Old Friends!

I just ran into some old friends from high school at Babies R Us today! It was very exciting to see both of them since they are currently living in Washington DC and there is no way that I would have found out about them otherwise. Apparently they are expecting there first little one and are back home for the holidays. It always is strange to see people that you knew from high school but with Kelly and Jason it just seemed like they were the same people that I knew over 10 years ago (YIKES!). A very nice surprise! You just never know who you are going to meet at the store. I guess that makes it an adventure everytime you leave the house.

I finally got the few things I felt I needed to have before this new little one comes along. I went and got a new changing table pad (mine is ripped and nasty) and cover, a baby book (little girl themed of course) and a foam tub insert. I think that I have absolutely everything else that I could possibly need (with the exception of girl clothes) so this baby can come any time. Actually this baby could come today and I would be more than thrilled. Then the little one would be a tax deduction too. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion!

Eric showed a whole lot of wisdom at the store today. He just let me pick out the things that I wanted and felt that we needed and didn't say a thing over the price of them at all. I think all in all I spent $70 and several times I picked the least expensive of all the options. I got a hug, a kiss and an "I love you" for several of those things because I know that it hurts his heart to spend money where he doesn't think we need to but I also know that he would have let me get whatever I wanted because I have been so insane lately that letting me have my way is the easiest way to keep the peace! Poor guy, he will be so grateful to have this baby be born. Then he should get his mostly sane wife back, not the crazy lady that is living in her body currently!

Crystal's Cooking

Yesterday Crystal went with her aunt, uncle and cousin to Seattle for a visit. (Her family was in town to see her cousin who goes to Western for his Christmas break) Eric and I took the opportunity to encourage her to go with her aunt to some of the shops in the International District of Seattle to find some of the supplies and sauces that she needed to cook for us. Well let me tell you she came home with everything she needed to wow us with her cooking skills. From now on Crystal is in charge of the Chinese food cooking. She made us fried rice (very tasty!) and her family had helped her get some meat sides to go with it. I can't wait until Chinese New Year (she is cooking that night!) maybe I will try to get her to cook before that too! Eric thinks that I need to learn how to cook Chinese food from her and I will, but I think I might wait until closer to June and then let her show me. Until then, she is in charge when I get a craving for fried rice!

Snow Shoes for Two!

Both my big boys got snow shoes for Christmas this year and they were both so excited that it decided to snow yesterday to give them a chance to try them out!

Andrew breaking a trail in his little bear snow shoes!

Eric getting ready to try his out!

Andrew thought that the snow shoes were lots of fun and I think Eric is just excited to be ready to go up and use them on some real powder. The funniest thing about the snow yesterday was how isolated it was. I called my parents to see if they had a lot of snow in Everett (I had a appointment there in the afternoon) and my dad was very confused and asked me what snow was I talking about. Very strange. By the time you reached Hwy 204 the snow was gone but Frontier Village was a mess. Bizarre!

We'll just count our blessings that they got to try out thier new shoes at home and conveniently close to Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We have had a great one this year. It was crazy and exhausting but a whole lot of fun. I found that I could only take a few pictures at the beginning because if I tried to take any in the middle I was missing out on everything. There is no slow and dignified opening of presents at our house it is a mad free for all (once all the presents have been passed out!) The only misshap was when Alice opened my mom's present by mistake and she didn't know she had until I asked my mom if she liked what I got her. We got it all squared away though, so no harm was done!
The boys did really well on Christmas morning. They are pretty unpredictable as to their wake up time so I knew that it could be anywhere from right at 6:00 to 7:30 that they would wake up! Fortunately, they started stirring around 7:00 and then we all got up. Zane was the first one up and I am sure he didn't get the idea of Christmas because he just went downstairs to watch cartoons like he normally does. Who cares that there are presents under the tree to open. Shows were on. Once Andrew woke up though everything changed. He knew what was going to happen and he definitely wanted to get on with it! We let the boys wake up Crystal and then onto presents.

All in all, everyone made out like a bandit and Eric and I got a big surprise from my brother Reece who gave us his old TV (27" which is huge in comparison to the 19" that we had) and his old Playstation 2. Neither Eric nor I have any idea how to play any of the games that he gave us but we were excited to get a hand-me-down either way!

