Funny

So, Miranda (my sister-in-law) watched Nicole for us a couple weeks ago so that we could go to the temple. Miranda was working in the kitchen and Nicole opted to hang with her rather than go and play with the kids (weird baby). I guess she got tired because Miranda found her like this on the kitchen floor.


We watched their kids the week after and they are just the easiest kids ever. The older girls play by themselves and the younger boys think everything is funny. Hailey (the second girl, 6 years old) has started playing a vampire game with her friend. She told me all about "Vampire World" and how she became a vampire recently. I think that maybe she has been watching too much Twilight. When I tried to tell her that Vampire World wasn't real, she vehemently insisted that it did. I remember playing pretend games when I was younger, I just can't get into the reality of it anymore. Strange how that leaves us.

One of the kids (cough Ben) broke Norm and Miranda's Wii by shoving three discs into it at once. Matt decided to see if he could fix it, but after 30 minutes of checking it out, we declared it dead. Ben was devistated. He kept saying, "It isn't broken, don't say that it is broken" in a half cry voice. Poor little guy really loves his video games.

I also remember getting emotional about video games when I was a kid. Mostly we would fight over them. Johnny would get so mad when he lost that he would throw the control at a wall, the ground, or one of us. I'm so glad that he is past that phase. We went through a lot of controllers. Marie would steal essential components of the nintendo so that we couldn't play when we fought over the game. At the time I thought she was really mean, now I realize how briliant she was.

I wonder how it will be when Nicole is older and can talk and pretend and fight. I bet I will be the less than cool Mom who does not understand. I remember telling my Mom that she played Barbies wrong when I was young. My Mom would tell me that she had just forgotten how to play. I most certainly have forgotten how to play. Weird.

Books I've Read This Year

So, I've read an awful lot this year. When I was pregnant with Nicole, I lost my desire to read. I didn't have the mental concentration to read a book, so I only read a few (twilight, harry potter). I just barely got back the urge to read and I can't seem to find enough books to read. Here are a few of the books that I have read this year and I really liked them.

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

This is a series of 5 childrens books. I emphasize that they are for children because the characters are very immature! But, it is very interesting. This series is fantasy set in present day. All the greek myths and legends are TRUE and hidden from us humans of the real world. Perceus Jackson finds that he is a demi god, son of Poseidon and goes through many adventures in the greek god world. I loved it and sailed through all five books in a week, but it is an immature read.

Wild Magic series by Tamara Pierce

I've read a lot of the books by Tamara, but this was a new one for me. It is a set of three books for Juvenile readers. It follows the story of Daine, who talk with animals and can even shape shift. It is set in Tortall, a high fantasy world from a Tamara's previous series' Lady Knight, Page, and Trickster (which I had previously read). Though not as good as interesting as the other series (because these books are for a younger audience) I found it to be very interesting to read. I liked how she made up a new kind of magic that involved animals. I definitely reccommend these books.



Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

This is an incomplete series. So far there are four books but another is set to come out soon. These are fantasy books set in present day. A secret race of vampire and dhampirs (half human half vampire) live among us. Dhampirs dedicate their lives to protecting vampires. The books are set at an academy where vampires and dhampirs train for the real world. The first book was really hard for me to get into because there is a LOT of back story that is not revealed until the end of the book. But, the second book I read in a day and loved it! If you like doomed romances and vampires, definitely read these books. (I'm talking to you Jenni).

Graceline, Fire by Kristin Cashore

This is two seperate books set in the same world. Graceling, the first book, is set in a fantasy world where some people are born with a gift (and two different colored eyes) and are therefore "graced." The main character struggles to defeat the bad guy and better understand her grace. It is very intriguing and contains a romance. This is NOT for a younger audience though it is in the young adult section.
Fire, the second book, is in the same world, but set in the past before the first book's time. It is like an origins story of the bad guy from the first book, but doesn't revolve around that character. It is difficult to explain, but I loved the book as much as the first one though it took me a little longer to get into because the author hides the back story until the middle (I hate when they do that). Also, not a childrens book, this is definitely for adults as it has sexual content.

Goose Girl, Enna Burning, River Secrets, Princess Academy, and The Book or A Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

I just have to say right now, I love this author. Though her books are in the Juvinile section, the characters are not childish and are very relatable. The first three books are known as the Books of Bayern because they involve the same characters and are set in the same world. I loved Goose Girl the most and the other two books just give a better depth of subcharacters from the first book.

Princess Academy is a book that follows a young girl in the mountains who is chosen to train to become a princess (along with a lot of other girls from her village). It is a nice quick read and a very pleasant story.

The Book of a Thousand Days I just read yesterday (yep I read a 300 page book in a day. Maybe Dr. Phil was right about mothers having tons of free time.) It was very good! It is about a maid who is locked in a tower with her mistress for 7 years. It is written in journal form as the maid keeps a record of all the happenings since being locked in the tower.

Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

I read the first book in this series three years ago and bought the second and third book at that time but did not read them until this year. It is definitely a children's series as the writing is juvenile. The author definitely didn't know what he was doing in the first book as he often switches pov mid chapter and mid paragraph. It is about an 11 year old super genius boy who is trying to hack into to the world of fairies and steal their intelligence and their gold. The 11 year old character is annoying and unrealistic as no child is that smart, independent, and void of emotion. That is why it took me three years to read the next books. The second and third books are a little better than the first, but still the writing is not that great. I don't know why these books are popular and I don't reccommend them. There were more books in the series, but I decided not to read past the third book.

If you are keeping count, that is 21 new books that I have read this year so far (or the onese that I remember at least. I know I read other books, I just can't rememberr them all.). I also reread some books that I had read before and here they are: Work and the Glory books 1-7 (why did I stop at 7? Because I got bored and I've read them all twice before), Lady Knight series by Tamara Pierce (I thought I should read these again as I was delving back into that world), Wheel of Time book 12 (this one was actually new for me as it was a new book, but I reread the whole series last year in preperation for this book. These books are my favorite series). That is all I can think of that I read this year, but I feel like there were more.

That brings my grand total to....32 books that I have read this year. Tadah! I used to read between 50-80 books a year while I was in school but slowed down to 30 when I started working full time. Now that I have figured out this Mom thing to an extent and Nicole plays by herself occasionally, I have more time for reading. I am right on track to reach about 70 books this year. We shall see how I do. I run out of ideas for books to read all the time and I know I will just start pulling random books off the shelf at the library.

Right now I am reading Chalice by Robin McKinley, we shall see if it is any good as I just started it. I am on hold at the library for Hunger Games. I need more book ideas. Feel free to chime in.

Tight Spaces

Nicole has recently decided to try and fit herself into any space that she finds. Last night she was playing with the tuperware and decided to crawl into the cupboard.

She is so hilarious! She also thinks that the bottom shelf of my nightstand is her own personal chair. She also threw all of her toys out of the bottom drawer of a little plastic dresser that we have and she sits in the bottom drawer. Once she is in the drawer, she pulls all her toys back in with her.

The other night at Marie's, Nicole attempted to crawl in the one foot tall shelf of Ree's end table and then got really upset when she could not sit up once on the shelf.

She also likes to tip my laundry baskets onto their sides and sit inside them. I don't understand this new fascination with sitting in and on things, but I think it is super cute.

Grandma Kimball sent this outfit and Nicole loves it! She wants t wear the hat everywhere, but not every hat, just this one. Unfortunately, her head is a little too big for it and if falls off a lot.

Nicole loved this pair of sunglasses that Matt and I bought her last year. She wore them all morning once because she didn't want to take them off. Then they got left on the ground and broken by a giant foot. We bought her new ones that are slightly different and she doesn't like them like she liked the old ones. Alas.

Teething?

It is strange that after 4 teeth in the last 3 weeks, I still don't recognize teething yet. Nicole woke up at 5:30am this morning. Ugh. I was getting used to sleeping in until 7am. Luckily, she went back down after a bottle and 30 minutes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. But, I still can't tell if her nighttime waking up is tooth pain or just weird Nicoley.

I think I dislike this "getting all the teeth at once thing." She definitely has four teeth that are coming in strong, 3 on top and 1 on the bottom. I'm tired.

Spring Break!

Okay, so I don't technically have a spring break because I am not in school, but it was my Mom's week off for spring break and I spent a lot of my week with her. *Warning, very long post*

On Monday, Nicole and I lounged around the house until Mom called and wanted to go to lunch with Grandma Moses. Mom and Grandma wanted to try something new, so I suggested El Gallo Giro (mexican grill). It was not a hit. Grandma ordered fish tacos and was shocked when the fish was fried. I thought that it was common knowledge that fish is always fried in fish tacos. Mom and Grandma criticized the refried beans and wouldn't stop saying that they didn't taste like Nana's beans and were not nearly as good as some other place they eat at. I've decided to NOT recommend new eating places to them.

Then we all headed over to Walmart and did grocery shopping together. This went okay except that Nicole likes to have meltdowns in stores and continually tries to jump out of the cart. I usually end up holding her while shopping. Sigh.

Wednesday! Nicole and I drove up to Miranda's and went with her and Mom to the Living Aquarium in Sandy. I did Nicole's hair in pigtails and it looked super cute, so I attempted to take a picture, but she decided it would be more fun to chug motrin (the cap is on).

And attack the camera.
Miranda's kids seemed to really love the aquarium and Hailey and Camille are such good helpers.
They kept trying to help with Nicole even though Nicole didn't want any help.
This is just another place that I can add to the list of "places Nicole hates to go." She did okay for the first 20 minutes or so, as long as Grandma was holding her, and then it was just meltdown after that. She absolutely refused to sit in the stroller. I don't know why I bother bringing it if she continues to refuse to sit in it.


Plus, she had an accident while we were there. I brought her into the bathroom to change her and just when I was switching between dirty and clean diapers, she pees all over the changing table thingy. And it puddles and gets all over her back and her hair. Yuck! So, I had to strip her down and try to clean things up. Luckily, I brought an extra outfit.

