BRIANNA AND NOAH'S BIG ADVENTURES

Time for an Update

2009-11-05T14:38:00.041-07:00

Recently I've had several relatives delicately (cough cough) point out that it's been quite awhile since I've updated this blog. (You know who you are!!) And it's true, my last post was in July, wow! Needless to say, there are a few things to share from the past 3 months.

Let's see... highlights since my last post. Well, the fair came to town in August, always fun! My parents drove over for it, it's kind of a tradition that they go to the fair with the kids now.

This was really the first year that Noah was old enough to know what was going on and get excited about the whole thing.

And he was old enough to ride some of the more adventurous rides...check out the face!
He was especially excited about "driving" the cars... although you wouldn't know it from this photo. :)

And, while there was no making out with any goats this year, Noah was just as thrilled to see all the animals and go into the little petting zoo.

Getting up close and personal with a very calm, sweet, and patient chicken.

The biggest change around here is that our Bree is now a school girl! Yep, started Kindergarten in September.

This was our girl on her first day of school... how cute is that?

Sittin' in the car ready to be dropped off for the first time.

Going to school is a big adjustment for any kid, and it was an especially new thing for both Bree and me since Kindergarten here is a full day. Yep, 8:30 - 3:30 Monday through Friday! But we've all settled into our new routine and Brianna is having a great time at school. She really likes her teacher Mr. Burrel, and is participating in the school's enrichment program. No surprise, the teacher informed me she was recommended because of her advanced "verbal skills." I just smiled when he said that, she's been talking a storm since she learned how and precocious to boot. I told him, "Yeah, once she learned to talk she's just pretty much never stopped." He said, "I noticed!"

Meanwhile in evenings and weekends we've been trying to enjoy the last of the semi-warm weather around here...

Since the high school is within walking distance, we head over there a lot to play around after dinner. This night it was soccer.

oohh...check out the intensity of these soccer rivals!

And here's Niko guarding the goal.

He can't kick the ball, so he's not a very good forward, but he makes a pretty good goalie!

Meanwhile, Noah decided he was much more interested in football.

Here he is practicing his tackling skills.

And at the end of our playtime, there's nothing like lounging around with friends. Actually, we didn't pose this one, Trav was trying to snap a shot of Bree and Niko decided he wanted in on it. He just pressed his cheek up against hers! He's a silly dog, makes us laugh a lot...

...like here when he decided to lick the last few crumbs out of a plastic animal cracker tub.

We've also been enjoying the more "wild" aspects of the outdoors, hiking, campfires and such.

Hey look! A picture where Noah doesn't have his binky in! Still working on getting rid of the plug...

Noah contemplating the mountains from the top of Lost Horse Trail.

An outdoor family "portrait". We love this one, such a typical family photo...everyone looking in different directions, dog having just jumped on a lap and the baby crying.

As usual, along the way Travis also managed to take some pretty spectacular landscape pictures.

Then it was time for costumes, candy and Halloween! Bree wanted to be a witch and Noah decided he would be a spider!

Marching along in the annual main street costume parade.

A little spider getting a treat...

After the parade, it was time to head around the neighborhood for even more tricking and treating.

Noah was really into it, every little bit he would put his arms out in front of him and yell "boo!"

It was super cute! The spider did have kind of a tough time keeping up with the witch though and had to scurry along behind her quite a bit.
Of course, proper trick or treat etiquette is old hat to Bree, but still a work in progress for Noah. They'd both knock, Brianna would say, "Trick or treat!" and Noah would go, "treat!!!" and hold his bag open. He was a very polite spider though and never failed to say "tank you!" at every house, which got him a lot of smiles... well, that and the fact that a spider with a binky is not too very intimidating.

And despite her best mean faced pose, the witch was more cute than terrifying as well. :)

The kids made a haul...so much so that the little spider was having a hard time carrying his load, mostly it just dragged along the ground behind him. Although, he refused any help...2 year old independence you know.

Why did the spider cross the road?
To keep up with the witch!

So that's about the whole enchilada from here. Life goes on as usual and we're busy busy busy with a school girl and an active toddler. Never a dull moment...

Max and danny

2009-07-24T15:27:00.003-06:00

As has been the case with my parenting experiences to date, I've been surprised by yet another classic parent/child moment that has happened way before I thought it would...

Brianna came home from preschool today and informed me that she has a boyfriend. A boyfriend! I didn't know quite how to feel about this. On the one hand, I was a bit shocked that I was going to have to worry about boys already, on the other hand, I found it pretty darn amusing. Amusement won out and I decided to play it cool. "Really?" I said, "What's his name?"
"It's Max," she told me. "And he's so nice and we play together all the time at school and I really like him.... I'm deciding if I want to marry him or Noah."

I suppose it's not that surprising really. After all, we are talking about a little girl who, at least once a week, has a "wedding" day where she puts on one of her nice dresses and informs me that she's getting married to Noah today. She often refers to him as her "little husband" and rather quite enjoys bossing her little husband around. But now, apparently he has competition for the title of little husband. And I do mean little, because I found out that actually, Max is in the class below Bree...which means, she likes a younger man! Oh my!

Meanwhile, Noah is having a love affair of his own, with "danny" which is Noah speak for candy. Several times a day he will drag me over to the pantry, point, and say, "MaMom danny!" And I usually say, "No, no candy. How 'bout an apple or crackers?" Usually he's okay with that answer, sometimes he throws a fit, and sometimes he decides to collude with Bree to try and go around Mom's decree. He'll run over to big sister and say, "Na (his version of Brianna), danny!" And, even though he says it in a whisper, it's not a very quiet whisper, more like a stage whisper, and I'm onto the plot.

Ah...young love...Max and danny.

Happy Birthday Noah!

2009-07-22T07:25:00.001-06:00

Wow, it's been such a busy summer! vacations, travel, weddings, a rather painful and unexpected bout of pesticide in the eyes and recovery (but that's a whole other story)...and birthdays! In our family we have Bree's birthday, wedding anniversary, Trav's birthday, and Noah's birthday all in the span of one month! Whew! And on July 13th, Noah turned 2! My babies are growing so fast!

Just like for Bree, it was just the four of us for Noah's birthday. Which apparently, was more than enough, or we party hardy, judging by the amount of party mess that was left to clean up afterwards!

In keeping with my handmade gifts pledge, the large majority of our gifts to Noah were sewn by yours truly. One of the first things he opened was his own tool pouches.

Which turned out to be handy...he wore the tool belt the rest of the day, and used his tools to open the rest of his presents.

Yep, a man needs the right tools to get the job done. Nothing like hammering and screwing your gift wrap into submission.

Noah's a big fan of the show Dora the Explorer, and Boots the monkey is his favorite character. So, I also made him a stuffed animal Boots. Considering this was my first attempt at a stuffed animal, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Of course, he had to get his own bean bag chair, just like big sister.

And I also made him his own playscape. He got a farm scene, complete with barn, silo, fences, and haystack.

And just like Bree's the whole thing cinches up into a bag that holds all the parts inside.

Embracing my hand made gift movement, my mom made him a Super Noah cape, which he loves! It's so funny too, he'll put it on, run into the room and strike a pose with his hands on his hips, cape billowing behind him. Then, after a dramatic pause, he'll run back out again. :)

His other big gifts were a basketball hoop and a sand/water play table. (Yes, they're plastic, I couldn't sew those things!) Now that the fence is finally up, it's nice to have some fun things for the kids to do outside. Yep, that's the new fence in the background there. (I finally broke down and just got white vinyl. It's not quite as bad as I thought, although, as predicted, in high sunlight you can practically be blinded by the glare of it's shiny white surface.)

After the gifts, it was time to party! Which, at our house means blowing those party blower things at each other...

...and blowing up funny shaped balloons and proceeding to "sword" fight and smack each other with.

Then it was time for cake. I frosted this one while it was still too warm and it turned out a bit wonky. But hey, it still tasted good and you know, might as well shrug and go with the flow instead of fret.

The birthday boy giving the cake the finger swipe and lick test.

Naturally, being all of 2 now, Noah thinks he's quite a big boy. He's in that phase where he wants to do things himself even though he can't quite really do them without help. And his character grows daily, along with his vocabulary. Yes, it's that stage that I find so charming where every word is either mispronounced, or used in the wrong context and it's oh-so-cute. So, since it's been awhile since I've done so, here are a few of my favorite things Noah says, translated from "Noahnese" to English.

do = yes Because, most of the time I'm asking things like "Do you want ____?" So, of course the answer is, "I do!" Although, lately he's also sometimes answering "uh-huh" which I find equally adorable.

MaMom That's me. Not sure when or why he started referring to me that way, but these days, he does. "Do MaMom!" = I do want that Mom!

Nuhko = Nikko, the dog

Boots = his favorite show/monkey, or the footwear, which is one of his favorite things to wear, usually with just a diaper on to accesorize.

Go = "There you go" or "Let go" depending on the context.

He also has a few "phrases" that only his mother can understand. Mostly because they're said in more of a singsong syllable kind of way. And it's not so much the words, but the sounds and the cadence of how he says them that cue me in.

da-i-tis = There it is.
whe-a-oo = Where are you?
Hahaha = Noah's evil laugh that he actually makes quite sinister and says usually during, after, doing something naughty.

Then there are those words that need no translation:

Mine A staple of 2 yr. olds everywhere, especially ones with older siblings.
Now a charming addition to the vocabulary. :)

Along with new words, it's been fun to watch Noah and his sheer "boyness". So different from Brianna at this age. For one thing he's already stronger than she is now, which we know because he's been hitting a lot. (And which we're working on quicky nipping in the bud.) He also likes to jump into a room with an improvised "sword" (which has been anything from a stick to a plastic golf club), assume a wide leg stance, swing his arm and go, "Hi-ya!" And the kid seems to always be sticky and dirty, despite my best efforts to keep him clean. In fact, I've been thinking his nickname should be pigpen, just like the Charlie Brown character, he seems to have a cloud of dust following him around. As proof, I present exhibit #1:

Yep, this is pretty much the standard look lately. (Except for the hat.) But at least he's also patriotic huh?
This picture reminds me of a Jeff Foxworthy joke... you know, you might be a redneck if your face is always dirty, you never wear a shirt, but you love your country so much you wear a red white and blue top hat. :)

Our Oregon Coast Vacation

2009-06-22T07:59:00.000-06:00

It all started a few months before we went, when Brianna and I were in a local thrift store. She spied a bag of sea shells and wanted to buy them. So, we did. But it got me thinking, if she's excited about that, how much more excited would she be to go beach combing and pick up real shells right off the beach, and our vacation plans were born.

So, the first week in June Travis, myself, Bree and Noah packed up and headed to the Oregon coast for our first ever family vacation. (And I'm just now getting around to posting the pix!) I mean, we've visited family plenty, but this was our first vacation, just the four of us, just to have fun and see sights.

The kids, chillin' out on the long drive to the coast. Our car was so jam packed, we could barely move! It was shocking how much stuff we made fit into that car.

Our first few days were spent in Newport, where we visited the aquarium and the bay. But first things first...we headed straight for the beach.

Their first forays into the waves...looking a little tentative. :)

The aquarium was a big hit. The kids were so excited, running around and pointing at everything.

Check out those Japanese crabs, just as big as Noah!

Hey look, it's Nemo!

And this is one of my favorite sea creatures, a skate. They're like a ray, only smaller I think. Isn't he cute? I just like their faces all up against the glass, and they have these funny little fin/leg things that they kick all around.

My own little sea monkey. :)

Peering down to get a closer look in the shark tunnel, sharks swimming above and below!
Bree looking scared in front of some shark jaws.... either that or she's trying to see who can open their mouth wider. :)

It was a big place, lots to see, so we took it slow and took some breaks. Here's Bree taking 5 to lounge on a dolphin statue.

I had my own way of relaxing....
mmm.... coffee....

Did you know that Bree has the arm span the same length as the wing span of a snowy owl?
Hmmm... neither did we until our visit to the aquarium.

After resting up from a big day of fish viewing, we went south a bit to Florence, had lunch at Moe's and checked out the sea lion caves.
Peeking over the wall at the lookout point.

There were a ton of sea lions there, but they were fairly far away from the vantage point, so the kids weren't too impressed. This is the view looking through Trav's zoom lens.

Then we headed north up the coast for a few days, stopping at any beaches that caught our interest and doing a lot of beach combing.
A cool off-shore rock formation at Cape Kiwanda.

Me striking a dorky pose on the beach. I'm wearing my "vacation hat." Travis and I each had one actually. They were both fun and functional. Fun, because we knew we looked a bit silly but we wore them anyway to keep ourselves in the vacation, free-spirit, I don't care if I look a bit silly mode, and functional because it's always windy on the Oregon coast. Wearing a hat was the only way to keep my hair out of my face.

Noah running down the beach... admit it, you're hearing the theme song from St. Elmo's Fire right now, aren't you? (If not, you will now! There you go, soundtrack for the rest of these pix!)

We actually had beautiful weather for our entire trip, can you believe, 10 days at the Oregon coast and it didn't rain once? Perfect beach weather for early summer.

Nice big open sandy beaches everywhere we looked. The kids loved it, like one big sand box!

Here they are inspecting something that caught their eye in the sand. If you dig down a little bit, you can actually find quite a few little sand critters that bury themselves during low tide... little shrimp and crabs and all kinds of things in shells.

At first, the kids weren't really into the beach combing thing and were just whining about the wind, and the amount of walking. But, all it took was our first peek at a tidepool, and finding our first little shell, and they were into it!
A tide pool full of sea anemones.

Tidepoolin' ... rocky areas had the best tidepools.

Yes, that's me beach combing with a cup of coffee in my hand. What? A girl has needs, even on the beach.

Noah was so funny after he got into beach combing. He would run around picking up this and that and holding it up and saying, "cool!"

This beach was where we found some of our best treasures.
Because, while that line of debris may look kind of yucky, that's the best place to find interesting rocks and shells that have washed up.At this beach, there were just tons and tons of sand dollars around. But, the seagulls had broken them all open, all but this one that is. Somehow we managed to find this one pristine sand dollar that was still whole. It was a neat find and Bree was so cute, after we found it she said, "Can we buy something with our sand dollar?" So we had to explain even though it's called a sand dollar, you can't actually spend it. :)

Of course, no coast trip is complete without visiting a light house. We checked out this one at Cape Meares.
This was the view from near the lighthouse. Look at those trees! Gives you an idea just how much wind the area has, and how very strong it must be!

On our way north we also went through Tillamook and stopped to take a tour of the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was pretty neat, although, I've been to other cheese factories, and I gotta say, seen one cheese factory, you've really seen them all. This one was just bigger. But it was lots of fun. The kids love cheese so we munched on a bunch of samples and ended up having cheese squares and a big Tillamook ice cream cone for lunch that day! (Which is allowed when you're on vacation.)

As we made our way along the beach, we spent our nights camped out at state parks. It was a money saver, and a lot of fun too!
That's one happy camper! Not to mention adorable! :)

Gathered around the campfire.

One night, we even got to stay in a yurt, which, if you don't know, is kind of like a tent/hut thing. We would have stayed in them more often, but they're popular and were booked most the time.
The inside of our yurt.

Although, I can't say staying in a yurt would count as "roughing it" because they come with electricity.
The kids bathed in the glow from watching a bedtime cartoon on our laptop. Who says you can't watch Bugs Bunny while "camping out."

It was really neat to camp out right next to the beach. It allowed Travis to get all kinds of cool sunset and silhouette shots.
Me and my two little ducklings following along.

Noah running into the sunset. (There goes that St. Elmo's Fire song again!)

Me in my hat at sunset.

Bree bending down to examine a find on the beach.

Staying near the beach was also great because it gave the kids lots of time for sand play and general beach shenanigans.
Diggin'.
Diggin' and wadin'

Playin'
Bree contemplating the ocean.

Check this one out, a cool slow shutter speed shot that shows the motion lines of the waves washing in and back out.

Naturally, since we were in the area we had to stop at Cannon Beach and get our own pix of the famous Haystack Rock.
That's Haystack Rock there in the distance.

Finally we ended up in Seaside, a charming little city with a beach front promenade, an aquarium where you can feed the seals (who will clap for attention to vie for fish, much to the kids' delight), an old time carousel, and a store that has 170 flavors of salt water taffy to choose from! (And yes, Travis and I did indeed feel like kids in a candy store just as much as the children did.)

At that point we'd been traveling along the coast for a full week, and we felt we were getting tuckered out, and wanted to start the journey home. But, on the way out we decided to hit up the Portland Zoo. Noah had never been to a big zoo and it had been awhile for Bree. They had fun and of course, Trav was snapping away and got some fun shots of some of the more exotic animals.

Love birds...awww

Surprisingly, the kids' favorite animal of the day was the bats.
They were just fascinated by them, and stood and stared for a long time. The zookeepers had just fed the bats, so they were flying all over and eating fruit.

I guess when you think about it though, bats are pretty cool... they can fly, hang upside down, walk along a branch upside down and they like the same fruits as kids.

I think my favorite part was the sea lions. I know, I know, we saw a bunch of them already, but they had a display where you could see them swimming up close.
There were two sea lions there. They were very graceful swimming together, almost like they were doing a dance.
And I didn't realize how huge they are up close and personal. For reference, that's me standing there in front of the glass.

On our way out, the kids couldn't resist a photo op with some animal statues. Noah chose to ride a hippo...

and here's Bree atop a snail.

And that's it... Whew! I know that was a lot of pictures, but it was a pretty long and full vacation.

Wonder where we'll go next year....

Bubbles!!

2009-06-21T16:46:00.000-06:00

My dog, Niko, loves bubbles! He just feels the need to catch every one of them... I can't explain his fervor... it's kind of an obsession really, a mission, it's kind of like this:

He thinks it's his responsibility to not let even one get away. I found this out one day when I started blowing bubbles for the kids. Turns out, it amused the dog more than the kids and he went racing around like a maniac, doing amazing leaps into the air to get all the bubbles. Now, I like to blow bubbles sometimes just to see him geek out and try to catch them. It's pretty impressive, actually. So, for your amusement, here's some shots of the pooch in action...

My Sudden Social and Environmental Conscience

2009-06-19T09:49:00.005-06:00

...or rather, not that my social and environmental conscience is new, but my level of commitment to doing something about it is. So, if you'll allow me to step onto my soap box for a bit....

