Our Week in a Nutshell

sick sick sick sick sick sick better better better sick sick sick sick sick sick sick

Current Health:

• Kayden: has Keegan's cold from earlier last week. Congestion, horrible cough, fever.
• Keegan: Recovered slightly mid-week from his cold, up all night with earache - terrible ear infection.
• Dad: sore throat, cough, getting the boys cold; stressed out to the max with his project at school.
• Mom: not yet showing any symptoms of cold; signs of distress and lack of sleep are apparent. Is constantly found dosing out ibuprofen, cough syrup, and antibiotics to family members.

W.W.: Making his getaway

Some things just don't belong

Namely, a dog on my couch. I am not sure why Riley thinks that my furniture has different rules than the furniture at my parents house, but obviously he does. Is he allowed on the couch at their house? NO. But he doesn't even ask here. I find him on the couch after I have gone upstairs to help the boys with something, after I have taken a shower, or any time after I have left the room (on those rare occasions when he isn't following me around the house).

I just had to include this picture. For those of you who don't know, Riley is a chicken, scared of almost anything. I snapped this picture as he was finishing a yawn, but laughed so hard when I saw how fierce he looks in it, almost as if he is growling at me. Just remember whose couch you are getting up on, poochie.


Yes, we are 'dog-sitting' for my parents while they are out of town for a few weeks. Not on a constant basis, we only have him on the weekends, when he is up in Portland with our friend, Megan, who is staying at the house during the week. It's actually been a lot of fun, both for the boys and us. Riley is SUCH a good dog, very mellow for the most part, and he is amazing with the boys. He will let the boys do anything, and if he doesn't like it, all he does is just get up and walk away. We would love to have a dog if we could guarantee that he would be as good as Riley. The boys love to take him for walks during the day, Keegan feeds him his dinner, and Kayden supervises his eating (read: Kayden sits INCHES away from him while he is eating, yet another reason why he is such a good dog - most dogs would not stand for this). With Keegan's preschool currently being at a house very close to ours, Riley walks with us over to drop him off. It really has been fun, Kayden loves to try and get Riley to play with him, but Riley usually ignores him or comes to me with a look that says "he's your kid, not mine."

Keegan begs every night to have Riley sleep in his room, but so far, his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Zach and Riley enjoy their nightly play time, as Zach rough houses with him and holds toys up about 6 feet in the air and makes Riley jump for them (he is an amazing jumper).

We've had fun, but seriously........my couch???!!! Get your own!!

Bag Lady

I told you I was feeling crafty...... I put the boys to bed last night and got to work. Zach is in the middle of preparing for his qualifying exams, and hasn't been home before 8pm all week, so I had a some time to kill before I finally got to see my hubby. I've been meaning to make a bigger & better church bag for a long time. The one I usually use is just too small for more than 1 or 2 books and a toy. No room for snacks or water or diaper necessities! So I got this mostly finished last night and just did the last sew around the top edge this morning. It's very basic, but it's so cute, I love it! I can't wait to go to church now, I will actually be able to fit everything in it!!



(it's reversible, I thought it would be fun)





And thanks SO MUCH for all the ideas. I think I am going to try every single one, as I can get fabric and supplies for them. Don't be surprised if I call you guys for tips, especially you Kristy!

Feelin' a streak of Craftiness

So I have this baby shower that I thought was on Saturday.....it ended up being tonight! AHHH! Totally didn't have anything to make/take, so the boys and I made a quick run to JoAnn's (and Wendy's, mmm) for some backup and sustenance. I made my usual, a few burp cloths, jazzed up with some cute fabric. Why oh why can't I made pink burp cloths for me? It's so not fair that I am using up all this gorgeous fabric on someone else's girl.......I have pink envy.



So the burp cloths are fun, and definitely one of my favorite things to do - always useful in a variety of ways, and nice to have some that are prettier than average. But I'm looking for some new ideas. I found one that I thought was excellent and useful, and tried it out. Little suspender-like clips on a length of ribbon. Cute, huh? I was thinking you could use it to turn a restaurant napkin into a bib - I hardly ever remembered to bring one with me when we were out, so I think for me this would be extra helpful.




Now, what else? I have heard of these "baby legs" which I think are like warm-ups for babies. Has anyone used them? Do you like them? What exactly are they for? I can't imagine they would be that hard to make, but I'm just not sure how useful they are. I'm just looking for more fun ideas to make, so if you have one, let me know what it is!

I also finally found the secret to making those awesome burp cloths and blankets with the crocheted edges on them, but I need some flannel to try it out. Ahh, if only I had endless resources of money..... I also got some great fabric that was on sale to make a bag or two. Now if only I had Kristy here to guide me...................

W.W: Shepherds watching over their flocks

The Morning Report

Note: Some serious potty-talk follows. Brace yourselves.






