Boxes and Brad

Last week for Lilly's preschool field trip we went on a tour of Home Depot. They did a really great job and showed the kids where the trucks came in, how they cut keys, a couple of big saws, and a forklift demonstration. At the end of the tour the kids got their very own aprons and got to build a memory box.

Lilly and Sophie in their aprons getting ready to build their boxes.

Lilly hammering away. The completed box with certificate.

It turns out that Home Depot does these kids projects for the public once a month and it is completely free. Ron was excited to hear about this and is ready to take the girls next month.

At the end of last week we got a call from my little brother, Brad, asking if he could stay with us a night or two. At the last minute he had decided to drive up from Arizona for a friends wedding. Sophie and Lilly were excited to see him, but also were sad that Aunt Dani wasn't along for the trip. Sophie often looks at their wedding picture and says, "I miss Aunt Dani, is that Uncle Brad? I miss him." We miss Brad and Dani being close to our house and being able to come for the weekend here and there with little hassle.

Sophie, Brad, and Lilly at Cafe Rio. A stop we made for Brad since he is no longer near one.

Holiday Recap

Tomorrow life returns to normal with Ron headed back to work and Lilly returning to preschool. We had great plans of fun and sorting the house for these couple of weeks that Ron had off, but alas it was not meant to be.

Three days before Christmas Sophie got the upchucks. Our big traditional Christmas Eve dinner was hanging by a thread. After a day and a half of a symptom free Soph, and no one else showing any signs, we gave the dinner the all clear. Ron's brother Lyle and his family joined us and things were going well until Sophie lost it again in the middle of dinner (sorry Lyle and Valicia). We made it through the Christmas Story and sang some carols, Lyle and Valicia headed home, and we put the girls to bed. At about 10:00 Lilly got sick and then at midnight I also lost it. Gratefully, Ron was able to persevere and managed to finish the preparations for the next day on his own.

Christmas morning was more of the same. Lilly still managed some good enthusiasm and Sophie had enough energy to ask "what is it? what is it?" at every new present. After that I went to sleep for the rest of the day. It was a fairly low-key Christmas.

The traditional top of the stairs Christmas photo. Sophie's face says it all. Lilly still manages a smile and ladylike pose despite all obstacles. All December Lilly has been saying, "this Christmas is going to be the best ever!"
Our big fat Home Depot Christmas tree. Yes, we still go for the real tree.
And this is the family photo we used in our Christmas card this year.

The week between Christmas and New Years Day is a kind of a blur. Although all of us were able to hold down food, various other symptoms kept appearing (I won't go into details) and no one had too much energy for fun or sorting. We did manage to meet up with our friends the Cornell's to check out the lights at Temple Square on the third scheduling and Ron and Lilly got a little sledding in.

On New Years Day we threw a little family party here at our house. Ron's brothers David and his family, Owen and Betsy, and Clark were able to make it up. We met David's family for dinner at Famous Dave's and than returned for games and reveling. We celebrated the new year on East Coast time so the kids could ring it in and than head to bed.
Lilly at "midnight". She had such a fun time and helped me get all the decorations set up. She keeps asking when we are going to have another party.
Sophie at "midnight". She collapsed shortly after this picture was taken.

Lilly keeping the party going, she somehow managed to keep partying until 11:00 pm.

After the New Year we were able to catch up with a few of Ron's old roommates and their families. We were also able to catch the BYU vs. Wake Forest basketball game. BYU did lose, but they at least gave Wake Forest a decent game.
Sophie at the game with her cousin Steph. Lilly and Ash cheering on the Cougs.Take note of Sophie's red cheeks. It got hot up there in the rafters!

So that has been our past couple weeks. We'll see when we get to the sorting.

Ode to our Spiderman on her 2nd birthday

Today is our Sophie's second birthday. First of all, the Spiderman theme of her birthday may need an explanation. Probably about a year ago Lilly gave us all nicknames in our family. Ron is the King, I am the Queen, Lilly is the Princess, and Sophie is Spiderman. I don't even know how Lilly knew who Spiderman was, but the nickname has stuck. Sophie loves to be called Spiderman and recognizes toys and other things in the store and always excitedly points them out. So when I was talking about what kind of cake she wanted, Lilly mentioned Spiderman, and Sophie would not hear of anything else.

