Summer 2021

I'm super duper behind on blog posts. Partly because the computer I used to use was Matt's old laptop and it's gone the way of all the world. We have a computer downstairs that I could use, but our internet stopped working a few months ago and when we changed internets, the downstairs computer can't find the new network, so Matt's work computer is the only computer in the house that recognizes the internet, and he's usually working on it when I'm home with free time, so no blogging. But today is Labor Day, so I have time! And a whole summer of blogging to catch up on. Let's see how much I can remember. I have a feeling it won't be much. A month or so ago we took the girls to Lagoon for the first time. We've been thinking of getting season passes for Christmas, but they're still scared of splash pads, so we weren't sure if Lagoon would be doable. We picked a great day for it. It was the first day that the air was really smokey, so it was overcast and didn't get too hot. And for some reason it wasn't crowded. There weren't really any lines until about 2:30 or 3. We got there right when it opened and went straight to the kiddie rides. Tille was a little nervous so I rode the first ride with them, but after that, they were great. They went on most of the kiddie rides and had a blast. We stayed until about 4 and they walked all over the park and never complained and just had fun. It was kind of a bummer spending that much money to go on/watch kiddie rides all day when the roller coasters were so close, but it was still a great day. Now the girls ask all the time if we can go back to Lagoon. A few weeks ago we went through a special rite of passage. I was making dinner and Matt was working at the table and the girls were playing in the living room. All of the sudden, Hattie started screaming and crying that she had a bead up her nose. She had put a little bead in her nose and couldn't get it out. Matt tried to get her to blow it out but she didn't understand and kept sniffling and we were afraid it was getting higher. We were all freaking out. I went over and asked which nostril it was in. I had her close the other nostril and then told her to blow as hard as she could. The bead shot across the carpet and it was over. We had a lecture about putting things in noses and hopefully that episode is over. Three or so weeks ago we were all excited about going to our first cousin camp! The Michigan cousins were in town, and we were going to play at one of the aunt's house and it was going to be so fun. The aunt even had a bounce house for the day, but I was keeping that a secret from Hattie and Tille so they'd have an extra surprise when we got there. They'd been looking forward to this day for a very long time. Halfway there Hattie said her stomach was hurting. We had just hit road construction and stop and go traffic, so I thought maybe she was carsick. We pulled over and took a break in a church parking lot for a few minutes. She didn't look sick, but she still said her stomach was bad. After a little bit she said she was ok to go again. But after just a few more minutes she said her stomach was bloated (where on earth did she learn that word?!) and she was making gurgling noises, so we got off the next exit. We parked in a bank parking lot and played for a few minutes, and then Hattie said she wanted to go home. She seemed fine, but if she was willing to miss cousin camp, she must've really been bad, so I called Matt to come pick her up. We waited a while and then he came and got her. All this while, Tille never gave a hint that she might be off. So Tille and I waved at Matt and Hattie as they drove away, and then we continued on our way to Salt Lake. When we were about 5 minutes from out destination I turned around to say something to Tille just in time to see her projectile vomit all over herself and the back seat. I was shocked into silence. We drove the rest of the way to cousin camp. When we got there, I didn't even know how to get Tille out of the car. Everything was gooey. I finally got her out, but then she didn't want to go to the door. She was embarassed to go to the door looking like that. So she hid while I got an adult to come help me. I hosed Tille off in the backyard while Aunt Christy hosed off the carseat and car. Then Tille put on her swimsuit and played for a few minutes before she asked for a nap. She went upstairs to watch a movie and relax and I did the crafts that the cousins were supposed to do. Matt texted to say Hattie had slept all the way home and threw up all over the couch as soon as they got there. A few minutes later, Tille came downstairs with a bowl full of throwup, so then we left. She threw up two more times on the way home. One of them splattered the windshield, from the back seat. And she continued through the afternoon. Matt and I took advantage of the girls having no appetite and got sushi that night. All in all, it was a disgusting day with a good dinner. One night, maybe even the throw up night, though that has nothing to do with this story, I was wearing a shirt that says 'Vintage 1980', referring to the year of my birth. Hattie asked what it said and I told her, and she said, with a very disgusted face, "Oooohhhhhh, that is really long...". Yep. Thanks kid. This week we took the girls to their preschool open house to meet their teachers. It was a lot of fun and I think it got them a little over their nervousness to start school. Matt and I were standing at the edge of the playground looking around and we realized we were, without competition, the oldest parents there. In several cases we were almost old enough to be the parents of the parents. There were a few people older than us, but I heard each of them say they were the kids' grandparents. So I guess that's what we'll be experiencing for the next 13 years. And now I'll try to describe the pictures. 