bradybunch

Halloween 2009

2009-11-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

So I have been lectured by Julene that just because I posted Halloween pictures on my facebook, it doesn't mean that everyone has seen them since not everyone (Julene) is on facebook. So here we go...

After watching the latest Harry Potter movie with my Mom this summer, I made my usual phone call to my sister Kathy so that she could explain to me what happened and why, and what will happen next. I do this after every Harry Potter movie because I've been too lazy to read the books, but I can't stand not knowing what happens next. After watching this movie I considered reading the last book, since there was only one more left, and then I would finally know how it ended. The only problem with this is that Kathy told me that so much more happens in the books than in the movies, and there are even characters in the books that aren't in the movies. I figured it would probably be even more confusing if I only read the last book so I decided that the next movie doesn't come out for another year, why not make it a goal to read all of the books before then. I thought a year would be just about enough time. Well I didn't need a year because It only took me 6 weeks. I had no idea I would get so into them. I was so caught up in them that Sam decided to read them too, and we had to race to the finnish.. (he won. but that's not the point.) Because I was constantly reading Harry Potter, my boys became obsessed with it and they've never even watched any of the movies! We decided to let them watch the first one because it's not as scary as the rest, and after that Nicholas HAD to be Harry Potter for Halloween. Now because Nicholas was going to be Harry Potter, Christian Had to be Harry Potter. So I went to the fabric store to find a Harry Potter robe pattern, only to discover that they don't make them. I did however find a
Little Red Riding-hood pattern that with a few alterations, would work. I found some great cloak like fabric at walmart for only $3 a yard and started sewing. It wasn't until I had both costumes cut out that I realized that I bought 60" wide fabric, thinking it was 45", which if you sew at all you know that means I bought way too much. I couldn't just let all that fabric go to waste, so I decided to make a cloak for me too, and then I could dress up with the boys. When mine was finished, it didn't seem right not to have Sam dressed up too, however he had forbidden me from spending anymore money on halloween costumes, and I didn't have enough leftover to make him a full costume. Luckily a sister from my ward donated some fabric to the cause of making Sam dress up, and it all worked out great!
I decided to be Tonks, (No, that is not my real hair, it's a wig- I actually had some people ask!)) and I made Sam be Lupin, I even made him grow some facial hair, (which he hated, but I thought was kinda cute)
and we had 2 Harry Potters, (Christian wouldn't keep his glasses on)

P.S. If you are wondering, Sam put the wrong ties on the boys which is why Nick's is too small, and Christian's is too long!
P.P.S You don't have to read my Halloween post next year since we will probably be wearing the same costumes. I didn't put all that work into it to only be worn once!

New York City

2009-10-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

If you asked Nicholas where he went last week, he might have told you New York City. After a few reminders he might have said York City, and then after several "repeat after me..." 's, he could probably tell you that we went to Yorktown, Virginia. It's not quite as exciting as New York City, but there was still a lot to see and do. Yorktown is the site of a huge Revolutionary War battlefield. It's just a few miles outside of Williamsburg, VA. Sam's Brother Ben and his wife Kate, and baby Archie were passing through there at the end of a summer full of travels, and we met them there to visit for a few days. It was great to spend time with them. My boys really loved running and playing rowdy with Uncle Ben. I'm not sure how, but Nicholas and Christian talked Uncle Ben into having a race up and down a huge field in Williamsburg, while Nicholas was running, and Ben was pushing Christian in Archie's stroller, back and forth they went, and then if that wasn't enough to wear him out, they talked Sam into joining the racing fun and before I knew it, Sam and Ben were running up and down the field with Nicholas and Christian on their shoulders!

I now understand why whenever I complain to Sam's mom about how crazy Nicholas is, she always says "Now, Ben was my kid who did that..." I'm just now sure why it's fair that I got the crazy kid, when Sam was her tame child! Isn't the 'Mother's Curse' that you will someday have a child just like yourself? Anyway we had a great time. The boys also loved playing with baby Archie, they love babies, but I'm not sure babies love them quite as much.

I'm not sure Little Arch appreciated all the "brotherly affection" my boys had for him, but he sure put up with it well!

We went to a fun 'hands-on' museum in Yorktown where they had several displays of what life would have been like for Revolutionary war Soldiers. My boys really got into that, especially when a guy came and gave them some pretend money from that time period, money is one of Nicholas' favorite things. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't spend it, he likes to play with it.

*Note: Christian has a very terrible fake smile :)

HMMMMM...Sam would have been a HOT soldier!

After a long day at the museum, my boys found one of their favorite things to play in... A big dirt patch! Even little Archie got in on all the dirty fun!

While seeing the sites was fun, probably my favorite part of the trip was just being able to sit and talk with Kate and Ben. Being so far away from family we don't get to do that very often, and I loved it. At night after we put the kids to bed, the 4 of us played a fierce game of Risk. We stayed up way too late, but it was fun! We miss you guys, and hope to see you all soon!

The Title of Liberty

2009-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Last night we had a really fun Family Home Evening that I thought I would share. I briefly told the boys the story of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. Then I gave each of them a piece of fabric that was cut into the shape of a coat. I let them each rip the arms of the coat off, to make a rectangle shaped piece, and with a fabric marker we wrote "In memory or our God, our religion,and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our children" Just like Moroni did, and then we used hot glue to glue them onto sticks, and then had a parade marching around the house while the boys waved their 'Titles of liberty' while singing 'Families can be together forever'. They had so much fun! When I put Christian to sleep that night I asked him what his favorite thing was today, and he said "Ripping the coat and making a flag like Moroni, and protecting my family."

The Green Cheetahs!

2009-09-29T15:22:00.000-07:00

Nicholas has started his 5th season in soccer. In years past they didn't keep score or have a goalie, they really just wanted the kids to have fun, and learn to kick the ball in the net. This year they are stepping it up a little and have added a goalie, and they have full uniforms, not just a jersey. It has been fun to watch his games, the kids are really getting good. Nick has finally stopped crashing into all the kids just for fun, and he actually gets right into the game.

He has also enjoyed being the goalie a few times, he likes it because he gets to use his hands if he wants to!

Hooray for school!

2009-09-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm back, hopefully full force! Nicholas has finally started Kindergarten, which frees up my mornings, (he's in half-day Kindergarten) thus allowing me to go shopping, clean my house, and blog or whatever else I might want to do. You are probably wondering what about Christian? Well, without a big brother to fight with, he is perfectly happy having free reign on all the toys, and he has also started pre-school. We are doing a little co-op preschool with some friends from church. He goes once a week for 2 hours. Each week we take turns teaching, so I only have to teach the kids once every 5 weeks. It is great! Christian has been so proud that he is going to school, and he is already learning so much!

Such a busy Summer!

2009-08-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

I am a detail oriented person. When I blog, I like to include details about things. How else would you be able thoroughly experience what I am trying to express? Unfortunately, and fortunately at the same time, I have had such a busy fun summer that I haven't had time to blog at all. So now that things are winding down, I find myself putting off the recording of my memories because there are too many now, and I don't have the time or patience to do any of them justice through blogging. I have finally come to the conclusion now however that It's better to at least jot down the highlights, and get on with my life. So please understand how painful it is for me to only post a few pictures of each thing, and hardly any detail. I promise in the future I will try not to be so boring!
Now, where to begin...?

Fathers Day

My sweet boys made Sam these beautiful ties for Father's day. He was such a good sport and actually wore them to church. The best part was that they asked him to help pass the sacrament, so the whole ward got a good look at them. I love him.

Sam's parents came to see us in the end of june.

We went to Chimney Rock state park, film site of last of the mohicans. Beautiful.

20 Minutes away was the Biltmore house. The Nations largest estate, where you can take a tour of the house and the expansive gardens.

My favorite part was when Nicholas found this water fountain and exclaimed "Look mom! A potty mouth!".

4th of July

We went to the Children's Parade in Durham. They had a bunch of scrap materials and you got to pick through them and decorate your ride. Nick was adorable. He waved at everyone watching and said "Happy fourth of July!". They had a fire truck there for the children to explore and after the parade they got out the hose and sprayed it out on the grass for the children to run through. My boys loved it!

My parents came to visit.

When my parents came we went out to Washington DC. Sam and I went there last summer with my sister's family, so when we went with my parents we saw a lot of the same things, except this time we scheduled a tour of the Capitol and we saw a lot more Abe Lincoln sites because my Mom is a huge Lincoln fan . You have to book this several months in advance with your senator. An intern from his office gives you a personal tour. Sam even found a statue of his great great grandfather Philo T. Farnsworth-Inventor of the Television! Since we had done all that planning were really looking forward to our tour, you can imagine our disappointment when we were in the rotunda room- the dome of the capital, when suddenly some people started chaining themselves to each other, ripping off their shirts to expose black shirts with bright pink writing, and shouted "CLEAN NEEDLES SAVE LIVES! CLEAN NEEDLES SAVE LIVES!" Over and over. The whole building had to be shut down and all the tours canceled. Let me tell you, after that, I REALLY wanted to support their cause!

Since my Dad has a knack for finding 'hidden treasures', he found us a gem stone mine to go to as well. He saw a special on it on the travel channel. You can go and sleuth for real gem stones. It was RIDICULOUS to find, but my boys had a blast searching for shiny rocks, so I guess it was worth it!

My Cousin Dezra and Aunt Eva came to visit

Sam had to go to a conference in California, so Dezra and her Mom came to hang out with me so I wouldn't be lonely. I finally got to meet Dezra's little Levi (who Christian kept calling 'Levite'). He's a super cute baby and my boys had tons of fun playing with him. We went Blueberry picking-a NC must! We also had "girls night" every night that Sam was gone. We watched chick flicks, ate ice cream and brownies and peanut M&M's. It was a blast!

Nicholas' 5th Birthday Party

We had a pool party for Nick's 5th birthday. He had tons of fun swimming with his friends. He got a Lightning McQueen cake, which turned out to be a bit of a problem. Note to all parents: Avoid cakes with BLACK frosting on them!

Last but Definitely not Least!

When Sam got home from California, he brought me a REAL-not black market but REAL COACH PURSE! He knows I've always wanted one. I love him sooooo much, (and my new purse too!)

Knock! Knock!

2009-06-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

When the primary announced they were having a talent show, I asked Nicholas what he wanted to do for his talent. He didn't really know what a talent was, so I listed some common talents, sing a song, paint a picture, tell jokes,...immediately after I said tell jokes he got excited and said "Knock Knock jokes! I want to tell Knock knock jokes!" Now if you've ever heard his knock knock jokes, you would know why I cringed a little when he said that. Most of them don't make sense because he doesn't finnish them right, but he and Christian laugh like crazy anyway. However, since his is very into telling them right now, so I figured why not. The next week I was talking a friend of mine at church who has a son Nick's age, and when I told her that Nicholas wanted to tell knock knock jokes for his talent she started laughing and said that her son wanted to do the same thing, and she was worried about it for the same reasons. We decided it would be fun for them to do their talent together. So we did our best to practice with them how to tell the jokes right, and we let them each tell 2 jokes. So here it is, Nick and Ayden's comedy routine...(Except that I didn't get the camera turned on in time for the first joke)

I think they did a great job! (Even though Nick forgot part of one of his jokes. Yes, that was me in the background shouting 'Police':) )

Fools Mock

2009-05-27T16:27:00.000-07:00

A recent conversation with my sister went something like this...

N: You should see my garden, it's growing like crazy. My tomato bush has 15 tomatoes growing on it, and at least 30 more blossoms, and my so-called dwarf peas that were only supposed to get 2-3 feet tall, out grew their trellis, so we had to build them a new one, and they are taller than Sam now!
J: Wait, you have a garden? Where did you put it?
(I live in a townhouse)
N: In pots.
J: Where did you put the pots?
N: Up My front walkway, it was the only place that had good sun. We also found a spot along the side of the door for the peas, and we planted some watermelons in front of the bushes.
(Julene starts laughing hysterically)
J: It must look ridiculous! You just have a bunch of vegetables growing in pots up your walkway? You have to post some picture on your blog, I've got to see this!

I told her I would and then we continued to talk about all the things we've planted in our gardens. As ridiculous as it may sound, I am quite proud of my little garden. Here, let me introduce you to it..

MY SUGAR PEAS

If you look close, you can see where the old trellis ends. Below is a picture of them reaching the top of the new trellis.

This is the pretty pink blossom that comes before the peas.

These are what we have been eating all week, and they just keep coming. Every morning I go outside and there are more ready to be picked.

MY GREEN-BEAN BUSHES, CHERRY TOMATO PLANT, AND 1 OF MY 2 BLUEBERRY BUSHES

Yes, some of the green-bean bushes are planted in an old laundry soap bucket. Why not, it was free! And, in case you are wondering, the watermelons are planted right behind the grass-like bushes.
MY WATERMELONS

I planted them a week and a half ago, and they just came up on Saturday. Aren't they cute?

