From a kid's perspective....

Kids are so funny. One of my favorite shows is "Kid's Say" I think it aired in like the 80's or the show where Bill cosby interviewed kids. I just love how they talk so matter-of-factly, like everything is common sense. I keep a notebook, like I'm sure most of you do, where I write the funny things my kids say or do. Here are my latest additions:


Today I was helping Chelsea take off her jeans to get into her pajamas when I noticed she was wearing 5 pair of underwear! I said "Chelse! What's with the underwear?!" and she frankly replied "Well, I wanted my bum to be really, REALLY warm at preschool."


Michael and I read "The Foot Book" by Dr. Seuss, and afterwards I got the inspration to continue the foot theme by doing the "5 little piggies" on this toes. So, I ripped off his sock and did it 5 or 6 times whil he laughed and laughed. I decided we needed a fresh foot, so I went to take the sock off his other foot, but he grabbed my hand and said "NO! SHHHHHH!!!! (Then very quietly) piggies sleeping!"

Michael has been getting into the fridge so much lately, and it's driving me crazy! We've tried time-outs, "NO's!", but nothing seems to work! so, dan put him IN the fridge. It seems to be working. :)



Michael is a fairly picky eater, although he loves breakfast! However, when he does eat certain things, it grosses me out. Like the time I caught him sucking on a tube of desitin. (EWWW!!!) And when I make pizza or rolls, he LOVES to lick the flour off the board. Come on now, FLOUR!? It has zero taste AND it just makes your mouth all pastey! At times I wonder where he came from, until I bring out the sweets. Then I know that he came from my genes. (FYI: I am a good mom, I promise! I only give him the sweets when he has eaten a good dinner....well, most of the time)


Although the mini-van is not my dream family vehicle, I am so grateful for it! I love that I can watch other people's kids and take them to places. I can fit FIVE carseats in my van. Check out the Perry Bus. You can immagine the strange looks I get when we walk into the indoor play park...:)

How much would you pay?

HAve you ever seen the picture of the Virgin mary in a piece of toast,
or Jesus in a wooden closet door? Well we had our very own miracle while eating dinner the other night. We were eating one of our favorite meals, frito-chili-pie, when we came across this chip:


I don't know about you, but to Dan and I, it looks just like the swaddled baby Jesus. We were going to put it on e-bay to see how much it would go for, but after sving it for 3 weeks, Michael finally couldnt' stand that a perfectly good chip was just sitting out, and he ate it. There goes his college tuition!

Primary Activity

As part of my calling as a counselor in the Primary presidency, I'm in charge of the quarterly activities. This one really snuck up on me with all the holidays and then who really looks at January until they get the new calendar? We were going to go to a nursing home and do a service project, but that didn't work out. I was starting to get stressed out with the activity date only 2 weeks away, but thanks to my awesome mother-in-law, who suggested that we do an activity around the FRIEND magazine, I was saved! (Thanks Mom!)
So, I dressed up as the "Friendly Lady", something I remember my mom doing when I was in primary. My friend Andrea has an awesome collection of costumes, so it was fun to go through her stuff to find my new look. A few minutes into the activity I introduced as a special guest, but before I could say anything, a very bright 5 yr old boy shouted out "Your just Chelsea's mom with a wig!" I was secretly hoping I could fool them, but I guess they are just too smart. Of course, it didn't help when Michael ran up to me while I was talking with the kids and said "Mama!"

We had a great morning! There were four different stations. The first station was the favorite, since it involved food of course! They made snowballs for the kitchen craft. These are just ricekrispy treats rolled into balls and then rolled in powder sugar.

At another station they read a story from the friend and then drew pictures to submit to the Friend Magazine for the "creative Friends" section.

They also learned a new song that was featured in the January issue about the plan of salvation.

Then we made the Book of Mormon reading chart, that is also in the January issue, together.

At the end we took a group picture to also submit to the Friend. I love my calling and have so much fun with it, but I'm most grateful for the presidency I work with and the support we have in our ward. Our primary is tiny, but we have a good time!

A beautician in the family...

It finally happened...Chelsea cut her own hair. I thought we were going to able to skip that incident that often occurs in childhood, but it happened. I was practicing the piano with Chelsea when Dan came downt he stairs with this wad of hair. WE looked all around Chelsea's head to try to figure out where it came from, and couldn't see anything until we took out the barette she had placed in her hair right before dinner. This is what we found.


Yes, it could have been much worse, so we are lucky. We had a long talk about why it's important that we never cut our own hair again. Dan thought we should just leave it alone, but I thought something needed to be done, so it wasn't so obvious, and besides, Chelse could use a haircut. Well, I chopped it, but for some reason, it doesn't look quite right to me. OH well. Good thing hair grows, right?!

A little help...

