Three Kids and A Molting Dog

2010-07-22T10:57:00.000-06:00

What would I do without a cell phone? I’m sure I would find some way to manage, but I certainly wouldn’t have any proof that we did anything fun this summer since every time we went somewhere I left my camera home. And since I’m way behind on updating my blog, here is my entire summer, as told by my 2 megapixel cell phone camera (unedited and untouched; I figured if I spent a bunch of time editing photos, I’d never actually get around to posting them on the blog).

We've been going to the high school track quite a bit. David can run as fast as he wants, I can run slow (or walk, which has been my preference), and the kids can do whatever. And we still feel like we're doing something together. I love this pic because Samantha looks like a real runner, and not just a two year old (which also makes me kinda sad). She was trying to keep up with David, even though he was on Lap 3 and she was just finishing Lap 1. But she ran the entire lap by herself.

We've spent lots of time at the park, though less time at local parks since we've also been travelling a lot. Climbing this rock was lots of fun for the kids until one of them slipped on the way down and landed in some mud at the bottom. Then we had to tell them no more climbing.

David and I went to Vegas for our anniversary (we had gone there on our honeymoon and wanted to go back to see what was new). My brother and his wife came with us, which ended up being so much fun, because I got to know my sister in law a little better, and she is one cool lady.

This is the crappiest picture ever, but that right there, ladies and gentlemen, is the one--the only--Brian Regan! David and I went to see him live, and it was so great! I actually love his older material more than his new, but I was still laughing my abs off. For real. They hurt like crazy after the show.

I should probably turn the following into an entire other post, but I've already uploaded the picture to this post, and don't want to do it again. So here goes:

(This sounds alarming, but it isn't because the Railroad is a crazy place to work:) David was fired at the beginning of June which, long story short, means he has two months of paid time off. At the Railroad, fired means suspended, and terminated means fired. So he was just basically suspended. And he gets paid from the Union, since he has been paying for job insurance since he got hired five years ago.

I think I just made a short story long. Anyway. We decided to take advantage of the time off and hit the road, going to see various friends and relatives that we don't see in person nearly often enough.

So we headed North; first to Coeur d'Alene, then to Moscow (where U of I is), then to Cheney, WA, then back up to Sandpoint, ID. It was a long, fun week.

Around the city center in Coeur d'Alene are four moose statues, each representing a different part of this moose's story. Here, for example, he's resting at the park. I don't think he gets much rest, because kids are always climbing on him.

Next stop on our tour was to visit David's sister. We had a blast hanging out with her and her husband and their cute little girl. We walked around downtown, where all the local, non-Walmart shops are. There is an amazing toy store there, that the kids loved. I loved it too, honestly. I could have happily spent all day and a lot of money there.

There is also an arboretum run by the University. It was a hot, hot day, and the path through the arboretum got pretty hilly in some spots, but it was definitely worth it. So gorgeous!

The kids were so excited to see a "lake!" Really it was a small pond, but they didn't care. And there were goose droppings everywhere, but that didn't bother them either. In fact, Drew picked one up and threw it in the water. And a fish ate it! We were thoroughly grossed out, but Drew and Owen thought it was hilarious once we told them what it actually was.

I was smitten with the Arboretum from the entry to the exit. Definitely a fun way to spend an hour or two, and if it hadn't been so hot, I could have easily spent an entire afternoon there.

From David's sister's place we headed to his aunt and uncles. They live on a lake near Cheney, WA.

I loved waking up to the sun sparkling on the water. It was so beautiful. The kids had a blast "fishing"--basically they were just holding the pole.

David and I took the kids out on the paddle boat, which they loved, once Owen and Samantha got over their initial nervousness (or, in Owen's case, terror). David tried his hand at fishing too, but even though we saw fish jumping everywhere, none of them wanted what we had to offer. We did get to see an osprey catch a fish--they don't offer bait; they just dive down and snatch. We took note of where it landed, so we could get out the telescope and watch it eat the fish. Drew was fascinated by that. So was I, truth be told.

I also loved how still the water got in the evenings. The sun reflecting off the water was gorgeous, but in a totally different way than it was in the morning. It felt more peaceful, less cheery, completely, calmly happy...

Following our stay at one lake, we headed North again to visit friends in Sandpoint. They live quite close to beautiful Lake Pend Oreille, so we got to spend an afternoon there, playing in the water and taking a lake cruise on a little boat. We always have such a fun time with these friends, and I left wishing we'd had more time there. I also left a bag of dirty laundry. Sorry, Abs!

They were selling these cute little pirate hat and eye patch sets on the boat for a dollar! Can't beat that.

This was taken on our way home, at one of the scenic view pullouts. There were several different openings in the trees where the view of the lake was spectacular. I had been trying to rest, but David kept saying, "Grab the camera!" every two minutes, so I didn't get much sleep until we got to Montana. Then we hit a Canadian goose, and I couldn't sleep after that. Sadly, the goose had no chance of survival, but at least it provided food for a coyote or something. And luckily it didn't damage our car at all.

Such a fun week it was. Still I was glad to be home, to get back into the routine of things, if only for a day--we went to Lagoon the following Monday. I actually remembered my camera for that trip, so as soon as I get pictures uploaded I'll post them. I promise to do it soon, at least before we head to Colorado again to visit my brother's family. After our time in Colorado, David's suspension will be over and life will resume as normal. I'm almost looking forward to it. But not as much as I'm looking forward to seeing my bro and his family--and my new niece!

An Update on Grama

2010-05-03T23:55:00.001-06:00

About an hour after I finished my previous post, my mom called to let me know that my Grama had passed away at around 6 o'clock this evening. Looks like we'll be heading to Colorado in the very near future.

It's strange to me that although I do feel sad, I also feel very peaceful and a little relieved. I think because I've been spending the last couple weeks sort of expecting this I feel like it's okay, and it's for the best, and Grama is better off now than she's been the last few months.

I also feel really blessed to have such great family. It'll take me a while to rustle up some pictures, at which point I'll do a little memorial post about Grama. In the meantime, I'm feeling really grateful for my wonderful aunts who have kept constant vigil at Grama's bedside for the last month or so. And I appreciate their families who have been supportive while they've taken care of Grama.

I'm grateful for David, who held down the fort when I went to visit a few weeks ago. He really stepped up and took care of the kids and the pets and his own job, and the house was even clean when I got home.

I'm grateful for my kids who have been very sympathetic, even if they don't entirely understand what is happening. They understood that my Grama was sick and that I needed to go visit her. And I think Drew and Owen sort of understand that she has now passed away, and that she went to be with Heavenly Father and Jesus. Samantha doesn't understand much except that, as she says, "Mom's Grama died. And Jesus loves us." Which, I think, sums it up about perfectly. No matter what happens, Jesus loves us.

April Showers

2010-05-03T18:28:00.001-06:00

I have come to the conclusion that I need to get back into blogging, since it's the only record I've got of what has been going on with my family. I was feeling overwhelmed with it, thinking that there's so much to record, and I don't have a ton of time to do it (well, I've got plenty of time, I'd just rather be doing something else). I decided that rather than playing catch up, I'd just brush over a few things and then resume regular posts. And this will be a picture post so I don't have to write as much.

April is the month of the annual Spaghetti Dinner/Cake Auction at church. All the proceeds go to the Boy Scouts' summer camp, so people are generally pretty generous with their cake donations and purchases. This year I made a chocolate chip cheesecake covered in caramel and chocolate, and with an Oreo crust. It sold for $50, which was pretty good. (Better than my previous entry a few years ago.) Drew and Owen saw this Construction cake that they just had to have, so I told them they could bid on it up to $25. We ended up paying $27 because Drew kept raising his hand. He was so pleased with himself for "winning" the cake!

This beautiful tree is in front of my aunt and uncle's house in Colorado. I love magnolias, but even though the map in the gardening catalog says they will work in my zone, I kind of doubt one would flourish in windy ol' Pocatello.

The purpose of my trip to Colorado in April was mainly to say goodbye to my maternal grandmother, who is nearing 90 years old, and has been having some pretty serious health problems. I had heard that she was looking like she might pass away at any time, so I wanted to go give her one last hug and kiss before it was too late. It was a good visit; she was awake for a few minutes for me to chat with her, and she recognized me as a grandkid, though I don't think she knew exactly which one I was. She still has the same strong, throaty voice I've always loved. And she still appreciates a good pun. So far Grama is still hanging on, though from what I hear she still doesn't eat much--like, a bite of food a day and a couple sips of water. So we'll probably be making another trip out to Colorado in the not too distant future.

Also while I was in Colorado, I got to see my brother Jeremy and his family. They recently moved into a great house (and a neighboring house is for sale, so I've been trying to convince David that we should buy it), so while we visited I helped unpack some boxes and put books on shelves (I added some great titles to my reading list!) and helped set up the nursery for the new baby girl that will be joining their family real soon.

We've had a lot of rainy days the last few weeks, but we've also had plenty of sunshine. The kids will spend entire afternoons on the sunny days out of doors, playing with the neighbor kids and riding bikes,

and playing with swords and generally having a great time.

I love these days too because my friend and I can just sit on the lawn, soak up the sun and chat while all the kids run amok.

On rainy days, we stay inside and drive each other crazy. But we have a lot of fun, too.

And a lot of weirdness.

March Madness

2010-04-01T15:30:00.000-06:00

March went by way too quickly. Not that I'm complaining. I sure am ready for some warmer weather, but I'm not quite ready for how fast time seem to disappear.

We had a fun, busy month. Last week in particular was really hectic, but in a good way. We went down to Salt Lake on two separate occasions for basketball games. Monday David and I went to the Jazz/Celtics game, then Thursday the whole family piled into the car and headed down for the NCAA tournament games. I had no interest in watching the NCAA games; I'd already been to three basketball games this year, which is my limit for watching a sport for which I care very little.

So while David went to the games, the kids and I hung out at my cousin Heidi's house. We had loads of fun! My kids loved playing with her kids. Owen especially enjoyed playing with Rachel, who was a really good sport about playing with the "little kids."

We also went to the Mayan, which we discovered was a little over-hyped. Sure, the divers were cool, and the pool into which they dove was precariously narrow, but the shows were too short, the food wasn't remarkable, and the place was too dark. But the kids had fun, so that was a plus.
Saturday we got to spend some time at a park while we watched Heidi finish a half-marathon. That was lots of fun! I admit I got a little verklempt as she crossed the finish line. I just admire the dedication it takes to train and run that far. And also, it reminded me of when my cousins Carrie and Emily ran the Salt Lake Marathon five years ago, which is a memory I'll always cherish.

Also this month, I started getting more serious about toilet training Samantha. It's been a fairly smooth transition from diapers to big girl underwear, and there have only been a few accidents. I haven't even been doing rewards or consequences like I did with the boys. I think Samantha is just ready to move on from diapers, and she has a better understanding of her body's signals than the boys had of theirs.
The last couple days, though, she's been acting like she doesn't want to sit on the toilet. Instead, when she "has to go" she brings me a diaper and says, "I just wanna wear this diaper." Of course I tell her, "Nope. Just go sit on the toilet." And she'll go pretty willingly. It's thrilling to know that when the big box of diapers in our bathroom closet is gone, that's it! (Well, we might have to buy a few here-and-there for nighttime, just in case) No more spending loads of money on something that's going to get pooped in and thrown away!

The Good Ol' Days

2010-03-24T22:10:00.001-06:00

I saw this article over on ParentDish.com. It gave me a good chuckle and, even though I'm not part of the "Over 30 Crowd" mentioned, I remember the days spoken of in the article. Days before MP3s and cell phones and Call Waiting. Days before realistic video games. I love how she describes it: We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win.. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
I won't paste the whole article here, but here's a link: "PaRant: I AM That Mom Who Says, 'You Kids Had it Easy.'" It's good for a laugh!

Their Irish Eyes Are Smiling

2010-03-19T12:32:00.002-06:00

Well, they were smiling. But I guess they got tired of saying "cheese."

I was looking through past blog posts and saw the green eggs and ham that I made for St. Paddy's day a couple years ago. I was less ambitious this year, not to mention my kids didn't seem thrilled about the idea of eating green eggs. We wore green, but that was about the extent of our St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

I did spend a little time contemplating my kids' eyes, thinking about the song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling." My kids' eyes sure steal my heart away.

I've been playing around with my camera lately, trying to get better at taking pictures. I just have a little Kodak point-and-shoot, which I'm trying hard to be happy with, so I've been fiddling around in Picasa too. I figure if I can learn good editing techniques, maybe I can make do with the little camera I have.

I happened to discover that our bathroom has really nice lighting for pictures between the hours of 4 and 5 in the afternoon. So I made my kids sit on the edge of the tub so I could take some portraits. Owen and Samantha were pretty cooperative. Drew was less so. He thought it would be more fun to monkey around and ham it up. At least it was entertaining.

Here are a few of the best ones:

Owen:

This shot is straight out of the camera. Not too bad, but it doesn't look real special.

I clicked "I'm Feeling Lucky" in Picasa's editing tool. I kind of like the result.

Another "I'm Feeling Lucky" treatment.

Samantha:

Again, "I'm Feeling Lucky" treatment, plus I used retouch to make her cheeks less blotchy. I know, they still look blotchy but they were even worse before. We got a lot of sun that day.

All I did to this one was a crop and a Retouch to get rid of blotchy cheeks and some Cheeto stains I noticed on her sleeve.

Drew:

No editing here.

SOC

Another "I'm Feeling Lucky" treatment.

SOC

And if anyone is making a horror film and needs a picture for the cover, I've got just the thing:

Samantha jumped right as I took the picture. Isn't it scary?! It gives me nightmares. Drew and Owen thought it was hilarious so they asked me to take a "ghost picture" of each of them. Theirs didn't turn out, though. Some things are just hard to do on purpose.

Signs of Spring

2010-03-16T13:42:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous (today isn't bad either, though it's a little windy for my tastes). I had planned to go to the store and get the boys some zip up hoodies that they can wear this Spring, along with some new Sunday shoes since they've grown out of the old ones, and some more "four-year-old underpants," as Drew calls the new underwear I finally got for him and Owen (because the "two-year-old underpants," which actually were almost two years old, are "just too small").

We got our sweaters on and headed out the door, and made it as far as me backing the car out of the driveway and parking it on the street so the kids could ride their bikes around the driveway. We ended up spending about two and a half hours outside, just playing and enjoying the warm sunshine and the uncharacteristic lack of breeze.

While we were out, I decided my flowerbeds could stand some attention, so I got out my gloves and went to it, pulling weeds and other dead plant matter that had piled up in the Fall and had been sitting there all winter. It was pretty gross. But I'm sure all that stuff helped keep the bulbs warm underground, since we didn't really have much snow to insulate them from the cold.
The kids had a lot of fun helping me clean up the flowerbeds. It became a sort of treasure hunt as we discovered new life poking up out of the dirt.

We found my amaryllis:

Which, in the summer will look like this:

We found my crocuses (croci? I'm thinking not, because my spell checker isn't liking that word. Who knows):

Which, in a few weeks will look like these:

We found my tulips:

Which will soon look like this:

(The bunch of leaves on the right is what the amarillys looks like in the spring. All those leaves will die before the stalk with the flowers pops up.)

We found some new strawberry leaves and shoots, and a lovely ladybug crawling among them:

They'll look like this in a few months (not that the lady bug will magically become a strawberry--that'd be weird):

I'm looking forward to Spring so much! (Or, as Samantha would say, "mo munch!" I love it when she tells me, "Teenk oo mo munch!" when I do something for her.) Today was just what I needed to get me through the last few days of Winter and the crazy weather that always accompanies a Southeast Idaho Spring. For example, Sunday it snowed, Monday was upwards of 50 degrees and sunny with nary a cloud in sight!

Vacation; Days 9-10

2010-02-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

Day 9: What I Call Vacation

We had a really laid back kind of day on our last full day of vacation. It was the kind of day I like the best when I'm on vacation: just hanging out with good friends, chatting, watching the kids have fun together, and doing nothing in particular.

We went to McGrath's Fish House for dinner. I ate New Orleans Catfish, which was sooooooo yummy. The menu describes it thus: Petite Prawns, Andouille Sausage, Mushrooms, Scallions, Peppers, Tomatoes and Cajun Cream Sauce over Blackened Catfish. I describe it as pure deliciousness.

Then Madeline and I went through some old photos she took a couple summers ago when they were in town. We came across the following gems:

Lunch at the park.

Drew, wearing Madeline's glasses.

Owen, waiting for his turn on the swing. I love how chubby their little arms and faces were! Look at Owen's elbows...

Evie and Samantha sharing a swing.

Samantha doesn't like to swing too high. Or relinquish food in order to play.

She loved the swing if it wasn't moving. She's still like that, even now. But she'll go down the tallest slide she can find all by herself with no second thoughts.

Drew climbing on a little jungle gym.

Day 10: On Our Way Home

We started our trek home on Wednesday, February 10. We stopped in Portland on our way out of Oregon, so that I could go to a Thai Market I learned about online. It was everything I hoped for and more! They had plenty of ingredients for Thai food, lots of yummy Asian candies and they even had a deli where I could purchase some already made Thai food. And I got to practice my Thai with the people working there, which is a rare occasion for me. Owen even practiced his Thai (he can say "hello" in Thai; the employees thought it was pretty cute).

It was pretty late by the time we got out of Portland. We were hoping to drive straight home, but we got a little less than half way and ran into a blizzard. We stopped for the night, and when we woke up in the morning, most of the snow was gone! Weird. After a few final hours in the car, we made it home safe and sound. It was such a fun trip. I loved Oregon (this trip was the first time I'd been further than about 20 miles into Oregon). I hope to go back soon!

Vacaction; Day 8

2010-02-20T01:18:00.001-07:00

Day 8: Evie's Birthday

The Birthday Girl

We had a blast helping Madeline get ready for her girl's Fancy Nancy birthday party. The kids were all so excited when they saw the table loaded with adorable decorations, and delectable edibles. They were excited to be dressed up again, too. And when Evie's friends started arriving in their fancy dresses, things really got fun for everyone.

The refreshment table.

I made these little purses based off a purse Madeline picked up at a little store. They're just cardstock wrapped around a Dove chocolate, and sealed with a bit of glue and a sticker. The handles are ribbon.

Drew, Owen and Samantha in front of the party tent.

From Fancy Free to Full-on Fit in no time...

The little girl in blue looks like she's saying, "Let's share--I'll have some of yours."

Drew's cupcake creation. Mmm...

Samantha loved the bright colors of the red velvet cupcakes. Of course, they tasted great, too!

The party turned out to be a lot of fun. I think my kids were the only one who threw tantrums, though. Darn. Drew threw one big tantrum and, as I was hauling him off (picture me carrying him under my arm like a football), his pants fell down, revealing his backside and at the same time revealing that he had no underwear on. It was hilarious. For everyone but Drew.

