A Series of Unfortunate Events

Whoever made up the expression "two heads are better than one" has never taken care of toddlers. Finn and Jaxson have become great friends while we have lived here and are really good kids most of the time. But when they put their heads together, they can be really terrible kids some of the time. Here is a list, in no particular order, of SOME of the mischief they have gotten into in the past two months. Keep in mind that several of these events took place within minutes of each other while I was cleaning up the first mishap.

-threw all the sidewalk chalk over the fence
-threw sand over the fence
-threw rocks over the fence and hit the neighbor's house
-made piles of sand around the plants in the garden
-dumped sand out of the sand box into various places around the backyard
-ripped up sprinkler pvc pipe
-gave their stuffed animals, and themselves, baths in the sink
-turned on the tub and played with the water
-dumped several shoes into the toilet
-dumped a bag of marshmallows into the toilet and stirred them up
-played with the blind cords, which Jaxson got caught around his neck...that was actually pretty scary but everything was okay
-shredded an entire newspaper in the front entry
-dump/spill their food during more mealtimes than I care to mention
-ate chapstick and smeared the rest on the floor
-dumped out the entire contents of Monopoly and Life board games
-crawled under the fence to the neighbor's yard
-gotten completely muddy from head to toe
-broke out of the backyard and went for a joyride on their bikes

And several more things that I can't remember right now!

You'd think that I never watch them...but the truth is that most of these things happen SO fast. Like I send them upstairs to get dressed, and find them bathing in the sink...or send them to the backyard while I put Kate down for a nap to find them dumping sand everywhere. Some of it has happened when they both wake up before 7am and none of the parents have energy to wake up with them...which we always regret later. They definitely keep my displaced life far from boring!

ramblings of a displaced gal

We finally closed on our house last week! Glory Glory Halleluja. And we are still renting out our condo which makes us land lords too!

Renovations have begun on our house, and because I dropped the ball, we didn't take any 'before' pictures before the massive demolition on Saturday. I am actually really really sad about that.

It is going to be a lot of work but we are really excited. I just love the house and I know it has such great potential, I know we can make it really cute inside. Every time I go by I love it more and more...which is kind of funny because it's looking worse and worse since we have ripped carpet up and sledge-hammered walls etc. I want it move-in ready by July 10th. Aaron says that is wishful thinking but he thinks it should be ready by July 17th. If we haven't moved in by July 24th I will cry...and probably worse. Don't get me wrong, our fam we are staying with has actually been really great, but when it's time, it's time.

I am feeling serious withdrawls from not blogging but our USB cable for our camera is packed and this laptop doesn't have a memory card slot. And I think posts without pictures are lame.

Oh yeah...Kate turned one last week. WHAT?! Oh blog how I miss you and your all-encompassing power to document important events. Yes I have pictures. No I have no idea when they will ever make it on here. Sigh.

Where are you normal life? I miss you.

I'm still here I promise

Canada was real great.
High point: Too many to mention...okay I'll settle on ice cream with the fam at Milky Way...twice.
Low Point: when Finn tipped over on an umbrella stroller and got a fat lip after lots of blood and tears.
Lots of pictures to come....I've been lazy because I don't have my own computer to upload pictures to.
Still in Saratoga Springs. Things should be on schedule for closing on our house in Orem on June 10th but we will probably wait to move in until the end of the month while Aaron does some renovations. We are sooo ready to have our own yard and have already planted our garden! Let's hope something actually grows :)

In 6 Days...

...God created the world...and turned my world upside-down.

Monday -- decide we definitely want to move and list our condo for rent
Tuesday -- get the call that we are approved to move into the townhome we want to rent, show the condo to a prospective renter who decides she loves it and wants to move in the following week!
Wednesday -- find out there is a house for sale 2 blocks from my sister, go to 'just take a look' and love it! Start packing
Thursday -- go back to look at the house...still like it. Should we move there? Stress out. Pack pack pack.
Friday -- paaaaaaaaaaack. Streeeeessss. Still not sure if we're going to move into the town home or try to buy the house. Finally decide on the house.
Saturday -- Move out! Most of our furniture and boxes in Tom's garage, rest of our stuff at Dan's house where we are living until we close on the house in June!

Since I am living out of boxes anyway, I decided to come home to Canada with my sister for a couple weeks. My mom cooks for me. My Dad reads to my kids. Life is good.

Spring Stew

I have a lot of little thoughts and short stories to tell so I decided to dump them all together in one post and serve them as Spring Stew a la Blog. Enjoy. Warning: hearty stew ahead, feel free to eat just a few spoonfuls (aka skim).

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I just got my hair done after...gasp...7 months. I usually go way too long in between hair cuts because I can't justify spending real money on my hair. But tax returns helped remedy that situation!

Yep, I have bangs. Still side-swept, but definitely bangs. And because I can't take myself seriously when taking a self portrait, I had to scrunch up my face.

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A few days ago, Finn was in the corner for doing something bad, and started singing, "I am a child of God." Was it a ploy to make me feel sorry for him and forget the wrong-doing? I'm not sure, but it totally worked.

