mariah's new do

Mariah has a new haircut (and a darling new camera smile). Yesterday during her bath, I put a folding chair in the tub, sat her on it, and snipped away. Then, as she stood on the toilet helping me with my make-up, I did quite a bit more snipping. I'd see a chunk, snip, see another long one, snip, etc. She was a good sport but did not sit (or stand) still for the operation. I'm surprised we ended up with somewhat straight lines.

Demographic Winter

Sobering and very interesting . . . . Demographic Winter.

The Johnson Girls Morphed

I stayed up way too late doing this, but it was fun. The site uses face recognition technology to pick a celebrity for you. (I have to admit, I don't know who most of them are). I think Laura's and Eliza's are amazing resemblances!

Mom

Laura

Me

Eliza

Joanne

Marian

Christine

George Look-alike Meter

This was the third picture we tried for Mariah. The first looked 3% more like me; the second (she wasn't smiling at all) looked 23% more like me!!

cousins

It was so much fun to have the three baby cousins together at Sisters. Elaine is the oldest; Henry was born 20 days later, and Orva 16 days after Henry.

Joanne's Art

Joanne is finally considering selling her artwork!! She's amazing! Here are photos of a couple of her works. (She would be willing to do different color schemes, etc., to fit your needs). If you're interested, post a comment, and I'll let her know, or go to her blog, and post a comment there:

"The Hair"

This is my sister, Joanne. Her children are hilarious. I just have to share a couple of things they said about Jo's new haircut:
When Tristan, her 7-year-old, saw the new do, he said, "It's okay, but there's just all this hair on your face." (meaning the bangs). And Rachel, her 4-year-old, simply referred to her as "The Hair." Rachel also said to her younger sister, Elizabeth (2), "See that hair over there? That's mommy." They are darling children.

This is me, my sisters, and our mom. About this picture, Rachel said, "That is not good! Please don't ever show me that picture again!"

Sisters' Weekend 2008

Last Wednesday through Sunday was our annual sisters' weekend. I love my family!! We had so much fun together! Thank you to our husbands for making it possible!

Here's a run-down of events (thanks, Joanne; other sisters, please tell me what I'm missing):

Tuesday night - Liza flew in from Texas

Wednesday:

• Laura arrived from Virginia
• Mom, Laura, Christine cleaned my house (amazing & wonderful), while Liza was at lunch and scouting out houses with a friend
• Beaners for dinner
• Joanne arrived from Texas & Marian from England - late, late, late
  

Thursday:

• Apple crisp for breakfast
• Sisters' Gifts: Laura - leather necklaces & pendants; Rebekah - NuSkin stuff; Eliza - very cool silver necklace & earrings; Joanne & Marian - Joanne's artwork (set of 5 prints); Christine - purses from New York; Mom - James Christensen angel calendar, Proclamation CD
  
• Detailed Bikram yoga class in Mom's bedroom - taught by Laura
• Lunch at Bajios
• Marian, Christine, Mom went to Art Services; the rest of us hung out at my house
• Great northern bean soup for dinner - convincing everyone they need an electric pressure cooker
• Initiatory at Provo Temple - thanks to Annie and Charlotte for watching our babies!
• Style party preview
• Lots of Mom's gingersnaps and Liza's chocolate cookies
  

Friday:

• Hot cereal for breakfast (pressure cooker)
  
• Yoga
• Trish came and cut everyone's hair; Tine chopped her hair off & Jos got bangs
• Jo (with Henry) & Mer visited Anita at work
  
• Beaners for dinner
• Shopping (Plato's Closet, Ross, Michaels) - I stayed home with Henry & Elaine
• Joanne modeled her new clothes
• Late treat - Apple crisp with Laura's homemade ice-cream
  

Saturday:

• Walk to Amy & Jim's new house; 3 babies in packs
• Some of us tested out Mom's blue cruiser
• More shopping - Joanne, Mom, & I stayed home with Henry & Elaine
• Joanne did Liza's canvases for her room (They're incredible!! and anyone who's interested in having some of their own, contact Joanne. She's considering selling them!)
• Joanne got a migraine; it went away after some meds, a little sleep, and a slurpee
• Marian went to the Stewarts' for dinner
• Minestrone for dinner
• Dad & Davey came home from Springdale

Sunday:

• Dad taught Sunday School ("What will you bring to the altar?")
• Family pictures in front yard
• 3-cousins pictures
• Singing FHE - video of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" for Elder Johnson
• Joanne went to visit with the Motts
• Laura went to visit with the Allens
  
• Dad made mashed guhs
• Discussion about who has the strongest personality - we all tied
  
• Orva's blessing at the Gibbs'
• Last minute figuring, style party, packing

Miscellaneous:

• lots of green drinks & salads
• lots of sitting around visiting
• lots of passing babies around

to the rescue . . .

The other day, the girls and I were walking to the store, when I noticed a man about a half block in front of us. He was carrying a kitten in one hand and a drink in the other. He didn't look like he enjoyed carrying the kitten, and frankly, he didn't look like a very nice man to me. Well, when he got to the backside of the store, he crossed the parking lot, looked around (apparently didn't see me with my very discreet double stroller), and put both the drink and the kitten into a dumpster.

So, we abandoned our shopping trip and rescued the kitten. She was a sweet little Persian kitty--scared to death. I called animal control, and an officer came to our house to get the poor thing. Mariah had grown quite attached in the 30 minutes the cat was with us, and she cried when the officer took her away.

I know many people do not like cats, but I couldn't believe someone would be so mean.

