haven't decided.... winter or spring?

Whitney is saying "oh no! Daffodils"
Tucker is a little distressed about his wet hands
My view out my bedroom window
Snow trying to cover up spring
Whitney's two snowmen



February and March are such teaser months. You start getting all excited because it's starting to feel like maybe spring is around the corner because it is getting light earlier and later. For example, now it is fun to be this far north. It starts getting light around 6:15 am and the sky isn't completely black until 7 pm. That means tonight it won't be completely black until 8 pm!!!! But then this happens. Snow. I'm always so glad daffodils are fairly sturdy flowers because I'd be really bitter at the snow every year if they weren't. Since we moved to Utah and ever since then, it has snowed on daffodil blooms at my house, but........ the daffodils still make it through the snowy weather. Monday morning I woke up very surprised at the snow. When we went to bed, it was bitterly cold, but that's because it was perfectly clear, moon out and everything. So I was shocked there were enough clouds in the night to pass through and dump snow. The ground wasn't frozen, so I knew the snow would melt quick. That and there wasn't any snow on the roads.

As soon as I saw the snow, I went in the babies' room to wake them up. I pulled the shade up and Whitney immediately smiled a huge grin and said "Snowman?", pointing outside. So, before breakfast and before Daddy left for work, we went outside and built two snowmen. They lived only 24 hours, and only that long because we built them in a shady spot where the warm sun didn't get to them later that day. While we were outside, Tucker got out the mop bucket, because, you know, every time you go outside you've got to give the mop bucket a push up the driveway and back, even when you are getting in the car to run errands. Whitney checked out the daffodils and was very concerned for them. Then we were done. I'm glad I did that because the snow did melt quick. And I remember being little and being so excited about something I couldn't eat. After that, they ate a hearty breakfast.

So this week started out with snow. It was sunny until Thursday, so by then, it warmed up to the upper 50's. Very balmy for here. We went to the park on Thursday and Tucker figured out the joy of taller slides. He was having such a blast, with this big grin all the way down the slide. I wish I had the camera with me to take videos and make the grandmas jealous enough to come visit. Whitney likes the slides, too, but still loves the teeter totters best. They threw rocks in the pond to attract the ducks and watched ducks for awhile. We had a picnic and they really liked sitting at the big picnic table. By Friday and Saturday, it was really cold and rainy.

I found out Tucker is a die-hard outside kind of guy. On Saturday Jim and I divided and conquered. Tucker went with me and Whitney stayed with Daddy. Tucker had to go to a baby shower with me, so I promised him after that we could go to the playground. In order to keep my promise, we had to go to the playground when it was pouring, with a very frigid wind whipping around us. Stupid me. What was I thinking when I said that?? As soon as we got out of the car, I was done, but not Tucker. He had so much fun getting soaking wet. He also yelled "Wet!" at every piece of playground equipment and laughed. Every single piece, including the poles. It was interesting to me though, that even though he was fine getting wet, he has his limits. Not his hands or pants. He didn't touch any of the wet stuff with his hands. Smart boy. Turns his hands really red, since he won't wear mittens. He also stood at the top of the slide to wait for me to dry it off (all moms here go to the playground prepared). I thought this was a very pointless activity, but he had to learn. After the third slide down, the towel was just as wet as the slide, so I didn't get too much of the wetness off. He got pretty wet going down, but he also sat just right on his rain slicker and went really fast down the slide and landed hard at the bottom. He didn't go down any more slides. I eventually had to talk him into "finding the car", my trick words for "time to go" after 25 minutes. I was freezing and he was happy.

