So Gullible….So Adorable!

Something the kids said this morning during breakfast brought back to my mind an incident from a few nights ago. I can’t reveal what they said this morning, not just yet as it would ruin the story. So our story starts a few nights ago at dinnertime when Olivia tells us, dead serious, that she can count to twelve in sign language. I’m really impressed because I know that they use their fingers in a way that doesn’t make sense to hearing people, and I’ve never been able to memorize numbers in sign language. Tyler asks her to show us and she starts… she puts her right hand out palm up and leaves it there, then she puts her left hand out palm up and leaves it there, then she flips her right hand palm down and leaves it there.... Tyler and I start to smile… then she flips her left hand palm down and leaves it there… the smile is getting bigger… then she puts her right hand behind her head….we’re such naughty parents, we loose it, we’re laughing so hard I’m crying and my sweet little girl lowers her head and pouts, she’s embarrassed because we’re laughing at her. Tyler asks her who taught her how to “count in sign language” and she says someone at school but she won’t tells us who, what’s for sure is that they got her good. Tyler explains that we’re not laughing at her, that she’s not counting in sign language but doing the Macarena, and it’s the dance that's funny, but she doesn’t believe us and is still embarrassed. We try to apologize and make her feel better, we even show her people dancing the Macarena on YouTube but we hurt her feelings and I feel bad so I just hold her while Henry is now dancing the Macarena and it's not helping. The evening goes on, life goes on and I forget about the incident... until this morning when Olivia says “I did the Macarena for Henry yesterday”, and Henry adds “she does the Macarena for me because I don’t laugh at her.” It makes me feel terrible that I hurt her feelings but you’ve got to admit that it was really funny.

Our Christmas tree

We didn’t get a real tree this year, but used the artificial one we had in storage. Dad set up the tree, strung the lights and the garlands and the rest of us had carte blanche with the ornaments. I think it turned out pretty good. The decision to use the “fake tree” came after we realized that since we’d be gone on Christmas day anyway and that we wouldn’t be able to water the tree for more than 2 weeks, we didn’t want to come home to a dead, fire-hazard tree at the beginning of January. Ideally, I’d prefer a real tree but it’s just not practical this year and this is a good tree that is serving its purpose. Plus, we light a Christmas tree scented candle by it so that we can have the smell of the season and not just the look of the season. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our new family picture

We finally had our family picture taken this weekend. It was supposed to be done 2 months ago, but things kept getting in the way. So Saturday afternoon, Tyler’s mom took our picture. She’s got Olivia so well trained that she didn’t have to tell Olivia how to pose. I think we have a model in the making. Henry was a little more difficult. He’s such a goof ball that he couldn’t stay still more than a split second at a time. Good thing Grandma is such an awesome photographer. When all is said and done, we are very pleased with this year’s portraits. Thanks Grandma!

Happy Birthday Henry

...and Grandma and me! November is a busy month we had a birthday dinner for all three birthdays at Grandma's and we made Henry's actual birthday as special as we could. First it was a happy coincidence that the 13th was "Donuts with Dads" (the school invites all the kids and their fathers for a donut breakfast at 7:30.) After school, he got to watch a movie with Dad and for dinner he wanted to go out to sushi so we went to Sushimoto in Fernley. O yeah and before we left for dinner, he got to open even more presents... pretty special day for a special boy.

Halloween Part 2

We had a great Halloween. Because Halloween was on Friday, it also happened to be Nevada Day (or Nevada's birthday as Olivia has been saying and she walked around most of the day singing or humming "Happy Birthday"). We had Nevada day off (even though Henry was positive we got the day off for Halloween) and did fun Halloween related activities, including carving our pumpkins and baking treats, as the excitement for the night to come kept escalading... it's fun to bake and do crafts but apparently it's way more fun to walk around town in a costume and receive candy from everybody. My cute children:

Olivia as the most adorable Little Mermaid ever and Henry as the silliest, goofiest Red Dino Power Ranger.

