A Good Laugh

Happy Easter!

It's my party.

 Here's a look at my birthday --

 My family gave me a bike with a bike trailer and we went to the ward campout.

  It was a happy day.

Laundry day...

 

Little Miss Rolly.  She is almost impossible to hold.  She twists and dives in my arms and wants to get down... or reach something.  

 Fine... but she is 5 months old!  She can't sit, she can't crawl, she can't even work her hands that well. 

But she just wants to be somewhere... else.  She loved this pile of laudry
 because she could lay in it and roll and smile. 

This girl LOVES to smile.  She just waits until someone looks her direction and
 then she about busts in half with her sunshine face.  

 I really just love my job.

"A Boy's Mama"

So, this is Rock. 

Yes, he is on top of the kitchen counter. 

 Sucking on a balloon, wearing a very very worn out jersy and soccer shorts that are getting too small.

  He has a long yellowing bruise on his forehead, where I believe he also now has a permanent dent (running into a window sill while trying to escape putting a diaper on!).  I got this picture because I decided to just keep the camera in my hand until the next time I went looking for Rock. 

These days I find him on top of something.  Or falling off of something.

One of his favorite places is in the girls room on top of their drawers.  He climbs up and throws everything off one by one.  (we used to keep a whole bowl of shells up there)  All of their treasures, dolls, knick knacks... then he gets off (I pull him off) and goes over to the bed and tears off all the sheets blankets pillows, then he jumps on top.  I guess this is what comes of having a boy.  When I ask him to get down or whatever, he will say "I sorry mama.  I didn't mean to!" At which point my heart melts and I just want to kiss his chubby cheeks and ruffle his curly hair even if he's been a little stinker! 

Today he picked a flower and ran to me.  He said "Mama I picked this flower for you!  Put it in your hair!"  So I did and then he kissed my lips and told me I was beautiful!  What is a girl to do!

Oh, and did I mention that he wore his Batman jammies to church last Sunday?  Oh yes.  He would not, I repeat: would not put on his Sunday clothes.  I wrestled them on and buttoned up the shirt to his throat so he couldn't get it off. But then he screamed until he was hoarse and struggled for an hour trying to yank it back over his head and he ripped off his pants... so Ava suggested his new Batman jammies.

  I was trying to shush her so he wouldn't hear, but it was too late. 

It was either naked or Batman... so there you go.  No shoes.  Batman jammies.   Big bruise face.  At church.

 

Grandma Bonnie sent him a new Soccer outfit so that his other one can have a rest sometimes!  And a cape.  He put it on and went zooming around the room saying "To the rescue!" 

 But then his shoulders slumped over and he came to me and said "I can't do it!  I can't fly, Mama!"  I told him he could just imagine it but he was pretty sad.  I guess he was pretty sure the power was in the cape!  Cute boy.

I am totally whooped.  I've heard of  "Mama's Boys" but it turns out I'm a "Boy's Mama".  He's got me wrapped around his finger.

Ava is full of them

Here is another one from Ava.
We had just read the scriptures before bed.  We read about Satan tempting Christ. 
Elle says:  "Well that's silly!  Didn't Satan know that Jesus already has everything?  That He already has the whole world?"
Ava: "Yeah.  And it's in His hands."

You get it, right?  He's got the whole world in His hands?
Love it.

Here's a tip:

Ava is coloring. 

She  has been humming while she works. 

Out of the blue she says, to no one in particular:

"It's not good to call people 'crybabies.'  It makes them cry. (pause) Like a baby."

Back to coloring and humming.

March 9

March 9th is SUCH a good day!  We celebrate Nathan and Ava!

I always tell Ava the story:  The night before she was born was the night before her daddy's birthday. As we were going to bed, I asked him what he wanted to for dinner the next day and he said "Hospital Food."  Neither of us really guessed that his wish would come true -- but I woke up the next morning in labor! 

Here is a look at March 9th over the years:

2006 (Laguna Beach)

2007 (Austin)

2008 (Pflugerville)

2009 (Spain)

2010 (San Diego)

2011 (Houston)

We put 39 candles on the cake!  34 for Nathan and 5 for Ava.  She was so thrilled to be the birthday girl -- as you can tell from the ear-to-ear smile!  It was a fun day:  waffles and ice cream for breakfast, lunch in downtown Houston with Dad, and chocolate cake for dessert!  She woke up the next day and announced "Mom!  I'm still 5!"  She is lovin' it!  Rock is lovin' it too. 

 His most distinctly clear phrase that he says now goes like this: "It's my birthday tomorrow. I'm going to be 5!" 

What preschoolers talk about

So I'm driving the carpool to preschool. This consists of my Ava (4 almost 5), Kaia (5), and Karalee (3). Rock wasn't with us which was unusual... it was just the girls. They had such a funny random conversation, I just had to record it.


Background on the characters: Kaia has whiter-blond hair than Ava, big round eyes and acts like the mature mother of the group. Karalee is like a 3 year old from a cartoon. She loves Ava and thinks she is so cool. She also has a little high voice and is non-stop chatter. She had been talking about things her baby did for about 5 minutes straight and she just kept saying that she liked to throw-up all over and chew on shoes, and throw up and have stinky diapers... on and on with the same theme.

Finally Ava said, "Maybe we could talk about something else besides throw-up..."

Karalee: "Yeah." (as if someone else had been talking about it instead of her)

We passed by an area that has a large pond next to the road.

