Est. 2000

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Let me tell you the tale. . .the tale of the BAAAAAD Christmas Tree vs. the GOOD Christmas Tree. . .

A few weeks ago, we finally get some time together and set out to get our Christmas Tree. We've always purchased a live one, because Jared likes the way they smell, and also, we've always had good luck with buying a $20 tree because we're cheap, right? Well, until this year. . .we went to Smiths and, lucky us! their normally $20 trees are all on sale for only $17.99!!! Woo hoo!!! Just our lucky day, right? We should have known. . .

We bring it home, decorate it, feed it, love it, you know, do all of the things you're supposed to do with a live Christmas Tree. I don't know if it was the boys repeatedly tearing off all of the decorations that they could reach and throwing them down the stairs, or if it was them pulling off as many strands of lights that they could get their hands on after I stopped redecorating the tree with all of the ornaments from the bottom of the stairs, so the poor little tree was only decorated on the top, but this tree wanted to die. It had no will to live. We put water in it the first day we had it, and then a LITTLE bit a few days later, but the darn thing just dried up. Like it's purpose on earth was fulfilled, which it was NOT. It's little limbs start drooping until we couldn't even have put presents under it if we had tried to. Then Jared broke off the end of a limb just to test its flammability. . .wow. . .it went up in flames in about 2 seconds flat!!!

Jared didn't want an ugly dead christmas tree. . .i'm guessing because his parents were coming. . .like they were going to judge us for an ugly one? I don't know, whatever husband. . .anyhow Smith's, where we got the tree, isn't selling trees anymore and the other night we were at Home Depot and Jared asked some girl if we could get a really great deal because it was almost christmas. . .and she tells him 'nope, you can't have a good deal until Christmas eve, but if you bring in your dead one, we'll replace it.' Jared: Even if we bought it at Smiths? girl: "umm. . .wink wink. . .sure."

So. . .I had spent all day Monday and Tuesday cleaning and cleaning and sweeping and cleaning and vacuuming because we were having guests come on Tuesday, the 23rd and Jared comes home from work that day and starts taking down all of the decorations and lights. . .what can I do but help, right? He was a man on a mission, and it was going to happen no matter what I said, so I helped. But that dang old tree was sooooooo dead that it leaves a MASSIVE trail of needles in its path, completely destroying all of my efforts at sweeping and cleaning and vaccuuming etc etc etc. And to make matters worse, when we came home, Cohen gets into the pantry and gets a bag of Ramen, and starts chewing it up, eventually opening a corner of it. . .can you see where this is going?, and he comes into the living room and starts SHAKING this bag of chewed up Ramen everywhere!!!! Ramen Noodle Snowstorm. . .right in our living room. With all of the pine needles, and now ramen noodles. . .its worse than it ever was!!! Why did I try?!! I don't know. So, we swept and vaccuumed and blah blah blah and had it clean by the time the in-laws showed up.

I love Jared's face in this picture. . ."Seriously, we PAID for this tree?" He's so disgusted, I love it!!

So here's a funny little story.  A few days ago I was sitting at the table feeding Evan (a common occurrence here at our house, but not the subject of this post. . .) and Cohen climbs up behind me on my chair.  I was wearing a hat and he starts teasing me and pulling it off of my head and putting it on him, and then back on me again etc.  After a minute of this, he puts the hat back on my head and says, "You da man mom, you da man!!!"  I started laughing and asked him, "Did you just say 'you're the man?!'" and he says, "Yep, you da man!"  It was so funny I had to call Jared right away. Where did he pick that up?  I don't know!!  

. . .but here are some Halloween pictures!!!! Better late than never, right?!! Here are a few pictures of the ward Halloween party mentioned in the previous blog. . .Cohen ended up being a Cowboy on actual Halloween, so I'll post those pictures soon. . .maybe in 2011.

Um. . .uh. . .yes this is the best picture with BOTH boys in it.


Cohen eating his yummy cupcake that he 'won' at the cakewalk.


The only picture of all 3 of us!! I know I should have dressed up. . .so not like me to just let it slide. . .

So, it's been a full month since I've posted anything, but I've been faithfully keeping notes on a post-it so that I'd remember the stories I want to tell!!!