Little Mama

Mariah has the whole parenting thing down. Yesterday, she put on her "pack pack like daddy," and then set to work changing her "two bear diaper." As soon as the diapers were changed, she dutifully rocked the bears and then poked each of their eyes, saying, "Poke eye." This is something very specifically not allowed with Laney. Apparently she wishes it were part of the baby-care routine. Later, she said she "needed" to put her bear in the pack. She wanted me to "sher." I told her she could pack her own baby, and I would pack Elaine.

"Eye Niner"

Mariah loves helping me with my make-up. She stands on the toilet and hands me whatever I ask for. Her favorite is the "eye niner." I push the lid on really tight so she can't open it, but I guess one day I forgot:




Then today, she got ahold of the permanent marker . . . .

To be fair . . . .

It seems Mariah is getting much more screen time than Elaine. So, to be fair, here are some pictures of my cute little girl:

A Walk by the River

I had to pick up some contacts at the eye doctor's yesterday. His office is right by the River Trail. So, I packed Elaine, and we went for a walk. Mariah loved it! She saw ducks in the river, and played in a little gazebo thing.

Sleeping

Sleeping has never been one of Mariah's strong points. She often takes an hour plus to go to sleep, and she never takes naps over an hour long. (Her poor mother . . . .) She, however, has devised a system that works for her. To get to sleep, she puts a blanket over her head and groans/moans/yells? (I'm not sure what the sound is. Her uncles have called it a "T-rex.") I actually think she does this when her teeth are hurting her--poor girl.

Here's a picture of her asleep in the car on the way home from Mike's mission reunion last Friday.

No hablo Español

No, we do not speak Spanish in our house. I took 3 years in high school, but I do not remember much, and I have never spoken a word of Spanish to Mariah. She, however, has started answering affirmatively by saying, "Si." ????? We do not know if this is coincidence/accident, or if she has learned somewhere (possibly from her Hispanic nursery leader?) that "si" means "yes." Yesterday, she was alternating between "si" and "yeah," but today, it's only "si." Some examples: "Should we eat lunch?" "Si." "Did you sleep well?" "Si." "Do you want to sit up here?" "Si." For some reason, hearing such a little person speak another language (even though it's only one word), is so funny and cute. I've been wondering today if Spanish-speaking families think their children are so cute when they say, "Si."

Fashion Statement

Mariah has started dressing herself. This was yesterday's outfit. As Fancy Nancy would say, "Darling!" (Speaking of Fancy Nancy, we read it before Mariah went to bed tonight. I decided to leave off words at the ends of sentences. She knew every one!)

All My Sailors

I dressed Mariah and Elaine in their little sailing outfits today. (I know Mariah's isn't really a sailing outfit, but for some reason, the striped pants and bow on her shirt make me think of the navy and/or sailing). Partway through the day, I realized Mike was wearing his Navy Golf shirt. So, we had a house full of navy brats today. (And I know the pirate theme doesn't really fit, but I thought it was cute).

Projects

This week Mariah and I have done a couple of projects together. The first was on Monday. We made Dinner in a Pumpkin. I thought M would enjoy scooping out the pumpkins; I thought she would be entertained for a while. Ha! She took out a couple of seeds, and then wanted down. She did climb back up once I had the pumpkins all cleaned. She liked taking off and putting back on the lids.

I included photos of the finished product. Unfortunately, these pumpkins were very bland--pretty gross. I usually love the taste of the casserole with the pumpkin meat. This time we scooped out the casserole and ate it by itself. Oh well.

Our second project was last night. We made flower hair clips. Again, I thought Mariah would be entertained for a while. And, again, I was wrong. She started off by falling off the chair, biting her lip on the way down, and bleeding all over things. She recovered fairly quickly and played with a few flowers for a minute, but had no interest in what I was doing (except to want to play with the "sharp sharps" (scissors)). She ended up throwing all of the ribbon and flowers onto the floor and then leaving the room. She came back in to sample the first completed hair clip. After having it in for approximately 20 seconds, she took it out and ripped it apart. (Why does my sweet little girl like to destroy things? I like to think she just has an engineering mind and wants to discover how things work . . . right?)

Grandma Orva Dress

Grandma Orva let us borrow this little dress she wore when she was a baby.

The Zoo

You may have already looked at our zoo photos, but here are the details:

I've wanted to take Mariah to the zoo for a long time; it was one of the first things on my list of things to do after Mike finished the DAT and before we leave Utah. Mariah loved it! She has talked all day today about how she saw different animals at the zoo--how the "cheechee back" (cheetah came back)," and how there were "two black bears."

She also told me a very dramatic story about how there were "two agagors" (alligators), and they were very "scary," and she needed daddy to hold her. She went on for about a minute. The only words I understood were "two alligators," "scary," "daddy," and "hold," but her facial expressions and body language told the rest of the story. (I guess she and Mike saw alligators in the reptile house. I stayed outside with Laney--sleeping in the stroller--during that one. I asked Mike later about the alligators, and he said they viewed them very calmly, and there was no mention of them being scary. so, apparently, mariah kept her anxiety to herself at the time.)

She also loves to talk about how she got a drink in the lion's mouth. That was fun, cause I remember the lion's mouth being a highlight of my childhood zoo trips too.

Another favorite was the meerkat, which she also saw with Mike while I was waiting outside. She told me all about it when they got out (and has mentioned it every day since).

The animals were all pretty docile, except a couple of monkeys made a whole bunch of noise, the cougars were meowing (I didn't realize cougars meowed, and it does sound a bit more aggressive than a cat, but not much), and the cheetah paced for us.

The last stop of the day was the bird show, which I always really enjoy. The birds are so amazing, it gives me chills and leaves me in awe of God's creations. Mariah liked them too. We took a picture with a trainer and the bald eagle after the show (You can see the photo in the previous post. the eagle looks like it wants to eat Mariah for lunch.)

Both girls slept all the way home. Overall, a successful jaunt.