Still making us laugh

"Here, mom. I have a crumb!" He hands me something that feels like a crumb and says, "It's from my owie." A scab. Nice.

Jake and Alisa are in the same room now (which is going surprisingly well...we think they enjoy the company) so we constantly stress Jake being quiet once he goes to bed. Last night he came to the crack in the bottom of the door and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. I'm talking in the ground!" He listened for a minute and then said, "Hey...I'm hearing you! Dad, I'm hearing you!"

This morning I was nursing Alisa in the rocker. Jake wanted to sit by us. As he started climbing up, he got a shocked look on his face, quickly climbed down, and said, "Alisa stinks! I don't want to smell her!" Yep, poop. Does it every time.

A walk down memory lane...

Jake laughing

Doggie...yep, same one.

?Que dia es hoy?

Ok, I am losing my mind. Our garbage pick-up is on Wednesdays at 6 am, so we always take the trash out Tue. night. Well, it just happened that I was an over-achiever and took it out Mon. Actually, I thought it was trash day the next day. So Tuesday night comes, and I go out and drag in the garbages while I'm out putting something in the car. I thought they were a bit heavy, but didn't give it a second thought. 

Tonight (Wed. night) I took out the garbage and recycling. I was a little miffed when I noticed that they didn't take our recycling! Then, throwing away the trash bag, I noticed there was another bag in there. It was processing while I returned to the house (yes, it took a little while!) and it hit me...TODAY was trash day. What was I thinking????

Mama needs a Love!

Yesterday was a little rough. I slept from about 12-2 am. Alisa woke up screaming (I think because she is sick???) and didn't go back to sleep until 4. Jake woke up promptly at 6 am and was GROUCHY (who wouldn't be at 6 am?!). I was battling to get him to take off his diaper and use the potty. It was rough. Sometime that morning I must've looked about how I felt, because Jake turned to me, opened up his arms, and enthusiastically said, "Mama, I need to give you a love!" He hugged me and told me he loved me. Yeah, it's all worth it!

Jake was throwing some shoes around and I asked him to please stop. He took my by surprise when he replied, "Mom, I listening to you." It took me a minute, but I said, "Oh, you are?" "Yes, I listening to you. Don't touch the computer and don't touch anything, and don't touch the saw 'cause it's sharp..." I said a big THANK YOU for listening and he continued, "Yes, and don't touch anything..." Is that the message he's getting???

I was going to the bathroom and he was whining that he wanted to "hold you." When I told him I wasn't going to hold him while I went potty, he stormed into the bathroom after me and demanded, "Let me in NOW! Let me in here RIGHT NOW!" I said it wasn't nice to talk to me that way (where did he learn that, anyway?) and he said, "This is a big problem, that's what I said." OK, where did he get that?

Aren't these cute? Scott volunteered to take Alisa after she woke up and they both ended up falling asleep again...aw...

Close up of our little chubster

Waited too long to put her down for a nap

Jake and Grandpa Seaman plowing the street during a snowstorm (they live on a private drive out of town). Jake was finally well enough to go outside. BRRRR!

Never-ending Vacation

When we got back from our LONG Christmas vacation (3 1/2 weeks away from home), we decided we hadn't had enough! Scott skipped class (gasp!) to meet my sister, Jacqui, and her family at Disneyland. It was so much fun going with them! Jake was in heaven with his cousins. They fed off each other's energy. Scott and I loved being able to go on adult rides for the first time all year! Indiana Jones is a lot scarier than I remember it! (I mean, for little kids...it's all bugs and skeletons and snakes and nasty stuff). Thanks for a fun time, Jacqui and Jeff. By far the favorite family ride (excluding the little goobers) was Splash mountain...fuzzy picture to follow.

Jake with Livy...making a mess with the red jello. 

Splash mountain--good thinking on the ponchos, Jacq!

Aw...Olivia, Ashley, Ethan, and Jake on Dumbo! The longest line we waited in all together (about 10 minutes).

Here we are waiting for Dumbo! It was long enough to take a picture...

It's a Small World--ridden 3 or 4 times that day. Lucky!

Two posts in one day...lots of pictures...scroll down!

Here are some pictures of Sunday morning, a CUTE sweater outfit on Alisa (thanks, Grandma!) and Christmas morning.

The Seaman's always order Olive Garden Christmas Eve, and I really like that tradition because there is no prep and little clean-up. We listened to Candlelight Carol sung by the MoTab. Though in years past it has been accompanied by tender moments of reflection, this year was not. Jake couldn't stop talking about the candles and the fire and smelling them and the smoke and don't touch them, etc. I loved it! I know there are special times to be reverent, but I loved how excited he was over something as simple as candles on the table. He loves the dark anyway and is always turning off all the lights in the house to play "ooga-booga" (chase in the dark) and he was eating it up! So, I am pretty sure the kids are putting a new twist on an old tradition! 

