Random phone pics. . .

His curls are back! This kid is so dang cute.

Just kickin' it pool side . . .
MMMM watermelon! Summer's back! (of course that was in like May cause now it's so stinkin' rainy and cold!)
So we were in search of free summer activities and found ourselves at the library. They had different art projects, this one included 3-d glasses to view their own chalk art. Thatcher was diggin the glasses!

So here's what happens when school's out. . .

She created an entire restaurant worth of food out of paper and markers, labeled her store "sweet tomatoes" and was constantly taking my order!

Here Gretchen drew her cousin, Katie, in her wedding dress (they are getting married in July). They funny thing here is that Katie is refusing to wear a veil (which her mother would really like her to wear) and Gretchen has clearly drawn her with a veil (and a hat as Katie said!). Oh, and note the chewed end where the dog got ahold of it. Stupid dog.

Gretchen's fun hair color from the school carnival (yay it didn't rain!)

The Easter cousins in Grandma Adler's coordinating outfits!

Camping and a lost tooth!

So as a kind husband, Chris took the kids camping, as a weekend off for me - and didn't even invite me! It was great! I think I slept about 11 hours and didn't even roll over once! Yeah, so my kids still don't sleep through the night - what's it to you? I must just be so remarkable fabulous they can't go more than a few hours without me near them! he he

Kickin' it at the campfire with cousins and aunt and uncle Moore!

pretty sure the highlight of the trip were the smores!
And of course the playing in the fire with their sticks, which would NOT have been allowed had their mother been present. . . moms can be such a drag.

So Gretchen had this loose tooth for about 6 weeks (it seems forever) and she kept wanting us to wiggle it. One night Chris talked her into letting him pull it. We couldn't believe she agreed, she is kinda a sissy, and we expected lots and lots of crying and whining. She was so excited! No crying or anything!

There is a slight look of terror in her eyes here . . .

Friday, June 19, 2009

Phoenix Zoo March '09

Susie, Katie and Sydney came down to visit us in March (in Arizona) (yeah I'm just finally going through the pictures!).


No one panic! I haven't cut his hair again - these are from March!

Thatcher loved the goat petting area
He had a hard time with this rule. . .
Yee haw! Who doesn't love a ride on a wild boar!

Katie checking in with the fiancee (about every 5 minutes)

Gretchen's last day of AZ school -

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Funny over-hearings . . .

Gretchen: "Thatcher don't go inside right now. Stay out here and waste your time with me!"

Thatcher: "Me Star Wars."
Me: "You want to watch Star Wars?"
Thatcher: "Yeah."
Me (knowing he's never seen star wars): "You mean Iron Man?"
Thatcher (very excitedly): "Yeah, me that one!!"
This was repeated for about a week, always the same.

Thatcher, when wrastling around, "Me nice bad guy!" (again in reference to Iron Man!)

Thatcher, when growling, "Me naughty monster! Arrrrh!"

Thatcher: "Me pock-i-sle."
Me: "No you already had a snow cone."
Thatcher: "No me snow cone, me pock-i-sle."
Me: "No. No popsicle right now."
Thacher, with a foot stomp: "Ahh. DANG IT! Bama (aka grandma) me no pockisle. Dang it!"

He's a funny kid. His cute curls and handsome little face leave me giggling even when he's mad.

Gretchen has finished kindergarten and is excited to go to first grade (after a fun summer of course!). We've planned some camping trips for the summer, and a celebration of cousin Katie's marriage! Some more pictures to come . . .

Friday, April 17, 2009

Awesomest week ever.

So here's how it goes.

Monday 6:30 a.m. - bleh, bleh coming from Thatcher's bed. Yep, lots of puke all ovet the sheets. Multiple more pukes throughout the morning. Multiple loads of wash done. Puking slows.
8:00 p.m. Bedtime.
10:30 p.m. More puking. More laundry. No sleep for Chris, only some for Ann.

