The Shook Book

Etsy!

2011-06-08T08:39:00.002-05:00

I know I am waaaaay behind on posts, but I just wanted to let you know that my Etsy shop is open! I've been making these snack bags for my kids, for gifts, for friends kids etc, for a couple of years and Justin kept telling me I needed to be selling them. Well I had sold a few here and there recently and when I received an order for 6 of them I decided to go for it and open a shop on etsy. It's been kind of busy getting it set up and an inventory ready & everything, but it's all done & I'm kind of excited. Now hopefully they will sell!

Go ahead & check it out and pass it on to some friends!

www.4sweets.etsy.com

Hidden Valley Ski Trip

2011-02-14T09:11:00.008-06:00

Justin's Aunt Lorie & Uncle Bob have a condo up at Hidden Valley & Justin has 5 weeks of vacation to use, so we took a few days last week and went up to their condo. My family also skis so my parents came out Thursday and Neal & Kelli came out Friday and joined us. We got up there late Wednesday night. We brought the kids in and plopped them on the couch while we carried the rest of the stuff inside. No one moved a muscle. Tolan doesn't look happy in this picture, but he was excited. He would open his eyes, look around & smile then fall asleep. He did this every couple of minutes until we just carried them to bed.

Having some breakfast

they were excited!

they kept calling their bagels doughnuts

Logan & Tolan slept up in the loft

Ella finally figured out how to crawl last week, so she had some fun exploring

It was SOOO cold & windy! But we got ready to go swimming anyway

This is his posed smile

bundling up to head out. I can't believe we are going swimming, even if it is indoors!

Had to take a picture of Tolan crammed in his seat in his hat & shades

We made it. I love Ella's little swimsuit. So cute. Having a girl is so fun!

The boys said they were fishing with their noodles

This was Ella's first time going in a pool and she actually liked it! She loved splashing her feet in the water.

But when she was done, she was done.

It doesn't look like it, but Tolan had to be coaxed into the water.

Logan was a little more adventurous

making a few laps with Daddy

It was extremely cold! And windy too. (I was very happy to stay inside with Ella all weekend) But we were worried about the boys being cold. (I have no idea why this is underlined & I can't get it to stop...) anyway, there had been much discussion about what the boys would wear under their snowpants & at the last minute my mom grabbed some tights to bring for the boys b/c she had heard that NFL players sometimes wear nylon stockings to keep warm. So yes, our boys are wearing tights! And yes, they did keep them warm!

Here they are ready to get some skis! This was their first ski trip, by the way.

Out on the slopes with Grandma T

and Daddy too!

After a few hours Justin dropped them off & I made them some hot chocolate. Tolan drank every last drop. They both came back happy & smiling. They said they liked skiing and had a good time.

Justin went back out to ski kid-free.

Saturday morning my dad & Tolan built a fire

Then they hit the slopes again. The original plan had been for Logan & Tolan to only ski on Friday and then they would have Saturday to go without the kids. But Logan really wanted to ski again. There was no talking him out of it! Tolan was happy to stay inside with Grandpa, Ella & me.

They don't have the rope tows anymore! They use this moving walkway type thing. This would have been so much easier instead of wasting all your energy trying to hold onto the rope tow when you are just learning to ski!

My mom & Logan (again with the underlining! ??)

Saturday was even colder & windier than Friday, but Logan toughed it out, was happy to get to ski again & even got to ride the big ski lift

Fun times with Daddy!

I'm so glad we took the initiative to plan ahead and schedule in this little trip! It was a nice getaway and fun time with the family. Thanks to Aunt Lorie & Uncle Bob for letting us stay at their place and to my mom & dad who picked up the tab for the skiing part. Thank you!!

Logan's 5th Birthday

2011-02-14T07:52:00.007-06:00

Logan turned 5 this year. His actual birthday was on a Sunday, so we had a Sunday birthday dinner with Justin's family - Erin & Gary, Grandma & Grandpap, & Uncle Jeremy. He said he wanted pizza, salad & Funfetti cake. So I made Grandma (Joan) Shook's pizza & we had salad and Funfetti cake for dessert.

Here's Tolan - he just wanted his picture taken

Logan is ready to open some presents!

checking out his cake

get ready

get set

blow out those candles!!

Present time! A Star Wars shirt (and new jeans & sweatshirt) from Mom & Dad

and a guitar from Grandma & Grandpap

We also got him a Batcave, but I guess we didn't get a picture of that. He specifically (& adamantly) asked for it and we had to go to 2 different stores to find it. But I'm glad we did b/c he LOVES it and it has provided hours & hours of entertainment for him & Tolan.

This was also the year Logan got to have a birthday party with friends. We ended up doing a Toy Story party. It's January in Pittsburgh, so we had to have it inside. I was a little stressed about that & keeping 12 4&5 year olds entertained but I found lots of good ideas for games online and I think it went pretty well. We did a Soldier Search & Rescue in the basement with little green army men, a Woody's Shootin' Gallery with Nerf guns, a Space Mission to save Buzz and a Musical Chairs-style Balloon Toss with Toy Story characters on the balloons. Then we had pizza & cake & presents.

He invited friends from church and preschool and the neighborhood. We invited 12 kids, all 4 grandparents and Logan had a special request to invite Aunt Lorie & the girls and everyone came! Some of the parents also stayed, so we really had a full house!

One of his friends had to leave early, so he opened that friend's present & everyone crowded him in the corner trying to see what he got! He ended up getting lots of stuff for his Batcave, a few Toy Story things and a couple of Star Wars items. He really made out on the gifts!

Next time I need to remember not to put him in front of the sliding glass door for the all the photo-ops...

I love this one of him laughing, having a little moment with his friends - this is why we do it!

I made Toy Story Aliens for the cupcakes. The eyeballs are Mentos with a little dot of melted chocolate.

Can you tell there was a Steelers game later that day? Everyone had on Steelers stuff.

and here's Ella, taking it all in

A few things about Logan at age FIVE (!!)

He loves his little sister. He is so sweet and protective of her all the time. It's very cute - I hope he will always be that way for her, she will be a very lucky sister!

He and Tolan are best buds. They really do everything together. Except preschool - Tolan is always asking if Logan is done at school yet. Logan did get some money for his birthday. He bought 2 Bionicles and said that one was for him & one was for Tolan. Logan is always first to back down in a fight over a toy & share. He has a very sweet disposition & doesn't like anyone fighting or yelling....

Speaking of preschool, he loves it. He goes to Rainbowland Preschool and is proud to tell everyone that! He has enjoyed making new friends there and learning new things. As soon as he gets home he takes any papers or little art projects he has made and saves them all in a little drawer in the basement. He has his own little stash down there. The only time they make it onto the fridge is if I carry them into the house.

He loves playing with friends. Lucca is the same age & lives next door. Every day Logan is asking me if it's 3:15 yet (when Lucca is done with preschool). He would play with Lucca all day every day if he could.

He could also watch TV all day if I'd let him. He's our little TV junkie.

His favorite color is still orange & he is still into Legos. He amazes me with the stuff he builds by himself! He plays with Legos every day. He also really likes his Batcave and he's a little bit into Star Wars too.

He is also a bit of a fashionista. He likes getting new clothes and is already picky about what jeans he will wear. There are a couple of pairs I have bought for him that he will NOT wear. He doesn't like the color & says they are not cool...

He likes to tell jokes. They usually don't make sense, but he tells them anyway & he and Tolan think they are hilarious.

Those are just a few things about Logan. We love him & love having him in our family!

Happy Birthday Logan!

Christmas Day

2010-12-31T22:37:00.004-06:00

Despite that "all closed up" gas fireplace, I guess Santa found his way in!

Justin's parents joined us for Christmas morning at our house. We started out by finding the Christmas Pickle. Logan found it this year. A few days earlier Justin and I were talking about it and said that if Logan found it, he would probably choose someone else to open the first gift & if Tolan found it he would choose himself to open the first gift. The next day we explained the Christmas Pickle to them and then asked what they would do. Logan said, "ummm, I think I would choose Ella to open a present." Tolan scrunched up his face and in a funny little voice followed by a crazy little laugh, he said, "I would pick MEEE!" We thought that was very funny.

But in the excitement of Christmas morning and all those presents in front of him, Logan ended up choosing to open the first gift himself & that's fine b/c he's 4!

Ella investigating her stocking

This was Ella's first Christmas & she just took it all in, playing with all the paper & ribbons & a few toys that she got. She kept busy just hanging out on the floor!

Grandma & Grandpa Shook got the boys Paper Jamz guitars & amps. They are pretty cool for cardboard! The boys love them.

We also got the boys 4 or 5 dress up costumes. They love dressing up so I just stocked up after Halloween when they were all on clearance!

I think the highlight of the morning was when Tolan wore this spiderman costume & rocked out on his guitar. It was hilarious. I will have to try and post the video.

Christmas afternoon we headed up to my parents' house to stay for a few days. The whole family was home - all 5 of us kids! I think this was the first time we were ALL together in about 10 years. The last time was when Neal left for his mission. 2002? So not quite 10 years, but still a LONG time! We managed to snap a picture. It's nothing fancy, but it's all of us! Neal & Kelli, Nate & Kelly, Pete, Jared. We are in front there, then Annabelle (Kelly's daughter), Tolan & my mom & dad and of course Chico down in front!

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-31T22:15:00.005-06:00

Evidence of Santa:
Every year Justin's family gets together on Christmas Eve. I knew it was an old tradition, but apparently it is a 40-year-old tradition! We have lots of yummy food, including a variety of fish which is the Italian tradition. We also have a gift exchange. Here is Ella in front of the tree with all the gifts.

our kids

Justin's grandparents have both passed away, but these are their great-grandchildren that were there this Christmas Eve. Hailey, Madison, Tolan, Logan & Ella.

And here are our kids at home, all ready to go to bed so Santa could come!

Logan and Tolan were very excited for Christmas this year and were very interested and curious about Santa. They both had lots of questions about Santa this year. One day Tolan was kneeling in front of our gas fireplace for a few minutes just staring at it. I had no idea what he was doing. I thought he was going to take some of the rocks out of the bottom or something. But after a couple minutes he put on his confused face and asked me how Santa was going to get in through our fireplace b/c it's all closed up. He was very confused and concerned. A couple days later in the car they were pointing out all the houses that didn't have chimneys.

Christmas Activities

2010-12-31T21:48:00.003-06:00

A couple of days before Christmas we went to the Carnegie Science Center with my family. Tolan has been very obsessed with Star Wars lately. They have a special robot exhibit and as much as T loves Star Wars he was afraid to get close to R2D2. (He was afraid of the other robots too) So this is the best we could get out of him. Speaking of Star Wars, he calls R2D2 "R D dootoo" and he calls Obi Wan Kenobi "O B commodey"

Logan, Tolan & Justin at the big train display

Logan played the part of Joseph in his preschool Christmas Program. He did a very good job, but when his part finally came the little girl who was playing Mary stood right in front of him so we couldn't see him or get a picture. Oh well. He did a pretty good job. His line was "We must find a room that will be best. We have come from afar and we need to rest."

(Logan is in the blue)

Here is Tolan waiting (semi)patiently for the program to begin

We went to a Christmas-themed playgroup and made these reindeer hats. Yes, Tolan picked the pink paper for his hat all on his own & loved having his red Rudolph nose.

Ella eating some puffs at my parents' after Christmas

and here she is playing with a light saber

A few days after Christmas we all went to dinner at the Villa. You can kind of see, there's me, Ella, then Tolan, Pete & Jared. Across the table my dad & my mom.( Justin, Nate & Annabelle were there too)

Ella loved the bread!

Tolan loved his "child's size" spaghetti. Yes, that child-sized portion could have fed 3 adults!

Benihana

2010-12-29T15:21:00.003-06:00

April, a friend of mine since 7th grade, also turned 30 recently and a group of us went to Benihana to celebrate. Our chef was not quite as entertaining as you expect there, but the food was still good and we enjoyed the night out.

Justin's 30th Birthday

2010-12-29T14:52:00.006-06:00

I have some catching up to do. Facebook makes me a bad blogger. It's just a lot faster and easier to post on there, especially now that I have a smartphone. (So if you'd like more updates friend me on Facebook!) I REALLY wish Google would make an app for Blogger!! And speaking of my new smartphone, it has also made me a lazy photographer. I always have it handy & use it to take pictures most of the time instead of getting out the real camera, so I apologize for the lesser-quality pictures.

Justin turned 30 in November. We had just gotten a new computer (and some dental work) so he wanted to keep things simple (i.e. inexpensive). We had dinner with his family on Sunday, the day before his birthday. And then on Monday the kids and I took these balloons and surprised him at work.

