The Latest Games

Faith has started to imitate Michael. He likes to run and jump into our big beanbag. So she, of course, has to do it too.



And Michael has discovered a love for blowing bubbles. It's pretty entertaining to watch. The best part starts at about 0:40.

The rest of Michael's birthday

I just realized that I never wrote about the family party we had for Michael's birthday. I'm such a devoted mommy.

So yes, we had the family over on the Saturday after Michael's birthday. I was actually surprised at how many people came. Pretty much everyone who lives anywhere in the area came. It was really nice. There wasn't room in my house for everyone to have a seat. He got a lot of loot - a play bowling set and two Curious George DVDs from Grandma and Grandpa Sabin; a set of real tools and a horn to go on his bike from Grandma and Grandpa Hansen; a remote control fire engine from Kari, Rich, Sean and Amanda; some craft items from Emily and Jessi; a lot of squirt guns from Callie and Gary; more squirt guns and a kick ball from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Hansen; and his very own case of root beer from Jodi and Sadie. That was a HUGE hit. The squirt guns were also a huge hit. Lots of people went outside and had a squirt gun fight.

The tools are by far Michael's favorite, I think. He is always talking about his screwdrivers and how he needs a wrench and how he's going to fix this or that.

I made a cake (a yellow race car, chosen by Michael), and neglected to take any photos of it. Michael actually blew his candle out this year, rather than freak out about being so close to something that he thought we were going to make him eat. So if any of you (Callie?) have photos of the cake, please send them my way.

And no, in case you were wondering, Michael did not eat cake at his party. He blew out the candle and ran back outside to keep squirting people. He did, however, eat cake a few days before the party (our "practice cake"), and did pretty well.

There. Birthday documented.

Lots of stuff

I don't know what else to title this post. "Lots of stuff" says it all.

First, a video of Michael singing:


He was so cute doing this. He sings it really well when someone is singing it with him, but obviously, when he's on his own, it's a little more difficult.

Next, some photos of Michael at Terrace Days. It was raining most of yesterday, but in the afternoon while it was just drizzling, we got out of the house and took the kids to Terrace Days at Rohmer Park. They had several of those huge inflatable activities, and Michael had a great time on the slide. He would have spent all afternoon on it if it hadn't started raining hard again. So we left and went to Costco for a while. Later, Jeff went back to the park with him, and he spent more time on the slide. He also tried out some of the other things, like the bouncing tent and the obstacle course. But the slide was the best.



When we first got there, I thought there was no way he would go down that slide, but he did a great job. He just booked it right up there and went for it. It was awesome.

While we were at Costco yesterday, we bought a new vacuum. Our old one was at least seven years old, and it was the cheapest model available at the time. Yeah, it was crappy. The new one, however, is my new favorite possession. After vacuuming our living room twice and our family room once, I emptied the canister. I was surprised at how much dirt and gunk came out. Remember, we've been keeping the house clean, so we have vacuumed much more regularly than usual. So to get so much yucky stuff out of apparently clean carpets was interesting.

I was released from my calling today. I'll miss the kids - especially the nursery singing time. But I won't miss the hassle. It will be nice to go to Gospel Doctrine with Jeff again, and especially to go to Relief Society. I do miss the sisters. The new Primary president is my former second counselor, and she'll do a great job. They'll all be fantastic.

We've had one person come walk through our house. The Realtor told us we'd have a day's notice. Not so. Jeff came home on Friday to a message on the phone saying that someone would be there between 5:30 and 6:30. I hadn't made the beds or done the dishes, so Jeff was freaking out trying to get things done. Unfortunately, the people showed up at 4:40. So it wasn't as clean as it could have been. Oh well. I won't leave the house messy again. (I promise, Sweetie.)

Why was I not home on Friday to get that message myself? I took the kids to the Treehouse, and then for ice cream (Michael had Sprite) at Farr's, and then to walk around the fountains at the temple. We were just wasting time before I had to go to work. It was fun, but I must say that I learned two very important lessons. Number one: it's very hard to keep track of two kids at the Treehouse by myself. They like to book it in opposite directions. And number two: Faith should probably not eat an entire bowl of ice cream by herself. It gives her nasty diaper rash. But I'm stingy and didn't want to share mine, so I bought Faith her own. Now I know, she isn't ready for that.

And just a couple of funny conversations with Michael:

Michael: (Putting chapstick on) When I'm 19, I'll buy some new chapstick.
Me: Yup, you'll have your own money then.
Michael: Yeah, and this chapstick will be really old when I'm 19.

Michael: I don't like that park anymore (pointing to the playground at Rohmer Park - this is just after he had played forever on the big slide).
Me: You don't? Why not?
Michael: It makes me really, really angry. It makes me say MEH! And OOOHHHHHH!

Me: Michael, what are you doing? (He was sitting up in bed, really late, holding one of his stuffed animals.)
Michael: I'm trying to baptize Blue Bear and Noah.
Me: You're trying to baptize them?
Michael: Yeah. I'm trying to baptize ALL my animals.

Michael: Can I have some root beer with my food today?
Jeff: I don't know if Grandma has root beer at her house. (We were on our way to their house.) If she does, you can have some.
Michael: If she doesn't, I'll just have to suffer when I eat. (Okay, so this is what Jeff heard. But what he actually said, was "I'll just have a sucker after I eat.")

