January Tail Ends

Anyone else's sink look like this?  Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who can't keep up on EVERYTHING that needs to get done.  I'm usually doing dishes at 10:00 at night since waking up to a sink full of stinky dishes just makes for a bad morning.  No pity party intended.... just sayin' it how it is.  Time to make the kids load the dishwasher.  They unload just fine, but loading not so much.

Nate gets jury duty or at least considered for it, I guess.  Second time now.  Me?  Not yet... knock on wood!

Haley got this castle for Christmas and LOVES it.  She often sleeps with it like this on her bed.

We actually got snow that stayed for a few hours!  I decided to shovel the driveway since it tends to get icy if we don't since we are north facing.  It was pretty powdery snow so it really wasn't that strenuous to move, but I regretted doing it when all was said and done.  I ached and had contractions for the rest of the day.  My mom got mad at me. ;)

Haley loves lipstick!

We moved Haley and Eliza into the same room.  Baby will be here before we know it so it was time to move forward with all the changes that have to take place.  They got a little rambunctious the first few nights, but they are getting used to it now.  Next step?  Put Eliza in a big girl bed.... eeeek.  Not sure I'm ready for that yet.

All tuckered out.  The life of a six year old is exhausting!

Just to be with Daddy

When a little girl wants to follow her dad, but her dad has no idea and her mom is fat and pregnant we run into a bit of a problem.  Nate left on his bicycle to go pick up our Suburban from the shop just a couple miles away.  Haley decided she wanted to go with him (unbeknownst to us).  I heard her in the garage, but then I realized it got silient so I went to check on her.  She was nowhere in sight.  I called Nate just to make sure he wasn't on drugs thinking Haley could ride her little 12" wheeled bike with training wheels across town with him.  Of course, he said she wasn't with him.  Now I had to go on the hunt.  I hollered her name.  No reply.  I checked a couple neighbor's houses, but no one was home.  So I was off on foot to find her (since I had no vehicle).  I got about a block away and saw her from afar on one of the busier streets by our house coming back from who knows how far she got, headed to who knows how far the other way!  I yelled her name she stopped, looked at me and took off.... in the opposite direction!  Ugh.  Now I had to run.  I can't run.  The ligaments holding my body together are in shut down mode, but I did it anyway.  It hurt.  It was probably quite the spectical to watch.  There was no way I was going to catch up to her.  Then a miracle.  Nate saw us and drove up in the Suburban.  She thought it would be funny to keep going, but ultimately decided to stop when the daddy duck quacked, quacked, quacked.  She laughed a little then burst into tears.  She knew she wasn't supposed to be doing what she was doing and I think she was getting a little scared before we found her.  As a mother you can't help but think of all the horrible things that could happen if they wander away.  On the bright side, I think she stayed on the sidewalks for the most part.  Hopefully she learned a lesson.... and hopefully it's not the one that she realizes mom can't run very fast right now!

Liza Girl

I am just sitting here thinking, "when did 2 year olds get so smart"?  For starters, Eliza's been working my iPhone for months now.  It's so cute to see her navigate to what game she wants to play.  This morning I was organizing and filing papers so I had a movie on for her and Haley.  When I came to check on them Eliza was not only watching the movie on the t.v., but had my phone and was watching a Netflix, too.  (Haley had turned it on for her... Eliza doesn't quite know how to work Netflix... yet.)  She would not let that phone out of her grip!  I know times are changing, but two movies at once?  I don't think so.

She has also been refusing her naps every now and then, too.  Ugh!  Not something I want her to get in the habit of.  Well, yesterday she was in her crib for an hour and a half talking and yelling out to me.  I wasn't responding to "mama" so she decided to try my name.  I listened and laughed for a few minutes as she yelled, "Juween.  Juween.  Juween."  I didn't know she knew my name.  She finally dozed off.  (Thank goodness.)  After her nap I asked her what my name was and she said, "Mommy."  So I asked her if my name was Jilleen and she said, "No!  Mommy."  I guess she thought she'd just try this random word she hears people use around me.  I should be glad she still calls me mommy and mama.  Rachel at about her age called her daddy "Nate".  We would try and try to get her to say dad, but he was only Nate for a little while.