Logan has preschool on Mondays at 12:30 so I wanted to hurry up and do it before then so Logan could come with us. I thought that was very do-able, but it turned out not to be! I got the kids all ready to go and loaded up in the car. And then the car wouldn't start. I knew it was just the battery b/c it had died a couple of weeks before when I thought I was going to be early to church, but then the car wouldn't start. So here it was, dead again. I ended up having my neighbor, Amanda, come over and jump the car. Luckily she knew how! I had the cables, but I didn't know how to do it. So once we got the car running I hurried to Giant Eagle to get the balloons. Of course when we get to the desk at the floral dept they have a sign up that they will be back in 15 minutes. So while we waited we decided what we wanted to get. (There was a bit of a decision for the boys to make between Iron Man and Lightning McQueen). After a while no one had come, so I hauled all the kids over to customer service where they finally got someone to help. Once we got our balloons we headed out. It was a very windy day to have 3 kids & a balloon bouquet in tow! However, we made it and Justin was glad that we had made the effort!

Potty Training

2010-11-15T10:10:00.002-06:00

It's that time again. Potty training. One of those times that no one ever told you about before you had kids. We are persevering though. I tried it with Tolan a few months ago & it went about as I expected it to. He did ok, but after a couple days it was screaming, kicking, tantrum, "I don't want to go to the potty!" So we let it go. I knew that Tolan & his personality would not use the potty until he wanted to do it. I knew he COULD do it. He just didn't WANT to. So I let it go & waited. I thought I would be changing his diapers for forever.

I tried making a deal with him and Logan. (Logan still wears a diaper at night) If we get rid of ALL the diapers, we will move the toys up to their room and put up their bunk beds. Tolan didn't care. "I don't want bunk beds!" Alright, I guess I'll wait a little longer. But I got sick of the tornado of toys and moved all the toys up to their room anyway. Right around the same time that I moved the toys upstairs they played at a friend's house. All of a sudden Tolan wanted to use the potty and wear underwear. He really wanted to & was doing it all by himself! He was asking if we could put up the bunk beds yet. I didn't get why all of a sudden he wanted to do it b/c a few days earlier he couldn't have cared less about the bunk beds. Then he said it in passing one day, something about Ryder's bunkbeds..... and that was it! He had been at his friend's house and seen HIS bunk beds & now he wanted them too. Following the crowd is great at 3, but maybe not so much when he's a teenager! I'll take it for now though!

So he has been doing really great. He's been going all on his own. One day we went up to my parents' house, which is an hour drive, and stayed there all day & went to a restaurant for dinner. He had absolutely insisted on wearing underpants that day & I thought we were going to have wet pants b/c there is no little potty at my parents or at a restaurant or on a long drive in the car. He stayed dry all day! He used the bathroom at my parents' and the restaurant. So those were both HUGE steps! I thought we had it made. But no. The next day he wet his pants like twice and pooped in them once. Oh well. We are back on track though. He even wore his underpants to church yesterday and kept them dry. We did take him to the bathroom seven times during church.....he went about 5 drops each time, but he told us he needed to go, he told his teacher he needed to go & he stayed dry so I don't care how many times we had to take him. We are still "training," but we've made REAL progress!

No bunk beds yet though. He has to keep them dry 7 days in a row and Logan needs to get on board with his nighttime diaper.

Preschool

2010-10-31T21:38:00.005-05:00

Logan started preschool this fall. He's going to "Rainbowland." It's just a preschool at a church here in Canonsburg. He goes Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 2 1/2 hours. So far he is really liking it!

Ready to go on his first day!

He was very excited. Justin came home from work for lunch and took him for the first day. Tolan wanted to be in a picture too. (I love how they are both dressed for completely different seasons!)
One of the first things they did was a fall field trip to Simmons Farm. (Actually, the first thing they did was a fundraiser. Yeah. I know.) Thanks to Grandma Shook for babysitting Tolan & Ella - I got to go with him. We went on a hayride, then we went out in the pumpkin patch & each picked a pumpkin, then we went into the cornfield to pick Indian Corn. After that they got to play in a hay maze, 100 ft. slide, and an old firetruck. Then we took the hayride back & got to choose an apple & sample some cider.

He spent most of the time playing on the firetruck.

The weather was really nice that day & I think everyone had a good time. This is where we took the hayride to:

The next big activity they had was a bowling party. The parents are asked to sign up to help at 2 parties & I signed up for this one. Here's an action shot:

Really, with preschoolers bowling there is not a lot of action. They can barely get the ball down the lane! The most action is the employees going up & down the lanes to fetch the bowling balls that don't make it! But they had a good time

Logan told me later that it was "fun except for when it wasn't my turn." There was a lot of waiting around involved for the little kids. But bowling alleys always have lots of loud music so they spent most of that down time dancing to the music from the 50's that was playing. You can see Logan in the background there gettin' down with his friend Ella.

And of course, it's not preschool without snacktime!

It was fun to see Logan interacting with the other kids in his class and having a good time. He's getting to be so grown up!
Here is a picture of his class:

(and I'm still trying to figure out why I have to bring 10 snacks when there are only 7 kids in his class...)

Halloween

2010-10-31T21:03:00.003-05:00

Even though we did not trick-or-treat on Sunday, we had no shortage of candy or costume-wearing activities! The first was the Halloween Walk at the Canonsburg Hospital. They have a fitness trail around the hospital that goes through the woods & all along the trail are different businesses, etc dressed in costume and handing out candy. We went with a few people from church and the boys had a great time. Grandma & Grandpa Shook came along too. Here are all the kids ready to go:

Logan was Ironman, Tolan was Buzz Lightyear and Ella was a dinosaur (I took Logan's old costume from when he was a baby, stuck a pink bow on it & called it good).

Waiting in line for it to get started
The fire dept was at the very end of the trail with candy & the firetruck all open for the kids to see

I think the boys really liked it. As we were walking back to the car they both, separately, said,
"Thanks mom! That was fun!" I guess we will have to go back next year!

They also got to wear their costumes to their class at the library & got candy there too. Logan got some at preschool and then we also had the ward trunk-or-treat on Wednesday.

Our trunk this year:

Ella was ready for bed I think

The boys would rather be eating candy than looking at the camera

After the boys were in bed, Justin and I were checking out their candy (aka, stealing) and Justin found this gummy severed finger in Tolan's bag.....I'm glad we found it first. I don't think he would have liked that.

But it was a good Halloween - they got lots of candy & they really loved their costumes which they have already been wearing for weeks and I don't think they are getting tired of them yet!

This Post Brought to You By....

2010-10-27T21:05:00.002-05:00

Our new computer! I know, it's been a while & this is why!

Our old laptop was a dinosaur of a laptop. It was 6 or 7 years old and huge and SLOW and weighed a ton. The battery no longer worked, so it had to be plugged in all the time. The frame was cracked and broken off around the screen. The screen didn't even stand up anymore - you had to prop it up. Did I mention how SLOOOW it was?? And the last straw was that if you put it on standby and then went to turn it back on, the screen wouldn't come on so you would have to shut it down. But restarting it didn't bring the screen back on either. It took about 6 or 7 tries before the screen would come on. And if you did get it turned on, it was really slow. Really slow. I think I already mentioned that...

So it was time. Here is the difference a few years can make in a laptop. New one on left, dinosaur on right:

Now that I have a computer that works properly, I will be getting all caught up and up-to-date on here!

Portuguese

2010-08-18T20:41:00.003-05:00

When my brothers and I were kids and my Uncle Clay would come to visit, he and my mom always spoke to eachother in Spanish. It drove us all crazy b/c we didn't know what they were saying! Now that I have little kids, Justin and I are always spelling words that we don't want the kids to know we are talking about. It won't be too terribly long before they can spell some of the simple ones like "treat" or "ice cream" or whatever. Justin served his mission in Brazil so he can speak Portuguese and I'm always joking that I should learn it so that we can speak it to eachother like my mom and uncle did in Spanish.

I said it again the other night and afterward I seriously thought about doing it, but didn't know how I would do it. Plus I was a little afraid that if I actually learned it I might be "blessed" by really needing to use it someday and I'm not really looking to move to Brazil anytime soon. So I seriously considered it but didn't think it was really feasible.

The next morning I took the kids to the library, just like I do every week. All summer they have had the same exact display right in the lobby of the library. I knew it was bright lime green and orange, but I couldn't have told you what it was for. I have walked right past it every week since June and never even looked at it. This time it caught my eye and I actually read the signs on the display. They were advertising the new (FREE) online language courses that they now offer through their website.

Well, it was hard not to pass up the "sign" so I guess I'm learning Portuguese.

I've only done one lesson so far and I'm getting a lot of the pronunciation mixed up with Spanish pronunciation, so that's a little tricky. But Justin seems to be excited that I'm actually doing it and it is actually kind of fun.

Wish me luck!

Oh, and my brother also speaks Portuguese so when Uncle Neal visits we can talk to eachother in Portuguese and drive MY kids crazy!

Gary and Erin's Wedding

2010-08-16T13:06:00.006-05:00

At the rehearsal, Ella with her soon-to-be Aunt Erin the night before the weddinggorgeous sunset the night before

It doesn't look like it, but it rained really hard right before the ceremony was supposed to start. It didn't last long and that was it for the rest of the day. After a quick wipe of the chairs, the ceremony was ready to go.

Erin and her dad

A view of the ceremony from upstairs
first dance

cutting the cake. I had the pleasure of cutting the rest of it later
Justin had strict instructions against this at our wedding, but Erin & Gary didn't hold back
Ella and me at the reception

me with the boys

all the little boys - Jaden, Tolan & Logan
Justin & me
playing on the swings
I love these next 2 pictures - Tolan thought it was hilarious when Jaden pushed him on the swing
It was only a matter of time before someone ended up in the pool. I missed it, but Gary jumped in. I don't blame him - it was really hot out to be wearing a black tux
Stan & Arlene, Lynn & Gary dancing

Tolan also did some serious dancing. Justin was with him up at the swings & asked Tolan if he wanted to dance. He said, "yeah" and got off the swing and started dancing. Then Justin asked if he wanted to go down to the dance floor. He said, "yes." He went straight down and started dancing. He danced the entire night. We couldn't get him off the dance floor. It was so funny. Justin has a video on his phone maybe I can post later. He was so cute.

Justin ended up being kind of the runner and the go-to guy at the wedding emptying the garbage cans, clearing tables, cleaning up and whatever else needed to be done. I barely saw him all night. Somewhere in there he rolled his ankle, but kept working. By the end of the night it was all swollen and turned some nice shades of purple over the next few days.

Tolan the "Ring Barrier"

2010-08-03T20:31:00.006-05:00

Justin's older brother, Gary, got married a couple of weeks ago and they asked Tolan to be the ring bearer. Of course he called himself the "ring barrier," but he did a great job. I'll do another post on the wedding later, but for now here are some pictures of Tolan as the ring bearer.

At the rehearsal

so far, so good

me, Emily & Sarah cheering him on down the aisle

time for a snack break after that!"my work is done! time for a ride in the golf cart!"
getting into place on the big day

a refresher and a pep talk from daddy

Hailey took off w/o her flowers

and Tolan took off after her
he did an excellent job!

He got too hot during the ceremony though and escaped to the back

it was HOT, but he was so cute!

He loved having the boutonierre, he was very concerned about his flowers

His last duty as ring bearer - to be introduced with the wedding party at the reception
Great job Tolly!

Idlewild

2010-08-03T19:36:00.006-05:00

On my birthday we went to Idlewild, a kiddie amusement park. My parents came along and we had a great day. The weather was HOT, but there was no rain, and we went on a Thursday so there weren't tons of people. The kids hardly had to wait in line at all, so they got to ride everything they wanted to. We had had great day with no whining and no crying. Even Ella did great!

riding the teacups with my mom

Tolan wore those sunglasses all day!
Ella was drifting off in grandpa T's lap
the boys driving their "Steelers car" Ella hanging out in the shade
Logan's really into this ride!

Logan talked about going to these balls all day long & we finally made it at the end of the day
On our way out they had a guy doing ice sculptures and he made the boys candy cane popsicles.
It was so hot! They look like deer at a salt lick!
Tolan kept his as long as we let him

Summer 2010

2010-08-03T19:11:00.003-05:00

I am way behind on the blogging for this summer. I have about 3 more posts to do after this, so I thought I would just start with some of the random pictures from the summer.

Swimming with the boys at Aunt Lorie's
They don't really swim....if there's no raft, forget about it!

They liked the "hats" from Grandpap. The one Tolan is wearing was used to be Justin's when he was a little boy.

Ella is getting so big so fast!

Tolan has really gotten bigger too. He's looking more like a little boy and less like a toddler!

Camping in Audra

2010-06-22T20:14:00.009-05:00

Last week we went camping with Justin's parents down in Audra State Park, West Virginia. Audra has been a tradition in Justin's family ever since his dad was a kid. I've been hearing about it for years, and now I was finally able to go.

