{Brooklét}

Arise and Shine Forth

2012-01-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

I designed this poster to give to the YW for New Beginnings. The theme for the youth this year is "Arise and Shine Forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations".

I thought I would share it here in case anyone else wanted to print it off. I am also going to put one in my girls room because they are lovely words for anyone and everyone.

Just click on the picture and print.

This is an 11 x 14 print.

If you would prefer an 8.5 x 11 print, click here.

Remember, Remember the 23rd of November

2012-01-16T18:50:00.000-08:00

Luke turned 2 in November- the day before Thanksgiving to be exact. And since it was the day before Thanksgiving, the day of the ultimate feast, I felt that a simple cake would be somewhat lackluster for his birthday. So we had cinnamon rolls instead. He didn't complain.

He received his first Thomas the train, which was motorized and he was one happy boy. He played with it all night, and slept with the train in his hand for several nights. I haven't ever seen him play with a toy so much. It just must be instinctive in boys to love trains.

Luke is sweet, loving, aggressive, and loud! He loves to yell like he is upset, furrowing one of his eyebrows, but then he tries to hid his smile. He runs, and runs, and runs. He loves hugs and kisses and like to head butt. He is all boy.

He is fascinated with letters. He likes to point them out and name them wherever he sees them. On signs, on posters on the wall, in books. And knows probably about half the alphabet really well. We have little foam letters that are for the bathtub, that he loves to walk around with in his hands, showing them to us repeatedly. That is how he learned his letters so well.

But he doesn't say a whole lot more than that. His vocab is expanding, but much slower than my girls at this point. His favorite word is spider and he says it about 5 billion times a day.

And in case you were wondering just what was up with Luke's hair, Luke's father gave him a faux hawk again. I came home from a mutual activity and there was Luke, with all his cute curls cut off again, and the red-neck haircut in place. Oh well. It's grown out again.

We love Luke so much. He is so much energy, personality, and affection. We know this next year, he will definitely be keeping us on our toes.

Blossoms in Bloom Holiday Sale

2011-11-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for some ideas for a handmade Christmas, I will be having my patterns on sale at the shop today through Monday at reduce holiday prices!

Happy Shopping!

2

2011-11-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my Luke!
He is so full of personality! He likes to run into a room and stand in a martial arts stance, with his legs spread apart. Just because. He loves balls, spiders, trains, and anything else boy. He loves his mommy the most, though, which is just the way it should be! He is also no longer sporting that crop of curly hair. One night several weeks ago, I came home from mutual to find Cody had once again, shaved his head, leaving a short mohawk. I mourned his hair, but left the cut, just so Cody could get it out of his system. Because I love his curly mop too much to have Cody shave it anymore!

We love him so much!

It's Halloween, It's Halloween

2011-11-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

". . . the moon is full and bright.

And we shall see what can't be seen on any other night."

Because it is impossible to get a picture of all my kids at once, looking at the camera, smiling, or even just standing next to each other. . .

My two witches!

Luke attracted a lot of attention in his Elvis costume. It was a little too snug on him, which made it all the more cute!

We had a great halloween, with plenty of opportunities to wear costumes and collect candy. Happy Halloween! (I am fully aware that thanksgiving is in four days. How did that happen so fast??)

New York in July

2011-09-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sooooo. . . way back in July I went on another trip to New York City. It was kind of a last minute trip (last minute, as in I planned to go a month before, but in my world, that is last minute) and I am so glad I had the chance to go. Not necessarily to see the big city, but because I was so fortunate to have great company on my trip.

Let me start at the beginning on how this whole thing came to be. My friend Gina, announced that she was moving to New Jersey for two months with her husband and kids, while her husband received job training there. So, like the good friend I am, I invited myself to stay with her and her family in their apartment in New Jersey, just right across the river from NYC. My friends Jana and Libby M, also invited themselves to Gina's apartment, and boy, did we ever have such a fun time.

(This was the view from Gina's apartment. Pretty darn cool.)

It was a quick weekend trip, but we fit in a few shows, some good food, and some great late night talks. This was my third trip to New York City and probably my least favorite "touristy" wise, because it was in July and it was HOT. The only real attraction we toured was the Brooklyn Bridge (because I once read a 600 page book on how it was built and I have an infatuation with the place). We walked up the Brooklyn Bridge, took pictures and turned back to find some air conditioning, stat.

We did go see two Broadway shows. The first was Jersey Boys, which I loved, LOVED the music (it's the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons), but the language was bad. In all my Broadway play experiences I have never been to one with bad language. So just be warned if you decide to go.

The second play, Billy Elliot, I did not like at all. Rated R in language alone, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the music or the story.

But what did not disappoint was the great time I had with my friends. Seriously, we haven't lived in the same state for two years now, but whenever we get together, it is as if nothing has changed. They are still so much fun to be around.

Oh, and the food. How could I almost forget??!! This was probably the yummest NYC trip for me so far. We ate breakfast at Norma's (I had the Banana Macadama Nut Pancakes- good grief, they were good), we ate an Eataly (such good Italian food, definitely recommend that). We ate pizza at Grimaldi's in New Jersey (right next to the store where Cake Boss is filmed). We had burgers and shakes at the Shake Shack, and donuts from Doughnut Plant. All of it--yummy.

And I didn't take a camera with me on my trip, so I have no pictures to prove I actually did any of this. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

Start of School

2011-09-04T19:15:00.001-07:00

And. . . we're back! Summer has been busy and fun. Lots to write about, but of course, I probably won't.

School starts early here in Alabama, as in August 15, so Claire has already been in 2nd grade now for three weeks. She is enjoying it, but getting up so early is already starting to drag. Seriously, they moved up her bus stop time in the morning to 6:45am. Give me a break. Too early for a 7 year old (and the 30 year old that has to drag her out of bed in the wee hours of the morning). So I started taking her in the morning so she could get another 30 minutes of sleep. I could seriously rant on about their early school time for a while (and believe me, I have) but I'll spare you all the brunt of my rant.

(looking up at the camera would have just been too easy)

Morgan's preschool started last week and boy, oh, boy, is it fun to hear her come home from school, so excited and suprised that the teacher let her use scissors and glue. I guess I am not a fun mommy, since she doesn't get to use those here at home (because can you imagine how devasted we'd be if she cut off her curls??).

(yes, Luke is running half naked through the picture)

And also, our sweet Morgan had a birthday in the middle of August. She had a friend over and had a delightful little party. She got a big girl bike with training wheels and lots of these little erasers that come apart and you put back together. When I asked what her favorite present was, without skipping a beat, she declared the erasers to be the favored. She's easy to please.

Our little Morgan is really just a little slice of sunshine sent down to our family. She is very sweet and considerate of other people's feelings (well, usually. . .) and she always wants to do what is right. Plus she has the best laugh on earth. She hums in a low, monotone drone all day long and we love it! We feel so blessed that she gets to be in our family. We love her to pieces.

On the Subject of Mohawks

2011-06-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

Ever since Cody saw the Derrick kids with mohawks, he has dreamed about having a son, so he could one day shave a mohawk onto his head. Well, his dreams came true.

After the first time we cut Lukes locks, it grew back in curly and crazy. It just stuck straight up and was always a mess. But we kind of loved his crazy curls. However, they were getting outta control. So Cody took it into his own hands and shaved his mohawk, all while the girls and I were telling him to stop, telling him how mad we were that he was cutting Luke's hair!

So here's the damage. Cody is unbelievable proud.

Before:

After:

After After:

We left it in the short mohawk phase for a few days to my utter embarrassment. People were eyeing him everywhere I went. I felt I should make a disclaimer wherever I went: My husband did this; I had no say.

Plus, he fell onto the cement and skinned his face, right below his eye. So he looked really tough. My vanity was so ruffled that when I got asked by one of the nursery workers, "What happened to Luke?", I naturally assumed she was talking about his hair cut. So I went into a long schpeal disavowing all responsibility for it. She, of course, was talking about the big gash on his face, not his hair. Oh yeah.

I have sense done my responsibility as a parent and shaved his hair all one length. But I miss the curls.

The Storm

2011-05-31T14:33:00.001-07:00

Something I didn't realize before I moved to Alabama was that these southerners have a tornado season. . . and scorpions (who knew?). The owners of our house mentioned as we were moving in that they had only had to to huddle in the closet under the stairs a couple times for tornado warnings. This was the first time I heard that tornados happened in the south on a somewhat regular basis. Tornado season in Alabama is March through April. We have tornado sirens that go off, alerting everyone to pay attention, get somewhere safe and so far this year we have heard it go off 5 or 6 times. The first time we heard it go off at about 11 o'clock in the evening. So being the tornado novices that we are, we got our kids our of bed, and huddled in the bathroom for a half an hour until the storm warnings stopped. It turned out no tornados that night and we felt we probably overreacted a bit by getting our kids out of bed. But I wasn't going to ignore a tornado siren.

We had several more dangerous storms that were heralded by tornado sirens and most did not result in tornados of any sort. So we were started to feel the "crying wolf" effect of the sirens and not taking them as serious as we did at first. One night around 8, right after we had put the kids to bed, it was raining and thundering and the sirens started up again. We turned on our tv to watch where the storm was headed to see if we really needed to get our kids back out of bed. The lightening started picking up, crashing louder and more frequently. We thought the girls might get scared, so as Cody was going up the stairs to get them, I heard three rapid crashes, sounding just as loud as a gun being shot in the same room, simultaneous to the flashes of lighting. The power went our and I jumped in my seat and immediately started to tear up (not because I was scared but because loud noises make me cry- seriously). But it did startle me. I have never heard lightening strike so close or so loud- I thought it might have hit our house, or at least, right out side of it.

That night we learned an expensive lesson about the value of surge protectors. The lightening fried all of our tvs, a cd player, our computer, and our xbox (which we had had for a grand total of 4 months). Bummers, right?

Cody was super bummed that night. He was almost in shock about the loss of all our electronics. "I guess that's why they tell you to have surge protectors." I said so pointlessly after-the-fact.

"I thought that was just a line from surge protector salesmen! Who knew??" he said exasperatedly.

But know we know.

A few weeks later, on April 27, about 3:30 in the morning, Claire woke me up saying she needed to puke. I love wake up calls like that. So she proceeded to puke and poop her guts out and I cleaned it all up, dry-heaving as I went along. I finally got back into bed at 4:30, laying awake a bit traumatized with what I had just gone through and dreading the plague that had so obviously entered our home. At 5 am, right as I had just fallen asleep, I was awakened by the blasted tornado siren!! And I just didn't believe its cry for danger. We listened on the radio (because we were sans tvs) and decided not to get the kids up. But it did storm something fierce. As Cody drove to work that morning, roads were blocked from downed trees and power lines, but everything around us seemed fine. We didn't lose power, though much of the area did. All day the news was saying more big, dangerous storms were coming, but I took everything with a grain of salt. By early afternoon I was still debating about whether we should have mutual or not. And then the storms started coming. About 3 in the afternoon I heard the first reports of tornados touching down in the northern part of Alabama. I saw the video of the twister in Cullman, not really thinking anything of it. I didn't really appreciate the deadly nature that tornados could really be. An hour later I saw the reports of the tornado that hit Tuscaloosa, again not realizing the reality of the damage that was happening. Even when the newscaster said that he was getting reports that whole blocks of the city were gone, just missing, I didn't feel it. I thought he was being a drama queen for ratings sakes.

About an hour later as the tornado came approaching us, I still didn't have any fear. Cody wasn't home yet from work, I was trying to get the kids to eat dinner fast before we had to huddle in the bathroom. When Cody arrived home, we had about 10 minutes before the newscaster said the tornadoo was heading right for our neighborhood within the next 2 minutes, so we sat in our bathroom. I battled with Luke trying to get him to sit still, and the girls fought over a water bottle. I was totally annoyed. Nothing really happened. Fifteen minutes later, we came out of the bathroom and watched the rest of the storm coverage on the news. We watched live footage as the huge tornado moved across the city.

It wasn't until the next day as they were showing footage of the areas destroyed, raising the death toll, recounting people's experiences that I finally feared the tornado. We were in a brick house- I didn't think that tornados would rip apart a brick house. But oh boy, they do.

The tornado came within about 5-10 miles of us. It went through our ward boundaries, destroying homes of several families in our wards. The first storm of the day, that early one in the a.m. had knocked down trees on houses, downed power lines that had left most of the people in our ward without power for days. Though none of the homes around us were affected, we did have debris fall into our yard. A piece of a ceiling tile lay in the middle of our driveway. From where? Who knows. It came a long way, though.

For the month of May our church building was the headquarters for relief effort by the LDS church. It was amazing to see how quickly they assembled and with what force they brought. Our gym and many of the rooms in the building were quickly filled with food, water, clothing, wheel barrows, supplies. Thousands of LDS members volunteered in the clean-up, many coming from out of state and camping on the grass outside of the church. Cody had the opportunity to go out on several different cleaning crews into the hardest hit areas, and he was awestruck at the enormity of the destruction. After a couple of weeks we were allowed to drive through the areas so we took our kids to see what the tornado had done. Even after two weeks time of clean up the areas were unbelievable to see. Large trees snapped in half, homes ripped open with the insides exposed, some furniture still in place, looking like big doll houses. Trees, branches, cars, wood tossed everywhere. it is hard to describe. It looked like a bomb had hit.

Now I give the tornado its proper respect. I am sure I will fear it more if it comes around again. Hopefully that is something we won't ever have to face again.

Blossoms in Bloom

2011-04-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to announce this for a while, but life just got in the way.

Since the moment I first discovered Etsy, years ago, I knew I wanted a handmade shop. It just took a couple of years to finally get to a place where I actually could do it. But here we are!!

The name of my shop is Blossoms in Bloom, which I think every creative process is- a blossom in bloom.

I designed this Castle Caddy over a year ago for my little girls and it has seen a lot of action as they have taken it to church, on the airplane, on long car rides, the DMV (yuck). They both still enjoy stuffing their princesses into the pockets, folding up the castle, and taking their 'purse' wherever they go.

I have Castle Caddys all complete and ready for new homes. But if you are the sewing type that likes to make your projects your own, by choosing your fabrics and colors, I am have also created a detailed pdf pattern.

I also hope to add to the shop soon, including more Castle Caddys and also an original Roadway Car Caddy pattern. Plus, I have several different ideas floating around in my head for more "Caddy" designs, that I can't wait to finally create.

This is so much fun for me; I seriously love Etsy. I also was able to see the finished product of someone who bought the pattern and it makes me so happy. So head on over and take a looksies!

Seven Lucky Years

2011-04-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

This past week, Claire celebrated 7 years being in our family. We love her to pieces. She has matured so much this last year and is learning so much. It sometimes takes me aback how much she understands, observes, and views things. She is a sweet big sister to Morgan and Luke and she is a good helper to me and Cody. She still loves to draw and create, and as always, she loves to be a bit crazy. It's what we love about her.

For her birthday party, we had a party with some girls from school and church. Claire had a really fun time, helping decorate and plan for the party, and then had a blast while the girls were here.

I, for some insane reason, decided to throw Claires party last week, even though I knew Cody was out of town for the week. So even though I started working on everything days before, I still was rushing as the guest were arriving, so most of my pictures were after the party was started or after everyone left.

For the invitation, I drew up a pretty little seven. I was so happy with the way it turned out- something a little girly.

The decorations were in keeping with the flower theme. I made tissue flowers following Martha Stewart's instructions, except to make it go faster, I used 5x5 inch squares of tissue paper. I absolutely loved the flowers. I made a couple of garlands and I tied individual flowers to close the goody bags. At the party, the girls also made their own tissue flowers attached to a bobbypin to wear in their hair.

The girls also made bracelets. I used beads and memory wire, following these instructions and it went pretty fast and easy for the girls.

The food table was raided before I got to take any pictures of it, but here it is half way through the chaos, with the sugar cookies and strawberries the first things to disappear.

