Christmas Prep

Since I haven't posted in a while, I have some catching up to do. We got ready for Christmas by putting up a "Christmas Tree in a Box" sent to us by my mom. The boys had a great time putting the cardboard pine boughs and decorations on and were thrilled with their new horses that they got when the tree was delivered. Thanks Mom for making our house look a little more like Christmas!
The boys each saw Santa 5 times this year! Mason cracked me up with his analysis of each Santa, trying to figure out which ones were real and which ones were "helpers." This Santa (at Mason's school) was definitely a helper because he was wearing shoes instead of black boots! Mason doesn't miss a detail!
Mason was kind enough to let Logan visit with Santa too and then gave Logan a royal tour of his school.
Mason was so cute with Logan at his preschool. He had his arm around him almost the whole time and helped him participate. This is the kids saying the pledge of allegiance, and Mason held Logan's hand over his heart.
Logan got to have snacks with the other kids and was so excited to be sitting at the table with Mason and his friends. Logan really was so well behaved I am considering sending him with Mason every day! I am glad my boys are such good buddies - it makes me so proud!

Logan's ABCs

Since Mason got his minute of fame on the blog, I thought Logan deserved his moment too. Here are his ABCs (this is mostly for his grandparents and aunts, the rest of you can ignore this if you wish!).

Mason's Nativity

Mason's preschool did a nativity pageant last week and Mason was the inn keeper. He did a great job and had the only line in the show, "There's no room in the inn!" I taped it so Eric could see it later and I thought you all might enjoy seeing Mason in the final song of the play.

First Snow

We had our first real snow in Philly last week and the kids had so much fun playing in it. There wasn't enough for a snowman, but we did make some good snowballs. Really all Mason and Logan wanted to do was eat it - gross! A couple times while I was shoveling the sidewalk, I caught them on their hands and knees eating snow off the ground without their hands! How do kids survive with all the gross things they do?
Our neighbor Nick moved on Thursday and we were so sad to see him go. It is wierd to look outside and not have him across the street. I miss the sound of him whistling whenever he was outside or him yelling, "Meg! I have something for the boys!" He called me Meg from the first time he met me and I always felt like he was looking out for me when I was home alone. He always brought my trashcans back into my porch on trash day and he even took my trash out a couple times when we forgot it was trash day! Luckily a couple from our ward, Reina and Chris Barton, bought his place so I will have some great new neighbors soon, but we will always remember Nick Casselli!

Scoop on Eric

I was tagged and this one is about my husband, Eric. I hope he will agree with my answers!
What is his name? Eric Douglas Barnhurst
How long have you been married? 8 years last April
How long did you date? One year and one month
How old is he? 32
Who eats more? Eric.
Who said I love you first? Me.
Who is taller? Eric, thank goodness, wouldn't it be scary if I was the tallest?
Who sings better? I would say it is a tie, neither one of us is really into singing.
Who is smarter? Eric. He is really business savy, and booksmart, but I think I can hold my own around him :)
Whose temper is worse? Mine is. The only time I see him get angry is when a driver cuts him off dangerously or does something really obnoxious on the road, and then watch out for Eric, he always gets revenge!
Who does the laundry? I do.
Who does the dishes? I do, but he will usually offer to help.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you stand at the bottom of the bed and are looking at the bed then I am on the right side, but we have switched it up over the course of our marriage.
Who pays the bills? Me.
Who mows the lawn? Eric.
Who cooks dinner? Me, Eric only does pancakes and eggs.
Who drives when you are together? Eric, but only because I make him.
Who is more stubborn? It's a tie.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me.
Whose parents do you see the most? Mine.
Who proposed? Eric.
Who has more friends? Me.
Who has more siblings? Eric.
Who wears the pants in the family? Eric would say me, but I think it's half and half.

Halfway There!

This is me, 20 1/2 weeks pregnant! My belly is really starting to protrude now and I thought all my family and friends who aren't near me would appreciate a good belly shot. I can't believe I am halfway through with this pregnancy, just 19 1/2 more weeks to go until this baby girl is here!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving at my Aunt Belva's house in Chevy Chase, MD, but unfortunately we forgot our camera to document the event. I assure you our Thanksgiving was spent in the company of great people and delicious food! How blessed we are to have such a wonderful family!

