Long time no write

Since it's been almost 3 weeks since I've written I think I'll just post some pics & tell you all about them.

It's obvious that Callie & Jack are saying goodbye to Jeremiah here, but what's cute (mostly) is that Callie has in the last few weeks become insistent that Jeremiah gives her a hug & a kiss as well as one for everyone else before he leaves for work or school or any other thing. In fact he's doing his last-day-of-the-month home teaching right now and walked out the door without the hugs & kisses & Callie was just heartbroken! She didn't realize he'd left without doing it until after he'd closed the door. She whimpered & cried a little for about the next 10 minutes. He owes her a really big kiss & hug when he gets home (although hopefully she'll be asleep!)!

I still don't have any cute pictures of the kids in their Easter Best! Jack was sick on Easter so I didn't get him dressed up. I did however insist that he wear the dollar spot (woohoo Target!) bunny ears like his sister & suck on their giant bunny-teeth suckers. Unfortunately Jack couldn't fit his in his mouth! The sucker was like the size of a doorknob!

Callie has had to stand on the naughty spot quite a bit but it's just not working super well so I thought I'd have her put her nose on the wall. Jack thought it was a game so he stood in time out with her. It's time to rethink our punishments! Any suggestions?

Chelsea has nothing better to do at work I think than browse etsy & watch stupid youtube videos so thanks to Chels, Callie has this adorable new hat! Chelsea linked me to it one day & 5 days later it was delivered to my mailbox! I love it so much & every time Callie wears it out she gets lots of compliments!

Kenny visited over the weekend and totally spoiled Callie & Jack! He adores them & it shows! Since he'd got in late the night before, my mom came & got the kids mid-morning & took them back to her house to see "Wunka Kenny." When Kenny brought the kids home a couple hours later they were each sporting their very own milkshake from Sonic! Jack especially was in heaven & was just so funny with his chocolate shake. He didn't want to set it down and miss a moment of frosty, chocolatey goodness! He couldn't even put it down to play so instead he had to play one-handed! The boy can multi-task! (He doesn't get it from me!) Besides overloading my children with sugar, Uncle Kenny also taught Callie to give love-taps! What are brothers for?! She hasn't given us any taps yet, but I'm sure they're coming. I'm gonna love-tap him when we go to Washington this Saturday for a week-long visit! :)

In other non-photographic news, Kayleigh came & visited us, Tara got a new job in Salt Lake & moved yesterday (SAD!), & I went to the dentist & have like a thousand cavities! I'm pretty bummed! I also was supposed to have jury duty but it was cancelled so now my name was re-drawn & I have grand jury duty next month. Lucky me!

Hey! Where's my big chocolate?!

Well our weekend sucked! On Friday we went to Burger King for lunch since they have a play place. I hadn't eaten at BK for years really because I didn't remember liking it that much, but since it's one of the only 2 places in town with a play area (the other being Del Taco - not a huge fan), I thought I'd give it a try. Aside from their prices being a bit more than McDonald's, I enjoyed my Whopper & decided that I could occassionally bring the kids to BK for lunch. That is till I puked it all up Friday night! I don't know that it was food poisoning because Tara got sick the next afternoon & puked too, but considering that I was better 8 hours later, that seems a little too fast for a bug. Who knows. Either way, I doubt I'll be eating a Whopper again anytime this year!

And then there was Jack. I think a lot of my entries mention what an all-star teether he is. So this weekend was his best yet. Jeremiah got him up from a nap on Saturday & had to change his shirt since it was soaked all down the front with drool! Jack's gums are so swollen & he's constantly got slobber strings hanging from his mouth. He didn't sleep hardly at all on Saturday night! Jeremiah stayed up with him and saw every hour of the clock. He was extremely grumpy all weekend & then I got to stay up with him last night & I was awake a lot more than I was asleep! How miserable! About the only things that make Jack happy are Dora, candy, & playing outside, but none of those are guaranteed. He's on Tylenol & Motrin around the clock, & we're doing Orajel. My mom's at WalMart right now getting some Teething Tablets. I had a bottle of them but several weeks ago Callie got to them & divvied up the bottle with Jack. I couldn't find a single tablet - they'd eaten every single one - even the crumbly ones at the very bottom. Poison control said it was fine though since the tablets are homeopathic! They seem to help, so I'm hoping that they'll make a difference tonight!

