Ollie is Adorable. I said it.

It's true. Ollie is adorable. I feel bad that I can't say the same for Rhett, and it's not that he's not cute, but he's just not at an adorable age. I mean, I certainly don't expect anyone to tell me that I'm adorable. It's just something you grow out of, and, sadly for Rhett, he has. But man, that Ollie sure is embracing it. And he's one of those who knows (or has been well-trained by Chuck and me) that he's cute. Need proof?

Rhett: Can I have some peanut butter please?
Me: Sure, after you say, "Mom and Dad, you are the greatest parents. I am happy to be your son."
Rhett: Mom and Dad. You are the greatest parents. I am happy to be your son.
Peanut butter given.
Ollie: I want some peanut butter too! Mom and Dad. You are great. Can I be your parent?

Ollie: Mom, I'm not all filled up. I need more food.

Ollie destroys my piles of folded laundry.
Me: Gosh, Ollie! Next time you can do the laundry.
Ollie: Okay, I will! I will be an adult!

Ollie was acting up in sacrament meeting during the closing prayer. A good friend, whom Ollie loves, was saying the prayer. We thought it might calm him down to see this friend praying.
Me, quietly: Look Ollie! Mr. Baba is saying the prayer.
Ollie, not even close to quietly: MR. BABA!!!
Mr. Baba: [Opens eyes, smiles at Ollie, continues to pray.]
We found out later that Mr. Baba enjoyed this shout-out. He said it made him feel like a movie star. Well, glad we could help out, Mr. Baba. Also, of course his name is not Mr. Baba. But for whatever reason, my children gave him this nickname.



Look how tender he is! He sat down next to Rhett and put his arm around him. Heart wringer!


Putting his favorite stuffed animals to bed with a story. When he describes it he says, "I'm reading a story to my babies."

"What Do You Do?" and Other Things Washingtonians Say

There's a feature in my newspaper's Sunday magazine called, "Date Lab." Would-be daters fill out a questionnaire and the editors send them on blind dates. Then they write about it, and I get to read it.

Without fail, every week the daters whine about how "What do you do?" is such a D.C. question. And without fail, every week I want to scream, "NO! It's not a D.C. question! It's a totally normal question everywhere in the country!" I won't argue that what you do is the only important thing worth asking. I'm the first to admit that my paying job is a very small part of my identity. But you have to admit that it tells people something about you, right? Me being a statistician tells you at a minimum that I like numbers and/or math, right? Yes, there is more to me (my family, my interests, etc.), but it is still part of me. So I argued that this question is definitely not D.C.

Apparently I'm wrong. (Shocking, I know.) Apparently in other parts of the country they ask things like, "What church do you go to?" (in the South) or "At what elevation do you live?" (in Colorado). But because I live here now, feel free to ask me what I do. I won't get mad. AND I promise to not ask you that question. Instead I'll open with, "So tell me about your favorite cereal and why?"

This is Why You Shouldn't Ask

You know how when you haven't talked to someone recently you ask, "So, what's new?" I recommend not wasting your time asking me that. Seriously. NOTHING is new. Well, I guess that's true only if you discount the mundane, like:

For the first time in my life, I started putting butter on toast. I never saw the point before, but I've been eating a lot of toast and eggs for breakfast, and I happen to like cinnamon and sugar on my toast. I tried the toast with butter and was shocked at how much better it tasted than without the butter. I still don't see the point of butter when putting jam on toast. And I will never disgrace fresh-from-the-oven, homemade bread with butter. Never.

We have a new hot water heater. After four days without hot water, we were all excited. Our pocketbook, however, well, that's a different story. Isn't home ownership the worst sometimes?

Also for what is possibly the first time ever, I bought a two-liter bottle of soda for me. Lately, once we put the kids down, I find I need a stiff drink. And for me, diet root beer is about as stiff as it gets. I blame Chuck for this.

Finally, I guess this is new. I'm entering the stage of "What surprises will I find when unloading the washing machine after doing Rhett's laundry?" This was my latest haul: a rock, a nickel, two aliens, and some sort of plastic heart. (Do you know how much Ollie loves those aliens? A lot. Which explains why Rhett puts them in his pockets.)


P.S. Oh, I hope that never from above isn't like the "I will never marry a man who wears little socks," because we all know how that turned out. No. I will be strong.