The campsites are back in the woods by this quiet, shallow river. Most places you can stand in it and the water is clean and clear and you can see the bottom even from the land.

Here is our campsite. Justin's parents brought a pop-up trailer and a tent that attaches to the back of your car so you can sleep in the car with the seats down.
We got there on a Monday, so we got to pretty much choose whichever site we wanted. A little while after we got set up it rained really hard, but not for too long. And it stormed once during the night, so we had pretty good weather during the day, although it was extremely HUMID!! We had a good time though. As you can see in the picture above we brought bikes and a tricycle, which got lots of use. We also spent time in the water.

The boys were really excited at first, but this was really the only time they got in. I think they didn't like the cold water and were a little scared of the rapids, although the rapids are not really that rapid.

Here's Logan with Justin's brother, Gary.

We can see Logan and Tolan are both in the raft with Justin from our campsite:
We also spent lots of time in the hammock. I think Logan spent the most time in it though. It was at just the right height for him to swing.
Ella and me

me hanging out with all three of my kiddos

Tolan hanging out on the tube on dry land

Justin played the guitar

Grandpa got the boys squirt guns

There was also a nice little playground for the kids

The boys thought the pop-up trailer was so cool!

And we spent lots of time by the fire!

so cute!
I think Logan was as tired as Ella
heading to bed in the pop-up

and when the boys got a little dirty....we gave them a redneck style bath!

they thought it was funny!

But I think Logan and Ella get the cutest pictures of the week award:
She loves her big brother Logan and he loves her too

I think our first family camping trip (bedsides the cabin in Canada) was a success! I'm sure we will be going back to Audra again.

Ella's Blessing

2010-06-22T19:47:00.003-05:00

We don't get baptized in our church until we are eight years old, but when you are a baby you do get a special priesthood blessing. Ella was blessed the first Sunday this June. Justin did the blessing and both of our dads and my brother Neal were able to stand in the circle and participate in the blessing.

After church we had both families over for lunch and we tried to get a family picture. This never goes very well for us...

But we managed to get a cute one of Logan and Tolan:

I made the skirt Ella wore for the blessing. You can't really see them, but there are some pleats in there. Here's a link to the instructions on the Rubber Punkin.

One Month Old

2010-05-02T14:09:00.007-05:00

Ella is one month old today! Her well-check is tomorrow, so I don't know how much she weighs yet, but at her 2-week well-check she had already gained a pound and I know she has gained more! She is almost too big for her newborn size clothes and she is starting to get chunky in her legs and has a little double chin too. She's getting big fast! But she is doing really well. I am SO grateful that she is a good baby! She hardly ever cries and goes right back to sleep when I feed her during the night. She has been great so far! Hopefully she will continue that night-time routine!

I haven't really posted since she was born, so I have a little catching up to do. For those who are interested, I will tell her birth story. If you're not into those kinds of details, go ahead and skip to the next picture... I was induced at 39 weeks. Logan and Tolan had already been born (without induction) by then, so I was feeling pretty big and anxious to be done being pregnant. I was kind of nervous about being induced, having heard that it takes longer and the contractions are stronger and come faster. Since I am okay with getting an epidural, everyone I asked who had been induced before said it would be no problem. I really wasn't too worried about it, I just didn't want it to take longer. Anyway, so we went in and started getting all set up in the hospital. I think my doctor was ready to get it started b/c he came in and started putting the monitors on my belly and everything. I was kind of surprised and impressed he was doing it b/c the nurses always do it, but he came in and got it started. They wrap two monitors around your belly. One to monitor the baby's heartbeat, and I think the other one is for my heartbeat. I had just had a check-up the day before and had noticed how quickly the doppler they use in the office picks up the heartbeat as soon as it touches my belly. So when he was moving this monitor all over my belly and I wasn't hearing anything and then he started kind of pushing on my belly and trying different places on it to get the heartbeat I started getting REALLY worried. Plus, I wasn't feeling her move around in response to all the pushing. My doctor assured me it was just him not knowing how to hook it all up right, but I was starting to get really scared. I think he picked up on that and got the nurse to come in and do it. He had it on backwards and the baby was fine! So much for me being impressed that he was helping out by doing the nurse's job!

After finally getting all set up, my doctor checked me and I was only 2 cm. They started the pitocin at 3:10 pm and Ella was born at 6:00 pm! When they started the pitocin, the nurse said, "Now, you might not start feeling anything for a while. Maybe an hour." I started feeling contractions almost immediately and was getting my epidural after an hour! A little while after that it was time to push. I pushed through 2 contractions and then she was out. It was definitely the easiest labor I've had. Getting the IV put in was the worst/most painful part of the whole thing, so I think it went pretty well!

Here are a few pictures from her first bath:
And here she is today with Logan:
Immediately after she was born, Justin and I both agreed that she looked like Logan did when he was born. Here are a couple of examples...

Logan:Ella:
Logan and Tolan definitely do not look like eachother, but now that I'm looking at all the pictures, Tolan isn't that far off either.
It was harder than I thought it would be to find good comparison pictures! And just to throw it in there, she also looks a lot like Justin as a baby.

(Sorry, these pics were in one file - I didn't know how to separate them, but Justin is the baby)

and here is the comparison to Ella: If you are bored by now I know what you're thinking. "All newborns look the same." So I will move on to her teeth and be done.

She still has only one tooth. The other has not come in yet, but the one she has is now loose. So I took her to the dental clinic at Children's Hospital. I hate that hospital, but I figured they have probably seen this more than anyone else and will know best what to do. For the most part, they lived up to my past impressions of them and it was a hassle to get an appointment scheduled and then when I showed up for it, they did not have me on their schedule. Not surprised... anyway, they saw me anyway and fortunately the dentist herself was very nice and HAS seen this frequently (I asked). She also said that Ella's case has the best prognosis of any she has seen recently.

She said the tooth is about 40% loose and she could pull it out if I wanted her to, but she would have to use tools to do it. I did not want to do that. She said she only really needed to do it if I was really worried about her choking on it. I wasn't. I just went b/c the pediatrician recommended it and I really did not want someone to yank a tooth out of my newborn baby's mouth. She also said that because it isn't that loose and because there is another tooth under the gums next to it, most likely it won't get looser, but tighter b/c the root will probably continue to develop. She also said that usually this tooth is the baby tooth, so if we pull it out she probably wouldn't have a tooth there until her permanent teeth came in. So we are leaving it for now and going back in a month to see if it's looser.

Spring House Farm

2010-05-02T13:54:00.004-05:00

This past week we went with some friends from church and toured the Spring House Farm, a working dairy farm. I didn't take any pictures at the actual farm b/c I had Ella in a sling and Tolan wanted to hold my hand the whole time, while I also carried a couple of umbrellas incase it started to rain. Luckily we never got more than a little sprinkle of rain.

Ella slept the whole time in the sling, but I think the boys enjoyed the tour. Tolan was pretty clingy around the big cows and held my hand tightly the whole tour, so I was very surprised when we got to the calves and he was very interested. He even wanted to (and did) feed them! Unfortunately I was not quick enough with the camera, but he fed one with a bottle.

After touring the farm they have you go over to their store and show you how they pasteurize and bottle the milk, then you get an ice cream cone. They also had this little play area where I was able to get a couple of pictures.

They never pass up a chance to sit on a tractor!

Teething at 5 Days Old!

2010-04-08T19:06:00.003-05:00

As soon as Ella was born and the doctor put her up on my chest, screaming her first cries, the first thing I noticed is two little white bumps on her bottom gums that looked like teeth. The nurse looked and said it was just that her gums were swollen there where the teeth will come in later. Okay, I guess. And then I just kind of let it go.

Tuesday night we had a rough night. By 4:30 am I had literally had half an hour of sleep somewhere between 5 diaper changes, 4 feedings and several trips in to try and quiet her. So far Ella had been pretty easygoing at night and my milk had just come in that day, so I figured her digestive system was adjusting or something. Then the next day she had her first check-up and I noticed when she was crying while they weighed her that those white bumps were back! After the nurse left I took a closer look and that was definitely a tooth! I told the doctor when she came in for the check-up and she was shocked when she looked. She said that you always read about it in books or hear about it, but this was the first time she had actually seen it. She even admitted that when I told her about it she thought it was just going to be a cyst or something. She was very excited to have seen her first neonatal tooth!

Anyway, she felt it and said that it's nice and sturdy in her gums, so there is nothing to worry about. The only problem would be if it were loose it could be a choking hazard. So when the other one breaks through, and it looks like it will pretty soon, we just have to check to make sure it is not loose either. Otherwise it is fine and shouldn't cause any problems in the future when the rest of her teeth come in. And yes, I'm still nursing her! The teeth are on her bottom gums, so if she's latched on properly, her tongue covers the tooth from hurting me. And no, she will not be eating solids any time soon!

I tried to get a picture, but trying to get a newborn to hold still, open her mouth and keep her tongue and hands out of the way is pretty much impossible, so this is the best I got.

It looks like some kind of light reflection from the camera, but that is a tooth and the little bump to the left of it is the other tooth just under the surface. It doesn't look nice, but I promise I wasn't hurting her holding her mouth like that!

Not that we don't have enough pictures on here of her, but here are couple more normal pictures of her.

So cute!

Home Sweet Home, "Mommy & I came home today!"

2010-04-04T21:15:00.006-05:00

Happy Easter, everyone! Claire and Ella came home today. Grandma Shook made a fitting feast for all to enjoy. Thanks mom! Logan and Tolan were happy to come home, too. They’ve been at Grandma and Grandpa Shook’s house since Thursday evening. They had a great time! The kids got lots of yummy candy from the Easter Bunny. We think Tolan found a new favorite candy…PEZ! Logan enjoys it as well. We discovered his affinity for Pez when he decided to top off his salad with it at the dinner table. We hope that everyone had a great Easter as we remember our Savior’s ressurection. Enjoy these first day at home/ Easter Day pics!

First dress...getting ready to leave the hospital.

Ella snuggled up in her car seat...first car ride!

A dozen roses for Mommy and a dozen for Ella. Daddy made the card from scratch...what can I say, I know how to use a glue gun : )

Boppy pillow cute!

Daddy is teaching Logan and Tolan to be protective of little Ella already.

Daddy's favorite pic.

Isn't he a sweet guy?

Who me? ; )

Ella Whitney Shook... "Today, I had visitors"

2010-04-03T16:36:00.008-05:00

Ella had her first visitors today. Older brothers, Logan and Tolan and both sets of Grandparents! Tolan readily accepted the idea that his little sister had arrived and he was happy to meet her, while Logan took a little time to warm up to her. You will see the transition in the pictures below.

Ella is sleeping and eating well. She fussed the first hour of life, but has been calm since. Let's hope it stays that way :) Claire is doing well, also. We couldn't be happier!

Ella Whitney Shook, Born a Good Friday Baby!

2010-04-02T19:49:00.013-05:00

Claire and I are happy to share with you that Ella Whitney Shook was born this Friday evening, April 2nd at 6:00 pm! Ella is 7 lbs. 8 oz. and 20 inches long. She looks a lot like her oldest big brother, Logan did when he was born...at least for now. Claire will post some comparison pictures in a few days. Labor and delivery went very well. Both baby and Mommy are doing terrific!! Ella is already eating well and loves her 1st binky :) For now, enjoy these pictures! More to come!

I put this Helicopter in here for Logan and Tolan. It landed right outside of our window today.

Egg Hunt

2010-03-30T15:36:00.003-05:00

Before we get to the egg hunt pictures, I had to post these. Logan built a mic stand with Legos and he and Tolan rocked it out!Here they are (a little bit quieter moment) being little bookworms
There was no neighborhood HOA egg hunt and no egg hunt at church either, so we went to Trax Farms for their egg hunt. It was kind of lame (for $7 each anyway) - there was no candy in the eggs. You just picked up a bunch of eggs, dumped them in a big bin and then they give you a dinky little prize bag at the end. That's alright though, I was a little relieved not to have loads of candy to bring home.

There I am looking very large and round!

and we can't go to Trax w/o riding the train...
and the trike track

Stay tuned! I'm getting induced on Friday, and probably coming home from the hospital Easter Sunday - so the next post should be of the baby!

A Few Random Pictures and a Saturday Out

2010-03-21T14:29:00.005-05:00

Here's Tolan with a messy chocolately looking face. I don't even remember what he was eating, but he was happy to have his picture taken.

Here's me at 36 weeks
We take safety seriously in the car

Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday, so we took advantage and got out of the house. We went down to Oglebay with Justin's parents where they have a small zoo, playground, and train ride. Here are the boys with daddy on the train.

I was lame and didn't take any more pictures at Oglebay. Afterward we got some dinner then stopped at Cabelas to see some more animals. Logan was in full swindle mode with the grandparents and you know we didn't leave without a pop-gun and coonskin hat for each of the boys.

We also didn't leave without each of the boys getting his own fishing pole. Here they are practicing in the living room.

