Christmas 2007

By the looks of my house, Christmas definitely came. Toys are still strewn about. The fridge is full of leftovers. Candy is lurking everywhere. And surprise surprise, my pants are a bit snug! One of these days I will have to put my house back in order. The good news is that my boys are quite content playing with themselves for awhile. It is a nice change!

Taylor was thrilled with his new football from his Uncle Dalin and a BYU jersey from Grandma Larsen. Bennett was disappointed because he didn't actually get to see Santa. Although later that night he was telling his Uncle Grant that he saw Santa and that he was wearing a BYU hat. Thank heavens it was a BYU hat! Owen after opening his drill, politely told us "no" when we asked him if he wanted to open another gift. He was happy with just one.


The boys in their new p.j.'s anxiously waiting to go downstairs to see what Santa brought them.


Buzz was definitely a hit with Bennett. Notice his buzz-like pose he is striking.

The drill was Owen's favorite gift. He hauls it all over the place.

Ties from China! Let me tell you that shopping trip helped tremendously!

Sugared Up

Tis the season for sugar. School parties, tae kwon parties, family parties, neighbor gifts. The sugar supply never ends. My house has so much junk you can't open a cupboard without some sort of sugared treat falling on your head. My kids are on such a sugar high right now, I am going to have to put them through a serious de-tox program when Christmas is finally over. Their moods range from the running around the house in circles uncontrollably, to crying and whining and begging me for just one more fix. I've got some serious addicts here. Some part of me tells me to just throw it all away, but throwing away perfectly good candy? Is that possible? I don't know if it is. Especially when I know I will be craving a piece of chocolate in a week or two when things start to settle down and I will most likely kick myself for throwing it all away. Oh and the making of gingerbread houses with my sister and her family, though fun, didn't help the addiction!

That's not how it works!

Have you ever started something, only to become frustrated because it is not going according to your plan? That's how I feel with this year's advent calendar. We have a tradition each year to set up a Playmobil advent calendar, similar to this one. This year, instead of buying a so-called "holiday" one, I decided to buy a Playmobil nativity scene(for some reason they don't make an advent calendar with a nativity scene) and turn it into an advent calendar using old parts from previous years calendars. After making items fit into boxes that aren't suppose to fit, I got it set up and ready to go. This is how, in my mind the advent calendar is suppose to work. Each day 1 child gets to open the box, they oohh and aahh at what's in it, they put the newly opened piece on the background to admire, and then by Christmas we have a lovely nativity scene to look at that reminds us what Christmas is all about. That's not happening at our house. Let me tell you how it's not going according to my plan.

Each day the boys argue about who's turn it is to open the box. They all insist it is their turn. Once I determine who's turn it really is and somehow convince the other 2 their turn is coming up, the winner opens the box. Arguing then begins again because they all want to look at the piece and play with it. After I break up the arguments the piece eventually gets put on the set momentarily. After about 5 minutes someone takes it off and we never see the piece again. I looked at our pathetic nativity scene last night. Not only are less than half the pieces even there, somehow Han Solo, a dinosaur, a dragon and a trojan horse have ended up in the nativity. Now I know my memory is not like it use to, but I clearly don't remember these things in the nativity story. This is not going according to my plan. So I take a deep breathe and try my hardest to remember this is EXACTLY how the advent calendar is suppose to work with three boys in the house!

Flashback Friday - Our First Pet

Betcha didn't know Scott and I had a bird when we were first married. Our good friends, the Wolfe's had a parakeet. I can't remember how they came upon it, but for a bird - it was pretty cool. For Christmas maybe(?) they decided to buy us our own bird. Unfortunately, ours was not so cool. It had some serious anxiety issues and never did seem to warm up to us. We kept it until we moved to Y View. They didn't allow pets, so we gave it to Scott's sister, who lived in Santa Fe. It lived with them happily for several more years and then one morning they found it dead in it's cage. So long little bird!

Naughty Boy

Not only has Owen been my naughtiest boy, he has also turned into a stripper. There have been several times I have put him down for a nap only to peek in on him and either find him buck naked or mostly naked. Now he has upped the naughtiness. Today he not only stripped down to nothing, he decided to pee in his crib as well. What we can't figure out is how he managed to get the mattress pad out from underneath the crib sheet while leaving the sheet on. I guess the only good part is that I wasn't the one who found him!

"Alexander...

...and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" This is one of Owen's favorite books because he loves to make the faces that Alexander makes. Funny Kid.

