Not quite Mary Lou Retton...

Starting a couple months ago, Scott and Charlotte began attending gymnastics class at The Little Gym. I guess it isn't so much gymnastics class as it is basic coordination and following instructions class. They both love it! Charlotte's class starts by singing a song while shaking bells. Then it ends with bubbles and stamps on hands, feet, and tummy. Those are her absolute favorite parts. So I hear quite often during the week, "Let's go to class and do stamps and bells and bubbles!" Charlotte gets a C+ for following instructions, but she is very good at swinging from the bars.

Stamps!!! By the way, that is a cow on her shirt... Just ask her.

Scott's class is especially fun, because all his friends (Rebekah, Zach, Ryan and Molly) are there, too. When Scott actually listens to the instructor and is not preoccupied with being silly with Zach, he does a pretty good job!

Last week was his very favorite because they did whale rides:

A couple of interesting commentaries

Recently I have been sent a couple of links to editorials by the well-know author, Orson Scott Card. I though both were extremely insightful, informative, and well-written.

The first is about the financial crisis, specifically the sub-prime mortgage mess: http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081017light.html

The second is about the LDS church and the members' position on Prop 8. I love his sensitivity in explaining the issue and describing the REAL meaning of "tolerance": http://mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/orson_scott_card/?id=4740

Quote for the day

We were driving to church this morning, but since we had Stake conference, we were heading to different building. Scott told me:

"I'm pretty sure this is the way to Hawaii."

Don't we all wish, Scott...

Maui January 2008

Big Boy Scott

Check out my little man:

I did some shopping yesterday for the kids. Drew said he thought we should get Scott to wear a tie, which I thought would go over as successfully as an attempt to get him to eat meat in a form other than Dino Buddies. But I showed him the tie and shirt I got and he thought it was pretty cool. As we got dressed for church this morning, he was a little angry with me that I didn't put on his new shirt and tie (my plan was to wait until closer to Christmas). So he VERY willingly got dressed in his fancy new clothes and left just a little while ago to help Drew with a home teaching visit. Now I have to go get more ties this week!

Our new favorite show

Scott has a new favorite cartoon, and I have to admit that I think it is pretty hilarious too! It is on the Disney Channel and is called Phineas and Ferb. Sounds intriguing, doesn't it??? Read on...

The story is of two brothers and their adventures in creating stuff that any kid would dream of doing, like an elevator to the moon, a beach in their backyard, the world's largest bowling game, their own Cirque du Soleil... Their older sister, Candace, is always trying to catch them in the act and prove to their parents what the boys are up to. And similar to Ferris Bueler's Day Off, the she is NEVER successful. Oh, and there is also always a little side story in each episode about the evil Dr. Doofenshmirtz (love the name) who tries to carry out his evil designs. In the meantime, Phineas and Ferb's pet platypus, Perry, is really a secret agent who always foils Dr. Doofenshmirtz plans... Sounds awesome, doesn't it? If the premise of the show doesn't grab you, maybe this will make the show sound more interesting: My mom was over at our house, and had a quiet morning as she was waiting for the kids and I to come home. She could have checked her email, watched some morning talk show, or even caught up with Dancing with the Stars. I got home and asked how she enjoyed her time. Her response was, "It was great! I was able to watch 3 Phineas and Ferb episodes I hadn't seen before!" All that free time, and she chose to watch Phineas and Ferb all by herself...

Here is a clip from my favorite episode. The boys decide one morning that they want to create a band and be one-hit wonders. Here is their big song with Candace singing along:

Video about Family

I am going to get a little religious and political, which my blog followers know this is a serious departure from my usual posts... As many of you know, California (and other states as well) have some major issues to vote on in less than one month. This video from http://www.catholicvote.com/ illustrates what is at stake in this election. Although I am not Catholic, I am inspired to know that there are many other people of different faiths that share with me the belief of the sacredness of life and family:

Update on Scott's Notes

I came home and found this note typed on the computer:

Recently he has been excited about Toby, of Thomas the Train fame... This Percy thing is news to me, though. I told him if he sleeps in his bed for 12 nights and does 25 projects to help me, then he can earn the money to go buy Toby. Those little trains are EXPENSIVE! Here are some of the projects on his list:

Hopefully you can read over Charlotte's scribbling... The ones with an 'x' on them are complete. My personal favorite is SPREAD THE BEDS, which I'm pretty sure means make the beds, but when you only have a comforter to spread out, that makes perfect sense.