P.P.S. And because I'm just a girl who can't say no...to alphabet flash cards, I picked up these at the thrift store yesterday (sans "F"). But what to do with them? I already have a set of these hanging in the playroom. Told you I'm a sucker.

Late Church (again)

Every three years you should expect to get a post on late church. Seeing as though the last was in 2011, this post should come as no surprise. We've now done four Sundays (of 48--but who is counting?) at the 12:30 time. And so far, I'm loving it! Surprised? I am.

But here's why I love it.

1. Like last time, we are able to enjoy the NPR Sunday puzzle live. Chuck and I really like listening to it, and we really like yelling at our kids to BE QUIET so we can listen to it. Win.

2. Also like last time, I'm hopeful that when our temperatures are above 11 degrees we'll be able to walk Bruno. He'll love it, the adults will like it, and the boys will fight the whole time. Win. Or tie.

3. No setting of an alarm! Not like we need one, but it's still nice to be able to wake up at the horrible hour of 5:30 a.m. (thanks, my dear sons) without having to turn off the alarm 45 minutes later. Lose.

4. Productive mornings! The first Sunday at the new time I was laid up in bed. But the next Sunday I made homemade almost-whole wheat bread. The third Sunday I did a crockpot dinner AND banana bread. Suggestions for this Sunday? I'm up for them. You know, because I don't have enough recipes waiting to be tried on Pinterest. Win.

5. PAJAMAS! A friend of mine tells me that unless she's out of the house, she's in pajamas. This is so my ideal. But running early in the morning forces me to shower, and then I feel obligated to change into regular clothes. But not on Sunday. Oh no, it's pajamas until as long as I can put off a shower. Win.

6. Early nap! We've only tried this twice, but it has a 100% success rate. We wake, eat breakfast, hangout, and starve the kids until lunch wait to feed the kids a lunch at 10:30 a.m. After this blunch, Ollie goes down for a one-hour power nap, while Rhett goes to quiet time. And then at 12, we quickly get the boys ready and head out the door. It's genius, I tell you. That hour of quiet allows for me and Chuck to get ready. We shower, get gussied up, prep snacks for church, whatever. But it's quiet. Without us having to yell BE QUIET. Win.

So yep, loving 12:30. Now maybe 10:30 church will become my new church-time nemesis. I'll tell you in a year.

P.S. Why do we use the word brunch instead of blunch? I like blunch so much better! It's funny, see. Say it out loud: BLUNCH. Hahaha.

P.P.S. I seem to have less to say these days. So maybe posts twice a week, instead of thrice? I'll see.

Anniversary Trip

Chuck and I are coming up on our 10th anniversary. Even though the actual anniversary is in December, we're thinking that we might be able to swing a child-free summer trip. (Why summer? I don't want to go to a beach and that's about the only thing that sounds good in December. Well that or New Zealand, and we don't have the time or the money for that. How child-free? Grandparents! Super awesome, up-for-anything grandparents!) But we honestly cannot decide where to go. I know I know, our lives are hard.

So tell me, where's the coolest place you've been, including international destinations? What's the place that you most want to visit? I won't tell you what I've been thinking so as to not taint the sample. But just give us something to consider. Anything. Please.

P.S. Here's a fun one of Ollie. Once he was dressed this way, he told me he was ready to go play in the snow.


P.P.S. Speaking of snow, this is what's happening down the highway from my brother's house. Isn't it insane?!

Nope, I was Right the First Time

Nope, the snow is totally not worth it. I had to tiptoe-run over lots of unshoveled sidewalks this morning during my four-degree run.

The snow gear is cleaned up (too cold to use it) but towels still lay strewn about.

Thankfully school is back in session, but tomorrow is already Saturday. Good because I like Chuck home, bad because, well, Rhett...

We're not predicted to have a temperature above 35 until February. Even after a hot shower, I just can't get warm.

My formerly-black car is now more ombre with all the snow and ice and salt on it. You know, salt that doesn't even work in temperatures below 25 degrees (which, as stated previously, is all we're experiencing).

Chuck is back to work, which is a given since he was never actually let out.

Did I say it's cold here? It is. So, no hope of melting.

Sigh. Sometimes I don't like being right.

