Such A Waste...

...Of time, money, energy, and my limited creativity.
I am speaking of the Christmas gift I made for Ethan that I knew he would love (and he does), and I was so excited about. I made some nifty little things for Ethan to use with magnetic letters and numbers so that he wouldn't have to use them on my fridge. I also made them so that he might learn his lower-case letters and his numbers more easily. My sister helped me make them, and they were so cute. I kept forgetting to hang them in our new apartment, but finally did last week. I'm glad I took a picture, because I want to at least remember that I made something cute once. After a couple of days of being in his room, they were destroyed. He did most of the damage while he was in time-out, and I was wondering why he was being so quiet. I guess I should have known this would happen, he is only two. Maybe I will save what's left of my creative energy for when my kids are old enough to truly appreciate it.

BEFORE:



AFTER:






The guilty; looking so innocent!

One Toothy Grin, Comin' Up!

Spencer finally got his first tooth on Wednesday (the day before his 8 month b-day). Then he got his second tooth on Thursday. I am so excited because I've been waiting for this for a couple of months (Ethan got his first tooth at 6 1/2 months), but I'm also kind of sad because his toothless grin is so cute. He has been slightly more cranky than normal, but he is also showing signs of separation anxiety, so I'm not sure if the crankiness is because of the teeth or just the anxiety. One thing that I think is so weird, though, is that before Wednesday, since he was born, he would eagerly welcome my finger into his mouth. When I felt for teeth those two months, he would gladly chew on my finger. Then, all of a sudden, on Wednesday he decided that he didn't like that anymore. He now holds his lips shut as tightly as possible when my finger comes anywhere near his mouth. It's almost as if he's afraid I might steal his new teeth from him. It's funny. I always used to think that Ethan was a little slow when it came to physical development, but now that I have Spencer I see that he could have been a lot slower. I know that Ethan got is teeth on the early side, but he sat up and crawled a little later than average. Spencer, at 8 months, not only just got his first teeth, but he is still not sitting up on his own, he's not anywhere near crawling and just started rolling over both ways less than a month ago. He also had a hard time getting the hang of solid foods. I am in no way worried, nor do I think my son is not smart, I'm just stating facts. Anyway, (nice tangent) Spencer is getting his teeth. Yay!

The End Of My World

I have heard the news that I hoped I would never hear. I guess I could have seen it coming, but I didn't want to. They announced it on the news last night:

Snelgrove has discontinued production of their ice cream!

This is very sad news for me (as I am addicted to ice cream), and I'm not quite sure how to react. I think I may have to go through all of the stages of mourning (and withdrawal). So long to my favorite ice cream (boo-hoo). I will especially miss Canadian Chocolate, Canadian Vanilla, the previously discontinued Canadian Vanilla Brownie, and the only sold in summer America's Vanilla.
And, no, I didn't like it just because the flavors were called "Canadian".

Twilight 2

So, I am finished reading 'Twilight' and I still am not sure what I think of it. I don't think it's quite as good as I was made to think it was before I started it (obviously, since it took me a whole two weeks to read it). I went through varied opinions while I was reading. In the beginning I thought it was interesting and more modern than I expected. I was somewhat intrigued. When all of the 'secrets' started to come out, I started to think, "seriously, VAMPIRES?!" I already knew that was the premise of the story, of course, but when I was actually reading it, my dislike for fantasy stories emerged. So I continued reading, hoping to realize why everyone liked it so much. (I was still enjoying it and didn't like when I was interrupted, but I wasn't LOVING every second.) Then I got to the last few chapters and was very enthralled. I just had to see what happened. By the last chapter, though, I knew it would be a cliffhanger and I would have to read the second book of the series. (In the middle of the book I was considering only reading the one.) I finished the final chapter (Epilogue) and thought I could still go without reading any further. But, I decided I would read the first chapter of 'New Moon' (sneak peek in the back of 'Twilight') just for fun......Now I'm hooked! I feel like I was watching a movie and the power went off right in the middle, and I'm waiting very impatiently for the power to come back on. I AM going to have to read the second book after all, which probably means I am going to have to read all four (or five if I decide to read 'Midnight Sun'). This makes me sort of angry, mostly because I don't have them all in my possession right now, but also because now I have to become a 'READER'. I never thought that was going to happen in my lifetime, let alone when I had young kids at home. Oh, well. So there's my review (kind of) of 'Twilight'. As you can see, I still have mixed feelings about how good the book actually is, but it definitely is easy to read and easy to get hooked on.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I was tagged by my sister with this questionnaire. It is fitting for Valentine's Day, so here it is.

All about my hubby...

