January 31, 2010

•    I’m having mixed feelings about some new developments.  Brian and I were asked to come in together to see our Bishop last Wednesday.  Those of you in our church know that means it’s usually a new hefty service calling.  We speculated a bit…Brian wondered if maybe it was a beard intervention.  We wondered about Relief Society for me since one of the counselors is pregnant, very sick, and having to work full time.  We were correct in that I’ve been asked to serve as 2^nd counselor in the Relief Society Presidency.  I believe the responsibilities are over the activities although the Bishop had no idea when he called me what role I would be playing.  I still don’t know who I will be working with either…I’ll find out with the rest of the ward on Sunday…that seems a bit weird.  My mixed feelings come with the fact that it is a completely new presidency which means I’m sure there will be a lot of fumbling over the next few months.  I’m excited at the prospect of being with the sisters again and getting to know some adults in the ward…I already know all the kids.  The other mixed emotion comes with the knowledge that my easy ride is over for a while.  Teaching in primary is a breeze job with no meetings and I have thoroughly enjoyed that, yet missed the interaction with adults.  With Brian in the elders quorum we will surely have to sit down and juggle our meeting schedules every week.  Life is about to get a little more busy, I am sure.

  On the home front we have kept ourselves busy.  Serra is back in school after a long winter break combined with track break.  I must admit it was nice to get to sleep in for a few weeks but it’s nice to be back on a schedule again.  I get so much more accomplished when we are scheduled.  Over the holidays Julie taught me some crocheting basics.  I took what she taught me and ran with it.  That, and a few UTube tutorials, and I have had a grand time cutifying my girls.  I really enjoy making small projects.  I can’t imagine doing a huge blanket or anything like that as it seems really tedious.  I like to do things I can finish within a few days.  So, thanks Julie for my new hobby.  Brian complains a little that I am crocheting in the evenings instead of rubbing his head. 

  Speaking of the holidays…we headed up to the frigid North Country, (Cache Valley) for Christmas.  Brian was with us for the first few days but had to head home right before New Years.  Serra asked me yesterday “Why at Grandma and Grandpa Arnells there is a party every night?”  It must seem that way to the kids since we get together every day and most evenings is a party atmosphere.  We had a great time spending time with everyone. 

  This month we celebrated Brian and then Weston’s birthday.  They shared a yummy oreo icecream cake that I made.  Brian and I celebrated alone for his birthday with faboo primerib from the Golden Steer, which is a sweet old Vegas steak house.  And for Weston’s b-day we celebrated with the Anderson folks Sunday and again on Monday.  Weston got mostly clothes for the coming summer which he tried to try on after opening each one, and a hopper which he knows just what to do with.  I got Brian a new shelving unit and organized part of his office for him.  (He has been working on the lions share of the organizing as he prepared for the audit.) You should see it now…you would never believe it.  It’s the first time since we were married that his office is actually a nice place. 

  One of Brian’s bedtime routines with the girls is the one question before he leaves the room for the night.  Most of the questions are centered on animals and there have been some good ones lately.  Brian especially likes giving false answers. 

  “Why does a leopard have spots?”  So he can run fast.

  “Why does a snake only make the ‘S’ sound?”  Because he can’t talk.

  “Why does a rhino have a horn on his forehead?” (Don’t know what the answer was to that)

  “Why does a rhino do this with his head?”  They proceed to do the motion with their head.

