Merry Christmas!

The big tree - decorated by my helper, Liz, and I

The kids' trees - decorated by Liz and Tali. Josh "let" them decorate his too.

The girls are lobbying to get the big one for themselves next year.

Tali & Santa after her pre-school program. She's not shy.

She's especially not shy when there is a candy cane waiting.

Mickey & Christmas

The house that ROCK built

I should be posting a family Christmas photo or blogging about all the cool holiday stuff we're doing but all I can think about is this awesome picture. It's been making me laugh all week.

I did not choose the background purposely. The "extra" just sauntered into my photo. I hope it adds to your holiday cheer!

And the revised edition:

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Idaho was spectacular. We met the newest brother-in-law and two new nephews and a niece, as well as a 1-year old niece we've never met either. We went to the IMAX, played ultimate frisbee and flag football, ate a delicious feast, watched dad play his year's work on the organ and had lots of fun together as a family.

I'll post pictures soon, promise. Have I said that before? The camera is downstairs and I'm pregnant! It's a good excuse, huh? Okay, I'll be honest - being pregnant doesn't really make me that tired, but it makes me really lazy! So, for now, here are the best pictures from the trip anyway.

http://samuelsmiracle.com/updates/

http://markandcourtneypalfreyman.blogspot.com/2009/12/thanksgiving.html (posted by my sister who is 38.5 weeks pregnant and obviously not nearly as lazy as I am)

Halloween 1

I do have Halloween pictures. And I will post them, eventually. But my camera is downstairs right now and I'm upstairs. You see the problem . . .

But Matt's camera is sitting right here and it has two very cute pictures on it, with a cute story to go with them.

Tali was having a hard time deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween. The only thing she could come up with was "a purple monster." I wasn't quite sure how I would pull that one off, so I took her to Wal-Mart so she could expand her options. She immediately fell in love with a neon green, glow-in-the-dark skeleton costume. I was pretty surprised, but she insisted that she wanted to be "scary." I showed her princesses, cowgirls, fairies, even Wonder Woman, but she was totally attached to the skeleton. It actually had a cute face, so I bought it. She was so excited to try it on for Matt. When he got home, I put it on her. She looked in the mirror and . . .

started crying. She was "scary!" So scary she scared herself. So, we went back to Wal-Mart and she made a 180. She decided a pink fairy would be a better choice.

Liz's Birthday Party

For birthdays I'm usually all about simplicity. Yes, I make a big deal, but I like to have the party somewhere else so all I have to do is bring the cake - store-bought if possible. But when I'm pregnant I tend to get a little more domestic. For Liz's birthday this year, I decided it would be fun to let her have a party at our house. Liz chose a Halloween theme and we stuck to it, mostly. We had to throw in some girliness here and there :)

Liz and I found all of our spooky food ideas online and we worked on them together, all week. We made one thing per day until we ran out of steam. Then I turned to Papa Murphy's. I had to ask the guy to be a little artistic and he was happy to oblige. The only casualty was the bread sticks. I was too tired to make my own so I used Pilsbury pizza crust from a tube. Don't try that at home. They were cool-looking, but not tasty. But the rest was fantastic.

Happy Birthday Liz!

Happy Birthday to Liz,

Happy Birthday to Liz,

Happy Birthday dear Lizzie,

Happy Birthday to Liz!

Coming soon: Pictures from Lizzie's Halloween Birthday Party.

Terrible three-and-a-halfs?

Our little angel is finally "testing her bounds." When she does something deliberately wrong, I am at a loss for what to do because she has never done anyting "bad" before. There is no real system in place for disciplining.

The worst part is that I can threaten almost any consequence and she doesn't respond because either she doesn't take me seriously or she just doesn't care. Maybe she's spoiled . . . nah.

Today, after more whining than we could take, Matt said, "Tali, stop being a brat."
Tali was silent for a minute, acting like she didn't hear him, and then said, "If you call me a brat one more time I will smack you!"

Here's the problem: How can you discipline when you can't stop laughing?

Can you keep a secret?

If you tell a secret to a little girl . . .
She will tell her two best friends.

