Miss Mya

Is it a problem that Mya likes to dip toilet paper in the toilet and then suck on it? Seriously.

She also uses her mouth as a third appendage. If her hands are full, or she has to push the doll stroller, or her big wheel, etc., she puts stuff in her mouth to carry it. If you ask me, it's pretty smart. Why use pockets when your mouth is so much closer?

And now you've all seen, the girl can bust a move. I think I'll attribute her mad dancing skills to her dad. I've never done those arm moves in my life so she must get it from him. :)

Oh, and she loves to sit on Jaida when Jaida's laying on the ground (or anyone for that matter). And once she's on top, there's no way Jaida's getting out. She also thinks it's funny to step on Jaida's head.

These girls have moves!

This is mostly for my parents who don't really know Mya yet and haven't been around jaida for far too long. But I figured other people would enjoy it as well. Trust me, it's worth watching. I still laugh outloud everytime I watch it. And the fact that Mya isn't clothed makes it that much better. What I really wish you could see are the moves Mike was bustin' out behind the camera. We enjoy daily dance parties at our house. Anyone's invited.

New Baby!!

I imagine there are several people who check this blog who would be interested to know that Kristin D., one of my best friends since fourth grade, had a new baby. And since she doesn't have a blog and struggles a bit with the Internet (love ya Kristin) I thought I'd make the announcement for her. So here's Cam. To see some more pictures of him, check out my photo blog here.

Out of the Best Books

I'm not sure who's in charge of starting "tags" and heaven knows how much I love them so I'm starting one of my own. :) This one is actually useful though. So. . .I'm going to list 10 books I've read recently that I would recommend to others. Then the people tagged will list 10 they've read (or as many as you can). One stipulation--you CAN'T list any of the Twilight series books. Everyone's already read them.

These are in no particular order, nor are they my favorite books of all time. Just books I've read recently and enjoyed.

1. Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing by Ted Conover. A book about a writer who gets a job as a prison guard at Sing Sing (one of the most dangerous prisons in the US) so he can write a book about it.
2. Coyotes also by Ted Conover. this time Conover explores the world of illegal aliens. Very interesting especially since most of us probably know some illegal aliens.
3. My Grandfather's Blessings by Rachel Naomi. A feel good book. Lots of inspirational stories.
4. Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. Luttrell is a Navy Seal who gets dropped into Afghanistan on a secret mission. By the title you can guess he's the only one that survives.
5. Chasing Ghosts by Paul Rieckhoff. He's a soldier from Iraq. Interesting book that gives insight into the day-to-day actions of soldiers in Iraq.
6. A million little pieces by James Frey. I know there was some controversy about this book because he apparently fabricated or exaggerated a bit. To me, it makes it that much better because that's what alcoholics and addicts do. . .they lie. Believe me, I know.
7. The Group by Paul Solotaroff. A true story of 6 people who belong to the same therapy group. It follow them through their group therapy sessions. sounds possibly boring but it was really quite interesting.
8. Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley and Ron Powers. A book about the flag rasiers on Iwo Jima. Very graphic but I think this is a must read book. So good.
9. The best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. Yes, it's a children's book, but I read it at least once a year.
10. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. Perhaps a book about a horse doesn't sound terribly riveting, but I think I read this in about 3 days. And the book is WAY better than the movie (which is generally the case with all books vs. movies)

Now for the tags. PLEASE NOTE: I'm tagging people who don't have blogs. So either get a blog, or e-mail me, or GET A BLOG! :)

I tag: Stephanie S.(yes, that's you Snuffer), Jaimi W.(get a freaking blog you spaz), Sarah jane, Cheryl, Hollie S., Brittany H. (you didn't have the baby so now you have to do it), Jacqui S., Kim J., Cameron, Lanie, Mieka, Sarah M., Susan, Shana, Amy M., Stephanie I., Stephanie C., Jill K., Jill T. (if you get bored in London, ha ha), April F., Wendy T., Brittany J., Angela B., Amy W., Kimi, Ann, Kristin D. (taking care of a newborn doesn't really take that much time), Todd, Holly R., Rob R. (oh wait, you don't read), Bec, Matt P., Sandi (do you even look at the blog?), Mom, Dad (do you read in Ghana or are you always on the phone?), Shane, Jeremy, Kelli, Chad, Burk (the internet isn't that scary), and anyone else who stalks my blog!!

Happy Reading

A few I forgot

Some more funny things my girls do.

