I Love to see the Temple

Much thanks to Melanie Hill for blogging about her experience at the Draper Temple Open House with her two adorable little boys. Prior to reading her entry I had it in my head that children had to be at least eight years old to attend the open house. Actually, I was confusing the open house and the dedication ceremony and was delighted to be corrected. Chad and I picked a date to attend, which ended up being a Friday since all the January weekend and evening times had been snapped up. The weather was perfect and we were all excited to attend. Merritt thought it was really neat because I busted him out of school 1 hour and 25 minutes early so that we would easily make our 1:20 time slot. (There is such a special, superior feeling that accompanies leaving before school is officially out. I loved being excused from class, waving goodbye to my friends and walking out into empty halls, even if it meant I was on my way to the dentist.)

I worked super hard that morning to make sure that I had everything we needed ready (church clothes for Merritt, a white shirt and tie for Chad, fully stocked baby bag, etc.) and that I had as many of my chores finished as humanly possible. The last thing I did, before packing up the car and driving to pick up Merritt, was to make Son 1 a lunch in his Spiderman lunchbox so that he could eat on our way to Chad's work. With 10 minutes before our arrival in Salt Lake, Merritt asked me to open his Go-Gurt. Instead of asking him to wait until we got off the freeway, insanity prevailed and I attempted to tear it open with one hand and my teeth. I succeeded in only tearing away bits of the edges. Finally, I broke through the plastic and made a small hole, which to my frustrated mind was GOOD ENOUGH! Merritt, however, didn't realize how I had opened the yogurt tube (since it still looked closed) and I didn't explain it to him (Duh!) thinking that he would just put the tube in his mouth and squeeze. Well, he did squeeze it, but not in his mouth, and all I saw out of the corner of my eye was a fountain of pink yogurt shooting into the air and landing all over Grant's clean, khaki pants. Ugh! I did my best to clean him up but we arrived at the temple with one not-so-clean baby wearing pink stained pants that smelled vaugely of tropical fruit.

The bus ride was very exciting for the kids, mainly because they weren't seat-belted in and were thus free to mash their faces against the window. I had another insanity moment and allowed Grace to bring two small toys ("Sweeping Booty" (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty) and a plastic lion) and the lion got lost on the bus. It is somewhere inside, on the floor most likely, making endless circles between the stake center and the temple. Poor lion. At least Sweeping Booty made it through the day okay.

The temple was beautiful and the children were very impressed. Merritt wanted to go down and see the carved oxen as we passed through the baptistry, he loved the paintings in the ordinance rooms (especially the cougar which he called a "little meat-eater"), he wants a giant chandelier like the one in the celestial room to hang in his bedroom ("Only, mom, I'll need a really, really tall ceiling."), and he loved looking into the mirrors in the sealing rooms. Grace went through the whole tour with wide eyes and the words, "Look, pretty!" exclaimed at regular intervals. Grant pulled my hair (it's a comfort thing) and cried everytime he saw a water fountain because he wanted a drink.

After the tour we went in for cookies and a drink at the stake center which adjoins the temple. There were no chairs set up, so we found a bit of carpet in an out-of-the-way spot so that the kids could sit down and munch away. We gave Grant a small water bottle and after several successful sips he dumped the water onto the carpet. Grace was tipping the water into her mouth and then backwashing it into the bottle again...the water in the bottle was soon brown due to the chocolate cookie she was eating...SO NASTY! Merritt ate four cookies before we even knew what happened. We then figured it was time to go, but I just HAD to have us all pose for a picture, so this nice lady snapped one for us next to a beautiful portrait of the Savior. It would have been a nice picture, but in vain I pled for Merritt not to pose as a dinosaur, all to no avail. Grace had her mouth full of water which she refused to swallow. Grant wouldn't look at our photographer. Ah, memories! (We went outside for take 2 and it turned out much better...that is the photo posted at the top.)

