Oh what fun....

Christmas morning was great! We waited until 8:30 and then DA and I went and woke up T. He was trying to sleep the day away! He loved his wagon and was more interested in hauling around his presents than opening them. But as much as T loves the wagon it still doesn't compare to his most beloved toy, the vacuum. Here are a few pictures....

Christmas Eve in the jammies that Grammy made.

T and his wagon.

Finally getting the hang of unwrapping.

A much loved piano from Nonni.

I sent DA on a scavenger hunt for his gift. He's smiling so I think I did good!

Hanging out with the saw and the magna doodle.

What Grandpa John sent us...

One of my gifts from DA.
Playing with his new blocks and cousin K.

Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours, may the light of Christ bring warmth and light to you and your family.

2006 was a good year for the A Family.

We bought our first home! We moved in the last week of June and immediately started working on making this home our own. We finished the sprinkler system, sowed grass, painted, re-carpeted, and installed new flooring in the main living area. The more we do, the more ideas we come up with! Knowing that, we have many more projects in mind for this up coming year. We love our new neighborhood, and were lucky enough to move into a great ward.

When we haven’t been working on the house we’ve been busy elsewhere. D is still working on the SLCCHSB project. I stay busy running after T, and looking after our home.

Our ward wasted no time putting us to work. Both D and I teach the 4-5 year olds in church. It was a struggle at first since T did not like nursery. (What an understatement!) While he still isn’t fond of going, it gets better each week. I am also on the Humanitarian Board and have been able to participate in some wonderful service projects and activities.

T is almost 2 years old now, and is a delight. He is a very active, but very quiet, little boy. He talks at home, but rarely anywhere else. We get comments all the time about how serious he is. While he is starting to act like a typical two year old, he is also a big help. He loves to be outside and was constantly active with the yard tools when we finished up the grass. He enjoyed bringing D his hammer, prybar, and other tools when he installed new flooring. He also likes to help mom load/unload the dishwasher, collect the garbage, and will sweep the floor with the swiffer. His favorite toy is still the vacuum cleaner and he loves D’s tools, especially the drill.

Love,

The A Family

Ode to my vacuum....

I love you! You clean, keep things tidy, and entertain. Yes, I do mean entertain. The other day I had you out and you entertained and kept Tornado T out of trouble for hours! I was able to scrapbook, shower, do my hair and makeup, and play on the computer. My thanks to you!

A time to be Thankful....

I am thankful for a lot of different things. To name a few....

-DA and Tornado T are at the top of that list.

-Good health for me and family are pretty high up there too.

-We've been blessed with a house this year, and we made some good friends pretty quickly. That has been wonderful!

-I'm thankful for family and the support they give to us.

-I'm excited and happy about my new doctor and have high hopes once again.

I am a blessed woman!

My sweet T...

These pictures were taken last night. He loves his little bike!

Making the change...

I'm thinking of switching over to the beta blogger. Is it worth it? Will I be disappointed?

Happy Halloween!

Technically it is November now, but I had to show off my little lion. He had so much fun. He loved wearing his costume and while he never connected with the whole candy thing, he loved running up and down the street. Anytime you can play chase is a good time for him.

There are days where I don't want to be me ...

As the day has gone on I've been feeling better, but can't this day, this week be over yet?

Check it out.

Why, Why, Why?

I want to know why general fiction is so awful these days! I try and try to expand my horizons, but when I do I am reminded why I love the romance genre so much. (The romance books that actually have plots...)

I love happy endings. I like rooting for the characters and seeing everything work out. It's not real life, but sometimes real life needs a boost.

I just read this book The Keep which people just raved about, and I thought it was horrible, confusing, and didn't make me happy at all. I thought the writer was an idiot for writing something like this. She wouldn't even use quotations for people talking. She would just write their name with a colon after it and what that charater said. I. hated. it.

Here's another one The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It was a good book, but the marriage's in the book sucked. They were filled with adultery and distance. Why do I want to read about depressing stuff like this? Isn't life hard enough?

The Pact - A Love Story. No it's not. It's all about suicide and how familes were destroyed by it. No happy ending there.