They are very serious about this! They are learning all the fishing lingo and practicing up for the real thing. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa Shook!

Dinosaur Museum

2010-02-28T19:34:00.003-06:00

Ever since we moved back to Pittsburgh we've been wanting to take Logan, who loves dinosaurs, to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to see the dinosaur exhibit. Well months went by and and now with the baby coming soon we just decided we better do it planned a weekend with my parents to go. We've been buried in snow for what seems like forever, but we managed to make it down to the museum and Logan and Tolan both had a great time.

Here's Logan with the stegosaurus

can you see his little balled-up fists of excitement over the T-rex??

Logan knows lots of dinosaur names and I was so impressed when I told him the name of this dinosaur and he so casually said, "Oh that's the one that hoots with its crest." And he was right! There he is, looking so smart & cool with his dinosaur knowledge! lol

They had a little area for kids to "dig" up fossils. They got goggles, a chisel and a paintbrush for brushing away the dust. There they are working hard, hunting for dinosaur bones.

Tolan really liked this part and totally cracked me up with his goggles. He looked so funny in them and they had to be uncomfortable, but he did not want to leave!

The museum has lots to see other than dinosaurs, and I was surprised how interested the boys were in the other things, even the rocks and gems. This part was a no brainer though, it's just like the zoo, but the animals can't hide from you, you can always see them perfectly!

Baby Shower

2010-02-28T19:17:00.003-06:00

Since we are having our first girl and didn't have any girly baby gear, and I had never really had a baby shower, Justin's mom was nice enough to throw me a shower. We had it last Saturday and the weather held out and everything turned out really nice. Lynn did a great job organizing and executing the shower and we are now very sufficiently stocked with tons of girly girly things. We've been flooded with pink, but we are so grateful for everyone who came or sent gifts. Here are a few pictures from the shower.

My mom brought the cake, from Fenoglietto's of course.

Erin, Rosalie, and Imogen, made the long trek down to my neck of the woods for the shower and I have Erin to thank for these pictures.

E and me

Kind of a funny picture, but I am trying to explain to Rosalie how very active this baby is!

I am now almost 35 weeks and so ready to have this baby! She did drop last week, so I am grateful to be breathing much more easily and sleeping a little better. But for the most part I am feeling pretty good and grateful to have made it this far with no complications and a relatively easy pregnancy. I'm due April 7 and am convinced (and hoping) she is coming early like Logan and Tolan did, so we will keep you posted!

Sunsafe Swimsuit

2010-02-16T09:20:00.003-06:00

I entered a giveaway for a swimsuit, so I have to post the link to my blog.

The giveaway is at The Rubber Punkin and the sun-safe swimsuit is at Panga Swimwear. I'm wondering if these come in 2 pieces? I would want to be able to use the skirt to wear with a regular swimsuit too.

What We've Been Up To

2010-02-12T15:31:00.004-06:00

Logan wanted to sleep on the floor a couple of nights and it reminded me that we had this giraffe tent. (It has a long giraffe neck and head that you can't see in the picture) So I dug it out of the garage and set it up one day. They've been sleeping in there every night for over a week. Justin and I are wondering why we spent all that money on bunk beds and mattresses?? They love this thing.and don't they look like cute little buddies sleeping in there?

I have been sewing. I've started sewing a lot more in the past year or so. I'm not that good and I don't even know what all the dials on my basic machine are for and I hate buying and following an actual pattern, but I like sewing simple things that I make up myself or can be explained in a few steps on a crafty blog. Like these superhero capes:

Logan & Tolan had been asking us to tie their blankies around their necks, but they are a bit too bulky so I made these.
They stay on better and look cooler than a blanket anyway.

Here's the link if you have superhero wannabes at your house too.

I've also been sewing a lot of baby stuff too. I made this baby sling from a crafty blog as well. I'm not sure how I'll be grocery shopping with 3 kids since Logan isn't in school yet and Tolan still needs to ride in the cart for me to maintain some level of sanity. So I figure I'll at least need to use this at the grocery store. I've never used a sling, so hopefully I will like it.

I've also been making burp cloths. I used the Gerber prefold diapers. I'm not really a fan of the birdseye weave or whatever it is, but that's all that I could find. Then I washed, ironed and embellished them with fabric and ribbon scraps.

These last ones are appliqued. No close-ups b/c they aren't that good, but they look alright from far away.

Snowmageddon 2010

2010-02-07T13:22:00.004-06:00

So, we got a little bit of snow this weekend. It started Friday at noon and just kept coming down nonstop until Saturday afternoon. Justin waited until it was done before he ventured out with the shovel.

He had his work cut out for him! Somewhere near that lamp post is our front staircase that now looks like a nice little hill. And somewhere underneath the flat part is our driveway.

Time to get started! The boys loved it and doesn't Justin look excited too??
Logan thought he was so funny when he found a "chair."
waist-deep for Logan, but I don't think he sank the whole way down in either.

Here is our road. It doesn't look like it, but they sent us PennDot for this one. We usually just get the dinky Borough of Canonsburg pickup truck with a scraper attached.

Long after the boys got cold and came inside for hot chocolate, Justin kept at it and finally finished when the sun started to go down. Here he is with his mountain of shoveled snow.
finally DONE!

Logan's Photography

2010-02-07T13:00:00.004-06:00

Logan has discovered how to use the camera and he gets a real kick out of it. He is also very proud of his "art" and claims to be an "artist." So he got his own blog post. Here is a sampling of his work.

The Lego Pirate Ship

Logan, A Self Portrait

Pajama Feet

an abstract of Tolan

Pantry

not sure what to call this one

The Corner of Clutter

Paparazzi

It's A Cold Day

On the Track

Night Soup and Playgroup

2010-01-31T13:54:00.003-06:00

Logan got a gift card to Toys R' Us for his birthday and we went one Saturday and he picked out a couple of things. Then we went running around doing other errands the rest of the day and I totally forgot about his new toys. When we got home hours later he kept asking for "night soup" and I had NO idea what he was talking about! I finally remembered, and knew that he was really asking for his knight suit!

He loves this thing and it comes with a sword & shield, battle ax and hand guard thing so there is enough for his brother to play along...every mother's dream - her two young sons battling it out with swords and axes!

Our church's playgroup is back on a regular schedule and we are so happy to be getting out of the house and spending time with other kids (and moms). This past week we met at the Lilliput Play Center. They sell little miniature playhouses, but you can pay to get in and play on their display village. The boys absolutely loved it! Everyone else in our group left around 1:30 to go home for naps or pick up older siblings from school, but my kids were happy and still having a good time so we stayed and got our money's worth until they closed at 3! And Tolan didn't even want to leave then.

I think the firehouse was their favorite.

Across from the firehouse there was a gas station/mechanic's shop. Tolan used the gas pump as a firehose, pretending to spray it all over the place & put out fires. We will have to make sure he knows this is not a good way to put out fires in real life!

Tolan fixing things in the mechanic shop

The boys liked the firehouse, but the ice cream shop was my favorite. Here's Logan hard at work scooping some ice cream.

All ready for a customer

They did spend a good bit of time in this one, so they must have liked it.

Logan played doctor for a while too

They also had a little grocery store and a barber shop/salon which I don't think they really played in at all. I didn't take any pictures but they had a train in the middle of the "village" which they spent a lot of time on too. We will have to go back there another time, I think it was a hit!

Logan's Birthday, Parts I, II & III

2010-01-07T09:04:00.004-06:00

Logan just turned 4 and he got a whole birthday weekend.

Part I

We spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at my parents' house, so we celebrated his bday while we were there. We went to see Alvin & the Chipmunks, the Squeakuel and then had cake & presents. After the movie, my brother was playing around with Logan and Logan apparently hurt his arm. His elbow in particular. He was okay, but he was very tired and milked it for all it was worth, so it took a bit of coersing to get him into the party mood. (That's why he's not looking so excited in these pictures.) My mom was "the chosen one" and he didn't want anyone else to hold him or touch his arm. At first he liked the idea of Dr. Grandpa checking out his arm, but when he found out that Grandpa doesn't keep his white doctor's coat at home, he no longer wanted my dad to look at his arm.

He managed a little smile for his presents

My dad rigged up a little sling for his arm, but the cake seemed to do the trick and was the magical medicine that brought him back to his normal self and he was playing with his new toys in no time.

Part II

The next day we had to run a few errands in Robinson, so while we were out in the bitter cold and wind and snow we took Logan out for a birthday dinner. He said he wanted McDonald's, but we knew anywhere with a cheeseburger on the kids menu would be just fine, so for Justin's and my sake we went to Joe's Crab Shack instead. We let him pick a dessert off the kids menu after he ate his cheeseburger and he picked the build your own ice cream sandwich sundae.

He loved it!

If Logan had a dessert, we knew Tolan would have to have one too. So he got a rice krispie treat that you get to paint with sundae toppings.

He loved it too. These were very cute ideas that I may have to use sometime in the future.

Part III

On Sunday we celebrated Logan's birthday with Justin's side of the family. Justin wanted to do a fancy cheese tray, so he picked all the cheeses at the store the day before and planned a great cheese tray. I love Costco's cakes. Our membership is about to expire and we aren't going to renew it b/c eventhough I prefer it over Sam's, it just is not in a convenient location and we just end up going to Sam's all the time. Anyway, so I wanted to get a cake before it expired.

very nice. It's huge, I know. Our freezer is stocked even after sending some home with people...

Logan was in a bit of a better mood this time, but he covered his ears when we sang to him!

After lots of tries and at least one nice spitball on the cake, he got all the candles blown out.

He also got lots of presents!

Happy Birthday Logan! We sure love you!

Happy (5th) Anniversary!

2010-01-04T20:49:00.006-06:00

Justin and I hit the five year mark this New Year's Eve. We've had 5 really great and blessed years. Since we were back in Pittsburgh, with the nearest temple being the one we got married in and free babysitters close-by we thought we would take advantage of it and make a trip out of it. We left the boys with my mom and dad for a few days and headed to Washington D.C. to relive our wedding experience.

The only thing we really changed was our hotel. For our wedding we stayed in the Mayflower Renaissance downtown, but we were okay with saving a few bucks and not going back to that particular hotel. Instead we stayed at the Westin at Tyson's corner so we could go to Maggiano's when we got there. We had our wedding luncheon here and Maggiano's has remained one of our favorite restaurants ever since. We've never really lived close to one, so we were excited to go back.

Warning: we did not get ANY good pictures on this trip, but I really made an effort to actually take them, so I'll post them anyway...

My eyes are closed. Nice. Our server took this for us and then we told him we were there for our anniversary and that we'd come there after our wedding, etc. A few minutes later he came back with 2 glasses of champagne. After an awkward moment, we thanked him but explained that we don't drink and anyway, I was pregnant. His manager happened to see all this too and we had all had a good laugh. But the food was good and we had a great dinner. They have the best lasagna - we get it every time!

After dinner we went to see Avatar. We had to wait in a line before they opened the doors to the theater, but they made that line about 5 miles from the actual door the theater. So by the time they let people through all the dorks went into stampede mode. It was crazy! Seriously, no need to run down a pregnant lady for a seat in a stupid movie. I was very annoyed, but oh well. Here we are in our 3D glasses, and yes, another lovely picture of me with at least one of my eyes closed:

After this we got in trouble for using a camera in a movie theater. Shame on us! And btw, Justin and I both agreed that we could do without the 3D. They still need to work on the technology a little bit - they are just trying to make an extra buck right now. So don't bother paying the extra $$ to see it in 3D - we thought it actually took away from the movie.

The next morning, on our actual anniversary, Justin scraped our car out from under a layer of ice and we headed to the temple where we were married. Since there had been freezing rain the night before the temple was pretty empty and even quieter than usual.

No fancy photographer or posed pictures this time, just the arm-reach-self portrait! There was plenty of snow there this time and even though I had really wanted snow for our wedding day pictures, I realized that with all that snow would have been all that slush - and my dress would have been a mess!

After the temple we headed for home, but made one more stop for what my memory had deemed the most delicious chicken tenders ever. The night before our wedding we took all the wedding party to a restaurant near the hotel we were staying in. Bugaboo Creek. None of us had ever eaten there before, and I got the chicken tenders and have wanted to have them again ever since. But Bugaboo Creek is an east coast chain, so we hadn't come across it since. Here they are, the Snowbird Chicken Tenders:

So good. The breading is so light and crispy and the chicken underneath so tender. And the BBQ sauce and honey mustard so good! Okay so I'm sounding like the chicken tenders were the best part of our little anniversary getaway. They weren't. We had a really great time. I'm glad we were able to go (thank you mom & dad!). And I'm glad we've made it so easily through the first five years of married life. We have truly been so blessed and we look forward to the next five and beyond!

