The Big 6, Gingerbread Houses, and the Most Smiley Baby Ever

Our budding little scientist and her first microscope, along with some slides of creepy crawly things and a set of Ramona Quimby books that Brian has been reading with her every night.

What child asks for pumpkin pie as their bday dessert? :)

So proud. She finished and then immediately tore it apart so she could eat it!

Brian's candyland palace!

Our sweetest little angel :) Look at those cheeks! Yes, they are as kissable as the appear!!

And this handsome little devil :)

Almost 6 months

The Kiddos Lately

Dad's The Best!

Elyza chose the title for this post, and she is so right! Chilin with his girls Wrestling with his boy Putting the kids to bed Me: "Elyza, tell me about Daddy." Elyza: "He's really nice. My Dad is the best! I love him so much. He's funny and he does really fun bedtime routine stuff with me. Sometimes he shares his Ipad and TV and computer with me. Sometimes he takes care of me. He plays with me and he loves me and he's the best Dad I could ever have. He's really so nice so I'll be nice back to him forever, and that's why I love him. Oh, and he's really handsome."

Elyza

Elyza is so like Eliza Dolittle from My Fair Lady. We didn't name her after that character, but she sure is a lot like her. Free sprited, headstrong, outgoing. . .sometimes very ladylike and other times the exact opposite. . .a fighter, a lover of dressing up and wearing jewelry, a dancer. . .one who will not be pushed around, a romantic. . .not at all shy! She is so dramatic. I wouldn't be surprised at all if she is in a lot of school plays. I love this girl :) *Elyza just walked in and I showed her what I was posting and she says, "awwwwkwarrrrd." :)

So Long Preschool, Hello Kindergarten!

Since Elyza's birthday is in December, she has had 2 years of preschool. She has loved it and I have loved getting to teach her and her friends. Her class this year was a lot of fun. We had two friends from the ward and then two boys from a neighboring ward. It was a great group and we had a lot of fun.

Elyza will start kindergarten on Aug. 27 at the school right across the street from us. It is a really great school and we have only heard rave reviews from everyone who has kids there. She is so ready to start and is already counting down the days! I am excited for her, and also excited for her teacher since she is such a funny and smart little girl :) Though I am excited for her, right now I am most excited to go school shopping! I love getting new school supplies and school clothes!!

Cayte Louise Halverson (pronounced like Kate) 6 lbs 9 oz, 19.25 inches. This was the easiest delivery/recovery! She was born at 1:09pm, and by late that night I was up and moving around without any help at all. I never needed the big pain meds, just motrin. With the other two it was still hard to walk around or stand up straight even after I got home, but this time I was up and going with no pain at all! Peter was 7lbs 5oz and 20.5 inches and Lyza was 7lbs 6oz and 21.5 inches, so Cayte was super small to us!

Elyza was dying for her little sister to be here and now all she wants to do is hold her, check on her, feed her, etc. She is so cute and so in love with her little sister! Peter didn't really acknowledge her for the first week, and has just lately started paying a little attention to her. So far he has been very sweet and soft and instead of acting out from the lack of usual attention, he has actually become more cuddly and lovey which has been so sweet!

Auntie Lo Lo and PJ came to help out this week which was so nice! Thanks for coming Lo and PJ!

I love this little hat on her!

Elyza holds her at least 2-3 times a day. She wants to help with everything and has been great playing with Peter while I need to be with Cayte. She is a super great big sister!

Elyza's video

Lyza loves to use the camcorder, but it is usually just to film things like her toes, or Peter real close up, etc. This one is pretty cute!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our ward playgroup got together today for an easter egg hunt/picnic. Peter woke up at 4:30 this morning and wouldn't go back to sleep so we only stayed for the hunt. Lyza loved it, and Peter just wanted to run around so Lyza did most of his hunting for him :)

Pool Time!

The pool is open baby! Texas has it's perks, and being able to play out in the pool on March 31st in 86 degree weather is one of them :) Lyza doesn't care how cold the water is and just got right in, but Peter did NOT want to be all the way in so we sat on the side with our feet in the water :)

Fire Station

Today we went to the Fire Station with the play group from church. The fireman were so great with the kids, and the kids had a blast! There were about 20 kids there total. Elyza answered every question they asked and also added whatever she thought necessary that he was leaving out (for example, he was talking about Stop Drop & Roll, and Elyza said also that if they are on fire not to run because it would make the fire worse :)
They had fun getting to go in the fire truck and were especially impressed when one of the guys put on his full gear and was breathing through his oxygen mask.
Peter was more enthralled with the snacks I brought than anything else, which was no big surprise :)

Funny Lyza Quotes

I really need to have a little notebook handy to write these down since I don't remember most of them, but here are some funny Lyza quotes from the past couple of days.

Yesterday we were getting out of the car to go to my doc appointment.
Me: Lyza, you have peanut butter all over your face.
Elyza: (shrugs) Well, at least I look semi-presentable, right?

When we came home I went in to the kitchen and it smelled like someone had thrown up on the stove (something like milk had gotten under the burners) and Elyza walks in and says, "Oooh, what is that disgusting aroma??"

I stepped in a puddle of water on the kitchen floor and she says to me, "Yeah, I usually like to avoid things like that Mom."

The other night we were getting in the car and there were tons of mosquitoes and nats out so I was telling her to hurry and she turns to me with a very concerned look on her face and says, "and do they like to feed on children flesh??"

She cracks me up. Never a dull moment with Lyza around!

Funny Lyza

Today we were driving to pick Brian up from work and Elyza says, "Mom, I just saw a depiction of the skeleton from that Christmas movie on that man's blanket!" I asked her what depiction meant and she totally got it right. She kills me with the vocabulary she has!
Later in the evening, while sitting on the porcelain throne. . .
"Ugh! I wish I had more fiber in me cause this poop isn't coming out fast enough!"
Such a lady :)

In other news. . .
Brian got a promotion! He now works for the police department :)


(This was taken at his farewell lunch today. They got him fake mustaches, a toy police kit, and a really nice leather "man bag" :)

Happy Birthday Peter!

Today was a church holiday (stake conference) so we all got to chill at home for Peter's birthday :)

At 2 Peter likes:
playing with water
playing in the sand
reading books
taking a bath
making noise with whatever is on hand
playing with Lyza
being outside
cuddling
jumping on the bed
hide and seek
playing with cars
watching the toilet flush
flushing whatever he can find down the toilet
Phineas and Ferb

At 2 Peter dislikes:
being in the carseat
taking naps
eating veggies or meat
being shut out of the bathroom when anyone is in there
having to come inside

Peter is a super sweet, lovey, mischievous little man we can't help but love and adore :)
Happy 2nd Birthday Peter!!

Our Little Scientist

We bought this science kit for Lyza for Christmas. Best buy ever! She has had so much fun doing different experiments with Brian (making crystals, rainbows in a test tube, testing different household items to see if they are acids are bases. . .) They have done about 6 experiments so far. Lyza soaks it up and it is a great Daddy/Daughter time for them!

We learned about volcanoes last week in preschool and this is what she got to make. We have made this thing explode more times than I can count, but hey, who doesn't like mixing baking soda and vinegar and watching it foam over?