On Friday, we decided to take the boys to a climbing gym. When we got there and saw that the price we thought we would be paying was actually much higher, we cringed but handed over the credit card anyway because the boys were so excited. All I can say is we definitely got our money's worth! Mason and Logan took turns climbing up the wall for a solid 3 hours with no break. I think they could have stayed there all day! Mason made it to the top of every climb he attempted and Logan made it to the top a couple of times too. Oh, and the hold that looks like an ape was very popular with the boys and they both insisted on a picture with it (in case you were wondering what that was all about). Hooray for some quality family time - we needed it!

Big Boy Bed

Last week, our neighbor Nick, who is probably 80 and getting ready to move into his daughter's house after his wife died last summer, offered to give us a twin bed that he had in their spare room. I felt bad taking it from him because his description was "this is a great bed, worth a lot of money, practically brand new, hardly ever slept on." So, when I protested and said he should sell it, his response was, "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for Logan." So a couple days later, Logan had a big boy bed of his own. We were so worried that Logan would be a disaster in this new bed and were prepared to have to put him back in it 100 times the first night. But to our surprise, Logan has been so good! He goes to sleep as soon as we put him in his bed and after one week now, we haven't had to tell him to "get back in bed" once! What a big boy!

We sure will miss our neighbor Nick when he moves. He loves our boys and about once a week he brings over pretzel rods or cheese puffs for them. As our other neighbor put it once, "Nick is a good egg!"

Girl Time

I've been feeling a little spoiled lately because I've been able to do some very fun things with girlfriends in New York City. On the 7th, I went to see my friend Mehrsa (who lives in the city) and her newborn baby girl. After visiting with her, I met some friends to see Lion King and it was amazing! The costumes were spectacular, I highly recommend it!
The next week, I went to see the taping of Rachael Ray, also in NY. We all recieved copies of her newest cookbook - "Just in Time."
The show was fun, but we were tired of clapping after doing it over and over for almost 3 hours!
I'll let you know when the shows are airing (we taped 2), I was on the second row, so you might just get a glimpse of me!
Thanks to Sarah, Jill, Jordan, and Eric (of course!) who all pitched in to watch my kids so I could goof off! I owe all of you!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

That's what our little GIRL is made of!!!

That's right, I had my ultrasound today and couldn't believe it when I saw firsthand that we are having a girl! The tech went straight to the crotch to see what we were expecting and the first thing I noticed was the absence of a bodypart I'd seen two times before with Mason and Logan. She said, "I think we have good news" and I started to cry! I then made her point out all the defining points that proved it was a girl and she printed pictures to prove it. I would have posted the pictures but our scanner doesn't communicate with this computer and I was too excited to wait to figure it out! I haven't even had a chance to talk to Eric yet, he's been busy with patients all afternoon, so unfortunately the world wide web will know before he does, but I know he will be thrilled.

I'll be taking suggestions for little girl names starting immediately and I'm hiding my credit cards for my own protection against shopping temptations! Today is a GREAT day!

Cute and Funny

My friend Lisa just sent me these pictures that her husband took while we were in Baltimore. I thought they were so cute! I also just had a funny conversation with Logan, here is how it went:

L: "Mom, my super cape is broken."

M: "Why is it broken?"

L: "I can't fly. I jump off the couch and go on the ground."
M: "Is your super cape supposed to make you fly?"

L: "Yeah, but this one doesn't have super powers. It's broken."

He then proceeded to try on Mason's Batman costume to see if it had super powers and was equally disappointed!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween activities continued this week with carving pumpkins on Monday night for FHE. The boys loved playing in the "goop" and were pretty good helpers this year.
Eric and I drew various eyes, noses, and mouths for the boys to choose from to create their own pumpkin face and then we did the carving. Here is what they came up with - pretty cute!

Mason's preschool had a "parade", which was total chaos. All the kids wandered around with boxes to collect money for UNICEF. The parents were told to bring money to put in each kids box - I thought it was totally wierd.

Here is Mason with one of his new friends - Daniel.
All the kids singing, except Mason who was totally done with all the craziness.
Finally what we'd been waiting for - trick-or-treating! We went with a few friends around a cul-de-sac and the kids had a blast. When we were done and driving home, Logan kept saying, "Just one more, just one more," and then he'd see a house with a light on and say, "that house has candy in it, let's go!" He was not happy to be done. Eric took 3/4 of the kids candy to school today, good thing the kids are clueless!We had seen Jordan making her boys costumes (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) for weeks before Halloween, and everytime we left her house, Logan would cry about how he wanted to be Rafael too. Finally we got him excited about being a fireman, but as you can see here, he still was fascinated by Brannon's Rafael costume.
Hope you all had a fabulous Halloween. I'm kind of glad we're done now - it's been a crazy week!

