Things Valerie Has Done...

Things I Have Done...

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept over night on a train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23.Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone Deep Sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the changing of the guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Ho Ho....Nooooo!!! Our Visit to Santa

Yep, the picture pretty much says it all

She was so excited to see Santa "santa santa santa" until we tried to put her on his lap. Then all bets were off and thus began the screaming, arching, wriggling mass that was captured in this Kodak moment. Since that time, she has refused to be left with anyone or sit on their laps...LOL She also will have very little to do with the jingle bell necklace he gave her.
Dallin on the other hand, has NEVER cried with Santa (so it was kind of fun to experience this..in a twisted way) and marched right up to Santa and told him that he wanted roller skates for Christmas and that he was being good and he was making Santa some cookies. Since that time, he has pointed out every white bearded man and insisted that they are Santa.

Thanksgiving Day

Ok so I know this post is a bit late, but I had to post it quickly because the Christmas posts are starting to come (so you may want to check back daily for a bit).
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. It is hard to believe it was only about a week or so ago. We went over to my parents' home and had a DELICIOUS turkey dinner. Everything was cooked to perfection. It was amazing. I loved the smells and the tastes, and the laying about afterwards with family(and the going out almost in the middle of the night for the sales the next day wondering if you were crazy and the deal was really worth it...LOL...good times good times...love ya mom).
The kids were really cute this year. It is so much fun watching them experience things for the first time and develop their own sense of self. Dallin ADORED the stuffing. My mom actually made extra because she knows how much he likes it. I think he must have had about 10 helpings (I am NOT exaggerating here). Kate has discovered the joy that is cranberry sauce from a can (that's my girl!). I think she ate at least half a can all by herself. I really had to fight her for it. LOL We all told what we thankful for. Most of the adults were thankful for family, friends, and jobs during this uncertain time, but I think my favorite was the kids' answers.

WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR?

Dallin: Is it my turn? Is it my turn? Oh ok! I'm thankful for the potty!!!
(I am too!!!)
Kate: ME!!!
(no self esteem issues here! lol)

I feel blessed to have such a good husband who is also a wonderful father, and I am truly amazed that the Lord has sent 2 such special blessings into my life, my children Dallin and Kate. I am grateful to live near my family and I am LOVING every minute of it. I am thankful for the church and the gospel, but especially for my growing testimony and the love of Jesus Christ. I am blessed that we live in this wonderful country in a beautiful home with enough food to eat and a job for my husband. I pray that we may all continue to remember how blessed we are and to feel grateful through the coming year.

Take Time to Stop and Smell the Roses

Life in Texas moves along at a mozy. It is beautiful weather here--70s and most days are sunny and cool. I love fall and the leaves here are finally starting to change. We have been going on 2 mi walks lately with Nana and Aunt Tammy to get some exercise. Dallin actually rides his bike the WHOLE way! However, he has figured out that Nana will push him if he stops so he does that quite often too. "Ahhhh, that feels so good. Thanks for pushing me Nana!" On our walks, we pass a flower bed and both of my kids get extremely excited and insist on stopping so they can admire and smell the beautiful flowers. It really makes you appreciate the small things that you tend to miss when you have little ones who think it is such a wonder. During this holiday season, it reminds me to stop and enjoy the little things because someday I will look back and realize that they were the big things.

Cornocopia

In Christopher's family, they had the tradition of making cornocopias every year when the kids were in elementary school. In fact, they would do it with all the classrooms in the the grade! We decided to give this a try this year to bring a little Thanksgiving spirit/fun to our family. I made up the cornocopia edible "play dough" (It is DELICIOUS by the way :) and colored it several different colors. Then we made various fruits and vegetables (or whatever we wanted) to put inside our cornocopia (sugar cone) without eating too much. It was really fun to share this activity with my family and see what everyone came up with. We even talked (briefly) about being thankful for all of the wonderful blessings God has given us like these wonderful foods we can eat. The picture on the top is my cornocopia. In case you are wondering, it has a watermelon, a pea pod, a pumpkin, bananas, a yellow squash, and a turkey in there (I was especially proud of the turkey). It was WAY fun and I learned a lot. For one thing, I did NOT need to double the recipe for the few people I had. Also, I needed to add more powdered sugar so it was almost dry so that it would be easier to mold and wouldn't melt. The meltiness definitely stifled the creative juices. I figure by the time the kids are in grade school, I'll have it just about right!
Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! We'll try to post pictures of the actual day soon :)

Here is Papa, Uncle Michael and Nana making cornocopias. Nana made an awesome yellow squash!

