Holiday Things

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with everyone it was full of food (of course), lots of rough play with uncles and aunts and nanas and papas, our new sport obsession, tennis, sleeping out in the barn, being the ball boy at Stanford (dad), a trip to the city (big kids), and a hike with nana and papa (little kids). Wish you all could’ve been here. We had a lot to be grateful for, and in our Family Home Evening last night we were able to get out of the kids what they were most grateful for (thanks to Lily, she did the entire lesson). Canyon: Jesus & Pirates, Lily: friends, Alice: Uncle Belle. Just a quick side-note, Alice calls Belle (the princess) Uncle Bill. We laugh about it, and called Uncle Bill to show proof, and in the great Uncle Bill fashion, he sent princess plates to Alice to have a little party with her friends…so she truly was grateful for Uncle Belle (as we lovingly call him now).

Now we are officially in the throws of the Holiday melt-down. Our DeHaro Christmas party is on Saturday and so we are busy getting the barn ready and figuring out food and such. It’ll be great fun…it just seems like a lot of work to get there. So if anyone is bored and wants to come and clean out and decorate the barn…feel free to stop in.

Pretty Princess Pantelettes

The inevitable day has come…we are now in the season of potty training. We have been gearing up for this one for a while with Alice. We would read the “Princess and the Potty” every night before bed and talk about princesses, potties, and pretty pantelettes (princess talk for panties). We would even leave a diaper off in the mornings while we were home to “see what would happen.” And the answer to that question: nothing. Apparently Alice has the ability to “hold her water” for hours, nay, perhaps days at a time. So she would never have an accident…and never really went on the toilet either. Eventually she would go in her diaper when we went out. That all changed with a combination of things: we happened to “catch” the pee in the toilet, and we traded the Grandma Laurie approved, but not so pretty, granny training pants for pretty princess panties. That seemed to do the trick and we’ve had few accidents in between. A little side-note for those who are interested: apparently it’s ok to poo in your pretty panties—just not pee.

Anyway, wish us luck…because there’s no turning back, we are officially on the slippery slope (literally) to being trained.

Something About Me

So, I’ve been tagged for the second time. The first time…by my friend Lisa—and I neglected to post. So, I guess the second time I’d better do something about it. My brother-in-law, Shayne, tagged me and so here goes nothing:

Places I’ve lived:
1. Logan, UT
2. Garden City (Bear Lake), UT
3. Hamilton, New Zealand (Yes, Middle Earth)
4. Livermore, California

Jobs:
1. Scout camp merit badge counselor
2. Lifeguard
3. A technician at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in the Biology Dept. (You know that little Human Genome project: that was me).
4. Substitute teacher

Favorite Food:
1. homemade chicken Pot pie
2. York peppermint patties
3. Sushi
4. gyros

Children:
1. Lily
2. Canyon
3. Alice
4. Jane

Favorite Books:
1. Great Expectations—Charles Dickens
2. My Antonia—Willa Cather
3. Heidi—Johanna Spyri
4. Little House on the Prairie—Laura Ingalls Wilder

Favorite Movies:
1. Out of Africa (much to Dustin’s dismay)
2. Spanglish
3. Stranger than Fiction
4. Drowning Mona

Talents and Abilities:
1. Having babies (not sure if this counts…but it’s at least something I’ve done often and hope to never do again.
2. bagging groceries: seriously, I once had a checker ask me, as I was bagging my own groceries, if I had ever done it professionally.
3. faux cleaning: this is making things appear clean, even though, upon closer inspection, they clearly are not.
4. cooking. While I continue to not impress my children with my cooking abilities—I never cease to amaze myself.

Favorite T.V. shows:
1. I don’t watch tv, I mainly just have intellectual conversations with my children in the evenings.
2. all right: Lost
3. House
4. The Office

Favorite places I’ve been on Vacation:
1. Disneyland, CA
2. Epcot Center, DisneyWorld, FL (ok, I know, I’ve turned into a Disney Freak).
3. Backpacking on the Pacific Coast Trail
4. Yosemite

Best time of the Day:
1. Bedtime
2. Naptime
3. Early morning swim workouts (sans kids)
4. Sunday mornings all together

Things I used to like to do:
1. backpacking
2. snow skiing
3. climbing
4. water sports (canoe, kayak, sail…)

Things I like to do now:
1. read to my kids
2. make quilts and Halloween costumes
3. swim/run
4. read with Lily, play pirates with Canyon, play princess with Alice, nurse Jane

There you go, now don’t go asking me to bag your groceries for you. I tag Trieste, Katrina, and Canyon.