Photoshoot time line

McKenzie asked if she could read her Curious George book to Allison. SO cute!

Just reading away....

Allison playing with her favorite toy: her own fist

"Stop taking our pictures mom! We're not cute anymore!"

Anyone else play?

Cris gave me Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii this Christmas. I still tease him that he only gave it to me because it was the only video game commercial that featured women playing, not teenage boys. He doesn't deny it. LOL!

The first time I played it, we laughed and said that it was probably designed for a 13 year old girl.... but that hasn't stopped me. I play for a few minutes at night or during McKenzies nap time while I cuddle Allison before putting her to sleep. What can I say, its addicting!

My sister got the game for her birthday, and just yesterday we set up the microphone chat and online wifi play. Pretty fun! Does anyone else have the game? We can exchange wii number and be 13 year old nerds together!

Two Nuts

My cousin gave us this cute peanut pail. One side for the peanuts, and one for the shells. (Or hulls, or whatever they're called!)

McKenzie likes peanuts, but had never had to open them up before, so it was new experience. She loves pistachios, but the shells are a little tough for her open. These were just right. When she cracked her first one open last month, she was shocked to find there were two nuts inside. She kept shouting "Mom! Two nuts! This one has two nuts! I win!" When I explained that all peanuts usually have two nuts inside, she thought it was the biggest treat! Now, just about every afternoon she calls out, "Mom! I want some 'two nuts' please!" I laugh every time!

Bedtime stories

We tucked McKenzie into bed and she begged to have her sister sleep with her. That wasn't going to fly, but I did let them cuddle while I read bedtime stories to them. McKenzie is already counting down the time until Alli is ready for a "sleepover". So cute! They love each other so much it makes me so happy (happy enough I tear up when I see Allison look adoringly at her big sister). I'm so glad they are going to have each other to play with, get in trouble with, vent to, annoy and love for the rest of their lives.

I love you girls!

One of those afternoons...

On Friday my side of the family met up for dinner at Joe's Crab Shack. Afterwards my dad suggested that we go to Kohl's to pick out some pajamas for McKenzie to keep at his house in case she sleeps over. WHAT THE?! Yes you read that right, my dad suggested we go shopping. For clothes. So McKenzie can sleep over. Which she has done only one other time. What was even more surprising is that he picked out leopard pants and spent 30 minutes trying to find the right coordinating top. I'm not sure, but I think he may be wrapped around my daughters little finger. So cute.

I had more than my fair share of soda at dinner, so by the time we made it home, I really needed to potty. I plucked the girls from their car seats as fast as I could, tucked my keys into the pocket of my sweater and dashed into the bathroom. Plunk! The car keys fell right into the toilet.

I scooped them out and began the delicate balance of soaking them with lysol while trying to keep the clicker as dry as possible. Ugh. Did I mention I hate germs? If you see me with a nervous twitch driving down the road, it's not a seizure, I'm just thinking about what could be lurking on my clicker.

We had previously bought a pig and had it cut and wrapped in Richfield. Malory and Devin brought it up to us, so I had to unload the meat from the back of the Yukon. I pulled on the back door handle and the alarm went off. The very loud alarm. So, I RUN back into the house and grab the wet, tainted keys and try the clicker. Not working. AHHH! I begin a frantic search for the spare set of keys and finally silence the whailing.

Then, I remember that I could have used the key. HELLO!

I finally get to the boxes of frozen pig, which are VERY heavy and managed to get the first one unloaded into the deep freeze without incident. However, the handle on the second box breaks and frozen chunks of paper wrapped pig flesh go flying throughout the garage. With one very large ham roast landing squarely on my toe.

Just about then, Cris gets home. "Didn't you make me dinner?"

I'm deadly with a candle

For the last few months, my husband and I have been hunting a mouse that found its way into our house. I’m more than a little paranoid about cleanliness and have a slight obsession with anti-bacterial products, so knowing there was a rodent hiding somewhere in my house has nearly driven me insane. With our house at the base of the mountain, and an open lot next to our house, we sometimes see mice around. They’ve gotten into my garage before – which I’m not fond of, but can deal with. But, needless to say, the house is a whole other story.

This mouse tried to be friendly. At night or at nap time the mouse would sneak out to inspect the quiet house. I’d sometimes see him scurry into the living room and stare at me with curiosity. If I didn’t hate him so much, I might have thought it cute.

Since we’d dealt with mice in the garage before, we had previously considered ourselves prepared. Cris set a dozen mouse traps, but after a week, they remained empty. I grew impatient and bought another kind of trap. Then, we broke out the poisons. When those went untouched, we went to the store and bought one of every kind of mouse killer they had. Still no luck. I only mention these details so you understand my state of mind last night when Mr. Mouse came for another visit.