She'll tell them to keep it a secret . . .
but they will tell their moms . . . that very night.

Their moms will not know that it's supposed to be a secret,
so they'll tell their husbands. . .
and two more people from our ward.

Their husbands will hear, but not listen or repeat ;)
But their two best friends . . .
will tell two people from the next ward over.

The next day the first little girl will think,
"I told two people yesterday . . .
so I better tell two people today."

And so she will tell her school teacher
and Tuesday's classroom parent helper,
who, after leaving school, will pick up her younger child . . .
from the same pre-school your younger child goes to.

She also won't know it's supposed to be a secret,
so she'll tell your younger child's teacher . . .
and another mom whose children go to your Kardio Kids class . . .
every Wednesday morning.

After having told the secret to the precious little girl on Sunday night, it will start returning to you from all different angles as soon as

• Tuesday night at the Stake Primary meeting,
• Wednesday morning at Kardio Kids,
• Thursday morning at school and
• Thursday afternoon at pre-school.

It will make you feel a bit surprised,
and also a little dumbfounded at how far-reaching this little girl's social circle is,
but mostly good that people care . . .
and say "Congratulations" vs. "Are you crazy?"

If it's not obvious, the little girl is Liz and she's all about talking and friends. The silly person who decided Liz would be a good confidante is me. And my secret was . . .

We're having another baby!

He or she is due to arrive at the end of May, which puts me a measly 8 weeks along. But with my track record, I'm not expecting anything until at least June. Better to be prepared, right?

Now that you all know, can you start bringing meals? Just three times a week for the next 7 months would be great!

Microwave on fire

Last night I put a Capri Sun in the freezer for Josh to take in his lunch.

This morning he decided that he wanted it for breakfast instead of lunch.

But it was frozen.

So he put it in the microwave, with a paper towel underneath of it.

You can probably see where this is going.

He pressed start, bolts of lightning shot from the microwave, sparks flew and the paper towel caught on fire.

And here are the reactions from the three kids (who were in the kitchen alone):

Josh - very level-headed - saw the flames, grabbed a dirty cup from the sink, filled it with water, threw it in the microwave and successfully doused the burning paper towel.
Liz - always looking for an adventure, especially if it's not her fault - bolted up the stairs, threw our bedroom door open and, with a big smile, yelled, "Mom! Dad! Josh lit the microwave on fire!!!"
Tali - along for the ride - sat dazed in her high chair. When we reached the kitchen she said, "Whoa . . . Dad . . . Mom . . . There was fiiire! . . . in da microwave . . . and . . . and . . . Joshy threw the water . . . and . . . the juice was frozen! . . . Whoa."

I'm glad I wasn't there to see the lightning bolts or the fire. But after hearing the story from all three points-of-view, I have been giggling all day just picturing the scene.

If a tree falls in the woods . . .

A conversation between Tali and I at lunch today:

Me: Did you just throw that on the floor?
Tali: Yes
Me: Don't throw stuff on the floor.
Tali: Okay . . . Don't look at me.
Me: What are you going to do when I look away?
Tali: Throw this one on the floor.
Me: But I said don't throw stuff on the floor.
Tali: But you won't see me so stop looking at me.

If a toddler throws something on the floor and no one sees it leave her hand, did she really break a rule?

Flips

Josh had attempted about 1,000 front flips and had only landed on his feet about twice . . . until Jason came over.

In one night Jason taught Josh how to land a front flip

AND do a backflip.



And, just for fun, a pregnant lady back flip!

haha! I hope you have a good sense of humor, Lisa!

September

I knew it was bad. I was tired and feeling like a single mom. Then I did the math and Matt was out of town for 19 out of 27 days last month. First it was to Juneau for work. Then to Provo for pleasure - BYU vs. FSU (turned out to be not so pleasurable). And lastly, hunting, which apparently counts as more work than pleasure . . . "We're hunting for food, ya know." But he's home now and we're happy about that.

When I'm home alone, I stay up too late, sleep with a phone and a fire extinguisher, neglect the laundry and the blog.

