Fa la la la la la la la la

After an early morning awakening, a tantrum or two, and a half time bath, we finally coaxed Heber into opening each of his gifts (about 3 hours later). I don't know if it was because he was told to leave the few presents under the tree alone before Christmas or because he was tired and not accustomed to being SO spoiled (ha ha) that he really had a hard time getting started. As you can see however, once he got going the only coaxing we were doing was trying to pry him away from the gift he had just opened.


He loves his new racetrack. Last year someone left a miniature version on our doorstep for him at Christmastime so we decided to get him the "grown up" version this year. Thank you to whom ever that was because I think it is still his favorite toy and definately the inspiration for his gift from us this Christmas.

My parents gave him Woody and Buzz Lightyear. He loves Toy Story so much that it was only fitting.

Ahh....and nobody worry, here is the much anticipated DRUM.....notice that it is pushed to the side. He has strapped it on plenty of times and marched around beating it to death though.

And there is nothing better after a LONG morning of opening gifts then to curl up under a new blanket (handmade by Grandma Lannie) with a milk and fall asleep.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that this upcoming New Year will bring you much joy and happiness.

And the race is on!

So we have 1 week until Christmas (looks like someone forgot to remove a couple of links) and I still have so much to do. I am 100% positive I will be standing in line at the post office today for enough time that they could pay me a full days work, and when all is said and done, my family still probably will not get their gifts at all (let alone on time)!

After I get my house clean and my packages sent and, and, and, etc, Heber and I are going to make a gingerbread house. Knowing Heber it will be pretty bare. I think he inherited his sweet tooth from his mama.

Look who finally decided to wear his HALLOWEEN costume!

Notice the Christmas Tree in the back!

My boys

I have been trying to organize all of my pictures taken over the last couple of years. I came across this one and couldn't resist. Two peas in a pod!

"No Way Santa Clause!"

Heber and I went to the mall on Saturday to do some final Christmas shopping. We walked by Santa Clause 4 or 5 times and each time Heber said he didn't want to see him. When I finally thought we were getting out of that place we walked past Santa one last time on our way to the door and Heber suddenly got very excited and said he wanted to see him. I asked him over and over if he wanted to sit on Santa's lap and he said "yep....lap.....Santa Clause" so we waited in line. How can I say no to that cute little face? I knew we would wait forever, which we did (I guess 20 min isn't forever) and we would get to him and Heber would freak out, which he did. As soon as we got to the front of the line Heber flew up in my arms as fast as he could. Santa asked him to sit on his lap and Heber looked at him with his best nursery song frowny face and then said

"NO WAY SANTA CLAUSE!"

He stayed in my arms and then told Santa when he was asked what he wanted for Christmas that he wanted a drum.

WHAT.....this is new to me?

All I have been hearing about for the last 2 months is Cars and Buzz. Hmm......what to do now?

let it SNOW, let it SNOW, let it SNOW

Oh the weather outside is frightful

But the fire is so delightful

Yesterday I was laying in bed trying to go back to sleep after Ben's alarm went off at some insane time in the morning and thought I heard a snowplow outside. My bed is right by the window, otherwise I would not have done this, so I rolled over and peeked through the blinds. The ground was covered with snow. I was immediately so excited that I jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs to get a bigger picture. I always love the first good snowfall.......it is the subsequent that start to eat away at me one peice at a time!

HAPPINESS

Heber was absolutely thrilled to see the snow falling yesterday. He even willingly let me put on his hat so he could go outside and play. Notice, no coat....I couldn't negotiate that one. I figured 1 out of 2 was a start and I knew it wouldn't last long without the coat. It was much easier to lure him into the warm car once he had been out in the cold for a minute.

I just loved the sweet looks of wonder and amazement on his cute little face. I find that since I had him I am getting excited about things that I haven't noticed for a long time.

If you chance to meet a frown!

Christmas came early!

I feel like there is no greater gift I could be given for Christmas this year than the gift I got this morning. Heber said something to me that I have been waiting for 2.5 years to hear him say and he did it without my prodding.

"I love you" or something like that (I know what he was trying to say) accompanied by a big bear hug. The smile on my face is ear to ear buddy. Thank you for making mommies day!

Looks like McDonalds for you today!

