2014 :: week 51

December 14

Sunday night we gathered at Emily & Matt's for dinner. I visited with the kids while there and we had fun playing with the various effects on google hangout. The kids were much more interested in who was a puppy or was wearing a headband than in talking to me, but I had fun seeing their faces and hearing their little voices. I was excited to get a bit of a break from the kiddos, but they were pretty much all I talked about while I was gone.

December 15

Melanie, Mom and I made a quick trip to Provo before our flight home Monday. We visited campus and I felt old because so much has changed. They tore down my dorm! Luckily I was able to visit with my good friend and former roommate Candace who is a stats professor. Catching up with her was fun and reminded me that even though buildings and roads may change, the friendships and memories I made will last forever.

December 16

Anthony didn't shave while I was in Utah (or for a few days before I left) and he had the beginnings of a beard when I got back. Our wonderful neighbor gave the kids art supplies for Christmas and Will used one of the markers to draw a beard on himself.

December 17

Will is 5! We celebrated by going out to dinner at Red Robin with my parents and Melanie. The wait staff serenaded Will with a birthday song and treated him to a cup of ice cream which he generously offered to share with everyone. 

December 18

Thursday we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow. There wasn't much, but it did keep us busy for close to two hours in the morning and another hour and a half in the evening. Will loved building snowmen and having snowball fights. Lauren loved eating snow, proclaiming, "It tastes like WATER!" as she shoved fistful after fistful in her mouth.

December 19

Will has been having a blast trying out all his new birthday presents. Anthony took him on for a game of bean bag tic-tac-toe and Lauren supervised.

December 20

TJ, Andrew, Melanie, Jill and Laura will be singing "Angels We Have Heard on High," in church tomorrow and spent some time practicing this evening. Will and Lauren loved hearing the music and joining in on the chorus.

2014 :: week 50

December 7

Each Sunday in December the primary presidency is having the future Sunbeams come in from nursery and participate in singing time. Lauren has really enjoyed it. The leaders let the future Sunbeams lead the songs. Here they are leading "The Wise Man  and the Foolish Man."

December 8

Monday night we went to Bass Pro to get our traditional Santa pic. Last year we never got to our pic despite two attempts due to incredibly long lines and Will coming down with a stomach bug while we were in line. This year Will played with some slot cars and Lauren colored lots of pictures while we waited.

December 9

Lauren and I mailed our first batch of Christmas cards at the post office while Will as at school. I'm still working on getting the last few out...

December 10

Wednesday night we stopped by my parents house to drop of some Christmas presents. We stopped by the "crazy lights house" around the corner on our way home. The kids love the light show this house puts on. It's synchronized to a several songs, including Will's favorite Pachabel Canonthe Trans-Siberian Orchestra pachabel Christmas Canon. I should have taken a picture of Will's face while watching and listening to this song. Full on Fuller smile.

December 11

Will was so determined to get a piece of his candy (I stashed it on the top of the fridge) that he stacked Lauren's potty on top of one of our chairs. I know that lots of kids do things like this routinely, but this was Will's first time. He's scared of heights and has never attempted something this "dangerous" before.

December 12

Will has several friends that own Wiis and has played various Mario games at their homes. He asked Santa for a Mario game and told me if he doesn't get it it will be the worst Christmas ever. Well, he's definitely not getting a Mario game (or the requisite Wii on which to play said Mario game). But I decided to check a game out from the library for him to play at my parents house while I went to Utah for the weekend. He was very excited when we picked it up.

December 13

I flew to Utah for a "girls weekend" of sorts with my mom and sisters. We visited Temple Square and watched the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. After making fun of my sisters for all the pictures they insisted on taking I stopped and asked for this ONE picture and they wouldn't let me live it down.

2014 :: week 49

November 30

I spoke in church on Sunday, and there is nothing quite like the sweet relief of knowing you've taken your turn and you can spend the rest of the day relaxing. After church I worked on a cross-stitch, snuggled with Lauren and watched Anthony and Will sort baseball cards.