Thank goodness it's getting a bit colder, because we were having a TON of flies in our house every day. Because when the weather was nice, not too hot and not too cold, I would leave the back door open so that the dog and the kids could go in and out at their leisure. Unfortunately this also meant that the flies could come in and out at their leisure also, which mostly means coming in and not so much going out. So, every evening I would hold a big fly-swatting party in my kitchen and living room and kill as many as I could. This has led to Cohen being a pretty good fly-swatter himself. He would help me during these fly-infested times, and now that we only have 1 or 2 in the house at a time, whenever he sees one, he finds it his duty to get the fly swatter and chase it around for a while. He's actually a pretty good shot if the fly lands far enough down on the window for Cohen to reach it. We've always dreamed he'd grow up to be a great football player, but maybe he'll just be the world's greatest fly-swatter.

Our ward Halloween party was on the 17th. . .like I have been thinking forward enough to have my kids costumes figured out or something. Anyhow, I just figured Evan would be the default costume, Superman, because we already have that costume and it takes NO effort on my part. It gets to be about 6:30 that night, and the party started at 7, so I finally start digging around my house for something for Cohen to wear. I end up with a pair of brown camouflage pants that are just a bit too short, a green camo shirt that is WAY too small, and a black camo fleece jacket that fits just right. Thank goodness for the jacket because his little belly was hanging out the bottom of the shirt and that would have just been embarrassing. I drew some black stripes on his cheeks and he went to the party as. . .an army guy!!! I really am a great mom, eh?!! And if I had never written this on my blog, I could lie to him in years to come when he looks at the pictures and tell him that he asked to be an army guy and not that I was just a really bad procrastinator!! I still don't know what he'll wear on actual Halloween. . .I'll probably just try to borrow something from a neighbor. I want to come up with some hugely creative idea, and have everybody look at him and think, "What a great costume, this child must have an incredibly brilliant and handy mother to come up with such a creative costume." But alas, it is not to be. Not this year at least. Maybe next year.

So here's a fun little thing Cohen is doing that is driving me bonkers. Every time he comes up the stairs he wants me to carry him upside-down by his ankles. He lies down on the ground and says, "Hold the toes mom, hold the toes." It's funny, but apparently he's complete debilitated himself from walking up the stairs, because even if he's down there by himself, I'll hear him yelling up the stairs, "Hold the toes mom, hold the toes!!" I like to play it with him sometimes, it can be fun, but EVERY TIME?!!! Come on child!!! Give your poor mom a break!!

Cohen is progressing in his prayer saying. The other night I was putting him to bed and I asked if he wanted to say the prayer, which usually means that I say a word and then he repeats it until we're done. He says yes, so I fold my arms and say Dear. . .and he says 'No mom!'. . .I continue Heavenly. . .and he says 'I do it!'. . .so I say OK, and here is his perfectly childlike first prayer without any help: "Dear. . .Heanly. . . . . AMEN!!!" I busted out laughing and told him to at least pray for Daddy, so he began again: "Dear. Heanly. bessadaddy. . .AMEN!!" That amen is his favorite part.

Evan is starting to say a few words. . .and I use that term lightly. . .he's starting to grunt a few words is more like it. He says Uck! (Yuck. . .during a diaper change) and Wack! (Quack, like a duck) and he can trumpet like an elephant. No, he does not say mama yet, but trumpeting like an elephant?! Now, that's talent!!

I am an Activity Days leader in our ward for the 8-9 year old girls. We had an activity where they were learning how to entertain young children, and we played Duck Duck Goose. A week and a half later Cohen had coerced me into playing with him, and he starts patting himself on the top of the head and is saying 'Duck, duck, duck.' I get it figured out and we play an awesome 2 person round of Duck Duck Goose in the living room!!! It mostly consisted of us running around in circles and sitting down wherever, but it was fun!! I couldn't believe he remembered that!!

There you are. All the cute stories from my post-it reminder note have now been transferred to this here blog. The update is complete. Adeiu.

