Miscellaneous Monday a day late (and probably a dollar short)

"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K." If you know that quote, then maybe you loved that movie as much as I did (can you name it?) ... although nothing strange is happening here and we don't have a Circle K anywhere nearby. But for some reason that popped into my head ...

Well I started out the week feeling adventurous. Yes, that means doing my daughter's hair. :) Her hair is so easy and cute to just put a bow barrette into it that it's generally what I end up doing. But I realized recently that if she's going to be my only little girl (you never know) that I should curl her hair and make it really girly and cute sometimes. (Melissa, this is all your fault for having Zoe's hair so cute that Sunday ...) So I cut up a T-shirt and rolled up her hair. We did this to my sister Rebecca when she was a teen (only with socks -- why didn't we think of a T-shirt that would have been more comfortable to sleep in?), and it always looked cute. So I decided to try it with Shayla. Here's what we got:

Yes, Melissa, this was your fault! ;) Shayla was just happy that her hair was curly. When I laughed she got mad, so I had to tread lightly. No way I was letting her go to church like that! So, we used Becca's crimping iron to save the day:


Shayla didn't like it and wanted me to use the straightener to make it straight again (thus the tongue being stuck out), but I convinced her to just go to church with it curly. I think she got a few compliments (her hair is normally stick straight like mine), so that probably helped. Disaster avoided.

Last night Tyler was in charge of our family home evening lesson. I love when he is convinced he has to do an object lesson. I think they did this in his class recently. He took a jar of water and put it in a larger container of dirty water. His point was that we can stay clean even if the world around us is dirty. Love it when they start getting these kinds of concepts and analogies:


And my kids were thrilled (and a little scared) to hold the new puppies in the family. My sister's chiweenie gave birth to five puppies (!!!!) just over a week ago. They still haven't opened their eyes yet, but the kids love to see 'em:



(Should I mention that Shayla dropped this one? She dropped it into Nick's hands before he was ready to take it. Oops!)



Later this week I'll post pics of the new looks around here. (I'm sure the suspense is killing you ... ;)

Keeping busy

In case you were afraid I was getting bored these days, guess what I'm TRYING to do? Here's a hint ...

I'm teaching myself to knit! It's not an easy thing to teach yourself, but I am doing it. Paul's sister recommended a book, which I grabbed, and I'm trying to learn quickly so I can knit cute hats for Austin and his yet-to-be-named cousin due six weeks later. (Thanks to Christina for all of your answers via e-mail with my probably dumb knitting questions. Seems easier to ask someone who knows than to google it!)

I've crocheted in the past, but not for years. My mom's a pro at it -- I have several doilies to prove it. My friend Heidi is a pro at it -- and she already crocheted Austin one hat. But for whatever reason I'm determined to learn how to knit to make him a bunch of hats. It's probably about time I learned to do something new!

Olympic Fever

What is it that makes the Olympics so incredibly awesome? I love watching -- even sports I would normally never watch! We are so excited they have started and will probably watch some every night ...

We're also very excited they're in Vancouver. Seems I keep just missing the Olympics -- when we lived in Seattle they were in SLC, and now that we're down here they're up by Seattle. We've been fans of Apolo Ohno for years since he is Seattle born and raised. We are excited to watch other athletes who are members of our faith (Church News listed those competing from around the world who are LDS). And the networks always show inspiring stories of athletes we aren't familiar with who have shown integrity and beating the odds so we are excited to cheer on even more competitors.

During the opening ceremonies they interviewed VP Joe Biden about the Olympics. He said he had told the athletes they were very courageous because they risked failure on a worldwide stage. I couldn't disagree more! I guess I've never thought of competing on a worldwide stage as risking failure -- even those who "fail" are cheered on and celebrated for even making it this far. Look at the Jamaican bobsled team who may have been "failures" to some, but became the subject of a popular movie because of their hard work and determination. I've already seen many athletes in these Olympic games fall and take themselves out of competition, but they are always cheered on when they get up and try to finish. If that's failure, then nobody would mind failing! Yes, I'm sure there are heartaches, but how many people can say they were Olympians? Even without winning a medal, being an Olympic athlete is an accomplishment few ever achieve, and an experience they will never forget.

As a little side note, I bet none of you know that I once held an Olympic silver medal. However, I bet all of you know it wasn't mine. :) It was swimmer Tara Kirk's. Anyway, I was surprised at how HEAVY it was! I look at people like Michael Phelps and think how much weight he has around his neck when he's wearing all of his medals. But to actually hold one myself? That was awesome. I think of that as I see Olympians awarded for the first time and wonder if any of them are surprised by its weight ...

Okay, let the excitement continue!

Miscellaneous Monday

So without refinances and insurance hassles what ever will I talk about on my blog? ;)

This weekend Becca had her second flags competition. Her team took first for the second week in a row, only this time with a larger margin than last time. So, they're looking good with all their hard work. They've spent hours and hours perfecting their routine, and I'm sure by the end they'll be pros. Here are some pics of her in action:

It is very hard to get a good action shot with horrible indoor lighting. But I did get one:


This is in the middle of a dance part. I don't think she was supposed to look at me, but I think she knew I would get a better pic that way:

Fortunately Becca doesn't have a competition this weekend, so we can relax a little bit more. Tonight there is a fund-raiser to help pay for flags, so hopefully there's a good turnout even though the kids had less than week to sell tickets ...