December 1

This is Will after we informed him there wasn't going to be any other food options if he didn't at least try his dinner. I tried a new enchilada recipe and though both TJ and I thought it was quite good neither kid was really feeling it. A child will never starve in a house with food, right?

December 2

Our kids are always looking for ways to prolong the bedtime routine. This week they decided they needed to walk backwards ups to stairs because the extra twenty seconds it took to walk up the stairs was twenty seconds they weren't in bed.

December 3

When Lauren and I returned home from running some errands we were greeted with a slew of boxes. The fruits of my Black Friday/Cyber Monday online shopping began to arrive.

November 4

On Thursday evening Lauren told me she "had a rough day." Me too. After a week of great potty-training progress Thursday we took some major steps back. I suppose I jinxed things when I said I thought she had it down the night before. Her four accidents made it a rough day for me too. Nothing a post-kids' bedtime Chick-fil-A peppermint shake couldn't soothe, but luckily things got better the next day and she's had three accident-free days in a row.

December 5

Friday was Lauren's last Kinder Kids dance class. She had a fun month of classes, and the clear highlight for her was learning how to do a somersault.

December 6

Saturday morning we attended our ward's Christmas Brunch. We enjoyed visiting with friends and eating good food, so all the goals of a ward party were met. There were crafts and games for the kids and a movie set up as well so adults could chat.

2014 :: week 48

November 23

We had our final temple prep class with a soon-to-be missionary, and Anthony pulled out his mission album to show him what life was like for a Finnish missionary circa 2001. The kids--especially Will--were fascinated by the photos.

November 24

We agreed to watch the kids friend Bailey's hermit crabs and beta fish while he went out of town for Thanksgiving. Bailey and his family brought the pets over after school and Will and Lauren were mesmerized. We made it through the week without killing them (I was actually quite worried about this) and we learned that our family is not yet ready to take on the responsibility of having a pet. Or I should say, TJ and I are not ready to take on the responsibility. The kids did a great job of remembering to feed them, they just wanted to feed them way too much way too often. They both wanted to touch them all the time and I was afraid they would smother the poor crabs. I spent a lot of time making sure the kids weren't going to harm the animals with their intense interest.

November 25

Lauren loves raspberries. They were on sale at Sprouts this week so we bought several boxes. I got this one out while I was putting away the groceries and when I turned around this is what I saw. She had single-handedly devoured the box. Good thing we had more in the fridge.

November 26

I'm not sure why this picture won't load right. Wednesday afternoon Anthony finished work a little early and we went to Pump It Up! to burn some calories before Thanksgiving. We had a fantastic time. We made up a game that was a mash up of basketball, soccer, dodge ball and jumping and spent a lot of time dominating this inflatable.

November 27

We gathered for Thanksgiving dinner with a few families at the Cooks home. Emilee had some Thanksgiving coloring pages and activities out for the kids to color while the adults made final food preparations.

November 28

It was a nice day so we had to squeeze in some yardwork. Anthony cleaned out our gutters and then we walked to the park. When it started to get dark we walked around the block to check out the Christmas lights that have recently been hung in the neighborhood. It was totally dark by 5:30pm.

November 29

When I woke up this morning to go to the gym I was disappointed to see that both kids were already up. I was really hoping they would have slept in a bit later as we have been staying up later than usual this week and the kids need their rest (they've been really grumpy). Will was teaching Lauren about baseball with his cards. I heard him tell her that "The Los Angeles Dodgers play in LA and so do the Angels, but they are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Isn't that weird?" She did not appear to care.

2014 :: week 47

November 16

After I put the kids to bed I got in bed myself and worked on a Christmas cross-stitch while listening to this month's book club pick, The Hiding Place. Anthony left straight from church for four days in DC so I was planning on having a lot of time to myself in the evenings. This turned out not to be the case as the kids did not sleep well the entire week.

November 17

Sunday was a long day. Monday morning we were all dying to get out of the house. The only problem was it was freezing! The projected high temperature for the day was 25 degrees. We headed to the Lenexa Open Gym for an hour. Will has gotten really good at riding a bike with training wheels. Both kids played hard the entire time we were there and were in much better moods when we got home. Two dollars (admission fee) well spent.

