Newsworthy Christmas

This Christmas was full of many gifts. A new sister in law and a cute little new nephew. (Way to go Melissa) We traveled to Denver (CRAZY) for my brothers wedding (he owes us big) I loved being there for the sealing, but then the big storm hit and we stayed an extra day, watching the road reports and watching as the snow never once stopped for fourteen hours straight. Luckily, we hit decent roads when we decided to travel.


Here's the most recent family picture. Hopefully I'll get a straight on shot of this one in the not to distant future.

For Christmas, my mom and sis and my other brother and his new wife stayed for Christmas at my house. I've never had so many guests before and I loved it. It was wild and crazy and fun. We had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to know my sister in law. She's a keeper. Now I just need to get to know the new one...some day.

Passing through the 0's as elegantly as we can.

We had a great Thanksgiving. My mom and sister traveled our way for the occasion. This is a big deal because my mom has only visited me two times, when I birthed my two children. In fairness, I lived far away (Florida, southern Utah) But none the less, this was quite the wow-ee thing having my mom visit. I loved it. We had a laid back Thanksgiving and we braved the ferocious masses on Black Friday... all within decent temperatures.

Now the that the tides have turned, (like below 0 degree temps and we've been really really stuck indoors) we are doing what we can to enjoy it. My boys have been creative in their ways of entertainment.

Like making a choo choo train....

And like this guy pretending to be the janitor. He talks a lot about the janitor, Mr. Cleaning Pail (I'm serious) and he likes to stuff all the cleaning items we own into his pants and shirts and perform the obvious. Thank you for your great example, Mr. Cleaning Pail.


This little guy is quite proud of his gingerbread house. He wanted to eat it the moment it was done. I encouraged him to wait, to show his father. Right after that was done, he busted up the roof and munched away. And then he stopped, because it didn't taste as good as it looked.



And most importantly, we put up the tree. Ta-da. So beautifully stuffed into a corner.

BIG 3

My little boy had his big three the other day. He still hasn't gotten the hang of saying he's three yet. He still says two. I imagine it will click in his head one day. I hope. He told me he wanted a pirate ship birthday cake. I am not a cake maker and did not want to attempt to make an actual ship, plus somehow I've lost certain cake pans. When you move each year, its bound to happen.

So I searched the stores for some small ship type object, but pirates are kind of out this year. I could not find anything. So I forked over more money than I wanted to and bought an actual pirate ship (technically a dingey) and put it on his cake. It became a present instead of a cake decoration. He loved it. Then we went on a treasure hunt, because some scallywag pirates stole his last present, and we had to follow a treasure map to find it. The boys really had fun with that one. (My attempt to make waves ended up looking like a bunch of skinny blue worms)

He got a dot art paint set from the grandparents. He didn't know just what it was, but when he opened it, he very excitingly exclaimed, "Whoa, I love that. That is awesome. I really like...that." It was funny to see him so overjoyed about something he was excited about, yet didn't know what it was.

So what do I appreciate about my little one? (Lucky for him, I've mostly forgotten about the fact that it took him over a year to sleep through the night) I'm still tired from it...two years later.

Number 1: He's a goofball. He gets in silly moods and has a good time. He enjoys himself and I enjoy him for the most part.

Number 2: Despite the fact that he went into some kind of evil terrible three tantrums this past week, I usually enjoy going out with him. He's my little shopping buddy.

Number 3: Logan loves to go to Walmart. It's the only store in our town. Every morning when I ask him what we should do, he suggests that we go to Walmart.

Number 4: He is a loveable bug. Several times a day, he'll just wrap his arms around me and say, "Momma, I love you." He always says it with a sigh, and then I sigh, for obvious reason.

Number 5: He is clumbsy. There is not a day that goes by that he does not whack his head (mostly ears) on something.

Number 6: He loves to eat red peppers and carrots dipped in fiesta ranch dip. It's one snack we love to share together.

Number 7: No matter how many times I put him on time out or scold him, he stands on books. (Look at the first picture in the post)

Number 8: He has some lazy tendencies. If he's eating and he drops his spoon onto the floor, he insists I get it for him. I always insist he get it himself. I can't believe he still asks.

