Trouble...with a capital T.

College Bound

Tonight as I was getting dinner ready Miss Peanut and Handsome we playing so well together.  She came out of the room for a minute to tell me that she was packing.  She had an over-niter with with Grandma, so I figured she was playing that she was going to visit Grandma again.  After dinner as I was collecting pajamas for bath time I walked into Handsome's room to find this...

The crib was completely FULL of every portable toy she could muscle over the edge into the crib.  And this was her explanation.

She was sick with a stomach bug one day this week and just rested on the couch most of the day.  Obviously, she has watched Toy Story 3 a little too much this week.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday, was my birthday and it was a big one...3-0.  Honestly, I don't feel old or anything and I'm not terrified of saying that I'm 30, but really - I'm 30??? To celebrate the day I had a lunch date with family, took Miss Peanut and two of my sisters to the Nutcracker Ballet, and to my surprise - Officer had a few surprises of his own for me.  Just before I left for the nutcracker he gave me a new dress coat - I've needed one for a while and he gets 2 thumbs up for picking it out on his own!  Blame it on pregnancy brain, but I didn't pull out my camera to take a picture of us girls at the Nutcracker until we were in the car leaving the ballet.  Lame, I know, but it was a fun afternoon anyway. Then when we got back from the ballet, he had a birthday cake waiting for me.  Eat dessert first right!  There was a little hiccup to his original plan so we did have cake first and he actually arranged for my Mom to take our kids for the evening.  Seriously, it was our first kid free evening + night in over 18 months!  We had a little time to kill so we drove downtown to shops I would never attempt going into with my kids and just walked and looked.  Although it was raining, the highlight of the day was driving up into the mountains, where I was surprised with a horse drawn sleigh ride into a little cabin where we had dinner.  This really was a big deal - next to keeping our honeymoon destination a surprise, it was the most elaborate evening he has ever planned in our nearly 8 years together.  It was a really great evening and we had a great time.        

Sweet tooth

Both of my kids have a major sweet tooth.  Grandpa shared some yummy cupcakes with us yesterday, and we had some left today after dinner.  Miss peanut loves to eat just the frosting, but Handsome likes it all.  This is literally how he eats any and all cake; and after attempting to stuff it all in at once he spent at least 10 minutes licking every crumb from his fingers.  And I just love the green mustache on Miss Peanut.

Compromise

Since finding out I was pregnant I've really thought it doesn't matter what we have.  I really have never cared much with any of my pregnancies.   Don't get me wrong, it was fun to find out with each of them, and we already have such a hard time picking names that knowing the gender at least helped us narrow it down some.  This time though - we already have one of each, so really it doesn't matter - we have lots of girl stuff and lots of boy stuff - the only thing we've been starting to stock up on is diapers.  Officer, on the other hand is pretty adamant that we find out.  So to compromise, I asked him to wait until Christmas.  We've had our ultrasound and our wonderful doctor was so good to keep things pretty quiet.  We have a healthy baby with a beautiful heart - all 4 chambers, nose, upper lip, working tummy, spine, fingers and toes and that's what we know.  I'm such a nerd, but I love all that stuff, so really it was a little hard to not look, but our doctor was good to just turn the screen ever so slightly that we never saw a thing.  He took the card I gave him, left the room and brought it back sealed - he even taped it so there is no cheating!  And Christmas morning Officer gets this little envelope in his stocking.  So what do you think it is, any guesses?  When miss Peanut was asked today by the nurse, she said she wanted a sister, and when asked about the baby's name - she said...Rufus.  There you have it.  We'll see what her prediction brings.  As for Rufus - NEVER, except maybe a family dog someday. 

I had to include this little countdown calendar I made cause I think it turned out super cute. So in 18 days, we'll know what were having...unless I can convince Officer otherwise.

It's been a week

I'll apologize now that this seems more like a journal entry.  It really has been a week, it started last Saturday when I had this moment that I really needed my mom.  She just wasn't really available so I called my husband in tears wishing he wasn't working that evening.  The following day was hectic at church; you know one of those days where you spend most of your time shuffling one child to the bathroom, changing another, or just in the hall because the one who just learned to walk is determined to make it up those stairs to the pulpit or the one who knows how to sit still is just totally wild.  I had my hands full as officer left just after sacrament meeting for work (That is normal for us - sometimes I don't think many people realize that he has to leave each week because of his work schedule).  I was in the foyer with above mentioned children when a sister from our ward was leaving with her family because they received one of those phone calls you never want to be on the receiving end.  My heart just broke for them as I learned later that evening that their son had been killed.  Needless to say, it brings about a lot of reflection on my own life and family and how fleeting mortality is.

