Still Laughing

My conversation with Will, while putting him to bed.

Will: Nilk? (Milk?)
Me: No, Will. You already had your milk. It's time for bed honey.
Will: Wadder? (Water?)
Me: No, Bud. It's time for bed. Come on, I'll tuck you in.
Will: Shock-lat? (Chocolate?)
Me: (laughing) Just go to bed June.

A Thousand Words

I could sit here and write a thousand words (easily) about what this picture means, and means to me, but I'll just leave it at this:

This picture completely embodies a perfect friendship.

I smile and cry every time I see it.

Happy 4

4 years. I can't believe its been that long, but then again when I think of everything we've done in 4 years, it feels like maybe we should have been married for 6 or 7 years by now.

Our best friends (Stacey's and Dansie's) were over for dinner last night and as it is getting close to Christmas, somehow we got on the topic of our first Christmas together. And after recalling mine and Cortney's first Christmas together, I realized (what I already knew) that Cortney was committed to the long haul with me. Seriously. We can put things lightly and say that it was probably the most awful Christmas/Meet-the-Parents weekend/week/hell you could ever imagine. And as I remembering the awfulness, I realized that we had known each other less than 2 months when that happened, and this whole episode would have been a gigantic red flag, but it still didn't seem to phase him that much. And that, my friends, is a miracle. Either that, or his heart must have been seriously twittered for me because no one would have come out of that Christmas and think, "Wow, that was great. I really want to marry this girl and be part of her family."

Sadly, that was just the first of many disasters to come. And he's still with me! When I get overwhelmed (about every 3 weeks in the late evening, you can almost clock it), Cortney is really good at calming me down. A few weeks ago, I was fretting about finishing some repairs on our house and how frustrated I was that I've been meaning to do them for more than 2 months but haven't found the time/keep putting them off/2 kids running round/too dark etc. and he looked me in the eye and said, "I promise, that when our kids are grown and have moved out, you will never regret that you didn't fix the house." And that shut me up real quick. There was no way I could argue with that.

Cortney and I (try) to pride ourselves on the time we spend with the kids. And by that I mean that we spend as much time as possible being with them, doing the things they want to do while not letting our house become something the County Health Department needs to come investigate. Saturday is by far our favorite day of the week because we usually spend all day doing things as a family and we reserve the afternoon to do some specifically that the kids want to do. In the last 3 months, Will has become particularly fond of Cortney and that means that Cortney is NEVER allowed to sleep while Will is awake, because Will wants to play with Cortney every second of everyday. Will wakes up in the morning yelling, "Daddddddddy!" and comes running into our room and drags Cortney out of bed to watch a movie or play trains. My husband works very hard. He's gone quite frequently and has a lot of demands, and I'm sure there is nothing that he wants more than to sleep in till 8:30 or 9 on a Saturday morning, but he has never once complained or even seemed remotely inconvenienced when Will comes and grabs him in the morning. I do not know another father who is so excited to be a dad and he would literally be with the boys all day every day if he could and he would never complain about it.

I also realized this week (among other things) that I really enjoy being a wife. And I think most of the reason why I like being a wife is because Cortney is an extremely easy person to be a wife to. He comes home most days to a) a cluttered house that he had just cleaned the night before b) a somewhat frazzled wife who is trying to cook dinner/nurse/get Will a drink c) a random dinner or a combination of all three. However, the first thing he asks is, "what can I do to help you" and has never once commented on how the house is a mess or that he'll spend an hour cleaning tonight just like he did last night, and the night before. I like to think that I'm a good cook, and some days I am, but some days I'm really not. I don't think it is the wife's job to do all the cooking, but since I like to cook, I think it makes sense for me to do a bulk of it. And let me tell you, I've made some really unappetizing dinners in my time and Cortney NEVER complains. And he always tells me that I'm a really good cook and thanks me for dinner.

