Elliott Foundations

The Christmas Joker

2012-01-20T18:53:00.000-08:00

For Ace's 5th birthday party this last October we had a Batman party. I have to admit I kind of went overboard with the plans and at the end of the activities I convinced my mom to dress up like the Joker and come to trap the kids in the "bat cave." Lev, my little guy, was seriously scared of her, and he even knew who she was. He has talked frequently about "the green Joker" ever since. I think I seriously traumatized some kids - especially Lev. My mom is quite the actress.

In December, for the Branch Christmas party, my mom told the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas as part of the program. We had friends dress up and act out the story. Again, a green villain was made real for Lev. The association with Grandma was just too much for him and The Joker and The Grinch became one.

So one of my favorite Christmas memories from the last few months is Lev telling me how "The Joker" was going to come down our chimney and steal all our Christmas presents. He was pretty scared. I tried to suppress a giggle and sympathize.

Got Me

2012-01-18T21:23:00.000-08:00

Today I panicked. I had just finished buckling Lev in his car seat and slammed the door shut before getting ready to hop in the driver seat. Immediately I hear my just turned three year old start wailing in agony. I was sure I had crushed his fingers in the car door. I flew at the door trying to yank it open as quickly as possible to see what damage I had done to my poor baby. As soon as the door is open, the crying stops. I ask quickly, "Are you OK? Are you hurt?"

He looks at me and answers with a big grin on his face, "Just kidding!"

You got me good, kid.

Presidential

2012-01-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

At his school Ace has been learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in preparation for MLK day next week. He was telling me that Martin Luther King wanted freedom and how he was the President.

I corrected him, "No, he was an important leader, but he was never the President."

Ace, with a puzzled look on his face, answered, "Oh... well he looks like a President."

And I realized, that, although I may not agree with everything Barak Obama did or does, he is changing forever what a president looks like to a new generation of kids, and that is pretty great.

Growing Up Too Fast

2011-08-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

When Ace, my four year old, woke me up this morning (and I thought, once again, how nice it would be if I actually got out of bed before my kids) I asked him for a hug. Usually he is happy to respond, but today he let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Mom, you always want a hug."

I responded, "Of course, I do!"

He sighed again, "I'm not going to keep doing this EVERY time."

I said, "Why not? I always like to give you a hug."

Ace answered, "It's so embarrassing!" as he reluctantly gave me a hug.

Merry Christmas - Meringue Mischief

2010-12-24T12:17:00.000-08:00

Here's our beautiful lemon meringue pie... all ready for Christmas Eve dinner... out of range of little hands
But, not out of range of those little hands... and a spatula!

Oh, well, we just won't show anyone this side... except all of you!

Merry Christmas

Feeling Vulnerable

2010-12-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

OK, it's the middle of the night, and I am feeling philosophical. Everyone is asleep, so I am talking to you. Is it a little weird to have an intimate talk with the Internet - or just part of modern life?

Warning – if you are looking for a cheerful post, stop reading now. This is not it.

So, I wrote a poem. That hardly ever happens - in fact, I think this might be a first. I am more of a prose person, in general. I wrote the poem in July of 2009 when Lev was just a little baby. The tomatoes in the poem are supposed to be a metaphor for the vulnerabilities of being a parent. But, if I have to explain that, I guess it's not a very good poem...

The Deer Hour

In July I stand under the trees on the deck

Singing wordless lullabies to my baby’s ear –

So round and warm and almost past wiggling.

The car is in the garage and the dinner dishes drying.

The delicate air whispers of coming fog.

The deer slide by; then serenely stop and stare.

Their soft eyes beg to be invited in.

They munch the last green in the summer dry.

The redwoods darken from olive to charcoal.

Only a few early crickets interrupt my hum.

My baby feels safe and pink on my shoulder;

But, it is the deer hour.

They nuzzle the fence -

Hunting for weaknesses.

For our slowly blushing tomato

It is the hour most

Dangerous.

I love being a parent, but it is scary stuff. It’s like tearing off a piece of yourself and letting it walk independently around this world – and you have no control over it. It makes its own crazy decisions and you don’t get to decide anything, but you feel all the pains times ten. Actually, it’s scarier than that – because it would be easier if it was a piece of yourself – if it was just you getting hurt, it would not be so bad. But, it’s this person you care more about than yourself – who is going to make bad decisions (and good), possibly be hurt by other people, or find out how cruel life can be. How are you supposed to let them do that?

One of my very favorite passages in all of literature (at least that I have read) is in Anna Karenina when Levin becomes a parent. If I was more ambitious I would look it up and quote it here. It’s this incredibly joyful moment, and he loves his child so much. But there is also a new vulnerability in his life – his child’s defenselessness almost overwhelms him.

Nothing horrible has happened to my boys, but the other day I was in the store with ACE when this elderly lady shunned him. She was in a walker and browsing the same aisle on the opposite side. ACE was determined to say “hi” to her and tried for at least 3 minutes to do so. She was equally determined to ignore him. ACE has been lucky enough to be surrounded by loving people, but this woman would not look at him no matter how much he waived at her and repeated “hi” in his most polite voice. Maybe she couldn’t hear him, but I think she was just uncomfortable with him and didn’t want to interact. That is reasonable on the one hand, but ACE just could not understand it. I had a hard time explaining to him why this woman would not acknowledge his friendliness. ACE was a little upset in the moment but quickly moved past this minor incident. But it really got under my skin – not so much because of this single moment, but, it represents all these kinds of incidents, where my sweet little boy is going to have to learn that people are not always nice and that some people are going to be downright mean to him.

All of you with older kids who have already experienced the “joys” of junior high cliques, etc… how do you do it?

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-16T14:20:00.001-08:00

Photos of the Boys

2010-12-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

I know I never post, but I finally found a friend here in California who does photography. My friend Richel took a million pictures of the boys a couple of weeks ago, and I had to share. Her web site is lavettestudios.com. She did a great job and now I have so many pictures of them, I don't know which ones I like best. But here is a smattering. Aren't they the cutest?

In other news, I am busy starting my own small tutoring business. I tutor English and writing for mostly high school students and also do some SAT verbal preparation. It's amazing how much high school has changed since those (I wish I could say "few") years since I was there. I am loving working with the kids one on one. Hope you are all getting ready for a fantastic holiday.

Hats and Tiaras

2010-04-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's been my mom's goal to get Lev to walk around in this sombrero. She often wears it around the house and does little dances in it for him to show him how cool it is. We have gotten him to wear the hat a few times, but never long enough for me to locate the camera in time.ACE even helps to encourage him by wearing the hat. I think we are fighting an uphill battle, though. The hat is bigger than he is, so it is a little overwhelming, but I guess that is the charm.Lev discovered this ornament on his own. It's an old sequins tiara from one of my old ballet costumes. Lev took a liking to it - he's very secure in his manhood.
He loved wearing it so much, that he exerted some of his own peer pressure on his brother.
Ace would not be left behind. But we are still not done with our obsession with headgear. At Easter my sister succeeded in convincing Lev that his Easter basket was a hat. Yes, we are all a little strange, but we are having a good time.

The New Laundry Basket

2010-03-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

I am not enjoying potty training. I waited a long time for signs that ACE was ready. None ever appeared. I was hoping because we waited so long, it would not take as long. So far we are two months or more in - no end in sight.

One strategy we have been trying: when ACE poops in his pants he has to wash out his own underwear. The idea is that he will figure out that it is more of a pain to do it in his pants. This involves an initial rinse in the toilet.

We have discovered some very surprising unintended consequences. Lev sees us put clothes in the toilet. Now, every time ACE gets off the toilet, Lev sprints to put any clothes lying around into the toilet bowl. He's such a helpful guy and very conscientiously does his "duty" as quickly as possible. So far nothing has been flushed, but it's only a matter of time.

The Wrecking Ball

2010-03-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

The other day Lev was up to his usual dinner antics. He refused to stay in his high chair for very long. Then walked around the outskirts of the table begging food from Grandpa and Grandma. Then when people started to leave the table, he would climb up on their pulled out chairs and begin throwing their food/dishes around. My mom sighed and said with a certain amount of tenderness, "He's like a little wrecking ball." Too true.

We love this kid, but he's at the very messy stage. Nothing can stay in the cupboards. Nothing can stay on the table. Nothing can stay in the drawers. And I now have two spots where I bit my tongue and one sore nose from him throwing around his big old "wrecking ball" head.Good thing he is so cute.

Super Boys

2010-03-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from Christmas time, but it's still a common sight around here:My mother-in-law sent us these fantastic Superman pajamas a while back. It is scary how much it pleases me to see my little guys in matching outfits. They love it too, so until they grow out of that phase, I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible. ACE is positively obsessed with his cape on this outfit. Aren't they cute?

And This Is Not One of Those Times

2010-03-18T23:15:00.000-07:00

I seem to be at my most unpopular when we are leaving the park. The other day ACE resorted to one of his favorite whines when he told me he wanted his dad. Clearly, his mom, who was insistently buckling him into immobility in his car seat, was not wanted. He followed this up with, "I still like HIM!"

Because I can read between the lines, I said, "Oh, so you don't like me, now?"

ACE, who is still sharpening his skills in diplomacy, answered, "I like you MOST times."

Little Best Friend

2010-02-26T18:23:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago when we were arriving at our friend's house for one of ACE's play dates he suddenly realized Lev wasn't in the car with us. We had left him home with Mike. ACE complained that we had not brought Lev and said, "He's my best friend. I want him to come too. " Then he paused and said, "He's little. He's my little best friend." Sometimes the two of them can be so cute together.

I try to remember this when ACE is trying to rip any toy Lev has out of his hands.

Dad's Gardening

2010-02-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

I am still trying to catch up on stuff from last summer. One of the best parts about living here is I get to enjoy the fruits of my Dad's labors in the yard. We are not serious gardeners around here, but Dad does grow tomatoes.Here are his little tomatoes and bell peppers starting early in the summer. And here is the jungle they became. We canned quite a bit of tomatoes and tomato sauce.I've never really done much canning before the last couple of years. My parents had not canned much in years, but together we really got into it the last two summers. It's really not very hard. My dad bought a propane stove that we set up on the back patio, so we keep the mess and the heat outside the house. We can just hose down everything after. I have especially loved going through my grandmother's old recipe book and trying out her pickle or relish recipes. Although, it has lead to some confusion when they include lines like "2 milk pans of cukes" - I mean, how much is a milk pan?! These are my favorite thing we canned this summer - my Grandma Johnson's recipe for mustard pickles.
We also canned dill pickles and bread and butter pickles. Can you tell we were drowning in cucumbers last summer? We made marmalade with the oranges and lemons my dad grows in the yard. Due to generous friends and neighbors who shared their harvest with us, we also made blackberry, stawberry and plum jam, as well as canned some beautiful pears. I never thought I would be into this sort of thing, but it is fun to still be pulling off our shelves now what we grew last summer. Dad also grows some great flowers. Including a lot of calla lillies (my favorite flower) they planted for my wedding. Despite all the planting, I think there was only 1 calla blooming at the time of my wedding. Little did I know I would be enjoying them for years to come.This is an amaryllis that a friend of my parent's planted when she was staying here. We get to think of her every years when it blossoms.I am no great flower arranger, but this is an arrangement of roses and callas we made for a Relief Society activity. It's great to be able to cut this stuff right from the front yard! Thanks, Dad!

