happy valentine's day...

Happy Love Day!

We had a fun day of valentine making, preschool for Zane, lunch date with mom/dad and Lily, pizza for dinner (yay no dinner making for mom, thanks dad!), and a movie date for mom/dad. Hope you all were able to celebrate with your loved ones too!

ok for real...

This really just happened. John and I are up late watching some TV. Simpsons is on, and it breaks in with "This is a test of the Emergency Alert System...BEEP BEEP BEEP". Ok, so it runs through the whole announcement thing, followed by some beeps. Then when it should be done, we start hearing this. I'm not kidding. Someone hijacked the EAS. It went on for a good 2 minutes before it returned to programming.

when your kids go to bed...

We went in to Zane's room last night to make sure he was tucked in after he was asleep...and this is what we found. Haha!
I think Lily has lost weight, and/or grown taller. She seems much skinnier lately, and less of a chubby baby. She is not really more active, in that she has no interest in crawling or being mobile much at all. She is quite content to sit on my lap all day if I let her. It's a cute pic of her. Nothing to report about it, just a way cute picture.

the king and the cheese...

It is the letter K this week in preschool. They made kites on Tuesday and yesterday they talked about kings and then made crowns. (well decorated the Burger King ones). Now Zane insists that crown starts with the letter K. No point in arguing there. He is quite the reader already, I can't believe it. Now if only we can get him to understand that when you write you go left to right in a straight line... not put the letters of the word anywhere on the page. It's just his creative side coming out I think. Lily does the funniest thing that I have not been able to catch on camera. Sometimes when you smile at her, she will smile back but squinch her eyes up too. It looks like she is giving you this big cheesy smile. But, a lot of times, she just squinches her eyes, and doesn't really smile with her mouth. It is ADORABLE. This picture is the closest I have gotten to catching the squinchy eyes. Super cute cheeser!

my memories of president hinckley...

I was just thinking today about my memories of seeing President Hinckley in person, and I have 3 distinct ones that came to mind. First was when I was able to go to the Conference Center dedication General Conference session. In spite of growing up in Salt Lake City, I had never attended conference in person. And this time, I actually lived in Texas, but had come back to be able to go. (It is much easier to get tickets when you live in another state by the way, but I think I got these tickets from my Dad who was in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). I remember sitting there during the prayer and how my spirit literally wept. Everyone also spotaneously stood and sang after Pres. Hinckley's prayer, and then slowly every apostle and authority on the stand stood on their feet. It was so neat.

The second time I remember seeing him was right before we moved from Texas, and he came for the dedication of the Lubbock, TX temple. We were outside for the cornerstone ceremony (John was singing in the cornerstone choir) and it was so neat to see him come out with his wife. They were so cute together. He made jokes, and even called my niece and nephew out of the audience to put mortar on the stone. When he left after the dedication, we were outside the temple and everyone broke into "We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet" as he got into his car, with his signature cane wave.

The last time I saw him in person was at John's graduation from BYU Law School. He had a granddaughter in John's class. We were all sitting there in the audience, and all of a sudden the prophet walked in and sat on the stand. It was so unexpected. Very cool.

I'm sure there were other times, but those are the ones that stand out to me. He was such a happy man, and we will miss him. Here is a picture from John's graduation (sorry it's not very good - the lighting wasn't very good and I was behind a pillar!).

a weepy day...

This might make you tear up a little. But maybe it was just me, I had one of those days.
the bridge

president hinckley...

My friend had this posted on her blog, and I think it is a great idea, wish I could be there. Pass it along.
President Hinckley Tribute

superheroes and hot dogs...

Today was a rainy/snowy (for St. George) day. I forgot to get a picture of the actual "snow", which was really sleet I think, but I did get a picture of snow-covered Pine Mountain.

It was yucky. Zane couldn't wait to go out in the "snow". So he got his jacket on, his spongebob hat and gloves, and he had to wear a cape. It was really windy out, and he said he wanted to fly away. This is him with his "to the rescue" pose. Cute.

So, for dinner tonight, I was in the mood for soup, but Zane had other ideas. He told me he wanted "hot tail wingers". I had no idea what he was talking about. I kept trying to get him to explain, and he told me they are little hot dogs with toothpicks in them and no bun. Haha! COCKTAIL WEINERS! He said we had to have a game dinner and play cards while we were eating our hot tail wingers. Too hilarious. I think it came from a Curious George episode today. Here is what he did with his hot dog.

