Discovery Gateway

Christopher's cousin is in the process of moving to California, so we went up to hang out with them one last time. I had never been to Discovery Gateway, but the kids had a blast! It wasn't quite as cool as the Polymer Playhouse in Ohio, but a close second for sure.

First there was a ball area to explore.

Then a water area, which their "cousin" (Christopher's cousin's son- is that once removed or something?) soaked himself in as much as possible. He is in the brown shirt.

Then Kaitlyn found these little scooters. She had never seen one before, but climbed right on and figured out how to scoot within one minute. Smart little girl! She loved it.

Then there was a grocery store for the kids to investigate. They liked that a lot, though they probably didn't understand how cool the registers were.

A climbing wall . . .

And a farm area, which had a big horse . . .

And a garden patch Kaitlyn decided she needed to climb on.

The little house had everything to scale for the kids, which was adorable. I loved watching Griffin and Kaitlyn sit down for a meal together here.

The rest of the place is more for bigger kids, but we did go outside to see the helicopter. Tyler climbed right into the backseat and stayed in that one seat the whole time. We tried to get him up to the front for the cool buttons, but he liked his chair thank you very much. Funny guy.

My Laundry room

When we bought this house, we knew it was a "fixer-upper". What we liked about it was that most of it was functional, just hideous. So we can just live with it all until we get the time/money to fix it up. The laundry room was on the list from the start.

Of course, there is the obvious. The curtains are awful, the paint is dingy, and the trim wasn't fully painted in the first place. It looks like there was wallpaper and a border up, and then later someone tried to peel it up and gave up. And so, like they did in other rooms in the house, they retextured over the wallpaper a spikey texture that doesn't match the rest of the house and then painted. But in this room, they were even more sloppy than normal. Not only did they not remove the light switches beforehand (they did that in every room, leaving untextured gaps near the edge), but they also didn't texture in places that you didn't think you would notice. Like under a counter. So some is spikey, some is painted wallpaper, and some areas are the actual, "orange peel" original texture of the house. Did I mention that when they painted the door for the ironing board cabinet, they painted right over the hinges? Sigh.

But my main frustration was the layout. I am a visual learner, so here ya go.

See, the problem is the counters. You can't get to the counter beside the dryer very well, so they couldn't put cabinets in. So the area underneath that counter has always been my food storage, out for the world to see. And the place I have to stand and put things in the washer is fine normally, but when I was pregnant I had to back in because I didn't fit with my belly facing forward. Here is the new layout we are working on.

When I measured the washer and dryer and found out they fit along that wall, the whole thing just made more sense. The window being off to that side means we can have upper and lower cabinets along the top wall, with a nice deep sink where the regular sink is now. No wasted counters for no reason! Plenty of storage! The only problem is that not every set of washer and dryers will fit in that slot, so when these break we will be measuring every set in the store until we find ones that work again. But it is worth it, because the whole room will suddenly make sense!

So far the plumber has moved the hookups for the washer over, and Christopher is working on the electrical before we close up the drywall again. I can't wait until I have after pictures to show!

In the meantime, some actual "after" shots. Christopher noticed that the fireplace stuff was 60% off when he was getting laundry room stuff, so he got us a set of fake logs that use our gas line to light a fire. The best part is that it works by remote. Up until this week, we had never cleaned nor used that fireplace. Way cool! Erm, I mean hot . . .

Itty Bitty Ball

When we left Kids on the Move, they told me the best thing I could do for him was get him into playgroups and classes and things, since he is already getting the speech therapy he needs through the school district. So I went down to the rec center to see what they have. Unfortunatly, the class that would have been perfect for him was right on top of our neighborhood playgroup, which I love too much to give up. We have two groups of four kids his age, and we just rotate houses and host our foursome once a month, Wednesday morning. They are adorable, and it is fun to play games and crafts and sing songs, etc. The class that did fit our schedule was called "Itty Bitty Ball".

The downside was that it was for 3-4 year olds, and Tyler just turned 3. So not only is he far behind most kids his age, he was also one of the youngest in the class. I was concerned, and rightfully so. They were teaching kids how to kick the soccer ball with the inside of their foot and score a goal, and I am just working with Tyler to "kick. In. KICK . . . no, not your hands, KICK . . . okay, IN aim for the goal . . . kick a little harder . . ." It was kinda trying. But I think this pictures says it all. He was thrilled to be there. He just wanted to stand there in his oversized T-shirt and watch all the other kids doing such cool stuff. I had a really hard time trying to get his attention to make him do the tasks, but occasionally he found one he liked. His favorite was running the bases on baseball day. "Run run run run STOMP run run run run STOMP!" Even if most of it went over his head, I still think it was a good experience for him overall. I just had to learn that it was okay to let him space out for a little while sometimes, because he was still learning by watching the other kids and it made us both happier to not stress out of him performing every task perfectly. And he did improve his ball skills quite a bit.

