The exciting life and times of Cory, Shayla and Jocelyn :)

Little bear

2012-02-15T16:30:00.001-08:00

Going on a walk with daddy while mom is at work

Flying saucer

2012-02-09T11:18:00.001-08:00

Walks with daddy

2012-02-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

We are sure enjoying this mild winter!

Bird feeders

2012-02-07T16:38:00.000-08:00

Daddy and jocelyn made a cute little bird feeder while I was gone at work last week. They have a great time together!

First hair cut

2012-02-04T16:32:00.001-08:00

Christians hair had a natural Mohawk growing so we decided to cut it all to a uniform length before it was too long.

Baby's first solids

2012-01-22T21:20:00.000-08:00

Today I whipped up a nice Butternut Squash purée with cinnamon and nutmeg for the little guy. He was not impressed.

Who's been playing with my iPad?

2012-01-22T20:33:00.001-08:00

I don't have any idea...

Is there anything better...

2012-01-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

Than waking up to this?

Nope.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Apprentice

2012-01-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

Of all the things Jocelyn loves to help me with, "zewing" is one of her most favorite! We bought her sewing cards for Christmas to help her have a good outlet when it is too dangerous for her, but she still insists on helping as much as she can!

Here she is helping me sew up some Christmas presents

Comfort those that stand in need of comfort

2012-01-05T13:05:00.001-08:00

Christian has croup and big sister is finally feeling well today so she is being a good nurse and attending to his every need!

Today

2012-01-03T16:32:00.001-08:00

The little mansy

2011-12-19T09:34:00.001-08:00

Backstage at the Nutcracker

2011-12-17T18:25:00.001-08:00

Checked some things off the Christmas bucket list today...

2011-12-15T20:11:00.001-08:00

The goings-on this week

2011-12-11T17:46:00.001-08:00

Decorating Grandma's Christmas tree

Ready for church

Playing with cousin Landon

Christmas slumber

2011-12-10T19:21:00.001-08:00

Love this angel baby

What siblings are for...

2011-12-09T17:01:00.001-08:00

Holding hands while watching Handy Manny.

We've got a shopper here!

2011-12-09T13:01:00.001-08:00

Jocelyn is a shopping maniac as of today, apparently. We were going to the store so she got a pencil and paper and dictated a list to me. This was her list:

Fireworks
Pops candy (they make you walk faster)
Pets (lots of them)
Whistles
Grapes
Keys
Hershey's Kisses
Bananas
Gogurts
A toy for Christian
Egg Nog ("Mom, what's a nog?")

Then when we were at the store she carried her own basket and made sure that our items didn't get mixed up.

Christmas is officially here...

2011-12-03T15:50:00.001-08:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Listen, listen

2011-11-30T13:06:00.001-08:00

The breathing is Christian's addition.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Riding with grandpa

2011-11-23T11:36:00.001-08:00

This seasons hottest accessory

2011-11-22T14:40:00.001-08:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Jocelyns new skill

2011-11-21T13:25:00.001-08:00

She is so proud of her new skill, she shows everyone!

J is a funny gal

2011-11-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

I have been making a list of the funny things Jocelyn has been saying lately. It started out as a small list, but lately I have been adding to it almost daily so it's quite lengthy now! I just want to freeze Jocelyn at this stage and remember everything she says, so this list is mostly for me.

******

She has such great communication skills that I don't think about what she says much, but sometimes when I reaaaally listen to what she's saying it's a little funny.

Her S's are Z's and vice versa. A few of my favorite words are "dezide" and "zewing"

"It's no use" is "It's no woose"

"Enjoy" is "Enjoin"

"T-I-double Gu-R" (tigger) is "T-I-gubble up-err"

"Serve" is "deserve". "Mom, I'm going to deserve the popcorn to everyone."

"Mohawk" is "Mo-stack"

Any time she says "well" she usually says "swell".... aka "I feel really swell today" or "I can't do that very swell." Sometimes she sounds like she's from another time period.

And my favorite...Cory ran up behind her one day and grabbed her and flipped her upside down. While dangling by her ankles she yells at the top of her lungs, "Put me down Pazassin!" (Assassin) She learned that word from Dumbo...

*****

She is the queen of staging conversations. She likes to tell you what to say and who you are pretending to be and if you don't say it just right, she'll correct you. Here's a conversation we had the other day:

Jocelyn: Mom, you call me a sweetie, okay?
Me: Okay. Jocelyn you are a sweetie.
Jocelyn: Mom, why do you call me a sweetie?
Me: uuuuuhhhhh....

******

Often, I don't have a response for something she's said. The other day she asked me, "Mom, what letter of the day does my hair look like?" uuuuuhhhhh.....Y?

******

One day while I was cooking dinner:

J: Mom, what do you do with this? (holding up an ingredient)
M: I put it in this sauce.
J: Wow, funkadilly Mom.

*****

While having her 3 year old pics taken she was modeling and smiling and posing like I have never seen her do that before. The photographer asked her to look a certain direction and lift her chin. Jocelyn looks at me a little uneasy, "Uh, I'm not so sure about that." The girl has standards...

*****

When she was supposed to be sleeping:

J: Mom, would you come over here and scratch my back?
M: No, you need to just go to sleep.
J: But you're a really good scratcher, I know you are!

******

At the store:

J: Adult, will you buy this for me?
M: sure.
J: Mom, say "sure, toddler!"
M: ummm, sure toddler!

*******

On the way to pre-school:

J: Mom, why do you have a big bum?
M: Ummmm.... I don't know, why do you think I have a big bum?
J: Because you're a Mom.

Oh, right.

*******

Cory got another juicer (the other one died) and Jocelyn was so interested in what it was. She looked over Cory's shoulder all while he was setting it up. Then she asked him to make her some juice so she could see how it worked. Cory obliged and her reaction:

"Oh, wow. Party like a rock star, Dad!"

******

Jocelyn mumbles something from the back seat of the car one day.

M: I can't hear you, Jocelyn. You need to speak up.
J: That's because my voice is quiet like Pianissimo.

*******

Cory comes into the front room while shoving a marshmallow in his mouth.

J: Dad, you don't have to snitch a marshmallow! All you have to do is ask!!

*******

I asked Jocelyn to bring me the diaper cream from the other room and pretty soon she comes bursting through the door and yells, "Boom, baby!!!" and poses with the cream.

******

Counting is going well...

20-10 comes after 29, apparently.

*******

Cory came into the room and Jocelyn yelled at him, "Hey you scurvy man!!"

*******

J: Mom, who is cute?
M: Christian is cute.
J: yep
M: and you are cute too.
J (indignant): No I'm not! I'm fantastic!!

********

"Mom, I'm lucky as a bucky!"

*******

I was taking Christian's onesie off and it got stuck on his head. "Mom, he looks like a Lamanite!"

*******

When discussing upcoming Halloween, she told me that she wanted to be a pirate like Captain Moroni. I couldn't figure out why she thought he was a pirate until she set me straight..."you know, like Captain Hook!"

*******

She loves Christian and tends to call him a __________ boy. (fill in the blank)

Her usual adjectives are bucky, cutie, swaddly, darling, squiggley, buggy, betsey, Christian and precious

*******

One day in the tub she was mixing up a concoction of "foot sanitizer"

*******

My favorite compliments lately have been "Mom, you're amazing." and "Mom, you have great eyebrows" ummm, thanks?

*******

When showing me something she had made:

"Mom, look at this. Pretty impressive, huh?"

*******

She came in one day with her hands tied together by a jumprope and said:

"Mom, will you untie me? The bad guys tied me up. The bad guys are my hands."

******

Upon meeting Christian for the first time and seeing all the little white dots on his newborn nose: "Mom why does he have sparkles on his nose?"

*****

After Jocelyn jumping on me:

M:You squashed me!
J:Yeah, like a zucchini squash!

*****

M: Jocelyn, come over here and eat your spinach so you can be strong like Popeye.
J: Mom, I can't get any stronger!!

****
****

I only started this list when Christian was born 3 months ago. Can't wait to see what she'll come up with in the next 3 months!

The Pledge of Allegiance

2011-10-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Sunday Best

2011-10-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we got all dressed up for the primary program.

Christian's outfit was a bit big, but he has grown out of all of his 0-3 month clothes.

Jocelyn is in Nursery, but since I am in the Primary Presidency now, she wanted to come up with me on the stand to help with the program. But that wasn't enough. She wanted to talk in the microphone like all the other kids. So she did one of the Sunbeam's parts and did a great job! She told me she wants to do it every week. :)

The night before we did Jocelyn's hair all up in braids.

And yes, she is sitting in Christian's "Bumbo".

And it ended up pretty cute the next day.

