Chicago--My kind of Town

I have a friend who has lived in Chicago for several years and has kept inviting me to come visit. Well it took some extra days off for David and her announcement that she is moving to get us out there. And we had a blast!

So here's our Chicago adventures:

Belle drinking her juice "from the snack that the flight attendant gives me"


Playing at the park with Abigail.

Cute boy.



Us getting SOAKED at the concert in the park. You can't see it very well, but they have this full concert hall that opens to the park and have free concerts several times a week. It made it even more fun by the fact that we got caught by a downpour!



The skyline in Chicago



Belle asleep at the White Sox game. Keith slept through the first three innings, Belle slept through the last. It was a fun time but there were only like 3 hits the whole game and it was over very quickly. We want to try another baseball game this summer--maybe the Bees in SL--and see if we can see more action.

More of the White Sox game. We also took the subway to Wrigley Field so we could see it, too.



Us and the Chicago theatre sign.

Playing in the "Faces" fountain of Millennium Park

Pa Pa saves the day

As I mentioned before, the equestrian park let us down with no pony rides, but with a trip to Marion for an evening, all is resolved. Pa Pa brought Daisy over from the neighbor's and the kids had their pony ride.






As you can see, Keith is about as tall as Daisy's back, and Belle is taller. She's a short little round thing that is so cute and the kids love!!

Thanks, Pa Pa and Nana!

4th of July

We ran the 5K 1st thing in the morning, and of course for the second year in a row I pushed the kids in the stroller, and for the second year in a row I didn't get any pictures. I actually won a little trophy for 2nd place in my age division. It's a pretty silly little thing and is cluttering up the counter--but go me!

Then the parade we ended up sitting by a family from our old ward who has a girl Belle's age and they have been having play dates the last few weeks and are having a fun time together. One or both usually end up crying when it's time to go home. Anyway here's the parade.





We had planned on pony rides--but the equestrian park let us down and didn't have any pony rides--so settled on cotton candy and the park. We napped through most the park carnival, but made it in time for some cotton candy.

We watched fireworks with our friends the Burbanks, with a great view, and Keith learned the word "loud". He was very fascinated by it all. Unfortunately, no pictures.

Moving, Summer Fun, and Everyday Life

We are starting to feel at home and settled in. And I must say that MOVING IS A LOT OF WORK! We are having fun putting our things in the house and making it ours, and every little repair or project that we complete is a little triumph of ours. You should have seen Belle's face light up when David fixed her closet door so that both bi-fold doors close! She was so happy! Almost as happy when I bought her new elastic bands for her hair--"Oh, thank you Mommy for buying me new ponies. Good Job sweetie sweetie".

At any rate, we have LOTS more projects to go and I am learning that these things take time and money so we will just keep at it a little at a time and make this house our home. Most importantly of all we are all here together, starting to make memories, and having a great time doing it. And to add to it we have discovered a neighborhood full of fun little kids and nice families that have all been friendly and welcoming. We have had kids in and out playing so much, Belle and Keith are loving it, and so are we! (David is not sure about the neighbor boy who is 3 or 4 coming and ringing the doorbell and asking for Belle, but he'll get used to it. *grin*).

So in the middle of all the boxes and the unpacking and projects we have found some time to have some summer fun. We had a great fourth of July and short little trip to Chicago, and we are looking forward to more summer fun to come with our Oliver reunion and cousins coming, Cooke City, and swimming lessons all in the next month.

I have lots of pics from the holiday and Chicago, so I'll make a post about those. Not so many pics of the house, though. Someday I'll take one of all of us on the front porch...someday soon *wink*.

Birthday Girl!

WOW! I can't believe that our little girl is three!! She has been SO excited for her birthday and has been talking about it for a long time. The only requirements that she gave were that she have a pink cake, with pink cream, pink frosting, pink candles, and her name in pink. So here's what I came up with.






It was obviously very pink. Here we all were picking at the strawberry flavored cake and Isabelle barely touched hers! I guess if we have to do something like that again we'll use white cake and color it pink...












We had planed to take her to the Clark Planetarium since she is now interested in stars but the show we wanted to see wasn't playing, so she took a raincheck and we went to the park instead.

