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Sunday, April 27, 2008

My masterpiece

I have really loved making Shea a big, cool cake on his birthday each year. Well, this year when he decided he wanted a Star Wars guys birthday, I started thinking about what kind of a cake I'd make. I wish I could claim that this idea was mine, it wasn't, I copied pretty much step-by-step directions from the internet, but I can claim that it was hand made (top to bottom) with love by momma.

Introducing...
YODA!
(who only slightly resembles Miss. Piggy) :-)


And yes, I did put the 3 on backwards!

My big brother rules!!

Clare: "Wow, my big brother is so cool!"

"And funny too!!"

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Just for you, Grandpa

We miss our Grandpa. He came to stay for a week and Clare fell in love with him and then he left. :-( I'm not entirely sure who slept better, Clare or Grandpa, but pretty much any time of day or night Clare could be found snuggled as tight as could be on Grandpa's warm comfy chest, both sound asleep. This baby is growing and changing so much Grandpa and we wanted you to see the beautiful, new smiles she'd be lavishing on you if you were here. We love you!!



Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Don't bother me, I'm watching!



I LOVE this show!! The finale is tonight, and I just wanted to warn everyone not to call or come over because I'll be glued to my TV from 9-11!! :-)

I am so inspired by these people's transformations. I wish I could go on and loose 60 pounds! Anyone can loose that much weight when you work out 6 hours and day with a personal trainer and eat only what the team of nutritionists put in front of you. So then what do the rest of us do?? Say we're inspired and then eat half a pan of lemon squares I guess. :-)

I told Chris this morning that I was going to sign myself up, but he informed me that if I left him alone with our two kids for 12 weeks I'd come back and he'd have a new wife. So, maybe I'll rethink that and just start walking in the mornings and try to stay away from the lemon squares.

Enjoy the finale tonight!!!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Grocery Shopping

So - grocery shopping with two kids is an adventure. The first time I went to the grocery store alone wasn't too bad, Clare cried 1/2 the time, but I can handle that (even though I was getting pretty nasty looks.) So, I thought I'd try it again, I had a bunch of groceries to get and I couldn't wait for Chris to get home so off we went. I didn't realize quite how much I needed and by the time we got to the deli counter Clare had been screaming her head off for 45 straight minutes and my cart was absolutely overflowing. After the whole ordeal was over I looked over at the bagger and he had filled TWO carts full with my groceries (and I still had the car seat with the screaming baby in it!) What?? I could fit it all into one cart but he couldn't? I couldn't figure out what to do - how could I get home carrying a car seat (since they packed groceries into the seat) holding the hand of a toddler and pushing two carts. Um.... They so kindly asked me if they could help me out to my car. Well, no car guys, I walked over. This caused quite the commotion at the front end of the store. No one could figure out what to do. So eventually the manager sent TWO baggers, each pushing a cart, across the street and down the block home with me. (How embarased was I?) And I didn't even tip them! (Ok, I would have, but I wasn't planning on being escorted and I had no cash.) Ugghh! When am I going to the store again? Don't ask! :-)

Monday, April 7, 2008

6 Weeks


Already!!! How did that go by so fast? I loved that in the Sun afternoon session of General Conference, Elder Ballard quoted the article I put on the blog last week about holding onto the precious moments of childhood. I’ve been trying, and still time is slipping through my fingers! Here are a few recent pictures of our little beauty.



Stitches!!!


Yes!! That is my poor, sweet little man sporting 4 nasty stitches on his cute little forehead. We now have a solemn agreement that these are the ONLY and LAST stitches allowed in his lifetime. It happened on Friday. All 4 of us were out running errands together, I dropped Chris and Shea off at UCLA and ran to do a few errands while they did a few things Chris had to do on campus. I had barely pulled into the Kinko’s parking lot (which – side note, is the only Kinko’s I’ve ever seen that has Valet parking. Only in LA!) when the phone rang. So I answer it and it’s Chris who’s exact words to me (spoken super fast and franticly) are, “You have to come back and pick us up right now, We have to take Shea to the Emergency room.” Um… what? Are you kidding me? NOT the phone call a mom wants to get. So I rush back up there to find my baby and his daddy covered in blood and both super duper sad. Shea had fallen head first down some sharp stone steps and gashed his forehead open. Luckily, the UCLA Medical Center is just around the corner and we got him over there quick. He was an amazingly brave little man and only cried once. Shea’s ok with his “big owie” now, not because as Daddy’s been telling him, that chicks dig scars, but because his forehead now looks like a football. :-) Boys.

