{the tew family}

Lately I've been struggling to keep up with all the social media outlets in my life. I just feel like I ALWAYS have my phone in my hand, and I have been slowly trying to cut back.

It's hard, especially when my phone is my camera too.

I stopped using my Instagram about a year ago (sad face - I really LOVED insta), and I have been struggling to keep up on the blog. Facebook is an ~~annoying~~ easy one stop shop for me so it's going to be my main media form for sharing updates. Most of my family is on FB (and I feel like all my friends post the most important stuff to FB as well as Insta) plus, it lets me manage several different groups I run as well. (book club, neighborhood play group, high school page, etc.)

I typically blog on the computer but it just takes so much TIME!

Chatbooks are much quicker for me. Plus, I am putting the same photos

in my Chatbooks that I would on the blog so the blog seems a little

obsolete now. Chatbooks are much cheaper and easier for me to print.

The only plus of the blog for me is that I tend to

write more, and share more feelings with the posts than I do

with the single photos in my Chatbooks.

Every time I heart a photo on my iphone it goes to my favorites folder.

My Chatbooks app is synced to my favorites folder so all those hearted

photos go into my Chatbook. When it reaches 60 photos it's ready

to be printed. I still have to caption each one (if I want to)

but it's already dated.

Each Chatbook is $8 and it ships to my house for free -YAY!!

The kids love looking through them and we do too!

So farewell for now!

I meant to post these each quarter but life got in the way. So here is a list of the 2015 Mabel quotes! I also went through my phone pictures and found a few that were taken each month that I don't think I have put on the blog yet. This post turned into a little month by month Mabel journal! It was fun to do, I think I am going to do one for Elliott too.

JANUARY

1.04.15 "Do you know why I had a tear? Daddy said sometimes when you love somebody you have a tear."

1.13.15 "This is curious jello."

1.21.15 I asked Mabel if she wanted a snack and she said, "Maybe it would be nice to have a big bag of pirate's booty."

1.22.15 (After reading the Gruffalo before bed)

Mabel: "My whole knee hurts. I need medicine."

Kelsey: What does it feel like?

Mabel: "Like scrambled snake, all over."

1.26.15 "According to the map we should go that way."

1.28.15 "I never want to play with friends again." (2 seconds later) "I want to play with friends tomorrow."

1.29.15 Mabel: "Daddy can't help us because he is at work."

Me: "Yep."

Mabel: "Making money for us so we can borrow it for Heavenly Father."

FEBRUARY

2.11.15 (Looking at our wedding picture) "I love watching you get married. It was so sweet."

2.14.15 "This is scrumptious!" (eating a Valentine cookie)

2.15.15 "Mama, can I have some candy milk tea because I am freezing?" (She meant chamomile tea.)

2.16.15 "I'm almost ready to go, let me just put my pad on." (Holding a little horse saddle...see below)

2.17.15 (Mabel had the snack for preschool) "What if Miss Amanda doesn't like pirate's booty from little girls?"

2.20.15 The night of her stitches, "Did they have to sew me?"

2.21.15 The day after her stitches we were Skyping with Nana and Nana asked, "So are you going to ride your bike again?"

Mabel said, "No, we are taking a break....for sixty years."

2.21.15 (While singing her own tune) "The stars in the heavens looked down where she lay. The little butterfly will never be the same."

2.24.15 (She was dropping connect four game pieces down the heater vent while I was showering.) "Mama, these round things had wings and they flew down the vent."

2.28.15 (She got on her bike for the first time since her stitches) "Hi bikey, I missed you." (and she kissed her bike.)

Pictures I uploaded from Mabel's camera...

MARCH

3.01.15 "Welcome to my hair salami!"

3.01.15 "My little white haired teacher gave me fruit snacks." (her teacher at church Sister Jackson)

3.11.15 Mabel: "I want to shave my legs."

Me: "Yes, you can when you get bigger."

Mabel: "But look, (she stood up), I am really tall!"

3.16.15 "It would be better if we had a brother AND a sister AND some animals......like a baby penguin."

3.16.15 "I need to put on the finishing touch!"

3.17.15 "Get a grip Fritz!!!"

3.18.15 Mabel: "See my sad face? Maybe a cough drop would help."

Me: "Cough drops don't help you if you're feeling sad but a hug does."

Mabel: "No, I have a sad throat!!"

3.22.15 (any time that Elliott is crawling towards her) "GIANT BABY!! He's coming right at me!"

3.22.15 "I present you with these beautiful flowers."

3.25.15 "Struckmackers!" (when she would get frustrated)

3.31.15 "Do I have a cute voice?"

Fell asleep in her carseat for the first time in YEARS.

No really, it had been 2 years since the last time.

Sick with double ear infections driving home from the doctor. :(

APRIL

4.01.15 (To the tune of don't worry be happy) "Elliott's coming, coming towards me!"

4.03.15 "Holy Moly! It sprayed everywhere!" (We were making a smoothie.)

4.04.15 She asked for a wrap with a carrot for her bedtime snack.

4.08.15 "One day, when I am like 15, I will see a snake outside of my cage and I will hold it."

