Handsome Faces

An Austenite in the Making

Last night as part of our family night, we had a picnic in the family room and ate our quiche while watching Pride and Prejudice. It started out that we just picked up from where I had left off earlier in the day while we waited for the quiche to finish baking. But then everyone was so into it, we just had to keep going. S was totally enthralled. She kept asking what Mary and Elizabeth were doing. I was surprised it kept her attention so well.
Leaning on her papa's leg. Comfy?

I have to do my workouts at home, since my kids are already up two hours before dawn, we live in the middle of nowhere, I have no car, and by the end of the day I'm exhausted. So I have my lovely Zumba videos that I use every morning. At the end of one DVD is a Zumba kids dance routine. S loves it. She is always wanting to exercise and generally watches the video at least twice a day. Here she is dancing. She insisted she put on her pajamas as "exercise clothes."

I Recommend...

So Rachael had this idea, and I liked it, so here goes...

I recommend Dawn dish soap for pre-treating grease based stains like spaghetti sauce. Oh, and warm water.

I recommend swaddling babies for sleep. It always works. Ask Kristin.

If you don't know something, I recommend educating yourself by using the library. That's how I know so much about baby sleep (that and my first one refused). I currently have books on woodworking so N and I can build shelves for the kids toy room and a book on house plants so my alive but not thriving plants can have a new shot at life. And my beginning sewing book has taught me so much that on occasion I've even given other people tips!

I recommend letting your kids walk on walks and not ride in strollers. Kids are supposed to get 60 minutes of exercise every day and most aren't. If you walk for your own exercise, then be sure to take an extra walk or go to the park for the lil' ones.

I recommend having a fun dinner night once a week. Ours is pizza night every Friday. We make it all from scratch, even the crust. Well, the sauce isn't scratch I guess. We tried that but it just wasn't worth the time and it wasn't actually all that better. Since we do it every week I've become very adept at whipping it all up in no time.

I recommend letting little kids help with the housework. S like to fold the burp cloths and "water" aka rinse the dishes before they go in the dishwasher. It takes longer and sometimes is a bit messy, but you'll teach your kids good skills and you'll spend quality time with them while still doing some chores.

I recommend this book. It's fabulous. And quite tasty.

I recommend reading books with your husband. Way better than spending hours in front of the tv. We might try Sherlock Holmes next. I've read them all but he hasn't.

More at the park

This is kind of boring, so unless you're a Grandma wanting to see your sweet girl, just skip it.

Super Cool Kids

"I have Daddy's shirt on! It's super cool on me!"

We went to the park today. These are some super cool kids.

Day at the Park

We went for a picnic in our neighborhood park last Saturday. It was a beautiful day and all of the birds that leave all of you cold folks for the winter came to our pecan trees and serenaded us. The kids rode with daddy in the bike trailer and got a flat along the way. They had to run back home real quick to pump up the tires. I walked to the park and relished the time alone. After filling up on sandwiches and apple slices it was time to hit the slides. S was especially happy to have her daddy there because there is this one particular ladder she's been dying to try out. Unfortunately, it's a little advanced for one so small and since I am always holding M, she's had no one to help her tackle it. But Daddy was there to help and she made it! It was pretty funny to watch because half way up she started panicing a bit due to the height and started to say, "This is just not good."

So, new post to come later on, but before everyone is done checking blogs for the day, I wanted to remind everyone that there's a GOP debate tonight at 9 pm ET on msnbc.com

She likes to get in bed with her brother

You may all thank Chelsea for this.

8 things I’m passionate about:
My husband
My kids
chocolate
photography (but I'm feeling drastically limited by lack of SLR lately)
design in my home
living where I don't have neighbors (I currently do, by the way)
books
the gospel

8 things I want to do before I die:
go back to Australia
tour Europe/Mediterranean
get another degree, maybe two more
learn to build furniture
build my dream home
become fairly literate in the scriptures
relearn French and learn Arabic and Hebrew
read "all" the classics

8 things I say often:
Hey Boo/Handsome Face
No!
Do you have to go potty?
Let him be, Boo!
Don't push over your brother!
Did you say please?
Your welcome.
I love you.

