Easter Post the Second

Annie joined in the friendly family game of croquet. Fortunately nobody was injured, and Annie avoided any of the real violence.
What? That's not how your family plays?! My little brother Cody was at one point yelling, "Defense! Defense!" and practically body checking people away from his ball.

Everyone figured it was safer for Ellie to walk around with a plastic golf club that the croquet mallet.

Annie actually decided she likes the lighter club and balls as well.

Strike a pose.
Did I ever mention that at the ages of 8 and 6, my sister Star and I were on the cover of a Hawaiian golf magazine? Apparently it's in the blood. (I need to track down that picture and scan it in and get it on the blog).

Star and Lacy.

Greg and I watching the action from the sidelines, since we decided for my safety and the safety of the baby, it'd be best to avoid any full contact lawn sports with my siblings this Easter.

Ellie playing with my Uncle Karl.
For those of you who don't know -- my Mom's baby brother, Karl, was born with cerebral palsy. He's blind and in a wheelchair, and one of my family's most beloved members. My girls do so well with him, and it never ceases to amaze me how much he 'normalizes' certain disabilities for my children. I've watched other kids, less familiar with someone who looks, talks and acts so differently, pull away from my Uncle. Even run away. But, my girls are usually quite comfortable with him, and are cute to watch run around, ducking and weaving between all the wheelchairs in the home he lives in now. And crawling on their poor Uncle when he's out of his chair and lying on the floor at family parties. They give him hugs and hold his hand and give him kisses when they see him. He adores them too -- happy to just touch their little hands and little feet. He asks for "Baby Annie" and "Baby Ellie" as soon as he knows they're coming. I've always had a very close relationship with him -- in fact, he was the one who informed his parents I was getting married, as right around the time Greg proposed, Karl kept singing "Here Comes the Bride" and saying "Hilary" over and over again, before we'd even had the chance to call and tell them the good news! (Although, upon marrying Greg I was totally usurped -- Uncle Karl LOVES Greg more than I can even express, and no longer asks for me but for Greg when he finds out we're coming over.) I can't imagine raising my kids without such first hand experiences with Karl and his friends.

Karl moved out of my grandparent's home and into a live-in facility in just the last few years. Because of this, we don't see him quite as often as we used to. Which means he's even more excited to see the girls, but sometimes Ellie can be a bit apprehensive right at first -- like when he was giving her Eskimo kisses in the video below (but from the picture above, you can see that she can sweetly look him in the eyes and smile, something that not all adults can do.)

There are a lot of long standing games and jokes between Karl and various members of the family. Because Karl mentally isn't much beyond where Annie and Ellie are, these games are typically silly, simple and crack him up to no end. One of his all time favorites is untying people's shoes. When he was younger, he spent a lot more time on the floor, so whenever anyone would stand by him, he'd grab their shoe laces and yank 'em loose and laugh uproariously. He spends more time at family things in his wheelchair now that he's older (and it's more of a feat to lift him in and out of his chair repeatedly), so this game now requires someone to nonchalantly place their foot up on the armrest of his chair, tip him off that the shoe is there (as he's blind and all), and goad him into untying it by repeatedly 'warning' him to not untie the shoe.) Greg has mastered this, and has limitless patience for this game, which is one of the reasons Greg tops Karl's 'favorite person list'.


Here's Annie on an Easter Egg hunt held in my parent's basement Sunday afternoon.

Ellie and Daddy during the Easter Egg hunt.

Ellie examining her bountiful basket.

Annie asked Aunt Star to tie her bow for her on her dress -- this is what happened:

Grandma & Grandpa gave each of the girls their own baseball set -- it was Annie's first time ever playing tee ball, and we were all pretty surprised how well she took to it!

The girls had so much fun this weekend, and were pretty spoiled by all their grandparents. There's new toys, books, stuffed animals and lots of goodies.

Interesting enough though, if you really wanna look at who racked up the most loot this weekend -- check out what the Easter Bunny, aka: my Mom, gave our youngest and still unborn child for Easter:

The 27 week gestational aged baby scored.

Who's Got the Power?

Saturday morning, my parents came by to see what the Easter Bunny had brought the girls in their Easter baskets. Annie invited them downstairs to see her 'clean' playroom, where Annie and Grandpa became engaged in an epic battle.

