A WEEK OFF!

Rob has a week off, a week off, a week off! Rob has a week off! La La La La La! Night all!

BUCKET-HEAD BABY

I'm not sure if Jonathon was picking out his Halloween Costume or checking out what it would feel like to play a sport or have a career with a helmet but he sure looks adorable! Think I will keep him!

LOOK WHAT UPS BROUGHT ME TODAY!

A Carly-in-a-box! Yay!

SO, IT TURNS OUT . . .

I drove about an hour from home today to go to a doctor's appointment and then have lunch with a good friend. Then I headed toward home and planned to meet my parents at a doctor appointment for my Dad. I went straight to where I knew the doctor's office should be (I had been there with my parents a few times before.) and could not find it! I drove around and kept looking thinking I'd made a simple mistake of a street or so. Still, no luck. Finally, I called my mom on her cell phone and got the address. I started climbing my way there. Guess what? It wasn't at that address! True enough. I checked it twice, thrice--drove to the other end of the street just in case I'd mixed up my North and South--(trust me folks, it happens.) Still, no doctor's office.

What in the Sam Hill?! I had already put the address in my GPS and it took me to the non-existent doctor's office address. I was at a loss. I finally tracked down the number for the doctor's office and asked for directions. So far, it sounded like I was on the right track. Yes, I was on Main Street. In what? Uh oh? I remember that, now that you say it . . .

So, it turns out that even a GPS (global positioning system) can't help you if you put the wrong town in the address field. Yep, it's true. I always get the wrong town for this doctor. It's just a few miles North of the one I went to. Ooops! Hate it when that happens. Me and my dad-gummed non-existent sense of direction anyway!
:}

WHAT A DAY!

Thank goodness for good neighbors and friends or I never would have made it through Church today. Julie, the babies and I were batching it since Rob had to work. So after Sacrament meeting I took Carly to nursery but she threw a tantrum and wouldn't stay. (All of the sudden she is shy after going for almost an entire year with no problem? Go figure!) So, I sent Julie on to her class and took Carly and Jonathon to my adult Sunday School class with the help of my friend Robin. She has a one year old baby herself!

Anyway, Robin's husband is holding Jonathon, Robin has her baby-Ellie and I have Carly. Carly is not happy. Church happens right in the middle of her nap time as it is and then to have to sit in adult Sunday School -- well, you can imagine--tantrum city! I decide to take Carly home and put her down for a nap knowing Grandma and Grandpa will be there. Robin and her husband watch Jon while I run Carly home and get her down. I get back in time for the very end of Sunday School and the last meeting. Jon decides to be rather loud, but happy (still disruptive) during the last meeting. I decide, "Oh well, he isn't the first baby they've ever seen. I give up." I came home, put him down for a nap and collapsed!

I like it much better when Daddy comes with us! :)

STEP BY STEP

Jonathon walked his first steps last night--eleven months to the day he was born. (I say last night because it's 12:27 a.m. Sunday morning as I write this.) He did it so quickly I nearly missed them. He's only doing 2-4 steps at a time but it's a pretty big deal around here. We tried getting him to do it yesterday and he was still holding onto our hands but he kept turning his feet funny after a few steps so I really thought it was going to be awhile before he got the hang of it. But, he apparently only does that when he's hanging onto us. He can be pretty flat footed on his own! Smart boy! Lol!

Uh oh! Mommy's in trouble! She's got two toddlers! :}

DADDY AND JON AT THE POOL

Jon actually went swimming for a few minutes with his sisters, Daddy didn't. Jon didn't really love it so much. But here he is just hanging out with Dad. He's still thinking over his pool experience. Cute little son of a gun, isn't he? Love these boys, I do!

LEARNING AT MY SISTER'S KNEE

Or something like that! Lol!

TIME OUT

Today, I took Julie to register for school. Eleventh grade. Junior. Wow. It's hitting me. She's really, really growing up. I DON'T LIKE IT. I think I've mentioned this before. Seems like I just got her yesterday. Her dad isn't having near as hard a time with this. He got her as a baby. I didn't. I think that makes it easier for him. I'm forcing myself to come along but it isn't easy.

Carly is big into the word "NO" right now and thus, she is learning all about "time outs!" She doesn't like the time outs at all but she hasn't decided to stop telling Mommy and Daddy "NO" about everything yet. I think it will sink in soon. Hopefully anyway. :}

We had a five minute thunderstorm that was really wild today. It had lightning and hail and everything. It came out of nowhere and Julie and I got caught in it. We made a run for it and got drenched. It was coming down so hard we just sat in the car and waited until it passed to even drive. We need the moisture but it would be nice if it would come in slower, calmer rains. Oh well. We survived and even dried.

Well, that's all the news for the day. Have a good one. N.