Tuesday. Less puking, clear liquid diet only. Diarrhea starts. Diarrhea starts on the carpet! Oh #@^%! 1 hour + of carpet cleaning. Definitely need to keep diapers closer at hand.
Tuesday night - diarrhea blow outs x 3. Awesome. Best night of sleep ever.

Wednesday. Still puking. Not enough to warrant a doctor visit. A phone call to the doctor's office reports that 3 - 5 days of this is 'normal'. Awesome. Ann continues to become grouchier and grouchier.

Thursday. More puking. Lots of popsicles are consumed. Lots and lots of laundry and puked on sheets and towels. Somehow, Ann has convieniently avoided getting puke down the neck. That's a first! Another call to the doctor - yes, really, 3-5 days is normal. I mean we're on day four here! It's not very normal that I hope my child is LESS than average. . . Puking does seem to slow, he starts saying, "no my do it" for everything - so he's getting some back to normal.
8:00 pm bedtime. Only wakes up once and YES! no puke in the bed.

Friday. Wakes up ravenous. Downs 3 bowls of cereal. Plays for approx. 30 min - then pukes all over the chair and floor (yep, carpet again). So I try to carefully carry him to the shower to limit the carpet cleaning. I put him in the shower and then return to clean the mess. MMMM I love puke. Apparently so does the dog, as he is now eating the puke, as well as covering his face, chest and legs in it. Honestly.

That's it. I call the doctor for an appointment. I got him some zofran, and if this doesn't stop it, we're going to the hospital for IV fluids. This may top my list as one of the worst weeks ever. And guess how it all started? Easter candy. Lots and lots of easter candy. I can tell you what I'm never going to be eating again. . .

Thursday, April 2, 2009

This is one of my favorite children quotes:


"Contrary to what we may have heard, children are not like clay - which we can mold into whatever we want if we try hard enough. They are seedlings. The seed of what they are has already been planted from the moment they began their existence. Some may be orange trees and others might be lemons. It is our job, as the gardeners, to observe, water, expose to the sun, weed, provide fertilizer, and nurture, in order to make the most beautiful plant possible from the seedlings we are given."
-Linda Eyre

So this morning I caught Thatcher dipping his empty cup into the dog's water, and then drinking it! I guess I should be happy he wasn't just lapping out of it.

So we're a little cramped in the a.p.t, but it's working out. The kids are LOVING being back with the cousins and extended family. I'm starting to worry that when we do move out to our own place, they will be entirely bored. That may be awhile, so maybe I should just relax, but I don't know what that really means!

I miss the sunshine, pulling weeds, and our few friends down in AZ. This cloudiness is very depressing. Oh yeah, and our beautiful vacant house. It really was a perfect house for us. Too good to be true I guess! Life still has me guessing. I'm not sure what's around the corner.

This is what greeted us DAY ONE back in Utah:


Gretchen has discovered her first loose tooth! She was so excited she nearly pee-ed her pants!


So I know what this represents, after a little research. What do ya'll think it's for?


Gretchen's school fair face painting (in AZ). Who doesn't love a good face painting?

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Catching up. . .

So YES, we are back in Utah. Back into the basement apartment we lived in as newlyweds. It's weird how life tosses you around sometimes! We are doing well, and the kids are as happy as can be to have all the cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles to play with. It took me about 1 hour within being back in the valley to get some Granato's into my belly. And another day or two for some Italian Village. You just can't beat going out to lunch!

We spent about a week packing up and moving and unpacking, and it is so not very fun. But we had loads of fabulous helpers, and luckily Chris has really big bumps. (oh, bumps are muscles - it's a long story from my nephew's childhood. But basically he thought chris and hercules and the work out guy on a infomercial had the same size bumps!) And LUCKILY I am really good at supervising and telling people how to lift and move boxes around. GOOD THING!

A few photos for giggles:
I had to clean out the puppy's ears with cotton balls, and Thatcher decided to do his own as well.


