Painting Demonstration

If anyone is curious to see an example of my painting process you can check it out here.

TV again

Am I mean if I took the new TV back? What if this is the replacement?:Brandon's brother upgraded. Probably the nicest hand-me-down I've seen in my life. Although, it is competing with the awesome Christmas tree that was handed down to us from some friends this year too. Remember our old little tree? We have a few oversized ornaments that fit so much better on this tree. They are from Brandon's childhood, so we always had to put them on. One is a 7" canoe, which I'm very skeptical that it's an ornament at all, but Brandon claims it is.

pointy elbows

Everyone has quirky things about them. I have discovered that Brandon has elbows with special powers. Special pointy powers. He used to have several long sleeve dress shirts for work, maybe 7 or 8. Now he has one. What happens to them all? The elbows all have holes in them. We've cut off the sleeves and hemmed them, and now he has a closet full of short sleeve shirts. If you ever see him at work don't be surprised if he still has his coat on. Maybe I should get him one of these jackets for Christmas:

Gingerbread Houses

Calvin and I were invited over to Brooke's for a fun morning of gingerbread decorating. Here are some samples of our creations.

new & exciting

I went to a Zumba class at the gym for the first time yesterday because everyone kept saying how great it is. And it's true! It was a combination of latin and hip hop dance turned into an aerobics class. But it really was more dance than aerobics. I LOVED it. Even if it didn't burn calories, I think I would go anyways, that's how fun it is. I loved the variety of people in the class too, the young, skinny, gym obsessed people, and old people, and larger people, everyone fits in.
The other new thing I tried is a paypal account. I feel so excited that any stranger in the world can so easily send me money. I just need to give them a reason to now...

(I would add a link here for you to send me money so I could really see how fun this is, but I don't know how to do that)

Parenting

Calvin has a serious problem with throwing his food. Nearly every meal and all kinds of food. Sometimes I think it's to tell us he's done eating, sometimes because he doesn't like a food, sometimes it's just for attention. We've tried a variety of methods to get him to stop, it's been going on for a loooong time. We've been doing more time outs lately. He's so funny about it, he doesn't care at all, he just stands in the corner until I tell him he is done. I'm pretty sure when I say "time out" I might as well be saying "let's play a game where you stand in the corner".

First real snow

This was Calvin's first real snow because last year he never played in it. This year he was fully equipped and ready to go. I think he was a little frustrated initially with the marshmallow look and how difficult that made it to walk around. He seemed to get used to it and when his neighbor friend invited him to come out again later, he was lovin' it.

Santa time

We meant to get pictures taken with Calvin & Santa last year, but it never happened. We had our ward Christmas party on Friday and I guess they had a hard time finding a Santa, not only was he an hour late, but he didn't pull it off really well. Even the two year old sitting next to me said, "that's not Santa!" We tried to have Calvin sit on his lap, but he was scared. Brandon insisted on a picture though, so here it is. The introduction:
The release:You can see he is trying hard to escape. Besides this one moment of the party, Calvin had a really good time. All the kids were running around the gym and eating lots of cookies. He loved it. He thought it was really funny to go over to the exit doors and smile at us while we motioned at him to come back. Then of course he would laugh and run out so we would chase him.
One time when I was following him around the hallways, I let him get too far ahead of me and he ran into the men's bathroom because someone had propped the door open. I stood there panicking, knowing any moment he was going to throw himself into the toilet. Since the door was wide open I could see that no one seemed to be in either of the stalls Calvin was running in and out of. I had been standing there for awhile trying to quickly figure out if I dared to run into the men's room or not. As he headed for a toilet, I went for it. As I spun around I realized the men's room was set up differently than the women's and besides the two stalls they also had urinals to the side of the door that I couldn't see before. Fortunately they were also empty because that could have turned into my most embarrassing moment ever.

Aspirations

Brandon is always telling me how he wants to be Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer or other guys with impressive skills. We have both been reading C.S. Lewis books lately and were discussing once again how amazed we are with his intelligence and grasp of spiritual concepts. So then Brandon said he would like to have the brain of C.S. Lewis with the skills of Jason Bourne. Quite the combo.

Recommendation

I tried to think of a pie to make for Thanksgiving and I thought it would be fun to attempt Pumpkin Cheesecake so I went with this recipe and it was delicious. I ended up making it late on Thanksgiving Eve and it was around 10:30 at night when I made all the filling and realized the recipe made enough for 2 pie pans. Not only is 10:30 at night a bad time to knock on a neighbor's door, but the night before Thanksgiving is for sure the most likely time out of the entire year that they will say they do not have a pie pan they can lend you. I opted for the bread pan. Not ideal, but it worked.