(oh and yeah, that is a new kitchen table, yay us!)
And I couldn't just post pictures of Zane without posting an adorable one of Lily in her princess ballerina jammies.

cuties...

Just thought I would share a couple recent pics with our new camera.

perfect dress...

Really, I must make this for Lily. One day. It is awesome.

the final countdown...

We got a new game. It's called SingStar. It's basically a karaoke game where you an compete against each other. The microphones measure your tone, pitch, and rhythm. We got an 80's version. It has some great songs. So Zane's new favorite songs are "Eye of the Tiger" and "The Final Countdown". He's been walking around the house singing "Eyyyyeeee of the Ti-ger", and wanted me to sing "dada da da...dada da da da" to him before bed last night.

So, we had to put the game away yesterday because Zane was getting upset and not taking turns. Of course, that caused the usual tantrum, and he went off into the pantry and hid behind the door. He was singing "dada da da" in between sniffles. It was HILARIOUS.

(If you don't know "The Final Countdown", click here, for "Eye of the Tiger" click here).

could i post any more today?...

Just was wondering whose idea it was to put marshmallows in cereal. Is there a kid out there that actually eats the cereal and doesn't just pick the marshmallow bits out? Really, I'm not buying this ever again.

fake...

Lily fake cries. She has done it since she was born, I swear. I caught a picture of it today. I'm afraid we are in trouble with this one because it is just tooo dang cute and funny.

my house is soooo not clean...

Still not back up to speed after the long holidays. I don't know what the deal is. I blame guitar hero. After playing the game various places this season, we decided it would be fun thing for us to do as a family. We bought the cheapest stuff we could find and it has been great fun. It has not turned into an "all night never see my husband thing" that I feared. (Ok, other than the first week). So, even though I haven't been spending every waking minute playing, can I still blame the game for my messy house and piles of laundry? I think so.

to whom it may interest...

the fish is still alive.

congratulations...

Congrats to the new Mr. and Mrs. Cheniae! Amanda (Abi's sis) and Chris were married this past weekend in Phoenix. We all had a great time. The wedding was lovely and it was so fun to see everyone. Welcome to the family Chris! Thank you for including us, and we love you both very much!

teething biscuits...

I've been on the search for some sort of finger type food for Lily that she can gnaw on that does not have high fructose corn syrup in it. These are the teething biscuits that I found. They are Healthy Times Vanilla Biscuits for Teethers. She LOVED them. The video is quite hilarious. Love the tongue. (btw, if you can hear it, that's John at the end - pretending to be Lily).

no bushes...

Yay for no more ugly bushes and dead grass! The new yard looks great. Only a little more work on the front rocks, and it's done.

bowling...

We went bowling yesterday with my parents and sister's fam. It was busy, so we just let the kids bowl. They had a blast. Zane was so excited anytime a pin was knocked down, didn't matter if you just got one. Too cute. Andrew (5) was quite the bowler, however, he probably didn't have the best form (he literally tossed the ball). We did have a couple of pins come back at us down the lane, which was a giggle. We were keeping the bowling alley workers busy with all the problems we kept causing on our lane. Zach (7) had quite a few straight ones, he probably didn't even need the bumpers. Madison (9) was the high score! They all did really well, those bumpers sure help. They all scored higher than my average low score bowling game of 50ish.

Go Zane!

Those crazy pins!

christmas morning...

Happy Holidays! Zane got some Planet Heroes, moon sand, and art supplies with an easel. Lily got a fun toy train, some cute clothes, and a fabulous wooden rocking horse. Abi got a new camera, and John got new scriptures and a tool set. Zane's favorite was probably playing with Lily's presents. Lily's favorite was definitely the wrapping paper. We all got way too much stuff I'm sure. The kids are definitely spoiled.

new floors...

For Christmas, my parents got us TILE in our kitchen (only we had to do it!). With mucho help from my brother in law...we got it done, just in time for Christmas Eve. It is wonderful. Yay! (soon to come, pics of the newly re-landscaped front yard - no more ugly bushes!)

Picture of beginning removing the old linoleum. The only way we were successful in doing this is with a 4" razor blade scraper. First you score the linoleum in approx. 4x6 inch pieces with a box cutter. Then you put down a towel and pour boiling hot water over top. Wait a few minutes, then scrap up with the razor scraper. A TON of work.

