My Sleeping Beauty

This will always be one of my favorite memories. He asks me to sing this song to him every night and a couple of weeks ago he just started to sing along with me. Now we sing it together at bedtime.

Jack's ABCs

Many of you will remember L's ABC rendition from last month. Here is Jack's version.

Asian Cultural Festival

We took the whole family to the Asian Cultural Celebration, in honor of Chinese New Year and the year of the Ox. The kids always get really excited to eat "China food." The best part were the Buddist drummers. This is just a quick video clip of Lachlan trying to eat with her chopsticks. There is also some extensive enjoyment of the drumming. For those of you who know L, it is very hard to sit still when there is music on the brain!

Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration Concert

I know that many of you could not attend the last concert. It really was incredible.

You can now download the performance and listen to it through Utah Public Radio. I've linked you to it directly. It is quite large, but all saved in mp3 format so that you can save the file and listen to it over and over again.

Brooke and Becca, seriously, even if you just listened to Pam Laws...she was sooo good. It was all I could do to choke out the "Glory, Hallelujahs". What an incredible voice! Oh, and if you google James Westwater you can see his incredible slide show of historical events surrounding the Civil War. His presentation was titled, "American Fanfare."

If you're at all interested in the life and legacy of Abe Lincoln, I would encourage you to take a quick listen.

Can You Relate?

It's hard to take a good picture when the target is running. The boy wakes up early, meaning he prefers to take an early morning ride to get the rest of us out of bed.

The past couple of weeks have felt a little bit like a bad hangover...you know that you have experienced something, but you're having a hard time remembering whether you'd like to try it again. Here are just a few of the things I've 'drunk'--my cup runneth o'er.

* Overheard: Lachlan talking to her dad (mostly a mumble). Jeff responds, "Oh, I'm not telling her that--you tell her that."

Lachlan: "Mom, you no go to store with us. You stay home. You too old."

* Jack gets winter asthma. We love doing our nebulizer treatments every four hours for 10 days...then he gets pink eye, gives it to Lachlan, who gets an ear infection and puss drains out of her ear (thank goodness for that gigantic hole that never healed).

* I get pink eye and horrible cold. I wake up early so that I can drive to a class to teach 60 student-teachers. I can't see out of my eyes because they are sealed shut and swollen. I have to hold a hot rag on them so that I can "unstick" them. Sorry, Weber State people...you've been exposed. Nothing personal...

* I contract painful sinus infection, probably from the mucus I continually wiped out of Lachlan's ears. Whole family goes on antibiotics--I find myself a little weepy when considering how grateful I am for modern medicine.

* I go on the road for extensive teaching circuit. Have best night of sleep in long time while staying at a motel...whole bed to myself!

* Have to give both cats a bath. Bruce tried to shove his lard butt underneath the fence--he made it but only because the mud acted as a lubricant. I find the little weasel sleeping on the one piece of furniture that cannot be easily washed. Ernie just smells bad.

* I haven't been to the gym for two weeks. Either too sick, or too tired. I did, however, discover this little gem of a restaurant in Bear Lake. I highly recommend the mushroom burger. I could have eaten two of them if I thought it would have benefited society.

* Checked out several books from the library. Two thumbs up for "How Does a Dinosaur Eat His Food" and "There's An Alligator Under My Bed." I read them so many times that I started to make up alternate characters. I also finished the Newbery Honor, "Whittington," by Alan Armstrong--I cried it was so good. ALL animal lovers should read that book. It's a short read (1-2 hours). The story is entertaining, heartwarming, sort of true...all good stuff.

* Laughed till I cried watching "30 Rock"--if you missed the Valentine's episode, well, you really missed out. Jeff and I ate cheese stew for our Valentine's dinner--seriously, we did.

* Started feeding a stray cat on my front porch. Named him "Black Fritz"...looks just like Fritz (only black) yeah, I'm a weirdo. Jack told me tonight that Black Fritz was knocking on the door and wanted to come in. I told him that he was too scared of people, to which Jack responded, "good, I don't want him to get my movies."

