Friday, December 30, 2011

Read! Books!

Eli has a large vocab and strings words together to make sentences, but his punctuation is a little off... it sounds like every single word has an exclamation point.  Pretty funny to listen to :)  That's not what this post is about, though.

My mom brought up an oooolllllllld doll of mine, Oopsy Daisy (classic!), for Caroline, but Eli has attached himself to her.  He gets the wipes to wipe her bum, puts a diaper on her, puts her in time-out, and has started reading books to her.  We dressed her in Caroline's newborn Christmas outfit - what a cutie! I can't believe they're roughly the same size, or that God entrusts us with babies the size of play dolls. 

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Pasketti

She may have a future as a clown with that face, but probably not a food conniseure.  She'll eat just about everything by shoving it in her face.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Differences

I don't need to state the obvious (but I will): boys and girls are SO DIFFERENT!  My own personal examples:

Caroline is emotional.  If you tell her "no," even nicely, she WAILS and wails and wails.  Sounds like me!  Any criticism, even in the form of constructive criticism, wounds my spirit.  This week she also said her first word!  While holding the remote up for a phone she distrinctly said "he-yo!"

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Eli is a man's man.  If you tell HIM "no" he looks straight at you and farts.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Belated




3 December birthdays are a bit much, so long ago we decided to celebrate Caroline's birthday in the summer, which we did.  That should SOMEWHAT excuse me from the fact that we were an entire week late in actually celebrating her VERY FIRST BIRTHDAY.  Whoops!  Joe's parents were in town on her actual day, so we had dinner at his grandma's but kids fell asleep on the way home, and that seemed to be how every night went after that!  We were going to celebrate, but Joe got home late.  Or I had to leave early.  Or Caroline took a short nap and went to bed at 5:00.  Or SOMETHING.  So finally, last Friday (cousin Will's birthday, in fact), we busted out the mini car-cakes and opened gifts from Joe's parents (which we should have opened while they were here, I know I know I KNOW!).  The cake molds are soooo cute, but you really need to decorate them.  I definitely didn't, so you can't see quite how cute that truck was.  She demolished it instead of eating it anyway.  We'll celebrate her 2nd birthday in July, so I'll be on top of it then :)

Monday, December 26, 2011

Merry Merry Merry

How was your Christmas?

Ours was very, very merry, thanks for asking!

We actually got off to a rough start, now that you mention it... Christmas eve day I worked 10-3, then Patrick had a fever toward bedtime.  He woke up crying a few times in the night so I finally ended up "sleeping" (HA!) with him until Christmas morning.  First thing, he threw up.  I'm thinking THAT'S an activity I'd like to avoid turning into a Christmas tradition!  So once he got cleaned up we all went downstairs, and his feverish lethargy continued until the Advil and Ginger Ale kicked in, when he finally agreed to open presents.  Like these snakes.


I know it was the fever talking, but who doesn't even want to open presents?! Well, Eli did, for one! It took nearly 4 hours to open gifts because each had to be thoroughly played with first. 

The morning continued as previously planned, gifts opened and cinnamon rolls eaten and all that jazz, and it was really very nice.  We missed church (sick), but we got naps (tired!).  We missed great-grandma visiting (sick), but we caught Santa (believe!).  We missed going outside on such a mild day (sick), but put mileage on the hippity-hops indoors (not TOO sick).

And we missed seeing all of you, but got extra meds to help Patrick feel better so we can see you soon!  Also, don't you just love Caroline's Santa suit?

Monday, December 19, 2011

Santa

We meant to bring Patrick's letter with us to the ward party to give to Santa, just to wrap up that little piece of perfection, but forgot.  Luckily Patrick's mind is a steel trap and he wasn't flustered at all the tell Santa he wants a dinosaur... and a police car.  Where did the car come from? He never plays with cars. He's not gettin' one.


Eli was pretty shy, as he usually is around strangers.  Before going to the party I even considered that he might freak out so I talked him through the whole thing.
Me: Do you know who Santa is? 
Eli:  ...blank stare..... 
Me: Who brings us Christmas presents? 
Eli: Dad! 
Me, mulling over how true that is....:  Well, Dad too, but also SANTA! He wears a red hat and red suit and has a beard, and you can sit on his lap and tell him what you want for Christmas.  What do you want for Christmas?
Eli: ...blank stare...
Me: Do you want balls? (his favorite thing in nursery and at the gym daycare) 
Eli: No!
Me (totally confused, and yes, you ARE getting balls, so tough luck!): Do you want dinosaurs?
Eli : YEP!

Well, thank goodness, looks like we made a good decision in getting 2 big dinosaurs. Now hurry up, Santa! Can't it be Christmas already?!

Friday, December 16, 2011

The Big One

Happy 1st birthday, miss Caroline!
Caroline says:
I WILL take one nap a day, but that's it.  Don't try to trick me into two, I won't fall for it.
I WILL eat plenty of fruits, a few veggies, but pretty much meat stinks.
I WILL take 3 steps at a time, but not more than that.  And never to mom.
I WILL slap you in the face (repeatedly), so watch out!

I will NOT lay down for a decent diaper change, that offends my need for motion.
I will NOT be content with my bottle, I have to steal everyone else's sippies.
I will NOT pet the bunny nicely.  I WILL try to pick him up.
I will NOT let mom get flabby, her hip is my favorite means of transportation.

I weigh: 1 million pounds. 100th percentile. (that's just mom's hip's guesstimate)
I measure: Too tall.  18 month clothes are pretty comfy.
I am: Pretty ridiculous.  But my family loves me anyway :)

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Paint

Joe's mom introduced the kids to watercolor paints during a long visit (at their house), and Patrick REALLY liked it and brought home all his masterpeices.  We needed to kill some time and use some creativity yesterday, so I picked up some paints for our house and the kids painted after lunch.  Patrick had drawn this little scene the day before by tracing his hands and turning the one on the right into a chicken, the one on the left into a spotted monster that it throwing his teeth out to cut the chicken's legs off!  Woo-hoo!

 Well, gory creativity aside, I was really impressed at the detail!  I know it's small, but look at all those dots!  That's a monster with a SERIOUS case of the measels. Watercolors can be tough to work with but he stayed inside the lines with single-minded dedication and for as many colors as he put down, the didn't overlap.  One color per zone, mom!

