Washington DC

Jason did an anesthesia rotation in March, which meant going to work early and coming home around 10am. Nice! We took advantage of his wonderful schedule to go to the temple and take the girls to the National Mall. The temple was so beautiful!

I haven't been to the Mall in so long, and I've forgotten how far apart the monuments are! The girls were most excited about the carousel by the Smithsonian museums.

My dad was a Marine, so the girls are familiar with the USMC emblem. Clara learned about the Marines in school and surprised us at dinner once by saying out of the blue, "Semper fidelus!" Her grandpa would be proud!(I couldn't get the picture in the center..?)

It took us a long time to find West Virginia.

It's surprisingly hard to get a picture of all 5 of us together!

It started out kind of chilly but turned out to be a pretty warm day. Here are the girls at the WWII memorial. Clara, the wonderful big sister, is rolling up Savannah's pants. We got ice cream after this, which was probably their second favorite thing.

This cutie just rode along in her stroller and on her daddy's shoulders like she had nothing else to do. She's so happy, as long as she's with her mama or daddy.

Pictures

January and February were spent mostly inside and home from school. We had weeks worth of snow days, and I'm so glad that it's finally March! We've just been hanging out at home. Here are a few pictures.

Caroline is 10 months now. She used to randomly raise her arms up in the air like this. It was so funny; she doesn't do it anymore, though.

She's pulling up now on everything and is so proud of herself. Can't you tell?

Savannah's hair gets crazy after she's been rolling around on the couch.

Two bottom teeth!

When she doesn't like what we're feeding her, Caroline gives us dirty looks. And sometimes other times, too.

Quilts 2013 & Projects 2014

I set a record this year and made TWO quilts! This first one is for my sister Allison. I have made quilts for Ashley and Mauri, and now it was Allison's turn! I absolutely loved this one. It just screams "ALLISON!!" to me. I started it before Christmas last year for two reasons: I was having a baby in the spring, and my mother-in-law (quilter extraordinaire) was going to leave on a mission sometime in the fall. So I finished this one sometime in the early summer. I was so excited for Christmas to come so I could finally give it to her!

 The other quilt was for Savannah's bed. She has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor, but we finally her bed set up. She was really excited for the big bed, but on the first night she said it was too high and wanted it back on the floor. Go figure. But she loves her quilt! It was a lot of fun to make. Lois made the sham from some of the scraps.

 

I've found a couple projects that I want to do this year. I made a couple pillow cases for our couch last year, but I don't know if I can resist making a couple of these little sprocket pillows. (Allison, you could try this too!) Aren't they darling?

 

I found this fun embroidered wall decor that looks fun to make. I was thinking I'd do the states we've lived in: Utah, South Carolina, Idaho and West Virginia. Here's to crafting in 2014!

November

I can't get enough of this cutie. She is keeping her dark hair and blue eyes!

Sometimes Clara and Savannah want to go in and play with the baby when she gets up from her nap. If I go in, Caroline will want me to get her up but she's happy to play with the girls. I love hearing their giggles. I had to sneak this picture without the baby seeing me.

 We are finally getting snow around here! The girls want to go outside and play, and are usually happy to just stomp around on the back deck. Caroline and I watch from inside, while they throw snowballs at the window. They get a big kick out of it. The first winter we moved here, we didn't see the ground from Nov-March! I don't think it will be as bad this year.

I was down the hall and heard Clara yelling, "Help! Help!" and laughing uncontrollably. I walked around the corner and saw the baby trying to take her out. It wasn't as really as bad as it looks, but it was pretty hilarious. Gotta love attacking baby girls.

Clara had a week of dressing up in different ways at school, and one day was "dress like a nerd." Well, this is what we came up with.

Did this picture surprise you? Jason's holding her feet, and she is lunging for all she's worth towards Savannah's birthday balloon. 

October

Caroline started sitting up and is always stuffing things into her mouth. We are loving her toothless smile! She still has blue eyes, but we're wondering if they'll turn brown like her sisters'.

Savannah turned three and had her party at Chick-Fil-A, which she loved. (And I loved the no-mess clean up!) She has a tiny Pooh doll that she drags around with her everywhere and is getting grungy. So we thought we could replace it, but ended up ordering the wrong size. Oh well. Now she has a clean, yellow, big Pooh Bear (which she initially named Oklahoma, but has now forgotten) and a small, brown-ish one. She was so excited!

 We made it to DC to the temple, and foudn our way to Larriland Farm, where in the summer you can pick your own raspberries, etc. But in the fall we went to enjoy cider, a hay ride, and beautiful fall weather. The drive out to the farm was incredibly beautiful.

Clara is really becoming a country gal, isn't she?

Big girls

At the end of August my parents came into town and we took them to the Buckwheat Festival. The main attraction of the festival is the buckwheat cakes. They look like they're in the same family a pancakes, but made from buckwheat. I had heard they were sour and not-tasty, but they were actually pretty good! It was quite the West Virginia experience. Jason has been learning to play the banjo, and one of the songs he can play is "Oh, Susanna." One of the verses says, "the buckwheat cake was in her mouth, the tear was in her eye"...we feel like true West Virginians. :)

The girls rode some carnival rides, and when it was almost time to go (or so I thought), I took the baby to the car to feed her. My mom came with me and we visited while we waited for my dad and Jason to bring the girls to the car. And we waited. And waited. When they finally arrived, they told me the girls had been riding this:

Over and over and over. That's Clara and Savannah. No, it's not quite the ride I would have let my two year old ride. I guess they were just riding some kind of sack or rug down the slide. Apparently they were having the time of their life! I think Clara even said, "I'm glad mom's not here!" But...they didn't zoom off the side or break anything, so I guess I have no complaints. I'm just glad I didn't leave the baby with them...she probably would've ended up going down, too...

Speaking of Caroline, in September she started holding her head up really well and rolling over. She always wants her hands in her mouth (or anything), and looks like she wants to be a thumb sucker. I'm trying to nip that in the bud, but we'll see how successful I am. She is a happy little thing and is so fun. I love having a baby in the house.

Stay-at-home girls

Now that Clara has started first grade, I get to stay at home with these cuties everyday! Savannah has started a little preschool a couple days a week, which she loves. She dutifully carries her little backpack to and from school. She feels like such a big girl. Caroline has a sweet little personality and is so smiley. She stares at Clara when she gets home at school, and just watches her.

 

Savannah is never without her "stuff:" her Winnie the Pooh doll and her twinkle blanket. I love that she loves Pooh.