01-25-2011

Well, the waiting period is up and we can finally announce that we are expecting another baby in January (our blog title is my due date). Nicholas wants a baby brother (which means we'll probably have a girl : ) We'll find out the sex in early September and then we can work on finding a name. Mike has already gotten the baby room ready, although I will have to decorate once I find out what we're having. As you can imagine, we're thrilled, excited, terrified, and everything in between. Here we go again with the sleepless nights, crying, and diapers, but we can't believe how fast time flies and how those moments go by quickly. Of course we get the sweet smiles and "first" moments along with everything else. It's a cliche, but they do grow up so fast. We just feel blessed that Heavenly Father is sending us another one of His children to raise...what a responsibility. We'll keep you posted!!

Farewell Grams!

My sweet grandma passed away July 3rd, and we are so happy she is reunited with my grandpa (they were married 66 years and he passed away on Jan 1 of this year so at least they weren't separated for long). My Grams taught me lots of things as she helped raise me and my brother. Here's just a few things.
1) Love of reading...my grandma read to us every night for years and always took us to the library every week. When I was in elementary school she would write down every book I read, sometimes the list was hundreds of books long. I still love to read, and I thank her for teaching me the power of good books.
2) Being grateful...there was never a birthday or Christmas that went by that my grandma did not sit me down afterwards and have me write thank you cards for each of my gifts. She always reminded us of the importance of being thankful and grateful for what you receive.
3) Being frugal...when I was still young my grandma took me to the bank and opened an account for me. She and I would go to the bank every month and put my allowance in and I saw my account get bigger and bigger. I always say she was the biggest penny pincher there was, but I believe it was because of her that she and my grandpa lived debt free and could always pay cash for everything, even their homes and cars.
4) Loving your husband...my grandma was always talking about my grandpa or doing things for him. I remember when I was five and I said "I hate grandpa when he comes home" (I think I was jealous because my grandma always wanted to spend time with him when he got home from work). Well, she marched me inside and washed out my mouth with soap and taught me how important it was to respect my grandpa. She made my grandpa's lunch for him every day for the 50+ years he worked and never ever complained about his jobs. In old age, they never left each others' side, and even when she was in her late Alzheimer's stage, she recognized my grandpa. It's no surprise that she passed away so soon after he died...they were best friends and soulmates.
5) Hard work...my grandma taught us at a young age to appreciate work. I still remember the stars she gave us on our chore charts.
6) Being smart...my grandma strongly emphasized good grades at school. Every report card was scrutinized and if we made less than an A she wanted to know why and how come we hadn't done better. I know it was her insistence on the best that I went through high school, college, and graduate school never making anything but As.
7) Love of music, theater, and art... My grandma always took my brother and I to the theater to see plays, ballets, and musicals. She took us to art museums and she and I took oil painting classes together. I'll always love those paintings that we painted together. She played gospel music for us every night before we went to bed, and I still remember falling asleep to "Amazing Grace"
8) Being honest...when I was 4 I took a piece of bubble gum from the local grocery store. As we were driving home, my grandma noticed me chewing it. She turned right back around, made me go in the store, apologize to the store owner, and pay for it. Well, I never stole anything ever again.
9) Good treats...my grandma made the best pies, lemon bars, and Reese's peanut butter cup cookies. She always gave me a tin of cookies every time I came home from college. She didn't cook much when she got older, and I never felt Christmas was the same without her sugared pecans, orange balls, or fruit cake bites. I'm glad I learned how to make a pie crust from her.
10) Loving the Lord...my grandma took us to church every Sunday, bought us own Bibles, and could be found every morning in her room reading her Bible. I knew she loved the Savior, and I'm glad she's with Him now.

I'll always remember going to the duck pond to feed the ducks and taste the honeysuckle, picking peaches every summer in the Oklahoma heat, playing hide and seek (she'd hide a plastic strawberry container somewhere in the house and my brother and I would just love trying to find it), having her roll my hair in curlers every week, and making the best roast beef gravy every Sunday (I told her I wanted a swimming pool full of her gravy so I could put my rice in it and eat all day).

My grandma was a special lady, and most of who I am is due to her influence in my life. She sacrificed a lot to help raise my brother and I, and I consider myself so blessed to have had such a great example. I'll miss her and will always thank her for all the many wonderful things she taught me and the memories we made. I love you Grams!!

Whose Bed?

 

When I was at Costco today, I decided to get Cheerio a new bed.  Nicholas claimed it as his and wanted to take it into his room for nap time.  Looks like it did the trick, he was passed out when I went in to check on him.  I hope Cheerio likes the bed as much as Nicholas does (if Cheerio can ever get it away from him : )

Got him!