I could go on and on. Why can't general fiction books be funny and happy, and leave me with a giddy little giggle because I enjoyed it so much? One that I can't wait to share with a friend? What's wrong with reading fluffy, entertaining books? Am I missing something with these other books?

I must be reading the wrong general fiction books.

Until then I remain,

A Faithful Romance book reader.

Aww....

Now that Tornado T has learned to fold his arms we pray and pray a lot. Who knew that a 20 month old could be such a good example? But beware... if your prayers aren't said quickly enough, Tornado T will let you know when you should be done.

My super late response to a meme...

I was tagged by Cyl

What do you like most about where you live?
The rural feel that is has. It's quiet and there is no constant hum of traffic. We live in a great neighborhood that has a close feeling to it. There are also tons of children around.

Is there anything strange about where you live?
It is so far from everything. The closest gas station and grocery store is 15 minutes away. Also the city goverment is a joke.

What's one of your all time favorite music albums and why?
Def Leppard - Adrenalize. It brings back such great memories whenever I listen to it. It's also a guarenteed cheer me up album.

Did you have a passion for something as a kid that you still have now? (if not, what is one of your passions now?)
Reading. It has always been my favorite pastime.

What do you like most about having a blog?
It makes it easy to keep in touch with friends and family. Also I love getting comments. That's the best thing!

Who am I tagging?

Musical Mom
Becky
Amy

This and That...

1. It turns out I haven't been listening to my son. If I had been listening closer, I would have figured out that he's been saying "What's zat?" ("What's that?") for a good week now.

2. T is about to become a nursery dropout. While passing the primary president in the hall at church, she heard me assuring a sobbing T that I wasn't taking him to nursery. (We were going into Sacrament which is last) and I made a comment to her that nursery wasn't going well. In fact it was getting worse each week. She then proceeded to tell me that nursery was optional and if T needed more time then to take it. She said that T is still young and that having him sob all through nursery wasn't doing anyone any good. It was only teaching him to dread church. So he is now joining the CTR - 5 class, (which DA and I teach) as long as he isn't a big disruption. We will try nursery again when he turns 2.

3. We are getting closer to being done with the living room. Here is another update type photo. We still need to touch up the paint, repair the drywall in a few places, and put the baseboards back up. Then we will be done.

Another word!!!

Tornado T said another word! He's been saying it a bunch so I feel it is safe to add it to our list. He now says "Hi."

Tornado T

What your face will look like if you don't listen to your mom and then ride your bike down the front porch steps.

Success!

It's been two full days since Tornado T has cried for his binky. He's only cried for it once in the three days since I took it away. Yay for T!

No wonder....

Our allergies went haywire when we moved here. We thought it was because we were in the country and not the city, but this is why.....

We thought this pile of dirt/dust was a nail head sticking up.....

This is one of the many piles of dirt I swept up.


This is what my house looks like at the moment.

It is amazing how projects multiply once you get started. First it was paint, now it's flooring, and curtains come next, and then..... I want more furniture.

Time to say good-bye...

I just put Tornado T to bed without binky. I noticed that his front teeth seem to be poking out a bit, so I cut off all the tips of the binky's. I have loved the binky's just as much as he has. He always gets real quiet and stops whiney when it's in his mouth. But... I can't sacrifice his teeth for a bit of quiet.

I let him take his binky to bed, but he kept staring at it knowing that something wasn't right. I've always kept his binky's on the ledge of the crib and tonight as I was walking downstairs I could hear him searching for a binky that wasn't "broken." He should be finding out that something isn't quite right with those either. He's going to be sad, and I am sad just knowing that.

I have one binky hidden in my dresser, but I am going not going to give in and use it. So let it be written, so let it be done!

UPDATE:
Tornado T went to bed without a hitch last night. There was no crying and wailing like I expected...... until today. I put him down for a nap and there were instant tears. I held firm to my resolve not to give in. He had been crying for about 10 minutes when I checked on him. (had to make sure nothing else was wrong) He was sitting up with three binky's in his hands. I rocked him for a minute, told him that his binky's were broken and that it would be okay. I put him back in his crib, wiped more tears away and left. He cried for 20 more minutes. Hopefully we won't have a repeat of his nap tonight at bedtime.

