Annika looking gorgeous

A while ago I told Annika she was something positive, I can't remember exactly the word I used. She replied, "Me not ______. Me just gorgeous." True, true Annika. You really are gorgeous!

She lets me curl her hair every Sunday. So at least once a week her clothes match and her hair looks really nice. She still pulls out all bows, but her hair really does look pretty all curled around her face.
She was upset when I wouldn't let her take the pictures.

Annika pulled the cushions off the couch and made a bed. She is yawning here.

Wheat disaster

Last Sunday I was getting some more wheat from the basement (we have a wheat grinder and I was making pancakes and we were out of flour) and I tripped on the stairs on the way up. I had this huge container of wheat in my hands and it spilled a ton of wheat. The worst part was that there are cracks on the side of the stairs and I listened to the sound of many little grains of wheat falling behind the many boxes and bins we have stored under the basement stairs. Of course, you can't just leave it there because that's just asking for mice, and while we have cats...it still needed to be cleaned up. I got the wheat off the stairs and got out my mother's rainbow vaccuum looking at the huge job of taking out all the boxes and cleaning in, around, and behind them. My mom came down and told me to just not worry about it until tomorrow. I admit I readily found that an excellent idea. So Monday, I set to work getting all the boxes out. It was actually really fun and the kids liked opening the boxes and seeing what was inside. I'm sure I don't need anything in them, but all the same I only got rid of one box worth of contents and some of that just became play things for the kids. Here are some of the pictures from Monday:

This is a doll that my Grammy made me and I had as a child. Annika is warming the baby up with a sock full of rice that we would microwave and take with us on winter runs.

Here is the first little needlework thing I made (or one of the first). I've saved it, but really, do I ever want to display it anywhere? No. Will my kids care? Not for more than about two minutes after I show it to them and a picture will suffice.

Here is a hat I got at Carlsbad Caverns as a child. I really liked the trip and the cave and I loved this hat. I can hardly believe my mother allowed me to buy it (or bought it for me--can't remember which) since we are the type of family that just does not buy things from gift stores. I was a good 80's child and loved all things bright, colorful, sparkly, and festive. I still do. Good thing the 80's are coming back. :) Yes, I think this hat can go. But it is lovely, isn't it? :)

This is not a result of cleaning out the basement, but this is Caleb playing tinker toys. One of his favorite pastimes.

This is my wonderful, amazing, and I think perfect mother who is my strength and my example.

Annika playing in the boxes.

It feels good to get rid of things. Some day I will go through my scrapbook box and through all my photos. I just looked at one photo album and it was so fun. I thought about tossing my yearbooks, but hung onto them. When my kids are out of school (or no longer care) I will toss them. We have so much stuff! Someday I will downsize more. It's fun to go through stuff and it's fun to let go of stuff. It wasn't such a bad thing afterall to dump all that wheat.

Also this week I spilled rice and dropped an egg carton...yeah...not such a good week in the food department...

Beautiful Day

I want to record a really neat and special night before I forget details. I want to remember this night and how I felt. This morning there was a 5k run to raise money for a guy who has brain cancer. I took the kids down to the football field but it turned out the race didn't start for an hour after we got there. The kids were good and we mostly sat and watched people come in. Caleb got a pancake breakfast (Annika had eaten already). We did pretty well and were the first stroller to finish. :) I would like to run a mile in 6 minutes and a 5k in 20 or 21 at some point. We've got a ways to go for that one and came in 7 minutes after the first person, but still it was really fun and it felt so good! And I LOVE, love, love the BOB stroller.

After the race there was a women's conference for our stake and my mom stayed home and watched Annika so I could go. I sent Caleb over to my friend's house and he was so excited to go over there. I didn't want to send Annika too because I thought that would be more work for my friend, where Caleb would just play all afternoon. Sarah and Brooks were so impressed with Caleb! He was so cheerful and played so well for the 5 or so hours that he was over there. They just kept telling me what a great kid he was and how impressed they were with him. They all had a really fun time.

Anyway, Caleb was just in the most amazing mood today. Sarah gave us little baggies of chocolate chips as we left her house and Caleb wanted me to hook his up to his bike handles. It was such a good idea and we poked a hole through the baggie and he had his own little snack on his handle bars as we rode home. Super cute. When we got home the kids still wanted to play outside (it's finally spring and warm here!!) and Annika likes to get what we call 'bird berries' (that's so the kids know that they are only for the birds and not for people to eat!) and squish them. They have picked all of what was left of last year's berries that are within Annika's reach and so Caleb climbed around the porch railing and was picking the berries for Annika to squish. It was just such a neat little way that they were interacting.

