Odds and Ends

Really long post: Don't feel obligated to read!

I'm not off to the best blogging start in 2010 and this is possibly the most random post ever but here goes. I always kind of get the blues in January. In my opinion it's just kind of a bummer month. The holidays are over, there's nothing big in our family to look forward to for a while, and the weather especially this year has just been cold and smoggy with no snow. Complaining aside, I'm glad to say that it has flown by, and we've actually had quite a bit of fun.

I got a new camera, and I am so excited about it. Problem is I have not had much time to use it yet. I actually sold my old one back, used money given to me by my parents and Jer's parents, and still barely made the cost but it's going to be worth it. I'll have to demonstrate what it can do once I've taken a few decent pictures. Since there are no pictures to document the month so far I will just ramble on about a few goings on around here.

Seth has been cracking me up lately. He got a little Alvin doll in a Happy Meal that says "hello gorgeous," and he thought it was so funny. He started saying it and at first it was like he was French or something, "gorgeoux." Now he can say it right and since we told the boys it's a nice thing to say to mom he tells me "mommy gorgeous." I usually have bedhead and bad pjs when he says that, so I appreciate it. Seth is also almost potty trained. We've been in underwear for a couple of weeks now. I wouldn't say we're quite there yet, but if I watch him like a hawk for #2 we can make it the whole day. Kids do strange and gross things while potty training. The other night he came wandering out in his birthday suit with a considerable amount of #2 in some toilet paper. I'm still not exactly sure what went down but amazingly he did not make a huge mess. I should also document how Seth says his name. He tacks a y on the end and calls himself "Sethy" and is always talking about himself in the third person. The problem is he doesn't do S well as a beginning letter and can't do "th" either. The result is "ye-ti." It is the worst possible combination of sounds for him. Oh well, all in all his speech is improving a lot and someday there will be no more talk about "ye-tis" at our house.

Ian is cute as ever. He gets all over the place. He still does his belly crawl the most, but he does crawl on his hands and knees sometimes and is starting to pull up to things. Seth is taking a lot more interest in Ian now and plays with him cute. Whenever Seth is doing something he shouldn't i.e. shooting Ian at point blank range with a Nerf gun, he has gotten in the habit of apologizing while he's in the process of doing it.

Luke is learning and growing like crazy. He can still be wild and crazy and has an obsession with wrestling anybody, anytime, anywhere that I'm hoping he'll grow out of. He loves playing basketball and plays with other kindergartners every morning before school. He started skiing lessons this year and he did a great job and is having fun. He was so tired the other day, he fell asleep while we were riding up on the chairlift together. I spotted some drool on his coat and sure enough he was snoozing. He got a great report from parent teacher conference about his academics. He tested way above where he needs to be. In the attentiveness/listening/hands to self kind of categories he could use some improvement, but we're working on it. Luke picked up on the term "nuts" while playing at a friend's house the other day...and I'm not talking about acorns. Since he already knew the term, I had to clarify what anatomical part that term actually applies to and then tell him it wasn't something I'd like him to say. My message really must have stuck because later that night Seth came over with a pouty face and the report that, "Lukey kick Yeti's nuts." Jer had to stick his head in the fridge to hide his laughter. I tried to keep a straight face and tell them both we don't say that. Don't you just love what they pick up elsewhere?

Between the holidays and other days off for Parent Teacher Conference, we've had time to do a few fun things this month. We took all the kids up to Beaver when Jer patrolled at a night party. We took turns taking Luke out and had to enlist both Travis and Mason who were also patrolling at times to help us entertain the kids. It was a fun but crazy night. Luke was a die hard to the end, and we skied down to the Litte Beav lift only to find out it wasn't running anymore. I wasn't too excited about the prospect of walking with him back to the patrol building (uphill), but Travis came along and gave him a ride on the snowmobile and he thought that was the coolest thing ever. I also got to ski with him Saturday while my mom watched the other boys. I won't be able to do that every week, but it was fun. Seth really wants to try too, so we may take him out at another night party.

We also went ice skating with TJ and Amy's family. We had a fun time. My boys have never been on roller or any kind of skates, so they struggled at first. I realized after a while that all the other kids had figure skates on and they had hockey skates, so we made the switch. Luke did fine after that. Seth on the other hand looked like a baby deer learning to stand. He was all legs. He made it around the ice a few times with the walker thing and Jer helping him, and he was a trooper about it but he was out of control. We tried to shove his feet into some figure skates towards the end and it wouldn't go, so we had to give up. Better luck next time for Seth! I pushed Ian in the stroller, and he loved it. He was smiling and waving his arms at everyone we passed.

I slurped my 2009 blog into WordPress and now I need to edit it and print it out. One of these days. I'm also almost 2 years behind in printing pictures, so I'm not sure how and when to catch up on that. I really don't have time for these extra projects right now but maybe one of these days. I started another class on Monday so that should keep me busy burning the midnight oil. The problem is I've also been going to the gym at 5:30 in the morning for a few months. I try to make it at least 3 times a week. I am not capable of burning the candle at both ends for too many days in a row, so I'm still trying to figure that one out. (Although I'm doing it, I still firmly believe there's something wrong with being up in the 5's...especially to exert yourself in any way!) I'm not a big TV watcher, but I have followed Lost since the beginning and am excited to see how they wrap it all up when it starts next month. Well, I think I've written enough about basically nothing for one night. Maybe if I post more often I won't do these long ones that bore people to tears.