Selfish, but Cute

2010-02-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

This morning while eating breakfast ACE asked for some more milk. I didn't want to go to the fridge to get it as I was in the middle of feeding Lev, so I just poured him half of my glass into his cup. A few seconds later he decided he needed more milk. He picked up my glass and poured all of it into his. I told him it's not very nice to take all of someone's milk.

ACE's response (with a shrug of the shoulders): "That's the way it has to be."

Nice.

Hymns

2010-02-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

ACE has had a fun time singing along at church the last few months. Last summer he learned the Queen song "We will rock you" from his cousins. For quite a while he would sing those lyrics to all the hymns at church. We would be singing something like "I know that my Redeemer lives" and ACE would be singing along "We will rock you" - usually quite loudly.

Lately he has taken a different tack. I guess he is starting to figure out who we are singing about, because now he sings the words, "JESUS CHRIST" loudly and off tune. He tends to hold the vowels out with long and random notes. It's quite the crowd pleaser. It almost gets the organist laughing as hard as when he brings his favorite binoculars to church and stares at her through them (usually looking through them backwards).

Back in CA

2010-02-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

After we came home from UT, my sister-in-law Katherine and kids came and stayed with us for a bit at the end of July. ACE and Abby were again best buddies - particularly because they were afraid of the big swimming pool. They hung out a lot in this baby pool Kat brought with her.
Mitch and Heidi also brought their kids up to swim and hang out. I believe we celebrated my nephew Ben's 12th birthday. It was a rare moment when my mom and dad had all of their grandkids together.

My mom made scones, which were a big hit with the grandkids. There's a recipe I need to put in the family cook book! Here are my nieces Madeline and Beth digging in.

This is my nephew Zach being his silly self - isn't he cute?!

More Random Highlights from UT

2010-02-12T12:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry the posts are so stream of consciousness, but I want to get a few memories down. On our trip to Utah last summer, Lev got to meet his great grandmother Ila Nelson for the first time.We also got to attend the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House, which was beautiful of course. The kids were super excited about the cookies they handed out at the end. Yummy. I think this is only the second open house I have attended for a temple. I was a little afraid of taking such a cart load of kids with us, but they did really well. My sister-in-law Katherine (mother of 5) is a pro with this sort of thing.

Summer - Yes, Summer, That's How Behind I Am

2009-08-15T00:28:00.000-07:00

I'm posting photos from our summer vacation last July. We went to a family reunion in Utah and had so much fun that I seem to be unable to complete a post about it. I give up. I am not longer seeking to record everything that happened. It's time to just get a post of some kind up here!
This is my Aunt Karen singing to her granddaughter Abigail on her brother's ukelele. My grandma taught both she and her brother Blaine to play the ukelele. She sang, "Has Anybody Seen My Kitty?". We had a great camp fire up Logan Canyon with many great family memories shared.

My little nephew Nicholas had tons of fun not being the little baby. Here he is feeding Lev.ACE and his cousin Abby sacked out in their high chairs. My brother Stu and his wife Kat put us up and shuttled us around in their big passenger van. It was so nice - and we all got to be together.

I loved this picture of Lev with my cousin Jana. This is at the Johnson family reunion at my cousin Mike's house.Here's my niece Abby, my nephew Nicholas, ACE, and my brother Stu in my cousin Mike's back yard. It was crazy HOT! But very fun to see so much family.

My cousins rented out the community pool in Brigham City, UT for the reunion. It was an amazing pool. Here are a bunch of my cousins, my aunt Karen and my parents (Dad holding Lev after he got out of the pool).

Here is Mike heading down the waterslide with ACE. I couldn't believe ACE wanted to do it - pretty daring. He seemed to like it.

Here is my Aunt Karen, my cousin Cindy, and my Mom. Don't she and her sister look exactly alike.

Lev and his cousin Ben.
We had a fun, but quick visit to Texas Pride -a restaurant started by a good friend's husband. It was a blast to see Corrine and her family. And they had great food! They also had beautiful grounds around the restaurant. Where we took this picture of ACE and his cousin Abby. ACE LOVES his cousin Abby.

This is Corrine and I inside Texas Pride. Corrine and I have been friends since 6th grade. It was so fun to see her!

OK, so sorry I have been such a blogging slacker. I will try to do better. I just couldn't seem to get past this post. More to follow... really!

Alma Reunion

2009-08-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

We hosted the quarterly Alma Branch Reunion at my parents' house in June. We had a pool party and BBQ. Attendees included: Stacy Hart, Jon and Marianne Day and their two boys, Alyson Day, Alicia Beihl and her daughter, Mary Lynn Day, Shannon and Lisa Kay Dugan and their two children, Justin and Hilary Reimers and their son, Delight Reimers, Charles Reimers and two of his children, and of course my family and my parents. Here is Shannon Dugan and Jon Day. You can also see Alyson Day and Stacy Hart in the background. Technically, Shannon was never a member of Alma Branch, but he went to seminary with us - it was very fun to have him there and meet his great family! Here is Shannon in the pool with his kiddoes.

Lev spent a lot of the party in his exersaucer poolside. The other kids kept him well entertained.We celebrated birthdays for Justin Reimers and Alyson Day - we had cake and a little video clip of each of them from high school days. In the photo below: Mary Lynn Day holding her grandson Luke, Justin Reimers and his wife Hillary and their son.
I loved this shot of Mary Lynn and Luke. Aren't they cute? Alicia Biehl and her daughter just flew into town from Saint Louis the day of the party, so it was especially nice to be able to see them. Alicia just moved with her family to Tucson, AZ. Good luck Alicia and Ken in your new town! In the picture below: Marianne Day, Alicia Biehl, Lisa Kay Dugan and Alicia's little daughter Bryonney.Here is Delight being a great Aunt with her nephew Adam and niece Amy.Here at two Reimers brothers: Justin and Charles.

Ace had a grand time hanging out with all the kids. Here he is with Jackson and Luke Day. It is always so great to see old friends, and it is one of my favorite things about moving back to California!

Ace Update

2009-08-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

Ace is my busy two and a half year old. He loves trains, cars, and movies. Lately he has fallen in love with the movie Space Buddies, which I could only tolerate for a few minutes - I guess I have something against talking animal movies. Here he is playing with a favorite new toy at the park. Ace has inherited my talkativeness, and has become very social. Lately I have seen him engage in a lot more interactive play - spurred on by time spent with his older cousins this summer. Here he is with his favorite play date buddies - twins his age who live nearby. They are rolling down the ramp in my parent's hallway - every kid I know is drawn to this ramp. Ace loves to explore the outdoors of my parents yard. My dad takes him outside with him doimg yardwork, etc. He is fascinated by all of grandpa's tools. Ace tells me he is "working" as he moves dirt around with his toy shovel - often onto the patio where it is not wanted.

I recently discovered that Ace has learned to climb over the planter walls to escape the gated front step. Here he is in his favorite Superman PJs (thanks Grandma Elliott) making his big jail break.We, of course, love having this guy around. He is always surprising us with opinions and ideas of his own. I often try to get him to "hop like a bunny" or "drive like a race car" to the bathroom at night in order to make the dreaded trek to brush his teeth more fun. One night when I was listing silly alternatives he said, "We could just walk, Mom."

Some fun "Aceisms":

"Tri-tops" = Triceratops

"We well, We well, ROCK YOU!" = He's almost got the Queen song down thanks to his cousins Abby and Nick

Ace continues to be his daddy's boy, and is always asking me if his dad is here or when he will be home from work. As soon as Mike is home, Ace rarely leaves his side.

Mother's Day

2009-08-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to catch up, finally! We had a great trip up to my sister Stacy's house for Mother's Day. Here I am with Mom and Stacy.Here is the whole family ready for church. Little did we know that the church air conditioner would be broken... not a good thing in the Sacramento area. It was actually cooler outside the building.Stacy cooked liked crazy - she was helping to host a huge Relief Society luncheon in her ward on Sunday. It was great that we got to attend. Here is Lev crawling around on the table in front of his grandparents after yet another big meal. We also celebrated my mom's birthday.

This was the first time I think I saw Stacy in maternity clothes. She is so pleased to be expecting, and we are so excited for her!

Mommy Payback

2009-07-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends. I am still alive. I have just recently been sucked into the abyss known as Facebook. So all my computer time these days is taken up by looking at photos of people's kids - people I haven't seen since they themselves were kids. It's so addicting.

But tonight, before I forgot it, I had to record what happened today putting Ace to bed. I was getting ready for the grueling battle we call bed time - where I have to stay at a post near Ace's bed in order to make sure he doesn't get up and wander around the house. This is my least favorite part of the day and usually tears are inevitably involved. But tonight - it was all peace and happiness. In the dark I kneeled down by Ace's bed to tell him his favorite story about Thomas the Train (one I made up myself in an evening of desperation when one Thomas story just would not do). As I started telling it, it was clear that Ace was not really paying attention - he wanted to play peekaboo with his blanket. I just laid my head down in defeat on top of the blanket on his tummy. I said, "Mommy is really tired."

To my surprise Ace reached his little hand over and patted my cheek softly and brushed back my hair. He said in his sweetest most soothing little whisper, "It's OK, Mommy. Sleep on me." He was taking care of me, the way we take care of him. After some "I love yous" he drifted off to sleep without further incident. Thank goodness for small miracles. And maybe when I am old, and can't remember what my name is, Ace will be a good caregiver.

I Shouldn't Be Posting

2009-05-24T00:32:00.000-07:00

But here I go... I should be working on my Relief Society lesson, I should be sleeping, I should be straightening up the house for tomorrow... anything but posting on the internet, but, oh well, avoidance seems to be working for me. It's 12:30 AM, I have a lesson to teach tomorrow (make that today), I just got the baby back to bed, and we are having a lot of family over for dinner tomorrow for my dad's birthday.

I should also post all the cute pictures of the kids I took from mother's day weekend. I haven't posted any photos for weeks. But I am not going to do that either.

Instead I am going to reflect on meeting up with old friends. Tonight I had dinner with a friend of mine from junior high. I haven't seen her for a very long time (my fault), but I have had a rash of reconnections lately. Another old friend from junior high came to visit me briefly a few weeks ago. And through her I ended up meeting up with a couple of other old friends from high school for lunch. All of these meetings were so much fun, and it amazed me how grown up and accomplished my old friends are. It's amazing what ten years will do! (That's the last time I saw some of these people.)

