To Catch You Up

Brian has been reading Mrs. Pigglewiggle with Alyssa each night, and she loves it.

Here's Ethan's birthday cake. I was going to make it during his nap time to surprise him, but it was so fun to have him watch me make it. He loves cake, so he was very interested, and once he realized it was a car, he was so excited! You're seeing it from the side, because if you look at it from the front you see that it's a short, wide race car. If it was to scale you could probably fit four or five people in the front seat. It was yummy, though!

I discovered that our tortillas were moldy after I had all the taco fixings put together, so I made my own torillas. It was so much fun!

Alyssa loves playing outside, and she dresses herself. (There are no socks under those rain boots!) Needless to say, she didn't stay outside for very long.

Alyssa and I made Valentine's for her Kindergarten class. I'm tired of Disney Princess, the Barbie valentines at the store weren't pretty, and the only other girl option was Bratz. I know they need more petals on each flower, but by the time I realized that I was tired of cutting hearts out, so we left it. I'm pretty proud of the bee, though. I made it myself! Brian says I'm not the first person to come up with "bee mine" but the "bee mine" is the stripe! Personally, I think that's pretty clever. I always forget to give bees antennas for some reason.

A Job Extremely Well Done

Last night we found out that President Hinckley passed away peacefully at home, with his family around him. It didn't surprise me, because he's been warning us that it was going to happen eventually at nearly every General Conference for the last few years.

He was such a great man. He became the prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when I was in high school, and he was the first prophet that I really paid attention to. I grew up with him as the prophet and there were so many times that his counsel for the church helped me through hard times or to correct bad decisions. His excitement for the Gospel made me also excited to be a member of this church.

I remember when I was at BYU and he came to speak at a fireside. The Marriot Center was absolutely full, and beforehand people were talking and walking around, finding seats. It was so noisy. But the minute he entered the room, a hush fell over all of us and we respectfully stood and sang "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet" while he made it to his seat. The feeling that he was a true prophet of God just filled the air of that huge building. We loved him so much, and we could feel the Spirit testify off his love for us and for all of the church, and of the love Heavenly Father has for His children to anoint prophets to guide us in these days.

While reading through the article on the LDS website, I was impressed by how much President Hinckley accomplished during his service. I knew he was busy and that he got a lot done, but to be reminded of all the temples built, the perpetual education fund being started, the building of the Conference Center, and so many other things. It's amazing. He had so much energy!

I'm not sad that he's gone though. He had a long and full life; he must have been tired. Sometimes during General Conference he would hint, and even flat-out say that he missed his wife since she died a few years ago. They must have had such a happy reunion last night. And it must have been wonderful for him to be reunited with our Heavenly Father and be congratulated for all the wonderful things he's accomplished and for all the millions of people that he's uplifted and helped during his time on the earth.

Ethan is Two!

2 Words Ethan Can Say
-Mama
-Dadda

2 Things Ethan Loves
-Cars (this also includes trucks, tractors, and garbage trucks)
-Books

2 Books Ethan Loves
-"Best Friends" First Look and Find
-Haynes Repair Manual "Ford Contour & Mercury Mystique"

2 of Ethan's Favorite Toys
-Tally dog stuffed animal
-Red race car

2 Places Ethan Loves
-Oregon Zoo
-McDonalds Playland

2 Things Ethan Loves to Wear
-Pajamas
-Alyssa's Headbands

2 Way He Gives Affection
-Cute kisses on the cheek, forehead, neck
-Big hugs

2 No-No's Ethan's Recently Done
-Dumped out the Tootie Fruities on the living room rug, just before someone came for dinner
-Threw Alyssa's beautiful fairy princess party book with pop-up windows in a full bath tub

2 Ways Ethan says "No"
-Stomps his foot and grunts
-Scowls (the one in the picture is just a small scowl)

2 Things Ethan Needs
-A haircut
-His two-year checkup

2 Words to Describe Ethan
-Playful
-Mischievous

2 Things We Love About Ethan
-His laugh
-The way he says "vroom, vroom" for a race car

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!