Here we go again...

I think we are glutton's for punishment. After finishing the painting we were relieved there were no more home improvement projects scheduled. Then we got to looking around... the paint looked so nice, wouldn't a new floor look nice too? We had been planning on replacing the cheap, ugly, and stained carpet at some time but we didn't think it would happen until winter. So.... last night we went and bought 23 cases of Pergo Flooring and started ripping up the carpet. Once again we are living in a construction zone. *Sigh* But it will look great once it's done.

On a side note..... I will never ever move into another house unless the carpet is replaced before we move in. - No matter how clean it looks. When ripping up the carpet we found huge, massive amounts of dust and dirt under the carpet and under the pad. BEYOND YUCKY! I can't even begin to describe how much dust and dirt there was. No wonder our allergies have been out of control since we moved here. DA is completely grossed out that he's been laying on the floor watching TV the whole time. We thought that we had nail heads coming up, or something because of unevenness in the floor. No, it's was just piles of dirt. Eww! I may have to burn my vacuum when this is over. There is nothing worse than other people's dirt.

We are done! Almost.....

We still need some finishing touches, like curtains and pictures on the wall, but here are the before and after pictures!

Why did I think this was going to be fun?

Painting is not fun. at all. Trim should be used as a punishment.

We are painting out living room and kitchen for the past three days, and we still aren't done. We have to finish the kitchen and then paint the arch way. I'll post pictures when we are done. The bedrooms are just going to have to stay the way they are. I don't think I can handle painting anymore.

What no one told me....

No one told me that when I put my son in nursery yesterday, how it was going to rip my heart out. I've been talking up nursery all week in the hopes that Tornado T would be excited to go. -Yeah, I really believed that it might work. I should have been clued in by the fact that everytime I mentioned nursery Tornado T would shake his head no.

So we walk into church yesterday and we get to the door of the nursery. T plants his feet at the threshold and put's a hand on the door jam. No amount of pulling or coaxing would get him through that door. So I picked him up and took him in. Immediately tears started falling. I tried to put him in a chair and get him interested in a puzzle and that is when the death grip around my neck started.

I tried to tell him that mommy and daddy have to teach a class and this was his class and it would be so fun. Once again, he was not convinced. By that time the nursery leader (with my full support) pried him off of me. I had to get back to my class. I couldn't stay even though I wanted to. Since DA is a man, he cannot teach in primary by himself. (It was his week to give the lesson) So my heart was breaking as I was leaving my son behind, wailing and crying for me.

Next week it is my turn to teach so DA will be going to nursery with T. It is our hopes that if DA goes a few times with him to act as a security blanket, he will learn that nursery really isn't that bad of a place to be.

We have grass!

Never thought I would get excited about something like that, but we have grass. Six days after we planted, we have grass that you can see without a magnifying glass!

Pictures...

LOL.... Here are the requested photos. I do have to say that I just noticed he is wearing the same outfit in most of the pictures, even though they were taken at different times. He really does have more than one outfit. - It just doesn't look like it. His favorite hat makes a few appearances as well....

Tornado T update......

Tornado T is growing up so fast! He is 18 months old and started nursery a couple of weeks ago. He's been doing okay, as long as you don't count last week! We teach a class next door to him and occasionally we can hear him crying. I feel a bit of sympathy for him, (he has to get used to nursery at some point) but I feel really bad for the teachers. I've been in their shoes and one child crying always leads to more. Got to love contagious crying!

Tornado T still isn't talking much. According to the Dr on our last visit, he should be saying 6 to 10 words. He says 3 words now, 4 if you are feeling generous. He says Mama, Dada, up, and nana. (for every piece of fruit he sees) Just this week he has learned how to sign "please" but we aren't sure that he even knows what it means. He refuses to sign anything else.

He listens to us pretty well. He will throw things away when asked, bring us select items we ask for, and put stuff away when we tell him. He can also put all the blocks into the correctly shaped holes of his block sorter. He brings us his shoes, plus our shoes, when he wants to go outside. It's his favorite place to be!