I think the sweetest part of the day for me though was that Andrew prayed for dinner (he had been planning for it for about a week) and he said thank you to Jesus for having a birthday. It was super cute and it made me think that maybe he got it just a little bit this year.

I hope that everyone else's Christmas was wonderful as well!

Elmo's Christmas Insanity

Tonight ABC showed "Elmo's Christmas Countdown" and never before has a show been more aptly named! You see, when the kids and I first started watching Christmas specials this year it was still November. We first watched Charlie Brown Christmas the week right after Thanksgiving and during that special show we saw an ad for all the Christmas specials that ABC planned to show this year. One glimpse of Elmo in a Christmas costume was enough to send my two guys over the moon with excitement. Then what does ABC decide to do to all of us but make us wait until 2 days before Christmas to air the blasted thing. For almost a month it has been "When is Elmo Christmas going to be on mommy?" until I thought I was going to lose my mind. There was a Christmas Countdownat our house alright but it had nothing to do with Santa. It has everything to do with Elmo and I have never been so glad for a show to air in my life! We have been having a countdown for weeks over when the show would be on. The worst part was that when the commercials came out I didn't know when it would air so I had to keep putting Andrew off until my TV Guide finally came and I could give him an actual date. Andrew does not deal well in the world of abstracts, he like the true facts and firm dates so a countdown is possible! Andrew finally got to the point with the Christmas specials that he informed me I needed to not tell him when they were going to be on until the night of because it gets him too wound up. He was dead right and the times that we didn't give him any warning were much smoother for everyone! I can only imagine how much fun this will be next year when Zane is super excited too. This year he just fed off Andrew's enthusiasm, next year he will have some of his own I am sure!

All My Officers

Eric got selected to work a special DUI emphasis for this Christmas season. The best part of this is that he gets to take a car home from work with him. The bad part is that he only has one day off between now and January 5th. And no, it is not Christmas! He is really excited about this and the boys think that him having his car at home is pretty cool. We got them all dressed up for pictures. I think they all look very handsome and professional.

Andrew at the wheel!

Zane- Ready for Action!

Zane Goes Potty

Last night we had our first success with Zane and the potty! I had just gotten him out of the tub and he looked at me and said Pee Pee. I asked him if he had to go and he said yeah! So up to the potty we flew and he made it! He was congratulated with a sticker (I had to make a chart very quickly) and we put it up on his bathroom door. It was very exciting for me even though I really do not want to do the potty training thing right now. I just don't feel like I have the energy but I guess I should go with his time table while it lasts. What is funny though is that I was sure he would take longer to train than Andrew did just because he is not quite as coordinated (and he is younger than Andrew was too!) with the whole getting dressed bit but he definitely knows what to do when he is put in the position. The only troublesome thing is that he insists on standing which can be problematic in public bathrooms. They just do not make toilets short enough for little boys and taking a stool with us is simply too much work if you ask me.

Belly Update #2

WARNING!!!!! This post will be full of information that may be offensive to any male readers. Consider yourself warned!

I had my 36 week check up today for new baby and they took a little peek to see if any of these crazy contractions I have been having were doing anything other than irritating me. It seems that they have been doing some good because I am officially 1 1/2 centimeters dilated, about 60% effaced and baby is at a -2 station (still pretty high) with the head pushing against the membrane. (Sorry, but I did warn you!) Wonderful news if you ask me! Not that anyone should be racing for the hospital yet but things are definitely starting to happen. According to my wonderful OB in a couple of more days if I go into labor they will not stop me. Hooray!

Christmas Cookies

Tonight we finally made Christmas cookies. I have been baking different things but this is the one that Andrew has been driving me crazy about! He really enjoys the sprinkles part and this time Zane even got into the action. I put Eric in charge of two boys and the sprinkles (the job that I knew was going to be super messy, HE HE!) and Crystal and I focused on the frosting. We could hardly keep up with two boys they were slapping sprinkles on at such a furious rate! We all had a great time and Crystal declared frosting cookies a whole lot more fun than carving pumpkins! (I have to agree)


The only downfall of the whole project was that we didn't really think about Zane not keeping the sprinkles on the cookies and before we came up with a solution there were half a bottle of sprinkles on the floor. We finally came up with the idea of a plate under the cookies and only a few sprinkles in a bowl for each cookie. You would never think Eric uptight until you see him try to do a project with the boys that potentially is messy. He just flips out. Not that I really wanted sprinkles all over my floor, but I think I took it in stride a little bit more than he did. Let me tell you there was some deep Lamaze type breathing happening and it wasn't from me!


