Big Kid

When did he get to be such a big kid? When did he start climbing to the top of the playground by himself? When did he decide he was brave enough to go down the slide by himself, and not even need me to catch him at the bottom? The song Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof keeps playing through my head whenever I look at these pictures. I remember snuggling him close as an infant, and it doesn't seem like that long ago he was screaming when I dropped him off at nursery. Now, I lead him in, he says "Ok, bye. See ya!" gives me a kiss, then pushes me out the door. He is growing so fast, and it just amazes me. I love this little kid so much. I know I don't have a lot of pictures of Karah up here, but it is the same with her. She is starting to crawl, sit up on her own, and talk up a storm. Just today in Relief Society, she pretty much gave the lesson for all anyone knew because she was louder than the teacher with her squeals and "Da-da BLAAAAHs" She is such a little social butterfly, and reminds me of Megan! She will sit there and try to "teach" other babies how to flap their arms just right. The facial expressions of both kids are just priceless, and their interactions with each other is amazing. Jayden is passed the jealousy stage (fingers crossed) and loves to help keep her happy. She looks up to him so much. I love these kids!!!

Pretty Girl

To The Park!!

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Reinbold for the double-wagon!! Yesterday was a little chilly compared to the nice walking weather we were having, but I'd promised Jay we would go to the park if he helped pick up his toys. He remembered. So, after the hour preparations (packing snacks, changing diapers, bundling the kids up, unbundling and changing diapers again "I poopie, Mommy (giggle)" re-bundling and finding blankets...) we set off for our walk to the park. The kids LOVED it. Jayden sat there and was a regular little tour guide for Karah, pointing out all of the different cars and houses on the way. He has gotten so sweet with her. I love it so much!!

Licking the Bowl

Pictures!!! YAY!!! This is documentation of the very first time Jayden has helped lick a bowl. I know, I've deprived him. I made banana cream pie, and we were sharing the spoils. Jayden LOVES it. Now, whenever he sees me mixing something in a bowl, he HAS to try the spatula. He is learning that not everything that is mixed in a bowl is yummy.

WHAT?!?!?!

A few days ago, I got the shock of my life. My 2 year old son came up to me and said, "Mommy, Ina *ucker." I was mortified!!!! Where in the HECK did he learn THAT?!?! I asked him to repeat himself, praying that I had heard incorrectly. Nope. It was as clear as day. I had no idea what he wanted, and I was inwardly giving thanks that we were at home and not in public. After a few minutes trying to figure out what this child wanted, to my relief, I realized that he was asking me for a sucker. Needless to say, I worked all day that day and the next on correcting the "f" to an "s". I had vowed not to leave the house until that first word was out of his vocabulary. I was successful.

So Frustrating!!!

Time to vent... Dan lost his jacket with his car keys in it about two weeks ago. No problem, I had an extra set on my key chain. He took the car to the store, got back, and we went to a friend's house to watch a movie (we walked). After the movie, we walked home. Now here's where it gets weird...my car key and two house keys are missing. I still have my house key, my van keys, and whistle and such, but the car key is missing. So now we have two vehicles, but we can only use one!!! We have looked everywhere for these keys! I've even double-checked where Dan said he looked, and NOTHING!! I really don't mind taking him to work or picking him up...it gives us more time together as a family. So, even though it is aggravating to not know where two sets of keys are, I need to look at the blessing of extra time with him.

I'm out of the cave!!!

I am no longer living in the dark ages of blogging!! I (finally) figured out how to link to other blogs, and make it look a little creative. It still needs some work, but it is getting there!!

My two cents...

I read Erica's post and about cried when I realized that wrestling in the Reinbold family has ended now that Scott is graduating this year. I am so proud of him, and the way he wrestled at state despite his adversities. I am so glad that the kids and I were able to take part in some tournaments in January. I am even more thankful that Scott shared with Jay one of his passions. The only time Jayden does not want to "wess-oh" is when he is asleep. He is the play-group champ, and even gives Benji, a child twice is age and triple his size, a run for his money. The Reinbold Wrestling saga has ended, but the Richardson saga has hopefully just begun. Thank you, Scott, for being so good with Jay, and we look forward to you teaching him all you've learned for the future.