MY OTHER BLUEBERRY BUSH, BASIL, TOMATO PLANT AND ANOTHER GREEN-BEAN BUSH

This tomato plant and I have been through a lot together. For about a month it just kept trying to die, it was one crisis after another, but I finally talked it into living, and look at how it's turning out!

And so Julene, my garden might be a little 'out of the box', but it's growing like crazy! Now I'm daring you to post pictures of your garden, and we'll see who has the last laugh!

Outer Banks, NC

2009-05-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

When you were a kid, did you ever watch Pete's Dragon and wish that you could go to a lighthouse, climb to the top, and look out at the ocean?

A few months ago some friends of ours invited us to stay at a beach house with them in the Outer Banks. We love the beach, and we love our friends, so of course we were so excited to go. The Outer Banks is a strip of islands off the coast of NC. There is so much to see and do there, that even after 4 fun filled days, we still didn't get to everything we wanted to. We did, however get to see 3 of the NC lighthouses, which pretty much made the trip for me. My favorite, and the only one you could actually go in and climb to the top, was Cape Hatteras. It has been called "America's Lighthouse" because it is probably the most famous one in America. It was beautiful. Our wonderful friends watched our kids while Sam and I climbed the 268 steps to the top of the Nation's tallest lighthouse. The view was amazing!

We saw 2 other lighthouses on the same day, but the other 2 were not open for tours, so all you could do is take a picture. The Bodie Island light house was on the way to Cape Hatteras, so we stopped on the way home.

We found the Ocracoke Light house by surprise. You see we were duped into taking a 45 minute ferry ride out to the Ocracoke island because there was supposed to be a bunch of pirate things to do. Ocracoke is where the prirate Black Beard liked to hide his booty, and it's also where he was killed. Well, all we saw was a few pirate gift shops and a sign saying he was killed here, off shore. We did have a nice view of the lighthouse though, and we let the kids play on the boat dock for a few minutes before we had to ride the ferry back.

About 20 years before the English settled in Jamestown, VA, they tried to colonize an island off of NC called Ranoke. They left 115 men women and children, including the newborn baby Virginia Dare- the first english settler born in America, to settle a colony there. When they returned a few years later the whole colony had disappeared without a trace. Their disappearance remains a mystery today, although there are plenty of theories as to what happened to them. There is a museum there now with a lot of fun kid-friendly activities, and our boys had a blast playing there!

And of course, what is a Beach Vacation without a little beach time?

The last thing we went to see was the Wright Brothers museum in Kitty Hawk. It's located where the Wright Brothers made their first experimental flights. They have a big monument, a museum and big rocks marking the distance of each flight.

Easter

2009-04-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few fun photos from our Easter festivities...

Where is Joseph when I need him?

2009-04-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

I need someone who can interpret dreams. I often times have strange dreams, sometimes they come true, which sounds wacky, but I'm serious. When I was in college I dreamt that my parents house burnt down because of a toaster fire, and while it was burning I found the whole family in my parents bedroom watching T.V. I told them the house was on fire and they all just sat there. I asked them if they were going to do anything about it, and they acted like they just didn't care. A few days later I was at home visiting, and I noticed the kitchen cupboard was burned. When I asked what happened, my dad said that while they were all in his room watching T.V., My very young niece went into the kitchen, and tried to make herself toast. Somehow the toaster lit on fire and she was too scared to tell anyone for fear of getting in trouble. When my dad smelt the smoke he went into the kitchen and saw her just standing there and the cupboard on fire. Luckily it didn't burn down the house, but it's scary how similar it was to my dream!
The other night I had a really weird dream. I dreamt that Sam and I moved into a small house in Utah. Right after moving in Sam told me that the next door neighbors told him that the people who lived there before us used to let them use the front lawn to grow corn, and were wondering if we would allow the same. They also said that they would not clear the corn field after the harvest, that would be our job, and no, we did not get any of the corn. Sam told them it would be fine, but when he told me I was not ok with it. I did not want a bunch of corn in front of my house because it would look ridiculous! After a long argument, I went over to tell the neighbors that they could grow corn on our lawn only if they cleared the harvest, and we got at least a few ears of corn which I would even exchange for some of the peas I had growing in my garden. She refused my compromise, and I was the bad guy to all of them. And if that wasn't bad enough, I went into my back yard, and discovered that all of my pea plants had died.
Any takers on the interpretation?

What do you do?

2009-04-13T08:25:00.000-07:00

What do you do when....
You step out of the shower, only to discover that while you were in there, your kids climbed up to the high cupboard and pulled out the bag of fruit snack smiles, and ate ALL 13 SERVINGS, an hour before lunch, and are now going crazy from all the sugar? What do you do?

Well, I did what any good parent would do. I sat them down and showed them how much sugar they ate, and how much they should eat in a day, then I fixed them an ultra healthy lunch full of foods they don't like and told them that the only way to counteract all the sugar in their bodies was to eat it. After that, I made them scrub walls to work off all their energy.

Consider the Lillies

2009-04-04T17:44:00.000-07:00

Right before Christian was born I fell into an insane nesting phase unlike anything I experienced while pregnant with Nicholas. I think this is because before I had Nicholas I had no idea what to expect, I was busy on cloud 9, dreaming of how wonderful it would be to hold my sweet baby and be a mother. The second time around I knew what was coming and it scared me to death. The lack of sleep, the poop up the back, the feeding every other hour. That was all ok, but what really scared me was 2 things... that Nicholas had colic really bad, and my tailbone was broken while giving birth to him, which meant I was in constant pain for several months. I am surprised that I lived through all of that the first time, but I didn't think I could do it again, especially since I already had Nicholas to take care of. He was in the midst of the 'terrible twos', and he was a wild one with major tantrums. I was terrified of what was coming, and to make matters worse, it didn't look like I was going to have any family members able to come help me, and I was due right before Sam's finals in school, so I would have to do it all alone. In my panic I tried to prepare in anyway I could. I stocked my house with anything I thought I would need for the next 6 months. I filled my freezer with frozen dinners. I bought several packs of diapers. I washed and organized everything. A few weeks before I was due, I finally hit my breaking point. I was stressed to the max in anticipation of what was coming. I broke down and cried late one night after Sam had gone to bed, for probably and hour. I felt impressed to pray, but I didn't want to. I wanted to feel bad for myself. I cried for a while longer and then finally decided to pray. Afterwards I felt calm, and finally went to sleep. The next day as I was reading my scriptures, I came upon 3 Nephi chapter 13, where Christ is telling the 12 to take no thought for temporal things because the Father knows what they are in need of. He says to consider the lilies of the field...

28: And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
29:And yet Solomon in all his glory was not so arrayed like one of these.
30:Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.
31: Therefore take no thought, saying What shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32: For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33: But seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
34:Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.

When I read this I thought of the "Surprise Lilies" in Illinois where I served my mission. They were the strangest things. You don't have to plant them, they just pop up one one day in the spring, in very random places, and bloom for only a few short weeks. If He cares about the lilies of the field, how much more does He care about us, His children? He loves us, and will always take care of us.
That is when I knew everything was going to be ok, and it all was. I had a perfect labor complete with no broken tailbone, Christian was an angel baby who slept all the time, and my Dad was able to fly out and help me take care of Nicholas the first few weeks.
I'm so glad the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang "Consider the lilies of the field" in General Conference today. It is a beautiful song, and it will always remind me of that tender time when my Heavenly Father told me how much he really does care about me.

When I grow up...

2009-03-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

"When I get big, I'm going to buy all the toys I want, and then I'll shrink so I can play with them!"-Nicholas

A good spot.

2009-03-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

I remember as a kid, watching my Dad go out in the freezing weather with a ladder, climb the peach tree, and string it full of Christmas lights, and turn them on. It wasn't Christmas, and even if it was, the tree was in the backyard, so no one would ever see the lights anyway. When we asked him why he was doing it he said that he didn't want his peach buds to freeze. I remember in his garden he had tomato plants, and early in the spring he would go out, and put these ridiculous water tepees on them so that they wouldn't freeze too. I remember often times finding him out in his garden caring for it. Sometimes I thought he was a little bit crazy because he obsessed about it so much. I also remember though as a kid getting to go out and enjoy the fruits of his labors. We would go out to the garden and each get to pick a strawberry, some boysenberries, a peach, or a cherry tomato, and we would sit outside and eat it together. As we grew up, my Dad passed this tradition on to his grandkids. After being in North Carolina for a few years our first summer trip back home was when Nicholas was almost 3. He went out with Grandpa to pick some grapes and cherry tomatoes. This was AMAZING! To find out that some of his favorite things actually grew in Grandpa's backyard, and he could pick some anytime he wanted, was a dream come true. My dad has a little child sized bench in his backyard, where they would sit and eat them. Nicholas named it the "Good Spot". Anytime they would pick something from the garden he would say "Come on grandpa! Let's sit in a 'good spot'", and they would sit down and enjoy each others company, and eat some fruit. This became such a beloved tradition, that whenever we sit down together to enjoy a treat, he says "Let's sit in a good spot!" Of course the next summer Christian was old enough to enjoy the 'good spot', and he too often refers to it. This spring I got a hankering to grow a garden of my own. This would prove difficult since I live in a townhouse. There were a few places where I thought it might work, but when I watched the sun, the spots didn't get enough sunlight to grow anything. This was discouraging. Then one day when I was at Sam's club, I saw some blueberry bushes for sale. Sam and I have LOVED blueberry picking out at the U-Pick farm, and often talked about owning our own bushes someday. Then I remembered that our neighbors had a blueberry bush in a pot. For the next few days I kept thinking about what fun it would be to have our own blueberry bushes, and maybe we could plant a small container garden too. Finally we decided to do it. When I told Nicholas we were going to plant a garden, he was so excited that he went right outside and started digging! That night I asked the boys what they wanted to plant in the garden. Nicholas immediately shouted "Tomatoes!". Christian shouted "Pants!". Pants? We told him it had to be a food. Again he said pants. I guess you can't blame the kid, every pair he owns has a hole in each knee! We went out and bought all the supplies, seeds and plants and got stared. Nicholas insisted we grow a watermelon, which I don't think you can do in a container, but just to appease him, we bought a pack of seeds, and will plant some in the ground, and see what happens. My blueberry bushes came in a pack of 4 , and I had to plant them in the pots which was a learning experience, but I got some help from my neighbor who also has a potted blueberry bush, and I'm really excited to see them grow, and hope that they survive long enough to make blueberries (It takes 3 years before you get blueberries)! So, this being my first container garden, if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it!

A Day of Firsts...

2009-02-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

The last time I took my boys to the mall to get their pictures taken it was a NIGHTMARE! I'm not kidding. Imagine with me 2 hours of rowdy boys running circles around the studio, and every time the photographer would get them in a pose they would run away before she could take the shot, or one would push the other one off the bench. Finally we came away with this shot. It's cute huh?

Do you want to know why Christian looks so happy? Because he is standing on Nicholas, and Nicholas is saying "Owe! Owe! Owe!". Why are Children cutest when they are being naughty?

After that experience I was not looking forward to taking them to the mall today for Valentines pictures, but I had a good coupon, so I was willing to try. I did everything I could to prepare for the event. I stuffed my purse full of fruit snacks for bribes, I drilled them on what they were going to do..."Stand where the lady tells you to", "Don't move", "Smile nice like this", "If Christian gets up to run you stay put", "Don't go behind the curtain!" If they behaved then we would go to Barnes and Noble after to play at the train table. This time around it was a whole different story. They actually behaved (for the most part)! We got several good shots and were done in 20 minutes! Yes, you read that right, 20 minutes. A record! We did have to pull out the fruit snacks, and sill had a few pushes and escapes, but the photographer bribed them with a balloon when they were done, and that really worked well.

Feeling incredibly successful we headed to the See's Chocolate booth to get the boys a sucker treat and then to Barnes and Noble. I couldn't help but be amazed by the fact that I was actually enjoying our trip to the mall. I never enjoy the mall with my boys! As I watched the boys play with the trains I just tried to enjoy the moment. There was one other kid playing too, a cute 1 year old who could barely walk. After a few minutes Nicholas decided he wanted to look at a few books. He brought one to me and just as I started to look at it I heard the little boy start to scream. I looked up and Christian was saying "My trains!" I looked down and there on the cute little boys arm was a full on deep bite mark left by Christian! The kind that leaves bruises on Nicholas for weeks. The poor boy was inconsolable. I felt terrible! I apologized to his dad over and over, and made Christian say sorry too. We immediately packed up and went home. So much for an enjoyable trip to the mall!