Later that evening, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's for Evie's birthday dinner. All the kids had a great time running around, pretending to drive all the cars, but when we put tokens in the cars to make them move, suddenly they weren't interested. The adults had a great time playing skee ball and basketball, and winning tickets. The kids caught on quickly, and they didn't want to "waste" any more tokens on car rides. Owen put a token in a machine when no one was looking, and won a balloon. We thought he took someone else's prize, but the people standing next to the machine said he played the game himself. Smart kid!

Evie and Owen riding a roller coaster simulator.

There was a screen so the parents could watch the kids enjoy (or not really, in this case) the ride.

Looks like we need to have a talk with Samantha about riding in cars with boys...

Owen and Samantha had a great time climbing on the jungle gym.

"They have Mario Kart! Just like we have at home!"

She really had a lot more fun than it looks like in this picture. I think this must have been taken shortly after the mascot, Mr. Chuck E. Cheese himself, came around to give all the kids high-five. She started crying when he talked to her.

We had so much fun at Chuck E. Cheese. I used to mock it, because the commercials make it look like a (pardon the pun) cheesy place to go. But I would totally go back. Drew says it was his favorite part of vacation. Owen's favorite part was Brytton and Madeline's house in general. When we ask Samantha what her favorite part of vacation was she says, "I'm scared of Chuck E. Cheese."

Vacation; Days 5, 6 & 7

2010-02-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

Day 5: Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and Visitors Center

Our plans for the next few days of vacation were to stay with David's aunt and uncle in a tiny town called Molalla. Before we left the coast, though, we wanted to check out at least one lighthouse. The closest one turned out to be Yaquina (pronounced ya-KWIN-a) Bay. It was beautiful. There were stairs leading down to the beach, so we were able to check out the tide pools, then head up to the lighthouse for a tour. The boys were just barely tall enough; I think the tour guide actually fudged a little when she let Owen in; the minimum height was 42 inches, and his cowlick just put him over 41. David and I took turns holding Samantha at the bottom, so the other could take one of the boys up the steps to check out the view.

I thought these black things were little rocks.

Upon closer inspection, I realized they were little shells!

I'm pretty sure I saw a sign that prohibited climbing rocks, but David claims he saw no such sign.

So we all took a turn. Samantha wanted down immediately. (Gotta love those wind-blown locks...My hair was a complete tangled mess by the time we got back in the car.)

I loved the look (and the sound, which of course a photo can't capture) of the waves crashing on the rocks.

Drew was all about the photo ops on this trip. "Take my picture, Mom!" he kept saying.

The view from the top of the lighthouse.

Drew thought the top was very cool.

This picture makes me dizzy. This is at the bottom of the lighthouse, looking up. I can't imagine hiking those stairs a few times a night, carrying 2-3 gallons of oil, like they did in the old days. I get tired just thinking about it.

The entire lighthouse wouldn't fit in one shot from that close up. I even had the camera on the ground.

A family shot--minus a few faces.

I hope he had a dry-suit.

After checking out every nook and cranny at the lighthouse, we headed to the visitors center where we learned that instead of paying $7 to visit Yaquina Bay State Park and Lighthouse, we could have gone to another lighthouse down the road for free, and all of our kids could have gone to the top at the same time. Sigh. Oh, well. We also learned about different games that kids whose families took care of the lighthouse would play for entertainment. Drew and Owen learned a little about the tide pools, and the wild life in and around them, and were given Junior Ranger badges for reciting what they learned to the Park Ranger. They were pretty proud of themselves.

By early afternoon, we were back on the road and heading to Molalla. Molalla is further inland, about a couple hours from the coast, and is mostly farm land. The road into Molalla has a breathtaking view of Mt. Hood, as well as picturesque farms and ranches.

Day 6: Molalla

David's aunt and uncle live on a farm with a few horses. The neighboring farm is home to a couple dozen llamas and alpacas. I wish I had a good picture of the little baby that looked like an Ewok. I'll try to get it off David's phone.

Drew and Owen got to sit on a horse, which they were very proud about. Owen actually let the horse walk around, but Drew just wanted the horse to stand still. Samantha was too scared to get on, but she did feed the horse some grass.

We enjoyed a couple really laid back days in Molalla, just visiting with David's aunt, uncle and cousin, and looking at the animals.

Day 7: Goodbyes, Travel and Hellos

We had planned on leaving Molalla early Sunday morning to head to Albany, to visit our friends Brytton and Madeline. We didn't get up as early as planned, and by then our friends were at church, so we hung out in Molalla a little longer which was fine with me. We don't see David's side of the family very often, so it was nice to spend more time with them.

We made it to Albany in time to eat some delicious barbecue and hotdogs, and watch the Super Bowl. Madeline is co-founder of the cooking blog I sometimes write for, so she and I had lots of fun talking about recipes and food, and making cookies to eat during the Super Bowl.

The kids played tried on clothes to wear for Evie's Fancy Nancy birthday party the next day. They loved their outfits!

The kids had loads of fun playing with Evie, who turned three while we were there. If anyone asks Owen what his favorite part of vacation was, he still says, "Brytton and Madeline's house!"

Vacation; Days 3-4

2010-02-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

Day 3: Driving Down the Coast

We were a little sad to leave the beauty of our oceanfront hotel in Seaside, but were looking forward to seeing other parts of Oregon. At the suggestion of our server at breakfast, we stopped at Haystack Rock in Cannon. It was kinda neat, but as we drove further down the coast we saw many such rocks so, without reading up on the history of the rock and adjacent town, we have no idea why it's so special.

Next stop on our tour was Tillamook. This is another place I'd like to go back to see again. We stopped at the cheese factory (I love Tillamook cheese. Their ice cream is delicious, too!) and took a tour.

The kids loved all the cow stuff at the factory.

Having worked in a cheese factory once upon a time, for about three months, I was fascinated by the inner workings of the place. It was a lot different than the factory I worked at, mostly because the one I worked only took the process as far as curds, which were then shipped to other places for them to turn into blocks of cheese. The tour was self guided, and there were interesting facts and artifacts placed throughout the observation area. It was very cool.

So much cheese!!

The big blocks are called "Forties"--they weigh around forty pounds, give or take a few ounces. These ones are in line to be cut into smaller cubes, then they'll go down the belt to be wrapped.

All that cheese made us sort of hungry, so we headed down to the cafe and got some ice cream. Then it was back into the car to keep heading South. I sort of regret that we didn't make it to the Air Museum. David and I just wanted to get on the road because we wanted to see as much of the coast as we could before it got dark. So we told the kids we couldn't find the museum (it was sort of true, we didn't look up the address so we didn't know where it was!). They seemed fine with it, so we kept driving.

I expected the coast to be gorgeous. It didn't disappoint! We were blessed with some sunshine that day, and the perfect amount of clouds to make the skies beautiful.

I would love to live in Oceanside. All the houses were built on a hill, overlooking the ocean.

I also loved how the road took us along the edge of the mountains, through the rain forest, and the rare occasions we could see through the trees, we saw ocean.

These pictures, as was the case with most of my scenery pictures, were taken from the passenger window as we were driving along. These ones turned out better than most.

We took the long route, but we finally made it to our hotel in Newport just after dark. By the time we got there it was pouring buckets, so we pretty much just holed up in our room for the night. We did go to Burger King, figuring the kids could spend some energy at the play place, but I think it just make them more hyper. Then, I gave Samantha a manicure and pedicure which made the boys a little jealous, but I just refuse to paint their nails. Finally, after a lot of wiggling, giggling and nagging, the kids, and therefore the adults, were able to get some sleep.

Day 4: Hanging out in Newport

Newport is a pretty cool town. We liked the bay, and the bridge that went across it, and the aquarium. We didn't spend more than about 20 minutes at the beach there, because the weather was a little drizzly.

There were sea lions on the rocks, and they were quite loud. Their bark is not a pleasant noise, but I think it would be one I would never get tired of if I lived there.

At the aquarium. Drew, for some reason, refused to be in the picture.

Great White Shark jaws. I think these are an aquarium staple; they seem to be at every aquarium I've been to.

In front of all the funky fish that can be found in the waters around Oregon.

Samantha was fascinated by the "underground" fish.

The kids loved seeing the seals and sea lions up close. "So that's what was making that noise!"

They also really enjoyed the birds that "fly" underwater. All the birds squawked and dove into the water at once. The kids thought it was a show just for them. It pretty much was, because we were just about the only people there!

We also saw anemones, sea stars, various other fish and crustaceans and a big ol' octopus. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died right after the water birds. We took some pictures with Dave's cell phone, but they didn't turn out that great.

After the aquarium, we went to dinner at a place called Mo's. They had pretty tasty fish and chips, and their kids meals came with toy sharks that the kids thought were awesome. The clam chowder there was good, too, but it came out of the kitchen garnished with fresh parsley and a butter pat, which I thought was a little odd and probably unnecessary.

On Day 5, we went to a light house, then headed North and East to visit David's aunt and uncle. Stay tuned!

Vacation; Days 1-2

2010-02-12T23:32:00.001-07:00

Since David is still considered a "young guy" after four and a half years at the railroad, he gets pretty much the worst vacation times. Usually he's lucky enough to get at least one week during the summer, but this year he had both weeks back-to-back at the beginning of this month. We thought long and hard about where to go for vacation, and Oregon won. We figured we could have the most fun for the cheapest, without being too much of a burden on friends and family.

I took over three hundred pictures over the course of our ten-day trip (yay, digital cameras!), but many of them ended up in the Great Unknown that is the recycle bin of my computer. I still have plenty on my computer, but don't worry. I won't post them all. Just a few of the best from each day.

Day 1: Lots of Travel, and a Basketball Game.

We got up at 5 a.m. to begin our journey to Portland. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. The kids must've felt the same way. They didn't sleep at all for the first few hours of the trip, and after that, only about an hour or so each.

This is my attempt at being artsy, as I watched the sun rise in the rear view mirror.

I loved how the sun was shining in my mirror, while the scenery in front of me was so gray.

I enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise while David took the boys in for a pit stop.

We stopped along the Columbia River just to get out of the car for a bit. We loved seeing the barges on the river, and seeing the cars driving in Washington on the other side. Simple pleasures...

I'm amazed that there are people smart enough to make things like this bridge. It lifts up, like it is in the picture, so boats can get under, then it goes back down and cars can drive across.

We actually made it to Portland in pretty good time; in time to go to the Trailblazers game with some friends. The kids loved that they could yell and cheer and, rather than getting annoyed, people thought it was cute.

Day 2: Portland, Some More Travel and Seaside

We spent the first night in Portland, then the next day we bummed around Chinatown for a while. I was sorely disappointed. I think we should have found a map before hand, because the GPS on my phone directed us to the quiet, boring part of town where we saw nothing particularly Asian-looking. Later, we learned that there is an actual entrance with a big gate and some dragon statues. There's also a garden that's supposed to be quite beautiful. But we didn't find it the day we were there. We did get a chance to walk along the river, and watch some people feed seagulls. It was still fun, and the kids had a great time.

After we saw everything we thought there was to see (boy, were we mistaken--can't wait to go back...), we headed to Seaside where we had booked a hotel room at the spur of the moment. We had heard Seaside is a great little town (and it's true!), so we figured we'd better check it out. As soon as we got there, we wished we had planned on spending more than one day there. The hotel was pretty empty, so when David called to make sure we got a room with two beds (the room in Portland only had one. Kids had to sleep on the floor), the concierge told us that they had upgraded us to an ocean view room with a kitchenette. It was an amazing room, and an even more amazing view!

Below this balcony was a five-foot wide patch of grass, a five foot wide walkway, a rock wall, then the beach. And the ocean!

Our hotel, from the "back yard."

I like to take pictures of people walking from behind them. It's something I inherited from my Granddad.

I also like it when the people turn around and walk back toward me. Especially the cute ones...

Some more pictures of the view from our balcony. I wouldn't mind living in one of those houses. Except that things seemed perpetually damp with all the rain.

After we got cold and tired from playing on the beach, we went to an arcade in town. Drew won a whale race (he was playing against Owen and Samantha, so basically Mom and Dad paid three bucks for that little penguin), and was very proud of his prize. He also loves making the peace sign in pictures suddenly; I think he got that from me.

Day Three we traveled along the coast, spent a while at the Tillamook cheese factory, and ended up in Newport where we stayed for a couple days. More on that tomorrow!

Tell Us A Joke

2010-01-20T20:49:00.008-07:00

I've taught Drew a couple jokes. He's pretty good at telling the knock-knock joke I taught him:

Yesterday, while I was making peanut butter and jam sandwiches, I tried to teach him a new joke:

Q: What did one Strawberry say to the other strawberry?

A: Looks like we're in a jam here!

Drew sort of laughed, then his eyes got really wide as he regarded the jar of jam on the counter and asked me, "Are there talking strawberries in there?"

This Is Pretty Cool

2010-01-19T00:20:00.002-07:00

I've posted before about the registering for the Bone Marrow Donor list. Today, I noticed a Facebook status update of one of the young women from church. She's in eight grade, and for a school service project, she set up a bone marrow registry drive. Her goal was to get 26 people to sign up for the registry; she got 45! She was interviewed by the local news stations. There wasn't a code to embed the video into this post, so click here to watch it.

Rent A Kid

2010-01-15T16:07:00.005-07:00

A couple years ago, some friends of ours asked if they could borrow Samantha for a night or two so he could prove to his wife that she did not want another kid. Well, of course, we're always more than happy to ~~pawn our kids off on other people~~ help out a friend. The problem was, Samantha decided to be really well behaved for those two days, so the wife still thought she wanted a baby, and almost had our friend convinced.

After we had Samantha, David and I decided we're fairly convinced that we're done. No more kids for us. Well, I was only fairly convinced, David was completely convinced. Lately I've been feeling more and more settled. I'm done having kids.

Two Sundays ago, when a friend asked me if I'd watch her three-month-old baby boy, I started to get nervous. What if it's a sign that I'm not done? That I need to practice up? But I agreed to watch the boy anyway, because he's really a very cute baby.

So for the last two weeks we had a little tiny baby at our house. The kids absolutely loved it. Baby Micah came over a little after 7 a.m. every day, so when the kids woke up he was already here, usually sleeping. They would tiptoe into the living room, whispering to each other, "Baby Micah is sleeping. You have to be quiet!" (Or as Samantha would say, "Baby Bicah beeping!") They would sit there and watch him until he started to stir just a little bit, then they would get so excited: "He's waking up! Let's play with him!" And they would pat his cheeks and kiss his hair so that even if he hadn't actually been waking up, he wasn't sleeping any more. He didn't seem to care. He always had a smile (a cute, dimply-cheeked, toothless smile) for everyone.

Drew liked baby Micah so much that he came up to me in all seriousness and asked, "Mom, can we take Samantha back and keep baby Micah?" I had to try really hard to keep a straight face while I told him that Micah's mom would probably be very sad if we kept Micah, and that we couldn't even trade because Micah's mom already has a girl named Samantha.

Samantha loved to play with Micah, too, but has also been having fun taking care of her own "babies." Any doll or stuffed animal in the house is the baby. And they are all named Baby. Then Samantha will tell me, "I'm the mommy. You're the Grandma." She'd been playing this game for about a month now, but it's become much more frequent. Recently she's given herself more responsibility. She will pretend to dress her baby and change its diaper, and while she's doing it she'll tell me, pointing to herself, "This is mom's job. Mom's job. Okay?" And she'll look at me very sternly to make sure I understand.

I think David was wondering if I was going to try to convince him that we need to have another baby. I actually mentioned it, only partly in jest, to see what he would say. He said, "Are you serious?!?!" I assured him I wasn't totally serious, but wouldn't it be fun to have a cute little baby around? And the kids were having so much fun.

But after two weeks of having such a delightful baby at our house, I came to the conclusion that I am definitely finished reproducing and am ready to channel all my energies into raising the kids I have.

If this had been our friend, he would have considered it a successful rental.

What Are You Funny About?

2010-01-01T21:11:00.004-07:00

My kids love to be the reason I'm giggling. Which is good, because it happens a lot. One of them does something funny, I laugh, and the funny kid will ask, "What a you laughing about? Me? Cool!" Then the kid will proceed to try to recreate whatever I was laughing at.

I love it when Samantha asks me what I'm laughing about. She doesn't use the word "laughing"--instead she asks, "What are you funny about?" Which usually makes me laugh even more. Tonight, Samantha and I were going through her bedtime routine. We had said prayers and were singing a song. She likes to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" all by herself, then she gives me a turn to sing a song to her. I was singing "Reverently, Quietly," and she decided she wanted to have a turn. She sang it like this: "Revely, Riley. Ryler, Cokely. Bett? Brian?" I started cracking up. She went from singing the song to listing the names of our neighbor friends, Riley, Skyler, Oakley, Bret and Brian. I couldn't stop giggling. So of course she asked me, "What are you funny about?" You, my dear girl. You.

Deep Conversation Over A Vanilla Pear Foot Rub

2009-12-28T22:23:00.002-07:00

I have lovely memories of evenings spent with my mom and sister. My mom would wash our feet, and put lotion on them to keep them soft. We would talk about things that were important to us, share stories and memories, mom would tell us about her childhood.

Tonight as I was helping the boys get ready for bed, I noticed their feet were a little dirty, so I offered to wash them and put some lotion on them. It turned into a fun little time to chat with them. Then they started asking some important questions, and I have to admit I was a little stumped. It started out innocently enough, with Drew asking, "Where did I get my police helicopter from?" I told him he got it from Santa.

Then Drew asked me, "Where did you get me from?" Uhh... I told him he came from my belly. He asked, "How did I get out?" I told him he and Owen grew in there and when they were big enough, I went to the hospital and the doctor opened up my belly and took them out and sewed me back up. (That's one nice thing about having had a c-section; I really don't know how I would have explained a regular delivery to a four year old...)

Drew thought that sounded pretty funny. He said, "Guess how I got you?" Then he told me, "You were in my belly and I went to the hospital and they cut me up and took you out and then they sewed me up and gave me some medicine." And he laughed like it was the funniest thing ever. I guess I'm glad he thought it was funny and not scary.

I want my kids to feel like they can always talk to me, and ask me anything. And I want to always be forthcoming with my answers. Hopefully this is a good start.

Christmas '09, With Photos from My Camera Phone

2009-12-27T19:09:00.006-07:00

We had a great Christmas! I got my present a month or so ago; a new vacuum that actually sucks, doesn't get stinky after I vacuum up a ton of dog hair, and I don't have to change the bag and clean out the hose after each time I vacuum the house. Yay! David also got himself a present; he's going to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in March. (I decided I'm all basketballed out, especially since we still have two more Jazz games lined up in January and March, so I won't be going to the NCAA games, but I plan on going down to Salt Lake to hang out.) So it was basically Christmas for the Kids at our house this year.

