I will Text Twist it up in a minute.

Play Text Twist or update the blog?  Update the blog then play Text Twist. Oh yeah, Tuesday night at the Dye house.
Let's start things out right.  Here's some up-close and personal Henry face.

The messier, the cuter.

A week before Christmas, we went to SLC to see the Christmas lights at the Gateway and to see the Jazz's open practice.  Sarah loved it all. I like that she gets excited when we tell her what we're going to do even though she really doesn't have an idea.  We ate at In 'n Out on our way up so that made the night even more magical.

Lights at Gateway.  There was a picture of Sarah looking at the camera but I look better in this one.

Henry was up way past his bedtime but he did great.  I think it helped to be a place with so many distractions. 

 I made Sarah a booster seat out of our pile of coats.  This made her hair constantly staticky.

My 2 basketball nuts.

Love love love this girl. Christmas is all magic to her.

Sarah usually comes right into my room when she wakes up.  One morning I heard her in the bathroom for like 30 minutes before she came in.  She was doing her hair.

I  need to blow up this picture really big and put it in my house so next time my kids are both crying, whining, clinging and making messes, I can remind myself that they can be calm, quiet and beautiful.

I took mostly video Christmas morning and I don't feel like undertaking the endeavor of editing and posting those so I'll just post pictures.  Sarah was so funny.  She got her Starbursts in her stocking and was satisfied.  We had to prod her along to get all her presents open.  It took forever because she wanted to stop and play with each present. But towards the end we had to watch her because twice she grabbed a present and opened it and it wasn't hers.

Henry liked his dump truck and his Junior Ranger shirt.  He's looking at Justin, Senior Ranger.

We got to Skype (is that a verb?) with Dallin in Brazil.  It was nice to see his smiling face and for him to see all of us.

Sarah got this fishing game.  It says 4 and up but I find it a challenge.  I get so dizzy.  I end up cheating like Sarah does by holding the fishing pole way down near the fish.

Check out this bedhead. 

Check out this pretty face.

Not pictured: 1. The return of the fishing pole game at my mom's house on Christmas Eve.  Still a hit. 2. Henry not taking a nap all day Christmas Eve thus I didn't get around to making rolls and I thought my family was going to disown me. 3. Sarah dancing to Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" 37 times. 4. Justin finishing his second-to-last semester. 5. The Syme family conducting a very scientific taste-test of hot chocolate and I determined Stephens and Auguson Farm brands are most delicious. Swiss Miss is weak sauce.

My Favorite Developmental Milestone

Henry turned 7 months old yesterday.  Have I mentioned how much I love this age? Motor skills emerging right before our eyes...what can't be done yesterday is done today.  Henry and I can barely contain our excitement.

He can now sit up like a champ. 

I don't leave him alone for too long.  He's known to spontaneously tip.  But he gets bored with what he's playing with long before that happens, usually.

But as impressing as balance is, my favorite skill is this.

Is there anything more delightful than a baby feeding himself?
For every one in his mouth, two Cheerios end up on his lap.

I had to eat my words at the doctor's office last week.  I always complain to anyone who holds still long enough that Henry tires out my arms.  Arms, shoulders, back, hip, elbow, wrists. He likes to be held. "He's so heavy!" I always declare.  Well at the doctor's office, I discovered he weighs 13 lbs 14 oz.  That puts him in the 1st percentile, says Dr. Tipton. 1%! I walked out of there wondering what you all do with your average or above average sized babies.  Do your arms fall off? I've kept a little quieter about my aching arms since then.

He may be in the first percentile for size, but he's in the 100th percentile for cute!

I want to be 3 again

The longer I'm a mom, the more I realize I undervalued my own childhood. At least once a day, I see what Sarah has come up with to do and I think, I want to be 3 again. Sarah has a great life despite her dramatic claims of injustice each night before bedtime.

