Spewing Forth

Dear Charlotte,

Do you stay up later than you should when your significant other is gone for the night? I do. And I do stupid things like scarffing down half a bag of Doritos and watching Whose Line Is It Anyway clips on Youtube. Actually, I've been known to do those things when the husband man is here, too, but it's much more enjoyable then. Because laughing with someone you love is always better than laughing alone, don't you think?

So then after I grow bored of such festivities, do I go to bed? Of course not. I must spew nonsense onto my keyboard and post it to my blog so that both of the people who read said blog can get all excited that there is an update (because I know you got all excited) and then get all disappointed when they actually read it because, well, it's not actually about anything.

What's that you say? Oh, where's the husband man anyway and why did he have to leave so as to inflict you with such ramblings? Father/Son campout. He has been strictly charged with keeping the beginning-to-act-like-a-two-year-old Chicken Little and the no-sense-of-boundaries Turtle alive and in one piece. Well, two pieces really. Because there are two of them. And warm at night. And hopefully well fed. And with not too many bug bites. And preferably not burned by either campfire or sun. But I don't want to come off all naggy, so I didn't mention that last one. Not the campfire part anyway. No one likes a girl who nags, ya know?

All in all I must say that I have enjoyed the tantrum freeness of the last several hours. But alas, nothing gold can stay.

Long Time No See

Dear Charlotte,

Remember me? The one who used to blog here? No? I don't blame you. A lot has happened in the last almost year since I really blogged. (Wow... almost a year!) What have we been up to? I don't really know where to start...how about a few visuals.

Oakley 4th of July Parade

Camping at Capitol Reef

Eccles Dinosaur Museum

Chicken Little's 1st Birthday

Halloween

Ricochet's 7th Birthday Party (Thanks Grandma!)

And Christmastime

That's pretty much what we've been up to of late. Well, that and buying a house and moving. One little detail that took over a great deal of our last 10 months that we have no pictures of. How is it that we bought a house and have no pictures?! Well, we did. And it's been great - we're really loving it here. Mostly. If the snow would just GO AWAY.

Oh yes, there is one more little thing:

BUNSO (which is a Filipino nickname for "the littlest one") joined us at the end of February.

Ain't he cute?

Now if he would just learn to sleep at night I'd be a little more functional.

So there you have it - our past year or so in pictures. Any questions? No? Good. Because I've got a baby to go feed.

Spring Break My Foot!

Ugh

Ski Week

Officially known as President's Week in dear ol' Park City, we just finished a week off of school. Which also means a week off of work for Ben. It started by having cousins over for the weekend. And then, Ben who doesn't do vacations told us Sunday night that in the morning we were going to get in the car and drive south for a few days. We're all a little sick of the cold. Literally. The coughing hung around for a month and is just now gone. So we did. Get in the car and head south.

We figured we'd stay in Cedar City and then drive down to St. George for a day. We had a great time. Especially when Turtle started screaming at 1:30 in the morning and then barfed all over the bed/wall/floor. Good times. Let's just say he doesn't travel well. Letting him stay up late and eat a bunch of junk probably didn't help either. We're good parents like that. We stopped at Cove Fort on the way down and took a tour, swam in the hotel's pool that was rather dusty because of construction, stayed up late watching the olympics (much to Ben's dismay), visited the Dinosaur Discovery in St. George (where our future paleontologist Ricochet was enthralled and asked in-depth questions about everything and we had to finally pull her away because Turtle and Daddy were getting antsy), played miniature golf (of which I sadly have no pictures), ate lots of food and paid too much for it, saw Princess and the Frog at the dollar theater (which was really a $2 theater, but that doesn't flow off your tongue quite as well, ya know?) and just enjoyed our family time together. Interestingly, we ran into another PC family at the movie theater in St George. Who'da thunk? Pictures, you say? Yes, here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment.

Cousin Princessa V apparently should have had a nap that day...

Cove Fort

Do I really need to label where we are in this picture?

Each of the kids got to pick something from the gift shop at Dinosaur Discovery...

Turtle picked a little stegosaurus puzzle.

And Ricochet picked a mini excavation kit. As she was excavating through the exotic plaster to find the dinosaur bones, she was all atwitter at the "discovery" she was about to make.

No, I didn't forget this one - Chicken Little did indeed come with us. He just doesn't do much yet so he didn't get as much camera time. Poor Chicken Little.

Introducing (5 months later)...