Here is Kate with her "apple". She loves the real thing and this sugary version was a real hit. She kept asking for them over and over.
Here is Kate stuffing her cornocopia.
Here is a spread of some of Dallin's food for his cornocopia. He has bananas, a pea pd, a watermelon, and the red blob at the bottom is a pizza.

Dallin is showing part of his cornocopia.

For those who are interested. Here is the recipe for the cornocopia "play dough"
(WAY YUMMY!)
1/3 c unsalted butter (room temperature..NOT MELTED!)
1/3 c light corn syrup
1 t almond extract
1/2 t salt
1 lb sifted powdered sugar
Mix together all but powdered sugar until creamy and smooth. Mix in powdered sugar slowly until has playdoh type consistency. You may need to add more powdered sugar to make it more dry so it molds easily without melting. You can also use sprinkles as leaves or stems. Use food paste or food coloring to make it different colors.

Out of the Mouths of Babes (and Studs :)

Dallin (Dallin is doing the robot in the picture...Uncle Willie taught him how at a family dance party...LOL priceless!)

• "you scared me to deaf! (death)" While this is sometimes used when you actually SCARE him, mostly it is just used when you catch him doing something naughty and he jumps.
  

• This conversation occured when Dallin found an old Sharp family photo from before he was born (Christopher was in it) It was the first time he was concerned about death/dying. It is sweet funny and sad.

Dallin: There is mommy and daddy and nana and papa and uncle willie and uncle michael. (looks concerned) Where am I?
Mom: You weren't born yet.
Dallin: (looks HORRIFIED!) I was...DEAD!?
Mom: No, Dallin. You weren't dead. You were living in Heaven with Heavenly Father. Mommy and Daddy were waiting for you to come.
Dallin: Oh ok. (waits for a moment, then looks sad) I'm so sad. All you guys are going to go away and live with Heavenly Father.
Mom: Yes, Dallin, someday we will die. But that is a very very long time from now.
Dallin: Oh. Ok.

• "and please bless my daddy to get a good job and take out the trash" Amen Dallin!!! This was in his dinner prayer one night.
• "moly moly!" This is "holy moly" Dallin style. It is apparently, however, very offensive to say this to his poops (the POOPS get offended....hmmm...who knew?)
  
• "you're the best mom ever!" I love the little moments when he is so sweet because usually they are followed by 22 hours of non-sweet. LOL He really can be a tender little soul. He has also told people they are the best uncle, friend, daddy, nana, papa, etc. He usually says it when he is getting his way :) A couple of times it has been without fanfare though...yippee!
  

• Mom: Dallin pick up your t-shirt off the floor and put it in the laundry.

Dallin: (picks up shirt and examines it. it is yellow with a dinosaur on the front. looks at me seriously) It's not a "T" mom...it's a dinosaur...See!

• "Katie Bug! Katie Bug! Katie Bug...c'mon Bug!" So we have called little Kate Katie Bug, Bug, or Buggie since she was born but all of the sudden Dallin will yell this after her whenever he wants her to listen to him or come with him. LOL It sounds really funny when he says it
• "blah blah blah blah" Dallin will now substitute this as a filler when he is telling a longwinded story or explanation.
• Dallin will "read" scriptures with us and gets really excited when it is his turn to "read" (repeat what we say) He also insists on having his little blue Book of Mormon out...it is never on the right page...it is just out.
  
• (while in sacrament meeting, Dallin points at one of the deacons while they are passing sacrament) "Look Mommy! See that one!? See that little one? That little one right over there. That little one....he has funny hair." I am frantically shusing him and he just kept getting louder. I told him it wasn't nice to say that about other people and so VERY LOUDLY he says "It's nice, mom. It's not mean say he has funny hair" (still pointing...sigh.)
• "It was a tough day for my feet, but they were good at church so they each get a sticker" (sticks feet up in my face, proudly) The kids REALLY LOVE their sticker charts.
  
• (upon seeing a very tall and large man and his wife in line at Burger King) "Mommy, that is a big daddy! That is the biggest daddy I ever seen! That daddy is huge. He is the HUGEST daddy ever. That is a BIG BIG BIG giant daddy" He would not stop in spite of my frantic shusing until I asked him to go find a table.
  
