I found the cable!

The top picture is of something that Lear made by himself while the rest of us were getting dinner ready. Can you believe that a five year-old did that without help? The next pic is what it evolved into later that night. I don't know if it's really unusual for a kid that young to do something like that, but to me it seems remarkable that he can think in 3-D like that, and with such symmetry. This is why Cory and I think he's going to be an engineer or architect of some kind.

Next is the children hiding in a cabinet at my parent's house. Lear is holding up two miniature Transformers that Nana gave him to keep him occupied on the 13-hour drive from SLC to Salem. He loves them. He sleeps with them. He gets very upset if he can't find them. 

Then there is Ella, who has fallen asleep on her daddy's chest. I was upstairs teaching flute lessons, Lear was playing internet games, and Cory and Ella were watching basketball. I guess that tells everyone how much Ella loves b-ball. Lear NEVER falls asleep in random places, but very, very occasionally Ella will. In fact I can only think if three instances in which this has happened. However, it was a perfect Kodak moment.

Finally, I want to share a story of Lear. As I mentioned above, Lear has a fascination with Transformers. This is a relatively new obsession, probably only a few months old, but it is fervent. He is convinced that he is getting a Transformer called Bumblebee for Christmas. He talks about getting it all the time, even though I've told him that I couldn't find it in any stores, and neither could his grandmas. (I've got it, but he's not finding out about it.) In fact, today while we were shopping, he saw one on a shelf full of pens and pencils, and threw a fit that I wouldn't buy it for him. We have a Burger King toy that is a couple years old, that he's never been particularly interested in until he noticed Sunday morning that it is a Transformer. He then noticed that it did not turn into a robot (it's a truck), and that the only thing it does is "go fast and open it's doors." He was very upset about that, and pouted all morning about it, even though Cory and I tried to explain that we couldn't do anything about it. He was actually very emotional, and several times could be seen to be valiantly holding back tears caused by this extreme injustice. 

Cory finally suggested that he write a letter to Burger King about it. Lear thought this was a wonderful idea. He got a piece of paper, and wrote the word "Transformers" across the top and his name at the bottom. He then asked me to draw a picture of what he thought the robot should look like, and the what the truck looks like now. He even told me he wanted to write directions on how it should move in order to transform, but I told him that there wasn't enough room. That letter was gold to him. He kept it with him all day - he took it to church, and had it at the dinner table, and finally put it in a safe spot while he slept.

Monday, he insisted that we take it to Burger King. We gave it to the counter person, and explained to her what the letter was. While we were ordering, she discreetly handed it back to me, and we took our food back to the car to eat at home. As we were driving home, Lear said, "They didn't fix the Transformer for me or give me a new one, Mommy." I guess he thought he would get instant results from his letter of protest. I explained that it takes time to make toys, and that although we made a suggestion to Burger King, we couldn't make them do it. Still, I'm sure it was very educational and empowering to Lear to know that he can make his opinions known. I'm looking forward to the day that he starts a letter-writing campaign to his Senator to protest soggy French fries in school cafeterias...

Ella quote: "I a pin-cess!" 

Lear quote: "If you give me that Christmas tree ornament, Mommy, I can install it for you." 

Excuses, excuses

I know it's been a while. I hereby exercise my worst habit, making excuses: 

1. I can't find the cable I need to upload pics. I have them. They're cute. I just can't find the cable.

2. I've had five concerts and seven rehearsals since Thanksgiving. I even skipped a couple rehearsals to accommodate more rehearsals and concerts.

3. Christmas shopping and decorating.

4. Catching up on all the DVRed shows I missed while we were in Oregon.

5. I decided to paint all the non-painted floor moldings in my house, which included a lot of cleaning and moving of furniture.

6. Painting floorboards has evolved into repainting my kitchen. (I now pause for all the shouts of joy from those of you who hate my lime green kitchen - you know who you are!)

7. I have a two year-old who put the capital letters on the term "Terrible Twos."

8. Laundry, which spawns in hampers like maggots on rotten meat.

9. Oh yeah, and I have a husband who needs to be entertained. (Love you, Cory Chou-Chou!)

10. I'm tired. Of whining, complaining, fits, fighting, screaming, pinching, scratching, messes everywhere, sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, organizing, and that ubiquitous layer of goo that covers everything little hands touch.

If it weren't for all that, I would have made some great posts! (And don't worry, I'm not in danger of an incipient mental breakdown.)

Lear quote: "Don't worry mommy, I'll protect you." 

Ella quote: "Because I want to!" Ella's reason for everything.

Random happenings

My kids are funny. Ella decided to put on Lear's old dragon costume one day. I couldn't get it off of her. Since it's warm and soft, I guess I can't blame her. It's cute, too, of course, although you can't tell if she's a girl or a boy in that thing . I'll need to add a pink bow to it if she decides to wear it next Halloween.

The picture of the tricycle is art. Really. I let the kids play outside one day while we were waiting for Cory to come home, and they passed the time by decorating Ella's tricycle with natural found objects. It had pine cones in the spokes, leaves stuck in the steering wheel, and sticks hanging off it everywhere. I had to take pictures to preserve their creation, since we couldn't leave it out. 

The last two pictures are of Ella and her little cousin Danika. Nana had Dani for the day, and had to come to our place to pick up the leaf blower that we borrowed from them, and the kids played together for a little bit while they were here. Dani's mother will probably be bugged by the picture of her giving my cat Cosy kisses, since they're hard core kitty haters at their house, so I'll make her a deal: I'll teach your kids to like cats, and I'll let you teach mine to love big dogs (since I think they're intimidating and am unconsciously passing that on). Sounds fair, huh? I really had fun watching the girls play together, and I really hope that they grow up to be great friends. I was never able to form any close relationships with my own cousins, and I have always been jealous of how close Cory, Bryce, and Devin are to theirs. We need to have more playdates, Carolee! 

Lear quote: "This is my dream day, Mommy!" Said while we were setting up Ella's big girl bed in her own room. I guess he's happy they're not sharing a room anymore...

Ella quote: "Mommy, I wuvoo! I wuv your arm, too." I swear that if I could detach my arm and give it to Ella, she would never miss the rest of me.

One last thing - Lear went all night without a diaper, and for the first time, didn't wet the bed! We haven't been pushing him, and have been letting him choose to wear a diaper to sleep or underwear. So, last night he chose underwear, and he made it! I'm one step closer to being diaper-free! I can't wait for Ella to give them up, too. We're not pushing her, either, but I think the day she choses to go sans-diaper is coming soon.

Proof, and an explanation

OK, so I'm sorry for the sideways picture, but I can't figure out how to turn it. Anyway, this is what happened to our closet in the middle of the night. It looks a lot less threatening than it sounded at 12:30 AM when I was fast asleep.

