Jacobs Fam

sad panda

2012-01-31T18:06:00.000-08:00

Patrick has been on a movies/TV hiatus for a couple weeks now. There was an increasing correlation between the amount of screen time and amount of wah-wah-woe-is-me time, so we said he no longer gets to watch movies every day. Hey, it was a lifesaver while it lasted! Movies and shows are now an exception, so every few days he gets an hour or so, and it's been a really nice change - he and I work on "projects" together (I scrapbook and he cuts up old photos and makes messes) or play games or read and it's our "alone time." Still, there are times when exceptions are nice, like Sunday morning mom-and-dad-sleep-ins, and Sunday afternoon dad's-feeling-lazy-and-snuggly. Sunday exceptions can lead to Sunday evening that look a little something like this:

Sleeping in was still definitely worth it :)

working hard, or...

2012-01-27T10:54:00.000-08:00

...hardly working? I think not. The Children's museum has a work area where kids can use actual tools (hand drills, saws (?!), clamps, hole punches, etc) and then provides "materials" (donated empty recycleables like egg cartons) for the kids to put together with the tools. We usually avoid it like the plague (saws?! seriously?!) but we went to the museum on a whim last week and it was PACKED! 5 school buses, zero free parking spaces, PACKED. We did whatever areas were least crowded and guess what? Teachers didn't want their elementary students using the real-life saws, either! So we tried it out, and actually had a very nice time. While there, I discovered screws screw in nicely to upside-down egg crates, and it kept Patrick and Eli busy and entertained. In the end, Patrick nicked his finger with the screwdriver, which is what he refers to in the video, but it was seriously mild... so I thought, "I have egg cartons, screws, and screwdrivers at home, why don't I just do this there?" So today, we did! Take THAT, wet and windy weather!

Oh, Joy

2012-01-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

In spite of the fact that we have been doing it twice a week, every week, since September of 2011, I've never mentioned on the blog that we do Joy School. Patrick and his friend Michael are the students for the moment, while we wait for Eli and Michael's brother Benson to catch up age-wise (probably this fall). Anyway,it's been SUPER fun! Fun for me the weeks I teach and Michael's mom takes the tots; fun for me to have the tots and not have to worry about a lesson when she teaches. The lessons are great, the songs are great, the activities are great... it's been great! Highly recommend it, find out more at valuesparenting.com. For now, though, just had a few pictures from "school" I wanted to post, from back when it was all snowy.

Sag's

2012-01-22T19:05:00.000-08:00

Working on Caroline's 1-year scrapbooking page was an unusual challange because her picture is so gosh-dang pretty I wanted to do something special, but being 3rd in scrapbooking line (ok, 5th, I scrapped Joe and I a decent amount before we had kids), I often feel that "special" has already been taken. I'm out of new ideas. So I browsed a scrapbooking idea file (thanks, Debbie!) and came up with adding their horoscope of character traits - so fun! She's a Saggitarius, and so are Joe and I, so I was curious how "on" the description was for us, and how "on" it might be for her. I about fell out of my chair when I read it. I'm not into daily horoscopes or 5-star days or anything, and I know you can make generalized statements that people from all backgrounds might attribute to themselves, but seriously - this was so awesome! Here is the description, in its entirety, and I italicized things I feel are SO RIGHT about us.

Here goes.

Sagittarius is usuallythe soul of the company. The reason people are attracted to them is theirinborn ability is to act in a very relaxed and honest manner. Sagittarians aretolerant and open-minded, they will never judge someone just by physical appearanceand they tend to accept environment without any preconceptions.

Sagittarius trustsother people easily but he/she expects the same trust in return. When theycommunicate with other people Sagittarius people are usually open andforthright, so you just know that such people won’t talk behind your back (one of my HUGE pet peeves!). Thisquality makes them very reliable companions, beloved friends and familymembers. In addition, they are never selfish or proud, so their generosity isusually something to be admired.

One of the mostpositive qualities of Sagittarius is a great sense of humor (I think so, at least). Such people arenot likely to cry alone at night because someone said something bad about them.(This is true about Joe but not about me! I'm a sensitive soul). The Archer accepts everything with a smirk upon the face and they don’t takethemselves too seriously as well.

Sagittarians arenatural-born optimists; they believe that nothing can bring them down. Thisability not to be stressed by every little trouble allows them to go further nomatter what. Their energy always saves them from misery because by the timethey realize they failed, there is already a new adventure planned. (I laughed out loud, this is so true!)

Sagittarians don’tbelieve in deceit and they trust people dearly, they are rarely ever suspiciousof anyone (almost to a fault). They also expect others to trust them in return. Such people thinkwell of other people, as they think well of themselves too.

They have very highstandards, always aiming for more than it is possible to achieve, and thisquality makes them respectable in the eyes of society. All in all, Sagittariusis the most enthusiastic, positive and energetic of all Zodiac signs. (Go Saggitarius!! [See? There's that enthusiasm again]).

NegativePersonality Traits of Sagittarius

Negativequalities:carelessness, impulsiveness, forgetfulness, tactlessness
ME TO A TEE.

Many Sagittarians haveproblems with controlling their egos. They are used to thinking they have allthe right answers and sometimes other people are put off by such attitude. Muchlike other Fire signs, Sagittarius has own set of rules and doesn’t like to betold they are wrong. *Amen*

They prefer to bealways in control of the situation and people. However, no everyone likes to becontrolled so there are situations where Sagittarius can be considered to beobnoxious and egoistic.

They also often expectfull recognition for every accomplishment. Like a true fire sign, Sagittariusis quick to get angry and their energy can transform from positive to negativein a heartbeat. Those people can be very insulting when they don’t think beforespeaking their mind, which is exactly what happens to them most of the time.

In many casesSagittarians simply don’t consider the effect their words can have on otherpeople. Sometimes, their lack of tact and dark sense of humor goes too far andother people can be offended.

Because they are sorestless and impulsive, sometimes their energy is wasted which leads totemporary cases of depression. This happens when the Archer (the Saggitatius person) doesn’t focus thestream of energy into one direction. They can also be quite irresponsiblebecause they want to do everything at the same time. Consequently, someprojects are left unfinished.

Sagittarians are quickto come up with ideas but they have no patience and concentration to completethem. Such behavior can irritate other people, especially when Sagittarius isirresponsible in the work-place. When their work doesn’t bring them enoughsatisfaction, they can become inconsiderate and even tensed.

Sagittarius tends totake risks without thinking it through. As a result, sometimes those risks turnout to be foolish. Their inability to handle finances is can also be consideredas a flaw, especially in a marriage. Sagittarius is also a sign known forpassion for adventures and risks, so many of them indulge in gambling, leadingto dangerous lifestyle (thank goodness we don't gamble!).

Party time!

2012-01-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

We fell down pretty hard on Eli and Caroline's birthdays, but they didn't care (or know enough to notice). Being 4, Patrick sure knew it was party time, we we sure didn't miss Patrick's! I had to work at noon today, so we needed to have the birthday party early in the morning, so I went with it and themed it "a PJ party for PJ." Guests showed up in their pajamas and we had a pancake breakfast, where the kids got to decorate their breakfast with strawberries, bananas, grapes, and chocolate chips.

Alli made an awesome smiley face :)

Our neighbor friends, Chelsea (the big kid) and Andrew, had fun at the party with us! We're so lucky to live next to such fun kids.

We played a few games, but mostly the kids were WAY too distracted by all the toys, so we gave up and let them play around until it was time for opening presents and eating cake.

Yep, pancakes AND cake in one very early-morning party. Kids who skimped on breakfast sure made up for it with this concoction! Since Eli's birthday Patrick has been requesting an oddly layered birthday cake, from his own imagination: brownies, strawberries, cake, and chocolate frosting. My big "win!" of the party was actually making this dream-cake, AND it actually looking good! Here it is, mostly consumed:

Kitchen desires

2012-01-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

All I want is THIS KITCHEN.

