View From My Window

The view from my window in the morning. I love the seasons here.

Eyeballs Rolling

With the after Halloween sales of candy I let the kids pick out the candy of their choice. Ella picked out tootsie rolls (of course) but Ethan picked out these weird gummy eyeballs. They turned out to be so gross (shocker) that no one would eat one, and they individual eyeballs ended up all over the house. Livi found that she loved chewing (shocker) on the plastic cover on the candy, which was a little disconcerting to see my one year old running around with an eye in her mouth.

Singing Sensation Ella, and Her Back Up Dancer Livi

Livi finally got to turn her car seat around, and thought it was stupid the first time she tried it. She has since found out life is a lot more fun when you can see where you are going. Ella is still addicted to the Twilight soundtrack, and more specifically Muse. Here are my girls enjoying listening to "Super Massive Black Hole" ( a rare treat, because I am a little sick of it after having to listen to it over and over and over and over).

This is Halloween, Halloween Night

Finally, after all the planning, sewing, buying, decorating, and stressing, it is Halloween. After all the canceled parties we decided to take the kids trick-or-treating on Broadway during the afternoon, then head over to the ward party. At the ward party Eric entered some Chili in a cook off, and his was very good, as usual. They also had costume competitions, which I think should never be done at church. How do you tell one kid their costume is better? It's not like the kids made/bought the costumes. Ella cried when she didn't win, and I felt so guilty. Here I had spent about 15 hours on her costume, and it wasn't good enough. (Yes, that is a house on my head) Sorry, I'll stop rambling. So after trunk-or-treating at the church we headed out with the Bagleys to do some tick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Ethan is Treeko, a pokemon, Eric is a pokemon trainer named Brock, Ella is Glinda the good witch, Maddi is Silvermist from the Tinkerbell movie, Carter (held by Melissa) is Tiger, I am the Wicked Witch of the West, and Caleb is a pirate. It was fun to have friends to go door to door with. I think the kids had fun having people to run up to the doors with, and I had fun having other adults to talk to. All in all it was an awesome day, but I am VERY happy not to have to do anything else Halloween related for another 11 months.

Jealous?

How can you not be jealous? Snow is absolutely the best! We got over 16 inches of snow on Thursday, and it was beautiful. Ella's preschool was canceled on Thursday, causing us to miss her Halloween party. Ethan's school was canceled on Friday, canceling his party. They were VERY sad about these missed opportunities to show off their costumes, but on the bright side, they did have over a feet of snow to play in. By today, not 2 days later, the snow started melting. Eric, Ethan, and Ella went out this morning and made an awesome snowman. Ella's hands got cold, leaving the boys up to their own devices. Well, they made some silly piles of snow, and one of them somehow turned into a throne that they had to fight (wrestle) over, of course.

One Year of Livi

This may be a big file, but it's worth it to see the change in Livi. She is such a charming funny girl, and I am so glad we were blessed with her in our lives.

My Baby is 1

I can't believe it has been a year since my beautiful Livi came into our home. This year has flown by and I am so sad that time is going this quickly. Olivia, of course, had no idea what was going on today, but it was pure joy on her face to be able to rip paper and I didn't scold her, I even encouraged her.
She was very good at ripping all the paper off, much to the chagrin of her two big helpers who were dying to open the gifts. I had to remind them earlier today that they would have 2 Christmas celebrations coming up and that this day was about Livi (both had complained that they didn't get any presents).
We had the Bagleys over for cake, sweet rolls and icecream. I was about to break off pieces of cake for Livi when I got distracted (as I so often do these days). When I turned back around she had managed to stuff most of the cake in her face. She seemed pretty relaxed through it all. Thank goodness we have the Bagleys here. It would have made for a very lonely 1st birthday if we didn't have them as surrogate extended family. Livi kept begging Melissa to pick her up and even went and stayed sitting in Melissa's lap for a quite a while (which she rarely does with me). Having them over seemed to be the highlight of her day. Carter even got in the birthday spirit and offered Olivia one of his socks.And for all grandparents who we missed terribly, here is the big moment:

Boo at the Zoo

The weather this week is suppose to get bad, so we decided to go to the zoo last night for their Halloween celebration. I had to hurry and get Ella's costume to a wearable stage (still missing some trim) Ella is Glinda the Good Witch, Olivia is Dorothy, and Ethan is Treecko a pokemon character. It was super fun until......



