Cunningham Falls

Today we had quite a busy day. We started at Kohl's to buy Nate some sandals. They were half price, and I had a $10 off coupon, so I paid $5 for a pair of $30 sandals. Not too bad. Then we went out for a mid day meal, and after coming home and changing our shoes, we went up to Cunningham Falls state park to visit the falls. It had been a while since we have taken Nate there, and Graham has never been. It was about 4 or so when we got up there, so the crowds were thinning out, so it was about just right.

Nate did just fine on the half mile hike up there. There were a few times when he said he just couldn't make it, but I think he was just hamming it up.

Both of the kids loved to climb on the rocks. Graham really wished that I would have just let him do it on his own, but well, I wasn't interested in carrying a concussed baby half a mile back to the parking lot, so he just had to stay frustrated for the most part.

The unfortunate thing was that Nate wet his pants while at the falls.

This is the face of a child who has just wet his pants. He didn't cry or say anything, he just made this face. And I, being a good mom, took a picture of it. Fortunately for him we did have a change of clothes in the car, so we walked back to the car, and then after changing his pants they were able to play at the playground for a few minutes before it was time to go home.

5 Random Posts #3

Motherhood.

So I was reading my friend Nicole's blog, and she put it more perfectly than I could have ever imagined. It was something like- I enjoy being a mother to my children, but motherhood- that's a different story. It's Hard Work!
I definitely thought that motherhood would be easier than it has turned out to be. I think that there are parts that are better, and some parts that are enjoyable, but there are many many parts that are just plain difficult for me. I kind of wonder if Mary assigned me this topic because she is about to have her first baby in a few months. However, she asked someone who has 2 little boys going through difficult times. Graham wishes he could talk, but can't, and that is frustrating for everyone, but especially he and I. Nate, well, Nate is just Nate. Right now, my life is trying to get kids to eat healthy foods, cleaning up accidents, and leaky diapers, trying to teach them to be nice to each other and the cat, trying to teach the gospel, trying to teach them not to scream on the top of their lungs every other minute, trying to keep every part of them clean, and well groomed, trying to keep toenails short enough to fit inside their shoes, trying to not feel too guilty about all of my shortcomings, and above all, trying to stay patient.
So that is sometimes how I feel about motherhood. Sometimes I succeed at those things, and sometimes, well, not so much.
But being their mother- well, that is a different story. Nate was not an affectionate toddler. He did not give hugs to anyone, much to his Grammy's chagrin. But now, any time of the day, I'll ask him for a hug, and he'll stop what he is doing, and will give me the best hug. He loves to read books, and we have so much fun just reading together. He loves to be with me, and when he doesn't know where I am, he gets so sad if he can't find me right away. He is starting to be old enough to really tell me how he feels and what he thinks. He is starting to let in more new experiences, something that is very welcome. He just wants to talk all day long, and he wants me to listen to him. He loves to know about everything going on around him.
And then there is Graham. Graham has been a cuddle bug since the beginning. With Nate, I think that he and I bonded right away when he was born. With Graham I didn't feel it until we got home from the hospital. It took longer, but I think it was stronger. There is nothing in this world that I love more than holding him on my lap. Rocking him before bed. I still will get up with him in the night when he does wake up, just because I love to hold him so much. He is the perfect size lap child right now, and he loves my lap. Any time I am sitting he wants to sit with me. He loves to sit and read as well. I often times have two little boys sitting on my lap reading stories. And wow is he sweet. He has started giving hugs now. He will put his arms around your shoulders, and pat your back. It's so sweet.
So I think that is it. Motherhood, well, that is hard, and has many unpleasant parts to it, but being a Mother to my children, I would not trade that for anything.

5 Random posts #2

Ok, well, apparently now that we know that I have too much candy in my house, it is time to move on. Although, in my defense, a lot of it is there because of Easter, and most of the other stuff has been around for months and months. (And years in some cases.)

So the next subject that I will try to tackle is 5 novels that I would highly recommend and why.

Now, I have a confession to make, for most of my adult life, I have only read children's literature. My favorite part of being a 5th grade teacher was the literature. 5th grade is a bit young for me, I actually prefer things written on a middle school level. Not all of it is quality, but there are some gems in there. I think that I have 4 that came to mind right away, so we'll have to see about the 5th.

Book(s) #1. The Harry Potter series By JK Rowling
These are not the most eloquent writing, but, for what they are, they are gold. If you want a compelling read. If you want something where you care deeply about the characters, and want to see how the plot will unfold, these will do it for you. If I didn't have anything else to do, I could read the whole series in about a week. (That is about one book per day.) I have read these books more often than any other book I own. They just are good reads. I look forward to the day when my kids are old enough that I can read these books to them.

Book #2 Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit
Another children's book. The imagery and language in this book are beautiful. If you have seen the movie, do not let that sour your opinion of the book. It was ok and all, but the book you have to read because of the language, not the story.

