A Year in Review

2008 was a pretty good year for our little family. I mentioned it the other day, but we really lead a pretty charmed life (knock on wood) and I couldn't ask for anything more...except maybe a little monkey that didn't argue with me about everything and a husband who put his tower of dishes away (yes, I know...at least he washes them) and for me? a little less whining for sure.

I've never been one to make new year's resolutions. I just don't believe in it. I've got some goals, most of which involve successfully adding another person to our family and successfully by the end of 2009 not being the heaviest (weight) person in my family. Other than that? I want to be a good mom, live in the moment of our lives, and try to not stress out about everything. Hopefully there won't be any head banging into the counter tops or wrist banging into the sofa.

The other morning after his bath, Elliott and I played hide and seek for about 15 minutes on my bed. He was bare naked and I was terribly nervous that he would relieve himself on my fresh clean sheets. He didn't. Once our playing was over and I finally got him dressed I had one of those, A ha! moments. One of those - wow, life is great I love being a mom, I have so much to look forward to moments. There's a lot to be said for living in the moment and letting the kid throw all the covers over his head without a stitch of clothing.

I want to do that more!

And, because I haven't made one for a while, here's our year in review slide show. If you actually watch it, and make it to the end. Good for you...a gold star on your forehead.

Happy New Year!

na na na na na na you say it's his birthday!

oh, baby brother. today you are 14 years old. I remember the day you were born, like it was a week ago not 14 years ago.

I never thought I'd have a brother - especially one who is a giant , football playing, basketball loving, sweet skill owning, monkey loving uncle like you.

Remember that one time you got stuck hanging out with me when I had red hair? We were running errands and it was raining really hard and we ended up at the University of Utah. I think you wanted to go to the zoo but we went to the Natural History Museum on campus instead.

You weren't impressed. The best part of the whole afternoon was for you, probably lunch. For me, it was having our pictures taken in the musty, dusty old automatic photo booth. I've kept these dumb pictures with me for years. They were taped to my wall when I was a high school teacher and were taped to my wall when I had an office.

Over the summer I panicked because I thought I lost them - but luckily Ross found them for me.

Love that bowl cut kiddo - your hair has definitely improved over the years.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The Christmas Round-up

I don't know if your like me, but it seems that the older I get, the more stuff I get for christmas. It's crazy, but I am so very grateful for all that I have - my blessings, my family, my friends, my faith. My little family and I really live a charmed life and we had a great holiday this year - and at least for me, it was in spite of myself.

Wonderful gifts were given and receivied and fun times spent with family. The Monkey made a killing and definitely has his grandparents wrapped around his little fingers.




As for Ross and myself? This year was interesting. Last year we decided that we didn't need to exchange gifts with each other and we didn't....it was great. No pressure, no extra dollars spent and we still had a wonderful holiday. This year though - we seem to have gone all out.

Ross got his new TV and a few odds and ends he'd requested and I just got for him. You know the type: underwear, sideburn trimmer, book light, new shirts for work, that sort of stuff. His TV was an excellent fireplace for us all day on christmas. It was fun.

Me on the other hand? I was very happy with the thought and effort that my husband put forth. How stupid does that sound? Ross did a great job and I love him for his kindness and generosity - especially in light of the temper tantrum I threw on Christmas Eve. All of the gifts he gave me were great, but I was shocked at how nice and beautiful my "something special" was.

He bought me a new ring - he had to tell me that it's a mens ring, but I don't care. It's very nice and I just love it. (the stones on the top are black sapphires and boy do they sparkle.)

Naming #2

You may have noticed that last week there was a little poll for a #2 nickname. None of the names were anything that I was super jazzed about but I thought it would be fun to let the public decide. Well, 14 votes later and even with Willie's overwhelming voter turnout for "Schnitzel", Ross and I aren't sure that we have settled on a pseudonym or that we like the vote winning nick name, or the look of the character.




My dad and brother are settled however on Schnitzel so more power to them. Ross seems to think that Elvis is a great name (for a nickname an a real name) but I wholeheartedly disagree on both counts. I may love the king, but I don't want to name my son after him.

Just on my own in the last week or so, largely because he has started his kamikaze samurai moves on me in the late evenings and the middle of the night, I've been referring to the #2 as "little fart" or "squirt" and I've decided that at least for me, and this blog, Squirt it it.

