Thanksgiving... is a special night...

Here are some things I am thankful for...
1. My kids, they show me what is important in my life.
2. My husband, for all that he does, and for being so understanding, especially this year.
3. My family, for being there for me, even when they don't understand me.
4. My friends, for listening to me and accepting me for who I am.
5. My health. Even though it's not the best right now, it could always be worse. (knock on wood)
6. Technology, mainly the internet, and my phone. Makes life easier.
7. Questar... they heat my house..
8. Plumbing. Toilets, showers...
9. My imagination... I crack myself up over the dumbest things.
10. I know I already said it, but family and friends!

Madly in love...

I'm madly in love... My main man is cute, fun and totally unpredictable. He's polite and curious, and completely a ladies man. And, he's 2! These past 2 years have flown by! Merrick is one of the funniest little boys that I know. He definitely got my sarcastic sense of humor, even though he's a physical clone of Alex. We've been trying to break him of his binky fixation problem, so any tips would be nice. Merrick loves trucks, animals, chocolate milk, M&M's, family and his blankie. And his evil binky... grrr... Merrick also loves to be outside, go for walks, dancing, slides, otter pops, and riding the little pony at Gardner Village. Merrick also thinks that sometimes, clothes are optional. He's a big helper and loves throwing away stuff in the garbage, even if it's not garbage. My prediction for the future... soccer/football player, musician, mountain climber, CSI investigator, actor, or stunt man. I love you Merrick! I hope you have a Happy 2nd Birthday!

Trick or Treat!

I love Halloween! This year Merrick was Yoda, and Rowan was a witch. We went to see Rowan do the Halloween parade at school and then went around my parents neighborhood to trick-or-treat. We had a blast, and the weather was perfect. My sister made me dress up too, which was fun. I am not sure what the costume was but I looked like an 18th century mortician.Merrick ate candy as we wheeled him around in the wagon, and when he did get up to trick-or-treat, he was very polite and said "thank you" when he got candy. All the little old ladies loved his costume. Trick-or-Treat!!!

Pumpkin guts galore...

This year we didn't have our annual Pumpkin Carving Party with everyone, we just had a small get together at my mom's house. I know it's usually for the kids, but the adults get so into carving pumpkins. My pumpkin was covered in stars and swirls, and my sister carved a bat for Rowan. Rowan carved odds and ends and hieroglyphics on hers.

Rowan... professional tooth extractor!

Rowan had a dentist appointment on Friday. Her two bottom teeth were both lose and the hygenist told Rowan to twist on them to get them out. They gave her a little ring that looks like a ring pop, which is actually a little container for teeth for the tooth fairy. Later Friday night, I was on the phone, and Rowan came into my room, freaking out that her teeth were bleeding. It's funny to see someone soooo scared but totally excited at the same time! She ran back downstairs and about 2 or 3 minutes later she came back up with her tooth in hand. She was so proud of her accomplishment! I got off the phone and came downstairs and Rowan was in the bathroom working on her other bottom tooth. She was in there for another couple of minutes and then came out holding her other tooth! She was so excited! I was just happy I wasn't going to have to pull her teeth out! That just gives me the willies! I can't believe Rowan is old enough to be losing teeth! Where does time go?

Good times...

My mom's work had their annual work day at Boondocks on the 8th. I took the kids and we had a blast! We slid down the big blow up slide, got drenched on the little boats, and played some mini golf. Merrick loved the huge lizard that shoots flames out of his mouth when you get the ball in at the end. Merrick was too little for the race cars, so he had to sit out with Nana and Grampa. Those are my favorites! We went on them twice! When we were done outside we went in to play some arcade games. My sister and I won over 650 tickets for Rowan to redeem for prizes. Needless to say, it took her forever to pick out all the fun little things she wanted. And, like last year, we were the last to leave, but we had a great time!