Sometimes I wonder if I shelter her too much.  She's never had a Happy Meal nor been to McDonald's and she has no idea who Barbie is.  She can quote Sound of Music and Mary Poppins but has never watched Nickelodeon or the Disney Channel.  All these things I knew as a child and I turned out okay. She lives in this bubble where bad people only exist as the villains in Disney movies and the topic of "bad words" hasn't even come up. Don't we all wish we could live in that sort of world?

I don't trust any presents under the tree yet so Sarah covered all her little cooking dishes with lids and plates and put them under the tree as presents.

 What's not to love about this? Sitting in a tutu and underwear, in a doll stroller, cutting a slice of cheese into tiny bites with a toy knife and cutting board. Sure beats folding the piles of laundry on my bed.

Sarah and I are having an ornament war.  And she's winning.  Anything in her reach gets moved to the bottom.

While sitting on the toilet today, she asked me to look at her sneeze and opened her mouth really wide. "Did you see it?" she asked when she closed her mouth. "Nope." "It's in my mouth, Mom. and it will come out and be loud." Oh to be 3.

I'm the King of jingling!

We watched Rudolph this morning and that line made me laugh and now it's in my head along with Toby Keith's Red Solo Cup. Red Solo cup, I'll fill you up. Let's have a party. Let's have a party.  Could the Solo cup people be any more pleased? Their advertising guys (if they have any) couldn't have created a better song.  I digress.

We put up Christmas decorations on Monday.  Sarah has asked multiple times since then if it's Christmas. "It's Christmastime," I try to explain. I guess she doesn't get that Christmas is a day and I guess it's really not. So yes, the tree is up so it's Christmas. She says we need presents but if you ask her what Santa is bringing her, she'll say Starbursts.  I love her innocence. Next year she'll remember Santa brings toys and I'll be sad.

 

Henry likes lying under the tree for long stretches at a time so that means I love it.

I'm pretty sure Sarah is trying to single-handedly prove that beggars can be choosers.  Is your 3-year-old joining the cause? Sarah has always been particular about how things have been done but she's taken it to the next level.  This cup, not that spoon, milk with the green lid, spoon goes in after the milk, put the bowl right here, not there. Blankie, big blanket, bug blanket, then purple blanket.  Arrgh! I told her beggars can't be choosers and she'll say "yes they can."  She doesn't know what either is.

Here's some shots of Thanksgiving.  I made Sarah make a turkey napkin ring for everyone at dinner. I ran a coloring sweatshop for the better part of November.  She was so proud of them even though she was sick of them.

And that's Justin's mom's sweatshirt she's wearing. But she'd tell you it's a dress.

Playing with Henry inside while some played outside. Check out his pirate faces.

 

Justin asked if I watched any of their football game. I told him I thought they were playing 500. He did not like that.

Saturday we had a Baadsgaard reunion and all my mom's siblings were there. All 8.  My mom has much better pictures so I'm not posting mine even though I will never post hers, let's be honest. 

Oh cousins. Little Nathan was born October 13th. It was so fun to see him and the rest of my sister's family from AZ. And my sister from St. George. And my sis from SLC. Heck, I hadn't seen my mom from Mapleton in a week.  I need to get out more

 

And some random cuteness.When Henry's not grinning like a goon, his eyes are wide open.

Bring on the messy faces: this boy likes to eat! (And yes, his bib is pink. One of the joys of having an older sister.)

6 Months Old

Henry is half-way to being a year-old and I don't like it.
I like him though.

He got tired of getting his picture taken.

I'll have his stats when I take him to the doctor next week.  He has never been a fan of tummy time and now that he can roll it doesn't last long and he gets so mad when I roll him back on to his tummy. He doesn't care for rice cereal or any baby food but he'll commandeer my banana if he can get within grasp of it. He likes to roll tiny bits of cracker around in his mouth and grunts when they fall out. And he slept 12 hours straight for the first time in months last night! It may have to do with the fact that he napped for 90 minutes total yesterday.  This kid is so inconsistent. I never know if he will nap for 20 minutes or 3 hours or at all. And I'm hoping he doesn't crawl until after Christmas because I'd like to have a normally decorated tree this year.

