Happy Halloween!

Don't judge me.

Long overdue

I've been meaning to post about the girls for months. They are so funny. They love to play together and laugh together. They also love to torture each other; Ada smothers Kate with her love, and Kate takes Ada's toys and runs away with them, often making Ada cry. They love it when I vacuum and run around screaming and laughing. Here are some updates on each of them:




Ada

-She's becoming more independent and opinionated all the time, but I've decided that I like three better than two. She still throws tantrums, but they come less often and they're less severe. She's also becoming more obedient.
-She LOVES wearing dresses and skirts. She wants to wear them every day. She changes her clothes about four times a day. She still loves to wear her swimsuit cover-up, princess dresses, and her Halloween costume. Another favorite outfit is a small blanket tied around her with a sash around it.
-She loves preschool and Joy School. She has fun with the other kids and she is learning lots of new things. This will get a post of its own.
-Her new favorite show is Yo Gabba Gabba. We don't have Noggin, but we can watch it On Demand. This means she watches the same three episodes for a month or so at a time until they change. She sings the songs over and over again (as if they weren't annoying enough to get in my head on their own) and always wants me to play Yo Gabba Gabba with her. Although it is annoying and weird, it's addicting. I actually like it.
-Every day she wants me to role play something with her (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Yo Gabba Gabba, princesses, or anything else that comes to mind) except I am the only one talking. For example, I will be Mickey and Goofy talking to each other and she tells me what to have each of them say. This gets old really fast!
-I have written down some more gems of things Ada has said lately. She just cracks me up!

*While talking about the letter she learned about in preschool: "'Fairies' starts with 'f'. Magic fairies that set things right."
*While building a block tower: "It's a big one that makes dreams come true!"
*Ada: "Ladybugs don't have eyes." Me: "Then how do they see?" Ada: "They just put their eyes under a door or something."
*Ada: "We need to go feed a baby." Me: "Whose baby?" Ada: "Just one in a town called 'The Artist States'.





Kate

-Her vocabulary is taking off. She says new words every day. Some words that she says a lot are daddy, mommy, Ada, Abby, Ella, Minnie, Elmo, hi, bye, light, cheese, kitty, and ball. She has recently started pointing to everything and saying either "sat?", "uh-sat?", or "oo-sat?" She's either asking, "What's that?" or "Who's that?", depending on what she's pointing to. And Tyler swears that once she picked up a pair of Ada's underwear and said, "Ada diape!".
-When we ask her questions, she shakes her head and says, "Uh-uh", even if the answer is yes. I once told her to say "yeah" instead and she emphatically said that for the the next few minutes.
-She is a climber. She climbs onto the coffee table and dances around on it. She climbs onto Ada's stool in the bathroom and goes through the drawers. She climbs on the little chairs we have downstairs. This means she has fallen down a lot, but that doesn't detract her from doing it again and again!
-She's a picky eater. She rarely drinks milk. Her favorite foods are fruit snacks and the marshmallows from Lucky Charms.
-She loves her mommy. Tyler and I left town for over a week and she was passed from relative to relative the whole time. She did well, but she missed me a lot! She has been SO clingy since I've been home.
-She wakes up around 6:30 every morning (she woke up at 4:00 one day last week). Bad news for me. This is bad, but I usually put her in her high chair and turn on a show so I can get a little more sleep.
-She loves to play with the toilet. Disgusting. If we leave the door open, she'll go in and either repeatedly flush the toilet or lift up the lid and put her hands in the water. It is bad news!
-We didn't teach her this, but for the last several months every time she sees letters she will say, "A, E, E, A!" or some combination of those two letters. It's very cute.
-Although Kate is not yet 20 pounds (19.2), we put her in a forward-facing car seat at 15 months. She loves it. Every time we leave somewhere, she gets a big smile and says "WEEEEEE!"

Summer camp and swimming; Amusement parks and anniversaries

I don't have pictures for this, but Ada went to a week-long summer camp in August. A friend in the ward did it and Ada loved it! She learned about something different every day and made lots of crafts. She had fun being away with her friends, and I had fun taking a break from her.

We pulled out the cheap little pool a lot this summer. One day we'll have to upgrade.







Tyler's work has a Lagoon Day every year where you get free passes for the whole family and a free dinner. At the dinner they have a drawing for some pretty sweet prizes. Last year Tyler won a Nintendo DS, but this year he came away empty-handed. The girls and I swam at Lagoon-A-Beach with Jordan and Morgan, and they even watched the girls for a while so Tyler and I could go on some rides. Ada loves Lagoon. I'm glad we can go for free once a year, because I don't love that place like I used to.

Ada loved the bumper cars, but all she could do was drive in circles


On the merry-go-round with Morgan's sister Katie. We had to wait a whole turn just so Ada could ride on that stinkin' pink pig.


Somebody had a meltdown...