These ocassions also made me realize that I have no real response when someone asks me the inevitable, "What have you been up to lately?" I pretty much say, "Taking care of two boys." But it doesn't seem to be a satisfactory explanation for what I have been doing with entire years of my life. It got me looking at my life and thinking, "What am I doing with my time?" Of course the answer is things like, diapers, nose wiping, laundry, and more laundry, doctor's appointments, reading Clifford the Big Red Dog repeatedly until its characters begin to seep into my unconscious dreaming, pretending like I am a galloping horse, and a million other nonsensical activities that somehow constitute parenthood. I love my life, but most of these nonsensical activities make for very poor dinner conversation.

Luckily my friends are kind, good conversationalists, and some of them even have kids, too.

Not So Guilty Pleasures

2009-05-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, in another life - when I was in school - I studied literature. Sometimes I miss it. I still love to read, but with the boys I usually get a chance to read in approximately 2 minute intervals - then I hear a scream or smell a diaper... So the other day when I was looking for a book to purchase my nephew for his birthday I was overcome by the desire to buy a poetry book. I just couldn't resist - the last thing I probably need is another book, but I LOVE IT. The book is Good Poems for Hard Times and collected by Garrison Keillor. A one page poem is my little literature fix. My poor family is subjected to my reading a few to them now and again when I find one I really love... and now I am going to inflict one on you. I thought this one is great for any of us that might be feeling down - here is how they handle such feelings on Catfish Lane:

The Cure
by Ginger Andrews

Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.

This poem made me smile, so I hope you enjoyed it; and I hope you have a red dress handy!

Love Triangle

2009-05-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

The other day I was sitting with Lev in my arms singing to him how much I love him, when I realized he was not even noticing the attentions I was paying him. Instead his eyes, full of adoration, were set resolutely on his older brother. He was longingly watching Ace jump up and down on the bed as if he were the most beautiful thing on the planet. However, Ace was not returning Lev's look. Instead Ace was trying his best to get my attention, saying, "Watch this, Mommy, look what I can do, Mommy!" And I had not even noticed because I was concentrating on Lev. What a love triangle!

Rough Weekend

2009-05-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a good weekend. We had a rare baptism in the Alma Branch, which was lovely. We celebrated my nephew Andrew's 13th birthday.

On the down side... Mike had to work Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is the most difficult part of my week by far (which, I suppose, I should be grateful for). But rangling a toddler and a baby through 3+ hours of church by myself is no fun - especially since there really is no nursery in our branch. Iknow it is the right thing to do, and I get a lot out of it, but it does pose a challenge. The bad part about this weekend is that Ace decided to have multiple sreaming-at-the-top-of-his-lungs melt downs -all in public. This is not standard Ace behaviour, but this weekend he was in rare form. He had 4 tantrums during Relief Society alone, which prompted my Branch President (a very busy guy, who is usually concerning himself with things like people who can't feed their families due to unemployment, or members having actual crises of faith, etc.) actually stopped me in the foyer and asked if he could take my 2 year old for a walk around the church with him. I contemplated accepting the offer, but at this point Ace didn't have any shoes on.

Today, Monday, Ace seems as angelic as ever - we hope our weekend Ace is gone for good.

Mommy Friend

2009-04-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ace has been learning about friends lately. We are planning play dates with some twin friends of his, so we have been using that word a lot. Also two new kids somewhat close to his age moved into our Branch this last week. He met them at a party on Friday night, and has been talking about them ever since. He was so excited to go to church today and see his friends.

We had some adult friends over today for a dinner party after a long day at church (we had extra meetings before and after this week). The dinner party was really fun and we played games, but because of that Ace went to bed even later than usual.

We were both pretty tired, but I tried to stay with him extra long to calm him down, so that he would actually stay in bed. He said he wanted me to stay (we are trying to quit getting into bed with him). And I talked to him about the fears he has and how Mommy and Daddy would come to the rescue if he called. He put his arm around my neck and said in the most sincere and sweet voice, "Mommy, you're my mommy friend." It was the cutest thing ever, and melted this Mommy's heart. Is it possible that this sweet little guy will one day be a big kid and no longer want anything to do with his "Mommy friend?"

Babycakes

2009-04-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

Today at church a friend was visiting who hadn't seen Lev before. She came up to us and said to Lev, "So this is your babycakes!"
Ace immediately scowled and said very emphatically, "He's not cake!"
He was not pleased with any of us when we burst into laughter.

Simon's Birthday

2009-04-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated my nephew Simon's 14th birthday. I think my family is still in shock that my parents' oldest grandchild is well into his teenage years. My mom said that, in her head, he should be about 5 years old. I guess we will have to get used to it - they're not getting any younger.

Dinner was followed by the usual tickling and wrestling. Ace was loving playing with his cousins. I'm so glad we live closer to them.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-23T17:13:00.000-07:00

We started off the weekend on Friday with the obligatory egg dying. It was very fun, and almost manageable with my 3 adults to one toddler supervision ratio. Earlier that week my friend and her twin two-year-olds had invited us over and we all dyed Easter eggs. Three toddlers was a little more exciting, but it all went well!

Lev was a little less thrilled with the Easter eggs - he slept through the whole thing. Ace really got into it. Sometimes it's easier to use your hands than the spoon. Doesn't this photo just remind you of an old Palmolive commercial (Would anyone ever really soak their hands in dish soap?). His hands were a fun shade of lime green afterwards.

On Saturday morning Ace discovered the Easter Bunny had found him. He named the bunny in his basket "Thumper" (We recently watched Bambi for the first time).

Mike videotaped the egg hunt, but I will spare you that entry in this marathon -not because I am kind to you, but because I'm not really sure how to get any footage off our video camera.

Lev spent the egg hunt in Grandma Nelson's arms. I'm sure he is dreaming of how he will try to keep up with Ace next year.

After the egg hunt we went to make breakfast and somehow Ace got a hold of the camera. Here is one of his very first experiments with photography. Note the chocolate post Easter candy paste all over his face.

That morning I took Ace to the park to run off all that extra sugar energy. What could be better than some time on the swings!

Ace is particularly fond of the slide.

Especially when I try to tickle him at the top.

He also found a puddle and did lots of experimenting to see what happens when you bounce a ball into it. He was soaking wet by the time we left, but what is the fun of being a little boy if you can't get a little dirty?

Later in the day we got this shot of the boys and I.

On Sunday we had a lovely time at church. We only had Sacrament Meeting because there was a problem with the water in the building, so we could not hold the regular 3 hours of church. It was kind of a nice holiday though, and we stayed after and chatted with friends. We got this fun family picture. Our friend that took the photo worked hard to get Lev smiling and I just love it! After church we had a wonderful ham dinner with my parents. It was a great Easter day.

Dirty Laundry

2009-04-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

OK, so the title probably makes this post sound a lot more exciting than it is. I have not been posting much or reading blogs lately. So I have a bunch of posts to get caught up on. Get ready for the onslaught!

Here Ace discovered a new purpose for our dirty clothes hamper. He kept crawling all the way inside and waving at me through the grid of open holes on the side of the hamper. Lucky me - he had to throw all the dirty laundry out on the floor first. (Later, with the help of making it a basketball themed game, he did clean up the clothes.)
He loves to find strange things to crawl into. Yesterday, when he was supposed to be falling asleep for his nap, he crawled out of bed, into my parents room and crawled inside a laundry basket full of unmatched (clean) socks. For some reason that cramped space was more attractive to him than his big bed.

So Excited!

2009-04-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, my sister Stacy is pregnant for her first time. I am so excited for her! She just had her first ultrasound and the baby is healthy and due November 1st, so I just can't wait to be an Aunt again. I love that Lev will have a cousin born the same year as him (barely).

But I do worry, as Lev will be a little older and probably a lot bigger (if he continues his size trends). So this ultrasound photo is hopefully not the kid Lev will be beating up on at future family gatherings - they'll be friends, right?

Preschool?

2009-04-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today I visited a preschool with a friend. I am thinking about enrolling Ace this fall. I loved the preschool - they had so many fun activities for the kids. The best thing is that Ace would get some practice being around other kids - which is something he doesn't get right now. His brother is still just a babe and he is the only kid his age at church. I haven't done the best job of finding him play dates with my mountain isolation, either. So he has very few opportunities to play with other kids his age. I also like that he will be learning to deal with a more structured environment which will prepare him better for school; however, he's only 2 and a half, so I'm not too sure school preparation needs to start so soon.

The downside to preschool is first the cost - coming up with the money is never easy. The preschool I am looking at is a parent "Co-op" preschool, so the cost is pretty reasonable. But the tradeoff is the second draw back: time. I would have to go to the class with him a few times and attend a parenting class which is part of the program. I would need to help with fundraisers and a Saturday maintenance day. The main problem is it is time away from Lev, when I do have to go. So I have to find someone to watch him and be away from a very little guy. Overall though, I would probably gain some time because for two days a week for several hours at a time, Ace would be taken care of by someone else.

So all you parents out there... what do you think about preschool? Did your kids go? If so, do you think it was worth it? What were your concerns?

Obama's Castle

2009-04-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

This is a small model of the Kirtland, Ohio Temple that was a gift to my parents some years ago. It used to be kept on a low table in their living room until Ace got big enough to reach it. Now it has somehow found its way to high up on my parent's desk as you can see from the photo.

Yesterday, Ace started pointing at the model and babbling something we didn't quite understand. Finally we realized he was saying "Obama." Later he told Mike that this building was "Obama's Castle." I guess the Kirtland temple looks like the White House to him. The strange thing is I don't even know when he has seen the White House. He must be catching snippets of the news, but I still can't believe he picked this out. It's amazing what kids learn!

AMEN!

2009-03-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Ace said his first prayer, with Mom's help. It was adorable. I have been softly encouraging him to say a prayer for months, but the push over the edge was all about positive peer pressure. He met a little girl that is slightly older than him at church who was excited about saying the prayer in nursery. Every since then, he seems willing to make the effort to pray himself. It is so fun and rewarding to see our little guy learning this important milestone. His favorite part is definitely the "Amen" at the end. He yells it out like he was saying "Hip, hip, hooray!" - this is very entertaining to the rest of the people attending church with us, but if that were the only thing he was yelling out at church I would count myself lucky indeed.

Old Friends and New Adventures

2009-03-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

As I have blogged about before, we are trying to get together with old friends from the Alma Branch that I grew up with on a quarterly basis. This last weekend was our reunion dinner. My sister and her husband Wayne were kind enough to host at their house in the Sacramento area this time.

