Picts from last couple weeks

Here's a quick list of photos from the last two weeks, including the celebration of S's 28th b-day! They're posted from newest to oldest (due to how this thing displays them automatically) so if you're like me and like things chronologically top to bottom, start at the bottom and work your way up.

She subsequently got stuck. . . .

Oh, side note, she was wearing her grandmother's slippers!!!

Dumb daughter-in-law move; but, hey, at least H got to

go out and play in the snow!!!

H & J, ready to take on the snow--in their PJs!!!

We had promised to get them snow gear (thrift store time!), but they were tired of waiting for the driveway to be cleared (not to mention the rest of the city) so that we ladies could get out and go shopping.

Cousin J, 5 yrs old

Check out that smoke! ;)

>|< Let It Snow!!! >|<

Okay, so I've probably been the least inconvenienced person in Spokane, so I really have no right to say that, but as this is the kind of snow I've been wishing for since I was a teenager, I'm going to say it! Last week the city was closed when nearly two feet (23.25inches my father-in-law said) of white, powdery snow fell over a period of probably 24-36 hours.

What a shame that I don't have any snow gear with me here to enjoy it with!!!!

Gotta Love It!

http://www.mesasoftware.com/merrychristmas.htm

Rules of Parenting

Life is much easier as a parent if you follow these two (of probably a few million) simple rules:

1)  If there is silence during playtime, check on your child immediately for he or she is most likely in trouble.

2)  Learn from your mistakes.

Um, Happy Birthday, S!!!  (And SORRY H mauled it!)

Just one more. . . .

Okay, so I know I don't need to post 1 million pictures of my daughter on here, but ya know, I was slow to realize what a cute pict this was of H just because I failed to get it completely focused.  It's not like it's totally obvious when it's sized smaller. . . .  Anyway, I think that this picture and the one of her with the sink full of bubbles are my two favorites from this year--oh, and our family shot is pretty cute too.  If I ever get around to sending out Christmas photo cards this year, that family shot is the pict I'd use.  (But at least we're getting goodies out to our neighbors for the first time ever.  That counts for something, right??)  ;)

My Little Writer. . . .

H asked Papa to draw her a picture of her and a school bus.  After watching him draw it, she colored it.  (And S and I traded places--he finished the dishes and I joined H at the table.)  She then asked me to draw her a couple more pictures.  I scribbled down what she said about each picture.  Looks like she's written her first story.  We are quite impressed, but of course, we're her parents.

As I took these pictures to share with all of you, she asked to make a movie.  So, not only has she written her first story, but she's also made her first movie. . . .  

She then wanted to go to school . . . at 6:30 on a Sunday night.  "Me shoes!"  This brought me back to the world of having a two-year-old.  It sure seemed like she was much older than that for a while!  We risked a I've-had-no-nap-today tantrum as we tried to explain that it wasn't time to go to school yet.  Eventually, though, she filled her little Care Bears backpack with the drawings for her story and a package of markers, and then she paraded around with her backpack on for about a half an hour or so before announcing, "School bus bring me home me done school."

IT'S SNOWING!!!!

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Well, at least it was. . . .

I'm giving up. . . .

After H absolutely fell in love with a dog for probably the 127th time--a tiny Chihuahua puppy of all things--I finally gave in and told her that if Daddy--who has always wanted us to have a dog--and the doctor said she could have a dog, we could get her a dog.  (Both of us need allergy testing first, thus the doctor.)

Here is the video the two of us made together to surprise S with the request.

I showed S the ending when he came home from work.  I'm sure it was the last thing he had ever expected H to ask him!  What a laugh we all had!

I learned that H really does still have her priorities in the right order, though.  I later asked her which she wanted most, a puppy or a baby.  "Baby!" she said with a smile.  That made me smile as well!

