by popular request

The kitchen.
On Christmas morning.




This is the best that I caught of Cumorah's initial reaction to the kitchen. I wasn't quite ready with the camera, but I do like that little smile. She was SUPER pleased. She tried the faucet first. I think she expected water to come out, but she wasn't disappointed when it didn't.


The oven is my absolute favorite. I want to cook in it. The refrigerator is my second favorite. It is so perfect. The plate rack is close behind as my third favorite. It was my special request.



The kitchen is amazing. Brian is amazing. Towards the end of the summer, I told him my plans to buy an old piece of furniture and refinish it and make it into a kitchen for Cumorah's christmas present. He bahumbugged my idea in a big way at first (like usual) and then a little while later he decided maybe my idea wasn't so stupid as he first thought (like usual), jumped on board (like usual) took my idea and turned it into something completely insane and complicated (like usual) but also incredibly cool (like usual). Brian built this kitchen from scratch all by himself. I was consulted for design purposes and other minor details like what color (out of what we had on hand) to paint it. He used a lot of materials we already had and we got some other things for free, but it actually did end up costing a bit more than we expected what with some of the hardware and what not. And of course because of all the super cool plans in the works for the burners to light up with LED lights when you turn the knobs. Out of control if you ask me. But I'm not complaining, really I'm not. It is an extraordinarily beautiful play kitchen. The burners and the knobs are from ovens being thrown out (Brian's not too proud to go dumpster diving for his little girl) and the faucet is from some nice plumber in town (he answered Brian's add on Craig's list and gave it to us for free, how nice is that?). It was really fun to give our little girl something so special. I think our girls are going to love playing with it through the years.

I would be jealous, but I actually have very fond memories of the kitchen my daddy made for me. I'm guessing I didn't have it for a terribly long time because I only have memories of it in Livermore. I didn't realize that it was made out of an old kitchen cupboard. I just remember that it had a sink and a faucet and that it was pretty cool.


So I don't really have a whole lot of neat pictures of us on Christmas. We really didn't do a whole lot of exciting things. We stayed in our pajamas all day, ate sugar cereal for breakfast, opened presents, played with the kitchen and took a 'family' nap in the afternoon. Brian got about 45 minutes of sleep Christmas Eve because he was finishing up the kitchen. I got about two hours of sleep. So we all slept through the afternoon. Yep. Not terribly exciting. It was really nice to stay home in Iowa this year for Christmas. However, we do really miss our families and all the fun things we'd be doing if we were out in Cali. It's just really nice to not have to travel with the girls and to feel like a real 'grown-up' family having our own Christmas celebration.



Cumorah and Mommy helped Rivers open her present. Cumorah pretty much helped everybody open their presents.




















Like Father,
Like Daughter

joy

Go look and listen.

joy to everyone

genius

So... maybe she's not always quite as quick and smart as I think she is.

2

Two years ago I became a mother.



One year ago Cumorah had her first sugar-sweet.



Another year (and many sugar-sweets) later, Cumorah turns two.