When Mya wakes up from a nap, she doesn't cry. She usually sings until I come get her. Same thing in the mornings. Either singing or she talks to herself or says "melmo. . .melmo. . .melmo"

Jaida absolutely HATES the freeway. Anytime we get in the car, the first thing she ask is "Do we have to go on the freeway?" If the answer is yes, it is immediately followed by crying, whining, and "I hate the freeway." The whole time we're on the freeway she ask "Are we getting off yet?" No explanation for this.

Jaida also gets really upset when I wash the sheets on her bed. She asks who messed her bed up and then cries that she wants her bed back together.

J also dresses herself each morning. She picks out the outfit. I'm trying to embrace her independence. She generally does a pretty good job. Except yesterday when it was 95 degrees and she had on a longsleeve red and white striped shirt and bright pink and green shorts. And yes, I let her wear it. Who cares. :)

She's also very particular about how her hair is done. My hair skills are pretty limited so hair time in the morning can be quite frustrating for both of us.

Like mother like daughter.

I walked into the "studio" area yesterday and came across the following scene. Jaida had set up the stool, coaxed Mya to climb on it, set up my tripod, put my dad's old film camera on it (stole your camera, dad, sorry), and was conducting her own photo shoot. I listened to the dialogue before I grabbed my camera. Here's what I heard.
Jaida: "Mya, look over here. . . put your head down a little bit. . . .perfect. . .no look this way. . .at me. . . .MYA. . .now say 'episode'. . ." (No idea where "episode" came from. I nearly wet myself when she said it though)
Mya: "CHEESE" (she kept saying that over and over)

Then Jaida realized I was there taking pictures so she decided to "take" some of me.

Then she managed to get Mya down on her stomach to do a few poses.

Looks like I have a budding photographer on my hands.

Dyson

So it looks like the vacuum consensus was to buy a Dyson. Um. . .I'm not sure if any of you Dyson lovers know that those vacuums cost $500!!! yea. Probably not spending $500 on a vacuum. Maybe when I'm a millionaire. :) But thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I do appreciate it.

That's my girl!

We recently went to a wedding for Mike's nephew. Here's a little picture series.

Commentary is Mya's thoughts:

"Who is this kid? That's a pretty hard hug."

"That's a pretty passionate kiss for such a little man. We just met." (Check out the hand grab behind the neck. . .impressive moves.)

Playing it a little shy. . . .

"Are we seriously doing this?"

A little hard to get. . . .

"Whoa. . .whatcha doin' there?"

"No, really, what are you doing?"

"Um. . ."

"Who ARE you?"

"I didn't like that. Not one bit."



"Back off buddy."

Good girl Mya. No kissing until your 21! :) You tell those boys to keep their distance. He's definitely cute though. And had more energy than any kid I've ever met. Yikes.

Vacuums

I need a new vacuum (is that spelled right. . it looks weird) and I have NO desire to do a bunch of research on a good one. So help me out. That includes all you blog stalking non-commentors. Please. Tell me what to get. That i can afford. :) My house hasn't been vacuumed (maybe it's two c's instead of two u's. . . or is it just one of each. . .I'm generally a really good speller) in over 3 weeks. Gross. Help.
Thanks.

vacuum
vaccum
They both look wrong. Hmmmmm....

Toys and Basketball

After yet another challenging day with Jaida, Mike took over when he got home from work. After repeatedly ignoring anything we asked her throughout the night, including disappearing from the house later to be found at the neighbors whom she informed she had permission from her mom to be there (not true), Mike sat her on the stairs and had a little chat about listening.
"If you can't listen, then I'm going to start throwing your toys away."
Without hesitation she replied, "then I'll throw all your basketball stuff away."

To Mothers

My sister sent this to me in an e-mail and I figured rather than forward it, I'd post it on the blog. I got this e-mail on a day I REALLY needed it. So thanks Kelli, and here's to all the mom's around the world. We all understand each other at least on some level! There's no greater job and no harder job!

