Hide & Go Shriek

Callie saw Dora playing hide & go seek so she wanted to play too. I told her how it works & then said I'd count first & she could hide. She was so excited about getting safely back to "base" (the famous black ottoman) that she ran shrieking to the base as I was saying 9, 10. I didn't even get a chance to say "ready or not!" So I tried to explain it some more & she did better most of the time. Then she tried hiding in the corner by our front door where she was in plain sight. But of course since she couldn't see me (with her face smashed into the corner & her hands over her eyes), she thought it was a pretty good hiding spot. When I had tagged her & it was my turn to hide she only gave me till the count of 3 to hide. When I complained she graciously went to 6 & sometimes 8. For some reason she just didn't want to give me till 10! And if she couldn't find me after like 45 seconds she'd get this panicked tone to her voice & start calling for me. All in all it was a super great game of hide & go seek- lots of shrieking & laughter. We'll definitely have to play it more!

Callie's super excited about her birthday that's this Sunday! She's been telling people for months now that her birthday's in July or that her birthday's on July 1st, and that she's going to be 3 on her birthday. As much as she loves Dora and even the Princesses, she wants a Hello Kitty cake! Where this love of Hello Kitty came from, I don't know. She saw a box of HK fruit snacks one day in the store & no kidding, stood holding the HK box & a Princess box for 5 minutes trying to decide which one she really wanted. Why was I patient for 5 minutes while she was making a decision? I was probably right next to her taking 5 minutes to decide which box of granola bars to get! I'm a TERRIBLE decision maker & it looks like my daughter has inherited my amazing sense of choice! Anyway, in the end it was Hello Kitty & she's loved the little gal ever since! When we ask her what she wants for her birthday she says a Hello Kitty cake. Although sometimes she mixes things up & tells us she wants HK napkins. Yes, my child wants napkins for her birthday. But who wouldn't if they could be Hello Kitty napkins? Well I think the birthday fairy just might grant her birthday wishes!

Hoy, me hearties!

Callie has caught the pirate fever that's sweeping the nation! It's seriously EVERYWHERE! Admittedly, I did just order some new bedding for Jack's future room (like in our future new house) that is piratey. Anyway, Dora has a few adventures with some pirate pig that says "Ahoy, me hearties!" as well as other phrases that include "me hearties," and now I have several times heard Callie saying "Hoy, me hearties!" and other piratey things! It's so funny!

But what's even funnier is Jack! He loves pirates even though he thinks they're scary. He gets really excited about pirate stuff & he says "pie-yet" which is usually followed by "scary." I got him this little pair of piratey slip-ons (payless) and he is so funny about them! The other day he'd take a step, look at his foot & say "scary." Then he'd take another step, look at the new foot & say "scary." He repeated this sequence several times until I couldn't take the cuteness anymore & picked him up & kissed him! My mom made him a little piratey pillowcase a while ago and he loves that too! Jeremiah went to get him out of his crib after a nap the other day & found Jack lying on his side with his head on one arm & pointing at different things on the pillowcase with his other finger and saying "scary. [new spot] scary. [new spot] ohh, scary." He's a hoot!

crappy story

Being that I have an almost 3 year old & a 1 1/2 year old, you have probably already concluded what this little story is about! And let me just warn you, it's a little graphic! Jack has gone potty on his little potty seat just a couple of times. Yesterday I grabbed him out of his high chair mid-grunt to get him to the potty seat. He likes to have a book on the toilet so Callie got him a book & I read. Halfway through the story his face was red & he was pushing with all his might. The results? Pee and only a tiny little piece of poop . I was surprised it hadn't been more, but thrilled nonetheless that I was getting out of changing a poopy diaper that day (since he's normally a once-a-dayer). I hoorayed him & helped him dump the stuff into the toilet. I told him we'd put his diaper on after I got him his jellybean, so with his pajama bottoms around his ankles he waddled into the living room and climbed up onto this black hinged ottoman we have to wait for his reward. I had just got a couple jellybeans (callie gets one for jack's efforts!) into my hand when Callie yells, "Mom! He's pooping! The poop is coming out!" I ran into the living room to see this:












I was pretty surprised! Since it hadn't yet gotten on the ottoman (since the pajama bottoms had so far caught the pie), I grabbed the outcoming, picked up the patty, & took the warm stuff to the toilet! Ewwwww! Jack was feeling pretty good about himself. Maybe when you're having a hard time pooping you just need to stick your butt up in the air and try again! Oh yeah, and he ended up having a second poop that day so I didn't get out of changing a poopy diaper after all! Ugh!

