I TRIPLE DOG dare ya!!!!!

I grew up watching and loving A Christmas Story each year at Christmastime. This show is such a classic! I have to admit, that after I married Chris, between his red hair and my green eyes mixed with yellow specks, I feared that we may just reproduce a little Scott Farcas. You know, the scary red-headed bully with yellow eyes ("Heaven help him - he had YELLOW eyes!") that tries to beat up poor Ralphie in A Christmas Story. THERE, I said it. I was truly a little fearful that in mixing our genes, we'd have a small tribe of little redheads that might look like this famous bully. Well, my children definitely DON'T look like Scott Farcas, thank goodness! (I hope I don't sound mean --- it's okay to say this because I'm talking about a character, NOT a real person! (Right??) ) However, it wasn't until a few weeks back when Chris and I were watching this great movie when we realized that Parker is a mini RALPHIE!!! We were giggling through the entire movie because we were so shocked by the resemblence. Add a pair of glasses, slick his hair down, and add 7 years to his age, and, TADAH! It's RALPHIE! No joke. See for yourselves! Oh wait.

IT GETS BETTER!

Chris' brother, Eric and his wife gave thee FAMOUS lamp (I believe Ralphie referred to it as "the glow of electric sex...") to their parents for Christmas! Is that hysterical or what??? The box it came in even said "FRAG-I-LE" on it written all big. (If that isn't funny to you, you've never seen this movie and need to get with it and watch it!)

SOoooo, here is our little Ralphie, standing by the oh-so-famous lamp. If anyone knows of a casting call for the remake of this movie, we have the perfect man for the part.

Don't shoot your eye out!

Gotta love it! :)

P.S. These were the best fake glasses we could come up with....Chris' brother's old nerd specs.

You better watch out....!

SOooo, Emmie's first meeting with the "Big Man" went great. She was just pretty chill about the whole thing. No tears, and no fears! Way to go, Em!

Parker, on the other hand, had a DEATH GRIP on Chris and was holding on for dear life! It was pretty funny. I have to give it to him though, there were no tears or screams, just sheer terror. Despite his horror and absolute refusal to basically even LOOK at Santa, he DID manage to let Santa know what he expects on Christmas morning. While Chris was holding him in this stooping position below, over his shoulder Parker rattled off with confidence, "I want "Pat pat" toys" (we call Little Einsteins "pat pat" at our house), and "UHH, MICKEY MOUSE!". Of course.

Good job, Parker!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

As we strolled through the mall a little later, Parker started to get whiney, but he sure straightened out when I reminded him that he,

"Better watch out! Santa's watching!"

His response was, "YEAH!" and then a magical thing happened... cooperation for the rest of the outing. HALLELUIAH!

Does that line still work in January???? :)

(Pretty JOLLY Santa, ay?? Isn't St. Nick supposed to at least crack a smile? I even asked him to when I was snapping photos and the above pictures exhibit his response...or lack thereof...)

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Who can watch this claymation version of Rudolph and not be reminded of their childhood? I used to LOVE this show when I was a kid! I DVRed it for Parker a few weeks back and was excited to let him watch it and learn about the legend of this little Reindeer.

Did he like it?

It's pretty safe to say that he DID, seeming as every morning for the last 2 weeks between the dreaded hours of 4:45 a.m. and 5:15, we feel a pull at our covers followed by a tiny voice, "Mommy, Daddy! Watch Reindeer!". (No exaggeration!) Yep, the little munchkin is so excited about his new found friend, "Rudolph", that he awakens way too early from his slumber and invites (okay, forces) us to do the same, to watch "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". We don't necessarily end up watching it THIS early in the morning, but at sometime during the day, you're sure to find this show is playing in our home. I'm tellin' ya, when this 2 year old gets passionate about something, to say our household gets on overload of it is an understatement!

