November 2012

Not too much happened this month.  Carson ate way too much candy (and mommy and daddy).  My reasoning is that I don't want him to eat all that candy himself so I should help get rid of some.  What's that?  I could throw it away you say?  That just seems wasteful.

Chloe got more and more attached to her comfort items.  This picture is just missing a pacifier.  She loves her blankie, stuffed animals, her milk cup, and of course, her pacifier.

The most exciting event from November was that Karl and I did a mud run with his little sister and her husband.  I slowed them down but Kim was a few months pregnant so I was really going slow for her.  I'm just that kind of person - willing to sacrifice for others : )

Look at the triumph!  (and all the gross mud).  It was a lot of fun, but it was also really hard.  Way harder than running a 5k.  The worst was when we had to go through these trenches that were filled with mud and then covered with boards.  So it was pitch black, I was bent over trudging through mud up to my waist, and there was no end in sight.  By the end of that obstacle I could barely move my legs.

My other complaint was that it hurt!  Look at how scraped up my legs were after.  And my arms looked the same.  I still have a few scars from this.  The mud had tons of little pieces of sharp gravel that cut me up as I army crawled.

Apparently I took zero Thanksgiving pics.  Oh, I remember now.  We went to my sister's house.  I was busily obsessed with Amazon lightning deals and checking my phone every 15 min.  I got a bunch of Christmas gifts through that.  It was awesome.  I also braved Target Black Friday on Thursday night.  It was a total success.  I got in line 1 hr before open and just read/played ipad.  I brought my own huge shopping bag so I wouldn't have to bother with a cart or basket.  I was so glad too.  The people with carts were stuck in traffic jams in the store forever.  I laughed as I weaved in and out of them...ha ha ha.  I knew the 5 things I wanted.  I ran in, grabbed them in order of priority and was out in 30 min.  I scored an awesome Razor scooter for Carson.  I mean...Santa scored an awesome Razor scooter for Carson.  Carrying that scooter with no cart was a little awkward...but worth it.

That's November!  On to December!

Hello, Old Friend

We got a new computer, then I survived busy season (again), and now I've had a little time to recover.  After busy season, I always go through this "I don't want to do anything" phase for a few weeks...or a month.

Now I've missed so much that getting back into blogging seems a little overwhelming.  I will do a quick summary post by month.  Starting with November 2012...hahaha.  I'm so lame.

Grrr...

Ok - here is the rub.  Our desktop computer is so slow and old it is unusable (purchased in 2003...yes, 10 years ago).  I get so frustrated just waiting for it to turn on that I never even make it to whatever task I was going to do.  So I can't blog/load pictures/etc. from that computer.  My husbands laptop is about 5 years old and also very slow.  Plus, I have all our pictures, up to the last year, neatly organized on our desktop.  I don't want to have pictures in two places.  So I don't like to blog/unload pictures/etc. with that computer.   My third option is my laptop, my work laptop.  I don't really want my personal pictures stored here, but it is also the only computer with normal speed.  The only one that doesn't cause me to scream in frustration.  But I don't really want to blog/unload pictures/etc. with that computer.

So over the last year, our pictures have been strewn over three computers and a few USB drives.  My blogging has decreased to almost never.  I find this whole situation very disheartening.  Our pictures are disorganized and I'm not recording our family history.

So that's the rub.  Someday we'll have a new computer, I'll reorganize my photos, and start blogging again.  Until then, please excuse my infrequent posts and lack of photos with each post.

HALLOWEEN!

I love Halloween.  Carson wanted to be Indiana Jones (previously called Indian John if you read my blog a year or two ago).  He had a hat and a whip.  He loved it.  And even though he didn't ever want to carry the whip, people could tell who he was.  Indiana Jones had his mom carry his whip around too, right?  He was all over the Trick or Treating this year.  He kept doing this pose.  I tried to make him do a more Indiana Jones type pose, but he wouldn't have it.

Chloe was a cute little kitty.  She got the idea pretty good.  She would take the candy and put it in her little pumpkin.  She would say bye at most houses (which she started saying yesterday), but it is pretty delayed so they usually wouldn't hear it.  I had a really hard time getting a good picture of her, she's always on the move. Once we were back home and all bathed, I got her in her Halloween jammies and got a few pictures.  The key was the stool...she loves sitting on it.  So I was actually able to get her being cute.  Rather than her normal blurry.

Soccer Pictures

I already posted about the game, but here are a few pictures.

A Little Bit of Freud (and catch up)

Well I have heard that most little boys develop a little bit of a crush on their mom.  I got to experience this first hand this week.  I was getting Carson ready for bed and we were just having fun talking.  He said "I wish I could just marry you, Mom."  I told him that I loved him and that someday he would meet a girl he wanted to marry and that he would love her even more than he loves me.  He said "but I'll still miss you."  He then went on to tell me his life plan.  It went like this 1) get a job, 2) go to college, 3) serve a mission, and then 4) get married.  I think those might be a little out of order.  He then asked if he should take a Book of Mormon on his mission and I said I thought that would be a good idea.  He became a little worried about that since he doesn't know how to read it yet.  He then gave me a kiss goodnight and triumphantly declared "Now we're married."