Let's get the rythm of the hot dog!

Do you know that old song? It's one of Callie's current favs & we LOVE it everytime she does the "hot dog!" When I asked her to do it for me to record she was more than happy to oblige. As soon as she was finished she'd run up so she could watch herself & then ask to do it again. I think we recorded it 15 times before I insisted that it was time for bed! Enjoy!

I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

They're so glad when daddy comes home! Oh, & Jack's saying "jump" at the beginning in case you can't understand. He's just learning how to jump & he thinks it's great!

Come'ere Babe

Jack has been saying "come'ere" pretty cute for a while now. He always does the action with it. The other day he added "babe" (totally on his own) and then started saying "hi, babe." I guess he just hears "babe" around our house enough that he picked it up. Maybe he thinks that's another name for mama. So here he is in his cuteness. I admit, it's totally forced, but you just have to see how cute my 1 1/2 year old is when he says come'ere babe!

smashed!

Last Sunday the kids were in the backyard playing & Jeremiah & I were both in the house. I heard Jack crying & I could tell it was a hurt cry. I just knew it had to do with the playhouse (with its scary ladder leading up to it). As I was running to the back door I was envisioning him lying on the ground in a pool of blood. That was the first place I looked when I got out there & was relieved to not see him there. He was in the playhouse and Callie was holding his finger (attached to his body still!) with blood dripping all over. Apparently he'd wanted out & she was playing & wasn't going to let him out so he had his fingers around the door as she pulled & pulled the knob as hard as she could! His poor blood-covered finger looked mutilated! Once we got it cleaned up a little we determined that it wasn't broken and it didn't look quite as mutilated. The nail was all bloody & his fingertip was kind of squishy-mangled looking. We covered it with a Dora bandaid but since he wanted to pull it off we put a butterfly bandage on top of that & band-aided another finger to the bad one. He cried & cried & cried! But after he had calmed down a TINY bit he, through his tears, said "hippo!" I asked him if he wanted to play the hippo game (hungry hippos that is) and I got a tearful "yesh." How funny is that? So I got the hippo game for him & he sat with Jeremiah and ate a push-up pop & played the hippo game. He was good. Then Callie came in to say she was sorry (and she REALLY was - she felt awful when I talked to her about it) & he lost it again. But once Jeremiah got him refocused on the hippo game he was happy again. His finger looks MUCH better now, but I'm pretty sure he's gonna lose his nail - it's maroon. Every time I go to clean his hands after a meal I wince!

On Tuesday evening I was quickly headed out the door & when I grabbed the little handle on the screen door to pull it closed as I was walking out my ring caught on it. Ouch! It jerked my whole body back! Amazingly enough I just had a little mark on the top of my finger where my ring had dug in. I really can't believe it didn't break my finger, & you won't either after you look at this picture of my poor bent ring! I do have a nice little bruise on the side of my finger now. I haven't taken my ring to get fixed yet, but thankfully I have a spare! I'd lost my ring a few months ago and I felt so naked without it so I bought a ring I LOVE from Macy*s - $20 because it was 50% off! It's the type of ring I'd rather have anyway so I'm not too sad about wearing a pretend bling ring for a while. All I can say is, what was I thinking when we picked out my wedding ring?! I actually wanted my stone smaller & set lower than what was on the one in the store! I was cuh-razy!

I scream! You scream! We all scream for ice cream!

Sometimes it's awesome being in the trash business! The other day my mom took a truck & trailer to go to the site of a wrecked semi-truck that had been hauling ice cream. Not only did she come back filled to the gills, so did another couple of our roll-off trucks. And this wasn't just any ice cream- it was really good stuff! TONS of Häagen-Dazs - cases of pints plus the huge gallon containers meant for ice cream shops, and also Häagen-Dazs bars. Tons of Drumsticks & Push-Ups. Plus another brand or 2 of bars & treats that I wasn't familiar with. We called at least half the ward & told everyone to call everyone else. The first roll-off truck got back to the yard along with my mom & her load & it was a madhouse with everything gone in about 20 minutes! When the 2nd roll-off got to the yard later that afternoon most people had already heard about it & come in the morning so even though we called everyone we could think of there was still hundreds of dollars worth of premium ice cream that ended up being thrown away! What a tragedy! When Jeremiah asked what was for dinner that night I told him ice cream & I wasn't kidding! Only because I'd had 2 wisdom teeth pulled earlier that afternoon and still had gauze in my mouth so I hadn't yet been able to have any of the ice cream and I was feeling really sorry for myself! (Besides, having your wisdom teeth pulled I think definitely earns you a free day when you've been cutting out nearly all treats!) My children were in heaven! They would open up a drumstick, eat part of it, open up a Push-Up, have part of that, then have another Drumstick! They were both a sticky-sweet mess!!!