ANOTHER DAY

Jonathon had a much better day today. He seemed to be feeling lots better. He is getting around so well now. He one hands it around the couches and tables and can go pretty much everywhere he wants to these days.

We were all at the dinner table tonight and had just finished eating. Rob got up to leave and Jonathon had a fit when Rob didn't take him with him. So Rob turned around and started talking to him and Jonathon talked back in his own language. Rob would tilt his head to one side and say something to him and Jonathon would do the same. Rob would tilt his head the other way and Jonathon would follow suit. Finally, Rob came back to the table and picked him up. Jonathon was all smiles! He sure loves his daddy!

Being on this EAT TO LIVE diet the last little while I have been eating a lot of vegetables. I've especially enjoyed steaming zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower and other similar veggies. Carly hasn't wanted much to do with them but Jonathon goes nuts if I don't give him bites of the broccoli and cauliflower. He loves them. It surprises me that my baby loves these veggies especially but I'm glad!

I finally got over to my gym today and worked my buns off (hopefully)! At least I tried to. Things have either been so busy that I haven't had the time to or I simply haven't had the energy to.

Mom and Dad went to a family funeral here in town today. It was really sad. We only met this family member a few weeks ago even though we've been communicating by email for a few years. Then a week after we met she suddenly had a stroke. I guess the blessing in it is that she didn't linger for a long time. We just feel really sad for her family and friends and pray the Lord will give them comfort. God bless you Maralee.

BUBBY'S VERY BAD, YUCKY DAY

Sorry I didn't post last night. We went to a funeral in another city and were staying in a hotel there. We had stopped to eat and were almost finished when Jonathon started vomiting. Poor little guy! Everytime we thought he was finished and started heading out the door with him he would vomit again. He was so sick and it just came on all of a sudden, too. I don't think he missed getting any of us when he spued and it happened six or seven times before he was finished. We felt so awful for him.

We thought he might have gotten some food poisioning because he seemed fine before he started vomiting and was fine most of today, too. But he got feverish again tonight so now we don't know whether it's just a little touch of the flu or what's really going on. So far, Carly is fine. We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that she stays fine--along with everyone else.

Well, we finally got him to sleep tonight with the help of tylenol. So guess Mommy will go grab some herself. Nighty night!

MY TWO AND A HALF YEAR OLD IS A DIVA

Oh my goodness! Talk about high maintenance! Lol! I bought Carly a cute pair of sandals the other day. Brought them home to her and she loved them. She wore them for a few minutes and they rubbed her ankles wrong so we needed to return them. I decided I had to have her with me to return them and get the right size since these ones were half a size bigger than the ones she currently wears and still didn't fit right. I had an idea this might be a mistake. It was!

Megan and I took her to Target and found her size section in the shoe department. We started suggesting shoes to her we liked for her. I had something specific in mind. She didn't like it and let it be known immediately. (Now if I had just brought it home to her she would have loved it!) Anyway, she didn't want anything to do with the ones I was choosing and I hadn't thought to clue Megan into my plan. Darn. So, we tried on a pair of shoes they both liked and that was it! She was sold. I tried to get her to try on some others and nothin' doin!"
She would pull her feet away or move when we tried to put other shoes on them. I had to promise I would buy the white and blue (ick!) tinkerbelle sandals no matter what before she would try on any other pairs! Wouldn't you know it--none of the other ones fit. Now I am stuck with the tinkerbelle shoes that don't match the outfits I was trying to match. But, my little diva is happy. It's all good. :)

YAY FOR SINGLE MOMS WHO MAKE IT WORK!

I applaud all the single mothers in the world. I don't know how they do it but I think they are truly amazing! I've been without Rob and Julie for several days this week (and I've even had Grandma and Grandpa as back up) and it's been really hard to keep up with my toddlers, the housewor and my life. Hmmm. Maybe I'm just a wimp?!

Rob was gone overnight again last night after being in Denver for two days earlier this week so I am really, really behind and overtired to boot. Thank goodness our terrific daughter Megan came over for a few hours today and let me take a nap! I love you, Megan!

Rob is home now and all is well. He even insisted on cooking tonight. Wendy's was great! Hah! Perfect and no dishes! On to tomorrow! lol!

MY BIG, FAT RUN AROUND DAY!

Wow, I feel like all I did was run today and not get much accomplished. Jonathon had an appointment with his breathing specialist, who in realisty is an Allergist. We don't know yet whether he has any allergies or asthma because they can't accurately test him until he's at least eighteen months old. Although, the doc does think he's improving. When I asked what he thinks he has he called it "reactive airways." He said that's a general category but about the best he can do until he's old enough to narrow it down. He did cut down his meds today so that is a positive step.

