An Update: Clark Rocks!

So apparently Clark read my post from this afternoon before he came home from school! He welcomed us home from grocery shopping with a Carmel Brownie Blizzard for me!

The baby and I really appreciate it. Clark is the best husband a girl could ever have!

I LOVE YOU!

Pregnancy

Clark and I both feel that pregnancy is truly a miracle. It is amazing all of the developing and growing that happens in a short time to bring a new life into the world. We are both really thankful for the healthy pregnancy that I have had.

That being said, I'm also grateful that pregnancy eventually comes to an end. After an ultrasound Monday we will know the date we will get to meet this little baby! It will probably be in the next 2-3 weeks. I can't believe how soon it will be here!

My friend Jessica told me about a new fuel call system that will be going into gas stations in Iowa to serve the disabled. Basically a person just has to push a button and a worker will come pump your gas for you. We laughed because pregnant women were included under the umbrella of "disabled." But the more pregnant I get the more disabled I feel!

One good thing about being very pregnant is that I have a lot more patience with Ethan. Not because I'm more patient necessarily, but simply because I don't have the energy to chase him, carry him up the stairs, fight him into his carseat, etc. So the last little while I just patiently herd him along, sometimes getting him into the car takes 15 mins...but eventually we make it, and I choose to be pain free rather than on time.

Last night at midnight I asked Clark to go get me a milkshake, he looked at me like I was nuts! I was just realizing I only have a few days left to play the pregnancy craving card...got to take advantage of it now! No, I didn't get my midnight milkshake...maybe tonight if I ask a little earlier?

Pretty much we are just excited to welcome this new little boy into our home!

His Own Patch of Dirt

A few weeks ago I babysat my friend's girls at their house. Ethan was overjoyed when he found a pile of dirt under their trampoline. He could have sat under there digging for hours. I felt bad that we didn't have any dirt for him to dig in at our house...

well tonight while we were playing outside Ethan found his dirt. A tiny little patch of dirt underneath our deck and behind our nasty spider bushes (as I call them). He was perfectly content to sit under there digging and eating dirt!

Could life be better than this?

I Am A Teacher

Since Ethan is sleeping and Clark is studying...I am blogging. Here goes with 5 posts in a row!

I LOVE teaching, it is something that I enjoy and that I am passionate about. I most enjoy teaching things that I feel strongly about, when I taught 5th grade I loved teaching my students America's history. I have loved all of my opportunities to teach at church - in the recent years I've had the chance to teach the women in Relief Society, Old Testament Gospel Doctrine class, and 14-15 year old young women - but I am especially loving right now teaching the primary kids age 3-11. I love watching kids get excited about learning, I love seeing the light bulb moment when you can just tell that it clicked in their brains, and I love hearing their insights and testimonies of Jesus.

This is just a fun little idea I wanted to share-

I made this puppet when I was going to BYU to teach a class of first graders the "short e sound," so his name is Ed.

Ed is always hungry and loves eating things off of paper plates. When I taught the "short e sound," I had several plates hanging on the chalkboard with different words some had the short e sound, and some didn't. One by one the kids got to come pick a plate to feed Ed. If it was correct Ed hungrily eats the plate, if incorrect he gags, chokes, spits it out, or just refuses to eat it. For some reason kids think this is HILARIOUS and so much fun!

I've adapted it for church lessons for the younger kids putting up plates of Christlike behavior, vs. not so great behavior, etc. You really could use it to review or emphasize any lesson.

It was so easy to make...basically I cut out 2 cardboard circles and hot glued them to paint sticks, I then attached an old pillow case to the base of the cardboard and the paint sticks. Then I just used felt, pom-pom balls, and fake fur to decorate the face. I got the original idea from a teacher that attached her puppet to a big trash bag and used it for picking up litter around the classroom.

Tonight we used Ed for our Family Night lesson, and Ethan LOVED it! As you can see on the video, he was a little nervous to feed him, but thought it was so much fun!

Our Little Calvin

Ethan has had his buddy Hobbes since he was a month old, when my Dad won it for him at Lagoon. He loved Hobbes from day 1 when he talked to him while they were riding in the stroller together.

Recently Clark found one of his old books, a collection of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Ethan loves to have his Dada read them to him and Hobbes.

I love watching Clark laugh at the comics and Ethan study them so studiously.