Happy Mother's DAY

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers intheir arms, wiping up puke laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherryKool-Aid saying, 'It's okay honey, Mommy's here'.
Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end soothing crying babies whocan't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work withspit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in theirpurse.
For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloweencostumes. And all the mothers who DON'T.
This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And themothers who took those babies and gave them homes.
This is for the mothers whose priceless art collections are hanging ontheir refrigerator doors.
And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal bleachers at football,hockey or soccer games instead of watching from the warmth of their cars,so that when their kids asked, 'Did you see me, Mom?' they could say, 'Ofcourse, I wouldn't have missed it for the world,' and mean it.
This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store andswat them in despair when they stomp their feet and scream for ice creambefore dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten instead, butrealize how child abuse happens.
This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explainedall about making babies. And for all the (grand) mothers who wanted to, butjust couldn't find the words.
This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their children can eat.
For all the mothers who read 'Goodnight, Moon' twice a night for a year.And then read it again. 'Just one more time.'
This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie theirshoelaces before they started school. And for all the mothers who opted forVelcro instead.
This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and theirdaughters to sink a jump shot.
This is for every mother whose head turns automatically when a little voicecalls 'Mom?' in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are athome -- or even away at college.
This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomachaches, assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to getcalls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick themup. Right away.
This is for mothers whose children have gone astray, who can't find thewords to reach them.
For all the mothers who bite their lips until they bleed when their 14 yearolds dye their hair green.
For all the mothers of the victims of recent school shootings, and themothers of those who did the shooting.
For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of theirTVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.
This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful, andnow pray they come home safely from a war.
What makes a good Mother anyway?
Is it patience? Compassion? Broad hips? The ability to nurse a baby, cookdinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?Or is it in her heart? Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son ordaughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the veryfirst time?
The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M.to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?
The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M. when you just want tohear their key in the door and know they are safe again in your home?
Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hearnews of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?
The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our thoughts are for youngmothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation...And mature mothers learning to let go.For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.Single mothers and married mothers.Mothers with money, mothers without.
This is for you all. For all of us.Hang in there. In the end we can only do the best we can.
Tell them every day that we love them. And pray.
'Home is what catches you when you fall. l - and we all fall.'

Phases

I'm on a blog streak. I've been meaning to blog this for a while for journal purposes.
I imagine all kids go through phases where they do certain things and then grow out of them. I wanted to document a few things that my girls do that are either funny, or slightly maddening depending on the day.

We'll start with Jaida:
--She gets the hand towels in the bathroom wet. All the time. And by wet I mean she puts them in the sink, turns the water on, and then lays them on the counter. No explanation for it, she just does it. I started hiding the towels which then becomes a problem when someone uses the bathroom.
--she climbs on the counters all the time. This was more of a problem at my parents house, but she still tries to do it here.
--She always wants a drink of apple juice in the middle of the night. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that can't be good for your teeth.
--She still is addicted to binkies. And I can't muster up the energy to take it away. But for some reason it really seems to bother other people when they see her with one. Not sure why anyone cares but the dentist.
--Jaida rarely eats breakfast. She is definitely her daddy's girl on that one. I'm famished by about 3 in the morning. She usually waits until lunch to eat. But if she does happen to eat breakfast, it's lucky charms and all she eats is the marshmallows.
--She still watches Caillou. For those of you who haven't seen Caillou, consider yourself lucky. It's a PBS cartoon about a little 4 year old boy who for some reason is bald, whose dad apparently doesn't have a job, and whose parents ALWAYS have time to play with him and do creative activities.
--When we go to fast food places (and yes, we frequent them too often) she insists that the person taking our order needs to be a boy and the person giving us our food needs to be a girl. If it's not that way, she gets very angry. This one is bizarre and I have no explanation for it. But seriously, she's ticked if the sexes are mixed up on this one.


On to Mya:
--She pulls wipes out of the box and tries to squeeze out all the moisture, then puts them back in. She squeezes as hard as her little hand will let her. So usually when I go to pull a wipe out, I find a big wad of crumpled up, partially dried wipes.
--She refuses to sit down while eating unless it's at her little table. If she's at the big table with us, she won't sit. And the highchair is old news. I tried my hardest to "force" her to stay in that. I got a good glimpse of her strength that day. She's one tough little girl with a VERY stiff body.
--She still hoovers fruites. There's no chewing involved. Sometimes she'll go through 3 bags in one minute. She says AND signs more and it's just too cute to say no to.
--she loves Smarties (thanks to Stephanie Snuffer who supplied them to her during MANY church meetings). I think smarties are disgusting but they are now a staple in our home. Thanks Steph.
--For a while, everything was a "quack, quack." Once she learned what ducks say, she decided that's what everyone says. Until she said "quack quack" to Jaida who promptly informed her "Mya, I'm not a quack quack, I'm a Jaida."
--She loves to be held. By pretty much anyone. Ask any of my friends who come over. They've all been ropped into lugging her around the house. I don't think there's a shy bone in her body. I breed social kids. No idea why. :)
--Mya loves books. But she likes to read them to herself. when I try to read the words, she rips it out of my hands and starts in with her gibberish talk.
--She has just started to like elmo of "melmo" as she calls him (or her. . .what sex is elmo?) which is slightly unfortunate for me. When I was pregnant with jaida and was going through my sick months, Jaida watched a whole lot of elmo so now everytime I hear it's voice, I get sick to my stomach.
--Mya loves to be naked and to show everyone her budda belly. She's quite proud of it and well she should be.

