We Survived Another Week

Holly has another Right-Of-Passage under her belt. Yesterday was her first day to go to the Nursery at church, legally. I have been secretly taking her down there for the past month and a half to get her use to it. I figured that way when she was 18 months would be more use to the teachers and less likely to cry.

My plan worked! Kind of. About 5 minutes before Sacrament Meeting ended she fell asleep. She I took her to the nursery and laid her down on a cushion they have. When I left her she was sleeping. After Sunday School I peeked in her her. She had woken up and was cuddling with one of the teachers. I don't know if she had woken up and started crying, but she seemed happy enough. By the time I picked her up she was happy as could be. So I'm calling her first day in Nursery a success. Of course Owen's first day in Nursery was a success, but it only lasted that first day. After that I had to sit with him for the next 5 months before he finally could stay by himself. Hopefully that doesn't happen with Holly : )

Speaking of Owen and church....As soon as we got to church and settled into our pew yesterday Owen kicked off his shoes. I decided not to worry about it too much, he could put them on when he went to Primary. About halfway through Sacrament Meeting he started doing the Pee Dance. So I rushed him out of the chapel and tried to take him to the bathroom upstairs (We have a LOT of stairs in our church building). He didn't want to use the upstairs one though, he wanted to use the one downstairs, by the nursery. The only problem is that the door to the downstairs is usually locked during Sacrament meeting. They were a few problems with kids going into the nursery during Sacrament meeting and messing the place up, hence the locked door. I kept trying to get Owen to go upstairs, he kept insisting on going downstairs, In the middle of our arguing he ran over to the handicapped bathroom right next to the chapel. I ran in with him before he could do too much damage. He pulled down his pants, went over to the toilet and started to do his business. The only problem is that the handicapped toilet is much higher than a a normal toilet. So instead of his pee going into the toilet, it was going everywhere else! It was mainly hitting the front of the toilet and running onto the floor. Of course after he started going there was no stopping him. I started grabbing paper towels and trying to mop up the huge puddle, which Owen was now standing in. Those church paper towels aren't very absorbent though. Meanwhile Holly was trying to unroll all the toilet paper, and Owen was stripping down to his birthday suit. They weren't being very quiet either. We could clearly hear what was going on in the chapel, so I'm guessing they could hear us too. Eventually I got all the pee cleaned up (I hope), Holly didn't destroy too much toilet paper, and Owen was fully dressed, minus his pee soaked socks. He got to spend the rest of church wearing shoes with no socks. I had a change of pants and underwear for him in the diaper bag, but no socks. I guess I learned my lesson! I was thankful that he wasn't wearing his shoes because he didn't get them soaked. But maybe if he was wearing his shoes he would have had that extra 1/2 inch of height that would have taken him over the top of the toilet, instead of at the side. Oh well. You live and you learn! And most importantly, we survived another week at church!

A Big Day

April 2nd was a big day in Holly's life. It was the day she was about to go from pigtails....

To a Ponytail! Only having to deal with putting one thing in Holly's hair makes me, and her, so happy! I'm grateful that my kids have both decided to be born with a good amount of hair.

We have been experiencing some amazingly warm weather these past two days. I decided to break out the summer clothes I bought for Holly. I was so sure that she would be in 12-18 month clothes by now. So that's what I've been buying for summer clothes. Unfortunately they are still a little too big. So her capris look more like high water pants. Oh well. Maybe she's destined to stay in 9-12 month clothes her whole life! My little peanut.

2009 Book Club in Review

Last month the Book Club I belong to finished up reading all the books we picked last year. This was the 2nd year in operation, and I think the 2nd year had much better books than the 1st year. So...in order of my preferences, here are the 10 books we read this year:



1 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman. This is one of my all time favorite books, so I was pretty happy it got picked this year. If you love the movie you will love the book even more. I just love the dry humor that runs through the book, that's my kind of humor! The books also digs deeper into all the characters in the movie. If you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for? I am positive that you will LOVE it too!









