Sewtastic!

I felt inspired today so when the kids went down for a nap, I busted out my new sewing machine! I had taken it out of is box once before and stared at it, but it found it's way back into the box when we had use our office for guests. And there it has sat ever since.




I have a list of things I wanted to sew when I got a sewing machine hanging on the bulletin board in my pantry. Funny that I've had the machine for almost 2 months and haven't sewn a thing. Until today that is!

I decided that I am going to make Ava's Easter dress this year. I thought that would be a nice project with a clear deadline. So today I planned to wind a bobbin or two and test her out. I got everything set up and then really really really just wanted to make something right that minute.

I didn't have much in the way of anything, but I found a few scraps of fabric. And I am not ashamed to say that I am proud of my creation!



Everything was going awesome, I was thinking how smooth the machine ran and enjoying the bum-bum-bum-bum of the the card table as it hopped up and down. And aside from one episode where the bobbin got all jacked up, things went quickly and smoothly. (I am just praying that whatever it was that got all messed up will NEVER come back!)

One of the items on my list was headbands. Ava had a thing (that she's mostly over now) a while back about her hair in her face. She'd go bananas in a parking lot when the wind would blow it in her face. On one of those days I decided I was going to make her a headband. I sewed one by hand, and she liked it and it worked like a charm, but it took way too long to make for such a simple thing.




As I contemplated what to try to make this afternoon, I decided a headband would be an easy thing to tackle. Since Ava was asleep, I made it my size cause I could measure my own head. When I got Ava up from her nap, she exclaimed how pretty she thought it was and that she wanted one, a purple one. So, hooray! Now I have a client!



I love making stuff. It's not professional or even close, but I just love thinking of something in my mind and then trying to make it 3 dimensional.

Yee-haw!

This past weekend we had the time of our lives at the rodeo. It was a very last minute decision to go. And one in which we didn't have much time to think about the possibility of it blowing up in our faces.




The rodeo didn't start until 7:30 pm just a half hour before bedtime. Would it be worth it? Would there be a major meltdown? Who knows, but if we want to go we'd better hurry!

It's freezing outside. Is it going to be too cold? Who knows, but our coats are in the car, let's go!

There are cars everywhere! Can we even find a spot to park? Of course, it was only slightly illegal, and we repented all the way up to the pavilion. But hurry, they've already started!

There are people everywhere and the stands are full! Can we find a place to sit down? Oh yes, way over on the other side, only a half mile walk! Hurry!





We fought the traffic, the people, the cold, the cowboy hats, found ourselves a good spot on the far side of the stands and enjoyed ourselves to pieces. And I'm not just saying that! We really had a great time! Dan and I looked at each other in disbelief when Ava stood with her popcorn, yelling, "HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE!" at the top of her lungs whenever a cowboy was getting ready to go. I really think she just enjoyed being able to scream and me not tell her to use her "inside voice" and Luke smiled and watched and then fell contently asleep in the sling. Could this be happening? Is it really 9 o'clock and Ava is happy and and we're not too cold and the baby is not screaming? Yes!


At one point Ava was standing up and dancing to the music and I asked her, "Where are we?" And she said, "The Zoo!". In her defense there were all kinds of livestock to see and we kept pointing out all the cows, and sheep, and horses.

The announcers told some of the most un-politically correct jokes I've heard in public. I guess Texas really is it's own country.

There was bull riding, which we missed most of, steer wrestling, calf roping, a stick horse race, bareback buckin' bronco riding, some other stuff I don't know the correct name for, and mutton bustin'. Do you know what mutton bustin' is?




Parents stick their small children onto the back of a sheep, tell em to hold on, and open the shoot. The sheep usually takes off running while the kids dangle in the breeze until they fall off. The kid who hangs on the longest wins! In a moment of genuine surprise, our Relief Society president's 5 year old daughter won the Mutton Bustin'!



And you know I just can't go anywhere without sampling the food. Ava loved her popcorn,



and we ate this obscene looking sausage that was so yummy.

We finally packed up about 9:30 and headed home, still in shock that things had gone so well.


