Goodbye, Summer!

We spent the last week of the summer at Bear Lake. Boy howdy, it the perfect way to end the summer. It's lazy, warm and involves lots of swimming. All the things summer should be.

And because all of the Utah County Schools were back in session, there was hardly anybody up there. It was great.

School started today. Yeah!! And both kids are actually there and so far we haven't received any phone calls from the office telling us to come and get them. It is pretty heavenly. Last night, however, was a little bit awful. Jonah was stressed because he is in a new school this year (last year when the school year started we weren't in our house yet.) which is understandable. The poor kid is in 3rd grade and has already been to 3 different elementary schools. And Noel was a wreck because he was so nervous and the Anxiety Disorder was in full swing. There was about 1 hour yesterday where he just wandered the house and made sad little sounds. Part (most?) of his panic was about the fact that we had told them that during the school year they couldn't play video games during the week.

Surprisingly, this morning went mostly well. Noel seemed in better spirits, though he did tell me he could hardly sleep last night because he was so worried about the new video game rule. And as we walked to the bus stop he told me he was really excited to ride the bus, and he knew his teacher would be nice and he was sure it would be beautiful inside. Inside the bus? The school? These are the kind of nonsensical things Noel likes to say to keep us guessing. (Last night when Amy asked what Noel would like her to pack in his lunchbox he said, "Friendship.")

Long story short: Noel made it on the bus, but Jonah missed it, so I had to race Jonah to the school, in a panic that Noel would get there before me and not know where to go. And he did beat us there, but he just wandered around in the front of the school. We seemed to get them to their classrooms OK and I was feeling good. Until Amy said "So, they know which bus to get on to come home?" And I realized we had zero discussion of that. And Jonah never saw the bus or the bus driver. So we are relying on Noel, with his lunchbox full of friendship, to find the correct bus for the both of them.

They'll figure it out, right?

Girly girl

Lila is the ultimate girly girl. When presented with a choice, she will always pick the pink option. She picks her shoes before she picks her outfit and then changes them 10 times during the day. She is also sweet, agreeable, charming and easy to get along with. And she always wants to be involved. If Jonah is riding his bike, she wants to ride her bike. If I'm outside stretching after a run, she wants to be outside stretching with me. She's fantastic.

Today she got dragged along on a bunch of errands that didn't involve her and that she couldn't participate in and it was starting to wear her out. First we had to go register the boys for school. They were devastated because Jonah doesn't want to go to a new school this year (last year we started him in the school by Amy's mom's house because that is where we were living when the year started but this year his is in his regular school.) And Noel was devastated because he doesn't want to go to school at all. I had to promise them I would download TWO Minecraft Texture packs if they would come along with minimal complaint.

Lila kept asking "When do I get to start school? Who is my teacher going to be?" She will be in preschool but it isn't until October, which may as well be 2045 to a 3 year old.

Then it was off to get haircuts for me and the boys. Again, the boys were despondent. I promised we would download a Minecraft skin if they would be nice. So we made it through. But Lila cried the whole time because she loves getting haircuts but the place we were at was a barber shop and only did men's cuts. So Lila was again, out of luck.

Then it was off to Target for school supplies. Again, the boys were a little annoyed and just wanted to play Outwitters on the iPhone. Lila picked out a Hello Kitty Backpack and a Dora lunchbox and a pink ruler - none of which she could get because she doesn't need school supplies.

We felt bad. She'd been such a willing participant in a bunch of errands that were of no benefit to her. So we told her we would get her a purse instead. She was thrilled and happily chose one that was on sale for $3. Score. Then she picked out some chapstick to go inside. When we got home she insisted that she needed some money for her purse, because that is what mom has in her purse. She walked around all day with the purse slung over her shoulder. It's pretty darling.

Then she dropped the bomb. She informed Amy and I that her name is Lila and that she would only like to be called that from now on. No more Lulu. Or Lou. Or Magoodle. Just Lila. We felt sad. She seemed so grown up. But no so grown up that should wouldn't come cuddle with me on the bed.

In mid sentence describing her purse (which is the hot pink you can barely see clutched in her hands.) she fell asleep. All that being agreeable and running errands tuckers a girl out.

She slept for a while and then woke up, told us she had changed her mind and that we could still call her Lulu and Magoodle. And then when she saw that Jonah was outside on his bike, she went out to be involved. And had her purse in tow.

