You Want Me to Do What?!

Adam and I were sitting in Sunday School listening and paying attention as best we could with Caroline distracting me and me distracting Adam. I made an "excellent comment" (as the teacher stated) regarding the lesson. I felt so smart and so witty. The class ended and Adam and I began a little discussion amongst ourselves.

The next thing I know the 1st Counselor in the R.S. Presidency is walking toward me. She is a sweet old lady and I really didn't see her come our direction. She complemented Caroline on how cute she is and how adorable her smile is, etc. In hind sight, that was all to butter me up in order to ask me the question "will you teach the lesson in R.S. 2 weeks from today?" Excuse me?! You want me to do what?! There's NO WAY I can teach R.S. I am barely (and I mean barely) knowledgeable enough to get by on a primary level, let alone teach a bunch of women a lesson. What do I say? Where's my wittiness and my smartness now? It left me clear in the dust.

I replied by saying "Sure." This sweet sister turned to Adam and said something to the effect of "She answered so confidently and without fear. I bet she's going to do great!" I replied and said Check with me the Saturday before to see just how much fear I've got."

Fortunately, it is the start of a new year and one of my goals will come in handy as I study and prepare for teaching this lesson. Maybe that's why I got asked....the Lord knows what I want to accomplish and for this he is making me stretch out of my comfort zone. Last time I set any goals! The lesson is on The First Vision and is out of the new 2008-2009 manual Joseph Smith.

Some of you may think, "what's the big deal? It's the First Vision. It's a common story we've all heard, you should KNOW the material." To which I reply, in my experience it's always the common stories and information that we (okay, I) take forgranted until we (I) start studying the material that we find (I find) just how inadequately we (I) really know this information. The feelings of overwhelmed, inadequateness, being incapable, etc. have already crept into my sense of self and now I get to stew on it for another 2 weeks.

I guess I should be grateful for one thing....at least I don't have to speak in Sacrament Meeting. That's another whole can of worms I care not to go into.

I know you will all being very interested and waiting with baited breath to know how my lesson goes. I will let you all know with a post after this lesson has been taught just how well or not so well it goes. Maybe if I totally suck at teaching the lesson they'll NEVER ask me to teach again. Now there's a thought. I'll take it under consideration/advisement.

*******Note: I'm happy to take any suggestions any or all of you might have for the lesson.

Christmas Pictures

On the post Merry Christmas!, there weren't any pictures of the grand morning. It was only because I had not had the chance to take them off the camera and go through them. Now that I have had a chance, I'll post the pictures for your viewing pleasure. It was so much fun to see Owen rip through his presents. I can only imagine what next year will bring with 2 of them ripping through the presents. I can hardly wait!

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"Diapie" Fest

Now that Owen can get out of his bed by himself, he likes to explore his room (I didn't think there was anything to "explore"-WRONG again!) after we close the door when we put him down for his nap. Owen LOVES to sleep with a cloth burp diaper when he's falling asleep. We call them "diapies". Adam checked on Owen the other day while he was sleeping and found the entire bin on diapies on his bed. He has like 40 or so diapies. (He had GERD as a baby which called for dozens of cloth burp rags or diapies to be in the house). When he got up from his nap, I had to take a picture of the "Diapie Fest" taking place on his bed while he was sleeping. Too bad I couldn't have snapped a picture with Owen in the middle of the diapies.

Merry Christmas!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful morning. The kids slept until about 7:30 or so, along with the rest of the house. As Adam and I were getting the cameras set up and getting ready to go get the kids, we looked down and there was Owen, who had unzipped his jammies and wandered an out into the kitchen. Owen has put everything together and now climbs down off his bed and opens the door. Merry Christmas to me and Adam, right?!

We opened presents, Owen saw his trike that Santa brought him. He ran over to the trike and sat down. He would get off, open a present and then hop right back on the trike. It was cute. The trike we got him is pictured at the left, minus the canopy. I'm now seriously considering getting him the canopy. We'll see.

Once the presents were opened and phone calls were made, it was time to put the kids down for their naps. Keeping in mind what Owen has already done this morning, he did it MULTIPLE times when trying to put him down for a nap. Needless to say, the door knob has now been turned with the lock on the hall side of the door. We said good night and locked the door behind us. (It took Adam and me each 3 times to put him down). The next thing we heard was Owen knocking on the door for him to be let out. So sorry, Onie B, ain't happenin'. Hopefully, he'll figure out that nap time is nap time and there's no getting out. I'm dreamin' I realize, but isn't this the time of year for that kind of thing anyway?

Adam and I spoiled one another with a new camera this year. We actually got it on Black Friday when Ritz was having their smokin' deals. We got the Nikon D40X model and love it. It takes beautiful pictures that are sharp and clear. Now, we (okay me) just need to figure out all of the features on the camera.

