300 Posts in 15 months!

My brother Jeff pointed out on his blog that I was getting close to 300 posts, so I decided it was blogworthy to mention that fact. It also called for a new look! Anyway, it's no goal of mine to post a lot, so this isn't some accomplishment or anything, but it is significant! I didn't even realize I'd been blogging over a year! Woah, time flies.

Darling baby Talmage...

My friend Sommer just had this little piece of baby heaven...Talmage. I got to see him a minute today, and we took some pictures. We were so busy with pictures, that I didn't really ever hold him! He wound up cooperating really well, and we got some good pics. I love the one with his hand over his face for some reason. I'm sure it won't be a mom pleaser, but I love it! It always happens that the parents like different pics than I like. It is interesting. Anyway, so happy for our friends! We love him already!

LOATHING...

Love that song from Wicked...I just added it, enjoy. I just love the creativity of the song since they sing it as if it were a love song, but it is actually a "lothe" song. Love that play!

(I realize that if you aren't familiar with the play, you might not gather that there are two people singing in the song...here's a video of a london cast. I don't like Glinda as well as Kristin Chenoweth, but it is a decent portrayal. Here's one to "popular", another favorite that has been on my blog for a long time...Ruby can belt this song like a pro, I love it! Yes, Kristin has a new gig, on Pushing Up Daisies...I don't follow the show, so I don't know her character, but I know she'd on it, and sings apparently on every episode.)

Anyway, BLOGGER has the most annoying quirks, and I just have to say that the below post and many others do look correctly spaced and paragraphed before I publish them, but when I publish, it's all jacked! It drives me nuts! It doesn't happen all of the time, either. Any ideas?

"PICK ME!"

My favorite "Aliceism" at present is her darling little phrase, "pick me!". She says it ALL THE TIME! Let's say it is lunchtime, and I say, "I need to make some sandwiches for lunch now..."

"Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"

Or..."It's time to take a bath, let's go upstairs."

"Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"

Or...(trying to make her clothes really appealing so that she doesn't disagree with getting dressed) "Alice, look at this pretty princess skirt you get to wear today!"

(If it worked) "Oh, pick me! Pick me! Pick me!"

Her other phrase is just as common, and not as endearing, but very repetitious, and stands out because of the repetition of her tone and facial expression...so if my above effort didn't work she'd say, "I don't like pretty princess skirt." Any time she declares that she doesn't lllllike (the 'l' drags for drama) something, you know there's no talking her into it.

Something very two-sie that she does right now falls into the category of two year olds never knowing what they want, but usually wanting whatever it is that they just finished rejecting. Tonight at dinner, I sliced a peach for the girls. I gave Ruby 9/10 of the peach, and Alice 1/10 because I knew Alice would waste it. She wasn't eating it, and pushed it away (without trying it) saying, "I don't lllllike it."

Ruby piped in more than willing to eat the last sliver of the perfect peach, so I reached across the table, retrieved the peach from where Alice had pushed it away in disgust and handed it happily to Ruby. This sent Alice into immediate rage saying, "I want Mama to eat it!"

It is really odd to me that Alice, who has never known a day of her life without Ruby, has more sibling rivalry than Ruby, who enjoyed three solid years as the only child! They love each other plenty, and play well a lot, but in general, Alice doesn't tolerate any mommy-Ruby time or affection whatsoever. Because her mood swings are so detrimental to everyone, we really oblige her, and cuddle only during her naps. I know, the two year old is in charge! It's awful, but the alternatives are so heinous, we just let it be this way.

It isn't like she always gets her way AT ALL...that's the problem. There are so many battles in a day to fight her on, I just have to tip toe around a few issues so that there is some quality of life for Ruby and I! There isn't even a thirty minute television show that I can rely on to entertain her without me sitting there with her on my lap. She is ALWAYS wherever I am, and insists on being held. We love her, but I'm so ready to see her age out of this terrible two stage! There better be happy three's on the horizon.

At your service...

Ruby is really into servants. Really, it was bound to happen to a little girl so cued into the whole princess thing. Certainly not from any personal servant experience at our house! She volunteers to be the servant, "and you tell me what to do," when she is playing with her friends.

Anyway, we were out to lunch the other day, and there was someone cleaning the table next to ours. She told him, "Wow, you are really good at cleaning tables, you should be a servant!"

I was really embarrassed, because it could sound insulting, but I assume he knew she holds the life of a servant in high regard. Anyway, love my little Ruby's mind.

Memorial Day...

We had a nice Memorial Day. We live in a town affected by military service, and it has been eye opening for me because before we moved here, I never really had any personal ties to any members of the armed forces. We have sent several neighbors off to Iraq multiple times, we've had ward members go and come home and leave again, and it is a sacrifice I am very grateful not to have to make (is that bad?). So I had to make mention of that at the beginning of this post.

