Then periodically through the day, she goes to her room and demands a shoe change.  After breakfast...

She's started wanting to change accessories, too.  If her coat is around, she must put that on.  She has her coat on here.  (That's why she has a dirty coat on in the first photo -- it was in the hamper and she saw it and wanted it on.)

She changes shoes when she gets dressed for the day...  (Her "sparklies" from Aunt Christy and Vivian)

New shoes for lunch...  (Mmmm...  Hungry?)

And new shoes after nap...  Somehow I got lots of photos of the black patent leathers, but there were many other changes as well.

I have to also say that I've been in search of a good workout video I can do at home.  Our "gym" options are very limited and kind of far away.  I wanted a video with fun music that makes you want to move, and one that isn't totally boring. I haven't had much luck.  But today, I tried one on Netflix that you can just watch from your computer -- you don't have to have the DVD.  It was pretty fun, and I got a pretty good workout!  It's 45 minutes, no abs and not much stretching, but fun dancing I thought.  Unfortunately, no hip hop music...

Here it is:

http://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/Dance_Off_the_Inches_Calorie_Blasting_Party/70036169?trkid=814721

It's "Dance off the Inches:  Calorie Blasting Party" by Juliane Arney

I did it up in the playroom so the kids could play around me while I exercised.

This is what the playroom looked like when I was done, but who cares!?!  I even got a load of whites washed in the process.

And little diva Lucie found some shoes and an accessory while I exercised.  It was still early, we hadn't gotten dressed for the day yet.  But like my mom always taught me, accessories make the outfit, right?

Sorry, this is kind of a "catch up" post since my computer had surgery recently...  

The day was so beautiful.  It really was a dream to leave the sub zero Idaho weather to go to the beach on a sunny day, seeing my kids have so much fun with their cousins, and chat with Laurie.  What day could be better?

Only second best was getting to go to a good MALL!!!  Many of you don't understand what that means for me now.  The kids had lots of fun in this little baby while I got some good errands run.

While we were there, Peter's sister, Christy, blessed her new baby, Meredith Jane.  She is such a cute baby!  I got to hold her and didn't want to give her back.

Last summer, I posted some pictures of Lucie snuggling her Uncle Jeff.  Nothing changed -- she still loved snuggling him this trip.

We got to meet up with our good friends, the Daniels', who just moved back from the UK.  John and Adam are going to be good friends.

The trip went way too quickly and we didn't get to see nearly everyone we wanted to.  But we had some good visits and great play dates with the kids.  We can't wait to go back.

The day after we got back, it was Peter's birthday.  We went to dinner with his family while in CA, then on his birthday we had Thai food take out and homemade German Chocolate Cake for dessert!  He got a new bike for his birthday, and the days are getting sunnier here so he'll get to ride it soon!

Today was such a beautiful day outside!  The temp got up to almost 40!  I almost put on my bathing suit.  John actually asked if we could go swimming.  There was a church party right by our house with sledding.  The kids had a blast!  There they are at our house warming up for the event...

Check out that back drop!!  This is why I can live without a mall...

Here are a few pictures our friend, Jessica, took at the party.  I couldn't stop laughing when she sent them to me.  This pretty much sums up the kids!  Lucie's usually got a little attitude on camera, and John is kind of a softy when it comes to new adventures (although I will say the hill was pretty steep and slick!).  We love them!

It all began on Monday when we received two boxes from Nanie (my Aunt Mary).  Both kids got so excited to open them!  Here is the scene after the boxes were opened.  What wonderful gifts!

Lucie got a little pink poodle purse that she loves to give kisses.

Inside one of the boxes was a can with the ingredients for popcorn balls.  Since Monday night is our "family night," we made popcorn balls and watched a movie in the basement.  The kids LOVED the popcorn balls.

On Friday, I had a doctor's appointment because this is how I've been sleeping for the past month...

