Blue lipstick, a tutu, drool, and a glowing eye.

I think that title just about covers it. Honestly, sometimes the hardest part about posting a blog is thinking up a title.
Anyway, on to the randomness... To help me get through the long winter here in Idaho, I joined a local gym. My priorities in joining went something like this 1) It has a nursery 2) It is something to do that is not wandering WalMart 3) Did I mention that I get away from the bundles of joy? 4) Maybe I will get some exercise. Maybe.
Anyway, the ladies that watch the kids there gave them all little stockings with some small gifts for Christmas. Alex was very excited about her "sock", and even more excited when she realized that the play cell phone actually contained makeup. I was less excited about that, especially when I saw that the lipstick was blue and rubbed off on anything it touches.
We now have a rule that the lipstick is only applied right before bathtime, when it is promptly washed off. I'm no fun at all, and that's okay with me.

I still let her do her own hair...when we're staying in the house, of course. And check out the fab tutu my friend Jen made for Alex. Too cute!
Here's the little guy checking out the lights on the tree. And if you're wondering when he's going to stop drooling so he can stop wearing bibs 24/7, so am I.
He has a special ability to make one eye glow.
And to cheese it up for the camera :)
2 days 'til Christmas-- get wrapping!!

Cuteness Warning: Elevated

Last Sunday was the preschool Christmas program at church. Alex was a sheep and the show was a hoot. There were kids picking noses (and eating the proceeds!), waving to mom, asking for a drink, exiting the stage in tears, and all sorts of unplanned fun. Here are clips of our sheep that you will probably only enjoy if you are Alex's grandparent, so I forgive the rest of you for bowing out now.

Alex needs to work on her "f's", as I think I can her her say "God is near, have no beer." ;)

You can't see Alex in this one because she is standing right behind a non-moving/singing shepherd, but I thought you'd like to see the circus atmosphere on stage.

They made Jesus work at a young age...he was barely born and he's already sweeping!

Sick of this yet?? Last one, I promise

Christmas Card Fiasco

I'm fairly certain that the most painful part of the holiday season is trying to get a family picture for our Christmas card. I decided to make things a little less difficult by only putting the kids on the card this year. That will be easy, right? We tried the other night when Alex was dressed for her performance at church, but unfortunately Derek was in no mood to pose. Here's how it went...

Good try guys, now let's have Alex take her finger out of her mouth, and Derek stand up next to sissy.
Almost, but this time don't fall over.
Ummm, can you stop crying for a sec? No?

So we decided to head over to the church and try to snap some pictures there. Maybe he would be in a better mood then. Here we are before the service started.


Right, okay. So Alex, stop jumping. And Derek, for the love of all that is good, will you stop crying?? No? Okay, so let's go to the service and we'll try once more afterward.

I think Alex was getting a little frustrated with him. And poor Derek, well, he was just not having his finest moment evening weekend.

This was the best we could come up with, but their faces are kind of washed out and Derek wasn't exactly looking at the camera. So this year we will have 2 individual pictures on our card and you know what? I think it will be okay. The good news is that mommy's Christmas present arrived in the mail this week and hopefully next year we will have a much better time! I got a new camera which I am so excited about and the instruction manual guarantees that it will make me an awesome photographer. Oh wait, I guess it didn't technically say that, but I'm sure that's what will happen. Surely by next Christmas, right?

Right?

"Quiet" Time

So what is the age when you should give up on naps? Alex has never been a great napper, but she is fighting it now more than ever. These days I usually require her to stay in bed for 20 minutes or so before letting her get up and play quietly in her room. Of course, my idea of quiet is a little different than hers. However, I'm always interested to see what she's been amusing herself with when I let her out.
For instance, this day I opened her door to a fairly typical scene. She almost always builds a block tower for her brother to knock over when he wakes up. But this day I could hear her singing, but couldn't see where she was. I thought maybe she had crawled under the bed.

Nope, I was wrong. She was sitting in the hamper with her dirty underwear.
Then the next day, she came out wearing this lovely ensemble.
Yesterday during quiet time she decided her green jammies needed a pink sweater to complete the look. And then she decided her brother needed some milk. Hope that's soy, Alex! It was cute though to overhear her saying "Here, drink your milk Bubs."
Derek, aka Bubba, Bubs, Derry-Boy, Mister Man, and Bug, responds equally well to all his nicknames.
And is just about the sweetest thing ever.

Oh, and to all of you crazy folks commenting on my last post...just because I'm sad that my baby is growing up does not mean that we're having more! ;) I think our little family is complete. 99.9% sure. Okay maybe just 99.8%, but still, that's pretty sure.

The Emphatic Nodder

I love the way Derek is nodding "yes" these days, so I thought I'd get a clip of it.
And holy cow is that ever a big head! I'm suprised his nod doesn't throw the rest of his body forward too.

