All in a day

Seeing these three bowls of malt o meal this morning reminded me of the three little bears so I had to take a picture. Don't worry fellow mothers, I don't normally add garnishes to my bowls of porridge. It just happened that I had some strawberries already cut up. Unfortunately I was the only bear who ate all of their porridge, the baby bear and the toddler bear where bein far to finicky!

Esther picked out this outfit today, and I took a picture of her because the theme she was going for was the color purple. So I guess she's not color blind. Although she does need some fine tuning about knowing when you are wearing too much of one color. (I unfortunately didn't learn this lesson until one fateful St. Patrick's day in 7th grade.)

Thursdays are "mom's group" days here in the quad and afterwords we played at our friends Elise and Adelle's house. We didn't get home until after two and Ezra hadn't napped all morning (this week he's decided to cut out his morning snooze for some reason.) Anyway, he was so tired but he wouldn't go to sleep so i finally just put him in his excersaucer and after 5 minutes he just gave up. I love it when they do this.

Ezra plays his game

Old Friends, New Friends

Today we were blessed with a visit from a dear old schoolmate and her two little girls, Angela and her two daughters Kayla and Analise. Me and Angela went through Jr. High and High School together. We hadn't seen one another since 2003 when me and Brock were married. Although we've been in touch thanks to the internet. But I digress. She came all the way our from SLC to walk around in the cold with us down here in Provie. I took them to my two favorite places, the creamery on 9th grill, and the art museum. Her stroller was malfunctioning for the first half of our adventure but she was a trooper, I heard not one word of complaint. We were really glad that they decided to make the trip and we can't wait to have another playdate!

She done it again.....

So there we all were, watching American Idol and having what I thought was a great time, when the kids slipped off very quietly and quickly to there bedroom where bouncing on Esther's bed ensued. I was innocently trying to get my #@$%&* camera to work (it has a battery deficiency) so I could get Ezra playing peek a boo. You can imagine my chagrin when I walked into their room to find these tiny little flash cards full of boring words and there meanings belonging to Brock scattered all over Esther's stripped bed. Seriously. I think there was at least a thousand of them. They were both swimming in them. Anyway this was the second time Esther has gotten into them, so needless to say, I was pretty upset. I made her pose like this as punishment. Esther 2. Mom 0. Dash it all.

The dead animal museum AKA The Monte L. Bean Museum

So here we all are at the popular (among kids and moms here at the Y) Bean Museum. It's full of stuffed animals from all over the world. I have to say that when we went for the first time back in the fall with our new friends Missy, Elise, and Adelle, I wasn't sure what to expect. I was actually surprised to find it quite interesting. They have hundreds of animals I would never otherwise be able to see up close, and that also includes a Liger named Shasta.
So in these pictures we see Esther with her favorite little Wymount friend Elise and her little sister Adelle. They became fast friends in the fall. We then see Ezra happily cantering along, this was his 3rd visit to the museum but the first time he's visited able to walk. His pants were practically only staying up by his binky rope. In the second picture we see the unfortunate side effects of not having it in his mouth.

Ezra walks to the bath

This is probably the funnest part of most of our days, watching Ezra get so excited to take a bath. At first we would hold him up and he would tap dance his way to the tub, then when he started to crawl he would rocket to the bath. Now he can walk and sometimes he is so excited he stumbles and does a faceplant, but he just gets right back up and starts gleefully screaming again. It happens like clockwork as soon as he hears the faucet turn on.

Bathy Bath!

Sunday Breakfast

So there we were on our way to church for oh, the second time since we've lived in Provo and Brock said, "I'm hungry, I wonder if Mimi's is open?" I knew that it was one of the few places open on Sundays in Provo (seriously it's a ghost town here), and I've never been able to resist eating breakfast in a restaurant. So we decided to skip church and go to breakfast instead. I know I know we're bad dogs. But the truth is we haven't really been down here so many Sundays, we're almost always visiting family on the weekends. One of our new years resolutions was to stay down here more and find a church we like. I guess we're pretty lazy too. It seems so easy to stay in and do nothing on Sundays. Sunday nights always feel lonely to me here, because I am used to eating dinner with my family. Anyway.....that was our Sunday.

