Skooz Blogs

October, part 2

2011-11-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

The Florida relative came for a visit! It was SO fun to see and spend time with them! I didn't get a picture of Aunt Beth and Uncle Mike :(

My kids fell in love with them all instantly. They are just another reason I feel so lucky to marry into this great family.

We carved up our pumpkins just in the nick of time!

Mike's, Faith's, Kate's

The kids and I made this spiderweb along with a huge egg sac that's not in the picture :)

Halloween dinner included broiled snake, eye balls, and monster tails!

October, part 1

2011-11-06T06:01:00.000-08:00

I just love this whole month! Halloween everything is so fun! Aunt Michelle came to visit and we made spooky haunted houses.

And the terrifying results:

My bro and his family stopped to visit on their way up to Alaska, and we had a great time with the cousins! The weather was great and we went to the pumpkin patch/corn maze.

Grrrr.

Car Talk

2011-10-17T15:24:00.000-07:00

I love conversations in the car with the kids. There aren't many distractions, and they often think about and say the funniest things. These are only two conversations that made me smile this week:

1: As you may have found out from Mike's blog, Kate lost two teeth this last weekend!

I pulled one out on Friday, and she pulled the other out herself at a birthday party. As we drove home from the party, Kate told me about how she pulled out her tooth. Then she said,

"Well, I guess you can lose a tooth anywhere... at the store, or fashion shows."

I was a bit baffled by the "fashion shows," but I agreed that a loose tooth can strike at any time.

2: I drive a couple of kindergartners home from school every day. The little boy started talking about Star Wars.

Kate: "Oh! I've seen that! Actually, I've only seen one Star War. :( "

Faith: "I've seen that too!"

Kate: "No, Faith, you haven't. It's the one with Yoga in it."

Yeah, Faith, listen to Kate. She obviously knows what she's talking about. :)

And here's a picture:

"Is This the Little Girl I Carried?"

2011-08-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Kate's first day of Kindergarten. Believe it or not, it was a tear free day for both of us! (Okay, I got a bit misty eyed after I picked her up, but that was it!) Kate had been to the school a bunch - she even helped paint her room. She had also met her teacher several times, so it was pretty painless. After two days of school, it turns out that Kate and Kindergarten get along swimmingly.

Family Pictures

2011-07-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Once again, Mandie did a great job! Thanks Mandie!

Words of Wisdom

2011-07-19T08:01:00.001-07:00

While emptying the dishwasher, Kate offered Faith this sage advice:

"If you're feeling drunk, and you stole a truck, never say that you're going to McDonald's, or a policeman might give you a buck."

The Kids

2011-05-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Faith woke up feeling very benevolent today. Before we went down to breakfast the girls needed to clean up their room. Faith started hanging up her shirts, and then Kate's shirts too! While she was doing this, Kate approached Faith with her reindeer.

[A side note on Faith's reindeer. She is a Build a Bear reindeer and has a button that, when pushed, says: "Hi! I'm Clarisse!" Faith disregarded this and named her Rosabella. She doesn't like the name "Grease" (Clarisse). She is a bit miserly with Rosabella, which makes Kate long to play with her even more. Kate also continues to call Rosabella 'Clarisse' and it really annoys Faith.]

Kate then hopefully asked, "Faith, may I please play with Rosabella?" (she was careful to use the right name)

Faith considered aloud, "Hmmm, I don't know... Maybe..... Yes."

Kate delightedly hugged and kissed Faith, and started playing with Rosabella. Faith was obviously feeling pretty good about being generous, so after some more thought, she added:

"And you can call her Grease."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This little guy learned how to go down the stairs today! He LOVES climbing up, but when it comes to going down, he would really rather hover or float down. This morning he embraced the law of gravity and slid down on his belly. When he got to the bottom, he game himself an enthusiastic applause.

Little Lord Fauntleroy

2011-04-27T13:49:00.000-07:00

The kids and I started this book the other day. We got to the part where the lawyer tells young Cedric that as an Earl he will have lots of money. Cedric thinks it would be very nice to have lots of money, and proceeds to tell the lawyer how he would use it to help people. I then asked Kate what she would do if she had lots of money.

"Hmmmm, I would use it to buy lots of stuff for my family, just in case."

Me: "Like what kind of stuff?"

Kate: "Like ribbon."

It's nice to know that, if Kate ever becomes wealthy, we will all be well taken care of.

Our Best Bites

2011-03-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

I borrowed my title from one of my favorite blogs, though this post has nothing to do with mouth-watering concoctions - far from it. I would go so far as to say that this post should be called Our Worst Bites, but you be the judge.

Bite #1

My good friend Kelsey has turned quite crafty lately. Not in the "crafty-old-witch" way, but in the "I make my own yogurt and graham crackers" way. We were out to lunch and she had brought some of the aforementioned home made graham crackers. I gave one to Jace to munch on while we ate lunch. Pretty soon, Jace had turned his cracker, which was more like a biscuit, into a gooey, slobbery ball of mush. I tried to clean him up with a wipe, then discarded the wipe and mush-ball into Kate's empty pasta bowl. (She had finished long before.)

Several wipes later, Jace started looking more like a human infant. Kate tapped me on the shoulder at this point and asked what that yummy treat was I had put in her bowl. I looked in horror at her bowl, now filled only with dirty wipes.

ME: "You ate that??? Why would you eat that?? Remember how we talked about not eating things when we don't know what they are? That was Jace's chewed up cracker."

KATE: "Oh. Well, can I have another one?"

Bite #2

The scene is Texas Roadhouse. It's Valentine's weekend, so the restaurant is extremely crowded and noisy, and there is a big ol' vein in my chicken. I discretely cut it out and place it on a napkin hidden on the side of my plate. Part way through the meal, Faith weasels her way to my side of the booth to say hi to Jace.

Now, some people may say that Mike is not a notice-er, but his eyes can be quite sharp when it counts.

MIKE (sounding slightly alarmed): Faith just put something in her mouth, do you know what it is?

Faith had swallowed the evidence as quickly as possible, but one look at my hidden napkin confirmed what I had already guessed. Mmmmmm, chicken vein...

Bite #3

Kate bites her nails. Not just the ones on her fingers. I found out recently that she also bites her toenails. When I discovered this, she received a good lecture on all the dirt and germs she is eating when she bites her toenails.

KATE: "But Mom, the dirty ones are the yummiest!"

(Sorry if you just gagged. Don't worry, I did too. And she has now stopped biting her toenails. I think.)

Bite #4

The kids and I were in the produce section of the grocery store. Faith pointed to a bunch of Crimini Mushrooms and shouted (because that's her normal tone of voice), "CAN I HAVE A DONUT!?"

I picked up a Mushroom and held it so she could see it and asked, "So you want to eat this 'donut'"?

Faith immediately leaned forward and took a big bite out of it.

And that's how I bought my first Crimini mushroom.

Jace the Wonder Boy

2011-01-23T12:44:00.000-08:00

I can sit!!!

And I have cute boots.

Thanks Kelsey!

Being this child's mom is the best job in the world. He is 7 parts sweet smiles, 1 part manly burps, and 2 parts drool. I don't know how our family got so lucky! I love this little man!

Quotables

2011-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

"Mother, sometimes I feel like you are the only person in my family when you're wearing a blue shirt."

"I been up in my room for a long time, for half of dollars, and no one came and got me."

(overheard praying)

"... an please help me clean up my toys, an help me get my toys back, and please help my mommy tell my daddy not to take away my toys, an please help get my toys back, an I will clean up all my toys..."

"My favorite colors are pink, yellow, and clear."

(Is she my daughter, or what?)

Other Summer Highlights

2010-11-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

While I was in the hospital after Jace was born, Kate and Faith stayed with my mom and dad. When we went to go pick them up, Papa and Kate said they had a surprise for me. We went outside and Kate showed me this:

I was surprised, alright! No training wheels?? Good job, Papa and Kate! She LOVES to ride her bike now, and will have a difficult time parting with it during the winter.

We all went to the Western Idaho Fair (even 2 week old Jace - he loved it) and had a great time! Kate also won a free Taekwondo class at one of the booths. She loves Kung Fu Panda, so I thought she would really enjoy it.

The parents got to watch on a TV screen in a different room. There were lots of "Yes Ma'am!" 's and "HeeeeYAH!" 's. Only Kate said, "HeeeeYah!". She was very quiet, but was smiling most of the time. I asked her how she liked it after it was over, and she said that she didn't. "But you were smiling during the class," I countered.

Kate said, "That's because I didn't want the teacher to feel bad."

Okay, then. At least we got a cute little Tae Kwon Do uniform out of it.

Faith took swimming lessons and had a blast! Sorry, I neglected to take any pictures. But I did get some of Faith's first haircut! Yup, we chopped it off. She twirls her hair into knots while she sucks her thumb. I've had to cut them off so many times that she was developing a mullet. So here she is

Before

"Awww, poor child, don't you have any parents?"

and then

After

MUCH better.

2010-11-15T20:31:00.000-08:00

Jace laughed for the first time just a few minutes ago.

It's enough to make me want to compose some really cheesy song.

This boy is an angel. He is the best baby, and I don't know how I got lucky enough to be his mommy! He naps anywhere, sleeps 8+ hours at night, rarely cries, smiles at anyone, and now he giggles too. It's almost too much.

The Many Faces of Jace

2010-09-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

The "What do you mean I have no eyebrows?" Face

The "Seriously, I don't have eyebrows?!" Face

The "Do you think my lack of brows makes my forehead look big?" Face

The "Eh, who needs eyebrows? I'm still ridiculously good-looking" Face

Look what I made!!!

2010-08-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

I decided to make a picnic table for my mom for her birthday. I got the plans from Knock Off Wood, and I hope it's not my last project! I didn't really know what I was doing, but the kids have tested it and it hasn't fallen down yet! I wanted to have it done before the baby came, but no luck. I still have to finish painting it. Thanks to Mike and Kate for helping me make it!

Okay, I also had some help making this one :) Introducing wee Jace Allen! He was born on August 11 @ 7:12 in the morning. I was scheduled to be induced that day at 7 am, but thankfully, labor kicked in on its own! For a very detailed description of the birth, see Mike's blog.

