Door Bell Ditchers

With the help of my good friend Karen and her little boy we've been doing the
"12 days of Christmas"
for some neighbors on our street. Karen captured these great pictures of the boys making their "quick" escape.

To be honest, I would be shocked if our neighbors didn't already know who was leaving little treats and preschool crafts

Like these...


on their porches.

Stealth is not a strong point of 4 year old boys. Often times the doorbell is rung LONG before the person carrying the treat is even at the door. But- it has been so fun to do this little semi-secret service project with the kids. I think it's really helping put us all in the Christmas spirit.

Besides, secret or not; who wouldn't be happy to have cute boys like these two ringing your door bell every day?

Did you know that...

1. Marian can find her way to our bed in the dark...at 2 am?
   
2. Marian is quite talkative ...at 2 am?
   
3. She is very happy to touch your nose, lips, and eyes and keep poking them until you answer her questions of "what's that" ...at 2am?
4. She doesn't like to use her own pillow?
5. She likes to use yours?
6. With you!!!!
   
7. I need to do a better job of brushing Marian's teeth before putting her to bed?
   
8. Even while in a deep sleep, Marian is a very strong kicker?
9. If you try to put Marian back in her bed at 5 am she will wake up Jack, they will fight, Marian will cry, and end up back in your bed at 5:30 am?

I knew that. At least I know that, NOW.

Grandma Shari came to town!

My fabulous mom was in town last week and words alone cannot express what a great time we had. Nor could they convey all that she did to help me while she was here. So I've got pictures.

Before the kids even gave her a chance to get dressed...she played memory with Jack...

and painted Marian's nails (pink of course). Marian showed everyone her "pretty nails" all week long.

Then, thanks to Chad, my mom and I headed out on our own and lunched in Concord then went on a tour of the Louisa May Alcott Home.

My mom is so good at doing fun little crafts with the kids. They LOVED making Gingerbread men (and women) cutouts. They also made REAL gingerbread people and decorated them and hung them on the tree. But they disappeared, limb by limb before I could get a picture of them.

If you're wondering why Jack is ALWAYS in his pajamas in these pictures, it's because Jack is ALWAYS in his pajamas. The minute he gets home from school or church he puts his pajamas back on. He would live in sweats every day if I let him!

Grandma Shari also taught the kids the important strategies of paper, rock, scissors. I don't have a picture of it but it's because of all the fun things my mom did with the kids that when we played "spotlight" my mom was chosen every time!

The thing I looked forward to the most was making my mom's Yule Kaka. It's a Scandinavian Christmas bread that she makes every year for Christmas. She showed me how to make it and then helped me deliver the loaves (minus the 3 we devoured ourselves) to my neighbors.

It tasted as good as it looked!

My mom also got to come to Marian's beloved "dance class" and Marian was so proud to show off for Grandma.

My mom also helped me hang a lot of pictures and curtains in our apartment. I'm not ashamed to admit that we both kept saying how glad we were that it was a rental and not my own walls we were desecrating with extraneous holes. We were also glad that Chad wasn't there to see how much jimmy-rigging went on. BUT, the end result is fabulous!


You can't truly appreciate the difference these new curtains and rod make...but the before pictures were too painful. The curtain rod was sagging in the middle and my homemade curtains of which I was once so proud...were no longer making anyone proud.

Thanks mom for the FABULOUS visit! I felt so spoiled getting you all to myself! The kids, Chad, and I keep asking..."When is Grandma Shari coming again?" We love you!

The perfect Saturday...in pictures and Pulitzer Prizes

Saturday was practically perfect in every way. We drove home from a great Thanksgiving in NYC in this

The kids did a lot of this
(imagine picture of them sleeping in their car seats...I didn't have my camera on me)

These guys
beat these guys
In overtime!!!

And for an early birthday present Chad took me to go see this guy

Joshua Bell was fabulous!!!

Seriously, he is awesome. I remember swooning over him with my violin friends when I was in Jr. high and High school. I think I have gotten his autograph 3 times. Even though I no longer swoon over Mr. Bell, I still LOVE Love love hearing him perform. I haven't been to the symphony in over two years and the Boston Symphony was amazing. I am always amazed at the beauty that people can create in a Symphony and the BSO did not disappoint. Joshua Bell was flawless, inspiring, and really the performance was just plain thrilling. I loved it! And Chad (who gets the best husband of the year award for pausing the BYU-UTAH game at half time to take me to the concert) also really enjoyed it. I think Bell's encore performance of a virtuoso rendition of Yankee Doodle sealed the deal. All in all it was a practically perfect Saturday.

And now for the Pullitzer Prize. This is so worth the 15 minutes it takes to read/view so do what you've got to do to check out this Pullitzer Prize winning article about Joshua Bell's perfomance in a Subway station. Click HERE. It's awesome. Thanks Chad (and Bronco) for the great day!