We went to the Children's Museum on the 12th. I have never been and my mom got a pass to get us all in. That place is pretty fun! It was my nephew, Logan's 3rd birthday that day, so my sister-in-law Tiffany and her family came. The kids loved playing in the water and Merrick and Rowan loved 'shopping' in the little grocery store. My sister and I had a lot of fun too, playing in the little treehouse, climbing the rock wall, and making a movie with little action figures. The kids loved the helicopter on the patio outside! Merrick's favorite, by far, was the little cop pedal car. I thought he was going to hyperventilate when he saw it! Thanks for a fun day out Nana!

I can't believe you are already 6!!!!

Dear Rowan-
Hey bub! This has been a big year for you! Last summer you had to say goodbye to all of your preschool friends (Makayla, Madison and Miss Kari) so you could start Kindergarten! You made some great new friends, Victoria, JJ, CJ, Justin and Jacob and you excelled in all of the new things you learned at school. Reading, math, memorizing poems and songs like nobody's business! You got a black eye from your cousin Logan, who incidentally gave you a bloody nose on a separate occasion... You learned how to roller skate like a pro, in the house, no less, you learned all the lyrics to all of the songs in High School Musical 1 and 2, and I'll never forget you singing along to "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter every time we went anywhere in my car. I will also never forget when you drew all of the Spongebob characters for me, on separate pieces of paper and left them on my nightstand by my bed, not to mention all the other masterpieces you've created for me, or the look on your face last Christmas when you got 2 Baby Alive's, and especially when you saw that the boy one was anatomically correct! I knew that I was adamant about not dressing you in pink, but it's no surprise that it's now your favorite color and you look so cute in it! I admire your sense of adventure, your imagination, the stories you tell and the fact that you wear skirts when bug catching with your friends, who are all boys. You always seem to have the funniest things to say, or ways to say them, and no matter how much Aunt D tries to convince me, I still don't think you are ready for acting classes! You are such a good big sister to Merrick! You always help me make sure that he is safe and you are great about sharing your treats with him, even when I don't ask you to. I know that sometimes I can be a mean mommy when I give you time outs for backtalking, running out in the street without looking and your favorite, not listening, or worse, being grounded for breaking other people's lightbulbs. I'm just trying to do my best, and make sure you are safe. I know that we don't always agree on who should lead, who pushes the cart, who makes the chocolate milk or the fact that sometimes you have to go to bed, even if you aren't tired, but I know that we love each other and I'm so glad that you are my daughter! I love being your mom! I love you so much, Happy Birthday!
Love-
Mommy :)

Lagoon and creatures from the deep.....

School's in and summer's almost over! :( We took Rowan to Lagoon for the first time this summer, and she rode the Colossus, which was hilarious! I wasn't feeling too great before we got there, so I sat out on a few rides, and her and Alex went alone, which was okay, because it was fun to see how she reacted to it all.
She told me that she knew I would throw up on that rollercoaster, which is funny, since I have never gotten queasy on rides before. She loved the log ride, because we all got drenched and I took her on Odysea very last. Okay, that ride, if you like to get drilled in the head with water, and soaked on half of your body, that ride is for you. It's all unassuming since it's a kid ride, but Rowan and I were drenched. We couldn't stop laughing! After we left, I asked her what her favorite part was. And, of course, it was the cotton candy. We also went to the Aquarium in Sandy after Rowan's first day of school. Aunt Tiffany, cousin Logan, Aunt Dee and Nana came with.
Merrick loved all the fish and pointed at everything and ooh'd and ahh'd, and laughed. They have a little area that you can touch different little critters and that was Rowan's favorite. I got to pet a stingray which was scary and cool all at the same time. I kept thinking it was going to target me and I would be one of the statistics with Steve Irwin. The jellyfish were also really cool, and so were the sharks and tropical fish. Makes me want to go scuba diving!

Today is the 1st day of First Grade!