* Paid a gagillion dollars for an MRI--which led to the discovery that I have a herniated disk in my L2 and a bulging disk in L3. I went to my first session of physical therapy which lasted two hours. Holy crap! I can either be crippled or broke. Do you know how much an MRI costs? Well, I had no idea. Oh, and it is very noisy. AND if you hurt your lower back you can expect that at least 10 strangers will come into a room while your pants are half down and rub your butt with icy hot. (Did I mention that my butt is not little and/or cute??) Good thing I removed all of my dignity while birthing the Jack.

* Sent Lachlan to her first Valentine's party without any Valentines to give away. I completely forgot--she just walked around and took cards and candy from the other children. I am a loser.

* We attended the Asian cultural celebration. I'll post video later. On our way out they asked if we would like to take 4 goldfish home (the centerpieces). Oh, yes. Lachlan was so excited. She kept telling me all the way home, "mom, you not pop their heads off, okay." Okay, I'll try not to rip the head off of a fish on the way home...she later names the fish the following: back, whitey, fishy and other fishy. Back? Like a chicken back, only just back? And well, between whitey and Black Fritz it is starting to feel like we have racial issues (auuggh). Two days later, we are two down and two to go--we really didn't think that she had identified or singled out any of the named fish, but sure enough her first question was, "Where's Back?" Jeff (without any sympathy) states, "He died. I threw him in the toilet. Do you want to flush him?" Oh, yes. So we all head in there to give Back his last rights. On our way back to the breakfast table I tried to soften the blow:

Me: "It's okay, Back will be happy in heaven with Jesus and Fritz"

Lachlan: "Yeah, it okay, he come back on Monday."

Me: "Yeah, Monday."

Sidenote: Other Fishy made it the longest, but even he passed away this morning.

* The power went out three days ago. All of the clocks are an hour and a half behind (approximately). I haven't changed them to the correct time because it has just been easier to adjust the schedule accordingly.

Big Boy Bed

I knew that if I just didn't suck it up and shove a knife in the heart....

I got the itch to get the crib out of his room. It was a crazy hectic day and I did it anyway--I was afraid that if I didn't just do it that I would let it go another 6 months. Do I want to go back? Good gosh, no...but it is hard to see it come to an end.

The hardest part was that he was soooo ready. I tried to rock and snuggle him before bed that first night and he sat up in my arms and said, "mama, I go sleep in my big boy bed now. You like my big boy bed? I yub my big boy bed." And with that, he slid off my lap and climbed into his bed.

I cried a little bit. But not in front of him.

Got Kids?

I've been getting your phone calls, emails, and text messages...I know, it's been a MONTH since I updated the blog. I spend all of my spare time cleaning up these same toys....

The last two weeks of January were so fun. Jack turned TWO. He will tell you three, but that's only because he has to help Lachlan remember how old she is (ha.ha.ha.). He started the day with his last "chocolate bottle". We've been trying to pack on the pounds (to no avail) with Carnation Instant Breakfast twice a day. I've let him have it in a bottle, which he absolutely loves more than life itself, but on January 18 he drank his last one. I boxed all of the bottles, nipples, and associated paraphernalia and took it to the depths of the basement. This birthday has made me particularly sentimental about his baby-hood. The last six months have been incredibly entertaining--so THIS is what people are talking about!!

This is Jack with his last bottle and the stick horse. He can't go anywhere without it. The scratch on his face is a gift from Lachlan. She occasionally defends herself.

We gave Jack a basketball hoop for his birthday. We brought the huge box in from the garage and opened it all together--as we pulled it out and started to assemble it Lachlan exclaimed, "Oh, Jack-boy, your very own potty seat! You gonna be a big boy now!" To her credit, it does look like a glorified toilet seat...yeah, we don't get into sports around here.