Crazy Fun Weekend

We had a jam-packed weekend full of Halloween Fun. Friday was rainy for the 3rd day in a row, so I had to get creative with the kids to keep them entertained. We decided to make Halloween masks and it was pretty funny. Logan wanted to be a pumpkin, so here is his creation...

And Mason came up with this really "scary" monster mask. He didn't want help with cutting out the eyes, and although you can barely see his eyeballs, he did a good job!
Next we spent hours making and decorating cookies to take to the ward party. This picture doesn't even show half of what we made. I decided sugar cookies are way more work than they are worth!

The kids had a blast at our ward party. They played lots of games (like eating a donut off a string with no hands) and collected quite a load of candy.

Saturday was the event of the year, a costume party thrown by one of Eric's fellow residents. Costumes were mandatory and we didn't have any on hand, so we created this lovely outfit for Eric at the local Salvation Army. I won't mention how many hours it took me to find sweatbands and knee socks with stripes, let's just say you better think those items make his outfit awesome! I was a little more boring as a gypsy, but I wasn't about to succumb myself to the ridicule I knew Eric would endure. He cares much more about being funny than I do. Our boys had a great time at the party, despite the fact that they were the only kids - it meant more attention for them! On Sunday the kids and I drove down to Baltimore to visit my friend Lisa, her husband Mike and their baby Ariel, who were visiting from Wisconsin to attend a surgical conference. They also have two adorable boys, who we missed greatly.

We spent most the day cruising the harbor on a water taxi and making stops at different locations along the waterfront. We ate in "little Italy" and listend to a lot of great street performers. It was a great day and it went way too fast. We miss you Lisa!
Well, I definitely need a nap today. All that excitement left me exhausted! Hope you enjoyed the lengthy report!

Freddy Hills Farm

We went to a pumpkin patch/farm called Freddy Hills Farm with Mason's preschool last week. They had some animals in pens for the kids to look at and in one of the pens was an elk. The boys were so excited to see a real live elk since they have been learning about elk from the time they understood English.
Next we took a hayride to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins.
Here are the boys with their pumpkins. The farm removes all the big ones and sells them for .44 a pound and lets the kids pick the tiny ones. Mason was disappointed there weren't any big ones, but since we have to carry the pumpkins around the rest of the time, it's probably best they get the little ones.

Did you check out Mason's shirt? He made it at preschool and all the kids wore them to the farm. Mason was so proud of it, and Logan was in tears because he didn't have one to wear too. After the pumpkins, we went through a corn maze and down a "giant" slide.

The best part, in my opinion, was the ice cream at the end. So good!

Confessions (I was tagged!)

I was tagged by my friend Lisa. Here are the rules:
A. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
B. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog, for these rules.

1. I am a list maker. I love making lists each day and checking things off. I will even write down things that I have already done to be able to check them off!
2. I love to pick. I used to be obsessed with picking my eyebrows, but then I almost picked them all out, so I have stopped that habit (sort of). I love picking off peeling skin (like if Eric gets sunburned) and I will pick at any imperfection on my skin until I have made it into a huge wound. Not a good habit to have.
3. I have a major sweet tooth. Sometimes I buy treats and hide them from the rest of my family so that I can indulge without anyone else knowing. This is important when you are married to a dentist who doesn't approve of sugar consumption!
4. I suck on my tongue while I sleep or when I get really relaxed. This is hard to explain, but imagine taking your tongue, folding it in half (from the front of your tongue back) and then pressing it to the roof of your mouth and sucking on it. I've done it since I was a baby and sometimes it gets loud. Eric calls it my "dolphin clicks."
5. I secretly want to be a "Martha Stewart" prodigy. I envy crafty people and those who can create beautiful things.
6. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want this baby to be a girl. I feel guilty saying that because I REALLY love my boys, but 3 kids may be all we have and I would be so sad to never raise a girl. If we do have a boy, don't tell him I said this!

There you go, Lisa. You probably knew all these things about me already, but maybe not. I tag:
Jordan, Staci, Tamar, Kristina, Angie, and Sarah Cardon.

I love my kids

Ever since I've had this horrible headache (which is still hanging around), my patience with my kids has been a little thin. So here's to convincing myself that they really were very cute this last week.

Mason and Logan are obsessed with the Book of Mormon and Old Testament readers. they want to read them all the time, but I actually hid them last night because I'm starting to get worried that the images in the books are too violent for them. I heard Logan telling Mason that he wanted to read David and Goliath and Mason told him, "No Logan, Goliath is too scary for me." But I am proud that they want to learn the scriptures, Mason loves all the stories of Nephi.

