Our Little Princesses

We haven't blogged in a while, so I thought I'd give a quick update. We are staying very busy these days. Erik started his second year of residency in July and is now considered an "upper level" with greater responsibilities and accountability. He has been doing really well. The girls and I will occasionally go visit him at the hospital when he has weekend call and hasn't been able to see them much.

Abigail and Anne are growing up, and we enjoy watching their personalities develop. Abigail at
3 1/2 is quite the chatterbox and frequently takes me by surprise with her constantly expanding vocabulary and vivid imagination. She is currently obsessed with princesses (I don't know how it happened...), particularly the rebellious, red-headed variety. She insists on being called "Mermaid" at home and everywhere we go (even in the nursery at church) and badgers me ALL DAY LONG to play with her. I pretend with her for a while until I am either tired of being Prince Eric or can't put off other responsibilities any longer, at which point I try to excuse myself by saying something like, "Abigail, I'm sorry. But I need to start on dinner now. We'll play princesses later, ok?"

That worked a few times. Now she just follows me to wherever I have to go do something and says, "Mom, can you be Prince Eric making dinner?"

Or "Mom, can you be Prince Eric feeding baby Anne?"

"Mom, can you be Prince Eric folding laundry?"

As wearisome as it is, I just can't help laughing on occasion, especially when she starts singing Ariel's song with way more heart and soul than is decent for a three-year-old. Or when she explained to me that Ariel can swim underwater without problems because she has such big eyes. Or when she starts relaying my "Little Mermaid lectures" to other people. For example, during her nursery lesson on obedience last Sunday, she informed her class that the Little Mermaid is not a good example because she disobeys her father. She has also been telling people that we shouldn't dress up as Ariel for Halloween because she is not modest.

I think I'm ready for some boys.
Our sweet Anne girl just gets sweeter. She is 10 months now and is crawling all over the house, army-style. She is getting up on her knees more and more every day, so I don't think it will be long before she's getting around a lot faster. She still adores her big sister, and they enjoy making each other laugh. Anne loves to blow raspberries and gets a great deal of positive reinforcement from Abigail. Ok, and me too. I'm trying to repent, though, because it's not as funny when she does it with her mouth full of mashed lentils and I'm the one who gets sprayed.

Here are some recent snapshots.

Talking on the phone with Uncle Joseph or Hyrum--can't remember

Here's a little video of Anne. (If you listen carefully, you can hear Abigail singing The Little Mermaid song in the background...)