I thought we hadn't done anything blog-worthy. But I guess I was just too busy to download the pics. Here's a quick re-cap of our September adventures.

Tali and I had a lunch date at Thai Orchid.

Lunch at school with Josh and Liz,
recess at school with Josh and Liz,

and a science experiment presentation in Josh's class. Launching rockets for all the 4th grade classes is not usually in my job description, but Josh and I were successful. This pic is from a previous launch. I didn't have enough hands to take a video of the school launch.


Girls' Night Out

I finally followed Brooke's Facebook advice and we got gigantic ice-cream treats for 49 cents from Carls Jr.


Jayme Carter's wedding reception.

A field trip to Campbell Creek to watch wildlife biologists mate salmon? - interesting

Swimming - Josh and I talked Tali into going down the slide by herself. Why? I don't know. She didn't really like the dunking part, but she did it twice.

Walk a day in my shoes . . .

. . . if you dare.

Yes, I left the house like this.

No, I didn't mean to.

(Those shoes don't match, you see.)

How long until I noticed, you ask? I spent about an hour in Home Depot and I was in a friendly-type mood. I got advice from three employees, smiled at people as they walked by and even stopped to talk to a stranger while Tali admired her newborn baby.

I have been trying to think of a time that I've ever seen another person unintentionally wearing mis-matched shoes. Oh, that's right, this isn't my first time. One 7th grade morning I called my step-dad in a panic, "Please, please bring me a shoe!! Either one, I don't care!"

Sincerely,

Losing my mind in AK

Tali Tali

Since Josh and Liz started school, Tali has been creating her own fun, and some mischief.


I had to hide the Dum-Dums because, apparently the top of the fridge wasn't high enough.


I also had to explain to her that it's not okay to put Toby outside without asking me. We don't have a fence.


I also keep finding fruit snack wrappers all over the house. But we don't have any fruit snacks in the pantry . . . oh, food storage! Sneaky, sneaky.


Lastly, the other day I heard her yell,
"Mom, I'm tapped!"
Me: "You're tapped?"
Tali: "Yeah! I'm taaaaaaaaaapped! HELP!"
This is what I found.
I asked her if she could stay trapped for another 30 seconds while I took a picture . . . and another . . . and a video.
She consented.

Tali & Toby.

Toby the Wonder Puppy

Similarities between Toby and a baby:

• He barely knows his own name.
• He sleeps a lot.
• He will fall aslep anywhere.
• When he's alseep I don't let anyone disturb him.
• When he's awake he distrubs everyone.
• He whines when he wants (or doesn't want) something.
• He can't make it through the night without peeing.
• Everything goes in his mouth :)

Differences between Toby and a baby:

• He can walk, run, jump, leap, spring, claw, climb, and flip, and he uses his 3-month-old brain to decide when and where to do each.
• He doesn't wear a diaper, but sometimes I wish he did.
• At bedtime I put him in his kennel, in the garage, lock the door and leave him.
• When I leave the house I put him on his runner in the backyard.
• He eats twice a day, not twice an hour.
• He gained 7 lbs. in a month.

We've had Toby for almost 4 weeks now. In that time, he's learned his name and sometimes he comes when called. Other times he stares at me tauntingly, waits until I get close enough to lunge at him and then makes a break for it, leaving me lying, embarrassed, on the grass. I think the neighbors enjoy watching this.

They say that a dog will NEVER pee in his own kennel unless he absolutely HAS to. Toby pees in his kennel every night, without fail. So I wash his kennel pad everyday. The alternative is to set the alarm for 4am, take him out back and watch him collapse on the porch and immediately fall asleep until we put him in the cold grass and he finally pees. I prefer washing the kennel pad everyday.

The kids are doing very well at taking care of him. Josh and Tali seem to have a real love for animals. I think Liz is still developing hers. Josh will scoop poop with a shovel or pick it up with a plastic bag when we're on a walk. He also feeds and waters Toby twice a day. Tali plays with Toby for at least an hour every morning. She loves him, despite his sharp teeth and love for nibbling on her. She hog-ties him and tries to ride him and he has never growled or snapped at her. Toby has helped Liz develop her leadership and delegation skills. It is her job to take him for a walk three times a week and she always finds a friend to go with her, or one of Josh's friends to do it FOR her.

