January Edventures

January has been a busy month.  It started with a Pajama Day for Harper and me.  Christmas and New Years were so busy I just needed a day.

Harper is fully immersed in nursery.  I started taking her to nursery in October (I would stay and help).  The class was mostly boys and they were so sweet with her.  One boy, Tane, offered his hand to help her get off a chair.  Another boy, Bransen, held her hand as they walked back from a field trip to primary.  This year there is just Harper and Slade in the class.  She has wonderful nursery leaders and enjoys going.  

 KayLynn Larsen brought Harper this dress from Africa.

 Harper has a sweet tooth and decided to also wear her chocolate.

We were cleaning the laundry room and came across Harper's bike helmet.  

Her helmet finally fits her and she wanted to wear it all afternoon.

My friend Kay Handley bought this mop for Harper.  

Harper's favorite thing to do with it is to trip me with the handle (well I pretend to trip).  

We have a prankster in the family.  

Harper's attire for when Mommy and Daddy run at Lake Sylvia.  

The first time she wore it she fell down (at home) and could not get up.  

Reminded us of the kid on "The Christmas Story".

January has had some nice sunny days so we went for a picnic/hike around 

Lake Sylvia one Sunday after church.  

Gavin gave Harper "Bear Bear" for her birthday.  She sleeps with "Bear Bear", "Lamy" and "Elephante" plus two blankets.  She likes to have her blankets or stuff animals near her face.  I wonder if it is because as a baby I would stroke her eyebrows or face to help her fall asleep.  She sleeps through most nights unless her diaper is full.  We put her to bed between 7 and 7:30pm and then she wakes up between 7:30-8:30am.  She takes one nap during the day.  Recently she has been telling me "bye bye" when I lay her down for nap.  Her bed routine consists of reading the Book of Mormon, brushing and flossing her teeth, reading a few books, maybe a musical number on her piano, and trying to procrastinate going to bed by playing with her kitchen set or tent.  At night I will hold her for a few minutes and sing to her.  I love when she lays her head on my shoulder and cuddles.  She is really good about giving hugs and kisses.

 

I recently picked Harper up from the high school (she went to open gym with Daddy).  We went out on the track and football field and she loved it.  On the track she would get down low and then started running.  I guess she is working on her starts.  I wish I had had a soccer ball and she is quite good at kicking and throwing her soccer ball.  I have taught her to say "Goooooooaaaaaaallllll" and she likes to scream it when she playing with her soccer ball or we are at a high school basketball game.

First real haircut.  When Harper was probably 5 months old I cut some of hair for her baby book and well, my hairdresser, Whitney, had to trim and fix where I had cut.  But this month Harper had her first real haircut.  Her hair has really grown since September and I thought she could use a trim.  I am letting her bangs grow so that eventually her hair will be all one length.  As a result, Harper's bangs are often in her face.  Harper did a great job sitting on my lap and letting Whitney cut her hair.  

                                     This is the night before her haircut.  Arriving at Whitney's Salon.

                                                  Sitting on Mama's lap for a haircut.

James built a bench and cubby for our laundry room.  
He did a really good job and it is nice to have it a little more organized.

Enjoying the Sunshine.  Since our yard is still dirt which means it is often mud from the rain, Harper and I have spent a lot of time indoors this winter.  This week has been nice so we have been going outside to explore. Harper loves being outside.  She likes to pick up the rocks, has tasted dirt, and is very interested in the neighbor's trampoline and basketball hoop.  We have also gone to the playground on 1st street and she loves the slides.

Mischief is my middle name.  I got out the stool so Harper could help me frost a cake that she helped me bake but while I was busy she pushed the stool over to the fridge, climbed up it, and tried to get into the fridge.  Luckily the door is too heavy and she can't open it.  She loves to climb and can climb the stool and get down on her own.  She also loves to get into things and when she hears us coming will run so she doesn't get caught.  If she is holding something that she knows she shouldn't she will throw it and run.  

Harper loves to help.  Her chore is to put her clothes in the hamper and she has started to do it (on occasion) without being asked.  She likes to help carry groceries and will try to lift heavy objects.  

Harper also loves to read and we try to go to the library once a week.  We read for 20-30 minutes three or four times a day.  Harper also has started "reading" to herself.  It is so cute to hear her talk to herself.  She also uses different tones like we use when we read to her.  We have been looking at animal books a lot and she says "Moo" when she sees a cow and "Maa" when she sees a goat. Sometimes she will hoot like an owl or say "Woof Woof" for a dog.  Last Sunday at Fory and Leann's she wanted to know where Benson the dog was and said "Woof Woof" and then pointed upstairs.  This last library trip I got her two Star Wars books, A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back; she loves them.

 Reading "A New Hope" with daddy

Harper's vocabulary is growing.  She says "Mama, Daddin, Bye Bye, Hi, Nain (Again), Animal Sounds, Ball, Baby, Books, and No".  She also signs "More, all done, please, again, and thank you."  She comprehends really well.  She loves when people come over and gets very excited to greet them at the door.  

Pooping in the toilet

Today while giving Harper a bath she started to make sounds and signs that she might have to poop.  I continued to let her stay in bathtub and then she started pooping.  I quickly grabbed her and put her on the toilet.  She was scared and held on to me tightly but she did poop in the toilet.  So, even though she is not potty trained, she has successfully pooped in the big toilet even if it was unintentional.  After helping her cleanup from pooping, she got to run around naked while I removed all the toys from the bathtub, captured the poop in the bathtub and flushed it down the toilet, and then cleaned the bathtub.  I then gave Harper a bath and sanitized all her toys.  I love being a mom.