Crazy blogging lady

We missed stake conference today because Ben was on call and at the hospital this morning doing H&P's and rounding and I couldn't think of any spiritual experience that would come out of driving an hour with Hebe by myself just to walk the halls of the church for 2 hours. I should have actually found something churchy to do, but instead I turned on my laptop and dove in. Heber was engaged with a movie (mimmy mouse for the umteenth time) and I became engulfed with blogger as I started following links to names I recognized from my friends and families blogs. I ended up finding blogs for many fellow Bear Lakers whom I have not seen for the longest time. It was so fun to catch up and see your families and what you are doing. Before I knew it Heber was crawling all over me begging for breakfast (what a good mom) and Ben's housekey was turning the lock.

Keep out of reach of children!

This warning is actually a WARNING not a SUGGESTION! We just found out the hard way, hence we will not be at areoebics today (sorry girls). Heber must have thought it smelled good enough to try. He came running to me trying to claw his tongue out. We called Mr. Yuck...."mouth and throat irritation.....swish and spit......lots of milk(shouldn't be a problem)....close observation for several hours."

IT'S A GOOD THING YOU HAVE SUCH A CUTE FACE HEBER!!!!!

Must have had a bad game

Who knew that Brett Favre had such a convincing pout? Every time I try to take a picture of Heber he either runs, hides his face, or starts crying. I am determined to document his life regardless!

There and back again

We are finally back in OH. There is much to be said about being together as a family.....both Hebe and myself missed Ben so much. Heber was so happy to see him at the airport. Each morning since then he wakes up in a panick that Ben is not around. We are homesick for grandma and grandpa though. We sure had a lot of fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY "NEION"

Hey Keion...we hope you have a great 11th birthday. You are one cool kid. What would we do without you? Heber has been asking for you since we got to Idaho. He will be happy to see you again once we return to OH. Have a great day!

(I hope you don't mind Danette that I stole a picture from you blog!)

Ready....Set.....GO!!!!!

My poor dad just spent the afternoon raking up all the leaves on the side of the house (don't let Heber's rake trick you into thinking he did it) and Heber took a flying jump into the pile. He had so much fun and we loved watching him run back and forth that it was worth raking them all up again. When bathtime rolled around we were picking alot of leaves out of you know where!

NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEER!

I took Heber to a farm so he could pick his own pumpkins and apples.....he enjoyed being the farmer. He did eventually agree to the hayride so he could choose his prize jackolantern (he chose a pie pumpkin) and then he later decided it was fun to load up his bag with apples. I am happy that we had a chance to do this before we left OH a week ago....it is so cold right now in Bear Lake. We got a little snow the other day and will get more I am sure in the 2 weeks to come.

Maybe he is not just his father's child!

All I ever hear is "he looks so much like his daddy" which I have caught myself saying more than once, especially right after a haircut. He definately is Ben's little boy....I think this meter is just trying to flatter me since I am the one who laid in a hospital bed waiting forever to introduce the little guy to the world. I wish there was a way we could calcualte personality in this thing......then maybe Ben would believe me that Heber is a mirror image of him in more ways than one!

If I would have only known!

So, for 4 weeks now I have busted my behind writing a paper for my psychology class. I have never been more prepared with a writing assignment so early in the game. I have tweeked it and fine tuned it to death. I was just getting ready to submit it through our class portal and I noticed a statement that has been there the whole time but I guess I failed to actually internalize it:

"Due to this being your first writing assignment upon returning to school this paper will not be graded by an instructor. You will receive a full 25 points for turning stages of the assignment in on time to your writing consultant........" Blah Blah Blah!

I cannot believe that I put all that effort into a paper that is not going to be actually looked at except to check for formatting and proper documentation. What the heck!!!!! I better be able to use this at some point down the road!

YES!!!! There is something more painful

than teaching a group of innocent 12-year-old girls about chastity and all the topics that come with it. If you can imagine anything worse than defining words that come with the morality lesson (yes, you know which ones I am talking about) for these sweet girls who just had to ask "what is that?" then you should be feeling that my thighs and back end are literally screaming at me right now. After yesterdays workout I have concluded that there is something more painful. WOW I was not ready for this. After attending the class for almost 2 months I was hoping that my body would be able to handle Jodie's surprises a little better than this.

Could anything be more painful?

So I just finished a month long stretch of teaching my young women (beehives) about morality and chastity. I think we are all grateful to be done with this subject. I have the youngest group of 12-year-olds ever which made an already uncomfortable topic even more akyward.

