Last Month Was Such a Special One, Birthday Time For Andrew

I know everyone always says they can't believe their baby is one, so I won't say it. I can't believe my baby is 13 months old! The first year always flies by, but Andrew's first year was not really a whole year, I swear. One day Gary and I had this crazy idea to have another baby, and we didn't think much past him being born. And that was yesterday. However, somehow I have this hilarious chubby boy running around, and the calendar said to have a birthday party, so a month ago, we did.

Andrew loves pancakes and waffles - he downed two waffles once while Josh and Noah lingered over their one. So of course we had to make him blueberry pancakes for breakfast on his big day. Josh heard me saying I was going to try to make Andrew's party The Bomb, so of course he assumed the theme of the party would be bombs. He had a lot of questions about that until I put the blueberries in the pancakes, then he said, "Oh, I know, the blueberries can be the bombs." Exactly.

Josh had been planning a cake for a long while, and so had I. My version was from scratch, gourmet, and adorable. Due to all of the things we had going on that week, I was trying to enact my plan at the last minute, and was frantically searching for the perfect recipe when Josh brought me a chocolate cake mix from the pantry. We went with his plan. He actually "made" the cake while I chatted with my visiting teachers (and supervised). His vision had included sprinkles all over the sides, which he attempted to apply one by one before I showed him an easier way. Josh was pretty proud of what he'd done for his brother.

Since it hadn't been too long since we'd gotten together with family, and Andrew isn't real tight with kids his age, we didn't have a party exactly planned. However, I just had to have some people over to make things festive for my baby Andrew, and luckily we have the perfect neighbors for the occasion. They haven't lived here long, but my children just adore them. They have teenagers, so it's fun for them to be around little kids, and were up for our last-minute invite. I was so glad they came, they totally got in on the adoring Andrew thing, and having them there made it a party. I should have gotten an adorable group shot, but I feel pretty good about getting some of the birthday boy. And as you can see, he did enjoy himself.



Classic Andrew, "Oh!" He says it for many occasions.




Being the center of attention is a little awkward . . .

Right before Noah blew out the candle. We told him to help, and after he did he exclaimed, "It's not even my birthday."



Josh is making Andrew smile.



Andrew's present was immediately popular with everyone. Even me - after the kids went to bed that night, I figured out how to use the abacus to add numbers up to 999,999. Don't worry, Andrew's gotten plenty of chances with it since.



At Andrew's 12 month doctor visit he was 25 lbs, 6 oz., and 30.75 inches. He started walking just after turning eleven months, and is quite the climber. He even climbs onto the couch and drops himself off of the arm of the couch into his exersaucer. He is hilarious - always laughing. He loves peek-a-boo, chasing, tickling, playing cars, singing, and snuggling. Well, when he's tired he's a great snuggler, otherwise, he has to get up and go. He imitates everything we do. He'll put pretend to put on backpacks, brush his hair, put on a shirt, fight with a lightsaber . . . and get excited about all of them. This kid really melts my heart, he's such a sweet boy. Hey Andrew - love ya, kiddo!

Quick Fall Update

Thanksgiving was awesome!! It was great to get away and to see everyone. Thanks so much to C & C for letting us invade their home, and for playing with boys at the park. They loved it. Josh has come home with a variety of things he got from his cousins. For instance, he asks me a lot why "gooder" is not a word, and who Frankenstein is. His cousins know everything, according to him. We're almost back into the swing of things, just put away my leaves and scarecrows, which looked awesome buried under a foot and a half of snow when we got back.

 

I was feeling nostalgic for the good-old family updates, so I'll do highlights and lowlights from the last couple of months. Gary took me to Preston for my birthday, and I had a great time with my family. Gary and my mom both got me cameras, so I now have one, hooray! (One of them turned into clothes.)  I spent the next couple of days with my sisters, picking and bottling apples, and felt good about my 60 plus quarts. Then, due to a series of unfortunate events, they did not get processed. Do you see why canning makes me cry? No matter, I got my sister-time in. After that we did one million things, which were all good, and included Andrew's birthday and Halloween. I guess one of the million things had germs attached, because then we spent the first three weeks of November sick. In the midst of that, we were able go to Preston to have a family Veteran's Day dinner. Random, yes, but a lot of us were available to get together, and we have an actual veteran in our midst. And it was fun! Also in the midst of the sickness, Noah woke up one day and said he was going to wear underwear. And he has ever since, for about a month now. His accidents are pretty infrequent now, except right when we got back from Arizona. He was so tired he peed all over the carpet, everywhere in the house, for 3 days. Not his pants, just the carpet. Oh, well, I'll still count the potty-training-himself incident as a highlight. Wish I knew a good carpet cleaner . . .

