Dora the Angel Explorer!

I love Dora. Other than her incredibly annoying, almost unbearable voice, she's an angel. First of all, she's a great babysitter when I need to get something done and don't want Bella's little helping hands. Bella will sit on the couch with a pillow and a blanket and not move if Dora is on. She'd sit there all day if I let her (it's awfully tempting sometimes). But most importantly, she is the reason Bella wants to wear "Dola Panies." And, since we don't pee on Dora panties we are on day two of potty training with only one accident, which was my fault. Thank heaven for Dora!

Wouldn't it be nice if Bella was out of diapers before Malia comes?? Here's hoping!

Back to Normal

The end of December went by so fast! We had a great Christmas (for the most part). The best part was that Ben's Mom, Dad and Collin came to visit us! It was great to have them here. The kids loved playing with Collin and Bella didn't leave Grandpa alone for two seconds!
Ben and Trent went hunting and shot a deer, something they haven't done for a couple of years (shooting a deer that is). We went to see Princess and the Frog. Loved that movie...didn't love taking Bella to the theater. I also got to play Pinochle!! I love that game. It's one thing I miss quite a bit. Jeri Lynn helped me make another turkey dinner. We did it the same way I did for Thanksgiving. It turned out great! I'm definitely going to make my turkeys that way from now on. If you ask Collin our "Thanksgiving dinner" was his favorite part of the trip. I take that as quite the compliment, considering Collin is a bit of a picky eater. We went to Bass Pro Shops to see Santa, and we also spent a day at the Hall's farm.
One sad thing was that Collin was sick for the first part of his vacation. At one point he said
"Why do I have to be sick on the best day of my life?"
Trent also got sick. . .then I got sick. . .then Jeri Lynn got sick, then it was time to go home. :(
We were very sad when they had to leave. Bella woke up the next morning and wandered around the house calling for Grandpa. She started crying when I told her that Grandpa had to go home. She kept saying "No Grandpa go home, no plane, no airport" It was very cute, but also sad. Having them here was a great distraction from the sadness that I would have when I'd think about missing all of the holiday festivities in Utah. The other distraction was that on Christmas Eve Ben had to take me to the urgent care. That was fun. I was very sick, and not getting better. Come to find out I tested positive for strain A flu. They said it's likely I had the Swine flu, but they don't even test to see if it's Swine flu or not anymore. It's the same treatment either way. The reason it hit me so hard is because I'm pregnant. They told me a few different things I could take to help with the symptoms, but basically they said, suffer through it. That was fun too.
Ben got sick on Christmas so we sat around, like stumps, and let the kids play with their toys. They made an absolute mess of the house, but we didn't really care. We couldn't move. :)
It was actually pretty sad. I barely got any pictures of the kids on Christmas. We did let them open one gift on Christmas Eve. It was their new pajamas. I also made them take a picture in front of the tree. They are pretty cute kids!
Other than being sick, we really did have a great Christmas. We enjoyed getting Christmas cards from so many people, my mom sent me a care package a few weeks before with Cinnamon bears (I think it was a five or ten lb. bag from sam's club. . .and it's gone. . .I didn't really share either) and Arctic Circle's fry sauce (Yay!) among other things, and Ben also got me a Cricut!!

So, now that everything is calming down, everyone is feeling better (lucky for us none of the kids got the flu!), Simon is back in school, Ben is back to work, and the house is clean once again, everything is feeling a little less chaotic. Sigh. :) Only three more months until it all becomes chaos again and baby Malia comes! I can't wait!

Pop Goes the Birdie

Remember how Nolan's green bird died a little while ago? And we got him a new bird, which he has no clue was a different bird? I went to go change the birds water and food and it was dead. Yes, dead. I mean, really? What are the chances?

I decided that I needed to just tell Nolan that his bird died, and that we would go exchange it for a new one (Lucky for us it died before we had it for 14 days). I didn't really want to have that conversation with him. I was worried that he would be sad and crying and I'd have to explain death to a four year old. Here is our conversation. . .