Ever since Duke was born, I've been making an increased effort to exercise and get in shape. I do this by waking up really early each morning to go running or go to the gym. Most days I get home from exercising and Cortney has fed Duke, changed him, gotten Will breakfast, and changed his clothes. I always like to think that my kids wake up around 7:30, but the reality it more like 7 and sometimes earlier, meaning less sleep time for Cortney. But again, he never complains and is always really encouraging of my fitness quest. He's not only sacrificing sleep, but he's also sacrificing his own exercise time. He could easily be the one to gets up to go work out but he encourages me to do it instead and lobbies that it give him more time with the boys if he stays home in the mornings.

I'm really thankful for Cortney and all of his imperfections. Cortney told me on our wedding day, "I don't think our marriage will be very romantic, but I can promise it will be a lot of fun" and I can say every year on our anniversary that he definitely held up his end of the bargain.

Will's Sunday Routine

For those of you who know Will, you know that he’s got an amazing little motor. Because he doesn’t know what it means to sit still unless he’s watching one of his favorite movies, we have not enjoyed Church as a family since Will has been able to walk…about a year and a half. I decided that I would try and illustrate what this is like by translating his actions into what I perceive to be his thoughts during the hour I chased him around at Church yesterday:

Ok, I’ve had enough. I got my bread and water, and there’s no way I’m sitting through any of these boring talks. I’m just gonna slowly walk toward the door…and…SEE YA! Haha, they fall for that every time. First thing’s first…need to hit the drinking founta….whoa! A fire extinguisher! Let’s take a closer look. Jeez dad, why won’t you ever let me play with that? Oh well, I’ll just open this door instead. SWEET! A room full of chairs! I’m just gonna walk across these rows of chairs for a little….OH YEAH, there’s a piano in here. Let’s see how everyone likes it when I bang on the keys. Perfect, dad is talking to someone! While he’s not looking for 12 seconds I’m going to somehow find a marker and color in the Children’s Hymn book. HAHA, sucker! Playing the piano is awes….wait, is that a microphone?! I’m totally going to talk into it like all the people in Church do. Too bad it’s not plugged in. I totally forgot! DRINKING FOUNTAIN! I think I’ll just run over there, wait, that’s all I do is run. I think the drinking fountain is right around th….where do these stairs go? More importantly, what does this light switch do? Oh, it’s dark! Light…dark…light…dar…jeez Dad, what’s your deal? You wait here, I’m going to walk up these stairs and open the door at the top of the room. HAHA, I love pretending that I can’t hear my Dad when he asks me not to do stuff, what a weirdo! Oh, it’s dark in here. I’ll walk around anyway…hey Dad, ok, ok, I’m coming. I need a drink anyway. Let me just pull out the footstool so I can reach it. WHAT’S THIS? There’s a pool of water on the footstool from when other people got drinks here? No use wasting it, I’ll just slurp it up….OUCH, let go of my arm and chill out Dad! I love drinking fountains…while I’m here I might as well spit it out. Jeez, the old man is no fun today. Ok…let’s run…another kid is running around! RACE! I’m totally winning, I’m so fas….is this the room with all the toys in it? Yep! Seriously, Dad’s talking to someone again? Rookie mistake, but the time he gets in here I’ll have gotten all these toys and make a huge mess. Haha, I knew he was going to be mad…you stay here and clean those up and I’m going to see what’s in this garbage can. What’s tha…HEY, let go! What’s in this room? Yikes! That’s where the boring meeting is…no thanks. Well, it’s freezing today, might as well try and go outside. Yeah, didn’t think he’d let me get too far. Hey, it’s my buddy Luke! TACKLE HIM! Well, explain this to me Dad, if tackling him is such a bad thing then why is he laughing? Whatever, time for another drink!

This is how it is every Sunday. It’s nonstop, relentless, exhausting, and actually a lot of fun

Will at the Doctor

This week Will came down with a nasty cold and there has been an outbreak of whooping cough in Columbus and apparently the rest of the US and since Duke is too young for that vaccination, I figured I should take Will to the Dr. to make sure he didn't have it, just for Duke's sake. Will had coughed ALL night, through his sleep, and well he just sounded awful. So I took him in Wednesday morning and thankfully Anna (an earth angel, she's always watching my kids in emergencies) could watch Duke and I'm SO glad she did because the next hour at the Dr. was hysterical/heart-wrenching.