In the meantime, he is really doing great lately. His vocabulary is increasing almost every day, and the speech therapy has been helpful as well. Sometimes it is little things, like how he used to tell us "see you later!" and now also says "see you 'morrow!" and "see you next time!", but I love seeing it develop. And I feel so grateful to have Kaitlyn, because I think she is good for him. Today she started to get into our singing time- she started flinging her arms around during "wheels on the bus", and got pretty close to mimicking our movements during "twinkle star" as Tyler calls it. The cute moment was when Tyler decided he wanted to sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider", so he took her hands and tried to make them move in the right way for that song as he sang. Seriously, where is the camera when you need it? I love seeing him try to teach her and help her along.

And tomorrow we are going to go see Miss Melva, and see if that preschool will be a good fit for him. It is right around the corner, and everyone in my ward seems to love her. The funny part is that the class his age currently has 8 little girls in it. We'll see what Tyler thinks of those odds!

My birthday, and other belated posts

I don't know why I haven't blogged in a while. I have a lot to put on here, but just haven't gotten around to it!

Anyway, my birthday was at the end of last month, and it was great. My husband really outdid himself this year. He got me a new flash for my camera, a new haircut kit to cut my boys' hair with, and even got me a big bunch of red roses, which he knows always gets me to melt. I think the funniest part of that bit was that when he was walking out of Costco with the roses, someone saw him and said "uh oh! What did you DO?" No need to worry, random citizen! My hubby was way on top of things. Since my mom was here, I thought we would all go out to eat, but the kids were cranky and sick, so my sweet mom offered to watch them and let us have a date. It was a great day. The funny part is that I have always told people my lucky number is 127. Just to be difficult, I think. But my birthday is 1/27, so it works. And this year Tyler turned 3 on the 3rd of January, and I turned 27 on the 27th of January. How fun is that?

Also while my mom was here, we decided to go have some fun in the snow in the front yard. I was thrilled to have someone to play with the kids while I took pictures, because I love pictures in the snow. So now you have to see some of those. :)

Seriously, I am in love with that snowsuit on that little tiny girl. She looks like the little brother on "A Christmas Story". Tyler especially liked "sledding rides". How we don't own a sled, no one can figure out. But we don't, so my mom assured me that she grew up using boxes. Tyler also liked it when he could hug little sister on their way down.

In other adventures, we went to Chuck-E-Cheese just after my mom went home. It was a birthday party for one of Christopher's younger cousins. We have only taken Tyler once or twice before, but he is still just a bit too young for most of it. They had a blast anyway. Mostly watching Daddy play the games.

Notice my little victory here. Her hair finally got long enough for the funniest little piggie tails! They crack me up. She started ripping out any hair bow I put in about 6 months ago, which has made me sad. Usually she just yanked the instant she felt me do something. But for whatever reason, she is okay with these little piggies. As long as I hand her the hairbrush so she can brush the top while I work on the sides.

She also loved her balloon. She saw another kid with one and started stalking him, so we used some of Daddy's hard earned tickets to get her a balloon of her own. It was worth it for sure when the string got stuck under her arm, so she started turning in circles trying to get to it, just like a dog chasing its tail. Priceless.

25 things

So, like everyone else, I caved to the "25 things about me" fad on facebook and decided to post it here as well. I don't normally do the chain letters or other things like that, but I think this was a good, introspective one. Plus, I loved learning randomness about everyone else. So, here ya go.

1. I love to read, but can’t put books down when I do. Christopher knows immediately what has happened when he comes home and the house is a disaster area, because it means I got stressed and needed “me” time, so I picked up a book and ignored the house and (so bad . . .) the kids most of the day. I remember when I was about 8 years old, my parents used to find me at 2 or 3 am with a flashlight under the covers.

2. I was on a color guard for 7 years (4 in HS, 3 at BYU), and still miss it sometimes! Nothing could beat having 23 best friends, performing in front of 65,000 people, and getting season tickets to BYU football. I still have a flag in my closet.

3. I have never thought of myself as a “craft” kind of person. And yet, that is what I do now. Everybody knows me for making baby shoes from scrap leather, hair bows for baby girls, scrapbooking, sewing my own clothes etc. All those things just started because I was too cheap to pay for the real thing, and just did it myself instead.

