Amora Quotes and Stories

I'm back in the blogging world! And of course, my first post back will be all about my funny little girl. The more she knows, the more entertaining she is. Here are a few of our favorite quotes over the past few months:

• Instead of the song, Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, she sang, "Jesus wants me for a potty treat." Can you tell we were bribing her with potty training?
• 6/8: I called her my little side kick because I take her everywhere and she announced, "Daddy's my little side kicker."
• 6/12: "I'm naked like bath baby."
• 6/16: When eating a snack or dinner she announces, "Ouch, I bited my tongue. Now I won't have a tongue anymore."
• 6/18: My bossy little girl praised her mommy, "I said I'm almost done and you listened to me!"
• 6/23: After eating broccoli cheese soup she says, "Mommy, this is the best dinner I ever had. Thank you Mommy!"
• 7/2: After Adam and I were talking about him going bizirko cooking a lot she says, "Where's Daddy going." I answer, "Bizirko." She asks, "Can I come too?" I answer, "Of course."
• 7/11: During lunch time she asks me, "What are you eating?" I say, "Mac n' cheese." "Where's the cheese?" "On the noodles." "Oh, where's the mac?"
• 8/25: "Daddy, call Mommy if you need help building your castle." Hey, I didn't earn the title Mommy for nothing!
• She's getting really into her imaginary friend, Minky. I think she thinks everyone else should just catch on quickly. When she's playing with other kids, she'll occasionally say, "Come on, Minky!" The kids will normally stop, look around, and ask, "who's Minky?"
• I let her choose potty prizes from the dollar store. She gets to choose one for every day that she doesn't have any accidents. The item she was most excited about? Really cheap hair extensions connected by a headband. Classy.
• She thinks her Aunt Audrey's favorite color is green. Whenever she notices that something is green, she'll say, "Audrey loves this color."
• She is obsessed with dancing. She will do interpretive dances just about anywhere. My favorite move of hers is a modified moon walk (MJ lives on!).
• After about five attempts to use a public toilet at a restaurant recently (she hates them), I took her outside and set out her portable potty in the parking lot to do her business. Yup, there's a little bit of trailer in all of us.
• She is getting obsessed with princesses. About everyday she asks me what princess I want to be.

And of course, a post is not complete with a few pictures. Here are some of my favorites from this summer:

Don't Judge Me, I've Been Busy

Life has been nothing but chaos since the middle of March. I suppose it's time to catch all of my loyal viewers on what has been going with the Loumeau family.

The end of March we went to Utah for a few days. It was time to get out of town and party it up. And what better place for a poor (in money, not spirit) family to go than to visit extended family. It also just so happened that my sister, Audrey, was to be in Park City that same week (coincidence, probably not). So we hauled the kiddo on a lovely trip that was made more lovely with a portable DVD player.

Audrey, her husband Derek, and I took a day ski trip in Park City. We had lessons and just had an awesome day. I normally snowboard so thought I might not enjoy skiing much, but I was wrong. By the end of the day I was attempting jumps (small but I was still proud of myself). It was probably the first day since Amora was born that I just spent an entire day doing something for me. It was marvelous! Thanks so much to Audrey and Derek for their generosity. I loved spending the day with both of you and cheering Derek on in the Magic Carpet (training area).

The rest of the time we spent with Adam's siblings. We toured UVU with their newest ASB President, Christopher Loumeau. I was quite impressed with the school. Audrey endured my reminiscing while on BYU campus for an afternoon. Andre and Ally made us a delicious meal at their place. Hannah and Mark were super awesome hosts. We loved staying with them. It was so fun to see how cute newlyweds are! They were even understanding with the "incident we don't speak of." I will speak of this one last time in my life and them it will be done.

Hannah is an art major at BYU. She keeps her art supplies in her guest bedroom. Before we arrived, she moved her artwork out of the guest bedroom, but the supplies were not removed (which I didn't realize). She was supposed to be sleeping in the guest bedroom when I hear a scratching sound. I go in to check on her thinking that she found a little bit of trouble and realized that my child was destructive! She found a green Sharpie (permanent ink) and colored all over the walls, the bedding, and herself. I was angry. I was embarrassed. I was frustrated. It was the most horrible moment of being a parent that I have had thus far, and I'm pretty sure I did not pass the test. I ran to Walmart, left the child with her father, and called my mother-in-law for guidance. I was able to get the marker out of the walls, and Hannah and Mark accepted our apologies enough to not ban us from their home. I'm pretty sure I learned an important lesson. I will now search every nook and cranny when we stay with someone else. Please learn from me and do the same. I do not wish this experience on anyone. I was so angry I didn't take pictures of Amora's body art. But I will say that she managed to draw on her scalp, bellybutton, back, and bottom of her feet in addition to everywhere else. What a gal. What a gal.

Luckily, before this incident, we took a great opportunity and had Hannah take our family pictures. Hannah is incredibly gifted in all forms of art, so the pictures turned out amazing. Unfortunately, Amora was not in a cooperative mood, but we still got some beautiful pictures. Here are a few:

Where have the last two months gone?

