Haricuts for the New Year!

Turner's first hair cut of his life was quite the adventure.

We actually started out okay.

The cape was on and he was good with that.

She even got in a couple of snips. But then. . .

The crying and whaling and gnashing of gums began.

Whew! That was rough!

But don't we look cute now?

So the curls are gone for the time being, but the hair has been evened out and tamed. And the curls will come back if they are ment to be.

Hayden on the other hand did great and went from Shaggy to close and spikey.

What a handsome devil!

I only need one Mom!

Today while taking Hayden and Turner to daycare, Hayden was asking me questions about when he was small and how he grew and if Turner was going to grow as big as he was. I explained to him that Turner would grow and someday they would be about the same size, but that Hayden would always be Turner's big brother. We continued to talk about when he got big and he kept asking if he would still be the big brother. So I told him, even when you are as tall as daddy and have a wife you will still be Turner's big brother. Hayden said to me, "I don't need a wife. All I need is one mom."

I had to wipe the tears from my eyes.

Favorite Things about Christmas

Is there anything better than sitting by the Christmas tree with its lights on and a fire buring in the fireplace? This is one of the many things I love about the Christmas season.

Another is all of the wonderful cards we get from friends and family all over the world. I love to read brag letters at Christmas time. I personally don't include them in my cards, but I get all excited when they come. I also love to see pictures.

I've tried to include a picture of Hayden in each of my Christmas cards since he was been born. This year there were three pictures of each of the boys. A bit much I know, but they were small and I couldn't pick one picture that was just perfect and the combination allowed people to see their personalities. Each year I try to make our Christmas cards, and this drives Dave crazy, because of all the time and expense. It really would be cheaper just to buy the cards, but I love designing and making the cards myself. Some years I just don't have the time or inclination and I will buy the cards, but most of the time I make them one by one. Just another one of the joys of Christmas.

Christmas Morning 2009

Well Santa sure didn't miss our house this year. We asked him to cut back, but apparently we were just too good. We had a great time opening presents and seeing the surprise on Hayden's face. Turner was asleep for most of the paper ripping. You would think we were picture taking fools because Dave, Hayden and I all got camera's from Santa. We will definitely put them to good use.

In addition to the camera and the crazy dinosaur that is eating Hayden in the picture below, he got a fishing pole, so he and Dave can go fishing this summer, a Handi Manni (Hayden calls him Handi Mandi) motorcycle toy with a flashlight named Flicker which he repeats incessantly in Spanish (Flicker not Hayden).

a Lil' Helper tool kit with a hard hat, tools and a tool belt, below he is wearing the hard hat while it is still in the packaging.

and a Super Hero in a box, complete with mask, cape and wrist bands.

And to much other stuff to even remember. And according to him it is all, just what he wanted, I guess Santa must have been listening really well.

Turner did eventually wake up and we let him open his presents. Of course as with most babies who are seven months old the paper was the biggest hit.

He got one toy he really liked it makes lots of noise and has bright lights. He can use it to pull himself up to a standing position and eventually to balance as he walks.

Even the dog made out like a bandit.

All in all it was a good day. We did miss out on our family tradition of going out for Mexican Food on Christmas Eve because Dave's throat was not healed from the surgery. We still got to be with each other, we got to read the Christmas story from the scriptures and we got to enjoy some of our other traditions like scones for breakfast.

Damn Dog!

A couple of years ago I bought some Christmas stockings for the family with our names embroidered across the top. I was planning on buying a new one to match for Turner this year but alas they don’t make the same style of stocking anymore. So I looked around for a new stocking but couldn’t find any that I liked. I figured it wasn’t a big deal and Turner is only seven months old and probably doesn’t care he didn’t get a matching stocking this year. Hayden on the other hand has learned to read his name and was all over the fact that he had his own stocking with his name on it. I figured I would keep looking and by next year I would find and buy new matching stockings for the whole family with our names on them.

So I come home from work the other day to find one of the stockings in the middle of the family room floor with the toe chewed out of it by the damn dog. All I kept thinking in my mind is please let it be Dave’s or mine and no big deal (we’re getting new ones next year, right.) I am not that lucky. The damn dog has three stockings to choose from, two of which if she chewed the toe out of would be no big deal, and one of which if she chews the toe out of is a major event. And so which ones does she pick? Of course she chews the toe out of Hayden’s stocking. The one he is so proud of because it has his name on it. Damn dog!

