Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Part Six: Final Fantasy




I am learning to knit. The fantasy part is that I will EVER practice enough to become truly proficient! My friend at church is teaching me--look at what she made my little Sheridan, and you'll see why I have to at least try. It's a little panda hat, and it is SO stinkin' cute. I'm a sucker for cute (which explains part of why Tyler hooked me so easily...that, and his charming personality. Ok, and the scooter!)

Part Five: Funny Faces

Sheridan is a very messy eater. We'd forgotten the days of bathing after every meal. This is not the time to dress children in white! She's happy, tho, and we've realized it doesn't really matter. We figure that, if OxyClean can't get it out, the universe didn't really like that outfit and it was doomed to a dirty death.
Jack and Sheridan got flu shots today, and Jack got to choose a great prize--gag glasses. He LOVED wearing them (when they fell off, however, we had more than one meltdown, so those may just disappear). He looked so cute! People were chuckling at him as we left the doctor and wandered around Big Lots. His shirt says "Chicks Dig Me". How appropriate today!

Part Four: Fight for Your Right to Party!

Whew! This is a lot of posting. I hope I don't get carpal tunnel from tonight!
BTW--I should be brining my turkey right now, but the dang bird isn't as defrosted as it should be! It probably doesn't help that our lower fridge tends to freeze things that aren't originally frozen...
But, about the Party...
Cameron's Three, too!
We hosted Cameron's Birthday here, since all of his really cool friends (in Utah) live down here and they live up in SLC. Enjoy the antics--they had fun! Again, Sheridan got to snack on her favorite baby, Mayes (he is rather chubby and edible, if you're into that kind of thing). She literally wrestled this 20 lb kid down (he out-weighs her by a good 5 lbs) and started blowing raspberries on his cheeks. It looked very innocent, like she's just trying to kiss him, but I know my daughter...deep down, she's a cannibal! Of course, whenever I tried to catch it on the camera, she cheesed it up for me!

So, the kids ate cupcakes, blew those party blower thingies, and gifted Cameron with things in BYU bags (no, it wasn't just to spite his Daddy, a U of U student. That was just a pleasant coincidence!). Little Mickey Mouse had a lovely time!

Part Three: He's Crafty!

Jack and I have entered the world of crafts. I have been a slacker-mom for the past 2 years, mainly because crafts tend to be so messy and Jack likes to make things REALLY Messy (what preschooler doesn't?). I caved into peer pressure (or mother-in-law pressure that's really just loving excitement, but we'll call that peer pressure to make me feel better). My mother-in-law used to be a preschool teacher so she has TONS of great craft/learning/activity ideas. We started in October with a few and have really enjoyed painting this month (a nod to Rebecca for the washable paints). There's his Native American vest (which we made with the "Trouble Gang", his group of buddies with whom we regularly chill), his owl, and his tents and tubes (that's from Grammy, too, so I figured we'd add it here. Also, he's at least kinda smiling in that picture, and I wanted one where he didn't just look like a slack-faced deer in headlights since he's usually a jovial kid). Oh, and in the owl picture, no, we don't just dress our kid in my cast-off clothing. Just when he's going to be making a mess. Oh, so all the time.)

Part Two: Little Red Cute Dress

My sister, Ruth, found the CUTEST red dress for Sheridan. It includes a little jacket, which unsurprisingly, is also cute. Little girl clothes tend to be very cute, so please, don't be offended by my judicious use of the term in this post.
Anyway, cute red dress with cute red coat, and it's finally cold enough to wear it! Top the dress off with a (you guessed it!) cute knit hat from Latvia, and you've got a winner, folks! You can see that she gets her excitement for life from her CUTE DADDY! (She also gets her cheekbones and good looks from him...)