That Wonderful Time of the Year

No, I'm not talking about Christmas. Whether you call them clementines or mandarins they are finally in season. Several years ago, Scott's sister introduced us to these wonderful fruits and we have been in love ever since. Whether you get "Cuties"(clementines) or "Pretty Belles" (mandarins) they are so good! Sweet, juicy and easy to peel. My family loves them. We go through boxes of them. Total count so far - 4 boxes in a week. About 20 lbs. We will thoroughly enjoy these while they last!

The Truth Hurts

The other day Bennett drew this picture of our house. I asked him to tell me about it. He pointed to different rooms and explained that dad was eating breakfast in the kitchen(some scribble somewhere) and he was on the stairs. I then asked him who the person was in the top right corner of the house. He said "That is you mom laying on the couch with your pillow." Apparently I lay on the couch so much that is the one thing he thinks about when he decides to draw me. Forget about all the times he has seen me do more productive things (cook, clean, read, laundry). He just remembers the lazy side. I guess I had better get off the couch!

It worked!

Now I am not recommending breaking a kid's arm to get rid of thumb sucking, but if it accidentally happens, thank your lucky stars! It appears that the thumb sucking habit is officially broken. I did go out and buy Bennett a bunch of Power Rangers. He got one for every three days he did not suck his thumb. If I caught him sucking, then I would take them all away. He did great! I think the hardest part on my half was trying to explain to a four year old what every three days meant. He wasn't too thrilled about the wait time. In fact, he was trying to convince me that he could trade in his old Power Ranger for a new one, so he didn't have to wait the required time. That didn't fly.

Thankful

Call me crazy, but one of the things I am thankful for are shelves. When we moved into this house over a year ago there were no shelves. Ample space, just nowhere to put anything. So as embarrassing as it is, this is how my storage room has looked for the past year. It was neat when we started, but when you are continually trying to find stuff, you just forget trying to keep it that way.



For the past six months I have tried to convince Scott to go buy shelves from Costco. He wouldn't budge. My frugal, do-it-yourself husband will not buy anything that he can make. So my wait is now over and I have wonderful shelves! And I will even admit, they are much better than anything I could have bought at Costco.

True Enough

Flashback Friday - Balloon Fiesta 2004

Although we are very glad Scott's parents moved up here last year, one thing we will miss about Albuquerque is going down to the International Balloon Fiesta. We have loved going to the fiesta and watching 700+ hot air balloons take off in waves. They claim that it is the most photographed event in the world and I believe it. Yes, we have to get up extremely early in the morning. I think it is still considered the middle of the night. And yes, it is very cold (one of my favorite parts). But every time we go we get excited all over again about all of the different balloons. That and the fact that you get to walk around the field and get a close-up view of them all is pretty cool as well.

These are pictures of the last time we went to the fiesta back in 2004. Taylor was 4 1/2 and Ben Ben was 1 1/2. They both thought the balloons were great and if I remember correctly, it was not as cold as it normally is. The boys loved picking out the shape balloons. We have seen everything from beer cans to rockets and everything in between!

Emily

I'm an irresponsible reader. I always have been. I am not one that can read a few chapters of a book at bedtime. When I start a book, or series for that matter, I read gung ho until they are done. So you can imagine the state of my house when this happens. Unfortunately, it happens more than it should. As soon as I finish a book I am itching to start a new one. I love to read. I have always loved to read. I enjoy re-reading my old favorites just as much as reading new books. I remember when I was young reading the "Little House on the Prairie" books over and over. I still have my original ones and they have definitely been well loved.

Yesterday I finished reading the "Emily" series by L. M. Montgomery. I haven't read them in years. They are a very similar, yet not so famous, and just as good of a series as "Anne of Green Gables." I must give credit to my mom for starting me on L.M. Montgomery. "Anne of Green Gables" is one of her favorite books and I remember her reading it to me and my sister when I was 10 years old. That love has definitely passed on. Thank You Mom!

So what makes a good book a good book? One thing - and it can be found in "Emily Climbs." Emily is an aspiring writer who likes to get opinions of her writing from her teacher Mr. Carpenter. Her latest story, "Hidden Riches" is not so good. "... It's a machine. It creaks. It never made me forget for one instant that it was a story. Hence it isn't a story." So that, my friends is what makes a good book good and why I love to read so much.