 I just took a break from writing this to get on emailsanta.com with Josh. It is hilarious to watch how excited he is about Santa's reply. Also, Gary just said, "Who are you e-mel-ing?" He's consciously trying to aquire a Utah accent. Also we just had dessert that involves chocolate and a stick and a half of butter for 5 servings. So much for the trying to eat healthy between holidays.

 

P.S. Through a mistake of my supervisor, I was auto-terminated from my job at BYU Independent Study this week, and they won't re-hire me because of their hiring freeze. Cross your fingers and/or send up a prayer that I can get someone to be reasonable and do the re-hire.

Note a few months later: Got an email saying they eliminated the position. Life isn't all about money, right?

As Soon As We Get That Picture . . .

 . . . I can get set ordering my Christmas cards from Shutterfly. At first I imagined a lovely flower-filled September shot, then the realization came we might be looking at another fall picture, and now I'm trying to decide whether or not we should all wear snow boots. But we're doing it on Saturday! (If you have an opinion about the boots, feel free to share.)

I've been baby-stepping into this Christmas cards thing. At first it was just electronic greetings, then two years ago I made my first step into actually using the postal service with this card from Shutterfly. I have to admit I was proud of it, and looked at it way longer than someone should actually gaze at their own Christmas card. It was limited release - people who don't use the internet and family. Then last year, I almost didn't send, but I couldn't make backwards progress. I sent to the same limited release crowd, using a quick-print place for the card. I didn't love it like I did the one from the year before, but I thought it was a valiant post-partum effort.

This year, I was excited to find that bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 . Hooray, back to the beautiful ones! If we go with the boots theme, we may go with this card. Or maybe this one.  I think this one is fun, if our family ends up looking good in color. Not always the case, but if it is, I like this option, too. And if we look sooo good, we might require this one.

As long as I'm in picture mode, I should mention, that yes family, I do want you to send me pictures. I have been making family calendars on Shutterfly for the last six years. At first, we just put one picture in per month, but now there is a huge variety of templates and backgrounds, making people like lil ol' me look like design geniuses. Also, you can keep track of family birthdays and anniversaries on the calendar, and the beauty is they save the dates for you year after year. Saved my new-baby life last year. Go here if you want to make one yourself.

And while you're digging up those photos, if any of you have pictures of Andrew during his first year, I want them bad! I've made Josh and Noah photo books from Shutterfly all about their first year, and they love them. I swear it is THE BEST way to get a crazy toddler to calm down, to sit down and look at their baby book with them. Problem for poor Andrew is that I didn't have a camera for half of his first year, so I'll have to depend on others. Shutterfly always has great promotions, so I've found the books to be quite economical. Make your own book here.

So, as you can see, I've got quite the holiday list going on here . . . is it possible to send more cards than before? Stay tuned.

Entering the World of Shirts and Ties

Every time I see a primary program (a program put on by children in my church) I tear up. I have been fully expecting to cry during Josh's first program for years now. The big day came on Halloween, and Josh dressed up in his new red tie. He looked adorable, and I was excited. However, after wrestling with Andrew for 2 meetings, ending up sitting in the very back of the congregation for the program, and facing an hour of wrestling Andrew AND Noah by myself, my enthusiasm was drained right out of me. I thought if I was lucky Josh would catch my eye long enough for me to smile at him, and we'd all make it through.

Right before Josh was to go up for the program, he said, "Mom, look at my lips." I turned, and saw lip gloss covering nearly his whole face below his nose. I said, "Oh, my gosh!" and he immediately was embarrassed - and started wiping it on his sleeve. Luckily there are so many kids in our congregation I'm sure not many noticed his sleeve, but had they looked, they'd have noticed he looked good. Josh started out the program with his arms inside his shirt, but not in his sleeves. I sighed and struggled to find something new for
Andrew to do. Then the children began to sing I Know That My Savior Loves Me. Josh sang with all of his little might, and when he saw me, grinned his million dollar smile. Everything else melted away, and I started bawling. This song is so beautiful, and is exactly what I want my son to know. The love that the Savior shows for the people in the scriptures is the same love he feels for Josh. And Noah, and Andrew. If they can truly know this, they're going to make it.


Here he is, fresh off his success of his first primary program. For some reason, after the program was over, all of the children received "Future Missionary" tags. Josh adored his, and displayed it proudly. He thought standing in the corner for this photo would be best.



Josh wanted Noah to have a turn wearing the badge.





I like these boys.

One night a couple of weeks ago, I was putting the boys to bed, and somehow we got talking about going on missions. Josh was interested in the fact that some missionaries walk, some drive cars, and some ride bikes. He wanted to know how he would find out what he would do on his mission. I told him the process, and he said okay, he could wait 14 and a half years. But later I went in to check on him and he was still awake. "Mom," he said, "I prayed to ask Heavenly Father what I'm going to ride on my mission, but he didn't tell me yet."