After a 30 minute wait (the red buses came, the blue buses came, but where were all the green?) we finally caught our bus back to the stake center where we'd parked our car. Grant was, by this time, close to a nuclear melt-down from sheer tiredness. In self defense and to save what was left of my sanity, I gave him (you are going to die when you read this) the water bottle he kept reaching for...the only one left...the one with BROWN WATER!! I refused to watch as he happily drank some and spilled the rest down his shirt. I was feeling my peaceful buzz from the temple tour draining away a bit until I was completely diverted by the little boy in the seat in front of me who was sucking his thumb and picking his nose at the same time with the same hand! What a feat! I was duly impressed and hilariously entertained.

The tour was wonderful and the kids have talked about it regularly since we got home. It made quite an impression on them! You should go. www.lds.org is the place to reserve free tickets.

School and some Playdough

Today's "school time" was fun, Grace worked on a page of colors and shapes while Grant colored a picture of a deer. (Why a deer? Well, it's off the beaten path of usual animals one finds on alphabet coloring pages and I knew Keith and Sandra would be so proud.) Grace did a good job with her coloring and said to me, "School is fun!" Yes it is sweetie, never forget it! I got a little crazy today and made some Jell-O playdough too. I used lime Jell-O and the playdough smells awesome, not like that store bought nasty-smelling stuff that makes me want to gag. You definitely wouldn't want to eat it, however! I don't think anything that has 1/2 cup of salt in it can taste good. Grace has been playing with her playdough ball for an hour and is still going strong. Grant poked his fingers in his playdough portion a few times and then gave me a look that said, "What the heck is this? I'm tired. Put me to bed." So I did. Merritt came home from school and started right in on the process of creating a marvelous creature...maybe a dinosaur or a dragon. I can't quite tell yet. I don't think there is a Michealangelo in this house, unfortunately, although my turtle was pretty freaking awesome.

Icing

So, we got slammed by a major two-day snowstorm. This meant that we spent a lot of time indoors watching the snow fall slant wise and straight down and swirling and any other way it wanted to. I do like the cozy feeling of being indoors with my family when the weather is less than pleasant. (Snuggling in blankets, cups of hot chocolate, playing games, making treats...so fun!) I also love the morning after a big storm, when you walk outside and see a fairyland of white: trees, power lines, fences, houses, mailboxes...everything is trimmed in white fluff. This was the scene outside my door this morning.

Gumby

If I were to sleep like this (i.e. with my lower body straight and my upper body bent clear the heck over like a pretzel) I would need either a year's worth of chiropractic adjustments or major surgery. Grace IS Gumby...only way cuter...and not made of clay...and she doesn't have a dog. Okay, she's not Gumby, she's just really bendy...like Gumby. I'll stop now.

Look What Happened While I Was In The Shower...

Grace and Grant decided that throwing toys in Merritt's room was lots of fun. Nuff said!

Walking With Dinosaurs!