New Discoveries

Harper has discovered that she can look behind her by bending over and looking through her legs.  She thinks this is so funny especially when I do it back to her but I am not that flexible.  She also discovered that she can take her arms out of her shirt.  Early this morning I woke up to Harper crying. I went in her room and discovered that she had somehow gotten one arm out of her sleep suit and she was cold.

Funny, Funny Harper

One night after her bath, I put Harper's PJ bottoms on her head.  She loved it and wore them for 15 minutes on her head.  

Harper also loves to just wear her diaper around the house even though it is winter.

Harper loves to look at magazines that come in the mail (e.g. Parenting, Ensign, AARP).  She loves books and music.  We read and listen to music a lot each day.  She is fearless and loves to tease us by sitting on the couch armrest (she's fallen a couple of times).  The other day she climbed from the couch onto the bookshelf which is about 30 inches high and is against the back of the couch.  When I said her name with a strict mommy tone, she dived and rolled off the couch.  Luckily James caught her and she was not hurt.  She is really good at climbing.  Harper loves to take baths and today learned to blow bubbles.  She comprehends really well (it is kind of scary).  She helps clear the table and puts her dirty clothes in the hamper.  She loves to help.  Harper enjoys dusting, sweeping, and mopping so we got her her own cleaning supplies.  She loves people and gets so excited when someone comes to the house.  She does not like to be alone except when she is sleeping.  This week she learned to give hugs in addition to giving kisses.  She is very loving and has a fantastic smile.  Her smile lights up the room.  

Christmas 2018

We have enjoyed Harper's excitement about Christmas and all the activities that come with it.  We started by decorating the tree with Harper ornaments at the bottom and breakable ornaments at the top.  She would play with the tree from time to time but overall I think she did pretty good leaving it alone.  James said once she did almost tip the tree over trying to get a Harper ornament off.  When we were decorating the tree, Harper was holding an ornament that I thought was plastic.  James asked if it was glass and I said no and then the next thing we hear is glass shattering.  Whoops.  

Last year we started the traditions of providing St. Nicholas for a family in our ward.  We use the story "The Wooden Shoes" and secretly leave Candles on Day 1 (Dec. 2), Wood and Kindling on Day 2 (Dec. 3), Bread and Rolls with the story "The Wooden Shoes on Day 3 (Dec. 4).  We tell the family to put out their shoes for St. Nicholas the night of Dec. 4 and then we fill them with Lebekuchen, Speculautis, German Chocolate, and toys from the Dollar Store.  This year the family lives in the country and we could not secretly ring and run so James got a 5 gallon bucket that we attached to their mailbox. It is a lot of fun and one of my favorite things to do at Christmas.  Here is the note the family posted on Facebook.  

To the kind souls who were our secret St. Nicholas last week, Thank You! You brought much joy and excitement to our home, and especially the spirit of kindness and service. It is a pretty neat thing to hear my son talk about how great it would be to play Secret Santa for someone else! Plus, we love learning new traditions, we may be putting our shoes out every year for St. Nicholas Day! Thank you for your kindness!

Oma and Opa Leonard came to visit us from Dec.4-Dec.11 so they were part of the St. Nicholas too.  The morning of Dec. 5 we put our shoes outside and then open the door for Harper to see.  She immediately saw the car Oma and Oma got her and went to it and brought inside.  It was as if nothing else was in her shoes; she was so excited about the car. We enjoyed the Festival of Lights with Oma and Oma and the different activities that took place in town.  

                                        Oma, Opa, and Harper.          Walking in wooden shoes with Oma.

We went caroling with ward members in a neighborhood on Dec. 10 and then at the Monte Rehab on Dec. 17. This is our third year caroling at the Rehab.  I enjoy watching the residents faces light up when they see Harper.  She usually gives them a smile which adds to their joy.  

Making sugar cookies with Daddy

Christmas Eve we had a party with James's family.  A white elephant gift exchange is the tradition for the Edwards clan.  I made a frame with seashells around it and James made shadow boxes.  It is not required that gifts be homemade but many do make their gifts.  Santa Claus came to the party too but Harper was not about to sit on his lap.  When Aunt Leann tried to put her on Santa's lap she cried.  Harper's only cousin on the Edwards side, Shelby, surprised everyone and flew in from California.  

Christmas morning we got up and looked to see what Santa had brought us in our stockings. Harper was so excited; she would pull something out and then go show Daddy.  

After opening our stockings and having breakfast we headed down to Vancouver to James's Uncle Gerry's house.  He and his wife, Faye, through a Christmas party.  There were three dogs at the party and Harper kept saying "Puppy" (although she has not said it since). Gerry is the last living Edwards from James's dad's family.  He only had daughters and so Fory and James are like sons to him.  

We got home about 4pm from Gerry's and opened our presents.  Again it was fun to see Harper's excitement.  

                               Taking a present to Daddy.             Helping Daddy unwrap his presents.

 Harper got a broom set, duster, wagon, and Rocking Chair from Santa.  Harper sweeping the couch.

After opening up gifts we headed over to Fory's shop for a leftover dinner with Uncle Fory, Aunt Leann, Grandma Edwards, and Uncle Joel.  It was a busy Christmas but a nice Christmas.  

For New Year's Eve we went to Brad and Juliana Wallaces's house to play games and have fun with friends.  

Headed out to Party