Christmas Spirit

The true spirit of Christmas...reaching to the bottom of the toilet at church to retrieve your daughter's new princess ring that fell in as she tossed her toilet paper, while she cries behind you "It is going to get flushed away FOREVER!" Thirteen hand washes and four helpings of sanitizer later and all is well.

Decorating

This was the first year for the girls to have a Christmas tree in their room. Afton got to put up most of the little bears and bows and boxes, while Mya would place the candy canes. Before Mom helped to even out the placement a little bit the majority of the candy canes were ending up on one side of the tree.

Bring it on

Time for a new vehicle.  And our small garage meant we were either getting sliding doors, or my car wasn't being parked in the garage.

Cutest. Friends. Ever.

"Our Father in heaven, who loves his children, desires for them that which will bring them happiness now and in the eternities to come, and there is no greater happiness than is found in the most meaningful of all human relationships-the companionships of husband and wife and parents and children." - Gordon B. Hinckley

The scene is becoming more and more commonplace. I get home from the office around 6 pm and Afton and Mya are playing. Usually there is a lot of giggling. Sometimes they are pulling faces at each other, taking turns being the silly one and the one entertained. Or they might be throwing blankets or balloons or stuffed animals around. Or watching old videos of themselves. Or playing games on the computer. But they are together and happy. I'll ask Stefanie if it has again been like this all day and she'll say that yes, it has been another day where the girls have gotten along incredibly well for the majority of the day, where they've played with each other constantly.

It hasn't always been like this, and having grown up in a family of 8 kids and Stefanie having 4 siblings of her own we know from experience that there will be days in the future where the girls want and need breaks from one another. But we're going to ride this one out as long as we can because Afton and Mya have been so cute, fun, well-behaved, and kind for the past week.

Tuesday Top 10 - This Is It, MJ's best

The top 10 best Michael Jackson songs of all-time. I'm quite certain my list will include songs different than yours would. Feel free to comment changes you'd make to the list.

10. Jam

9. Another Part of Me

8. In the Closet

7. Beat It

6. Butterflies

5. Remember the Time - Michael's best mix of his singing and the percussive vocals that started to pervade his songs much more commonly at the release of his Dangerous album.

4. Who's Loving You - The soul of a seasoned and mature adult presented through the voice of a 12 year old. This song had previously been recorded by legends Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and The Supremes, but The Jackson 5 version is widely regarded as THE recording.

3. Human Nature - Accomplishes the incredibly rare feat of feeling comfortable on the R&B, Soul, Pop, or Adult Contemporary charts. So smooth, and so incredibly unique when contrasted against its contemporaries of that musical era. (As an aside, is it any wonder that Thriller absolutely killed it? The range of musical avenues pursued on that one album is remarkable)

2. Man In the Mirror - Michael at his accessible best, a social reform anthem resonating with the individual instead of the typically contrived superstar efforts to put a face in front of a chosen movement. The song climaxes with the quintessential inclusion of a gospel choir in a pop song, the pioneer to be followed by countless others. An all-time favorite to sing along with the volume dial turned way up.

1. Billie Jean - Quincy Jones and Michael disagreed about Billie Jean. MJ loved it. Quincy thought it should be left off the Thriller album. What was Jones' issue with the song? That undeniable base line on the track. MJ won the war, the song got on the album, and that base line has become the most distinguishing sound of MJ's entire musical career. More than 25 years after its release Billie Jean still sounds current. Michael's vocal syncopation spawned pop, rock, and rap fusions. In a word (or three): Undeniable. Musical. Artistry.

A favorites list without Smooth Criminal, The Way You Make Me Feel, or Who Is It? I couldn't really differentiate enough between some of my other favorite ballads (One More Chance, On the Line, Speechless, Don't Walk Away). His remake of Come Together easily could have made it as well (which, like his version of Smile, is my favorite recording of that song).

I guess I should have saved it for a Thursday Thirty.