Even Though...

...I now have weeks of cursing the anti-shovelites when running,

...my garage-less, mudroom-free house gets filled with dripping snow gear at the front door,

...I have to deal with both boys, inside, all day with no school break (as of writing this Tuesday night, I'm 98.6% sure school will be cancelled Wednesday),

...spring is that much further away,

...Marylanders will drive over ice and sand for a long time,

...Chuck is no longer let out of work at the drop of a flake (but I seem to be; go figure),

...the cold weather won't quickly melt it away,

maybe, just maybe, the snow is not all bad. Maybe.


P.S. This is the bag I'm going to make to replace the backpack. Fabric could arrive today!

Does This Happen To You?

One day you decide you're done with your diaper bag. Done. Done toting all that junk around when all you really need is diapers and wipes. But because you're you, just buying a smaller replacement bag isn't enough. Oh no. You have to make something. Something for which you need new fabric. Fabric that is not found in local stores, oh no, fabric that had to be ordered. And until that fabric comes, and until you can make that bag, you despise the backpack you've been calling a diaper bag. You glare at it. It suddenly is your worst enemy.

What? This doesn't happen to you? Huh.

Four (count 'em) Dates!

Through some miracle, Chuck and I were able to go on four dates in nine days' time.

Date 1: Friday morning. Because it was only a couple of hours and in the morning and in the winter, we really didn't have any good ideas. So I said, "Grocery shopping it is!" But we opted for a brand new grocery store about 30 minutes north of us, one the kids would have really struggled with. It was a Wegman's, which is apparently amazing. And it was...okay. I mean, it's a grocery store; how amazing can it be? The one totally awesome thing was its selection of bulk candy. I cannot wait for the decorating of gingerbread houses next year because I know where we'll be getting our candy.

Date 2: ALL DAY Monday. This was our anniversary and we decided to avail ourselves of our regular day care provider for the day so we could enjoy each other while celebrating our 9th anniversary. We started by going to an RV store just to look at the little trailers. Unfortunately they were closed, but man, are those things cute. Then we headed to Frederick, a town north of us. It has this super cute downtown area, and we spent the day walking and going in stores. It was perfect. One of those things we would have done before we had kids, but now would just be too hard. We ate at this fun pretzel place. We will go back there with the boys.


Date 3: Monday night. A friend owed us some hours of babysitting so after the kids were down, he came over and house sat while we saw a movie. Movie was good, but can I complain for a second about the 23 minutes of previews? Those things were interminable.

Date 4: Saturday night for three hours with two other couples. I don't know why it's taken us so long to join other couples on our babysitting group nights, but we sure have fun when we do. We did dinner at this taco place in a gas station (which I swear is what made me sick on Sunday), played indoor miniature golf, and finished with frozen yogurt. Good times.

Next date: Banff Film Festival in two weeks! So excited for this one.

P.S. I know this post isn't very exciting, but I couldn't believe how lucky we were to be able to get out together this many times.

P.P.S. We couldn't bear separating the boys, so it lasted only that one night. We're still trying different things to get them to sleep past 5:30 a.m.

Mom and Dad Can Hardly Wait

I am going to be the first mom I know to admit it: I really dislike Christmas break. And if it weren't for Chuck taking off the entire break, I'm not sure I would have survived.

It was all the little things, you know? First, having two boys home all the time involved a lot of chaos. (Yeah, I get it. The mom of two kids is complaining on chaos. What a gas.) But it was chaotic for me. They are noisy and loud. They play with one toy bucket for about five minutes, leave it all on the floor, and then move to another bucket. After another five minutes, they move on to something else. It's non-stop mess making all day.

Can we talk about the kitchen? How about the amount of milk we go through when four people are home for breakfast every day? It was a lot. I don't know why this was so annoying, but it was. Also, with four people in the house for all three meals for the 14 or so days, we created a lot of dirty dishes. We ran the dishwasher every stinkin' day. Which then meant that we have to unload the dishwasher every stinkin' day. Related: With us all home for all those meals, there was a lot of cooking. This only added to our dishes.

I can't even imagine our energy usage. Lights on, heat going, showers/baths running, all the time.