1-2. The girls were posing at Provo River Falls in the Uintahs this weekend 3. The boys stopped coming to the babysitters' house at the beginning of the summer. Hattie and Tille have been missing them, and sometimes Hattie walks around the house saying 'I miss (boy's name)'. As a little surprise, the babysitter arranged to have the boys come on the girls' birthday, and they had a tiny birthday party. Hattie and Tille love it! They were so happy. I talked to the babysitter's mom at church the day before and she said she felt like she was running a toddler dating service. 4. At the beginning of the summer Matt kept meaning to go get a haircut but he could never find time. He finally ordered an electric razor and had me shave his head. I took full advantage of the situation. I still laugh every time I see this picture. I shaved it again this weekend and did it the other way, starting at the edges and leaving it long on top. It looked pretty good and would've passed as a real hairstyle. 5. The girls had their first official playdate a couple months ago with the kids of one of my friends in the ward. It was 2 girls and 2 boys. By the end, Tille was cuddling with the oldest boy. Not sure how I feel about this. 6. Just trying out some of Matt's cabin equipment. 7. Tille and Hattie and I have been trying out some of the trails around Ogden this summer. This is one of the trailheads. 8. We took the girls fishing at the trout farm in North Ogden. Matt grew up just down the street from there and used to go there all the time on his own. My Grandpa Glauser used to take us fishing there all the time too. So it was special to both of us and we wanted them to know it too. We all had a good time. Both girls caught 2 fish. 9-10. One night in July Matt's work had a networking night at the zoo. We got there right at closing time, had a catered dinner, and then had the whole zoo almost to ourselves (just Matt's company and the few other companies involved). We had unlimited rides on the train and merry-go-round, sea lion shows, we could feed the giraffes, basically anything. The girls were only interested in the merry-go-round, so we did that several times and then walked around a little. It was about 1000 degrees, so we didn't do much, but it was still a lot of fun. Now Tille tells us she wants to go to the zoo because she liked the dinner. I hope she doesn't expect that every time. 11. Another hike. 12-13- One night Tille got really excited about a home evening craft. She wanted to make Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus and she was talking about cutting and gluing and taping and I was getting really nervous. But we told her we'd do it if she told us how. In the end, she just wanted to draw pictures on big paper. Each girl drew pictures of the nativity and then we showed each other when they were done. It was really fun and cute. 14-15. Earlier this summer the girls were learning 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives' in primary. That day after church at Matt's mom's house their boy cousins came over and the girls took them out to the backyard, made them sit on the porch, and taught them a primary lesson and led them in the song over and over. It was pretty cute. They really love primary. 16. Posing on their favorite neighborhood rock. 17-18. We went on the carousel at Lagoon. It stopped when we were at the very highest point. Matt's not a huge fan of heights so he was holding firmly with both hands and not thrilled that I was posing with the girls. 19-20. The girls on the swings at Lagoon and Tille on the merry-go-round. She really wanted to ride on the tiny bear. 21. For the first time EVER, the girls had fun at a splash pad. We went with their Michigan cousins, and I think that was the ticket to having fun. They just needed to have other people to have fun with. 22. I got home from work the other day and Tille had drawn this picture on the deck in chalk. She said it's me when they were both in my tummy (you have to look sideways at it). 23-27. 4th birthday! For their party, we had a pizza party, a treasure hunt in the basement, a pinata, and cake and ice cream. Hattie had a blue Elsa cake and Tille had a pink Aurora (sleeping beauty) cake. It was a lot of fun. We had 11 kids over and lots of grown ups. 28. The girls are just being weird. 29. The girls got aprons for their birthday from Grandma T, and they love wearing them to help me cook. Matt and I got them an easy bake oven, and they love cooking little things. 30-31. The preschool where the girls are going has yearbooks from when Jacob and I went there. Crazy! 32-33. Our annual family picture at Provo River Falls. 34. Grandpa Glauser took the girls on a ride in the side by side at the cabin, and they loved it! They keep telling us it was their favorite thing at the cabin this time around!

