Batten Down the Hatches, Baking, Skis and Squash

Ben and I have been fairly impressed with the weather people/meteorologists since we moved to Utah. They actually report on the weather! What a concept!

In New Mexico we were often aggravated into making fun of the horrid excuses for weather reports and the people responsible for them. We had our favorite personalities that did their best, but their co-workers and, unfortunately, superiors were often lacking. As a result, the two main weather people we would watch ended up being called "Tepature Girl" and "The Weather Salesman". Yes, I know it's spelled temperature. That's how SHE said it. The Weather Salesman was relatively new to the station when we moved and his predictions must have drawn some flak because he ended up selling his weather reports. Hence the name. He even came close to saying "I told you so" once when his prediction ended up being surprisingly accurate.

As I was saying, the Utah weather people have been fairly impressive to us. To actually get a substantial weather report has been refreshing, even to me. That's saying something.

The reason why I mention all this is because for the past week we've been eagerly anticipating the season's first snow storm. It is supposed to hit the area within a few hours. The wind and rain has been visiting off and on since 2am or so. We may not get snow where we are, but the cold is on it's way.

I am unusually excited for the change in weather for two reasons. The cold weather, for me, signals the real end of summer and fall taking hold. I love autumn as it brings out a festive mood in me that carries me through the rest of the year. The second reason I am enthused is because cold weather means that I can bake with impunity. (Normally, baking is discouraged during the warm months because Mom's bedroom becomes a dry sauna.) To give you the idea about the upstairs room getting so hot, even during the coldest months, Mom opens her windows wide while baking is going on in the kitchen.

Visions of homemade bread, apple pie, cookies, cakes, crisps, and other such goodies are dancing in my head. I picked up a couple of cheaters packages of cookie dough the last time I went to the store.

In other news, Audrey is steadily growing out of her clothes. Her feet are huge. Ben says that she's walking on skis. Henry is also growing well and fast. He has added some solid foods to his diet. This has provided some amusement for anyone watching his face while he tries new flavors. Squash was my personal favorite in the funny face promotion.

Audrey-isms

Some funny things that Audrey said this week:

After Ben brought his bowl of Grape Nuts to the breakfast table:

"Daddy, what's that? ...... Pinecones?"

While watching me nurse Henry:

"Mama? Henry eating yours... um... Henry sucking... er... Henry is eating.. sucking....... poop."

Audrey ate the whipped topping and peaches on her Peach Shortcake, but upon getting down to the peach-soaked angel food cake:

"It's isgusting..."

In between shows on PBS, they listed the town translators against a nice landscape scene:

"That's weird..."

I'm a sucker for my kids...

Okay, so I'm a sucker when it comes to my kids. I try, try, try to be restrained and not overspend... this does not always work. Yeah, we went to Kiddie Kandids today. It was a fairly fun (if a little stressful) experience. Our normally selectively smiley Henry was downright dour today and it took the whole session for him to crack a small, but sweet, smile.

Audrey was all about herself (of course) and wanted to dance on the stage-like photo area.

Of course we spent waaaay too much on the prints. Of course I'll not divulge how much. Too much.

However, the pictures are pretty cute and I have attached them here for your viewing pleasure.

This picture was taken about 5.2 seconds before Henry started getting teary and his bottom lip tried to precede him into next week.

This was actually the last photo of the session. It took that long to get him to crack this tiny smile which is nowhere near what he will do for me when I really get him going.


Audrey - Our Little Diva




I ADORE this picture of Audrey. So much of her personality comes out in this very candid shot. (She was very concerned about the pop of the flash bulbs.)


They both got tired of this pose very quickly.




I imagine that Henry will always be a bit bemused when Audrey is coaxed into giving him a little kiss.

Chore Chart

Alright, so I confess: I've been having trouble with Audrey's chores. Audrey? She doesn't even realize she has chores, which would be the trouble that I spoke of just a moment ago. Audrey is happily going through her life thinking that her dirty clothes magically go from her body back to her dresser nicely cleaned, brushing her teeth is merely a novelty and scriptures are a foreign word. I'm a terrible mother, I know... In my defense, she does know who Jesus is.

ANYWAY. These concerns have been in the back of my mind for some time now and I was lackadaisically hoping a brilliant idea would present itself. It so happened that I was visiting with Dara yesterday evening and was amused to find two chore lists posted on her refrigerator. One was for her 4-year-old son and looked rather like a chore list for someone of that age. The other was for her 2-year-old daughter and was the one that I was so amused at. On the brightly lettered page were three requirements of her little angel:

1. Brush Teeth

2. Put Away Toys

3. Brush Teeth

I suppose I sounded rather incredulous and a teensy-bit slighting when I asked, "Your daughter has BRUSHING HER TEETH on her chore list?? It hardly seems worth a list!"