And to say that I made it, like these folks did. We have a play kitchen that gets very little play (the fridge is a hiding spot, but I'm disappointed in how little my little people cook imaginary omlettes), so if YOU need a play kitchen, check out their website http://www.younghouselove.com/2012/01/claras-christmas-kitchen/ for step-by-step spectaculation (yep, another new word from me). Then invite me over because I want to be a part of this magic!

I thought grid drawings were too advanced, but...

2012-01-19T18:37:00.000-08:00

No help from me! I about fell over I was so impressed.

They grow like weeds...

2012-01-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

Patrick hates onions to his very core and specifically asks for NO ONIONS on his meals, even things that don't have onions. That being the case, my onions have recieved little attention in the last few months - even less than I thought! Had to take a picture; it's not about the onion, it's about how Patrick hates them and I do things to keep my kids happy (even though I lurv onions).

Patrick's super into art projects right now - if it involves crayons/markers/colored pencils, paint, stickers, scissors, glue, pictures, or the word "project" he's on it! So I hung a few of my favorites in my "gallery," which I gathered from decluttering my fridge and giving them their own places of honor (yay! decluttering win!)

Here's another decluttering win: our desk drawer. A magnet for junk, even though I get into it multiple times a day (probably because I get into it multiple times a day!). Since I use it so much, it's nice to have it newly tidy.

My biggest decluttering challange is... Patrick. He want me to keep everything! My old sketches from middle school? "But they're so beautiful!" (he actually said that - what a compliment! And what a case of junk-itis! They were sketches of my hand). My sponge keeper by the sink that I have never actually kept a sponge it? "But it's my favorite!" (He was unaware that we owned it until that very moment). Stuffed animals the kids don't touch, worn-out shoes they've outgrown, pants that are ripped in multiple places? "But I love them! Let's don't give them away!" So I have to declutter while he's asleep in bed, then hide everything in giant trash bags . I'm up to TEN bags now! Tomorrow's the big donation day and I am seriously looking forward to getting those 5 bags out of my bedroom (and I bet Joe is, too, since I've thrust this mania upon him); the other 5 bags were pure trash (ripped pants included). Spring cleaning has come early, despite below-freezing temps today! I'll keep you posted as I go (I know you're dying to hear about it all - hahaha!).

Pro-craft-inations

2012-01-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

I love crafts. I also love procrastinating. Not a good combo, it turns into procraftination! Then craft stuff tends to pile up, exactly like Mr. Don Aslett told me NOT to do in "Clutter's Last Stand." In the beginning of the book he introduces 101 Excuses people give for keeping their junk. A number of them I could never understand ("I'll iron out the wrinkles from the used wrapping paper to reuse it" - excuse me? Has anyone EVER said or done that?), a couple of them made me laugh ("I'll save these empty toilet paper tubes for when I have grandchildren/want to do a kids activity"), and then a few of them.... ooof, they made me cringe because they are MY EXCUSES! I thought my excuses were REAL! Everyone else is just kidding themselves, but I seriously will hem those pants/use those fabric scraps/knit that cute baby hat for a gift/get around to sorting through my ribbon collection. Then again, those projects have been on my "to craft" list for coming up on 2... 3.... 4 years? Oh, CRAP.

So rather than de-junking all my craft stuff, I am CRAFTING IT. This is serious. FIRST, of course, I have to de-junk the rest of my house, I can't get sidetracked by a couple (few dozen) projects, but I have already shown some pluck and gotten a few of the easier, more clutter-y projects done. My most notable "I win!" is my adorable Christmas ornament ball wreath. Much like nativities, I didn't own a single wreath, even though I love them and admire them on other people's homes. I saw a cute piece on TV about how to make one so easily, then the ornaments were on clearance at work, then came the clutter where I brought it home and let it sit around for 2 weeks... but I DID IT. And it's WAY cute! But I also got right on the ball and put it away with all my Christmas stuff that I reorganized (thanks, Don!), so I don't have my own personal photo. But here's how it seriously turned out:

Nice, eh? My storage box thinks so, and you will too, come Christmas 2012! And by the end of the year (hopefully even by the end of this month) I'll have quite a few more projects to show off and brag about on my blog, making you feel inferior and small. Oh, wait, that's not my style :) Well, then, I'll tell you how I did it while holding off Caroline (crying) with one foot and letting the boys eat as much chocolate as they wanted (naked) because I was too busy to dress or feed them. Now THAT'S my style! Betcha can't wait for the pictures, eh?

New Year, new resolve

2012-01-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

I don't typically make New Year's resolutions, but the new year happened to coincide with me wanting to clean out our house a bit AND my mom mentioning "40 bags in 40 days" AND me borrowing a book from my mom: "Clutter's Last Stand" by Don Aslett. Super-outdated copy, he talks about organizing your RECORDS, for crying out loud, but the PRICIPLES of the book are fantastic! So I've been reading, reading, reading, and towards the end of each chapter I get so motivated that I can't finish reading until I clean out that drawer that he's been nagging me about. Or that closet. Or that medicine box. Or my shoes. Or my magazines. Or my records (tee-hee-hee!). Or my garage, even though it's January. He's that inspirational. So I recommend it to anyone and everyone, even if you think you're totally un-cluttered. I thought I was near the top of the uncluttered scale, I DO keep a running Donation Bag that I toss things into as I find I don't want or need them. That's what I thought.

Turns out, my drawers, closets, medicine boxes, magazines, records (tee-hee-hee!), and garage disagreed with my self analysis, and I have already gathered NINE bags of stuff. NINE, folks! I thought it was impossible, yet I realise I'm only just getting started. My mom did "40 bags in 40 days," which could be bags of trash, donations, selling items, giving away items, or any combination, but if you just KEEP LOOKING and digging and cleaning you will manage to come up with 40 bags... and then you can rest. I was just looking to morph that idea into "a lot of bags in a generic number of days" while I read this book, but ya know? I think I just might hit 40. Wish me lots of luck, and if you ever need a gift for me, I'm in need of more trash bags (about 31).

Park (?) Days

2012-01-06T13:52:00.000-08:00

Some kids like to play at the park. Caroline likes to play at the fridge. She LOVES the salad dressings.

Long, strange trip

2012-01-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

We got back to Denver from our incomparable trip to Junction - it's always the best! It kicked off my "eat more and gain weight" new year's resolution! HAHAHAHA! I kid. But we did eat a lot. The kids wore themselves down to nubbins playing with their cousins (*insert cute picture that I didn't take*), spending special time with grandpa and his iPad (*insert second cute picture I didn't take*), watching movies galore and generally running amok (*more cute, random photos here*). Anyway.

GETTING to Junction was the trial, Caroline screamed a large percentage of the time and refused to be entertained, consoled, or knocked unconscious. We got wiser on our trip back and administered some anti-nausea medication, which promptly knocked all three kids out until Vail. Eli then woke up screaming "Go! Pee! Go! Pee!" and Joe and I groaned big groans and sighed big sighs.... the other two kids were still passed out, but everyone knows as soon as you stop they will all wake up! Since we did NOT want a repeat of our trip down, I quickly came up with Plan B: Sippy Cup. You might see what's about to happen.

I gingerly climbed into the very back seat, unbuckled Eli, pulled down his pants, and held the empty sippy cup as best I could under current conditions. I was shocked and amazed that he went along with it without complaint, and THEN shocked and amazed as the cup filled and filled and filled to almost overflowaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!! Barely made it, I almost got pee all over his pants and my hands and the car - he REALLY needed to go! Crisis averted, though, I pulled his pants back up, buckled him back in, and, with my fresh 8-oz sample, gingerly climbed back through still-sleeping Patrick and Caroline up to my seat at the front. I still can hardly believe we pulled it off :)

And oh year, GROSS! The things we do as parents to keep the peace.

