Easter Sunday

It's been so long I couldn't figure out where to plug my camera in to download the pictures - I'm just using the excuse it's dark though.

These are of the kids before church.

I need to get out more.

First of all I just learned this cool way to get rid of bugs in the garden and I thought I'd share it: Lay shingles or boards in the garden at night; bugs will hide under them during the day. Collect and destroy hiding bugs first thing in the morning. Crush egg clusters.

Here's a list of 100 things to do and the ones I've done are in green.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (well, almost)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper or Magazine
85. Read the entire Book of Mormon or Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (fish)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (I've driven drunks home so maybe)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Dead Sea
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Most of the things I haven't done from this list involve going places so I guess that's not too weird because every time we plan a vacation we visit family.

That wasn't a word

It's 10:30 here and Alex thought I should come in a blog a conversation I had with alex just.

First, I want to preface the story with how awesome my husband is. I have way more pratice taking the kids to church by myself than Alex but he is a hundred time better at it than I am. He took the kids to their classes, was in and out of the nursery with Chio, tried to make sure alex was behaving, collected them after the meetings, and then sat with them while I had to go to another meeting after church. After this we came home, ate and all of us laid down and fell asleep because as usual after church we are all tired. At 7:10 I woke up looked at the time and freaked out because I was ten minuets late for a fireside. So I threw the house into total chaos (Chio was the one who actually woke us up or I may have slept right through it, and then she was upset because I just ran out the door) and rushed to the fireside.

Anyway, the point of this is that at bedtime alex was wound up and not tired at all. So at 10:30 he was still awake and this was our conversation:

(I'm in red, he's in blue)

alex, if you say one more word I'm going to pick you up and put you in your bed, and you have to go to sleep.

okay

(I give him a look that says, I hope, "what did I just say?")

oo

(waits 2 seconds)

that wasn't a word



Then he resignedly let me take him to his bed.

The Zoo

We went to the zoo and I really didn't get any pictures because the every time I took out the camera the kids wanted to hold it and I was blocking a ton of people.

Muffins

alex wanted to make muffins so they did- all by themselves.

Indispensable Laundry Baskets

I don't know what I would do without my laundry baskets. We've had two laundry baskets since we've been married and I use them for everything. Laundry (obviously): dirty clothes, clean clothes, sorting clothes, folding clothes, etc.; Cleaning: throw everything on the floor in the basket and put it away, empty the car and bring the stuff in, put everything in the shelf in the basket while we wipe it down; Babysitting: "push your sister around", "pretend you're a turtle", "make a train for your stuffed animals"; Packing (they make great suite cases). Now my kids have discovered that they also make a great stool - I guess I should just be grateful they didn't discover this before and hope I can curtail it now so I don't have to buy new baskets all the time.

Making....

Lately alex has been obsessed with making things. Mostly this consists with mixing milk with anything else in an attempt to get soda. However, sometimes he branches out; this picture is "we were making strawberries". Do you ever wonder if the things your kids do are premeditated or on being caught they just say the first excuse that pops into their head?

March 28th

I still haven't gone out and bought a calender for this year- so what I do is write the important dates on pieces of paper and then tape them to the wall where we kept the calender last year...very technical and non-cluttery I know. Today I get home and tell my husband about some plans I've made for us and he says, "Oh yeah, we're going fishing with --------- not this Saturday or next but the one after that." So I look at the computer to get the date -it's March 28th which is the Young Women Broadcast so I start saying I can't believe you planned something for that day, don't you even check with my calender, blah, blah, blah.

The sad thing is because I have no actual calender on the wall reminding me of important dates I forget things I'm not actually supposed to attend for example: March 28th is my anniversary- that fact had no part in my arguments. Alex had a great time pointing this out.

Dinner and a Movie

Dinner and a movie used to mean something entirely different, but not as cute.

Dinner (including salad and.....dressing)

What's for Dinner?

Life would be boring (and clean) without condiments.

Breakfast (french toast and ....syrup)

Lunch (Chicken nuggets and .......BBQ sauce)

Do You Know What That Means?

Sometimes I'm talking to alex and I realize that he has no idea what I mean. He just doesn't know some words (curb, third, inflate) so I frequently ask him to repeat or explain what I told him to make sure he understands. It makes life a lot more fun when you understand it from the view point of a three year old; but sometimes it can be a real bummer.