Here is the first couple rows of tile. After scraping up the linoleum, there is still a lot of glue and backing left. You have to repeat the boiling water/towel and razor scraper process again to get that stuff up.

All finished!

merry christmas...

We visited Santa yesterday. Zane was soooo excited. He couldn't wait to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He told him he wanted a Light Sketcher. Hopefully Santa knows what the heck that is! Lily wasn't quite sure what to think of Santa. She looked at him, and then back at me, then back at him, then made a big "I'm going to freak out if you don't pick me up right this second" face. It's great.

power of prayer...

Today we had to venture to Lowes for a new water heater. Always a good time when you have to replace stuff in your house. After purchasing the water heater and loading it in the car (with the kids too), I realized that I had misplaced the only key to the car. Now I had it to open up the car and trunk, etc., so it couldn't have gone far. After searching and searching with no luck, John started to say a prayer to himself. He got the distinct impression to have Zane say it. As Zane was finishing up his prayer, I started to pray to myself as well. As soon as Zane finished (before I was done) I had the immediate impression to look in the back pocket of the front seat. In my mind, I started to dismiss that it could possibly be there, but looked anyways. Of course it was there. It was a great teaching moment for Zane and definitely a humbling and faith affirming moment for us.

playdoh creations...

We received a bucket of homemade playdoh (great gift idea!) for christmas from a neighbor. Zane of course, loves it. It's been a little while since we've gotten playdoh out. It used to be mostly just smushing all the colors together and making pancakes and balls. I guess, since the last time he played with it, his skills have advanced. I love these "alien snowmen with antennae". Notice the eyes, they are great!

happy birthday john...

Happy Birthday to YOU!

In the style of Maurice Sendak's Little Critter Book "Just For You":

We wanted to make your birthday happy, so we made this cake just for you.

But it looked like crap.

WE LOVE YOU!

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

Ok not really, but it sure isn't summer anymore. I love rain, and it seems to have been raining a lot the past couple weeks. Love it. This week has been a crazy one, and really...I don't have a clue how I'm going to get the stuff done in the next couple of weeks that I want to. Santa visits, christmas pictures, going to the lights at Tuacahn, finishing painting the house, baking baking and more baking, christmas cards, holiday parties, the last bit of christmas shopping. Seriously, the holidays are way too stressful. Not to mention, I get bad mommy of the week award. Apparently, Lily can roll from back to front. I found that out the bad way. Right off the bed onto the floor while she was asleep. She's fine and the bump is gone. Oh, and I'm fine too. Ack. Enjoy some of the latest pictures.

more funny...

Yesterday before John left for work, he got Zane some toast with butter. I came out of my bedroom when he left and saw Zane standing there with something blue on his toast. Me: "What is that blue stuff on your toast?" Zane: "Sprinkles!" He got up on the counter and into the cake decorating stuff to put blue sprinkles on his toast. Funny, but ew.

We were driving in the car yesterday and he said "Mom, I can see Australia!" I said "Oh really, wow" and he said "I have REALLY big eyes so I can see Australia, Canada, Russia, China, and Phoenix!" Haha!

cold number three...

While we are all now enjoying cold number three of the winter season, I thought I would share some more of Zane's latest sayings.

I was spending some time with him the other day doing some craft-y type stuff. He said to me "Mom, why did you name me Zane..." I was thinking "hmm" and he finished "and not Secret Agent?" HAHAHA!

Today he was helping make some juice, and said "Look, I'm a chef!" Don't ask me how he even knows that word or what it means.

We went to the store today to get birthday presents for John from him and Lily. We got John a toy remote helicopter from Zane (yes John really does want one, Zane didn't just pick out something HE wants). I kept telling him over and over that it was a "secret" and we can't tell him. I explained that it was like one of his Little Critter books, Just A Secret, where critter makes something for his mom and then hides it until her birthday. So, he said "I'm going to hide it under my bed". So, we picked up John for lunch right after the store, and he immediately says "Dad, Dad, we got you a present!!!" I was worried he was going to slip, so I reminded him, it's a surprise, we don't want to tell him what it is. A minute later, "Dad, can we play with your helicopter?" He has such a great memory, but yet so not.

happy thanksgiving...