• "I love you Thomas" (kisses the picture of Thomas)
• "A B C D HEB" For those who don't live in Texas, this is funny because HEB is a local grocery chain...but in Dallin's alphabet song it often appears.
• Dallin is really becoming a big helper. He loves to help with laundry, make his bed, dress himself, and has recently started clearing the table and loading the dishwasher. (However, sometimes he throws out ANY food left on the table....like a whole bowl of grapes. lol) He also tries hard to take care of Kate and make sure SHE follows the rules (even if he is not). He will hold her hand and lead her around. It is really funny. He has also started singing BINGO and the ABC song and you can often hear him singing in his room before he falls asleep. He does not know all the words to either though, so it makes for some interesting renditions.
  
• "Jesus loves us and wants us to be happy!" I think they must have had a lesson on this in nursery because Dallin uses this EXACT phrase OVER AND OVER again. I am happy that he gets it...kind of....he seems to use it to try and convince me to give him what he wants...after all, Jesus wants him to be HAPPY why doesn't mom? LOL
  
• "Babies come from the grocery store" Dallin was asked where babies come from and this was his response. Apparently, you can go right on down to Wal-Mart and pick them up!. Who knew?
  

Kate

• Kate's vocabulary is expanding exponentially. These are some of her new words "car, choo choo, too, uh oh, cool, cold, little bit, piggies, princess, santa"
• "nana" Kate loves Nana and starts screaming Nana Nana! and running for the door if I even mention that Nana is coming over or that we are going to Nana's house. When we pull up to Nana's house (or even pass it) she will point and start yelling "nana!" She loves to climb up in Nana's lap for a good cuddle and rock.
• "pee"/"poop" Kate is still using the potty (although we are still at the early inconsistent phase. She is good about getting her poop in the potty most of the time, but pee is really hit or miss. She is very proud of her princess pullups. She will sit on the potty and swing her little legs and say "I poop! I poop!" sometimes she will even throw in a grunt for dramatic emphasis. LOL What a ham!
  
• "Talk! Talk! Mine! Talk!" Kate LOVES the phone and is at the phase where she will carry on a conversation with almost anyone for 30 minutes if you let her (and if she manages not to hang up by accident). Every time she sees me with the phone she runs up and reaches for it with her little hands asking for a turn. What a girl!
• "pretty pretty! Pink pretty! Purple pretty! pretty!" Her girliness keeps burning bright. Everything is pretty ("pidy") or beautiful ("booful"). She loves pink and purple and always points out how "pidy" they are.
• "it's my turn" Yes, sentences have emerged. This one is particularly popular.
• Upon being "interviewed" Kate answered the following

Tammy: What is your favorite thing to do?
Kate: eat
Tammy: How old are you?
Kate: two

• "B" B is what Kate calls her blankie. She is obssessed with it. It goes everywhere and she will ask "B? B?" if she can't see it. One day she saw me put it in the wash and she bawled "B! B!" for the entire time. I think it is kind of funny because I was a blankie kiddo, but I named mine DD.
  
• (while looking at pictures of Madison) "Oh, so beautiful! Ohhhh so beautiful!"
• "wed (red), boo (blue), pink, pohpul (purple), geen (green), rehrow (yellow)" Kate will repeat and point out colors. Most of the time she is wrong (except for pink) but it is still cute to hear her say them.
• "eye, nose, maow (mouth)" Kate will say and point to these part of the body. It is funny because she will poke herself in the eye, put her finger up her nose, and gag herself. LOL
  
• "fa la la la la la la la la" Kate LOVES this Chritmas song and will sing the fa la la through the whole thing. So funny!
• Kate is growing more and more. She likes to pick up, help with laundry, empty the dishwasher, and has even tried to clear the table (she will throw away ALL the dishes though). She has started nursery and usually has only 1 meltdown during nursery each week. She wants to do EVERYTHING that Dallin does. It is funny to watch her follow him around and copy him. She and Dallin both sing the hymns at church...they don't know the words and they sing off key, but they sing loud to make up for it. She is heading for those terrible twos really fast and we are getting more tantrums and "No!'. Fortunately, she is darling and a sweetheart most of the time so we will be able to weather toddlerhood.
  