Speaking of claymation, Parker and I (okay, 95% of the credit goes to the 2 year old...thank goodness.) sculpted these very, um, creative snowmen (yes, all are snowmen) in the picture of above. Parker was so proud of his masterpieces. I didn't have the heart to tell him that they look more like disfigured alien insects... hmmm. I must be such a good mom. :)

MEETING THE REINDEER

We lucked out last week when we took a family drive through the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point (above) and found out that in addition to the light display, they had some of Santa's real reindeer there for us to visit. Needless to say, Parker was pretty excited to meet one of Santa's real reindeer, even if it wasn't Rudolph. It was FREEZING cold outside, so Emmie and I stayed in the car while Chris and Parker went to get their glimpse of the animals. They were only gone for about five minutes, but they returned having fulfilled their mission and most importantly with a satisfied Parker.

WELL,
The tree is up, the lights are twinkling, the snow is falling....It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... and we're EXCITED!!! :)

Next on our list?
VISITING SANTA....
we were going to go last week but I got sick....& now Parker's sick (not what I had)... hopefully we'll make it one of these days! We're running out of time!
HaPpY ChRiStMaS PrEp everyone!!!

Christmas card outtakes

Here are some outtakes from my pretty unsuccessful attempts over the last 3 days to get a good Christmas card picture of Parker and Emmie. We've done them in Christmas jammies, everyday clothes, and Christmas Sunday best, but we still haven't quite caught the perfect one. (The first two "shoots" weren't planned, I just decided spur of the moment to take some pics since they were kind of dressed alike....don't worry, I'm not putting THAT much time and energy into getting a pic that I'm happy with... :))However, I am running out of time so we may just have to make do with what we've got. They are still pretty cute so I wanted to post them so that they will be in my blog book once I print it at the end of the year.

And I am so happy that I finally figured out how to make a collage! :)
P.S. Don't worry, it's totally normal to wear a bow and headband with your pajamas!

Can we just turn down the lights, PLEASE?

Parker and I left Emmie alone for a few minutes and came back to find her fast asleep with a slight adjustment in her accessories. Hey, why use an eye mask to help you sleep when you have headbands? Very resourceful, Em. That's my girl! :)

O Christmas Tree

I just love the Festival of Trees!

Chris had the morning off of work so we went on a family outing to check out the event... Parker doing his now customary cheez-ball grinParker's favorite tree was this ball one (above). I admit, it was super cool and creative and had lots of people's attention, but unfortunately it was down the FIRST isle of trees that we looked at. Parker of course SCREAMED when we rolled him away from this fascination... and he screamed, and screamed....Chris finally looked at me, and said, "Uh, we'll be right back..." So, Emmie and I continued to check out some trees in peace. Upon their return, Parker was happy as could be.

WHY you ask? Why the sudden change in mood? Rest assured it was because he was chowing down on

THIS: Oh, the things we do and the games we must play to keep our children well-behaved (okay, semi-well behaved) in public....

Chris made it clear that FIRST came the lecture, THEN the popcorn....

Hey, whatever works, right?

On with the festival... it was a lot of fun! In case you won't be making it yourself, here is a small taste of what the event is offering this year... Emmie's favorite tree was this pink tree. Yes, she was asleep, but I'm just sure this was her favorite one.


Talk about ingenuity! I love it!

These trees are donated for many great causes and in behalf of many lost lives. It's so touching to go through and read the personal stories behind the tree displays...

Some of them were so creative... this one is made out of glass! Er, wait, maybe it's plastic...

And now for the tree you've been waiting for....

Tadah!

Our tree!

Okay, I know, it should have been in the festival. Ha.

A tree in his name

My older brother Michael was really involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. Sadly, a family friend whom we grew up with, passed away several years ago of the disease, and this had quite an impact on Michael. He got involved with MDF and did quite a bit of charity work raising money for them within the community. After his death last year, one of his friends whom he knew through MDF, invited our family to La Caille (her father is the owner), where they planted a tree in Michael's name. They were so kind to us and even gave us gift certificates to return the following year to see the growing tree and it's progress. Last Monday, Chris and I, my Dad and my little brother (my Mom and Stepdad couldn't come as they live in St. George now) were able to return for a great dinner in honor of my brother and to see the tree's development. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful to La Caille for honoring my brother in this way. It is so fitting for "his" tree to be planted in the middle of some of the most beautiful grounds in all of Utah, where big and lavish parties take place, as Michael always loved to be the center of attention at a good party....the thought makes me smile....:)

Bon Appetit!

