Lara is here!

So I have my very first guest blogger! Aunty Lara came to visit this week and I decided to let her blog about the goings on this week since she thinks my kids are just as cute as I do and well its just plain exciting to have a guest blogger. Here she is...

Wow, what faith! To give someone, who's never blogged before, a post of their very own.

I love to cut hair and for those of you who know my husband you'll know that that haircut is not really an interesting one to do. So, the other day we played "Hairdressers" - Gummy needed a trim and Zackie needed an overhaul, poor kid couldn't even see out from under there.

I gave Gummy a buzz cut in Summer 08 (in Nauvoo) and I'd forgotten that he's sensitive to the itchy state you end up in when the hair falls onto your neck and shoulders. It wasn't long before he'd gotten hair on his tongue and it was all over. Trying to convince him to shower to relieve his suffering was just as hard.

Zackie though, sat patiently on the stool and each time I cut some hair off he would smile and say "Wooooohh" and want to hold it. I ended up placing each clump on the stool for him to pick up and put in the bin. His attention span was twice as long as we'd expected but even then going from "Surfer Boy" to "Future Missionary" was going to take a while. I also decided to get some new 'kid-friendly' clippers, the $10 Walmart ones we'd left here were too pinchy and loud, hence me cutting Zackie's hair with scissors. ~Here's a shameless plug for 'Norelco' clippers from Philips - the box says "designed for kids, made for moms" and they're awesome.

For Zackie's next session we sat him in front of Nemo and I used the clippers to tidy up his hacked up hair. He wanted to use the scissors to cut his own hair so rather than let him poke his eye out or cut his ear off, we gave him a soft toy to give a haircut to, he did a very careful job and I was able to finish his hair. I was almost done and he wanted to hold the clippers, so I let him, looked away for a second (silly Aunty Lara) and when I looked back he'd cut a 2 inch strip off the side of his head. Normally I'd cut the rest to match but it was too short and the poor kid would have looked like a P.O.W!

The boys can be tricky to understand over the phone or on Skype and I've realised why this week. When you have an American father and an Aussie mother you get confused about when to use what word or how to pronounce them. Some that have made me smile this week are: Gummy's word "Grubbish" - Garbage (S) and Rubbish (J), Gummy also says computer like he's french "Com-pew-teere", Zac's "Grasses" (Glasses) and "Byderr" (Spider) used when referencing dust bunnies, clumps of knotted hair or thread - not actual spiders.

Finally one last giggle - Dad arrived today, having travelled 24 hours from his house to here he was trying to explain to Gummy that he was tired. Gummy's response - "No, you're not tired. The sun's up!"

Oh, and silly me didn't bring my cord to connect my camera to the computer so we can't give you all the great photos that go along with all of these anecdotes, you'll have to check back later...later like May...when I'm home again and I've sent the photos back. It's a real shame because I've let Gummy use my camera (Don't worry D, under strict supervision with the cord tightly around his little wrist) and he's taken some great shots. All the way to the park the other day he photographed every car that went past us.

Twilight Confessions

I am over it.

I'll start at the beginning. I saw the Twilight series in my sisters room and asked her about them, she said they were about vampires and I automatically tuned out the rest of the synopsis. Then my friends started reading them and I was still a little skeptical but then for my birthday my BFFs gave me all three books, so now I had to read them and I must say that I was hooked as soon as I started reading. Before I knew it I was checking Twilight fan sites daily, reading the books over and over, and I was so excited to find out they were going to make it into a movie. I am a embarrassed to say that I saw the movie three times in the theaters and own it. After watching it at home I decided that I would have gotten a completely different cast except for Jackson and Kellan. And that's when Twilight lost its magic. I'm not sure if it was the movie or the fact that Twilight had gotten so big it was getting annoying I was just over it.

Twilight will always have a special place in my heart because it made me think that maybe i did enjoy reading. I vowed to never read another novel after reading 'One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest' in Grade 12 (I hate that book and Jack Nicholson). Maybe I am a reader? So I kept reading and have read lots of books since then some complete rubbish (The Last Song) others I couldn't put down (Hunger Games), some I wish I read when I was twelve (Daddy Long Legs) and some that are just timeless (Sense and Sensibility). So to any Twilight haters out there yes Twilight isn't great fiction and it isn't going to win any awards but do you only watch movies that win Oscars? Come on, own up, I know you've seen your fair share of movies like 'Win a Date With Tad Hamilton'. Aren't they the same thing? Twilight is a fun read and sometimes you don't want to think about why this character did this? and what does this represent? Anyway I want to say thank you to my BFFs and Stephenie Meyer for getting me to read again after I was traumatised by Miss Christofi and her love of One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest.*

By the way, I can't wait for the boys to be old enough so we can read Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, all of Paul Jennings short stories and every book by Roald Dahl.

*Grade 12 English we spent half the year talking about that stupid book and movie. The other half we did Hamlet, which was much better than Grade 10 English when we had to do a section on Romeo and Juliet....that was super fun for me.