And lastly, one morning as I was changing another poopy diaper, I made some reference to him actually potty training one day. He giggled and said, "I'm not going to potty train. Trains don't go potty, silly Mommy."





But if there is one thing I am really grateful for, it is that my two boys are truly best friends. I know that will most likely change in the future and I will spend many evenings breaking up fist fights, but for now, their constant giggles and playing together makes me happy.

Fun times

The secret ninja and the cute cow had a good time on halloween. We ended up going to Utah for Jon's grandma's funeral. So we got to celebrate her life, have some fun with grandma and grandpa Baird, see some old friends, and have a fun night celebrating ghouls and death. Grandma's house was decorated awesome. Jon's brother deals with lighting for his job, so he brought over all kinds of fancy lights. People stopped by, gawking. It was pretty cool.




And I posted these cute pics of my boys because they are actually looking at the camera. UNBELIEVABLE.

For some annoying reason, Chase always grabs Logan's face like this when posing. I think its to help me when I insist Logan look at the camera. Have you ever noticed that the more you insist, the less your children listen? Starts way too young in my opinion.


I love this. Why do little kids like to flash their bellies. I remember when we were in Vegas one time when Chase was probably around 3 years old. He walked around holding his shirt up, calling to all strangers who passed us on the sidewalk, "Look at my one belly."

Sweet, silly kids.

Who doesn't love fall?

As you can see, we had a lot of leaves at our house. It was awesome.






Did any of you hit up the roller rink as a child? I went all the time as a young elementary school aged girl when I lived in Vegas. It was so fun...and there were so many cute boys. It was the hip thing to do. I also thought it was real cool to be able to roller skate into the bathroom stall.

So, guess what? There is a roller rink just down the street from our house. It's old and outdated, but better than nothing. Chase had been begging for us to go, and I was hesitant because he and Logan are so young and it probably wouldn't be much fun when you first start skating and can't stand up well. But we went anyway because it was winter outside of our door and an indoor entertainment of some sort was needed.


How did Chase do? Hmmm, he was like a giraffe trying to walk for the first time.

Where were the free licorice sticks for the losers when I was a child? Logan wanted to go back through the limbo line again to get another licorice. I tried to explain that it was a one time deal...especially once you've lost. There was a tantrum in the roller rink that day.


The boys were the most comfortable hanging out here, watching.

I enjoyed it because it brought back lots of memories. The boys really got out there and tried out the whole balancing thing, which made me happy. I even got to hold hands with my hubby and go around the rink a few times. (Rare hand holding experiences) The only thing I didn't love was that hip hop rap music seemed to be the theme and I thought some of the songs had a lot of cuss words considering this was a young crowd of kiddies. That's what you get when you have a teenage boy deejay.

Overall Fun family experience.

P.S. I had to buy a shovel before I needed to buy a rake. How weird is that? Who knew winter would come first, and then the leaves would fall off.

Fun times before winter sets

We went boating back on Labor Day and I'm just now remembering to post about it. This is how not to start out on an inner tube.....



.......Because this is what will happen.



Jon had a good time showing off, though he was an unpleasant partner to ride with at times. He thought it funny to put his foot in the water as we were moving to send spray shooting in my face. It happened a lot.

We kept asking the boys if they'd like to try the inner tube, but they were terrified to get on it. It probably didn't help that they had witnessed the rest of us grownups falling off and floating in the lake. We promised the boys we would go really slow, or we wouldn't even move, they could just sit on the boat. Nope. We tried all sorts of bribes, and daddy finally sealed the deal with the promise of a new hot wheels car from the store. They reluctantly got on with us, and we just sat on the tube for awhile, making them feel comfortable. Then, it finally happened--they very worriedly agreed to let the boat pull us slowly. The boat starting moving forward, and then a freakish thing happened. The front part of the tube started going under. I've never heard my boys scream so terrified in my life. It was one of those slow motion moments where Jon and I each grabbed a child and tried to hold them up in the air we plunged into the water. Those boys were so upset as we floated in the cold lake. We tried to laugh about it with them, which loosened them up a little, but I doubt we'll get them into another inner tube for several years.


This was obviously taken BEFORE the boat tried to pull us.



