Green Bluebirds: December 2007

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Merry Birthiversimas!

This was our very first Christmas on our own, and so much fun! Benjamin woke up at about 7 a.m., as usual, but Paul and I had already been awake a little while, partly in anticipation, and partly because I was waking up every half hour to blow my nose, suffering from a cold and a horrible NyQuil-induced sleep. Paul went into his room while I went into the front room with the camera ready to take pictures, but he wouldn't come out of his room. Finally after some coaxing, he came out, bleary-eyed and confused to see what Santa had brought him. It took a few minutes for him to warm up to the excitement, but he had a fun day.

His big presents from Santa included a climber slide thing, a Little People barn and zoo lot, and a soccer ball (which was his clear favorite). He also got nice presents from his grandparents; a Little People Noah's Ark and a green wooden marble track (my dad made this to replicate the one his grandfather made for him when he was a kid that we all still play with when we come over). He loves all his presents though, and has been playing with all of them all week.
For Christmas Eve dinner, I surprised us all with a pretty good ham. I didn't want to buy a huge 5 pound ball of meat, so I bought a ham "steak" with no clue how I was going to prepare it.

Anyways, I ended up pan frying it in butter and maple syrup and it turned out pretty good! We had a nice fancy table setting and sparkling grape juice to go with our meal. It was fun. Then we told Benjamin the condensed Christmas story from Luke and put him to bed. The rest of the evening, we spent setting up Christmas, cleaning up and just relaxing by the fire. Paul was nice enough to scoop a dead bird out of the fire place and build us a nice Christmas Eve fire.
For breakfast, we enjoyed beautiful, fluffy home-made orange rolls, bacon, eggs, grapefruit and orange juice. It was a treat!

Mainly we were spoiled by our parents this year with our presents, but we also got each other some nice things. Santa brought Paul some sweet kicks for Christmas, but there's no way he could like his present as much as I liked mine. Paul surprised me with a "Magic House" year-pass, which I was SO excited about! The Magic House is one of the best-rated family attractions in the U.S and happens to be just 5 minutes down the road from us. Since it costs $7.50 for children AND adults, I've never justified going, but with the pass, it'll pay for itself in less than 4 times. So I call that my ticket to sanity for the winter since it's too cold to go to the zoo or the playground.
On the 28th, we celebrated Paul's 27th Birthday! We had a nice relaxing day together and a plain yellow birthday cake with no frosting, which was what he requested. Paul says he doesn't mind, but he celebrates his anniversary, Christmas and birthday all within 10 days. hence the term we coined for it-his birthiversimas.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our THIRD Anniversary! I just wanted to publicly announce that I love Paul! I feel so blessed to have him in my life forever. He is so sweet and patient with me, and an incredible example of love and service. I'm so proud of him for everything that he's accomplished thus far!
These have been the best three years of my life, without question. So here are a few highlights since we've known each other.

1. A magical night of frisbee in Nottoway Park where we both grew up
2. Two proposals- one in my backyard, the next overlooking a canyon and the back of Timpanogos with the most gorgeous ring I have ever seen
3. A road trip to Oregon and surfing in November
4. One amazing wedding weekend with a reception the night before
5. Christmas in Merida
6. Living in Union Square (we call this the Marshmallow Matey's phase in our life- the little cereal indulgence we often gave into)
7. Camp out in the desert and sledding down the sand dunes
8. Finding out we were pregnant
9. My graduation and art show
10. The five months living with Paul's parents
11. Slot Canyon and Goblin Valley adventures
12. Living in Wymount (we call this the PB & C Crunch phase of our life for the same reason as mentioned above)
13. Having a baby and becoming parents for the first time together
14. Enduring one long, brutal summer of sleepless nights without AC and a newborn together
15. Road trip with Paul's family to California and a trip to the east coast for a beach vacation with my family
16. Paul's graduation/transition into the Master's program
17. Finding the perfect job in St. Louis and knowing that was where we were supposed to be
18. Paul graduating from BYU with his Master's (pending...)
19. Finding our house and moving to Kirkwood, Missouri

And too many more to mention....

Aside from our anniversary, we got a ton of snow this weekend- about six inches! There was probably only about 2 or 3 inches in these pictures, but Benjamin had a good time helping Daddy build a snowman. He likes it when we sing the "Snowman Song" and does the actions, so this was putting it all into real life for him!