As you can probably tell, Zane injested a few sprinkles during the process. Any guess what color he was using?

A very happy Andrew, now maybe he will back off about making cookies. I think that I am going to go crazy before Christmas gets here if he doesn't calm down. Four year old's and Christmas just go together but it can almost be too much for a mommy to handle!

A GRAM Christmas Party

Today we went to the GRAM Christmas party (it is for Eric's work) we got to have a whole bunch of fun and the kids got to do fishing and face painting plus they got to see Santa. We had a great time but we couldn't convince Crystal to sit on Santa's lap. For some reason she seemed to think that she was too old.

Fisherman Andrew (he caught some growing dino's))

Fisherman Zane (he caught a bouncy ball)

Frosty the Snowman

A Cute Christmas Stocking

Surprisingly this year Zane was not scared to sit on Santa's lap. I think doing it with brother helped. It made it a whole lot less scary and definitely more fun!

So Sleepy!

Zane and I just finished a rough night. It all started at 12:23 this morning when he woke up. I think that maybe the sound of Crystal taking a shower might have woken him from his sleep (she had a report to finish and I had gone to bed long before she was done) so when he woke up he saw lights in the halls and someone awake. That was not a good thing. I put him back in bed and went back to sleep. I next heard him at 1:03 and we repeated the process. Then again at 1:34, 2:06, 2:43 and finally at 3:03 when I ripped the night lights out of the wall in a flash of brilliance that a darker room might help him sleep. That was the last I saw of him until this morning at 7:30. Fortunately, Eric did not wake him up when he got home at 4:15 (although he did wake me up) and Crystal didn't wake him up when she got up at 6:00 for school (ditto for me waking though). I am absolutely positive that a nap is in not only my future but Zane's as well. God give me the patience to make it through the morning though because I am so tired and annoyed with my boy right now I am biting everyones head off. Sleep is not a easy state to attain currently with my big belly and achy hips but a up and down child makes it even worse.

New York! New York!

Crystal just got home from a whirlwind trip to NYC and she brought back these super cute glasses for Zane. He thinks he is pretty special in them and I think that he is not far off!

House Lights!

Eric put up our house lights this week and now it officially feels like Christmas at our house! I really wanted icicle lights this year so last year we bought some on after Christmas sale. Who knew they were such a pain in the butt to straighten out. Eric claims that our house looks like it is on crack but I think it is beautiful! Hooray for a hubby that puts up house lights!

Gingerbread House Fun

Last night the boys put together a gingerbread house. This is an activity that we do every year and the boys love it! We had a bit of trouble with putting the house together (I didn't let it sit and harden before they started putting stuff of the sides) so Eric had to hold it while it was drying but now it looks really cute and the boys can't wait to eat the candy from the sides!

This is Zane's side of the our gingerbread house.

This is Andrew's side!

We have cut the time they spend on the project considerably. For one thing, Zane doesn't quite have the patience that Andrew did at his age and he could have cared less about how it looked in comparison to the picture on the box. Andrew this time was just excited to do the project and he knew that he was going to be able to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer after he was done. Andrew has spent up to 2 hours working on one of these things! A little incentive speeds the project right along!

In a interesting side note, we did watch Rudolph last night and I don't remember the last time Eric laughed so hard at a kids show. He claims that he had never seen it before. I don't know how that is even possible since they show it every year but it was a kick to see him giggling with the boys!

The Family Tree

We put up our Christmas Tree this weekend! This was the first year for this tree since in the past we have gotten a fresh tree. Unfortunately, Eric and I fight every year about when, where and how much to pay for a real tree so it seemed like a good idea last year to finally break down and buy a fake one while they were on sale. (I mean, you couldn't expect Eric to pay full price now could you!?!) Anyway, after much searching for a tree with multi-colored lights, I am not into those trees with just the clear lights, we found one and got it. This was our first time with it out of the box since we bought it and we were very impressed with it. The tree is 9 feet and just fits in our house. As we were setting it up I got a little nervouse that the angel wouldn't fit with the ceiling but it worked out just fine! Three little elves helped Eric and I decorate and I think that Crystal had the most fun of all, I guess her family does not have a big tree every year.