Sophie getting ready to blow out her candle.
The birthday cupcakes (I was not going to attempt a Spiderman cake)

Spiderman
Lilly teaching Sophie how to open her presents.

Sophie modeling her new froggy towel and a tube of sea creatures from Lilly.

Friday night my nieces Chelsea and Ashley came north for a visit. To help us get the celebrating started we all went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Ron and I are by no means experienced Chuck E. Cheesers and it was Sophie and Lilly's first time, so it was great to have Chelsea along who definitely knew her way around. Plus adding Chels and Ash made it much easier not to loose any children (which I have done a little too regularly lately). I must say that Chuck E. Cheese's exceeded my expectations and I do not doubt that we will go back for future birthdays.

Lilly, Chelsea, and Ashley

Sophie cruising with Chuck E. Cheese before she decided she was afraid of him.

Sophie racing the horse
Lilly racing the horse

A few things about Sophie:

-When asked what her favorite color is she will always say red, but when colored options are placed before her she always goes for the pink.

-At a family home evening last month Ron was teaching a lesson about how Jesus loves the children. He told her, "Sophie, Jesus loves you!" Her response, "Jesus, loves me? HOORAY!"

-She loves sharks. After our visit to the aquarium she has been toting her toy sharks with her almost everywhere.

-She calls the ABC's, BCI's

-She loved going to Chuck E. Cheese, but upon further reflection has decided the mouse is scary. The past couple of nights she has told Ron "mouse....scary."
-We like to think she in quite advanced in her verbal ability. She has been talking fairly well for a few months now, and is completing full sentences (i.e. "I want to drink milk")

-She's a chucker. She may be verbally advanced, but her impulse control could use some work. When excited she often chucks toys (or anything) at the nearest person. The other night before bed Lilly got a hairbrush in the eye. She felt sorry for it later, but is still chucking things fairly regularly, and has quite an arm.

-She is very clean. If she gets a mess on her hands or face while eating she will not continue until she has been given a napkin and the chance to clean up. If someone else has something on their face she'll point it out, laugh, and say "messy." On a few occasions she has even licked her finger and rubbed off a mess on someone else's face.
-She loves her big sister. She misses Lilly whenever she is at preschool and loves going to pick her up. Sometimes Lilly is the only one who can comfort her when things go bad.

So, happy birthday to our Sophia! We love you and love that you are a part of our family.

A St. George Thanksgiving

For the second Thanksgiving in a row our little family headed down to southern Utah to meet up with our larger family. Last year was for the Fuller reunion and this year was for the Mecham reunion. As far as the weather is concerned, it is quite a nice place to spend Thanksgiving.

As always, the reunion was fantastic. With family spread out across the US it is a rare occasion to all be able to get together. Just to get together with my parents and brothers is a task with my parents in PA, Carter and Brandi in VA, and Brad and Dani in AZ. Now add my grandparents, their five children, and all the grandchildren who now are having families of thier own, and really it is a miracle that everyone (except our lovely Laura who is serving a mission in California) could make it. I am thankful to my grandparents for making such an event possible and keeping us all together. They have provided our family with a strong spiritual foundation. As we all ate Thanksgiving dinner it was kind of crazy to think that everyone present was a product of their union (or had joined in through marriage). I am truly grateful for my family and the time we had to spend together. Also, a special shout out and thanks to Meredith for getting everything planned and organized.

The L. Ralph and Barbara Mecham family

The Mark and Pat Mecham family: Brandi, Carter, Mom, Dad, Lilly, Kathryn, Ron, Sophie, Dani, and Brad

The Mecham cousins

Me and my brothers (Carter, me, Brad)

Our family (this is nor my favorite picture of us, but my favorite is being saved for our Chirstmas card)

Sophie and her rock

Lilly making cards. My what a mess she made!

Proof that Ron is a dirty ball player. Look at him putting his elbow into Steve's face.

Rainy Thanksgiving day basketball

My grandparents, Barbara and Ralph Mecham

Hair, Hair Everywhere!

I am under a time crunch to complete some things before my family reunion next week. My friend Lisa took the girls all morning and part of the afternoon so I could get some things done. I picked up the girls, came home, and put Sophie down for her nap. Lilly told me she wanted to watch 101 Dalmatians and I wanted to continue my projects, so I left Lilly alone for a while downstairs. What a mistake that was!