November 18

Will was desperate to get out and play baseball after preschool and he mistakenly thought it was warm enough to go outside without a coat, warm hat and gloves. In his defense it did feel significantly warmer than Monday because the sun was out and the wind had died down, but it was still cold (37 degrees). We got through the Royals lineup one time before he decided it was in fact too cold to play baseball outside. I let him go out unproperly bundled up because I wanted him to get cold and realize there is a reason for wearing a coat, hat, gloves, etc. He has been faithful about wearing his good coat ever since.

November 19

Wednesday morning we had quite a surprise. As we were loading in the car to take Will to playschool, Max, the neighborhood cat came in our house! Both kids were screaming and I was starting to freak out on the inside. I had no real idea how to coax the cat out of the house, but knew I absolutely didn't want to leave him alone in the house for the next two hours we planned to be gone. Luckily Will suggested we ask our neighbor Jan, who owns several cats, what to do. She gave us some cat treats and we were able to lure him out rather easily.

 November 20

My friend Lauren organizes a playgroup and we met up at the church for some free-for-all in the cultural hall. It was pretty fun. Visiting with friends is a highlight of any week, but especially when TJ is gone.

November 21

When I woke up Friday morning I was so happy. I slept through the night for the first time since before Anthony left. And he was back so he got Will his breakfast before he started working! Lauren came in to find me and climbed in bed with me and her baby. She was being very sweet, going back and forth between kissing her baby and snuggling with me. I wish I could bottle up the sweet cuddles she gave me and the high-pitch baby talk she was using as she soothed her baby. This picture will have to do.

November 22

We bit the bullet and started to paint the trim in our front room this week. I've spent several hours over the past two days listening to Maisie Dobbs books while dusting, taping, painting, caulking and painting some more. I'm excited for how much brighter the room will be once we are done. This is the biggest project I've undertaken since we've moved in and I'd really like to get it done within the next week.

2014 :: week 46

November 9

Lauren spent some time holding the door open for people after church on Sunday while she waited for her TJ and me to finish whatever it was we were trying to do before we could leave. We had the primary program and Will did a great job. The girl I sit with ran off the stand and I had to chase her around the chapel while wearing heels which was slightly embarrassing. We will put on the program for the Single's Ward next Sunday and I will be wearing flats just in case.

November 10

 She's "a grumpy old troll. Sitting on top of a bridge..." Lauren likes to sing this song from Dora when we get home from dropping Will off at preschool and block me as I try to enter the house. She wants me to solver her riddle which usually is just saying "por favor."

November 11

The weather dropped over 40 degrees between Monday and Tuesday and messed with my sinuses, giving me the worst headache I've had in a very long time. Luckily there was no school and we were able to have a low-key day. During a brief period of productivity (aka the 90 minute window when my medicine was working) we moved some things to the basement for storage. Lauren got in our exersaucer and pretended she was a baby for a bit.

November 12

We ran a few errands immediately after picking Will up from school Wednesday afternoon. He fell asleep on the drive home and was in a deep enough sleep that I helped him walk in the house and over the couch were he continued to sleep for an additional half hour. Lauren kept coming back to the couch and checking on him and he barely stirred. Tired boy.

November 13

We've wanted the kids to try their hand at sharing a room for awhile. There are various reasons for this, but the most pressing is that we will be visiting Anthony's family over the holidays and will all be sleeping in the same room. My friend Stephanie recently bought a new bed for her daughter and is letting us borrow their toddler bed, so we decided to give it a go. They did great! There's more talking than there was before they shared a room, but there is also slightly less night wandering. The verdict is still out on whether or not it is successful, but so far we are pleased with how things are going.

November 14

With the colder weather has come a lot more basement playtime. The kids haven't played here much recently, but this week they spent quite awhile playing together. Here they had prepared a feast and Lauren was getting frustrated with Will for eating all the desserts.

November 15

All week I was dreading the snowfall that was forecasted for today. It turned out to be only a dusting. I let the kids play outside on their bikes/cars/scooters for about fifteen minutes while Anthony cleaned up some leaves so they'd get one last chance to ride them before the ground was covered with snow. It started to fall while we were out, but it wasn't heavy and their was no accumulation.