Maybe it's just me, or maybe this is the natural progression of things, but, you know, when you're young you're...young and some of the larger social issues, while on your radar perhaps, are eclipsed in importance by what you're wearing to school, who's asking you to prom, or what will be in your next final. Then, as you get older, more mature and responsible, you have kids and they're... needy. So, for the first few years after baby, you're so focused on the little things to just keep them alive and well that you really have no time for much else, even sleep. Thus leading to a phenomenon called, "Mommy Brain," a temporary loss of vocabulary, common sense, and easy access to memory. And just about the time when your baby turns into a toddler and you might have a minute to recover, you look back nostalgically and decide, well, maybe it's time to have another. Therefore, while you may feel a pang of guilt at shoving your groceries into plastic bags at the grocery store, the thought is interrupted by a hungry baby crying, a toddler wreaking havoc on the candy racks near the cash register, or etc. And that fleeting moment is quickly forgotten.

Well, with my oldest starting school this fall, and my youngest being old enough to entertain himself for a few minutes at least, I find myself becoming much more aware of the world outside my little house. And I just see how wasteful we are as a nation, myself included. It's how the past several generations have been raised really. As a country, we have embraced "progress" and technology and celebrated those things that make our lives a little easier, a little more convenient, and make unpleasant or time-consuming tasks go by a little faster. It's true, mass production makes items readily available. So much so that we have forgotten, or in my case, never known what it was like before whatever we wanted was virtually at our fingertips. We don't have to farm, slaughter our own animals and so on. If we're hungry, we go to our pantry, pull out prepackaged food from it's plastic or cardboard container. When we have waste we don't want? Well, throw it in the garbage and it gets conveniently carted off so you don't have to see it or deal with it again. So no wonder in the U.S. we are totally out of touch with nature. We don't interact with the natural world anymore. We don't see how our food gets to our table and we don't see where our waste goes or have to stare at it after it's gone. Everything comes to us in tidy, sterile packages. But while quick and easy can be nice, it's also pretty empty really.

Lately, as a nation, we are starting to become more aware of the consequences of our lifestyles. We are waking up to the price that we are paying for the "conveniences" of modern day living. The "eco-friendly" movement is growing larger every day, helped along most recently by having an economy where people are looking for ways to make the most out of what they already have. Yep, like it or not, being green is in. Opulent, wasteful lifestyle? Well, that's out (unless you're famous, a CEO, or a jackass).

So, maybe you're reading along here and thinking, okay, that's nice, but why is she going on about this on a blog about her kids? Aha! Well, because, the fire under my rear about all this was sparked by, yep, my kids, for several reasons really. First off, there's the fact that I want them to inherit a nice, clean planet to live on. Although in and of itself, that reason is usually not enough for most people to make a change. We're human, we're inherently selfish, and doing what's right for future generations is almost too far down the time line to resonate with many asking, so what, I'm here right now. So while an altruistic future generations type thing does play into my change of heart, what really resonates is consumerism. Yes, that's right.

I know, supply and demand, the consumer, is at the heart of capitalism and the economy of our nation. So, it's not totally bad. We need things, other people provide them, we buy them. We can't all be experts in every field and be completely self sufficient. I get that. But... we are over-consumers. We have more than we could ever use in a lifetime, more than we need and still we want more. A fact that was made clear to me in watching my children. They see ads on TV and every single one that comes on it's, "Oooh, Mom, I want that! Oh, I want that too! Look how neat that is! Can I go online to www.whatever.com, that commercial said to ask my parents if I could!" Well, they're kids, they don't have the self control yet. But then, how can I expect my kids to learn any if I am going out and buying them everything their little heart desires? A trap I admit to falling into, and recently.

This past Christmas, Bree had a long list of items she had seen on commercials that she wanted. Now, I couldn't afford, nor did I plan, on buying her everything on the list. But I did go out and get quite a few of them. Because, we all want to see our kids' face light up at Christmas. We all want to avoid having a child in tears not having that one thing they really wanted, it's only natural. So we all run around in a frenzy of purchasing fervor. In my case, come Christmas morning, things were great. Each present was opened with joy and appreciation....for about 5 minutes. Afterwards I was left with piles of cardboard and plastic trash from the packaging, and an even bigger pile of plastic "trash" went into the kids' room... the toys. Toys which hardly ever get played with and only contribute to the mess in their room.

The problem is that many toys only really do one thing. So, the kid plays with the item, making it do the one thing over and over, and it quickly gets old, there's not much left to the child's imagination, not many different ways to play with it. Then on the shelf it sits. In our rush to provide our children with the most and the best they don't know how to appreciate what they have. My own kids, being the first grandchildren, first great-grandchildren, first neices and nephews, are very spoiled. They get a lot of things from loving relatives. They have so much though, that they don't even know what all they own, it's overwhelming. They would have so many presents to open on any given event, that they would tear into one present, get it open, glance at it, throw a casual mumbled "thank you" out there, and then pounce on the next item. Ultimately, I started to worry that the "gimme and gimme now" mentality was a losing battle. I want my kids to appreciate and feel grateful for the things they have, and not always have their eyes on the bigger, better version.

So...all that lead up to say, I am making some changes around here. The first thing I decided is that I am giving all handmade gifts. This is something that's been on my agenda for awhile now, but I was dragging my feet. I always had an excuse, couldn't find the time, didn't have the skills, etc. But, this year I just couldn't stomach bringing more plastic into the house to sit on the shelves and get dusty. I was ready! But, then I got stumped. I don't know how to make toys...what could I possibly give to my kids that would keep them entertained? To get inspiration, I cruised around Etsy (a great site for buying and selling handmade) for ideas. I was looking for things that I could make on my own and that would encourage imaginative play.

The first thing I spotted was this, a "playscape," and I immediately knew I wanted to make one for Bree. I got started months early to make sure I could complete it on time. (And yes, that's one of the reasons my blogging has suffered.) Ultimately, this was my finished product:

It's basically a mat made of green felt with fabric trees, mountains, flowers, and a little cottage.
The great part is, most of the parts are movable, so she can set up the forest differently every time.
A few of the pieces. They're just stuffed fabric shapes which I weighted down with a rock at the bottom to help them stand up. The house is an old cardboard box I cut up and covered with fabric.

What's nice is, after she's done playing, it cinches up into a bag that carries all the pieces inside.

It took me awhile to make. But I had so much fun along the way. On my part, the excitement and anticipation of giving things to her I was making, lasted so much longer and was so much more fulfilling than grabbing something off the shelf. You know the saying it's the thought that counts? Well, I spent so much more time thinking about and planning my hand made gifts than I would have shopping in a store, so on my part at least, I found it much more meaningful. Not to mention, I found it amusing to hold fabrics up and ask Bree which one she preferred, so without knowing it, she was designing her own gifts in a way!

Once I got rolling I decided to make a few more things...

A bean bag chair, because every kid should have one.
I found a great pattern online (you can find patterns for just about anything online). So the bag even has an inner lining, allowing the outer lining to be removed and washed if needed. I thought buying new Styrofoam pellets for stuffing would be sort of counterproductive of my goal, so instead, for filling I had my husband ask the shipping section of his work place to hold onto their used packing peanuts for me.

I made a crayon roll, a quick and easy project.

And finally, I wanted to do a paper doll/felt board combo thing and ended up with this...
That's the front.

The inside... (aren't those dollies adorable!)

And the back where I added pockets to store dollies' cloths when not in use.

Of course, along the way there have been other holidays and occasions I needed gifts, and I thought, why not?

I made my mom (a coffee lover) two coffee cozies. Because they cover the bottom and sides, they act as both a coaster and insulator to keep your coffee warmer longer. Plus, they're like cute little coffee cup sweaters.

And for my friends birthday (an avid Scrabble player) I made this sweet Scrabble themed pillow.

Anyways, now you see what I've been up to instead of blogging. It's a lot of fun and allows you to make much more personalized gifts. But then, I like crafting, I can sew, and I like figuring out challenges. If that's not you, or you don't have the time on your hands, you can still give hand made. There are tons of skilled home crafters out there offering their wares for sale on sites like Etsy, selling one of a kind items that you can't find anywhere else. I've bought from there, and you may pay a little bit more for something, since you're buying from an individual and not a huge chain that can buy bulk and get dicounts on materials, but I for one, feel so much better knowing I'm giving money to a person vs. a big corporation who may end up getting bailed out anyway! :)

So that's my story. Not to toot my own horn really, or to preach at anyone, but just to share my own little green revolution.

Along with going handmade for gifts, here are some of my other goals and plans for being more green at my house:

-- wrapping gifts in fabric. You can either make or buy pretty scarfs or tea towels, or just use plain old pretty fabric as wrapping. Depending on what you use, the wrapping then becomes part of the gift, or, it becomes something that is re-used to wrap another gift. It's like how some people save and re-use the paper gift bags. If we all give gifts in fabric, we can each save the fabric to use to wrap another gift. Saving us all money on wrapping paper and gift bags.

-- switching to energy efficient light bulbs (you know the coiled ones). I have been slow to do this because the bulbs are significantly more than the standard ones. But, since they use less energy they lower your energy bill and they last longer, also saving you money on light bulbs in the end.

-- getting rid of as many plastic bags as I can around here. This means I want to make or buy some form of reusable fabric sandwich/snack baggies. There are all kinds for sale on Etsy that have cute patterns and are totally wipeable on the inside. Think of the money you won't have to spend on boxes of baggies! I also want to make the switch to fabric grocery bags. I'm going to make my own. I know you can buy them at the store, but those are pretty ugly and they're quick and easy to make at home... in fact, I actually just joined morsbags.com where you can find a great bag pattern to make and share.

-- recycling within my own home as much as I can. For one, I want to use old cloths to make dust rags. So not only will I be re-using clothing I might have thrown away but I won't be using paper towels any more. Old unwanted clothes are also a great source of fabric for sewing projects. (Get inspired by checking out this book I just recently purchased.)

-- using thrift store fabrics for my sewing projects. Vintage table and bed linens are great!

-- make some of our own clothing for myself and the kids. Although I'm really not a wonderful clothing sewer, there are some wonderful and simple patterns out there, like Bree's pillowcase sun dress.

-- line dry laundry when I can.

-- make some of my own cleaning solutions. Cheaper and less weird chemical ingredients.

I don't have all these points in action yet, but those are my green goals for this year.

So that's it. Hopefully, I haven't bored you too much and maybe even given you a few ideas for simple eco-friendly things to start on around your own house. They may take a little more time and effort to do, but, it's the right thing, and it just feels good. :)

Birthday Bree!

2009-06-18T07:58:00.000-06:00

Well, it's official! I'm now the mother of a 5 year old! Yep, little miss Bree turned 5 on June 16th. Can you believe it? :) Although we've had big family gatherings for past birthdays, this year we had a quiet celebration with just the four of us... and it was really nice. As much fun as a big birthday bash can be, just the number of people, gifts, noises, etc. can be overwhelming for a kid sometimes. So this was a nice change of pace.

Bree's birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, which happens to be one of the days she goes to preschool. She woke up very excited and was singing "today's my birthday" to herself. Then she picked out a dress to wear to school, since she was sure that you have to look dressed up and pretty on your birthday. And off she went with a tray full of cupcakes to celebrate with her little friends... She came skipping back a few hours later, beaming and telling me how her class sang Happy Birthday to her and loved their cupcakes.

Once Daddy got home we let Bree decide what she wanted to have for dinner. She decided that having a picnic at the park with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches was just the thing. (How cute is that! I was expecting her to request a Happy Meal or something.) So we packed up our cooler and went off to play at the park. And, not too very long later Bree decided she was done playing and wanted to head home for cake and presents...

Noah and Bree sitting in anticipation of present opening.

And here she is striking a few poses for the camera.

Isn't she looking like such a big girl with her cute little pony tail? Getting so tall!

Check out the sundress too... her and I made it together as her birthday project during Noah's nap. It's actually made out of a pillow case and some ribbons. Super fast, easy, and cute!

Our pretty little birthday gal.

Opening presents...

Bree was nice enough to let Noah help her open all her presents. She was quite generous about it. (It was so sweet actually, the morning before her birthday she was saying to me, "Mom, tomorrow's my birthday and guess who's going to help me open my presents and blow out my candles?" I had a guess but I said, "Who?" She pointed to Noah and said, "That boy, right there, my little brother." Too cute!)

Of course, Noah was intent on helping her test out her new things as well. Here he is breaking in her bean bag chair.

...and helping her arrange her little cottage and forest play set.

Then it was time for cake!She requested chocolate frosting and I decorated it in white and blue, blue being the favorite color of the moment.

Waiting for the end of the Happy Birthday song to blow out her number 5 candle.

Make a wish!

...and the birthday girl gets the first slice.

It was a very nice day. Although, I find it hard to believe it's been 5 years since my baby girl arrived...
As her unabashedly biased mother, I think she's growing up to be a very sweet, smart, pretty, loving person and I couldn't be prouder of her!

Hello Again!

2009-06-14T08:31:00.019-06:00

Aha! Betcha thought I abandoned this blog huh? Well...I suppose I did there for awhile. I kept meaning to get on here and write a little something, but just somehow never got around to it. The title of my last post (almost 4 months ago!) pretty much sums it up, never a dull moment. All right, maybe there were a few dull moments, but when those have come around I've been more motivated to sew or just veg out in front of the TV. Just been crazy busy around here, potty training the puppy, Noah entering his terrible twos tantrum phase, Bree going to preschool, and then with summer arriving there's been a lot of visitors and traveling to see family, attending of weddings, etc. Anyways, with all that I was feeling very unmotivated to blog, it was just another "to do" on my list, and stopped being fun for awhile there. Even though there were plenty of cute or amusing moments in along the way, I just kept putting it off. But, after a 4 month hiatus, I'm feeling rested and ready to jump back into the blogosphere.

So, to catch you up on the last 4 months or so, a quick summary: early morning wakings, coffee - a lot of coffee, cleaning up dog pee from the carpet, walking the dog, house cleaning, errands, procrastinating on house cleaning and errands to sew, visiting Idaho several times, having family and friends visit... and that's about it. You know, the usual stuff, peppered with those small funny, memorable moments.

Meanwhile the kids have continued to grow like weeds. Noah especially has changed so exponentially! His little personality is blooming, and I have to say, he's a little devil. A very sweet boy, with a very wide mischievous streak. He walks around looking adorable, but with a little gleam in his eye that lets you know he's scheming about something. Recently, he has discovered how to open the refrigerator door, much to his delight and my aggravation. He waits until I walk out of the room for 2 seconds and then, he pounces! I've walked into my kitchen to find a whole carton of eighteen (18!!) eggs cracked open on the floor, and most recently, I found him with 4 sticks of margarine at his feet, all unwrapped and all nibbled on. I really have to get a door latch for that fridge!

Another of Noah's kitchen discoveries is the faucet sprayer. You see, my kitchen has a wide pass-through window into my living room. Which, would be fine except for the fact that on the living room side, there's a love seat right below said pass through. (It's the only place it fits.) Naturally, this provides a perfect climbing apparatus for Noah to climb onto, lean over the sill, turn on the faucet, squeeze the sprayer, and gleefully spray down my whole kitchen. I kid you not, the other day I had to use 5 bath towels 4, (count 'em, 4 times!) to wipe up the water pooling on my floor and counter tops, not to mention running down my cabinet fronts and fridge. After several time outs, I finally had to smack the kid's butt to get him to stop! (He was quite incensed.)

Now that he's older, Noah's also becoming more avid about personal hygiene. He loves to brush his teeth. However, he's not very picky about keeping his toothbrush clean. I have found him dipping it into my coffee cup to brush his teeth with coffee (yes, his love affair with java continues) and one time had to stop him as he was trying to chase down one of the cats and brush it's teeth! And while cleanliness is next to godliness, I don't think that's the case when you dip your wash cloth in toilet water, a new favorite cleaning method for the little guy. He didn't understand why I wasn't thrilled with his effort to be helpful one day, when I found him scrubbing down the bathroom floor with a toilet water soaked hand towel. (Yes, I need to get on top of installing a toilet lid latch as well.)

This new awareness of cleanliness has also meant that Noah can't stand to be wearing a soiled diaper. If he realizes he's got on a dirty diaper he does one of two things. 1- He marches up to me, points to his rear and goes, "Ew!" or 2 - He rips off his own diaper, flings it off to the side, and runs around with his rear hanging out laughing maniacally. (Naturally, I've been encouraging the first response.) Alas, even when not soiled, the diaper ripping off thing is starting to become more frequent. Yes, the little man has entered the toddler nudist phase, which, in my opinion, is a stronger impulse for little guys than gals. He's realized he is indeed a boy and he's proud of it, wanting to air out the area and laugh about it.

Actually, much to my embarrassment, one time he even decided to show off his boyness to a family friend. I hadn't seen her in awhile and she came over with her young baby. So, there we all were, sitting on the floor cooing at the baby when out runs nude Noah. He had ripped off his pants and diaper down the hall, and came running back into the room to stand next to my friend and thrust his pelvis out, which, as it happened, was right at face level for her. To her credit, she handled it quite gracefully and just smiled and said, "Oh, that's nice," while I turned red and quickly ushered my streaker back down the hallway. This male pride has also led to some interest in peeing standing up, usually on my carpet or in the bath tub...

Noah's vocabulary is also growing by leaps and bounds as well. Some of his newest words are "Necko" (Niko, the dog), "Na" (BrianNA), "duck" (all birds are ducks at this point since he's at that overgeneralization phase), "beach" (from our recent vacation), and "juice". Actually, that last one is his favorite word, and his favorite thing on earth right now. He loves juice! So much so, that it is the subject of his very first joke. You see, we've traveled a lot lately and that means we've been on a lot of long drives. So, to pass the time one trip we started telling knock knock jokes. Noah was quick to pick up on this. Now he often randomly yells out "Knock knock!" Which you have to answer "Who's there?" (If you don't he just keeps yelling knock knock louder and louder until you respond.) Inevitably, his answer is, "Juice!" And when you say, "Juice who?" He says, "Juice!" and laughs like a nut. Which, makes us laugh because it's so silly and cute... so I'm sure he thinks he's made up the funniest joke ever, juice gets him a laugh every time.

The one thing you must never laugh at though, is his dancing. He takes his dancing quite seriously and the kid has moves! He can move his hips like nobody's business! I'm always kind of shocked when he starts gyrating away and I just stare and smirk at him. But I don't laugh...if you do, he feels offended and stops dancing! :)

As for Bree, she's growing up too fast. She's all registered for school and starts Kindergarten this fall! Which mostly, I'm excited about but have had my tearful moments. One of my concerns is that in our school district (as in many now) Kindergarten is all day, 5 days a week. It was a bit of a mental adjustment for me. Whatever happened to half day Kindergarten??!! But, I know she'll love it and flourish there.