Let's go back the last 2 Dr visits for Will. Last month he went and got a flu shot (not a positive experience as you might imagine). The dr visit prior to that was the last time Will was sick which was when Marcus was in the hospital (and I can't even remember when that was, but it seems like forever ago) and Will had a double ear infection. Ironically, this was not the traumatic part of this Dr visit. The traumatic part of this visit was that the Doctor, the nurse and me had to hold Will down for 5 minutes while he screamed and kicked so the Doctor could irrigate his ears to find out he had a double ear infection.

Given these last 2 experiences, it might explain why he started saying, "no! no! no!" when we were parking the car. And then when we walked in, he was covering his ears and saying, "home? home?" Luckily Max and Ruby was on the waiting room and I was able to distract him. We finally got into the exam room and I drew every stinkin' picture I could think of on the butcher paper to distract him a little longer, all the while Will was asking me to put his shoes on because he knows that if he has his shoes on we can leave.

And then the Doctor comes in...

And after assessing the situation, recommends that we test Will for W. Cough for Duke's sake because that could be really serious if Duke were to catch it. I knew it was coming and I felt awful for putting my son through torture so my other son could be healthy, but that's what I had to do. So out went the doctor to get the test. He came back with the swabs and a nurse for reinforcements. We pinned Will down and the Dr shoved swabs up each nostril, down the back of his throat and Will was screaming, "Hold you! Hold you!" the whole time with his arms stretched out. The second the Dr finished, I held Will and told him we could go and Will leaped out of my arms and ran out of the room, out of the Dr office and started banging on the car door.

Do you think there's any possible way we can get Will to go into the Doctor's office ever again? I don't think so.

Kid's Advent Activities

1. Put up Christmas flag or one Christmas decoration
2. Stamp, sign and send out Christmas cards
3. Get a green wreath or make a paper one and hang it
4. Decorate the Christmas tree
5. Make the house smell like Christmas (toss cinnamon sticks, cloves, anise seeds, etc in an old saucepan with water or apple cider and warm it up every once in a while)
6. Tell the Nativity story and set out Nativity.
7. Hang Candy canes on the tree and tell how the candy cane is like the Shepherd's crook.
8. Read a Christmas book or story
9. Make play-doh/salt dough and cut out Christmas shapes
10. Hang paper snowflakes from the ceiling
11. Make peanut butter pine cones to feed the birds
12. Hand mistletoe and kiss!
13. Call grandparents and sing a Christmas song
14. Drink hot chocolate and stir with candy canes
15. Make reindeer ears out of construction paper and sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
16. Color a Christmas picture
17. Give a present to the babysitter
18. Watch Christmas movies
19. Make a paper chain
20. Wrap a present for a favorite friend and take goodies to them.
21. Look at all our Christmas cards!
22. Dance to Christmas music
23. Drive around and look at lights
24. Read the Christmas Story and leave out cookies and milk for Santa.

Scripture Advent

1. Prophecy of Isaiah
2 Nephi 17:14
2 Nephi 19:6-7
2. Prophecy of Lehi
1 Nephi 10:4
3. Prophecy of Nephi
1 Nephi 11:9-24
4. Prophecy of Alma
Alma 7: 9-13
5. Prophecy of Samuel
Heleman 14:1-13
Heleman 16:1-8
6. Forerunner Who Prepared the Way
Luke 1:5-25
7. Annunciation to Mary
Luke 1: 26-38
8. Annunciation to Joseph
Matthew 1:18-25
9. Events in America the Year Before Christ's Birth
Heleman 16:13-23
10. Mary Visits Elizabeth
Luke 1:39-56
11. Birth of John the Baptist
Luke 1:57-80
D&C 84:27-28
12. Geneology of Jesus
Matthew 1:1-17
Luke 3:23-38
13. The Days Were Accomplished That She Should Be Delivered
Luke 2:1-6
14. Events in American the Day Before Jesus Was Born
3 Nephi 1:4-22
15. The Day of His Birth
D&C 20:1
16. Birth of the Messiah
Luke 2:7
17. While Shepherds Watched
Luke 2:8-20
18. Blessing and Prophecy of Simeon
Luke 2: 21-35
19. Prophecy of Anna
Luke 2:36-38
20. Wise Men Seek the Christ Child
Isaiah 60:2-3
Matthew 2:1-12
21. Flight into Egypt
Matthew 2:13-15
22. Slaughter of Children in Bethlehem
MAtthew 2:16-18
23. From Egypt to Nazareth
Matthew 2:19-23
24. Jesus' youth-Time of Preparation
Luke 2:40
25. Life Eternal Is to Come Unto Christ
John 3:16-17
D&C 34:1-4
Mosiah 3:17-18
Mosiah 5:7-8
2 Nephi 9:20-21
D&C 6:13, 14:7
Moroni 10:32-33