Gotta Keep Up

For the last couple of days I haven't been keeping the house clean, and we haven't been keeping to our bedtime routine. The kids have watched a lot of movies, and I know they've watched too many movies because they didn't really watch them-instead they made a whole lot of messes while the movies played. When we have days like this I just feel like a big, unproductive blob at the end and I remember all over again why we keep the house clean and why we have schedules, and I remember how hard it is to get back on track again.

So here's to cleaning and organizing the house, and making chore charts and exercise charts, and finishing the laundry - which is exactly what I'm going to be doing today.

Prison Break

This morning, just as I was about to leave for the gym, I heard Ethan's doorknob jiggle for about thirty seconds, then I heard the sound of the door opening, and a satisfied grunt from Ethan. At first I decided to go to the gym even though he was up, because we have a baby gate on his door to keep him in his room each morning, since it's normal for him to wake up at 6 or 6:30. Usually he plays with his cars and trucks for a while, then I let him out when I come home at 6:45. Today I made the mistake of turning on the living room light to get dressed. (Yes, I usually get dressed for the gym in the living room, in the dark.) So he knew someone was up.

When I heard his grunts of complaints, I went to check on him, and I found him stuck halfway under the baby gate. (We have it elevated a bit because he can climb over it when it's on the floor, and we don't want him falling and hitting his head in the middle of the night.) He and his dog were trying to break free. The poor kid had to lay there on the floor while I took pictures of him. I feel so sorry for our children, living in the days of such great digital cameras- we take pictures of everything!

Since this post is about Ethan, I'll give an update on his speaking abilities. He's been able to say "Mama" and "Dadda" for forever now, but he's refused to actually use them or to say them when we've asked him to. Now he is officially saying them when he wants to get our attention- yea! And he's saying "uh-oh" and "Marcus," which he pronounces "kksss." This kid is just not a talker, and it's all out of pure stubbornness. The doctor said to not give him what he wants when he grunts, but when we do that, he just decides he never wanted it in the first place (even candy!) The kid would probably go the whole day without eating if he had to talk for it - he would go that long! The amazing thing is how well he's able to get his point across by pointing and grunting. Oh, and stomping his foot. It's great that it's finally coming. He's finally starting to talk. I have this feeling that one day he'll just bust out with "Excuse me Mother, but would you mind getting me a drink of orange juice? I'm a bit parched."

He is Just Too Cute

Look What He Did To My Cake!

The rules for eating chocolate cake are as follows:

1. You must eat the cake pieces in an orderly manner.

Um, that's pretty much it. What that means is, you have to eat the cake from the sides, to the middle, all the way to the other side. You can't go jumping around from corner to corner, just to get the most frosting. If you did that, one side of the cake will dry out while you're busy eating the other side of the cake. It's a very good rule, and I've told Brian about it a couple of times when he's suggested otherwise.

Today I was getting cake for everyone, and I left one middle piece by cutting the jutting portion in half and taking the piece from the edge. I figured that this was okay. It left a perfectly straight edge, and I figured that someone would probably eat the remaining piece of cake before the night was over, anyway.

Brian went into an uproar about how I was breaking all the cake rules and messing everything up, yada yada yada, and then to prove his point (which I still don't know quite what it is) he did this:


Who does he think he is?!? Seriously! I was flabbergasted! You just don't do that! You just don't. And apparently he was happy about it, too.

Questions and Answers

Kellyanne asked a few questions on her blog, so here's my answers:

1. How often do you exercise and what do you do for exercise?
I just started going to the gym this week. When Ethan was a baby he wanted to nurse during the early morning hours, but Marcus sleeps right through them, so I can get up and go to the PAC at 6:00 each morning. I go every weekday and I walk or jog on the treadmill. This last week I just walked, but next week I'm going to start running a little.

2. Do you make your bed everyday?
I usually get to it sometime during the day, but not always in the morning. When we sleep with a top sheet, Brian ends up untucking it and winding it around his legs and pulling it funny, so we don't use a top sheet. We just have a goose down blanket on our bed, so it's actually really easy to make it.

3. What do you do in the evening hours? TV? Blog? Read? Clean the house? ;)
Marcus likes to stay up late, but he's always tired in the evenings, so that's usually his cranky time. My evenings are spent trying to get him to sleep. Last night I went to bed at 8:30, right after putting the kids down. My sister got me interested in watching "Gray's Anatomy" online a while back, but since the writer's strike, they're just playing reruns, so I'm not doing that anymore.