Finally, we usually only have to worry about activity planning for Saturdays. But during this break, we had to find something to keep the kids entertained every day otherwise it would not go well. (All four of us had our fair share of tantrums.) And truth is, we're not that good at it, especially when it's cold outside. For Chuck and me, this was our break too and we didn't want to think about, nonetheless carry out, activities. We just wished the kids would play happily with their new Christmas toys. But apparently this was too much.

So when Rhett went back on a Thursday, only to have Friday off due to snow, you can guess I was devastated. Let's just leave it at this: I am now super afraid of summer.

These Boys

Nearly every morning during Christmas break our boys woke up before 6:30 (their allowed wake-up time). Not only were they awake, but they were loud and playing and getting out of their room to tell us that, "Ollie was going to bite me." It's a recurring theme for me to complain on this blog about my boys and their early mornings, but this is my life. Too bad for me that I don't want it to be my life.

In the past six months or so, the boys have really enjoyed playing together in their room. (Note that I did not say that they enjoy playing together outside of their room. That would be a lie. They fight constantly outside the room, but for whatever reason, in the early morning hours and late bedtime hours, they play just fine. Go figure.) And in the past month or so, they have enjoyed sleeping in the same bed. Sweet Ollie would say (in his cute toddler-ese) as we were putting him down, "I want Mom/Dad to sweep wif me." Adorable, no? Of course yes. But of course we're not going to do it because we don't want to instill some sort of need to fall asleep with one of us. So when we told him no, he then requested, "I want Rhett to sweep wif me." Because we thought that was fine, we gave it our blessing. And look how adorable they are. Melt our hearts.


But we're still not sure how to solve this early morning problem of ours. Yes, we put the boys down around seven, but because they play together nightly, it's nearly eight before they're asleep. I just can't do any later; they need the sleep. But when morning comes and Rhett (who can tell time) turns on the light to read or when Ollie (who cannot tell time) climbs up to Rhett's bunk, how can we control that? We really don't know what to do.

So last night we separated them. The thought is that maybe for the next year or so, they are in two rooms. We have the space and the bunk bed comes apart, so we can do it. However, my heart broke last night when Ollie said, "I miss Rhett." And I know Rhett feels the same way. And at 7:18 p.m. as I type this and the house is quiet and not filled with silly boys' laughter, my heart breaks even more! Oh internet, what to do?


P.S. I love when Rhett uses his tickets to "buy" computer time because it truly entertains both boys. Ollie just stands there and watches Rhett play.

The Being Sick Diet

You know how you hate being sick, because it's the worst? I think the only redeeming thing about being sick is the (albeit temporary) weight loss. I've been keeping track of calories (yes, yes, I'm one of those resolutionaries this year), and got this good news from myfitnesspal:



Although, I'm not really sure that's good news. I mean, drinking only two cups of powerade and eating only two saltines everyday for FIVE weeks gets me to only 116 pounds? Uh, I don't think so. I'll take the slow but steady course, thankyouverymuch. You know, the course that involves actual food.

Christmas at Two

Because Ollie's birthday and my birthday are only a day apart, pictures from holidays show us at the same age (well, if you look at my really old ones, of course). For example, the pictures below show us at our two-year-old Christmases. I still don't know if I see much of him in me. But dang that boy is cute.





P.S. When I was sick on Sunday I asked him to sing me a song. His song was the words "Open the door" repeated three times, sung with closed eyes and head swaying a la Ray Charles. It was the best thing that happened to me that day.

Haiku

Sick sick sick sick sick
Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh Ugh
Go away right now

Homemade Christmas Gifts

First, although I didn't make these, I had to share. Didn't my sister do awesome?! The boys love them.


Library bags for my nieces, Emmy and Lucy.




This wasn't exactly Christmas, but close. My nephew Jonas was baptized in December and so he got this scripture bag.


Apron and chef's hat for Ollie.


Table runner for my sister and brother-in-law.


Ornaments for my parents. Man, gifts for parents are HARD. (Can you tell they are states? It took my mom some time.)


A shark apron for someone at Chuck's work.


Rhett's fort kit.


Drink sleeve for Rhett's teacher. (It's a pencil, but you can't really tell that from this picture.)


The boys' Christmas shirts.

And a Happy New Year

And because I'm too lazy for more words...

Merry Christmas from Us!