Chilling with Daddy in the ER

Waiting for the stitches

Letting the local anesthesia work its magic.

The stitches

Seriously??

Shea and I ordered a pizza last night while Chris was out to dinner with the boys after the Priesthood session. When the pizza man knocked on the door Shea ran over to see who was here and as I’m signing the receipt he asks, “Are you my daddy?”
WHAT??????
I was so embarrassed! And the pizza guy!!! He looks at Shea, he looks at me and he goes, “um… no!” I’m pretty sure it was the most uncomfortable delivery that 17 year old’s made in a long time. I know what Shea was thinking. That the knock was going to be his daddy coming home and that upon seeing a stranger, the question just never got altered on the way out of his mouth. But seriously dude – you do know what your father looks like!

Shea Paid His Tithing!


Shea has received a few dollars up to this point in his life, but we didn’t think he’d understand paying tithing before, so when Grandma sent him a dollar in his Easter card we had a nice talk about tithing so he could pay it for the very first time. He was so happy to help me write his tithing slip, put in his dime, and lick his envelope. He was so proud to give his envelope to the bishop, who was very kind and shook his hand and made a big show of putting Shea’s envelope in his pocket. That was one happy little boy!

I LOVE Trader Joe's




I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Trader Joe’s!! I fell in love with them the year I lived in AZ and hated not having one in Utah and can therefore now be found blowing half our grocery budget on snacks and goodies and other deliciousness every month at one of our many local Traders. I always used to think that it was more expensive than the big grocery stores and in some cases it is – but in most, I’ve found stuff there so much cheaper than at Vons! My FAVORITE items there are:
- The honey sesame coated cashews! (Oh my gosh, I ate an entire pound last week BY MYSELF! They are so delicious – ummmmmm. And a whole pound is only $4.59.)
- The honey roasted peanuts are also super yummy and way cheaper than the grocery store. $2.50/lb!!!!
- The imported Australian red licorice! WOW! If you like red licorice and haven’t tried this yet, you must! It’s the best licorice on the planet.
- All the French cheeses. We can find almost all our favorites and they’re (again) not too expensive.
- Their yogurt! First, all their dairy products are WAY WAY cheaper than at Vons and it’s all delicious esp. the yogurt, it’s the French style: creamy and runny the way we like it..
- They have this one pound package of super super thinly sliced beef sirloin that is so handy. I’ve used it for a bunch of different stir-fry’s and fajita’s and it’s so thin that it cooks up in just a few seconds and you don’t have to do any slicing or trimming, it’s all ready to go. Yummy.
- My favorite lunch - their ready to go 9 piece California roll sushi plate. Only $2.50! ($5.99 at Vons and Albies!)
So, what am I missing? What can you not live without that I haven’t discovered yet? Please share!!!

When Your Tummy's In Charge

I know that I sure feel like my tummy is in charge most of the time – but not to the extent that Shea’s apparently is. Recently it’s his tummy that’s in charge and that tells him (and us) various things. Here are a few examples of things THE TUMMY has recently been feeling.

“My tummy needs help putting on these socks.”
“My tummy wants some ice–cream on a stick.” (This one, mommy totally gets!)
“My tummy wants to go play outside.”
“My tummy isn’t tired mommy! It doesn’t want to go to bed.”

What does your tummy tell you?

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Note to self

Stop
Eating
Candy!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

April Fools

Ok, so yes, yesterday was April Fools and THANKFULLY! it was not like last year.
This year he was too busy finishing his last paper to fully terrorize me. He did however have time to change my homepage to the Hooters homepage and to post a fake post (see below.) No, he is NOT dropping out of school to become a full time musician (thank goodness!) although I highly support him playing his tuba more as it's pretty sexy. So no, to those who were confused - we're not going anywhere or making any big changes. A second child is quite enough for the moment! :-)