Meanwhile her vocabulary continues to expand and amuse. Everywhere we go we seem to get at least one comment about her vocabulary. She says words that sound strange coming from such a small person. Lately her favorite phrase is, "then I realized..." which she throws into conversation as often as she can. Although, really, the vocabulary thing is nothing new... what is new is her having an opinion about how her hair should be styled from day to day and her height. She seems so tall, even though she's always been short for her age. And while I can't believe she's turning 5 in a few days, she's anxious to be grown up. She's always talking about when she'll get to do grown up things or when she'll be old enough to buy certain things. "When will I get my own wedding ring?" "I'm too little for that now, but maybe I'll buy it for my one hundredeth birthday right? Then I'll be old enough!"

One thing she's finally old enough for that she's been wanting forever is bunk beds. Yep, we recently put bunk beds in the kids' room. We found one that has a full size bed on the bottom, and a twin up top, both with side safety rails. So we made the big move, taking down the baby crib for good, putting Noah in a big boy bed, and letting Bree sleep on the top bunk. It's working great so far!

Part of Brianna's new grown up outlook is "mothering" her little brother. She enjoys getting to boss him around, (or rather trying to), and/or telling on him when he's up to something naughty. But, she's not above occasionally joining her brother in some mischief, even though she knows darn well when he's doing something he shouldn't. She finds him infinitely amusing and thinks he makes a good sidekick, or scapegoat as the case may be.

Whew! Well, that's about it. I think you're pretty much up to speed on the kiddos and their antics over the last few months. See? I've repented for my lengthy absence by writing a lengthy post. Which is soon to be followed by a few more fairly lengthy posts about some of the more notable events lately, including our recent vacation to the Oregon coast, and Bree's upcoming birthday.... but for now, I think I'm getting cramps in my fingers and I need to get going on my day. (I'm writing this first thing in the morning, and put off showering and getting dressed for you. Don't you feel special?!)

Until then....

Never a Dull Moment

2009-02-27T10:20:00.003-07:00

Whew! I'm finally finding a minute to sit down and do a post! The kids keep me hopping, both are like full blown tornados whirling through the house, starting from the minute they wake up! They start the day at a full gallop...where as, given my choice, I'd have a slower paced morning. But nope, before my feet can even hit the ground I'm assaulted with questions and demands... "Mom! It's morning! Get up! The sun is shining! I'm hungry! Will you make my brekspis? What's taking you so long? Can we do a project? Are we going anywhere today? Can I watch TV?" And Noah, yelling "MOM!" from his crib. Meanwhile, I kind of grunt in response, get Noah out, shuffle into the kitchen and try to down some coffee and convince Bree she needs to eat breakfast before anything else. And, while Noah is less verbal, he still gets in on the act. He'll grunt at me and grab my hand and lead me to the kitchen and point to the pantry, or point to the fruit bowl and say "ba-ba" (banana).

Noah's really growing like a weed and is learning and doing new things left and right. He's also becoming such a boy! For example, some of his most frequently used words are: stuck, help, ew, and ow if that gives you any clues to his daily activities. Not to mention, he's also discovered that essentially male thing, peeing standing up... it was after bath time one day and after I wrapped him in his towel, he immediately took off down the hall. I wrapped Bree in her towel and then went to grab Noah and get him dressed. When I reached him though, there he was in the buff standing next to a little puddle. "Noah," I said, "did you make that puddle?" His response? He bent his knees a little and stuck out his hips in an unmistakable pose. I guess they catch onto that pretty young.

Noah's also decidedly male in his social interactions...he's the classic little brother. Brianna builds the blocks, Noah likes to topple them. Brianna wants to play imaginary stories, Noah just wants to wrestle her. He likes playing cars and yelling.

He's just a little busybody, and is getting into everything! He really thinks he's a big boy and should get to do everything his sister and parents do. It seems like I'm always following him around trying to stop him from doing something he shouldn't like: dipping wash cloths into the toilet and scrubbing things with them, climbing onto the top of the couch, reaching through the passthru into the kitchen and playing with the faucet, or chasing the cats down and trying to brush their teeth.

He also continues his odd love affair with coffee. He'll watch me closely to see if I leave a cup within his reach and then, pow! the minute I'm not looking he slurps up what's left in the bottom of cup. One time, I even caught him dipping his tooth brush into my coffee and brushing his teeth with it!

Of course, Brianna's keeps me hopping too in her own way and keeps on finding new things to say that keep me laughing and/or scratching my head, like telling me I had bought an "unusual yogurt flavor" (I'd gotten boysenberry instead of the usual strawberry), or, while playing Playstation exclaiming, "I've got skills!"

No wonder I drink a lot of coffee! It's my only defense! Although, I do have a secret weapon lately. When I need a break I've been popping in a Laurie Berkner DVD. It's great because it's all kids' music and it's catchy. Whenever I put it on both kids are immediately dancing away. So it's great, I get a break and a show while I'm resting.

So you see, my life was full and busy enough with 2 kids, but adding a puppy to the mix has made it even more crazy! Actually, we're really enjoying our Niko though. He's starting to learn his puppy manners, sitting and coming on command. And he's fitting in quite nicely, although, the cats still remain skeptical about him, but they've at least reached a live and let live type arrangement. Yes, so far the benefits of dog ownership are really worth it, although, Niko's influence on Noah is a bit questionable. These days Noah is often crawling along the floor, playing puppy, and has started just walking up and licking people... I dunno.

Our New Family Member

2009-02-18T14:10:00.006-07:00

Well, once again, it's been awhile since I blogged. But this time I actually have a really good reason! You see, I've been a little bit busy with our new family member!

Everybody, meet Niko! (You say it like Nee-Coe) Our new Miniature Australian Shepherd puppy! Isn't he a doll?

Yes, at long last, Brianna's dream has come true... she's only been asking to get a dog since she learned to say the word. And finally, Mom and Dad felt ready to take the plunge! We took it seriously though, we want to be responsible pet owners and we wanted to make sure to get the right dog for us. So, after doing lots and lots of research on breeds, we decided that the Australian Shepherd was the breed for us. They're good natured, good with kids, great family pets, and are gorgeous dogs. We wanted to get the Mini Aussie though since we thought that would be a better size for our lifestyle and yard. So, long story short, I spent lots and lots of time online reading through shelter listings and newspaper ads until... we found him!

He came from a great family just outside Billings who own both his mom and dad. After talking with them on the phone, we decided to make it a Valentine's weekend trip and hit the road! And the rest is history... There were actually 2 little puppies to choose from, but Brianna instantly picked out this guy.

I mean, who could resist this face? Bree also had some ideas about names...first she wanted to call him "Chocolate" and then suggested "Flipster" but, we vetoed those.

He's one good looking dog! And so sweet-natured too! He's been wonderful with the kids and seems to have decided that we're okay as "his people." He even likes our cats, although, they're not too sure about him yet.

Mini Models

2009-02-06T12:16:00.005-07:00

I've been doing a lot of sewing for my little Breeno Baby shop lately. It's been a fun way to pass the time this winter, not to mention I want to have a lot to offer when the local farmer's market rolls back around. So, I've been beefing up the inventory. Recently I decided it was time to list some of my items on Etsy. And lucky for me, I have the perfect little people to model my things living right here with me. As their completely unbiased mother, I think they're the most adorable little models that I couldn't resist sharing some of the pictures Travis took of the two of them displaying some of my favorite Breeno Baby products, aprons.

Here they are both wearing little aprons. I love this picture because of how Bree's looking over and smiling down at Noah.

A close up of one cute little train conductor!

And here he is with his "Blue Steel" look. (Yes, a Zoolander reference.)

I've made a few coordinating mother/daughter aprons sets lately as well. I like this shot for the way Bree is looking up at me, it's a sweet moment.

Aren't I lucky to have such sweet little models to help me show my crafty stuff off? :)

Breeisms

2009-02-04T08:08:00.002-07:00

Been awhile since I've done an installment so here's a fresh batch of stuff for you that amuses me about my daughter:

At 4 Bree actually has a pretty good vocabulary, but she's still young enough that she gets things wrong here and there. It's just so darn cute and always makes me smirk. A couple of her most recent verbal mishaps? Well, there was the time that she was telling me all about the "tree slob" (tree sloth), and then the day when she was singing along to the Mickey Mouse theme song with much gusto "L-I-C-K-E-Y L-O-U-S-E!"

But then, the other end of the spectrum provides me with just as much entertainment. It's just as amusing to me to hear my small girl telling me about things using big words and in a very serious tone, which is often the case when Brianna's talking about her emotions. She's a dramatic and outgoing little gal who experiences the full gamut of emotions with intensity, and knows how to express them! Just check out some of the things she's said to us lately...

- After having a bit of a meltdown about which chair she wanted to sit in when out to dinner she said, "Sorry I was being so complicated and shy in the reskeraunt."

- "I'm shy!" This one she says quite often when she doesn't feel like doing what you're asking of her. Too bad for her, everyone, and I mean everyone, who's met the kid for more than 5 minutes knows she's the complete opposite of shy!

- "You're embarrassing me!" Yes, you're never too young to feel embarrassed by your parents or your little brother in public.

- "Dad, you're exasperating me!" No idea where she picked that one up, but it made us laugh!

Even though she's quite good at talking about her feelings, there is one thing that just leaves her quite speechless, where she just growls and grumbles. You see, she has answering machine rage. She finds it quite frustrating when she tries to call someone and they're not there. Therefore, some of our loved ones have gotten messages that go like this, "MOM! What the heck?! She's not answering! She's not there! Not again! AAAAGHH!" And then me in the background saying, "Well, leave a message sweetie." And her going, "I don't want to leave a message! Why isn't she there!..... okay, CALL BRIANNA!" click.

Then there are those times when she throws a word in there that's just a surprise. A word I didn't know she could say, let alone use properly! For example, when she wanted to take a bath and wanted Noah to join her. I was on the phone when she asked me so I told her she could go ahead and get the water running. Then she said, "Oh, so the water will attract Noah in the bathroom?" Or there was the other day when she wanted a morning snack, but wanted to make her own. I wasn't too sold on the idea, having just cleaned the kitchen and not wanting to face a preschooler snack-making mess. But, she was so cute trying to talk me into it... "Mom, just give me some bread and some peanut butter and all kinds of ingredients to put on top!" So, she ended up decorating her PB slathered bread with cheerios, raisins, mini-marshmallows and goldfish crackers.

TV shows continue to be a source of fresh material for Bree as well. She absorbs everything (we have to be very careful what she watches) and incorporates it into her play. Lately she's really been into the show "Imagination Movers." In the show, there's a character called "Knitknots" who plays the boring neighbor. He always wears beige and hates anything that too exciting. So, sure enough the other day Bree informed her dad that he was, "boring like Knitnots." (He'd been taking a few moments to rest on the couch, quite boring for our high energy gal who's always on the go.)

One of her other favorite programs of the moment is a cartoon called "Phineas and Ferb." (Which, I admit, is one of the few kid shows Travis and I enjoy as well and will sit down and watch with her.) In this show, there's a platypus who's a secret agent and his nemesis, Dr. Doofensmirtz, who always has whacky plots to take over the city. Well, the other day when Bree was playing with her little brother she decided he would be "the bad guy" and started referring to him as "Noah Doofensmirtz," much to her parents amusement.

Alas, Noah often gets transformed into crazy characters that are part of Brianna's vivid imaginary play. Recently she refuses to even call him Noah, referring to him only as "Checkson." In fact, when I call him Noah she'll quickly jump in and say, "You mean Checkson?" I thought it was pretty cute although, a bit baffling why she was suddenly deciding to rename him, and why "Checkson?" After some thought, I decided it must be because we know several little boys name Jackson and this was her version of the name. Then I noticed she had also renamed herself Paula. I still didn't make the connection... it was Travis who figured it out. Paula and Checkson... You see, Travis is an American Idol fan and a new season has started up. So it's not uncommon for us to turn it on in the background some nights while eating dinner. After all, our kids love music and usually just dance around and stuff. But, apparently the other details about the show haven't slid past Bree, and she's even made note of the judges PAULA Abdul and Randy JACKSON.

Combating the Winter Blahs

2009-01-25T18:56:00.028-07:00

Winter time in a small town with small children at home is... interesting. We've all found ourselves with cases of cabin fever, although, we try to keep busy and entertain ourselves.

I've been doing a lot of this:

Sewing and crafting up a storm. Which is a great distraction and lots of fun (most the time) although, it's also a leading cause of why I've been blogging less as well.

Keeping the kids entertained is another thing though with their boundless energy and need to work it off through activity.

So, I've been trying to keep things interesting.
One day we played with puppets, which, although on the surface sounds pretty sedate, we managed to turn into a full on athletic sport. (Mommy wore the puppet on her hand and made it chase the kids around, trying to "bite" them, while they screamed and squealed.)

Then there's indoor soccer. We have a little kid soccer ball that's a lot of fun, since Noah is just starting to be coordinated enough to kick and throw it successfully.
Getting ready for a big throw!

Smiling after connecting with the ball in a solid kick.

This particular game is a big hit with Noah...

I mean, check out this happy face!

Bree likes that kind of stuff too, but tends to favor dress up these days.
Striking a pose in Tinkerbell PJ's accessorized with a pair of Mommy's black high heels.

Of course, it's not like we don't get out sometimes. But, it's just so cold! And, you know, after spending 30 minutes bundling up the kids you only end up spending 5-10 outside before someone gets too cold and wants to come back inside.

But still, on occasion we do "bungle" up (as Bree calls it) and head out gamely to try and have some winter fun.
Our last attempt at this was, on a slightly warmer day, to head out to a nearby lake and do a little snowshoeing. (Travis got some snowshoes for Christmas and decided to buy Bree a little pair as well.)

Bree and I trying out the snowshoes. Trav let me borrow his for awhile and he pulled Noah along in the sled.

Bree tromped along quite happily for awhile...

...then she decided she wanted a turn in the sled, so I carried Noah.

Waving at Daddy.

But still, we are definitely inside a lot more lately and sometimes it's hard to think of new things to hold off the winter whineys. It gets to where you try to spice up even the everyday things just a little.

Like brushing your teeth. I bought the kids new electric toothbrushes in fun themes, and actually, they were a big hit!

More so than I would have thought. It was pretty funny, I also bought them a new bottle of hand soap (watermelon scented) for their bathroom at the same time, and that was apparently quite exciting too! So, killed two birds with one stone, the kids felt like they were getting cool stuff and I'm happy that they're into good hygiene.

Here's Bree admiring her toothpaste foam goatee.

Recently I also turned a little haircut into a spectacle. I decided Noah needed a little trim so...
I sat him down in the middle of the kitchen table and went after him with some clippers.

He thought it was a big game and was laughing and dodging, much to Bree's amusement.

I'm lucky I didn't shave him a bald patch! But, it turned out pretty good, here's the final result.

The kids also have their own ways of keeping themselves amused. One of their favorite things is playing crib peekaboo.
Either that, or Noah finds much joy lately in standing on one side of his crib and then throwing himself forward and landing in silly positions on the other side...

...which makes both kids laugh like crazy people.

And, if all else fails, there's always a game of naked Jedi fighting while wearing a bath towel cape! Always popular at our house!

MOM!

2009-01-16T10:32:00.002-07:00

I have to admit, this week was not a hallmark of parenting paradise nor did it set a standard for ideal parent-child relationships. It was a long, frustrating, and tough week for both myself and the kids. Too bad for me, Moms never really get a vacation. Sometimes just the sheer amount of times I hear someone yelling "MOM!" makes me feel like I need a straight jacket and a padded room! And now that Noah's verbal, both kids are at it. Although, it is interesting to see their different approaches to getting my attention.

Both kids seem to think I'm either deaf (or at least hard of hearing) and that they must compensate for this somehow. Noah's method is sheer volume. He'll walk right up to me, stand a foot in front of me and just yell out, "MOM!" He can't seem to say it, he just yells it. I have to say, that usually works and gets my attention so I say, "What?" But, having a limited vocabulary, Noah seems to think "mom" is a word that can mean anything. So our usual conversations go, "MOM!" "What little man?" "Mom. Mom. Mom, mom mom....mom, MOM!" The latter accompanied by much pointing and gesturing. At that point, if he hasn't gotten his point across he usually grabs my hand and tries to drag me to where he wants me and further elaborates his needs. One of his needs seems to be, quite frequently, eating a banana. He's a monkey and loves them! He would eat 8 a day if I'd let him! Actually he's just recently learned to say banana. Well, he says "ba-ba" but it gets his point across. So to confirm that I understood him I usually repeat, "You want a banana?" Then he'll smile and nod emphatically and sort of laugh like, "At last, she got it!" But then there are those times when I don't get what he wants right away. Then I start guessing... "You want a drink?" "You want your truck down?" "You want help?" And each time I'm wrong I get an emphatic NO, or actually I get "BO!" since Noah says it with a b.

Bree's strategy, on the other hand, is repetitiveness. She'll say, "Hey Mom..." and if I don't respond immediately, and I mean immediately as in within a few seconds, she'll just repeat herself.."Hey Mom! Mom! Hey Mom! Mom..Mom, Mom? Mom! Mom? MOM! MOOOOOOMMM!" I suppose this could be remedied if I make sure to have a prompt response but heaven forbid that I'm on the phone or deep in thought with trying to plan out a weekly menu or what have you. And in my defense, I have a very talkative little girl here... I mean, REALLY talkative and active, and sometimes it's just so much that I can't process it all and my brain sort of just checks out. Additionally, she's 4 and has the patience of a typical 4 year old so even when I'm in the process of getting her the drink she's asked for (20 times) then she's watching me and going, "MOOM, what's taking so long?"

It's all very normal but it can be exhausting at times. I'm truly convinced that while mothering young children a stay at home mom's IQ can go down a good 20 points. Really, it takes so much of our time and energy feeding, clothing, bathing, changing, and protecting them that there's not much room in our forebrain for much else. This is not to mention that our train of thought is interrupted so regularly that it almost becomes ingrained so even when the kids are asleep or are being watched by someone else, we're not used to getting to think our own thoughts in complete sentences.

So, this week was a challenge. (TGIF!) But, time to take a deep breath, try to remember the good moments and start ov . . .

More Bath Fun

2009-01-12T13:17:00.002-07:00

Yes, I realize that my posts are getting farther and fewer between here folks. I also realize that quite a few of them consist largely of narrated pix. I have several excuses... the holidays, growing kids keeping me busy, other hobbies take up time, (yes, I've been cheating on Blogger with Facebook, sewing, and Guitar Hero, don't judge me!), and so on. Well, one of these days I'll get back into a groove and maybe even start writing entries with actual words, organized into thoughts even. Until then, play yourself some elevator music in your head and please enjoy this photo montage of my kids having way too much fun than should be legal while in the bath tub:

Who needs toys? At our house they just like to scream it up at the top of their voices. It's for therapeutic reasons really, stress relief and all that, plus they get great reverb in there.