Tornado T is also turning out to be a very stubborn toddler. Right now we are waging a battle over the oven and dishwasher. I want him to leave them alone, he wants to play with them. He thinks his mama is being really mean when she won't let him open the oven door (usually I'm cooking when he tries to do that), turn up the heat in the oven (he likes turning it up to broil), or play with the burner knobs. I can't seem to convince him that having the gas on without the flame is a really, really, bad idea. Maybe him slamming the fridge door (and breaking an egg), and opening and shutting the dishwasher door endlessly (mostly when I'm trying to load it) isn't so bad. But I'm going to continue the battle anyway. Wish me luck. I hope I turn out to be more stubborn.

Baby Meme

I've been tagged by Amerimeximadre

Tornado T Says....

3 things that scare me:
*new people
*Grass
*Dirt

3 people that make me laugh:
*My face in the mirror
*Daddy
*Tickles

3 things I love:
*Playing with brooms
*Dragging around the shovel, hoe, and rake
*My blankie

3 things I hate:
*Sticky hands
*Being in time out
*having my ears looked at

3 things I don't understand:
*Why I can't play with the dishwasher
*Why I can't play with the oven
*Why I can't run around during sacrament meeting

3 things on my floor:
*A ball
*Thomas the train
*Little People Zoo

3 things I'm doing right now:
*Sleeping
*Resting
*Relaxing

3 ways to describe my personality:
*Shy
*Stubborn
*Determined

3 things you should listen to:
*me talking
*music
*me singing

3 things you should never listen to:
*Me crying
*Me whining
*people who give unsolicited advice!

3 things I want to do before I die (in other words three things my mom wishes for me):
*Get a great Education
*Learn to be responsible
*Marry and have kids of my own

3 things I love to eat:
*Pears
*Frozen Pizza
*Dry Cereal

3 things I'd like to learn:
*How to talk
*How to feed myself
*How to listen to mommy!

3 shows I watch: ( 3 movies I have watched)
*Between the Lions
*Clifford's Puppy Days
*Backyardigans

3 babies I tag:
I wasn't sure who would do it, so TAG, YOU'RE IT!

Libraries....

I never knew how important they were to me until I moved. My new town has a library that consists of 4 shelves for the adult section. Those 4 shelves include the non-fiction, fiction, books on tape, and DVD's and videos. I'm breaking out into hives just thinking about it!

I am a self proclaimed book-a-holic. But a cheap one. I won't buy books, so I haunt Barnes and Noble's website for new books and then start requesting that the library buys them. (Side note: when my hard drive fried I lost my list. What am I going to do? What if I miss a good book?) i'm a picky book-a-holic too. I won't read anything, just so I have a book, it has to be an interesting one. At least what's interesting to me. I start to panic when I don't have any new books in the house to read, so I wanted to cry when I saw what was available to me. But..... I have a very understanding husband. Even though we are pinching penny's to finish the yard, replace flooring, etc. he didn't even balk at me spending $70 to join the nearest town's library. Yes I have to drive 20 minutes to get there, but every minute is worth it. We'll see if he is so understanding next year when my card is up for renewal. I'm crossing my fingers.

I'm so tired!

Watching D work all day to finish the sprinkling system in this crazy heat (news said 104 degrees), has simply exhausted me. I was inside with T because we decided it was too hot for him to "help" Daddy. The most I had to deal with was T's extreme displeasure at not being allowed outside. But for some reason it feels like I was the one digging trenches. My back and legs ache and I'm going to fall asleep any moment. Is it possible I'm experiencing sympathy pains?

For Valerie.....

It's the only picture I have downloaded. All the others are on my camera and the batteries are dead. We are currently trying to decide if the trees are staying or going. They both lean pretty far towards the house (any guesses which way the wind blows?) My vote is to rip them out. We are going to rip out all the shrubs this fall and then build up some flower beds with retaining wall rocks. Also the shutters are going to be painted white instead of the ugly maroon. The inside needs some work too, but I'll tell you all about it when I post pictures.

No longer a thief...

I have my very own internet.

Update type stuff...

Yes, I'm still stealing internet. We are going to switch companies I think. Grumpy D is getting tired of bringing his work laptop home. I sign on as soon as Tornado T is in bed and ignore Grumpy D the rest of the night.