We had a good short trip up to salt lake for thanksgiving. I love to get out once in awhile, but I sure hate coming home. It's that I don't like "getting back in the groove" of things. My house is a mess. I have a humONgous pile of laundry. Zane really has a hard time coming down from it all too. We tend to have a lot more meltdowns for about a week or so.

On a good note: I did get my tree up, and almost all my christmas shopping is done (that's not saying much, I don't have many gifts to buy - nor money to buy them with). Here's a slideshow of pics from our trip ; including Discovery Gateway in salt lake, and one of Lily sleeping on the bed in the hotel with her legs in the air. So funny.

for john...

Go Red Raiders!
Tech beat 4th ranked Oklahoma on Saturday. HA HA BCS!

zane's talk...

Ok so I wrote this today for Zane's talk in primary on Sunday. I was going to have him just hold pictures and tell what he was thankful for and why, etc. As I made the list (that he told me) I decided that it would be easier for him to be able to recite something, so I wrote this poem. It's lame, but I'm proud of myself anyways. It's not toooo cheesy for someone who never writes stuff and wrote it in one day, right?

I Am Thankful

My Heavenly Father loves me
Of this I can be sure
He's blessed me with so many things
That I am thankful for.

I am thankful for my body,
food, and for the clothes I wear.
I am trying to be healthy
to show Him that I care.

I am thankful for the Earth,
the planets, moon, and stars.
For games and toys, and for my house,
Even my parent's car.

I am thankful for the animals,
For mountains, flowers, and trees;
For school, my teachers, and my friends,
But most of all my family.

I am thankful for the prophets,
The scriptures, and the temple.
And although it's sometimes hard,
Giving thanks is very simple

I can show my Heavenly Father
That I appreciate these things;
By choosing right, and serving Him,
Giving thanks for my blessings.

(oh yeah, and I should say - this is copyrighted by Abi Collins, so noone can steal it, not that anyone would want to)

really cool...

I just wanted to tell you that I found a new (to me) thing to waste a WHOLE lot of time on when on the computer. I know I am probably a loser, and this has been around forever. It's part of Google Earth. If you haven't used Google Earth yet, download it here: http://earth.google.com. In Google Earth's latest version, you can click on View > Switch to Sky. This picture is of the farthest known galaxy, 13 billion light years away. Seriously. All I have to say is WOW. I can't wait to show Zane the moon, stars, planets and galaxies. It's so awesome.

my piano player...

Here's a little thing we like to call Zane and a few of the latest things he plays on the piano. (I apologize for the boring-ness, yes that's a word John).

Notes: Zane loves "minor" and "major", obsessed with it actually. I didn't teach him any of those songs, including Fur Elise and Moonlight Sonata, he has just listened to me play them. He made up his own ending to the Fur Elise that he plays. John says he "might" have shown him how to make Wheels on the Bus into minor, but he's not sure. Zane has since made many songs into "minor songs", including I Am A Child of God -- interesting. He also made up the song at the end, complete with words..."what does the sun say, what does the rainbow say." I just thought I needed to keep a record of this kid's career. He's going places -- just not sure where sometimes!

Happy Halloween...

A few notes about the pictures:
I bought Lily the pink leopard as her costume originally. Zane changed his mind a lot about what he wanted to be. First it was peter pan, then an alien, then a caterpillar. While he was in his alien phase, I bought Lily's costume. When he changed to caterpillar, I looked for costumes for him on ebay. I ran across the adorable baby caterpillar costume, and had to have it! So, she had two costumes.

If you noticed, Zane had a green face for one picture, but not the other. He was dying for me to paint his face green, however, that only lasted 5 minutes. It really "bugged" him so we washed it off. haha, bugged.

Obsessed...

I just finished the 3rd in the Twilight series of books. I read all 3 in under a week. It's an understatment to say that I'm obsessed. It's a series about a teenage girl, Bella, who falls in love with a vampire, Edward. They are written by a mormon girl, Stephenie Meyer. Get obsessed...visit: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com. I'm going through withdrawals...

surfer baby...

Lily doesn't really hold her head up with her arms much. She does it like this. Hilarious! She looks like a surfer dude!

We have cereal...yum!

Lily had her first taste of baby cereal today. We found a whole grain brown rice cereal which she apparently loved. She just dove right in with her whole face! Cute!

Moms who know...

I just wanted to link to this awesome talk from the LDS Church General Conference that made me renew my committment to my family. I really don't need anything else in my life but my family, and I don't need to be focusing my time or energy anywhere else. It is sometimes trying and thankless, but also the most important, worthwhile, and fulfilling job I will ever have.