Christmas

2010-01-04T20:19:00.005-06:00

Every year Justin's family all gets together Christmas Eve for thie r version of the traditional Italian feast of the 7 fishes. After eating the fish and loads of other food we have a gift exchange, which the boys waited anxiously for all day long.

Not the greatest picture of Logan, but he's excited that the moment has arrived.

Here's Tolan "Waa Hoo"ing over his present before he even had it unwrapped.

Later that night, at our house, Santa dropped by and left a few things:

The boys didn't need any help this year. They knew exactly what to do!

They were very excited. They liked each present they opened and we had to remind them that they had more to open even though they wanted to play with the one they had in hand.

We got Tolan a little drum set. We thought that Logan liked music when he was little, but Tolan seems to like it even more and we knew he would love to have a drum set. For Logan, this was the year for Legos.

Justin took the "after" picture of all the loot.

Then he tried to get one with the boys in it.

Come on Dad, we just want to play!

After that we had a yummy breakfast with Justin's parents and then later that day we headed up to my parents' where the boys opened more presents, but I guess I didn't take any pictures. Overall we had a great Christmas and the boys have been busy ever since with all their new toys.

Goodbye 2009!

2010-01-04T10:45:00.004-06:00

2009 seems to have gone out with a gluttonous bang. The holidays have been so crazy this year that gluttonous seems to be a good word to describe the "glutton" of activities, parties, things to do, things to get done, new toys for the boys and of course, the gluttony of food we've had over the past 5 or so weeks. We had Justin's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, our anniversary, New Years, Logan's birthday and a multitude of family gatherings, church and work and friends' parties and all the loads of food and running around and everything goes along with all those things. (Not to mention I still need to upload pictures and blog about all those things). I'm not complaining though, I know we are blessed to have so much and have so much to do, but I'm exhausted. I'm so ready for normal life to resume and to move on from 2009.

Justin and I celebrated our 5th anniversary this New Year's Eve and I think I can say 2009 was the hardest year out of our 5 years. In the grand scheme of things and the grand scale of hardships you can experience, ours really haven't been that bad. But for our little family and our own little scale, this year was probably the hardest. January started out with me going to Utah for my grandmother's funeral. I didn't live near her for most of my life and when I finally did, she had Alzheimer's and didn't really know who I was anyway. But going to her funeral affected me alot more than I expected as I learned things about her and her life I had never known. We followed up in February with a completely unexpected miscarriage which is one of those things you hear about and sympathize with, but never really understand the emotional and physical toll it takes on someone until you go through it. The miscarriage also happened to start its process on the same day Tolan was having surgery on the inside of his upper lip. So that was all very hard, but we had some great friends help us through it with meals and tons of support.

We knew it was coming on the horizon, but not long after all that we came to the decision that it was now time for a change in Justin's job. There are lots of "fun" things that go along with working for a large company in corporate America that I won't go into, and those things along with just the normal progression of a career and the guidance of the Lord in our lives, we knew it was time for change and we felt strongly that we needed to get back to Pittsburgh. We didn't know how or why, but we were going. This was just the beginning of a very long and stressful process - finding a job in Pittsburgh, figuring out how financially and logistically we were going to move to Pittsburgh, getting our house on the market, trying to sell it, preparing to move & packing up everything on our own this time, then the move itself. Moving is so stressful on so many levels and all the processes of this move just seemed to drag on for most of the year.

Once we actually packed up and tearfully drove out of our driveway and across the country, we stayed with my parents for a few months. That was truly a blessing, but also a trial. It's hard to move back in with your parents after living on your own with your own family. And while we were there we were still stressing about our house sitting empty and unsold in Texas. We were also trying to figure out where we were going to live here amidst a very unpromising and discouraging hunt for a rental. But after many prayers and lots of faith, it did all work out. We unexpectedly found out I was pregnant in July and eventually our house rented out in Texas, we found a great house to rent here for a really great price and moved in the week I would have been having the baby that I miscarried in February. So after all the stress and trial everything did work out.

We are so glad that whole ordeal is over with. Moving gets harder every time and I never want to move again unless the company pays for it and hires a moving company! So we shall see. We are settled in here and really enjoying having family close-by. I only had one living grandparent growing up, and she lived far away, so it's been really fun to see my kids get to have all four grandparents here, healthy, close-by and eager to be with their grandchildren.

We do miss Texas a lot though, and that has been hard. We lived in Austin for 2 1/2 years - the longest we have ever lived anywhere and long enough to establish good friendships and have it feel like home. I'm not the most outgoing and social person, so it's not easy for me to just make new friends. Making friends when you are married (for me anyway) has been different from making friends in high school or college, and then different all over again when you have kids. I was just establishing those good friends that I could call up anytime just to talk and not feel like I was interrupting her day or just to say, "my kids are driving me crazy, why don't you come over with your kids and we'll hang out while they play." It was also nice that our husbands were friends too. Justin has made some friends at church here, but they aren't married, so I'm a little jealous and still missing having that kind of friend here.

I guess the only other hard thing we've gone through this year was Tolan's little adventure to the Emergency Room and all the weeks of bandaging and doctor's appointments that followed. But he's fine and it definitely could have been worse!

I know our trials this year really haven't been that great and I know we have grown from them and many have even turned out to be blessings in disguise, but goodbye 2009 and welcome 2010! Who knows what 2010 has in store for us. I know it has at least one thing in store for us and that's what I need to focus on now that the busy holiday season is over....

There are only about 10 or 11 weeks until this baby could realistically come. I am due April 7, but Logan came 14 days early and Tolan 7 days early. So we could be seeing this baby in 10 or 11 weeks. And are we ready???

This picture pretty much sums it up:
That's her room. We are so not ready. See that little pile of pink there on the floor? That's about all this little girl has. A carseat cover. A few onesies and her designated "blanky." No crib set up. No baby paraphernalia unpacked. No girly wardrobe purchased. Oh, and no name. We are totally clueless on the name. Her middle name will either be Celest (mine and my mom's middle name) or Whitney (my ancestor's last name). So do not ask. We do not have a name for this poor girl and I need to get into the nesting mode!

Snow Day!

2009-12-20T14:17:00.005-06:00

We did have a little dusting of snow a couple of weeks ago, but this was the first REAL snow for our little Hawaiian and Texan children who have never really seen snow. It snowed all night Friday and we woke up to a winter wonderland Saturday. The boys were very excited to see everything all white.

I finally convinced them that they needed to wear their big puffy coats if they wanted to play in the snow, and we made it outside.

Tolan is just venturing outside the garage and Logan is already digging in!

Justin got to do one of the jobs that I definitely don't mind pregnancy exempting me from. Shoveling snow!

Logan jumping into the snow

Learning to make snowballs

Tolan is having fun too, although he did not like any snowballs tossed at him.

We got them a sled for Christmas, but pulled it out early since we had a lot of snow and Justin was home to help them with it.

Tolan didn't like snowballs, but he liked the sled!

We really stayed out for a long time. I was surprised that they weren't cold and asking to come in! Justin and I were the ones that were cold and said it was time to go in for some lunch. They hate wearing big puffy coats, but they really liked playing in the snow.

Family Pictures

2009-12-14T19:31:00.003-06:00

This was a first for us. We had never actually planned, scheduled, arranged to have an official family picture taken before. We decided it was time this year and had Justin's Aunt Lorie take them for us. We took tons, but of course only got a few good ones - it's really hard to get the boys to look at the camera. Here are a few of the good ones:

Gingerbread Cupcakes

2009-12-14T19:20:00.004-06:00

Tonight for FHE treat we made gingerbread cupcakes. I saw the recipe in a magazine and the boys, strangely enough, have really been liking gingerbread this year so we gave it a try. I let the boys help me and it wasn't too much of a disaster, so I took some pictures.

my little helpers

licking the bowl and spatulas clean

enjoying their hard work. This is the part that was the disaster! They made such a mess eating them! But they were good....

and gingerbread makes your house smell sooooo good!

Silly Logan

2009-12-11T12:52:00.002-06:00

Apparently Logan is a light sleeper. He and Tolan share a room that is on one of the corners of the house. If it is windy or raining outside Logan always complains that "it's too noisy!" And being on the corner of the house, sometimes it is kind of noisy. So one night I offered a solution:

A sweatband over his ears! It worked great. The last few nights it has been very windy and he keeps coming in our room saying he can't sleep in the middle of the night. So I got out the sweatband again, and he didn't come into our room last night! There he is sound asleep!

I also can't figure out what to do with his hair. It seems like no matter what, it just sticks up. So I thought I would let it grow out a little in hopes that it would lay better if it were longer. Nope. Still sticks up.

I couldn't take it any longer and it was time for a haircut. I guess we'll just have to keep cutting it short.

It looks much better! Tolan got a little trim too, just around the ears and at his neck. Tolan has two, opposing cowlicks in the back, so hopefully as he grows out of his fine baby hair, he won't have the same sticking up problem....but he probably will.

Justin's Birthday

2009-11-23T11:41:00.003-06:00

We had some friends in Austin who had a family tradition of doing a pie night the week before Thanksgiving so you can eat and enjoy your pie without being stuffed full of turkey and everything else. We thought it was a great idea and continued it this year along with Justin's birthday celebration this weekend. We had all of his family over for a housewarming/birthday party/pie night.

We stuck Justin's 29 candles in a cheesecake and sang Happy Birthday

Tolan brought the stool out of the bathroom so he could reach to help Daddy blow out the candles. He had been bringing me the candles out of the cupboard all week and practicing up on his singing - he was very excited about Daddy's birthday.

Yay! Happy Birthday Justin! We love you!

As for the pie spread, here is the "before"

and "after"

It doesn't look like we ate that much - there is a lot of pie left, but we were all stuffed. It was a great way to kick off Thanksgiving week and Justin's 29th year! And we are grateful to be able to spend it with family close-by this year too.

It's A Girl!

2009-11-16T20:42:00.003-06:00

I had my 18-20 week ultrasound on Friday (the 13th) and it looks like we are having a girl!

Every new baby changes the dynamic of your family, but I think adding a girl to a family of boys will be an even bigger change! We are excited though and I am excited to finally be able to buy cute girly stuff and not have to always be mad about the extremely unproportionate amount of options in the little girl section compared to the little boy section at the store. Now I can take advantage of it, although I've resisted and haven't bought a single girly item yet.

Anyway, while I'm posting about the baby, I thought I would post a belly picture too. My friend Erin never misses a photo-op, so this picture is from her. (Thanks E!)

I think I'm finally past the "is she pregnant or just fat?" stage and I'm looking pregnant, but not huge.

Now we have to start thinking about names. We are so bad at this. We don't have a single idea yet. So wish us luck, and we probably won't decide until they bring in the birth certificate!

Peasant's Feast

2009-11-16T20:23:00.005-06:00

Luckily for us and the rest of Erin's friends, Erin is a great friend. She is one of those people who really makes an effort to maintain friendships, and that is why she has so many friends! She is always organizing events and get-togethers and now that we live back in the area, we get to participate in some of those events.

This week we got to attend her annual Peasant's Feast - Thanksgiving dinner with friends. This year, Rosalie's parents were kind enough to allow us to invade their home for the afternoon and I think everyone had a good time and left with a very full stomach. Here are a few pics that Erin took and I stole off her Facebook page:

Looks like we are about the only ones not wearing any Steelers paraphernalia.

Half time meant meal time! Everyone contributed lots of good food

Tolan in the mix

Logan, Tolan and Imogen kept themselves occupied the whole afternoon.

We sang Happy Birthday to Anna, and the boys wanted to blow out candles too, so we did it all over again for them.

The whole group

Thank you to Erin and our hosts, the Mercurios!

Halloween

2009-11-16T19:58:00.003-06:00

Way overdue on the Halloween post, but here it is. I kept it simple this year and recycled some very old Halloween costumes - costumes that we wore when we were kids. I wanted some pictures of me and my brother wearing them, but my parents are undergoing a bit of a renovation in their house and the pictures are all packed away for the time being. But here are my boys as a bat (Tolan) and a dragon (Logan).

They don't care that their costumes are over 20 years old - they just can't wait for the CANDY!

This was at the ward Trunk-or-Treat. We also went regular trick-or-treating in our neighborhood on Halloween, but I didn't take any pictures that day.

And here is Justin pretending to eat the candy.

Even though the costumes were really old, the boys liked them and I even had a few people comment that they used to have some costumes just like them! They must have been popular back in the day.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-18T12:43:00.005-05:00

You can't have fall without a pumpkin patch! So we went to Trax Farms last weekend with Justin's parents. I think it was a success and we'll have to go back next year! Here are some pictures.

The boys both loved their pony rides

Tolan had a little help from Grandpap on the trike track

Logan only needed a little help on the turns

They had several huge piles of pumpkins. Great photo-op right? Not with our kids. Climbing on pumpkins was not on their agenda that day. This is about all we got.

Climbing on tractors however, no problem!