I dropped the camera. I love this camera. It is the best camera I have ever owned. This camera goes every where with me, takes awesome pictures, and does video. I feel like I lost an apendage. Here is the last picture I ever got to take with it:

Livi and the Kitty

Our next door neighbors have the sweetest cat. Whenever he sees the kids are outside he runs over to play. He lets us pick him up, pet him, love him, and even lets Livi come over and be "gentle." In the video Livi gets so excited she can barely "stand" it (that one's for you Dad).

Oh the Pains of Sisterhood

Poor Ella. She is so patient and loving. She has the most beautiful, long, hair, and Livi loves it. Loves to pull it, actually. She pulled a huge chunk of hair out of Ella's head, and had to go to time out for the first time. It doesn't seem to matter, though, she keeps trying to pull out Ella's hair. Ella's has never gotten mad AT her, never looks like she's going to do something back, she just sits there and quietly cries. We've had to start putting Ella's hair in buns and ponytails all the time just to keep her scalp intact.
It reminds me of sharing a bed with Julia. We shared a double bed and she would turn sideways and take up 90% of the bed. I would lay on a 6 inch sliver of bed while her feet kicked and pushed me all night long. I don't think I took it as patiently as Ella does, but I certainly know the pains of being a big sister. (I love you Julia)

The View From My Window

I am a lucky girl. I love to look out my front window, especially in fall.

Stinky Air, Disgusted Stares, and a Chocolate Trail to Follow

I was whipping up some of Joan's yummy banana bread this afternoon when I noticed Livi acting a little odd. She would run over to my legs, then run away as quickly as her cute, chubby little legs would carry her. I wasn't to interested until I felt something wet drip on my foot. I looked down and...
there was a great big drop of brown slobber on my foot. Well, I looked at the floor close to my foot and found a trail...which led me to a beautiful, messy baby.

I had dropped some chocolate chips that were going into the bread, and she would run over, grab one, and run away before I could notice she had something she wasn't suppose to have. Funny Livi.
As for the "disgusted stare" if you look closely at the picture above you can kind of see the black eye that Olivia is recovering from. She was running in the house and fell, didn't catch herself, and fell right onto her eye. A few days later she did the same thing at the mall, and landed on the exact same spot. It gave her a real shiner, and people have been looking at me weirdly and straight out asking what happened ever since.
As for the stinky air...for those of you who have ever lived by a sugar beet plant (only Grandpa Bud, I think) you know exactly what I mean. For those of you who don't, sugar beets, when refined into sugar, smell like rancid peanut butter. Not horrible if it is for a day, but for months on end? Well, it gets pretty old.

The Little (Fire) Engine That Could

One of the benefits to living in a smaller community is the opportunities the kids constantly have to go on field trips. Ethan went to a pumpkin patch and a play this week, and Ella was able to walk to the fire department to visit the firemen. I couldn't go with Ethan because I had already promised to help with computers in Ella's class, and I have the girls during the morning. I was able to go with Ella, and it was a blast. The talk to the kids about fire safety and even dress up in their fire gear so the kids wont be scared if they ever need to be rescued by firemen in their full uniform. We got to see all the fire trucks, spray the hose and then the kids got to ride back to the preschool on a vintage fire truck. Melissa and I had Carter and Livi in backpacks so, alas, we could not fit on the truck, but we consoled ourselves by walking to the bakery and getting some yummy doughnuts. We then walked around until the end of preschool (about an hour and 15 minutes) hoping the babies would take a nap. Livi finally did for the last 20 minutes, but carrying around 30 extra pounds for that long really did a number on my knees. Oh well, the doughnut was worth it!


The poor little vintage truck stalled in the middle of the street, and after my initial mother's freak out of my daughter stuck in the road, I had to laugh.

Franken-Blankie and the Shelf from Hades

I've been a little under the weather lately and have neglected some of the upkeep around the house, but something happened yesterday that could not be ignored. Ella was playing a game with Eric involving tossing her blanket and Eric trying to get it away from her. All people who have ever loved a blanket know that this game is not a good idea, but Ella was unaware of the dangers, and unfortunately blankie got ripped up the middle. I had to pull out the sewing machine and repair the damage plus all the damage that I'd been putting off fixing. The results were great, super secure, but it does look a little like a blanket Frankenstein's Monster's daughter would love.