Later today Nicholas and I were in the back yard playing with his friends. Suddenly Nicholas got the idea that he wanted to ride Johnny's bike. It doesn't have training wheels on it, and Nicholas has never ridden without training wheels before. I decided why not give it a try. The first few times I let go he fell almost right away, but after about 10 minutes of trying he was riding all over the place! I couldn't believe it! We tried to get it on video, but it didn't work very well. I was so proud of him!

Tonight for family home evening we made Valentines for the boys friends and for Nick's class at school. I have to say we got the easiest valentines ever! I found them at Sam's club. A big box of heart shaped fruit snacks. Each pack had a place to write "To" and "From" with a sharpe marker so it wouldn't rub off. It was great! I had all of them labeled in 5 minutes. As I was labeling them Nicholas came over and started picking up each one and reading the names on them! He was actually reading them! I had no idea he could do that! I was shocked and so proud!

What a crazy day!

Thoughts from the world of Nicholas

2009-01-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Sam-"Natalie why are you making cookies? It's 11:30, just make lunch."
Me-"Oh, that's true. Nick what do you want for lunch?"
Nicholas-"Oh mom, Daddy doesn't know what he's talking about. We need to make cookies!"

Nicholas and I went to tour an Elementary School today to see if we want him to go there for kindergarten next year. While sitting in the office waiting to meet with the principle, Nicholas noticed 2 older boys waiting to talk to the secretary. He looked up at the first with big eyes and said "Wow! Your a big kid!", eyes even wider... "Do you run FAST?" The kid looked at him weird and the quietly said "yes". Nick then looked at the next boy and said "You're a big kid too! Do you run fast?" Another weird look with a quiet "yes". Nicholas loved the idea of going to school with big kids who could run FAST!

Guess What!!!???

2009-01-20T16:21:00.000-08:00

IT SNOWED TODAY!!!!!!!!! When I opened the window this morning, I saw a very unusual sight. A blanket of white snow covering everything! My boys were ecstatic! "Yea!!!! Mom Can we go outside and build a snowman with a carrot and throw snowballs and go ice skating?" It only snows here once or twice a year. Most of the time when it does, it melts as soon as it hits the ground. This is great because I think snow is fun for a day to play in, but I otherwise hate living with it. However it is a problem for the people who have lived here all their lives because they have no idea how to drive in the snow. Even though there wasn't more than an inch or two of snow on the road, there were 24 accidents in Durham before 10 am this morning. Since this is the case, they just shut everything down so that no one has to drive in it. That's right school was canceled today for the snow, and it's canceled for tomorrow because the snow didn't melt all the way yet. Being from Utah this is insane because we could have a foot of snow on the road and still have to go to school. But in a small way I was glad that school was canceled because I got to go out and play in the snow with my boys. We put on as many layers as we could since my boys don't really have snow clothes, and went out to play with all the neighbor kids. They had a blast throwing snow, making snow angels, pretending to ice skate by sliding their feet, and for some odd reason they really loved wiping the snow off of all the cars, all the while Nicholas was grinning from ear to ear saying "This is sooo fun!". My favorite though was that they tried to play like they normally do outside, you know riding bikes and scooters, which didn't work very well. After about an hour when my boys feet finally started to freeze (all they have is canvas shoes which got wet pretty quick!) we went in to warm up with a nice cup of hot chocolate and plenty of mini marshmallows. It was a great morning!

My little princesses!

2009-01-16T16:49:00.000-08:00

I always wanted a baby girl. There is just something so fun about trying on jewelry and fluffy dresses, putting on make up, painting nails and playing with dolls. Since I only have boys, I was starting to think that this was something I wouldn't get to do with my kids. Boy was I wrong! We went to our neighbor's little girls birthday party last week, she was turning 2 and she got a bunch of princess dresses for her birthday. After she opened them her mom put one on her, and since there was only one other girl there she asked if she wanted to wear a dress too. When Christian saw the 2 girls all dressed up pretty, he shyly came to me and quietly said "I want pretty dress too!" In his innocent little 2 year old mind he had no idea why he wasn't asked if he wanted to wear a princess dress. I told him to go ask Brooke if he could try one on, so he boldly walked up and shouted "Brooke!!! I want to try!" Of course she had no idea what he wanted so I told her that he wanted to try on a dress too. When they put a skirt on him, he proudly walked around and showed it off! Since Christian was man enough to try one on, this opened the flood gates for all the other boys there! Before you knew it we had every kid all dressed up and twirling in the pretty princess dresses! They had so much fun! It's too bad they will probably kill me for sharing this 10 years from now!

Nick with his best friend Johnny at the party. Aren't they so pretty?

Heaven help me! I'm a grandma at 28!

2009-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

My neighbor had a baby a few weeks ago. A few days later, I walked into my boys room to discover that they had balls stuffed up their shirts. Nick looked at me and said "Look mom! I have a baby in my tummy!" Then he dropped the ball, and grinned as he said "Now look! My baby came out!" for an hour we played taking them to the hospital, I was the doctor who got the babies out, and then we wrapped the balls up in blankets, and we admired their pretty baby girls. Yes, they both had girls, which surprisingly was their idea! I figure if they are going to make me a grandma when I'm only 28, at least I finally got some girls!

The proud Daddies!

Have you ever had one of those days...

2009-01-01T15:55:00.000-08:00

When every time you turn around your kids are destroying something...

And then you sit down to lunch with them and see their chocolate milk mustaches and can't help but love them anyway?

Santa

2008-12-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

A few days before Christmas we took the boys to the mall to see santa. It went surprisingly well. Last year Neither of them wanted to talk to him, and Christian screamed the whole time. This year Nicholas gladly told Santa that he wanted a Hot wheels race track set, and a play kitchen with food. Christian was shy as always but he did manage to squeak out a request for a train without looking a Santa the whole time he sat on his lap. They got what they asked for, and they were so excited!

In fact Christian didn't want anything else. We tried to give him another present to open, and he absolutely refused it. He thought he had to trade his train set for the other presents, and there was no way he was going to do that! It was probably 1/2 an hour before we could talk him into opening any more presents, but I think he was glad when he finally did!

Nicholas was happy to see that the hot wheels race track he got attached to his trick-tracks sets for even more fun!

They both really love the play kitchen they got from Santa too. They have been cooking up all kinds of good food for us to eat. Yesterday morning I woke up to Nicholas with a plate full of pretend french fries. "Here mommy! I made you a wonderful breakfast, eat it up!"

"Should I call the doctor?"

2008-12-16T16:11:00.000-08:00

I went on a field trip with Nicholas and his preschool class. The whole time Nicholas kept pushing on his crotch. I asked him if he needed to go to the bathroom. He said that he didn't, but he kept pushing. Then he started adjusting his underwear. I asked him if it itched down there. He said "No, it hurts." "It hurts? Are you sure it doesn't itch?" "No, It hurts." Hmmmm. What could make it hurt down there? He continued to push throughout the morning and afternoon. Later we were outside playing with my neighbor who also has a little boy. I asked he what she thought it might be. I wondered if boys could get a bladder infection? She said they could, but it's rare. I told Nicholas that if it didn't stop bothering him, then we might have to take him to the doctor. When it was nap time I told Nicholas to go use the bathroom before he went to bed. A minute later I heard him in the bathroom shouting "Hey Mom, come look! I got it out! Now I don't have to go to the doctor!" I hurried into the bathroom very curious about what "It" was. I walked in and he pointed to the floor and happily said "See! I got it out!" I looked down at the floor, and there was a little sprig of pine needles on the floor! I burst out laughing, just as relieved as Nicholas that I didn't have to take him to the doctor!

"Hey, Napoleon! Give me some of your tots!"

2008-12-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

So, we were walking through the mall and Nicholas slowly reached into his pocket, pulled out a cracker, and discreetly put it in his mouth. Nicholas is totally Napoleon!

Williamsburg,VA

2008-12-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

While Sam's parents were here we took a little trip 3 hours north to Williamsburg and Jamestown Virginia. We went to Jamestown one day, and Williamsburg the next. I was a little bit disappointed in Williamsburg, not that the city it's self wasn't fantastic, but the day we went it was very cold, my boys were sick with colds, and they certainly didn't want to stand and listen to people talk about the old colonial days. It really wasn't as kid-friendly as I thought it would be either, and you had to pay extra for everything. Overall it was still fun to see what we did. The Governor's Palace (extra money) was very fun to see. After the tour you could walk around the gardens, and they had a real hedge maze to walk through! We also saw the Fife and Drum parade, which was short, but the boys loved it! Grandma even bought them each their own tin flute, and the whole town got to 'enjoy' my boys beautiful music. We toured as many houses and shops as we could before the boys begged us to take them home.

Jamestown

2008-12-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

JAMESTOWN

If you have kids, I would have to say Jamestown is the better of the 2. It is the historic town for the early pilgrims and settlers here in america. They had a museum there with so many fun hands-on activities. There where 3 main areas. The first was Pocahontas' village. We could walk through the huts and see the way they lived. Nicholas got to grind some corn into corn meal, and we learned how they made made rope from the stuff that is inside of a stick.

The next area was the water front with real ships that you could climb on and look around. I think this was one of the boys favorites! Nicholas kept calling them pirate ships!

The boys also learned how to make a canoe by burning out the center and then used seashells to scoop out the ashes.

Last there was the pilgrim's village. The boys helped fertilize the farm with ashes. They got to walk through all the homes, and buildings. Nicholas preached a sermon in the church. They wore armor while they listened to the gun demonstration, Nicholas didn't want to be shot! but even with all that fun, the thing that Nicholas was most intrigued by was the nail making. He stood there and watched the guy make nail after nail without making a sound.

Grandma and Grandpa!

2008-12-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

So, when Sam's mom was here last July, she told Nicholas that Grandpa would come to visit soon. That's not a good thing to tell a 4 year old. Everyday for weeks he asked if Grandpa was there yet. Finally He stopped asking. I decided not to tell him that they where coming this time until right before they got here. When I did tell him that Grandma was coming and that she was actually bringing Grandpa with her this time, He looked at me, laughed, and said "Silly Mommy! Grandpa's Not a PRESENT!". I guess it doesn't take very many Grandma visits for a kid to figure out that they come with presents. The boys where so excited to see them! And of course being this close to Christmas, they did bring presents. Nicholas got a guitar, and Christian a drum set. We had a whole band! Nicholas insisted that Daddy get out his guitar, and play songs with him. We had a concert rocking out to Nick's favorite song "Called to Serve"!

Thanksgiving and Tree Decorating

2008-12-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving. We had some friends come over and we feasted for a few days on all the leftovers!

Then of course there was Black Friday Shopping. This has to be one of my favorite holiday season traditions. There is nothing like the rush of standing in line outside in the freezing cold at 5 am, waiting for the store to open, and hoping the entire time that the 200 people in front of you are not there for the same item you are! I got all of my Christmas shopping done in 2 hours, I got everything I set out to get, and I got great deals on all of it! What a great day! Then to top it all off, Sam actually asked if I wanted to put up the Christmas tree that day. This is exciting because he NEVER wants to put it up this early. He doesn't like fighting the kids off of it. In fact there have been several years when he has tried to talk me out of putting it up all together! So we put up the tree. Since then we have of course had several casualties when it comes to broken ornaments, but luckily most of them weren't worth much anyway. Except for when Christian knocked down the tree. The only ornament that broke was on that was given to me on my mission by a lady I taught. It was hand painted on the inside. Very beautiful. Sam said I should just leave it in the box. I put it at the top so that the boys couldn't play with it. I didn't even think about the tree getting knocked over on it. That was sad.

Update...

2008-12-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate it when you get behind on blogging, and suddenly you have a million things to post about, but you keep putting it off because there is way too much? My last few weeks have been super busy with Thanksgiving, black friday shopping, Sam's parents coming to visit, a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, Sam's birthday, and several trips to the doctors to try and figure out why Christian has been throwing up so much lately . So instead of trying to write about everything, I'll just post a few pictures, and let them do the talking.

Here it is folks....

2008-11-24T16:53:00.000-08:00

You might be wondering what that 'special' dish is that you are going to make for Thanksgiving this year. You might be looking through all kinds of cook books, trying to find something to WOW your guests. Well look no further! I've got what you need, and it's a lot easier than you think. You see 2 years ago Christian was born the day before Thanksgiving. Sam thinks the Heavens were smiling down on us that day. Not because we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy who was delivered by an Angel-literally the doctors name was Angel. This was great, but the reason the Heavens were smiling down on us is because instead of the usual meals ward members bring when a new baby comes, several people got together and brought us a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner (which fed us for at least 3 or 4 days!). It was all so yummy that I hate to pick favorites, but the sweet potato casserole was something we will never forget. I had never before even liked sweet potatoes, but Sam made me try them. We found ourselves fighting over the last few bites. Of course Sam nagged me endlessly until I got the recipe from the lady who brought it. Since then we have made it several times, not just on Thanksgiving, but for just about any occasion we can think of, and I have yet to come across someone who didn't like it. In fact the most common comment we hear is "I have never liked sweet potatoes until this moment!" So if you are looking for that dish that will be talked about for years to come, here it is...