Chicken Little
From Birth to ICU to Home to Blessing to First Cloth Diaper to Halloween to Christmas to First Solids
And so Amanda can stop complaining :)

Friday Five

Dear Charlotte,

5 Names the Kids Have Suggested for Chicken Little's Real Name
1 - Maryanda
2 - Squirt
3 - Chicken Little
4 - Sparkles
5 - Hearties

Not So Friday Five

Dear Charlotte,

Okay, so it isn't Friday, but I missed it this week. I had planned on posting this, but I never got around to it, so here it is. Consider it a special Sunday surprise!

Blowing Smoke and Dandelions
5 Pics from Memorial Day Weekend

And yes, we are proud that Daddy's a smoker. ;)

The Peanut Gallery

Dear Charlotte,

My friend Raina has a sidebar on her blog with funny things her kids say and/or do. I like that idea because heaven knows I'm awful at recording such things! So, being the copycat that I am, I am stealing the idea. (Um, thanks Raina!) On the side of my blog, you will now find "The Peanut Gallery" which will be updated periodically with little glimpses of the funny things my kids (and perhaps occasionally other kids I know) say. Enjoy!

Introducing...

Dear Charlotte,

Introducing Little Baby Ray (who has yet to be given a nickname):

For Those Who Haven't Heard...

Dear Charlotte,

Turtle has an announcement:

"I going be a big brudder!"

Pay It Forward

So, here's how this game works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift/treat from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (or be lazy and copy and paste like I did). Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift!

Halloween at Last!

Dear Charlotte,

Yes, that title says Halloween. Yes it's been almost two months. Yes I'm only now getting around to posting pictures. Se la vie.
First and foremost, if you know what this is a picture of, you must have a little girl in your life. Here at our palace (that's a fancy word for castle) we LOVE this book. What book is it? Why, Fancy Nancy of course! In the book, Nancy, who loves to be fancy, gives her family lessons on being fancy, dresses them up and they all go out for pizza. A very fun and delightful (that's a fancy word for good) book that even Ben enjoys. So for Halloween we decided to dress up as Nancy's family. Only, she has a little sister and we happen to have a little brother. Although we considered dressing the little man up just like Nancy's little sister, we decided to let him retain a bit of dignity instead. So we improvised on a fancy little man and he played the part - strutting all over the place, flashing hand signals, saying, "yo, yo, yo." Ricochet, of course, got to be Nancy. And if you're wondering, yes, I did sew each of those ruffles on her dress. No, not by hand. What do you think I am - a seamstress? She was simply darling. So without further ado, here we are - Christmas ball earrings and all! (See, now I've tied it into Christmas so it's a perfect December post, right?)

Dear Charlotte,

I am going insane. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

The hardest thing I've ever done...

...is to help pin my little man down while he was screaming his head off so he could get stitches in his chin. Seriously. Nothing I have ever done was as hard as that. He was all wrapped up on a papoose board so he couldn't move and when the doctor put down the cloth to keep the cut sterile, it covered his eyes, so he couldn't see and I was helping to hold his head steady and looking the other way because I couldn't watch while they sewed it up. I also hadn't eaten much, so I even started to get nauseous at the end there. I usually don't have a problem with blood - I even considered a career as an ER nurse at one point - but something about the combination of a cut on the chin and someone I love make it too hard for me to watch. When Ben got stitches in his chin last year I couldn't watch either. And now they'll have matching scars - oh goody! OK, so you're probably wondering what happened. Ben was carrying Turtle up the stairs to my parents' house this afternoon and tripped, so Turtle cut his chin on the edge of a step. Fourteen stitches later, he's doing just fine and I'm slowly recovering.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Today is my dad's birthday - so let's celebrate! He is an amazing man that has been through A LOT in his life and is still as faithful as they come. He is an inspiration to me and I'm so glad that he's my dad! Happy Birthday Dad!

Not That Strong

My brother and his wife are foster parents and over the past three or four months they have been the parents to a darling little boy and girl. They thought they had a good chance of adopting them and have been looking forward to it. Just today they found out that custody is being given to the grandmother. It is a hard thing. They truly love these children and it is tough to let go. Watching them through this ordeal has given me great respect and even left me in awe of foster families. People who are willing to take in a child and love them as their own, just to give them up as soon as the court mandates (and then turn around and do it again!) are stronger than me. I used to think I would like to be a foster parent and give a home to children who don't have a decent one, but after witnessing the heartache firsthand, I think perhaps I am not that strong. I salute the many families who can do this - you are angels on earth!

"He Looks Just Like His Dad!" or does he?

From the same website I've recently become obsessed with...who do my children resemble more?! Now you know:

I thought Turtle would come up looking like his dad for sure, but...

A few more....

I can't get enough of that face recognition thing...

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Funny Funny Family

'nough said.