We have recently tried to make our house more live-able to cut down on my desire to move to a bigger home. It's really been working (thank you again Mom and Dad for the new couch, we LOVE it and it has made the single biggest difference! We love the entertainment tower too!). I also bought some shelves to put above the piano and have been trying to figure out how to get them to stay up on our plaster walls (never buy a home with plaster walls, no matter what the home inspector guy says about insulation and sound proof benefits, not worth it). I ended up having to repair the wall, call my dad, and eventually add shims underneath to keep the stupid shelf up, but I think it's worth it (or I'm just blinded by the hard work and effort put in, and it looks badly, and will probably fall down on my head while I play the piano).

Signing Time with Livi

We've been working on some sign with Olivia, and she seems to like it. She even signed "sorry" to Ella the other day, but I think it was just empty words, she seemed pretty happy about pulling Ella's hair.

Snow? In October?

Yep, we've been blessed with snow at the beginning of October. Last year we put up a video of Ethan riding on a shovel. This year it is Ella's turn.

Dance Magic Dance Part 2

Livi had a couple of short videos where she was rocking out to the song, but she kept hitting the space bar and pausing it. I posted the other video because it was uninterrupted, but on reviewing the video I found her moves were pretty awesome on this one. It's longer, but the good moves are at the beginning. Enjoy!

Dance Magic Dance (for Julia)

Livi loves to bounce to music. Everytime she hears a good beat she bounces. We were looking up video from the Wizard of Oz, when somehow a clip from Labyrinth came up. Labyrinth reminds me of Julia, so I clicked on it. It's one of the funnier scenes, so I turned it on to let Ella watch it. Here is Livi's reaction.

The Dancing Train

Ella is in ballet again, and it is a real ballet studio. I am very excited to have her dancing, and more importantly she is very excited to go every week. We aren't allowed in the room (they get distracted), but it is a very safe set up, so I feel okay with it, although I'd love to watch her learn. The part we do get to see is when they line up in a "train" and walk on eleve into their class. I love it!

Climber Livi

9 months and she's walking, 10 months she's dancing, 11 months she's climbing, what's next? Maybe she'll do a back flip for her 1st birthday. I guess there is one more room we need to close the door to. One more area I have to sit and watch her in. Her independence and my leash.

Getting Better

It's October, Yeah!!!!!

I love October. It cools down, rains, and leaves start to fall. I became a Mommy for the last time last October. I love Halloween (everyone gives out free candy to cute kids, how often does our society get together like this anymore?). I love costumes, chocolate, ghosts and ghouls. I love the idea of dressing up and being something else for the night.
To get in the mood I decided to make some yummy sugar cookies (my mom has the BEST recipe) and since Maddi was coming over I thought the girls might enjoy helping me decorate them. I made traditional Halloween colored icing, and when I asked the girls what colors they wanted Ella looked and me with a perplexed look on her face and asked "Where is the pink?" Where was the pink indeed? Well, I whipped some up super quick, the girls were happy, and we made some beautiful cookies!

All that glitters

I was so excited with the free reign that we have been given for our bridesmaid outfits for James and Jes' wedding. Our only stipulations are shorter, black dresses and gold shoes. I may be pushing the envelope a little with my choices, but luckily Jes is the type to find that funny, rather than be mad. I've ordered my exciting new items, and was thrilled to get my shoes in the mail today. Ella helped take pictures of my shoes and then asked if she could wear them. After walking around a little bit she asked "Where are my new shoes?" Hmmm, I wonder if they make tiny little gold sequin shoes.

On the Birght Side I was Bitten by a Pig

My hands were repeatedly scraped and cut by gross, rusty, dirty nails last night and in the midst of it all I had to laugh, at least that pig bit me last year so I don't have to go get a tetanus shot tonight. On the bright side, to quote my mom. Last night, while Eric was gone, I tore up the carpet in our living room. I have wanted it done, and although not opposed to the idea, I don't think Eric wanted to spend his very little spare time on yet another home project. He was gone arguing a case in the appellate court so I took the opportunity to get it done, and have a "fun" surprise for him. It took most of both days, but I got it done in time for Eric's return. Our new couch and entertainment tower were delivered, so the new room was complete. Sure, the floor has lots of gouges, and nail marks. Sure there is an area where the boards were replaced, but not stained to match, but I got rid of that nasty, gross carpet. I will not even scare you with the horrors that abound when you lift up carpet, but don't do it if you are a neat freak. So long story short, I redid the living room (or is it family room, I can never remember which is which). I now have an area I can have people over in, that hopefully will be a respite from toys (yeah right). Now on to one of the other hundred things we have planned for our house. I think the porch is next...

