Water = Fun

The weather here last Saturday may have been partially cloudy with a high of 32 degrees, but in the Lehi Legacy Center it's always a nice 85 degrees with a high chance of FUN! (ha ha)

In the bottom of the sea...

We LOVE the aquarium! It's a magical (and small) world away from our own. The kids touched, ran, pointed, jumped, oohed, awed, and I did the same thing.

I can't wait to take the kids to Sea Life Park.... they will want to live there forever. There's a kids music group called "Ralph's World" with a song called, "In the bottom of the sea." It's a family favorite- really not just for kids. Tried to find a link, but just because I couldn't find it doesn't mean you shouldn't try. You and your kids will love it. Car rides will be so much better with "Ralph's World"- promise!

Sleep and Food

Sleep and food are two of my favorite things. In the winter I definitely spend more time thinking about both of them. I think about sleep because it's dark until at least eight in the morning, so I feel way way worse when the ol' rooster (Taj) starts crowing. It got really bad after the last daylight saving, which I hate. He started getting up at five, then up several times in the night to ask if it was morning yet since he knew it would be dark until way later. Ugh. This fun development turned into a horrible going to bed routine of him getting up sometimes twenty times before the final sleep. Grabbing at our last straws, Micah and I decided that if we pulled out the nap and turned it into quiet time he'd be so tired that he might actually go to bed and actually stay in bed. The good news is it worked. Taj is sleeping from eight until seven-YAHOO! The bad news is that "quiet time" isn't usually so quiet. He sings really loudly and jumps all over his room, and who knows what else he does in there, but it is in his room...away from us, and he seems to like it :). I knew the day would come, just not so soon.

Being stuck indoors more this time of year has me close to obsessed with food. I'm cooking a lot more, which is a plus. I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes...send along any of your favorites please, I've got several months of cooking ahead. The winter layer is coming along nicely thanks to this. Oh well. Here's a tasty one I tried last night. It's a Brazilian style chicken with a mango salsa. So good. I'll post the recipe someday (supposed to be a thirty minute recipe, but that's obviously referring to a cook without two little ones).Now if you don't mind, I'm going up for some winter hibernating :)

A Few Discoveries...

* I am a terrible shoveler. This is sad because I really enjoy it- it's usually quiet out there and I'm outside getting fresh air and exercise.

*There's nothing worse than the feeling of getting sweaty with all your snow stuff on. Dirty.

*If I tell Taj he's Iron Man and Eden is Pepper Pots he is the sweetest guy to her and all of a sudden loves to play with her and help her do things.

*Taj discovered the light in his bedroom closet...

*Micah and I have discovered Taj sitting in his closet with the light on after he was supposedly fast asleep. Stinker.

*I could seriously feed my children cereal, hot dogs, and taquito's every meal for the rest of their lives....

* I really need to come up with healthier food options for the kiddo's.

*Eden's belly button. She's LOVES belly buttons and is constantly feeling her own and looking for mine.

Things I wish I could discover:

*A way to get Eden to drink milk.

* Warm winter clothes (especially shoes) that don't make me feel like Napolean Dynomite wearing moon boots.

*How to get Taj to stay in his bed through the night without having to take him back to his room. Ugh. Thank heavens for a helpful husband and for Taj usually going to his side of the bed first:)

* A motivation (that works) to get me to exercise in the winter.

Puppy Love

I'm officially done breastfeeding. It was a sad couple of days for Eden, which made it a sad couple of days for me. I don't consider myself especailly sentimental, but this experience (weening while NOT expecting another) has made me a little sappy and sentimental. I'm suprisingly emotional over something I was really looking forward to.
I've played with the idea of getting a puppy before, but now that my babies aren't babies anymore I have been really really REALLy wanting a puppy. I think it's just the emotions. I've found myself watching the pet adoption commercials on Demand (our cable offers them), and going ga-ga for some of the pups at petfinder.com. I'm sure I'll get over this soon enough, but in the meantime-HELP! (as if it were that serious) But seriously, as a person that has never had a dog before, can you help talk some sense into me? Take the sweet, cudley, puppy perfect picture out of my head. Give it to me straight- would a puppy be a huge mistake?