Basically sitting up.  I've just been really dizzy for some reason and it's made me pretty sick! The specialist in Idaho Falls has determined I had an inner ear infection that left me dizzy.  Now I have these exercises to do that are very strange.  This whole thing has been strange.  If it ever happens to you, give me a call! :)

Anyway, Peter had the kids from noon until about 7:00 on Friday so I could go to the doctor and a quick run to Target.  (For some of you, that may seem like no big deal.  For me, a trip to Target is a huge treat!)  What a man!  Then I came home to these:

The night before Valentine's Day, we went to dinner at this country club near where we live.  The food was delicious, and Peter was such a wonderful date.

The kids have been sick for almost 2 weeks, which has been a real party!  Peter has been so good about getting up with them in the night to help me.  We weren't able to go to church on Sunday due to illness, but we were able to have a delicious dinner at home.  Afterward, we made these little gems:

Peanut butter chocolate sandwich cookies.  John was a big help!  He wore my old apron from when I was his age.  (Thanks, Mom :)

Lucie "helped" by reorganizing our DVDs.  

It really was such a wonderful Valentine's weekend.  Peter is the most wonderful man ever and I'm so happy he's my husband.  5 years ago we were engaged!  It's been a great 5 years.

He loves to help roll out the dough and sprinkle the cinnamon, and eat the brown sugar.  You see Lucie in the background "helping" rearrange the dishes in the cupboards.  As long as she's happy!

And happy she was going through our old CD collection.  At least she'll know what CDs are when they're extinct here pretty soon.

I've said it before -- this job is so much better than doing taxes.

P.S. -- the cinnamon rolls turned out looking beautiful!  Unfortunately, I used expired oil on accident and they have a funny aftertaste.  One of these days all the stars will align and I'll get it right!

I won't go into the details.  Let's just say, I saw things today I hope I never have to see again.  I was a farm girl today.  I took care of her remains.  John witnessed the whole thing by the way.  I'm worried he might need therapy.  But we talked about how Ginger got under the car when she shouldn't have, and now she's night night with Jesus.  He seems to understand, and he knows I don't want to talk about it because he'll start to talk about it, then say, "Let's not talk about it anymore."

She was a very cute kitty.  I feel bad because just today I was annoyed with her because she runs inside all the time (she's supposed to stay outside), there's kitty litter all over the garage, cat hair in all our coats and hats from the garage, she's kind of rough with the kids now...  I was starting to not like her as much.  But I wouldn't have wished this to happen at all!

What if I was careless -- I was hurrying to get the kids in the car, buckled in, fruit snacks in hand.  I looked as best I could for her, but maybe I should have done more?  I feel terrible.

We will give it some thought before we get any more animals.  Obviously, I'm not exactly good with them!  Maybe in the spring when the new kitty will be outside all the time, not in the garage.  How could I possibly have run over both of our cats?!?

In loving memory of cute little Ginger...

This picture represents all the delicious food we had while we were there -- who knew Albuquerque was such a gourmet spot?  We had a very authentic Italian lunch, and we had dinner at the Church Street Cafe -- the oldest house in Albuquerque.  They serve New Mexican food, which it turns out involves lots of really good green sauce.

On Saturday, we went to Santa Fe and had lunch and walked around the main square.  It was really chilly, so we went to a movie.

We went to see Leap Year -- if you're at all wondering if you should see it, don't waste your time!  We all decided Kristi M. owes us $7 each for even suggesting it.  We should have seen Invictus, but at least we got a good laugh at how dumb it was.

We all grew up together and have known each other since 7th grade, so it felt like a family reunion.  We laughed all weekend -- and what a great break to get to enjoy being together without worrying about the kids.  It made coming home really great -- thank you, Peter!

On the trip, I have to admit I listened to "Twilight" on my iPhone (which is so great!).  I'm in the .1% of our female population who haven't read the books.  While they are extremely cheesy and overly dramatic, now I'm hooked and have to read "New Moon."  So today, the kids and I checked out our local library.  Why have we not been there sooner???

It is great -- we checked out a few educational videos for the kids, some good books...  And they have little computers with games for John's age, and story time on Fridays.  All this means, we have a fun winter activity!

Here are the kids enjoying the LeapFrog Word Factory video.

Lucie's latest craze is to demand wearing her coat at all times, and most of the time this little backpack my Dad got John a few years ago.  She's ready for kindergarden a little early!