I was worried that they were going to be puking up ice cream any time! Jack did wake up after he'd been in bed for a couple hours that night with a stomach ache! We ended up having pizza for dinner, but I was in Häagen-Dazs heaven once the kids were in bed! I tried some of everything we had at our house until I thought I was going to go into an ice cream-induced coma! I loved it! I look forward to this Friday when I get my other 2 wisdom teeth pulled & can once again over-indulge on wonderful Häagen-Dazs! Until then I'm pretty much in hell every time I open up my freezer door! If you've never had Häagen-Dazs before (because I know it's expensive - it's always a big treat when we buy it!), and you like ice cream, you've got to try it! I wouldn't normally ever sit down with a bowl of vanilla ice cream, but I would if it were Häagen-Dazs! It is SO smooth & delicious! Ahhh! Häagen-Dazs!

bi-weekly report

It's been a fun past couple of weeks! For Memorial Day weekend we camped with my family & the Petersens. My m&d took the kids up to Kaibab Lake Thursday afternoon since I was at Jury Duty and Jeremiah & I were going to drive up later that evening. We realized we still had quite a bit to do & we wouldn't be able to get there till super late so instead we went out to dinner & enjoyed the quiet then drove up the next morning! We had a good time quadding & fishing, even though the fishing wasn't great. My only catch was a little 5 or 6 inch bass that we threw back. Callie has a little princess fishing pole with a Dora bobber that she was so excited to use again! She didn't catch any fish but she had a good time swinging the pole around & getting close to touching the worms on the hook! On Monday we were back home so I got a babysitter & the adults all went to see Pirates & go out to eat. I think I enjoyed Pirates more than everyone else, but that's because I'm easily entertained! 3 hours of popcorn & an enjoyable movie for only $2.50 is totally great to me!

Our SIXTH anniversary was Saturday so we got yet another babysitter (I'm not even raising my children lately between Jury Duty & date nights!) and went to Vegas for the day to go to the temple & out to lunch. Jer's bro Jason & his wife Richelle came that evening also to visit us for a few days. While they were here we spent quite a bit of time outside watching the kids run through a new sprinkler-toy that Uncle Jason picked out for them. He's always so thoughtful & gets little things for his nieces & nephew! I wish we lived closer to our siblings! It sucks to know that our kids won't know most of their cousins really well like Jeremiah & his cousins all did! Anyway, that's what we've been up to.

Oh, a couple more cute things Callie's said. First, I bent down one day & gave her a big hug & she gave me a tight hug back & said, "You're my best one ever." Awww! I've never even said anything like that to her so it totally surprised me & was just the sweetest thing in the whole dang world! She was also very cute yesterday as I was having her look at a couple different pictures of fisher-price dollhouses. She's going to get one for her birthday but I'm gonna get a previously loved one since the new ones are $60-80 plus another $8-15 per accessory set (i.e. living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc.) & she won't know the difference. Anyway, since I'm so lame & can't make my own decisions I thought my 2 year old could help! (It's not like she's old enough that it's gonna ruin it for her.) Okay, so I showed her the 2 I was having a hard time deciding between & she choose the one she called "the blue one." Later that morning I found the most amazing deal that had just been listed on Craig's List but it wasn't the blue one. So I showed her the pictures again & asked her if she would like this other one. She said she still liked the blue one best. I said I know you like the blue one best but would you still be happy if you had this one instead? She said, "I know I could still be happy with this one but I know I would really like the blue one best. The blue one would make me the most happy. I think the blue one is just better." If you have a small child you know it's pretty amazing & funny that she said all of this. In the end she's not getting the blue one. But she's already forgotten our little conversation I'm sure & I think she'll love having a dollhouse! :)

