Saturday, December 1, 2007

December update

Kiddos!
The Richlands Branch Nursery! All of us!
"I sure wish there were some other kids in nursery."
Men's work
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Many times throughout the day I try to make a note about writing something they [our children] did or said in my journal. Those are the pieces I send over for the newsletter.
We missed not being around for thanksgiving. It was ironic that Keresa's family called and left a voicemail during the kids' nap. Then when we left and went out for a drive, she received the message so she called them back. That happened right when Gpa Whitney called (or rather, Summer called on his phone) so we had all this excitement. When Syd didn't get to talk to Gma Whitney, she felt pretty sad, so I called her back and put Sydney on. Eventually she said she couldn't hear her anymore and I don't know whether she hung up or whether she didn't make enough noise for Gma to know she was still on the line, so Gma hung up. Either way, she was pretty stoked to be a big girl on the phone, holding it all by herself and such.
We went with another law school couple to Wal-Mart, and out to dinner at a new Mexi place we found in Richlands called Mariachi. The food was great and cheap, and the Wal-Mart trip was fun. On the way home we were talking about what we bought, and Keresa, who was driving, said, "Why did you want that Febreeze again dear? It was for your shoes right?" I responded (from the backseat), "uh, honey?!" in embarrassment. The whole car burst with laughter, including Sydney, who had no idea what was going on, but figured she'd better laugh too, so that made us all laugh even more. I was still embarrassed.
Keresa found an online bra shop called Mardi Bra. I think that's pretty cool.
Jackson has started to try running instead of walking. He sees Sydney do it, and figures he might as well too. He doesn't understand that it is different from walking though � like the different weight distribution, the leaning forward, the pumping the arms, etc. So when he runs, it looks just like as if someone recorded a movie of him walking, then played it back in fast forward. It's hard to do. I've tried. I don't remember Sydney ever doing that.
Thanksgiving day was Keresa's birthday, so in accordance with her wishes, we stayed in a motel in a neighboring town. The highlight for the kids was sitting in the desk-chair that was included in the room while I spun them around and around. The highlight for Keresa was watching her new movie she got for her birthday, The Sound of Music. It's the 100th anniversary edition so it includes interviews with the different actors, including some of the VonTrapp children now that they are old. (okay maybe it's not quite the 100th anniversary, but its some anniversary edition.) The highlight for me was that the restaurant we ate at for Thanksgiving dinner had pecan pie. I had two pieces.
I started taking notes in church. I noted (for the last 5 minutes of a lady's talk) every time I heard something pronounced differently than I am used to, and here's what the notes said at the end of the meeting:
Time - Tahm
Our - Air
About - a-BAY-at
Sense - SAY-ance
Priority - Prah-OR-i-tee
My - Mah
Plan - PLAY-an
Bible - BAH-bull
Jackson has finally started making noises like he is trying to learn to talk. He says Ba Ba Ba Ba for a drink of sippy cup, he says �uh oh� when it is appropriate, he says thank you "de do", he says da da da for mom.
Sydney was eating some special macaroni that I made for her. It was spider man and Shrek, so there were little Shrek heads, Fiona heads, and Spiderman heads. Also the Spiderman macaronis have some empire state buildings. When I asked Sydney who was in her macaroni, she said, "Shrek, Fiona, Spiderman, and Jesus." So I looked and sure enough, those empire state buildings looked kind of like a man with a robe on. So sure, Jesus, I guess. So I told her to eat up.
She is also starting to say knock knock jokes. Her fave is knock knock, who's there, boo, boo hoo, please don't cry. But if you do knock knock to her, instead of her saying boo hoo, she says boo what.
While Keresa was in the back getting ready this one morning, I was out with the kids playing and watching TV. Sydney was in the soft rocking chair lying across it with her head and hair hanging over one armrest, and her legs hanging over the other side. Jackson sneaked up on her head side and with both hands quickly messed up her hair then came running to me before she knew what happened. He looked over to her from me, and when he saw she didn't care, he went and did it again. He did it 3 times to her and she didn't think it was as funny as he and I did.
We also saw Bee Movie this month. Another one to buy that the kids will watch a million billion times and never get sick of I'm sure. Sydney may have even liked it more than Shrek, and that is saying a lot.
Keresa is excited to make it back West this month. She is considering trying to squeeze in a trip to Tucson sometime during Christmas break. Sadly though, we are not considering a trip to Seattle during the break, are Atwoods thinking of coming to NV or AZ?
MK KGW SRW JGW