They have also been into puppet shows. Here is Mason first and Logan second doing their shows. It is hilarious because you can't hear Mason when he smashes his face against the couch so we don't see him. Logan usually just kills off his puppets, with the Lion eating the monkey or something like that. Very entertaining.

My kids are also very into drawing pictures and hanging them on the fridge. This picture was taken even after 2 drawings had been removed by Mason because he wanted to show his teacher. My mom would have never allowed her fridge to look this this, way too much clutter for her -haha!

Logan's new phrase is, "Isn't that awesome, Mom?" He asks that about everything now and it makes me laugh. And the other night Eric asked Logan what he was doing in our room and Logan replied, "Don't worry about it." I think we have a smart alec on our hands!

I was going to the mall on Saturday and asked Mason if he wanted to go. He said yes, but then said, "You're going to change your clothes first, right? And maybe do your hair?" I was wearing a velour sweatsuit and had my hair up in a claw clip. He told me my hair was messy and it looked like I was wearing my pajamas. I did not change and I think he was embarrassed to be seen with me. Eric is very worried about these comments from his 4 year old son, but I think it's hilarious!

I guess I really do love my kids!

Bad moods

I haven't posted much lately due to two reasons:

1. Our less than one year old computer has been shipped back to Gateway twice now for repairs and we are forced to use our barely functioning 6 year old laptop; and
2. I have had the most annoying and painful headache of my life 24/7 for the last 7 days!

The computer thing is really getting on Eric's nerves more than mine, but it's because he does so much for school on the computer. The first time it was sent back to us it worked for 4 days, then crashed again. We sent it away for another week, got it back yesterday and it wouldn't even turn on! AHHHHH! When Eric told the customer service manager that this was unacceptable and we wanted a new computer, he told us if they can't repair it this next time, then we can get a refurbished computer from them with a 90 day warranty. Does that sound like a good deal to anyone? We think it sucks. Bottom line - we HATE Gateway and want everyone to know they should never buy their products!

As for the headache situation, I am so tired of going to bed with a headache and waking up with a headache. I can't find any relief. Even my old standby of a coke with 2 Tylenol isn't making a dent in this bad boy. Any suggestions about headache solutions during pregnancy would be much appreciated!

Sorry for being so whiny, I just had to vent. I promise the next post will be more upbeat!

Endo Party Animals

I talk a lot about Eric's fellow residents, so I thought it was time that I devote a post to these great people. Here is a picture of all of them (minus Eric, and not counting the girl on the far left, she's a wife) at a gathering at Mahmoud's house. From left to right there is Howie, Ina, Brian, Mahmoud, and Elaine is in the center. Everyone gets together quite often for dinner parties and we don't make it as often as we'd like because of the kiddos. But on Saturday night we did all go to Howie's house to learn to make dumplings.
I had never had dumplings before, but they were delicious! Howie and Joyce made a mixture of ground turkey, shrimp, garlic, onions, etc. that we wrapped in dumpling "skins," and then boiled or fried. All the men were quite talented at making their dumplings look beautiful with perfect little folds around the edges, but the women (especially me) struggled to compete with the men! Howie and Joyce also made homemade egg rolls, rice in tofu pockets, and another rice/egg thing that was all so good!
It was Howie's birthday and we splurged and bought him the lovely gold chain you see here around his neck. Logan was very happy to help Howie open all his presents.
When it was time for us to go, Mason and Logan wouldn't leave because we hadn't had the cake that Elaine made for Howie. So everyone graciously took a break from a very competitive game of "Battle of the Sexes" to light candles and cut the cake.
Here is Elaine with Logan. Logan is very friendly with all the gang, but Mason still acts shy around them even though he's met them several times. I think it's all an act now. Anyway, thanks for a fun night, you endo party animals. We'll have to join the fun more often!

Bump

I'm sure those of you who see me everyday have noticed a "bump" developing as of late. Instead of trying to suck it in (which really doesn't work) for another couple weeks, I decided to spill the beans and announce that yes....

I AM PREGNANT!!!!

DUE DATE: APRIL 14, 2008

For those of you who don't see me everyday, here is the proof. I must say that this picture makes my bump look bigger than I thought it was, it must be because I just ate way too many Oreos after dinner, right???

We showed Mason and Logan the ultrasound picture tonight during FHE and told them we were having a baby. They were both really excited and voted that it is a GIRL! Hopefully they're right. Mason carried the ultrasound picture around the rest of the night and kept asking how many days until the baby would be big enough to come out. It's going to be a long 6-7 months for us all!