Claire's cake was a giant seven covered in Easter colored M&Ms, again following the instructions of Martha. It turned out looking really neat in person. The kids oohed and ahhed over it. Apparently, seeing that many M&Ms at one time is beautiful.

Well, there you go. More details than you ever wanted, but I think the details are fun.

Spring Break '11

2011-03-31T05:20:00.000-07:00

My parents made their first voyage down south to visit my little family is the great state of Alabama. It was also Claire's spring break, so we made sure to have a nice mixture of going fun places and staying home, being lazy, eating food. All of it was fun.

Places we went:
:: Science Center {always a good time to be had by the kids}
:: Jim and Nick's BBQ- so good!
:: Botanical Gardens {may have forgotten to bring stoller, so it may have been a little miserable toting the wiggly Luke around}
::Newks- {also yummy, too bad my parents didn't think so}
:: A really bad Mexican Restaurant where a gnat came and landed on my disgusting enchilada. When the waitress came to ask if we were all done, my dad told her, "We'll, we are finished but the gnat is still eating." Good one, dad.
:: To the park to fly a kite
:: Costco {because it's just so fun there}

We seriously mostly hung out around the house, talking, baking, and eating! Grandma and Grandpa spent a lot of time with the grand kids, telling stories, reading books, going on walks. We had so much fun.

PS: I spent the weeks before my parents came, telling them how sweet Morgan is right now. So Morgan chose to act like a little stinker the whole week, especially to my mom. Apparently Morgan had a bone to pick with her, because she just gave her attitude all week. When we asked if she loved Grandpa, Morgan said, "yes". When we asked if she loved Grandma, she said "um, a little bit." When we dropped the grandparents at the airport, Morgan said goodbye to my dad, but when I told her to say goodbye to grandma, she said, "oh, no. I only say goodbye to one person." So Grandma didn't get a goodbye. The little stinker. As soon as we drove away from the airport, all I heard from Morgan was, "I'm sad. I miss Grandma."

PSS: Morgan sang Katy Perry's "Baby, You're a Firework" about a thousand times for my parents and anyone in hearing range.

{Dad only mentioned about 100 times that his grass is much greener than our grass}

{Morgan refused to scoot closer to Grandma. Seriously, what a stinker}

Maximus and Javier

2011-03-09T05:38:00.000-08:00

Back in January, Claire and Luke both required haircuts.

Warning: Some of the following images may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

It was long past the time for Luke's hair to be cut. It was starting to get so long and combed over, he was channeling a Trump, so I took out the clippers, gave him a go over, and he came out of the battle looking like a gladiator. Like a short, flabby gladiator with a double chin that wobbles when he walks. As soon as I sheered off his smooth locks, I regretted it. Suddenly his babyness was gone. He looked like a different kid. Cody kept calling him Maximus. I was sad. But it was for the better and I got use to it right quick. He is pretty handsome.

Now Claire. Claire's haircut was also one of necessity. When her hair is long, it is the thing that she is constantly messing with, whether she is twisting it into knots or sucking on the ends. Her hair was disgusting and such a beast to comb out every morning. So I decided we had to cut it short. So me and my frugal self took her to a place to get it cut where I had a $5 coupon. Note to self: don't take you daughter to any place that has 'Clips" in the title. Such a bad haircut. Claire has really thick hair, so I asked the lady to cut it in a nice round bob. She instead cuts it it pretty blunt, with the back longer than the sides. I have this horrible problem of letting bad haircuts go without saying anything to the hair-cutter. Shouldn't I have told that lady as soon as she was done that the hair cut was not what I asked for and that it was horrible? But I felt bad, since I was only paying $5 for it.

I didn't say anything and left with my daughter sporting the same do as the Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men:

And the worst part, I just left it. It's grown out a little bit now, so it looks a little better, but still. I think there is a general parenting rule out there that if you child resembles the appearance of a psychopath in anyway, you should fix that--quick. Don't worry. I'll get around to fixing it one day.

Valentine's Cards

2011-02-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Just in case you don't follow our craft blog (what?!), I wanted to share the valentines I made up for Claire to give to her class. I prefer homemade valentines, because they tend to be cuter and I don't have to stand at the store lamenting that the only choices I have are barbie or hello kitty (I haven't seen any Brat's cards this year. Maybe they read my blog). But mostly, I have a ton of fun creating them. This year, Claire is in a bigger class, so I went the digital route for cards.

The downloads and the instructions are over at our craft blog if you want to make your own. Just click on the picture of the valentine you want to take you over there.

Now, according to my translators, this card says, "Bandit! You have stolen my heart." But if my translators are wrong, then they are in big trouble, mister. Because I like to pretend I speak Spanish.

And if you are feeling super crafty, I also have a download and instructions to make "dancing" ballerina cards. Because everything is better when it moves!

30

2011-01-31T19:22:00.001-08:00

My birthday came and went. It was a good day filled with my family, phone calls, and friends. The night ended with a little party at our house, that included Texas Sheet Cake and the always popular and awkwardly discordant singing of "Happy Birthday".

Goodbye, 20s!
Hello, 30s!

Our Own Drum

2011-01-25T05:20:00.000-08:00

I am struggling writing this post. I have written several drafts, and none of them have sat quite right with me. I think the problem is I am trying to summarize a portion of my life that just can't be summarized in three paragraphs. So instead of giving you a brief history, I just want to write about the reoccurring theme that keeps popping up as I think over my teenager years.

At every stage of my life I have been surrounded by good friends- and they aren't just good friends, they are good people who have really had a part in shaping who I am today (3 days shy of 30, if any one is counting). My high school friends stick out to me in particular, because they have literally been life long friends and were such an important part of my navigating the teenage years happily and healthily.

In a time where many teenagers struggle with being themselves, getting caught up in the judgments of others, basing their self-esteem on being accepted by a certain crowd- we did not. We were unapologetically ourselves, we danced to the rhythm of our own drums, we were accepting of each other, and we had fun. We were athletes, band geeks, choir geeks, and drama geeks (why do all the creative groups get labeled 'geek'?). We found fun in making movies for film class, singing Christmas carols, and jumping into large batches of cottonseed on the weekends. You may have called us geeks, but boy, did we have fun.

In general, I am proud of my time in high school. I do have some major embarrassing, putting foot-in-mouth, being awkward, stupid moments that still make me cringe, but I still have those now. In fact, not a whole lot about my personality has changed much since high school: i still like old movies, I still like to sleep in, I still am driven by creative pursuits, and I still sing at the top of my lungs while I clean the house. The only major differences are that nowadays, I have a husband, offspring, and I wear make-up.

I am happy with who I am, and such a big part of that is due to having amazing, accepting friends. To you, I say thank you.

Poking my Feet

2011-01-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of things that I tend to think define me, but when held up to scrutiny, I realize that I am no such thing. For instance-brave. Brave used to be my thing when I was little. I didn't cry when I got shots, I ran through fields with no shoes, I climbed high up in trees, dove off high dives, and I was the one who cleaned up the dead mouse my sister's once found under our bed.

See. You probably read through those and thought, "um, that isn't necessarily what I would call brave." But in my mind, at the time, I totally thought I was brave.

I had my fears, too, and thinking about what I actually use to fear is more interesting to me than the things I thought made me brave. While I had the normal fears- someone breaking into the house, dying of cancer, losing a parent, the story with the babysitter and the caller ("go check the children")- I also had a bunch of just plain weird fears, that demonstrate the lengths of my imagination.

For instance, when I was little I watched an Alien show, where aliens were popping out of people's stomachs and all that good stuff. The resulting ramification of my violating the MPAA's rating recommendations is that I had a fear of the bathtub drain after this. Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense, but I wouldn't keep my feet by it when I was in the bathtub for the off chance that an alien might pop up out of it. I kept this fear for years. Darn aliens.

The next fear I had wasn't necessarily something that I thought of constantly or worried much about. But occasionally when I would think about it I would work myself up. It's one I have mentioned in my blog before. I never wore shoes outside during the summer time growing up. Somehow I got the notion in my mind, that what if there was a little world of people who live underneath us- our ground is their ceiling? And what if they are after us and are trying to poke our feet with needles? This incredibly sane reasoning would make me hop around on my tippy toes- you know, just in case.

And lastly, sometimes I got to wondering if I was the only real person and that everyone surrounding me was really robots. Seriously, had this thought a couple of times.

Today, I still have some of the same fears- someone breaking in the house, dying of cancer, losing a parent, the story with the babysitter and the caller ("go check the children")- but I have replaced all the irrational ones with the all too real ones of my children being harmed in any way. I guess I shouldn't say I have replaced all the irrational ones. I have gained some new ones as I have grown up- like the fear of calling people on the phone. I still have a little crazy in me.

9 days

2011-01-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of nights ago, Cody asked me what I think about as I fall asleep. And while in the past I could have answered that I dream up stories that involve cowboys and Indians, recently my twilight thoughts have been more of the non-fiction type. I have been thinking about my life and my story. I am about to turn 30 in 9 days and as I reflect on how fast the last 30 years have flown by, all the people I have met, the places I have been, and who I have become, I just can't help but be struck by how much fun it has all been. I have thoroughly enjoyed every stage of my life, and I always tend to enjoy each stage more than the last. I am excited for my 30s. It will be the decade where my kids really grow up (and can finally play board games, like Balderdash, Pictionary, and Cranium with me), where Cody and I will see even more of the world (that's a guarantee since we are in the Navy), and maybe, just maybe, I will stop sounding like such an idiot when I leave messages on phones (actually, I am not holding my breath for that one). It will be a little sad to say goodbye to my 20s, because they have been my favorite decade so far, littered with so many good things, fun things, and great people. But like I said, every stage has been better than the last.

So even though I feel a might silly about it, I want to jaunt down some of those random memories I have been thinking about, mostly for my sake. I love the role of memory-keeper that my blog has become for me (and one day for my kids), so you'll just have to bear with me as I write a little bit about the story of my life.

After all, that is the subtitle of my blog.

And just because my mom didn't think the picture of Luke's bum was adequate, I have included a picture of his face.

Forgot to mention. . .

2011-01-11T10:13:00.000-08:00

Luke decided to become a full-time walker during Christmas break. He wobbles around with big smiles all day long. He's terribly cute.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas in Alabama was one of my favorites. Claire is at that age where she is so curious about all the details of Santa. We fielded about a million questions from her about the ins and outs of Santa's operations. Morgan was just excited for Christmas because she was just so sure she was going to get the one things she had been asking Santa for months- a Woody doll. Luke was so excited, he slept in until 10 o'clock on Christmas morning (awesome).

On Christmas Eve, we the big traditional dinner with some friends of ours, read the nativity, and sent the kiddos off to bed. Christmas morning, the girls found their presents from santa in their stockings and the presents under the tree. They were delighted. Morgan and Woody became best of friends and he hasn't left her side since. Claire received Jesse, who also became best buds, and Luke received Buzz, but he just doesn't know that they are going to be best friends yet. It was so much fun.

{isn't that knot hair awesome? Yeah, we deal with that EVERY morning!!!}

And just for a very, very special gift, because Santa knew how hard I had been dreaming of a White Christmas (plus I watched White Christmas three times), it started snowing on Christmas morning- here in Alabama, where it doesn't snow often and it hasn't snowed in my town on Christmas for the 100 years they have been keeping record. It made me so happy.

{Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow!}

We had a really lovely Christmas break just relaxing and hanging out around the house. Most days we all stayed in jammies the whole day.

{Morgan's two buddies- Woody, and Knuffle Bunny}

PS: I made the best batch of cinnamon rolls I have ever made on Christmas and I am not even going to pretend not to be conceited about it. Still thinking about them two weeks later.

{So good}

Have a. . .

2010-12-25T10:37:00.001-08:00

The Key to Success

2010-12-17T05:28:00.000-08:00

A successful night of gingerbread house making.

The key to success is to buy the kits where the house is already put together and all you have to do is add frosting and the candies provided. Oh, and to not be OCD if the girls put the candy on all crooked.

This particular kit was purchased before I had Luke, so the whole time we were putting it together, I kept telling the girls not to eat the candy, because it was old, old, and old and would upset their tummies. Yet, I still caught Claire eating the candy. Even threat of severe pain wasn't enough to deter her from eating candy (I don't know why, but I just thought about Michelle, here).

You may recognize Morgan's outfit as her Halloween costume. But they are actually pajamas, that she still thinks is a costume and she loves that she can wear them to bed. And during the day. They are her favorite things to wear. Best six bucks I have spent in a long time. She even insists on not turning on the bathroom light when she has to go potty, so that she can see her skeleton glow in the dark. Now that is dedication.

We had a lovely time. And we owe it all to pre-assembled gingerbread houses.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-15T09:44:00.000-08:00

If you haven't already caught on, we live in Alabama, far, far away from our family and people who say "pecan" the same way that we do. Due to this distance, we are forced to spend family holidays, such as Thanksgiving, all by our lonesome, in a place where egg custard is commonly considered a dessert. Though we miss our family something fierce, we really do have a good time with our own little family and whatever other friends that happen to also be marooned from their families.

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house with another family. Just some background info here: In the past when I have had to prepare Thanksgiving dinner, I have always made ham instead of turkey. Because A.) it's more yummier than turkey, B.) It is a whole lot easier to prepare than turkey, and C.) it is a whole lot harder to mess up than turkey. Cody and I are in agreement on this matter. However, we realize that when we invite another family to celebrate Thanksgiving, they might be severely disappointed to find out we won't be serving Turkey. So I was forced to make a turkey this year. First time ever. With no one to show me how.

I was really nervous about messing it up, and I read a lot of articles on the internet, talked to friends, sisters, my mom, getting all the advice I could and on Thursday morning I felt prepared. Until I pulled the bird out of the fridge and realized for the first time, I have issues with the fact that it looked like an animal. I am currently in the stage of whenever I see a baby animal it somehow reminds me of Luke. So seeing this turkey with its body parts flapping all around made me sad. I almost started to cry. That was unexpected, but Cody and I managed to laugh off how lame I was being, until I realized just how gross the whole sensation of cleaning out the inside of the bird was. I was just plain grossed out. But I handled it like I do everything that is serious- I laughed inappropriately.

After a few emergency phone calls to my mom and sister, the turkey turned out fine, as well as the rest of the dinner. We stuffed ourselves, had a good visit with our friends, and sent them on their way, feeling like we made it through our first turkey experience okay, though somewhat traumatized.

The next morning, I woke up with the bridge of my nose and corner of my right eye grotesquely swollen and infected. I looked pretty awesome, kind of like the blue monkey people on Avatar. You see, what had happened was almost overnight a cyst sprung up in the corner of my eyelid, almost in the exact same spot I had one several years ago. And thought the swelling has gone down, the cyst is still sticking out there, just so lovely. Our Christmas card will only include pictures of my kids this year, while I wait for my appointment with a plastic surgeon. Awesome.

Speaking of cysts and surgeries, remember the witch picture of Claire from Halloween and the cyst that randomly formed on her eyebrow? She had the surgery about a month ago to remove it and she now only has a little scar in her eyebrow. We recently got her lab results on what it actually was, and surprisingly, it was a tumor. A benign, cystic tumor which, I am told, is nothing to be worried about.

There you go. Probably more info than you could possible ever want to know, but I was getting a little tired of just posting pictures.

Lukesters

2010-12-02T17:35:00.000-08:00

A couple of days before Thanksgiving, we celebrated Luke's first birthday in a big way (when I say 'in a big way' I mean I made him some cupcakes, iced with store brought frosting (gag) and chocolate sprinkles on top). I am starting to be much more realistic when it comes to birthday parties for my kids. This year it just had to be simple. Besides, Luke is a party, in and of himself.

