Rhett's Baptism

Saturday was Rhett's baptism. We had most of our good friends there to celebrate and it was a really simple program...just how I like it. (And how Rhett likes it, I'm pretty sure.)

He was given a gift of Pokemon cards, his first new set. He may have been slightly preoccupied at the start of the program. Ha.


Before...


...After. It should be noted that Ollie spent the entire service sitting in the back row, pouting (see top picture about Rhett getting Pokemon cards and him not). Well, at least he was quiet and idle.


Beating up his brother. Well, guess he has something to repent of now.

Cousins!

Chuck's sister and her family came to visit us for Rhett's baptism. We were thrilled that they would make such a trip and were happy to host. Plus, it was a good dry run for when my sister and her similarly-sized family come this summer (note to self: we need more pillows and towels). They got in late Thursday and so Friday we headed downtown to see peak bloom of the cherry blossoms. The weather was perfect and so was the day!



Oh Ollie.

Rhett's 8th Birthday

Rhett turned 8 last week. Because his birthday fell on a school day (you know, one on which he gets home from school at 4:45 p.m.), we opened presents before Chuck even left for work. Among other things, Rhett got a microscope and a Lego boat. It was plenty to keep them busy before school.

For dinner, Rhett chose another mystery menu meal, so that's what they got. And dessert was a rice krispie treat cake (like Auntie Em, like nephew). It was a pretty great day for a pretty great boy.

In Case You Missed it on Instagram

I don't normally cross-post between my blog and Instagram. But as my parents and sister (a very large portion of the readers of the blog) don't do Instagram, I feel I must.

Calculating pi with pancakes on Pi Day.




P.S. You want to know about those scratches on Rhett's cheek? That comes courtesy of Ollie. Nice.

The Best Way to Handle Spring Daylight Saving Time

Saturday night Chuck had a stake YM thing to go to around 4:45 p.m. Loathe to spend 2.5 hours alone...with my boys...when we're all at our worsts, I devised a plan. What if, instead of waiting until 2 a.m., I reset the clocks when he leaves? He walks out and suddenly it's 5:45--time for dinner, boys! Time for pajamas and time for bedtime! While 2.5 hours seemed like a long time, 1.5 hours--I could handle that!

And that's just what I did. The boys fell asleep fairly easily and then, even easier than falling asleep, was waking up at the regular eastern daylight time. Which was admittedly painful on a Sunday morning, but with 8:30 a.m. church, ain't nobody sleeping in.

So there you go. You're welcome.

Oh, and happy Pi Day everyone!

Update (on more than just people)

Seriously, February is the worst. We all know I'm a creature of habit and routine, and February's job is to upend it. Between snow days, ice days, and sick days, nothing is as it should be. I hate it. Plus, by February, I'm done being cold and done being in the house. I just want to be warm (but not hot) and run without gloves. That's not asking too much, is it? Apparently it is.

But we made it through. We even said goodbye to February by having one of those silly dinners where the kids had menus, but weren't sure what they were ordering. You know, "Farmer's tool" for a fork, "Utah's choice" for jello. They loved it. Strangely, Chuck and I had a perfectly normal meal! So weird how that turned out. And because it was a lot of work, it's perfect for doing every four years. But not that much, so maybe I'll break down before 2020. (HOLY CRAP. 2020 is only four years away? I'm excited for it because it's just so cool to say.)

And now for the updates, in order of increasing excitement:

Chuck. He's the same. He's happy in his new-ish job, and we all love his hours. He's still in the stake young men's presidency, which isn't too taxing.

Me. I'm the same. My job has been pretty fun lately but only because of a certain project. That's how it goes. I'm running a half marathon in May, and if my knees would cooperate, I'd be happy. I went to "Reading Day" at Rhett's school last Friday and it was so much fun. I think the kids liked the book I read to them, and then they had fun drawing things to go along with the book. It was really great. I'm happy in this time where Rhett was still really excited to have me in his class!

Ollie. I can't believe he'll be in kindergarten this August. He doesn't hate preschool these days, especially when he gets to be the line leader. He's definitely matured, which makes me less nervous about kindergarten. He's a silly happy four-year old!

Rhett. Is thrilled that I recently bought him four long-sleeved polo shirts. I'm thrilled that he's not wearing the same two shirts over and over. The boy will not wear t-shirts. Weird, no? Also, he's being baptized this month and so we're getting ready for that. Chuck's sister and family are coming into town for it and so that'll be so fun. School is good and the transition to getting home at nearly 5 p.m. has gone pretty well. Right now, his favorite things are his kindle and Calvin and Hobbes. Also, we've been reading the Book of Mormon with him and will have it all finished before he turns 8!

