Peoria

A lot of people have been calling or emailing me asking me about my thoughts on Peoria. Well, here is my first initial impression: While it's hot and sticky and I absolutely loathe the bugs/gnats, I have already begun to feel at home here. It is the greenest place I have ever lived. I have yet to formally meet any other neighbor except Dionte, but they all greet us as they walk by. People here keep their lawns neatly trimmed unlike those of Provo. Tim and I would always talk about the trashy lawns in Provo. I have enjoyed seeing families here. People seem to do a lot as families. I see siblings holding hands in the stores, families doing yard work together, husbands and wives walking when the sun goes down. Knowing that families still exist and thrive outside of Utah is comforting. I read an article in Time magazine a few months ago that stated they thought marriage and family would eventually become extinct. I can't quote the article because I don't have it in front of me, but the writer polled some crazy number of people who just didn't believe in marriage and family. It worried me a bit. Family is the center of any society. As proven in today's society, everything deteriorates as the family does. Society is failing because people are not taking seriously their roles as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, children, siblings, etc. It is sad to see but painfully true. So seeing families working together here gives me more hope than I originally thought. Maybe that author just polled an insane number of anti-family people and forgot about the people of Peoria. All in all, I like it here. I like that Tim has a few weeks to be with me. We are has happy as can be spending time together. We haven't had this kind of time since our honeymoon.

Mya and V seem to be adjusting well. V's nose has cleared up considerably and her eye is much less goopy with her nose clearer. I think she will be our allergenic child. We took the kids to the park today and I don't know what she touched, but she had a reaction. So we will have to be careful with her. She has decided to stop breastfeeding so she is plumping up on formula. I love the little rolls on her legs. V also got her ears pierced which you will notice in the pictures below. She is so beee--uuu-tiful as Mya likes to say. Mya just sweats profusely. I let her use my deodorant when she asks because a. she thinks it is the coolest thing ever and b. it actually helps her smell better. She has been cooped up inside as we have been completing all the unpacking and cleaning, so we have been trying to take her outside more. We are going to a pool tomorrow and all she kept saying tonight was "Mommy...you take me to the swimming poot tomorrow?" (Yes, poot not pool...i think she is confused by swimming pool and swimming suit and has put the two words together.) Mya loves water as you will soon see from the pictures below. She can't get enough of it. Tonight she also asked me if she could sit in a bucket of water. So funny. Mya is completely potty trained during the day now. She still wears diapers during naptime and bedtime. We are so proud of her. We don't even have to remind her. So here we are in Peoria. We still have so many things to find and try, but we have time. Lots of time.

I was watering the flowers last night and Mya decided to dump all the water on top of her. She looks like a cute, crazy person.

Mya also insists on wearing ONLY dresses at the moment. And usually her princess dresses. She insisted on wearing her "Princess and the Frog" dress today to the park.

Some new pictures of Genevieve

Some before and after pictures of the girls' rooms
Before: Mya's room
(Notice the fake rock wall...what would you do with that? Huh? I had no idea. Luckily, the moment Mya walked into the room she said she was in Rapunzel's castle. Needless to say, that instantly became Mya's room. It just happens to be the biggest room in the house.)

The closet doors weren't even from this house. They didn't work so we kindly asked the owner to remove them.

After: Mya's Room

Before: V's room
(I don't think you can really tell from these pictures, but our owner had his helper cut the blinds with scissors. Those were immediately removed because they were completely uneven.)

After: V's room