We started out the festivities with David saying, "Can you make some cookies? I need to do my home teaching." As if you can't go home teaching in December without cookies in hand. (You totally can!) But I made a couple batches of sugar cookies anyway, and we handed them out to neighbors and the families David visits. Drew was especially excited:

The kids each only had one item on their lists for Santa. Drew wanted a police helicopter, Owen wanted an ice cream truck, and Samantha wanted a spider. She is still confused about the holidays, and is remembering what she dressed as for Halloween. We also gave the boys ten bucks they could spend on presents for their other siblings. We never really got around to taking Samantha to buy anything for her brothers, but I don't think any of the kids noticed. So Owen got Drew a Mater the Greater toy and got Samantha a pocked-sized Strawberry Shortcake doll. When Owen and I got home from shopping, Owen asked Drew, "What do you want for Christmas, Drew?" I don't know what Drew told Owen, but then Owen started yelling, "No you don't! You want a Mater!" After David and Drew got home from their shop-for-the-siblings trip, Drew came running into the kitchen yelling, "Look what I got you, Owen!" Luckily, Owen didn't get a chance to look before David grabbed Drew and whisked him upstairs to wrap the gift. After that, whenever someone asked one of the boys about a present, no matter who it was for, they would answer, "It's a secret."

Drew got his police helicopter. He loves it!

Owen got his Ice cream truck (which was harder to find than I anticipated) in the form of Skids and Mudflap, from Transformers 2. He has only seen bits and pieces of the movie, and only because he kept sneaking into the room while we were watching it at a friend's house, and while he was supposed to be playing in the toy room with the other kids. He likes his Transformer, but doesn't know how to make it transform. So we keep it in ice cream truck mode and he plays with it that way. He also got an ice cream truck from Grandma and Grandpa Canfield, who took some trucks with trailers and put ice cream stickers all over them. He likes those a lot, too. (I don't have any pictures of him with any of his new toys.)

Samantha was so hard to shop for! She doesn't really play with dolls, and we decided there are far too many planes, trains and automobiles in our house, so we didn't get her any of those, either. We ended up getting a play kitchen for the kids to share and, so Samantha would have something to unwrap, we got some accessories for the kitchen--extra pans, and utensils and things. We shouldn't have worried about it, because the poor girl was too overwhelmed to unwrap anything. She ran into the kitchen and sat at the table with her chin in her hands. Every now and then, the boys would bring her something to unwrap, and she'd oblige, then put her chin back on her hands. She does love the play kitchen, though. All the kids do. This morning I was feeling a bit under the weather, so the kids went downstairs to the play kitchen and made me some "tea" with "gumdrops" (what Drew calls cough drops) in it. Obviously a miniature plastic cup full of air didn't cure anything, but it cheered me up.

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. The kids woke up and we had everything ready and under the tree. Grandma and Grandpa Canfield came over with loads of presents, and the boys had loads of fun unwrapping, and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everything. I scored some new microfiber sheets, a wok, and a book about hair that I've been wanting to read for a while. As a totally unexpected surprise, David and the kids got me a necklace from a friend of mine who has opened up a small jewelry business. I got the cluster one listed first on the blog, but mine is grey, which will go with a lot more of my outfits.

On Christmas day, the kids and I headed down to Utah to celebrate with my side of the family. David had to work, so he couldn't come with us. We had a little Christmas party and gift exchange at my mom's house that was tons of fun. The kids and I stayed the night there, then the next day we headed down to Salt Lake to meet up with my good friend Noi who is from Thailand. I have to be honest: this was my one of my favorite Christmas presents ever. I hadn't seen Noi for almost six years, so I was so excited all week long. We met up at the visitors center at the temple, then we went out for some Thai food, then we just hung out and chatted and enjoyed each other's company. My kids love their "Aunt" Noi, and had a great time looking at the water fountains around Temple Square and the Conference center, and riding the escalators at the store (we had to go to Sears to get coats; I'd been needing a new one for a while, and we had left Samantha's coat at home, but she was growing out of it anyway so I justified buying her a new one, too. And Sears had great sales going on that day!).

Later we met up with a few other missionaries that served in Thailand, and we took a tour of the Conference center and walked around Temple Square some more to admire the lights. The grounds were absolutely beautiful! And it was fun to walk around with people I hadn't seen for a while and reconnect with them.

I loved the pool on the East side of the temple. I've taken various pictures here on various occasions, and it's always beautiful, but this time they had set up a nativity scene around the pool, with the main feature (Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus) in the center of the pool. So pretty!

Between the temple and the tabernacle, were bright red and orange lights on every branch of every tree. It was so bright! I felt like I had to squint all the time. But it was still very beautiful.

2009 was a good year. Even though my age is an even number, the year was an odd number, so it was all good. Hopefully I can make it through the first six-and-a-half months of 2010, which will be an even numbered year, and my age will still be even numbered. I've got high hopes, though!

My New Favorite Christmas Carol

2009-12-20T23:27:00.003-07:00

I have listened to this song probably 10 times since I "discovered" it the other day. It's called "Come Darkness Come Light" by Mary Chapin Carpenter. It was on a play list that a friend of mine shared on her Facebook page. I couldn't figure out how to embed just a song (is there such a site as YouAudio or something?), so I tried to find a YouTube video for it and it came up with the following:

Kinda random picture, but feel free to open another browser window and do something else while you listen to this beautiful song.

Some Holiday Gift Ideas

2009-12-16T23:17:00.001-07:00

New Holiday Fun

2009-12-10T11:54:00.002-07:00

I saw an ad for a new Christmas Special that aired last night on ABC. I wasn't able to watch it when it aired, but I did find it on hulu.com. It's called Prep & Landing, and it's about the elves who get the houses ready for Santa to bring presents to. I thought it was such a cute show, so I watched it with Drew and Owen, who have enjoyed it so much they've watched it three times since. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out at here at hulu, or here at disney. It's just a half-hour special (23 minues, really, since there are only short commercial breaks on these websites). I really hope they make some more episodes, or make a feature length film.

Before I Forget: A Little Story I Can Use as Blackmail...

2009-12-09T22:30:00.007-07:00

(If booger-talk grosses you out, don't read this)

I had an interesting conversation with Owen at bedtime. It all started with a piece of green fuzz from a blanket. The fuzz was sitting on Owen's shoulder, so I picked it off and said, "Hey Owen, there's a booger on you." A really perturbed look crossed his face, like he was about to cry. I told him, "I'm just teasing, Owen. It's only a piece of fuzz. Are you that scared of boogers?" Owen told me he was. The following exchange ensued:

Owen: I'm scared of Drew's boogers.

Me: Do you come in contact with Drew's boogers that much?

Owen: Drew puts boogers on my head.

Me: What?!

Owen: When he laughs. He gets boogers on my head.

Me: What?!

Owen: But I just put them back in his nose.

Me: That is just gross, Owen. You shouldn't put your finger in other peoples' noses.

Owen: [laughs] I don't put my finger in his nose! I put his boogers in his nose!

Poor Drew was fast asleep and unable to defend himself.

I Want My Six-Pack Back

2009-12-09T10:11:00.001-07:00

I've been getting up early lately. I won't say what time, because I know most of you get up earlier than that every day. But I don't usually get up until later in the morning, so it's early for me. Especially since I haven't been going to bed all that much earlier.

I've been getting up early so I can work out. My friend and I had been running a few mornings a week, but we feel like we're not just equipped to run in barely-above-zero temperatures. Also, we felt like we wanted to work out more often than just three times a week, which is about all I could do with David's work schedule. But my friend doesn't want to run every single day because she gets to skinny. Seriously; she has a really fast metabolism (I wish I had that problem), and she's already pretty thin.

We decided we would work out inside. I have some exercise DVDs that I purchased a couple years ago, and some that I inherited from various sources. So on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, we do aerobics with Kathy Smith. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we do Pilates with Denise Austin. We're only on week two, but I feel great! It's nice to have my muscles feel a little sore and it's really nice to be exercising inside and out of the cold.

We have plans to switch up our workouts, too. Today, for instance, we learned a couple break dancing moves before we started aerobics (I also have an instructional DVD for break dancing). We're going to learn new ones every aerobics day. We're also going to check out other DVDs from the library. I really want to sweat with Richard Simmons and the Oldies. I don't know what kind of workout it will be, since I think I don't really fit the target demographic for those videos, but it would be fun to try it out.

I really want to find the work out videos we used to exercise with in middle school gym class. They involved a girl with a massive ponytail and two other people, who were apparently interchangeable--they were different people every time. I liked the videos because even though each of the instructors was doing the same workout, they were doing different intensities. So not only could I pick how strenuously I worked out, it was also really fun to watch whoever was doing the most intense version. They always looked slightly ridiculous.

Even though I love working out (and it's especially fun to work out with a good friend), I really miss having six-pack abs with little to no effort. Those were the days...

Christmas Wishes

2009-12-06T14:39:00.002-07:00

We went to see Santa at the mall yesterday. The boys were so excited--until we got there. Drew decided he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. Neither did Samantha. Owen sat on Santa's lap, but he looked really nervous the whole time. He told Santa he wants and ice cream truck and a dump truck for Christmas.

I held Samantha while Santa talked to her. She told him she wants a spider for Christmas. I think she has her holidays mixed up. She remembers being a spider for Halloween, so that's now what she wants for Christmas. I hope Santa just brings her a doll like he mentioned.

Drew hid behind my legs and peeked out long enough to tell Santa he wants a police helicopter for Christmas. Santa asked Drew what else he wanted, and Drew looked around for a minute (to get some ideas, I guess) and finally decided he wants a toy reindeer. Santa told Drew, "Do you know I have real reindeer?" And Drew said, "Yes. Reindeer can fly. They pull your sleigh so all the kids can have toys." Santa looked pretty impressed.

When we were getting the boys ready for bed, David asked Drew why he didn't want to sit on Santa's lap. Drew told him, "I guess I'm just shy." He's pretty talkative for a shy-guy.

Free Range?

2009-12-04T12:57:00.004-07:00

I was watching Penn & Teller's HBO program on Netflix recently (since we no longer have HBO in our house--I have to remind myself it's for the best). The premise of the show is that they go around and debunk popular myths, like aliens/UFOs, and colon cleansing diets to prevent cancer (they were talking about the extreme stuff like ingesting only cayenne and grapefruit juice all day for a month).

In the episode I watched online they took on the "Helicopter Parent" along with Things We Tell Our Kids. They covered things like "If you go swimming right after eating you could drown." The doctor they talked to said that swimming after eating is only dangerous if you don't know how to swim. They talked about the parent who follows within 18 inches of her child in case he falls off the monkey bars, so she'll be there to catch him. (That's only a little bit of an exaggeration; about two days after I watched this episode, I witnessed one of these ladies in person at the playground. She seriously followed her daughter around the entire playground. She was even hovering around other people's kids. She made a couple movements toward Samantha, who hates being helped on the playground, and who was at that moment standing on the edge of the jungle gym watching Owen climb up a ladder. The lady was driving me nuts; I can't imagine how her eight year old daughter felt.) Not that helicopter parents are always moms, just the one I saw was...

Penn and Teller also spoke with Lenore Skenazy, a lady who let her nine year old son, Izzy (isn't Izzy Skenazy the most awesome name ever?) ride the subway in New York City. By himself. I was fascinated with this lady. I mean, I don't think I'd let my nine year old ride the subway on his own--that seems a bit young to me--but I appreciated that she had prepared her son; she'd been on the subway with him countless times, she'd given him advice on what to do in an emergency. She'd given him maps and directions on how to get where he was going. Then she let him go.

So now there seems to be this movement toward "Free Range Parenting," as Skenazy calls it. She even has a website devoted to it. A couple weeks ago, I got one of my periodic emails from WebMD. It contained a link to an article on "The New Hands-off Approach to Raising Kids."

Yesterday at the grocery store, this cover of Time Magazine caught my eye. I'm too cheap to actually buy a magazine, so I went home and looked up the article, The Case Against Overparenting, online. I highly recommend reading it. Even if all you do is skip to page four and read the conclusion, which just reiterates teaching your kids, then letting them put it into practice, and letting them learn from any mistakes.

The thing that really gets me is that this "new movement" really isn't that new. I feel like my own mom was a free-range parent. She taught my siblings and me how to behave, taught us right from wrong, then she let us practice on our own. It allowed me to develop self confidence, and learn from my own mistakes. And it was fun. I love reminiscing with my siblings about things we did when we were younger, and adventures we had. And I love it when my mom pipes in with "Where was I?" Who knows? But looking back, it doesn't really matter, because it allowed my siblings and me to create our own pickles and work through them.

After reading all the articles on "overparenting" and "free-range parenting" I've come to the conclusion that I am more of a free-range parent. Not that I let my kids run amok (okay, sometimes I do), but I give them lots of time to play and imagine. I'm usually nearby somewhere, because at their age, I can't really trust them to not break things, but I don't dictate their play. The can do pretty much whatever they want for this time. Sometimes it's hard to stand back. They get into quarrels over toys, but I've been trying to get them to work it out amongst themselves. If Drew comes whining to me, "Mom! Owen took my toy!" I tell him,
"Go talk to Owen about it." I just feel like, at this point, I've told them time and time again, We don't take other people's things without asking. It's time to let them practice it. They're getting better at it. Owen is usually the one who tattles, and it drives me crazy. But we're working on it.

There are rewarding moments, like when the kids are all playing together and I hear something similar to the following:

Owen: Would you like some cookies that I made?

Drew: Yes, please.

Samantha: Peease!

Drew: Here, Samantha, you can have two.

Samantha: Theek-oou.

Owen: You're welcome. That is two tickets, please. [Tickets are their currency.]

Who Woulda Thought?

2009-12-01T20:57:00.003-07:00

I have memories in my brain of slumping down in a kitchen chair, being anywhere from nine to fourteen years of age, plunking my head down onto the table and wailing, "Why do I have to learn this? Cooking is such a pain!" My always-patient Mother probably said something like, "You'll want to eat when you grow up and move out, so you'll need these skills." There were similar episodes involving sewing, ironing and other "boring" household chores.

Turns out I learned to cook anyway, mostly because of my mom's incredible patience, and also partly because of a job I had when I got out of high school as a short order cook in a cafeteria.

Now, I have been invited to be a contributor on a cooking blog that my friend started called Saltbox House Cooking Exchange. I've only posted two recipes so far, but I still want to invite you all to go check out the blog whenever you need some ideas on what to cook for dinner. There are some good recipes on there.

Just today I posted a recipe for an old fashioned soda; a lime freeze. I made up the recipe (didn't invent the dessert, though) and I'm pretty pleased with it. It tastes pretty close to the real thing. It is tasty treat, even when it's cold and snowy outside. Go check it out!

Bittersweet

2009-11-29T21:31:00.004-07:00

I've sat down a few times to type up an entry on the ol' blog, but I just can't seem to get my thoughts together in any kind of cohesive, coherent way. There's been a lot going on around here, but I just wanted to write a few things that have been on my mind the last week or so.

Thanksgiving is always a thought-provoking holiday. This year seemed more so than usual. David's great uncle passed away a few days before Thanksgiving. We went to his funeral on Wednesday. I had met the man only a handful of times, but each time he made me feel like a welcome addition to the family, as do his wife and children still. The eulogy, given by one of the sons, went into greater detail and further confirmed my initial impressions of what a good man this uncle was.

He was a good son. He was a good brother. He was a good husband. He was a good father, grandfather, uncle. He worked hard and taught his children to do the same. He appreciated the earth and its beauty. He was a rancher and a cowboy. He was a poet. He played the ukulele in a band (his band actually played one of the songs he wrote at the funeral). He fought in the Korean War. He drove a horse drawn wagon every Summer for a reenactment of travelling the Oregon Trail.

I've had this scripture running around in my head lately, and I think it that have been a motto for how this man lived his life: "...never be weary of good works, but...be meek and lowly in heart; for such shall find rest to their souls." Alma 37:34 (This uncle wasn't LDS, so I hope he doesn't mind that I used a scripture from the Book of Mormon. :) )

As I listened to the eulogy, of all the things this man had done, I looked around at the family and friends and the thought came to my mind that even though a funeral is a sad thing, especially the day before Thanksgiving, most people in attendance were probably feeling grateful that they had a chance to know this man and learn from him and be inspired by him to be a better person. That's how I felt, anyway.

Halloween Pics

2009-11-13T11:57:00.004-07:00

I posted some of these on my Facebook page, but some of you don't have Facebook, so I thought I'd post them here, too.

Jack-O-Lantern Sunset

We went trick-or-treating in Old Town Pocatello. It was a little disappointing. I had a couple friends tell me they go every year and it's a great time and they get good candy. I guess this year was an off year. Plus, it was a Saturday, so it was really crowded. There was a line almost two blocks long at a cell phone store. We bypassed it, so for all we know they were giving out free minutes or something. It must've been something good; I can't imagine standing in line for a Tootsie Roll.

Drew and Owen didn't care about the crowds and the lame candy. They were just excited to be getting something.

Owen wanted to be a wizard this year. I made a funky little hat, too, but he lost it before we went trick-or-treating.

Drew wanted to be a crayon. He was so excited about his costume.

I decided to make a spider costume for Samantha. I used the same pattern for the pumpkin I made last year then I added some extra arms and legs. It was a lot of fun to make, and I was pleased with how it turned out. Samantha was not as pleased. She cried and cried when I put it on her. But after people said how cute she was and gave her candy, she decided it wasn't so bad.

Reasons to Get Rid of A Dog*

2009-11-09T13:36:00.005-07:00

Sure, there are a few Reasons to Not Have Kids on this floor, but those were much smaller and blended in with the floor much more nicely.

*This picture could also be titled Heather Has Too Much Spare Time.

A Pinch of Procrastination With a Helping of Hypocrisy

2009-11-05T10:51:00.005-07:00

I've got all sorts of cleaning to do today. Drew and Owen want to watch videos on the computer, but I told them no computer until the chores are done. Here I am playing on the computer. My rationalization is I'm just going to "get it over with" and then I won't compute any more today (because I've also got lots of good library books waiting for me once the housework--or at least most of it-- is done).

I just wanted to record a few funnies from Drew and Owen--you know, for posterity's sake. Those boys are super interested in how things work and where things come from lately. I'll answer as many of their questions as I can and things I don't know I'll look up so I can give them straight answers. So now Drew and Owen know little gems like the following (which they have put into their own words):

"Honey is bee spit."

"Eggs are baby chickens."

"Milk is made out of cows." (I keep telling them milk comes from cows, not that it's made of cows, but they don't see the difference, apparently.)

