Graduated as Older Brothers

Only 19 days and some odd hours. That’s it! Or is it: Still almost 20 days. That’s so far away! ?? Depends on who you ask, and when you ask it I guess. Mostly I respond the first way. We’re almost there, and there’s still so much to do before he comes. Sometimes, at night, when I can’t get comfortable or I finally did get comfortable but now I have to go to the bathroom, I answer the second way. It’s so far away. I’ll be pregnant forever. I’m ready to have my body back.

However you look at it, baby brother will be here in 3 weeks. The boys had an older sibling class (they actually called it a “younger sibling” class, which I still don’t understand) at the hospital. They had a blast.They made door hangers with their pictures on them so baby will recognize their faces. Rhedd really likes this idea and talks about how baby will see his picture and know him. It’s cute. (I love his crossed eyes in this picture!)They practiced changing a diaper. Let’s just say that they will be more helpful gathering supplies than ever actually doing the job :) They also learned the super important skill of swaddling the baby.The last activity was a tour of the hospital, dressed as doctors carrying their babies. Ammon lasted the whole tour looking like this. Rhedd lasted 5 minutes and then I was carrying the baby and his costume. Good memories.

They graduated the class as “Prepared Older Brothers”. Glad at least half of my family is prepared!

Brett and I also went on a tour of the Labor and Delivery and Post Partum units. If you know me, you know I don’t do change well and I do decisions even worse. I love McKay-Dee. I’m loyal to a fault. I can happily report that I feel so good about my decision to deliver at this hospital (there are, seriously, at least 20 “nearby” hospitals to choose from – a bit daunting for decision making). There were a lot of things about the hospital that reminded me of McKay, so I feel almost at home.

Culinary Achievements

I am no Betty Crocker. Heck, I am no Amy Nielson for that matter :) But.. I do enjoy cooking. I usually stick with the easy stuff but every once in a while I decide to tackle something new. We’ve basically been under house arrest since Thursday due to the ice storm. When it’s cold and awful outside don’t you just want to bake? I decided to make cinnamon rolls. This was a big deal because 1) I am scared of yeast and 2) I only recently purchased a rolling pin. Both key in creating rolls. Look how lovely they are sitting in the pan! I was so proud that at this step they looked beautiful.Yum-ee! Gotta say my first attempt was a success (only downer was they were in the oven a bit too long.. next time, I’ll watch those stinkers closer).

Next up was making up for our lack of leftovers from Thanksgiving. I’ve wanted turkey sandwiches since November 28th. There’s just something successful in itself to have 3 of 4 burners going, the oven, and the crock pot all cooking various things simultaneously! (Don’t mind the jammas. Some cooks wear aprons, some just stay in their PJs.)Post Thanksgiving feast: turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and pie.Pretty tasty, and has cured my craving for leftovers!

What I am always thankful for:Love these 3 crazies and the one sitting under my ribs that didn’t allow me to eat nearly as much as I wanted! What’s next for this cook? Maybe a homemade pie, with a homemade crust. That sounds ambitious enough.

As far as this ice storm goes, I’m getting kind of tired of it all. Here is what we had planned that were all canceled due to “inclement weather”: 2 days of school (Friday and today, Monday), a Christmas party, the Children’s Christmas Parade in downtown Dallas (I was really looking forward to this), our stake’s Nativity presentation, and all church meetings. The good from all this is that we never lost power, Brett didn’t have to work, and I had gone grocery shopping before the storm. My friend went to a big grocery store looking for milk. There was one 1/2 gallon left and this on the shelves all over the store:Crazy! It should warm up in the next couple days and thaw us out. Finally!

The Ice Storm

Before we moved out here I talked to a lady in my ward that grew up in the Dallas area. She told me it would be super hot in the summer with humidity. But, I told her, at least the winter won’t be so bad. She replied with “Texas gets awful ice storms. It will be cold and miserable there, too”. Yeah, right. As cold and miserable as a Utah winter?? I doubted her. And last year with just one small sprinkle of snow I doubted her even more.