 

Carrie didn’t want me to post this, but I couldn’t resist.  I was just too proud of myself. A little over a week ago a little varmint moved in and started tearing up our back lawn by leaving little mounds.  I started researching it and decided we had a mole, so I ordered a pair of traps that many people seemed to like.  After a few days of observing the activity and patterns to identify where the tunnels were, I made the little excavation shown. At the bottom of either end of the hole are entrances to a main tunnel. I put the traps there and plugged it back up with the piece I carved out.  Two days later I had my mole…well it turned out to be a pocket gopher instead but the trap worked brilliantly.  It’s fairly simple…just two prongs that snap closed if the plate is knocked forward.  No bait. It works because the animal has an insatiable desire to keep his tunnels clear, but he knocks forward the release instead and gets caught.  The poor dude was about 6 inches long. Don’t feel bad for him, either.  He caused a lot of damage during his middle-of-the- night digging escapades.  Carrie thought this post would make this sound like the backwoods, especially after my raccoon trapping adventures.  She says I’m getting pretty good at trapping varmints. I think I must have a little something in my genes. Of our forebears, the Thompson’s, Slaughter’s, and McCoun’s were likely some of the earliest settlers in Kentucky (think Daniel Boone), so I’m sure they were good trappers.  Ha ha!

Reflections on being Mr. Mom

I'm just entering day 2 of my 3 days as Mr. Mom. I'm surviving, but have definitely had to scale back my aspirations for these 3 days. We were going to go here and there and do all these fun things, but honestly, by the time I take care of the basics: meals, dishes, laundry, walking Cheerio, and trying to keep things picked up, I'm pooped. I don't think I fully appreciated how much energy it takes to do those things - I certainly appreciate Carrie a lot more now and will be much more empathetic and appreciative when she's tired after a long day. I hardly believe how well she keeps the house picked up and usually has dinner ready when I get home from work. While I think I'm doing okay, she would probably walk in and classify this place as a pit. There have been small victories. I took Nicholas to his 2nd swim class. He basically cried through his entire 1st class, and I was wondering whether things were going to work out. He did really well yesterday - of course, I did bribe him with going out to ice cream afterwards if he was good during his class. Then we managed to take our old camera in, that was still under a warranty plan, and see if they could fix a problem with the battery compartment. Turns out they couldn't and gave me a new camera instead. We had 6 days left on the 2 year warranty. That was a stroke of luck. I just happened to come across the warranty yesterday while sorting through a pile of papers. Well the boys are about to drive me crazy. Cheerio needs a walk and Nicholas really can't leave me alone for 10 min unless he's watching a show. He just destroyed the pile of laundry I just folded up. Now, I also understand why Carrie just wants to have a little peace and quiet sometimes without Cheerio staring at her and Nicholas climbing on her. I'm off to try and walk off a little of their pent-up energy.

Happy Father’s Day!!

Nicholas wanted to wish Dad a Happy Father’s Day!! He says thanks for all the giggles, wrestling, baths, books, and more. Thanks Dad for loving, teaching, and taking care of me. You’re the best example to me of a wonderful husband, a patient father, and an obedient servant of the Lord. I couldn’t ask for a better Dad. I love you!!!

Thanks sweetheart for all that you do! Nicholas is the luckiest boy to have such an awesome Dad!

Vacation!!!

The next three posts are from our vacation this past week.  We started it out by staying in LA, where Mike and I ran a half marathon on Memorial Day.  We went to Disneyland the next day and then drove down to San Diego for a week.  We hit all the great spots like SeaWorld, Wild Animal Park, the San Diego zoo, the beach, and historic sites. 

 

Checking out the map at SeaWorld.  Notice the hat…Nicholas spent every day in it (and everyone we met thought it was so cute).  It must’ve done it’s job because while Mike and I got burned a few times, NIcholas never did.

 

Mike and Nicholas riding Oscar’s Rockin’ Eel at SeaWorld.  I was worried that it would be too scary for him, but he held on and had a great time!

 

Nicholas loved the Elmo’s Flyin’ Fish ride and piloted his fish up and down the whole time.

 

Ever since Nicholas learned to jump, he’s been thrilled to be in bouncy houses like this one. 

 

These turtles were actually very fast, and Nicholas kept putting his arm up to the glass because he thought they were going to climb on him : )

Eating dessert at an authentic Mexican restaurant in Old Town, San Diego.  The food was delicious and we even got serenaded by some mariachis.  Mmm, the tortillas were to die for.

 

Thanks for a fun time…I love my family and the memories we make together!!