Visiting Those Gosh Darn Backwoods Okie Relatives

So maybe the "backwoods" part is a little misleading...It's more like "downtown", but that doesn't have the same ring to it...
This past weekend we were fortunate to be able to go to Tulsa to visit Rus's brother Jacob, his wife, DeAnn, and their daughter Zaya and newborn Russel.
We loved:
*Our DVD player. As always. It's a family staple. The Sanity Keeper.
*Going swimming at the hotel on the way there. Well, all of us but Rus loved that. He doesn't like being cold, so the hot tub suited him really well. Jacob and I liked swimming crazy and watching the Big Guy do cannonballs. SPLASH! Jacob called it our other house. He still wants to go swimming at "my other house."
*Visiting the Palo Duro. Amarillo is FLAT, let me tell you. So it stands to reason that the mountains there are inverted. Yes, I mean canyons you smartypants. The Palo Duro is a huge canyon, very pretty to look at, with campgrounds and trails all through out the bottom. And there are wild turkeys and deer. We the paparazzi caught two deer trying to cross the road, and another deer and three turkeys hiding out in the bushes. Rus was stoked. His opinion of the canyon went from "ho-hum" to "let's camp out here this summer." See the deer in the back, bending down to eat something?
Falling!
Just kidding!*Seeing our new nephew Russel Elias! He was born three weeks ago and he has a head of hair and was lucky enough to get his daddy's looks without being ugly. I'm not being rude. Rus and Jacob are constantly calling each other the Ugly Brother. It's a term of endearment. We are all happy to be confusing generations to come...Rus and I with son Jacob, and Jacob and DeAnn with son Russel. It was fun to be able to cuddle a sleeping infant...He made Beau seem so huge and wiggly and destructive.Grams loved having another baby to cuddle. She loves babies, and we've all been very accomodating. Russel is the fourth baby since July...(Beau, Sadie, Alden, Russel)*Seeing more snow than we've seen in the last four years. Eight inches, at least! It just kept coming! Rus and I were very happy to see it and know that we were leaving it the next day. Jacob loved going out in the snow and he and I made a monster snowman and a snow lion. Three cheers to me for being prepared and actually packing hats and gloves and coats! (Not my own, mind you...)
*Playing with all of the kids. Zaya is crammed full of personality. I loved how she would come sit on my lap and look at a book with me, saying, "Look, honey!" It was so cute. She's a little mommy and knows exactly what everyone should be doing. We were able to have an early easter egg hunt, a lion hunt led by Grandpa (Rus and Jake were the lions), and lots of tickling by uncle Jacob.
I know this pic is fuzzy, but I love it...Beau laughing with Nana
All in all our trip was wonderful! I love roadtrips with Rus because we get to talk. Alot. At any lull in the conversation Rus will be there saying, "So, what else can you tell me?" or "Tell me a story." I love it. Those conversations lead us to make big plans for future trips, and we talk about raising our kids, where we want to live in the future, what we're reading in the scriptures, old friends, politics (shudder...Rus has a captive audience for that one, emphasis on "captive."), and saving the world...It was a good trip and we're happy to be home. Thank you DeAnn and Jacob for letting us stay with you!

Beau Made My Favorite Color!

A few days ago I was changing Beau's diaper and Jacob happened to be looking on.

It was a poopy diaper, and Jacob saw the poop and exclaimed,
"Beau made my favorite color!
Green!"

It was hilarious.

I could have died.
Right there.


We went hiking last Friday and even before we got out of the car Jacob said, "I don't want to go for a hike! I don't want to get tired!" He is the laziest kid I have ever met. An old man was walking by later and Jacob was still repeating the same thing and the man was very sympathetic and said he didn't want to get tired either.

That's my Jakey. Gotta love him.

Beau Crawling!