So, the search for jobs has began. :) We like the idea of living in Spokane, WA, although neither of us have spent much time there. IT seems like when I tell people this many of you rave about Spokane. HOwever, I can't remember which ones of you I have talked with! We're trying to figure out WHERE in Spokane we would like to settle. WE are going out there in a few weeks to check things out and meet with some people, but we'd like to have an idea of what's out there. So, for you that have been to Spokane or have connections there, we are hoping you can help us out! Our questions for you are:

1) Are there places to stay away from?
2) Are there schools that have a reputation for beeing better than others
3) Where are the "newer" areas where new families might be gathered. (So our kids can have lots of friends to play with. We'd love it if we lived on a street with a plethera of playmates!)
4) Are there some suburbs that we should look into?
5) Anything else you can tell us?!

I know, kind of a wierd and desperate entry, but I don't know where else to start!

Thanks for any info!

What...no camera?!

Yesterday Dan had the day off, so we packed up the kids and traveled to Mt Hood. Driving around in Portland on a clear day is pretty cool, because it appears almost flat except for 2 or three mountains (volcanoes) that pop out of nowhere. This was such a day. It was VERY cold and windy, but it was actually sunny! Perfect for pictures! I made sure to pack lots of extra batteries so I could take pictures to my heart's delight.

We borrowed some winter gear from a friend so we could go sledding. We folded the seats down in the back of our van (LOVE the stow-and-go feature!) and after 45 minutes, we finally had the kids layered enough to hopefully keep them warm. They looked hillarious! Before Michael was dressed he was running all over the van, but once he was bundled up, I laid him down and he couldn't move! (AHA! the secret to sanity!) To be fair, Dan said I was the only one that looked ridiculous. The only coat I have is leather with faux fur lined, so not very good for sledding. I had about 4 long sleeve shirts on with 3 sweaters on top of those, and then a hooded jacket. No boots, just my old tennis shoes. Everyone else on the mountain was decked out in cool snow pants and ski jackets. OH well. :)

Anyway, we finally made it out of the van, I whipped out my camera to start taking some serious pictures, and the camera started flashing "No memory card" on the screen! I was livid! :) But, the purpose of our trip was to have fun, not to take pictures, so we went on our way. The kids loved the tubes and Chelsea went down by herself a few times. When the got cold, we headed back to our van where Dan heated up some water on our camping stove so we could have a lunch of cup-of-noodles, granola bars, wheat thins, and grapes.

I finally couldn't stand the thought of not documenting this fun day, so I went across the street to the gas station and purchased a diposable camera. I took a few pictures, but the kids were getting tired so we headed off for more sledding. After one more run, Michael had had enough of the cold wind, so I took him back and we enjoyed a nap in the back of the van until Dan and Chelsea were ready to go home. Now, don't you wish you had awesome pictures to accompany this blog? ME TOO! :) I only ended up taking 5 pictures, so who knows when we'll use up the remaining film on the camera so we can develop them.

ON the other hand, I realized I never posted pictures of Chelsea and Michael's new play house. My friend gave it to me as her daughter isn't very interested in it anymore. They love it! It will be lots of fun when it gets warmer so they can actually spend some time in it!





Thanks for reading this insanely long, pictureless blog! :)

Quiz on your Right

Okay, so Dan is dying to know the results from your quiz that I'm sure all of you have now taken. (Quiz is on the right of the blog). I think it's mainly because when he did it, his results kept naming Hillary as his compatible representative. :) So, we're wondering, even if it's not who you are actually going to vote for, who did the quiz name as your compatible representative for president in 08. Mine was Obama, which for right now, is correct, but the runners up suprised me as they were all Democrat, and I'm registered as Republican. Hmmm....VERY interesting!

On the other hand...

Michael can be quite the lady and very refined as well. Look at the grace and poise as he glides down the stairs. Doesn't he look beautiful?! :)

"Oh mom, you're so silly!"

The other night we were eating dinner and Michael started to pick his nose. Chelsea started to giggle. Being the proper mom that I am and trying to instill good manners in my children, I scolded him and told him to promptly remove his finger. Then my sweet husband asked Michael to point to his brain, so back in the nose the finger went. That made us all laugh! Without taking his finger out, Michael just kept laughing and drinking from his cup. Soon his finger was jammed so far up his nose, it started to make him sneeze. Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!etc. for like 20 times! By now we were all dying laughing. But he wasn't ready to let go of the attention yet, so he wedged it up even further, causing the sneezing spells again. Tears were now running from not only Michael, but everyone at the table. Don't you wish you could eat at our house?

Grease Lightin'!

Last night I had a total blast! Some friends and I went to a Grease sing-a-long. When they first told me about it, I thought they meant a Greece sing-a-long, and was really confused on how we would be able to sing in Greek! (Yes, that just proves my dorkiness). Anyway, we had so much fun. Basically it's the grease movie, with the words to the songs at the bottom of the screen so you can sing your heart out. They even gave us these cute goodie bags to go along with the movie. We had bubbles to blow durring the song "beauty school drop out", one of those fire-cracker popper things to pop durring a kissing scene, or where every we deemed appropriate, sunglasses and a comb for Danny's scenes, and a light stick to wave durring the slow songs. We even got a bubblegum cigarette so we could look extra cool! It was a blast, but we all walked out stunned by all the dirty innuendos we never caught when we were younger and loved the movie. :) Guess our parents were right! :)
It's a crappy picture, I know, but the little pink lights are the glow sticks waving.


