a new car!

According to Nolan that's what I'll be driving next week at this time! He told Jeremy today he knew what they should buy me for my birthday, then whispered a secret in his ear so I wouldn't hear - a new Volkswagon Beetle car! He knows I think it would be fun to have a Bug, so the perfect solution: buy Mom one for her birthday! :-) I thought it was pretty cute that Nolan came up with this by himself, and what a fun present would that be!


latest self-portrait

One more great Nolan outtake:

During the closing prayer of the afternoon session of LDS General Conference today, we hear Nolan, "Come on, guy! End the prayer! I can't keep my arms folded any longer! "

hello again cyber space

Things have been a little crazy this past month or so. Proof - I can't say I have ever reached the point on my digital camera that it said "out of memory" because I haven't downloaded my pictures for so long. Needless to say, when I've had a spare moment to blog, I haven't had another spare moment to download pictures. Solution: no post.

Now that I've actually downloaded the images, here are some of my favorite pictures taken before summer slipped away from us.

Labor Day Weekend

Nolan agreed to ride with us as long as

he could use the fancy goggles!

I love that Macy isn't afraid to get in the water. Late in the afternoon, we were wrapping up our trip on the lake with one last turn for anyone who wanted to get in the water again. When Jer asked who was next, Macy gave her favorite line, "I do!" because she wanted to get back on the tube. She was excited to ride with Aunt Leslie. Check out those goggles! Vogue.

Four-year-old photographer

These are some of my new favorite pics. Nolan has taken to shooting his own pictures when we're not looking. I find all these extra shots (20-30!) when I download the images. No wonder I'm getting the "out of memory" message!

Nolan's first day of preschool

He was super excited but the nerves set in when we got to the classroom. He wouldn't take his backpack off for at least an hour into class, or so they tell me. I thought it was cute, sort of a strapped-on security blanket.

Afternoon just for the kids

We went to Krispy Kreme for free donuts when the "Hot" sign was on then spent an hour or so working on our driveway masterpiece. Nolan had a blast!

Macy only lasted about five minutes with the chalk

then found other things to keep her busy.

Loving the backyard

Inevitably, Macy comes inside with her drawers full of sand and sand practically glued to her scalp, even if she was playing alone. I can't quite figure out if she gives herself a sand shower or what! Maybe I'll have to wire a webcam to catch it live.

And finally, Nolan's latest trick on the tramp!

celebrate macy!

A break from the fives for just a bit....I am now officially the mother of a four-year-old and a two-year-old. Macy's birthday was yesterday, and now she is "Doo!" We sure do love her personality! Here is some of the fun that Macy brings to our family!

five pet peeves

1. Stores that don't have the antibacterial wipes to clean the cart handles before you use them. I actually despise shopping at WalMart for this very reason, but still brave the germs with my own sanitizer on occasion. (It's okay, I have come to terms with the fact that I am a germaphobe!)
2. People who don't care enough about their job to do their job, case in point: ornery customer service agents.
3. Chain companies that are so big that regular employees can't help you with what you need. Instead, you have to be transferred five different times on the phone or ask three different people in the store where to find a particular item.
4. It seems a rare occasion that you can call a doctor when you need to see them and actually schedule an appointment any time sooner that three weeks or three months!
5. People who think that because I am a Landscape Architect, I should come mow their lawn. (Not because I have anything against mowing the lawn.)

five loads of laundry (and counting)

Day 1. Sheets and blanket
Day 2. Sheets and blanket
Day 3. Sheets and blanket
Day 4. Sheets and blanket
Day 5. Sheets and blanket

You get the idea. We've traded in pull-ups at night around here for big-boy underwear and are having quite the time keeping them dry. Although we've had a bit of success, the Groundhog's Day version of laundry in the morning is getting quite mundane! Any ideas for potty-training at night?

five phrases of 'Macy speak'

We're excited to report that Macy is really starting to talk these days! These are some of our favorite phrases of 'Macy speak':