Sweet Potato Casserole

1-40 oz can of sweet potatoes drained and mashed
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Mix ingredients together. Pour into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with mini marshmallows and bake at 300 F until lightly browned, about 45 mins- 1 hour.

Please resist the urge to spice it up with cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice. This is a typical southern recipe and it is perfect as is.

Happy Thanksgiving and Enjoy!

CHRISTIAN IS 2!!!!!!

2008-11-22T16:12:00.000-08:00

Contrary to popular belief, Christian turned 2 today, and not 3. This was evident by the way he whacked me over and over as I sang "Happy Birthday" to him this morning. Oh how I love the terrible 2's! I have had a number of people guess that he was turning 3, which is in line with the fact that when he turned 1, people thought he was 2. I guess he is a tall 2 year old, and he does speak pretty clearly. The one that gets me though is when I am out shopping and I'll have the two boys in the cart, and people will ask me if they are twins! It's actually happened several times. This is funny because not only are they almost 2 -1/2 years apart, but I don't even think they look like each other at all! Anyway... He is 2 today and I am so happy we have him in our family. I love his sweet hugs and kisses. I love listening to him sing-his favorites are..Old MacDonald had a farm, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, and twinkle twinkle little star. I love his wild hair with all his cal-licks, his fat little nose, and those eyelashes-long and black! He has a feisty streak that just cracks me up! Unfortunately I even adore him when he is being a beastly 2 year old, which makes it hard to discipline him seriously.

For his Birthday he got a pack of trucks, a Diego jacket, and a Diego trike-Yes, Diego is his favorite! We also took the boys to see the new Disney movie "Bolt". This is the first time we have taken the boys to a movie theater because they don't even sit through movies at home, but we thought it would be fun to try. The movie was great, and Christian really got into it. There were a few time when he stood up and was yelling at the screen! Of course about halfway into it, Nicholas got restless and started switching chairs all over the theater-luckily there was only about 20 people there, so he had lots of seats to choose from!

We had our traditional mini Cold Stone Ice cream cake, which was a perfect way to end the day. I love Christian and I'm so happy he was born!

I was so mad!

2008-11-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

I had a nightmare last night that someone stole all my credit cards and went on a massive shopping spree. You know you are cheap when the worst part about it was the fact that they paid FULL PRICE for things! I woke up so mad that I couldn't go back to sleep!

It runs in the family...

2008-11-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

In my home growing up, we were never forced to eat anything we didn't like. In fact it seems that my mother would go to great lengths sometimes to make sure there was always something everyone liked, which is a tall order when you have 7 kids. I remember many times having 2 main courses to chooses from at dinner. Usually one with and one without onions, because not everyone liked onions. This is why for Thanksgiving, we not only had a turkey, but also a ham, or a roast, because not everyone (Pam) liked turkey. We also had several kinds of pies. Now some of you might be wondering why my mother didn't just tell us to eat it or starve, or force it in until we learned to like it. The reason is because when she was a child her mother would make her eat peas. She HATED peas. She told us all about how she would sneak them into her napkin and then hide them behind her dresser. They disgusted her so much that she vowed that she would never make her kids eat anything they didn't want to. As best as I can remember, I don't recall ever being forced to eat anything, and we were never served peas. I couldn't help but think of this when we were having dinner the other night. I had made a chicken, rice and veggie casserole for dinner. A recipe that I had never tried before, and to be honest it wasn't spectacular. Christian didn't care for it in the least, and after eating only two bites, I looked over and saw him carefully scooping it up one fork-full at a time and placing it under his plate. Unfortunately for him his hiding place was a bit more obvious than my mothers, and he was caught right away, and forced to eat at least some of it. This of course caused him to come out in open rebellion against it. He gleefully grinned as he began obviously dropping it on the floor. So I made him get down, pick it all up off the floor by himself, and then I put him back in his chair with the plate and told him to eat it. He picked up the plate and turned it over and smeared it all over the table. So now with the ridiculous mess I have to clean up, and all the stress I went through trying to get him to eat it, only to have to feed him again later, I'm wondering if my mom's way of just making 2 different meals to begin with would actually be the easier route?

20 Minutes before the insurance guy comes...

2008-11-07T17:24:00.000-08:00

Finally after 5 and a half years of marriage, we decided we should get some life insurance on Sam-Thank goodness he hasn't killed over before now! The insurance guy was supposed to come over this morning at 9 am to drop off, and have us sign the policy. Since I could do that without Sam here, he went to work as usual. 8 am, I get the boys some oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, just like they asked for. 8:30 they still haven't eaten any of it. Just sitting there staring at it. I start to feed it to them in an effort to get them fed before the insurance guy comes. 8:40, Nicholas announces he needs to go poop. I tell him to hurry and do it so he can finnish his oatmeal. 8:45, Nicholas comes downstairs with poop dripping down his leg. "Um, mom? I think I need some help wiping my bum." I hurry upstairs to clean him off, leaving Christian at the table. When I walked into the bathroom I was shocked. There were poop puddles and pee puddles all over the bathroom, his last pair of clean undies, the toilet seat, EVERYWHERE! Oh, it was gross! The smell was horrific! I hurry downstairs (still gaging) to get some things to clean it up with. Christian had, of course, dumped his entire bowl of oatmeal all over the table and was smearing it around with his hands. Great, one more disaster! 8:55, I finished cleaning and sanitizing the disgusting poop mess, and quickly showered off Nicholas. Just when I was about to hurry downstairs to clean up the oatmeal, I noticed Christian digging in his undies. No! Are you kidding me? He had, of course pooped in his undies, and now had it all over his hands. Of course it was his last pair of clean ones too. So I hurried and cleaned him up and cleaned out his undies. 9:00, I quickly run downstairs to clean the oatmeal mess, and threw the towel in the sink just in time for the doorbell to ring. Honestly, how many things can go wrong in 20 minutes?

Wax paper anyone?

2008-11-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

So the morning after the ward trunk-or-treat Nicholas got up early and found his candy, and like a good big brother he made sure that Christian got some too. What he didn't do though is help him open them. We found several pieces of candy around the house like these pictured, with bites taken out, wrapper and all. Poor kid probably bit into the wrapper and decided each one wasn't very good so he just kept trying. I don't know how much of the wrappers he actually ate, but I don't think wax paper ever killed anyone, and I'm sure my sister has told me that she has found tinfoil in her kids poop before, so I guess he'll be alright?

Trick-or-Treating' Best Kept Secret!

2008-11-02T07:44:00.000-08:00

We live in an apartment complex across the street from a well known neighborhood filled with big expensive houses. It seems like everyone in town drops their kids off there to go trick-or-treating because people assume that the bigger the house, the better the candy. The first year we lived here a neighbor told me about it so first we took Nicholas trick-or-treating to our apartments, which are mostly filled with retired people, or college kids. Then we headed over to the big houses. The apartments rarely get trick or treaters, so they went all out with the candy. Handfuls of little candy bars, and some older ladies even made little bags filled with candy. His bucket was mostly full after only 10 houses. Then we went across the street to the big houses, and boy were we surprised! The people were giving 1 tiny candy per house! A tootsie roll, or a pack of smarties. Since the houses and yards were so big, it was a lot of walking in between and we finally decided it just wasn't worth it. So every year since, we just hit our apartments and it only takes us about 20 minutes to fill the buckets! This year we went out with our friends who also live in our apartments and it was so fun to see the little ones! We had 5 kids ages 4 and under. Their Chorus or "trick or treats!" Started way before the door even opened as all of them pounded on it and sometimes tried to open it themselves. When the people opened it, they all ran in and bombarded the person holding treat bowl as they each tried to get to it first. Then of course there was a chorus of 'thank you's as they ran to the next door. They were adorable!

Nick's costume parade

2008-11-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Nicholas' school had a Halloween costume parade. All the kids paraded around the school, and all the parents came to watch. It was so cute! Nicholas waved to everyone and said "Happy Halloween!"!

If you give a child a pumpkin...

2008-10-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

If you give a child a pumpkin,

He'll probably ask you for some seeds.
You'll cut it open, dig out the seeds, and cook them for him.

When you give him the seeds, he'll probably ask you to make a funny face on his pumpkin.

Looking at the funny face will remind him that it's Halloween.
And since it's Halloween, he'll want to decorate.
He'll make ghosts and draw spiders.

He might get carried away and decorate every room in the house!

When he's finished, he'll need a snack.
He'll probably ask you for some more pumpkin seeds.
And chances are, if he asks you for some more seeds,
He'll want a pumpkin to go with them!

"Where's all the PUNKINS?"

2008-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

So, you know it's bad when even the North Carolinian farmer can point out Nick's southern accent! We went on a field trip to a farm with Nick's preschool class. He was so excited because they were going to get pumpkins at the farm, and Nicholas and Christian are obsessed with pumpkins. Right at the beginning of the farm tour Nick shouted to the farmer "Where's all the PUNKINS?" He immediately said "Now, that there is how we say it in the south, PUNKIN!" It was such a fun trip!

This is Nick with one of his best friends Maura. She is on his soccer team and in his preschool class, and he just adores her, he talks about her all the time! (Note: they are not holding hands because they have to, but because they want to! Cute!)

When the kids are tucked away... The Daddies will play!

2008-10-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

On our beach trip I was amazed at how as soon as the kids were all tucked in bed, the Daddies became kids themselves. I saw grown men, all of whom were either Duke grad or law students, and MD Residents turn into boys as they discussed what would happen if one of them jumped off the balcony of the beach house into the swimming pool below, and using water bottles and side tables to demonstrate it (this is ironic because the very next day I saw Sam scold Nicholas for wanting to throw something off the balcony). They played 500 in the pitch black ocean for an hour, and Merrill even pulled Cami into the pool while she was fully clothed-shoes and all! she was by the way a very good sport about it! Is it possible that boys never really do grow up?

The Beach

2008-10-17T12:08:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about living in North Carolina is that we are just 3 hours away from the beach. This is great because you can go anytime of the year, not just for a summer vacation. Fall is perfect for NC beaches because it is still at least 80 degrees outside, and since it's 'off season' the beach houses rent for a lot less. Last may was our first trip to the beach since moving here 3 years ago. Sam always said that he didn't really care for the beach, so we never went. I think he said that because he grew up with Utah Lake as his beach, and well, who can blame him for not liking mud? So this being our second trip now we have fallen in love with the beach.

Nicholas could honestly spend all day chasing waves and playing in the sand and water.

This is about as close to the water as Christian would get without clinging to the had of his father-yeah, he's a daddy's boy.
Christian LOVES looking for seashells, and digging in the sand with trucks and shovels. He especially loved helping sam burry Nick in the sand.

And I could spend all day watching the two of them, listening to the waves, and looking at my boys tiny footprints is the sand.

Tag update...

2008-10-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

For 'special' people like Julene, When you get tagged you post the tag on your own blog :)

Tagged!

2008-10-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

OK, 7 weird or random things about me...

1. I have an OBSESSION with eyebrows. I can't stand to see people rub theirs backwards, and if I see someone do it, I immediately fix my own eyebrows.

2. There is a bee under a cup on my kitchen table waiting for Sam to get home to take care of it.

3. HGTV is about the only channel I watch.

4. The only TV show box set I own is 'I Love Lucy'.

5. I grew up in Provo, Utah, and I have NEVER been skiing or snowboarding, and I don't ever want to either.

6. I only ran track in high school because there were boys on the team, not because I liked running.

7. One of my mottos in life is 'Ice cream makes everything better.'.

Now to tag 7 lucky people.... Lisa, Lindsay, Amy, Julene, Kara, Kristen, Kate

Safety Week

2008-10-09T16:50:00.000-07:00

It has been safety week in Nick's preschool. They learned all about how to dial 911, they had a real fire truck come to school with a fireman to tell them all about fire safety, and he gave them all fireman hats and stickers to take home. They had a practice fire drill, and today Annie, a friend in Nick's class brought her uncle who is an EMT for show and tell. He taught the kids a few things about what he does and listened to their hearts, and had their teacher Mrs. Speight try on a neck brace for the kids. He also let the kids use their muscles to try and lift his heavy EMT bag. Nick had a great time this week and loved all this fun stuff, and by the way Uncle Tyler, When I told him that you were a firefighter and an EMT, you went up at least 100 points on the coolness scale!