And Owen surprised us at dinner the other day with this classy explanation on digestion: "Water goes into your body and turns into pee." He actually learned that one from the neighbor boy who has been paying attention in Kindergarten class. Smart kid!

Staying Home

2009-11-01T21:32:00.007-07:00

Some sad news: I got let go from my job. I just wasn't picking up on the assisting as fast as the dentist (and I) would have liked, so I got the boot. I was pretty devastated on Friday, my last day there, but I feel much better now. Honestly, I was a horrible assistant. I did well with the cleanings and x-rays, and I really liked that side of things, but I was no good at assisting. So I totally understood where the dentist was coming from. Still, I really enjoyed my time there, I really liked my coworkers, and I felt like a big failure, so I cried for about three hours on Friday afternoon. And now I'm over it. Mostly.
I'm kind of relieved, in a way. I haven't been a very good wife or mom since I've been working full time. My house is a mess and my kids are going nuts. So I'm looking forward to staying home for a while and getting the house scoured and ready for winter. And maybe I'll have a little more time to write on the ol' blog. That'd be nice.

Some very glad news: David and the kids and I were sealed in the temple last Saturday, October 24. It was such a neat experience to have the kids all dressed in white and hear the promises of being a family forever. I was worried that the kids would be loud and misbehave inside the temple, but they behaved really well, with the exception of Samantha, who cried during most of the ceremony. But the officiator was really nice and said to her, "We wouldn't have it any other way, sweet girl." Drew was very excited about the whole thing and when it was over he asked, "Mom, are we married now?" He was so cute. Owen was pretty shy, which is totally in-character for him. But he was excited, too; I could see it in his eyes. And the boys loved their white ties that our sweet neighbor bought for them to wear.
It was so great to have friends and family come up for the occasion, too. My brother and his family came from Colorado, my amazing sister agreed to watch the neices and nephews, and we had friends and cousins come up from Utah, too. Thanks, everyone, for your support!
My favorite Heidi-cousin took some pictures for us. Here are a few (okay, a lot) that I like the best:

Granola bars make good bribes... "Hey, kids, let us take your picture and you can have one!"

I love this one; I just wish I had an editing tool that would let me erase the nose-juices and the granola crumbs...

"Look, mom! Leaf angels!"

This is by far one of the best pictures ever taken of Drew.

This is the least-squinty one we got at this spot. And it was such a gorgeous spot! I think the scenery in the background looks fake, but it is totally real!

A cute family pic.

"Okay, okay. This is the last one, I promise..."

Where Did October (Not to Mention the Last Four Years) Go??

2009-10-18T18:21:00.007-06:00

This month has flown by! We've been super busy, which helps the time pass. I hope we can keep this pace up through the winter; I'd like that season to just be over with--and it hasn't even started yet! We did get a small taste of it a week or two ago, but thankfully that disappeared quickly. The kids enjoyed the snow while it was here, and their excitement kind of rubbed off on me making it easier to stay upbeat.

Above: Drew and Owen making snow angels.
Below, Left: Drew and Owen playing. Below, Right: Samantha couldn't decide if she liked the cold or not.

Below are some pictures of Samantha being her cute self. She cracks me up lately. She hates to be told "no." If I tell her no, she puts on this really cute smile and she pats my face or hugs my legs depending on what she can reach, as though I'll let her off the hook just because she's cute. If anyone outside the family tells her no, it apparently hurts her feelings; she'll cry and cry, very loudly, squeezing out big ol' tears. She did that in church today and I had to take her out into the foyer where she decided in about two seconds that crying was a waste of energy and she'd rather play with all the babies out there.

Above: a cute little dress she got for her birthday (and Drew's hand creepily grabbing her shoulder).

Below: Sometimes I read a magazine while we're having snack time. I got up to clean the snacks, and Samantha stayed at the table to "read." She was so cute and serious about it, I had to snap a picture.

Not too long after the snow melted, the days warmed up again in typical Idaho fashion. We took advantage of the sunshine and headed to the park for the afternoon. Owen headed strait for the jungle gym, shimmied up and jumped down. It must be a ritual of some kind because he does that every time we go to the park, then he doesn't play on it again the remainder of our time there.

The swings are by far the favorite park activity for Drew and Owen, but Samantha usually cries if I even attempt to put her in a swing. This day, though, she actually laughed (it sounded a little forced) and we all played on the swings for almost half an hour.

This digger is another preferred toy at the park, but the boys rarely get a chance at playing on it because they don't understand the concept of waiting their turn. Usually if someone is on it and they want to play on it, they come crying to me and something similar to the following ensues: Child: Mom! That boy won't let me play on the digger! Me: Did you ask nicely? Child: I can't! I need help! Me: Go over there and ask nicely if you can play. If he says no, just wait until he's done. Child: [walks back to the digger, says something, comes running back] He's screaming at me! Me: He's not screaming at you. Child: [starts screaming at me] I want to play! Me: Then you'd better quit crying, or we'll go home. Child: [still screaming] I don't want to go home!! Me: [gather my stuff and the other two kids] Okay, lets go home. [Scene.]

Samantha gets more and more brave every time we go to the park. She has to keep up with her brothers and all the other kids at the park. She also likes to invent her own fun, such as hanging from the top of the slide for a minute before she slides down it.

It always nice when the kids play nicely together, which happens on rare occasions for about twenty seconds at a time. Owen and Samantha like to play in/on/around this tunnel together, and it keeps them happily occupied for at least 40 seconds, which is twice the norm.

So here we are, in the latter part of October. Next Sunday is Drew's and Owen's birthday. They will be four already, which I absolutely cannot believe. It makes me a little verklempt, because I remember sitting on our couch with my hubby the night before we went to the hospital for the delivery. We both got a little teary-eyed thinking about how much our lives were about to change. We had no idea.

Brush Your Kids' Teeth!

2009-10-01T10:26:00.002-06:00

I really like my job. I feel like I picked up on the hygiene side of things pretty quickly; doing cleanings, taking x-rays, et cetera. But I feel like I'm struggling still as far as assisting with fillings and crowns (or Ops as we call them). I have shaky hands, and they feel large and in the way. I dropped a couple things today, and I handed the wrong thing at the wrong time once or twice. I realize it takes practice and I've only done it a handful of times, but still--it's frustrating. So with that in mind, here's a Public Service Announcement from your friendly newby Dental Assistant:

I've been up since 5:45 a.m. for the second day in a row. Most Wednesdays or Thursdays the dentist I'm working for goes up to the hospital or the surgery center to do work on kids who just have a ton of work to do and who won't sit still for the work (we're talking thrashing and screaming, not just a few flinches here and there). The kids are put under general anesthesia so the dentist can work on them.

The first time I went was pretty tough to watch. We were setting up all our equipment and supplies when the first kid was brought in to be put under. This poor girl was crying for her mommy and then the meds kicked in and suddenly she was just laying there. Now I know why they don't allow parents back there; it's kind of heart-wrenching!

Even more heart-wrenching, though, is the amount of decay in these kids' mouths. Of course cavities happen, even with good hygiene habits; that's part of why dentists exist. But putting a bunch of fillings and a couple crowns in a three or four year old kid is just crazy. That happens when kids are eating lots of junk, and going to bed night after night without brushing.

So please brush your kids' teeth, especially at night, so I can do more of the cleanings and x-rays that I love and less of the Ops that make me nervous!

Here are some helpful guidelines for helping your kids take care of their teeth:

ADA Website

A Helpful Book You Can Check Out From the Library

Primary Program

2009-09-27T21:12:00.003-06:00

Drew and Owen participated in their first Primary Program* at church today. Maybe "participated" is a bit of an overstatement; they did say their short little lines (Drew said, "I can keep the Word of Wisdom." And Owen said, "I can pay my tithing."), but other than that, they just stood there during the songs. Didn't even sing one word. Drew did smile and wave at me from the pulpit, which was really cute. The program went off without a hitch this year, which was a little disappointing, because it's always kinda funny when the kids misspeak or when they sit up on the stand poking each other and making faces at their parents and siblings in the audience.

I'm not usually overly sentimental, but I did get a little teary-eyed when my boys said their lines. I was so proud of them (I honestly thought they would chicken out and not say anything at all)!

*For those who are wondering what I'm talking about: In our church the kids ages 3-11 go to Primary every Sunday to learn about the Gospel (and honestly, to give the parents a break so they can learn, too!). They study different themes every year. This year's theme is Strengthening the Family. And toward the last part of the year, they put on a program to let the parents know what they've learned. It's always very sweet, and sometimes quite funny!

Little Miss Mantha

2009-09-20T12:50:00.009-06:00

From this...

To this...

in two short years!

I can never get over how fast time flies. My baby is already two years old! It was funny to me how different she looked on Wednesday, the day before her birthday, compared to Thursday. Suddenly she looked so much more like a toddler and less like a baby. And suddenly her tantrums got so much more volatile, too! She's always had a bit of a temper, but it flares up then dissipates much faster now. Last night she got mad for some unknown reason and she actually jumped into the air, both feet off the ground, kicked both legs out and sat down hard on the kitchen floor. Then she sat there and screamed. When no one did anything, she repeated the maneuver. Still no one did anything, so she climbed up on her chair and started eating her dinner. Less than a minute later she was laughing and making animal sounds with Drew and Owen. Silly girl.

We didn't have Mantha's birthday party until Friday, the day after her birthday, because of conflicts with work, soccer and volleyball games. Good thing she's too little to know the difference. I snapped a few pictures of Mantha on her actual birthday, for my own sentimental reasons. Here they are:

In the playhouse.

Coloring in the fresh air.

Special birthday hairdo.

I had a lot of fun making Samantha's birthday cake this year. I wanted to do a Samantha Cake, so my sister Roz helped me find pictures to copy. I liked this one the best:

I wanted the cake to be just about Samantha, though, so when I copied the picture I left out the little boy.

First, I sketched the outline in the frosting with a toothpick.

Then I traced over the outline with black icing.

I added stripes around the edges to sort of complete the old-fashioned look, and to add a "pop of color," as they say on What Not To Wear. It didn't look exactly like the original picture, but I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Samantha liked it, too!

Samantha liked her presents, too. She was so funny when we took her to the store to pick a toy. We would show her a toy and ask, "Do you like this one, Samantha?" and she'd say, "Nooooo," then she'd laugh and run to the next toy. There was a little learning center that she played with the most, so that's what we got her.

She also got some new clothes and a new bed from Grandma and Grandpa Canfield! She loves it now, but when we first set it up and showed it to her, she started crying and wouldn't go near it because she thought we meant for her to go to bed, and she'd just woken up from her nap twenty minutes before! I don't have a picture of the new bed; it's a very cute antique bed that Grandma C. fixed up and bought bedding for. Samantha got sick last night, though, and all that adorable bedding is in the wash so I'll have to get a picture some other time.

If anyone needs a crib or know someone who does, let me know. We have two cribs, but only one mattress (one of the mattresses was really old and falling apart so we junked it).

End of Summer Update

2009-09-13T17:04:00.006-06:00

Haven't been to the ol' blog in a while. I still read all my friends' blogs, even though I don't often comment, so I don't feel completely out of the loop. When I first started blogging I thought of events and things that happened in my life from the viewpoint of "I could blog about that." Now I'm so out of the habit of blogging I don't even know where to start. So I'll post a bunch of pictures that I've accumulated over the summer and describe them a little. That should do the trick as far as keeping a record for posterity...

What kind of summer would it be without plenty of ice cream and Popsicles?

We had a family reunion at my house, but not everyone was able to make it (including myself) so we had a second reunion at Bear Lake. It was loads of fun, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins!

My kids are suddenly fearless when it comes to water (compared to last summer when they would hardly go near it). Drew is especially brave when he has his life jacket on.

Owen, Drew and cousin Ellie on a merry-go-round. If I remember correctly, they all bailed before the ride was finished, which made for some tricky kid-juggling.

We also went to American Falls Reservoir. I don't know why we keep going back there. I guess because it's free and it's close to our house--just 20 minutes away. But the water is always so filthy!

Samantha didn't want to go in the water, so she sat on the shore chucking rocks into the water the whole time.

After we go to the reservoir, we go visit David's grandma. She always brings out this little car garage, which has been around forever and which the kids absolutely love.

I found this bug while cleaning the BLM building one evening. I have no clue what it was. It's body was shaped like an ant's, and it had six legs that it actually used, plus two appendages that just sort of did nothing, and two long antennae on its head. Its head and legs were reddish-brown, and its body was gray. Legs and all, it was about two and a half inches diameter. Huge! I couldn't bring myself to squish it, so I just took pictures, cleaned around it and left the room as quickly as possible.

I had some time off so I took the kids to visit my sister Roz. Roz lives not far from my Grandma Archibald, so we went to visit her, too. Drew was being a pill and wouldn't look at the camera. Oh, well.

The day after we visited my Grandma, we went wakeboarding. Our friend's boat is super nice; even I can wakeboard successfully behind it. (By "successfully" I mean that I can get up and ride. I can't do any tricks or anything.) This is just a picture of the full moon that rose as we were cleaning the boat at the end of the day. It made me think of James' Giant Peach. It was gorgeous and this picture does it no justice whatsoever.

Yesterday we went to a Railroad picnic. They had a firetruck there, which was the boys' favorite part.

Owen hopping down from the firetruck.

Drew sitting in the truck.

Samantha's favorite part was the playground. That girl is fearless! She'll shimmy up all the steps and ladders, and go down all the slides. The bigger the better! This little slide is surprisingly fast, but she seemed disappointed at how short it was.

We had the scare of the summer yesterday. Samantha and the boys were playing on the playground while I helped out with the Railroad picnic. I turned around to check on the kids and none of them were where I left them. A few seconds later I saw Drew and Owen. I asked them where Samantha was. Drew said, "That man taked her." Panic!! My heart almost stopped. I started running around trying to find her. Finally I saw my friend's mom holding her. My friend's brother had seen her on the playground crying and bleeding from the forehead, so he "taked" her to his mom who is a nurse. The mom was on her way to the announcer station when I found them. I'm just glad that the kid who found her happened to be someone we knew, and we got her back safe and sound (if a little bloody from the playground).

Samantha turns two this coming Thursday. I can't believe it! My baby is not a baby anymore! We're going to make a Samantha cake, and I got her some really cute clothes (which she helped pick out) for her birthday. I'll make sure to post some pictures before she turns three!

Oh, I almost forgot to even write about this: I got a new job. Yay! I started working as a Dental Assistant last week. In Idaho, you don't have to be certified to be a Dental Assistant, and a lot of dentists like to hire people with little to no experience (that's me!) so they can train them to do things a particular way. I love my new schedule: it's Tues-Fri, with varying hours depending on when the first and last appointments of the day are. Also, the dentist takes days off every so often, so I have days off dispersed here and there, including an entire week in October (too bad it's without pay). I like the work, too. It's pediatric dentistry, and it's fun to work with kids. A lot of them are scared, which can be tricky, especially with their parents hovering around, but they're all so cute. And it's fun to talk to them about keeping their teeth clean and healthy. I think this will be the start of a good career. I still want to do Dental Hygiene, but it will probably be a while before I get back to school since David's job still doesn't feel very secure yet. But at least working at the dentist office, I know that I'll be dumping all that tuition money into a field I enjoy.

Some Pictures (In No Particular Order)

2009-08-24T16:25:00.005-06:00

I planted some wildflowers (a nice word for weeds) in my yard last summer. We got a few new ones that didn't pop up last year. Can't wait to see what next year brings!

This is one of my beautiful nieces that came along this summer--we were lucky enough to get two; one on each side of the family! This sweet girl is my brother Andy's third kid. Dave's sister Amy had her first kid, a little girl, who is also adorable. I can't wait to meet her in person!

I like to get pictures of all the kids jumping on the trampoline every year and compare them. These kids get braver and braver every year!

Our neighbors had this little play house on their front lawn with a sign that said Free! so we called them up right away. They even hauled it over to our place for us. It needs a new roof, and maybe some paint, but the kids love it as is.

Samantha gets bored riding the bikes normally. Here she's doing the Superman.

Crazy kids.

Drew is the only one who will run amok through the sprinklers with no hesitation. He loves it!

Owen loves to jump from the top step and over the flowers (usually he lands on the flowers).

Three Kids and a Molting Dog.

Twinkie, Twinkie, Candy Bar

2009-08-15T23:11:00.003-06:00

I've started a couple posts the last few days, but haven't actually finished one. I also wanted to post some pictures, but I got a new camera and I can't figure out where my pictures are being saved to after I upload them. My old camera just saved things automatically in "My Documents," but the software program with my new camera is trickier. Maybe someday I'll get a chance to sit down and figure it out.

We've been having a pretty good summer. I'm still working at Teleperformance, which I'm not crazy about, but it's nice to have some backup income in case David gets laid off from the Railroad again. The thing that bugs me the most is that I feel like I'm missing out on a lot. On days that I'm working and David is home, he gets to spend more time with the kids, which is good, but on days we're both gone, the babysitter gets to witness all the fun things they do and say. (She also gets to witness the tantrums, which is not something I feel at all wistful about. On the other hand, the kids are a lot better behaved for other people than they are for David and me.)

Samantha is learning at such a fast rate. She says new words every day. She doesn't enunciate very clearly, but I can generally get the jist of what she's saying. She has learned to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and it's very cute because most of the words don't even sound like words, but she's got the tune right on. I'll try to get a video of that one of these days.

Drew and Owen are learning like crazy, too. Their imaginations are getting pretty wild. They're getting good at rhyming things, playing with language and making up silly words. Owen likes to repeat things I say with different letters at the front of the word. For example, if I say something like, "Please bring me that cup," he'll say, "Ming mou mat mup?"

They also enjoy changing words to common songs. The other day Drew started singing, "Twinkie, Twinkie, candy bar! How I wonder where you are!" Then he laughed and said, "My dad taught me that."

And my boys often surprise me by saying things like, "I'm just teasing you." (Then in the next breath Drew will ask, "Mom? What's teasing?")

And there are always lots of questions. One day we got a little key chain for SafePlace--letting kids know where they can go if they need help--from the ladies at Lunch in the Park. It brought about the following conversation which is a prime example of what a question/answer session with Drew might sound like:

Drew: Mom? What does this say?

Me: It says "Safe Place."

Drew: What's a safe place?

Me: It's somewhere kids can go if they need help.

Drew: What's if they need help?

Me: Well, a kid might go there if someone is trying to hurt them.

Drew: Like a bad person?

Me: Yes.

Drew: What's a bad person?

Me: Someone who tries to hurt other people.

Drew: What's hurt other people?

Owen: [looking at the key chain] Is this bad person giving the kid a hug?