Noah, however, had no such uncertainties. He'll be serving in the rocket ship mission.

Did I mention I like these boys?

The Force is Strong With Us

Several months ago Josh planned out what he would be for the next several Halloweens. Star Wars characters for 4 years, and then when he's 8, a bush. It will be awesome because it will surprise people that the bush is moving. He absolutely remembers this schedule, so first up on the list, a Jedi Knight, had to be fulfilled this year. I looked into sewing costumes quite long ago, but it never got past the looking phase. So being in an emergency, I got on Amazon, filled my shopping cart with expensive yet cheap looking costumes, and . . . Gary said he was sure we could make them. But we had so much going on this week, Gary . . . No matter, it looked easy to him. So, we bought fabric, waited until the perfect time (the night before trick-or-treating), hauled out the sewing maching, and did it. And it was fun! Gary did the measuring and cutting (no pattern, just scaled down from some instructions online. Oh, yeah, scaled down because sadly/awesomely almost all Star Wars costuming described on the internet is for adults), and I did the sewing. It took us way too long, but we learned a ton, and got the last stitch sewn 10 minutes before we headed out the door. Mistakes abound, but our kids loved it, so we felt pretty accomplished.

Josh ended up choosing Obi Wan Kenobi specifically, and Noah insisted on being Darth Maul. I wanted my precious young son to be a good guy, so I suggested every awesome character I could think of . . . but it was always met with, "No, I'm going to be Darth Maul." We wondered if he even knew who Darth Maul is, but the second I found a picture of him, Noah said, "Yeah, that's Darth Maul, that's who I'm going to be for Halloween!" So, Darth Maul it was. Gary did the face makeup, and Noah loved it. As for Andrew, we decided to alter things a bit. Gary's vision was Luke Skywalker. When I went to put it on him his belly was too big, so we had to squeeze it together with a safety pin. I don't know why, but I think his too-big belly is so funny.

Before we got out the costumes to dress the kids, Gary put on Star Wars to pump them up, and boy did it ever! You should have seen the proud look on Josh's face as he donned his Jedi robe.  So, candy gathering we did go, and it was a great night. The rain dried up just right before we went out, so we got to watch our little kiddies excitedly going from house to house. These pictures are in the opposite order of how they happened, but switching them around . . . nah. (Come on, Blogger, you can make it easier . . .)



Let us begin at the end . . . young Skywalker enjoying candy, toddling around with whatever he could get his hands on.

Here we see the master of costuming pushing the Jedi carriage. The other spot was being kept warm for Darth Maul, who ended up riding after a while, too.



The epic battle . . . (darn teenagers, I can't even use the word epic anymore!)

I made them stop at this door for a photo together, but their general lack of focus indicates what was really important to them at that moment.

We were on our way to trick-or-treat at the first house when we realized Darth Maul was without shoes. Would have known it earlier if we'd actually looked at the pictures we were taking.

Aaah, I just have to kiss him all the time!

When we got home we had some hearty chili ready that Gary had made, and it was delicious. There's something magical about the family all together, the kids having fun, the crisp night air, the jack-o-lanterns, the leaves, the friends passing by, warm chili . . .The whole night makes me smile. And if you were here to see me do it, you'd see I have Kit Kat in my teeth. Mmmmmm . . .

P.S. Gary and I joked about opening up a Jedi robe shop on etsy. Our motto will be, "Your kids will love it so much, you won't even notice how crooked it is!"

Special Package, Baby Doesn't Sign, and Toddler Jumping Jacks

Today when we all went out the front door, Josh ran to the mailbox and took a dirty diaper out of it. He then ran to the garbage can and put it in there instead. I asked him if he had put the diaper in the mailbox, and while he said no, his face said yes. We didn't receive any mail today.

Josh was excited to tell me today, "When I stand on my tiptoes, it looks like I'm 5!"

I've been trying to teach Andrew to sign "more." Today when he ran out of food, he started saying , "Mo, mo." He's my child, so of course I thought it was the most adorable ever. My quest to teach sign has not succeeded, but Andrew's way works just fine.

Noah has to be Superman all of the time now. My kids being superheroes is not new news, but Noah now not only always has a cape on (real or imaginary), he be addressed as Superman most of the time.

I did an exercise video today for the first time in ages. I thought the kids would all be climbing on me, but I was wrong, it was just Andrew. So I did 2/3 of it. Josh and Noah were actually exercising, the whole time. There is nothing cuter than Noah's jumping jacks. Except Noah's jumping jacks while wearing a cape. While we were working out Josh said, "I'm going to be the strongest kid in preschool!"

