2 quick memories

 

Two quick memories from my two sweet girls.

 

Olivia:

Recently I've been talking to Olivia about trying to make prayers more sincere and trying to  avoid saying the same prayer over and over. I have really noticed that she has been   putting  more thought into her prayers. Last night while she was praying I was quite surprised by one of the things she prayed for, she prayed "please bless that England will not try to rule over anyone again." Its been a little while since we have read our books about George Washington, but the message of the Revolutionary War has definitely stuck with her.

 

Lyla:

When we were at the grocery store one of the workers gave us a gingerbread house kit that they weren't able to sell. The next day Lyla noticed the kit on top of the refrigerator and asked me if we could make a "gingerbread apartment." The poor girls figures we live in an apartment, gingerbread men must live in apartments too.

The Metrepolitan Museum

On the subway ride to the Met, we all chose one thing we were the most excited to see. Matt said Egyptian artifacts, I said paintings by Renoir, Olivia said Degas' Little Ballerina statue and Lyla said a painting of water.

The girls were very excited when we got to the museum, and were ready to explore. The Egyptian artifacts were our first stop, and it was a favorite for everyone.

Olivia has been to the Met numerous times and was excited to lead Lyla around on her sister's first outing to the museum.

 

Although Lyla was really enjoying the museum, her enthusiasm gave way to a request to "go home now." I think that was probably a result of being sick and sleepy and not a reaction to her dislike of her first museum experience. Since Lyla was running out of steam we immediately headed to the 19th Century wing, which would allow us to check off everyone else's wish.

 

 Passersby and the museum guard enjoyed Olivia's reenactment of the little ballerina's pose.

 Lyla found her painting of water, but was much more interested walking around the gallery holding on to the thin rope keeping viewers back from the paintings ...I'm sure the guards were watching her wondering if she was going to pull the whole thing down...gratefully she didn't.

 

Lyla declared that this was her favorite painting in the museum, I think those two red birds drew her in...she has always loved birds.


 Our trip to the museum was a bit more rushed than we anticipated, but everyone still enjoyed the visit and we will definitely be coming back...next time with healthy children.

 

Family Home Evening

The other night at Family Home Evening we were talking about the Creation of the world. We went around and had everyone tell us their favorite creation. There were responses of dinosaurs and flowers. When it was Olivia's turn, in a very serious voice, she said her favorite creation was the fox, because then the man or woman was able to write the song, "What does the fox say." A few minutes later she came up with another creation she was grateful for " I am grateful for land." I agreed with her saying I am grateful we have land to walk on. She responded, "you know like Disney...Land"
I know Olivia is grateful for many things, and I also know she is a little girl who loves to have fun and is grateful for things that allow her to do that.

Cold...Cold...Cold

Tuesday was declared the coldest day in over 100 years...we believe it!

It was -15 while we were walking Olivia to school.  Olivia was definitely the best equipped for the brutal weather, but even with all of her gear that was no match for the awful wind. The wind was so strong, we would walk and there were times when we weren't moving forward.
Lyla did not get the memo regarding the horrible weather, when we got outside she quickly ripped off her hat and gloves.  Luckily Lyla was zipped all the way up in her big stroller winter muff and a wind cover, which kept her completely enclosed. Even without a hat and gloves in below freezing weather, Lyla was toasty and warm.
After walking a short distance it became painfully clear that I did not have the proper gear for this type of weather. My face had literally frozen and I felt like I was unable to change expressions. I took my scarf off around my neck and wrapped it completely around my face only keeping my eyes visible...Lyla was not a fan of this technique. The 5 blocks to school that day that seemed awfully long. We sure are grateful that this weather only comes around once every century.

Concoctions

There is no one in this world who gets more excited about stale, rotten or old food than Olivia. From time to time Olivia will ask me if I have any food that is going bad and if my response is yes there is  extreme joy. Olivia has always loved to make what she calls "concoctions," simply mixing old food together in a large bowl. It would appear Olivia has quickly taught Lyla the love of this art as well.

 

After I agreed to give Olivia some stale food, the two girls jumped to the table and was entertained for quite some time with their bowl, whisks and old food. I always get a kick out of how much joy this little activity bring to these girls. It is a win win situation, the girls are doing something they love and fridge and cupboard get a little cleaner.

Compliments

Lyla is at such a fun age, I love to see more and more of her personality emerge. She is such a sweet little girl and over the past month I have noticed her becoming very complimentary of others. As we have been with lots of family over the holidays I have overheard her little voice chime to others, "I like your dress!"..."I like your earrings!"

This morning our apartment was absolutely freezing and the heater was broken, while I was waiting for the handyman to come fix it I decided to try to stay warm by wearing a scarf. As soon as I put the scarf  on, Lyla ran up to me and said "I like your scarf mommy, it's very nice!"
Compliments are always nice, but they are even better when they come from such a sweet little girl!

New goal

I can't believe that it is already 2014, my girls are growing so fast and there is so much I want to remember at this stage of our families life. I have made a goal to record a memory every day for the rest of January...I hope I can be successful!

Today we had big plans of taking the girls the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Unfortunately the weather was pretty chilly and we weren't brave enough to venture out. So we came up with a fabulous plan B...a photo scavenger hunt in our building. Olivia couldn't have been more thrilled, this activity gave her an opportunity to put her digital camera that she got for Christmas to good use.

Little Lyla was on my team and she raced around helping snap the photos. We were neck and neck with Matt and Olivia at the very end, but my friendly Lyla wanted to linger and wave to some kids that were playing. Matt and Olivia ended up winning our scavenger hunt, with me and Lyla in a close second.
The reward for winning....choosing and making a dessert for the family. Peanut butter pudding for everyone...YUM!!