We took a lot of video, and this may not be amusing to anyone that wasn't there, but Greg and I cannot watch this without tears streaming down our faces at the antics of our all powerful preschooler.

Highlights: When Annie informs Grandpa that Ellie couldn't hold onto her whale because she "has baby hands", unlike Annie who has bigger hands and will never let go of her dolphin.
"I have Fifty Hundred power!" To which my Dad responds, "You do math like your Dad!"


"1-2-3 gallup!" "Magic DOLPHIN!" "I did it!"


"I have my magic gown on, and Ellie!" As Ellie twirls on and off screen. "Ellie, you should have the MAGIC KILLER WHALE!"


"I have all the power!" Grandma refusing to tickle Annie, despite, Grandpa's threat of not doing the gardens this year if she didn't switch allegiance.
"NO! You will tickle HIM Grandma!" Annie demands. She commands her Dad to come, Greg gets referred to as her minion, but she insists he has actual power as well, "He has ten power! Just like I have FORTY POUNDS. Pire? Power . . ."
Annie refusing to get Grandpa a magic gown of his own, as he can't fit in any.

"I have the veil of the dolphin."
"I have the ring of the princess!"
"I have the socks of the dwarves."
"I have all the magic power with my magic scarf."
"I have . . . um, I don't have my wedding ring . . . " Grandma pipes in, "You do have some pretty powerful reading glasses in your pocket." He finishes, "I have the power of Horizon!" (He meant Verizon -- he's not the one who pays the phone bill).

You just can't beat a girl with an all powerful Dolphin (whose main power was keeping her from getting tickled by the evil Grandpa) and a magic ball gown. (And a magic bracelet, a magic crown, magic high heels, a magic wand, a magic scarf . . . all while repeatedly shouting, "I have ALL THE POWER!")

The Things They Say

Annie was playing Chutes and Ladders with Uncle Cody and his girlfriend, Taylor, the other day. Annie possesses a nearly supernatural ability to kick everyone's trash at this and Candy Land. I think it's making her a little smug.
Only about a third of the way through the game, Annie was leading. Per usual. After spinning yet another six, she looked up at Cody, a mixture of sweet and a bit cocky, and said, "Well, it seems like I'm going to win . . ."

~~~

Annie, when she was out with Aunt Star, heard Star's cell phone beep. "What's that?" Star asked.
"I don't know," Annie responded, "but is sounds very similar to my Mom's phone."
"Similar, huh?" my sister asked, amused by her three year old niece's vocabulary.
"Yes, it is very similar sounding."
Star called me, laughing, to tell me about the exchange. I told her I was glad she got to hear Annie's language skills in action, so she won't doubt the veracity of my Annie tales in the future!