We figured out why it happened, too: SOMEONE (not Cory) put the drywall anchors on the brackets backwards, so they have basically been slowly falling out since we put them in. Silly, silly.

True story

The kids were in bed, blissfully asleep. The cat was purring near my feet, Cory was already deeply asleep, and I had just drifted off. Suddenly, my peaceful night was shattered by a loud bang followed by grinding and rattling. I sat bolt upright with a scream. It came from the closet. 

"What was that?" I yelled, and Cory, who also was wide awake and scared replied, "I don't know." My heart was pounding, and I was shaking with fear, already covered in sweat. The cat had bolted out of the room as soon as it happened. Cory got out of bed (which I was too scared to do), and turned on the light. Our closet door had been slammed open, and all of our clothes were on the floor. The closet organizer that we had installed less than a year ago had collapsed. Half of the brackets were completely out of the wall, leaving holes where the drywall anchors had been. The shelves were zig-zagged in the closet, and the plastic drawers that we had on them sat precariously diagonally, resting on the piles of clothes. We were in shock. We stared at it for a minute or so, and since it was around 12:30 AM, we decided we would worry about it in the morning, and turned off the light to go back to bed.

But I couldn't sleep anymore. I'm not the most coherent person in the middle of the night, especially when awoken like that, and my thought processes were not functioning very well. I was thinking, why did it come out of the wall? Is there a sinkhole forming under our house? Maybe the whole second floor will collapse - how will we get the children out if that happens? Was it the result of far-off vibrations from an earthquake? Or perhaps a nuclear attack? Maybe the Boogeyman is REAL and was trying to get out of the closet, and had to get all of our clothes out of the way by brute force? What if it was a demon trying to get out of our closet? Or aliens? Or Ninjas?

All of these compelling thoughts were keeping me wide awake, remembering a book I had read when I was in grade school about a house built over an abandoned mine, and the ghost of the owner's daughter came to tell the family to get out just before it collapsed in a blazing inferno. Was this my clue? Maybe I was missing the still small voice of the Spirit, telling me my house was doomed and to get the kids out, and he had to resort to obvious signs like the catastrophic failure of my closet organizer. I heard a small snort from Cory, and I realized that he had fallen asleep almost immediately. That, I felt, was distinctly unfair. Didn't he realize that this was a sign of the impending doom of our home? Or maybe that our house was mad at us, because it knows we've been thinking about selling, and it wants to keep us trapped here forever?

Then there was a second crash, and I screamed again. My throat was starting to hurt from screaming. It was more than I could take, and I began sobbing a bit. Cory had to calm me down. "It sucks to be woken up like that, doesn't it?" he said in a mild voice. I believe he thought I was overreacting, which is not at all possible. We turned on the light again, and saw that the plastic drawers had fallen out. Cory saw the state I was in, and prudently took everything still managing to stay on the leaning shelves out, so that we wouldn't have to wake up in another hour to a third crash. Then he turned off the light again, and got back in bed. I really wanted to leave the light on all night, but as I was too ashamed to admit it to Cory, I asked him to hold me until I calmed down. After a minute or two, he said goodnight, rolled over, and went back to sleep (he needs a Zone of Freedom around him when he sleeps, in which no one is allowed to touch him). My stomach was in knots, however, and it was a long time until I was calm enough to sleep again. I wasn't quite as irrational, because I knew it wouldn't happen again, but I couldn't get calmed down. It finally took the return of the cat to get me back to sleep. Usually, I kick her off the bed as soon as she jumps on, but when she snuggled into my side and started purring, it actually comforted me and helped me sleep again. Mostly because I figured that she would freak out and give me good warning if furious Ninjas were about to jump out of our closet.

And the kids slept through the entire night without a peep.

Lear quote: "My butt is burning! My butt is burning!" I'm not really sure why he was running through the house screaming this.

Ella quote: "My mommy is cute!" Said during a quiet lull in church, while I was getting ready to lead the music.

Ella quote #2: Holding up her shirt and rubbing her tummy: "There's a baby in my belly!"

Halloween!

We had a fun and busy Halloween. Lear's preschool had a costume parade in the morning, in which about thirty children, their parents, siblings, and one teacher whose face was covered in cold cream and hair was in curlers descended upon Macey's grocery store begging for candy. We could see the dread and sheer horror in the eyes of the people working there. Herein lies the real reason Halloween is scary: hundreds of hyperactive children in disguise hunting rabidly for sugar with the full support and consent of their supposedly responsible parents. I'm not sure how Miss Charri got permission to bring this horror upon the poor unsuspecting grocery workers, but I'm sure they're carefully reconsidering for next year.

Next, I brought the Transformer and cheerleader to Cory's office for their Trick-or-Treat party. I guess that they were all eager to see our kids, because Lear was only two when Cory left ADP the last time, and Ella wasn't born yet. They had a great time, and this is where we got most of the candy for the day. When it was actually evening and Trick-or-Treat time, we only went to about five houses. We ended the evening at Cory's grandmother's house, where we saw the kid's two little cousins: Danika was a hula girl, and Aryanna was a pumpkin. (Did I mention that Devin and Kelly had their little cutie last Monday? Cory's parents are positively drowning in little granddaughters, and are absolutely loving every minute of it.)

Finally, I was a poll worker for the election yesterday. I had to report for work at 5:30 AM! For those of you who know me pretty well, this will be a shocker: Tia up before sunrise? Conscious? Intelligible? Working? Yes, it is true. I didn't drive into any parked cars or trees on my way there, and as far as I know, I didn't violate any voting laws either in my predawn state. And it was boring! I think everyone must have voted early, because we had about a twenty minute line for the first hour or so in the morning, and then maybe ten to fifteen people an hour for the rest of the day. We had about 265 voters total, out of 890 registered voters in our precinct (the 265 doesn't include early, absentee, and mail-in voters, so the turn-out was probably better than that). It was interesting to take part in the machinations of democracy, which I admit I did solely for the money, which will partially fund Christmas.

Ella quote: "I a cheer-lee-low! Lear a Tan-fow-dow!"

Lear quote: "Mommy, I'm tired of candy." Shocker!

Pumpkin carving night and lessons learned

These are pictures of our pumpkin carving night. The kids were not very enthusiastic about pulling out the guts, although you can see in the picture above that Cory had fun with it. He was actually separating the seeds and guts for roasting. Ella and Lear had a great time just stabbing the pumpkins over and over again with those child-safe pumpkin carving knives. They were very proud of their new jack-o-lanterns, however. 

