Little Known Facts About Sheila

The other day I was reminded:


About a Little Known Fact One:
When I was on bedrest while pregnant with Everett, I tried to keep busy all day and do good work from a somewhat sitting/somewhat laying position and I rewarded myself with watching . . . Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Gasp! I know.


My favorite actor was James Marsters. He was a total crack-up.


A Little Known Fact Two:
I hate macaroni and cheese. Any mac-n-cheese. This fall, Erik picked out a couple of meals he could whip into shape if he got home and I needed help getting dinner going, and one of the meals was mac-n-cheese. He made it, and the boys LOVED it. I mean love it. So, we've got a version we make for the boys and Erik, and I eat something else.

A Little Known Fact Three:
I used to write children's stories. I even have sketches for the characters. My favorite ones are of the elephant and giraffe. Maybe one day I'll share.

Beyond Belief

Just finished watching "Beyond Belief"--two American women rise above personal tragedy and sacrifice to serve other women.

One of my favorite quotes from the documentary:

" . . . mothers are mothers are mothers and women are women are women . . . "

We are more alike than any of us realize.

Rrooaarrr!

I think that most kids Merritt's age are getting proficient with animal sounds. Not Merritt. He prefers the dinosaur roar since that is what he prefers to play with at home.

When we are trying to keep him occupied in Sacrament, we use a touch and feel book that illustrates Bible stories. It kind of goes like this:

Parent: Look, Merritt, baby Moses.
Merritt: (in a soft voice) Rooaarrr!

Parent: Look, Merritt, a lamb.
Merritt: (in a soft voice) Rooaarrr!

Parent: Look, Merritt, baby Jesus.
Merritt: (in a soft voice) Rooaarrr!

Parent: Look, Merritt, Jonah and the whale.
Merritt: (in a soft voice) Rooaarrr!

Parent: Look, Merritt, Jesus with all the children.
Merritt: (in a soft voice) Rooaarrr!

Parent: Look, Merritt, an alligator.
Merritt: (in a soft voice) Rooaarrr!

Parent: Okay, that one works there.

He loves dogs right now is adding that sound to what he says. He is also pretty good at making car sounds when he plays cars with Evy. Tonight, he said "Amen" when he clapped at the end of the prayer.

Pass the carrion, pwease?

Evy loves to play cars. And, when you play cars with him, there is no way you can halfheartedly play. You have to hold the car and make it move and make it talk the ENTIRE time.

Thankfully, I think due to his dad, he now doesn't lean on the violent crashing the entire time he plays. He'll do crashing in slow mode.

Today, I was "The King" and in a desperate move started interviewing all the dinosaurs in the room. Evy hopped right in.

In interviewing Stegosaurus--
The King: What are those things on your back?
Steggie: Those are plates, they help me stay cool. They also protect me.
The King: Who do they protect you from?
Steggie: Meat eaters who want to EAT MEEEE!
The King: What are meat eaters?
Steggie: They eat meat!
The King: What is meat?
Steggie: You know, like carrion, dead animals.

Chills and Thrills

This week brought the beginning of our "rabbit" fence. Can we say Brer Rabbit? We are halfway there to protecting our precious wee plants. Sunday brought our first Margherita Pizzas for the season using our starting bounty. We do miss Cafe Sano back in Reston.

Sheila danced an incredibly awesome routine "If My Friends Could See Me Now" with the Activity Committee for her ward in the Talent/No Talent Show. Proof that her dancing prowess peaked at age 15 ("Can't Touch This!").

Erik held down the fort while Sheila worked with the youth this week. He's been working late preparing for meetings and travel trips. The last one: Mexico. The next one: St. Louis (he loves that arch).

Evy and Merritt are busy growing. Merritt is teething something wicked but Evy tries to help out all he can when Merritt is having a hard time. Evy running to share his blankie is something we see quite often these days.

The weather has been beautiful!

The following link is to an incredibly fun family act "Special K and the Candy Wrappers" who performed an original song called,"Junk Food Eater!" at our ward's talent show. It is hysterically good and you can hear Everett asking to join his friends at the beginning. And, Everett loves to watch it over and over!

We've got PRODUCE!

I'm happy to report that we've got some strawberries growing. Our tomato plants are flowering. Our beans are climbing. Our squash is crawling, and our herbs look herbish.

