Matching bruises.

Just look at these sad kids! It is probably my fault they are so klutzy, you know, genetics and all. Gracie fell yesterday while she was twirling in circles in the living room. She hit her face on the brick hearth. You would think she would learn, but she is twirling again as I am writing this. Sammy tips over so frequently it is almost impossible to determine where each of his bruises comes from. He is trying to stand up on his own. He pulls himself up on anything and everything, and then once he is steady, he lets go. He can actually stand by himself for about two seconds, and then he inevitably tips over. But you should see the exultant look in his eyes for those two seconds! He looks so pleased with himself! It must be worth it because he continues to try. Still, I feel like people are looking at me like I must beat my kids or something. And I feel kind of guilty even though I didn't do anything wrong... unless I just should have protected them better or something (doesn't every mom feel this way at some point?). Anyway, they do look like sad little kids.

Gracie looked so adorable the other morning that we had to take her picture. Just look at that messy hair! It must have been a rough night!

This is my new kitchen (actually it is in the dinging room right now). I know it doesn't look like much yet, but just wait it will. We went to IKEA last weekend and came home with our pockets significantly lighter, but with lots of great stuff! David put one of the cabinets together last night and it looks GREAT! Good job David! He put together the broom closet which is a great investment for our family (see blog post from Sept. 19th if you have any questions as to why).

This is Sammy's new crib. Gracie slept in a travel crib for her first year of life (when she wasn't sleeping with us). She slept through the night and it worked perfectly! Sammy, on the other hand, hates the travel crib. He slept in a cradle when he was first born when I could stand to be apart from him that long, and since then he has alternately slept in the travel crib for about 20 minutes a couple of times through the night and with us. We got this great new crib and Sammy slept in it 3 nights in a row (not all night, but we are working on that). I put him down for a nap in it yesterday and he actually went to sleep all on his own. *sniff, sniff* my little boy is getting all grown up. Don't tell anyone, but he actually had to sleep on Strawberry shortcake sheets for a night (I didn't have any boy sheets for a crib this size) and it was too late and I was too tired to go get new sheets Monday night. David said after he spread a blue blanket over the sheet he thinks Sammy slept better. Now we have a nice blue boy sheet on it and Sammy loves it!

Happy happy birthday sister dear!

Happy days will come to you all year. If I had one wish than it would be a happy happy birthday to you from me! I am wearing my superman shirt today!

Happy Birthday Dallin!

We hope you have a great day!

Cute Faces

I just can't get over how cute this kids face is!!! I just think he is about one of the cutest boys I have ever seen. Wow what a hunk!!!

This is Gracie's fishy face! What wouldn't I give for luscious lips like those?

This is Gracie's bunny face. If you ask her what the bunny says she scrunches her nose up, but as you can see her lips also do something funny. Instead of her nose wiggling, her lips do. You can also see the black eye she gave herself in these pictures. She had the broom on Sunday and was "helping" me sweep. She all of a sudden ran at the couch using the broom as some sort of lance (broom end forward). Unfortunately she was the one who got lanced. When the broom hit the couch it stopped, but Gracie didn't. She ran right into the end of the handle of the broom. That little incident stopped her for about oh... 3o seconds. Then she wanted to do it again. If you came to our house you would see why most of the time the broom is kept on top of the fridge. It really is the only safe place.

No! Don't make me take a nap!!!

I had the hardest time getting Sammy to take a nap yesterday. He woke up at 8:00 am (which is pretty late for him) but then I couldn't get him to take a nap ALL day. Actually he probably took two ten minute naps while I was holding him, but as soon as I would try to lay him down he was up and ready to play again. At dinner time, I put him in his high chair and fed him some applesauce. He LOVES applesauce! He had eaten most of the container of baby food when finally it was just too much for him. He seriously fell asleep in between two bites of food... like within 10 seconds! I would have just let him sleep in his chair (because I was afraid of him waking up again), but he ended up face planting on the tray about 1 minute after this picture. David carried him into his bed after that and he actually slept for about 20 minutes. What a funny boy he is!

We also lit a fire in our fireplace for the first time last night. I was cold (David finally told me it was just me who was...but I have been sick) so I asked David to light a fire. Our fire place has a little key that goes to this hole on the side of it. We thought it was to open the flu. David got the fire started and we decided to turn the key in the whole to make sure the flu was open. He turned it and our fire all of a suddenly got about 10 times bigger. We have a gas fireplace and we had no idea!!!! It is an interesting set-up. You actually do have to light the fire because it doesn't have a starter on it, and it is just a pipe that comes out under the fire, but David's fire building skills need honing, so it ended up being pretty useful. It was so fun to see the fire crackling and popping in our own fireplace. David and Gracie roasted marshmallows for smores while Sammy and I cuddled up next to it. I love fall!

