Oh yeah, I'll miss him too...

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Things I'm gonna miss when I'm gone next week...

* Simon, Emmy and Connor - of course
* cracked and bleeding knuckles - of course NOT
* picking up my kids from school and hearing about their days
* blogging! I'm going to have to set aside a whole day when I get back to catch up on everyone's blogs and update my own.
* Simon trying to talk - he is trying to say so much these days. I think he now says snow, airplane, doggie, baby, cold, brrrr, down, cracker, ball, bye bye. None of you would recognize his babbling as these words, but he consistently says the same thing for these words, which I say is talking, baby!
* the use of my cell phone and computer
* helping Connor with his new blog - I think we have found a bonding activity. It was so fun tonight helping him set it up, choose a template, title, music, etc.
* Hearing Emmy sing her little heart out

Ummmmmm - can't think of anything else! Guess I'll be just fine!

Some things I'm glad I've changed my mind about...

1) Blogging. My first experience with blogs was a couple of years ago when my brother, who I was working for at the time, had his name totally smeared by a disgruntled employee in her blog. He ended up taking legal action and she had to take down her blog. (Now I know how easy it would be, though, to just start another one under a new name.) When I started my blog, I had to keep telling myself that, just with about everything, blogs can be used for good, too! This blog has been about as much fun as I could imagine. I have strengthened existing friendships, reunited with old friends and made some great new friendships through this little space on the internet I like to call my blog!

2) Living on the west side. When I was a kid (probably even into jr. high years) I had such a black and white notion about the kind of people who lived on the east side vs. west side. I was so naive! Having been a west-sider now for about 12 years, now I know that not all people who live on the West side wear black Cinderella and ACDC shirts, have ratted and feathered hair and chain smoke :)

3) Food. I have come so far in my food appreciation since I met Zach. He got me to try crab and mushrooms, just to name a few. He still hasn't been able to get me to appreciate sauerkraut, eggs, sushi, wasabi anything, ginger or beets. I don't think there's much of a chance I will change my mind on those, but I could be wrong. I have been before!

4) Music. In high school, the only 2 bands I thought were worth listening to were Sting/Police and U2. Zach again was the one who broadened my musical tastes into so many other areas. Mostly hippie music when we were dating, but even today he is always out there finding new stuff for me to listen to.

5) Dr. Laura. I was in the middle of a relatively rebellious time in my teenage life when I first listened to her. Her no-nonsense approach to morality and ethics was a little grating on my nerves at that time in my life. But shortly after I got married, I realized that she is such a smart lady and I wish everyone would take her advice, as hard and irritating as it may be sometimes. So much pain and heartache could be avoided if everyone listened to her. Of course, her opinions for the most part are right in line with our Church leaders' counsel, but most of the world won't listen to them, so she is my next hope.

6) Laughing gas.
It took me 33 years to get brave enough to have dental work without laughing gas. I only opted not to use it because I didn't have dental insurance and didn't want to pay the extra. And guess what? They numb you anyway with that cool long Q-tip thing, so you don't even feel the shots anymore!

What a Party!

Emmy's birthday celebration is over and now life can go on as normal. We had a great time at Bouncin' Off the Walls. 25+ kids came and we had the place rockin'! She had 4 friends from McMillan, 6 friends from Grant, and 15 cousins plus adults. The big slide is always the hit, but there was also air hockey which was played the whole time, a bounce house and an inflatable obstacle course. Even Simon went down the slide a few times.

Emmy and her buddy Nathan from McMillan - this was a reunion for her McMillan friends because they haven't seen her since she left in October.

Cousins Evelyn and Mikayla

Grant friends Brooklyn and Cassie

Wow - when did Connor get almost as tall as the adults??

Audrey and Paul were vicious competitors at air hockey...

Me and my Si-guy

Blurry, I know - but we were haulin'!

My cute niece, Ali, who is all smiles because she is going to see the JONAS BROTHERS!!!

My incredible shrinking mom...

Hannah, Emmy and Jaxynn - Grant friends...

Me and my sisters (Suzie, Erin, Misty and Moi)

Even Grandpa got into the action - TWICE!

Score! A rock star headset, for my little rock star (thanks, Julie)!

Sunday Night Random Thoughts

* I can't wait for warmer weather, so that my knuckles and fingertips can heal. As of right now, I have four knuckles and three fingertips with open wounds. This winter has been the worst on my hands!
* I can't believe we made it through all 3 meetings at church today. That hasn't happened for a while because of Simon. One meeting is hard enough with him. Three is a triathalon. But I'm glad we got to hear the Dansie's pray in sac. meeting. They usually don't make it to the last meeting either!
* I'm secretly glad the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction is over. Zach has had it on ALL weekend and I've had the sounds of an auctioneer's voice reverberating through my house. The next time you see Emmy, ask her what that sounds like - she has it down. But there were some incredible auctions. Patrick Dempsey auctioned off his own race car. That made it a little more interesting for me.
* 6 more days until the cruise. Gotta clean the house since there will be house guests. That's the biggest job of going out of town - all the preparations.
* I'm glad Marissa H. had a great missionary story to tell in Young Womens today. It totally made the lesson so much more inspiring.
* I'm loving that Emmy has been singing Abba songs all week. We downloaded a bunch of them for her to work on since that is going to be her next Clayton performance theme. Thanks Lisa D. for having such great taste! (Lindsey - pass it on, will ya?)
* I don't think I can add any more blogs to my links list. It is taking me SO long to check all of them every day. Oh, I guess I could NOT check them every day. Nah!
* I hope Zach gets me a scanner for my birthday (34!) so that I can join Kari in posting pictures from our awkward adolence. So far, she's got the market cornered on that one.