My boys were delighted to have "twin" shirts -- each in their favorite colors. They were goofy showing them off, but oh, so cute:


And we bought Austin's new car seat. We got the cheapest one we could find for only $50. I'm very curious to know how much of that cost goes to the actual materials and how much goes to pay for previous recalls. (Side note: Speaking of recalls, Paul got on to make sure our crib hadn't been recalled before he put it together. Good news is that it hasn't. Bad news is that our bassinet has. Wouldn't be too horrible except the company who made it got auctioned off to another company who is not taking any responsibility for previous products made by the company. Fortunately it is only for when it is used as a co-sleeper, which we never do, so we should be fine using it again.)

Anyway, Shayla loves sitting in Austin's car seat, because she thinks it's like the dentist chair. She keeps wanting to play dentist in it, and she can't wait for Austin to be born so she can play dentist with him. Lucky kid! :)


And since I have a picture of all the other kids I better include one of Austin. Here he is sucking his fist this morning:


I mentioned to the radiologist that I had been having heartburn, so I was expecting this little guy to have hair. Turns out she could see the hair on the ultrasound. I couldn't believe it! That means it's more than fuzz, and he's got another two months to grow more! I totally and completely expected all my kids to be born bald, so every time one has hair I'm amazed. But to see it this early in the ultrasound? Crazy. The perinatalogist also said he has chubby cheeks. Maybe he'll look like Shayla after all. :) As of now he's 4.5 pounds and has a foot of 2.5 inches. It was so great seeing him again. I get one more ultrasound next month to see him one last time before I get to see him "in color."

Other than that I'm getting back into indexing old census reports and enjoying the changes they have made to the indexing program. It is good to know that I'm helping someone's genealogy even though I'm not doing my own right now. When my mom comes home we'll go crazy and do our genealogy then. In the meantime I have set a goal to index about 9,000 names this year (which is one sheet per day). We'll see if it happens ... I'm trying to get a little ahead here and there knowing I'll have to take a break when Austin is born. But hey, the system should run its fastest at 2 a.m. when I'm up feeding him, right? :)

Miscellaneous Monday - stress relief!

I feel so light and free with several stresses relieved this week. Okay, not really light (considering this belly I'm getting), but at least free from worries. Our refi is FINALLY done!!! (At least we signed and fixed the post-signing glitches -- I think -- so it should fund today.) Also, our insurance has approved EVERY aspect of my prenatal care and delivery, so I'm free to go get ultrasounds, non-stress tests, diabetic management, etc. Phew!

I'm doing pretty well on my fitness challenge, generally getting 9 out of 10 points every day. I'm definitely not in the lead, but hopefully I'll feel better each week. The winner's pot (more than $100) would be great, but weight loss and a healthier lifestyle is its own reward. My goal is to end this pregnancy less than what I started it. (Yes, this is totally healthy when you have as much extra weight as I do.) In any case, I'm incorporating more veggies, which is always a struggle for me since I'd much rather eat fruit. I'll call that a success!

We brought in more of the baby stuff this weekend, which Shayla is loving. She thinks they're all for her dolls. This is exactly what I anticipated, so I had Paul bring them in early so the novelty will wear off before Austin is here. Hopefully this planning will save him at least one doll thrown on top of him and/or one extra hard push in the swing ... but that remains to be seen. :)

This weekend we also went shopping for new car seats. EXPENSIVE!!! We're going to have to spend $100 to get a new one for Shayla (hers expired Dec. 31, 2009), and a carrier for Austin. Crazy how expensive they are, but what do you do? It's not like you can go get a used one anywhere and feel safe about it. But while we were out we also got two outfits to bring Austin home from the hospital. No, he won't wear two outfits, but we liked them both and figured we'd decide later. Baby clothes are adorable!!! Good news is that's all we have to buy. Oh, except diapers, which I realized we should get some of, too. :)

We have a special plate that we sometimes pull out and put at someone's spot. When this happens everyone else gives them a compliment or says something they love about them. One of the boys surprised me when setting the table and putting it at my spot this weekend. I love that even Shayla has learned to give compliments -- and her compliment to me was classic: "Mommy, you're good at sleeping." Amen to that! I love my sleep and am grateful I am good at sleeping. :) It was hilarious.

We went to Becca's first tall flags competition this weekend and she did pretty well. They are put into categories based on their ability, and there are only two teams in her division. That means she'll get first or second every time. We left before results (her team was first and awards were after the entire competition), so I'll hear when she gets home today if they got first or second. Keep your fingers crossed for first. :) I'll post pics once I get them uploaded.

Hope you all have a great week and that my randomness isn't getting too boring these days. I'm loving having less to do, but that also means less to say ... :)