I Love Eva.

Happy birthday to our barefooted beauty.

I Love Daddy.

In case you were wondering when Daddy's bibliophilia/inability to keep his desk clean started, it's at least as long ago as college :). We love you, Daddy! Happy birthday to the man who has blessed us immeasurably.

While I still can...

...I thought I'd do a snapshot or two of daily pre-Joshua life. With a nod to Gabrielle's "3 Things a Day," here are a few things from this week:

• Cici has developed a new food favorite--bagels and cream cheese! It started with cream cheese--she often has a hard time sitting down to her booster seat, so I'll stick something on her tray right away that I know she'll eat (peaches, berries, cheese), and then I'll introduce whatever food I've actually prepared.Well, we were at the end of our grocery cycle, which means no cheese, no berries, no canned fruit, so I pulled out some cream cheese and she loved it! She loved sticking her fingers in it, she loved eating little finger-fuls, she loved smearing it on her tray. So the next grocery trip, I picked up some small bagels, spread them with cream cheese, and voila--a lunch that Cici will gobble up!
• Speaking of food, we have a little bit of a dinner-time battle with Polly. My little big girl feels very capable of getting her own food, which I generally don't have a problem with. But we are trying to teach her to stay at the table during dinner and actually eat the (generally nutritious) food that we fix. Polly, however, will pick out the little bits of the dinner that she likes (the meat from the spaghetti sauce, for example) and then ask to be excused, only to come back 20 minutes later asking for an apple, a tortilla, more food. She can have a bedtime snack, but when her bedtime snack is bigger than her dinner, I'm worried that I'm instilling bad food hygiene. We have a "kitchen is closed" policy, but this is still a battle that seems to happen every night. Advice?
• Our outing for today was going to the Colosseum (the WVU basketball arena) for an "exercise walk" through the concourse. The girls, however, were not interested in staying in the stroller so Mommy could walk baby Joshua down into the birth canal. So mostly the girls ran around the stadium stairs, played in the turnstiles, and finally stayed still long enough for me to get two vigorous laps around the arena. Oh well. Something is better than nothing, right?
• And really, how can my heart not melt when I see this: 

Welcome Home, Elder Frandsen!!!

I'm sure Eva isn't the only one really excited about this :). We love you, we are so proud of you, we wish you luck, and we will be with you every step of the way in your transition toward the future.

Cuties in the Fall

Consider this the illustrated synopsis of my voluminous family letters for the past several months :).

Our adorable Cici Mici Mossy Moose was a ladybug for Halloween... and the day after Halloween, and the month after Halloween, and well into 2013 :). She loves this costume--thank you so much to whichever friend passed this costume on to us!

At the end of October, we all went to a church youth activity at the farm belonging to a member of our stake presidency. I love being Stake YW secretary--excuses to go to gorgeous places like this! The girls were in HEAVEN, as were Dave and I. Hay rides, bonfires, fall foliage, and a lot of day-dreaming about one day being able to live on a property like this...

Also in October, we went to Friendship Hill, the country residence of Albert Galliton (first secretary of the Treasury, I believe, and a number of other impressive things). We weren't willing to spend money on the flower wreaths or homemade bread, but there were plenty of wonderful activities and programs sans money as well. Beautiful place...West Virginia has been good to us.

Lots of leaf raking during fall 2012! We raked 'em up, threw 'em in our garden, and tossed the girls in to trample 'em down.

Another Halloween picture... Because of Superstorm Sandy (from which we really were spared), trick-or-treating was postponed, and unfortunately it was a day that Dave was stuck in the lab until late late late. So after the girls got all dressed up, we trekked down to the lab so Daddy could see his cutie pies.

And this is about how Mommy was feeling a lot of the time! As I near the end of my pregnancy with Joshua, Polly is a really good sport about letting me take the occasional nap when Cici's napping as well. And occasionally, her non-stop energy catches up with her, as well!

Welcome 2013!!!

Well, family, after an inglorious finish to 2012 (and an equally underwhelming beginning to 2013), let's see if I can redeem the rest of the year. I'm going to shift the direction of the blog a little bit to include some current pictures and journaling as well. But I love these old pictures and I love the commentary and memories that they've elicited, so I'm going to set up at least a few of those pictures a week. For now, let's rewind and celebrate New Year's a little more...