April, May, June 2021

Oh man, I was reading through my notes that I take to write about in my blog, and some of them are so old. I need to write more often! So, update on Hattie’s boyfriend at the babysitter’s house: she was always telling us about her boyfriend and how she had told him he was her boyfriend, but we were only getting her side of the story, so we had no idea what he thought of the whole thing. Matt works a little bit with his dad; he handles the insurance policies for some of Matt’s HOA communities. So they were talking on the phone one day and the dad mentioned that his kid came home from babysitting and said that Hattie was his girlfriend. They asked if he could tell Hattie and Tille apart, and he said no, but he knew she was the one in the blue shirt that day. We all got a pretty good laugh at that! Hattie doesn’t talk about her boyfriend nearly as much anymore. Usually Tille and Hattie are both just happy when the boys (and sometimes their sister) are at the babysitter’s house to play, but they don’t gush like they used to. Matt had a work party at Boondocks last week and these friends were there, but Hattie absolutely didn’t want to play with them. She said later she’s shy around their parents. So that’s that. For months (almost ever since we transitioned to beds from cribs), at bedtime we’d read to the girls in bed, then we’d say a prayer and cuddle until the girls fell asleep. Sometimes it’d be 10 minutes, sometimes 30, there was no telling. One night, Matt was cuddling with Hattie and I was with Tille, and out of the blue Matt said, “Ok, we’re going to go, good night.” Hattie said, “Ok Daddy”. He gave Hattie a kiss, then came over and gave Tille a kiss. I pretended to be in on it, and followed his lead. I gave them each a goodnight kiss and got out of there. I was shocked! I didn’t know we could do that. But it worked! Hattie and Tille just accepted it! Matt said he figured we may as well try. Note- we had tried before, but Hattie always rebelled and demanded more cuddles. Anyway, it was amazing. Ever since, we’re about 50/50 on getting out of there on the first try. Sometimes Hattie needs to come out because she remembered she needs something (usually she’ll meander through her toy shelf before finding a ball or sunglasses or something that she absolutely can’t sleep without and then go back to bed); sometimes one of them is thirsty; sometimes one of them needs more cuddles. But sometimes they actually go to sleep on the first try and it’s glorious. One morning as I was getting ready for work, the girls were sitting on my bed. After I got dressed, in an outfit I’ve worn many, many times (green shirt, black pants), I said, ‘How does this look?” Hattie said, ‘No’. I asked what was wrong with it, and she said ‘The whole thing, the outfit doesn’t match,’ and Tille said ‘hair, just hair’. She couldn’t even put into words how bad it was. And the attitude they said it with! They were waving their hands in my general direction with disgust, as if they couldn’t believe somebody would have the audacity to think this was an acceptable presentation. I told them I didn’t have time to change and I left, and then I laughed all the way to work. We had a repeat of this experience a couple weeks later when Hattie was disgusted with my gray pants and blue shirt. This coming from somebody who wears two pairs of underpants outside her jeans. I guess they know what they’re talking about. We started back with 2 hour church about a month ago and the girls are loving it! They finally get to go to big kid primary. Their sunbeam class is them and three boys. On the first week, Tille volunteered to say the opening prayer in Sharing Time, in front of all the kids, and the next week Hattie did. Their teacher said they’re really good and attentive and sweet. They get so excited to go to primary. Yesterday they had a cold. We decided to go to sacrament meeting and sit in the foyer and see how they did. We told them ahead of time we might leave before primary if they were too sick, and we made sure to tell them they weren’t in trouble or anything. About 2/3 of the way through, they were both coughing really bad and their noses were really runny. Matt whispered to Hattie that she wouldn’t be able to go to primary, just to prepare her, and she got so sad. Her little chin was trembling and she spent the next several minutes just sobbing into Matt’s chest, but silently. She loves primary so much. It was so sweet. We signed the girls up to start preschool in the fall. A lot of the kids in our neighborhood go to The Little Red Schoolhouse. That’s where I went, so I couldn’t imagine it was still around, but it is! It’s the same place! They had a registration open house a couple months ago, and it looked a lot different, but