I have promised myself to lay off the books for the rest of November so I can get some much needed things done around my house! Now, where are those "Little House" books anyways?

Loaded Pajamas

How many things can you fit in your p.j.'s? Owen can fit a lot. Last night Owen walked into Scott's office and was pulling stuff out of his p.j.'s looking for his hammer. The hammer was not in there, but all of this stuff was. You would think it would be difficult to get around with all this baggage, but he had no problem with marbles, sticks and various toys jostling about. Funny kid.

Taylor's Talent Show

Have you every agreed to do something and then put it to the back of your mind? Ever day you know that it is coming up, but you are not sure when and you don't bother to find out? Well, maybe you don't do that, but occasionally I do. That's what happened with the talent show at Taylor's school. One of Taylor's fellow Tae Kwon Do students asked Taylor if he wanted to be in the talent show with her. He said yes, I said sure and that was the last time I really thought about it. Sure enough, two days before the big show her mom calls me to confirm. "Uh yes ...I remember that. When is it again? In TWO DAYS? Sure no problem." She then goes on to ask me if I wouldn't mind talking to their instructor, Master Augustine and remind him about helping them out at the show. Luckily, he remembered and was more than willing to help them. It turned out great despite the fact that I did not do anything other than show up. I wish everything was like that!

Of course, you may be sick of Tae Kwon Do pictures and movies, but to be honest I spend 5 days a week down at the studio, so it is hard to ignore it. So feel free to skip this if you can't stand to hear another KIOP! This is the shortest of the 3 video clips. The others would take way to long to upload.

Tom Turkey

Homework Challenge - Disguise Tom Turkey. I think we did pretty good.

All Better

Yesterday Bennett had his cast taken off. You would think he would be thrilled about having his arm back, but instead he is treating it like he doesn't know what to do with it. He won't use it because it "feels funny" and is "still a little bit broken." That is understandable. So for now it is just hanging limply by his side. Hopefully soon he will realize he has a perfectly good arm ready to use and make his life easier. I will also be watching him closely to see if he tries to start sucking his thumb again. I have promised him Power Rangers if he doesn't suck it. I think I will take him down to Target and let him pick one out. Then I can display it at home as a motivation not to start again.

I've got myself a Howler

4 howlers to be exact. As if my house isn't loud and chaotic enough, my boys have decided they need to get our dog involved in the noise as well. She has been debarked so she makes hardly any noise, but she can howl - quite well. She just needs a little encouragement which my boys are more than happy to supply.

Flashback Friday - Our first home

While talking to my friend on the phone the other day, she told me of a great idea that she is doing with her blog. Every Friday is flashback Friday. Which means you post something from your past, be it a long time ago or more recently. I thought this was a great idea so I will attempt to keep this up. Maybe not every Friday though - we will see. And yes I realize that I am posting this on Saturday instead of Friday, but my idea came on what I wanted to post today.

Last night Scott and I went out to eat at my favorite restaurant, The Bombay House, down in Provo. It is only about 2 blocks away from the house that we lived in right after we were married. Good thing we didn't know about this place then, or we would have been poorer than we were. Because the wait was at least 45 minutes, we decided to take a walk over and see how it is holding up. Unfortunately it is looking worse, rather than better. Thanks to student living the entire block is rather shabby now. Scott and I both concluded that we are glad to be out of Provo and out of the basement.

As I thought of what to post I decided to dig up some old photos of our place. This was way back in 1996. Digital cameras were non-existent back then. In fact, Scott had just bought his first computer right before we were married. I figured the easiest thing to do was to take pictures of my scrapbook pages and post them. I don't know what is more amusing to look at, the pictures or my natural talent for scrapbooking at such an early age!

It's funny to see what I had in my first house. See the ugly couches? We left the big one there because it was incredibly uncomfortable and we couldn't get it out of the basement. The love seat we took and still have to this day. As ugly as it is, it is quite comfortable. It is now sitting in my craft room. One of the many reasons why my craft room isn't anything to look at. The bookshelf is now painted black and is in my dining room with its twin. The TV is also in my craft room.

Scott and I look like pups. What were we 16 or 17? Well I was close, 20 at the time. Notice my Girbaud jeans and my oversized tucked in shirt. In the very top picture Scott is wearing his "favorite shirt." I finally threw it away when it had more holes than it came with. Scott still gives me a hard time about getting rid of it. I think every time he goes to the store he longingly looks for a new one. To this day, he loves to hang on to everything and I love purging my house!