Wait, didn't I JUST do this?

2008-09-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

Oh that's right, I did. Just under a year ago now I finally potty trained Nicholas after 6 long months of ridiculousness. Nick screaming "I don't like it mommy! I don't like it!" as he sat on the potty (Heaven only knows what the neighbors thought was happening!) Hiding in corners to mess his pants. I would make him drink 2 large sippy cups of water and then stick him on the potty, and 2 and a half hours later he would start to cry "I'm cold! I need my diaper back on!" so that he could pee in it. I tried everything people told me, none of it worked. 'Cold showers' only made him constipated because he would hold it in for days so he wouldn't get one. He was almost 3 and a half before he finally gave in. It was a nightmare I didn't want to repeat. You can only imagine the panic I felt when a few weeks ago Christian, who won't even be 2 until November 22, came up to me and said "Poo poo, mamma!", and had nothing in his pants-he was ASKING to go! Could I really do this again? I put him on the potty and he went. I was supposed to have at least a year before I had to do this again! I should have known it was coming. The kid has been obsessed with toilets all his life. EVERY-TIME we left the bathroom door open and the toilet seat up we would catch him in there splashing away. One of the worst days of my life was when he figured out how to lift up the lip by himself. After 2 weeks of Christian repeatedly telling me that he needed to use the potty, I decided I'd better do it when he while he's still really into it. So we went out and let Christian choose his pull-ups. He insisted on 'Go Diego' ones. He loves them. Several times I've caught him with the package hugging it. We've been going at it for almost a week now, and he's doing great! Yesterday he only had one accident! Today he had 2 but that's because the toilets at Target make him nervous. He even wakes up dry from his naps! I'm still not sure if I'm up for all this, but it's happening weather I like it or not!

The Good, The Bad, and The Even Worse.

2008-09-24T16:58:00.000-07:00

I pride myself on my shopping skills. I consider myself a die hard shopper. I love to find good deals. I love shopping Baby Gap clearance, and using coupons on top of the clearance price, and paying less than people pay for walmart clothes. I bought Nicholas' entire school clothes wardrobe including 6 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of pants and a backpack, all brand new, and all name brand for $35! I am one of those women who get up at an unearthly hour the day after Thanksgiving to stand in freezing cold lines hours before they open to get incredible deals on Christmas presents. But even a seasoned pro such as myself, has a bad day occasionally.

The Good: Bath and Body Works Warm Milk and Honey Pillow Mist.

There is something almost not right about how well this stuff works. I have to admit I was skeptical. I've never believed much of aromatherapy claims, but since I had a coupon to get it for free, I gave it a try. I have trouble falling asleep at least 3-4 nights a week, but ever since I have started spraying this pillow mist on our sheets at night, it's only a matter of minutes before I'm out. I use it on my boys beds too, and they fall asleep faster. My only problem now is that I'm addicted to it, and I don't have another free coupon, so I'll have to pay for the next one. But honestly this one is worth every penny. *Note: this one is not the popular Lavender and Chamomile spray, it is a new one with cinnamon and cloves.

The Bad: Nick's new birthday bike.

I figured that If we bought him a bike at Toys R Us, it would be better quality than one at Walmart. After looking at all the bikes we got him this very cool looking one made by Dynacraft. Not even 2 months later the crankshaft broke. Nick hardly even rode the bike! JUNK! After reading the online customer reviews (something we should have done before we bought it) I found out that this seems to be a brand wide problem because all the bikes made by Dynacraft had reviews saying the crankshaft broke within weeks of purchase. When I returned it to Toys R Us they would only let me trade it for a new one, which I refused because I didn't want the same problem, so they said that I could trade it for a different one, but the problem with that was that to get a bike that wasn't made by dynacraft, I would have had to pay $40 more! That's like buying a whole new bike. Finally after a lot of haggling they gave me in-store credit for the price of the bike. Luckily for us the same day all this happened someone from church emailed and said that they were giving away some boys bikes. We lucked out and got Nick a free "new" bike! I guess we can use our Toys R Us store credit for Christmas presents or something?

The Even Worse: Chefmate Electric Can Opener.

I don't know why but lately we have had very bad luck with can openers. This is our 3rd one in 3 months! The first one was a cheapest of cheap hand operated one from target. I think I paid $2 for it. It worked OK for for a few months, but quickly got rusted and became unusable. So I decided to splurge a little and bought a nicer more deluxe looking one at walmart for $4. Not even a month later the cutting gears somehow warped and it is completely unusable. With such bad luck, Sam and I thought that maybe we ought to try out an electric one, hoping they would be better. Unwilling to spend $25 on a top of the line item that did the same thing as a $2 one, I went with a $10 electric can opener at Target. I can't tell you how bad this thing is. I have had the most ridiculous time getting it to work. It takes several minutes to get it to line up properly, and then it sits and makes weird noises like it's trying to work, but can't, and then when you are about to curse at it and throw it out the window, it starts to work. My only hope is that it will somehow break quickly so I will have an excuse to get a new one. So the question is... Does anyone out there have a can opener they recommend?

The house that Nick built

2008-09-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Nick has been very into tools lately. I finally had to go to the store and buy him a little tool set and some "wood"(Floral foam), and "nails" (golf tees), so that I could keep him out of Sam's toolbox. He has been building and fixing all kinds of things. This is the birdhouse he built. I love it!

Soccer

2008-09-21T16:19:00.000-07:00

This is Nicholas' 3rd season playing soccer. With all the rain we've had this season isn't working out very well and saturday was the first game he's had since the season started in august. I have been amazed each season how different the games are. Mostly it's because the kids grow and mature between each one. His first season when he had just turned 3, the kids mostly ran around like crazy and almost never got the ball in any net, let alone the right one. His second season they had figured out that the goal was to get the ball in the net, not just to kick and run as far as you can until the coaches stop you. This season his games actually resemble games. They still don't have a goalie, and they still play every kid for himself instead of as a team, but at least they know to kick the ball in the right net most of the time, and they stop when they go out of bounds. We still get the occasional pick-up- the-ball-and-put-it-down-in-front-of-the-net-to-kick-it-in, but over all they are starting to get it. It's really fun to watch. Nicholas made 2 goals on Saturday, I was so proud of him!

Thanks Grandma Brady!

2008-09-09T17:18:00.000-07:00

Grandma Brady decided to put my boys obvious artistic talent to a more practical use and sent them some watercolor paints, and a pad of painting paper. Immediately after receiving them in the mail, they got to work on some masterpieces. They had a great time! Christian loved to dip his brush in the water cup more than anything, and discovered quickly that paint water is "yuck yuck!" Nicholas favored mixing the colors in the mixing tray to discover all the new colors he could make. What fun!

Nicholas' first day of preschool!

2008-09-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

Yea! It's finally here! I don't know who was more excited, me or Nicholas. We got up early so we could have a special pancake with sprinkles and watermelon breakfast before school. To every person he saw on the way to his class Nicholas said "Hi! It's my first day of school!" Class today was only for a half an hour so that the kids could meet the teachers and explore the classroom. He had a great time playing with all the toys and meeting friends. As we were leaving though he voiced his only complaint. "But mom! We didn't do any work today!" We have been practicing writing letters and coloring shapes to prepare for preschool, so he was very disappointed that we didn't do it at preschool. I promised him that he would get to do work tomorrow. All day long he made Christian play pretend preschool with him. I'm excited for him to go to preschool. I think he'll have a great time!

Hi! What's your name?

2008-09-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

When Nicholas meets new kids he often times forgets to ask their name, and just calls them "boy" or "girl". In preparation for making friends at school, we have been practicing what to say when you meet someone new. Today Nicholas came up to me and said "Hi! My name is Nicholas Loren Brady (he's very into saying his full name right now), what is your name?" I said "My name is Natalie Dorsey Brady." He looked at me excited and said "Oh! My Name is Nicholas Grandpa Dorsey Brady too!"

Um, the boys are being awfully quiet.....

2008-09-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning Sam and I were upstairs in our room talking while the boys were downstairs playing. Suddenly I realize they are being a little too quiet. My initial fear is always that they have gone out the back door to play, which happens more often than I would like. So I send Sam downstairs to check. He got halfway down and heard them talking. Satisfied that they were not outside, he came back up without checking what they were doing. A few more minutes went by and I still felt uneasy about how quiet they were being. My boys are almost never quiet when they play together. There is always screaming and yelling and laughing. So I send Sam down again. "Natalie! You have to come and see what they are doing!" So I go down. Now a few days ago I bought some candle holders that were white, and I let Nicholas help me paint them brown. Well he decided to climb to the top shelf of our linen closet, get the brown paint and paintbrushes and let Christian help him paint. Not only were the candle holders more brown, so were the candles, the buffet, the carpet, and my boys. Poor Christian must have been painted by Nicholas because he had it all over his back, and a big glob in his hair, which took 3 washes to get out! My main regret is that unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries before I could get very many pictures.

I was better off not knowing...

2008-08-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

A tradition we have grown very fond of here in North Carolina is a pig picking. Basically they roast a pig and everyone eats it. Since it has been roasted for like a day or 2, the meat is VERY tender and juicy. We have been to several pig pickings since we moved here, and our ward has one every summer. I have to admit not having grown up on it, it is somewhat of an acquired taste since the sauce they use is tangy like vinegar, not sweet like the BBQ sauce I grew up with. But, by the time we had been here 2 years we found ourselves craving it, and we just couldn't get enough. Our ward had a pig picking today, and due to confusion in the food line, I ended up not getting any of the pig for myself, so I sent Sam to get me some. He brought back a plate full for us to share, and as I started eating it I noticed that this particular pig was incredibly tender and very tasty. When Sam noticed what I was eating he looked at me shocked and asked if I liked it. I said "Yeah, why?" He said "Well that part was the INTESTINE, and I didn't think you would eat it.". He was right, normally I wouldn't eat that part. EWEEEE! I was so grossed out by the fact that I had actually eaten pig intestine that I couldn't eat anything else, which is such a shame because there was a lot of good food there. I hope this doesn't sour my taste for pig picking forever!

2008-08-28T10:48:00.000-07:00

Nicholas has been working hard to memorize his articles of faith for a program they were doing in his primary. So far he has #1-4 and #6, for what ever reason he can't do 5 yet. any way here is 1-3. I couldn't get the other videos to work, so I'll post them when I figure out what is wrong with them.
Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Did I mention I LOVE Craigslist?

2008-08-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

We got this swing-set for FREE on craigslist! All we had to do was take it down, load it in our minivan, buy a shovel to dig up the ground around it and secure it, and I had to make a new awning for it because the old one was sun-damaged to shreds. My boys LOVE it and want to play on it all day! It is a really fun set, just the right size for our backyard. You can't get a better deal than that!

6 AM.

2008-08-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Nicholas comes bursting into my bedroom. "Mommy! It's time to pick up my HOT WHEELS birthday cake!" He had been talking about it ALL week. It was all he could think about, thanks to my dear sister Michelle who told me about the hot wheels website where your kids can play car games for "free". I put that in parenthesis because if your kids browse the website they also discover a section where they can watch videos of other kids having a great time playing with all the toys they sell, which of course makes your kid want their stuff so you end up buying it. Not only was the hot wheels cake the only cake for him, but he also insisted that we take back the bike we bought him for his birthday so that we could buy him hot wheels trick tracks. Of course we couldn't take back the bike since it had already been assembled and ridden. But, lucky for Nicholas we had to make a pit stop at target on his birthday, and Sam couldn't turn down those big blue eyes telling him that trick tracks is the only thing in the world that he wanted for his birthday. He insisted on carrying the big box all through the store, and told everyone he saw "This is what I'm getting for my birthday!" With a huge smile on his face. Now that would be fine if that was all we ever had to buy. But hot wheels makers are not stupid. Of course they have other tricks that you can buy and add to the set, making one monster set. 1 week after his birthday Nicholas told me that he wanted to take back his trick tracks and get new ones because these ones are old now. He also informed me that Christian wants him to get trick tracks for his (Christian's) birthday. All in all he had a great birthday. He had a birthday party a few days before his birthday,combined with his friend Johnny who was turning 3 just a few days after Nicholas' birthday. We invited a bunch of friends and had pizza and cake at a park. It was a lot of fun. On his birthday we did all his favorite things. We went blueberry picking, played at the mall playground, the barnes and noble train table, got pizza at california pizza kitchen and ice cream at cold stone. What a day!

The birthday boys Nicholas and Johnny

What a party!

Each boy had a candle to blow out.

The infamous Trick Tracks, with new bike in background.

All the Doggies...