~~~

Annie isn't the only one who amuses us with things she says. Today Ellie was playing with Grandma Ruth, and got kind of upset with how Grandma had helped her get a toy out of the toy box or something and grunted or in some other way showed her displeasure. Grandma asked, "I'm sorry, did Grandma mess up?" Ellie sighed and responded very decidedly, "Yeah." Ellie sure keeps people in their place.
That is so one you had to be there for, but it was really funny.

~~~

Edited to add: My sister, Star, just posted on her blog about her trip with Annie to see the Disney Princesses on Ice show. There were a few things Annie and her talked about that just seemed to fit in with this post:

• Annie spent the whole drive home chattering on about the 'mean people' in the show. And how she liked Gaston, but didn't like the things he did.

• Star gave Annie her first ever Hi-C drink, to which Annie enthusiastically replied that she loved it and it tasted just like pink.

• Star also wrote about the drive there: "Annie chattered away the entire drive about her sister, her school, her friends . . . and one point she ranked her friends by height, age and how nice they were. It was fascinating to learn the inner workings of her preschool network."

Happy Birthday Uncle David!

It seems every year around Uncle David's birthday, we all head out to the zoo together! So, here's some great pictures of David with the girls the last few years . . . .

David and Ladybug Annie in 2007.

Annie and David in the Zoo playground, 2007.

Ellie and Uncle David, 2008, in front of the giraffe enclosure. (Sad, pathetic giraffe enclosure.)

David and the Happiest Pumpkin in the World! 2008

Slightly less enthusiastic looking pumpkin, Annie & Uncle David 2008

This year at the zoo with Ellie and Annie, measuring up to the gorillas.

Uncle David's best gorilla impression, 2009.

Cutest picture in recent memory of Annie and Uncle David. 2009.

Ellie and Uncle David scoping out the meerkats. 2009.

David is an awesome Uncle, and loves making time for my girls whenever possible. He's a fun brother in law, and according to Talina, the best, most amazing, loving, remarkable, blah, blah, blah, husband. But, she may be a bit biased. :-) He's a ruthless Sheriff, who'll randomly shoot whomever he pleases. He's a worthy Hand and Foot partner, even helping me bring down the evil reign of Talina, the now fallen Queen of Hand and Foot. He was the first person to ever beat me at Settlers of Catan. I don't know if this makes me admire him more, or makes me a bit bitter. Jury's still out, I guess.

David, you're a perfect addition to the family. Even if you apparently do wear BYU paraphenialia every single time we go to the zoo!

Happy Birthday!

Where's Annie?

So, we were playing 'Hide and Go Seek' as a family at (well, past) bedtime last night. First Annie and I hid under a blanket (on the bed), and giggled the entire time Daddy and Ellie 'searched' for us. Then Annie insisted that Daddy leave the room and count to 10 while we hid again. She quickly tried to summon me back under the blanket (on the bed again) to hide, but I had a slightly better idea. I stuck her on the top of our 7 foot armoire and told her to curl up and duck down.
Greg came in and started looking for her. She, of course, couldn't help but giggle as he called her name, and I think he was a bit surprised when he turned around and looked up to see her hiding . . . especially since I'm the one who's usually getting after him for throwing the girls up to high in the air, and here I've left our 3 year old to fend for herself on our tallest piece of furniture. Annie thought it was hilarious, and Ellie just kept pointing emphatically up towards Annie in an attempt to point her out to their Dad.

Ellie, not quite sure why her Mom and Dad haven't figured out her sister's whereabouts yet and just rescued her already . . .

Annie curled up and hiding.

We found her! :-)

Then, just for good measure, here's a few more pictures. Just to document the rest of the evening -- 'cause the kids were being particularly cute (probably 'cause we'd gotten them all riled up by crazy games of hide and seek well after bedtime . . .)

Ellie has gotten into the habit of letting us know when it's time to pray . . . either at bedtime or when we put her in her high chair, she adorably folds her arms and smiles at the rest of us expectantly . . .

The adorableness of the cooperative praying one year old lasts for approximately 10 seconds or less though, then she's bored and on to a new activity. In this case, while the rest of the family was saying nightly prayers, Ellie was hoping off Greg's lap, crawling across my bed, and putting on a hat . . . which is exactly how we found her when we all said "Amen" and looked up again.

Annie found this hilarious, and immediately ran into her own room to grab another hat, so they could be twins.

Game Night

I've mentioned that my family loves to get together to play games. So, with it being my birthday and all, several members of my family showed up to play cards. Tonight it was 'Hand and Foot'. It was silly for the rest of us to even try to play the game with my sister Talina there, since it's long been established that she sold her soul to the Hand and Foot devil and hasn't lost a game in so long that none of us can remember such a thing happening.