Halloween 2011

Lots of thanks to go around this year for Halloween. Thanks to Karen and Susan for sharing some of their costumes so our girls could have fun changing costumes. Thanks again to Karen for the costume idea. Oh, and thanks to Karen again for yet again hosting a wonderful family Halloween party. And muchas gracias to our family for being so much fun. I used to be anti-adult participation for Halloween, but Stef and I are now going on year 4 or so of dressing up for our family party. It is a lot of fun seeing what everyone picks to wear each year.

When the girls were trying to decide what they wanted to be this year Afton, just like last year when she picked her Weird Toast costume, picked her Easter bunny costume immediately and didn't waver. She loved the idea of having a big, puffy bunny tail as part of her costume. Stefanie made the costume for her. Mya, on the other hand, changed her pick just about every day. But she kept mentioning being Cinderella, so on Afton's preschool dress up day, Mya wanted to be her favorite princess.

The puffy tail that Afton loved. She giggled every time she got in her car seat because of how big the tail was and how hard it made it to sit right.

Our little princess!

Afton's bunny costume at the family party.

Mya dressed up as a peacock. She has a Disney princess show where Jasmine dresses up as a peacock, so when she saw this costume she was excited to be able to be a "peacock like Jasmine". She was so cute carrying around her trick or treat bag...her arms would spread out and open the bag automatically each time she said trick or treat or posed for a picture.

As part of the party all of the kids line up and do a costume parade, with adults spread out around the yard handing out candy as the kids walked around.

Afton was in pose mode all day. If there was a camera around she was ready.

My family has a minor obsession with ABBA. If my completely unbiased opinion, I'll have to say it was quite possibly the greatest Halloween costume ever. One of the fun parts about dressing up as ABBA is that our girls knew who we were. Afton and Mya went through a stage of their own ABBA obsession. Grandpa Orgill bought them their own ABBA DVD because they loved to sing and dance to the music videos on it.

On the 31st we had a trunk and treat for our ward and the girls changed costumes one more time: Barbie ballerina for Mya and an "I Dream I'm a Genie" costume for Afton.

Track of the Week - #3

We've been watching the latest season of The Sing Off. We missed the first season, but got hooked last year. I've was reviewing some of my favorite performances and this one stands as easily the best song I've heard on the show. Plus, I saw Al Green once having a coffee in the Memphis Airport. That makes me either famous or related to this song or something.
 

Bedtime Routine

We aren't perfect parents. We love our kids. That has led to A LOT of extra time being spent in our girls' bedroom when it is bedtime.

When we were rookie parents little Aftie was able to rope us into some habits that would definitely receive the scorn of many perfect parenting authors. She was such a good little girl about going into her bed for the night that it didn't seem like a big deal if we had to hang around in the room for a minute after putting her into bed. We'd pat her back, maybe sing her a song, mostly just stay long enough so she felt secure and at peace before going to sleep for the night. Yeah, not a great idea. That led to some nights with us literally falling asleep on her floor because if we so much as thought about going to the door before she was asleep she'd bolt up in her crib and cry for us to sit/lay back down.

I remember watching her breathing, counting sheep until I could my break for it, and then being as careful as humanly possible in an attempt to traverse the 10 feet between her crib and the door. We used to laugh (well, we didn't laugh then, but after therapy we could laugh after the fact) about how we'd almost get out the door but on our last step our foot or knee would make a quiet cracking sound, and then Afton would be wide awake and crying for us to come back. And then we finally reached the point we should have months earlier, where we let Afton cry it out a few nights and normalcy was returned to our evenings. I'm pretty sure we vowed we wouldn't make similar mistakes as more seasoned and experienced parents.

Fast forward to last night, and nearly every night in our home now. Mya is 2 years old, almost 3. And she's running the show. After checking off pre-bedtime duties of prayer, potty, and brushing teeth, Mya gets into bed. (She actually walks into bed most of the time. She doesn't mind being carried. But Afton loves to be carried to bed still. The girls either ask to be carried like a "big girl", "baby", or "sack of potatoes".) Once in bed, the routine starts.

1) Pull covers over Mya.

2) Mya grabs and cuddles with her blanket.

