Good Vibrations

Well I'm 4 months pregnant today!  Other than the ailments of fatigue and nausea (which are, thankfully, done and over with), I've had chronic headaches and tension in my brow, no matter how I try to relax and massage it.  It gets quite wearying and draining by the end of the day.  But with the fatigue and sickness out of the way, I'm finally back up to energy levels that allow me to catch up on laundry, can 7 quarts of Manhattan Clam Salmon Chowder, and try to keep up on dishes and cleaning.  I've also been able to get whatever little in store Christmas shopping done that I need to.

We went to Destination Kitchen last week, which is one of Tom's favorite stores in town.  He wasn't feeling ready to eat lunch when I wanted us to (it was the usual time), but when I told him that we could go to "The Kitchen Store" after lunch, he jumped right on board.  I've never seen him eat a PB&J sandwich so fast before.  Or so messily.  His mess is usually contained to just his mouth, but the speed eating had it all over his hands, sleeves, shirt, and face.  Lovely laundry.  But there's a kid's kitchen set there with cool toys (all of it wooden) and a metal shopping cart, and Tom just loves to cook.  He's ALWAYS cooking.  So he had me and Katie sit at the tables in the front of the store while he cooked at the back and brought stuff up to serve us.  After he'd been gone for a while, he finally came around the corner with an oven mitt on his hand, carrying a cookie tray with velcro cookies and frosting all laid out.  Wish I had gotten a picture, but since aprons and oven mitts are already on my list for Christmas sewing, that's something I'll see a lot more often in just a week.

My bobbin winder tire got worn out last week and needed to be replaced.  Bad timing with all the sewing I'm doing and needing to wind bobbins!  And no big surprise, but the sewing store in town doesn't carry any basic replacement parts, and the repair guy is only in once a month.  Still disappointing.  Ebay proved to be a shining light for me, though.  I found a 4 pack for $6 with free shipping and it was here in less than a week.  In fact, it was supposed to arrive today, but arrived on Thursday or Friday last week.  Same story with the fabric I ordered from Fabric.com (the store in town doesn't carry knit fabrics; they're primarily a quilting store).  Love that!  So I'm extremely behind on my sewing list, but am hoping to get caught up during naptime today.  I've already sewn 2 aprons (gifts for friends) and Katie's hooded towel.  I can't list everything, because somethings are surprises, but I sure have my work cut out for me and need to get things speeded up.

We went to Shad's work Christmas party on Friday night, and it was enjoyable.  Which is more than we can say for last year.  Last year they had really loud music playing so that it was hard to hold conversations, the food was undercooked due to the oversized portions, and even though there was a separate smoking section at the front, you still had to walk in and out of it, and the smoke drifted into the non-smoking room.  This year was at a different venue with no indoor smoking.  They only played 1 song and had quiet the rest of the time.  They food was fantastic and cooked all the way through.  On top of that, they compensated all the mandatory overtime with nice bonus checks, and gift cards won through games.  We won a $30 gas card, and a light up snowman and angel.  Tom and Katie were delighted with those, which made up for any hard feelings for being left behind.  Our friends, Paul and Mallory, babysat them.  Tom had a great time.  Katie got tired around 8:30 and grabbed her coat, went to the door and started crying, saying, "Door.  Mom! Bye bye!"  Apparently her crying included a little "buh buh buh buh buh!" blubbering, which Mallory felt really bad for laughing at, but couldn't help herself!  They were so happy to see us come in the door--Tom cried out, "Dad! You're back!!  Oh, Mom! You're back, too!"  Both kids were more excited to see Shad than me, because between him working overtime that day and their naps, they only saw him for an hour before we had to leave them.

Sunday we Skyped with Shad's parents, and Katie had trouble with them not being on the computer anymore.  So we had to call other people.  We called my dad and she happily talked to him for several minutes before it was bedtime.  She had a hard time with bedtime that night.  We went to console her an hour later when she was still crying.  She had been hinting all week at wanting to move into Tom's old crib, but that night (at 10 pm!) she practically begged.  So we moved her over.  Our big girl is in a big crib now and done with the pack-n-play.  Now I can get that ready for May!

Did you know how awesome my boy is?  He's so awesome that when I only had to heels of bread left last week for his PB&J, he not only ate it, but still thought it was the best thing in the world.  I love him!