It's fitting, and it works for me. The Monkey loves Squirt (and Crush) the turtle and since it will be his brother to beat up, perhaps his favorite character is the right call.

totally.

dude.

he's clicking. why is he clicking?

It's still snowing. It may never stop. We ventured about 10 miles from home earlier today and it took us almost two hours round trip. Good times.

Last night we got home from my grandma's and started to watch a movie. While we were watching the movie, Elliott started clicking while he was talking. He would say something like, "mama, play train" and then "click" his tongue. He's been doing it all day today, too, click. Pretty funny, click.



The snow is nuts, by the way. My wonderful mom, among other things, gave Elliott some snow pants, a coat, and some boots for Christmas. During a break in the snow, Ross took him out to shovel and play.





He lasted about 5 minutes - until he face planted in the snow. Then he was done to try it again another day.

Merrry Christmas!

To quote my husband, "Holy Balls, there is a lot of snow."





We were home today. Yes! No where we HAD to go. Everyone came to us - even with almost two feet of snow trying to block their way.

It's finally stopped snowing for the day and the snow is so bright that our house feels lit up, even though it's dark out. It's so beautiful. What is it about snow that is so peaceful (when your indoors and warm at least.)?

We had a splendid holiday with generous gifts abounding and no Christmas day meltdowns from yours truly. I had mine yesterday and it was a doozy. The Monkey, Ross and I are three very lucky people to have such wonderful family around.

Yesterday, we made sugar cookies. My boy was the roller. And he wouldn't let anyone else roll. That makes getting a lot of cookies done a bit difficult. He wouldn't taste the yummy dough either, but he did lick the flour off the rolling pin. Then gagged. He was a good helper though and such a big boy.



We hope that you all out there had a good day too.

Merry Christmas!

tis the season to be a bit more positive

today is better. Even though we were up from 3-6 am with the grumpy toofer we all ended up sleeping until 10 am. Crazy, right? But, can I tell you how wonderful and nice it is to wake up with the sun shining in your bedroom window - no snowflakes (yet anyway) and everyone happy. It was awesome. Even more awesome - our dad is home today and he and the monkey are gone running their errands and I'm about to go and do mine. Alone! By myself. Oh, so exciting.

That's not what I was going to write about though -in the spirit of the season I wanted to tell you about my hat project.



I ended up, in two months, making 20 hats (and finishing two scarves). Yes, can you beleive it? 20 knit hats - on the big loom. I finished my last hat, last Wednesday and I've felt a bit empty handed since. Of the 20, I gave 4 away as gifts and kept two - one for me and one for the monkey - so that was 14 hats to add to the donation.

I've been told that we ended up with about 100 hats or so which is amazing when you consider all the hours of time that were put into each one. Talk about service! I love service.

The hats were donated to the Midvale Homeless Shelter - which feeds the Road Home shelter down town. It's so good to know that there are some individuals out there that will have warm heads, which considering the weather this week - doesn't come a moment too soon.

Merry Christmas!

a negative equation...

1 hormonally charged, grumpy, tired, exhausted, teary-eyed mom
+
1 teething (damn molars!), grumpy, tired, exhausted 2 year old

+

missing buttons on a sweater
+

no clothes to wear because they are all dirty

+
too much snow in the neighborhood and on the roads
+
long line at the honey baked ham store
+
1 teething, grumpy, tired, exhausted 2 year old running away from his mom in a department store (imagine the ensuing panic on both parties)

+

even more snow blustering by outside our kitchen window

+

Christmas (my favorite holiday. No really, I LOVE IT!) just a few days away

+

one extraordinarily cluttered and messy house

+

un-shoveled walks

+

won't go out in the snow to get two days worth of mail

-

work (no work for 2 weeks! yeah!)

=

1 hormonally charged, grumpy, tired, exhausted, teary-eyed mom ready for a long winters nap. Under a rock. On a beach? In stretchy pants and a wrestling mask. Where no one can find her. Because she's under a rock (lobster?). Or beneath a dock. Eating green eggs and ham with a flock. Only wearing one sock. Where she can gawk. At a surfing jock. And then be the victim of mock.