Me: "Nolan, come here for a minute. I need to talk to you about something."
Nolan: "What do you need to talk to me about mom?"
Me: "Well, last night when I went to change your birdies food and water, I saw that Sprite had died."
Nolan: "Oh." (pause pause pause) "Well, why did he die?"
Me: "Well our pets and all of the animals are just like people. Everyone will die sometime, your birdie just died last night."
Nolan: "Oh." (pause pause pause) "Sooooo, how did he die?"

. . .At this point, I was suspicious of the other bird killing the last two birds. I didn't share this with him though. :) . . .

Me: "I don't know how it died Sweet Heart."
(pause pause pause)
Nolan: "I know how it died."
Me: "You do?"
Nolan: "Yeah, it sang too much."
Me: "It sang too much?"
Nolan: "Yeah, ya know? Like the bird on Shrek. It sang too much and it just popped. I think my birdie sang to much and popped.
Me: "You could be right." (What do you say to that?!?)

To me, that was hilarious. We went to get the replacement bird and when we came back home and started putting it in the cage. Nolan noticed some of the last birds feathers on the floor and on the cage by the table. He says "See mom, I think those are the birdies feathers from when he popped."

Who knew a conversation about your kids pet dying could go so well?

Come to find out, the blue bird, Nimbus, had been keeping Sprite II from getting any food. Now we have two food dishes and two water dishes in their cage so we don't have another bird die.

Turkeys, Birds, and Babies

I made my very first turkey this year! Aside from a minor (or maybe not so minor) break down, where I was sobbing to my mother. . .all went well!

We had quite a few people invite us over for Thanksgiving dinner, but Ben and I wanted to have our own dinner with just our little family. So, of course, I had to pick a somewhat complicated turkey recipe. I googled "the best turkey recipe" and Emeril's brined herb roasted recipe was at the top. I looked at the reviews and every single person who gave a review gave it five stars.

I had to put the turkey in the brine the day before Thanksgiving, to give it enough time to soak. Now, keep in mind that I haven't ever cooked a turkey. . .I haven't even watched anyone do it. It's always cooked when I get to the party! I opened the turkey to wash it off before putting it in the brine, and it didn't look right. There was a thing sticking out of it. A thing that I had never seen before, and that made the turkey look different from any cooked turkey I've ever seen. So, I called my mom to ask her about it, and during the conversation I had a little break down. I didn't really want to make the turkey at that moment, and I wanted to be in Utah for Thanksgiving. She calmed me down a little bit and told me to leave the turkey how it was and whatever it was that was sticking out of the turkey wouldn't hurt it. So I should just put it in my brine and let Ben help me with it when I got it ready to cook. And that's what I did (after calling Ben and crying to him and him calling his mom and telling her about it, and his mom calling me on skype to see the turkey. . .it was fun. . .). Anyway, this is my turkey in the brine.
The next day when I took it out, I showed Ben my deformed turkey and he told me it was the neck. They just hadn't cut it off like they usually do. Ben cut it off for me and it looked normal. :)

Here is my turkey all cooked. It turned out sooooo yummy! I would definitely recommend this recipe. Also a picture of our yummy dinner.


I never realized how much work it is to cook everything, and then clean it all up. There has always been multiple people sharing the work. It was still kind of fun to have our own dinner and start some new family traditions! I'm going to make this turkey again when Ben's mom and dad and Collin come (in 11 days)!
I also made the yummiest banana cream pie from scratch! My first pie ever! That was super yummy too!
In other news, one of Nolan's birds died. We have no clue how. Nolan hasn't even had them for three weeks! I told Ben he has to go buy him another one. Nolan would be so sad if he knew his birdie died. He just loves them. . .I'm going to have to think up a reason why the bird isn't in it's cage. . .hmm? I'm hoping it's okay to lie to your kids in this type of situation. . .because that's what I'm going to do. :)

And last but not least, and certainly the most important news is that I had my ultrasound and we found out that we are having a girl! Her name is going to Malia. . .I just can't think of a middle name that goes well with it. Any ideas? This is a picture of a picture. . .sorry it's not that great.

