Highlights

I ran into my aunt last night at a cousin's baptism and was informed that I have not posted recently. So I getting to it. In the past month I have had several blog posts written in my mind. Instead of blogging I read and sold a house. Those two things took up all my spare time. So what has been going on?

• Lots of torture, fighting, tears and time out for all three. Macy lives to take care of Braden and tease Kelsey. Kelsey thrives on being the victim, pestering her sister and bugging her brother. Braden loves to torment Kelsey. His favorite tricks is to sneak up and grab one of Kelsey's toys and run off with it. Of course he is laughing the whole time. For my enjoyment, since I have to put up with all the chaos this brings, I have changed timeout rules. The girls now have to sit in time out with their noses in the corner for 5 minutes. It is quite hilarious when you hear the muffled question "Can I come out now?"
• Kelsey is addicted to the Wii. When we first got it we couldn't get her to play. Now I can't get her to stop. She is always so proud when she wins crowns for herself or other players she sometimes plays. She always wants to play with her friend Kristina so they can play the Wii together. When she wants to play Mario Kart it is off to her friend's house. When she wants to bike, it is our house.
• As I briefly mentioned before, my cousins were finally able to close on a house. This whole experience for them (and me) was a nightmare. She says they will never move again and I don't blame them. The whole ordeal started back in April and I never want to re-live it again. It would also take too long to document because it was trying. So I will not give details and one day my memory will fade and I will only remember the point at which I gave them the key.
• I read 3 books. Somehow I need to learn moderation in every aspect of my life; devouring chocolate, inhaling dessert, reading books, writing a blog post, spending money, etc. I wish I could say I need to curtail my scripture study but I actually need more of that.
• Braden wears me out. He has reached the terrible twos mixed with the most adorable, sweetest personality. He is always two messes ahead of me. The other day I came down from doing my hair and he had emptied a whole box of tissues and dumped out two water bottles on the floor. He had taken his laundry basket down the stairs and emptied all of its contents on the stairs. Then he found my wallet (by climbing on the table). Credit cards were all over and he was putting pennies and dimes in the return vent. He loves to climb on to stools, counters tables and dressers. He has found that if he pulls out a drawer it can act as a step. I now have a picture of each child with make-up all over their face. Kelsey was the only one who didn't put it on herself. Her sister Macy thought she use a little color when she was 4 or 5 months old.



Going for a gothic look.



It is hard to see but that is not a strand of hair on her
right-side of the forehead. That is eye liner.

• Went to the boat show and am now ill. Did you know that for $600 a month you can have a new boat? And because they want to give these toys away for next to nothing, you only have to make that monthly payment for 20 years.



Incognito at the boat show.






• Celebrated my birthday. I went out to lunch with my grandma and mom at Cafe Normandie. The pastries looked scrumptious, but I held out for one of my favorites later that night. Brian took me to one of my favorite restaurants, Tuscany. My entree was okay and the 7'4" cake was still to die for.

It's a Good Thing I am not a Betting Woman

All things Brian did today that I thought I would eventually have to do:
took down the Christmas Tree
cleaned my cars air filter
vacuumed the entire house

I am one lucky woman and am glad I don't place bets. I would have lost big. Good thing I have learned to not bet against Brian. 99% of the time if I say I bet I am right, I turn out wrong. Thanks honey. You are the best.

Oh and he turned up the thermostat to 73 degrees for a bit.

How's Your Day?

This morning I woke up and it was just like most mornings. A little shouting to get kids moving to make it on time but nothing extreme. Then my world collapsed.

I take Kelsey and her friends to school then it is off to the gym with Braden. When it is time for my run all treadmills were taken so I did more time on the elliptical. This was not a terrible blow to my day. The punch came when my cell phone rang 6 minutes into cardio. It was an FHA appraiser asking when the water will be turned on at a home I am trying to help my cousin buy. Settlement is supposed to be tomorrow but last night at 5 PM the underwriter gave us 4 more conditions to meet before she approved the loan. Last night it was still possible to meet the Friday deadline but it would take a lot of coordination. One of the conditions to meet was an appraiser needed to confirm that the water worked and to do that the water needed to be turned back on to the home.  Well the loan officer said he would take care of that condition. Guess what the loan officer did not do. The water was still shut off and the appraiser couldn't perform his task. That meant quick work by me but now there is really no way to have settlement tomorrow. So to salvage things as best I could and ensure that settlement happens on Monday, I have to cut my workout short.