So, we are in the midst of potty-training. . .Cohen is doing awesome at peeing in the potty, but NOT so awesome at pooping in it. In fact, he has NEVER pooped in the potty. Yuck for me. So we took a trip to All-A-Dollar and bought all of these awesome prizes, to be distributed after a successful poop-in-the-actual-potty. . .They would motivate me if I was a 2 year old boy, so why do they not motivate my child? Bubbles, a horsey, some stickers, a cool little gun, and a styrofoam sword for crying out loud!!!! Every day, we sit down in the bathroom with this bag of prizes and review 1)how awesome they are, and 2)what it will take to win said awesome prizes. And every day, he wants these prizes, oh yes he does. . .but apparently not bad enough. WHYYYYY????!!!!! I'm not going to put him back in diapers because we're doing so well otherwise, but I'm getting really disgusted by the clean-up of the poopy underpants. Hopefully this story will have a happy ending, and SOON!

So now that Evan is walking so well, the boys are playing pretty well together, usually. This was kinda cute. . .Yesterday they were not really playing that well together, one getting poked or hit or pushed every few minutes. I was trying to get ready to leave the house, so I kept reminding them to play nicely together in hopes that they actually would, and that I'd be able to do my hair and makeup in peace. After many failed attempts at this playing nicely thing, Cohen dragged his blankie up to me and asked if he could go night-night. Of course you can go night-night!!! That is just the kind of help I need in getting ready!! We didn't need to leave the house for about an hour, so I got him a cup of milk and plopped him in bed. He hasn't been napping at all lately, except for in the car if we're going somewhere late in the afternoon, so I didn't really think he would go to sleep, but I was willing to let him try. Evan saw me leaving Cohens room and shutting the door, and he toddles down the hall and starts banging on Cohens door!!! Even though Cohen had been kicking the tar out of him for the last 1/2 hour, he still wanted his big brother around to play with! (Wait, it gets better.) Since I want Cohen to actually fall asleep, I tell Evan 'no' and pick him up and remove him from banging on the door. A few minutes later, Evan has also apparently had it, so I plop him in bed too!! Woo hoo for me, right?!! Well, being the prophetic mother that I am, I knew Cohen probably wouldn't go to sleep, which he didn't, and after my few minutes of glorious silence, he starts banging on his door to be let out. I let him out and hope that after his little rest he will be a happier camper. He walks out of his room, down the hall and looks into the living room. "Where's Ean?" he asks. . .for crying out loud!!! The two of them were at each others throats not 5 minutes before, and now they are banging on each others doors and asking for the other?!! At least it encourages my hope that they'll turn out to be best friends, right?! It was pretty cute that even though they weren't really getting along, they still wanted to be with each other. Forgive and forget, right?!

So, Cohen has inherited Jareds body's intolerance for mosquito bites. . .we'll be outside and Jared will have 10 bites before I even notice that there are mosqitos out there at all!! Also, he has some sort of allergic reaction to some bites as well, because sometimes he'll swell up all around the bite, like too much swelling for a little mosquito bite, like it kinda looks like he has a tumor on his arm or something freaky, right? Anyhow, Cohen has had a few mosquito bites before, but he finally got bit by the crazy ones a few days ago. . .he came in and had one smack in the middle of his forehead, and another right below the corner of his right eye. I put some Caladryl lotion on them so he wouldn't itch them, and they didn't seem to bother him the rest of the evening. The next morning, Jared gets him out of bed and comes in to ask me how Cohen got a black eye. What? Well, it wasn't black, but it was all red and swollen up HUGE underneath his little eye!! Sad!!



I didn't notice the swelling on his forehead until later that day, but that one got all swollen too, and once you noticed it, it looked like he had some crazy Klingon forehead or something!!!! (Is it scary that Klingon is NOT underlined in red by my automatic spell-checker?? As I was typing that word I was honestly thinking to myself, 'well, I won't know if I've spelled this right or not, because Klingon is not actually a word, so even if I spelled it like it's supposed to be spelled, it will underline in red, right?' WRONG!!!!) Back to the forehead. . .yes, it was poking out of his head WAY to far, and of course we run into someone we know at the store. I even brought it up just in case they noticed, so that I could explain that his forehead was not always so crazy and ugly. . .maybe they wouldn't have noticed on their own, but if they had, and I hadn't explained, they would have thought 'how sad for that little boy with that unusually large forehead. . .' Good thing I explained, hu?!!!



Speaking of injuries on childrens foreheads. . .a few weeks ago Evan fell down the stairs in the backyard and landed on his forehead on the cement so he's had HUGE scabs covering his forehead for a week. Lovely. People must think I beat him.

Here's a picture of the boo-boo right after he got it. Over the next few days the scabs got darker, and thus more prominent. :)