Today is the first day of first grade! Yay! Rowan was so excited to get ready this morning and she was even making her own lunch when I got up. She had a banana, a granola bar and two loose Oreo cookies in her Highschool Musical lunch bag. It was pretty funny! She got to sit on the bus with her best friend Victoria, and her old friend CJ from Kindergarten, sat behind them on the bus and I swear that kid grew half a foot over the summer! Rowan couldn't stop saying "I can't believe I'm in the first grade" last night. That is excitement at it's finest! Go Rowan! Have a great year!

Ah, new shoe smell....

I have to admit, there is just something great about fall. I know fall doesn't officially start until next month, and as much as I love summer, enough to have it last all year, fall is always a fun time in my book. I love taking drives up the canyon when the leaves start to change color, the hint of cool air, the anticipation of Halloween (the greatest holiday ever), or the fact that Rowan is going back to school. I hate to say it, but I'm a sucker for Back to School sales. My inner-nerd (not much different than the outer-nerd) loves buying pens, pencils and notepads, even when I don't need them. Last year, Office Max had a sale on the 24-packs of Crayola crayons. I bought 40 packs? You can't beat crayons that only cost 10 cents! And they weren't even the cheap Rose Art knock-offs, the ones that even though they say 'Non-Toxic' you just don't trust them. CRAYOLA! I gave some away for Halloween and they came in handy when I needed small gifts here and there. I still have 8 packs left! And, there is just something about having brand new notepads, with fresh clean pages that makes me want to be creative. I'm not big into scrapbooking, and kudos to the women that have the time and imagination to do so, but I love to write, about everything and nothing, as some of you may have seen. I've always wanted to write stories, but I noticed a bad pattern. Example "And then, this happened.... And then, he said this..." 'AND THEN...' Like the scene from Dude, Where's My Car. -- So, Fall... Ahh... the excitement of the first day of school. Remember going shopping for new school clothes and supplies? Setting out your coolest outfit for the first day at the end of your bed or draped over a chair? Organizing all of your pencils, notepads and folders in your backpack, as if you were a secret agent with all of the top of the line gadgets. Going to the school the week before and having all the classes posted on the front doors, checking to see which teacher you got, but more importantly, to see if you had any friends in your class. This year Rowan is in 1st Grade! She has a few friends from last year in her class, so she's pretty excited. Last year school was only a half day, since it was Kindergarten, but now, it's all day! (silent mom celebration!) It's obvious, as you can see from my last post, that Rowan is in need of a distraction from her appetite for destruction. jk Anyways, I'm not sure if it's the sales, the new shoe smell, or the idea of all day school, but Hooray for Fall!

It's Official...My daughter is a vandal.

I don't know if this is one of those, "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree" scenarios, but c'mon, she's 5!! I know that I mentioned a while ago about the certain neighbors that we have that their son loves to come around at 7:30 in the morning to see if Rowan can play..... Well, last Thursday, Rowan went to play at our good neighbors house, next door. It got late, they told her to go home, so instead of coming home and telling us that she was going to ask Paul to play, she just went over there. So the whole time I'm thinking she is at our good neighbors. Next thing I know, our awesome cop neighbor is knocking on my door, and Rowan is looking guilty to say the least. I answer the door, and he procedes to tell me that Rowan, Paul and Dima, were at a vacant house down the street, pulling out drip lines and breaking lightbulbs. Rowan tries to tell me, "I only broke one..." like it was an angelic thing to do in comparison, so I tell her, "One is like breaking 10..." So, she starts bawling and comes in and heads up to her room. I talk with our neighbor for another minute, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking "So now he thinks I'm a horrible parent because I don't know where my own kid is..." Needless to say, Rowan is officially banned from playing with the Russian kids. Two days later we are getting ready to leave to go to Vegas. I look down the street and lo and behold there is a cop parked in the driveway at the vacant house. Then I see a cop walk from Paul's house, back to his car at the vacant house. Panic sets in, and we're checking off all of our luggage so we can hightail it out of here. Luckily he drove away. Moral of the story, make sure you know where your kids are at all times, and/or, make sure that you are packed and ready to run from the cops!!

