Oklahoma Report

I've been in Oklahoma for a day and a half and man, what do people do here? It's really flat and all of the flora are dead and it's just weird. So far, not a fan. But I'm not here for fun; I'm here for work, right? Right.

So what do I do on work trips, besides work? The first day I always find a grocery store or convenience store. I hate the idea of eating out for three meals a day for three to four days. I'm too cheap and too worried about gaining weight. (Totally lame on both accounts, right? Right.) I just can't do it. Plus, I'm not great at eating at sit-down-with-a-menu restaurants alone. And I'm even not greater at going out with colleagues. This trip is no different. The first night here I walked around Bricktown and found a Circle K to stock up on apples (fruit), granola bars (grains?), and jerky (protein). If I had a fridge in the hotel I would have picked up some string cheese (dairy). I don't eat vegetables at home, so why do it here? Kidding (kind of).

My second night I went to a movie. I ate at the same taco place and it was good and cheap = perfect for me.

Pretty exciting, yeah? I bet you wish you were here!

Of course this was the plan. The surprise was that I woke up Tuesday morning at 4:30 a.m. totally sick. Only got out of bed once to present at my conference and then returned immediately to bed. Sigh. I hate being sick.

Yogurt Eating Tutorial

How yogurt should be eaten:


How yogurt should not be eaten:

A Mishmash of Updates

New Years: We had a really great New Year's Eve. We invited some families over and did some kid-friendly activities. We played, ate good food, destroyed two Chuck-made pinatas, ate too much candy (not at all my intention--my apologies to our guests), took fun pictures at our photo booth, made way too much noise, and rang in the new year precisely at midnight...Greenwich Mean Time (7:00 p.m. EST). It was a success!

Redskins: I feel like among all my friends, probably none of them knows of the big football game happening on Sunday. I, of course, married a D.C. sports junkie, so I am fully aware. But needless to say, I will be a football widow this Sunday from 4:30 until 8ish. Anyone want to invite us over? We'll bring food.

Resolutions: Some goals that we've tossed around are working on our food storage, understanding our retirement accounts and wills, teaching Rhett about money, and doing more Ollie-appropriate things with little Ollie. I am taking a class so that I can learn how to use my year-old serger. Chuck is taking a guitar class to practice his erin-seducing skills. What are you working on this year?

Dates: Because of our babysitting co-op group, me tutoring a YW in exchange for babysitting, and us hiring another YW to help her raise money for camp in exchange for babysitting, Chuck and I have a lot of upcoming date nights. So dang happy about this one. So dang clueless how we'll spend the dates.

Me: I am going to Oklahoma City next week for work. If I didn't (1) feel guilty for leaving my family and (2) have a strong distaste for all things Oklahoma, I might be excited.

Rhett: Seems more like a five-year old every day. He just seems like such a different boy from who he was this past summer. He's bigger (as evidenced by his very short pants), but also more mature (if a five-year-old can ever be called mature). Crazy to think that he'll be in kindergarten in eight months.

Ollie: The only thing to say about little Ollie is that he goes to nursery in one month. One month people. Only four more Sundays of hanging out in the foyer because he's just too darn disruptive. This might be the highlight of the entire year.

New Years = New Calendars

I love calendars. I love crossing off individual days, flipping the pages for new months, and especially getting new planners for the new year. Last year I found erin condren, and because she's an erin without any capitals, I loved her immediately. And then because she wants to sell me a calendar with my name on it, I keep loving her. So I loved my 2012 calendar enough to splurge and get another for 2013.


Equally exciting is this calendar we found for our wall. I love it. I love that it doesn't hide our switches like last year's. I love that it's got these fun drawings of cities (only four of which I've been to).


The back page of the calendar was this page. Look at these cute thumbnails of each month! Don't you just love them? Of course I want to turn them into something crafty, but what? Ideas please!

Happy New Year!

Because the new year doesn't start until tomorrow, we want to be the first to say "Happy New Year!" And if someone else has already said that to you, well, I'm totally okay with that. This picture doubles as a new year's photo and our 8th anniversary photo. We crack me up.

Family Vacation Ideas

The bad news: We won't be going to Japan next year. Due to some health issues, my parents are leaving their mission a bit earlier than planned, which means we won't be able to meet them there. And if they're not there, well, we're not going.

The good news: We have a bit of money and some time to do something as an entire family! But what should we do? Planning a trip for adults is super easy. I have a lot of places I'd like to see (Iceland, Prague, New Zealand) but those seem better toured with older children, or none at all. Does anyone have any suggestions for fun places to take kids, especially kids of my kids' ages (1.5 and newly-5)? Please don't suggest Disney. I'm just not ready for that yet.

