birthday chocolate

Our celebration of Ethan's birthday started last night at

Chili's with Molten Chocolate Cake.

Ethan's favorite.

Add it to more chocolate cake today and you get

a very happy boy.

(He's got a serious chocolate addiction!)

My little Ethan,

as we snuggled in my bed this morning

looking at your baby pictures,

I couldn't imagine our lives without you.

I love you, pal.

growing up

It happens way too fast.

Ethan is 4 today.

aw, you guys are the best

Thanks for all your great stroller suggestions!

Seriously, it's sort of like having my own personal customer reviews. I've read a ton of reviews online but I have no idea who those people are or where they come from. There's nothing like good input from friends that I can mentally picture pushing their various arrangements of kids around in their various strollers to evaluate my own situation and stroller "needs".

I pretty much had it narrowed down when I got an email response from the wife of one of Matt's colleagues, and realized my stroller "needs" are much more specific than I thought. They're in Rio right now with three kids, same ages as ours. Here's what she sad:

1) Don't get a side-by-side. She's had to back out of grocery store aisles in her single stroller because she can't fit. A double wide simply won't cut it.

2) Get a sturdy, narrow single stroller if you can. Streets are cobblestone and rough, not to mention crowded, so any stroller is hard to maneuver.

Ah! I'm NOT using a single stroller. I can't do it.

I'll lose someone.

What ever will I do?

Find the lightest, most compact, most maneuverable double stroller available.

Something like this one:

the Joovy Caboose Ultralight Stand-On Tandem Stroller

It's the best (and only) solution for my super specific circumstances. It's ultralight, super compact, has better wheels, and still fits 2 of my kids and possibly all 3.

A couple friends have told me they have a child sitting on each seat and one standing on the back hanging on- that ought to get me some attention in Rio, as if I'm not going to stand out enough. But hey, if it works...

It's not available in stores (at least not around here) so I had to order it. I'm excited to get it next week and try it out.

pushing my kids around

I'm in the market for a new double stroller and I need help.

The Problem: We have a lightweight side-by-side double stroller that we really like....but we got it when Ethan was born. It's really old and I fear it won't survive the trip to South America. The cargo bags have ripped off and I'll certainly need sufficient cargo space for my daily trips to the bread, fruit and vegetable stands, and don't forget the trips to the beach.

While Ethan's probably old enough to walk with Garrett, I'm not taking my chances. When I'm walking around with my three kids in one of the largest cities in the world, at least two of them are going to be strapped in.

I've looked around at a lot of different strollers but can't make a decision. I've only ever had a side-by-side stroller and it's worked great for me. I like that it's lightweight. It's easy to fold up and it folds up small. I like that the kids can sit next to each other and both see where we're going. Yes, it's wide, but as long as my wheels are straight I can make it through any doorway. I've never even considered a tandem stroller.

Have I got it right, or am I missing out on something better?

Here's where you all come in.

What's your opinion on double strollers? I've been looking at this one and I quite like the looks of it, but I've never heard of the brand.

Anyone know anything about it?

I had a friend recommend this one too, which also seems pretty cool. Anyone else have this one?

How about a convicing argument for a tandem stroller?

My biggest selling points are going to be:

1) Compact. We're going to have a small vehicle and a small highrise apartment so not a lot of storage space.

2) Cargo space. I don't need a ton, but at least some (for my mangos and such).

3) Ease and maneuverability.

I know all you double stroller pushers out there have an opinion.

Let's here it.

I know I keep adding to my already posted post, but this one made me laugh right out loud. This might be a good option if I get tired along the way too.

Why today was such a good Sunday

1. We have 9:00 church now. It's a beautiful time to have church. This morning everyone was up, dressed, happy and ready to go with time to spare.

2. I really enjoyed our Relief Society lesson about the prophet, Joseph Smith.

3. With the earlier church time, Sunday afternoon naps and walks have been reinstated at the Glauser home.

4. In California in January it's warm enough to take a walk in the afternoon, and cool enough to snuggle up next to the fire in the evening.

it's a date

Is it 2008 already?

I almost didn't notice- except during our Family Home Evening activity on setting goals, and when I dated the check I wrote at Costco on Tuesday.

While I'm on it, I had to dust off the checkbook to do that. It's been ages since I wrote a check to pay for something at at store, but I misplaced my American Express and you know how Costco is about "outsider" credit cards. It felt like the fast, chipper music stopped abruptly and everyone was staring at me because I threw a kink in the world of fast payment methods just like in the commercials.

Back on topic. I feel like time is moving forward, with our without us. I've gotten a couple of emails from friends asking where in the world we are, so here's our update: We learned this week that our visas are taking longer than anticipated so we've set a new departure date. We'll leave the first week of February.

My friend, Kristin, asked me if it feels sort of like I'm pregnant and just passed my due date.

That's exactly what it feels like.

Except, not in the way that that would have felt with a first pregnancy. It's more like a 3rd pregnancy. We are so excited to go but at the same time I've got a whole lot of nesting still to do.

Originally the plan was to leave on January 11th. We'd be on a plane right now. I can't wait to go. I want to be there now. In all honesty though, it really is a blessing in several ways to wait a little longer.

In the meantime, we're pacing ourselves. Tonight I'm going to go finish laundry and organize my digital photo files. I got some new software for Christmas and I'm taking up digital scrapbooking while we're in Brazil.

Want to know more about why we have Family Home Evening once a week? Click here.

archiving

Since I'm working on organizing and archiving my picture files and consequently spending a lot of time waiting for files to copy and CDs to burn, I figured it's a good time to finally get around to posting some pictures from December.

The following few posts will be past dated, as to keep them nicely filed away in the appropriate blog archives- you know how it goes. This blog doubles as sort of a journal notekeeping for me.

Anyway, here's a little catch-up with more Glauser pictures than you could ever want....