4. What are you having for dinner tonight?
Either chicken and broccoli crepes or tacos. I forgot to get broccoli when I went grocery shopping, so it depends on whether or not we make it to Winco.

5. What did you have for dinner last night?
This is slightly embarrassing. Chocolate cake. We went to Costco last night, and Brian knows I love Costco cake, so he snuck one on the bottom of the cart. We didn't get home until after seven, so we just had chocolate cake for dinner. Brian was the healthy one, 'cause he had carrot sticks with his cake.

6. Who does the dishes at your house? Who takes out the garbage?
Me and Me. Stinks, huh?

7. Give me one favorite cleaning/household tip that you have learned and use regularly.
I clean everything with bleach water. Sinks, shower, bathub, etc. It works way better than other cleaners, and it's cheap too.

8. Do you pluck your eyebrows? I just recently discovered that people do this. I've never even thought about it. Do you do it?
How could you not know that people pluck their eyebrows? I do pluck, but since the disaster of October 2007, I do not shave them anymore. Just thought you all should know that.

9. How many nights of the week does your family have dessert?
We usually have an official dessert once or twice a week. Sometimes Brian and I will have ice cream after the kids go to bed. Just so Brian doesn't accuse me of lying, we usually have dessert in some form or another (cookies for afternoon snack, something for dessert after lunch) once a day. He's afraid that we're all going to get diabetes and die, but it's hard to go one day without at least a bit of chocolate.

10. What time do you wake up in the morning, and what time of day do you take a shower?
I get up at 5:45, and I usually make it to the shower around 8:30 or 9:00, after Brian's gone to school.

I'm tagging everyone who's reading this; they're fun things to know.

a Name and a Blessing

It's official - his name is Marcus Christopher Jacks. Brian's and my families met at the Thayer building on December 29th for Marcus' blessing. He wore a very cute outfit that was made by his Grandma Roses and Great Grandma Harris. One of the special things that Brian said in the blessing was that he will be a happy person and that he'll share the joy of the Gospel with others. My dad said that Marcus was smiling through the whole blessing, so I guess that's true. He is a very happy guy.

The poor kid had to go barefoot, because we were in a hurry and forgot his socks, and his slippers kept falling off without the socks on.


Getting Ready. I don't think he liked the idea of wearing a bonnet, even though I called it a cap.
















Loving Grandmas

Back on the Blogging Horse

Well, we're back from our vacation. We had a great time in Washington, and now we're back to normal life. Alyssa starts school today, but Brian doesn't start until next week. Here's some highlights from our trip (pictures to come soon):

• Brian's sister came to visit from Indiana, so Alyssa was able to hang out with cousins (Amy and Anna) she doesn't get to see very often.
• We went to the cabin after Christmas. The snow was so deep, and I felt like a pioneer woman carrying Marcus through the cold until Brian's dad came to rescue us with a snowmobile.
• The snow wasn't wet enough to make a snowman, so Brian and I tried to build a "makeout house" by digging a hole in the snow. We didn't get it very deep or big, but we used it anyway.
• Marcus was blessed. My mom made his blessing outfit, and we forgot to buy buttons, so she used some from one of my dad's old shirts, and my grandma did the crochet work around the edges of his jacket. How's that for getting the family involved? I wanted it to look like Peter Rabbit's jacket - you'll see when the pictures are put up. It turned out so cute!
  
• We spent New Year's at Mike and Tallia's. Everyone else left early, but we made it to midnight. We celebrated by spilling sparkling cider on the floor when we made toasts. (That was Tallia and Josh, by the way, not the kids)
• We got a new camera, and we're picking it up today. Our camera broke in the hospital when we had Marcus, so we took it in to a shop a few weeks ago to be fixed. Instead of being done in three hours like they said, it took much longer, and they ended up calling us to say that they really broke our camera and were buying us a new one.
• Ethan is now saying "Mama" and "Dada" sometimes, only when he really wants to, and I think he said "yes" this morning. He'll talk someday!