Earlier that day I went to vote early because I am going to be a poll worker on election day and I won't be able to do it then. Here's a word of advise for moms who are thinking about voting early: find someone to watch your kids! I took Lear and Ella, and they made it much more difficult than it needed to be. Lear kept running under the voting machines - and around people's legs and stuff - and Ella wanted to help me vote. She kept trying to touch the screen to vote for me, which is of course not allowed. Two year olds can't vote, Ella! So, she was screaming and crying, and the old lady next to me actually said, "Why can't that woman get her little girl to be quiet?" I was so mad! I did something I've never done before: I retorted, "Why can't you grow a heart?" That's probably the meanest thing I've ever said to a total stranger before. The old lady's husband then said, "Oh, she's all right," and started talking to Ella and keeping her distracted. I felt really bad at that point. I finished voting ASAP, and I thanked the nice husband a couple times before I left. He didn't really acknowledge me, and I'm not sure if he just couldn't hear me, or if he was ignoring me because I was mean to his wife. I suppose I deserved it if he was ignoring me. I don't think I would've been so mad if I wasn't already frustrated myself and had a nasty cold for several days now; however I should've done the Christlike thing and turned the other cheek. 

Lear quote: "Ella wants a pia cholata Slurpee, mommy." 

Ella quote: "Don't worry, mommy, you ok." (Said when I was pretending to cry because she wouldn't kiss me.)

Lear

On October 19, 2003 I woke up at 4:30 AM, with a feeling that something wasn't right. I got up and went to the bathroom, and while I was sitting there, my water broke a little more than five weeks too soon. I called to Cory to tell him, and considering where I was sitting, and the fact that it was extremely early in the AM, he didn't believe me, and told me to come back to bed. I convinced him that I wasn't overreacting or dreaming, and we called the doctor, who told us that if my labor didn't start in the next 8 hours, I needed to come in to the hospital to be induced. 

I don't think anyone can sleep under those conditions. While we waited for some contractions, we tried calling our parents. Cory's parents were in Cedar City, and my mother was visiting her sisters in Washington DC (dad stayed home for that trip). We had to call 411 for Cory's aunt's phone number where his mother was staying, and we got my aunt's cell phone number in DC where my mother was staying from my father. My mother couldn't leave right away, but Launa got into the car as fast as she could to make the three hour drive from Cedar to SLC. When she arrived at around 9 AM, I was still not in labor.

At 10 we arrived at the hospital, and I was induced around noon. After nearly eight hours of labor which included three-minute contractions, a wonderful epidural, and two hours of pushing, I heard the most beautiful sound ever: Lear's tiny voice. Not one minute later I heard one of the scariest sounds ever: Cory saying, "Why is his ribcage caving in like that? Is that normal?" 

My little angel's ribcage collapsed, and all I can say is, thank God for modern medicine - and I say that in the most reverent manner possible. I sometimes wonder if he would have survived, had it been 1903 or 1803 instead of 2003. The nurse was wonderful. He said, "No, that is NOT normal, but we're taking care of it." We needed a confident answer, and we got one. Lear was in the NICU for 8 days, and they were the hardest 8 days of my life. I would leave the hospital to go home at night, and it was all I could do to keep from sobbing every time I saw another new mom leaving with her healthy baby. I tried to tell myself that I was lucky to be getting full nights of sleep, when most mothers with newborns were up all night with their babies, but I would have traded all the sleep in the world to have him in his cradle next to our bed. 

He cried constantly for the first three months, it took him almost two years to sleep all night, and potty training was a nightmare, but I love my little guy so much I am completely incapable of describing it. So, forgive me if I'm feeling a little emotional at his fifth birthday. I know that there are families that spent more time in the NICU, and that there are children with more physical and mental challenges than Lear, but I don't believe that lessens the significance of our experiences. We are grateful that it wasn't worse, and much, much more grateful that he is such a lively, sweet, smart, and healthy boy now. 

I love you, Lear. Happy birthday.

She's a girl, all right.

This morning, I was sitting on my bed watching the Today show (the kids take over the plasma downstairs for their cartoons) and Ella came dancing up the stairs. She got up into bed with me and demanded that I get my brush. I thought she wanted to brush her hair, which is usually a fuzzball halo around her head in the mornings, but she actually wanted to brush mine. She spend about ten to fifteen minutes brushing my hair while singing nonsense songs. It was actually so cute I wanted to get a video camera, but then I selfishly remembered that I was still in my pajamas, with no makeup, and she'd been brushing my hair so much that it was starting to stick up - not a mean trick, considering my hair is down past my shoulder blades right now. I was also afraid that she would lose interest if I left.

She likes to have me put makeup on her when she sees me doing mine - I will consent to a little blush and chapstick occasionally- and she asks often for hair bows, although they rarely last more than thirty-two seconds in her hair. Her little cousin Danika always has the cutest hairstyles, which I often wish I could replicate, but Ella usually won't leave anything in her hair alone. She wants them, but then she tears them out - but don't try to put anything in unless she asks! Unless you're tired of being able to hear, of course.

She even talked me into buying her a little Disney Princess lip gloss thingy that we found in the Target dollar section, which she smeared all over her face when we got home. (When I say "talked me into" I mean she wouldn't put it back and turned on the cute, which she uses like a lethal weapon these days.) I think Disney must spike the water supply with pink fairy dust or something to get all the little girls to fall in love with princesses.

Ella quote: "Pur-pie!" (Translation: "Surprise!" Said while playing peekaboo.)

Lear quote: "Ella, look out the window! It snowed last night! Everything is snowderized!"

In the last week

The top picture is of our attempt at making raspberry jam. We were supposed to get a full pint out of it, but somehow we only got half... and it was way too thick! We took the jar when it was cool enough and turned it upside down - and nothing inside moved. It's about the consistency of  crystalized honey. Cory says it still tastes good, though. I was too scared to try it. While we were cleaning up, Lear got into the dishes and started licking the whisk we used to stir it. 

Next is Ella wearing my shoes. She loves to get into our closet and try on mommy's shoes - she never tries daddy's. Sometimes she even puts on my clothes, too. I think I'm going to need to get her a dress-up chest soon. Also, since Lear has started preschool, Ella and I have been having girl time, so we painted our toenails together last week. She was very proud of her pretty toes, which I think are adorable with or without polish. Lest you think I'm a glamor mommy, I swear that this was the first time I've painted Ella's fingers or toes (mostly because I very rarely paint my own). 

The last picture was taken after our night at the Midvale City Fire Department's open house. Thanks to a tip from my friend Coryellen, we went there for Family Night, where we saw a Jaws of Life demonstration, a firefighter repelling from a 100-foot ladder, and the firefighters putting out a fire. The kids thought it was great fun, although I think that Lear was a little nervous about the fire - we were standing a good 50 feet away from it, and we could still feel the intense heat. When I asked him his favorite part was, however, he said it was the men putting the fire out. They got firefighter hats for going through a mini fire safety training (which Lear put on backwards at first) and they've been wearing them almost constantly since. I think Lear's life ambition might change from being "a kid doctor and a daddy" to being a firefighter.

