Dekkerman

1. Potty trained. I'm dedicating this post to Dekker in large part because I'm so proud of him being potty trained! After just one week of prep talk and one week of training the kid is staying "clean and dry" day and nights- that's right- he even wears "big boy pants" to bed at nights and nap time. He even tells me when we're in public places if he needs to go. He hates public toilets and usually has to be taken 2-3 times before he can actually feel comfortable enough to actually go. I still have to help him pull down and up his pants most of the time, and he's not the best at getting his stuff from the little potty to the big potty without spilling, but really- those are all little things. The kid hasn't had an accident for three whole days! Even the few days before that they were just little ones right in front of the potty. So yeah, I'm very proud of him- even if it does also kinda make me sad to realize how grown up he is! I think the big motivator was just that he thinks his CARS underware are SO COOL. He loves picking out which ones he wants to wear and then turns around in front of the mirror in his room so he can see the character on his little bum- its so cute.

2. My clean, messy one. Dekker is funny in that he is always such a mess. He is always spilling stuff and coloring on himself, or has a runny nose or anything else you can think of that would cause a mess on, near, or around him- but he hates being messy, and always exclaims, "Oh no! A mess, a mess!" until I help him clean it up. And you know how most kids HATE having their noses/faces wiped- not Dekker. If I go to wipe his face he jutts out his chin and holds real still- and when I'm done he'll ask, "Messy face?", and when I say, "Yes." he responds, "Oh, thanks Mom!"

3. Josh's fan. He and Josh are the best and worst of friends. They can play so well together one moment, and be screaming at each other the next. But when it comes down to it I think most of the screaming is just to get my attention anyway. The sweetest is though, that now that Josh is back in preschool, Dekker misses him SO MUCH while he's gone. He always begs to go to preschool too- and as soon as we drop Josh off he's asking, "Go get Josh, Mom?". It's pretty sweet.

4. Knows his cars. I remember I was shocked when at six months old Dekker would find one of Josh's toy cars and start making the "vroom, vroom" noise. The car obsession has only gotten worse. CARS is his favorite Disney movie by far- but he always loves to point out "cool cars" (usually ones with an interesting paint job, or with loud mufflers) to me- and trucks too. But he also associates cars with their drivers- for instance he is constantly pointing out black Audis to me and telling me they're "Dad's car", he also points out big red SUVs and says they're "Paig's car" (our neighbors have a red Tahoe), he points out VW Passats and and Jettas for "Trish" (she has a green Passat), etc etc etc. We'll have to find a good occupation that encorporates this passion (No- I'm not to fond of him becoming a mechanic, and a race car driver is far too dangerous for this mom.... maybe he'll engineer more efficient, yet "cool" cars for the future).

5. SUPER strong. He also loves super-heros, and his capes and is always showing me how "super strong" he is by lifting things up, or running really fast with his elbows pulled up and out. And while Josh likes playing "Piece of this" because its with Dad and its kinda SCARY-fun- for Dekker its ALL FUN. Even Josh will sometimes send Dekker to "get Dad" or call out "Dekker, come save me".

6. Sweet guy. Yet despite his "super strength" he also knows how to be sweet and kind. He HATES being in trouble and always needs sincere hugs and kisses to make things better. He'll say sorry without being asked and will gives hugs and kisses "just because" all the time. I always ask for "BIG HUGS/Kisses", but he even made up his own "little hugs/kisses" which he comes and gives me as softly and quickly as he can. Man I love my Dekkerman.

9/17/09

1. Keisha's baby shower. Saturday was my cousin Darren's wife's baby shower. It was fun to see her, my Aunt Karen (flew down from WA), and my cousin Jenna (who flew in from California) and to be reminded of ALL the excitement that surrounds a first baby, and first grandson for a family!

2. Cousin night. My cousin Candy was is in town this week- and so Monday her sister Natalie invited everyone over to her house for dinner. She made a YUMMY dinner and we played DDR (okay- I just watched everyone else play). Dixons and Knights ended up not being able to come- but Garrett, Kari, and Evan went and it was good to see Candy.

3. Potty training. Okay- really not a great thing- it's exhausting really, messy, gross, ties me to the house and all the rest- but honestly for not having attempted it at all before now- Dekker is doing pretty dang well. Today he finally pooped on the potty and went pee by himself several times. Still a lot of accidents- but he's liking big boy pants and is getting better every day.

1. Labor Day at Jordanelle. It was windy- but we still had lots of fun. We found a good beach area, had a picnic, and did lots of tubing. Garrett, Kari, Evan, Trish, and Tio all came. We met up with my Aunt Deb, Uncle Rog, and Kate and her gang (they also had a boat), and even saw the Bushes.

