Princess Gwen Turns Three!

Gwen's birthday was Saturday, and, as everyone keeps telling me, I have a three-year-old! Sometimes I can't believe it's only been 3 years. Sometimes I feel like she should be a teenager already. But most times I can't believe she's not a baby anymore. She speaks in complete sentences now (and I can understand her more than half the time), she loves pizza, she helps take care of her sister (when she's not pushing her over). She's no longer my little ball of energy... she's now my big, gigantic, how-the-heck-am-I-going-to-catch-her ball of energy. She may be a little hard to handle at times, and she can be strong-willed and hyper, but I think those qualities will make her a successful person. She's going to be great at sports. I need to figure out how to contain that energy, keep her safe, and make sure I don't discipline the love of motivation right out of her. This little girl is awesome.

Gwen on the morning of her birthday. She's so excited to be three! All day long she chanted "It's my birthday!" and while at the grocery store picking up party food, she told everybody she was three. A woman from the bakery even gave her a free cookie. Yay for more birthday sugar!

She was so happy she even gave her sister a hug without being asked to.

And gave her many kisses, as long as I was taking pictures.

Since I forgot my camera for the first half of the party (what kind of mother am I?) I didn't get many pictures of the party. But here's one of her opening a present - Snow White! She loves Disney princesses, but she only had The Little Mermaid. She now goes around the apartment singing "Hi Ho! Hi ho!"

Here's Gwen in her new princess bedding, wearing her new princess sunglasses and new princess outfit. She's not exactly a girly girl (her favorite color is blue, believe it or not) but she certainly loves her Princesses!

Rockin her new glasses before church. I'm surprised she let us take them off of her before she left.

Happy birthday, love!

Random Pictures This Week

We're off to Soda Springs for the weekend! I thought I would post some pictures before we left. No reason. Just felt like it.

Potty Training Blues

How in the world do you potty train a kid?! We've been trying to get Gwen to use the potty for a while now, and recently we bought a princess potty to go on the toilet and princess training pants, which she absolutely loves, but still she refuses to go. She asks to sit on the toilet multiple times a day, but still nothing! She'll be three in a month, so what do I do? Tell her she can't start preschool until she uses the potty? I've tried bribing her with chocolate, even. Nothing's working. I'm sure she'll get it eventually, right??

Seriously. Any tips?

Ducks!

Because of the gorgeous day today, we walked to the Nature Park for some fun. The girls get absolutely crazy being cooped up all the time in the house, so it was a much needed adventure. We ran into a bunch of ducks and got to feed them our cracker snacks we brought us. Those ducks were brave. They came so close to us, I couldn't resist taking pictures. We could have hand fed these ducks if we wanted to. But we didn't. I've seen enough funny home videos to know that these things can get grumpy and attack. The girls were very excited to see quack-quacks up close.

Gwen never fails to make me laugh!

Sometimes Gwen can make me want to jump screaming from the window (good thing we live on the bottom floor) but this girl can make my day brighter in an instant. One minute, I'm pulling out my hair and the next I'm practically rolling on the floor laughing. I love this crazy one.

Right before Logan and I go to bed, Logan goes in to Gwen's room and tucks her in. This is how he discovered her the other night...

How in the world?? Which reminds me - Gwen's been "reading" up a storm lately. She has three books that she wants read over and over again lately, and last week I told her to read "Go, Dogs, Go" to me (I was sick of the story.) So she began to recite the book back to me word for word! She was startled, I could tell, that should could "read" the book. She kept laughing hysterically after each page and jumping up and down excitedly. She now doesn't let me read it to her anymore. All I have to do is turn the pages. She can also recite "PJ Funnybunny" and a lot of "Are You My Mother?" She's a clever little girl!

And the other day while I was making room in her closet and making a pile of things I was giving to DI, she found her old diaper changing pad, strapped herself into it, and walked around in it for over an hour. She would even lie down in it to watch tv. When she was a baby, her changing table would settle her down out of the most terrible crying tantrums. I guess it proved to be still comforting. Now another baby will get to be comforted, as I still gave it to the DI. She doesn't miss it...

I just love it when she lets me put her hair up!