We went to Coldstone to redeem birthday ice cream coupons for Andrew and me. The entire time Noah was walking in he was singing, "Shorty is an eenie, meenie, minie mo lover . . ." Andrew loved the ice cream, and started crying when we removed him from the store.

The impending change of seasons is making me feel yucky, but I guess it's better than a diaper in the mail. For the most part.

(Please do not say you love winter. I won't be able to handle it. I love portions of it, but I do not love being stuck inside the house with sick kids and no husband for months. And if I do go somewhere I have to find 4 pairs of matching socks. I'm working on a being happy campaign, trust me.) (Also do not suggest  I move somewhere sunny. It doesn't help the fact my situation is what it is.)

Just Start Writing

Oh, blog, I love you and you frustrate me. I love the idea of having my little family's history all written down. I love looking back at happenings and musings. I love that people can check in if they want. I'm frustrated that I never get a chance to write these days. And then if I do get a chance the thought is so daunting I actually don't want to. Because it has to be just so. Clever . . . only if other people think me tricking Noah into a nap is as clever as I do, otherwise I guess not today . . . And have the pictures . . . where to dig those up (no camera, really . . .) And since the task is great and the brain is feeling squeezy, I'll just write to an inanimate object. Or not so much object as  . . . I really don't know the classification of this new-century noun called a blog . . .

Phew, that's out of my system. Excellent advice from my 8th grade English teacher who suggested that if you don't know what to write, just start writing. She would probably recommend, then go back and delete it afterward, but guess what folks, I'm turning in the rough draft.

Because I want to remember how fun it was when we were an old fashioned family, and made caramel corn ("sticky popcorn," is the new name around here, I guess), and listened to the football game on the radio. Game stunk, popcorn was delicious.

Because I want to remember how my boys decided a fun activity one afternoon would be looking through cookbooks. They found many, many things that I have pledged to make. And these guys don't forget, I'd better get out my calendar. Then that night around the dinner table Gary said, "What should we do for Andrew's birthday?" Josh offered, "I saw a great cake today in a cookbook." And Noah said, "I know! We can get a present for him! And for me."

Because I want to remember the kindness of the neighbors accross the street that offered one day after church to watch our kids for a date night. Were they prompted by the sacrament meeting wrestle-mania? I don't know, but I do know that I ate barbeque with my man, and I said Gary looked good and he said I looked good and we both said we love being together.

Because I want to remember the puppet show I put on with Josh. Nothing fancy, 5 minutes of prep. Found the script in The Friend, used paper guys we already had, used bee stickers as leprosy spots . . . and Josh simply beamed. We did a repeat performance the next day. I haven't done anything like that before, but that million-watt smile makes me want to try a little harder.

Because I should report that Noah's destructiveness has decreased a little, unless you count running with very sharp knives. When I took one such knife away from him he cried, "But they're for b-tacking!" "Well, why don't you b-tack with a spoon?" I suggested. "Because they're not dangerous," was his reply.

Because little Andrew is walking, and is SO excited about his new skills. My other kids were excited to walk, but nothing like this. Most of the time when he falls it's because he's worked himself into a frenzied happiness that topples him. And this should be in a post of its own, all about Andrew, which brings back the feelings that made it so I almost didn't write any of this . . .but, haha overwhelmed feelings, it's too late, you lose this round!

Update: Did I Mention Andrew Laughs?

After I sent this letter, I realized how repetitive the last paragraph is. Maybe that just drives the point home. Right?

I started a letter on Sunday, never finished it, and now I'm seeing a lot of you tomorrow. We've had a computer crash this week (don't worry, Gary can still listen to talk radio on his blackberry), so I'm just now sending it. Oh, well.


The fun news is two weeks ago my sister Sarah visited with baby Madeline, and we had a great time playing everywhere from here to Provo. Then we got to have fun with my entire family when we ran a marathon relay for cystic fibrosis. We put together two teams, and also entered all of the cousins into the kids' K. Josh had a great time, and enjoyed the t-shirt and medal greatly, although he concedes that Tate beat him. With all of those entries, we really felt like we were running CF into the ground. Bad news is we passed our get-achey-then-get-spots disease to everyone else. Oops.

Noah has perfected his villanous laugh he uses when he's a bad guy (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!), and it seems to fit a lot of the situations he finds himself in. He's still SO cute and cuddly, though. And amusing. I told Noah if he got out of his bed, I'd shut his door so he couldn't get out. He got out of bed anyway, and when I found him in my room he said, "Can't you just lock me in this room?"