Anyway, thought the grandparents might enjoy his work and look forward to a leisurely retirement based on his millions as a world-renowed artist.   Yeaaaaahhhh... maybe not that last part :)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Dear Santa

Patrick wrote his first letter to Santa.

I think our gifts are right on the money!

Also, what? When did this kid learn to write so well? We had to spell every word, but still, pretty decent handwriting, especially for un-lined paper.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Snow Family


We've had a few of those delicious Colorado winter days, where there's plenty of snow on the ground but it's so warm you don't even need a jacket, so we took advantage of the conditions and made ourselves a Jacobs' snow family! 

The boys were super-excited about it at the beginning, each rolling their little snowballs to make snowmen bodies, but after only about 5 minutes Eli gave up to do his own thing, and Patrick left after about 15.  But me?  Oh, no, I took the challange personally and wouldn't quit until we had every member of the family! Did the boys care? Not at all. Patrick made sure we always had fresh carrots for noses, and Eli brought rocks over to make eyes in every conceivable location BUT the snowmen's faces, and I got all OCD and tried to make each family member look their best, replacing eyes and carrots as I saw fit. They turned out very presentable in the end, but after only a few hours either they melted or someone came by and knocked them over.  Either way, only 1 snowman survived even 1 day.  Really, I should have tken all that OCD energy and cleaned my house and made decorations that would last for years (or at least a week or two).  But hey, like I said, it was a delicious day and it was fun to get outside with the boys, no matter how disinterested they were in the fun project I had actually intended for them. 

Thank goodness I got pictures while I could, huh?

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Uhhhh, whoops

... aside from TODAY being MY birthday, MONDAY was JOE'S birthday!  We're both 28 now. Like a busy Thursday, busy Monday wasn't the best day of the week for a birthday (plus we're 28, not exactly Rip Roaring Party age), so I just made one his favorite dinners: clam chowder in bread bowls.  Then we watched a couple episodes of our favorite shows : Sons of Anarchy and The Office (weird combo, eh?). So while it wasn't exactly blow-out, it WAS fun and relaxing.  So happy birthday JOE! 

Happy Birthday to Me

My friend asked what my birthday wishes were.  I said:

1. I wish I had more patience/was more patient.  HOWEVER, I don't wish for the experiences and trials to help me become more patient, and patience isn't delivered from heaven like a thunderclap, so let's forget that.
2.  I wish Joe were home every evening around 5:00.  You know, leave work at 5, get home at 5:15, small-town living.  HOWEVER, that's pretty much never, ever, ever (everever) gonna happen, so let's forget that and not waste my wish.
3.  I wish I could at least get my birthday to spend with Joe - he surprised me last year (I think it was last year) and took the day off work.

He made  my wish come (almost) true and is taking tomorrow off work!  Hooray!  This is an EVENT since, while he doesn't usually work Saturday, I work Saturday, and then we all know Sunday is actually the busiest day of the week, so we typically get no days of rest together. We're thinking we'll get a Christmas tree and maybe take the kids swimming.  So happy big fat birthday to ME!

Friday, December 2, 2011

For Elsha

I thoroughly enjoyed my sister Elsha's recent posts about presents and traditions to skip.  I thought I'd just go ahead and copy the snot out of her.

We skip every single tradition she mentioned skipping.  Man, aren't we scrooges?
1. We ALSO skip a traditional Christmas dinner (no roast turkey or glazed ham here!), but favor instead the traditional Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls.
2. We do not put lights up the day after Thanksgiving; we put them up whenever we get around to it.  This year I got around to it BEFORE Thanksgiving, but it's only lights in 2 windows.  Not a lot to brag about.
3. We don't carol.  Not as a Jacobs family, at least; we did it for approximately 2.5 million years with the original Gustavson clan, but I have never heard Joe sing anywhere besides Sacramant meeting or randomly in the kitchen ("Three blind mice!").  He doesn't even sing along in the car, folks, I seriously doubt he would be caught dead Christmas carolling.
4. We don't have any Christmas collections.  We don't collect nativities, mini Christmas scenes, we've got nothin'.  In fact, this sounds blasphemous now that I write it, we don't have a SINGLE NATIVITY scene.  We talk frequently about what Christmas means, why we celebrate it, and I'm pretty sure I've already disillusioned Patrick about Santa being real, but we don't have a visual symbol of Christ's birth to speak of.  I guess I'd better get on that this year before GIFTS become the "reason for the season"....


Speaking of gifts, we are SO PUMPED about the gifts for the kids! I think baby Jesus would approve :) Well-thought-out stuff here, we were aiming at containing the toy clutter and instead went for Gross Motor Skills.  Here they are in no particular order, and PLEASE remind me not to have our blog up when they're around any time before Christmas:
For Eli, who can't stop throwing balls at both people and inanimate objects.  This gives him something to aim for!  (Photo courtesy of bedbathandbeyond.com)
From my parents for Caroline, who gets left out of the fun when her brothers are riding every conceivable wheeled contraption (bike, trike, scooter, go-cart...) out on our driveway. (Photo courtesy of bedbathandbeyond.com)
Two of these, for the boys, in case wheeled contraptions should prove too dull. (Photo courtesy of jumpingballs.com, where we bought them - only $12 each!  Seriously, people, BUY THESE)





For Patrick, who has been begging for this particular Dino for nigh on 6 months, and I think the drool in his sleep is due to dreaming of it. (Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)
















For Eli, since my mom reminded me that buying ONE awesome elctronic dinosaur when TWO boys love awesome electronic dinosaurs was just buying myself a fight. (Photo courtesy of Amazon.com)
For all the sandbox lovers at my home, from my parents.  They were considering that alphabet train Elsha's kids are getting when I complained everything gets taken to the sandbox and consequently ruined.... these toys were the perfect solution!  MEANT for tough play in the sand.  I am SERIOUSLY loooking forward to this summer outside! (Photo coutesy of leapsandbounds.com)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

For Kari

I thought Kari would appreciate this - Caroline working to put her shoes on.  Well, Eli's shoes - I thought she might have more success with larger, looser kicks.  This little video is probably more effort on Caroline's part than mom puts in in an entire week to put shoes on her.  I just don't get into shoes quite as much as Kari, and apparantly Caroline, does.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Shake it up

What can I say? These kids are craaaaaazy.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Well, it's all my fault

I checked online yesterday to set up a picture sitting for my kids.  Nothing holiday, just yearly updates I could send with our christmas card.  I made the appointment with JCPenney, where we always get them done, and made the appointment yesterday because they sent me a reminder email.  I simply called the number on the email and we were all set for 11:00 at the Orchards.  Or so I thought.