We enjoyed a leisurely morning, a late breakfast out, and then we bought plants for my annual planters and headed home for a few hours of gardening. It was warm, but the sun wasn't out, so it was ideal for gardening. The sun peaked out here and there, and the girls decided to get in their suits and run through the sprinkler.

I did a little layout of Ruby and all her funny poses. I don't know where she got the photo shoot idea, but she does this thing where every time I snap a picture (at least once a second), she changes poses, like a model. I kept going with it for awhile, and decided to put (only half or so) them together in a little layout (using a fabulous freebie template that I found awhile back here).

At 3, Chris went over to help our friends with some house projects they have going on, and we were going to join them, but by the time we were all ready, it turned out that my car battery was dead. Alice was pooped, and I was ready to put them down, knowing that we'd probably just distract from the hard work anyhow, so we had dinner at home and that was that. Chris was home late, so I worked on my not so progressing website.

It was a great day!

Randomness from last week...

We had a nice weekend at my parents' house. I went up on Thursday with the girls and we spent time with Oma doing some shopping and taking it easy. Then on Saturday, Chris and I were lucky enough to witness a sealing of our friends, Kerry and Jeff's baby, Elizabeth that they adopted in October. It was funny, they asked Chris to be a witness, so it was Chris and the grandpa that were witnesses. In some cases, the witnesses would be the paternal and the maternal grandfather, and since the mother's maiden name is Pearson, it turned out that the man performing the sealing thought Chris was Kerry's FATHER! Kerry is several years older than Chris! He called him Brother Pearson, and had the "parents" congratulate the family first...it was so funny!

After the sealing, I ran to a shower for Braden and Amanda. Should have taken my camera, but taking pics starts to feel like a chore, so I left it at home and enjoyed myself. I was an hour and a half late, but I still was able to see Amanda open many darling little things for their babe. It was really fun to see Braden and Amanda for dinner that night, and my grandparents came as well, and it's always a treat to see them because they are only plagued by the weather of the northwest during the summer. We were blessed with really hot (scary to complain, and we all knew it, so we tried not to) weather, and we had a nice meal off the BBQ. As the sun set, we played a few games of Bocci.

Just in case those of you who know that I tend to spread out my birthday celebrations, yes...there was singing and cake for my birthday...again. Love that!

We got to see Robb's family! Here's Ruby and Hailey right before they drove away. ME: "WAIT! I need a picture for proof, Ruby, get in the car!"

Uncle Mike (Sage's husband...technically, Chris' brother) was in town for a JOB INTERVIEW. We got to have him for one day, and most of that was spent driving around town looking at real estate trying to convince him he should want to be our neighbor. However, he was good for plenty of tickles for the girls and was a good sport for many a "Uncle Mike, watch this!" We just hope that this job interview translates into a job, because he's definitely interested in "our town" over the other communities he visited.

Maybe Chris is a preschool teacher on the side or something. Anyway, Ruby mentioned that she wanted to make a bird feeder, and so he decided to have them make it for me on my birthday for a present. I was really curious while they were hard at work, and still curious when my eyes beheld the pinecone and peanut butter (with bird seed stuck to it) creation. I haven't been out to see if the birds have taken to it, but I love it, and the girls were thrilled!

Website Nightmare

For someone who has zero HTML experience, I've managed to code a few simple things using cheater coders online. So I went and registered my domain address with godaddy and started working on my photography website...it's not going very well!

Any online resources that you know of to help with this kind of thing?

I love Webelos!

Having served in Cub Scouts for only three months or so, I have to say, I really like it! My boys are all young enough that they are totally squirriley, but grateful, and they give lots of loud verbal praise when I annouce what we are going to do. For example tonight, we did Handyman at my house.

ME: "Here's some mits, let's wash my van!"
THEM: "Awesome!"

Car is relatively clean, but time is ticking and there's no time for perfection...

ME: "Now let's put some air in my tires, and check the air pressure!"
THEM: "Are you serious!? Cool!" Then they proceed to hog their fair share, becuase they like doing it so much.

I just love their energy and enthusiasm. I had one on his Heeley's, wheeling around all over the place, another brought his skate board (I told him to, for part of Handyman) and was all over that, and the other kept sneaking off to entertain our needy Golden Retriever.

If you ever get the chance to work with the younger scouts, it's so fun, they are all over everything you say and they LOVE you for showing them how to do such apparently "cool" things.

Me, Great Grandma Slingsby and Mt. Saint Helens...

Your Birthdate: May 18

You are a cohesive force - able to bring many people together for a common cause. You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too. Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others. You also keep your powerful emotions in check - you know when to emote and when to repress. Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities Your power color: Crimson red Your power symbol: Snowflake Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?