Well, although we technically can't afford a dog right now, we're going to go ahead with the allergy testing--ha, if we can afford it!--so we know what the results are.  I'm sure I'm at least a little allergic, but I think I can deal with that if we have outdoor-only dogs, especially if they're the more hypoallergenic ones.  (I needed my inhaler after that Chihuahua puppy, but I haven't had noticeable problems after petting most other dogs.)  We'll see what the doctors say.

What happened to the concept of unbiased reporting??

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: S
Date: Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:43 PM
Subject: Press Favored Obama Throughout Campaign


Thought you would like the validation...

 

 

Sent to you by S via Google Reader:

 

 

Press Favored Obama Throughout Campaign

via Slashdot by ScuttleMonkey on 11/10/08

narcberry writes "After complaints of one-sided reporting, the Washington Post checked their own articles and agreed. Obama was clearly favored, throughout his campaign, in terms of more favorable articles, less criticism, better page real-estate, more pictures, and total disregard for problems such as his drug use. 'Stories and photos about Obama in the news pages outnumbered those devoted to McCain. Reporters, photographers and editors found the candidacy of Obama, the first African American major-party nominee, more newsworthy and historic. Journalists love the new; McCain, 25 years older than Obama, was already well known and had more scars from his longer career in politics. The number of Obama stories since Nov. 11 was 946, compared with McCain's 786. Both had hard-fought primary campaigns, but Obama's battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton was longer, and the numbers reflect that. McCain clinched the GOP nomination on March 4, three months before Obama won his. From June 4 to Election Day, the tally was Obama, 626 stories, and McCain, 584. Obama was on the front page 176 times, McCain, 144 times; 41 stories featured both.'"

I'm surprised the media wasn't aware of their obvious bias.  NPR (National Public Radio), typically a very informative radio station, probably reported on Obama twice as much as they did on McCain, and what was reported about McCain was typically negative.  Yet, I don't think they ever said a bad word about Obama.  Let's see, who chooses the president: the people as a whole, or the wagging tongues of our reporters???  

My question, though, is why do let ourselves fall for it?

How did I miss these???

July 16, 2008

So, would this be considered being caught red-handed?

I did it! I made pizza dough! (It's been a while. . . .)
AND, it's a whole-wheat pizza dough that actually tasted good!

H helping. . . ?

I'm grateful that I remembered at this moment
that my daughter was more important than my nearly perfect
(hey, for me at least!) pizza crust and grabbed the camera instead of yelling at her.

Sept. 14, 2008

Anyone know what kind of bug this is?
(I hope uploading this vid doesn't completely kill the quality.)

Here's a still shot that definitely didn't do it justice.
Our camera's flash has always been a little . . . excessive, shall we say.

A Must Read!

http://theabbotofunreason.blogspot.com/2008/11/american-manifesto.html

I VOTED!!!

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and H wa n ts nnh cx to blog rffrfk bnbgjfv nvbbvnnnnnjfhvguj u hjuyt iydfsiSDJ/FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF HY CFG G C9YH8BHBGU

Official Election Photo

Here's your smile for the day. ;)

Happy Halloween!!!

I love receiving all the cute pictures of kids dressed up for Halloween!  It's so fun!  Our dear friends M & A let us crash their place, and A was a sweetie and pulled out her camera for us.  It's a film one, so we'll get pictures posted eventually.  Sorry, ya'll.   

M&A's neighbor M came over with her little girl CJ.  She's a little under two, I think.  She and H had some . . . spats? . . . where we kept ending up with candy Nerds all over the floor.  They were sure buddies when the trick or treating started up, though.

Am I a bad mom if I let my daughter eat all of her Halloween candy in one night?  Well, that's what I'm letting her do.  I've been sick the past two weeks, S is now sick, and H woke up while moving her in from the car.  So, she's at the kitchen table, doing Cookie Monster impressions with her candy.  How can I say 'no' to that?  I'm not up to much of a fight anyway. 

H just came to me with a box of Nerds, saying (as well as she can say it) "Cloey Jane? Cloey Jane?"  