This one makes me laugh

On our 3rd hayride of the last couple months - at least this one was not in the rain!

They played on a pirate ship

and went for a train ride - Logan of course, is in the orange barrel! He loves orange.

waiting in line for the train ride. I think the train was their favorite of the day.

These are the pumpkins we did earlier in the week for this year.

I told Logan to draw on some paper what he wanted his pumpkin to look like and I would put it on the pumpkin. He did a great job! It's kind of hard to see, but here's his drawing:

NO MORE BAND-AIDS!!

2009-10-07T13:51:00.004-05:00

For the past six weeks or so since Tolan's injury, he's been going around like this:Every other day we would take off the band-aids, rinse with saline, apply the wound powder and put on three new band-aids: 2 criss-crossed over the tip of the finger and one wrapped around his finger.
In-between bandage changes, the band-aids and the finger had to stay dry. So that meant covering with every meal and especially for baths. So he's been taking his baths like this:

Two socks and a baggie held on with an elastic drawstring. I just wash him and get him out before it gets wet. There was no playing in the tub for Tolan.

We were also going to the plastic surgeon for a quick check up every 2 weeks...and I really mean quick - literally 30 seconds (and $25) to say, "looks great. come back in 2 weeks." We went in yesterday for his check-up and his finger was healed enough that we don't need any more band-aids! Yay! Our life just got a lot simpler!

And incase you were wondering, here's how it looks:

It looks pretty good and will probably continue to heal some more and possibly get a little more length as he gets older. We'll just have to see. But we've come a long way!

80's Party

2009-10-04T14:27:00.004-05:00

My friend Erin, who I've been friends with since 7th grade, is turning 29 this month and she wanted to kick off the last year of her 20's with a big party - and she chose an 80's Prom theme. We left the kids with Justin's parents for the night and headed up to Kittanning in our 80's gear.

Justin thought the crimped side-pony put it all over the top. He just couldn't get over how ugly my hair was.

This is what Justin was going to wear, until we went to his parents' and he found this:

Love the white shoes! We were brave and went out to dinner on the way to the party. I definitely caught a few people looking us up and down and no doubt, wondering what the heck we were wearing.

And here we are getting our Prom picture (with my eyes closed, as usual).

That's Erin, Prom Queen, on the left, then me, Rosalie and Imogen, who also got dressed up for the party.

Plenty of 80's karaoke

And the Thriller dance

And Justin tried out a couple pieces from Erin's dad's outfit. Nice!

Erin has lots of good sports for friends (and family) b/c everyone at the party except maybe 1 or 2 people were dressed in 80's attire and I think everyone had a great time! Thanks Erin and Happy Birthday!

Check Out My Widget

2009-09-24T13:52:00.001-05:00

I've seen this widget on TONS of other people's blogs, and I just wanted to have one too. Check it out over on the right >>>>>>>>>>

My Latest Project

2009-09-17T14:26:00.004-05:00

When my mom's washer died this summer, I spent a day at the laundromat and one of Justin's shirts must have gotten tangled in the high-temp dryer somehow b/c a little bit on the shoulder looked like it melted and got a hole in it.

Either way, it was ruined.

But it was a nice Nike Dri-fit shirt that was otherwise in good condition and I hated to just throw it away. So I used it to make these:

No I did not think of it myself. A while ago my friend Emily posted on her blog some pants she made for her son out of a t-shirt. So I searched around and found the directions online and made my own.

I even worked in the Nike swoosh and the University of Phoenix logo from other places on the shirt.

I think they turned out great! I was proud of myself and Logan was a great model!

Click here for the link where you can find the instructions. They are really easy. The hardest part was using my mom's sewing machine that is much fancier than mine.

Children's Museum

2009-09-17T13:52:00.005-05:00

Bob the Builder has been at the Children's Museum all summer and we finally made it downtown to see the exhibit. It wasn't anything wonderful, but the boys liked it. Tolan and Scoop

Logan, Tolan and Muck

I think this one is called Roley

a little slide

Wendy's trailer

Logan going down a slide in the "Garage" exhibit

Tolan loved having 3 tables of "choo choos" all to himself for a few minutes

Logan sending a ball up a pulley system to a track along the ceiling

The museum had all kinds of things that are a nightmare for whoever has to clean them up at the end of the day. Here they are playing in some sand....

and some birdseed....

and some water!

they give you little raincoats and even some crocs so your shoes don't get wet. We passed on the crocs...

Afterward we went to BRAVO for some yummy Italian. Austin hardly has any Italian (Olive Garden doesn't count), so we were happy to be back at Bravo. However, our server misunderstood our order and brought a mac n'cheese and an order of fries for EACH of the boys instead of one to share. So we had TONS, but that mac n' cheese was sooooooo good!

Picnic and a Wagon Ride

2009-09-12T08:37:00.005-05:00

There is a couple in my parents' ward whose grandchildren are well past the age of thinking tractor rides are exciting - so they invited us out for a picnic and ride on the wagon behind his restored 1940-something John Deere tractor last night.We completed the picnic with some marshmallows over the fire. "Marshmallow" is one of my favorite words that Tolan says and it sounds more like "mosha meadow." I love it.

"OH NO!" is his new favorite phrase - can you see it coming as his mosha meadow falls off the stick?

Logan was cool with his marshmallows though. He even tried roasting it himself.

Big bite

After we ate we loaded up onto the wagon.

My parents came along for the ride too.

As you can see, we didn't just go for a ride through a field - We went off-road over the hills and through the woods!

Thanks to Brother and Sister Morrison for a great evening!

Pirates Game

2009-08-31T17:29:00.002-05:00

I am waaaay behind on keeping the blog updated, so the next few posts will bring you up-to-date on some of the things from our busy summer with family.

Way back in July we went to a Pirates game with my parents, some of the Cub Scout families from church and even Pete was able to come along! We had good time despite a little bit of rain and the Pirates even won the game!

As you can see, the boys are totally into the game.

Tolan jammin on a family favorite - Twizzlers!

Logan loved his foam Pirate sword that I swindled his dad into buying b/c it would last longer than an ice cream cone!

PNC Park opens up to one of the 3 rivers (the Allegheny) and views of the beautiful Pittsburgh skyline. The firworks after the game were excellent! Better than a lot of 4th of July fireworks I've seen.

A West Virgina Wedding

2009-08-31T17:28:00.003-05:00

Two of Justin's cousins (sisters) got married this summer. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it to Sarah's wedding at the beach in North Carolina, but we were able to make it to Natalie's a couple of weeks later in West Virginia.

We tried to take advantage of the wedding decor and get a family picture, but we did not have any luck in getting one really worth sharing, but here's about as good as it got:

As you can see, the wedding was outside - and out by the barn the boys were delighted to find a tractor!

The boys enjoyed some slushies on the hot and HUMID day.

The wedding favors were shot glasses and Grandpa Shook had a great time showing Logan the ropes. After a few (pretend) shots, Logan tipped over his chair and fell to the ground. He was fine, and we all had a good laugh that thats why 3-yr-olds should not have shots.(No we [including Grandpa Shook] do not endorse drinking...especially for children....we were just joking around...don't call CPS)

Tolan's 2nd Birthday

2009-08-31T17:27:00.002-05:00

One benefit of living near family is that you get to celebrate birthdays twice. While we were w/Justin's parents the weekend of the wedding we celebrated Tolan's birthday and then celebrated it again with my parents the day after his birthday, which was August 12. Two years went fast, but remembering the days when he was a newborn seems ages ago and I love the happy, smiley, determined, and independent young man he has turned into - all at the age of 2!

Isn't he cute? Enjoying the birthday serenade at Grandma & Grandpa Shook's

And loving all the new toys!Mommy and Logan enjoying the par-tay
It seemed like we had had a lot of cakes this summer and couldn't bring myself to make us another cake, so I used some scraps from one of the days I worked at the bakery and made a birthday trifle instead.

taking a deep breath to blow out the candles...

"Yaay! Did it!" He was so proud of blowing out one candle. I think Logan finished off the rest...

Playing with the next batch of new toys

Justin was showing him how to use the new tee....

but he has his own ways of doing things...

Happy Birthday Mr. T!

Other Random Pictures and an Update on Tolan

2009-08-31T17:26:00.002-05:00

The boys enjoying some popsicles at a "sleepover" at Grandma Shook's. I always have them eat their popsicles shirtless. And Logan loves sleepovers at Grandma Shook's - one of these days we will have to have a sleepover without mom & dad!

This is Tolan leaning against the original door at his Great(x5) grandfather's store - the N.K. Whitney store in Kirtland. Tolan was too noisy for the tour inside, so we waited outside and I thought it was a great photo-op of him leaning against the same door his great(x5) grandfather probably once leaned against - but by the time I got the camera out, he was over it.

Unfortunately Tolan kept me pretty busy and I did not take more pictures of this trip to Kirtland where we met up with my mom's brother Lester and his family who were visiting from Utah. We had a great day visiting with them in Kirtland and hope they will come back our way again soon!

It's been a long time since we have been to amusement park when I was not pregnant, so this summer for my birthday Justin and I went to Cedar Point, which is basically an amusement park in Ohio mostly of roller coasters. This was our favorite ride of the day, which starts out launching you to 120 mph in less than 4 seconds then shoots you straight up 420 feet at a 90 degree angle and then hurls you back down to the ground in a spiral. It's all over in 17 seconds but we thought it was worth the hour + wait!The park is right on Lake Erie and after a long day we took our shoes off for a walk in the sand.
In fact, it was such a long day that we were too tired to make the drive home and ended up having a delicious dinner at Outback and staying the night in hotel - Thanks so much to my mom who watched the boys while we were gone and agreed at the last minute to extend her duty to the next morning!! Thank you!

Tolan seriously loves my dad's lawnmower and climbs up on it ANY chance he gets. Speaking of Tolan, he is doing great! He has been so brave through this whole ordeal. The only time he would get upset was when we needed to change his bandages, but now he is even okay with that. I must admit that I am SO grateful to be living with my parents right now since my dad is here and willing to change Tolan's bandages! I know I could do it if I had to, but it's been nice to be able to let my dad do it, especially in the beginning when it was gory and stressful and Tolan would get really upset. But he's doing so much better.

After it happened Justin was searching around on the internet hoping to see how it might heal and if there was anything we could do to improve the odds. He came across a new medication that is a powder made from pigs' bladders and is used for regrowth in injuries (and is also apparently being used to regrow livers and kidneys too?) Anyway, its still pretty new, but not considered experimental anymore and there happens to be a doctor in Pittsburgh that is using it and doing a study on it. So Justin got us an appointment! We met with the plastic surgeon and the VP of the company that makes it also happened to be there and they said Tolan was a perfect candidate and are letting us participate in the study and use the powder free of charge! So every other day we change his bandage and sprinkle on the "pixie dust." The only challenge is that he is 2 and the bandage has to last 2 days AND stay dry. So we've been doing our best with that, but his finger is already looking better. They don't expect a full fingernail to regrow b/c most or all of the nailbed was lost in the injury, but he should get most, if not all of the length of his finger back.

If you are interested, the man who first used it (and I believe the brother of the creator) was on Oprah with Dr. Oz this past spring and here is a clip.

Our First Trip to the Emergency Room (and Ambulance Ride)

2009-08-18T20:48:00.003-05:00

Erin and I had been trying to get together for dinner all summer. We finally were able to set it up for last night. We had a nice dinner and were almost done when I heard my phone beep that I had a voicemail. I looked to see who it was from and was going to check it later, but I saw it was from my dad. I told Erin, "My dad never leaves voicemails, so I think I better check it." All he said was to call him. Hmm.

So I called. He said Tolan cut his finger, he's okay, but we're in the ER and you need to come. So we hurried up and got our check and headed to the hospital. I tend to not worry much unless its necessary, so I was doing alright since my dad said he was fine. I was imagining a few stitches and knew that he would want his mommy there so I got there calmly, but quickly. I also called Justin, who was on his way home from work, and let him know to go to the hospital.

When we got there my dad was in the waiting room with Logan and told me what he hadn't told me over the phone - so that I wouldn't freak out. Tolan hadn't just cut his finger - he had cut it OFF. It was the tip of his middle finger on his right hand - below the fingernail near the first joint.

My mom was outside on the patio with the boys who were playing while she was trimming a tree with some garden shears. She put them down for a second to get a caterpillar out of the way and the next thing she knew Tolan had the shears and was screaming and there was blood spurting everywhere. She scooped him up, picked up the piece of finger and ran up the stairs yelling for my dad. Logan didn't see what happened and they said he was okay until they were trying to rush him to get into the car and was seeing the blood and stuff and it was registering that Tolan was hurt.

When I got there they had already done x-rays and he was sitting with my mom all sweaty and bloody. He wasn't crying but he looked so sad. He was happy that I had a spare binky in my purse! Justin arrived not long after I did and soon they were loading Tolan and me into an ambulance to go down to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh where hopefully they could reattach the piece of his finger. Logan went home with my parents and Justin went home too to get Tolan's blanky and a couple of toys, then he drove down to Children's.

