Monday, November 28, 2005
 
Noah got his yellow stripe in Karate today. I don't really think he's learned a whole lot or improved in any specific area, but he sure was proud and so are we!
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Sunday, November 27, 2005
Saturday, the boys went outside with their Uncle Michael(Henrichsen)to check on our chicken, Lucky. It has gotten a bit chilly out here, so upon their arrival at Lucky's cage, they discovered some icicles. Now my boys think icicles are as precious as diamonds so when Hunter saw them he immediately saw dollar signs and began gathering the "ice crystals" with the intention of selling them. He got right to work making some signs and Uncle Michael helped staple them to a nearby tree and post. He did his best to conjure up some customers by walking up and down the sidewalk carrying a sign and a few cars slowed down to read them but unfortunately, no one stopped to buy his merchandise. The boys eventually gave up but today at church, when they discovered some snow that hadn't melted, they immediately started their sales pitch to the ward members as they got into their cars. Only this time they were successful as Sister Brown happily handed two quarters to each of the boys as they presented her with the fragile and most precious ice crystals they had collected for her. And yes. . . they thrilled! Just goes to show you can sell anything you want to just so long as you are determined and cute. (Guess I should have put that "Leaves for Sale: 50 cents a bag" sign out by our leaves the other day. I might have been $33 richer--of course I don't have the cute factor going for me anymore. Lost that several years ago. Darn!)
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Friday, November 25, 2005
We had a very yummy Thanksgiving and lots of good company. We watched Polar Express and a few of us had a nap brought on by the turkey. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving too.
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Thursday, November 24, 2005
Shana:
Shana's Amazon Wishlist
Manicure/Pedicure gift certificates
Victoria Secret Vanilla lotion
Calendar
Gift certificates to Michael's
Gift certificates to Memories
Yankee Candle "Peppermint Cocoa"
Mark:
Mark's Amazon Wishlist
"Lost" the first season DVD widescreen
"The Ark" soundtrack
Blockus
Tickets to a Broadway show
BYU Lanyard
Pajama Pants (XL)
Dress Pants (42W30L)
Hunter:
Anything he can create and build with(Lego or K'nex)
Transformers
Mouse Trap
Rush Hour Junior
Crossword Puzzles and Word Searches (Nothing too complicated please)
Noah:
Tools for drawing and writing (as well as anything sparkly and glittery)
Art supplies (Dot markers, glitter pens, glitter crayons, paint, etc.)
Dominoes Race Set
Spy Gear
Fuzzy, soft clothing (fleece pants, sweatshirts, etc.)
Pop Beads
Jewel-like items and containers to collect them in.
Computer games (Early reading skills, Dora the Explorer or anything NickJr.)
Denver:
Trucks, trucks, trucks and trains.
Clothing with trucks on it.
Books with trucks in them.
Videos about trucks (There Goes a Garbage Truck, There Goes a Monster Truck, There Goes a Tractor, Etc.)
Computer games involving trucks or anything NickJr.
Thomas the Tank Lego
Trucks (He suggests a Cement Truck, a Garbage Truck and of course, any Excavator)
Caleb:
Any clothing that has not been previously worn and that lacks stains and/or holes.
Right now he's wearing 0-6 months. By spring he'll be in 6-9 months, by summer he'll be in 9-12 months and by Fall he'll be in 12-18 months, etc.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Today I thought of another favorite song from my childhood. . . Over the River and Through the Woods. And since it's all about Thanksgiving I thought I'd share.
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Monday, November 21, 2005
Hunter saw Tom Steinke at school today. Tom, for those of you who don't know, is our famous Home Teacher who always shows up at the worst possible times to visit with us. I've blogged about him before. Anyway, Tom also happens to be a policeman who visits the schools with the DARE program and today he was at Hunter's school. Hunter saw him on his way to gym and mentioned it when he got home today. Tom emailed Mark and told him about their encounter. These are Tom's words about running into Hunter today. I thought they were pretty cute:
"Saw your oldest today... waiting in the hallway with the rest of his class....what a great kid you have... all the little guys were waving to me .. and when he waved I was glad.. usually kids from church are too shy ... Dude .. Carlie Bryant would almost ignore me .. classic!!