"Is that a box of Nerds?"

"Cloey Jane"

Light turns on in Mommy's head: "Oh, are those Cloey Jane's?"

"Yeah," H replies with a pout.  

"Do we need to go give them back to her?"

"Yeah," H answers, still with a pout.  

"Okay. We can take them back to her."

She then turns around and walks back to the table responding, "No, me um." (um=candy)

Funny kid....

Well, she's got the Nerd box open.  Slow mama. . . . Time for bed!

Halloween preparations have begun

This morning H and I (despite our lingering colds; it was time to get out of the house!!!) joined some of our ward family (i.e. church friends) to tour a small, nearby farm.  H was so thrilled to see the chickens, cows, goats, and pigs.  The goats loved the kids and wanted to be in on all that was going on.  One even started to nibble her shoe (which we'd barely purchased the night before) when I put her up on the fence to say goodbye.  I'm glad to say that instead of it scaring her, she loved it! 

At the end of the tour the kids got to choose a small pumpkin to take home.  Some of those little three-year-olds were pretty tough, I must say, hauling around their prizes.  

H and I were finishing dinner tonight when we heard overheard 

S practicing for the Scouts Halloween festival:

(creepy Daddy laugh is heard from the bedroom)

H giggles with delight.

Me: "What was that!?

H: "PAPA!!!"

(another creepy Daddy laugh)

H: "Done!"

Me: "You want Papa to be done?"

H: "No, more!"  (I think she had meant that Daddy had stopped his drawn out creepy laugh)

(another creepy Daddy laugh)

H shrieks with delight

(another creepy Daddy laugh)

another happy shriek from H

(another creepy Daddy laugh)

another happy shriek from H

She then climbs down from her chair and runs to the bedroom, amid protests from me that her hands are filthy.  She chats with Daddy, and I catch up with a wet cloth to wash her (and luckily only the door frame and doorknob as well).  Afterward, she and I head back to the table, and she begs, "More Papa silly noise!"

H called Daddy on her toy phone after he left:

"Hi Papa!  Me pick up me Papa me car! . . . . Uh, uh, yeah!   Me pick up Papa friend too!"

At bedtime, we've been reading "Scarry Stories": Richard Scarry books. :) Our wonderful neighbors J&J gave H a collection of his works, and she's requested it for nap and bedtimes for the past two weeks.  Just today, I pulled out another Richard Scarry book that I realized I had hiding out in the family bookcases, and she was so thrilled to have a second one. :)  I realized the other day that this "Scarry Stories" thing was perfect timing.  For the past couple months, H's been saying that she's scared at night, and we tried everything from leaving the bathroom light on for her to giving her a flashlight, and the only thing she'd be content with was one of us staying in the room with her.  I figured for the first while that it was just another shinanigan to get us to stay in there as she fell asleep (you would not believe all the things she's used on us, but maybe some of you would).  However, one night, I said to her, what are you afraid of? She usually didn't answer (was there not really anything she was scared of her is it just her limited vocabulary?), so this time I continued on and asked, Are you afraid a bad man will come and take you away?  She absolutely freaked out in response to that.  Oops.  That was dumb.  However, how intensely she reacted made me think that this "Me scared" thing was quite real in her mind, which is why we finally started trying to find solutions to the problem rather than just treating it like all the previous acts.  

One night--was it last week?--I just happened to tell her that Richard Scarry had written the stories and drawn all the pictures in her book.  She looked a little concerned, so I explained that he wasn't really scary, that was just his name.  "It's a silly name, isn't it?"  She agreed.  After that we started calling them our "Scarry stories", and shortly thereafter, no more cries of "Me scared!"

WAHOO!!!! :) :) :)  I'm so grateful that she seems to be over this!!!

You know what, we're not going to have a camera for Halloween.  

Do you know how pathetic that is???

My child isn't normally destructive . . .

