December 31, 2009

Miss E Playing with Uncle Travis

Bonesteele Is Not That Into Presents

New Words!

Bonesteele celebrated Christmas by adding lots of new words to his vocabulary. Before our Christmas trip he could say: mama, dada, car, duck, ow, and uh-oh. Now he's added:
  • sock
  • night-night
  • no
  • hi
and my favorite
  • I love you
Can I just tell you how gushy it makes me that his first sentence was "I love you"?!

Christmas Pics

Sorry there are only a few. Mr N mostly took video, which I will try to upload soon.


Here's our adorable little niece, who will be 1 next month!




The little ones were naturally most interested in each other's toys. Here is Bonesteele playing with his cousin's Mega Blocks set. Even though he got his own Mega Blocks set.

Fun in the Snow

We went to eastern Oregon to spend Christmas with Mr N's family. On Christmas Eve, Mr N and Miss E went up into the mountains to go sledding with some of the family. They had a great time!



Miss E is the little one in the pink snow gear on the right. :D











Bonesteele Eats With Gusto











Oh, and I cut off his mullet.

Miss E Knows How to Dress for Success



Bonesteele and Daddy

Or, Bonesteele Loves His Binky.




December 30, 2009

Miss E in Her Christmas Dress



To Mr N's dismay, Miss E was not interested in posing seriously.




A Day at the Ocean



A few weeks ago we headed over to the coast for a day of sand castles and delicious food. Amazingly, there was no wind and it wasn't too chilly. We had a great time. We decided winter is the best time to visit the coast because the beach was practically deserted.




Miss E pretends she is having an awful time. Look at that impressive frown!




December 21, 2009

Christmas Conversation

Mr N: Who's excited for Christmas? Mom?

Mrs N: I am.

Mr N: I'm excited for Miss E for Christmas.

Miss E: Daddy! I'm not a present!

December 3, 2009

Recent Pics


Miss E models her Halloween daywear. Please note she even sports Halloween socks.



Bonesteele feels very proud of himself for climbing into the rocking chair unassisted and Miss E tries on "coy."



Mr N chopping a tree for firewood in eastern Oregon. Looking good!



This boy is impossibly cute.



Contrary to appearances, Miss E is not standing on Bonesteele's head. The futon is deep. Ha ha

Speaking of Which...

Bonesteele has himself four words:
  • Uh-oh
  • Ow
  • Mama
  • Dada
Clever boy that he is, he learned mama & dada on the same day, so everyone felt equally adored.

* * *

Miss E has some unique pronunciations I think you might find amusing:
  • I'm so decided!
  • mabana
  • neslick
Can you tell what she is saying?




I'm so excited, banana, and necklace.

November 25, 2009

How to Rid Yourself of Halloween Candy In Three Easy Steps

1. Get a large box and pour all your leftover Halloween candy inside.
2. Make a sign reading "Leftover Halloween candy - Help yourself" and tape to outside of box.
3. Put box on the sidewalk in front of your house.

That's it! Within 24 hours, the entire box will be gone. No messy cleanup.

October 28, 2009

A Typical Day

6:30 - My alarm goes off. I hit snooze.

6:35 - I wake up (sorta) and read scriptures for as long as I can keep my eyes open.*

6:45 - Mr N leaves for work. Thanks baby!

6:50 - I try to get a few more minutes of sleep in.

7:00 - Bonesteele wakes up, here follows a flurry of diaper changing, panty put on-ing, and usually at least one bed that needs to be changed. My kids sleep for 13 hours, I'd like to see you go that long without leaking through your diaper/Pull-Up!

7:05 - Miss E asks to watch Sleeping Beauty, if she can have milk, if she can eat Cheerios dry in a bowl while watching Sleeping Beauty, where we are going today, if she can wear all ten of her Halloween rings to the store, and can she have her milk in a princess sippy cup. This intense level of communication continues unabated all day.

7:15 - Bonesteele attacks my back with his signature "Hug Mama From Behind While She's Crouching." The first few back hugs really caught me off guard!

8:30 - Kids have eaten and are settled down with Dinosaur Train or Super Why or Insert Your Favorite PBS Show Here. (Recently though it's been All Sleeping Beauty, All the Time.) I hate soggy cereal, so I just don't even try to eat until the kids are done.

9:00 - I think about getting dressed. Decide to do the crossword instead.

9:30 - If it's sunny, I go on a long walk. I have a route, 2.75 miles. It takes me right past the movie store and bank, so it's multitasking.

If it's not sunny, I make up an errand or go to the library. I say make up an errand because the kids get rawther bored if we stay home all day. And yes, Miss E wears all ten of her Halloween rings (skulls & bats, thanks dollar store!) to the grocery store. Bonesteele brings a small jar of PowerBait. I cannot explain his attachment to small jars of PowerBait, but he really truly loves them.

11:00 - Wish I had gotten dressed earlier, and therefore out of the house earlier, and therefore wasn't still out when Bonesteele is STARVING for lunch because oh my gosh the boy cannot handle discomfort. Even if he is watching you make food, he will fuss for it.

11:15 - Arrive home and start lunch.

11:17 - Realize Bonesteele left the PowerBait in the special car-shaped shopping cart. Realize that Mr N is not going to be thrilled that I left his $5 jar of stinky fish bait at the store.

12:00 - Bonesteele goes down for his nap.

12:15 - Miss E dawdles her way through naptime routine.

Blissful, blissful coinciding naptimes.

2:00 - Bonesteele wakes up. Discover that Miss E pooped in her Pull-Up and therefore did not nap at all, but rather played so quietly I just thought she was asleep. (I've told her many times to just let me know when she poops, but I guess I shall tell her many times more.)

2:30 - Watch beaming as children play nicely together.

2:33 - Tell Miss E to stop choking Bonesteele with the tape measure.

2:37 - Tell Miss E to stop stealing Bonesteele's toys.

2:39 - Put Bonesteele in time-out for hitting.

2:45 - Put Miss E in time-out for hitting.

2:50 - Take advantage of kids temporarily playing nicely again by reading novel.

3:00 - Watch kid videos on laptop with kids draped on me.

3:20 - Try to fix keyboard settings which Bonesteele managed to change when I wasn't looking. How does he always randomly hit the shortcut keys??????????????????

4:00 - Start dinner prep.

5:00 - Eat dinner. Remain calm as Miss E tells me she doesn't like soup (it's chicken pot pie). Watch in wonder as Miss E actually eats dinner. Pretend I don't notice that Bonesteele is carefully scooping his dinner into the cup holder on his tray and not eating a bit.

5:10 - Daddy gets home. Greet him at door with kiss.

5:20 - Get Bonesteele ready for bed. Have I told you how much I love that my son goes to bed at 5:30?

5:31 - Inform Mr N that overpriced PowerBait was sacrificed to the grocery store gods. Inexplicably, Mr N does not find this amusing.

6:10 - Miss E has meltdown and I remember she missed her nap. Mr N and I put her to bed twenty minutes early.


It was a good day.


*God had to pretty much hit me over the head with the whole "scripture reading" thing. I really need it to make it through the day successfully. I have to wake up and read before my kids wake up, otherwise it just doesn't happen. I have been a much happier, calmer person since I started doing this. It's amazing.

September 21, 2009

Uncle Patroclus & Aunt C's Visit





Pics



He looks like a little boy in this picture, instead of a baby. And yay for drool!




Miss E buried under clothes and blankets. For unknown reasons, she calls this "making a skeleton."


Miss E here makes me a skeleton.






Mr N scored this backpack at a garage sale for 25 cents! He is always finding great stuff at garage sales. Whenever I go, I find horrifying junk. What gives?