Still trying to catch up!

The cake Eliza selected for her third birthday party.

I feel like I got the best kind of little girl ever--she's not interested in fairies & princesses (phew!) but she will still let me dress her up super cute.  It's handy that she likes trucks and such since her primary play mate is Isaiah!

I really have no idea what she was pouting about here, but I love her pouty face so much that I often photograph it.  I'm sure most folks would tell me that's not a great response if I want her to stop doing it.  To which I would reply, I don't really want her to stop doing it.  It's still cute.

Sometimes when you get stickers, it's best to use them all right away.

These ones came from our neighbor girl Mira.  She's a year younger than Eliza and has recently declared Eliza to be her best friend.  It's an interesting best-friendship since they only see each other once a month or so (unless you count the many times a day we see them through our kitchen window, which lines up exactly with their kitchen window) and with all the talk about how mean girls can be, maybe this once a month thing is a good idea!

Here is Eliza getting her first pedicure.  She was pretty nervous, but also excited.  For Christmas we decided that rather than getting a gift for my grandmother (who has everything she wants) we would treat her to a girls-night-out pedicure party.  She, of course, is a stinker and contacted the salon ahead of time to arrange to have it all paid for...some people and their endless generosity!  Anyway, they had a room in the back where we were all loud and obnoxious, and we all came away with cute(r) toes!

It wasn't just Eliza's first pedicure, it was also my mom's first!

Grandma lives right on the Puget Sound in Bremerton.  The kids had fun feeding the birds.  Next time if the tide's out we'll see if they're brave enough to venture down the rocky beach.  I predict they will like it until one of them falls down--knees skinned on barnacles hurt way worse than pavement skins!

So there I was, driving to the gym on New Year's Day, thinking about how overdone the whole "go to the gym on New Year's Day" thing has become, and wishing I could have a sign on me that said "I have been doing to the gym for months now, this is not just a new year's thing, so you don't have to secretly be thinking about how I'll quit in a few weeks just like 78% of the population who made that same resolution.  But I was snapped out of that run-on thought by a passing motorcycle cop.  I pulled right over to let him by and, oddly, he pulled right in behind me.  Huh?  My first thought was "this probably wasn't a good day to leave my wallet at home."  It turns out I was pulled over by the nicest police officer ever to walk the earth.  I explained about leaving my wallet at home and he kindly looked up my name to make sure I was in fact licensed and was not in fact an escaped felon.  And then, as if that wasn't nice enough, he even pointed out to me that my tabs were expired.  Well, shoot!  It's New Year's Day, I thought, can't they give me a couple days grace period to remember to take care of such things?  I'm glad I didn't mention this because he went on to point out that they had expired the previous FEBRUARY!  As in TEN months earlier.  Like I said:  Well, shoot!

So the seriously nice fellow gave me a "fix-it" ticket and sent me on my way.  I texted Jerel:  did you know my tabs expired in February?  He hadn't been aware and didn't seem that excited that a police man had let me know, but what can you do.  Anyway, so the next day I got to take both kids out to the DMV.  We waited in line FOREVER and when it was finally our turn, the guy pointed out that the car was in Jerel's name not mine, so Jerel had to sign the form.  Ugh.  Even Eliza could have told them that Daddy earns the money but Mommy spends it; alas, the word of a 3-year-old holds no legal standing in today's world.  Luckily we were just in the pre-line line so we got to keep our original number.  Also luckily the line was moving slow enough that I had time to load up both kids, drive all the way to Jerel's work to get his signature, and drive all the way back and still have plenty of time left for waiting.

This is getting way too long.  So I got it all fixed and the last step was to take the ticket and the proof of fixing down to the police station.  Loaded up the kids and headed down there only to realize I had not brought the proof of fixing.  Yes, I was going to show them I had new tabs, but I had not brought the new tabs with me (nor had I put them on the plate).  This is the part where Jerel doesn't understand how I can forget something that is, in fact, the entire point of my excursion.  I remind him that I did remember both children and that's probably more important.  So I headed into the office anyway and who was there at the desk?  Mr. Friendliest Police Officer ever!  I reminded him that he had pulled me over and explained how I was there to show him my tabs but hadn't brought them with me and he said "Well, you wouldn't have come all the way out here if you hadn't taken care of it, so I'll go ahead and sign your paperwork."  which is the kind of common sense life-saving reason that should prevail in the world.  And as if that wasn't enough, he then volunteered to show my kids his motorcycle and let them try it out.  Seriously, it's the best ticket I've ever gotten!

The kids in their new swimsuits for the year.  I love them to have sleeves so I don't have to sunscreen so much, and I love Eliza in a (non-teenager looking) two-piece for ease of diaper changing.

Ryan & Amy came to visit so we introduced them to our M&M game for general conference.  Each person chooses a word they think they will hear most during conference and then fills their cup with M&M's.  When they hear that word, they get to eat one and also give one to everyone else.  You can tell Isaiah's played it before, as he chose "Jesus."  I wanted to play, but still being sugar-free I chose Kolob--which turned out to be a perfectly safe word, as I thought it might.  Of course after 15 minutes the kids are all bored and sneaking M&M's but we still had a good time.

This is not, in fact, a bleach commercial.  It is a lighthouse and Jerel and I obviously didn't plan our outfits well.  Partly because we don't plan our outfits, and partly because (as Jerel would insist) boys do not wear outfits, they were clothes.