A Challenge

Niev and Ian like to sword-fight. Ian got out the swords and said,
"Niev, I challenge you to a sword-fight."
Niev, without a moments hesitation, said, "Well, I challenge you...
to be baptized!"

Niev Turns Three!!!

Since Niev's birthday was on Sunday this year, we decided to have a small party on Saturday with some of her closest friends. Niev was very excited this year about her birthday. She had mentioned numerous times since Halloween that her birthday was coming up. Niev wanted a bubble gum party this year. I didn't even know exactly what that meant so I asked her if she would like to dress up at her party as a pirate. She got very excited and so we decided that we would have a Pirate-Bubble Gum Birthday Party. When I asked Niev what she wanted written on the invitations, she said, "Come to my party and eat bubble gum." Very Niev!

The day finally came and Niev was ecstatic! In our house we have a Birthday Pirate that comes and decorates for everyone's birthday. Niev woke up and was very excited about the streamers the BP had used.

Niev of course, chose to wear her pjs to her birthday party and you can't argue with the birthday girl so...Dinosaur jammies it is! While we were waiting for all her friends to come, I put on a CD that I had made for her with all of her favorite songs and boy, did they dance!
We read to them from David Shannon's "The Day I Became a Pirate" and then had them don eyepatches. None of the girls were huge fans of the half-blindness so they only lasted for a picture.

We then had a sword fight. The girls were surprisingly timid and not very aggressive. I had made a rule that when the music stopped they had to freeze. I had made that rule to ensure that if they got out of control that I had a chance to break the chaos up. They enjoyed the freezes more than the fighting. I guess I need to have a boy.

They had a coloring activity and a scavenger hunt (candy necklaces were the prizes) and then it was time to eat some pizza and cake. Overall it was a succesful party and I think Ian and I had just as much fun as the kids. Niev's favorite part of the party was that I had a bowl of gumballs on the table and as soon as they wanted a new piece of gum, they spit out their old piece in the garbage and then they were allowed to get a new piece. We quickly got rid of all the extra gumballs. Rowan also enjoyed being in on the action. She loved dancing and trying to keep up with the big girls.

The Pirate Gumball cake!

That night, we babysat the girls' friends, Emma and Linnea. They watched Cinderella. Niev was in heaven.

On Sunday, her real birthday, she awoke to find her real presents from Mom and Dad waiting to be opened: an indoor swing and a backpack.

No one should swing by themself so rowan got a swing too.

Preacher Niev

Niev loves to play "Church". She will often make Ian and me sit on the couch while she stands at the "pulpit" (the coffee table) reading from the "scriptures" (any of her books). She will sing uproariously and then once in a while decide that we are going to do a baptism. She needs a prop for this one though and often uses Rowan. Poor little sister!

Christmas 2009

I know I'm just about a month off with this post, but better late than never. The girls sat on Santa's lap and were very brave. Niev asked for a puppy (even though she already has one) and for a
We put up our Christmas tree with the girls' "help" and it wasn't as nerve wracking as I thought it would be.


We left cocoa and a candy cane for Santa and Niev insisted on leaving bubble gum and water for the reindeer (I think she thought that she would get in on that action).

Sorry I can't get this picture to rotate!!!!

We awoke to the greatest Christmas day ever. Just our little family.
A day filled with playing with every toy received, some piano playing, great food, laughter and best of all, naps!
Ian and I were laying in bed that night and we both said that we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas. We are very blessed.

Santa pictures 2009

Niev with Santa

Rowan giving Santa the third-degree (or as good as one can without being able to talk.


Now she is done.



Doing the staring thing again?

Dang my girls are cute.

Niev as a dancing diva

Rowan received this handy, dandy spinning thing in her stocking and Niev has laid claim on it as her own personal microphone.








She has got her momma's moves. She loves making up her own songs and really belting it.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Ian and I enjoy making things for our girls. It gives us a little pride in the toys our girls have. We decided that the girls (especially Niev) needed a dollhouse and dolls for Christmas since Niev was using her blocks for dolls and pretending almost anything was a house for her "dolls". We stayed up countless nights painting and ModPodging and polyerethaning. It was fun to work together, but kind of stressful when we saw how much work we still had to do on Christmas Eve! The pictures aren't great, but they get the idea across. It is much better in person...trust me! Gramma Buh painted all the furniture and fake Aunt Vickie made the pillows and bedding. The girls really love it.

Closed

Open


The library



The grocery store


The ocean


The bedroom


The kitchen


The living room with doll doctor and doll Dwight


The dining room



The playroom


The bathroom


Being thoroughly enjoyed!

We also made Rowan a pound-a-peg toy. The multi-colored peg was painted by the talented Niev.

Caution: Future Artist in Progress

So I think my daughter has been hanging out with her daddy a little bit too much in his garage/workspace. She has truly honed in on his artistry skills. Check out these sketches (I have an entire drawer full of them in case we are short on cash then we can pull them out and collect our baby-genius prize).

This was drawn by Niev when she was just over 2 1/2. When I asked her what she had drawn she seemed put out that I would have to ask. "It's Niev," she replied taken back that I didn't recognize her right away.
This is her family. (you might have to click on the picture to actually see it. I am holding Rowan and Niev is standing next to Daddy. (I must be mad a lot because she only gives me eyebrows! and they are down-turned.)
This is her friend Emma and Emma's mommy Jen. When she drew glasses on Jen I told Niev, "Jen doesn't wear glasses." I then looked at Jen (because she was over at the time) and realized that she actually DOES wear glasses! She is observant! (BTW, the glasses are the rectangular things around the eyes.)

This is so tender to me. It is a picture of Niev and her dad laying in bed on pillows because Niev is sad. Daddy is wearing his glasses. Niev has a very loving daddy.
I love seeing the creative side of Niev. Somedays it drives me crazy. For example, I was trying to get somethings done on the computer. Niev knew I wasn't paying attention to her so she went into the kitchen got out my honey and proceeded to poor syrup into about four different bowls each about two feet apart. Needless to say, there was syrup all over my kitchen floor. The next day, I was folding laundry. I could hear Niev in the kitchen so I called to her, "What are you doing?" She said, "Oh I'm just drawing a picture!" She was in the kitchen for about 20 minutes which is a long time for her to draw so I decided to see exactly what she was doing. She was drawing with HONEY!!! Let me remind you that I have carpet in my kitchen. Now I have sticky carpet in my kitchen. Ian and I both took some turns using some elbow grease and a lot of Resolve, but it is still a bit stiff in places. Someday I won't have carpet in the kitchen, but I will always be grateful for a creative child. I do love her.