It's the beginning of the end. Beau has started to crawl! Yay! He hasn't really discovered that it is a mode of transportation, unless I'm right in front of him and he wants me. But I'm sure that will come shortly. Aww...now for gates on the stairs and vacuuming the floors on a regular basis. And hiding all the polly pockets. And cleaning out the bottom shelf of my pantry. And moving my glass dishes in the kitchen UP. And closing the bathroom doors. And still removing things from his mouth that shouldn't be there. Hooray!
And here are some pics of Beau's funny faces:

Beggar face. He wants the camera. Bad. Look at those hungry eyes.What do I call this face? Who knows, but he does it all the time and it always cracks me up.
And this is the Tongue Face. I think because he is just getting used to those cool bottom teeth. He does this all the time.Thank you Joy for telling me how to move my pictures around. Duh. Yep, it worked great. Now can you tell me how to get rid of this dumb hyperlink when it shouldn't be here?

You Know You're a Mom If...

You hear that "Phantom Baby" crying when you're in the shower, or blow-drying your hair, or listening to music, or even when the house is perfectly silent.

You've ever wiped your child's boogers with his own shirt.

You've ever lost a cell phone, remote control, or even a car remote to your teething toddler's drool.

You've contemplated securing your toddler's diaper with duct tape just to make sure it stays on.

You catch yourself singing the ABC song even when your child is not around.

You eat PB&J's (or honey) for lunch on a regular basis.

You catch yourself yelling something absurd, like "Jacob, stop sitting on Beau's head!" or "Jacob! GROSS! Toilet brushes are NOT toys!"

You've ever listened an entire movie but never actually watched it.

You've begun rating how clean your house is, from "Disaster" to "Miracle" and you're perfectly content if it's just "Clean Underneath Everything."

You've taught your four-year-old to pour milk in sippers and find cartoons on the TV just so you can sleep in longer.

You call your husband at work to celebrate your baby learning how to clap or crawl or play peek-a-boo.

You hate laundry.

You know your child by her cry.

You cry when your child stops taking naps.

You view your relationship with your computer as a connection to the outside world.

You love wipees.

You have cheerios/fruitsnacks/candy bribes in the bottom of your purse. Purse? Did I say that? I meant diaper bag, of course.

Anything I missed?
Oh, and I have to gloat a little...all my bathrooms are clean again. YAY! It's postworthy because it rarely happens. (Even the tubs. And the wall going up my stairs, thanks to my magic eraser. LOVE those things!)

How To Catch a Leprechaun

I picked up Bekah from preschool today and she had made a little "telescope" to use to look for Leprechauns. Evidently, that made her imagination run wild and she decided that we must make a trap for a leprechaun. So how is that done, you may ask?
First you find a leprechaun-sized box. Then you draw pictures of things a leprechaun likes, like rainbows and pots of gold. Then you make a sign that says, "Only For Leperchauns" (I spelled it wrong to her, so she wrote it that way. I thought it was funny...) Then you tape all of the signs inside the box.
Then you make the box really comfy by adding a pillow and a blankie. And then you put treats in it for the Leprechaun.
The poor little green guy might also want water or tissues, so put those nearby too.
Then when he sneaks inside to look at his pot of gold or rainbow...
you close the doors!
And how big are Leprechauns, you may ask? Well, roughly the size of a well-fed Beau...
Cute little green monster!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Adventures in the Transformer Van

*This post is all fandangoed because I can't seem to move my pics or my text...so if you feel lost, that's okay, just read to the end and then maybe you'll get it**
We got to hang out with Tyler...who is a blast, bytheway...I would highly recommend it for any of you single chicas out there...

(Above picture) Inga with her son Chemp and me with Bekah and Jacob. Wonder why I'm holding Bekah? Because the camera made my shirt see-through. You know what I'm talking about, Lindsey! So I picked up Bekah so I wouldn't have one white boob and one black. I know, too much info...but it kept Inga and I laughing for a while!
My pictures are coming in so weird and I can't move them after they're here...oh well, just enjoy this post backwards...So in the above pic is Amanda-used-to-be-Haymore and her daughter Paige. I was so excited to see her! Too bad there's not an extra hour in church just to socialize!
Beau is trying really hard to crawl. Rus made me promise to sabotage him in anyway possible so that he wouldn't crawl while we were gone. Of course I didn't do that (Rus! What a horrible idea!!) But apparently Beau does like his daddy, so he's saving his tricks for when daddy is watching.
Beau and Grandpa

*k, so this is the original beginning...umm...sorry again*

Our van has a Transformers-logo magnet on it. It's so Rus can pretend that it transforms into something else when he's driving it. Whatever it takes, right? Now onto the adventure part...