Pretty Piggies

I have to take a moment to reflect on how grateful I am to have a daughter. Today we painted her toenails for the first time. Fire engine red with glitter! The girl was a pro! She sat right down in her little rocker and held perfectly still while I painted each little piggy. She even let me dry them. She was soooo excited and kept saying "pretty pretty pretty piggies! pretty see pretty piggies mama? pretty" She looked at those piggies for the rest of the day-walking around almost prancing and stopping every so often to examine them again. She even showed her daddy first thing when he got home (she couldn't quite figure out how to lift her feet off the ground, but she sure tried. I am enjoying all of her girliness so much more than I ever thought I would, and I am so thankful to Heavenly Father that He sent me a daughter against my insistance that I wanted a SON--now I can't imagine life without my little girl. She was exactly what our family needed.
Kate Alivia - you are a gift and a joy...a real blessing to my life. I love you my little princess!

Me?

You Belong in 1998

With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

I found this on the Claridge blog and tried out the quiz. I'm not sure what I think about it. I have never really been with the times (always a step or two out of sync with style) so maybe 1998 is right on. I think I am probably just about there for being cool in 1998....just 10 years more to go! The gap is closing! WOOTAH!

Kate's 18 month Pictures

Here are Kate's 18 mo pictures. We had them done at JC Penny. I have the codes for the Smiles By Wire for those who want to see the entire session - just let me know and I can email them to you. Also, let us know if there is a certain size/quantity of picture(s) you want. The top picture (in color) we have a package of, but we really don't have many of the bottom picture to share. I just bought the one sheet because I thought it looked so classic, but I wanted most of the ones we sent out to have her smiling! Hope you enjoy them!

Trick Or Treat

Before it gets too late...we had a great Halloween! Hope ya'll did too! Here are some fun pictures of our spooktacular day! (The cutie at the top of the post is my fabulous niece Madison with her Halloween candy that she got on her very first Trick-or-Treat! Way to go Maddie!)

Here is Dallin and Christopher after putting out the little scarecrow we got at Wal-Mart. Dallin was obssessed with scarecrows this year thanks to Elmo's Halloween and he insisted that we HAD to have one. This was the first thing we did on Halloween!

Here are the kids painting little pumpkins. We rented Elmo's Halloween from the library and Elmo learns about a bunch of different Halloween activities...so, of course the kids wanted to try them ALL. We didn't manage the hayride and we didn't MAKE our own scarecrow, but we did paint the pumpkins, carve the pumpkins, get a scarecrow, and toast pumpkin seeds...mmm. Thank you Elmo, you are the standard by which we live!

Here is Dallin with the pumpkin that he painted. He actually did a pretty good job. He got lots of red on it and a few other colors too. He took it very seriously.

Here is Kate painting her nose. She tired of the pumpkin quickly but she painted that nose for at least 15 minutes and was upset when we finally took her brush away. She was blowing blue boogies for a week!

Here they are getting ready to carve the pumpkins. They were sooo excited to do another Elmo Halloween activity. However, poor Christopher did all the work while they watched.

Here is the kids helping with the pumpkin guts...err...playing in the pumpkin guts. It was even messier than it looks. Kate loved to squish it and throw it in the garbage can. Dallin did not want to have anything to do with reaching into the pumpkin because it made his hands "yucky" but he was happy to help Kate put it into the garbage.

Here are our finished jack-o-lanterns. We took them to Nana's house and put them out on the porch there. Dallin is WAY upset that we didn't bring them home and is STILL asking if we can go back and get them or get new pumpkins from Wal-Mart and carve them. He LOVED all the Halloween traditions this year.

Here are the kids trick or treating with daddy before we headed over to Nana's house. We started pretty early though (before 6 is TOO early) and many people weren't home or weren't ready. The kids got some weird "candy" - someone's leftover brownies and someone's old Valentines candy....hmmmm Next year we don't go out till at least 6.

Here we all are trick or treating together in Nana's neighborhood. It was so much fun to go together. The kids had a great time. Maddie even held her own bag. Sooo sweet. Dallin and Kate did VERY well at saying trick or treat and thank you and only taking one piece of candy! Yay me! I learned though that my kids' costumes were WAY too hot for Texas. We were all sweating the entire time and poor Dallin kept asking everyone for water instead of candy and laying down on the concrete. Yeah....we cut it a little short so he could strip down at the house and hand out candy instead.