Easter was good for Callie at least. The Easter Bunny brought her a Hello Kitty plate, bowl, & cup along w/a princess spoon & fork. She's eaten with them every meal so far! I think they got a fair amount of candy, but I don't think the bunny went overboard. They still may end up being diabetics though! Callie grabbed her basket this morning & sat on the couch with it & helped herself to a pre-breakfast treat since I was slow to get out of bed. When I told her she'd had enough & that I wanted the basket she said that she wanted to keep it safe & that she would "keep it for safe-keeping." She's such a silly girl! Oh, the EB gave Jack a decent sized hollow chocolate chick, but didn't give Callie the other one from the package since she already had a few more things in her basket. I really didn't think she'd notice, but Jack had his chocolate chick on his tray Sunday afternoon & she saw it & said, "Hey! Where's my big chocolate?!" She started looking through a bunch of the candy for one & repeated, "Where's my big chocolate?!" several times so I distracted her & slipped the other one in there! She ate more than half of it right then! My mom's not big on Easter baskets because she thinks they really diminish the meaning of Easter. Yesterday she said if they would at least call them Spring baskets instead of Easter baskets, but why do they have to use the word Easter? I told her it's not like they're called Resurrection baskets! I think as long as you teach your kids the meaning of Easter why can't you have the fun tradition of the Easter basket too? It's like 2 separate holidays on the same day! My aunt has the Easter Bunny go to their house on Saturday instead of Sunday. I don't think that's a bad idea.

Well Jack's crying & smells like poop so until next time!

Binky Breaking

After months of listening to Jeremiah say that we really should break our kids of the binky I decided on Sunday when he said it again that maybe I was ready. It definitely helped that I'd just read an email from my friend Janelle talking about how they'd gone cold turkey with their daughter & her paci. So feeling a little better about it I agreed. We took my least favorite binkies out to the trash & had the kids put them in. Callie didn't want to but she went ahead with it anyway. We told her that she was too big & that the Dr. didn't want her to have one anymore. Jack didn't understand & did not want to let go of his binky. We had to "help" him!



That night after having to hold Callie's hand till she fell asleep & then listening to Jack cry it out I was feeling like the worst mom ever - we didn't think about the fact that since our kids were sick they enjoyed the comfort of their binkies more than at other times. But we can't go back now. It would be hard any time we tried (Except we shouldn't have done it when they were so sick! My poor babies!)! So hopefully soon Callie will be able to go to bed on her own. I think it's harder since she & Jack are sharing a room. He's confined to his crib so he works it out & only cries for a couple of minutes before settling down & then going to sleep, but Callie's in a bed & she won't stay in it. And every time we have to go in to put her back in bed or talk to her, it disturbs Jack & he starts the crying all over. Auhg!

Our Excellent Adventure

Where to start! 2 weeks ago Callie & I flew to Denver to visit my friend Debra & daughter Clare. I used to work with Debra at Deloitte when we lived in CA & hadn't seen her in 2 years, so it was really fun to visit & to see our girls play, who are just 2 months apart! Clare & Callie were instant friends & held hands leaving the airport! By the time we left on Sunday I think they were wearing each other out, but it was because they'd had more fun than they could handle over the past few days! On Friday we went to the Children's Museum of Denver. One word: AMAZING!!! I'm so jealous that we don't have such a fantastic place where we live or even within a reasonable drive! So if you're ever in Denver with your kids, you simply HAVE to take them to the Children's Museum!







On Saturday we went to The Butterly Pavillion which was a cool center with lots of insects & a big atrium with tons of butterflies everywhere. We also went to Debra's local Rec Center which was incredible! It was huge & had a really cool indoor pool with slides & play stuff, tons of workout equipment & rooms for all kinds of classes, a huge rock climbing - well, rock I guess, and the reason we went - a super cool indoor play area for the kids. It was cooler than any McDonald's you've ever played at! The girls had a blast until some jerk kid named Max started growling at Callie & acting like a mean troll. At first it was kind of funny, but then she was getting honestly scared & he just wouldn't stop. I asked him a couple of times to leave her alone because he was scaring her, but he kept growling & roaring at her. It got bad enough that she didn't want to play anymore - she just clung to me on a bench and then he'd get like 10 feet away & make eye contact with her & growl again. It was an evil growl - I can see why she was scared. Devil Boy. Anyway, we had such a great time visiting Debra & Clare!

From Denver we flew to SLC. We got to visit lots of family & some friends. My sister Kayleigh's bf Dustin was going into the MTC so my mom drove up to be supportive of Kayleigh & she brought Jack with her. Girls weekend was over for Callie & me! Fortunately before Jack got there Wendy & I got to shop for an afternoon in Park City with only 2 of our kids, meaning it was only 2/5's as crazy as it could have been! We stayed with my sister Chelsea, b-i-l Ryan, and their "baby" (Thunder - a toy terrier maybe - I don't know my dogs). Callie was terrified of Thunder, so sadly I was relieved when we moved on to Mike & Wendy's house. Hopefully next time we visit Callie won't be such a weenie! Jack really liked Thunder at least.



The rest of the week was eventful: Jack fell down the stairs while holding a plastic kids chair so he got a nice scratch and bruise on the bridge of his nose from the back of the chair, we went to the SLC Children's Museum (not half as cool as Denver's), and Wendy, Kayleigh, my Mom, Wendy's friend Jessica & I went to a crop night at a scrapbook store. We had the best time! The only downside to the week was the bad cold that I had the whole time, which the kids of course got the night before we came home!