The following day I was exhausted, I am on most Mondays, it's our family's Friday.  Officer had worked well over his regular hours and I'd hardly seen him for 5 days.  I put the kids to bed and decided to snuggle in front of my fireplace and give myself a  much needed pedicure while I can still reach my toes.  Within just a few minutes as I was snuggle just a foot or so away - our gas fireplace exploded and the glass shattered.  The majority of the glassed remained in the frame, but small glass shards were still spit in my direction; of course I jumped up turned it off, but I didn't want to touch the thing to turn out the pilot light.  I called officer to come rescue me.  There are benefit to being able to call 911 and know that dispatch knows who your husband is and loves the cookies/cinnamon rolls you send their way on occasion.  Officer was able to come home briefly and brought the fire department with him just to be sure that there was no gas leak and they were kind enough to remove the glass for me.  Gratefully my children had been in bed, gratefully I was unharmed, gratefully the explosion did not damage anything other than the glass, but I didn't sleep that night even after Officer got home from work. 

Tuesday is kind of grocery shopping clean up house, laundry, run errands day as well as adding finding someone to fix the fireplace/calling our homeowners ins, etc. and then Officer had to work that evening until midnight.  Most of the time I can get it all done, but I was beat by that evening.  I fell asleep on the couch waiting for officer to come home and woke up to Miss peanut screaming.  As I half awake wandered toward her room I see this figure down the hall coming toward me - I seriously almost put some kung fu panda kind of moves on him - he scared me half to death.  It took me a few seconds to wake up and  realize it was Officer.   

Wednesday - I made this yummy pot of chili that cooked all day.  It had snowed, um like 8+ inches and we didn't have much planned - it was really quite nice.  There have been a lot of families in our ward that you just want to help in whatever way you can and Officer decided that he would shovel some driveways for a few of them.  I was supposed to have cub scouts, but we canceled it because of the snow, so unofficially Officer took our cub scouts with him (with parents permission of course) and he had extra helping hands/shovels with that service.  I'm grateful he enjoys doing those things for others and also setting an example for those scouts.  I made yummy homemade bread that afternoon and just as I'm letting it raise to put in the oven...Handsome, who since learning to walk 2 weeks ago has decided that he must climb everything, fell off a chair in the kitchen for probably the 4th time for the day this time catching his upper lip on the kitchen table as he went down.   It bled forever it seemed like and we decided that we should probably take him in just to make sure that he didn't need stitches.  His lip and gums were pretty swollen and I'm just hoping that he didn't kill his 2 front teeth - poor guy has only had them for like a 2 months and can you see it now - every picture missing his 2 teeth until he's like 6...Anywho - gratefully no stitches, just a sad little guy with a busted bruised fat lip. Bread - salvageable, but not my best, covered in chili it didn't matter.

So glad for Thursday - Gratefully - officer found someone to cover the overtime shift he was scheduled for and I was able to attend a craft/chat night with some great girls from our ward. I was even able to make and finish one of my many unfinished projects.  It's been months since I've been able to do that because they are usually on a weekend during Officer's normal work week.  I really loved being able to have a fun evening and get to know some of the girls better.       

Friday I had to take my kids in to the doctor for their regular check-ups/immunizations, that is never much fun, and then after a deep breath we were back to the work week for officer.  Long night - teething, cranky, sore kids, tired mommy...morning came to early.
   
Today we attended the funeral for the young man of the family in our ward.  What an amazing and strong family they are.  We admired them and were so grateful for the help that the family had been to us as we planned Trek last summer -  but watching them come through this past week...we admire them that much more. I'm sure they will have many rough weeks ahead, but I know that they have great faith. 

It hasn't been a horrible week by any means - but just exhausting in every way.  Tonight as I was getting my kids out of the tub and ready for bed - I realized how truly tired I was.  I'm almost embarrassed to share, but not really cause I know you mommies out there have probably done the same thing.  I pulled Handsome out of the tub first and began to dress him - what comes first - the diaper of course...It took me several seconds to process that the pretty panties I had put him in were just not right - and then I laughed so hard for the longest time - and even harder again as I tried to retell Officer when he called to see how the evening was going.  With that said, I'm grateful to start a new week.

Checking it twice.

I've been looking over my address list and many of you have moved this year.  Please leave me a comment with an updated address, if you're hoping to see our family Christmas card/letter this year.

Snow much fun.

Today Officer was brave enough to get out and put up Christmas lights.  The previous 2 years we just haven't put them up, so I was really grateful that he was willing and able to this year.  He and Miss Peanut also made a snowman, and I followed around this little bundle.  Seriously - kids in snow pants are just adorable!  He loved being out in the snow and cried when I finally brought him in.  I don't have boots little enough for him and his poor little feet were so cold - I'll have to go find some, but I didn't think he'd love it quite this much enough to go get them.  

Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Baby Girl.

