Hot Chocolate

Erik's favorite drink is hot chocolate. His favorite food is hot chocolate. When he's tired he wants hot chocolate. When upset, Erik wants hot chocolate. Luckily, I don't actually put chocolate into the milk, it's just warm. After he got out of the yogurt drinks he loved so much I gave him some real hot chocolate, but decided he liked it too much to have as often as he wanted, so I tried just warm milk and he loved it. Now, that's all he wants for any meal and it's been that way for about 6 months. The main idea was to get him to drink from a sippy cup, so when the only sippy cup, that he drank it from, broke, I was nervous. He has found another one he likes  now.

He'll drink water, juice, or slushy from a regular cup or water bottle. He doesn't mind other drinks, it's just food that he doesn't want. It's still a battle. When he asks for milk he says, "I want hot cho-lat. Make warm, not make cold, not make boiling." (One time it was too warm for him, so he decided he didn't like it "boiling"). When I refuse to give it him because I want him to eat food he says, "I want hot cho-lat, not food!"

Somehow, I manage to get enough nutrients in him through my finagling because he's not mal-nourished and he is a good size. I can't wait for the day when I say that he's "eating me out of house and home!"

Gotta love stubborn two-year-olds!

My Favorite Tree

The tree in our front yard was my favorite tree. It looked nice in the summer.

 Had gorgeous blossoms in the spring.

 And beautiful yellow leaves in the fall. (I can't find the one picture I have of Victoria in front of it with the yellow leaves, the rest of the pictures are of them on the ground. These leaves below are mostly of the neighbor's tree's leaves.)

 One day, about 6 years ago, Jason discovered some ants in the tree and noticed they were causing some rotting in the trunk. We knew it's days were limited. We wanted to find out what kind of tree it was, but no one knew what kind it was! Not our gardening guru neighbors, not the local nurseries from the clipping we brought. A couple of weeks ago, a branch fell off it.

 The tree service we called to take it down, take the roots out, and clean it up for us (we decided to be lazy this time) said it was a Kwanzan Cherry Tree. We looked it up. It is a cherry tree that doesn't bare fruit and only has a life span of about 20 years.

 It was sad to see it go:( Luckily, it wasn't the main shade in the front, so that won't be a problem. We might plant something there in the spring, or we might do something else with the area. It is nice to see the house. Aside from the big pile of mulch there, it looks kind of nice.

 I can actually see the kids from my porch chairs now. Maybe I'll get more use out of them as they ride their bikes.

Dance Workshop

I like free things. My friend told me about a free dance workshop this summer. It was a week long for three hours each session. It was at a new dance studio not far from our house. The director, Jennifer, provided snacks and gave the girls a workout, followed by dance warm-ups, then taught them a jazz and contemporary number. It was for ages 7-15, so both my girls got to go! Here are their dances on their last day.

As, you can see, there was a big range of ages, but my girls did great.

We've decided to enroll Karissa in the Monday night ballet class. She likes it because it's smaller and there will be no huge recital at the end. I'm sure there will be something, but nothing like Dancin' Feet, which will suit her fine. The first session goes until December, then we can sign up for the second one and add jazz if she's up to it, or not. Since it's new, there's not a ton of options to work for Victoria, so she'll stay at Dancin' Feet for now, but I'm excited for other events through this studio. Jennifer also works with musical theater which will be nice to get the girls involved in at some point.

What a great find!

Surprise!

Jason and I celebrated our 15 years of marriage last week. We didn't do anything extra special, like we thought we might, though going to temple together and to lunch without kids, is pretty special nowadays! We are going to get massages together next week, that I bought off Groupon, and the icing on the cake for me was getting my own smart phone!

Yes, I think I was one of the last people on the planet to have a flip phone until Saturday. Even my parents got smart phones before me, and that's saying a lot! Now I just need to get smart and learn how to use it. I've made big strides each day, though I'm still trying to get a picture onto Facebook from it.

Jason always bring my favorite flowers home.

I have a Droid Mini!

Though this isn't with my phone, Karissa took this of herself. She's going to be good at taking selfies!

Austin got a black eye. This was when it was still swollen.

The color looks deeper on my phone. Hopefully I'll get it on Facebook soon!