An Artist Emerges

I've always tried to encourage my children to develop and explore their artistic sides.  I consider myself more of a right-brained person and enjoy expressing creativity (however poorly its done) so I'm always pleased when one of my kids shows me a project they've been working on.

Yesterday was just a normal day and as the afternoon wore on, Sophie woke up from her nap around the usual time.  We've pretty much completed the day-time potty training so when I heard her at her door saying, "I went potty!" I figured she'd done so in her diaper and didn't worry about it.  We haven't quite reached the nap and sleep time training.

When I opened the door, it was as if someone had thrown a ton of bricks constructed completely of POOP right at my face.  I looked down to see a naked Sophie with poop-crusted hands up to the wrists.  All I could say was, "Go get in the bath, now!" to which she responded happily, "OK!"  I found the soiled diaper on the floor, along with a nice giant poop streak on the floor. 

I began gathering up the dirty sheets and blankets nearby and looked up to find another little surprise on one of the twin beds.

I was pretty mad at this point and made sure to get back in the bathroom to tell her how mad I was and how naughty she was.  She responded by asking for more bubbles.

I grabbed some towels and headed back to the room to begin cleanup duty when my eyes lifted from the carpet and up to the walls.  Cave paintings.  Poop smeared everywhere.  Poop on the wicker chair where she stood to reach the walls; poop on the twin bed's comforter; poop flakes on the floor in a visible trail around the bed; poop on the wall on the other side of the bed.

At this point I decided to go back in to the bathroom in another attempt to make her feel guilty (an impossible feat) and soon gave up and decided to growl and groan and mutter under my breath, hoping someone in the cosmos would be listening and understanding my pain.

It took approximately 1 hour, 5 towels, 2 washcloths, 3 paper towels, a good dose of Oxy-Clean, 3 loads of laundry, and finally a sweep over the soiled carpet with the carpet cleaner to remove the putrid smell and remnants of Sophie's artwork.

Proud?  I say, Let's try another medium...maybe crayons on some good, old-fashioned paper.  Shoot, draw me a few nondescript scribbles and I'll secure the means for your very own exhibition and gallery.

Rain in December

Until yesterday, all we'd really gotten as far as precipitation here in Utah was a bit of snow in November and a ton of rain in December.  In fact, Sunday it poured all day long.  It didn't help the Christmas spirit one bit but it sure was cute to see the kids holding umbrellas as we crossed the field to church (one of the nice things about living in Utah is you're usually right next to your ward building--ours is literally in our back yard).

Merry Christmas to you all! 

Sophie to two

I like seeing the changes in my babies over the years and I forgot to do Sophie's 2 year collage (becoming a tradition). 

She is such a joy to us! We love having our little Sophie.  She's sassy and oh-so-girly.  She loves princesses and dolls and chocolate.  She loves to dance and sing and has learned quite the vocabulary from her chatty big brother.

Thanksgiving in Colorado

It was our year to travel to Colorado for Thanksgiving which we were all very excited about.  The one thing that  put a damper on the fun was the miserable drive there.  The first 2 hours were through blizzards and over icy highways, and all the while we had Jonah throwing up in the back seat.  Jonah woke up sick the morning we were supposed to leave but we decided to go anyway, as he'd be throwing up no matter where we were and at least we could contain it in the car (thanks to the salad bowl and plenty of grocery bags--all fully inspected and hole-free).  He was a really good sport and made sure we were notified before each episode. Poor kid.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Sophie's birthday with the family.  I made my first batch of fondant which was even more difficult to work with than I suspected.  Those people on Ace of Cakes make it look so easy!  I was pleased with the final product despite all it's flaws.

Sophie loved her birthday presents which provided hours of entertainment through the week.  She loves baby dolls and feeding them, putting them to sleep, and even disciplining them!  I just hope her means of discipline will change before she's a real mom because I'm pretty sure DCFS won't let you keep your child after you throw it across the room or bang it on the table.

In spite of the frigid temperatures on Thanksgiving morning, we gathered the entire family for the Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run.  It was a 4 mile run which we all did eight years ago (before most spouses and any children came to the family).  This time we had three baby-joggers, 2 strollers, and twice as many people.  It was a great event and Jonah even got to run his first solo race.  He started out strong but tripped and skinned his nose on the asphalt so it took a little encouragement on my side to get him to finish.  It was about 1/3 mile and by the end, he was spent but so excited that he finished. (pictures to come)

Following the delicious meal, we broke out the karaoke machine and I opened the ceremonies with "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" and then forced the other adults to take part (no one was too willing).  The kids loved it, though.

Friday and Saturday were relaxing with just a little shopping, pedicures for the ladies, and the BYU vs Utah game for the boys (I'm glad I didn't watch that one).  Then we got the girls all dolled up in their Christmas outfits for some pictures (talk about break-down central).  We got a few good ones and mostly bad ones with someone crying and someone with their eyes closed.

This one just makes me laugh every time!  Can we say, "I'm tired and can't smile any more."

Beautiful girl.

The drive home was uneventful, thank goodness, and we were glad to settle back in to our usual habits.

How blessed I am to have such a wonderful family.  I have awesome brothers and a sister whom I love dearly and sisters-in-law that are basically blood.  My parents would do anything for us and often do.  I truly have much to be grateful for.

Evening Activities

We've really enjoyed the cool evenings lately and have been spending them outside while the kids play and ride bikes.  We also love our evening walks--pulling Sophie in the wagon while Jonah rides his bike or scooter along side us.

Jonah is a master at riding a bike.

Riding with Daddy. It looks so uncomfortable but she loves it!

Nice. Why can't kids give a real smile when you tell them to smile?

Bundled for our walk in the chilly, fall weather.

Last Days of Summer

Just playing at the park.

Photo Op

It only took me three years to finally take my kids to have their pictures taken in a real studio.  I like to fancy myself an OK photographer (for a mommy) and just haven't ever had anyone else do them.  I stumbled by a new studio in our mall the other day and I thought I might as well have them done.  I just didn't want to regret it.

Jonah was quite the model and posed happily for each shot. Sophie, on the other hand, was quite a nightmare.  We got to the shoot and I pulled the hairspray out of my bag for some last minute touch-ups (reminding myself of one of those pageant moms--in a very small way).  Sophie was immediately apprehensive about the red-headed guy behind the camera.  We got Jonah's done and then had to wait while they shot another family's so Sophie could calm down enough to get a couple shots.

Luckily, we got a few.