2008-07-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

Usually parents see it as a good thing when their kids are not afraid of dogs. Fortunately Nicholas is not afraid of dogs, especially since it seemed like everywhere we went in Utah people had dogs. Unfortunately he is also allergic to them and he breaks out in hives every time he touches one. Now the problem is that he isn't only not afraid of dogs, he is In LOVE with them. We never could keep him from playing with them no matter how bad they made him itch. It really is sad. It's like being allergic to chocolate or something! Here are some pix of his favorite dogs.
This is my brother's new little puppy. Nicholas just couldn't get enough of her!

My cousin's pug. Nicholas ran this poor little dog into the ground. She was on a leash and he ran her all over the backyard at the 4th of july BBQ. She kept having to take breaks because she just couldn't keep up with my crazy kid! He adored her!

4th of July

2008-07-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

Probably one of my favorite holidays, July 4th. I love parades, I love big family BBQs, I love fireworks, I love being festive, and you get to do all that in one day! As a kid July 4th was just as exciting a Christmas. I was hardly able to sleep the night before because I was so excited about the festivities. My family has been going to the big parade in Provo just about every year since before I can remember. I loved being there with my 2 boys this year and watching them love it like I did as a kid.

Kara's Wedding

2008-07-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of the main reasons we went to Utah this summer was for Sam's sister's wedding. I was great to be there with all the family. I think that one of the hardest part about living on the opposite side of the country from your family is missing out on everything. Don't get me wrong, I really do love life in North Carolina, and there is a lot I would miss here if we were there. 2 years ago while I was pregnant with Christian, Sam's 2 brothers and one of my sisters got married all within a few months of each other, and I had to miss them all. So for me it was fun to actually be there for this one, and actually meet my new brother-in-law, Devin before they got married and not like a year later! The wedding was beautiful and Kara looked gorgeous-(Devin is a lucky guy), and I think they make an adorable couple. I'm so glad I got to go to it all. I had a great time getting to know Devin and my other sisters-in-law better, and I wish we could all get together more often. Maybe someday we'll all live closer, I hope so!

My sisters-in-law, Kate (left) and Kristen (right)

Sam, Kara, Tyler and Ben

So it's been a while...

2008-07-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

When we got home from Utah, Sam had switched computers on me, and had taken our computer to school and brought home his school computer. Since the computer he brought home was a windows and the one he took to school was a Mac, I had to learn how to do everything on windows, and I'm still not entirely sure how to get pictures from my camera to my blog, so I just haven't bothered to post anything. A lot has happened since my last post, so I may not bother to post it all but I'll try to do what I can.

Camping with my Dad

2008-06-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid we didn't go on a whole lot of family vacations, with 7 kids in the family you can only guess why. On thing we did do at least once a year (or so I remember anyway) was go camping. I have to boast a bit about my Dad. My Mom never really liked camping so when she did come, we went to campgrounds that had hot showers, a swimming pool, and she took a portable TV/VCR to watch movies all week. Sometimes she stayed home and my brave Dad took us kids by himself. Now when I say brave I mean brave because 5 of the 7 kids are girls! Now that I am a mother of a whopping 2 children I realize what an accomplishment it was that we all made it back at the end of the week safe and sound. The memories of camping with my dad are some of my favorite. To this day I can't help but think of it when I see a big bag of child's play candy mix, you know the kind with the tootsie rolls and the dots. My Mom would always send us with one of the big bags full and we could eat all we wanted of it all week, that and the pudding snacks. We would go on hikes and try to reach the top of whatever mountain we were camping next to. We would find water in a stream or pond and get soaking wet. We would get the biggest stick we could find and call it our walking stick and take it everywhere with us. We would tell stories around the campfire and roast marshmallows. When my dad asked if I wanted to go camping with him while we were visiting I couldn't wait for my boys to experience some of the fun that I had as a kid. We went on a "hike" though it was more of a walk since my kids are small. They smashed and killed giant bugs with their walking sticks. They dug in the dirt with Grandpa's trucks. They played with their cousins. They threw rocks in the stream. They even found a puddle of water to get drenched in. We had a great time, Thanks Dad!

Our trip to Utah...So far...

2008-06-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a crazy 2 weeks! Since Sam was only with us for the first 2 weeks before returning home to school, we had to pack a whole lot of things in. So far we have been to 5 birthday parties, gone camping with Grandpa Dorsey and cousins, taken Christian to Aunt Dezra for a real haircut (with 5 calicks on his one little head, I just didn't know what to do!), Ridden a tractor at Grandma Jake's, had our family pictures taken, and have seen Kara Receive her endowment, and get married in the Manti Temple. We have honestly been busy the whole time!

Nicholas riding a real motorcycle at his friend Isaac's birthday party.

Playing at Grandma Jake's.

Christian's new hairdo!

My Boys with their little Cousin Alexandria, they just ADORE her!

I decided to do separate posts for camping with grandpa Dorsey and Kara's wedding because I have way too much to say about them, and it's late so I'll add those soon!

Summer is Here!!!!

2008-05-31T12:40:00.001-07:00

The pool at our apartment complex is finally open! Nicholas has been begging to go swimming for weeks and we finally get to! Of course we are leaving for utah in just 3 days and will be gone until the middle of July, so we have been making the best use of the pool while we could. Nicholas is the kind of kid who jumps right in, and Christian sits on the edge kicking his feet for a while before he will get in. They both have floating body-suits and I think they look so cute with their hughmongus chests!

TAGGED: SMALL GLIMPSE INTO MY LIFE

2008-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

20 years ago:

1. I was baptized and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints.
2. I sang a solo in the 2nd grade talent show.
3. My youngest brother Ron was born.

10 years ago:

1. I was a senior at Provo High School.
2. I went to Senior Ball with a boy Named Sam Brady.
3. I moved out of my parents house shortly after graduation and got an apartment that had shag carpet.

5 years ago:

1. I came home from serving an 18 month mission for my church in Illinois.
2. I took a country dance class at Utah Valley State College and loved it.
3. I was engaged to the above mentioned Sam Brady.

3 years ago:

1. I was enjoying the fact that my baby Nicholas who had cried for a better part of 7 months, was now 10 months old and finally happy.
2. My husband graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Physics from Utah Valley State College.
3. We packed up and moved across the country to Durham North Carolina so that Sam could go to grad school at Duke University.

1 year ago:

1. I was learning how to deal with 2 kids, not just 1. We moved into a bigger apartment just down the street that has a back yard-Yea!
2. Sam graduated with a Masters Degree in Medical Physics, but unfortunately that didn't mean that we were done with school because he was also accepted into Duke's PhD program, which meant we had 3 more years to go.
3. I completed 8 months worth of work on a quiet book for my boys, it was a nightmare project!

So far this year:

1. I survived having an ulcer and shingles at the same time, I wouldn't recommend that.
2. I checked off 3 of the things I want to see on the east coast... Washington DC, Disney World, the Beach.
3. Nicholas was officially diagnosed with sensory processing disorder and started occupational therapy.

Yesterday:

1. I took my boys on a long walk in their wagon down by the duck pond.
2. We went to Nicholas' soccer awards banquet.
3. I stayed up way too late.

Today:

1. I went to the WIC office. A nightmare, but a necessary evil when you are poor starving college students.
2. I Put my kids down for early naps.
3. I will watch American Idol.

Tomorrow I will:

1. Take Nicholas to Occupational Therapy.
2. Take my boys to the museum of life and science.
3. Watch the American Idol Finale and finally know who wins!

In the next year I plan on:

1. Enjoying the fact that Nicholas will be at preschool 4 mornings a week.
2. Voting Republican for President.
3. Seeing a few more places on my list.

Ok, I am going to tag Julene, Kathy and Kristen....

Someone tell me what happened!?

2008-05-18T07:41:00.000-07:00

I know It wasn't that long ago that Christian was a sweet fat baby who slept most of the time, cooed a sweet song when he was he was happy, eagerly ate all that was given him and begged for more. I woke up this morning with an 18 month old boy runs like a penguin, laughs like a french man when he is naughty, won't eat anything but cereal even if he is starving thus making him skinnier every day, who's favorite word is "NO" and who now goes to nursery at church! Now I've done all this before with Nicholas, so you would think I'd know that babies grow up fast, but for some reason it seemed like Nicholas was so much older when he finally got to go to nursery. I really thought Christian was still a baby until just a few nights ago when I looked at him sleeping in his crib and realized that he was turning into a big boy. Do you know what big kid means? Potty training, big bed, tantrums, independence. Am I ready for this?

VACATION!!!

2008-05-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

My sister Julene and her husband Gabe came out to North Carolina to visit this last week. I got to meet her adorable baby Jordan for the first time since he was born last September. My boys could not get enough of thier new cousin! It took a few day's for Nicholas to figure out that Julene wasn't aunt michelle, and he called Gabe "Gave" the whole time. My favorite was when he called him "Uncle Gavid" (he also has an uncle David, so he was confused). It was so nice to have them come, not only because it's fun to be with family, but also because it gave us a good excuse to finally go out and do a few things that we have been wanting to do since we moved here. We did a ton of things, and we took a ton of pictures, so I am going to do my best to recap!

Strawberry Picking
Of course we had to take them to our favorite activity. We got more strawberries than we could ever eat, and ended up freezing and making 3 batches of jam, and still had left overs!

After strawberry picking we went to Sam's club to pick up some munchies for our trips, and would you belive the former president Jimmy Carter was there?!!! Of all the random people to be at Sam's club. It certainly explained the full parking lot on a Thursday afternoon. I tried to take a picture to prove it since I know no one would belive me, but my darn camera has a delayed flash and this is what I got...

Mount Vernon
Friday we were off on our first adventure. Packed in the mini van like sardines we drove the 4 hours to Mount Vernon, Virginia to see George Washington's house. We told Nicholas that we were going to George's house. He told us he wanted to play with George's cars when he got there. He was really excited when he found them, you'll see them in the slide show.....

Washington DC
Our hotel was just 10 minutes outside of DC. A note for everyone... Saturday is actually a GREAT day to go to DC. There isn't really any traffic because the business people aren't there on Saturday, and all the parking meters are FREE on Saturday. I liked it becuase there was a lot to see, and you could see a good portion of it in one day, but you could also spend several days there if you wanted to, and still not see everything! It was A LOT of walking but we had a great time!

Emerald Isle
A bunch of families in my ward got together and rented a big beach house. We only got to stay for 2 days since Julene and Gabe had to fly home, but I have to say this was probably my favorite part of the vacation since it was so relaxing! We played on the beach for hours. At the end of the first day Nicholas looked up at me and said "Mom! Maybe we could sleep at the Beach!" It was awesome to make his day by telling him that he actually got to! Nicholas loved to jump and run with the tide, and run around with his friends playing "stop the train". Christian loved looking for seashells. By the end of day 2 he had both pockets of his shorts filled with seashells and as he ran the shells jingled in his pockets, which he loved! The house had an "alligator" (elevator) since it had 4 floors, and that was also a favorite, a long with rolling the pool table balls into the holes and making a triangle with them. Even Sam, who always says he is "not a beach kind of person" was talking about wanting to come back soon. I loved it!

How many times a week can you eat mac n cheese?

2008-04-29T08:56:00.001-07:00

So I feel like I am in a dinner rut. When you are on a tight budget, and food prices are all going up, it's hard to find a variety of low cost, fast fix meals. Out of lack of creativity we eat the same meals every week, and I'm kinda getting tired of some of them. So I'm calling out for recipes, and asking that people send me thier favorite quick meal recipe, preferably kid friendly! If you can't post it as a comment because you don't have a google account, then just email it to me! Thanks!

It's that time of year again!

2008-04-19T17:02:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wished candy grew on bushes, and you could pick and eat as much of it as you want? Well for Nicholas it does. Of course his candy comes in the form of strawberries. He has always been my fruit and veggie kid. He cannot get enough of them, and I am totally fine with that. You should have seen him when I asked him if he wanted to go strawberry picking. He jumped up out of his sandbox and put his shoes on fasted than he ever has before! This was the first year that bringing him was actually somewhat beneficial. He picked 3-1/2 pounds of strawberries all by himself, and I would say that at least 75% of them were edible! I was really proud of him. Christian sat in his stroller the whole time picking and eating all the green strawberries within his reach. When we were done picking them and paying for them, Nicholas promptly found a "Good Spot" in honor of the tradition he has with his Grandpa Dorsey, and sat down to enjoy his fruit. When we got home he dumped out his bucket of strawberries on the table, as it was halloween candy, and looked at and admired each one and told me how nice and red they were. This is my favorite time of year out here, I don't know why, but there is just something about going out to the u-pick farms and picking fruit with my family that makes me happy. Maybe because it has a lot of parallels with Lehi's dream of the tree of life? I don't know, but I love it!

Oh, what do you do?

