Growing Up

If only I had had this microwave when Carice was a newborn. You see, I had a 'happy accident' one day when she and I were still at LDS hospital together shortly after she was born.



I went into the bathroom to get a bottle warmed up by turning on the hot water. Low and behold the sound of the running water instantly silenced her cries. Wow! What a discovery!

Since that experience, I spent quite a lot of time in our bathroom(s) at home with Carice; water running and/or the exhaust fan whirring away.

There were times it didn’t work, and/or no longer seemed to work as she got older, but today as Cali was just off to kindergarten, I held Carice while standing and rocked her to sleep with my new and rather loud oven vent on, soothing her to sleep for a nap.

No, she is no longer a baby, but I still love to cuddle with her and I still love naptime! ☺ Carice is growing up. It has been a month since she said goodbye to the bottle. I thought it was going to be a hard sell. Perhaps the verbal hints we gave here and there proved helpful. One morning, however, I decided to serve her her orange juice via sippy cup with her breakfast; seated at the kitchen table. (Mostly, we would just veg out on the couch and eat there in front of a kid show.) She made it through not only that meal, but for the rest of the day. I had a moment of wanting to cave, I believe, as our new sippy life wore on, but I didn’t give in and frankly, she never did either by asking for a bottle that I remember.

I still warm up her drinks, just to take the edge off. For some reason, my Littlest Love can eat a popscicle, but when it comes to beverages- “It’s too cold, Mommy!” I know she remembers how I used to check the bottoms of the disposable bag in her bottle for a good temperature, too. At bath time she will be playing with this skinny, blue plastic bottle we have-‘making some type of drink’-when she will take her cute little finger and put it on the bottom of the bottle. ☺

As for now, though, her bottle days (and my washing bottle days) are over. We have four easy to sip sippy cups and yes, sadly, only three lids to go with them. These cups are ‘golden’ as, unfortunatly, The First Years company doesn’t make these particular sippies anymore. At least we have these that we will wash, use and covet, wash, use and covet.☺

Congrats, My Love, on what can be a tough transition in Toddlerhood! You accomplished it with such grace and ease and Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.

We are so happy to have you in our family ☺




BROWN SUGAR FACIAL

I DREW THE MOUTH!

Fall Baking

I have to admit I am a little surprised that Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies are one of Rick's favorite cookies. He really isn't big into 'flavored stuff', ie: banana, zucchini, pumpkin bread, etc. but these he loves! I found a winning recipe at cooks.com that I altered just a bit (ran out of nutmeg, so I used allspice instead), but the hubby loved them :). And I captured a cute photo of the girls helping to make these fall favorites.

As you have been able to tell, I have been in a bit of a 'posting frenzy' after being unsure if I would ever have a paragraph worthy again for our fam blog. But after having the school bus experience with Cali, I penned thoughts to paper that day. I wanted to share our experience and also remember the feelings I had about her first school bus journey.

Initially, I thought a once a month post would work out best for me, but now I found it doesn't. Let's face it, moments with the girls are just too fleeting. They grow up in a blink of an eye it seems, even with us standing right next to them. I don't want to miss recording our memories with them (and ours, as well). And so I join you fellow bloggers who post a thought, a photo, or experiences that happen from day to day, and/or moment to moment.

Happy Day to You!
Love,
the Moore4

Pumpkin Patch

As I was complaining (perhaps too long and too hard) about my new city to my mother-in-law the other day on the phone, (no good shopping close by, no children hittin’ the streets to play after school for Cali’s happiness) I have to say in spite of all my moaning, I do have one of my greatest autumn joys right down the road from my home: a pumpkin patch. A real live pumpkin patch on a real live farm. Actually, I not only have one pumpkin patch in this city, I have two.


I believe it was on a ‘drive’ when I discovered a second, smaller roadside pumpkin patch. (Y’know the drives where you are praying that all that driving you are doing is sending your littlest love to slumber land?) Yes, well, I also have to gush about the beautiful ‘country roads’ for those particular drives in this city, too. I always wished I had roads like this to drive in Salt Lake (and for this particular reason!)