The only problem with the tree was that since it was so tall decorating the top part was a little bit tough. I had to depend on Eric and Crystal (on a chair) for that. Eric didn't seem to think me on a chair was that great of an idea. I don't know why, I am the most graceful person who ever lived! (HA! HA!) We also have a huge clump of ornaments right at little boy height but that is part of the fun of little ones at Christmas. All in all the tree has been a success and the boys think it is quite pretty. They still want to touch the ornaments but we are trying to discourage that, at least until it is time to put it all away!

Sick, Sick, Sick!

The stomach flu has hit our home this week and boy was it not fun! First Zane came down with the plague on Tuesday and puked twice for me in the morning. All was well until Thursday night for the rest of us. Just as Andrew came into our room to let us know that he had just gotten sick (around 4 am) Eric was making a run for the bathroom himself. I decided to join the party about 2 hours later. Let me tell you all, that is the sickest I have been in a really, really long time! I was completely down and out all of Friday and half of Saturday as well. Eric fared no better but we did manage to put up our tree on Saturday. Then last night to top it all off, Zane decided to get sick and puke again! This time requiring a complete outfit change, bedding change and some sympathy puke from his daddy. I will post some pictures later of the tree. It turned out really nice. But we were unable to go out and really enjoy the first snow of the year. I didn't even have any energy to take a picture of it. Sad. In a completely seperate note, Crystal thought the snow was very cool! She had never seen it before and was very excited that it finally happened after being teased by the weatherman and hopeful students all week!

More Holiday TV Special Fun

OK, I had a whole plan to post cute little screen shots of all these Christmas specials we have been watching but for whatever reason blogger won't let me load them. Anyway, we have been having so much fun getting into the Christmas spirit I can barely even sit still. Today we put up our tree and I think that Eric will be decorating the outside this next week. Hopefully there will be pictures coming!

The Turkey Dance

Two little boys flapping thier wings!

Our family has a strange and unusual holiday tradition. Every Thanksgiving we the "Turkey Dance". The only rules for the dance are that you have fun and make a valid attempt at looking like a turkey. Important aspects of the dance include wing flapping, head bobbing, strut walking and the all important gobble gobbling noise. The first year that Eric and I were married we started the tradition and now that we have kids involved it sure does make me feel like less of an idiot for doing it. I have to admit though that Crystal did not involve herself in the Turkey Dance. I think it was just a smidge too goofy for her!

Andrew made a turkey hat at his thursday class so it was a perfect fit for the dance craziness. I was unable to actually take a picture during the dance itself. Too much craziness was going on, not to mention the fact that I was dancing away myself. So I had to resign myself to a picture of the boys in turkey dance attire with the wings ready and flapping. You will notice that Zane does have his lovey with him (the blue elephant that is his constant companion at home) and lovey was very busy doing the dance as well!

Thanksgiving was fun plus Eric had the night off, a rare treat for us. We ate too much and then still managed to find room for pie. All in all a raving success! Crystal was quite impressed with Thanksgiving. She really seemed to like the turkey and this cranberry salad that my mom makes. Maybe we will have to do that again sometime. Christmas is going to be ham so hopefully she will like that one just as much. Hope all your Thanksgivings were just as much fun!

Smoke Detector Frustrations

As a general rule I appreciate all that smoke detectors do for us. They go off in case of a fire and generally help keep us safe. However! I do not appreciate that fact that the smoke detectors in my house are hard wired into the wall with a battery back up. Let me explain.

For the last 2 weeks the smoke detector in the boys bedroom has been beeping (as though the battery were dying). We kept hearing it in the morning, like 5:00 am, but couldn't figure out what it was. Well, we finally figured it out! Unfortunately, it wasn't the one in our room that decided to go first and it has been waking my kids up at the crack of dawn (or as Andrew says it the "crocidile"). What I find so aggrevating is that it was only beeping in the morning. If it had been doing it all day they I would have noticed and dealt with the problem weeks ago!


Of course the morning that this happened also had to be on the morning after the kids stayed up to watch a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and were totally exhausted. Let's just say, tired and cranky abounded and I am not just talking about the kids. Eric and I were at each other all day too!


Maybe since it is Thanksgiving today (have a great one all my blog friends!) I will just have to purposely be thankful for smoke detectors! That will be my mission of the day!