also very familiar. The owner/teacher asked how we’d heard of it, and I told her I’d gone there, so she pulled out the yearbook from my year, and I found my picture. It was so cool! Anyway, we got the girls signed up and they couldn’t be more excited. They’ll be going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. Based on their readiness, the teacher recommended them for the older class. Which means they’ll probably start kindergarten the following year and be the youngest in their class. Other than age, they’re almost ready for kindergarten now. So it didn’t make sense to hold them back. The only reason we would hold them back is so I could have my kids be kids an extra year. Which I think is a pretty good reason. But I don’t want them getting bored, so fine. I’ll let them grow up. And now pictures: 1. I think I already included this picture in another post. But blogger makes it so hard to edit pictures, so I'm including it again. 2. The girls love posing on this rock in our neighborhood. It's on the next block over. 3. We got a kite and the girls figured out how to fly it really quickly. They took turns flying it across the park one day. 4. Hattie and Tille still love trying on my shoes. 5. One morning before the girls had come out of their room at all, I heard their feet hit the floor and then I heard a rustle, and then they came out looking like this, ready for the day. 6. The last few pictures are at Matt's work party at Boondocks. The girls rode the race cars and bumper boats with Aunt Julie and Aunt Maryann. They had a blast.

February and March 2021

Holy cow, I think I have a lot to write about this time! A couple months ago, Hattie started singing along when we would play ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen. Both Hattie and Tille have always sung along to this song, but this was a little different. Hattie was now singing and dancing to the entire song. She was acting out Elsa’s part exactly, at the exact time she does in the video. When Elsa throws off her glove, Hattie would throw off an imaginary glove; when Elsa throws off her cape, Hattie throws off her cape; when Elsa runs up the mountain, Hattie runs across the living room; Hattie stomps her foot at just the right moment to build her ice castle, etc. And she always makes sure to end the song by gazing out the living room window the way Elsa is gazing off her castle deck. She knows every word and move. It’s amazing. Tille will do it with her, but she’s a little shyer, which it kind of funny because usually Tille is the braver performer. This is the one song that Hattie will perform for people start to finish. Most mornings Hattie wakes up long before Tille is ready. But when Hattie’s feet hit the floor, we all wake up. Every now and then Tille manages to sleep in though. One such Sunday morning, Hattie had gotten up and was in the living room playing or reading, and Tille had slept in an extra hour or so. We needed to get her up and going so we could get ready for church, so I was just about to go wake her up. Right as I got to her door, she came out of her room and said, in a super excited voice but still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, “It’s cereal time!” Haha! Girl knows what’s worth waking up for! Our nightly bedtime routine nowdays is after the bath we do lotion and pajamas and then each girl gets to pick one or two books depending on time, and then we go cuddle in their beds and read to them. After reading we cuddle until they fall asleep. One night after books I was cuddling with Hattie and Matt was cuddling with Tille and everybody was being very cute and sweet. Tille looked up into Matt’s face and said in her sweetest voice, “Dad, you have hair in your nose.” Oh, so touching! She had also asked me earlier in the day why my stomach was so fluffy. So yeah, we’re in that stage where our kids are really helping us with confidence. Monday-Wednesday the girls go to a babysitter down the street for a few hours. It’s a 20 something year old girl who lives with her parents and loves kids and kids love her and she does a great job. She also babysits another family who used to live in our ward but moved out last summer. Those kids are a 7 year old girl, 5 year old boy, and 2 year old boy. They aren’t always there, between school, preschool, and grandparents watching them, but they’re there a lot of the time with Hattie and Tille. Anyway, the girls LOVE going to the babysitter’s house. We bribe them with promises of going or not going. A couple months ago it became more than obvious that Hattie liked it for more than just the babysitter. The 5 year old boy is ppppretttty coooool. She can’t tell us enough about all the things he says and does. And then she started wearing a ring around the house (one she got from her Michigan cousins’ Frozen birthday party last year) and telling us her boyfriend gave it to her. I asked her what her boyfriend’s name is and she said in a shy voice, “I don’t know”, and after a little playing, I said, ‘Is it (5 year old boy)?” and she just buried her head in her shoulders and nodded. Since then she’s been a little more open. She tells me about how she wants to dance with him and how she’s going to marry him and the other day she picked a dandelion on our walk so she could give it to him the next day. On the one hand, I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE ALREADY HAS A CRUSH ON A BOY SHE’S ONLY 3 I’M NOT READY FOR THIS!!!!! But on the other hand, I remember having crushes on boys when I was three or four, so I’m trying to be respectful and not downplay her feelings. Tille meanwhile has a crush on Wilbur from the movie Meet the Robinsons. She thinks he’s really cool. She’s not wrong. He’s kind of the bad boy-good guy of the movie. Last weekend the girls and I were out for a walk. We had gone around a grassy park and up a big steep hill to a pretty busy street. As we came up, there were several people starting to park cars and line the street like they were waiting for a race to go by or something. I thought it was weird but didn’t think much of it. We crossed the street and I was going to keep going. But then I noticed it was mostly people with kids and wearing bunny ears. I decided to check the city facebook page. The Easter bunny was going to be driving by literally any minute. We crossed back over, and waited. I checked the map again. It was kind of a parade, with the Easter bunny and a bunch of police cars and fire engines, starting at 8am about ¼ mile away from where we were. We waited maybe 3 minutes, then heard the sirens start. They came by, threw lots of candy at us, the girls thought it was super cool, and we continued our walk. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Best walk ever!! A few days ago, Hattie was playing in the living room and Matt and I were talking in the kitchen. I noticed that Tille was running in short bursts around the house, and after each burst she would stand flat against the wall like she was hiding, or hide under the table. I asked what she was doing, and she said, “I’m Ninja-ing!” I asked Matt and he said she does that every now and then. A few days ago we were all sitting around the table after work. Hattie was coloring or something, Tille was on my lap not paying attention (or so we thought) and Matt and I were talking. I made a comment about somebody being a fancy pants and Tille out of the blue stood up on my lap and sang long and loud, “Fancy pants” in her own tune, then sat down and kept on doing what she had been doing. Matt and I just laughed and laughed. The next day I was grocery shopping with the girls and everything I read off the list, Tille would sing it back to me at the top of her lungs. ‘Bananas!’ ‘Cereal!’ ‘Asparagus!’ And so on. That girl. She’s got spirit. And now descriptions of pictures: 1. One Saturday morning the girls did my hair with every bow and clip and headband they could find. 2. Look at this cutie going potty! 3. The girls got ninja vests and insect skirts and pom poms from their babysitters and were modeling them all for me. 4. For stake conference, we watched a live broadcast at home. The girls were really good at finding puzzles and games on their own and entertained themselves the whole time really quietly. It was great. 5. The ward Easter Egg hunt 6. Dying Easter Eggs for the first time ever. 7. South Ogden City Easter Egg parade. Look closely and you'll see the Easter bunny riding in the fire truck. 8. Matt's family's Easter Egg hunt 9. Matt's mom and all his siblings. I got several takes of this shot, and in all of them, everybody else moved a little bit or changed their facial expression, except Matt. He looked exactly the same in every picture. He's an oak. 10. The Easter Bunny brought some baskets this year! And if you look closely, you'll notice he brought some treats that Santa forgot to deliver. 11. I got the vacuum out after work yesterday and Hattie wanted to vacuum. She did a great job vacuuming the wood floors. Look closely. She's got two pairs of underpants on top of her pants. 12. One day I had a migraine before I left for work. When the girls got up after I had left, Matt told them I was sick, so they wanted to take a picture and and send it to me and have me feel better. It was really sweet. 13. These are the kids that get babysat with the girls. They had a big Easter party the last babysitting day before Easter. It was also their last day with that particular babysitter. She got a job at a regular daycare, so now her little sister is watching all the kids.

