Two-year-old Paula: Still a doll!

This little girl turned two this week. She put on a birthday shirt and her favorite skirt for her special day.

In the morning, we took her to the party store to pick out a balloon. Her choice was definitively Hello Kitty.

Then we waited outside for Daddy to come back from getting some holiday panettone. Paca was here visiting to keep the girls entertained.

Paula thought her balloon was pretty awesome.

After lunch, she got to open up her presents. She got a piano book from Grandma . . .

 . . . a pink shovel from Ramona . . .

. . . a Hello Kitty towel from Mika . . .

 . . . a handmade pillowcase from Paca and Teresa . . .

(which she misinterpreted as a skirt)

 . . . a Sofia the First doll from Mommy and Daddy (whom she calls "SOO-fia") . . .

 . . . and a Sofia puzzle from Jii and Baachan.

Then it was time for cake! I was so grateful to be able to bake one for her--the morning sickness eased off just in time for me to get to work in the kitchen that week.

I think she was happy with it.

Ramona helped her blow out the candles.

Yum!

Still cake-faced, she went over to play with her new doll.

She loved brushing her hair. Most of all, I think she loved that it was hers. "This is Paula's doll," she kept saying.

While the birthday girl took her nap that afternoon, Paca recruited some kitchen helpers to help make his famous cinnamon rolls.

 Paula got to enjoy one later, once she woke up.

She spent a good part of that evening sitting on my lap and playing with her new piano book. I loved cuddling with my little doll.

Here she is, trying to hold up two fingers to show how much she has grown.

Happy Birthday, darling Paula Doll! We love having you as part of our family. You are so good at playing with your sisters, comforting them when they are sad, and making them laugh. Also, you are an expert at caring for baby dolls: feeding them, rocking them, and telling them "It's okay." Already you have developed strong opinions about food, wardrobe, and things you want to do by yourself, without help--I can tell you are a very strong-willed little girl. You are so full of love and life. Every night I look forward to hearing your little voice say: "I LOVE you!" as you give everyone hugs before bedtime. We love you, too, and are so blessed to be able to keep you forever and ever.

Out with the old, in with the pre-owned

This month we said goodbye to our first family car--the black 1997 Honda Accord. It's the car that drove me back to my dorm during a snow storm in January 2005, the car that drove us to temples in Chicago, St. Louis, and Nauvoo. It's the car that carefully brought baby Ramona home from the hospital in April 2009. It's been good to us, but the past couple of years it has really shown its age. When it failed its emission test in October, we decided it was time to trade it in.

One Friday morning, Forest took a morning off work and came home with a new set of wheels--a red 2012 Toyota Camry. We never got a giant bow to put on top, but it does feel like we bought ourselves a big Christmas present this year!

Thanksgiving, Plan B

Thanksgiving, Plan A was to drive to Illinois, go to a wedding, and visit family for about a week. But I was just too sick to make any of that happen. This is what happened instead: We stayed home the entire week, banned cooking (to minimize messes and food smells), did as much cleaning as we could, and tried to catch a mouse that got into our house. Although it was not our original plan, I still found a lot to be grateful for during this holiday.

#1: I am grateful Ramona gets to go to a good school that is so fun, too. The week before Thanksgiving, her first grade class put on a reader's theater play. She got to dress up as a pilgrim and was talking about the performance for weeks beforehand.

Since were responsible for coming up with a costume, when the deadline approached, I dragged myself out of my nausea-fog and sat down at the sewing machine for the first time in a long while. Ramona already had a solid red shirt, so I pulled together a red skirt, then pinned on a white apron and added a white shawl-thingie. I made the hat out of posterboard and hoped it would be good enough for my little first-grader.

It was. :)

Forest, Mika, Paula, and I all went to watch the performance. We were so proud of our little pilgrim. One of her lines was: "Land, ho!"

#2: I am grateful for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

Despite the cooking ban, we did make one thing on Thanksgiving Day: cake mix pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I probably ate at least a dozen that afternoon--it was one thing that actually sounded appetizing.

#3: I am grateful for Star Wars. 
It has been so fun watching the original trilogy as a family the past few weeks. Sitting on a couch and watching movies is one thing I am pretty good at these days! Ramona, Mika, and Paula have also gotten so excited about the characters. For one homework assignment, Ramona drew a picture of an Obi Wan Kenobi pen and was more pleased than she has been with any other drawing assignment.

We spent Thanksgiving afternoon watching "Return of the Jedi" and decorating turkey place mats.

#4: I am grateful for thoughtful friends.
This pregnancy, I have been more sick than I have been for any other pregnancy--and maybe just more sick than ever. We have also been more blessed than ever by the deeds of thoughtful friends. Multiple meals have been brought to our home and we have received lots of words of encouragement. On Thanksgiving, the Snodgrasses brought an entire Thanksgiving meal that was so plentiful it lasted for days.

My friend Heehwa brought me a box of homemade gyoza and a bottle of sparkling cider. Gyoza also made it on my short list of appetizing foods that week--I was so grateful I could eat a few meals without gagging.

Cheers!

#5: I am grateful for Colorado snow. 
It sticks around just long enough for the kids to play in, then melts once the sun comes out again. Since we had a "white" Thanksgiving, the snow kept the girls entertained for a little while.

#6: I am grateful for mousetraps.

We caught that mouse by the end of the week. And it was just one mouse. Whew.

A Peek Inside

With every pregnancy, it has always been reassuring to take a peek inside my growing midsection and see that, indeed, there is a little person in there. All those weeks of fatigue and gastrointestinal discomfort from morning sickness seem a lot more worth it. This first trimester in particular really tested me. I had to quit cooking, grocery shopping, orchestra, and our whole family pulled out of a family road trip. But look, here is the baby to show for it:

"That's a big baby!" said the ultrasound technician, as soon as she got an image up on the screen. But not big enough to decipher any boy or girl parts--just enough information to provide a due date of May 31, 2016.

Here is baby's hand, waving hello:

See you again in January, little Dixon!

A bride, a waitress, and a witch

Another backlog blog post, this time with Halloween photos--it was a year for the girls to choose their costumes from the dress-up bin with no additional costume creating or shopping on my part, and thankfully they were just as pleased as any other year!

Here is Ramona as a bride:

Mika as a waitress:

And Paula as a witch (pictured with witch hat later):

As is often the case, Halloween was celebrated multiple times throughout the week. The first occasion was at the church's Fall Festival.

The preschool Halloween party was on the following Thursday . . .

The first grade Halloween party was the morning after . . .

. . . and Halloween at Avago was that same afternoon.

Here is actual Halloween--girls are on the porch, ready to scout the neighborhood for candy:

Annabel and Liam joined them, too.

Paula was especially enjoyable to watch trick-or-treat this year--she was so ecstatic every time she got a piece of candy in her bucket, saying things like "I got one! Look!" There was a cute little skip to her step as she wandered along to each candy location, too. I think it is safe to say she had a very happy Halloween!