This is definitely the fanciest restaurant I've ever eaten at. Somehow I figured out that asking for a booth and a to-go box were inappropriate... I'm not so sure how well we fit in there! We were giggling at the fact that underneath one of the entree choices it read "financing available".... Um, yeah, do you have a no interest plan for that??

It was a great experience and a fun night, and the food was delicious.

Thanks to La Caille for being so generous, and for doing something so meaningful for a family they didn't even know!

Thanksgiving

HaPpY ThAnKsGiViNg 2008! You could say that it's been a pretty strenuous year for us in a lot of ways...a difficult and often scary pregnancy, dealing with the loss of my brother, much heartache for our country... - just to name a few. But we are so THANKFUL this year be back in good health (you have no idea!), for Chris' stable job despite the economy, for our new and beautiful, healthy baby girl and our 2 year old joy, to live in a beautiful free country where the first amendment allows us not only the freedom of speech but the freedom of religion for all of us, for wonderful friends & great family! What more could we ask for? We are truly living the American Dream and have been tremendously blessed. Life sure isn't perfect, but I'm grateful for a perspective that allows us to learn from the hard times & to even be strengthened by them, and to keep moving forward with faith.

We have MUCH to be thankful for, and we are!!!
We spent Thanksgiving this year with Chris' side of the fam. We had yummy food and great company... that's what Thanksgiving is all about, right?
Above is a pic of Chris' two sisters (yes, they are sisters - they look nothing alike) and you-know-who. Parker LOVES his aunts and they are so good with him!

Chris with his brother and sis helping in the kitchen.. Yes, that is a mullet that Dustin is sporting, and yes, he's proud of it. Trust me, it's worth clicking on the picture to get a close up view.

Parker, Emmie and Chris with Great Grandma and Grandpa Lonczyna

Em with the hosts of the schindig - Grandma and Grandpa Hansen
And the excitement of the week??? Bethany and Brett got engaged on Thanksgiving Eve!

CONGRATULATIONS you two! You are an adorable couple and we are so excited to welcome Brett into the fam!

Thanks to the Hansens for a great Thanksgiving!!!

....Now onto Christmas.... :)

Jealousy mixed with extreme fatigue... the effects are brutal

Here's a scenario. What do you do when you're husbandless at church & both of your kids are crying hysterically in sacrament meeting? YOU LEAVE!!! Yep, that's right folks, sacrament meeting wasn't even halfway over today and we had to leave, as in, exit the building all because I don't have enough arms to hold both of my children at the same time (Parker apparently requires BOTH my arms to hold him.)

Parker had his breaking point today. The jealousy has been building up for three months now, and today his true feelings toward his new little sister all came to the surface. As soon as we sat down in sacrament meeting, Emmie started to cry. Well, EVERY TIME I went to pick up Emmie, Parker would start to cry and say "No mommy, No mommy!", between sobs. Well if I put Emmie down, SHE would cry (& I'm telling you, the girl has some lungs when she wants to use them). I tried convincing Parker to let me hold Em in one arm in he in the other, but he wouldn't have it. We went out into the hall and foyer THREE times in the time span of about 12 minutes to try and resolve this issue, but at all times either one or both of my children were screaming. By the time Parker threw himself on the floor in the hall and started rolling around, I knew that Parker was beyond repair & that it was in the best interest of the entire congregation for us to leave. (Just a mental interpretation I made of the passerby's "what's wrong with YOUR kids" glares in the hall.) I threw (okay I didn't throw my baby) Emmie back into her carrier and sadly marched my crying kiddos down the hall and out of the building to our car. I unsuccessfully fought back my own tears as I unlocked the car door to load everyone back in. Yes, I started crying, and the good part of the day was that no one saw me with tears rolling down my face. Ughhhhhh! ALL I wanted to do was go to church today! Does it really have to be so complicated?? Did I really just spend 2+ hours trying to get myself and 2 kids packed up, dressed, ready, fed, bathroomed and out the door just to turn around and come home a half hour later?? Oh heaven help us!