Book #3 Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary
This was my wild card pick. The whole reason this book is in there is because Beverly Cleary so perfectly captures how it feels to be the younger sister.

Book #4 Ultramarathon Man by Dean Karnazes
This is a great book to motivate you. I read it about 8 months ago, and I still think about it as I am doing things, especially exercising. It made me think about how it's ok to be uncomfortable, physically and emotionally, and to keep on going. Life isn't about living in the comfort zone. A must read for all runner, or those who thinking about starting an exercise program, or need a little motivation to keep going.

Book #5 A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich
This book is another book where you deeply care about the main character, but as there are many books that do that, the reason that I have singled it out is because of the way that it changes how you see your mother and grandmother. And all old people for that matter. It makes you think about if you do some of the same things that the children did to their mother. Whereas, they always had the best intentions, sometimes they just weren't thinking about what their mother really wanted or needed.

So there are my favorite books. What is your favorite book?

5 Random posts #1

Ok, so a few of my friends have done this random post thing. The way it works in case you haven't seen it before is that I will post about 5 topics that were given to me. I can't say that all of them are going to be right away, because some of them require a bit of thought. Anyway, if you want me to give you 5 topics, leave a note in the comments section.
The first topic I will explore is "Candy."
One small little word. Oh, how can you even start to explain my relationship with candy. I believe that this little word is one 2 words that is the root of all of my malcontent with my body. (The other word would be "lazy" for those of you who were wondering.)
As far as standard over the counter candies go, there are two main seasons for me- Easter and Christmas. (No, not Halloween.) Valentine's day is nice too, but well, there aren't too many Valentine's Day candies that are wonderful that you can only get a Valentine's Day. I don't really care for conversation hearts.
So, shall we talk about Easter first? OK. My favorite Easter candy is the coconut cream Hershey's Kiss. I have about one and a half bags left of this one. I also love the Robin's Eggs, but only in small quantities. Jesse's favorite Easter candy is the Cadbury mini-eggs. I know a lot of people who who love the Cadbury Cream eggs, but they don't really do it for me. I also love Jelly beans. Jelly beans are one of those things that I can eat almost a whole bag if I am distracted, and then really REALLY be sorry about it later. We have an expression in my house- "I ate too many jelly beans." It can be used when you have in fact, eaten too many jelly beans, or it can be used when you have eaten too much of a different food that gives you that feeling in your stomach. You know the one I'm talking about. The I-ate-too-many-jellybeans feeling.
I also love to eat Dove at Easter. I love the Dove truffle eggs. mmmmmm.....
When I was a kid I loved the giant bunny in my basket too. Since then I have found that the large bunny is a little less than I desire. I mean, when you are eating it, and it gets all gross where you have been holding it. Yeah, you know what I mean.
So now onto Christmas. What I love about Christmas is the candy cane Hershey's kisses. I still have a bag in my freezer that I am saving for an emergency. You know the kind of Emergency I am talking about. I also love to eat York Peppermint patties at Christmas time. For some reason they taste better when they are wrapped in red and green wrappers. (But on the same note, the full size ones- too much for me. The mint to chocolate ratio is too large.)
Now, I feel bad talking about this next part of my life under the heading of "candy" because it is not nearly as trivial as a simple candy. It is the Harry and David Truffle. I try to always have some of these on hand for the REAL emergencies. You know, the ones where you can either a. kill your kids and everyone else, or b. pause for a minute and eat a truffle as you decide if it's really worth it to become a homicidal maniac. For the most part, by the time you are finished with your truffle, you have decided that perhaps the jail time would not be worth it, because probably Harry and David truffles are not allowed there.
Now, as if you have not had enough of my ramblings about candy, I now have a real treat for you. I am kind of a stash kind of a person. I keep all sorts of stashs all over the house. I have my fabric stash. I have well, all I really have are fabric stashes and candy stashes. So now, you will be absolutely appalled as I list all of the different kinds of candy I have in my house at this very moment. :) This is going to be good.
M&M's,
Easter colored M&M's,
M&M speckled eggs,
peanut M&M's,
Hershey's Kisses,
Hershey's Hugs,
Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses,
Coconut Cream Hershey's Kisses,
Candy Canes,
Non-perils,
Starlight mints,
Assorted Nestle chocolate eggs,
Cadbury Mini eggs,
Robin Eggs,
Hershey's Eggs,
Starburst jelly beans,
Skittles,
Nerds,
Dum Dums,
Sweet Tarts jelly beans,
Smarties,
Caramello bunny,
Marshmallow bunny things,
7 varieties of gum,
twizzlers,
twizzler pull and peel,
Dove eggs,
1 full size Snicker's Bar,
Harry and David malt balls,
and Harry and David truffles.

So who has more different kinds of candy in their house than I do?

Oh yeah,

Nate was there too. :)

A Journey

When your day starts like this:

And you add in a little of this: (sorry, I know it's gross)

Even if your mom gets you to look like this:

You will probably end the day covered in chocolate and puke.