EASY TO PLEASE

Fifty cents a ride is 2 qaurters well spent for peace and quiet while shopping. I intentionally fill my wallet with a few extra qaurters and find stores that have the "wee" as Heber calls them. Bribery works like a charm when it comes to flying a plane with Big Bird or driving a fire truck with Bert and Erny. I need one of these at home! I was actually thinking the other day as I popped my money in the slot that I wish I had thought of something like this.....I would be rich. Ben and I decided Heber is getting a roll of qaurters for Christmas.

Thank goodness for ebay! A couple of weekends ago Ben worked as the sideline doctor at a high school football game. Heber and I went and of course the "pwane" went with us. He accidentally dropped it and it slipped under the bleachers. By the time we got down there to retrieve it someone had swiped it. I walked around wanting to rip every little boy down there apart just knowing that one of them had it. I figured it would be easy enough to find one if Heber didn't forget about it.....He has enough toys in his playroom that he should be able to without problem. But, he has not. He has asked nonstope and wanders around aimlessly looking for it. I have checked every toy store and toy aisle I can think of and have not found the same "pwane." I couldn't even impress him with a different one no matter how many airplane sounds I made. I finally gave in and bought one on ebay. Hopefully the shipping doesn't take forever!

LONG LIVE THE DOODLEBOPS!

I was really hoping a few months ago that we were past this stage but they have resurfaced. I really should have hidden the DVD. Yes, we actually bought one while we were in Idaho and were staying at a place with no TV. Does anyone else out there feel my pain?

Date night

Ben took me to see Braid Paisley last night at Blossom Music Center in Cuyahoga Falls.....it was so much fun. This is our second time seeing him and I am still not dissappointed!

God Bless America!




I hope there is not a day go by that we all remember to kneel and thank our Father in Heaven for this amazing country that we live in. I regard this as one of my greatest blessings.

Hey batter batter!

Much to Ben's dismay Heber loves baseball. When we found out we were having a boy I got so excited about little league baseball. Ben is more of a pigskin fan.

Heber has pretty good form for a 2 year old.

Does life get any better than this?

I SUBMIT THAT IT DOES NOT!

What could possibly be better than cold pizza for breakfast? Okay, okay, before you all go reporting me to child protective services let me explain. He normally gets oatmeal, cereal, fruit, and/or eggs for breakfast, but since we broke him free from the grips of the bottle (I hesitate to even think the word for fear he might hear it) he has been a little cranky about the aforementioned choices. I was in no mood to fight with him about eating "something-anything" for breakfast so I gave in and let him have what he wanted. The day turned out great!

Labor day smabor day!

As mentioned below, Heber (aka: LINUS) had absolutely had enough by the time we got to the "save the best for last" business. We gave in and left early after a long day of working hard (which one should never have to do on Labor day) to keep him happy. In his defense, it was a long day and if we wouldn't have left when we did I may have just burnt up and shriveled into ashes. Yes, my face and arms and neck are as red as the big ball out in front of the Target stores.

Happy Labor Day!

So we went to the Cleveland National Air Show for Labor day fun. We saw a lot of cool stuff. My favorites were by far the Golden Knights and the Sky Soldiers shown above. We also really liked this duo father/son team that did aerobatics. Some people absolutely amaze me. Of course the whole time Ben was trying to figure out the physiology of how they were keeping from passing out. We also saw the thunderbirds for a minute. They saved them for last and Heber was spent by that time. We ended up taking off during their demonstration. Ben managed to snap a few pictures but I cannot get them to post for some reason.

Playin in the rain

We have decided that if you don't give in once in a while and play in the rain in Ohio you just won't get to play outside. This summer has been actually semi rain-free but we had a stretch of downpours about a week ago.

I love the rainboots!

Watch the cup

For some reason Heber's cup was the fascination of both boys throughout our entire graduation trip. It seems like every picture I have of one/both of them someone has the cup. Such great little boys to share! Who knows how many germs were passed back and forth?

"It's fun to stay at the YMCA"

OUCH!!!

So, this guys expression does not in any way, shape, or form, illustrate how I am feeling. I seriously think everyone of these muscles, plus more in the back (if you know what I mean) are in agony. I have been going to this class at the YMCA on Tuesdays and Thursdays and it is killing me. I was so sore after Tuesday that I should have reconsidred my attendance today. I guess Ben is going to have to carry Heber up the stairs to bed for the next few nights!

And now.....the FEATURE PRESENTATION

So after a little prauding from Peterson's Periodical Postings, I have finally come on board. I asked Heber what kind of picture I should put on first and he said "popcorn." I guess he was probably asking for some to eat, but I suppose since he is the "boss" that this was a great way to start.