Neither Rain nor Sleet....

Livi has taken to carrying things around. She is mobile enough that she can carry something that seems to weigh as much as she does room to room. She will carry one shoe into another room, making morning time a little stressful as we hunt for the errant shoe. I have seen her carry her blanket all over the house, even through the pile I just swept in the kitchen. Today at the Bagley's house Maddi was nice enough to let Livi carry around her stuffed penguin (I almost wanted to carry it around it was so soft!). The funniest to date was actually today where she dragged the toy baby stroller all around the house. The thing is SO awkward, but she was determined to take it everywhere she wanted to go. Don't even try to tade her for something lighter, that little girl has already mastered the art of the temper tantrum.

If it Walks like a Duck...

As requested by grandparents, I give to you Olivia walking. She has been walking for a while, but just this week she has perfected it. Only 10 1/2 months old, prodigy anyone? (just kidding)

Rools

Ethan came home from his first day at school exited about all the things in his classroom that were different from last year. There is Tattle Toad who HATES it when people tattle, even and odd number poems, and most importantly there is a list of rules on the wall. Ethan came home and decided we needed our own list posted by the door.

Translation:
Rools (rules)
listen to Mom
To be Kind
Dont Run
Listen to Dad
Be Safe
Be Respectful
Be Responsible
Be Careful to Baby

Ethan is always drawing. Even in the shower. Eric says he will ask him to do something, like wash his hair and Ethan will write "N-O" on the shower door in the steam. I came in the other day and he was drawing faces.

He also drew on the back of his school work. He and a friend were having their pencils battle, so he thought it would make a great picture. Ethan's pencil, the taller one, is hitting the smiley face pencil and saying "awesome, awesome" (osom, osom) while the poor little smiley face pencil calls for help. I guess the thing above the smiley face pencil is a shield that Ethan's pencil threw on its head. I am a little concerned with the violence of this picture (we may have to stop watching pokemon) but I am also amused at the depiction of pencils fighting. Hmmmm, which side will win out, the appalled mother or the british humor lover in me?

Child Prodigy

I bought Ethan some piano books at our local music store, and since I live in Scottsbluff Nebraska and not Los Angeles I got to talking to the owner of the store about teaching kids instruments. I myself started at age 8, and Ethan will be 6 almost 7. Normal, yes. He told me that a parent called asking for flute lessons for her 2 year old daughter. Okay crazy people. I realized with this story, and after talking to some parents at Ethan's school, how the average IQ is 100, there have to be people like this out there to bring the average down. Crazy flute mom is a waco, but I am not (okay yes I am, but I am on medication so it doesn't count). I know all parents think their kids are prodigies, but I know I am right in saying that Livi is a musical genious! (Heavy sarcasm is so hard to type)

First Day of School, or My Car the Prison

School has finally started and it is nice to have the 2 hour "break" where I get to play with Livi one on one and she has a little nap. What I don't like is the morning Ella doesn't have a playmate, making lunches that only get half eaten, the constant driving in the car, and waking Livi up from her afternoon nap so we can race off to Ella's preschool and then race to Ethan's school. On the bright side next year I'll just have Livi during the day, and she'll still be napping (maybe my house will get clean, ha ha). On the sad side, next year I'll just have Livi during the day. I miss my little ones while they are gone. I may not love playing pokemon with the kids, but I enjoy hearing them play pokemon, I love hearing there little games, the funny things they say.
So on to happier things, Ethan has a great teacher, Mr. Behnke (yes pronounced like the baby pacifier) and there are only 16 kids in his class. Yes, you read that right, take that California! He LOVES Mr. Behnke, and has actually come home excited to tell me things that he did at school. My little shy guy is growing up.Growing up, yes. Still making goofy faces in pictures though.