Josh had his first soccer game, this time with Gary as the assistant coach. Josh still loves it, and when he's determined he can really get in there. I love it and wish sports throughout his whole life could be so non-competitive and just-for-fun as it is now. I was in charge of preschool this week and we had a great time doing rock experiments, growing crystals, and playing in the mine we created in our living room. The boys and I danced around the living room all week to the songs I had out for the occasion, and it was pretty adorable to watch them. The best was Josh in his underwear dancing to "4 Hugs a Day." He was really into it, complete with the hugs. So, it makes our house a mess for a week, but it's a good chance for me to do things with my kids that I always want to but rarely drag out. Okay, I just remembered, the other best is Noah putting his hands to his cheeks and saying, "Oh, no!" in one of the songs. Might not sound like a big deal, but imagine those big brown eyes above his squishy little cheeks. Yep.

Andrew's personality is really coming out. He'll get in there and wrestle with the other kids until it's just one big knot of boy. We're trying to feed him more real food because I'm tired of blending, and I think he's about that age. He loves a lot of things, but I swear he told me no the other day when I tried to give him a cube of sweet potato. He's as good natured as ever, and loves to laugh with the kids. Who are usually actually just trying to get him to laugh. He stands in the middle of the floor, and climbs on everything. It's nice to be number 3, because there's plenty of reason to keep belly-laughing through dinner.

And Andrew can only eat so many green beans before he starts screaming to be released from the chair, so that's the end.

Update: Labor Day and the Serious Condition

Do you ever feel like your life is (very) full of stuff, just not reportable stuff? We had a good weekend trying to eek out projects, but if I say that, you will get a wrong impression that we actually got a lot accomplished, and will think if you come it will look awesome. Sorry to disappoint. However, clean little crannies (can you say this word without "nooks"? I wanted to try it out), anyways, I like the few clean crannies. (Yeah, it doesn't work, but I'm going to continue to force the issue.)


Andrew had roseola this weekend, and maybe Noah, too. And maybe me and Gary, too (nah, but it was something achey. But nothing that can't go away with drugs, so it was close to nothing.) So, although roseola isn't a big deal, it made me reflect on human nature. Namely, it seems like things with a name are a bigger deal. For example, someone can be sicker than a dog with flu, almost unto hospitalization, but it's "just the flu" as far as how you have to report it to others. However, if somebody gets themselves tested, even someone with mild symptoms, and it's swine flu, then immediately that person is far sicker than anyone else whose disease has no name. So therefore, I feel that my reporting of roseola bears more weight than the usual, even though I know it wasn't a huge deal.

I discovered a conference talk I'd forgotten about in preparation for my lesson in RS, and I had a great experience with it, so maybe you will, too. Here's a link.

As for labor day, it was half laborious/half rest. We started out the day by declaring Junk Day, and ate doughnuts for breakfast and let Josh rent Superhero Squad. Then the labor portion - Gary repaired the infamous dresser, so pray for its continued health. I did Stuff, too. Enough stuff to make us late for the barbeque we went to, but we got there eventually, and it was fun and delicious. It was with some friends from high school, and it was so good to kick back and laugh.

Andrew is standing on his own, and Noah is completely obsessed with stuffed animals. He has been for a while, but now he has to have 8-10 on his bed at night. If you try to kick one off, he says, "No, he's nice."

UPDATE: Andrew took a step on his own tonight (and promptly tumbled, but it was still cute), and I found the same spots as he had on me last night. So maybe Andrew didn't have roseola? His condition has just been downgraded to nameless. Phew, so much less serious! And tomorrow is Friday - that is serious.

Update: The 40 Dollar Bear and Other Events

So I typed a bunch of random things last night, and was going to go back and put in clever segues. But I'm not going to, so there.


Gary was giving the kids pudding tonight, but Noah kept crying that he didn't want any, he just wanted mom. So finally he ran over to me, and I picked him up and hugged him for a minute. He did a little sniffle and said, "Okay, it's better, I want some pudding now."

Josh started preschool again today. Neighborhood co-op again, and we are both really excited. Josh was so cute today, when I told him it was preschool day he bounced right out of bed, ate his breakfast quickly, and got dressed quickly. This is an amazing feat for Josh, who generally prefers to savor each moment (I'm trying to give him some credit . . .) This year his preschool class is 6 boys, no girls, so I may have to schedule some type of male de-tox for him.

After our Park City family mini-vacation got thwarted due to a trip to the ER and other awesomeness for Noah, we rescheduled for this weekend and it was fantastic! I swore to myself I would blog about it. We got to see Sara and Taylor as they were awesome enough to expand their collection of boys temporarily to include ours while we listened to the time-share presentation that made our trip possible.