Dinner time

"Dear Heavenly Father, I eat it now" - Zac.

Zac and Will both love to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking dinner. It is kinda annoying considering Will won't eat anything I make and Zac wants to try all ingredients even if they aren't cooked. However, I do try to have them help because I will be wanting there help later (can you make a green salad?)* Zac loves making dinner with me and always yells dinner time when its dinner is ready. Will is more of a smoothie man and he will be there every step of the way if cookies, cakes, or muffins are being made. I love my little helpers even if they get in the way but lets face it I'm not making anything fancy so a chocolate chip in the noodles is just fine.

*Since you are reading this footnote thingo I am assuming you aren't one of my siblings. First of all, why are you reading my blog? are you bored? you know the Internet is full of more exciting/funny time wasters? I am glad you are wasting time with me, blogs are so much fun. Anyway here is the explanation. When my dad made dinner he would always ask who ever was in or around the kitchen if they could please make a green salad.
And that is another reason I want my boys in the kitchen because I was a little disappointed when I found out most other Dads don't cook. I don't remember when this happened but I remember thinking doesn't your mum get sick of cooking every night? and the answer is, yes she does. So Sean as soon as you are out of school its cooking time for you! and no I will not accept dads cooking night to be going out to dinner. What a fabulous graduation present! cooking lessons! don't worry he hardly ever reads this blog, he wastes time playing xbox.

Rodeo

The Rodeo is in town! The Rodeo is huge, they have a rodeo (duh), livestock show competition things, a huge kid/education area, tons of rides, pig races, food, shopping and they have a concert every night. I would be really excited about the concerts but they have artists like, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Brooks and Dunn, etc. Nearly all are country which I don't' like enough to go to a concert for. They did have Black eyed peas, Mary J. Blige but I don't' really like them enough either. So we have gone twice this year to the kiddie/ride/food/pig races part. The boys enjoyed seeing all the farm animals, pig races and rides but there was a display of cars and tractors so that's were we spent most of our time. Here are some pictures taken by my friend.

So the boys had a blast, I had fun with my friends but I decided that I don't really like the rodeo. I felt really sad for the animals there. Before you get all 'animals don't have feelings', pro-meat and they were made for us to rule over, I think I was sad because all the animals had to live in these tiny little pens/cages for the duration of the rodeo. The preggo pigs had to lay down on concrete the entire time while a million elementary kids strolled past them, the first thing the baby chicks saw was a a glass box and a bunch of people looking at them. Call me a hippie animal lover if you want but decided today that I would like to see animals on farms in nice big pastures fairytale style.

After watching food inc I have been buying more organic meat/eggs/milk because I was horrified at the way they treated the animals and I figure God knew what he was doing when he made everything so why do we have to add chemicals to things if they don't need it. Even if its not healthier I still feel bad for the animals and I'm not about to become a vegetarian so organic it is. I don't think God didn't want us to put all his lovely delicious creations into feed lots and cage so we could have cheaper food. Well that was a bit of a tangent....Back to the rodeo, all in all it was fun but I'm very glad it only comes once a year.

Avey school 2.0

She managed to get all 6 kids, 3 and under to sit down and listen to her. However Gummy and Zackie both had to be sent to the time out chair.

Boys

Will: Hey mum (sniff, sniff) smell something stinky?
Mum: Yes
Will: FARTO!!!
Zac: (runs from the other room) FARTO!!
Both laugh hysterically.
I thought I'd have a little longer.

All About Zac

Yesterday you asked me if you could eat some play dough.
You love to ride in the stroller.
You eat about 3 bananas a day.
You love spaghetti.
You have an obsession with sharks, dinosaurs and lions/tigers.
You still love to cuddle.
I haven't gotten rid of your dummy yet (sorry if you have buck teeth)
You sleep better than your brother (thank you)
You are a crazy nut baby.
You love to dance.
You hate getting your pants changed.
You love Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc
You love the swings
You copy everything Gummy does, he gets upset when you decide to do your own thing.
You are so cute when you run out of the bath screaming MUM! I always worry that you are going to stack it cause your little arms are under your towel.
You are the meanest kissing monster ever
And you bite when you don't get your own way.

Happy Birthday Zac-a-doo!

My little boy is 2! To celebrate we went to the park and had a ride on the train where we saw all of our favourite things, squirrels, ducks, turtles, dogs, cars, the light rail, fire engines, ambulances and swings! It was a perfect ride! Later that day the cousins came over and we had some tacos for dinner and ice-cream cake! The cousins also got zackie the best birthday present ever (so good we didn't buy him anything) it was get ready for it...a train set! The boys haven't stopped playing with it

the train set

the ice-cream cake

more train



Train ride

Primary Boy

Gummy said the 2nd article of faith in primary yesterday. He wouldn't sit up the front with the other kids but he did manage to say all the words so I wasn't the only one talking and he really enjoyed holding up the words for all the other kids so they could say it with him.