Naturally, they find this quite hysterical. Mommy just finds it headache inducing! But, I can't be mad at them for it when they look so darn cute and happy.

Hey look it's Snorkel Steve!

Bree got this snorkel set for Christmas, she's wanted one for years now, and we finally found just the right thing for her. Of course, since it's too cold to play outside with it, the kids wanted to use it in the tub. Noah, however, didn't seem to be quite grasping what exactly these things were for...

...then he decided he liked the breathing tube as a trombone better. And he thought the goggles made a better hat.

We tried to show him how you really wear the goggles. Bree even demonstrated.

Noah didn't really appreciate that though.

They do love taking their baths together, twice the splashing, twice the fun! Which isn't to say they don't have their little disputes over the bath toys. But, they always make up...

Why, Yes, I am a Guitar Hero!

2009-01-09T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well, as I'm sure you all know, since I've posted several long and introspective entries on the subject, I turned 30 last month. Yep, the big 3-0. And man, I partied it up like a total rock star!

Check it out, here's your proof:

Oh yeah, that's me sitting at my own kitchen table in front of a pile of presents.

It's this next shot that really captures the craziness of the celebration though...

Whoa now! :) Actually, my birthday was a quiet, but wonderful day, probably my best birthday yet! I got thoughtful gifts, spent time with my kids, who were very sweet, and went out to dinner too. It was all very nice, but my big gift this year was the game Guitar Hero World Tour.

You see, for those of you who may not know, yes, in high school I was a so called "band geek." I played the flute and did marching band, pep band, was in the pit for a few plays... (some of the best people and times of my life!) So, I have a musical background. Although, its been years since I've flexed my musical muscles. And lately I've been wanting to get back to that. This time around though, instead of the flute, I thought it would be fun to be a drummer! I like songs with a beat so why not BE the beat, right? (And, to satisfy my early midlife crisis, it was either be a drummer, or get a leather jacket and a motorcycle! Trav opted for the safer of the two that wouldn't drive our insurance sky high.) Alas, we have no space for a full sized drum set, so we found the perfect solution, Guitar Hero! And since we got the World Tour version, the whole family can play, there's a guitar and a mic as well. (Noah's the groupee, only job he qualified for.) Truthfully though, most the time we wait until the kids are off to bed and then Travis and I get our rock on! I have to say, I'm not half bad either!

My "drum set" and I "in action." I'm trying to wade through the menus to get to play a song for the first time. Yep, so far it's been a whole lot of fun and satisfies my musical urges and my need to get out some aggression after a hard day by beating on something. :) As an added bonus, it's also a bit of an ego builder since, at the end of every song you successfully complete it tells you,
"YOU ROCK!"

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T08:47:00.012-07:00

We had an exciting start to the new year at our house. Yes, it was quite wild! We watched a movie, played Scrabble, put the kids to bed by 8 pm and us adults hit the hay before the big ball officially dropped at midnight. What can I say? That's about the extent of living it up you tend to do with two very young children at home. Although, the night wasn't without some celebration... we decided to bring in the new year with a drink of champagne and a family toast. While the adults got to have regular champagne, Bree and Noah got "kid champagne" aka sparkling apple cider.

I don't know, do you think they like it? :) They were both pretty thrilled with their drink and the fact we let them drink it out of official wine glasses and everything.

They had several refills.

Then we taught them some of the traditions of ringing in a new year, like saying a toast to happiness and prosperity in the year to come...

...although, their favorite part of toasting was getting to clink their glasses.
We also told them that people cheer and clap when it's a new year...

Here's Noah going "Yay, new year!"

... and that it's a tradition to give someone a kiss for the new year too.

So, Bree gamely tried to kiss her brother, but Noah wouldn't stop guzzling his "champagne" long enough for her to get to his lips!

By the end, he was even two fisting it! It was about then we decided they'd had enough for one night and put them to bed to sleep it off! :)

A Coffee Table Book

2008-12-29T09:46:00.001-07:00

Travis is the photographer of our family. Virtually every picture you've seen on this blog, he's taken. And since I've enjoyed the benefits of using his pictures to illustrate my words, I thought I'd give a nod to that by showing off his new coffee table book. It's a collection of our favorite landscape and photo journalistic photos he's taken over the past year or so, with quotes sprinkled in every few pages. We created it as a Christmas present, using an online self publishing web site. The book is supposed to invoke a sort of "smell the roses" moment, so you might slow down, notice little things you might not have before, and appreciate our beautiful land. So, if you've enjoyed the pictures here, chances are you'd like this book too. Actually, if you're interested, you can preview it...

Still Moments

By Travis Taylor

Book Preview

Our Christmas Story

2008-12-29T08:23:00.002-07:00

Hello! How're you? How was your Christmas?

Ours was nice... Pretty much your average family Christmas. We spent most the day in our jammies, watching the kids open presents and then enjoying them. Of course, once the wrapping paper comes off that's only half the job. Have you ever noticed that they package toys like they're on the FBI's most wanted criminals list? Seriously, how many little twisty wires do they really need to hold the thingamabob in place, I ask you! It takes a good 20 minutes just to free the toy from it's cardboard, tape, and wire display. Not to mention you need scissors, a screwdriver, a Swiss made multi-tool and may have to resort to using your teeth to gnaw through some parts just to get the toy out of it's packaging. Meanwhile, you've got an impatient kiddo bouncing from foot to foot and going, "Mom! What's taking so long? Is it out yet?"

But, I suppose any amount of packaging frustration is worth seeing the smiles on your kids faces. And, I guess the one positive about that is that it does prolong the moment. Bree actually shrieked when she opened her "Tini Puppini," (which is basically the puppy version of Barbie, it has cloths and you can do it's hair and stuff). The puppy came with a bone name tag as well. "Her name is Toffee." I told Brianna. She said, "Mom, I don't like that name, can I rename her?" "Sure," I said, "You can call her whatever you like." "Okay," she said, "Her name is... HoHannah!" I don't know where she comes up with them, but the whole naming of the toys is still a fascinating process for me. She actually got another stuffed puppy which she dubbed "Wexkin." I dunno.

Noah's big favorites included an electronic piggy bank with big plastic coins that sings and counts when you put them in, and a little Tonka race track. It was really cute, you just put the cars in place and push one big button to make them race and Noah was really into it, after a few times he was even yelling "Go!" when he pushed the button.

Naturally though, the day wasn't without a few hiccups, like children getting completely overwhelmed and overexcited and trying to share and having complete meltdowns. And then there were a few toys that, while the kids were excited about, we couldn't play with immediately since Mom forgot to stock up on the batteries! Oops! (I actually had to make a run the day after Christmas to grab some batteries and a 100 watt bulb for Bree's new Easy Bake Oven, another oversight by Mom... the devil's in the details!) Actually, the batteries were for toys that I thought I had planned ahead for. See, I thought it would be fun to get the kids a remote control car that they can drive around the house. Especially since we're cooped up more during the winter, I thought this was a brilliant idea. And, to avoid fights, I even got them EACH a "My First Remote Control Car" with big easy buttons, but in different colors so we could tell whose is whose. Alas, there's just no predicting these things. Noah decided he liked the pink one best and kept chasing Bree down, trying to take it from her while she ran and screamed... Maybe I was onto something with the no batteries thing...

But, overall we had a very relaxing and fun few days, just taking it slow and enjoying our kids.

Hope yours was nice!

Oop...gotta run, the kids are fighting over the remote control cars again. No really, I'm not kidding...

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Christmas all! Hope it's a merry one!

Christmas Housing Crisis

2008-12-13T09:08:00.001-07:00

The American middle class aren't the only ones facing a housing crisis this holiday season....

.... gingerbread men are feeling the crunch too!

I am a Griswold

2008-12-10T10:11:00.001-07:00

Call me Scrooge, but just about every year by the time I'm done putting up all the holiday decor I'm feeling more Grinchy than festive. I mean, it's a lot of work, hauling the boxes out, untangling lights, taking each ornament out of it's newspaper cocoon... Add a couple of feisty kids and cats into the mix and in the end you have a house strung with lights that, due to interruptions and distractions, you've managed to put on so that the plug is nowhere near the power outlet and/or you've somehow connected them all so there's too much juice running through and one strand keeps blowing fuses. (While somewhere the spirit of Clark Griswold chuckles at you.) After that it's on to the inside of the house where you put up the tree. You turn on Christmas music and let the kids help. And, while the cats repeatedly climb up the tree every few minutes you hang your ornaments. Once you're done, you stand back to admire the majesty, its lower branches over-laden with ornaments hung at child height and near the top, an attractive saggy portion the cats have weighed down where they like to lay. (Wouldn't Charlie Brown be proud!) Still, you decide it has it's charm and that you'll cherish memories of putting the tree up with your kids. It's the next morning when you discover that during the night the cats have knocked off quite a few ornaments, including a clear ball filled with sparkly snow that is now sprinkled around your carpet, that your Christmas spirit starts to flag. But, you redecorate the tree and vacuum the mess, then turn to tackle writing those Christmas greetings to everyone you know, and try to think of charming, yet affordable ideas for the people still left on your list. Thinking of everything you have left to do in the dwindling amount of days left until the big day starts to give you a headache, not to mention the ache in your wallet. This headache is only exacerbated by the fact that while you're trying to compose complete sentences in your holiday correspondences, and thinking of non redundant ways to wish folks a Merry Christmas, you have small children to take care of who need snacks, naps, hugs when they disregard your warning not to run in the house and manage to bonk their heads, and so on. So, you head into the kitchen to pour yourself a third cup of coffee for the morning. That's when you turn to the living room and realize that, despite the fact you swore you hung them all out of reach, the baby has somehow managed to get a hold of one of those darn sparkly snow balls, opened it, and festively sprinkled snow everywhere. Even Father Christmas himself would heave a sigh at having to vacuum up heaps of sparkly snow several times a day. While you're vacuuming up the sparkles, and vowing to yourself next year you're NOT using those ornaments even if they are pretty, your preschooler starts snooping around and shouts out, "Hey Mom! What's this toy in here in this sack?! Is it for me? It is for Christmas?!"

It's then that you realize there's no need to watch the movie, you are living the National Lampoon's Christmas...

Well, okay, maybe I'm making it seem a bit worse than it really was, but actually, all that really did happen at our house over the last week. And it just got me thinking, isn't it kind of ironic that in a season meant for joy and family time we all get so crazy and stressed out and expect ourselves to accomplish 30 hours of work in each 24 hour day? We just expect so much out of ourselves trying to make things special and wonderful, that sometimes we don't even enjoy it! We just lose perspective and get all frustrated and fizzled out because we have such high expectations.

So, heave a sigh, get done what you can, don't forget that a good cup of coffee can restore a bit of Christmas spirit (at least for me, coffee solves everything) and join me in smiling into the madness. Embrace your inner Griswold!

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

2008-12-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

No surprise, it's a phase kids go through, but recently at our house we've had a bit of an issue with Bree lying. Even when we walk into the room and catch her in the act of breaking a rule she still tries to say, "It was Noah!" or "The cats did it!" (Both sources of convenient scapegoats.) Needless to say, we're doing what we can to nip this little habit in the bud. (We just have to make telling the truth more rewarding.) But then, it's to be expected, kids do these things. Sort of a gut reaction, "Oh no, I might be in trouble! Evasive manuevers!" Even as adults, we continue to have "white lies" "omissions" and gloss over things to avoid conflict and adverse consequences. But hopefully, it's something we all grow out of.

Yes, it can be a bit of a tricky subject, lying, for everyone from 1 to 100. I think my favorite comedian, Eddie Izzard, puts it in perspective though, and with this being a bit of a serious topic, I thought I would end it with some comedic relief. So, here you go, Eddie Izzard's thoughts on lying and how it changes as we grow up. Oh, but watch out, it's rated PG-13. He refers to "shagging".....

Yes, We Do Our Own Stunts

2008-11-24T08:33:00.000-07:00

All right, really there were no stunts required for these next pictures. It was just Travis experimenting with what special effects he can do with his camera. He's been interested lately in composing more artistic shots that aren't so much about capturing an image in perfect focus, but the overall mood and feel they give. It's been interesting and actually produced some pretty cool and unique shots. So, here's my faves from the new techniques....

Here Trav is zooming while taking a shot, which, with when done right, gives you lines all leading your eye right to the center and the main subject, Noah. And even though he's not in focus, it gives a nice feeling. I think this is how parents see their children, tunnel vision! :)

Sometimes, this zooming thing can also give you the cool effect of having one thing in focus, like a face, and the rest of the picture blurred and adding a sense of motion to the shot. I mean, in this shot, can't you just feel the running like you were doing it?

Then there's taking a picture with a long shutter speed and moving the camera, panning, during the exposure. And you end up with something like this:

I love this one myself! Makes me think of an impressionistic painting or something. And, it's how childhood should look, happy kids running by in a blur against a colorful background.

Or in this one, it just helps give you a sense of the wind in your hair and gives the swinging some movement lines.

Another cool effect Trav's been experimenting with is a modified double exposure. So for these next pictures, he set his camera for a long exposure, leaving the shutter open, and then making the flash fire at the end, which grabs a second image. In this case, Travis wanted to get both the kids in a shot, even though they were several feet apart at the time.

At first glance, it may seem like a mistake, but its pretty cool, gives a kind of ghostly feel.

I love this one! Noah better get used to having his sister over his shoulder, literally and figuratively!

It almost looks like something you would have to do in photo editing software, like Photoshop, so it's cool that you can do this with the camera.

This one is great too, Bree in two places at once.

Of course, Travis still takes great shots with his usual crystal clarity too, so since it's been awhile since I've posted pix, here's a few shots of the kids looking cute in focus.

And then there's me. Yep, this is about the extent of stunt work I do, smirking. Hey, it's hard work but someone has to do it!

Life is But a Game

2008-11-18T08:48:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but around here our evenings can get pretty... hectic. To say the least! I'm sure it's the same at your place, (if you have kids that is), hubby comes home from work, exhausted and needs to sit down. You're making dinner and have tried to distract both kids by turning on some obnoxious show but, instead of actually watching whatever it is, both kids have decided to fight over the same toy and/or have a complete simultaneous meltdown and cling to your legs bawling while you try to finish making a nutritious and delicious dinner to the discordant sounds of yowling and some high-pitched voice singing at you from the TV. Then once you finally "sit down" to dinner, (if you all make it to the dinner table that is), you've somehow managed to forget to give one kid a fork and as soon as you sit down from grabbing that, the other kid has already gulped down all their milk and is dying of thirst. One kid is whining about how they don't like whatever it is you've chosen to serve, and the baby has decided it's fun to throw their food on the floor and scream at the top of their lungs, which, naturally, your preschooler finds dang amusing and decides to screech with jarring laughter and follow suit... Of course, after dinner both kids are messy from head to toe and need a bath, which they love, but get very excited about and end up splashing enough water out of the tub to water your garden all next spring. Then it's time to comb their hair and put them into PJ's, the latter of which is often like trying to wrestle an indignant octopus. And just when you think "Thank God, it's close to bedtime!" they have their nightly pre-bedtime hyperactivity and though you only remember having two kids, it seems like a gang of them have invaded.

Or, maybe it's just at my house?

Well, anyway, to try and combat this rather headache inducing, exhausting and patience-trying cycle we're in we've decided to try and play a game each night. Not only does it help us all spend time together in a more relaxed and fun way, but it usually requires some sitting down on the kids' part. (Whew!) Of course, playing games with a 1 yr old and a 4 yr old can be pretty interesting. First of all, they cheat! They make up rules willy nilly and break the ones they don't like. And you can forget about taking turns. It's always their turn! Although, if you can handle that kind of thing then it's also good for some laughs as well...

The game Perfection was a big hit with both kids. It's that one where you have to put all the shapes in the correct place before the time runs out. Otherwise, the buzzer goes off and the whole board pops up. We decided to play it family style and all four of us would try to get the pieces in as fast as we could. It was funny because Noah even got in on it, and even got quite a few in the right spot! (Not sure if that was pure luck or if the kid's just a genius!) I also found it kind of amusing because every time the buzzer went off, Bree would jump and scream. At first, Noah just stared at her. But after a few rounds he decided that was one of the best things about the game and was screaming along with her or clapping when we made it in time.

Another game involving a buzzer is Operation. Classic. We pulled this one out the other night and, like before, Bree would jump and yelp whenever she made the buzzer go off. Noah, on the other hand, found it very interesting to watch the light in the nose go off when the buzzer sounded. So, when it was his turn he would purposely shove the tweezers against the metal and just buzzzzzzzzz until someone (Bree) finally got tired of hearing it and grabbed them from him. Plus, during other people's turns Noah started anticipating the buzzer and was even going "bzzz" at people.

But the best was the night we played Twister. Noah just stared at us all for awhile trying to understand what the game was all about. Then he decided that he wanted to be the one spinning the wheel. Problem being, he wanted to both spin the wheel and play at the same time. So he would spin the wheel and then throw himself on the mat. After awhile, he decided he didn't need the spinner after all, and instead he was spinning himself. Round and round and falling down on the dots, then getting up, screaming, and running across the mat. Then spinning again. Then running. It was so entertaining, and so impossible to play that way, the rest of us just gave up and watched Noah put on a show. It was the most active, loud, and unusual game of Twister I've seen!

Carpe Gaudium or Thoughts on Turning Thirty

2008-11-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

If you read my original Birthday Thoughts post, you know I started this year in a pretty introspective, searching, and yes, melancholy mood. Which, kind of took me by surprise because I'm a big believer in aging as gracefully as one can and not holding onto your 21 year old self as the pinnacle of your life. So I truly expected that 30 would come and go as just another birthday and I wouldn't blink an eyelash. But, alas, I did blink - several eyelashes actually. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that this year not only could I see my 30th birthday looming, but, with my oldest getting ready to head to kindergarten next year, and since Travis and I are 95% sure we're done having kids, I could also just feel myself rotating into a new phase of life. I mean, I am pretty darn certain that I don't want to have another baby (for completely selfish reasons) but still, I suppose I was mourning that a bit. No longer would I be in the young, married and having kids phase, but heading into the more established and sedate, married with school age kids phase. It was a bit strange for me to have gotten to all those major milestones I'd been dreaming about forever. You know, I'd already gone to college, gotten my degree, got married, bought a house, had kids, had pets, bought my first new car and got rid of the jalopy, and I guess I was sort of left looking around and going, now what? Is there anything major left for ME or do I just live the rest of my life vicariously through my children's lives? I guess, yes, you could say I was having somewhat of a life crisis, how cliche of me. Because for most of my life I've done what everyone does: think to myself, "Okay, once you get to THAT point, life will be good." or "Once you own THAT thing, that will make you happy." Then when you get there, and it's NOT better and you're NOT so much happier you feel empty. I've always been rushing to the next big thing, never quite in the moment, always looking ahead to the future, worrying about things not in my control, or reliving past moments I wish I could do differently.

