Best Purchase of 2009?

Grandma and Grandpa sent us some money for Christmas. Chase and I carefully laid out our little wish list of what special things we would like to purchase with such special money.


This is what we bought:







Deseret Book sells these little gems. Chase has fallen in love with these books. He carries them around. He puts them in their special place. He considers them a "good read". It makes his day to peruse their pages, scouting out fun activities to do with Mom and Dad.

I am thrilled that this Handsome Harry finds nothing greater, than to spend time with his parents. Being an only child creates an interesting dynamic in a family. This sweet pea would love nothing more than to have a brother to conspire with, and a sister fight with. But, for now, we are making the grade. At least when he is not playing with his friends, mind you.





This was our first Mom/Son activity from our new book. He picked this one out while we were still in the car, on the way home from Deseret Book. These are our Jell-o boats, made from hollowed out oranges, and, uh, Jell-o. The next morning, we slurped them for an after breakfast snack. He was pretty pleased with us. So was I.


It is amazing how much a parent can accomplish when they take the time to get on the floor and play with their child. Life seems to stop, and get very simple, when the focus is where it needs to be. Why do I keep forgetting this?


Now, if I could only find a magic book that helps me summon the magical fairy that can do my laundry, cooking, bills, house cleaning, every day life...so I can play with my favorite 6-year old all day. Until then, you will pardon my clutter, won't you? I am busy discovering the cure for parental frustration.

A Room In the Inn...Finally

Chase was a little surprise baby, to say the least. Our new house was only semi-ready for a little baby. We didn't care! You know what they say. Babies can sleep in a drawer, right?

I presume to have a few talents. Choosing paint colors for walls, and decorating said walls, are not on the list of great can-do's. Chase was destined to move in...as is. The poor little fellow was stuck with the paint color already slapped on the wall. He was even more stuck with a mama who lack any creativity to know what else to do to his little haven, to make it more haven-like.

Until now.

Yup. I finally got it together. It only took six years. But. He finally has a room! He is absolutely in LOVE with his new pad. I have to admit, it looks like some celestial being heaved galactic goo all over the place. But. He finally has a room! We are pretty pleased with the outcome. We used our creativity to make half of the decor, and Christmas and birthday gifts for the rest. I have signed myself up to make a valance to match his bedspread. Sigh. But. He finally has a room!

Here are some pics to prove it:

Chase has had a love affair with the planets, and all things stellar since the age of two. It was only fitting that his room take him on a trip to outer space. He wanted black walls. Nope can do. The dark blue represents a compromise, and the fact that mom found some really cool pictures depicting outer space in shades of dark blue. Mom's so smart.

While I do consider myself somewhat proficient with the names and colors and functions of the planets (thanks to an inquisitive child...and the Internet), I can only vouch for them being in the right order, not the right placement. They are placed according the the aesthetically pleasing eye of the decorator. Notice, Uncle Erik. Pluto made the cut. Oh, if you could have only been a fly on the wall when I tried to explain to Chase why some were ousting Pluto as an official planet. HILARIOUS! Let's just say, Pluto is safe in our book.

Chase's new bed and closet.

All of the things most important to Chase.

Bob. The recipe cards stuck in Bob's eyeball are Chase's Christmas presents to his robot buddy. He is so considerate, no? He has also seen fit to include Bob in the decorating of the season. He has a painted ice skate on his shoulder.

Enjoy your new room, Buddy! Sorry it took so long. At least we do have the proof that you DIDN'T have to sleep in a drawer...thank goodness.

Gag Me With A Spoon

I know we have a tendency to think that our own children are the cutest, sweetest, funniest, generally most fabulous children. Most of the time, at least. But seriously, I really do think that this boy is quite amazing. He is one funny nugget. After being away from this sport for a whole week, I have come to really love the little things about him. I just plain get a kick out of the way he talks. I love to sit really close to him, and watch the way his mouth moves when he talks. He has such adorable annunciation. I am not the least bit biased, right?





While in Provo,I was able to visit with this boy every night, before bedtime, thanks to our webcam Skype. I missed him so much. After a couple of days away from him, I was really missing his big brown eyes. I asked him to look up close in the camera and let me see his fabulous eyes. He got up close, batted his eye lashes a bit, then winked at me. Ooooh. Be still my heart.


The first night that I was home, I afforded myself some extra snuggle time with him at bedtime, so we could have a long chat. He was really chatting it up with me. We covered quite a few topics, probably limited to the interest of adorable 6-year old, and their adoring mothers. My personal favorite topic of the night? Hot cereal.


My bub informed me that one morning, he had wanted hot cereal for breakfast. There wasn't any of his favorite kind left, so he decided to try the less appealing oatmeal...which has always had less than stellar results for this kid. This experience was no exception:


"You tried oatmeal? Did you like it this time?"


"No, I really don't like oatmeal. Do you know why I don't like oatmeal?


"Nope. Why don't you like oatmeal?"


"I like the taste of it. I just don't like the feel of it in my throat. After a few bites, it always get stuck in my throat. It makes me gag. Do you know what I have to do when things get stuck in my throat and make me gag? I have to reach down and scrape it off with my tongue."