Did someone just knock?

just in case you needed some CRAZY tonight.

Two posts in one day - I know, it's a bit nutty. But - my boy is nuts and I wanted to share just a small snippet of his goofiness. He's like this pretty much all day long, every day.

You see why I'm tired? All the time?

update: I know the date says that i did this on friday night, but I want you to know that I was working on the post when it was still friday night, but now it is early saturday morning (1:00 am) so I thought i'd finish. What dedication!

Toddler Friday: Nope, Nope, Nope and I don't know

We've officially started trying to make the Monkey aware of a the new addition our family will be adding in the spring. Regardless of how much we try - he just doesn't seem to care.

We've told him that there is a baby in mama's tummy. We only told him this because that's his favorite place to kick me when I try to get his clothes on after the bath in the morning and I just cannot take it anymore. So, every morning it's the same routine - he kicks and I tell him that he cannot kick me because... He then comes over to me, lifts up my shirt and says, "nope. no baby." Then he lifts up his shirt and I ask him, "Is there a baby in your tummy?" and he replies, "I don't know."

We've asked him if he wants a baby to come and live in our house and his reply is always, "nope."

We've asked him if he want's a brother to play with and his reply, yes, you guessed it, "noooppppee."

Ross came home from work yesterday with a new baby name book. 100,001 names! crazy right. Well, we made it through the "r's" last night and every name that we read aloud, Elliott told us no.

It seems that this boy of mine has some opinions about the thought of a new sibling. Perhaps we should have checked with him first.

Internet, can you help a girl out?

See the boys in that picture? I love them both a lot but sometimes they make me really tired and a little ornery. Go figure. Back in August - I was feeling sorry for myself and told my very nice, good husband that I wanted him to do "something nice, that shows he appreciates me". I had intended for that to be a thoughtful gift (maybe even a little pricey?) that would have been given to me within a couple of weeks. I have yet to receive said "something special" and I'm getting worried.

Christmas is a week away. I would like a nice gift from my husband and am not sure I am getting a gift - let alone one that isn't supposed to go in my bathroom. He has been teasing me, but I'm just not sure.

He got a nice gift - a brand new giant tv...that he got to "open" almost a month before it's designated day. That he watches football on. And - in addition, I have purchased said husband other gifts for Christmas, too. And stocking-stuffers. He is easy - he just wants stuff and doesn't care as long as it's cool and neat.

He says that I am too picky and difficult to buy gifts for. Mostly because I don't want appliances, electronics, or something that he got for free somewhere else.

Friends on the interwebs, can you offer some last minute help and gift giving advice? You read my blog and know all about me, right? Right. If you've got an idea leave it in the comments and I'll make sure that the husband reads them all.

My only requirements are a bit of sentimentality, a little unique, and "special". Not too hard, right?

Because everyone else is doing it?

Almost 6 years ago, we were here:

Then add three years and a lot of thought and planning and you get us here:

and a few months after that we got ourselves one of these:


Well...see where this is headed?....
almost 6 years later we look like this:



and a few months ago (4 in fact) we got another positive one of these (after a week of negative ones...silly tests):


and today, we went and had a thing done and got this:

We found out that we're adding another one of these to our family:


he is scheduled to arrive via c-section sometime around here:

We're considering referring to this one as this (codename: Chowder):

Really though? We haven't told anyone unless it was on a need to know basis, which means about 12 people. The adults in our little family are excited. The monkey in the family doesn't care. When asked, "Do you want a baby to come and live at our house?" he replies, "Nope."

If you have any questions? Ask HIM!

These are a few of my favorite things....

I'm not a fan of raindrops on roses and am alergic to all things on kittens including whiskers. But, alas, here is a list of my wintertime loves...

...quiet and calm mornings when it feels like i'm the only person awake and the world is still...

...hot chocolate, cooked on the stove, with a little bit of vanilla ice cream in my mug to make it extra creamy...

...fudge, homemade peanut butter cups, sugar cookies with homemade icing...

...the crunch of snow when I run out to get the mail late at night...

...my monkey. he loves the snow, and snow covered trucks, and eating the snow, and sticking his hands in the snow and doing a fake shiver and saying "cooooollllldddd."

...sweaters and long winter coats...