2. Jake's my hero. Josh's toilet stopped up this week. After a lot of snaking, and eventually unhooking and taking the toilet to the front lawn for revers flushing and inspection we found that a plastic toy red and blue boat was the culprit! Thanks to Jake his toilet is now fully functional again. Not a fun job- but somebody had to do it.

3. Laughing it off. Josh and a couple neighbor kids decided to "make sand" by turning on our hose and stirring it in to buckets of potting soil and gravel- the activity turned bad when they found a rag and decided to dip it in the sand and then wash Jake's Audi with it. Was it upsetting? Yes. Do we have to pay a deductible and file and insurance claim to cover the new paint job now required? Yes. But did we make it through without strangling any kids and actually laugh a little? Yes!!!

Slacker

This last month really has been a good one- just a lot of traveling and laziness has kept me from posting much.

1. My new rocker/recliner. I found an AWESOME dark brown rocker/recliner for the babie's room! I got it on sale at RCWilley Outlet for just over $200 and it is SO COFORTABLE. It's really big- bigger than I'd probably normally like- but last night I had both boys in it with me reading a book- so its great that way, and it doesn't look too manly like most "lazy-boy" type recliners. In fact, I think it will go really well with the new white, brown, and soft teal and pink plan I have for the room. Best of all its more than half the price of the one I'd been saving my money for!

2. Such a great trip to Washington. I didn't realize how badly I needed a WA fix. It was so good to be "home". Say what you want about the rain and gray skies of WA- there's no prettier place in the summers as far as I'm concerned. If I go home in the fall/winter I do miss the sun- but summers?! GORGEOUS! And to just chill at home, at the lake, the beach... HEAVEN!

3. Our peach tree! It's producing a lot less this year- but hopefully our young tree will quickly catch up before this one dies (the little one did produce a few this year, but they came early and were low, and Roxy snagged them all). Seriously- I love having fresh peaches for free!

4. My husband. We celebrated our 6 year anniversary August 5th. We're in a real sweet spot in our relationship right now. I adore him, and he seems pretty in love with me too! We just don't get bugged or frustrated with each other at all. He makes me laugh and I think he's super hot and am so happy he sees past all my imperfections! All marriages go through ebbs and flows- I think ours is more constant than some (thankfully) but ours is definetly at high right now beyond the normal good. You would think with things as busy and crazy as they are it wouldn't (what with business, a new eMBA program, expecting another baby, YM president, etc) but there's no one else I'd rather be doing it all with.

5. My sweet boys. I just LOVE these kids. Some times they make me nuts- sure- but really- they're just the coolest, cutest, smartest kids on earth as far as I'm concerned. I can't wait to see what our little girl will be like!

6. Our basement- we've been finishing this off and it's finally coming together. My laundry room/ craft room is actually looking pretty dang good, the cold storage is great, and the toy/game room will be wonderful as well. We just have to put the floor in the toy room and do the trim work- then we can set it up, and I can start painting Josh's new room, move the boys, and paint/decorate Naomi's room. A lot of work yes, but its the kind of stuff I love.

It only makes you stronger...

I'll be honest- we've run into a little bad luck as of late. Luckily we're all safe and sound, and surviving. I know this seems totally counter-productive, but I'd like to start with a list of my WORST things. Hey- I'm trying to just laugh it all off, and really it just goes to show that things aren't THAT bad- since many others are dealing with much difficult and long-term issues.

1. Roxy. Roxy ran away the other morning. Our fault for not having reinforced the fence that we knew was becoming weak, and for not having replaced her collar that she broke off a while back. Luckily we found her at the shelter after a $60 fee and a ticket for no tags. Then we took her to Bear Lake with us- where she was sprayed by a skunk- resulting in a need to take her the vet, the groomers, and our Tahoe for a major detailing and deodorizing. Total estimated Roxy expenses this month? Over $300.

2. A bad vacation. Bear Lake sounded like a quick, cheap getaway- we even had a free campsite to stay at (a family from our ward had a group site with lots of room). But when the biggest storm in 20 years came up minutes after putting our boat in the water, and flooding our boat we were lucky to keep it shallow enough that after the storm subsided we could finish bailing it out and anchor it down till the next morning when we could tow it off the lake (then engine was swamped and would not start). No one even had a chance to put sunscreen on- and so everyone (except for the boys thank heavens) got sunburned and didn't sleep too well. Roxy got sprayed by a skunk (see above), our boat cover shrunk and we had to stop twice on the way home to resnap it, and we almost ran out of gas between service stations while coming home. The boat is still at the shop- may possibly need the entire engine replaced.