  Serra continues to love school and is still my right hand at home.  She is such a great kid.  I forget she is only 7 most of the time. Rosie is getting much better about helping me during the day.  She complains that cleaning up is too hard and takes too long but she will do it with a lot of coaxing.  Last night Serra asked me what Rosie did during the day to help and I told her she helped clean up some toys in the living room.  Rosie piped up…”I did clean up toys but I was super whiney.” She nailed that one on the head.  Weston OH Weston…continues to try my patience with his menacing antics.  We will title this next excerpt…Weston’s Bad Day .  I believe the day was Tuesday although I have tried to eradicate it from memory.  We start the day by putting the chairs up on the table after breakfast.  This slows him down a little since he doesn’t have as easy access to the chairs for climbing.  He decided he wanted a banana though and so went into the little kid TV room and got one of the short rocking chairs.  He climbed up on the counter, selected a knife from the knife block and tried to cut one off the bunch.  He actually succeeded in getting a banana but sliced 2 fingers in the process.  Where was I…doing laundry in the next room.  He refused to let me put on a bandaid so I just had to sit there with him and hold his little hand until the bleeding stopped.  That one could have been a lot worse.  Lunchtime.  We pulled the chairs down.  Brian was home and so we were sitting at the table together chatting and eating.  Weston was all over the place.  He kept climbing on and off the table and missed the chair at one point and fell flat on his face.  Bloody nose.  He proceeded to draw on the wall while I was gone visiting teaching and broke a ceramic elephant I made in the 8^th grade.  Later, he pulled a stool out from its hiding place in his room and was pushing it around trying to get access to forbidden places.  He tipped it over and it fell breaking a tile in our entry way.  That left a nice sharp piece on the floor that Serra cut her toe on yesterday.  Finally it was bath time.  Brian was getting him in the big tub and Wes was super excited and slipped on the edge and fell again flat on his face…another bloody nose and a fat lip to go with it.  Poor little guy had a banner day.  Of course, he fell asleep late that afternoon and was up until past 11pm  so it was a LOOOOONG day.  He refuses to sleep in his room and wakes up within an hour of falling asleep extremely ticked off.  He ends up in bed with me which makes for a lousy night sleep most nights.  What am I going to do with this kid?  We now have to duct tape his diapers on as he deems nakedness his personal preferred state of being.  And if he gets the diaper off we find little puddles everywhere. His new favorite past time is tormenting Rosie…Man!  He sure knows how to push her buttons to annoy her and beats the crap out of her while she screams.  I think he finds it funny to get the drastic reactions and Rosie especially obliges with those.  It’s actually pretty funny to watch Rosie playing with something and he walks up calmly, snatches it, and tears off running.  He is very fast and laughs hysterically while Rosie chases him screaming.   He sure has a great laugh though…and says to me yesterday after unraveling a skein of yarn all over the house, “Sorry Mom.”  He is such a cute menace.  So that’s what our home dynamics look like most of the time.

  Last Saturday morning we cleaned up breakfast and then lined up a few family members for haircuts.  Brian got his trimmed although he is still sporting a beard.  Weston cried up a storm while we buzzed him and Serra asked to go short again.  We took 7 inches off and she is sporting a cute new bob. 

  Brian has been staying busy with work and was stressing lately over an audit that was scheduled to take up 3 days this week.  He has been organizing and preparing for weeks for it and it paid off.  It only ended up taking one day and hopefully the lady was forthcoming in that there won’t be too big of a bill. 

  On the Charlie front…she is officially 6 months old and weighs in at 20.3 lbs and is 27 inches long.  The doctor says she is short and fat.  I’m cool with that.  She hates rice and oatmeal cereals (see photo) and gags and pukes whenever I try to feed it to her.  We have had better luck with apple and pear sauces.  And she did really well when I added a little cereal to that.  I also decided to retry a bottle with diluted juice and she really digs that so I’m hoping to try again with the bottle and milk when she gets good with the juice.  I have a feeling I’m going to need the freedom soon.  She continues to be a delightful smiling baby. She sits like a champ and grabs at anything she can get to and puts it in her mouth promptly.  The whole family thinks she is just the greatest thing ever and we continue to have a great time with this sweet little familial addition.  (And she is a great sleeper)

  WHEW!

  

  Christmas in Logan.   Two sweet babies, same age, different as night and day.   I love the one below of Evelyn's and Rosie's faces.

  

  Weston's birthday...we couldn't get his shirt back on him...notice Rosie's funny face and all of Wes's scrapes.

  

  Wes the champion hopper and Serra with a new do.  Charlie is now 6 months.

  

  We had some cousin time with the Andersons before Christmas.

  

  Momma and Charliea before we buzzed her. 

  

  Some local pre CHristmas sight seeing here in Vegas.

  

  Largest C-mas tree in N. America right here in Vegas at the M resort.   And a visit to The Bass Pro shop. 

  

  Christmas with a different camera...Wes gets his dolly from Grandma.

  

  Wes's fat lip.

  

  Some shots of my handsome boy at 2 years old.

  

  Candles to blow out after a nap isn't a good combo.  Wes didn't want to do it.

  

   But he thought the cake was ok.

  

  Grandma Anderson always gives all the kids presents on birthdays.  Rosie with hers.

  

  Charlie loving rice cereal.

  

  Fresh Charlie.

  

  And back to Christmas and Charlie at 5 months.

  

  Forget about sitting!  Look who's standing!

  

  Why do we even bother with gifts...just boxes will do. 

  

   

  • 11:33 am
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