Best Gift Ever

When I was a little girl, I always wanted an American Girl Doll. I eventually received a Bitty Baby for Christmas (which I have saved for Eliza), but I never did get an American Girl Doll. My parents bought me an Attic Treasure Doll, which looked a lot like an American Girl, but I knew it was an imposter and was a little disappointed. Overall, my doll Megan was pretty great, though. I loved her clothes and particularly remember dressing her carefully in an ice skating outfit.

 Naturally, most of us want for our children what we wanted for ourselves. For me, this includes an American Girl Doll. With this in mind,  just imagine my absolute joy last week when Haleigh texted me a picture of Kirsten and asked me if Eliza would be interested in having it. At first, I thought she was joking! But no, she was serious. Apparently, the little girl Haleigh is a nanny for decided she no longer wanted her American Girl Doll and its accompanying accessories and was planning on donating all of the items to Goodwill. Haleigh luckily thought of Eliza and saved the doll and its clothes for her.

This morning, Haleigh arrived with the doll and a whole bag of other goodies. It felt like Christmas for Eliza and me!

Eliza has played with her new doll all afternoon!

Tonight, she told Haleigh and me that she wanted to call the doll Adeline. She put on the doll's pajamas and tucked her into bed. Eliza still can't believe that she keeps to keep the doll. We're both pretty excited about it :) So, thank you, Haleigh, for helping me realize my childhood dream of having an American Girl Doll. I think I will live vicariously through Eliza.

And, in unrelated news, I love the new shirt Eliza wore today. I found it at Old Navy on clearance for $1.50--can't beat that!

Tumbling and Dance Classes

Eliza started her dance and tumbling classes today. It was snowing, but the boys really wanted to "walk" to the class. By walk, I mean they wanted to have me push them in their stroller which can be extremely tricky to move when there is slushy snow on the ground. I bundled them up, and we walked the two blocks to class.

Once we got there, Ezra and Elliott couldn't take their eyes off of Eliza and Landon as they learned new stretches and basic tumbling moves.

 Eliza is excited for Ruby to come home from California and join the class next week. I'm excited for her to have another activity to keep her busy. She loves to constantly be going so hopefully preschool combined with dance, swimming, and tumbling will keep her a happy little girl.

Eliza Recently

Eliza seems so grown up these days. She is great about helping me corral the babies and enjoys being given chores and responsibilities. She has been doing a fantastic job going to sleep since we implemented the "sticker system" and looks forward to earning her sticker every day.

This week, she was able to cash in her stickers and go on an ice cream date to our favorite ice cream parlor in Springville. She had a great time and loved the window paintings and bubblegum ice cream.

She loves playing dress up still and loves to make up stories with Ruby. I hear them pretending to be mermaids and princesses while they play with dolls, and I love that they are constantly using their imaginations.

Eliza still enjoys ballet and can't wait for her next recital. Due to Nathan's school schedule, she will only be taking one class this winter, but I think that is fine with her. She is also going to start a tumbling and dance class taught by a girl in our neighborhood, so she will be plenty busy!

And lastly, Eliza is still obsessed with a certain movie. Here's a hint as to what it is:

Hoodies for Days

My three favorite guys.

MIdway Ice Castles

For Family Home Evening this week, Nathan and I decided to take the kids to Midway to see the frozen ice castles. For the past few years, artists have come and created an elaborate ice castle with winding passages, caves, and even a frozen throne. Because Eliza loves the movie Frozen so much, I knew she would particularly enjoy seeing the castle.

We bundled everyone up and made the 40 minute drive up the mountains. Eliza brought her Elsa doll and was immediately captivated by the installation art piece. It was so beautiful that I couldn't stop taking pictures! It was truly a winter wonderland.

We will definitely be going back next year!

Exercising?

Since October, Becca and I have been working out a couple of times a week at Gold's Gym. We have discovered that we really love Pilates (and our teacher Angie) and that cardiocinema can also be fun when the right movie is playing (not Austin Powers). Tonight, we decided to venture out of our comfort zone and attend an hour long Zumba class.

We were not prepared. It was basically every dance move Jennifer Lopez does in Selena combined with every Shakira music video. We barely survived. All the pregnant ladies (including the instructor who was 8 months along) put us to shame. I felt like I couldn't breathe for about an hour afterwards.

So yeah. Lesson learned: Zumba is for those who like to move and shake and don't need inhalers on a regular basis.

Church In Utah

I think this about sums things up...

Brobee Hoodies!

The boys love wearing hoodies. I'm not sure how the obsession started, but any time we leave the house, they run to get their favorite grey hoodie. They put it on and immediately flip up the hood part to make sure their heads are covered. It's pretty adorable.

Yesterday, I found Brobee hoodies on clearance at Target. Of course, I had to buy them! Ezra and Elliott have worn them all afternoon and show no signs of wanting to take them off. Shopping success!

Puzzle Plan Gone Awry

Nathan and I really enjoy doing puzzles. When I was pregnant with the twins, we would sit together and do puzzles for hours after Eliza went to bed. A few days ago, Nathan had a brilliant idea. He suggested that we buy a folding table, put it up at night when the kids were sleeping, and do our puzzles while watching our favorite shows/movies. The plan was to then move the table the safety of our room until we could resume working on the puzzle.

For a couple of nights, things went great! We watched Lord of the Rings and spent several hours starting a 1,000 piece puzzle.

 And then, disaster struck. Nathan left our bedroom door open without really thinking about the ramifications of his decision and the twins tore the puzzle apart. 1,000 puzzle pieces were all over the floor, our bed, our bathroom, and random other places in the house.

Lesson learned: Don't attempt to do puzzles until all of our children are teenagers and can resist the urge to rip puzzles apart. 

Clean Babies!

Not much is cuter than two little boys with freshly cut hair, matching pajamas, and their stuffed Yo Gabba Gabba characters.

Crib Craziness

Riddle me this: If two babies go to sleep in their own cribs, how did one baby manage to escape from his crib and CLIMB INTO HIS BROTHER'S CRIB? Nathan and I have no idea how Elliott did it. There is nothing to stand on and the crib is three feet off the ground. I guess the era of cribs is coming to an end with two Houdini babies on our hands!

End of Winter Break Highlights

1) Puzzles with Eliza

2) Eliza's new routine of tucking all of her stuffed animals in bed before she goes to sleep

3) Play dates with Ruby (and my miserable attempts to braid Eliza's hair!)

4) Redeeming the hour long massage I received for my birthday!

5) Staying in our pajamas all day when it snows outside

6) Nathan's mushroom soup!

7) Being reunited with Benedict Cumberbatch and new Sherlock episodes

8) Hanging out with baby Jane

9) Elliott's adorable obsession with wearing hoodies

Life is good!