Dara very sweetly and appropriately patiently responded, "Well, it's more for me so that I remember to have her do it."

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Duh...

So, I spent some time looking up chore charts online this afternoon only to find that the majority of websites merely have really cute excel-type charts. "I can do that!" I thought to myself. Two hours later I had produced a fairly cute chore chart.

As Audrey is not able to read yet, I used pictures to illustrate what activity need to be completed and I provided boxes to mark off when those items are done. Efficiency demanded that I make the list re-usable, so I used self-stick laminating sheets that also serve well as a dry-erase board. With a dry-erase marker nearby, we can draw little stars, smilies or check marks in the boxes when Audrey completes her little jobs.

The list of illustrations are translated as follows: Brush Teeth, Take a bath, Put away toys, Put Dirty Laundry in Basket, Read Scriptures (with Mom & Dad), Do workbook pages/coloring and Say Prayers.

So wish me luck in sticking to the program. I'm sure Audrey will be more than happy to get to check off all the things that she does (or is wanting to do). So, the question, dear readers, is what shall Audrey's reward be for completing these items every day? Please deposit your two cents in message form! :)

I am sure all my readers are sufficiently savvy with Excel-type programs, but if anyone would like the file I created today, just send me your email address and I will be more than happy to email it to you.

The Wisdom of Children

Audrey was eating breakfast this morning before church and when Ben went upstairs to check on her, she was reaching her hands up to the ceiling as if she were trying to catch or grab something.

Ben: "What are you doing, Audrey?"

Audrey: "I reaching for the stars!"

May she never stop.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we (Me, Ben, Audrey, Henry, Joe, Sasha, Maia, Jade, Ric and JQ) went to The Sandia Man Cave for a nice little hike. The hike up to the cave was a bit longer than I remembered from the first time I went years ago. The landscape was gorgeous though. After exploring the cave a bit, just up to the first dropoff, Ben and Joe decided to do a bit of repelling.







While Ben was sitting at the top of the cliff waiting for his turn, Audrey spotted him way up there. She started yelling her "Hi Daddy!"'s up there... then she said, "Daddy! You're in the sky!"
Sooo cute!

Afterwords, we walked back to the cars and had a little picnic in the trees. Poor Jade eventually curled up next to me because Audrey was so excited to pet a dog and wouldn't leave her alone.

Audrey, Maia and Jade the dog.



We had a great time and everyone went home nicely tired!

The good news is...

We're starting to get settled in down here in the dungeon. We're not completely unpacked, but I'm starting to get a handle on what we have room for.
Audrey loves having the expanded audience of Papa, Grammy and GG. She's always doing something goofy. Her favorite thing to wear is a pink winter hat with bobbles on the top and a pair of winter gloves. Mama is pretty sure she'll have to hide them or they won't last till the cold weather hits. She said her bedtime prayer with the help of Mama and Dad last night. That's progress since she has refused up until now.
Henry is officially laughing, though he is particular about what he'll laugh about. He thinks Audrey is hilarious, especially when she cries. Go figure.

Ben is registered for his fall classes, but still jobless. I'm pretty confident he'll find something soon now that he knows what times his classes will be. I'm a bit stressed about him needing to transfer to UofU next year. The commute is pretty crummy.
However! The excellent news is that Ben only needs 12 more credit hours and he'll graduate from UVU with an Associates of Sciences (I think)! We're anticipating graduating next spring. Then he'll be off and running for his Bachelors in Geography at UofU.

I'm keeping fairly busy with the kids, visiting with family and working on various craft projects. I crocheted a scarf for Henry last week and I'm working on crocheting a blanket for him now. I transplanted my Money Tree into a bigger pot today and bought a new Money Tree as well. I'm going to make the first one into a bit of an experiment and see if I can sprout new plants from it. (Crossing fingers.) Jennifer, Dara and I had our first sisters book club meeting at the end of July. It looks like it's going to become a book/movie club. We'll read a book during the month and watch the movie associated with it at the meeting. The next on the list is Murder on the Orient Express. (I'm not a big fan of mysteries myself, but I'm going into it with an open mind.)

I'll be posting again soon with pictures from Henry's baby blessing, repelling pictures of Ben and his brother, and whatever else I can think up. Until then!