So, I couldn't help but be shocked:

(ripping sound)

"S?" I ask. "What is H ripping?"

S stands up from the computer and goes around into our kitchen to investigate. After correcting H's actions, he returns to the computer and replies:

"The wallpaper."

H's sick today. And yesterday, and the day before, but ya know, that's how illnesses go. She (and I) will probably be better in a couple weeks. . . . It's amazing how one little bug can wipe out fourteen days of a person's life. But I guess worse one little bug has wiped out many people's lives--completely--so I guess I shouldn't complain.

So, not a lot going on. Just doing some tv watching and snacking throughout the day. Just like yesterday, and the day before that. . . . And that's probably what we'll be doing for the next two weeks as well. . . . Please call. I'm going to be very bored!!!

Here's H for you all. She wanted to blog too. ;) I promise I just told her (not showed her, with the exception of the spacebar one time) which letters to type and didn't help her type them! Although, I did add a couple returns to her last "word".

hhh sick.

mom sick ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttoooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

My little teenager. . .

"Me go, me pick up me Papa me-self!!!" H proudly exclaimed this evening, with my car keys in hand, after shooing me back into the apartment. . . . She was not too pleased when I insisted on coming with and picked her up to carry her to the car. (After laughing of course!) I never thought it would be possible to use the word "me" as frequently as she does! ;)

I LOVE my S!!!!

Recently S has been taking on projects around our apartment. Two weekends ago he cleaned out our screened-in patio that was still covered in pollen from April and full of all sorts of stuff I've been afraid to touch since that time. (Seriously, the pollen here is insane.) Actually, the spiders and egg sacs were much more ucky than the pollen build-up. He also took apart my hiking stroller to wash the fabric and clean all its rusty parts. YEAH!! He put it back together for me this past week. Now, we just have to get a new tire for it, and I'm all set to join my new neighbor Jenny on her morning walks.

Project number two: last Friday S hung up pictures in our dining area! The wall has been empty since we moved here over a year ago because I wasn't 100% what I wanted to do and didn't have much confidence that I could do a good job with arranging everything properly since I'm such a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing. (Yes, dumb, I know!)

If I hadn't of lost our camera within the last two weeks, I'd have pictures proudly displayed here on my blog!! (Yes, I'm in deep trouble. . . .)

Dancing Family

28 Sept 2008



We made a whole slew of vids as we all danced around one Sunday evening, but I'll be good and only share one.

I HAVE A WALKING PARTNER!!!

WAHOOO!!!!!!

Today's Happy Moments

:) - I got to hold a new baby today, and rock him and feed him and rock him and feed him and rock him and feed him . . . wow. I now vividly recall how an entire day could go by with only my having fed, changed, and put to sleep a child--without having had time to shower or even eat decent meals. Phew!

:) - I also got to watch S care for the new baby today (and rock him and feed him and rock him and feed him some more). "I could have a boy," he says. :) They're just as sweet as girls--at least when they're little! ;)

Ant Colony on the Move

Aug 29, 2008
After the torrential rains of whichever storm had passed by us (Hanna? Ivan?), H and I were lucky enough to spot ants moving their entire colony to safer ground. Here they are carrying their larvae. Amazing, huh!

Be sure to click the pict so you can see it upclose!

Grow'n, Grow'n, Grow'n . . .

May 2008 - Sept 2008
H Pictures

So I just have to post them, even if I've already emailed them out. There's a ton here. Gotta play catch up!!! There are still more to add, as you'll see near the bottom. I've finally realized why it's taken so long for H to potty train. She's been too busy learning to do other things!!!

Duh, mom!














May 15, 2008
H actually wanted to do this again recently (I can't believe she remembered!) but I wouldn't let her because she's grown so much since this pict was taken.