4.16.15 I helped her with getting one leg of her pants on and she said, "Thank you mama," then she put on her other leg and said, "Thank you self!"

4.19.15 (Mabel eating jelly beans at Stake Conference from Ray Brusik)

Me: "What does the white one taste like?"

(She put it in her mouth and chews)

Mabel: "Clouds."

4.21.15 "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle."

Her favorite church dress:

Queen Elsa out playing in an April snowstorm!

Dressed herself for preschool!

Reading while brother naps:

She spread the whip cream on top of our jello all by herself!

MAY

5.08.15 (trying on sandals)

Me: "Are the comfortable?"

Mabel: "No, they feel like mulch."

5.09.15 "I love my food chain!" (her Cinderella key chain from Kelsey)

5.14.15 She saw my bra hanging up and said, "I want to wear a bra!" I told her we can go shopping and get her a bra when her breasts start to grow. She turned her back to me and lifted up her shirt to look at her chest.

5.16.15 Me: "Will you take off your shoes and wash your hands?"

Mabel: "Eye yi mom!"

5.16.15 (at lunch with Great Grandma and Grandpa)

Mabel: "Grandma Guess what? Elliott likes macaroni too. He's diggin' it."

5.17.15 "I miss you when I'm sleeping." (She told me that at bedtime. Heart melter.)

Playing with my little suitcase...

5.18.15 (sitting at dinner) "I can feel the bones in my bum."

5.18.15 She was sitting on Nate's foot and clinging to his leg while he walked, "Say something's on my foot...like a shrimp."

5.22.15 "Elliott is getting into the tampons!!!!"

5.25.15 "This is the best birthday ever...I think I'm crying a little."

"You guys stay here and I'm going to go down and take a little nap."

(6pm)

5.27.15 "Dang it!"

5.27.15 I was frustrated by something and she said, "Okay, calm down, caaaaaalllm down." Then she looked at my face which must have still been angry looking and she said, "Calm your face."

5.29.15 She was sitting on the couch and kept saying, "Ouch, ouch, ouch!"

Me: What's wrong?

Mabel: "My wrists hurt. My joints."

Sick with hand foot and mouth.

She drew a flower and left it on my nightstand.

JUNE

6.12.15 "There's a critter in my mouth!" (a piece of beef jerky stuck in her teeth)

6.16.15 "I'm back online."

6.29.15 We were camping with my family and she used the port o potty for the first time. She dropped the toilet paper down and said, "Send it packing!"

She wanted her hair wrapped up like Aunt Kelsey's:

Got a treat from the neighborhood ice cream truck!

When this lily in our backyard bloomed she said,
"It's Mother Gothel's flower!!!"

(from Tangled)

Posing in her cute dress from Hum!

(My friend Nicole's new clothing company!)

Roly poly is leaving on a jet plane:

JULY

7.26.15 Nate: Mabel, what do you like most about our house?

Mabel points to our salt and pepper shakers.

SUMMER TIME FUN! Shave ice!

A very RARE afternoon nap.

The after effects of hand foot and mouth. I thought she

has some sort of toenail fungus and then when I started

researching online I found that it is really common for kids

to start losing fingernails and toenails weeks after

having HFM.

Popsicle and memory game with mom while Elliott was napping!

AUGUST

(Too busy to write down quotes I guess? But

here are some pictures...)

She wanted to take her own money, in her own purse,

to the store to buy a new stuffed animal.

Meet "Pinky"

Chef Mabel making herself breakfast with her hat and apron

from Reese's birthday party.

Mom testing out a new hairdo:

She filled up her good deed puff ball jar and

got to pick a stuffed animal and a treat as her reward!

SEPTEMBER

9.01.15 Mabel: "Would you like a cold drink of water?"

Me: Sure!

Me: Wow, that was really good.

Mabel: "What are friends for?"

9.01.15 "Oooh mom, this is a south american bow."

9.06.15 Me: Thanks for wiping up the floor Mabel.

Mabel: "It was my pleasure!"

9.18.15 "I dreamed of a pink sting ray wearing glasses!"

Playing dollhouse together while Elliott naps:

Father's blessing before starting school!

(Pre-K at Good Day Preschool)

She loved helping me dogsit sweet Aylie!

SHE WON!!

Playing minesweeper on the first laptop I ever owned.

New hand me downs from Miss Emri!

She was so excited about the slippers.

OCTOBER

10.27.15 (Talking about her bride dress costume for Halloween)

Mabel: "My dress is white, like when we get baptized."

Me: That's right.

Mabel: "And like bug spray and sunscreen!"

"Jessica with a pink dress" by Mabel

First time at the dentist - she did great!

No cavities ride on their carousel!

This picture makes me happy.

She dressed herself and I love it.

"Our Family" by Mabel

NOVEMBER

11.02.15 "I'm tempted to go to school today."

DECEMBER

12.26.15 We moved the kitchen table so she could ride around it on her new scooter. She rode around once and said, "It feels good to be back on track!"

12.30.15 (Elliott was crying) "Elliott, don't feel blue!"

She doesn't like to get Cheetoh cheese on her fingers so

she asked me for some tongs one day. This girl!