3) Mom and Dad take turns rubbing her back and head softly ("back hair" Mya will request/demand)

4) Lullaby. If she says lullaby, then it must be a song that says lullaby in it. Otherwise she wants Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

5) If everything is done in a satisfactory manner up to this point, we're doing pretty well. If not, Mya will have us repeat what we might have missed or done halfheartedly.

6) Next is a vital step. Mya likes to say "Goodnight, Dad. Love you, Dad" and "Goodnight, Mom. Love you, Mom", and then we repeat it. But we better not say it first. And we better not say it while still standing by the bed. We have to be right by the door. After Mya says her farewell, we repeat...at the appropriate decibel level, because if we whisper too softly she gets frustrated, says her part again, and we repeat in a more satisfactory manner.

7) Next Mya tells us how she would like the door to be positioned. She went through a phase where she cried if the door wasn't left wide open, and then another where she wanted it closed all the way. Now she always (without fail) tells us to "just close it little bit". So we leave the door open a crack.

8) A fairly recent addition to the routine is Mya telling us what we should do once we leave the room. "Mommy, take shower, do make-up, and change clothes." It started with her just telling us not to go to bed and morphed into assignments to keep us from going to bed. Last night was the best when Mya forgot to take care of this, so 5-10 minutes after going to bed she ran into our bathroom, found Stefanie, and gave her directions.

One day we'll stop the madness. Right? I mentioned to Stefanie about a general conference talk I had reviewed recently that talked about cherishing the moments we have with our young children, specifically mentioning the chance to take young kids to bed, to tuck them in, tell them stories, sing lullabies, etc. So that's what we're doing. We're cherishing. We're not letting a 2 year old run our home. We're cherishing. Promise.

Pumpkin Painting

Pumpkin carving...not really the Orgill's idea of greatest Halloween activity. Pumpkin painting? That is an idea I can get behind. Afton's preschool class decorated pumpkins to display in front of the school during October. Stefanie, the source of creative influences in our family, got the paints out and helped Afton get her pumpkin ready.

Mya got to work on her tiny pumpkin too.

Custom Cakes by Stef

She wasn't able to do a lot of cake making during volleyball, but now that the coaching season is over Stefanie has started to advertise her cake making business a little more.

Cheek, cheek, nose, hug, kiss

Once upon a time it was pretty difficult for Stefanie or me to leave the house if we didn't make certain we had given Afton a memorable goodbye. I say memorable because there were times that we would let her know we were leaving and would tell her a goodbye, but later when she noticed one of us wasn't around she would get sad. There were many times I'd get a call from Stefanie, with Afton crying on the other end, asking me to say goodbye to our her. I'd remind Afton that I had indeed told her goodbye before leaving, but she'd say that she forgot and that she was just sad because she needed to say goodbye.

So we came up with a silly little routine to do with Afton if we were leaving the house. We'd say we were leaving, and she'd call out, "Cheek, cheek nose." We'd touch right cheeks, then left cheeks, and then would rub the tips of our noses together. It was a great way to make sure Afton got the attention and notice she needed before one of us was gone. It wasn't always easy. Sometimes we'd literally have to hunt for her in the house because if we didn't she'd notice, sometimes an hour later, that one of us was gone and she'd be upset about it.

As soon as Mya was old enough she wanted to be part of the routine, and she added her own little touches of a hug and kiss. With two busy parents, running back and forth between work, coaching, callings, etc., that means you hear "Cheek, cheek, nose, hug kiss!" a lot in our house.

The Cup

Not negotiable. I suppose each of us in the family have something that to us is not negotiable. For me, it is BYU games. Nothing is to interfere with the attendance or viewing of those games. For Afton, it is her stuffed friends. Got to have them to hold, sleep with, take in the car, etc. For Stefanie...I'd say sleep is non-negotiable. The problem is sometimes her own body doesn't negotiate with itself very well. But when she can sleep, sleep wins over everything else.

For Mya? This one's a slam dunk.

The cup looks so innocent...but it rules our home.

