Turkey Day

Did you know that this was my first Thanksgiving ever in Mesa, AZ! Sure, sure--there was that one year we had Thanksgiving in Mexico, but this was my first time having a turkey dinner, on Thanksgiving day, in Mesa, What a Place-a! (Is that correct usage of place-a? I thought that since this was my first Thanksgiving in Mesa I would also take the plunge and say "place-a" for the first time. Blake, stop rolling your eyes.) So, to keep up with all the Mesa Thanksgiving traditions, Jack and I woke up super early and ran the Turkey Trot with all willing and able family members. Grandpa bailed me out and pushed Jack until that stinker wanted out of the stroller and I ended up carrying him the last half of a mile.
Thanksgiving dinner was oh so good and oh so beautiful. Everything at Nanny's table was perfect, down to the little pilgrim and indian salt shakers and napkins that matched my Hooter Hider. I even had a big scoop of cranberry sauce all by itself. Yum. And did I mention the pie? Oh the pie! I stuck with Ashley on the berry pie and it did not disappoint.On Friday Nanny and Grandpa had a little birthday party for Max. We really have been timing our visits perfectly with the boys' birthdays. And this little party was perfect for Max. There was just enough attention on him, but not too much to make him not go through with the festivities. He spit all over the cake while blowing out the candles and thus left a lot of cake to be eaten by the other little people who didn't care about a little spit. He loves his Thomas computer from Nanny and Grandpa and plays with it so much that my head starts ringing every time I hear that Thomas song start playing.
Other Thanksgiving weekend activities included finally seeing Twilight (2 thumbs WAY up), reading Blake's 2nd grade creative writing book, and a lot of golfcart rides with Grandpa.

Max continued his Aladdin obsession and watched the original movie several times with anyone who would watch with him. Actually one time when I peeked in on him, Max was dead asleep and it was Grandpa who was tapping his toes, singing along to, "You Ain't Never Had a Friend Like Me." But Max actually took his obsession a step further by insisting on always using the "Jasmine" sippy cup. Daddy Blake will be so proud. And I'm pretty sure I say this every time, but the best part about the whole weekend was the cousin time. Dancing, hide-and-seeking, and jumping on big piles of pillows seems to be much more fun with cousins. We are so thankful to be a part of this wonderful family.

11 Days in B-Town

Was it just me, or was this the most relaxing vacation in Utah EVER? I just feel so refreshed. Maybe it's because of all the family time at home, rather than go-go-go. Or maybe it's because my parents finally, FINALLY made the gigantic leap from bunny ears to DirecTV and we are all so mesmerized by the plethora of channels that all we did was sit around and watch TV. That could have been it. But I do have to clarify that Max couldn't care less about all the channels. All he wanted was The Return of Jafar on VHS and let me tell you, he got it! So, in between all the movie viewing, multiple Dancing With the Stars parties, and basketball watching, we sometimes did get off the couch.

This is the first trip where Jack has been mobile enough to explore the tunnels. Add the stairs to the tunnel-tent equation and this little baby was in heaven.
Thanks to Geri and Cindy we made some very beautiful apple turkeys. The next morning when I came out to the kitchen, all the dots were missing off the tops of the turkeys feathers. Hmmmm....
We even got to celebrate both Bri and Grandpa's birthdays!Of course the boys weren't too sad about staying home since they were constantly sneaking the candy so conveniently placed all over Grandma's house!But we did get out of the house to feel that not-so-crisp Utah fall air. We went shopping several times, I had a fabulous lunch with Dawna, even though we found out our favorite restaurant, Cafe Pierpont, is closed, and we made a lot of trips to the park. And in Max language, the park isn't always a park, but just the backyard. Poor city boy.
We went to the zoo even though we didn't make it past the train and playground. Seriously--the only animals we saw were the ducks.

Tony scored us sweet tickets to the Jazz vs Bucks game.
And we even met up with Gage for dinner at Hires, where Jack was more interested in his rootbeer freeze than in Gage.Seriously, the best vacation ever! We love our family!

The Big Game

What's the deal with my family? Even though I'm their favorite, there's one thing I can't change their mind about.
The only neutral party on a day like this (don't be fooled, that's Aggie blue, not BYU blue)--
I know it seems like I'm a traitor for allowing my children to dress like this, but I definitely don't want to discourage free clothing to cover their growing bodies. And don't worry, I've reminded the boys several times today of the only institution where Daddy Blake will pay their tuition, and it's not red.
We'll get them next year, Cougs!