Some more glimpses into the language of Tom: he has developed a shorthand for one of his favorite phrases.  "DOWN!"  It's usually preceded by a heavy sigh, or click of the tongue, and is short for "just calm down, please."  I hear it all day long, and most the time I don't need to calm down.  He just didn't like what I told him.  A week ago, I told him that Nana and Bumpa are coming in two weeks.  He understood that I meant it would be a while before they came, but he replied, "Mom, just ony one week."  When he thinks we're going so fast in the mini van, he says, "Lightning McQueen Niny-seven! So fast!"  But oddly enough, that only happens in residential streets and not on the highway.  There's a clip in the movie, The Emporer's New Groove, where the Emporer busts open a door and says, "Boom, baby!"  So when Tom comes in the house from being gone, he says, "Boom, baby!  I'm back!"  We heard that last night when we were all coming in from the van and he was the last one through the door.  When I came back in with a second load, he told me to say it.  We also hear, "Eh eh eh!" a lot, which is what we say when the kids are doing something they shouldn't.  So Tom says that to us and Katie.  He can be quite bossy.  A year ago, if you asked what Tom wanted to be when he grows up, I'd have said a dentist.  He was constantly checking my teeth and poking at my tongue.  However, right now I'd have to say that he aspires to be a policeman.  He sure does a good job of policing Katie, and most of it is rightfully so.

What do a two-year-old and one-year-old want to do most in the world when they wake up from their afternoon nap?  Why, sit on the washing machine after Mom has just started a load, of course!  At least, that was the desire yesterday.  They sat on the machine for the whole running time of the load.  We ate snack and then I washed dishes.  They just sat there and enjoyed the vibrations.

Oh, you know, just stufffff

Ugh, I'm still frustrated trying to figure out the problem with uploading pictures.  The storage site, that I was unaware I am using, is full and yet I can't delete anything because it won't load the album.  Great.  Maybe I'll just have to go back to writing without pictures and sending the pictures via Shutterfly.  At least I know how to do that without spending hours trying to find a solution.

After our delightful post-Thanksgiving vomit virus, Tom went straight into a cold.  Shad and I caught that and were rendered useless for a weekend.  I think we went through a whole kleenex box while we camped out on the couch.  We finally started getting over it about a week ago.  I remember how excited I was when my ears started unpopping on Thursday.  Katie, lucky thing that she is, managed to escape both sicknesses.  She cut a second tooth during the Thanksgiving week, so her nose stopped running, but then it started again around the time we caught the colds.  It's still dripping, so I'm thinking she's got another tooth working through.  Good for her, because she's 13 months old and has 2 bottom teeth.  Still, that doesn't hold her back from eating everything she possibly can.  Other than grape jelly and tomatoes, I can't think of a thing she's refused to eat.  She can't manage raw or still crisp veggies, but eats everything else.

We're going through with our refinance, though it's not actually saving any money on our monthly payment.  We are cutting out 3.5 years, though, so shortly after Tom turns 12, we'll have our house paid off! Eat that, economy!

Tom and Katie are best friends.  Tom is including Katie more and more in his play.  He's realized that it's okay for her to play in with the kitchen set at the same time as him, under the premise that I told him she's cooking dinner for him.  He thinks that's so nice of her.  He also cooks for her in return.  Yesterday morning while I was doing some Christmas shopping online, Tom had Katie shrieking in delight as he chased her around the living room, roaring at her.  Every now and then she'd fall down because she was laughing so hard, and then she'd laugh more because she fell!  Katie is a tease and knows when she's being funny.  She'll find things that make Tom laugh, and keep it up as long as he's laughing and telling me that, "Mom, Katie being funny!"

Katie likes to play dress up.  She'll find shirts of mine or Shad's and bring them to us so she can wear them.  Her face just lights up and we tell her she's so pretty.  It's funny to watch her try and walk while wearing a shirt that goes down past her feet.  She manages, though.  On Sunday after church, a lady told me that I'm going to have to keep my eye on this girl because she's just going to be so beautiful when she grows up.  The lady and a couple others who overheard were surprised and laughed when I told them that Katie already flirts with the missionaries.  She even favors Elder Evans over Elder Leavitt.

Yesterday, the kids and I braved the cold wind and walked down to the thrift store to pick up some things I need for Christmas sewing projects.  Everyone in the store complimented me on my well-behaved kids.  The two of them just walked around the store (it's very small) doing their own looking around while I did mine.  Several people told me how well Tom talks and the things that he said to them (he's only shy when he chooses to be).  One man, who was an elementary school teacher, (he was funny--he said he only chose that major because that's where all the girls were in college) told me that he sincerely hopes to run into me another time in town because my kids are just so wonderful.