1. "I Do!" - This comes in two forms. The first is a relatively calm version, telling you she wants to do something, like have a bite of your ice cream or go with you. The second is much more demanding, "I DO IT!" This goes for anything you are trying to help her with that she wants to do by herself. We hear this one plenty around here!
2. "Eez" - aka "please". We're working on combining #1 with #2, or in other words, "I do it, please."
3. "E-O" - this refers to any instance with more than one. e.g. Macy, do you want a cookie? Response: "E-O!" Playing hide-and-seek with Nolan, Macy's counting sounds like, "e-o-e-o-e-o". If she's pointing out two birds, she says, "Mommy - Bur! E-O!". It's pretty funny!
4. Possession. Macy's loves to point out what things belong to whom. While I'm folding laundry, she tells me who the clothes belong to, "Mommy's" or "Nolan's". Every time I take the kids somewhere in the truck (usually while Jer is gone to work with the car), Macy points at the truck and very adamantly states, "Daddy's. Daddy's." She certainly knows who loves the truck the most!
5. "Doot!" - aka cute. This is new one from today. She pointed at Nolan's shirt and said "Doot!" and later Nolan's swimsuit, "Doot!" I guess we'll teach her later that boys don't like to be "cute", but cool or handsome or something manly.

five notes about Karl Malonic this week

If you don't know about Karl Malonic, see the side bar under 'looking for something' (at the bottom). Here's what he's up to this week:

1. Had a birthday and turned 5. (I am relieved that my son is now playing with a 4-5 year-old instead of a 40-year old!)
2. Went to Disneyland, took Nolan and Macy. He's taking Nolan and Macy to Disneyland again tomorrow. Nolan invited me to go with them! Should be a blast!
3. Has a sister named Lizzy; she's two. When she was born, Nolan told Karl Malonic's parents they should name her Lizzy, because he likes that name. Apparently they agreed!
4. Visiting his grandpa in Park City tonight.
5. Living in Mexico by those "Mexico Hills". By the way, when Nolan went to visit him there, he took Macy with him. Macy wouldn't obey Nolan, so he had to bring her back from Mexico then go back to visit Karl Malonic after he brought her home. Too funny.

p.s. Nolan now has another pretend relative. His name is "Uncle", not Uncle 'so-and-so', just Uncle. We'll see how long he'll be around. FYI - He's made a few appearances this week already. He and Karl Malonic seem to get along well.

five favorites

We're finally online again after several days transition period between internet service providers. Hooray!

I've decided to try something new with the blog for awhile. Instead of the update about what's been happening with our family, I decided to start a series of "fives". Here's the first:

Five of my favorite things about Jeremy:

1. His eyes, blue eyes - especially blue when wearing blue or dark grey. (I always wished for blue eyes myself, you know.)
2. He makes me laugh, quite often at his own expense!





3. He loves to play with the kids, and they sure love their daddy.







4. He rubs his hands together when he gets excited - those of you who have seen this habit know exactly what I'm talking about (and I would guess you're probably smiling now while you think about it). It happens when he's excited about Christmas or just talking about playing foosball or ping pong with the family, when he's getting ready to watch the Braves game or heading to his own softball game, when he's getting ready for a fishing trip with Christian and when he's taking Nolan ice fishing, when he's getting excited about his birthday and even more when he's telling someone else about the present he's giving them...and I quote"You're going to love your present!" The excitement has to make you smile...it's contagious!







5. Jeremy is the "husband of the year"! Okay, so this is an honor that he has actually given himself on several occasions with a comment like, "I must be husband of the year!", after I come home from work to a clean house, complete with vacuuming, dinner on the table, laundry washed and kids ready to eat dinner. Or when he has planned a birthday party for me, organized/made dinner for everyone and made a German chocolate cake (my favorite). Even though the title has been self-appointed, I have to agree he's earned it, don't you?

cheese whistles and beer allergies???

Nolan and Macy found something to keep them busy during lunch, besides eating, that is. These are pics of their self-invented whistles from their mac-n-cheese noodles. You wouldn't know from Nolan's picture how much they had been laughing at their genious invention!

Later Nolan was asking me about a family friend, who has severe food allergies.

Nolan: Mom, why is Nathan allergic to eggs and nuts?

Me: Some people's bodies handle food differently than others. If they eat the things their bodies don't like, then they could get really sick and have to go to the hospital.

Nolan: Well, did you know that I'm allergic to beer and coffee? (Pause) It's okay though, because we don't drink those anyway.