Two years old is such a fun age.  Eliza is learning to talk so much more and her vocabulary can be quite fun to listen to.  Haley comes out "Howie".  So we hear many times a day how "Howie" has done this or that.  Usually it's a complaint.  We need to work on kindness apparently.  Eliza also loves to watch movies, but Beauty and the Beast is her favorite.  She has started to say the parts as she watches.  The funniest is to listen to her yell like the Beast when Belle touches the rose.  "GET OUT!"  She has to dig really deep to get her voice to be mean, but she can do it and it is hilarious.  She even shakes as she lets it loose.  Hopefully it's not teaching her to be mean.

I had to find a new spot for my chocolate.  (I'm addicted.  I have to have some available at all times!)  Eliza would drag me to it and demand that she has some, but not only did she need a piece, but I had to have one as well and if I didn't get one for myself she would cry.  I was going through more chocolate than I wanted and eating it more often than I should!  The scale has let me know this pregnancy that I need to lay off the chocolate and ice cream.  I'm working on it. ;)

Oh how I love my little Liza girl!

24 Hour Date

Nate took me on a 24 hour date and it was so much fun.  It was all planned around seeing Brian Regan Saturday afternoon.  It started by dropping our kids off at my sister Shelly's house with lots of pillows, sleeping bags, backpacks full of clothes and the hope that they wouldn't be extremely naughty.  We headed up to Salt Lake Friday night with our friends, Jeff and Audie (Jeff is Nate's cousin).  We went to dinner then to the Mission Impossible movie then to our hotel.  The next morning we had breakfast and headed out to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to do sealings.  We thought Nate got lost for a while there, but he eventually found us after having to go to the baptistery to rent pants.... I didn't go to the open house and hadn't really realize it is a smaller temple so things are a little different.  After the temple we came out to snow and wind.  We went to lunch then headed to Abravanel Hall to see Brian Regan's comedy act.  Well, Nate and I never having been to Abravanel Hall and not the ones driving relied on the others for their expertise to get us there.  We just sat back and watched the clock as it turned to show time as we were driving on snowy, slick roads.  We discovered we were on the wrong track by finally looking it up on our phone.  As it turns out Jeff and Audie were confused with Kingsburg Hall and with Nate and I not even ever looking at the address it ended up just being funny and no one's fault... or everyone's fault.  Either way we didn't really care.  It was more funny than anything.  By the time we got to the right place the show was already about 30 minutes in so we dropped Nate off (in the middle of the road practically) to pick up our tickets while we found a place to park.  The rainy snow had made the ground a slushy mess.  It was impossible for me and Audie to run... besides my pregnant body just can't run anymore at this point.  We got in the building and entered the auditorium.  There they were 4 empty seats in the middle of a sold out show.  We sat down and had only missed 2 minutes of Brian Regan, but all of the opening act.... whoever it was, I hope they weren't too funny.  We had a good laugh then it was off to our homes.  It really was a fun 24 hours and we realized we need to do that more often.  So we say anyway.  The biggest down side to the whole trip was Eliza isn't used to sleeping anywhere but her crib in her room so she was a little difficult and cried hysterically then threw up on my sister.  I don't think Shelly hates me, but who knows if she'll ever volunteer to watch my kids again. ;)  Thanks Shelly and Ryan for watching them!

Auto Expo

So we took the kids to the auto expo.  Kaden is loving sports cars lately so we thought he'd enjoy it.  Let's just say neither me nor Nate did any research as to what all was shown at the expo.  We soon discovered that it wasn't exotic cars (although there were a few).  It is basically where you can go to see all the newest "regular" cars, trucks and SUV's.  We kind of felt like idiots, but had fun nonetheless.  The cars that were a hit were "Bumblebee", Corvettes and a few Ferraris.  Luckily they had a rock climbing wall (which was the favorite) and little power wheels to take for a spin.  They also had an army tank thing that the kids had fun exploring.  They definitely don't make those things with comfort in mind.  So it was a success, but next time we'll research a little more what the heck it is we are going to!