Oh, and just this morning, Benjamin started saying "Uh, oh!" for the first time. Cute.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

This and That

Today is Benjamin's 18 month birthday, and for any LDS person with kids that means NURSERY! I have to admit, I'm a little obsessively attached to the kid...maybe even more than he is to me, so this day brought on mixed feelings. I've actually been going to nursery with him these past several weeks because it was either that or the hall (a kid can only sit through only so much "SHHH!!"-ing and "Be reverent!"). So anyways, I thought he was doing pretty well and didn't care whether I was with him or not, and figured just maybe I could just slip out and leave him today. I was just settling into Sunday School with Paul when I heard wailing in the hall that sounded like Benjamin. Sure enough, the nursery leader had brought him to me, and so I went back with him to nursery. For the remaining two hours or so, I was being closely monitored so I couldn't pull another fast one on him. Any advice, mommy veterans?

So we've also had issues with our kitchen sink over the past month or so, and FINALLY got that resolved! I can't even tell you how nice it is to dump leftover soup down the disposal and turn on then water to wash it down. Small thrills, I know. The chain of events went something like this; we bought a new dishwasher to replace the old one, the first guy couldn't install it because he wasn't a plumber, the plumber couldn't install it because he wasn't an electrician, the electrician fixed the electrical, but couldn't install it because he wasn't a plumber, and finally another plumber installed it. Then, we started noticing the sink was backing up, so Paul decided to fix it himself. After plunging elbow deep in bilge water for a half-hour, our garbage disposal fell off the other side, and it's like a hundred years old and apparently was missing the seal, so we couldn't put it back on. So with the pipes taped off, we could still use one side of the sink (which was still clogged) but not the new dishwasher. So Paul bought a sewer snake to try to knock the blockage out himself. Though the elbow grease he put into working that thing was impressive (he worked for hours) he was getting nowhere. So we called a clog specialist, who reinstalled the broken disposal and told us we'd have to go in through the roof, but that we could rent the machine rather than pay someone $270/hour to do it. Ignoring his advice, we bought a drill to give the snake a little more force. Oh, and we replaced the garbage disposal. When the sink was backing up after just seconds of turning on the faucet, we decided it was time to call Roto-Rooter and it's now FIXED! HOORAY FOR WORKING SINKS!

Benjamin gives Daddy "kisses" by pressing his forehead into his cheek.

We got our first Christmas tree this year (it's our fourth married Christmas!) and decorated it with one inherited strand of lights, a bunch of cheap silver and white ornaments leftover from our wedding decor and a few nicer ones we've acquried over the years. But we think it looks beautiful!

This is what Benjamin does when you ask him what a fish says. Kind of a scary picture.

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Noraisms

1/19/14
"Why you like Daddy's germs? Because why do you kiss him on the lips at home?"

6/20/13
Nora randomly asks if she can say a prayer in my presence: "...and bless that Benjamin can get on the school bus and go to school and that we can go to the Butterfly House..."

6/10/13

While Paul was bouncing her around, Nora tooted and sheepishly said, "That's not propriate!"

6/10/13

Mom: Nora, tell Lydia a happy story.

Nora: Unicorns and pink trees!

6/08/13

While Paul was spinning Nora around, she started aggressively rubbing his cheeks and gleefully said, "You a SCRATCHY lil man!"

5/8/13
Observing from her car window a random female adult without any children: "Look, a Mommy! Poor Mommy, she doesn't have a girl."

4/28/13
At my mention of George Washington: "George WASHING MACHINE!?!"

3/27/13
Referring to Lydia's fuzzy newborn head, "Oh, she's so cozy!"

12/21/12
Nora often says, "I can't need that!" when explaining that she doesn't want something as in "No. I can't need broccoli."

12/20/12
Dad: "Nora, do you want me to buckle you in?"
Nora: "Yeah...actually no, Mommy!"

She uses "actually no" surprisingly often. When Dad goes to get her out of her crib in the morning, "Actually No! Mommy!"

Mom: Do you want jam on your toast?
Nora: Yes. Actually, no.

Peter Prattle

6/20/13
"I'm glad Daddy decided to marry you mom....I'm glad that I grew inside your tummy. Because I LOVE being ME!"

6/10/13

Peter: I wish I was a cheetah, because I could eat anything!