Tonight it almost looked like her deal with the devil had lapsed though, with Greg and my Dad kicking some major butt for most of the game. In fact, they were within 25 points of winning after the fourth hand (you need 15,000 . . . it's the closest I've ever seen anyone get without winning the game), so we had to play another hand. Which is when Talina's card-foo was whipped out and the stars aligned and she was basically dealt a perfect hand and her and David managed to come back from a 3,000 deficit to win the game. She sucks. (I unfortunately seemed to have made my dark deal for the game "Settlers of Catan", which I have never lost. But, my family rarely plays it, so that amazing winning streak hasn't helped me show off my Settlers superiority with my own family. Talina has a much more useful winning streak in place, as "Hand and Foot" is a family favorite.)

My Mom and I were the third team playing. We lost. Big. A lot. Possibly as much as anyone we've ever seen lose this game . . . and we've been playing it for decades. After the first hand we were a MINUS 215 points. It's shocking how poorly we did. You think with it being my birthday and all, we'd have had some luck, or at least people would've been nicer to us, letting us play through our hand before 'going out' and ending the round before Mom & I had been able to accomplish anything. Every single time. I'm still reeling by the sheer suckyness of our hands, our luck, our play . . . all of it. For anyone who's ever played it . . . my Mom got caught with her foot Every. Single. Hand. That's amazing. I didn't even think it was possible to suck that much. And yet we did.

I think I'm suggesting "Settlers of Catan" for next week's family game night. :-)

More New Years Eve Video

Annie and her Uncles playing the Wii on New Years Eve . . . Annie's figured out more and more when she is and is not actually controlling the game. Good ol' days was when we could hand her a TI-85 calculator while the boys were playing the Wii and she happily 'played' along for a half hour. She's gettin' wise to it now though . . .

New Years in Pictures

My family is close. Like, ridiculously close. Despite our nearly trying to kill each other on a daily basis all through growing up, my sisters and I grew up to be the best of friends. Cody, even though we live 20+ minutes away now, comes at least once a week to play with Annie (I have the play-doh all over my kitchen floor right now to prove it.) My family also love games; card games, party games, memory games, board games, video games, drinking games (just kidding). And we will find any excuse to get together and play them. Holidays, birthdays, Saturdays, Sundays, days where people got off work a little early. Holidays are some of our favorites. My sisters and I were discussing this around New Years. Did any of us have plans to go hang out with friends? Nope. (Losers.) Sure we all thought about going to a friend's party, but all of us ended up right where we almost always do on holidays, together.
I think I just always assumed that all families got together on all holidays (Fourth of July, Memorial Day, National Aardvark Day), not just the major ones; and had deep seated traditions for each and everyone of those holidays. I was kinda shocked when I got married and had my first holiday freak out of "Which family are we going to get together with?!" and my husband stared at me like I was crazy and was like, "My parents go out with their friends, and I haven't seen my siblings on this holidays since we were 12." Oh. (As I was secretly thinking, "Cool! Now I only have to split up the 'big' holidays!" Then it kinda made me feel like a loser that it had never even crossed my mind to hang out with friends on the holiday, but I got over it, 'cause we had a new Cranium game to break in at my parents house.
All of the above rambling leads to this New Years Eve, where (now that I'm a grown up and all) for the first time I hosted the New Years bash at my own house. It was a success . . . as is measured by the fact we had about 5 times too much food, we were all up at midnight (minus Ellie and Jovanny, but hey, they're 7 months old), and we broke in a new game that involved Greg and Cody throwing small balls at each other from over their shoulders and catching them in tiny cups. And Greg trying to hum, "This is How You Remind Me." And me making the funniest joke in human history ever told about my grandfather. And Star yelling at Cody and Greg for not getting 'Monkey Wrench' from her obviously master sculpted clay. And as an added bonus, my adorable two year old stayed up and ridiculously happy 'til way past midnight. It was even a success after Annie nearly received a concussion from being clocked in the head with a Wii controller by an overly enthusiastic bowler. I'm not saying who. (Dad). I ate, I sang, I played games that are probably best reserved for very drunk people, and in my sober state still laughed until my stomach hurt. Is it any wonder I keep ending up at parties with these people year after year?!

We had to whip out the especially big card table . . .

Jovanny doing what most of us were thinking about doing around 10:45PM, before we got our second wind.

See, who knew playing "Five Crowns" could be so funny. Except for Talina, who apparently takes her discarding VERY seriously.

Annie and Cody in a heated game of "Guess Who?" She seriously kicks our trash. She's good.

Annie setting up for another round . . .

Around 11:30 the party dissolved into a giant pile of people watching the movie "Elf" and waiting for the countdown.

We woke Jovanny up at one point.

Annie and Talina pretending to sleep. This kid was so wired though, there was no chance of her falling asleep with everyone still there.