After the show we decided to stop somewhere to eat, and went to the Old Market pub that is accross the street from where I live. We stayed there for two hours, just talking and laughing. I was by far the most quiet one there (which I know will come as a shock to many of you ;-))but that's how I like it! I loved just listening to my friends go off on different subjects, and everynow and then I might pipe in a comment. The funny thing is that we were the loudest, most obnxious group in the pub and we were completely sober! It was a great release and break for me. Thanks gals!

Michael speaks out...

Due to the new year, our ward now meets at the glorious time from 3 to 6PM. (Please tell me you hear the sarcasm). The last time we had this time frame, 3 years ago, we had kids dropping like flies in primary. They would just fall out of their chairs, fast asleep. Okay, since I'm talking about church, I guess I should be honest. There was just one little boy who did that, but it happened several times, and you could tell there were others just moments away.

Anyway, Michael did pretty good durring sacrament meeting. As long as there are plenty of snacks, he is happy. We try not to bring out the snacks until after the sacrament is passed. I try to whisper in Michael's ears what is going on. I point at the boys and tell him they are blessing the bread and water, etc. As soon as I said bread, Michael got all excited and started yelling "FOOD! FOOD! FFFFFOOOOOOOODDDD!" I swear we fed him before we left, but maybe we underestimated his appetite. I had to calm him down by reassuring him they would be coming by us too. Luckily we were on the back pew, so we got to go first. :)

After sacrament meeting is over, he is the first out of the chapel, yelling and running down the hall saying "Church! Church!" and knows right where the nursery door is. We have an AWESOME nursery program. Thank goodness! :)

What's in your future?

On New Year's eve we went to the Portland Science museum, called OMSI. I'd been there once with my parents almost a year ago, but Dan has never been. Sad, I know, especially since we have a pass that expires in March! I love science museums, but find I don't get out as much from them when I have to keep track of two little kids, instead of reading all the cool info and trying out the demonstrations. My favorite thing at the OMSI is the baby display. They have taken real fetus's (feti?) from 10 weeks up to 32 weeks and put them in display cases at abou 2 week intervals. It's a little creepy at first, but so amazing to watch the development of a baby.
On the other end of the human life spectrum, is my second favorite thing at OMSI. It's this computer program taht shows you what you could look like 30 years down the road. Of course, you can't take it too literaly, but it was fun to have a glimpse in the future. These are pictures of what we are supposed to look like in our 50's. Definitly a motivator to put on sunscreen, exercise, drink water, and whatever I possibly can to stay young!

Zoo Lights

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The zoo here in Portland has an awesome display of lights at Christmas time. We almost missed it this year, but we were finally able to go the last night of "zoo lights". We even splurged and rode the train. It was cold so we had to top the night off with some of Grandma's Christmas cocoa. What a great way to end the night and year!-

Another one bites the dust...

Days after we got this awesome hamster track, poor Carla died. I don't know what's going on. I swear we take care of them! Our guess is that when the hamspters hang from the top of the wire cage by their tiny claws and fall off, they get hurt. All three of them did that, but I don't know why Santa Claus lasted 9 months, and the others mere weeks. We have not replaced Carla and are debating wether or not we will do so. The kids are really missing the hampster though. Michael walks around with his hands together saying "Hampsie, holding!" Which means he wants to hold the hampster. But when we ask him where Hampsie is, he says "Died!" Maybe after more research about the critters we will try again. Any suggestions?!

CHEESE!

Michael is so hard to take a picture of. By the time the camera finally takes a picture, he has already left and made it to the next room. Okay, mabye its not that bad, but our camera sure seems to take for ever in finally snapping the picture. And before it does, it seems to flash a bazillion times, so its a rare occasion when the kids actually have their eyes open. Lately, Michael won't even give me the chance to take his picture, despite the fact that evertime he sees a camera he says "Smyall!!" (Smile). Today he was being extra silly and instead of turning away from the camera he made this smile and said "Cheese!" And I don't think he was referring to that stuff that is crustified on his shirt, eyebrows, and chin. :)And of course, Chelsea had to do it too.

Portland Spirit Cruise

The property management company I work for has an anual awards dinner, usually in mid-december. This year we had it on the Portland Spirit, a ship that cruises up and down the Willamette river. I love boats, so I was super excited for this night, and even more excited to have a date with Dan. (We're not very good about Friday date nights, so it really is a specialy night when we can go out) The dinner was delicious and it was fun to see the holiday boats pass by. We have some friends in the ward, who are also the same year of dental students as us, who started managing apartments in the middle or the year, who went with us. I'm so glad Melinda and Russell were there, because we were stuck on that boat for 3 1/2 hours! It was nice to have the company, especially when things on the boat were getting a little crazy as the other passengers increased their alcohol levels. :) We passed the boat dock several times, each time hoping that we would finally stop. Oh well. It was still nice to have a night out, and even better, a delicious free dinner.