We will update you if/when Scott earns Toby...

Scott's Notes

From the time he about about 1 year old, Scott has LOVED to type and play on the computer. You can see this post from a while ago about his first efforts typing "Baby Einstein" on the computer. So recently he has typed a few more notes for me, usually asking for help to spell a few of the words, then he printed them out. Here are a few of my favorites:

See this post for the details of the expensive swimming pool.

Excellent experimentation with the use of the comma.

The computer must have been unavailable, because he had to write his CostCo list by hand.

Flashback a few decades...

This is hysterical! Go to http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ and try it out! Here is what I might have looked (or did look) like in years past:

1952: Wow - this totally reminds me of my Grammie Helen!

1966: Not such a bad look for me!

1972: Apparantly I didn't change a whole lot from 1966 until now...

1974: My mom looked EXACTLY like this in 1974!

1984: Watch out Olivia Newton John!

1990: My hair for junior high graduation looked pretty much just like this...

To Cindy and Jeff...

Some of my friends have done a similar post about their siblings, and I have laid awake at night thinking about what I would write... So it is time for me to copy and do my own post:

You may be my sibling if:

Your father can take responsibility for "discovering" hidden musical talents such as Enya or Smashmouth.

You can play at a near-professional level the game of "keep up balloon"

Your idea of playing with Barbies was to throw them off your 2+ story balcony into a large tub of water, aka "Barbie High-Dive"

No family dinner is complete without your mom laughing so hard she cries or spits out what ever she was drinking.

You have been told, "Stop it, or I'll make you sit on your hands!"

You remember the summers sleeping on the outside deck and having midnight hoedowns.

Auburn Skateland was a seriously cool place.

You cried when Chris Webber was traded from the Sacramento Kings.

You automatically do 'the gesture' when listening to the Beach Boys Christmas album and the line that says, "The streets are filled with laughter and so many hearts are gay."

You only wish you would have made an Christmas ornament as totally awesome as the Sequin Santa Wreath.

Your favorite dinner is flank steak, twice-baked potatoes and strawberry fluff.

You know the gang sign for Lake of the Pines.

Speaking of Lake of the Pines, you were a proud member of the LOP swim team and were PUMPED to defeat Lake Wildwood.

You still wake up at 4am on Christmas morning.

All together, you could take on and defeat ANY other 3 siblings in basketball or volleyball.

You hate tomatoes and male cookies or banana bread.

You remember many Saturday nights, staying up to record the good SNL skits, which included the Gap Girls, Musicians for Free-Range Chickens, The Sinatra Group, and the Hot-Tub Lifeguard.

You have seen the movie Clue more than a dozen times and can complete the quote, "Flames on the side of my face..."

You think your older sister is a huge nerd, but were SO grateful she was around in college to help with math and statistics.

You ever said to your older sister, "I like your necklace. Oh wait - that's your belt."

I'm sure I will think of more laying in bed tonight...

(one day later...)

Here are the others I came up with since doing this post:

You can't go to church and hear the words "armies of Shiz" or "gentiles", or sing Scatter Sunshine or I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day without giggling uncontrollably.

You remember laying in bed, sweating to death and squirting yourself with water TRYING to keep cool because your dad would not EVER turn on the AC.

McCrory Gym holds some pretty cool memories from your glory days.

***Additions from Cindy***

You routinely use the word ACED in conversation and understand it's many meanings. (I can't believe I didn't think of that one)

You know the rule about going to the 2nd layer of a See's Candy box -- and routinely ignore it.

Your Christmas music selection rarely strays from the Beach Boys or Osmonds.

How could I forget...

...how absolutely fabulous these pumpkin cookies are? Allison, will you please post a comment about how you honestly feel about these cookies? And keep your message PG-rated, por favor...


I finally made my first batch of the season tonight since Laurie H. went out and bought the pumpkin for me, hinting (not so subtly) that her family needed some... I wish I could take credit for this most amazing recipe, but I actually stole it from Michelle Bodine from our old ward in Los Altos. My only modification from her version was to eliminate the frosting and add milk and white chocolate chips. So thanks, Michelle! We named our daughter (Charlotte Michelle) after you to express our gratitude!