Thanksgiving 2010

This Thanksgiving has probably been my favorite Thanksgiving thus far in my 25 years of having Thanksgivings. We started out the day with a bang by running the Columbus 5 mile Turkey Trot. It was awesome. It was pouring rain when we left the house, but by the time we started the race, it was perfect running weather (misty and 55 degrees). In addition to the great weather, it was probably the most sentimental race I've ever run. It was basically a race passing every important landmark of our first 2 years living in Columbus. It started at the Shops on Lane Avenue where I would go and walk around when I was past the bed-ridden stage, but not feeling like I could really do anything that required much stage of pregnancy with Will. I'd go and walk around Bed Bath and Beyond and Pier One Imports waiting for Cortney to get out of class and wondering how I was ever going to last 4 more months of pregnancy. We ran past Tai's Asian Bistro, Pho's and Tommy's Pizza (all school food favorites when we had $10 burning a hole in our pocket). Past Fred Beekman Park (where I walked literally probably 100 miles while I was pregnant, and at least that many after I had Will, and it's still Cort's favorite place to run) where we played and watched tons of softball games. Past our apartment (still so close to our hearts). Past and around the football stadium (the Columbus Ohio Temple for non-LDS Columbus-ites). Past the Fisher College of Business (where we made eternal friendships, worked really really hard, and spent countless hours). Past the 7-11 where I'd get Slurpee's when my tummy could handle them. Past the Schott where we saw Michael McDonald and Bruce Springsteen, OSU basketball and hockey games. And then back up Lane (the namesake of Duke) to the Shops on Lane Avenue. It was the perfect race and we will definitely be doing it every year from now on.

Will also got to race and ran the Tot 100 yard Dash and loved it. We prepped him a little and made him watch the first kid race, so he knew what to do and he ran that race like a champ. Cortney ran with him and the pictures I have of those 2 running that race together have got to be in my top 10 all-time favorite pictures (to be posted later).

We went home and showered, took some power naps and went to work on dinner. After 3 thanksgivings being invited over to other's homes while we were students, we decided it was our turn to host some students and it was a blast. We had the Carters, Glenns, and Gochnours over and we had the best Thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. The menu included:

Brined herb roasted turkey (we'll be doing it this way from now on. SO juicy)
mashed potatoes
maple roasted sweet potatoes
candied sweet potatoes
green salad with pecans, feta, and cranberries
homemade cranberry sauce
orange rolls
homemade mac and cheese
stuffing
green beans with bacon vinaigrette (yum, yum, yum)
spinach dip
stuffed mushrooms

and dessert was the perfect combination:
banana creme pie
pumpkin cobbler
chocolate peanut butter pie

the best part was none of the desserts had traditional pie crusts (probably the only thing I can think of that I really don't like eating), so it really was the perfect dinner. We split everything up so no one was overwhelmed and we had a feast to show for it.

I have not had Thanksgiving with family members for 4 years and actually when I think of Thanksgiving now, I actually think of it as a "friends" holiday. Maybe that's just because it's been that way for the last few years. But either way, we laughed, ate, laughed and ate some more. It was a perfect day.