I meant to post this clip earlier, but guess I missed it. It pains me to see how my baby is turning into a little boy!

A Star is Born

Or something like that...

My kids are cute.

Not necessarily well-behaved, well-dressed, or even tempered, but they are cute ;)
We've spent a lot of time outside this long weekend, enjoying the last of the warm-ish weather before it gets blustery.
Coming soon to a blog near you-- Alex on stage!

I couldn't decide...

...which clip to post, so I'll post them both. The little man is choosing to walk more and more each day, even though his crawling speed is faster.
At the end of the first one he starts complaining because he got a hair in his mouth. I should probably think about vacuming.


Meanwhile Alex is busy practicing her singing for her debut preschool performance next week. She will be singing at least 2 songs, one about a turkey and the other about "poptorn ternels". At least, that's what she tells me.

Wildcatter Ranch

I mentioned in my last post that Scott and Heather kicked us out of their place for a night at Wildcatter Ranch in Graham, Texas. Well the joke was on them, because they were stuck with our kids...including the rooster who woke at 4:30am and demanded Heather snuggle him on her chest so he could finish his night's sleep. I'm thinking that's probably when they began to regret their generosity.


Meanwhile, back at the ranch (never thought I'd have an opportunity to say that), Josh and I were lounging, sleeping in, eating great food, hiking, canoe-ing, hot-tubbing, and doing other things that I'm sure you'd rather not know about. Heehee. Of course, I'm referring to feeding longhorn cattle and shooting some archery (get your minds out of the gutter folks).

Here are some pictures...it was a beautiful time of year to be in the Texas hill country!

What was that? The baby's crying? Oh sorry, I couldn't hear him because of the noise from the hammock swinging in the breeze.

A little friendly archery competition. (Josh won, but not by a lot.)

Feeding the longhorns some treats.
They were very slobbery. Reminded me of Derek, who still hasn't learned how to swallow.

This one tried to eat the camera.

We were the worst canoe-ers ever...we just bounced from one side of the creek to the other. It was probably my fault, but I was just happy that we managed not to tip.

We had a lot of fun-- Thanks Scott & Heather!

Texas Trip

As promised, I need to fill you all in on the fun we had in Texas! We went for a week to Wichita Falls to visit our good friends, Scott & Heather, and their girls Lauren & Katelyn. Here are the highlights of our visit, top-10 style...

10. Halloween Candy-- Lauren had quite a stash and didn't notice that it was rapidly dwindling as she slept ;)

9. Seeing old friends-- The trip had a kind-of "back home" feel to it since we'd lived in WF for 5 years. Here's a picture of what Alex looked like back when she was a Texan...

And can you believe the hospital let that guy take a baby home? He looks like he's ready to go to prom! ;)

8. Chuck-E-Cheese-- We have simple needs people. Someone just keep an eye on those kids so we "grown-ups" can take turns on Deal or No Deal (best game ever at Chuck's!)
Here's a clip of us on the way to play...make sure to laugh at Heather's crazy faces because she thought I was taking a picture and not a video clip. AND she posted a terrible picture of me on her blog so this is payback!


7. Shopping Trips minus children-- Heather and I went out shopping several nights after the kids were in bed. We conducted ourselves just like any junior high girl, and I think they were about to kick us out of Victoria's Secret.

6. The better side of polygamy-- Without the kinky stuff, folks. This is a clean blog, okay? But seriously, 2 mommies and 2 daddies makes everything easier!

5. The Great Wolf Lodge-- Have you heard of this water-park hotel? They have them throughout the country. So fun! Josh had so much fun there that he needed 4 stitches in his chin! We didn't get to take pictures there since we had our hands full with non-swimming kids, but here is a picture of the slide that Josh hurt himself on.

He listened to the 14-year-old lifeguard that told him he could "catch some air" if he raised his hands up on the steep drop. He was right.

4. Wildcatter Ranch-- Scott & Heather surprised us by kicking us out of their house for a night away at this ranch. It was amazing! It will get it's own post soon.

3. Our friends are the best!-- We really just have so much fun hanging out, watching movies, and chatting. And they have a beautiful home that we feel very comfortable taking over ;) They didn't even mind that Alex isn't into wearing pants and Derek is into seeing the sunrise, every day.

2. Let the courtship begin!-- We had to give Derek and Katelyn a chance to get to know each other better, since they're going to be married. Just don't tell anyone that they took baths together!

1. Did I mention that we had a lot of fun?? :)

Trick or Treat

We made it back from Texas and we had a great time! I'll be posting more soon about our trip but first have to play catch-up on Halloween.

Here is our lion getting ready for the big event...

Our monkey was equally cute

Off to get some treats

She had a blast!

We thought for sure that she would be a cowardly lion, but Alex surprised us by leaving us in the dust as she ran to each house. In this clip she is very excited about a pack of nerds, because she remembered that we threw nerds out to the crowd in the Air Force parade this summer.