Congrats to Aunt D.

A little late with this post. In May we took a trip to the Baltimore area to cheer at Aunt D.'s graduation! We had a good time and are so happy for D.







We tried the National Zoo and were pretty disappointed. Most of the zoo closed early and we only saw some elephants and a panda bear. The panda bear was cool, you don't get to see those all the time. We also had fun at Aunt I. and Uncle D.'s. We exhausted their entire supply of bubbles (which Keith discovered in a cupboard and I'm not sure ever Aunt I knew they were there...) and went through a good amount of sidewalk chalk.





Oh, and ice cream...

Just to clarify....

For all the worried Grandmas, Aunts, cousins, etc...
The mattress was new. *wink*

Deal of the Day

As I have posted before, we are slowly gathering pieces of furniture and appliances as we prepare to move into our own home. (looking to close next week---Yipee!!)
We (or I) browse and search until I find a deal, then we have to jump on it and go on these crazy adventures to capture the good quality item at a steal of a price. Tonight after returning from picking up my most recent find, I mentally made this list, and was quite impressed with myself. So here it is:
For less than $1200 we have acquired:
Lawnmower, mattress, bedroom set including bed, dresser, bookshelf, Stove and over-the-range microwave, and refridg. Hum. The list sounded a little more impressive in my head. Anyway, we are almost ready to move into our own home!

What a TEASE!

Mr. Buggie Booey Youy Chubby Cubby Goodness (full nickname) is turning out to be qutie the tease. The habit of tackling and giving zurberts I have mentioned before continues, especially when Belle is getting dressed and her tummy is exposed and available for tickling. He also likes to grab something of hers and take off as fast as he can go in the opposite direction, just to tease her. Like her pants she was about to put on, her doll or other toy, or her cup. The bedtime giggling that is almost routine always starts with Buggie getting Belle and I giggling. WE LOVE all the teasing he does!

Mr. Goodness also wants to do whatever his sister is doing. Whether it is walking home from church with Grandpa, going out to feed the animals with Pa Pa, or eating carrots he wants to be right there in whatever is going on with her. The carrot thing has actually come in handy a few times: "Buggie, look at Belle, she is eating carrots!". He then proceeds to eat all his carrots! YES!

Oh, the PINK

Pink panties, pink pants, pink shirts, pink socks, pink shoes, pink hair bow, pink jacket.

Pink crayons, Pink Play-Doh, Pink markers, Pink blankets, Pink play food, Pink flowers Pink paper, Pink doll clothes, Pink sunglasses, Pink bottles of sunscreen, Pink shampoo, Pink soap, Pink fingernail polish, Pink cups, Pink plates, Pink spoons, and even on occasion pink-food coloring dyed food.

Anything non-Pink is shunned. Super cute clothing items that do not have pink in them remain in the closet gathering dust. Today she colored her fingers pink with a pink marker in what I thought was an attempt to "paint" her nails. IT turned out she wanted to turn her skin pink. I think I'm going to have to draw the line there.



House update: more waiting. We were able to get the 3rd party approval letter from the seller's 1st mortgage in time to qualify for the first-time home buyers tax credit. Now we are waiting for approval from the seller's 2nd mortgage, which to the surprise of both Realtor is taking some time. They asked for a few thousand additional, and our Realtor made it clear we don't want to go any higher--so she and the other Realtor have agreed to take less commission to accommodate the 2nd mortgage people. David and I are both touched that these people would do such a thing. We are getting a good deal on the house, comparable reports come back at about 25-30 thousand more than we are paying, and a lot of people are working hard to help us get in. It is just taking some patience and waiting.

Bad Blogger

I usually blog when David isn't home, because when he is home we like to spend the evening together after the kids go to bed.

SO, not that there isn't anything going on around here, it's just...he's HOME. and HOME. and HOME. He has been on reserve (pilot talk for on call) for 2 months. Sometimes they use 'im. Sometimes they don't.

