Our Girls

When I was pregnant with Katelyn, many people expressed that I was "in for it!"  "Girls are so hard!" they said.  "You will have wished you had a boy!" My mom, having raised 4 girls and a boy, said not to listen to them, but the sentiment came from all directions.  

Then I had this little bundle of pink.  Katelyn Jo, my sweetheart, made me a mother.  She had blond hair and a little round face.  She stole my heart from the minute she was born.  

And every sweet girly thing she has done since has debunked every comment made by people who lamented that my first baby was a girl.  I love it!  I love dress up, dancing, playing pretend and princesses.  I can't get enough of, " Mom, when I grow up and marry daddy..." and picking clovers for her wedding on the way out of church.  She has always been mindful of others feelings and loves to pay others compliments.  She is a wonderful, dream-filled, affectionate girl.  I love everything about her!

Then we found out we were pregnant again.  I felt like I was going to have another girl, and Cara confirmed it at a 14 week ultrasound.  I was so excited for Katelyn to be a sister and to have a sister.  But, as with most moms with their second child, I wasn't sure how I could love another baby as much as I loved Katelyn.   

Then our sweet little Elyse Mae arrived and brought into our home and hearts a peace that I didn't know we needed.      

Elyse is a precious addition to our family.  From the time she came home, our world was changed.  Everything she did was adorable, funny and memorable.  Even Katelyn would stop what she was doing to pay her attention. As she grew, we wondered what we did without her spark in our family.  She is funny and loves to entertain us with jokes and silliness.  She is bright, independent and snuggley.  And with our second daughter, our hearts grew exponentially!   

  

So on this day before our love grows again, and we add a son to our family, I celebrate having my two girls! They have taught me more than I'll ever be able to teach them. And whatever changes this new addition brings, we welcome it!  We look forward to cars, trains, trucks and dirt.  We need a few snake and snails and puppy dog tails.  And we are so excited for this amazing chance to have our hearts grow again!    

A Bit of Silliness

At church...
-Katelyn's primary leader approached me after church to tell me that she was teaching sharing time about the Lord answering prayers.  She asked the primary kids if they had had their prayers answered.  Katelyn raised her hand and responded, "One time when I was swimming in the ocean, the water started getting deeper and deeper, then a storm came and I got eaten by a shark. Then I prayed and the shark spit me out.  Heavenly Father answered my prayer!"
- When I told her that in primary she needed to tell true stories that really happen, she said, "Why?!?"
-The ward chorister in a ward we were visiting has a full, white beard.  Elyse saw and started pointing and yelling, "Moses!  Mommy, it's Moses!!"

When traveling across the country...
-40 minutes into our 30 hour drive, Katelyn said, "Mom, this would be a lot easier if we flew!"
-The girls played hide and seek with their blankets in the back seat while staying buckled up.  One would hide while the other counted.
-Elyse called the hotel a ho-and-tell (like show-and-tell).
- She also was scared to ride up the alligator! (elevator)

While camping...
-The girls got dirtier than they have ever been!
-The girls touched a snake that Devin caught.
-Great-grandpa Nyle was very scared by the snake.  So every time Elyse saw him, she yelled, "Snake!" to see him squirm and fuss. She is such a tease!
-Terry helped Katelyn catch a fish.  They couldn't unhook it to release it, so Devin cooked it in the fire over the coals.  They loved each bite and now know where fish that we eat comes from (hint:not the grocery store).
-They were very scared of the skunk in the campground and still talk about seeing it at night!

While attending wedding events...
-Elyse and Katelyn were enamored with Laura's wedding dress.  She was a beautiful princess!
-Katelyn was so excited for the little dance at the reception.  But she desperately wanted to dance with a boy. Her boy cousins weren't wanting to dance with her, so she and Elyse were dancing together.  One of Laura's nephews was also dancing with his little sister.  Katelyn slid up next to them, detached their hands and put the little sisters in a pair saying, "You dance together."  She then glowed as she danced with the boy! She got to dance the song with him and danced with one other Thompson boy.
-After that, she sat on the chairs by my dad.  She turned to him and said, "Grandpa, aren't you going to ask me to dance?" He did!
-I asked her her favorite partner of the night.  She answered, "Daddy!"

Random sayings...
Elyse-
-"Camille stole my cookie.  She did not save my life!"
- "I'm the boss!"

Katelyn-
-After covering up hippo, "We need to make hippo warm and cozy to show her we love her and fill her bucket!"  She learned about being a bucket filler at preschool and being aware of how her actions affect others' feelings.

Happy Halloween!

I will spare excuses for not posting these last few months and just note that we did exist!  We just took very few pictures.  

We like Halloween at our house.  The girls have been excited.  And this year we have been extra excited because our baby is due November 4th, so Halloween is the last big event before he comes!

Carving pumpkins. They were very timid about cleaning out the guts. 

We lit them up in the basement right after we carved them.  Katelyn wanted a woman and Elyse wanted a monster, so we carved her Mike Wazowski.  

 The day after we carved them, the girls went onto the porch to look at them.  Before we knew it, the pumpkins were in love and getting married!  I love their imaginations!

The next night we had our annual Halloween feast.  Here are our fairy princess and pirate princess.  It think between Relief Society activities, Trick-or-Treating and preschool parties, they will dress up 3 more times.  I'm glad they like their costumes.   

This is her pirate face...whatever that means!

Here is the food for the feast!  Apple cider with bobbing shrunken heads!

And the treat selection...

Dracula's dentures,

crawly bugs,

a bleeding brain, 

and a graveyard.  

We also had a spider web chip dip, bones and blood and dinner in a pumpkin.  It was spookily delicious!

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!  We will be induced on Wednesday, so we are glad we celebrated early!