Photos to someday display

Some day I am going to have a wall of photos. These would be in it. Along with a picture of the temple, and whatever else catches my fancy.

I did it

Well, one of my goals for this year was to blog at least once a week. And by once a week I mean once in the Sunday - Saturday period. So at least four or five times a month. I know, I know, I don't have any posts from January: but that's because we moved at the end of January and I did not make this goal until February 1st or so. I was a little late with new years resolutions this year. But hey, I did it. I blogged at least once a week, and this post counts as the final installment necessary to complete that goal.

Don't worry, I am still going to blog regularly to keep everyone posted on what is going on. Hopefully I can keep up the once a week thing. And hopefully I will have some more interesting things to talk about this upcoming year. 2011, who would have believed it?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Exhausted

I am soooooooo tired. I finally am home though. I think I might be missing a thing or two. We will have to wait and see. And I never, ever, ever, want to be late for a plane flight again. Fortunately my kids were angels bless them. They were fantastic.

Christmas at my house

Our tree and a fun shot of Asher. I figured I should take some photos now before the branches fall any lower.

Feeling Grinchy

Yes, I admit I am feeling a little grinchy. I want to go back to the days of obliviousness when I did not know how hard parents work to get everything right for Christmas. And it makes it harder that I have so many ideas for one kid and am totally clueless for the other, and the other one doesn't need anything so I am not sure what to do about that one. Sigh. And don't get me started on stockings. I am seriously thinking about dropping that tradition.

P.S. I am sure I will feel better tomorrow.
P.P.S. My tree is probably not going to make it to Christmas. It's already turning brown and is about as wilted as it normally is when I take it down. Oh well.

Oh the ignorance of youth

When I was younger than I am now (27 really is still young) I remember looking at "old people" who of course to my young mind were old but they were probably only in their thirties, and thinking either "that will never happen to me" or "I will know I am old when that starts happening to me." Well, evidently some of those "old people" things start happening young. Here are a few I have run across lately.

1: Circling circus rides. Yes Mom, you were right, not that I am "older" I can hardly ride them. I took my kids to John's Incredible pizza, and they have a ride that spins in a circle while you spin yourself in a circle. I rode it twice because my kids were not tall enough to go on by themselves, and I was there with my neighbor who was really not looking forward to riding on the ride, to to spare her the torture, I went on it. Thank goodness I hadn't eaten much and thank goodness that somewhere in my very spotty dance lessons i learned the basics of spotting. It's the only thing that saved me. That was horrible!!!

2: Brown spotted hands. Actually, since i have freckles on my hands it looks like I already have these. How unfair is that?

3: Those long facial hairs you have to pluck. The kinds that come out of moles, under the chin and he corners of the mouth or wherever else. So not nice.

4: Needing naps. My Mom will tell you that I never really slept as a kid. Now all I want to do is catch up on some descent sleep. Now that I am a mom I will probably never sleep through the night again, I get that. But I never really get to nap either. I never dreamed I would voluntarily take one of those, unless I was at a sleepover or something.

Nice shot

I got this shot of my girl the other day, and it turned out so pretty I just had to share.

Guilty Today of...

Letting my kids eat food in front of the tv with a movie on. In my defence, I got to bed kinda late and then Asher started randomly coughing at about 2 in the morning. I gave him the cough mix and that calmed him, but he was sleepiong on the floor by my bed. Then he decided that the floor wasn't good wenough and he climbed in with me. Then this morning I got up early so I could run an errand and get the kids bathed and then a grocery run in. Now I am tired and want to sleep, especially since I have gymnastics for the kids and a bridal shower to go to tonight. So I am letting the kids eat snacks in frobnt of the tv while I do some things that need to be done, and yes I count blogging on that because of my goal for this year. I have a feeling that December is going to be a very busy month. A wedding, a trip to Oregon, Christmas, school projects, finish Christmas shopping, and all the arranging that goes into everything. But that's how it is every year I guess.

However, I need to start some Christmas traditions with my little family. We have almost always been at someone elses place for Christmas, but I need to have special things for us too. So far I have getting and decorating a tree and the house as a family the first weekend in December and setting up the nativity by telling the nativity story. Hmmmm, I think there need to be a few more. Simple things really, but traditions that I start for my kids to remember.

11 things to do with the kids this year

When we moved to california we decided that we were going to take the kids to a few places this year. We wound up with 11 destinations and managed to complete all 11. However, I have since lost the list and the completion dates. So here goes to see if i can remember them

Monterey Bay Aquarium
Sonoma
Beach
Apple Hill
Camping
Coloma
Sacramento Zoo
Jelly Belly Factory
San Francisco
Old Sac and the Train Museum

Phooey. Can't seem to remember the last one. Oh well, whatever it was we did it. HOORAY FOR US.