Jace is such a sweet baby! I am amazed at how much love I feel for the little guy, and how he is already such a part of our family. He rarely cries, enjoys sleeping, eating, and snuggling. The girls adore him and are always ready to help. I'm one lucky mama!

Jam on it

2010-07-19T09:25:00.001-07:00

In celebration of Mike's birthday a few weeks ago, I wanted to do something memorable, something out of the ordinary. And I wanted it to be a surprise. With some help from my awesome cousin Tenielle, it came to me.

Roller Derby

When we walked up to the Qwest Arena, Mike thought we were going to a basketball or hockey game. Luckily, he didn't notice the plethora of girls in short skirts and fishnets hanging around the building. Even as we walked inside and he saw a bunch of them handing out programs, he assumed they were the half time show. Then we entered the arena and saw this:

He was very surprised. Mission accomplished!

After a short video explaining the rules, the bout began. Unfortunately, our team got their fish nets handed to them. I think the final score was 71 to 174. Ouch. But it was still a blast to watch! And if I weren't so very pregnant, I would be all over this sport.

Here are my favorites from the evening:

Favorite jammer: Candy Assassin (she scored most of the team's points)

Favorite name: Crash McCrasherson (simply because it reminds me of my friend Angie:))

Favorite moment: When Fire Hazard burst out of the penalty box and took out not only the other team's best jammer, but two refs to boot!

Favorite Ref: Bipola Lola (because you're never too old to wear your underwear over your tights.)

Now for a few tips to help your next derby experience be safe and enjoyable:

If you go to the Treasure Valley Roller Girls website, it says that you can purchase tickets ahead of time at a number businesses. One of the suggested businesses is "Discreet Secrets". I strongly discourage buying your tickets here for 2 reasons:

1. The contents of this store in no way resemble nor approach any definition of the word "discretion".

2. The cashier informed me that they are not selling derby tickets this year.

I ended up going to Need to Bead, which was a much more family friendly and helpful place to buy the tickets, and I didn't even need to soak my eyeballs in bleach afterward!

Here's to hoping we'll see you at the Spud Town Smack Down in September!

Guest blogger

2010-07-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Check out this video on Mike's blog. This spells trouble. From here on out we are going to be pushing sports. Heavily.

Something is missing...

2010-07-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Mike and I were in the car the other day when I looked down at my right leg, which was resting on my left knee, and noticed that my ankle had disappeared. I asked Mike to verify that my ankle was, in fact, gone, and he said, "Whoa! It's like Strong Sad!" and I couldn't help but bust up laughing. For my friends that do not know him, I give you...

Strong Sad

Unlike Strong Sad, I do not mourn the loss of my ankles. The arrival of cankles can only mean that the man child is coming soon! 3 or 4 more weeks! (The coolness of his name will be determined by how late/early he comes. That's right, it's all up to you man child.)

*On a side note*

I told my dad about the tent when he got back in town. He put the tent up himself to find out what the problem was, and it looked just like mine. Ha! Turns out there was a POLE MISSING! At this time I will graciously accept apologies from all scoffers and ridiculers.

The Call of the Wild

2010-06-27T13:57:00.000-07:00

Lately I have really felt Mother Nature beckoning to me, and this is what she has been saying:

Go camping.

Is there any better way to teach children about nature and enjoy God's creations than camping? I think not. So, with the boy's arrival approaching, I determined to pull off an all girls camp-out as soon as it stopped raining. Fortunately, last week it stopped raining. I invited my friend Becca and her daughter (Kate's BFF) Kaylynn to join us in roughing it in the vast unknown.

Choosing a campsite can make or break the camping experience, and I believe I picked the perfect one. My parents' backyard. There is a nearby pond, a fire pit, and a bathroom. Like I said, it was perfect.

My parents were out of town for the week, and my mom was quite worried about us being in such close proximity to the local wildlife, i.e. deer, beavers, and the local woodchuck. I told her we would be prepared to defend ourselves and just take our chances. When we pulled into the driveway and looked upon our campsite, the first thing I saw was a wild turkey. That's right, dinner. Somehow, he eluded us while we were unloading the car, and we were back to hot dogs. But first, to the pond!

There is an added feeling of security when your personal flotation device has a crotch strap.

First we paddled around in the canoe and paddle boat, then the kids played on the beach, building castles out of sand and goose droppings.

As Becca and I wandered over to the fire pit, I proceeded to brag to her that I had received the award of "Best Campfire Builder" when I was 12 at girls camp. (Yes, my friends, this is foreshadowing.) There was a ton of debris already in the pit, and I knew starting the fire would be a piece of cake. Here I am at the business end of a lighter.

A considerable amount of time had passed in which no apparent progress had been made, yet the children looked on with unshaken confidence.

Okay, so I never could get it started. But luckily, a mountain man emerged from the foliage and got a respectable fire going. (Thanks Mike!) At last we were able to enjoy an authentic, campfire-roasted hot dog (blackened and covered in ash).

The next item of business was "putting up the tent". My dad offered to set it up for us before he left town, but no no! I wanted the girls to get that feeling of accomplishment that comes after we've worked hard. I think Becca got that feeling, but as you can see below, it didn't really happen for me.

So. I'm not exactly sure what went wrong, or why Becca's tent looked so awesome, and mine looked so... not awesome. But am I a quitter?! H*ck no! The tent came down and I started over from scratch. I'm sure you will agree, the second attempt was much better:

Huzzah!

This wicked profile shot about made me wet myself.
It may not have been pretty, but it was shelter! I generously allowed all the little girls to sleep together in this tent, while I shared Becca's with her.

They didn't seem to mind. I love how Faith studied Kaylynn's pose and tried to imitate it :)

After this we all went swimming in the pool - Becca, Kaylynn, Kate, Faith, Me, and my gigantic belly. There is no photographic evidence of this. You can thank me later.

It was way past bedtime when we finished swimming, but there was no way we were going to bed without s'mores. The fire had gone out, and I asked if anyone would be too disappointed of we went inside and cooked our s'mores in the microwave. I know, pretty pathetic. But once again, the kids didn't seem to mind!

At last it was time for bed. We tucked the girls in, and I endeavord to bore them to sleep by telling them a story about the life cycle of an acorn. They indeed thought it was very lame, but it didn't make them more tired.
After several trips to the bathroom, a panic attack that the moon had disappeared, and a general insomnia that was very unevenly distributed, everyone but Kate ended up in the mom tent. She turned out to be the lucky one that actually slept most of the night. But as I lay there wondering when this night would finally end, the birds let me know that morning had broken at last. One bird in particular. I wish I could have seen outside the window, because I could have sworn that it was the chocolate eating giant, Kevin. And he was right outside our tent.

We had a great time, but by the next day, my girls agreed that we don't really need to go camping again. Fine by me.

Lotsa Pictures

2010-06-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Aunt Laurie's and Uncle Greggy's birthdays, along with Easter, in one fell swoop.

Greg knows we give the best presents.

Tools + Tiara = Best. Birthday. Ever.

Laurie is equally unable to hide her excitement.

A Princess birthday cake?! Poor Greggy, all future birthdays are now ruined.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE AND GREG!

I love my family :)

Easter egg hunt

This is Kate's favorite park. She thinks it's "totally awesome".

This child is so funny. Examples: The other night we were saying bed time prayers. Faith's was, "Father, bless Mommy Daddy, Amen."

Mike suggested that it could be a bit longer, so she tried again,

"FATHER, BLESS MOMMY DADDY, AMEN!!!"

shouting at the top of her lungs. Adjectives can be so darn tricky.

We were in the car when she said the following:

"Lemme tell you sumting Mommy. Funny joke. Laugh lot." [long pause]

I wondered if that was the joke, until she resumed:

"Daddy....

head...

milkshake!"

[snorting laughter]

Good one, Faith!

Same day, we went to the library. Now, to set the scene, we are in the grownup part of the library, and I had forewarned the kids that they needed to be very quiet up there. Faith sits down on a rolling stool. Kate wants to sit on it too, so she sits down behind Faith, with their backs facing each other. Faith doesn't like that Kate is sitting behind her, and tries to push her off by leaning on her. I tell them it's time to go, and Kate stands up abruptly. Now how do I describe this? Faith launches backwards off the stool, and actually stalls in a headstand for a full 2 seconds before crashing to floor screaming.

I'm giggling even as I write this, I wish I could have recorded it. So I just hugged her and tried to hide my laughter, and told her she could push the buttons on the elevator. She calmed down instantly.

Grandma and Great Grandpa at the totally awesome park.

Makeover #1
Kate and Faith found some green shimmer eyeshadow. It is no longer with us.

Makeover #2:
Kate gave Faith a complete makeover - clothes, makeup and hair. At first I was so distracted by the eyebrows that I didn't even notice the bangs. I don't think it turned out nearly as bad as it could have. Plus, bangs grow a lot faster than eyelashes. :)

Butterflies

2010-05-28T15:53:00.001-07:00

For Christmas, Grandma gave Kate a butterfly habitat with a coupon to mail into BugLore and receive several caterpillars. We waited anxiously for warmer weather, and we sent in the coupon a couple of months ago. About 3 weeks later, we got these little guys in the mail!

The above picture is day 3 after they moved in. At first they were completely motionless, and I thought they may have been eternally sleeping, but on day 2, they woke up and started to eat! (that yellowish stuff on the bottom is their food.)

After a week, they had quadrupled in size!! I couldn't believe how fast they grew! And I don't think anyone was more excited about it than me :)

Then one morning, one caterpillar climbed to the top of the jar and hung upside down. By the end of the day, every caterpillar in both jars followed suit.

It took that first one about an hour to form his chrysalis. It was SO COOL!

Once they had all gotten into their snuggies, we carefully transferred them to their habitat, where they were supposed to hang out for 7-10 days. As luck would have it, we were leaving out of town on day 10. I offered many inspirational and encouraging remarks to get them to come out before we left. But they did not. I found a well known butterfly sitter to watch them for us while we were gone, and sure enough, they all emerged just hours before we came home!

We kept them inside with us for almost 2 weeks to wait for the hail and snow to stop, and then we finally released them! 9 butterflies in all!