Jocelyn's first sewing project

2011-10-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

The other day when I was making this:

Jocelyn wanted to be very much involved. So to keep little hands away from danger, I threaded a yarn needle and gave her a piece of cheesecloth and let her go to it. It started like this (and yes she is wearing her ballet leotard and tights-inside out and with the tights on top):

As she was making her "Zewing Projick" she chattered on and on about what she was going to make.

A blanket for Christian
A hat for Daddy
A scarf for Mommy
and on and on and on

It was so cute what she thought she could do with one piece of cheesecloth! In the end she sewed it all up so much that we ended up with:

When I asked her what she made she said, "A ball for when I have a real live pet living at my house. I'm going to make 4 more for my other pets I will have some day."

I love this creative little gal.

Bean Museum

2011-10-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

About a month ago we took the kids to the Bean Museum and we walked in just in time for the reptile show.

Jocelyn wanted to touch everything, including snakes, but not the lizards. That was just too much, apparently!

The Jocelyn Version of an old classic

2011-10-15T11:02:00.001-07:00

Talking

2011-10-11T05:49:00.001-07:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4GLTE smartphone

Kids Clothes Swap

2011-09-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

I am going to be putting together a Kids Clothes Swap on Saturday, October 8 from 9:00 am to 11:00 am at the Haymaker clubhouse - (80 S. 925 E. AF). My Sister in Law's ward always does one and they are always a hit - everyone walks away with a lot of cute stuff.

It is very easy... you drop off any gently used clothing or toys (dressups, shoes, books, puzzles, belts, jackets, winter coats, halloween costumes, accessories, toys, etc.), and then you get to take up to as many items as you donate. Donate things you can't use anymore and go home with things you can. People donate really cute stuff that has only been worn once or twice, or still has the tag on it.

I will be a drop off if you want to donate. Just count your items before you bring it over, so I can give you a ticket with your number on it. We all wait until 9 am to take any items, so everyone has the same selection. At 11:00 am any items that are left will be free for anyone, even if they didn't donate anything. Anything left after that I will donate to our Stake's humanitarian project to take to Zimbabwe. Items will be organized according to size and gender so it will be easy to find exactly what you are looking for and then get on with your day.

Anyone is invited. Please tell your friends and family who would be interested... the more the merrier and the greater selection!

Let me know if you are interested and need more details! It will be fun!

The Christian-is-born and Jocelyn-is-3 pictures

2011-09-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Christian is almost 7 weeks old, but I am finally getting his newborn pictures up. Oh yeah, and Jocelyn turned 3 in May, but here are her 3 year old pictures as well. Thanks, Alan!

First Day of Pre-School!!

2011-09-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here is my favorite girl on her first day of Pre-School!!!

So Excited!

Love this face!

Garden Harvest

2011-09-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we went and picked food from the garden Cory and Jocelyn have been working on this summer for us. We got quite a haul and are so grateful for the borrowed ground we were able to grow it in this year.

And totally unrelated:

This is the only way I can get the snack queen to eat any lunch. It's the only thing that works anymore. But it does work. :)

Pictures from my phone

2011-09-01T13:37:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn started Pre-school!! This is her at her open house where she got to decorate her pencil box and meet all her new friends and her teacher. We have been twice now, and it is going so well! I didn't think she'd stay, but she has done very well. She comes running out afterwards and gives me a big hug and a kiss and says, "Mom, I was so brave!!" And then when I ask her what she did she says, "I don't know!" Usually with a little prodding though, I can get some information out of her that she "forgot". She is loving it and I am so glad it's going so well.

Jocelyn drew this the other day for me. It is a mommy robot with lots of arms and the pink part is me when I was a balloon. Yep.

Jocelyn has been a good helper with Christian. She loves him so much and smothers him a little bit with all her attention. She also has realized that that gets her quite a bit of attention too, so sometimes she can get a bit naughty. But she is getting much better about knowing how to play with a baby and what she can and can't do, and it is making for a much happier mom and a lot fewer time-outs. :)

I love the difference in their skin tones in this picture.

Our little man doing some tummy time and beefing those neck muscles up

On Sunday, we took a picnic up the canyon and it was amazing. It felt so good up there and it was nice to get out.

Hope you all had a good week!

The Day Before Christian

2011-08-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

I know I'm working backwards, here, but I had to show these pictures. The day before Christian was born, I know I should have been cleaning my house and getting last minute things ready, but I really didn't want to. So, Jocelyn and I got a craft idea off of Pinterest and spent the afternoon together enjoying our last afternoon of just us two.

We got some foam from the Hobby Lobby and made some Alphabet bath toys. I know you can buy these pre-made, but it was fun to do it together.

Then of course we had to try them out, even though it was 1:00 in the afternoon.

She stayed in the tub for almost 2 hours, and she actually learned a lot more about the alphabet while she was in there.

This picture is my absolute most favorite. She found all the letters for her name and spelled it out and when I asked her to show me, she did this:

Look out, Vanna.

So, instead of having a clean house on the last day before having Christian, we made a mess. And it was fun.

Jocelyn at the hospital

2011-08-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I never shared of Jocelyn at the hospital:

She loves her baby brother.

Baby brother brought her a gift. He brought a bassinet/moses basket for her baby dolls and...

The stuff to feed baby dolls. What a nice baby brother.

I love this face she does.

And she talked one of the nurses into bringing her a "Deesert" (one of her most favorite things).

Random Pictures

2011-08-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

I think he looks like my brother in this one.

Playing with her boy friend Sambo

Meeting his Aunt Lex for the first time. Jocelyn made her the princess crown as a welcome home present. I told her she had to wear it to work. :)

He's starting to get some good cheek and double chin chub. I love it!

2 weeks

2011-08-17T16:13:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that everything takes at least twice as long with 2 kiddos, I have been a bit absent here lately. But we have been enjoying the last 2 weeks with Christian here!

Yesterday at his 2 week appointment, which lasted exactly 2 hours (sheesh! Good thing I love our pediatrician!), we found out that not only did he regain his birth weight, but almost a pound beyond that as well! The little man does love to eat!

Birth weight: 7 lbs. 6 oz.
Discharge weight: 6 lbs. 13 oz.
2 week weight: 8 lbs. 3 oz.

Not only that, but he's on the charts! Jocelyn hasn't spent much time on the charts, but he is 57% for weight and 87% for height.

The poor guy was circumcised and had to do the PKU test (which he disliked MORE than the circumcision, if possible) and then I inadvertently scheduled newborn photos for him that same afternoon. Brilliance, I tell you. But he was great and I think we got some good ones.

Here are some snapshots from the last 2 weeks.

Trying to eat his fist.

enjoying his big sisters' company.

Hanging out with cousin, Ainsley

Being held by his big sis. (Don't you love that pirate face she does? I do.)

Hangin' with mom

Tolerating his first bath

Enjoying some visitors: Alley

Great Grandpa Stokes

Aunt Ash

And enjoying the swing that we bought for Jocelyn that she could never tolerate.

Jocelyn has been a good big sister and has enjoyed trying out all of Christians things before he does. In fact, she is wearing his pants today as leggings under her dress...his NEWBORN pants...I don't think it'll be long before he surpasses his little big sis in size.

We went out for a walk around the neighborhood so I loaded Christian up in the sleepy wrap, and Jocelyn had to do the same with her dolly.

She calls his tub her hot tub.

Hot tub party!

He is still such a good baby! We have had a few sleepless nights here and there... but it was more Jocelyn than Christian. Let's just say we know the feeling of finally getting the newborn to sleep and falling asleep only to be woken up one hour later by the three year old! When Christian is up at night, it is more because I don't know just how he wants certain things, and now that I'm getting to know him better we are getting more sleep and getting into a groove. Jocelyn is sleeping much better now as well.

I still have 5 more weeks until I have to go back to work and I am going to enjoy having this little guy 24/7 for as long as I can.

Hi. I'm Christian.

2011-08-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

He's here!!!

Introducing Christian Jesse Bott

7 lbs. 6 oz.

20" long

I really don't know where to begin to document this angel baby, so I will start with a bunch of pictures and the promise of more details to come.

Mom and me

The proud Papa

First 'do after his first bath

Ready to come home from the hospital

Home at last...Jocelyn had to put her baby doll next to him.

Details will follow, but I am happy to report that Labor and Delivery was so smooth and wonderful. Getting to know our little guy has been even more wonderful.

He is an angel baby! He sleeps! He eats! And he's handsome too, if I do say so myself. He has the most adorable little "meow" of a cry and rarely gets worked up for anything.

I know he will wake up more in the next few days, but this kid is awesome. We are in newborn bliss around here.