Ava: "Hey, there are sharks and crocodiles in that water!"

Kaia: "When we went to this park, I saw a crocodile this big (stretching out her arms) ... well, it was bigger than that."

Karalee: "I saw one in the water once too"

Kaia: "Maybe as big as this car."

Karalee: "That's big!"

Ava: "I've never seen a crocodile."

Karalee: "We saw one once and it was close to us."

Ava: "Did you get closer? Did you run away?"

Karalee: "We got closer."

Kaia: "They are fast though. Like -- zooom."

Ava: "Yeah. My sister is fast though... she can run faster than a crocodile. Faster than a car."

Kaia: "Wow. That's fast."

Ava: "Yeah."

Karalee: "I saw a crocodile and it was close to us."

Ava: "Did it bite you?" (in all seriousness)

Karalee: "No."

Ava: "Did it eat you?" (starting to tease)

Karalee: "No." (still serious)

Ava: (hiding a smile) "Did it have a beard?

(Giggles from all the girls)

Ava: (milking it) "Did it have googley,oogley eyes?"

(More laughter)

Pause.

Karalee: "Now I'm going to tell a story about Belle the princess: "Once there was a guy named Gaston who wanted to marry this girl named Belle, but she fell in love with the Beast." Now let's talk about "Tangled."

Kaia: "Well, there is a mean witch..."

Some more random facts about "Tangled" by Karalee..

Kaia: "Yeah, I'd like to ride on the back of crocodile and see how fast it goes. Let's sing "Frosty the Snowman."

Which they started and trailed off because they couldn't remember after the first line.
Then we arrived at the school.

Hah!

Blond from a bottle

Yes, I'm a natural blond. Um... at least that's what the bottle said.
'Natural golden blond'.
 I'm just here to say: Don't believe everything you read. I am now an orange-head.
Not even a natural 'carrots' like Anne of Green Gables.
Not bright enough to be 'punk'.
 Just a 'hair-dye-mistake' color.

As Nathan said: "It's not that bad. But it's not an improvement." Very democratic.

who needs funny papers

Just a few gems from the kids:

Ava:  Mom -- did you know that those flowers we have out in the grass are actually "Tricera-plants?" and they eat the bugs in the backyard?  They suck them in down their tube.  They come in all different colors, but ours are purple.

Amy: Oh really?  Where did you learn about this?

Ava:  (pause) "Dinosaur Train."  (I don't think so :)

Apparently she told her dad this several times as well!  She was really excited about it.

Driving in the car... Nathan and Ava are talking about their shared birthday which is only 2 months away!  (By the way, Ava wants to go to the Eiffel Tower for her birthday  I told her I did too!)

Ava:  Dad, how old are YOU going to be on our birthday?

Before Nathan could answer, she answered herself: Oh yeah, 34.

Rock from the backseat: "I CANNOT BE-LEEEEE  IT!" (I cannot believe it-- as said by Quincy from Little Einsteins)

Perfect comic timing.

While I change the baby's diaper, Ava is cooing at India:

Ava: "oooh, little girl, you are soooo sweet, little sweetheart, yes you are little sweetheart!..."

From the other room Rock yells: "NO!!! CUPCAKE!" 

Ava continues: "Ooooh Sweetheart!"

Rock: "NO!!! CUPCAKE!"

Apparently, to Rock not all nick-names are created equal.

So, many of you may know that we live in a suburb of Houston called Humble.  What many of you may not know is that it is pronouced with a SILENT "H":  Umble.  I live in "hUmble", Texas.

No one is really sure how that came to be and I think many people would like to take a vote and put the "H" sound back in so as to not be so entirely "hill-billy" sounding.  Or maybe it is a french pronunciation? Doubt it. Anyway, Elle is reading her scripture during family scripture study last night and she says:  "And if you will but Umble yourselves...."  Never mind that she can read the words "destruction" and "Abomination" and "resurrection" perfectly.  Thank you hUmble school district for her education.

And one last funny:

We are eating dinner.  I made a pretty good taco soup and we were talking about it.  Nathan said he added a few drops of tabasco sauce and it was even better.  The girls know that Nathan likes hot sauce so they started brainstorming about how he should buy jars of jalapenos and hot sauce.  And then I said maybe he should go into business and open up his own "Hot Shop" with a selection of hot sauces. 

Then Ava said:  "Yeah.  And then not open it."

It took me a second but then I couldn't stop laughing at her logic.  If he opened the store he couldn't keep it all to himself.  So don't open it.  Maybe it's just funny to me. 

Christmas and New Years in Houston

Christmas parties at school:

Christmas Eve at the Houston Zoo:

Texas Christmas Eve Dinner:  Tamales!

Christmas Jammies:



Christmas Morning:

 Rock's new soccer shirt from Grandma and Grandpa Pinegar was definitely a hit!

 Playin' the guitar like a rock star!

Days of December

  Elle's last Soccer Game.  She got to be the team captain that day AND she had some adoring fans!

 We went to a Christmas tree farm to cut our own tree.  The weather was beautiful, and the trees were beautiful and we had a blast!

Then of course it was time to decorate the tree at home.  We also hung some ornaments on our trees outside.  Rock loved driving around our neighborhood looking for "KRI-LIGH" as he called them.



Making Christmas decorations:

 Gingerbread house with Grandma!

Hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa!

 Wrapping presents!

Enjoying the tree! and the baby bundle underneath.