Hmmm... How do you get them out of there?

One by one, each found its way to the opening at the top and fluttered away. One even climbed onto Kate's finger!

Faith couldn't get one to climb onto her finger.

A couple butterflies (called Painted Ladies) found the flowers in our yard and hung out for a while.

Check out that proboscis!

The kids and I had so much fun during this whole process! Thank you Grandma!

2010-05-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

Last night right after dinner, Faith saw something brownish on the floor, picked it up, and asked Daddy:

"Dis poo poo?"

Daddy replied that he didn't think so...
So she popped it in her mouth, chewed a bit, and confirmed that it was not poo poo, but steak.
That, my friends, is courage.

(And yes, I keep steak on the floor, my kitchen floor is THAT clean.)

Why I am nervous for the new baby:

2010-04-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Project Time

2010-04-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

Stuffed animals have taken over my home. It doesn't matter how many times a day they get put away, they always escape again. My friend has this zookeeper thing that I've been coveting for while, but I didn't want to shell out that much dough. So I decided to make one. I've never really done anything like this before, but the design looked pretty simple, so why not?

First, I drew up my plans. Then the whole fam went to Lowe's with me. Every time I asked one of the employees a question, they would ask Mike follow up questions, or just turn to him and give him the answer. He finally told the guy, "I don't know, this is her project." After pricing out PVC pipe vs. wood, wood looked cheaper. Being the lazy novice I am, I just used pre-primed composite molding :).

The weather has been springish (finally!) around here, so I opened up the garage and set up the table saw. As I was sawing and drilling, a neighbor approached me with his son asking for donations for the March of Dimes. He asked what I was doing, and I explained. Then he looked at me with obvious skepticism and asked,

"Why don't you just have your husband build it for you?"

I was very tempted to tell him that I don't let my husband use my tools, but my lack of expertise was a bit too apparent. Yes, I'm sure Mike would do a great job making the zoo, but I WANTED TO DO IT! Of course all of this happened after I had given him all my spare change. Anyway, here are the pics, and thank you to Mike and Kate for helping me!

Also has great potential as a "Time Out Corner"!

Hey, there's extra room up top! Looks like I need to get some more stuffed animals...

Ummmmm.

2010-04-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

I walked into the living room, and this is what I saw:

Kate, delivering a stuffed hippo that was shoved up her shirt, and Faith, acting as nurse, telling her to push.

Random thoughts

2010-04-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

The girls have some wooden 2D dolls that have magnetic outfits, kind of like paper dolls but way cooler. I was helping Kate put them away the other day, when I found that one of three dolls was missing. I asked Kate if she knew where it was, and she got shifty eyes and said,

"Umm, I don't want to tell you..."

I saw her glance nervously towards the backyard.

"Is she outside?" I asked.

"Umm, yes. I buried her."

?!?!?!

"Why did you do that??"

She said, "Well, we were pretending she died, so we buried her."

Are all 4 year olds so morbid? As I type this, she is telling Faith that all her fairies have died. Hmmmm.

Faith is talking more and more every day, and she is always making me laugh. She likes to narrate every thing she does/feels, much like the guy from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Examples:

"Heee hee heee, Laughing! Heee hee ehheee!"
"Waaa waaaaa ahhhh, Crying, waaaaaaaaahhh"
[deep breaths] "Calm down."
[now calm] "Feel better."
[outside playing] "HAPPY!"
[gets handed a bowl of ice cream] "Excited!!!"
[as she's falling down] "Fall down!... I'm Otay!"
[storms away with hands on hips] "Angry!" or "Grumpy!"

I'm glad my child is so in touch with her feelings. With my tutelage, she will soon learn to suppress them along with the rest of society.

As we were dancing the other morning - and yes, most mornings begin with a dance party - Kate suddenly said, "Now, let's dance like girls."I wasn't sure what that meant, then she started doing "ballet". I guess I dance like a guy.

Kate has always been curious, but lately her questions have gotten a lot deeper and more complex. Here are some of her most recent ones:

How did God come alive?

Where do He and Jesus get their power?

Why doesn't Jesus tell anyone when he's coming?

If Satan starts making good choices, will he get a body?

Why did Heavenly Father make dangerous animals?

If people are in a battle, how do they sleep without the bad guys getting them?

Are all mountains volcanoes?

It makes me very thankful that there are answers, and that even a 4 year old can understand (most of) them. :)

Easter

2010-04-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

We did an Easter egg hunt at Grandma's house.

I think my most favorite thing about this Easter was the Easter Bunny. Uncle Kevin dressed up as the Easter Bunny for a hunt in my parents' neighborhood. Kate, Faith and Anberlin all went, and they saw Kevin put on the costume. He did the same thing last year, but this year, none of his nieces ran away screaming! Way to not be so scary, Kevin!

Fast forward to Easter morning. The girls come downstairs to find their first ever Easter baskets. I told them it looked like the Easter Bunny had come to visit last night. Kate was overjoyed yet baffled.

"How did Uncle Kevin get into our house???"

and later,

"How did Uncle Kevin know my favorite color is pink?!"

There is no way I'm going to straighten her out on this one. She believes with all of her heart that Kevin is the Easter Bunny, and I think it's pretty darn funny :)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

As I was changing the sheets on the girls' beds upstairs today, I could hear Kate and Faith playing happily downstairs. I smiled to myself, grateful that they play together so well. Or so I thought. When I came down, Kate asked if Faith was up there with me. Huh.
So Kate had been happily playing alone. Suspicious. We both knew where to look for Faith. Kate beat me to my bathroom, and returned holding a bottle of fake-tan lotion.

"Mommy, Faith was putting this all over her forehead." Kate has inherited my tattling skills.

I went into the bathroom, and sure enough, there was my little bronzed beauty looking freshly oiled. Not only had she applied the lotion liberally to her forehead, but she also had it on her cheeks, in her hair, and on the carpet. I suppressed an urge to giggle, and asked in my best mom voice, "Faith! Why would you do this??" (yes, I keep asking this stupid, stupid question)

"I sorry, Mommy" said Faith in her best pitiful voice. I debated whether I should go find the camera, and decided it would be best to get the stuff off of her before it got too dark. I think I did a pretty decent job on her face, but a not-so-decent job on her hair. I forgot her eyebrows completely. It's been a few hours, and it looks like I will finally get the red head I've always wanted :)

Babies Babies Babies

2010-03-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

The name debate has been going on at full steam at our house for a while now. Mike and I haven't been very decided in anything, but both girls are not wavering from their baby name choices. Faith wants a girl, and wants to name her Jacqui or Grandma. If it's a boy, she wants to name him Grandma Papa. Kate wants a boy, and wants to name him Mike, but will also accept Shae. If it's a girl, she wants the name to be either Kate or Sparkle Jewelry Diamond. Kate is hoping for a boy so someone can be the bad guy or the prince/hero in all her games. (Apparently I'm not doing a good enough job, though you won't hear me complain about having an extra person to play one of the roles.) I don't think Faith really cares about the gender, she just wants to be able to boss someone around :). Well, I just got my ultrasound, and it turns out that it is a boy! Faith just yells "A boy!" to everyone we talk to, and Kate says "I've been waiting my whole life for a brother!!!" We are all ecstatic and I can't wipe the smile off my face! Everything looked great in the ultrasound, so we are grateful that he appears to be a strapping young lad already.

Despite the fact that we have some pretty solid boy name options, we are still open to suggestions.

English 101

2010-03-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

Conversations with Kate:

1. The day before St. Patrick's Day, I was hitting all the local Hastings' in search of Darby O'Gill and the Little People, like most true Americans. In the car I was prepping the kids for the big day the next day. Since I have no grasp of the history of this fine holiday, I basically told them that on St. Patrick's Day, you wear green or you get pinched, if you wear red you get kissed, and little men called leprechauns play tricks on people. After this discussion we went inside to the lucky Hastings that still had one copy of the highly sought-after film. When we came out, Kate said:

"I think I'm going to wear red tomorrow. I want to get kissed."

"By whom?" I queried.

"Hmm... by someone I don't know. Maybe the jaguars."

"Huh?"

"You know, those sneaky guys that play tricks?"

"Uhhhh, leprechauns?"

"Yeah, them."

2.We were on our way out the door yesterday, which is always a process. I opened the door to go into the garage as Kate was putting her shoes on. Afraid I was going to leave her, she very sweetly asked, "Mommy, can you hold the horses please?"

3. When we drive around, the kids and I always keep an eye out for slug bugs. They still don't know why they are called slug bugs, and I like it that way. Anyway, yesterday, we got in the car and Kate announced, "Today, I'm going to watch for ricers." I laughed out loud. I hope she has a few proud uncles out there.

Good News

2010-02-18T13:16:00.000-08:00

Kate just found her CTR ring. And it wasn't in Faith's diaper. Turns out that Faith is a pretty good little liar, and I searched through a whole bunch of fecal matter for nothing. Ah well, such is motherhood. :)

Update

2010-02-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

Diapers examined: 5

CTR rings found: 0

If anyone is looking for a good appetite suppressant, let me know. I can make you my official examiner.

2010-02-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

What do you think of when you see this ring? Choose The Right, perhaps? I once thought the same. However, as of this morning, all I can think about is the effect it might have on one's gastrointestinal system. The one I refer to is Faith, for Kate informed me that Faith swallowed her CTR ring. Kate didn't see it happen, Faith told her about it. I asked Faith where the ring was, and she said, "Ate it all."
Hmmm. 2 year olds can have a pretty fleeting grasp on reality, so I went upstairs and did a thorough search of the room where the event took place. I found nothing. It was time to do some detective work.

Mom: Faith, did you eat the ring?
Faith: Yup.
Mom: Why? (I know, I know, ridiculous question)
Faith: Cuz.
Mom: Did it feel good?
Faith: No.
Mom: Did it hurt?
Faith: Choke.
Mom: Was it yucky?
Faith: No, yummy! Taste good!
Mom: Where is the ring, Faith?
Faith: Ate all.

I repeated many of these questions to see if she would stick to her story, and she did. So I called the Dr. (I was worried about the pointy edges) and she just said to examine her poop until it comes out. Yipee! I am now glad she isn't potty trained.