So I bet you can't guess who was literally snoring before we made our way out of the parking lot. YEP - the little man in charge. The poor little guy was simply TIRED! (an already known fact.) This 11:00 church, mixed with no husband to help out is going to be the end of me, I swear! Sad to say, but I really dread Sundays these days due to the fact that our meetings are right in the middle of Parker's naptime, and knowing that I'm going to have to do it all without Chris 50% of the time.

Just a word of advice... next time you see an obviously struggling mother, offering to hold her new baby who is perfectly content as long as she is simply held, while the poor mother tends to her cranky, nap-deprived two year old, would be a nice gesture. OR you can resort to staring with pity as she unsuccessfully tries to enable some sort of super human ability to console both of her out-of-control children at the same time....

If you STILL wonder why I take Parker's nap time schedule so seriously, reread this entire post.

OH THE JOYS OF MOTHERHOOD!

Parker's perfect plan....

Parker has adjusted pretty well to his new sister. He doesn't show much interest in her...just an occasional, "Mama, put baby down", or "Baby sad", or "Baby awake", but then he goes about his business. He definitely realizes that she's a huge inconvience for him, but I am grateful that he mostly just tries to ignore her.
A few weeks ago, we had the following conversation:

I was sitting on the couch feeding Emmie, and Parker was being mean to our poor dog, Roxy. He teases her relentlessly and it drives me crazy. After asking him a number of times to be nice to her, I finally told him, "Parker, if you keep on being mean to Roxy, she is going to have to go and live with another family who will treat her nice. Do you want Roxy to have to go and live with Jakie and Cameron?" (his little friends who live up the street, although I know they aren't dog people.) Parker sat and pondered this for a minute before his eyes got all big and he excitedly replied, "Oh! EMMIE go and live with Jakie and Cameron!", as though he had just formulated the most perfect plan.

Sorry buddy, she's here to stay.... ROXY on the other hand is questionable. If anyone out there would like a great little dog who is loyal and affectionate, just these days extremely neglected due to other little people's needs coming first in this home and horribly teased by a 2 year old, let us know. We might just consider your offer.

It happened IN the dryer, BY to be determined, WITH....

So I've found with having kids, that shopping for clothes isn't just something that you do for fun. Between season changes, spills and stains, and just mere fact that these little people GROW every few months all contribute to the need for, yet again, more new clothes! It can be hard to keep up, not to mention EXPENSIVE! Well, just last week I was patting myself on the back with relief that we seemed to be all stocked up on winter clothes for Parker who just went through a major growth spurt this summer, and that Emmie's closet seemed pretty well stocked for at least a few months (the girl is growing like a weed!). Well, when I retrieved my laundry from the dryer yesterday, this is what I discovered: To my shock and horror, the entire load, which consisted mostly of clothing for the kiddos, had bright pink splotches ALL OVER THEM! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? There were a few salvagable items, and some that aren't so noticeable, but the majority are RUINED!

(This picture does not begin to do the damage justice and these are just a few of the many articles involved in this tragedy)

The culprit? A RED crayon!

GRRRRRRRR!

I guess from now on I'm going to be checking my two year old's pockets before doing the laundry... I wasn't aware that he knew he even HAD pockets, but apparently he's smarter than I give him credit for. :) ...
Anyone have any advice on how to get red melted crayon stains out of clothes? I'm pretty sure it's hopeless, but I'll take any suggestions if there are any to be given!

I guess I'm not as "done" shopping for Parker and Emmie's clothes for the winter as I thought I was..... Sorry Chris...

FINE RED PRINT:

The above stated insinuation is just a THEORY as to how the red crayon made it's way into the wash. There is no proof of this, and probably never will be. But if you want to take bets.... :)

Who? Me? Bad hair day? Nah.

Emmie has a LITTLE bit of a crazy calic in the front of her hair. It's kind of hard to see, but if you look REALLY CLOSE, you might be able to see it.

Emmie's cure for this slight problem:Mat down hair, slip thick band around head, and finish with huge bow on top. No one will ever know! :)

Walah! Problem solved.

Sorry to pass on those bad hair genes, Em. Don't worry, I'll teach you how to use a hair dryer and roundbrush that you'll be able to use EVERYDAY for the rest of your life to combat this minor problem. Whoever told you that beauty isn't high maintenance is crazy! Isn't it fun to be a girl?! :)

2 Month Check Up

Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks??