So, I know I will be asked why Noah was in the ER. Long time, no update. He had been complaining of owies in his tummy/chest for days, but my dad said he didn't need to be seen unless he got a fever or cough, and in that case, right away. So, the night before/morning of our planned trip (4 a.m.) he woke up with a very high fever and screaming about the owies. The kid was delirious and talking non-stop, it would have been funny if not for scary. So, upon instructions, I took him to the ER (so reluctantly, but I wasn't about to harm my child to save money). Long story short is we spent 4 hours for them to tell us nothing besides to come in when it happened again. And I had to watch the worst hour-long episode of Dora ever. Noah was pretty cute, he kept on saying, "My bracelet is 40 dollars, my new bear is 40 dollars, my bandaid is 40 dollars," and I kept thinking about how sadly accurate he was. When his fever wouldn't go down hours after returning home Gary ended up taking him to a pediatrician (upon instructions), who figured it out to be a nasty virus that was causing stomach problems, gas pains, and acid reflux. Sad for Noah, but just non-serious enough to be frustrating. Whatever, we got a lot of quality cuddle time, when it didn't feel like cuddling an oven. And he's such a snuggly little guy when he wants to be . . .

So, have a great week, I'm sure I am missing a major family event/story, but all the rest is RS, preschool prep, me ruining furniture . . . oh, yes, Gary is now a primary teacher. He teaches the 5 turning 6 class, and seems to like it so far.

Okay, Happy Labor Day to all of you who deserve a rest from your labors . . .

If I Told You the Triathlon Would Kill Me, Good News - I'm Still Here!

Cue music. We are survivors, we didn't give up . . .

Gary and I (and my sister and brother-in-law) did a triathlon. The whole thing without stopping. And we're still alive! We signed up for it in May thinking it was an ingenious way to get in shape, my sister and I imagining our post-partum bodies turning into finely-chiseled masterpieces. At the time I could barely run two miles without trouble, and there's also the fact I can't swim. And also don't have a bike. No matter!

Gary and I both finished first in our age divisions . . . in transition time from bike to run. Gotta take my small victories. (The truth - it was probably because our bikes were parked close to the entrance. But still, my name is on top of a list.)

Due to a crazy summer (I always think I can do more than humanly possible. Maybe someday I will be right. My thought process usually goes like this, "Today I will refinance the house, make and deliver cookies to my visiting teaching people, clean the house, pack for our trip all by myself, and pick Gary up from work by 4. All with 3 small children underfoot.") What a diversion, yes, anyway, crazy summer, didn't get to train as much as I would have liked, so no amazing bod, but I went from struggling to run to finishing the sprint tri. Yeah.

Gary did well in the swim regardless of training, but barely knowing how to swim, it was hard for me. So, I made it through performing the backwards frog stroke. I was not the last one out of the water, but pretty close. The ones behind me were probably suffering from frog-kick to the head.

I was positive I'd make up time on the bike, but I just wasn't passing anybody. Finally I saw a lady in front of me that looked like she was going slow. Ha, ha, I was going to pass her! As I smugly sped past I noticed she didn't have a number on her bike. Also she was wearing a flowered t-shirt and a visor. And her hair had been recently set. Just out for a Saturday leisure ride . . . I am awesome. Later I found out if I'd been on a road bike I could have gone around 20% faster with the same amount of effort. My competitive side wants to borrow such a bike and try again. My calm side says it was all for the work out anyway, so it doesn't matter. My competitive side may someday win.

When I jumped off my bike, I almost fell down. Where were my legs? Oh, well, legs or no, I still had a 5k to run. Even though I was at the back of the pack, there's something about ditching your bike and running off to do a 5k that makes you feel like an athlete. Especially when you drink some water provided to you by a volunteer and then throw the cup to save time. That alone was sassy enough to help me find my legs. And also a short stretch once out of sight to spectators. The run was pretty hard, but I made up time there. Whereas I finished near the bottom of the first two events, I finished 11th out of 62 women on the run. Another teensy victory! Plus, I sprinted to the finish. A short sprint, but I did it.

I love hearing Gary tell about his race. I also love hearing Nate and Cindy tell about theirs. We all had some hard moments, but Cindy said it best, "Doing something like that is very empowering." We didn't think it would be that fun, especially since none of us are in the best shape. But Gary and I can't quit talking about it. About where we'll shave off time, and how much. I think a good start for me would be learning how to swim. We can see how people can get addicted to stuff like this. However, is most of the fun from the low expectations? Who knows. But jello-belly me did it. So we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast today. Can't just burn calories without replacing them. Right?

We look awesome in this picture - but it has to be posted. These people just swam 500 meters, biked 12 miles, and ran 3.1 miles . . . here's proof. (I have to brag, it's all this body's got!)

Other tri tips: Don't sleep with your two-year-old the night before. Remember to put your goggles on your actual eyes before the swim, on top of your head doesn't help much.