House.Home ownership is so overrated. The week we were all sick, the TiVo broke and our cable/internet/phone went out. Nice. Our dishwasher is dying. A pipe under my bathroom sink was rotted through and now we're having some weird electrical problems. Plus, after being in the house for nearly eight years, I'm starting to get sick of some of the things inside it (window treatments, couches, floors). But see my previous sentences to see why we're unable to do anything about it.

Rhett's Old School. We are anxiously watching its transition. Right now, portables have been removed, power has been cut, and construction trailers are set up. Hopefully demolition starts soon because that'll be fun. I've been taking weekly pictures so that a fun flip book can be produced at the end of the building process.

The Scamp. Really wants us to go camping! And we all want to go camping! Hopefully we'll get out a couple days over Spring Break. We have plans in June, so that's good too.

My Parents. Still enjoying their location. And we are getting excited to visit. The boys' passports came in the mail last week, so we're getting ready!

Maryland. Is warming up! Every once in a while we'll get a day in the 50s or even 60s! I took the boys to Sugarloaf Mountain a couple Sundays ago and it was so great to be outside. I'm hopeful that warmth will return. You know, because there have been years where it hasn't. Duh.

I think that's it. Here are some pictures.

This is what happens when you run out of things to do inside and you give your boys the camera to let them take pictures. This is one of about, oh, 50.


And another...


And another. This one cracks me up. I, of course, had no idea what I'd find when I finally transferred them off the camera.


On Sugarloaf Mountain's 1,282-foot summit. Whoa.

What I'd Post if I Felt Like Posting

1. Updates on everyone
2. New things to whistle at my boys
3. A post soliciting help planning a baptism and a birthday party
4. My hatred for February
5. My desire to plan a dinner worthy of Leap Day (you know, a meal you should only eat every four years)
6. Why I only feel cute in my clothes for about six weeks of the year

Pigs in a Blanket

As if carrying around up to three pigs at a time (Original Pig (aka "Piggie" or "Pigpen"), New Pig (aka "Pigilina"), and Beanie Baby Pig (aka "Allison Hogson")) isn't quirky enough, check out how he sleeps with them: they must be tucked between the bed and the wall. Why, one asks? Because he likes them chilled. Chilled. Parents can't make this stuff up.

He's four and a half and totally awesome.

Snowzilla, Part Even-I'm-Done-Talking-About-the-Snow

Sometimes when I'm cooped up for too long, I buy stuff. And sometimes I don't, but I want to. Like a snowblower. That sounds heavenly about now.

But we did, however, find on Craigslist one pair of nice snowshoes for the boys (to share). As soon as we brought them home, each boy tried them out. Rhett did better than Ollie, who had trouble keeping a wide enough stance and ended up tripping multiple times. But c'mon: how cute are these boys? I can't wait until another 30" drops at my house so we can go on a snowshoe date. Strike that: yes I can wait. At least until I have that snowblower and a place for all that extra snow.




P.S. Because Ollie's birthday is in the summer and he can't celebrate it at school, we're celebrating his half birthday this week. I made these to take to his preschool class. You'll have to count for yourself how many cubes of butter went into it. When coupled with almond extract means of course they'll be amazing.

P.P.S. Let the melting commence. Sunday was in the 50s, and temps are expected to remain that high through Wednesday, at which point we could even get thunderstorms. I could be trail running by Saturday--cross your fingers for me!

P.P.P.S. It's February!

Snowzilla, Part 5

Done. I'm so done. School is out again today, making it six weekdays that the kids haven't been in school. The boys are still having fun and are behaving no worse/no better than regular, but still. I crave our regular routine and my sanity.

Monday. They're back in school on Monday. What do people do whose spouses don't get off when the kids do?!

P.S. Snowshoeing was awesome! It was hard because the snow was super powdery then, but it was gorgeous. I saw deer tracks, duck tracks, bunny tracks, and cross-country skier tracks. Cool!

P.P.S. We're staring down some serious intense snow melt starting on Sunday. Temperatures in the 50s through Wednesday. I can't imagine what's going to happen to these snow piles!

P.P.P.S. Unlike other storms, people in my neighborhood are actually shoveling their walks. On my run Wednesday morning, I estimated 1 in 7 houses hadn't shoveled. And this is only a couple days after the historic-sized event. Way to go, neighbors!

Snowzilla, Part 4

More pictures from the snow.

Rhett hiding in his snow hole.


This was our street Monday afternoon (note the snow median). The only reason it's changed now is because it was unusually warm yesterday and things have melted. But maybe this explains why schools are still closed today?