As much fun as we had, we were so glad to be home! Callie had been crying for daddy & then saying she wanted to go to her home for a few days & Jer & I missed each other a lot. We haven't been away from each other for that long before & it was too long! He fished & saw a movie while we were gone, but mostly he worked hard & was lonely! It's good to be home!

Fockly Princess & the Little Gremlin

The other night as I was driving home from Vegas Callie says to me, "Mom, I can't see! The dark's in the way!" Where did she come up with that one?

I took the kids to Payless the other day to look for sandals for Jack, and Callie had an absolute ball! She went from one pair of shoes to the next trying them all on & saying things like, "Oooooh! So pretty mom!" and "Look mom! Princess shoes!" And my favorite of her descriptive words is "fockly." The first time she said it I thought she was swearing & honestly I don't know where she would have even heard the word I thought she'd said! Maybe some naughty uncle! JK Stu! Anyway, what she means is sparkly! Fockly shoes! Just like when she says "neck-ih." Everyone thinks she's talking about being naked or something, but no, she's talking about her music! She just kind of gets something in her head & old habits die hard I guess.



Jack was especially entertaining Sunday. First of all, he's really into making these gremlin noises. Just out of the blue he'll do the gremlin. Jeremiah said one day "What is he?!" Cause he never thought I'd give birth to a gremlin! So on Sunday we're in Sacrament Meeting and he sticks a travel pack of tissue in his mouth & shakes his head back & forth for a long time making his gremlin sounds. People are looking at him & just laughing or smiling which is totally egging him on. Thanks a lot! So to distract him I have him get a book out of the diaper bag & he chooses a scratch & sniff Halloween book. Seems innocent enough, right? Wrong! Because a little while ago I'd looked through it with him & taught him that the little witch goes "he, he, he" in a high pitched voice & that dracula says "ah, ah, ah." Well he especially enjoyed the dracula laugh so as soon as he sees the book he starts going "ah, ah, ah" and he didn't quit for the next several minutes! If people weren't laughing before they certainly were then. That's okay, we had a dry counsel speaker. Hey, if the shoe fits, wear it!



Jack's started a very boyish hobby! Jeremiah's had concerns before - especially with such a girlie example in his face all the time. But Jack is LOVING rocks! He is constantly collecting rocks & playing in the dirt. Woohoo! Sure girls can do that too, but it's traditionally a boy thing & that's good enough for us! :)

Callie, on the other hand, has been displaying a little bit of a boyish side. She keeps standing with her legs shoulder-width apart, leaning over & spitting! She'll save up a little wad of saliva & "tuh"! It's driving me nuts because she's doing it all over the house! I keep telling her to knock it off but she's already not listening to her mother! And sometimes she tells me to knock it off now when I'm doing something! She also will question me about things & say "Is that right mom?" or "Is it true?" I love my fockly princess & my little gremlin!

RSV

After our night in the ER we took Jack to a follow-up visit with his pediatrician, Dr. Khan. Dr. Khan looked him over for a few minutes & decided Jack needed to be admitted to the hospital because he was dehydrated and his breathing was still not great. I was SO surprised! Poor Jack! Jeremiah was in Bullhead for the morning (35 mins away) but when I called to tell him the news he was just about ready to head back. Jack was admitted just before noon on Tuesday and we spent the next hour or so doing the fun part - the iv! And lucky Jeremiah got to miss it all! Because Jack was dehydrated his first 2 veins blew, so on the 3rd attempt they got the iv in his arm near his wrist. I almost started crying as they put it in the 3rd time - it was getting so hard for me to have him go through this, just screaming his lungs out. It made me have a lot more understanding for what Justin & Jamie go through emotionally with Katelyn! Jack hated the iv the first day! He was very very tired (something that happens with RSV) so most of the day he slept, but the times he was awake he was mostly angry about the iv in his arm! The only times he seemed like he wasn't sad were when he had a bunch of mini m&m's & when he had a little serving of chocolate ice cream! Other than that he didn't eat anything, and he didn't really talk at all that day either. My poor little guy! I stayed the night with him in the hospital so that wasn't a great night sleep! They had a little heart rate monitor hooked to his big toe & every time the top number dropped below a certain # an alarm would beep. It didn't ever drop much lower than the safe zone so he wasn't in danger or anything, making the alarm super annoying! He was also getting breathing treatments every 4 hours and even though the respiratory therapist was quiet, when she came in at 4am I'd just been up with Jack for 20 or 30 minutes so I stayed awake for that too. The next day Jack was feeling much better and Dr. Khan said he was looking improved but that he'd come back in the evening to re-evaluate. Jack didn't sleep at all on Wednesday like he'd done on Tuesday, and instead of being angry about the iv he was angry about the heart rate monitor on his toe! I tried to keep his sock on or his blanket over his foot so that once he was distracted he wouldn't notice it so easily, but every time he saw it he got upset & tugged on it & cried a little. We tried to keep him entertained with a more than healthy dose of Dora, Blue's Clues, Baby Einstein, and Curious George cartoons.