2008-04-15T16:55:00.001-07:00

Last summer Sam went out to lunch with the medical physics director of IHC in Utah, for those of you who don't know that is the major hospital out there. Today he got an email from him telling him of job opening coming up, and he wanted to open it to him before opening it up to the public. Unfortunately, I don't think he realized that Sam doesn't finnish his Ph.D for 2 more years. I told him to just quit and take the job. Yeah right! Wouldn't it be nice though?

Which Jane Austen Character are you?

2008-04-15T11:12:00.001-07:00

Take the Quiz here!

I took this quiz from my friend Lisa's blog, as it turns out we are both Elizabeth Bennet, which is funny becuause when we met for the first time, neither of us liked eachother, and we ended up becoming great friends! I guess that is why Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite movies. If you take the quiz, let me know who you are!

The joy of Motherhood

2008-04-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

I love General Conference! I am always amazed at how the speakers seem to speak right to me, and at their incredible wisdom. There is no question in my mind as to weather they are inspired of God. I mean how else could a 79 year old man, Elder Ballard, know how young mothers feel, and what kind of advise to give them to help them feel Heavenly Fathers love? I loved when he said "The joy of motherhood comes in moments....Live in the moment a little longer." Amidst all the diaper changing, the fighting with thier friends/sibblings, the tantrums in emabrrassing places, the endless messes to clean, the meals to cook, and the constant 'on the go', there are moments of joy that make it worth it. I remember when I served my mission in Illinois, where baptisms were few and far between. We went to teach a second discussion to a 19 year old girl who was RLDS. Our first discussion had gone really well. When we got there the sat us down and said that before we started she had something that she wanted to tell us. "Here it comes" I thought expecting her to tell us that she no longer wanted to continue the discussions. Instead she said that she had prayed about it, and she wanted to be baptized! As my companion and I left that night we were overjoyed! We talked about how strong the spirit was, and how those were the moments that carried you when it all seemed too hard. The moments that made it all worth it. I never realized that motherhood was the same way until Elder Ballard pointed it out. My most favorite part is when he said to live in the moment longer... Here are a few moments which have carried me, and made it all worth it, in which I would like to live a little longer...
-In church when the opening hymn was "I am a child of God", Nicholas innocently sang out louder than anyone else in the congregation, and everyone noticed.
-Christian finally learning to give kisses without biting, and showering me with them constantly.
-The tree of life family home evening, when I put an apple next to a picture of christ representing the tree, and turned off the lights. Nicholas held onto a broomstick to get to the tree and when he got there he took a bite of the apple and said "The fruit makes me happy!". He loved it! 5 months later he still asks to play the rod of iron game, and runs to get an apple out of the fridge!
-Christian's ridiculous hair. He gets the worst bedhead I've ever seen, I die laughing when I look at him sometimes!
-Christain and Nicholas both playing thier harmonicas together and jaming like crazy!
-Nicholas' victory dance when we go bowling and his ball hits some pins.

Egg Hunt

2008-04-01T11:47:00.000-07:00

We had an egg hunt with all the neighbor kids in the back yard. We let the little ones have a head start, and then we let the older kids loose with one rule that the obviously "hidden" eggs were for the babies. It was a lot of fun!

Easter

2008-04-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

We bought the boys a sandbox for easter. It is very fun. We have sand ALL over the place but they play in it for hours so it's worth it.

Say Please!

2008-03-22T12:06:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before, Christian has been learning sign language, and he is doing a pretty good job at it. This is a video of his latest "words". He of course has his own way of doing things, so I am probably the only one who knows what he is saying. The sign for please is to rub small circles on your chest, but he just rubs his tummy. I think it's cute!

Babies...

2008-03-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Sam's brother Tyler called today with the news that his wife Kristen had given birth to a healthy baby girl. I love new babies! They are so sweet, they just melt my heart. It reminded me of when Nicholas was born. After they had cleaned him off (I didn't want him till he was clean) and handed him to me for the first time, I held him and gently touched his face and talked to him softly. He looked up at me as if to say " Oh! I know who you are! I've heard your voice a thousand times!". I think that is how it will be when the Savoir comes again. We will know Him, not because we have seen His face, but because we will recognize His voice, and the way it pierces our hearts just like it has a thousand times before.

More flowers...

2008-03-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

I am on the enrichment commitee at church, and I was in charge of doing the center pieces for the dinner tables. I was given a budget of $15 total to make 8 center pieces , which isn't much to work with. Luckily a lady in our ward donated some daffodills from her yard, and I was able to come up with these. Not to toot my own horn (well maybe a little bit...) but I think they turned out pretty cute. When the night was over we brought them to ladies in our ward who have been sick. The last 2 callings I had I really struggled with, I felt like a fish out of water. I guess those were the growing ones. But this one I have felt at home with and have really enjoyed, so it's been a lot of fun!

MUD

2008-03-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

After a full day of much needed rain, my little boys favorite dirt patch in the back yard, had turned into a mud puddle. After seeing their friends Johnny and Mckinnley playing in it, Christian thought it looked like fun. Before I knew it he was knee deep in it, and dirty from head to toe. Nicholas was surprisingly not too interested in getting dirty, he perferrred to poke the mud with a stick. They had a ball and were filthy by the time they were done. Thank heaven for bathtubs!

Art By Nicholas

2008-03-02T12:55:00.001-08:00

Nicholas Is VERY in to gluing lately. Ever since I let him glue hearts onto paper for vanentines day, he is always getting the glue and trying to glue things. Finally I pulled out my container of die cuts and let him have at it with the glue and paper. He had a great time! Isn't his artwork beautiful?

Wheatie

2008-03-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

Many moons ago when I was in collage, I had a friend who was named Josh. My roomates and I had given him the nickname of Wheatie, and how that came about was during one of those pointless late night group discussons. The topic of conversation was "If you were a cereal, what would you be?" We had decided that Josh was definently frosted mini wheats because there were two sides to him. When you first met him he was shy, and kind of nerdy looking, but then when you got to know him he was really fun. From that night on we called him Wheatie. In a way Chirsitan reminds me of Frosted Mini Wheats too. For those who don't know him well he is shy, sweet, obedient, totally laid back and very quiet. I have actually had many people tell me that he is the perfect kid. However those who do know him well, know that although he is all of those things at times, other times he has a whole different side to him. He is also fun loving, goofy, stubborn, and very vindictive. Yes, over his lifetime he has taken many blows from his brother and is certianly entitled to a few of his own, but sometimes it is down right hillarious and obnoxious how he chooses to get that revenge. there have been several occasions when Nicholas is sitting innocently watching a movie and Christian will walk up and stand next to him for a minute, then quietly he will raise his hand and WHACK Nicholas and then continue standing as if nothing had happened. If we don't stop him, he'll wait a few minutes and then do it agian. I'd love to get it on video becuase it is really funny. Other times it is less funny like when I am in the grocery store and Christian sits and hits Nicholas over and over as Nicholas sit and screams "Owe! he's hurting me!" and I try to stop him and he gives me this look like "I'll do what I want to do" whacking Nicholas again while not taking his eyes off of me to make sure that I get the point. He is a funny kid and he cracks me up daily. I am so glad we have him in our family! Here is a video of him goofing off...

Baby Sign Language Works?

2008-02-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

So about 7 months ago we tried to teach Christian sign language. We did the signs over and over to him for months and he would just look at us funny and never do them back. Finally after months of trying we gave up. Then 2 months later, out of no where, I walked into the kitchen and Christian was hanging on the fridge door doing the sign for "eat". At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but then he kept doing it all day whenever he wanted something to eat! It's amazing that he can communicate his basic needs now without screaming. A few days ago he was sitting in his high chair eating lunch and he started to do the sign for 'eat', I looked at his tray and he still had food on it, so I told him that he already had some. He looked at me and then did the sign for 'more', so I asked him what he wanted more of, and he picked up his apple and shook it at me. So I gave him another apple slice and he was happy. This is way better than when he would just scatter the food off his tray until you put something on that he wanted. He can do a few signs now, and he has also started saying a few words too! His latest word is doughnut. Unfortunately we ran out of them and that made him quite upset. He says new words all the time and it is so fun!

Nicholas' first time riding a bike

2008-02-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

Nicholas has a little friend named Mackenzie who lives just a few doors down from us. She got this pink bike for christmas. While they were out playing Nicholas decided he wanted to try riding her bike. He got on and before he would pedal he insisted that he needed to wear Kenzie's pink helmet in order to ride. He then took off slow at first, but he was riding like a pro and even doing trick within 15 minutes! I guess we need to get him his own bike now (hint hint Sam)!

For the love of my boys

2008-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I thought I would dedicate this post to the loves of my life.

SAM

I love his big smile. I love it that he is so intellegent. He works all day with numbers, words and signs that most of us don't know or ever will know what they mean. I love that he is so dedicated to his church callings. He always does his home teaching, and never misses a church meeting even if his wife is in labor. I love that he does all the laundry. I love that he gave me two beautiful boys. I love that he will sit down with Nicholas and read "The Friend" Magazine. I love that he bought me sweat pants for valentine's day a few years ago (even though I cried at the time) because he really put a lot of thought into it. I love that he took me to our ward valentine's dance last friday because he knew I would enjoy it even though he hates dancing. I love that he recognizes my need to go shopping and does his best to accomodate it. I love that he thinks I took this picture just to show off the haircut I gave him. I love that he loves me.

NICHOLAS

I Love his white hair and blue eyes. I love his dimple in his right cheek that you can only see when he cries. I love his enthusiasm for life. I love that he LOVES learning. When we tell him that it is time for our family home evening lesson he get so excited and runs to sit down at the table. I love that he can out run almost every kid his size, and even some bigger. I love that he will sit and snuggle with me on the couch while we watch a movie. I love that he eats fruit and veggies like they are candy. I love that he has half of his books memorized and he will "read" them to me word for word. I love that he sings his abc song to Christian to cheer him up if he is crying. I love that when we play hide and seek, he hides in the same spot every time. I love that he is happiest when he is making me happy.

CHRISTIAN

I love his fat cheeks and nose. I love his long black eyelashes. I love the 4 ca-licks on his head, especially the 2 in the back that go opposite of eachother giving him a natural mini mohawk. I love that he takes 3 naps a day. I love the quiet way he toddles around the house keeping himself busy with whatever interesting thing he can find. I love that he has mastered Nicholas' evil laugh. I love his wordless communication. His eyes and is pointer finger say it all. I love that he sucks on his two middle fingers when he needs soothing, It looks like he is saying I love you in sign language. I love that even though he is shy he holds his groung and will not be pushed around. I love that he makes car sounds when he pushes toy trains and "toot toots" while he plays with toy cars. I love that you can see his heart through his eyes.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

2008-01-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Christain has 2 loves in life. Nothing makes that kids face light up like the sound of the bathroom door, or the kitchen pantry door opening. Why? Becuase he loves to play in the toilet, and he loves to play in the garbage, which is hidden in the pantry. He comes running the minute he hears them open. Today I caught him eating the leftover peanutbutter sandwich from Nicholas' lunch that I had thrown away. Figuring he was hungry I made him a peanutbutter sandwich, and put the other one back in the trash. He refused to eat it, and just made a mess out of it all over his chair. A few hours later I caught him eating Nicholas' old sandwich again. I guess it just tasted better because it came out of the trash? He's a strange kid.

SNOW??!!

2008-01-27T06:14:00.000-08:00

Well here it is folks, the worst snowstorm I've seen in North Carolina! It was supposed to snow on thursday the 17th of january, so they canceled school just in case. It didn't end up snowing at all, so the kids got the day off for nothing. That's how it is here in North Carolina. The whole dang city shuts down if there is even an inch of snow. The one other time it has snowed since we've lived here, it all melted within a half of an hour, and still schools were canceled, the temple was closed, enrichment night was canceled, all because "the roads might be bad". It did end up snowing saturday the 19th though, and for Nicholas this was very exciting. He looked out the window and shouted "Mom! It's the first winters snow! Now we can build a snowman!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that there probably wouldn't be nearly enough snow for a snowman, an this was not only the first winters snow, but probably the last too. He was so excited to build a snowman that I finally put on his shoes, gloves and coat, and headed out with him to build a snowman no matter how tiny it was going to be. We had to go around and gather snow off of the cars in order to get enough for a tiny snowman. Once we had 3 bowls full we found a spot in the shade figuring that maybe it would help our snowman live longer than 1 day. We made the first lump of the snowman, and then the boys figured out that it was pretty fun to jump on the snowman, after my 3rd attempt to build the bottom lump of it,we finally stuck a carrot in our pile of stomped on snow, and called it good. Then Nicholas and his friend Johnny started to have a snowball fight. It was very fun! Nicholas was FREEZING by this point, so we went inside to warm up. As I exspected the snow was gone by the next morning, But that is what I love most about North Carolina, you get enough snow to have fun for one afternoon, and then the rest of the winter you can play outside with only a thin jacket on and not freeze to death.

