Prettige Kerstdagen

Two things have let me know that I have lived in Portland too long.

1. I bought and now use my own reusable grocery bags in an attempt to go green (okay the real reason I bought them is that I can fit way more groceries in each bag and it cuts down the number of trips I have to make from my car to our house after a visit to the store)
2. I bought, cooked and served a tofurky as a meal for my family (No, I am not going vegetarian or vegan or anything, just wanted to give it a try. My review: It was definitely just okay for me. I probably wouldn't buy one again.

If I ever make it to reason #3 which would be proudly displaying a "Keep Portland Weird" sticker, please come quickly and rescue me from this city.

Anyway, on another note . . .cultural rich Portland does have the perk of being host to a Dutch Store. Dave's mom is from the Netherlands (which makes our kids 1/4 Dutch . .pretty much the only pure blood they have as I am very much a European Mutt) so we like to stop in on occasion and pick up a Dutch treat and take the kids to go visit Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet at Christmas time.

Here are the pics from this year's visit. Don't the boys look cute in their wooden shoes that we got in Holland last summer.

Even in his sleep

Lately, my blogging seems to have a common theme of Dallas, and this one is not any different. Yesterday, I was amused not once, but twice by Dallas during the times that one would think to be calm . . . naptime and bedtime. We have this new "deal" where Dallas gets to "read" books with the lights on for five minutes before I turn the light off for his nap. Well, as you might imagine I sometimes get preoccupied with other things around the house and it takes me a little more than five minutes to remember to go back and turn off the light. Often he will shout for me to turn the light off, but yesterday he didn't and by the time I remembered on my own, I found him like this in his crib (and yes he is really asleep. In fact he slept right on through me taking this picture.) H e was the one who decided to take his clothes off after lunch and slip into his more comfortable pjs, inside out of course. Nothing like falling asleep to some quality reading. I am definitely convinced he is my son as I can rarely read a page without dozing off. And for the next picture. I woke from serious REM rebound sleep about 3:30 this morning to Dallas shouting my name. I stumbled into his room sure he just wanted water or something like usual, but instead it was his sad cry of "I super cold mommy. I super cold." This isn't the first time he has decided to strip off his pjs before falling asleep, however I recently showed him how to take off his diaper so he could do it on his own on before getting into the bath and for those few occasions he actually wants to use the potty(not a great lesson for parents to give their children in case you're wondering), and lo and behold this time he had truly stripped down to complete nakedness before falling asleep. Luckily or unluckily, he managed to "pee pee" during his sleep which I am sure woke him up. Awake, he was able to recognize he was both wet and cold. I did a quick sheet change and redressing with my eyes half open and he quickly went back to dreamland. I crawled back in bed and announced to Dave that our genius chlid had been sleeping buck naked and just peed all over himself. Dave, half alseep himself, kind of mumbled something about Dalls being stupid and rolled over. Parenthood truly does bring good reasons to laugh. The stories that Dallas's girlfriends will be hearing someday. I can't wait. . . .and I have lots of pictures for proof.

Just another crazy day!

So, I thought of the many titles this post could have carried. . . "Happy Thanksgiving" "Happy Anniversary" "5 years and 3 Kids Later" "A warm evening in front of a Cozy Blaze" But . . . .as life would have it, none of these fit quite right.

November 22nd marked our 5th anniversary and what a day it was. (I will interject here that Dave is a great husband and in the true spirit of the day brought home a beautiful bouquet of flowers and wooden salad bowl and tongs (as wood is the 5th anniversary object) along with some martinelli's the night before our big day). I guess we should probably consider that our special day as Thanksgiving day went something like this:

