Swiper, NO SWIPING!

I can't even remember when all of this started, but Maile became obsessed with playing pretend. She is always the princess or whoever the main character is, Emmy is always the side kick, Aaron is always whoever the boy is, and I am always the bad guy, except when I'm Mary Poppins. Usually the story line changes every day or every couple of days, but for the past 2 months it has consistently been a new Dora adventure. Maile assigns us all our roles reminding us constantly throughout the day. Maile is Dora, Emmy is Boots, Aaron is Diego and of course I am Swiper. No matter what the new pretend play is for the day, I am always the bad guy. Aaron was given the bad guy role once and never again, because he was too scary. Seriously Maile didn't dare do a thing when he was the bad guy. When we go to playgrounds with other people around I try to distract Maile from insisting on playing these games but sometimes she is very persistent and I end up chasing her and Emmy around trying to swipe whatever she has set for the moment, I wonder what the other moms or kids are thinking when I try to steal toys and jackets from the girls with them yelling "swiper no swiping!" or just screaming, but really I'm just playing my role as swiper. Or as people walk past our house and hear me yelling "off with your head" (queen of Hearts from Alice and wonderland).


Dora the explora

Every time Maile says she's Dora (which is all the time) that is Emmy's cue to say "and I'm Boots"


Our hike the other day turned into a Dora adventure notice Maile's got to have her Cinderella high heels on, I guess Maile is the high maintenance Dora because she wears them everywhere we go... swimming, shopping, parks, and yes even hiking.

This adventure consisted of crossing the troll bridge, passing the old house, and the picnic table as the final destination. This had to have been their favorite time doing this hike.

Sugar Cookies......

A sweet smile before indulging on the cookies she just cut

Can you see the flour all over her face (and the bugars)? That was her favorite part- making a mess.

All growing up my mom let me have Valentines, Halloween and birthday parties. We would make sugar cookies, pull taffy, and play games, she always went all out. I have such great memories of making sugar cookies. So, this year was a new experience for me of being the mom making sugar cookies and it wasn't as fun as I remember. I felt like we were in the kitchen all day!!! The girls had fun at first getting flour all over and using the cookie cutters, but after about 5 minutes Maile wanted to eat every dough cookie she cut out and Emmy just played with the dough and ruined all the cookies that had been cut. We made no progress for the first half hour. Once we finally had them all cut and baked the decorating process began, luckily Emmy was napping by now. Maile just wanted to lick all the frosting and dig her fingers through the frosted ones claiming she was spreading the sprinkles around. So seriously about 4 hours later we finally finished decorating the last of the cookies and I was burnt out but of course the kitchen table and floor were covered with flour, dough, and sprinkles, and plenty of dishes to clean, mouths and hands to wash. It seems like I have those moments quite a bit where you have such great memories as a kid of doing things and once you play a different role, it is a whole new experience sometimes great in a different way (like Christmas and Disneyland), but other times like the sugar cookies it isn't quite as great as you remember and I think this will be a once a year thing, cause maybe I'll have forgotten how draining it was this year. Times like this also reemphasize just how great my mom was to let 9 kids do things like this. I also understand now why my mom hates making sugar cookies and never does anymore.


Aaron spoiled us girls with candy and flowers.

Justin's visit

My brother Justin is leaving on his mission to Macon, Georgia next week so of course he had to make a trip out here to see his favoirte sister before he left. jokes! But seriously I was so excited , I love having visitors. He was basically only here for a day, but we had a lot of fun talking and hanging out. Maile and Emmy absolutely loved it too. The only hard part was saying good bye again.

I sometimes forget just how big he is since he has always just been a "little brother to me. Now he even thinks he's stronger than me or something.









I love Emmy with these goggles on, she looks like a cute little nerd.


Justin got a new camera for the mission so we had fun testing out the underwater feature. I know this is a great shot of me, it's about the only picture I'm okay with since it doesn't show my enormous body. Seriously this pregnancy I'm getting so big so fast and I still have another 3 1/2 months. yikes!

Maile's new thing in the pool is diving for swim rings, I've been surprised how well she does.

The girls loved family night with Justin there to throw them around and play all the games, I'm sure he loved it too.


We are so excited for you Justin and wish you the best.
Thanks for a fun visit we'll miss you!