We did a lot of waiting around for pretty much nothing down there. They took more x-rays and the orthopedic surgeon checked him out and came back waaaaaay later to tell us they wouldn't be able to do anything. She said the nerves and blood vessels and everything were just too tiny to reattach it well and if they did, it would probably just die. So they just cleaned it and bandaged it up. No stitches or anything. Tomorrow we go to see the hand specialist, but basically we will just be keeping it clean and changing the bandages for the next 4 weeks until the stump heals.

Tolan did so well. I was very impressed at how tough he was. He would only cry when they came to take the bandages off and was in pretty good spirits most of the time. He did keep asking for the car (as in our car- to take us home...) and he asked about Logan a couple of times. But he was so good. And even today he was playing and mostly back to his normal self, just with a bandaged hand! He's a trooper.

We are glad he is okay and it always could have been worse! He's so young that it will heal quickly and probably better than we think and he will adjust to it just fine. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it all happen and everything. I feel bad for my mom that she had to stomach all of that and I feel bad I wasn't there for Tolan. But they both did well and I'm glad my dad was there to help and that he was smart enough not to tell me the whole truth until I got there!

Chuck E Cheese

2009-07-15T12:33:00.003-05:00

We had never taken the boys to Chuck E Cheese before, but I had a coupon for a large pizza, 4 drinks and 30 tokens for $20, so we decided to take the boys last Saturday. Needless to say they LOVED it and here are a few pictures:

Once we left, the boys passed out in the car almost immediately so we decided to drive around and window shop a couple of neighborhoods we have been thinking about for when our house sells in TX and we can get our own place here. We weren't far away, so we headed up Mt. Washington to take a few pictures on the way home.

Fourth of July

2009-07-15T12:02:00.004-05:00

We didn't have any big plans for the Fourth so we we spent the a.m. washing the cars. We all had a car to wash - even the boys!

Logan and Tolan scrubbed down the Jeep.And Justin had to try out my dad's power washer....

while Tolan tried out his lawn mower.

When we first got married we had 2 cars. When we moved to Hawaii we sold them both and just bought one when we got there instead of paying thousands of $ to ship one from the east coast. So ever since then we have only had one car. FINALLY after a few years we are back to having two cars! Justin was going to blog about his new car, but hasn't gotten around to it, so I'll just post a couple of pictures for him.

Its a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid and we spent a couple of weeks debating b/t this car and a Prius. But we chose this one and have had no regrets! Justin drives a lot for work (not even counting his one-hour plus commute to work) so we definitely needed something with good gas mileage and it has been great so far. We've only had it a few weeks and he's already put 2000 miles on it.

We tortured Erin with sparklers the night before, but we still had a "Caveman Party" firecracker thing, so we set it off before heading to the real fireworks.

Judging by the name, the packaging and the price, we didn't have very high expectations, but it turned out to be better than we thought!

Then we went to the fireworks in Ford City with my parents and tried to get some pictures. I ALWAYS have my eyes closed in pictures and especially at night b/c the flash is so bright....so this was the best picture we got! And Logan was totally not into having his picture taken that night either.
Hope you all had a great Fourth!

Our 3rd of July

2009-07-04T15:56:00.005-05:00

Justin and my dad were both off on Friday, so we braved the weather, the path of the detour on 28, and the crowds - and went to the zoo. The weather turned out pretty well - we only got sprinkled on a couple of times and it was about 70 degrees. The detour on 28 is ridiculous, but what can you do? And the crowds weren't TOO bad. It was crowded but not crazy. However, it was crowded enough that I didn't stop to take many pictures and didn't take any of the kids at all. Lame, I know.

But the animals were happy to see some sunshine after a rainy week and were all out for everyone to see. This lion was really putting on a good show. He came right up to the edge of the cliff and just ROARRRed at the crowd for a couple of minutes. I think the boys thought it was a little scary. But it was good b/c they are usually just sleeping under a tree in the back corner.

I have to give some credit to the Pittsburgh Zoo. It is an excellent zoo and we are glad to finally be living somewhere with a good zoo!

Later that night after the boys went to bed Justin and I went out a little fiesta hosted by Erin and Erin. I know a lot of Erins.

We had to stop at Walmart on the way and remembering that this Erin HATES sparklers, I couldn't resist, and stopped by the tent of fireworks in the parking lot and picked up a couple of boxes. I'm such a nice friend!

Here she is braving a sparkler. And below is April chasing her with one.

She made Justin sample her Caramel Apple Surprise....anything with surprise in the title is risky, but luckily it was a good surprise. It's the same thing as "Sinfully Silly Snickers Salad" which I have made in the past....basically apples, snickers, and cool whip. Yum!

We all give Erin a hard time, but she is a good friend!

Erin and April and I have been friends since 7th grade....what is that? 15 or 16 years or something?? Eventhough our lives are all completely different from eachother now, it's nice to be together again.

Family Time

2009-07-04T15:45:00.002-05:00

We spent a Saturday afternoon at Justin's parents a couple of weeks ago. I took a little snooze on the couch while Justin spent some quality time with the boys.

The boys had been waiting to ride the lawnmower with Grandpa Shook, so now was their chance

And there they all are - 3 generations hangin' out. I love Logan in this one!

Idlewild

2009-07-04T14:55:00.005-05:00

There is a small amusement park here that designed for little kids, called Idlewild. We had some friends with season passes and on Mondays they can bring friends for free - so my mom and I went along for a fun day for the kiddos.

After an hour and a half in the car on windy & hilly Pennsylvania roads, Tolan puked as soon as we pulled into a parking spot. Off to a great start - so after a little clean-up we hit the park!

They liked the train the most in Storybook Forest

Logan tried the bumper cars. It took a minute but he kind of got the hang of it. He really liked it and Tolan was mad that he didn't get to do it too.

So we made sure the next ride was something Tolan could participate in.
Tolan thought the rides were GREAT and screamed and cried every time their turn was over
Luckily there was no line at the motorcycles so they got to ride 3 or 4 times and one of each color.

We spent at least half of the day in the waterpark area. We got to this huge set up with all kinds of things going on and both of the boys just took off at once. I caught up to Tolan but couldn't get to Logan too. So I kept looking and looking for Logan and after a couple of minutes I saw him sitting, crying, at the bottom of this huge waterslide. Apparently he had climbed to the top and gone down all by himself! I guess he didn't know what he was really getting into!

Logan told me all day that he wanted to go on the rollercoaster. After we were done in the water, he still insisted that he wanted to go. He was tall enough, so I took him. It wasn't a big rollercoaster or anything, but he's 3. So again, I don't think he really knew what he was getting into. He did alright on the first drop but then it kept going and whipping us around bends and up and down hills. I think he was scared, but when we got off he said it was "awesome!" We checked out the picture they take of you and according to his face it didn't look like he was having such an awesome time!

After that he rode the whip with my mom and then it was time to go home!

FuN DaY!

Snack Bags

2009-07-04T14:20:00.003-05:00

This post is long overdue. A while ago I posted about wanting to make some bags that I could use for snacks instead of always using ziplocs. I did manage to get some done before we moved, but haven't posted it yet.

Here they are. I went with buttons b/c velcro is too noisy for church, and I wanted the front to fold over so there was something to hold onto when the bag is open.

The other benefit of the big flap is that it allows some room for spillage if the bag gets dropped.

The flap also folds over the front piece a little bit so nothing spills out when the bag is buttoned.

The bags have a nice flat, square bottom so they don't tip over and they fold down flat for storage when you aren't using them.

I used an 8x8 square of fabric for the front and an 8x12 for the back. I used rolled hems and a boxed bottom. I put iron-on nylon on the liner before sewing it all together - this is the only thing I don't like about the bags. The iron-on nylon doesn't hold up in the wash very well. If I were making them again I would find something else to use. But the nylon did make the bags nice and stiff to stay open and stand upright - so you would at least want to use some good interfacing between the layers if you were going to skip the nylon. If you want to try making them and need some more detailed instructions just let me know!

I think they turned out really well and the boys really like them!

We Made It!

2009-06-08T20:23:00.012-05:00

It's been a stressful last few months, but we made it here to Pennsylvania. Moving is so much work and stress. I told Justin we are never moving again unless the company pays for it - which means movers do all the work. But I want to thank all the MANY people who offered to help me pack, watch the kids, bring us a meal, or came (or sent her husband) to load up the truck on moving day and unload it into the storage unit here. We could not have done it without all the help! Thank you, thank you!

We are settled in at my parents' house for now, until the house sells. We had some people looking and we were in their top 3 choices, but we haven't heard anything since then, so I'm guessing they went with another house. Oh well, we have seen so many blessings and little coincidences and random little things happen and fall into place for this whole process to work out, and I continue to have faith that the last pieces will fall into place and our house will sell.

Until then, here are some pictures of what the boys have been up to in our first 2 weeks in PA!

Tolan has had a great time exploring the whole new world of my parents' house and getting into everything. This time it was Grandpa's closet and his boots. Logan had to try the boots too, but his favorite is Grandma's hockey helmet!

The yard is big, so they've been putting the miles on the Jeep going all over the place.

And then there's Chico. I was trying to get a picture to show how big he is compared to the boys, but no one would hold still long enough. Tolan is pretty fearless about Chico, and Logan is warming up to him. Hopefully Chico is warming up to us too - we have disrupted the peace and quiet of an empty house.Chico figured out really fast that the boys are messy with their food and to stay close-by for whatever falls on the floor. Tolan is guarding his cookie well in the picture below.

One of Justin's cousins graduated from high school this year, so we went down to his aunt's for the graduation party and the boys had a very exciting day.Here they are in the Rhino down by the pond. There were also lots of 4-wheelers, dirtbikes and a couple of golf carts, all of which two little boys think are the coolest things in the world!Grandpa Shook had his motorcycle there so they got to sit on it and wear the helmet.
Logan actually did get to go for a little (slow) ride around the yard with Grandpa.
They had to take a break for some cake and juice.
Then out to the see-saw

Tolan loved the see-saw - he laughed and squealed "weee! wee!" the whole time.

Unfortunately we did end the day of fun with a bump on the head and a scrape on the knee when Tolan tripped and fell on the sidewalk. But he was okay and had a great nap on the drive home!

Back to the 'Burgh

2009-05-06T11:57:00.004-05:00

We have considered looking for a new job, for Justin, for a long time. We kept putting it off though, feeling like we should just be grateful that he has a good, steady job and wait and see what happens. So we waited and waited and put it off some more. And then Heavenly Father gave us a couple of good kicks in the behind to get us going and get us to move on. We LOVE it here in Austin for so many reasons (not including the summer heat). But yes, we are moving back to the 'burgh!

Justin is staying with the University of Phoenix, but will be working at the Pittsburgh Campus, where he started his career with them almost 6 years ago. He starts June 1, so we are planning on packing up a truck on Memorial Day, May 25, and then hitting the road the next morning. So we have a very busy few weeks ahead!

We will stay with my parents in Kittanning until our house sells here or we find our own place there. The campus is in Robinson, so we'll probably look for a place around there.

We will really miss Austin. We have family here and lots of friends and a house and ward that we love, but its time to take the next career move. We do look forward to having our parents and some siblings and other family close-by in Pittsburgh though!

Crafty

2009-04-23T15:17:00.001-05:00

Every once in a while I get the urge to be crafty. Once I get something in my head that I want to do, I want to do it now. (Fortunately for our wallet, I don't have a car during the day so I can't just run out and buy all the stuff to do it all the time)

I was watching John & Kate Plus 8 the other night and they had these little cloth baggies that they hooked onto the kids carseats for snacks. We have the same carseat & I can't figure out how/where they hooked it on... Anyway, I was doing other things while it was on and missed Kate talking about them, except the very end when she said how great they are. Our car is a mess from spilled snacks and we always make a mess on our row at church, so I've been looking for alternatives anyway.

So I searched the internet and found something like what they had. I don't know if its exactly what they use or not. But I like the idea, and of course, no way am I going to pay $9 for a snack bag. Especially when I will want at least 4, so I can have one in the wash and one ready to use for each kid. So now I just have to figure out how to make it.

It has a little stainless steel bowl in the bottom to make it stand up and a carabiner on the back so you can attach it to your diaperbag, stroller, etc and apparently, carseat. http://www.thesnacksack.com/

The other option I found in an etsy store is this:

It closes like a ziploc, but velcro. I also like that the bottom is flat so it can stand up. Click here for a link to the etsy store. I kind of like this one better, and it would probably be easier to make.

Justin is always asking me a) when are we going to open a bakery; and b) when are you going to come up with a good idea that will make us millions?

Well, my answer to both is this - We could never go into business together. It would be the end of our marriage.