Lear quote: "But mommy, Ella uncomfed it! She took all the comf away!" (I was having trouble getting Lear to watch the LDS General Conference with us, so I made a nest of pillows and blankets for them to share and play in. Lear, of course, was hogging all the pillows, and when Ella tried to take some back, he threw a fit. The quote above is what he said when I told him to calm down. For those who are wondering, "comf" is Lear's declension of "comfortable.")

Ella quote: "No, I not a fille, I a girl!" (Daddy was telling everyone the French words for a bunch of random things, and Ella said this after he told her that she is a fille, which is French for girl.)

Lear is growing up...

So, Lear started preschool today. We had some miscommunications with another preschool, and I had to find a new one post-haste, so he's starting a little late. I can't believe my little baby, my preemie, whose ribcage collapsed just after he was born and had to stay in the NICU for a week is big enough to go to preschool. I remember his little nose pressed up against my breast the first time we nursed, and the first time I heard him laugh; his bald little head and his sweet smell. I'm looking forward to spending some alone time with Ella, but I must admit I'm a little teary-eyed that my little boy isn't so little anymore - and this is just preschool! We haven't even gotten to kindergarten yet and I'm already weepy. This doesn't bode well. 

What I'm grateful for is that he's secure enough that he has no problems being left in a new place with new people. He jumped right in, talking and playing, as if he's known all the other kids and the teacher all his life. He really is a friendly, happy, sweet, and good little boy. I often think that my kids deserve a much better mother than me, but that doesn't keep me from seizing every moment I have with them. 

Lear quote:

Daddy, in his Darth Vader voice: "Lear, I am your father!"

Lear, imitating Daddy: "I know!"

Ella quote:

Ella, pointing at a drawing that Daddy just made: "Cow!"

Daddy: "No, Ella, that's a shoe, not a cow."

Ella: "No, Daddy, dat cow! Moo!"  

Mad cows

Cory took me on my first backpacking trip this weekend. We went with our friends Brei and Kelly to White Pine Lake, which is in the mountains above Logan, Utah. Cory really loves backpacking, and he really wanted me to love it, too, which meant that he carried just about everything - the tent, our dishes and utensils, the hatchet, the shovel, and just about everything else we would need. I carried my sleeping bag, pad, clothes, and a few granola bars, which means that Cory's pack weighed fifty pounds (does that sound right for an overnight trip to you?) and mine weighed about twenty. He's so good to me. The White Pine trail starts at Tony Grove Lake, and is only 3.8 miles each way. There is a gradual uphill for the first three-quarters of the trail, then a very steep downhill with switchbacks before you get to the lake. And herein lies my problem: I don't have good endurance. I never have. When I was in track in my youth, I did sprints because I couldn't even make it around a 400 meter track without passing out. In gymnastics, I could handle the vault because it was a sprint, but the floor exercise, which only lasts 90 seconds at the most, used to leave me gasping. I'm like a dwarf from Lord of  Rings: very dangerous over short distances. I hate being out of breath - which means that those uphills really were hard for me, especially with the added weight of the pack. The gradual uphill at the beginning was hard but not torture. On our way back, however, that steep switchbacking section nearly had me in tears. I really wanted to just collapse, but being a gazillion miles away from home and at least three and a half from our car, I had no choice but to keep moving. Cory said later that he would've made two trips to take up our packs so I wouldn't have to carry mine if it got really bad. Isn't he wonderful? He was so incredibly patient with me. He really is my very own hero. I'm a very lucky girl.

The lake itself was beautiful. It is so clear that we could see the bottom of it from our campsite, which was about a 75 yards above it uphill. There are granite cliffs backing it, which makes the campground a big bowl around the lake. We didn't see any animals, other than squirrels, chipmunks, jumping fish, and cows. Yes, cows. Apparently ranchers are allowed to free-range cows in the area. They were so loud! We thought we wouldn't get any sleep with those bovines mooing all night long, their calls echoing noisily through the bowl. We had a relatively warm night - the day before was spectacularly beautiful for hiking. Cory said that he's never been so comfortable at night (temperature-wise) while backpacking before. The biggest problem we had was the rampaging cow that went tearing through our camp in the middle of the night. We could hear it's hoofbeats pounding by our tent, and it's outraged mooing seemed like it was right outside our door. Cory got up and started flashing the light, hoping to scare it away, but I was afraid that he would just pinpoint our location so it could more easily trample our tent. After a few seconds, however, the hoofbeats faded away, and the cow was gone. I'm not sure what had the thing so upset, but the hoof prints that Brei and Kelly found the next morning by our tents proved that the four of us weren't dreaming. Who would've thought that our greatest danger would come from a genetically-altered meat factory? 

We had a great time with our friends, however, and we are happy that they invited us along. I was a little embarrassed being the slowest, most out of shape person in the group, but luckily good friends won't rub that in one's face. Yes, Cory, I'll go backpacking again with you - as long as it's mostly flat or downhill terrain (so I can make gravity work for me), or next time you really will have to carry my stuff, too. 

Lear quote: "But mommy, we can't move to Iceland, because I don't speak Spanish."

(Said while watching a travel show about Iceland, after I said that Daddy is thinking about moving there if our economy crashes.)

Ella quote: "Cosy ate mommy's pants!" I never figured out why she said this, particularly because although our cat Cosy is extremely annoying, she's never offered to eat our clothes before.

Ska-doosh!

Friday night was an unusual night for our family: we went to see a movie! We don't take the kids very often because Lear is afraid of anything remotely scary, and Ella is just too little still. The last movie we went to see together was the Veggie Tales movie about a year ago, and Lear was terrified of the scene in the cave - I could say that he was traumatized without exaggerating much at all. We've been trying to get him to agree to see Wall-e, but the previews alone scare him, and Cory at one point even offered to bribe him with a toy lightsaber if he went to see it. (Lear is afraid of the Star Wars movies, but he likes the toys - just like Transformers. We went to see a home on the Parade of Homes in Salt Lake, and it had Transformers on in the home theater. Lear started whimpering immediately and ran out of the room with his hands over his ears, but he loves Transformers toys. His favorite toy right now is a Transformer that came in a Happy Meal - he gets upset when he loses it, and he's very excited when he finds it again.) Lear is just a very sensitive boy, I guess. Aladdin terrifies him. The Incredibles is reason for abject fear. Sleeping Beauty gives him nightmares. He will run upstairs screaming if Beauty and the Beast is on.

So, we kind of had to trick him into going to Kung Fu Panda. We didn't really tell him where we were going when we left, and when he figured it out, we promised to leave if he got too scared. I had to take him to the potty in the middle when he got a little nervous, but he actually did very well - I even heard him laughing a couple times. Ella is the one who got scared toward the end. She wanted to leave during the last fight scene, but once I turned her around to hug me, she was ok - she even eventually got interested in the movie again and turned around. All in all it was a success. We asked Lear if he liked it, and he said yes. We asked if we should buy it, and he said no. When we asked him if we should see it again, we got an emphatic no. So he liked it, but he doesn't ever want to see it again. How can anyone understand the logic of a four-year old? 