Today they are still recovering and have thrown my schedule for a complete loop! My big plans to get back into our routine, hit the gym at 8:30 and then head to the park before time for lunch and naps, were squashed. Caroline went back to bed at 8:30 and Eli passed out in the middle of the living room floor at 10:00. Truly, falling asleep on the floor is actually weirder than him wizzing in a cup - he's soiled all kinds of things, but sleeps only in his crib or carseat... until today. And now Caroline's up, just in time for what SHOULD be her nap. Curiouser and Curiouser!

Read! Books!

2011-12-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

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.

Pasketti

2011-12-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

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.

Differences

2011-12-28T13:28:00.000-08:00

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.

Belated

2011-12-27T14:35:00.000-08:00

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 :)

Merry Merry Merry

2011-12-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

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?

Santa

2011-12-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

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?!

The Big One

2011-12-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

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 :)

Paint

2011-12-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

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 :)

Dear Santa

2011-12-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

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.

Snow Family

2011-12-11T17:20:00.001-08:00

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?

Uhhhh, whoops

2011-12-08T16:25:00.001-08:00

... 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

2011-12-08T16:14:00.001-08:00

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!

For Elsha

2011-12-02T19:24:00.001-08:00

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)

For Kari

2011-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Shake it up

2011-11-29T22:02:00.001-08:00

What can I say? These kids are craaaaaazy.

Well, it's all my fault

2011-11-22T12:16:00.001-08:00

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 :(

tortillas

2011-11-18T13:00:00.000-08:00

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.

My Hero

2011-11-17T14:39:00.001-08:00

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.

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

2011-11-11T19:03:00.001-08:00

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!

2 cool

2011-11-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

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!

Cribs

2011-11-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

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'.

Ceiling

2011-11-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Cowboy Up

2011-10-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

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?

Thanks :)

2011-10-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

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.

White boogers

2011-10-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

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.

New plans

2011-10-28T09:55:00.000-07:00

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.

True, true...

2011-10-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

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.

un-cute cuties

2011-10-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

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 :)

Ready or not...

2011-10-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

...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

2011-10-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

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.

Three blind mice

2011-10-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

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?

You're joking me

2011-10-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

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!

48-hour week

2011-10-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

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.

Busy morning

2011-10-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

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!

So jealous

2011-10-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

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?)

No rest for the weary

2011-10-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Headaches in Paradise

2011-10-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Sweet, but seriously?

2011-09-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

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).

Song birds

2011-09-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

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.

We've been better

2011-09-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-12T22:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Easter came late

2011-09-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

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.

For my sister Elsha

2011-08-27T18:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Patrick decided to put on a bit of a show for me, Eli and his friend Michael who was over. I especially liked how he got our attention at the beginning :) He likes to sing Sweet Caroline (those 2 lines that he sorta knows) to Caroline to get her up from her naps. What a sweet brother, I can't imagine the singing will last for too long.

Weekenders

2011-08-21T10:02:00.000-07:00

Friday was ridiculously busy. I decided I'd do 10 wheelbarrows full of rocks to keep some momentum going on the yard, and on my 9th wheelbarrow the missionaries showed up again! So for 3 hours straight I shoveled rocks, much to my back/arms'/legs' dismay, but the backyard LOVED it, and is nearly finished! In the evening we went to Golden to pick up Joe from his job site - he was taking the kids to Craig straight from work so as not to get an even LATER start on the drive. First, though, he was hungry so we got Burger King together and Patrick ate an entire hamburger and we were VERY impressed. They left at 7:30, giving me time to get to a stamping party back in Thornton, which I had to leave early to get back to my house where my BIL was getting in after a long drive. WHEW! Crazy, crazy, especially when MOST of our days consist simply of playing on the floor/reading books/fighting over the hose/bug hunting in the backyard.

Joe took the kids to his parents' house for a weekend visit, so I had Saturday all to myself! I stayed up 'til 1 a.m., slept until 10 a.m., then scrapbooked and canned in between (pickles and pinto beans). My BIL Brian happened to be in town, so he stayed at the house and it was MUCH less creepy during the nights, since the house wasn't empty! So that was awesome. Plus, he's awesome to chat with, and we chatted a lot while I scrapbooked and canned. Truth be told, I haven't missed the kids, it has been quiet but I know they're coming back soon so there's no reason to get mopey or sentimental. A number of times I've caught myself thinking "shoot, gotta be quiet! You'll wake up the kids!;" it really just seems like they're off napping and will wake up any minute. So they'll be back later and life will be back to normal but for now I'm enjoying my weekend breather. Thanks, Joe!

Patrick

2011-08-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

We had another GREAT time at the Pirate Park this week - we called Joe's grandma to come along, since she lives so stinkin' close, and she made us SO glad we called because she took us out to lunch afterwards! Country Buffet. We were 1 of 2 families in the entire restaurant that included people under the age of 55. The arrival of lunchtime was hastened by Patrick doing a swan dive off the fake mountain onto the fake ground (well, it really was the ground, but the surface is recycled rubber, so it's not REAL ground, like dirt) and getting the kind of goose egg that goose eggs are named after. It was huge! Swelled right off his head, black and blue with a rasberry in the middle. By the time we got home it had calmed down to this (on his upper right side, the shiny spot is actually dimension, it was still a bit raised)... Hardly photo-worthy, but we gave it a shot. THIS was photo-worthy, though - After lunch Joe's grandma handed me a stack of pictures of Joe, from cute li'l tyke to high school senior (and all the awkward stuff in between). That was Joe at age 4. They have the same haircut!

I almost shot at the missionaries

2011-08-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Last week I came home from the gym with the kids, all sweaty and gross, and I was getting them fed for naps so I could go shower. In the middle of our lunch Patrick asked, "who's in our backyard?" He asked so innocently it didn't occur to me to freak out until I am fully STARING at the STRANGER in the backyard who is not simply checking a meter or something! I mean, he's not LEAVING! So I began to panic until Mr. Total Stranger turned to the side and I recognized him - a missionary! His companion was just around the shed. Whew.... things were about to get crazy, we DO keep guns in the house. (Am I serious or not? hard to tell... don't show up in my backyard unannounced!!)

I remembered I had jokingly recommended they could help us pull weeds in our overgrown backyard, and apparently you don't joke with the elders - they take you seriously. They hopped the fence using a ladder from the house getting painted next door (note: none of the painters who lent the ladder seemed phased at all that two high-school-age-looking guys are jumping the fence next door) and got to work, using gloves and shovels and rakes and even our string trimmer (until they ran out of string). It already looked great by the time I saw them, they had been hard at work while I was hard at working out, and with a couple hours of my labor combined with their it looked AWESOME.

We've cleared the backyard of weeds a couple times but never so thoroughly, and it would be a SHAME to let those efforts go to waste, so we took advantage. We bought some rocks. We bought 15 tons of rocks, to be exact, plus 2,000 square feet of ground cover cloth and 2 jumbo-size bags of ground sterilizer, just to be safe. We're maybe 1/3 of the way done with the rocks, but that wasn't the hard part. The missionaries did the hard part, which was to jump the fence and get STARTED. The journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step(ladder). Joe laying the fabric down. Rocks on the driveway, so we're all parked on the street (thankfully not stuck in the garage!). Patrick and Eli like to sit at the top and be kings of all they survey, a la Yertle the Turtle.

Children's Museum

2011-08-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

Last year my friend Jeanette lent us a guest pass to the Children's museum - Patrick had a blast, and Eli, while a little too young to have a blast, per say, sure enjoyed himself. I was finally scrapbooking pictures of that trip the other night and I realised how much MORE they would enjoy the museum now that they're bigger, and even Caroline could get in on the action since she crawls and cruises (you read that, CRUISES. On furniture and stuff. It's freaky). So I consulted Joe, it happened to be a Wednesday afternoon, so I took the kids, bought a family pass, and Joe met us there for an evening of fun. I hardly took any pictures, I figure we'll be all over that place like flies on stink this year. PLENTY of opportunity for candids. But this is what I got. Shrimp boat cap'ns, and one railroad engineer. The other two promptly threw their caps on the floor.