Nolan is Four!

Our sweet Nolan turned four on Tuesday! We love our little Nolan so much. He is tons of fun to be around and makes Ben and I laugh and smile every day. He's also so very cute!
I kind of felt bad this year. Nolan thought that we were going to have a party where everyone he knows would come over and we would all sing happy birthday and he would get to open presents, "Like Simon and Bella got to do." Unfortunately that wasn't really possible. So, I tried to make his birthday a very very fun day for him.
First, Ben was helping clean the Columbia, SC temple, so Nolan, Bella and I tagged along. It takes about an hour and a half to get there. . .which is kind of a long trip, but while we were there, we walked around the temple (which is an incredibly small temple), visited Nephi's books across the street, and we went on a search for a McDonald's. We had to drive two and a half miles to get to one, but that's what Nolan wanted to do, so we did it! We spent a good amount of time playing on the play place and eating smoothies. They even gave Nolan a little book and pencil because it was his birthday.When we got home from the temple, Nolan and I baked his cake, he opened his presents that everyone sent to him, and then we went to dinner at Showmars. Nolan informed the waitress that it was his birthday, and she brought him a milkshake. He was thrilled!
Most of the presents were cards with money in them. Nolan has been wanting fish for a long time. . ."the kind that come to our house and that you don't eat." So, Ben and I thought it would be a fun birthday present if his family sent Nolan money instead of toys. Then he could use all the money to buy some fish. When we told Nolan our idea he was stoked! He could hardly wait until after dinner. My mom also got him some bakugan ball thingies that he loves. He wouldn't leave me alone until I opened them, and then was mad when I told him he couldn't take them to dinner. . .We went to the pet store and Nolan started picking out the fish that he wanted. Then Ben said "Nolan would you rather have a snake?" Um...no. No snakes. Mom nixed that idea. However, it did get the idea in Nolan's head that he could have a pet other than fish. He looked at dwarf hamsters and lizards but ended up with two birds. Lucky for us, birds are a lot less work than fish, so it worked out.
He got one green and yellow bird which he named Sprite, and one blue bird that he named Nimbus (Ben's mom thought of that one). He loves his little birds. He even helps change the water and give them their food. He watches them and talks to them, and they even talk back!I always thought birds were a mess, but they really aren't. They are actually pretty fun to have. They have to stay in the cage for the first week, to get used to their new home. We are also supposed to talk to them as much as possible so that they can get used to our voices. Next week, we will be able to let them out and hop around. Ben and I both learned how to clip their wings so they can't fly away. Nolan is excited to let them out. I'm kind of excited too. They really are cute little birds.
When we got home, we talked to Ben's parents and my mom on Skype, then had cake and superhero popsicles.
Aside from not having everyone over to celebrate with him, I think Nolan had a fun day. Happy Birthday sweet boy! We sure do love you. :)

My Buddy And Me

We have always called Simon "Buddy." I'm not sure where it started, but he's always been Buddy. Not anymore. Today I called him Buddy (like always) and he told me "The name's Simon."
I'm sad that he grew out of that. . .he's not my Buddy anymore. :(

Our Happy Halloween

We have always had family Halloween parties, dinners, and decorations to go to, until this year. So, I decided that I wanted to make it a fun Halloween for the kids. I must say, I was successful! On Thursday and Friday night and Saturday afternoon we had Halloween meals. My sister-in-law asked me if I had any good ideas for a Halloween dinner, so I went online and found some way cute ideas. . .

I called these sea monsters:

This one was my idea. We had "boo" sandwiches, mummy Cheetos and pumpkin shaped cheese
Then we had a pizza snake and eyeballs! Yummy!