Anyway.. his teacher says... Do you know the policeman... Hunter stands up straight.. matter of factly... " he is in my ward"..... cracked me up... teacher looks at me and mouths the word "ward" to me .. I smile .. nod and say .. We go to the same Church..."
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He's getting big way too fast if you ask me. But he sure is cute--don't you think?
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Sunday, November 20, 2005
Yesterday we visited SeaWorld. You can see all our pics by clicking here. Shamu and the dolphin show were great. We even got to see Hi-5 (from TLC) which was pretty fun, even if Noah thought it was a "stupid two-year old show." Noah, once again braved a big-kid ride, "Journey to Atlantis," and loved it and Mark actually got to ride a ride he wanted to--the Kraken. We're definitely going to have to return since we didn't have enough time to see everything.
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
So far on this trip we've:
Learned three very valuable tips. 1)The week before Thanksgiving is a GREAT time to visit Disney World. The lines are short and the crowds are small. We never had to wait in line, even for rides like Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. And, the weather is warm but not too warm. It has been in the mid 70's all week except for Wednesday when it was a bit warm and humid. 2)Always visit FantasyLand first when you visit Magic Kingdom. The lines get pretty lengthy in the afternoon but if you go in the morning, you walk right on all the rides. And of course, when you have four very small children, that can be a lifesaver. 3)Take advantage of "preferred seating" when you want to visit a popular restaurant, like Rainforest Cafe. We arranged for "preferred seating" so we could take Noah to "Jungle Parfait" (a.k.a. Rainforest Cafe), which he's been dying to do for over a year now. They say with preferred seating you never have to wait longer than 1/2 an hour after you check in to be seated. Well, we had our table in less than five minutes after check in despite some very long lines. It was excellent!
Visited Magic Kingdom twice. We had a blast the first day in Magic Kingdom and everything went very smoothly. We didn't wait in any lines and the boys loved everything. Mark and I absolutely loved Mickey's Philharmagic, which is a must see. Hunter especially loved Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain which shocked my socks off. And Noah loved both of the same roller coasters and Splash Mountain as well. I never thought the boys would be brave enough to master any of those rides but they did and in another few short years I think Mark will have two roller coaster buddies no matter what amusement park we visit. Denver, our dare devil, was a bit more cautious and said his favorite was It's a Small World, which I still love as well. We especially had fun riding on the rides with Grandma and Grandpa the second morning we were there. Oh yeah. . . all of the boys also LOVED the Buzz Lightyear ride and I think we rode that one almost ten times altogether.
Learned to NEVER take the boat to Fort Wilderness, especially if you are coming from EPCOT. The second night we were there the family was supposed to meet at Fort Wilderness for Mickey's Barkyard BBQ. Mom told us that the boat was the fastest way to get there, so we had decided that's what we would do. That started us off on the worst 2 hour excursion of the entire trip. Two monorail rides, one very long boat line, one even longer boat trip, and one long walk later we arrived in Ft. Wilderness, just in time to shovel in a hotdog and some mac-n-cheese and say goodbye to everyone who made it on time and were ready to leave. Apparently there was a shuttle straight from Epcot to Ft. Wilderness that would have saved us so much trouble. But we can't have an entirely problem free vacation and I suppose we were due for a hassle or two.
Learned that if you want to ride Soaring you need to be in Epcot early. There were three rides in Epcot that Mark really wanted to ride--Soaring, Test Track and Mission Space. So after our second morning at Magic Kingdom we decided to head over to Epcot and let Mark ride his rides. Well. . . Soaring had an 80 minute wait and all of the Fastpasses were gone at 9a.m. that morning. So, he rode Test Track and that was it. We ran out of time for Mission Space and didn't have time for Soaring. Both of us wish we had stayed in Magic Kingdom like we had originally planned, but nevermind. At least he got to ride Test Track and now we know for next time.
Learned that the Brownie Sundae at Ghirardelli is way better than the Chocolate Malt. We had decided that Friday we would visit Downtown Disney and visit Legoland and the Ghirardelli shop, instead of visit a Park. Then, the Sunday before we left for Florida, a friend at church said, "Whatever you do you have to visit the Ghirardelli shop in Downtown Disney and have a Chocolate Shake. It's sinful!" So with that said and done, we headed straight for the Ghirardelli shop, where we met Grandma and Grandpa for a Chocolate Malt. Mark decided to try the Brownie Sundae, so we could have a taste of both. Well. . . the malt was good but the Brownie Sundae was fabulous! We even went back for seconds after we finished dinner at Rainforest Cafe. And, I got some Ghirardelli brownies and hot fudge caramel sauce to take home with us, just in case we get a hankering for one of those sundaes in Connecticut.