4-H quality, or not so much

Growing up, my mom was a 4-H leader for my sister, me and a few girls in the neighborhood. We'd work on learning skills throughout the summer and enter our projects (baking, cake decorating, sewing, etc.) into the county fair in the fall. If we did well enough, we were selected to enter in the state fair. We knew what the judges would be looking for: the perfect golden brown and consistent crackling across all four cookies of constant size; the perfectly raised, lightly browned, banana bread with an even crack down the middle; perfectly detailed stitching, evenly gathered, no puckers, all threads neatly trimmed. You get the idea. We called this "4-H quality". If it was going to be good enough to win, it had to be 4-H quality.

In my family, we still somewhat affectionately refer to this level of perfection as 4-H quality, or, in the words of Mary Popppins, "Practically perfect in every way." It's mostly a joke with my sister and me now.

I've been sewing quite a bit lately, and have been thinking about "4-H quality". I'm slowly but surely coming to accept the realization that pretty much nothing I do is 4-H quality. I've sewn two dresses for Macy, a pioneer trek dress for the neighbor, and bound a few quilts over the last several weeks, and not one of these was even close. As far as baking is concerned, we can't even go there, because cold cereal and mac'n'cheese don't even have a 4-H quality level to discuss, and that's about all I've done for several months! (Much to Jeremy's dismay, I'm sure. I should mention that Jeremy seems to bake all the cookies and banana bread around here, and he hits 4-H quality just about every time! Go figure.)

Usually my comments about a finally-finished project go something like this, "Well, it's certainly not 4-H quality, but it will do." After all, who cares that I didn't pick out all of my basting stitches that held the gathers in place for final stitching? Okay, so maybe I'm settling on the quality, but now I prefer to think that I'm settling for sanity, sans perfection!

tag....6 quirks

I got tagged today, so, thanks to Lisa, I'm supposed to list six quirks about me. I usually consider myself a pretty boring, ordinary person, but when I started thinking about Karla quirks, they just kept on comin'! There are several that I would never reveal to you! Here are a few that I dare, at risk of being considered crazy (or perhaps confirming crazy!).

1. Counting stairs. Yes, I know...weird. I always count stairs as I step on them: at home, at school (okay, when I was in school), and anywhere else (doctor's office, theater, neighbor's house). Up and down. At home I always know what stair number I'm stepping on. When I'm somewhere new, I try to guess how many stairs there are before I climb (or descend). I always remember counting stairs. My habit probably started growing up in a multi-level home: four stairs down to the family room, and ten stairs down to the main basement from there, then three more stairs to the pool table; twelve stairs to get upstairs to my bedroom from the kitchen. Maybe this is not a quirk after all, but OCD!

2. License plates. I tend to remember license plate numbers, in whole or part, of people I see often or know well, like family or co-workers that park in the same lot. I still remember part of the number of Jeremy's red geo metro that he drove in high school (when I had a crush on him): 355 something something G.

3. Phone numbers. I still remember phone numbers of several of my neighbor's growing up and or old numbers of friends or family, some of whom I haven't ever called that much and/or haven't called for years!

4. Fist, Mouth. I can fit almost my entire fist inside my mouth.

5. Rhythmic fidgeting or tapping. Sometimes when I'm either zoned out or concentrating, I catch myself tapping my fingers or shaking/bouncing my legs, but I always subconsciously follow a rhythm or pattern in my fidgeting. You know, like right-left-right-left-right-right-left, pause, repeat.

6. Weird elbows. My elbows bend further than they should, beyond straight. This always caused a problem in dance when we had arm actions like a "V" with both arms up and outward, like the "Y" action in the YMCA dance. I had to be conscious that my "V" didn't resemble something like flamingo legs. (I always thought their legs looked awkward, like they were bending in the wrong place.) I can also twist my elbow to be facing up when I have my arm out in front of me.

Here's the tag: Moey, Lisa D, Erin, Shannon, Jenni Mc, Jennifer D

dress-up and fairy godmother

Macy has loved wearing everyone else's shoes since she could stand by herself, but I think this one is my favorite of all time. She found a pair of my nylons and dress shoes and decided to try them on all by herself. It took her quite some time and quite the level of concentration to get the stockings on.

It was hilarious to watch her prance around in her lovely ensemble....notice the excess stockings dragging behind her! And here's the fairy godmother that came to visit later in the day.Bippity!
Boppity!
Boo!