Bathroom Stall - 1 Me - 0

I thought this was post worthy because it is a week old and still looks pretty awful (although it is looking better every day). It is about 2-3 inches across and an inch tall. It was black, but it is going purple/green now. It doesn't really hurt for looking so bad though.
Now the story:
On Sunday I had the kids by myself during sacrament and was trying to get them both into the handicapped stall so Dallin could use the bathroom. In the handicapped stall the purse hook is half way down the door so it is handicapped accessible. So....when I swung the door closed while trying to keep the children inside, I got pegged in the arm by the purse hook. It REALLY stung, but I forgot about it quickly with trying to keep up with the kiddos and all. I only remembered later when I noticed the MASSIVE nasty bruise on my upper arm.
I don't know whether it is funny or sad, but since I live in Texas and it is still warm here I am still wearing short sleeved shirts so....people can SEE it and I have had more than one person ask me (in that concerned kind of way) how I got it. They just don't seem convinced when I tell them I got it from the church bathroom stall. LOL
Until next time...my nemesis (the church bathroom stall). We shall meet again, and I will be ready!

Dallin's 3 year old Picture

Dallin's picture turned out great this year! Isn't he handsome!? Our little guy has really grown up. We had this done at JCPenny and I have the Smile By Wire code for anyone who wants to see the entire session (drop me an email for the code). Also let me know if you would like one of these pictures and what size.

Trunk or Treat

We went to our ward's trunk or treat last Saturday night. It was a lot of fun and the kids REALLY enjoyed it. Will, Tammy, and Maddie came with us and that made it really fun. They were dressed as an M&M family...too cute. They always make everything more fun. I am loving having them close by while it lasts. Plus they helped me not go crazy with my two mobile kiddos and the kids ADORE them.
It was WAY fun to debut our costumes and see everyone else's too. Dallin is still at the age where he thinks that character costumes ARE the REAL character. lol So he enjoyed seeing Buzz Lightyear and James the Engine, but especially MICKEY MOUSE! Oh yes, there was a sweet gal there dressed as Mickey Mouse and she was kind enough to play along and wave at my starstruck children as they followed her around the gym. She even gave Dallin a hug. Dallin made sure that Mickey got plenty of cheese on his/her chili too (because mice like cheese you know lol) It was very sweet.
They had a potluck chili dinner and little games for the kids. I was really surprised at how into the games my kids were (especially Dallin). I thought for sure he would be bored with it and want to "trick or treat", but he was totally excited to see all his friends and play the games. He caught on VERY quickly that you got candy when you played the game and REALLY thought that was great. They had a duck pond, beanbag tosses, stick the wart on the witch and a candy walk. They could have walked in circles for hours I think--just because they MIGHT get picked for candy. lol Dallin kept skipping. Kate thought it was a game of duck duck goose and kept walking along saying "duck duck duck duck" the whole time. It was so cute.
It was a good trial run for Halloween night too. I definitely WILL put glowbands on the kids even though we plan on trick or treating early. It is hard to see them in the dark. Also, we WILL trick or treat early to try to avoid the crowds. Dallin did pretty well at staying with me, but didn't quite get the concept of going from car to car in a row. He would run to whatever car looked interesting (and some were quite decked out with lights and decorations...even a live snake in one that Dallin got to "pet"/squeeze...poor snake). I was very proud of him for saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" at each car with little prompting. He had a hard time remembering to OPEN his bag though. LOL I will definitely bring a stroller for Kate on Halloween as well. She had enough walking after the second car and I had to carry her to the rest (there were at least 35). She would stare like a deer in the headlights and occasionally say "teat" (trick or treat) and "dah" (thanks) She was a lot more uncertain of the whole thing, but VERY pleased that people kept putting candy in her bag.
We had a great time, got lots of candy, and can't wait to do it again next year! VIVA TRUNK OR TREAT!

Halloween Costumes Debut!!

Just a quick post to show off this year's Halloween costumes! We made our grand debut this evening at the ward Trunk or Treat party, but I took a few pictures of the kids before we left--lookin all cute and unrumpled.
Dallin is a lion this year. Isn't his costume AMAZING!? We actually bought it off ebay 2 years ago and it fits him just perfect this year.


















Kate was the pick of the pumpkin patch this year in her little costume. What a cutie pie (pumpkin pie that is lol)! It was hard to get her to hold still for a picture though.