Bear Lake

2011-07-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn has been having the time of her life at Bear Lake the past few days! Not only does she get to hang out with Bwama and Bwampa (Grandma and Grandpa...her favorite people), but she has been able to play with cousins and go swimming and four wheeling, etc.

Playing with Afton in the tent

Riding a real "wheel-fourer"

I don't know how to turn the picture sideways, but here's her and Grandpa waiting to go to the pool.

It has been nice to have some relaxing days around here, but I miss her and can't wait for her to get back! We haven't been as active lately as that little busy body requires, so we are so grateful she could go have a great time. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Just Keep Swimming

2011-07-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Keeping myself busy today making burp cloths:

A quilt that I have had the fabric for since before Jocelyn was born.

And watching Harry Potter 7.1 for the first time.

Today was awesome.

Finally

2011-07-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn went to a family reunion with my parents for the rest of the week so I am getting some things done around the house that have been needing to be finished for quite some time now, but are just harder to do with a 3 year old under foot.

Last year, I bought this Pottery Barn Kids rocking chair at a garage sale for $1. You can see why it was only $1.

I made a slipcover for it, but never got around to putting the skirt on until this morning. But I am so happy it's finally done.

On to the next thing...

Ballet Videos

2011-07-27T07:07:00.000-07:00

More videos of Jocelyn in ballet class. This first one is one of my favorites... very dainty, don't you think? ;)

And one of marching. The girl loves to march!

In other news:

We were in the hospital last night. Very intense contractions 3 minutes apart, no more dilation so they couldn't keep me. After walking laps in a gown for an hour (after being monitored for another hour), home again. Luckily the contractions stopped so I could sleep until 4:30 this morning and we are back at it! The plus side is this: this is my last wednesday being pregnant, and my pinterest boards are thriving. :)

Fresh Raspberry Jam

2011-07-26T07:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we went over to the garden and picked raspberries. And by "we", I mean these two while I laid on a blanket and "supervised". We went early enough in the morning that it felt so good. It has been too hot to go outside for me lately so it was nice to dispel some cabin fever!

Our first zucchini harvest, and a crookneck squash, which Jocelyn dubbed her "horn" and started to "play" it.

Then we went home and made fresh raspberry jam together and Cory made some really yummy homemade bread to go with it.

Baby update: obviously the doctor's guesses weren't accurate...no baby yet. I have another appointment this morning and we will see what he says. But the good news is, this is my last appointment!

We went to the hospital on Friday with some seriously intense contractions that lasted 2 hours and as soon as I got there and lay down, the contractions stopped. So, for my sanity, I am just counting down the days until my induction date which is 7 days from today.

Thanks to all of you for your kind phone calls, texts, emails and support. I promise one day there will be a baby, and hopefully soon. And a special shout out to the Goldings who took Jocelyn for the day this last week. It was the best day for her! She is still talking about it! Thanks!!!

Fizzing Sidewalk Paint

2011-07-22T14:24:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to carry on with our summer and not just sit around twiddling our thumbs waiting, we went outside for an activity before it got too hot around here.

We love sidewalk paint around here, but we thought we'd try a variation: fizzing sidewalk chalk. I got the recipe here.

Jocelyn loved spraying the vinegar and making the fizzing so much, that she made me do the painting so she could just fizz away. Needless to say, we had a lovely looking porch this morning.

"Pops" fireworks have also been very entertaining this week.

Nope

2011-07-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

No baby yet, but here's a picture of Jocelyn while we are all killing time waiting.

Playing chef, but with a baseball hat instead of a chefs hat.

Baby Boy

2011-07-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

So.

The Doc says that we could have a baby tonight, or sometime this week, but he doubts it will go until next Tuesday. We shall see. But I am definitely progressing.

My measurements have said he was the perfect size this whole pregnancy, until 3 weeks ago. Then he was 1 week behind. Then 2 weeks ago he was 2 weeks behind. Then today he was 3 weeks behind. Doc wasn't worried but gave me the option of having an ultrasound if it would make me feel better.

So we did. He is actually measuring 2 days early and is somewhere around 7 pounds. His head is in place and is just very very low already. We got a cute mug shot with his fingers in front of his lips.

So let's hope that all these contractions are moving this whole thing forward. I didn't go out so much as in with this pregnancy. My favorite part is choosing between breathing and eating. That and the fact that showering this morning almost did me in.

In all seriousness, though, it has been a great pregnancy. We have been very very blessed. Here's hoping for a great delivery!

A Random Summer Video

2011-07-15T13:59:00.001-07:00

Bippity Boppity Boo

Lookin' Good Sista

2011-07-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn got a great dress up outfit on the other day. We call this look Gangsta Pirate Princess.

She also had an unusually great chocolate face after happy shakes this morning...

Rainy Day Letters Game

2011-07-14T07:43:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn and I played a fun alphabet game together the other day. We made little cards (that you can barely see) of the first few letters of the alphabet and she taped them up on the wall.

Then she got her little whale spongey bath toy.

And I would ask her whale to show me where a certain letter was, or to find a letter that makes a certain sound and she would send the whale flying to show me.

I got the idea from this post, but we didn't have any pops left from the 4th of July and it was a rainy day outside.

She learned the ones she didn't know so fast this way, and she loves throwing so it was a double bonus. And then after awhile, I made us some
granola bars while she kept playing with them and asking her whale to find letters herself. :)

Name that Tune

2011-07-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

Can anyone guess what TV theme song this is?

36 weeks!

2011-07-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

A self-portrait at 36 weeks today.

Garden Time

2011-07-08T08:18:00.000-07:00

Cory planted an awesome garden this year for us to enjoy. Jocelyn has loved going over and helping Daddy work in the garden. She loves to weed and water...

And snitch raspberries :)

We went down and harvested our spinach on Saturday and got 2 giant bagfuls of some very yummy spinach.

A fun summer night

2011-07-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Just a random fun summer night spent over at the garden/horses.

Flying a kite with Daddy.

Petting Shilo

Grandpa gave her a bit of blue bailing twine and Jocelyn was so excited to have her own rope. She took care that it didn't get wet in the massive thunderstorm we had later that night.

The 4th of July!!

2011-07-06T08:09:00.000-07:00

We had such a great 4th of July! It felt like we did so much, but really we just sat around and ate mostly.

Double Bonus.

We started the day with Watermelon Waffles. Jocelyn really wanted me to take the seeds out for her until she found out the "seeds" were chocolate chips.

Then we went swimming together, until her lips turned blue and we sat in the hot tub.

And what would swimming be without snacks? She sat there on the side of the pool and picked out all the papaya from the trail mix.

We enjoyed pina colada popsicles that Jocelyn made the day before.

Then off to Grandma and Grandpa's for some fun cousin time and a BBQ. Jocelyn loves her cousins! And she especially loves Uncle Ryan!

Cory had made this smoked pulled pork the day before. In his words, "This is blogworthy". It totally was. It was soooo good, especially with his homemade BBQ sauce. We also had a fresh spinach salad made from Spinach Cory grew for us out of our garden. It was deelish!

Then the cousins swam (again).

Jocelyn looked around at the swimmers and then asked, "Mom, why are all the boys so Nakee (naked) when they go swimming?"

Here's Cory teaching Jocelyn how to lay on her back.

And we ate (again). Here's cute Kenna with her "sandwich" :)

And Ainsley

Sparkler time!

Here's the Dad's lighting station.

Checking the spin on her dress.

Then we went on a fireworks hunt on the way to our house. With the new firework laws, it was not hard to find any. Even our neighborhood had some really nice big ones that we enjoyed from our little deck when we got home.

And then... we crashed! :)

Happy 4th of July!

Imagination

2011-07-05T10:40:00.001-07:00

This kid has it to spare.

In fact, Grandpa Billings always says with sarcasm, "Maybe someday this kid will get an imagination of some kind..."

Lately she has been making up words and names.

Today she asked me if I knew what "Scumpin Scorbin" means.

No...no, I don't.

It means "it's dark in here".

Homemade Finger Paints

2011-07-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Jocelyn and I made some finger paints for an art activity, and she loved it! I have a book called The Preschooler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner and it has a ton of great activities for preschoolers as well as an appendix with a bunch of recipes for homemade fun. I think I got it at a garage sale for a quarter. Best quarter ever spent. That is where this recipe comes from.

We've made the kool-aid finger paint before, but I think this is better. The Kool-aid kind didn't have very good spreadability (yes, it's totally a word) and it tended to crystallize.

Flour Finger Paint

1 cup flour
2 Tbsp. salt
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 1/4 cups hot water
Saucepan
Whisk
Food coloring or powdered tempera paint

Measure flour and salt into a saucepan. Add cold water and whisk until smooth. Add hot water and boil until mixture is thick. A word of the wise, I made mine a little too thick. Don't get carried away. It still worked and it made for some very textured artwork, but it was a little too much like play dough. Beat again until smooth. Keep in the refrigerator and color as needed with food coloring or tempera paint.