For once in my life my kids were bathed, well fed, rested, nicely dressed, and ON TIME - all at once!  We can be one or two of those, but not everything together.  On time in our pajamas.  Well-dressed but 20 minutes late.  Fed but naked. So when we showed up at 11:00 on the DOT I was dismayed that there was a huge LINE at the studio.  The one time we're punctual!  So we sit, and sit, and sit.... and at 11:45 the person gets my name, assuming we're next, and we're NOT SCHEDULED!  Suddenly I'm second-guessing myself; I definitely made an appointment for 11:00 today, but is this place not called the Orchards?  No, it IS the Orchards, so who the heck did I call?  We always get our pictures here, surely it was they who sent me the email.  Well, too late now, we're up next even if we weren't scheduled here, so we finally get our pictures taken about 12:15.  My kids had completely lost their charm by then, only Patrick sat still and smiled, so we got what we could, which was seriously not much, and they gave us a couple free sheets for our troubles.  We only spent $20 and I'm happy with the ones of the boys, but Carolines are... pretty awful.  Awful enough that I'm considering making ANOTHER appointment for her alone to TRY AGAIN.  The sorry part is, that means no cute ones of all the kids together.  Maybe I could reschule for evening so Joe could make it? Would it even be worth it? Probably not. So here's a re-cap:

GOOD: Cute kids for pictures
BAD: Took 2 hours to get pictures done, so kids cease to be cute
GOOD: Free photo sheets, save about $10
BAD: Did I mention the 2 hours?
GOOD: Ended up with nice shots of the boys
BAD: Every single one of Caroline's photos :(

Friday, November 18, 2011

tortillas

This would be the next post in which I vilify Joe (for real this time).
Are you tired of over-priced tortillas at the grocery store?  Wish there were a cheaper way to make your favorite burritos and quesadillas?  Then you need..... a KITCHEN HELPER!
Patrick and I got very ambitious one afternoon and had a GREAT time rolling our own tortillas.  Nice and thin, as you can see in the video. "Don't click" meant "don't take the picture yet," he didn't know I was videoing.  I thought the tortillas turned out SO WELL, especially for a 1st attempt, so I made one into a quesadilla and had Joe try a slice.  Granted, he was feeling wretched that day with a stomachache, so it probably (definitely) wasn't the best timing for a taste-test, but to all our effort he said, "It's alright. It doesn't taste very Mexican.  But that's okay because you're not mexican."  Uhhhh.... thanks.  I'll take that slice of cheesy quesadilla BACK, thankyouverymuch. Then I went to the store for Saltines and Gatorade and he appreciated that MUCH more.  I made one into a burrito for his lunch this week and heard no complaints (as a home-makin' tortilla goddess shouldn't), so I think it's a venture we'll definitely try again, especially with cabin fever months fast approaching.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

My Hero

Joe sometimes complains that I make him The Bad Guy on my blog.  Mostly I don't talk about him, I think, but I'll compliment* him in this post today!

Last Thursday while making my routine 4:30 call to see if we would see him soon he happened to be getting tickets handed to him that very moment!  Avalanche tickets, too - my favorite!  (Who even knew I liked hockey? Now you know). So we quickly called a babysitter (thank goodness the next day was no school, THAT was lucky) and at 6:30 the babysitter was here and we were gone.  Freedom! Bliss!  A completely random date!  Not only was it a GREAT game (the Av's won in overtime, 4-3), Joe rose to my wishes and dressed nicely.  I get all giddy to go places together since it happens so rarely, I'll put on high heels to hit Home Depot these days if we're going together; Joe, on the other hand, is typically non-plussed and wears his regular un-matching brown shorts and black shirt or even (my personal pet peeve) his glaring-yellow free t-shirt that hurts my eyeballs to even glance at peripherally. He likes it for some reason, possibly because it annoys me SO MUCH it's fun. His grunge and my formality then REALLY clash and we look ridiculous together... but not on Thursday.  We were one smoooooooth couple.

Joe, you're my hero!  Thanks for the date and the nice button-up shirt, I appreciated ALL of it :)

*I can't believe compliment was the best antonym they had for vilify.  They had about 30 synonyms!  And I can't believe I correctly used the word antonym but botched vilify so badly.  Sorry, Joe, I'll probably vilify you in the next post.

Friday, November 11, 2011

I'm not helping the cause of her looking like the boys


Slowly but surely Caroline's hair is getting longer.  Not long enough that I've done anything CUTE about it, just long enough for me to torment her in future years with naked-mohawk-baby pictures.  Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

Monday, November 7, 2011

2 cool

Eli turned 2!  Last week, in fact.  Judging by the fact that I'm posting about it a week late, you can guess (correctly) that it wasn't exactly a huge deal.  He got an awesome car track from his grandparents when he stayed at their house.

The day he got home (not his birthday) I had his presents from us and his other grandparents on the table, and he and Caroline immediately set to opening them. 

We figured what the heck, so he got his birthday presents on Sunday.  He thoroughly enjoyed wearing the curly ribbons at earring, I even accidentally put him to bed with them on!

His actual birthday was Wednesday and Joe didn't get home until 6:00 or so, I had mutual at 7:00 and had to get dinner and a birthday cake whipped up, so we scarfed dinner, sung Happy Birthday in fast-forward chipmunk voices, and wolfed down cake before BAM, I was out the door. So I was glad we opened presents another night when things were slower.

Anyway, now he's finally two (which it seems he has been for quite a few months now, it really fakes us out quite a few times and we thought he was turning THREE), fully potty trained during the day, and we're living the high life with how much he talks and entertains us. Love ya, kiddo!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Cribs

Here's the story I vaguely mention in my last post:

Sending the kids to Joe's folks' house was such a huge blessing for me, but I knew it was putting a huge inconvenience on them, so I was hoping to make it as smooth as possible.  All that raw energy can wear a caretaker down!  Right now Eli naps and goes to bed well alone, but can only seem to manage it in his crib with his crib-tent (yep, we went that route), so in the hopes of him napping for his poor, worn-down caretakers I purchased a crib on Craigslist.