What is This?

I walk into the laundry room this morning and stop dead when I see this in my laundry basket. My first thought is "Who pooped in my laundry basket?" Notice my first thought isn't "Why is there...?" or "How on earth did...?" or "That couldn't be...?" I've gotten way past that. You see this sort of thing doesn't surprise me anymore. I'm use to finding all sorts of unappealing (to put it lightly) items around my house. Now it's just a matter of figuring out who did it this time.

First I think of our dog Maylee. I'm not sure why because she never has accidents in the house and I can't imagine her jumping into a laundry basket to poop. So I move on to other suspects. Bennett? Owen maybe? I am fairly confident I can rule out myself and Scott. Next I decide I need to confirm that it is actual poop or some other unrecognizable substance that one of my boys has left for me to find. Yes moms, you know how I have to confirm this is poop. I have to do the sniff test. I go in for the smell and then study it a little bit more. My conclusion - a chewed up Reeses candy bar and wrapper. And of course, once I figured out what it is I can solve who did it quite easily - Owen. This is one of his trademark behaviors. So considering he has been sampling candy constantly today I will not be surprised to find more of his rejects around the house.

Ben Ben

While I was in China
Bennett: Which way is China?
Scott points West
Bennett turns to the West, and blows a kiss.
Scott: Was that for Mom?
Bennett: Yes.

Bennett to Me : "I like you most in the whole family."
Why? "Because you give me kisses, that's why I like you most."

New Belts

Taylor and Bennett receiving their new belt from their last test. I was in China, so Scott was in charge of the pictures!

What color are they?

For the past several months I have been trying to figure out what color Owen's eyes are. If he wears a blue shirt they look darkish blue, if he wears a brown shirt then I can almost see brown in them. Hazel maybe? Though I thought hazel was a combination of brown and green. I've asked others for their opinion and no one can tell. Currently I am leaning toward gray, but that doesn't explain the brown I swear I can see occasionally. Hmmmmm

Beijing, China

I'm wandering around my house today trying to stay awake. That jet lag can be brutal. My trip was an amazing and very educational experience. To see just a tiny bit of the Chinese culture was very eye opening. It is so different from ours. It made me truly grateful to be born in this country at this time. On our plane ride back, my friend and I made a list of likes & dislikes of our trip. I thought I would start there.

Favorites
1. The Great Wall of China - This was the best part of the trip. It was amazing to see it and then climb up to the top tower. The climb took about an hour and was brutal. Very steep with approximately 2300 steps. Yes, I counted them on the way down. I'm nuts. I was so excited to be on "the wall" that I decided to call Scott and tell him where I was at 3am Utah time. I'm sure he appreciated me waking him up.


2. Shopping at the Silk Market and Yau Show Market. The shopping was cheap yet exhausting. We were constantly bombarded with vendors shouting things like "Hello lady I give you best price" or "Very good quality". If you even slowed down to look into their shop they would grab your arm and pull you in and start trying to sell. The first time we went to the market we were very overwhelmed and intimidated by them. They were not rude, just very pushy. If you tried something on and you didn't like it they would not take no for an answer. Even if it clearly didn't fit they would say "this is only the model" or "It will stretch." And these Chinese people were tiny! I was trying on clothes that were XL and they fit just right. We also noticed subtle things they were doing to keep us in their store. As soon as you started bartering for the price, one of their friends would stand by the door so you couldn't get out as easily. They would hold your arm or give you the calculator to hold. By the end of the trip we finally had the bartering process perfected. We also developed a thick skin and learned we had to be blunt with them. We both regret not buying more stuff. The prices we got were fantastic! I will never be able to buy jeans here again. This is a pix of my friend trying on jeans - no dressing room, just a sheet!


3. Sacrament Meeting - I had the opportunity to attend Sacrament Meeting while I was there. They have one branch in Beijing. The branch is large and very diverse. Yet, the Chinese are not allowed to attend. Again, it reminded me how lucky I am to live in a country where we can worship as we please.

4. Hutong Tour - In China about 20% of the residents live in Hutongs. This number use to be significantly higher, but Beijing is slowly tearing down these areas and replacing them with high rises. These Hutongs are small villages with 500-700 people. To me they almost seemed liked compounds with lots of narrow alleys, with several homes that are connected together and that share a common courtyard. Our tour group toured a Hutong by rickshaw and then were able to go into a family's home. It was definitely eye opening to see such a different way of living. In this home we noticed a cricket in a cage. (If you remember in Mulan she had a pet cricket). Apparently having crickets as pets and then getting them together to fight is a common hobby. Who knew?