Pirate Park

2011-08-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Can't believe we've lived here two years and never been to (or heard of!) the Pirate Park. It is literally 1/4 mile from Joe's grandma's house, and we've been THERE tons of times! We're heading into the traditionally hottest few weeks of the summer, though, so I think we might be back soon. The kids had a GREAT time - not just because the park was fun but also we were there with all their friends and, of course, they mooched snacks/toys/shade spots off random people and made NEW friends. They all loved it, and I couldn't believe how much Eli got into it - he loves baths but avoids getting in the pool, but not today! He was soaking wet with the rest of them.I love how easy it is to take pictures with Caroline :)

How does your garden grow?

2011-08-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

Zucchinis are super-duper easy to grow and you'll always get more than you bargained for. I figured I'd plant 7 plants and see where that got me - a lot of veggies, a lot of friends, and a lot of help in the garden. Here's Eli watering. And Eli falling in. When it's time for picking they also love to be involved - they knock on each one (like a watermelon) to make sure it's good. These are the first of our harvest, and they're beauties! Let me know if you'd like some, I'll have lots to spare in the next month or two :)

My kids = freedom, unstoppable, and French

2011-08-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Caroline is growing so stinking fast! Not only did she learn to crawl this week, she also learned how to pull herself to standing on a vertical surface! She's great at getting onto her feet on short things, like my back while I am laying face-first in a messy living room trying to pretend I'm not alive, but she's not exactly "up" - she's leaned over me on her feet. But today I came to collect her from her nap and she was standing at the crib rails! I am not prepared for this girl, she's advancing much too quickly for my taste. Not only that, yesterday she got not one but TWO teeth! In a single day! They must be coming in somewhat crooked because although they're the two bottom middle teeth they appear sharp and pointy. If she truly has sharp, pointy bottom teeth I think she might secretly be a vampire. Due to her two new teeth and, primarily, her horrible nursing habits like biting, jumping/kicking, and doing anything BUT nursing while nursing, she is also newly weaned. Hooray! For the first time in (wait for it).... FOUR AND A HALF YEARS I have my body all to myself. I'm not nursing and I'm not pregnant and I LIKE IT. Eli is also giving me a serious run for my money. While on the reunion in Estes he discovered he could escape the pack-n-play. While he had the escape figured out, he couldn't seem to figure out how to STAY IN bed - he was ridiculously tired and WANTED to go to sleep, but it's like the pack-n-play wouldn't LET him go to sleep because it LET him escape! Trauma, trauma. Fortunately this happened the last night or so we were there, and we were relieved to get back home to his crib. Well, there actually wasn't a crib waiting here for him because we stole it for Caroline, but that's another story... but anyway, we had a crib for him by Monday night and he slept like a charm. I think the escape bug bit him, though, and by the end of the week he figured out how to escape his crib and would waltz down the stairs any time of day or night. We were back to the trouble of not sleeping because "escape" was such an allure. So we headed to Lowe's. He has a sleigh-style crib with the headboard and foot board taller than the sides, so I got two 1x2's the length of the crib and screwed them in place to the height of the headboard. It added about 10 extra inches to the sides (I split the difference with the rails so there's no way to get his hear stuck or anything), a seemingly inescapable fortress of a crib! It held him for exactly one nap and one bedtime, but this morning he waltzed down the stairs while I was getting Caroline her breakfast. To sum Eli up in one word: UNSTOPPABLE. Patrick is good, as always, and verbally keeps me on my toes (thank goodness not physically because I'm worn out by the other two). While making French toast for breakfast on Sunday I was explaining that people live in lots of places and speak lots of languages. It was a little hard to explain without a map handy, but I did my best. Anyway, people who live across the ocean in a place called France are known as French people, they speak a language called French, and they make this special kind of breakfast that we like so we call it "French toast." Me: "Patrick, did you know I can speak French?" Patrick: "Sure, mom. Me, too! See.... FRENCH."

2011-07-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

Caroline started crawling last week! She really started on Sunday, the last day of the reunion, so nobody got to see it. Unless they read my blog and they can see it here, but it's not the same. She's been creeping for a few weeks, which was weird - she wasn't crawling, exactly, but when you'd set her on the floor she definitely wasn't in the same spot when you came back. Now, though, it's on, and she's gaining speed and dexterity: she crawls to the sit and spin and spins it with her hands; just yesterday she saw me go upstairs and crawled over the stairs and sat and cried. Ahhhhh, the joy :)

Estes Park Family photos

2011-07-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

My aunt Ann moonlights as a photographer, but I'm pretty sure it should be her full-time job, she does SUCH a good job at it. Patient with the kids, patient with the parents, finds great locations that are right in your backyard that you never even knew, and (above all) gets great shots! Here are some of the family ones. Of course, my kids don't always help her out. Patrick couldn't figure out a normal smile to save his life, Eli wouldn't put down the bark without screaming bloody murder, and Caroline was flailing unless I pinned her down, so she's armless in these shots. Plus a snapshot of Elsha on the deck at the back of our cabin - it was 4 stories tall, hanging off the side of a mountain. Quite the hike to put the kids to bed each night!

drained

2011-07-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

I love reading. LOOOOOOVE it. Sometimes it's a blessing, often it's a curse, frequently it ends in me cursing my kids because I have to take care of them instead of reading my beloved books. This week (a whopping 3 days, as it's only Wednesday) I have read two books. Two ENTIRE books - the 2nd and 3rd books of the Hunger Games series. Couldn't put them down - sometimes I had to carry around Caroline in one arm, my book in another, because they BOTH refused to be put down. While they are decently quick reads, riveting plot and straightforward language and such, there is so much physical and emotional trauma that I just feel drained. Exhausted. Could also be due in part to my eyeballs about to fall out of my head from reading so much. PLUS, I was on edge the entire time trying to figure out who Katniss would choose and the author doesn't let you know until the VERY LAST PAGE. That's just mean, and I knew no sleep would happen until I found out, so I read practically non-stop until 10:30 tonight.

So now Joe is halfway through the second book and I was sooooo badly to just discuss the books, but I can't give anything away! It's too delicious, and I got him the book on CD from the library to listen to as he drives to/from work, so who am I to ruin his morning commute by revealing all the twists and turns? As a fellow reader I couldn't do that, so now the waiting begins....

In other news, we had a great trip to Estes Park for our family reunion last week! I purposely left all books at home for the week, knowing myself a little too well. I took zero/zilch/nada pictures the entire time, so I'll save that post for when I've pirated a few photos from my family. Suffice it to say it was tons of fun and we are the best dang Karaoke singers you've ever heard.

Bruised and Battered

2011-07-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Poor Joe.. he can't catch much of a break when it comes to getting beat up. His cordless drill fell off the top of his car, right on his toe, and he was in flip flops. He's pretty positive it broke his toe, but there's nothing to be done for a broken toe so we didn't even get it checked out. A week later it still won't bend. Then, at work he was lifting a 9' length of cabinets (so, heavy), Joe on one side and a co-worker on the other, and he hoisted the cabinets up the end panel he was holding completely ripped off, dropping the weight of the cabinet straight down his thigh. That's not a tiny thigh, so that's not a tiny bruise. Men's legs and feet are unattractive enough without adding insult to injury... or, in Joe's case, adding injury to insult :(

Pretty girl

2011-07-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

While chatting with a co-worker Saturday night I gave my humble opinion that baby girls, while precious and special and wonderful and beautiful because they are all of those things, are not actually pretty. They're bald and fat. Once they get a bit older and have some hair, THEN they start getting pretty. I got up the next morning and got my baby girl dressed for church and I was completely proven wrong. She looked gorgeous! Just goes to show what I know.