As soon as I got back from his appointment, I put him down for a nap and picked up Carly and we ran to BYU and took Julie her new contact. Plus, I'd gotten a call from her EFY counselor that she wasn't feeling too well so we also took her some medication. That was about 4 hours round trip with traffic. There were several accidents on the way and way back.

Got home, took care of the kids till bedtime, put them down and then realized I hadn't returned Julie's library books that were due today. So, with everyone else in the house asleep, I tiptoed out and ran the library books back, mailed a bill and came back home. Then, I did the dishes. Blah. I'm exhausted. I think it's true--a woman's work is never done!

By the way, Julie is having a blast! Yay! :) More later.

HUBBY'S BACK! YAY!

After two days of single parenting it, I am SO grateful to have my hubby back tonight. I just hate having him gone! I always know it's necessary but I count the seconds until he returns. He had a training conference to go to so he had flown to Denver for a couple of days. I was really happy to see his face when he walked in the door tonight!

I am now into my second week on this EAT TO LIVE diet. I am actually not doing bad on it. I don't know that I have ever stayed on a diet more faithfully. I'm really not craving anything or feeling like binging; it's just a little boring to eat mostly fruits and veggies all the time. I'm hoping I will get to my goal by the end of this week and can just kind of taper off. I did walk 5 miles today on my treadmill and do a few other exercises. I haven't found much time for exercising lately but I just forced it into my day today. Trust me, A TON of things had to give to get it in there. But I needed it so bad! I feel so much better now that I've "moved" my body a little.

I've got Jonathon's appointment with his breathing specialist tomorrow. It's his three month check up. I'm hoping he can tell us something about how he's doing. That would be nice.

Well, not much else going on. Better get to bed. Night all.

JULIE'S BIG ADVENTURE

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS . . . OH MY . . .

Well, I dropped Julie off at BYU for her first EFY today. Sorry if it sounds like I am speaking in tongues. Let me clarify. Julie is my 16 year old, BYU is a university and EFY stands for a program called Especially for Youth. For lack of a better way to explain it; it's similar to a large "bible school camp" for teenagers. They spend a week studying gospel principles and having fun, spiritually uplifting and friendship buiding activities.

I hope she makes TONS of new friends. Good luck Sweety. I love you, Mommy

SMOOTHIE BOY

Julie and I were having smoothies the other day when Jonathon decided he wanted a drink of hers. No chance! She wasn't giving him a drop. I told her I thought that was kind of selfish and said "Come on, how much can a baby drink anyway?" And I was serious. So I put him on my lap and gave him a tiny sip. After all a couple of days before Carly had wanted some and I made her a small sippy of smoothier and she hardly touched it.

So, anyway, after Jonathon's sip his entire face lit up like a flash cube (for those of you old enough to remember those!) He reached for my cup and pulled it toward him. I thought, "What the heck" and gave him another sip. Well, it wasn't a sip; it was a sustained drink. Oh no! What have I done. Now, I don't mind sharing my smoothie with my precious boy; I just worry about the present he is going to leave for me in a few hours. Yikes. Still, he loves it so much and now pulls at my cup even harder and whines. Decisions, decisions. I gave in and let him have more. One sip for mommy, one long chug for Jonathon. Oh my! Julie ran to grab the camera. I'm guessing he drank about 1/4 of my smoothie. And yup, a few hours later there was an explosion in his diaper. Oh, but I wasn't home at the time. Oops! But Julie--who laughed and encouraged Mommy the hardest--told me ALL about it! Lol!

WHO MADE-UH THE SALAD?

Check out this beautiful salad! Ain't it gorgeous? Julie and I put it together this morning. It's filled with yummy fruits and vegetables and we didn't get to eat a single bite of it. Doesn't it make you want one, though? You should eat a salad today. We're going to. We took this one to a funeral luncheon so now we need to make our own. Thinking yummy thoughts! You do it too!

MY ADORABLE, TIRED BABY BOY

Jonathon fell asleep in his walker today before I could lay him in his crib. So sweet!

I MISS YOU MATTHEW!

I've never been one for dyeing my hair a lot. I've always liked my natural haircolor. But then those nasty grays start to show up. When I was single and working and they were fewer I let my hair stylist (Matthew--he's darn good) play around with demi-color. He would put blonde color on my dark hair and it actually lightened it just a touch to give it some nice highlights and covered the few grays that showed up.

When I got married and quit working I decided to be more frugal and stopped worrying about hair dye and all. It wasn't overly necessary and you can do those little rinses once in while that are just wash out with each shampoo if you really want to. All of this sudden, I see a lot of gray, all the time. I decided I had to do something hard core. But with 3 kids still at home I want to still be frugal. So, I got an off the shelf, name brand and I picked something that looked good. I picked Blonde. I did it myself. NO Problem. OK Problem. It gave nice higlights--lightened a little. Did not touch the grays. Darn.