Do mothers need Workmen's Comp?♦

We mothers have the hardest job of all... We work literally 24/7. Even when we have a babysitter, especially nursing moms, we still don't stop being mothers. We are on-call all hours. Our job varies from entertainer (which includes actor, singer, dancer, artist, musician, and regular playmate), to doctor, to chef, to taxi driver, to disciplinarian, to maid, and finally, police woman. I'd love to see some compensation for getting hurt being a mom. Like this morning...I put some Pop-Tarts in the toaster and started cleaning up (yet again) Jayden's toys in the living room. Aside from stepping on various little pieces, every thing was fine...that is, until I heard the Tarts pop up. I know this sounds silly, but I was excited. It has been a LONG time since I've had a Pop-Tart....they are a delicacy here. So, I turned at started to kind of run to the toaster when I tripped over Karah's bouncy chair, and ended up breaking my toe. As I was curled up in a ball trying to keep certain words from escaping my mouth, Jayden, from his high chair, called out, "You ok, Mommy? Owie? You have a owie? I sorry owie. I sorry. I kiss it?" I know that it isn't monetary compensation, or even a nanny for a few days, but his concern and willingness to do what he could to take away my owie was compensation enough for me....

Puffs and Raisens

I have started giving Karah banana puffs to snack on. She loves them. The other day, I was trying to get things done around the house, and she was not being cooperative... She had the fussies and wanted to be held. I tried putting her in the high chair with some banana puffs, and voila!! Like magic!! She was having such a lovely time. I asked Jayden if he wanted to have a snack, too, and he said yes. I was so happy. I sat him down with some puffs, also. While I worked in the kitchen, I'd keep looking over and smile inside as I watched Jay give Karah a puff, and talk and play with her. (sigh) Then I got a knock on the door. 2 young door-to-door sales guys. My heart went out to them as I saw them standing in the snow, and flashbacks of Dan's experiences with sales compelled me to inviting them in. We talked for a while, I politely declined, and they commented on what lovely children I had. I smiled, thanked them, and looked over at my two angels. I noticed that Jayden had a snack container from the diaper bag. I remembered that there had been raisins in it. I panicked. I jumped up, over the laundry basket, and made it to the kitchen, all the while screaming: "Did you give her raisins????" Jayden smiled sweetly and said, "I share!!" With fingers fishing raisins out of Karah's mouth, I asked, "How many did you give her?" "Five." was his reply. I only got two out of her mouth. She was very upset with me. The next diaper or two should be really fun...

Jayden-isms

I can finally post Jayden's sayings!!! He talks so much now! Here are a few:

Karah: "A-dable ba da blah!" (in the car)
Jayden: "You see car, Kare? Its red."
Karah: "WHEEEEEE!!!"
Jayden: "Fun, huh?

(background for this one...Mom and Dad would always spell words out when we were little so we couldn't understand them...Dan and I have adopted this practice. Jayden LOVES letters...combine the two and this is what you get...)

Mommy to Grandma on the phone: "I s-u-c-k at making pancakes..."
Jayden: "S-U-C-K!!!!"

Mommy to Daddy about the computer: "This computer is so d-u-m-b!!!"
Jayden: "Puter is D-U-M-B!!!"

Daddy to Mommy: "I can't find the s-t-u-p-i-d keys!"
Jayden: "S-T-U-I-D KEYS!!!" (he skips some letters on the longer words...)

Anyway, you get my drift on those...

Jayden to Karah in the morning: "Mo-ing pincess"

5 Random Things...

I got tagged by Mom, so here we go!

1. I used to WANT to live in Utah...I would beg Mom and Dad to move here after visiting friends. Be careful what you wish for!! :)

2. I craved chocolate chip cookies dipped in sour cream when I was pregnant with Karah. You may think "YUCK!!", but it was sooooo good at the time.

3. I used to watch Hello Dolly every chance I could get when I was little...I had the whole movie memorized. It wasn't until I was about 13 when I actually got the plot.

4. I am a stray animal magnet. Dan and I have 2 of our own cats, but 5 more cats and dogs hang out at our house. Just ask Mom and Dad how many "pets" we had growing up...I can think of at least 3 dogs and 4 cats that weren't exactly ours...

5. I would rather scrub a toilet than wash dishes by hand.

I send this challenge out to Jenny W, Jenny P, Granna, Lecia, Adrienne, and Mariah.

