Cute New Portraits

Just want to show off these cute portraits my sister-in-law Renee took of the kids last week.

Sniffer

Our little Ari may look sweet and normal, but she has some strange habits. She loves to eat non-edible things (like rocks, dirt, chalk, wood, etc.) and she loves to sniff things up her nose.  Usually she just sniffs innocent things like carpet fiber and strings from her blanket, but today she decided to combine her two loves by chewing off little bits of her sandal and sticking them WAY up her nose.  It took us a while to figure out why she was sneezing so much and talking in a nasal-y voice, but eventually we realized what was going on and did some "surgery" with tweezers and a flashlight.  We pulled out about ten little chunks of sandal--hopefully we got them all!  I hope she learned her lesson, but I have a feeling this won't be the last time we fish strange things out of her nose.

The Birthday Girl

Our little princess Ari had a birthday last week!

ARI AT AGE TWO

PERSONALITY: sweet, fearless/daring, happy, energetic, cuddly, daddy's girl

FAVORITE TOYS: cars/trucks/trains (can you tell she has a big brother?), baby dolls, dress up stuff, little people, doll house

LOVES: babies (real or toys), shoes (any kind, any size), water (playing in, drinking, or pouring on the floor), eating (including dirt, rocks, chalk, crayons, paper, etc.--shouldn't she have grown out of that by now?), riding her bike, being outside, her big brother Robbie

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To celebrate Ari's birthday we had two little parties. One was at the cabin in Grover, Utah while we were at the Morrill family reunion. She got lots of girly dress-up stuff which she loves!

Back at our house we had a fun backyard water party (for 'twin' cousin Ella, too) and had a great time. Here's my attempt at cupcakes with fish "swimming" in them.

Here she is with Grandma and Grandpa Capel and some of her fun new toys.

The Morrill Mad Dash

Saturday was our first annual Morrill family triathalon sprint (8 mile bike ride, 5k run, 500 meter swim)! Nate dubbed it the Morrill Mad Dash. We had to postpone it until Saturday evening at the last minute (we found out there was a swim meet at the Legacy Center in the morning) so most of the friends and family who were planning to join in couldn't make it. Nate and I and Nate's brother Adam and his wife Renee all had a good time and all finished under two hours. I'd say we all did pretty well for first-timers! I think we're going to do the Morrill Mad Dash again at the end of the summer for whoever wants to join us--its a great way to do a triathalon but not have to pay for it.

Running Away from Home

Robbie got really mad tonight because we wouldn't let him do something, so he decided to run away from home. I just went along with it (that's what they always do on TV shows like the Brady Bunch, right?) and suggested he might want to pack a bag. It was interesting to see what he decided to bring on his journey "to Africa" (he decided to go to Africa so he could "ride a subway").  Here's what he packed:

• 4 bananas
• 2 oranges
• a bunch of construction paper
• a box of crayons
• 2 pairs of scissors
• a game
• a toy phone
• 2 cars
• a toy pair of pliers

Well, he took his bag and started walking down the street. I watched for a while and then decided I better follow him because it didn't look like he was going to change his mind! After a few blocks he decided to come home because it started thundering, lightning, and raining. I hope he got the whole idea out of his system!

"Goggle Boy" and "Goggle Girl"

Tonight as we got ready to go swimming at the Legacy Center, the kids found the goggles and became "Goggle Boy" and "Goggle Girl", according to Robbie. He insisted on being called "Goggle Boy" for the rest of the evening; apparently "Goggle Boy" "comes from the sky" from "another earth". Oh, how I love these funny kids!

Graduation!

Yes, Robbie has officially "graduated" from year number one of pre-school. Before the little graduation program I kept thinking of the line from the movie The Incredibles about the Kindergarten graduation ceremony just being "one more excuse to celebrate mediocrity," but it was actually really cute and I think it made for good closure for the kids. Robbie is really going to miss school this summer! Miss Nicole (Nicole Dean) was a great teacher for him and I can definitely see that he's grown and learned alot.