Just a Few of the Reasons

I just have to say that I love my family so much! So many wonderful things happened today.

Alyssa and Ethan helped clean the toy room and their bedroom, and they played outside together so I could work on the laundry and cleaning the rest of the house. Brian came home from class early and I was feeling pretty sick, so he watched Alyssa while Ethan and I took a nap. (I know, a nap two days in a row!)


Brian went grocery shopping for me (yea!) and was very adamant that I be the one to unpack the grocery sacks. I found a Motherhood Maternity gift card on top of the eggs! While I was happily putting the groceries away (and dancing around the kitchen, rejoicing over the gift card), Brian took the kids out on the deck to throw those popper/snapper/firework things on the ground. Every time one popped, Ethan would giggle uncontrollably. It was adorable.










I asked Brian if he could make up a batch of Ranch dressing for dinner. Pretty soon Alyssa and Ethan decided to help him, and I turned around to see the whole family making dinner together. That was so fun!






And last, but not least, Alyssa and Ethan both helped me clean out the dishwasher. (Yes, I realize Ethan is not wearing any pants. He sat in the swimming pool today.) Ethan normally helps me clean out the dishwasher by standing on the door and handing me the cups. I thought he just enjoyed handing me things, but it turns out that he really knows that he's helping. He grabbed some silverware, headed to the drawer (which is over his head), pulled it open, and threw them in. What a helper!

Needless to say, it's been a wonderful day. I'd say that I want another one just like it tomorrow, but we don't have the money to be giving Carrie gift cards every day. I'll gladly take some help with dinner and Ethan's giggles as often as they're given to me, though.

A Most Welcome Surprise

I usually go grocery shopping on Mondays, but this weekend I made an emergency run to Safeway for milk and butter on Saturday night, and the chicken salad sandwiches that were planned for Sundays dinner were replaced with Brian taking a nap and the kids and I snacking on banana bread. So I got up this morning and decided that with dinner taken care of, we didn't need to go grocery shopping until tomorrow. But then I discovered that Brian didn't have class until one o'clock, and I ended up making the chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.

When Brian came home from his one o'clock class (shortly after two o'clock, talk about your easy day) we sat in the living room to discuss what to make for dinner. I mentally went through our cupboards and the freezer, but I couldn't come up with anything but spaghetti, which is a risky thing to make in our family. Alyssa only likes spaghetti half of the time.

To our surprise there was a knock on the door, and Debbi Burtlow stood on our porch with an uncooked casserole. She handed it to Brian, and I stood there with my mouth hanging open. None of us are sick. We're not in the hospital. Could she be delivering dinner to the wrong house? She explained that someone brought her dinner a while back and told her to pass along the pan by bringing dinner to someone else. Hallelujah! Dinner was on!

I decided that since all I had to do for dinner was to pop it in the oven, and since Brian was home to watch the kids, that I would take an afternoon nap. The nap was wonderful, and dinner was so yummy! Now we just have to figure out who to take dinner to once the pan is clean.

* * *

This next picture is just me bragging about the beautiful pie that Ethan and I made for Family Home Evening. I was going to make a pie using a jell-o salad recipe with cool whip and vanilla yogurt and raspberry jell-o, but halfway through mixing it together Ethan and I (oh, and my mom too, I was on the phone with her) decided to add chocolate pudding instead of jell-o. I was afraid that the raspberries on top would be too tart for the pudding, but it turned out delicious. I wish I would have added more raspberries!

I Am Turning Into a Blogger Nerd

I admit it. I am turning into a blogger nerd. I am so glad that Brooke showed me her wonderful blog last October, which inspired me to create my own. I love blogging!

I love looking at every one's blogs. I love keeping in touch with my friends and family, whether they're in Forest Grove or all the way across the country. Some days when I'm bored or lonely or just don't want to start the housework, I start looking at all my friends' blogs, and then I click on the links to their friends' blogs, until I'm reading about the lives of people I've never even heard of. Last night I didn't want to go to bed, so I clicked and scrolled my way down to the beginning of Tiffany Harker's blog and read the story of her blogging life. The only reasons I know of her is that she's Brooke's sister-in-law, and I've seen her in passing a couple of times at church while visiting Pasco. But even though I don't really know this lady, I really enjoyed reading what she had to say about her life and her family.