Mom: What would you eat?

Peter: EVERYTHING!

5/21/13
Referring to the voice-over narration in the Tale of Despereaux, "I don't like people talking about the movie!"
I think he's his Dad's son.

3/27/13
Referring to Lydia's newborn ears, "Her ears look like ham!"

12/30/12
After spending a few minutes playing with an interactive coloring display at the LA Temple's visitors center, a befuddled Peter asked, "Why does God's home have crayons for us to draw on?"

12/07/12
Dad: "Aaron was Moses's brother."
Peter: "Oh! Just like the 'Aaron' Space Museum!!"

12/03/12
Dad: "Peter, I love who you are; you make me so happy."
Peter: "...and you don't want any more of me."

11/29/12
"I'm not someone who turns bad dreams into good dreams; I'm just a PERSON!"

10/29/12
Mom: If you grow up to be a doctor you can learn how to fix people.
Peter: I just want to be a chef. Actually! I want to be a doctor, a BOY doctor when I grow up because there aren't many BOY doctors in this land.

10/8/12
After Peter read Red Hen six times in half an hour:
Dad: "You can do anything you put your mind to."
Peter: "Like when I'm a chef I could learn how to not get my hands burned?"

8/24/12
"I'm the SWEET-Heart of the Family!"

8/24/12
Playing Scrabble with the boys:
Peter: "s-e-k-x. What's sekx?"
Mom: ?!...
Peter: "What's sekx?"
Mom: "It's whether you're a boy or a girl."
Peter: "Ohhhh. Sekx."

3/7/12

Ben: "Guess what I'm going to ask for for my birthday?"

Me: "What?"

Ben: "An Ipod."

Me: ".....?!"

Peter: "Guess what I'm going to ask for for MY birthday? An escape pod. It's from Star Wars."

3/6/12

Butterflies have butter in them, but we don't eat butterflies."

2/14/12

Peter, who has a cold complained during lunch that his "breath hurt." I'm pretty sure he meant his throat.

1/9/12

After recovering from a dinnertime tantrum, "I have an angry face on my smiley."

11/10/11

Very matter-of-factly, after observing some windblown black and white garbage in a neighbor's yard, "Looks like a penguin is dead."

10/14/11

"I'm just tipping on my toes."

10/13/11

"I'm just raking the inside of my mouth...because I have a bun stuck inside my teeth."

8/10/11

Peter: "Mmmm...this is yummy!"

Me: "You like caramels?"

Peter: "No, car-di-NALS! ...you don't chew on the cardinals or you won't have any teeth, and you'll be a baby and I'll say, 'where's my teeth?'"

8/2/11

After feeling my legs, "Your knees are so scratchy! You better go scratch them."

7/29/11

Peter picked up a pretty rock and exclaimed, "A Julian! I found my own Julian! it's white and black and blue!"

7/18/11

Referring to a dandelion that his cousin found, "She found a dandy land!"

7/15/11

Not wanting to take any pain medication after landing on his head, Peter cried, "I want to have a hurt head!"

5/12/11

Peter: "It's the weekend?"

Dad: "No."

Peter: "It's the work-end?"

4/25/11

Benjamin: "Where's my orange?"

Peter: "In my throat."

4/17/11

Mom: "Pick a Sunday movie. It's Sunday."

Peter: "NO! A COOL movie! Not a nice movie."

4/16/1

After making a mess, "I'm a natural."

4/15/11

"I'm NOT a baby! I'm a JOKE!"

2/23/11

Mom: "Thank you for being the peacemaker, Peter!"

Peter: "No, Coolmaker!"

1/26/11

"I need a towel. NOT the flower one. That'd be gross."

Benjaminisms

3/8/12

Peter, referring to a Jeep: "That car has a wheel on the back of it!"

Benjamin: "That's called a GPS."

1/10/12

"If I ever catch a Leprechaun, I will wish to be an angel or a prophet."

8/8/11

Referring to the Boppy, "Nora's milking pillow is on my bed."

6/5/11

Peter: "I'm going to be an astronaut when I grow up."

Benjamin: "But be careful! An asteroid might come and break your rocket!"

5/1/11

Benjamin recently watched the entire first season of the original Transformers animated series. This morning while piling into the van Benjamin said, "Let's get ready to go IronHive!" thus aptly naming our family transport.