Tornado T is really fun and trying right now! He's in a giggly stage and everything is just so funny to him. If I walk towards him then I'm "playing chase" and he just giggles, shrieks, and then runs away laughing. Changing his diaper is like trying to change an octopus. His hands and legs are every where and he just laughs the whole time. He also loves to run around his crib and laugh and squirm away when I'm trying to pick him up.

I've started time outs with him standing in the corner. We've been at it for 3 days now and today he stood there the whole time with his face in the corner and didn't try to leave or look around. Today also is the first time that he's realized that it's no fun to be in the corner. We had tears instead of giggles. I only put him in time out when he won't stay out of the kitchen cabinets or dishwasher. (Maybe once or twice a day) It seems to deter him a bit, but not much yet.

He loves playing outside, but won't walk on the grass when it gets long or dirt at all. It causes him serious grief when a ball rolls onto the dirt! He HATES being barefoot.

That's it for us! Update over.

Stolen Internet

Should I be feeling guilty about this? After being offline for two weeks, I'm going crazy and stealing the internet connection from one of my new neighbors. I should feel guilty, but a part of me thinks that they should encript their wireless connection if they didn't want anyone to use it.

Anyway, I just wanted to post and show all of you that we didn't die out here in Eagle Mountain.

Temporarily Offline

It might be another week before I update. I'm in the process of packing up the house (oh the joys) and I think I'm going to lose my computer in the next day or two. Moving day is Friday, so I'll see you all some time next week.

Happy blogging!

The end of kisses....

Tornado T is only 16 months old. He's too little not to be returning kisses anymore, but that is exactly what he's doing. For a while when I would make kissy noises he would pop out the binkey and run to give me a kiss. Not anymore. Now when I make kissy noises he will come, lean over until his forehead touches my lips, leave it there for a minute, and then back up. It's sweet in his own way.

I just earned a sparkly sticker!

Sparkly stickers.... it's the next generation of a gold star. Why did I get a sparkly sticker? I exercised! Now, I have been walking in the mornings, but it's more of a stroll. I don't get winded; mainly it is an appreciate the beautiful morning walk. I bought a bench and a tape from a friend and decided that there was no time like the present to make my investment pay off. And pay it did. I start the 30 minute beginner routine thinking this is going to be a piece of cake! I found out that all the times that I told myself that I was in shape, I was lying. 20 minutes in I'm thinking is it ever going to end? Then the perky little blonde starts in on the *power* moves. Hello! I'm already sweating and tired. In my previous exercising days, when I started to sweat that was my signal to quit. Who likes to sweat? But I'm thinking that particular mode of thinking is what has led me to my current state. Maybe next week I'll actually finish the routine instead of fast-forwarding to the cool down.

Every day that I exercise I get a sticker. It's enough incentive for toddlers who are potty training, so I'm hoping that seeing a sparkly sticker on my calendar is enough incentive to keep me exercising.

Mary, Mary quite contrary.....

Yeah, now I know why Mary was in such a bad mood! She was trying to plan her garden - trying to make sure everything was planted in the right spot, and was going to bloom at the right time. Heaven forbid if you don't get the right mix in there. Just thinking about gives me a headache, and thinking about it a lot is exactly what I have been doing.

Since we are soon to be home owners (just waiting on the appraisal) I thought I would get a jump on it and start planning the how I want to landscape. I realize I am jumping ahead of things quite a bit, but you can never been too prepared. Right? Wrong!

How on earth do you do it! Get the plant in the right spot (sunlight vs. shade), get the right mix of bloomers in a bed (spring, summer, and fall) and have a varity of colors. Arg!

Being my responsible little self, I checked out flower and garden books out from the library. Do you know how many options they show you? It's killing my perfectionist little heart. Heaven help me and my yard.

My first!

I give in. Everyone I know has a blog. So who I am not to have one? Just call me a follower and get it over with. I can hear my dad now, "If everyone jumped off a cliff would you?", and I guess in this case the answer would be yes. Maybe this will be easier to keep up with than the website I created and never update. Time will tell.