But it still is one of those things where you just say, "why didn't I think of that??" A lot of times I did think of that, but I just wasn't the first one.

So now I just have to figure out how to make these. I'm not an expert at sewing, but anyone want to join me??

Phone Pictures

2009-04-15T21:32:00.005-05:00

It was time to pull the pictures off my phone. So here are some pictures that were taken with my phone. This is Logan, making a fist, ready for a fight. He always wants someone to fight him.

Yeah, this was fun. It looks like you can just open the lid and take it out. No, it was wedged in there under the rim. It wasn't very easy to get out. Have I posted this one before? It is seeming familiar?

They don't have kid's sized cones at this place and Logan ate the entire gigantic cone. It took him a while and was messy, but he did it!

When we go to restaurants, Tolan is always in his own world, doing anything but eating usually. And he never sits down. We completely gave up on high chairs and booster seats when we are out.

Remember how Logan is always looking for someone to fight? Well, we found him someone over the weekend. We got together with some friends for dinner and the boys found some boxing gloves and had a great time. They went for a good half an hour nonstop. Adam is a little over a year older than Logan, but he was up for it and held his own. Don't call CPS on us, they were just having fun and no one was hurt! Here's an action shot. They loved it, but we won't be starting any fight clubs for 3 & 4-year-olds.

And these, I forgot I was going to add these pictures from the last hail storm a few weeks ago. It's the closest thing we get to snow. Luckily Justin was able to come home from work a little early so our car could be safe in the garage!

Our Day Out

2009-03-26T14:51:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago we had planned to go to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center south of Austin. It rained yesterday, but we hadn't heard that the trip was cancelled, so we got up and took Justin to work so we could have the car, but it turns out they had cancelled afterall. Since we were already packed up, ready to go, and in the car - we went anyway. The boys were not exactly cooperating with the camera, so they are looking at the camera in almost none of the pictures, but here are some anyway:

The boys were also promised a picnic with our trip to the park, but the picnic tables were all wet from yesterday's rain. So we had a picnic at the mall on the way home.Unfortunately the mall did not have a play area for kids, but by the time we had gone to a few stores and were ready to go, it was pouring rain. I think the boys had a fun day, but the only time they said so was when I was running to the car in the pouring rain, pushing them full speed in the double stroller and Logan said, "this is fun!!"

TV Junkies

2009-03-24T21:28:00.001-05:00

I think most parents would agree that its a bad sign when you realize that the kids are not in your sight and the house is strangely quiet. This usually means they are up to something, and my boys have had their share of that mischief, but the last couple of times I have noticed that strange silence, this is what I have found:

They are up in our room lying in our bed and watching tv!

Silly. TV Junkies!!

Tolan's Surgery

2009-03-17T11:52:00.003-05:00

Poor Tol-Tol had to have surgery a few weeks ago. A few months ago I wondered why I could never see his teeth when he smiled. So I hung him upside-down and took a look in his mouth. I noticed that his lip was basically attached to his teeth, and thought, "I don't think that's normal." So at his next well-check we asked the doctor and he said we should see and ear, nose, throat specialist and probably have it clipped. So that's what we did.

The procedure is called a frenulectomy, and you may have heard of it before. Babies who are "tongue-tied" have the same thing done to the little bridge of skin under their tongue so they can nurse. Tolan just had it on his top lip. The part that was attached was pretty thick and attached pretty tightly, so they had to put him under and clip it then sew all back together with about 7 or 8 stitches. He was pretty mad when he woke up and for the rest of that day, but within a couple of days he was back to his normal routine. Now all the stitches have dissolved and the doctor says it looks great and he should be fine. We will just have to wait and see how his permanent teeth come in some day.

So if you are still confused, here are some before and after's that may help:

Justin's Latest Project

2009-03-03T14:20:00.004-06:00

Since Justin did such a great job posting on here while I was in Utah, I thought I would have him post this since it's his thing, but he hasn't had the time, so here goes.... anyway Justin got it into his head a while ago that he wanted a projector. He searched and searched the internet until he found a good one at a really good price that he was willing to pay. Then he just had to talk me into it. I gave in, knowing that the projector itself wasn't going to be the end of it. The next thing was something to mount it on. So he got that. Then it was the surround sound. So we moved the surround sound from the tv downstairs to the projector upstairs. Then it was a screen. I thought it looked just fine projecting the picture onto the wall, but Justin wanted perfection. So then it was a search for a screen. Screens are not cheap. So he looked at all of the options and he finally relented that instead of buying one, we would just go the DIY route and we made one. These projects are always more complicated than they sound, but it turned out pretty well!

This is the finished project. We of course, did not take a "before" picture, but I'm sure you can imagine what a blank wall looks like.Here it is in action

This is what he got to mount the projector and everything on. I'm not a fan. It's definitely bachelor pad-ish and I don't know why but I think it looks like one of those trees in Africa.

So the next thing is to figure out how decorate that wall around the African tree.

Valentines Day

2009-02-19T14:37:00.003-06:00

Fondue is a vday tradition at our house. We were out running around on vday so it got too late and we picked up Chinese take-out instead, but we had our cheese fondue the next day and chocolate fondue for Monday's family home evening treat. We let the boys in on the fun this year and they loved it! Tolan didn't really get the dipping part - he just loved having that stick in his posession.

Maybe we should have had baths after the fondue...

Take a Good Look!

2009-02-03T11:51:00.001-06:00

It's not very often you will see me wearing sports-related clothing. And I'm usually against worshipping the NFL on Sundays, but in a marriage there is compromise. Justin and I are both born and raised Pittsburghers, so when the Steelers play I keep my mouth shut about watching football on Sunday and when the Steelers are in the Superbowl, forget about it. We had to show some hometown pride and support our Steelers with some t-shirts and Terrible Towels. Thanks mom! And congrats to the Steelers!!!

Ice Skating

2009-01-30T11:22:00.005-06:00

My mom & dad & Pete came to visit for about a week. It was the same week I was taking the Beehives ice skating, so they came along and we had Logan try out ice skating. He loved it! He did very well, much better than I expected and never cried or complained. He amazed us all. Here are a few pictures:

trying to find skates the right size took a few tries

getting skates on

Logan coming around with my mom

I think Tolan felt a little left out, but he liked when we came around & waved

Its a little dark through the glass, but there we all are!

Little Beggers...What Happens When Mommy Leaves Daddy at Home with the Kids

2009-01-07T17:49:00.012-06:00

Claire recently left on a trip to Utah. Logan and Tolan were left to rough it with Daddy for a few days. Ever wonder what happens when Mommy leaves? (click on the pictures for a better view)

So what is on Logan's face anyway.... "dirt" by Maybelline (a.k.a. brown eyeliner)

Tolan...at the end of his rope.
Maybe it's Maybelline! Nope, that is Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. It was easier to put a little chocolate on his face.

Tolan wasn't such a good sport so Logan held Tolan's sign in a second shot. The signs were created using a Cherrios box and Daddy's "bear" hands.

So why did we do it...
I thought it would be fun to share some culture with the kids and teach them the art of fine theater by dressing them up like bums...for some strange reason it sounded like a fun idea when I first thought of it, but I soon learned that we would need to try different afternoon activities if we would survive life without mommy around for a few days.

Love-Hate Relationship

2009-01-04T16:30:00.002-06:00

I have a serious love-hate relationship with our Christmas tree. I love it when it's up. I love how big and full it is with lots of lights and everything and its even pretty easy to put up, but I HATE packing it away for next year! It's a 9-foot tree and its HUGE and it came in this tiny, ridiculous box and I've searched online and looked everywhere for some sort of solution for how to pack up & store it but I have found nothing big enough. So we keep resorting to the ratty old box it came in that is almost impossible to get it into then you have tape it shut with about a whole roll of packing tape for it to stay shut. Ridiculous and annoying. So this year, this was my solution:

A little OCD maybe, but yes, I saran-wrapped our tree! One layer of branches at a time. (this is only the bottom 3rd of the tree!) It was the only way I could think of to get it compact enough to MAYBE fit back into the box. We did manage to get all 3 pieces into the box this year thanks to lots of saran-wrap and packing tape! Good riddance - until next year!

Logan's Third Birthday

2009-01-04T16:28:00.003-06:00

When I asked Logan what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday there was no hesitation. He of course wanted a Batman cake. I took the simple route and just did the Batman symbol instead of actual Batman, but that was good enough for him. He thought it was very cool.

We are still keeping birthdays pretty simple at this age. No big party, but he had a couple of friends come over and play in the morning, and then when daddy got home after dinner we did cake & presents.
He got some more Cars cars (from the movie) and some clothes and a Spiderman backpack (which he has been carrying everywhere) and a train set, which he has also been playing with a lot. I'll be in Utah for my grandma's funeral this week, so Justin will have the privilege of taking him for his 3-year well check on Tuesday to see how much he has grown since last year! I'm excited to hear how their outing to the doctor goes since 1) Justin has never taken them to the Dr. and 2) Logan screamed & kicked through the entire checkup last year. Hopefully he will do much better this year - I've been trying to prep him better this time...

Besides his physical growth, he has grown up a lot this year. He is using the potty pretty well (at home anyway) and has increased his vocabulary tremendously. That of course, is an ongoing accomplishment. It's been really fun to hear him parroting phrases and different things he hears, especially anything Daddy is talking about. With the new skill of talking in complete sentences we get to hear all kinds of interesting and nonsensical things non-stop, all day long. He loves to talk and talk and talk. That's great though. He also still loves all cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc. He also likes xBox (actually just watching Justin play xBox), "wrestling" or "fighting" anyone who is willing, or just forcing Tolan to play along. He is definitely no longer a baby!

Christmas Pictures

2008-12-28T00:16:00.003-06:00

We actually took the time to take a picture all together. This is the best one we got and I'm happy with it. We also tried to take pictures of just the kids. Logan was being kind of a stinker so we didn't get any good ones of him, but Tolan was really loving the attention and being so cute, so we got some great ones of him, which is usually pretty hard to do.

Christmas Day

2008-12-27T23:53:00.003-06:00

As you can see, between the two sets of grandparents L & T had quite a Christmas morning! I think they were a little overwhelmed at first, but they love their new cars and other gifts too!

Logan checked out the truck first...

Then they looked at the Jeep

Tolan was liking his turn in the truck

He got his new shades out of his stocking and went for the firetruck next
Thanks to our parents for the great gifts!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-27T23:48:00.001-06:00

We went down to Justin's sister's for Christmas Eve.

These are all of L & T's cousins. After dinner we attempted to do a little play of the Nativity along with the scriptures. Well you can imagine how that went when all the kids wanted to get to this part:

A bird's eye view of the craziness of the cousins' gift exchange

I'm trying to help L & T open some presents. They were pretty excited!

The End of the Dinosaur

2008-12-25T10:33:00.003-06:00

We got a new camera for Christmas - woo hoo! So I'm finally pulling these last pictures off of our old dinosaur of a camera.

Justin's birthday was a month ago, but these are the peanut butter cup cupcakes & card I made for him.

Here are some of the cinnamon roll Christmas trees I made again this year. I made 10 this year - I was supposed to make 14, but ran out of time and had to make something simpler & less time-consuming for Justin's HT families. They weren't shorted though - they got chocolate chip cookie dough brownies, it just wasn't as Christmasy.

I will post Christmas pictures later!

Tagged

2008-12-04T14:12:00.002-06:00

What is your husbands name? Justin William
How long have you been married? our 4-year anniversary is in a few weeks
How long did you date? 4 months before we were officially engaged. (no wonder my dad wanted us to wait till spring to get married! that sounds crazy!)
How old is he? just turned 28
Who eats more sweets? definitely me!
Who said I love you first? Justin
Who is taller? Justin
Who can sing the best? Justin is the karaoke star in our house
Who is smarter? depends on the topic
Who does the laundry? Justin doesn't even know how to use the washer
Who pays the bills? Justin, but he has been transitioning me into the process
Who mows the lawn? Justin, but I did do it once so he could do homework
Who cooks dinner? Justin is actually a really good cook, but I always make dinner - except on Mother's Day & my birthday - then he plans & cooks a whole elaborate day of meals
Who drives? usually Justin, except when I pick him up from work
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I don't know about admitting he is wrong, but he is definitely first to apologize. I like to stay mad
Who kissed who first? after just getting out of a long-term relationship Justin just wanted to "take it slow" but he did eventually kiss me, although I wouldn't call only 4 months of dating before getting engaged "taking it slow"
Who asked who out first? Justin asked. we went to dinner, drove golf balls & went to karaoke (at a bar - i like to tease him that he took me to a bar on our first date)
Who wears the pants? depends on what it is

The rules for this tag: answer questions about your spouse, list names of people you are tagging in your post, then leave a comment on their blog letting them know they've been tagged. I'm tagging Erin G. & Kari (sorry guys!)