Funny

2011-07-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

While changing an especially stinky diaper on Caroline, Patrick said, "ewww, that smells like gracious!"

Patrick was pretty spaced out while Joe was trying to tell him something. Joe asked, "are you alive and present?" Patrick quickly asked, "what are the presents?!?"

Happy 4th!

2011-07-04T16:58:00.001-07:00

Holidays always call for a post, right? Joe got today off work so we enjoyed a nice, relaxed Monday with dad at home! We also enjoyed grandpa and grandma Gustavson all weekend - so much fun! Of course the kids had a great time, grandpa is way indulgent with chocolate milk and movies; and though we didn't do anything extraordinary I had a great time because having an extra pair of hands (or two) and an adult conversation feels like a big, long back-rub. Better, actually! We've gotten to the point that we see each other enough - grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins alike, that we've stopped taking pictures, and I think that's a GOOD thing! Much better than seeing everyone infrequently. So no pictures of the weekend.

Photos from the 4th, though: The afternoon was roasty-toasty so we busted out the hippy pool! Patrick dove right in and enjoyed the slide. Caroline surprised us all and splashed contentedly until we pulled her out because she was turning blue. Eli, normally into everything under the sun, avoided the pool, to the point of not even wanting his swimsuit on. Still, Joe and I dipped our feet in and it kept the rest of us cool for the afternoon. We'll miss fireworks because of the kids' bedtimes, of course, but it's been fun to explain to Patrick why today is a special day where we live and how many family members have contributed to giving us the freedoms we enjoy today. Considering how much Patrick remembers, I doubt the lesson will be lost on him. He's impressive that way. Finally, we grilled hotdogs for dinner and Caroline enjoyed a pickle. I expected her to make funny faces, but she liked it so much she ate two. She saved the funny faces for squash this morning. Happy Independance Day, and God bless America!

Friends

2011-06-24T19:48:00.000-07:00

*I wrote this post last week, but blogger won't let me publish. How annoying! So I'm composing at home and publishing from another computer.*

I just had an awesome weekend! And I don't always get to say that :) But it was AWESOME.

My close friend Rachel broke my heart a few months back and moved to Kansas, where she had her twin boys a few weeks later. They're only 3 weeks younger than Caroline, and we haven't gotten to see each others' babies until this weekend! The babies enjoyed a stimulating rotation of exersaucers, bouncers, and this tri-pod, in this case hitting the tripod all at one time (L-R: Ben, Caroline, Sam). She and her family came out for a wedding and stayed the long weekend at our house. With 7 kids under one roof and in only 3 bedrooms I was VERY impressed that we got ANY sleep, but the kids actually slept remarkably well! It gives me high hopes for travelling to Grand Junction this week with my own crazy brood - Patrick travels well, but Caroline is iffy and Eli is a downright terror... we'll see how we fare. Patrick had a hard time sleeping, he wanted to stay up and play sooooo bad! One morning he got up and told me this story: "I got out of bed last night and I went to Anna's bed and I told her I didn't care if she woke up. But she didn't wake up." He was totally trying to start partying while the adults were sleeping! What a trickster. Thank goodness Anna was zonked! ANYWAY. The weekend was fantastic, we had a fun barbeque with friends and sat around our fire pit for a few hours in the evening (the kids ate an entire bag of marshmallows!), and Anna took tons of pictures of the fire... I think pyromania is simply human nature. Now I just need to start planning a trip of my own out to Wichita! Thanks for coming, Rachel, Jeff, Anna, Isaac, Ben, and Sam! We LOVED it. And we love the canolies you accidentally left in the fridge.

5 Years

2011-06-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

*Again, old post that wouldn't publish.*

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this weekend. It seems like a decently big milestone, but at the same time we've done LOTS of things in 5 years so it's also like, "that's IT?!"

We were explaining to Patrick that we got married a "long time ago" and he totally understood. "When you were married, and the dinosaurs lived on the earth..." Ummmm, not THAT long ago, buddy!

We were lucky enough to have two wonderful babysitters, my in-laws, so we could go out to dinner and shopping (Home Depot, we finally replaced our broken kitchen light! Only took us 2 years). While eating dinner I was celebrating that it's officially a pretty serious relationship :) He dated another girl for 3 or so years and they bought a house together, so until we'd been together at least 3 years and had bought a house together I kind of felt like our relationship was inferior, we hadn't ever gone as far as they had gone. Of course, we have kids together, so I knew it was silly to feel that way, but I'm a girl and girls do silly things. So as I was poking fun at myself Joe very sweetly and very seriously said, "I was more serious about you the day we got engaged. I was more serious about you the day I knew I WANTED to marry you." That melted my heart! And he was totally right, it didn't really matter if they were together 3 months or 3 years or *gasp!* even more than 5 years, he never wanted to marry her, and he never did. Which all begs the question of why they bought a house together, but let's not go there tonight...

So I'm a silly girl, enjoying my husband and my kids and my house and my 5 years, and it looks like it's pretty serious :)

Conversation

2011-06-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Patrick: Can we read this book? ("The Giraffe, The Pelly, and Me" by Roal Dahl)

Me: We can read it, but Caroline and Eli might interrupt us.

Patrick: I want to go with them!

Me: Go where?

Patrick: In the contest.

Me: Oh, no, not contest, interrupted.

Patrick: Oh. Can I go in the dentist, too?

Me: No, interrupted means we might have to stop reading and attend to their needs.

Patrick: I want to tend on my knees, too.

Well, we TRIED to have a conversation!

Missionaries

2011-05-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two. I hope by then I will be ready to teach and preach and work as missionaries do. I hope that I can share the gospel with those who want to know the truth. I want to be a missionary and serve and help the Lord while I am in my youth.

-By Newel K. Brown

Missionaries have played a huge part in our lives, from my own brother serving while I was still young, to missionaries teaching my two brother-in-laws, to elders in Fort Collins teaching my own husband and attending our sealing in the Denver temple a year later. Missionaries are synonimous with Mormons - one of the things we're known for! Young guys in white shirts and ties on bikes, knocking on your door. What seems so simple and universal is a huge test of faith for those young men and their families, not to mention a huge struggle to get there! I shudder to think about all the obstacles that await our kids... but I know it's not impossible. I know it's a wonderful goal to work toward. I know I would be out-of-this-WORLD proud to send my sons (and daughter) on missions some day. Too bad they'll miss each other for 4 years if they go at the right time! So we'll enjoy them being missionaries together, today, while we can.

Dress-up Day

2011-05-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Seems like it's been a while since all 3 kids looked their best for Sunday. We try to look decent, but Patrick has been in dire need of a haircut for a loooooong while now. He's resisted, saying "I want to be a mommy!" because I told him mommies have long hair and daddies have short... pretty good logic there. And flattering, he want to grow up to be like me! But the time had come. He cried the whole way through it, but we love the results. Good work, Joe, our old Patrick is back! Some candids on the way to getting a decent photo...

Busy Bodies

2011-05-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Our spacious front and back yards have given us ample opportunity to get outside, get sweaty and sunburned (or get frostbite, depending on the day), and get some projects done. Gardening, new grass, LOTS of weed-pulling and weed-spraying, etc. Some recent projects we've been VERY pleased with are the stone planters we built and concreted in, and creating a stone base for the fire pit with a ring of boulders around for seating. We're looking forward to many a good evening fire!

Sweet Caroline

2011-05-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

We've taken to calling her Sweet Sweet (not "a-thhhhbbbbb" based on the noise she makes most often), thanks to Patrick. He started it, I don't know why, but we're keeping it! She fits it perfectly because she isn't just sweet, she's EXTRA sweet. Especially for putting up with her brothers wrestling over her (often on TOP of her) and putting up with me dressing her up even when we've got no place special to go.