The Stuff These Boys Say . . .

Josh (In the middle of Sunday dinner): I said "breast milk" in Primary today.
Me: (Trying to hide my surprise, trying to keep a straight face): Oh really, why?
Josh: I thought it came from cows.
Me (Knowing they talked about being grateful for food today): So, did your teacher ask you what comes from cows?
Josh: Yes, and so I said "breast milk" and then they laughed. Hey, why are you guys laughing?
Gary: (Doing his Gary-giggle behind his napkin)
Both of Josh's teachers today were men. I very nearly got rice stuck up my nose from trying not to laugh/laughing.

Josh (after saying the breakfast prayer the other day): What if some time when I'm saying the prayer, I sing, "Pants on the Ground," to make Heavenly Father laugh?
(No, I don't think it's appropriate, and of course I told him so. But it was so funny that he was really trying think of Heavenly Father, and how he would probably like to laugh.)

Noah and I left for church last week before Gary and the other boys, so Noah never actually saw that Gary had come to church.
Noah's Nursery Teacher: Seems like you're stinky. Should we go find your mom or dad?
Noah: Yeah, let's go find my dad, he's at home.

It rained REALLY hard the other day, so we sat and watched it out our front door. Josh was trying to devise ways to get the mail without getting wet. Bucket on his head? Run fast?
Suddenly Noah says: Hey, I got a great idea! We can fly over the rain!
Me: That sounds pretty great, how would we do that?
Noah: . . . Um, not wings . . . a hang-glider. (and later on) Diego has a hang glider. (Yeah, it was from TV, but he hasn't watched it in a while, and I thought it was cute he went through the thought process.)
Oh, and Josh's bucket idea won, by the way. Pretty effective until he got to the mail box and turned it the other way to put the mail inside.

Update:Our Wooden Anniversary Amongst Life with Kidlets

I was thinking I didn't have much to report on the destruction front this week, but then we went and did something stupid called getting ready for church at the same time. Perfect opportunity to spray half a can of non-stick spray all over the kitchen, if you're Noah. He also got ahold of my mascara on Monday and made himself look like Kiss. Rock on, my child. (No, I don't know what that means, either.)


We didn't have a new baby this week like Allison and Ted, but we did get the rest of our children named. It took Josh a few minutes to nail it down, but now he's pretty sure we'll have 2 more boys and 2 girls, boys named Andrew and the girls named Solarica. He thought of Solarica a couple of months ago, and has not forgotten. I guess if it's meant to be . . . (And as Gary reported, at one point one of the girls was going to be Andrew, too.)

So the highlight of the week . . . well, there were several, so the first one - our anniversary! We got a babysitter ON the day of (this is a first, people), and went out to dinner. Thanks to restaurants.com we tried out an amazing new restaurant, and it was sooo yummy. We were laughing that we feel like experts just because of watching so much food network, but there we were, eating goat cheese and loving it. One of the things we ordered was bacon-wrapped pork medallions, and while we were eating I said, "This is what Allison would have gotten." After our dinner we stopped at the D.I. to try to look for a dresser again, and while we didn't find the perfect dresser, we did find a small table/desk thing that we want to refinish. We were excited because we think it will look cool, and were talking about the project. Gary said, "I'll have to buy you a sander for our anniversary." I asked him if he knew what the actual 5-year anniversary gift is supposed to be, and he said, "Wood. Happy anniversary." Perfect.

Other highlight - the temple on Friday night. I mention it because it was one of those things that almost didn't happen. We'd had a really busy week, I wasn't feeling the best, and I really wanted to reschedule. But thanks to a thought someone shared with me, we went, and it was amazing. I couldn't believe we almost didn't go, and felt that my perspective was changed for days from it. It's so awesome, if even for a minute, to feel like I had a grasp on what's really important. So, note to self: if you get the chance, just go. Will I listen to myself? Only time will tell.

And one more big highlight - seeing Sara, Taylor, Christian, Candacy, and families! My memory is fading, but I can tell you that we talked a lot, I was happy, I laughed, so, hmmm. Good stuff. I missed Martha, and was sad to not hear about the trek.

Josh just finished his two weeks of swimming lessons today, and he loved it. I spent most of the time chasing two others (Noah LOVES feeding the "duckses" at the lake), so I'm not sure what exactly Josh learned, but he likes to pretend he's an underwater superhero, so that's probably good. Just as long as he learns enough through the years to not have to resort to the backwards frog stroke to stay afloat, like this one lady I know too well (aaah, the triathalon is going to get me!). Andrew spent most of the swimming lesson time banging sticks into mud, which I thought was cute. I think it's funny to see him be a real kid. I've decided we need some really big rocks to climb on and some muddy places to dig in the back yard, and the kids will be set. Really.

