Hattie speaks

Hattie has really begun to talk a lot lately, and with that, she has of course said some pretty funny things.

Last week for Family Home Evening, we talked about Joseph Smith. Today I asked Hattie, "Do you remember who Joseph Smith was?" Her eyes widened and she spoke in a whisper, "A baby!"

While we were in McCall over Christmas, Hattie was exploring the condo. When she ventured upstairs, she quickly came back down and said that it was scary. So she grabbed Paul's hand to guide her. We wondered what she found so terrifying. When they got upstairs, she pointed to a rather creepy life-size Indian carving (that I was afraid of as a kid) and said, "Scary Jesus!" I think we need to clarify that not all art of someone she doesn't know is the Savior!

Recently she showed how aware she is, even at age two. She and I went to pick up Paul's parents and brother Daniel from the airport yesterday. Daniel is autistic and has severe retardation. He is 18 years old and requires a lot of work. But Hattie loves to have him around and give him hugs. While driving, she suddenly said, "Daniel is sad. He has an ouwie." She quickly gave her remedy. "He needs a hug. He needs a nap. He needs ice cream."

I sure love my little girl, who has mastered the cheesy grin, head tilt and all.

Highlighting my hobby

I've mentioned before that after marrying Paul, I started quilting. Paul's mom is a great quilter and got me interested. For the last three years I have given my siblings quilts for Christmas.

For Mark and Kerri, 2007


For Val and Jonny, 2008

This one has a great story. I mailed the quilt to my mother in the box our DVD player came in. She wrapped it for me and handed it over to Val and Jonny. On Christmas morning they opened it, wondering why in the world we gave them a DVD player. They were totally perplexed, since we knew that they had a DVD player. As they were cleaning up the wrapping paper and presents, they were talking about returning it to Wal-Mart when they realized that it probably didn't have a DVD player in it. Can you imagine if they had returned it to Wal-Mart? I would have died.

For Laura and Aaron, 2009

My new favorite! This one was made mostly from leftover scraps from Mark and Val's quilts, so I didn't have to buy very much fabric at all. That's one of my favorite things about quilting...you can make something beautiful out of your leftover pieces that would almost seem worthless.

It's always so satisfying to complete a big project like this. Each one is more fun than the last, and each one is harder to give away! I'm working on a blanket for Anna right now that I'm really excited about...hopefully I finish it sooner than later.

And to Lisa, Spencer, and Sharee...I hope this doesn't ruin the surprise of what you'll be getting from us!

Christmas Recap

We are finally home in Lubbock, so I guess it's time I post more about Christmas in Ontario. We were there for 3 1/2 weeks, which was absolutely wonderful. We got a little bit of snow when we first got there, so Hattie had fun walking around in it and making footprints.

And of course no trip to Grandpa's is complete without visits to the chickens. Hattie loved going out to see them, feed them, and collect their eggs.

Our little angel Anna finally showed her rotten side. She vetoed sleep on this trip, rarely sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time. Considering that she was sleeping 13 hours/night before this trip, it was a rude awakening for us. Hattie was a great sleeper, so for the first time in my life I could empathize with new moms whose babies were awake all night. It was just frustrating that she digressed so much. Hence the novelty of this picture.

Hattie LOVED spending time with her cousins. Every morning she would wake up and ask where her cousins were. She still asks for Abby, Kate, Charlie, Lukey, and the rest of the gang on a regular basis.

We got together to make graham cracker houses. Hattie kind of missed the point but the rest of the cousins loved it.

We went up to McCall for a few days in the snow. Sadly, I forgot to take our camera along. Lisa and Val watched our girls for us so Paul and I could ski. It sure made me miss being close to the mountains. Hattie really loved going sledding and would have stayed outside all day if we had let her.

Christmas Eve rolled around. Mark, Kerri, and Co. came over Christmas Eve. We didn't go caroling, which is a family tradition, but it was a bit unrealistic with 5 little ones. But we enjoyed singing Christmas carols together. Please ignore my voice in this video...not too pretty. We were enjoying watching Charlie and Hattie impromptu dance and hugs. Also, notice how Hattie always stares off into the distance...she's checking herself out in the front window.