I get home to start working on the water problem. I go to wash my hands and no water comes out of my tap. Now I get to call my utility company for myself. There was a break and they hope to have the water back on sometime today. Of course today I didn't finish the breakfast dishes before the gym because I was on carpool. That also meant the counter was still a mess and food in the sink. I have no clean forks. There is no way to shower. On next months goal list is to get my food storage somewhat back to par. When we moved from AZ we dumped all of our water and have not filled it for various (at time logical sounding). I could just kick myself for not being on top of my food storage.

By this time, I need to be getting ready to pick up the kids. I decide to at least change from my gym clothes. I use the bathroom and right as I am finishing I hear my phone ringing. I know it is about the real estate deal (I had been waiting for someone to call me back). So I book it to my cell, not flushing because I have no water. I finish the call and go back to the bathroom to finish dressing. Guess who I find. Braden is standing in front of the pee filled toilet with a cup he has filled and extra toilet paper he has added. I try to wash his hands but there is no water and I have no food storage water.

This was not my best day and all this happened before 11:30 AM. I just hope the water comes on soon so I can shower before I have to go meet with people later on today.

The silver lining to all of this is: I did not get to use the treadmill so I am not as sweaty as I could have been. Because I spent more time on the elliptical I got to read more of my book (I can't run and read at the same time). I don't have to do the laundry today or mop my floors like I intended.  There is nothing good about Braden playing in pee water.

Here are some happier pictures.

Today we had an indoor picnic in the kitchen. Kelsey invited a friend over and they wanted a picnic.


  

Braden likes to walk around in women's shoes (at least it's not their underwear).



He listens to a lot of good music.



He has become a champ at utensils.

 

If I were a Betting Woman

The philosophical questions I pose today are "When do you think Brian will take this Christmas tree downstairs?" and "What are the odds I put it away?" As I have pondered such deepness I think the odds are about the same as the outcomes of "who will wheel the garbage cans out to the street for garbage day" and "who will shovel the driveway after a snow storm".  It is probably fair enough to say the odds are fairly similar to the outcome of my laundry abilities. Many times I am asked "I got this ... on my shirt.  Do you think it will come out in the wash or do I need to take it somewhere?"  It all depends on what type of risk taker you are.  As to the tree, I think my money is on me and the length of time will depend on how long I try to wait him out.  No tree man is coming on a set day to take it away like the garbage man comes to take my trash.

Kelsey bug

So Kelsey can sometimes be a little whiny but for the most part she is pretty dang cute.  The other day she was asking me how milk was made.  I explained that cows make milk and we get the milk from cows.  Her answer to this was "If I were a cow I wouldn't want to be milked. I would run away." No part of our conversation included how you milk a cow or where exactly you milked. I told Brian that story so the next day he was teasing her a bit and said "I heard you don't want to be a cow." She stated in a matter of fact way "No because I don't want to be milked. I would run away."

Today to make up for some of my other mothering areas I took the kids swimming.  They both had the day off of school. We were playing by some jets and small bubbles were created by the jets. Kelsey looks at them and says "We are in 7UP."

It is kind of sad. You would think that since we had a pool for 3 out of the 5 years of Kelsey's life that she would be quite the swimmer. She loves the water and can't get enough. But if you saw her at the pool or even tried to make her swim you would never guess that at one point in her short life she did know how to swim. She has even swam across a small pool and once pushed her sister in the pool so she could jump in faster. Guess I will have to find a really good teacher this year that will force her back into swimming.

Oh the Cuteness

So Braden just oozes cuteness. Actually all my kids oozed cuteness at this age. They are still cute but come with a little more attitude and whine (can I have a little cheese with that).