While I stayed home handing out candy and making Caramel Corn, Tyler took them trick-or-treat. He walked them into the ground, for which Henry complained until he got home and surveyed his loot, both were extremely satisfied with their "harvest". We finished the evening at Judge's house for more fun and candy, and the realization for me that it's only the beginning of 2 months of fun and food!

Halloween Part 1

Thanks to School Halloween parties, we had some more baking fun. Both Olivia and Henry had signed up to bring cupcakes (they love to bake and decorate cupcakes) and so we looked for a fun new Halloween cupcake. The one- eyed monster is the one both wanted to bring to their party, and I have to say that they turned out pretty good. Alright, so this blog entry is going to be a little about me... a couple of days ago, Henry and I were walking around in Safeway and Henry was still wearing his plastic vampire teeth, like he had been doing since he got them as a prize at the elementary school Fall Festival (at first, it was hard to understand him, but you get used to it.) Out of the blue, Henry asks me "Do you like me now?" I'm a little surprised by the question but I answer "Henry, I always love you!" To this he replies "No, I mean, do you like me now that I'm a vampire... you like vampires..." I guess I've read the twilight books too much before their bedtime and watched the movie trailer one to many times!

Another Henry moment: This morning at breakfast, Olivia asked Henry what he wanted to be next Halloween and he answered without hesitation "a crystal shrimp!" He meant a Sushi Roll like the one Amber is making Mitchell this Halloween (Amber and Mitchell came to Lovelock to watch our Primary program last Sunday and showed us pictures of the costume. It's awesome. I got this picture from the Family Fun magazine which is where Amber got her inspiration.) For those who do not know, Henry loves sushi, even the raw stuff, but his very favorite is the crystal shrimp rolls.

So excited for Twilight

It seems that lately this blog has been more about me than the kids... not to worry I will soon blog about them again but I couldn't pass this. I found the clip on MSN and I love it... enjoy!

I've been tagged...

8 T.V Shows I love to Watch: I don’t watch all of them but I wish I had time… 1. Lost 2. The Office 3. Ghost whisperer 4. Medium 5. House 6. Numbers 7. Criminal Minds 8. My Own Worst Enemy

8 Favorite Restaurants: 1. Chili Pepper (Thai restaurant in Reno) 2. P.F. Chang’s 3. Sushi Time 4. Cheesecake Factory 5. Bajio 6. Ciao (too bad they aren’t there anymore) 7. Famous Daves 8. Panera

8 Things that Happened Yesterday: 1. I did laundry (didn’t get to the ironing though) 2. I straightened the house. 3. I made more pumpkin bread. 4. I took Olivia and Henry to a birthday party. 5. I took Olivia and Henry to the elementary school Fall Festival. 6. I cleaned the bathroom and moped the kitchen. 7. Tyler and I went to a “game night”, we played battle of the sexes. The ladies won! It was also a congratulation party for Tyler and his friend Bryce who have just passed the Nevada Bar Exam. 8. I went to bed with a migraine.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to: 1. A Sunday afternnon nap. 2. Some quiet time to finally read the book club book. 3. Halloween…and the candy witch to take most of the candy away so I don’t have time to get into it! 4. My birthday…I can’t wait to see what the kids will do this year. 5. The Twilight Movie!! I loved the books and I get to go see it with my girlfriends. 6. Going to France for Christmas. I haven’t been there for Christmas since 99. 7. Going to Disneyland Paris at least 3 times in the two weeks will be in France. 8. Catching up on my scrapbooking.

8 Things on My Wish List: 1. A weekend all to myself. It wouldn’t have to be a weekend any two days would do. 2. A weekend with just my husband and I. 3. New dishes. 4. Children who never fight. 5. More time in a day. 6. To know more about computers. 7. More patience. 8. More understanding.

8 People I Tag: 1. Florine R. 2. Heidi G. 3. Merideth A. 4. Alicia L. 5. Coleen A. 6. Emeline T. 7. Christine A. 8. Lauren A.

California

We went to L.A. for a wedding but we couldn't pass the beach. We love the beach and decided to go check out Malibu. We couldn't get there until Sunday and still managed to have a grand time without swimming (although Henry got awfully close and didn't seem to mind that he was fully dressed, including his blanky he uses as a cape.)