Luckily Hayden was to excited about what went into the stocking and didn’t really noticed the hole.

Christmas Card 2009

This is the Christmas card we sent out to friends and family this year. It was a fun card to make and I love how it shows the boys with different expressions. I did go a bit over board, and the cards ended up being a bit heavy so I had to add 17¢ postage to each card. David always says it would be cheaper to buy the cards, and after all the supplies, time and extra postage he is definitely right, but it wouldn't be near as fun or as personal.

I even took the pictures all myself. I got a couple of santa type hats from Hobby Lobby (one of my most favorite stores) stuck up a white sheet for the back ground and snapped away.

Tonsils

Dave had to go in for surgery to remove his tonsils and part of his soft pallet. The doctor said his tonsils were about three times bigger than the average persons and they were a major part of his sleep apnea problem. They also said a tonsillectomy on an older person such as Dave was a hard surgery to recover from. Poor Dave!

While talking to my mom about a week before the surgery, I was expressing my concerns about getting Dave to the hospital at six in the morning and getting the boys to daycare which didn’t open until after six in the morning. And of course the hospital and daycare are not conveniently located next to each other. So I moaned and groaned about this to my mom. I knew I could call on people from the ward to help, but I am just to independent for that and would rather relay on myself than on someone else. So anyway later that same day of moaning and groaning my sweet mother calls me back and asks if I can pick her up at the airport on Thursday (the day before the surgery) at about six in the evening. What an incredible women. I figured I would drop Dave off at the hospital, take the boys back to daycare and then go back to the hospital, but because of my incredible mom I didn’t have to worry about it at all. My boys were taken care of and I could be with Dave.

All in all it has worked out well. I got to make sure Dave was taken care of, I got my last minute Christmas shopping done, I got to spend time with my mommy and there was no running around like a crazy person on my part which is always appreciated. I even got to go on a dinner and movie date with my sweet four year old. Thanks mom! Have I mentioned what a lucky girl I am!

Tackiness Personified

There are no words, but tackiness taken to a whole new level.

The Chute.

Where to start there has been so much. So I will go back to Thanksgiving. We were so lucky to have my parents come and spend the week with us. It started kind of rough as Turner wasn’t real excited to see my parents and cried all the way home from the airport. But he soon learned that they were the softies and warmed right up to them. Whenever they come, I try to have a project or two for my dad to work on around the house as he doesn’t do well when he is sitting idle. Back in May he tiled the shower and many other things. This time he installed the bathroom fan with light and heater in the same bathroom. Now it is just a matter of ripping out the old vanity, tiling the floor and buying a new vanity, vanity top and mirror.

One of the things I have been wanting for a very long time is a laundry chute. We were helping some friends move awhile back and they had one in their bathroom and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The only problem was it was very skinny and you couldn’t put much down it, especially towels. Now we had a laundry hamper, but sometimes it was just easier to open the basement door and throw the clothes or dirty items down the stairs. This worked well until you actually had to go down stairs and you took your life into your hands trying to get past the pile at the bottom. So anyway I’ve wanted a laundry chute for a long long time. My dad being the ingenious person he is looked at several possibilities in my closet, Dave’s closet and other places, but we just couldn’t find a good spot to put this silly thing. Finally we found the perfect spot in my linen closet and my amazing dad built me a laundry chute for Thanksgiving. It is the coolest thing ever and I absolutely love it. No more expeditions down the stairs over piles of dirty clothes. And the chute goes straight into my laundry room, how convenient is that? He was worried about the kids falling in so there is even a lid. What an amazing dad I have, I think I may just be the luckiest girl in the world.

