A special surprise for 2!

Friday night I went to a surprise baby shower we threw for Nate's cousin, Aleena. She is having twin girls! Aleena is amazingly strong. Because of a genetic disease both her and her husband, Sam, carry, they have lost many of their babies, either by miscarriage or shortly after birth. They have been blessed with one healthy and happy little boy, Bridger, who is a little older than Sadie. They found out that they are now having twin girls, both healthy! We are all so excited for her and so we decided to surprise her with a baby shower, it was a blast. The best was her face when we jumped out and yelled surprise, she was so surprised! We had a fun time having "girl talk" and seeing all of the cute clothes, times two!

Surprise!!! We all hid behind the kitchen furniture and wall and jumped out and yelled "surprise" when she came around the corner with Sam and Bridger. We were a little worried we'd send her into labor, but thank goodness we didn't!

A very dramatic doctor's visit

So this morning I had to take Sadie to the doctor's to check on her pneumonia. First of all I could not find my keys, still can't find them. So, Nate had to bring me his keys and I was late getting to the doctor's. Sadie didn't want to go to the doctor's but I told her she wouldn't have to get a shot and the doctor would just listen to her chest. Get to the doctors, all is okay, Sadie will have to go to Primary's to get a chest x-ray to make sure it's completely gone. No problem. But, the doctor notices I didn't get a flu shot for Sadie, whoops! We never got them growing up, so I forget to get them for my kids. Carson got his in November, but needed a booster (no big deal, he did fine).

So, Sadie has to get a shot, and she has a meltdown. An emotional, histerical meltdown. When the guy comes in to give her the shot, she is so histerical that they have to call in 2 extra nurses to help hold her down. During this whole thing she is looking at me and saying, "Mommy, please don't let them give me a shot," and I start crying. I couldn't help it I felt so bad and the tears just started coming.

The best part is that when we finally leave and get into the car, Sadie, who is still sniffling, says, "Mommy, I was really brave, huh?" and I could not help but laugh and say, "yeah, Sadie you were, and I am having a GREAT day!"

When did this happen?

Okay, so when did Sadie become a little girl and not my baby? When did she all of a sudden grow out of sippy cups and become old enough to be dropped off at a birthday party? It all happened so fast. And when, this is the big one, did she become smarter than me? One day I'm teaching her how to count to 10, and the next day she's BEATING ME in the game "Memory." And trust me I've tried. I did beat her once, but only because I put Dora on to distract her while we were playing.

so... um....

This is Carson's newest phrase. Before he says anything he says "so... um.." Like this morning he said "so... um... pancakes are good." It cracks me up, mostly because it makes me wonder if he got it from me. Do I say that before my sentences?

Why do our kids have to pick up on our bad habits? I can say "oh my gosh" once and Sadie is saying it 20 times a day. (I know it's not that bad, and sounds cute coming from a toddler, she was 2 at the time, but it's a little too close for comfort). But, then the few good habits I have, or try to have, they don't seem to catch onto. Like cleaning up, I clean up after myself, why can't my kids figure that one out?

Holland mints.... mmmmmm...

So, let's go back about 4 years to the week before I had Sadie. My mom was in town and we went shopping at Gardner Village. At the candy store there, my mom bought some easter candy because it was half off (if you know my mom you will understand). One of candies she bought were these little balls. They had a hard candy shell, then a thin layer of creamy milk chocolate (I'm talking Dove creamy) and then a soft mint center. I ended up taking them to the hospital when I had Sadie, and while sitting in there trying to figure out nursing, watching daytime TV, I ate those sweet little balls like they were manna from heaven.

I had no idea what they were called, but every time I've gone into the candy store at Gardner Village, I look to see if they have them. But I could never find them. Which brings us to yesterday. I am shopping with my sister in law, Marcella, and just happen to stop at the candy store. The free fudge was calling my name, what can I say? Anyway, I looked, like usual for the candies. And no luck, but I asked the cashier if she knew what in the world those little balls I've dreamed about for the last 4 years are even called..... and she led me to these candies called "Holland Mints." She even let me taste one to see if it was "the one." And it was! I was so excited. I think I tend to get abnormally excited about food. Needless to say, I bought some and they are wonderful! And they totally bring back memories of having my first baby and the sweetness of those times.

Carson's Top 5 List

Carson has a few things that he cannot (at least happily) live without. We like having these things around because, frankly, we prefer him happy.

1. The gerber "nuk" brand binkie. If we let him, he'd have it in his mouth 23.5 of the 24 hours of the day (allowing 30 minutes for eating). He LOVES his binkie. And I have to admit I do too, it helps him go right to sleep, and it plugs his mouth during church. Soon, we will have to say goodbye to the binkie, could be a traumatic day in our house.

2. "Monkey." Carson's monkey has got to be the most loved stuffed animal I know. He drags it around the house, snuggles it at night, and plays with it's tail while watching TV. I don't know why, I think it's a nervous habit, he likes it's tail.
3. Thomas the train, he loves Thomas. He will play train for hours.... that's great!
4. "Blanket." He loves his blanket, mostly when snuggling and sleeping, but it kind of goes along with "Binkie" and "Monkey" in the good-night routine.
5. "Boots." What can I say, the kid loves TV. But not just any TV show, he could watch Dora the Explorer nonstop all day long! (I don't let him of course.) But the first thing he says when he gets up the morning is usually "Boots."

Marcie's newest obsession.... digital scrapbooking!

So, I think I am a little behind the times when it comes to this addicting little invention, but I will still tell you that I think that this has got to be one of the most awesome things ever! I got this digital scrapbooking program for Christmas (it wasn't a surprise, but thanks Nate) and for the last week I have been a little crazy for it. There are 3 main things I LOVE about this:

1. I am so behind on scrapbooking, yeah like haven't even done a thing since Carson's birth. But, in the last week I've done 10 pages.... that's huge!

2. I can make multiple copies for siblings, myself, and grandparents, how awesome is that.

3. While it doesn't exactly involve cutting, glue, or any of that kind of "hands on" creativity, it still involves creating layouts, and gives me my creativity fix I need now and then.

Sorry scrapbooking table downstairs (which at the moment looks more like a Christmas-gift wrapping extravaganza), we might be finding a new use for you... any ideas?

All good things have to end....

Well, we flew back from WA. on New Year's Day. It's always sad leaving my family, but also always nice coming home to our home. Here are some pictures from our visit in Washington.


We went to the Seattle Science Center and watched "Santa Vs. the Snowman" at the Imax theatre there, hence the 3-D glasses. I had a fun visit with some high school friends, Mo (middle) with baby Asher, and Rachel and her 3 cute kids. It was fun catching up and seeing their kids in person for the first time.

Emily and Jordan were 2 of my high school friends that ended up getting married, so fun. And now they have a baby, Johnny. We had a blast visiting and they boys had some fun playing Wii. New Year's Eve we played games with my parents and siblings. It was so much fun, the later it got the more fun it got. About 11:30 we were playing this game called "would you rather" and Ryan got a challenge to let us put makeup on him, it was pretty funny. My dad added the lipstick and the hat..... looking back it was a lot more funny when we were all loopy.

Sadie and Jayna (Ramie's daughter) got matching ballet dress ups from Grandma Adams, they had a blast dressing up and dancing together.