Belly Update

Just thought that I would update you all on my big ol' belly! I can't believe how big that it has gotten and I still have two months left to go! I always seem to forget the astronomical size that I get when I am pregnant. Then the kid comes out and usually we see that there was a reason my belly was as big as it is.
The boys really like my tummy. Andrew calls it my "big old belly" or my "chubby tummy". Honesty from a 4 year old is very refreshing isn't it. This is my kids reaction over my stomach! Shocking huh?

"Oh No mommy! Your tummy is toooooooo big! Now there is no room left on your lap!"

#1 Big Brother

This morning as I was getting ready I called down to the boys to go and brush thier teeth. Generally I brush them at night and let them brush in the morning by themselves. This morning however I was standing in my bathroom and I heard Andrew say, "Say Ahh Zane!" Fearing the worst, I had to go and investigate! I tiptoed into the hall so I could peek without them seeing and what do I see but a big boy Andrew busily brushing Zane's teeth for him. Now, you need to understand that Zane does not let people brush his teeth easily. We have a nightly argument that mommy has to brush first and then he can. So, to see him calmly standing there with his mouth open and Andrew brushing away was quite a shock. I don't think Andrew usually does it when I tell them to brush their teeth but who knows, maybe that is how it has always been and I am just not used to it! In fact, maybe I should just get Andrew to brush Zane's teeth from now on. Hmmm........

Room Service

Just wanted to let you all know that Crystal is currently starring in a very funny play called Room Service at her high school! She plays the part of Doctor Glass and is quite funny. Eric and I went last Saturday night and taped it so that she could send it home to her parents and they could see it. I totally forgot to take my camera or you would get to see what her costume looked like. I was very proud of her for auditioning and it has been a great opportunity for her to get involved with a school activity and make some more friends. In case any of you want to see it, Room Service will be showing again this week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7 pm.

Yesterday, we (Crystal, Andrew, Zane and myself) went to the outlet mall in Marysville for the first time. I think that Crystal thought that she had died and gone to heaven because they were having some good sales and she was a shopping fool! She didn't make it through the whole mall but I promised her that we would be back again. I think that I shouldn't take her too often though, she might run out of money for the month!

Mr. Independant

Yesterday Andrew decided that he wanted to make himself toast for breakfast with no help from me. I thought it was a fluke and let him do it. Today he wanted to do the exact same thing! Maybe my little guy is trying to tell me that he is ready to grow up or maybe he just thinks it takes me too long to get breakfast ready in the morning. Either way, it is kinda nice knowing that he is getting a little independant.

Ready to drop the toast!

Plates for two!

Peanut Butter Patrol with Zane looking on!

Andrew dropped a second piece of toast for Zane but I put peanut butter on that one. It was very fun to watch them and now Zane thinks that he should be able to make his own. I told him he had to wait until he was a big 4 year old like brother. I can only handle one independant guy at a time!

Daylight Savings Time

I never used to mind Daylight Savings time until I had kids. Surprisingly it is not the spring change that bothers me so much but the fall one. Let me tell you why! I am very driven by the time on the clock for when I wake up. If the clock says 4 then I think yeah! a few more hours of sleep. In contrast when the clock says 8 I think ok, I guess I should get up. My children do not seem to have this same deal going. They sleep for the amount they sleep and then they wake up. Unfortunately, when the clock "falls back" that means the clock reads one hour earlier for me when they wake up. They do not take advantage of the fact that they can sleep for a whole extra hour like I want to! In the spring the opposite occurs and they seem to sleep until later because of the clock springing ahead. That is the change I vastly prefer (as long as we don't have to be up and somewhere) because then the happy clock tricks my mind into thinking that we are sleeping in. The transition only seems to last a few days but they are murder on me until we all level out again. I know that there are tricks to avoiding this whole thing but they seem like a lot more work than the solution is worth!

Frog and Monkey

Well, Halloween has gone and the overwhelming load of candy has come. My two little guys had a ton of fun dressing up for trick or treatingand the church harvest carnival and they made out like bandits. Our neighborhood is overrun with kids on halloween due to the fact that we live in a well lit neighborhood with lots of houses very close together. Perfect for this activity (also perfect for solicitation, you wouldn't believe how many "No Solicitation" signs I saw!) so many people bring their kids from less desirable neighborhoods to ours. I didn't hand out any candy, we trick or treated and then went to the harvest carnival at our church, where the kids also got an absurd amount of candy. If I had to guess I would say the average house in our neighborhood got around 200 kids. I am not exagerating! Eric had to work but one of these years he will be home to do the honors of running these little ones around the neighborhood. I can't wait for the help because by the end of the night I was holding two little boys bags, cupcakes (from the carnival) and part of thier costumes because they were tired and hot. It was fun but exhausting! I am glad that it only comes around once a year!