It's late. My girls are hilarious.

Listening problems

Jaida doesn't listen to me. At all. I'm not talking some of the time, I'm talking about all the time. I say something and she either acts like she didn't hear me or she has a very sassy (although creative) remark.
The past two days have been exceptionally harder than most. Thankfully her dad works close and yesterday and just dropped her off at his work. It kept her safe and me out of jail. I kid. But seriously, sometimes she's too smart for her own good. Most of the time I just stare at her and don't even know how to respond. Today I finally said "Jaida" (in the calmest voice I could muster up) "you need to listen to me." She looked at me, pointed right in my face and said "You need to listen to you". Um. . .what? Turn and walk away.
Tonight I went to a baby shower and on my way home called to check on Mike and the girls. I could tell from the tone of his voice he was having as much fun as I had all day with her. She got on the phone and I asked her to "surprise me" and have her pajamas on by the time i got home. A few minutes later she called me (speed dial is a bugger sometimes) and said "DAD'S BEING MEAN." "What did he do?" " he said 'Get your jammies on' and I said NO so he's being mean."

Another funny thing. . .is that what we call it? Funny? Anyway, EVERYTHING is "not fair". If we say no to anything or she doesn't get something she wants it's "not fair." It's still "not fair" even when we say yes to stuff. At least we're pounding it in to her early that life's just not fair. :)

Love, love, love this little girl. And yes, I'm being sincere.

The funniest part. . .about a month ago I was lamenting to Mike how fast the girls were growing up. They were both in a really "good" phase and I mentioned that I wished I could use Jaida's pause button for life and keep them the same age for awhile. Now I'm thinking I either need the rewind button of the fast-forward. :)

Too all my faithful blog readers

I owe an apology. My blogging has been sporadic, lame, and boring. I apologize. But I just moved so give me a break. Now that I only have about 5o boxes to sort through I should have more time on my hands to do important things like blog. :) So keep checking back. I promise it will get better.

Settling in

We have at least survived the first part of the move!

Some highlights and info.

We live in Lehi. I figure it's big enough no blog psycho can track us down. Not sure how we feel about living in Utah county yet. Could be interesting.

We filled a 26 foot U-haul TWICE. We have way too much crap. On one trip, half the truck was full of toys. Time to stop my addiction of buying them.

House specs: 4 bed, 4 bath (WAY too many to clean), great room, toy room, and a place for a photography studio (wahoo!)

We've met several neighbors. There are TONS of kids. And EVERY house on our street has a mini-van in the garage. We will always be left out of the mini-van club and I don't feel one bit bad about it.

It takes Mike approximately one minute to get to work. He now comes home for lunch and because of his shortened commute we now have 2 more hours a day together. I take that back. . .it's actually 1 1/2 hours extra together(I'm usually not awake before he leaves--I've semi-trained the girls to sleep in).

It took me 3 days to find silverware to eat with.

Half the basement is already full of stuff I couldn't find places for. The "studio" area is still filled with un-opened boxes.

Mike finally got to buy his flat-screen TV and we love it. Survivor in HD is about as good as it gets. :)

The first day we got here, Jaida went missing for about 10 minutes. I found her two doors down playing in the neighbors house (who I hadn't met). She saw a little girl outside her age and decided to invite herself over to their house. The newest priority is to install high doorlocks on all doors leading outside.

Mya thinks it's really funny to run into the street. Thankfully we live on a very low-traffic road.

Our master bathroom feels like another bedroom and the tub is enormous. It took 20 minutes to fill it up. Definitely worth it. Until Jaida got her swimming suit on and decided to join me.

The house has no blinds yet, making sleeping in quite difficult. That is high on the priority list. Unfortunately the "priority" list is quite long.

We are accepting visitors anytime!!! :)

And a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped in the moving process, supplying boxes, watching kids, etc. We couldn't have done it without you. Well, we could have, but it would have been a lot harder. So thanks! We really appreciate it.