...Red! Red wrapping, red poinesttias, red lights, red holly berries, red tissue paper.....everything is red this time of year and I love it...

...cuddling up as a little family to watch tv or a movie together. it seems like this is the only time of year we always congregate and migrate to the same spots and its always good...

...sending out, receiving, and taping christmas cards to my door...

2! Two! Two parties in one day

Yesterday was one of those holidaze days. You know the kind - a million things to do, people to see, and places to go. We survived the day full of two parties, preparations, lots of cooking and even more eating relatively unscathed. Yes!

Here are a few of the highlights - because I know you want them.

We attended Ross work party - for the kiddos. It was very nicely put together with clowns making baloon creations, face painting, hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, jello and of course, jolly old sait nick. Elliott participated in every activity.

He had a baloon airplane made that he drug around until he popped the whole thing. He loved the popping by the way - the highlight of the baloon airplane.


He even let the really nice face painting lady paint his face - a snowflake. His first experience. When it was finished and he looked at his cheek in a mirror he just lit up with joy - with a look like - hey paint on my face is about the coolest thing ever.



We sat down at a table to eat some snacks and he managed to get himself covered in chocolate syrup, eat a slice of pizza, and pour his drink over most of his face - eliminating half of his snowflake. We were waiting for our name to be called to sit on Santa's lap and get a present. When it was finally Elliott's turn - he proved that he is his mother's daughter and had a total freak out! There was no sitting to be had - just some screaming. It was all good though - he fell asleep in the car after the drama.


Later in the evening it was time for my dad's side of the family's annual holdiay part-a and this year it was at my parentals house. What does this mean? It means that we had a lot of food to cook and sample and set-up. It was awesome. We decided on a Taco bar with: sweet pork, chicken/chilie's/corn, and seasoned ground beef; 4 kinds of salsa (green, red, mango, and creamy); lime cilantro rice and all the fixin's for some good eats.

After we ate - I decided we needed a craft and we made wreaths out of buttons. Some buttons were store-bought and some were my Grandma's that we found in her basement. It has always been a tradition that my grandma gave all the grandkids ornaments for Christmas and with her passing - I wanted to carry on the tradition. It was fun to make something this year that had a little piece of her inside.

They turned out really great, too. If I do say so myself. The party was a ton of fun and I always love to spend time with my family - especially when there is tasty food involved. Enjoy some pictures.







(This is baby "H". He's the new guy in the family and I got to hold him most of the night. Oh do babies smell good.)


(Elliott loved his present SO MUCH that this was the best picture I got of him. Oh The big day is going to be fun this year!)


(This is our dad. He had a long day yesterday. We love him a lot and don't tell him enough.)

Ode to a big iggy!

After dinner last Sunday, as we were all eating dessert, Haley's specialty Cherry Chip Cake with Cherry flavored icing, that nutty brother of mine made a suggestion. He suggested that the Monkey only be referred to by his REAL name, and not one of the various nicknames that he gets called on a daily basis.

This statement brought out the laughter in many around the table. You see my baby brother - who really isn't a baby but is my brother is the king of nicknames. Very rarely does anyone in the family every call him by his real name. Don't believe me? Here's the list of all the nicknames, some even self appointed, that my brother, will the thrill, is called on a semi-regular basis...from birth to now, almost 14 years later.

Willie
Will
Baby Huey
Big Iggy
Baby bwudor
Will the Thrill
Spartacus
Baby
Boo boo
(when playing basketball) "petersen, hit your free throws!"
Smedley
Smedley Edley
Cheryl
boy
the boy
Meow Meow Daniel Tiger
MeMe

I'm sure there are more so lets just call this the short list.

Regardless of what we call him though - he's a pretty cool cat. He loves being an uncle and doesn't mind having to hang out with his dumb old fart sister(s) most of the time, especially if we buy him food. And, he has nicknames for all of us, too. My mom: mother nature. My dad: Father Time. Me and my sister: Sisters in Zion. I've been asking for years to be "Sister Golden Hair" but have yet to have such a title bestowed upon me.

Last night we went to the the boy's Christmas choral concert and he did a great job. My brother is in mixed chorus. He is of course the tallest, and according to him, the only boy who isn't tone deaf. He's probably right. He was the best dressed and most handsome at last nights concert and did a spectacular job. I missed his fall concert because of food poisoning induced puking but the Monkey and I made it last night and had a very good time.

