Love at first sight.

After we went to the aquarium, we took the kids out to dinner at Red Robin's. Kellan was so captivated with his "boon" (balloon) he refused to let it go once we got home.

....Sooooo he took it in the bath with him (and we allowed it). ....And he watched a movie on the projector while holding it. (Try getting a kid dressed in pajamas while not letting go of a balloon string!) I'm just happy the balloon was forgotten half way through the movie so we didn't have to fight with him when it came to bedtime.

Somethin's Fishy

What a trip to our local aquarium! It never seems to get old seeing an entirely different world through glass windows. It's been a while since I've put up some pictures, and I'm REALLY excited because I was actually daring enough to take my new camera out of the house!!! (Yes, I've had Canon the Camera for 3 months, and it's never even been in my yard! I'm too nervous about having something so nice.) It was no surprise when Brandon wanted to take my temperature to make sure I was feeling okay. :)

Enough boring you with words. Here's some pictures from our aquarium trip...

Kellan scouting out some trout to shoot?!

Makade driving a boat. Eek!

Who's in this aquarium?

Looking over the side of the dock

Watery reflection

Look hard. There really are jelly fish in this tank, I promise.

This octopus has loads of 'pusonality'! He loves to play with a Mr. Potato Head!

Corban found Nemo!

Makade spying another Clown Fish.

Last time Tarryn pet one of these rays, her arm and hand broke out in a rash.

This time, she's keeping her hands to herself.

Makade's under-the-sea love, SHARKS.

Tarryn showing Kellan the shark and sting-ray tank.

Finally, a tank that's Kellan's height!

Crawling through man-made land coral as an end to our aquarium trip.

Potty Talk

We've discussed the wonderful world of potty training before. Even now that we're pretty much finished (minus night time pull-ups), conversations centered around the toilet are frequent in this household. Take for instance, after Corban's finished and is flushing the toilet; it's quite common to hear from his little mouth, "Bye bye pee pee! See you later!" I personally don't want to see it later, but it's cute of him to send it off with a sweet bon voyage.

Using public restrooms are an entirely different encounter for new potty users and brings a whole new level of fun for moms. Last night in the restaurant's bathroom, Corban and I got to experience this.:

Corban: Before getting onto the toilet, Mom, how do you flush it?

Me: You don't Corban, it flushes by it's self.

Corban: What?! But where is the button?!

Me: There isn't a button. Let's go potty and then you'll see.

Corban: After finishing his business he's still looking for the button while still sitting down, I don't see the button!!!

Me: Jump down and the toilet will flush by it's self.

Corban: After jumping down and working on pulling up his pants the toilet flushes, "Whoa!"

Me: See Corban, the toilet knew you got off so it flushed!

Corban: Oh!!! looking at the toilet, Thank you Toilet!!! Speaking out of the side of his mouth in a voice not quite his own, he made the toilet's reply,
Toilet: Your Welcome.

The lessons we learn....

Makade had a special play date today with a friend he's had since preschool. Daisy has become a great friend to our entire family, although Corban had no recollection of who she was so I decided to introduce her to him while we were at the table eating lunch.

Me: Corban, do you know who this is?

Corban: Nope.

Me: This is Daisy.

Corban: addressing his new acquaintance.... Daisy....

Daisy: What Corban?

Corban: I love you.

Giggles all around the table along with a couple 'ahhhhs'.

It always amazes me to see how open hearted children can be towards everyone no matter color, size, height, ability, or disability. At what age is it that we start making judgements regarding? What age do we start deciding that we have the right to make preconceived ideas toward another human being? What makes us think we have the right to have opinions on others that we do know and are past preconceptions?

The very same day, earlier in the morning at the breakfast table, we had Tarryn's friend Morgan over. Morgan has been around many of time for Corban to have ideas of what type of person she is. And sometimes, quite frankly, she's not the nicest of friends; other times she's the best.

Corban: Morgan. getting louder as the addressed party continues to ignore him.... Morgan. Morgan. MORGAN!

Morgan: WHAT!

Corban: I love you.

Morgan: Softening her tone and a big smile emanating across her face... Thanks Corban!


Have you ever watched kids while at a park or play land? They are happy as can be when someone new comes to play. They welcome them and make up a new game to play with them. They don't even have to know each other's names and are okay that their new *friend* doesn't know theirs. They don't think about what that person's opinion of them is. Kids don't care if this is a lasting relationship and if they are waisting their time. They don't come to play with fears of getting hurt. They are there with one objective... to have fun with that person at that moment in time.