Lear quote: "Mommy, I love to watch you do your cross-ting." (Cross-ting is cross stitching. I don't know why he calls it that.)

Ella quote: "I 'cawe! I wa' my daddy! I wa' go home now!" (Translation: I'm scared, I want my daddy, and I want to go home now. Said while at the movie.)

Our trip to Oregon

We went on  a week-long trip to visit my parents in Oregon. We spent one night on our way in Twin Falls, where we spend the night at Cory's cousin Marcella's house, which was fun. They used to live in Monument Valley, which is about the most remote place in the country, but have recently moved to Twin. We really enjoy spending time with their family, and we had a lot of fun - although Lear and Ella broke a picture frame and Ella plastered herself with diaper cream while they were there. It's a good thing they have kids, too, so they understand how they can be sometimes.

We took our time driving the rest of the way to Salem. We even stopped to take a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia Gorge - and silly me, I forgot the camera. Figures. Anyway, we stopped at the car dealership in Portland that my brother Barton works at, where the kids got gigantic balloons - the kind that the dealership uses for promoting the cars. They loved them. Ella invented a game in which she let the balloon fly to the ceiling, and Cory lifted her up to retrieve it. She had a lot of fun with it, until Cory got tired to lifting her up. 

We also went to the Oregon Coast - and it was actually sunny!! We've gone there several times since Cory and I got married, and it's always been stormy, so were were surprised. My parents, our family, and our nephew Zacharia were there. We stopped for our traditional lunch at Mo's, a fun seafood restaurant, and then went to Fogarty Creek, a beach that my family used to go to a lot when I was little. It has a creek that goes down the beach to the ocean, and some huge rocks at the shoreline. You can see a little of them in one of the pictures. The top of the rocks are probably three stories high, and I used to climb up there quite fearlessly when I was younger, but not so much now. It was much steeper, and scarier, than I remember. I think that I've climbed it for the last time, even though the view is spectacular from the top. The children had a blast playing in the creek, which is perfect for little ones to swim in - it's shallow, slow-moving, as well as wave and under-tow free. 

Ella quote: Mommy: "Ella, do you have an stinky bum?"

Ella: "No, I 'ave a cute bum."

Cory quote: "I have to race like a pee horse!" 

Fluting is looking less frustrating from here...

We've been busy. Well, I have at least, and it's all been flutey stuff, which is grand. Thanks to a flutist friend of mine, a local conductor called me to invite me to audition for his orchestra. After a week of frenzied practicing, I played a relatively good audition for him - although I have to say that I am frustrated that after 21 years of playing the flute, I still make rookie mistakes like playing too fast when under pressure. As I've said before, I have great hopes that someday I will grow up. Anyway, he told me that this was a "just in case" audition - the current principal flutist of the orchestra is trying to sell her house, and they don't actually need someone until it sells and she's moving for sure. What could I do, but smile and wait, and hope that her house sells fast? Meanwhile, I was preparing for my first private lesson in seven years, with a guest artist that was coming to town, Zart Domburian-Eby. She's the piccolo player with the Seattle Symphony, and she is a spectacular musician. Her recital was wonderful - I'm not sure whether I'm inspired or depressed. I vacillate between the two: sometimes I think that if I take some lessons, there may be some hope for me left, and sometimes I think I'm too old for a flute resurrection. However, my lesson was great. I don't think I made a fool of myself, which was my greatest fear. I've been playing so much lately, which feels very good, and all that practicing has paid off, because the conductor guy called me, and I'm starting rehearsals with the Orchestra of Sandy City this week. It was formerly called the American West Symphony, and it's supposed to be one of the better community groups here in the Salt Lake area. So, I'm excited. Fluting has been extremely frustrating for me for several years now, and I am starting to feel like things may be looking up. 

Murphy's Law strikes again!

So, as some know, Ella got into my purse a few weeks ago, and scattered the contents of my wallet all around the basement. I found all my credit cards, my store cards, discount cards, and other random pieces of plastic. I even located my cash, all three dollars of it, stuffed in the track of the treadmill - but I could not find my driver's license. I looked for it for almost three weeks, before I went to the DMV at 6:45 AM and stood in line for 45 minutes to pay $18 dollars for a new horrible driver's license picture. I actually liked my old picture - I think it's actually one of my better pictures in general. 

Anyway, two days later, I was sitting in our recliner with Lear while Ella was napping, and he suddenly held up his hand with a triumphant giggle - and in his hand was my license. Two days later! I was so frustrated! It was stuffed in the teeny tiny gap between the back of the chair and the cushion on the back of the chair. I LOOKED in that chair - I even tipped it over and checked through the mechanism underneath to see if it got caught in there. That little, adorable, sweet, enchanting, FRUSTRATING girl! Isn't it just Murphy's Law that two days after I paid $18 and had a horrible picture taken at 7:45 AM we find the silly thing? 

By the way, I'm not using that new license with the horrible picture. My old one is good until 2012, so I'll use that one and file away the new one until the next time that Ella hides my license. Which might be next week.

Life in our madhouse

The top picture is of Lear at the playhouse at Wheeler Farm. We went there as part of our Ward's summer playgroup. They had tons of fun with their friends and the animals - there were even wild rats in the pigpen! I am always glad to observe wildlife in their natural habitats, but I thought that not everyone would enjoy the picture I took of them, so I didn't include it above. 

Next is of Ella COVERED in dirt from one of the tree rings in our back yard. She is fascinated with dirt and digging and generally getting filthy. She even had it in her HAIR, and I had to wash it twice before I got it all out - and the water was an opaque brown color when we were done washing. Since she is a girl, I blame it all on the male influence of her older brother, who is her partner in crime in all things lately. Lear was dirty, too, but being older, he can keep it in moderation. If you click on the picture, you'll see a much bigger version of it, in which all the dirt is easier to observe.

In the last two pictures, Cory is trying to get Ella and Lear dressed for bed, and Ella, being resistant to the idea of wearing clothing (another two-year-old phase she is going through is what I call The Gratuitous Nakedness Phase), Cory tried to interest her in pants by putting them on his head. I'm not sure where the connection between wearing pants where they belong and wearing them on the head is, but they had fun doing it. I love that the waistband on Ella's head makes her look like a squished potato.

Lear quote: "My mommy and daddy don't run on the treadmill very much anymore, so their bellies are getting bigger and bigger and bigger... Actually, I think it's the food."

The Ella Groove!

This is one of Ella's favorite activities - dancing to the ABC song. We have a Leap Frog fridge magnet that sings the song, and she loves that she can press the button to play it whenever whenever she wants. If you listen carefully, you'll be able to hear that she is singing along: she says "T, U, W, X," and at the very end she starts to say the "now I know my ABC's" part. 

