Sesame Seeds Anyone?

I was in the kitchen this afternoon trying to get stuff prepared to fix dinner when my lovely monster toddler got a hold of the sesame seeds that I had used for dinner a couple of nights ago. He started off slow and just emptied a few onto the floor BUT when I went to reach to get them away from him he used his speed against me and dumped them all on the floor. Yes that's right like a million sesame seeds everywhere including my tennis shoe. At least he was polite and offered to help clean them up. During this process he decided to lick them up off the floor like a dog(GROSS!) and track them all over the house! I can only imagine how many sesame seeds are hanging out under my fridge and oven. So if anyone needs any sesame seeds, come on over. I'm sure we'll be finding plenty of them for weeks! My holy TERROR-IFIC 2 year old has also managed to unravel 3/4 of the toilet paper, stick his head in the toilet(he laughs, apparently it's cool to get your hair wet in the toilet), and climb into the dryer all in a span of 10 minutes...AND I'm still listening to him play in his room after being put to bed at 8. Does he ever get tired? I can't keep up with him and I'm really not ready to sacrifice his afternoon nap in exchange for an earlier sleep time!

Girl vs. Boy

I took the kids outside to play for a little while today because the weather is SO nice!! I cannot believe all the beautiful weather. I'm loving it! We were playing around with a ball and the kids were running around when Blaine came across a whole bunch of ants. He immediately started stomping on them and screamed, "Ah...step on 'em"! I started laughing. Well Shelby being the girly girl she is came over and said, "OH..MY..GOSH"! She was cracking me up in her princess dress, with her football, and freaking out at the ants. But in the end of course she had to stomp on them too! It's so funny to watch the different personalities of the "girl vs. boy" at such a young age. I also took her shopping with me tonight and she kept saying in a high pitched, squealy voice,"Oh, look at these, they are so, so CUTE"! Sometimes I forget this girl is only 3 with some of her adolescent behaviors!

What I would give....

This is how I found him in Shelby's black

dress shoes!

He crawled in her bed one night and fell asleep...so sweet!

Kind of creepy--they opened their eyes just

for the flash!

...to sleep like a baby again! Oh, the joys! I love sleeping babies. I love to watch them sleep too. They can sleep anywhere and in anything. It's too cute! I also think it's funny how kids have different ways of soothing themselves to calm them down. For example, when Shelby is really tired she always says, "I want your cold arm." She is obsessed with my arm! Then Blaine ALWAYS has to play with his hair(sometimes mine if I'm around). This soothes him to sleep so often times I find him looking like a monkey scratching his head. It's hilarious. I also know when I was young I always had to have my mom's neck. Does anyone else notice these strange things?...or is my family just plain weird?

Our Little Sunbeam

Yesterday was Shelby's first day in primary! I will admit I was completely nervous because she is either really shy or super talkative. I thought she would be shy and clingy but she surprised me and did great! Though I really wish I could've have been a fly on the wall yesterday to see how she reacted in her class of all boys! When I left her she turned and waved and said, "Bye Mom!" I'm not going to lie I choked up a bit listening to her sound all grown up(I'm going to be a wreck when she goes to school)!

Holiday Recap 2008

Christmas Eve

-cookies and letter for Santa

-party tray from Manuel's for dinner at Grandma Kenna and Grandpa Mike's

-temple lights

-nativity

-visit with Uncle Bub for his birthday

Christmas

-cinnamon rolls for breakfast

-video call with Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Blaine

-presents and lunch at Grandma Kenna and Grandpa Mike's

-movie Despereaux with cousins

-dinner at Aunt Liz and Uncle Val's

-light Christmas snow (I don't know if anyone saw this but it snowed for a couple minutes in the early afternoon on Christmas day...I went out and felt it myself! It practically melted in the air but still cool for an Arizona Christmas!)

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful holiday...Happy New Year!!

The Graduate

Yesterday the kids and I went with my mom and dad to my little brother Jared's graduation. He graduated with a business management degree from the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU. We're really proud of him! I'll be honest...I choked up a bit. It's funny because movies and other fictional things do not mess with my emotions at all but give me a real life event/accomplishment and I am a ball baby! Sometimes I feel silly because I really do get emotional over silly things but they are always 100% REAL!! Anyway, the kids were so excited to look for their uncle and Shelby was having a blast clapping for everyone. There was a blind guy in their graduating class and it was so neat to hear all the cheers for him as he got his diploma. Now Blaine graduates in May(YAY!) and then I get to go back for my last two years! Something tells me the words school and homework are still going to be in our vocabulary for a LONG time!

Me and my brother...the glare is REALLY bad in this picture!

Our First Pet

I've been meaning to introduce Crush into the blogging world for awhile now but he's been neglected lately. Crush is some sort of African tortoise and will one day grow to be absolutely HUGE! My sister-in-law has one that just hangs out in her backyard. Her in laws have two that get together and have babies every now and then and this time we were able to snag one. They have to be concealed for a couple of years until they grow big enough to survive kicks and torture from toddlers though so he just hangs out in a box on top of our entertainment center and eats a leaf of lettuce a day. Unfortunately when we've taken him out he's been kicked a couple of times. Maybe that's why we named him Crush? Actually I stole it from "Finding Nemo" but it's still cute and very fitting none the less! Hopefully we'll have a yard to put him in when he gets really big. If not....any takers?

O' Christmas Tree

After 2 years of a mini tree we finally put up a real tree this year. I will admit it is a bit cramped in our tiny place but everyone needs a tree in their kitchen, right? I'm having a harder time getting my eyes adjusted to the flicker, shimmer, sparkle, do all sorts of tricks lights that the kids keep finding the button for. So far the broken ornament count is ZERO...let's hope it stays this way. I think Shelby's My Little Pony ornaments are saving the other ones though. Instead of playing with the glass ornaments they seem to be more attracted to the ponies that are unbreakable.

**Update: Total broken ornament count-2
Shelby-1
Blaine-1

Mommy...

...your belly is SO fat and squishy!

Thanks sis...you and your brother can take most of the credit for that one!

Crib Recall

We started taking the baby's crib down a couple of days ago and realized we could take just the front part off and make it into a day bed. Well Blaine got on the computer to see what other ways we could manipulate the crib and he found a recall on it and several other cribs. The manufacturer is Jardine Enterprises and they sell cribs out of Toys "R" Us, Babies "R" Us, and a few other stores. We got this crib nearly 3 years ago for Shelby and it has been selling in stores for 4 years now. Well the recall didn't come until this past June. Long story short they are sending us a box to send the old crib back in and then they will send us a voucher for a brand new crib. Sweet deal. Honestly how would we have ever known though? Here's the link to the official page with all the crib model numbers and other information. Everyone check your cribs!

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08312.html