Asher's Birthday

Some pictures from Asher Dasher's birthday. He was so sweet.

Gymnastics

Some pictures of the kids at gymnastics.

Pumpkin patch

A little late I know but these are pictures from the pumpkin patch. Alanna went with her school class so Asher, Lydia and I went with my neighbor and her two kids to a different pumpkin patch.

Prent Teacher Conference

I went to my first parent teacher conference today. Alanna is doing well, of course. She got thirteen threes and three twos. Two's mean progressing and threes mean basically mastered. Mastered for the quarter anyway. All I can say is, so glad for my little girl.

Asher Dasher Update

I can't believe that my little man is going to be 4 this week. In some ways I think of him as older because he plays so well with Alanna. He learns well from watching. He knows how to write his own name, is really fast on a scooter, and is such a sweet brother to Lydia. He looks after her so well. I love how protective he is of his sisters.

He's 31.5 lbs and he's either 39.75 or 40.5 inches tall. I'm not sure which yet. If I have him lay down he's taller and if he stands up he's shorter. So, will have to have some help confirming tonight when Dane gets home.

Extra, extra, read all about it...

The training wheels are off and she is on her way!!!

Crock Pot

I've been trying to make more crock pot meals lately. It sure makes things earlier at dinner time. So this week I tried a lasagna. Other than the sauce (I tried a new one) it turned out pretty good. Next I am going to try a chicken show mein. I wonder if my kids will eat that?

And tonight is gymnastics night. The kids are doing pretty well. Asher does a great cartwheel. Alanna likes the bars. I am not sure that it's going to be what they stick with but at least it is good for strengthening their bodies.

18 months update

My baby girl is almost 18 months. Hard to believe, but it is true.

So, she is 31.25 inches tall and 22 pounds, my largest baby yet. Not by much but still, she has the 18 month record.

And she has a whole new vocabulary now. She no longer sits and chats with me in gibberish :(. She actually tries to use words to say what she means. And she said Asher's name last night. It was so cute to see Asher's smile when she said his name. She loves her older sister and will parrot anything Alanna tells her to say. So I was trying to get her to say "Asher" last night, she stared at me, Alanna told her to say it and she did! Good thing Alanna doesn't know any bad words.

Anyway, so her vocabulary:
Mommy, Daddy, mamma (Grandma), hand, I want, I want that one, Nanna (Alanna), Asher, Airmo (airplane), bur (bird), that's silly, hungry, banana, again, no, night night, bye bye, hi, sorry, thank you, please, cheese, nummy (yummy), shirt, shoe, yellow, blue, Teagan (friend next door), eewww, gog-gog (dog), all done, house, wheee... I can't think of any others.

My beautiful baby girl, she's such a delight.

Stages

I don't think I will ever get used to stages, and phases that kids go through. Just when I think I have everyone figured out, they go change the rules on me.

Some of these stages I am okay with (learning to play with older sister or brother, politeness, snuggly) but others just get confusing. Like toys. One minute they like certain toys, then they never touch them again. Oh well, I guess it is supposed to help keep my life interesting.

I did it!

Okay, so one of my new years resolutions was to read five classics that I had never read before. And by classics it was kind of loosely defined as "by an author you know of who wrote books quite a while ago.

So there are the ones I read:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

However I did not know if that counted or not, since they were two in a series and by the same author, so just not to feel like I cheated I read one to make up for that:

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Cristie
The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway
Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Okay!! Whoo hoo!!

Lots and Lots of Pictures

The kids with the makeup artist. Yeah, I'm a little tired and no I didn't dress up. Look at Alanna's hair. That took awhile!



My Lydi-bug as a Ladybug. Later I put two pigtails in that stood straight up into the air like antennae.



Asher as Robin. He told me he needed gloves and a cape and got the ones he has already so I didn't have to buy others. Bestest boy!!!



Alanna as a spider queen for Halloween.




Alanna was able to get her face painted for school so I did. These are actual redo's
from later that day.



My Lydi Reading to herself

Volunteering in Kindergarten

Am I the luckiest Mom or what? A few weeks ago Alanna came home from school with the parent volunteer sign up sheet. Unfortunately they were asking for weekly, or every other week helpers, and since I still have two at home, I didn't really think I could do that. But I put a note at the bottom that said i could help once a month and I got lucky. Mrs. Santos took me up on it so i get to help in Alanna's class now.