A couple weeks ago there was a winter storm warning. We received emails from the apartment management telling us what to do so our pipes didn’t freeze. There was talk of schools closing. I laughed. Are you kidding me? It has to be at least 32 degrees before it’s freezing, right? Yeah. That winter storm came and went and besides being colder than last year ever got, wasn’t anything to blog about.

On Wednesday I started getting the phone alerts again: another winter storm. Yesterday when I picked Ammon up from school everyone was talking about the possibility of school being canceled on Friday. What?? Wednesday was a beautiful 80 degrees. Why is everyone getting all worked up? So it rains. So it’s cold. We’re seriously closing up shop for that?

Thursday morning was chilly. Still nothing to blog about. It sprinkled a few drops of rain. Around 6 it started raining a little bit more. We got an email from the apartment management that because of the inclement weather they were leaving early and that the garbage people wouldn’t be by “for the safety of their people”. The school district called with a message that all schools were canceled. I was still laughing.

At 10 I turned on the news and saw why everyone was worked up. The rain was frozen when it landed. Seriously the strangest weather I’ve seen. The weatherman explained it like this: it started as snow, melted to rain, then refroze before it hit the ground. Ice covered everything. I wish I was a better photographer, or that I had a better camera, so I could help you see the ice.

We woke up to this:It looks like snow, but it’s not. It’s all just ice. You can hear it crackling. It’s kind of pretty.Is it reason to close and cancel everything? In Texas, yes. Drivers don’t know how to drive on slick roads. They don’t have the plows or sand trucks to clear the roads quick enough. People don’t even have window scrapers in their cars! We are enjoying a quiet day at home, grateful we still have power. I’m attempting cinnamon rolls for the first time ever and have soup going in the crock pot. I like cold days like this!

Getting the Season Started

Maybe my favorite Christmas lights are these ones:It’s at a park with a walking trail and river. The trees are decked completely out and seeing them reflected makes it all so pretty. The boys and I went to their lighting party. It was here that I discovered I’m not as quick as I once was. The belly is slowing me down. I had to yell at Rheddik, my 3 year old remember, to please walk slower because he was getting too far ahead of me. Yikes!!

Ammon likes taking pictures and this was his. Not too bad.We enjoyed the live band, too. The boys are great dancers and entertained the crowd with their moves. I should have recorded it, but I didn’t.I love this time of year, not just because of Christmas, but because of all the family friendly activities around (which happen because of Christmas, so I guess it is all because of Christmas!).

Going Ons

What have we been up to lately? A lot of the same ol’ stuff, with a few new things.

First up, after 3 weeks in the shop, we got Brett’s car back from the raccoon run-in. A week and a half later, he had a run-in with a truck.If you compare this picture with the one below from the raccoon you will see the damage is in the exact same spot. The guy is just super unlucky, what else can be said? But wait, his luck is even worse than getting hit in the same spot. The lady that hit him doesn’t have insurance (they exchanged insurance at the scene but it wasn’t until after Brett called her company that it was discovered that she canceled her policy days before the accident). From all this I learned something that most people haven’t ever had the opportunity to learn: before your car insurance kicks in you have to meet your deductible on each claim, not per year. Lovely.

Also new? The boys’ room doubled in size when we got bunk beds. Such an ingenious idea!So far, no one has fallen out of bed. Bonus!

The day before Thanksgiving we took the boys to “Frozen”. Such a cute movie. I highly recommend it, for adults and kids. After the movie we saw this hip-swinging Olaf. The boys have some great hip movement!