I had one small problem - Mike couldn't come because he had to work at this new DJ job (a new side job he is trying to start in addition to his hotel job), and he needed to take the car. We are a one car family, so I was out of luck. I did have a friend offer to drive me up, but Stacy came up with a great solution... take the train. I had never done it before, but it worked out beautifully. It was not crowded on the weekend and Ace loved it! It was about a 3 hour ride one way from San Jose to Sacramento, so we went up Saturday morning, spent the night at Stacy and Wayne's, and returned Sunday morning. Ace was asking me today if we could ride the train again. It was great because I could hold Lev instead of keep him strapped down in his car seat for the 3 hours, and Ace was pretty much entertained just watching out the big windows and knowing he was on a train. Although, we did bring out the little DVD player on the way home. It was also cheap since I found out at the station that they were running a promotion where the kids ride for free on the weekends - lovely timing for me.
The party at Stacy's was such a blast! I love seeing all these old friends. We took the kids to the park which is next door to her house. I seem to have taken a dozen pictures of my son Ace with Paul's daughter Kara and not much else. Sorry. I did capture Randy and Paul attempting to fly a kite - this didn't work out for them, but good effort, guys!
Attendees at the party included: Stacy and Wayne Hart, Paul Hedrick and his older two kids, Randy and Anne Nelson, Pete Hedrick and his three children, Jon and Marianne Day and their two boys, and of course me and my two little guys. I was especially impressed that Paul made it despite the fact that his wife gave birth to a new baby one week before- William (they plan to call him Will). Congratulations Hedricks! I hope Janel and baby are doing well. Stacy served a fantastic Italian meal with home-made meatballs and a wonderful fresh mozarella/tomato/basil salad among other things. Thanks to Marianne and Randy and Anne for helping with the food, too! I had such a good time. This is my favorite shot from the night:
It's Stacy, Lev, Paul, and Kara in front. Isn't she so cute? All I can say is, if you are going to be a Hedrick girl, you gotta' have some spunk!

We're hoping to do a pool party and BBQ at my parent's house in late June for our next reunion.

The Monster In My Closet

2009-03-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday my parents watched the boys for us and Mike and I were able to go to see my niece in her Elementary School play There is a Monster in My Closet. It was so cute. She played one of the main character's friends at her slumber party as they try to trap the monster that comes out of the closet at night. She did a fantastic job. The music was so cute. If you want to hear a sample of my favorite song click here and then select "Boys/Girls Are Such a Pain" from the song sample list on the right. As I live with a bunch of boys - this really spoke to me! And the boys and girls were so funny singing it on stage. The other highlight was the Elvis inspired "dream king" character. I can't imagine how those teachers get 60 or so kids to do theater, but it was an amazing program. We just can't possibly be paying these teachers enough!

We Captured the Smile - FINALLY!

2009-03-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

Not Really... Almost...
We Got It!

Don't you just love that dimple? He has two but one really shows up a lot more. We love our little Lev!

Just Kidding

2009-03-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

A conversation with Ace this morning:

Ace: "I want to bonk you."
Me: "I don't think that sounds like a good idea."
Ace: (with a giggle) "Just kidding!"

A few minutes later...
Ace: "Where is Daddy?"
Me: "He went to work."
Ace: "Is he coming home?" (with a smile)
Me: "Yes, Daddy is coming home tonight."
Ace: "No, Lev, is Lev coming home?" (with a laugh - Lev was laying right in front of both of us in my arms)
Ace: "Just kidding... That's funny!"

I think I am in for a lot more toddler humor...

Woman at the Well

2009-03-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

As some of you know, a few months ago I was released from my church calling working with the Young Women in my Branch. My new calling is Enrichment. We had our major event of the year this last week, so things have been pretty busy. The tradition in the Branch is to do a big dinner and program for the Relief Society Birthday Party in March. We had ours on the 17th. In most wards I have attended a nice dinner meant you might use fabric table cloths instead of plastic and have some centerpieces - but I have never once planned a dinner using anything but disposable plates. In Alma Branch, because it is so small they do a little more. All of the presidency hauled their China and silver to Lil's house for a very formal dinner with fabric napkins and the works. The Relief Society presidency made the food, but the men did all the serving and helped with the clean up, which was really nice. We had pork loin with gravy, green salad, roasted vegetables, rolls, and I made a lime cheesecake for dessert. The cheesecake was a big hit - so if you want the recipe, click here. When one of the on-line reviewers said she believes she was proposed to as a direct result of this cheesecake - I knew it was the one.

The theme for the evening was "The Woman at the Well." This is based on the scripture account in John Chapter 4. We had a short program with a beautiful arrangement of the song "Our Saviour's Love" performed by 3 talented ladies in the Branch. And Jenn did a dramatic reading of a fictionalized account of what the woman at the well might say about her experience. If your interested you can find the text of the program here. Everything went pretty smoothly, and I am so happy to have that event behind us!

Here is what Ace was up to while we were busy with the preparations: that would be PERMANENT red marker on the side of my parent's fridge. This photo was taken after I removed the blue pen which was washable. I am still working on getting this off.

Why We Moved #4

2009-03-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Being in California allows us to be here for so many more family occasions - and not just for my parents. A few weeks ago we got to celebrate my sister-in-law Heidi's birthday. It was such a privilege to be able to have dinner with all of my brother Mitch's family and see Ace play with his cousins. This is a pretty regular occurence these days. He would never have really gotten to know his cousins if we had stayed in Ohio. 4 out of my 5 siblings live within 3 hours of my parents, and I love that. I wish we were all even closer, but it is great to have so many of them within easy driving distance. Stu, when are you going to move out here?

Lev is 2 months

2009-03-20T12:29:00.001-07:00

So I see some of you clever moms post as your children reach milestones. I think this is a great idea, as this blog is primarily about family journaling for me. So Lev was two months a while ago, but I never got around to posting until now, sorry Lev.

I still have not managed to get a photo of Lev smiling, but I do love the strange expression on his face here:

Here are his stats from his two month check up:

Height: 24.5 inches, 95th percentile
Weight: 13 lbs. 13 oz., 95th percentile
Head Circumference: 17 inches, which is off the charts

So he is still a big kid! He is transitioning from 3 month to 6 month size clothes now. He still has his hugely fluffy cheeks, which we all love to kiss. His hair has thinned a little on top and grows longer in the back - yes he is sporting the full on baby mullet.

Things he has learned to do in his first two months:

Eat, a lot. He nurses and eats formula from a bottle
Enjoy his bath. He hated it the first few times, but now he loves it.
Smile. He just stares in your eyes and grins big when you talk to him. It's incredibly adorable. I wonder if he will be a people person, because he is always so happy when he is face to face with somebody.
Coo and laugh. It's the cutest ever - his grandpa is the best at making him laugh.
Manipulate Mom. He screams if set down, so he gets held a lot - I'm typing this one-handed.
Sleep at night. He doesn't sleep through the night, but usually sleeps from 8:30 PM until 3:00 AM - and will go back to sleep after eating at 3:00.

I am so glad we have Lev as part of our family. He and Ace seem to get a long well. Ace will talk to Lev when Lev is in the swing or on my lap, and Lev just loves it. We have been so lucky to have two very healthy and happy little boys.

What's In There?

2009-03-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

This evening as I got Ace ready for his bath we were quickly removing his clothes. We got down to the diaper and with his very happy and excited face he said, "What's in there?" indicating his diaper. I could tell from his tone of voice that this was a question he was planning on answering himself. I cringed and waited for all of his vocabulary about his body parts to come pouring out, but, instead, he yelled with a laugh, "A BUM!"

Yes, Ace, it's in there, and I am all too familiar with it. Advice on starting potty training, anyone?

Not a Car

2009-03-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

Today as Ace was running back and forth across the lawn, I thought I would try to teach him the basics of the game red light/green light. I explained to him that we would act like cars and stop at the red light. I got him to run with the green light command, but when I asked him to stop with "red light" he gave me a dirty look.

He said very seriously, "I NOT a car!... I Acer." I guess he knows who he is.

(I often call Ace "Acer" - one nickname was just not enough for me.)

Competition

2009-03-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

Today my dad took Ace outside to pick limes off their lime tree. They each had a bucket that they were filling with limes, and somehow Ace's happened to be more full than Dad's. He said to my dad, "Mine's more than yours, Grandpa."

Does competitiveness really start this young?

Why We Moved #3

2009-03-05T16:58:00.000-08:00

The View

I love the view from my parent's house. These are some of my favorite photos I've taken from their kitchen deck the past few months. The rosy ones are sunrise, courtesy of my boys getting me up too early - but, looking on the brightside, I do get to see some amazing views at that time of the morning. This mountain view really feeds the soul after years of life in the flatlands of Ohio.

Emotional Warfare

2009-02-24T08:46:00.000-08:00

This morning, as with most mornings, as soon as Mike and I lost sight of Ace for a moment in our groggy, early morning state, he ran into my parents room and started climbing all over them. I went in and tried to talk him out of there, since they were clearly not ready to be awake yet. I begged, pleaded, demanded - everything short of climbing on top of my parents and pulling him out of there. Sensing his advantage, Ace just curled up between them and said, "My Grandpa, he's loves me!" Behind his sleep apnea breathing mask I think grandpa even got a little teary with that one. There was NO WAY Ace was going to be kicked out of that bed after a comment like that.

He has us SO wrapped around his little fingers. I just gave up and turned on the cartoons for him.

Another Baby

2009-02-22T22:32:00.000-08:00

Ace is pretty serious about wanting another baby. He is always telling me how much he likes our baby Lev. The other day he told me to go to the hospital and get another one. He knows I was at the hospital when I got Lev, so in his head getting a baby from the hospital must be something like ordering a cheeseburger at McDonalds.

Since this tactic of his has yet to produce this other baby he is waiting for, he as moved on to a new phase of his plan. He becomes the "other baby" himself. Ace is recently obsessed with playing baby. Being "baby" for him most notably consists of being his usual self but speaking in a very high voice. I am not sure what this has to do with being a baby, but for Ace the two are clearly related. Playing baby also may include wanting his "blanky", pretend crying by saying "Waaah!" and trying to sit in mom's lap (especially when she is nursing baby Lev, isn't that handy?).

I realize these tactics are mostly just Ace feeling a little displaced and trying to get back some of my attention by acting like Lev, but it is fun to see how his new skills at imaginative play are developing. Another recent favorite: "Clifford" inspired by the PBS series about the "big, red dog." When we play Clifford Ace always assigns me the role of Clifford, and he plays the little dog T-bone. He seems to exaggerate the "big" part when he describes me as the "BIG, red dog." (I am definitely feeling the need to lose some baby weight!) Lev is assigned the role of "Cleo" one of the other dogs, but I think Ace is a little disappointed that he doesn't do much with the role.

Ace and I are also often horses that gallop around the house (at least as long as my out of shape lungs will hold out!). And recently we have been playing a lot of dinosaurs. Usually this begins with me being assigned the role of dinosaur and I chase Ace, playing himself, around the house. Then Ace will get a little scared of the roaring and running and will tell me he is now also a dinosaur and we are "friends." I find it interesting that friendly dinosaurs spend a lot of time roaring at each other - doesn't seem particularly friendly, but I guess that's how it is.

