Happy Birthday, Grandmalene

So, I just finished uploading this video.  I would've had it done 3 hours ago if iMovie hadn't unexpectedly quit, erasing all the work I had done for 2 hours uninterrupted while Lucy & Asher napped.  But I digress.
This is a tribute to my Mom.  Happy Birthday, Mom.  If you haven't ever watched an Awkward Avoidance Viking sketch from Studio C, go watch one of those first.  Then watch this.  We love you, Grandma.

For Emma, Aunt Janice, & Grandma

Well, I've been promising Emma pictures of the super-cute room Grandma helped create for the girls.  I've also been promising Grandma pictures of the faux stained-glass she created on our sidelight (that she didn't really get to see except exhausted in the dark before her flight back to Utah).  And Aunt Janice just sent Asher boy dress-ups!  Tyce is so happy and she should see pictures (of Asher, not of Tyce).  Also, it's been a really long time since I posted.  Tyce pointed out that Lucy isn't up here yet.  The aim of this post is to fulfill these obligations.  Let's get started.

First the long-awaited room pictures.

Here Katie is enjoying her doll nook.  Grandma painted the bookcase, tree, leaves, flowers, birdhouse, birds, & butterflies.  My favorite bird is above the window.  You can see it below.  Tyce & I wanted Grandma to paint watermelon seeds on the bookcase because it looks like a watermelon, but she didn't get around to it.  Yeah, like she was busy with anything else.  Pfft.  I might get around to it someday--maybe after I finish my mending pile that Grandma also didn't do for me like she has every other time she's visited.  Sheesh, Grandma.  Prioritize.  (You can sense the irony even though you can't hear it, right?)

 Grandma also re-painted the bed posts, dresser & desk.  She placed the dots & other stickers.  You can't see it super-well in this picture but the side of the bed also has their names on it in cute stickers.  And there's that cute bird.

Another picture of the watermelon!  Actually, I included this shot because it shows off the artwork string Grandma created.  The birds appear to be holding the ribbon that holds whatever creations they currently want to display.  Like the rest of the room, it's so cute!  It'll be a lot cuter when I finally get hooks to hold the ribbons that hold all of their bows.  That's the colorful heap on top of the watermelon blocking view of the pictures.







Now for the dress-ups.  Tyce has been mortified for a while because when the girls play dress-up Asher wants to play, too.  The problem with this is that we haven't had much in the way of little boy dress-up--only a SuperWhy costume that just doesn't work for every occasion, I guess.  So, when the girls start getting all gussied-up, Asher starts looking for Ivy's Rapunzel dress, aka "my purple dress."  Tyce kept telling me to get him some boy dress-ups.  Then, seeing that maybe it wasn't the highest thing on my priority list, he hit up Aunt Janice:  "Do your boys have any old costumes or dress-ups?  Asher needs boy dress-ups."  Aunt Janice delivered:

Meet Captain Asher Sparrow (he does have shorts on under the robe)

And Asher Batman (I don't know why this one is blurry.  Sorry)

There was also some really cute cowboy stuff he tried on first, but I forgot to get pictures of that.

And then, a little ironically, Lucy Boone.  Why is it okay for girls to wear boy dress-ups (or colors, etc.) but not the other way around?  For the record, no matter your personal feelings on the matter, Asher is dang cute in the Rapunzel dress.

Emma also sent the cute headbands the girls are wearing here.  Thank you!

Now for the sidelight:

I had a hard time getting a good picture of this one because of the back-light issue.  I wanted to get it with the light coming through and I like it better from the inside than out (though it's good there, too).  So, anyway, this is what I could manage.  Bonus, you can also see the impatiens we planted next to the driveway.  Lucky you.  Grandma copied a picture we saw of a stained-glass panel from the Palmyra Temple.  I love the design and Grandma did it so well!  It's so nice to have some privacy but still get sunlight.  Thanks, Grandma.

Now some adorable Lucy pictures.  I'm going to post some newborn ones because my favorite pictures are still the ones my friend Kim took of Lucy when she was about a week old.

I love them!  I feel like I'm holding her as a newborn again when I look at these pictures.

Here's the most recent pic (besides Lucy Boone):

And to cap it off, Katie & Ivy with young Grandpa.  It was our first time trying out our JiGaZo puzzle and I made it a surprise who was in the picture.  Nathan got bored with it all and left, but the girls stuck with it and were happy to find Grandpa at the end.