Believe it or not, that was our 3rd call to the Dr. this week. Kate contracted Fifth Disease and I had a freak out moment because I wasn't sure what it did to pregnant women/unborn babies. My Dr. never called me back, but after doing some online research, I'm not as worried. On the bright side, Kate is rather excited about what she calls her "puppet cheeks."

Okay, she doesn't look that excited in that picture, but this next one shows her rosy enthusiasm. When it first showed up, I thought that she had suddenly inherited my flaming red face. I'm glad it's only a rash.

Did I mention Faith's aversion to normal clothing? She changes so many times a day, and is so stealthy about taking off her clothes that I've developed this philosophy. If we are at home, she can wear whatever she wants as long as she puts it on by herself. I want her to keep her clothes on, so I won't assist in the 50 wardrobe changes per day. Consequently, she has gotten pretty good at dressing herself. It's funny to watch her struggle and wrestle with a dress until she gets it on, and then proclaims with happy astonishment, "My do it! Yook Mommy! My do it!"

Then she found her swimsuit.
(She's trying to put her head through the leg hole.)

Look at those imploring eyes, wondering why I'm laughing and taking pictures instead of coming to her aid. And yes, I broke down and helped her put it on. Can you blame me?

On a completely random note, this is why I want to be a Chinese ballerina in my next life. (Even if you can only tolerate ballet, this is still pretty sweet. Watch to the end.)

2010-02-06T12:40:00.000-08:00

Kate brought this drawing home from Sunday School. As you can see, they were learning about Heaven. Just looking at this picture was enough to make me want to go there some day, but I asked Kate to tell me about it anyway. Her reply:

"Well, that skinny guy is Jesus, and that big tough guy is Heavenly Father."

I wish I could get inside that girl's head. I think it would be a very interesting place. Kate is such a sweet girl. Lately, she is into surprising me with acts of service. This morning after breakfast, she asked me to come upstairs to look at something. She had mischievous look on her face, so I was suspicious. As I walked upstairs, I saw that she had cleaned up the play room! Then I looked in her room and she had made her bed! I gave her a big hug and told her how happy I was that she surprised me in that way. Then she said, "Mommy, my heart feels warm." :)

Next thing I know, she is calling me downstairs to see something else. And wouldn't you know it, she had made MY bed! I sure love that girl.

-----------------------------------

Faith is becoming harder and harder to discipline, simply because she is so darn cute! (okay, that's not the only reason) When I've spent a half hour trying to get her to do something (put shoes on, change diaper, clean up toys) and I'm about at my wits end, she will sweetly say, "Okay Mommy!" like she'd been planning on doing it all along. She is really starting to talk now. Her favorite phrases are "MY do it!" and "That thingy." She also adds "member?" (remember?) to the end of most sentences. It's funny, Kate used to do the same thing. Faith does a lot of things that Kate does. She already into princesses, unfortunately. Whenever she plays princess, she insists on being "Jasmine-Belle." Does it disturb anyone else that she knows their names?

Faith loves pretty dresses. If she can't wear one, she wants to be naked. This makes getting ready in the morning quite difficult. The dresses she likes are sun dresses with no sleeves, and she won't wear anything under them. It's winter, so she can't wear that, of course! But she doesn't give up.

Ever.

She is one tenacious kid. Her persnicketiness will pay off some day, I'm sure of it. Faith sleeps in a big girl bed now, and is enjoying the freedom immensely. She comes down several times each night to show us some new ouchie. Most of the time, she hasn't decided where it is yet, and quickly has to come up with something. Again, it's frustrating, but she is so darn cute about it, how can I get mad? I'm pretty good about keeping my stern face and not laughing until they've left the room, but I still don't think they take me very seriously. Maybe I'll follow Bill Cosby's example and start holding nightly beatings.

Happy JoyGerm Day Newsletter

2010-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

In honor of this national holiday, I thought I'd send out an update on our little family. (Come on, everybody does a Christmas newsletter!)

Last month, Kate turned 4 and Faith turned 2. They are both sweet girls that are really really funny. Kate loves princesses and fairies and dancing, and Faith loves everything that Kate loves. Faith is going to grow up to be the big boss of something. She really likes it when other people do what she wants them to do. She is the most stubborn person I know, and it will take her far in life! Right now, Kate is VERY excited that a new baby will be coming to our family soon! Yup, I hopped on the bandwagon, and I'm due August 6, 2010. Kate is now more cautious around me, and tries to not jump on my stomach so much when we wrestle. Mike is still at Micron and really enjoys his work there. We recently decided to try something new as a family, so we took up figure skating. Those of you who know me well will not be a bit surprised at this. Those of you who know Mike well won't believe that he would ever do such a thing. Well, here's a picture to prove it:

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/BCYpfSokP02NRhB4

Hope you have a wonderful JoyGerm Day!

Mike, Suzy, Kate, Faith and little Raul Garrett

Fall Recap: CA

2009-12-09T08:40:00.001-08:00

In October, we took a trip to Southern California to go to some of the attractions down there and spend time with family. Get ready for a ton of pictures.

The plane ride was surprisingly pleasant!

This is the only animal we waited in line to see at Disneyland. Luckily, Kate and Faith were more in to the rides.

This is some pier I can't remember the name of in San Diego.

Sea World!

My cutie niece Alison

I was able to get the whale to jump for the camera, but I hold no such sway over my own children.

All the little girls loved Mike :)

Believe it or not, we actually got away with not going back to the hotel for Faith's nap each day. She did just fine in the stroller. The one day we went to the hotel for nap time, neither Kate nor Faith slept. In fact, those sneaky little girls got into my makeup bag and applied liberal amounts of mascara. Faith had it everywhere, but Kate kept it exclusively on her lashes. As I examined them, I also noticed that she had cut all the eyelashes off of one eye. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or be horrified that she had scissors that close to her eye! FYI: Eyelashes take approximately 2 months to grow back.

"Who are you tellin to keep their arms and legs in?"

This was Grandma's kind of ride.

This was not.

(That low-riding was not for Faith's sake)

Thanks for being a trooper Mom!

Please note the sequence of events in these next few photos. Kate hugs Zoe as Elmo approaches.

Zoe distracts me while Elmo works his magic.

"Come with me, little girl. I'll give you some candy."

I then look up to see Elmo leading unsuspecting Kate off to some tent. It is also rather distressing to note that the girl's father is simply taking pictures of the abduction.

So it turned out to be a photo booth. Still, large creepy animals/monsters shouldn't take children away without parental consent.

On Sunday we walked around the San Diego temple and borrowed some of their flowers...

Isn't it spectacular? Kate says it is way prettier than her temple. :)

Then we went to Balboa Park. We walked around a bit and the kids danced on the big, beautiful stage.

Kate's pulling a Michael Jackson.

Actually, she really had to go, and this was a reeeeally big park. We had to crash a formal dinner event to find the nearest bathroom.

Next up, Sand Diego ZOO! We sure didn't take many pictures, but the kids loved the playground and the polar bears. Okay, I loved the polar bears, and told them that they did too. Kate also really liked the hippos, and Faith always loves ducks. I saw the biggest baboon I've ever seen. I couldn't believe how huge it was! No, we didn't get a picture, so you'll have to imagine it.

That's not it. That's a fake gorilla.

The petting zoo was a huge hit. Faith hugged every sheep and goat there at least twice.

Mike and I reasoned that if we let Kate get her face painted, we wouldn't have to buy her a princess dress.

Fortunately, Kate really wasn't that into Princesses the whole time. At Disneyland, we got in line to see the Princesses and it was a 1.5 hour wait. I asked her how bad she wanted to see them, and she said she wanted to go on Thundermountain!

Universal Studios

This place turned out to be the only thing good for little kids at Universal. FYI: Don't take small children to Universal Studios around Halloween. They are all set up for "Nights of Horror" and it was decorated to the theme of "Saw," a movie that I have not seen, but must assume has lots of dead and mutilated bodies in it.

This room that we are in had tons of these little foam balls and almost as many ways to launch them at other people. It was really fun for all of us :)

Even the vampire's seductively velvet voice and astonishing good looks could not tempt Faith.

However, Faith loves doggies.

"You might be a doggie..."

Not to toot my own horn, but is this not a perfectly timed shot?? It brings me back to the time my family went to Universal when I was 7. We got on this very boat, and my family had me sit apart from them so I could be on the edge next to the water. An elderly couple seperated us, and I suspected nothing. Then I saw the scuba diver disappear in a cloud of blood. Next thing I knew, there was a shark fin headed our way, and there was no way on earth that I was going to stay where I was. I screamed and launched myself toward the center of the boat, using elderly laps and faces as foot holds. My parents will probably laugh when they read this, but that is only because they don't know that I've been plotting revenge for over 20 years, and when the time comes, it will be sweet indeed.

whew! They caught him!

Back to Disneyland

We headed over to California Adventure Park and we LOVED it! It was way less crowded, and Faith could ride most of the rides that Kate did. We hung out in a replica of Bug Land from Bug's Life. It was really cute. And our camera died. So once again, use your imagination.

Then we headed pack over to the Disneyland. We waited in Pixie Hollow for 45 minutes to meet...

Some random fairie that was NOT Tinkerbell. Kate had no clue who she was, but she was beautiful, so she didn't care.

On our way to the airport, we stopped at the beach. Not the wisest thing, and I should have known better since it's exactly what my family did when I was 7, and I remember sitting on the plane in wet sandy clothes for hours.

Nevertheless, it was worth it. Especially when Kate got brave enough to get in the water (it was a bit chilly). She LOVED the waves! We had a blast!

I couldn't believe how well the whole trip went. The kids were awesome! The only time they acted up was when we went to my brother's house (sorry Brent and Amber!). I think Kate wet her pants twice there. Other than that, it was so wonderful! I was worried that Faith would be a bystander the whole time, but she had a blast too! She spent the 3rd day at Disneyland chanting, "Teacups! Teacups!" I'm glad I have a fun family :) I sure love them.

A question:

2009-12-09T08:21:00.000-08:00

Monday night we drove around looking at Christmas lights. We were parked in front of a house that had their lights set to music, when Kate asked,

"What happens if I see too much lights an d I throw up?"