When Dr. Khan came back in the evening he thought Jack needed to stay on the iv a little longer. At least Jack & I got a better night's sleep! On Thursday morning Jack seemed to be doing even better. When he saw the banana on his breakfast tray I peeled it for him but thought it seemed a little big to eat with just one hand (since he couldn't use the one w/the iv) so I broke it in half. That was a mistake! He was SO upset about it! He threw a fit for about 5 minutes before he finally would eat the thing, and even after he started eating it he'd whine & whimper and occasionally toss it on the bed. He really is getting to be quite the little fit thrower! Fortunately Dr. Khan thought Jack was doing well enough to go home so we were discharged after breakfast and he was SO happy to be home. Callie is sick too, I'm sure with the same thing, but RSV usually is just a really bad cold from her age on up. So when Jack & I got home she'd been sleeping on the couch and woke up in a coughing fit. Jack had missed her though & gave her some very good sweet hugs after we sat down next to her on the couch. Yesterday was a tough day because even though Jack was doing so much better, Jeremiah returned to work & Callie was extremely grumpy & ornery! My sister Tara was there with me most of the day (she & my mom took care of Callie & fed us while Jack was in the hospital), but with my lack of sleep (from the last 7 days!) I was physically & mentally exhausted & was having a hard time dealing with her constant cries because she couldn't have purple grape juice in her sippy cup on the couch. I was so thankful when Jeremiah got home & my mom & Tara came back with a good meal! Jack & Callie are both doing great today (and so am I) & definitely on the mend! Thank goodness!

Vacation?

Jeremiah's dad recently was transferred to Forest Grove, OR (about 40 mi from Portland) and his mom especially was bummed since the 8 hour drive to their home in WA makes this the farthest she's ever lived from her family. So I thought it would be fun to cheer her up with a visit from Callie & Jack & me! While it was really great to see them, it was a crazy trip! For starters, even though my sister dropped me off on the curb at the airport & helped me get all my stuff out, I looked like a complete idiot pushing/pulling 2 large suitcases, 2 car seats, a backpack & a double stroller through the sky-cap line! I took the dvd player for the flight, but since the headphones didn't get put in the backpack, the kids couldn't hear their beloved Blue's Clues or Winnie the Pooh. They were VERY anxious to get off the plane. Me too! We flew in Thursday afternoon so there was nothing eventful to report that day other than the flight and the highly anticipated reunion of grandparents/grandchildren! On Friday I drove us to an amazing outlet mall that I'd looked up before leaving home. It was definitely the best outlet mall I've been too - it had everything! Everything I love anyway - Gap, Osh Kosh, Carter's, & Gymboree! And my first time in a Banana Republic outlet proved to be an expensive one (Jeremiah doesn't read "our" blog!)! We didn't make it into many stores at all because we wanted to get back when Jeremiah's dad was done with work. As it turned out, we should have just shopped longer instead of taking twice the time to get home due to rush hour traffic! Saturday was an exciting day! It started off with a trip to urgent care! Jack hadn't slept well Thursday night & woke up with a croupy cough & not feeling good Friday morning but seemed mostly better during the day. But Friday night he didn't sleep well again & about 6 am he woke up with labored breathing & more of the croupy cough. Since I'd called our pediatrician's office the day before when he had the croupy cough, I knew that since it was combined with the labored breathing he needed to be checked out. Well the only thing open at 6am is the emergency room and since it wasn't really an emergency, I figured we could wait till urgent care opened at 8. We didn't get to urgent care till about 9 and by then Jack was mostly breathing fine & he wasn't coughing much. I questioned whether I should still be taking him but Jeremiah (who wasn't in OR w/us) said we'd rather be safe than sorry so they checked him out anyway & of course said he was fine - just a cold.



I'd sent Jeremiah's dad to go get Jer's mom & Callie since I thought Jack & I would be a while, but we were quick & Jer's dad got lost (they'd only been there about 2 weeks), so Jack & I had to wait to be picked up for over an HOUR! From there we headed to the zoo. Callie was SO excited about it - we'd talked about it for several days. It was drizzling when we got there & my umbrella broke as I was opening it so the first thing I did was head to the gift shop for a new one. I got the less expensive umbrella which was a whopping $16.99 and when I got back outside the drizzle stopped & it never rained again! Callie had a really great time at the zoo & loved seeing the animals & hanging out with Papa & Grandma. Jack on the other hand was miserable almost all day! He just didn't feel good! He perked up a couple times, but mostly it was not enjoyable for him.









On Saturday night he woke up again in the middle of the night with labored breathing & was very unhappy. Jack & I stayed in all day Sunday and after Callie & Jeremiah's parents got back from church, Callie & Jack & I all took a good long nap. On Monday Jack woke up and started throwing up - mostly water & phlegm. He had 3 bites of oatmeal for breakfast & threw them up on our way to the airport. Both kids (Callie was getting a cold by now too) got Benadryl at the airport & slept the first half of the flight home. The second half Jack was very grumpy and threw up some water & Robitussin on the 2 of us. I was SO happy to be off the plane & going home! Jack rounded off the trip with some diarrhea & a little more throw-up.