May - We are playing catch up here

May (I know, I know, it is almost July.) is home to two big events in our house. The first, though slightly smaller, is still much beloved and rejoiceful. It’s Bingham Book Day, celebrated on May 5^th. I have blogged about it 100 times before so I won’t go into detail. 

We try to support the independent bookseller for Bingham Book Day, except for the years that we are too tired and just go to Costco. And since we have lost our beloved Powell’s Books with the move to Utah, we went to Weller Book Works. It was lovely, if a little odd, but they sold book and that it what we are after. 

It was a successful outing and books were bought by all. Here was the loot:

Josh: The Family Fang - our June Bonne Heure book club choice and it is delightful.

Amy: The Art of Fielding - another winner

Jonah: Leo Geo - a kind of awesome sideways graphic novel. I 100% support the movement to graphic novels.

Noel: Some Lego Star Wars 3D book. Noel kept walking around the mall with the 3D glasses on going “Whoa! The whole world is in 3D!”

Lila: Little Bunny and Fairy board books. She insisted on getting 2 and Amy and I didn’t put up too much of a fight. 

We love Bingham book day. It is literally one of my favorite holidays. You, too should celebrate it. You can name it after your own family though. 

May also brings Lila’s birthday.  She turned 3 and she continues to be amazing and awesome and funny and delightful. 

For the months leading up to her birthday she insisted she wanted a Caillou birthday party complete with a Caillou cake. If you think I am going to let that little French-Canadian brat into my house, you have another thing coming. We tried desperately to get her to change her mind to any other theme. We even tried to get her to do a Pink Power Ranger Party (her other latest obsession) to no avail. Fortunately at the last minute, she switched to a Tinkerbell Birthday. Hallelujah.

Here is the cake I made. I’ve had to step up my cake making game now that I live in the same state as my sisters and sister-in-law who make some killer birthday cakes. Lila thought it was pretty awesome.

Here is the birthday girl with all of her (too much) loot. She is pretty spoiled. But she is cute so it is worth it. Luckily she had plenty of help opening it.

And here she is after the party in her new Tinkerbell dress, wings and red cowboy boots.

And that was May. I hope I can blog about some of the things we did in June before October.

I promise (not really) that this will be that last one (or many, many more.)

Remember how once this blog was about interesting things and now I just post pictures of what I bought at an antique store? Well, I promise I will think about not doing that anymore, maybe. But I had to post this one.

In La Settanta there is TONS of storage in every room except the master bedroom. It has two small closets (I guess at least there are two.) and that is it. It's small too, so there is only space for one dresser. I keep my sweaters, jeans and t-shirts in the linen closet in the hall. And Amy suffered in silence without adequate space. So we've been on the hunt for some sort of chest to go at the foot of the bed. We have looked high and low and finally came across this beauty.

It was an old cedar chest that was originally owned by the shop owner. I don't know why she was selling it. It is walnut and cedar lined. The little drawer on the bottom is real, but the doors on the front are fake. It pops open to reveal this gorgeous interior:

I mean, come on! It was too great to pass up.

I love having all this older furniture. It feels solid, has personality and looks great. We love it.

April Days

April is over and I realized I have posted NOTHING for the entire month. I've been too wrapped up with my other little project but I still really want to keep this blog alive. This is the place to give the deets about what is going on with the family and our lives. The other blog is where I wax poetic about my love of peanut butter, dumpsters and black silk pajamas. 

Easter was lovely, as it always is. Its such a great holiday, right? There is very little pressure (unless you look at too many pins on pinterest that show you how to die your eggs in organic wild-berry juice,) there is good candy and you usually get to eat ham. What's not to love? The kids started Easter a day early with a great party at Grandma Petersons, where I took a whole bunch of bad pictures, so this is all you get

This picture clearly illustrates too things: 1) Noel is working overtime to not appear photogenic (honestly he never smiles in photos anymore) and 2) The frosting piping genes are strong in the Bingham men. 

We spent Easter Sunday at Grandma Binghams and did an egg hunt with the cousins

 It's nice to be back in Utah and get to actually spend holidays with loved ones. And it means that the kids get three times the spoiling.

And it is really nice to have athletic aunts and uncles around to help my kids play sports. This is as sporty as I get.

April was also the month that Jonah turned 8. Say what? I have an 8 year old? It is difficult to believe, but I remember that it is true every time he is copping an attitude about doing some simple task that I asked of him.