All dressed up with no place to go

This is how Marian typically looks during the day. Arms loaded with purse, tool box, a baby or two (often a back pack on her back), boots zipped up and hat donned. Unfortunately for her, thanks to an ear infection she had to spend most of last week at home.

But, she took her medicine like a good little girl...

and LOVED it!

And when he wasn't in preschool- she had Jack to teach her the joys of flooding the bathroom.


He was also kind enough to also play dress-ups. What a brother.

"Are all the children in their beds..."

For some reason I have strong memories of my dad reading me this poem as a little girl.

"Wee Wille Winkie runs through the town
upstairs downstairs in his nightgown
rapping at the window
crying through the lock
'are all the children in their beds
for now 'tis eight-o-clock'"

With that poem in mind I often peek in at the kids before I go to bed. The other night this is what I found.

Toys EVERWHERE in a room that had been spotless at bedtime.

Jack's bed...empty

Marian's bed...full

Sound asleep


and two nights later Jack's bed looked like this...


So precious. I LOVE how much they LOVE each other.

Jack has been particularly sweet to Marian lately. Which is saying a lot since her new favorite phrases are

1: I had it first! (which is rarely a true statement)
and
2: No Jack! I can not share! I Can not!

You've got to love her spunk!

According to the ultrasound...

We are so excited...and SO surprised. I'm through with the whole mother's intuition business and early ultrasound suspicions, because apparently they can be entirely wrong! But who cares, it's a girl and I am thrilled!

For the record

As a result of my " clunker or keeper" post Chad was concerned that it looked like I wanted a mini-van now but that he was somehow getting in the way. Not true. In fact as I look around the house I think I have discovered that Chad's philosophy about being a good husband is apparently getting Mary just about whatever she wants. (Good philosophy babes).

We're for sure going to get a mini-van (we'd prefer a sports car really, but having 3 car seats just really makes that awkward). We just haven't got around to the actual car shopping yet. The thought of going car shopping seems like such a pain, and Chad has had to work weekends the past month...such a bummer. So there's just been no time. Besides we have till February March-ish right?

Any car shopping advice?

It could be a girl

I have to keep reminding myself of that. I have been so confident that it is a boy that it just occurred to me that it COULD in fact be a girl...which would be just great. I just REALLY think it's a boy. Well as Chad (the realist) says, I have a 50% chance of being right. We'll find out if I am on Thursday. Stay tuned.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Chad's firm had tickets to go see THE Barnum and Bailey Circus last week so we took Jack and he LOVED it. He was pretty impressed with the jumping dogs and the motorcycles that rode around in a globe cage (who are these people?). He was most excited for the Tigers...but I think they were a bit of a disappointment for him. I'm not sure what he expected, maybe more growling or more up close interaction? Who knows. The flying trapeze artists made quite the impression on him. I have found him countless times leaping from things in the house that were not meant to be lept from. His explanation is always that he was being like "the swinging people without any pants." It was especially fun to spend a weeknight with Chad. Even Marian had a great time playing (definitely not sleeping...even though it was after 10 when we picked her up) at a friend's house. But perhaps the best part came after running errands the next day...

I knew that there was no chance both of them would stay asleep if I took them inside. So I just hung out in our driveway listening to a little un-interupted NPR. It was perhaps more amzazing than anything on a flying trapeze.

BYU 7- TCU 38

I would like to thank everyone for their condolences, flowers, and well wishes for Chad at this time. He is doing as good as can be expected. Contrary to claims that he is through with BYU football... "It's just too painful" ... I anticipate that he will make a full recovery in time for the Wyoming game Nov. 7th.

Hang in there girls.

Mother daughter bonding

Something about being pregnant and taking care of two kids by myself for excessively long periods of time (thank you Goodwin Procter LLP) makes me feel like indulging myself in guilty little pleasures from time to time. Yesterday, I allowed Marian to join me.

Nothing like drinking gourmet dark chocolate milk,

right out of the bottle,

in the front seat of the car,

in the parking lot of Jack's preschool,

to make a girl

...and her little girl

really happy.

Clunker or Keeper?

How many trips to the auto mechanic (that is not close at all) does it take to get the "check engine" light turned off?

I'm not sure, but apparently it is going to be more than 8.

I've tried 3 different mechanics. These last guys seem to be intelligent and honest. They are AAA certified. That counts for something right? I think they cringe every time they see me come back in. The feeling is mutual. I nearly put myself into early labor a month ago when I walked/bused it home from the auto shop with both kids. Walking 5 miles around town with two kids is not awesome.

I've tried calling the guys at "Car Talk" but their line is always busy. They should answer my call. I've got great stories and I'm trying to come up with a noise to make for my car. They seem to like people who can make funny car noises.

Chad, can't I just have a mini-van? Or as my sisters would say..."daddy, can I get a new Jeep Wrangler?...please daddy please"

In the mean time, I'll take our little 2000 Toyota corolla back to the mechanics. But I'm warning you. If the check engine light comes on one more time...my next step is this.