IT'S GREAT. We are getting spoiled. He is at work tonight for all of about 14 hours, we will be sleeping through most of that, and Belle is complaining that she will miss her Daddy and she doesn't want him to go to work. Someday he will have to go to work again and we will have to re-adjust. But for now we are enjoying it.

If the weather would get a little better maybe we could go on some adventures!

Oh, and..

Belle's first braids. Yes they are crooked and I could use some practice. It was a first for me, too.


Keith's favorite place to hide: the coat closet. When I couldn't sleep the other night I got all worked up and worried that when he gets older some mean kid will tease him about his extra / double tooth*. In the light of the day I'm not so worried about it, and right now it makes his smile super cute.

*He has two teeth on one root in the front, therefore having 5 front teeth instead of 4. This would be why his second front tooth (the double one) took FOREVER to come in, and he had the one toothed smile all last fall. Not to mention it made him miserable for about six weeks. The dentist says he's surprised he has the other one, usually if you have two on one root you don't get the 5th one. At any rate he also says the one concern is keeping it clean since there is no way to floss, it will still fall out normally, etc. It does increase his chances to have an extra or missing permanent tooth, in which case we would need intervention. For now he just as 5 front teeth.

The BEST part of SPRING

Spring is David's favorite time of year. Maybe that's why he was born in the spring. We have been enjoying being outside. Keith makes a fuss if someone goes outside without him, and is always walking over to the doors and banging on them, wanting to go out. Belle doesn't have to fuss about this point, because she just sneaks out whenever the door is open. Today they BOTH sneaked out while Grandpa was bring in groceries and I was mopping the floor. I found them in the sandbox (they had gone out the front door). Yesterday we went on a family outing to enjoy some of our favorite things about spring.
There's This:






But really our favorite part is this:

HE WALKS!

We made this video of the new trick,....but apparently 1 minute and 58 seconds is about 100 MB over the 100 MB limit for uploading video to the blog. so here's a link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_vr9RiGCBWwj89PpUOkM1w?feat=directlink

Helmets, Musical Beds, and other kid news

We're keeping our kids quarantined for the next few days. Not that they are sick or anything. But that we are worried someone might turn us in. Keith currently sports two bruises on his forehead--one over each eye (acquired on different occasions) and a scratch under his right eye (acquired on the same occasion as the bruise on the right side). Not to mention several bruises on his legs and a sticker mark on his tummy that refuses to come off (I'm going to have to pull out the rubbing alcohol on it). Can we say "Helmet and pads, please?"

He's not alone. Belle is also bruised up the right side of her face, looking as though she got in a fight with a heavyweight and lost. She slipped on the kitchen floor and came down on the stool. Nice.

And now about the beds. Belle likes her new bed and no longer cries about wanting to go to sleep in our bed, I think she has figured out the answer is no and has given up. After Keith's bout with RSV he wasn't sleeping well AT ALL, then we had the craziness of February, and finally we worked on getting him sleeping again. So--when we go to bed we all four go to sleep in our OWN BEDS!!! VICTORY VICTORY IS OUR CRY!!

Oh, wait. It only lasts until about 3 am. Then I am either sleeping in with Belle the rest of the night, or she is with us. If she ends up with us then I end up in her bed with Keith at about 6, or kicked out bc there is not room for all 4 of us in one bed. If I end up with her, that lasts until about 6 when I get up and go back to my bed, taking Keith with me. David never knows who he is going to wake up next to. This morning was a slight variation on the scenarios above, with David and Keith in Belle's bed, and Belle and I in our bed. We're working on it.

Other kid news...don't really have any, just sounded better.

Oh Wait!! I do!! The boy is WEANED!!!! Hooray! I have been pregnant or nursing straight since September 06. You do the math, but the fact is I am excited for a baby break. And I am planning on having lots of fun with my two toddlers, and sweet husband without the stresses of baby. Someday we will have more babies. But for now I will focus on the two cuties I have.

Belle's slang

Belle has her own slang language going on. We'll call it Belle Latin.

Lotion = Losch

Chapstick = Chap

Milk = Mil

Strawberries = Straw

Baby = Babe

You get the idea. Only pronounce the first syllable of the word, and you're in.

Quick! Call 911!!!

"DADDY!!!!!!!!"