Me: Go ask your dad. [to self:] Where do we keep the liquor? Oh, yeah. We don't drink... Dang.

A Good Day

2009-07-13T23:24:00.003-06:00

Today is my birthday! I've got aproximately 35 minutes to go, even. It has been a good day. Lots of people sent me good-wishes via Facebook. I also got phone calls from family members. Drew popped up by the side of my bed this morning and said, "Happy Birthday, Mom!" Samantha has been running around saying, "Bappy Birbay!" all day. Some of the waiters and one of the chefs sang to me at Red Lobster and gave me a little ice cream sundae with a candle in it. And at work, my friend brought cupcakes for me and treated me to a wrap at Schlotsky's for dinner. Thanks, everbody!

Being 28 isn't too bad. Not that it's much different than being 27, but I've always had something against even numbers. So we'll see how this year goes. So far, so good!

In unrelated news, I've been taking the kids to Lunch at the Park. They love to run around and play, and I love to not have to fix lunch (not like it's hard, I'd just rather have someone else do it for me). It's been really good for Drew and Owen to learn how to take turns and share with kids who aren't their siblings. One day last week, Drew tried to climb into one of the tunnels on the playgroud, but a little kid (maybe about 2 years old) with coke-bottle glasses popped out of the tunnel and yelled, "Raaarrrr!" Drew came running back to me screaming. I had to try so hard not to laugh, and just told Drew, "If you want to play in the tunnel, just go ask that boy." Drew decided he didn't really want to play in the tunnel anymore. The mental image of Drew running away from that cute little boy with those huge glasses still makes me chuckle.

Park City

2009-07-06T00:30:00.003-06:00

I guess it's time for another update on the ol' blog.

Work has been keeping me pretty busy (or at least away from the house for 9 hours a day--we don't actually do a whole lot at work). I'm liking the job so far, though.

We had a great July 4th weekend. David took me to Park City, UT, for an early birthday present. My mom watched the kids for us (thank you, thank you!). We went down Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel. We stayed at the April Inn on Main. It was a cute little room with a kitchen/front room and a separate bedroom. Friday evening, we drove into Salt Lake City to watch a MLS game: Real Salt Lake vs. San Jose Earthquakes. It was an exciting game, with a tied score 1-1. I would love to go to more MLS games. There was also a bonus fireworks show after the game, which made it even more fun.

Saturday, we watched Park City's Independence Day Parade from our balcony, then we went to Olympic Park to play around. We saw the aerial show put on by the freestyle ski team, then we toured the museum and park. We rode the Alpine Slide, which is like a luge for the summertime. We also rode the zip line, but wish we had forked out more cash and rode the bigger one. When we get more moolah, we'd like to go back and ride the bobsled. It's pretty expensive though, for about a 1 minute ride. Makes places like Six Flags and Disney Land seem cheap!

After spending a while at Olympic Park, we went to the outlet mall (which was sort of disappointing because I had been under the impression that outlet malls were supposed to be cheap when really almost everything was regular department store prices. I did score a couple $5 shirts for myself and a couple $3 shirts for Samantha, though, so it wasn't a total waste of time).

When we got bored of shopping (David got bored long before I did), we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some steaks. We took them back to our hotel and cooked them there, which was fun. Then we watched Park City's fireworks display. It was pretty decent for a small town show.

We checked out Sunday morning and headed back to Pocatello, arriving home just as my mom and the kids got home from church. Perfect timing! The trip was a blast; a much better birthday present than the vacuum I had originally asked for (I still need a new one, though). I only wish I had remembered my camera! Here's a picture of the outside of our hotel that I stole from hotels.com. Our room was the room on the upper right in the yellow building.

Virtual Shower

2009-06-20T11:49:00.002-06:00

David's sister Amy is going to have a baby girl! This will be her first, and the kids' first "real" cousin on David's side of the family (they have cousins who are the children of David's step brothers. We don't see them very often). So we're really excited for this baby to arrive!

I was going to throw a baby shower, but she had to go on bed rest for a while and couldn't travel down to Pocatello so I made a Virtual Shower. This post is an official invite for you all to check out the Virtual Shower and play the games! And if you want to give a present (that's what showers are all about, isn't it? But don't feel obligated--you can still go play the games) just let me know and I'll send you Amy's address.

Check it out! http://littlebabymills.blogspot.com

I'm So Proud

2009-06-12T15:02:00.002-06:00

Not like I had a whole lot to do with this, but it made me beam anyway... I guess the boys' Primary teacher has been telling them that Jesus is in our hearts. I like that answer, but it's been a little tricky to explain sometimes because they sort of think literally about it.

Today while Owen was blessing the food at breakfast, part of his prayer was, "Please bless Jesus, that He can live in my heart." I started giggling and getting teary-eyed at the same time because the thought of actually living in someone's heart stuck me as funny, but the idea that Owen wants Jesus to be with him was very sweet.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2009-06-11T10:44:00.003-06:00

I hate to sound ungrateful, especially in a place like Southeast Idaho where rain is generally in high demand and short supply. But it has been raining for two weeks solid! (Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration--really, I can only honestly say that it has rained at least once a day for the last two weeks.) It may be more than two weeks; I sort of lost track. I know it was raining the last few days that the boys were getting over croup, then we had a few sunny days, and then came the rains. Sometimes it has been sunny during the day and rainy at night, so at least we can go to lunch in the park. But mostly it's just been sorta drizzly all day long with big gusty thunderstorms in the evening.

These pictures were taken clear back on the 24th of May. The boys were still a little sick and everyone was sick and tired of being stuck in the house like we had been for two weeks. Since it was raining, we couldn't do much so we took a drive (this just goes to show how bored David was-- he never just takes a drive, but this was his idea).

At first the rain is fun and the rainbows are beautiful. But weeks later, when there's not even enough sun to make a rainbow, things get a bit old.

I have always loved taking pictures from inside a moving vehicle. This is an old meandering highway that connects Pocatello to the neighboring town of Inkom. On the freeway, it's a ten-to-fifteen minute drive. On this highway it's closer to 45 minutes.

It takes even longer if there are cows in the road. These heifers were not scared of us! They didn't budge an inch, and that one on the center line was so close to our car she could've swished her tail and slathered our windshield with manure.

Toward the end of our drive we got a really good view of Pebble Creek Ski Area. Apparently there's gold there, as indicated by the end of the rainbow.

Bedtime Stories

2009-06-08T22:55:00.002-06:00

We signed up for Netflix when we cancelled our satellite TV service. It is awesome! We get a new movie every couple days (we're on the one-out-at-a-time plan), and it even includes unlimited online watching (they don't have every title available to watch online, but they have enough that it will take me a long time to exhaust my list). All for nine bucks a month--cheaper per movie than the video store! We rented the Adam Sandler movie Bedtime Stories a while back. It is such a cute movie, and it was pretty funny, too, which isn't a huge shock because it's Adam Sandler.

Tonight, Owen decided to tell his own bedtime story to Samantha while I was changing her diaper and putting her jammas on her. It went like this:

Once upon a time there was a girl named Samantha. And one night she was getting dressed and getting poopy and getting wet.

It cracked me up! I just had to write it down for posterity's sake.

Join Now For Free!

2009-06-08T20:05:00.003-06:00

Last Summer, my cousin Heidi posted some info on her blog about registering to be a bone marrow donor. It usually costs $52 to join (that covers the costs of the tissue typing test). I joined last Summer because they were having a special promotion offering free registration, including the tissue typing test. This summer they're doing it again! From now until June 22 (0r until they get 46,000 new registrants) it doesn't cost anything to become a bone marrow donor! Check out the website for more information, including answers to frequently asked questions.

A Book Review

2009-06-04T22:52:00.005-06:00

I don't usually do book reviews, because I'm not a very analytical reader by nature--I usually just read for something to do. And I'm not very good at simultaneously summarizing and conveying the personal impact of what I read. But I'm going to give this a go anyway (apologies if it sounds like something an 8th grader might write--I'm a little out of practice).

I recently read a book called Breakfast At Sally's that made me really think about how quickly I judge people that I don't even know, and how I treat people.
The book is a true story about Richard LeMieux, a man who owned a publishing company that fell on hard times and finally went bankrupt. Richard eventually finds himself severely depressed (though it would be a couple of years before he gets an actual diagnosis), divorced, evicted, estranged from his kids, left with only an old van, a few clothes and a faithful little dog named Willow.

Richard describes the people he meets (homeless or otherwise) while living out of his van in Bremerton, Washington, and the impact each has on his life. He spends a year and a half living out of his van, generally going to breakfast at the Salvation Army (Sally's), then spending the rest of his day in the library (to stay out of the Washington weather), or driving around. Sometimes he meets up with his friend C (that's all he's known as), sometimes he gives someone a ride to somewhere they need to go, sometimes he just drives. He gets dinner where he can, usually at one of the local churches that set up meals for the needy.

One day he goes with C to one of the camps where some teenagers live. Many of the teens have run away to escape abusive situations, some have been kicked out. While Richard and C are there visiting, a lady named Helene stops by to bring the teens lunch. She explains that a lady had helped her son when he had run away; taking food to him every day, and eventually telling him to go back and make things right with his mom. Helene just wanted to do the same for someone else's son or daughter. So she often brought lunch to the kids camping in the woods outside of town. I was amazed at Helene's kindness, and how loving she was toward these kids she didn't even know; she didn't judge them, she just gave them what she could--a warm meal and a listening ear.

After 18 months on the streets, and during a week of the worst weather anyone can remember, Richard is fortunate to meet Pastor Earl, who gives Richard some money to get a hotel room. The next morning, Richard goes back to the pastor, partly to say thanks, and partly to ask for some gas money. The pastor invites Richard and Willow to sleep on the couch in the church basement until the rain stops or they can figure something else out. He encourages Richard to help himself to anything in the fridge, and asks Richard to make sure the lights are out at night and the doors locked. Richard goes to talk to Pastor Earl in the morning, and the conversation had me in tears.

It isn't a spoken conversation. Rather, Richard opens his soul to the kind pastor, and communicates his fears, his worries, his burdens. The pastor then communicates to Richard his unconditional love for him as one of God's children, and his desire to help Richard in any way possible. The pastor makes a few phone calls (with real words) and arranges for Richard and Willow to become the night security guards at the church. Richard sleeps on the couch in the church basement for nine months, then with the help of Pastor Earl and his wife, Richard and Willow publish the book and get an apartment.

Richard tells his story so honestly, without blaming anyone for what happened to him. I found myself completely immersed in the book and finished the whole thing (430 pages) in a day and a half--it helped that all the kids were sick and pretty much slept for most of that day and a half so I found myself with some free time.

When I finished the book, I wanted to donate a bunch of stuff to the Salvation Army so they could give it to someone who needs it. I wanted to treat people better. I can't give money to every panhandler that I see, but I can give them the dignity of looking them in the eyes. I can stop judging them; I don't know their story, but I know that God loves them anyway.

Never Too Fast To Exercise

2009-05-26T22:39:00.004-06:00

...I'm certainly not too fast to exercise; I went running the other day for the first time in a long time and I was so slow! I thought I was running so fast. I thought to myself, Wow, Self. Look at you go! But alas, when I looked at my watch at the one mile marker, I got quickly discouraged. It took me ten minutes to run a mile. That's the slowest mile I've done in a while. And I think I could probably walk that fast...

Good thing my kids are fast. Look at Owen here, doing his "exercises:"

Then there's Drew, who's super strong and loves to "weight lift":

I guess I should follow their examples and start working out more.

Check This Out

2009-05-22T22:59:00.002-06:00

I was looking at our electricity bill, which is finally going down for the year (our house has electrical everything, so our bill gets extra high in the colder months--basically October through late April). I noticed our average kWh usage per day is around 51 (92 in the winter!). I got sorta curious as to why it gets that high, and what each of our appliances uses. I came across this site to calculate energy usage. It's pretty interesting. Keep in mind that it only calculates one appliance at a time, so if you want to estimate the grand total to see how it compares to your utility bill, you have to keep track of them all separately. Also on the main homepage are ideas to lower your energy usage. Earth Day Every Day!

Speaking of going green, a while ago I wrote about having to choose between the city recycling and the residential home recycling programs. Turns out the choice was made for me. I got a note from the residential home saying they would be picking up our recycling one final time and they encouraged their contributors to use the city recycling program. They were actually part of the committee to implement the city recycling program. So that takes care of that. It's actually a lot easier for me because now I don't have to sort the recycling. Not that it's difficult or anything, it's just one of those chores I dislike, such as folding and putting away laundry or emptying the dishwasher. And the residential home will collect recyclables from small businesses so they'll still be making money, and everybody wins.

Pop Quiz

2009-05-18T16:39:00.003-06:00

Q: What happens when you think the hubby is watching the baby and the hubby thinks you are watching the baby?

Dirt Brownies.

Ninety Bucks Later

2009-05-17T17:18:00.004-06:00

What a week. I feel like I haven't been home at all, but I can't think of where I have been. It's all a big blur.

Things got even blurrier from the kids' point of view: Owen woke up Tuesday with super-goopy eyes. Then Samantha woke up goopy on Wednesday, and Drew woke up goopy on Thursday. By Thursday, Owen's eyes looked a lot better, so I thought Drew and Samantha would get better in a couple days, too. But then, Thursday evening, Samantha got all warm and rosy--really warm; 103.5, to be precise. All she wanted to do was sit on my lap, so that's what she did while David called the Nurseline. They suggested we give her a bath. It seems like every time we call them, their answer is, "Give the kid a bath." Good thing there's a nurse in my family. I called my marathon-running, super-mom, cousin Heidi. She returned my call the next morning and gave me some tips for reducing Samantha's fever with Tylenol and Motrin. It helped! Samantha's fever dropped back to normal by noon, and she felt well enough to complain about not feeling well.

I'm big on wait-and-see when my kids are sick, but their eyes just weren't getting better like we thought. Owen's eyes looked pretty clear, but Drew and Samantha's were still grody. So on Saturday David took the kids to the doctor while I went to clean some apartments. Sure enough, they all had pinkeye. Yuck. I feel really bad that we didn't take them in sooner, because they could've started treatment sooner. (I also feel bad that we took them over to the neighbors' to play on the trampoline. Oops.) Good thing we still have insurance. Even with insurance we shelled out $20 for each kid's co-pay, and $10 for each kid's eye drops. Doesn't seem like much, but when you times it by three... It would've cost even more without insurance.

The doc thought Samantha's fever was just part of a bad cold. I wonder if it was all related to her eyes, because once we started the eye drops, her eyes cleared up, her nose has started to clear up, and her temperature is a nice 98.6 degrees.

In unrelated news, I applied for a job as a clerk at the city utility billing office. I think my experience working at Convergys makes me a great candidate for the job; I had to deal with all different types of customers, and I learned all kinds of things about helping people manage their accounts. Hopefully I can score an interview and convince HR that I'm the gal for them.

I Would Love to See This in Real Life

2009-05-14T23:33:00.002-06:00

I subscribe to an email newsletter from FamilyFun.com. It contains craft ideas and food ideas, and all kinds of other stuff. Today's news letter had some ideas for outdoor crafts, including this cute little Squirrel Cafe:

For the directions to make it, go here.

Fire Station Fun

2009-05-10T00:21:00.004-06:00

Left to right: Grandpa, the Rookie, Drew, Owen, David, Me, Samantha, the Captain.

Drew decided that he wanted to go to the fire station today. Just out of the blue he said, "I want to go see the fire trucks." He's a pretty lucky kid because his grandpa works for the Police Department, and has the hookups. So Grandpa called the fire station and asked if we could come down for a tour. The firemen were more than happy to oblige and about ten minutes later we were climbing into the fire trucks, spraying the hose around and lifting weights in the station exercise room.

A couple weeks ago, we went to the environmental fair (Drew calls it the "unfair-o"--not sure where he got that). The Fire Department had a truck there for people to climb in and look at, but Drew would have nothing to do with it. For the next week he kept saying, "'Cause I'm scared of the fire truck. 'Cause I don't want to get in it." I haven't figured out why he starts every sentence with the word 'cause, but he does.

Anyway, because of his previous experience with the fire truck, I wondered how he would act at the fire station. At first he was a bit wary. He was excited and running around talking about the trucks, but every time we asked him if he wanted to get in, he would say, "No thank you!" and run off. Then, he saw Samantha get in, and he must have figured it would be okay if the baby was doing it. So pretty soon he was sitting in the fire truck all by himself with a seat belt on and the door closed and yelling, "Bye, Mom! I'm driving to the fire!"

Owen and Samantha loved the fire station, too. They had no qualms from the very beginning about jumping right into the fire trucks and pushing all the buttons and turning the steering wheel. Samantha did get scared by the fire hose, though. We ended up hanging around the station for about two hours, just chatting with the firemen about what it's like to fight fires, and what they do when there's nothing going on (like today when we were there).

And for Drew's bedtime prayer tonight he said, "Thank you that we went to the fire station and I'm not scared of the fire trucks anymore. 'Cause I was scared of the fire truck at the unfair-o. But I'm not scared anymore."

Whole Buncha Stuff

2009-05-07T22:52:00.004-06:00

I went to clean a rental property for my friends yesterday and they asked me to take pictures of the house while I was there so they can put them on their website. It turned out to be a good opportunity for me to finally upload all the pictures that have been sitting in my camera's memory for about a month. And lucky you, dear readers, because that means you all get to see them. Without further ado:

We had a few gorgeous days in April (just a few, though. This was the first year when I really understood the saying, "April showers bring May flowers." I had to chant it over and over to keep from going crazy). The boys and I pointed out animal shapes in the clouds and the boys rode their trikes around the driveway for hours.

I was actually able to get some good photos of Drew; usually he's saying "cheese" so fiercely that it doesn't even look like he's smiling. I had to be stealth to get this one.

I love this picture of Owen. That's about all I can say about it. I love it, love it, love it.

Here's Vito. Notice that little smile on his face. He was so glad to get outside. I think he gets cabin fever even worse than the rest of us.

Remember the doll I mentioned yesterday? It's from the Only Hearts Club, and it's not entirely made of cloth; the hands and face are actually the same kind of rubbery stuff Barbie's face is made out of. (Botox? I mean, the lady never ages!) The reason I know all this about the dolls is because our friend's little girl, upon hearing how much Samantha liked the doll, gave it to her! Tonight was our last soccer game of the season, and our friends hosted a pizza party at their house. Their little girl had the doll wrapped in tissue and in a little gift bag, and she couldn't wait to give it to Samantha. It was so sweet! All you can see of the doll in the above picture is her long, flowing locks, but she really is a cute doll.

Samantha has been very patient with me while I girl her up. She actually seems to love having her hair done, and when I'm all done she says, "Theekyooou." She says that all the time these days. It's so cute. Anyway. This is a little half French braid I did. I left the sides out because I think they would've caused me grief trying to get them to stay. And her hair does cute little curly stuff in the back, so I left it down, too.