2 - Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This is a good example of why you shouldn't judge a book by its name or cover. Of the 10 books we read this year, this was 1 of only 2 that I didn't vote for. I reluctantly read it though, and I loved it. It also has some subtle humor, and I just love the way the whole book ties together. If you don't know what the book is about, it's about a young man that is crossing the ocean with his family when the ship sinks. Also in the ship was the families collection of zoo animals that they were also moving. So Pi ends up in a life boat with a Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. Great story...and great ending. I promptly bought myself a copy of this book after reading it. I will be reading this one again someday.





3 - In the Heart of the Sea, The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel Philbrick. Scott read this book many years ago, and I have always been meaning to read it since then. Somebody suggested it last year, so I voted for it. This is a true story of the crew of the whaleship Essex that was sunk by a whale in the middle of the pacific ocean. The story of what happened after the ship sunk is very sad, but very interesting. It will make you very grateful for all the food you have in your house though!

4 - Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. This is another book that has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. It's a coming of age story of a young man in Cold Sassy (I can't remember which state, but one of those Southern states). There are many colorful characters in the book, and lots of great stories. It's a fun read.

5 - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I can't believe I had never heard of this book before. It seems like it is almost a classic. It is another coming of age story, but this time it is the coming of age story of a young girl in Brooklyn. It's amazing to me how poor the family was, but how they still managed to make ends meet. I believe the story is based on real events from the author's life.

6 - The Dog Says How by Kevin Kling. Kling is a contributor to NPR, and this book is a memoir from his life. They are short stories that are funny and interesting. This was the 1st book we read this past year, so I don't remember a lot of details, but I do know that I liked the book!

7 - Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene. This book is set in the years right before Hitler took over control of Austria. A young girl gets caught up in group of people that help Jewish children get out of Germany. The more interesting story is the story of her father in a concentration camp though. The book was alright. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the story of the father was the main highlight of the book. This is also book 1 in a 9 book series! So if you like long series, this is probably right up your alley.

8 - Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. Now we are getting into the books that I didn't really care for at all. I really wanted to like this book, but it went too much into mountain climbing terminology, and I found myself falling asleep while reading it. There were some interesting survival stories towards the end of the book, but it took too long to get to them. It was definitely a book that was more interesting to talk about than to read.

9 - The Watermelon King by Daniel Wallace. This is one of the books I suggested, and boy do I wish I didn't. Daniel Wallace also wrote Big Fish which I really enjoyed. So I thought I would suggest this one. I started reading it before suggestion night, and some of the ideas seemed a little strange, but I enjoyed the writing style. The first half of the book is all these characters from the book telling the story of a young man's mother who had been in there little town many years ago. I loved all the different voices of the different characters. But that is as far as I got before suggestion/voting night. So I suggested it. Too bad I didn't finish reading it. The book got down right strange towards the end, and I didn't enjoy it at all. I guess you can't win em' all though can you?

10 - The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb. To be honest, I never finished reading this book. This was the other book that I didn't vote for, and I had no intention of reading it. It is the story of 3 runners trying to break the 4 minute mile. Running doesn't really interest me, I've never been a good runner. So reading about running really sounded like something I didn't want to do. I did start to read it, but I could never really get into it.

So there you go...10 book suggestions for you. Next month we get to vote on 10 new books, and I'm pretty excited to see what we will be reading. I have a few ideas for what to suggest, but if you have any let me know!

Hair Cuts

A few weeks ago Owen was in need of a good haircut. He was looking a bit too shabby for my likin'!

Usually when he needs a haircut I take him down to our local $10 haircut joint, he sits on my lap, screams while I hold him down, and they cut his hair. Then I pay the nice lady who cut his hair an extra $3 for putting up with all the screaming. So I had the great idea that I would buy some clippers and cut his hair at home, in front of his favorite TV show. That should distract him enough so I could get his hair cut and save a few bucks in the long run.