Overall, it was a blast for everyone. The boys really enjoyed being on a boat, and it did my heart some good too see pure enjoyment on Jon's face. He's so busy at school that outings like this are rare, so I'm just thrilled that I got to see that special huge grin on his face for that few hours out on the lake.

Thos who wanted me to post house pics... here you go

Here's our new home. We love it. It's cool. What else can I say?

The kid's playroom. Is that blanket an awesome rug or what? I can't afford a rug, so the blanket will have to do for now. I still can't believe my kids drag toys upstairs even though they have tons of floor space downstairs. It must be that the toy room is not cozy or something. Kids are so hard to please.... and yet so easy at the same time.

The basement is the strange part of the house. I think I could host a perfect Halloween dance or something here, otherwise, what is up with the dark brown and orange walls? Not my favorite, but I'm getting used to it.






Here's a picture of my lazy children in the living room. Logan doesn't believe in using a couch for its original intended purpose. Chase didn't either at that age.

That's all for now. Bye

What an wonderful week.

Our very favorite person came to visit us last week. GRANDMA SU-SU. We kept it a surprise from Chase. On his first day of school, we told him we'd have a special surprise waiting for him at home when school was over. He was extremenly excited to discover it was grandma. He gave her a big squeeze and said it was the best surprise ever.

Here's a few of the things we did to entertain our guest as well as ourselves.



We went bowling and the kids loved it. Although they did lose interest once they saw two video arcade games during the seventh frame...


We drove to Red Lodge while Chase was in school (sorry Chase) and we enjoyed a nice picnic by the river and then we strolled around the cute shops. (kind of like a Park City, Utah before its hey day) The candy emporium was everyone's favorite. Cashew turtles are heavenly bliss....


Next we headed to the zoo...



Slathering on the sunscreen for that hot Montana Sun at ZOO Montana.


Ahhh, matching visor caps and forehead sunglass placements. Are we a couple or what? Not to mention the fact that we are just so dang stylish.


It took all I had in me to keep from jumping on top of that cute little elephant and taking him for a ride. Or pretending to...

More children were on display than there were animals. I'm not kidding. But it was entertainment none the less.


Of all the animals such as wolves, bears, and tigers; Big Jake ended up being our favorite. He is HUGE and sweet. The kids got to feed him apples. They loved it. Jake loved Grandma. He wanted her to caress his head the rest of the day.

So overall, what a great week! When Grandma Su-su left, the house suddenly felt very empty. She is a great presence in our home. We left the bed up for one more night, just hoping she'd come back. But, Grandpa Tom needed her next so we let him have her.

WE LOVE YOU GRANDMA SU-SU. COME BACK!!!!

Me against the bees

This is my new son, a little WHO that I adopted from Who-ville.

Ok, so the real truth is that Logan just happened to get stung by a yellow jacket smack dab on the lip. Poor Logan. He was so upset. He ran into the house all hysterical and crying, "De bee bit me. De bee bit my mouf." It swelled up immediately. Now he's terrified of bees. He saw one the next day after he'd been bit and screamed holy terror upon the town.

We discovered a little yellow jacket "home" right on our deck. We've taken extreme measures to destroy them. They are very very univited.

Chase is a kindergartner this year. All I can say is that I miss the little guy. I dropped him off at school on his first day and missed him all day. I couldn't wait to see him six and a half hours later. I do not like this all day kindergarten crap. It's too long of a day. Chase was exhausted when he came home. He said he was tired and that the day was really long. (He loves school though)

I'm exited that he's growing up. I treasure the first five years of his life that we spent together all day long every day. (Sure I wanted to strangle him every other day) But now I'm all nostalgic now that I feel like we have little time together.

Oh and Logan bawled when Chase left for school the first day. He said he was going to miss Chase in between his tears with his hands covering his face. HOW SWEET IS THAT?

End of the First year

This is my first attempt to post on the blog that bears my name. I thought I would try to convey a little of what I've been up to this past year. As pictures are worth a thousand words, I will go light on typing and let the images speak for themselves.

Dissecting a pig heart

Practicing Splints

Cutting Casts


Logan and Chase Volunteered for Pediatric Lab

This is the proper technique for holding your kids during an exam

Chase is taken a developmental test

Practicing Sutures on pork