I love documenting special events from our lives, or even just writing about things that happen every day. I used to get email updates from one of my friends, and every time I read an email from her I would think about how boring my life is compared to hers. I thought that I never did anything fun and that nothing exciting ever happened to me. I was complaining to Brian about this when he said, "Carrie, we just had a party three days ago! That's not exciting enough for you?" After starting my blog I realized that everything is more exciting in print. When I blog about cleaning my house or spending time with my kids, those activities become a little more exciting for me.

I love posting pictures. For a long time I was hesitant to put pictures on my blog, because I thought it would take away the literary value of it, but I've found that pictures make blogging much more fun. I've even caught myself thinking, "Oh, I should take a picture of Alyssa getting her mouth washed out with soap so I can put it on my blog." I love showing the world how cute my kids are and how cute they look when they do the crazy tings they do.

I love publishing my posts. There's something about the word "publish" that makes a blog so official, and it makes me feel like an author. It's fun to think that my pictures, my thoughts, and my life are on the Internet for anyone to see (provided that they're not weirdos). I think Brian is probably tired of me constantly begging him to check out my newest post or asking him what he thinks of my new color scheme. I love scrolling through my published posts and I usually find myself thinking, "Hey, I wrote that" or "Isn't that picture so sweet?" I check my blog quite a few times each day, not only to see who's commented, but just to look at my published piece of work and marvel at the great hobby that blogging is.

"I'm Going to Look so Beautiful on the Blog!"

Today we played "Salon." We put a garbage sack around Alyssa (I couldn't find our smock) and chopped off about four inches of her hair. I had her call me Delilah and I talked to her as if she was a customer in the salon. I asked if that was her dad waiting in the other room and she told me a bit about him. It distracted her enough to keep her in the chair, but she still didn't hold still nearly as much as when we took her in to a real salon.


She loves her new haircut! She says she looks just like Abby from her Primary class, and she thinks that Abby is so pretty. She spent about five minutes primping in front of the mirror before she went to show Brian.

A Bouncing Baby

Yesterday we went in for our ultrasound. Everything looks great, and we're having a boy! Alyssa's been hoping for a girl, so she's a little disappointed, but she says she'll love a brother anyway. Ethan just had a great time sitting on Brian's shoulders and throwing himself backward.

We're excited to have another little boy! They can sing together for Ethan's missionary farewell, and then they probably won't see each other for four years until the younger one comes home from his mission, and then they'll sing for the homecoming. They can wrestle together and share a room and play sports together. It'll be so much fun!

Crunch! Crunch!

This picture is documented proof that Alyssa's hair is never done and that Ethan lives in either a Onesie or his pajamas until we go out in public. But it is also very cute proof that today we made snowcones!

Every time I'm pregnant Brian gets me a new ice crushing device. It's great because now I have an ice cream maker and an ice crusher and I used to have a super cool smoothie maker that broke after just a couple of times using it.

Well, Alyssa heard about snow cones from her babysitter and she's been asking for them ever since. Today we finally bit the bullet (or shall I say, crunched the ice?) and made them.

They were great! Here's the recipe I used for the syrup:

2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
1 package of Kool Aid

The instructions said to bring the sugar and water to a boil, and then add the Kool Aid, but I added the Kool Aid right away before I could read that far. For a Red Robin size cup we used about 1/4 cup of syrup.

Anyway, here's to summer fun and many more days of snow cones!

Happy Father's Day!

There’s a man in our house with brown hair and blue eyes.
He’s tall and good lookin’ and just the right size
For hugging and playing and all the fun stuff,
Like rough-housing a bit, until he’s had enough.

He likes to cook, but it doesn’t happen much.
His favorites are meats, like prime rib and such.
He also makes caramels around Christmas-time
His omelets are great and his crepes, so divine.

He’s a man with a passion for computer-type games
Whether online or offline, it’s all just the same.
He plays Kingdom of Loathing ‘cause he likes the puns
He “escapes” from rooms faster than almost anyone.

