Her Daddy Did It

After eating spaghetti, Cute Girl had a big red smile on her face. Her daddy thought she looked reminiscent of the Joker and taught her his line.

At least I'm posting something

I'm tired and I've had a low-grade fever for two days. This is what you get. But they are adorable, so it's not really that bad, right?

They're wearing the new carseat blankets their great-grandmother sent for Christmas.

Today is a quick post because I have no time for anything else. But hey, there's a video!

The first week home from vacation was a hard one for Handsome Face. It was filled with tantrums. I was afraid we had hit the tantrum stage really hard, but turns out it was just the adjustment back to normality. He's evened his keel a bit. But that week was a doozy. This video is just a brief glimpse into a three-hour tantrum.

The Gospel with Airplanes thrown in

Preface: On Monday we talked about Jonah for Family Home Evening.

Today's Make-Believe: Flying to Grandma's house
Cute Girl was passenger/pilot/flight attendant all in one. We were about to land (so I thought) when she informed me we were going to land in water. I kind of quit paying attention at this point because I was helping Handsome Face play with the cash register. Somewhere in there I was chastised for not saying my prayers so I obliged by clasping my hands and bowing my head, keeping one eye on the coins going in the till. I echoed the amen coming from my left. Then I was told I could get back on the plane because the fish had spit us out.

I'm glad she pays attention.

Where's the time gone?

Wow, is it really Wednesday already? And I haven't posted a thing all week. We've been busy - but nothing too exciting.
This afternoon Cute Girl and I were enjoying a bowl of ice cream when this conversation came out of the blue.
"Mommy, while you were on your cruise, Grandma's toilet peed on the floor."
"Oh - was that funny?"
"Yes, and I bonked out of the way so it could pee everywhere."

Totally random.

Funny Girl

Tonight at bedtime, while I was squeezing my girl, I asked her if she knew how much I loved her. She answered in the affirmative so I asked "How much do I love you?"

"Thirty-six dollars."

Yay for my cruise!!!

These really are the last pictures of vacation. We left the kids with my parents and drove down to Miami to go on a five-night cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. It was lovely. I missed my kids the whole drive down but as soon as we got on the boat I had no more problems with that! We slept a lot (oh how I needed that sleep!), ate a lot, and just generally enjoyed not having to worry about anything while on board. And our shore excursions were wonderful. The highlight was riding ATVs up the mountain in Ocho Rios. We went to Jamaica on our honeymoon but enjoyed it much more from a cruise. In Grand Cayman we took an all day tour around the island, which is gorgeous, stopping at Pedro's Castle (a plantation house) and the Botanical Gardens. Then we took a boat out to Sting Ray City which is a sandbar out by the reef where the rays hang out in hopes of some tourist provided squid. So fun. I highly recommend it. Formal night on the cruise ship, in front of the Grand RestaurantThe Theater where we went every night for shows (we knew the lead singer from our dinner table!) and saw the BEST juggler I've ever seen in my life - I don't even like juggling Jamaica as seen from ATVs

the Rocket Scientist cliff jumping after ATV-ing in a private cove

Pedro's Castle at St. James

the GardensSting Ray City

Our dinner staff and Susan and Jay from North Carolina - they were a lot of fun and scored us chocolate cake TWICE by celebrating an anniversary and birthdays

The end of Christmas

The day after Christmas we headed to Indiana to spend a week with my family. It was so nice to be there. Grandma and Aunt Abby are always eager to take the kids. We often didn't have to get up in the morning because someone else would grab the kids before we could! Cute Girl loved going to the barn to see the animals with Grandpa and Handsome Face couldn't get enough of Brownie the dog. The Rocket Scientist and I mostly just sat around playing games and going shopping. Great-Grandma Ray and Aunt Merri and Cameron came to visit for a day.

Cute Girl with her precious roller skates

Cute Girl had lots of fun playing Chutes and Ladders with Aunt Abby.

Christmas In St. Louis

We were hoping for snow (at least Cute Girl was) but it wasn't meant to be. We did, however, find a carousel that she enjoyed very much. This is her second ride with her grandmother.Christmas morning was tons of fun. But neither of the kids liked waiting while all fifteen adults opened their presents before they could open another one. I think next year we'll just let the kids open them and be done. We weren't even half-way through before Handsome Face was done. He would scream every time we tried to give him a new present. After the Rocket Scientist opened a gift card box consisting of two blocks of wood screwed together with a screwdriver he would only play with the wood. Silly boy. They both got light sabers in their stockings. Cute Girl already lost hers at G'ma Shoaf's. Handsome Face pushes his along the floor and makes vacuum noises.

I think this picture is funny because we both have our eyes closed.

She loved this dress and immediately put it on over her jammie pants.

I love how I'm too lazy to take the red out of his eyes.

She's wearing her dress and her new REI Camelbak-esque backpack. She wore it ALL DAY. Oh, and Dad's helping her learn Spanish.

Yay for new dresses! From Shabby Apple no less.

The Max shirts. What could be better?

The Pre-Christmas

I forgot about our Christmas at home pictures. We celebrated on the 13th of December so that Cute Girl could ride her new bike. It was fun. Oh, and there aren't any pics of Handsome Face's Lil' People Farm. but he does love it.

In the Beginning...

We didn't make our flight. It was depressing. Las Vegas was snowed in and there was no other way out of the desert the Wednesday before Christmas. There were many jokes about hell freezing over but it didn't change our moods any. Lugging two car seats, four pieces of luggage, multiple carry-ons, and two children through an airport should only have to be done once in a day but we got to do it twice and then again the next morning. And to make matters worse, the lines at every counter were hundreds of people long and everyone was on hold with the airline and then getting kicked out of the system due to the high volume of calls. No fun. But luckily I have the best friend in the world and Jennifer came right BACK to the airport to take us home. Then the angel agreed to come pick us up AGAIN at THREE AM after we finally got to talk to the airline at nine o'clock that night. We decided to try and fly stand-by on the only flight to St. Louis that didn't go through Vegas and which was overbooked by six people. But miracle of all miracles we got on! Hallelujah! I think I would have cried if they told me I couldn't get on that plane. And Cute Girl would have had a fit right along with me. She just wanted to go to her grandma's!
Here are pictures of the Magic House, the second coolest children's museum I've been to. My lovely mother-in-law treated us "little kids" to it before all the "big kids" came into town. The kids had a blast.Inside a bubble with DadFixing up the carServing Grandma Crapo ice cream





This was a Plexiglas walk-way covering a "river." Here, Handsome Face and Aunt Sarah are watching his fish travel back to the pond.

We're finally back!

We just got back from Christmas vacation yesterday afternoon. It's soooo nice to be home. Everyone has been very happy to see old toys again and we've all been sleeping like rocks. I fell asleep at nine last night when I was supposed be preparing my Primary lesson. And this afternoon (Yes! we finally have morning church!) we all took wonderfully restful naps. At least, Sadie says she took a nap, but regardless, she was quietly playing in her toyroom when I woke up and left me alone.
Now, I've heard complaints about not updating my blog (sorry Julie) but I was gone for 24 days people. Yep, that's right - 24 days. It was the perfect vacation - visiting both families and taking time off for just my husband and me. We came back feeling rejuvenated and ready to be home. So needless to say the next week or so will be filled with Christmas stories and pictures of the Caribbean (just for you Katie).
In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure, I give you the funky rabbit dance.