In other news -

Last week, Logan and I had eye doctor appointments and we got new glasses! Well, Logan got new glasses, I got glasses for the first time ever. Before I got pregnant with Gwen, I had great eyesight and prided myself that I was the only one among my friends who didn't need glasses. Well, pregnancy hormones made me near sighted, so now I have my own pair of corrective lenses.

Logan's hot, new glasses. I don't know if you remember, but his old glasses were silver and slightly too big for his face. Now he's even sexier, don't you think? Yes? I thought so.

I'm not quite as stylish in glasses. Not all all. I think they're too big, or something. Maybe I just need to get used to them. I look like a strict librarian.

Good thing I don't need to wear them all the time. Just when I want to see at a distance, when I'm watching tv, at the grocery store, or while driving. Stuff like that. Logan needs his all the time. He's going blind. Sad day. Good thing he looks so good in them!

A New First

Gwen must have caught a stomach bug from nursery a couple of weeks ago, because last week she woke up in the middle of the night sick. It took her a couple of days to get over it. She was so quiet and cuddly. I hate it when she's sick, but a calm Gwen is something special. She would pull me over to the couch, saying "my tummy hurts," and that was my cue to sit and cuddle with her and watch tv. She's pretty much over it now. Sometimes she'll come over to me and pout, "My tummy hurts!" because she wants special hugs. She's adorable.

Last night, Phoebe woke up in the middle of the night with the stomach bug! It was so sad. Her first tummy sick. I had to bring her out in the living room and stay up with her for hours. Gwen was never sick like this when she was a baby. I'm not exaclty sure how to handle it, but I think we're managing. She sleeps a lot, and though it's hard for her to keep anything down, I make her drink her water. I give her cuddles, wipe downs, and extra loves, and I don't think there's much more any one could do. She's weak, but sometimes she'll get on the floor to play for a couple minutes. I'm just glad they didn't get sick at the same time. Now I'm praying Logan and I don't get it. (We will. Who am I kidding?)

Since Phoebe is anti-crib, I set her up on the couch. I had to surround her with all her friends, because she misses me when I don't hold her, even when I'm just in the kitchen. Her friends made her feel better.

Gwen thought it was pretty neat and wanted in, too.

While I was putting Phoebe down for a nap in her crib (she's still in there!) Gwen covered herself up on the couch to drink some milk. I surrounded her with the toys. She gets pretty jealous of her sister, so, even though Gwen's not sick, I have to give her all the extra care I've been giving Phoebe. Oh, well. Who doesn't need extra hugs once in a while?

This picture has nothing to do with stomach bugs. I've been trying to get Gwen to use the potty, and she's pretty determined not to. But Phoebe seems all for it. She get's mad when Gwen is on it for too long and she'll try to push her off. Then she climbs onto the potty herself and stays put for a while. At this rate, I'll be potty training them both at the same time. I can't wait. I'm so sick of changing diapers. Almost three straight years now! Is it silly to fast for your child to use the potty? Because I'm seriously thinking about doing just that. Either that or throwing away all her diapers and strapping the child down until she goes. That sounds like a really good idea right now.Oh well. I guess she'll go when she's ready.

Seems like Phoebe's ready now, though.

Easter Day

We hope everyone had a great Easter/conference weekend! We certaainly did. The girls got baskets and pigged out on candy all Easter morning. We stayed in jammies most of the day and cuddled up on the couch to watch the conference talks. Gwen was excited to point out "Present Monson" whenever he appeared. Even though it was just the four of us for the holiday, I wanted to make a big meal. It was my first big, holiday meal ever, so I was extremely pleased that everything turned out yummy. I jump on any reason to pig out. The only leftovers we have are rolls and apple spice cake, and they will be gone before the end of the day. So freaking good! Thanks, Patti, for the delicious spice cake recipe! I will be making that often.

Of course, Gwen didn't completely understand why we celebrate Easter. I told her we celebrate Jesus coming back. Through out the day, she'd say "Jesus is in the sky. He came back!" I love it when she gets excited to learn about Christ. The talks given in conference touched a lot on teaching your children in the home. I'm not sure how to make a 2 year old understand most things pertaining to the gospel. I'm not sure how to explain some things. I'm sure Heavenly Father will help us!

Gwennie was all too eager to help share Phoebe's basket.

The girls had a ball playing with all the bunnies the Easter bunny left to guard the baskets.

Happy Easter!!