Ella also started school, and I think it is a big adjustment for her. After we dropped off Ethan she was ready to go off to preschool, just like last year. I explained that we would go after lunch. She looked concerned and said "But I'm not hungry for lunch." After laughing and explaining that we weren't moving lunch up, but moving preschool later, she was very upset. It didn't help that all summer she had her best friend, Maddi, all to herself, and when she walked into the preschool Maddi was playing on the swings with someone else. She teared up, and didn't want to go outside. I felt so badly for her. I know that feeling, of being left out, and it breaks my heart to see it in her eyes. Luckily Mrs. Hessler, the best no nonsense preschool teacher in the world quickly assessed the situation and paired Bella up with another little girl. Ella still got to sit by Maddi, and she was pretty stoic about it when I picked her up. All in all it will be an interesting year.

Chocolate Baby

Another example of my fine parenting on display. In my defense I DO have a really bad sinus infection and I want to lay around and sleep all day. I was laying on the couch after church and heard some rustling over by the table. Eric and the kids were in other rooms, so no one was there to check what Livi had gotten into. It hurts to move my head too much, so I thought it probably wasn't a big deal, I thought it was a cracker wrapper for saltines. Not great, but I thought I would let her eat some crackers and I could clean it up later. Well, it wasn't crackers.
It was Ethan's Kit Kat that he hadn't finished. It made me laugh so hard to see her grubbing away on the chocolate, and that Ethan hadn't finished a Kit Kat. Who's child is he? I picked her up before it got too bad, and let her finish in the kitchen over the sink. I probably will regret this later when she's gumpy from a tummy ache, but I figured she was already grumpy from teething and this at least would taste delicious. Bad Mommy 101, taking applicants now.

Attack of the Livi Grizzly

Some more cute growling from Olivia. I just love the sounds that come out of her mouth!

Frankenstien Walking

Livi is walking. She started taking steps her and there last month, and started perfecting her technique in Canada. Now she is taking several steps all the time, and yesterday she walked across the room. This morning I got a couple of steps on camera. I love the little lurching.

Staying Sane, or Furniture Shopping

Well, we are at an impasse in our future planning. Eric can waive into other states next April, so it makes sense to wait until then to job hunt, but we have outgrown our little house here. I am quickly going crazy in the cramped quarters, but we really don't want to buy a new house (because we may only be here for a short time, and it's nice to have a small mortgage payment). After several LONG phone calls to my mom, trying to make the best of the situation, we've decided to try and make the basement more liveable to make spending time down there more palatable. One thing we did was move our ultra comfy couch downstairs, plus move all the entertainment stuff down, so upstairs can stay neater (I hate when your best friend drops by to drop off the yummiest salsa, and your living room looks like Tornado Livi struck). Long story short, I went furniture shopping to get a new sofa for upstairs. The kids actually had a blast and had their favorite types of furniture. Ella truly got into the spirit of things, and I'm a little concerned we will being seeing her on the Price is Right as a model in about 16 years. We didn't get any of the pieces she is showing off, but her poses were so funny I couldn't help adding them.

All Tucked In

Ethan is such a sweet little guy. He LOVES stuffed animals. He has such a great imagination each animal has a name, personality, likes and dislikes, and special friends among the other stuffed animals. At night he loves to have them all in bed with him (or at least some of them).
A couple of nights ago I came in to turn off the light from his reading books in bed and realized that he had organized his friends. His two pokemon, Sneasel and Sudoowoodoo (?) where laying on a pillow by him, tucked into the blanket he had me knit them. The rest of the stuffed animals where "cuddling" each other at the end of his bed in groups according to size. Okay, maybe he's a little type A like me, but there are worse ways for it to exhibit! He just wanted them all to comfortable for the night.

Mad Mommy Skills

My kids always ask how I can do things. I always, jokingly, answer "Mad Mommy Skills." This time I am not joking. I braided Livi's hair. Yes, her very short, very fine baby hair. How did I do it, yep, Mad Mommy Skills!

Baby Grizzly

I think Livi must be part Grizzly Bear, or maybe if I play back a recording of this sound at a higher tone and different speed there will be a hidden message. I hate to say it, but she does sound like a little possessed demon baby. It here new favorite sound to make. Enjoy!