Mya loves her milk ("mulk"). She always has. It is her comfort item, what she cries for when she's sad or hurt, and what she has always wanted right before bed. She loves chocolate milk. And "yum-yum mulk" made with Carnation instant breakfast mix. And "regular mulk". But she will ONLY drink it out of that Nuk cup that she has used for ages. We've probably gone through 10 of them. And we've tried to coax her out of using it, but she isn't having it. She'll drink water, juice, or any other drink out of any other cup. But any variety of milk has to be served in that exact type of cup or else the-world-is-ending-now kind of tantrum ensues. Again, this is simply her non-negotiable item. We've talked about it and decided, "She likes it. It isn't that big of a deal. Let this be her thing. It could be worse."

I just wonder if I'm going to be giving Mya some milk in this Nuk cup when she's 12 so she'll let me watch the BYU game while Stefanie sleeps.

Track of the Week - #2

I first came across this group after hearing their remake of "Ain't No Sunshine" on SYTYCD. They're a British musical duo that kind of have James Taylor's lyrical sensibilities, but infuse 'em with some soft soul like After 7 or Babyface. This song was featured on a small online story about some humanitarian efforts in Africa.

"28, 29, Firty"

Stefanie wrote down 1, 100, and everything in between on a paper for Afton to look at as she practiced counting to 100. She picked up the concept quickly and could soon knock it out without the paper. Then she was proud of herself when Miss Janet taught her how to count to 100 by 10's. She wanted to practice. And wanted to have people listen to her practicing.

A couple of days ago we were driving to my parents' house and Mya started counting. As is typical she got a bit mixed up around the teens, but she said twenty. I don't know if I'd heard her recognize twenty coming after nineteen before. But then she also kept going, until she said, "28, 29 FIRTY!" She counted to thirty on her own. Not bad for our little two year old. I was pretty effusive in my praise, and then the four year old chimed in:

"Dad, Mya got mixed up on some of the numbers. And she only got to 30. I can count to 100. When Mya gets older, she will probably be able to count to 100 too. But she will probably have to do it when she is 5. I can do it already, and I'm only 4. But good job, Mya." (The last part came after a raised eyebrow look from Dad)

Caring for Clifford...too much

As part of her time at "Karmel's Kiddie Korner" Afton got to take a turn to bring Clifford home. The kids each get to take Clifford home for the weekend. During that time they are asked to take pictures of things that they do with Clifford so it can be added to a book that all the kids can look at. As if Afton didn't already have enough joy with her 100+ stuffed animals (or friends as she prefers to call them) at home, she was of course ecstatic to take care of Clifford for a few days. She kept saying over and over, "I don't have to go to school until next week. I get to keep Clifford for a WHOLE WEEK!"

She carried him everywhere she went around the house or outside, took him on every car ride, and slept with him at night and during naps. Afton has started to sound out words and can read simple books, so she loved having Clifford sit and listen as she'd read a book. As she is with most of her new "friends", she took incredible care of that big red dog.

But on Sunday night we told her she needed to get into bed to go to sleep. I don't believe we made any mention of it being school the next day, and I'm quite certain we didn't say that it was time to take Clifford back. But Afton got very teary eyed and said quietly, "I don't want to go to sleep. Because it means when I wake up I'll have to take Clifford back. And I'm not ready to give him up yet." This wasn't a typical "greedy gimme" moment that little children, Afton included, will typically have. It wasn't so much that she wanted to keep Clifford, but rather that she was going to miss him once he was gone. I've never seen someone get so attached to inanimate things. So cute...and sometimes just a little too much. But it is something we've come to appreciate as being so completely Aftie.

At The Game

We've been spending a lot of time at the gym now that Stefanie coaches GHS Volleyball. Afton and Mya have been extremely cooperative for the most part. It usually means taking two meals worth of snacks, an iPad, iPhone, my own phone and its apps, a couple of balls, coloring books, and two drinks for each girl, but they do great for being at the gym so often. Afton loves when we go to a road game and get to see a new school. They always ask where the flag is so they know where to look when the national anthem starts. At the last home game, the girls were playing out in the hallway when the anthem started, and from across the gym I see them run back into the gym, stand below the flag, and look up during the entire song with their hand over their hearts (or at least placed on their chest since Mya always uses her left hand).

The part they love the most is the music that plays in between matches. These girlies love to dance. The video is of Mya at Stansbury High. As is usually the case I got the camera out way too late and most of the cuteness had expired, but I love her moves at the first of the video.
 