He is so busy. He is constantly on the go, constantly chasing after me at home in hopes I will either feed him or hold him. But if I am holding him (such as at church) he just tries to get away from me. He loves to play on the stairs, loves to empty kitchen cabinets, loves to hug by butting his head into your chest. And he is constantly happy and thinks everything is funny. Well, except for the Big Foot toy at Target. It freaks him out and he cries so hard when he sees it. So I make sure we stop and look at it ever time we are there.

We love him so much- he's kinda got me wrapped around his finger. Such a sweet boy!

Vegas

2010-11-22T07:22:00.000-08:00

I remember when Cody was applying to dental schools and we first got the interview request letter from the University of Pittsburgh, I thought it was such a random place. I didn't even know that Cody had applied there. When it came down to making a decision on which school we would attend, Cody and I made a little list of the pros and cons of the schools and cities and without much hesitation or uncertainty, we accepted Pittsburgh's offer. What a blessed decision.

I don't know if you couldn't tell, but I LOVE Pittsburgh. It is old, crowded, and the road system was apparently designed by a blind man, but it is all so wonderful (okay, the road system is not wonderful). And though the city, by itself, is pretty cool, I know I wouldn't feel the way I do about Pittsburgh if it wasn't for the wonderful people I met there, and the amazing friends I made. It really was such a wonderful experience and time in our life. I have often thought back to that initial decision of Cody's and mine, how we could have chosen a different school, a different city, met different people, had different friends, and while I am sure that we probably would have had a good experience somewhere different, I am just so happy we were blessed enough to find ourselves in Pittsburgh.

Last month, I had a chance to get together with several of these Pittsburgh girls in Las Vegas. We have all gone our separate ways, and some of us haven't seen each other since last years girls trip, but as soon as we saw each other, we instantly fell back into that fun, comfortable friendship that we enjoyed in PA. We talked non-stop for four days, laughing, crying, sometimes laughing and crying at the same time, eating, getting spooked by Amy's mere mention of ghost stories, and then talking some more. I really had such a fun time.

These are lovely girls, inside and out.

As for the agenda, we really didn't do anything very 'Las Vegasy'. We went to one Comedy show and we drove by the Bellagio fountains while I imagined Clare de Lune in my head. We ate yummy food and just enjoyed good, good company.

It's been over a month ago and I am still smiling about it. I am just counting down the days until I get to see them again.

In the News

2010-11-16T10:51:00.001-08:00

So I was on the news.

Normally when I watch people being interviewed on TV, and I am talking regular people who don't normally appear on TV, I always think to myself, ". . .and that's what you chose to wear?" I know, so judgmental, right? Especially for one who often goes out in public looking pretty scrubby. But if I was appearing on TV, I would give some serious thought to what I chose to wear.

I definitely wouldn't have chosen my sparkly striped shirt that makes me look like I am trying to be 14.

And I would have done my hair. Just saying.

My friend, Adrienne, and I were at a park with our kids when we were accosted for a simple interview.

Now I have been interviewed once before on camera, back when I was in high school, for my best friend Bridget's documentary for her film class. When she finally showed us all her documentary, I was MIA in it. When I asked Bridget about it, she told me with the all the sensitivity befitting a best friend, "oh, yeah. I couldn't use any of it." Because I was that bad.

11 years hasn't made me any more eloquent. The interview went basically like this:

She asked a question- I sputtered like a doodlebug.

Then she asked another question- I buttered like a spoodledug

She asked Adrienne a question- Adrienne answered with complete and coherent thoughts.

She asked me another question (the interviewer is a slow learner)- I manage not to sputter like a doodlebug and get out a complete sentence. Unfortunately, I ended up quoting the cheesiest line known to mankind, and of course, that is what made it into the final cut. Since this was Alabama local news, I really wish I could have said something a lot more sensational, like "hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husband. . . you are so dumb, you are really dumb, for real." Maybe next time.

I am on it a couple of times, so is my friend Adrienne, and so is, apparently, Erin, the secretary from The Office.

Three Halloween Tricksters

2010-10-31T18:28:00.000-07:00

"Three Halloween Tricksters are we:

My sister, my brother, and me."

We had a couple of different Halloween parties we went to this year. The first was a family party for Claire's first grade class, which included a haunted hayride, pumpkin cake-pops, face painting, and all of Claire's classmates running around in costumes, completely happy.

The second was our ward trunk or treat. The chili feast and trunk or treat were pretty run of the mill kind of stuff, but this ward also has a haunted forest. Completely awesome! The young men put it on and it is a full on haunted walk in the woods behind our church. It wasn't super scary to me (you know, since I am an adult) but it scared Morgan good, and Claire mildly, and I did see several teenagers and adults who came back after a couple of minutes, too afraid to continue forward. Pretty Awesome.

Anyways, we have too much candy in the house now and some whiny girls warn out from all the sugar and excitement of Halloween. And Luke. . . he just makes chubby look good.

The Crime Scene

2010-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had a day that was, well, maybe the worst day of my life. Or maybe not quite the worst. Maybe that is being a bit dramatic. But if I was to make an analogy of this day, I would definitely use the image of a paper bag, filled with poop and hair balls, lit on fire. That would definitely be in the analogy somewhere.

It all started in the morning, as I was in my bedroom, wrapping presents on the floor, with my little curly-haired assistant, Morgan, helping out. I was letting her use the scissors to just cut random scraps of wrapping paper and think she was actually helping me (3-year-olds are so gullible). After we were done, I put the scissors up on top of dresser, because I know my kids. They will go straight Josephine March on themselves if left alone with the scissors.

After I was done, we left my bedroom and I went to get Luke, who had just woken up and was standing in his crib, bundle up in his sleep sack and that big toothy grin plastered on his face- it wins my heart every time. I brought him downstairs to feed him, while Morgan, at some point, decided to strut around the house sans-clothes, like she owns the place. And while I was feeding Luke, she came out of my bedroom, where she had obviously been searching for the scissors to not avail, and asked me where the scissors were. In one of the greatest lapse of parenting judgement ever, I decided to be honest with her. I told her that I put them away on top of the dresser. What!? Why would I give her the location?? I am an idiot.

I thought that was the end of the story. It's on top of the dresser, a.k.a. out of her grubby, 50-percentile-for-height hands. But boy, did I underestimate her determination. Morgan goes back into my bedroom and a minute or so later I hear a big, BIG crash of things falling down. And then I hear her scream bloody murder. I pop Luke off (if you know what I mean), put him down, and rush into my bedroom, not sure what made the big crash. As I ran into the room, my confusion instantly changed to a terrible understanding as I saw Morgan pinned underneath the dresser and the TV that had been on top of the dresser. She had opened the drawers to climb into them in an attempt to reach the scissors, bringing down the whole shebang on top of her sweet, 50-percentile-for-weight body. The way that the dresser had fallen was that it landed against the fallen TV, propping it up slightly and making a little triangular space underneath. This is where Morgan was. I saw immediately that Morgan's head was bloody and there was blood sprinkled on the floor. I pulled her out, without much resistance, since she luckily was in this little space and I looked her over quickly and saw that it didn't look like she had broken any of her limbs. It was just her head that looked damaged. It was bleeding a lot, so I quickly grabbed a towel and pressed it against her head.

I was very scared at this point, mostly concerned that she had done some serious damage to her head with such a heavy blow. I could see that the TV had hit her head, I just didn't know serious the impact had been. I asked her questions to see if she could spell her name because I was worried she might have a concussion. She was crying and screaming, but still answered my questions, so I decided she would be okay if I drove her to the hospital. Except, I didn't have a clue where a hospital was. So I called Cody, and in my best emergency voice, told him what happened and asked him where the hospital was. While I was talking to Cody, I just kept walking back and forth, with Morgan in my arms, trying to think about how I was going to get Luke and her ready to get in the van. Luke still had a diaper full from the night, and Morgan was naked, save for her underwear. Finally I put Morgan down, had her hold the towel to her head as she talked to Cody on the phone. He did a good job calming her down, while I quickly changed Luke's diaper, put him in the car seat and grabbed a change of clothes for Morgan. And then off to the hospital we drove.

To make this long story short (way too late), she had a gash on her head that required stitches, but no other damage to her head or body. We stopped for ice-cream on the way home from the hospital. When I inspected the TV, I could see exactly where the TV hit her, as there was a pool of blood on the bottom edge. I feel so incredibly lucky that she wasn't hurt more. We feel so blessed that she is in our lives, her quirky attitude, and her sweet hugs. We love everything about her.

This was all said and done and we were home from the hospital by 9:30 in the morning. And then the rest of the day was filled with lack of naps by Luke, who was having ear trouble and therefore was a little grumpy, and a couple of upsetting phone calls from Claire's school, which is another post in and of itself. By 2:00, I was so beat-up emotionally that I had to call my dad and cry. And he made me feel better.

So I guess it wasn't the worst day of my life, because everything turned out fine. Morgan healed, Luke's ears healed, and the calls from Claire's school, which had seemed upsetting at the time, have turned out to be not such a big deal.

Things are good. Except we still haven't gotten the blood stains completely out of the carpet yet. But I have Oxyclean, so I am not giving up yet.

{Scene of the Crime}

Toughy

2010-09-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

We have been busy lately, and this little monkey is part of the reason!

Luke is almost 10 months now and is just bursting with personality. I love this age. He loves to laugh and shout. He loves to babble. He loves to suck on my face. He is crawling and scooting all around, pulling himself up into standing position any chance he gets. Today I found him half-way up the stairs. It startled me to see him so high, so I shouted "Whoa!" and he hadn't seen me there so my startle startled him and he let out an excited squeal and laugh, because he was pretty impressed with himself.

He is still such a sweetheart- always happy and easy going. From his 6 month to 9 month appointment he only gained 2 pounds. Part of that is due to him being much more mobile and the other part is that he has been sick in some form or the other for almost the entire past two months. He has had three ear infections in the last month, but still was smiling through it all. We call him "Toughy", because that is what my Grandpa Leathem use to call my little brother and we say it exactly the way he use to- "Hey Toughy" (for the record, I am really good in my impersonation).

We love him so much and seriously can't get enough of this kid right now. Just a big bowl full of fun.

Remember July?

2010-09-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

Way back in ol' July, I flew back west to visit my family. We fly into Utah, and it was me flying solo with my three little chiltens. It was sorta miserable, but I won't harass you with those details--because there isn't a lot to detail besides, it was just miserable. We arrived in Utah and spent a couple of days with Cody parent's in Utah, where my kids enjoyed playing with Grandma and playing with their cousins.

Cody's parents have a chicken coup and naturally my kids thought collecting the eggs was quite possibly the coolest thing they had ever done. Here is Morgan and her cute cousin, Lyric, before the collecting began (thank goodness). My kids had a great time, and I also had a good time getting to see my brother and sister-in-laws and some nieces and nephews.

After a couple days at my in-laws, I drove with my sister from Utah to Washington, with six of our little kids jammed in the back of her van. Again, slightly miserable, but Monica makes everything more enjoyable. She is so fun to talk to- we talked the ten hour trip, non-stop, and I was a little hoarse the next day. Good times.

We spent a week at my family's house, where all my siblings had gathered for a family reunion. Again, just so much fun being with family- i love my family, the girls loved their cousins. It was so much fun. Our theme this year was Cowboys and Indians, so my mom made cowboy outfits for the boys, and Indian outfits for the girls, which were so darn cute it almost made me pee my pants. Almost. We had a scavenger hunt that we based off the Oregon Trail game (remember? from fifth grade?? So Awesome). And there was lots of swimming and slip-n-sliding. And some giant radish eating.
But I am a bit shocked to say no scotch-a-roos this year. What??

After our delightful week, we drove back to Utah (more miserable than the drive up) and then we spent a quick afternoon visiting friends, and then went back to my in-laws, where even more of my nieces and nephews had arrived and we had a birthday with all the cousins.

It was lots of fun to see them there altogether. And then the next day, we flew back home to Alabama (which again was miserable).

I'm kind of a whiner.

I love being with my family so much and this trip just wasn't long enough. I felt like each time I was leaving somebody to go to the next place, that I just wasn't ready to go yet. I spent too much time traveling and not enough time with family and friends. At one point, I called Cody when I was on the road going from one home to the other, crying, because I was sad about there not being enough time to see everyone I wanted to and just take my time rather than rushing around. But I was also very glad to be home with Cody again once the trip ended.

All my friends and family just need to move down to my neighborhood with me. I think that is just going to be the best solution.

(I don't know if Glamour Shots still exists, but Claire is ready for her close-up)

Hold up, August

2010-08-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Let's just skip the "there-so-much-to-catch-up-on" speech and get right to the point.

Claire's first day of First Grade, bright and early in the morning on August 11th (who starts school that early??)

Secondly, Morgan had her third birthday. We had a family party for her on her birthday and then a friends birthday party later that week, to the theme of Strawberry Shortcake.

This video still cracks me up even though I have watched it several times. It was actually the second take of singing her birthday song, because Cody started the first round to the slow beat of a funeral march and I stopped him to ensure we didn't have a repeat of last years dirge. Apparently we are birthday-song-challenged in our family.

Morgan is such a delight to our family. She is sweet and funny, attached to her pink blanket, curly haired, tender-hearted, doesn't like to see people sad so she will sing songs to you to make you be happy, and is just unbelievably cute. Seriously, we just can't get enough of her.

To Continue with June

2010-07-09T11:05:00.000-07:00

In the midst of all our busyness, we celebrated Cody's birthday 32nd Birthday. He had a friend come down from Philadelphia for the weekend to go fishing with him and we had a small family party for him. Good times.

* * *

We hadn't ever been to the zoo there, so we made plans with some friends to see it before we left. It was a smaller zoo, but very nice and the weather was perfect that day. I am glad we fit it in before we left.

* * *

We also made one final trip to the ocean. My kids love going to the beach. I don't necessarily feel the same about it. I enjoy the actually playing at the beach part, but I dread the cleaning off the kids, loading them into the van, showering them off part of the beach. But knowing this was our last time to the ocean for a while, I managed to look past the work part, and enjoy the moment of playing with our kids at the beach.

Farewell, great Atlantic.

Believe it or not, we still did more in the first couple of weeks of June before the move. . .

It's the never ending story.

To be Continued.

June

2010-07-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

It is amazing where a month has brought us. We have been busy, busy, busy, getting ready for our move, moving, and then unmoving into our new home in Alabama. And on top of all that, we had a long list of things to we wanted to do before we left Virginia and had to do some major hanging out with friends before we left. . .because moving is a lonely affair.

So I'll start where we left off. . . the beginning of June. I'll spare you the details of us getting ready for the move, because it just involves organizing and dejunking and some major stressing about some scratches in the d***ed hardwood floor (that's right, I just pseudo-cursed on my blog because that is how I feel about that particular hardwood floor) and none of that is particularly interesting.

The interesting part (at least to me) is the stuff we crammed into our final days in P-town (for the record, I have lived in four p-towns, and up until two weeks ago, I have always lived in a P-town).

After staring at this paddle boat ferry for a year, we finally took the kiddos on it for a short round trip. It was a beautiful evening and a nice way to spend a half an hour.

* * *

Now on to bigger and better and more expensive fun:

We had good times. What more is there to say?

There is still more, lots more, to tell about our June fun.

To Be Continued. . .

On Kayak

2010-06-04T07:38:00.000-07:00

{Kayaking on Memorial Day}

{Exploring}

{What Claire Did}

{What Morgan Did}

{Milkshakes Afterwards}

{Yummy Summer Day}

Seis Meses

2010-06-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hobbies: Eating, rolling, smiling, and putting any and all things in his mouth.

Loves: Eating is his greatest love. He especially is loving solids. He kicks his legs and smiles and opens wide when he sees I have a spoon of rice cereal coming.

Talents: Is easy-going a talent? He such an easy going guy. Most of the time he can be seen looking around smiling, even if nobody is paying him any attention. We are loving our little boy.

The Last Day

2010-05-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

I knew it would be a hard day for me-- Claire's last day of Kindergarten. We have had such a great experience this year with Claire's schooling. She was in a wonderful class, with a WONDERFUL teacher, with great friends and it has been better than we ever expected, which makes it that much harder to say goodbye.