"I NEED YOU--It's an EMERGENCY!!!!!!!!!"

"Two things. FIRST. IT'S WINDY!!. Second. I WANT YOU TO BUILD ME A CASTLE!!!"

(Belle to David while he was trying to work outside.)

Part 2

Next purchase--a lawnmower. This one we found in Grantsvile!! WOOT WOOT!

When we left Springville with the massive bedroom set for Belle, Grandpa made sure we said a prayer to travel safe with the heavy load.

When we left the house where we got the lawnmower (which we shoved halfway into the trunk and called it good--) Belle said "Wait, Wait!, we need to say a prayer for our lawnmower to drive home!" So she did:

After starting the prayer--"Thank Thee for the lawnmower for the duckie house. Please bless us with blessings."....ending of prayer.

We made it home safe.


PS--It's the "duckie house" because one of the bathrooms was decorated with yellow ducks when we went to look at it the first time. Every time we talk about looking at more houses because this it taking forever Belle always says--"No, don't look at any more houses. I already picked the duckie house!"

I'm afraid we will have some explaining to do when the house doesn't actually come with duckies. Just like the "pony bed" didn't come with the pony.

House Update

I wouldn't say things are exactly "moving along" in the buying house department, since the word "move" implies some sort of action. But we are getting closer to having things move along--the bank has a new appraisal in hand and we expect to hear something in about 10 days. I'm not going to get nervous until two weeks.

In the mean time I am spending my time shopping around for furniture, etc. that we will need for the new house. We have almost nothing and need almost everything, so most of the things we will buy will probably be more "new to us" rather than "new". Mostly I am pricing out what it will cost and then stewing for a few days while good deals get away; but one that I found we actually purchased. It's a pretty white bedroom set for Belle that has a bed with a trundle drawer, a dresser, and a book shelf. It is in very good shape, pretty, and a good price for all three of the items.

Catch? There is always a catch, right?

Well...the set happened to be in SPRINGVILLE.

You understand this is nearly two hours away, right? And since the day I went to get it David was on call I drug my Dad AND Belle AND Keith to Springville. I went to look at the set and everything was still set up as if they had used them last night. Correction: they HAD used them the night before, and the drawers were even still all full of clothes, and they were having second thoughts about selling! I talked her into selling, but they needed some time to clear out the stuff. So, we went to get cash to pay them and ran to a store for an emergency change of clothes for Belle.

When we got back to the house it took a very long time to load up and secure the big load in the back of my Dad's truck, then the long trek home.

This happened to be the same day as the open house we had planned for Mom and Dad to chat with their friends. And we happened to be two and a half hours longer than we had originally thought, and an hour and a half late for the party. So all the way home I was sweating it.

Luckily for us Mom (with a little help from David) had everything set up for the open house in time, and the few people that did come came in the last hour. (since we changed the date because of the funeral we didn't get the word out very well--it was a pretty hectic couple of weeks).

Needless to say, now when I browse I rule out anything more than 50 miles away.




She likes her new "HUGE" bed, but was disappointed to learn that the pink unicorn that the previous owner had on the bed did not come with it.



Now that the novelty has worn off, she says she still likes her bed but doesn't want to sleep in it. We're working on that. She also asked for pink sheets (EVERYTHING must be pink) but the store didn't have any, so pink sheets and pink unicorn are for the future.



A cute picture of Boo, just because.

Dear Grandma

Dear Grandma,

Thank you for your smiles. The genuine kind that brings a twinkle to your eye.

Thank you for your loves. The sweet hugs that you can't help but feel like you are a super special person.

Thank you for your advice, from appropriate missionary attire to how to trim my baby boy's hair.

Thank for the generosity--dinners and countless loads of laundry to a poor college student.

Thank you for ALWAYS having cookies readily available.

Thank you for teaching my Dad the gospel so he could teach me.


Thank you for your love.

You gave us so much. I know you are smiling and teasing with Grandpa and free of the pain your body caused you, and for that I am happy.

