Another three weeks!

Ack!  I have got to be better about posting every week because it seems like it takes so long to post when I wait so long!  Anyway, here's going back to Feb.:

2/16: While shopping at Walmart, I went in the garden area to look for a plant water retainer dish and there were a bunch of toys on clearance in there. We saw these dolls for just a couple of bucks and I couldn't resist getting them for the girls. Makenna got a big one that "walks" and Avery got one because she liked the sparkly outfit the doll had on. :) They were giving the dolls check-ups at one point. The big one scared the crap out of me when I went upstairs to go to bed that night and turned the light on in the living room, where it was lying on the couch, ha ha!

2/18: Last night was so much fun! Although I was missing home and being at Mardi Gras yesterday, I'm so thankful that Kiki Tassin Tolman lives out here and helps me bring a little bit of Mardi Gras to Utah. :)  And she is an AWESOME cook and loves to do it (I don't really like cooking all that much), so I usually get away with bringing French bread and sodas, like last night. Kiki is the best! :D She made some delicious chicken, sausage, and shrimp gumbo and two king cakes (one with almond icing and one cream cheese filled--SO YUMMY!!). The twins had a blast playing over there, of course! And having Michelle Navarro Hansen there made it even more fun for me! :)
Oh, I had made the mistake of telling the twins that morning that we were going to Kiki's house. Makenna threw a fit the whole way home from dance class because she wanted to go right then. They both keep asking and crying to go "right now", ha ha. I told them we couldn't go until after piano lessons but they wanted to call Kiki; when we did, she told us to go right over. So we went and hung out for a couple of hours, then she kept the girls there while I came home and taught piano lessons, then I went back to her house for dinner. The twins were way excited about the king cake because they remembered last year's.  :)

2/19: Had a fun Bunco night at my house.  Jared got home that evening, so he was able to watch the girls downstairs.

2/20: Just a cute photo of Makenna and Whiskers cuddling on my scrapbook room couch:

2/21: We drove up to Hoytsville to stay the night at Grandma's.  Grandma watched the girls while Jared and I went on our Valentine's date (since he had been out of town Valentine's weekend).  We wanted to go to dinner and see a movie but we would have had to drive to SLC to see a movie we wanted to see, so we decided to just go and eat at Ruby Tuesday, drive around Park City, and eat pastries and have hot cocoa at Starbucks.  It was a nice night.

We went to at Grandpa Lingmann's ward the next morning, then went back to Grandma's.  Jared and I tried putting Avery down for a nap but she ended up getting out of bed after Jared and I fell asleep, ha ha.  Grandma ended up playing with the girls until we woke up to go to Grandpa's house.  All of the nearby Lingmann family went there to celebrate Grandpa's birthday.  Because of illness and snow, we missed the Lingmann Christmas gathering and hadn't seen Katie and Colleen since, so we were finally able to give them Christmas presents (ceramic ornaments that the girls painted) and they gave the girls presents ("Frozen" hair accessories, which they tried out on me, and a "Frozen" book with little figurines).  They always enjoy seeing Katie.  We love her so much!

 2/23: The Disobedient Duo struck again! This is what I get for staying in bed until 9am this morning (because Avery got into my bed at 5am and wouldn't stop talking and playing with the cat, so I finally went and turned the TV on for her at 6 and went back to bed). What you can't really see on the couch, under all the blankets and books, is a gallon size ziploc bag of tiny My Little Pony accessories scattered, along with the pieces to 7 wooden puzzles, little dress-up doll magnets, and tons of other little toys/trinkets! Jared didn't think it was as funny as I did. Mainly because of the 4 or 5 rolls of toilet paper they unrolled. They think we threw away most of their stuff, ha ha!

 2/24: Avery is keeping herself busy while Jared Crittenden naps on the couch. :) [That is most of their hair bows lined up down his side.]

2/25: I was trying to relax away a headache on the couch a little while ago and when I got up to check on the girls, they were in my tub with their pajamas on, cleaning their bath toys. I told them they should put on their swimsuits and they were all over that! Makenna was up last night with a cough and has a little bit of a sore throat today so I decided to fill the tub with warm water so she wouldn't get chilled. This is keeping them busy while I lie here on the bed where I can hear them and just look up and check on them. This was actually a great idea. :)

2/26: Ha ha! Makenna is helping me make chicken and artichoke soup for dinner. When I handed her a bay leaf to put in the pot, she looked at me like I had lost my mind! She asked, "Why are you putting a leaf in our food?!" 