Tuesday morning's sunrise! Gorgeous. Please ignore the ugly everything else.


The snowman Chuck and Ollie made, only seconds before Ollie destroyed it.


And check out how much we've changed!

Snowzilla, Part 3

There was a reason I was feeling so anxious about this storm: shoveling a lot of snow is the WORST. And especially when (1) there's so much and (2) you run out of places to put it. It's ridiculous. However, once it was cleared, I could kind of enjoy it. Don't go crazy thinking we've seen a plow and can get out. Because we haven't and we can't. We don't expect to see a plow for a couple of days and schools are already cancelled Tuesday (Monday is a teacher workday so kids were already out).

But we're holding up inside just fine. We made some delicious whole wheat bread on Saturday (even using the wheat grinder and the Bosch--serious business). Sunday morning I made some coffee cake. Monday I want to do cinnamon rolls. Don't worry: I'm more than burning those calories. I can't even stress enough how much shoveling we've done. (In our house, it's not a man job, like lawn mowing. We both shovel.) And tomorrow, since I can't run, I'm going to take a snowshoe hike on the trail. I can't wait to see it all snowy!

I had all these plans for getting stuff done while being housebound, but not one has happened. Mostly because we're (1) outside shoveling, (2) outside playing, or (3) inside recovering from (1) and (2).

I can't resist this kid.


Job well done, us.


Snow shadow selfie.


Moving was just so slow with that much snow. Kids really struggle! Thank goodness I could tamp is all down with my snowshoes.


I love the shape of the snow on the roof. I also love this kid.


Rhett is in the middle of our street. OUR STREET, PEOPLE.


The hill that grew in the backyard.


What good is a bunch of snow if it's not made into a cave or a tunnel? No good, I tell you. And as I type, he's still out there working on it. Man, I love the increased stamina in older kids!


Posting early so my parents can read before they leave for Belgium. Oh their hard life.

Snow, Part 2 (of probably a million, if this is any indicator)

Lest you think we in D.C. are overreacting a bit to the storm, I give you this:

ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 18 TO 24 INCHES IN THE EASTERN SUBURBS OF WASHINGTON DC...AND 24 TO 30 INCHES IN THE WESTERN SUBURBS. THE CITY OF WASHINGTON DC IS EXPECTED TO RECEIVE AROUND 24 INCHES.

And, of course, we're in the western suburbs. Sigh.

But we're ready. Wood is chopped and sitting by the wood stove. Shovels are brought in. Books are checked out. Groceries are in the house (staples we had; treats we had not). Patterns for sewing projects are printed. New games were purchased and delivered at 8:30 p.m. Thursday night. Attitudes are still being adjusted (but that's on me).

My apologies in advance for the plethora of snow posts that will likely follow in the next couple of days/weeks. If the storms of '09-'10 are any indication, well, just sorry. (Ahem, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.)

P.S. I won't lie: looking through those old posts significantly raises my anxiety over this storm. This snow is coming overnight! We're going to wake up Saturday morning with snow up to the roof. Breathe, erin, just breathe.

P.P.S. Thursday afternoon school was cancelled for Friday. You know, before anything even fell.

Snow

Here we go. Our first real snowstorm of the season, which is only our second snow of the entire winter. (The first was some lame flakes that briefly fell Sunday.) But this one is for reals. The hype is building like crazy, as is my anxiety. Thank goodness for my handy-dandy list. The only thing we need to add to it is to bring the shovels in from the shed. And this year? We have four shovels. That's right: the boys have their own and will be expected to help earn that hot chocolate.

A Week in Albuquerque

Let's be honest: traveling for work isn't fun. Sure, all the times when you're not actually working are okay, but when I travel for work, I'm in meetings from 8:30 until 4:30. And when it's 4:30 in the winter, it's dark soon after meetings end. And when you've crossed two time zones, you're ready for bed at 8. Which barely leaves time for dinner. So pretty much the first two days (Monday I got in too late to even count) were just blah. Work, eat, sleep. But Thursday! I love me some Thursday. We had an hour and a half for lunch, so my friend Kathy picked me up and we enjoyed a fun lunch. After returning, it was just a teeny time until we were done at 3. Daylight + Winter Warmth + New City = A Long Run! There's no other way that I enjoy getting to know a city better than a long run through it. So I headed out of the hotel and started running. Soon enough I was on Route 66. Cool. Then I was crossing the Rio Grande! It's such a western river. I loved it. Then I ran on a rec trail though Rio Grande Valley State Park, and then right by the elephants in the zoo. It was awesome. After the run I sat in the hotel's hot tub. Because duh. Then I went upstairs, showered, and gave myself a Korean face mask treatment. Then I had a banana and a Star Crunch for dinner. Perfection.