Anywho. We want to wish you each a very merry Christmas and hope you are with those you love, enjoying the reason why we celebrate this holiday. May you all continue to feel the love of the Savior in your life.

A Holding Pen

Owen has been in desperate need of a new dresser. He was still using the dresser in the nursery (Cari's room) for his clothes. Cari's clothes were in plastic storage bins on top of the dresser. This was all fine and dandy for the first few months, like 3. The clothes that she had grown out of were on top of those bins. It had long since begun to drive me crazy and the room just looked messy, cluttered and not the way I want it. It just started to be too cumbersome and aggravating to me.

Adam and I purchased Owen a new dresser for Christmas. We purchased the dresser from IKEA. I thought it was going to be cheap compressed particle board with just a veneer of pine and stain. I was wrong. It is solid pine. I was impressed. I still think it's a little spendy for having to put it together yourself and that it's pine wood, but all considered it should last Owen for many, many years to come.

So, of course Adam put it together and had his little helper right there with him the whole time. Owen darst not be seperate from a project involving screwdrivers, hammers, screws, nails, glue, etc. He, as usual, was right in the think of it all. I'm happy with the way it turned out, and mostly happy that I can now get Cari's clothes into a dresser of her own.

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12 Days of Christmas

What a performance on this video. Click on this link, turn up your sound and enjoy a very entertaining rendition of the "12 Days of Christmas". You won't want to hear it any other way after this.

ENJOY!!!!

"All I Want for Christmas is My 4 Front Teeth"

I've been singing that song to Caroline for the last few weeks. She seem to hear exactly what I was saying as her top two teeth popped through.

Sunday morning rolls around and she still doesn't seem to be feeling well. It's now about 2 1/2 weeks with a cold. I told Adam I'd call the pediatrician's office in the morning and make an appointment for her. Not very excited about having to take her in, I finished getting her dressed and ready for church.

As she was drinking her bottle at church, she leaned back and was smiling at Owen who was making her giggle. When she leaned back and smiled, I thought I noticed a third tooth had popped through. Upon closer inspection of her mouth, sure enough the third top tooth came through and her gums were bulging, red, and swollen for the tooth on the other side. I couldn't believe it!

Owen popped teeth through all the time, but he NEVER cut 4 teeth at the same time. This is definitely a Grimsley gene with early teethers. Caroline and Owen may look like me, but they cut their teeth like their Dad.

Oh Christmas Tree....

Adam and I went out last Friday and picked up our tree. We went to Mast-Roth Farms, which is from Oregon, set up in the Potato Barn parking lot. We walked around and around. We decided to check a couple of more tree lots, but ended up right back where we started. We got a great tree. Owen loved tromping around in the mud and thought that was great fun. The tree was loaded onto the car. We thought it would be okay driving the 2 miles home. But, as we pulled out of the lot, the tree slid halfway down the car. That should've been a clue to me as to how the rest of the tree experience was going to go. Needless to say, I didn't pick up on the clue.

Adam got the tree into the stand and into the house just right. I went to fill up the tree with water and then it all went downhill from there.

As I was filling the tree, it started to topple over, and eventually fell completely over. I was screaming, "whoa! whoa! whoa! whoa!" Adam did not understand what was wrong and thought I should've said "help the tree is falling." Apparently, "Whoa!" didn't communicate that there was a problem and he should come see what the problem is. Adam got the tree back into the stand and stood back up while I mopped up the water from the stand. Once he got the tree settled and watered, Adam put some strands of lights on.

Now, I say "some strands" because I had to put more on. I LOVE lights on my Christmas tree. I would like to have the Griswold house of lights on my Christmas tree. I don't think I would like the electric bill, but it sure would be pretty. After I put more lights on the tree, I wrapped it with the ribbon. That's where the progress stopped. Until last night.

I had grand visions of a wonderful FHE and everyone helping decorate the tree with Owen putting the star on the top (with Adam's help of course). Instead what I got was an almost 2 year old throwing a tantrum because he couldn't play in the front room (we have baby gates blocking off the room all together). He wanted to play - which equals getting into things he shouldn't - instead of helping to decorate the tree. I thought he would like to hang the ornaments on the tree.

I got 3 broken ornaments (he threw a small glass one into the bin and in the process broke 2 others), a temper tantrum, and no help decorating the tree. I decorated the tree by myself after putting Caroline to bed. I like the tree, it turned out okay, but definitely is not decorated my favorite. I can't quite figure out what it is I don't like about it.

Maybe next year I'll have at least 1 kid who looks forward to decorating the tree as much as I do. Otherwise, I'll seriously consider hiring someone next year to come in and decorate it for me; in addition, I'll get the kids their own tree and they can decorate it how ever they want and I'll have my own tree and NO ONE will touch it.