Then this evening as we were sitting down for scriptures and prayer there was just such a neat spirit in the room. Caleb wanted to read (he just repeats it) a scripture and there was no fighting or whining about who did what or which one (which there often is). We were reading Isaiah and Caleb liked his scripture: "And I did it because I knew that thou are obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass." I think he liked the big and interesting words and the funny description of a brass brow--we explained what it meant. Then it was time for prayer and again, no whining, complete cooperation, the kids were sitting on their little chairs and sat so reverently during a fairly long prayer. The Spirit of the Lord was so strong in the room. Afterwards my mom and I thanked Caleb and Annika for being so reverent. I asked Caleb how he felt during the prayer and he said he felt good. I told him that he was feeling the Spirit and that the Spirit helps us feel peace and good inside. He was asking for a drink of water and when I came back with his drink he told me "it made me feel warm." I asked, "what made you feel warm?" and he responded, "the Spirit makes me feel warm inside." Then Annika started talking about Heavenly Father and how Heavenly Father carries us. I'm not sure where she got that idea but I agree. I know that Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, carry us through our hard times. They also both said that Heavenly Father keeps us safe. There was such a spirit of peace and love in the room. I want to keep it that way forever. I want to do what I need to do so that I do not bring a spirit of negativity or contention or laziness or anything bad. I don't want to break the magical spell--no it's not a magical spell, it's just the spirit of the Lord, it's peace and love, and I want it to stay. Then we played around for about a half an hour and the kids were being so funny. Annika crawled into Caleb's bed and wanted him to come to bed with her. Then at another point we got on the top bunk, turned the lights off and played with a flashlight. The kids were so happy! I was so happy! My mom was happy! There was just joy. It was so wonderful. Here are some super cute pictures of them playing in Caleb's bed:

Eclectic pictures from the last couple months

Annika learned how to wash her hands by herself a few months ago. She was so proud of herself! However, she could turn the water on but not off. You'll notice in the video of Caleb thanking Grandma Evie for the Star Wars card that I have to go turn the water off for Annika.

This must have been taken a while ago because that outfit doesn't fit Annika anymore. But here they are with their drinks of water before bedtime.

Caleb loves to wear different hats for playing. He is always wearing helmets for different activities and pretending all sorts of things with his helmets.

This was also awhile ago. Annika climbed up on the window sill herself and was again, very proud of herself.

I am almost amazed at how much I took these kids out in this stoller this winter. We went in very cold weather. The kids were amazing troopers.

My little helper

Annika is always willing and ready to help clean up. Caleb on the other hand could take till 2 am cleaning up one containers worth of Duplos. Sometimes Caleb responses to silliness (Annika not so much) so I went into the room and exclaimed that the room was scary there were so many toys out. I was trying to be silly and get Caleb to come help. Instead, Caleb wasn't impressed or intrigued and Annika went in and started cleaning them up. I went in to tell her thank you and she told me she was cleaning them up so I wouldn't be scared. What a sweetheart!!

Annika's Birthday

Sweet, happy, intelligent little Annika turned two on March 7th. She's been acting two for some time, so it wasn't one of those I-can't-believe-she's-2 feelings. Andy put together a party and invited his cousins and my sister and me to his Aunt Marie's. It was quite the turn out and I was amazed at how well all the kids seemed to do. Marie did pretty well too considering how many people, big and little, were stuffed into her living room. Caleb and Annika played well with their second cousins and Marie is super good with kids and had lots of little activities for them. It was really fun.

Sorry, a bunch of these are redundant and not cropped very well. But here they are! :)

I wanted to write a post about all the cute things she does and I've thought about it in my head but now that I'm writing this post I can't think of them. I will start to write them down and make an addendum to this post later. But here are a few:

-Lately she's into protecting and comforting and she'll come up and hug me and tell me she's keeping me safe. Especially if Caleb's acting a little crazy or if we trip or something.

-She's very assertive about what she wants: 'Me want ___. Me no want ____"

-She loves to draw with sidewalk chalk

-She knows she's pretty, smart, and loved. May she always keep that attitude.

-She gets really naughty when she's tired.

-She loves to help and is always trying to help clean, set the table, carry things, find things (she knows where everything is!!), and will proudly proclaim, "Me helping" or "Me cleaning"

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