It is really the first big goodbye we have here in Virginia as we get ready to move, and I handled it like I always do. I cried. I tried to joke it off as I was crying but I ended up braying like a donkey. I just can't talk when I cry like that. Embarrassing. Especially since I was the only one crying. Claire gave hugs goodbye to everyone and handled everything with a smile, much better than I did. Geesh.

Claire did cry about it last week, one night as she was getting into bed. She started to cry that once we move away, she would never be able to see her friends again. And through her tears, she started naming her friends that she would never see again. That was hard to hear. After I left her room, I started crying, too, as I wondered what we are doing to our kids, moving them around, having them make friends and then moving them away from them. Over and over. But again, I think I am taking it harder than Claire. That is the only time she has cried about it. Most of the time she is excited and busy making plans of all the things we will do in Alabama.

For Claire's final day in Kindergarten, the kids put on a Patriotic program, where they sang songs like "Grand Ol' Flag", "My Country 'Tis of Thee", and "God Bless America". It has been fun listening to her practice at home for weeks. She had a speaking part, explaining what the Statue of Liberty is and she did such a great job. But it almost didn't happen. Last night Claire, as well as two other girls in her class, threw up. And they started throwing up at about the same time, so we think it was a bit of food poisoning from something they ate in class yesterday. So Claire missed her last day of class, as we stayed home to rest a little before we took her in time to join her class in the program.

{With her teacher, Miss Jamie.
She is such a great teacher. Claire loved her and we will miss her}

Blah, blah

2010-05-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I don't know where time is flying to. It is going a little too fast for me. We are now down to counting weeks instead of months until we move. Wowsers. My to-do list is getting to be longer than I would like and that just gives me anxiety to think about it. So I try not to think about it and that just makes my to-do list longer. Anywho, I don't have anything to write about so I am just going to put up pictures of my kids. again.

{Williamsburg, with the oxen. They let Claire stand behind and plow the field.
She loved it.}

{at the beach}

{this is what Morgan does at the beach: build sandcastles out of the dry sand}

Sweet Home Alabama

2010-05-06T17:51:00.000-07:00

As I got off the airplane in Alabama, I heard it, several different times from different people. "Sweet Home Alabama!" and I wondered to myself if Alabamans got sick of hearing that from people who come to visit.

"Oh, yeah, Sweet Home Alabama. Good one. We haven't ever heard that before," said the sarcastic Alabaman.

Or do Alabamans hold it as their anthem. I have no idea. But I found myself repeating another phrase over and over while I was there to Cody. "You ever been to Mobile? . . .That's where I'm from. Mobile, Alabama." Over and over again. Even though we weren't in Mobile, nor am I from there. In fact, our trip out there a few weeks ago was the first time I had ever laid eyes on the state of AL, or anything near it. What are my thoughts about it?

It is GORGEOUS. It has lots of lovely trees and rolling hills, and lots of really nice people. I am looking forward to our time there (just not looking forward to the actually moving part, yuck). We found a cute little place, in a really cute little neighborhood, where Claire can ride the school bus to school, Morgan can ride her tricycle outside, Luke can sit around being plump, and we can go on family walks down in the woods behind our house (plus the neighborhood has a swimming pool, holla').

We spent most of our time there looking at homes, but we did manage to squeeze in a very yummy dinner with my friend, Melanie's, sister, Melissa and her family. She is a yummy cook and her family was very nice company. Her husband is from Eastern Washington (Wenatchee), and of course, when you are in Alabama and you meet someone who is also from the same area of the state you grew up in, you play 'do-you-know' and guess what? He did! (He knew Josh and Don--just in case you were wondering, Liz). I love that game.

Anywho, while we were monkeying around in 'Bama (I don't know if that's what the natives call it, but that is what I call it because I am hip), my sister-in-law Tiffani had flown clear across the country with her sweet little babe to watch Claire and Morgan. It is hard to be clear across the country from the nearest family member, especially when we may need help for things like this, so I am so thankful that Tiffani was willing to turn her life upside down for a week to come out and help us. I know it wasn't easy, or really very fun for her, but it helped us out immensely. And my two girls are kind of in love with her now. All I hear is 'tiffani-this' and 'diffani-that'. Thank you, Tiffani, from all of us. And thanks Mom, for helping out with the Washington end. It was such a big help to us.

And I'd like to thank the writers of Maverick for supplying me with the line, "you ever been to Mobile?. . ." and Cody thanks you too.

{Eva and Luke. Cousins. Born three days apart}

{Tiffani. First time at the Atlantic Ocean}

Who Stole the Cookie?

2010-04-30T06:52:00.000-07:00

I am a little behind on things. It has been a very busy April. So let's start with Claire's birthday party.

She invited her friends from her Kindergarten class and these were the invitations:

If you couldn't guess, it was a mystery party where the kids were the detectives, trying to solve the crime of who stole the cookie from the cookie jar. It included a newspaper clipping, a tiny manila envelope with a tiny note inside that can only be read with the magnifying glass, inviting them to be detectives at Claire's party.

And most essential to the party were cookies and cookie jars. Instead of birthday cake, we had a cookie buffet.

Since they were detectives, I thought it only fitting that we use the mustache for the decorations at the party. I even cut out felt mustaches for the kids to put on, but the double sided tape wasn't working, so I had to bag that one. Darn, it would have been cute.

Here is the list of suspects. The kids had a piece of paper with all the suspects pictures on it and then they went through the house finding clues and secret messages that narrowed down the list of suspects until they discovered who the thief was.

Of course, it was Strawberry Shortcake.

It was really fun for Claire, stressful for me (because those kids are wild when they get together!), but really fun to put together. I think the detective, secret message party will be one that we will repeat in the future.

Of course, after the party, my girls had a fun time putting on the mustaches from the cookie buffet. They make for pretty cute detectives.

Easter 2010

2010-04-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hi. Here is our Easter post, two weeks late.

We enjoyed a lovely day for our easter egg hunt. Morgan is holding up a malt egg. Vomit. Who eats those? It's like eating chocolate covered chalk. She didn't like it either. Last time I send Cody off to the store without a detailed list of acceptable Easter candy. Sheesh.

Speaking of lovely days, I just have to tangent a little to defend my little neck of VA by saying that since I wrote the ranting post about being too hot too early, it has been perfectly 60-70 degree weather since and I haven't had to use my AC since the day it was fixed. Now, I too, can be smug. (also, my jeans stretched so everything is just rosy now. . .until the next time I have to wash them)

oh, and to tangent on my tangent, the reason I put on tight jeans during that hot day, was because I do not have a lot of options (because I am still chubby) and since I was going out into public, I make it a point not to wear my husbands scrub pants when people are going to see me, I had to wear my one and only pair of pants that fit me. That's why we had the crying-mommy-in-a-tight-pair-of-pants-on-a-hot-day episode.

Anyways, back to Easter.

Luke was just a spectator this year. But you can tell by his expression he wanted in on the egg hunting, candy gobbling action.

I told you he was chubby.

6 Years, What?!?

2010-04-12T08:12:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday, Claire. We love you so much.

Layers of Crap

2010-04-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a bad day. A very bad day. It wasn't just one thing, or even two things that were bad. It was layer upon layer of crappy things that built up to make one big crappy pile of a day.

First I would like to clarify that I would normally characterize myself as a happy person, somewhat of an optimist, willing to see the positive in most things. I generally see the cup as half full. Except for when I am hot. Then, everything in the world is so much worse. I am sad, everything seems overwhelming and futile, and I don't care how full the cup is because it doesn't change that fact that I am hot.

Yesterday it was 90 degrees here. Which some of you might think isn't all that hot, but to me 90 is hot, much too hot for April 7. In fact, in the midst of my heat depression, I weather.comed Phoenix to make me feel better. Because, even though those smug tan Arizonians in Phoenix are always bragging about how perfectly 70 degrees it is during the winter time ("oh, it's Christmas and I am outside wearing shorts!"), it just makes me feel better knowing that they have to live in the heat of hell during the summers. Surely it is hotter in Phoenix than it is here. Nope. It was a perfect 72 degrees. Smug Arizonians.

To make the heat worse, like 1000 times worse, our AC is broken, again, for the sixth time this year. Frustrating. . . and hot. Our upstairs was a nice and toasty 85 degrees.

You know what is worse that a hot house? Putting jeans on in a hot house. And you know what is worse than that? Putting freshly laundered jeans on, when they have shrunken down to their actual size, so they are too tight. Too tight because I still am chubby with baby weight and I may or may not have pigged out on cookies the day before (and the day before that). Because it has been hot and I have been in a heat-induced depression so I turn to the only comfort that I have. . . no-bake cookies and Swedish fish.

So there I was, wearing pants that were tight, doing squats to stretch them out, hating the world more and more every constraining step I took (I really hate wearing tight pants)and did I mention I was hot? I was seriously near tears. And it was only ten in the morning.

By eleven I was on the road, kids in tow, on our way to Costco to get some much needed supplies. This is when I get the phone call that puts me in tears, just not right at that moment. I waited until I was standing in the middle of Costco before I randomly burst into tears. The phone call was Cody informing me that the owners of our house had scheduled a showing for that day at four o'clock. Super major bummer. I am not the type that keeps the entire house spotless at any random time. I am the type that has messy closets. So I completed my shopping, hurried home, made a mad sprint-dash clean of the house, shouting at my kids "don't make a mess, don't make a mess" all the while. Plus, it was a very, very hot house. No a/c. So I was a little grouchy.

At one point, I had put random things in a box to be taken upstairs. Claire and Morgan come downstairs and decide to dump the box out and spread all that stuff around again. When I saw it, all the layers of crap came to their culmination and it all hit the fan. I stomped and yelled, threw a major mommy fit, and put those kids squarely in time out. Usually when I put the kids in time out, they whine and cry all the way there. I was so monstrous that I think I scared the crap out of them. They both went and sat in their respective time out without saying a word. Morgan just sat there looking at me with wide eyes, a bit shell-shocked.

Anyways, after four hours of cleaning, mopping, lifting heavy things up into the attic, a very sweaty and grouchy me loaded up the girls and Luke into the van to hang out at McDonald's to wait out the showing. About a half an hour later, Cody calls me to inform me that nobody was coming. They took too long looking at other houses and decided to reschedule our showing. Blech!

I complained about 400 times yesterday that I was hot. Cody finally said to me, "You know, I don't think you could have cut it as a pioneer."

Of course I could have cut it as a pioneer. I just would have complained a lot.

Some things I feel need some clarification:
* I don't think Arizonians are smug. Okay, maybe a little during the winter.

* I don't think it's okay to throw mommy temper tantrums and yell at my kids. I apologized to them for overreacting, but they still had to sit in time out for dumping the box out.

* I don't like being hot.

Hoppy Easter

2010-04-03T18:09:00.001-07:00

Suspicions

2010-03-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Last week, we took Luke to the doctor and she confirmed what we had been suspecting-

That Luke is, indeed. . .

And we couldn't be prouder.

His weight is in the 100th percentile and his height is in the 98th for a four month old.

We produce very thirsty babies.

Date Night

2010-03-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

Last night, Cody and I had the rare opportunity to go out on a date night. I didn't realize how long it had been until we were walking into the restaurant sans children (well, except Luke, but he is so easy going, it was like we were sans children) and I felt giddy at the idea of eating out and not having to fight with anyone to stop standing on the chair or to stop drinking out of my cup. Once we were done with dinner, well, we didn't really know what to do with ourselves. Originally we had planned on going kayaking, but it was cold, rainy, and very windy, so that ix-nay-ed that. There were no movies in the theater that we had any desire to see, the go-cart place we considered going to had closed down, and we didn't feel like wandering the mall (because we are not 17). So what were we to do? We were baffled. We couldn't think of a single thing to do. We had been jonesin' for a date night for so long and here we were, unable to think of a single thing that we could do on a rainy night.

So we went to Michael's, the craft store.

Real romantic, I know (but secretly, I was excited to be there). We bummed around there for a while, picking up a couple of crafts to do with the kids and when we went out to the car, it was only 7:2o pm. Now what?

We ended up deciding to sit in the parking lot in our car, watch the rain fall down on the windows and just talk. It was actually really nice, the kind of thing we use to do way back when we were just dating. Of course, back then we didn't have a baby asleep in the back seat. But that just kinda made it all the better.

And this afternoon, the gir ls and I made the bunny house that was the fruit of our date last night. I say that, even if you think our date night was lamo, it turned out pretty good for all of us.

Pumpkin Patch 101

2010-03-19T06:48:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch 101:
with your instructor, Claire.

This is how I found Claire one day. Cody had given her some pumpkin seeds (the salted, baked kind) and she decided to go outside and plant them. I am glad she has the passion for gardening, but it is a good thing we won't be here in the fall for her to wonder why her pumpkin plant hasn't grown in yet.

Where are we going to be in the fall?

Why, Alabama, of course.

We are going to be real southerners for a couple of years and we are pretty excited about it (minus the intense humid heat- why can't I escape it-ahhhhh!).

On things Unfamiliar and Familiar

2010-03-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

A decade or so ago, I use to watch Supermarket Sweep on the tele and think to myself, "This game would be fun to play." I am most especially talking about the part where the contestants have to run around the store, looking for particular items, like Crisco, or Cascade dish washing detergent. I use to think I might be kind of good at that. Well, in this last decade or so, reality has hit and one of my very least favorite, most annoying things ever, is grocery shopping in an unfamiliar store. I don't know the layout; everything takes forever to find; I have to go back and forth, one side of the store to the other. It's one aspect of moving that I really dread: finding and familiarizing myself with a new grocery store.

I don't really have a point with this musing, just strong feelings about it, so I wrote it down. You're welcome.

Speaking of things unfamiliar to me, several weekends ago I made my way up to Pittsburgh, with kids in tow. Now it has only been (or already been, depending on how you look at it) nine months since we moved, so Pittsburgh is actually very familiar to me, but it looked a little unfamiliar, being that it was all covered in 3+ feet of snow. I would come to intersections that I knew so well, but I would have a bit of confusion remember which road was what, due partly to the snow making everything look a bit, well, white, and due partly to my nine months absence. And the feeling I got was haunting nostalgia for a place that I love and a place that I may never have the chance to visit again. It's a tough feeling for me. The homes, the intersections, the buildings, the trees, the HILLS. They all brought memories of good times and good people tumbling back to me. Well, except for the hills. I honestly forgot about how any turn you take in Pittsburgh will lead you to a steep hill and that brings a whole flood of bad driving-on-steep-hills memories. Though the hills are lovely.

We had a good visit with our friends and it was very much worth the long drive, the napless days, the late nights to spend some time with friends. Claire and Morgan had such a good time playing with 'Pixburgh' friends , Luke was an angel the entire trip, and I enjoyed my visit (and the food) immensely.

As we were driving out of the 'burgh, I decided to make a little visit on the street where we once lived to see if Claire could still pick out the little brick house we called home for four years. As we drove down the street, she kept saying, "is that one it? is that one it?" But then as we passed our house, she said with confidence and delight, "oh, there it is!" Seeing the street where we lived, the center of our Pittsburgh life, was the hardest part of the trip for me (well, I guess not as hard as the part where I was seriously convinced and panicked that I was going to run out of gas in the toll booth on the freeway). It made me happy to see the little house, exactly as we left it. And then we drove by a little side road to which Claire said, "Hey, that's the way to Keegan's house." Cue tears. My tears. I cried, not Claire. She remembers, I remember our life there. For those memories, I am thankful.

And something I wasn't quite expecting was that as we pulled into our town in Virginia, it looked familiar, it had the feeling of coming home, which was such a stark difference from the feeling of foreignness it held nine months ago as we pulled in to our new town. This time, it's familiarity was as comfortable as putting on a favorite baggy hoody.