Had our pictures taken by the infamous Issacc, played at the park and met a member of the church there, spent lots of money, gained five pounds each, walked several miles, pressed about 60 pennies and a few quarters, and had LOTS OF FUN!
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
 
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Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Whelp! We made it to Disney and I must say, everything went surprisingly well. We made it through New York traffic despite a late departure and arrived 15 minutes early at the airport. There was absolutely nobody in our terminal and we were checked in in a matter of minutes. We ate breakfast, boarded the plane and took off right away. Things went so well, we actually landed 30 minutes early! The boys had enough things in their Mickey Mouse backpacks to keep them busy and the only crisis we had the entire time was when Denver decided to make earphones with his Silly Putty and Kathy and I were a bit concerned about whether or not his tubes would stay in place as Kathy painstakingly dug the gooey stuff out. And. . . Kathy and I didn't get to finish our movie ("The Island") which seemed to set a standard for the day because later tonight as we tried to watch "Madagascar" in our hotel room, I fell asleep and missed the last half. Oh well. I'll catch up on them another day.
We ALMOST made it to the hotel without any incidents but then our van decided to go on the fritz and we barely chug-chugged our way into the hotel parking lot. But AVIS replaced it right away and everything has been happy ever since. The boys are itching to get down to the hotel's volleyball pit which is full of sand and the swimming pool, of course. There's a family picnic at 5:00 and off we go. . . .
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Thursday, November 10, 2005
 
Yup! It's that time of the year when the leaves fall from the trees and I get to bag them all. Last year we had over 60 bags of leaves. This year we've already got 25 bags and a long way to go. Anyway, I set a goal for myself that I would bag 10 bags of leaves a day until reunion. Then it's up to Mark to finish the rest. So far I've done pretty good except that it was rainy yesterday. The boys have pitched in here and there. They all like blowing the leaves around. I insisted on all of them loading up at least one bag each. And Denver helped with loading them into the garage this afternoon. It is so tempting to just pay somebody else to do it, but it gets us outside and we always end up having fun when we do it. Having fun and aching the next morning.
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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
 The Young Women came by tonight to deliver a little gift they made for Caleb. The boys were thrilled with their arrival and I was tickled pink with the beautiful little quilt they made. Such thoughtful girls (and leaders!) Thanks!
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Last year I lost 20 pounds which is no small achievement for myself. I worked hard to drop all that weight. One of my New Year's resolutions for 2005 was to lose 10 more pounds which would have put me back to my college weight and I feel pretty good weighing that much. A few weeks after setting the goal, I found out I was pregnant with Caleb which sort of threw a wrench in the works. MOST people don't exactly lose weight when they are pregnant and I gained a whoppin' 37 pounds. The good news is, I've lost about 20 of those pounds already. The bad news is, I have 15 pounds to get back to where I started and 25 pounds to get to where I want to be. And the worst bit of it all is trying to find time to exercise with four kids on your heels. It took me 2-1/2 years to figure it out with three kids--how am I ever gonna do it with four? And the real trick is, I only lose weight when I'm exercising on a daily basis. Anyway. . . I hear that people who eat cereal for breakfast are less overweight than people who eat other stuff for breakfast. So maybe I'll start there and hope that the exercise thing works itself out sooner than later. Otherwise things are gonna start getting ugly around here and we don't want that.
