CALLIE is 9 months

Callie Goose is growing! BIG BIG BIG! We had her 9 month appointment today. She 21.9 oz and 28.2 in. 84th for weight and 77th for height. She is healthy and strong! She loves to crawl, as fast as possible, and is getting into everything. She hates baby food, and loves anything I have to cook for a really long time. Crockpot chicken is her favorite. She hates formula, bottles, binkies, and anything that could be a comfort besides her mother, but she LOVES HER MOM! Which is pretty rewarding. She loves Blake, especially her belly button, an loves it when Blake sings "I love to see the Temple". (Unfortunately, she almost always sings that after she has done something to hurt Callie, so it shows how forgiving the Goose really is :) She loves playing/eating sand and her head bows. They are rarely on her head but almost always in her mouth or around her neck. While miniature golfing last week, I noticed Goose had two little green things poking out of her mouth. She had put the whole pink flower( shown above) in her mouth with only the green decor showing!
Her favorite time of the day is bath time! She absolutely loves swimming in her tube! She is a joy in our lives, and we love her!

OUR TRIPS TO ST GEORGE

 So... I have had the best two weeks. Unfortunately, only one of them was documented by me because Trip 1 cameras were mostly forgotten. Blake, Callie, My Mom and I went to stay in WorldMark St George two weeks ago. We had cold weather, of course, but we still had a great time shopping, eating, playing games, and hot tubbing! We were lucky enough stay in a condo with a hot tub on our balcony... which we turned down for the kiddos and turned it into a little pool! It was such a great relaxing trip, even though Callie Goose forgot to sleep throughout the week. It was an awesome week and we loved it! Thanks Mom.

Callie Goose and Blake in their "Tubes".  This was our daily, sometimes more than once activity that week.  The patio had glass sides by the hot tub which helped cut the wind.  It was such a great time!

Upon getting home, I quickly did the laundry and we packed back up and headed south again. Luckily my kids are traveling really well these days, so 4 trips in 10 days wasn't too bad. We stayed with Luke's parents in St George and had a great time as well! We had some cold weather, but a few good days as well. We were able to do some hiking and biking and even rode the carousel in St George.
Dave has each grandchild climb up the giant mountain behind their house and claim spot for themselves. He places a solar light shining on the spot (ie. Tate's Territory or Anna's Way) so they can see it at night. Blake's Boulder was a big hit... you can even see some writing on it, as she staked her claim.
Grandpa Dave, Blake, and I below Blake's Boulder
Blake and Goose and the Central Park water Park in St George. Way too cold to play in, but we stood on the boulders.
CUTE BLAKE looking really old! CAn you believe she is 3 1/2 ?
Callie Goose climbing some trees with her sister!

Sunday is a Special Day

So... yesterday after church Blake and I went to feed the horses. For those that don't know, we left Luke and Callie at home because Luke broke his legs. (I will share story later). Blake loves loves loves McDonald's sausage, plain patty. This last summer I would go to the gym then straight to the farm where Luke would meet me with the kids. 2/3 times instead of making breakfast they would stop at McDonalds. I'm not complaining, because he was taking the kids in the morning... which made it all worth it.

Anyway, so we are driving to the farm past McDonalds and Blake says, "Mom, it's cloudy." I said, "Yep, it is. It has been snowing."

Blake: "Then I want a sausage." ????

Mom: "Well Blake, it's Sunday and we don't eat out or shop on Sunday."

Blake: "But it is not Sunday, it's cloudy, and I want a sausage!"

How cute is that? Obviously I need to do more at teaching her the days of the week, and the difference between a sunny day and Sunday.

I love my girls, they are so cute. They make me happy everyday and I am blessed to be their mom.

A Perfect Conversation...

Last night in the car Luke commented about how the Goose cries when he holds her. He was surprised because Blake has always been such a Daddy's girl.

Blake: "I am not a Daddy's Girl"

Amy: "Oh! Does that mean you are a Mommy's Girl?"

Blake: "No. I am a dog."

So perfectly describes my cute family this week.

JINGLES THE ELF

For those who are not aware, an incredible elf has visited our house thanks to Grandma Bonnie. His name is Jingles. Every night we sprinkle magic snowflakes on him, and it allows him to come to life and he does magical things, sometimes naughty and sometimes nice.

I was able to catch him a few times in the act. Here are his latest adventures. He built a tower with bath toys last night... "silly Jingles- He's hugging my frog." said Blake.
The first morning after Jingles came to life. Blake wasn't sure how she felt about a mysterious elf coming to life, but she is now loving it!
This is silly Jingles cutting out all the snowflakes.

Just a random pictures of Callie! I obviously uploaded it in the wrong place, but it is so cute. She is always so excited to see me when I come to get her, and No, I did not put her in her crib sideways or leave the mobile down sideways! That's all her.
If you can't tell, Jingles is hanging on the lighting wire, after he decorated my whole house with my red Christmas ornament centerpiece. Blake said, "Jingles... Get down right now. You are making me so nervous!" Obviously, I can never say that again. My daughter repeating me is way too weird.
Bad picture, but Jingles put all blake's stuffed animals on the bed and is hugging Jeremiah on the very top! Blake thought this was her favorite surprise because she got to sleep with all her animals.

He has also dyed our milk green, spread all Blake's socks and underwear all over the house, spilled Shade's food, and gave Blake and Callie a new Little People Nativity which was a big hit!

WE are so lucky to have a great ELF living with us for a few days.

Does anyone else have an elf at their house and have some ideas of what these elves might do? Just so I can be on the look out, of course. :)

We love you Grandma Bonnie. We are so lucky that you love us so much that you put in all this work to inspire imagination and creativity in our children. You are an incredible grandma and mom and I am in awe of the work you do to put these 12 days of Christmas together. We are truly grateful. It is a wonderful sign of love for us and for our children.

SANTA!

Look who we Saw TODAY! Ward Christmas Party and Callie and Blake got to sit on Santa's lap. We had so much fun, and there were no tears, a huge improvement from the last 2 years! She told Santa she wanted a toy horse, unless Papa reads this, then she wants a real horse, preferably a pony! Just kidding Dad.

I love my girls but we sure missed Luke today at the Christmas Party. He is hard at work providing for us.

WINTER BLUES

The Worst part of no or little snow is that there is nothing fun to do outside! Luckily for us, cute Luke built our tramp inside our basement which gives us many hours of fun! Even Callie is learning to love it.There was a storm on Tuesday for a few hours, and there was some snow flakes on the ground! This is Blake when we were feeding that day!
It's official! Coolest mom Ever! JK! I got cute Blake her first Cardhardt coat (spellcheck) and she loves it! She is so dang cute that little girl of mine!

Hopefully we will get some real snow soon. It puts food on our table, so to speak, so we need it!