Of course, now that I have found that comfort, we will be moving again in three months and we'll start this whole familiar, unfamiliar story again. And I will have to find a new grocery store.

Shoot.

February in Review

2010-02-28T17:39:00.001-08:00

I feel a bit boring just putting pictures on all my posts. I have a desire to write things, but just not much down time to do it. I have three kids now. Life has actually been really good since little Luke has come along. I have been really busy, tired, and oddly enough, super happy. Usually tired + me = not super happy, but I have just been surging with good feelings. I think my body is just so happy to not to have all the extra hormones of pregnancy. I sometimes get asked by people how life is with three kids. This is what my life is with three kids.

I felt like February was off to a good start.

Claire and I made valentines for her kindergarten class. And if you ignore that fact that by the end of making the cards, Claire was almost in tears, and I was in a bad mood that lasted for the rest of the evening, everything went pretty well.

A big secret I have for surviving having more children than I do arms, is that I inevitably have to ignore one or more of them for some periods of time. And this is just a result of some of my ignoring:

(I found Morgan on the counter, downing bottles of red and blue sprinkles like it was juice)

(And then one day I heard the water start running upstairs, and I go up to find these two hoodlums have a swim date in my bathroom. )

****

But this little smile. . . it's impossible to ignore.

we're doing just fine.

2 months+

2010-02-09T06:38:00.000-08:00

***

You may be getting bored with pics of my kids, but that's what happens when you have a baby and a blog. You post pictures, lots of gooey pictures.

Snow Day

2010-02-05T06:45:00.000-08:00

Where we live in Virginia typical doesn't get much snow. This past weekend we had a "big" snow storm where it snowed a foot in one day and EVERYTHING shut down. Church was cancelled, school was cancelled for two days, the hospital where Cody worked was closed. It was the biggest snow storm in 20 years. I am giggling as I write this, because I know some of you are in locations like Pittsburgh or Utah that get so much snow, a foot is just considered a dusting. It would take much more than a foot of snow to close school, much less a hospital. But to be fair to Virginia, in places that get snow frequently, they have snow plows, employees, and money budgeted to plow all the streets before you even wake up in the morning. We don't have that here, because it rarely snows. So the streets weren't plowed and they were pretty bad for several days as we waited for the sun to melt it away. We had a nice, cozy, long weekend at home, with a winter wonderland in our backyard.

What Ghetto Parenting Looks Like:

Hoodlum

2010-01-26T14:29:00.000-08:00

203 Posts

2010-01-21T17:13:00.001-08:00

It is a well known fact that a group of mothers cannot get together without the conversation eventually leading to labor and delivery. . . and boobs. I get into trouble a lot with my "sharing"- you know the common side effects that accompany such spontaneous regurgitation of thoughts: putting my foot in my mouth; offending; nausea, dry mouth, and diarrhea; grossing people out with my way too personal details; and most destructively, gossiping. So I stood there, washing dishes, imagining myself on a snowy night, pressing my face up to a frosted window, and watching another family inside my house, opening their Christmas presents. I bid them one final "wa-Ha-HA" as I blew out the candles and closed their door for a peaceful nights rest. One day I will get it all together, when I can make a batch of sticky buns without getting myself into a sticky situation. Maybe some day, somewhere, when a seminary teacher doesn't have anything planned for the day, the story of our cipher in the snow will be told, and someone besides me, will shed a tear for our sorry tree. The child wants to, more than anything, go out and play in the snow. She just doesn't understand what it means when the loving, kind mother says, "It's too cold outside. Your fingers will freeze and fall off." I, of course, was running after her, calling out her name, but it didn't help that she had quite the head start, and I was slowed down by, shall we say, heaving bossoms and a not-so-very-supportive nursing bra (that's not even the graphic stuff, folks). Okay, so technically the honorable thing would have been to not write things that I would feel uncomfortable having anyone read, but apparently honor falls just behind speaking my mind, which falls slightly behind saving face, which falls somewhere behind my amazing ability to load dishwashers full and efficiently, in my list of attributes. "What the hell?" And the only reason I bothered to write this part is because it is one of the stars that aligned to create the perfect storm, that nearly robbed us of our lives. . . Cody relinquished his hold on the rod of normalcy and stumbled off onto a scarlet path paved with sunburned napes.
But when I come home to find my husband, still in his camo, boiling the top of a deer head in my kitchen, I draw a line. Do I want Claire to tell her little three year old friends I love you, by saying, 'Your skankin' shirt is super blinging it, girrrl!" And you realize, that no matter how much you have envisioned yourself on So You Think You Can Dance, you seriously aren't coordinated enough to pick up the simple step aerobic combos that the peppy instructor is shouting out unintelligibly into her headset (all you hear is "wah, wah, wah, knee") and you find yourself flailing in circles trying to keep up with everyone else all while being awkwardly conscious that the girl behind you is most likely focusing on your furry calves. In fact, the next time you meet a new person, if you think about this post, and think about me, and how I actually did once name the hair on my arm Harriet, well, I think you will be feeling pretty good about yourself and the conversation will go a lot better. No daughter of mine is going to be paraded around the mall in her red-neck, my-father-might-be-my-brother, viva-la-nascar, camo shirt. "Ooh, i did not. . I did not always want these. It's not fair!" Next time Morgan takes a bath, she is getting her bum scotched-taped first. It is small, it smells like your grandma's house, has a random toilet in the basement, and it doesn't believe in the value of closet space, but it has been our first house. Actually, he got injured five days before playing soccer and suffered through the pain (of which I gave him zero sympathy for, made him lift heavy furniture much to his peril, and called him things like 'sissy' and 'little dancing flautist') all that time.I was stuck pondering how I was going to convince Cody that we needed to have at least five more kids. I remember having a fairy tale book when I was little, and it told a story about three sisters, and the prince agreed to marry the one who could keep a secret. Two of the sisters just couldn't keep the secret inside, it ate at them until finally they let out the secret- into the thickets and down a well. The third sister kept her secret and married the prince. Now as a grown up, I realize what kind of sister I am- the one who needs to let the secret out, even if no one is listening. Thats why I write.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Luke

2010-01-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

Mom

2010-01-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

My mom came to visit a month ago and what a sweet visit it was. By the time she arrived, I had been a single mom for about three days, while Cody was off across the country for some military training crap. It was a tough three days, being that I had a newborn, but that made my mom's visit all the more sweeter. Not only was she such a big help during the time Cody was away, she was just a lot of fun to have around. We talked, we baked (okay, she baked, I ate), we watched HGtv, and we did a little sight-seeing. She was great with the kids, brought gifts, made crafts, cooked with them- they always have fun with Grandma! It was my favorite visit yet.

{a tour of a battleship}

{A visit to the Atlantic Ocean}
This was my mom's first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean and it was cold and windy, but vast. Very, very vast).

{Craft time with Grandma}

{One of my favorite things about my mom's visits- super yummy baked goods- she made cinnamon rolls, butterhorn rolls, cookies- sooo-ho-ho good}'

Thanks, Mom,
for the visit,
the help,
the food,
and all the good times.

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

2009-12-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

So there I was, standing in Wal-mart, unsuccessfully trying to fight back my tears. I could probably start many different stories from my life this this way, but this particular story is elevated above all the other ones, as it is pretty important. I had just dropped Claire off at school and I was grocery shopping, one last time before I was going to be put out of commission by the addition of one little boy to our family. For you see, I was six days overdue and I had an appointment to be induced on the seventh day over. I was completely fine with this plan. I mean, you may recall that I would much rather go into labor on my own rather than be induced, but my lazy body just didn't feel like it this time. I didn't mind being overdue. I still felt fine and was sleeping fairly well. The apprehension of delivery and subsequent sleepless nights always outweighs any minor physical discomfort I may have at nine months pregnant. My only concern was that I could tell that this baby was going to be pretty big. How big? I didn't know, but I was scared enough to allow them to schedule an induction date a week after I was due.

So as I was stocking up on groceries, I got a phone call from Cody. He had gone to talk to the doctors at the hospital who were in charge of my induction (because they were a little less than clear on the when I should show up at the hospital) and the doctor he talked to suggested that I come in this very morning to be induced instead, since I was scheduled for an evening induction the next day (meaning I would most likely be in the hospital for Thanksgiving). So Cody called me to see if that was what I wanted to do. So my reaction was simply to cry. I wasn't mentally prepared to have the baby that morning and I was a bit stressed about such a sudden change and the need for sudden decision making. So I handled it like an adult and I cried, in Wal-mart, in the cereal aisle. I did my best to hide it, because even though I was shopping at Wal-mart, I still have some dignity to keep intact.

My initial reaction was to tell Cody, "no way, Jose". I wasn't ready (which is kind of silly being that I had nine months and six days to get ready), but it was already all set in my mind that I was being induced the next day. After talking to Cody and considering our babysitting options, I decided it would be best to go in that morning. I had two hours from the time I was crying in the cereal aisle to finish shopping, take the groceries home, get Morgan and Claire's babysitting bags, drop Morgan off at the sitters, and get to the labor and delivery triage.

Cody and I arrived at labor and delivery a little after noon. Soon I was in a room, in a very revealing hospital gown, waiting for a doctor to get this show on the road. We waited for a while. Finally a doctor came to check on me, determined that I was dilated to a 6 even though I hadn't had any painful contractions yet, so I had hope that this induction would go fast. At about 1:30, they hooked me up to pitocin, had a parade of residents, nurses, and clowns come dance around in my room, and then I just waited. I wanted to feel some contractions before I got my epidural (because believe me, I was going to get an epidural!!), but after a while on the pitocin I having contractions, but they still weren't painful. I went ahead and got the epidural, because I didn't want to risk missing the point where I could get one.

Now I have had two previous deliveries, with two previously perfect epidurals. I just knew the epidural streak wouldn't last. The epidural only worked on the right half of my body. At about five o'clock, I was started to feel super strong contractions on my left side. Ouch. I kept pushing my epidural button but it was not getting any better. I knew I was close to delivering and I wanted the epidural fixed NOW! So the Anesthesiologist came, adjusted the epidural, and ten minutes later I was dilated to a 10 and ready to push. Thankfully the pain started to subside when I started to push.

Claire was a six pound baby and I pushed for 30 minutes. Morgan was a seven pound baby and I pushed for 40 minutes. I thought, being that this baby was going to be bigger that it would take even longer to push. Nope, five minutes and he was out. All nine pounds two ounces of him. Needless to say, recovery was a bit tougher with this one.

But at 5:38 pm, we had a beautiful baby boy, whom we named Luke James. He is now over a month old and is such a good baby. He is growing like a weed, a big fat weed. He weighed 11 lbs 5 oz at his two week appointment and has grown a ton since then. We love having this little boy and are enjoying watching him grow and develop.

Well, to make a long story short (too late), that is our labor and delivery story.

'Tis the Season

2009-12-11T15:32:00.000-08:00

Here is what we have been up to this first part of December. I didn't know if having a baby right before the holidays would put a damper on the festivities, but really, I have felt more festive than ever and have enjoyed the extra time spent with Cody and my mom.

We are doing great, though we could do with a little more sleep. My mom has been here helping with the kids and has been a lot of fun (and a big help) to have around. And she is not helping me lose the baby weight as she keeps making really good homemade goodies. Luke isn't the only one gaining a pound a week.

Luke James

2009-12-01T10:37:00.000-08:00

We welcomed Luke James into our family on Monday, November 23.
He weighed a whopping 9 lbs 2 oz.
He was 21 inches long.

The girls just love him, constantly wanting to hold him, kiss him, and touch him every chance they have.

Luke has been a great little baby so far and is quite the chunk. We just had his one week appointment today and he now weighs 10 lbs 5 oz. The kid knows how to eat.

Last night, in the middle of the night, as I changed Luke's diaper in my bed, I thought I was doing a good job holding the diaper over him so that he wouldn't squirt pee everywhere. It turns out I was merely pointing it up. The kid amazingly managed to send a line of pee straight up and over his shoulder, landing across the bed, square on Cody's face. The kid has good aim.

A Night of Darkness

2009-11-13T09:54:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and stormy night. A November nor'easter was flashing its windy, rainy head, flooding the area, ripping off branches and stripping the trees of the last of their colorful leaves. Inside, our family was hunkered down, cuddled in warm blankets, watching the first of our fresh stock of movie rentals, Wall-E. And right in the middle, just when the story starts to get real weird and political for a kids movie, with the fat people suffering from bone loss, the electricity went out, abruptly putting an end to our stormy night movie marathon. Claire's first reaction was to say with some distress, "What happened to Wall-E?"; My first reaction was to let out a wicked cackle and say with some giddy excitement, "Let's play Murder!"; Cody's first reaction was to grab the flashlight and say with some steady calmness, "I am going to load the guns."

Maybe I should preface this story with some important facts that will in some part explain our reactions.

First of all, Claire likes Wall-E regardless of the weird, political fat people part. Second, growing up, when there were power outages at night, I remember our family playing games, like Murder- you know, with candles and the blinking? And thirdly, Cody doesn't normally react this way in power outages. But in our area, there was a storm a couple of years ago that knocked out power for two weeks and we knew going into this storm that it was going to be pretty big, with wide-spread flooding and big winds. And being prepared in emergency survival situations is Cody's forte.

So while I played shadow puppets with the girls and made random ghost noises in the dark to try to scare the girls witless, Cody was piling up the matches and candles, prioritizing the flashlights based on what batteries they took, organizing our water supply, mentally going over our food supply, loading my gun, loading the shotgun, loading the AK 47 clips, and finally, taking a hot shower before the hot water ran out.

What's funny is that you don't really know which parts I am serious about and which parts I am kidding about.

It's all true.

Earlier that day, as we were anticipating the great storm, Cody came to me with a request. "Will you humor me with something?" Now Cody may have great survival instincts, but I have great 'roll-my-eyes' instincts, and anytime I am approached with a request to humor, I know there is going to be major eye-rolling and possible mocking going on. I was right, as usual.

"I want to show you how to load and unload the AK," he said in all seriousness, but with half a smile, because he knows me and my potential for mocking.

[Insert my mocking and eye rolling]

I understand his desire to be prepared and to protect his family, home, and food when calamitous crap hits the fan, but can he really see me using the AK. . . ever? I am more of a mace person. You attack my family, I will mace you. And if I was going to use a gun to defend myself, it would be a shotgun. Back in my Halo playing days, I totally rocked the shotgun- up close and personal was my style, no aiming necessary. Why would real life be any different? (the same question asked many a times by Halo nerds, and the main reason they can't find girlfriends)

As we said prayers that night, just to reiterate what was still her main concern, Claire's final petition in her prayer was that the electricity would come back on and that we could finish watching Wall-E. Morgan and she went to bed, peacefully, exhausted from our extensive shadow dancing. I bid them one final "wa-Ha-HA" as I blew out the candles and closed their door for a peaceful nights rest.

As for me, I wasn't as concerned about the potential rioting, looting, and mass public chaos that a food and water shortage from a prolonged power outage could cause (after all, by this point, the power had only been out for about two hours). I was more concerned by the fact that three kids was not going to be enough to play a good, rousing game of Murder, or even more importantly, Mafia. I was stuck pondering how I was going to convince Cody that we needed to have at least five more kids. I was shaken out of my reverie by the sound of something landing hard on the ground outside. I shifted my concern to the huge, ancient pecan tree in our front yard, afraid that it might be blown over in the wind storm, or at the least, one of it's huge appendages would fall and smash our vehicles. So Cody donned his camouflaged rain gear and braved the rain, wind, and pelting pecans, to move his truck out of the way of danger.

When he came back inside, he expressed to me how pleased he was that he had these rain clothes, and headlamps, and guns, and every other piece of hunting/fishing equipment that he has purchased over the years, feeling totally justified in the thousands of dollars spent, because it all came down to this one moment. This one moment of emergency preparedness (power's been out for 2.25 hours now). For this peace of mind, it made it all worth it.