Walgreen's Drive Thru - a toy with that medicine

Yesterday I had both boys with me in the car and it was the end of a long day of work, doctors, swimming and running around. Dave was at school and I needed to fill a prescription for Turner, turns out he has a double ear infection. So not wanting to get out of the car and take the boys into Target our pharmacy of choice, I decided to do the Walgreen’s drive thru. The pharmacy people use a phone handset to talk to you through the glass. Hayden was quite fascinated with this and kept asking me questions about who I was talking to and how it worked. He stopped asking questions and got real quite and then came out with my favorite line for the day, “Mom, can you ask her if she can get me a toy from the store.” It was such as sweet and innocent questions and just made me laugh. It also made me realize he is a tad bit on the spoiled side when he thinks he needs a toy from the store even when we don’t go inside.

Happy Side Note

I love Dr. Pepper. It just makes me happy and sometimes makes all my woes go away. I love Dr. Pepper and I'm sure heaven has a soda foutain with Dr. Pepper.

Negative People

Negative people drive me nuts. I’m okay with being down once in awhile and a little complaining is normal. But out and out right negativity I just can’t handle. I say this because of a person I work with. I have worked with this individual for about five years now. For the most part as Special Agents we work fairly independently on our own cases and occasionally get assistance from the support staff or other agents as needed. I’ve always known this individual had a negative streak, but in my current position I have had the opportunity to see just how deep and wide this streak is. For the last several months I have been the Acting Supervisory Special Agent in my office while they are trying to find a permanent person for the job. The opportunity has allowed me to expand my horizons and see if management is right for me. As such I have been working with this individual not as a contemporary, but as a boss.

There is a phrase I like to use with Dave to help him keep an open mind about things when he gets on a negative kick and can’t see any way to overcome a situation. It goes something like, “Why don’t you just slam that door shut,” meaning your right it is hopeless lets not even try. It is my sarcastic way of getting him to look at other options and see that just because one door closes doesn’t mean there isn’t another opportunity (door or even window) he can choose.

I have heard in the past about how management has tried to extend a hand to help this negative individual advance their career, only to throw their hands up in the air in frustration. I thought I would be able to get through to them because of prior dealings we've had with each other, so the other day I had to have what is called a Workload review with this negative person and when it was done, I just wanted to cry. Despite the smile on their face every word that came out of this persons mouth was nothing but negative and every action or suggestions was taken as a personal affront. It was so draining. I just can’t even imagine how this person functions in daily life being so negative. Not only do they slam shut any door of opportunity; they are dead bolting it and throwing away the key.

So I guess the lesson to learn is how not to be and that not everything is a personal affront. And most of the time the hand that is reaching out is not there to slap you down but to lift you up so be careful before you take a bite out of it. And as for this hand it won’t be extended in their direction again.

Televisions - A love hate thing.

I've been thinking about the television a lot lately. Probably because it seems to be on at my house all the time, I go to sleep with the TV on and I wake up with the TV on. Sometimes all three of our TV's are on at the same time even when no one is watching them. I'm not necessarily proud of this fact. It's not that I love the TV so much, I actually am ambivalent towards the TV. When I am cleaning the house (I know a rarity) I prefer either the radio or nothing. I do enjoy the occasional television show and now that we have the AT&T U verse and can record up to four shows at one time, I watch way more TV than I otherwise would. I don’t actually ever watch anything when it is being broadcast, everything I watch has been recorded so I can watch it when I want and fast forward through the commercials.

But my problem comes in with my sweet husband. See as a child he wasn’t allowed to watch the TV so now as an adult I think he is trying to make up for this deprivation in his early years. So as I said he likes to watch before he goes to bed and once he steps out of the shower the TV comes on. I try not to harp to much, but there does come a point when I have to say enough is enough, especially when it is effecting my piece of mind. Dave does recognize that sometimes the TV is to much for me to handle with everything else going on and he will turn it off. But sometimes I feel like I am competing with the TV for his attention. This bothers me.

We have several shows we watch together like the CSI’s, Criminal Minds, NCIS’s, Castle, Cold Case, Three Rivers, Trauma, White Collar and Lie to Me to name a few. Then Dave has his shows from either the Food Network or the Syfy channel. And I have mine Gossip Girl, Glee, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife, Ace of Cakes, 18 Kids and Counting, The Cake Boss and Nip/Tuck. Nip/Tuck is one I just can’t stop watching because the people are so dysfunctional and it is so far outside the realm of my life and my values it scares and fascinates me.
Anyway there are a couple of shows I have asked Dave not to ever have on in our home just because I really don’t like them. These include off the top of my head Family Guy, American Dad and Married with Children. I just find nothing redeeming about these shows, and not only that I feel they detract from the home environment.