We decided that this was just the first annual trip to the Katy Rodeo. We'll definitely be back next year!

Ava catch-up Part 2

Warning,
The following is more stuff about Ava. Read at your own risk.

The day before, I pushed Ava around Walmart and told her she could pick anything she wanted to give Dan for For Valentine's Day. She picked a chocolate apple with a gummy worm inside. She kept that secret right up until she saw him that night.

So the next night, as we exchanged our Valentine's, Ava presented Dan with the apple...

She was so excited because she picked it out herself. And she was so excited because she didn't realize that when she picked it, there was a worm inside.


Dan was generous enough to let her have the "snake". And then she was ecstatic! Immediatley he needed a home (the original box) and a bed (the plastic container from inside the box), a blanket (a paper towel), and jammas (a wipe wrapped tightly around him).

She spent a half an hour "putting him to bed" in her room, tucking and re-tucking him in, saying "sweet dreams", and lights out. Over and over and over.





The next night the snake had to accompany us out to Cici's Pizza for dinner. In his jammas, of course.

And the miracle of miracles is that with Ava's sweet tooth, that "snake" is still sleeping in her room.


A local mom's group I belong to often hosts playdates at a local gymnastic gym. The kids have a blast running around and playing on the equipment.





The gym also offers a mom and tot kind of class that we tried out a few weeks ago. Ava had a pretty fun time and I was pretty sure I was going to enroll her in the class. But I have been having second thoughts. Mostly because I am starting to think that swimming lessons might be a better investment. There is a really cool method that teaches even the tiniest of babies to survive in the water. Watch this video to see what I mean. A local swim club hear offers these kinds of classes. I'm still not sure how the prices compare but I also like the fact that Ava would get in the water by herself as opposed to me having to help her a lot with the gymnastics, which will only get harder for me as Luke gets bigger. And also, in the back of my mind I think that Ava's chances of staying small enough to keep up in gymnastics are slim to none. We'll see, I still need to do some research.

We've been working ( or maybe just thinking about working) on getting Ava to go to the potty by herself. She comes and tells me and then she's pretty good about going in and turning on the light, etc. In fact, she is actually fine until it comes the wiping, where she still requires help. Anyways, she has been going by herself and then running out where I am and telling me to "come see!". So I usually, follow her back in, and she runs ahead, right over to the the toilet and says, "TA-DA!" as she gestures towards her surprise. It cracks me up every time.

And it's no secret that Ava likes to be comfortable. But lately she has been getting so excited when we pull in the driveway, "We're here! We're here! I can wear my jammas now!" then as soon as she walks in the door she tosses everything she's holding (usually a baby and a sippy cup) straight up into the air and says "Yea! I can take off these clothes!". I have all but given up completely on making her wear her trendy jeans and shirts. I have resigned to letting her wear stretchy, cotton pants. I just pray that someday soon she'll outgrow this because elastic waste pants are not too cool.

Ava's prolific use of the word "actually" is usually right on target. "I need some more food, actually" or after she falls down, "I'm okay, actually"

She came to me a little while back asking me to teach her the "magic words". I have repeated the same words to her as I put her to sleep since she was 2 months old and one of her favorite pastimes is putting her babies to bed. So I taught her the "magic words" and she went on her way tucking in her babies and saying sweet little things in a hushed voice as she laid them in their beds.

A few days ago after she had been yelling while I was on the phone, I told her "When Mommy is on the phone, you need to be quiet." She got huffy and said, "I'm not quiet, I'm Ava!"

The end

Little Friends, Ava catch-up Part 1

This long and possibly boring to some. Be warned. And they'll be another one just as long in a few days!

Ava has made a new friend recently. A couple in our ward moved in a few months ago, and then actually just bought a house outside the boundaries just last month, so we don't see them at church anymore. Anyways, they have a daughter exactly 1 month younger than Ava and a son exactly 1 month younger than Luke. We always planned to get together but never did, until after they had moved, I got a phone call from her asking if we'd like to come play. We were excited and of course said, yes!