He laid his head down on his pillow and closed his eyes. For him, this night was the pinnacle of all his studying and practical applications (which, no doubt, all his hours of hunting and fishing are); this was his Hunger Games, his Triple Crown, his creme de la creme, his Mount Everest, his Tour De France, his National Spelling Bee. He fell fast asleep, with complete peace and satisfaction knowing that he was fulfilling his job as protector of our family, more than ready to face whatever struggles or horrors we might have to face. He fell asleep, with his feet metaphorically dug in, ready and prepared for the long haul.

An hour later, the power came back on.

Bests and Worsts

2009-11-06T05:01:00.000-08:00

It was the best of weeks; it was the worst of weeks.

Back in the golden days of blogging, my sister and I would write posts about the best and worst part of our weeks. I haven't done it in years, but I have had just such a week that showcased my embarrassing incompetence tucked in with the kinds of redeeming things that make life fine.

note: for perspective and clarification sake, this particular week happened two weeks ago.

Let's start with my moments of embarrassing incompetence. I have two, in the same week. I was a superstar that week. First off, I lost my credit card at a gas station. I have never lost my credit card before and the person who happened to find it decided they wanted to get some gas of their own, in three different gas stations, all on me. Sweet. Who uses a credit card that isn't theirs?? I know. That is a naive question. But thankfully, our credit card takes care of fraud charges. Unfortunately, that is only the first of two majorly dumb moments by me.

The second is potentially more costly. I backed our minivan into a parked car. Sweet. I was going super slow, and was actually in the middle of a seven point turn, and what resulted was a scratch in my bumper and a small, barely noticeable dent in the door of the other car. So I had to leave a note (because I am not the kind of person who puts dents in cars and then drives away and I am not the kind of person who uses other people's credit cards). Grrrrrr. That's all I have to say about that.

I did have a couple of high points that week, too. It was the week we went to Busch Gardens, and it was so much fun to watch my kiddos enjoy the rides (okay, mostly I watched Claire enjoy the rides, and Morgan just tolerate them). The second thing that week was a girls night I had with some gals from the ward. I hosted it here at my house and I was excited to have a good night of talking, laughing, swedish fish, and getting to know the woman here better. It didn't disappoint. I had such a good time and it was so refreshing. And. . . they all showed up with gifts for baby boy. My friend, Amy, had arranged a surprise baby shower for me. I was so surprised and touch. Not only was it very helpful in getting ready for the baby, but also it meant a lot to me that I have friends here that wanted to celebrate with me the coming of our little one.

That is comforting. It made the things that didn't go so right that week seem not quite so important. Thank you Amy.

The Lost Art

2009-11-03T16:38:00.001-08:00

There is so much to Halloween nowadays. Back in the day you just went trick or treating once, where you went door to door, rang on doorbells. You know, you really had to work for your candy. Nowadays, you have the trunk or treat at the church, the school party, the trick or treating at dad's work, and then finally the night of trick or treating, but by that point you have so much candy in the house, you start wondering if you are actually a share holder in the amalgam business. I seriously don't like trunk or treats and here is why. It's just a line of kids, moving slowly with their hands and bags (sometimes pillowcases, darn teenagers) held out, waiting mindlessly for some guy in a witch hat to put candy in their bag. Where is the sport in that? There is no walking up patio steps, no ringing doorbells, no sing song "trick or treat" and "thank you", no preening in your costume at each house as the old ladies try to guess what kinda princess/scary murderer you are. It's over in 20 minutes at trunk or treats. Why don't they just spare us the assembly line and hand each of us a bag of candy as we pull through the parking lot? We don't even have to stop. A drive-thru trick or treat is just as sporting.

Do I sound cynical? A week of non-stop eating candy has done that to me.

I made the girls costumes this year- loved Morgans, wished I wouldn't have attempted Claire. Claire wore hers to the trunk or treat and then the rest of the week I let her wear a dress up dress with wings. Morgan really got the concept of trick or treating this year. She thinks it is the best idea in the whole world, that she dresses up in a costume and people hand her candy. She wakes everyone morning and nap, demanding more chocolate.

{A sweet moment, Claire helping Morgan feel better after she fell and skinned her knee}

{An awkward moment, just trying to get a sisters picture}

As much as I love Halloween, I am glad it is over. And that it is now November. I am having a baby in November. Who will most likely be born on a sugar high. Sorry, baby boy.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T16:30:00.000-08:00

Busch Gardens 2009

2009-10-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

Debi Downer

2009-10-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Maybe Morgan has an incredible memory and remembers the last time we went to a pumpkin patch. Maybe Morgan is a lot like me and likes festive things to be really festive. Or maybe Morgan is a Debi Downer.

We went on a field trip with Claire's school to a pumpkin patch nearby. If you are comparing it to any of the pumpkin patches from Pittsburgh, it was lame-o, small, underwhelming, boring, and did I mention lame-o? But that's just me. Claire enjoyed it. Most of the kids enjoyed it. Morgan. . . well. Let's let the pictures do the talking:

{Here is Claire and her big feet, pleased to be posing next to a giant pumpkin face}

{Now here is Morgan. This isn't a random pictures. This is her, with me begging her to look up. She refuses and continues for several minutes to look down dejected}

{Hayride. . . still no smiles from the Morgsters}

{Here are some of the girls in Claire's class, looking so happy. Notice Morgan, though. Still no smile. She is probably looking at the rock, thinking, "This rock is having more fun than I am."}

{But can you blame her? Look at this thing. This was the only activity, beside the hayride, for the kids to do. It was a dirt hill, with a couple of 5 ft slides on it. Major lame-o!}

{And this is how Morgan felt about it. She stood that way, making that exact face for about five minutes}

What Benjamin Franklin Didn't Know

2009-10-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

When I was Philadelphia, in the Benjamin Franklin Museum (major snoozer), I saw a big quote on the wall that said, "Speak little; do much", from Poor Richard's Almanack. My first thought was--obviously he has never been on a girls trip.

Poor Richard, indeed.

It has been over a week since I returned from the rock-awesomest girls trip ever and I still have a grin on my face. In the last few, harried weeks of Pittsburgh, as everyone was preparing to move, we made a desperate pact to meet up somewhere for a girls trip so it wouldn't be so sad to say goodbye. And six months later, after about 273 emails, some backing out and jumping back in, to the joy of all involved, it came to fruition, in sunny Orlando.

Nine girls, all moms, four pregnant, three nursing, two photographers, and a double batch of German Pancakes. It was heaven.

{Libby, Amy, Me, Gina, Jana, Debi, Elise, Rachel, and Melanie}

There isn't a lot to outline as far as an itinerary went. We chose Orlando so we could sit outside at the pool all day and talk. We talked and talked and talked and laughed our butts off (that's just figuratively, as you can tell from the pictures, mine is bigger than ever). We had late nights, late mornings, and anytime we tried to go somewhere, even if it was just to the pool, we were slowed down by gabbing. We were making up for six months of lost time and lost conversations. And since I don't know how to really tie it in, I will just come out and say it- we also had a craft night- making flowers and hair bows. No joke. We did.

It was so wonderful to see so many of my friends again. They are truly so much fun to be around and I can't wait to see all of them again. I also wish, for just one day, we could of had our kids with us, so that the kids could see each other and I could see how all of them are growing and forgetting all about me (sigh). But I knew my kids were at home, enjoying some time with daddy. Cody was great about taking the kids and all the responsibilities that went with them. The first night I was back home, as we were settling into bed, Cody said something pretty profound.

"You know, motherhood. . . everyday is like Groundhogs Day."

I think he was referring to the movie, and not the actual holiday, because then that really wouldn't make sense.

It was just what I needed. It was the best girls trip . . . ever . . . well, at least until the next one.

{We went to a couple outlet stores. Here I am, trying on some subtle accessories.}

........................................................

All photos courtesy of Photos by Melanie. You can see more of her Orlando pictures here.

Cracked Bell

2009-10-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

Last week was a busy, traveling week. I visited 5 states and was only home for one day. Being 35 weeks preggers, I had to get the traveling bug out of me for the rest of the year. The first part of the week, I was in Florida, but I will post more about that trip later. The second trip I went on was to Philadelphia for a wedding. We left early Friday morning, and in less that five hours, drove along the eastern shore of VA, Maryland, Delaware, and arrived in Pennsylvania at one of the most beautiful places you could ever envision living in during the fall-- Chadds Ford, PA.

The wedding was nice; Cody was a groomsman and wore a tux, and I fought desperately to keep two unruly girls quiet during the ceremony. Claire kept whispering rather loudly, "This is boring. Weddings are so boring."

The next morning, we took off to Liberty Square in Philadelphia to check out some American history, but it was raining, I am a lazy 35 weeks pregnant, and Independence Hall was 'sold out', so we only stayed about an hour before we decided we'd seen enough and headed home. My favorite part of the whole trip was the drive along the eastern shore. I didn't see any ocean, but the whole drive is through beautiful, picturesque farms and rural towns. So beautiful!

I had to force myself to take pictures just to document that we visited Philly. They are lame pics but at least generations to come can look at them and agree, they are lame.

Our Walk

2009-09-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

If I have talked to you about what it is like where I live in Virginia, you no doubt heard me complain of the heat, humidity, and my hardwood floors. All three were the bane of my existence this summer. But I knew once the weather cooled a bit, I would have a much rosier outlook on life and my location. And though fall is a bit hesitant to show it's head here, it has definitely cooled off some, allowing me and Morgan to actually go outside during the day and get some much needed exercise. A couple weeks ago, as I was on my walk, I realized how beautiful my little part of town is. My walking route here is probably my favorite out of all the routes I have ever had. So I decided to snap some pics, not only to prove it to you, but also so you can now imagine where I live. I always like to be able to visualize where my friends and family live as they tell me stories of their lives, taking place thousands of miles away. So here ya go:

{Here is Morgan, getting hydrated before our walk. The messy sidewalk is due to a ginormous pecan tree in our front yard that's dropping nuts like it's goin' out a style.}

{This is the bay, which is usually smooth as glass and so beautiful (just not on the day I took this pictures). Across the way is a Nordstrom (I just had to point that out for Jana and Libby- maybe they will come visit me).}

{We live in a real historic area and this part of town they have worked to keep it restored and beautiful. These streets are fun to walk down and read the history plaques they have for many of the houses.}

{These trees, Crepe Myrtles, are everywhere and they are so beautiful. They line the streets and blossom all summer long. Still blossoming.}

{Just a beautiful historic home!}

{Paddle boat ferry which will take you across the bay.}

{Really, just some beautiful homes. This blue one on the corner is one of my favorites.}

Oh, and me and the hard wood floor have come to a begrudging compromise. I will keep the dust off it and not care so much that I can see little grubby footprints all over it.

PS: Remember my friend who makes birdy slings bags? Well, she is having a giveaway for one of her bags. Go to her blog to check out the details, and then go to her website to see all the cute bags (and now tutu's) she has for sale (and notice how she now has a bag named after me. I had to beg).

Nesting?

2009-09-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

I may or may not be nesting, but if I am, it isn't the clean up the house kind of nesting. It's the creative energy kind of nesting. I have been doing a lot of sewing and crafts lately. I am not at all prepared for the baby boy (for instance, my sewing area is where his nursery will be and nothing for his room has been set up, NOTHING). I am not super worried, even though I have less than two months. I am not worried but procrastinators don't worry until crunch time.

So here is one of the things I have been doing:

I have been having fun making these little fabric flowers- they are easy, pretty, and have so many uses. The first thing I used them for was making a belt to wear with my black dress. I only have one maternity dress and it is plain black. I get a little sick of wearing it the same way every week, so I made this sash to wear with my dress (and with some other shirts I have) to change it up a little bit. I really love the way it turned out.

(this fuzzy black shirt isn't my Sunday dress, but I wanted to show you what it looked like as a belt)

Here is my attempt at a self-portrait, but I couldn't get a very good picture of the belt. Hopefully you get the idea.

This is me, 32 weeks pregnant. I, of course, chose the most flattering angle as you all don't need to see the full gloriousness of all my weight gain.

These flowers are pretty easy to make. You just need some polyester fabric (I used this pretend-silk fabric, organza, and some tulle). Then you cut little circles, singe the edges with a lighter (polyester fabric curls when it gets burned). Then layer your circles together, sew them together while adding some beads, and presto. These can be used for belts, head bands, bobby pins, or put a safety pin on the back and put them anywhere.

PS: If you want a birdie sling, but have zero desire to make one, I have two friends that make and sell the slings. They even do custom orders- how cool are they!

Funky Threads
Sassy Seamstress

For Lizzie Jane

2009-09-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

Okay Lizzy Jane,

It's finished and will soon be on its way to its new home.

Hope you enjoy and welcome to the birdie sling club!

Layers

2009-09-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

So I have to go back to this picture, once again. It is evidence that I am, in fact, a bit of a space cadet. No, I am not rehashing the whole I showed up for school a day early debacle. This is something different, that maybe you noticed and were to polite to say anything.

Let me start at the kids doctor's appointment two days ago. I will spare you the details, but it was one of those times when things were so bad that I actually had to step out of the dr.'s office into the hallway to avoid a complete meltdown. Because I was on the verge. I was holding back tears. I was wondering what I was doing being a grown up (in case I am worrying anyone, I was upset because the kiddos were behaving bad, and the drs office was taking forever). So after I had calmed down, and right before I had to pin a screaming and flailing Claire in my arms to give her shots, I was sitting there looking at Claire when I noticed it. Her hair. It look different on one side, like it had been cut. It had been cut. The little stinker, for like the fifth time in her life, cut her hair. But when?

Last week my friend, Amy, asked if Claire had gotten a hair cut. I told her, "no, its just her bangs that are growing out" and just brushed it aside. So while I was sitting there in the doctors office, starting to fume that she once again cut her bangs that were almost long enough to go in a pony tail, I remembered this conversation and realized Claire had been walking around this way, with one side of her hair a good two inches shorter than the other side for over a week and I hadn't noticed. I looked back at her school pictures, taken over a week ago, and sure enough, her hair is butchered. When did this happen??? How did I not notice?? And more importantly, why have I not fixed it yet? Some things we will never know.

Productivity

2009-09-12T03:40:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you have noticed, but i have been crazy reading this year. Especially since I moved here to Virginia. I always read more when I am pregnant, because I am tired and need more rest, which equals reading books until I start narrating my actions in my head in the same tone as the book. But this time it has been an obsession. I would say it is more of an addiction. I felt like I couldn't function if I didn't have a book to read. I was addicted to the library, to goodreads, to falling asleep to a chapter and waking in the night with the story still on my mind. I kind of felt like I was in a literary haze.

32 books so far this year.

I decided to take a bit of a break, to slow down with reading and start working on some of the other goals I had made for myself this year. So for the last three weeks, since I returned from my vacation, I have stayed away from the library. During my new free time, I made a quilt for the little baby blue that we are expecting, and I made a tooth fairy pillow for Claire.

Tooth Fairy Pillow: I wanted to try this flower pattern my mom gave me, which I tweaked a little because I apparently don't like to make things exactly like other people do. I also wanted to try the pin-tuck technique. I loved the way it turned out.

(And Laurie, a tooth fairy pillow has a little slot in the back to put the tooth, so it doesn't get lost and the tooth fairy knows exactly where to find it and where to deposit some coinage.)

And here is the quilt I made for baby boy. I really like the way it turned out, with the blanket-stitched stars and border, and the blue ticking fabric on the back. Does it look familiar? I totally knocked it off from Pottery Barn Kids, but added some of my own design. Oh yeah, and I tried quilting it myself- I must stop doing that. I am no good at it. Next time I am sending it to my mom to quilt. She is amazing.

First day of Kindergarten

2009-09-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ah, the first day of kindergarten. So much anticipation, so much excitement, so many photo ops. The night before, we were trying to hype Claire up on being excited about kindergarten. We had a little ceremony as we packed her lunch box. We carefully went through the list of school supplies and loaded them into her backpack. We set out her clothes. She went to bed with visions of sharpened pencils dancing in her head.

