I've Got A Match!

Natalie runs around without her clothes on a lot. She takes baths A LOT too. That probably contributes to it (just such a hassel to get dressed after a bath when you're just gonna hop in the tub again in another hour). She also just doesn't seem to care for clothes. I do make her get dressed when we leave the house (but she will NOT wear a coat or jacket, even when there is snow!) When we come home from errands, like most of our children, Natalie leaves a trail of socks and shoes from the garage door to the stairs, but she takes it up a notch and throws off not only her socks and shoes, but shirts and pants as well. I come over to the stairs to find a little pile of clothes on the floor and its like she just vanished in the rapture or something.

Anyway, as she ran around in her preferred lack of attire, I was changing Owen's clothes and remembered - I need to get a picture!

My two kids in diapers! I've got to get another picture for my matching game that I'm going to make someday! Look at Owen, he's such a happy boy now. 

I've good streak going with getting pictures of my diapered kids the past few years. Here we have Abi and Lily ~

Lily and Sophi ~

And I couldn't find my Sophi toddler Natalie baby picture, I shall keep looking...) And now Natalie and Owen!

I love my babies.

Snow

Well, it has officially snowed. Over a foot yesterday and more on the way today. It would have been fun for Rafael and Natalia to see a Utah winter in it's full glory, but alas, they just missed it. We're glad that they got to see it falling from the sky though. Natalia had asked me what it looks like when it falls down. So they got to see that but they didn't get to see the shoveling or driving in snow. I snow blowed the driveway once yesterday morning, then Corey did it two more times during the day, cause it just never stopped coming. Here's a picture our neighbor took of her husband and Corey both out there blowing it.

Yep, lots of snow. Yesterday most of the kids at school didn't show up. Unfortunately for my kids, our carpool neighbor has a monster truck with four wheel drive, so they all got to school. Then Ethan texted me the rest of the day begging me to come get him so he could come home. Sorry buddy, your father forbade me to leave the house in this weather. So yesterday, eventhough we all heard snow was coming, it hit most people unprepared. Today the schools were ready and sent messages out that it would be a late start day. The Jr. high and high school were an hour later, the elementary 2 hours. I left at the normal time to take Joseph to band and we got there okay - about 23 minutes instead of the usual 15 to get there, so not too bad. There were no accidents, people were just driving slow and cautious. The elementary kids spent their two extra hours this morning making snow angels, that's a great way to start the day.

House Guests

We've had some house guests for the past almost two week. Rafael and his wife Natalia are our friends from Brazil - when we were there in Campinas they kept us well fed with BBQs a their house or bringing by some delicious home cooking, on another two times Natalia taught Mel how to cook some Brazil pudding, and lasagna (Brazilian lasagna is made with ham and has a special cheese I can't remember but it is super delicious!) They also helped take us to the ER, and lastly they helped us get out of the house and to the airport. They just did all that stuff that great friends do. Rafael works with Corey and came up to get to know in person some employees that he works with online. Corey loved showing them some of the church sites here. 

We went and saw the church play "Savior of the World" with them at the Conference Center Theater.

(I don't remember crying so much last time I saw it)

She spent her first week shopping for herself and friends and family - she's like the real life Santa Clause and is going to return to Brazil from the north with lots of goodies in her luggage for all the good girls and boys. I went shopping with her a few times, then she went shopping some more at the stores by Corey and Rafael's office, and then she went some more with Rafael. They got so much stuff they kept making jokes when they'd leave to run out for another errant. "Yeah, we aren't sure we have enough stuff yet, so..." They went to Las Vegas for two days - Hard Rock Cafe and the Bellagio water show - then they went skiing on Saturday before heading out on Sunday. Corey took them up to Alta. He took Lily and Sophi too and they all just hung out on the bunny hill for a few hours.

It was so great to have them visit, and we're already talking about the kids taking a one month internship down to Brazil to stay with them. Joseph had a good experience in Chile, I think it's a great thing for the kids to do before they head off to college or on their missions. Mel, next summer? You're up!

Happy Birthday Mel

Happy birthday Mel, and now we've got another kid that's going to be getting a driver's permit!

Will update with more pictures later. :)

Sometimes Dumb

Joseph was making us laugh today. He was telling us how a few years ago he was so curious about the "Cali For Nia" shirts that he saw so many people wearing at school. He thought Cali was a girl and she was "for" Nia, whatever Nia was? (an endangered bear?) He didn't really understand it. Until one day, when said to himself as he jokingly felt left out "I want a Cali for Nia shirt..." and then he realized it sounded like California. And it indeed was California. He was glad that no one else knew he was clueless as to what the shirt was about. Cause sometimes when you feel dumb you're glad people don't know about it.

He's been embarrassed in front of a group of people before, that's a little humiliating. He reminded us of a time we were all playing pictionary, and Joseph got the word "leopard" as in the animal. He looked at it and quickly passed on to the next card shaking his head as he said "I don't even KNOW what a Le-o-pard is!" (like leotard). We all laughed and said "Do you mean leopard?"

He got embarrassed in front of all of us again recently, this time it was regarding Abraham Lincoln. Joseph was taking a Quizlet quiz for school. He had a question about our 16th president and when he put "Lincon" as the answer it said he got it wrong. That's not wrong, I know that was "Lincon"! When he looked at the correct answer, it was Lincoln, yes, but how very curious... they spelled it with an extra L in it. "Hm, spelled wrong on Quizlet. That's weird." Shortly thereafter, at school, his history teacher wrote Lincoln on the board and it was once again incorrectly spelled with an L. Joseph didn't want to embarrass him by pointing it out in front of everyone, so he just thought "Ah, I'll let him find out on his own..." And then again a day or so after that he noticed on a map that there in Nebraska... weird - there was a city called "Lincoln" "Hmm, they spelled it with an L too, weird!" And he googled it at school to check. Google has it with an L. He asked the girl next to him in the library... "Don't you think it's weird that they spelled Lincoln with an L?" And she looked at him confused by his question. "Is that how they spell it?" "Yes." What? He remained calm in front of the girl but then asked his bff Talmage "Did you know Lincoln was spelled with an L?" Um, yeah? "What?! When did you learn that?!?" Uh, 3rd grade? WHAT? Joseph's world was shattering. Joseph was amazed that everytime he'd ever seen the name Lincoln, he hadn't noticed the L. He wondered ~ What DO I know?!? What do I NOT know?!?! He went up to Ethan... "Ethan, spell Lincoln" Ethan got it correct, and Joseph continued his fall. "Hey Mel, spell Lincoln?" Correct. "Hyrum, spell Lincoln" "L-i-n-c-o-L-n." WHAT?!?! Hyrum knew it, cause he was Lincoln. Wes got it wrong, but "He's in 5th grade, I'm in 10th!!" It was pretty funny.

After School Naps

Another day of life with toddlers.

These were on Monday as I worked on finishing up the visiting teaching reports while Natalie was making a pattern with the square pretzels on the floor. And Owen was nice and just chilled.

 Thank you for being accommodating to me trying to get something done!

Then yesterday after school, everyone's favorite - Nap time. I loved how Owen had his arm over his head and his feet propped up on Mel's leg like a foot rest.

 Cute baby.

 And this is when Natalie crashed. 

Beautiful Sunrise

As the sun was rising this morning, the cloudy sky turned all pink, purple, and blue. It was beautiful.

I've got a head cold, but body isn't achy or anything. I just look like I've been crying all day - it kinda feels like allergies. I feel like I need to sneeze and blow my nose, but lots of times the sneeze never comes so I'm just left on the verge of a sneeze with my nose tickling, which makes my whole face itch, eyes water, etc and then it starts over again. Maybe Hyrum got me sick - he stayed home yesterday. He had a sore throat. I guess I kinda have a sore throat. He slept most of the morning and then was feeling better. We were talking about our family plans for Christmas and New Years - we are going up to our friend's cabin again this year. Hyrum said he is a little nervous about the boys run in the snow at midnight - they usually take off their shirts and go barefoot, and he's afraid they'll make fun of him cause he's not ripped like Joseph or slender like Ethan. I told him it's in his genes. He could have gotten his father's genes, but unfortunately, he's got mine. We talked about weight and my worries about it when I was a kid, I'm glad I can relate to how he feels, in face I still feel it. I think we both have 20 pounds we could lose, so we might have a little contest. He's my new accountabilitly partner - to be logged on my exercise blog. :)

So haven't felt great, but still had a good day. I just cleaned the house all day and we got in out workout together tonight - and that was kinda funny ~ boy, EVERYONE wanted to join us and play on the treadmill! I was trying to actually workout, so I didn't stop and go get my camera, but it was pretty funny having a whole entourage join us in the small space in the basement, which I set up for one person - ME - but had 7 kids there plus myself, everyone except Joseph, Ethan and Owen. Silly kids. Good family bonding though I guess! I'll have my camera on hand next time (cause I'm sure there will be a next time!)

OWEN!

Yesterday we had a b-day celebration for all the cousins and grandpa over at Corey's parent's house. December is a little top heavy for birthdays. While we were there, Corey's brother held Owen for a little bit. Soon he was laughing and said it's cause he just can't hear the name Owen with out thinking of the movie "Throw Momma from the Train". I never saw that one. We looked up a clip on youtube, and now my kids are perfecting their Momma voices. Kinda funny