Oh, the funny things Tom says and does!  I told him once after leaving a lunch visit with Shad at work, that Dad had to go back to work to get some money for us.  Tom understood that very well and said, "Oh, fank you Dad! Get it some money!"  Now I hear relatively often, "Mom, Tom go back work Natoma.  Get it some money."  A conversation that occurs about 30 times a day (word for word, with occasional slight variations) is, "Mom okay?" "Yes, Tom, I'm okay. Are you okay?" "No, I'm happy!  Mom, yers a pretty girl!"  "Thanks, Tom!  You're a handsome boy."  Last week while I was miserable on the couch because my head would throb everytime I stood up, Katie got something from a kitchen drawer that we're trying to teach her to stay out of.  Ever the policeman, Tom snatched it right from her hand, put it back, then scolded her, saying, "Katie! Dats not fer yers!"  He often says, "Oh, ESSEWENT!  Good i-de-a" (Thumbs up included).  Boom Bang is a game that Tom plays all the time.  It's inspired by a martial arts video game of Shad's, and executed Tom-style, which means that Boom Bang looks like running circles around a room and crashing into things and people; wrestling; and sword fighting.  Tom likes to fake burp after drinking, so he made sure to do that during the sacrament on Sunday.  He at least knows to say, "Scue me," afterwards.  Yesterday, while I was washing our dishes from breakfast, first lunch and second lunch, Katie was fussing in her high chair.  Tom told her, "Katie, no crying!  Just eat sandwich, please!"  He was patiently waiting for her to finish so we could go on a walk, and she was exhausted, given that it was 2:30.  She fell asleep in her chair.

Oh, and one more I almost forgot!  Last week we were leaving a store and saw a woman walking down the sidewalk.  She was wearing a long, dark trench coat and a striped scarf.  Tom got excited and exclaimed, "Oh, wea Hay Poer!"  The woman and I were both confused, and Tom was insistant that I understand what he was saying.  I figured out that he said, "Wear Harry Potter."  He thought the woman was wearing a Harry Potter costume!  Totally made my day!  I explained it to the lady; she understood the logic and thought it was funny too.

Now for Katie's language.  Ruth asked me last week about Katie talking and so I started a list of things she says.  It started small, but then just kept growing as I'd remember more things or she'd learn new words.  Here's her vocabulary as I know it now: hi, bye, more, bed, hat, head, baby, water bottle, coat, jacket, apple, banana, cracker, chocolate, book, I love you, aiyaaaa (the karate sound effect), mama, dada, bumpa, nana, cup, bowl, ball, dog, woof, car, vroom vroom vroom, hammer, boo, pray, amen, blue bunny (her beloved toy), light, tree, diaper, deer, elk, cat (there are trophies on the wall at the hunting and sport store).  She signs eat, but doesn't say it yet.  On Saturday, she said diaper to Shad, then ran to the diaper corner to have her diaper changed.  We were so excited for her!  She also very clearly asked me to "call Grandpa."  We did, and she held up her end of the conversation.  She knows baby to mean baby, but I think she's confused about the whole pregnant concept.  When I pat my belly and tell her baby, she pats her belly, Shad's belly, anyone else's belly and says baby.  So I think she thinks it's a body part.

Well, my lovely daughter, who still hasn't learned to stay out of the dirt of our indoor plants, has just notified me that I've been blogging too long.

Thanksgiving

You know what I wanted to do during nap time today? Sit and rest, and oh, write a blog post since it's been a few weeks.  And when I went to upload the few pictures that I have right now, I couldn't.  Why? Because my Picasa Web Albums (that I didn't know I was using every time I put a picture on a blog) are full.  They are full, make it near impossible to figure out how to delete anything to create space, and have long-running scripts that force the window to close and reopen.  Why would anybody choose to use that?  So it'll be a while before I can share any pictures because I have other things to do with my time than spend forever trying to figure that out.

In the meantime, I'll try to keep my brain together and remember things that I've been forgetting to write about.  I had a list earlier and now, of course, I can't remember them.

