My Dad, the Grandpa!

So I don't think I've put many pictures of my Dad up with my kids, but I have to say it has been a hoot watching how he interacts with them. He has an interesting relationship with Riley, sort of a love/hate although hate is a strong word. It's sort of a love/annoyed relationship, with Riley being the annoyed one because my Dad teases him and pushes his buttons, so it's really my Dad's fault when Riley glares at him. I never know who to scold, my Dad or Riley. Malia seems to really like my Dad. She's kind of a "man's lady", jut like Riley is a "ladies man". I have a feeling Malia and my Dad will get along just great :)

OH Riley....

I love this little guy so much, but the other day I just had to shake my head and say "Oh, Riley." as I often do. Here is why...I took him to the dentist a week ago, and we had built this event up in a positive light for two weeks. He was excited to go, excited to open his mouth, etc. So we get there and the second it's time for him to go back and see the dentist, he goes from brave, confident Riley to the clingy and pouty and will NOT even open his mouth. So after 10 minutes of trying to coax him, we leave and of course I am upset that he wouldn't cooperate. The next day he sais he wants to try again, and PROMISES he will open his mouth and let the dentist look and do whatever he needs to. I know the promises of a four year old are shaky at best, but he really meant it. So BEN takes him because heck if I'm going to go through it again if Riley decides to back out. Well, this time instead of the male dental hygienist who tried to help Riley last time, there was a lady. I guess Riley didn't want a lady. He told me this later. So the second try was no better than the first. To top it off, I keep hearing stories of how wonderful other people's kids have been at the dentist. Oh well, I guess we will just wait until he's a little older and keep brushing and flossing!

This kid is such a good helper with Malia! It's funny to watch him try to carry her. The way he picks her up under her arms, she always has a wedgie as he's carrying her around. Speaking of WEDGIES.............

Check out the wedgie here! I could not believe how far between her cheeks this fabric had migrated. But she didn't seem to mind at all. How does this even happen when she has a big diaper on! Somehow, it did. Look at those buns!! She's a very curvy gal.

My friend Holly came to visit the other day, and brought her little girl who is a month younger than Malia. I know Holly from highschool and we also went to Snow College together. I had never met her little girl and she hadn't met Malia either, plus we hadn't seen eachother since last June so it was a fun get together!
Don't they look like the best of friends! Well, actually Olivia kept beating on Malia's helmet and Malia kept pulling Olivia's socks off. At least Holly and I were nice to eachother!

Goodbye treats!

Ben and I have decided to eat no treats until we lose a certain amount of weight, and this time we are serious about it. So we had our final treat last night, a cake, which we ate plenty of. At the end of the night there was a bunch of cake left and obviously I didn't want it around the next day so I asked Ben if he wanted to do some sort of cermonial cake burning with me. I was holding the pan and he surprised me by coming up and sticking his hand in the cake and shoveling it into his face, yes, like a pig. It was sickening yet delightful to watch. So I thought I'd have a little fun and next thing I know my face is in the cake and it was so fun to eat cake with your face buried in it. Then of course Ben had to try it to, and what he ended up with on his face is truly scary. The picture makes me so glad he doesn't have a goatee! For all of you who think we are wierd, we agree...we ARE wierd.

Riley thought we were both "sgusting" but he couldn't stop laughing either. If you had asked me 5 minutes before this picture was taken I would have said I was 100% sure that no one in my family would be burying their faces in a cake anytime soon.

Ben has made some dominoes for Riley. Sometimes he'll come home from work with little blocks or other cool things for Riley to play with and build towers. What a nice Dad!

All three of them were in jail for a few minutes because they wouldn't stop bugging me :)

This looks so unsafe and yet I can't see any way for her to fall through or get her head stuck in the bars. But the way she is lately, I'm sure she would find a way to make this dangerous. She fell down a full flight of stairs at Ben's brother's house on New Year's Eve, but seemed unphased and even had time while she was at the bottom of the stairs to pop a piece of styrofoam in her mouth just in case falling down the stairs wasn't dangerous enough. Her personality is so funny lately. The way she is now, I have a feeling she is going to be a very goofy little girl.

Goodbye Big Bertha, and other Christmas stuff...

This tree was a good friend for the holidays! We got a lot of oohs and aahs about this one. And magically, even thought she only got water three times, she did not drop needles at all! If she had I would not have been nearly as fond of her.

Christmas Eve we started what I hope is a new tradition, although Ben's a little unsure. We opened all the presents from us to the kids and eachother, and then on Christmas morning the kids got whatever Santa left them. I love doing it this way, especially since we go to a family breakfast every Christmas morning at 10 am, and its an hour from home. This way we are not so rushed in the morning!

Riley and Malia in their Christmas Eve PJ's, another new tradition.
This picture is kind of out of order with the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day ones, but what the heck! Our friends Heidi and Whit came to visit from California. Heidi's family lives in SLC, so they were nice and paid us a visit too. It was fun to see them, and Riley at once fell in love with Heidi and wanted her to stay in his room the whole time. She kept having to politely excuse herself from what he thought was their playdate, to return to be with the adults :)
I gave Ben 10 chapsticks, so he should never be without and never have an excuse for chapped lips! This gift was for my benefit as much as his.

Have I ever mentioned that Ben is a REALLY good dad! He and I get such a kick out of our kids. It's fun to enjoy them together :)
Christmas morning, Riley was EXTREMELY happy that Santa brought him not just the batman costume (yes! it finally came Christmas eve at 4 pm!), but also Hulk Smash gloves, Ants in the pants, and his own snow shovel!
This kid means business with his new shovel. For a while he was even shoveling the grassy areas for us. It's actually a good little shovel!

This year Christmas as a season and as a day was so great! Now I'm ready for Spring!!!

C'mon Hong Kong!!!

On December 1, Santa Claus placed an order for a Batman costume. This costume was made by elves in Hong Kong, and they promised it would be delivered to our house by Christmas. Well, there are just three more mailing days before Christmas and still no delivery and I am getting nervous since this is what Riley told Santa Claus he wants. What do I do if it isn't here in time!!!! Do four year olds accept IOU's from Santa?

Today was the long awaited day that Santa came to preschool! It's amazing how much a child changes in one year. Last year there was no way Riley would talk to Santa, let alone sit on his lap. This year he couldn't wait to get his little bum on Santa's lap and eagerly told him he wanted a Batman costume *with muscles*. It has been so fun to see how excited Riley has been this year. It has been interesting trying to help him understand that Jesus is even more important than Santa. I have told him that Santa is trying to be like Jesus by helping people and giving to others, and that we can be like Jesus too. Today after seeing Santa Riley asked "When can we see Jesus?" Riley believes that Santa and Jesus are really good friends, and that's just fine with me! When I put Malia on Santa's lap, she began her usual staring contest, and if given enough time I'm sure his beard would have ended up in her mouth so I quickly took a picture and got her off.
Look how cute Mrs. Claus is! Yesterday Riley asked Ben "Daddy, do you know who Mrs. Claus is?" Ben asked who and Riley replied "She's santa's woman!"

This is Riley singing a solo for Santa. After all the children started filing out of the room to let the next little group of preschoolers come in, Riley yelled earnestly "WAIT!!!" and ran up to Santa and told him he needed to sing him a song. So he sang a shortened version of "You better watch out...." and ended it with "Santa Claus is coming.....to preschool!" Does it get any sweeter?
This was a fun girls day out with several nurses that I work with. Part of why I love my job is because I work with wonderful people and they make me laugh and sometimes they even laugh at my jokes. We went to Happy Sumo where I ate very teeny tiny orange eggs from some sea animal and it totally disgusted me but I put on a brave face to impress the ladies. My dish was just a stir fry type thing, but I did try some sushi and I had to close my eyes when I put it in my mouth because the little raw piece of fish was flopping around on my fork. But I did it and I guess that is some great accomplishment to try sushi for the first time. Now I will happily never eat it again.

Our New Turbie Twist!!!

My new Turbie Twist is awesome! My friend Staci gave it to me, and seriously just a few days ago I was thinking I could use one of these. She is a mindreader. Only problem is my whole family loves it and I am having to share. Just tonight Ben used it to dry his locks.

Mom's Visit, Malia's Cellulite, Riley's Oversized Band-aid, And Ben's Oversized Tree!!!

You don't want to mess with this fierce Spiderman! She's got that wild look in her eyes.My Mom came to visit for Thanksgiving. I LOVE it when she comes to visit. As you can see in the background, she brought her cat. She doesn't think she will do that again because the cat (Lighting) was pretty ticked the whole way down. I guess six hours in the car makes him nervous. We also found out over the weekend that Riley is allergic to cats, but only if he pets them and then rubs his eyes. Ben is the same way. They are both okay as long as they don't touch their faces. Malia and my Mom had some more bonding time this trip, or as my mom sais "I'm imprinting." It was funny how much Malia would stare at my mom, like she was studying her every feature. I think it's so neat that they are EXACTLY 50 years apart. I KNOW, my mom doesn't look 50, does she!

I think it's time to buy bigger diapers for this girl. My mom had put this one on and later while I was changing Malia's outfit I discovered that Malia didn't have full coverage! But seriously, check out this baby supermodel! She even know hos to pose and accentuate all her womanly curves.

My mom sais my thighs were very large too when I was a baby (hmm, never went away.) and she told me that she would walk around with me on her hip and sometimes she would squeeze my fat thighs just for fun, but a couple times she got carried away and she squeezed a little too vigorously and I would cry. I know exactly how she feels though...sometimes it's all I can do to stay gentle when I squeeze Malia's cheeks/thighs/belly :)
My mom took Malia and I to TGIF's, and unfortunately for Malia our food came with a lime wedge. This is one of the MANY faces she pulled. Poor thing! I am such a mean mommy. But this is one of the reason's I had kids, to see what funny faces they can make!
Malia with her little tongue out! And notice my shirt (It's one of my faves) it sais "It's only funny until someone gets hurt...then it's hilarious!!!" So true.

Riley had a hangnail. Apparently it hurt "so, so bad." In fact he originally put two bandaid's on it, one over the other, because it hurt so so bad. The next day those bandaid's got replaced with this bandaid. This is the bandage I would use for a 4 cm laceration or a major knee scrape, or I guess a hangnail if I was four :)

Meet big Bertha. She was originally very unwelcome in the home by the Mrs (me). The Mr. (Ben) saw big Bertha on the mountain and immediately fell in love, despite the fact that his wife would be overwhelmed by a 12 foot tall, 7 foot wide presence in her living room. He went ahead and chopped big Bertha down and loaded her in his truck. After all, he now has a truck so his new motto is "Go big, or go home!" The Mrs. (who hates pine needles on the carpet) had very high blood pressure when she first saw the tree and while the tree was being rammed through the front door. But once the lights and decorations were on, courtesy of Ben and his mother in law Cindy, she decided it was a beautiful tree. Welcome, big Bertha.
Amazing but true facts about big Bertha:

1. There is a nest deep inside big Bertha's branches. Some poor bird families Christmas has been ruined.

2. A tree went missing inside big Bertha. Ben had cut down three small trees for some kids, and one of them when missing. Guess where we found it? Inside big Bertha.

3. Big Bertha had to be secured with much wire, including a piece secured to a 2 x 4 in our wall. As much as I hate the fact that the stability of the tree involved damaging our wall, I am relieved that none of my family is in danger from big Bertha.

4. I believe Ben is making up for three years without a real tree. So he has doubled the height and quadrupled the width of a normal tree. This is Ben's fantasy tree! Gotta love him!