I love Craigslist, I really do - you can find all kinds of stuff at all kinds of prices, and you can sell everything from cars to clothes quickly and easily.  So I found a nice-looking $30 crib in Aurora, mattress included - perfect for sending to Craig! I picked it up and noticed there WASN'T an extra bag of hardware, so I asked the owner and she said her husband had posted the crib and sundry other items; OTHER items had notes about hardware, but this one did not so the hardware must be with the pieces they already gave me.  Okay, there were a number of screws included on the headboard and footboard, so I didn't question it and we loaded up and headed home.  ALSO, the woman's daughter was IN LABOR on the front porch! Her water had broken some time before and she was waiting for a ride to the hospital and I just felt so bad, I didn't want to take up ANY more of their time arguing over screws.  Which (hindsight) I should have, I guess, labor or no labor.  Also hindsight, I did not ask if they were smokers, which they WERE and the "handily included mattress" was completely unusable because it REEKED (and stunk up my car on the drive home).

Upon returning home, even before I unloaded the reeking mattress, I walk in the door and the phone was ringing; it was the crib seller, saying I forgot my hardware. Forgot?!  Oh, no my friends - I ASKED about that hardware and you said I HAD IT, so I plainly said, "I cannot drive back to Aurora for some screws.  You can mail them to me or you can drive them to me, but I NEED THEM."  They agreed to drop them off the next day (Tuesday).... but on Wednesday night when we still had no hardware I ran to Ace and got the required screws (not that difficult, and only 98 cents). The crib had originally been a drop-side crib (all recalled now, so I wasn't thrilled, but I'd forgotten to ask before I drove to freakin' Aurora) and some of the elements were damaged (continuing to be less-than-thrilled) so I wanted to convert it to a basic crib - easy!  It would only take a few minutes. However, Joe was none too pleased at being asked to be a handy-man on a crib while he was packing for deer hunting, so I had to come up with a new solution: to disassemble Caroline's current crib and pack THAT one with him. 

Thursday morning, 5:15 a.m., I disassembled Caroline's crib so Joe could pack it up so his parents could reassemble it so Eli would take a nap and leave them alone for 5 minutes.  Thursday lunch time, the hardware showed up.  I wouldn't have used it anyway since I got all the screws I needed at Ace and half their hardware was for the drop-side feature, but I wanted them to give it to me out of SPITE.  You OWE me that hardware, you un-forthcoming hardware-forgetting Craigslisters!

Sunday afternoon, back at the ranch, I got out the drill and the screwdriver and now the crib is totally CUTE and SAFE, though in the end it cost $30.98 and included a smokey little outdoor trampoline but NOT a mattress. Caroline's crib made it to Craig, but in the end they decided naps were for sissies and just had Eli sleep in their bed at night - hey, whatever works! I am just grateful beyond grateful that they took the kids, and it can hang out until I put it together next time I'm there.  SOMEONE will sleep in it, I'm sure.  For now, Caroline sleeps in her new crib at home and I have a saga to tell.

If you're going to sell or shop on Craigslist, DON'T FORGET: 
Cash only, don't expect me to give you change. We had someone need change for $100 once.
Call within reasonable hours (9 a.m. 9 p.m. is a good rule).  We had someone call at 11 p.m.
Ask if it's from a non-smoking home. 
Ask if they have pets.
Disclose if you are a smoker with pets.
Make SURE all parts are included.  Make that woman call her husband to ask if he forgot to leave a note about this particular item.
Make sure nobody's family members are going into labor when you pick up your items. I'm just sayin'.        

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Ceiling

I can't promise that this is the last post about my ceiling, even though you're dying for me to stop talking about it.  Well, here it is: SCRAPED.

Here was my constant companion while the rest of my family was gone: EASTER. 

Here is what else I managed before they came home: NEW CRIB (that's another story).  

Here's what Joe said about the ceiling: "OH, GREAT.  More work.  I hope you don't expect me to start texturing that."

Needless to say, I was underwhelmed by his lack of enthusiasm.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Cowboy Up

Yesterday my parents brought back my camera, which I fogotten (SD card-less) in Pueblo, just in time to get some shots of Halloween.  We missed pictures of the pumpkin patch, carving pumpkins, the first big snow, etc etc, but we GOT HALLOWEEN.  So Here's my first pics for a while, sorry about all the yapping I did trying to replace pictures.  After all, a picture's worth 1,000 words, so now I can shaddup.

Eli's costume was my personal favorite, comprised of cowboy boots he wears everywhere anyway (thanks, grandma/pa Jacobs!), an old cowboy hat from Laramie that's 1/8" too small for my head, a red plaid shirt we already had, toy guns we already had, and a toddler who already moseys everywhere he goes.  It was too perfect, yet I was still surprised at how many compliments we got as other trick-or-treat groups passed (moseyin' is slooooow business). 






Patrick's and Caroline's costumes were re-runs from last year, but this time around Patrick wore his head and people actually knew what he was; definitely a step up from last time. He wanted to be a dinosaur again, so I figured this was the best (read: affordable) way to do it, and he was great with that until today, when he freaked out that this is a T-REX costume and he wanted to be an ALLOSAURUS (a meat-eater almost identical to T-Rex). Fortunately, he got over it.

And a big thanks to the Moses/Henneuse clan for letting us crash their T-or-T walk!  It was nice to have company. And WOW, I really didn't shut up, did I?

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Thanks :)

I'll take being weird as a compliment any day!

My ceilings are done (well, excep the high corner that requires Joe's orangutan arms to reach) and I DID have fun.  WILL have fun looking at them, because enjoying the finished project is more fun than climbing up and down the ladder and hauling my sprayer and scraper all over the place, then vaccuming for 2 hours to get all the junk (I had to vaccum my fireplace and the walls, not to mention the floor and stairs and nooks and crannies associated with all that - it's a serious vaccuming process). So yeah, sitting on my couch and looking will be fun.  Now, on to scrapbooking, which is how I thought I was going to spend my entire weekend.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

White boogers

Your read that right.  I'm all alone in my house now, so I have the right to pick a little shnozz, and when I do those boogers are SOLID WHITE, my friends. WEIRD.  In reality, this post isn't about white snot, it's about WHY I've got why snot: it's because I am a MOTIVATED RENOVATOR (albeit one who could use a kleenex and a social filter).