Any ways, Braden is quite the yaker and has many words in his vocabulary. He has reached the terrible twos and doesn't share with his cousin Ellie anymore. In fact when she is around you hear "No Eddie" quite a bit which is usually followed by crying because Braden has taken something away. The other night she came over and Braden had a whole tub of animal crackers in front of him. When he saw her he quickly pushed the tub behind his back and said "no Eddie". So she went for his lawn mower.  Braden made like lightening and reached the mower first. So Ellie eyed the crackers. He ran to the crackers. So she grabbed the lawn mower. Then he took it from her and she began to cry. And so it goes and now he fits in at nursery.

He is very active and quite the stinker. He makes twice the mess as I am cleaning up the first mess. He purposefully pees on the carpet. Last night he pulled his diaper off, ran away from me and within five seconds he had peed on the carpet with a huge grin and a laugh. Kelsey has taught him that it is funny to fart on purpose and one of his favorite places to do this is in the tub. He has to feed himself and has to have his own utensils. Definitely the terrible twos.

However, he can be polite. He will say "tank you", "welcome", and "'cuse me"(this one only when forced to). His other favorite phrases are "watch, mom watch me" and "nee' help".

The cutest thing he does is when I am hunched on the ground doing this or that he comes up behind me and wraps his arms around me and says "huggie". Of course I shake a little and say how much I love huggies so he gives me more. It has turned into quite the game and he now gives everyone huggies. Most of the time with others he gives huggies facing them but he always says "huggies". Tonight Brian asked for a huggie. Brian was kneeling on the ground so Braden pushed past him and went from behind, wrapped his arms around Brian's behind for a true huggie. Braden is quite the lover and most of the time freely gives away kisses (any guesses as to how we passed the illness). Luckily I am the receipient of many of these kisses. Sometimes they are sweet and sometimes they are forceful, but I love them all. 

He is quite the mama's boy and most of the time I like it. There is a point in every day when I hate it. This is usually when he wakes up from his nap and I am needing to start dinner. At this time of day he wants me to hold him and it takes a long time before he will allow me to put him down. Sometimes because of time issues I have to make him cry at my legs and trip me up. Sometimes I tell him to find someone else. Luckily he still loves me.

He is very good about going to sleep. When it is nap time or bed time all you have to do is get his blanket, say "nigh nigh", then he repeats that, give everyone kisses, and then he wants you to lay him in bed. Generally you don't hear another peep from him until he wakes up.

Christmas 2010

The holiday season has come and gone.  The decorations went up and have already come down. Except for the pathetic 3 strand light display in front of my house.  It is too dang cold to get to those just yet (whose idea was it to move back to a place that can remain below freezing for several days in a row).  Now is the time to get to work on those resolutions, de-clutter the house (a load went to the DI today), and start thinking about organizing those taxes.  Since I don't want to crack open the taxes I will procrastinate by giving a re-cap of the season. Then after that I will continue to procrastinate by reading a book.

• Party, party, party with many sightings of Santa Claus.  Braden loves to point out any Santa and say "Santa" over and over.  He never did get comfortable enough to sit on his lap.  The two most memorable Santa stories feature Macy and Kelsey.  Macy and Kelsey went with Carol and Alan to their ward party.  When Santa asked Macy what she wanted she blurted out "a pink snuggie".  When she got back to grandma, she was almost in tears because she really didn't want a pink snuggie and she didn't know why she said that.  What she really wanted was a pink robe.  So she wrote him a letter with her correction and then the next night at our ward Christmas party she told him the right item.  Kelsey's story goes like this.  Dad asks her what she is going to ask Santa for.  Kelsey says "a GPS".  Trying not to laugh Brian asks her again.  "A GPS."  "Kelsey do you know what a GPS is?" "Yes. It is one of those pink things that you can play games on and write on." Brian had no clue and was trying to keep a straight face. This is when I come to the rescue and say "you mean a Nintendo DSI?"
• Gingerbread houses were a little pathetic. Maybe I was a little bah humbug or I decided not to stress myself out this year but I did not make real gingerbread and this night was a quick ad lib complete with Halloween candy. (The non-stress thing didn't work because the original Santa list was given right before Thanksgiving and all was bought. That was when we started to visit the Santa's and the truly desired came out. It was nothing close to the original list so back out to the stores I went trying to find the best deals because the lists now included big ticket items.) The girls went to a birthday party the next night and made another graham cracker gingerbread house. The second house turned out looking 10 times better, but my real buttercream frosting tasted 10 times better when I started to devour the houses.
  