WTC! Or, How I Waste My Time

Okay, I know it's been a few weeks since all of the season finales, but I just haven't had a chance to blog in a while. So this "What the crap?!" is a bit overdue! First of all, I canNOT believe that Dreamz re-nigged on his deal w/Yau! Dreamz is not a good person plus he's a nut job to boot! Yeah right he planned it all along! That's the biggest pile of crap I've ever heard! And then that he doesn't even feel bad about keeping the truck! WTC! Sucks that Earl ousted Yau but then again, he's right - he would NOT have won otherwise so I guess you can't blame him too much. Moving on. Lost! Another big WTC! I'm gonna be so pissed if they really got off that island & Jack's seriously that bad off! Plus he's supposed to end up with Kate! Why would Kate stay with Sawyer?! Jeremiah had quit watching Lost with me several episodes before this one but happily rejoined me for this finale when he thought that Others were seriously going to get killed! He was SO stoked! So was I but I wasn't the one pummeling the couch saying yes! & take that! :) Anyway, how are they possibly gonna drag Lost out for another season? Either way I'll be watching. Just like when Alias was so old it stank! We had been faithful fans for years so we had to see it through. On a lighter note, I'm glad that Andy picked Tessa on The Bachelor. Yes, I admit I watched it! I hadn't watched it since Andrew Firestone but I was channel-flipping one night while Jer was in class & I got sucked in! Oh yeah, & The Office finale left me totally excited that Pam & Jim might actually get together finally next season! My sister Tara said that in the Brittish version (the original) they DO so that would be sweet! And if you don't watch The Office you are SERIOUSLY missing out on some fun stuff! Okay, that's all I'm going to report for now on how I waste too much of my life! I'm addicted to tv!

Serving Time

I've gotten a little too familiar with the law lately! Unfortunately I was "randomly" pulled for Grand Jury Selection. I say randomly because this was the third time I was randomly selected from all AZ Driver's License holders in Mohave County in about a 2 month's time span! The first I was excused, the 2nd was cancelled, and then I guess 3rd time's the charm! They needed 20 people out of the 60+ that showed up and I was pretty excited that I was the very second person called up there! I thought at least I'd be able to go home sooner! Well turns out Grand Jury Duty is a bit different than the regular jury duty. The Grand Jury meets every Thursday for 3 months! The GJ doesn't decide whether someone's guilty or innocent, it listens to cases and decides whether or not there is probable cause to indict the offender & send them to court. So like I said, I was feeling lucky that I'd be one of the first ones to be excused since I can't really commit my mom to baby-sitting every Thursday for the next 3 months! She's not your stay at home baking cookies kind of grandma! She's got a lot going on! The judge told me there would be alternates for the days she couldn't baby-sit! I can't believe it! So I've been 3 Thursdays so far & I'm over it! And it's not so bad sitting there - some of the stuff we hear is pretty interesting & sometimes we get a good laugh at the idiocracy of these criminals! And I can even play Sudoku off & on during it. But I know it's a huge, for lack of a better word, inconvenience for my mom right now & I feel guilty! She's working really hard trying to flip a house & it's a big deal for her to not be able to spend an entire day every week working on it! Plus I feel like I'm using up all my babysitting from her! So I'm gonna try to get out of the rest of it. Not that I want to shirk my civic duty, but come on, I was selected, not my mom! It's lame that they'd ask a stay at home mom of small children to do this!

Jackson Boy

Isn't he the cutest little guy? Even though I don't write as much about Jack (because he isn't as naughty yet & doesn't say funny things yet like his sister) he's still an amazing little person! Okay, I take back the naughty stuff. He's becoming quite defiant really! I'll tell him not to hit me & he'll look me in the eyes & whack me. You'd never believe it from the charming little look he's got on his face here! But he's also good at saying sorry & giving sweet hugs. And I love how he comes up to me when I'm sitting or crouching down & he'll hug me from behind & pat my back. Such a sweet little dude! Enjoy this video of him dancing!

Callie-isms

I need to start writing everything down cause she's constantly saying & doing the funniest things. Here's just a couple recent ones.

On the way to the airport I had to sit in back next to her & she kept poking me & pulling my hair. After asking her several times to not pull my hair I finally told her that if she pulled my hair one more time I was gonna sock her. She said, "No mom! Don't ruin my socks! That would make me sad! We don't ruin peoples' socks!"

Another day I looked over at her grunting & stretching. After a few moments I asked her what she was doing. She said, "I'm trying to get big!" ...Turns out she'd seen baby Sophie doing the same and Nana had told her that Sophie was doing that because she was growing & getting big.