We had a 'carnival' at the elementary school and Thatcher was absolutely infatuated with the mascot. He kept following him and hugging him and trying to tell him stuff. It's funny, cause Gretchen always cried and ran away from mascots. It's so weird having a boy who is into everything and fearless!


So Grandma and Grandpa Holmes flew down to help us drive back (Grandpa drove our other car while Chris drove the moving truck and Grandma helped me out with the kids). The kids were pretty good. We did have the pleasure of spending the night in Beaver, which was actually nice. I was pretty wiped out and it was late. But Thatcher had this funny obsession with markers on his face. . .
This was the second day and try as I might to be mad about it, I just couldn't help but giggle when I looked at him! He had of course done it the day before with brown marker, but not nearly as bad. Luckily, I have limited him to the washable markers!

So Gretchen started her first day of school with only minor tears, and the second day with smiles. She is loving having only half day kindergarten, and making new friends. Mostly she looks forward to riding the bus home!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thatcher loves motorcycles and has carried this one sent from Grandma Holmes everywhere! Thanks, Grandma!



Our puppy - he has seemed to keep the name Riddick - seems to love my slippers. While they are still on my feet! Here I was washing dishes. . .
And here I was playing the piano!
Along the lines of puppy love. . . Katie and Matt are getting married! Congratulations!


I hope none of ya'll know this guy, but this was at the elementary school's book fair night. I mean honestly - can't he feel the draft?

Valentine's with Grandma Adler

Grandma Adler joined us for Valentine's weekend. The kids loved having her, and we loved the built in babysitter! Those kids somehow can talk their grandmas into jumping on the tramp! ha ha!





And we certainly LOVE getting packages! This is from the 'heart attack' the Knights sent - thank you thank you!

Home again, Home again, jiggity jig.

So I guess we've made the decision. We're moving back to Utah. It seems crazy, I know. But that seems to be the decision we have arrived at, after much prayer and deliberation. And unless I get struck by lightning as I am packing boxes, it seems to be the way we should head.

Many factors have played a role in the decision, and there are certainly things we will miss down here - the warm sunshine, our family and new friends, the ward, our new house, but it is not to be! So watch out for the lightning strike, but otherwise it seems we will be heading back in March!

Monday, February 9, 2009

New puppy -

So after some thought, we decided to get a puppy! We wanted to have something to give our kids some extra love (and maybe me too), since we are missing some family and friends in Utah! He is a 'pugador' - a pug lab mix. Yeah, go figure. We're confused at the logistics too. And, the pug was tan and the lab yellow, and all the puppies were black! Amazing. He is 6 1/2 weeks old - very puppy-ish, but very sweet as well. They said they get about beagle size, and look kinda like a mini-lab. Gretchen is thrilled! We think his name is Riddick - but that is still pending for sure.



Arizona friends - come visit him! He needs to be 'socialized' so you are welcome!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

TD hair cut! Whoops. . .

So I decided to give Thatcher a hair cut and now I'm regretting it! I miss those curls! I hope it grows at record speed!


He's still pretty darn cute though!

So I kept checking on my row of celery, and was sad only one had come up. I watched it for months, kept checking stuff online, making sure I was doing it right. I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. So I finally dug around it the other day. Turns out it was a carrot!

And a beauty one at that! It was the tastiest celery I've ever had!

Tattling OB's?

So at work last night I got tattled on. Not by a patient, not by a nurse or co-worker, but by a physician. Honestly, how old are we? He asked me to call him every hour, then he called the patient on her cell phone to whine about how I kept calling him every hour. Then he called the charge nurse to question my training, and how dare I tell him what to do. He's delivered 15,234 babies and how dare a measly nurse tell him what to do! So you guessed it ladies, I have a new favorite OB (in case you couldn't see my eyes rolling they totally were). But you can tell my old favorites from Cottonwood that they are off the hook and quite fabulous compared to the others out there! It's funny, I never thought I would miss those epis cutting, fundal pushing men.