These are three little braids I stuck together with one tie. Samantha looks really cute with a comb-over, so most of the styles I try on her are parted on the side and swept over the top.

Freedom!!

2009-05-06T21:43:00.002-06:00

I took my final final today. It feels so nice to be done! One semester down, 5 (at least) to go! Now I gotta go get a job. I'm thinking I'll just bite the bullet and go to Convergys. They're currently paying $10.50 an hour, which is more than most places in town (at least the places that are hiring), plus they offer an employer match stock program (I still need to look up their stock and see if it's worth investing in. But as long as it's making money, that's free money from Convergys!). They also offer health insurance, which will be good if it takes longer than 5 months for David to be picked up at the railroad, and tuition reimbursement so I'd have help paying for school. And, there are rumors of a $2000 bonus upon completion of their training. They're making it awfully tempting! I guess I'll head over there tomorrow and sign myself up.

We've had two soccer games this week and we have one last game tomorrow. So far we are undefeated (because a tie doesn't count as a defeat)! I'm just now feeling like I'm getting good at soccer again, and the season is over. It's been a fun season.

My friend's little girl left her doll at the soccer field today. It was a way cute doll, made of cloth, no plastic anywhere, and Samantha loved it. I let Samantha hold it while we drove to my friend's house to give the doll back. Samantha just giggled and chatted with the doll the whole way over. It was so funny, and unexpected because so far she's only been interested in toy cars (wonder where she learned that from?). I'll have to make up some special occasion so I can get her one of those dolls.

On the Bright Side

2009-04-29T23:49:00.002-06:00

Whew. The semester is almost over! I went through a mid-term slump, so now I'm playing a little catch-up and sorta cramming for finals. I have my Chemistry final tomorrow. It's actually an optional final, and will only count toward my grade if I get a better score than I did on any of my other tests. Since I got a big fat D on my last exam, the final will be replacing that. It's a cumulative test and I'm really hoping there are more questions from the first two exams (which I actually did okay on) and less questions from the last exam.

Chemistry is really the only class I'm very worried about. I get to have a sheet of notes for my Statistics final. I'll be writing all kinds of formulas (formulae?) on there because the points I missed on previous exams were due to using the wrong formulas at the wrong time. I'll be done with this semester precisely one week from today! Woot!

I'm not going to be taking summer school as originally planned. David has been laid off from the Railroad, so I'll have to become a working mom. I really hope I can get a job as a dental assistant, so I can get some experience for the dental hygiene program and so I don't have to go to Convergys. Blech!

Hopefully David will be picked back up to work soon; there are about twenty people with seniority over him who are also laid off, and business is pretty slow. He will be able to collect Railroad unemployment (not from the government), so there will be some income from that. We have mixed feelings about collecting the unemployment. On the one hand, David and I are both young and able-bodied, and there's really no reason we can't both go get jobs. On the other hand, if David goes out to get a job, he'll have to tell any prospective employers that there's a chance the Railroad will call him back to work the next day, and he'd quit the new job. So we are looking at the unemployment thing as sort of an insurance that he's paid into since he started working at the railroad, and now he's collecting on it. Hopefully not for too long. The Railroad will also continue to provide health insurance (and they'll pay the premiums!) for up to three months for David, and four months (or maybe six--we've heard two different quotes) for the kids and me.

There really is a bright side to all this! The boys have loved having David home more often (and I've appreciated it, too. He folds laundry and empties the dishwasher which are the chores I hate to do most of all)! We've been able to spend lots of family time together. Also, he's been able to make it to all our soccer games (we're in the coed city league again this Spring).

If worse comes to worse, we can always sell a bunch of stuff and move to Arizona City. They've got some good deals on houses there!

Final Detroit Post

2009-04-24T23:38:00.003-06:00

I'm finally going to wrap this up. For real this time!

Day 5: Tuesday, April 7

We checked out of our hotel and went into Detroit (I think I forgot to mention previously that our hotel was about 20 miles outside of downtown Detroit) to find some souvenirs from the games. Everything was half-price, so we got some good deals on the NCAA Final Four gear.

We did some shopping in the towns surrounding Detroit, then headed further away from the city toward my good friend Kadee's house. We stopped at a massive mall on the way, and did some real shopping. I guess there are bigger malls in existence than the one we stopped at, but not in Idaho. I scored some new jeans, a few new shirts, a jacket and the Easter dress I got for Samantha. David got a few new shirts, too. He even got a brown one! (The majority of the shirts in his closet are gray because it "goes with everything." I've been trying to teach him that there are other neutrals besides gray, but it's not sinking in.) We got everything for bargain prices, too, which was great.

We had dinner at a very disappointing Thai restaurant. The waiter wasn't Thai and the food wasn't good. It tasted like Chinese food. I love Chinese food, but this wasn't good Chinese food, either. So sad.

We got to Kadee's house early evening, just in time to meet her cute kids before they went to bed. Kadee and I chatted a little, then she introduced us to "The Biggest Loser" TV show--I'd never seen it before (I had at least heard of it), and I gotta say, I'm a little hooked! After the show was over, David and I made a McDonald's run because there's no better way to enjoy watching a weight loss program than with fries and a shake!

Day 6: Wednesday, April 8

My favorite part of our trip (besides getting some new clothes) was hanging out at Kadee's house. Her kids are so cute! And even though I had to do some homework, the rest of the time we spent doing pretty close to nothing; just sat and chatted and played dolls (with Kadee's daughter; not like Kadee and I just sat and played dolls with each other. I think we've outgrown that...). My kind of vacation.

We did go out to "Big Boy's" burger joint for dinner. It was delicious. And we rented the movie "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey. Hilarious! I thought it was the perfect way to end a vacation.

Day 7: Thursday, April 9

Our flight was scheduled to leave Thursday afternoon, so we headed back toward Detroit to see a few more of the sights without the crowds that were there for the games. We wandered around the gift shop at the Tigers' stadium, Comerica Park, then we went over to Hockeytown Cafe to have lunch.

After lunch, we returned our rental car and sat around at the airport for a while. We had an uneventful flight to Salt Lake, then a two-hour layover there. I did chat with a Laotian couple; I overheard them speaking with each other and it sounded like Thai (Laotian is very similar to Thai) from where I was sitting (pretending not to listen), so I asked them where they were from. They were both born in Laos, but moved to the U.S. when they were very young. They were on their way to visit the guy's mom in Fresno. So even though I didn't get to eat yummy Thai food in Detroit, I did have a Southeast Asian experience of some sort. Following our ridiculously long layover, we enjoyed a quick half-hour flight to Pocatello.

I'll be honest: by the time David and I take our annual vacation, a whole year or more having passed since the prior vacation, I'm a little tired of the kids and definitely ready for a break from the homemaking duties. So for the first few days I don't get too homesick. On the way home, though, all I could think about was giving my kids hugs and kisses. I got a little giddy, actually. It was kind of weird.

We got home around 10:00 p.m. Pocatello time. The kids were all in bed, but we woke them up so we could see them and say goodnight. I hadn't planned on waking Samantha, but she sort of woke up on her own (probably because the cat and dog were going crazy--they missed us, too!)

Thanks again to Kadee for letting us crash at your place. And humongous thanks to Roz for watching our kids for an entire week! I hope it didn't make you not want to have kids ever.

Detroit, Days 3 & 4

2009-04-17T00:16:00.005-06:00

I guess I should finish up my Detroit posts so I can get all this stuff recorded before I forget what we even did there (goodness knows I can barely remember what I did yesterday...).

Day 3: Sunday, April 5

On Sunday we went to a Detroit Redwings game. It was the second hockey game I've been to in my life, and the first NHL game I've ever been to. It was so much fun! There was so much energy in the arena. It was good, fun, happy energy. Not like the energy coming from the kids we sat by at the Final Four games. The Redwings won this game 3-2, scoring the game winning goal with just 40 seconds to go in the game, so it was really exciting toward the end.

We also went to Canada on Sunday, just to check it out. Starting in June, you have to have a passport to travel across the border. For now, they just require a driver's license and a birth certificate. We didn't have our birth certificates with us, because we'd heard different stories on whether or not we actually had to have them. Turns out you do. The border patrol guy on the way in to Canada told us, "Well, you really should have them, but I think you'll be fine for tonight." And he let us in.

We had fun; just bummed around at a little park, then went to the casino, gambled with some Canadian money (I won one Canadian dollar), then after a couple hours we headed back across the border. We wanted to go over the bridge this time instead of through the Windsor-Detroit tunnel as we'd entered Canada.

We almost didn't get back into the U.S. The lady at the border gave us the third degree when she found out we didn't have the proper documents. She asked us all kinds of questions, some of them were the same question just stated differently to see if we'd change our answers. She searched our car, then asked us some more questions. Then she lectured us about how she didn't have to let us in and next time we go to Canada we should take the right documents with us, or better yet, just don't go. I know she was just doing her job, so I tried to be polite and cooperate, but still. The whole thing was just crazy. I mean, isn't Canada where people go for a better life (at the very least to dodge the draft, smoke some pot and/or escape sentencing)? I've never heard of anyone from Canada trying to sneak into the U.S.

Day 4: Monday, April 5

Monday we actually slept in, which is unheard of when one goes on vacation with David. He likes to "get his money's worth," i.e. cram every possible second with something. We took our time getting ready for the day (well, I did. David watched ESPN somewhat impatiently while he waited for me to fix my hair and put on make up--but I can't have people thinking he's with some homely girl. I gotta look nice), then headed into Detroit to walk around some more while we waited for the game to start.

The game started at 9:00 p.m. local time, which is so late. But they have to start late so the West-Coasters have time to get home from work and watch. The highlights of the game for me were seeing the Temptations sing the National Anthem, seeing the 2009 NBA Hall of Fame inductees, and seeing Larry Bird and Magic Johnson (I can't remember what they were there for...). We also saw Dick Vitale and some other ESPN commentators; we actually got to see them up close, rather than from the seventh row on the third balcony.

Dick Vitale is the older gentleman in the middle. He is one of two ESPN commentators whose name I actually know, so I was excited to see him in person. See the bleachers directly above the TV camera on the left side of the photo? That's where we sat. Ford Field has some comfortable seats, though, even up that high. They were better than movie theater seats (but with slightly less leg room).

The 2009 NBA Hall of Fame inductees.

The final score of the game was North Carolina 89, Michigan State 72. The game was not really as close as the final score would lead you to believe. It was 55-34 at half time; the Tarheels led by 20 or more almost the entire game.

Above is a video of the Temptations singing the National Anthem. It was amazing. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of memory just as they got to the big finish, but just this snippet gives you an idea of how awesome the whole song was. And how annoying the boys next to us were, with their, "Go Green! Go White!" chant in the middle of our country's song.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll finish up the Detroit stuff so we can all get on with life. It's David's birthday (has been for about an hour, as I'm writing this at 1 a.m.), so I'll make sure to get pictures from that, and I also have some pictures of egg decorating with the kids. Nothin' like giving toddlers permanent dyes to play around with!

Detroit: Days 1 & 2

2009-04-12T16:57:00.009-06:00

Day 1: Friday, April 3

We got to Detroit around 5 p.m. Not wanting to be anywhere dangerous after dark, we stayed within a few miles of our hotel. We ate dinner at a little restaurant that served an awful steak (looked more like a pork chop), and a delicious gyro.
We went back to the hotel and got dessert in the hotel restaurant. David ordered chocolate cake, which was delicious. I ordered cheesecake with strawberry topping. The waitress brought it out, but it was not topped with strawberries. She told me they were out of strawberry topping and all she could find was this raspberry topping, but if I didn't like it she'd take it back and get me a plain slice. I decided to try it, because raspberries sound like they'd go well with cheesecake. It was horrible! I gagged down the first bite realizing she had put raspberry vinaigrette dressing on my cheesecake! I was getting ready to just scrape the stuff off, when the waitress noticed the look on my face and took the plate from me. She brought back a plain ol' cheesecake, which was yummy. Then she only charged us regular price for the chocolate cake and a dollar for the cheesecake (even then, two tiny desserts plus tip was still 8 bucks, but oh well).

Day 2: Saturday, April 4
We drove into Detroit, which was about 20 miles from where our hotel was. We had tickets to Hoop City, which was complete madness. It was a huge room full of 3-0n-3 games, Meet-and-Greets with players and coaches, face painting, and a bunch of other little activities.

While we were there, a surprise guest showed up: It was rap-star Bow Wow (formerly known as Lil' Bow Wow)! All the girls (and a lot of their moms) went cuh-razy. We stuck around to watch, and even though we couldn't understand any of the lyrics, it was kinda fun.

I got tired of Hoop City pretty quickly, so we left to walk around and explore the city. We walked along the river front and over to the GM building. There were some performances by local bands and lots of people just milling around waiting for the semi-final games to begin.

The GM Building, all decked out for the games.

A view of Detroit from the river.

A monument in honor of the slaves and those who helped them travel to the Northern States and to Canada through the Underground Railroad. The people in the statue are depicted looking at Canada, which is directly across the river--just behind me as I took the picture.

David and me at the riverfront. Windsor (Canada) is just behind us on the other side of the river.

After we got tired of walking around somewhat aimlessly, we jumped on the People Mover (an elevated train that travels the circumference of downtown Detroit) and headed toward Ford Field, where the games were to be held. We thought we'd grab a bite to eat at one of the restaurants or bar/grill establishments in the area before the game. We were wrong. Every place was completely packed; some even had throngs of people waiting outside the doors and down the street.

The games were a lot of fun. The two semi-final games were on Saturday night. There was so much energy in the crowd. The two Michigan State kids sitting next to us had a little too much energy for my tastes, though. They were so obnoxious and foul! We had started out rooting for Michigan State, but after sitting by those boys for about five minutes, we started cheering for all the other teams.

Michigan State beat U-Conn in the first game, 82-73.

North Carolina beat Villanova in the second game, 83-69.

This is a picture I took through my binoculars. One of the tiny figures dressed in green is Magic Johnson. He is a Michigan State alum and was at all of the games. And to think I was a mere 1000 feet from him!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T15:19:00.005-06:00

We're back! We had a good trip. I have almost 100 pictures, so I need to go through them and decide which ones to post. Meanwhile, here are my cute kids:

I found the cutest little Easter dress for Samantha at a giant mall near Detroit.

I couldn't find any shirts I was crazy about for Drew and Owen, so I just got them some little polos. I've been looking for short sleeve dress shirts for them, but haven't had much luck. I'll have to keep looking.

Detroit or Bust!

2009-04-02T22:08:00.002-06:00

It's been forever since I've updated the ol' blog. And I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet 'cause I've got loads of stuff to do.

Last week was my Spring Break, which I spent doing laundry and getting the house in some sort of order so that this week, David and I can take our real vacation. We're going to the Final Four games in Detroit. My dear sister Roz is the brave soul who will be watching the kids while we're gone.

I'll make sure to take tons of pictures and stuff while I'm there, and I'm sure I'll have a big update post when I get back.

Samantha's 18 Month Check-up

2009-03-26T22:45:00.004-06:00

On the left is a picture taken at a friend's baby shower back in May of '08.

On the right is Samantha on her half-birthday, March 17.

Samantha had her 18 month check up a week ago, but I forgot to record her stats.

Weight: 23.5 pounds (about the 25th percentile)

Height: 31 inches long (about the 50th percentile).

She must have had a growth spurt, because up 'til now, she's always been in the 25th percentile for height and weight. I was surprised that she weighs so little, because she's pretty chunky looking, especially in the cheeks and thighs.

She did really well while the doc checked her out. She just sat quietly on my lap while he looked in her eyes, ears, and throat, and listened to her heart and lungs. She didn't even cry when she got her vaccine. She did give me a dirty look, though, as if to say, "Why would you let them do that?"

Drew was really impressed with the whole thing. He kept asking questions like, "Is the blue doctor [the doc had a blue shirt on] listening to her heart? Is it in her chest? What is he doing now? Is he looking at her eyes?" On and on, he gave us a play-by-play (in question form) of what was happening.

Owen was really quiet the whole time, perhaps hoping that if he didn't make a noise, the doctor wouldn't notice him and wouldn't poke and prod him (he didn't realize that we weren't there for him anyway).

Samantha is doing really well with all her developmental stuff. It seems like she'd made just enough progress that I could answer "yes" to all the questions I was supposed to, and then the day after the appointment she suddenly starts making all kinds of progress.

For example, the doc asked if she has any two-word (or more) phrases. I could think of one: She says, "Ee-o, out." [Vito, out.] Then the next day it was like she was saying all kind of mini-sentences. Here are some of them:

What is, Mom? [What is that, Mom?]

Doing, Mom? [What are you doing, Mom?]

Where Drew, Mom?

Where Owen, Mom?

Where Dad, Mom? --She also asks where Merle and Vito are; she has to know everyone's whereabouts.

Ee-o, sit. [Vito, sit]

Mil mill. [Milk spilled]--she says this if anything spills, and always in a very whiny voice.

I off. [Light off]--the first time she said this, it sounded like she said "giraffe," but she says it a little better now, even though she only pronounces one letter of the word "light."

'Bye, Dad. --this one totally made David's day. He was on his way to the gym and she looked at him and waved and said, "'Bye, Dad," as clear as could be.

My favorite thing is how she ends everything with "Mom." She says the most undecipherable babble, and then says, "Mom" at the end to let me know she's talking to me. It's so cute.

Some new words she's added are:

'Ocks [socks]--she loves getting ready to go places, and her ocks are the first thing she looks for.

Bapba [Grandpa]

My [mine]--I'm thinking she got that from nursery, just because when she says it, she doesn't whine like crazy, like Drew and Owen do. She says it more forcefully like a nursery kid would.

Uck [yuck]--she got this from me. I say it to her when she puts things into her mouth such as toy cars or wood chips from the flower beds. She says it to me when I try to get her to eat broccoli or chicken. (I guess there are some people who would rather eat wood chips than broccoli.)

Whistler's Daughter

2009-03-25T17:40:00.004-06:00

This is a little video of Samantha whistling (it's a bit hard to hear over Drew's Corvette noises). I put the camera on the table, started filming, then left to help Owen wash his hands. Samantha was super tired, and apparently a little bored. My favorite part of the video is when Drew discovers the camera (right at the end).

Now I Know It's Spring

2009-03-22T21:05:00.003-06:00

Look what I found in my yard!

I saw robins today! My neighbor said she'd seen them last week, but these were the first I've seen this year.

It also hailed, rained, thundered and snowed today before the sun came out this evening--typical Springtime weather for Idaho.

The beautiful sunsets are back; there weren't very many notable ones over the winter, but tonight's sunset was vibrant and gorgeous. (If only I had a better camera.)