I won two stuffed animals in one game of darts


Tyler wasn't so lucky playing Spill the Milk


Kate loves her new toy



Cutest thing ever to see them ride together on this


Finally, Tyler and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on July 31. Tyler's mom was so nice to take the kids for a night. We got a couples massage (highly recommended), ate at Olive Garden, and rented 'He's Just Not That Into You'. I kind of liked it, Tyler not so much. The best part was sleeping in and getting bagels for breakfast. Such a good weekend!

Thus concludes our crazy summer. Phew.

Parties and parades; Family reunions and fireworks

Tyler's mom threw a Fancy Nancy party for all the girls. It was fun to dress up and eat fancy things.

Rachelle and Shelby


The food


Ada at the little girls' table


Ms. Nancy herself!


The big girls' table





So if you know me, you should know that I don't enjoy parades. Never have. Tyler took Ada up to the Layton parade on the 4th, and Kate and I stayed home and slept.





Every summer, Tyler's dad's family gets together for a reunion. This year we went to a church in Bountiful. There were tons of activities and games for kids and big people alike, as well as a big lunch. This is the only picture I have, but I had to document the fact that Tyler had a broom and was actually sweeping. I like this shot of him too. :)



I don't have any fireworks pictures, but on the night of July 3rd my family all met up at Eaglewood Golf Course to watch fireworks. We think this might become a tradition since it's in our home town. I don't think we watched any other fireworks except for the grocery store kind from the front porch!

Cabins and camping

An acquaintance of my dad's invited our family to stay up at his cabin for a weekend. It was fun to get away and spend time together.

Ada and Ella in their "bras" and panties


Kate is just cute



Putting on a show in their little sisters' dresses



My mother refused to join us for a four-generation picture






We decided to try our hand at camping and went to the ward campout. Ada slept very well in her new princess sleeping bag. Kate...didn't sleep so well. She woke up around 5:00 and didn't want to go back to sleep. That was why we decided not to join Tyler and Ada at Echo. I guess Kate wakes up quite often in the 5:00 hour at home, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Barbecues and boating

It wouldn't be summer without barbecues, eh? I got sick of burgers by the end.



We also went boating several times at Willard Bay. Tyler and Ada camped at Echo and did some boating there as well. I water-skied once and went on the tube once. Good times.

Birthdays and baseball games

There are SO many summer birthdays in our families: Tyler's mom, two of his sisters, me, Ada, Kate, Tyler, my dad, a brother-in-law, three nieces, and a nephew. We also celebrated my grandpa's 90th birthday. Here are random pictures from the various celebrations:

A bounce house for Keaton's party


Ella's family and friend parties


Tyler's a little too excited to blow out the candles

A horse party for Ellie's birthday






While all my siblings were in town for the wedding, we decided to throw a surprise 60th birthday for my dad. After much debate, we opted for a Bee's game over a nice restaurant. We got a suite with dinner and a cake. We decided to keep the secret from my mom too so there wouldn't be any slip-ups. They were very surprised. My dad kept saying, "I'm so glad Angie and Hyrum are here." The game was on Scott's birthday (my dad's b-day was a week later, but everyone was leaving before that), so we got my dad's and Scott's names on the scoreboard. Right after that, my name magically appeared on the board. I started getting excited because I thought I won something, but I was just being recognized for renting a suite. Funny stuff! The only one missing was Neal, but he surprised us by showing up for the wedding. He had just started his medical residency, so it was difficult for him to leave. I was so excited to see him in the temple though!







Kate and Sally were afraid of the bee

Weddings and water parks

My baby sister Abby got married on July 22 (Ada's birthday). My parents are officially empty-nesters. Here are some pictures from the festivities:

Waiting outside the temple:

I just can't contain my excitement


Ella and Ada

The happy couple

Ada admiring Abby's bride dress


The luncheon:


Before the reception:
The curly girls





Abby with all her nieces

Ada, Hyrum, Angie, and Kate

Emily, Sally, and Neal




Spencer, Korrin, Ella, and Grace




At the reception (JSMB):



Me, cousin Rachel, Grandma Bateman, Amy, and Ang


A few days after the wedding we went to Raging Waters with Ang & Hy. So much fun!

In a nutshell

Now that summer is officially over, I need to blog about it before I forget something. It's been the busiest summer we've ever had, but we've had lots of fun. In no particular order, we've enjoyed weddings and water parks; birthdays and baseball games; barbecues and boating; cabins and camping; parties and parades; family reunions and fireworks; summer camp and swimming; amusement parks and anniversaries. In an effort to keep this from being the longest post ever, I'll break these up into several smaller posts. This post will only include this great picture of my siblings and me. I love this picture because we are rarely all together these days.

Spencer, Angie, shorty in the middle, Emily, and Abby

Thirty-three

The number of times (at least...I kind of lost track) that Ada proclaimed, "I wanna play Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" yesterday. It's a daily ritual. She'll be playing with princesses and say it. She'll be coloring and say it. She'll be watching Super Why and say it. If I have to talk like Goofy or Mickey one more time, I think I'll hurl.