We had a fun Thanksgiving.  Natoma decided to be human and give their employees their due holiday, instead of making them work it.  Shad's been working mandatory overtime 50-60 hours a week since September.  Others in QA have been at it since July.  People are getting burned out and this is expected to continue at least until Christmas.  Probably longer.  They're really backed up and overloaded on orders.  Anyway, my parents arrived Wednesday night.  Tom had been so good waiting for them.  I told him the Friday before that they were coming and showed him on the calendar so that he could understand that it would be a few days, but that we could be excited now.  Finally on Wednesday, I told him that they were coming today.  He repeated, "Gramma and Grampa come two days." I had to re-explain that they were coming after dinner when it was bedtime and that they were going to sleep at Tommy's house.  That meant a whole different thing to him and he understood.  It's nice to have language comprehension develop further so that we have good communication.  Thursday was a nice relaxed day.  Shad went out with the missionaries in the morning to play Frisbee golf.  Mom and I walked down to the park with the kids to meet up with Shad after we all got ready.  Aside from the ham I put in the crockpot after breakfast, we didn't do any cooking until after lunch.  Then Mom did all the cleanup and she and Dad watched Shaun the Sheep with kids so that Shad and I could have some game time.  That was nice.  Almost like an at home date:)

We tried to go to the Fort Bissell Museum in Philipsburg, but found out when we got there that it's closed until May.  Warm weather only thing.  We shopped around a bit to make it at least worth the trip.  Then went down to Logan for awesome pizza and wings at the Main Street Pizza place.  After lunch, we walked two blocks over to the Hansen Museum, where they had a fun exhibit of health based interactive activities.  The kids loved it.  We got our house all decorated for Christmas in the evening while Mom cooked.  She wanted to make a lemon chicken dish that my sister Jen made for them when they visited her in Canada a couple weeks ago.  Shad and Dad cut a spruce tree from our backyard.  We didn't want it there and it's the perfect size for a Christmas tree.  We watched Cinderella Man in the evening...okay, we talked about it at 8 and it was 9:30 before we had Dad all set and ready to go.  So it ended at midnight.  When we moved upstairs for bed, I lost my dinner.  Take it from a pregnant lady with loads of experience, acids like lemon juice and vinegar (Italian dressing) are the last things you wanna throw up.  Gosh, it burns! 

Shad and I thought I was just being pregnant, but when I was up again at 3:30, 6:00 and 7:15, we knew we had something contagious to deal with.  Tom started at breakfast Saturday morning.  Shad caught his Sunday afternoon.  Katie's still managed to escape the horrors.  Shad and I only had the bug for 24 hours, but Tom is still getting over his.  He only threw up for a day, but then had a fever and hacking cough.  We've had to try so hard to get him to eat or drink anything.  Really, probably just enough to keep him alive.  His energy has returned today.  He's been all over the living room cooking for me and bringing me more.  His strength is not back though, since he still doesn't eat much.  Watching him walk is like watching Katie, though sometimes she looks more stable.  And he and I have both come to the conclusion that stairs are entirely out of the question.  He just can't handle them.

Aside from sickness, the kids have been having a hard time adjusting to their dad being gone so much.  They miss him, cry any time they see him leave, act out, etc.  On top of that, I've still been getting over the turmoil of first trimester nausea and fatigue, so without Shad here to help me so much, our house has been in a general state of chaotic, filthy disarray.  I just can't keep up with all the demands of taking care of 5 people single-handedly.  We're slowly finding balance...or at least trying to.  Having a weekend with my parents definitely helped.  The kids got more attention, play time and outdoor time.  Mom got us all caught up on dishes...though after 4 days of playing nurse now, I'm behind again.

We qualified to refinance our home!  The quote for the monthly payment is that we could be saving almost $100 a month AND cut off 3.5 years.  Yay!  We took our application over to our neighbors to help clarify somethings I didn't understand.  When we got to the liabilities section, I only had the house down on that.  They asked about car payments, student loans and credit card debt.  They were shocked when I told them that we didn't have any of that.  Their two sons are rather swimming in it, so they were rather dumbfounded at the thought.  I'm really thankful for the way Shad and I choose to manage our finances.  We may not have loads to spare and still can't afford $500 a month for health insurance, but we are happy as we are, not having the shackles of debt tying us down.  We will be going from 7% on a 15 year loan to 3% on a 10 year loan.  I'm super excited!

Tom-isms: He does catch on to things!  His pop gun that he got for his birthday has been a problem a little bit.  Being misused as a sword and all.  So he gets corrected that it's a gun, not a sword.  Lately, Katie's taken an interest in it.  Today, he told Katie, "No, no, no, Katie! (yes, he's started pronouncing the T) Not a sword! I's a gun!"  He even took it away from her until I had him convinced that she was using it as a gun.  He's also been mirroring my language, asking, "Katie, yike some druice?" (Katie, would you like some juice?) "Okay, be right back."  And the newest one: "Good idea!"  Several months ago, Tommy was commenting on something in the sky on a walk...the moon or clouds or something.  I told him, "Tommy, Jesus made the moon."  His reply was immediate: "Oh, FANK you, Gees!" His pronunciation has improved to "Gesus," but he still thanks Jesus for the stars, moon, sun, clouds, sky, trees, etc.