3/4/11

"I don't know why all the days are called tomorrow."

12/13/10

Benjamin, in response to Peter's moaning: "Peter, that freaks me out!"

11/20/10

Someday soon, I'll have hairs in my nose like Daddy...then I won't have to pick it with my finger."

11/12/10

Measuring Nora with a ruler: "Looks like you're one and a forty half. That means you're a little bit big...."

Measuring Peter with a ruler: "Looks like you're one and a fifty half. That means you're a little bit chunky big."

8/23/10

Paul, packing up our suitcase: "Zip it up!"

Benjamin's quick response: "Zip it up, fuzz ball!"

6/6/10

"I can't wait to meet the new baby! Your tummy is getting REALLY big...are there two babies in there?"

5/1/10

Sarah, making a dumb joke: "We're going to feed the koi fish. They're very coy."

Benjamin: "Are they shy?"

2/23/10
"You have to be careful! You don't want to fall and break your leg skeletons!"

12/11/09
"Mmmm! That bagel was so, so, SO plain!" (describing to us just how delicious his plain bagel with plain cream cheese was)

11/2/09
Sarah: "Tell Peter about Santa Clause."
Benjamin, to Peter: "Santa Clause is...he's kind of like a wizard."

10/24/09
"Butter is the new toast."

10/22/09
Benjamin: "Hey Mom! Have you ever heard of penguin squash?"
Sarah: "Nope..."
Benjamin: "That's the squash that penguins eat."

10/13/09
Sarah: "Daddy's not coming home tonight. He's on a business trip."
Benjamin: "Oh! Kind of like Business on Ice?"

10/7/09
Peter: "Bababa...shriek!"
Benjamin: "Peter said 'Gandalf!'"

10/6/09
"I was in my room and I heard the rain, and the thunder was taking some pictures."

9/25/09
Sarah: "Why are you so happy?"
Benjamin: "I'm so happy because I'm excited to be your kid!"

9/24/09
"I just played "Hot Cross Buns" with my mouth!"

8/23/09
"Let me take off my pants so I can shake out all my nickels and diamonds."

8/12/09
After sneezing he called out, "Hey! I just made some bless-shoos!"

8/8/09
"After dinner, I get to have a very special treat...it's called oatmeal!"

6/22/09
"NOOO, Mommy! Don't go outside by yourself. The big, scary bugs might come and take you!"

6/13/09
Paul: "Can I have a bite of your strawberry custard?" Ben: "OK! Oh...you should take smaller bites, Daddy."

5/15/09
"Oh! Rodents are my best buddies!"

5/3/09
"Wake up, Daddy! We don't sleep at church. That's not the place we go to sleep!"

4/29/09
While "huffing and puffing" and blowing on his hot dinner, Benjamin said, "Not by the hair of my chimi-chimi-changa!"

4/28/09
"Mommy, can I marry you in the Salt Lake City Temple?"

4/17/09
While taking off his favorite "Thomas Toy Train" shirt during his bedtime routine, Benjamin assured us he could put it away in the drawer. "It's ok. It's a little bit clean." He was probably right. I'm sure there were clean spots!

4/1/09
Benjamin yelled this from the bathroom: "Sawah! Take that thing off your hair! That's yucky! We don't put things in our hair!"
What I want to know is how did he know? He hates it when I put my hair up, and I had just put it in a clip.

3/11/09
"Might Mommy will fall on you, and you will bleed a lot." Hmmm...not sure where that came from, but apparently I have a lethal mass.

2/26/09
Benjamin refers to himself as "Little Tiger" these days, but this morning he said, "I'm not Little Tiger. I'm Baby Tiger. And Mommy is Mommy Tiger and Daddy is Daddy Tiger, and Peter is a dog."

2/12/09
After clipping Benjamin's fingernails, he said to me, "Now I never scratch Peter again when he cries. Now I never get a time out!"

1/27/09
Paul: "Who's that?" (referring to Abinadai).

Benjamin: "I can't say it. I'm too sick."

Sarah: "Do you need to go potty?"

Benjamin: "No, I already did last week at the library."

1/4/09
As we drove past Salt Lake, I pointed to the city and told Benjamin "That's Salt Lake City." He replied, "No, we only put salt on eggs. Not on buildings and mountains."