Last night Wes was saying over and over again "OOO-WEN! Get me a Soda with some ice in it!" He was holding our sweet little Owen at the time, and he was just looking around chillin with his binki in his mouth - it was making me laugh I'll get a video of it. :) Silly kids, we might have to find a way to rent this movie, but all the rental stores are out of business, right? So sad. Maybe we'll have to get with the times and start streaming. Speaking of video and DVD rentals.... Corey used to pass a video store on his way to work in Campinas. It looked like it was struggling for business. Then, one day, the inevitable happened and it was closed. Aah! it makes him stress out! Corey has always felt that the business was moving too slowly, that by the time the software was ready for DVDs, DVDs would be out of date and people would only be streaming. I'm glad people still use DVDs and have them in their cars and stuff (everyone still uses DVDs, right? Nod your heads and say "yes"). It has taken long for Movie Mouth to get going, but things are looking better than ever for him. Last week was a really good week. They got something resolved with the cap table, which has been a big concern for Corey for the past few months, and also they finally partnered with an English school in Brazil! Yay that was really good news. It was a good week. On another day Corey had me bring some of our relics and souvenirs from our travels to his office so they could use them for props for a commercial they were filming close by. Pretty fun to see his dream take shape and become a reality.

Owen's Playing Piano (and a Frown!)

We've been holding Owen up to the keyboard and letting him play songs.

Joseph recorded some songs for us. Here is a video recording we just did. Owen's Song, movement 1.
I was mostly happy that we caught a few of his frowns. Owen has the cutest little lower lip frowns you'll ever see! At :41 you see one starting... He goes full frown for a second at 1:55, then another good one at 2:06, 2:11, 2:15, he's on the verge of crying for the rest of the clip. (He's the cutest little thing ever!)

Shopping

We have some friends from Brazil visiting us. They're here for work - Rafael works for Corey. But Natalia came too and is glad she did - she's been able to see Temple Square and all the church sites and also saw snow for the first time. and we've had fun running errands. She's got a big list of stuff to buy - she's playing Santa for family and friends back home. We've gone to Costco and Kid to Kid and Walmart together ~ so much to buy! So little room in the luggage...

She's gone in with Corey and Rafael to work a few times cause the M0vie M0uth office has lots of good store by it. ~ Ross, Home Goods, Dollar Tree, Toys R Us, and Ross again... shop shop shop. We love to shop. As we walked around Walmart, Sophi saw these bottles of cleaning chemicals and said "Ooo! Juice!"

Yes, purple and blue Pine Sol juice. Something else Sophi says that totally makes me laugh - on more than one occassion we've had to go get socks and underwear for kids, and as you go in our come out of those isles, you will be met by lots of a certain item of clothing. When Sophi sees them, she says "Oooh! Shells!!" Yup, shells. "I really want some shells Mommy." and my favorite "Tiger shells!!" Isn't that cute? I think it's so funny. Yes, there are lots of mermaids shopping for shells around here. 

To keep with the spirit of shopping, we've also watched a bit of QVC this week which I never did before. I was feeding Owen, the kids were done with homework, it was almost time for bed, so we turned on the tv to await for them to all gather in. There was a lame show on BYUtv, inappropriate entertainment on most all the other channels, so what to do? We went to QVC. Last week they convinced me that we need an igrow helmet in this house. And today they convinced me to get a wig But before you know it, wow, we're all talking about wigs. I didn't know that I wanted a wig when I woke up this morning, but wow, I want a wig! Have you see these Hairdo wigs? A great way to pretend you have short hair without needing to be brave enough to chop your hair or wait years for it to grow back. I might just get one someday. Pretty good marketing, even Corey said they've convinced him that it's a must have! 

Not Forgotten

Remembering and thinking of Shannon today. She was awesome, miss her, she passed away 4 years ago.

Today was a good day. Hyrum was playing really cute with Natalie this evening. He got her to play with her "baby"! I was very excited, I guess her baby has a hold on my heart too, cause it reminds me of her. But with our real baby Owen, and with all the toys here at home, this little leopard has been kinda forgotten since we got back from Brazil. So I was really happy to see her playing with it -

Hyrum got her to play a game with all her leopard family and their babies. The toy shopping cart was their family car.

And she doesn't like us to call the blue leopard "baby" anymore - the blue one is the daddy, the pink the mommy, I don't know about the grey one - I think Hyrum's called it the big sister, and then 3 babies.

Riding in Hello Kitty's van - I love cross play!

Hyrum also brought up a toy house that is now for the Beanie Boos. He is such a good brother to all his little sisters and Owen too. He's great. If you want a good babysitter, you got one in Hyrum.  

Drawings

Some drawings by my little girls. This one is a portrait of me done by Lily during scripture reading this past week.

I think she's got my post-partum belly about right. Next we have a book that Abi authored which is titled "My Mom"

Our new word of the day is OSUM! And my favorite part of the story was where I said "Come eat food."

And this below is a picture of our family that Sophi drew. This was at bedtime a few nights ago, as I went around to count kids, I went into the girls' room and said goodnight. Sophi looked up at me with a sad little scowl and said "I a bad girl." "You're a good girl!" I said with a smile. Melodie clued me in - "She doesn't like the picture she just drew so she's been saying she's a bad girl."

She must have quit before she finished everyone, but I love Sophi's little people drawings.