more will for mom--photo shoot today

which picture do you want, mom?

For my mom, who wants a picture of each kid for Christmas.

Henry:

Elsa (not sure why she likes to cock her head):

Will (it sure is hard to get that boy to not do something odd in a picture):

Iris (she just always wants the camera, so it makes her cranky when we take her picture):

iris is 2

Celebrating her birthday in Minnesota at the Como Zoo (best free zoo ever):

And later at the park by the lake:

And even later with cake:

Iris is spunky, determined, loving, self-assured, brilliant, and hilarious. She is really good with names and identifying whose shoes are whose. If you don't know where your shoes are, Iris probably does. She loves flip flops, purses, tic tacs, climbing, walks to "bapa's house," otter pops, babies, "Letters Factories," Dora, and gorillas. She likes to put things in the garbage, wipe up the floor, maneuver out of her car seat, and put on her own clothes ("I do it. Self.") She set the table for dinner tonight all on her own and got out the right number of bowls and cups.

My favorite things she says:
"Love you, boys." (when saying goodnight to her brothers)
"OK. Alright."(when agreeing to something she doesn't really want to do)
"Yeah huh."
"Hey! No no no."
"My help you?"

She calls her siblings Henry Arnold (there are 3 Henrys on our block), Elsa Lo, and Will-bot. She calls herself Iris Dace (Grace) Arnold.

She is a joy and a delight (and occasionally a frustration). We love her dearly.

things i should have posted about--part 1

We moved in September. We're still in Provo, but we are now up in the tree streets and about 3 blocks away from Brandon's parents. We're loving it, but it really shook up our routine for awhile. The move was complicated by the nastiest kitchen I've ever seen. It was dark, moldy, sticky, and depressing. I decided I wasn't going to unpack into that kitchen, so the same night we unloaded the truck, our friend Chris was taking a crowbar to the kitchen. I was too busy moving in to take before pictures. I'm still sad about it. But, we lived without a kitchen for 2 1/2 months. Our dining room was stacked with boxes, with a microwave on top. We even had the fridge in there because the floor in the kitchen was all jackhammered up. It was complete chaos.

But, I love love love my new kitchen. It's amazing. I don't have very good pictures yet, but I'll post them soon. These ones are just with the close up lens, so I couldn't get any good overall shots. And, we put in a mud room, which we love.

The chaos in the dining room was compacted by a baby who learned to climb and get into everything:

 

The new kitchen:

 

Kids chilling on the new porch with caramel puff corn

The front of the house (with friend, Chris, tearing off that deck thing)

Will and the neighbor kids playing in the massive dumpster we rented

Iris exploring the new neighborhood