Their daughter is named Angelina (or as Ava says, Anchayeena). These girls get on so well together. They do their dress-up and play with dolls, and get into mischief.

On our first visit to their house, Ava lead the way into their master bedroom, unbeknownst to me, and they came out with a contact lens case...Melissa (the mom) ran to check what they'd gotten into and said, "uh-oh, my rings are gone!" I quickly looked at Ava's hand and she was wearing both the diamond ring and the wedding band! She told me they were "real princess rings" Oh my! We had a little talk about not going into rooms with closed doors.

It's just really cute to me that she is getting to the age where she want s to play WITH someone as opposed to just next to or near someone. She asks Angelina, "You want come upstairs and play with me?" And they run off together. Such a huge change for Dan and I because in the past she always would beg for us to come with her and wouldn't leave our sides at someone else's house. And another change, Ava went to her first real birthday party for a "friend". The party was at an inflatable play place. Normally, Ava would barely play, beg for me to do it all with her, start to go play and then get scared. But we went inside and she just took off. I felt pretty happy about that. Then Melissa and Angelina showed up and Angelina was very scared, wouldn't get off Melissa's lap, etc. Ava came over, took Angelina's hand and said, "Come on, Anchayeena!" and off they went and never the two were parted.

I love how they're holding hands,


And still holding hands!





I am proud of Ava and how she is growing up! She is still very sensitive but I think that makes her a good playmate, because she's very empathetic for a 2 (almost 3) year old. She's getting better about friendly to strangers and other adults who talk to her. She loves our doctor and sees her way to often, but more frequently gets into conversations with other people, whereas in the past she was wary of most people and not very friendly. She talks the doctor's ear off and luckily the doctor is a good sport. I think she's growing up!

I think the days of her referring to movies as "boobies" are quickly coming to an end as her pronunciations are getting better.

She talks about "super powers" often. For example, "I want my cup super powers full." or "I run super powers fast"

She is a good sport about a lot of things. Like when we're out of bread and she wants more "sugar toast" she always gets really perky and says, "I know! Let's just buy more at the store!"

She is planning ahead. A lot of her phrases start with, "When I get bigger..."
"When I get bigger, I learn be a princess like Dower (Dora)"
"When I get bigger, I learn to have a big truck"
"When I get bigger, I learn a fly like a bird"

She seems at ease physically and is good at kicking, and throwing, and catching. She loves to play "hike" with Dan in the backyard. A video may be forthcoming if I can ever figure out how to post it. She is pretty tall, I think. It's kind of funny to see her and Angelina together because they are the same age but on opposite ends of the spectrum as far as size.




She loves to help with Luke and instead of discreetly hiding all of his toys, now brings him toys and makes him laugh.

Crawling

Our silly computer has been fighting a virus all week. Dan worked on it, thought it was gone and then the next day it would be back. This computer has all of our pictures on it, and is therefore the "blogging" computer, so I find myself feeling behind again. Not that too many monumental things have happened, but just quite a few really small things (mostly about the kids-big surprise) that I want to remember.

Some time in the recent past, I mentioned Luke's "wheelbarrow crawl". He has now stepped it up to a full-on army type crawl, finding most of his power from his feet and legs. A few weeks ago though, he looked like this:

Head down and... GO!

And it has morphed into something more like this:

When he's really motivated, he rocks on his hands and knees, revving his engine, but still stalls to his tummy when he actually tries to go somewhere. You might wonder,



what motivates a little boy so?


What captures his attention so fully?

This.




A rare daytime appearance by none other than Sophie Kitty.


I still don't know what possessed her to throw caution to the wind and lay down in the open during waking hours.


But I do know that she better watch out because some day soon, this little guy is going to GET her.

A blast from Valentine's Day past

Originally, I was planning to post the lyrics to a song Dan wrote for me. Let me take you back...
February 14, 2001. Dan was my new Valentine. We had been dating for approximately 1 month. I think I already knew how I felt about him. Meaning I already loved him, and I already knew we would get married.