A Public Thank You

This goes out to Troy and Delsa. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! As you may have noticed the previous pictures of the kids on our trip home, please understand that the nice, quiet, zoned out faces were all your doing. Karah had been screaming for an hour when we finally decided to try the DVD player. (We'd made it 5 hours without it) Jay had been fine, telling us about the cars and trucks, the cows and horses, and the houses, but our little Drama Queen decided that she had had enough of the car. We pulled over on the side of the road (literally) after an hour of blood curdling screams and set up the DVD player. That picture of Karah was taken about 5 seconds after the movie started. Any time we tried to turn it off while she was awake, the screams started again. Dan and I have Sesame Street ABC's and Lilo and Stitch memorized. I do not know what we would have done without it. What was supposed to be a 24-hour trip turned into a 72-hour trip from the weather. Thank you, thank you, thank you for keeping us sane!!!

Green Beans and Trip Home

Ok, I'm terrible and took forever. I'm sorry. I know that there are a bunch here, but each one has a unique expression to it.

This one is when I got to pick my beautiful daughter up in Texas!

These next two are the kids feelings about the trip home.

Sorry, no pics, yet...

Okay.... Jayden, Karah, and I have been back in Utah for a week now. Jay is the only one enjoying the snow...(even Daddy is sick of it...) It will not stop snowing!!! Our front yard has over 2 feet of snow from the storms, and about 4 1/2 feet where we have shoveled our driveway. Jay's favorite thing to do is to run as fast as he can towards the pile and pull an "Uncle Matt". He then yells for one of us to rescue him, then does it again. I would also like to report that Jayden is the 28 lb wrestling champion of our play group. He is the youngest and the smallest, too, but that did not scare him a bit. Unfortunately, not all of his opponents were aware of what was going on... He misses Uncle Scott's wrestling tournaments so much!! I'll be changing Karah, and he'll run and tackle me, screaming: "Westle, Mommy, westle!!!" I couldn't be more proud. I would like to publicly thank Uncle Matt and Aunt Krissa for the boxes of Band-Aids. That kid loves them so much!! Any tiny scratch needs one. We are trying to be conservative of them, but its almost as if he's trying to make himself bleed sometimes just so he can wear a Cars band-aid. We've tried stickers, but they just aren't as cool. Any-who, just keeping y'all updated on the kids! Oh, btw, Granna, Jay says Karah now!! (Kare) Thought you might wanna know!!

Mural

This is the beginnings of Jayden's mural for his playroom. As you can see, I did a terrible job of masking the bottom half when I did that moonlight coming over the horizon, so that needs fixed.


K, that nasty line is gone now, unfortunately this is a terrible picture, I will take a better one later.
So, now we have a beginning on o'l buzzy boy. He is going to take a while.

"GOOOO DOTT!!"

I realized that I didn't explain the warrior costume in the last post. That costume was the same costume that Uncle Scotty used to wear when Matt and Jeff used to wrestle. He would wear that costume to every dual, and even do the "warrior dance" on the mats before the dual started. I found the costume before a tournament, and thought it would be neat if Jay dressed up for Scott's match. Jay played the part so well, and brought more team spirit from the crowds. The warrior mascot tradition lives on!!

Uncle Scott's Fan Club

Megan and Jayden are the cutest wrestling fans out there. Both little ones love cheering for "Bake/Blanket" (Blake) and Uncle "Cott-Cott/Dott" (Scott). Megan has a little cheerleader routine to go with her outfit, and Jayden yells up a storm. Karah liked to watch the wrestling, but if anyone starting coaching enthusiastically, she would lose it. All in all, the three kiddos did great, and Meg and Jay played and cheered so nicely.bScott teched his guy easily, and his team won the dual 47-27. Go Warriors!!!

First Bath Together

No, this is not Karah's first bath, but it is her first one with her brother. I will have to say, this is how bath time is going to be from now on.... She normally screams her head off during baths, and you can see that this was not the case. It was so precious to see them playing together so sweetly.

Life if Texas...

Well, these Utah babies have been having a BLAST in Texas! As you can see, Jay has already made himself at home, and Karah is smiling up a storm here! Aggie (the dog) has gotten pretty good at hiding, lately, because Jayden is no longer afraid of four-legged animals. (hence, the time-out picture) Karah is rolling around the room like crazy, and Grandma and Grandpa are loving it! Uncle Scott (Dot, to Jayden) is so sweet with these little people who have invaded the house!