Extra washing

Calvin is always so anxious to get in the bathtub as soon as we walk into the bathroom he tries to climb in, even though he still has his clothes on. I decided to let him this time, hoping that it will help him realize why we take clothes off first. (I don't think he caught on, surprise, surprise) Plus, our washer has been broken for over a week, so why not let Calvin wash his clothes at the same time?

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

How did this happen?

Last week our laptop died. It was tragic and inevitable, so old, so slow. On Saturday we went shopping for a replacement. It was already nauseating to me to spend so much money all at once. Large purchases are difficult. You would think spending so much money would make us be more conservative with our spending for a little while... but I guess not.
A desktop was more logical and somehow we ended up with both a new computer and a new TV. Brandon is some sort of genius. I'm still a little confused about it all.
It all started when Brandon suggested we spend just a little more and get a TV to use as a computer monitor. That made sense to me. Then somehow we were buying a huge TV, and that turned into a reasonable size TV... and a computer monitor. So here I am sitting at the computer with monitor I expected we would buy, while Brandon is in the other room with a TV I would never ever agree to buy - but did. Genius.

Skunk farmers and our skunk

Calvin's favorite part of our ward Halloween party: the cupcake

Coloring

As I mentioned on my other blog Calvin is obsessed with coloring. He throws a fit unless I let him color several, several times a day. He mainly likes to draw balls. And then he insists that I draw some balls too. Every now and then he'll request a duck or a truck. He is getting pretty good at his circles, which makes sense considering how many he draws a day. I like how he sticks his finger out on the crayon for better control. Maybe by the time he's two he'll get it down and ready to move onto squares.
Although crayons aren't the ideal medium, it's nice for me to get in a little extra sketching too.

Memory

A couple things I read the other day in a science magazine:

- there are around 30 people in this world that have a condition where they can't feel pain. At first I thought, wow, I'm jealous. And then I realized there are actually a lot of disadvantages to not feeling pain. Pain tells us when things are wrong. They can sense touch, but no pain. Sometimes it is tempting for them as kids to show off their abilities by putting knives into themselves or jump off buildings... and sometimes they die from it.

- couples can remember more with each other than 2 people who aren't a couple. In family relationships we unofficially assign people to be the expert in certain things and we don't bother to remember those things because we know we can access that information from the other person. A shared memory system is more efficient for our brains.

Pie Eating Competitors

Last week we had a fun little neighborhood party. We had a chili cook off, pumpkin carving contest and pie eating contest. They let couples compete together to eat to eat the pie. It was a tag team effort. We didn't even come close to winning. We ate probably 3/4 pie and gave up. yeah, we're pie eating wimps.
I made my first pumpkin pie ever. It was pretty simple and I think it turned out great too. I used the perfect pumpkin pie recipe.

Vaccines

Does anyone else have no idea whether to have their kid get flu vaccines or not? And then we also have to decide if Brandon and I need vaccines so we don't increase the chance of Calvin getting sick.
My doctor says it's a good idea, and I tend to trust his opinion. He's a smart, educated guy. So many people I've talked to though seem to think doctors are part of some government conspiracy and they just tell people it's safe and a good idea when it's really not?
I've talked to so many people about it and read lots of things online, but I still feel like no one has a perfect answer. It seems like a guessing game, whether Calvin would catch either flu and how bad would it be? Or, are the vaccines as safe as they claim - or would Calvin be affected by it, either now, or down the road sometime?
Are people afraid of the vaccine giving their kid autism, a poor immune system when they're 20, being paralyzed, or just getting the flu from the shot? Those are all the things I've heard so far. (some for the seasonal flu shot and others for the swine flu)
If you have an opinion and some more info, I'm all ears.

3 year test

I was unaware that 3 years after you graduate from BYU they send you a test to see how smart you still are. ok, technically it's a survey, but it sure felt like a 14 page scantron test from the testing center. I was pretty confident in the section on Fine Arts. I attend events, I understand elements of design, I participate, it my career after all. However, there's no doubt I failed in some of the other categories. history, science, writing. I think I still have high school level skills at best in those categories.
Another tricky part of the test was on the level of my testimony. seriously. I've never specifically had to rank so many different aspects of my spirituality before.
I'm going to study hard before the next test arrives. I'm guessing it will come in another 7 years. I hope they don't change the questions so I can be ready for it.

Park

Calvin and I were at the nearby park where we go every other day or so. There are often crude words written on the playground equipment that are later washed off and then new words and phrases appear soon after that. I listened to a few jr. high kids talk about several disturbing things while Calvin played on the grass. When he wandered over to the playground equipment I could see they were wearing out their sharpie marker all over the newly cleaned equipment. I had a quick chat with them how the park was for kids and they shouldn't be writing that crap everywhere. They seemed to think no one cared until I informed them that the police care and if someone reports them they will receive a nice fat fine. They apologized and said they would clean it up later. I bet. It was kind of fun to chew them out. It would have been even better if I had something prepared. Maybe next time...