You can't be in New Mexico without seeing a hot air balloon. (This was taken from my hotel room. Except for the freeway, it wasn't a bad view.)


Views! Of stuff!


Man, I am sooooo good lookin'.


I'm just hoping for the next conference I can convince those in charge to choose Salt Lake City. Or Puerto Rico. Or just somewhere warm, because otherwise, in January, what's the point?

A Tale of Two Pigs

This is Ollie's (new) pig.


This is Ollie's (old) pig after being subjected to Ollie for years.


Any questions?

For Me

I'm leaving today for a week-long work trip to Albuquerque. Chuck and the boys will stay home. This picture is for when I'm lying in my king-sized bed, alone, watching something dumb on tv, eating take out in bed. You know, to remind me that I should feel sad.



P.S. As a goodbye present, my boys (all three of them) ate this totally yummy Thai curry dish without major incident. I went into it fully expecting disaster, but no! And man, it was delicious.

Christmas Break

Seeing as though I'm a better mom outside of the house than in, I knew that we'd have to get out of the house every day (if even for a tiny bit) during Christmas break. So we did. Monday was zoo lights, Tuesday the boys saw a movie in a theatre, Wednesday we went to a small aviation museum, Thursday the boys went to BounceU, Friday we just stayed at home and destroyed our gingerbread houses (see below), and Saturday we went swimming (which was Rhett's favorite activity of the week). I really think it was the perfect mix of at-home-lazy and getting-out-and-doing something. We watched a movie almost every day, and the boys played some video games, as well as with their new toys. Certainly I was ready for school, but I wasn't dying. Or dead. Phew.

Christmas Day

As noted, we had a lovely Christmas. Sure, I could have slept an extra hour (the boys woke up at 5:30), but as Chuck and I were trying to embrace the season, we let the boys get us up then. It was Christmas morning, after all. We managed to drag out gift opening for two hours. After that I was able to go for a (memorable, but you'll have to ask me about it) run and then we just spent the day lazing around the house. It's kind of awesome that I have two boys who love playing video games with their dad because it means that I get ignored. And I'm happy to be ignored for a bit. And then, like last year, we hosted Chuck's brother and sister-in-law and their two girls for our Feliz Navidad celebration (taco dinner). It was a low-key, nice day. A lot like Christmas of '14, unsurprisingly.

Gift highlights for Rhett: vest, mini figures, kindle, hexbug game, hexbug shark, Skylanders

Gift highlights for Ollie: magformers, light-up shoes, pop gun, new stuffed pig, kindle, pig popper, legos, hexbug shark, Skylanders

Chuck and I didn't do much for each other, which is fine for both of us. There was not much I needed nor wanted. We do, however, have some money leftover in the Christmas budget, so maybe we'll get something fun. Only 354 until next Christmas!

December Wrap-Up

In a talk last month, our Bishop (who was recently called as Stake President) encouraged us this Christmas season to "Stop, drop, and roll." I can't quite remember what each was supposed to represent, but the general idea was to stop the Christmas insanity. And truly, I think this was a December in which we did. I had most of the shopping done by Thanksgiving (and wrapping was done a week or so later), Christmas cards were mailed kinda early, homemade gifts were done before December started, and activities were reasonable. I really enjoyed the entire month and was able to remain calm and enjoy the season with all my boys. We do an activity advent, but even those were reasonable and (GASP!) even sometimes enjoyable! It really was a wonderful month. Temperatures in the 50s, 60s, and 70s contributed. We bought slurpees on Christmas Eve because it was 70 degrees. C'mon: how many Christmases can you appropriately enjoy a slurpee if you live north of the 40th parallel?

Oh, the "roll" of "stop, drop, and roll" I think was to roll with the punches. You know, just go with it. I really tried to embrace that this Christmas, especially in the week after Christmas. You want to eat nothing but cookies all day? Alright. It's Christmas. You want to watch a movie every day during Christmas break? Sure. It was really hard for me, but it really was a great break.

Kids make the ugliest cookies. I think I cleaned up a quarter cup of sprinkles from off the counter.


Our annual "red and green" dinner, which usually turns out to be a "pink and green" dinner. But we try.


A fun drive to a private house who puts on this crazy display of lights.


A wet trip downtown to see the Capitol tree, you know, the one that came from my brother's neighborhood. (And I use neighborhood loosely when talking about Alaska.)


Botanic Gardens.


A Christmas Eve Eve sleepover in front of the tree. Seriously nothing cuter than sleeping kids, especially when they sleep in the same bed.


Making gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve.