Dear Duggars

Dear Duggars (from TLC's "18 Kids and Counting),

Have you ever heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? I think you should be members of our church. You are amazing people who are living the way you should be and are raising a righteous generation. You are already living the way we do, minus your little coffee drinking, so you wouldn't have to change much. Half of your boys want to be missionaries when they grow up...how perfect is that? I like that you wouldn't let TLC edit out your personal beliefs and religion on your show. I think we need more shows like yours where we aren't afraid to talk about God and religion. If you give me your address, I'd be happy to send some missionaries your way!

Sincerely,
R. Marchant

Princess Kassidy

For those of you who know our little Kassidy, you know she's VERY into princesses. Her entire 2nd birthday was princess themed and her bedroom looks like a princess threw up pink and purple all over it...she's girl through and through! Lately she's been assigning us new identities.

DADDY: Prince, no name, just Prince. Isn't it odd that Disney doesn't give most of their princes names? I can only think of a few, Eric, Philip, um...that's about it.

MOMMY: Sleeping Beauty, I love that I'm her, she's my favorite!

KASSIDY: Cinderella, and sometime Snow White. I'm glad she wants to be the modest princesses :)

Today at Stake Conference a little boy came up a few rows to sit and play in the aisle with Kassidy. Granted, 2 hours is a long time for little people to sit quietly.

Little Boy: "What's your name?"

Kassidy: (without missing a beat) "Name's Snow White!"

She sure has an imagination! And why not be a princess?

Daddy needed a break from finals, so we took Kass to see the new Princess and the Frog. Cute!

Thank goodness for good friends

Today I am extremely grateful for good friends. We've been very fortunate to find some amazing people out here in California who have been more than just friendly to us. Our ward is awesome and very outgoing and we've found a lot of couples close to our age who we enjoy hanging out with. I'm grateful for these people who are so good to us and Kassidy. Kassidy has found some fun kids her age to play with too. It makes the days much more fun when we share them with others!

Much Thanks

I'm finally getting to post about our Thanksgiving vacation. Kevin's parents came out to spend four days with us and we showed them around town. I cooked my very own first Thanksgiving dinner and I think it turned out okay. Everything was edible and ready at the same time, so I'm considering it a success. Kassidy loved having her grandparents here and sleeping in her room, and they were good sports to put up with our serious lack of space. We also went to see A Christmas Carol in 3D Thanksgiving evening. It ended up not being a good movie to take little kids to, because it scared Kassidy pretty good and I had to take her out for a while.









Friday we took the Marchants along the coast for a tour of the bay area. We visited all the WWII cannons in the mountain side and went to the forts and made our way down to the beach. The weather was chilly, but cooperative! We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and took a stroll down Pier 39, ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We ended the evening with a visit to the Oakland temple. Unfortunately we missed the Christmas lighting by one night :(













Saturday we visited the Jelly Belly factory and did the tour. THe Marchant's came with us to Larry's to pick out our Christmas tree, and then they helped us decorate it. We're used to trucking up the mountain and cutting down a tree ourselves, so this was a different experience. But the tree is beautifully shaped and smells great, so it's a good compromise.



The Marchant's had to take off Sunday morning and Kassidy woke up one sad girl. She didn't believe me that they were gone and kept saying, "I go find them!" It was a great vacation and we were sad to see them go. Thanks for a fun time Marchant's!!

HELP PLEASE!

I've been asked to give my first ever sharing time lesson next Sunday. It only has to be about 10-15 minutes long, but I have the Sunbeams (4 cute kids) and we're supposed to present a lesson on How we can Serve our Families. I need some ideas from all you crafty Primary teachers, smart mommies, primary blog whizzes, and everyone else too! I just don't want it to be a flop, so I'm looking for any and all ideas that you are willing to put up. Please help me!!

Space Snow

Today to fill some time I made some space snow for Kassidy and I to play with. It took a little while for Kassidy to warm up to the idea of playing with slimy messy stuff, but once she got into it we had a really good time! It's something my mom used to make for us as kids and let us play with. Space snow is fun because it's a solid when you pinch it or hold it tight, and then it turns into a gooey liquid when you let it run loose. So fun! Here's the recipe if anyone's interested:

Space Snow

4 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp water (you may have to add a little more)
2 drops of desired food coloring

Mix together well. You may have to adjust the cornstarch to water ratio according to how much you want to make. Warning: This is very messy but very fun! I let Kassidy play with it in a bowl and also gave her a plate to dump it onto. We ended up making a second batch in a different color because it's fun to mix the colors and see how it turns out. Clean up is simple because you can wipe it all up with a wet rag, and it comes out of clothes easily too.

You know your apartment is small...

You know your apartment is small when:

*Your kitchen table is in the living room, right next to the tv. On the plus side, we can watch tv while we're eating!

*The kitchen is barely big enough for two people to stand back to back and having a toddler underfoot makes the kitchen seem unbearably small!

*Your bedroom doubles as a study room and you have to suck in your tummy to pass the card table that serves as a desk.

*You have to put your computer in the living room/kitchen area (although I don't think this is a bad idea anyway since it puts the computer in a well trafficed area, reducing the temptation to view any bad sites)

*The linen closet doubles as a pantry.

*You can vacuum your entire apartment without unplugging the vacuum cord once!

But I guess this won't last forever, so we'll just enjoy some very close family togetherness for a while :)

Potty Time

Kassidy is now almost 2 1/2 years old, and I think she's super smart (of course, isn't that every mommy's thought?) so I figured she would be ready to potty train. My mom starting trying to interest her in July by buying the pink princess potty seat, the potty treats, and the princess panties. But we were in the midst of moving to a new state and she was barely two, so I figured it was a bad time to start.

So I've decided to try and just get her interested for a while, not start on the training part just yet. I bribe her to wear panties for an hour or two in the morning, I bought cute kids potty books, and we practice letting baby doll go potty. To tell the truth, all she does is sit on the toilet and look cute, we've yet to have anything actually come out--I think her baby doll is more interested than she is :)

I thought she might take an interest after she had me read "Time to pee" by Mo Willems 9 times last night, but this morning when she pooped and I tried to change it, Kassidy told me, "No, I wanna keep it!" Well, there goes that idea. Maybe I'll try and resurface some motivation in a few months...

But she sure is cute trying to pee!

Dear Dora

Dear Dora the Explorer,

I would just like to take the chance to tell you thanks. You annoy the heck out of me and your voice grates my nerves like fingers on a chalkboard. I don't understand why your head is so large and your clothes don't seem to quite cover your belly. But. You entertain my 2 year old and you give me an hour each morning to shower and do a bit of cleaning. And while she's now speaking to me in Spanglish and saying "Gracias!" instead of thank you, I am grateful that you can keep my toddler's attention for a bit, affording me some much needed grooming time.

Sincerely,
Your reluctant admirer

Six Flags

Kassidy and Addy sitting by the blood fountain with the creepy man. I was just waiting for them to start bawling, but surprisingly they didn't.

The day before Halloween Kassidy and I made our first trip to Six Flags with our friends the Bairs. They were kind enough to show us around the park and we had a great time with them. The entire park was decorated for Halloween and there was even trick-or-treating for the kids. We had a great day and Brandy was a trooper for walking around the entire park with an 8 month belly and two kids! Thanks, we had a blast!

Even the characters were wearing Halloween costumes

Kassidy told me she was nervous on the carousel, but she wanted to go again after the ride was done.

All of us on the carousel.

Addyson, Ava and Kassidy in front of Thomas the train.

The park even had animals to see and animal shows that the girls loved.

Ava was so sweet to Kassidy the entire day.


Playing on Bugs Bunny's bed

We'll definitely be going back again!

Happy Haunting!

So October's come and gone in a whirl wind. We had too much fun enjoying the warm October weather here and trick-or-treating without coats and sweat pants. It was definitely different! Kassidy and I went to Six Flags with some friends the day before Halloween and had a spooky and fun time there while Kevin was studying and working (I'll do a post on that later). Halloween day was fun with a party at a friends home and trick or treating in the hottest neighborhood around. There were cars lining the streets and lines to each of the doors. Kassidy got quite the sack full in just the street and a half we went to. We had fun visiting "grandma and grandpa"'s house, aka my aunt and uncle and went to bed at a decent hour. Kassidy starting telling us, "I getting tired" after about 15 homes, so we had an excuse to pack up and leave. We had a great Halloween, and here are some pictures:

Big girl trick-or-treating on her own. She had such a good time!

These glow in the dark glasses made it easier for me to find Kevin in the crowds of trick-or-treaters, and he looked so nice too!

Baseball player, Princess Aurora, and hawaiin troll doll at our friends' party.

Kassidy was a little nervous at some homes and she told us too, "I nervous mommy!"

Kevin and Kassidy at a home trick-or-treating. This neighborhood was insane with decorations and trick-or-treaters.

Kassidy, Ava and Addy trick-or-treating

Princess Kassidy and Medusa "Grandma" (my aunt) Jennette

October fun

Well October's come and it's almost gone. We've been having a great time enjoying the 75-85 degree fall here in California and excited that the weather stays nice enough to do things outside. I also have been very domestic and decided to can some tomatoes (yes, in October, weird huh?) since they're still in season here and I got them for pretty cheap. We decided to make a family outing out of our trip to Larry's- the cool farmers market. Kassidy had a good time exploring in the "munkin" patch and playing on their huge slide. Although she did ask me, "You smell that stunk Mom?" when she got a whiff of the many vegetables. She's such a character. We've also been to a fun kid party hosted by a ward member, so fun! Kassidy and I are making some wonderful friends here and they are always doing fun things.

In other news, not so good, our poor Montero might not make it to see another year, at least not with our family. After repeated problems we took it in and the diagnosis wasn't good--it needs a new engine. After weighing the costs of labor and the new engine, I think we've decided it's not worth it to fix it up. So we are now in the market for a new vehicle, and fast! We are pretty stranded without our only vehicle running and we've been saved by the grace of our amazing family and their willingness to share a car with us.

Since I don't want to overwhelm you all with the hundred or so pictures I know are coming for Halloween, I'd better get these pictures in now. Here are a few of the things we've been up to lately:


Little poser, saying "Cheese!" in the wrong direction

Dad and Kassidy by the giant pumpkin

Mom and Kass by the giant pumpkin

Daddy trying to convince Kass that the slide will be fun!!

Mom and Kassidy coming down the slide

Kass with her friend Wonder Woman at a Halloween party just for kids

This is our pirate/kitty/witch- isn't she cute?