I believe the answer lies hidden within the question.

Halloween!

2009-11-01T12:10:00.000-08:00

Yay! I love Halloween! We had a fun month of Halloweeny things! It was Faith's first year of trick-or-treating, and she handled it like a pro.

Kate was Cinderella, here with Kaylynn and Iverson (whose costumes are obvious). I went the cheapskate route and had Kate wear a costume I had when I was 4:

The dress was still in pretty good shape, and with a little love from the hot glue gun, it looked as good as new!

Faith was supposed to go as a witch, but refused to put the costume on. I decided to steal my friend's idea and dress her up as an 80's aerobics instructor (thanks Amber!)

Faith kept wanting to wear this weird tent-like holiday dress instead of spandex. Are we even related??

Kate's preschool Halloween party was at our house. Kate just loves her preschool buddies! All the younger siblings were old enough to participate too, so it was lots of fun!

Shaylee likes cupcakes!

Tayson's scary face

Faith and her owl cupcake. Check out those prominent brows. (the owl's of course)

Kate dressed as a princess with very poor hygiene.

The whole gang!

At the end of the party, they went trick-or-treating around the house. Being the responsible adult that I am, I examined and sampled each treat before letting the kids have them.

2009-09-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally got family pictures done! Our friend Mandie did them and did a fantastic job! Looking through other people's family pictures is typically boring, so I will make a fun game out of it. Throughout this post, I will randomly insert several photos -- look closely and see if you can find them!

Conversations With Kate
1. We had the extreme good fortune to inherit one of my favorite childhood movies from a friend: The Last Unicorn. My friend said it was too scary and psycho for her kids, and she knows that's exactly the kind of thing I want for my girls. ("See kids? This is what happens when you do drugs!")
The movie was pretty intense for Kate, and she would occasionally climb on my lap screaming "NO! NO! NO!" but I could tell that deep down, she really like it. Afterward, she seemed particularly troubled by a certain "red pot." She wanted to know what the red pot was, and what his intentions were. I was floundering. "What red pot?" I asked her.
"You know! The fire one that wanted to get the unicorn!!" she said in exasperation.
Suzy's internal dialogue:
"She must be talking about the Red Bull, but where did she get "pot?" Ahhhhh, Red Bull, Red Bowl, bowls are kinda like pots... I get it."
You may think that a stay-at-home mom's brain gradually turns to mush from lack of stimulation, but that Kate keeps my mind as sharp as aged cheese.

2. For the last month or two, I've been making green smoothies for breakfast. It's just fruit and veggies blended up with some ice, and it tastes much better than it looks. I always tell Kate that the smoothie will help make her body strong and healthy. One morning while drinking her smoothie, she flexed her arm and said, "Hey Mom, look at my muscles." She almost busted through her shirt sleeves, they were that big. I dutifully marveled at her awesomeness, and continued emptying the dishwasher. A few minutes later, she came back (with a lovely green mustache), took a swig, and said, "NOW look at my muscles!" I conceded that, however improbable, they had gotten even bigger! That is one miracle smoothie! She asked if she could call Daddy, and I handed her the phone. With more confidence than I've ever displayed in my life, she said, "Daddy? Can you come home from work and arm wrestle me?" I'm a little insulted that she didn't think I was enough of a challenge.

3. The word of the month last month was "Citizenship" in Kate's gym class. They talked about being a good citizen, and the teacher gave a few examples that demonstrated what it meant. Later, Kate wanted to tell Daddy about it, so she called him at work. I could hear both sides of the conversation, and it went as follows:

Kate: "Hi Daddy! So, if you are outside and you throw trash on the ground, what do you think about that? Is that a good ci'izen?"
Daddy: "That's great!" (obviously hasn't understood a word)
Kate: "No Daddy. That's not. Should you pick it up and put it in the trash?
Daddy: "Uhhhh..."
Kate: "Yes you should. And whafabout (what about if) a little kid falls off a swing, should you laugh at him? NO! You should help him up, Are you okay?, and push him (on the swing, presumably). What do you think about that, Daddy?
Daddy: "Sounds like fun! I love you!"
Kate sighs in exasperation and hands the phone to me, at which point Daddy asks me, "What on earth is she talking about?"

4. Kate and I are picking up toys in preparation for our hometeachers coming over to visit. Did I say Kate was participating in the cleaning? That was a typo. Just before they are due to arrive, Kate announces that she has prepared a lesson for them. We do a little lesson for family night on Mondays, and I always feel like they are futile. But a glimmer of hope surfaced when I saw that she wanted to teach us something she had learned! I asked her to tell me what it was about, and she said it was a surprise. I finally goaded her enough that she relented. I sat down, and she described her lesson. She took out a small stuffed cow and an plastic knife. She began to saw its neck, and said, "Today, we are going to learn about how it is nice to cut cows."
Boy was I proud.
And glad I got her to give me the lesson before our hometeachers arrived.

I love this picture below. Check out Kate's classic sassy stance. Mandie asked her to climb on Daddy's back. With more petulance than a 3 year old should have, she said,
"I will NOT get on Daddy's back! It's all sweaty!"

Anatomy 101

2009-07-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

Kate has said some things lately that make me worry that she doesn't quite know her body parts yet. For instance, last week she was dancing around in her princess dress, and it kept falling off her shoulder. She complained to me, "Mother (she calls me mother now), this keeps falling off my hip!" A while before that, again we were dancing, and she threw herself on the couch, stating that she needed to rest because her "nippos are tired." Okay, that may need a bit of background information. When I was nursing Faith, Kate was curious and asked what "that thing" was. "It's a nipple," I replied. She now uses the word "nippos" to describe the entire chest area. So when Kate complained that her nippos were tired, I was a bit confused, and asked her to point to where she was tired. She pointed to her hips. ??

Well, last night she proved that she has cleared things up. We were watching So You Think You Can Dance. Ever since we had a little talk about modesty, Kate likes to point out anyone who is immodest (and there are lots of opportunities on that show). A girl came out in what looked like a sparkly sports bra/vest, and Kate immediately stated,

"That is NOT modest. Oh, but she has a beautiful nippo thing!"

That Kate is going to be trouble some day.

On the GI front, Faith awoke two days ago and firmly declared:

Poo poo!

So I whipped off that diaper and hustled her into the bathroom. Sure enough, she had her first poo poo in the potty! We were all so excited! She said bye bye to it and then flushed 4 or 5 times to be thorough. I know it's premature, but I'm starting to imagine what it will be like to not spend so much money on diapers!

In Praise of Pioneers and Cilantro Lime Shrimp

2009-07-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Pioneer Day, one and all! I am sure grateful for those hardworking people that came to the West in wagons and carts, gathering buffalo chips and giving birth in tents (what a mess!). I probably would have been exchanged for Teriyaki buffalo jerky at the first trading post for whining too much. So thank you to all that sacrificed so much to build the beautiful land we live in!

Now, these next three words will change how you see the world. Cilantro. Lime. Shrimp. Okay, maybe not those words, but what they represent will knock your socks off. I picked up a container of them at Costco last week because I was curious, and these last several days with the shrimp have been some of the happiest of my life. Each succulent shrimp is an explosion of deliciousness in your mouth. Faith is saying a handful of words now, and 'shrimp' is among them. If you have felt something missing in your life lately, don't look any further.

Ta Daaaa!

2009-06-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

It wasn't easy to find a picture of the rare Black Elephant baby, but it does exist! (And you can barely tell that it's photoshopped!)

2009-06-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

We went on TWO road trips in the last week, about 5 hours each. The kids did great, thanks to a constant supply of snacks and a little game I like to call 'Indefinite Questions'. (It's like 20 Questions, but the subject has to be animal, and the number of questions limitless.)

It was Kate's turn to pick the animal, and it took me forever to guess it. In fact, I eventually gave up and had to ask. See if you can do better than I did:

It has 4 legs.

It lives in the jungle.

It's smaller than a horse, but bigger than a dog.

It's black.

It has no fur.

Good luck, I will post the answer sometime in the future, definitely before Halloween. (I'm joking! really, I'm sure I'll do it even before August.) (I like parenthetical expressions (especially nested ones).)

The Birds and the Bees and other funnies...

2009-06-05T16:25:00.000-07:00

3 whole funny things happened in the same day yesterday, and that's worthy of documentation.

1. Kate had her end-of-preschool swim party. The one little boy in her class, Tayson, had some trouble getting his swimsuit up a couple of times. Toddlers love to be naked, so I didn't care or think much of it. But during the drive home it became apparent that Kate had thought much of it. After driving for a few minutes, I hear,

"Hey Mommy, Tayson has a silly bum where his pee pee comes out! Why does he have that?"

Me: "Because he's a boy."

Kate: "How come boys have those and girls don't?"

Me: "God made boys and girls different so that they can make families together. If there were only girls, there would be no babies. Only a mommy and daddy together can have a baby."

At this point she fell silent, and after such expert explaining, I assumed we wouldn't have a conversation like this again for at least 15 years. Then she asked,

"Why do bums have to have families?"

??? So much for my expert explanation.

2. Mike so kindly came home from work early yesterday so I could get to class on time. Kate had an ouchie on her leg, so I put some ointment on it and she was running around in a shirt and panties. She was in this state when Mike came home, and I rushed out the door. Well, as it happened, Mike's friend became a US citizen yesterday and there was a party in his honor. Mike went and took the kids. When I got home from class, I found out he never put pants on Kate. When I asked why not, he said he thought the shirt was just a really short dress or something :)

3. Yesterday was my first day teaching a summer Spanish class. It is a very small class, and I forced them all to sit in the front row. About halfway through, we took a break. I went to the bathroom and discovered that my fly was WIDE open. No wonder they were so reluctant to sit in the front row.

2009-05-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

I haven't really felt like blogging for a while, and it was all too easy to slip quietly from the blogging world. But Kate had a first this past weekend that was so momentous, it turned out to be enough impetus to get me back on the horse. This is what happened:

We were in the car, probably listening to talk radio, when Kate asks, "Can we listen to some muskit?" (pronounced mewskit; that's how she says music, and it's too funny to correct her :) )
I say, "Sure, what do you want to listen to?"

