cole {eleven months}

cole now loves to climb. on anything. our circular stairs, boxes, master bathtub, and dishwasher are just a few of his favorites. this week he had his first trip to the er. he got a nasty cut on his cheek, not from one of his dangerous climbing adventures, but from "nicely" playing with mclayne. the roomful of nurses ready to hold cole down for stitches were in love with him. cole was tough through it all, and in the end the doctor decided to just glue it to reduce scarring. it think santa just needs to bring me a bottle of medical superglue for christmas!

mclayne's first snowman

kung fu grandma

i wasn't kidding about the birds at wheeler farm. grandma had to bust out some moves to scare them away. thanks to kung fu panda, mclayne seems to have picked up some moves of her own. Skadoosh...you vicious geese!!

the birds were a little aggressive for me, so i just sat back and picked my nose {not literally, even though it looks like it!} other highlights include the little piglets, the selfish sheep that head-butted mclayne when she tried to take some of his food, and the chicken that pecked her finger.


kung fu panda isn't the only movie mclayne has been watching. apparently she saw one about a drunk, homeless, skanky princess...

i learned three things...

from these pictures





















one. mclayne learned how to open starbursts + she was pretty excited about that.
two. somewhere deep-down she has the ability to share with cole + it's usually when she shouldn't.{you don't see cole complaining}
three. i need to remember not to ask mclayne to smile for the camera...picture one pre-"smile", picture two post-"smile"!

maya's baptism

we were lucky to be in town for my niece maya's baptism. mclayne thought we were just going to church and wondered why we didn't go to nursery after it was over. instead we went to my sister's house for lunch. it was healthy and delicious...even without meat in the chili.{ryan wasn't too sure about that} and if i could move maya's room {with maya in it} to denver i would, because it kept mclayne busy the whole afternoon. i'm glad we could be part of the day!

thanks to cara for the pictures!

quick tip

problem one: i have a lot of these baby sized hangers above that i thought served no purpose. i mean who hangs up their kids' pants?!
problem two: i air dry most of my pants {and a lot of my shirts}. i have never found a great, compact way of doing this.
i think you can see where i'm going with this...
SOLUTION: fold your pants in half as you would for folding. shake and smooth them a little. then hang them from the cuff {upside down} with one of the baby hangers. the weight of the top helps lengthen and unwrinkle the pants. and you can just hang them in the closet, so they don't take up any space. genius!

hummus

at the playdate i had two weeks ago i served hummus and flatbread for the adults. then i came across this at stuff white people like and had to laugh...

{for those of you that aren't willing to follow the link, i copied it below!}

When it comes to food, all white people are either allergic to/or have stopped eating everything you consider delicious. It’s a good idea to come to grips with the concept, because it will save you a lot of headaches.

But when white people come to your house, you are forced to deal with the problem in a very real, very immediate sense. You will be trapped with their dietary restrictions and they will be trapped with the contents of your kitchen. You can mediate this situation by stocking your pantry with dozens of complicated and expensive snacks. Or you could take the easy way out and just buy a tub of hummus.

All white people like hummus. In fact, if you find a white person who does not like hummus then they probably just haven’t tasted it or they are the wrong kind of white person. In either case, they are probably not someone that you want to know.

Putting out a plate of hummus and pita makes white people very comfortable. It reminds them of home since at any given time a white person has hummus in their fridge. Even the most barren white refrigerator will have a package of the stuff next to an empty Brita filter.

White people are also relieved when they see hummus because they recognize the contents immediately.

Though you would never be able to guess it by their actions, white people are very concerned with perceived as “annoying” or “that guy” who has to ask about the ingredients of everything they eat. However great their concern over this, they are still more afraid of being “that guy” that eats High Fructose Corn Syrup or pork.

Familiarize yourself with this information as it will play itself out every time you try to pick a restaurant with a white person.

You: “Let’s get Chinese food”
White Person #1: “Um, yeah, last time I was there I tried to ask the waitress if she prepared the pork dumplings in the same pot as the vegetable dumplings and I didn’t really get an answer that was concrete enough for me to feel comfortable eating there again.”

By providing your guests with a plate of hummus, you can guarantee that you won’t have to have this infuriating conversation in your own home. But that doesn’t mean you are safe. To cover all your bases, it is always a good idea keep some Gluten free crackers in your pantry.

That way if you bring out a plate of hummus and pita and discover that one of the white people cannot eat gluten, then you are ready to pull off a truly incredible move.

First, pretend not to understand why the person cannot eat wheat. Then go back to the kitchen and return with the gluten-free crackers. Everyone will be impressed by your ability to psych out people with food allergies.

Wait one week and relive the story with different white people, it will make them laugh and secretly wish to be invited to your next hummus eating party.

halloween...in colorado...and late

i forgot to pack my camera, so i have no pictures of our halloween and trick.or.treating in utah yet. between my mom, aunt laura, great-grandma laura, and the degooyers, hopefully i'll get enough. but we did celebrate halloween in colorado a little. before we left for utah, we had a halloween playdate with about 6 moms and 11 kids. we had a halloween egg haunt with black and orange eggs. the kids didn't wear costumes, but next year i think i'll have them dress up and turn it into more of a party. our next door neighbors weren't able to come, so yesterday we dressed the kids up and had another egg haunt. it was fun to see the kids in their cute costumes. mclayne kept hugging "yoda" and laughed at "darth maul's" scary mask. now that halloween is over, i'm having a hard time resisting christmas {i already have the tree up and will probably listen to christmas music today}. so happy halloween and merry christmas?!

quotes of the day

if my current life could be summed up in quotes i think these would be near the top...

"Sometimes the pattern of life seems a little monotonous -- and discouraging. It is like climbing a mountain and, after reaching the top, getting knocked back down to the bottom to climb it again; but I guess the fun is in climbing and not in arriving. I hope so!"

"I couldn't possibly have understood this when I was young like I do now. When we look back on decades of life we see that the seemingly insignificant things we do over and over actually weave the pattern of our lives. And if those small and simple things are good, we will end up having lived a fulfilling life -- and that is a great thing!"

"We each do the best we can. My best may not be as good as your best, but it's my best. The fact is that we know when we are doing our best and when we are not. If we are not doing our best, it leaves us with a gnawing hunger and frustration. But when we do our level best, we experience a peace."

all of these came from sister hinckley. i think they are so wise and dead-on, especially for young mothers. i hope you think so too...

denver zoo

Yesterday we went to the Denver zoo. Since we have been to the National Zoo {part of the Smithsonian group} in DC a few times, I wasn’t expecting to be wowed. But I was! It could have been the great weather and happy kids that made it so enjoyable, but the zoo is also very nice. The first thing we did was a beeline straight to the sea lion show. We got there just as started, and mclayne {and ryan} were pretty into it.
after the show




then the polar bears. i like that the enclosures seem to put you closer to the animals than other zoos we have been to.











about half way, we stopped and had lunch. next time we will either bring our own or go to the "restaurant" on the other end.
after lunch we headed to the primates. we were watching the gorillas with a few other people. eventually they left, and then something amazing happened. the gorilla walked from the far side of his area right up to the window! they just stared at each other and had a long bonding moment...it was awesome. maybe that's what's wrong her...she's part gorilla!











this was what mclayne looked like for most of the day. she would climb up to see the animals, talk to them, and if she really liked them name them. while we were at the hippos she told ryan, "this is baubis and beabis. do you know them?" what a riot...we'll definitely going back next october.