Pho Noodle House in Orem

I have been watching this restaurant and waiting for it to open since we moved here. The closest Vietnamese place before was in Salt Lake and I've never managed to make it to one, as much as I love Vietnamese restaurants. Their summer rolls were amazing! lovelovelove them. The meal I had was really good, but not the same flavor I was hoping for. I did email the restaurant I love so much in Sacramento, hoping I could convince them to expand. I haven't heard back yet.

Brandon's favorite toy

No, this is not a post about Brandon's favorite toy when he was 7. This is about Brandon's favorite toy NOW. Technically Calvin's toy, but if Brandon is home Calvin is lucky if he gets to play with it.
It is quite impressive that he is able to figure out how to play songs on his own. Here is a performance of "Doe a Deer". He has gradually built up his repertoire to include "Mary had a little lamb", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Joy to the World" and he is currently mastering "Choose the Right". To view a live performance all you have to do is drop by, no performance request is necessary.

Halloween practice

As I mentioned last year, the best part about Calvin dressing up is how much it makes me laugh. He loves this costume and has brought it to me several times so I would put it on him. After 4 or 5 times of that, he decided to bring it to me for me to put on. Of course I can't fit on the whole costume, but he seems amused whenever he can convince me to at least put the head piece on.

p.s. there is a little more to the costume, so stay tuned for Halloween.
And I'm not sure if we should start a tradition from last year's costumes and dress up as a family of skunks?

Hidden Treasures

Brandon has been going through a box of things from his childhood. As he does this I am writing the blog about it.

This is the Helicar he invented:The police motto he wrote with his friend Justin, apparently they were 2 very focused 7 year olds with dreams to be cops/detectives/or FBI agents.Neither of us are sure what it means to "serve the public trust"

This was a first grade treasure he came across that he kindly modeled for me:

(Make sure you click to enlarge this so you can read the text)

And I'm pretty sure Brandon's handwriting was better when he was in 1st grade. Although, he says if he tried he could write as good as he did when he was 7.

Earth bags

I love these grocery bags. You can fit so much in them and they're way easier to carry than a whole bunch of plastic ones, especially when herding a 1 year old at the same time. I know the intent is to save the earth, and I'd like to take credit for doing my part but I'll be honest - I'm just in it for the convenience. If only all the ways of saving the earth made my life easier.

First love

I thought it was the cutest thing ever when Calvin learned to say "I love you" in sign language to me and Brandon. However, I wasn't so sure how I felt about it when he said it to a little girl in a cute pink sweater at the park today. Brandon is going to have a talk with him.

Shoe Size 20

Brandon and my sister were discussing large shoe sizes and in what situations they would be willing to wear opposite genders shoes. Heather and I guessed Brandon's size 14 feet would probably be quite large in women's. When we told Brandon he probably wore size 20 in women's shoes he immediately wanted a pair just so he could say he wears size 20. Anyone know where we could pick some up? I'm guessing we'll have to custom order those.

Another Finished

Remember that competition awhile back? You might think it has taken forever for me to complete these little paintings, but really I am done 6 months early. I hope everyone likes what they got. If not, oh well, that's part of the rules, right?



p.s. if you haven't received your prize yet, I still have to send out the monkey to Heather, the elephants to Marybeth, and the ducks to Ashley. And they are all about 6 x 6, so if they are matted they will fit well in a standard 10 x 10 (scrapbook size) frame.

The Completed Toy Box

There it is. Finished. It's cool to have something in our home that Brandon and I worked on together to make for Calvin.

remote difficulties

Ever since we moved to our new place the remote for our dvd player no longer works. Since the dvd player has only 3 buttons on it that has left us reliant on our universal remote to do anything more than press play. However, finding the correct code has been tricky. For now we are working with code 1087, which makes our dvd do things, but not what the buttons say. (see post-it) We feel like we are at full functioning level with the remote and can select any option we need to with our code sheet.
For example, last night we were watching a movie that was a little hard to understand. No problem, we pressed left arrow and subtitles showed up. If someone walked in and said, "hey, I missed chapter 17, can we go back?" to which I would reply, "why, of course" and hit 5 and then 1. Piece of cake.

Layers of Learning

I have a friend that participates in this great blog where some home schooling and education minded moms share ideas of how they teach their kids in creative ways, including how to elaborate on the ideas depending on how much you want to get into the subject. I really liked this video they posted a little while ago about government.

I don't do a whole lot of teaching, but I have been tutoring a couple girls in a few subjects, mostly math. They both struggle with fractions (who doesn't?) so I have been looking for ways to make it visual as my friend suggested.