Today is Miss Peanut's Birthday,  she's 3, already?  How it happened so fast, I can hardly believe.  We were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends yesterday and since Officer is working all day today we had we did Birthday cake last night and presents this morning snuggled in our bed.  I sure love this girl - for the last month she has been telling everyone that her mommy was going to make her a Jessie cake for her birthday.  Jessie from Toy Story is one of her favorites and so  I attempted a cake that resembles (slightly) Jessie's hat.  I am very novice when it comes to cake makin skills, but when she saw the finished product she said exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes, "you made a beautiful cake...for me?!"  I love the vision of a child; to her it was beautiful and just what she wanted.

Been on the road again...

We have been traveling fools this past month and it has taken me a few days to recover.  Total, the kids and I have spent 21 days and way more than 50 hours in the car on "Great Adventures."  I'm so grateful that our kids are good travelers.  First week of October I took the kids (by myself - I'm was feeling pretty brave) and went to California to be with all of Officer's family.  It was a very last minute trip and unfortunately there was no way officer could get off work, but the kids and I had a really great time.  

While we were there we got all 21 grandchildren together for a picture, went to a sticker factory, the Jelly Belly Factory, Apple Hill, and really great pumpkin patch (I can't remember the name right now), celebrated birthdays, ate lots of yummy food, and played around with all the turkeys, deer, lizards, fish and anything else that the cousins could catch.  

We went home for a week and packed our bags for Arizona to see Officer's brother's family.  It was another "great adventure" in the car and to break up the trip we stayed one night in LasVegas. 

 

  

Officer and I had never been so it was kind of fun.  We got there early evening and left the next morning so we didn't see all the sights.  We stayed in "the castle"  we told miss peanut and then walked part of "The Strip,"  went to the M&M store and ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  The next morning we were able to drive over the Hoover Dam and then drive back and go over the new bridge that bypasses it.  It was pretty impressive to see from below, but driving across we were hoping to have a cool view of Hoover Dam, but unless you stop and hike a little (which we weren't to thrilled about because it was windy cold and with two small kids; one of whom was throwing up that morning.) its just like any other boring old freeway.

    

Once we got there we were able to enjoy lots of time with cousins and lots of Halloween parties.  We had pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pinatas, even magic pumpkins, trunk or treats, bounce houses, BBQ, costume contests...and the parties just kept going - so did the sugar rush. Seriously I can't believe how much candy we had and really we only had one trick-or-treater.  The weather really was beautiful and we got to spend lots of time outside for the parties and at the parks and at our nephew's football game. My sister and brother in law took us to this fun little place called POP the soda shop, where it is literally just all different types of sodas from all over the world even.  We brought quite a few home and it's been fun to try them.

   

We also celebrated our twin nephews birthdays.  My sister in law was so sweet to make miss Peanut a cake too because her birthday is coming up this month.  2 out of their 3 birthdays we've been there to celebrate, so it was cute to watch all 3 of them sing and blow out candles.  Officer and I got the chance to go to the Mesa Temple one day and I was also able to meet up with 2 of my college roommates that live in the area for lunch one afternoon. It was so fun to catch up;  we ate at this cute little restaurant and then stopped at Sprinkles Bakery for cupcakes afterward.  It was such a treat to see them again...and the cupcakes were sooo yummy too! 

 

We made our way home driving through beautiful Southern Utah and stopping in Salt Lake overnight to visit Grandma-great and all of our other family there.  I must say I'm glad to be home for a little while, I was really missing the fall weather.

How are you going to be celebrating Cinco de Mayo 2011?

We're thinking a little Mexican food and maybe having a baby? Yep, it's true, baby #3 is on the way, my official due day is May 4.  Usually we've tried to keep it quiet a little longer...everything is looking great and I'm just starting to feel not so barfy and completely exhausted, so we thought we would share.  It's kind of funny really - I was working really hard and training for a half-marathon when I found out.  I told Officer I wanted to run a half-marathon and then I didn't care when #3 came.  I know there are "real" women out there that can push it and run while they're pregnant - I'm just not that girl.  Gotta admit that I'm a little bummed that I didn't run my half (it was last weekend), but there will be plenty of time for that when kids are grown and gone and it really is such a great blessing to be able to have another little one.  We're excited for this new adventure!


 

Happy Birthday Handsome!

 I can hardly believe that this little guy is already a year old.  How did that happen so fast? Monday Oct 4th was  his birthday and since Officer had to work we decided to celebrate Handsome's birthday in shifts this year.  So we started with a birthday breakfast and presents on his birthday and then On Tuesday, we got to go to the farmstead, corn maze pumpkin patch and had lots of fun and then had some friends over for birthday cake and pumpkin pie.  


 

This little guy has just been so much fun to have in our family.  His smile and constant giggles always make my day!  Happy Birthday - love you!    