In Lieu of Swing

2009-02-19T16:58:00.001-08:00

My dad and Ace had tons of fun with a large, sturdy canvas bag. My camera, because of poor quality or user error, couldn't really capture the movement, but Ace was loving swinging in Grandpa's bag.

Sweet Freedom

2009-02-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

So, we see a lot of this face lately. The trouble with grandparents is that I have a lot of help with the boys, which is wonderful. But Lev has come to believe that if he is not in someone's arms, something is desperately wrong with the universe. That's right, he is spoiled rotten. I know that they say you can't spoil a newborn, but believe me - that is not true. I have evidence hourly to the contrary. Now the good news is he is generally easy to quiet down - just pick him up and he is happy as can be.

So I made Mike set up the swing. I was hoping the motion would lull him into a calm and I would have some free hands for a while. As you can see from the photo above, he has not really taken to the swing; although, we are still trying.

Today, we tried putting batteries in this fancy bouncer chair I was given before Ace was born. It vibrates, it plays music, it makes a heart beat sound, it has a mobile that turns. After a hiccup getting the batteries in (how was I to know it took 2 more batteries hidden in some hard to find back compartment - OK, it wasn't that hard to find, but that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!) We turned on the vibration and the heartbeat, and suddenly - quiet - at least for a while. I am so pleased with this chair right now.

And how do I feel about fooling my baby into cuddling up with a soulless electronic heartbeat machine rather than in my arms? I feel FREE! Yippee!

My Boys

2009-02-17T13:21:00.000-08:00

Here is Ace performing his new obsession: holding his baby brother. He only does it for a few seconds at a time - it quickly loses its charm for him. But he often comes to me and says, "I wanna' take the baby." Aren't they cute?

Baby Shower

2009-02-12T19:05:00.000-08:00

My good friend Vickie Purser was kind enough to throw Lev and I a baby shower this last weekend at her home. It was very fun and so well done - like everything Vickie does. This is Vickie and I (holding Lev, of course). It was especially thoughtful of her to schedule the shower on the weekend my mother-in-law was in town from Kansas. It was nice to have Carolyn there, and I owe all these pictures to her! So many friends from my branch came, my mom was sure to attend, and my sister Stacy, sister-in-law Heidi, and niece Beth also made the trip up to be there. Here is Renee Pond, Beth holding Lev, and I at the shower. The food was fantastic! Vickie did such a great job with some help from Rachelle Lopp and Suzy Hage. Suzy made an adorable cake with a Lion on it (Lev is Russian for Leo which means "lion").

Everyone was extremely generous with gifts. I have received several beautiful blankets and quilts for Lev, including this one hand-made by my mother-in-law. Also, many friends and family contributed to a truly amazing group gift that I am so excited about: an exer-saucer. I never had one with Ace - I just coveted the one my baby-sitter used. The one they got me is super spiffy with all sorts of extras. Thanks, everybody! It's amazing how generous all my family and friends are! I am feeling extra loved these days.

Lev's Blessing Day

2009-02-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, February 8th, was Lev's blessing day, where he received a name and a blessing in church. It was an especially great day because so many family members could come. This is the whole group. Mike's Mom flew out from Kansas for the occasion. All of my siblings and their families are there, except Stuart who lives in Utah. Also My cousin Jeff and his two boys came. It was great to spend the day with so much family. Lev's was blessed to be a peacemaker.

Mike and I also had to speak in church, so the family was forced to hear from us. We both gave talks on the Second Article of Faith: "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression." Poor Mike also taught the lesson for the men. In a small branch we all wear several hats. It was a very busy day!The picture below with Lev and all the men are all the priesthood holders who participated in Lev's blessing. We also had a dinner with all the family afterwards. The photo shows everyone at the table after dinner when we had already cleared the dishes. Our friend, Donovan Lindsey also joined us for dinner. He served a mission with my uncle Blaine and shared a few stories with us about that experience. Afterwards we all just hung out and talked for a while. I captured my sister-in-law Anne reading to my nephew Jonah and Ace. Also Wayne brought a fun board game up that the boys and Beth really enjoyed. You'll notice Carolyn in the background holding Lev - she held him all weekend, which was so nice! My brother-in-law Wayne wore his Obama shirt as a joke (this is in irony, as he is not an Obama fan - as a joke he calls him "dear leader" a reference to Kim Jong-Il). And I managed to capture a fun shot of my nephews Andrew and Simon as they were leaving in their casual clothes and dress shoes (guess they left their tennis shoes in the car and had to dress up for the trek out to the car).

Ready for More

2009-02-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Today Ace asked to hold little baby Lev. He has been asking to do that a lot lately. When he was sitting next to me with Lev in his arms he gently patted the baby's head and said with total sincerity, "I like a baby." It was very sweet, but he didn't stop there. Inspired by his weekend with 2 grandmas he said, "I like 'nother baby!" He pointed to two baby dolls he had left on the floor and said, "Two babies!" Then looked at me expectantly like I might pop out a new little baby on the spot. Ace is ready for another sibling already.

I'm thinking we need to get Ace potty trained before we even consider that...

Winchester Mystery House

2009-02-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

You probably can't tell by the photo but this is my mother-in-law and I inside the Winchester Mystery House. Despite the fact that I have lived for several decades of my life within 20 minutes of this Bay Area tourist attraction, I had never been there before. Carolyn, my mother-in-law visiting from Kansas, expressed an interest in touring the Winchester Mystery House, and I was happy to finally go. It was an interesting tour. On the Mansion tour we got to see 110 rooms of the 160 room mansion. I had a great time checking out this very odd mansion. It was designed by the owner, the eccentric, reclusive heiress - Sarah Winchester. She kept workmen busy building 24 hours a day 7 days a week for many years because she seemed to have believed it would keep her safe from spirits in the afterworld who were after her. The mansion has stairways and doorways that lead to walls and drop offs - the place is really weird and interesting. If you want to know more, check out http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/.

My parents and siblings had gone on the tour long ago - probably before I was old enough to join them - and vowed never to return for very different reasons. My mom thought it was overpriced and boring. My dad was interested, but extremely claustrophobic in the tiny stairwells of the mansion built before building codes and designed by a woman who was 4'10" tall. My sister said she was disappointed because she was expecting a haunted roller coaster (in her childhood mind). I, on the other hand, found it all very fascinating, and especially loved checking out all the Tiffany glass windows - beautiful stuff, but hard to photograph. I can't believe it took me 30+ years to finally make it to go on this tour! Thanks, Carolyn!

Grandma Elliott

2009-02-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

Mike's mom came to visit for a long weekend. It was very fun to have her with us. Ace was constantly excited about having "2 Grandmas" around. He kept pointing to one of his grandmas and saying "Grandma" then pointing to the other grandma saying excitedly, "AND 'nother Grandma!" It was very cute.
Grandma Elliott also got to meet her newest grandson Lev. I don't think she hardly put him down the whole weekend - which was a wonderful break for me. Lev has become severely spoiled, and will only sleep during the day time if he is being held constantly.
Grandma Elliott brought us a gigantic suitcase full of gifts and special surprises from her recent trip to Japan. She also couldn't resist purchasing a train track play mat for Ace, which is his new obsession night and day. He is a complete train lunatic, so Grandma Elliott really scored in a big way with this gift.
We had a very busy weekend with family events, but I will post more about all the happenings separately. Mostly we were so happy to have a visit from Grandma Elliott and hope she can come back to see us soon! We know Kansas is a long way from California, and it was great for us to be able to see her.

Nice Dinosaurs

2009-02-06T11:17:00.000-08:00

A Conversation with Ace last night after he was in bed:

Ace: Mommy, I'm scared.

Me: What are you scared of?

Long pause

Ace: It's dark, rain. (It happened to be a dark and rainy night.)

Me: Are you scared of the dark?

Ace: No.

Long pause

Ace: Dinosaurs.

Me: Are you scared of dinosaurs?

Ace: No! Dinosaurs is nice! (with a shocked tone of voice)

Joanne Johnson Rowse

2009-02-03T21:26:00.000-08:00

Last week I attended the funeral for my aunt Joanne Johnson Rowse. She has been very ill for some time and had a major stroke a few weeks ago. Although I didn't have the chance to see her often, she was a very loving person. At the funeral one of her children described her as a person "without guile" and I think that is very true. She had a real talent for making whoever she was talking to feel like they were the most important thing in the world to her at that moment. Even though it would be years between times when I would speak to her, she would always remember what I had been doing and ask for my lastest news.
It was nice to see so many of my cousins and their families at the funeral. I wish I knew them all better. Joanne was married to my mom's brother Blaine. He passed away in his early 40's before I was born. I always wished I had the chance to meet him because my mom has great stories about him, and his and Joanne's kids are all just fantastic. I'm sure he must have been a wonderful person. However, this family seems to have received more than their fair share of difficulties. Out of my six cousins from this family, two of them have had a spouse pass away, another had a young son drowned, and they have had to face other tragedies and difficulties. I am not sure why they have been so singled out for trouble, except that they must be very strong. Hopefully they are done with their share of these kinds of heartaches!
I took baby Lev to the funeral, but my sister-in-law Heidi was kind enough to watch Ace for me overnight. I guess he had fun with his cousins, and hopefully he wasn't too much of a headache. My brother Mitch, Lev, and I drove up to my sister's place in Rancho Cordova and then spent the night there. This helped break up the long drive to Paradise, CA, where the funeral was held. After the funeral we got to take my brother Randy and his wife out to dinner for his birthday. My little brother just turned 33! We are all getting older!

Ace Quotes

2009-01-27T17:27:00.001-08:00

Today I was explaining to Ace that his teddy bear had blue fur and Elmo had red fur. He was calling the fur "clothes." Then in order to make a distinction I said, "And you don't have fur. You have skin."
Ace immediately began pouting and said, "I don't want skin. I want fur." Then he pointed to his head and said, "My fur" to his hair and smiled. I guess he is wishing he was the missing link or at least fit in better with the Sesame Street monster crowd.

My parents and I often listen to a San Francisco based talk radio station in the car and at home. As it is centered in San Francisco it tends to have a liberal bias and has been pretty enraptured with our new president. A few days ago when I turned the radio off suddenly in the car Ace yelled out, "Obama, Obama, Obama!" I realized this yell was Ace requesting that I turn the radio back on - I believe he sees the radio as the Obama talking machine.

Just a few Ace-isms that I love:
"Banna" = Banana (this is the first request he makes most mornings)
"Beach" = Jeep
"Ogurt" = Yogurt

Birth Announcement

2009-01-24T12:18:00.001-08:00

Portraits

2009-01-24T08:28:00.000-08:00

We finally had portraits taken at Kiddie Kandids. It was quite an ordeal to get to the studio, change the boys clothes, pick the backgrounds, take the photos, pick out the prints to order, etc. We were there for 2 hours, and Ace was starting to climb the walls. I do like Lev's newborn pictures, but Ace's pictures didn't turn out so great. I am missing my good friend Summer who took Ace's amazing newborn shots. She did such a good job. And I am missing my friend Cheri who took beautiful shots of Ace this summer. How come none of my photographer friends live in the Bay Area?