Katie has been acquiring more language skills, too.  She desperately tries to talk all the time.  Just this weekend she picked up banana, apple and cracker, and is thrilled to have that new communication!  Her face just lights up, knowing that I understand her.

I've reached the second trimester now, which means a bump and the eye of the storm.  I've been trying my hand at a new area of baking: breads and crackers.  I've tried out wheat thins, rolls, hamburger buns and bread bowls.  There's tweaks that need to be made here and there, but overall, we like these new homemade food items.  I'm also looking at cloth diapers, but not only that.  Instructions online for sewing your own diaper covers.  And then I still have a list of more soups I want to can.

Well, I better run and get to other things...like tonight's dinner.

Filling in the Gaps

I don't know where he picked it up, but Tom learned that pirates have hooks on their hands.  So now when he plays pirates, he gets a hanger...and ends up holding it backwards!

 

 

Katie is a climber and quite proud of herself, too.

 

And good at helping finish leftovers.  She found her leftover birthday brownies after I evicted her from the dishwasher and helped herself .

 

City wide cleanup means that everybody puts their junk on the curb and it gets picked up on the designated Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  That also means that the preceding weekend is generally known as "trash swap."  We participated in the scavenging and came out with a 7 piece Coleman cookware set (I told Shad that I was pretty sure Dad would beat me with a stick if I passed that up); a small bookshelf; a triple stroller that needs a simple wheel repair; a baby toy...one of those arched things that has dangling toys on it for the kid to play with while lying on their back; a trash bag full of girl clothes (I have yet to go through it); and swing set grip handles, plastic wheel, some hardware, and a glider swing.  Not bad for trash swap!  We put out stuff of our own, but it really was trash.  On Monday, when the pick up actually began, there was a...well I don't know what all those machines are called.  Look at the picture.  That thing was parked outside our house for about 3 hours and was the cause of much excitement.

 

When the kids discovered that it was just sitting there, they had some youtube time.

 

This dump truck came by that had Shrek strapped to the front for some reason.

 

Just a couple of kids sharing milk time together.

 

The Sunday before Halloween was stake conference for us.  We didn't go because Shad had worked 58 hours that week, but the cherry on top was that on Saturday night, Tom hit his head on the coffee table and we took him to the ER just to make sure he didn't need stitches.  We were told to keep a close eye on him and spending 2 hours in the car, then 2 hours of conference and another 2 hours in the car just didn't sound like a good idea.  Turned out to be a good thing because I woke up with a terrible headache.  Worse than I've had before and Ibuprofen didn't take care of it.  I spent a couple hours just lying down in bed while Shad entertained the kids.  When I was finally able to come downstairs, this is what I saw:

 

Minus Shad and Tom.  All I saw were the chairs, benches and pillows arranged like that and couldn't help laughing at what fun that must have been...whatever it was.  I found the builders down in the basement and asked what I had missed.  "Oh, that's Her Lady's Vigor."  Well what the heck does that mean?  "Oh, it's our pirate ship."  I had a fit of hysterical laughter at that point, imagining my kids playing on a pirate ship called Her Lady's Vigor.  Shad and Tom gave me demonstrations as to what that looked like.  They shot at things out the window.

 

And had sword fights.  Tom used me to share/swap out the weapon he wasn't currently using.

 

One day when I wasn't feeling well, Tom went upstairs to play with his hammers and ended up taking a nap on "Nana's bed."

 

Katie has this little Alfalfa clump of hair that usually stands on end at the back of her head.

 

We went trick-or-treating with our friends, the Vanderveers.  Eden was The Little Mermaid, Hattie was Cinderella, Tom was Harry Potter, and Katie was Dobby.  All kid costumes were sewn by the moms.

 

And in case you missed it, we're expecting a #3 May 18th.

Katie's Birthday Week

The week before Katie's birthday, a package arrived from Grandma with clothes for Katie. In that box was a pink tutu hand picked by Lori, who is determined that her niece needs a tutu.  However, Tom was being a bit unruly one night when Shad's family was here visiting, and Shad felt that the best solution would be to make Tom wear it. 