My kids are on a roll...

Ella and Lear are getting good at being naughty. Or at least at finding new and original ways to make my blood pressure rise. Last Thursday evening, two days after the spice incident, we thought they were just being rowdy in their room after bedtime (for which they both received hot bottoms), but they were actually reaching new heights of craziness. We thought that they were just jumping on their beds and having a blast doing everything they're not supposed to, but we didn't find out the real extent of their activities until Friday morning. That morning I got up early to see Cory off to work and to help him move the car seats from one car to the other. I opened the garage door, and there on the ground beneath their window was the window screen, a few stuffed animals and pillows, and some books. The window was closed, and Cory says that he didn't even know that they had the window open when he went in to lay down the law. Lear told me that he opened the window to look out (yes, the window was locked, but Lear knows how to open them), and that the screen had popped out when he leaned up against it. He swears that it was Ella's idea to throw everything out the window. That window is two stories above the concrete driveway - if either child had fallen out, if they were so lucky as to have survived, they would still have been in critical condition in the hospital. It took me a full five minutes to get the screen back into the window, because the fit is so tight, which means that Lear had to have been leaning HARD on it to make it pop out. I truly believe that God assigned an angel or two to keep them inside the house, because it's VERY lucky that neither of them fell. I'm glad that I didn't find out about it until morning, because I would've been up all night stewing about what might have happened. As it was, I was nearly in tears all morning between the time we found out about it and they woke up. I am so, so thankful that my beautiful and infuriating children are well and still with us. 

Lear quote of the week: "Mommy that door hit on me." 

Honorable mention: Bronson: "Lear, what country do we live in?" 

Lear: "West Jordan!"

Ella quote: "One, two, fee, five, se-en, eight!" Can you believe she's counting (sort of) already?

Clean-up on Aisle Four!

I have been letting the kids play "shopping" lately in the pantry. They take Ella's baby buggy and pretend it's a shopping cart, and take things out of the pantry and put them in the "cart." They have a lot of fun doing it, and I figured that as long as they put everything away when they're done, it wouldn't be a problem. They've done it a few times, and as I think it's kind of cute they way they play together like this, I left them in the kitchen alone today to play while I sat in my room and put together my own shopping list. I heard a few bumps and knocks, but thinking (correctly, mostly) that they were just piling the cart too high, I didn't go to investigate. When I was done with my list, I went to the kitchen to get the kids ready to go shopping for real. As I approached, I smelled pepper, and I began to be suspicious - and there in the kitchen, were the children, looking very guilty, and standing in a mess of pepper - and coriander seeds, and sea salt, and curry powder. They had gotten into the spices, and had been happily dumping them out on the floor and spreading them around with their hands and feet when I caught them mid-sprinkle. The spice shelf is the second from the top, too, which means that they had to climb to get to them. Needless to say, they were in a little trouble - no TV for the rest of the day - and they are no longer allowed to play shopping in the pantry. I was even thinking when I was making my list that they were playing so sweetly and quietly together. The quiet part should have set off the alarm bells in my head: never trust quiet children. They are inevitably getting into trouble.

The one upside to this, other than the comedy factor, is that my kitchen now smells like coriander and pepper, with a little bit of curry in the background. 

Our kids are so fun...

This week was a tough one for Cory. He had to translate at the Stampin' Up! convention on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Ask Cory sometime about how much he loves translating. He says that he's much better with written French than spoken, and that translating verbally has been a big challenge for him. He was very stressed out the first part of the week because of the anticipation, and he was working so much at the convention downtown that his company paid for him to stay at a hotel for a few nights. The cool thing is that everyone had Friday night off to enjoy themselves, so we got Papa to have a slumber party over at our house so I could have a night out with Cory at the Hotel Monaco downtown. It's a pretty nice hotel. We went to a few houses on the Salt Lake Parade of Homes (we go every year - even Lear and Ella love going to see houses) and had a nice dinner. It was great to have a nice night out without our beautiful little terrorists. And terrorists they are - Lear and Ella were under the mistaken impression that they didn't have to go to bed or follow any rules while Papa was at our house, and when he told them it was bedtime, it occasioned a major fit. He decided to let them stay in their room for a while to "cool down." When he came back upstairs to check on them a while later, they had not only stripped their mattresses, but pulled them on to the floor - as well as the box springs. I didn't know that Lear was Bam-Bam in another life - box springs are heavy things for a four-year old to move! They had set up the Thomas the Tank Engine tent on top of the mattress  "bridges," as they called them and were jumping all over them. Anyone wondering why I'm beginning to think that two are enough? I love these guys, but they can be a handful!

The picture above is of Richard taking the kids on a ride on Gramp's Jazzy chair. He came on Wednesday to watch them for me because I was playing a Brown Bag concert with Kairo By Night downtown. I truly appreciate that he is so willing to brave our children so often to help us out. We love you Papa!

Lear quote: 

Mama: "What do you want to eat, Mister Lear?"

Lear: "Peaches, and..... Peaches, and, um.... Peaches, and - aww forget it, Mama, just peaches."

Ella quote: "Papa toe-foffing me!" (translation: "Papa gave me toast with frosting!" In our house, toast with frosting is Toaster Streudel. Ella spent about five minutes repeating this over and over and over to my sister and her husband, which is her version of a conversation.)

Farmer's Market and garage barbecues

This Saturday, we went to the Farmer's Market downtown, just to check it out. We were amazed at the variety of foods and art that were there. It was fun to wander and gander at the people and things there. I don't know if we'll be going every week, but it was fun anyway. Lear and Ella got balloon animals - above is a picture of Lear with his zebra, but Ella's elephant popped before we even left. She was good about it - about all she did was tell everyone she saw that day that "My e-fant boke."

Later that day, we had a barbecue at our house for Pioneer Day. We couldn't celebrate it on Pioneer Day because Cory didn't get the day off. We had our usual crowd - the great-grandmas, Cory's parents, and Karen, as well and Cory's cousin Brindy,  who is not one of our usuals, but we were happy to have her. We always invite more people, but they're the only ones who ever come for some reason. Anyway, after the kids ate we let them swim in our little mini pool. Lear can get his swim suit by himself, but Ella refused to wait for me to get hers, and got in the pool as is. I decided that it would be better to let her have her way this time, but we took off her diaper after a few minutes because it had ballooned to about ten times it's normal size. So, she was just running around in her tank top, until mommy decided enough was enough and got her swim suit for her. (She has the cutest little cottage cheese butt, and it's hard to resist letting her show it off - or taking blackmail pictures for later down the road.) We had to move the party into our garage when it started pouring. We just sat in there on our lawn chairs, chatting and eating Cory's apple crisp (the apples were from the Farmer's Market). Karen entertained the kids with chalk drawings on the floor, which is what she's doing in the picture above. We had a great day, and we're glad that we got to spend it with the special people we had there.

