Temple Square with the cousins

 On Christmas Eve, we braved the cold, or at least what I thought was cold. As it turns out, the cold has only just begun in this state. Of course, on most of these very cold days, I am not voluntarily headed out into the weather, but warmly ensconced in my home or well-heated van.

When we got to Temple Square, the first thing we did was feed the munchkins at the fabulous Nauvoo Cafe. Neither of our kids ate much, presumably because they were both a little under the weather at the time.
After that, we had various potty breaks to take care of, as well as a trip to get warmer jackets.

In the mean time, I tested out my camera.

I like the quick change expression!

Little Misses: E and L

Aunt Dara in my personal favorite type of picture... the mostly candid...

Soooooooo not candid. But VERY Ben.

How is it that Master J can look both innocent and conniving at the same time?

Tired already... poor guy is just in for it.

The GORGEOUS tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Makes mine look a little shabby! Well... a LOT shabby! :)

I found this nativity to be one of the funniest. The angels looked like the trumpets were a giant protrusion out of their mouths while their hand mysteriously disappeared into their necks.

It's a bit hard to tell, but in the tall orange and red Christmas tree in the background, you can see the silhouette of the statue of Brigham Young pointing.

It was SOOOOO cold! We just couldn't keep the kids warm enough. It didn't help that Hank kept pulling his hands out of the blankets. He had popcicle fingers by the end of the night.

The cousins: Miss E, Miss L and Master J

By the end of it, all four parents were worn out, as were the kids. Potty breaks all around again and off home!

But it was worth it because it was beautiful. The perfect way to get into the Christmas spirit!

Happy Christmas!

If I had only one regret this last Christmas, it is that I didn't make much of anything myself! That being said, it was a great Christmas!!!

After breakfast, we set the kids loose in the living room. They already came equipped with the candy-filled candy canes from Grammy and Papa.

The first present that they saw was not wrapped. We finally got them a table and chairs set for their room. Something their size that they could sit at and read or draw or whatever! (Since that time the "whatever" has become a competition to see who can stack the furniture the highest and climb up onto it without killing themselves.)

You can have one guess as to who taught Henry how to climb on a chair and get out of the baby-gated room.

Santa did well this year. Audrey got an Aqua Doodle.

Hank got a Little People medieval set from Santa, by way of Mom and Dad, by way of Aunt Dara...

Audrey has a little pink phone that she doesn't like to share with her little brother. He got one just like hers but in white and red. He was ecstatic!

The photographer!

To encourage the musical abilities of the children: a percussion set!

Which will henceforth be known as the percussion set used for everything except music the majority of the time.

Shaker Eggs

Mom getting in on the action!

Hank with a tambourine

Another Little People set, this one a pirate ship. From Mom and Dad, by way of Aunt Dara!

We all like boxes more than the toys that came in them.

Audrey finally acquires a doll house... from Mom and Dad, by way of dear A.D.

Something that I always wanted as a kid. Unfortunately, I'd have no moving room if I could even fit in it today. The kids love their little play house, though!

Feeling like a big kid! A Wii which was only justified by the Wii Fit and Balance Board that it came with. We have sworn an oath to not get any games until I can get into the habit of exercising.

Another big kid! Ben got a Wireless Weather Station. It has several sensors and measuring devices outside which then broadcast the information to a digital readout in our room. This, likewise, can broadcast information to Ben's computer. He has put it to good use already!

All in all, a great Christmas for us!

We hope the holidays were as joyful and filled with family and friends as ours was!

Peek-a-boo!

As I have been a negligent blogger at best, I fully intend on updating you all on the goings-on of the past few months. Never mind that some of it could be considered old news!! They all have pictures, and that's what counts! 

For Mother's Day last year, I received a sewing machine. I quickly got to work and made this and this. I was just starting to get the hang of the machine when I took on a project that was doomed from the start.

I am beginning to be quite a purse-horse and love having a selection of purses depending on my mood. I found this during my searches online for cute and easy-to-make purses. I decided to use thicker fabric and found some faux leather that appealed to me.

Silly me. When I started to sew the handles, which were quadruple thick, something happened to the needle, the string broke and got tangled up on the inside of the machine. I made myself crazy trying to ever so carefully take the machine apart to get to that string. As it turns out, you need some sort of special tool to get the housing case off and I couldn't get to the string. My dear husband finally figured out how to get it out and I proceeded to try to use the machine again.

Whether by the initial trouble or by my efforts to "fix" the dumb thing, the needle wouldn't pass through the hole in the presser foot and kept running into it. After another several hours of fiddling with it, I tearfully told my husband that I broke my present.