Constraints:
1) Not too many time zone crossings
2) March-weather friendly (so probably no visiting my brother in Alaska)
3) Things for kids and adults to do
4) Spring-break friendly (no crazy college kids)
5) Let's not break the bank, okay?

Things We're Considering: (but I'm open to ideas)
1) Repeat trip to St. Michaels
2) Janes Island State Park (renting a full-service cabin just in case March weather is more lion-y than lamb-y)
3) Local stay-cation at National Harbor
4) Cruise out of Baltimore to the Bahamas (but not sure how this works with little kids and 7 o'clock bedtimes and everyone in only one room...)

Anyone want to come with us? Or maybe we should meet somewhere? Or maybe we can just come crash at your house?

P.S. I like my boys.

What?!

A dinner with side dishes? It's a Christmas miracle! (I'm going to go eat the dessert--a pear tart--right now.)


No Christmas party is complete without the family lush. And in our family, it's Ollie.

Merry Christmas!

Are You Ready?

Asking people whether they're ready for Christmas or not seems to be a hot question. Next year I'd like to have all the shopping and creating done by Thanksgiving so I can focus on the boys and our Christmas activities. But even though I've been a bit more rushed getting things done, we managed to keep up on our advent activities. We...

visited the lights at Brookside...


visited Santa...


made gifts for our brothers...


went to a couple of train exhibits...


made treats to share...


demanded to eat with spoons (not an advent activity per se, but still an activity)...


saw the lights at the temple...


maybe ate a couple of cookies that we made.


Other than some remaining parties and making gingerbread houses, I think we're ready! Merry Christmas!

Projects (including Christmas)

A felt nativity for a friend from church. Tutorial here.


Rhett's Christmas gift to Ollie because Ollie likes dogs, cheese, and bears.


I know it doesn't look like anything, but there are two tutus there.


Two felt crowns to go with the tutus.


A fort kit for two of my nephews. Tutorial here. I think the font for "Fort Kit" is my favorite thing about this gift.


A small sewing kit for a niece. Bag tutorial here (although I should never use this tutorial again because I think her measurements are really wrong).


Doll sleeping bag and pillow for a different niece. (Giftee got a matching pillowcase as well.) Regular pillowcase tutorial here.


A Mario 1-Up pillowcase for a nephew. Tutorial here.


Back of the pillowcase. Chuck and I both agree that it needs a little trademark symbol, but too late for that now.


Ballet bags for a friend's daughters.


Instead of Christmas pajamas, I like doing Christmas tees. Pilfered from here.


Yearly ornaments. Tutorial here.


Gifts for Rhett's teachers. Tutorial here.


Cool mustache shirts for my own boys. Just because.


And boys wearing shirts. Just because.

How We Parallel Play

Tell me you do this too. I mean, honestly. Could we have more electronics out?

Things Rhett Says

Rhett: When do people go to college?
Me: Around 18.
Rhett: I'll go when I'm 19.
Me: What will you do until then? You'll graduate from high school at 18, so you'll have some time until 19.
Rhett: I'll sit around and be lazy and watch TV.

After tithing settlement...
Me: Isn't the bishop nice? Do you know what his job is?
Rhett: I don't know.
Me: He takes care of the ward.
Rhett: No, that's not his job. His job is to eat jelly beans.

In Primary...
Teacher: Rhett, don't you have a dog at home?
Rhett: No.
Teacher: Are you sure? I thought you had a dog.
Rhett: No.
Teacher: Do you have a pet?
Rhett: We have a pug.
Teacher: Well, isn't that a dog?
Rhett: No. A pug is a pug.

After we needle him more and more about the above conversation...
Rhett: You don't ask me any more questions about dogs. That's all you get. Now go away. Or else I will kick you out of this house.

It's Becoming Clear

I think I figured out what's been ailing me: Ollie! Yes, the kid is a happy, funny little boy. But man, my ability to keep the house clean now that he's a toddling little one has diminished. I can't tell if it's because he's a bigger mess maker than his brother ever was, or if it's just that I have two kids to follow around and pick up after, and I just can't do it. So if you come over, the house might be straightened, but I can't guarantee that it's actually clean.

This is Ollie with his favorite headgear: anything. Boxes, buckets, blankets, anything.


And this is how he looks right before throwing the pom poms all over the kitchen.

This is What I'm Talking About

Two episodes of Parenthood (thanks to Roku).
One box of Cherry Heads.
One cherry Airhead.
One fun felt project that is now completed.

All of this brought to me by: Sarah's mom (who took Rhett for a playdate) and Ollie (who is napping like a champ). The nap was brought to Ollie by the quiet, Rhett-free house and the grey afternoon.

Oh I like today.

P.S. And when FHE includes these, I think I'll like tonight too.