After the kids were in bed with humidifiers blasting, we watched The Nativity Story, which was excellent! It was very realistic and really left me with a feeling of awe for Mary and Joseph and the conditions/time in which the Savior of the world was born. It is amazing. I was really grateful for the time to reflect on His birth. I always seem to get caught up in the lights and twinkles and even the fun music of Christmas (all good things) and remember the birth of Christ as an afterthought. It was a great movie. We decided it would be irresponsible to sleep two stories down from our kids as they had been getting up every night, so Bethi and Kelsi opted to sleep upstairs on the loft floor so we were all kind of together. I love that tradition...everyone sleeping in the same room. I don't remember exactly when it started growing up, but I'm glad the Seaman's do it, too. It's a fun bonding time. 

Alisa woke up early, as usual. I fed her and then left her with Scott while I slept another half hour. When I came out, everyone except Jake was awake and waiting there in the loft. We waited a while for Jake, who finally appeared just before 9 am. He was sick, so we held off waking him up for awhile. We opened stockings and presents. The Seaman's open youngest to oldest, too, so I was after Scott! :) We got a beautiful iMac computer from Les, Linda, Mom, and Dad and ourselves. It is great so far...Jake loved his Ratatouille figures and played for at least an hour straight with them. Simple pleasures. Around noon we made scrambled eggs with turkey bacon and orange juice and some pastry loaves. We lounged in our pajamas a few more hours. We all played the Wii that Linda got Les...it was a great day! 
Waiting for Jake to wake up Christmas morning...we finally woke him up at 8:45 or so...

Ali, Kelsi, Grandpa, Alisa

Grandma, Bethi

Sleepy Jake

Jake will ONLY hold mama when he's sick! Oh, joy!

Jake opening presents...yea for Christmas!

Polar Express

Scott's parents took us on the Polar Express (The Grand Canyon Railway does a Polar Express ride for Christmas). It was so much fun! They passed out hot chocolate and cookies, read the story, sang songs, and visited the north pole. Jake loved his new "Choo-choo boy" jammies and robe. He looked like the boy on the movie! It was freezing cold! He was soooo sick that night, and has been for a week and a half. He coughed so hard he threw up on the way. Maybe it was a mistake to take him so sick, but he loved it!










I was cutting Jake's nails the other day, and he very seriously said, "Mom, you be careful with me 'cuz I a special boy!" Where does he come up with these things?


Alisa is growing up more and more. She has started getting up on all fours, rocking back and forth, scooting, chatting more than ever (she even says ma-ma-ma now!). It's great to see her so big and grown up except I don't think I'm ready for her to crawl! Sometimes I wonder why my kids can't just wait for the end of the development time period--grow teeth at 6 months plus, crawl at 8 or 9 months, etc.! Here is Alisa dancing...how funny! :)

I am still alive...

Just an update...I left this morning at 7:30 (6:30 Cali time) in zero degree weather to attempt my lonely 14 miler. 2 1/2 hours later I came back alive...barely! Freezing weather, snow-covered hair, chapped and frozen face, frozen snot (very literally), and sore knee, not to mention being followed by some psycho guy on a bike and having to hide twice in the local gas station and hardware store...yeah, don't know why I do it sometimes. This run was dedicated to all the marathon mommas. Can't wait to run together again! It's so much more motivating. But, hey! I did it!

Jake woke up at my parents house screaming in the middle of the night. He was weezing and had a barking cough. It was scary. Sounded like he couldn't breath and was having an asthma attack. Scary! My mom quickly filled up her bathroom with shower steam and had Scott sit in there with Jake for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, she and I looked up what else we could do for croup. Nothing! Get humidifiers going and sleep by your child. If he has blue around his lips he's not getting enough oxygen so take him into the ER. Ok. Thanks. Panick! I slept with Jake and he was a bit better with the two humidifiers running. It was better the next day and turned into the never-ending cold the day after that. He had it all through Christmas and even past New Year's. And of course, once one has it, the other gets it. Alisa was sick as well with a cute cough (her tongue stuck out every time) and a running/stuffy nose. So sad! So, playing in the snow started and ended in Utah. I'm glad we got to do it there. Jake loved it. Sad we couldn't play in the snow in Flag. There was a lot this year and it wasn't melting. Well, there's the sick report. 

It was fun at both parents houses. At mine, we played a lot of bridge and other card games. At Scott's we played a lot of Wii. I can only do so much of that game, but everyone had a great time with it. Even Jake did it.