Olivia preferred to stay as dry as possible and found plenty to amuse herself away from the water.

And finally a picture from the wedding feature Zack, Jocelyn, the groomsmen and the bridesmaids. It was a beautiful wedding. We got to see many friends and family at the wedding and reception.

But best of all, we stayed with Craig and Jennifer (Tyler's uncle and aunt) and their family and got to spend time with Wade and Merideth who blessed their precious baby boy Crew Benson Altom.

Only in Lovelock

Yesterday, I went to our little Safeway to buy milk and eggs. As often, there was no skim milk on the shelves but we were out so I found someone and asked them to check if they had some in the back. The woman was gone for about 10 minutes (and I’m not exaggerating) when she came back to tell me she couldn’t see any skim milk but she would go check with ______ (I can’t remember her name) because she “worked in dairy”. The two of them had been gone a few minutes when they came back and the one who “worked in dairy” said “I’m sorry I don’t have any skim milk, all I have is fat free, 1% and 2%”. I could have said something really mean but all I said is “I’ll take 2 gallons of the fat free.” I kept my rude and sarcastic comments for Tyler when I got home. I have to give it to those two ladies; the jug does say Fat Free and not Skim. I know it's hard to tell but I'm really not a good photographer and I couldn't get the camera to get a clearer picture of the label.

Caramel Apples

One of the things we did this month to enjoy the season is make mini caramel apples. We found the idea in the Family Fun magazine, and the kids have a great time the whole way through (from the time we make them to the time we eat them). A lot of our during–the-week activities only include Henry and me because they’re a way to keep Henry busy until Olivia gets home from school, but there are a few activities (like this one) when Olivia will not be excluded (they’re either too cool or too delicious, plus we do like to do things with her too), so we did this one together. Olivia and I get to cut out the “mini apples” with the melon baller, and then I let both the kids stick in the popsicle sticks and roll the apples in the yummy stuff. The batch we made last night was to take to Henry’s preschool, but we still enjoyed a few and plan on making a few more batches including one to take to Olivia’s class next week.

Where but o where does time go?

So, what do I do with all the time I have on my hands? I mean, don’t I have all the time in the world now that Olivia is in school all day (from 8 to 2:45), and that Henry has preschool Monday through Thursday from 8:15 to 10:45? At least that’s what people seem to be implying. Well, frankly no, I don’t have all the time in the world. Actually I seem to have less time than last year. It’s true that it’s nice to be by myself for a couple of hours in the morning (by the time I get home after dropping Henry off it’s 8:30 and I have to leave to go get him shortly after 10:30). During these two hours I jog on the treadmill (or speedwalk if I feel like reading at the same time) then I read my scriptures and then I indulge in a peaceful (no bickering children right behind the shower curtain) longer-than-usual shower. I cherish these two hours because after that Henry comes home and the daily complaint begins: “When is Olivia coming home? I’m bored!” No matter what I do with him, it’s the same complaint: “When is Olivia coming home? I’m bored!” So I’m busier than ever trying to find “cool” things for us to do. On Friday I made 4 fresh batches of homemade play dough (our old batches had been dried up for a while so I figured it would feel like a new activity again, and I was right). So to all those who ask what stay-at-home moms do with all their free time, I say, what free time? But we are loving every minute of it. The fruit of my labor: fresh play dough

Olivia following her inspiration

Henry during a creative spell

A smiley face by Olivia

A lizard created by Henry

Henry plays soccer too

So now Henry is on a soccer team also: the Mustangs. I kept finding excuses for not letting him do soccer this year but it was just so that I didn’t have to have soccer practices and games every night between him and Olivia. I was just being selfish. And Henry loves it. He did pretty well for his age. He’s no Ronaldo but then again no one is at his level, it’s pretty funny watching a bunch of 4-year-olds “playing soccer”. The main thing is that he had a great time. He is on the same team as Joseph, one of his two best friends, and Joseph’s mom, Leslie, is the coach, he couldn’t ask for a better team.