Today was my first day. I felt a little weird when I walked in. I am so not old enough to be back in elementary school because my daughter is in it. And actually, I miss elementary school. With the exception of first grade I think those were my best years in school. Anyway, I was just putting papers in folders and gluing the first pages of the journals onto the covers, but I got to watch Alanna for a few minutes. I just loved watching her in there. And of course she kept sneaking looks at me and trying to whisper to me, all during okay times of course. When she was supposed to be paying attention she was. *sigh* so sweet!! And I get to do it again.

Background

I had to change my background. My mom reads this and I remembered she hates spiders. I guess I should have thought of that earlier.

Hair

Whats that song... oh yeah, give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair. Shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen waxin. Or something like that. When I was a little girl I had long hair until the first grade when my Mom cut it all off so I would stop chewing on it. I didn't like it short (it was cute but i was very girly) so I told myself I would stop chewing on it so I could have it long. And ever after that I wore it long. I was kinda scared to cut it after awhile. I only got trims for split ends.

I finally cut it shoulder length when I was about 15. I didn't like it very much. But there was a friend of mine whose sister worked at a Regis in the mall and I went to her to do my hair and I LOVED IT!! Best haircut ever. She lives about an hour and a half from me right now, I wonder if it would be worth the trip....

Anyway, I let that hair style grow out, and then cut it to get rid of the layers, and then grew it out for several more years. I got a perm, and then after my son was born I cut it to about mid neck, almost chin level. I cut it again the next year. then I let it grow out. Then I had my daughter and I cut it again. I seem to do that. Have a baby, cut my hair, (not because of the hair pulling) then grow it out.

Well I am in a growing out phase and this is NOT A PREGGO ANNOUNCEMENT. But I am experimenting with different hairstyles, especially those that are easy to do but look good. So far I have found two that don't take very long.

So I have decided that short hair on my looks more stylish, up to date and full. Long hair is more fun to experiment with.

Help for Jade's Homework?

Not sure if this is what you meant Jade, and it's a command performance so Asher was a little unsure what to do, but hey, maybe it'll be what you are looking for.

My Three Dancers

Hope this doesn't come back to haunt me

So I have decided that while I am not now, and may never be ready for teenagers, there are a few things that might be nice about having them:

1: They can brush and flush their own teeth
2: They don't need bathroom help.
3: When it's dinner time I can put it on the table and then tell them eat it or starve without feeling guilty about it, or feeling like I have to make something else so they will eat it.
4: They can understand the concept of what clothes actually match, at least a little better. Doesn't mean that they will follow the color rules but at least they know they are breaking them.
5: I can send them outside to go do something and I don't have to go with them to watch their every move.
6: They know not to eat dirt, rocks and berries off of the bushes.
7: They put themselves back to sleep at night.

So, at least there are a few things to look forward to.

Trying to think of a blog post...

And not having any luck.

The only thing on my mind right now is the cars. Mine is on the fritz - it's not the battery- and Dane's has to get a new windshield, smog check and all of that. I've just kept forgetting, and forgetting about all of that stuff, and now it's all come together in one big rush.

I wish public transportation with three kids was easier.

This Last Weekend

Avast ye! One of the local library systems put on a pirate day on Saturday and we got to go. They told some pirate tales, had a "ship", or at least the back half of one, we sang some sea shanty's and of course had sword fights. It was really fun. I think the kids liked it.

The one interesting thing I was told (I won't call it a fact since I am not sure) but I was told that pirates did not actually wear eye patches to cover their eyes from scars, etc. Scars were considered to be like medals. The more scars you had paid tribute to your fighting skills. Anyway, we were told that they wore it over one eye while up on deck, and when they had to go below they would switch it to the other eye, so there was none of that awkward light to dark transition that temporarily blinds you. Interesting. Maybe one of these days I'll look it up to see if it's true.



Waiting to go in. Aren't they the cutest!!



A little boy offered to take a picture with Alanna. I didn't know this was what he had in mind.



The "ship"



I love this picture of Lydi - so cute!




The kids and their Daddy fighting. They loved this part.

Summer to Autumn

When I was a kid my favorite time of year was the summer. I mean come on, what's not to like? No school, warm weather which means shorts, t shirts, sandals, Popsicles, ice cream, sprinklers and pools. My birthday is in the summer, so is 4th of July and pioneer day, and there was usually some trip of some sort that we took somewhere. I loved it.