When opening her stocking, Hattie went right for the good stuff. She opened all her Reese's and lined them up in a row.

Anna got the only thing she needed....socks.

And Grandma got Hattie some Ruby Red Slippers, which she wears all the time.

After Christmas we had another week to relax. Hattie got into all of my mom's cupboards and found these little bowls from Skippers. She had a great time equally distributing her milk amongst them. She also painted for the first time. (She really is mastering the cheesy grin)

My sister-in-law had her baby while we were in town, so we got to meet little David Dame! That also meant that my mom took care of Kerri's three older boys for a few days. Hattie LOVED having Isaac, Sam, and Charlie around all day...especially Charlie. The two of them would disappear to the basement together for hours. Once I came across this scene:

Of course, I didn't get too many pictures of Anna. She is growing so quickly. It's hard to believe that she was premature.

I was also able to spend a little time with my brother Spencer. He'll be leaving on his mission to Tallahassee, Florida in less than a month, so it was wonderful to see him one last time. I can't believe that Anna will be older than Hattie is right now when we see him again. Good luck Spence!

Flying home alone with the girls was once again stressful...not quite so bad as the first time around, but one of our flights was delayed 2 hours, which made us miss our connecting flight to Amarillo. Gratefully, both girls slept on the long flight from Portland to Dallas, so I had a few hours to relax...as much as one can relax with a baby sleeping in their arms and a toddler using your knee as a pillow. When we finally pulled into Lubbock at 10:00, I was exhausted, having been awake since 4:00 that morning. Paul had prepared a nice dinner for us and we had a mini-Christmas where we opened gift from Paul's mom and sister. Hattie was in heaven again.

All told, a wonderful vacation. I loved being with my sisters, watching Hattie play with her cousins, playing Pinochle until 2 am, cooking with my mom, and visiting with my dad. I've been blessed with such a wonderful and caring family. But we are glad to be home, getting back to normal and back on schedule. Gratefully, Anna has remembered how to sleep, so we are enjoying 13 hour nights again!

Christmas Break - Week 1

I've been home in Ontario, Oregon now for a week. It has been so nice to get away, even though it is far colder here than it is in Lubbock. We had a few days of snow which Hattie loved. Every time she looked outside she would shout "SNOWMAN!" But the really cold front has passed, so most of the snow is gone, but it looks we'll have more before Christmas.

Getting here was quite the battle. I was able to get a free ticket for Hattie, but in order to take advantage of the deal, we had to fly out of Amarillo, TX. So last Thursday, we drove 2 hours north to Amarillo, dropped our van off at a friend's house, and headed to the airport. Our first flight to Dallas was delayed, so of course we missed our connecting flight to LA. I was quite literally running through the airport, with Anna strapped to me in a wrap, Hattie in the stroller, lugging a diaper bag, backpack, and a car seat. I'm sure I was quite the sight, and I felt like everyone was thinking I was crazy for traveling with two small children. By the end of the day, I agreed with them.

Luckily there was another flight to LA that I hopped on right before it left. Poor Hattie was probably wondering what happened to her crazy mom, since I kept saying, "We've gotta hurry...run fast." The kids did okay on the flight, thanks to a handy DVD player. Once in LA, I thought I had plenty of time to catch my flight to Boise...an hour and ten minutes. I deplaned, only to discover that my connecting flight was going to take off from an entirely different terminal. And in LA there is no handy train or moving sidewalk to take you from terminal to terminal. Nothing that logical. I actually had to leave the airport, walk outside for a bit, and go through security again! It was ridiculous. Especially with 2 kids. As I approached the terminal, I saw that the security line was a mile long. I knew there was no way to possibly get through security in 40 minutes. Then I finally got lucky. The line went upstairs before going to the security check point, and, since there was no elevator going up, I got to go downstairs with my stroller to another checkpoint, which happened to have a line that only took 15 minutes to go through! Thank heavens for strollers. If it weren't for that, I would have certainly missed my flight and ended up staying the night in LA. I boarded the plane for Boise, relieved to have actually made it on my correct flight, considering all the bad luck I had. Again, I boarded just as they called for the final boarding call. I finally called Paul and Mom to let them know I was okay...it was the first second all day that i had a minute to talk since I had been running every second that I was on the ground. Hattie was ridiculously tired by then, since it was about 10 in Lubbock and she missed her nap. Of course she finally fell asleep when we landed...perfect timing.