I've been scraping the ceilings like I said I would!  That's huge.  Walking the walk, guys, it's a Big Deal. What's even more huge is that they are almost DONE being scraped, I only having my dining room left!  I think it's about 200 square feet, but that's probably a bad estimate, I'm bad at estimating square footage.  In my head each room is about 50 square feet and but my house is 2,500 square feet.  In reality, my rooms are lots bigger than bathrooms and my home's only 1,700. But I digress.  So my main floor is a MESS, I just move everything around in an attempt not to get popcorn drywall crap all over it, and cover the rest with dropcloths, but me? No such luck, I'm covered in dust from head to toe.  I don't think it would work well to wrap myself in a plastic dropcloth, that's just asking for suffocation, and I'd have to uncover my nose and mouth to breathe, so I would STILL get drywall dust up my nose.  And there you have it, the cause of my weird troubles: drywall dust up the nose. But it's all for a good cause, so after this weekend feel free to visit me popcorn-free home, to wonder at the motivation it took to do it while I could be relaxing with a netflix, and to wonder why you're friends with me after I write such silly posts.



Friday, October 28, 2011

New plans

You: Hey, Kirsta, how's the time without the kids? Are you lonely? Bored? Do you need me to come over?
Me: No way, I have, if anything, too much to do! They'll all be back before I can get it all done.
You (TOTALLY interested, I can tell): Oh, REALLY? Like what?

Well, let me tell you what.  I had heaps of plans and people to do them with and things have gone a little topsy-turvy, but I'm still keeping busy! (Can't you tell? I'm blogging in my bathrobe at 10:30 in the morning). My plans WERE to have lunch group at my house on Thursday with some friend, then set up my scrapbooking stuff because some girls from work were coming over at 5:00 to scrapbook with me until 8 or 9 p.m., at which time I'd have to kick them out to go to book group, which lasts way into the night.  Friday morning I was going to get up bright and early and go to the temple with my Visiting Teachers to do a couple sessions (making the most of my time without paying a babysitter), scrapbook in the afternoon, and work from 5-10 pm.  Lunch group went according to plan, although Kathy informed me that book group was not that night, so I figured I would just scrapbook until I fell asleep on my piles of pens and pictures. Then things went a bit topsy-turvy at 3:00 when my dad called to say he was coming up from Grand Junction and would I mind him staying at my house? No, of course not! So I cleaned up from lunch and called the scrapbook girls to postpone our date and waited for my dad. While I was waiting, my Visiting Teacher called and had to cancel on the temple, so I figured, once again, that I'd go alone. When my dad got here we went out to dinner (Olive Garden is remarkably busy on a Thursday night, I must say) and stayed up chatting until 10:00, no scrapbooking to be done.  I invited him along on my temple excursion but as I got out my recommend, just to make sure I knew where it was and that it was current, it turns out it's EXPIRED!  Drat! No temple trip with my Visiting Teachers OR by myself OR with my dad!  So this morning we had breakfast, chatted some more, I checked my email and posted this very blog you're reading, and now I am off to scrape some popcorn off my ceiling and possibly do a couple more pages of scrapbooking.

So, while it's not what I had planned, I'm still plenty busy, and don't come over unless you want to see my in my bathrobe and help me scrape my ceilings (which you are, of course, welcome to do).

Also, I reloaded the video of the "un-cute cuties," hopefully it works again.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

True, true...

All those comments about being crazy to even be thinking about more kids are true... kind of. 

First off, it's only that - THINKING about more kids.  We're not trying.  Not even "not trying, but not preventing" trying.  13 months apart was a shock to the system and we agreed to wait until Caroline was 1 year old to even CONSIDER "not trying, but not preventing."  The fact that she is closing the gap on 1 year old is what brought this thought to the surface.

Secondly, Caroline is nearly a year old!  Pregnancy lasting 10 months and all, she would be nearly 2 year old IF we concieved right off the bat.  And 2 years is a nice gap - they're moving towards potty training, toddler beds, don't use bottles, don't wake up at night, etc etc.  People don't think you're crazy when you have a 2 year gap; the kids are friends but you have a respectible break for yourself.

Third, there's a good chance we won't concieve right off the bat.  Yeah, it happened decently fast with the first, and VERY fast with the second and third, but I've talked to plenty of people with mutltiple kids where one was concieved by the end of the night, another was concieved barely before the end of the year.  Just 'cause it happened quickly before doesn't mean it will necessarily happen that way again.  In case it does, though, that's why we waited until Caroline's 1st birthday (nice 2 year gap, remember?).

Fourth, you can never afford children.  Couldn't afford them then, can't afford them now.  Having children makes no financial sense unless you live on a farm and they will milk the cows for you so you don't have to hire farmhands.  We don't have a farm, or even a single dairy cow, so we might as well have kids sooner than later (we won't be able to afford them later, you know).  We lived in apartments for years, then bought a foreclosure, we drive used cars, I shop with coupons and price-matches but NOT with food stamps or WIC (and I'm not hatin' on anybody who does or has, life can throw you curveballs sometimes!), my husband has a steady job with good insurance (not Medicaid, but life threw US a curveball once) and I work part-time to help out the family financially while still allowing me to be a full-time SAHM (I work at night).  We are, by no means, living the high life, and there's a good chance we never will since we've decided to have a "large" family. Growing up with friends in families of 10, 12, or more children it boggles my mind that people think 4 kids is a lot!  But looking into the future I can only see happiness in gathering my children around me.  Nope, I won't be able to gather a time-share and a new Audi around me (probably not even an old, used Audi), but I also won't be able to visit them when it's all ashes to ashes and dust to dust. So no, we can't afford any more children, but somehow it always works out.  It's weird like that. 

"Lots" of kids might not be for everyone, and SERIOUSLY lots of kids (10, 12, or more) probably isn't for me, so I get where people think that.  I also know that having only 1 or 2 kids isn't for me (if you couldn't tell by now). Sometimes people with lots of kids also have lots of money, sometimes people with 1 or 2 kids are barely scraping by with extra assistance, and sometimes it's all vice versa.  It's a mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world out there, and I'm just happy I have the opportunity to have my family, whatever our income or size.  And some day, but not some day 9 months from now, I look forward to greeting whoever chooses to come to our family next.  I know they'll be loved, adored, and smothered with kisses by mom, dad, and all their crazy siblings.