I kid!! Jonah is amazing - smart, funny and helpful when he wants to be. He is creative and fun to be around. For his birthday this year we decided that we didn't have the strength for a big birthday party. We played it pretty low key and invited Bella along to go visit the baby animals at This is the Place park.

The day started off with Pony rides on some sad, slightly-pathetic looking ponies.

Somehow in the last few months Noel's crippling fear of animals has started abating a bit. I don't think a year ago that he ever would have gotten on a pony, but he was excited and rode around and had fun doing it.

The birthday boy. 

Did you think I took this photo with an awesome old-timey camera? Nope, just instagram. Follow me!

Lila also rode the ponies, even though she seemed way to small and I was afraid she was going to fall off. 

Spoiler: She lived.

Lila loved chasing these baby goats around, even though this picture looks like she is terrified. For the record, goats are kind of crazy. Their pupils are rectangles. What was God thinking when he invented that? Crazy,

Jonah was, of course, in heaven. He never wanted the little barn with all of the baby chicks and baby ducks. It's too bad Jonah is stuck with parents who are such animal haters. I'm sure he would rather live with his uncle Richard who has a dog, chickens and apparently a beehive. But he's stuck with us. And no animals. Sorry!

Jonah wanted a "roller coaster" cake. And now that I live in the same state as my family where people will actually SEE the birthday cakes I made I felt like I needed to step it up. Plus it gave me an excuse to go to my favorite store on earth, Gygi, and buy a wide variety of frosting tips, special pans and meringue powder. And this is what I came up with.

I was pretty pleased, even though my pipe work will never win any awards. I was up until about 2 am making it. I made the cake first out of pound cake (from scratch) and that didn't really work, so I started over with a yellow cake (from scratch) and then piped and frosted and all that fun. We also made some cupcakes out of a boxed cake mix just so there was something for the little kids to eat. And when we served the cake at the party to our 20 or so friends and family who were gathered everyone just ate the boring boxed-mix cupcakes and NOT ONE person ate this cake. I'm not bitter, AT ALL. Wait, hold on. OK, I'm a little bitter. I ate it. (PS. It wasn't very good, so I will let my bitterness go.) 

Jonah turning 8 also means he got to get baptised, which was awesome. I'll admit, I was a little emotional during the whole thing. I can't believe he is that old. 

Somehow we forgot to take a nice family photo with everyone in their nice clothes. But we did manage to get this one.

Here is Jonah right after the baptism. This picture cracks me up. He looks so earnest and skinny.

I always wish at this point I had some witty and clever way to wrap this up. But I don't. Hope you weren't too bored by the download of pictures and info. See you in May!

Spring

Ah, the dawn of Spring. If you live in Utah you know that Spring seems to finally have arrived. Also, if you live in Utah you know that there will probably be a blizzard next week. That's how we roll here. But at least for one weekend, the sun was shining and the skies were clear and blue (and for the record, can we eliminate the phrase "Spring has sprung" from the lexicon? Is there anything more annoying than that expression? We don't say "Winter has whinnied" or "Summer has summed it all up!" So why does Spring have to spring? Anywho...)

I used to be an autumn guy. Love the sweaters. The Hot Cho. But I think Autumn is a single man's game. When you have small kids, there is nothing greater than being able to send them outside and have them stay out there for a few hours. It's spring all the way for me, baby.

Saturday happened to be my day off and the nicest day of the year so far so we spent the afternoon cleaning the yard and getting the trampoline put back together. Even though the kids on the trampoline together usually ends up with someone crying, it is so blissful for those few minutes where they are playing and laughing and not asking me if they can play the iPad.

Here is Lila with some awesome trampoline hair:

While the kids played, Amy and I sat on lawn chairs, sipped Diet Cokes and read. It was, in a word, heaven. 

What's that, you ask? Did we get new super awesome lawn furniture? Yes. Yes indeed we did. We found them at a vintage store. They were a bit rusty, but nothing that a little paint couldn't take care of. The vinyl cushions are all original with the TAGS STILL ATTACHED. They are comfy and wonderful. Here is a close up (in kinda bad lighting.)

My favorite part about them is that the shapes are just so great that even if the cushions wear out, they will still look awesome. 