Why We Moved #2

2009-01-22T07:49:00.000-08:00

So I promised a group of posts about why we moved, and then only did one. I'm going to try to make good on my promise, but there is always so much going on and so little time to get on-line. So the second biggest reason for the move was my parents. I love living with them. They are so good to us. When I moved, I thought I could help them out a little because of my mom's illness. However, as it has worked out they have helped us out so much more.

Besides giving us a great place to live, they help out with the kids, run errands, babysit, and just generally make my life easier. My dad makes sure Ace gets some outside play time every day and watches him whenever I have meetings or appointments. My mom reads to Ace and helps me calm Lev when he is fussy. They both smile and say it is OK when Ace gets up early and climbs into their bed with them and on them. They are heading out to Utah today for a week or so to take care of my brother's family while he and his wife go on a cruise. I will miss them!

NICU

2009-01-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Last week when we were still in the hospital the nurses in our mother/baby unit had Lev sent to the NICU on two different occassions because they were concerned about his breathing. He was "grunting" and "retracting" which are signs that he is working too hard to breath. He was doing it off and on, so when they sent him to NICU, those nurses and doctors did not see any problems. Our last night in the hospital Lev was in NICU for 12 hours for observation. After running a lot of tests and doing a lot of watching him breathe, everyone decided he was perfectly healthy, and we ended up taking him home on schedule.

Being in the NICU definitely put my little worries in perspective - there were some very sick kids in there. Also, nearly 12 lb. Lev looked like a giant among all the preemies. I do think that the NICU is not set up in a very family friendly way. It seems the priority, for obvious reasons, is the medical staff's convenience in caring for the babies. Most interesting was trying to continue nursing Lev while we were both admitted to different wings of the hospital. I was trying to sit by Lev's side, feed him every 2-3 hours, get some sleep, and maintain the right level of pain medication to keep me on my feet. Not to mention the post pregnancy hormone issues which meant that I was in tears most of the time. I was so happy that he was OK!

Brothers

2009-01-19T16:05:00.000-08:00

Ace was not too sure about Lev the first time they met. He suggested his dad put the baby back in his bassinette rather than hold him. But since that first day, things have gone much better than I expected. Ace is very concerned about his little brother - he even comes running when he hears him crying, or tells me I need to pick him up if Lev is upset. He tells everyone his brother is "cute." He tries to share his toys and food with Lev, but is not quite sure why Lev doesn't take things that are offered to him. Ace's favorite thing to do with Lev is tickle his toes and, of course, give him kisses.

On Names

2009-01-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

I thought I should give a little explanation on Lev's name. His first name Lev is the Russian version of Leo. We named him after Lev Tolstoy, my favorite author (The picture here is a portrait of Tolstoy). He wrote Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Lev's middle name is Nelson, which is my maiden name and also my current middle name.

For those of you who don't already know, Ace's name is actually Allan Chance Elliott. Ace is a nickname based on his initials. Ace is named after his grandfathers. They both are named Allan. We just liked the name Chance, and Mike said we had to choose a middle name with a "C" because he planned to call him Ace from the beginning.

Pregnancy Comparison

2009-01-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Here are some very unflattering pictures of me. The first one taken in 2006 the day Iwent into the hospital to have my little 8lb. 5oz. baby Ace. The second photo I had taken last week the morning we headed to the hospital to have 11lb. 14.8oz. Lev. I am wearing the same shirt in both photos, but as you can see it is strained to the limits of its abilities in photo 2. Can I just say how nice it is to have Lev on the outside now?

2009-01-08T14:53:00.000-08:00

More picutes of Lev

2009-01-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

Lev Nelson Elliott Arrives

2009-01-07T13:21:00.001-08:00

He's here and he's big, as predicted. Lev Nelson Elliott arrived at 8:09 AM this morning. He weighed 11 lbs 14.8 ounces (that's just short of 12 lbs!). He is 22 inches and very cute and pudgy with a full head of dark hair. All went smoothly with the C-section and he seems healthy as can be. I'm feeling pretty good and hoping to make a quick recovery.

Old Friends

2009-01-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

There is something absolutely wonderful about seeing old friends! The day after Christmas the Days hosted a fun party of old friends that I grew up with in Alma Branch. In the photo you can see Renee Pond, David Pond, Paul Hedrick with his daughter Kara, Jon Day with his son Luke, MaryLynn Day, Me, and Alyson Day. Alyson Day and I are attempting to make gang signs, which was a joke from that night that will surely make no sense to the rest of you.

We have been having these reunions quarterly, and it is one of my favorite things about being back in California. It's so fun to hang out and reminisce with people who knew you when you were just a kid. Plus, I just had the priviledge of knowing some really cool people when I was growing up.

A Christmas Beauty

2009-01-06T07:32:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas here! Ace's cousins came to visit on Christmas Eve when they opened up their Christmas pajamas from Grandpa and Grandma. Here is my mom with all of Mitch and Heidi's kids on Christmas Eve. It was fun to see them. We had our traditional Christmas Eve feast with the Swensons, which was great. We even exchanged gifts with them, which was fun. We read the Christmas story and had a lovely, quiet evening. Christmas morning turned out well. Ace was the center of attention as this is the "off" year for my family. My parents try to get the whole family together every third year which will be 2009, so my siblings were at home or with their in-laws this year. In the photo below Ace is sporting his new Christmas pajamas and riding his favorite present from Santa - his rocking horse which neighs and makes galloping noises and even wags his tail.

He was very excited about this horse, and immediately named him "My Beauty." He has been heavily influenced by a "Black Beauty" cartoon of my mom's that he watches.

Bigger All the Time

2009-01-02T20:06:00.000-08:00

So I need to post some Christmas photos etc. but I seem to have misplaced the little gadget that allows me to download the photos from the memory card in my camera. Did my two year old hide it somewhere? Who knows? Today I saw him drop some mysterious items into the laundry hamper. Maybe I should check there.

So instead of fun Christmas pictures, I will give you the pregnancy update. I had another ultrasound on 12/30 at my high risk obstetrician's office. It was a new doctor and a new look of shock. Baby Elliott they estimated was 11.5 to 12 lbs. So that was the clencher. No matter what happens I am headed for a C-section. As the tech finished up the ultrasound, I saw the numbers calculated on the screen, by the time the doctor reviewed the ultrasound images I was already basically over the shock. He, however, was not. He just kept saying how big this baby was.
I asked, "Yes, but is everything else all right?" because they took images of all his major organs etc.
He said, "You mean besides the fact that he's big?" like it was an amazing question to ask, or that considering any other issues for this baby was insane.

Today I met again with my regular obstetrician. We confirmed our plan to have the baby via C-section on Wednesday, January 7th. She said baby Elliott and I may set the record for the biggest baby she has ever delivered. Why am I not more excited about that? I must say, I am beginning to feel like I am carrying the biggest baby ever!

In the meantime I have managed to catch a nasty head cold. So I am coughing and blowing my nose and feeling horrible generally. I have also lost my voice which leads to me squeaking rather than speaking. Hopefully I will get over the worst of the cough before they slice me open on Wednesday. An abdominal incision and a cough don't seem to be the best combination.

Despite all my whining and feeling uncomfortable, I am very excited to meet baby Elliott in just a few days. And I can't help wondering what will a 12 lb. newborn look like anyway? Whatever happens we are praying he is one healthy, happy, gigantic baby!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T07:38:00.000-08:00

Well, so far so good. We had a lovely Christmas Eve, and Ace is still sleeping in Christmas morning. I just wanted to wish everyone out there the best Christmas ever! If I didn't e-mail you our Christmas card, sorry. Here it is:

Alma Branch Christmas

2008-12-22T14:42:00.001-08:00

Last week we took our youth group in Alma Branch caroling. Despite some of the youth being a little skeptical of singing in public at first, we had a great time. We even got lost going to one house and ended up singing to some random, but very friendly neighbors. Here they are the next week singing at our Branch Christmas party. Nate Day was kind enough to accompany them on guitar. They sang a spoof on the song "The First Noel". The Swenson's daughter-in-law wrote the fun lyrics.

We had a great dinner at the Branch Christmas party and a visit from Santa. Ace did better with Santa than last year (when he just screamed). However, he wasn't too excited about it. I didn't really get a good photo because he pretty much immediately tried to worm his way off the big guy's lap. However, afterwards he kept pointing to Santa's chair and saying, "My Claus." So I think he liked Santa OK, even if he didn't want to sit with him.

Happy Birthday Stacey!

2008-12-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

To celebrate Stacey's birthday, the Swenson's were kind enough to take us all out to lunch and to the movie. We went to one of our favorite restaurants in Los Gatos. Ace sat between Sister Swenson and I on the bench seat and decided to climb all over Sister Swenson the whole time like she was a jungle gym. As usual, she was gracious about it and told us "she loved it!" I'm not sure if that is possible, but the Swenson's are sure a nice group of people. This is a photo of Ace and Stacey at the restaurant.

We went and saw the Tale of Despereaux which was very cute. It was Ace's first time in a movie theater and he did really well. I was pretty nervous about how he would deal with the whole experience. Initially he was running around and exploring the theater, and I was thinking, "Is this going to work?" I wanted to sit on the edge in case I had to run him out if he was acting up, but Mike insisted we sit in the middle saying he would be fine. And Mike was right; he was fine. As soon as the movie started he settled right down and watched the whole thing with hardly a peep. The only issue we had was his chair. His legs weren't long enough or heavy enough to hold the theater seat down, so it kept closing up with him in it. I should have taken a picture of that! So he watched the movie on Mike's and my lap. Everyone keeps commenting how poor Ace hasn't got much lap left in my case - my gigantic pregnant belly takes up most of it these days, but we manage. We had a great time and Ace experienced another first. Thanks, Swensons!

Here's the whole group at the movie: Mike, Stacey, Brother Swenson, Sister Swenson, Ace, Mom and Dad. (I'm taking the picture.)

Setting Records

2008-12-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

Well, today I had an ultrasound for "delivering planning" of our new little Elliott. The look of shock on my doctor's face could only be matched by the look of terror on my own. Little baby Elliott is, as my doctor said, "HUGE!" Currently at 36 weeks gestational age (and 40 weeks is full term) he measures at approximately 9 pounds. Yikes. And he still has weeks yet to grow and gain weight. Basically, it looks like a C-section, folks. I am a little sad about that because I managed to avoid a C-section with my first pregnancy and was hoping to again.

My doctor said I may set the record for her biggest baby of the year, not a goal I was going for. She was especially shocked because I have not gained an abnormal amount of weight overall, and my blood sugars have been quite controlled. No one is sure why our baby decided to grow up before he leaves the womb. I can say that my level of discomfort at the end of pregnancy has been higher with this one than with the first - now I can understand why.