So, this sense of restlessness and being out of sorts has haunted me all year. And it's been a crazy year, crazier than some of you will ever know. A roller coaster of emotion and drama for me and my own internal struggle... and here I sit, having come through all that to the other side, here as the year is starting to wind down and my winter birthday is even closer than before, thinking that maybe it was time to revisit the issue and reexamine my state of being.

And, after all that here's where I'm at: Carpe Gaudium, Seize the Joy. My new mantra and something I have been very bad at over the years. After all, how can one enjoy the moment they're in when they're so consumed with worrying about the future or reliving parts of their past that still haunt them? I guess I've decided that worrying about all that is pretty pointless...can't change the past, can't predict the future, all you have is the current moment. So you do your best and get what you can from it. Try to relax and enjoy it as it comes, remembering not to sweat the small stuff and squeezing the joy out where you can, smelling the figurative roses. Much like the characters in the Matrix slow down time to their advantage, take a minute to recognize the nice moments in your life. Or, to put that in geek speak, make sure you have some bullet times.

For a demonstration on that (and because The Matrix is just a hella cool movie, if you like special effects that is...it was breakthrough at the time) here's your visual on that one... No, you don't have to watch the whole thing, but watch until you get the idea.

You see what I mean. So in that philosophy I now feel more calm and centered and able to enjoy the little moments with my children even more, instead of having that little voice in the back of my head nagging me about what else I should/need to be doing. I'm realizing that having most the "big milestones" of establishing an adult life out of the way isn't so bad. I've put in all this time and effort building this life and now I finally get start to enjoy it, moment by moment.

Thirty? Bring it on! I'm ready! Carpe Gaudium!

Noahlogy

2008-11-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Noah may be a small person, but he sure thinks he's a big boy! And his personality is larger than life! He is a very sweet little guy, but also such a mischievous character as well. Most people see him and say, "Oh he's a cutie!" at which point he bats his big eyelashes at them and they'll add, "What a charmer!" Of course, if they spend more than 5 minutes with him they also end up saying, "And such a strong will too!" Take for instance, the gal who gave me my last hair cut. She took one look at Noah and said, "He's adorable... And I bet he's pretty ornery too!" I answered, "Yeah, for sure!" She said, "I know, I can tell by that little naughty gleam in his eyes!"

But then, even when he's doing something he knows he shouldn't, he still manages to charm your socks off while doing it. I think partially that's because he does things with so much gusto and in such an exaggerated manner that you just can't resist smiling at him. Like when he purposely throws his binky over the edge of his crib at the start of naptime and starts whining, just so I'll have to come back into the room. I start into the room feeling a bit disgruntled, but that melts when I see him standing there smiling his huge smile and pointing at his beloved binky. Or, another example is with Halloween candy. He'll finish his own and then sidle up to the nearest person who still has some left and open his mouth as wide as it'll go, (which being related to his father, is pretty wide) and just stand there, expectantly. If you don't put a tasty morsel in there fast enough, he'll grunt at you and open his mouth again like a baby bird. Then, once he inevitably gets some, if he really likes it he'll close his eyes and throw his head back to savor it while he chews.

One of the other funny behaviors he does very zestfully is blowing on hot food. Well, actually, now that he's figured out some food may be a little warm for the mouth, and may need to be blown on, he thinks he needs to blow on ALL his food. So, now he makes me laugh because he starts blowing WAY too early. As in, all it takes is for me to start preparing dinner or turning on the microwave for him to start blowing like he was the big bad wolf trying to blow a little pig's house down! I'm actually kind of afraid that the kid will hyperventilate or something!

Alas, one drawback to Noah's dramatic nature are the tantrums. He's already started having them, and his are so much more dramatic than Bree's were at this age. He can launch into a full blown, ear piercing crying at the drop of a pin, usually followed immediately by him throwing himself face down onto the floor and sobbing into the carpet. Of course, part of that has to be due to getting new teeth. He's got 4 new ones for a total of 8! And I also think a lot of tantrums at this age are spurred on by the fact that while there's a lot going on in their brains, toddlers don't have the language to express it. Even if it's just to communicate that you're thirsty... like the other day. Noah was whining and I just couldn't figure out what he wanted. I tried handing him his binky and he just shoved it away. After trying a few other things I thought he might want, with no success, I was at a loss. Finally the poor kid wandered out of the room, found a sippy cup, brought it into the kitchen and held it up by the water dispenser in our fridge. "You're thirsty?" I asked, "You want a drink?" and I started filling his cup up. He was so relieved I finally figured it out he actually started clapping!

Despite his frustration Noah does have some communication skills already though. He can nod yes or no, something I find very amusing. I know I've said it too many times already, and maybe I'm the only one who finds it so, but it's funny when tiny people start suddenly having opinions about stuff. And it's fun to ask them silly or obvious questions to see how they'll answer. "Hey Noah, can I sit in your booster chair?" Vigorous head shaking no. "Noah, do you want some ice cream?" Nodding yes like a bobble head figure. Besides his nonverbal yes and no, Noah also has a few power words he likes to use, don't and go. Only, when he says them you can just see them floating above his head in all caps. When he sees his sister doing something he doesn't want her to, "DON'T!" Or, when playing a game, "GO!"

Yes, he's growing up fast and learning things by leaps and bounds, but it's just not fast enough for him. He wants to be a big person and now! His "I want to do it myself" independence phase is already setting in. Especially in regards to walking. He wants to walk himself everywhere! And don't even think about trying to hold his hand to guide him or keep him safe, it's an affront to his pride! Even when he's dog tired he'll insist on marching himself along on his own two feet. That is, unless he suddenly decides he wants to be held, then you better jump to! (Having a toddler is a bit like living with a tiny tyrant!)

Noah is so eager to be big, that he even thinks he wants Mom's coffee! (Although, that may have a lot to do with how I make it. For me, it's more like would you like some coffee in your sugar not some sugar in your coffee.) I have to be extra careful not to leave a mug sitting around where he can reach it or else I find him in a coffee soaked shirt, happily slurping away. I have to say, I do find it a bit odd he likes it so much. Even sugared, it is a very strong taste. I didn't like coffee until my twenties! And even then it was more that I needed the caffeine to get through college. But the last thing I need now is a caffeine powered toddler! They're hard enough to keep up with as it is!

So despite Noah wanting to hurry up and be a big boy, his mom's sure not ready for that yet and wants to savor his charming babyhood. But even if I blink and suddenly he's grown, it's too late for me, I am now and will be forever, irrevocably twisted around his pinky finger.

Craters of the Moon

2008-11-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we decided to take advantage of one of the last balmy weekends left in fall and took a little mini-vacation to Craters of the Moon. Which, despite it's otherworldly name, is actually in Idaho. Craters of the Moon is a national park where you can explore acres and acres of a huge lava flow. It's really alien looking with black lava formations as far as the eye can see including various kinds of lava, lava tubes, dormant cinder cone volcanoes, and dormant spatter cone volcanoes. So, when early American explorers first came across it, before we had actually been to the moon, many thought it must be similar to what the moon's surface must be like (hence the name.) And in fact, the very first astronaut crew that walked on the moon visited Craters to train before their mission! Actually Craters of the Moon was made thousands of years ago by the same volcanic hot spot that now fuels Yellow Stone. Cool huh?

Walking on a paved pathway through the lava beds. This part of the park is a great example of Aa lava, a Hawaiian word meaning rough.

This is a place I visited with my family as a child and have wanted to come back to ever since. (Because, I'm a bit of an amateur geology nerd. I don't know why I should find feldspar and rhyolite and how they formed so fascinating, but... I do.) However, I wasn't too sure how Brianna would like it, since her idea of a fun "park" usually includes slides and swings.

Bree reading up on the science behind the formation of the park.

To my delight, she thought it was neat and was very intrigued. (I guess having an geology nerd mother and microbiologist father made it kind of inevitable.) She actually surprised me by asking fairly insightful and scientific questions for a 4 year old and we ended up having to have a mini Earth Sciences lesson. After we explained that this was from an old volcano and that it was dried lava she asked what lava was. We told her it was really hot melted rock from inside the earth. Then she wanted to know if the lava would burn her. We said no, it was cooled off into rock now. She thought about that awhile and then said, "If it gets hotter today will the lava melt again?" We said no, it couldn't do that. Then she asked, "Will the lava come back while we're here?" No, we explained, the hot spot that made the lava had moved to a different place. "How did it move?" she asked. Travis and I looked at each other....how do you explain plate tectonics to a 4 year old?

One of the highlights for Brianna was getting to explore the caves, formed when the lava dried around large air pockets, or in the case of lava tubes, when a cooler crust formed around a still molten and flowing river of lava. At first, Bree was a bit intimidated of the bigger caves, since they're very dark. But armed with a flashlight she soon overcame her trepidation and was very proud to make it all the way to the end of a large cave, accompanied by Mom and Dad of course. And naturally, if only because we do think it's so amusing to hear Bree using big, technical words, we had to tell her that exploring caves is called spelunking. So when she came out of the cave she announced, "I'm a spelunker!"

Peeking out at Travis from a small cave.

Bree and I in the "twilight" area of a large cave.

For Noah, his favorite part was walking along the many paved pathways the park had to offer. (Anything to make use of and show off his new skill!)

And even though the trails were often long and windy, in order to march visitors past all the interesting and varied lava features, Noah stubbornly insisted on walking along all by himself. Although, he would sometimes at least allow me to walk along beside him.

Noah and I looking cool in our shades.

Noah seemed to find the whole thing pretty interesting actually, frequently stopping to check things out.

Stepping off the path to examine some of the local flora.

Laying down to get a closer look at some tiny paw prints embedded in the pathway. Which turned out to belong to...

...this little guy! (Okay well, maybe not this exact one but you get it.) Aside from pretty sparse vegetation and a lot of pine trees, this was the most wildlife we saw there. Although, the brochures say there's a herd of deer, small bunnies, and a few species of birds to be found as well. It's pretty amazing though, the last lava flow here was dated to be around 2000 years ago and it's still largely a barren place.

Well, I could go on and on about this subject. But for now I'll just leave you with a few more shots of our trip.

Looking down the throat of a dormant spatter cone volcano.

Pahoehoe (Hawaiian for "ropey") lava.

A large Aa lava bed and a great shot to give you the feel of the landscape there.

Me standing next to the edge of an impressive and voluminous flow of lava. Can't you just imagine what it must have been like when it was molten? It looks like it just barely dried there and was oozing it's way forward just a little while ago.

The three spatter cones of Craters. According to the park info, these are some of the most pristine examples of spatter cone volcanoes in the world.

I love this shot. Bree standing by a lava formation at sunset.

It was a really cool experience and a fascinating place, well worth a visit for any family.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T14:14:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope it was a good one for you. Here at our house it was a full week of spooky preparations leading up to the big day.

It started early in the week with the pumpkin carving.

Of course, this actually means I do all the carving since the kids are really too little to wield a knife safely. So they play around and act silly, I carve, and Travis takes pictures of it all. This is me trying to carve a kitty pumpkin. Bree always asks for the hardest things!

Meanwhile Noah mostly just played with the seeds. (We like to save them so I can salt and bake them later for a yummy Halloween snack. Although, this time around I put them in the oven, forgot about them, and burned them to a crisp!) He also spent quite a bit of time tasting the parts of the pumpkin that were carved out.

Then I spent the rest of the week finalizing the family's costumes. We thought it would be fun if the whole family dressed up this year, even picked a theme. We also decided we didn't really want to spend at least $25 a pop for outfits we'd wear, at best, maybe twice. And since I'm sorta crafty/sewy anyways, I thought I'd give it a try.

It all started with Bree, who thought it would be fun to be Tinkerbell this year. Actually, at first she wanted to be "Evil Tinkerbell" but then decided the original Tink would be best. We already had the wings and fluffy skirt so all I had to make was the tunic.

That got me thinking...wouldn't it be cute if Noah were a tiny Peter Pan?

Naturally then, that led to Travis suggesting that he and I complete the picture and go as Captain Hook and Wendy!
Doesn't he look great?!

And here's "Wendy" as well, who ended up having to haul tiny Peter Pan around quite a bit. Wendy was the easiest costume, just needed a blue nightgown really. In fact, it kind of looked like I was just dressed a bit oddly and no one really knew who I was unless I was walking with the whole family, then they'd go, "Oh look a tiny Peter Pan! And Captain Hook! There's Tink too! Oh, and that must be Wendy!"

Of course, we all got some interesting interpretations of our costumes. (Except Travis, he was pretty obvious.) Brianna was called a butterfly or a princess a few times.

And Noah was mistaken for Robin Hood or an elf once or twice. Mostly though, he just stole the show with his charming little self and had everyone commenting, "Oooh. Look at the little Peter Pan! What a great costume. He's just adorable! What a cute little guy. He'll never grow up right?!"

But whatever people thought we were, we had a lot of fun parading around as the whole cast of Peter Pan. No, literally, parading around since our first stop was the annual town Halloween Parade down Main Street.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, ready to Trick or Treat at all the local businesses.

Tinkerbell had no problems at all, having mastered Trick or Treating, it's old hat for her these days.

Peter, however, found it all a bit overwhelming and did a lot of wandering around, stopping to stare, and trying to peek into his bag and eat all his candy immediately.

He got pretty tired by the end of the day, but still stubbornly insisted on marching along by himself, even refusing to hold hands most the time.

And of course, Travis had to take a staged photo of all of us in character... and it turned out great! So here we are looking like a poster for a play of Peter Pan with Travis as Captain Hook, Beth as Wendy, Bree playing Tinkerbell, and Noah as Peter Pan himself.

Happy Halloween from the Taylor family!

Falling for Fall

2008-10-24T22:18:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you, but fall is my favorite time of year. I like the crisp air, wearing warm, soft sweaters, drinking hot cider, making pumpkin pie... the whole thing. It just seems like a time where you enjoy snuggling up all cozy with your family and have fun things to eat. Or, if you go outside the temperatures are that nice in between area, not too hot or too cold. And of course, one of the best things about fall is the leaves with all their beautiful colors, not to mention the fun they provide once they're on the ground. Since we live in a rather new neighborhood though, there aren't too many mature trees here, which means not a whole lot of leaves to walk in and hear that satisfying leafy crunch. So the other day we headed off to a place where we knew there'd be a ton of leaves to let the kids experience the fun.

It was a beautiful scene with all the trees all decked out in their fall splendor. And the wind was blowing so leaves were drifting down out of the trees constantly. The kids thought this was pretty cool and Bree wanted to try and catch one right out of the air.

Always wanting to do whatever his sister is doing, naturally, it wasn't long before Noah decided to try it as well.

Then we spied a big leaf pile and both kids dived right in and had fun rolling around.

Okay, well Noah isn't really having fun in this moment...we thought it would be fun to bury him in the leaves. He disagreed.

Of course, it wouldn't be a romp in the leaves without the traditional jump into the pile. With a little help from Mom, the kids were soon jumping-into-leaf-pile experts, while Trav snapped shots of the action.
Bree and I did a couple of jumps, and then Noah wanted in on the fun too. Notice him running along behind us in on this jump...

So, I helped him "jump" too.

After the jumping, Bree got a little more creative and started just lounging in the leaves, striking poses for the camera...

(Yes, bare feet, she arrived wearing shoes, but I just can't keep them on that kid! The dirty toes are pretty cute though huh?)

Here she is making a leaf angel.

Not to be outdone, Noah tried it too, but he got a little confused and instead just face planted.

It was a lot of fun! What's better on a fall day then playing in the leaves?

Yep, it's an old, but true saying that sometimes the simplest things in life are the best.

Fairy Tales

2008-10-21T15:14:00.000-06:00

Well, it's time for me to climb back up on my motherhood soap box again. Although I usually just have fun recounting the amusing little things the kids do throughout the day, I do occasionally get the urge to write down some deeper parenting thoughts as well. (Don't worry, I'll try to keep it short!)

I've had fairy tales on the brain. Halloween is coming up fast and my little girl wants to dress up as a fairy tale character (I won't spoil the fun and tell you which one just yet) and then there's her obsession lately with anything regarding Princesses. It's just gotten me thinking. That and I also recently watched Disney's Enchanted, a cute little movie that parodies fairy tales. Never seen it? Well here's a clip for you:

It's funny because it's just SO ludicrous. And as adults, we get that. But, I have to look at my children and wonder how they're processing movies like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and the like since they won't be taking it in with a grain of salt. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning on banning fairy tales from the house or anything, and I think that these stories can be fun and have their place. However, I also really think they need to be tempered by real life. Because otherwise, our little girls and our little boys alike will grow up aspiring to be like these caricatures and feeling inadequate and dissatisfied when themselves and those around them don't measure up. Our little girls will think that if they find themselves stuck inside a tall tower that the most proactive thing they can do is grow their hair out long and wait to be rescued. They may wait their whole lives waiting for a Prince Charming that doesn't exist to sweep them off their feet and "complete" them. Meanwhile our little boys will think they have to be out slaying dragons while they pursue unrealistic images of an idealized woman who will every day be at home happily cleaning house while she sings. It sets them up for failure. They need to know that not all woman have size 6 bodies, long flowing perfectly coiffed hair and a beautiful singing voice and that it's okay. They need to know that not all men are musclebound dragon slayers who will always say the right thing and leave you sighing after them constantly and that's okay too. Of course, maybe I'm reading too much into it, maybe I'm being too literal here. But then, don't children tend to take things literally themselves?

I guess I would hope that we can enjoy these idealized version of reality, these fairy tales where everything is sprinkled with pixy dust, life is charming, and men and women are converted into 2 dimensional personalities in more ways then one. I hope we can enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed with our children but still manage to have them grow up realizing that while they'll never be like those characters, they can still like themselves with all their complexity, their flaws and their humanity.

So, to close this topic I leave you with a song. If you've never listened to Sarah Barielles, check it out.