3. More stuff breaking. Just as we try to tighten our budget to afford Jake's eMBA program it seems like everything is breaking. The motor on Jake's car window, the AC, Jake's bike, light fixtures, etc.... luckily so far we've been able to fix these things (or find temporary fixes at least) by ourselves.

4. The hardest of all. The hardest of all is one that I haven't yet told a lot of people about- it was a very personal trial, and one that I'm just now ready to start to document. I won't go into detail here- it'll get a post of its own on my baby3 blog- but basically our 20 week ultra sound revealed a few things of concern for our little girl. We were told that she had two "soft markers" for Down Syndrome. We had to do some blood tests and wait TWO DAYS for the results. The FABULOUS news is that the blood tests came back in our favor and immediate concerns are now gone. 1/5000 chance that she'll have DS- which is better than average. The "abnormalities" found are actually found in 1-2% of all babies and should resolve themselves without any affect on her- but the whole experience life-changing.

NOW ON TO THE BEST THINGS!!!!

1. We've made it through all of those things. Thanks to prayers, help from others, hard work and sacrifice we've managed to keep smiles on our faces!

2. 2 Timothy Chapter 3. Read this last night- what an AWESOME chapter. The world is too much with us- and ME!

3. Good food. Jake wanted to attempt his first dutch oven cooking on our trip to Bear Lake- and it was the highlight! I made this recipe the other night- substituted orange zest (what I had on hand) for the lemon zest, used half oil half applesauce, half whole wheat flour and half regular flour, oatmeal and coconut instead of nuts, and only one heaping cup of sugar instead of 1 and 1/4 and it was really yummy!

4. New habits. We're on a new schedule in trying to allow Jake study time, as well as time for all of us to get everything else done too. Going to bed at 10pm and waking up at 6am (boys go to bed earlier and wake up later). Jake's also eating breakfast, packing healthier lunches, and trying to get to the gym during lunch- which has drastically improved his energy level. It's all going pretty good so far!

5. Project time, and lots of help/deals. We're finishing our very basement so that we can move the toy room down there, and move Josh into the "toy room" so Dekker can move into his room, and free up the nursery. The basement is divided into a new laundry room/craft room, cold storage, and play/game room. Jake's brother Rick finished his last week of work and still had some time before medical school and so came and worked for a week doing all of the framing, electrical, insulation, and drywall- WOW that gave us a jump start. I found a great deal on cork flooring for the game room area- and saved on shipping since the store is based in WA and we can bring it back with us next month- and I found doors and some other things discounted on KSL to help keep costs down.

Magic!

Lately Josh has been talking about "magic" a lot. I think it stemms from a book was have called "My Mom is GREAT!" Which refers to a mom as magic because she can find things, and fix things, and other simple things. It's cute to see the things he describes as magic. There are so many- that I wish I were better about writing them all down- but a couple of my favorites:

1. Jesus is magic. And he's had a couple of reasons why. My favorite- because he put a baby in Mama's belly and knows when its time to help the baby come out.

2. The sun. He was telling me the other day that the sun follows him. "Really?" I asked. "Yes. See..." and he walked around glancing up at it as he moved "...its always there". Then said, "it's magic, huh?" I can't remember exactly how the conversation went from there- but I remember I was reminded of children's wisdom when he told me he thought Jesus was how the sun stayed so bright. "You're right Josh. Jesus is the light of the world. He is the one who gives the sun and all the world all its 'magic'."

3. Me! Whenever I find something,or make something, or at other random timse he'll exclaim, "Woa! You're just kinda magic, huh Mom!?" It may be a little self indulgent- but I'm glad he thinks so- and so I jus say, "I guess I kinda am."

4. Capes. Josh has yet to actually call them magic- but they're magic to me. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE seeing my two boys run and swoosh around in them. Dekker especially is so pleased with himself. He always has to have it centered on his shoulders and watches it swoosh behind him, or will turn around with his hands on his hips showing it off to others. It's super cute.

5. Babies. What miracles they are. I'm REALLY excited for a little girl!

Catching up

1. Lots of thoughtful Birthday wishes on my Bday.

2. A GREAt trip to Yellowstone with safe travels, fun, good company.

3. Jake got accepted to UofU Executive MBA program. We thought it was a long shot since he applied so late- but he got in! I kinda feel that a big reason I went through my MA program application process was to get him thinking seriously about it again. 21 months of hard work and sacrifice ahead of us- but I kknow it will be worth it.

4. Two adorable sons. I LOVE my two sons!!!!!!

5. The temple

6. The scriptures