They usually just dance up in the bleachers and don't bother Mom down on the court. I don't know what they should fear more on the court, the volleyballs bouncing around all over or the coach trying to give them the boot!

Karmel's Kiddie Korner

When Afton found out she was going to preschool she became slightly obsessed with the idea. Whenever we drove somewhere in the car she would ask if we could drive by the school. When we got close she'd always say, "I wonder if someone is in there. We should go knock on the door so I can walk inside." As we'd drive off she would normally exclaim, "That school is just so CUTE!" She was sooooo excited to go to "Karmel's Kiddie Korner".

She did great on her first day (slightly better than Mom), just ready to get dropped off and to start school. She loves learning; loves, loves, loves it. So she's very conscientious about doing whatever Miss Janet asks, doing her homework, practicing her writing, and following directions in the classroom. I asked her one day if she talked to any friends in class. She said no. So Dad started to get all nervous that his sweet little girl isn't making friends at school. I asked her why she didn't talk to anyone, and she said, "You asked if I talked to anyone in class. I can't talk to kids in the class or else Miss Janet will have to move me. So I just talk to them in the rug room, but not the classroom."

Stefanie bought Afton a picture dictionary, saying it would help her learn new words for school. For the last week Afton looks through it at least twice every day. Now she has started looking through it with Mya laying down next to her on the couch, with Afton quizzing Mya on the pictures and congratulating her with a big, "That's good, Mya!" when little sister gets it right.

Track of the Week - #1

This is the song that I've listened to the most in the last week. And this week it really hasn't been close.

They've got some great songs on their album: With or Without You, Smooth Criminal, Viva La Vida, and Where the Streets Have No Name. The album is worth checking out. I give it two enthusiastic bows up!

http://www.2cellos.com/us/home

"I Win, You Lose" Signed, The Joker

Afton helped Mya develop a game of always wanting to be first. When we go to Grandma's house they want to be the first to run up the ramp to the back door. If we are driving separate cars from somewhere they each cheer for the driver to go as fast as possible so they can get to the destination first. And when we get home the two girls want to run into the house asap so they can be inside to yell "Surprise!" to us as we walk through the door.

Mya started proclaiming victory all on her own. One day she made it to the door before me and said, "I won!" while pointing to herself, and then "You lose!", pointing her finger at me. She is definitely the little joker in the family. This is her latest after being the first to the door:

Stefanie was grabbing stuff from the car and Mya typically bolted for the door to be first. When Stef got to the door this was Mya, sitting with her legs folded and a huge grin on her face. She held her pose long enough for Stef to grab the camera. And since that day it has become an every trip occurrence...if we leave the house, Mya high tails it from the car so she can be the first to the door so she can sit, cross her legs, and smile widely. So cute and so Mya.

Catch-up on Firsts

This cold, rainy day seems as good as any to post some past summer news.

Swimming Lessons

This was Afton's first year in swimming lessons, and so Stef enrolled Mya in a little class too. That usually meant Mya stepping into the water and then being done...lots of cold mornings at the pool complex.

But Afton, as per usual, loved it and was very focused on always doing what her teachers told her to do. One day she hopped out of the pool and ran over to where Stefanie was and said, "Mom, I can't remember my teacher's name. Can you remind me?" She wanted to be able to call her teacher by name but felt embarrassed to ask what her name was again. After I got home from work once I asked for a report on the swimming lessons. Afton talked about what they worked on and that she liked it, but then she got kind of somber and said there was one thing she didn't like. I got a little worried but then she said it was that her fingers get really, really tired because she has to hold onto the wall a long time. We started to tell her how she could hold onto the wall differently, but very demonstratively and kind of sadly she said, "But my teacher said THIS is how I'm supposed to do it." That's our super cute and very literal girl.

Having fun is a lot of work!

Haircuts

Afton has had her hair trimmed before but this was a first for Mya. Not sure why "different" looks "older" with little ones so often, but Mya definitely got plenty "she looks so much older" comments. Mya was extremely cooperative, but I'm not sure how excited she was.