Showing off the loot. Mommy's waistline is paying the price.

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend Annie-- a fun lady I met while in Alabama at Josh's Air Force course.
Rules:
1) Post the rules on your blog
2) Write 6 random things about yourself
3) Tag 6 other people at the end of your post

6 Random Things about me:

1) I'm a terrible procrastinator. Right now I should absolutely NOT be writing a list of 6 random things about me. I should be packing for our trip to Texas for which we leave, ummm, early tomorrow! The laundry that needs to get done for me to pack isn't done yet, my house is a disaster, and I can't put it all off anymore because we have to take the kiddies trick-or-treating tonight. I'd better type quickly!
2) I spend too much time online...sorry, but Pioneer Woman calls my name every time I glimpse my computer!
3) A confession...I watch the new 90210. (head hung in shame) There, it's out now. I feel a little better getting it off my chest.
4) I spend ALL of my time in my house wearing some type of elastic waistband. No jeans at home-- so not comfy.
5) I don't understand why the people who make tights for little girls can't make the pattern go all the way up to the crotch. It really bothers me, because their tights inevitably droop and show the non-patterned part. (Read the rules, folks. It said RANDOM things, right?)
6) My daughter is addicted to chapstick. Really. Can't go an hour without it.

And now the hard part...do I even know 6 people??
I'm tagging:
Heather
Jen McD
Jennifer McB
Audrey
Jennah
Melissa

Off to pack... (just as soon as I check my e-mail!) ;)

Politics

Tonight Barack Obama's campaign has paid millions to show a 30-minute infomercial during prime time on the major television networks. McCain's campaign doesn't have the money to do the same. I think that Obama should share some of his money with McCain so that they both can have infomercials. Just a little wealth redistribution-- sounds fair, right??
;)

Sharing, Alex Style

Derek: "Hey look at me! I climbed up into Sissy's chair all by myself!"

Alex: "Let me sit with you Derek, we can share it."
Derek: "No way this ends well for me."

Derek: "I was right."

I'm a Big Boy Now!

Hey folks, it's me, Derek!

I'm a big boy now, so I can address my public on my own. I've taken a big step in my life and said to heck with breast milk, I'm moving on to cups and soy milk! (I'm saying this with some false bravado, because quite frankly it wasn't my idea. I'm a little miffed still, but it's been a week or so and I'm getting over it.)

Although these pictures don't show it, my mom was actually kind of sad to wean me. Something about me being her last baby or something. Whatever, to me it looks like she was just really excited to have some cheese. Come on, mom, I was worth a year of no milk, cheese, ice cream, and nuts, right??

(Mom says to please excuse the robe, we were just trying to capture the moment.)

(Mom also says please ignore the open door to the exceedingly messy pantry. She said to tell you that it's not usually that messy, but I can't do that because I don't lie. Sorry ma, keepin' it real.)

Well I just thought you should know about how grown-up I am. Now I'm off to go do the usual-- take my sister's toys, cry if she sits on my mom's lap, refuse to eat anything but chicken nuggets and grapes, and just be a general drooling nuisance. Peace.

We've been busy!

It's been a wonderful 2 weeks of having Josh home and most importantly, off work! I have been so spoiled by my dear husband that it's going to be a rough transition back to "normal" life. In addition to giving the kids all of their baths and letting me sleep in almost every morning, Josh also sent me on a spa day followed by shopping ALL BY MYSELF!

The spa was great, and they even washed my hair so that I wouldn't be oily the rest of the day! Nice ;) And shopping with no time constraints whatsoever! It was like a little bit of heaven...here are the highlights of my shopping:

- I wandered through Pottery Barn without uttering "Don't touch!" lest my darlings knock over some $500.00 candle. (Yes PB, I like your stuff, but come on-- who pays $75.00 for a decorative pillow??)

- I tried things on in stores that have dressing rooms that don't accommodate a double stroller (read: Stores with nice clothes)

- I shopped in Victoria's Secret without my 3-year-old yelling "I can see that lady's panties!"

- I made only one potty break

It was a wonderful day!

We did lots of things together as a family as well of course. We all went with Alex's preschool class to the pumpkin patch, we played at Chuck-E-Cheese's, we went swimming several times, to many great Boise parks, and to the zoo. It was a great time to reconnect as a family and we really enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from our time together...

More posts to follow...I have catching up to do!

Sweet Homecoming

Josh came back this past Tuesday and we couldn't be happier! We are enjoying spending time at home together and Josh is amazed at how much the kids have grown and changed in 4 months' time. Thanks to all of you who were so thoughtful during his time away!
Here we are walking out to the flight line to see the planes land
So excited! And windy too.
I think Josh was a little embarrassed at the sign I made ;)
There he is!
Coming down to meet us
A happy reunion