Clark pointed out that Ethan is probably a lot more like Calvin than we would like him to be!

Run Dada Run!

Saturday morning Clark ran the 8K road race that was part of the Drake Relays. All Friday night we had a crazy rain/thunder/lightning storm - I thought for sure the race would be canceled, but by 8:00 am Saturday it was a beautiful spring morning.

Clark is the one in black shorts and orange shirt.

It was a fun race because we got to cheer for Clark on mile 1 and mile 4 just by crossing the street. Ethan was a little confused why his Dada just ran past him, but was excited he was wearing such a bright shirt, he kept yelling, "Dada yellow, Dada yellow." Clark did a great job!

Because of the storm a lot of the blossoms from the trees had fallen on the sidewalks, Ethan and I both thought it was pretty cool to walk along pink sidewalks. Wouldn't that be pretty if our sidewalks were always covered with flower petals?

Toddler Ratio

When I took a Child Development class at college I remember a funny little graphic that showed how a toddler's head is 1/3 of their body. Well, tonight Ethan discovered more toddler ratios. He took off his pants and put them on his head. His head circumfrence is definitely bigger than his waist!

Might as well live it up now Ethan! I'm just grateful my head is not as big as my pregnant waist right now!!! We would have some serious problems.

A Funny Job Interview

Today Ethan and I were running errands, we ended up at Sam's Club at 1:30 and were both starving, so we had some lunch in the little eating area. When we got there I noticed 2 girls waiting there that were dressed pretty nice for Sam's Club. Ethan and I settled into a table near them. A few minutes later the manager came, took one of the girls to the table next to us and started a job interview.
Definitely a distracting place for a job interview, especially with Ethan yelling, "hello" to everyone that walked past. I could hear the interview perfectly and couldn't help listening in. First of all, one of the poor girl's high heels slipped as she walked to the table and she literally fell onto the bench. She started giggling so hard and the manager just stared at her like she was insane. The poor girl couldn't pull it together and kept giggling throughout the whole interview. I have to admit I cringed a few times hearing her responses to the questions...but then the big one!
The manager told her that at Sam's Club a lot is going on all the time, but as a checker she would need to be able to focus and pay attention to detail even in a distracting environment, he then asked her to share an experience where she was able to pay attention to detail and focus. She started rambling about some job she had where she had to write down numbers, and then all of a sudden she just went quiet, for 30 seconds she just sat there silently, finally she said, "uh, can you repeat the question, I forgot what I'm supposed to be saying." He repeated the question and she just started laughing, "oh, this is my experience then, I was supposed to be focusing on answering the question and I got distracted." More giggling. And that was the end of that question. I was dying!
When he asked the next question, she just said, "yeah, I got nothing." So that pretty much ended that interview. The manager excused himself and she went back to her friend and both of them were laughing so hard they were crying.
When Ethan and I left I got the big cart stuck on one of the table legs and they were both extremely helpful and friendly helping me move the table. I wished the manager could have seen that, because the poor girl would probably be a great checker!
When we got home it was raining, so I told Ethan to run quick into the house so he wouldn't get wet. He made it 3 steps and found a puddle. So while I unloaded the car and put away groceries he played in that one little puddle for 20 mins. Just jumping, splashing, and loving life.

I snuck a few pictures from the back window.

By the time I got him to come in we literally had to pour the water out of his shoes. He was soaked. I love that one puddle can be so exciting to a cute little boy.

A Beautiful Sneezy Spring

Spring has been more like summer here in Des Moines this year! It came fast and it has been beautiful! There are so many gorgeous flowering trees in full bloom right now, my favorites are the magnolia trees. I also liked the monkey tree in my backyard tonight, as I was cooking dinner, I looked out the window and saw this:

Pure Joy!

As you can probably see from his scraped knees and bruises on his shins, Ethan loves playing outside more than anything right now! After a long winter I don't blame him one bit. We spent most of the day outside and the only way I could get him to come in for a nap was telling him we could go out later when daddy got home. As soon as Clark walked through the door Ethan grabbed his socks and shoes and made Clark help him put them on. Then he grabbed Clark's shoes and tried to put them on for him.

Yesterday we spent the evening downtown watching a race that is part of the Drake Relays, and then I made Clark drive me through the Water Works Arboretum downtown to see the blooming crab apple trees. It was gorgeous! Poor Clark has never had allergies is sneezing like crazy with all the blooming in Iowa!