The good news is he seems perfectly healthy, even if freakishly large. We are tentatively scheduling the C-section for January 7th; although, it will depend on how things go and how another ultrasound in 3 weeks looks. So get ready for possible pictures of our "giagantor" in the second week of January.

Negotiator

2008-12-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

Ace decided the other day to talk my mom into turning on the TV for him. He told her, "I want watch Elmo." Meaning he wanted to watch Sesame Street on TV.

My mom told him, "It's not on right now."

He switched tactics and said, "I want watch Christmas." My mom and I are not sure what video Christmas is supposed to refer to... maybe Polar Express which he watched somewhat recently.

My mom said, "I don't know how to play Christmas."

Ace said, "Try it!"

I guess he is picking up on what we say to him when he says no.

Why We Moved #1

2008-12-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking that it is, unbelievably, almost a year since Mike, Ace and I moved from Columbus, Ohio to California to move in with my parents. It was a big decision, and, especially, a major sacrifice of independence for Mike. At the end of the year when it is time to look back at the last year and think about the next, I wanted to do a series of posts about why I am glad we did make that move. So, hopefully, this is the first in a series.

The number one reason I am glad we moved is purely selfish. It's Ace. I get to spend way more time with him. In Ohio, as Mike was finishing school, we were both working full time. Technically I was working full time and Mike was working 3 jobs - more than full time. I took Ace to a babysitter every week day - and we were lucky to have wonderful friends who babysat him for me. Miriam, Kristin and Kim were the best babysitters anyone could ask for and really took Ace into their families. However, here in California I am unemployed and spend most of my time with Ace, which I love. I don't miss much of anything in his life. A few highlights I have been loving recently (warning - seriously cheesey mommy factor here):

Ace is very into affection - lots of very wet kisses and hugs and even an occassional "I love you."
Ace says "Wait TO me!" instead of "Wait FOR me!" when I am walking somewhere too fast ahead of him.
When Ace gets up in the morning he often wanders the house and yells, "Mommy, I want you!" When he finds me he says, "I want 'unch," which means breakfast, but breakfast and lunch are a little confused for him right now.
Until recently Ace called his horsey "sosey" with a long o sound. I really miss that. He still gallops around the house a lot and says "Gittyup" and "Yeehaw!" with gusto.
Ace loves to read books - yep, he is my son.
Ace is obsessed with trains and making "chug, chug" and "woohoo" whistle noises.
Ace loves to go for rides in the car and makes a lot of "vroom" sounds. He also often predicts or requests that we will crash - luckily that hasn't worked out for him so far.

Mainly, I just love that I get to be with him so much. Parenting a 2 year old can be frustrating for me and I know I am not perfect at it, but I honestly can't think of anything I would rather be doing full time. I'm so glad we made the move so that I get to do what I most want to do.

Poor Baby

2008-12-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

I read an article somewhere that a good way to prepare a young child for the arrival of a new sibling is to purchase them a doll. Through the doll they can learn how to treat the baby. I decided to try it out, and a few weeks ago we bought Ace his very own "baby."

When I brought it home Ace was outside with his grandparents playing on the front lawn. I carefully laid the baby in his arms and Ace cradled it lovingly for a few moments as we talked about the baby. Almost immediately he smiled and proclaimed excitedly, "Baby FLY!" He grabbed the baby by the leg and threw it down the cement driveway as hard as he could. He really launched that doll a long ways. Despite my protests and demonstrations, "flying" seems to be Ace's doll's favorite activity. We will keep our training on how to treat babies to the basics: don't throw them - especially down cement driveways. Needless to say, he won't be holding new baby Lev for a while.

Christmas Parade

2008-12-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

This weekend Mike, Ace, Stacey Swenson and I went to the Los Gatos Children's Christmas Parade, well, at least part of it. We had a good time - with pretty good seats and fairly good parking.

Here is Ace enjoying the marshmallows off of the top of some yummy hot cocoa Mike got for us. I consider it a good sign that my generally car obsessed son was more interested in the parade than the Austin Martin/Bentley car dealership we sat in front of - notice the flashy yellow car behind Stacey's head.

It was very fun to see all the bands and floats, but we ran out of time after a couple of hours. Mike had to go to work. I had no idea that there would be 266 entries in a small community parade. Who knew that there were so many girl scouts in the state - let alone little Los Gatos? We stayed for about half of it, and that was just enough parade for us. Being there brought back so many memories of working at the booth for my brothers' scout troops selling hot dogs and scones as a fundraiser.

Pregnancy by the Numbers

2008-12-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

In honor of my good friend Cynthia and her statistician, number loving ways - I give you a few stats from my life as a woman with gestational diabetes at the end of her pregnancy:

Number of doctor's appointments I had yesterday - 3
Number of urine samples I gave at said doctor's appointments -2
Number of weeks since my last visit to the dietician - 3
Number of pounds I have gained since that visit - 9 (ouch!)
Number of times in an average week I eat my dietician approved eggs for breakfast - 6 (so sick of eggs!)
Number of pairs of pants I own that I can wear comfortably - 2 (do all makers of materinity clothing believe that pregnant women really want to wear "low-rise" pants?)
Number of doctor's appointments I have scheduled next Wednesday - 3
Number of doctor's appointments I have scheduled the week after that - 4
Number of babysitters I need to take care of Ace for all these appointments - 0 (gotta' love living with my wonderful parents!)
Number of times I am supposed to test my blood sugar every day - 4
Number of times I actually do test my blood sugar on an average day - 2
Number of weeks until the baby's due date - 6
Number of weeks before I will go nuts if this baby doesn't arrive - 4

No More Baby (Gates)

2008-12-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago Ace woke up from his nap without me knowing, snuck downstairs to the missionairies' apartment and started exploring their bathroom. He dumped out the trash, experimented with mascara as face paint and generally made a mess. The kicker was that the he closed the door (which opens inward) and opened a drawer, so when I finally realized where he was - I still couldn't get to him. He had the door blocked by the drawer. After some coaxing he shut the drawer and let me in. We reassembled the bathroom. Eventually we made our apologies to the Swensons. A few days later the black mascara lines even faded from his face. But I was left with a feeling of dread that Ace will continue to tear up their apartment at will.

This week, at my request, Mike reinstalled the two baby safety gates at the top of both sets of stairs that lead to the downstairs. The next day Ace yanked one of them completely down - pulling it on top of himself. Luckily, he wasn't hurt, but nothing was stopping him from going downstairs. The day after that my dad tightened them substantially, so that Ace would not be able to yank them down, hopefully. Later I heard him testing the gates - like something out of Jurassic Park. He yanked and yanked and yanked. This time they didn't fall over, but one of the doors finally flew open. There is no keeping this kid away from the Swensons he loves! Today Ace had me go up and down the stairs opening the gate for him over and over - he thinks the gates are a fun toy. What to do now? I have no idea.

Farewell Reimers

2008-12-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

My parents threw a little party this weekend in honor of our good friends Walt and Jackie Reimers. This is Sister Reimers with a friend Maribel at the party. They are leaving for a mission for our church for two years to London, England. They are the first senior missionairies to leave from our little branch. We are all excited for them, but will miss them so much!

The Reimers have lived down the road from my parents for over 30 years. Their kids were raised right along with my siblings and me. This is brother Reimers with his sister and her husband.

It was fun to see their son Justin and his wife Hilary with their baby boy Adam at the party. Justin and I used to walk home from the bus stop in junior high together, and he and his wife Hilary attended the single's branch with me for several years. Rumor has it they are thinking of moving up to my neck of the woods here in Alma Branch. I was quick to spread that rumor and encourage them to move up here. I would love to have them back as neighbors! Here they are on the couch with our friends Maureen and Sally Stanton. Sally just received her own mission call this week to serve in the Independence, MO Visitor's Center. She'll be fantastic!

Brother Swenson had to take this picture of my dad and I at the party to document my expanding, pregnant waist line, lovely. Mike is peeking around the corner.

The Day After

2008-12-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

On Friday morning after Thanksgiving we went with my sister Stacy and her in-laws to Placerville to join them in their Christmas tree hunting. They do this tradition every year, and Ace and I had a great time tagging along. Ace loved wearing his favorite jacket (which he doesn't get to do in warm California very often) and running amongst the closely planted Christmas trees. I was a little nervous because I knew one quick turn and he could be lost in the acres of trees up there at the Christmas tree farm. Luckily everyone was very helpful at keeping an eye on him. Stacy carried him a lot!

Here is Stacy's father-in-law, Larry, his wife Karen (way in the back), their daughter Shanna holding Ace, and her room-mate Becky. After the Christmas Tree lot we went to several craft fair areas and looked at oodles of Christmas stuff and ate some yummy kettle corn.

Mike spent the day scouting out possible employment contacts in Sacramento while we were playing. We are hoping to move up to the Sacramento area some day.

Stacy and Wayne were great hosts, as always. We had a great time staying with them!

Ace Discovers Headphones

2008-12-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

While the adults were watching football or cooking in preparation for Thanksgiving. Ace "plugged in" to Elmo's World on his little DVD player. It was nice, for a moment to contain him from tearing apart my sister's lovely, non-kid house. This is the first time I have seen him successfully use headphones. This picture freaks me out a little because it gives me flashes of Ace as a teenager walking around plugged in to some iPod (or whatever else is out then) while I try to communicate with him unsuccessfully. Are we starting a little young here with the technology toys? Am I just being paranoid?

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. It was my first time having Thanksgiving with my family in California for many years. It was fun and delicious! My sister Stacy hosted at her house in the Sacramento area. Mike and Ace and I drove up on Wednesday afternoon and spent two nights up there. On Wednesday the traffic was horrible. We ended up on a five hour drive that should have taken half that time. Oh, well. Thank goodness Ace's little DVD player kept him comatose.

We arrived in the evening with enough time to help a little with the pies. We made 3 lemon meringue pies - our family favorite. Here we are in action. Everyone kept telling Ace that the pie filling was "Yucky," so he kept saying, "I want yucky!" And the boy usually gets what he wants...

On Thursday we had lots of guests - my brother Randy and his wife Anne, my other brother Mitch and his wife Heidi and their four kids, Stacy's room-mate from before she got married Amy Kascal, Stacy's in-laws the Harts, their daughter Shanna and her room-mate Becky, Stacy's grandma in-law, and Stacy's mother-in-law's sister and her family. It was a big group, but of course, Stacy handled it all beautifully. Everybody brought food, so we had quite the feast.

We even had two turkeys. Here is my mom with her "fruit turkey". It was a fun time to be with family and enjoy all the great food.

Honesty

2008-11-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

A few days ago Mike was straigtening up the living room. Ace kept pulling all the pillows off the couch and throwing them on the floor. Mike asked, "Why do you have to make a mess?"