We're having a great time (except for when we're not) with everyone out of work and school. Mostly it's been okay and the boys haven't killed each other, so I consider that a success! Here's what you've missed since I haven't been blogging:

ULTRA-warm first day of winter meant Great Falls


Christmas Eve gingerbread houses and partying with friends




Christmas morning presents (and air heads in mouths)










Christmas brunch with cousins


New Christmas clothes from grandparents


I go back to work on Tuesday, but it's okay because Wednesday is another holiday!

P.S. Rhett's reaction after opening his nutcracker gift from Ollie. Seriously that boy could not love nutcrackers any more.


P.P.S. Today is our anniversary. Nine years! Time to get serious planning that 10th anniversary trip.

Only in Zion

Each Friday Rhett brings home the work he did in school during the week. We briefly look through it and talk about it. But this one caught my eye. He didn't get an the highest grade and when I looked to see why, I saw that he had switched "Adult" with "Elder." When I asked him why he switched them, this is what he said: "Well, when boys are missionaries, they are called elders. After that they turn into adults." Sure makes sense to Mormons!



P.S. And no, this post is not at all related to Christmas. What of it?

Molecules of Misery

Because it's me, it's time for some complaining about my rotten children. I happen to have two boys who, when separated, are fun, silly boys. But when together, WHOO BOY. Watch out. If you see the two of them together, RUN the other way. I do. Well, at least I really, really want to.

If I'm being totally honest, they're not all bad. After they wake up, but before they're allowed out of bed in the morning, they seem to play well together. But as soon as their bedroom door is opened and until it is closed at 7 p.m., our lives are miserable. The sad thing is that alone, each boy is pretty good. Once Rhett is at school, Ollie and I have a good time. And if Ollie is napping, Rhett can be nice and cooperative. But something about their molecules just create an atomic bomb when they're in the same room.

Here is a small, but representative, sample of the things they currently fight over:
Who gets to sit in the new chair at the kids' table
Who gets to look at the back of the cereal box during breakfast
Whose choice of show we watch first
Who gets to play with the toy neither has played with in months
Who gets the in-tact toy that remains after its twin was broken by a boy
Which book we'll read first at book time
What punishment should be doled after one bites/slaps/hits/punches the other

I know this is totally normal stuff for siblings to fight over. I know it. But man, living it? Awful.


P.S. Caitlin, I loved your idea that I named "Snowflakes of Service." Unfortunately I have spent all my energy this month fighting boys (see above). But it's on my calendar for next year, should they miraculously start getting along.

P.P.S. Speaking of calendars, to save money, I thought I'd try a new planner this year. It should be in the mail as you read this, and I'm soooo excited for it!

This.

This is what made Rhett exclaim, "And now I KNOW magic is real!"



P.S. I can't not record this gem from early November. "If Kitty and I got married I'd be so embarrassed because...[dramatic pause]...a cat, for a wife?!"

What To Do?

Chuck was in charge of decorations for our ward's Christmas party last week. In addition to cutting more than 100 paper snowflakes, he made 16 of these large, red, popsicle stick snowflakes. But now that the party is over, what are we supposed to do with them? A friend suggested hanging them on the ceiling (not from the ceiling, but on), but I'm afraid of the asbestos-filled popcorn ceiling and prefer to leave that untouched. Our walls are pretty filled, so, uh, where?


Image taken from here.

The Perfect Storm

Why was this storm so perfect? Let me enumerate the reasons for you.

1. It was predicted to start during Tuesday's morning rush hour. Any storm predicted to drop 3-7" during morning rush hour means that Chuck and I were both let out of work. And of course school was cancelled, so this meant a snow day for the entire family.

2. Because it didn't start until sunrise, we were able to keep the kids inside a bit, eating coffee cake and watching shows, until the main event.

3. My mom is awesome and earlier had sent snow pants and snow coats for the kids, so we were ready. I have a firm testimony of appropriate snow gear in order to have a good experience. Sorry, but jeans and/or sweats just don't work. (Sadly, we don't have good snow boots for the kids, but their rain boots filled in okay.)