(I'll post pictures later)

Updated: 12/28/07 (a little behind I know, I know):

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Weeweechu

I got this e-mail from a girlfriend of mine. It is so funny. I died laughing. I couldn't resist, I had to post it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did (and do)........

Pedro & His Girl

One beautiful December evening Pedro and his girlfriend Rosita were sitting by the side of the ocean.

It was a romantic full moon, when Pedro said,"Hey, mamacita, let's do Weeweechu."
Oh no, not now, let's look at the moon!" said Rosita.
"Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I do Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Pedro begged.

"But I wanna just hold your hand and watch the moon." replied Rosita.

Please, corazoncito, just once, do Weeweechu with me."
Rosita looked at Pedro and said, "OK, one time, we'll do Weeweechu."

Pedro grabbed his guitar and they both sang....."Weeweechu a Merry Christmas. Weeweechu a Merry Christmas,Weeweechu a Merry Christmas. and a Happy New Year."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Orange Bowl

I tell Adam he's free to add to the blog whenever he wants (granted I'll go back to proof, edit, and approve of his additions, but he can still do it). So when Adam told me he "made some updates" to the blog, you can imagine my thoughts of shock, horror and terror as to what he could have possibly done. I hurried and logged on to the blog and saw the little orange box in the sidebar.

I live in a house with an avid Hokie football fan. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to watch sports, and am growing more and more fond of college football than I would have ever thought possible. It obviously goes without saying that the Hokies (the Atlantic Coast Conference "ACC" Champions) are going to the Orange Bowl and will be playing the University of Kansas on January 3, 2008.

I'll let Adam have his "moment" on the blog. Let's just hope that the Hokies don't blow it and will actually win their "moment" on January 3, 2008, rather than have history continue to repeat itself. GO HOKIES!!!

**Note: I did not have to consult Adam to know what "ACC" stood for, nor did I have to ask him which bowl the Hokies are going to as I already knew this information. I HATE the BCS and think there should be a playoff system in place for college football, rather than the ridiculous BCS system. The question now is how many of you know what a "Hokie" is? Rebecca, you can't say anything, comment or "answer" that question! :-)

Outtakes

Here are some of the outtakes of the family pictures taken last weekend. It was so much fun to do this. Now, the hard part is choosing just the right one to put up in our house.....

I love this one of Caroline. She looks so comtemplative while sucking on her lower lip.

Family Picture Day

I've always wanted to have our family pictures taken. But, because I have been pregnant the last two Christmases (no I am not pregnant this Christmas!) I haven't wanted to take pictures. This year we finally were able to have them done. We had our family pictures last Sunday. The appointment was originally scheduled for last Saturday, but because of the rain, it got bumped to Sunday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous last Sunday. The photographer was Annie Randall. She did a really great job. When I get the CD from her, I will post a few more.

While waiting for the photographer, Adam snapped a few pictures that turned out really cute, at least the pictures of just the kids.

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Another Milestone for Caroline

Caroline has been pretty restless this week. I would put her down for her nap and 45 minutes later she would be awake again. She had a cold (almost over it) and wasn't feeling all that great. I deduced the restlessness to her cold, cutting knew teeth, or reaching a new milestone.

Well, I was right about all three. Her top left tooth broke through this weekend (the top right broke through early last week - that's 4 teeth now), and she has now finally gotten the hang of sitting herself up.

She was having a little bit of trouble getting her badonkadonk over her foot and she would finally just give up and flop back to her belly. Tonight, she mastered that! She's done it several times now and I think she will finally do it on a regular basis.

Now, she just needs to learn to fall to her knees and not do a face plant to get to her belly/crawling position so she can be off and crawling. She's growing so big and so fast, it's hard to believe she 8 months old!

Now That's a Sunday!

We get an early start on Sunday morning 'cause our ward meets at 8:00 a.m. But, we have to be there by 7:30 in order to get a decent seat in the chapel. (By decent I mean a padded bench and not the hard, metal folding chairs.) We start our morning at 5:45, or 6:00 at the latest, in order to get ready and then get the kids up, dressed, fed and out the door.

Typically by the time Sunday School rolls around, I am wiped out and could use a nap. I so looked forward to Sunday afternoons, in the hopes that the kids will both be asleep at the same time. I received that choice blessing this afternoon.

We got home fed the kids their lunch, and ate lunch ourselves. Next stop, putting the kids down. This doesn't always go smoothly, but today it did. Owen went down, no problemo. Caroline took a little bit longer because she was so tired (about 45 minutes after Owen). With both kids asleep and the house cricket quiet, I crawled up on our bed. No more than 3 minutes later I was out.

Three hours later Caroline woke up. I woke up to her cooing in her crib. I got up to get her, Adam woke up and finally Owen (after about a 3 1/2 hour nap). It was a marvelous Sunday.

Kids are happy, Dad is happy, but most importantly MOM IS HAPPY, now that I've had a nap! Now, let's hope that I will be able to fall asleep somewhat quickly after that glorious 3 hour nap.