Now that I am older, I am switching to liking autumn (funny right?) Actually, I think this process happens to a lot of people. We like summer when we are kids, and then we like a different season better later. Of course, it helps to be back in a place that has a season like Autumn. In Utah you kind of go from hot to snow, and in Oregon it's beautiful, but it rains all autumn.

So why do I like Autumn? Well, the first reason is one I am new to: kids going back to school. I went shopping today with just two kids and the difference was amazing!! It's a little cooler, the trees change colors, I start thinking about treats made with pumpkin, and it means the holidays (which I like for different reasons now too) are right around the corner. Decorations!! Yes, I think I am turning into one of those people who like to do decorations around the house for the seasons.

Whew!

One of my goals for this year was to make sure I blog at least once a week. And for one second there I thought that I missed one! But I didn't.

So, I am reading Ivanhoe, another one of my goals for the year (read 5 classics this year). I really like it! It's in high style and sometimes it's a little difficult to follow all of the language, but it's based at the time of King Richard and this Ivanhoe guy is mixed in with Robin Hood and... Okay so it's a long story line, but I like it.

So far I have read The Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, Anna Karenina, and The Mysterious Affair at Styles. So Ivanhoe might be the last one... of course this depends on whether or not I count the two books by Edgar Rice Burroughs in a series. I still haven't decided if that counts or not, so we'll see how much time I have left at the end of the year to do another one.

The small happenings of last month

So what happened last month in the Laverty home?

1: Alanna started kindergarten. She loves it.

2: We sold our Oregon home. We are now completely mortgage free.

3: Dane finished his MBA program. His final grades were an A and a B plus.

4: Dane started teaching Seminary.

5: Lydia started feeding herself with a spoon. She refuses to let anyone feed her anymore. Makes for messy feeding times.

6: Asher has started to learn how to spell his name. He has a hard time with the s but usually gets the others.

7: I had an unfortunate bought of food poisoning. Not fun, but it's done now.

School Worksheet

Alanna's first official "homework" assignment was an "all about me" paper. it had the usual basic questions, but the blank at the end was, "But what really makes me special is..." So I asked her and at first she thought about it, and then pointed to me and said, "You Mommy." So sweet, but i didn't think that she understood me, so I tried again, this time giving suggestions. She looked at me with one of those, " I just said" looks and repeated herself. So I put it down. Alanna thinks that I make her special.

Alanna's First Day of School

My oldest baby started school today. I can't believe it!! Some pictures of the bestest kindergardener in the world.



Waiting for the doors to open.



With the neighbors.



Showing off the backpack.



First day of school outfit.


Asher wanted his picture taken too. So here he is doing his lion.

Sadness

So, the time has come to wean my little girl. Yea; but sniffle. I love nursing my little girl, she's so snuggly. But she's started to give indications that she's thinking of being done, and who am I to argue with that? I wonder if she if going to be a gradual or an all at oncer. I've had both, but she seems to do things inbetween so is there another option?

Your Tax Dollars

When we were driving home yesterday I kept seeing signs before all of the road construction, that said, "Your tax dollars at work". I wasn't sure what to think at first. So, do I be happy that my tax dollars are working for me and I can see them be put to work? Or do I be frustrated that my taxes are making it harder to get home. Okay, I'll just ignore it.

We are home now. Glad to be here.

Blueberries

My parents have an alpaca farm. Yesterday we let the kids into the pasture to play while grandma and grandpa scooped up poop. Asher came over to me and said " mommy I found a blueberry!!". There are plenty of trees and bushes around so I was not too concerned. He had picked up a small berry sized piece of poop. At least he hadn't squished it.

Babbling

I was a talker when I was a baby, a kid, teen, and still as an adult. Well guess what? I seem to have passed the trait onto my daughter. But she does it so much cuter. You can't understand a thing she says, but she is so serious, and you know she knows that she thinks she is really telling you about something. I try so hard not to laugh when I "talk" to her. She will sit there and just talk and have a whole conversation with you. She pauses for responses.... Here, see for yourself. She went on after the recording was done but we didn't want to make it a huge file.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I notice that I do things without thinking about them.

1: I ate almost a whole package of Chips Ahoy cookies without even really knowing that I did it.

2: I shampoo my hair more than once.

3: I twitch.

4: I forget which child I am talking to and then I include my little brother into the list of names when I call out.

5: I just paint over my old toenail polish rather than removing it.

Small Updates

1: My three year old fixed his sink. I tried before him, then I walked in, and in the process of telling him to leave it alone he fixed it. Oh brother. A good job but listen to your mother problem. But hey, pretty good for a three year old.