Lay down a garbage bag or something similar to protect your surface and go at it!

After awhile, she was just rubbing it all over her hands and up her arms. Good thing we did this after breakfast, and before she had a bath and got ready for the day.

I also saw someone else online who made this exact recipe and she put hers in empty squeezy bottles to keep the mess down.

From the Mouth of Babes

2011-06-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

"Retire"

At lunch today, Jocelyn kept running over and trying to "tag" Cory for her never-ending game of tag. But before she could tag him every time, he would tickle her until she'd run away.

After about the 5th time of trying to tag him, she saw his arm come up to tickle her and she threw both hands out in front of her, started shaking her fingers and scooting backwards and said, "Okay, I am officially freaked out!"

After much laughter, we asked where she learned that.

"Woody" (From Toy Story 2)

**********************************

Randomly, when we were running errands last week, comes a question from the backseat. "Mom, who's Laura Numeroff?" We had been reading the "If you give a mouse a cookie" books all week, and I always read the author after the title. It was like it had been bugging her all week, and she finally had to ask who this person was.

***********************************

I asked her what we should do tomorrow that would be really super fun. Her answer? Make cookies for Santa. Indeed it does not get more fun than that. Even if it is the 4th of July weekend.

**********************************

She "baked" me a cake out of Dora Dominoes. After getting it out of her play oven with her hot pad, she gave it to me. I said, "Jocelyn, how did you learn how to make such a yummy cake?"

"Because I'm awesome."

**********************************

I walked into her room and she turned around, pointed at me and dramatically said, "Who are you, and how did you find me?" Apparently this comes from Tangled...

I swear we don't just watch movies all day every day!

Gallop!

2011-06-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

This was Jocelyn's favorite part of ballet class today.

June at Random

2011-06-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

What we've been up to in June:

Private Pool parties on our little patio

More Swimming

Jocelyn has spent a lot of time looking just like this this summer. I have loved it too, being so pregnant. It feels soooo good on a hot day!

Sometimes we go by ourselves, and sometimes with good friends. Any way you swim, it makes for a good summer!

Jocelyn's Princess Tent Bed. We are working on getting her to stay in her big girl bed better before the little one comes, and I thought the tent would help. It does.

Making Jam

Making Whey and Yogurt Butter

Loving these multi-grain blender pancakes

Looooooooving this soup

I've been making all our snacks for the week on Monday. These granola bars were a hit.

This Spinach Pesto makes an easy summer dinner and it tastes so good with summer squash mixed in.

And in general, just being silly!

Hope you're all having the summer of all summers!

We're ready to snuggle!

2011-06-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn and I have spent this week making a quilt for baby boy. I have wanted to make this quilt since I thought Jocelyn was going to be a boy, and I finally got it done! It is made from a few of Cory's old shirts that he was going to send to DI, and a white sheet that we don't use anymore. If any of you know Cory, you know that he has spent half of his adult existence wearing plaid button up shirts. I just thought it would be fun for baby boy to have a quilt of his daddy's shirts.

Jocelyn has been a big help and has wanted to be a part of every single thing needed to make it.

Including the ironing

And basting the layers together

And pushing the pedal to make the sewing machine go underneath the table.

My Grandma had an old Singer, and I remember "helping" her sew by getting under foot and pumping the big pedal up and down. This took me back.

She also was pulling books off the nearby bookshelf and reading up on how to make a quilt for us. She read out instructions for me periodically like, "make sure you use only cotton" (How does she know what cotton is?) and "stick the fabric together when you sew it" and other such important advice.

All in all it was a great Mother-Daughter activity and it was so fun to see how excited Jocelyn is for her baby brother to come and how much she wanted to make something for him. We are ready to snuggle that baby as soon as he makes his appearance!

One Great Weekend

2011-06-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Alley and Owen came down for the weekend and it was nonstop fun...it began with a four wheeler date in the driveway.

Then we took the party to the new splash pad in Alpine (our new favorite place). Amalie's grandmother passed away and needed a sitter, so Madalynn got to go with us.

Mostly the water was too scary for Jocelyn and Owen, but Madalynn was brave!

Owie

Jocelyn warming up on the sun baked sidewalk

The next day, we got to go out on the lake for a gorgeous relaxing morning of fishing and fun.

Jocelyn driving the boat. Picture me and my dad doing this together 25ish years earlier on the same boat. It took me back, I tell ya.

Alley and Owie.

Eating...that's what you do in a boat all morning. And yes, Jocelyn was in her Jammies. It was an early morning, and I didn't bother changing her once we got there. :)

Owen is eating in almost all the pictures we got of him from the whole weekend. This kid was a bottomless pit!! And it didn't hurt that Mater was on the juice.

Alley caught many many fish.

And so did Jocelyn. She is a good "cranker" to reel them in.

cutie fisher girl

Pretending to drive the boat. It was a great weekend!

Jump, Baby!

2011-06-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

This kid loves jumping time in ballet class! Like mother, like daughter, I guess :)

First Ballet Class

2011-06-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn had her first real ballet class today! This is her and her teacher, Miss Janika.

She was so excited she could hardly stand to wait until the class before hers got out. As soon as the students from the previous class started coming out the door, she dragged me in there. And then...

We watched from the side. No amount of cajoling would get her out there. She clung to my neck and wouldn't even look at Miss Janika. But then... a tiny pink parasol was brought out for the students to practice tip-toe running and it just sucked her in! She started walking out to the middle of the room without even realizing she was headed out there.

Even though sometimes she just stood there and watched while everyone else was dancing, she was out there!

As one of the youngest in the class, I think she did pretty well.

She was very interested in what was going on, but when they did Echappe Saute, she looked at me and broke out with this huge grin that said, "Mom! I know this! I'm good at this! We do this at home!" and she jumped like it was going out of style.

In the free dance section of class, she even busted out one of these.

And, she got a sticker, which she held as most precious and kept touching and looking at all day. Tonight right before she fell asleep she asked, "Mom, can I pleeeeeease go back to my ballet class?" I think it was a hit.

Baby Balletomane

2011-06-14T15:03:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn gets to take her first real ballet class tomorrow and she is so excited! Granted, she has had much practice, as seen above, but it will be fun to see her with kids her age (assuming she actually will go in without me... wish us luck!)

For Lexie

2011-06-10T16:32:00.000-07:00

We were playing Wii 2 Christmases ago, and Jocelyn found this rifle. Look at what she did with it... wonder where she got that from, Lex.

Make a Difference, Mom

2011-06-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some great quotes I heard this week. Dedicated to all you mamas out there making a difference where it is felt most. At home.

"All great change in America begins at the dinner table."

-Ronald Reagan

and my recent favorite:

"We fancy that God can only manage his world with battalions, when all the while he is doing it by beautiful babies. When a wrong wants righting, or a truth wants preaching, or a continent wants opening-God sends a baby into the world… Perhaps in a simple home and of some obscure mother. And then God puts the idea into the mother’s heart, and she puts it into the baby’s mind. And then God waits. The greatest forces in the world are not the earthquakes and thunderbolts. The greatest forces in the world are babies."

-E.T. Sullivan

I just hope I'm listening to the ideas God is trying to put into my heart. Happy Wednesday!

Jocelyn's First Haircut

2011-06-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

The other day, I took Jocelyn to "A real Swan!" (A real Salon) to get her haircut. I loved her hair and it curled by itself making it look so cute when it was done, but she also has a really sensitive head and it ended up being a battle every morning and night just to get it combed out. I hated doing her hair and she probably hated it more, so we chopped and we are so much happier!

Before: all wet from her bath that morning and down to her bum

During: She sat so still like a statue and was practically giddy that she was at a real salon getting a real haircut. She did great!

After: We cut 4 inches off and it is still so long! But it's much much easier to do now. I miss her curls, but I don't miss the battles.

And she got to choose a sucker, which was a highlight.

Here is a baby bump picture from a little bit different perspective. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to take a picture of yourself, pregnant, and make it look flattering? We finally got some sun the other day and I noticed my pregnant shadow and snapped a pic. We have 9 weeks left on Saturday-down to single digits!!

Yummy New Kitchen Experiments

2011-05-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

This was one of our favorites we've made so far.

Jamie sent me this recipe for Date Balls and it was a hit! I don't think any of them made it an hour. Seriously, how could they taste that good with nothing but good stuff in them? I don't know, but Jocelyn was in agreement.

She snitched 3 of them when she thought I wasn't looking. And how could you care with them being so healthy?

Then she made a snowman out of 2 of them...

And apparently it's good edible playdough too.

Unfortunately, this was the price I paid for having a peaceful moment in which to make the date balls. She loves playing in the rice bin, but it's getting a little too messy anymore. Good thing summer is here (kinda) and we can go outside more!

This was a hit too. Jocelyn wanted to have it for breakfast the next day. Why not? It's bananas, honey, cinnamon, walnuts, goji berries and it was supposed to be cacao nibs, but I ran out, so I put a few real chocolate chips. Form in the shape of a cookie between 2 sheet of plastic wrap and freeze. Break into pieces and eat!

Jocelyn always wants to wear one of my shirts to bed for a nightshirt anymore, in case you're wondering why she never has a nightgown that fits her.

This has been one of our favorites lately too. Here's the recipe and ways to use it. Not as tasty as the other two but a good staple to have around with 8 different grains in it for breakfast.

I also tried this raw soaked buckwheat and goji berries recipe for breakfast the other day, and although my tastes have come a long way, this was not my favorite. With vanilla almond milk and agave it was edible. Edible, but still...I don't think I'll be trying that again. And by the way, soaked goji berries taste like air. It's weird.

And this Raspberry Syrup is like liquid heaven.

Oh, and Cory got me a blendtec for Mother's Day. Best. gift. ever. I love love love it. It makes it so much more convenient to eat healthy!

Jocelyn got to go with Grandma and Grandpa to Disneyland, Universal Studios and Seaworld for a week and had the best time. I will have to steal some pictures from them to put an update here on the blog. We were so happy she had a good time but so happy to have her home as well. We were in Las Vegas for the Regional Dance America/Pacific Ballet Festival at the same time.

The thing that made me laugh was when she got home, the first thing she wanted was to play dress up in her new-to-her clothes and eat some Oatmeal with Xylitol and Cinnamon and some Almond milk. Then she ate another serving of oatmeal and then she crashed! We've all been recovering this week!

Also, here are the links to some recipes that I still have on my to-do list:

Bread Machine Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

PB&J Smoothie

Homemade Graham Crackers

Whole Grain Corn Tortillas

Apple Pie Parfait

Plum Kuchen

Apple-Oat Quinoa Cake

Ginger Smoothie

Homemade "goldfish" crackers

Smoothie Pops

The Princess Bouncy House Party!

2011-05-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

AKA, the center of our conversation for the entire month leading up to Jocelyn's birthday. And it didn't disappoint!! Jocelyn's amazing Daddy rented a huge bouncy house with a water slide attached (with a real princess on the side) and we invited both my and Cory's fam and 2 of her little boy friends, Luke and Sambo over for a BBQ and jumping bonanza.

The company came and set the bouncy house up early, so Jocelyn bounced for about an hour and a half before anyone else even got there, and she was the last one off in the evening as well. She bounced for about 5 hours straight!

Jocelyn and her cousins and friends had such a great time! Here's Afton:

And Bailey and Lexie supervising:

Jocelyn's birthday cake:

Blowing out the candles:

Such a fun Princess party for a fun little Princess! Thanks for everyone who came and helped make her birthday special.

Birthday Bonanza!

2011-05-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn is 3!!

She started her birthday out by opening her gift from Grandma Stokes and it kept her entertained aaaaallllll day!

She cooked me up some pies, puddings, eggies, corn on the cob and whatever else she could imagine.

On her actual birthday, Cory and I took her to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. This kid was in heaven!

She looked terrified the whole time she rode this ride and then begged to ride it over and over again

Grandma and Grandpa and Lex came to celebrate with us because they couldn't make it to her bouncy house party. Lexie and Jocelyn had a great time together!

Jocelyn schooled Lexie on air hockey (thanks to some convenient slow reflexes on Lexie's part)

And Grandma got Jocelyn what she wanted most... a puppy!

She spent her tickets on a silly band, a package of nerds, and some stickers. She was such a happy kiddo that night.

Zoo time!

2011-05-08T07:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Alley Baba set up a zoo day for the kiddos, and we all had the best time! The weather was gorgeous and Jocelyn loved the whole thing.

Baby Tatum and I were buddies all day. Such a cutie!

Riding the merry go round

The cute hats that Alley bought the kiddos

Standing on her circle waiting for the train

This one is for Jared

Two happy kiddos!

Jocelyn's new past time

2011-05-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

A few times this Spring already, Cory and Grandpa have taken Jocelyn catfishing and she LOVES IT! This was the 11 pound 7 oz. fish that was almost as big as her that she caught on her first trip out. Cory held the pole and she reeled it in all by herself-all 25 pounds of her. She already is very good at telling fish stories (It was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis big!) and she has been trained by Daddy to tell Grandpa that someday she'll take him out and teach him how to fish. Cory loves having a little fishing buddy and Jocelyn couldn't be happier about an entire morning on the lake with her two favorite guys.

Day to Day Life-April

2011-05-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

The highlight of our April for Jocelyn was this early birthday present from Alley Baba. A girl couldn't be more ecstatic. She has ridden it inside or out every. single. day. since she got it.

She calls it her Dora Bike. And if you call it by any other name, you'll be corrected. Except she can call it a "Wheel Four-er".

This kiddo has an active imagination and is getting so good at independent play. This used to be a struggle for her and she always needed Mom or Dad's undivided attention. But this was the little tea party she set up for herself in the kitchen for her friends.

We had just come in from riding her Dora Bike and she refused to let me take her helmet off. Good thing it works as a great accessory too :)

The other day my friend Kalli dropped off this bag of boys clothes for our new little one, and Jocelyn pulled each item out one by one and showed me while shouting, "Mom! Look! My baby brother is going to look a-DOR-able in this!" Needless to say it was very entertaining for a few days.

Then she stacked them nicely on the couch. Over and over again.

Every time Jocelyn sees the camera, she asks me to take silly face pictures of her. We're getting quite the repertoire.

I love this last one. Isn't this what childhood is all about? A balloon, a popsicle, a dirty face and messy hair...indicative of a good hard day at play.

It has been since December since I have made any really naughty treats in the kitchen. I've been doing so good, but the pressure of the end of school cracked me. But we are starting to get back on the wagon. I accidentally made these one day last week (technically they were for admin assistants day, but seeing as she only got 3 and we ate the rest, I don't think that it counts)

Also, I discovered Our Best Bites' Homemade Kettle Corn and "accidentally" have made this a few times. I have a real weakness for kettle corn. I don't know what it is, but I can't help myself. It took me about 8 minutes to make this, and it took Jocelyn the exact same amount of time to make this:

This was clean kitchen pre-popcorn, FYI.

But, I have made a ton of other healthy food lately. I made this Ratatouille the other night with the real-deal Herbes de Provence, thanks to Aunt Ash. And it was pretty much the best dinner ever.

Caribbean Pumpkin Soup from Green Shakes and Giggles

And oven fries. Not really a health food, but healthier than the alternative.

Jocelyn enjoying her happy shake (with acidophilus mixed in...shhh...)

We are so excited to see the good weather coming and all Jocelyn can talk about is her impending 3rd birthday. Photos coming soon!

**There are a few other new posts below also**

Easter Morning

2011-05-05T13:27:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn had a ball on Easter morning. She found that the Easter Bunny had hidden all of the easter eggs she and her cousin Afton had colored and she loved finding them. Even better was the easter basket. She got her very own ring and all morning sang a song at the top of her lungs that went a little something like this... "I got my very own RIIIIIIIIING!" (over and over and over).

Dora Dominoes that have been loved and cherished like no domino set before. She loves them!

Pioneer Woman's Petite Vanilla Bean Scones for breakfast for Cory and I and...

pretty much just frosting for kiddo.

Jocelyn in her new Easter dress Grandma Billings bought her.

She loved getting dressed up like a princess! We went to church with my Mom and then afterwards at the Bott family Easter Egg Hunt, she begged me to let her keep her princess dress on.

The bonus:

It twirls well.

Happy Easter everyone!

Northridge Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am very late in getting these up, but better late than never! Jocelyn got to participate in a lot of Easter egg hunts this year and she loved every single one. Even the early morning one on Saturday where we froze our buns off and she only got 5 eggs. She loved Easter this year!

Our cute cousin Landon downing some near frozen chocolate milk for egg racing sustenance.

Showing Grandpa the goods.

After the race... I mean Easter Egg Hunt... we went to Grandma and Grandpas for hot chocolate and Jocelyn and Ella played with Grandma's little bunny village, which is one of the best things about Grandma's house if you ask Jocelyn.

Being silly with Aunt Ash.

Congrats Aunt Ash and Grandma!

2011-05-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last week Jocelyn was so excited to go and see Aunt Ash and Grandma graduate from college! She has been asking about it since.