Breeisms

2008-10-19T16:50:00.000-06:00

Brianna sure is getting to be a big girl! Lately I have really seen a big change in her, as she is becoming more likely to listen, easier to reason with, and more obedient. And at 4, she's now becoming interested in more "grown up" things than she was before. For example, she's very into fashion and looking like a fancy lady these days. Although she starts out in regular clothing each morning, just about every day she ends up changing into one of her more frilly dresses with dressy shoes to match. Of course, this has gone hand in hand with her new penchant for playing princess. Virtually every day she informs me that she's a princess and she's going to get married and invite all the girls to her wedding, where she'll marry a prince and have lots of babies. (Specifically she's said she wants to have 20 and a half babies... poor little half baby.) For lack of any other men in her life, this means that quite often Noah or Daddy are named the prince. Noah doesn't seem to mind it, and quite obligingly goes along with his day, not knowing he's been appointed to royalty. Actually sometimes he's not only the prince, but also her "little husband," whom she leads around the house holding hands and ordering around. This is not to be confused with her big husband, Daddy. One evening while eating dinner out Bree started chatting up our waitress and was telling her all about how she's going to get married and have kids and so on. The waitress, playing along sweetly said, "Oh, and how many kids are you going to have?" I expected the answer to be the standard 20 and a half but this time Bree just shrugged and said, "I don't know. Travis and I haven't decided yet." The waitress smirked and then laughed once Travis pointed to himself and informed her, "I'm Travis."

Aside from being more interested in the marriage and babies scene, Bree just generally seems more sophisticated in the way she talks, acts, and handles situations. Take for example the other day when the kids and I decided to pick Travis up at work and have lunch together. Travis and I were both pretty indecisive about what we wanted for lunch or where would be a nice place to go. Plus, being in a small town, the options are somewhat limited. So we went around for a bit saying, "How about that restaurant?" "Yeah, that would be okay, or how about this one?" "Well, I don't care, do you have a preference?" "Not really, either one works for me." We went on like that for a few minutes when Brianna piped up from the back seat, "Guys! Guys! How about Pizza Hut!?" Well, Travis and I both paused for a minute and then smiled and said, "Good idea, we hadn't thought of that one." Then after lunch Bree said, "That sure was a good idea I had huh?"

Then there was the evening that Bree decided she wanted to have a pajama party. She started chattering excitedly about how we would all get in our pajamas and have so much fun. Fact was though, it was already after her bedtime and this was her third or fourth time popping out of her bedroom, so not only were we already in our pajamas, but we weren't super excited about the whole pajama party idea. So we both stood there patiently, waiting for Bree to wind down her long run on sentence when she suddenly paused, eyed her dad up and down and said, "Do you even have pajamas?" Because Trav's usual night time attire is just a pair of cotton shorts, which, apparently doesn't meet Bree's PJ criteria. Trav just laughed and told her, "Yeah, I'm not wearing them now but I'll wear some for the pajama party okay?"

Apart from this newer and more mature outlook on life, she still charms and amuses me with her preschool childishness as well. She's still very involved in the world of her imagination and her alter egos. She just keeps coming up with them, the newest being "Arista the cat cowgirl." I know the name Arista and the cat part cropped up right after she watched Aristocats, but I don't know how that character morphed into a cowgirl as well?

But then, even without a wild alter ego, Bree is character just being herself and can make even the most mundane of things funny... like riding on her Auntie's shoulders while going for a walk. She informed her Auntie that while she was up there, she wanted to give her a new hairdo. "Okay," Auntie Em said obligingly, and Bree went diligently to work. A few mintues later she pipes up and says, "Hey Mom, do you know how I'm staying up here on Auntie Em's shoulders so good?" "How?" I ask her without looking up. "Well, she's holding onto my necklegs!" I paused to translate that one in my head, "You mean ankles?" I ask. "Yeah, ankles!" she says. I smile and look up and then... "Holy cow!" I exclaim. "Nice hairdo Em." "What?" my sister asked innocently. Well, all the while Em was giving Bree a ride and holding onto her "necklegs" Bree had been hard at work ratting and twisting her aunt's hair up into a tangled, tall beehive worthy of Marge Simpson!

Whew! That turned into a long one, but I guess I haven't done Breeisms in awhile. After burning all those carbs reading, you're probably thinking a snack would be nice right about now huh? So, in Bree's words, why don't you head over to the "country" (pantry) and see if you can't find some of those "banilla" (vanilla) cookies.

Monkey See Monkey Do

2008-10-15T14:29:00.001-06:00

It's been interesting, as Noah works his way through the usual milestones this past year, to watch and see how differently he approaches things and how he's achieved various skills in a different order and on a totally different time line than his sister. He's done a lot of things later than Bree did, rolling over, crawling, walking... But, in trying to keep up with a big sister, he's also done many things much sooner than I seem to remember Bree doing. Take coloring for example, at 15 months old he loves to color.

I don't think Brianna was even starting to want to pick up crayons and markers at this age.

And it's pretty cute to see the two of them playing together in this way, although, a bit surreal they're at this stage already.

If you notice, they're using those wonderful Color Wonder markers, the kind that only work on special paper. This is because Noah's interest in coloring on things extends beyond the page and onto the walls, and the floor and just about anything else. And so far, I haven't been able to get across that we only color on paper, hence the special markers.

Actually, now that he's walking, and therefore better able to keep up with his sister, he's all about the copycatting. Yep, he wants to do everything he sees Bree doing. Everything. So there they'll be, in a rascally mood, and instead of just one kid head-butting the cat or deciding to empty a whole cereal box onto the floor, I'll have two. This goes both ways though, since Bree often has a blast imitating her brother as well, reverting back to her inner toddler.

Of course, Noah's monkey see monkey do attitude extends to his parents as well. Which means you can find him handing clean dishes to Mom (yes, I'm enjoying that while I can), or being helpful in some other way. You can also see Mom and Dad's influence in Noah's dance moves. Now that he's up on his feet he loves to groove a beat, copying his parents' best moves. (I've always thought that kids' behavior is a little too revealing about their parents in those type situations. That and when they start repeating some of the embarrassing things you say.) But then, you know what they say about mimicry, best form of flattery and all that.

The newest and perhaps the most interesting behavior Noah's been imitating comes from me though. I've already talked about this a bit, but you see, lately I've had sort of a fixation with painting my walls. We've lived in this house around 18 months now and I'm determined not to have a white wall left. I'm fundamentally against white walls. This means that I've been doing a lot of holding paint chips against the wall and squinting. A lot. Apparently I've done this so much that Noah's picked up on it. So, whenever he comes across a paint chip he immediately holds it up against the wall! Perhaps Mommy's been a bit overly obsessed with this project?

While Noah has been watching and copying the other members of his family he still has a personality all his own. He's adding new words to his vocabulary, like peeking around things and going "Boo!" or pointing his little finger at people and saying "Don't!" (Rascal!) He also charms his mom by giving out hugs and kisses quite freely. And he already has some little personality quirks as well. My favorite one? The kid loves socks! It's kind of odd but he just loves to wear socks. Maybe he likes toasty toes but when he sees a pair of socks he smiles and sticks his feet out obligingly. He's just one fun and charming little guy.

Paint Me Exasperated!

2008-10-09T21:08:00.000-06:00

Well, I think it's official, I am now completely and certifiably insane. If you needed any more proof then I submit to you the following incident that happened this week...

Running errands with two kids is always an (ahem) "adventure." And now that Noah's started walking it's even more fun. I mean, it was a bit difficult before but at least I knew that the baby was right there with me, in the stroller or shopping cart, and I only had one rambunctious rambler to keep an eye on. It's probably not politically correct to say it, but it was kind of nice having one kid who was too young to move. But now, with two very active and busy kids it's double trouble! It's like trying to run errands with a small troupe of monkeys or something. Seriously, despite the fact he's now mobile the one is always clinging to my pant leg or wanting to be held and hang off of me. And the other one is always roving around, getting into things, whining, or both at the same time. You get the picture. It makes an errand that should have taken 5 minutes take at least a half an hour.

All that's pretty standard for any mom though. But here's the part where I lose my mind. Knowing full well what it's like to take two young kids into the store, I actually took them with me to try and choose....paint! Oy vey! Let me tell you... For starters, I went in there thinking it would be a quick in and out job since I had some fabric I wanted them to match. You know, since all the stores seem to be offering to match colors. Come to find out, as the store clerk dryly informed me, that they "can't match fabric" since it has threads of several colors in it and that apparently confuses the computer. (Aaaargh!) So, the gal hands me the fan deck of 60 trillion colors and tells me she's sure I can find the right color somewhere in there. Figuring I came for paint and by golly I was going to get some I sat down determindly to find my perfect hue. Well, matching colors can be a tricky thing, as anyone who has tried to do it well knows. Not only is it virtually impossible to really know what the color will look like in your space from a tiny paint chip stuck up on the wall but because, it gets a bit confusing when faced with 60 trillion colors all at once. Even something seemingly "safe" and innocuous as picking a bland beige can be trecherous since there's a pinky shaded beige, a more brown beige, a grayer beige, a greenish beige, a more yellow beige, an orangish beige, and so on. And all of them just slightly different enough to make a person's head start to spin. And of course, all of them not *quite* the same as my sample. So there I was, knee deep in paint chips and really concentrating and squinting at the samples, willing one of them to match while my kids are.... oh wait, I brought the kids. Where are the kids? Oh there they are, in the row straight ahead steadily throwing a stack of 50 or so plastic paint trays into the middle of the aisle, making an impressive pile really.

"Bree!" I say. "Please stack all those back up and put them back on the shelf. They belong to the store not to us."
"Okay Mom!" she says obligingly and starts stacking.

Back I go squinting at paint samples. After a minute I look back up to check on the kids again. Now that they've cleaned up the paint trays, they've found a stack of cardboard paint buckets that they're pulling apart one by one and doggedly making a pile in the middle of the aisle.

"Brianna, can you please help your brother clean that up?" I say, "The people who work here like to keep the store clean so pick up."
"Okay Mom!" she says and starts stacking them all back up.

I glance down at my paint chips and when I look back up I see that now Noah has grabbed a medium sized cardboard bucket and put it over his head like a hat and it comes far enough down that it's covered his eyes. He's laughing and staggering around the aisle with his hands out in front of him. This makes Bree laugh and decide to join in so she grabs the bigger size and puts on her own "helmet."

"All right you two. Those are very nice hats you have but you can't see and I'm afraid you'll fall so please put them back okay?"
"Okay Mom!" Bree says.

By this point, despite the fact that I've had to have some sort of child chaos intervention every few minutes I've narrowed my paint choices down to two. Hmm... which would be better? My thoughts are interuppted by loud banging. Now both children have each grabbed two of the tiny paint sample cans and are banging them together to make music.

"That's very loud!" I tell them. "Why don't you play a quieter game..."
"Okay Mom!" Bree says. Then her and Noah start stacking all the small sample cans of paint from a low child-height shelf onto the table they have for poor idiots to sit at while trying to choose a paint color. After they have them all stacked I'm still wavering between my two choices and I say, "Okay! Now let's move them all back from the table to the shelf again. That's a good game!"
"Okay Mom!" Bree says and they start shuffling back and forth putting them back, although, I do beleive they were in order by color before we got there.

Finally, I pick my color. I ask the gal at the counter to mix it for me. Meanwhile, the kids decide to play a very loud shout and laugh hysterically while peeking at each other from behind a round display game. I ignore them.

Then at last, the paint is mixed and I feel like my head is going to explode. I round up the kids and take my perfect color home, leaving somewhat of a wrecked paint section behind me. But really, it could have been worse. Still, I'm pretty sure the paint clerk hates me on site.

And guess what? I took that color, painted a big old swatch on my wall and.... I hate it! Looks totally different in my house.

So, lesson for the day, kids can be frustrating even when they're really not being bad they're just being, well, kids. And picking a paint color can be VERY frustrating. If you haven't tried it yet, I don't recommend mixing the two...you may have to dose yourself with tranquilizers afterwards.

Blog-a-Doodle-Doo

2008-10-09T19:19:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile so it's time for an update on Bree's developing artwork. Her doodles are getting much more detailed and structured and I thought it might be fun to take a look and see her progression. At least, I find it fascinating. But then, I'm pretty sure I'm obliged to. :) Anyways, take a look, it's pretty interesting to see what new details emerge with each one. (Oh, and to help you see what's there I labeled some of the parts for you...)

Her drawings of people started out like this:

A head with eyes, a smile and legs, that include feet, coming right out from the head. Pretty cute huh? Classic childhood drawing.

Then you could see that she started noticing more elements of the human face. Like here where she's added eyebrows and nostrils.

This is her most detailed face yet. This one has eyes with pupils, eyebrows, a nose with nostrils and a frown too. I guess this guy is sad...

Recently she's also started adding more details to the rest of her people's bodies, making them more anatomically correct. This person has quite a few facial features and legs with feet, arms, hands and even fingers.

It's just funny to me to watch how these little facets are being added on one thing at a time to her drawings. And she's even toyed around with writing her name a bit.

Travis wrote her name out for her there on top and she took a darn good stab at repeating it below. Pretty impressive for a 4 year old I say!

What do you think, budding artist on our hands? Of course, her mom thinks so! :)

His Feet Were Made for Walking

2008-09-21T20:16:00.000-06:00

Guess what everybody? Big news! Our little man is now walking! Wow! Although he started walking much later than his sister did, at 14 months vs. Bree's 11 months, he's quickly making up for it by not only just taking a few steps at a time, but walking across whole rooms. I guess he decided he wanted to wait until he was really sure he could do it well. So here's some shots of the action for you:

Here he comes!

You can tell it's first thing in the morning because of the PJ's and the super soggy diaper. :)

Brianna was pretty excited about her brother walking. She said, "Now he's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler!"

There he goes back the other way...

Of course, what better way to commemorate your first walk than to do it the second time around with celebratory, silly accessories? At least, that's the way we do it around here.

Oh yeah baby! Groove those glasses and purple hair clip! (Brianna accessorized him.)

Aside from establishing his big boy status by walking all over the place now, as Noah gets older it's becoming obvious just how "all boy" he is. Some of his favorite activities lately that exhibit his maleness include: crashing into things around the house on his little tiny push bike, dunking his head over and over again in the kiddie pool and coming up gasping and laughing, kicking the back of his big sister's seat in the double stroller until she yells and then trying to look innocent, and climbing up onto whatever he can. Did I mention that he also finds nose-blowing and burping quite amusing? He actually applauds for them! Yes, it's apparent that Noah has a bit of a mischievous streak.

On top of all this he's also started talking a lot more. Well, okay, he has a few words that the general populous could understand and the rest are sort of nonsense sounds that only Mom can understand. But, I know what he means because he says the same "word" consistently for certain things. Right now he can say: "uh-oh" when he drops something, "ga-ga" for Grandma, and "ba" for binky. He also barks when he sees a dog and has "words" I can't quite express in writing for kitty and all done.

The little guy is just flourishing with every passing day. All that learning and growing is enough to make a mini-dude pretty tired! So when he needs a break he does something that I find perhaps most amusing thing about him lately- getting up into a patio lounge chair and laying there with his hands behind his head. (I'll try to snap a shot for you later.) It's pretty hysterical. :) He's sure a character and charms me everyday with his funny little personality.

Pick A Peck of Peaches

2008-09-16T10:13:00.000-06:00

It's that lovely time of year for gardeners when they get to start harvesting some of the fruits and veggies they've been so patiently nurturing all summer long. At my grandma's house, (aka Bree's "Grape Grammy"), it was her peach tree that was full of ripe fruit, ready for picking, and she thought it would be fun to have Brianna and Noah over to help gather them.

Bree was an eager helper and immediately started up the ladder and went to work finding peaches.

Up and down she went...

And here she is showing off her finds. She was pretty proud of herself.

How's that for a classic fall portrait? :)

Not wanting to be left out, little brother was soon trying to climb up the ladder as well.

Of course, he was too small to actually use the ladder. But, with an assist from Grandpa he got in on the action as well.

Here can't you just see him thinking, "Wait, am I supposed to be picking the peaches or the leaves? Hmmm...."

Counting the spoils...

Being in somewhat of a putting things in and out, and in and out, and in and out over and over again type phase, Noah continued to "organize" peaches, long after Bree had lost interest.

And after sorting the peaches got a bit old, the ladder continued to be a source of great interest and entertainment for Noah. He is just sure he's a full grown man now and wants to be Mr. Independent Big Britches.

But he could only really get up one rung before getting stuck and having to be rescued.

Finally, Noah decided it was time to taste the day's bounty...

...and quickly discovered that peaches are covered in a pretty non-palatable fuzz.

"Grape Grandpa" came to the rescue, showing Noah how it's done.

Grandpas sure are useful that way. :)

Yep nothin' cuter or more classic than a kid sitting with some sun-warmed, freshly picked fruit in Grandma's lawn on a gorgeous fall day.

Except maybe for one pig-tailed little peach-picker, looking rather satisfied with herself.

Moons and Dunes

2008-09-13T16:58:00.000-06:00

It's a little known fact that Idaho has it's own tiny slice of the Sahara, otherwise known as the Bruneau Sand Dunes. Actually, most of Idaho is technically a desert but rolling sand dunes are what most people picture when they're thinking about deserts.

Bruneau Sand Dunes, Idaho

It looks pretty odd, just a valley of sand dunes out in the middle of farm land, looking like they accidentally fell out of the sky from out of Egypt or something. Scientific explanation for them? Apparently there are eroding hills not too far away that create sand particles. The sand is then carried off in a wind heading towards this particular valley. At the valley the prevailing wind, carrying the sand is met by more wind but this one's headed in the exact opposite direction. So, these winds equal out and the sand is dumped in the valley, and there it stays since neither wind is strong enought to carry the sand back out again. Well, anyways, they're definitely a unique feature in Idaho, something to see just to say you did.

Of course, no one comes just to look at them. The fun part about visiting the dunes is climbing up them, and then finding fun ways to come back down! The best way being to sled down! It's like a winter scene in the summer only with sand instead of snow and bermuda shorts instead of ski boots. Or, if you're my brother who's a pretty darn good snow boarder, you can even snow board down them, or would that be called sand boarding?

Another great feature at Bruneau is the nice little lake nestled right at the foot of the biggest dune. It has a beautiful beach and shallow water, perfect for little swimmers.

Noah crawled right in and was happily splashing around, with Bree hot on his heels. Meanwhile, I was determined to make a sand castle.

They had a blast in the water....and I'm still working on the sand castle.

Of course, for Noah, one of the most important parts of any day is the snack food.

The Bruneau Sand Dunes park also has an observatory and is home to the largest telescope in Idaho. Turns out that the middle of nowhere is the perfect place to get a great view of the stars at night, no "light pollution." And, luck was with us, they were having guided star tours the night we stayed there so we got to peek through the 12 ft., 25 inch diameter scope to see the Ring Nebula. We also saw Jupiter and it's moons, and great views of our moon close up.

The moon over the dunes.

But the real bragging rights of any sand dunes trip come from climbing "the big dune" that reaches up 470 feet in the sky. It's a pretty steep hike, but I can tell you, the view from the top is great!