Lessons learned: 1) Never fly to LAX. It's a nightmare. 2) Flying with 2 kids is harder than I imagined. 3) Even if a free ticket is involved, it might be worth my sanity to pay for the ticket and fly more direct.

This week has been great...spending time with sisters/sister-in-law, celebrating Kerri's birthday, watching Hattie rememeber and love her cousins again, sleeping in, having Mom's wonderful help, watching movies with Spencer, putting up the Christmas tree, and finishing up last minute shopping. But the girls and I are anxious for Paul to finally get into town tonight...he finished up his final yesterday and is on his way now. I don't have a way to upload any pictures until he gets here, so sorry for the pictureless post.

A nice birthday present

Since we celebrated my birthday while we were in Dallas for Thanksgiving, my actual birthday was rather low key. But Anna rolled over for the first time! Enjoy!

Our little girls

I woke up this morning at six and though I should get out of bed and be productive before the girls wake up and Laila gets here (I have two more days of watching her). So I'm posting some pictures of the girls fromthe last few months, random ones not necessarily worthy of an entire post, but cute nonetheless.

Hattie has recently developed a new love affair with books. She has always liked them, but now she'll actually sit and listen to an entire story and demands to be read "bookies" numerous times a day.

We had a pizza picnic one night. Hattie loved eating on the floor. Notice our little copy cat leaning in for the picture like Dad.

I walked into the room one day to discover this...sweet moments of being a mother.

There is an excellent frozen custard place here in town, which of course Hattie loves. Here she sports messy hair and a messy face...this picture also provides proof that I am part of my child's life, since I am never in any pictures with them!

A new favorite! Hattie actually smiled when I prompted, "Show me your teeth." She likes to pretend that the toy she is holding is a birthday cake. She'll put all the pieces in, walk up to you and say "Happy Day Mommy!" She then proceeds to take a piece out and pretend to eat it, but not after blowing out the candles first.

Kisses...and Anna doesn't even care.

Both Hattie and Anna love bath time.

Hattie decided to join Paul and Anna's session of tummy time.

Here is our little friend Laila. She loves to play with Anna, but I can't trust her the way I do Hattie. She's only 11 months old.

She also likes giving Anna kisses. She has been such a good playmate for Hattie. She has helped Hattie be better at sharing...whenever she does share, she says "Ook Mommy, I sharing." Although I won't miss being so homebound, I will miss having a constant friend for Hattie once she is gone!

Thanksgiving in Dallas and an early party

We left on the Monday before Thanksgiving to drive 5 hours to Paul's parents in Dallas. The girls did okay on the drive...Hattie complained only of an "ouwie bum" and was otherwise entertained by her little DVD player. Anna cried a bit, but slept a good portion of the drive. As always the week at Paul's parents was great...we just stayed home and spent time with family instead of rushing out and trying to get a million things done. Sadly with 2 kids there is never any sleeping in on vacation, so by the end of the week we were both exhausted from too many nights of late night board games.

The Thanksgiving meal was a huge success. Christina had a great time prepping the turkey.

And of course, per Iverson family tradition, we fried the turkey. Yum...it still makes my mouth water. Fried is definitely the best way to eat a turkey.

I didn't take very many pictures while we were there. Paul's brother Michael who was married in August had his wedding reception in Texas over the break, so we were able to see some old friends as well. But no pictures of the party, sorry! Paul and I did go out on a date, the first time since Anna was born, enjoying some free babysitting.

Hattie enjoyed being the only grandchild there (besides Anna) and was spoiled by aunts, uncle, and grandparents. She loves Grandma's house with its easy access toy closet and constant entertainment from Tang the Cat.

We also decided to celebrate my birthday early...we had a 1/2 eaten cake from the reception, and parties are always more fun with more people. As I have said before, Hattie LOVES birthdays. She wishes everyone in the family a happy birthday on a daily basis, so she was thrilled to have a real cake with real candles and real presents to open. Like on her birthday, Hattie opened all my presents and passed them over to me without looking at them. This girl is going to love Christmas.