I'm sure I'm paying more for water than I would to just buy the produce, but Everett gets so excited when he looks out the window and shouts, "IT is GGROWing, Mom!"

And, Merritt is always ready to play in the water and the dirt.

We were at the Dallas Arboretum earlier this week. And, it was a marvelously, dewishous, beautiful day! Thanks to the gracious giving of our friends, we went along for the ride and played, picnicked, experienced the mists, and ran through Texas Town. The hills that the kids rolled down and scampered on where so green and refreshing. That place is so inspiring and really shows that "stuff" does really grow in Texas. It sure was a day to treasure as Texas heat is heading in.

Is That Jesus?

We were window shopping through the aisles of Target last week (yes, I did refrain from buying anything), waiting for the pharmacy to fill a prescription.

We happened to pass a gentleman who was in a long-ish tunic looking shirt and had darker skin and shoulder length brown hair.

Evy gasped, turned to me and said,"Is THAT Jesus?"

No, baby, but you are paying attention aren't you?

Chills and Thrills

The week was busy and long.


Thrills were:

• The composter. But, maybe I already mentioned that?
• A Night of Americana: sharing some of those "must see" movies and iconic American foods with a friend who will soon return to Italy. Rootbeer floats, rice crispy treats, sugar cereals, Talladega Nights, Napoleon Dynamite, and subtitles were just a few of the elements.
• I had the chance to go part of our youth's Youth Conference. What an inspiring group of teenagers!

Chills:

• Had to postpone Erik's "Flamin' Hot Birthday Brunch."
• I've got some nerve inflammation. Lots of pills, but it is getting better.
• Erik went out of town. Thankfully, he is back and brought vanilla with him.

Merritt is officially a table dancer. We'll see how long before he scales the banister.

Ownership

Evy is ALWAYS asking "why"---always.

Today I asked him "why" about something. He turned to me and said,"Only I can ask why."

Cheeky thing.

He will be shaving the peach fuzz soon.

Today, Merritt is not bowlegged anymore. Like poof. He stands straight.

He still does his deep knee bends when he dances, so cute!

Most Ladies . . . .

Erik: I got a surprise for your mom, Everett!
Everett (excitedly): What is it?
Erik: It is a composter. Most ladies want flowers or jewelry. Not your mom, she wants something for trash.


This beauty is made of recycled plastic. It is currently in pieces, and I will have to wait to get it going until Erik gets back from the south. But, I am so EXCITED!!

And, it is a tumbling composting barrell. . . . sigh . . .

Chills and Thrills

(I feel like I repeat myself every time when I say,"Busy week for us." I should just say BWFU and go on.)


Highlight was attending a Frisco RoughRider's Baseball game on Saturday with colleagues from Erik's work. We were able to watch from a party porch which was great since Merritt likes to roam. I think the other team won, totally wasn't paying attention except to distract Merritt with what was going on when he fussed, but we had a great time talking with friends.



The garden hasn't died yet, much to my surprise. Today will be in the mid-80s. Good time for it to die if it is going to.



Everett had another blood draw last week to check his liver functions and medicine levels. He did really, really well as they take three full vials of blood. His buddy for the event was a spinosaurus (and can Dinosaur Train PLEASE come out with some dinosaurs for sale at Target, preferably? I don't know what I am going to do when he wants a mircoraptor for his next "blood draw buddy").



I now have permission to get a composter!! Whhaooooo! I am very excited about this and, yes, that kind of makes me a nerd. Check out this beauty that we are trying to get this afternoon before some other guy beats us to it:

Erik and I have been busy trying to negotiate with a couple of hospitals and physicians for some obscene medical bills. And, thanks to Erik and his awesome ambassador skills (along with my research skills, of course) we have been blessed to shave almost $2,000 off the bills. Lesson (1) You can always try to negotiate. Lesson (2) Negotiate before ahead of time if possible. Erik, You Rock!

We have lots planned for this week. I hope to remember to take pictures and share.

The Things They Say

Thursday I was hauling laundry up the stairs with Merritt crawling up right in front of me. Takes a long time for little ones to get up the stairs because they are difficult. Everett could see that the load I was carrying was kind of weighing me down.

"Mom, give some to me so I can help."
"Thanks, Evy, but Merritt is in the way. I think I've got it," I declined.
"If you give me some, I can make it easy for you!"

Merritt is busy adding words. He loves babies "ay--byyy". Almost every food item right now is requested by using the banana sign.