8 books I’ve recently read:
The Candy Shop War
Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Harry Potter, the entire gargantuan series
The Mozart Effect for Children
The Golden Compass
Freakonomics
Primary 2 manual

8 songs I could listen to over and over:
This is automatically a no go. I am very sensitive to music and therefore I rarely listen to it. Just classical and hymns and I don't really have a preference.

8 things that attract me to my best friends:
location
willingness to just come on over and hang out
educated
intellectually stimulating conversation
for LDS affiliates, activity and diligence in serving
they gotta love my kids
an ability to put up with my husband's sharp wit
just plain nice

8 things I’ve learned this past year:
the second baby is a better sleeper than the first
all of the signs for reflux/baby allergies
I don't like the desert
blogs are fun
how to buy a house
making friends outside of the church is hard
the economy and defense contracts really affect my life
how to make homemade noodles (that may have been a year and two months ago)

8 people I think should do Crazy 8’s:
Do as you please.

High Acheivers

Our big accomplishments for the day?

I vaccuumed the stairs.
Boo convinced me to have preschool this afternoon.
Lil' Boy took one 6 ounce bottle.

What's yours?

Since S was crying in her room because she hates going to sleep, I thought I'd chat about her for awhile.
Kids are always saying the funniest/weirdest/rudest/cutest/kindest/sweetest things, and she is no exception. Yesterday she saw that her magnet board had finally been hung up and when I told her that I did it and not her dad, she said "That was pretty nice, Mom!" She also took to calling me Mommy Crapo yesterday. From somewhere, much to my consternation, she picked up "My bad." Whoever thought it was EVER a good idea to say such a ridiculous phrase was.... well, never mind. But to make up for it, she has demonstrated that she really is grammar conscience, saying "May I" instead of "Can I." I'm not sure where she picked that one up either. I'd like to say it was from me. Honestly, I can't think of where else it could have been. Do I really speak that well? oh, and everything is "super cool" nowadays.
Some of you, well all of you really, may have seen the picture of the two kiddos at the end of the previous post. As I was snapping that picture S was putting her arm around her brother and announcing, "Just two kids ready for the picture!"
And S has imaginary, well, things. I'm not sure you could actually call them friends, as they are usually being unruly and needing punishment. Today S was yelling "NO! NO! NO!" When I told her to stop she said she was yelling at Gallo because he was hitting Gauk. When I told her to just tell Gallo to please stop she explained that she was yelling at him "because he just did it on purpose." So then she put Gallo in time out on the couch, went to the drawer under the timer I use for her time outs and pretended to punch buttons. Then she went to sit on the couch too. I asked if she was going to sit by him for his time out. She said, "He just has to have a big talk." Nothing like your kids play to show you what kind of a parent you are.

The Last Christmas Post Ever

Ok, so we're almost finished. First I just have to say, that this is the cutest boy in the world. His sister's not so bad either.


So here's the Christmas loot. First the toys. Not too bad. Although this doesn't include what we got for them. Like the huge kitchen that's parked in the playroom.
Then there are the books.

Oh, wait. I forgot one.This monstrosity came from Aunt Julie and Uncle Christian. I'm sure Julie was cackling maliciously as she thought of us lugging this thing home on the plane. But we did it. More on that later.

And then, Oh My Gosh, the clothes.

I just want to point out that most of the things on the floor are covered up and you're actually only seeing a few square inches of them. I could be wrong, but I think I just counted 45 different pieces. For two children. Spoiled, no?

So N is the packing genious. He got all of this stuff, including the monstrosity, a baseball bat, an electric drill, the largest sewing basket known to man, and a whole bunch more into our airplane luggage. We had three LARGE suitcases, all within two pounds of the 50 pound limit. And then there were still more bags.


ok, we're finished. Really.