Emmie is 9 weeks old today & had her two month check up on Friday.

She weighed 11 lbs 13 oz (51st %tile), and was in the 84th %tile for height. She has gotten so big, we can't believe it! She is much bigger than Parker was at this age. A trick-or-treater Dad at my door on Friday night thought she was six months old because of her size! Just what you want, right? Husky girls and petite boys...Chris has had many sleepless nights over this. Kidding, but he does joke about it endlessly. We of course think she's perfect in every way & are so glad that she's a part of our family! Chunky cheeks and all! :)

Trick-or-treat

A mix of two of Parker's favorite things:

MiCkEy MoUsE + ChOcOlAtE

=ed

One HAPPY two year old at our house on Friday night!

Such fun!!!

An enlightening night on the farm.....

First off, do you know what this is? It's a sunflower. A DEAD sunflower. We went to a pumpkin patch last night, and there were LOTS of these there. I have no idea if that is the "norm" for a pumpkin patch to be filled with these, but the one we went to last night was.

So upon stumbling onto THIS sunflower below, I was shocked to see that it was filled with actual sunflower seeds! "Chris!", I said, "Check this out! SUNFLOWER SEEDS!". I proceeded to show him all the sunflower seeds spewing out of this sunflower carcass. His eyes got all big and to my dismay and somewhat humiliation, instead of saying, "Wow! How about that!", he just laughed and laughed saying, "Are you serious? Give me the camera. I am taking pictures of this for the blog!" He went on to tell me that yes, sunflower seeds do indeed come from actual sunflowers (when you put it THAT way, I guess it DOES make sense...) and that EVERYONE knows this, and that I must be the ONLY human being that didn't. Really?

So, yes, I confess, I had NO IDEA that sunflower seeds come from sunflowers. To tell you the truth, I had never ever thought about where they come from before, & I'm not making any promises but maybe if I HAD thought about it, I would have figured it out. So, I guess you could say that this was an enlightening trip to the pumpkin patch. I am, however, THOROUGHLY convinced that I am not the only one who was in the dark about this. Is my discovery news to anyone else out there? Come on. It's okay to admit it. I am. And if you DON'T want to step forward, at least now you know, so that when YOU stumble upon all the sunflowers and their seeds at the pumpkin patch, your husbands won't think you're as dumb as mine thinks I am.

Now that THAT'S out of the way (if I didn't tell it, Chris would have... don't feel bad, I'm not embarrassed), on with our story...so we went to a place called "Hee Haw Farms" last night. They have a petting zoo, rides for the kiddos, a couple of big slides that Parker LOVED, a hayride to the sunflower cemetery/pumpkin patch, and much much more. FUN TIMES!!!




Parker does this little cheez grin everytime we tell him to smile. He really can smile like a normal kid, I just never seem to catch it on film. This was the bumpiest hay ride to the Pumpkin Patch! I was holding onto Emmie so tightly, and made Chris hold onto ME so that we wouldn't fly out of the wagon. We couldn't stop laughing because it seemed so unsafe that it was actually quite comical. Truthfully, I think all of us passengers were using our giggles to try and cover up our fears as the rickety old tractor pulling us experienced all kinds of "technical difficulties". It ended up being quite a long trip there and back to civilization again, and I was just relieved when we finally made it back safely. Emmie didn't make a peep the entire night! What a sweet little thing she is... Check out this huge slide! Scary?? Not for OUR 2 year old. He couldn't get enough of it. You may remember that Parker LOVES to feed our dog. Well, he found a new passion... Feeding the GOATS! We kept trying to leave, but Parker kept saying "2 more minutes" (this is his stalling technique for EVERYTHING) and ran around the courtyard gathering all the corn he could round up. Again, and again...and again....Needless to say, he has some new friends over at Hee Haw Farms. They may have beards and horns, but diversity is good, right?
What a fun night! Once again, it was soooo pretty out there and the weather was so nice - upper 60's! Can't we just skip over this winter season and experience Fall until spring? That's my vote. Anyone else with me on that one??
HAPPY HALLOWEEN tomorrow!