"That song, 'If you fall, I'll getcha.'"

That's right. Kate requested her first Cyndi Lauper song, and I couldn't be more proud.

Not to be outdone, our little numbers genius Faith has started counting to one. (yes, she still has to use her fingers)

Snow Day!

2009-01-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

Confessions of a Capricious Stepmother

2009-01-21T05:31:00.000-08:00

Kate's imagination has really taken off. Her two favorite make believe scenarios are

1. There is a family of alligators visiting (mom, dad & baby). Kate shows them around the house and instructs them on using the amenities (how to use the toilet, where to get food, what clothes of mine they can wear, etc). She did this for 2 solid hours the other day.

2. We play Cinderella. The odd thing is, Kate never wants to be Cinderella. She is most often the mean stepmother. I assumed that this was because she likes ordering me (Cinderella) around. However, I've found Kate to be quite the pushover. Every time she tells me I can't go to the ball because I don't have a gown, and I start crying, she magnanimously offers to help me make a gown. Her justification? "Sometimes I'm mean, sometimes I'm nice."

We were deep into scenario two yesterday with me as Cinderella and Kate as the Prince (second favorite role). As we were dancing, Kate suggests we should get married. Then, in her deepest, most princely voice, she says, "Come on Cinderella, let's smooch." I about died laughing, all the while she was trying to smooch me.

I'm not sure what to make of it. Should I be worried? I have her convinced that if you kiss someone, that means you are getting married. I was pretty pleased with her easy acceptance of it, and assumed I wouldn't have to worry about her chasing boys at school, but what boy could ever resist the invitation, "Come on, let's smooch" ?

I fear I have neglected Faith in my bloggings. Poor second child. She is such a sweetheart and also quite funny. Her new favorite thing to do is run up to people and say "Bah!" (boo!). I don't know about everyone else, but she gets me every time! She is an excellent eater. In fact, her doctor congratulated me on the fact that both my kids are the chunkiest they've ever been, and told me to keep up the good work!
Yesterday I babysat a little girl Faith's age while Kate was at preschool. Faith was ecstatic to have a person her size around, with no one else to steal her attention. So, like her sister, Faith decided to show her everything in the house. The poor kid just sat there bewildered as Faith introduced her to every piece of laundry I folded. It was pretty funny. Then she started doing this thing that Kate does to make Faith laugh: She runs into things while yelling and falls down. So Faith was now doing this to make the other baby laugh, and I couldn't help but be amazed at how much Faith takes in and how well she mimicks Kate. I love watching her follow Kate around, and I hope so much that they will be best friends.

Never leave your children unattended

2009-01-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

This is one of the reasons I blog so infrequently. Though Kate is obviously trying to be helpful here, I have no idea where she got this food from.

I know, this is pretty mild and I shouldn't complain. So far these two haven't done anything devastating (though I emerged from the bathroom today to find dirty steak knives from the dishwasher all over the floor, courtesy of Faith). But there are some habits I would like to break quickly. For instance, Kate has the bad habit of forgetting to flush after she tinkles. And Faith has the bad habit of sneaking into the bathroom and eating whatever she finds in the toilet. It's a dangerous combination.

Wasteland? I think you mean Wonderland!

2009-01-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Mike and I went up to McCall for a couple of days to celebrate our 5 year anniversary! We had a lot of fun, and it was so beautiful. You'd think all the white would be boring, but you would be wrong. It's delightsome!

Little Miss Sassy

2009-01-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Kate is developing a bit of an attitude. Right now it's really funny, but I'm afraid it could become a very dark gift. The following are conversations that occurred today:

Me: Ok Kate, you can either take a nap or have quiet time in your room .(I start to exit her bedroom)

Kate: I'm NOT going to close my eyes! And I'm NOT going to have quiet time!! I'll talk and talk and talk!

I had to leave pretty quickly so she wouldn't see me laughing, and as I shut the door, sure enough, she was babbling loudly in defiance.

Later, on the stairs... (can't remember the provocation)

Kate: Humf! (folds arms) I'm so annored!

Me: Huh?

Kate: I'm very very annored!!

Me: Do you mean annoyed?

Kate: Yeah! Annoyed!

Let the girl drama begin.

Halloween

2008-12-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right?

We hit the Haunted Forest one evening, and as you can see, it was positively chilling. Actually, I found it a bit odd that no one ever tried to scare me. The other two girls in our group were the targets, every time. I'm guessing word has already spread that I am a Muay Thai Grand Master of the 37th Order.

We had a great time at a pumpkin patch with some great friends!

Kate is about to self combust with excitement.

We took a hay ride out to the big ole pumpkin patch.

Kate and Elsa love each other lots.

DISNEY ON ICE!!

2008-11-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

My awesome friend Kelsey hooked us up with some tickets to Disney on Ice last night, so Kate and I went. When I told her it would be just the two of us, she asked with concern, "But where is Faith going to live?"
We talked about what characters we might see there, and when I mentioned the Little Mermaid, Kate insisted on taking her Little Mermaid panties. No, not wearing them. She wanted to bring them, so the Little Mermaid could watch too. I suggested she at least put them in a bag, and handed her a Tinker Bell bag. She came back downstairs with the bag packed. The contents? Little Mermaid panties, another pair of generic panties, chap stick, and 2 sets of leg warmers. That's my girl.
When the show started, Mickey and Minnie were the first ones out. Kate waved to Minnie for a full 3 minutes. We had purchased some nachos, simply because I had $6.50 burning a hole in my pocket. Kate had a nacho about 3/4 of the way to her mouth when the Princesses came out on the ice. The nacho was frozen in place, her mouth still hanging open. The nacho only finally moved when the now human Beast whipped Belle up into an amazing lift, and Kate began to clap ecstatically (nacho still in hand), flinging cheese sauce all over. She resumed eating at the intermission.
I wish I could have watched Kate's face during the performance, but she was on my lap the whole time. (she is still not quite heavy enough to hold down the seat on those flip up chairs) But I'm quite certain she enjoyed it. Thanks Kelsey!

The Panty Chronicles continue

2008-10-10T15:50:00.000-07:00

Kate now sings the little mermaid "Ahhh ahh ahh..." song every time she puts on her panties. She will pull down her pants to show them to anyone. I certainly didn't teach her that. I wish I could blame it on Kevin, but he's out of the country. :(
The other day, Cinderella was feeling a bit sad because Kate always picks the Little Mermaid. Kate whips off her PJ's and diaper, shakes her booty a bit, and rather coquettishly asks the Cinderella panties: "You like my bum?" It was hard to stifle my snickering as Cinderella replied that she did, indeed, like Kate's bum.
So Kate told her, "You be a good girl, Cindewewa" (Kate has trouble with r's and l's. This could be bad because I really want to name my next child Raul (No, I'm not pregnant). But I digress), "and tomorrow you can be on my bum."
Cinderella can hardly wait.

More Summer

2008-10-10T15:27:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th at my parents' cabin and brought Sid and Krissie and Garrett with us!

Kate loved this box all summer. I finally got rid of it, but managed to distract her with couch forts. In time, she forgot about the box, until just now. She saw the picture and is mourning its loss again.

We put Grandpa's pool to good use.

Zoo with Miss Angie, Elsa and Lainy.

Roaring Springs with Darin! I know, pretty sad that this is the only picture I got, in the car all ready to go home.

We watched the BYU game with some friends who have horses, and one of the girls was nice enough to give Kate a ride!

To a summer day...

2008-10-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm going to try to cram our summer into a couple of posts. Here goes!

We went to my 10 year high school reunion! It was really fun to see old friends and reminisce. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have, but here are a few.

Nichole, me and Rian

Us and Abby and Nick. Oddly enough, my best friend from kindergarten (who moved away around 2nd grade) ended up marrying a guy that went to high school with me!

Me, Meg, Megan & Rian

Berkley is about to show Kate where her cookie stash is.

Faith on the move

2008-09-10T11:24:00.000-07:00

Faith started crawling a few weeks ago! I realize I had forgotten what it is like to have a crawler, how fast they move, and what they are willing to put in their mouth. Faith also climbed up the stairs yesterday, something I didn't have to deal with with Kate. Faith is sure enjoying her independence. She loves scavenging under the dinner table and sampling the various cords and outlets. Luckily, Kate is quick to tattle on her :)

Who looks like whom?

2008-08-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Faith

Suzy

Kate

Mike

2008-07-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

So you think you can dance? I KNOW I can dance.

My new niece Anberlin!

Proud parents Greg and Jacqui

I like blackberries!

I don't like asparagus.

Mike is home!!

2008-07-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Mike's job sent him to Italy for a week, and he got back in the wee hours of Saturday morning! We were SO excited to have him home! (not excited enough to go pick him up from the airport, though. His kind father did that for us :) Thanks Bill!)

Mike had to work most of the time he was there, but he and a group of co-workers did get to visit some ruins on their last day.

He got a lot of great shots of the ruins and the countryside, but, unfortunately, the only close up of Mike was him testing out an ancient commode. Nice.

The Panty Chronicles

2008-07-16T19:31:00.001-07:00

The Little Mermaid panties have been Kate's favorites by a long shot, but she only has 3 pair. I tried to find more, but alas, there were none in her size. So we settled for Tinkerbell. Kate's never seen Peter Pan, but hey, she hadn't seen The Little Mermaid either. So today we busted out Tinkerbell for her maiden voyage. Kate slipped them on, then proceeded to introduce Tinkerbell to the family.

"Tinkerbell, this is my sister, Faith. That's Sam the Dog. Tinkerbell, you need to stay right on my bum, ok? You just hold still, and I won't go pee pee on you."

I don't think Tinkerbell would still look so confident if she could chat with the now soaking wet Little Mermaid...

2008-07-14T23:03:00.000-07:00

Kate had me laughing so many times today, I have to record them all so I don't forget! I love 2 year olds!

She started off the morning telling me how coow everything was. "Dat's weawy coow, Mom." (really cool)

I tried following her into the bathroom to provide moral support as she tinkled, but she said, "Don't come in, Mommy. I need to be privacy."