2011-05-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

We have enough clothes for Caroline, all hand-me-downs from sisters and friends,

that she can wear something different every day until she's about 9 months old! Most of the outfits are dresses, which is great, EXCEPT that it's not been anything CLOSE to dress weather, it's been dreary and cold. But not today! Gorgeous and sunny and perfect for dresses. Eli was an alternative dapper - I thought it was pretty cute. But I couldn't decide if that was just me.

It's been a while

2011-05-18T20:05:00.001-07:00

Been a while since my last post, but I've had a bit of the blues. I figure it's a huge bummer to have the blues, so it's probably also a huge bummer to READ about someone who has the blues. I busted out the violin today, at the request of Patrick, but I cannot PLAY the blues, so we settled for "Twinkle, Twinkle" and other such kiddie songs I could pick out by ear. The hail ruining my spinach garden definitely enhanced my blues, I had seriously considered picking them this morning. Should have followed that hunch. Even our maple barely survived.

Making 4 dozen peanut butter cookies and eating 3 dozen of those today initially lifted my blues, but my pants not fitting (again) tomorrow will probably negate that good feeling and I'll be back in the blue, blue dumps. So if you're up for a party, you know who to avoid!

Who exactly was this product meant for?

2011-05-04T08:02:00.003-07:00

I had a very hard time this morning trying to figure out whether or not I could feed this formula to Caroline.

"Similac Infant Formula"

"Not intended for use by infants"

Back to two

2011-04-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

I was WAY lucky this past week and got to see my sister and her family! They came to town b/c her husband had a few days of meetings for his job at Park Meadows (not exactly in our part of town, but certainly closer than Pueblo) so we chilled and played with the kids and shopped and ate pizza... things I do on a regular basis anyway, but it's MUCH more fun with my sister. In fact, it's things I do on a regular basis while on the PHONE to this same sister, but it's way better in person. Kind of a no-brainer that way :) We get to see each other often enough that we don't bother taking pictures when we get together, so I have no photographic documentation that this actually happened. To you, I could be making this all up, but believe me... I'm not. We hung out.

But after their awesome 3-night stay an awesome idea took hold: why not send Patrick with my sister when she left? She wasn't headed home to Pueblo; instead she travelled on to Grand Junction to visit my parents, our other sister and her family, my brother and his family, and my grandma (more on that in a second). As long as she was 2 hours closer to GJ from Pueblo, she thought she'd take advantage of it. As long as she was going, why not take advantage and send Patrick, too? He loves his cousins, his aunts and uncles, and he loves my dad so much it's ridiculous. As soon as we asked if he'd like to go for a week he said "ok! But first I have to go potty" like "drop everything! I'm gotta hit the toilet and then we can be outta here! But don't leave without me!" It took a little longer than that to load everything up, of course, but he was dying to get on the road and glad when they finally left. Now he's long gone and lemme tell ya, it has been GREAT. Not great like I don't love him, not great like I don't miss him, but great because now having 2 kids seems so darn easy. So straightforward! So many fewer fights! So much less backtalk :) I can't imagive how large families feel - is it easier when you're missing a kid or two, or do you even notice anymore? Eli really enjoys being the BMOC now, and I have really been able to enjoy Eli for who he is, without trying to wrestle Patrick into a separate activity so we can get some "alone" time. So while I miss Patrick a bit, I have gotten to know Eli a whole lot better, which is SO FUN. Turns out, he's really a cutie, and not just a cute terrorist.

Anyway, being at my parents' home for only a few hours, my grandma passed away. Not unexpectedly, she was nearly 86 and has not been well for quite some time. She had wanted to die for much longer than that, even (she was a bit dramatic, let's say). Because of her death Joe and I will unexpectedly be travelling with the 2 remaining kids (easy! travel with 2!) and seeing LOADS of aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and (of course) our very own Patrick. Quite the unexpected week! We're looking forward to getting out of town, visiting, and remembering one crazy lady we called Grandma Gus.

Oh, you boys...

2011-04-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Patrick wants to everything just like daddy. Sometimes it's an issue when we only have one of whatever daddy is doing. We have extra cordless screwdrivers, extra hammers, extra tools of all kinds, so for Christmas I got extra headlamps for the boys. A flashlight AND a giant rubber band for your head AND matching dad? It's definitely a favorite! Patrick wants to do projects in dark places whenever possible.

Royal Weddings and Steam Cleaners

2011-04-19T16:55:00.001-07:00

So I'm not a huge follower of this upcoming royal wedding, but I do think about it sometimes. I thought about it a lot today, imagining how my life would be different if I were a princess. First thing this morning I thought "princesses don't have night duty with babies; they need to look good for their kingdom (the media) and have nursemaids. I would definitely have a night nurse." Second thing, getting Eli dressed was like wrestling a wild pig into size 18-month clothing, and I decided princesses definitely don't have that job, some poor butler would be the one wrangling kids into their clothes for the day. Depending on how many sets of clothing they went through, the butler might have to do this more than once. For instance, Caroline experienced a Nasty Blowout that soaked through 2 layers of clothing today; the poor butler would change that. Then, 10 minutes later, when she did it AGAIN, the poor butler would dress her AGAIN. And do the goopy green laundry. Third thing, someone would cook for me (and do the grocery shopping prior to cooking, I suppose, but I didn't shop today so it didn't cross my mind too much) so I wouldn't end up eating a bowl of end-of-the-package cereal dust. Fourth, and most important thing, a princess would not only own a steam cleaner (perhaps that makes me part princess, since I do), a princess would own a SERVANT to USE the steam cleaner (rather than get her own hands dirty) when some feisty toddlers accidentally dumped an entire can of black paint on her light tan carpet. Yep, a whole gallon. Black. Exterior paint. Since I am not a princess, it took me over an hour of scraping, scrubbing, and steaming to get the mess as clean as it's ever gonna be again. The carpet isn't black, thank goodness, but it's definitely not light tan anymore. I'm pretty sure Joe's gonna be ticked about that when he hears about it tonight, but if I were a princess then he'd be a prince, we'd buy new wall-to-wall carpeting tonight, and we'd live happily ever after.

After all this, I'm thinking "Waity Katie" has definitely taken the easy route.

Good Question, posed by Kari: Why was the paint open and accessable? Well, it wasn't open, it was hammered shut. It came open when said feisty toddlers took to stacking paint can upon paint can. We have a BUNCH of mostly-empty paint cans from all our projects around the house; some are less empty than others. The 6th can up was black, it was heavy because it was full which caused it to tumble (all sorry coincidences), and it opened when it hit the floor. The paint cans are currently stacked along the wall, single-file, where NONE should fall... unless crazy kids get a hold of them. They are there because last week (2 weeks ago? time flies) we moved the freezer into the house from the garage and stole the paint cans' former location. Neither of my kids ever seem to spend time in the basement, and they certainly hadn't noticed the paint cans, but when we have friends over I often overlook things that my kids don't get into. I hadn't even thought about other kids noticing them! I don't think any of them are bad kids, my own or our friends (Patrick said they all worked together), they were just having fun stacking things and it was an accident, just an accident that had all the odds stacked against it (and against me). I hadn't moved the paint to the garage because extreme weather, like our garage has, ruins paint. It seems clear now, though, that little kids ruin it much faster.

Wagon Train

2011-04-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

Some of those tidbits I mentioned...

Patrick LOVES riding his bike. He's got good speed and has started getting good distance, even biking up a sizable hill to the neighborhood park. Now we're going for good endurance because I hooked up the wagon to the back of his bike (notice the tension in the rope tied between them).

