Kids!

Goofy thought...

I thought Max was out of the age of saying funny naive things, but the other day he had a tri-colored striped candy cane (yellow, green and white) and I asked him what flavors it was. He said it was apple, banana and milk. Sounds delicious!

New word....

Ellie was learning about roosters the other day and when I told her they say cockadoodledoo, she said "It's a cocka-doodoo"

Fun in the toilet room?

So lately Ellie has been saying, "I poo" before she goes or right when she's done. So being overly excited and hopeful, I've been cheering for the poo when she tells me and talking to her about putting it in the toilet, showing her the toilet and the water,etc. The other day she said it and she hadn't gone yet, so I took her to the toilet room and sat her on it. She smiled and thought it funny and then wanted off and back on...you know the routine. Since we happened to have nowhere to be for the next hour and thinking for sure she would have to poo soon and I'd put her on there real quick, we hung out in the bathroom for a while....what ended up being an hour! We sang songs, counted tampons, I let her stand on the toilet, sit, put the lid up and down and she even managed to get a foot in the water at one point. She's so tiny for her age, she probably could go down the drain and it was so unrealistic trying to make her comfortable on the big seat, but who knew I could come up with an hour's worth of material from a toilet room? Can I put that on my resume? I'll do that after I go buy a toddler toilet seat.

Back to Ballet!

So, I always knew this deep down, but didn't accept it until recently. I am not a very happy person when I'm not dancing. It's easy to get lost in being a mom, a wife, cleaning house, taking care of diapers and feeding and naps and grocery shopping and meal planning and volunteering at school and church callings and having neighbors over and playgroup and visiting teaching and teaching piano and plucking eyebrows and shaving legs and e-mailing and...well, everything else we women do. We give and give and often think we don't need or have time to replenish ourselves. I know I'm probably preaching to the choir here.

I made a commitment to myself to replace some of that energy and passion I give in all I do. So, last week I went back to ballet and made a promise that I wouldn't let anything talk me out of it.... and I am so happy! I feel like a real person again and not just a machine doing and doing for everyone else and not myself. I'm so grateful for women who have set the example of making time for one's self! Because that's just it - we have to make that time and commit to it. I've started and stopped so many times because I had to work or it was too expensive or my family needed me 100% of the time. I've been giving 100% of me to everyone else and there was nothing left of me for me.

I've made a new friend... a fellow 20 something year old in my ward who has had very similar ballet training. We have a blast laughing about our childhood experiences in dance and life and how we're telling our brains to tell our bodies to go faster or lift our legs higher, but there's a new delay in our bodies for following that instruction. But, that'll come. I've just got to reactivate some stagnant brain cells. I feel like a real person again! I didn't know I was buried until I was just reintroduced to the real me again. Hi me! I kinda like you again. My family kinda likes me better now too and they're learning how to survive without me for a night. Happy Day!

Funny thing too....the other day Ellei was wanting me to turn on my Nutcracker Music Box and of course it's hard for me to listen to it without doing the steps, so I was dancing around in the foyer. Her mouth was gaped open for the first 30 seconds...I guess she'd never seen me dance. Then, she all of a sudden started copying me. So funny! She mimicked an arabesque position! She's only 21 months! It was crazy fun. We totally had a mommy daughter bonding moment that seemed way too mature for her age, but it was so touching to me. Maybe that will be something she will love to and we can enjoy together. Or maybe she'll be a pro wrestler. Ya never know til they tell you I guess.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving Break, we headed up to Nana and Grandpa's house in NC. Both my brothers flew out so it was the first time we were all together since we moved out of AZ. Thank you sooooo much for making the cross-country trek guys. It was so wonderful to be together again!

The events of the trip included feeling Heather's baby "Lily" (due next year) kick and chasing down my nephews for kisses. Shane got to watch hours and hours of football. Ellie was doted on by her grandpa that she adores and Max went hiking through the woods, climbed trees, played baseball and raked leaves into a huge pile. Doesn't get much better than that.....

The boys had a blast creating a store at Nana and Grandpa's house. They ended up paying us to take things off their hands. It was nice to see them work cooperatively. Hallelujah - they do have it in them! As you can tell, it actually wiped them out.....it can be done!

The kids got to bond with their uncle Bob...

Uncle Craig's wife, Cynthia couldn't make it because she had to work, so when he got lonely, he got chin kisses from Tia the dog. Hey, you take what you can get, right?!


We have tons more pictures from this trip, but I still don't have them uploaded yet....more to come.