On Friday night our neighborhood had a Halloween party. We went down to the clubhouse and the kids walked in a parade and got candy at the end, then we watched Monsters vs. Aliens outside. Yes, we watched it outside! It wasn't even cold! I don't remember ever having a Halloween that wasn't really cold. Such a nice change. We just sat on our blanket and had popcorn and drinks. The kids loved it.
As you can probably see, Bella dressed up as Tinker Bell. She loves anything Tinker Bell. She also gets mad at me when I take her costume off. Lucky for Ben (who hates spending money) Simon and Nolan decided (with no persuasion from parents I might add) that they wanted to be the same things they have been for three years now! Simon was Darth Vader and Nolan was Spiderman. Too bad next year the costumes won't fit them. . .and they will be so worn out that they probably won't work anyway! Poor Ben.

On Saturday, we had a block party for our little cul-de-sac. They had music and dinner and games for the kids. They also had a pinata, which was Simon's favorite part. My favorite part was that everyone brought their bowl of candy with them and when it was time to go trick-or-treating, we put them on a big table for the kids to walk around and grab from each bowl instead of going to each house. A few of the adults, that don't have little kids, stayed and monitored the amount of candy being picked up. That means I got to go trick-or-treating with the kids!

Bella had to be the cutest thing. She would walk up to the door with her pumpkin bucket and say "tick-teat". Everyone thought she was adorable so they would load her up with candy. Then Ben and I would say "What do you say Bella?" and she would say "Mo" (more). Then the people would give her more candy because they thought it was so cute. We would ask her again what she should say, and then she would say "tayou" (thank you) . She got way more candy than the boys. Simon and Nolan did even it out a little with the pinata. It rained quite a bit which didn't bother the kids at all and we all had a good time, even with the rain!

Simon wanted me to put a picture of their goodies:

. . .We only went down one street.

Curly-Q. . .Or Not.

I decided that since Princess Bella has such long hair, I would try putting curlers in. Worst case scenario, her head would be a poof ball and we would just wash out the curls. Best case, she would look super cute with all of her curls.

It's funny, because I remember, quite well, when my mom would put curlers in my hair. I loved that my hair was so curly when I woke up and took them all out, but I hated everything else about it. I hated sitting there while she put them in, and I definitely hated sleeping in them. They aren't comfortable at all, no matter what the package might say. I say it's funny because here I am, subjecting my daughter to the same torture that I had to go through! Ha!

She was so good while I put them in. She just sat there looking in the mirror smiling at herself. Here she is with her curlers in. Don't you think she looks so sweet and angelic in this picture?

Well, you are wrong.

When Ben and I were on our way to bed, I thought I'd go in Bella's room and see if the curlers were staying in while she slept. This is what I found. . .the little stinker.Three curlers made it through the night. Three. I'm pretty sure the only reason they made it was because she couldn't reach the top of her head to take them out.

The plan was to post a cute before and after picture. However, since none of my plans typically work out (especially when Bella is involved) I guess I'll settle with a cute before picture and a not-so-cute after. . .Dang Kid.

And this picture just because I think it's so funny. . .

So Cute

How could you not love these kids?!?

Our Little Chicken Nugget

Apparantly we haven't had enough changes in our life lately. . .because we are going to have another. I'm pregnant! I'm due April 3.
Because of the last miscarriage, I really wanted to wait until I was past the 12 week milestone to tell everyone. We didn't even tell Simon or Nolan. We knew they would spill the beans! So, when we finally did tell Simon he immediately wanted to know if he's going to have a new brother or sister. I told him that we won't find out for a few weeks and we'll just have to wait.
Then he wanted to know what the baby's name would be. I told him that if it's a girl she will be named Malia, and we don't really have a name picked out for a boy. He proceeded to tell me that if it's a boy he will be called Chicken Nugget.
We find out what the gender is next month. If it is a boy, Simon will be so sad that we aren't naming him Chicken Nugget. . .but it sure is a good nickname. :)

. . .and yes, this time I am excited!