the Holidays

Christmas was great. A lot of family time, great food, presents, happy kids- who'd complain about that? We've had tons of snow lately so we spent some time shoveling instead of going to Aunt Roses for Christmas dinner. We loved every overstimulated minute. I think I overdid the holiday excitement in the beginning because by the end of Christmas I was feeling a little grinchy... like we spent way too much money and did too much. I think I just needed sleep. As the kids get older and can understand the true meaning of Christmas we'll try to focus more on that. For now acting out the nativity, giving presents, and spending time with the family is wonderful. And Happy New Year!!

And to all those that thoughtfully gave stuff to Taj, he says, "We got a lot of crap!" It was said in the sweetest voice ever- we're not quite sure he gets what "crap" means. We had a good laugh and are working on helping our kids show more gratitude :)

Put In My Place

Life seems to have a way of putting me in my place. When I get too comfortable as a mom the kids throw something new at me. When I complain about the weather and living in Utah (poor me right) it floods in Laie leaving tons of people "living" in some bad conditions and having lost a lot. I've put together a small list of things I'm grateful for while living here in Utah in the snow:

1. We live really close to Nana, Pop-Pop, and Grandma Letty. Their help has gotten me through many a cold day.

2. I don't really feel obligated to shower after an outdoor run because it's so cold I don't sweat. (I usually do anyway).

3. We have an excuse to cuddle and drink hot chocolate-yum.

4. Taj loves Snow Plows, so it's something to look forward to, kind of like police cars or the garbage man.

5. Taj likes to play in the snow so it's a pretty good time burner to get him in all the snow gear (usually very pleasant through the ordeal). It can really break up a long day stuck indoors.

6. My kids have seen and played in snow at a young age, verses my first real experience in college.

So it's a pretty short list, but I really feel so blessed. I'm especially grateful that I get to experience all of this with my sweet husband. He can make me smile through anything.

It's Official

Winter is upon us...officially. I've been lying to myself for months, taking the kids to the park all bundled up, wearing slippers, not grabbing jackets or hats. But no longer. There's no denying the winter-ness going on outside my temperature controlled home. When I took the picture of the flowers I thought, "This is how I feel inside."(a joke...kind of).

In the winter spirit we have been decorating and doing all the holiday stuff. We got our tree- Love the smell, pulled out all the decorations, saw the lights at Temple Square, and have "the best Christmas CD Ever" mix playing non-stop (thank you Cami). Taj and Eden are so much fun to have around this time of year. They ooh and awe over all the lights and decorations. Taj has a game where when he sees Christmas decorations he shouts "Merry Christmas!" and if there aren't any he says, "Bah Humbug!" He also loves to pretend to be Frosty the Snowman and a chipmunk (from Alvin and the Chipmunks) and sings his heart out. We even got a prayer from a chipmunk the other night.

Before I forget...

On Thanksgiving Taj and Eden couldn't stand the wait. They were total vultures around the kitchen. Taj was so curious about the dining room set up and was even finding it hard to resist putting his hands in every ones glasses so I finally told him we should just go downstairs and play. He grabs his chair as tight as he can and says, " But, I just, I just can't help myself."

So true. Welcome to life.

When it was finally time to eat Eden snuggled closer than ever during the prayer. She finally got a taste of the mashed potatoes and looked up with a huge grin, then licked her lips. So worth the wait, huh.

After dinner the kids wanted lollipops instead of pie (of coarse they ended up with both). Eden was in heaven, until her lollipop got stuck in her hair. Her Daddy lovingly and gently calmed her down and removed it for her.

Taj has been cracking us up with some some original thoughts such as:

"I'm a National Hero".

We get really dried out here so one night after bath Taj tells us, "Don't put the cream on my nose cuz I want it to be red like Rudolph."