Cumorah is an amazing little girl. She is so sweet and cute and smart and loving and stubborn and intense. She still freaks out. She still has a serious anger management problem. Woe be unto the dolly who does not sit up just as she desires. She is difficult to discipline. Sometimes, the more you tell her 'No', the more she does what she's not supposed to. It's kind of strange, she's not really doing it to spite us. She has an uncontrollable, highly emotional response to reprimands. However, in some situations she responds very well. There has been a few times when she has hurt Rivers that she apologized and then put herself in her own room. We finally happened upon the most effective (usually) discipline tactic (besides just removing her from the situation by putting her in her room for a minute or two). It is telling her, "I'm not happy." She desperately wants us to be happy. We make it a point to tell her that we are so happy when she is being good and also that we are so happy to be a family. She asks us all the time, "You happy now?" She is intense and aggressive with her play and affections with her sister, but fortunately she doesn't get into a rage like she does with her dolls. She is also very sweet with her sister, bringing her toys, giving her lots of kisses. The other night Rivers was crying as they were going to sleep. I heard Cumorah telling her, "Calm down, calm down, baby!" Cumorah loves to be a big girl and help Mommy and Daddy. She puts dishes away, matches her pajamas, finds her panties in the laundry basket and generally helps to put laundry away, picks up and puts away toys and her dirty clothes, gets her own dishes out for meal time, gets new diapers for Rivers, and mixes (and tastes) a lot when we cook. She is quick and smart. It's a little scary sometimes. It's been getting easier to have an actual conversation with her lately. One of her new words is 'automatic', a result of automatic toilets and faucets in public restrooms. She remembers things very well. Today, she was telling me about going to the pumpkin patch and riding the tractors. She loves dancing and singing and drawing. Her favorite things to draw are circles, fruits, and just recently, kites. She picks up on new songs really quickly and has been requesting 'Away in a Manger' lately. She likes to play with her baby doll, little people, play-do, dishes, and stacking cups. She also likes to read books. She is growing up so fast. She likes to do things herself. She MUST pick out her own pajamas, panties and leg warmers. She is really into kisses, hugs and saying 'I love you'. Brian cannot leave in the morning until she has given him a kiss and a hug right before he walks out the door.


We had a birthday party on Sunday for Cumorah since Brian was going to be busy with studying on Monday. We had a few friends over for dinner. She got to skype (video conference) both sets of grandparents as she opened her gifts from them.

When I asked Cumorah what kind of birthday cake she wanted she said, "Pupple." She really stuck with that decision. So purple it was, inside and out.



Cumorah was so concerned at first about the fire. Not sure how Rivers ended up there. She started out from the living room carpet. Yes, she did get it, a fist full of purple frosting. Nice.



Cumorah's ineffective candle blowing, Mommy's ineffective helping. We finally did get them out a couple of singed hairs later.

acclimating

Friday the girls and I went shopping. The grocery variety of shopping, the only type of shopping we ever do. While in the store a nice old man in a wheel chair struck up a friendly conversation with us. Part of the conversation turned to the weather. "It sure is a nice day out today," said the man. "It really is quite beautiful," I replied. It dawned on me soon after I said farewell and continued pushing the cart down the freezer aisle what I had just said and really truly believed. Last year if someone had said that it was a nice day out, I would have been thinking, "Who are these crazy people? Nice? Temperatures in the low 30's. Ice covered parking lots. That is nice?" This year I was enjoying the slight thaw that was taking place as the temperature creeped up to 34 and even a little higher. It was sunny, and even better, it was NOT windy. So 34 really felt like 34. A beautiful day. Really, truly. Even if I did have a monster puddle to walk through to get in the car where there had only been ice when I first arrived at the store.

The weather continued to get warmer and Saturday felt like April. This morning when we went to church it was a balmy 46. I skipped the tights and was relishing the warmth. It was lovely just breathing in the air. When we went outside after church we realized that the "arctic blast" the weather forecasters had talked about coming in for Monday was already here. It had dropped to 17. And it was windy. About a quarter of the way to the car it hit Cumorah that it was not the same temperature as it had been in the morning. She started to cry and Mommy had to rescue her and carry her to the car. It is now 12 degrees. I'm glad I don't live in Minnesota.

La Aprovechona

"What would you like for Christmas little girl?"

I want a new puppy.

....and I want a new bike, and a sled, and a playhouse, and a turtle, but my daddy says turtles give you salmonella so I want a salmonella-free turtle, and a 24 megapixel digital camera and...

"Here we go again."

...a swing set, a cotton candy machine, an accordion, some new leg warmers, a tractor, a hot air balloon, a trampoline, an erector set...

How about you little girl?

Somebody get this scary old man away from me!

...and a ruby necklace with matching earrings, and some shiny red shoes, and a train set, and a tea set, and some coloring books, and a princess pony...