Annalanche

[an-uh-lanch, -lahnch] 

noun

1.

a small, but mighty mass of Anna, detached from a parent and sliding, falling, or destructing suddenly in any direction.

2.

anything like an annalanche in suddenness and overwhelming quantity:

an annalanche of misfortunes; an annalanche of mess.

verb (used without object), annalanched, annalanching.

4.

to come down in, around, or up, like an annalanche.

verb (used with object), annalanched, annalanching.

5.

to overwhelm with an extremely large amount of anything; swamp.

Our youngest child will now and forever be known as Annalanche. In her large wake of cuteness, she also leaves an undeniable surge of destruction. She will climb any chair, summit any table, and dismantle, annihilate and exterminate any object in her path. For example, if I have to pee, wipe my nose or simply make the bed, I must be prepared to discover a gargantuan mess in my absence. She must be watched with the utmost care, or she will eradicate all manner of order in our home.

Not long ago, I realized that every time I left the room, Anna would beeline to the kitchen table and get on top of it. At first, I rushed to correct her and haul her off. After awhile, it made me laugh. Eventually, I started taking a picture before I grabbed her from the table top. I started to collect a large assortment of pictures of her on our kitchen table and began to take pictures of her when she would get into other things. I soon had so many pictures, I couldn't put them all in one blog post. Here's a video of our Annalanche, doing what she most certainly knows how - annalanching. 

Mejores Amigos

Amigos? Amigas? 

Not sure, but either way, these girls are two peas in a pod.

They are SO different, but they harmonize like long lost chums. 

Evie is bold, loud and bossy.

Clarissa is sensitive, quiet and sweet.

Its like PB&J watching these two mesh together and I love it. Sure, they have fights like most toddlers, but for the most part they are inseparable. When Clarissa leaves, Evie hugs and kisses her goodbye. On Saturday, Evie asks me how many days until Clarissa comes over. One day when Clarissa was sick, Evie insisted we take her a treat to help her feel better.

It is such a devoted friendship.

Perhaps the only issue, besides the occasional disagreement, is Anna. Now that Evie has a constant playmate, she and Clarissa often leave Anna out. They shut the door on her and play on Evie's top bunk where Anna can't get to them. I've tried to get them to include her, but they seem intent on playing "big girl" things. I've also tried to point out to the older girls that they have plenty of playtime just the two of them while Anna naps, but according to Evie and Clarissa, "Anna ruins everything." It makes me sad to watch this happen, so I've tried to do crafts or activities that Anna can readily participate in. 

IE: Bead necklaces.

Its obviously an issue that will be ongoing. My sister and I fought constantly growing up over this and that. Notice, I said sister, not sisters. Chelsea, you know who you are...

However, we get along great (for the most part) now. But this is completely new territory for me as a mother. We have entered the realm of real, deep, hurt feelings and I'm learning to find the balance between overcompensating for Anna and letting the older girls have independent activities from their younger sister/playmate. 

I remember watching my two older sisters share social circles, secrets and jewelry, always wishing that I could be a part of it. And while its important to share and include everyone, its also important to foster confidence, which comes from a certain amount of independence. And I know I'm way over analyzing this minute issue, but I don't want Anna to constantly feel like she is left out. I also don't want Evie and Clarissa to believe that purposefully leaving someone out is acceptable behavior, either. 

In other words, parenting/caregiving is hard.

It has its perks though.

These two will be in the same grade (they are about six months apart) and I can't wait to watch them grow up together.

I've mentioned how challenging it is for me to get places sometimes. And while that is true, I love that Evie has a friend to do things with and that she has a peer to talk to. Sometimes I stand outside Ev's open bedroom door and listen to them play.

"Do you want to play Mommy and Kid?"

"Yeah, I'll be the kid."

"Okay, do you want to be a baby or just a kid?"

"I will be just a kid. But not a big kid. You have to be five to be a big kid. I'm three, so I'm just a kid."

"Okay kid, time for school..."

A Most Disappointing Winter

Another round of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," (seriously, that song is the WORST)

However, watching them dance to my off key singing is the BEST.

"Anna! This is NOT ring-a-round the rosie! Get up!"

"Why isn't everyone falling down?"

"She'll be riding six white horses when she comes..."

"She'll want to punch herself in the face when she sings this song..."

As mentioned, our winter has been quite terrible as far as snowfall is concerned. We've had basically no snow to play in and Nick has hardly used his Ski Pass. Now that its March and I'm seeing all the East Coast/Utah Instagram posts of snow ... I sort of don't want that to happen here. Snow had its chance, but March is not that time. I love snow, but I've already spent several days at the park blowing bubbles with my kids ... and you can't come back from that. 

The one time it actually did snow, it was fine and powdery - not good for snowman building. You need heavy packing snow that is slightly wet (trust me, I spent hours building snow forts during recess while I was in Elementary school). We did our best however and had the best time.

Ev mostly ate snow, while I desperately tried to pack it into a snow mound.