Creating a Monster

I was so envious of everyone's cute and darling blogs (i.e., the backgrounds, embellishments, etc.) that I asked my friend Lorena to help, make that teach, me how she created her blog. I went to her house today for my lesson. Like an idiot, I forgot my laptop so I didn't get the "hands on" approach that I like when I am learning how to do something new. In my defense, I did remember to bring both kids, their diapers, lunch for Caroline and Owen's juice cup. Isn't that enough? Anywho, I thought for sure that I was going to be calling her and having her walk me through it again step-by-step because I couldn't remember it all.

Much to my surprise, I remembered everything - because she's a great teacher!- and now I have my own cute backgrounds, embellishments, etc. The only problem is I think she's created a monster with all of this. I can picture myself now changing the blog at my every whim just because. I honestly couldn't believe how easy it was.

Thanks, again, Lorena for your help. I appreciate it!

Just a Twist of the Knob

Owen has figured out how to open doors. I'm so screwed! Our master bedroom has french doors (which I hate) instead of a window (which I am coveting, especially this time of year). When I want to open the french doors, I have to shut our bedroom door to make sure Baxter, Lincoln and Owen don't escape outside.

After I was done changing Caroline Saturday morning, I realized my bedroom door was open and Owen was standing by the french doors eyeballing the outside. I thought maybe I hadn't completely latched the door and that was why it was open. Then, to my disliking, and Adam's chagrin, he opened the bathroom door (yes, while Adam was in there) and came right on in like he owned the joint. Again, thought maybe he got lucky and opened the door because it was closed tightly, I don't know.

It wasn't until Adam told Owen to go let Baxter out of the bathroom (Bax goes in the bathroom while Owen is eating, otherwise Bax eats more of the meal than Owen. Yes, Jauss that's the way it is, don't knock it!). Now, I know that I tightly latched the door when I put Bax in the bathroom. So, when I hear Bax come out of the bathroom and Owen is following behind him, I knew for sure that he could open the doors all on his own.

I guess it's a good thing that we have a baby gate that blocks the front door or he might go right on outside without me even knowing it. I'm also pretty sure that Owen hasn't figured out that if he can open the bathroom/bedroom door that the same concept works for the pantry door. This is a matter of time I'm sure and I shudder to think of the messes that will be made once this happens.

Ready! Set! Not Quite Yet!

Caroline is oh so close to crawling, forward that is. She'll get up on her hands and knees, rock back and forth, and even take a few "steps" backwards. She hasn't quite got it together that she can go forward if she just puts her hand, then her knees in that direction. Since she hasn't gotten it together, she'll flop back down to her belly and "inch worm" her way forward.

Adam says she'll be crawling before or right around Christmas. I say it's going to be a little bit later, like around Owen's birthday. Adam is probably going to be right, but we'll see. I'll have my hands full for sure regardless of whenever she decides to get it together.

The last picture her face is a little blury, but I thought it was still a cute picture, which is why it landed on here.

Finger Lickin' Good

Adam and I have been trying to teach Owen that when he gets something on his fingers, instead of freaking out 'cause there could be a grain of rice (he's literally freaked out over this before), he can just lick it off his finger - table manners will come later, TRUST ME!

Anywho. This could be one time where I would've been happy he freaked out instead of licking his fingers.








What is that on his mouth and hands? It's paint primer! While I was content to work by myself on Owen's coat rack for his bedroom, Owen decided to take a break from helping Daddy and come into the garage and "help" me. I was very dilligent to watch where his little feeties were going so he didn't knock over the never-before-opened (or used) quart of blue paint onto the garage floor. (I did knock over a quart of green paint onto the garage floor. In my defense, I was almost 9 months pregnant with Caroline! Aren't we all just a little bit more clumsy when we're pregos, especially that far along?!)

But, before I could grab his hands - or even noticed that he had done this - he had picked up the sponge brush that was full of primer with his hand and stuck it in his mouth to lick off whatever had gotten on his hand. Fortunately, it was latex paint primer and there wasn't a whole lot on his hand or that got into his mouth.

I think we'll start working on those table manners sooner rather than later.

Comfy Resting Spot

I walked into our bedroom to find Lincoln warming himself under the small lamp that sits on my bookshelf. Sometimes he'll crawl into the bookshelf, but today he semed to be content on just sitting on top under the lamp. As you can see, he was all too happy to have me take his picture.

By Popular Demand.....

Since I neglected to post pictures of the "finished" product after Adam got done hanging the Christmas lights, bow, bells, wreath, and me finishing the inside deocrations, and because many of you have been asking for them, here are some of the finished product pictures.



Once we get our tree (as it's a tradition to buy a fresh tree each year), I'll have some posts of that as well, as I'm sure you all can hardly wait for that.