Laundry Dizzle Day

So I let my laundry accumulate since last Tuesday, and this is what awaited me today. Seven loads in all. I guess I can be grateful that it gives me a lot of much needed exercise, since we live on the third floor. Esther was enjoying rolling around in it.

Here we see little Ezra helping me by fluffing the laundry. He's such a sweet laddy.

Breakin in the old mixer-oo

So as my "inheritance" my mom decided to give me her kitchenaid stand mixer over Christmas break, because we were thinking about buying one. Today I thought I would christen the old gel to our apt and make some chocolate chip cookies. So here we see Esther dangerously close with her little cooking apron that aunt Gecca gave her for Christmas. The cookies didn't look to pretty, but they tasted fine. I'll keep trying. I might have whipped them to much, I just got to excited by the speeds the whipper could go.

Uncle John comes for a visit

My Uncle John came into town to see how my old pappy was doing (my dad got to go home today by the way). On John's way home to Colorado, he wanted to stop by and see Esther and Ezra. This was the first time he's gotten to meet either of them. Esther is doing her nervous hand thing in this picture. She chews her fingers when she is being shy. She had fun visiting with him and his girlfriend though, she showed them her tinkerbell doll, her stuffed ferret, and her stuffed rat. She also brought out a few books to show them too. A positive side effect was that I cleaned the place up a bit. (That was so not happening otherwise, I was all settled in to wallow in my filth when my mom called to say he was coming.) All in all a good visit, I was glad he finally got to meet our little ones. Esther especially, since she was named after his mother.

Esther at Lizards

Esther always finds interesting ways to entertain herself at Aunt Lizards house. I am sure she had help with this one. This was taken last Friday, we went to SLC with Brock who was going for a meeting. It was also the day that my dad got admitted to the U of U hospital to treat his sepsis. I wanted to go and visit him but I guess the ICU is different than a normal hospital room, only two people can enter at one time and it's definitely not a place you want to take little ones. So we ended up just hanging out at lizzies place.

It's oh so quiet, shhhh, shhhh

Well it's another quiet Sunday here in Provo, and this one is especially quiet because Esther bug spent last night at Grandma Louies (My mom and dad's house, we nicknamed her after the family pet Lucy, don't ask me it was Abby's idea.) I guess now that Lucy is gone we will honor her by keeping the nickname. But that's not what I was going to write about. (Although I haven't written about it and I should, I am such a bad pet owner!)
SO this has been the first time since we moved here that she has spent the night away from us. I stayed up late last night working on this little dress that I am croshetting for Esther's 3rd birthday in April. It's funny how you miss everything that comes along with a child, good and bad, when they are not there. But an occasional break is definitely nice and I hope she is doing ok. I tell you though, just having one baby to look after seems like a breeze in comparison to a baby and a toddler. Makes me wonder about how easy two will have felt when #3 comes along. Once again I am awe of my mother and how she managed to do it 6 freakin times!
We also visited my dad yesterday in the hospital. He is doing better in the sense that his white blood cell count is down, so I guess that means the antibiotics are doing there job and killing the infection. They will also move him out of the ICU as soon as they have room. So that's good. He looked pretty worn down and tired, but when we stopped in to say hello he was telling the nurse all about his fathers problems and hospital adventures and my mom thought it was a good sign that he was talking. Hopefully he won't have to stay much longer, and we will put all this hospital nonsense behind us.

Out of the woods? Never!

So my dad is back in the hospital. Anyone who follows his blog probably already knows this. He was doing fine, seemed to be getting better, and then boom, just like that he's back again. He got his catheter removed on Thursday which may have triggered some kind of infection. At any rate, I just really want him to get better. Brock likes to tell me that there is no reason to focus on the negative thoughts, and I know that makes sense. It just feels impossible not to. The worst thing about it all is this has brought me closer to the realization that someday my father will be gone. I know I've led a very blessed life, filled with love and happy memories. I just can't imagine a life without my father, not yet. A big part of me tells myself that everything will be fine. But I keep hearing the littler part of my asking, "What if it's not?" Then what will I do? Like I said I am blessed. I believe that God does what he does for a reason. But right now I just feel scared and hopeless.

