra little pick-me-up.

Daniel and Reid Daniel

We loved having Grandma and Grandpa Cornish and Uncle Reid with us for the first two weeks of July. Reid was excited to have his little namesake around. He mentioned more than once that little Daniel was handsome just like him (Reid) :-) It will be fun for these two to get to know each other in the future.

Bouncing Baby Boy

Kate asked about 2 weeks ago to get in Daniel's crib when I was putting him to bed. As soon as she was in there Daniel stated giggling. Then she started jumping and I thought Daniel was going to burst he was laughing so hard. It's one of their favorite activities now. Kate holds into the end and jumps like crazy all the while her head is cranked around trying to watch Daniel bounce and laugh.

Projects

We made a Home Depot run to get materials for some projects we're each working on. Apparently Tyler got all tuckered out and needed a ride :-)

     

Ready to Ride!

Daniel is ready for our evening bike ride. We've taken the little ones out several times in the bike trailer.  They quite enjoy it.  The trailer has a roll-bar (I think that's what it's called) and they are strapped in.  So they're quite safe.  But I still worry.  We got this helmet for Kate, which she usually wears, but today we tried it on Daniel.  He actually didn't make our very far with the helmet on because it would fall into his face.  (P.S. I love this photo... absolutely love this boy.)

Power Tools

Since Matt got his shop all set up several months ago, he has loved (I repeat, love-ed!) having a place to work.  He has slowly been increasing his tool inventory according to projects that we've undertaken.  He was driving down the road and saw a pile of palettes with a sign that they were free for the taking. So we went back later that evening and brought home a bunch. I'd like to learn how to use his tools, and he's more than happy to teach me. This is me using the circular saw for the 1st time. The Aloha shirt was being used as an apron... of sorts.

Double Duty

Several times lately I have been feeding Daniel his bottle when I'd hear a funny slurp.  I'd look down and see that he had both his thumb and the bottle in his mouth.  I laugh every time!  Funny little guy (well... funny unless he ends up being a thumb-sucker).

First Tooth

I got my first tooth! Hooray for me :-)

Little Lady

This has become a favorite Kate-ism... crossing her ankles.  Our cute little lady.

Sick

It's been a rough day. I have strep but wasn't able to get the amoxicillin for a few days because we were visiting the Stewart ranch (Matt's sister's husband's family ranch) in Idaho.  So by the time I got it, my throat was crazy sore. As we were packing up to leave the ranch we realized Kate had a fever.  I felt bad because we had a 5 hour drive ahead of us. I hoped she would sleep but didn't want her to be up all night either. She ended up staying awake the whole ride home.

We stopped to get a red-box movie for the kids to watch the last half of the drive, so we turned Kate's car seat around so she could watch. I was kind of zoned out in the front seat trying not to watch the clock.  Every few minutes Kate would say a quiet, "Hi Mommy." It was so sweet, like she was checking up on me.

By the time we got home I felt absolutely terrible.  Kate's fever wasn't as high because we'd given her some medicine but she was very subdued.  We got her some milk, changed, and in bed as quick as we could.  She whimpered a little bit, but was totally out quickly. The next morning she woke up when I went in to get Daniel so I brought her down, too. She laid on Matt's side of the bed for a little bit while I fed Daniel. Then snuggled up next to me when I put him back down. It wasn't long before she dozed off. I just laid there and watched her sleep. I took this picture of her next to me.  Sweet Baby Angel Kate (that's what dad calls her).  I hate that she's sick. I love that she's mine and here next to me. 

Waiting

Matt wanted to run into a bicycle shop. As soon as we got out of the car Kate saw all these rocks and was immediately squirming to get down to see them. And so here we wait. Life is good.

Gardening Girls

We decided to focus on our yard this year (instead of the garden). So Vicki and Kate have spent several afternoons planting petunias.

Daniel

On frustrating days it helps to have this little face (or his sister's) look up at me. I really like them, these little people of ours. They are sure a lot of work and such a remarkable blessing.

Yummy

I think Kate enjoyed her cinnamon roll.

Where's Daddy?

Matt had rinsed the bike trailer off in the backyard (it had cat fur... and it was driving his nose crazy) and then we had a few days of really windy storms. So he brought in the trailer so it wouldn't get blown away. Well, Kate thought that was awesome!

Her new favorite game is hide and seek. She figured out that the trailer is a fun place to hide. But it didn't work quite as well when she wanted Daddy to play hide and seek with her...

Daddy Relaxing

Matt's came home for a dinner break after being on call all day. He lay down to relax for a few minutes before he headed back. Doesn't this look relaxing...

Garbage with Grandma Kay

Kate knows a good time when she sees one, and Grandma Kay taking out the garbage is  a no-brainer-good-time. So on Wednesday mornings (and any other time Kate sees Grandma Kay walking through with garbages to be emptied),  Kate makes it known that she wants to go. This morning it happened to be raining so some SAS shoes and snow boots were required. We sure love having Grandma and Grandpa (or Papa, as Kate calls him) here!

Prayer Kisses

This is what Kate and Daniel win when they are reverent during family prayer...

 

They love it (we think)!  But then again, who wouldn't?

Life's Rough

Daniel hasn't been feeling himself today and his morning nap was in the car seat while Matt and I cleaned at the Provo condo. He was getting extra fussy this afternoon, so I lay him in our bed and a minute later he was out. Bless his little heart.