When we got home my mom brought us dinner because Jeremiah was at class & Jack threw up some more. Since he hadn't eaten anything all day & couldn't hold down water or Pedialyte I called our pediatrician again who said Jack needed to be checked out! Of course this stuff always happens at the wrong time! So Jeremiah came home from class & we headed to the ER. By the time we got home from the ER, just before 1am, Jack had had a breathing treatment, chest X-rays to check for pneumonia, a suppository to combat the puking, and then had been swabbed (pretty much having his brain poked) for RSV, which came back positive. Since he's 16 months & RSV is the very most dangerous for like 12-15 mos & younger, they sent us home with a follow-up visit to our pediatrician the next morning. What an exciting vacation we had! :) No, we really did have a fun time visiting Jeremiah's parents, but it not getting any sleep & having a sick little guy put a small damper on things!

Stoked

That would be Jeremiah. He went hunting for javelina (pronounced havelina for all you out-of-towners) a couple weekends ago & met success! Woohoo! Best of all I didn't have to eat it! Now don't get me wrong - if we were in less fortunate circumstances I'd make all kind of javelina dishes, but the fact that I can buy meat I enjoy makes me glad that some of his employees really wanted the pig. I haven't actually tried javelina & I wanted to, but I was out of town when his guys cooked it. But I ate some of the russian boar he shot last year & I didn't care much for it. It wasn't gross, but it wasn't good. And there's still a whole leg of it in the freezer outside! (And I wouldn't be surprised if the taste of javelina isn't far off from russian boar.) Anyway, back to his javelina - he'd gone out hunting with my dad (who doesn't hunt) Friday morning and they hadn't seen a thing. He went back out again by himself early Saturday morning & hiked miles & watched for hours and finally decided to call it a day & headed back to his truck. As he was headed back for the highway he spotted one from the road & was lucky enough to get out quickly enough & blast it. He was stoked!

Using Her Noodle

Yesterday the kids had Mac & Cheese for lunch. I came back in the kitchen with the clippers to give Jack a haircut & Callie was talking about macaroni in her nose. I checked out both nostrils & saw no evidence of mac & cheese, but when she breathed through her nose it definitely sounded like there was something in there, and since she said she'd put a piece up her nose I definitely believed her! I stood there with a tissue to her nose trying to get her to blow hard but she just wasn't blowing hard enough. After a demonstration by yours truly she got the hang of it & gave a big blow & out flew a noodle from her nose!



We left to run errands a little bit later & her nose seemed a little snotty - almost macaroni-ish! I thought maybe some little noodle pieces had broken off. Jeremiah was home from work by the time we finished our errands so I sent the kids in with him while I grabbed a couple bags of groceries from the car. When I got in the house he & Callie were talking about macaroni & cheese because apparently she had just sneezed out two more noodles! :)

Oh, & Jack did get a haircut. Luckily a good haircut is only 2 weeks away! I'm still working on blending! (It's hard when you're dealing with a squirming 16 month-old!)

So I'm totally stoked because I finally have a new cell phone! My other one was getting so bad! My batteries wouldn't hold a charge for more than like an hour & I couldn't use my #6 at all so it was impossible for me to call any new number with a 6 or to use M, N, or O when I was sending texts, which if you text much, you can imagine how difficult it would be to not use those letters! So anyway, my new phone came yesterday - a Motokrzr KM1. Jeremiah has always thought that Motorolas were the crappiest phones, but he said maybe they've improved - he hasn't really been in-the-know for a couple of years now. Plus since it has a warranty & insurance, can I go wrong? I'm most excited that now I have speakerphone, can lock my keys, and most importantly Bluetooth! Woohoo! I actually had to go to the chiropractor a few times a couple months ago & both Jeremiah & my chiropractor got onto me for holding my phone between my ear & shoulder (which I do a LOT)! So I'm SOOO excited to have Bluetooth! I know I could have used an earpiece with a wire, but no I couldn't have! I hate them! The cord drives me nuts and I hate having just an earbud! So I got a sweet Plantronics that has the little ear hanger with it & I already love it! Technology rocks! Oh, and my phone is like a little mp3 player too. Doubt I'll use that part all that often, but cool nonetheless!

Mamma mia, here I go again!

A few weeks ago we bought a new sheet set at Bed Bath & Beyond. Jeremiah & I didn't agree on what to buy - I wanted to go with the same set we were replacing - Wamsutta Luxury Sateen 400 thread count. Jeremiah wanted Hotel Sateen 600 thread count because it seemed softer (I didn't think so) in the store. Which is just annoying anyway that there are all these thousand-thread count sheets & stuff out there anyway. Before we bought our first luxury sheets I did a lot of research (who researches sheets you ask?). Several articles said that there aren't really any thread counts higher than 4- or 500, but for marketing, manufacturers will count the threads in creative ways to say the count is higher than what it really is. So now that you have a mini education on thread count, I'll tell you that I let Jeremiah choose the sheets & we came home with the 600 tc. And 2 weeks later he heard "I told you so" when we decided they reminded us of sandpaper. We were in Vegas again on Saturday so I took the sheets back to Bed Bath & Beyond and exchanged them for the ones I thought we should have got in the first place.