Love always,
Lizzy







Just a few of the things that I will always associate with Grandma:
Crochet

My College Days

Lasagna

Danish Butter Cookies (Christmas time especially--one of my last visits to her we gave her a tin of cookies and she gasped and her eyes lit up. Then she had to open them right away and share with the kids)

RV camping

Two Things about David

1--what happens when you leave Daddy in charge for 20 minutes while you run to the grocery store? The next day you find a large green crayon chunk in the baby's diaper. And then Daddy sheepishly confesses the boy was gnawing on crayons for who knows how long before he noticed. Apparently wax is not absorbed by the body.


2--Now that the snow has melted we can see a few details about the house we want that we couldn't see before. Like the GREAT BIG, FLAMING RED U on the front lawn. For those of you who know David well, I'm sure you can image his reaction. For those who don't, let me enlighten you. His breath catches in his throat, his eyes begin to bulge, and as he slowly exhales he begins to shake his head in disgust. He is not a swearing man, but strong language comes in the form of vows to mow and mow and mow and mow over the thing til he hits dirt if he has to--as long as not one blade of grass has any speck of red left.


Well, now that I have thoroughly picked on him, I should mention that I really have two OTHER things I would like to say about my Sweetheart.

1--He is perfect for me. He is patient with my shortcomings and rather than making fun of my "lizzy"-ness he thinks it's cute. He can be super silly yet just as hard working. We have a lot of fun together no matter what we are doing. I am so grateful he is my Sweetheart.

2--He is a great Dad to our kids. He would play with them non-stop if I didn't put things on his "honey-do" list. He loves to read stories and get down on the floor and build things out of blocks just so they can knock them over. He works very hard for them and is so concerned that they get a good start to a happy life.

Thanks Sweetheart. Happy Valentine's Day. I love you.

Soap Box

You've been warned. This is a soap box post. No cute news about the kids or details of the illness they have this week. This purely to get something off my chest, and perhaps raise awareness (to what I'm not sure but it sounded good :-)).

Every so often David has slightly interesting stories about dealing with passengers on his airplane. Sometimes they are amusing. For example: 18 bright-eyed, and can-I-take-your-picture missionaries on their way to the Pocatello, ID mission, still with the MTC fire lit under them. Sometimes they are ridiculous. For example, the lady who wanted them to go back to the gate they had just departed from because she forgot her purse. Sometimes you can sympathize. Like on Christmas Eve and they have to divert for the night because visibility is too low. Sure, you want to be able to say--"I'm sorry that it's Christmas and you're not getting home. But it's either get there 12 hours late or end up in a flaming pile of aluminum." But, hey, it's Christmas, so you sympathize.

Then there are the annoying ones. Like today. Going into St George on an otherwise clear day, there happened to be some lingering fog right over the runway that made visibility too low to get in. So they circled for awhile, waiting for it to clear. When their fuel level reached the diversion point, they headed to Las Vegas. They were there all of 40 minutes while they got more fuel and waited for St George to clear. Now...in your mind does this scenario warrant comments like "Oh, I thought we got the good pilots today". Or (while waiting in Vegas on the ground) "I just talked to my wife and she says it's clear, whats the problem?". Ok, so....three things.
1--if you find a "good pilot" who would try to land on a runway covered in fog badly enough that he couldn't see the ground coming up--let me know who he is so I can make sure I never get on his plane.

2--It doesn't matter if you pick out your house out the window. No one is trying to land in your back yard.

3--Saying such things merely makes you sound stupid and gets the pilot's wife mad.

Obviously David doesn't get nearly as upset as I do, he can shrug it off and knows he did his job and kept everyone safe. Even the stupid people. Me, I get defensive of my sweetheart and frustrated at impatient people.

Oh. Then there is the comment when they do actually land of (with sarcasm) "It looks clear NOW." Uh, yeah, smartie pants. Of course it's clear now--or you would probably still be back in VEGAS. DUH.

Ok, that's all. It's off my chest. Now I can go get a cat nap before I have to be up with one of the sick kids. Poor sweeties are miserable.

A Conversation with Belle

Belle: "Daddy, can I watch the Strawberry Shortcake movie?"

Daddy: "You've already watched one movie today, sweetheart. Maybe another day."

