Two peas in a pod...

I walked in to the family room this morning to find the twins piled in this tiny round laundry basket, Reese sweetly reading a book to Mira. Before they spotted me, I turned around and grabbed my camera. So glad they love each other!

Last Saturday the sun peeked through the rain and clouds, so I took the girls outside to ride the scooters Santa brought them for Christmas. The scooters have only seen the inside of our house until now.

(Side note: Mira just saw me composing this post and yelled excitedly, "They're riding on their scooters, mom! I love it!")

Dora goes for a swim...

Just minutes ago, I was on the phone. And then...

Mira: “Mom! Dora’s in the toilet with the flush.”

Reese: "Dora’s in the toilet, mom!”

After a stern conversation with the twins bout what goes in the toilet and what does NOT, and quickly ending my phone conversation. I went in to the bathroom to find our little plastic Dora figurine head down in the bottom of a thankfully flushed toilet.

Mom: “Who put Dora in the toilet?”

Mira: “Reese – Reesey was watching, and I was being funny with the Dora.”

Trick or Treat!

What you would have seen had our little goblins knocked on your door this Halloween!

Reese, our little Witch.

Mira, our "Tiger Tail" - that's what she called herself.

Sage, the Dark Princess of Doom.

At the last minute our dear friend brought this great dress over, so Sage immediately switched from her planned costume of a black cat to THIS. I had a hard time letting my sweet sunshine girl look so, well... dark. The make-up in the next picture really did it.

On our way to the "Trunk-or-Treat" the ward (church) Halloween party on the 29th. Sage was thrilled that no one recognized her. The twins had fun collecting treats.

Coby and I celebrated at the Burton's annual Halloween Bash Saturday night the 30th.

Sage Advice

sage
–adjective
wise, judicious, or prudent
(Dictionary.com)

I was just talking with Sage about what she wanted to do with her birthday money, i.e. how she wanted to divide it between her spending money, savings, etc. She brought in her $15 and said she wanted to put the $10 bill in the bank savings and the $5 bill in the "spending-right-now money". I asked her if she meant the $10 in the spending-right-now money. She said, "No, because if you spend money on something you really, really, really want right now, it doesn't really matter. What matters most is saving it in the bank for college or buying a car." I hope she is always so wise with her money! I could learn a thing or two from her.

Happy 7th Birthday, Sage!

My sweet Sage turned 7 today. But, I feel like we've been celebrating for a week!

When we were planning her birthday party, she told me she wanted a Paula Dean party. (If you don't know who Paula is, she's a famous chef who also has a show on Food Network, Sage's favorite channel.) I told her I didn't think any of her friends would know who Paula Dean was, but we could still have a cooking-themed party. After a short Google search, I found the perfect party plan for my little chef. 7 girls (for 7 years) received invitations on recipe cards "A Recipe for: Sage's Chef Birthday Party". (Sage has LOTS of friends, so it was REALLY tough for Sage to narrow the list, but I knew I couldn't handle any more sweet girls than that.) On Friday April 9th, they brought their aprons and came ready to create in the kitchen. The party started off with each "chef" creating their very own personal lasagna in a foil loaf pan. While the lasagnas baked, the girls made and ate Salad-on-a-Stick (fresh veggie kabobs). And of course, every second they weren't busy "cooking" they ran around, giggled, and squealed. Then the girls shared their thoughtful gifts with Sage. After that, the chefs ate their lasagnas, played a few more giggly, squealy games, took some silly pictures, and then enjoyed Sage's Apron birthday cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Saturday, we continued the celebrating with cashing in Sage's Red Robin Birthday Club free kid's meal coupon for dinner with the fam. One of Coby's office assistants, Kim, was just finishing her serving shift at Red Robin and shared a special gift with Sage, then she got sung too by the Red Robin crew, balloons, birthday sundae and all.

Then, today, on her actual birthday, Sage got to go to Grandma and Grandpa Tippetts' house after church to celebrate her birthday with her grandma and grandpa, cousins, and aunts and uncles that live in the area. A few of them had April birthdays too, so it was quite a party. I think Sage felt pretty special. As she should... she's a special girl.

I LOVE YOU, SAGE!