I made some pie crust that we rolled out into several small circles and would use a pizza cutter to divide them up and I would ask her questions about the fraction, have her write it out, and then add some of them together, etc. She had a lot of fun with it so I felt pretty successful.

The next week we made pizza because I knew we would need a lot of fractions to work with the recipe. As she added ingredients I would ask her about the different measurements and how to get the amount we need. (ie: 1/4 tsp. to make 1/2 tsp.)
After it was cooked we cut up the pizza and I asked her more questions about how the slices in terms of fractions.
While the dough was rising we went over some concepts using this site and then she played some games on the computer from this website. Some of them were too complicated. She did really well with the balloon game, the flower game & the butterfly game was her favorite.

So if any of your kids have a hard time with fractions this year, there are some ideas for you. And LOTS of ideas at layers-of-learning.blogspot.com

Successful partying

On Saturday night we went to Brandon's work party. It was a nice dinner and live music and lots of awesome prizes, like a plasma screen or a foosball table. Brandon even won something! A crock pot. ooooh. Although the crock pot isn't that exciting, it was still cool to win.

Selfish

I'm not sure if I understand selfishness. I feel like everything I do is coming from a selfish perspective, even the stuff that seems like I'm doing service or being generous. I don't think I would go out of my way to help other people if I felt lousy for it. Even if the task is a miserable one, I still feel better about myself for being a good person. I can't think of anything I do that doesn't have a selfish intent. Or anything anyone does for that matter. There must be something I'm missing.

Jackson Hole

We just got back from a fun vacation to Jackson Hole with Brandon's family. It was a surprise vacation for Brandon's dad to celebrate his 70th birthday with all of Brandon's siblings and their families. We stayed at an awesome house and did lots of great outdoor stuff. Great weekend.
And as far as I know, that is the last of our many vacations this summer. It has been awesome. New York & D.C. with friends, then the ocean in Washington with my family, Jackson Hole with Brandon's family. I have a feeling next summer might be kind of lame compared to this one.

Trouble

We are loving our new apartment. However, there are always some things that aren't exactly the way you'd like them, right? For example, the fixtures around the place are new and nice, but the door handles are a PROBLEM. They are so convenient to open, so convenient even a one year old can open them! It takes some effort, some standing on his toes, but he has opened a few doors now and he loves it. And I don't.

Brick, Wood, Sheep, Wheat, & Ore

Some of you may remember my post about Cupcakes of Catan awhile back. We had some friends visiting from out of town and it seemed like a good occasion to make it happen. You might be wondering - did it make the game a little tricky? yes. did it take awhile time to make? yes (which was fun as well). Was it worth the extra effort? YYYYeeeesss!a few added notes: If you can't tell from the pictures, it's graham crackers for wood, twizzlers for brick, & neccos with red gel icing for the numbers. I had an old art board I threw some paint on for the water. We used skittles for houses, gummy bears for cities, cut up air heads for roads and a picture of a thief on a toothpick for the robber. Good times... if only we had won!

Broiler Bandits

That is what Brandon has named us, with the plan that we will accidentally take the broiler pan from the oven out of every place we ever live in. Right now we have three broiler pans. Although I plan to return one to the apartment we just moved from. Hopefully we'll get by okay with just the two.

non-blogging

We just got back from a great time at the ocean with lots of family, and to keep things interesting, this week we are moving. It's a whole 15 minutes away from where we live now. So who knows when we'll be internet ready at the new place? Blogging may or may not be scarce...
In the meantime, here is a great site that I am very attached to financially: mint.com It's a website that will connect to all your financial accounts, like banks & credit cards, and instead of going to multiple sites to try and keep track of what you spend where, it tells you in nice little charts and graphs. It can even send you emails when you go over the budget you set up. Love it.

Sewing

I recently borrowed my sister in law's sewing machine for a little bit and I was able to cram in all kinds of mending. Pretty much the entire pile that we have accumulated since we got married almost 3 years ago. One pair of pants turned to shorts, long skirt turned to a short one, 5 long sleeve shirts turned into short sleeves (Brandon always busts out of the elbows somehow), 4 pillows covered, 3 sweaters with holes patched, a skirt & shirt re-hemmed, one skirt turned into a bag, and I sewed a small bag for Calvin since he always tries to carry around my purse and the diaper bag, etc. Now he has one his size, that of course he has no interest in.

Toy Box paint options

Here are some of the things we put in Calvin's room, so whatever design we choose for the toy box it will be in these kind of colors. This is what I have so far, try to image them in more accurate colors and a lot nicer.

Toy Box style A:
Toy Box style B (aquarium):
Toy Box style C:

Feel free to voice your opinion on the poll ->