The next morning was a bit more chaotic than we had planned. First off, my alarm didn't go off, so I slept in, but we still had time to get ready. We step outside and it is pouring buckets. The streets were flooded. But we made it on time. Plenty of time. We arrived a day early.

Apparently I didn't pay too much attention to the actual date of the first day of school. So I and about 7 other parents had to take home our disappointed kids, who we had previously hyped up for this big moment. Big let down. Oops.

So today was really Claire's first day of school. Thankfully when we arrived, there was a parking lot full of cars and a classroom full of Claire's future friends. I am so glad to be back on a schedule. It is going to be a great year!

Don't Put All Your Adages in One Basket

2009-08-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

I tend to procrastinate these vacation posts as they tend to be long-winded and not that interesting to anyone besides me. I have to force myself to be brief, and I never like being brief. But here is my attempt.

My flight out to Utah: it was me and my two girls going alone since Codeman had to work. I flew Delta, therefore you can probably guess what happened without me going into much detail. The girls and a very pregnant I (I threw the 'very' in there for dramatic effect) were stuck over night in Georgia through no fault of our own. You know the drill, stand in an airport line until 1:30 at night with two crazy kids who refuse to go to sleep, get shuttled to a hotel, blah, blah, blah, wear the same clothes the next day, haunt the airport the next day, waiting to fly out. It was actually fine; I mean, not a picnic or anything like that, but not as terrible as it could have been. One of the most annoying things about the whole experience was listening to the conversation behind me in the line, as I waited to get new tickets and a hotel room for the night. The guy behind me just couldn't quite grasp that time travel isn't possible. "If I would have known I was gonna be stuck here for the night, I would have stayed an extra night at my grandma's house" (this is a grown man, by the way). Or, the same guy, "I could have driven home in as much time as this is going to take." And then he would follow up these incredibly pointless musings with incredibly stupid adages. "But, you know, it is what it is." "Whatcha gonna do?" "Just have to grin and bear it." And there I was, pregnant (very, did I mention), standing in line with my two wily kids running around (which is putting it mildly), and I had to listen to this man, all by his lonesome, whine, complain, and then console himself with greeting card messages. I had a couple adages I would have liked to offer him, "Life is full of disappointments.", "Cowboy up.", "Listening to your voice makes me want to pull my earlobes into my mouth and gag on them." (what, you haven't heard that adage before?)

So much for me being brief.

We finally arrived in Utah, stayed a week with my in-laws on their farm in Utah. Claire loved playing with her cousins, and all the animals that Grandma and Grandpa have. Claire threw up, Morgan thought that she and the kitty-a-cat were soul mates, and I read a book.

There, that was brief.

And then we went to my sister's house, spent a couple of days laughing until it hurt, then went to Bear Lake for a few days for a family reunion on my side. Loved it! Got colored a toasty shade of red. The kids loved the Harry Potter themed activities, including a potions class that I taught. As a family, collectively ate three batches of Scotch-a-roos. Went back to my sister's house, visited some friends, ate a peanut buster parfait, put a puzzles together, flew home. That's about it.

I had a great time. Claire had an even better time. She was in heaven being able to play all day long with her cousins. Morgan screamed anytime it was time to eat, fought with her 18 month old cousin, and sang "I Know You" about 147 times.

And the rest is history; we rode off into the sunset; all good things must end sometime; these mashed potatoes are so creamy; and that, as they say, is that; that's the way the cookie crumbles; you can't make an omlet without breaking an egg, any cook will tell you that; that closes the curtain on this case; dweeb-da-da-da-dweeb, dat's all folks.

(Morgan, looking totally presentable, on Grandma and Grandpa's farm)

(the view from the patio of our cabin at Bear Lake)

(Claire, with her wand and Slytherin cape, probably coming up with some evil-genius plan)

(me, teaching a rockin' potions class. I even yelled at the kids, just like Professor Snape. I am the best aunt on the planet.)

Cold Hard Cash

2009-08-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

It just kinda snuck up on us. One day Cody noticed that some of Claire's teeth were loose, we explained to her that all her baby teeth would fall out eventually, she was horrified at the thought, we explained the tooth fairy, she was initially skeptical, but easily convinced, and pretty soon, after much 'big ' pep-talk, she was excited to lose her first tooth. Until the day came.

Then it was drama, crying, a little more drama, some more crying until finally Cody just pulled it right on out. Then everything was just dandy. This all came about so fast that I didn't even have time to secure a tooth fairy pillow (which is the best thing about the whole tooth losing process), so Claire had to put her teeny tiny tooth under her pillow, and thankfully the nervous tooth fairy found it and exchanged it for some cold hard cash. Sweet.

(the dentist at work; Morgan combing her teeth)

(a little hint of the drama that was)

(finally the proud chica showing off her investment)

2

2009-08-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

My first post on my blog was about my frustrations in trying to get pregnant with kiddo #2. Since then, I have shared on my blog my pregnancy, my delivery story, my "she-is-so-pinchably-chubby" exclamations, her singing skills, and her hiding skills (which not only include the dryer, but today as I was cleaning out the fridge, she snuck inside and closed the door on herself. We had ourselves a near-Punky Bruster moment). Her whole life has been documented here on this blog. And now she has turned two years old.

She is serious, moody, silly, mama's girl, a screecher, a hugger, and she loves to sing songs (especially "I Know You" from Sleeping Beauty). I love her more than I could express- she makes my heart sing.
This is the same Strawberry Shortcake cake that I had when I was a little , and I have always loved it, anxiously counting down the years until I could make it for my little girls. Mission complete.

I decided today, and I don't know why it took so long to dawn on me, that I really don't like to decorate cakes. It's messy and takes a long time. I once had serious aspirations of being a cake decorator, but I think I can safely say that is one talent I won't be courting anymore (but maybe we will just hold hands every once in a while).

The video is of Morgan blowing out her candles- the birthday song is sung with as much gusto as a funeral march, and we let Morgan burn her finger. Other than that, it is pretty much run of the mill stuff.

Family Pics

2009-07-30T13:30:00.001-07:00

Right before we left Pittsburgh, my friend Libby, offered to take our family pictures for us. I wanted to get some pictures in before I got all big and pregos, and I wanted some 'Burgh pictures, with the bridges and city in the background. She did a lovely job, especially since both of my kids refused to look and smile at the camera at the same time. She is a budding photographer and has a real eye for the art. Here are some of my favorites:

{Why doesn't someone as pale as me wear more make-up to get pictures taken. I don't know! Next time, I am going to skank-it up in the make-up department so I look like I have a pulse.}

{this is the biggest smile we could capture on Morgan; she just was not cooperating}

{Photography by Elisabeth}

Fun on the Fourth

2009-07-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

We went back to Pittsburgh for the fourth of July weekend to attend a wedding of some friends of ours. It was fun to be back there; it is so beautiful there. We haven't been away long enough for it to have that haunted, nostalgic feeling you get when you go back to a place where you use to live. It just felt familiar and friendly. We were able to visit with some friends, attend a community carnival, eat hot dogs, and watch the fireworks. And then we zipped home. We had a good time and we are grateful for good friends.

(I know this post isn't super exciting, but I was so sick of looking at that burnt chocolate picture, I needed to put something else up)

(on a completely random note, in the last picture, I love that the cars are in rainbow order. I just recently found out that Cody a.) didn't know that there was such thing as rainbow order, and that b.) he doesn't know what that order is. I was blind-sighted. You think you know someone. . .)

It Caught on Fire

2009-07-06T10:04:00.001-07:00

Can you guess what this is?

It is something that caught on fire.

We are talking like towering inferno, hellfire and brimstone kinda flames.

It is something that I didn't know was quite so flammable.

It is the only thing Cody requested for his birthday.

And when it caught on fire, I think Cody was this close (imagine me pinching my fingers together) to crying.

But luckily I had enough to make a second batch, which I didn't catch on fire.

Oh, and these are no-bake treats.

They are Peanut Butter Squares.

I am gonna guess that you have never caught chocolate chips on fire, either. All it takes is putting it up next to the broiler in the oven and forgetting about it.
It could happen to anyone. . . right?

Happy Fourth of July

2009-07-04T05:20:00.000-07:00

Her Hog

2009-07-02T05:27:00.000-07:00

{Morgan on her hog}

{She's hardened and tough}

{But oh, so sweet}

Little Golden Nugget

2009-06-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

We sold our Mazda. This in and of itself isn't really post worthy, but I have a tendency of landmark-ing my life with the things I own. So it wasn't just a car to me, it was a time-line that starts the day after I broke up with Lance Barker. I got a new car (and a sweet sense of freedom). It was two days before I graduated from college. I was so excited to finally have a car- I had gone two years at college without one and I was pretty stoked to finally be able to go where I wanted to, when I wanted to without walking! I was so excited, my roommates and I drove up to campus, blasted our music and danced around (this memory isn't embarrassing, because there is a certain kind of pure excitement you feel as a college student that is not restricted by notions of dignity, and that is what makes it so much fun).

I drove this car everyday to my first job after college, as a high school teacher, teaching random subjects, like Work Skills, and Drama. I met, was courted by, and wedded Cody while I had this car. We brought Claire home from the hospital in my little Mazda; we brought Morgan home in my little Mazda. We drove across the country in my little Mazda. And it eventually brought us to our home here in Virginia. But that is where the story ends with my little Mazda. We sold it to another woman, expecting her first child, ready to start her own timeline with that trusty little golden nugget.

It was a good car, having the decency to never break down on us. I would have liked to keep it for another 100,000 miles, but it just won't fit our growing family. We purchased a mini-van, which I wasn't terribly excited about in the first place, but after driving it around for a while, I am really likin' it. It is a good purchase though, because we need enough room to fit both our little girls and our little boy.

November will be the first major notch in our timeline with our new mini-van.

Lieutenant Saxy Man

2009-06-24T05:49:00.000-07:00

I know exactly the kind of kid Cody was when he was in high school (second post in a row that started, "I know". Either I am really smart or I am full of it). He still has some of the traits from back in those days; he loves the outdoors; he is fascinated with history, and he still thinks the ICUP joke is funny. He was a bit of a jock, most likely cocky, as all high school jocks tend to be. He didn't take school very seriously. He never did homework, he didn't care about his grades, and his dad was worried that Cody was even going to graduate from high school. And judging by the longer hair he had, which required him to swish his head to the side, while combing his fingers through his bangs, he must have been quite the ladies man.

I think you get the picture. Flash forward over a dozen years later and you will find a different kid, who no longer swishes his hair, and now takes school a little more seriously. In May, Cody graduated from dental school, after years and years and years of working hard, studying, and sacrificing to get to this point. Cody's parents were able to come to Pittsburgh for the graduation ceremony and for me, and hopefully for Cody, it was really great to see him graduate.

[sidenote: we got stuck in an elevator from the eighteenth century right before the ceremony. It was hot, small, crowded, and I was convinced it was going to snap and plummet eight floors to our death. I really did. I was a little panicky in my head, trying to hold back tears and remain calm in front of my in-laws (I am real smooth in emergencies)].

[Second side note: (this is for Rachel W.) The dental school shared its graduation ceremony with the dental hygiene program. Most of these girls are two years out of high school and have a slightly different perspective on life. One of the girls who spoke at the ceremony actually commented on the different hairstyles the girls have had over the last two years, dating and breaking up, and my personal favorite, their hormones cycles becoming in sync.]

[Third side note: Upon graduation from dental school, Cody became Dr. Cody Nelson, DMD. I, of course, must reference the scene from Spies Like Us ("Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor." "Doctor.") and he was also commissioned a Lieutenant in the United States Navy. You know what quote I am going to use here . . .("Lieutenant saxy man.")]

I am so proud of Cody. I have watched for eight years as he worked hard, struggled through late nights of homework, taking tests, getting up early to study-- all this from a kid who still does not like school. But he was determined to make it through, and he did. Well done, Cody. Well done.

(Fourth side note: If you are wondering what changed the slacker known as Cody in high school, he attributes it to serving his mission. He says it taught him how to study and it helped him believe in his potential).

And let's face it, not everything has changed. He still is a ladies man- he is surrounded by three girls that love him to pieces.

(Photography by Elisabeth)

Answers to Deep Questions

2009-06-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

I know that most of you read my blog in order to be intellectually stimulated and uplifted. You turn to Brooklet to find out the truths about life, about the intangible, about humanity.

And so, with the heavy weight of that responsibility, I bring you answers to deep questions, that I am sure have been keeping you up at nights, curbing your appetite, and ulcering up your stomachs.

While we were driving in the car, Claire asked if we could talk to Jesus on the phone and before I had a chance to answer, she giggled and said, in her best primary teacher voice, "Nooooo. I can talk to him if I pray. I want to talk to Jesus right now." Touched by this simple, sweet moment, my eyes began to brim with tears as I began to hear my little girl start her prayer in the back of car.

"Dear Heavenly Father. . . what's your favorite song? In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

It is not the question that is so revealing about Claire; it is the answer that she gave me that is revealing. And it is the deep truth that I share with you now.

The answer is, There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly.

Now you know.

The State that will Win Ya

2009-06-11T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well, we are here, in Virginia, in our new home, enjoying the company of our air conditioner. We are finally all moved in and getting use to the layout, and getting use to the fact that it isn't Pittsburgh. You would think that would be fairly obvious, but there are little things that I didn't realize I would be missing about Pittsburgh, like their fabulous library system, and the rolling hills everywhere. And then there are the big things I knew I would miss, like my friends and my ward. I have yet to make friends here, though I know that takes time. Claire is amazing at making friends. I dropped her off at primary for the first time in our new ward, and she leaned over and tapped the girl on the shoulder who was sitting by her and said, "My name is Claire. What's yours?" Why can't I do that?

But being friendless has its perks. I am super on top of my laundry.

I notice that Virginia drivers have an exorbitant amount of personalized license plates, with little messages you have to decode. HMB4ME, GR8 KSR (with either means great kisser or great kaiser, i just don't know which). And I can't just look at a puzzle and not try to figure it out. I bet it causes a lot of accidents here.

I also keep seeing this bumper sticker that says, "Virginia is for lovers." How rude. How exclusionary. Does that mean there is no room for haters? Or what about me, I am a lover and a hater. For instance, I love air conditioning, but I hate bumper stickers. Where do I belong?

I like the feeling of just moving to a new place (though I hate the physical act of moving all our stuff, pughkk) because I like that everything is new to me. I like trying to find new routes, new locations, new people. And then in a year, when it all is familiar to me, it will be time to move again (okay, so maybe this whole moving thing is going to get old.) But for the time being, I will just adopt the Virginia state motto, "Sic Semper Tyrannis"- Thus always to tyrants (I don't quite know what it means either).

and this is Morgan, helping me stay on top of the laundry.

Happy Anniversary

2009-05-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

"before a man marries, he's ... like a tree in the forest.
He stands there independent; An entity unto himself.
Then he's chopped down, loses his branches and bark.
Lands in the river. Then he's taken to the mill.
When he comes out, he's no longer a tree.
He's the vanity table, the breakfast nook, the baby crib,
and the newspaper that lines the garbage can."

Brad Allen, Pillow Talk

Thanks Cody, for cutting off your branches and becoming the newspaper that lines the garbage can, for me.

Signing Off

2009-05-25T20:34:00.000-07:00

We are moving. This week. Very busy. Have lots to say. No time to say it. Signing off for a while. Until next time. From Virginia. Loves to yinz.

For Auntie Shells

2009-05-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Michelle requested some pictures of Morgan, but since I don't want Claire to grow up with a complex, I will include some pictures of her, too. I tried to take some of Morgan smiling, because she has a beautiful smile, but sometimes, she is too elusive.