Belle: "No, Daddy. You're supposed to say YES after EVERYTHING I say! Try again."
"Daddy, can I watch the Strawberry Shortcake movie?"

Daddy: "No, you have already watched a movie today. If you want me to say yes to
everything you say then Belle needs to say "Daddy, can I eat some
vegetables?" or "Daddy, can I clean up my toys?".

Belle: "No, Daddy. YOU clean up my toys. Because you are in charge of cleaning up
all the toys."


Other notable Belle-isms of the last week or so.

*On the nights David is home he always cleans up the kitchen and does the dishes while I lie by the kids to go to sleep. When David gives Belle a kiss goodnight she always asks what he is going to do, and he usually replies "clean up the kitchen". One night when he wasn't home Belle asked me "Who is going to do the dishes while we sleep?"

*Pulling into an OLD NAVY store: "I see a blue D for "Daddy", right next to the L for "Lizzy"!"

*I have been accumulating boxes of various things like too small kids clothes in the basement, and the great clean-out project to get ready for Mom and Dad to come home is on. Belle was asking why we are cleaning it all up, and I explained so Grandma and Grandpa can come home to a nice clean house. So now, every time there is a mess of any kind--even spilled milk, she has to clean it up for Grandma and Grandpa. "because Grandma and Grandpa won't want to come home and try and cook with that spill on the floor!"

On this same note, we have been talking about moving to a new house because Grandma and Grandpa are coming home to their house and don't need us to take care of it anymore. Also, David's sister is in the process of moving and I thought it would be a good chance for Belle to prepare for what it will be like when we move. So, in explaining that *cousin* will be moving to a new house, Belle asks "Who is coming home to their house?".

*All last month whenever Belle didn't want to do what you had asked her she would let you know by "Wait, Listen. I'm trying to explain something to you..." and then proceed to explain why she couldn't do what it was you wanted her to. This month it is the same process but a different catch phrase. It has now evolved to "The problem is...". For example "The problem is I have to take a water cup to bed because if I wake up in the night and need a drink then I need my water cup!"

a WHOLE year!

Last week we celebrated Keith's first birthday! He is so sweet and cute and such a little tease.

He celebrated his birthday by learning to walk. This week he has been getting brave enough to let go and take a few steps on his own. It's cute to see the concentration on his face when he is balancing then the pride when he does it!

Here are a few pictures (yes, we replaced the camera. Couldn't miss the birthday pictures!!). This is also the first time I've posted any pics of his new haircut.


I made him a soccer ball cake, since he loves balls so much. It turned out cute. Not perfect, but cute. I baked it in a round mixing bowl and used licorice for the pentagons and hexagons (I never realized that soccer balls have both pentagons and hexagons on them before!).

Fun together

Today consisted of:

Puppet shows
Play Doh
Stories
Tag (or "chase" as we call it)
Block houses
Cookies
and (of course) catch (with one of Keith's "Bawl Bawl da Bawl"s)

Belle: "Mommy, we sure do have fun together!"

Project not done, house not clean?

Worth it.

The BOY in Buggie

At this point Keith's vocabulary consists of about 6 things. Momma, Da Da, Be, Uh-Oh, Hawww (for 'hot', but very growlly), Moo (which he will say if you ask him what a cow says, but really he uses it as a universal term for all animals), and Bawwl, Bawwl, Bawwl, Bawwl, Da Ba, Bawwl, Bawwl.

Yes, Ball was his first word and is by a long shot his favorite. When he wakes up and I go to get him out of his crib I am always greeted by choruses of "Baawl, Da BaBa, Bawll". There are several pronunciations going on here. This morning he was even reaching through the slats in the crib at a ball that was on the bedroom floor. He has gone to sleep at night several times holding on to a Nerf soccer ball he got for Christmas (much to David's dismay--he would much rather that the football were the favorite). So much for a soft cuddly puppy or tiger. Nope. The kid wants a ball. In short, he LOVES balls--and anything of semi-spherical shape is considered a ball, including Grandma Grover's wooden fruit set that came from Honduras.