Emmy's 9th Birthday

My little girl turned 9 on Saturday. The day actually began the night before when Zach and I hung streamers in her doorway, a birthday tradition around here. She woke up around 9:30 and was excited to see her streamers, even though she fully expects them now. She opened her presents, and then I made her favorite breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes and hot chocolate. For her birthday dinner, she requested her favorite restaurant, Souper Salad, much to Connor and Zach's dismay. She never gets to go there because they are always vetoing her so she has to take advantage of the "birthday dinner" rule to go there.

One of her gifts from us was the Betty Crocker 100 piece cake decorating kit. She has been seeing the infomercial for this and begged me to get it. I thought it would be a good mother-daughter activity so I actually got it for her. She was completely surprised to open it up. We baked two 8" round cakes, and had a go at it. The first one - not so pretty. The second one - a huge improvement, although with the time and mess it took to get there, I'm now a fan of store bought cakes all the more. But it was fun doing it with her.

Memories from Cruise 2005

I know I'm posting a lot today, but I'm making up for years of not keeping a journal, and a year of not scrapbooking.

Two years ago, we went on a family cruise with the 2 older kids. We knew we wanted another baby, and I wanted to do something memorable like this before we got tied down again for a few years. So here are some pictures from our trip to Cozumel and a tiny, unheard-of port town called Progresso, Mexico...

Sick gifts

When Zach would get sick as a kid, his mom would usually buy him a toy or something to help the time go by. He has carried that tradition over into our home. When Emmy was sick with strep last week, he and Connor went to the toy store to find her something special. They came back with this spin-art thing, and it was just the thing to take her mind off being nauseous for a while. Connor is so tender with her when she is sick. I just love it. He played it with her and they made some pretty funky pieces of artwork!

How far we've come...

It seems like the last 2 months Simon has grown so much in his abilities. He finally learned to crawl at 11 months (Dec.). Now he is climbing stairs, cruising a little while holding on to stuff, eating big people food, trying to talk, and so much more. It's whizzing by now, and I wouldn't mind slowing down just a bit. That's why I'm glad I have this blog to document every single moment of it. Here he is with his own little bowl of spaghetti that I just let him eat with his hands. He was such a mess afterwards, but it was adorable in its own way.

Friends Bonko

It was my turn to host Bonko last night, and it was our once yearly Friends Bonko where all the regular girls bring a friend. This is probably my favorite Bonko because we get to meet new girls and usually see ones we haven't seen for a long time but who have subbed for us before. We went to Paradise Bakery for dinner, then came back and jammed 16 women and 5 babies (all girls ironically!) into my basement. My family room is a decent size, but when you fill it with that many bodies plus 4 card tables and 16 chairs, it is TIGHT!




Natalie and Lisa were the big bonko winners and each went home with a pair of red silk pajamas. Oh la la!

Little Emma Isla was 1 of 5 babies under 1 here last night. They were all so darling. Simon picked the wrong night to go out...

Simons 5 Favorite Things (thanks for the idea, Marcie!)

1) AIRPLANES, TRAINS, HELICOPTORS - anything that falls under the category of transportation and loud. He sits up tall, looks out the window, eyes go wide, eyebrows go up, pushes out his bottom lip and starts to breathe very quickly. Today, he saw a train for the very first time. We have just turned his car seat forward facing, and we were the first car stopped at the train tracks just as a 3 engine train roared by. It was so fun to look back and see his expression. He was in frightened awe.

This airplane is in his room and our night time ritual is to turn out all the lights so that just the lights on the plane are on, he spins the propellers for a long time, then he goes to bed. It is his favorite airplane, besides the real thing.

2) HIS BLANKIE AND BIPPY (our family's word for binkie). These two things are the recipe for a calm baby.

3) YOSHI He thinks it's so funny how the dog will eat food right out of his hand. I don't think it's that funny, especially when the food just gets licked by the dog and goes right back into Simon's mouth. Simon also loves Yoshi's food dish. I try and I try to keep it out of reach, but the poor dog is starving because it's never down on the ground for him anymore, so it happens occasionally. Usually I will hear some big splashing and then the pitter patter of dry dog food being tossed all over the floor. Luckily he doesn't try to eat it, which is strange because everything else goes to the mouth.

4) CONNOR AND EMMY Nothing lights up his face more than the kids walking through the door from school. And vice versa.

5) BABIES There is a huge picture of a baby over the baby food aisle at Albertson's (both at 9th East and Redwood Road although they are different babies - strange). He LOVES to see that baby. He giggles and waves at it. We go out of our way to go there just for that experience. Then when we move on to the rest of the store, he looks for it and calls out for it (comes out "duh-duh" but I know that is what he is saying).

His least favorite thing? Just tell him what a cow says, and you get this instant reaction...