See, that's me, the ant on the very right. That's right, Nefertiti's got nothin' on me!

Fair!

2008-09-01T13:33:00.001-06:00

This last weekend it was that time of year again, time for the county fair! Seems like just yesterday we were there last year. How time flies, and what a difference a year makes in a child's life. Check it out, this was Noah at the fair last year:

Just a few weeks old.

But this year, he was old enough to walk around the fair (with a little help) and do all kinds of things.

One of the highlights for him and Bree both was the little animal petting area they have set up so the kids can get up close and personal with barnyard animals.

Bree had fun but since it was the first time for Noah even seeing some of these animals he was really excited about the whole thing. He was all smiles and happy screeches for all the animals but he especially liked the goats.

He kept wanting to lean over and try to look them right in their faces and talk to them.

He seemed to fall in love with one goat in particular though, as you can see....And it must have been one heck of a good first kiss judging by the look on his face afterwards!

Not only is it a fun place to get to pet a pig and kiss a goat for the first time, the fair is also a great location for some cute photo ops:
Here's Bree taking a small rest on a perfect child sized stump and even taking the time to pose for the camera, a rarity for her. Usually she's too busy running around to be bothered to pose. :)

A cute shot of Brianna with her "Goo Goo."
My parents had so much fun last year when they just happened to be in town during the fair that they've decided to make it an annual event with the kids.

But, speaking of photo ops, one of our favorite stops at the fair has to be the silly photo backgrounds at the Viking booth. It's quickly becoming a traditional stop on our fair route.
Bree being a monster

Grandpa being a troll.

Grandma, the little Viking girl.

This year Bree's eye was caught by a face painting booth. Naturally, since she regularly pretends to be "Polka Dots" the cat, she chose to get her face painted like a cat. However, not just any regular cat, she specified that she'd like to be a green and blue cat.

Bree was thrilled with the end result, and went around the rest of the day meowing and saying "I look just like a cat don't I?"

We also stopped for awhile to watch a clown putting on a show.

This was Bree's face as she watched him...
She even got in on the act, getting called up to help hula hoop for a few minutes.
Then it was time to head over to the main event, the games and rides.
We started out on the carousel. Noah wasn't too sure at first, but quickly warmed up to the whole idea. After that, he actually cried when it was time to get off any of the rides.

Bree, Noah, and Grandma taking a spin in the kiddie car ride. Grandma had to jump in there to help Noah sit up and stay safe.

And he had a blast too! Here he is throwing up his arms as he rides even. (What can I say? My kids are just not the shy, reserved, or timid types. They're more on the loud daredevil side. Don't know where they got it from!)

Although, looking at my mom's face, I'm not sure who had more fun, Mom or the kids.

Bree and I took a break from the rides and did some "fishing," winning ourselves a little stuffed animal.

Bree even rode a small roller coaster ride all by herself, getting a real thrill out of it.

Of course, what would the fair be without having some of the traditional fair food? We wrapped our day up snacking on some of the most sugary, unhealthy, wonderful food we could find. :)Sharing a caramel apple...

topped off with some cotton candy.
It was Noah's first time having the fluffy clouds of sugar, and as you can see, he's double fisting it! And although both kids love the stuff, they weren't above sharing with Grandma.

Yep, it was another good year at the fair.

Backyard Campout and Pop Art

2008-08-29T14:51:00.000-06:00

Brianna has a cute little ladybug tent that she loves to play in. She's been asking to have it set up lately so we decided to put it up in the yard for the kids to play with.

It was a big hit with Noah. Here he is sitting in front of it with his little ball cap on. I mean, now that he's 1 and a real man, he has to wear a cap while camping right? (Actually we didn't let them actually sleep in it or anything, they just played around with it for a few hours.)

Here's a close up of the cap and one big ol' grin. That boy sure has his mom smitten with him! I think he's a cutie all the time but he looks extra charming with the hat.

And I had to include this photo just for this face! This is his indignant face. He makes it when you don't get what he's trying to communicate right away or when he's telling you off in baby babble.

This is a great shot of the new top teeth I've been telling you about. Check out those chompers!

Anyways, back to the tent.... the kids thought it was great fun. They especially enjoyed peeking out the windows at each other or Travis.

Peek a boo!
Although, Noah seemed to have a different idea about what the mesh windows were good for:

Here he is doing his best impression of some Andy Warhol-esque pop art.

The original for comparison:

Hey, it's kind of weird but you have to encourage talent where you find it, even if it's face smushing for the sake of art.

Naked and Nutty

2008-08-25T16:04:00.001-06:00

Bath time at our house continues to be not just functional, but fun too! It's a major event. Both kids go in the tub, both kids immediately start splashing and screeching (with happiness) and by the time it's over practically the whole bathroom is wet, walls, floor, and sometimes even the ceiling, not to mention that I'm pretty soaked myself. So, I decided it would be fun to share some pix of the action since Travis got some great shots last time.

Shampoo heads

'Tude in the tub. Hey Mom, "Aaaaagggghhh"
Monkey see monkey do.

My cute beaming bathers.

And for the first time on my blog, some gratuitous nudity! No really, just wanted to show you how cute the little man looks standing there. Check out those buns! Only time in his life mooning someone will be considered charming. :)

Finally, a shot of the newest trend at our house. The after-bath towel/cape race. I don't exactly know how or why it started but for the past few weeks the two of them think it's fun to put on a hoodie towel and then crawl around butt naked with their towels streaming out behind them like capes. I guess if it makes them happy for a few minutes it's harmless enough. I dunno, kids are funny.

Looney Tunes

2008-08-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

Hello out there! Hello? (echo, echo, echo echo)

I think this must officially be the longest I've ever gone between posts! Holy cow! Aside from my regularly scheduled excuses for not getting to my blog lately I've been afflicted with a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad cold. In the middle of summer! I've had the darn thing for over two weeks now, it just keeps dragging out. And actually both Travis and Noah have had it too, making us all very sniffly, sneezy, throat-achey and crabby. Not to mention the Olympics started. So, being somewhat of an Olympics fanatic I have been sitting around, nursing my cold and watching as many events as I can. I don't know why, but for some reason I find the whole thing fascinating, even the sports I never watch at any other time... I mean, I think I'd watch Olympic nose-picking if that were on too! (Well, maybe not on second thought.) On top of all that, add in two frisky kittens running amok all over the house, a teething toddler, and an opinionated preschooler and you're starting to get the picture.

Between Noah and Brianna both, they're just so active that these two kids are driving me nuts!

(Get it? DRIVING me nuts? he he he)

Noah got that little car for his birthday, (he was always trying to ride his sister's and she didn't really appreciate it), and they have enjoyed cruising around together.

Ahhh, see how nicely they're sharing too?

Seriously though, with all the illness and hectic lifestyle lately, the kids just being, well kids, has made me feel a bit looney tunes lately. For starters, in addition to being sick, Noah is also teething again. Yep, beside his two bottom front teeth, now he's got one of the top ones with the other one looking like it'll be breaking through the gums any time. Which, makes the kid pretty cranky. On top of that I think he's decided to started his terrible two's early. He's very emotional and dramatic lately, and has even started having tiny tantrums, pushing objects away if what you're offering is not what he wanted or, even worse, sticking out his lower lip in a full pout, sobbing, and throwing himself face down onto the floor in response to being told no. He's even actually smacked his mom, and once his grandma, on the cheek for telling him no. And he gets told no a lot in regards to the kittens especially, like when he hoisted one up by the tail.

Meanwhile Bree seems to be growing up a little bit in the past few weeks. I mean, we still butt heads quite frequently, like when she got in trouble for stuffing a kitten into a large jar and sealing it in, (but don't worry, no kittens were harmed in the making of this blog). However, she's also been answering, "Yes Mom," more and more when asked to do something. In fact, when I asked her to pick up her blocks today she immediately started to pick them up and said, "This is my 'sponsibility." The thing is, the kid keeps up a constant, and I mean constant, string of chatter that I find a bit overwhelming and hard to keep up with, especially when I'm trying to focus on something else. Here's a sample of a typical conversation lately:

(in the car, on the way to the store)
Bree: Hey Mom, who's in that car right there?
Me: I don't know.
Bree: Well what's their name?
Me: I don't know who that is kiddo.
Bree: Why don't you know Mom?
Me: I don't know everyone who lives in town silly.
Bree: Why don't you know everyone?
Me: Because I don't.
(passing through an intersection)
Bree: Hey Mom, you ran a red light!
Me: No I didn't. Our light was green, don't worry. (It was the light for the cross traffic she was looking at.)
Bree: Yes you did Mom! I saw it!
Me: No I didn't. Just let me drive.
Bree: Mom, turn on some music!!
(I turn on the radio.)
Bree: Mom! Not that song a GIRL song! I need a girl song Mom!
Me: Well, it's the radio babe, I can't pick the song, they just play what they're playing.
Bree: Why Mom?
Me: That's just the way it is.
Bree: Mom, what store are we going to? What are we going to buy there?
Me: Milk and cheese and bread...
Bree: And fruit snacks Mom? Can we get a kid's meal for lunch too?
Me: We'll see. Hey, tell you what, if you and your brother act nice in the store we'll go play at the park for awhile okay?
Bree: Which park, the big park, the little park or the medium park?
Me: It's a different one than those.
Bree: Why Mom, which one is it?
Me: A new park okay?
Bree: The big one?
Me: No, I said a different one, a new one.
Bree: Well which one Mom?
Me: I don't know the name of it okay?
(arrive at the store, less than a mile from my house)

I mean, don't get me wrong, I think it's great the kid is verbal and asks a lot of questions and stuff, but believe it or not, I don't know the answers to everything and it's kind of exhausting after awhile to be explaining why and how you're doing every little thing. Of course, all that chatter makes for some pretty amusing moments as well. Take the other day when I was cleaning the bathroom, Bree popped her head in the door and said, "What are you doing Mom?" "Cleaning the bathroom," I answered. She observed for a minute and crinkled up her nose, turned on her heel and as she was headed back out the door said over her shoulder, "Well, good luck with that!" Later, as she was telling a rather involved story she got sidetracked, then jumped back in with, "Anywhoozle...." (Something I say a lot as a rather inept transition between topics.)

Yep, they do make me a little crazy but they are awfully cute....

Finally, (in closing this rather, long, rambling, and somewhat haphazard post), in the spirit of the Olympics, I leave you with ideas for some future Olympic events:

How 'bout Olympic stroller races? You can't really tell their speed from the picture, but this is my baby sister racing around super fast with the stroller. Obviously, Noah thinks that's a horrible idea, hated every minute of it.

Here's Bree practicing for the good old traditional Olympic event, the high jump...
Note the Michael Jordan-esque hanging out of tongue that indicates her concentration.

Pretty high off the ground for a squirt huh?

Or what about Olympic bubble blowing? I'm a real champ at that one.

And here I am demonstrating another of my strengths, dorky adult riding kids' tricycle improperly. I'm either a true tricycle athlete or it could also be that due to all the craziness in my life this summer, I'm reverting back to my childhood and blowing bubbles and riding trikes and stuff.

Well, just thought I'd check in and let you all know I'm still alive and everything.

Breeisms

2008-08-02T17:43:00.000-06:00

Your regular update on Brianna amusements and silliness...

Okay so, I don't pretend that I'm going to win the "Mother of the Year" award anytime soon. I mean, I genuinely want to be a good mom but as I've said before and freely admit, I'm just not June Cleaver, or Mary Poppins either. I'm just not THAT mom, the one who hand sews all their children's clothing, makes every meal at home and makes sure there's something from every food group, never lets their kids watch TV, or, in this case, is patient and altruistic enough to be able to listen to kids' music all the time. Because, really, come on now, one can only take so much "Wheels on the Bus" or "Mary had a Little Lamb" without starting to feel psychotic after awhile. (Or is it just me?) So, Bree has been exposed to some "secular" music when it's Mommy's turn to listen to tunes. (Which, as previously mentioned here, can be embarrassing when your small child suddenly starts singing something like "Hey hey you you I don't like your girlfriend..." at inopportune places.) Now that she's a grown up 4 year old though, Bree is starting to have a definite opinion about which songs she enjoys and when Mom tries to turn on a song she likes, say while driving, you can be pretty sure a small voice will pipe in, "MOM, not THIS song. I HATE this song!" Actually, Brianna hates any song not sung by a girl. Maybe she finds it easier to sing along to those, or her fairly feminist mother has already passed on a dose of girl power attitude, but she's always going, "Mom, put on a guhl song!"

Brianna gets along famously with her grandmas and actually has taken on quite a few of their respective habits, including some of the things they say frequently. One of those that I find amusing lately is that Bree will go, "Oh my!" something my mom says quite often. So, there was Brianna, watching some Looney Tunes the other day. It was this episode where Bugs Bunny was trying to have a picnic. Alas, Yosemite Sam was causing trouble and let loose an army of picnic ants who started making off with all the food. Of course, as always, Bugs was on to this and quickly grabbed a watermelon, cut a hole in it, and shoved a stick of dynamite inside. (I mean, I know I always keep a stick of dynamite handy, don't you?) And then, the ants went marching back to Yosemite Sam, dynamite watermelon and all and...you guessed it, there was a big bang and Yosemite Sam staggered around all charred and blackened. Classic Looney Tunes and the stuff that kids have been laughing at for years. So, Bree was watching all this and what was her reaction? She just did a long blink and said, "Oh my!"

They say truth is stranger than fiction but sometimes it's also funnier than cartoons too. While Brianna may not find Yosemite Sam getting blown up funny, real life can sure crack her up. Take the idea of what kind of animals lay eggs, and which don't. While talking on the phone to her grandma Bree started telling a silly story about her new kittens laying eggs and having babies. Grandma responded by saying, "But kitten's don't lay eggs, chickens do." Well, this made Bree start laughing hysterically and say, "Chickens don't lay eggs! You're joking me!" Hmm...can you blame me for not addressing forms of animal procreation already?

Bree has always had a great sense of self confidence. Being outgoing has never been a problem for her. In fact, just last week when meeting some new people for the very first time Bree demonstrated this. We went over to have dinner with a guy Trav works with and his whole family. Travis introduced us all. "And this is Brianna," he said. And she jumped in and said, "I'm a genius!"

As usual, it makes me laugh to hear Bree talk like an adult sometimes and use big words, just sound comical coming from such a small person. But, I still think that some of the funniest stuff about kids is things they say wrong. So, I leave you with some more translations of "Briannese"

Willy Wonka = Billy Yonka

Kids' Happy Meal = Happy Kids Meal

chop sticks = pork chops

New Babies!

2008-07-25T13:00:00.000-06:00

Kittens that is, two of them! It's been over a year since Bogart up and decided to live with a new family and I decided that I missed having something sweet and soft and fuzzy to pet. And, since it's been a bit crazy around here I also thought a little "pet therapy" would be nice and so Travis and I headed over to the local animal shelter to see what we could find to bring home. Turns out, our shelter overfloweth with kittens. There must have been at least 50 of them there and they have so many they're offering get 2 for the price of 1 adoption fee. Which, is a cat lover's dream of course. So, there I sat in kitten heaven for several hours, (because I can't help it, I am a crazy cat lady, and I accept that), trying to decide which two babies should come home. There were all cute and I loved all of them, but in the end it was these two little boys who stole my heart with their sweet dispositions.

Aren't they cute? And actually, though I didn't know it at the time, they're brothers too! They're both a Siamese mix. It was pretty funny though, I took Brianna with me to help choose our new babies and she's as bad as I am, loved them all. She would pick one kitten up and say, "This one! Can we take this one home, can we Mom?" Then a few minutes later she'd have a new cat in her arms, "Mom, I like this one. It's the best one. Let's pick this one!" I think she had picked every kitten at least once before I finally decided she would be happy no matter what and I picked two I thought had the nicest personalities.

Of course, Bree was thrilled, she's missed Bogart terribly and has been after us to get a new pet for awhile. So with two kittens she's just been in heaven. Only problem being that she loves them so much she pretty much refuses to put them down and feels she has to be holding one or the other of them all the time, she lugs the poor things around like stuffed animals. We're working on the proper care and handling of small animals. :) They actually like her pretty well though and snuggle up with her quite often.

And really Bree handles them pretty well for the most part. Noah however is another story. For some reason every time he spies a kitten he walks up to it and slaps it. Don't know what that's about but he and I have had much discussion about being gentle. Not sure if it's sinking in though, while he does seem to be slapping them less as the days go by I have to watch him now since he grabs fistfuls of fur and skin and I have to come to the rescue. Turns out I chose well though, since I found out these boys were foster parented in a house with a 3 year old. So, they're used to getting a lot of childlike attention and they handle it beautifully with much patience and resignation to their fate.

And it's not all manhandling for the new babies. Today Noah got a hold of a kitty toy, a string hooked to the end of a wand, and was waving it all around. Naturally, this made one of the kitties pounce all over and made Noah crack up every time he did. Actually Noah seems to have a soft spot for the kittens. I had to say "NO!" to one of them the other day for hopping up next to Noah's high chair and trying to eat food off his tray, which made Noah burst into tears and sob for several minutes. Not sure if he thought I was yelling at him or he just is a sensitive little guy.

Yep, I think overall it's working out wonderfully. Now if I could just name them! They've lived here for almost a week now and I remain undecided in the naming department. Naming of pets is an important thing for me, I don't just do it willy nilly. No, it has to be something a little bit special, the name must amuse me somehow (like when I found it fun and ironic to name a fish "Fluffy"), and seem fitting, and be meaningful too. I suggested Polka Dots as a prospective name to Brianna, since she likes to pretend she's a cat named Polka Dots quite often and therefore it meets the amusing and meaningful name requirements, but her response was, "No Mom, that's MY cat name, we can't name another cat that!" (Silly me!) Then, since my last cat was named Bogart I have toyed with the idea of naming the boys "Bo" and "Garth" respectively since it makes me smirk at my own silliness. But then, not sure if giving them similar names to the cat who decided to abandon me is a good thing or not. And, since they're brothers and one is black and the other mostly white I toyed around with doing something "theme-y" like two characters from a show or something. But, so far, nothing seems just perfect so for now they remain nameless. (Anybody got any brilliant cat name suggestions? Cat naming contest is now open!)

I'll let you know when the official names fall into place. But, whatever their names will be, I'm sure you'll hear more about them. Mixing cats and kids makes for some good anecdotes!

Brush 'Em if You Got 'Em

2008-07-24T17:42:00.001-06:00

Well, I've been meaning to show you Noah's teeth and here they are! Yep, two of them now. I guess all he wanted for his birthday was his two front teeth...