Tag, I'm it.

No one ever tags me. Until today.

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...
Let's see, 10 years ago I was 20 so,
1.) Playing county Rec basketball on Monday nights
2.) Preparing to teach a full course load instead of just doing my student teaching because a full time teacher had quit.
3.) Avoiding a girl I didn't want to be friends with anymore whom my sister and I nicknamed Turrah!
4.) Living at home and hanging out with my brother
5.) Driving a maroon ford escort

5 Things on my "To-Do" list today...
1.) Return ugly black sweaters that didn't fit to old navy
2.) Get new photo paper at Office Max (Epson paper is buy one get one free if you need it)
3.) Help Granndma wrap Christmas presents
4.) Go to Willie's Christmas Choir Concert
5.) Get a cashiers check for a considerable amount of money.

5 Snacks I enjoy...
1.) diet coke with lemon (or lime. Fresh, not artificial)
2.) chocolate
3.) french fries
4.) a giant honey crisp apple
5.) a spoonfull of nutella

5 Things I'd do if I were a Millionaire...
1.) Pay off debt + mortgage.
2.) Travel - mostly to Europe and probably not to Asia
3.) Open a monsterous savings account for my Monkey but not tell him about it until he's like 30.
4.) buy a beach house on a beach - maybe a private beach
5.) ???

5 Places I've Lived...
You'll notice that I don't get around much.
1.) South Jordan
2.) West Valley
3.) Provo (worst summer of my life by the way)
4.) Salt Lake City - University of Utah Campus
5.) Magna

5 Jobs I've Had
1.) Professional Development Trainer/Online Course facilitator/designer
2.) High School History Teacher, prom planner, and girls basketball coach
3.) legal aide
4.) Elementary school asssistant in the 4th and 5th grades - mostly I made copies, did pe and recess duty
5.) State office of education gender equity and school to careers phone answerer, lunch getter, and mail girl

5 People I tag
no one - sorry

Some holiday pictures

My Friend Michelle asked me to do her adorable cutie pie girlie's pictures for Christmas. It was fun, I was happy to be asked, and the girls looked great in their matching outfits.I didn't do as good of a job as I would have liked (maybe the snow threw me off last week?), but there were still a few that I really liked.

Hopefully, mom and dad like them, too.

Christmas songs I like

In an effort to continue to find "the spirit of holiday" I want to share with you some of my favorite Christmas tunes. Give them all a listen at your leisure.

Aren't you happy that I'm giving you the choice - instead of having some stupid (sorry to those of you that do it but it's stupid) playlist start blasitng at you the second you come to my bloggeth?

(After you check out my songs - my sister put up some of her favorites here.)


You cannot help but dance when you hear this one. I dare you! Try to NOT dance.



This one is beautiful. I love it. I wish I could play it in church so others could hear it.


No Christmas would be complete without this one.


Someone's homemade video(you don't have to watch, just listen) - but this is my favorite Chistmas song of the season. Yeah Death Cab.


And finally, for your listening pleasure - the band that is my president....Guster!

another holiday post

Don't you love traditions? I do. Even though the holiday spirit doesn't really catch me on fire, there are some things we do as a family every year that I truly do love.

I love that we go to a dumb holiday movie every year because that's what my brother wants to do.

I love the family parties - even though we see each other all time, because the food is good and the company is too.

I love making sugar cookies with homemade icing on Christmas Eve day.

I love opening our one "special" gift on Christmas Eve.

I think though, that my favorite thing about the holidays is wrapping presents. Is that stupid? Probably, but it's my favorite. I've already wrapped about 20 gifts - some to ship off and some to help decorate the abode. I'm no where near finished and that's okay. It truly is a thing I love to do.

As a kid, I loved it when we'd go to a fancy department store to get gifts for my grandma's...my mom would always have the gift wrap department wrap the presents. Oh, how gorgeous. I would watch intently as the ladies behind the counter would rip the paper on one smooth motion, use as little tape as possible (3 pieces - a good wrap job must be done with only three pieces of tape) and tie beautiful bows and ribbons. Oh - it was a bit ethereal for me as a kid. In fact, there was a huge period of time in my life where I wanted to be a professional present wrapper. There is just something about those tight corners on a gift.

