Well, shoot!

I can't find my camera! We've been doing so much cleaning and reorganizing lately, and I guess I must have put it someplace very safe, because I can't figure out where it is. I'm sure I'll find it eventually, and then I'll post pics of Christmas, the short-lived gingerbread house, our kitchen, and other fun stuff. 

We did so much with family over the holidays, which we always enjoy. We have a wonderful extended family. Really - I'm not sugar coating things for the sake of a cheerfully saccharin-sweet blog. We had fun watching little Saige (I hope I spelled that right!) with Chris and Brindy while her parents were having a nice dinner. She is so fun, and Chris and Brindy are going to be awesome parents. We had Nerf gun fight at Nana and Papa's house during a family sleepover, where the kids got to play with their cute cousins Danika and Aryanna all day. We had a fun time watching Utah bust the BCS at Bryce and Carolee's house, and had a great Christmas Eve dinner with Gia, Matt, Bronson, Nana, Papa, and Karen. I'm grateful for the Christmas season, for giving us excuses to ditch our busy schedules and spend quality time with family. I just hope that they're not all sick of us!

Finally, a word to the wise: Don't schedule home projects during December! You might think, "Well, I've got the time to replace that toilet or rip down that wallpaper, because I'm taking time off work for the holidays anyway," but don't do it. You'll just be sad you added that much more stress to the holidays. This month we painted floorboards, the kitchen, a bathroom, a vanity, fixed a drop ceiling, we replaced a toilet, the floor of said bathroom, six door handles, all the mismatched light fixtures, and still put up and tore down Christmas decorations. However, Bryce and Carolee have us beat, hands down - a full kitchen remodel and replacing the floors in half the house makes painting a bunch of stuff pale in comparison. (So, stop whining, Tia!)

Lear quote: Mommy: "Lear, are there any presents you wanted that you didn't get?"

Lear: "No, Mommy, I'm happy with everything I have." (He said this before I gave him the Bumblebee Transformer that he spent weeks nagging me and throwing fits in Wal-Mart about.)

Ella quote: "Mommy, I got crying on your arm." Said after sobbing on my shoulder because of some injustice.

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!