Annie apparently heard stories about the drunk drivers everyone worries about when they leave a New Years Eve party . . . someone needed to remind Annie we were perfectly safe (as was Baby Bear) since we hosted.
Shortly after this, we had the countdown, Annie ran around the room and kissed pretty much every single person, and then Annie and I went outside where she cried out, "Happy New Years!!" at the top of her little lungs. To which our neighbors waved and responded in kind. There were also more illegal fireworks over our town than I would've ever expected. Annie thought this was possibly even cooler than Santa Claus coming.

The next day, we were able to get together with Greg's brother and sister-in-law, who came into town, as well as their two boys, Connor and Nathan. These are our two girls only cousins. Annie and Connor are about 5 months apart (Annie's older), and Ellie is eight weeks older than Nathan. We don't get to see them all that often, since Chris is half way through law school at Notre Dame, and Indiana isn't anywhere near close enough for them to come for Sunday dinners.

Here's Annie showing off her new kitchen to Connor. What you don't see here are the several meltdowns my very tired two year old had during this exchange. Poor Connor couldn't do anything right, and kept just staring at Annie like, "What is wrong with her, she keeps spontaneously bursting into tears anytime I touch anything!"

Here's Ellie with her cousin counterpart. I love how Nathan is like, "Look at me, I'm the happy baby who loves, loves, loves being on my tummy, more than anything else in the entire world!" (his Mom informed me that isn't usually the case), and Ellie looks like she's pretty convinced she's the most picked on baby ever.

"Here Mom, the phone's for you."

Once off her stomach, and happily chewing stuff, Ellie was cool. Plus, she found a shared passion with her cousin, sticking stuff in their mouths.

"Look, we have the exact same hair style!"

They kinda look alike, don't they? You don't even really notice the 5 lb. weight difference between the two.

And lastly, I had to throw in this picture . . . this is my family watching Utah play in the bowl game tonight. Go Utes! Annie marched around the house singing, "Go Utah! Go Utes! Go you guys!" (And, see how thrilled Ellie is by the first quarter! She really seems to 'get' football. She's probably a prodigy.)

Little Competitor

Annie yelling to her Uncle Cody during a heated game of air hockey on Thanksgiving . . . "Can you handle this?!"
Remember, this kid is two and a half . . . where does a two year old even pick up that phrase and know how to use it in an appropriate context? Probably Uncle Cody, actually.

It's Official . . . No More Hanging Out With Family

While playing Memory, matching cute little animal playing cards, Annie would find a match and triumphantly shout, "Dang it! Beer it up!" Yep, Annie's no longer allowed to hang out with anyone who's blood related to me. Bad influences. Every last one of ya! :-)

Game On!

We regularly get together and play games with my family. We're all currently obsessed with a card game called BANG! (thanks to Jamo & Sarah) It's basically a game of Outlaws, Renegades & Sheriff's wiping each other out with 'Bang' cards and restoring their life with 'Beer' cards. It makes for interesting conversation as you play, whether we're mocking my Mom, the perpetually drunk Sheriff, or commending Talina for buying a round of whiskey for the table. Annie always has to be in on the action. So, we set her up at the head of the table with her own deck of cards ("Choose the Right" cards), and she randomly participates by yelling "BANG!" and chucking a 'Lehi' card at Uncle Cody (Literally, she throws the card at the person she's shooting . . . which makes sense, I guess.) Or she'll throw down a 'Helaman' card and say she needs a beer. If you think this sounds sacrilegious, wait 'til you hear about chess! Today she cracked us all up though when she said, "Dang it! Beer it up!" That's what we get for letting her hang out around Uncle Cody.

My Dad decided it was high time Annie learned to play chess. ("Something her Dad should have taught her months ago," he commented.) So, setting up his "Lord of the Rings" chess set, he started explaining the pieces to Annie. Annie turned Gandolf the wizard around so she could see him and said excitedly, "Look! A Jesus!" She also found a King, a Queen, a 'Missionary' and a 'Mommy' (Legalos . . . I don't know how to take that . . . at least he's fairly effeminate. And the 'Missionary' thing came from their being two of them, and she sees a lot of Elder's since her Dad is Ward Mission Leader,) She then found the 'Monkey' guys, and the (as she called them), 'Bad Monkey' guys. At first she wasn't getting the game. She'd use her turn to rotate a single piece towards her so she could see it's face, then it was Grandpa's turn. Then, I showed her how to actually move the piece to a NEW square on her turn. On the next turn I showed her how to take her piece and knock Grandpa's piece over and replace it with her own. She was pretty excited by this, how Grandpa's piece got placed back into the box. So on her next turn she just grabbed one of Grandpa's pieces and set it back into the box. Best not to waste any time. I don't know if it was her superior strategy, playing skills or better pieces, but she whipped Grandpa at the game. She was destined to win though. 'Cause really, if Jesus can't take out a bad monkey, who can?