I bought the clippers, brought them home and read the directions on how to cut hair. I got Owen seated in the kitchen watching his new favorite "movie" ("The Lorax" on youtube). I gave him a sucker, and hoped that he would happily suck away and be blissfully unaware of what was happening on his head. No such luck. As soon as the clippers turned on he started screaming. From there it was all fight. I tried to get Scott to help me by holding him, but he was no help. He just sat there glaring at me like I was murdering his son. Finally after about 20 minutes I was done. His hair wasn't perfect, but it was good enough.
Owen was pretty happy after his hair was done being cut too. He acted like nothing traumatic that would scar him for life had happened. I was traumatized though. I think for now I will just continue to take him to the $10 ($13) haircutting joint. Hopefully someday he will over come his fear of the clippers!

Kissey, Kissey, Kissey!

Pretend like it's still February...which is when I intended to write this little post! Back in February, somebody got hit by Cupid's arrow, and she started kissing everything!

Her cousin Mark got it pretty bad one night when we were watching him. She loves babies!

Her brother got a bunch of kisses on his head too.

But, she wasn't just kissing people. She was also kissing books, computers, cameras, the cat, the wall, and of course herself in the mirror.

It seems like she is starting so young. Just another reason to not look forward to the teen years.

PUH-LEASE!

Owen thinks he has learned a magic word. That word being "Please".

"Mom, can I stay up all night watching 'Green Eggs and Ham' movie? Please?"

"Mom, can I eat cookies for breakfast? Please?"

"Mom, can you take Holly's toys away from her and give them all to me? Please?"

Of course my answer to all these silly requests is "NO!"

And of course his response to my turning him down so harshly is, "But I said PUH-LEASE!" while he is thinking "So you have to give me what I want!"

Of, if only the world were that easy little Owen.

- - - I want enough money so I will never have to worry about it again, PLEASE!

- - - I want to eat See's Peanut Brittle for breakfast and dinner and wear a size 4, PLEASE!

- - - I want my kids to always listen to what I tell them, and be happy about it, PLEASE!

- - - I want my husband to always know I am right, PLEASE!

- - - I want a house that stays clean all by itself, PLEASE!

- - - I want to have a contraption in my house that lets me travel anywhere in the world instantly so I don't have to deal with airports ever again, PLEASE!

Hmmmm...do you think just saying please can get me all those things? Probably not. I guess Owen will learn that one day too. But at least he's polite...and that's probably the most important thing.

A Candy Delivery

Yesterday we came home and found a surprise waiting on our front porch...a box sent from Utah!

All my brothers are living in Utah now. So on Valentine's day my dad bought all my brother's kids a candy bar. He decided that just because Owen and Holly live 2500 miles away they should get a candy bar too. Lucky for Scott and me he decided to throw in a few extras!

For Scott he included a DVD with some interviews or something about that old TV show, "The Prisoner". If you haven't had the pleasure of watching "The Prisoner" I wouldn't recommend it. But Scott and my dad seem to like it for some reason, so Scott was tickled pink with his new DVD!

And my dad didn't forget me. I have been bugging him for a few months now to send me some SEES Peanut Brittle. Dang, that stuff is good! If you haven't had the pleasure of eating some SEES Peanut Brittle, I would highly recommend it. The only problem is that it's hard to get your hand on a box of it in Massachusetts. You can buy it online and pay huge shipping cost, or you can just bug your father who lives in Utah to send you a box. And he did! What a great dad I have. He also sent me another hard to find in Massachusetts candy...Cinnamon Bears, and Chocolate covered cinnamon bears...Yummy!

The bad news, I gave up candy/cake/cookies/brownies for LENT! I know I'm not Catholic, but I think Lent is a fun tradition. So every year for Lent I give up sugary treats. I have only made it the whole 40 days once before, but I am determined to finish it this year. I've gotten through the withdrawl headaches, and now I'm not craving it too much. So the Peanut Brittle and Cinnamon Bears will have to wait for another day.

The kids still enjoyed their chocolate bars though.

THANK YOU GRANDPA!