Share

As I've mentioned, Gabby has a best friend. Last week her sweet friend was over playing and I had a bowl of honeydew cut up. They both love fruit and so they were sitting at the counter with the bowl between them, eating. What I thought was especially sweet is that a couple of times, one of them would say,"Share" and they would grab the bowl and push it toward the other one and smile. Too sweet.

make-up

Michelle and Ella got makeup from a friend for Christmas. Included in the make-up was nail polish. So on Tuesday of last week, I walk past the bathroom and Gabby is putting makeup on her face. I honestly didn't think much of it... we were home and it would wash off. Then I walked in a minute later, only to realize that she wasn't painting her face with makeup but with nail polish! She was busy applying it to her eyes ...and had already painted her lips and cheeks. I grabbed a wash cloth and started wiping it off...then thought...hey, wait, what am I doing? I need to get a picture of this. I mean it was even on her eyelashes like mascara would be. So here are a few pics with most of the nail polish still on. It's pink and not super bright, but you'll get the idea. And fortunately, most of it came off right then with soap and water since it was still wet. She had a couple of spots near her eye that lasted for two days.

Before Christmas Festivities

Here are a few shots of our pre-Christmas activities, because I got too busy to ever post about them prior to Christmas.

The girls had fun trimming the tree and making Gingerbread sleighs and a Gingerbread house. It was especially cute, because I think Gabrielle might just have been more excited about all of this than the other two girls. She loves gingerbread houses. She went to a gingerbread house display with Alyson and Aly said she was so excited to look at all of the houses. This has been a fun Christmas with her.

Alfredo's department had a Christmas party. Usually they have a dinner for employees and spouses, but this year it was a party for the whole family. The kids really had fun playing the drums, guitars, and piano as well as foosball, pool, and toys. Gabby loved seeing Bruce's son's rats.


The food was delicious, and there was a special surprise near the end: Santa came and gave all the kids gifts!





The girls got Hello Kitty digital cameras, the boys got Nerf guns, the teenagers got money. Gabby got zhu zhu pet accessories and a zhuzhu pet car. Everyone was happy to see Santa, and only Gabby wouldn't climb up on his lap.

Mirielle

Here's a collage of photos Shannon took of Ella.


I just love the main photo of Ella. If I had to choose one favorite photo that Shannon took, it would be that one of Ella. Good thing I don't have to choose, though, because there are a lot that I love.

Here are a few things about our sweet Mirielle at age 5 1/2:

*She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES school and is doing so well. She loves learning Spanish and loves learning to read and has just loved everything about school. I have really seen her mature since she began school.

*All she really wanted for Christmas was a play kitchen. She was so happy to get it and has spent so much time playing with it already.

*Ella loves to pray. She says the sweetest, most sincere prayers.

*Ella is very sensitive. She loves to be held and hugged. She often tells you how much she loves you. She also gets her feelings hurt easily and cries easily.

*Ella has the most beautiful, sparkling eyes. Even strangers comment on her eyes.

We love her so very much.

Gabrielle

Here is a collage of photos that Shannon took of Gabrielle.



And some things to share about Gabby at age 2 1/2.

*She loves animals. She adores Chester, but she also loves her babysitter's dog, rabbits and lizards. She loves to show me the lizards when I pick her up and she has woried about Chewy, the babysitter's dog because he hurt his foot a week ago.

*All she really wanted for Christmas was a pink zhu-zhu pet. She was lucky enough to get a pink one, a green one, a brown one and a zhu-zhu pet Wii game...not to mention another car and a princess carriage from various friends and family.

*She is a talker. Strangers sometimes comment about how much she talks for her age. She knows what she wants and she lets you know too. She is so expressive too. She uses her hands as she talks and has so many facial expressions. I love to watch her face as she talks. As I type, she is listening to the music and dancing on the computer desk with her hands waving in the air.

*She thinks she is a big girl and wants to do (almost) everything her sisters do.
One example is that each Sunday the Primary kids go and tell the Bishop what they learned in church and they get a candy. She goes right along with them and doesn't even need me to go with her. She walks up and tells the Bishop that she learned about "Jesus" (her answer every week, no matter what they talked about...but hey, it's a good one) and gets her candy (which she thinks hard about before selecting...). Too cute.

*Aside from her sisters, she has a best friend named Sofie. She adores Sofie, and misses Sofie when they don't get to play.

We all adore her and are so glad she's part of our family.

Michelle

Here is a collage of the photos Shannon took of Michelle. Isn't she beautiful?


Since 2010 is nearly over, I thought I'd do a little summary of the things I want to remember about Michelle at age 7.

*Her Spanish is really improving. She now will try to talk to people in Spanish, even if she doesn't know them that well. She recently even told a joke in Spanish. It is definitely second grade humor, but too cute that she's telling jokes:
"Mira la foco. (pause) Se caye el moco." (giggle) It means: Look up at the ceiling. Out falls your booger. It really loses a lot of its affect in English but it rhymes and is silly in Spanish.

*She is becoming a great little reader. I don't know that it will ever be her "thing" like it is mine (that will probably be Ella), but she is doing very well in reading and math in both languages.

*She has such a kind heart. She really feels bad when someone gets hurt or she sees someone teased. There is a boy in her class who has a younger sister in Ella's class. The younger sister is pretty shy (as is Ella) and often doesn't play at recess. Michelle bugged Ella for nearly two weeks to talk to this little girl and play with her because she needed friends. I'm sure it was hard for Ella, but she did and they do play together now.

*She started taking violin lessons at her after school program. We changed after school programs, so we're looking now for a new teacher for her. She really wants to learn to play the violin. We also just bought a piano, so now she wants to play the piano too.

*She has the sweetest dimple on her right cheek.

*She is a great mix of girly girl and tomboy. She is quite athletic (although her busy parents have not really given her too many opportunities to develop her skills)...she taught herself to ride a 2 wheeled bike at 4 1/2, she literally climbs the walls and loves monkey bars and is a fast little runner. She loves to be active and be outside. But she also loves fancy dresses, bows in her hair and makeup. She loves it when women wear high heels and nice jewelry (too bad her mom almost never does either of those! and I'm not the greatest at doing hair either...although I do try!)

*She loves HGTV and has definite opinions about what she likes, which she can articulate. Maybe she'll be an interior decorator or something when she grows up.

*She has mastered the "teacher" voice. She loves to play school and she sounds just like a teacher. I've joked that she could probably come to my school and keep my class in line...and it's probably not far from the truth.

family photos

About a month ago, my good friend Shannon took our family's photos. She did such a great job. I'm just now finally getting them added to my blog. Shannon is so talented. To see more of her photos, check her out at Greener Days Photography.

Here are a few of my favorites of the family. I'll share some individual shots tomorrow: