Story Time

Parker, Rylan and I have been especially loving story time lately. We read books and then we read some more books, and then we read some more books, and then we read all those books again. But it keeps them happy for more than an hour at a time. Sometimes I decide to spice up the stories with a few additions of my own. Parker is too smart for that though- he calls me out on it- "That's not how it goes!". But he laughs at my renditions anyway. Rylan more prefers to eat the books. I used to think she was trying to help me turn the pages until I noticed every time she happened to get her pretty little fingers on a page she would instantly attempt to devour it. That is pretty much how it goes with everything in her little world. If she can get ahold of it, she assumes it must be edible. Speaking of stories, and Rylan eating everything, the other day Tyler and I were trying to convince Parker that he is too big to need a bottle at bedtime. As he began his rebuttal with several well thought out points, such as, "Bottles are not for babies, they are for Parker too" (I mean how can you argue that one?) anyway, as he made his points, he did not notice his bottle had fallen into the clenches of his baby sister, who especially loves bottles seeing how near and dear they are to her brother's heart. As she helped herself, Parker finally noticed, turned to Tyler and I and while resignedly shaking his head said, "Oh my man, she is drinking my bottle". I don't know what was so funny about it but we laughed about that one for a while.... we're still laughing.

Tomorrow is April Fools Day... I need a good prank and fast.

Oh my man.... March is over! (Had to use Parker's coined phrase there).

On an entirely different note, I have learned something. I have been spending a lot of time watching HGTV and DIY network shows. I love that kinda stuff (decorating, fixing up, beautifying houses). Houses are fun but I have noticed that a "home" is kinda like a little bubble that envelopes you no matter where you are. If home is a happy place, filled with love and security, and the Holy Ghost, you carry that with you no matter what kind of house you live in. I know this because we have moved 5 times in 9 months!! Yes you read that correctly. But in each house we have easily felt at home because of the joy we share when we are together. So the thing to remember is that it doesn't matter what the house looks like after all that decorating, fixing, and beautifying ... all that matters is what it feels like inside your home, and our home is a good one!

I almost forgot... Parker called me pretty today. I don't even know where he learned the word pretty but isn't that just melt-your-heart cute. That little gem is what mommyhood is made of!

My Corn Dogs

First off, don't you just want to smooch these two? I do!

Valentine's Day can be described by the following three words: Roses, donuts and Novacaine. Tyler unfortunately spent most of his Valentine's with the dentist. I would be jealous but I know he loves dentists about as much as he loves terrorists. Which is not at all just in case the government is reading this and thinks my husband is a terrorist-lover. He is most definitely not! He hates the dentist! So a root canal on Valentine's was so not ideal. However, he did manage to snag me some roses and a chocolate donut when he ran into Albertson's to get his prescription. What a sweet little Valentine he was with his drooping, half-numb smile :)

Then we ventured across the frozen foreverness of Idaho and Montana to visit Tyler's family and appraise in Bozeman. Tyler cannot appraise with out his assistant appraisers you know. He would die of boredom otherwise. Parker spent lots of time with Julia, Isaac and Cece and was pretty much in play-mate heaven. We had to take advantage of the snow so we went sledding and snowmobiling and just had a good ol' time with his family.

Defrosting after sledding.

Montana or so we would guess, who knows under all that snow?

And we stopped off to play trucks with Great Grandma Rice before rushing home as another snow storm hit. I think my grandma must play trucks in her free time. She is just too good at crawling around with her dump truck in hand, picking up trash from places such as the zoo. Parker loved it!

And to close, an awesome glimpse into the helplessness of men. We are moving this week so our kitchen, and all means with which to cook, are now in boxes. So the question arose, what's for dinner? I was busy with my sick and very sad baby so when Tyler mentioned we had some frozen corn dogs I said "Throw them in them oven!" to which he responded, "Ummm, I don't know how." So I proceeded to tell him each of the two steps to cooking frozen corn dogs, in great detail, just to find him five minutes later with a bag of frozen corn dogs and a puzzled look on his face. So I told him how to do it again. To make a long story short, I ended up putting them on the baking sheet and putting them in the oven. After they were done, he made it up to me by singing his very best rendition of The Star Spangled Banner into his corn dog as if it were a microphone. Men, what can you even say about that?

oh and one last picture of Rylan and her pig tails.

The End