Saturday, February 7, 2015

Spring Flowers

We have been having some crazy weather this year. Spring decided to come early!
These first two pictures were taken yesterday, and the last picture was taken today. They show the first flowers on my creeping phlox, hyacinths or tulips (I can't remember which) beginning to grow, and the first crocuses.


I don't mind a short winter, but I'm afraid that we might still get frost or snow that will come and kill all of my spring flowers. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Our Funny Girl

Here are a few funny Cosette quotes and stories I've been saving up for a blog post.
After losing my BYU hat (so sad!), I bought a simple white winter hat to replace it. When I put it on and asked Cosette what she thought about it, she replied, "Mom, you look like a polar bear."
Scene: One night Cosette called me up to her room after I had put her down for the night.  When I walked in the room and sat down on her bed, here's the conversation we had:
Cosette: It smells like pretzels.
Me: Well, I ate a few tortilla chips.
Cosette: Mmm, it smells good (as she leans closer to smell my breath)
One day I was baking cookies, so I was using both of our Silpats (non stick baking mats). Cosette will sometimes play with them, so when she saw me getting them out of the cupboard, she decided that she wanted to use one. When I informed her that she couldn't use them right then, because Mommy needed them to make cookies (I thought the end result might placate her), she responded, "Grr. Mom, I won't be happy forever today."
Cosette enjoys grapefruit. She likes it so much that we often squeeze the juice into a small glass and she drinks straight grapefruit juice. Once, after doing this, she exclaimed, "Sour juice makes me thirsty!"
I have been very amused at the changes that Bear's family has undergone over the past few months. First of all, the title of Bear has now been bestowed upon three different bears. The former Bears are now Bear's brothers. The first/original Bear is on the right in the ladybug mask from the 4th of July (yes, he's been wearing that mask since July).  The second Bear is the brown bear seated next to him. Our neighbor across the street gave it to Cosette right around the time that Heidi was born. She was so excited to be given a special bear just for her that he became her new Bear and the panda became Bear's brother.
In the picture below, the current Bear is in the laundry basket.  He is actually a costume that's a fuzzy brown coat with a bear face on the hood.  We were only supposed to be borrowing him for Halloween from my sister Suzanne, but Cosette became attached to him and dubbed him Bear (still not sure why...). Since he was the third, I thought it might pass, but he's been Bear for several months now. Fortunately, Suzanne let Cosette keep him after she learned that he is her all time favorite friend. Thanks, Suzanne!
Let me introduce you to the rest of Bear's family: on the left is Bear's Baby, next to her is Bear's Mom, and in the front is Bear's Dad (yes, the multi-colored cow... don't ask me). And when I think of Bear having two brothers named Bear's Brother, I'm reminded of that clip from Newhart, "This is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl."
One last silly picture showing off Cosette's flexibility and goofiness. She was rolling around on the floor like this:
I sure love our funny girl!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Flower Arrangements

I've really enjoyed being able to make flower arrangements using flowers and greenery from my own yard.  I took pictures of some of my creations and wanted to share them with you all in a blog post.  
Tulips with Variegated Dogwood

Lilacs (my favorite smelling flower)

Iris with Variegated Dogwood
Bleeding Heart
Red Coral Bells with Creeping Euonymus

Columbine

Peony

Roses
Columbine

Columbine and Roses with
Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Jupiter's Beard

Red Coral Bells with
Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Mrs. Bradshaw and Purple Geranium
Roses with Variegated Dogwood

Roses with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Trumpet Vine with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Roses with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Lilies and Trumpet Vine

Lilies and Red Coral Bells with
Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass

Chrysanthemum

Roses
I made this last vase just yesterday.  I'm not sure if all of the buds will bloom, but it's going to freeze this week and I wanted to save these last few flowers if I could.
I ended up filling more vases than I took pictures of, but many were repeats.  I often had a vase of Red Coral Bells with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass in Cosette's room - this was my favorite combination, and they were both available throughout summer and fall.  I often filled a vase with roses for the living room, because they looked pretty and filled the room with their wonderful scents.
I also learned a few things: irises are smelly (I won't do a vase of those next year), and Shasta Daisies are smelly and attract bugs (I didn't take a picture of that vase because I brought the clippings indoors to arrange, only to discover I brought dozens of tiny bugs in with me as well, so I ended up throwing them all out).  My favorite greenery to add to a vase was the Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass.  The Jupiter's Beard shed like crazy, so I probably won't put that in a vase again. And I was pleasantly surprised at how long the chrysanthemums lasted.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Sisters

I wanted to share some cute pictures that capture the special bond that exists between these two sisters.
Cosette was a little unsure what to think of Heidi for the first few days. She didn't want to touch her or even talk to her at first. But it didn't take long before she wanted to play with Heidi. She loved showing things to Heidi and shouting for her to "Watch me!" while jumping off the stairs or doing some other silly stunt. She often gets upset when it's time for Heidi to go down for a nap, because she doesn't want to stop playing with her. Cosette also enjoys posing for pictures with Heidi, as you can see below. And I love hearing Cosette talk to Heidi in a high pitched voice, imitating the way that adults baby talk.
And the love definitely goes both ways. Heidi adores her sister. She's happier when Cosette is around, so I often ask Cosette to help keep Heidi happy if I have to do something she doesn't like (such as using the snot sucker). Heidi perks up when she hears Cosette's voice, craning her neck around to try to see her. This has started to become problematic when she's nursing, and I sometimes have to ask Cosette to play in another room so that Heidi can focus on eating.
















I sure love my two girls, and I'm grateful they love each other so much.

Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween

Happy Halloween, everyone!
These past few weeks we went to several Halloween activities.  The funny thing is, Cosette didn't want to dress up for most of them.  We explained that many of the other kids would be wearing costumes, but Cosette just wanted to wear her regular clothes.  I did insist on a costume if she wanted to go trick-or-treating, however.
On the 18th Jeff took Cosette to an activity at the West Jordan Museum.  Cosette's favorite part was riding around in a little "train" (see picture).  She also got a handmade wooden car.


On the 25th we all went to the Pumpkinpalooza at the Veridian Center.  They had booths set up where you could play games and get candy and prizes.  Cosette's favorite thing was making a pumpkin balloon.


On Monday night we carved pumpkins from our garden for our Family night activity.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the results until after they had been sitting outside for several days and got rained on, so the carvings drooped a bit.  Cosette's stayed inside as her night light, so it looks a lot better.  I carved a green pumpkin to look like Mike Wyzowski, and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Jeff designed a random face for his, and one of the trick-or-treaters thought it looked like Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.  Cosette asked us to carve a face like the one on her pumpkin balloon.

Christine's pumpkin, Mike Wyzowski
Jeff's pumpkin
Some of the pumpkins from our garden this year
Cosette's pumpkin
Then on the 30th we had a ward Halloween activity.  We had a dinner and Cosette got to play a few games, get some candy, and take home a small pumpkin that she decorated.  Both of our girls dressed up for the event.  Heidi was a cute pumpkin and Cosette was a princess.  A few weeks ago I thought she was going to dress up in her favorite Bear outfit, but she changed her mind.  I didn't want to go out and buy anything, so she wore one of her fanciest dresses with a dress up crown she got from the conference store earlier this month.  They were both super cute.



On Halloween Jeff took Cosette trick-or-treating on our street while I stayed home with Heidi.  All in all it was a fun Halloween season this year.