Frenemies

My sister used to say that her daughter and my other sister's daughter were "best frenemies," because they loved being together, but they sure would fight a lot during the process. 

It must be a little girl thing. 

My sister-in-law was diagnosed with preeclampsia about 30 weeks into her pregnancy, which meant strict bed rest, which also meant that we got the pleasure of hanging out a little bit more with my niece Shasta. 

Meili and Shasta love being together, and they miss each other when they're not together, but sometimes it's hard to share and play nice when you're 2 and the only child in your family.

In the midst of the chaos, we sure had fun together!

 They look like they could be cousins usually, but when I dress them in almost matching jackets, the resemblance is even more striking.

 We had a pajama party and watched The Princess and the Frog. I promise this is the only time they sat down all weekend. But they sure are cute!

 Poor Shasta got stuck with the mismatched "pretty dress." She didn't even mind. As long as sparkly shoes, and a crown were involved, she was fine.

...And a random picture. Meili put the face on her Mickey Mouse pancake "all by herself." I thought it was picture worthy. (Note: Meili didn't realize chocolate chips were a necessary part of pancakes until she spent the night at Grandma's.)

Baby Animal Days

I think Meili's picture of heaven may be paved in manure.

Or at least it looks very close to this.

We went to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center. Petting animals, riding horses, and a train... 

Ah... paradise...

Holding a baby turtle. (I swear, she's not my child.)

 The Credit Union pays to have the baby bears come each year, so we got a little private viewing of the bears-which, I guess, meant less people standing in line with us. They were pretty cute though!

 Meili woke up that morning saying "Baby bears!" She was so excited.

 This is what all the pro jockies wear.

 She was not happy to get off the pony!

 No, this is not Meili. I rode with my niece so her dad could take pictures.

We just had to let her ride the pony one more time!

Treehouse Museum

My mom got tickets for Christmas for all of us to go to the Treehouse Museum. I went once before with a few friends, and I just have to say that I love all the things they have for kids to do. Meili loves that she gets to just play for hours without me telling her not to touch something, not to spill something, not to stand on something etc. 

With all of the craziness in my family lately, we were missing two of the sisters. But luckily, all the little girls got to go. Sadly, I was the only one who brought a camera-so sorry to all involved. You get what you pay for.

I've already told this story to several people, so if you've heard it, feel free to skip ahead. I just want to write it down, so I would remember to put it in the scrapbook.

Anyone who's spent time with Meili lately, knows that she loves to sing-especially I Am a Child of God, and she's pretty good at it. Last week, in Sacrament Meeting, she didn't know the sacrament hymn, so she decided to sing I Am a Child of God instead. After the hymn, and after the prayer, while they were passing the sacrament, Meili continued singing I Am a Child of God. Very loudly. For the whole congregation to hear. No matter how many times her parents tried to distract her or shush her.

In fact, during one of the talks, the speaker said, "...and when Meili was singing I Am a Child of God..."

How embarrassing.

And that wasn't all...

I let Meili bring markers to church, but the rule in our house with markers is always that she can only use one at a time so that things don't get out of hand. On this particular Sunday, she didn't want to follow that rule, so I ended up having to take her out in the hall for a little time out. We were sitting about three rows from the front, and as we're walking back to our seat (coming in from the doors in the front) Meili says loudly (because, of course, whispering is not an option for Meili), "Hi Josh! My daddy's name is Josh. I listen to my Mommy and Daddy." 

Throughout the rest of the block, people continually came to me to tell me how funny Meili is, and how much they enjoyed her solo.

Easter

We dyed Easter eggs a little early-about a week before Easter. I loved the kit we got because Meili could dye the eggs, paint the eggs, put stickers on, and make the little cardboard rings to put the eggs in. Really, as long as she was making a mess, Meili was satisfied. In fact, when we were done dyeing the eggs, Meili wasn't yet, so we just gave her a cup of plain water and she continued putting the egg in and taking it out for another fifteen minutes. 

It took us  all about 3 days to get the paint totally off our hands.

On Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt at my parents' house.

 My niece Chloe

 Meili did pretty well, except that she wanted to find an egg and eat the treat before looking for another egg-so it slowed her down a little.

 Gigi with her stash.

 Cute little Ruby

Then we headed off to Josh's parents' house for another Easter egg hunt. With practice, Meili did a little better.

 She spent most of the day with her mouth stuffed with candy.

Josh's parents have the coolest playhouse-no wonder she always wants to be outside!

 The last couple years Josh's parents have bought some baby ducks around this time of year. This is a picture of Meili with her cousins Wynn and Kyle. (Pay no attention to her low-riding pants and diaper.)
Meili loved the ducks! She was so sad to go home because she wanted to run around with the ducks all night.

In my eyes, she's a daredevil. I would never attempt to hold the ducks, but she couldn't get enough. However, for the ducks safety we decided it was time to put them back in their cage.

On Easter morning, Meili got her basket from the Easter bunny, with a new quiet book for church. Then she had, yet another, Easter egg hunt.

 Our house is loaded with treats! (Even more so than usual!)

And, of course, I forgot to get a picture of her in her Easter dress. One of these years I'll get my act together. We had an awesome Easter holiday in our house, and we're so excited for the nice weather!