Eli WANTS to bike around with Patrick, but can't reach the pedals of either bike that we have, so he often feels frustrated and left out. This was the perfect solution. It worked GREAT! I was really surprised that my contraption not only made it around the driveway, it cruised around our entire neighborhood! The only trouble was that Patrick was so excited, he kept checking behind him to make sure the wagon was still attached and Eli was still doing alright (notice the huge amount of slack in the rope). While he was checking he would run his bike off into the grass or lose his momentum and have a hard time getting started back up... it took a lot of convincing to let him know he was doing great and that he needed to keep up his speed so Eli didn't feel so heavy. Eli chilled out the whole time and didn't mind almost being flipped backward when Patrick would start suddenly after untangling his bike from the neighbor's shrubbery. Now THAT'S team spirit!

Tidbits and Big Pictures

2011-04-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

I realise that mostly my posts are tidbits about the kids, or quick stories from our lives, or a photo or two of something mildly interesting to those who know our family. I think I often choose this format because I really live my life in tidbits. Not every day is awesome, not every day is even necessarily GOOD - I've had my share of days when I've felt unbelievably depressed that this is my life. These kids are getting older by only minutes at a time, and those minutes can draaaaaag. Then again, not every day is awful, not every day is necessarily BAD - the kids can be so sweet and they show me so much love, it's wonderful that I get to stay home and enjoy them! But mostly the days aren't good, bad, or ugly - the days are tidbits. Funny stories about what Patrick did that made me laugh, followed by huge sighs over how how the kids are fighting over who gets to be closer to Caroline, followed by a sweet photo of them spontaneously hugging in the kitchen. You can't really lump all those feelings into one simple sentence, "our day was good," and have anyone understand how your day was.

So here's my day, in a big-picture sense (and in a very long paragraph. Feel free to quit reading when you get bored). Joe goes to work in the morning before anyone else gets up. Often I only have a snippet of a memory of him kissing me goodbye before he goes, when I still had dried-up drool on my cheek and I wonder how he could stand to kiss me like that, but I'm glad he did. The kids all have internal alarm clocks set to exactly the same time and they typically get up at 6:45, within 15 miutes of each other, no matter how quiet I keep the kid who wakes up first. They have a 6th sense about it, I swear. I typically make eggs for breakfast because it's the most important meal of the day, because I'm starving and they're quick, and because I know the boys will eat them. Patrick has become OCD about his hands being sticky, so anything with syrup is out, and cereal is just too difficult for Eli so I'd have to make him his own breakfast anyway, so I might as well make everyone eggs. We have breakfast and they're off to the races outdoors, often so eager to get outside that they simply grab shoes and head out in their pajamas. They spend almost all day outdoors, playing in the sandbox or on the dirt hill with dinosaurs. Five days a week we have something going in the morning, either a meeting or a lunch with friends or me going to the gym. It adds a bit of structure to our day, lets the kids see some friends, and helps me remember which day of the week it is! Otherwise they would all be so similar... Anyway, I stay inside with Caroline when she's awake, doing chores around the house - she likes the be up and around, perfect for picking up the living room and putting away dishes. When she naps I work on the yard and then the boys want to help dig/water/weed/supervise. In spite of playing outdoors all day long we always eat inside because I am so afraid of one of them falling off the picnic table - it's a sizeable drop onto concrete, and they inevitably fall head-first. Joe broke his collar bone falling off that picnic table as a kid, which lends to my paranoia. After eating lunch indoors Eli takes a nap, Caroline usually naps then as well, and Patrick likes to watch movies on Netflix on our computer. I take a break and read or nap on the couch next to him, inevitably getting woken up by the phone or the door or Patrick wanting more juice, and I curse them all and hide under a blanket to finish my snooze. After naps we head to the front yard to do work out there, and the boys ride their tricycles on the driveway. I dig weeds and haul rocks and water my garden, which leads to the boys watering the lawn, their bikes, and themselves. We head inside when Caroline wakes up so I can nurse her (they aren't allowed to be out front without me) and the boys run rampant in the house and destroy all the picking up I did that morning. They like to create "loops," as I call them - running in a circular semi-obstacle-course, following each other. One favorite loops is up onto a toddler chair, over the arm of the overstuffed big chair, somersault onto the floor, and climbing back to the toddler chair. Another is using the toddler chair upstairs to boost onto the table of the play kitchen, falling face-first onto the bed, then rolling off the bed and climbing back to the chair. After nursing Caroline (while they run loops) she sits in her bumbo while I cook dinner - usually something kid-friendly because I know Joe won't be home to eat with us. Often I cook a second "adult" meal that will take longer, like roasting a chicken, while the boys eat so that I can eat dinner with Joe. The boys eat at 5:00, play outside for another house, take a bath if absolutely necessary (we've seriously cut down on baths due to Eli's eczema), then it's a bottle of chocolate milk for Eli at 6:30 and he's asleep. Caroline goes down about 7:00. Patrick stays up and we either read books or he asks for stories about Joe and I when we were kids. Joe gets home about 7 or 7:30, so he hangs out with Patrick until I nix their guy time in favor of bedtime, usually about 7:45. I know it would be nice to have more time together, but I'm the one who's here with a crabby 3-year-old if he goes to bed much later, so I have the final word. Joe usually eats after Patrick goes to bed, then we relax and talk about our days for about an hour. Lately he has brought work home so he'll work on his laptop the remainder of the evening and I get to do my own thing, like read or scrapbook or (like right now) blog.

It's almost ridiculous how similar every day is, even down to the food we eat and the boys running loops while I make dinner. There are certainly things I would change about our day if I had the chance, but those things are really in Joe's hands. One day he was able to sleep in a bit and didn't leave for work until 7:30 - we all got to eat breakfast together and it was AMAZING. I am so jealous how people who get to do that with their husbands every day take it for granted. One night a week I work, but other than that we hardly vary. And that's our big-picture days. The rest is, as you know, tidbits. And I'll fill you in on those as they happen :)

Various state of disrepair

2011-04-11T20:43:00.001-07:00

I've noticed as I take and post pictures that there are varying states of disrepair at my house. I don't typically clean up just to take a photo, though I do clean up throughout the day, so it just depends on when the photo happens. Sometimes I go to post a picture and I think "I can't even post that, everyone will see how messy my living room is!" Or WAS, at that particular moment. So it's interesting to me to look through all my pictures and see not necessarily what the kids were doing but if the background behind them is good, bad, or ugly. I don't know if anyone else really notices this - do you? One things' for sure - taking a picture of a room you THINK is clean is the quickest way to discover what it really looks like. I just don't know how anyone can ever get their house to "Better Homes and Gardens" level.

Livin' the dream

2011-04-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

Two chocolate ice cream cones and a rocking horse. THAT'S what I call livin' the dream.

Greased Lightening

2011-04-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

Eli had some nasty eczema for a few months, starting in the winter time. Didn't think much of it, Patrick gets nasty skin in the winter, too, but Eli's kept getting worse and worse and WORSE. Hurt my eyes just to look at it! Finally it got to the point where he was scratching his dry, itchy skin until it bled (all together now: "ewwwww!") and the itchiness would wake him up at night. Not so good when you're already getting up with a baby at midnight. So we took him to the doctor, who prescribed some meds that worked wonder within a week - clear skin! He can wear shorts without any self-consciousness! (or would he have done that anyway?). The trouble with the prescriptions is getting them on him. One is a body oil, DermaSmooth, and you're supposed to apply it to damp skin. Sooooo... apply OIL to a SLIPPERY TODDLER who is already a DIAPER-CHANGE ESCAPE ARTIST.... it's like trying to catch greased lightning. I think Joe comes home late from work just to avoid being stuck with the task.