This is not the only "boy" trait coming out. He also gets a HUGE kick out of tackling me, and it is not safe to lie or sit on the floor. Inevitably he will grin, grunt, and lunge. Full-body slams are his favorite. Yesterday my brand new (well, about a month old) glasses were a casualty of this. Luckily the eye Dr. is here in town and it was a quick two-minute straighten fix by the receptionist.

This leads us to the next "boy" trait. Belle is always calling him something new, but this week it was my turn to give him a new name. Destructo-Boy. Destroys EVERYTHING he can get his hands on, and loves it.

Maybe it's because Belle never actually crawled, but she wasn't big into climbing on things. Oh, BOY. Keith climbs. and climbs. and climbs. Despite all my insistence that he wasn't going to really crawl and just army crawl everywhere, in December he slowly started hands and knees crawling until he eventually left the army-style behind forever. This has enhanced his climbing abilities. One of his favorite games is to climb up on the little desk that is sitting at the end of the couch, and then slide down the arm of the couch onto the cushions and then climb down to the floor and go for another round. For the record--this activity started one day while I was teaching a piano lesson. I turned around to see what all his giggling was about and he was in the middle of one of these head-first slides. I panicked, but before I could get across the room he was already climbing to the floor to go at it again.

He's turning one in all of 6 days and I can't believe it! We are getting a kick out of all the BOY going on around here.

Night's Thoughts Edition #2

1. Grateful that David is a good pilot. They spotted a hydraulic fluid leak and spent all day in Cody instead of flying an unsafe plane.

2. Worked hard enough today that toys are picked up, dishes done and kitchen in decent shape, and kids in bed--all by 8:30 pm. This includes making cookies, bread, and beef stew. Belle and Keith were needing a little Mommy play time this evening!

3. Congratulations to K & B on their new baby boy!! This is one of the perks of living here at Mom and Dad's. WE get to hear all the news first!!

4. Speaking of Mom and Dad's--we are going to do it. Brave us. We are putting an offer on a house on Monday. The house is perfect for us, the price is perfect, the yard is just small. BUT the equity we can have getting this house at this price (instant) and the good condition of the home pros beat the small yard con. I think it'll fit a garden box, swing set, and sand box. That'll be good enough for awhile, especially with parks, and Grandma and Grandpa O's huge yard so close. It's a short sale and could take awhile--so just cross your fingers!! If we got one with a bigger yard at this price they are all fixer uppers that would mean more $$.

5. I am already planning furniture and decor and where our pictures will go in the house. Nesting I guess. REALLY hope we get it.

6. The neighbors at this place have a barking dog. Ick. I had said earlier it barked the whole time we were there--but that was an exaggeration. It was only for a few minutes while I was walking around outside, and then as we were standing there chatting with the Realtor it stopped. So hopefully it only barks at strangers. Belle was nervous about the barking dog while we were outside, but I think she would adjust. It's in a dog run, but it's on the SIDE of the house, not the back (due to the tinyness of the yards).

7. Camera still MIA. I think we'll have to buy a new one. Anyone with pics of our kids this Christmas please send them our way, as that is what we are bemoaning the most. The camera was a fossil anyway.

8. The World's Smallest 1000 piece puzzle is about half done. Thanks to David. I am way to impatient for such things. Don't worry Lewis'. It will still return to next year's white elephant game. Just used!! We might make it a rule that whoever ends up with the tiny tiny puzzle each year HAS to do it!! HA!

Tonight's Thoughts

1. Where or where is the camera? Last I remember it was in the diaper bag. The diaper bag has now been several places since I remember seeing it. If I had it I would post some pics of our Christmas. As it is you have to suffer through this post instead.

2. Happy New Year! WHERE did 2009 go? 2010 Calendar is already filling up, and will likely go by just as quickly.

3. Grateful for the fact that David is on his first day of a four day trip and he didn't have to go to Fresno last night, and that we will see him in only about an hour after he is done on Monday.

4. I'm ready to take the Christmas Tree down. David isn't. So we've agreed it leave it up for a few more days. I need to take it down so we can find room for a couple ginormous toys Belle got for Christmas. A kitchen and a barn big enough that the boy crawled through it. She loves them both, but the number of square feet that they take up is ridiculous. Keith's toys are much more manageable in size.