After Christmas, I didn't want to do anything. I wanted to enjoy having an open schedule and just spend time with my family. And that's what we did. We had a few outings but mostly played at home.

We went to the temple one day after dropping my mother-in-law off at the airport. Amora was so bummed that we couldn't go in. I told her that I wasn't wearing a dress, so we had to stay outside. She looked down and told me that she was so she should be able to go in. It was a quite nice until Amora fell and cried all the way to the car. I suppose excursions rarely go as planned.


Amora's hair is long enough to be able to do fun things with it. I was quite proud of myself with this one. I don't know how other parents do their toddler's hair, but I like to do Amora's when she is eating breakfast. That way, she's distracted and buckled in.


We also made salt dough hand prints. Amora's favorite part was eating the dough. She was quite bummed out when it came out of the oven and I told her it wasn't a cookie. I'm so grateful for the internet and other blogs for helping me think of fun inside activities for kids. I could never think these things up on my own.


We said goodbye to Jacob, the 3 year old that I had been watching basically since we moved here. Amora calls him her brother and still asks about him. We try to remember the fun times like our photo shoot. It's amazing how entertaining a camera can be to a 2 and 3 year old (okay, it entertained me too).


Some days were not easy with both of them, but I think about times like this when they just cuddled and played nicely. So sweet.


A few fun stories and Amora quotes:

• If she drops or spills something, she says, "It's okay, Mommy." Apparently I need to be reassured.
• She has been very excited about talking on the phone. She picked up the phone recently when it rang, started talking, and told me it was her grandma. It was a very confused someone from church. Oops.
• She paces like crazy when she talks to her grandparents on the phone. I guess that's how I should get her energy out. She is able to have a two-sided conversation over the phone which I am quite impressed with.
• On occasion, she tells me that she has to put her baby doll down because it's being too bossy.
• If she wants something, she uses her sweet voice and says, "Could I...?"
• She loves to sing and dance. We turned music on the other day and had an awesome little dance party.
• She can recognize most letters of the alphabet but won't give me the correct letters if she's in a silly mood.
• The other day, Amora hit her mouth on a drawer that she opened and began screaming. I called Adam to come up to help assess the damage. As he was running upstairs, I saw something red fall out of her mouth. I screamed as an instant reaction quickly realizing it was her gummy vitamin and not a piece of her tongue. Adam ran up thinking someone lost a limb and was not pleased with my dramatics. Gotta love being a parent.

Christmas

It's amazing how much more fun this Christmas was for Amora than last Christmas. She understood so much more about opening the presents, learned to sing some Christmas songs (Deck the Halls was her favorite), and found out all about Santa. I don't know why but now anytime we can't find something, she says, "Maybe Santa took it." Apparently she learned that Santa steals things. It's pretty funny.

We loved having Adam's family at our place this year even though it got pretty crazy at times having seven adults and one 2 year old in 1500 square feet. But the close quarters gave us plenty of opportunities to hang out. And as always, even with a lot going on, I seem to primarily have pictures of Amora.

This was our very loaded Christmas tree this year. I would venture to say that almost half was for Amora. She had so many gifts that she was opening them all day long. I think we finally finished by about 7 pm. It took so long because she wanted to play with each toy the second she opened it.


The stocking was very exciting. When her daddy woke up, she had to show him each item Santa placed in her stocking. She also peeked in her daddy's stocking to see what he got. Among the highlights in the stocking was princess chap stick (which has since been taken away because she ate too much of it), princess bouncy balls, new socks, and princess magnets.


Amora got so many fun presents. She got a play cookie set from her cousin Billy that allows her to frost the cookies and cut them. She loved it!


Her Uncle Kevin gave her a real tiara. He said that every princess needs a tiara. She'll definitely love growing into it. It's absolutely beautiful.


Amora also got a few great books. She loves books and loves when she gets new books. We've already read these so many times.


Thanks to everyone for such a great Christmas. I felt so spoiled and loved because so many people thought of Amora. This year, my gifts didn't matter much because I was just so happy that Amora enjoyed Christmas. What a fun time in our lives.

Amora at her Best

Here are a few of Amora's cute stories. She just gets more fun and animated the older she gets.