It's the Great Pumpkin Andrew and Zane!

Maybe it is just me, but one of my absolute favorite parts of the holidays is all the fun specials on TV. I am not talking about the adult type ones, I am talking about Charlie Brown, Garfield, Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Grinch. What is Christmas without the Grinch I ask you!!! So, you can imagine my delight when I saw that It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown was on last night! My boys stayed up to watch the special and the follow up (You're Not Elected Charlie Brown, I think). It turned out to be quite a late night for everyone but how could I deny my own kids one of my favorite parts of the season!



We got both guys all scrubbed up in the tub and dressed in PJ's. Then we sat on the couch and watched the shows as a family. Crystal even sat and watched the shows with us. I can't wait for the Thanksgiving specials to start!

Thoughts of Spring

I know that it may be a little too soon to be thinking about spring but I bought a whole bunch of bulbs at Costco this last week and planted them all this weekend! I am very excited to see all my tulips, daffodils and crocuses pop up next spring. I told Eric that I would wait one year before I did anything to the yard and it has now been one year and I was itching to put some more sping color in the front yard. For those of you that know me you realize that gardening is not my deal but I can handle bulbs. They pretty much take care of themselves! That is my type of gardening. When my yard is in its full glory next year I will be sure to put some pictures up!

New Connection Type

I got DSL. My new RAM did not have the anticipated speed for uploading that I was looking for so I decided to upgrade my internet conncection. Let's see how it works for pictures! (in case you were wondering it just took me 2 minutes to upload this pictures, rather than the 30 it was taking me to do each one! AWESOME!!!)

Just as an FYI this was the first time that Crystal ever held a cat. I guess they don't have cats as pets in Hong Kong very often. They are more of a puppy kind of country. She was a little put off by how much they wiggle but I think she was pretty impressed!

A Room for New Baby

We spent time working this week on "New Baby's" room. The weather was so nice that we decided to take advantage of the heat and paint while we could open windows and air the place out! Andrew was so excited to help Eric and I paint that was almost driving us crazy with asking. Andrew got his own little brush (the one in his left hand was his) and was allowed to paint on the walls while Eric used the roller and I got to do all the edge work. He thought it was pretty cool, especially since he got to do it in his underwear and socks. The only thing that went a bit awry is that he put his hand on the wall while the paint was still wet and I didn't remember to paint over it so there is the imprint of Andrew's hand on the wall. You can't tell unless the light hits it just right but it is actually kinda cute to think that he marked his new siblings room, at least until we paint it again.

Here is the best picture of the room that I could take from the doorway. I just need to hang the wall hanging back up on the wall (it is going to go behind the rocking chair). I am currently racking my brain to remember where I put the brackets and the rod that go with it. Let me tell you by the end of the day we had torn the house apart looking for the mobile and the crib bumper. I knew where everything else was and I swore up and down that I had checked all the boxes in the house. Where did we end up finding the blasted things but in the room, in the one box I had neglected to look in. Lets just say that Eric was none to pleased with me since I had made him dig through all the boxes in the garage rafters, under the house and everywhere else he could think of. When we finally discovered them in the room (where they were supposed to be) he shot me a murderous look and left the room for a few minutes. At that point he was in no mood to continue the search for the missing rod and brackets. Not that I blame him. I think I would have been super annoyed too if I were him!




All in all it is nice for the room to be basiclly done and ready for a new little one to live in. I don't know if we will be able to keep Andrew from being too excited now. He really wants this little one to come soon!