The Art of the Stall

My Dad says that my brothers and I were great at stalling, when we had to leave places, go to bed etc. Just one more drink, just one more trip to the bathroom.

Ethan is learning the art of the stall at a young age when it comes to bedtime. His bedtime routine keeps getting stretched longer and longer, just one more book, both mom and dad have to sing the abc's, all 6 animals in the bed need a kiss from momma, dadda, and ee-ee, etc.

He knows that if he really gives his Daddy a good hug, he can stall even longer. The last few nights while Clark has been holding him he wraps one arm around Clark's neck and one arm around my neck and pulls us both in so we make an Ethan sandwich. He loves to get kisses on both cheeks from both of us at the same time! He just grins and grins! We think it is pretty cute and are happy to keep him up just a few more minutes.

Who Told?

I'm just wondering who told Ethan that being a 2 year old means declaring independence from your parents! The words that I hear most often now are, "no, I do it!" and "no, mine" (which actually means, "no, I WANT to do it MYSELF!")

Part of his declaration of independence includes trying to escape and outrun his parents any chance he can! My only control that I had left when we were out and about was buckling him into his stroller. Well last week while I was at my doctor's appointment Ethan all of the sudden figured out that un-buckling the stroller is easy! Within seconds he was standing on the doctor's stool reaching for her things on the counter. The next day I had a few errands to run at the mall and my escape artist was out of his stroller within seconds and running with glee (way faster than his pregnant momma can run)! I was desperate! I put him back in, took a roll of masking tape from my purse and wrapped the buckle so many times he couldn't break out! I was feeling a little sheepish and hoping no one was watching me, there's nothing wrong with taping a child to a stroller, right?

I used to think these kid leashes were ridiculous and pretty much a form of child abuse...but now I am thinking they are GENIUS!

I am amazed at the loud and sudden tantrums that occur when Ethan's parents stifle his quest for independence, and am really amazed at how quickly they end with just the slightest distraction. I love that when he has to sit on the time out chair for one minute (when he does something deliberately wrong) that he gets excited and starts counting down waiting to hear the "beep" from the timer. Sometimes he tries to make the "beep" sound himself to trick me that his time is up before it really is.

I'm also wondering who told Ethan that being a 2 year old also means being full of personality and fun! He is always up for "pay, pay, pay." (play) He is really into his abc's right now. From a puzzle and books he has pretty much taught himself the letters. He LOVES to sing the "abc" song! Clark and I each have to sing it with him at least once before bed every night. He still mixes up the order of the letters, but no matter what the "p" is always sung correctly and with great gusto! He used to include "B..Y..U.." in the middle of the song, sometimes more than once. Whenever he sees letters on a sign or an object, he points at them and yells, "BYU." I think Clark is pretty proud.

I love the way he LOVES books right now! He loves to have them read to him, read them himself, and is fascinated with pictures. I love that he knows now when books are supposed to be funny and giggles at the right parts. I thought it was fun this morning while Clark was making us pancakes that Ethan pulled out his book, "If Your Give a Pig a Pancake," and was so excited to have me read it to him knowing he was having pancakes too.

I think it is so fun how he tries so hard to sing along with us now. One of his favorite songs is "Old McDonald's Farm." I love that at our library story time a few weeks ago when we sang that song he was the only kid singing, "EIEIO cha, cha, cha," because we always add the "cha, cha, cha" at home.

I also love that at the little mall playground the other day Ethan was the only kid yelling "YEE-HAW" everytime he went down the slides!

So whoever told Ethan he is officially a 2 year old, just know that he listened to you! And even though the last few weeks I have felt that my parenting skills to guide and direct a 2 year old with a determined personality and boundless energy are more than a little under par - I'm sure happy for the chance to learn!

I'm loving my little Eee-eee (as he calls himself) at age 2!

The King of Country

Last night Clark and I went to the George Strait and Reba 2010 tour concert!

I got tickets to the concert for Clark for Christmas. The seats sold out so fast I was grateful for our nosebleed seats. We also seemed to be sitting the Senior Citizen section - the 3 grandmas in front of us loved waving to George and calling his name. No one stood EVER in our little section, which was probably okay for the pregnant lady anyway. We LOVED it and had so much fun!

Reba coming out in her taxi.

Old George himself.