6 Weeks Later

I pick another name brand. This time I go with something closer to my color but I don't want to be some bland "brown". I pick brown with medium red highlights. Sounds good to me. BTW. I hate the fake looking red hair color. Anyway, I put it on, rinse it out, dry it. OH MY GOODNESS! I have dark brown, BRIGHT RED HIGHLIGHTS. Durn! You know I mean worse than that, right?!

MATTHEW, I MISS YOU! Then, I look at my sweet 10 month old and my whiny 2 year old and I remember I would much rather keep trying to find the right box of hair dye and keep staying at home watching Gabba Gabba and Dora with my babies than working and being able to have my monthly hair appointment. No offense Matthew but they give me the best huggins and I love being at home every day with them even if I do look like I dipped my head in red KoolAid. Lol!

LONG DAY

Grandma and Grandpa started out early today. They took off for their vehicle dealership to have something fixed. I expected them back within an hour or two and we kept waiting and waiting and waiting. It was nearly 3:00 pm before we saw them. Pretty bad when they left here at 9:30 a.m. . I think they got the problem solved but apparently they waited in the waiting room for nearly four hours! Mom said the chairs were really comfortable for the first hour. YeGads! I told her she should have called me and I would have come and picked them up but she said they were fine. I would have gone stir crazy.

Julie and I have been on the "Eat to Live" diet for two days now. It's pretty strict but you are supposed to lose weight quickly. It's actually not supposed to be a diet but a way of life. After 6 weeks you add a few more foods in. Gotta tell ya. I'm not in it for the "Way of Life." I actually had promised myself never to "diet" again but I think there is something to this getting to a certain age and your body starts not to behave. So, I'm having to be a little drastic with it for a week or two to get some results. I only want to lose 1o or 12 lbs and I used to be able to just cut down and exercise more but that's not working for me very well. It's bugging me. In fact the whole gaining 10-12 lbs thing bugs me in the first place. Let's just say I'm Bugged! Basically- Julie and I are eating mostly fruits and veggies for the next little bit. It can get a bit boring but so far so good. It just makes for a really long day.

Now, if I only had enough energy to exercise. They tell me I will get that the second week. Hopefully, I will last that long! :}

EZGO GEEZER PATROL--WE MISS YOU CHARLIE!

Johnny Carson and Charlie Brown

PARADE PICS!

Exciting things to see at the Independence Day Parade--Carly's first!

Daddy and Bubby got to see the parade but mostly just got hot!

Carly got a balloon and lots of candy!

Jonathon conked out near the end of the parade!

Grandpa got lots of phone calls from friends and family today! So nice of you to remember him! We had lots of food and a scrumptious banana pudding pie for dessert. Yummy!

Also spent the day cleaning the carpet and getting ready to get a little new furniture tomorrow. Nothing big but just nice to clean things every once in a while! So tired and ready for some sleep. Think there were some fireworks somewhere for Grandpa's big finale--but pretty sure we missed them. Lol!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

It's after midnight here, so it's officially Johnny Carson's birthday! Happy Birthday Dad. I love you!

Tonight we watched The Music Man (the original version). My kids had never seen it. What a great movie. So much fun.

Tonight at dinner I had Carly bless the food. I was helping her with what to say. I started whispering in her ear and so she started whispering the blessing. Hmmm. Wrong tactic. So, I start talking really low in her ear and she starts repeating after me. Here's our prayer:

"Dear Heavenly Father=Dear Heavenly Father. Thank you for this day=Thank you for this FOOD!" Wait, that's not what I said. Some little girl is hungry. Skip to the end. In Jesus name amen=Jesus name AMEN!

Two, what an age! So cute . . .

AND SO IT BEGINS . . . GRANDPA'S BIRTHDAY BASH!

All the kids and most of the Grandkids came today to begin this traditional 2 to 3 day celebration of Grandpa's birthday! I think his Mom told him when he was a kid that Uncle Sam was throwing a party for his birthday on July 4th even though he was born on the 5th and our multi-day event has been a tradition ever since! We had a great day! Had lunch together, opened gifts, ate cake, laughed and sang--what more can you ask for?!

Hey, if you haven't had the chance to celbrate this years' birthday with Grandpa--it's not too late! There are still at least two days left. Just write, call or stop on by! The kitchen's always open! LOL! He would love to hear from you!

P.S. Nice Decor Sally and Seth, Funny-Funny Card Uncle White Sox and Auntie Kaye--I'm still laughing!

-

WE DO LOVE OUR BUBBLES!

NOW ALL WE'RE MISSING IS A RUBBER DUCKY!

LIKE FATHER; LIKE SON

This was so cute tonight. Rob was working on something electronic and Jonathon just crawled right over and wanted to start helping. Rob wasn't exactly excited for his help but it sure made for a cute picture. Lol!