He gave me a complete visual.


I sure love this kid. He is the bestest ever. I am so glad that I get to be his mom. He can even make a boring breakfast seem like a marvelous adventure. Thanks for making my day, son!

Nice Buns

For quite some time now, I have been wanting to post a picture of my very nice buns. These buns were for Jeff's butt. I am pretty proud of my buns. My buns and Jeff's butt were pretty awesome.

Was that enough word play for you? Let me translate.

For Christmas, Jeff wanted to smoke a pork butt. They are not cheap. So, it was decided that this slab of meat would account for one of Jeff's Christmas presents. It wasn't until Christmas afternoon that I realized that I had forgotten to purchase sandwich buns to eat our pulled pork bbque sandwiches with. So, being the clever soul that I am, I decided to make my own. I used my sister-in-laws roll recipe, and just made REALLY BIG ROLLS. They worked. And, they worked very yummily, too, I might add.

While downloading this picture of my buns, I have come to realize that I have completely skipped our holiday festivities. Well, if we are being completely honest here...there were not THAT many festivities. Every so often, one seems to have a year where Christmas comes so quickly, it seems to catch that someone off guard. Christmas day came and I found myself resigning to the fact that most of our traditions were missed, for some reason or another!

So, here is a quick run down of our Christmas 2009. Don't blink. You may miss something. It's that quick:

Waiting to be picked up by the wagon, to see the live nativity in Nibley. A great new tradition that we managed to salvage.

A Santa-shy boy whispering his Christmas wish to someone he was so sure was not the real guy. And speaking of which, it's a good thing that our tradition of writing letters to Santa was extremely late in the season. Chase had a sudden and last minute change of mind on what he was going to be asking him for, causing great last minute panic from Santa's "helper".





The tradition of opening new pajamas on Christmas Eve managed to stay in tact. It was just extra fun this year. We did it at our fabulous friends, the Buck's, after a fun night of playing games, and last minute gingerbread houses. The Buck's had already done their houses for the season. They were just nice enough to do them again for us, the slackers.

And of course, the tradition of presents. What kind of schmucks would we be if we missed that one. I do hope that this photo represents a new tradition in fabulous reactions when opening a present so AWESOME, that it knocks the poor recipient to the ground. The gift? A moon night light that hangs on the wall, complete with a remote that changes the phases of said moon. I think Chase liked it. A lot.

Well, that's it. That was our Christmas. It really was a great Christmas. It just seemed to go by in a blur! The missed tradition I lament the most? Listening to my dad read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". Oh, man, I missed my parents for Christmas this year.

I wish I could say that 2010 is going to represent a nice, slower pace...maybe allowing us a little more time to stop and smell the roses. After this first week, however, a slow pace is looking rather grim.

Happy Belated New Year, Everyone!

Cutest Little Peanut

If a semi-regular blogger takes a sudden and inexplicable leave of absence, it should be for a pretty good reason, right? Well, I have one. And he's pretty adorable.

For the past week, I have had the fabulous privilege of being with my sister, Heather, as she and her husband, Kirk, welcomed their first little baby boy. I stood proxy for our Mom, who is diligently working at the side of Dad, who is in the hospital recovering from major surgery. It was hard for Grandma to miss this much-anticipated event, so I took my charge very seriously. I think?!

Things are all abuzz at their house, obviously. It is a glorious thing, in and of itself, to watch a couple's struggle with infertility, come to a blissful end through the miracle of adoption. But, add to this, the joyful fact that Heather's pregnancy is adding Baby Number Two to their family in a few more months? Well, you end up with excitement oozing out of every pore of everyone who comes in contact with them. When it rains, it pours. Raining babies is not such a bad thing (unless you think about the fact that you may not get any sleep for the next several years!), I would think!

It made me a little teary to get to be involved. They woke up on Saturday, ate a warm breakfast, got gussied up, walked out their door, and left 5 years of babyless sadness behind. When they walked back in, hours later, they were parents. As they walked up the stairs with their little peanut, it pretty awesome! I must say, I love modern technology, when it comes to stuff like this. We set Kirk's lap top at the top of the stairs, so Grandma and Grandpa could "be there" via Skype, as they walked in with their new bundle.



The new little family



Mom and Dad, with their new addition. Notice, the "addition" of the bags under Kirk's eyes. And, yes, the smiles!




This little peanut is seriously the tiniest peanut I have ever seen! He was less than 5 pounds when they brought him home. He is so adorable and sweet, it made my ovaries hurt!




Could you just eat him?! He is the most amazing baby.

Huh, look at that. Seems I have the same bags under my eyes. And apparently, bags under my chin, as well. Can't really blame those on Jack, I guess.

Looking at all of these pictures makes me miss that baby so much. I would even do my 2 am bottle shift again just to get to hold him and smell him and nibble on his neck. I asked his mommy if I could just take him home in my purse. Is that just a little selfish that she said no?

Anyway, thanks for letting me be the substitute helper during such a special event. I am no replacement for Mom/Grandma, but I loved it nonetheless!

Congratulations, Heather and Kirk! I love you, Jack-Jack!!