I thought I would take my time, not scare him off, wait until we'd been dating at least 2 or 3 months to let him in on my secret. I hope you can sense my sarcasm. In reality, I was barely 19 and IN LOVE. And it turned out, so was Dan, or at least so I thought.

He gave me a stuffed dog that sang "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch, I can't help myself. I love you and nobody else!" See, Dan did love me! And then he gave me a card that said something else about love, I'm sure. I was really reading into everything. You have to pay attention to details when you're trying to figure out how your new boyfriend feels about you. And so far all signs pointed to LOVE! Hooray!



Then he busted out his acoustic guitar to play a little ditty he wrote just for me! And this is where the lyrics come in...it seems that over time the exact words have slipped my mind. I was a little sheepish to ask Dan to remind me but it turns out he can't remember them either. We have a tape recording of it somewhere, we just don't know where at the moment. But here is our best attempt at the chorus which will work just fine for this story.

"I'm in love with the girl from everywhere,
I like to smell her long brown hair,
I want to hug Elise like a grizzly bear,
Yeah, I want to hug Elise like a grizzly bear"

I didn't really notice that he was comparing me to a bear, all I heard was "I'm in love". Yes! The words were right out of his own mouth. I was really excited and felt completely safe saying, "I love you, Dan" that night as we said goodbye. He looked a bit like a deer in the headlights, but he said, "I love you, too".

The next night as we were saying goodbye at my door I said, "I love you." And you know what he said? Nothing! He just stared at me and then probably just said "goodnight" and he for sure didn't say "I love you" back. What?!

I got it. I decided that I was never going to say it first again. And by the way, I was a little bit mad, but I didn't say anything. About a month later on my couch he finally said it, on his very own, immediately followed by a conversation about what went wrong. He was worried because he was still a little unsure about being in LOVE at Valentine's day. But I questioned why then would he give me a card, and a dog, and write a song all declaring love if he was still just "in like" with me? "What?" he asked, "That card said I love you? And I really didn't know what song the dog was singing, and your song...the words just fit better." New boyfriends, it turns out don't always pay attention to the details.





And just for fun, here is a poem I wrote for Dan the summer we were apart before we got married. We still weren't engaged, despite my proposals, but we were both admittedly in love. Oh yeah, I was working at The Sweet Factory (candy store) in the mall when I wrote this.

Candy Man

You'd think my sweet tooth
could be satisfied,
by this candy store i work in,
where goodies abide.

Feed any desire
at the drop of a hat.
-Good thing what i'm craving
can't make me fat.

But too bad this candy store
will never supply
that thing so addictive
that without it I'd die.

Because my sweet tooth
has been captured for life,
an attachment so strong
I'd be his wife.

He feeds my desires
more than anyone can.
He's my treat and my weakness,
my goody is Dan.

I love you, Dan! Will you still be my Valentine?

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you my friends and family! I love you!

Edited to add that looking back I really did admire Dan for not saying "I love you" back when he didn't mean it (besides actual V day, cause he didn't want it to stink). This post was not meant to make him look bad. He looks good, very good.

Luke Is a...

You might be tempted to think that little babies don't do much besides the eat, sleep (if you're lucky), poop, and play. But I started realizing that Luke is doing more and more and each day it seems like I discover something new about him. I started compiling a list in my head and it got kind of long. It goes a little something like this:

LUKE
magazine destroyer


bottle drinker
shelf raker
hair puller

toe curler
mommy wallower
toy banger

acid refluxer
necklace chewer
doorway jumper



pants pooper outer
snuggle giver
cracker eater


smile flasher
nose kisser
bath splasher


sleep interrupter
medicine taker



paper sucker
heart melter


people watcher
face wipe hater

Not that anything on this list is monumental or especially unique among babies, but these are the things that make Luke, Luke. And some items sound more negative, but isn't it funny how even though they sound that way, as a mom you've got nothing but love, love, love for them?