2: My kids went to the dentist and have no cavities. Thank heaven.

3: Lydia's word of the day is "fishie." I said fish but she said fishie. It was really cute to see how excited she got.

4: Only three more weeks till Dane is done with school.

Oh, so that's why!

Now that I am a Mom I find myself at times looking back to my childhood and going, "Oh, that's why Mom did that. Now I get it!" Here are a few;

1: Quiet time - That's why we had an hour in our rooms every day. It's not because you thought I was still a baby and needed sleep, (my Mom knew me better than that, sleep and Heather did not go in the same sentence),it was because Mom needed a sanity break.

2: That's why I had to wear shots under my skirts (it was so uncomfortable), it was a lot easier than constantly telling me to keep my legs down. (and that other reason)

3: That's why I had to go to bed when it was still light outside. Bedtime is bedtime, and we stick to bed time.

4: Along with number 3, that's why you covered up the pretty curtains with something dark. Not only so it was easier to go to sleep, but so I didn't get you up in the morning at insane hours, because hey, the sun is up!

5: That's why you almost always wore the same heavy necklace. We couldn't break it!

6: That's why you "made" us go outside. I am sure vitamin D was secondary on the list of reasons to send us there.

Bunks

So after many weeks, we finally have our bunk beds. We actually had to cancel our other order and go to a different store, and so I didn't get what I wanted, but hey, we have bunk beds now.



Alanna's on the top, and it's too bad you can't see much of it, but her bed has kittens and flowers.

And thus last picture is of the pendant my parents got me for my birthday. Since I chose it and they've never seen it I thought I should try to post it. Unfortunately my camera is only so good, I don't have a mega hyped out one, so in order to see the colors the picture had to be blurry. it's much better in person, believe me!

Found

When I was a teenager, we used to go to Sonoma for their fireworks. I remember a few times we sat in the back of my grandpa's truck, and then in later years we went to the actual field. With the exception of stadium of fire at BYU, (and I wasn't actually there so the view was limited) Sonoma had the best fireworks of anywhere that I have been.

This year we went to Cameron Park Lake to watch the fireworks. And I would have to say that I finally found a place that is as good, if not better than Sonoma. They had patriotic songs playing while the fireworks were going and the fireworks were timed with the music. The lyrics said "two hearts" and two heart shaped fireworks went off. At the end of the songs there were loud fireworks to emphasize the end, and during "God Bless the USA" lots of people were singing. It wasn't just fireworks, it was an art show.

We found the bouncy ball. Asher brought it in.

What can you do...

Sometime between me handing Lydia her brand new, Disney Faeries bouncy ball, and the door closing, it seems that Lydia managed to throw the ball out the door and we drove off without it. Sigh. I thought I had finally solved the ball problem, only to find that her arm is quicker than mine.

Lydia loves balls and we have a VERY limited number of them and of course she never gets to play with the ones we have since her siblings usually have them first. So I went and bought her one to play with.

Lets just say I am hoping that my quick perusal through the car just missed the ball and really it is in there somewhere. Maybe I will get lucky.

Crazy two weeks

So everything happens all at the same time. My parents and brother came for a visit, we had a Saturday trip to San Fransisco, then my sister and her boys showed up, and when they left Dane's best friend showed up. Whew. Time to try to get everyone back on their schedules.

But we had a lot of fun.



Lunch at the Sacramento Zoo.



Lydia was really playing hard to get with the camera, but I did get this one shot.



On a paddle boat with Daddy and Grandpa.



Being silly at the Jelly Belly factory with Benji.

I love....

Can you guess what? (Yes my kids, family etc. but this post is not on those lines).
So do you know? Wait for it...

Garbanzo beans!!! Silly right? I have always loved them. When I was young and had the chore of making the salad I was always so happy to pull out the can of garbanzo's and dump them on the salad. Then I would eat tons. At the table I would dig to the bottom where they had all fallen and get a big spoonful.

I like taking off that rough outer skin and eating the skin and the smooth bean separately. Okay, I admit that I am strange. Oh, I also prefer them to be warm, not all cold like they get in salad bars. Fresh from the can is best.

I don't know if I have any right now. Shopping trip...

Folsom Zoo

My wonderful neighbor suggested we go for an outing with the kids the other day, and so we took them to the Folsom Zoo. It's not a very big place, and most of the animals are rescued animals. Most of the animals that have been rescued from somewhere have what happened to them on the cages. Like the crow that flew into the windshield of a truck.

The kids had a really good time. And then we went to play at the park next door. It was so much fun.