What is wrong with these pictures?

2008-01-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

I'll give you a hint. It's not that he is actually sitting down. It can't be that he got sick after getting a flu shot, because the doctors all sware that the shot won't make your kid sick. It cannot be entirely coincidental though that EVERY TIME I get my kids flu shots, they have a fever for at least 3 days, they cough, they have yucky noses they whine like crazy, and this time they are throwing up and have the runs. Last year Nicholas not only got sick from the shot, but he still ended up getting the flu a few months later. I have only gotten a flu shot one time in my life, and that was last year-my doctor practically made me because I was pregnant and she said that it would help the baby to get an immunity from the flu. As far as I can remember I don't think I have ever gotten the flu. Now isn't that strange? I'm curious, in med school, do they teach them to lie about this so that people will get them? Because honestly, if they warn you up front that your kid will be sick for a week, you probably wouldn't do it. I don't care what anyone says, FLU SHOTS DO TOO MAKE YOUR KIDS SICK!

Watch what you say

2008-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

About a year ago Nicholas started saying C*R*A*P (spelt, not said), and when I heard it come out of his tiny little 2 year old mouth it sounded terrible, so we instigated the "no no" word. It really amazes me how much he listens to me when I don't think he does, becuase he was always the first one to catch you it you said the" no no" word. Sometimes I wouldn't even realize I had said it. After a few months we all got pretty good at watching what we say. Well a new problem seems to be arising. The other day Nichloas was putting on his pants, but he had them on backwards, and I kept on saying you need to take them off, turn them around and then put them on. Finally after about the 3rd time he listened and took them off, turned HIMSELF around and then picked up his pants and proceeded to put them on backwards again. Some friends and I do a co-op preschool, and today was my turn to teach. I was singing a song with the kids and I said reach down and touch your toes. Immediately one of the boys started to take off his shoes so he could touch his toes, I didn't mean actually touch his toes, the end of his shoes would be fine. So I guess my new problem is that I have to watch what I say, not because it's bad, but because it can sometimes be taken wrong. My sister Michelle called me this week because her 3rd daughter has serious 3rd child syndrome, which I admittedly had as well which means you feel left out, unloved, and everything is unfair, so you are as obnoxious as possible in order to get any kind of recognition. She asked me what I thought she should do because she didn't think she treated mackenna any differently than her other children. It remided me of something the Prophet Joseph Smith once said about the many people who claimed to be offended by him. He said that when someone accused him of offending them in some way he would always apologize becuase inevitably if he thought about it he could always see that there was some amount of merit to the accusation and weather he meant to or not he had offended them. It makes me wonder how many times I have said something that I didn't realize could be taken another way. Or better yet how many times I've been offended by someone who hadn't actually meant what I thought they said or did. I guess that is why we've been taught to forgive others, even if we feel like we have been wronged and the offender doesn't appoligize. We leave the judging to Christ who is the only one who really knows our hearts and intentions.

Happy Birthday Pam!

2008-01-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Today is my sister pam's birthday, and being out here in North Carolina I miss out on all of our family's birthday celebrations, which is sometimes depressing since I like cake and ice cream and I like parties. When it comes to eating cake, birthdays are perfect because you only have to eat one piece of cake. If you make a cake another day, without a party to share it with, then you have to eat way too much cake. Well, for Sam's birthday we discovered something truely amazing. THE MINI CAKE! You can get specialty cakes that are tiny, with only 3-4 servings, perfect for our little family. So not only can you enjoy REALLY yummy cake, but since it's tiny it's affordable. We got one from coldstone for sam's bithday for only $7 instead of paying $25 for a big one. So yesterday when I was at target I saw this one with chocolate and white chocolate mousse, I thought why not have my own cake for Pam's birthday? Which or course got me thinking, Why not have a mini cake on everyones birthday? So I just want thank all of you for having birthdays, because now I can have more excuses to eat cake! And just so you know Pam, your cake was really good!

China

2007-12-30T08:23:00.000-08:00

Sam spoiled me this year and got me something I've wanted for a long time. 4 place settings of fine china With platinum rings around the edge and if you look close you can see a white swirl pattern around the edge. Unfortunately it had to be special ordered, and it didn't come in time to use for our Christmas dinner, but I'm very happy to have it, and I'm excited to build it up and and to the collection.

Christmas slide show

2007-12-30T08:17:00.001-08:00

Sorry this isn't very long, our camera batteries died, so we didn't get very many pictures.

Christmas Centerpiece

2007-12-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

This is the Christmas Centerpiece I made out of fresh flowers and I posted a picture because I am DANG PROUD of the way it turned out.

Behold Your Little Ones

2007-12-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

A few days ago Nicholas came up to me with a blanket draped over his shoulders and said "Look Mommy! I am like Christ! He the proceeded to tell me that he was going to the tree to get some white fruit and that I should always be kind and good. Most kid his age dress up as spiderman or superman, and he wanted to be like Christ. At night when we put the kids to bed we sometimes put Nicholas to sleep in our bed until Christian falls asleep so they don't keep each other awake. 2 nights ago when Sam was moving Nicholas from our bed to his, he noticed that he had fallen asleep with a pen in his hand which he thought was strange but he didn't think much of it until he and I went to bed later that night and he discovered that Nicholas had taken that pen and scribbled all over my pillow. When I asked him about it the next morning he said that he was making a star so that Jesus could come. The First Presidency's message in the Ensign this month was titled "Behold your little ones". It talks about the Savior and reminds us of how in 3 Nephi, when he visited the people in America. He called all the children to him, and he blessed them. He told the people to "Behold your little ones". I thought about if my children were there, how he would hold them and adore them, and love them for all that they are, and not see all their little quirks that make me want to pull my hair out. I learned that I need to BEHOLD them, take them in and see them as the savior would. I have noticed that when I do, I am thankful for Nicholas' zeal for life and all that comes with it. I am able to cherish the star that now adorns my pillow because it is a symbol of Nicholas' testimony of our savior, his birth and life which was given to each of us.

Merry Christmas from Nicholas

2007-12-16T12:09:00.001-08:00

Here are just a few cute clips... one is Nicholas wishing you all a Merry Christmas, He'll probably kill me for posting this one when he gets older, but I couldn't help it! The other is when he finally got to meet Santa. He has been dying to talk to him to ask him for a train table for Christmas.

Disney World

2007-12-09T17:45:00.001-08:00

"Mickey Mouse's Big House"

2007-12-09T11:47:00.001-08:00

A.K.A Disney world. What an adventure! After months of planning and endless phone calls to my sister Kathy (who works there and got us discounts),and a 10 hour minivan ride, we finally made it. We had a great time! We walked until our feet practically fell off. We ate like the word "diet" was taken out of the dictionary-(Ghiridelli's ice cream sundae, need I say more?). We saw all there was to see-including the Orlando emergency room. And we rode every ride you can imagine-even the scary one that went upside down 3 times, and the tower of terror that has an elevator drop you hundreds of feet- which is even scarier when it malfunctions at the end and you really think you are going to die. It was a great week!

THINGS TO NOTE WHEN GOING TO DISNEY WORLD....

1. All of the toilets flush automatically, this can be frightening to a 3 year old.
2. The "wait time" posted above a ride is not always accurate.
3. At Walt Disney World dreams do come true, but you have to pay for them, so bring a FAT pocket book.
4. The Norway ride is the single best Norway ride ever invented.
5. If your child has asthma, bring his medicine or you end up in the emergency room with a nurse who says "Don't you know you have to bring asthma medicine when you come to Florida?".
6. Bring a thermometer so that the nurse can't give you a hard time about not knowing that your child also has a temperature.
7. Buses are great for naps- just ask my brother David.
8. The magnet store in Downtown Disney doesn't sell Disney magnets.
9. Wear contacts, not glasses or you don't get to see any of the rides you go on because you have to take them off.
10.DON'T drink the soda from Italy.

I am thankful for Christian!

2007-11-25T12:23:00.000-08:00

It was 1 year ago now that his beautiful fat cheeks and long black eyelashes made their debut appearance, and they have been lighting up my life ever since. Of course I am thankful for everyone else too, but since his birthday was on thanksgiving this year, I am especially thankful for him. We tricked a bunch of people in our ward into coming to his birthday party by telling them that they were invited to thanksgiving dinner (lets be honest, who would come to a birthday party on thanksgiving?). We had 7 families come, so we brought the Alder's table over and set it up in our living room, and put the kids at a coffee table in the kitchen. It was great! We had more food than we could eat in a week, and even more pies! I cooked my first ever turkey which was an interesting experience to say the least! Christian has always been one who LOVES to eat, so it really seems fitting for him to have a thanksgiving birthday. We gave him a mini chocolate pie with a candle in it while we sang happy birthday to him, and then we let him have at it, which was probably his favorite part of the day. Anyway it was a great day and I am thankful for all our friends who shared it with us!

It must have been GOOD!

2007-11-15T12:35:00.000-08:00

I gave Christian a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, and a sippy cup full of formula, and after devouring the cookie, he dumped his formula all over the crumbs and then bent over and slurped up the slop. What a mess!

Please tell me you didn't!

2007-11-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

You know it's going to be a bad morning when you get out of the shower and your 3 year old says "Mommy! I colored the stairs blue!" That's right. He had taken A blue sharpie and colored on the wooden part of our stairs. So I go and find the strongest cleaner that I have- C.L.R. to see if it will get it off, while I am scrubbing it he says "I colored more mommy." I asked him where and he brought me into the kitchen. There on the fridge was another blue drawing. So I took the CLR to the fridge. It took the paint off the stairs but not the marker, and it only faded the markings on the fridge. So I thinking "Great. Now I have to call the rental office to get the stairs repainted, and I don't have any idea what to do about the fridge. THey already probably think we are crazy because I have to call them every week with a new problem, you know last week with the lock out, the week before when nicholas ran THROUGH the sliding screen door. I'm sure they will raise our rent or something." While I'm on the phone with the rental office-who were really nice about the whole thing, Nicholas got a hold of the CLR. He comes up to me and says "I got lemon juice in my mouth mommy!" Yes, he had sprayed the cleaner in his mouth! I quickly stuck his head in the sink and told him to let the water run in his mouth while I called poison control. Luckily they said to just give him a big drink of milk and he should be fine. So that was my morning. If anyone knows how to get permanent marker off of a fridge, let me know!

Quote of the Day

2007-11-11T12:38:00.001-08:00

Today Nicholas came out of nursery with a little book about honesty. Later while eating lunch we were talking about being honest and I asked him if he knew how to be honest he looked at me and shouted "Mommy! I am NOT honest! I am a BOY!

Locked Out!

2007-11-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

Nicholas has a strange love/hate relationship with doors. At night, when he is going to bed,he freaks out and has a melt down if you close his bedroom door, actually even if he is in his room for a time out he freaks out if you close his door. On the opposite end, he has an obsession with closing doors. When we go to church, he has to close all of the classroom doors he walks past. Lately we have had a bit of bad luck when it comes to his door closing obsession. You see our apartment door automatically locks when you close it. The other day I was about to take the boys out on a walk, so I strapped both of them into the double stroller, put the keys in the stroller, and then opened the door and stepped outside to hold open the screen door while I pushed the stroller out. As soon as I stepped outside, nicholas kicked the door shut with his foot, locking me outside, and the two of them inside, and sice they were strapped in the stroller, I couldn't just have nicholas open the door. I had to go to my friend's house to call the appartment office, to have someone come open the door. The whole time I waited I could hear them inside screaming at me. I'm just glad it was duuing office hours so I didn't have to pay the after hours lock-out fee of $25. The next morning When the boys woke up they played in thier room for a while, which was nice- I could actually sleep in for a bit. Then they started screaming and wanted out. Sam told them to come out then, and Nicholas said that he couldn't because the door was stuck. He had locked it from the inside. Sam kept trying to tell him to push the button on the door and then open it, but Nicholas kept on saying it was stuck. Finally sam picked the lock, and as it turned out Nicholas had not only locked the door, but he had also pushed Christian's crib in front of it and then climbed into it. He can climb into it, but for some reason he still hasn't figured out how to climb out of it yet. So indeed they were really stuck. Then yesterday morning I walked out onto out patio to grab someting really quick and again Nicholas closed the door and locked me out. The Back door is really hard to open, so when I told nicholas to open it, of course he said he couldn't because it was stuck. Luckily this time after a little coaxing he got it open. I hope he outgrows this phase soon!

Christian walking- for real this time!

2007-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00