Congrats to our latest family graduates!!!

Ballet Concert this week

2011-04-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you who always ask me to let you know when our next concert is, Repertory Ballet Ensemble will be performing at the Ragan Theater on UVU campus this week Thursday April 14-Saturday April 16 at 7:30 pm each night.

They will be performing some student works as well as works by Repertory Dance Theater's Chris Peddecord, UVU Alumni and Northwest Dance Projects' Joni Tuttle, two works by yours truly, and Paquita.

We just had a wonderful weekend with Deborah Hadley in town coaching Paquita and the show is going to be great!

Bad Blogger

2011-04-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

I am a bad blogger, lately. Remember when I did Project: 365? I'll be lucky this year if we get 10 full posts! But here's what we've been up to lately in a big fat hodgepodge of nothingness and everything that has been our life lately. This post is about a mile long, be warned.

First up, Jocelyn the artist!

A few Sundays ago, Jocelyn was sick and we couldn't go to church. How do you entertain a rambunctious-even-when-sick toddler on a Sunday? Painters tape. Yep. She made little mosaics all up and down the hallway and even got into the "exeecize machine" to decorate it.

This one is "Mom and Dad"... don't you see it?

This one is a puppy that turned into a Christmas tree somehow.

That night, I made her some finger paints and she went to town! She'd never finger painted before, so she started out by dipping just one little finger in and then holding it up and panicking, "It's dirty, Mom!!!" Once she was assured that that was what was supposed to happen, she wasn't shy.

And the final masterpiece:

Our experiments in the kitchen

I've been making our own Almond Milk, thanks to Kalli for pointing me in the right direction, and so we got these cute glass milk jugs from an Amish website (yes, you heard me right...apparently you can't actually order them online, you have to call them and they don't answer for weeks at a time, but the Amish believe in electricity enough to have an online store.)

Our vitamin C stash to help us get over this sickness that went around.

Pretty much the best breakfast hash ever, thanks to Ashlee Bashlee Burton.

Artichoke and Sundried Tomato Quinoa Skillet and Whole Grain Cornbread. The best way I've had Quinoa so far, but Jocelyn wouldn't even look at it. The cornbread, however, she ate 2 mini loaves in about 10 minutes.

Does anyone have one of these things? This is the pampered chef version of the "slap chop" (If you know what I'm talking about) and I love it! Until I get a better blender/food processor (which I covet and am saving up my pennies for), this baby is handy! My food processor I have now does such a good job that there's nothing between a whole onion and onion mush, so this does a better job of chopping food to the right amount of coarseness.

And the Happy Shake. My new love. The best "green smoothie" ever... probably because it's more like chocolate soft serve ice cream. 4 superfoods, raw greens powder, 4 cups of Spinach, and 4 kinds of frozen fruit: Even Jocelyn thinks it's delicious. Only problem:

You have to get some pretty specific ingredients which aren't very readily available. But after my package came in the mail and we were in business, we have been enjoying them every morning. And, call me crazy, but it really does make me happy. :)

The best mock tacos ever. Again, thanks to Ashlee.

The very bestest Banana Ice Cream (which destroyed this food processor right after I took the picture and almost destroyed my hand me down garage sale blender... we need a Blendtec/Vitamix in a baaaaad way!)

Jocelyn loves going with daddy to buy eggs from this lady with backyard chickens. They let her hold the chicks and pet them. We would love to do the backyard chicken thing... unfortunately that doesn't really work when you live in a community with no "backyard" to yourself and "patio chickens" doesn't really sound all that great!

Fruit Smoothie popsicles. Have any of you heard of this book? I'm thinking it might be a good one to try out this summer.

She wouldn't let me put away our Homemade Raisin Bran until she had had enough.

This was Jocelyn's kitchen experiment one day while I was experimenting with our dinner.

Jocelyn's Doings

The other day, Jocelyn wanted a pickle but it was too cold coming right out of the fridge, so she went on a hunt for her glovies. She couldn't find them and called me for help. I went to look and her entire drawer that held the gloves and all the contents in it was missing.

Me: Where did you put all of your clothes from this drawer?

Jocelyn: I don't know

Me: You don't remember where you put all these things?

Jocelyn: Oh wait, Mom! I remember!

She runs out to the living room side of the kitchen bar and opens up our little storage cabinet.

"I forgot I put them here so they could be safe." So she found her glovies after all and no fingers were freezing in the attempt to eat a pickle.

While I'm cooking, Jocelyn is usually doing something "productive" in the kitchen as well. Most of the time after we eat dinner, we have to clean this up.

But you have to give credit where credit is due... she is a creative kiddo! She made a "Christmas Tree" with a potato masher and cookie cutters and even put the little angel cookie cutter on the very top.

She loves taking care of her babies.

And putting them to bed.

And reading in little homemade reading nooks.

She wanted to eat her oatmeal one morning with these.

And she loves helping mom in the kitchen! She made these peanut butter cookies for Grandpa's birthday.

A cutie, fresh out of the tubby and ready for Church.

And last but not least... Silly faces!

If you made it through this post you get 500 bonus points!

Boy, oh Boy!!

2011-03-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

It's a Boy!!!!!!

We are due August 6.

No, we don't have a name picked yet.

Yes, we are excited.

On Sunday, Grandpa asked Jocelyn what we were going to name the baby.

Jocelyn: If it's a girl baby, we will name her Dorothy

Grandpa: What if it's a boy baby??

Jocelyn: Silly Grandpa! We didn't buy a boy baby!

How wrong she was! But contrary to her being so certain of the gender, she is very excited about her new little "brudder".

Twoo Wuv

2011-03-28T07:19:00.000-07:00

Kids are a lot of work, for certain, but anyone who has chosen not to have kids is sure missing out.

Today, right when Jocelyn woke up she said, "Mom, I love you so much. You are my best friend!" Followed by, "And I love Daddy too. He's my other best friend!"

How can you resist this?

Jocelynisms

2011-03-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

This morning, I asked Jocelyn what we should name the baby. Her answer was, "If it's a girl, we should name it Dorothy (like Elmo's fish). If it's a boy, Curious George."

Cute... but I don't think we'll be using those names :)

Another conversation we had recently:

Me: Did you know St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow?
Jocelyn: What does that mean?
Me: It means we get to wear green clothes and eat green food!
Jocelyn: Ewwwww.... green food is yucky! How about pink food?

I'm still alive, believe it or not

2011-03-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still alive. 2011 has been a very long year already. We have gone through some "fun" things that I am not sorry to see go, but go they are! Things are starting to look up! Maybe I'll be back more regularly soon.

But in the meanwhile, here's a link to a post I did on my cousin and my blog "30 by 30" (The 30 things we wanted to do before we turned 30) in case you're interested in what I've been up to lately.

I'm not reposting because A)It's long, and B)nutrition and diet are very sensitive topics and I don't want to be "preachy". Enter at your own risk...

Click here to see the post.

Jocelyn is cracking me up

2011-01-25T12:01:00.001-08:00

One night in the middle of the night, I put Jocelyn in bed with us and went back to sleep. 5 minutes later, she pats my cheek.

J: Mom!
M: What?
J: Are you playing Hide and Seek?
M: No, I'm sleeping
J: Oh.... ok.

Book Review wrap-up and to read for 2011

2011-01-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

I know I get rambly when I talk about books, but it's kind of therapeutic to sit down and flesh all of these thoughts out from the year of reading. I didn't read as many as I would have liked to this year, and I didn't read as much heavy material as I would have liked, but I'm feeling like 2011 is my year for this! Although I didn't write about it, I enjoyed reading some childhood favorite books that I had never read before in my life. For example...

Any other great childhood favorites that I must read?

So all in all, it was a great year of reading. What's on deck for next years' reading list?

Follow the River

The Long Walk

Jesus the Christ

Rough Stone Rolling

Wrinkle in Time

Maniac McGee

The Mixed Up Files...

Just Ella

The Undaunted

In Defense of Food

Outliers

Antigone

Fairest

John Adams

1776

A Tree grows in Brooklyn

The Last Lecture

The Warmth of Other Suns

Fahrenheit 451

Animal Farm

Just to name a few... any other suggestions for 2011?