Merritt waited with sweet impatience for January 15th to roll around. That was the date of our trip to see the Walking With Dinosaurs: The Live Experience at the Energy Solutions Arena. We left at 5:30, just in case there were traffic problems, and arrived with plenty of time to park the car, find our seats, visit the potty (again, just in case...I didn't want Merritt to miss a minute of the show), and buy popcorn and a drink (for $8.50...holy crap!). Our seats were the best Chad and I could afford, which meant the upper bowl, but we were on the first row and our seats overlooked the entire arena with no one's head in the way. The show was truly remarkable, jam-packed with dino facts presented in a fun and interesting way, and dominated by life-sized animatronic dinosaurs that roared, fought, ate (plants and other dinos) and roamed all over the arena floor. They made their dramatic entrance through a black curtain framed by gigantic teeth. Merritt was in hog-heaven (dino-heaven?) and laughed, shrieked, "whoa-ed" and climbed on my lap throughout the whole show. His boisterous enthusiasm wasn't shared by the nerdy little kid sitting next to him, unfortunately. This was one of those sweater-vest wearing six-year-olds who sit still and prim and tell everyone else around them how to behave. He even got on my case. We were told that we could take all the pictures we wanted, but not to use flash photography. I diligently turned off my flash, but when I switched the lens setting on my camera, it went back to flash mode and I inadvertently popped a flash picture. The boy gasped, pointed at me (a la Invasion of the Bodysnatchers) and said to his mother, "That lady just took a picture with her FLASH on!" The woman looked at me and loudly whispered "We can't control what other people do. Just ignore them." What the freak? After that I'm afraid I let Merritt off his leash. When the T-Rex made her grand entrance, Merritt stood up a roared back at her and I didn't say a thing to him about it. I just laughed while the little nerdy kid looked horrified and tried to shush him. "I'm just telling T-Rex that I'm a friend," Merritt told nerd-boy. That made me laugh more. The show ended with the drama of the meteror strike that killed off all the dinos (which has since had Merritt praying nightly that a meteror will NOT hit the earth again) and then the lights went on and it was time to go. We made our way into the main lobbies to find a souvenir vendor. I couldn't help but think, "What recession?" as I watched family after family drop $100+ on doo-dads. We spent $10 and bought Merritt a huge poster to remember his big night out. A grand time was had by us both and all of Salt Lake City must have thought we were crazy because we ran like T-Rexes all the way back to the car.

We all need some...

Grace!
Current doings? Throwing a hard, pink, rubber ball at the ceiling and trying to hide the fact that she is THIS CLOSE to breaking all the lights.

Current Obsession? Ella Enchanted and having her picture taken.

Current Pastimes? Wrestling with Grant, playing with her princess dolls and dancing.

Current Sayings? "Mom, you're crazy!" and "Time to dance Mom!"

Current Favorite Food? Breakfast: Cereal (Cap'n Crunch or Cheerios), Lunch: PB&J Sandwich, Chips and a Banana, Dinner: Nothing

Current Fear? Snakes apparently. She had two nightmares last night involving getting eaten by a big snake. Where does this stuff come from? Not from watching Sesame Street! The second time she woke up crying she woke up Grant...fun for all was had. She ended up in bed with Chad and I which meant that for at least a half hour she twisted my hair and her feet were firmly planted in my back.

We love Miss Grace!

Face Plant

I got a call from Merritt's first grade teacher today. My first thought was that she was calling to tell me that he had been in a fight or something, but no - she was calling to report an injury Merritt had sustained during first recess. She told me that the skin around his eye was all cut up, swollen and bruised so I immediately bundled the kids up and raced to the school to see him for myself. The scratches and scrapes did look painful, and I did bring him home, but the whole scenario was much milder than my over-active imagination painted it. Here is what happened, in Merritt's own words.

"Umm. Me and Gabe and Becca were playing house and me and Gabe were baby pet T-Rex's and I used my face to bump into Gabe and Gabe turned sideways, I mean, he jumped sideways and I tripped over a snow rock made out of snow and I fell and my eye hit the ground really hard and it hurt but I didn't cry. That's it."

The dangers of recess are now revealed...snow rocks made of snow. Chad and I need to have a talk with Merritt about using his face to run into stuff.

Stories

Merritt wanted to make a dinosaur book and asked me for some paper. Then he asked me for a snack because "Illustrating a book is hard work!" He is so creative and works so hard on his drawings and stories. This time around, he let me help. I got to color the dirt on all his pictures, and on one picture, I got to color the water.

Grant has learned about holding hands. He knows now that if I hold out my hand and he takes it, we will go somewhere together. This is fun because we are still linked, but he gets to walk. On Sunday, while in the middle of Relief Society, I got a whiff of poopy diaper so I grabbed up the stuff I needed and held out my hand. He put his little one in mine and we walked companionably to the mother's lounge for a wipe down. When we were finished, I opened the door for him and he ran out giggling. He was about ten paces ahead of me when he stopped, looked back, and held out his hand to me. I caught up, took his hand, and had a happy mom bubbly moment...you know those...when you know you're loved.