We missed the opener, LeeAnn Womack, and part of Reba because we were at Clark's Rite of Passage Ceremony. He's almost made it through the first 2 grueling years of science classes and will soon be going into the clinic. But don't feel bad for me, the concert was 4 1/2 hours long, so I got plenty of music!

Riting his Passage

His whole class.

Reciting the oath.

Easter 2010

We had such a fun Easter weekend!

Saturday before Easter we went to the Living History Farms Family Easter Party. I'm happy to report we were within the first 1,000 people to arrive to receive our free steak and egg wrap from the Iowa Beef Council.

Ethan got to enter the Easter egg hunt for children 3 and under. They made the kids line up as the official explained that the kids were only allowed to pick up 3 Easter eggs, and then they could got get a brownie and milk from the dessert table. To contain Ethan from running out there early we just kept telling him, "wait until she says go and then you can find an egg!"

Well as soon as she said, "go," Ethan took off running...now look at the picture below, if you were a 2 year old, which egg would you choose?

Oh yeah, Ethan picked up the biggest egg he could find, which also happened to be part of the festive decorations. Clark and I thought it was awesome and were totally cheering him on from the sidelines. One of the volunteers dressed in the slightly creepy Easter Bunny costume did not find it amusing and hopped on over and told him to put it down. After being scolded by the Easter Bunny Ethan didn't quite know what to do with himself, so Clark had to help him out.

Ethan also particpated in the Easter bonnet relay.

I have to say his favorite part of the day though was the petting zoo. He loved feeding the animals and giving them all loves.

This video is just to gross my mom out, Ethan loving a cute little sheep! And yes we used hand sanitizer!

My favorite part of the petting zoo was watching Ethan try to ride this goat. This big goat was just lying down and before we could stop him Ethan snuck up behind him and jumped on his back, just like he does to get a horse ride from his Dada. Well that goat was having none of that, he gave a loud baaaaah and jumped away so fast. It scared Ethan so bad he about laid a Cadbury egg.

The big goat before Ethan's first rodeo attempt!

Easter Sunday was wonderful! We woke up and found the Easter Bunny had left us baskets. Clark made us a strawberry pancake breakfast. We loved listening to General Conference. In between sessions we hid about 2 dozen eggs in the backyard for Ethan's very own Easter egg hunt. He was excited for about the first 15 eggs.

Then Clark found his own treasure, one of his golf clubs that had been left in the lawn and burried in the snow all winter!

After that Ethan was much more interested in swinging the club at the eggs than actually finding them.

By the end he was just delirious with jelly beans!

That evening we had a fabulous potluck dinner with our friends.

We had such a busy weekend, we had to extend it to Monday so we could fit the egg dyeing in with Bryce and Jessica.

What a wonderful holiday, I love celebrating in the Spring when after a really long winter, the ice melts, the grass turns green, and the trees start to bud. As nature comes back to life it symbolically testifies of the Resurrection of our Savior!

Paste Fericit!

A Fun Easter Treat

My friend Megan made these cute Easter Bunny S'mores in a jar for the ladies that we visit teach. For some reason I just think Peeps peeking out of a jar are really cute!

Ethan has been eyeing this jar all morning, so I finally let him help me make them. He had so much fun stirring everything together and ripping apart the bunnies.

He also enjoyed eating the M&M's as we went!

Just a fun idea I wanted to share if you have a little cook at your house too!

Here is the recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Easter-Bunny-Smores-in-a-Jar-157717

OUCH!!!

So if you are a reader of my blog you may remember that a year ago I chopped off my ponytail on a whim and decided to donate it to Locks of Love. While searching online for info. about how to donate my ponytail I found information on selling hair and was shocked to see how much people are willing to pay for hair. My hair had never been dyed and is thick so I placed an ad on thehairtrader.com just to see if I got any offers (we are poor students after all).

After a couple of months of not hearing anything I was sick of seeing my dead ponytail on the shelf and decided to send it on to Locks of Love.

Well, today checking my email I finally got an offer for my ponytail...of a mere $800!!!

Yes, EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS! And no, this is not an April Fool's joke!

Clark just finished singing a little song of all the things I could buy for $800, including a plane ticket to Romania, a cruise, a really big new computer, 4 round trip plane tickets to Boise.

Let's just say I'm not feeling Lots of Love from Locks of Love right now!