So, we took it back to Costco, who refunded the cost with very little questioning, saving me some serious embarrassment. We had to wait a few months to replace it when Costco was carrying sewing machines again. I have done a few little projects since I got the new one, but the one I was waiting for was the purse that killed my original machine.

I took the time to finish it up, and though it is rough around the edges and not even close to perfect, here it is! I have used it once when I didn't need everything my regular purse can carry.

Isn't it cute?

What makes it better than any other purse I have? I MADE it!!

Nuggets

While I was being a good girl and working out on my new Wii Fit Plus that Santa Ben got me for Christmas, Audrey started yelling from the kids' room.
What I heard went something like this: "Mom ...mumble.. Henry ...mumble.. poooop!"
This is not uncommon, of course. Audrey usually lets me know when Henry has a dirty diaper so that I can come in and rescue her from the smell. (i.e. change the diaper.)

Since I was working out, I reached over and gave Ben a friendly shove to let him know Audrey was calling. I think his eyes actually creaked when they opened and he shuffled off to the hallway.
This is the next thing that I heard: "CRAP! ..... LITERALLY!"
I hesitated for just one moment, pondering the vision that suddenly sprang into my head. On the tame end, my imagination conjured up a stray sitting on the floor, my son innocently staring at it as if wondering how it escaped. On the wild end, I imagined the walls smeared with poop and my son cackling insanely.
As is usually the case, reality sat squarely in the middle.

Henry was naked from the waist down, diaper crumpled and left near the door as if to imply that it had no business in that room in the first place and was politely waiting to be let out. There were several deposits scattered around the room. I wondered if he had pooped with the diaper still on and then festively threw them around like confetti after he figured out how to get his diaper off. The other possibility that struck me was that he had taken the diaper off and then just squatted when he needed to, no matter where he was.

Regardless....

We cleaned up and I resumed my exercising. Ben told me just a few moments ago that, in an attempt to deter Henry from any more stripping, he put the little boy's diaper on backward. We'll see how long that foils him.


On a less disgusting and funny note, here is a "nugget" from Audrey while her father was taking out the trash:

A: "Dad, that's your job."
B: "Yep"
A: "You go and DO it, Dad!!"
E: "Audrey, do you tell Dad what to do?"
A: "No.... That's YOUR job!"

Haha! Indeed!

I know what MY order looks like...

Ben gets home from work rather late these days. The holidays are a busy time for the package delivery services and he often doesn't get home until 11pm or later. Last night, however, he got home at a decent hour. We headed out late in the evening, my mother keeping an ear out for our sleeping children.

After a Christmas present pickup for the kids at Target, Ben was feeling peckish, as he often does after work. We headed over to In-n-Out, confident that the late hour would prove to be less busy than usual. Apparently, half of Orem had the same idea. By the time we waited through the line and made our order, our number was 50 and they were only on number 30. We prepared ourselves for a proper wait. The place was packed and we had to wait about 10 minutes before we could sit down.

After a while, the numbers started getting called out faster and faster. A sweet girl that looked about 7 months pregnant was calling out the numbers, occasionally using the speaker system because it was so loud in there. It wasn't long before we heard the call for "Number 40!" Other numbers continued to get called out, but "Number 40!!" was called again.... Several people came up to confirm what number was called, their number being 42 or 43. A young man in a nearby booth asked for the number at one point and then went back to his conversation, seemingly unperturbed by the long wait for our numbers to get called out. "Yeah, I've been paying attention," he said, laughing (presumably at the poor sap who must have left, forgetting that he had paid for some food.)

Eventually, they sent out the girl with the loud voice, "NUMBER 40!!!" came the call several times, one time even calling out what the order itself consisted of, in case someone forgot their number. Finally, she insisted that it was her final call and then took the food back to some unknown location behind the people manically slapping burgers together.

Finally, we started hearing the promising numbers: 48...... 49.......

It was then that I noticed that the young man who had flippantly insisted that he was paying attention, was at the counter. "I don't know what happened," he laughed.

I looked at Ben, my eyes wide, "What the???"

He looked back at me stifling his laughter.

Thankfully, our order was called then and we beat a hasty retreat to our car. Once in the confines of our vehicle, I burst out laughing.

"How many times did he hear that number called?" I asked through my chuckles.

"At least 5, maybe 6," Ben laughed.

Ben then recounted a story told by Henry Rollins about travel. Henry said that there always seems to be that one bag going around the carousel that no one wants to claim. Everyone watches it trundle by, no one even reaching out to look at the tag. Someone laughingly says, "Hahah! I know what MY bag looks like!" The bag goes around a second time, and then a third.... then on the fourth pass, the "I know what MY bag looks like" guy suddenly gives a surprised gasp as if seeing the bag for the first time, picks it up and walks away. What happened the first three times? Just didn't feel right?