Ya-hoo!! Kayden had his first successful "moment" on the potty this morning. I've never been so happy to watch a #2 get flushed......He even waved and said "buh-buh!" (for those of you unfamiliar with toddler-ese, that would be bye-bye) Now, don't get carried away, he isn't potty-trained. I just am starting to get him comfortable with the whole idea so that in a few months I can (hopefully) have a diaper-free household! Both of my boys are pretty 'regular' so it was easy to know when they would need some time to have a seat on the throne. At this point, I just keep my eye on him when I know it is about time, and this morning, we made it on to the potty just right! I was so excited, I'm such a pathetic mom..............He was pretty happy that Keegan and I were clapping and cheering for him. Enjoy it while you can buddy, it ain't gonna last long! Good job Kayden!!

Time rushes on

I am pretty sure he cannot be this old. My baby?! Doesn't he look so old and smart-looking in this picture? It must be that I'm his Mom, but I think he looks like a genius in the making here.







In six short months he will be 5 years old. In nine short months he will be starting kindergarten. AHHH! We were lucky enough to be invited to an ongoing preschool group in our area, when one of the kids moved and a spot opened up! Each of us moms take our turns teaching lessons, and the kids have a blast. Today was his first day, and I think he would have ran all the way there if I had let him. He wants everyone to know that he is a "student," was thrilled to be at school at the same time that his Daddy was, and told me that I was "probably going to miss him a LOT." He asked me if he was going to learn to drive a fire truck - I told him I didn't think they taught that in preschool. In honor of him, I have changed our background to a firefighter appropriate design!
In addition to becoming a student, he also was our spiritual mountain the past few days. On Sunday, during church, he begged to be able to go up and share his testimony over the pulpit. Zach and I were wary, but said if he would do it all by himself, we would let him. Without a second thought, he marched himself all the way up (Kayden forced us to sit at the back this week) to the front and sat down to wait his turn. His time came and he fearlessly climbed up and shared a sweet testimony that left me in awe. He said he knew Heavenly Father lived and loved him, and he said that he knew that Joseph Smith had gone out into the woods to pray and ask which church was true and that Heavenly Father and Jesus told him none of them. I was humbled to hear his strong testimony that he was so excited to share. I should be more like him!
On Monday, he continued with his amazing spiritual knowledge. Honestly, Zach and I take no credit for this - it's all on his amazing primary leaders (yeah I mean you Kristy & Tara). We sat down to have a quick family home evening before the boys went to bed while Zach scarfed down a late dinner. After an opening song (which Keegan sang all by himself, and it was the song that Alissa D* taught him, his fave), before I could get a word in, Keegan asks to say something. He proceeds to relay the story of Christ's visit to the Americas, telling about how Jesus taught the people how to pray and how He had to leave but they didn't want Him to, so He stayed and asked for all the little children to come up to Him. Zach and I were amazed. He has such a sweet and tender spirit, and sometimes we forget it as his parents. After he finished talking, I felt like he had just given a better lesson than I ever could have.
Keegan, I am so thankful that you love the gospel and your Heavenly Father and Jesus. I hope and pray that you always keep your strong testimony and never lose it! We love you so much.

Before & After; aka, my Mom is a meanie

Note to readers: The next several posts are going to be me playing catch-up for memories sake. Hang in there, I know I'm boring.......

A few weeks ago when all of Oregon was white, Kayden decided to check out the snow. This isn't the first experience he's had with it, but I think it was his second..........

Let's call this his "before" picture.





And this would be "after." After he touched the snow, that is. Cold, nasty stuff. Is it mean of me that I let him scream for a minute so I could take a picture? I thought it was funny.............


Oh he is so cute, I just love you Kade!

(don't worry, I did pick him up and kiss and hug him and warm up his little hands after I put the camera away!)

Hello again, hello

Reunion is sweet.......at least it would be if we hadn't had to shell out $250 to get it back! Here's the story: Some responsible neighbor called it in as abandoned a few days after Christmas (just about the time the snow finally melted off of it). They said it had been there for "forever" and it was making driving "dangerous." (fyi, it was parked at the end of a dead-end street with no houses on it) A cop came by, left a note on it, came back a day later, put a ticket on it, came back another day later and put a tow notice on it. All this time, we are enjoying our Christmas break. It finally gets towed on New Year's Eve (the day before we get home). When we called and reported it stolen, we asked specifically "Was it towed?" and the police assured us it wasn't. Sunday morning, the police call and say "oops....it was towed." So Zach spent most of Sunday morning back and forth between the towing company and the police trying to figure out how to get our car back without having to pay an arm and a leg ($130 for the tow, $25 per mile, $40 gate fee, $30 a day storage fee, etc etc). Anyway, we finally got our car back this morning and the towing company knocked some money off (the 3 days of storage fee after we reported it stolen). Now our hope is that as Zach parked it at the train station today to get into school, no one will call it in as abandoned there.


It still has the 'tow notice' sticker on it. It's really hard to get off........

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

We got a fabulous welcome home gift today, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood car stealer........ Yup, the loving Toyota Celica, who has made it through our 5/12 years of marriage, has been stolen from us. It was last seen buried under 2 feet of snow on the Sunday before Christmas. The Celica sported a rusty top, complete with multi-color paint, due to a trunk replacement (prior to our ownership) that gave a trunk of a different color. It drove from Oregon to Idaho, from Idaho to Utah, and Utah to Oregon. We thank you Celica, for your many years of service. But now what do we do?