Summer fun...

I signed Rowan up for swimming lessons this summer. At first she was really afraid of the water and wouldn't even put her face in our tub, so I figured that if she saw other kids her age learning to brave the pool she would join in. We only have a couple more lessons to go, and she is having a blast. Her teacher is Brianne, and is always smiling and happy to see the 5 kids in her group. Rowan has a great time, and loves telling me how long she holds her breath under water (even though I know that 40 hundred minutes is a slight exaggeration) how she can now open her eyes under water and see the bottom of the pool and about all the fun games they play. It's amazing what a kid can learn in 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week, and it's only her 4th lesson! Good job, Rowan! Merrick is too small for lessons, but he has a good time climbing tables, smacking me with floaty pool noodles or giving me a workout by making a mad dash around the pool. He'll definately be swimming next summer!

Living in nature...

Our family has lived in Suncrest for 3 years now, and as apprehensive as I was about moving to the top of a mountain, I'm really glad that we did. There are certain things that I don't like about living here, like last winter, was horrible to say the least. Or the fact that whenever someone mentions coming up to visit, they act like they'll have to pack a lunch for the ride up. Like it's sooo far away! But the negatives are small in comparison to the positives. It's nice to be up above all the smog, the views are spectacular, the houses in our neighborhood are all different, it smells like the great outdoors in the morning, the temperature is a little cooler up here than in the valley during the summer, and it's not uncommon to see someone driving up the street on their 4 wheeler to pick their kids up from a friends house. Another fun thing about where we live is the fact that you can see a lot of wildlife when you least expect it. I have seen lots of squirrels, red foxes and deer, and I know that there is a moose that roams the neighborhood. Yesterday I was doing a puzzle with Rowan and I happened to look up and see a deer laying in our backyard. He was probably there for about half an hour before he decided to leave. Rowan decided that his name would be "Bucky". We have seen him a lot lately, usually eating our neighbors bushes across the street. I'm not sure where he normally sleeps, but Rowan was excited that he came to visit our yard for a rest.
Here is a picture of Rowan, with Bucky chillin' in the background. He was only about 15 feet away!

Parental Frustrations...

1. Finding sippy cups around the house that once held milk, now hold cheese.
2. White clothing for small children.
3. Neighbor kids that come over too early.
4. Having to repeat yourself 10 times and then ending with "you need to listen!"
5. Bargaining.
6. Finding out that your youngest can undress themselves, in the middle of the night.
7. Kids that are morning people. Wake up sleepy head!
8. Having to do a diorama for Kindergarten, and not finding out that it needed to be done for Monday morning until 8:30pm Sunday night.
9. Being paranoid that your kid will fall down the stairs and then actually watching it happen.
10. Not being able to help your kids when they are sick, because kids always get the sickest on holidays or weekends when the doctors are not working.
11. Infomercials for Aquadots, Mighty Putty and Blendy Pens.
12. Parents that think their kids are smarter than yours.

This kid is killin' me...

Paul, who is 4, not 3, like I thought, came over at 7:38 this morning. Once again, Alex told him not to come over in the morning anymore. Hopefully he doesn't come over tomorrow morning or I'll walk him back to his house and tell his mother to keep an eye on her kid. -- Yesterday my good neighbor informed me that the Russian kids mom will not let her boys play with my neighbors boys, because one of her kids said "Oh my God." This is really hard for Rowan. She loves to play with all the boys, but my neighbors boys aren't allowed at the Russians house, and vice versa. So this morning when Paul came over, the neighbors boys were at our door too. I told Paul that they should all play in my backyard but he said "No, my mom will not let. Only my yard." (in his broken English) I had to tell Rowan that she needed to go play at Paul's for a bit, then she needed to come home and play with our neighbors. I hope Paul's mom lightens up soon. I would rather have Rowan play with our neighbors because they never seem to get into fights. It's just that she is best friends with Paul's 7 year old brother Dema (Demitri). Grr! Why can't they all just get along!?