I guess the "I've been paying attention" guy just wasn't feeling it.

What's up with us?

I love my kids. Some days I forget, but it's still true.

This little guy helps me remember that I love my kids.

Especially when he's like this. 

Over the past few weeks, he has acquired the best monster-style laugh. It comes from deep in his throat and it rasps up into the cutest growling "ha ha ha ha!" I can usually get him to do it if I'm tickling him or doing something he thinks is funny. It's a contagious laugh too. You can't help but laugh when he's laughing.

He's also learning to speak at a startling rate. At first it was just a couple of words: Dada, shoe, ball... I think he learns a new word just about every day now. He uses several variations of Mama, G-G (great-grandma), Papa (grandpa), hello, cool, book, more and milk sound about the same "moe", baby, diaper, down, the requisite "peepee" and "poopoo" and of course "No"... 

He loves to sit on my lap while I read stories to him and Audrey. He helps when we clean up their room at the end of the day, though is brand of help typically means that he puts away the same toy multiple times in between playing with it. He also climbed out of his crib for the first time yesterday which I only found out when he knocked on the door after he felt his nap was over. Good thing we're getting those kids a bunk bed. I don't need any more broken arms!

Audrey is such an inquisitive little "why?" girl, which, according to my mother, is hereditary. 

This is her snarly, "I'm not going to be cute for this picture" face.

One of her recent developments is the "I don't have anything, Mom." statement while holding something behind her back. Usually it's something she thinks, or knows, that I wouldn't like her to play with.

About a month ago, I started a Co-op preschool with five other mothers. We meet once a week and rotate teaching and assisting. We are focusing on the alphabet this year, teaching one letter each week. Audrey is the only girl in the group, which doesn't seem to disturb her at all. In fact, she seems to like getting all the girl attention and getting to use all the "girl" colors when they draw or write.

Just about every Friday, we head up to the Salt Lake area because Ben only has one class at the U and it seemed silly for him to drive an hour there and another hour back just for a class that is fifty minutes long. We usually spend the day with my sister-in-law and her two younger kids. Audrey and Henry like spending time with their cousins. When Ben comes back, if the kids (or the grown-ups) aren't too tired, we try to go and do something fun! We went to Harriman Beach, which is a man-made pond with sand around it, and let the kids splash around a bit.

The kids don't get to see Ben much during the week, so we're looking forward to Ben's fall break. We don't have anything specific planned, which suits me just fine!

I'm working on the outline for a new book which I will try to slam out during Nanowrimo in November. November will be a busy month for me for sure!

I have loads of pictures and stories to share, but we'll just take it one step at a time. Stay tuned for more soon!

Hurricane in Lavender

Yesterday morning I got the kids up, changed Hank's diaper and locked them in their room. They usually get up a wee bit early and I'm not ready to go up and do breakfast yet. So, I get them comfortable and let them play in their room for a while until I'm ready to get up myself. Usually they're pretty good except me for the occasional death scream from Henry that means he thinks Audrey is trying to kill him.

I should have known that something was wrong when they got completely quiet. Anyone that has kids knows that's typically not a good thing. A happy playing child sings, hums, yells, screeches and makes all kinds of racket (Audrey even pretend cries now). A naughty, mischievous child is quiet as the grave their parents want to put them in once they find what they've been up to.

Well, I opened up the door and found my dear, sweet daughter on her chair looking at a book. And my dear, sweet son is on the bean bag looking at a book. Huh?! I looked again and saw this:

At first glance, I didn't really see what looked wrong. I had to step into the room and have a closer look. In the following pictures, please note that you aren't seeing glare of any kind whatsoever. The white spots on these surfaces is something else entirely.

The second thing that hit me was that I was smelling quite a potent helping of lavender. I recall thinking to myself that the only thing that smelled like lavender was... oh... NO.... lavender baby powder.

What she did to get it on top of the recliner, I can only guess.

When we asked Audrey if she had got the baby powder off the dresser, she claimed complete innocence and that Henry had gotten it down. Nevermind that his head doesn't even reach the top of the changing table part of the dresser and the baby powder was on the upper section.

She finally admitted to pulling down the baby powder but insisted that Henry helped her to make the mess. I suppose I can't argue with that, though I know that Henry mostly just goes along with what Audrey does.

At least they were bonding, right? Right?

This is the spot Henry's head left on the floor when Ben changed his diaper.

No, you're not seeing things, it's all over his clothes and all over his head.

When we told my mother about the disaster in their room, she said sweetly, "At least they didn't do it with Vaseline." True.... but there is time enough in the world for that.

The good news: their room is going to smell great for a long, long, long time.