U is for underwear

One of my favorite things is bedtime.. not just because I'm exhausted and can't wait to sleep, but I love reading to the kids.  I really love children's books and will happily read a huge stack to Emma and Owen before I turn off the lights.  The other night we were reading this book "Do Pirates Take Baths."  It's a pretty fun book with little poems answering various questions about the scallywagging life of a pirate.  One page asks "Do pirates wear underwear?"  Emma instantly started laughing and telling me all about how in preschool "Miss Darice said that U is for underwear, and it was so funny and everybody started laughing...."  She was cracking up as she remembered this and told me this story.  I thought it was great because everyday I ask her what she did in preschool that day and she seems to not remember a single thing they did that day.  I think she really just doesn't want to talk about it when I ask because she actually amazes John and me so often with how brilliant her memory is.  She's pretty sweet. :)

Just Call me Mommy Dinosaur

Emma Jane loves animals.  She always has.   Like a lot of little kids she also likes to pretend she is a puppy, or kitty, or dinosaur.  About a year ago while pretending she is a baby puppy she started calling me Mommy Puppy (and insist I call her Baby Puppy).  It would just last for a day or two until a couple of weeks later I would become Mommy Kitty..ect...
Today I am Mommy Dinosaur.  She is had preschool this morning and here is a sampling of our conversations before I dropped her off:

Me:  I need to do your hair now.
Emma: Dinosaurs don't have hair.

Emma:  I love you Mommy Dinosaur

Me:  I love my children!
Emma: We're dinosaurs.

Me:  Have fun at Preschool!
Emma: Bye, Mommy Dinosaur!


She's pretty fun!  I also love how happy Emma is to see Owen when I pick her up from preschool.  They get along pretty great... however, I think she may get her first black eye in the next couple of days.  Owen just whacked her in the eye this with a toy. :(  Luckily we have this cool ice bag and some Arnica cream.

Ron was in town this past weekend so we took him to the zoo.  I always love going to the zoo.  Emma loves to read the map and figure out where we are and how much farther we have to go until we get to the petting zoo.  She would have loved to stay all day I'm sure. 

 Owen had a rough time until I pulled out a snack for him.  

 After the zoo we planted a Meyer Lemon tree!  I am sooo excited about it!  I love this bright Spanish pot we put it in too!  (notice the toy at Owen's foot.. that is the dang toy he hit Emma in the eye with!)

Once last thing.. I have been trying to stay away from simple sugars.  So now I am addicted to this homemade candy bar.  I decided I can't make it anymore because I'm eating it too much.  But if you really need some chocolate it's great!

Chocolate Candy Bars:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder (this picture is made with special dark cocoa)

1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup honey

1 TBS cinnamon

pinch of salt

1-2 handfuls of nuts (I use walnuts or hazlenuts)

Blend it all in a food processor then spread into a dish.  Freeze.  Cut in squares and keep in freezer (coconut oil melts at 76 degrees so unless you want chocolate pudding keep it in the fridge or freezer)

(I got this recipe from Tiffany Higgins in our ward)

For The Kids

 My  name is Angela and I am a horrible blogger.  I have been thinking for a couple of weeks though that I really want to start blogging again regularly.  I want to be able to remember the things we have done as a family and share stories and pictures with our friends and family but most importantly I really want our kids to have a record of their childhood and really have a sense of how special and important they are and how much we love them.  And I would like them to be able to look back on this to see what their mom and dad were like and who we are.  So, Emma and Owen, I'm sorry I haven't been journaling all the sweet and wonderful things you two do (probably because you are keeping me very busy!!) but I will do better for you guys from now on! 

 Here are some sort of recent pictures...  Owen at our ward Christmas Party in Buckeye.  Notice the horses and cowboys on his shirt.  It was a western themed party.  I think it is very fitting for this dessert we live in!  He as a few more teeth now compared to this picture.  They grow so fast!

 We had seriously had six different Christmases! I really wanted to have one at our own home this year with just us so that's what we did the morning before we drove to New Mexico.  This picture is probably my favorite because Emma is sitting on a Christmas present (the rocking horse) with another on her lap (the cat) while opening a third.  Christmas the American way, right?!

Emma Jane got this awesome pink tricycle Christmas morning from Santa (aka: Mama and Papa).  I loved that Owen would sit on the back while she rode him around.  Unfortunately it was missing a part so we had to return it. :(

But we replaced it with this one!  (the exact same but in red)  Emma is quite the ham now when I try to take pictures of her.  This is in our front yard.  We are renting a home in Buckeye, AZ.  We are about 40 minutes from central Phoenix.  I went to Goodyear and Avondale (the next towns East) a ton when we first moved here but lately we have just been staying put in Buckeye almost every day.  I personally am still trying to warm up to it.  We miss Albuquerque a lot more than I thought we would.  

The kids love walking to the mailbox.  I miss having my mail delivered right to the house.  

One thing we love about being here is that we got to go see Oklahoma play Iowa in the Insight Bowl game in January.  If you don't know, John is and always will be a big OU Sooner football fan.  This was our first live game with them and we had such a blast!  It was especially great because they won! They played in the ASU stadium.  John and I have a lot of fun together so we would have been happy even if they lost. Also, it is so great being closer to my family .  My mom watched our kids this night and I am really happy they get to see her more as well as the rest of my siblings and their cousins.. as well as Ganes!