The primary program was this Sunday.  Beside the normal parts, Carson also sang "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" as a trio with two other little 5 year old boys.  Carson and I have sung this song A LOT over the last month.  We listened to it in the car on repeat, we sang it while making dinner, etc. etc.  I'm surprised he never got sick of it.  It paid off.  He got up there without any hesitation and boldly sang that song.  It was so sweet.  He asked me afterwards if it was "pretty" and if it "made me cry."  To which I could reply yes and yes.

Carson had his first soccer game this Saturday.  He is actually quite aggressive on the field.  At the team practices his aggression made me a little uncomfortable.  It is hard for me to separate the rules of life and the rules of playing sports.  In life you are supposed to share and be nice, not so on the field.  I never was very good at sports.  Not only because I have horrible eye hand coordination, but because I was never aggressive.  I would literally let the other team have the ball - just to be nice.  Anyway, his aggression seemed much more appropriate during the game when the other team was crazy good and absolutely crushing them.  They don't keep score though and Carson had no clue they lost.  After the game he told me it was the most fun he had ever had.  Highlights of the game - I caught him doing an excitement booty dance while playing defense and waiting for the ball to come his way, stopped several goals when he was goalie, scored the only point his team made that day, and looked super cute while doing it.

Chloe is finally starting to say some words.  Her vocab now consists of:
Water - Wa Wa
Cracker - Ca Ca
Momma - Ma Ma
Ball - Ba
No - Na (with a really long nnnn sound before she ever gets to the a.)
...do you see a pattern?  At least we have some communication going.  She also knows and uses the signs for water, food, bath, milk, and dog.  She likes to give high fives and has also added knuckle bumps into her repertoire.

Chloe has had 7 front teeth (4 on top, 3 on bottom) and nothing else for the longest time.  It was like they all came in 6 months ago and then nothing since.  The other night I was brushing her teeth and saw that she has three molars in the back.  Maybe that is normal teeth development - I can't remember.  But the poor thing, those have to be painful.  And I didn't even know.

This 10/15 tax deadline has been my worst busy season to date.  I worked more this last week than any other week in my life.  I was working into the wee hours of the morning way too many nights.  I think I could sleep for a week.  I had a tired/emotional melt down Saturday night as I realized I wasn't going to finish and would have to work all Sunday too.  I feel like everything else in my life has suffered because of it - my family, my house, my calling - you name it...I probably neglected it.  I am glad it is over and I can go back to having somewhat of a normal life.  I am taking PTO all next week and going absolutely no where.  Ahhh...should be perfect.

And not to leave out Karl - I couldn't ask for a better husband.  Even thought he is overwhelmed with what is going on in his life, he picked up the slack all week.  He took everything over and never once complained. I know he is behind in his classes now but he didn't say a word about it because he knew it would add to my feelings of guilt.  So now I've promised to do everything around here so he can get caught up.  One of these days we'll actually be able to spend time together.

Sibling Love

I have mentioned it before, but I LOVE watching the relationship develop between Carson and Chloe.  While most of it is sweet and wonderful, there have been a few bad times too.

Good Times:
Carson takes pride in his little sister and I can tell he secretly loves when she sits by him or wants to play with him.  A few times she has sat herself down on his lap.  He just wraps his arms around her and beams.  The other day, she had just woken up and was feeling a little touchy.  She likes to be held by Karl or I (and usually doesn't have a preference).  I was holding her and talking to Carson who was laying on the floor.  All the sudden, she reached out her arms for Carson.  I was really surprised and kind of took a minute to make sure she was indicating that she was wanting Carson.  I said "I think she wants you" to Carson.  He got excited and reached out his arms and said "Come here Chloe."  I set her down on the ground.  She made herself comfortable on top of Carson's torso and hummed happily to herself.  She just needed a little Carson comfort.  I loved it so much...and so did Carson.

Bad Times (side note - for some reason I love these too.  They are getting the brother/sister experience.)
Unfortunately, Chloe is a little biter.  Sometimes she does it randomly with a little devilish grin and sometimes she does it out of frustration.  Luckily, it isn't hard and Carson usually finds it funny.  The other day, they were "fighting" over a toy and I could really see the frustration in her.  She reached up both hands and gently put them on Carson's face.  I think it was supposed to be a hit, but she didn't have any power behind it.  Then she started to look for something to bite...her mouth open wide like a fish looking for food.  Carson is quick to solve the problem by just moving.

Second side note - them fighting over a toy means Carson was trying to do something structured and Chloe kept grabbing it, breaking it, etc. etc.

Carson will sometimes take away her toys.  He usually says something sweet while doing it, like "Oh, thank you Chloe."  But really she is on the ground crying because he just took whatever she was playing with.  Every time he does this I think "just you wait, Carson.  Very soon she will be able to fight back."

But the good times definitely outweigh the bad...and they are all kind of fun.  Chloe is lucky to have such a sweet, patient older brother.