That incident reminded me of another one that happened shortly after Kate was born. Finn and Gemma were playing in Megan's basement, and when Meg went to check on them, this is what she found:
Oh the irony.

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Kate's jolly jumper has turned into a jolly walker lately since she has grown and we haven't adjusted it. She loves running a few steps and letting herself fall back. Here is a great video Aaron got of her showing off her kicking skills while we were playing a board game with Finn:


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And perhaps our craziest story of the month -- we found an abandoned dog! Aaron noticed a kennel on the side of the road when I was taking him to work one morning and as we drove by, he could tell there was an animal in it! We asked a few neighbors and no one recognized it so we brought him home.

Poor little guy was shivering and did a lot of 'business' as soon as we let him out so we knew he'd been in there for long time. We put an ad up online and even posted signs around the neighborhood, and I kept thinking, "someone's gonna call any minute about this dog."... but no one ever did! Aaron is SUCH an animal lover, he bought the dog "filet minion" to eat that night and gave him a bath.
The surprising thing is, he's actually really cute and has a great personality! Since we're probably going to be renting a home soon, we knew we couldn't keep him but Tom and Lesli snatched him up right away and now he has a great home with them! They named him Yoda since he's got little Yoda ears.
Finn and Kate ADORE him and it was a little hard giving him up, but now Finn can visit him all the time and we don't have to clean up after him :)

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I let Finn feed Kate the other day and he is actually really good at it! Here is a video of him in action:


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We've been having fun taking funny pictures -- totally Finn's idea.

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The Zoooooooo!

The weather was perfect. The price was cheap. The crowd was minimal at most. We had a great time.

My favorite part was when it took Finn about 3 minutes to find the ELEPHANT standing right in front of him. (Seriously, so funny how long it takes him to find things sometimes) We didn't tell him what animal he was looking for and when he finally said, "Oh! It's an Elephant!!!!" it was the cutest thing ever.

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Lastly, Aaron and I have just started our 6th week of P90X! If you haven't heard of it, it's a series of workout videos that span 90 days and is super intense. We've been working out every morning at 6am and LOVE it. We haven't missed a day! We are so proud of ourselves and are already seeing good results. Aaron has lost 12 pounds! I haven't lost any weight but am feeling a LOT more toned and fit. No pics yet...I will post some at the end...actually probably not cuz that could be weird. Just take my word for it -- we're getting buff!

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Wow. That sure was a big helping of Spring Stew. And now I am really, really full.

Easter 2010

Finn got to have lots of Easter fun this year. It started with dying eggs at Dan and Bobbi's. LOVE that we did that at someone ELSE'S house this year! Later that week we went to an Easter party with his playgroup. First we made these bunny ears:

Then we let the kids lose in the backyard for an egg hunt:

All the kids were distracted by the trampoline and we had to remind them there were eggs full of candy to find!

But Finn caught on quickly, and of course, cracked one open as soon as he found his quota.

On Saturday morning, we went to my brother's for breakfast and Finn got to do another egg hunt with some of his cousins. (That's what the first picture is from.) Kate had a good time there, even though she didn't get any eggs:

And Finn found a he-ouge carmel-filled egg which, as evidenced by his expression below, put him in somewhat of a euphoric candy coma.

And of course we had to do our OWN egg hunt on Easter Sunday. Yes, it was a little egg hunt overkill but Finn was all about it.

The Easter Bunny put these window crayons in Finn's basket. He also put some Sidewalk Chalk in Kate's basket that she has been gracious enough to share with her older brother.
Finn has been eating the contents of one Easter egg every day after dinner...and they are finally all gone. I had to hide the leftover candy so Aaron and I won't snack on it every chance we get!

It was also really fun for us to teach Finn about the true meaning of Easter. It was so nice to be able to watch General Conference and hear the words of the Prophet, at a time when I need to reflect on what my Savior has done for me.

Beds are sooo overrated

Lately Finn has started to take longer to fall asleep. Sometimes nap time is just "quiet time" and he plays in his room for an hour and a half. Do I mind? Nope! As long as he is in his room and not in my hair, he can stay awake as long as he wants!

One such nap time, Aaron went in to check on him and found this:

He is laying in Kate's infant tub! (She is too big for it, so it is now stored in his room.) We thought it was so cute that he got it out, put his pillow in, brought his stuffed animal and covered himself with the blanket.
Since that nap time, he has actually done this technique 4 or 5 more times. I should probably put the tub away somewhere else, but I don't want to. Every time I open the door and find him in it, a smile crosses my face and I am reminded of what a creative little boy he is.

Creativity aside, sometimes he just does whatever he can to stay awake. We usually let him look at books at bedtime and he "reads" the stories and sings songs to himself until he falls asleep. Here's how Aaron found him a few nights ago:

This angle lets you see how skiwampus (sp?!) he really was:
I like thinking of him before he drifted off, SO tired but not wanting to "give in" and lay down. I love to pick up his little body and cuddle him as I lay him down, watch him roll over, snuggle his teddy and close his eyes...because I know this stage won't last forever, and soon I'll be wishing I could tuck him back into bed like I used to.