Interpreter and Punching Bag

It appears that I need to add two more job titles to my ever growing resume as a mom. The first is interpreter. Zane is trying so hard to talk right now and I don't know who finds it more frustrating, him or me! He is very adamant about what he wants to say but the words just do not want to come out right. For example, if you are with him and he suddenly starts shrieking "Ti-Ti a Poo" you might come to the relatively reasonable conclusion that he might need his diaper changed. That unfortunately would be incorrect and not only would he be irate that you didn't understand what he was saying, he would fight you tooth and nail as you tried to wrestle him through a diaper change, where you would find neither "Ti-Ti" nor "Poo"! No, "Ti-Ti a Poo" is the way that Zane says Tigger and Pooh (see it makes sense now that I told you right!) and he is very fond of both of them. He also has been known to go through all the characters from Thomas (Ta Tam), Gordon (Go Go), Percy (Er-ee), Toby (Ta), James (Ame) and Henry (N-EE). This can be utterly maddening until you guess right because every time you guess wrong you get this disgusted "NO" from him. When you are finally right you get a "Yea" Like, "That is what I said, what took you so long to figure it out!"

My other new job title is Punching Bag because this new baby seems to think that all my insides are her personal gym. I was hurting so bad this weekend from the baby. Every time I breathed in it felt like someone was stabbing me in the side with a knife. I am pretty sure that this kid had punched my ribs out of joint. Let me tell you that did not feel good! I ended up at the chiropractor where Dr. Penny put me all back together again. I am hoping there will be no repeat of that particular joy of pregnancy and that part of my job title with be a one time occurrence.

Pumpkin Carving

Each of us is standing behind our very own creation!

Today we introduced Crystal to the art of pumpkin carving! She was completely disgusted by the pumpkin guts and will more than likely be sore tomorrow from scraping the pumpkin out. It did not help that the one she picked was possibly the toughest pumpkin I have ever seen. It was really hard to pierce the skin with a knife and the insides were very thick! Right now she is complaining that her shoulder hurts and I think mine would be sore too if it had taken me an hour just to scrape out the guts. She also has no plans to ever carve a pumpkin again. I think that the fun of it was lost in all the work. Since it is not a tradition in Hong Kong, she is going to pretend to be ignorant in the event of any children ever asking her about it! I think that might be a wise decision!

As you can see from the picture we carved four different ones this year. Andrew was very particular about what his face looked like and he also insisted that his have ears just like him. Unfortunately, the picture does not show off the cute pumpkin ears.

Zane wanted his pumpkin carved but he didn't seem to care what it looked like so Mom got to just make up a face for it. Apparently he was quite impressed with the results.

I am tired. I scraped out and carved 3 pumpkins in about 2 hours. Eric (lucky guy) managed to be working a Seahawks game today and missed out on all the fun/work involved in this activity. I don't think that he minds the project, he would just rather be a viewer of the results that a participant in the activity. Next year I am going to time this better so that I can be sure to have a helper. Unfortunatly Andrew can be quite insistent about pumpkin carving when the pumpkins are sitting on the front porch. It was easier for me to just do the project by myself that to fight with him for a whole day about waiting to carve the pumpkins. I am choosing to pick my battles and this was not one worth fighting in my opinion!

Corn Maze and Pumpkin Hunting

Today we went to "The Farm" in Snohomish to do the corn maze of Washington State with Crystal's exchange program group. Apparently Crystal has never been to a farm and was slightly put off by the smells and the mud. We had a lot of fun but the field and maze were sloppy muddy! Both boys fell several times and were completely filthy by the time they got done. Andrew was relatively clean except for his hands but Zane managed to slip and fall in some pumpkin slime that was very busy molding in the field. You should have seen Eric dragging him in the grass to try and get the majority of it off. It was sticky and goopy and no amount of wiping with a tissue was going to get it off his jeans. We also got pumpkins that we will be carving tomorrow so you can check in later to see our creative masterpieces!

The Farm also had a whole bunch of super cute animals to pet and play with. Andrew got to hold a kitten and he fell in love with it! He hasn't gone so far as to ask for a kitten of his own but I am sure that the day will be coming soon. He adores cats (especially grandpa and grandma meows) and always wants to pet and hold them. Eric, on the other hand, is not a cat fan and it will be up to him to break his boy's heart. I like cats, I grew up with them and think they are lots of fun. Plus it is so cute to see Andrew snuggling a kitty. Andrew actually picked this picture for the blog out of all of them because it had the kitten in it. Let's just see how tough Eric is in a few years when his little guy is begging and pleading for a cat of his own!

Sticker Charts Work!