Lear quote: "I don't have an onion, I have a butt." (We had harvested our onion plants, and Cory told Lear in his usual joking manner that he was an onion.)

Ella quote: Nana: "Ella, did you know that Aunt Kelly has a baby in her belly?"

Ella: "Ooo, baby?" Then pointing at Richard, "Papa baby belly!"

I took the kids to the West Jordan Conservation Gardens to take pictures of Ella for her second birthday. I just realized that I hadn't had pictures of her done yet, and I thought I'd give it a try. These are a few samples - I thought they turned out pretty well, considering that Lear wouldn't stay out of the frame, Ella wouldn't do anything but sit on benches to pose, and I couldn't get many pictures of them except for walking-away pictures... but hey, I still got a few good ones.

We went bowling with Nana and Papa last Wednesday for Papa's birthday - all of us. You should've seen the cute little bowling shoes that they had for the kids. Ella's were especially cute, I thought. Who knew they made them so small? In fact, Ella was kicking all our butts for a while. She would lug her six-pound ball to the ramp and give it a little shove down the lane - and then start clapping and screaming before her ball even got halfway down the lane. The journey is more important than the destination, right? Maybe that's why she did so well... Lear decided to stop using the ramp about halfway through the game, and watching him throw the ball down the lane, only to have it go about 0.0056 miles per hour while zig-zagging agonizingly slowly toward the two pins he would hit was hilarious. I think we might have to do the bowling thing more often. It was pretty fun. Unfortunately, I didn't have the camera that night, and I couldn't get good picture with my phone camera. Phooey.

 

Balloon Wars

Catching up on the last few weeks

I hadn't realized that it's been so long... I'd like to say I have just been busy (which is actually true) but more likely, I'm just on the lazy side. SO, sorry. On to the news!

We had my parents here for the Fourth of July weekend, which was great. It's especially great for me, because the kids spend all their time with Grandma and Grandpa, that I just sort of drift along in this dreamy child-free daze. I sometimes lose my temper with my mother, I'm ashamed to say. This is my problem, not hers, I know - my problem that I allow myself to be bugged and annoyed, and not my mother's problem, because she's usually just being herself and not doing anything wrong. I have great hopes that someday I will grow up (Maturity is a social disease that I somehow have not caught), but in the mean time, my mother puts up with me like an angel. She often reminds me that she feels the same way about me that I do about my children, which is a powerful rejoinder. We always have things to learn from our parents, don't we? 

Anyway, we took my parents on a trip on the Heber Creeper, and I'm not sure who had more fun, Lear or my father. I didn't have a good time, because I was having a terrible allergy attack the whole time - although it went away when we were driving the Alpine Loop. Then it came back as soon as we got home. 

After my parents left, we had about five days of normalcy, then we went camping - kids get DIRTY when camping! I knew it was going to happen, but I wasn't ready for the grand scale of it all. Dang! It's a good time they had fun getting dirty, because I'm not sure all the soaking and scrubbing were worth it otherwise. We had a big group there - Nana, Papa, Kevin and Shari, Karen and Grams, Devin and Kelly, and us. We took up two campsites. We met a fun family there with a couple kids that Lear and Ella had a blast playing with in the little stream that went by the campsite. We saw some deer go through the camp, and I personally enjoyed all the wildflowers - especially wild columbine, which I can't grow at home for some reason. (I've tried a couple times, but they always die.)

Since then, Cory has gone to a four-ten-hour-day work week. I think he's had a harder time than he thought, because he's going to work very early in the mornings so he won't have to work later at night. Having Mondays off will be good, though - I hope good enough to make up for the early mornings and long days. 

Ella quote: "Sunbee! Sunbee! Jeeja wammee, sunbee!" 

We had a fun but difficult week last week - fun, because every branch and twig of the Stoker family tree was in town, so we got to visit with a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles, and difficult because we were gathering for Gramp's funeral. I had such a hard time playing "Going Home" aka the Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony as Grandpa's casket was leaving the funeral. We were supposed to repeat it until everyone left the chapel, but after the third time, I had to tell the pianist to stop, because I couldn't play anymore. Nothing hits me harder than music. If I don't cry during a eulogy or talk, you depend upon me crying during the musical number. You'd think that after 20+ years of playing music that I'd be over that, but I'm not. Go figure.

The picture above is from our Family Night at Leatherby's. I know that it is blurry (sorry) but I thought it was a cute picture regardless. We've just been trying to get the children on a normal schedule for the last couple days, since the last week has been so crazy. My parents are coming this week to visit, which we are all looking forward to. The kids love it when they're here.

Finally, we had to buy a new freezer. Our old one was a hand-me-down from Cory's grandparents, and has never worked well. It freezer burnt everything, and ALWAYS had frost build up to the point that we couldn't close it sometimes. So, I was ready for a new one when we found out that most of the stuff in it was thawing, and that the Otter Pops we put in it two weeks ago were STILL not frozen. 

Lear quote of week: Karen: "Gramps went to sleep in his house, and woke up in Heavenly Father's house."

Lear, looking confused: "You mean he woke up at church?"

Ella Quote: Bronson: "Ella, who is coming to visit you this week?"

Ella: "uh.... Two!"

 

Lloyd Thomas Stoker (1929-2008)

When you get married, you inherit a lot of things, like bad posters, cd collections, futons, and stuff like that. When I got married, among those other things, I got grandparents. I had my own grandparents, of course, but for a few reasons - some good, some worse - I never had a close relationship with any of them. I wish I did - one of the greatest regrets that I have is that I didn't know any of them well, and now they're all gone. Cory has grandparents that are involved and interested in the lives of their grandchildren. Grandparents who came to games and concerts, who took them on trips and camping, and who shared long conversations about life and other things. I sometimes wonder if he realizes how lucky he is. I was so honored to be immediately adopted by his grandparents.

Cory's grandfather, Lloyd Stoker passed away Sunday, June 22, 2008 at around 5:00 PM - one day shy of his 60th wedding anniversary. He's been sick for a long time, and very uncomfortable for almost as long. He's been asking Heavenly Father for death for a while now, so his passing has been a bit of a relief for everyone - but separation is never easy. Cory and I had talked of going to see him in Cedar City, where he lived when he died, but circumstances prevented us from going in time. I think Cory was feeling regret and remorse that we didn't go, but here's what I think: Let's not dwell on the things we forgot to do, chose not to do, or wished we had done. Let's remember the ball games, concerts, deer hunting trips, dinners, afternoons playing, and things like that. Cory has an exceptionally close-knit family, and I think that he is so blessed for it. I feel blessed, too, that I was able to share his grandfather (his paternal grandfather died while his father was on his mission) for six years. My own children have been blessed for having known their great grandparents, even if they won't remember it. I think that in our youth-oriented society, we often forget how important, how essential grandparents can be, as examples, confidants, supporters, and friends. Now we just have to live it up with our remaining grandparents, so we don't have to regret later.