Wake up in our freezing cold house to 3 children who may never understand the concept of sleeping in. Leave Dave with all 3 kids while I go to teach a whopping class of 5 people step aerobics late in the morning. Come home to try and scramble to get the family dressed and my fruit salad made for thanksgiving dinner out at my uncle's house. While I am working on this, good old Dallas manages to dump two bottles of sparkly glitter glue out in two different places in our house which would have been much easier to clean up had our kids not recently broke our spot bot. While we're cleaning up this mess, Dallas keeps climbing on top of the counter to get baking chocolate squares from on top of the fridge . .shoving the whole thing in his mouth and then drooling nasty chocolate drool all over. We finally get out of there alive. Did I mention that Brooklyn, who is normally a very good baby is screaming through all of this? yeah, well she continues to scream at my uncle's house so Dave eventually leaves to find someplace open where he can buy infant ibuprofen. In the meantime, dinner is served and I'm still holding an unhappy baby and forget to even take the fruit salad out of the fridge (glad I spent the time to make it ha ha!!) Dave gets back in time to sit down to eat while everyone else is finishing up. We try and give brooklyn ibuprofen, but she pretty much spits it all back out. We spent a couple more hours there mostly just looking at ads and planning our morning for blackout friday. We decide to leave and are leaving the boys with my parents for the night so we get in the car and are on our way.

I check to make sure Dave has the ibuprofen because I grabbed the dropper which was the only thing still on the counter. He tells me he left it on the counter, so we drive back to my uncle's house to find out where it went. My motherly instinct led me straight to interrogate Dallas because if I had to put my money on what kid was behind its disappearance, it would be him, hands down. Well, Dallas in his slowly improving speech is able to answer my question of what happened to the medicine with" It hall gone, I drink it hall gone mommy" He likes to put an "h" at the beginning of any word that starts with a sort of vowel sound. Anyway, he shows me where he put the bottle and sure enough it is completely empty. (Now Dave is glad that he missed most of dinner to go buy ibuprofen so that Brooklyn can spit out her dose and Dallas can drink the remainder of the bottle undercover). We called poison control for well, let's just say not the first time. We're lucky enought that the amount wasn't fatal or anything. . just a little rough on the old kidneys which get the lovely task of processing twice the amount that any kid should have over a period of a few days. They were nice enough to let us know not to give him anymore in the next 24 hours! Good thing since we were all out anyway =). We eventually made it home that night and well . . we went to bed because we were getting up with the baby at 4:30 the next morning to go shopping. I think it will be memorable anyway. Memorable in the same way that my new years eve spent pregnant with Dallas sleeping in a twin bed with Trenton at my parent's house while Dave was in Phoenix for the Fiesta Bowl is memorable =).

So what do we have to show after 5 years of marriage?
1. A picture of each of us on our drive home that evening. Doesn't Dave look cute with his "wow this is my life?" face?
2. Two really sexy sons and a cute little girl that had to put up with them. (Just for the record, Dallas put on those underwear, and if you're wondering if he is potty trained. The answer is only if pooping in those backwards underwear later on that day counts.)
3. A dream that perhaps this beautiful fire Dave built in our fireplace a few weeks ago can be a part of our anniversary next year (minus the billowing smoke taking over our house and giving it a nice campfire fresh scent for the next couple of weeks).

For those of you who like country music, I like to think of my life paralleling the country song "Just another day in paradise".

That being said, Happy Anniversary Honey, I love you and oddly enough wouldn't want it any other way! You're the best.

Life after breastmilk

At 6 1/2 months old I realized it was time to let Brooklyn move on. I haven't been anxious to do anything but nurse her, but finally gave in and took pictures as Daddy fed her her first delicious meal of rice cereal this past Saturday. Take note that little Miss Baldy is finally starting to grow some hair. Hooray!

Thrice Turkey Bowl Champions

Saturday was Dave's third annual turkey bowl at school where the different classes battle it out for the title of Turkey Bowl Champions. Dave's class (now third year dental students) were proud to clench the victory yet again after a very soggy morning of football.

More Halloween Fun

Trenton is a ladies' man by default. There seems to be a shortage of boys his age so he always ends up playing with girls. These are the other two members of his sunbeam class at the ward halloween party.

I love my baby girl! She was a much cuter Tinkerbell than I was of course.

Just the girls

My sister, Margaret, was in town for a visit a few weeks ago. We never take any pictures together, so I insisted that we stop and say "cheese" this time before she headed off to the airport. My mom looks a little frightened by the flash, but it's the only shot we took so it'll have to do!

Watching what he eats?

All of my talk of Dallas's poor eating habits has led him to be more conscientious of his diet. He's switched over to spoonfuls of splenda for calorie-free pleasure. Never a dull moment. I'm not sure what I'll do with myself when I get out of the shower and find my house just as it was left. Right now I live with the suspense of what new mess has been created during the short minuets of my shower.

Partying Halloween Style

We had a party at our friends' house this past Friday. I found a Spiderman costume for Trenton, but poor little Dallas had to deal with me being too cheap to drop $20 on a superman costume made of cheap felt. Gettind dressed in costume for the party went something like this. "Brooklyn has red tights in 6-12 month size. . see if we can squeeze Dallas into those. And I've got a blue shirt and Dallas has a red sweatshirt. Let's just print the superman logo. Where are some safety pins to put it on his shirt? Okay, we've got a red cape from when Trenton was the devil. Blue underwear . .I'm looking ..can't find any. He doesn't have any!!! At this precise moment Trenton takes off his pants to get into his costume and reveals his blue underwear. Dave and I both look at each other and tell Trenton to drop his undies cause Dallas needs them for his costume. Golden. Now that's a memory. I can see it now. . Trenton saying "Dallas remember when you were two and had to wear my dirty underwear for your Halloween costume because mom wouldn't buy you one?" At least the pictures don't make it look half as ghetto as it did in person.
Dave is sporting the Peter Pan look in womens size small yoga pants and a shirt that just insn't quite long enough. My mom came over the day of the party and with her mad sewing skills helped (okay let's get serious she pretty much made and I occasionally helped) make me a tinkerbell costume. The best part was the left over fabric which we used to make Brooklyn some matching Tinkerbell attire. She made a beautiful little fairy.

Fat Dallas

I've told a lot of you how Brooklyn is chubby, but not as big as Dallas was. Well, after seeing this picture I am glad that is the case. Talk about a little Michelin baby. Nasty! Apparently I have my kids on a pure cream diet when they are nursing. (I can say this is a nasty picture of Dallas only because he is so cute now).

In Stitches

Here's to parenting little boys! At 2 years old, Trenton fell from standing on a chair during dinner and bit a big enough hole in his tongue that it required him to receive iv sedation and stitches. With Trenton's help, Dallas too had to receive stitches about the same age when he took a dive into the head board of our bed! We're now waiting on Brooklyn to reach this point in her life.

Trenton likes baking too!

I just came across this picture and wanted to note that Dallas isn't the only one that keeps me busy. This picture shows Trenton testing out his baking skills a couple of years ago.

PLEASANTLY Plump

A little about me. . . .

I figure I've broken enough chains in my life so I'm actually doing this one.

So I've been tagged and am supposed to write 6 facts about myself. To join in the fun write 6 facts about yourself and ask 6 others to do the same.

1. People aside, I have two great loves in life: eating and exercising. I bake multiple times a week and usually enjoy too much of whatever it is I've made. I also am kind of a work out fanatic. When we used to live closer to the gym, I would sometimes go in the morning and evening. I think the two obessions make a good pair though. Were I only addicted to one of them, I would either be really fat or really skinny. Today being a typical day, I am about to go and make some brownies followed by teaching a class at the gym tonight.

2. I'm a thrasher in bed. I always have been. When my sister and I were young, we shared a queen bed and she still complains about how I would toss and turn and steal the covers. Now poor Dave is stuck with me for life. And he has to deal with me when I'm pregnant too which is even worse! I guess I shouldn't be suprized that he really wants to get a king bed someday.