The second pumpkin patch I found is completely cute; but we chose to visit Pack Farms. Once there, we found they have adorable hand carts to carry your horde of pumpkins (how can you get just one?), a few places to have a harvest photo taken and even a straw maze.

Eleven pumpkins later, photos and smiley faces we were on way. I will be back just before they close for the season to get a bundle of corn stalks to decorate for the harvest season in November. But for right now, we are decked out with ghosts and bats for Halloween. The pumpkins sitting on the steps of our front porch are a perfect addition; just waiting to be turned into jack-o-lanterns!☺










Okay, so we didn’t wait until closer to Halloween to start our carving fest. Here is our first creation!

Big Yellow Bus and Our Cali

Yay! We all lived... well, me, mostly. It was Cali's first day riding the school bus and I was more nervous than she was. I called a new neighbor, Megan, yesterday. I knew her little girl was in afternoon kindergarten and rode the bus. We walked together with Leah today to the bus stop that was way down at the end of the street. (Okay, so I admit I made Daddy drive with Carice so we three could follow the bus to the school.) Cali arrived just fine. I went to greet her off the bus and away she went to play on the playground before school started for the day. She was fine without me *sigh*

I went to the school at the end of the day, though, to make sure she would get home okay. Leah had a doctor's appt, so she wouldn't be there and like Daddy was saying... would Cali know where to get off? The bus picked up the girls on the corner of Dakota and Colt, but had been dropping off Leah at the end of Colt, by our houses. After getting to the school, I talked with Cali's teacher, Mrs. Yardley, and the bus driver. The driver was very nice and I think he even said he would take good care of her! (I love those words!) Cali was already on the bus. I was talking to her a little from outside of the bus when the bus driver said I could get on the bus- so I did. I didn't want to embarrass her, so I didn't stay on long :) I told her I'd meet her at the bus stop by Leah's house.

After driving home, I walked to the corner and waited for a bit and finally here came the bus! The bus driver offered her a sucker from a large, clear bucket. She looked at me with sadness and hesitation. I nodded for her to take one. She got two out of the deal and ended up sharing the other one with little sis.

My first baby had a fun, successful first journey on the school bus. I couldn't be more proud... and relieved.

Creativity and the Great Outdoors

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Hey all :)

Life is so crazy... don't know when I will ever get back to posting real paragraphs!

Hope you all are enjoying the Fall, snow and all. Happy Day to you. ;)


And in this corner... Giant Sagebrush vs. Little Girls...


Creating with Q-tips...

Not tonight, Dear, I have Mannequin Leg

I had intentions of getting my August/slash/September blog finished and posted, but well now... it's already OCTOBER!!! So, that particular news will have to be finished someday and then added to the ol' printed history book (as this is also that) and I shall go on from here, I guess. I don't want to slight the news of those two months, though, because we had two very special birthdays: Rick and Carice's, as well as Cali starting elementary school for the first time and of course the 'big move' (and drive) to our new, gracious house. However, time has once again kicked my buhooby and here I am writing a teeny blurb and posting without any Kodak moments to share.

Will life ever calm down and will we ever find some comfortable routines here in the new place? I hope so. It's been a little rough. For one, the kids on this end of the neighborhood don't come out and play like they did in Draper. This is hard on Cali (and me). The folks in this area are really, really, friendly, but we are used to kids roaming the streets and having friends for Cali to play with. Plus, I suppose, it was easy for us in Draper as the playground was literally in our back yard.

Anyhoo.. that is just one crazy venting moment. I could go on, I guess. The house is great, and we have truly been blessed beyond our worthiness, but I didn't realize that starting from scratch, is really, 'starting from scratch' - there is so much to do. I like my space and my life to flow with me and nothing is flowing. Okay, maybe the tears, but that is another vent and another post.