I'm out.

Friday, October 21, 2011

un-cute cuties



The boys have been doing some funny stuff lately, so I go bust out the camera... and all of a sudden their cutesy play turns not so cute.  Like hitting each other with the horses they were riding. What the heck? Not cute, not cute at all.  But I'm posting it anyway, I really liked both their outfits :)

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Ready or not...

...we're potty training Eli!

I feel like potty training is a big step for a toddler, of course, but an ever bigger commitment for mom.  It means more laundry, more cleaning, more staying home so you're near that potty and accidents don't require an announced "clean up in isle 3," timing your entire day (because you forget otherwise and find puddles), and lots of patience and encouragement when you might not feel like it (see: rolling pin*). We're trying naked training because it worked so quickly and easily for Patrick.  Here's a little of how it's going:

Failure: Pee on the step stool while washing hands, right next to the potty. So close, and yet so far...
Success: Pee in the potty because mom timed it. 
*Failure: Pee while watching mom cook.  Pee went straight down the oven door and into the drawer.  Who knew potty training would mean washing pot lids and my rolling pin?
Success: Un-timed pee in the potty!  SO proud, high-fives all around.
SUCCESS: Woke up this morning, DRY diaper, WAITED to get out of bed and went potty BY HIMSELF.  I'm not saying this is anything permanent, but that's about the most optimistic way to start potty training EVER.
Failure: None so far on day 2, but THREE (wait... he's going while I write this....) FOUR unprompted potty successes.  Needless to say, LOTS of high-fives.

I think we may have picked the perfect timing.

Carrying the torch

While still generally in love with dinosaurs, Patrick is no longer OBSESSED with them.  It doesn't necessarily entice him to get dressed if I'm holding a Tyrannosaurus t-shirt.  He doesn't only want to read a book if it's about dinosaurs.  He plays with toys besides his Wal-Mart $1 dinos.  He watches Netflix shows besides Dinosaur Train, Kung Fu Dino Posse, Dino Squad, Walking with Dinosaurs, Chased by Dinosaurs with Nigel, etc etc ETC AD NAUSEUM (I'd take the nausea back if he'd quit watching Power rangers, though - laaaaaame!).  And, sadly, the dinosaur costume rarely gets worn anymore - not even to the store :(

But Eli has started to carry that torch!  He doesn't (and I imagine never could) obsess quite like Patrick obsessed; however, it makes me smile that he enjoys wearing the costume and, like Patrick, he rides his bike dressed like a dino.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Three blind mice

Just listen, you'll know what's up with the title.

Caroline is doing well - 10 months old now!  And it's clear that we need to have another baby because she is NOT a baby and she drives me crazy.  That seems like an argument for NOT having another one, I suppose, but I just don't think I'm done lovin' on the wee ones. Now that I'm pretty comfortable with newborns (terrified with the first, a little sketchy on the second, pretty comfortable with the third)  I realize just how AWESOME they are and how much I really need to enjoy those first 6 months.  Because then they turn into non-stop jumping beans, grab-your-face-with-razor-fingernails-Wolverine-style monsters, cry-if-you-don't-carry-me-24/7 (while I grab your face!) crybabies, and all sorts of other nonsense.  She's getting really mobile, which is great, and she's got outrageously chubby thighs, which is fun to poke fun at, but definitely, DEFINITELY not a baby in my eyes.  We love her.  But she's not a baby.  Then again, go ask any child who can say "baby" and they'll tell you otherwise.  Am I right?

Friday, October 14, 2011

You're joking me

Patrick loves to tell jokes.  Did I say loves? I mean LOVES in all its bold, italicized, underlined glory.  He pretty much has one joke that he re-invents to make a million jokes.  Here's the original, followed by some of his personal creations....

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting co...
MOOOOOOO!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting dinosaur
Interrupting dino....
RRRROOOOAAAAARRRR!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting fish
Interrupting fi....
BLUB BLUB BLUB!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting doctor
Interrupting docto....
YOU HAVE THE FLU!

Here's where they veer a little off course....

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting microwave
Interrupting micro...
WARM UP!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting house
Interrupting hous....
YOU LIVE IN HIM!
(Why is my house a he? And if he's interrupting, should it be "me"?)

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting door
Interrupting doo...
YOU OPEN AND SHUT ME!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Interrupting mustache
Interrupting mustache wh....
HOT DOG HAMBURGER!

Mom, dad, Elsha, and Kari all know where that last joke stemmed from, and it warms my heart that a generation later that un-funny knock knock joke has gotten a facelift and is STILL FUNNY. Here's the original, made by my sisters and I (not sure who wins the glory for it, but I always thought it was hilarious, so perhaps I'm the culprit)

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Mustache
Mustache who?
MUSTACHE HOTDOG HAMBURGER!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

48-hour week

Well, I'm back in Thornton from Pueblo.  That "week" visit turned out to be only 48 hours!  Here's where things went wrong...

Last week Joe came home with a cold, a "man cold" where he needed a 2-pack of NyQuil and plenty of extra rest. He seemed pretty much better by the time we left town.  Tuesday morning I packed up the kids (including breaking down and hauling a crib through the house and loading it on top of the car by myself - whew!) and during the 2-hour drive my throat started getting scratchy.  Once we were at Kari's house hanging out, my nose started to run and the scratchiness increased.  Her friend invited us over to dinner for spicy green chili to help induce labor, and by dinner time I had a nasty headache and was completely hoarse - ridiculous how fast everything progressed! 

Wednesday in the wee hours Kari went into labor, and the whole time I was coaching her in this in-and-out, husky voice that was like yelling in a whisper. Poor girl, what an obnoxious voice for a labor coach!  Well, at least it wasn't high-pitched and whiny or something... so from then on all day my voice was gone.  Laryngitis!  I haven't had laryngitis for YEARS, and I get it the day I visit my sister goes into labor and we begin our long visit. 