Here I am as WonderMom! I wore my apron (with timer, pen, first aid kit, sanitizer, and wipes) and Dallin's cape. I stuck on a nametag on the front and back that said "Hi! I'm WonderMom" and then I put a whole bunch of nametags with mom jobs on them all over the apron (teacher, doctor, mediator, chef, chauffer, nutritionist, hair stylist, personal shopper, etc.) It was a pretty fly costume even if I do say so myself. I have to add that I was super proud of their trick or treat bags that I made for them this year. Aren't they sweet? Dallin love scarecrows and pumpkins and Kate adores all things Elmo so it worked out great. I just used 2 yellow gift bags ($1 for 2 at the dollar store) and the Elmo Halloween coloring book and a few stick on jewels I had laying around and TA-DA!

Introducing "Kate's Hair" Blog

I am starting a new blog at www.kateshair.blogspot.com to put all my pictures of Kate's cutie patootie hair dos (and VERY general how tos on how I did them). I have to say that I am totally getting into styling her hair and I really enjoy being creative and making her look even cuter than she already is (if that is even possible). My hairdos are not original(and they are certainly not perfect)-I get my ideas from other hair blogs (some of which are listed on my site), but I like to try them on my KatieBug and see how they do in lil girl hair. Hope y'all enjoy my "art" work and seeing how my little girl is growing and blossoming.

"I'm Freakin' Out!" - and other fun phrases

Dallin

• I think Dallin gets funnier and funnier every single day. I can barely keep up with all his creative thoughts and funny word usage. Other people seem to be amazed that he has such a good vocabulary and he is barely 3. It doesn't really seem that spectacular to me, but I guess I haven't really met that many 3 year olds who use the word "disrespectful" correctly on a consistent basis. LOL What a kick in the pants :)
  
• "I have brown hair mom" "No sweetheart, it's red" "No mom, it's BROWN! just like you!" "Nope, I don't think you'll be able to convince anyone it is brown" "I WANT it brown!" Poor kiddo, already wishing to drown in a sea of normalcy. I adore your red hair Dallin! I hope it never changes. I guess it must be awkward to have strangers touching your hair and pointing out the color everywhere you go.
• The kids have started telling on each other (which for now is mostly funny and makes my job a little easier most days) Today Dallin came tearing up the stairs to tell us this little tidbit.

Dallin: Kate touched the tv and turned off Mickey Mouse. Kate is in trouble. Kate is in BIG BIG BIG trouble. Kate not supposed to touch the tv. Kate is in BIG trouble (Kate comes up the stairs) There she is(points down the hall at his sister)!
Mom: Kate Alivia
Dallin: HA!
Christopher and I erupted in laughter over this one. Kate did get told not to touch the tv, but Dallin's moment of vindication was just too funny.

• "I am getting bigger everyday! I can go to work now? I go to work and Daddy stay home with Mommy" Are we raising this kid right or what!? Every day he asks at least once if he is old enough to go to work. He came up with the fact that he could work so Daddy could stay home! I was surprised, but thought it was sweet of him to be so concerned (too bad it won't last until he is ACTUALLY old enough to go to work...by then he will understand money, wants, and things!...ahh the sweetness of fleeting innocence"
  
• "Let's go to Nana's. She'll help us. Nana will save the day" Dallin has all the faith in the world in Nana and Papa to make things all better. Fortunately for him, he is usually right (it helps that his major crises are not earth-shattering issues) When I was trying to find my way to the sprinkler park for playgroup and just couldn't do it after an hour, Dallin said this when we passed nana's house on our way home. We stopped in and Nana hopped in the car and took us straight there. Hip Hip Hooray! Nana saved the day!
  
• "Grandpa lives far far away. Grandpa, you live far far away. You and Luke are far far away. Grandma is far away. The truck is far away" Dallin really misses Grandpa and Grandma K (and their truck...he LOVES that blue truck) and the Higginson family. He will often inform me (and anyone else) that they are "far far away". He will ask to call Grandpa or Grandma just to spend the whole 2 minutes telling them that they are far far away (bet that really lifts their spirits....sigh) Occasionally, Dallin will ask to go back to the brown house, but it is getting less and less and he is enjoying it here.
  