Word from Ethiopia

I can't believe that 6 years ago, this exact week, I was with my husband on the Galapagos Islands, celebrating Thanksgiving on an amazing dental mission. And now, 6 years later, my husband is in Ethiopia, on another mission, repairing cleft palates and lips. When I try to tell Max where he is, Max tells me he's at school squiriting water in people's mouths. Either way, we miss him. And I think he misses us too. Especially since the name of the city he's in is Addis Ababa--a constant reminder of his loving wife, and babbling child. Today he called and emailed for the first time. I don't want to copy and paste his emails because I'm hoping when he gets home he'll make his blog debut and tell about the whole thing. And if he doesn't, then I'll just copy and paste his emails. :) But so far, without giving away too many details, he is alive, getting sick of the food, and has screened over 200 patients who have traveled far distances to be treated. Today was the first day of surgery and he said it was amazing. We love you, Blake!

First Steps

Jack is finally giving in. Or maybe he'll do anything to get away from all these strangers in Utah who are attacking him with hugs and kisses. Or maybe he's just trying to show off for them. Either way, I'll take it. Go Jack, go! This video's for you, Daddy Blake!

Hide and Seek

Max is a pretty good hide-and-seeker. If you didn't know that he always hides where you were just hiding, he is pretty subtle about giving some good hints to his whereabouts. And as much as we try to explain to him that he needs to stay quiet while he's hiding, this way seems to be much more fun to him. And I have to agree.

My Little Climber II

My first little climber was nothing compared to this climber. Or maybe my memory just isn't that great. But Jack is always, always climbing. He loves climbing up on the blocks and futon to reach the heater thermometer. And he has even perfected the climb up on Max's bed, over to the toy chest to stand up and turn on and off the light. I love watching him try to put his little leg up on whatever he's trying to climb on and hear him grunt pulling himself up. But, what makes Jack's climbing truly amazing is that he already turns around climbs down by himself. His brother must be teaching him since we don't have stairs to learn on and I certainly never turn around to climb off the couch or bed. It makes my life so much easier since I never have to worry about Jack falling off whatever he's climbed up on. Then, today at the park, Jack showcased his all-around climbing skills by climbing up a set of stairs, going through a tunnel, climbing up another set of stairs and through another tunnel, where he reached the slide then turned around and went down the slide on his belly all by himself. What a big boy (except the part where he crawled instead of walked)!

Letter Boy

It's no secret. Max LOVES letters; LOVES them. He was able to identify all the letters over a year ago thanks to Daddy Blake and one of his favorite books "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and has also been able to say what each letter says for a while now. But as he is learning to spell and read words, he has become obsessed with letters. So now, he likes playing trains and cars. He likes playing grocery store. But he LOVES playing letters. We play letters all the time. We cut letters from paper and glue them on more paper. We play with letter puzzles and blocks. We play letter games on the computer. And we play with his magnetic letters all the time. We dance them around, saying the sound they make and we send them down the vacuum attachments to build words. He loves his magnetic letter book so much that he even asks to sleep with it. But don't try to say the alphabet in order with him. Oh no! He gets so frustrated because ABC and so on, doesn't spell anything. He only likes letters in an order that spells something. He is always reading letters and asking me what it spells, or telling me what it spells himself. My favorite: "H-O-O-V-E-R. That spells vacuum." The one exception of listing letters that don't spell a word are the vowels. He loves the vowels. Or as he says, "bowuhls." He always separates the vowels out of the puzzle, blocks, and magnetic letters before we can start playing. The other day he came running to show me his bowuhl tower. I love my smart little letter boy.

Brothers

I just took a bunch of videos off the camera and I really enjoyed these from a few months ago. This is another reason I love the hole in the boys' bedroom door.


And here's a video a few days later of Jack getting even with Max for taking away his toys, throwing the toys, pushing him, screaming at him, body-checking him, and driving a truck on him.


I'm a lucky girl to get to spend my days with these brothers.

Little Teaser

Ever since I posted that Jack doesn't want to walk, it's like he's been teasing me that he COULD walk, but like I said, really just doesn't to. He has been standing up everywhere. And he especially loves standing up to sing, "If you're happy and you know it" while clapping his hands. I can't decide if he's taken a step yet or if it's more of a fall forward, catch himself on something. But I don't think he'll be able to tease me much longer. Come on Jack!