5. Tai Chi - In the mornings Kari and I would go down to the local McDonalds, buy some hot chocolate and go to the local park. Here there are groups of people doing Tai Chi every morning. The men would get together and bend and stretch and the women would do Tai Chi. Sometimes to music and sometimes without. My favorite part was watching a group of ladies do Tai Chi with a racket and ball. The inside of the racket was rubber and the ball had sand inside. These women would do amazing things with the racket and ball. I was so impressed!




6. Forbidden City and The Summer Palace - Very interesting to see these historic site and learn more about them. I thought the most interesting part was learning about all of the symbols that they use on and around their buildings.


7. Cloisonne, Silk and Jade Factories - More tours on items that are unique to China. These factories are government controlled which means the prices on all the goods are a lot more expensive.


Not So Favorites

1. Squatters - As Western as the Chinese claim to be, they are still a bit behind on the bathrooms. Squatters are essentially a porcelain hole in the ground that you straddle, squat and do your thing. Gross, definitely gross. In the bathrooms they would have 6 rows of these and then 1 or 2 actual toilets. There was no toilet paper so you had to bring your own. Plus, the people there did not flush their toilet paper down, you throw it in a trash can. So needless to say the bathrooms stunk. I was so amazed that we would go into a bathroom in a very nice restaurant, see marble countertops and then see a row of squatters. Chinese have bathroom ratings. 2 and 3 stars mean no toilets. 3 and 4 stars mean toilets. I will not miss the bathrooms.


2. People - Now I recognize that I only saw a few Chinese people and I don't believe every Chinese person is like this, but the ones I encountered at the hotel and at the tourist spots weren't very nice. Plus, they have no problems with spitting, chomping on food, staring, bumping into you and making all sorts of noises in public!

3. Pollution/Traffic - Although the city is clean the pollution and traffic were absolutely terrible. There was a haze covering the city the entire time and I don't know how long we sat in our tour bus stuck in traffic.

4. Hotel - Our hotel claimed to be a 4 star business hotel. In the lobby on the front desk there was a flat screen TV that advertised a business center with all the amenities. There was no business center. Every time we asked they either told us no, that it was "in maintenance" or "in repairing." The elevators were slow and our bathroom would flood every time we took a shower. It took us a few times to figure out how to keep water off the floor.

5. Pushy Salespeople - Wherever we went there was someone trying to sell us something. Everything from Rolex watches to Gucci bags. I learned not to make eye contact with them and not even look at what they are selling. If you showed even mild interest they would not leave you alone.

Funny Things
Some of the funniest things I saw on the trip were English words translated from Chinese. Our hotel had a breakfast buffet with half Chinese food and half American food. These were some of the things I could eat:

"Purple watery gruel"
"Tofu brain"
"Chaos"
"Arterial Sclerosis"
"Old Sweet Corn"

We saw a sign advertising a steak house in the city. It said "Probably the Best Steak in Town."

This picture is a sign on The Great Wall of China.

All in all I had a great time. I would definitely go again - especially for the shopping!

I'm Off!

I guess I should say "we're off". My friend and I are leaving this evening for a week long trip to Beijing, China. We are promised a week full of shopping and sightseeing. And anyone who knows me knows I love a good deal!

My two concerns. 1) Not being able to sleep on the plane. I have never once in my entire life been able to sleep sitting up - not even in church. I have also never been on a plane for 13 hours. So I am hoping I will be able to convince my body to sleep. That and I have a rather large down filled travel pillow to help me. Perhaps I should get some lavender oil to sprinkle on it.

My second concern is not having enough space in my luggage to fit all of the loot I buy. I am not blessed with the "packing gene" that enables my wonderful husband to pack huge amounts of stuff into unbelievably small spaces. I hear Beijing is a city full of knockoffs and fantastic prices! Louis Vitton, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbanna, Marc Jacobs, just to name a few - all there and all cheap. If you have never even heard of these "ultra luxury" names, don't worry. I didn't know half of them either until our pre-trip meeting. Suddenly all of these unheard of names became "must haves" - if under $20. So I am excited to see what deals I can find.

TKD Testing

This is my first time trying to post video. I have a few things to learn. I will work on the quality and zooming in next time!