Pumpkin Cookies

Cream together:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1 cup Libby's pumpkin
1 egg

Mix in:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp vanilla

Optional (not really) – 1 ½ cups milk chocolate chips, ½ cup white chips. You MUST use Guittard brand milk chocolate chips. If you haven't tried them, you are truly missing out.

Bake on greased cookie sheet (or just use parchment paper) for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes about 3-4 dozen cookies.

Just a little excited...

Have I already mentioned how much I love fall? Here is some more evidence of how much all of us are enjoying this time of the year...

Scott has decided on his Halloween costume. We expect no drama this year as in years past, when Scott didn't realize wearing a costume = LOTS of candy:

We found Halloween socks, that both kids have been VERY excited to wear:

The Halloween house is decorated and half eaten already. Charlotte was most excited about the frosting:

The countdown chain to October 31st is made:

We have already watched the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown:

Now I just need to make some pumpkin cookies!

Every Mom Deserves This...

Thursday night, Laurie H., Laurie C, Amy and I said goodbye to our sweet husbands and children and hit the road for an AMAZING weekend away! We hit the road and headed off to my family's beach condo on Monterey Bay. As you can imagine, every second we were awake was filled with lots of conversation, laughing, eating and of course, shopping!

Friday morning was fabulous! I woke up at my usual time in the morning, and then went right back to sleep - because I could! Then once I did wake up again, I just lay peacefully in bed, enjoying the quiet...

Once we finally got ready, we headed off to shop. None of us could remember the last time we went shopping without either a stroller or some specific timeline that would not allow for wandering. We spent a total of 12 HOURS eating and shopping! And as you can see from the photos, we had LOTS of fun:

By the way, this picture of the trunk was only after day one. We did do more damage on day two... I was pretty successful in finding things that I could wear during my second trimester of pregnancy, as still wear post pregnancy. My favorite purchase was this dress:

I first picked it up, commenting that it looked like a dress Mrs. Roper would wear (if you know who Mrs. Roper is, then you totally know what I am talking about). But when the sales lady said I needed to try it on, I was shocked at how cute it was! And by the way, the girl in the photo must be 6'3", because it is not nearly as short on me.

We arrived home to tired but happy husbands and kids on Satuday night around 8:30pm. We all agreed this needs to be an annual, if not bi-annual, event. Thanks to the Lauries and Amy for joining the party and helping me have SO much fun!

My Favorite Time of the Year

So it is not officially fall yet (only 5 more days!), but football has started, school is in, and the temperature has dropped into the 80s. That is enough for me to bake some pumpkin pies! Pumpkin is truly (to quote Drew) the "Food of the Gods." The best part is that Scott will eat pumpkin pie! And it is so nutritious: milk, eggs, and I'm pretty sure pumpkin counts as a vegetable. Pretty soon I will break out the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe. Don't worry, Allison - I'll bring 5 dozen down for Thanksgiving.

I LOVE this time of year!

Marlin or Yoni?

So why had I not posted much to my blog recently? Why have I not called or emailed back some of my dear friends? My excuse is that lovely period of time known as the first trimester of pregnancy... Yes, Scott and Charlotte are due to be a big brother (again) and big sister sometime around March 17th! I just love having babies during March Madness so I can just recover from surgery and nurse while I watch basketball games!

The new thing this time around is that Scott is old enough to get it. He has already suggested a couple of names: Marlin for a boy (in honor of Finding Nemo) and Yoni for a girl. I think he came up with Yoni by randomly pulling 4 letters from the bathtub. Charlotte of course doesn't get it yet, but I am pretty sure she is going to be an awesome big sister. She LOVES being around babies and giving them binkies, arranging their blankets, offering toys... Scott was not terrible helpful when Charlotte was born. His idea of "helping" was climbing up on my shoulders while I was nursing to play a super fun game called "Top Mommy".

I have to say this pregnancy has been MUCH harder than the first two. The 24-hour nausea and exhaustion like I've just taken a double-dose of Tylenol PM has been a little challenging. Drew is not happy that I have been feeling so unlike myself, but I think he does enjoy seeing me slow down a bit and not try to do 5 things at once. Now I am at 3 months and since I have felt a little better the past few days, I am hoping I am turning the corner and arriving at the glorious stage of the second trimester.