 

 

We celebrated Katie's birthday on Saturday afternoon/evening while Shad's family was around.  We went to the lake, but I forgot my camera, so there's no documentation of that.  We went simple with dessert because I felt like enjoying company rather than spending time baking and decorating.  Tom picked out Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies from Dollar General.  He was so happy that he got to pick a treat for Katie's birthday.  After the lake, we came home and opened presents.  Tom clapped and cheered for Katie as she got to put some birthday money in her piggy bank.  That's such an exciting thing for both of them!

 

Then Katie got to open her present from Mom and Dad.

 

It was a kitchen set that we picked up at a garage sale and were going to save it til Christmas, but decided why waste two months of play?  There was also a little plush pig from Ruth on the kitchen set when Katie opened it, but Tom quickly threw it to the ground because it didn't belong.  It's on the floor by Katie's hand in the picture.  They've realized that it can still be fun with the kitchen set...with luaus in mind.  They bake it in the oven!

 

And then we sang Happy Birthday. http://youtu.be/LUAA1zefTec

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Then Katie pulled the tutu over her head herself and spent the evening crawling around like this.

 

Fast forward to the night of Katie's birthday (Oct 24) and Dan and Ryan called us on Skype.  During the call, a train whistle sounded outside and Tom was so overcome with excitement between Dan on the computer and a train, that he started doing these gymnastic/acrobatic/break dance moves on the floor.  He wouldn't repeat it for the camera in video mode, of course, so this picture will have to suffice.  He'd get into position like this and then flip over his head.  We've never seen it before and we've never seen it since.

 

I made Katie's birthday cake two days after her birthday...finally.  We were going over to our friends' house for dinner and games and they asked me to bring dessert.  Perfect.  Well, this was a bit of a cake wreck/fail on my part.  I was inspired by this picture:

 

which looks awesome, right? But I turned the computer off before I looked at it again, so I decorated from memory.  The result still makes me laugh!  Sorry Katie, but we were late as it was and so I was in a hurry and didn't care too much:) Besides, I had spent the whole day in the kitchen--cooked a stockpot of soup and canned 7 quarts of it, roasted a pumpkin, baked the brownies, roasted and burned the pumpkin seeds, and decorated the brownies...however poorly.

 

We sang Happy Birthday to Katie again (only once this time), and she had help from the 2 and 3-year-olds in blowing out the candle.

 

She didn't need any help eating her brownies though.

 

Relatively clean, compared to Tom's first birthday.  At least she didn't need hosed off in the backyard!

 

Katie eating her brownie and telling me all about it:

 

http://youtu.be/oAGsXnYE-xQ

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All Quiet on the Kansas Front

Well, aside from my pregnancy announcement, it's been almost a month since I've written.  It's one of those things that you know you're behind on, but whenever you think about it, you just dread the work of getting caught up, so you put it off longer.  I've been the same way with my journal in the past month.  So we're just going for pictures to tell our lives and I won't try to think about anything that may have happened in between.

 

Tommy fell into a diaper box.  I thought it was hilarious.  He thought it was pathetic.

 

 

Happy Fall!

 

Katie's face is fantastic!

 

After many pictures, 15 minutes of trying and Shad and I both working on it on our phones, we caught one with both faces peaking through the holes.

 

This is very similar to a picture I got of Tom a year ago.

 

Rosalee is our new adopted Grandma.  She works at the library and lives just down the road from us.  Tom says her name, "Yisouwie."

 

Tom cooks me dinner frequently.  It usually looks similar to this and comes from his tool bench.  Reminds me of the Man's Kitchen episode from Home Improvement.  He tells me, "Mom! Tom cook it dinner. Still hot."  And then he tells me what dinner is.  His cooking repertoire has expanded to noodles, fried rice, quesadillas, green beans (he means black, though), muffins, cookies...and I feel like there are a couple I'm missing.

 

Cute little hoodlum.

 

Katie's a climber! She pushed that yellow chair there herself.

 

Tom looking at one of my grocery receipts.  I forget his exact comments, but I believe it was something like, "Oh WOW! Ninety seven, T, S, fwee."

 

Funny little conversation quote that actually happens nearly daily:

Mom: Tom, how old is Momma?

Tom: Mom tunty four.

Mom: How old is Dadda?

Tom: Dad tunty five.

Mom: How old is Katie?

Tom: Um, Kaie (the T is still silent) one birday.

Mom: How old are you, Tom?

Tom: Tom niney seven.

Big News!

I don't have time to blog now...or rather, I'd rather have a movie night cuddling with my husband while the kids are satisfied with their snacks and Sword in the Stone.  So here it is:

 

5/18/13

 

Just thought you ought to know:)