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Tuesday, November 08, 2005
I'm feeling the urge to cut my hair. Mark wants me to keep growing it out, which is fine with me. I'd like to have it long again. But it's getting to my shoulders now and that's when it starts looking really thin and straggly. My hair is really full and pretty in a bob. But there's not much you can do with a bob and there are days when a ponytail comes in handy--like every day you're running around chasing four little boys. But, short hair doesn't require much more effort and at least I'd look polished. I may be in t-shirts and jeans all day but I can still look like I take care of myself. But long hair is much more sexy and young looking and I want to look young and sexy. Of course I'm not 21 anymore and I'm not quite the sex-kitten I used to be. And. . . I've always loved my hair in a bob with it sort of stacked in the back. Plus, Family reunion is coming up and Mom and Dad are paying thousands of dollars for this photographer to come and I wanna look great since this picture is going to be hanging in everyone's houses and I'm just not feeling great about my hair (or anything about my appearance right now.) It'd be nice to feel good about something when I say "cheese" even if it is just my hair. Anyway, now's your chance to cast your vote (since it is Election Day) and tell me whether you like my hair long or short. Help me make up my mind. . . please!
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Monday, November 07, 2005
I taught Noah how to crochet today. We made the necklace together and he made the bracelet all by himself. He still needs a little help but for the most part, he got it right away and did a great job. Now we've got a little project up our sleeves so Noah can get lots of practice. Ultimately, he wants to make a blanket and I think that would be lots of fun. It's always a good thing when I bond with Noah--it doesn't happen very often around here. Once we get the blanket crocheted, he wants to learn how to knit. Guess I'd better take a refresher course from Mom while we're in Florida.
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Saturday, November 05, 2005
Lucky is laying eggs again. She quit laying a couple of weeks ago and we had no idea why. Thanks to my very observant husband, he figured out that it must be due to the shortened days and colder weather. Sure enough, we discovered that chickens require a certain amount of daylight to produce eggs. When it starts getting cold and dark, they stop laying eggs and begin making new/more feathers for the colder temperatures that lie ahead. So, we gave her a light in her nesting box and she's given us two eggs in the past two days. We're definitely back in business!
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Wednesday, November 02, 2005
The honeymoon phase of our new baby is beginning to wear off and the dreaded chaos has begun. I don't feel so skinny anymore and the "eat whatever I want" philosophy I got away with for nine months of pregnancy is no longer working. My free time I used to spend exercising and planning preschool is now spent nursing and rocking the baby and rushing like mad to get the basics done--like have a shower and switch loads of laundry before they mildew and scrape the dishes from last night's dinner. The boys are watching way too much t.v. but by the time I get Caleb asleep, all I want to do is have a shower or get some of my work done--not sit and play blocks or squish playdough or walk to the park. And as the days go by I'm feeling more and more like a great big failure as a mother and of course, that doesn't help anything.
Anyway, lately I've been thinking way back to when I only had Hunter and my definition of what made a good mother. Basically, I thought I was doing a good job if I did four basic things with Hunter on a daily basis. Every day I asked myself these four questions: Did we read any books today? Did we sing any songs? Did we get outside and play? And last but most important--did I tell him I love him? For some reason that was all I felt Hunter needed and I thought if I did those four things then I was being a great mother. I know music and books are the two most important things you can give your children besides love. And fresh air, exercise and play--they're next important. It didn't matter if Hunter couldn't read or recite his ABC's or write his name. It didn't matter if we went to the library or if he participated in any playgroups or preschools or classes. It didn't matter if he couldn't speak another language or do anything fancy. I felt like I was giving him the things that mattered most and that was enough.
But then I started comparing myself to friends and family members and started feeling really inadequate. I only had one kid. So many people I knew that had several children were homeschooling their kids, teaching them how to play instruments, taking them to preschool, getting them involved in so many fun activities--I started wondering if I was doing enough. And then all those kids were speaking two languages and writing their names in cursive and they had tons of friends and Hunter didn't have any and I began to worry that he was being deprived. And especially out here where everyone's kids attend preschool and playgroup and are involved in at least two extracurricular activities--my head was spinning with all the things I wasn't doing. And these people have clean houses and they work to top it all off. And pretty soon I was so worried about what everyone else was doing that I quit doing the things that I originally thought were most important.
Anyway, so with the chaos setting in and my inability to "do it all" I'm beginning to think I need to get back to the basics and put on my blinders so I don't see all the wonderful things everyone else is doing and all the things my kids are missing out on. And then I can quit being so hard on myself and start feeling better about what I do have to offer my children, before they are all grown up and gone away. So many of you amaze me with your abilites to do so much with your families. And I hope some day I'll be able to do half as many wonderful things as y'all do. But for now I'm going to have to be content with what I've got to offer and hope that it's enough for my little family of boys.
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