I love this rocking chair Peter's mom gave us when John was born -- it was given to her by her mother when her babies were small.  I love to sing to Lucie (I sound really good when no one else but her is listening!) and think that Julie sang to her kids in the same chair.  What a treasure!  We only hope someone in our family is born with genes to be able to carry a tune!

I casually mentioned making snow ice cream to John yesterday, and he couldn't stop talking about it all day today!  We put chopped chocolate bars in ours -- it was good!

We took the kids outside to play in the snow on Saturday.  I couldn't stop laughing at how cute Lucie looked in her snowsuit.  She looked like a pink marshmallow.  John loved to sled!

For New Year's Eve this year, we had the Bresslers (Peter's sister's family) and the McKellars (Peter's brother's family) over for dinner and games.  We had a great time.  I need to brush up on my ping pong before next year!  Lucie loves her Uncle Mike.

Here's Lucie on Christmas Eve playing with her new car from Grandpa wearing her new outfit from Aunt Chris' family.

On Christmas morning, the kids got a new kitchen from Grandbobbie and a new keyboard from Nanie.  

For breakfast, we had chocolate waffles (a mix from our friends, the Buxtons -- not unlike brownies for breakfast) and bacon.  The kids didn't mind that a bit!

Christmas Eve, we ate on my great grandmother's china.  Christmas Day, we ate on my mom's china.  I love having those things from the women in my family!  We will look forward to having more family with us for future holidays.  But this one was really fun with just us as well!

This whole holiday has been so nice to have Peter home.  The kids have loved playing with him.  It will be kind of sad when reality hits on Monday and it's back to normal days!

On Sunday, Lucie wore her new outfit from Nanie to church.  It was really hard to get a photo of her not moving, so this is kind of blurry.  But she looked so cute!

Happy holidays, everyone!

Hmm, hmm.  This is a hard decision.  Let me think about it as I drive my cart to the bakery!  For a mere $10, I got the whole kit.  And it's super healthy, too!  Complete with loads of hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, yellow #5.  Just what I love the kids to eat.  Really, I don't care at all.

It was so fun to put together!  I chose the Gingerbread Train.  John was so excited he couldn't stop giggling.  He's licking the frosting as I type this.  We had one of those nights when the stars aligned -- John had a good nap, a good dinner, he was in a great mood.  He loved the activity!  As a mom, there is nothing better.

I just heard another candy cane crunch..

So we took him to the vet and he needed surgery.  I should actually clarify -- Fred, we found out, is a girl!  So we changed it to Freddi.  Anyway, Freddi needed surgery that was quite expensive.  We told the vet we just couldn't do it since she is supposed to be an outside cat, and outside cats have a short life expectancy here with all the wild animals.  We just couldn't justify it.

I shed lots of tears yesterday, but luckily the vet said they have lots of donations and people willing to pay for surgeries like this, so they'll still operate on Freddi and give her to another home.

It's probably for the best since we only wanted 1 cat to begin with.  And if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Ginger.  She likes me a lot and she's really cute.  But it's very sad to not have Freddi!

My mom reminded me, I'm not a city girl anymore.  I am a country girl and these things happen here!  I knew I shouldn't get too attached, but I did.

The kids seem to be in good spirits, and Ginger has been showered with affection.  John still loves to wear hats, and wanted me to take this picture of him on his big boy bed.  We're still working on decorating his big boy room.

Lucie has been loving wearing this back pack around for some reason.  You can tell she feels very cool with it on.  It is so hard to keep her hair out of her eyes!

It's been so handy.  One thing it has is a camera that is really easy to use -- a still camera and a video camera.  Everything on the phone is easy to use actually.

The photo of Lucie was the first photo I took with my iPhone.  It was on the way back from Rexburg, where I bought it.  We went through the drive thru at Subway and a cookie came with their sandwiches.  So this is Lucie post long drive from Rexburg, post chocolate chip cookie.  I figured out how to take the picture immediately all by myself!

John has been really into hats.  I had to take a few pictures of him with his various hats on (with my iPhone, of course) because I think pretty soon he'll realize how funny I think they are and stop putting them on.  He'll be playing quietly and I'll look over and he has a hat on that he found somewhere.  It's really cute.  This one's on backwards...