How long have you been married? 4 years in April

How long did you date? We didn't really date until we were engaged, but we were friends for 4 1/2 years before we were married.

How old is he? 25

Who eats more sweets? He likes candy more than I do, but I guess since I'm addicted to ice cream, I eat more sweets.

Who is taller? He is. I am 5' 8"; he is 6'

Who can sing better? I think we're about the same.

Who is smarter? I am, probably, as far as academics goes, but he definitely has more creative/technology smarts.

Who does the laundry? He does his own most of the time because he doesn't care about separating and needs his work clothes washed every other day. I do mine and the kids'.

Who pays the bills? Me.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I guess it depends on what you think is the right. He thinks he does, I think I do. (He's on the right if you're standing at the foot of the bed looking at it; I am if you're laying on your back on the bed.)

Who mows the lawn? What lawn?!

Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time, but sometimes he does.

Who drives? We both do, but I definitely prefer driving to riding.

Who is more stubborn? Maybe both equally, but I kind of think he is.

Who asked who out first? I would say me if you count the first time we "hung out", but I guess since he proposed, it was him. :)

Who kissed who first? I kissed him, but only after he begged me to for about half an hour. It's a long story, but he was partly trying to annoy me, I think.

Who said "I love you" first? He did in a letter from the MTC. I was overjoyed! I think he probably spoke the words first also, but I don't remember when.

Who proposed? He did. I would share the story, but it's hard to tell in writing. I thought the way he did it was cute because I was totally surprised (we weren't officially dating), but some people thought it was rude. I was just happy that he asked me!

Who has more siblings? Me. I have 5 siblings, he has 3.

Who wears the pants? He would say I do. I can't disagree, but I don't necessarily agree either. :)

Us in October, 2001

Nursing

This morning I was sitting at the computer and Ethan was playing with his favorite stuffed bear (a pink Care Bear). I heard him say "Mommy, bear eat." I turned to see what he was "feeding" to the bear and he was sitting in the rocking chair with his shirt pulled up, "nursing" the bear. I said "Oh, is your bear eating?" He said "yes" and I left him to his make-believe, but I couldn't help but call my sister to tell her how funny it was. Then, later today he was sitting on the couch "nursing" his bear again and he said "Mommy, bear eat belly button." I said "Is he eating from your belly button?" He said "yes" and continued. I tried to get a picture, but as soon as I got the camera, he stopped. He then looked at his bear and said "Bear, go poopoo?" I asked him if his bear needed to go potty now. He said "yes" and I asked "does your bear need a diaper or does he use the potty?" He said "potty" and headed to the bathroom. I let him walk away and that was the end of that (he couldn't get into the bathroom, and I guess he got distracted). He really likes his bear and he changes it's diaper a lot, but I never thought he would nurse it, especially since Spencer is almost eight months old and he had never done it before today. I thought it was so cute and I hope I can catch him doing it again so that I can get a picture of it.

Twilight

My sister-in-law talked me into reading 'Twilight'. Everyone and their dog has told me (directly or indirectly) that it was good, but I was never interested. Then, Monday, my sister-in-law actually put the book in my hands. Even still, I was skeptical and overwhelmed by it's immense size. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a big reader. In fact, I'm not even a little reader. I haven't read a novel since high school, and I only did it then because it was required. Now that I think about it, I think I only actually finished reading one or two in all of high school. Neither of them were 500 pages, though. I started reading on Wednesday and was interested enough to read again on Thursday. I fell asleep reading on Thursday, but still read yesterday. I think I'm hooked now. I can't put it down until I finish the chapter I'm on, and I am getting intrigued by the story. I am still only on page 110 (I think that may be the most I've ever read in 4 days, and today's not over yet!), so I wonder if I'll really finish it still. Maybe my goal for this year will just be to finish this series (as opposed to 52 books in 52 weeks). I don't know. I am enjoying it, but I can't really say that it's a great book yet since I have nothing to compare it to. I will keep you posted. If I'm like anyone else who has read these books I may post tomorrow that I am finished.

My Night In Numbers

Four...

...The number of hours of sleep I got last night.

Three...

...The number of hours my children were up in the middle of the night.

Four-...

...-thirty: The time I finally got to bed this morning.

Zero...

...The amount of patience and energy I have today!

Shaun's Commercial

Heinz has decided to have another $57,000 competition. Shaun has entered his commercial into the competition again, and we're hoping they'll see his talent this time. Most of you have probably seen it, but please click on the link on the sidebar (under 'Also visit these sites') and watch it again and write a review. Even if you're not interested in the competition, you need to watch it for the humor and to see the great acting done by my sister and her family. I will keep you posted and let you know when it's time to vote.