After the aquarium, we went to Carl's Junior for lunch. Nicole's hair did not survive the whole day and it ended up a little crazy. The kids seemed to really like the play place, but I did not send Nicole in. Maybe someday when she can walk and fend for herself, then I'll send her into those dirty play arenas. Coley had a blow out at lunch and it was on to outfit three, which did not include pants.

Then we went to the Fabric store to pick out fabric for a group project we sisters are doing. We are going to make cute aprons. So, we spent A LOT of time at the fabric store and finally got some fabric. Nicole was at the end of her rope and so was I by this time. Long outtings with small children are like two non mixy things.

Thursday! This was scrapbooking at Mom's house. I love to scrapbook, but I keep all my supplies at my Mom's because she and my sister-in-law Jill store all their stuff there and they have the best scrapbooking gadgets and doodads. I got there in the morning and sure enough, Nicole had blown out on the way up to Grandma's. Ugh. Everytime she poos while sitting in her carseat, it always goes up the back of the diaper, I don't know what it is about the carseat. Maybe I need to start duck taping the diaper to her back.

I started washing her clothes and got her into her extra pair that I always carry with me. Mom and I scrapbooked a little while Nicole played. But, I have found that my Mom cannot say "no" the grandkids. Everytime Nicole went over to Grandma and whined a little, she would pick her up. I repeatedly told her that she didn't have to pick her up, she was fine on the ground, but my Mom just doesn't have that ability. I remember her saying 'no' to us as kids all the time. It must be a grandchild super power that I have never encountered before.

Mom and I also made ice cream with their brand new ice cream machine. My Dad of course bought the machine and Mom is trying to get a lot of use out of it. It was actually kind of fun and very delicious ice cream.

I didn't get a lot of scrapbooking done until I put Nicole down for her nap. But, when she woke up, sure enough, she had blown out of her diaper again. Her clothes were not yet dry, so she had to go around in just a jacket and pants for a little while. We survived though.

Friday! Coley and I got to take Matt's sister Kristy to a dental surgery she was having done. I have found that waiting rooms and one year olds are non mixy. Nicole did okay for the first hour, but the surgery ended up taking two hours, so we had to go and take a drive for a little while so Nicole could nap. Poor Kristy was all swollen and in pain, so we took her back to our place and took care of her. I think she will be fine though.

Saturday! This was Camille's birthday and baptism. Matt and I baked a cake for her birthday and it turned out really well. White cake with strawberry frosting. Yum! We picked up Grandma Moses and headed off to the baptism. Nicole was surprisingly social at this event. Usually she is very much a Mamma's girl and won't leave my side, but she wanted to crawl down the isle and visit with my sisters and my mom. The baptism was wonderful! I'm so excited that my nieces and nephews are growing up so fast.

After the baptism we went to Norm and Rand's house. Nicoley crawled around and socialized. She also found the computer table and a little shelf that is just her size. She is so stinkin cute.
After the we headed home, Marie and Anthon came over and played video games with us. We put Nicole to bed and that made playing games a lot easier. Marie and I are not that good at Super Mario Brothers. When I went to check on Nicole after she fell asleep, I realized she had a poopy diaper. Now, I don't let my child sleep in a poopy diaper because the diaper rash is just to saddening. So, I changed her while she was alseep in her crib and she stayed asleep. I must be a super mom.

Sunday! Matt and I found subs for us in the nursery so that we could pick up DJ at the airport. I would have gone to nursery by myself with Nicole, but I am really not helpful when I have an armful of Nicoley. And, guess what happened on the way home from the airport... blow out. You now know WAY too much about my daughters diapers. We stopped to change her on the way home in hopes of avoiding a blowout situation, but we were too late. But, I always pack an extra change of clothes.

DJ hung out with us and we made pizza and played Aquire. It has been so long since I got to regularly play board games, I miss them so! Oh yeah, and did I mention that our dishwasher broke last weekend so I've been washing dishes by hand all week? We can't currently afford a new dishwasher, so I think I may be washing dishes by hand for a little while yet.

It was a good, fun filled week. It is rare that I have so many plans in a week and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Easter Post

Happy Easter from Nicoley Bunny!


We had a very relaxing Easter this year. Not as relaxing as last year where I slept all day because I had just had a baby, but relaxing enough.

We had Matt's siblings over for brunch on Sunday morning. We made wheat waffles and three different kinds of syrup. This was my first foray into making my own syrup and it turned out fairly well. We made cinnamon, strawberry, and blueberry syrup and they were very delicious. (except I didn't try the blueberries cuz gross.) We enjoyed breakfast and watched conference together.

For lunch we made egg salad sandwiches which felt very eastery and yum. Then, right after second session we headed up to my parent house for dinner.

Nicoley in her Easter dress with eggs


My mom had set up an egg hunt for all the grandchildren. Nicole didn't really understand the concept of hunting for eggs. The other kids caught on and found all her eggs for her. Which made hunting for eggs a lot easier for me. She wasn't interested in the eggs or the basket, but she does like the m&ms that were inside. She is a little chocolate lover.

We ate dinner at my parents and then headed home. I was one tired mommy since I had woken up at 6am and hadn't had a nap. Thus ended our Easter of 2010.