Back to School (finally)

I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures of the boys on their first day of school. M. started second grade and so far really seems to like it. Besides lunch and recess, he says his favorite parts are math and science (I'm not sure where he gets that from!). Lately he says he wants to be a doctor when he grows up. It's a good thing he likes his math and science! But he also loves to read (that's our boy!).

A. just started his first year of preschool this week. So far so good. He has lots of friends from Primary in his class, and he seems to be having a good time. He says his favorite part is snack time (isn't it everyone's??) He loves to play with the cars and swirly track there and paint with his watercolors. He's quite the artist.

Fore!

On Labor Day, we decided to make a short trip up to Idaho Falls to picnic and play some disc golf. Freeman Park has a really nice 18 hole course that is very family friendly so the kids can play with us.

We only had a couple of mishaps this trip. Hole #6 gets one of us every time. This time M. got his disc in the middle of the creek.

We got one disc stuck up in this tree. After many unsuccessful attempts with a water bottle, and getting 2 cans of soda and a baseball right up alongside the disc, a good size rock from the creek finally dislodged everything.

Aside from it being too hot, (come on, it was like 90 degrees, and us pregnant acclimated Idahoans found this a little too warm), we had a great time. Not to mention the kids got in a trip to Toys R Us to ogle the Pokemon toys and I got a trip to Target for a new couch cover.

She Had to Go Bathroom

OK, I'm biting the bullet and finally starting the potty training process today. I've been putting it off for too long now, using every excuse in the book But now, I've got treats, I've got lots of juice, I've got "Hello Kitty" stickers and I've taped the chart up in the bathroom, I've set the timer for every 20 minutes to get her to try. I should feel prepared, but why does it feel like failure? Why do I feel ready to give up and it's only ten o'clock in the morning?! Why is it easier just to say "screw it" and put the diapers back on?

I seriously could any advice you might be able send my way. Thanks.

My Little Bro

This is my little brother, and I only say little because he's younger than me (and he probably weighs less than I do with this ever expanding belly of mine). He's currently living in Nashville with his wife and two daughters working on his music career. Four of his songs have been entered in a contest at Famecast. He has the chance to win $10,000 in each category. He's doing well, but can use all the votes he can get. Please vote for him here. Click on the "video" tab and you will be able to view and listen to each of his four songs and then vote for them separately. He hopes that $40,000 would help him not be a starving musician anymore, but who is he kidding, he doesn't know how to cook anything but a mean bowl of Ramen.

Good luck buddy! We love and miss you all!

The End

There. It's done. I finally finished HP7. Now we can talk.

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's...

Last night for Family Night, I decided to give a lesson on Manners. Now, I know the images are cheesy, but I decided to go with the superhero theme since my boys love that kind of thing (and my 2 1/2 -year-old daughter thought the girl superheroes were pretty). We talked about these specific superheroes coming to "live" at our house. After a slight interruption of our neighbor who was picking up their son who I had been watching all day, my 4-year-old started to cry. I thought he was sad because he didn't want his friend to leave. When we got him calmed down enough to understand what he was saying, this is what we heard:

"I'm just a little scared of those superheroes coming to live at our house".

Wow. I guess I needed to be a little more specific, Bob. (Kudos to whoever knows what movie that is from.) I had intended on posting the superheroes pictures on our fridge to remind us all to use our manners. This still scared him. He thought they could get off the fridge and fly around the house. (At least he's using him imagination, right?) To remedy the situation, I shrunk down the pictures and printed them to fit on one page and taped them to the inside of a kitchen cabinet (right next to the job charts). That way they "won't be able to get out unless we let them out". This seemed to satisfy him. Oh the things we come up with for our children.

Here's to many more adventurous family home evening lessons.

I Heart NY

My mom, sister and I recently got back from a weekend trip to the Big Apple. My mom is a flight attendant for Jet Blue Airlines so we all flew for free (bonus!). We stayed in Queens at the apartment of another flight attendant so our lodging was free (double bonus!). We took the subway into the city each day to do the typical touristy stuff...Central Park, The Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, etc. etc.
First up was Battery Park. We got our tickets to go out to Liberty Island. It's pretty amazing to see the Statue of Liberty in real life. Thunder and lightning started all around us, and we wondered if the safest place to be was standing under a 150 foot tall tower of copper.

The highlight of the trip for me was getting last minute tickets to Hairspray at The Neil Simon Theater. It was fantastic! The cast was fabulous! What could be better than spending a Saturday afternoon seeing Jerry Mathers (a.k.a. Beaver Cleaver) singing and dancing and grabbing Paul Vogt's breasts on Broadway? We had a great time and it was worth every penny. It is definitely something I could do at least once a year.

Because we were trying to get tickets to the Saturday matinée, we didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked in Central Park. We really wanted to see Bethesda Fountain, one of the ice skating ponds and run like Phoebe Buffay through the park, but we ran out of time. You really could spend an entire day in Central Park. Next time, I'll make sure to visit a real New York deli before strolling the park.

Aside from the puking on the plane on the way home (I blame it on being five months pregnant), it was a memorable trip. Although, we stood outside Trump Tower and never once saw "The Donald". Oh well, maybe next time.

That's All I Have To Say About That

To the thief(s) who broke into my minivan in an LDS Church parking lot in Salt Lake City:

You forgot to grab the remote (which was in plain sight) for the DVD player that you unstrapped from my seat backs. Oh, and I really hope you enjoy Monsters Inc., The Little Mermaid, Ice Age 2, Over the Hedge and Shark Tale. They are all really wholesome family movies. Please tell your children where you got them.

Love,

Meemoo

p.s. Don't worry about the line of people waiting at the gates of Hell. Stealing from a church parking lot puts you on the expressway. Everyone will step aside, they'll be waiting for you directly at the gate. Have a nice day.

My mom wanted to take all nine grandchildren to The Living Planet Aquarium on Monday as kind of a send of to my 8-year-old nephew who was moving to Texas a week earlier than the rest of his family. The favorite attraction was the touch pool where the kids got to touch the sting rays, although my kids would have nothing to do with that (they just splashed in the water).
It was quite a nostalgic for me actually, and I will tell you why. The building that the aquarium is located in used to be my place of employment as a craft store. I spent three good years at Mac's Hobbies and Crafts starting as a cashier and ending as an assistant manager and doing everything in between. It was a great job. I loved the people I worked with and I (usually) loved going to work everyday. The only reason I left was because my husband was transfered to St. George. I was so sad when I heard that the store closed. At least I discovered it's competition in St. George, Robert's Arts and Crafts, where I worked for many years before moving again. Now I live in Pocatello (which I cannot dub "The Armpit of Idaho" anymore after having recently been to Blackfoot), and we have no craft store comparable to Mac's or Roberts. The nearest Roberts is 45 minutes away in Idaho Falls.

It Is Most Definitely A Boy

Eris wanted to know the second we knew for sure if we were having a boy. Well, judging by this picture (if you know what you are looking at), I don't think there is any mistaking it. It is most definitely a boy. And what a boy!