Part One of Our "catch up quick" Series

I think I will post a few things here tonight, under different subjects so as not to confuse anyone. I've heard what you've been saying: You want more, more pictures, more tidbits. So I'm givin' it to you! That's right, the masses have spoken and I am listening (ok, so one person told me I need to post more, and I listened to them for fear of losing one of the few checking out this crazy little blog o' mine).
Part One: Venture on Down to St. George
We took a trip the weekend of November 10th to St. George for my friend Lori's wedding. Well, it wasn't just her wedding, it was Jed's wedding, too, but since I went because I love Lori and we're only just getting to know Jed, I'll be referring to it as "Lori's Wedding".Lori was my roommate 10 years ago for 2 years. She put up with all my 19-year-old shenanigans. I, in turn, helped her and my other roommates (4 of 5 were fairly recently off of missions) return to reality with a good dose of "WHAT THE...?!?" That's what they were usually saying about me. The extreme helped them see that normal wasn't so bad!
But, this is about our trip to Lori's Wedding, not my sophomore year of college!
We drove down Friday night (as we thought 8 hours in the car on Saturday with our 2 kids would result in a less-than-stellar wedding experience for everyone and a Purgatory-esque day for us) and stopped by Cove Fort. It's locate in the Middle of Nowhere, UT. We really enjoyed the hour spent there and remembered why we're so glad we have indoor plumbing and central heating. For some reason, though, the 3 hour trip from Provo to Cedar City took us 5.5 hours. Weird.
We spent Saturday morning exploring St. George. The wedding that afternoon was lovely. It was our first wedding where the bride and groom made most of the food--Jed smoked some kickin' brisket and turkey, and Lori made the cakes (she even made a groom's cake to honor Jed's favorite baseball team, the Yankees--I refer to that team as the "Yickies" because I detest them.). Our other roommate, Hannah, was unable to make the event due to the recent birth of her son (yeah, like anyone's buying that excuse! We know it was because Hannah is really a closet vegan who felt badly for the smoked brisket), but she talked to Lori on the phone and I got a picture of the 3 of us--me, Lori, and Hannah's phone. It was a real moment. Jack had a moment with Maggie (Hannah's daughter), too. He asked her to dance, and Maggie acquiesced. It was sad to watch--Jack was as excited as a 13-year-old asking to woman of his dreams to dance. Maggie had the enthusiasm of a 16-year-old being asked to dance by a nerdy 13-year-old. And Jack was TOTALLY oblivious to her lack of excitement. He stalked her the whole time we were there.
Then we drove home in less than 5 hours, including a break at Ye Olde Chevron. Word to the wise--don't EVER get gas in Beaver, UT. They up the price by $.40 a gallon, compared to the nearest towns. We thought we might have to wash windshields to raise enough to pay for the tank!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Holy Cow, He's Three!?!

Well, you know you're a lazy blogger when the first time you read about your child's birthday is on another person's blog. Yes, I am a slow and lazy blogger.
So, Jack is now THREE! How did that happen? (Not literally, I understand that! But, come on, where has the last year gone?)
The boy got hooked up. He had 2 birthday parties, a plethora of cupcakes, a "Rocket" cake from Little Einsteins, more presents than he needed, and lots of playtime with friends and cousins. Saturday was a friend party, Sunday was the family party, and Monday was his actual birthday so he got his GeoTrax. The kid is spoiled. However, our guilt was somewhat assuaged when Tyler put him to bed Monday night (i.e., after all the fun had ended).
Tyler: Did you have a good birthday, Buddy?
Jack: It was a good birthday. Thank you for all of the wonderful presents. (Yes, he said "wonderful". That dang "June" from Little Einsteins is teaching him some new words. Had it been our phraseology he'd picked up, he would have thanked his Dad for either the "freakin' sweet" presents, the "totally rad" presents, or for a "bomb-diggity" party).
Did you notice how we got the indirect credit for the wonderful presents? He thanked everyone who gave him gifts, but some of their good gift choices gained us some props. Ah, the sign of a successful birthday!
It was great to finally have all our Utah family over to see the house. So good to spend time with some fabulous friends. Fun to see Jack so excited about having his beloved "people" over. He really has missed social interaction!
Sheridan also enjoyed the parties. Mostly, she enjoyed chasing the other kid her age, Mayes, and trying to eat him. Literally. She'd follow him EVERYWHERE and tackle him and try to gnaw on whatever part was closest to her mouth. It was hilarious. In the picture, she's stalking Mayes, not very subtly. In other news, Sheridan is now "the clapper". She clapped a lot for me tonight when I vacuumed. "Thank you, Mom, you're finally cleaning my floor! I won't be so dirty anymore! Except when I eat, since I only feed myself anymore. Oh, yay, clean floors!"
Also cleaned, this week, the air intakes. Man, I'm surprised the one downstairs didn't just spontaneously cough out a puppy! I will not be posting pictures of that venture.
We're going to St. George this weekend for my friend and former roommate Lori's wedding. Adventures abound!