Behold, the world's creepiest snow mound.

Ev loved it.

"Hey mom, can I eat its face?"

"No, I will get you some of your own Oreos."

"How about I eat these ones and we put the other ones on my snowman?"

".........Sure."

This happens way too often, but I'm sort of okay with that.

Tub love snap chats.

I'm a moron and forgot to make her take off her slippers before I dropped her off at preschool.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR.

I know this might not seem like a big deal, but this was the first time Ev let me put bubbles in the tub. She's always hated them...until she realized they are super fun and you can make bubble beards.

I already posted this on Instagram, but my mom watched the kids for us one night. 

HALLELUJAH CHORUS SINGING ALL NIGHT LONG.

A happy Anna series:

I need to post a video of Anna walking because her little toddle is just darling. She has a real soldier walk and its adorable.

Guys! I put polka dots on my wall.

We're not allowed to paint and I was going insane with the white walls, plus we are poor ... soon $10 polka dots did the trick! Although, I would really appreciate some advice. Now that the polka dots are up ... what the heck do I put on my wall? Its such a big wall that I'm just not sure. I've put a few things up for now, but I'm not sure that its what I want. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

And I realize I should have cleaned before I took this pics but AINT NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT.

Life As We Know It

 My kids are doing this thing that is mildly irritating. Its called growing.

Please make it stop.

Anna seems especially intent on leaving babyhood for toddlerhood and I am not okay with this. Why does no one consult me? Nobody even cares about my feelings. Waaahhh!

In Anna's defense, with great growth, comes great cuteness.

Behold, a series of oatmeal eating photos:

End series.

In walks a sassy cowgirl from Toon Town.

I made the TERRIBLE mistake of teaching Evie the song, "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain." She makes me sing it to her five times a day while she wears her cowgirl hat and mounts me as her faithful steed. Not only is it obnoxious, but its also awful on my back.

My clean laundry stays clean for about ... thirty seconds. Anna thinks that any laundry basket is a transportation device. 

My playful girl. 

She loves to play chase, hide n seek and steam roller.

And the O.C.D. lives on. Evelyn immaculately arranges her friends before they play "school." She typically makes me be the assistant teacher (Mrs. Perez, from her preschool) and she gets to be the head teacher (Mrs. Svendsen). Olaf is always the naughty child and Bear Evelyn basically gets to do everything. Its quite entertaining.

Evie's Bistro is still making a killing.

Every morning when we make the bed, the girls jump on and request some assortment of Disney songs. They refuse to jump on the bed before its made. It HAS to be made, with all the pillows on display before they can dance and jump around.

This girl! She HATES getting her diaper changed/getting dressed. Always has and I'm most certain she always will. I think she was a nudist in another life.

The dancing nudist.

Its quite fine by us.

When Grandma goes out of town, Grandpa can't fend for himself. So he often comes over to our house to eat, play with the kids, socialize, etc. Evie couldn't WAIT to give Grandpa her pony hair.

Grandpa was pretty excited too.

Disturbing.

One morning while I was "getting ready," AKA brushing my teeth for thirty seconds and putting my greasy hair into a nasty bun, I realized how similar Nick and I are.

Exhibit A: His and Hers bathroom counters.

Nick rarely leaves anything on the counter. And when he does, its always lined up perfectly. My bathroom counter however, is an assortment of breakfast leftovers, Sunday's flat iron (the one day I do my hair), sweaty headbands, and beauty products that I wish I had more time to use. A match made in heaven.

Welcome to Evie's Land.

Its a fun place where you ignore your parents and do whatever you want.

When they try and get you to leave church, you take your sweet time.

When they threaten to leave you, you ignore them.

And when they take Bear Evelyn and Ket away, you hastily leave Evie's Land to rescue your friends.

Until next time, Evie's Land.

And now, a series of awkward photos where only one or none of my children are looking at the camera. At least Olaf's looking.

Aaaaaaaand, boredom.

I have such a love/hate relationships with Sundays. Sometimes they are so insanely crazy that it just feels exhausting, like an extra Monday or something. However, on the rare occasion that we don't have additional church meetings, firesides, etc. its so nice to DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I love it. We come home, take naps and just veg all day. Does this make me a lazy sack of a human being? Probably.

The era of restaurants is officially over for us. When your baby is under a year, you can sort of take them anywhere. They just sit in their carseat or highchair. For awhile we reached a golden point where Ev was usually pretty good at restaurants and Anna was still a wee babe. Now Anna is crazy insano-psycho wanting to run all over the place. No bueno!

"Hey Mom, don't come in your room okay? I'm going to rest for a little bit."

"Hey Mom! Look at all these cute stickers on Charlie's head!"

Me: "Ev! These aren't stickers! They are stamps and they are extremely expensive! Please don't waste them!"

Ev: "No Mom. They are Christmas stickers. Trust me."

Just call me Jeremy.

The post-work/dinner wrestles.

We love our Dad!