My Best Ice Cream Cake Ever!

Allana decorated a cookie sheet with the extra whipping cream. Staci and Kristie helped me decorate the cake with the chocolate whipped cream. 
I was going to cut the cake into a superman sign shape, but I got too lazy. Round was easy.
Happy 17th Birthday, Garrett!

Having Garrett, Staci, and Kristie live with us has some perks. For example...now there are 3 more Birthdays to celebrate this year. That means I have 7 chances to attempt making birthday cakes this year!!! Garrett's cake was a chocolate ice cream cake, with 3 layers of chocolate cake and 2 layers of cookies n' cream ice cream. We decorated it with strawberries and chocolate whipped cream. It was my best Ice Cream cake so far... but this is only my second try.

Our Poopy Day

We ran out of diapers completely, so this morning when Andy changed Corinne we put her in a diaper doubler (kind of like a maxi pad) and a pair of Allana's underwear. After she wet in our diaper creation, I took her diaper off and then ran downstairs to switch the load of laundry from the washer to the dryer. As a mother I have to multi-task, right? and it was only going to take me a second to switch the laundry.. I was going to run back up and find something for Corinne to wear for a diaper as soon as I was done...

...As I began switching the loads I heard Allana frantically yelling, "MOTHER! MOTHER! There's poop on my floor! MOTHER! MOTHER! There's poop on my floor!" I ran back upstairs and took Corinne to the toilet. She did not want to be there, so after I wiped her bottom I took her with me to the bedroom to see the damage. Luckily the poop was just the right consistency that it stayed perfectly in a cylindrical shape, and didn't plop onto the carpet. I picked up the poop with some toilet paper and carried Corinne with me to the toilet explaining that poop belongs in the toilet. Then I said "Goodbye poop!" as I put it in the toilet and flushed it. Corinne waved to the poop and then as it flushed out of sight she blew a kiss too.

Since we were out of diapers this time Corinne ended up in a pull-up.

Happy 1st Birthday Corinne!

Corinne is so little that when she walks or stands it looks super cute! When Andy put Corinne down to walk back to our table, it seemed like everyone in the restaurant stopped to watch Corinne. Her cute hair-do is compliments of her dad.

Corinne's birthday cake didn't taste as good as Allana's did, but it looked pretty cool. It was a chocolate cake with strawberry ice cream between the layers and cookies and cream whipped cream on top.

I think Corinne's favorite part of her birthday was probably riding in the cart at Target. She got to ride in the seats that say they are for ages 2-5 years old. She was smiling and kicking the whole time.

Happy 3rd Birthday Allana

Allana said that her favorite part of her birthday was "blowing out the 3" candle on her cake. Though I made quite a mess making the cake it turned out pretty good. We made chocolate animals, candles, and words to decorate the cake. It tasted really good too. I made a chocolate butter cake with buttercream frosting. I don't usually like frosting, but this was soooo good!

"Mom I Love You."

Tonight as Allana was going to sleep I was lying down next to her. I had told her no more talking because it was time to go to sleep.

She was silent for a few seconds and then said, "Mom, I love you."

"I love you too, Allana."

Then before rolling over to go to sleep Allana leaned her head close to mine and quietly whispered in my ear, "When I was a baby, I used to like tomatoes."

Within a few minutes she was asleep.

We Met One of the Twelve Apostles Today

Andy was singing in the choir at stake conference today, so we arrived an hour before the meeting started. Corinne was in the baby bjorn and Allana was holding my hand walking through the crowded hallway with me. A familiar face was making his way through the crowd. It was Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Even though I had never met him before personally, we made eye contact and greeted each other. I was just going to continue passing by, but he stopped and offered his hand for a handshake. Then he bent down, patted Allana on the back and said hello to her.

It is always hard to describe feelings in words, but in that brief moment greeting Elder Oaks, I could see how he is a disciple of Christ. He was so genuine in his greeting and conveyed that he cared for us. It made me think of how our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know each of us individually. When we see them, we will recognize them and we will see how much they love us. They know our needs and empathize with us in our sorrows. I want to be more caring to people that I meet. I have a hard time forgetting myself and doing things for others, but that is something that I want to be better at... I guess I'll take it a day at a time and see if I can be a little kinder and a little more loving...

A few cute things Allana said this past week...

It is always cuter when you actually hear these words from Allana's mouth, but try to imagine her cute little voice and expressions when she said:

Jenelle: "Allana, you're growing up so fast!"

Allana: (with an astonished look on her face and hands throw out to both sides)

"No! Garret said don't grow up too fast! So I'm going to grow up slowly."

We just got back from a road trip yesterday. I didn't put a pull-up on Allana while we drove and we must have been in the car a little too long. When I went to unbuckle her, I jerked back my hand because I was not expecting to touch anything wet:

Jenelle: "Allana, you peed your pants!"

Allana: "No, that's not pee!"

Jenelle: "If it's not pee, then what is it?"

Allana: Looking down and examining her wet bottom..."um... it's other stuff."

Now today I took apart Allana's car seat so that we can wash it before we go anywhere. Allana went into the living room and began playing with the parts of the car seat that are not in the washer and yelled to me:

Allana: "Mother! I'm fixing my car seat because you broke it!"

Jenelle:  I didn't actually say much. I just smiled and decided to write about it in my blog.

Heavenly Father Please...

Allana was looking for her dance leotard (the one Baylee handed down that Allana must wear to dance at least 3 times a week) and the leotard was not on the hanger where it usually is.

"Where are my dance clothes?" Allana asked seriously.

"I don't know, Allana. Where did you put it after you wore it last?"

I went back to getting Corinne dressed for the day. Then I realized what a traumatic dilemma this was to Allana as I saw her throw herself onto the ground, kneeling and grasping her hands together. She squinted her eyes shut and said an urgent prayer. "Heavenly Father, I can't find my dance clothes. Heavenly Father will you please find my dance clothes for me? In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

I guess she just needed Heavenly Father's help to get me to realize that this was super important to her. I dug her leotard out of her hamper and gave it to her to wear. She was really excited to have found it. I suggested that she say a prayer to thank Heavenly Father for his help. She got right down on her knees and prayed, "Heavenly Father thanks for finding my dance clothes for me! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Happy New Year!

Corinne's FAVORITE thing to do during december was to climb into the drawer with all the kid dishes and throw them out onto the floor. What a cutie! She has started to sign as well. She consistently signs "milk", "more", "food", "water", "snow", "up" and "my turn". 

This is how Corinne and Allana spent part of their New Year's Day. It was pretty cute to watch them attempt to drink water out of the pitcher Andy was pouring from. They giggle together a lot now

Allana has said some pretty funny things lately but I always forget them before I write them down. A few days ago we were reading a book about Dinosaurs and I told her that "Dinosaurs are Extinct." Allana's response was, "Why do they stink, mom?"

I've also been a bad influence on Allana... yesterday Allana kept saying "Dad, my foot hurts really bad. I need a massage!"

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas we went to Grandma & Grandpa Young's house for dinner. Andy, Allana, and I played in the snow. It was fun! We built 2 snowmen. Andy was diving through the snow. I did flips across the yard.