4. Because the kids were so prepared, we were able to spend 1.5 hours sledding and snowman-making in the morning. It was so much fun to watch Rhett go down. And the predicted 3-7" turned into 2-3", but that was great because my small children could still maneuver in it. More than 6" and I don't think they would have lasted nearly as long. Also, it was great for making snowmen and balls. Not that light, beautiful, perfect Utah snow at all. Blech. Who wants that?!

5. Because Rhett had no school the day before (thanks ice storm), we had Christmas cookies, which, with hot chocolate, were perfect after sledding.

6. This is not perfect: little Ollie got his second ear infection in about three weeks, so we scheduled a doctor appointment and put him down for an early nap. When that early nap didn't take well, we rushed outside for our second dose of sledding. That's right: good parents take their sick kids sledding.


7. After the doctor appointment, we were able to get some errands done, and then we made it to some drive-through Christmas lights. Of course the kids loved them.

8. The 2-3" of snow didn't cancel my date with friends once the kids were in bed.

P.S. This post is late because of the crazy-non-stop-edness of Tuesday and the loss of phone, internet, and cable Sunday and Monday.


P.P.S. Yes, this is how Ollie decorates cookies. Just dumps entire package of sprinkles onto the cookies.

Things in My House that Make Me Smile

This table. I love the runner (when I blur my eyes and don't see the crazy corners, that is). I love the napkin holders.


I love the ornaments that Chuck was inspired to put on our strange-but-I-love-it branch.


That is all.

Only 368 Days to Train (and design a costume)

Did you know that the house used in "A Christmas Story" is now museum dedicated to the movie? The inside-the-house parts were shot on a sound stage of course, but the house itself was recently purchased and redone to make it look exactly like how it was used in the film. Super cool, right? So the other night when I'm looking to see where the house is (because, c'mon, admit it, you want to go), guess what I found? A 5K/10K "A Christmas Story" race. I'm totally going. If it wasn't already sold out for this year, I'd go up Friday.

I mean, seriously. Did you see how awesome it will be? You get to drink rich, chocolatey Ovaltine. You get a stellar leg lamp t-shirt. And you get a medal. Plus you get to be at the Christmas Story house. This is incentive enough.

Who is with me? Linda, want to make a family road trip out of it and meet us? Anyone else? Because no lie, I'm totally doing it.

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Because Chuck's parents moved this spring, and because we'd have to be millionaires to afford plane tickets at Thanksgiving to be at my parents' house, we had no other choice but a friends-only Thanksgiving. All the regular characters were there (turkey, cranberries, orange rolls, sweet potatoes, pie, you know), but this time with friends instead of family. As expected, we had a wonderful day. I started with an early (6:30 a.m.), cold (25 degrees), long (9.5 miles) run with my friend Sharon*. When I finished, Chuck got his physical activity in the form of flag football. Then we both put the kids in front of the tv so we could work on the food. We brought cranberries, sweet potatoes, two pies, and orange rolls. (Yes, maybe it's weird to post a picture of the food, but I was so proud of it all.)


We had four kids who all happily sat at the kids' table. I have no idea what my boys ate, but I also don't care. As long as they let me enjoy the company and food, I was happy.




Friday we spent all day at home with the exception of our trip to get the tree. I wish I could say we supported a local, organic farm. Or that we chopped down our own after snowshoeing for miles. But we chose to not afford the first option, and the second option is just too far away. So option 3 ($21 tree at Home Depot) would have to do. We spent all morning decorating the house and all afternoon sitting in front of the fire. It was awesome.

Saturday morning a friend hosted an Ugly Sweater 2.2 mile race. Five people ran and guess who won? ME. I. I won a race. I'm still pretty proud of myself. And not only was I the first to finish, I also got the award for "Granny"-est sweater. Chuck clearly earned his medal. (These items were purchased specifically for this race. They did not come from our regular wardrobes.)


Sunday was another day at church (but better than last week because we weren't speaking) followed by some quiet time and the regular week's prep. Our advent activity was to decorate the tree, but since that was completed on Friday, we thought we'd add some cranberry-popcorn strands. (Can you believe that I actually asked my child to look at the camera and smile? I'm such a mean mom.) And yes, the nutcracker wanted to "watch" the activity.


*Can I just say that I am so grateful for my running girls? We started our Thursday night track workouts last January to help train for the half, and we haven't stopped running together since. They are my free therapy. They are my good friends. They are my "me time." I love love love running with them.