The best of the year

2011-01-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Probably the very best book I read this year was:

The Four Agreements... like, life-changing good. Like, when I get in a situation and I am tempted to get wrapped up in something energy draining, I think about this book and I all of a sudden don't care anymore. My brother recommended this book to me a loooooong time ago and I'm ashamed to admit I didn't read it until this year (I should have taken a hint that if someone who really doesn't read very much loves a book that much and is telling people all about it, it has to be good, right?). But this year at work, my department chair has been using this book and asked us to read it. It is not something you can really explain, but it talks a lot about creating the "dream" that you want to live in, not about living in the "dream" that society tells you you must live in. The whole book focuses on four principles, or agreements, that will help you do that:

1. Be impeccable with your word

2. Don't take anything personally

3. Don't make assumptions

4. Always do your best

I've been using this with my ballet company this year and, I'm not sure whether it has helped any of my students, but I feel like I have handled certain situations much better than I would have before reading this. Fantastic read

Some life-changing parenting books

2011-01-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

I read some really life-changing parenting books this year. I'll try to keep it brief, but that will be difficult considering how great they were.

The Mommy Manual... recommended by a book club member, and I'm so glad I read it. Probably one of the best overall parenting books I've read. It has a strong biblical/Christian base and it comes from a mother with 12 children who has such a great, common-sense way of putting things. I implemented a lot of her suggestions to great success with my toddler. If I could recommend one parenting book, this would probably be it.

Don't Make Me Count to Three... recommended by a good friend and I loved it. You know how they say that in order for something new to really sink in, you need to be exposed to the material 7 times? Well, this was the first time I had heard many of these things and it got to the point where I had a hard time getting through the book, because I kept having to go back and re-read for understanding, then I re-read for reinforcement, then I re-read hoping that it would sink into my character and every day interactions with my family automatically. That hasn't happened yet, so I will re-read again, but it was that good.

Having said that, there were some things doctrinally that I didn't agree with (this is a Christian Parenting book)... okay, really just one thing doctrinally. It spoke about Sin is Sin, and that if your 3 year old has sinned, you should not justify her because she is 3 years old. All sin is sin in the eyes of God, and should be taken seriously. I agree with her point: I think that you should take it seriously, and you should never justify behavior even if they are only 3 years old, however, I don't believe 3 year olds can really "sin". I just personally believe they have to be old enough to fully understand right and wrong and be at an age where that makes sense to them for them to be truly capable of committing "sin". The behavior is still wrong-it's still a "transgression"-and should be dealt with appropriately. I guess I just didn't like the terminology, but I agreed with the concept. Anyone agree/disagree? But if that's the biggest problem I had with the book, really, we're doing good.

That was really only a minor issue... the rest was so great! One of my favorite concepts in the book was that you should not provoke your child by telling them not to do something and not giving them something they can do, or telling them the right thing to do. If you only punish (which is easier) they get exasperated and angry. I loved that she pointed out that Jesus never answered a foolish question with a foolish answer, but observed something and reflected it back to the other person. For instance, when a child is trying to manipulate you or trying to goad you into a fight or control battle, she answers back, "Could it be that you are trying to make me feel guilty in order to get what you want?" (or something else appropriate to the situation).

I like the book because it talks so much about looking at your own behavior as the parent, instead of always focusing on the child's behavior. She talks about examining your motives in disciplining your children. Are you correcting your child because he has sinned against God or because the behavior caused you personal discomfort or embarrassment? It also warns against manipulating your children for your own gain, and she says that it is sinful to demand perfection from your children, when only God is perfect... such great concepts, and such great ways to grow as people and parents.

This book is worthy of a good look for anyone interested in parenting in a better way.

The last one, which is such a good read as well is:

Steady Days; a journey towards intentional, professional parenting...I heard about this one on Simplemom.net and I think it was well worth the read because it's different from any other parenting book I've ever seen before. I love the title of the book, first of all. If we as parents could handle parenting as professionally and intentionally as we do other areas of our life, I think our society would be a lot better. We all want to be good parents, and I think we really all have most of the skills we need already, but it's a matter of not being so busy that we can be intentional about what we are actually doing and striving for as parents.

She has some really great ideas, some of which I have incorporated, and some that I don't think will ever work for Jocelyn's personality (like she requires them to stay in their bed in the morning until she or her husband comes and gets them so she can get a shower and start breakfast. She leaves a morning basket by their bed of books they can read and things they can do, but at this point, I'm feeling pretty good if I can get Jocelyn to stay in her bed until after 3:00 am!). She has a bulletin board dedicated to the things that the kids are learning at the moment (kind of like the ones in most schoolrooms), which I have incorporated. And she has a really great template where she schedules deliberate time slots everyday for creative play, reading, quiet time, free play, outside play, naps, etc. She doesn't necessarily follow it to the "T" if something comes up, but it helps to have things roughly scheduled so that the day doesn't slip by without doing some of the things that she thinks are important, and that she wants to make sure happen. I haven't done this exactly, due to our busy schedule, but I have a daily checklist and I have listed the things that I want to do with Jocelyn every day so that at least at one point in the day we get to most of the things and we check it off.

Plus, the chapters are written for busy moms, so the chapters are short (1-2 pages)... gotta love it!

These are the only 3 parenting books I read this year and I feel like I was really blessed to have been able to read them. I will probably read all 3 of them again at some point. I'm reading "Parenting with Love and Logic" right now, which is great, and I also really really really really love "The Parenting Breakthrough". Any good parenting books that you really love that you think I should read? Send them my way, I'd love some recommendations!

The Bad

2011-01-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

The only book that I really really really did not like this year was...

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Now, I know what you're thinking... "What did you expect?" I know, I know. Someone suggested it for Book Club. This someone also thought it sounded stupid but she and I had heard people raving about it and how great it was (people that we trusted their judgment even), so we decided to give it a shot. The result was as follows. Below is my goodreads review:

This was a ridiculously stupid book. I can't believe I bought it. I thought it unfair that the author made money for adding zombie scenes to someone elses hard work. Not to mention, it was fairly graphic. But I kept persevering until Elizabeth rips the heart out of a ninja at Lady Catherine's house and eats it... that was the end of the line for me.

Lucky for me, I loved almost every other book I read this year. If I only had one bad book to review, I'd say it was a pretty successful reading year!

The Good (Non-fic, non-parenting)

2011-01-16T15:39:00.000-08:00

I read some great non-fiction books this year. Most of them are great parenting books. Non-fiction non-parenting books that were worthy of mentioning were:

Success Principles by Jack Canfield... I really didn't want to read another self-help book, but we were driving back from Vegas and Cory turned the audio book and I found myself scrambling to find paper to write some things down he was saying. It was very good and I've used it quite a bit in my discussions with my ballet technique classes this year.

The Happiness Project... I loved loved loved the content of this book, and it gave me some good books to put on my to-read list. The author drove me crazy... I'm pretty sure she and I would not be friends in real life. But really that was the only drawback to the book. Everything she was working on was just a good reminder in how to get the most out of life and live intentionally.

Traveling with Pomegranates. I know that most people I know wouldn't be interested in this book, but I just really really enjoyed it. If you love Sue Monk Kidd's "Secret Life of Bees" and you are an author, or you want to be one, or you are just interested in the creative process, this was a fascinating read. I found myself at the beginning of the book thinking "no one talks like this... who are these people?". But as the book progressed I found them to be very artistic people who let the reader in on their creative process and artistic journey. To be specific, Sue speaks a lot about how she wrote "Secret Life of Bees" and I found it incredible. This book helped me to put aside my Type A personality and go with my artistic instinct without reserve. I feel like reading this book really helped me to dive into my choreography without reserve and maybe use methods that some may think are crazy. Together with this book and Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko, I feel that I had many breakthroughs in my art form this year, so to say this book changed my life is not to be dramatic...it's literal. I read it as one person's "how-to" for artists.

Thinkertoys... mentioned above. Fantastic for anyone wanting to think outside the box. Hundreds of tools ready and available for your immediate use. This book provided all of the material for me to choreograph 2 major works in 2 months time, and the results were exciting to me... maybe not to someone else, but I feel like I got something special out of the process and the pieces.

On to the parenting books... and man, they were good!

The Good (In Fiction)

2011-01-16T15:15:00.000-08:00

Okay... we all knew these posts would be very drawn out, but quite honestly I didn't think it would take me this long! But, I finished my first full week of school (only 14 and a half to go!) so here is "The Good" of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

First up...I really got into the Anne series this year, and I've got to say that I loved it! I have always been hesitant to read it, though I don't know why and when I had gotten almost 3/4 of the way through the year and hadn't read anything in awhile, I decided to give them a try because they were free on my kindle. They didn't disappoint! First, I want to say that it really says a lot about our society that these are now classified as children's books (they used to be marketed as adult fiction). These books are wholesome, fun, romantic, hilarious in parts, sometimes mysterious, beautiful writing, and makes for good reading. There's no sex, violence, drug use so of course they don't appeal to the general public anymore, right? I only have one left in the series (Anne of Ingleside).