When I was reading Aladdin to Taj the other night we got to the part where Aladdin and Jazmin fall in love "in the moonlight". Taj looks up at me and says, "I fell in love with you Mom." He now says that to the whole family because he knows he gets hugs and kisses. He also says he fell in love when he falls onto his seat at the dinner table. We'll take what we can get.

Micah was out of town last weekend so I was doing the night time routine without him. Taj gave the prayer and said, "Please help Eden sleep good in her crib and Mommy sleep good in her bed, with no one on the other side."

The innocenct humor and joy is everywhere. I love being a mom.

"Bop"

Eden has learned a couple of new words: cheat (treat) and bop (lollipop). We are so proud. We find her pointing to the not so secret hiding place for treats/bribes and repeating "Cheat! Cheat!". One of the last times I gave in and let her have a "bop" she and Taj turned it into a sharing game and had fun until the cheap dum dum stick broke. It's getting harder and harder to say no to this girl.

Wigidy-wigidy-wigidy-wac

Taj has been dressing himself lately, which I love. He doesn't mind tags in his face or underwear backwards so it's barely covering his buns, so we leave it and tell him how proud we are of him dressing himself. Kris-Kross anyone?

Adventure in Ventura

My Uncle Rob passed away a couple of weeks ago, so we made some last minute plans to get ourselves to California for the funeral. It was a sweet experience in that the funeral was really small- 8 of us. His sister, Rose, had some Beetle's playing and we all just visited at the grave site his ashes will be buried in. I didn't really know him and actually never heard many good stories about my Uncle Rob while he was alive, but at the funeral I was able to hear a lot of great stories about him. I also heard some of his poetry which I loved and will share another time. Turns out my Uncle Rob was very talented and had friendships we never knew about. I really found a lot of hope in the experience and think of him free from his earthly problems. There was a lot of laughter at the funeral, and not too irreverent. It was touching and the kind of funeral I would like.

I flew with the kids while Micah drove and camped out the day before. Taj got to see the cockpit of our airplane and even press some buttons (thank you Southwest for helping a mom out). Micah got some o.k. waves then picked us up. After the funeral we checked into our house in Ventura. Micah loves to plan out our trips and found us a rad place 9 houses from the beach! We had great eighty degree weather and loved the area. We were next to a marina so we saw boats all day long.

Eden loved the cold water and charged for it nonstop. We all got sick on the trip, and Taj wouldn't stay asleep (new bed/sounds/lights...), but we had a great time. It was a reminder of how blessed we are and how grateful I am best friends with my family.

School is Cool

I thought it was a little overboard to do preschool pictures, but then I got to thinking about how fun it is to pull out my school pictures and thought we'd better get some.

My first thought was how stinking adorable this little man is. My second thought was how in the world did the photographer got Taj to smile for her. My third thought was how this photographer was smart to target preschools and how she's probably raking it in. Most recently I thought how red Taj's hair looks in the photo. Cute kid.

*just let us know if you need a wallet sized photo. We've got a few laying around.

"like an orange on a toothpick"

My little lady is a clumsy little lady. While these pictures show what a cute and perfectly round head she has, it also shows how large it seems in comparison to the rest of her little body.
I'm really not trying to sound mean here. I'm actually concerned because she falls down a lot (with the help of her big brother sometimes), and because her noggin is so big it hits every time.
These pictures are quite amazing because they don't show the permanent bump on the right side of her forehead. They do show her kissy face, which I LOVE!

I'm seriously considering getting a helmet for her, cuz at some point all this bumping and bruising has to cause some permanent damage. Yikes.

The Real Halloween!

We had a great night! We made our traditional "Witches Brew" or root beer with dry ice.

After dinner we got suited up and headed out for some Halloween loot.




I know they're blurry, but just think of them as spooky Halloween pictures:)

Here's Taj on his scooter. I had to laugh because the whole time we're trick or treating I kept getting those little scrub feeling of hurrying to as many houses as possible as to get the most candy. Pretty cute. He was so brave, and even though Eden got scared a couple times she was totally into it.