More Faith

2011-04-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

No new info on the car accident situation, but today was an especially good day in terms of religious faith. General conference was excellent, was it not? My favorite talk was from Richard G. Scott on loving your wife; he had very humble stories and very good advice. Can't wait for the Ensign to come out to post it somewhere around the house (or in Joe's lunchbox - you know, a little light reading over his sandwich). Today has been ridiculous, weather-wise. This morning at 8 a.m. the boys wanted to roam outside, so Caroline and I sat out on the porch swing and the boys played in the dirt as usual. It was warm! Sunny! Not even a breeze! But I could see the clouds rolling in from the mountains, and by the time the 10 a.m. conference session started it was turning bitterly cold. By the time the session was over it had started to snow, so we gathered some firewood from outside and built a fire in our warm, cozy house. We even got out marshmallows and roasted them! During that time it snowed like CRAZY and before the 2:00 session started it had accumulated enough to build a snowman, so Joe went outside and had a snowball fight with Patrick and helped him build this beauty: Now it seems to be warming up a bit and starting to melt. Springtime in Colorado is quite possibly the most unpredictable thing I've ever encountered, and that includes toddler tantrums or how my day will go with three crazy kids. And that's saying something!

Chocolate forts

2011-04-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

Joe has been gone on loooong work days the past few weeks (seems like years) so we've gotten a little more creative on ways to pass the time. One morning I built a fort for the boys. In order to Patrick to not exclude Eli (his favorite reason to build a fort is to block Eli out of it) I said it was a "Boys Only" fort and no mommies were allowed. Then I gave them each chocolate milk and they sat inside sooo quietly, drinking their milk. It was heaven, even if it only lasted until the milk was gone.

Burrito-wrapped swing-sleeper

2011-04-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

Since about the day she was born Caroline has slept in a swing lent to us by my big sister. It takes 4 C-cell batteries to run and her many naps a day quickly depleted those batteries, twice. Expensive! So I started just leaving her swing off and putting her down for nap and bedtime there anyway, and she still loved it. She quickly went from sleeping 2-3 hours at a stretch to sleeping up to 9 hours her first night-time stretch. It was wonderful!

Enter Joe's good intentions. He doesn't want her to get too used to being in the swing to sleep, so he started putting her to bed in her cradle again. All of a sudden, she was up every 2-3 hours again, all week long! The poor girl was exhausted and had a much harder time during the day, so I started putting her back in the swing for naps so she could catch up on her sleep then. After one week, I needed some catch-up, so she's back in the swing for bedtime. And she only woke up once last night. Thank you, swing!

Now Joe had better not put her down in the cradle tonight while I'm at work...

Faith

2011-04-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

My religious faith is pretty strong, but my faith in humanity? Gone.

We got a call today from Geico, our insurance agency, to get Joe's permission to release the photos from his car accident back last June. They needed some backup because the person he hit got a LAWYER and is trying to file for damages that Geico deems a little excessive, and are refusing to pay for. SERIOUSLY, now. Joe was not speeding. He was not on his cell phone. He was not texting. He was not running a red light or a stop sign or failing to yield. He was not following too closely or driving erraticly. He was not drunk, not high, not on a strong dose of cold medicine. It was stop-and-go-traffic and traffic stopped more quickly than he realized, but he braked as hard as he could and rear-ended this lady not going more than 20 mph. It was and ACCIDENT in the most honest sense of the word. Minor cosmetic damages to both cars -back or hers, front of his. He didn't hit her hard enough for her to hit the person in front of her. She got out of the car, perfectly fine, she's only about 35 years old so she's not exactly old and frail, so at most I'm imagining she had a sore neck the next morning. When she and Joe got out of their cars her first words were "I hope you have insurance." NICE, lady, NICE. I guess we should have seen this coming....

So I'm standing strong on that religious faith and hoping that first, all the ambulance-chasing lawyers are sent to outer darkness, and second, that she gets hit by lightning as a sign from God, because she can't sue God for damages.

And the Answer Is....

2011-03-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

A zebra! Who guess correctly? Did anyone guess correctly in their head who didn't venture a guess on a comment? Well, that doesn't count, and your vote is disqualified. Next time, speak up! Who knows, you just might win my eternal love and respect and (if you're lucky) a hand-drawn picture of a zebra.

Pictures

2011-03-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Can you guess what Patrick drew? It's an animal you can find at the zoo, but it isn't orange. Answer to come tomorrow. Sorry it's so wrinkled, it was on the table while Eli was 'Bustin.

Clean Sweep

2011-03-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

Eli, well... he's not your typical male. Eli really likes to clean. If I get out the broom to sweep up a little spilled cereal, he wants to sweep the whole kitchen. If I get out the vaccum, we'd better be vacuuming top to bottom, stairs included. I sure do love my Dyson, but top to bottom? Every day, just because I opened the closet where the vacuum is stored with the coats that we still need? (Thanks for nothing, late March- the only reason you're going out like a lamb is because you were both covered with a fluff of white! SNOW!) No, thank you. I started giving Eli the Dust Buster so he could complete his own vacuuming projects and I could enjoy sitting on my rear watching (and taking photos). Unfortunately, his favorite thing to Bust is the coffee table, which needs picking up, yes, a nice polish of glass cleaner and furniture wax, yes, but vacuuming? Not so much. Still, can't blame a guy for trying.

Three's a crowd

2011-03-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Caroline enjoys spending a little time under her "tripod," which spins and sings sweet songs and has lights and hangy-down-dillies... with all those gizmos, who wouldn't like it?! And with a little sister included, what big brother could resist? Well, certainly neither of these two could.

I was right

2011-03-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

I was pretty sure Patrick wanted to be a dinosaur, and I was right. He found exactly the tool he needed in the backyard to become a Triceratops (his cousin Kalena's favorite dino, in case she needed another reason to like him). Fitting that he should be wearing a dino shirt... Then his nose spike quickly transformed into a stegosaurus tail to whack Eli around. Then, tools abandoned, Eli picked up the project and became a kung-fu Triceratops.

Remember the boot?

2011-03-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

How could you forget? It's only a few posts down. Now when Patrick gets a boot Eli runs to get his own, and it's a little drinking party. Sometimes it's nice to have a sibling to up the ante on weirdness. Interesting that they both chose righties....

Welcome Back

2011-03-16T13:06:00.001-07:00

Today I went to the gym, and it felt like there was a big "Welcome Back!" sign hanging over the eliptical machines. This might sound weird, but I REALLY enjoy working out. You might say I love it. The trick is, I love working out at the gym, not really anywhere else. I love the cardio machines, the calorie counters, the magasines, the weight machines, the warm-up-cool-down stretching area, I like how the rubber floor mats are kinda bouncy. I like it all!

I got into working out in high school where I took a weight class for an easy A (NOT easy, the school started doing the "Bigger, Faster, Stronger" program that semester and it kicked my butt) and also lifted weights for the swim team, a prerequisit to being on Varsity. In college I worked out a lot, taking advantage of random hours between classes that would otherwise be filled wandering aimlessly around campus. When we had Patrick I joined a gym with childcare just so I could get some alone time and I worked out until I got pregnant with Eli... and I haven't been to the gym since. It's been over 2 years! Oh, sweet gym, how I've missed you!

Caroline turned 3 months old yesterday (the minimum age for kids to go to daycare at this gym), so I hit the ground running this morning and sent all the kids to daycare at the gym. It was so great! The eliptical welcomed me back with wide-open oversized foot pedals. The bike didn't mind me getting its seat all sweaty. The stair climber, though, tried to kill me (as usual). I was SO HAPPY to be back to working out, though! To add to my sense of pride there is a write-up on the wall about what a workout is, and it was EXACTLY how I feel! I wanted to get a copy, but forgot to ask... but the jist is that a workout is 25% perspiration, 75% dedication. Just showing up is the greatest part of the battle! By showing up you have conquered laziness and procrastination. A workout helps you look better, feel better, and BE better. Working out gives you confidence to do things you wouldn't have done before. Working out is a statement that you care and that you want to be better today than you were yesterday. THAT'S a workout! And maybe that's why I like it so much - for all of those reasons and more (like bouncy rubber floors).

The added bonus: I may finally fit into the greater portion of the clothes in my closet. People weren't lying when they said it was tougher to bounce back after their third baby... tough, but not impossible! I'm taking it one workout at a time.