Family Photo Shoot

I asked my dad if he would help us try to get a family picture.  My kids were more than he bargained for!  He got a great new lens for his camera and was learning how to use it and by early evening time my kids are just typical - tired and uncooperative at least at directing attention to a camera or whatever. We got a handful of shots that turned out, but most of them look like this.

Here's some of the others:  So give us a vote on the last four!

 

#1

#2

#3

#4

Sleepless...

 My family have been troopers this past month - I can't believe it's almost October . Officer's parents were able to come up for a quick visit at the beginning of the month and it was great to spend time with them.  We also took some friends and their boys up to our family cabin.  They took lots of pictures so I'll have to post some when I get them from them, but we had a really fun week.  Officer is still working weekend swings, which means he often has overtime and even later nights turn into early mornings.  Peanut has complained of leg pains for quite some time now (that's a whole other post on it's own, but to sum it up - she regularly wakes up screaming/crying/sweating inconsolably from them.) and Handsome has been teething, so sleeping hasn't been the greatest right now in our house and some days it has been feeling like all we do is trade off who gets to sneak in a nap.  Although tired, we're getting by and trying to enjoy the wonderful fall weather before it gets too cold to play outside.             

Miss Peanut is suddenly all princess - she has been found in my shoes twirling and dancing often lately!  She had never seen Beauty and the Beast until this week (I know I'm kind of picky - some things are still kind of scary), but has been insisting for weeks that she be princess Belle for Halloween. 

One of the watermelons from our garden - we had quite a few - but they didn't all get ripe - I think because of all the crazy weather changes here.

Peanut and I made cupcakes to share when Officer's parent were here.  It was Handsome's first cupcake and he loved it so much that he started licking the tray for any stray crumbs he couldn't get into his hands.  Watch out 1st birthday cake!

Helping me with the laundry - Handsome just got a haircut again - it grows so fast and little miss Peanut - she plays way too much for her hair to stay cute - that's the way it's supposed to be right?

Miss Peanut

I realize that I don't have a lot of pictures of me with the kids because I'm often the one taking the picture.  I got thinking about it and I decided it was something important, so anyway I've made an effort to take more of us together and this afternoon while Handsome slept we went and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside and got a little goofy with the camera.  She was pretty silly and it was really hard to hold the camera steady because we were laughing!  She also had to have her arm around my neck - I kept trying to move it and she'd put it right back.  I love this girl!

First White Shirt and Tie

I kept thinking I needed to get this little man some real church clothes.  When I started looking everywhere was telling me that they only carry stuff like that around Christmas and Easter.  Sad.  But then I remembered Burlington Coat Factory - they always have stuff like this, Thanks!  He was just adorable today - don't you think so?

The grass was a little cold - hence the face.

We found an kiddie swing for our swing set. He loves to swing! 

Love this face!

Corn from our garden

First time shucking corn - she was amazed!  Then we ate it for dinner - so yummy!

My cute babies!

Can't believe he's almost 1!?  How did that happen?

Would barley sit still long enough to take this, so cute and so busy!

The Harvest

Its getting to be that time - and we love it!  I've done a small garden for the past several years - I usually only pick a few things to grow because we only have a small garden space.  Next year maybe we'll do a grow box....I'm hoping anyway.  This year we had tomatoes, romaine lettuce, pumpkins, corn, raspberries, and my cucumbers and peppers and green onions just didn't make it, which was actually good because this year we also tried growing watermelons. We had some strong wind storms the last few weeks and my tomato cage broke and fell over with the weight of the tomatoes...or so I thought. I looked closed to find that I had twin watermelons growing up inside the tomato cage. They have pretty much taken over the rest of the garden! 

I also tried a small planter for herbs, but Miss Peanut decided that it looked like a good place to dig, so we're trying those inside for now. Anyway we have had fun nearly everyday going out to see what is ready to pick - and there is so much more to come! We've already got lots of tomatoes and we just ate our first corn on the cob tonight and the last several days we've been able to pick a big bowl of raspberries! 

One man's trash = my treasure

I've really been ridiculous with garage sales/craigslist this summer - ask my husband - he'll tell you, I'm sure.  I'm been trying to find a swingset for not much because as much as I like going to the park - sometimes I don't like having to pack up both kids in car or bike trailer especially when it's getting close to dinner time.    Anywho - we didn't want anything that would take up our whole backyard, so we picked this up on Saturday and by Saturday night we had up with a few small improvements.  It's actually quite sturdy, so I've been thrilled with it.  And the best part is that Miss Peanut has been out swinging or sliding all day!

Before

After

Swimming Lesson

This summer was Miss Peanut's first swimming lesson.  For being 2, I think she has done so great - she'll blow bubbles and kick and she even went off the diving board with some help.  She loved having goggles to keep the water out of her eyes, and she was brave enough to put her face in the water so she could see.