An athletic Dad and two very easily amused children

It was a normal Saturday morning. I had gotten the kids their breakfast and gone to le living room to pickup toys when I heard them both busting up. The biggest belly laugh. I was intrigued (and a little nervous that they night be having a food fight I have to admit) so I went to see what was going on. But there was no misbehaving there were laughing at their Dad. He was getting ready to go a bike ride and was wearing a jersey that has pockets on the back. In the pockets, he has stuffed power bars, a Gatorade bottle, and his bike tool kit and apparently it looked hilarious to the kids because they were rolling. I had to laugh too, their laugh was infectious.

Go Sharks!

Olivia started soccer practice this week. Shelby Jo's Dad is the coach and Dad is the assistant coach. They had a lot of fun at their first practice and they decided to call their team the “Sharks”. We don’t know why since Lovelock doesn’t have any large body of water or sharks anywhere close but all but one agreed, they wanted to be called the Sharks. And there is no changing 6-year–old minds. Now the Sharks will practice for a couple more weeks and they will start playing other local teams. It should be fun.

Preschool Starts Again

Henry could not wait for preschool to start again. Preschool is part of the elementary school here in town but for some reason it didn't start until a week after everyone else. He was so excited this morning that he was up before 7 (and remember, he’s the one who like to sleep in ‘til 10) asking “Is it time to go to school yet?”. Henry loves School. He loves his teacher (Miss Brooks, same as last year) and he loves to play and learn with his friends. They do all the normal stuff, like letters and numbers but they also learn about, to mention a few, the sky, things that grow (they grew green beans last year), and bugs (they watched ladybugs eggs hatch, butterflies come out their cocoons). Compared to school staying home with Mom is BORING! I try to make it interesting but apparently Miss Brooks is a lot cooler than me. Preschool is only 2½hours a day Monday through Thursday. But it seems to be enough to make it tolerable for him to be “Mommy’s little buddy” (Olivia’s term) for the rest of the time.

First Grade

Olivia is in first grade. I can't believe it. I'm really not sure how I feel about it. I mean, I'm happy school is in again, the kids need it and I need it to be sane but first grade means that my baby isn't a baby anymore. But Olivia is so excited about it that I have to admit that it makes it easier on me. I'm happy that she's so happy. Last night, we asked her what she was most excited about and she said: lunch in the big lunchroom and the four recesses, go figure! I know she'll do great.

Gymnastics

Since the beginning of the year Olivia and Henry had been taking gymnastics lessons. They both enjoyed going to the classes and were doing very well learning new "tricks". Then came recital night. Olivia did great and hammed it up as much as she could but Henry either crawled or scooted across the stage instead of doing his part and then begged for his mommy once on the other side. It was hilarious.

The Decorated Tree

O Christmas Tree

This is the tree once decorated. It looked like we had a lot more ornaments on a regular sized tree. Next year, we'll have to downgrade the tree size or upgrade the ornament collection.

Our Beautifully HUGE Christmas Tree

This year, we cut our own Christmas tree. We left early in the morning, all bundled up, and drove for about an hour and a half. We weren't on our own; a few other families went with us. Wwe carpooled while Judge Wagner was driving the truck we would use to bring the trees back to civilization. When we left, I noticed that most of the mothers weren't coming but I didn't dwell on this fact. Halfway through the drive there, the whiny "Are we there yet?" made me think: "Smart ladies." A few more "Are we there yet?" later; we got out of the cars and started looking for our perfect Christmas tree. We found ours fairly fast but we needed to find ten trees before the hunt was over. Looking for a tree is fun, cutting the tree down, not so much. It's hard for the person cutting it, and long for the person waiting for the tree to be cut (very very long if that person is a child). Ten trees and millions of whiny demands later ("I'm hungry, I need something to eat", "I'm cold, can I have your coat to sit on?", "I'm bored, when can we go home?" over and over...), I'm thinking those ladies back home are really, really smart but we have found the perfect tree. We're thinking the tree will fit perfectly in the corner of our living room. Well, the tree is perfect, but not in the corner, as it takes up most of our living room.