3. I chew everything. Dave always makes fun of me for chewing even those foods and drinks that don't need chewing. I chew smoothies, ice cream, yogurt, etc. and I guess my teeth make this nice little clicking noise as I do so. Guess it's just a habit to chew whatever is in my mouth.

4. I used to be obessed with boys! (Now I'm just obsessed with 3 of them: Dave, Trenton and Dallas). All of my old journal pages are filled with details of my latest crush and high school drama surrounding my dating life. In fact, my dad gave me the idea to record all of the guys I ever dated, so I have a list of all of my first dates with people (including name, whether or not they were LDS, and what we did). The grand total is 72, with Dave being number 70. If I didn't get it right (and I think I did) after that many guys, then I don't think I was ever going to.

5. I love to sing. I may not be able to read music very well or harmonize purposefully, but when their is a song playing, chances are I am singing along to it whether I know the words or not (and many times I don't . .I kind of make up my own lyrics that don't make any sense and sing them until Dave corrects me on the words). Dave can always tell when I've been in the car alone because the radio is blasting when he turns on the car the next time. Any kid free time is my time and that means the music is loud and I'm jamming!

6. Me gusta hablar el espanol. I don't speak spanish very well anymore, but I wish I did. I love the Latin culture and I love the language. My dad lived in South America for 11 years and speaks fluently . . I wanna be just like him. The couple of months I spent in Mexico doing a study abroad through BYU helped me, but it has long since passed and mostly been forgotten. When the kids are older, I hope to study more and do lots of traveling to spanish speaking countries.

So there are my random facts. What have you got to share?? _Bri

A Whole New Meaning to Couch Potato

The kids latest tv viewing arrangement looked something like this. Who needs a couch when you've got an infant carseat and a laundry basket? Even Brooklyn was lucky enough to join in on the fun this time.

It's cute when little girls play dress up in mommy's clothes, I haven't decided what it is when boys do it though. This is not the first time Trenton has worn my "hooker" boots. In fact, I just saw pictures from him wearing them last winter. I guess there's something fun about the challenge of walking in heels. Maybe we should let him dress up like a witch for Halloween instead of Spiderman like he wants?

Modeling

I've been on an organzing rampage as of late . . . trying to find some sort of order in my otherwise chaotic life. One night, I found myself cleaning out and organizing Brooklyn's clothes. I kept trying things on Brooklyn to see how they looked and Dave walked in to find her wearing this. She is modeling some pajamas given to us by Stacey in a beautiful lilac color, a bunny hat that I gave to our niece a few years back and have now inherited and a cute little sundress that my sister picked up in Mexico. So, maybe she isn't quite up to date on the latest fashion, but I still think she is adorable. -Bri

Dallas and Anything Edible

I didn't want to take the time to find pictures from his entire 2 1/2 years of life, but here are the most recent ones of Dallas with food. The photos are proof of his balanced diet that includes chips, whipped cream, jam, peanut butter, ice cream and salt. When he's not ingesting the food, he chooses to maintain a close relationship by playing with it instead. We figure someday he'll make us proud by winning his first blue ribbon in a pie eating contest.

A Camping We Will Go

Though our plans for a "real" camping trip were foiling with cold nights we decided to go "day camping" with the kids at Wildwood State Park outside of Sandy. It was a really pretty area and the kids had a fun time exploring. Dallas enjoyed punching and kicking the smoke (because it kept getting in his eyes) but the smoke always seemed to get the upperhand. The near by Salmon River was home to some very large Spring Chinook Salmon and Trenton was the first to spot them (he'll make a good fisherman some day). There was even a cool part of the river that had a cutaway that let you look INTO the river and see the fish (mostly baby coho salmon). It was a quick and easy trip and I only wish we had done it sooner and more often. We'll definately bring fishing poles next time. --Dave

Who's that Girl

So apparently we haven't been very good at keeping updated photos of our precious Brooklyn so here are a few of the more recent pics.