We have instituted a sticker chart for Andrew's swimming lesson. We had such problems last session that I was ready to pull my hair out! Just as the session was ending I remembered how reward driven my dear boy is so out came the construction paper and pens. A sticker chart was in the works! All Andrew has to do is go to his class every time, get in the water, stay in the water and listen to his teacher and then he gets a sticker for his chart. Once all nine squares have been filled up he will get a special treat (probably ice cream or something like that). Hopefully that should alleviate our swimming lesson issues. I have yet to decide if we will sign him up again before our new little one arrives. We will have to play this session by ear! I can admit it, I am not above bribery with reward charts!

Car Troubles and Frustration

Obviously the pictures have nothing to do with the topic of the blog. I thought you might just appreciate some pictures of my sweet guys. We have been fighting with my van since we bought it (over 2 years ago!) over a coolant leak that Eric and his dad have chased from one section of the engine to another. Tuesday it decided to finally do in our radiator which although it was not a complicated fix it was a slightly expensive one. I would just love for our van to be finally fixed and not have anymore problems. That way neither Eric or Gene have to spend any more time on it and I can rest a little easier knowing that the problem has been resolved. I guess that is what you get when you buy used and you put a lot of miles on it. Thank God that everything so far has been fixable by the two guys. Mechanics bills are not my idea of a good time, and Eric and simply too cheap to pay someone to do something that he feels he can do himself!

A new updated picture

I decided that it was time for me to put up a new picture of my two guys. The one that has been up was from October of last year and that is just a little too old in my opinion. My problem seems to be that my guys just don't want to sit next to each other and pose so when they do I have to take the opportunity and run with it. This new picture was taken one night when they were both running around playing and for the majority of the time they were playing nice. Anyway, enjoy the pic!

Crystal and Homecoming

At long last I am posting a picture of Crystal on this blog. Last night was Crystal's homecoming dance and she and two other exchange friends (Kitty from China and Minami from Japan) got ready at our house for the dance. It was a lot of fun and very reminicent for me to my own high school dances and getting ready at each other's house (sigh, I guess I am getting old and nostalgic!) The girls had a great time and Zane and Andrew thought it was great fun to have two additional big girls over to play with and show off for!

All in all Crystal is having a great year and we are having so much fun hosting her!

Special Time with Zane

Tonight I got to have some special time with my Zaners. Eric, Crystal and Andrew all went to the high school homecoming game and Zane and I stayed home to play and put him (and me) to bed early! It was kinda wierd to just have the two of us at home. We played some puzzles and read some books but it was a very mellow night. It actually reminded me a lot of when Andrew was small before we had Zane. I think the official verdict is that even though I had so much fun with him and I, I wouldn't change back to just one kid anytime in the near future. Andrew and Zane play together pretty well and keep each other entertained most of the time.

On a completely seperate note I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and this baby is showing signs of being large already. I am only 25 weeks pregnant but my belly is already measuring like I am 27 weeks. This may not seem like that big of a deal but this is how I started out with Zane and he weighed 9 pounds 10 ounces. And that was being born one week early!!!! My only concilation is that they may decide to do another ultrasound close to my due date to try and determine the babies size and in that we might get another peek at the sex of this little one. I am wanting a more definite answer before I go and spend my life savings on a wardrobe of pink, purple and all things flowers. I guess if I have to wait until this little one comes it won't be the end of the world, but think of all the after Christmas sales I am going to miss!

New RAM!

I am very very excited to announce that our computer now has a whole bunch more RAM working for it! Not only does this mean that I performed computer surgery but also that I can load more pictures for everyone's enjoyment.

Sam the Dork

I felt that I needed to share a little of my nerdiness with all of you in the form of a picture. I have an obsession with huge stuffed creatures that some businesses (especially in touristy areas) put out in front of thier stores. It is almost a compulsion for my to have my picture taken with them. When Eric and I were first married we went on a cruise to Alaska and I indulged in this guilty little pleasure in Juneau. Once again the bug has bit and this time it was in Canada. So, feel free to laugh at me looking like a dork. It might not be super apparent but I am looking very prego as well.

A trip away from home!

Eric and I just got back from our anniversary weekend in Victoria, BC. We had an awesome time and got to see lots of really cool stuff. I also got to play with my new camera and super cool macro lens. I took this picture of a bee with it and I was very impressed with the detailed results. The boys had a great time hanging out with Eric's parents Alice and Gene. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled them rotten and even took care of Calvin as well! They boys have made an easy adjustment home which was one of my main concerns and has made the time away definitely worth it.