Jeremiah endured 2 1/2 hours of Mamma Mia! for me on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Theatre (what a guy). I had a hard time enjoying the show at first because I was worried about what he must be thinking & feeling bad for him, but once I got over it I mostly enjoyed it. I wouldn't say that I'd recommend it though unless you're huge into Broadway because shows like that are expensive so even at half price I wasn't totally thrilled we'd spent the money. If you're unfamiliar with Mamma Mia! one of the main draws is that it features tons of ABBA music. Since we're not from the ABBA generation we weren't familiar with a lot of the songs, but we did end up singing Dancing Queen for about the next 36 hours! At the end of the show the cast came back out & performed 3 songs. I haven't been to a concert before, and haven't ever wanted to go because the idea of everyone standing around dancing & singing along sounds kind of silly to me and this little post-concert only confirmed my suspicions! A couple rows away I noticed an old man who looked like Mr. Rogers just standing stiff with his hands in his pockets. But two guys over from him was this probably 50-something year old man very enthusiastically swaying back & forth and clapping his hands. It was entertaining.

When I was wiping off Callie's ketchup-coated mouth after lunch she said, "I'm gonna get a lil' bit firse-rated (frustrated)!" She'd said it about something the other day too. Where does she come up with this stuff?!

Cheeky

That would be Callie. We're trying out using "the naughty spot/place" when she's in trouble since she laughs at spankings & enjoys having her nose in the corner. She stands on her little mat for 2 minutes until she hears the "beep beep" of the little kitchen timer. So a few days ago she's put on the naughty spot & about 30 seconds later she loudly says "beep beep! beep beep! beep beep!" No response from me. "Mom! You hear that? Beep beep! Beep beep! Beep beep!" Oh my gosh! A couple days ago I was trying to get her to come to me so I could get her dressed & she was just not coming so as she walked by I grabbed her arm, apparently hurting her. She immediately started sobbing & before I could say anything she shouted through the tears, "SAY SORRY!" When I asked if she was okay instead of saying sorry she repeated again, but not shouting this time, just sobbing, "Mom! Say sorry!" Okay, I'm sorry! She's sooooooo 2! Another day she picked up a little bag with her stuff in it & said, "Bye Mom, I wuv you! I'm going shopping to WalMart!" as she blew me a kiss & strutted away on her little pink plastic dress-up shoes. Oh, & Sunday morning when she first saw me ready for church she said, "Mom! You look weawy (really) cute! Your dress! Your shoes! Your nega-less (neckless). You look weawy cute!" Sooooo girly!

Jack on the other hand is just as sweet & polite as can be, saying & signing thank you, saying "toot toot" when he toots!, and saying and signing pees (please). He's adorable! Poor boy has been working on getting some teeth in for about 3 weeks now and there's no end in sight! He's fairly grumpy at times, but when he's not grumpy he's just plain adorable! Oh, & he loves putting on hats or other head pieces & checking himself out in the mirror - he gets a total kick out of it!

feliz cumpleaños a mí

My birthday was Friday so Jeremiah took me to Vegas Thursday night. We were going to see a show, but because of my indecisiveness I waited until Thursday afternoon to try to buy tickets & the show I wanted was sold out so instead we did dinner & a movie. Jeremiah wondered why I hadn't chosen Rocky instead of the chick flick we ended up seeing. Hmmm. Actually, for our first date my friends & I drove to 2 or 3 Blockbusters to rent all the Rocky movies & we had a 2-night Rocky Marathon. Not that we were into it, but we figured it'd be a great way to win over the guys. Victory, obviously! And that was the beginning of our beautiful story! So yes, Jeremiah & I will definitely watch the newest Rocky together - when it comes out on DVD!

We spent a long day Friday looking at model homes. We recently bought some lots that we're going to build on, so we wanted to find a layout that would suit our family for the rest of our time in Kingman - it could be a very long time! Here's Jeremiah & I at the end of the day on some couch in one of the homes. In typical Jeremiah fashion, he wouldn't smile - just stare or make gay faces.

So the only other update is that Jeremiah is officially a college student! Woohoo! He's taking a Spanish class at the community college and impressing all of his Mexican employees with phrases like, "De donde eres?" & "Que hora es?" His guys humor him & answer his questions about what they like & do they like football, etc., & then they ask Jeremiah questions back. Jeremiah's the head of his class, although he needs some work on his accent! :)

Snow Day

It snowed in Kingman last week! Even though it was definitely naptime I wanted Callie & Jack to be able to play in the snow since snowfall in Kingman is a nearly annual occurrance! Jack got over his tired grumpiness long enough to spend some time outside. He was fascinated! I showed Callie how to catch snowflakes on her tongue, which she thoroughly enjoyed trying!