On that same shopping trip we also picked up this little treasure:

Its a brass bar cart with Formica shelves. I'm in love. Amy always has 1.5 million books stacked next to her bed that she is waiting to read, so we thought this at least could corral them into one place. And look shiny and retro whilst doing it. 

And because they were there we picked up these gems (Sorry about the blurry shot.)

They are aluminum and bright orange and look great. It is also the first time that we have kept baking ingredients out in the open and it is super convenient. We didn't use to drink coffee or tea, but now that we have bins for them we have taken that up, so that has been pretty fun, too.

Happy Springing to you all!! If you haven't been to my other blog lately, please check us out. There is some pretty funny things over there. Also, we are doing a giveaway this weekend to win an autographed copy of my book!!! You have until Monday night to enter, so click on over and enter!

Disney!!

February brought our annual pilgrimage to Disneyland. As usual, the kids were insane with anticipation leading up to the trip and, as usual, it was delightful. We are so lucky to get to go and we had a ball. If you are bored by a whole bunch of photos of my kids at the Land, you can skip ahead (or go visit my other website and read some fun stuff!)

This year brought the interesting addition of having a child who wants to meet characters. Lila talked for weeks about meeting Mickey and the Gang. Jonah and Noel are still terrified of characters and won't get within 10 feet of them. And guess what, meeting characters is kind of annoying. Don't get me wrong, they are darling

but you kind of have to wait in long lines to see them. Including staying in those lines when Pluto "goes on a break." 

But Lila loved it. In addtion to Pluto, she got to meet Tiger and hugged him for honestly about 4 minutes straight.

It was darling. And I have always had a special place in my heart for Tiger, so I got in on the "meet and greet" action too.

And as long as we were entertaining guests in Pooh Corner, we met Winnie too.

But the real coups de gras was meeting the Princesses. Those ladies have their own special meeting area behind closed doors with an extra long line to get in. But it was worth it. Lila is sort of in love with Snow White (who isn't?) and was dying to meet her.

And as long as you have waited in the line, you might as well meet a million other princess, too.

And when your daughter loves the Princesses that much and then asks you to get these little beauties, how do you say no?

We always have a lot of fun with the cousins, including when everyone, independently, decided to get a Perry/Agent P doll. 

And we, of course, rode many rides. Noel is pretty much game for anything. And he loves them all. He is just as happy to be on The Little Mermaid as he is to be on a thrill ride. Here are he and I on Splash Mountain (Papa in the background.) We got really wet that time...

I even talked my kids into riding the inappropriately named "Fun Wheel." It is that giant Mickey-faced Ferris Wheel in California Adventure. It has normal cars and then other cars on tracks so they slide back and forth as you go about 100 stories into the air. I haven't ridden it since I was a teenager and it is TERRIFYING. I put on a brave face, but there was a lot of screaming from kids. Here we are moments before the tears set in.

You can still sort of sense the tension in their faces.

Small world. Greatest ride ever. 

Flick's Flyers. I always get to ride this one a million times since I don't get too sick. But let's be honest, it makes me kind of sick.

Heading over to Heimlich's Chew-Choo. Second greatest ride ever. Where else on earth do you get to smell Watermelon, Vanilla and talk endlessly about Candy Corn in a funny German accent? It is a classic.

This is when Jonah told the other kids to "act cool" as we waited to ride the Finding Nemo submarines. Nailed it, Noel!!

This years big hit was Big Thunder Mountain. Jonah rode it once when he was about 2 years old and has been too scared to ride it ever since then. This year he felt up for it..and then we rode it about 30 times. They boys loved it. And they are pretty cute when the ride. (Noel's snaggle tooth has since fallen out, thank you.)

We are also big fans of Gadget's Go Coaster (really, Gadget? You were such a part of the Disney Pantheon that you got your own ride?) and Goofy's Fly School. Here is the typical reaction - Noel: joy. Jonah: Having fun, but also a tiny bit terrified. 

Speaking of Candy Corn...I am really at Disneyland for the food. I could (and should) write a whole post about that. But here is my latest discovery. You can buy these little bags of Cinnamon Crisps at the dessert station at Rancho del Zocalo AND you get get DC with lime there (only place in the park.) The Crisps are life changing. It was a pleasure. 

It truly is the Happiest Place on earth and my kids are always so happy and so well behaved and so fun to be around when we are there.

And when they act up we can throw them in this weird-skull-cage-net thing.

Or a giant toy box. (I'd buy those action figures.)

Thanks, Walt!!