May 17, 2008
So, this isn't of H, but I was so proud of creating a fun twist from my mom's scrumptious sausage casserole--one that I could actually eat these days! (I'm now lactose-intolerant.) I mixed fresh salsa (and a little more green pepper) into the egg mixture that is poured on top of the bread and sprinkled on bacon instead of sausage. I put cheese on half for S & H. I was afraid my cheese-less side would be bland, but it was incredible. So, next time we all gather for Christmas, could we make this too, please???


















May 17, 2008
H drew a cat. Yes, a cat. And, yes, we're grateful we have some talented artist friends to pass her on to down the road!!! That's not exactly down my alley. (Although I guess I do have to confess I did make a few sketches I was proud of when I was in my teens. . . .)














June 1, 2008
H fixing Leap
Oh, yeah, she watched a friend of mine replace Leap's batteries earlier. I forgot about that.

A girlfriend has better shots--and video--of her son fixing his potato head's teeth with his plastic handyman tools. (His daddy was in dental school at the time.)














May 31, 2008
H potty training her doll














June 10, 2008
H wanted to wear a watch--just like Mom & Dad.














June 18, 2008
H helping plant seeds. She wiped half the dirt off her face before I could get the camera!































June 23, 2008
So, we got this crazy idea that we could actually buy a house, and we--I said we were crazy, didn't I?--took H along with us to check it out. The owner was working on some repairs, and H thought his tools and things were quite fun. (Where's that "rolling eyes" emoticon when I need it?) This is the one thing we allowed her to play with--briefly!

July 5, 2008
Playing with our neighbor's umbrella














July 6, 2008
I attempted a photo shoot with H so that I could send my German sister a cute picture of her in the dress she sent, but it turned out that H somehow had my film camera within the first few minutes. How did that happen? I really can honestly say I don't remember at this point. Of course it had something to do with me handing it over to her, but I have no clue what possessed me at the time to do it. Oh, maybe it was the opportunity to get a picture like this one. . . . Well, Tina, here you go!!! :)















Yes, this is our neighbor's bird bath, and yes, I did wash her hands afterward!

I also didn't realize until it was too late that my camera lens had collected a little moisture from the humid morning air. Most of the pictures I took ended up with halos around my little angelic H!




























July 10, 2007
H insisted on wearing her pjs--a shirt from a friend of ours--all day, but I insisted she have some pants on when she went outside. Luckily, it overalls worked pretty well. She just HAD to have her hat on the way out the door, though. What an outfit, eh?



July 28, 2008 Bike Practice

Aug 1, 2008
If only potty training was as easy as learning to ride a bike! Look at that face!

20080801_0006.MOV

Gotta wash that bike














Proud Papa!


"Painting" the parking lot






Aug 9, 2008
She's mastered her letter H!!


Aug 10, 2008 Kiva Face
This reminds me of my cousin's cutie Kiva

Aug 19, 2008
Playing Chess





This is how I feel throughout S & my recent games of chess. . . .




Aug 22, 2008
Borrowing Daddy's toothbrush


10 Sept 2008

I was sitting on the floor as I chatted with my mom on the phone when H approached me and handed me a piece of paper, announcing, "Me Mommy name."

Not paying much attention, I took the paper and looked at it and screamed into the phone, "MOM!!! H just wrote my NAME!!! She wrote MOM!!!"

"Well, yeah, it's a bunch of zig-zags!"

"No, she wrote M-O-m-M!!!" I protested.

Here's proof!




Sept 19, 2008
H loves her Veggie Tales CD!

I was cubing some raw potatoes next to her, and mid-song she decided to give one a try. ;) Yuck!



19 Sept 2008
I've recently started working with H to teach her to clean up after herself, secretly hoping that it just might rub off on me. . . . Once the room looks beautiful, or when she'd like to be done with it all, she shouts, "Clean room!" I love the way she says "clean", though, so I just had to make and share this short vid with you all. I also have learned a good lesson from her as well: When you do something well, CELEBRATE your accomplishment, no matter how small it may seem!