Thanksgiving this year was different than in years past. Not bad, just different. Our friends invited us over and we enjoyed our feast with 16 other adults and a smattering of young kids – all in a small apartment. It was pleasant, and I’m not being sarcastic :) That evening, after the kids had gone to bed and Brett and I were just sitting around is when I really missed family. Games, movies, laughter, drama, left-overs, etc…

Random Rhedd

I love all the time I get to spend just with him, especially since baby will be taking up a lot of my attention in a month. Somedays (alright, most days) it is hard to figure out what to do all day long, but it’s all good.He so wants to be a big kid and do everything that Ammon does. Next fall we have to find him a pre-school or we just aren’t going to make it. He won’t go to kindergarten until 2016 (!!! holy crap!!!) which feels so far away. For the record, I don’t recommend having a child born in the fall. This hat cracked me up. A tree? Really? Random.

I know the day has been successful when bedtime looks like this:

Family Time

It’s fun that the kids are getting old enough to play games with Brett and I (games besides that silly bug game, what’s it called?). Ammon’s attention span is understandably longer than Rhedd’s, but we still have a great time.Go Fish requires intense concentration!I think Santa may need to bring us some more games. Hope he remembers we want some…

My Awesome Big Kid

I can’t take credit for potty training Ammon. He decided to do it, and did it. I’ve heard horror stories about potty training – camping at home for days, weeks, hanging out in nothing but underwear, cleaning up mess after mess. Yeah. I didn’t get that with Ammon. Pretty sure I can count on 3 fingers the amounts of accidents he’s had.

Rheddik made it clear from day one that he’s not his brother. I have been a bit nervous about how his training would go. My original goal was to have Rheddik out of diapers by January. But, when he told anyone that asked him about going potty like a big kid that he wasn’t going to do it, I changed my mind and decided I wasn’t going to fight it. We could wait. 2 kids in diapers isn’t a big deal. We did it with Ammon and Rheddik for a year.

On October 28th Rheddik woke up and said he wanted to go potty. He did it. I was shocked and we celebrated. He pooped later that same day in the toilet. What?? We bought underwear the next day and were in full potty training swing. There were a couple of rough days, but overall, he rocked it. He is now officially a big kid and he is so proud of himself. I’m pretty proud, too. Once again, though, I can take no credit for training him. My kids like to be independent – which is cool with me!

And just because every post should have a picture, here’s my awesome big kid with his friend, Charlotte.

Halloween

Besides going to Grandparents’ houses and a few select neighbors, my kids have never been trick or treating. I’m just fine with that. If we could do without trunk or treats and costumes, I’d even be more fine with it. But, whatever. We celebrate, I throw the candy away (minus the good stuff!), and the costumes are used the rest of the year as dress-ups. That’s how we do Halloween.

This year started with the ward’s party. We actually left before the trunk or treat – not so much because I’m a grinch but because it was late and we were all tired. The party was fun. They had a lot of minute to win it games and the boys had a blast. Ammon balanced 6 dice on a popsicle stick. Not an easy thing to do! Next up was carving the pumpkin. This actually was a lot of fun for me. I stood back, watched, and took pictures :) Good thing the boys have an awesome Daddy!For being our family’s first ever pumpkin I think it turned out pretty dang cute – err, I mean scary. Last was Addison’s trunk or treat that Brett took the boys to. I stayed home and did laundry. On the actual day of Halloween, we stayed home, ordered Domino’s and made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. The boys enjoyed it all and that’s what matters when you’re a parent.

Pumpkin Patch

Halloween. One of those holidays I feel forced to celebrate. If I don’t do something for the kids I’m labeled. Bleh. Silly that I care what people think. In my desire to make Halloween more a Harvest Festival, less a candy drive, we went to a pumpkin patch and thoroughly enjoyed our morning.