If only they'd go to sleep

After 2 years of sleeping in a "big boy bed" Jack finally has "big boy bedding" to go with it. Thanks to shopping tips from a good friend and decorating tips from my mom...here is the finished product!

Marian has moved into the fire-truck bed... at least on a trial basis. Our success rate of her actually going to sleep in there is about 15%. She and Jack LOVE being together at night...a little too much and just play and play.

Thanks to my mom's great advice I had the two kids bedding coordinate...the only problem being they don't really make bedding for toddler beds...at least not that would match Jack's bedding. So I made my own! Using the striped sheet from Jack's bedding and a blue sheet that matched, I made a little duvet cover for the Toddler sized comforter I bought at IKEA. A few hours on the sewing machine, some cutting and pinning, and voila! I have to say, I am pretty darn proud of myself! Granted, my house was a disaster last night as I was trying to finish while I should have been making dinner and/or moderating the battles over the doll stroller. A dinner of pancakes and tuna fish sandwiches never hurt anyone though right?

...In case you were craving a close up.

Orange you glad...

...if you're thinkin "I didn't say banana?" You are a kindred spirit.

Questions

Jack is always full of questions.

When am I going to have hair on my belly-button like daddy?
Why can I not watch 5 shows today?
Why does the car have lights in the front and behind? Can you turn off the lights at night?
Is that a guy or a girl? He looks like a guy but his hair is like a girl. (that one was asked louder than I would have preferred)
Why don't carrots have seeds inside?

I could go on and on. But ever since we told Jack we were having a baby (which we are- sometime in March...very exciting) the questions have gotten even more interesting.

Does the baby have clothes on in your tummy?
Does the baby wear a diaper in your tummy? -he was quite concerned with my answer.
Is the baby bringing me a present? Is it going to bring me a big truck?
Did I have a "lillical" (umbilical) cord too? Where did it go? THEY CUT IT!!!??

My absolute favorite was one that came up while we were eating dinner a few weeks ago.

So- is the baby just swimming around with all the food in your tummy or something?

The idea of Jack envisioning the baby swimming around with bits of chicken, rice, and broccoli gave me a good laugh.

Oh to see the world through the eyes of a 4 year old!

What I just googled

"How to get black crayon of the brand new cream painted kids table you bought this weekend (that you have been wanting to buy for years) even though you made your kids use a table cloth while coloring and thought all the crayons had been put away once they finished."

Ok, so I searched for something a little less verbose but you get the idea.

My heart is still racing, Marian is still in her crib for time out. Jack is still in his room for jumping in Marian's crib while I was trying to clean the table. And my table still... looks brand new. Thanks to a little Lemon Soft Scrub and a prayer.

Well Chad, at least now we know that not only is this table really sturdy, but it cleans up beautifully too!
Sigh.....

Madame Librarian...in song

Are you sick of posts about Marian yet? If so (how could you?) skip this. Chad always sings "Marian madame librarian" to Marian and she has started singing along. This is perhaps a more for grandmas and grandpas post so really, feel free to skip.

A few pre-viewing notes:

1. I sing in this video, you have been forewarned
2. Marian usually sings along a little better than this video suggests so there are some awkward pauses.
3. Marian REALLY wants to watch herself on the camera whenever it is out...so towards the end, that's what she is begging for when she says "I see"
   

2 Years of Marian!

How can you not LOVE that face? The one that really gets me is the one of her in the car seat the day we brought her home from the hospital. At 4 pounds 7 ounces the car seat buckle was bigger than her face. I can't believe they let us take her home. Those of you who know Marian now, know that big things (and screams) come in little packages. More birthday postings to follow.

Madame Librarian

My baby girl turned 2. This year she definitely understood that it was her SPECIAL day! Chad (who as I have mentioned before is wrapped...at least five times...around her little finger) made sure that she knew days in advance that her birthday was coming and that she should be excited. She'd been telling everyone that it was "Marian's (pronounced may-yun's) birthday for days. Because of Chad's busy work schedule we celebrated a day early and here are the pictures and videos from the great event!

So nurturing. Mom the baby doll accessories were a huge hit...as you can tell.

You can tell in this video that after singing AND presents for Marian, Jack had had enough of it being Marian's birthday. Marian was not the least bit distracted from enjoying her moment.


Since Jack started preschool Marian has been adamant that she needed a back pack...and so of course she got one.

The back pack was the thing that took Jack over the edge. He ran to get his back pack and then broke into full blown sobs because until that moment he hadn't realized how tragic it was that his backpack was without wheels and a handle.

All in all however, it was a fun celebration. Although most days she makes a concerted effort to live up to the reputation of being a "terrible 2", having her in our family is anything but terrible. She makes us laugh with her adorable "dancing" gives kisses that can melt your heart, and has a personality bigger than her body to keep us all entertained (and in line). Happy birthday baby girl!