Showing Off My Girls

So I got to show off my two beautiful girls at work last week. PetSmart had a big Grand Opening ceremony for it's 2 new office buildings and fancy parking garage. Even though the mayor of Phoenix canceled at the last minute (something about going to Washington DC to grovel for money), I took advantage of the opportunity to have my family up for the occasion.

It was fun to have the girls come and see where I work. Maren's parents came along and we all had a great time checking out the petting zoo, gorging ourselves on free corn dogs, and meeting the families of my co-workers. See for yourselves...

Home Office - Maren Style!

My favorite project of recent months has been setting up my space. When we first moved in to our home two years ago - Kevin moved in to the official study of the house. With his antique metal desk, wall-hangings from around the world, and eclectic book collection - his space is pretty suave. But now, I've got some space, which by Kevin's stipulation is not as cool as his, but is perfectly perky for me.


First, I found the perfect picture. At the beginning of the year I fell in love with a colorful painting of ABC's from Z Gallerie. Shortly thereafter, the Tempe Z Gallerie went out of business, and I got the picture for a steal of deal - 50% off. Then, remember Bridgette's polka-dot table from Santa? That went under the picture. A great corner desk, some bulletin boards, and of course - an easel for Bridgette (Kevin and I could not resist this IKEA item), added to the office's functionality. But the piece de resistance are my self-made photo frames!

My sister-in-law Stephanie and I explored our creative sides recently. Following my ward's fall enrichment activity (wherein we made advent calendars, but watched others make these awesome frames), we decided that we were going to do our best with Modge Podge and scrapbook paper. We bought the materials and finally went to work this spring.







Stephanie and I had vastly different styles, but equally great results. I anticipate that her pink and black montage will soon be afixed in Lorin's room. And my primary-colored frames are now picture-filled and hanging on the wall of my office/creative space.




Thank you Kevin - for everything you did to help hang frames up!!

Bow-mania

It's true. Mama's of little girls just can't resist accesorizing them with hair bows and other baubles. I too have fallen victim to this practice. But let's be clear - I have clearly been encouraged in this by my mom, who is on a first name basis with the hair clip sales ladies in the baby department at Nordstroms.

Well, this last week Linlee Melcher from my ward hosted a workshop in her home, where she taught all us proud Mama's how to make our own bows. Pictured are the results of my bow-tying efforts.

Though cute and colorful, a few of these bows are probably too big for Bridgette's still limited strands of hair, but that won't stop me from trying to clip them in there. And in case you're wondering, I'll confess, crafting my own bows does not make adorning my child cheaper. 'Cuz now I have to shop for outfits that match!!

Egg-ceptional Day

We had an EGG-CEPTIONALLY great Easter Day.

The Easter bunny visited our house bright and early Easter morning. I don't think Bridgette properly appreciated the sun-flower adorned swimsuit that she received in her basket, but she joyfully shook and rattled the candy-filled plastic eggs.

By 8 a.m., we attired Bridgette in her lovely Easter dress - appropriately sunny and yellow - and rushed off to church. We had bought dainty white, lace shoes to complete Bridgette's ensemble, but she was having none of that. As observed by the young girl sitting in the pew in front of her at church, "Bridgette just won't where those shoes."

Grandma got the pleasure/frustration of holding onto a happy and hyper Bridgette during church, because Kevin and I both sat in the stands. We both sang in the choir, but I got the extra assignment to give an Easter talk. Seriously - the mere Sunday before Easter I was asked to speak in church on "Teaching the Atonement to our Children." It's a lot of pressure to speak on Easter Sunday, when the chapel is packed. I later learned we had approximately 480 people in attendance, and I saw each one of them from the podium.

Fortunately, the talk went well (Incidentally, speaking is way easier than conducting music in primary!). And perhaps the best part of the day was seeing Bridgette in the church audience, bouncing on Grandma's lap with uncontrollable glee when she saw her parents speaking and singing from up high.

After church, Kevin and rushed to finished our deviled eggs - our assignment for Grandma's Easter dinner. They looked delicious with all the other fun food Grandma had on display at her house! She even had an adorable sheep cake. Too cute to eat.

The grandkids and cousins enjoyed a grand Easter Egg Hunt in Grandma's backyard! Though the kids struggled to wait for the hunt to being (some of the eggs weren't so much as hidden as they were lying in plain, tempting sight).

Hope your Easter was as egg-cellent as ours!

Officially Walking!

She did it!! Bridgette took NINE steps. Count 'em. That's 9 steps!!

Our definition of officially walking was a mere 5 unassisted steps. So, it's official. Our baby girl can walk.

Bridgette has been getting closer to walking everyday. A step here, a step there. But today, we think she may have finally been inspired to take bigger risks by cute little Emry Dean. Emry was due one day before Bridgette, but born about a week earlier.

Today, while Kevin and Danny (Emry's dad) watched their darling but can't-sit-still-for-a-sermon girls in the foyer at church, Emry demonstrated her vertical-mobility skills to Bridgette. We called this positive peer pressure.

It took Bridgette the rest of the day to work up the courage (brightly colored bunnies placed slightly out of reach helped). Thus, at about 6:45 p.m., Bridgette walked. We'll take video if we can ever get her to repeat the feat. But for now, a victory photo with Dad will have to do.

Splish Splash

When Bridgette was born, we bought the requisite infant tub, but we quickly determined that for our family SHOWERS worked best.

Bridgette would wake up as we were getting ready for the day, so we'd strip her down and hand her off to whoever was stepping into the shower next. Once we got used to hanging on to a squirmy and soapy slick babe - it worked great!! Bridgette never cried under the spray - not even once - and she quickly became fascinated with the water.

I'm pretty sure showers - which are much faster - will remain the staple for cleaning purposes around here. However, because Bridgette has been so delighted by water generally, we felt we had to give her the bath experience too. Bridgette got a plethora of bath toys for Christmas, but it's just been in the last month that we've put them to real use.

Bridgette luuuuuvs her bath. She squeels with her hands under the faucet and splashes at the bubbles. She cries only we take her out and have to dry her off. Left to her own devices, she'd stay in the tub 'til the water was cold and she was prune.

We're really looking forward to swim season!

Almost Walking!

It seems like Bridgette has been almost walking for months now. Come to think of it, she's been almost getting a new tooth for months now. But both fronts have been long on anticipation (and drool), and slow on results. We've only got a few steps and 2 teeth to show for all the work (and drool). Did I mention that she drools a lot? Cause she does...

But she's still the cutest, best-natured baby you'll ever meet. So here's a little video of her walking and being adorable.