LDS Relief Society Pres. Julie Beck talk

Grateful...

So, you may or may not know about the "drama" I had with Zane's preschool teacher last year, but here is a short version. On the LAST DAY of preschool last year , his teacher told me she thought that he wasn't listening and wasn't "mature" enough for her 4 year old class. Yes, she waited until the last day (which is pretty late to try and get him in somewhere else btw). Whatever. I told her that Zane had learned all the songs, nursery rhymes, and all the letter sounds from her class. She said to me "Oh, really? I guess he is listening." DUH! Anyways if she just wants kids that will sit at a table all day and do worksheets (way too much for any 4 year old), it's not right for Zane, and she's not right for Zane.

So, I have to say HOW GRATEFUL I am that we have him in his new preschool! His teacher said to me today "Zane is REALLY smart. I just can't believe the questions he asks, it is very unusual for a boy his age". She said she only gets a couple of kids each semester like that. She said she can just see him constantly thinking.

I was so happy I just wanted to cry. Woohoo! A teacher that really appreciates him. A teacher that really has taken the time to get to know him and see him for the amazing kid he really is. Yay!

4 months old

Lily had her 4 month appt. today. She's actually 4 1/2 months. She is 27 inches tall, and 17 pounds! Wow.

The Dr. loves to see her. He doesn't get to see many chubby babies lately. He said she is one of his only babies in the 90+%. He kept saying "are you sure she only eats breastmilk". Also "aww, she has back fat" and "even her feet are chubby". Hahaha!

We love our michelin man baby girl.

Perfectionist...

So when I went to pick Zane up from preschool today, he was sitting down at a table with the teacher while she was "helping" him finish a project. He was cutting something out with scissors. He is still not perfect with scissors (what 4 year old is?) but he has this inate perfectionist that just comes out.

The teacher said to me, "yeah this is his third one, he's a little bit of a perfectionist". Ha, tell me something I don't know. Then she says, "and he gets easily frustrated, that's going to be hard for him when he gets in school." HAHA. Really, tell me something I don't know. She says "I told him it's just practice, that he doesn't have to be able to cut right on the lines." Yes, but this is Zane. Zane won't color because he knows he can't color in the lines. So, he prefers to just not do it at all because it wouldn't be acceptable to him.

This is the kid that when they roasted hot dogs at preschool, couldn't eat his because it was "Frickin' burned". His words, not mine.

We have to turn this power into good....what a job we have ahead of us...

our crew

My junk food vacuum I call Zane...

Ok, so I don't buy junk food crap very often, and this is why....

Zane. He loves loves yogurt. Few weeks ago, I bought an 8 count package of "yogurt slurpy innertubes", otherwise known as Gogurts, down at the Walmart. By the end of the day, all gone. No kidding, he ate all 8. He really isn't that unsupervised - which means he can eat really fast.

Well about a week later, I caved to his whining at the store and bought some Zingers (twinkies covered in frosting...really healthy). It was morning and Zane was buggin buggin buggin for one. I told him he could have one after lunch. So, he has ONE after lunch. Somehow by dinner time, he has eaten 5 more! Yes, 6 Zingers in one day. Can you say sugar rush?

Today (about 2 weeks after the Zingers incident) - I bought a pack of pop-tarts. Now, honestly, I bought these for me. Lately I have not been getting to breakfast, so I thought at least I could grab one of them, and it would be SOMETHING (ok maybe nothing is better). I purposely hid them so he wouldn't see them, because I know of this problem he has with impulse control. But I ended up making one in his sight, so I had to give him one. I thought I hid them again well enough, but apparently not. The pack of 8 is now down to 1. So that means he ate 6 pop-tarts today. Yup, 6. SICK!

I'm afraid I need to put a lock on the pantry and fridge.

More from the one-liner master

Ok, so yesterday Zane was with us at our church choir practice. After it was over, he went over to the pianist and was playing songs for her (fur elise...yes he can play the first part of that...and his "major and minor scales" - i have an amazing 4 year old I know).
Our pianist is a sweet 80+ year old woman. When he was done playing with her, he touched her arm and said "You are FLOPPY". HAHAHAHA.
I was on my way out the door when I heard this and just LAUGHED my HEAD off the whole way down the hall.