Playing dress up, my daughters love for Dancing With The Stars, and the joy my son's chubbiness brings me.

When it is March, and its a blizzard outside, and we are bored.. the only solution is the dress up trunk. We had a good time with it yesterday.





Cohen did a lot of standing holding on to this. I enjoy his chubbiness.
I love them.

Ms. Chase LOVES Dancing With The Stars. We watched it last night for the first time this season. Honestly, I'm not to into it, but its worth watching just to record her crazy moves.

The End.

Monkey pajamas and Papa Paparazzi

There are two things you don't fight Chase on. Those are: what she wears to bed, and the music she listens to. Case in point: for the last few weeks Chase has been insisting that she wear her monkey pajamas to bed. Neither Jamison or I had any idea what she was talking about. We couldn't recall her ever owning monkey pajamas. After us telling her over and over again that she doesn't have any monkey pajamas and her insisting to us that she does, she finally resigns herself to picking out some other pajamas (and SHE has to pick them out, if we try to there will be hell to pay). Last night as usual she told Jamison she had to wear the monkey pajamas. Jamison told her she didn't have any. She said she did. He asked her where they were. She said "under the bed". Under her bed I have some plastic bins stored with clothes that don't fit her anymore...and what do you know! There are the monkey pj's I had totally forgotten she had. They clearly don't fit her anymore being a size 2t. Yes, she is 3, but the girl wears 4t-5t clothes. Shes tall. So instead of fighting her on it (which we have learned its sometimes just not worth the fight) Jamison crammed her into her monkey pjs. Way way way to small, but she was happy so whatev. Fast forward to around 1am. She comes into our room delirous and crying. Most likely because she is very hot in the monkey pjs, and its 3 sizes to small. So at 1am we change the pjs and hope that her lesson is learned because, yes, sometimes she has to learn the lesson on her own.

And then there is Chase and her music. She is picky. When she was a baby I had hopes of acclimating her to really good music. I had visions of her singing along to some of my favorite bands with me. No such luck. Its either her kindermusic CD or Lady GaGa. The girl knows almost every single word to Paparazzi. I honestly can't remember the first time she heard the song or how I discovered she liked it so much, but now when we get in the car she asks to listen to it all the time.I downloaded the song to my ipod back when I thought it was cute that she liked it so much. I regret that decision. I have made a rule that we have to take turns when it comes to the music. If she was in control Paparazzi would be on repeat everywhere we went. I wish I could say she was loving her cd of primary songs, or even good music for that matter....but no, its Paparazzi .

Sometimes it scares me. This girl with a mind of her own. I love her. I don't want her to grow up. Its so hard when I tell her something like "Chase you need to be nice" and she replys "ACTUALLLLYYY Mom, YOU need to be nice" . It a not so nice reminder that she is getting older, and (in her mind) wiser. Some days I find myself trying to cuddle and hug and kiss her a million times because I want to get it all in while I can, before she starts fighting it to much.
Above pics: For the first time ever she actually asked me to take her picture. She told me she "needed to make some funny faces for the camera so we could have some funny pictures". I like the last picture the best. She looks like a Who from whoville....my little cindy lou who.

Lets pretend

that this is my backyard, and its summer time, and I just invited you all over for an evening picnic. Doesn't that sound marvelous?

It does to me. Image found via sfgirlbybay via gardenrooms

I ain't getting any younger

but I still got it. Chase and I had a high kick competition today. I am really good at the high kick, and the splits. I also still consider myself a very accomplished jazz,hip-hop, and tap dancer (even though its been maybe just a few years since I gave up dance). I mean, if you saw my moves you would be really intimidated, I am THAT good. Ok, so I mean, you might not be intimidated, you might actually laugh in my face...but whatev. At least I've got the high kick.

Wait, what was that? You want to come to my house and have a tap off?

Bring it.

Yesterday...oh yesterday.

Pic taken at the zoo about 2 minutes before everything started going down hill.

I am so glad you are over. I had every intention of making it a great day. We had plans to go to the zoo with friends...and we did. But as is Chase's style, she wanted to make it incredibly hard for me. I think she was tired, and maybe didn't feel good. Sometimes I look at her and wonder how this 3 yr old knows how to push every one of my buttons. She pushes me to my limit more times than I can keep track of, and its at that point that a say a little prayer telling God hes got to take over because I am done. Thankfully Cohen slept through the whole debacle. And of course after we got home she was an angel, and I kept wondering where this girl was when we were out in public.

And to compound things I haven't been sleeping well....and if theres one thing I know, its that a good nights sleep can work miracles, but when I don't sleep everything starts unraveling around me. I mean seriously who knew how much a good nights sleep could improve everything about you! Seriously, I need to figure out how to start sleeping better. Yesterday I reached that point of exhaustion where I didn't know if I should start crying or laughing uncontrollably. I kindof did both.