"It's time for you to go to bed I'm not going to read that book to you until tomorrow."

"Please, I need you to."

"No, not until tomorrow, do you know what that means?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"No."

When I think about it I guess that sometimes tomorrow does mean "no"...just like "maybe" or "I'll think about it" - I wonder when I became a mom?

We're having more kids, just not yet. That post was called no more babies because Chio isn't a baby any more.

alex

This post was dictated by alex.

"I'm happy."

"C r t c h i e" [he spelled the word he wanted me to write on this picture.]

"I'm handsome."


azx.

"I'm reading Chio a book."

"I'm using the broom as a camera"

"I'm going like this."

"When I snap you can't see me."

"Whoa."

[Sorry part of this video is sideways, Alex loves to take hidden videos of alex.]

No More Babies

Sorry, this is another one of those posts that only a grandma can love.
All the pictures of Chio from the last upload.



Don't you think this candy brings out her eyes?


This one doesn't even look like Chio to me.



Playing with the yo-yo. Thanks Grandma.


Dinner with dad...I wonder why I spend so much time scrubbing my carpets.


As you may have noticed, Chio likes to wear her hat all the time.

Out with the old.

And this is Chio eating taco meat; I think she ate double what I ate.

Hotwheel Soup

I made a big pot of chicken noodle soup and alex liked this batch more than any other I've made. The reason? I put in regular egg noodles (the hot wheel track) and mini wheels (duh- wheels) as noodles.

Beacuse I don't blog

Look at my mother's blog. Here are some pictures of my kids from the trip we just took. I didn't bring my camera so thanks mom for taking pictures.

Dasie's Birthday (also my first experience with wii-we had a blast)

and

Making a Snowman (after this alex thought grandpa was WAY cooler than me because he went out and built a snowman but two days earlier when I went out to do the same thing it was so powdery we couldn't even make a snow ball- even when I took my gloves off to melt the snow a little)

Dressed

alex picked out and (mostly) put on all the clothes for Chio and him. I think my favorite are Chio's socks.

Hairstyle

alex was having his friend A (a girl from church) come over so he wanted me to brush his hair for him. My instructions were, "I want it up, up, up, up."

New Years 2008

I wasn't supposed to be home for New Years Eve because I was going to a dance (that I decorated for ALL DAY - I never want to see another balloon drop as long as I live). I came home from decorating just in time to throw on some new clothes and make it to the church to pick up the youth. When I got there some of the kids that were going decided that they were going to stay home instead (it took us awhile to get a hold of everybody to make sure they weren't really coming). After all was said and done everyone at the church would fit if I didn't drive down so I went home to celebrate with my family. At 7 pm. They're little. Clinking the glasses was the best part I think.

I still went to the dance because I needed to take people home and it ended up that my stupid balloon drop didn't work. I think that the kids had more fun getting the balloons out than if the balloons would have fallen as they were intended to though.

Grandma Outfit

Grandma Diana got Chio this blue turtleneck and Grandma Karen got Chio this skirt. I thought it was funny how perfect they went together. Chio also loves wearing it because I put the squash blossom necklace on with it; it's perfect.

Christmas 2008

We had an amazing Christmas this year. It's the first year I was woken up by excited yelling. The living room was blocked off (or so I thought) but alex came into my room yelling, "Santa came Santa came." He had to climb over the recliner with other chairs and things piled on top of it; I'm thinking next year we won't even bother trying to block it, it will be safer.

Christmas Cookies

After this chio started helping so I couldn't be the cameraman any more. alex is getting very proficient at making cookies. I wonder when he'll be able to do it all by himself?

Singing in Sacrament Meeting

Okay, I figure that anything I write will be better than nothing at this point right? alex went up to sing in sacrament meeting for the first time ever with the primary today and it was so much fun for me! When all the kids started up alex didn't seem interested so I wasn't going to make him go; then he saw that his friend Kate was going up so he just had to. I saw his head for the first line of the first song and he was just pretending to sing (or maybe singing crazy words like he usually does) and then he was blocked from view. After the third song he decided he had enough and started to just walk back down to us while every one else was still singing (luckily everyone else was done before he got down the stairs). When I asked him why he went down early he said, "There were too many people." THE END.