(This picture is from a few weeks ago. Tonight's sunset was even better, but I haven't uploaded the pictures yet.)

A Springtime Miracle

2009-03-18T00:16:00.008-06:00

I cleaned my kitchen. (That's the miracle. I could probably end the post here, which would also be a miracle. But I'm going to keep writing, because I'm avoiding the 90+ chemistry problems I have left to do--I've already done almost 40.)

My friend Tricia came over today with her cute family. She was getting rid of a stereo and I was wanting a new one for my kitchen since the old one no longer plays CDs or tapes (the radio works, though!), so it worked out wonderfully. Except that I was at school when they came over. But Drew and Owen loved playing with little Ethan and told me later that they want him to come over tomorrow.

I had to clear a space on the counter to put the stereo. I don't have any pictures of what my counters looked like before, but you can get a general idea from the background of this Samantha video:

Here is what my kitchen counter looks like since I gave it a good de-cluttering (I put so much stuff in the trash instead of finding somewhere else for it all; it felt so good!):

There are still some dishes in the corner that didn't make it into the dishwasher, but this is probably the least cluttered my counter has been since we moved here.

Here's the stereo up close and personal.

While I was at it, I de-cluttered the other corner of the kitchen, which before today has been the bane of my existence. Or at least a close second. See my early birthday present over in the corner?

It's a 30-year-old, used-maybe-once-or-twice Oster stand mixer that my mother-in-law found at D.I. for $40. She has one just like it that she got 30 years ago for over $200. This one came with the original user's manual and most of the original parts:

It came with 2 bread dough hooks, two beaters, a meat grinder, and a food processor with four different blades. The only thing missing was the smaller mixing bowl. I even threw away a bunch of junk from my cupboards so I'd have a place to put my mixer parts, which before today had been sitting in a Rubbermaid bin on my counter.

So thank you, Tricia, for the stereo, and in a way, for the clean kitchen. David thanks you, too!

Tiny Tails

2009-03-15T16:21:00.003-06:00

I love having a little girl to dress up and make look cute. I plan on taking advantage of it while she's young; I'm sure the day will come when she'll want to pick out her own outfits and do her own hair. But for now, look what I get to do:

This looks worse than it is. I painted Samantha's toenails, but of course an 18-month-old doesn't want to sit around and wait for them to dry, so they got all smudged. Eventually, though, any polish that wasn't on her actual nails wore off, and her toesies looked really cute.

Samantha's hair is finally long enough for pigtails. Her hair is getting really long in the back; it's almost down to her shoulder blades when it's wet. So if I don't pull the front up, it looks very mullet-ish. (And she loves Oreos and hot dogs.)

Above are Daizy and Wubbzy, from the boys' favorite show (even Samantha likes it; she'll point to the TV and say "Wow Wow"). After I put pigtails in Samantha's hair Owen asked me if I'd give him "tiny tails like Daizy's." Then of course Drew wanted them too, so all my kids wore tiny tails for an afternoon.

I'm so jealous of Drew's hair. One of his pigtails, which is made up of less than a quarter of his hair, is as thick as my entire head of hair. It's just no fair!

Louis CK Gives Us Some Perspective

2009-03-08T22:21:00.002-06:00

A friend posted this on Facebook. I love it! Too funny and too true!

My Mini Meltdown

2009-03-06T21:19:00.006-07:00

This has been a rough week. I have had all kinds of homework and quizzes in my classes, along with a project for my statistics class. Pretty much everything was due Thursday. On top of all that, our ward had a dinner (on Thursday, too) and they asked me to make a centerpiece for one of the tables. The theme was "Angels Among Us" so I decided to draw some pictures representing all the people in the ward whom I consider my angels.
I didn't really plan my week very well so I ended up doing most of my Statistics project Tuesday night (I don't think I did anything productive on Monday, but that was so long ago it's hard to say for sure), then I polished it up on Wednesday night and spent most of Wednesday night drawing pictures. It took about four hours and by the time I got the kids to bed and my Stats project finished it was 11 pm. before I was able to start on my centerpiece. I thought the drawings turned out really cute, though.
Thursday was crazy beyond crazy. Wouldn't you know Samantha ran out of diapers, so I had to run to the store and get some. Then I had to dash home and get everybody ready so I could go to class and the kids could go to the sitter. We hauled the kids across the street to drop them off, but the sitter wasn't there. Slight panic! (I didn't feel bad or anything, though, 'cause I've done that to her once before, too. Oops.) I called another friend who was able to watch the kids on about two-minutes notice. I was only five minutes late to class. Good thing my professor is really laid back (he did call me a reject, but I'm pretty sure he was joking. I hope). Between classes, my friend Nirmal and I put some finishing touches on our Stats project, printed it out and handed it in.
After class, I had to run to the store again. I had also signed up to bring Mexican rice to the dinner, and realized that I didn't have any of the ingredients except for the rice and a can of tomatoes. Oh, and some cumin. So I made a quick trip to get some green peppers, some soup stock, a jalapeno, some garlic and an onion (we never have this stuff on hand because David won't eat anything that contains those ingredients). Then I dashed over to pick up my kids and dashed back home to make rice, feed the kids, clean the kitchen and put my pictures onto some paper flowers to make an actual centerpiece.
We made it to the church for the dinner, but we were about 10 minutes late. I walked the kids to the nursery and no one was there. I started to lose it. This whole thing had taken so much of my time and energy, not to mention my precious sleep time. And I was going to have to turn around and go home. One of my church friends came in to see why I hadn't returned to the dinner. She had no idea there were no babysitters; there were supposed to be, but they hadn't shown. She went to find out what was going on. By the time she got back to tell me a sitter was on the way, I was a mess. I felt really dumb for crying over something so silly because normally I'd just say, "Oh, I guess I'll bring my kids to eat with me and we'll just skip out early." But I was so tired and so stressed and had put so much energy into this thing, that this was the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camel's proverbial back (at that point yesterday, "proverbial" was probably substituted in my mind with a few other choice words).
My girlfriends at church really are my angels, though. A couple of them sat with me until I regained my composure and then went in with me to get something to eat even though everyone else was pretty much already finished eating. I was sort of on the edge the rest of the night; every time someone asked me if I was okay, I started to well up again. But I made it through, and when I got home I got everybody to bed, I wound down by watching Ugly Betty (love that show!), then I crashed. I woke up feeling much better.
I still have a speech due Tuesday that I'm kind of stressed about because there's a lot of research to do and I'm having a hard time finding the right kind of sources.* We are only allowed to have a few Internet sources and have to have mostly books. So I've got a trip to the library scheduled for tomorrow, and hopefully it will be productive.
*I'm looking for statistics and laws about ladies who abuse drugs and alcohol while they're pregnant. I personally think it should be considered child abuse, so that's what I'm going to argue for my speech. But I'm having a hard time coming up with sources from a legal standpoint.

Here are the pictures I drew of my angels:

They're Calling Her Octomom?

2009-03-04T00:02:00.002-07:00

Why not the Tetrakaidecamom? After all, she has 14 kids, not eight. Even though I was slightly appalled and a little annoyed when I heard her story, I appreciate the insights offered in this article and I agree on many of the points the author makes. Particularly this quote: "With our glorification of bizarre behavior, we dare the emotionally needy to shock and appall us. And then we slam them."

I'm going to try* to quit buying into it all.

*It'll be difficult; I do enjoy perusing the celebrity gossip columns on msn.com every now-and-again (read: every day).

David's Little Trick

2009-02-26T22:01:00.002-07:00

David got stuck with the kids the other day while I was at class. He just happened to be home which was great because our neighbor who usually watches the kids has been having all kinds of health issues; things like unexplained fluid around her heart, possible Mono (I think they ended up ruling that one out), a concussion (she was chasing her kid and she slipped on some water on her tile floor. She was passed out for a half hour before her kids called for help because right before she went unconscious she said, "Don't call 9-1-1, I'm fine," and her kids didn't know what to do after that). I don't want to add to her stress, so I'm so grateful that David's schedule has magically worked itself out so he's been home on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Drew was up to his usual shenanigans--sneaking upstairs to raid the pantry or the fridge (which is synonymous with "make a mess"). David had dragged him downstairs a number of times and was tired of it so he got creative: The next time he heard Drew sneak upstairs, David called the house phone from his cell phone. He let it ring and let the answering machine pick up, then he said in his most menacing voice, "Drew! Get back downstairs right now!"

Drew slunk guiltily downstairs and sat quietly on the couch. He stayed downstairs until I got home.

Busiest Week Ever!

2009-02-21T17:03:00.003-07:00

We had a crazy week this week. I had two projects and one quiz due for my classes. I also had two apartments to clean and a Jazz/Celtics game to go to. It's nice to feel like I'm done with it all. Next week looks much less crazy, so far.

My statistics professor likes to make us do projects. He is the only professor who has his class do this. He gives us a pile of numbers and asks us to put them into graphs and analyze the data as well as the graphs. We are allowed to work with a partner, but in my mind that makes it all the more difficult. I decided to work with partner for this one even though it wasn't required, because it will be required on the next project. So I worked with my new friend from Nepal. We handed that project in on Tuesday and already my load felt lighter.

On Wednesday I had to go clean an apartment for my friend's company (well, I didn't have to, except that I wanted the money and cleaning was a prerequisite for the money). I only got about 2 hours of cleaning in before David got called to work, then back home I went. Normally, two hours is enough time for one apartment, if the tenants try to clean even a little bit when they move out. These particular tenants had not tried. The walls were so grimy and had boogers all over in the living room and what I'm assuming (hoping) was the kids' room. In two hours I scrubbed the walls of the two bedrooms and they still looked disgusting. I told my friend he should probably just arrange to have the apartment repainted.

My sister came down Wednesday night so she could watch our kids while David and I went to the game. We had a lot of fun and of course the boys went nuts 'cause Roz always plays fun games with them and they'd been looking forward to her coming over for the last week.

Thursday, David and I went down to Salt Lake with some friends to watch the Celtics play the Jazz. We had a fun evening (even though it had a disappointing ending). We ate at Crown Burger; I had a Gyro. So delicious! Then we walked over to the WhatverEvent Center (I can never remember the new name), formerly known as the Delta Center.

There was a surprisingly large-ish amount of Celtics fans at the game, but we didn't sit by any of them. We sat a row behind an Australian fellow and his wife, and sat a row in front of his buddy (I guess they couldn't get seats next to each other, but at least they were close). They were the best hecklers I've ever heard. They didn't cuss or say anything that didn't make sense. Most of what they yelled was aimed at the Jazz, even though they were Jazz fans themselves. They yelled things like [use your best Australian accent to get the full effect], "Jerry Sloane! Start coaching!" and "Defense! You're lazy! Get your hands in their faces! Take the ball from them!" The kid behind us did occasionally yell at Leon Powe, of the Celtics, whose jersey number is zero. He would yell [again, Australian accent], "Hey! You're Zero! You're not even a number, number zero! You're nothing!" We had a bit of friendly banter with the fellow in front of us, and when the Jazz took the lead, he turned around and laughed and made some funny remarks, but nothing rude. There was a guy a few rows back, however, that we hadn't even talked to or seen, that ran down the bleachers, pushed me out of the way, and punched David on the shoulder. Then, brave soul that he was, he ran back to his seat as fast as he could. We were somewhat stunned. It's not like he hurt David; it was a wimpy little punch, but seriously, who does that?! Jazz fans, apparently. Weird. At the end of the game, which the Celtics lost, our Australian friends teased us a little and the wife said, "We still love you. We just love the Jazz more." All right.

We got home from the game at three in the morning on Friday. Later that day, I went to finish cleaning the apartments. The grimy-walled place took me another 2.5 hours to finish, but the one across the hall only took half an hour. The tenant had left it in very good condition, for which I was extremely grateful. I dashed home from cleaning with just enough time to take my Psychology quiz online. And I only missed two questions (out of ten), which is good enough for me since I only skimmed the chapter!

Friday evening, I cut Roz's hair. I only messed up a tiny bit, and over all it looks really cute. It's a short, spiky pixie-do. Very chic.

Today, I tried to get my house a little bit clean, so it won't turn into a grimy mess like that apartment. Then I b.s.'ed my way through a paper I had due for my Speech class. I was supposed to go to a meeting and evaluate it, but I never made it to any of the city council meetings due to lack of babysitter and general poor planning on my part, so I wrote about an impromptu meeting I witnessed last Friday at the Young Men/Young Women ski trip. I thought about not doing the paper at all; it's only worth 20 points and I didn't want to just make a bunch of stuff up. But David reminded me that even though C's get degrees, they don't get you into the Dental Hygiene program, and something is better than nothing. So he kindly took the boys somewhere (I actually have no idea where they went) so I could write my paper (and update my blog :) ). I didn't end up having to make anything up for my paper; the meeting didn't go well, but it served as a good example of how not to conduct a planning meeting, so I wrote about it from that slant. I think it will be okay. If not, oh well.

Now, I'm going to go catch up on my shows that I missed this week. Thank heavens for DVR.

A Greener Pocatello

2009-02-12T22:37:00.003-07:00

It's finally happening! Pocatello is getting a curbside recycling program! And there are already over 2000 people pre-registered for it (the program doesn't start til Spring)! Here's the crazy thing, though: I haven't registered for it yet, and I don't know if I'm going to. Don't get me wrong; I'm not against recycling--I'm very much in favor of it. The thing is, I already have a service come pick up my recyclables for free, and the city wants to charge five dollars. Five dollars isn't much. But it's more than free. Also, the company that picks up my recyclables is a residential home for adults with special needs. They go around the city picking up recyclables from anyone who has signed up for their free program, then the residents of the home sort the stuff and take it to the local recycling center and get cash for it (actually, I don't know how much sorting they even have to do, because I'm supposed to sort everything before they come pick it up from my house).

So even though I am ecstatic that Pocatello has realized the importance of recycling,* I'm probably not going to participate until I am no longer able to have my recycling picked up for free and benefit someone else at the same time.

*I feel like in these big, spacious, sparsely populated Western states there still exists a sort of attitude of "We'll never run out of resources, and there will always be enough space for landfills, and if not we'll just burn our trash. The skies are still blue, the grass is still green, Earth Day some other day." This is the vibe I get sometimes.

Pay it Forward

2009-02-11T12:10:00.001-07:00

My friend Madeline is doing this pay it forward thing. I decided to join the fun, this is how it works..... The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a hand made gift from me during this year. When and what will be a surprise. But, you have to post this on your blog then come back and leave a comment, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift.

Sometimes Life is Like This

2009-02-09T22:35:00.006-07:00

I saw this on my friend Tina's blog. It made me laugh so hard, because I've been there (particulary Lessons 4, 7, 10--okay, all of them...)!

Thinking of Having Kids?
Do this 15 step program first!

Lesson 1

Go to the grocery store.
Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
Go home.
Pick up the paper.
Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

Methods of discipline.
Lack of patience.
Appallingly low tolerance levels.
Allowing their children to run wild.
Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast-feeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pound s, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
Set the alarm for 3AM.
As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
Go to bed at 2:45AM.
Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night.
Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...

Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
Then rub them on the clean walls.
Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons.

How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle .
Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower.

Lesson 7
Forget the BM W and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8

Get ready to go out.
Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
Go out the front door.
Come in again. Go out.
Come back in.
Go out again.
Walk down the front path.
Walk back up it.
Walk down it again.
Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
Retrace your steps.
Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
Give up and go back into the house.

You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10

Go to the local grocery store.
Take with you the closest thing you can find to a preschool child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice).
If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat.
Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight.
Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11

Hollow out a melon.
Make a small hole in the side.
Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 12

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney,Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon.
Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know,you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 13

Move to the tropics.
Find or make a compost pile.
Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it.
Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy;'occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required).
Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years.

You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15

Start talking to an adult of your choice.
Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above.

You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

It's Just Ketchup

2009-02-07T21:26:00.005-07:00

The other day I was thinking to myself, It'll be nice when the kids are more independent and self-reliant. I'll be glad when they can wipe their own bottoms, get themselves dressed, make their own snacks.

This morning I went downstairs to start breakfast. Apparently someone had started without me:

Drew had made his own "breakfast" of Kraft Singles and ketchup. He was very proud of it, but for some reason didn't eat it.

This afternoon Owen and Drew decided they were going to play in the back yard with Vito. Owen put his shoes on by himself:

He's wearing one snow boot and one shoe. On top of not matching, they're on the wrong feet. He also put his pants on by himself which is why his crotch seam is in front of his right hip instead of his crotch.

When I set up my camera to upload pictures to my computer, I came across this gem by Samantha; seems she's a budding photographer who specializes in self-portraits.

Drew took the following video of Samantha after she took a drink and a swim in Vito's water.

So it would appear as though my kids are becoming more independent and self-reliant. They make their own breakfasts, get themselves dressed, they even entertain themselves and each other. (It gives credence to the old adage be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.) Now if only the kids had the wiping thing down.

Superbowl XLIII !

2009-02-02T10:43:00.003-07:00

Three years ago; Drew's and Owen's first Steelers Superbowl!

Yesterday; Samantha's first Steelers Superbowl! (I wanted to put her in one of the shirts Drew and Owen wore, but it seems I got rid of them. So Samantha is dressed in Drew's Halloween costume from a couple years ago. Yep, she's a football.)

Love the timer pictures. Just push the button and run, and hope you get sat down and the kids cooperate before the flash goes off. This was the only one that looked at all like it worked, out of about five pictures.

Weekly Post

2009-01-29T22:42:00.004-07:00

I feel like if I manage a post a week I'm doing well. Here are some of the things we've been up to since I last posted:

We got a pretty little snow storm a few days ago; didn't leave much on the ground, but the flakes were huge!

Riding the Wiggle Riders Asian-style.

New shirts from Grandpa (they say,
"One 'Vette, Two 'Vette, Red 'Vette, Blue 'Vette.")

Got out the ol' Bungee Bouncer. It baaarrrrely fits around her belly, and she's a little too tall for it. But she loves it!

Drew and Owen figured out a new way to wear their shirts.

BZ*

2009-01-23T19:09:00.007-07:00

It's been a while since I last posted; I don't have as much time for doing the fun stuff on the computer. Most of my time is sucked up taking care of school stuff, then I have just enough time to catch up on friends' blogs (thanks to Google Reader), but not to comment or write any new posts of my own.
School is going well. I'm enjoying my classes and I'm not feeling too overwhelmed yet. I am feeling a little ticked off because I got a 60% (yikes!) on my first Psychology quiz. I don't know what happened! I got a 95% on the practice quiz, and when I took the real thing, the questions were worded differently, but I felt confident that I understood the concepts and only had doubts about one or two questions. I missed eight. Grrr! So I'll have to make sure to spend more time with the ol' Psych book.
Drew and Owen are doing well. They are becoming more independent since I've been spending so much time doing homework. Owen even made his own breakfast:

Yeah, that's a hot dog in those Cheerios. We were out of bananas so he improvised, I guess... Oh, and he's wearing a pink bracelet on his left wrist, too.