I left Rus last week.

Despite his good looks and charming ways I was finding that the BusyRus was not my favorite, and perhaps if I left him for a week we'd like each other better. Not to mention the fact that his calendar for last week was filled in every night, and not by me...nope, the boy scouts to whom he is a leader snagged him for mutual and a camping trip and help making a pinewood derby car...So I bought him the HOT pork rinds that completely disgust me, along with a can of corned beef, a frozen pizza, and other MAN food that rarely graces our table, and I packed up MEGAvan and left.

And drove seven hours. super fun. yay. bring it on, dora, Kung fu panda, and Robots!

Did I mention that maybe another reason I left Rus was because it was my mom's birthday? Minor fact...So I visited her and let my kids pamper her all day...from six in the morning until at least eight at night, and I made her a cake and bought her balloons, and let my dad treat her (and me) to Texas Roadhouse. Yum. I had a great time there, as always, and was also pleasantly surprised to see several old friends at church on Sunday. I love running into people I haven't seen in forever...so fun!

And without further ado...here are some pics *um, I mean, the only pic I was able to move. This mumbo jumbo is FUN, huh!**:

Bekah and Jacob attracting all the ducks by the Zoo in Tucson. We played there until Tyler got off work, and then we went out to dinner with him.
The end. Next time I promise to not make such a backwards post. Maybe.

Green Popsicles...and Beau's New Hat....and Are You a Belly or Back Sleeper?

This has to be a fast post because my kids are yelling at me to come play with them. I'm just too cool...they can't play without me sometimes! So the top pic is of my kiddos eating the popsicles they were begging for...Green popsicles that have bananas, an apple, orange juice, ice, and...SPINACH! It's the green drink recipe from Stephanie aka the Baby Catcher's blog. They won't drink it, but if I put it into popsicle molds and freeze it, they LOVE it!
Then there's Beau in his new had that I MADE! I have Amy Butler's book Little Stitches for Little Ones and it has really fun patterns and good instructions, especially for a novice sewer like myself.
And finally here is a pic of how Beau sleeps with his gargantuan brace...half on his tummy, half on his back. I don't know how he does that or how it can be comfortable, but somehow it works. I think he was just too tired to rotate those big feet around! After I took the pic I had to do it for him because he just looked so uncomfortable!

RSV: Really Sucky Virus

Beau napped all morning and now Bekah and Jacob are in their rooms "sleeping." (playing, probably. I don't really want to know as long as they're quiet) So it's just myself and Beau. He likes to sit on my lap facing me. He pulls my hair, babbles, and buries his face in my chest. His breathing comes in spurts, little sputtering gasps, with a cough here and there. His red-rimmed bright blue eyes are happy, though, and he babbles again noisily. I imagine he's telling me all about the important busy things he needs to be doing but those funny chubby legs just don't hold up his heavy belly so well. He likes to lean over on the arm of the chair and pull with all his might, until I've only got his thighs in my grasp and his head is hanging upside down where he is in a much better position to yell at the floor. Some more sputtering, and I pull him up just so he can get a good deep breath. We repeat this a half a dozen times until I get a clue and realized he just wants to be on the floor where he can eat his sock. And a little rubber band. And that tissue...

I took Beau in for the second half of his flu shot on Friday. "Sorry," they said. "Can't give it to him. He has RSV. And an ear infection. And he is miserable. And drooly. Are those teeth coming in on top? What? He's constipated, too? Um...Here's a prescription for the ear infection and...umm...good luck!" That was just the first appointment. At the second one with the brace-maker-guy he got new braces that look 10 sizes too big. They are stiff and seem to be uncomfortable.

But the good news is that because of the amoxycillin, he's definately not constipated anymore. I think he prefers it this way. No more grunting. Silver lining, right?

And his good nature just really wants him to be happy, so he's still pretty smiley through it all. And he has come up with a great funny face, made especially for Rus. (It's the top pic. For some reason I can't move it down here.)

Beau's done with the floor now, ready to be picked up, so I'd better go.
Make it a great day!