This morning, very early (much earlier than I would have liked, I was still very tired since I didn't get a real nap in on Wednesday or good sleep that night), Caroline woke up throwing up.  One of those where they have mucous in their throat that they gag on, then they throw up nasty mucous. I thought "that was gross, but she got it out of her system.  We'll see how the morning goes and maybe we can stay..."  I only thought this because Kari and Addilyn are in the hospital a few days, possibly getting released on Friday, giving Caroline time to get over the mucous nastiness.  If they were coming home today the possibility of staying wouldn't have been a possibility!  So an hour went by, Caroline took a bath, got dressed... and mucous puked again. "CRAP," I thought, "now we HAVE to go home." So I got the boys dressed, made breakfast, began picking up the toys around the house, and during this time (another hour or so) Caroline seemed like she'd finally gotten it all clear - no runny nose, no yuckiness, nothing except smiles and good spirits - maybe we could stay!  Still had at least 24 hours before Kari and baby would be back, so we could re-assess leaving tomorrow morning!  Good thoughts until, randomly, she threw up AGAIN.  3 times in 1 morning was a sign straight from heaven that we needed to skedaddle, so I tearfully packed up our car (this is true, I SO did not want to go, which is why I worked so hard deluding myself that maybe we could stay), located all (most of) the sippy cups we brought, and broke down the crib and hauled it upstairs and loaded it on top of the car all by myself again (whew, x2!).  Old-school girl that I am, I have no phone (I am willing to dish out money left and right for scrapbooking supplies, but don't ask me to foot a cell phone bill.  I have my limits), so I had to go to the hospital to inform my sis and BIL (who slept at the hospital that night) that I'd be on my way with my laryngitis cold and my sick kids.  They, not-so-tearfully, wished us goodbye.  Nobody wants sick kiddos around their newer-than-new newborn. Weird.

So by 11:00 we were on the road, Wendy's cheeseburgers in hand, and by 1:00 we were home.  I am SO BUMMED OUT that I didn't even get to hold the little doll... she's so dang cute! And tiny! (Can you tell by all the pictures I've posted?  OH YEAH, I brought my camera but forgot my SD card - the mark from my forehead slap is still visible).  But maybe my mom can do all the holding for me when she gets there in a week.  And she can take all the pictures I was supposed to take, cook the meals I was supposed to cook, clean the house I was supposed to clean, and be generally helpful and good company, like I was supposed to be :(  Go get 'em, mom! Just DON'T GET A COLD.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Busy morning

Busy morning this morning!  Not typically what I do at 2:30 a.m....

I'm here in Pueblo for the week, came down yesterday so I would be ready to help my sister during labor when the time came.  The time came this morning!  We were to the hospital by 3:00, waited for an epidural FOREVER (I fully blame the nurse, I think she didn't believe Kari that it was getting REALLY intense) and at 4:30, with no epidural in sight, Addilyn was making her way into the world and Kari was really ticked that there was no hope for pain meds.  She braved through it, SO amazing (totally made me look like a wuss with how in-control she was!) and my sweet new neice was born at 4:48 a.m., 7 lb 5 oz, 20" long, SO DANG CUTE. 

I'm super grateful I could be here.  For one, it's such an amazing thing to see and experience!  They're so big and so tiny all at once. For another, I think I might have done a little bit of good with my presence - labor is scary, and to go without drugs when you really WANTED them? Terrifying.  So I'm glad I could be there to help talk her down from the ledge you get to when there's no turning back but you reallyreallyREALLY don't want to go forward. What an amazing day :)  Now I need a nap!

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

So jealous

Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs found this Kettler car for Patrick at an auction.. It's awesomely red, it's got a brake (pictured on this side), you can disengage the chain to coast, and it's awesomely red (or did I mention that?).  This is one of those moments in life when I am totally jealous that I'm not 3 years old because DANG I want to ride around on that car!

A paucity of posts

I used to post all the time, right?  And it was way more fun to check in on me when I wrote frequently, right? Because then I had random stuff like yesterday instead of catch-up-on-the-kids (unlike lunch, which is ketchup on the kids).  The trouble is Netflix, my friends, I blame them for my lack.  Not because I watch them, but because Patrick does, so then the computer is occupied during my prime blogging: nap time.

I love Netflix, absolutely adore it (especially since The Office Season 7 is now available for streaming - hooray! I'm doing an awkward white-girl dance that you're all glad you're missing) and it's one of those things that now that we have it I can hardly understand how we got along without it.  Well, lots of Blockbuster trips and Redbox runs and failed attempts at finding a movie we truly wanted to watch is how, but it was a sad way to live.  So now I feel conflicted - I love Netflix, but I also love to blog, and they're getting in the way of each other!  Cripes!  What's s stay-at-home mom to do? 

(I know, aren't my problems SO SERIOUS?)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

No rest for the weary

I've heard a few friends reminesce that they didn't give their moms any rest when they were young and did their best to squeeze into her personal time.  Two people confided they would sit outside the bathroom door while their mom took a bath and stick their fingers under the door, just to be as close to her as possible for as long as possible.  Cute, right?  A little weird, too, right?

So I was in the shower yesterday morning, enjoying my personal time while the kids ran wild with dad and the bunny in the house. As I got out and dried off a noticed something come sneaking under the door, and I immediately thought of those little fingers.  As it wiggled in further I saw... a carrot. Cute, right? Weird, right?

Right.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Headaches in Paradise

I've spent the last 3 days in California for my grandma Smiley's funeral;; she passed away last weekend after complications from a car accident.  Her name embodied her attitude: smiley.  Sweetest grandma the world has ever seen, and I am ridiculously lucky that she was mine.

Now, car accidents are (obviously) unexpected, and complications from an unexpected accident are unexpected, so I was extremely blessed by my husband to be able to be here for these few days while he stays home with the kids.  He drove me to the airport Thursday afternoon and has been manning the home front ever since, and I am SO THANKFUL (thanks Joey!).  It is obviously not a happy occasion to be visiting, but it has been a vacation to be away from the kids!  I am relaxed to the MAX, often to the point of getting a headache.  Seriously, isn't that terrible?  I never get headaches, but apparently working puzzles and watching movies for hours on end triggers these little nuts of misery.  Fortunately, nothing a little Advil can't cure, and now I'm taking a rest from my restful activities and the headache is on the mend.  I might be more annoyed at "rest" being a trigger, but I suppose it's a good thing; it's quite the motivation to get going and working on something!  And I know I will be home tomorrow, through with resting for another year or so, dying for a nap break in the middle of a random Thursday, and having no headaches because I'm back to running on all cylinders.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Sweet, but seriously?