Drew has been spending lots of time on the computer (whenever I'm not using it), and he's learning his letters. He doesn't know them in any particular order, he just knows 'D' for Drew, 'O' for Owen, 'W' for Westley, 'S' for Samantha, and so on. He knows about half of the alphabet.

Owen isn't as interested in the computer or in looking at letters. He spends his time playing with his Thomas the Train set, playing catch with whoever he can get to play with him, and riding his trike.

Samantha has turned into something of a terror. She has a very short fuse, and it doesn't take much to set it off. It's hard not to laugh at her tantrums because she plops herself onto the ground and just sits there crying with her chin on her chest, all dejected looking. She glances up every so often to make sure people are still paying attention, then resumes the chin-on-chest crying. The crying sounds kind of fake, too. It cracks me up. She has also taken to hitting her brothers, though, which is not funny. She pinches and scratches and grabs, too. Luckily she's not a full-time terror. She is very sweet much of the time. She recently learned to say "baby," "uh-uh"** and "all done." She likes to dance with Drew and ride bikes with Owen.

*My mom used to have a book about a bee. "C D B? D B S A B-Z B." I feel like that B.

**Yesterday Samantha was playing in the shower area while Drew was using the toilet. I was trying to get her out of there because I knew once Drew got off the throne, she'd want to play in it. She loves water with no regard to what else might be in said water. I said, "Samantha, come out of the bathroom." She said, "Uh-uh." I said, "Samantha, I'm going to count to three." She said, "Uh-uh." "One..." "Uh-uh." "Two..." "Uh-uh." Finally I just grabbed her and hauled her out of there. Of course once I set her down she plopped onto the floor and started to cry with her chin on her chest...

Take That?

2009-01-15T23:05:00.005-07:00

A bit of background: Owen often likes to pretend he's someone/thing else from time to time. His favorites are our cat, Merle, or our dog, Vito. Drew likes to pretend, too, but usually he pretends to be a dinosaur, a Corvette, a fire engine--anything loud.

The following conversation occurred between Drew and Owen (and me, because they always drag me into their heated discussions) this morning:

Owen: Mom, I'm Drew.

Drew: Mom, he's not Drew! [eyes widen] Am I Drew?

Me: [to Drew] Yes, you're Drew.

Owen: No, Drew. I'm Drew.

Drew: Well, babies are Drew.

First Day Silliness

2009-01-14T15:05:00.002-07:00

It's always interesting to me how people behave on the first day of a new class. It takes a while for people to get comfortable in new surroundings, but it still makes me chuckle to myself. For example, on the first day, most people shuffle quietly into the classroom, take a seat as close to the back as possible, and fidget quietly until the professor gets there, then they take out their notebooks and try to write down every single thing the professor says. Personally, I like to sit in a middle row on either far side of the classroom. That way, I can still see just about everything in the classroom, and my teacher doesn't automatically peg me for a poor student just because I'm in the back. (I had a biology professor tell us that "studies show that students who sit in the back row are more likely to be 'D' or 'F' students, while those in the front are more likely to be 'A' students. Students who sit in the middle are generally average students." I don't know how much I believe that, but I get the impression that a lot of teachers do.)

It takes time to get comfortable with a new professor and his/her teaching style, too. I really like both my on-campus professors, and from my few interactions with them, my online professors seem nice, and competent as well. My Statistics professor speaks very fast, and is very animated. He even said, "what the hell" at a couple different points in the lecture. I didn't think much of it, but I thought it was funny that one of the girls sitting near me turned to her friend with this wide-eyed look like, what did he just say?

When I first got to my Statistics class, everyone was sitting outside the door, waiting for it to be unlocked, I assume; there were no benches or anything so I doubt anyone was sitting there to take a break or something. I had a 45 minute break between Statistics and Chemistry, so I found the lecture hall, then sat on a bench just outside it to work on my Stats homework (look at me, all diligent on my first day; we'll see how long that lasts). The lecture hall was open, and a few people went in, but I had snacks and didn't know if they were allowed in the room, so I just stayed outside. Not long after, a few people came and sat on nearby benches. Soon, there was a group of about 30 students standing around waiting. No one had tried the door, or asked if anyone else had tried the door; they were all just saw someone sitting/standing around so they stood there, too. I thought of telling them that the room was open, but decided not to for some reason. There were still about ten minutes before class started, but I packed up my books and headed into the lecture hall. A group of about 30 students followed me in. It made me wonder; would it be insulting to the people standing outside the classroom if someone were to go try the door? Why do people just assume it's locked because one person is sitting out there?

Well, these are just some silly musings I had while walking back to my car after class got out (these, along with, "Boy, this blister sure hurts." I got a blister on my first day! In shoes that I've worn many times before with no resulting blisters!). I'll post some Drew, Owen and Samantha updates as I get a chance.

Glad I'm No Longer Part of the 'Dating Scene'

2009-01-12T19:20:00.003-07:00

My friend Em sent me the link to this video. I found it hilarious! There are subtitles for those of you who don't speak Thai (I admit I had to peek at them a couple times).

Post #300!

2009-01-11T16:04:00.004-07:00

Drew refused to participate in class today. Since he didn't want to draw, his teacher drew a picture for him, of him. It cracked me up because it perfectly mirrors how he feels about Sunbeam class. It sort of mirrors how I feel today, too. Blah.

This being post #300 is probably the best thing that's happened all day. *sigh* It's just been one of those days. Drew and Owen are still scared of Sunbeam class so as soon as they realized today is Sunday, they felt all sick and tired and whiny and didn't want to go... So we were late for church and David is at work so I was all by myself with three grouchy kids (Samantha started out the day fine, but I think she absorbs the boys' grouchiness, or maybe she just can't let them out-grouch her).

I got the boys into Sunbeams okay, and headed to the library. I was by myself there today; the lady who is usually in there with me was out of town. I don't mind being on my own much, except that today Samantha went on a tear and spent the better part of two hours grabbing all the canisters of pencils and markers and tossing the contents all over the room, and I didn't have time to pick them up because there were lots of pictures to get for people and copies to be made. Until I jammed the copier, that is. Then there were no more copies to be made. I was making some programs for an Eagle Scout Court of Honor, and I neglected to let the copier know that I was using heavy paper (I actually didn't neglect it, I just couldn't figure out how to do it), so all the papers got stuck. And one paper got stuck where we couldn't pull it out. It's still in there at this moment.

We made it home from church with only a few more incidents of tantrums and general orneriness from Drew and Owen (including trying to escape from class twice by saying they need to use the toilet and refusing to let their teacher help them). We had lunch then I got Samantha down for a nap, and I'm going to let the boys watch TV while I make some comfort food.

Just Find

2009-01-05T13:54:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was Drew and Owen's first day in Sunbeam class (3 and 4 year old kids) at church. They were pretty upset about the whole thing. I guess it's the lack of toys and snacks that has them all riled up. And maybe they feel a bit intimidated by all the bigger kids in Primary.

Right after Sacrament Meeting, Drew started saying, "I'm sick. My tummy hurts." We figured he was faking it, and took the boys to Primary. David sat with Drew and Owen for singing time, and when he tried to sneak out, Drew started screaming bloody murder. So David took him to the back of the room. Owen followed them and started crying, too. When Drew calmed down, David took him back to join his class. Drew finally started participating, so David was able to sneak out without Drew paying any attention.

About 15 minutes before church ended, the Sunbeam teacher came to get me out of class. Drew and Owen had to use the toilet. As we were walking to the restroom, Owen said, "I don't want to go back to class." Drew said in his most sugary voice, "I don't have to go to class, if I want." I told him he sure did have to go to class and that's where I took the boys when they were finished doing their business. I sat in there for a couple minutes, then I told them I had to go to the library and I'd be back later. They seemed fine with it. I think in a couple weeks they'll get the hang of things and go to class without any problems.

When we got home from church, I asked Drew if his belly still hurt. He said, "No, it's just find." I have a feeling it was "just find" the whole time.

Samantha is less than "find", today, though. She puked sometime during the night or early in the morning before I got her out of bed. Drew actually tried to claim the mess as his, saying he was sick again, but I didn't really believe him. And when Samantha lost her breakfast, my suspicions were confirmed. I hope she doesn't have anything major. She's pretty much behaving normally, except that she climbed up on my lap and snuggled and sucked her thumb for a couple minutes, which she never does during play time.

Samantha has also been crabbier/feistier lately. I think it has to do with the age she's at. She can't really communicate, so she squawks and screams and throws a fit when she doesn't get her way. And lately she's been smacking my neck with both hands if I happen to be holding her when something makes her mad. She stands up for herself with Drew and Owen, more, too. If one of the boys takes her toy, she employs the usual method of squawking at them and grabs her toy back. Drew and Owen haven't quite figured out what to make of it yet. I'm not sure what to make of it, either. I miss my sweet, quiet little girl and hope she returns soon.

2008: The Year in Review

2009-01-02T00:37:00.004-07:00

Samantha:

January: 4 months old. Cute as a button.
February: Behaved really well for Dad's cousin while Mom and Dad took a much needed vacation in Florida. Got to meet Great Grandma Archibald (Mom's paternal grandma) for the first time.
March: 6 months. Still adorable, interested in everything around me.
April: Have perfected the ability to sit up on my own.
May: Love going outside to play, explore and eat dandelions.
June: 9 months. Life is great.
July: Went on vacation with the family to Seattle. Had a lot of fun, got to meet Dad's aunts and uncles for the first time (well, the first time that I actually sort of knew what was going on).
August: Saw a girl two months younger than me walking around at church. Thought I should at least try standing up.
September: Happy First Birthday to me!
October: My big brothers are always really good about sharing their toys. Especially if I throw a fit and Mom makes them back off. Not that I've ever tried that...
November: Time to learn to walk. That pile of leaves and sticks seemed like a good place to practice.
December: 15 months. Have almost perfected walking. Still the cutest little girl in the family, and everybody loves me!

Owen:

January: I like to borrow Samantha's stacker rings and wear them as shoes.
February: I can still be cute even when covered in chocolate.
March: Went to the rodeo with Mom, Drew, Grandpa and the cousins. Enjoyed about every minute of it. Except when they put the pink cowboy hat on me.
April: Got into the Vaseline in Samantha's room. Mom flew off the handle, but I heard her trying to suppress her laughter when she thought I wasn't paying attention.
May: Went to Salt Lake to get Roz's Bagoda-dog. He was pretty patient while I practiced shooting my water gun at him.
June: All I want to do is play outside on my four-wheeler.
July: Gotta wear safety goggles or the Ramen will flick juices in my eye when I slurp it up.
August: Went camping in Mackay with the family. Got to ride the four-wheelers.
September: Helped Mom make Samantha's birthday cake. Had to make sure it tasted good before I let her bake it.
October: Turned three on the 25th.
November: I always want to be outside, even when the weather cools down.
December: My family can't imagine life without me, whether I've got Playdough in my hair or not.

Drew:

January: Everything is a party. Unless something makes me mad.
February: For some reason Mom thinks it's hilarious when I get food on my face. As though it doesn't happen every time I eat.
March: Went to the mall to see the Easter Bunny. Wouldn't sit on his lap, but did take the hat he gave me. Then I ran away.
April: Matchbox cars are my life.
May: Always getting into Mom's stuff (not that it's hard, 'cause she leaves a lot of it out). Her shoes are especially fun.
June: Corvettes are my life. Mom has been toilet training Owen and me, and Grandpa bribed us with a ride in his 'Vette.
July: Had a lot of fun in Seattle. Nice to be home where I can kick back and relax.
August: Went to American Falls Reservoir. Acted really brave until we got to the water's edge. Cried a bit, then just went for it and had a lot of fun.
September: Mom taught me how to have fun with a cereal box once the contents are gone.
October: I'm finally three!
November: The cat never plays with this thing. I often take it upon myself to make sure toys don't go un-played with.
December: The family would be incomplete without me. And cars are still my life.

The Blame Game. And Other Fun Games

2008-12-30T12:01:00.003-07:00

Everything is Drew's fault. At least according to Owen. Ask him just about anything and he'll say, "Drew did it." Drew threw the toys all over the room. Drew colored on the wall. Drew even peed Owen's pants. While Owen was wearing them.

This morning, Owen asked me to fix his Lightning McQueen car for him. I noticed the tires on the wheels were askew, so I asked Owen if he'd tried to take them off. He said, "No. Drew took them off." I straightened the tires, but still nothing. I had seen Owen drop the car a few minutes earlier, so I told him, "Maybe it broke when you dropped it. You need to be more careful with your toys." Owen said, "Drew dropped it." I fiddled around with it for a minute and couldn't get it to work. I told Owen, "I think the batteries are dead." He replied, "No. Drew's batteries are dead."

Last night, the boys and I played hide and seek with Vito. This game involves telling Vito to sit at the top of the stairs and stay there 'til I whistle. Then he comes running down the stairs sounding like a heard of elephants and runs around the room trying to find us. Generally we hide in very obvious places--like under the pool table in the middle of the room, or between the couch and the TV. It cracks me up to hide from Vito because I can never tell if he actually knows where we are and is just pretending to not know, or if he really can't find us. I got the idea that he just pretends that he doesn't know where we are because when we were playing with Drew and Owen, they kept yelling at him from our hiding spot and he just stood there two feet away from us looking around like, "Which way did they go, George? Which way did they go?" Then I whistled and he looked over at us all surprised and came bounding over. The boys have never had so much interaction with Vito (he usually stays as far away from them as possible while remaining in the same room), and they loved it. When we were all tired out from running around and hiding (Vito and I got tired long before Drew and Owen did), the boys jumped up and down yelling, "We'll play again tomorrow! We'll play again tomorrow!" I guess they had fun, too.

Feelin' Spoiled

2008-12-28T21:35:00.003-07:00

The view outside our window Christmas morning; snow, snow, snow! And lots of it

piled on our screens, too. It practically dwarfed my homemade snowflakes...

We had a low-key Christmas celebration this year, which was nice. The in-laws came over Christmas morning, after digging themselves out of a couple feet of snow drifts. The kids woke up at their usual time between 8:30 and 9:00, and we kept them downstairs until the in-laws got here so they could see the kids' faces when they saw all the loot under the tree. Drew and Owen were pretty excited. They ran around for a couple minutes yelling, "Presents! Presents!!" before they even thought to sit down and see which presents were for them. Samantha was interested in pretty much every present Drew and Owen got, particularly the trikes that we got for them. Whenever we handed her a present and helped her unwrap it, she promptly threw the contents of said present on the floor and toddled over to play with whatever car or truck her brothers were playing with.

Santa brought the kids a Thomas the Train set, and expansion kit (it's sorta visible in the bottom of the phot0). David and I got them a trike and Grandma and Grandpa C. got them another trike.

I got so much good loot this year. I wasn't expecting much because whenever David asked me what I wanted and I told him, (take new frying pans for example) he said, "Why would you want pans? You've already got pans, and they work just fine." (Except that they don't, because they're warped, because a certain husband loves to hear the sizzle of a hot pan under cold tap water.) I also asked for a drill, to which he replied, "Why don't you just borrow my dad's?" (Because I never know when I'm going to need to fix something or put a new hole in the wall real quick, and it's kind of a pain to be borrowing stuff from people all the time.) Finally I got sick of trying to justify my wish list, so I told him to get me some textbooks.

After all that, I was pretty surprised when there was an electric griddle and a cordless drill under the tree with my name on them. And my father in law loves to get people tools, so I've got a gazillion piece drill bit set, three tool boxes to put stuff in, an electric screwdriver (not sure how that's entirely different than a drill fitted with a Philips bit, except that it has thirty different sizes), a leveler, and a new tape measure.

It seems like Christmas is still going on; I'm still finding bits of wrapping paper here and there, and I haven't even started sorting through old toys to figure out which ones to donate (and where to donate them), which ones to keep and which ones to put in the trash. I'll have to do all that when my boys aren't looking, though, because they seem to think everything is a toy, even if it's missing the majority of its parts. A beloved favorite of Drew's is a red truck that has no wheels, no bed, only one door. I don't know why I haven't thrown it away yet; at clean up time we just throw it in the toy box with everything else. Drew digs it out from the depths of the toy box on a regular basis to play with it, and it's one of his preferred toys to take to bed with him. So tomorrow I've got that big project to do, as well as pretty much scour the house and get it all fresh and clean so I can try to keep on top of things (it's one of my New Year's goals, and I figure I might as well start right away, before school starts--only two more weeks!).

So much snow! We went out and shoveled a couple times on Christmas day, just to stay on top of it all. We got even more snow Christmas night, so the next day David went around the neighborhood with a few of the neighbors and various plows, snow blowers and shovels to dig people out. Then of course the good ol' Idaho wind picked up (not that it ever really stopped) and blew all our carefully shoveled snow every which way. Happily, though, it didn't cause too much trouble.

Weenies and Junglemints

2008-12-23T22:40:00.005-07:00

I mopped my kitchen floor today (yep, it's that time of year again...I almost put it off 'til spring because of all the dirty snow that gets tracked in these days, but all that dirty snow made mopping mandatory). I piled all the kitchen chairs into the living room, putting one of them on the stair landing. Drew and Owen were very good to stay in that general area and not tromp all over the wet floor in the kitchen. As I was mopping along, I heard Owen yelling the strangest phrase over and over. I could tell he thought he wasn't pronouncing it like he knew it should be pronounced, because the words changed each time he said it:

Weenies and Junglemints!

Babies and Winnamence!

Lalees and Ambience!

Wallees and Jellamence!

I peeked around the corner to see what the yelling was all about. Owen was standing on the chair on the landing, with his arms outstretched, making declarations to the people (which people included Drew, Samantha [held captive in her booster seat] and Vito): Weedies and Mimamints!

I cracked up! It took me a few minutes to figure out he was trying to say "Ladies and Gentlemen." It reminded me of a favorite poem that I heard when I was about four or five that I've always tried to remember and finally thought to look up online. There are lots of versions of it and no one can seem to agree on who wrote it, but here's my favorite version:

Ladles and Jellyspoons:

I come before you

to stand behind you,

and tell you something

I know nothing about:

As next Thursday is Good Friday,

there will be a Fathers' meeting for Mothers only.

Wear your best clothes if you don't have any,

and please stay at home, if you can be there.

Admission is free, pay at the door,

have a seat on me; please sit on the floor.

No matter where you manage to sit,

the man in the balcony will certainly spit.

I thank you for your unkind attention,

and now present the next act:

The Four Corners of the Round Table.