By the way, by sister, Cindy, is due 1 week after me. My sister-in-law, Kelly (Jeff's wife) is due 6 weeks before me. My other sister-in-law, Allison (Drew's sister) is also due 6 weeks before me! So many little cousins the same age will be SO much fun!

"Mom, I like expensive things."

Scott recently has been very obsessed about money: how much things cost, how much money he can earn, why I won't just give him the $20 in my purse... So recently he came home from playing a his friend's house, and they have a basic inflatable pool in their back yard. After this little play date, Scott told me that Alex has an expensive swimming pool that he got at Target, and that he wanted one too. So for days, all I heard, "Mom, I REALLY need to go to Target so I can buy an expensive swimming pool" and "Mom, I really like expensive things." And one day he typed this on the computer, printed about 5 copies and distributed them around the house:

Last week we went to Target, which is the most amazing place in Scott's mind. We wandered down the summer sale aisle and inflatable pools were about 80% off. So Scott got his expensive $36 swimming pool for $8! Quite an impressive, expensive swimming pool. And here is the result:

Did I mention it comes with cupholders that will hold cups with goldfish crackers? Only the best for our children...

Escape to Tahoe

Monday was such a great day... We left the kids with a babysitter and escaped for the day to beautiful Lake Tahoe! Fortunately I was feeling pretty good that day, which may it easy to enjoy the quiet, peaceful drive and the gorgeous scenery. We stopped at Emerald Bay, Sugarpine Point to see a spectacular old mansion and walk along the lake, and then finished with a fabulous dinner at Sunnyside on the west side of the lake. Not a bad way to celebrate our 7th anniversary!

Why Aunt D is SO Cool

Scott woke up one morning last week and first thing he wanted to do was call Aunt D (or Cindy). Recently he is VERY excited about talking to people on the phone... Why call Aunt D? Because he wanted to ask her for blueberry and lemon-lime Pez - duh, Mom! You see, Aunt D is the cool aunt who brings or sends awesome candy and obnoxious toys that Mom or Dad would never buy. So last night I checked the mail a special package arrived. And here is Scott opening up the Mother Lode:

Thanks Aunt D!

Back to Preschool!

Scott has been counting down the days to August 11th ever since his last day of preschool back in May... The day finally arrived! He was SO excited when we pulled up to Miss Cathy's house that the second I unbuckled him, he sprinted out of the car and up to to the door where (surprisingly) he rang the doorbell and waited patiently for Miss Cathy to open it. The second that door was open, he raced in, jumped on the floor to kick off his super-sweet black and white checkered Vans (thanks Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jeff!) and ran off to find his friends and play. There was no hesitation or even a look back at me to suggest a "Bye, Mommy. I'll miss you."

I figure I better enjoy this stage while he is SO enthusiastic about going to school...

And when I got back in the car, poor little Charlotte had one sad tear streaming down her face, and all she could say was, "Where's Scott? I want Miss Cappy." Sorry, cute girl! You have to wait one more year...

Way better than Playdough...

Scott participated in a week-long camp through the city a month ago. One day he came home with this cool stuff he called Flubber. It was sort a combination of playdough and silly putty, except it didn't smell weird and didn't stick on anything. I found the recipe online and we have LOVED making Flubber ever since! It is a pretty cool science experiement to watch the ingredients react as the mixture comes together. Some of you moms with school-age kids may be saying, "Uh, where has she been? My kids make Flubber all the time at school!" For those of you like me that had never heard of this stuff before, here is the recipe:

Mixture 1:
3/4 cup very warm water
1 cup Elmer's glue (I use 2 4oz. bottles)
Food coloring

Mixture 2:
2 tsp Borax (find it by the laundry detergent)
1/2 cup very warm water

Combine mixture 1 in one bowl and mixture 2 in another bowl. Make sure both are mixed well. Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2 and watch the cool reaction! After a couple of minutes, start working the mixture with your hands. After 2 or 3 more minutes, it will be dry (not sticky) and ready to play with! We love using rolling pins and cookie cutters to make cool shapes. And you can store it in ziploc bags and it will last forever. I read somewhere that if it does stick on anything (which hasn't happened to me) just use regular vinegar to dissolve the stuff.