Bug see bug do....and then bug 1 shares with bug 2

When we were walking home from the earth science museum, Esther was feeding Ezra fish crackers. She was being very careful to wait until he wanted another fish to put in his mouth so he wouldn't get to many in there. She even started to bite them in half so he wouldn't choke. It is so very rare that she is doing something nice for Ezra that I felt i should try and catch this little moment on camera. And they also were playing some kind of copycat game. So the view you see is about what I was seeing walking home.

Esther and Ezra go to the Dino Bone Museum

Today we walked to the Earth Science Museum just down the hill a ways. I have to say I am quite proud of myself this week, I am actually doing what I always say I will do. That is to say going on walks and partaking in activities with my children. It's just like everything else in my life, most things I just daydream about doing and never actually do them. But while I was visiting family last weekend my sister Abby showed a book to me that's full of games to play with your children ages 0-3. While I was reading it I realized that I don't play with my kids much. I'm always to busy cleaning. Now the truly ironic thing about that is my apt is never clean. Or almost never. So this week when I woke up on Monday, I said to myself, "Self, you need to start playing and enjoying your chillies more! Now get out of bed and go to the art museum!" So that day we went to the art museum where we saw a great exhibit by some german fellow featuring trash like items (it was actually really cool) and then stopped on the way home at the BYU Creamery that has a grill inside, with excellent inexpensive burgers and fries. On Tuesday Brock was home so we went to the store. Yesterday we walked to the library for toddler time, and today we went to the Dino Museum! And to top it all off my apt is clean, because we made Esther go to bed last night at a semi decent hour, so I picked up the place once she fell asleep. (Have I discovered the secrets to the Universe or what?) Now my little angels are both sleeping and I thought I better post this now while I gots the chance!

Ezra walks, for the third time!

So I didn't intend to catch Ezra walking on tape, which is probably why I did. I was originally just filming Esther and her friend Katie watching Happy Feet and dancing. But little brother stole the show by sidling across the way. I was so excited because he had taken his first steps earlier this day and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get him to do it when the camera was rolling. We then see him get manhandled by Esther, I think this comes as easily to her as breathing. I'm sure she doesn't mean him any real harm though.

My Friend

Since we've lived here in Provo I have had an addiction. A mint brownie addiction. We live right next to a BYU creamery mini store. It's actually quite lovely, having a tiny grocery store with all your basic needs within a minutes walk. The down side is the only way I can leave the place without buying a brownie is if they don't have anymore. I bought this one on Monday and when I bit into it, I could hear Johnny Depp's voice when he sings to his knives in Sweeney Todd, "My friend(s).." That's what this brownie is to me. My sweet and lethal friend. Please, I don't need your sympathy, I only need a good psychiatrist.

Duckles Duckles everywhere...

Today we walked to the Provo city library to partake in their toddler story time. It's a longer venture than we are used to going on, and this duck pond meets us at the halfway point. I told Esther we could stop and say hello to the ducks on the way back home. I was actually kind of surprised to see them, I would have thought that they had all gone south for the winter. But what do I know about bird migration. Anyway now we still have a place to go to when the weather is sunny. When we were getting ready to go Esther said, "Goodbye ducks, we going to go home now, I am cold."

Christmas at the Hardings

Here we see a dainty little Christmas bug in front of the fireplace. The Harding's (our cousins) have a very beautiful and welcoming home. My aunt is an artist, who in my opinion could be an interior designer if she ever so desired. At any rate we love it when they let the family gather there!