Pretty regularly, when I correct Everett,teaching him about safety or what is mean and nice. He'll take a step back after the interaction or after the time out and say,"Mom, I won't _____ again."

When I start making dinner, Everett runs over to ask if he can help cook. When I tell him what we are having, he'll repeat it screaming with joy and run to tell Merritt the menu. When Dad comes home, Everett runs to give Dad, gives him a hug, and tells him in a secretive hushed tone what the delicious dinner will be. "DEWIISHOUS!"

Seedlings Spring of 2010

A couple of days later

A week later

Cilantro, tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, spaghetti squash, basil, parsley, green beans, lettuce, and rosemary were planted. Surviving so far with real growth: zucchini, spaghetti squash, green beans, tomatoes, and rosemary . . . the rest, I'm not sure. But I've transplanted those with some great growth going on in the garden. The others I am hovering over constantly. I think the cilantro is dead. sad.

Easter 2010

Easter was complete this year with coloring eggs, egg hunts, and visiting Grandma and Poppa's house for Sunday morning conference and yummy breakfast. Everett did a great job of hiding Merritt's eggs.

Merritt on the Move, Or Not

There is pretty much no stopping Merritt. Almost. He is on the move ALL the time! And, if he can't physically reach what he wants, he'll use whatever he can to climb or move over to overcome that obstacle.

Here is one time where he totally got stuck!

Bonus Pictures:

He found Everett's cap, put it on, ran in to show us, and started dancing away. What a crack-up!

Chills and Thrills

In short, it has been an extremely busy two weeks. With the beginning of my new calling in YW and finishing up some other obligations, neither one of the parents has been "in" on the same night more than 3 of the 7 nights of the week. This week is going to be just the same.

In all, we are doing really well and appreciated Erik's three day weekend.

Thanks to Grandpa and Poppa, we were able to join friends and see a taping of "America's Got Talent!" which we thought was a great experience! The boys loved hanging out with their grandparents for the evening.

Erik turned "almost 40," again. He is a pretty good sport to "let" me tease him. We spent the weekend trying to fit in what he wanted to eat, etc. He was also a great sport in trimming the tree, hauling out some prickly bushes, and sharing his birthday with Conference weekend and Easter. He has never been a fan of having his birthday on Conference weekend because it puts a limit on the partying, but we are going to schedule something soon to rectify that.

Sheila, that's me, is running again. She has a running partner for a couple days of the week and that helps immensely. Boston 2012 is ON! She also transplanted several batches of seedlings into the garden. She expects all of them to die any day now. As house elf, she feels behind all the time, but she expects that will be so until Merritt isn't thrashing the place anymore . . . maybe another two years? (hard to tell)

Everett is a delight! He functions better these days with a nap . . . but that means that bedtime is later. Last night, we "caught" him dancing in his doorway to the music that he could overhear from the TV. It was a sort of dino-disco dance complete with fingers splayed like T-Rex claws. He recently lost his blue Lightning McQueen though we still look for it everyday. He delights in displaying his wickedly awesome skills in making a Hook'em sign with his fingers. He also has a special skill in spotting "racing tyyyyres"---wheels with rims, not hubcaps. What a crack up! (seizure medication is doing the job and so far there are no negative effects on his liver, AWESOME!)

On a special note: We are learning the alphabet together. The magic moment for those letters to have meaning for him came when we got him his own library card. The librarian asked if he wanted to sign his name . . . "oh yeah!" and so we wrote his name together. Thus, that moment of teaching letters in context came and we have been talking about numbers and letters since then. He wanted to learn "E" and "3" first and enjoys the seek and finds to spot them when we are out and about.

He helped me hide Merritt's Easter eggs this weekend. It is crazy how nice and grown-up he is for a three year old. Seriously. He is just a thoughtful brother.

Merritt is on fire. He basically gets everywhere he wants and still does the Greasy Watermelon trick when he is displeased with a change in direction from Mom or Dad. Active, active, active! This boy can dance. He turns on his dad's clock radio and busts a move whenever he is in the master bedroom. He loves being outside and riding in the car with the wind flowing around him. Although busy, he is extremely sweet and is always ready to give a hug or kiss. Right now we are back on the nebulizer for long term, and it is helping him, thankfully.

Our journal for 2010 is extremely thin. I've got to get better at posting now that our camera is in working order with a cord that I can find. The boys have grown so much!