Happy or Sad?

don't worry, he can't decide either. . .

A minor D-tale

This weekend we discovered that our little monkey can climb the ladder into AP's loftbed. The obvious problem is he also wants to climb down--head first!
I caught him but not before he smacked his head on the top rung (I know, I know I should have gotten him down right away instead of taking pictures but I really didn't think he would go for it! He's usually so good about going to the edge of a bed and stopping there). We can hope he won't try it again, but since we're quite sure he will, we'll be keeping the door to AP's room shut . . .

Woohoo General Mills!

I got on google to find a recipe and instead hit the jackpot for gluten free blogs (I have added just a few to my "sites I like" sidebar; for a much more complete list go to http://www.shaolinglutenfree.blogspot.com/ ). Anyway, after a little blog surfing I found out rice chex have been reformulated to be gluten free and Corn Chex, Honey Nut Chex, Strawberry Chex, Chocolate Chex, and Cinnamon Chex are on the verge (check out http://www.delightfullyglutenfree.wordpress.com/). I am so excited to go to the grocery store and be able to buy a non-sugary cereal that is gluten free! Thank you General Mills!

Who calls this Spring?

Apparantly we do!! These pictures are from yesterday morning. I guess the upside is that A&A have gotten to play in the snow a bit, but we haven't had to do any shoveling (well except AP who shoveled the deck and part of the back lawn in an attempt to creat the world's biggest snowball).

a little Australian trivia

Anybody remember these? I posted about them a little while back. We couldn't figure out what they were at the time, but yesterday AJ brought home a book that identified them as a jellyfish called (drum roll please) "Man O' War." And while on the subject of Australian creatures, we also just read in BYU Magazine that early settlers dubbed the kookaburra "laughing jack-ass" (I figured if it's written in BYU magazine it's ok for me to repeat here). I personally didn't find the kookaburras that annoying; the crows were though!! A lot of Aussies wear spiky bike helmets (wish I had gotten a picture of them, they were funny) to protect themselves because the birds do attack (and can be quite vicious). Anyway, there is our Australian trivia for the day!

A sad day

Today is a sad day. We had to say goodbye to our cat. She has been sick for a long time, but the last several days got really bad. J took her into the vet this morning. I didn't think I would get emotional, but as soon as he got home and I saw his eyes my heart just broke. He said she went to sleep in a sunbeam, just how a cat would choose to go. Hello tears! And they haven't stopped. I opened a can of chicken for lunch and, as silly as it is, started crying again, because she always came running when she heard the can opening to beg the broth. Then when I walked past the laundry room (where she spent most of her time) to put D down for his nap, he kept pointing at the door (which he does when he wants to play with her). Man! It has been tougher than I imagined! And I haven't even told AJ yet. That cat has been her best friend, and yesterday she told me, "Mom she has been with me through so much and when I feel sad she always understands and helps me feel better. It's not fair that she's dying on Easter!" It was a good opportunity to talk about why we celebrate Easter but still tough for her to think about letting go. She finally said, "If she does die I'll be ok if we can bury her in the yard and put "Midnight [our last name]" on a rock. Because Mom, she has been like my daughter and is part of our family." So as often as we joked about her not being a cat but more of a lump, the truth is she wasn't just a cat, but she wasn't a lump either; she was a part of the family and we'll miss her!

AJ and Midnight - Summer 2007

A year already?!

A year ago. . .

photos courtesy of Amy Bennion

And now!

photos courtesy of me (and the professional is?)

I can't believe my boy is a year old!! This year has gone way too fast, and although it is so fun to watch him grow, a part of me is sad to see my baby disappear into toddlerhood. Even so we are loving each stage, and are so grateful to have him in our lives. Not a day goes by that at least one of us (and usually all of us, just at different times) is heard saying, "What would we do without you D?" He brightens each day and makes us all happier. We love his big grin and even bigger personality. We're so glad to have you Little Bear!

Cake for dinner?!

I am not much of a practical joker (didn't inherit that family trait), so April Fools' Day is usually lost on me. However, I remembered this meatloaf cake from a magazine J gave me several years ago and had to give it a try. I wanted to have it all done before everyone got home, but didn't have time and was afraid my joke was ruined since AP saw me make the meatloaf and AJ saw me make the mashed potatoes. However, she thought I was putting mashed potatoes on a chocolate cake so it was still pretty funny!

We had "wormy" apples with our dinner too. Overall it was a hit and AP is already asking for a repeat! I hope everyone had a fun fools day!

confuse whats?

While I was busy trying to get everyone settled, AJ asked for help setting up the Gamecube. I told her she needed to try and figure it out or wait until I finished what I was doing. After a while she came back and told me, "I did it! I figured it out with only a few little confusements."

Home Again!

It's nice to be home, but boy is catching up hard to do! We are adjusting pretty well to the time change except for D. He is not sleeping well at all, poor kid (as a result I am not getting much sleep either). Because of the sleep inertia he is pretty grouchy/needy when he is awake,which makes it a little difficult to get stuff done; it's almost harder than when he was a newborn (anybody want my baby for a day?). I have also decided to continue homeschooling AP, so most of the day has been devoted to that. On the other hand, AJ was very anxious to get back to public school and wasted no time in doing so. We got back Saturday night and she was ready to go Monday morning. We brought back some little koala clips for each of her classmates, so her teacher had her come up and tell about Australia before handing them out. I was so impressed with how much she knew and remembered! Anyway, I am hoping that it doesn't take too long to get caught up on things; sleep, unpacking, cleaning, reorganizing, (we moved a lot of stuff around to make space for our housesitters). All in all though it is good to be back! AP&AJ are so happy to be with their friends, toys, cat, and backyard!! And for me, it was delightful to go to the store today and not have to pay for parking (it was such a pain always trying to come up with the correct change) and so nice being able to find all my favorite brands and foods. What a joy to get apples for less than $5/lb and ground beef for less than $6/lb. . . And grapes for .99/lb--yeah Albertsons! It was also great to be able buy bulk items. Oh, how I missed Costco! Of course, it has been fun to see faces we missed while gone (can't wait to see more) and I am looking forward to catching up with everyone!