We had a busy morning, including going to the gym and playing at the park with friends for a few hours.  Caroline didn't get a nap between, so she was sacked.  She fell asleep in the car and I put her down for a nap as soon as we got home and got the boys some lunch, but Eli wandered away before he'd even eaten anything. I was too busy getting my own lunch together to pay much attention, and when I heard a door close I assumed he'd gone upstairs to play in his room. 

After I finished lunch I went upstairs to get him ready for his nap, but he wasn't there.  He'd gone downstairs to his favorite haunt: Caroline's crib. He'd climbed in and laid next to her and was singing so softly and sweetly, "sweet Caroline.... bum bum bum....."  Man, these two boys really love their sister (and that song).

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Song birds

Sweet Caroline is a popular ditty around these parts!  Even Eli is singing it these days.  Also, he counted to fourteen while reading books before bedtime -  I didn't even know he could say "fourteen" much less count to it! I was very impressed.  He talks a whole bunch these days, I believe in a previous life he was a parrot.  To contrast, Patrick was saying VERY little at this age - by age two he only had 15 or 20 words, and most of them were understood by me alone. Needless to say, we're very impressed by our Boo.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

We've been better

It's been a doozy of a week for us and injuries.  The doctors all know us, the insurance hates us, and if Eli gets hurt we're sure to have Family Services after us.

Last Saturday Patrick fell off his tricycle on the driveway, somehow landing with the trike on top of him, and he immediately complained (OK, screamed) of a hurt arm.  Well, toddlers scream about hurt everything, they need band-aids for bumping their pinky toesand bonking their heads, so we gave him Tylenol and decided to just keep an eye on it.  He was using his arm with full range of motion by the end of the evening, no complaints, so we decided we must be in the clear.



Fast forward to Wednesday.  Easter the Bunny was playing in the house and had made himself comfortable in the boys' room, but it was time to go back in his cage so I could get ready for my sister's visit with her kids.  I got the bunny from their room (getting wicked scratched in the process, it's definitely a two-handed affair) and came out to find Caroline on the top stair. Patrick was upstairs with me so, me with no hands, I told him to sit with her at the top while I put the bunny in his cage - as long as she has company she isn't tempted to head back down!  As I hoisted him into the cage outside I heard Patrick run down the stairs, yelling "I found a bunny turd!" and then, inevitably, a huge THUMP.  Caroline had lost her company and tried to follow her brother down the stairs.  Normally this isn't a huge deal, our stairs are carpeted half-flights, so nobody's going too far or on too hard of a surface. No matter how may times you tell a kid to be careful they don't believe you until they've been hurt, so these relatively short, soft stairs provide a good proving ground that "oh, yeah, mom IS right, I DO need to be careful, that DID hurt!" without actually getting hurt.

Except blasted Wednesday.  When she fell she bit her tongue so badly.  Having only two teeth on the BOTTOM, and seeing a huge gash across the TOP, I assumed she had bit completely through her tongue.  GROOOOSSSSSS!  So we called my sister to say we wouldn't be there to greet her and rushed to the ER.  Turns out she did NOT bite through her tongue, she must have had it curled up in some completely illogical way, so they didn't do anything, no stitches, nothing but numbing cream.  She's been surprisingly good about the whole thing, has gotten back to her normal eating habits (for the most part) and still naps and sleeps. It just happens that it is still grooooosssssss to look at (so of course I'll post a picture!)    

While we were at the hospital we asked about Patrick's arm, which he still said hurt if you grabbed it.  They said it was possibly broken, we could go to our regular pediatrician and get a prescription for an x-ray.  Fast forward to Friday.  We went back to the pediatrician for a follow-up on Caroline's tongue they wrote us the prescription for an x-ray and, sure enough, it's broken.  So we got to go back to the ped's office, get a splint, go back to the hospital for the x-rays (they should have given them to us while we were there!) and on Monday get to go to Children's Orthopedic to get a cast.  WOW.  What a fun doctor-visit-filled week!


Let's never do that again.


Monday, September 12, 2011

Easter makes himself at home more and more each day.  Joe built him a fabulous hutch, soon to be shown on "Cribs," so he now lives on our back patio (until it turns cold and my bleeding heart won't allow it, even though bunnies live outside in nature. Not THIS nature, not in MY house!).  He plays around inside a couple hours a day, the boys love to chase him, I love to rescue him and pet him on my lap, and he loves to escape and do it all over again.  Tonight he loved my lemonade. 

Monday, September 5, 2011

Easter came late

Easter the Bunny is the newest addition to our house. He's a brown Mini Rex (whatever that means) and is one of the rabbits bred for their fur. No wonder, he reminds me of the Velveteen rabbit! He's the softest thing EVER. He arrived on Labor Day, though, not Easter! Dad got the idea, we're not sure where, that we could use a bunny around these parts. Mom agreed, as pets are nice for kids to have but she still has zero interest in a dog or cat. Also, we decided to get one from the State Fair in Pueblo, which meant we'd get to visit my sister's family. Hey, I'll get a bunny for a visit just about any day :) Patrick picked the name, and is very sweet with him, albeit a little nervous (he doesn't want to get scratched or bitten). Eli tries to play chase with him and yells "Bunny! Rabbit!" and stomps his feet, terrifying poor Easter. Caroline wants to love him but has already pulled his ears numerous times so we only get him out when she's corralled in the high chair or taking a nap. When she is awake she crawls around his cage and bangs on it, further convincing Easter that he wants nothing to do with her. Can't blame a guy, I'm 5X her size and she scratches my eyes out!

So that's what's new with us.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

For my sister Elsha

Dear Mom,
We've been having a marvelous time here in Denver! We've been super-busy laying sod (thanks, guys in the background!), watering the garden (thanks kids!), exploring who knows what (???), showing off our cleavage (wrong kind!), splashing down in the pool (aunt Kirsta's Best Idea Ever), munching on ice cream (after the world's finest dinner of flank steak and grilled peaches), enjoying a nice evening fire (albeit a little smokey), and generally having the best time with each other. We didn't do those awesome things we thought we might, like the splash park or the Children's Museum, but we were EXHAUSTED from keeping each other up until 10:00 last night laughing and squealing, then waking each other up at 6:15 to play peek-a-boo. Naps were more necessary than field trips. Besides, who needs a field trip with buddies like these?

Anyway, mom, we love you and we'll see you tomorrow! Sleep in while you can :)

Love, Missy and Buster