On the way home from swim lessons, she looked SO sleepy. I told her we needed to get her home to take a nap, to which she emphatically replied: "No, I not tired. I just yawny."

We were singing "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" and she was singing weird nonsense words. I asked what she was doing. She said she was singing in Spanish.

Right after we finished our FHE activity, she said, "I want to be all nakey, then I can eat some ice cream!" What?!

We were walking outside this evening as it was getting dark. Kate said she was scared because it was dark. Then she spotted a young man in the distance. She pointed at him and said, "Him's not scared, cause him's a man. Him can save me. Him's gonna say "Urrrrrrrr," like dat, and scare the monster away and save me."

"I not one, I two! I very two!"

Love my girls!

Kate the Great

2008-06-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

The other night I went into Kate's room to check on her before I went to bed. I didn't see her in her bed, so I looked in her favorite sleeping places, i.e. behind the door, under the bed, in the closet. She wasn't in any of those places, so I started to get nervous. I was about to flip on the light when I finally noticed this:

In the dark, she just looked like a pile of clothes! I wish I could just fall asleep anywhere like that. Kate is just cracking me up more and more everyday. As I speak, she is licking her finger and adjusting her hair. I've never done that to her! Where does she learn this stuff? Here are some of her latest comments that keep me laughing:

Daddy has hairy arms. He's a good man.

Girls don't eat meat.

My bum's not working! (while trying to go potty)

I started putting big girl panties on Kate a few days ago and she is doing great! I finally discovered what works. They have to be panties with some character on them. (Elmo, the little mermaid, etc). This character says to Kate (in my voice) "Oh Kate, please don't go pee pee on me!" And suddenly, what couldn't be done with bribes of candy and toys, is done! My favorite part is that she often holds conversations with her panties, doing her voice and the character's voice. Yes, this may again lead to social problems later in life, but for now I love it :)

Just sittin.

2008-05-29T22:25:00.001-07:00

Faith has started sitting up!

K8 + Orlanda = BFF

2008-05-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

Kate walked over to my guitar (Orlanda) one day, put her arm around the neck and said, "Dat's my best friend." I can see already that the social scene in middle school may not be a walk in the park for young Kate. Inanimate objects as best friends seldom boost popularity.

Kate and Orlanda, performing one of Kate's favorite (and most frequently sung) songs.

(Poop it out, 1 2 3, and now we can count to 3 (sung on the toilet))

Looks like we are going to be here a while...

2008-05-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

Since our house (along with the other 25 houses for sale in our neighborhood) probably won't sell anytime soon, I decided to paint Kate's room. Then I thought, why not put a giant tree sticker on the wall too? I'm on a roll now, and the craftiness is practically oozing from my pores. I just finished staining a bunch of frames for Faith's room, and I don't think it would be a stretch to predict that Kate's window may someday be graced with a valence.

Hair Cuts

2008-05-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to do something about Kate's mullet. We went to a place called Monkey Doos to get it evened out. It is a really cool place for kids. You get to sit in cars and watch movies while they cut your hair, and when they finish, they spray your hair with glitter. I was more excited than Kate was. She was pretty anxious to get into one of the cars, but when the stylist (Tonya) tried to put the cape thing on her, Kate panicked. I ended up having to hold a screaming Kate as Tonya cut her hair. I was impressed at how even it came out with all that squirming. And as you can see, Kate is now mullet-free.

I went and got a "mom cut." I'm approaching 30, so I figure it's about time. However, I do not intend to start wearing "mom jeans." If any of you see me in them, give me a good kick to the backside.

2008-04-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

Kate, Faith and cousin Alison got dressed up while the cousins were in town.

Sometimes you just gotta yell and scream!

2008-04-07T13:34:00.001-07:00

I grew up on Safety Kids, so I'm so happy that Kate loves them! However, I thought it rather odd that she changed the Safety Kids' names to the following:

Um, sorry Beth.

Best Friends

2008-04-04T07:32:00.001-07:00

Melissa and I had to do a photo shoot of our girls in their cute matching outfits! It has been determined that Faith and Addison will be best friends.

Sweet Faith

2008-04-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Kate Loves...

2008-04-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Daddy!

Being nakey

Arabesques (well, her version of an arabesque, anyway)

Checking her email. (She tells me this all the time. I have no idea where she could have learned it...)

Airplane

Her Sumbrella

Playing with Faith

Luke (and Faith)

Braids

Egg Dying

2008-04-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Angie and Jake invited us over for the dying of the eggs! We had a great time!

Kate and Elsa love each other sooo much. They are pretty funny together.

Elsa wanted her eggs to be all different colors, as long as they were a shade of blue.

Alaina only got to watch.

After 15 minutes of watching Kate do nothing but dye each egg one solid color, I was forced to intervene.

Kate went and played while I finished off her eggs :)

Happy Easter!

2008-03-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

We had a very nice Easter! While we waited for Daddy and Faith to wake up, Kate and I watched a movie about Jesus (Finding Faith in Christ). I wasn't sure she would be too interested because it isn't animated, and Elmo isn't in it. Boy was I wrong. She had seen it 4 times by Monday, and still asks if we can watch it all the time! It is very touching to see how much she loves Jesus. I am grateful that Easter gives us the opportunity to remember Him and what He did for all of us.

Adventures in babysitting

2008-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Kelsey had to have surgery last week, so Shae got to come over and spend the day with us! Moments after Shae arrived we heard Kate yelling "HELP ME! HELP MEEEE!" I went running to the entryway and saw this.

She is so goofy. (Being the good mom I am, I took the time to snap a picture before I released her)

For all you concerned readers out there, don't worry, Kelsey is on the mend. As you can see, she's a fighter.

(Remember Kelsey, you sent me this picture)

Nail technician prodigy

2008-02-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

I was feeding Faith and noticed that Kate was no where in sight, and an eerie silence had fallen upon the household. Worry quickly turned to dread as Kate emerged from my room looking far too pleased with herself. "Mommy! I paint my nails!" I looked in horror at her hands, imagining the mess she must have made, but admitted grungingly to myself that she did a pretty darn good job. I asked her to show me where she had done the painting, and she led me into my bathroom. Everything was put away neat and tidy (well, as neat and tidy as my bathroom gets). I opened the cupboard where I keep the polish, and there it all was in its proper place. I asked Kate to show me which one she used, and she pulled it out. The only thing different about this particular nail polish is that the top was loose. There was no mess. Anywhere. I searched all over my carpeted bathroom, and I couldn't find a speck of nail polish. Impressive, eh?

I'm not sure why we got Kate a basketball hoop for Christmas. Her future is clear, (or "Colorado Crimson," as the case may be).

Randomness

2008-02-18T07:55:00.001-08:00

Kate loves her eyebrows. She is always asking if she can look at them in the mirror. Seeing them gives her great pleasure. Maybe she knows that there was a chance she would end up with the Tingey Unibrow, and she is so delighted that she didn't, that she can't take her eyes off them. (It's really funny to watch her try to look at her eyebrows without the help of a mirror :)

One of Kate's favorite games to play while I'm nursing is Hide and Seek. Either Kate hides, or she hides her Tickle Me Ernie. This is where she hides. Every single time. (Ernie too) My already insufficient acting abilities are being tested to the extreme as I feign surprise when I find Kate or Ernie behind the curtain. Again.

Boondocks is one of our favorite places to play. Kate loves to chase around her buddy Troy.

This was not a good day. I could tell Kate could use some extra TLC (AKA she was being a little monster). I gave it my all, but it seemed like everything fun I tried to do with Kate turned into a disaster. I was getting pretty frustrated, but this incident finally got me laughing. Kate was helping me strip the sheets on my bed (I know, really fun). I left the room to throw them in the washer. When I returned, Kate had found a jar of Vaseline and was generously putting it to good use. She had it all over her hands and was massaging it into her cheeks when she saw me, and told me she was making her cheeks soft. By the time I got the camera, she decided that she didn't want that stuff on her face anymore. It was too yucky.

Motor Boat

Snow Play

2008-02-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

We headed up to the McCall/Donnelly area for the ice festival and to give Kate her first "playing in the snow" experience. Kate had a great time sledding! Mostly because her mom wasn't out there making sure the men were careful with her. I was left to pound futilely on the window, yelling, "No! No! It's too steep there! Noooooo!" She survived, of course, and they told me she liked it. I wish I could have seen her face though... (I still get hives whenever I go outside for a few minutes. I'm going to get myself a bubble come spring.)

Papa was a trooper, hauling Kate up the hill. Kate was exhausted from being pulled on the sled, and decided to take a nap about half way up.

The Ice Festival was next. There were tons of snow and people! We opted to view the sculptures from the inside of the car.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

We had a great Valentine's Day yesterday! I woke up to find not one, but THREE boxes of chocolates next to a bunch of beautiful roses on the table. So guess what I had for lunch yesterday. Chocolate. Faith gave me the ultimate Valentine's gift and slept for 8.5 hours last night!!

We had to get pictures of the girls in their cute heart leg warmers :)

Joyous News!

2008-02-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

FAITH SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!

Tagging Victim

2008-02-08T15:07:00.000-08:00

Emily tagged me. Which means I'm supposed to tell 6 interesting things about myself on my blog. I considered pretending I didn't see the comment she made informing of me of the tag, because I can never think of anything interesting. But here we go anyway:

1. I am Co-President of the Karen Carpenter Awareness Club (K.C.A.C.). This organization was founded in 1997 by die-hard Karen fans. Our members can be found all over the world, and our numbers are approaching the double digits. We even have a website. Contact me if you are interested in joining.

2. When I was little I spent most of my free time playing in the abundant dirt behind our house. My friend, Rachel, and I would pretend we were orphans (with British accents) seeking shelter from a twister. My name was always Kaley and Rachel's was Saline. On days that we found shelter in time, we would open up an emergency veterinary clinic to treat the various animals ravaged by the tornado. I think we finally stopped playing this when we turned 17.

3. I've been told I do a pretty good impression of Elmo.

4. I like to hand quilt. Well, obviously I don't like it enough, or I would have finished my quilt by now. It's been a work in progress since 2000, when hand quilting went through our apartment building like wildfire and we spent far too many hours quilting and watching Pride and Prejudice (the long version). I originally wanted it to be a queen size quilt, but have now decided that I want to do matching twin bed spreads for my girls.