Guess who's back...back again.....Ann is back

I guess first I should acknowledge that the Holidays are over, and just like every year before I have vowed to make next years Holidays more filled with presents that my own hands have created. I have been vowing that every January for at least the last three years and it still has yet to happen, but I am nothing if not optimistic and fantasy-filled so maybe the Christmas of 2009 has a shot to be tear jerkingly hand made. I was just reading my father's blog about his recovery and admiring what a good writer he is (while he was admiring what a good writer my sister Lizzi is but can she type one hanbded while breastfeediong and smellibng toxic baby fumesd isd wghat iwanrt to know. Because I obviously can.) Then I went to the Lizards blog which I have to say, out of all the blogs I have read I find Lizzi's to be quite entertaining and out of the norm. Anyway, they have both inspired me to, if possible, write a little bit more about our daily happenings than just the basics. The kids are both in their restraints (Esther in the highchair and Ezra in the excersaucer) and Brock is dutifully sleeping on the couch, trying his hardest to ignore the sounds around him I'm sure. I imagine if I'm serious about this thing I will either have to do it late at night or early in the morning. But for now I have a moment. Or moments I should say. Interrupted by little bugs screaming, "Mom I have to go potty!" and then, "Mom I'm done!" followed by, "I have the toots and the cough-es". Now then where were we.....well I guess I will start with how my Holidays went. Everyone close to us (and perhaps a few who aren't) know that our beloved pappy has spent close to a month in the Huntsman Cancer Institute due to complications from his prostate removal. So that was different. Spending Christmas and New Years in a Hospital I mean. But praise the Lord he is free at last (last Monday) and so now he is home and you can read all about his trials on his blog. Being in the hospital was hard, but also gave this Christmas much more obvious meaning I am sure you can imagine. (It also gave me a good excuse to not have any Christmas presents for anyone ready.) Life is about nothing if not love and relationships. This I am sure of more than anything else. And seeing someone you love so much sick in a hospital bed makes you appreciate what really matters in life. I have to agree with Lizzi, I think that we will look back on that time in the hospital as something very painful, but in it's pain very special.
Now some other highlights of the Holidays, let's shee here...... Brock got me my first ipod, goes by the name of ichapod crane. He had it inscribed on the back along with something loving in french (which always scores high points with me). This year was the first that I had to stop myself from buying Esther everything because I know how much she would love to play with them. In fact I ended up giving her only two presents that we bought and saving the rest for her birthday in April. She got a dressy Daisy dolly (which is naked most of the time) and one of those mini stroller sets that comes with a car seat and swing and all of that stuff. She of course loved both of them, she named her doll Etsy (actually my mom named her Betsy and Esther in her toddler-ness shortened it to Etsy.) Little brother got a walker, one of two (the other given by papa and grandma Jeri). By the second day he was walking with both, and today he is walking without either! He is getting better and better and we were all pretty excited about it because Esther didn't walk until after she was one. I guess those second babies got to step it up a notch if they want to play the game.
Me and Brock saw Benjamin Button, which we both enjoyed thoroughly. Some say it was to long, but I felt that it had to be that long, to get a good feel of a man's whole life flashing before your eyes in what seemed almost three hours. Of course most things make me cry these days, so I don't know if you could measure it's greatness by that. I'll just say that it was made well in my opinion, and we will no doubt be adding it to our collection of movies.
We also went to Body World last Tuesday, and I have to say despite all my desires to be modern and educated.....it kind of creeped me out. By the end of it I was ready to go, if you've seen one plasticized organ, tissue, bone skeleton art exhibit you've seen them all. But on the other hand I would have regretted not seeing it, as I most likely would not have had the opportunity again. I could write more on this but the bells of motherhood are dinging me in the head so I will have to end this entry. But please expect...nay demand that I continue on in this fashion. I thank you for your time and interest. Goodbye.

It's a New Year, huzzah!

Well another year has come and gone, I keep forgetting it's 2009. It's a good thing I don't go anywhere or have any cause to write down the date. Shew. 2008 was great! He he I couldn't help it. Seriously though, we got our little leapling last year, and he adds so much to our lives. Brock also got into BYU's clinical PHD program last February. I'll never forget how he tried to trick me by the kitchen sink into thinking they called and told him he didn't get in. I think it's safe to say that those two things alone have changed our lives dramatically. For the better of course. Esther is talking in full sentances now, and it is pretty humerous to hear what she has to say. Ezra just started walking in the last few days, it's fun to see his personality start to emerge. I guess the one thing I like about January is feeling like the next year is full of possibilities to change and do things you've never done before. I tend not to, but that is beside the point. It's nice to have a period of time, however short lived, to feel that way. Well one of my many short lived resolutions is to write more so we'll see how that goes. Until then.......