Actually, there was one part that Momma did NOT enjoy. Everyone else seemed just fine. I was having a mini panic session. There was a hay bale maze. Sounds fun, right? At the entrance was a sign that read “No children under 3”. I ignored the sign. It was a maze. As long as Rheddik stayed with Ammon, no big deal. They had a couple lookout spots for the parents and I figured I could help out from there if needed. I sent my 3 year old in and told him to stay by Ammon. Then I climbed up on the lookout and discovered why kids ages 4-12 were the only ones allowed entrance.Can you see why I was panicked? It wasn’t so much a maze as tunnels of hay bales with spots the kids could poke up, like gophers. The tunnels were barely big enough for Ammon to stand in. No adult was going in to rescue if needed. I panicked. “Rheddik Helem, you stay right with Ammon. Ammon Allred, do not lose your brother!” and then I prayed and anxiously waited for the next time they popped their heads up. Five minutes later they exited and I sighed. Then Ammon wanted to go again. I so wanted to say no way. But, they did it, so why not? The rules stayed the same: Don’t lose your brother. Five minutes later Ammon exited. No Rheddik. Oh my goodness I was ready to dive in there on my hands and knees and search. Ammon was sent back in and he recruited some other kids in the search. After the longest minutes Ammon and Rheddik came out. And then Rheddik wanted to do it again. This time I did say “Absolutely no.” We found something more relaxing to do:)The hay ride and pumpkin search of the pumpkin patch were so much more my speed!

Hanging Out

That’s about all we’ve been up to lately. The other day we went to a Bluegrass festival with some friends. It’s always fun to be with friends.I love this picture. Kids sure love corndogs! And, did ya notice we traded in shorts for pants?? Yay!

Today, Rheddik and I went and ate lunch with Ammon. It’s always fun to have my buddies together!I also had a dr appt this morning. Baby is doing great. I passed my sugar test so no diabetes. Yay!! Only 11 more weeks. So crazy how fast this pregnancy is going. I actually like being pregnant – once the morning sickness and exhaustion goes away. I love feeling baby move and I love knowing baby is safe and comfortable inside. Of course I’m looking forward to holding baby on the outside, but then there’s the stress: feedings, diapers, blow-outs, spitting, sleep interruptions, crying, small colds turning into something serious… I love my babies, but I’m telling ya: the elephant momma has it best with her 2 year gestation. Don’t let those babes out until they are good and ready!!

What else is going on? Brett hit a raccoon coming home from west Texas the other night. The speed limits on the country roads get up to 75 mph, so even though a raccoon is a smaller animal (when compared to a deer, for example, which is what usually is hit and damages a car) hitting a raccoon going at least 75 will cause damage. In Brett’s case, it ruined his radiator and tore off part of his bumper.This has brought out some interesting conversations with the boys. One, that a raccoon doesn’t fly, but looks like a cat. Two, that the raccoon got hit because it forgot to look both ways before crossing the road. Good life lessons. (Since I am back-blogging I can let you know that it has been 3 weeks since the accident, and he’s still waiting for his car to be fixed. Nasty raccoon.)

Brett also had a job interview out in Arizona. We were pretty excited about the idea of living so much closer to family, but alas, Arizona isn’t to be right now. They offered him a job in Midland, TX and after (seriously) debating and discussing for a week straight, he turned down the job. Midland just isn’t right for us, even though the job would have been ideal. Life is an adventure for sure!

Fire House Party

All things firemen related are cool at our house. We went to the Addison Fire Open House and enjoyed hanging out. The boys had to sit in each of the 5 fire trucks, switching seats so they both had a chance to sit behind the wheel in each one. Seriously, why? After sitting in the trucks, we bounced in the bounce house, had balloon animals made for us, ate cotton candy, drank water, toured the fire house, then repeated sitting in each of the 5 trucks, switching so both boys could sit in both front seats. It was a long afternoon for me, but they were in heaven.I had to include this picture of Ammon. See the sweat dripping down his face? I’m pretty sure the cotton candy melted before it came in contact with him. It was sooo stinkin’ hot! The week before it was a beautiful 85. This day it was a not so lovely 95 with crazy high humidity. Not fun! The poor firemen were dripping just as bad as Ammon.