He loves to fish. Whenever we go home
He’s out on the boat, but he’s not alone.
With other men he grunts and he shouts
And brings us home fish that we refuse to clean out.

He’s as smart as a whistle and works hard all day
Learning ‘bout eyes, and if you ask him he’ll say
That he loves optometry and optometry school,
But when graduation comes, he thinks that’ll be cool.

This man in our house is a wonderful man.
He spends time with us and we’re happy he can.
He loves his family, which makes us all glad
And makes us very proud to call him our dad.

Happy Fathers Day Brian!

Pregnant Buns of Steel

Today I got out my copy of Buns of Steel Pregnancy Workout and exercised for the first time since week 5! I bought it when I was pregnant with Ethan, did it for a week and loved it, then Alyssa pushed it across the fireplace and made some serious scratches in it.

Well, I'm not happy with the weight that I've gained so far with this pregnancy, and I'm especially not happy with the blob-like feeling I get when I don't exercise, so I popped the kids in the car this morning and headed to Fred Meyer to pick up a Skip Dr to fix the dvd. It worked! Alyssa exercised with me, and Ethan just kept looking at us and laughing. I'm tired, but I feel great!

Crazy Fun Weekend

On Friday we had planned to get together with our friends, the Gennings, to have dinner, play games, watch our kids play, etc. On Thursday Jenny Gennings called to confirm that we were still getting together and she reminded me that this was the weekend that Brian's old roommate, Jeremy, was coming to visit. When Brian came home from school, I informed him that Jeremy was coming to stay with us, and he informed me that his other old roommate, Paul, was in town with his girlfriend and wanted to get together. So a dinner party set for Friday evening started out with seven people and after a few brief conversations, jumped to ten people. Brian thought that if we were all getting together we might as well call Drew, another old roommate who lives in Salem. When he talked to Drew, Drew said, "Great, my cousin Dave is in town with his family. He was Jeremy's roommate too, and would love to see him." Then Paul's sister called from Seattle, said she heard we were all getting together and was wondering if she could come too and bring a birthday cake for Paul. So all in all we prepared or 16 people to come to dinner on Friday evening.


Drew's family didn't show up, but we still had a full house, and we had a great time. Brian bought 20 large baking potatoes, that everyone cut in half, so we had about 14 left for hashbrowns the next morning. (We sent some home with the Gennings, too.) And we still have baked potatoes in our fridge. It was fun to see everyone and to meet spouses, children, etc.

On Saturday morning Alyssa had a Primary activity. They went to a retirement home and sang songs to the grandmas and grandpas. Alyssa was so excited for this activity for the whole two weeks prior to it. She was so cute singing all of the Primary songs. I was going to put a clip in her hair, but Jeremy was in the shower when we were leaving, so I didn't get to it.


Then we headed to Jenny Genning's vocal recital, then made a quick stop at McDonalds for lunch. Alysssa and I got our food to go, because we had to head into Portland to see the ballet Sleeping Beauty, Act III. This particular ballet was about Aurora's and Prince Florimund's wedding. It was a little boring. The scenery was beautiful, the dancing was beautiful, the costumes were beautful, but there was no plot whatsoever. The only plot line I could see was, "The king and queen come in and sit down, the court comes in, Aurora and Prince Florimund come in, various people dance for the king and queen, Aurora and Prince Florimund dance, ballet is over." But before Sleeping Beauty we watched the ballet Firedbird which was fun and exciting. It was about Prince Ivan making friends with the firebird, then falling in love with a princess and defeating the evil guy with the big bushy grey hair to save all the princesses. Alyssa and I both liked that one.

After the ballet we walked across the street to the bubble waterfall. Alyssa loved that! We played there for a little while, then headed to a hotel by the airport to go see Jeremy's nieces and nephews perform in an irish dance competetion, which is why Jeremy was in town. We showed up just as it was ending, then we went to IHOP for dinner and the Gennings' soccer game, which we missed. So we went to the Gennings house instead and played Nintendo games until way late.

Sunday was church, and on the way home we stopped at Brian's school to show Jeremy around, and Brian doing an almost-thorough eye exam on him. Then we went home for lunch, and Jeremy took off to go pick up his sister, her husband, and their six children to come stay the night at our house.