Jeremiah was pretty excited about the snow since that meant that hunting the next morning would probably be better. Unfortunately for him the snow didn't improve hunting conditions. A funny aside - he's been bow hunting in the same spot for several weeks now and about a month ago he finally saw a buck in his spot so even though it was nearly out of range he let an arrow fly. He missed the buck but came home with raised spirits because at least he'd seen something (he's spent many hours sitting in the cold & never seeing anything)! A few days after missing the buck he was talking to a friend about it & saying how odd it was that he hadn't seen anybody else in that area. His friend informed him it was because that area was closed! Turns out it was the ONLY area not yet opened in the state! Slight oversight on his part! So now I feel that it was divine intervention that stopped him from getting the buck that day! I probably would have been visiting my husband in jail not to mention that he'd lose his hunting license for life for poaching! So now that the area's open, we're crossing our fingers that he'll see another buck in the next couple of weekends before the season closes.

One more thing. We've been doing our reading program for just about a week now & already we know that it's working! At least for Callie - Jack doesn't seem that interested. But then again, children his age learn much faster than children Callie's age so maybe he is picking the stuff up. Anyway, Jeremiah wrote down "mama," "daddy" and "Callie" the other day & she read what he'd written. I was a little annoyed with him when he'd told me because you're absolutely not supposed to test in the beginning, and when you do finally test you never just show a word & ask them to tell you what it says. Then last night after I'd told him how excited I was that Callie had grabbed one of the words from the set that I hadn't yet put away and said that it was "dolly," he said he wasn't surprised because he'd tested her again! Agh! He promised he won't do it again. Anyway, despite my annoyance with his sneaky testing, I'm pretty stoked to know that our efforts are thus far fruitful! Woohoo!

Stupid Blogger

So it's been almost a month since my last post, but there's been a lot of the every day stuff going on. So I've added the latest in a few different posts so that I don't write a novel in just 1 post (although you may think this qualifies as one). First of all, I'm super annoyed with Blogger right now. Notice my template & page are totally different? That's because I switched over to the new Blogger & it won't let me customize any of my stuff like I used to be able to. I'm sure there's a way, but since I'm not really familiar with html I can't do it. I was able to figure stuff out before, but after trying for quite a while yesterday to change my background (as you can see I only succeeded in changing my title bg), I threw in the towel. So welcome to my new look. Thanks a lot Blogger.

Anyway. The little Divis clan is doing well. I'm trying to lose weight (isn't everybody this time of year) so I've signed up for an account on MyFoodDiary.com. It's pretty much a luxury calorie tracker but I think it's pretty cool. I've never in my life worried about counting calories, but I'm giving this a try since it's cheaper than Weight Watchers and basically the same thing when you really break it down. It's definitely helping me eat smarter. Like last night even though I had more than 450 calories to go I opted not to bake chocolate chip cookies (we keep frozen balls in the freezer that are warm & delicious in 12 minutes!). I decided at the beginning that I'd only have dessert twice a week (I'm a dessert freak!) & I wanted to save myself for the weekend! So my change of diet is one big thing for me right now.

Also I started a reading program yesterday with Callie & Jackson. My bro/sis-in-law Justin & Jamie told us about a reading program (among others) developed by The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. I was a little skeptical at first, but reading the information, then checking out the book at the library has convinced me that it's totally possible to teach your baby to read as well as many other things (if you're curious there's a video clip on the Institute's website [early learning programs\view us on fox tv]). So we're now going to be working on their reading program daily & eventually adding other areas. And if you're wondering why I want to teach my children to read, the point of the program is that your children are learning how to learn and to enjoy learning. What really got me interested in the program was hearing about the Institutes math program. It teaches to think in quantities instead of numerals, and since I struggled so much with math in HS, I thought if I could help my children in any way it would be a small thing on my part & such a huge advantage for them! Anyway, maybe in a few months I'll be able to report that I've lost the weight I want to & that my children can read some words.

We did it!

We started trying to potty train Callie when she was about 18 mos. because I was so excited about the Princess Pull-ups, but she wasn't ready for it. And since Pull-ups are a lot more expensive than diapers we went back to diapers for a few months. So about 3-4 months ago we started working with her again & she did much better. Now just a few short months later she's an official Big Girl as the Pull-up potty-training site would call her! We had a big girl party for her New Year's Eve with cake & Dora ice cream (she of course picked it out) & we gave her a new package of panties & some princess Megablocks that she'd seen sitting in the garage for a couple months that were to be her reward for being potty trained. I had taken her with me to pick out her new package of panties and there was no question that they were to be Dora, but unfortunately for her WalMart was out of her size. Doesn't it seem like WalMart is always out of half of what you need? I felt bad for Callie but I wasn't too upset since the Dora panties are super ugly! She choose Tinkerbell panties instead. It will be nice when she can wear a size 4 - there are way cuter options once you hit 4. Her 2/3's are big on her though so it will probably be a while before she's a 4! I did get these cute little panties for her from Osh Kosh. They say they're a 2 - yeah right! Anyway, we're so excited that Callie's potty trained! In the words of Dora, "Lo hicimos!" We did it!