2014 :: week 45

November 2

Will actually fell asleep Sunday after church and when he woke up he wasn't feeling very well. He started crying about how much his head hurt and that he wanted his headache to go away. Unfortunately, crying does not make headaches go away. In my experience it has the opposite effect. He was really quite upset and it took some serious distraction to get him to stop. I ended up playing How the Grinch Stole Christmas on our laptop and after a few minutes he finally calmed down. It turns out he did have a low grade fever for about 36 hours.

November 3

The weather was quite pleasant on Monday and we weren't going anywhere due to Will being sick so I decided to tackle this section of our lawn that I've neglected all summer. It hasn't required much weeding in previous years, but this year things have been different. We got a lot of rain and our grass has never looked better. Unfortunately, the weeds have thrived too. Typically the front yard (area people see) gets the majority of my weeding time.

November 4

Tuesday night we went to the free build at the Lego Store. On the first Tuesday of the month they give out free mini-Lego sets to kids and have tables set up to assemble them. I wanted to go to the gym and the kids have been making such a stink about going lately, so I offered to take them to get Legos if they would go to the child watch without complaint. They actually did! And they've both really been enjoying the rockets we made.

November 5

Late Wednesday afternoon we met some friends at the park, but with the time change the sun set while we were still there. It was kind of strange to be out in the moonlight. The moon was waxing, just a day or two short of being full, and provided a fair amount of light.

November 6

Second evening in a row of park in the dark! That's what we are calling going to the park around 5pm. The temperature really dropped from the day before and I told the kids they needed to put on jackets. They insisted they were fine so I decided to let them play without (I had their jackets with me in case they got too cold). Neither one would ever put a coat on, but their little hands were so cold by the time we left!

November 7

Nana and Papa got Lauren a dance class for her birthday and the first session was Friday morning. The class is small and the teacher let Will participate too, which was really nice. Lauren was very excited to get dressed for her dance class, but didn't much care for any direction from her teacher. She just wanted to do her own interpretive dancing to all the music. Will (our resident respecter of authority and rule-follower) was appalled at Lauren's behavior and kept telling her she needed to do what the teacher said. The parachute won her over and by the end of class she was more engaged with what she was supposed to be doing.

November 8

Will and I spent a few hours at the church this morning practicing for the Primary Program. I have a lot of respect for the presidency and music leaders and all the work that it takes to write and pull these things off. I'm also really glad it only happens once a year.

blue october

I have a distinct memory from this summer, right after the all-star break. Our family was listening to sports radio while driving to the gym and the commentators were talking about what sort of chance the Royals had of making the playoffs. One of the guys was so confident they would make the playoffs, he said he thought the Royals were going to win the World Series and was willing to "put money on it." Anthony laughed out loud at how far-fetched it would be for the Royals to make the playoffs, and at how downright ridiculous it was to think they'd win the World Series.

Fast forward a few months and suddenly the sports radio guy wasn't sounding so crazy. Actually, he still sounds crazy most of the time. But he was surprisingly accurate in his prediction that the Royals would not only make the playoffs, but make it to the World Series! And the whole city was excited about it.

Will is falling in love with baseball at just the right time. My family moved to Kansas City twenty years ago and it is our first Royals-in-the-playoffs experience too.

Royals are #1--This girls knows a surprising amount about the Royals. She named her one of her bears Baby Butler after Billy and likes to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

One of the playoff games was on while we were at the gym and it was playing on many screens.

Will decided he wanted to be Sluggerrr for Halloween almost a year ago. It took a bit of figuring out how to pull it together. Here he is after we made his mane and crown. He was very pleased with them, though the mane itched a bit. The make-up helped to pull the look together.

The whole town was pretty excited about having a relevant team. The day after the Royals clinched the ALCS I heard several Royals' themed parodies ("Party Like it's 1985," "Royals," and "All About that Base") on the radio.

It was a crazy run! Lots of late nights with extra innings and close games.