I was vacuuming downstairs and took a peek in Merritt's room. The floor was covered with plastic dinosaurs in various combat poses. Merritt was upstairs quietly occupied with paper and crayons, and I was not disposed to bother him so I decided to skip his room on this particular vacuuming round. When I finished cleaning the office and backed out, my heart just squeezed to see Merritt in his room putting his toys away. He had heard the vacuum, remembered his mess and taken care of it all on his own. I love that kid!

Mystery Dinner

I love mystery dinners, desserts, breakfasts, snacks, etc. It's so fun to read through a recipe book, find something that sounds super yummy, and try it out. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I have a pretty good eye for tasty recipes and we usually have great success. Tonight, however, was NOT one of those nights. I diligently prepared a crockpot meal at 9:00 this morning and had it on its way to done-ness by 9:30...cook for 8 hours and I have dinner ready by 5:30 - perfect. Except that it wasn't. Throughout the day a tantalizing smell filled the house but as the minutes ticked closer to dinner hour the aroma changed. What was going wrong in my little bubbling pot? I tasted the finished product and it was BLECK! (That is a word in my dictionary I'll have you know.) The final nail was in the coffin when I had Chad come in to confirm my diagnosis. He agreed...it was "bleck." Oh, the dinner horror!!! I added some of my favorite spices to try and save the day and eventually (and extremely half-heartedly) served up bowls of "bleck" that my children eyed with distrust. Grace pushed her bowl away, Grant spit his mouthful out, and Merritt pretended to eat and made forced, cheery comments. I finished my dinner (my own punishment), threw the kids' uneaten remains away, swore never to make this recipe again, and we all ate cookies instead. So there.

You're back... my old friend

Announcing the return (re-return?/three-peat?) of the night guard! Yes, it is once again time for a piece of plastic to prop my mouth open at night, thus insuring that I don't grind my teeth and that I do drool all over the bed. So fun. The latest incarnation of the night guard sits over my bottom teeth and makes my lower lip stick out. I look like I have the mumps. I'm going to scare Chad, I just know it! On the plus side, I won't grind my teeth into pulp so that's good...right?

Avatar Merritt

For those of you not in on the secret, Avatar the Last Airbender is totally awesome! You must watch. We finished Season 2 and are currently in the midst of watching the final chapter - Season 3. (Yes, Sandra...I said Season 3!!! Coming your way soon!) Anyhoo, this is Merritt's impersonation of Aang sitting on his rotating air bubble. He was actually balancing for a few seconds, but my camera was too slow to catch it.

Every Baby Loves a Baby

Last night, as I was tucking Grace into bed, Grant crawled up and discovered Grace's baby dolls. He was so intrigued with them, patting their faces and smiling at them. He then gave them a huge hug and sat with them, happy as a clam. I love how babies love other babies...

Hide and Seek

After dinner on New Year's Eve (nothing fancy, just taco salad...but we did have Fritos instead of regular tortilla chips - that's fancy right?) we each had a fortune cookie (I was told that I love music and the arts, which I took to be prophetic since I DO have a gift card to the Hale Center Theater courtesy of Aaron) and then we played Slap Jack and Hide and Go Seek. Grant watched us play the card game with great interest. He finally plunked himself down in front of me and proceeded to slap every card that we put down. It was hilarious. Then it was time for hide and seek. Chad and I stood in a corner of the tv room and counted to 15. When we turned around the funniest sight met our eyes. Grace was hiding on the recliner, but I think that since she couldn't see us, she figured we couldn't see her...
Merritt was more creative. After hiding under a blanket the first time around he hid inside the entertainment center. Too bad he had to haul out three books, a bin of toys and a dvd folder to do it. Plus, he was right next to where we were counting. :)



The award for best hiding place went to me, of course, because I hid in the shower. If Grant hadn't started talking I could have hid there forever. Even though Merritt knew I was in there, I still scared him when he opened the curtain - I laughed and laughed at the look on his face. He thought that was a pretty awesome hiding spot so he went there on the next round. It wasn't a very subtle option though, because he left the lights on and was giggling.