• "You figure it out mom! Good job!" Apparently, the lost for an hour sprinkler park incident really stuck with Dallin because the next time we were on our way to playgroup, he kept praising me for figuring out how to get there without getting us lost. LOL He is not like me direction wise (thank goodness) and he can already recognize how to get places and will often tell you if you made a wrong turn (and he's RIGHT!) It makes for a bit of a backseat driver for me since I am directionally challenged and get lost a lot. LOL He points out every time I have to backtrack. Sigh....maybe when he is older, I can just ask him how to get there instead of beating my head against a wall trying to figure it out myself.
• "Don't touch my hair. My mom combed it" We have really been working on personal hygiene and all of the sudden Dallin is very protective over his combed hair. He wants it to stay nice and makes no bones over telling ANYONE who thinks to touch his combed hair that I combed it that morning. LOL Funny little man.
• "I was freakin' out!" This is one of the funniest things that Dallin says. I don't think Christopher and I say this but he started using it one day when he was telling a story about a giant in his room. "There was a giant in my room, and I was FREAKIN' OUT!" LOL Since then he uses it periodically especially when he is pretending or when you startle him.
• This was Dallin's big announcement at the breakfast table the other day when he was talking about how much bigger/older he was getting.
  

Dallin: Today I am getting married.
Dad: Really? Who's the lucky girl.
Dallin: It's Kate.
Dad: Oh ok. Well she is a nice girl. What do you think about it Kate?
Kate: Yep.

• "Drive safely!" Since Christopher works nights, the kids make a big deal of seeing him off in the evenings and welcoming him home in the mornings. I must say this a lot because Dallin will wave and say "bye dad, drive safely! I love you!" as Kate stands by the window and waves/blows kisses and says "Bye!" LOL It is so sweet. Every morning the kids run out in whatever they are wearing (or not wearing...hmmm) and jump into Christopher's arms screaming "Dad! Dad! Dad's home" (even Kate)
• "It's just a dog dad" At dinner one night, Christopher heard the washer filling and asked "what's that?" right as a dog barked. Dallin didn't miss a beat! He looked so smug.
  
• (after putting on his sister's tiara) "Look Mom, I'm a princess! I need you to take me to the ball" Oh yes, every mother waits for the day when her son will utter these words. I'm so proud. LOL
  
• "Don't worry mom. It's just a little pee" Should that make a difference? I mean really...when you pee your pants and get it on the carpet, does it Matter if you just let out a little pee or released the flood gates? Apparently though, this is supposed to make me fine with the fact that he just wet his pants....again. He can use the bathroom, but we are really struggling with him consistently initiating when he needs to go. I won't let him sit on the nice kitchen chairs (with the cushions) if he has had an accident that day and I am starting to set the timer and make him go every hour and pee. I hope he has it down before high school.
• (as we were brushing teeth/doing hair one morning)

Mom: It is important to brush our teeth and comb our hair. We want to look nice so we can feel proud and confident about the way we look. It also keeps us healthy. (yes, I actually talk like this to the kids when we are doing mundane tasks like brushing our teeth)Heavenly Father gave us our bodies. They are a very special gift and we need to take care of them. (see how I casually slip in a gospel lesson...mom points!)
Dallin: (pauses for a moment, then looks horrified) Jesus take my body away if I no take care of it!!! Jesus take it away! (umm...ok gospel lesson backfired when confused with parenting lesson of not take care of things = mom takes them away)
Mom: (trying HARD not to laugh) No, Dallin. Jesus loves us very much and so does Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father would not take our bodies away if we don't take care of them. If we don't take care of our bodies, we can get sick and it makes Heavenly Father sad when we don't take care of our bodies since he gave them to us. ( at least his misunderstandings take some critical thinking skills)
Dallin: Oh. Ok.

• "It's somewhere" This is now the standard answer that I get whenever I ask Dallin where something is. "It's somewhere"--completely serious, non sarcastic, innocent and hopeful kind of way...thank you Dallin for all your "help"
• Dallin is discovering family relationships and how different people are related to each other and himself. It took weeks to convince him that Aunt Tammy could be Mommy to Madison and still be his Aunt Tammy. We were talking about sending a box to Aunt Carrie and this is what he came up with.
  

Dallin: I have Aunt Carrie?
Mom: Yes, Dallin. Aunt Carrie lives in California
Dallin: I want to go see Aunt Carrie.
Mom: California is really far away Dallin so we won't be able to go visit for a long time.
Dallin: Aunt Tammy turned into Aunt Carrie?
Mom: No, Dallin. Aunt Carrie is Daddy's sister. Aunt Tammy is different than Aunt Carrie.
Dallin: I want to go visit Aunt Carrie in California.
Mom: We can't right now Dallin. It is really far away.
Dallin: Just take a right and a left and go to Aunt Carrie's.
LOL If only it were that easy. I love his logic.