So as I was asking my co-nurses and charge nurse what they thought about my patient and my care - you know I am still a patient advocate despite his assessment, and am willing to admit I can very infrequently, very, very rarely, but possibly sometimes be wrong - and what they would have done, they informed me that this OB is 'disgusting'. Really every separate person said, 'Oh yeah, he's disgusting.' He 'sings' to the patient's vagina, and often winks and comments to the husband (or bofriend) about the 'courtesy stitch' and how 'this one's for them'! Yeah, kinda glad I'm not on his good list!

So when I woke up this morning, Gretchen told me that Chris went to 'some car place'. For two hours I was trying to figure out where he went. I finally called him, and he was at the driving range! Ha ha! That little girl is pretty cute. She has actually been playing on her own pretty well, with less whining and crying. It did require a cold shower via Chris the other night, but she's been much better since then.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

25 random things of my kids

So I had much more fun than expected doing the Facebook 25 random things, that I decided to do it on my kids. Here goes:

Thatcher
1. Favorite current saying is, "Ah dang it!" This is in response to any golf swing or ball throw - good or bad.
2. Loves to golf. Real with us, or in the backyard.
3. LOVES his cousin Katie. He would opt for her over anyone else. Ever.
4. Loves motorcycles - although not real, they're too loud - and helicopters, cars, and of course, fire trucks.
5. Actually really enjoys playing with Gretchen's polly pockets and pet shops!
6. Is really good at walking in high heeled dress up shoes.
7. Tells us, "Ewwwww, bum" when he wants his diaper changed.
8. Would watch tv all day if he could.
9. Is virtually always sweaty. The first sign is the beads of sweat on his nose.
10. He isn't very shy. When we are walking through grocery stores he often says, "Hi guy."
11. Loves to clean and help with laundry.
12. Typically requests to go to bed to have his "two nummies."
13. Dislikes black dogs. He kinda freaks out!


Gretchen
1. Grows about 4 inches every month - mostly in her legs.
2. LOVES to draw and makes notes. I think she makes about 15 a day. Literally. She already 'made' all of her valentines for school - without any help or initiation from me. That's way too far in advance for me!
3. Is slow to warm up to pretty much everything. Unless it involves sugar.
4. Loves sugar.
5. Loves sugar.
6. Is learning to read and add and 'take away'!
7. Likes to argue about pretty much everything. We continually threaten and try to reason. It helps often times. Other times I merely call Chris and make him give her a 'talking to' on the phone. She actually responds pretty well to this - she's getting pretty big to drag to the cold shower!
8. Loves her cousin Sydney. I think she says her name about 15 times a day, and at least 12 of the 15 notes she makes are for her!
9. Screamed and pitched fits through 3+ summers of swimming lessons. I am hoping this has finally been beaten out of her.'
10. Screams and pitches fits a lot. My mom recently labeled her as 'high maintenance.' I think this fits perfectly!
11. She can be overly sweet and helpful. Just not very often. Although the naughtiness is pretty much reserved for us parents - her primary teacher recently told me how she is the perfect example in class!
12. Was one of the fattest babies ever. She tripled her birth weight by six months.
13. Has recently reverted to the non stop questions including things such as, "why are you using a spoon to eat that (cereal)" and "why" "why" and "why" some more. I think I might be going a bit MORE looney.

So I'm not sure that's quite as fun as getting to know my friends more, but it kinda is. Have a good day.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

No No Reoow!

So we've had this stray cat problem in the back yard. Apparently we have nice places to poop. It's made for funny conversations with the kids, including Thatcher describing that the kittys (or reoows as he calls them - you know a version of meow) went night-night with their two 'nummies' (that's what he calls his binkies - and he has two of them in his bed), and various outings into the back yard to yell at them and tell them to go away. So here's Gretchen's solution:



She made these three signs and posted them on three of the windows facing the backyard! I asked her if the cats could read, and she said, "no" in a very "duh!" sort of way.

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