My favorites of the 8 book series? Anne of the Island (for the Anne/Gilbert romance), and Anne's house of Dreams were fantastic...however, Rilla of Ingleside, I feel, was an important book. It had very mature themes and some beautiful imagery. It spoke of WWII and life in the trenches, but it focused on the war effort on the home front, and how much every single civilian gives up to support their country in the effort, even down to a silly teenage girl who becomes a mature, dependable, down-to-earth woman by the time the war is over. It's about loss, love, and finding ones self, and I still think about it though I finished it months ago. Would I be brave enough to take a war baby in and raise him as a 16 year old for an indefinite period of time? How would I handle the loss of a brother that was also my best friend? And so on and so forth.

The imagery was very vivid and I loved the likeness between the behavior of the animals in Ingleside and the connection to what the boys were going through on the front lines. My favorite image is when Gilbert looks out the window and sees Susan (the house help) going out and raising the Canadian flag and staring up at it, saluting it... such a beautiful symbol of the women who made shirts for soldiers, and raised money for the Red Cross by putting together programs, and trying to make cakes and bread without sugar, etc. I feel like this book really affected me and I'm glad I persevered (it's the last book in the series).

My least favorite of the series? Anne of Windy Poplars... It was the basis for the movie Anne of Avonlea and there was nothing really new.

Besides Anne, honorable mention goes to the following books:

The Help... so good it's hard to know where to start. Again, it's another important book. Lots of great themes and things to make you go hmmm. Below is my goodreads review (skip it if you are my friend on goodreads and have already seen it!)

I really loved that this story was told from the viewpoints of 3 different women, and each had their own distinct and individual voice-you knew exactly whose voice it was just from the thoughts and descriptions and their individual way of saying everything. It was heavy material, for the most part, but it was very eye opening for me personally. All this happened before my time so I tend to think that it all happened hundreds of years ago, not just 40 years ago. This all was going on in the South when my mom was a teenager. And I loved that the author wrote about her own family's help growing up and how she took her for granted then but realizes now how much she did to shape her life

Hunger Games... I finally read them because everyone kept saying, "You haven't read them yet!?!" and I got sick of it... but you know what... I'm so glad I did. Loved them. Out of the 3 Dystopian Lit series I've read lately (Hunger Games, The Shadow Children series by Margaret Haddix, and the Pretties series by Scott Westerfield) this one was my favorite. I loved all three, but this one was great.

Enders game... I debated about giving this honorable mention, but the fact of the matter is, though I don't really love sci-fi, I keep thinking about it, and have debated about reading the rest of the series.

And last but not least, David Copperfield. I loved this one so much, it's ridiculous. I flew through the 975(ish) pages because it kept my mind off of the pregnancy nausea and because it was so well written. I apologize if you've already seen this on goodreads, but here's my goodreads review.

** spoiler alert ** This was a phenomenal read! I loved the whole thing. Usually, when reading a larger book, I become more obsessed with how much I have left to really focus on the story, but I was engaged the whole time.

I had mentioned to my friend, Ashlee, that I was struggling with Dickens because I had just read Great Expectations and it just did not sit well with me. She suggested that I give this a try and I am so glad I did. I love the language, the characters, the clever little phrases, the morals behind all of the plots and sub-plots. It was a great study on humanity and human relationships... no wonder it was Freud's favorite Dickens' novel! And the chapter where David and Agnes finally become engaged was so very romantic... I also kept thinking about Dickens own life throughout reading this (he said it was semi-autobiographical).

My only critique is that Dickens was very obviously paid by the word in writing this. What he could have said in one page went on for many. But on the flip side, that was part of the charm of the book too. It was nice to not be hurried and to enjoy some delicious description and language that only Dickens can make so interesting. Not to mention, my vocabulary was quite improved with reading this book (read it with a dictionary...no one uses words like that anymore)!

I Recommend it wholeheartedly.

That is it for the good in fiction. Hopefully I'll get the good in non-fic posted before January ends.

Preview of the Annual Book Review

2011-01-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

Hellooooooooooo!!

I hope your new years was fantastic and that the new year is going well for you all out there in blogland.

A yearly tradition here is the annual book review (Click here for last years) I review the books I was able to read in the past year and give some feedback on the good, the bad, and the ugly. A friend of mine started doing her own review last year and she divided it up into several different posts and I thought I'd adopt that this year seeing as this post is usually very lengthy.

Soooooooo......

Here is the preview (aka just a list of the books I read last year) It might take me a few days to get the rest of the review done, but it will be done. The starred books are some of my favorite of the year, and the expletives are pretty self-explanatory:

David Copperfield*
Anne of Windy Poplars
Ender's Game
The Actor and the Housewife
Forest Born*
River Secrets
Thinkertoys
Horton hears a who
Rilla of Ingleside**
Rainbow Valley
Where the wild things are
Anne's house of dreams*
Anne of the Island**
Success Principles*
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of Green Gables*
The Mommy Manual
The Four Agreements*****
Mockingjay
Simple Country Wisdom
The Book of Mormon (how many stars do you give this???)
so simple slipcovers
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ($%#^&!)
Hunger Games #2**
Hunger Games #1*
Traveling with Pomegranates*
The Happiness Project*
Steady Days; a journey towards intentional, professional mothering*
Don't Make Me Count to Three*
A Town Like Alice
The Help*

I feel like most everything is starred and that is because, with limited time to read, I have been very selective with the books I've read this year... I highly recommend this... it makes for a great year of reading!

So the rest will be forthcoming. And as always, I can't wait to see Ashlee and Corey's review (one of my very good bookey friends who does this every year with me!)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-31T12:24:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!! (Did you miss me? I missed being here!)

In fact, I feel like I've been missing out on a lot of life lately. But my life has finally calmed down to the point where everyday, I can start doing some of these things that I used to do and enjoy. Let's just say, I had a crazy back to back 2 semesters that sucked the life out of me, but I'm starting to feel like myself again!

Here are some photos from our little family's Christmas.

Jocelyn decided to paint a picture for every single person in our family (both sides) and was kept very busy in her artistic pursuits leading up to Christmas. She loved running around and handing them out to everyone Christmas morning.

Here's her stack of gifts

And her treat she left for Santa: Chocolate milk and a Santa cookie

And opening her gifts from Santa with a tutu on:

The best Christmas gift was the dollhouse and ice cream truck hands down!

And this is the shirt she wore around on Christmas day:

It was so fun to see her go into a room and then see the adults read

her shirt watch the light bulb come on!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

p.s. no, she doesn't get it yet...

Jocelynism

2010-12-11T07:09:00.001-08:00

Just in case you were wondering...

The opposite of "a little bit" is "a big a bit"

Happy Saturday!

Press

2010-11-18T11:05:00.001-08:00

Click here to see the news article the local paper ran about the performance opening tonight.

It's Here!

2010-11-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

I have tulle spilling out the windows of my car, tickets in my coat pockets, interviews with the local papers, and I haven't slept at all this week so far... must be showtime!

Missing....

2010-11-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

So I've been MIA lately in the blogosphere... click here to find out why.

I'll return in a few weeks. Promise. :)

Jocelyn is writing

2010-10-11T06:57:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn has been really into writing her name. If you ask her how to spell her name she says "J-O-C-D"... pretty close for a two and a half year old. And here is her drawing her name "J-O" (which always ends up being OJ. While she's drawing it she says "Swoop, dot, circle!"

More 2 year pics

2010-08-29T13:29:00.000-07:00

We just got the files for Jocelyn's 2 year pictures and there were more cute ones in there that I haven't shown yet. Thanks again, Alan and Tiffany!

Yes she is jumping here

Arabesque

I love this picture because she does this often

Snapshot of Jocelyn: age 2 and 1/4

2010-08-28T07:30:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn is talking so much and she's really starting to crack me up with some of the things she says. Here are some of the things she has been saying lately:

"Mom, you're my best girl!"

When my mom said she brought her a present from Texas, she replied: "Rock on, Sista!!"

"That will feel me better"

"Thats tewwable"

Instead of just a yes or no answer to questions she says, "I do." or "I do not"

She clears her throat and says, "I have a question for you"

Her favorite song right now is "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train, although she still loves "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". One morning I was singing "Hey, Soul Sister" and she sang back to me, "Hey, Soul Yogurt". Since then it's been our little inside joke. "Hey, Soul (fill in the blank)" is a great game, and when she heard it at the library the other day, she yelled at the top of her lungs, "Hey, mom! That's our favorite song!!"

We have had no accidents more often than not this last week with Potty Training... yessssss!!

The other day she says, "Mom, this is what the dancers do at your work....SPLITS!" and she drops down into the straddles and puts both of her hands above her head.

In other news: Cory had his gall bladder removed yesterday and is doing well. We're glad to have it done and hope that it will make a difference.

Have a great Saturday!