If I thought 9 was early...

This morning Rowan's little friend Paul, who is 3, came to ring our doorbell at 7:45am. Yeah, that is much worse than 9. Alex answered the door, and I'm not sure what was said, but Paul hasn't been back this morning to see if Rowan could play. Yesterday he came over at 8:15, and the day before that it was 8:30. He's getting earlier and earlier! I swear, if he comes over earlier than 7:45 tomorrow, I'll teach him a couple of choice English words to tell his parents.

Totally random thoughts, by Mel...

About being a parent and kids tv...
Why is it, that the days that you wake up early, for no reason, the kids sleep in? Why is it that kids seem to only want to talk to me when I'm trying to talk on the phone? Why is it that every time I go shopping, Merrick develops Tourette's Syndrome, and as soon as we get to the back of the store, Rowan has to go potty, which is at the front of the store? Why is it that I can talk to the kids all day, but it's only the swear words that get repeated back to me? Why is it that when you're potty training a kid, they use too much toilet paper, but for some reason now, they decide it's just better to not use any at all? Why is it that kids can go outside for 30 seconds and get dirty? -- As for kids tv...No matter how you look at it, the shows "Yo Gabba Gabba" and "Teletubies" were made just for unemployed stoners, not for kids. Those shows really creep me out! Why is it that Goofy can talk, but Pluto can't? They are both dogs. Why is it that a pantless character like Donald Duck, wears a towel when he gets out of the shower/tub? Why does Swiper the Fox, from Dora, take her stuff, and throw it? Why doesn't he run off with it? He is the worst thief ever. When was the last time you told someone to not steal something 3 times, and they decided not to? If only it were that easy in real life (Swiper, nooo swiping!) Why is Caillou bald? He's really bald. He doesn't even have that little swirl line on his head that suggests he might have hair. I will never know what possessed Rowan to cut a chunk of her hair out on Sunday. I still think that some of the faces they put on the trains in Thomas the Tank Engine, are really scary. And lastly, I would love to thank the writers of shows like Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Odd Parents, and Catscratch, for including adult humor in their shows, because they know that parents are watching. I love Spongebob, and I don't care who knows. --- If anyone has anything to add to this, I would love to hear it!

The neighbors kids...

There is a family that lives kiddie corner from us, that has 3 boys that Rowan likes to play with. The youngest boy is 3 and he's out trying to see if Rowan can play. I think 9 is to early for a 3 year old to be out roaming the streets seeing if someone can play. Or am I oldfashioned? And the worst part is that he doesn't speak the greatest english. They're Russian. I try to tell him to go home and come back later but he looks at me with a glazed over look. Does anyone else have the earlybird-wants-to-play problem?

The kids....so far....

Rowan, our daughter is 5, but will be 6 in a month and a half. She is going through that really difficult stage, where everything is about bargaining, and doing her own thing. She's been having a fun summer so far, playing outside with the neighbors (all boys) and she got to go to the Aquarium a couple of times for 'camp'. Merrick, our little man, is 19 months, and is at the really fun stage right now. He loves to be chased, play hide and seek and is getting really good at giving kisses without asking for them. He's starting to say more things, and he'll try to repeat you, so you have to watch what you say. He has a really fun personality, and I thought for sure he would be the more reserved, quiet type, like his daddy, but he's definately going to be loud and sarcastic, like his mommy. :) Yay for mommy! -- So the kids are really different than each other right now, so every day is more interesting than the next!

The beginning...

One of my old friends has a blog and I checked it out today and I thought "That is sooo cool.... I should do that..." and for a minute I was going to go do something else, and then I thought "Well, I really should do that..." so here it is! Thanks Hollie!