Bad Dream

So Gracie woke up at about 12:45 this morning with a nightmare. She just stayed there in her bed kind of crying. I went into her room and hugged her and she wrapped her arms around by neck and wouldn't let go. David climbed on the bed near her feet and she was kicking at him and didn't want him there. At the time I though it was because she wanted me and not David. So I sent David to bed and lay down next to her. She would fall asleep and then start kicking her legs and crying again. She did this several times. I figured that she was having the same dream over and over, so I decided to get her up for a minute. We went and got a drink of water and then we went and curled up in her bed again. We both fell asleep (I woke up when Sammy cried during the night). This morning when Gracie woke up she told me, "Leg hurt..." I looked her leg over, but couldn't find any new scrapes or bruises or anything. Then she said "pider" (which means spider) and pointed over to the corner. I am pretty sure she dreamed that a spider bit her leg. I felt so sad! But it was the first time Gracie has been able to tell me about her dreams. It is so amazing to watch her learn to communicate what she is thinking. And she is so curious about everything. She points at letters and pictures in books and says, "What dat?" or "Lookit dat!" Everything is amazing to her. I read recently that adults laugh an average of 11 times a day but kids laugh more than 100 times. It is pretty amazing to be able to see things through her eyes. What a blessing having children is!

Bathtime!

Okay, so I am usually opposed to putting pictures of my kids on my blog naked, but I just couldn't help myself with these ones. I especially love the one of Sammy's bottom! That kid is obviously not underfed. Would you just look at those rolls! Sammy has carrots all over his face in these pictures, and Gracie kept trying to spit water at me and at her brother (but she isn't very good at it). Anyway, I just think these kids are the cutest ever!

My Man!

1. Who is your man? David Stephen
2. How long have you been together? 6 years
3. How long did you date? We have been dating since February of 2001 (who says you have to stop dating once you are married).
4. How old is your man? Way old! He is 28!
5. Who eats more? That depends on what we are eating. If it is pizza David can eat twice as much in half the time.
6. Who said "I love you" first? David did, but he later told me he meant just as friends...
7. Who is taller? David by about 5 inches.
8. Who sings better? We both love to sing.
9. Who is smarter? David (at least he thinks so).
10. Whose temper is worse? Can I plead the 5th?
11. Who does the laundry? Mostly me
12. Who does the dishes? Mostly me again
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Usually me, but if I was up a lot the night before with Sammy (whose crib is on the right side of our bed) sometimes I will make David trade me places so he can get Sammy when he wakes up.
14. Who pays the bills? Me
15. Who is better at the computer? Absolutely positively David!
16. Who mows the lawn? Lately... me.
17. Who cooks dinner? We both do.
18. Who drives when you are together? Mostly David
19. Who pays when you go out? The government (we are living on loans while David is in medical school.... eek!)
20. Who is more stubborn? Can I plead the 5th again?
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I have never been wrong in my life.
22. Whose parents do you see most? Neither right now. We live on the other side of the country from our parents.
23. Who kissed who first? David kissed me first...I would never have dared to kiss a boy first (David was my first kiss).
24. Who asked who out? David asked me out first, but I couldn't go. So I asked him a few months later.
25. Who proposed first? David... on stage, in the middle of a concert...how very embarrassing!
26. Who is more sensitive? We are both pretty sensitive about certain things.
27. Who has more friends? Definitely David. He is the "social butterfly."
28. Who has more siblings? We both come from families with 6 children in them.
29. Who wears the pants in the family? We are both wearing pants today. Yesterday however, I wore a skirt. I don't think David has ever worn a skirt, but if he had a kilt I think he would love to wear it.

OK, Caralee and LeAnn. You are both being tagged! Love ya!

Potty Training... blech!

So yeah, potty training is hard! Gracie has been potty training off and on for a couple of months. And she really is doing pretty good. She goes in the potty chair oh... 9 times our of 10, but only if she isn't wearing panties or a pull-up. Actually she seems to think that sitting on the potty without any clothes on at all is best. Here she is running away because I wanted her to wear a shirt while she was sitting on the potty. But as soon as I put panties on her or a pull-up she stops caring. I am not really sure what to do here. If anyone has any great ideas let me know.