This is a our sweet Emma Jane on her first day of preschool! (January 10th, 2012) She is in Miss Darice's 3 year old class.  (Darice Bosley from our ward in Buckeye).  She LOVES preschool. She goes for two hours on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I think there are 4 boys and 4 girls in her class.  She loves to pick out her pretty dresses the night before.  She doesn't always have very much to say about class but I know she is having a lot of fun.  She has always been very social and now she looks forward to telling everybody what she got or what she did or whatever happened to her between classes. 

We go to Mesa quite a bit to hang out with Bob, Amy, Madison and Robby.  I love that the kids get to play together so much.  Emma and Madison really connected at first but now Robby and Emma are on the same level and are best buds!   (They are only 7 weeks apart).  We meet half-way at the zoo sometimes. 

 Speaking of the zoo.. at one of our trips Owen took a tumble face-first into the water fountain!   He didn't seem to mind at all!  He really is such an active and adventurist little guy and unfortunately does not seem to have very much fear!  He will try just about anything and has the bumps and bruises to show for it and he is TOUGH!  He will rarely fuss or cry after falling or running into something.  He is also pretty darn smart.  He will mess with something until he figures out how it works, can communicate pretty well and is saying new words all the time and is pretty good with a crayon or marker (I wish he would stay away from the wall though!!! that's a new recently new habit).  He is also still a mama's boy and loves to snuggle.. all day if he had his wish!!  (it makes it hard for me to get anything done around our messy house, but I love it!)  He has a good appetite but it is rare that I can get him to eat vegetables.  He just wants meat!!  He loves books and puzzles and cars/trucks. He still LOVES to be outside.  We are all loving this beautiful weather right now!

This is Emma riding the camel at the Phoenix Zoo.  She also is a very brave and adventurous girl.  She know how to have fun!  She makes friends really easily and often has friends that getting attached to her and love to play with her.  She has been practicing writing her name and has gotten pretty good.  She is so proud of herself (and has also relapsed into writing her name on the walls.. I'm sure because she's excited that she has something to write now! )  She still loves to watch movies and cartoons, but also loves to play outside and dress like a princess everyday.   

We hosted a Super Bowl party at our house (Bob's family and Amber came over) and I made this healthier version of a chocolate cake.  (I have made a goal to not eat any sweets this year unless they are made with honey, pure maple syrup or other natural sugars (xylitol, and stevia).. so far so good!  But I am still eating too much honey and syrup!  I just looooove it.. but I have not lost as much weight or inches yet as I wish so I'll have to do a little better...  but isn't the football shape fun?  It was super easy and pretty tasty! 

Emma and John's new favorite thing to do together is play the new Zelda game on the Wii.  I thought it was pretty funny that she was sitting on his shoulders while playing it.  John loves having something that they can do together (honestly he is also really happy that it is something he loves to spend hours doing anyways!).  It's so funny that as soon as he walks in the door she'll say "Daddy!  You're home!  Do you want to play Zelda?"  She also has named the controllers "the sword and the runner".  She doesn't like to play herself, she just likes to watch John play but she'll remember every level and task they have completed and will give him instructions on where to go next.. it's great!  Also, notice a couple of projects I have completed.. I refinished an old ugly dresser to make our tv stand and made a magnetic scrabble board (hanging on the wall).  I love to make things!

This is Rachel Brown, Emma's new little best friend here in Buckeye.  Her mom Janelle is awesome and one of my only friends here so far.  She go the girls matching tutu's and slippers.  So cute!  This picture is at the story time at the Buckeye library.  I have been pretty impressed with their story times at the library and some of the other little community things that Buckeye has to offer.  It's also been great to regularly participate in these things since I have been home with the kids 100% of the time since we have moved here.  

 Painting all three of the book shelves white was another project I completed since have moved.  I really want to start another project.. soon: getting rid of some of these books.  We have a lot of books.. in every room.  It is so hard for me to do though!  I actually would love to be about 80 times more organized and minimalistic.  I read other women's blogs and see their immaculate homes and half-empty, neat closets and really really want it for our home but I still haven't made any real step in that direction.  Any pointers for me? I know it will be so worth it!  Also for the last several months I have been feeling like such a hermit.  (I think because it has been so long since I have worked?) but I won't even leave the house for days at a time which is okay but I feel like such a lazy bum some days and feel like I never get anything done!  Of course the kids are fed and nurtured for the day but I would like to feel like I can get something done past that.. sigh...

 We went to Kingman a few weeks ago to see Josh perform in the High School play.  He was Hotspur in Shakespear's King Henry the IV.  He did great!!!  He was actually so convincing that Amber and I were really pretty scared while he was yelling and shouting on the stage.  We never want to see sweet Josh really mad! He is scary!  Joseph Wisdon (the family friend/extra brother) was also in the play. This was Josh's 18th birthday also.  I can't believe the baby in the family is officially an adult!  I'm so proud of who you are Josh!

Now a little update on John.  He is awesome.  He just finished up a six month training program at work with several other legacy engineers (he is in the "legacy engineer" program at Palo Verde at APS) and nuclear reactor operators.  He did a great job through the program, consistently scored well on quizzes and exams but went above and beyond by tutoring others and doing extra projects and leadership roles for his supervisors.  This whole six month training program was built to prepare to take one final huge exam that he just took on Friday and got a 100%!!  We feel like he is getting some good recognition at work and he has been feeling really good about himself there and are always really happy that he took the job there.  He will be in training for about six more months and then we need to decide what area in the plant he will go work for.  Big choices coming up!  

I love my family!!