But really, we had a great day. Nate was so excited about his Easter basket. I think he may have even been more excited than he was on Christmas morning. And he had a tiny little Easter egg hunt, and it's a good thing that I put them in plain sight because it took him a while to even notice any were there. We had a good day at church, and then topped it off by going to Grandma's house. At the end of the day we had two very tired children, but that is what they invented night time for.

Tomorrow we are off to Grammy's house to have an egg hunt with cousin Meckenzie. Should be fun!

Happy Easter!

May all of your eggs be colorful!

The Eyes Have It

So I took this picture of Graham today at the Aquarium. I love it except for the one fatal flaw. Can you see it? How could anyone not see it? Yes, of course, it is the copious amounts of dried snot and boogers under his nose.

But look at the eyes. How can you not love those eyes?

Now look at them again, without the snot distracting you.

Does anyone know how to photoshop the boogers away? Probably you need to have a program better than the free picassa...

Another visit to the Aquarium

So in all of the potty training, we were kind of stuck at home, or had to do diapers, but Nate finally got to the point where he would go in a public restroom. We told him that when he learned to do that we could go back to the Baltimore Aquarium. Since both Jesse and I are so busy with our callings, this weekend was our first chance.

Nate was most excited to see the dolphins. We didn't see the show last time, since we weren't actually members, and it cost extra, but this time we were members, and it was free, so we went. Nate and Graham loved it.

Nate also loved taking pictures of the dolphin tank. Most of them are just flash reflections with the water, but he got a few that were great for a 3 year old.

So it was a pretty fun day. I don't know that it's really worth it to go on a Saturday though. It's so crowded that Nate isn't really interested in pushing through the crowd to get to the tanks, so he kind of walks by all of the fish and only wants to ride on the moving walkways. Oh well, it was still fun. He really liked the open ray tank, and of course, he loves the dolphins. We've already made our money on the pass, and I'd imagine we'll still go back, but maybe on a less crowded day. Or, here's a novel approach, we'll go on a non-holiday. So far we've done Valentine's Day, and Easter weekend... :)

Just another day

So as I look back on my recent posts, the photos of Graham have been less than stellar. One reason is that he has had a runny nose since before St Patrick's Day, so that is ALWAYS present. But well, as any mother knows, sometimes it is difficult to capture exactly how cute your children are. So this one's for you Graham:

Now, in addition to this picture, where he is not grabbing the camera, which I have a feeling is going to be a theme of our pictures for a while now, I got him doing one of his "tricks." Jesse taught Nate to say "that's cool dude!" with both hands in a thumbs up when he was just a wee lad. Well, Now Graham is a wee lad, so it's time he learned too. He is so cute when he does it. He even got "That coo" today. Of course, only his mother would have recognized it. But he has not figured out how to do the thumbs portion yet, so he just clenches his fists. So here is his thumbs up.

Next, after a year of waiting, we finally colored Easter eggs last night. Nate has been asking to color eggs ever since Easter was over last year. Well, technically since we finished coloring the last egg last year. So that was our FHE this week. Now we have to wait a whole year more until we can do it again.

And last but not least, since Graham has had his cute picture today, here is one of Nate. This week he all of the sudden gained interest in his Halloween costume. It's only 5 months too late, but better late than never I guess.

I would like to know....

Why my 3 year old is all of the sudden obsessed with going around naked? This is the child that has freaked out if he was not fully clothed at all times. This is the same child that was so attached to his diaper a few years ago that when you took it off he was paralyzed. He could not even walk across the hallway to the bathtub. And now he strips down to his undies several times a day before he decides he is chilly and wants his clothes back on. I've got some great blackmail pics though. I have one I'd like to title, my son, the underwear model. I won't post any, because well, I have moral objections to having pictures like that on the internet :). What a weird kid though...

My own personal economic stimulus pacakge

So right now GM has Discover cash cards in some of their cereal boxes. Yesterday I found a $5 gift card. Yea! I'm a winner!
So you may ask what I plan to spend my winnings on. Well, It is the other thing that I am excited about right now. I have decided that our newest tradition is going to be having Dunkin Donuts on General Conference weekend. MMMMMmmmmmmm donuts...... I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm excited for Conference as well, but I have found that I can hardly wait until Saturday morning when I get to go to the store and pick out some donuts. I'm most excited about the toasted coconut cake donuts. Oh, it's going to be great!
And to work off the donuts? Well, I signed up for two races recently. I'm going to run a 5K with the Frederick running festival the first weekend in May, and I also signed up for the Baltimore half marathon. I have signed up, so now I have to do it. But man I can't wait for those donuts.
(Oh, and in case anyone is keeping track, the Dunkin Donuts that burned down near my house 2 years ago is no closer to being rebuilt than it was 2 years ago, so I will have to go half way across town in order to get my donuts. Oh well.)