Christmas Pictures, Part XXXVVVIII (ok, not really)

On New Year's Eve the whole family took a trip to the St. Louis City Museum. Talk about fun. It has a million different things to look at, and best of all, climb on. It's like a giant playground that magically transforms even the most boring ol' adult into a six-year-old. And so just imagine what it does to my Rocket Scientist of a husband who secretly harbors ambitions of doing nothing but playing at Disney Land as a career. At the Museum there is a skateless skate park. There are parts that are practically vertical drops that you slide down. S even got to the point that she would do it alone. I love this picture. Doesn't it just look like she's free falling?


And sorry about the angle. I just can't seem to stop myself from turning the camera while taking video. It's a disease.

M even got to climb all over the place.
This is a fire truck that's mounted outside, like three stories up. There's also a plane, lots of slides, big wire tunnels, etc. And all of it is millions of feet off the ground.
We are coming out of the biggest slide ever. It comes out in a bunch of concrete caves. And for once this camera angle is correct. We came out almost sideways.

And just to prove that the Christmas pics are almost over, this is N and M packing to go home.

Christmas Pictures, Part V

We visited the Science Center. Needless to say, we had fun. At the planetarium
The arch
Go Cardinals!
Always fun to drive
This T-Rex really roars

Christmas Pictures, Part IV (yes, it never ends)

S with Grandma before we left to head to the second half of our Christmas adventures.
S with Grandpa
M with Grandpa

And we made it to Destination #2! Yea! Just in time for our third Christmas!
In the midst of too many presents
Yea for new toys!

This little sweetness is six months old today. Happy Birthday, Squirt!

For Rachael

S talking to herself:

"...Abigail, and her sister, and her mommy, and her daddy. Abigail's just my friend. When I'm little. A baby. I'm gonna teach Abigail how to play with me..."

Needless to say she likes your blog.

"Mommy, what are you doing?"
"Eating cheese and crackers."
"I'm eating cheese... I bited it!"
"You bit it?"
"No, I bited it."

Christmas Pictures, Part III

We had the wonderful opportunity to travel from the forsaken desert to the wonderful Midwest over Christmas. First stop was my parents home where we spent Christmas. I always love going home, although I tend to revert back into big sister mode once I arrive. N says I even fall into my old accent, as if I ever had an accent.
We spent a lot of time doing nothing, which was fine by me. Although I did spend too much time playing games on N's laptop. S loved seeing the horses, Daisy and Kara. They were especially spirited one afternoon and Daisy kept putting on a show for us. She would gallop around the fence, jump the pond, and then come right up along where we stood, spraying mud at us every time. I can just see her laughing inside the equine head of hers. My little cousin, Cameron, was visiting that day and he thought it was just fabulous.
It was during this visit of my grandmother, aunt, and cousin that S fell in love with Brownie, my parents dog. Up to that point she had been terrified of her, even though she's one of the most laid back dogs ever. But my cousin, who's seven, loved the dog, and S loved Cameron. She followed him everywhere and since he liked Brownie, she did too. After that day she was enraptured. Poor Brownie had to endure S force feeding her bits of dog food, all while she was squealing as high as her little voice would go. It was pretty funny and I'm sad I didn't get it on tape.
My family has a tradition where we all draw names and then give each other gifts on Christmas Eve. It's fun because you get to open something a little early (which takes the edge off when you're little) and that's the only person you have to give a gift to which makes for easy shopping.
Here are the kids opening the Family Gift Exchange presents.S got a sticker book from Grandpa.Here M is eating the bow from the present he got for Uncle Chase. Incidentally, Chase also had his name and got him a toy phone.

Here are the Christmas Day pictures. We got up not so early but still earlier than everyone would have liked because my dad had to be at the fire station at 7am.
This is the one gift from us that S hadn't already opened at home.
Grandma with M