5. Senator Larry Craig took me out to lunch once. One of his people asked me "what is the one question you've always wanted to ask Senator Craig?" Being a stupid 17-year-old, I said, "Boxers or briefs?" Yup, one of those moments you really wish you could do over. But now after all the bathroom scandal it seems especially weird.

6. I have a prosthetic torso. I was in an off-road unicycle race back in '96. A young man and I rounded a corner at the same time. He was on the inside and slipped on some sand right into me. We both collapsed in a tangle, and it ended up that my torso was caught in his spokes. I was rushed to the hospital, and unfortunately, I had to have my torso amputated. My first prostheses was Native American, because it was closest to my skin tone, but I later received a Scottish one from my parents as a birthday gift. I especially liked the new one because it could lengthen or shorten as the circumstance required.

Ketchup

2008-01-30T14:13:00.000-08:00

Darin (and his family) came for Thanksgiving. We had a ball!

Yup, she got the Tingey chin(s).

Kelsey and I took Shae and Kate to Krispy Kreme for a play date.

Kate loves to build chairs with her blocks.

Farewell Gymbo

2008-01-30T13:47:00.001-08:00

November was a melancholy month. Gymbo the clown packed up and headed out of town. Yes, Gymboree closed down. We miss all our buddies from Gymboree, especially Miss Danielle. Kate and I had a lot of fun here and we both made some great friends.

Jacob and Kate

Teresa and Kelsey

Shae, Miss Danielle & Kate

4 Years later, and this marriage still gets 2 enthusiastic thumbs up!

2008-01-02T13:55:00.001-08:00

Mike and I celebrated our 4th anniversary on December 27th! Because this was "The Big 4", we wanted to do something really memorable. So we had a baby. (see below posts)
Looking back on our time together, I realize that manipulating Mike into marrying me was the smartest thing I ever did. (please stop reading here if you have a low tolerance for moosh) Being married to Mike is even better than I could ever have imagined, and as we have gotten to know each other more and more, any surprises I find are pleasant ones. I hope I can be as a good a man as he is someday, (except be a woman).

She's here!

2007-12-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

Suzy checking out her chart.

Suzy mostly read through her early contractions
Wow, this must have been a bad contraction. You can tell because Mike is obviously laying back in his chair as he takes this picture.

Well, it finally happened. Kate got a little sister! This is going to come as quite a shock to her current "Everyone's Attention is Centered on Kate"'s life. Case in point, I was showing her some of the recent pictures of baby Faith, and what does she say but "NO! Kate". Anyway, here's what I'm sure you've all been waiting for, the Pictures!

Baby Faith Holding Mom's Hand

Grandparents and the little one!

More Grandparent's with BOTH little ones!

Mom Seeing baby Faith for the first time!

Don't know about you, but I crave it fortnightly.

2007-12-19T12:54:00.001-08:00

The other day we were driving by KFC when Kate excitedly pointed out the window and started yelling, "Present Hinckee! Present Hinckee!" I think she just may be on to something. Don't worry Colonel, your secret is safe with me.

Diwali

2007-12-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

This is Mike speaking. We recently went to an Indian Festival called Diwali. I'm going to post a Video of it, if I can figure out how.

Happy Halloween! (this is for you Bob)

2007-12-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

Please note this Halloween picture is posted WAY before Valentine's Day. Kate went trick-or-treating for the first time this year. It only took one door to get the hang of things. "I knock on the door, someone opens it and gives me candy, I say Happy Haween!" Except Kate would stand there and wait for more and more candy until we dragged her away from each door. It was fun :)

We also went to the Halloween party at Gymboree. I think there were 4 of us there, it was pretty wild.

Mike strikes again.

2007-12-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

If you couldn't tell, Mike did that last post. Little does he know, I was the most popular girl in middle school. My mom told me.

I'm an Aerobic workout Queen

2007-12-10T09:28:00.001-08:00

You probably can't tell who is the workout instructor, eh? Plus, I have hot bangs. I would have been the most popular girl in middle school with these bangs.

Western Idaho Fair

2007-12-03T12:20:00.000-08:00

The Western Idaho Fair is a glorious time of year. It has been the highlight of my summer for as long as I can remember (don't forget, I'm from Idaho). I was blessed to work concessions at the fair every summer during high school. Ahh, I can still smell Jones' famous "Pound O' Fries" and "Bucket O' Onions." The smell of grease, smoke, and mullets will always fill me with nostalgia. (Do mullets have a smell? Oh yes, they do.)

I have been grooming Mike for 4+ years to be ready for his first trip to the Western Idaho Fair, and it all paid off August of '07.

Mike didn't get to ride the Zipper, but as you can see, the Merry-Go-Round really rocked his world.

Before Kate came along, I had never experienced the Live Stock aspect of the Fair. What was once only an annoying odor that interfered with the delicious smell of grease suddenly became very real, and our sole purpose for visiting the fair. (That is, until Kate is old enough to ride the Zipper)

You have most likely heard that Idahoan goats are exceptionally aggressive. By the time we were done feeding them, most of the paper cup was gone. Also, I won't need to trim Kate's fingernails for at least a month.

I had to include this picture because, let's face it, I look good.

I'm back.

2007-12-03T10:16:00.000-08:00

You know when you have a bunch of pictures you want to put on your blog, but you realize that you cannot justifiably do so until previously taken photos are posted first (because chronological order MUST be maintained) so you just don't post anything at all? In a word, that's what happened to me. For this reason, the next few posts will not be in any particular order, but mere highlights of the last 6 months.

4th of July!

We went to Donnelly ID for the 4th and played in the water. Kate much preferred the opaque greenish yellow water (many cows graze nearby) to her grandparents' pool back home. Added buoyancy perhaps? I was excited for her to watch fireworks for the first time. Unfortunately, she was sound asleep by the time they started, and not even the finale could wake her.

Maybe next year!

Kate and Moose

Papa T built this airplane swing for the grandkids. He used to swing us on one just like it when we were little, and we LOVED it!

Roaring Springs!

2007-08-22T22:50:00.001-07:00

Kelsey and I took Shae and Kate to Roaring Springs! It was a perfect day, and we had sooo much fun! I had no idea there was so much for toddlers to do there! I think just being around Shae makes Kate more brave in the water (Shae is 1/4 merman).

Where is this child's mother?

Alaska: Cute Cousins

2007-08-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Kate and baby Alison

HELP!

Alison has no problem telling us just how she feels about this photo shoot.

Alaska: fish hatchery

2007-08-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

I think the fish hatchery was my favorite thing in Juneau, believe it or not. It was fascinating! I have never seen so many salmon in once place! We took a private tour and had a great guide who was very understanding. She was willing to follow us around and yell out information as my mom and I tried to contain our 2 out of control toddlers.

I would love to share everything I learned there, about the life cycles of the salmon and what exactly the fish hatchery does, but it would be far too demanding of my brain and fingers. So visit your local hatchery! Or look is up online. It really is cool.

This is one of those funny, non-threatening grizzlies. They're my favorite kind.

Inside the hatchery were a bunch of aquariums. Kate liked to race that big silver fish around and around the cylindric tank.

tickle tickle!

My favorite thing within the hatchery was the Touch Tank. There were open shallow tanks filled with relatively harmless sea creatures for people to hold and examine.

King Crab

If this crab looks angry, it's probably because half of his legs are missing.

Here we have a sea cucumber "releasing" (ahem) it's water onto another sea cucumber. Kate found this quite amusing. (ok, so did I)

Alaska: a day at the beach

2007-08-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist slipping in this picture that shows off Kate's mullet so marvelously.

Alaska: wicked versatile park

2007-08-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

This was the sweetest playground I've ever seen! And the really cool thing is that it was built entirely by volunteers from the community! The pictures don't do it justice, it is enormous. An added bonus is that the ground is covered with delicious recycled rubber chunks (taste-tested by k8).

Alaska: the tram

2007-08-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

We took a tram up almost to the top of a mountain, then hiked around when we got off. Kate followed Darin around like a puppy and had to do exactly what Darin did. She is his biggest fan :)

Alaska: a cool park in Douglas

2007-08-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

CHEESE!

Alaska

2007-08-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Kate and I (with G-ma & G-pa) flew up to Alaska to visit Brent, Amber and Darin, and their new baby Alison! We had such a good time, and it was so beautiful there. Even though it was overcast almost the whole time I was there, the weather was just right. Darin taught Kate how to jump in puddles, and she couldn't get enough of it. (now, back home, she jumps on patches of dirt or mud. We haven't had a lot of puddles this summer :) )

I loved everything about Juneau. It is much smaller than I had imagined, just narrow rows of homes between the coast and the gorgeous mountains. You have to fly or take a ferry to leave, but luckily there is plenty to do. There are hiking trails all over the place, just minutes away. I loved it! (another thing I can't find much of at home) The people there are very down to earth and love being outside. I finally felt like I was in style, because there isn't one - an "in" style, that is. Amber told me that the people there don't care so much about appearances, but more aobut what is inside a person. Everyone jogs, walks or cycles, not because they are trying to fit into a swimsuit, but because they just want to be healthy. It was very refreshing!

Below are some of the pictures of our adventures.

On Sunday morning we arrived at church to see this little guy waiting for us! He looked so cute and friendly, it was hard to fight the temptation to go pet him. So I just reminded myself that he would probably chew my arm off, and that helped.

Baby Alison loves her new dress!

This is Mendenhall Glacier. It is enormous and beautiful. The picture doesn't show it well, but it almost shines bright blue. Kate and Darin mostly wanted to throw rocks at the "bodacious glacier."

This iceberg shows the blue glow really well.

Brent and Amber's new place is really cute. They were so nice to let all of us stay with them after they just had a new baby!

Uncle Brent is fun!

Mysophobia Support Group

2007-08-18T16:38:00.001-07:00

Every week, Mike gets together with his mysophobic friends. They discuss their fear of dirt and germs, and come up with plans to eventually sanitize the entire world.
(ok actually this is where Mike works. It's a clean room)