Just after he left, I was about to start cleaning our house from Friday night's party to be ready for Jeremy's family to come over, when I went in Ethan's bedroom and found this:


Yes, a naked boy with poop all over his crib. I cleaned everything up, stuck Ethan in the tub, washed my hands real good, then heard Alyssa call from the bathroom, "Mom, can you come wipe the poop off my bum? I didn't get it all." When I was done taking care of Alyssa, I told Brian that if any more poop happened, I was going to leave. Wouldn't you know that one of Jeremy's nephews went to the bathroom and put poopy toilet paper in the garbage can and left a chunk of poop on the floor. Guess who cleaned it up.

But overall, it was fun having Jeremy's family over. The kids had a blast running around the yard together, and Alyssa had so much fun having her first sleepover. We put the two girls in her bedroom, and she even slept on the floor with them!

Everyone left early this morning, and we are all exhausted. As soon as Ethan's down for his afternoon nap, I'm going down too.

Thou Hypocrite

Brian was going through my blog last night, and he was astounded by some of the things he found. "Do you mean that four people commented on me wearing the same socks twice?" I told him that he didn't have to worry because two of the comments were Tallia's and one of them was mine. Then he looked over at me. "Didn't you wear that shirt yesterday?" I looked down, thought for a moment, and nodded. Apparently I'm not the only one saving on laundry at our house.

Gock = Truck

I believe we have Ethan's first official word! When he was about seven or eight months old, he said "Atha" for Alyssa for about a week, but then he stopped. He says "Mamamama," and "Dadadada" all the time, but it doesn't always correspond to Brian or me. He babbles sometimes, but most of the time he points and grunts. While we're not concerned about his growth and develpoment, this is very frustrating to parents who have a little girl who was saying, "book" at nine months and correctly pointing out and saying "octogon" at about fourteen months.

Needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when he pointed out the window this morning and said "Gock!" when the garbage truck went by. I wondered if it was real, because I couldn't get him to say it again, but then later this morning he pointed out the window and said, "Gock" again. It looks like the boy might finally start talking!

They Worked Just Fine Yesterday

This is Brian's first summer at optometry school that he's had classes during the summer. He's working hard and learning a lot, but there aren't as many classes, and they aren't as intense as during the school year. Some days he doesn't start until 9:00, and most days he's out by three. (On Thursdays and Fridays he's out by twelve!)

We've gotten used to waking up in the morning and just laying in bed until the kids wake up, then when Ethan gets loud enough (he sings in the morning) we pull him into our bed and he crawls all over us and gives us hugs. And Alyssa will walk into our room and say "Good morning!" in a cheerful voice. When I get up to get the kids breakfast, Brian will pull out his laptop to check his email and finish up any last minute homework. The whole point to telling you this, is that we've gotten "Summer Lazy" and our mornings are slow and unhurried, and it is so nice.

This morning I needed to start the dishwasher, because I forgot to last night. I asked Brian if he would be showering, so I could know when to start it. "Yes," he answered, "Of course I'll be showering." Classes started at eight o'clock this morning, so Brian ran out of time to shower. He ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth, then headed toward the bedroom where I watched him pull on the same socks he was wearing yesterday. I commented that he was helping save on how much laundry I needed to do by wearing his socks twice. "Well," he said, "They worked just fine yesterday, they'll do just as good today."

I hope he gets out early today. Our afternoons have become just as lazy as our mornings, and we desperately need to go grocery shopping and run some other errands. I love having Brian around so much, and I love that he's not constantly studying or practicing for proficiencies. I love summertime!

It's Raining Outside and I Can't Go Out and Play

We woke up this morning after a very warm weekend to a beautiful wet world. It's one of those rainy days that make you happy to stay in the house, instead of depressed that you can't go outside. And it smells so good!

Even before reading Christina's post I wanted to spend less time worrying about the laundry today (even though it does need to be done, and it will be done, I just won't stress about it) and spend more time playing with the kids. The rain outside makes it so much easier to do this, because then instead of running around the back yard like hooligans, Alyssa and Ethan will be contained in the house and we can play hide-and-seek and Candyland and all sorts of other things.