Small World

So since I'm totally bored at work today, I started surfing the Internet. I started randomly clicking on the blogs that Callie links to in her blog, and guess what I found? The Starley family, made up of Stacey Ropelato (Callie's friend from Huntsville) and Nate Starley (Jeff's MTC companion). From there, I found my own cousin Aaron and his wife, Heidi. Then from there, I found Nate and Malinda. Then also from Starleys, I found Justin and Jayanne Wight from the student ward. And from there, a TON of others from the student ward. Oh, and Sarah Scoville. How do the Starleys know Sarah Scoville? I can't figure that one out, unless Sarah went to Weber State, and they met there?

Anyway, like I said, I'm totally bored at work today. I had a few busy minutes. But not very many. Only when Jeff and I were trying to talk on the phone. Darn those guests. Don't they know I have a personal life to live?

It's Official!

Our house is officially for sale. I'm excited, but also sad. Hopefully, it will sell quickly so that we can get through this limbo phase. Of course, once we sell the house, we'll still be in limbo - where will we go from there? We honestly have no idea. But it will work out.

Here's the link to our listing if anyone is interested:
http://utahrealestate.com/892605

Hey Grandma, recognize my shirt?

This dress was getting a little too short for Faith, so I put some pants on with it instead. I almost like it better as a shirt!

Michael's Birthday

What a day. I had hoped to take Michael to the free movie at the library. It would have been his first movie in a theater. But he decided he would rather stay home and play with Ana (who was going to play with Faith while he and I went to the movie). I was hoping to convince him, and even asked Sadie to go with us. But when it was time to eat lunch before we went, Michael informed me that he was going to "eat reeeaaaallly slooooooow" so that we wouldn't make it in time. What a stinker. So yes, we ended up staying home and watching The Incredibles instead.

It rained almost all day. Michael was only able to spend about five minutes outside riding his new bike. He loves it. I just wish the rain would stop so he could enjoy it more.

Later, Jeff and I took him to see Up in the real movie theater. Jeff wanted to see it anyway, so it was a good opportunity to take Michael somewhere special for his birthday. It probably was a bad idea. He was kind of ornery and insisted that he get chocolate milk to drink. Ever seen chocolate milk in a movie theater? Me neither. So he wasn't happy that I got him lemonade instead. Then he had to go potty. Then he wouldn't sit next to us. He wanted to sit all by himself (one empty seat between him and anyone else). Then, when the house flew through a nasty thunderstorm, he bolted over on top of my lap and started asking questions. What's happening? Why is there rain? Is he hurt? Did they fall down? The questions didn't stop until the movie was over. Well, there was a short reprieve when he loudly announced that he needed to go poop. Ah, the discretion of a four-year-old.

All in all, it was an interesting day. He said he had a good day and that he had fun. And when he said his prayers last night, he said, "Thanks that we could go to a movie," so it must not have been all bad, right? We'll just remember not to take him to another movie for at least three more years.

Some Updates

I haven't been blogging much lately. I've been reading all of your blogs, just not writing any of my own. So here's what's been going on....

• Our desktop computer died. Completely. It won't even boot up. Jeff is currently working on this problem, trying to recover the photos and other documents from the hard drive, but so far, it isn't looking good. Jeff is looking good, but the possibility of getting that stuff back isn't. Fortunately, Jeff saved most of our photos to CD or to the laptop a few weeks ago. So the only stuff that might be potentially lost are the photos from the last month or so, and a lot of documents that I used for Primary stuff.
• Speaking of Primary stuff, I will soon be released from that calling. I told the bishop we were selling our house, and that we would be moving. He has since told me that he has called a new president, and is just waiting on her to choose counselors. Any week now. I was hoping to be released LAST Sunday so that I wouldn't have to go to ward council this Sunday. But no such luck. I will have at least one more 7 am meeting.
• And speaking of selling the house, it is not yet listed. We had the slow laundry drain flushed, the spiders sprayed, and the carpets cleaned in the last few days. Tomorrow I will set up an appointment with the Realtor, and we'll see what happens.
• The pregnancy is going well. I had another doctor appointment today, and I have to say that after seeing what is identifiable as a baby on the ultrasound, I am much more excited. Little amoebas just don't do it for me. Especially when they make me so tired that I fall asleep at work (true story). In five weeks, we will go in for our big ultrasound and find out if it's a boy or a girl. Michael wants another sister. He refers to the baby as a "she," and he told me today that he wants to name her Shinzing. We'll file that one to the bottom of the stack of possibilities.
• Faith now knows her head, belly, feet, and is learning her nose. She is teething, and it has not been pleasant for anyone. She has four molars coming in, only one of which has broken the surface. She also bit the tip off of both of her sippy cups, so we bought her new ones with hard plastic tips. She LOVES them. I don't even think she's thirsty most of the time. She just wants to drink out of her cup. It probably helps that they look just like the cup Michael drinks out of. She thinks she's so big.
• Well, she IS so big. She came in at the 75th percentile for weight at her last doctor appointment, and she was the 50th percentile the visit before that; so she is not only gaining weight, but gaining on the curve.
• Michael is very excited for his birthday tomorrow. He will finally get his new bike and his new helmet. I'm planning to take him to his first movie (the library is showing Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa at noon, and it's free). But when I asked him today if he wanted to go, he said no, he wanted to stay home and play with Faith. So we'll see. And I'm going to make cupcakes tomorrow, now that the carpets are dry and the living room furniture is out of the kitchen. Michael says he's going to eat cake. Tomorrow is really a practice cake. Hopefully, he'll eat cake on Saturday when we have the family over for cake and ice cream. He still insists he doesn't like ice cream.

Attack of the Chocolate Pudding

I think she likes it. What do you think?