  

  

  Kelsey's



Macy's houses, who got to the roof?

• Besides the pathetic gingerbread houses, I never sent out Christmas cards. Maybe New Year's cards or Valentine cards. Maybe you will have to wait until next year.
• There was lots of "nandy" (from the words of Braden) and a love candy canes blossomed and covered him on several occasions.

• Of course there was plenty of snow with some really cold nights.  There was also some warm nights, comparatively speaking.  One of the warm nights we made our way to Temple Square.  It is the only way to get this mom out to see the temple lights.



Macy getting a ride to the bus stop from the neighbor



Proof that dad sometimes shovels the driveway


• Macy had a school performance and sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and another song I can't remember nor did I get a good video to help my memory.
• Braden was back to his normal self 3 days after Christmas. Not in time to really enjoy Christmas like he should have and not in time to make for a good family portrait session that was scheduled the Monday after Christmas. That was my mom's Christmas present.
• We thought everyone was all recovered when Kelsey threw up at grandma's on New Year's Eve.  She was fine the next day so maybe she ate too much junk.
• My sister has been back in town for the whole month of December and so we played a lot with her and Ellie. Braden passed on the bug to just in time to send it up to my sister's in-law's household. We like to share like that and it was the season of giving. Before getting sick we went to the Festival of Trees, shopped at the mall, watched the U of U football bowl game, went rock climbing, and made the gingerbread houses.

• Santa came so I guess the kids were good.  Need a pillow pet?  We have seven of them and yes we still only have 3 kids.  Brian got his camera. I never bought my treadmill (there is just too much I want to spend money on this upcoming year). Don't worry I did plenty of shopping to make up for my lack of gift. It just didn't come close to the treadmill I want. The girls received a DSI each, a pink robe, footed pajamas (Kelsey was so excited to get these), zoobles, a book, Guess Who, Chutes and Ladders, fingernail polish and a pretend hair salon.  The DSIs have been used everyday since. Braden opened cars, more cars, balls, more balls, a tool set, a lawn mower and the coolest shoes. You can't forget Buzz Lightyear.  That has been one of his favorites and we have heard it a lot. The family opened up a Wii and there have been many wakeboarding battles.



Christmas Eve we spent at home with just the kids.





Christmas Eve trying on the new duds. Braden wanted everyone else's PJs.





Don't let them fool you. Many times the threat came out "If you are not nice to your sister, I am calling Santa."



Braden was there too and he did wear his own PJs.



It may seem like night but it is really 7 AM. The girls got dressed before getting us up.



The new Sunday clothes from grandma. Don't mind the blur. It is something with our new camera and we are not happy about it.

• After Christmas the kids had a sleepover with each set of grandparents. 
• Brian and the girls went tubing at Soldier Hollow on one of the coldest days of the year.  They went with Jake's family (my sister's husband). While eyelashes froze together, snot froze to facial hair, and frostbite formed on anything it could; Braden, Ellie and I (and Kelsey after one run) sat warm and snug in the lodge.  Okay I did have on 2 jackets the whole time and sat by the fireplace. They had fun but it would have been 100 times better on a warmer day.

Emily, Brian, Kelsey, Stef and Macy each in 3 layers of clothing.



Bundling up for one last run at 5:45 PM. Craziness!



Braden trying on Uncle Jeff's goggles.

• There was the Peter Breinholt Christmas concert with our friends.
• The girls and I went to the Dickens Festival.
• And I sold my first home the middle of December. I hope to sell my second the end of January.

By the way, if you got through this give yourself a star and then take a break from the computer so you don't strain your eyes any longer.