Ace answered, "That's what I do."

The Second Coming

2008-11-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

The other day at the park Ace and I were playing when a thin gentleman arrived with his daughter and her friend. He was tall and had a neatly trimmed full beard. Ace smiled at him and said, "Jesus!" I had to explain to him that it wasn't Jesus but just a "Daddy." After that he called him "Daddy" the rest of our play hour. Luckily the poor guy was nice about it, but it was a little surprising. I have been glad to see Ace easily able to identify Jesus in pictures at the church, house etc. I didn't realize the defining factor for him was the beard.

The good news is, Ace feels ready to run up and greet the Savior at a moments notice!

Happy 43rd!

2008-11-20T07:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my parents celebrated their 43rd anniversary. This is a photo of their wedding day in 1965. Can you believe all those bride's maids? And, yes, I think her colors were orange and olive green - although I think she called it "harvest gold."

Congratulations, Mom and Dad! They are a great example to me of a wonderful relationship and how to support each other and their family. They "celebrated" their anniversary by baby-sitting my son Ace (as they often do) while I went to a youth activity for church and Mike was at work - sorry, parents! And Mom held a Relief Society Presidency Meeting (which Dad drove her to and from). And Dad went to the dentist and got a tooth pulled (Mom unloaded his truck of groceries for him while he was not feeling well after the Novacaine wore off). Not too exciting, but full of the kind of support they always give each other. Dad did buy Mom some beautiful roses, and Mom said they already celebrated their anniversary by taking a fun trip to Branson, MO in October.

By the Way

2008-11-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

We finished quilting two days ago!!!! I am so excited to have the big purple quilt off the frames in our living room.

Recipes - Fruitcake and Caramels

2008-11-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

Fruitcake

2 cups raisins

1 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

3 cups hot water

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups flour

2 teaspons baking soda

gumdrops

candied fruit (optional)

nuts (optional)

Combine raisins, shortening, sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a large pan. Boil mixture for 10 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool slightly so you don't melt the gumdrops. Then add flour, baking soda, gumdrops, candied fruit and nuts. This will make three loaves. Make sure to line the pans with waxed paper or parchment paper - with all the gumdrops and sugar the fruitcake will stick like crazy otherwise. My mom even sprays pam in the pan before the parchment paper and then again on top of the parchment paper before spreading the batter into the pans. Bake at 320 degrees for 70 minutes.

How much gumdrops, candied fruit and nuts you put in is up to you. My family is big into massive amounts of gumdrops. But gumdrops can be hard to find in the store - all you can find these days are those nasty spicedrops - which is definitely not what we like to use. We found one specialty grocery store that carries gumdrops around here - Cosentino's, but they only have really big ones, so we have to slice them into quarters before putting them into the cake.

Caramels

2 cups white sugar

2 squares butter

1 cup white Karo syrup

1 cup canned milk (my mom says you can make them even better with cream instead of canned milk, but I have never tried it)

Mix together sugar, butter, and Karo in a good, thick, sauce pan. Boil mixture for 15 minutes - you must stir constantly. Then add the canned milk. Continue to stir constantly and boil candy until it reaches the "firm ball" stage. This takes a while and you must stir like crazy. If you have a nice candy thermometer it will have a "firm ball" stage reading on it. We don't use a thermometer; instead, we put a dab of the caramel in a bowl with ice water to cool it quickly and then try to mold it into a ball and see if it maintains it shape. I guess we are old fashioned that way. This is the trickiest part of the recipe - if you boil it too long you will have hard, overly-chewy caramels. If you boil it not long enough they won't hold their shape and you will have to eat it with a spoon - tasty, but no good for dipping. After you get it to the right consistency, pour the caramel into a buttered 9" x 9" pan. (We usually double the recipe and use a 9x13 pyrex pan.) Let cool - you can put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling.

After it is really cool, you can chop them up into little bricks, like

those pictured above. You could wrap them in waxed paper and be done as just caramels, or you can dip them in chocolate. My parents are very particular about the chocolate they use. They only buy Guittards in huge 10 lb. blocks from a restaurant supply store in Hayward. We chip off chunks from the block, melt it down in the microwave, rub the caramels around in the chocolate and set them out on wax paper and wait for the chocolate to cool off and set up. Usually we put them in the fridge again.

Yeah, I know, we are just crazy healthnuts around my house :)

Christmas Baking Has Begun

2008-11-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

This is my mom with the "first fruits" of her Christmas baking. My parents and I have been working on a holiday package to send to my brother Stuart and family in Utah. My mom sends him his favorite fruitcake every year. It's actually very little cake crammed with huge numbers of gumdrops. But we love it!

We also made carmels and dipped them in chocolate. So yummy! This is not a good development for my gestational diabetes...

And They Said We Couldn't Do It...

2008-11-17T10:05:00.000-08:00

Notice that there are only two rows left to quilt. Despite my own lack of faith, it looks like we should be done well before Thanksgiving! Special thanks to my Aunt Rita who came out for the weekend and in a few hours nearly finished a whole row in her perfectly tiny stitches. I actually have quilting calluses -who ever thought that would happen?

Simple Pleasures

2008-11-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

On my friend Sonja's blog she commented that the simplest things make the best toys for her kids - things like water and dirt. I agree. Ace's new favorite... a box.

Peekaboo!

Ace's Busy Day

2008-11-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, he's terrifically cute. But he had a very busy day yesterday.
Ace's Completed To Do List 11/6/08
1) Squirt an old bottle of suntan lotion all over my grandparent's bathroom - especially on my grandma's cashmere sweater she had just washed and hung out to dry
2) Refuse to eat basically any food Mom makes for me
3) Tear apart Mom's bathroom when she thinks I am taking a nap, squirting toothpaste all over the bathtub and door
4) Find an eyebrow pencil and write all over Mom's bedroom wall and sheets
5) Throw up all over myself and every layer of my bedding just after going to bed (poor guy caught my mom's flu)

What a day! Surprisingly, I still think he's cute. This morning seems to be going better and he slept all through the night, despite being sick.

Count Down to Christmas Decorations

2008-11-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving is usually a big tradition in my parent's house - it's the day we put up our Christmas tree and begin playing the Johnny Mathis' Merry Christmas album non-stop. However, we have a big, purple problem this year. Can we fit our Christmas tree and other decor around this gigantic king size quilt we are working on this year?

My Grandma Nelson pieced this quilt top for my sister-in-law Katherine a while back, and, because she has trouble with her hands these days, my mom volunteered to do all the hand quilting for her. So Mom and I are quilting - Mom's experienced, but this is really my first time quilting with any regularity. King size is big. I'm embarrassed to say how long this huge quilt has been strung out on the frames in our living room - and, Cynthia, you don't have to tell everybody : ) But now the Christmas tree is looming large in our future and giving us a deadline to shoot for. In the last few weeks we have worked more on it than ever before. Will we finish by Thanksgiving? I'm skeptical.

Voting

2008-11-04T13:55:00.000-08:00

I never wanted to make this blog about politics, but today is one of those days when you just have to say something. I signed up as a permanent vote by mail voter, so I actually filled out my ballot yesterday and only delivered it today. One thing is for sure, voting is not easy. While finding information about the high profile presidential compaign or some of the California State Propositions is very easy, how am I supposed to know who to elect for school board - especially for the local junior college with which I have absolutely no affiliation? One of the propositions I was supposed to vote on had a 16 page "easy" summary complete with almost a page to define just the terms I would need to know to understand even the summary. Who comes up with this stuff? I find the League of Women voters site very helpful on many of the local issues - but not all the candidates fill out their questionaires. Sometimes I feel like my vote, such an important decision, is a shot in the dark.

Again, Proposition 8 in California has sparked new controversy. I awoke this morning to new e-mails about a No on Prop 8 ad put out by the "Courage" Campaign that slanders Mormon missionaries. I am usually a very even tempered person, I believe, but this really got me upset. If you are interested in viewing this horrible ad. Here is the link. I wrote letters to MSNBC and CNN (both networks that according to a news report were planning to air the ad). I also wrote letters to the Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News (local newspapers). And I wrote letters to the Courage Campaign and the No on 8 Campaign. I tried calling the No on 8 Campaign and asked their spokespeople to denounce the ad, but the person I talked to there acted like she didn't know what I was talking about. This is an impossibility as I am know there is a campaign of people calling their office and requesting the same thing.

This is basically what I wrote:
I am writing to protest a California “No on Proposition 8” campaign ad that I understand is planned to be aired today. The ad depicts Mormon missionaries invading the home of a lesbian couple, ransacking the house, and tearing up their marriage license. While I understand that the Mormon support for Proposition 8 may cause emotions to run very high, this ad is beyond what is acceptable for a media outlet to air. First of all, the add is false – Mormon missionaries are taught to never behave in such a ridiculous and cruel manner. But since truth is clearly not a requirement for TV commercials, this is not as important as a second issue.

This ad will incite hatred and possibly violence. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I am deeply disturbed by the implications of the ad. I often meet people who have no prior experience with members of my church and have wild conspiracy theories and fears about our membership and organization. Because there is so much misinformation about our church out there, it often leads to confusion. It is not unreasonable that people will believe that this ad is a true representation of what they can expect from Mormon missionaries. This sort of unfounded fear and hatred of Mormons can spark violence toward the young volunteer missionaries who dedicate years of their lives to working for the church. Those kids don’t deserve that kind of treatment and added risk when they are already doing a dangerous job on the streets of our communities. I think it is a very real possibility that some nineteen year old missionary will knock on the wrong door of someone who believed this ad and may be beaten or worse as a direct result.

Please reconsider airing this egregious ad.

So I may not be the most articulate person, but I hope this got my point across. Maybe it is the pregnancy hormones, but this ad really got my emotions pumping. Why must anyone be so hateful? I don't have a problem with them citing the Mormon support of Prop 8 or even arguing that religious groups are trying to enforce their will on people - but portraying missionairies as violent thugs is ridiculous. I would not be surprised that this ad would appear on the Internet but that such a wildly inflamatory ad would be played by major networks leaves me shocked. What do you think?

Trick-or-Treat

2008-11-03T09:22:00.000-08:00

Despite Ace's resistance to costume wearing a few nights before at the Halloween Party, we were able to get him into his monkey suit on Halloween. His Aunt and Uncle Mitch and Heidi had invited us to come down and attend their kid's elementary school Halloween Carnival and go trick or treating with their son Jonah. I think the key to getting Ace into his costume was positive peer pressure from his cool older cousins who were dressing up. Of course, after all the coaxing and final success of getting Ace into his costume, I forgot to bring my camera. Ooops! We did have a great time at the carnival, and Ace truly enjoyed trick or treating. He kept saying as we left each house with a new piece of candy, "I like it!"

When we got home, late in the evening, Ace had already fallen asleep in his car seat, but I managed to take a few photos before we got him to bed.

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!