Another interesting and great thing I learned about Whitney and Tucker this week is their ability to play together. They played for an hour and a half almost completely independently. I couldn't believe it. To reward them, we went to the park for the same amount of time. Thank heavens Thursday was a nice day. What happened is the girl that normally plays with them while I'm at the women's clogging group wasn't there. I knew she wasn't going to be there, so I loaded up on "new toys" that have been in the closet since before Christmas. And they played! No fighting. One time, Tucker had a moment and couldn't see me on the stage from the gym. He yelled "Snuggle Mommy" a few times. I leaned over the edge and gave him a kiss and he went back to playing. I still can't believe it. They also did amazing during Stake Conference today for two hours. Good thing, because Jim wasn't there to "snuggle Papa", a huge thing that usually gets us through church. Yeah stickers and fish crackers. They were also really good on Monday and .......... drum roll....... I got the entire house cleaned in one day on Monday. Good thing. Prepped me for a sick week at the end.

One thing I really love about Whitney is how she isn't a complainer. Unlike me. I love to complain, which is why Tucker is my child. I'm getting payback. But Whitney is an example to me of not complaining. She has been very sick these past few days, full of snot and a fever that makes her body ache. She also was hoarse talking a few days, probably because her throat hurts. And probably her ears, but she didn't complain. No screaming, just snuggling and a lot of tossing and turning. I really hope Tucker doesn't get this cold, because it's a doozy for Whitney, so I don't even want to think about it for him. He's been happy ever since we got the inhaler figured out a week ago. Running around like crazy, sleeping through the night and no throwing up with jumping or running. He also no longer has a continuous runny nose, something I didn't notice until it was gone for the first time in... I don't know how long. It's great!!!

Something that just makes me laugh is what Whitney and Tucker are learning to say. Half the time I don't remember who makes up what, but one will make something up and the other quickly copies it. Here's an example. For some reason they have picked up names for age groups. The only way I can think of them thinking of this is that there are a lot of Grandmas and Aunts in the family book and they are all the same age, so maybe they think one name applies to the age group. If they can't fit the person in the age group, they just get a smile or a stare. There is a friend of mine that has a three year old named Lincoln. So now, when we go out in public, any kid bigger than them up to the age of about 5 has the name Lincoln. They shout at those kids to watch out "Lincoln" or are genuinely sad for "Lincoln's" ball to have rolled out of reach. There is also a girl about 13 years old with long blond hair who plays with them at clogging class named Brynn. So all teenage girls, especially those with long blond hair have the name Brynn. Like the girl in the bathroom today, who was not Brynn, was named Brynn. Duh, mom. This also applies to anyone that may seem like family. We were invited over to a home that is kind of family in a round about way. When we left, Tucker promptly said "Bye Grandma" I don't know if it is a category or if he feels like she must fit in the Grandma category.

Tucker figured out how to ask a question. He must really like the varied responses or something because he does it a lot. Kind of like "why?" but three words. Boy, he's really going to like why. One word, lots of responses. He figured out "what papa doing?" He thinks he's really funny.

Did I mention they are good at disciplining? This usually applies to any and all family members. Tucker even says "bad tucker. Time out!" and runs over to time out after giving Whitney a "soft" (soft touch on the head or shoulder, instead of a hug or kiss, as those are scary to Whitney, too). Whitney disciplined Rocky for sitting on the daffodils, getting my attention and yelling at Rocky to "move!"

I was talking to Papa on the phone (my mom's dad) this week and he was asking about how big they were. It got me thinking about how it doesn't seem possible that they could be big, but they are growing up. They can find almost all the letters of the alphabet (Stef, thanks!), Whitney is potty trained, they can play for an hour and a half, walk, talk two languages.... kind of, and make me laugh! They seem too little to be doing it all, but they are babies no longer. But, Ryan, to answer your question, I still call them "the babies" They still seem to be little to me and now I'm starting to hold on to baby moments because I know they'll be gone very soon. Makes me feel old.

But I can't be too old. I'm very impressed with myself. I set up the WiiFit again. Jim was happy for other reasons, but I'm happy because I did my Wii age and it says I'm 27. That program is really smart. It knows what to say to make me keep playing games on it.

Book of the week: Hop on Pop...... still

This week I'm looking forward to going climbing at the community gym and a ladies night out at my house. Happy St. Patrick's day!