Last week Josh and Noah found their whistles and went around with them around their necks pretending to be coaches. At one point Josh was giving pep talks to "all of the kids" as he stood on a piece of furniture. Noah is into substituting words of songs, for example, he started singing, "I like to scoop it, scoop it" (instead of move it, move it) as he scooped his yogurt. He also says "or something" a lot. E.g. "Is that my daddy on the phone or something?" and "If we want that we have to get a ladder or something."

And since it took me days to write this, it's the end of another week, and you probably want to know that while I was talking to the (relatively) new neighbor today, the boys ate all of the otter pops in the freezer (their "tummies were hurting"), and tried to make PB&J's, but broke the jam jar. With lots of jam in it. I'm proud of them for having initiative. :) Also, I got to visit some college friends the other day, and they totally made me want to move to Utah county to hang out. Pretty great friends! And Josh's big highlight was going to Magoon (Lagoon) with his cousins. He can't wait to be an adult now so he can go on the adult bumper cars.(His words.)

Okay, have a fantastic weekend!

Spiderman's Birthday

(Josh's birthday was almost 3 months ago, and I have been uploading pictures slowly ever since. It takes too long to do pictures these days. But I was determined to document at least big-deal things, like birthdays.)

Josh picked this picture for the front of his birthday party invitation - wouldn't you come?

Josh said he wanted a Spiderman birthday party, but when it came time to choose an invitation picture, he decided the more superheroes, the better. So, we decided it would be a superhero-kind-of-spiderman party. We turned the trampoline into a spider web, and the kids put the presents there.

The first activity was making capes. They colored with markers, glitter glue, and jewels (I was thinking for the girls, but they were over-all very popular, especially with Noah).

Here they are lined up at the fence for their relay race.

Here are the relay race instructions coming . . . pretty funny. The 6 year olds loved it, the 4 year old just kind of ran around. It was funny. Perfect that at that age they all considered themselves winners.

All gathered around the spider web - so cute. They thought the web was cool, and most kids took home a spider. However one little girl said, "Um, usually I don't play in spider webs."

I taped bad guys from Spiderman all over the fence, and gave each of the kids a can of silly string so they could shoot webs at them. They LOVED this, and wanted more when their cans were gone. It was hilarious, because they couldn't understand how to work the cans at first, and Gary had to help them, but even so, they couldn't get enough. Maybe it was Gary's "Let's really get these bad guys" narrative ("Dr. Octopus, you don't stand a chance with Cooper's web!"). Here Josh is demonstrating what it was like, using his spiderman-head squirt gun.

He also wanted to make sure I got a picture of him getting the bad guys with the new squirt gun he got from one of the little girls. Pretty awesome.

Here it is, the stuff kids' dreams are made of, coming true at last . . . blowing out the birthday candles!! (I had visions of an amazing cake I was going to make him, but ran out of time due to cutting out capes. So I put stickers on blue frosting. That's the sad part for me, but he thought it was incredible. I love kids. Also, we had Spiderman, Superman, and Batman pictures taped all over the tables.)

Hooray, Happy Birthday, Josh! The party was a ton of fun. Josh was so excited for it beforehand, it was unreal. He'd dance all around the house singing about, "Having a party with all my friends and cousins!" As we drove from house to house and I watched him proudly go up to the doors and give out his invitations, I teared up. I love seeing him so happy! I also love his imagination, and that such simple party activities could be such a wonderland for him.

I heard later that when he gave his invitation to his friend Kelty, she opened the door and Josh shoved an invitation at her and said, "You're coming to my party, Kelty."

As for Josh being 4, it's crazy because it's not that crazy. When my kids have had birthdays in the past I've said, "I can't believe he's __." But since we've had Andrew, it seems like Josh should be at least 4. He's done such a good job of being a good brother to Andrew, and is turning into the example for all of the kids. I was thinking lately how it's almost not fair how he has to be the first to show restraint, and to learn to act how he should, because if he does the others follow more easily. However, someone has to do it, and he is perfect for the job. He really is my buddy, the one who talks with me. I love his funny little mind, and I adore his billion-dollar smiles.

The party was on Saturday, but his actual birthday wasn't until Sunday. He started out the day with what we've started making a tradition, with opening his present from Grandma and Grandpa S.

Yep, Grandma knows what to get. I think this is some type of attack pose.

Josh loved getting sung to in Primary, and afterwards led me into the empty Primary room to show me where he stood during the song, and told me about how afterwards all of the kids prenteded he was a candle and blew him out. After dinner later that night, we led him into the garage to reveal one final present - the one  from Mom and Dad.

Do you think he likes it?