2/27: I love the smell of Play-Doh! Every time the girls bring me a container of it to open for them, I must take a whiff. :P

3/1: 

EXACTLY!!!! Just today--couch pillows, blankets, foam stickers, Ritz cracker crumbs (all over the kitchen floor!), a load of hair accessories in bowl baths of water and leave-in conditioner, eczema lotion, and coconut oil, markers, and a whole basket of acrylic paint containers. That's just what I can name off the top of my head from today! But then Avery comes up as I'm typing this and is being so sweet and it makes my day, along with all the other funny, sweet things they both did today.

3/3: So happy for the snow! I don't even care that I had to drive in it--just a few miles to dance class and back.

3/5: Dinosaurs! [Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum]

This also goes for bananas, yogurt, cheese sticks, Cuties, etc.

3/5: So cute playing on their computer together.

3/5: The girls have been awake and goofing off for over 2 hours; Jared and I have each taken turns going in there to try to get them to calm down and go to sleep. Just a few minutes ago (almost 10pm), I heard the girls having a ball so I looked on the monitor and see Makenna doing somersaults in her bed and Avery was laughing hysterically at her! We had to go in and take away their blankie, lovies, and other favorite bed things--just left one blanket and pillow each. That's Makenna doing a somersault in the photo, ha ha!

3/6: Fun with Whiskers and a laser pointer.

3/7: Jared is such a prankster. Makenna has this big doll that Jared put in bed with her late Thursday night, after she went to sleep. She woke up at 4:30am screaming, wanting it out of her bed (she is extremely particular about what she wants in bed with her, and even what can stay in their room most of the time). Last night, he stood the doll up next to her bed. She didn't wake up screaming or anything but I asked her this morning if her doll was watching over her and she said she knocked it over because she didn't want it standing there, ha ha!

3/7: My niece, Carma's, 10th birthday party was this afternoon and the twins had a blast!  It was an Ever After High party.

The Birthday Girl

 Looking for treats and Ever After High tokens:

 Cute cousins :)

 Carma and her crush, ha ha !

 Avery ate a LOT of candy!!

 Coloring pictures:

 Blowing bubbles:

 The Birthday Girl in her throne before opening presents:

 The girls were so excited to give Carma her present from us!

 We gave her a shirt I made:

Avery had fun during the gift opening ripping some tissue paper up and blowing it up in the air and throwing wrapping paper up in the air:

 Before blowing out the candles:

 Eating cake and playing with pinwheels:

As if going to a birthday party wasn't enough, we decided on the way home to make a quick visit to Farm Country. The girls got to ride ponies, see all of the animals, and feed their favorite (Banjo, the donkey). There were some baby animals, including 3-hour old goats that were SO CUTE and some little black sheep. I want to take the girls again in a week or two and see what other babies will be there, as there were several other goats that look close to giving birth!

3 hour old baby goats! I caught an awesome look on the mom's face, ha ha! I had to zoom in with my phone, so this pic is pretty crappy.

I hate Daylight Savings Time!  We had a hard time getting up this morning.  I RARELY ever have to wake the girls up for anything but I had to this morning.  They did not want to get up at first.  Makenna said, "But it's still really early, Mommy!" and Avery said, "I'm so tired!"  They got up and going fairly well, though, and we got to church on time (which, for us, is 20 min. early in order to get a bench).  Jared subbed in nursery with me today, ha ha.  I liked having him in there.  If he wasn't gone so often, I would ask to have him called in there with me (my co-teacher just got called as Primary president). :)  We were all exhausted when we got home, so we ate lunch, then went downstairs to watch "Beauty and the Beast".  I thought the girls would fall asleep so we could all take a nap together but, not only did they not fall asleep, they kept me up the whole time and we ended up watching "Snow White" after that and now they're playing on their computer as I write this.  Jared slept through all of it, though, of course.  That's OK, though, he's leaving tonight to drive to NM.  So he will be gone for a couple of weeks while I continue getting things ready for our drive to Louisiana.  We will be leaving on the 25th!  So much to do in the next 2 1/2 weeks!!