4. I am horribly, horribly indecisive. One of my major criteria in a husband was someone who can make decisions for me, because it can take me a half an hour to pick out a movie to rent. You should have seen how bad it was with big decisions, like who to marry or which house to buy. Once the decision is made, I am happy to go along with it and always find a way to play the cards I am dealt, but it is just the area right before the decision that terrifies me. I am secretly thankful that both of my kids were happy little surprises, because otherwise I would still be debating.

5. Christopher was not my first boyfriend, but he was my first kiss and the first boy who told me I am beautiful (I still see myself as a schlumpy, ugly little nerd with braces and tell him he is delusional when he says that).

6. I love teaching math. No, really! I love how math all fits together perfectly- how all the rules of different areas of math all coordinate and never change. There are no opinions, no judgment calls, because if the answer is 42, the answer will always be 42. And I love helping kids make sense of it, or working on how to make it more relevant to them and interesting.

7. When I was a teenager, I liked hanging out with adults, or people who acted more mature. I was easily annoyed with the drama of that age. But now that I am an adult, I love teaching high school students and hanging out with my Beehives, because they keep me feeling young and spontaneous. Go figure.

8. I love cooking, especially baking.

9. I despise doing dishes with a passion. I don’t even know why. So they pile up until I finally give in and do them. I am such an embarrassment to my mother, who does dishes instantaneously.

10. I am not a neat freak by any scale. My house always looks a bit . . . lived in. I try to keep it from the “what tornado came through here” stage, but there is just a level of clutter that doesn’t bother me, and no matter how much I envy the sparkling clean houses my neighbors have, that just isn’t a priority to me I guess. Again, I am an embarrassment to my mother, who worked so hard to teach her girl homemaking skills. Sorry, mom!

11. I am a very meditative person. What that means is, I am perfectly content to stare at walls for hours on end without getting bored. There are always things to run through my head: fictional stories, to-do lists, re-playing events, etc.

12. I am not very self-motivated. I am always amazed at what I can accomplish when I have other people depending on me or concrete deadlines, but when it is just up to me, I would rather be doing #11. I envy people who say they aren’t happy unless they are getting things done.

13. I think I might be addicted to the internet. I just love the updating feeling- every time I walk by the room with the computer, I feel compelled to see if anyone has emailed me, or updated their blog, or something.

14. I am a very cheap person, and nothing makes me happier than a good deal.

15. I had both of my children without an epidural. I remember the first time I saw a sign for Hypnobirthing on the wall of my midwife office, I laughed out loud because it sounded like some stupid, hippie, out-there thing to do. But now I love telling everyone about how great it is!

16. On the other hand, I am a total sissy when it comes to sunburns. I honestly, truly complain more about a small sunburn than I do about giving birth with no pain medication. Christopher tries to point that out to me when I am whining about the sunburn, but he doesn’t get very far. I keep whining anyway.

17. I don’t like debates or confrontations, and so if people challenge me on what I think, I would usually rather back down and make peace than hold my position.

18. I love public speaking, ever since I did speech team in high school.

19. I can play the piano fairly well, but nothing in the world terrifies me more than playing in front of people. I remember when I played a piano/organ duet with my mom in church when I was home from college, and the choir was laughing at me because my knees and hands were shaking to badly that no one knew how I was still playing. Including me.

20. My favorite food is bread. White, warm, yeasty bread.

21. My hand-eye coordination stinks. I was really good at flag corps, but anything that involves more timing (ball games, Frisbee, badminton, and even piano) leave me whiffing through the air no matter how much I practice. Which is why I don’t like to play piano in front of people- no matter how prepared, I always miss notes randomly.

22. I always make my stories too long, with too many details. This is something I didn’t even notice until my husband tried to get me to actually get to the point a few too many times, and I started noticing how many details I probably could leave out. Can you tell from this note?

23. My husband is the best thing that ever happened to me. Especially now, after a few years of marriage, I actually understand what people mean when they refer to their spouse as their “other half”, because he truly completes me. I love having a best friend that knows everything about you, and still loves you for it- someone you can be yourself with at all times.

24. I had jaw surgery a few years ago, and I still get occasional migraines where my jaw locks up when it is cold outside. The surgery left scars behind that look like dimples on the sides of my jaw.

25. My claim to fame is that I once got taken out on a stretcher to an ambulance from a 900 person lecture hall in BYU . . . because I held in a sneeze. I had bruised my ribs a month prior to that, and when I held in the sneeze, the doctors said that it broke the cartilage off of my 6th right rib, and I passed out from the pain. My friend thought I had a seizure, and I had no idea what had happened, so they took me to the ER. It hurt SO BADLY!