Everyday Stuff - January Edition

Eliza loved wearing this vest so much that she would SCREAM if I even TRIED to take it off of her.

Mmmmm..... mint chocolate cookie dough.
Thanks Mom, that's easier.
Oh - did you want some?

Who needs a drum set when there are pans and plastic spoons available?

Half of the reason I like taking kids to story time at the library:  a nice quiet drive home.

We went to the park one warm day in January (in the 50s) and apparently Jack was so warm that he thought he no longer needed shoes.  Or socks.

Hmmmm...... I wonder what happened here.....

Jack discovered this awesome evasive maneuver and exclaimed between excited giggles "you can't put my shoes on!"

Never hurts to refrigerate your Little People accessories, that's what I always say.

Trying on Mommy's earring.

The house we're renting has a large master closet, so Eliza's crib is in there, near a dresser.  One day I picked her up from her nap and found her wearing my striped fuzzy socks, which had been on top of the dresser.

Love my girlies!

Hiding under a blanket never seems to get old in our family.

Neither does sitting together in a bin in the closet.

"Mommy, wook.  I'm on one foot.  Wif no two foot."
(He was kind of using the potty that day, hence the training pants.)

Two cute lookouts.

Practicing another evasive maneuver.  He has really enjoyed hanging out on his head lately...

I was sitting with Cat while she practiced piano and Jack and Eliza decided to see how much of the paper towel roll they could unroll.

Creative, but maybe not your best look, Cat.

It will never not be funny when my kids fall asleep with food in their hands.

My feet are so big that Jack and Eliza can BOTH put their feet in my shoes.

This has happened too many times.... Eliza is no longer allowed to use markers.

She LOVES this little Good Night book, especially since she gets to put the blanket on the little girl at the end.

Oh, yes they (J & E) did.

You can never be too prepared.

Jack LOVES this cowboy hat he received for Christmas from Mema & Papa.

Someone, ahem, bought Cheese Puffs at the grocery store.  The kids were so excited to eat them, and though we rationed them for a couple of days, by the third day or so we were so tired of telling them no, that we just let them finish the bag off.  It may or may not have been 7am...

Love it when Cat helps unload the dishwasher!  Thanks for the happy color coordinated dishes, Cat!

Manly Interests

Right after New Year's, Cat went back to school but Ben had a couple of days before his semester started.  So one day he and Jack had a Man Day together.  First they went to the Utah State Railroad Museum at Union Station in Ogden.  Added bonus: Union Station also houses the John M. Browning Firearms Museum AND a Classic Car Museum.  Score!   Pictures, courtesy of Ben's phone, of Jack with a few of the engines are below.  Don't ask me anything about the trains pictured.... if their names aren't Thomas, Percy, Edward, Toby, Emily, Gordon, James, or Henry, then I'm totally lost.  (And yes.  I can tell each of Thomas' friends apart.)

After the railroad museum, Ben took Jack to the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Air Force Base.  There they saw tons of planes, including a B-17, SR-71, F-16, and a B-52.  (Nope. I don't know anything about them either.)  So trains, firearms, classic cars, and planes all in one afternoon.  Not a bad Man Day, huh?

Don't tell Ben I said this, but I'm pretty sure he had more fun on this particular trip than Jack did.  But I love that they had this time together, and hope they do many many more similar outings.

Sledding in the 'Hood

Although this winter has been decidedly mild, we have had a few inches of snow here and there.  These are just a few fun photos I snapped while Ben was playing with the kids in the back yard, then when Cat was pushing Eliza in our itty bitty sled in our neighbor's driveway.  The sled was a Christmas present from Uncle Andy right before we moved to Illinois for a few months when Cat was a baby.  It only took 6 years for us to use it again!

January??

On days like these, we are particularly thankful for the wondefully mild winter we've had!

2 down, 18 to go

In January, at the ripe old age of six and a half, Cat finally lost her first tooth.  About 10 days later, she lost a second one.  She'd been feeling anxious about this for several months, since her friends had all started losing teeth already.  So, she was pretty ecstatic.

Cat pulled the first tooth out during choir rehearsal after school.  Here she is in the car when I picked her up:

That night Cat received the following note from Pearl, her Tooth Fairy, plus two "very heavy" coins (quarters).

The second tooth came out at school too.  Only she needed a little assistance with the second tooth, so she had her friend, an experienced tooth extractor (he'd already pulled out another gal's tooth) yank it out for her during recess.  When I heard the story I politely asked that she not let other people put their hands in her mouth anymore.  (I forgot to let her know that dentists and dental hygienists are exceptions.... oops.... that could come back and bite me.)

Two missing teeth!

These are the cool little containers they gave her at school when she lost her teeth, so that she didn't lose them.  (I'm holding them.)

 And here is the sweet pouch that Mema sent Cat to use under her pillow, again, so that any lost teeth won't get lost. 

Ringing in the New Year

Wow... I don't know what happened in January, but the month completely flew by.  So I am forcing myself to sit down and publish this post.  Hopefully the rest of the posts for January will be coming shortly.

We had a fun little New Year's Party with some friends from the MBA program.  We enjoyed some chocolate fondue...

And the kids made noisemakers (like these) and party hats (instructional video here).  To make assembly easier, Cat and I had prepared all of the supplies in advance - painting the ribbon spools for the noisemakers and cutting out the circles & dangles for the hats.

Ben and our friend Matt had made a great balloon drop by taping the corners of a white sheet up to the ceiling, but somehow one of the kids pulled the sheet down before "midnight" and the sheet didn't want to stay up after that... so here is everyone trying to re-fill the balloon drop and hold it up at the same time.

Ben and Matt held the sheet until "midnight" at 8pm.  (We watched Australia's New Year's countdown on the laptop.... gotta love the internet!)

Happy New Year!

Of course, the kids LOVED the balloons.  Lots of fun ensued...

And what New Year's celebration would be complete without a sparkling apple juice toast?

All the kids + party hats and balloons.

On New Year's Day I tried something I've never done before.  I made pancakes to spell out 2012 by thinning my pancake batter a bit, then putting it in a zip-top bag and piping the batter out of a snipped corner.  Turned out pretty well, and a simple and fun way to celebrate the beginning of a new year!

And so far, it's been a good one.

PS> Most of the ideas for our party came from my awesome friend Kathryn, so Kathryn, if you're reading this, thanks for being so awesome, for being my friend, and for sharing your ideas!