See them there on the bottom? It amuses me too since now that he has teeth Noah has become an obsessive brusher. Gotta keep those chompers healthy and clean, even if you only have millimeters of two teeth showing. I can't complain though, hand the kid a toothbrush and he's entertained for at least 10 minutes, and even makes me laugh by doing a back and forth motion over his teeth as well.

A cute shot of my little toothy man, which only reminded me of another little teether from a few years ago. Ahhh....memories!

Turning 1 year old and getting teeth has really made Noah feel like a big boy. He thinks he can do all kinds of big kid stuff and gets frustrated when he can't or when his mom tries to help him do it. Already wants to do everything himself and is too big for his britches!

And he's not far from doing a lot more on his own either. He's forever ditched his army crawl in favor of the traditional baby crawl and is pulling up and walking holding on to everything, even standing for a few seconds on his own. I'm sure he'll be taking his first steps in no time. He's also "talking" a ton. He can carry on a whole conversation in baby babble, throwing in the occasional "mama" or "dada" or his "I'm mad" noise, "nay-nay-nay." His newest thing though is going "uh-huh" or "mmm-hmm." So he pretty much answers yes to everything these days, even when he doesn't mean it... how very accommodating of him. Funny thing is he actually says it at the right time and seems to know what he's saying quite often. Of course, that may be partly due to the fact that it amuses me to try and phrase as many questions as I can that he can answer yes to. "You want me to pick you up?" "uh-huh." "Noah, would you like a snack?" "mm-hmmm." "Do you know the price of tea in China?" "mm-hmmm." "Would you, could you, eat green eggs and ham with a fox, in a box?" "uh-huh." And sometimes he and I, we just like to have a round of mutual agreement and so we just go back and forth. "Hey Noah, uh-huh," "Mmm-hmm," "uh-huh," "uh-huh," and if he really gets into it, he even nods his head yes as well. Believe me, I'm savoring it now, while I can, before it all turns to "No, no no no!" :)

One Year Old

2008-07-16T11:42:00.000-06:00

Yep, it's official, Noah is now a man and he has the mustache to prove it!

Well, an ice cream mustache anyway. Nothing like enjoying your first birthday with a nice vanilla ice cream cone. That's right, little Mr. Man turned 1 this Sunday, can you believe it?

He had a great time too, opened a few presents and smiled, danced, and clapped when we sang the Happy Birthday song to him, it was super cute.

Naturally, big sister Bree was there to "help" him open his presents and try them out for him before he even had a chance to play with them. Just trying to make sure they're safe for him like a dedicated big sister should.

Then she decided that she would make a great present and climbed into a gift bag. Uncle Doug obligingly toted her around for a bit.

They sure grow up fast don't they? He'll be shaving before I know it! :)

Riding the Range

2008-07-12T10:00:00.000-06:00

Back in the day before children, when time and money were in more abundance,Travis and I used to like to bike. In fact, years back I actually bought a nice mountain bike and we started riding dirt trails. (Have I ever told you the story about the time I fell off my bike when we were at a complete standstill? Yep, leave it to me to "crash" not from hitting a rock, not from running into a branch in the trail... nope, just while at a stop, with my feet touching the ground I manage to somehow have a moment where I lose my center of gravity. A freak moment where I just fall over for no good reason. Classic Beth maneuver. What can I say? I'm just a dork and always have been.)

Well, naturally, just when I was starting to really get into it, (biking, not being a dork), what do you think happened? Yep, along came Brianna and it's not highly recommended that pregnant women go bouncing over dirt trails on their bike. So, several years and a dusty bike later, we decided to try to pick it up again and just recently acquired a bike trailer. It's nice because it will fit both kids comfortably and even has room for a few supplies. Way better than the cheap-o baby bike backseat thing we tried when we only had one kiddo. So, the other day we loaded everything up and headed out to find a good trail.

The new trailer. It worked out really well, even on a dirt path. We ended up driving all the way up the the top of the Idaho/Montana border and we were literally riding the mountain range, the continental divide.

The kids are really into staying hydrated. You know, nothing like a refreshing drink of cool water after a grueling 300 yards riding passively in a bike trailer and one or the other kid pitching some kind of fit every 20 feet. Oh well, such is bike riding with small children I guess. At least we tried right?

Bree's really into the novelty of the backpack water system.

Who needs biking anyways? It's much more fun to make silly faces once your parents give up and finally get out the blanket and snacks and let you play around in the woods for awhile.

That Noah, so sassy with his tongue sticking out. I just don't know where he gets it.....

Actually it was really nice to just sit and relax away from all the hustle and bustle and noise and craziness of life that it's so easy to get swept into and just have a fun with your kids, or in the case of the next few pix, just have a nice mother/son moment.

(Disclaimer: Okay, I know darn well that these are shots Travis wouldn't be that thrilled about me sharing with you because they turned out a bit blurry. But you see, we have a bit of a philosophical difference of opinion when it comes to pictures. He thinks that it's all about the technical quality and I say that it's the content that matters and that pictures can be cute and worth having even if, due to fast moving subjects or camera malfunction, they aren't in crystal clarity focus.)

How can anyone resist that smile?

Coming in for a big ol' sloppy kiss with Mom. Awww...

Oh, and of course, the best part of any biking trip.... nothing makes you feel more like the queen of the forest as does, after conquering the fine art of outdoor peeing, standing there regally in your underpants. I do it all the time myself. :P

Keep Out!

2008-07-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

I guess it's never too early for siblings to want to keep each other out of their rooms. Bree is already in the "Keep out of my room!" phase with her little brother. She even went so far as to put a sign up on her door....

In case you don't read preschool writing, this says and I quote "Noah, keep out of my room because of all the small toys!" See, that's a picture of Noah at the top there, that little green baby up there, and the rest is written out. Not sure if she really added the part about small toys because she's genuinely concerned about that, or if she thought that would be a convincing argument to her parents that Noah should stay out of her room and not touch her stuff.

Naturally though, since that's the one place Brianna really doesn't want him to be, Bree's room is Noah's favorite hang out spot. Here he is blatantly ignoring the keep out sign and sneaking in when Bree isn't looking:

And heading straight for his favorite new place, on top of Bree's bed.

Yep, he's a climber.

Slow and steady and determined!

I guess it's a universal that the forbidden suddenly seems so much more desirable. I think he likes it just because he knows it's not his and he feels a little thrill being a daredevil in climbing up there. Little rascal!

A Tooth!

2008-07-07T21:26:00.000-06:00

Okay well, I don't have photographic evidence of it or anything, but just thought I'd let you all know that at long long last Noah has a tooth! Yep, it's not all the way out or anything but if you count a tooth as official once it's broken through the gums, then he definitely has one on the bottom. You can even see it, a little white line in his gums. Hooray! Finally! His first tooth breaks through only 5 days from his first birthday. I guess the little guy is just on his own time line...

A Wedding, a Holiday and a Business Trip

2008-07-07T20:24:00.002-06:00

I give up! I officially give up trying to do this blog on any kind of regular schedule, at least for the summer. Actually, that's kind of the story of my life right now... I'm trying to be more flexible, live in the moment, do the best I know how at any given time and loosen up a bit, stop trying to have so much control over my life and let it happen. So, why not apply that to my blog as well? It's supposed to be fun and not an obligation right? I know, I know, overly deep thoughts for this generally fluffy type blog. Truth is, I know I keep saying it, but things are just a bit crazy around here lately and again, I ask for your patience out there while I find my footing. And it doesn't help that everything seems to be happening at once lately. Big events and holidays and such all piling on top of one another left and right. So actually, I was out of town again this last week and it's virtually impossible in the midst of all the hulabaloo to find time to blog.

Anyways, I was back in Idaho to be a part of my baby sister's wedding. (Congrats Emily and Carl!) So naturally, there was much running around and getting ready, hair and nail appointments and spiffing up of self and family to look presentable for the big day. Since we were in town we also had a lot of fun celebrating the Fourth of July with our families, which I think is the first time we've gotten to do that since we first moved away 7 years ago. And, not to mention Travis's big 3-0 was in there too, so now he's officially over the hill! (Feel free to razz him about it all you want.)

See, I told you, just tons going on and it shows no signs of slowing down either. Coming up is Noah's first birthday and Travis has a big business trip soon where he'll be leaving me for a whole week to deal with the kiddos on my own...or rather, since I'm a big baby and don't feel like being a singe parent that long, I'll be back in Idaho so my mommy can help me. (Yes, I've been in Idaho more than home over the last month it seems!)

So that's the story from here...

Travis was the official photographer for Em's wedding but as such, I am forbidden from sharing any of the key shots with you at this point since they aren't fully edited and even the bride and groom haven't seen them yet. But, I was allowed to show you a few pix of the bride and her big sis.

Isn't she a beautiful bride?! I loved her dress and mine too.

Emily and her bridesmaids. Me on the right, Melissa, the baby of the family, in the middle, and Em's new sister in law on the left.

Brianna got to be one of the flower girls. It was her first time being one, and she was enthralled with her pretty dress and getting to throw the petals with her friend and new cousin, Ella. They did a great job too and looked adorable.

And even Noah dressed up for the occasion in a baby tux and bow tie. He was the handsomest man there.

After the wedding it was time for Fourth of July fun and we did all the usual stuff....

The kids had fun cooling off in the pool... and looking cool in their shades too!

It wouldn't be the fourth without enjoying some watermelon either. I think Noah must have almost consumed a whole watermelon all by himself! He loves the stuff! (Who doesn't?)

And then of course, there were fireworks. We did our own little show in the driveway and the kids loved it. Surprisingly, Noah wasn't afraid of them, even though the vacuum scares him, somehow the loud noises of fireworks were okay. I dunno....

Bree playing with her glow stick ball.

Enjoying a sparkler with Grandma.

Noahlogy

2008-06-25T15:49:00.000-06:00

Catching up with Noah...

Well, he's finally reached one important milestone we've all been waiting for. Nope, still no teeth yet (!) but he has graduated to regular, hands and knees style crawling, although he prefers and is still faster at his freestyle carpet swimming. He's also been pulling himself to a stand and is even starting to take a few steps while holding onto the furniture. Yep, he'll be a bundle of tiny walking and talking trouble-making soon. :)

When Brianna was a baby, I was worried that she'd be afraid of the vacuum. So, I made sure to smile broadly at her every time I started it up, to reassure her that I wasn't afraid, everything was okay, and it was no big deal. And, it seemed to work. Maybe too well in fact. I think she almost got to the point where she thought vacuuming was a funny joke and every time I pulled it out she would smile and giggle. But, alas, this vacuum reassurance strategy has not worked with Noah. He's still terrified of the vacuum. Hates it! That and the hair blow dryer, both. I'm not sure if it's just the loud noise, or if he thinks that it's hurting me somehow but he bursts into immediate and frantic sobbing every time. Pretty common thing for babies. The funny thing to me is that while he seems afraid of it, while I vacuum he insists on crawling along just behind me, bawling all the way.

It's always amusing to me to watch the kids as they get older get into pretending. Noah's already at it. In particular he likes to pretend to be drinking stuff out of empty cups, or in one case, a candle. Recently, he found a candle, a blue gel candle inside a glass and at first he must have really thought it was a small cup full of water. He held it up to his mouth and tipped it towards himself. Funny part was, he kept doing it over and over and smacking his lips and everything even though I'm sure after the 20th time or so, he HAD to have realized it wasn't what he thought...he must have just been having fun pretending. His other big pretending game lately is to fake sneeze and then laugh at himself. I actually remember Bree going through this phase too (think I even blogged about it). Yup, it just never gets old for him, fake sneezing repeatedly and laughing.

There's no question that Noah likes his big sister. He finds her funny, always laughing at her nonsense and following along behind her, wanting to play. But, they say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I know he must really like her because of his copycatting her the other day... Being the big sister, Bree has no problem yanking things out of Noah's hands and while she expects him to share, if she sees him with any of her things, she rushes over to yank it away. (We're working on curbing this lovely habit.) Well, for her birthday, Brianna got a jewelry box, you know, the kind with the little ballerina inside that dances to music when you open it? And Noah is just fascinated by this and wants to play with it all the time. Of course, what do you think happens when he gets his hands on it? Yoink! Snatched away by his sister. When this happened recently I said, as usual, "Bree, share with your brother and be nice to him. He likes that box. Show him how it works." Then I glanced over and caught Bree, instead of doing what I asked, holding her jewelry box out of reach and sticking her tongue out at her little brother. I was about to say something when Noah turned his head and looked at me and then stuck his own tongue out! It made me laugh.

Breeisms

2008-06-23T15:22:00.000-06:00

Been awhile since the last round of these so here you go...

Oh Tarter Sauce! - Bree's new favorite thing to exclaim when she's frustrated. It makes me laugh since it's right off of SpongeBob and I'm okay with that, considering, there are WAY worse things she could be deciding to spout off in an emotional moment.
Never! - Another one of Brianna's favorite exclamations these days. Yep, she's 4 now going on 13....has the teenage attitude down to a science. I tend to get the "never" thing a lot when I tell her no. Like this. "Mom, can I have some dessert?" "No. Not right now. After you eat dinner we'll have some dessert." "Fine! I'm never eating dessert or dinner again! Never never never!" Quite dramatic.
Ticklish Dog - the name of the big dog I won at the fair a few years back. I don't seem to remember him having a name before, but lately, he's Ticklish Dog, which, I suppose is no more odd than some of her other stuffed animals' names, like Motorcycle the cat, but still, makes me smirk because...how does she know he's ticklish?
Hand "Zappitizer" - This one is thanks to my good friend Karen, who is a great mom and always has some hand sanitizer on hand for keeping the kiddos germ free. Now Bree is obsessed and every time we see Karen and her kids Brianna has to say, "Um, Karen, I need some hand zappitizer!"
Helpful Grandma - We recently visited Idaho to attend the wedding of one of my many cousins. Naturally, Ginger, Bree's best buddy and stuffed dog pal, had to come along. This was all well and good until, after we arrived back home, we realized that Ginger was still at Grandma's house. Disaster! Brianna was completely devastated and there was a whole lot of her worrying about Ginger and feeling guilty that she'd not taken good enough care of her. After an extended search though, Grandma located Ginger in the exact same odd place Bree had stuffed her (a drawer not used often) and mailed her back to us. A few days later Ginger arrived safe and sound in the mail, complete with a new dog blanket, a little dish, and some "dog bones" (graham cracker Scooby Snacks). That afternoon when Bree was talking to her Grandma she said, "Thank you for mailing Ginger back to me, that was so helpful!" Needless to say it made her Grandma chuckle.

Mental Vacation

2008-06-20T13:47:00.000-06:00

Hello! I'm back! Were have I been you ask? Well, actually, nowhere special just taken a little blog vacation I guess. It keeps getting farther and farther between my posts, I know, which is unusual for me. Just you know, a lot going on lately... It's summer so we're more active in being out and about and doing things. Birthdays, weddings, holidays, traveling back and forth to Idaho to visit family and attend events, you name it, all coming in fast and furious these past few months. Not to mention I guess I'm finding it harder, as Noah is getting older, more active and more mobile, to find the time to get to my computer, or when I do, I don't seem to have the where-with-all to sit down and type coherently. So, yeah, guess I checked out there for awhile and took a mental vacation and just couldn't keep up with my regular blogging pace... Hey it happens people, even to a fairly prolific purveyor of everyday nonsense and mundane anecdotes such as myself. Anywho, I have decided to check back in to reality and life now and hope to get back into the habit, kick my lazy butt back in gear, and get on top of this blog again. Meanwhile life has gone on as usual around here... The kids continue to grow. Bree had a birthday this week and turned 4, and Noah will be 1 in July! And as usual, they alternately drive me crazy and/or make me laugh. There, now you're all caught up. Don't feel that satisfied you say? Okay, here's a few visuals to go along with that:

The birthday girl and her little helper.

As usual, Bree got totally spoiled this birthday. Just like last year, she got to have several parties, one in Idaho, we opened presents on her actual birthday, and another day had a few friends over for a birthday play date as well.

Showing off the new SpongeBob tennis headband and wristlets, which, I guess is a serious thing. We tried this year to get her things like games or outdoorsy type stuff, since she already has enough toys with small parts for Mommy to pick up!

Can't believe she's four years old already! Where has the time gone? It's just surreal...

And Noah's first birthday is in just a few weeks now! He's turned into a little ham, always laughing about some secret joke he seems to know.

...or making silly faces

The weather finally caught on to the fact that it's summer as well and we've been out enjoying it.
Here's Noah and I looking cool and chillin' at the park.

...and, of course, what would a picture narrative on this blog be without including one of Bree making a typical Brianna face. :)

Dish Helper

2008-06-05T10:07:00.000-06:00

As promised, here's pictures of my little dish helper lately. About time that kid started pulling his weight around here, although, not sure how helpful it is really, since he's all about unloading, even when the dishes are dirty! :)

Idaho

2008-06-03T10:07:00.000-06:00

Okay so, we actually visited Idaho a few weeks ago, for Memorial Day weekend, but due to photo processing time and one lazy blogger lately, you're just now getting to see the pix from our trip.

We started out by meeting Trav's side of the family at their cabin for some outdoor fun...

Bree chillin' with Papa Roger

Although she had a total blast just getting to do outdoorsy stuff, (takes after both her parents that way), one of the highlights of the weekend for her was getting to play with the 4 wheeler.

Bree had never been on one and although her mom was a little nervous about her getting hurt, Papa Roger was very careful with her and she sure thought she was hot stuff getting to sit up there by herself once they got back from their ride.

And I had a lot of fun too getting to relax and take it slow.

Here I am on a mushroom hunt.

And here I am in the woods with a BB gun! Watch out! (Trav told me to look mean.)

Me and Noah hangin' out.

Of course, it wouldn't be a cabin trip without a campfire...

The end goal of that, of course, being a perfectly toasted marshmellow.

After that we headed over to see my side of the family.

Here's Noah enjoying a chocolate covered strawberry with Great Grandpa Jerry, who, if you ask me, Noah takes after quite a bit. All I see when I look at Noah lately is my Grandpa Jerry.

And that's Noah's Great Great Grandpa Arvad (the one on the left side) who's about to celebrate his 91st birthday. Pretty amazing huh that Noah gets to know his Great Great Grandpa?

Here's some cute pix of them together:

And to wrap it up I just wanted to share some landscape shots of the beautiful drive on the way through Idaho. I don't know what it is, I guess growing up there, the landscape just imprinted itself on my soul and I'm a bit of a romantic about it, I just love the land. And as much as I have loved the places I've lived, it just doesn't feel quite like home without rolling brown foothills and big outcrops of rock jutting out of the ground. It's a beautiful place...