January 2021

I think this will be short post. Not too much has happened around here lately. I mentioned in the last post that the girls like to call each other sweetie heart. Now they also call each other honey. It's super cute. As of February 9th, Hattie is officially out of pull-ups. Both girls have been in underpants during the day for months, but they've been wearing pull-ups at night still. Hattie was waking up most mornings dry, and we knew she was probably ready. On February 9th, we were getting the girls ready for bed and when Hattie put on her pull-up she was complaining that it was itchy. I asked if she'd rather wear underpants to bed and she said yes, and that was that. Tille was kind of sad that she still had to wear pull-ups, but she wakes up with a wet pull-up almost every morning, so we explained that if she wears underpants she'd have pee all over her bed and she udnerstood. One of these days we'll be done, but at the rate we're going, it will be a little while still. Sleep has still been an issue around here. Two or three nights a week Hattie will come out of her room after we put her in bed and say "Mommy and Daddy, I'm saaaad". We put her back in bed, then a few minutes later she comes back needing a book, then a toy, then a drink, then she needs to go potty, etc etc. All the while, Tille is trying to sleep. Or, Hattie might go to bed ok but then she wakes up anywhere between midnight and 5 and that's the end of the night for Matt or me. It's not great. This week we resorted to bribery. Each girl got to decorate her own calendar, and each morning they get to put a sticker on the day if they stayed in bed all night. In two weeks, they get to go to the store and buy a toy if they have a sticker for every day. So far we're going strong. The first couple of nights we had to remind them to stay in bed if they wanted stickers, but they've both gotten stickers every day. They both really want kid computers. I think it's a tablet (or Kindle or something that their babysitter has; I'll have to find out). If they don't wake us up at all for 2 months, they get their own computers. Kind of big, but worth the sleep. When we had babies, I knew I wouldn't be sleeping for a few months; I had no idea it'd be years. Ok, now I'll try to say what the pictures are. I wish blogger made it easier to caption, but it doesn't. A few weeks ago we met up with some cousins at a trampoline park. Tille got right into it and was running around having a blast. Hattie was a little more wary. For the first half hour or so she would only get on the trampolines if I was holding her hands, and then we couldn't jump; we could only walk gently. But eventually she warmed up to it and was running around and jumping and loving it. Here's Hattie reading the Friend. Jenny and McClaine gave the girls their collection of Chevron cars. The girls' favorite game to play with them is called 'Car Marry'. They put all the cars together and get them married. Just how it sounds. I was trying to fold laundry and the girls picked out some of my clothes (sports bra and exercise pants) to try on. We finally got to take the girls sledding for the first time ever! We went to Mt. Ogden Golf Course. Turns out, Matt went there as a kid, just like I did! We found the really long perfect hill, and went about half way up. The snow was kind of slushy, but it was still pretty fun. We got several good runs. On Wednesdays the girls' babysitter lets them choose a toy out of a box to take home. Last week they each picked cool sunglasses. For Valentines Day we got together with some of the cousins on Matt's side for a little party. We played some games, decorated cupcakes, and tried to make a craft. Mostly, the kids played upstairs while the grownups cleaned up messes. It was pretty fun.