Kate Alivia

• Kate is TALKING!!! New words are appearing so many times every day I can't even keep up with them all. Here is a list (well what I can remember of individual words she says drink, hi-eeee(hi), bye-eeee(bye), no, don't, mine, sorry, my turn, some more, wash hands, up, bahn(banana), yummy, bapple (apple), boo, pee pee, see ya, pease (please), dah (thanks), ball, there!, Dallin, mom, da (dad), aunt tammy, madison, book, yep, yay, train

• "Juice" Kate is an addict. She learned this word and now brings her cup to me all the time "juice, juice juice!" If it was up to her, that would be a staple of her diet. Fortunately (for us) we don't have juice in the house often at all.
  
• "Bum bum bum bum" Kate thinks it is really funny if I sing "bum bum bum bum...bum bum bum bum bum" (I think it is from dragnet or something) while I change her diaper and she will sporadically start singing it and giggle when I join in.
• "Go Dog Go" Kate LOVES the book Go Dog Go. I think it is because she can say most of the words and she ADORES dogs. She practically chases them down the street yelling "dog dog! woof" It is funny when she gets her Go Dog Go book and starts "reading it" "Dog! Go Dog! GO GO!"
  
• Kate is still a dancin fool, and will spontaneously burst into dance with or without music if she is especially happy. At times she will even provide her own music by singing. She really loves it if I sing "She's a maniac, maniac on the floor, and she's dancin like she's never danced before". She will shake her little head and giggle and dance super fast.
  
• "eye" Kate will say eye and poke her own eyeball. LOL Sometimes if you ask her where her eye is, she will point to her ear or nose first and then giggle and point to her eye.
• "I built it" Yes, ladies and gentlemen we are entering the world of simple sentences. It is still surprising to me when our little pixie comes up and all of this spills out of her mouth. She had put two legos together and kept taking them apart and putting them together to show me what she built. Wow! Maybe we have a future engineer!
  
• " all done" and "more" We haven't really done signing with Kate like we did with Dallin--she is pretty able to get her point across anyways..lol However, she does sign all done and more to get what she wants. She will say the words too which is helpful. It is funny when she chases you around the house "mo mo mo mo" putting her fingertips together.
• "cheese" Kate will say cheese for the camera, but also she LOVES to eat it (much to Dallin's chagrin) She gets really excited on the cheese aisle at the grocery store "Cheese! Cheese!" and she will ask for it constantly at dinner. We pretty much know we can get her to eat some of anything if it has cheese on it. I think she would live on it if we let her.
• "Melmo" Kate is obsessed with all things Elmo (melmo) She will even ask to watch it by going to the tv and saying it over and over and over while pointing at the screen until you put the DVD in. Then she will quickly grab her blankie, sit down, and spread it over her lap expectantly. She also loves her Melmo dolls.
• Kate pooped in the potty!! Twice! It is a big deal. It was mostly luck on my part since it is not hard to tell when she is trying to go. She is soooo excited and proud of herself when she does it. Plus it helps that Dallin is there to make a big deal of it too.
  
• Kate can walk downstairs and upstairs by herself UPRIGHT! She uses the wall or the handrail for balance, but she is doing it--what a big girl! We have been holding her hand so she could do it for some time (even Dallin has helped hold her hand on the stairs) but she has recently started to do it on her own. She is so stubby it takes her a long time to climb up and down them. Dallin gets tickled everytime she does it "Mom! Mom! Look at Kate! She is doing it all by herself! I'm so proud of you Kate!"
• "my teeth" Kate will ask to have her teeth brushed. She will go in the bathroom and try to climb up on the counter where the toothbrushes are saying "my teeth my teeth"
• "boots" Kate has a pair of girly rain boots that she want to wear all the time. She will go get them out of her drawer and follow me around with them "Boots, mommy, boots!" and when you ask her if she wants them on, she will nod so vigorously you wonder how she is still standing. They are cute boots, but sometimes she looks awfully funny in her dress or shorts with big ol rain boots up to her knees.
  
• Kate weighs 22 pounds now (I know, such a lightweight) and is really growing up. We sure love her.

My big kids- growing up fast!