Today Taylor and Bennett tested for new belts. Bennett has only been taking a few months, but he did great, cast and all. He tested for his white belt with a yellow stripe. He is so cute!

Taylor tested for his red belt. He did great as well. I think I get more nervous than he does. The movie clip is of his board breaking. He also had to do his form, a kicking combination, and his attack and defense.

Football Fanatic

"Mom what is a blitz?"
"Mom do pigs get warm easily?"

What do these questions have in common? Football of course. This kid is obsessed with this sport. He carries his football with him everywhere including to bed. He begged me the other day to take it to school so he could play with it at recess. I finally relented making him promise he would bring it back home. Taylor reads the sports section of the paper every morning to see who is winning and losing while asking myself and Scott which teams are good and bad. He is learning that his mom knows nothing about football so his dad is getting the brunt of all his questions. Immediately after school he races out to play in the backyard with Bennett. He is not happy when I tell him homework must come first. I noticed that now he wears his winter gloves when he plays so he can catch the ball easier. This decision came after asking Scott why the football players wear gloves. Before bed his knees and feet are absolutely filthy. Apparently you do not play football with shoes and socks.

Back to the questions. Taylor asked me what a blitz was this morning after reading about it in the paper. I replied that I had no idea. So guess who will be answering that come lunch time? The other day I told Taylor that the football is also called a "pigskin" which brought up a whole slew of questions about pigs and footballs. When I asked Taylor why he wanted to know why pigs get warm easily he said

"Because I noticed that if the football is in the sun it gets warm fast,
not like three hours though."

So there you have it. It makes perfect sense. If pigs get warm easily then of course a football laying in the sun would get warm easily as well.

Before & After

Kitchen





Front Yard





As most of you know, Scott and I bought a "fixer" just a little over a year ago. I thought I would post some pix of what we have done. We have done a lot, but there is still a lot to do.

Kitchen - Gutted the kitchen. Replaced the cabinets, countertops, flooring and appliances. We also removed some ugly track lighting, replaced it with some recessed lighting, pendant lighting over the island and added a light over the kitchen table. We painted and installed a beadboard backsplash as well. We are mostly done with the kitchen except for a few odds and ends.

Yard - Scott replaced the entire sprinkling system. Pulled out a poorly built retaining wall, got rid of a lot of lava rock, bermed part of the front yard and put in a rock wall around the juniper. The plants are all planted they just need time to fill in. In the back yard we removed huge amounts of bad concrete, laid down a lot of landscape fabric to control morning glory. I hate that stuff. The morning glory and I have had a battle all summer and I believe I have come out ahead! Put in a garden area and sandbox. The last thing we need to finish is the deck. We need to refinish it, take down a railing and build some steps. I think that will have to wait until next spring.

My Little Stink!

That's Owen's nickname. I don't know if it's because he is a specialist at being 2 or if I just can't keep up with him, but he is so busy! I spend half my day telling him "No!" and "Don't touch!" Here is a top ten list of his favorite activities.

1. Getting into wallets, taking out the credit cards and hiding them.
2. Getting toilet paper, soaking in toilet and then sucking on it.
3. Squeezing toothpaste all over the walls.
4. Coloring on anything - car, walls, carpet, himself etc.
5. Unloading drawers with incredible speed.
6. Wiping snot on my pants.
7. Spitting out what he doesn't want to swallow - anywhere.
8. Dragging the toilet plunger all over the house!
9. Throwing all of my cute fall decorations down the basement stairs - over and over and over! They don't look so cute anymore.
10. Looking at me with a smirk when I tell him "no" and then continuing to do whatever he is doing.

Happy Birthday Owen

I can't believe my baby is already 2! Well, I guess when I think about his 2 year old behavior it shouldn't surprise me that he is 2. My side of the family came over to celebrate Owen's birthday. He couldn't quite figure out why everyone was staring at him and singing. He quickly got over that, blew out the candles and screamed for cake. He also loved his new dump truck, front loader and tool set. My mom was also kind enough to give him and his two older brothers swords as well. Thanks mom... I really appreciate the increase in violent play at my house now. :)

Taylor's TKD competition

On Saturday Taylor had his 3rd competition. It is a long day for the lucky parent who gets to take him. They last about 6 hours with a total of 3 minutes that you actually see Taylor do his stuff. I learned the first time I went - always bring a book and snacks. Taylor did great. He took first in his forms and second in sparring. He loves Tae Kwon Do! Taylor is on the left.