I am doing fine with the house training only because I have been promised new carpet when it's done :)

Just like Buddie, Toby loves running and hiking. As he grows up, he'll make the perfect mountain companion.

Toby @ 10 weeks

Toby's makes himself a bed in the backyard and under the desk . . . Tali makes him more comfortable.

Toby today.

BYU

On our trip to Utah, Josh got really infatuated with BYU. He wanted me to tell them a BYU history/heritage/folklore/"how I met your dad" story every night. After I told him about how they light the "Y" for home games and how the ROTC builds a fire and camps overnight on rivalry week to protect the "Y," he wanted to climb it.

The morning we decided to climb the "Y" we also decided to sleep in. By the time we started our hike it was 95 degrees. But we brought one bottle of water, so we'd be fine, right? I had a feeling we wouldn't make it far, especially since I didn't have a backpack to carry Tali in.

The Beginning - lookin' good!

5 minutes in - Liz is already sweating and has that "look."

10 minutes in - Josh's shirt comes off.
11 minutes in - Tali's dress comes off . . .
and the water is GONE.

The Top - well, halfway. We made it to a lookout where you can at least see the "Y." This is the view looking down.

The End - Shirts and dresses made it halfway back on for the auto-timer picture. No one was there to hold the camera for us. It's like people who live in the desert know it's a bad idea to hike at noon on a 100-degree day. I think I remember learning something like that when I lived in Vegas for 15 years.

We had fun, but we were roasting, so we went to the Scera mini water park.

Happy #9 Josh!

I had a vision of Josh waking up this morning to a room decorated with streamers, a Happy Birthday banner and balloons covering the floor. So, last night at about midnight I quietly opened his door, decorations in hand, to find . . . the floor already covered with stuff. So, I quietly shut the door, hung the decorations in the hallway, and vowed not to bug him to clean his room on his birthday. Maybe I'll clean it for him.

In his defense, I think the only thing I ever have to bug Josh about is cleaning his room. I guess that makes him a typical boy. In his further defense, he's not usually the one making the mess. It's his two little sisters, who he is SO sweet to.

Here's a list of the coolest things Josh did in the last year:

• He got baptized.
• He set the school pull-up record at 26 and then upped his PR at Scout Camp to 39 pull-ups! Watch out Huffman Elementary. He's ready to really re-set that record in stone!
• He rode all the scariest rides he was tall enough for at Disneyland, CA Adventures, Lagoon, and even the "sling shot" in the Dimond Center parking lot.
• He rode a freefall "DerStuka"-type ride at 7-Peaks Water Park.
• He climbed Mt. Marathon and to the "Y" in Provo.
• He won a Snickers bar for being the only kid in his Mighty Bikes group to ride up a super-steep hill without putting a foot down.
• He started reading Harry Potter in May and is almost finished with #5 now.
• He learned to vacuum, clean bathrooms and babysit for money.

Josh makes me happy everyday. I'm so lucky to have him. People tell me how kind he is and I just can't take credit. He came from heaven like that. He's been the sweetest kid ever since he was born.

I don't know if his sisters realize it, but he's the best big brother they could ask for. He will feed Tali breakfast and put her bowl in the sink for her. He'll help her get dressed and even help her go potty. Josh lets Liz tag along with him all around the neighborhood without telling her to find her own friends. He held Liz's hand at the bus stop for months and sat next to her everyday until she found someone better to sit by.

Josh is also very kind and considerate of me and Matt. Whenever we take him somewhere, he says, "Thanks for taking me." He even said that last night when I took him to Fred Meyer with me at 10pm to buy ice-cream for his party.

Sometimes his room is a mess and sometimes he smells like a "boy." Usually he finishes his homework without being asked and then leaves it sitting on the table or on the garage floor for two days. But, at the end of the day, I always wish I had more time to spend with this cool kid.