• One day when I was cleaning up after dinner, Amora was sitting on the couch. I went to check on her and she said, "Go in the kitchen, Mommy." She kept insisting that I go in the kitchen. I then find out that it's because she didn't want me to whisk her to her potty and dismissed me so she could go in her diaper in peace.
• Amora thinks that going potty is great. Not so much going potty, but sitting on the potty. She will literally sit there for twenty minutes reading books, playing with toys, and talking to me. She insists that she have an audience and finds it to be the best time to get uninterrupted parental attention.
• Amora came in to see her daddy one morning. With a big grin on her face, she pointed to a toy and said, "This is poop." She finished her joke with the cutest, sassiest laugh.
• She refers to anything in the past tense as "last night."
• If I ask her how she likes something and she likes it she says, "pretty good."
• It's always fun trying to think of how Amora will attempt evading bedtime. She'll take literally twenty minutes trying to go potty, insisting that some is coming. Or she'll call out that she has to go potty once I leave her room. My favorite is when I tell her that when I leave, I'm not coming back. She asks "Daddy come?". "No Amora." "Grandma come?" "No Amora."
• Another time, when I went to check on her at nap time, I see my daughter with an open book on her lap. She then informs me, "I reading to baby."
• I'm talking to my mother-in-law, and Amora says, "Mommy, you sassing Grandma?"
• The other day, Amora told her daddy and me that she was a cat fighter. Any ideas on where she can up with that one?
• I told Amora that she was going to play with her daddy while Mommy when out. I asked her what she wanted to do with Daddy and she said, "Play with scissors." Your secret is out husband!

I love her!

She had a photo shoot taking pictures of herself.

Mommy and Amora


I love to see the temple.

Andre's Wedding

We had the chance to travel to Houston in December for Adam's brother, Andre's wedding. Everything was elegant and beautiful. We got to spend quality time with Adam's other siblings as well. We were so grateful to be able to go (but right before Christmas?). It was a nice trip (besides the flight home, see TSA Story post).

We happened to be gone for Amora's actual birthday, so the hotel tried to make her feel special by letting her choose from their goody basket every time we were at the front desk and surprising Amora with a plate of cookies and card. Marriott outdid themselves.


I love this picture of Hannah and me. She's so beautiful.


Two of the cutest newlyweds ever.


Amora with her grandma at the fountain on the temple grounds. Amora was so happy to see everyone again.


The bride with her bridesmaids and flower girls.


The Loumeau siblings. What a bunch of quality people. I love them all (especially my handsome husband).


And the newest newlyweds. Super cute. Congrats Andre and Ally! May the wedding be just the beginning of an incredible journey as husband and wife!

Happy Birthday Amora!

My sweet angel turned 2 recently, and we had a great time celebrating. We had a jungle themed party because she absolutely loves animals (I figure we'll be doing princess parties for the next few years, so I wanted something different). Among our guests were 7 children and 4 adults. Adam's main job was documenting everything on camera, and he did great. Now I have plenty of photos to share with all of my diligent readers (all two of you). :)

I let Amora choose between two cake designs: a tiger or a monkey. She chose the tiger and was quite satisfied with her choice. She is still talking about her tiger cake. I found a picture online and modified it. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.


Here's the birthday table with her gifts, cake, and decorations. Each child got to take a fake bug home with them at the end of the party. It was an inexpensive party favor but well received by the children.


The first activity was coloring a jungle picture. I tried to keep things fun and simple so it wouldn't be too chaotic. And what two year old doesn't love to color?


Here are a few of her friends enjoying the coloring action as well.


The next activity was a "feed the monkey" bean bag toss. I maxed out my craftiness on this one by making the bean bags and the monkey box. It was a hit! For Amora's first turn, she grabbed a bean bag, walked over to the box, and dropped it in. She then got the hang of throwing it in and loved that as well. The other kids were also very engaged in this activity.


Then it was time to dig into the cake Amora was lusting after all afternoon. She loved getting sung to. I occasionally will hear her singing "Happy birthday dear Amora..." What can I say? It stuck. I made an orange cake with lemon frosting that was delicious. My only regret was that most of it went to waste after the party because we left town again.


And lastly, we opened gifts. This was much more fun than last year because Amora really knew what was going on. I tried to be very conscious of giving her time to open each gift while still maintaining the attention of the other children.


She received many fun gifts: books, puzzles, a FurrReal kitty, a baby doll that cries, hair clips, and a bedding set (and quite a few more). Thanks to friends and family for joining in on this celebration. Amora loved all of her gifts and is so happy to be two!

Audrey's Wedding

In December, Amora and I traveled to Florida for my sister's wedding. She looked beautiful, and everything was absolutely perfect. I was a bridesmaid, and Amora was a flower girl.

The wedding was about an hour after Amora's normal nap time, and she refused to nap. I was quite worried about how she would do during the actual ceremony. I asked her if she wanted to walk down the aisle with the other two flower girls and she said yes. She did a great job walking down the first half of the aisle, then stopped and looked very confused. I quickly swooped her up and placed her on her grammy's lap. During the ceremony, I heard a little sucking sound and looked over at her to see my little angel sound asleep sucking her thumb.

Here are all of the Kooistra siblings, their spouses (minus Adam), and kids.


The bride with all three flower girls and the ring bearer:


The sisters waiting in the bride's room for the ceremony:


Audrey's family:


The wedding party:


The reception was great. Delicious food, fun music, dancing, and acting crazy. The kids thought the laser was super exciting.


Congrats again to Audrey and Derek! We're so happy for the both of you! Thanks for a great weekend.