April 2011-Andrew gets his Masters Degree!

Andrew's Graduation Announcement

After three years, Andrew gets to graduate from Utah State University! Andrew has been in school for Amaree's whole life! A refresher - When Andrew started school, I had Amaree the first week of his school. Anyway, after nearly three years, Andrew will have his Master's degree! Andrew does have to finish the summer semester, but we are really close!

Andrew Receives the Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year Award

Andrew was honored at graduation as the Outstanding Graduate Student of the Year. He was also awarded the Masters of Social Work Graduate Student of the Year. He is graduating with a 3.9 GPA and we are so proud of him!

Amaree wore a new dress for graduation

March 2011-Haircut and Zoo

Amaree got her first hair cut! She has this mullet thing going on, from her bald spot finally growing out and then the top hair is short and the back hair is long. I wanted her to get a cute little bob with some bangs and her hair being able to be tucked behind her hair. I didn't get very many photo's of the cut, but I found a cute one with her riding on Lea. Amaree loves her Lea!We also went to the Zoo with the Cousins! Amaree loves, loves, loves the zoo! My sister and her family were going to the zoo that day and so I took Amaree out. She had so much fun with James and Aedan! She really loves James and talked and talked about him. We rented a stroller and all of the kids rode in it.As we were walking down the hill, Jake lost control of the stroller. Amaree and James were in the stroller and it flipped onto its back took off down the hill and was heading straight for the a huge crash into a fence. Rachel was at the bottom of the hill trying to stop the stoller and Jake was running down the hill trying to catch the stroller. I was just standing there with my mouth open. Just as the stroller was about to crash, it spun around did a full circle and then stopped. We all ran over to the stroller and were the perfect concerned parents. However, James and Amaree were both laughing so hard. They both kept saying, "Again, again!" They thought it was great and we were all trying not to have a heart attack. All in all, they had a great day at the zoo.

February-George

Amaree has discovered something on TV that she likes. She generally won't watch TV but she discovered George. She loves the monkey. We watch George a few times a day. I am not sure how I feel about George. I mean, he is always causing problems, but in the end he comes out the hero and everything works out. Life is not like that. What kind of message is this sending my kid? All in all, though, it is better than most shows on tv!

We have George books, pajamas, dolls, movies, and the show is always on our DVR. What would we do without it? Oh yeah, and did you know that they make Curious George Fruit Snacks? Yes they do, and Amaree loves them. We use them as bribery for many things...

January-Cows

Amaree cooking in her kitchen.

Amaree loves to go see the cows with Gwampa. All day she asks for gwampa and cows. He picks her up and they drive down to the field in the big blue truck and they would feed the cows. When ever she would hear the truck coming down the road she would run and get her coat and boots. One time, she was being very quiet and I asked her what she thought about inside her pretty little head. She answered, "Um, cows." I laughed at that.

This video shows her one night when they came home, they had just seen some deer. Oh my! She has never talked like this before. She was so excited!!!

Christmas

Gwampa brought this adorable hat from Russia for Amaree. She wore it almost everyday when he would take her to go see the cows.

Inside this massive box was a kitchen. Amaree loved this kitchen! She would say "I cook, I cook" and would use her snacks to cook food.

Amaree got so many fun things and had such a great time. She loves this monkey.

Halloween

Amaree was a wonderful Ballerina for halloween.

Amaree had just enough hair to pull up into pigtails. So cute!

Zoo and Tute

Amaree loves animals. Her first words were concerning animals, and she gets excited when she sees animals on TV. Because of her love, it was only obvious that we had to go to the zoo. I would show her animal books and she would stare at the animals she knew for hours, but the exotic animals seemed to mystify her. I was looking forward to this day for a very long time.

Andrew and Amaree look at some monkeys.

When we got to the zoo, Amaree didn’t quite know what to think. However, it wasn’t long before she was screaming to be let out of her stroller so she could get a closer look at all the animals. If Andrew or I fell a little behind, she would gesture frantically for us catch up. She would point to the monkeys high in the trees and stare in awe at the elephants. She loved the exhibits where she would run across the hallway. Back and forth over and over as she tried to see everything. She really enjoyed herself.

Look at me, Mommy!

Drama Is Brewing.

A few days later, I was getting Amaree dressed for the day. I had picked out an outfit with a cute appliquéd bunny. When I tried to get her dressed, she threw a fit. From what I could gather, she didn’t want me to put it on because then she couldn’t see the bunny and pet it. I put it on anyway and she rolled around on the floor for ten minutes crying and moaning.

The next Sunday, I tried to get her dressed, but she was very unhappy about it. Finally, Andrew was able to get her dressed in a cute little dress. She came into the bathroom where I was finishing my hair and she pointed to her dress and said, “Tute?” I thought she was pointing to the flowers and I said something about the flowers and she got frustrated, rolled her eyes, pointed at the dress again and asked, “Tute?” I finally got it. “Yes, sweetie, that dress is very cute!” She smiled and wondered off to play.

What is that smell?

A few days later she got upset with me because she thought the outfit I had chosen was not “tute”. She rolled on the floor and cried for at least ten minutes and didn’t eat breakfast because she was so upset about it. Sometimes she will ask if the outfit we have chosen is cute. Andrew can usually pick out clothes that she likes better than I can but if she doesn’t think it is “tute” then she is very upset with us. Oh, the joys of little girls…

"Is my hair tute?"

One exciting development is she is beginning to notice when she has to use the bathroom and likes to sit on her potty chair. She hasn’t really figured it out yet, but the fact that she is showing interest in encouraging.

If we have to live with her being tute, then we have it made. She is still one of the most well behaved children we know. She is so much fun and is such a wonderful helper. She makes our lives wonderful!