April Update

The Saturday before Easter we went to a community easter egg hunt and Maren got her picture with the easter bunny.Easter morning, the girls got new dresses and some candy. Mom Robbins and Macy came down to celebrate with my birthday with us. This is the girls ready for church.

This is our family before church.

I have been chastized for not having any belly pictures of me this pregnancy, so Maren took care of that for me one day while we were playing out on the patio. I am now 9+ weeks away from meeting our baby boy. I feel fine and like the medical treatment I have received here in Jefferson City, MO.

Jon started work at Sears as a seasonal part-time employee. He also started at a mental health facility called Pathways as a full-time Mental Health technician. We now will be fine until we can find a more desirible career type job. We still have applications out in kansas, kentucky, and Illinois (as far as I know).

Jon and I have noticed that Maren seems to be showing a little too much affection to people outside of close friends and family. Should I be concerned if she hangs all over the hometeachers and hugs, pats, kisses, or climbs on the neighbors every time she sees them. She had a newer friend over the other day and when she wasn't getting the desired amount of attention from her, Maren petted her hair and said "I just love you, Rebekah." Rebekah's responce was one of uncertainty. She did not say anything and just looked at Maren funny. Another time, she was spending time with the neighbors nephew, also a new friend. In the three hours they spent playing, Maren hugged, patted, and repeatedly told him she loved him. Now, we are an affectionate family, but somehow I need to help her see that there is a time, a place, and only certain people that this kind of behavior is okay with. She is such a sweet girl.

Eliza has been able to speak for a while now, but recently she has been trying harder to enunciate and carry on conversations. She makes me smile when she fills in a quiet moment with "sa sa sa" gibberish. Today, we went out for ice cream. The place we went to gave huge servings even for the smallest cones. I tried to put a scoops worth of Eliza's "small" two-scoop cone in a cup for later so it wouldn't drip all over. She Burst into tears because she wanted it all on the cone and temporarily refused to eat it. Finnally, she was able to be distracted with a little put back on the top of her cone (and the rest quickly hidden) with a lick of my cone. She is stubborn like her mom. Another example: I told her right before we went out which shoe went on which foot. She immediatly comes back with "No, this the right foot." So she wore her shoes on the wrong feet to the ice cream shoppe.

Both Maren and Eliza have started to show how fast they can run. They will announce they are about to run supper fast and then take off down the hall. I have found that I better watch them speed back and forth several times or they get frustrated. Today, they decided to show the neighbors. They sure are good sports.

Talks and Bubbles

Jon and I had the blessing of giving talks in sacrament meeting yesterday. We had a week to prepare. Jon let me use the computer for my talk first. Isn't he nice. I did my research and finished it up by Thursday night. That gave him Friday and Saturday to do all his preparation. The whole week Maren kept drawing pictures and asking how to spell different words, so she could "write her talk". I was distracted with my own, so I didn't stop and make sure she understood that she would not be getting up in church to give her talk.

Both, Jon and I, stayed up late Saturday night putting the final touches on our Sunday preparations. It is a good thing we did, too. Sunday morning began smoothly until Jon glanced at the computer clock and realized it was daylight savings time and we had 15 min to get out the door if we wanted to be on time. Luckily, the girls were dressed, with their hair done, and had their breakfast. Jon and I had both showered the night before so we made it on time, barely.

The talks went well enough and we were glad it was over, but then Maren insisted on bringing her talk to primary so she could give it. I decided to let her, but explain to her teacher the situation and hope she would handle it delicately. If Maren's talk had been church related it would have been a different story, but it was a picture of a princess. It said "Maren's favorite cat is Purr. Eliza's favorite dog, Lilly, barks. A man should marry a woman and a woman should marry a man. The woman was named Sunny and the man was named Jon. Macy's favorite cat is Sarah." Her primary teacher ended up letting her give her talk in her class, but this was not enough. She wanted to say it at the microphone. I talked her out of that, by telling her she could give a special family home evening talk. She agreed.

I was relieved, but not terribly surprised when I received a phone call, last night, asking if Maren would like to give a talk in primary next week on following the prophet. She is so excited. I told her she could help me write it. She then suggested that we could write "about Nephi because he was a prophet".

This morning, it has been a little cloudy, about 50 degrees here, but the girls were anxious to get out. So, they got their jackets on and went out on out pattio to blow bubbles and write with sidewalk chalk. They had a lot of fun.

Carrots and My Sweet Eliza.

This evening as I was making spagetti for dinner, with Eliza's help, I noticed her making facial expressions that led me to belive she needed to sit on the potty. She we ran. I had 9 1/2 minutes until the spagetti was cooked. I sat and read her a story hoping she would give in and "put it in the pot". The timmer beeped and she wasn't quite ready yet. So, "Jon, can you get the spagetti?" Of course, he said he would. A few minutes later Eliza was still not quite ready and I wanted to see where we were with dinner. I asked Maren to show Eliza the pictures in the book and ran into the kitchen. I found the undrained spagetti sitting on a side burner. So quick, I drain the spagetti and open a can of sauce to pour in. Thinking "I just need a few more minutes with Eliza." As I go to pour it in I hear "I went poop!" coming from my sweet girl at my side. I hope she is right, but hope she is not. "Okay, I'll come check." But, I just want to get the sauce in the pot and stired to get it heating while I check. Eliza sits on our step stool and trys to put her pants on with no diaper. I notice a smell that does not belong in the kitchen. "Jon, can you check and see if she pooped?" "Sure." He takes her in the bathroom and there where she was sitting is a thick, stincky mark. Great! Jon -"It's not in the potty." So while I clean the kitchen, he finds the poop, gets her cleaned up by putting the soiled clothes in the hamper, and puts a new diaper on her.

I feel free to get dinner settled. A few minutes later, Eliza comes in wearing this... and dancing around sings "I want carrots! I want carrots!" She had dug through her unused drawers. She found a bib and a hat that was too small, put it on inside out, and came to let me know she felt dressed enough to eat. After she displayed her colors, we sat down to dinner, which included carrots.

This is Eliza in her new dress all ready for church (Feb 7th). She does have a real sweet side. We love her.... character and all.