After McKenzie and Cris were asleep, Mr. Mouse came to visit Allison and I. I cursed at him and shooed him from the room. But, he came right back, unafraid. That ticked me off a little, so I put Allison to sleep in her crib and came back to the living room. I grabbed a bucket I thought I could trap him with and went back to my post. Sure enough he came for another visit. It wasn’t close enough for me to capture him, but close enough to drive me nuts. I scanned the end table near me for ammunition and had the option of: a phone, the remote control and a candle. I knew that if the remote or the phone touched the creature I could never use them again (no amount of disinfectant can kill mouse cooties, you know) so I settled on the candle. Carefully I slid over, picked it up, and hucked it at the mouse. It was probably a stupid idea, but I was mad, frustrated and tired. Not a good combination. But you know what? It worked! Mr. Mouse is no longer living. I woke up Cris afterward: partly to brag, partly to celebrate, but mostly because I needed him to dispose of the body.

I'm Baaaa-aaaack!

I've been absent from the blogging world lately, but it feels good to be back!

I've had some kidney problems for the last two weeks, but I think they are finally resolved. At first they were afraid a disease was shutting down my kidneys, but it turned out it was a kidney infection and kidney stones.

I'd been dealing with pains in my lower back, but didn't think much of them until my urine was suddenly solid red from blood. I'll spare you the potty details, but it was a little scary to see. My poor doctor has to be sick of our after hours visits. Why don't these things happen during the middle of the day?

After close to a week, the pain became unbearable. I lied on the couch crying from the pain. It felt so much like the back labor I had with Allison. I called my mom and asked her to help take care of my girls since Cris couldn't leave work. And then I cried for feeling like a failure and a looser mom who couldn't care for her own kids.

I downed the pain pills (which is unlike me. I only had one half of a percoset after having Allison) and started on prostate medicine. If that doesn't make you feel feminine, nothing will! I couldn't nurse the baby while on the drugs, so had to pump. Pumping isn't my favorite thing in the world, but it is SO much less fulfilling when you're dumping the milk down the drain. Ugh!

Luckily the worst pains only lasted for a day. The stone stuck in my bladder though for another 5 days, and I finally passed the stone yesterday. I had no idea how poorly I felt until it was over and my entire body relaxed. It feels good to be me again! And to not have doctors orders to drink a gallon of water a day!

Look at those adorable chunky cheeks!!!

Allison also has a new favorite toy... a scarf. I was given it at a scarpbook expo (what it has to do with scrapbooking I'll never know?) and pulled it out of the package the other day. Maybe it was the high color contrast, but her eyes were immediately drawn to it. I put the scarf near her and she immediately wound her little fingers into it. She loves to rub it over her face and chew and suck on it. It's so funny to watch how excited she gets when she sees it coming! And amazing to see how quickly she's growing and changing - being able to use her hands and recognize shapes! Too big, too fast!

I guess I adopted?

When we were on vacation near Mesquite in November, McKenzie won a prize at the Fiesta Fun Center in St. George:

She carried that spiky balloon thing around everywhere, and insisted on sleeping with it each night. When we were getting ready to leave the condo, she started crying and asking for her 'brudder'. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what she was talking about. After tears and questioning and unsuccessful distractions, we finally figured out she was missing the purple squishy and referred to him as 'her brother'. Where she came up with it, I have no idea.

At first I thought it was just a funny phase that she would quickly forget. But, each night since then, she has refused to sleep without brother. He goes everywhere with us. He was eventually popped, and is now limp, and his eyes have worn off. He's also missing a bunch of spikes.

Since it's a huge sob fest when brother goes missing, I've tried to keep my eyes open for an emergency replacement... but to no avail. However, when we went to Chuck E. Cheese last week, my parents and brother earned enough tickets to get her two more related creatures:

She loves them, too, and has bestowed them nicknames as well: Big brother, little brother (the original brother) and blue spiky brother. Now all three must be in bed with her at night - which isn't terribly easy since big brother is quite large and tends to roll. The entire house is aware when he rolls out of bed, thanks to McKenzie's squealing alarm. At times I resent the brothers because they seem to create a lot of frustration when they get up, run away, and hide, but every time I see them they make me smile at the kooky, creative imagination of my little monster.

100 Things To Do

Yes, I am still alive. The dark cold weather has bummed me out a bit, and sitting down at the computer hasn't been too appealing lately. Excuse the blog slackiness, please.

However, as I was blog stalking, I found this post on my cousins website. I thought it was kinda fun! I've highlighted everything I've done in blue. How many have you done?

1. Started your own blog - Obviously :)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7.Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (I auditioned for the Sociable in 5th grade... I didn't make it! LOL)
11. Looked up an old boyfriend on Facebook
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (solar)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung Karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (does Las Vegas count?)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gotten out of a speeding ticket
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class (I forgot about Karate club in middle school with Belinda Lopez, Jessica Prince and Avi Smith! LOL!!!!!)
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (didn't see any, though)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Adopted a stray dog or cat
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt... but never finished the edging
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. (fish)
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day