Brooks Talks!

You might not believe me if you haven't been around him in the last 6 months or so, but Brooks is giving Adi a run for her money in the talking non stop department. Here's the "conversation" we had two minutes ago.
"Mom, you should never touch a cactus. Never never ever ever never touch a cactus. You should really never touch a cactus. Never. Ok? Ok mom? "
"Ok"
"Mom, do you want to go to the desert mom? Mom? Do you ever never ever want to go to the desert? Because we shouldn't go to the desert if you don't want to touch a cactus. You should never go to the desert ok mom? Do you want to go to the desert Mom?"
"Yeah, maybe some time."
"You want to go to the desert Mom? Sometime? There are some cactuses in the desert. You should never touch a cactus. Mom, do you want to go to the desert for your birthday? What do you want for your birthday Mom?" (it's helpful to know that he is obsessed with birthday presents right now since he just had his birthday. he has already decided what he wants for his next birthday: a remote control dinosaur and a thing that you can put inside a bee to see inside it. please let me know if you come across one of these:) )
I can hear him talking to the dogs right now and explaining to them that he gave me a special job to watch the camera with the secret message in it.

A little frog we caught the other day in our yard. B is quite the animal lover.

Twins

Lewis put the pajamas on all twisty and we didn't notice until the next morning. Raise your hand if you remember this scary apartment in Connecticut.(our first one that looked like ghostbusters from the outside and smelled like smoke and cat urine on the inside)
Now Cate is wearing the pajamas. And look, she is standing ON HER OWN!!!!!! And she's only 14 months old!!!!! Three cheers for Cate!

Come and See!!

On Sunday our church is hosting a "come and see" open house. So, if you live near me and are interested in what we believe or how we worship, come and see! If you don't live near me, Mormons all over the world are always ready to welcome visitors. Hope to see you on Sunday at 9am. Contact me for more info. (click on the pictures to make them bigger)

Birthdays rule

I had a terrific birthday! A big thanks to Lew and the kids for making it extra special.
And to my mom for sending the yummiest cake, Cate looooooooooved it.



Oh, and since no one entered my contest, I am declaring myself the winner and will love the prize, a $20 gift card to Target. I'm just REALLY glad to know that none of my friends have ugly things in their houses. Phew!!

Happy 31st!

JJ is 31. Here is a quick list of what I think are some of the cool things she has done in the past 31 years.

-given birth to 3 great kids
-lived in Jerusalem
-lived in Paris
-forgot most of the French she learned in Paris
-visited both Austria and Thailand while pregnant (what a trooper)
-snuck all her liver from a breakfast in Thailand while pregnant into Clinton's dish
-rappelled into what was probably toxic waters in pine creek canyon, zions national park (also pregnant at that time) despite her fear of heights
-also conquered her fear of heights on a canopy walk in Ghana Africa which was up in unstable rope and wood bridges about 80 feet in the air
-swam and ran track competitively in high school and ran a 5:20 mile!
-ran a marathon
-visited Acadia, Yellowstone, Arches, Zion, Canyonlands, Yosemite, Sequoia, Great Smoky Mountain national parks (and camped in most of them)
-put up with husband that has been in school the entire course of married life to date, and still no real light at the end of the tunnel yet

Happy Birthday J!

A Contest

Let's have a contest. You win by having the ugliest "thing" in your house. Either send me an email with the picture, or post a link in the comments section. It can be a light fixture, a faucet, a bathroom, a bathtub, wallpaper or whatever you can come up with. You might expect me to enter my blue tub, or my "frosted" light that always looks dirty:


or the fan/light in the kitchen that brings you right back to the vineyards of Italy:


but you would be wrong because I am going to have to go with the fan/light combo in our bedroom:
It is quite possibly the ugliest ceiling fan ever invented. I double dog dare you to try and beat that "orb".

Big Preschool Boy

Brooks started preschool on Tuesday.
We had a great start Monday night. Lewis was on call and Cate decided she wanted to be awake from 1 to 3:30 am (or maybe later, that's just when I finally went to sleep). Adi kept coming in throughout the night throwing her hands in the air and saying "I am so excited! I can't believe Brooks starts school tomorrow!!!" Then I would force her back to bed.
When my alarm went off at 6:30 I thought "I'll just push snooze, sleep for 7 more minutes and then get up to make breakfast and lunches" but I quickly realized that I could hear the kids. A and B were already up and did not look like they had just woken up. A was literally bouncing off the walls saying "I'm so excited, I'm so excited!!!!!" and B was laying on the couch in a fetal position saying "I don't want to go to school" in a sad quiet voice.
He right perked up after getting to choose whatever he wanted for breakfast--Honey Bunches of Oats (he's easy to please).

I think he backpack is as big as him, but he has assured me many times that it is the only one that will do the trick--BATMAN!!!
Watch out bad guys at school! Brooks is REALLY strong 'cause he eats his veggies.
I like this one because you can see A in the reflection giving orders as usual. (camp director in training)
He ended up having a great time the first day (he was so exhausted) and was thrilled to be going back today.

So, now it's just you and me kid! What do you want to do today?
PS do you know how EASY it is do to errands with only one kid?!?!? I could do them all day. Maybe I will.