I honestly believe if it wasn’t for Dave I wouldn’t have cable (satellite) television. I’m thinking it might not be a bad idea to get rid of it, but I don’t want to deprive Dave any more than he already has been.

Just my general thoughts.

Halloween

So Halloween has come and gone again. This is the first year Hayden picked out his costume all by himself, and the first year he has actually gone door to door trick or treating. Watching him go door to door helped me to rediscover one of the true joys of parenthood, being happy because your child is happy. Not that this is something I’ve forgotten, but it sometimes gets lost in the day to day grind. Hayden liked trick or treating so much each night since Halloween as it begins to get dark he asks if we can go Trick or Treating again. That boy just makes me smile.

His Batman costume has this stiff shell for the chest and abs making them appear sculpted. After purchasing the costume and brining it home, I had Hayden try it on to make sure it would fit. After taking it off, I was folding it up when Hayden came over and tapped the stiff chest and said to me, “Mom this costume has big boobs.” Several minutes later after I finished laughing, I explained to him that they were not “boobs” but “pecks” to show off his big muscles. He was good with that and enjoyed showing everyone his muscles.

Theis Farm

On Saturday, October 24, 2009 we went to Theis Farm with Hayden’s Preschool. It was so much fun. We had a hayride and there was a pirate ship with treasure, a corn maze, slides and rope swings for the kids. Hayden and his friend Adam had a great time running around. Hayden tells us Adam is his best friend all the time, and according to their teacher they are attached at the hip. It was one of the few days this month when the sun was out, though the ground was far from dry.

Hayden, Adam and some random kid who wouldn't get out of my picture.

Hayden on one of many trip down the slide.

Hayden & Adam just love those boys.

If ever there is an opportunity to ride a pony Hayden is all over it.
Adam, Hayden and Kenny (Adams brother)

Hayden on the rope swing.

Hayden & Adam playing in the straw.

Adam and Hayden in the tractor tire swing. Laughing and laughing and laughing.

Now for the scary part!

There was one thing I didn’t find quite so fun. Above is the picture of a hay stack with a tunnel running through it. I didn’t realize quite how dark it was going to be (completely), how tight of a fit it was going to be (very), or how long it was (extremely). Needless to say I started into the tunnel and somewhere along the way in the complete dark we ran into someone in front of us. They had stopped for some reason I didn’t know. I could also feel the sides of the tunnel on my arm’s, I was hunched over holding onto Hayden when someone bumped into me from behind. Now I don’t consider myself someone who panics easily, but I must admit I started to in this tunnel. I think the only thing that really helped me keep it together was I had Hayden with me. By the time the people in front of us started moving, I was ready to be out of the tunnel. Once we were out it took me a good half hour or so to completely calm down. Very unnerving! Needless to say I no long classify myself as a "Brave Explorer."

Now don't get me wrong!

Now don't get me wrong, I like the rain as much as anyone, and I love a good thunderstorm, but I think this is getting a little ridiculous. Below is the radar from this morning. We may actually have a break in this craziness.

I haven’t seen the sun for more then a half hour or so in weeks. I think I am depressed. Maybe I’m one of those light box people. I’m not sure that is a real issue, but they think it is so I shouldn’t make fun, but I don’t want to be a light box person. I just want to see the sun.

My water babies!

Hayden has no fear of water, which scares the snot out of me. But he loves everything about the water. When we were at my parent’s house a couple of weeks ago we got to go swimming several times in their pool.

And though it was not his first introduction to water Turner came with us. I’m hoping he will have the same love of water as Hayden does.

I have an almost identical pictures of Hayden in the same yellow floaty with my dad at almost the same age as Turner is here. It's on another computer and I'm to lazy to actually go get it so you'll have to settle for a picture of him in the same floaty now.

He thought he was too cute!

I was so proud of Hayden, using a floating noodle under his arms he swam the length of the pool a good 10 or more times all by himself.


Though there are many reasons I enjoy going home to visit my parents, swimming in the pool, with the boys and my dad, is one of my most favorites.