5. I feel like I'm in "nesting" mode. Not sure if this is due to the fact that we are finally getting serious about looking for a house, or because Mom and Dad are coming home and I want to have things organized and clean. Maybe both.

6. I have never learned the trick of "clean as you go". Anyone who knows me at all or has ever walked into a kitchen where I am cooking will attest to this. So I usually end up with huge messes that take a terrible amount of time to clean up. And I'm regularly too tired to get the mess ALL the way cleaned up. The result is several days of halfheartedly cleaning and little left-over bits of mess everywhere. It is driving me crazy. I hope to someday learn the trick "clean as you go". I have to make a conscious effort to tell myself that "if it takes less than 30 seconds to put (item) away, do it NOW."

7. I would really love a good chic flick movie and a comfy blanket right now. Must sleep, however. I tend to get rather cranky on less than 7 hours of sleep.

8. Started an impossible puzzle last night. I'll let you know if it's done by Valentine's day.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Christmas PJ's

Buddled up at Temple Square

Sleeping under the Christmas Tree becuase she loved it so much the first night we had it up.

Stockings done!!

Puhta, Puhta

So statistics show it takes 21 days to form a habit, right? Well, yesterday it was 21 days since Belle has had her binkie. Or Puhta Puhta as it was lovingly called around here for the last year and a half. Can you tell I'll a little nostalgic over it? It was her last baby thing left. Potty trained--check, no more binkie--check, talks to me like she's 13--check,etc, etc.


At the same time I was also very grateful for the perfect opportunity that presented itself to get rid of the thing. I had no idea how I would forcefully take it away from her, being the strong willed girl that she is. I knew the only way would be to convince her she didn't want it anymore. I had been praying for something to naturally happen to signal the end...just like in the potty training--she decide.

The Puhta got a hole in it the night before Thanksgiving, and she didn't want it. On vacation, I know, perfect timing, right? I had only taken the one with us on vacation, and decided rather than dash to the store, to give it a try without it. It turned out that the vacation timing helped, I think. Exhausted enough to get to sleep without it, and enough extra people around to help with Keith whileI gave her the extra attention she needed. I think the worst side affect was probably a couple of two-yr-old breakdowns at really bad times over the weekend (right as people are gathering for Thanksgiving dinner, the most exciting part of the Wild Animal Park the next day, and for 40 minutes when we left the beach which included me getting pulled over in the rental car with Belle crying in the back. Good times.)


I was worried about coming home because she had asked to go home and get her pink one. She knew there was another one at home. She did ask for it a few times, and still does occasionally, but is easily distracted and takes the explanation that she doesn't have it anymore. The one at home happened to be "lost". So explained I wasn't going to buy her anymore puhtas, since one was broken and the other lost then she didn't have them anymore. Then it was finally a permanent thing in her mind. Only once has she asked to buy a new one, and yesterday she found an old baby one and played with it for awhile but didn't care when it was gone.



If I'd have known it was going to be that easy to get rid of it I
1--wouldn't have stressed over it so much the last six months and
2--would have pushed Keith more to take one. Then maybe he would nap for more than 20 minutes in a day and not be completely inconsolable tired by 5 pm. I guess we live and learn.

It was always cute to hear Belle ask for her "puhta", and everyone around knew what it was called. I guess my girl is growing up.

Sadly lacking

Sorry to anyone who might have been hoping for some updates on our fam in the last 6 weeks. I just haven't had time or energy to write anything.
I have lots of updating but some of it is just plain old news. But there is one big thing I wanted to blog about so I'll do that...and hopefully get back on track.

I don't have many pics right now bc David took our camera with him to work, he wants some pics of the CA places he flies on his last two trips out there. Next week is over Christmas and he wants the camera then, too. It's his last Fresno trip!!! Hum. Maybe we finally break down and update our fossil of a camera? We'll see.

Check it out

Check out this post on my sister-in-laws blog, and be prepared to laugh.

http://laylabean.com/2009/12/06/the-clinch/

 

Baby Blue Eyes