So, thanks for being my grandfather, too, Grandpa. We love you, and we'll miss you very much.

Lear quote of the day: "I'm going to miss Gramps. I sure do love him."

Special Edition: RIP SIlversong, Pollen City

This picture is of (from left to right) Lear, Ella, Elena Bunker, and Kyle Bunker, who's peeking around his sister. (YOU try to get four children to smile at the camera at the same time!) I was tending the Bunker children while their mother, my friend Brei, was teaching piano lessons. They played in our little wading pool while I swept the pollen from our lovely tree off our driveway and front porch. I had the children pose by the picture so everyone could see just how much pollen falls every year from the silly tree. The driveway, front steps, front porch, and lawn were covered in the junk, which made it all seem a mustard yellow color. ALL of that yuck was just from the driveway. Don't you wish you had a tree like that? 

AND - we sold one of our cars - the Escort, my first car, which I affectionately named Silversong. OK, so I was 22 and silly when I named the car. As you know, we just bought a new car, and we were getting stressed out about money, because we can't afford two car payments, so we just put all three cars for sale, hoping at least one would sell. The Escort was listed for two hours when someone called and wanted to see it - at 10 PM. We told him up front that it needed the AC fixed and had a little lurching problem, but he still offered us cash for it on the spot. We got more for it than we were anticipating, so we're satisfied. It's enough money that it basically gets us eight or so months of breathing space to decide what we want to do with the Trailblazer. Phew! We were getting worried. I do feel a bit sad, because it was my first car, and I had it for nine years, but it's time to say goodbye. In fact, after "death," it's still helping us financially. RIP, Silversong. We'll miss you. *Sniff*

Lear quote of the day:

Elena: "Let's go to the pool! Come on, husband!"

Lear: "OK, wife!"

Our BBQ and the Zoo

Last weekend we were supposed to go camping, but a series of events prevented us from going - after I bought all the food. We were stuck with a bunch of hot dogs and chips and stuff like that, so we decided to have a barbecue instead, which was a lot of fun. Cory used a gift car to buy a small fire pit, and we invited our friends the Bunkers (Lear's fiancee's family) and some family. We ate all the food we bought for the camping trip, and had S'Mores in the fire pit. Ella was trying to roast her own marshmallows on a stick, but she kept just digging it into the ashes. After we lost about three or four marshmallows, I took the stick away from her and told her I was going to help her - which is when she said "Dang it!" with a very crusty expression on her face. We all had a very good laugh about it.

Saturday, we went to the zoo. Lear and Ella both loved it. Ella kept pointing to animals and delineating their families. For example, "Mommy eh-fant! Daddy eh-fant! Baby eh-fant!" Regardless of the size of the animals in questions - the elephants were all adult females, but Ella didn't care. When there were only two of an animal, like the zebras, she'd say "Mommy zeba! Daddy zeba! Where baby?" Or she'd ask where the daddy or mommy was. Can you tell that family is her whole world right now? It's very sweet, actually. Lear of course had a great time, too. He loves the zebras and penguins the best. The zoo has added a carousel, which we didn't let the kids ride because it cost extra money. Lear was ok with it because he wanted to see more animals, but Ella refused to budge, and stood in the middle of the courtyard in front if it. We walked away, pretending to leave her behind, and she held her ground! That little girl is stubborn. She was just standing there with this determined expression on her face, all by herself. Cory wanted to get out of sight, to see if she'd freak out, but I couldn't do it. It would've just been too easy for someone to just pick her up and run off with her. Mommy instincts kicked in, I suppose. 

So, apparently, I look pregnant, because I've had four different people in two states ask me if I'm pregnant. Even my friend Brei asked me! Et tu, Brei? I seem to have gotten used to it, or at least numb, because I'm not particularly offended by it anymore. So, to quell all the rumors out there, no, I'm not pregnant! Spend a couple of hours with my kids, and you'll know why! 

Last thing - if anyone wants a Trailblazer, buy ours! We'll give you a good price. We really need to get rid of it, so tell your friends.

Lear quote of the week: "Mommy, your tummy gets bigger and bigger every day." Ouch!

Ella quote of the week: (said while playing hide and seek) "A-two, a-fee, a-two, a-fee, I come!"

The last two weeks

OK, so I know it's been a while, but in my defense, I was on vacation for most of it. We went to Oregon to see my parents for Memorial Day weekend, which was a lot of fun. Grandma and Grandpa Janes got a special toy for their grandchildren - a Ford F-150! Power Wheel, that is. The kids had a great time going on walks in the truck, and just driving around the neighborhood. Lear actually got pretty good at driving - as long as he didn't get distracted by things going by on the sidewalk. Usually he'd steer off the sidewalk about then. 

We also took a day to go up to Tacoma, WA to see Cory's cousins, Callie and Ezra. We had a fun time there, too. They have two kids who are each about a year older than our kids - Phoenix and Halcyon. (Students of Greek mythology will note an unintentional similarity between the two names.) The have a sandbox in their backyard, and they got a couple plastic gutters and some bins and set up a little water course to keep the kids busy - Lear was so  busy with it that his pants got wet and we had to take them off him to dry in the sun. If you look closely, you'll be able to see that he isn't wearing any pants in the picture. 

We also got a new car! It is a CNG car, which means that it runs on compressed natural gas - which is only $.63 a gallon here in Utah! We got a GMC Yukon, which is a bonus in itself, since it has third row seating, which will be nice. The one complaint I have about it, however, is that because the CNG stations here can't keep up with demand, there isn't enough pressure to fill up the tank completely, so the car has a range of about 50 miles before it switches to gasoline. Cory flew to Phoenix, AZ to get the car (CNG cars are WAY expensive in Utah because of the demand) the day after we got back from Oregon, and drove it back the same day. He was expecting to get home around 1:00 AM, which worried me, because we'd just driven 14 hours to get home from Oregon, and he had to turn around and drive another 10 hours to get the car home - and through the boonies of northern AZ and southern UT. It turns out, however, that he didn't have quite the marathon we expeted - he blew a tire between Page, AZ and Kanab, UT and ended up spending the night in Page. Call us sometime for the complete story, which is full more more peril than I just described. This post is getting long, so I'll cut this short: one hotel stay, a tow to Page, and four new tires later, we have a nice, big car that costs about $2.80 to fill. Fun stuff, huh?

Lear quote of the week: (in a whisper) "Ella, if you want to throw up, you have to put your finger in your throat." (Lear's advice to Ella while driving to Tacoma on how to more effectively get Mommy's undivided attention.)

Ella quote of the week: "Dang it!" Said after Mommy insisted on helping her roast marshmallows. (More on the marshmallow roasting soon...)