Christmas Stuff

Christmas was pretty fun this year with Callie! Even though she doesn't know enough about Santa to not be able to sleep the night before, she knows that he lives in the North Pole, likes milk & treats, has reindeer & that he's back home resting now & getting ready for next year. We left "pumpkin gooey butter cake" (thanks Shannon - the recipe was a hit!) & milk out for Santa on Christmas Eve so when Callie got up Christmas morning she went over to the mantle to inspect things & then came into our room to tell us "The milk is all gone - Santa drank all the milk!" How cute is that?! She had a great time opening presents - she was a pro! Jack on the other hand - I wanted to get some pictures of him opening some up but since he wasn't really interested in opening presents I had to pick him up & set him back by his present! Callie, the dutiful older sister, helped Jack open most of his presents. Callie also found a new favorite word that morning - mine! A couple days after Christmas I had to sit with her & have a talk about it. Amazingly it helped & we're hearing "mine" only occassionally, which is totally expected for a 2-year old! So below is a clip of Callie going through her stocking - one piece of candy at a time! It's a little long so unless you're a grandma or aunt (and even then) it's probably a little boring.

Stocking Inspection

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

So much to tell! First, here are the little crazies in their holiday jammas.

So this year I was totally on it - at first. The tree's up & stockings are hung, but that's about it. Last year I went all out, but now that Christmas is in a week & a half, I don't even care. I am proud about the tree though. Many times in past years I've wanted to put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving or even the first weekend in December, but it ends up being halfway through December. So this year I got the tree out on Sunday after Thanksgiving. Of course it did me no good since our crappy pre-lit tree was not lighting! After about 1/2 an hour of checking bulbs I said forget it & decided to wait till after my walk the next morning to run into WalMart & grab some new lights. I don't know if all pre-lits are so crappy, but we've had problems with ours for the past 3 years! In the past though I've been able to find the problem bulb before a 1/2 hour was up! In the tree's defence, it was only like $60 the day after Thanksgiving 5 years ago, so maybe cheap tree = stupid lights. Anyway, Callie was going nuts Monday afternoon waiting for me to finish putting on the lights & garland & ribbon so that we could get down to business. She was a very good little decorator! At first I just had her hand me decorations. Soon she was telling me where to put them. And before long she was going to the tree to do it herself. I didn't have to rehang much of what she put on - she must have her mom's flair! :) She did at one point talk about how Grandma Darcy had made our tree (not true of course). I told her Grandma Darcy was really crafty. She said, "Yeah, Grandma Darcy's crafty. I crafty too mom." Yes she is! She's certainly not lacking confidence! The other night I said to Jack, "You're so stinkin' cute!" Callie immediately followed up with, "Yeah, I so stinkin' cute too!"

We went to our ward Christmas Party 2 weekends ago & Callie was SO excited to see Santa! Our Santa was comical. The guy who was going to wear the suit (an older man who would have been great) went to put it on & the pants wouldn't fit over his thighs, so the next several minutes were spent stalling the children & looking for someone to fit the suit. But none of the kids knew the difference. Callie had been talking all day about seeing Santa and was just so excited! Santa gave all the kids candy canes so now Callie mentions daily that she wants to see Santa & get a candy cane. We've told her about the naughty & nice thing but until very recently hadn't been using it against her! So before we even started blackmailing her with it, she was in time out one day & crying out, "I nice! I nice! I not naughty!" I love it! I think we'll be able to use the naughty & nice thing for a while past Christmas since she's still talking about trick-or-treating! Jack was very hesitant about Santa, but in the end was accepting of the Jolly Old Elf. I think he's not quite old enough to be terrified like Callie was last year, and hopefully next year he'll think he's great like Callie does this year!

So now I'm working on finishing presents, and getting everything in order so we can have a fun, stress-free last few days before Christmas. I really wanted to take Callie to the Grand Canyon Railway so that we could ride The Polar Express, but when I called in November to get tickets for this month I sadly learned that you have to buy your tickets a year in advance! That's insane! They did have 3 dates in January still available, but who wants to see Santa in January?! I called a few days ago to book our tickets for next year & my first choice was also already booked! For next year! But anyway, for anyone who wants to ride The Polar Express with us next year, call & get your tix now! We're going Friday, December 14th at 6:30pm. I can't wait! It's too bad though! Before I knew that we wouldn't be able to go this year I'd told Callie all about it so she's constantly saying she wants to ride the train & see Santa.

Well the kids are both up now & crying to be fed so I'd better go. But Callie would like to add one last thing:

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:)