(so pretty)

( Morgan's scowl)

(You can almost see the smile)

(I can't help it, I think she is so cute)

Claire is my big girl , all graduated from preschool today (and in which I bawled like a baby as I picked her up and said goodbye to her teachers. Embarrassing, I know).

I love my girls.

Any Better Than That

2009-05-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last week I said goodbye to a good friend, the first of many good friends that I am going to have to say goodbye to in the next three weeks. And they are a great group of friends. So much of what I have loved about living here are the people I have met and who I have forced to be my friends. We are quite the diverse group. One, a former granola wanna-be who actually tried to make. . .get? form?. . what do you call the process of obtaining dread locks? One, who was voted best dressed in high school. One, who once threw all her ex-boyfriends stuff off the balcony. One, who, simply because she thought it looked good, tasted a bar of soap. One, who toted around her American Doll whilst wearing her matching AG dress. One, who claimed for a period of several months in college that she was from Boston, when really she was from exotic Idaho Falls. One, who once worked at Abercrombie and Fitch because she is a size 0. One, who worked at McD's, and ate a hot fudge sundae and a cheeseburger everyday. . . and was much bigger than a size 0. One, who was Utah's Junior Miss. And one, who set fire to an elementary school when she was little (no, I made that up, though I do know someone who did that). I will miss my friends deeply; I will mostly miss the laughter (especially about the eating of the soap).

(Crepe night, our last night together before Jana left. Please ignore my giraffe-esque neck, my not-done hair, and my crappy outfit. It was just one of those days, so back off! But the crepes were delighful.)

I have two more Sundays in our ward. I can't really fathom what it is going to be like to not go there anymore and see the familiar faces, the families and their unassigned-assigned seating. I am still trying to get use to the feeling of primary not being constantly in my thoughts. I served in primary the entire time I have been here and I have loved it. I will miss the primary kids, who like to say whatever rolls across their tongue at any time, to the chagrin of their parents, but much to my delight.

Our house. It is small, it smells like your grandma's house, has a random toilet in the basement, and it doesn't believe in the value of closet space, but it has been our first house. Though Cody may not agree completely with me, I have loved it for all that it has been. I know the house pretty well. I know how to do a dance on the floor upstairs so as to not wake up Morgan by avoiding on the creaky parts. I know I can hear my kids in any part of the house at any time of the day. I know that I can also hear the neighbors cursing in the street at four in the morning (it's happened occasionally). I know where Claire pooped on the carpet right before Morgan was born (I never blogged about it because it was too traumatic!) I know where the best places to hide are when we play turkey hide-n-go seek. I know how peaceful our yard is during a summer evening. I know I will miss our house. It has been a place of many firsts for us and holds memories that I will always look back on with happiness. And having said that, I am SOOO excited to sell it!

In the movie, McLintock, John Wayne, a wealthy cattle baron, is explaining to his daughter why he isn't going to leave her much of what he owns. It pretty much sums up the way I feel about our home, and life here in PA, minus the cow spread:

What I'm going to give you is a 500 cow spread on the Upper Green River. Now that may not seem like much, but it's more than we had, your mother and I. Some folks are gonna say I'm doin' all this so I can sit up in the hereafter and look down on a park named after me, or that I was disappointed in you - didn't want you to get all that money. But the real reason, Becky, is because I love you, and I want you and some young man to have what I had, because all the gold in the United States Treasury and all the harp music in heaven can't equal what happens between a man and a woman with all that growin' together. I can't explain it any better than that.

We may not have had a lot of worldly wealth, and we may not have had a garage (or dishwasher, or air conditioning) , but we have had so much more together here, as a family.

And it only makes us that much more excited to move into a home that actually has air conditioning (I am almost shedding a tear at that thought).

What My Mother Doesn't Know

2009-04-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

With a title like that you would think I have some juicy confession, but no. I am way to boring for anything like that. What my mother doesn't know is that she has started an epidemic over here in our little corner of PA. A birdie sling epidemic.

I am quite sure when she sent me the purse pattern, she had no idea that it would spread, multiply and and replenish the earth so fast. It has been just over six weeks since I stitched the last little button on my bag, and today I can count eleven birdie slings made since then, and three more under construction, and several more in the planning stages. We are talking epidemic proportions!

I am thinking Amy Butler (the designer of the bag) should send my mom some commission, for helping spread the birdie sling infection!

Here are just five of the slings. It is really fun for me to see the different fabrics and colors that everyone is coming up with. It really is the best kind of epidemic to have!

For funsies, let take a running total of these girl's sling production:
Me, I have made two, one as a gift
Elise, has made three, with two more cut out (she is slightly crazy)
Gina, has made two, and someone who saw her bag is paying her $75 to make one for them,
Melanie, has made one and is making another
Amy, to my knowledge, this is her only one (so far)
and several other s not pictured have made and are making some.

I'd Like a Pink Parasol

2009-04-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

It must be spring since it has been about a month since I posted. Busy month. Lotsa happening. Let's just take it one thing at a time.

There are few things that I can actually rate as the best or worst of all time, without doubt, hesitation, or the feeling that I am being overly dramatic. Claire's fifth birthday is one of those times. In her five short years, with five loud birthday celebrations, this birthday was the worst birthday she has had. No competition. No question.

For starters, it was only our small family in attendance. That in and of itself isn't bad, but she has always had friends come to her birthday parties, so all through our simple celebration she kept saying, "I don't like this party. Where are all the kids?"

We decided not to have a kid party this year because we were out of town up until the day before her birthday, which was actually on Easter Sunday, but we, being goodly parents, lied and told her her birthday wasn't until Monday because we weren't ready for it on Sunday. I feel no shame. So Monday, at four o'clock, I finally went to buy Claire some birthday presents. At 5:30 I put her cake in the oven and ate dinner. At 6:00, whilst the cake was a coolin', we get a call from our realtor asking if we could show our house in an hour (panic). So we hurriedly and harriedly cleaned our house and got the heck outta there, leaving the cake unfrosted, and the presents unwrapped. We went to get some ice cream, got creeped out by the ice-cream guy, came home at 8:00 and smeared a slab of frosting on a corner of the cake, put candles on, and Cody wrapped the gifts like he was a blind man with an aversion to tree-huggers.

And it turned out just fine (lame-o, but fine). After eating cake and opening presents, she finally admitted that she was five, and I could tell she had a good time. But still, worst birthday in her short little life.

(she asked for an umbrella for her b-day)

(an easter pic of our happy little girl)

We love her so much and never get tired of her silly imagination, we do get somewhat tired of her excessive drama (I don't know where she gets it), and her feet are starting to look like grown up feet (that makes me kinda sad). I am mostly struck by how fast she is growing into a little girl. Lovely.

Dabbling

2009-03-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

For my birthday, my mom sent me a pretty bird sling purse pattern, as well as all the material to make it. It was a perfect gift- it let me use my creative side, trying and learning something new, and it is really cute and useful.

I have had people stop me at the grocery store and Rite-Aid, to compliment my bag. This may be a common occurrence with you guys, but I am not much of a purse person, and am always carrying around something blah. But not anymore. And it has set my blood bubbling for more bags; I want more! Thanks, mom!

Friday Night Treat

2009-03-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

This recipe is on the back of the Reese's peanut butter chip package, and it is a little slice of heaven. Not really a slice, since its a cookie, so I will say a heaping teaspoonful of heaven. I took them to my friend who was in the hospital after having her fourth little girl (rock on!) and she later texted me that they were the best cookies she had ever tasted. These cookies are good, but it probably helped that she had been eating hospital food for two straight days. Try them. You'll thank Reese's.

Heavy Lead Apron

2009-03-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

This is kinda a weird post. It's kinda a ranting and raving kinda post, that uses the psuedo-word 'kinda' multiple times in it's opening paragraph. The rant is about me, in case you are worried I was going to rant about you, or skinny jeans. I need to lay this out on the table, because it has been bothering me for a long time (so have skinny jeans, but I promise this post isn't about that).

Judgmental people are annoying.

I am judgmental.

I tend to have way to many opinions that really don't need to be shared, but that I let slip out anyways, and cast my heavy lead apron (you know, like at the dentist office; I love the way those feel) of judgment over anyone who happens to be standing near me.

The problem with being judgmental is
A.) I don't know everything. (shocking, I know)
B.) Some things that I thought I knew the what-what about come back to bite me in the butt (like how I use to view moms that had screaming kids in the grocery store; i take that one back, way back).
C.) It is okay for people to view things different than me. If you want to get engaged after a week of knowing a guy- fine. That's your choice. You don't need me spouting my opinion off because it's none of my business.
D.) Listening to people be judgmental hurts everyone involved. Even if you aren't the one they are being judgmental about, you start to think of the things that this person probably judges you about when you aren't around.

This is how I think; this is what keeps weighing on my mind. Why can't I shut my mouth and be more respectful? So narrow-minded, so snotty. I don't want to be this way. There isn't much greater torture to me than knowing I have hurt some one's feelings. I have already made one teary-eyed phone call begging for forgiveness this year, I don't want to have to do that anymore. It must stop. Because I really don't like judgmental people.

Circle of Life

2009-02-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

Shane called. He asked if he could speak to Claire. This is how the conversation went from Claire's side.

"Hi, Shane. . . . watching TV. . . .okay. . . okay. . . . okay. . . . .okay. . . . yes. . . . okay. . . . okay. . . okay. . . um. . . okay. . . I want to go watch TV now. . . okay. . . okay . . . okay. . . okay. . . okay. . .see you later, bye."

Again, Cody wasn't happy, Claire is more interested in the tube, and I am left reminiscing about the first time a boy called me. Kyle Isaat in the third grade. He called me and yet I was the one who got in trouble, by my dad. The circle of life.

The Master

2009-02-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

My dad is an incredible artist. I have known that my whole life, since we had some of his artwork on display in our house. But he has really taken the last 30 years off from painting and drawing. He recently started devoting time to doing the art projects that he has been brain-storming, collecting, and planning for my entire life. He hasn't lose a touch of his genius. When I saw them for the first time, I was blown away at how good he is. His favorite medium is charcoal and he loves to draw people with interesting faces (i.e. wrinkles). I give to you his masterpieces.

This one has been hanging in our house for as long as I can remember.

This one was done years ago and then folded and stored in our basement forever.

This is one he recently completed. It is my favorite.

This is also a recent one.

This is a recent one, though he has been planning this one for a long, long time.
And he is still going, most recently completing this one:

The Hazards of Being Cute

2009-02-12T08:52:00.000-08:00

So apparently Claire has a boyfriend. She doesn't know what that term is and she doesn't know that she has one. I didn't hear it from her. I heard it from the parent of one of Claire's friends at school. Shane. Shane's mom told me that Shane came home to her one day and announced that Claire has his girlfriend. His mom was a bit thrown for a loop since last year, Shane had announced that his girlfriend was Paige.

"What happened to Paige? I thought she was your friend."

"No, she is in a different class this year and I don't see her anymore. [long distance relationships are hard]. Claire is my friend now." Shane is pretty decisive, which I guess is a plus.

The first time we heard about Shane was a couple of weeks ago, when Claire brought home a piece of paper that had some drawings on it, including a heart and Shane's name. I asked what it was and Claire said it was card that Shane had made for her. "He loves me." She said it so matter-of-factly I was hoping she meant that like the way we love chocolate milk, or the way we love 30 Rock. But she kept talking, saying that she loved him, too, and there was a suspicious part in the back of my head wondering what she meant by that exactly. I don't think she has a clue about boys liking girls, girls liking boys. She still thinks she is going to grow up and marry her dad. She doesn't have a clue.

I knew Shane was the instigator of this whole thing. Boys. They are no good. And Cody knows that boys are no good, so when he found out about the love note and the terms affection being thrown around with such abandon, he wasn't happy. He gave Claire the lecture about how girls aren't suppose to love boys (but doesn't that just open up a wave of other questions???) and Claire just looked at him like 'what on earth are you talking about?' It was a little bit of an overreaction by Cody, who I can tell is going to be pretty darn protective in the the whole boys department with our girls.

If you want a little mental picture of Shane, he looks just like Will Forte from Saturday Night Live and is about a whole head shorter than Claire. This might sound harsh, but I just want Claire to dump him to the curve. And I hope her next boyfriend isn't until she is college (and hopefully isn't a head shorter than her).

Our Open House

2009-02-09T06:55:00.000-08:00

This morning as I rolled out of bed (too early for my liking) I felt exhaustion mingled with relief. Okay, let's be honest, the only feeling I ever feel in the morning is tired, but I like to imagine that this is what I felt. We had a tough, tough weekend. We had an open house for our home and since Cody and I had procrastinated some major touching up (painting, washing walls and windows, de-junking closets) we had a lot to do in two short days. And those two short days seemed sooooo long. I worked from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to bed, late at night. I haven't worked that hard in a long time. In my mind I was O-Lan from The Good Earth, who birthed her own child, cleaned up the mess, and then proceeded to fall back in beside her husband, working in the fields, with newborn in tow. Okay, so maybe I wasn't working that hard, at all, not nearly close. In fact, I really wasn't working that hard at all compared to other normal people, much less fictional people. I guess I am so use to being semi-lazy that two full days of work seemed so hard. So, so hard.

It is times like these that assure me that Cody and I would not fare well on the Amazing Race, simply because we are both too bull-headed when it comes to home improvement. I always know this going into it, but I can't seem to play nice when our opinions want to thumb wrestle. My commands must be obeyed. Why doesn't he get that? Plus he was complaining about his chest hurting the whole time, being Mr. Drama Queen. I told him to cowboy up, stop crying like a prepubescent and move that big heavy china hutch two inches back and forth and back and forth again, until I can decide where I want it. Amazingly, we got everything done and we are back to being nice to one another.

While perfect strangers were walking around our house, opening up our closets, and hopefully praising our sweat, and tears, we were at church, trying to relax a little, when right in the middle of sacrament meeting, Claire barfs up everywhere. Sweet. And the kicker is, we couldn't take her home because we had an Open House going on. So Cody drove around in the car with her for two hours (in which she threw up again). Sweet.

In the evening, Cody simply couldn't cowboy up and handle his chest pain any more, so he went to the ER to find out if he broke a rib or not. Turns out he punctured his lung. That's what happens when you give me lip and don't do exactly as I tell you. Actually, he got injured five days before playing soccer and suffered through the pain (of which I gave him zero sympathy for, made him lift heavy furniture much to his peril, and called him things like 'sissy' and 'little dancing flautist') all that time.

So to sum up this weekend, I just reconfirmed to myself that I am semi-lazy, will never be on the Amazing Race because I don't work well with others in high pressure situations, and I mock those in pain. Who wants to be my friend?

6

2009-02-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

Pittsburgh just won the Super Bowl and the streets are full of cars honking, scores of people screaming, fireworks, people banging on pots. There is nothing, NOTHING, like a Steeler's fan! It is just pure excitement and celebration! Really, I am almost crying (partly because I am excited, partly because loud noises make me tear up). Way to go Steelers!!

It's has been this way for the last 30 minutes! Still going on as I type. Awesome. Good thing me kids are deep sleepers.

28

2009-01-31T17:30:00.000-08:00

I had a great 28th birthday. I was able to spend it with Cody, who took the day off from school. During the day, he took care of the kids and gave me some personal time to read my book and mess around on the computer. It was a little slice of heaven.

Weather wise, it was the worst day so far this winter, with snow and ice everywhere. Schools were cancelled, roads were slick, but by golly, Cody and I still went out for a birthday dinner (kids-free, thanks to Melanie!) where I ate a lovely piece of cow. I came home to a birthday party, with hats and necklaces (thanks Claire) and some chocolate cobbler cake with ice cream. Can we say yum? Claire got me a pair of earrings that she picked out herself (I am wearing them in the picture) and Cody got me an ipod shuffle (it's smaller than a matchbook). So I have been jamming to music almost nonstop since then. It really was a delightful way to spend my golden birthday. Nothing wild and crazy, though maybe that is okay with me.