The Things I Wish I Was Accomplishing

Christmas shopping
Christmas projects
Provident Living lesson planning
Blogging
Sewing
Household chores
Birthday gifts for friends
Watching lots of "Parks and Recreation" with Chuck

Treading Water

Do you ever feel like you're just treading water? Like you're only doing the minimum to get by? The last time I really felt this way was when I got called to be the Young Women's president. For a couple of months, I just made sure some activity was planned for Wednesday and someone was teaching a lesson on something come Sunday. That was about it. It was months before I felt like I was actually making headway in the program.

Now is another one of those times. I'm not sure why, exactly. I had a baby last Christmas; why can't I do things now when my body is better and Ollie is older? Of course, last year at this time I wasn't back to work. And Rhett was still going to a babysitter twice a week. That might have something to do with it. But this year is different. I feel like there are a million things I want to do (or feel like I should be doing), but I just can't. I'm really just doing the minimum.

So please forgive me if I skip a Monday, or a Friday, or all week. (And really, I know I care way more than any reader of this silly blog.)

We'll just pretend this is Rhett saying, "You can do it Mom!"

Date Night Topics

We had three dates in eight days. It's a Christmas miracle. We try to not talk about the kids all night long, but sometimes coming up with topics can be hard. This was one topic from last Thursday:

If you were to go back to college now to take the exact courses you did when you went the first time, do you think you'd get:
a) worse grades than the first time,
b) about the same grades, or
c) better grades?

Chuck thinks he'd do better. He's more mature (or so he thinks), he's experienced, and has been using those things he learned for 15 years. He thinks his brain is just better equipped to handle that kind of learning

I don't know about me. I think I'd cruise through the stats courses, struggle a bit through the math theory classes, and be bored to tears by nearly everything else. I mean, if I had to sit through Sociology 101 again, UGH.

Christmas Gifts

Okay people. What are you buying your kids for Christmas? I assume that many of you struggle with this as we do, for probably some of the following reasons:

1. Your kids have too much stuff already.
2. What they do have, they play with a lot, then a little, then not at all.
3. They're too little to really know what they want. Or they want something unreasonable, like a trampoline.
4. You hate plastic.
5. Your kids already have a lot of "imaginative" toys (blocks, play doh, legos, art supplies, sand box) and you dislike many of the "un-imaginative" sort.
6. Let's be honest: Your kids are content with a box...for their heads. (Yes, Ollie loves walking around with a box/bucket/whatever on his head, even if that box/bucket/whatever is opaque.)
7. Santa only brings one gift because you still feel weird lying to your kids.
8. (And this may be my issue alone) You like to make the gifts instead of buy.

Given all of my issues, what do I get my boys?

P.S. We're thinking about doing four gifts for each child, one each in the following categories: want, need, do, read. What do you think? Do any of you do something like this?

P.P.S. Again, I apologize to myself for the irregular posting schedule this week. I've just been feeling a little off.

More Little Things

It's well known that I love my thrift store. But do you know that I'm actually grateful for it? This might be the best buy I've ever made there: the hairdresser set of play doh stuff. The razor even buzzes as it cuts hair. So dang cool.


Although this pie is pretty, and the apple pie was really yummy, I am thankful for pie crust all by itself.


And I'm thankful I don't have to hear the words "Black Friday" for another year. This shot is just for fun.


Not at all a little thing: I'm thankful for date nights with Chuck. We had one last Saturday and get two this week. Whatever should we do?!

It's the Little Things

All the gratitude posts I see on Facebook this month seem to be of the obvious type. You know, "I'm thankful for my husband" or "I'm thankful to have a job." Of course I too am thankful for these things. I have a great husband and, well, a job. I'm thankful for my boys and that they are happy and healthy little children with functioning brains and all of their limbs. But c'mon. Isn't it much more fun to think about the not-so-obvious things for which we're grateful? Such as:

The perfectly reheated leftover. Not too hot, not too cold.

When the top rack of the dishwasher gets full at the same exact time as the bottom part.

(We interrupt that to bring this: ACK! I have TWO boys! Sorry, but sometimes, this still creeps up on me.)

Freegal, the free music resource available through my county library. What? Three free MP3s each week? I'll take it!

Socks that actually fit my feet. No more heels half way up my calf!

And, finally, the sock bun. What a wonder it is for my hair.

The end.

Wait. Check out this video of my brother. Does the comment about him being an adult strike you as funny, because it does me. Anyway, the video is long with a lot of snow, but it's also kind of mesmerizing at the same time.

Can't. Stop. Please. Help.

I know I said I wouldn't do this anymore, but I found a new-to-me bow tie pattern for Chuck that didn't require any hardware. The temptation was too much and I succumbed.