When I got to a stopping point and headed down to check on her, oh what a mess! I saw some of her blond hair sticking out from under a blanket, and thought she was hiding from me. When I lifted the blanket, I discovered it was just hair. As I looked around there was more hair in front of the TV. Lilly was hiding from me, with her new self done do in the guest room. She really did a number on herself, she pretty much cut herself a mullet.

FRONT-note the micro bangs

BACK-Mullet?

Facing left-note the bald patch behind her ear

Facing right

One real kicker is that we just got her hair trimmed and cut into a cute bob yesterday! The idea must have been fresh on her mind. Ron was already headed home on the train by this point and coincidentally needed a haircut too, so we waited for him and than headed back to the hair place for the second night in a row. The girl who cut her hair said this was by far the worst self-cut she had ever seen. She tried to salvage what she could, but there was not much to do considering how close to the scalp Lilly had cut in a few places. It looks better, but I am very afraid she will be mistaken for a little boy. After the cut was complete we went to Target for a few headbands to wear now, and some clips once it grows out a little.

After the cleanup

Hopefully it will be grown out to a good length by the time Kindergarten starts. I must admit there were a few tears shed today (on my part). It has been an interesting parenting situation for Ron and I and I am not quite sure we have it all figured out yet. Lilly went quiet about the whole thing, so we'll see if we can get the rest of story out of her tomorrow. If this were someone elses child (and if family picture weren't in a week), I would definitely be laughing, hopefully I'll find the humor in it soon.

And while the camera was out, Sophie also wanted to have her moment.

If it is possible I think her hair may be getting curlier

One curly haired girl, and one baldy. Mom doesn't know how to style either of them!

Pumpkins and Princesses

Halloween was again met with great anticipation in the Fuller household. Last year Lilly provided us with one of my favorite quotes when she came running down from one house and declared, "people are the best!" This year she asked her parents and sister, "isn't this just the best day?" Halloween seems to be a favorite for Lilly.

In the years past I have always picked out the girls costumes, but this year Lilly definitely wanted a say. And if you allow her her say it will always be "PRINCESS." So as I was looking for princess costumes I found a picture of two girls about the same ages as my girls in these costumes, I thought they were cute, and got the approval from Lilly.

Princess Sophia on the porch after a hard night of trick-or-treating. She definitely got the hang of things this year mastering the, "trick-or-treat", "thank you", and "Happy Halloween". Today she was still yelling "trick-or-treat" when someone knocked on our door.

Princess Lillian next to her pumpkin aka "Big Happy Face."

We carved our pumpkins for family home evening on Monday and did not take pictures until Friday, so they are looking a little sad. I also must confess that we cheated this year and printed patterns out from the Internet instead of carving them free hand. One advantage, however, to this method was that the girls got to pick thier own out and were very happy with the results. The pumpkin above on the left is Ron's, referred to as the angry face, and Sophie's is on the right. When she saw this one she said, "little happy face" and she and her pumpkin have been called that all week.

The spider pumpkin was mine, and the "big happy face" pumpkin was Lilly's.

LOOKING BACK.......

Lilly's first Halloween as a pig (2 months old)

One year old chicken Lilly and her Alaska friends

Two year old kangaroo Lilly

Lilly the angel (3) and Sophie the octopus (10 months)

LILLY LOST!

Last week Lilly's preschool class had a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. Lilly and her friends were all playing in the hay maze when I realized I hadn't seen her in a while. I climbed up the steps that overlooked the maze and could not see her. Some of the other moms and I were standing at the entrance/exit, but nobody saw her leave. The Pumpkin Patch was wide and open and she wasn't there, so I started to look at the two tent areas on either side of the maze. She was not there either. By this time I was starting to panic, the other moms had joined the search and were checking the grounds with me. I said a quick little prayer right before making my third or fourth pass of the grounds. I stopped and looked over the side of the outside of the hay maze and through a small hole in one of the hay bales on an inner ring I saw Lilly's face. She was hiding in the maze and told me she was waiting for her friend. Man, that was a horrible feeling!

Minus that incident the field trip was quite fun, we got our pumpkins, and Lilly is loving her preschool class.

Lilly's preschool class

Our sweet little witches

Sisters at the Pumpkin Patch