Even though I love to wrap the gifts I give to people, my most favorite holiday tradition is one that has come about in recent years - and that's helping my grandma wrap all her presents. My Grandma buys gifts for about 50 people - beautiful, wonderful, and often elaborate gifts and she needs help. We saw her yesterday and I'm happy to report that we'll start wrapping on Wednesday. It takes countless hours of planning, boxing, wrapping, ribbon coordinating, gift tag writing and present stacking. I love it! The order, the structure, the process...it's just what I need to unwind and relax.

Too much information? Makes you really realize how strange I am. It's okay. I don't mind.

One last thing. Yesterday, we got a Christmas Tree. It is a beautiful little skinny on top fat on bottom REAL LIVE tree and the smell of pine that is wafting through my house is well worth the $67 we paid for the tree plus the $5 tip to get it on top of the car. Just in case you don't believe me -her are some pictures. It's been 4 Christmases, but we've finally got a tree. Yeah! (oh, thanks uncle Paul for the ornaments - I finally have a tree worthy of them.)

Toddler Friday: Throwing his weight around

Yesterday we were at a store. At the store the boy was pretending to paint. He was being very good and one of the clerks asked me how old he was. I said, "almost 2...22 months". She looked at me in shock and said that he was a very big boy.

As his parent, I don't think of him as big - he's just my kid but I guess in reality - I do have a slow growing giant on my hands. Right now, he's 37 inches tall, which technically means he'll be 6 foot 1 when he's full grown. that's definitely not tall enough so we're going to keep stretching him out at night. The pediatrician says that with boys you double their 2.5 year old height and that's where they'll be full grown. So, we've got until the end of June 2009 to add a few more inches to his frame.

Here's the problem with that though - he's a skinny little squirt and we cannot seem to add the weight as fast as he's adding the height. He weighed 30.2 lbs at the doctor's office the other day. Last September when he was 8.5 months old he weighed 27 pounds. See where I'm going with this? I am going to be the parent of a super tall stick boy.

He eats - promise you. On Tuesday, not counting everything else, he ate three hot dogs. Disgusting, right? What little boy can our should be able to eat two in one sitting, but he did it. He ate the third as a bed time snack. Yuck!

Anyway, all the writing isn't the point - the point is a photo retrospective on the Monkey and his thinning out. Here you go - enjoy!


at birth = 7 lbs 12 0z. 10 days later when he came home from the hospital = 8 lb 4 oz.

2 months old = 16 pounds


4 months old = 20 lbs


7-9 months old = 27 lbs


1 year old = 28 lbs


22 month old eating, jumping, running machine = 30.2 lbs

At least he doesn't have ear infections

I'll be the first to admit that in the last 2 years, I've often missed the clues. I figure that he's fine and go on and then days later - usually after a lecture from my mom about how quickly little boys can get ill, I take my little boy to the doctor and he's sick.

My track record recently hasn't been all that great.

In July woke up bright red with a burning fever = hand foot and mouth
In September was screaming at me for hours = strep throat
In October threw fits at Lake Tahoe = emergency room and double ear infections.

Well he hasn't been sleeping well the last two nights (up at 4:30 am screaming with boogers isn't my idea of a peachy wake-up call) and he's been tugging on his ears.

I decide to be the good mommy and make a doctors appointment.

The verdict? He's absoltely fine. Not sick, just grumpy and stubborn and is getting his 2 year molars. A set of teeth I didn't know existed. Duh!

We've got spirit, yes we do...we've got spirit how about you?

On Saturday, we saw the lights. That was a big move in the direction of holiday celebration.

On this Saturday we're going to get a....put down your drink....a Christmas Tree. Yes, can you believe it. This is my 5th married Christmas and it will only be my second married tree. How about that? I guess it takes a little monkey to get this house in order, but by golly, we're going to have some Christmas spirit this year whether we want it or not.

Over the weekend, I even got out a few holiday decorations for the family room upstairs. The decorating is sparse, it is us, we're talking about, but there is something out there.

Want to see it? Okay, here it is.

Example 1:


Example 2:


I mean, really....doesn't every baby Jesus want a batmobile for the holidays? I know ours does.