We made this crown for FHE.  Sarah wore it to the library the next day and requests her hair done to accommodate it.

What's harder than getting a good picture of your kid?  Getting a good picture of both your kids. I must have been pulling some crazy faces that Sarah is imitating.

 Henry in a Lego bucket. He liked it.

 What were you doing at 11 am on 11/11/11? This was us.

 Yes, she's still in her pjs.

 I kiss those cheeks all day long.



Kicking the Walmart Habit 1 Consumer Good At A TIme

I have a love/hate relationship with Walmart.  I avoid going for as long as I can because I always end up buying more than what is on my list, the checkers are slow as tar, the customer service desk makes me want to scream and the store brand is poor quality. I could go on but you know what I'm talking about. And yet their low prices keep me coming back like a crack addict to his dealer.

Enter my intervention.  My sister told me you can get diapers super cheap from Amazon.com.  It's true.  I got Pamper's for the same price as Walmart's brand.  "What else can I get cheaper on this wonderful Amazon site?" I thought to myself.  "Could I come here for more than DVD's and car seats?"  Well how about Mach 3 blades for the hubby, trash bags and toilet paper? Triumph! I did the "subscribe and save" thing where they send it to you automatically every 1 to 6 months and you save 15%.  I don't know how long it will take me to use a box of 45 garbage bags so I may need to adjust the frequency but they let you do that and cancel at any time.

Shampoo and conditioner, eyeliner and paper towels don't seem to be cheaper but I'm going to keep looking for other household stuff.  Someday soon, my life will be Walmart free forever (if only Target wasn't so far away).

Sarah's Birthday and Halloween

Sarah turned 3 last Thursday.  She woke up that morning and said "I'm not 2?" Nope.  "I'm 3??" Yup. "I'm 3!!"

Justin had class late that day so I tried my best to make it fun for her.  I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she said pink pancakes.  So pink pancakes it is.

We went to Walmart to spend some birthday money. I really wanted her to buy a fishing game but she wanted more fake food for her play kitchen.  The 90 pc set looked impressive but 20 of them were little hotdogs.  What a deal. She loves it so that's what matters.

Cute picture of Henry

For her birthday lunch, I made her favorite, a toasted cheese sandwich.  I made it special by cutting a heart in the middle with a cookie cutter. I got the camera ready for the big reveal....

"I wanted squares," she is saying. "I don't know what to do." You can eat it or go cry about it. She ate it

We weren't having her birthday cake until the next day so I let her frost cupcakes.

  

 Then my aunt and her 2 boys came over to bring her a birthday present so we sang to her then. (Don't let the change of wardrobe fool you, this is still the same day. She changes clothes like Mariah Carey in concert. Or like Mariah Carey on any given day.)

Friday we carved pumpkins with Rachel and her boys. Well Sarah ate candy and Rachel held Henry while I carved what had to be the hardest pumpkin ever.  It wasn't thick, just iron plated.

Justin brought home balloons that afternoon then she opened presents from us (Yes, another wardrobe change.) I don't know why we even bother with other presents: she would have been fine with just her balloons.  She got some Lincoln Logs because I love them and want to build stuff with her.  She also got some candy, "purple water bottles" (grape squeezits), Mary Poppins and her favorite book, "Hurry Hurry Mary Dear." That's all on video and I don't feel like editing so trust me.

Her cake took so much frosting to make. I bet it weighed 5 pounds.

We took her out to dinner to Pizza Factory.  She wanted noodles so I ate her 3 pizza.

And then back home to open presents with the family.

 

She is amazed at the enormity of this coloring book.

She sang along with us and then blew out her candles like a pro.

Is there anything better than the day after your birthday? So much new stuff to play with and new movies to watch.

Sarah, look at the camera.

Look at me!

Gee. Thanks.

Another cute Henry break.

And Halloween.  Sarah liked it. Henry was adorable. Justin was a good sport. I'm tired of writing. You're probably tired of reading.  Enjoy!