There were so many requests for photos of the extra tooth. It's coming in nicely. This shot doesn't really give any justice to the havoc it has reeked on the front teeth, which are now sideways. Fabulous.

Because he's celebrating the big birthday...here are a few things everyone should know about Jack:

1) He rides his stick horse and carries a sword with him everywhere. He clicks to simulate the horse feet running while he "rides." The first thing he asks Jeff when he gets home from work, "You fight me?" And then he hands him a sword.
2) He says "I yub you, mama". Yub=love
3) All letters are "letter p". Yesterday he ran to me crying and saying, "help my letter p!" It had fallen under the fridge and he was too afraid to put his hand under there to grab it. It was a little creepy.
4) He can count to 18. No mistakes!
5) He calls Ernst "dumb cat"--as in, "out of the way, dumb cat"
6) Has a distinct aversion to all things cheese. If anyone tells him that it has cheese, he probably won't even try it. A cheese stick will make him cry.
7) He likes to eat instant oatmeal for breakfast and fruit snacks for every other meal.
8) Wants me to take him to Maceys (grocery store) every day. As soon as we get to the parking lot he tells me that he needs a car to drive (they have these wretched carts shaped like cars that steer from the rear---auugggh.) He loves them.
9) He can gag and puke on command. You can absolutely not try to put food in his mouth for him. Instant vomit machine.
10) If he eats something he doesn't like he will spit it out and then tell you, "too much."
11) He prays for Sleeping Beauty, race cars, EllaElla (Cinderella), the witch, the dragon, and thank you for my "busy day." When I lay him down in bed he will say, "night, night, yub you, seep tight."
12) He doesn't blink when he watches TV (he calls it TB). His eyes will water all the way down his face, but he won't blink or look away from the screen. Complete concentration.

We took the kids to the dinosaur museum for Jack's birthday. We really talked it up and even checked out some books from the library (Franklin Visits the Museum). Aunt Susie, Sierra, baby Lily, Aunt Becca, Kate and Kiki...and Nazi Nanny (supposed to be Nanny Nancy, but Jack calls her Nazi Nanny...ha.ha.ha.) all met us there. The kids LOVED the museum. Jack and Lachlan both kept saying, "I not scared, I not even bawling!" Apparently, the book made quite an impression and both of them thought that they would be so frightened that they could have a complete breakdown. Ever since we went to the museum, Jack refers to the event as "my busy day, my see dinosaurs." It really was a wonderful experience for the whole family. In fact, it was one of the most enjoyable days of my life. To see the kids experience something that they have been looking forward to--very rewarding.

This look on Sierra's face is priceless! Jack loved this giant shark.

Oh, What a Busy Day! I love you little boy.

Supernumary Tooth

Or, as we like to refer to it...Jack's lucky tooth.
Yup, for you dental know-it-alls--Jack has an extra baby tooth. Frankly, I never imagined that me + Jeff= shark teeth.

Don't worry. I'll get a picture. In a couple of weeks it should have moved his two front teeth clear to the left so that he just has one giant tooth right smack dab in the middle. I can kiss that cover of Parents magazine goodbye.

Oh, the curse of the English heritage.

Biggest Loser

After struggling extensively for over two years to fight the bulge, Bruce finds success in eating less and exercising more...

Before: 16.8 lbs.

After: 15.3 lbs.

Tips that worked for him:

* Switched to "clean food" diet (specifically Science Diet W/D)

* Tried to chase Ernst under the bed at least 4 times in the middle of the night (for 6 months)

Quote: "I knew I had a problem when I couldn't even jump over the kid gate to get away from the children. It was a real eye-opener. I was fat and incredibly lazy. I was afraid that I might get stuck under the bed or something. One day I just decided that I was going to start chasing Ernie around and make his life a living hell--boy, I sure started to feel better after all that exercise. I wanted to be healthy...so I just ate my 1/2 cup of chow and took a nap during the day. It was so easy. If I can do it--anyone can."