Movie Beat with Ralph Garman

I used to always tell Jeremiah that I'd heard such & such about a movie & that would usually be the basis on whether or not we'd pay $9.50 to go see it or not. A couple of movies that I'd heard were good turned out to be not so good, and then some that I'd heard weren't so good ended up being pretty good when we later rented them. Finally Jeremiah asked me who were these people that were telling me how a movie was? I was hearing my movie reviews on the Movie Beat with Ralph Garman - one of the local radio show guys. Jeremiah gave me such a hard time for deciding whether or not we should see a movie based on what Ralph said that we've joked about it for a couple years now. Anyway, if you're wondering whether or not you should see some of the new movies, here's my movie beat! :)

Spiderman 3:
If you loved the first 2 then you won't be disappointed by #3! Not that I loved the first 2, but I enjoyed this one probably the most. There were a couple times during the movie that stuff was happening & I was thinking this is SO unrealistic. I guess I'd forgotten that Spiderman isn't a real person and that none of it would actually happen. Bottom line, if you like Spiderman go see it. It's good.

Shrek 3:
I only paid $2.50 to see this movie so I'm not sure that it would have been worth $9.50, but I was thoroughly entertained for an hour & a half watching this movie. It had several good laughs and I love how creative the writers are!

Lucky You:
If you like watching the National Poker Tournaments on tv you'll probably still hate this movie! It's definitely in the top 5 worst movies I've seen! If I hadn't been watching it at the same time the rest of our group was watching another movie, I would have walked out & got a refund after the first 15 minutes (and I NEVER stop watching a movie!). I don't know what I'm more sad about - the $9 I spent on the movie (well $18 since there were 2 of us!) or the 2 hours of my life that I WASTED!

Music & Lyrics:
Okay, so it's not in the theater but it is new to DVD. Very cute movie! If you like romantic comedies, definitely see this movie! Drew Barrymore looks the cutest I've ever seen her in this movie and I love Hugh Grant anyway. It's funny, it's romantic, it's great! Not so great that I'll buy it, but then again, I don't really buy movies anymore anyway. But if I did I'd buy it! :) I think I might actually buy The Holiday. That was a super great romantic comedy!

Home Sweet Home

I love being up in Washington where Jeremiah grew up. I've always told Jeremiah that I would NEVER live in Colville, but he still insists on continually trying to talk me into buying property there anyway. This time we were there though he suggested that we could buy some land & eventually build a cabin & spend summers there. Okay, I'm in! I wouldn't want to live there full-time because it's just too small! I miss the conveniences of a bigger city just living in Kingman, which is a LOT bigger than Colville! But Colville does have WalMart (who I hate but love their low prices!), so I could definitely spend a summer in the mountains around Colville! This is Jeremiah's parents' house:

So Jeremiah's main purpose for wanting to go to WA was to go turkey hunting with his dad. Mission: accomplished.

He wanted the kids & me to stay home, but I wanted to see my newest niece! Plus we've been married long enough that it's my family too! We don't get to see his family all the time like mine, so if he was going, so were we! Here's little Sophie - isn't she cute?! Although after the 3rd or 4th day of being there & being reminded of how much WORK a newborn is, Jeremiah & I were both questioning whether or not it's really time to add another branch to the tree! Seriously! That girl cries a LOT! I don't remember my babies crying as much! It was cute to see Jer's sister as a new mom though. She & her husband would take turns riding in the back of the car with Sophie. Aww! Actually I teased her about that & told her that was definitely a new parent thing to do (except that I don't remember us doing it). I went to an appt. with Tabby & she asked if I'd sit in the back with Sophie. I told her I'd drive & she could sit in the back! Anyway, Tabby is a cute mom.

We didn't leave the house very much, but who needs to with such an amazing back/front yard?! Callie & Jack had SO much fun! Jeremiah has TONS of cousins around there so it was really cool that Callie & Jack could play with the youngest ones for hours & hours! One thing I really admire about Jeremiah's family & extended family is how loving & helpful & kind they all are! I want my children to be just as great! Even the teenage cousins are awesome like that! Anyway, the kids loved being outside & they loved visiting Papa & Nana's house! On the way to the airport Callie kept whining that she didn't want to go to Arizona - she wanted to stay in Washington because she loved it. I kept telling her that we had to go back to our house & she'd say, "But I love Washington!"

It was a good visit, but all good things must come to an end & really I love being back in my own home. Too bad I can't transport it to a beautiful green valley surrounded by forest instead of being stuck in this barren wasteland!

not fun to do

On Sunday they must have sung "Fun to Do" in nursery because Callie sang it a lot Sunday afternoon. We sang "Cleaning our room is fun to do" as we picked up the toys yesterday before Jack's nap. I was working on something in my hobby lobby and Callie was standing on a chair trying to stretch herself as far onto my workspace as possible so I told her for the 2nd or 3rd time to sit in the chair, now! She started to sing, "Sitting in the chair is not fun to do, not fun to do, to do, to do!" I couldn't believe she'd come up with that! She's a crack-up!

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!