Lets take a lesson from them... Enjoy your time and spend it wisely with the people that move in and out of your world. Don't worry if they are here to stay, or if they are a grain of sand that will quickly slip through the funnel of an hour glass. Enjoy them, learn what you can from them, for everyone has good in them to learn from. Without these connections, we most assuredly would be alone and wouldn't be able to grow or feel self worth.

Next time I go to the store, you can bet I'll be talking to the person waiting in line at the check-out stand with me. I might not use the words, "I love you," like Corban did to his new acquaintance, but hopefully my actions will say, "I care."

Another Christmas Gone By...

Christmas this year held a little more magic for us. Knowing that the economy is headed in a downward spiral, we decided to prepare the kids by telling them that they would be receiving 6 gifts on Christmas morning; one from each family member and one from Santa. At first, (clear back in September when we started putting this idea in the kids' heads) Tarryn and Makade were very unhappy with the idea. They had been used to Christmases in abundance, the ones that put Mom, Dad, and Santa in the red. But Brandon and I were determined to start bringing their Christmas list down to realistic sizes so that if the time comes that we can only afford home made gifts, they wont be in shock or worse, feel ungrateful.

The kids woke up to see a Christmas wonderland filled with bikes from Santa, presents, and an abundance of snow outside.

Brandon's and my morning unofficially started at 2:50am when we were wakened by Corban who was having a mighty difficult time sleeping due to his persistent croup cough. I took the first shift and stayed up with him nearly an hour (which is difficult when you went to bed at 2am). Then, after Corban's cough medicine started kicking in, Brandon decided to sleep with him which benefited us all. (Okay, that may be a stretch for Brandon, but he got to rest his eyes.)

Smart Santa left Kellan a wagon instead of a bike

Our official morning started somewhere around 6:30am when Tarryn and Makade came in to wake me up. They went back into Tarryn's room to play while we waited for the Corban and Kellan (who both had croup) to stir. It didn't take long for Kellan, but because of Corban's rough night, he had to have a little nudging. We went down to find what joys Christmas had brought around 7:20am and found so much snow (and snow drifts) that you couldn't tell where the sidewalk met the road. Oh....and presents filled the room by a lit Christmas tree.

Makade showing us the new 'ride'

As we have done the last 2 years, we invited the kids' aunt Brittany and uncle Zane over to watch the kids open gifts in the early morning (and to take pictures since both Brandon and I are needed for other things). This always adds to the excitement and 'show' of the morning.

Tarryn patiently waiting her turn of opening her next gift (a Leapfrog Didj system). And pleased as punch that Corban liked her Hungry Hippos game that dad had already been asked to put together.

Corban would head back to Kellan's wagon filled with balls after opening each one of his own gifts.

Even though we had a 6 gift limit, I don't think the kids felt deprived in any way come Christmas morning. In fact, Corban got tired of opening presents, so he saved one until the next day to open. The hands-down winning gift of the morning in Corban and Kellan's eyes was Kellan's Ball Pit. *We've been cleaning up balls multiple times of the day since.* Tarryn, Makade, and Brandon are thrilled with the family gift we broke down and purchased; a Wii.

Corban, the wonderful doctor he is, was listening to dad's ear with his new stethoscope.

As for me? I'm very pleased with the gifts I received, but I truly had no want for gifts this year. It surprised me when I realised this early December, and surprised me even more when I found the reason why is because I'm perfectly content with where I am in life. What could be a better gift than that? What more magic could Christmas bring than a house filled with lasting happiness...with or without gifts?

Tarryn 'snows' how to have fun!

If you know Tarryn well, you know that she is mighty creative. She can take an old trick and put a new twist on it. For her, there is no limit on what her mind can see. Her's her new take on playing in the snow....I was upstairs working on the mundane (folding laundry), when I thought I saw someone in our backyard. When I walked over to the window, there was my *angel* wrapped in a heart made with footprints for heaven to see and be reminded that she's down here.

Who needs mud?! I'd rather eat 'snow cakes' over 'mud pies' anyday! Tarryn and her friend were hard to miss with their giggles and fun as I passed the window seeing them starting their own bakery. *Honestly, when I heard the banging and laughing, I thought they were trying to build a snow-man on my front porch. (My lips are zipped as I don't want to place THAT idea in their head.)

M.I.A.

Ya know, that darn 52 week project causes me such frustration! When I don't have a new photo to add, then I find that I don't even want to post anything! This is the reason I've been MIA. I'm going to play "catch-up" with the next couple of days and give you all the good stuff. I still have Halloween photos to place on this blog before the year ends. (I will be putting things in chronological order so don't expect to find Halloween pics in the December posts.)Please be patient. Don't expect pictures of me and my Project 52. I'm not ready and I'll explain that in another post. ***Here's hoping my major posting frenzy wont cause another alert for spam.***