A little of this, a little of that

Little did we know that our computer virus was contagious and now we are fighting colds. Will this stuff ever end? And it's kind of funny, that our little family has had it's share of sickness recently, but somehow I've always managed to stay well, but I encouraged Dan to take it easy, call in sick, etc. Now that I finally caught a cold and feel yucky, I'd like to call in sick myself but am afraid I don't know the number!

I signed Ava up for preschool this weekend. It was my 2nd choice school. It is smaller and older than my first choice but the fact that registration only involved the daylight hours, won my heart. And so did the director. While she's not necessarily my new best friend or even someone I would really identify with, it was her way with Ava that really impressed me. Ava gave her a crusty attitude straight away. And when she does that it's usually best to just back off and leave her alone. But the director kept at it (and I bit my tongue hoping Ava wouldn't be really not nice) but within 45 seconds, the director had her talking and talking and talking and holding hands. I was seriously impressed. Ava also wanted to stay and play. Granted she didn't want me to leave her even for a minute or two, but the rooms and playground were at least attractive to her. And all of the teachers were very nice. It will involve "chapel" and "Jesus stories" and prayers and when I visited they were doing little projects for Lent. For some reason I was a little apprehensive about her being taught to pray by other people, but I really have no explanation as to why. Maybe it wasn't just the religious stuff either. It was weird to realize that for the first time I will not have 100% control over what she is taught or exposed to. Luckily I've got 8 more months to get over it and I better get used to it right?

Luke has been making some progress in the crawling department. He is currently employing the rarely seen "wheelbarrow method". Put your head down and your bottom up and go! Really his legs are working very hard yet he doesn't seem quite strong enough to hold up his torso. But he pushes and pushes with his feet until his bottom half is off the ground and propels himself on his chest with his arms outstretched for whatever has caught his eye. It's kind of funny to watch. I'll put some pictures of it this week I hope.

And tonight, I went to a Stake Youth Fireside. For Youth Conference this year, they are doing a "Trek", 3 days pulling handcarts, etc. The man who wrote a book about these types of Treks came to speak and turns out he was Dan's Stake President growing up. He gave a really good talk and one of his quotes stuck out to me and I'd really like to remember it. He told about taking Elder Ballard and his family on a trek and at a meeting afterward with his own family and all who went on that trek, Elder Ballard made a comment similar to this "When you get to the other side, you will be amazed at how much God has micro-managed your life without interfering with your agency."

I just thought that was so neat. We are where we are for a reason. And where we are and what we do is no accident. I feel like Heavenly Father has His hand in our life but I know that I cannot understand how much.

Hello Again

I've been absent here because of SICKNESS, at least this time the computer had a virus not any of the kids.

But now I feel like I should play catch-up and just smush the past two weekend extravaganzas into one affair.

So 2, almost three weekends ago, Tiffany and Andrew came for a visit.
And that's the problem with delayed blogging is that you can't remember too many details...

But I do remember this, there was quite a bit of wrestling,



watching TV in the bed,



a visit to IKEA,

and a homemade pizza.





The little boys were so cute too.





Thanks for visiting, guys! Come again soon.

Then our visitor from last weekend was an unexpected and rare treat. My friend from high school, who currently lives in Florida, drove over for a quick weekend trip. I have seen her twice in the past 8 years and the last time was 2.5 years ago. I tried to warn her that while exciting, our house would be different from the nightlife she's used to. She'd said, "don't worry, it'll be fine" and I think it was.

Amy and Luke

Ava met her somewhat disappointed because I think she thought that "Mimi" (her great grandmother) was coming not "Amy". I introduced her and the first thing Ava said was, "I want Amy to go home" And then she said it a few more times. I was mortified. That's our warm Colton welcome. Amy brushed it off and you will not be seeing any pictures of the 2 of them together.

Ava aside, we had a really fun time and Dan was sweet enough to keep the kids alot so we could do some things together. We even went to a movie! Yahoo!

Amy and Me

We made Monkey Bread and malts (on separate eating occasions, even I have limits). And talked and talked.


It was short and sweet but really great. I don' t think Amy visits my little blog here often but in case you catch this one, Amy, good luck to you. Be good, and do your best! I love you!