Needless to say, Jamison came to my rescue (he could tell I was at the breaking point), and once we got the kids to bed we watched the episodes of The Office and 30 Rock that we missed on Thursday. Got some needed laughter relief. Then I needed sleep relief, but sleep was not coming. Sometimes the only solution is to read a book or watch whatever on my iphone until I can't keep my eyes open any longer, and since I keep hearing about this show, Who Do You Think You Are, I decided to check it out. I really liked it. This first episode was with Sarah Jessica Parker. Basically every episode is a different famous person who is researching there ancestory, and trying to figure out where they came from. Watching it made me want to find out more about my ancestors. I know my family has done some geneology (because we are Mormon, and thats what us Mormons do), but I have never really looked into it. Now I want to. After watching this I find it so fascinating. I thought the show was really well done, and if you have a few spare moments you should check it out to(nbc.com).

Weekend away at the cabin

Spent the weekend at the parentals cabin with the whole fam. I love it there. Good times included snow mobiling, riding the 4-wheelers, lots of hot tubbing, games, and moving watching. Not so good times included Cohen not eating or sleeping the entire trip, and the fact that me, Jamison, my Step-Dad, and my Mom all managed to get the snowmobiles stuck/buried at least once (probably due to the fact that the snow was like 8 feet deep and it was all pure powder). My Mom actually had search and rescue come to her aid, she got the snowmobile buried so deep. That woman is like evil knievel on any sort of recreational vehicle.
Little chubby man in big bathtub.

Wearing your snow boots with your swimming suit is hot.


Best part of hot tubbing is getting out, laying in the freezing snow, then jumping back into the nice hot water. Chase got out and jumped back in around 500 times.

Watching movies/playing games. Zach showed off his laying in the snow for a long time skillz.

Trying to smile while wearing goggles is hot.

Jamison and Chase about to take a wild ride on the 4-wheeler.

Love the cabin...love it even more in the summer months. Bonfires by the lake, swimming in the pool, more 4-wheeling (but without your face getting frozen), and a little bit of fishing..but not to much because I get bored. Can't wait to head back up in a few months.

That hair! Those eyes! Those chubby legs!

All three melt my heart everytime I look at him. I have never met anyone as happy as this kid. He will laugh at everyone and everything. And how, I wonder, did Jamison and I, who both have very brown eyes, end up with this blue eyed baby? Some hidden recessive gene I suppose. I just can't help but stare at him in wonder. And everywhere we go, we hear at least once, "Look at that red hair!!" Jamison says its not easy growing up with red hair. But really, I am SO glad that Cohen got Jamison's hair. That thick wavy hair. I am in love with it.

Everytime I change his diaper I have to squeeze those chubby legs. And how when I tickle his neck roles he curls into a ball and laughs so hard his whole body is shaking...nothing better. And the conversations we have, where he is speaking giberish, and I am saying "tell me all about it"...I love those conversations. He looks at me like what he is saying is so important. And that smile! Its so big his eyes close.

Hello March, so glad you are here!

Can you say seasonal depression? I am beyond sick of the cold weather. So sick of it in fact, that if I could find a way, I would move away from Utah, and live somewhere much much warmer year round.

Then there was today. The first day of March. It was actually warm. We busted out the bike/wagon/baseball bat and enjoyed all three in the warm sun. We have attempted to do said things in the weeks previous to today, but ended up back inside due to the freezing cold.
And yes, Ms. Chase has been ill these past few days, so in my mind I am thinking that a little warm weather play outside will do her some good. It really didn't. She ended up back inside exhausted. She fell asleep on "the big bed", and didn't wake up until after 5. She is still awake watching Americas Funniest Home Videos. She loves that show. I don't even know when she started watching it, but she did, and she loves it. She also loves watching laughing cats on You tube. She will ask to watch it over and over and over again until I cave, and then I hear the obnoxious laughing and want to throw the computer across the room. I curse the day my little sister showed Chase that video. I was going to post a link to it, but decided against it. You would thank me if you had ever seen it.

Chase loves to play in the dirt pretending she is growing a bean stock. She gathers rocks, tells me they are seeds, plants them, then shows me the "beans" that grew. Here she is showing me some of her prized beans.

Cohen just chills in the wagon, happy to be chewing on the straps.

I have a few other things to share.

1. Anyone else watching Lost these days? I am. Last week I discovered that before the new episode they replay the previous weeks episode, but with captions explaining to you every little detail of whats going on and how it relates to what has happened in previous episodes/seasons. I appreciated this, and by watching and reading the captions realized how much is really going right over my head. But I will say this. I was proud of myself last week while watching the new episode. While watching it I realized that the whole theme of the episode was Alice in Wonderland/Through the looking glass. Remember Jack's son had a copy of the book? Also when Jack goes to his x-wifes home the key is hidden under the white rabbit. Also the whole looking in the mirror and being able to see a different realm. I am beginning to realize that there are lots of themes such as this in all the episodes but you really have to pay attention to catch it. And....you probably think I am the biggest nerd ever now. What ever.

2. I am reading a really good book. Its called The Swan Thieves. The author is Elizabeth Kostova, who is the same woman who wrote The Historian (which is, by the way, one of my favorite books of all time, and if you haven't already read it, you should do so immediatly). I am about half way through The Swan Thieves, and so far, I love it, so I am recommending it to anyone who reads this blog (but if you haven't read The Historian, please read it first. You won't regret it). I am such a book nerd. I own and have read an insane amount of books. Like I have said before, I hope to one day have a library in my house with a cozy window seat to read on. Hence all the books I own. They will one day be sitting on the shelf of the dream library.

Thhhheee EEEnnd.