What kind of Grandma are you!?

Grandma Debbie called the other day and Erin wanted to talk so we gave her the phone.  The first thing she says is "What kind of Grandma are you!?"  I think my mom was a little shocked.  I know she meant "WHICH Grandma are you?" but it was still funny.

Erin was talking to Grandma RaNae and was saying that she had so many Grandma's. (She adopts every older lady as a Grandma.)  RaNae told her that she was lucky because she didn't have any more grandmas.  Erin went to play and a little while later she came back and said, "Grandma RaNae, I will share my Grandma Debbie with you."   She sure loves that Grandma Debbie!

Meagan's Ears

Meagan got her tubes in her ears today!  It all went well.  She couldn't figure out why I woke her up just to change her bum and put her in the carseat without feeding her.   I felt so guilty I didn't even eat before we went.  She was fine with everything until they put the monitor on her toe and then she freaked out.  Her feet are so sensitive and she hates them touched.  I just hope that it all works how it is supposed to work.  The poor girl has been on antibiotics every 4-6 weeks for an infection for her entire life.   She just finished some last week and already had double ear infections.  Modern medicine is amazing!

Nope its a poke.

Today I was getting Levi dressed from his bath and he pretended to hit me.  He's been being really bad about that lately so I said, "Levi did you just hit Mom?"  He laughs and says, "Nope it was just a poke!"  Then he turns and runs down the stairs singing, "Best mommy! Best mommy!"  How do you discipline that?

Erin's New Hobby

Erin is really into photography lately.  Here are some of her pictures that I thought were kind of fun. Obviously she likes to take pictures of things Meagan related and loves to pose the objects to her exact specifications.  Its actually quite entertaining to watch.

Some Recent Pictures

 Meagan really likes to prove she can play with the big kids!



They sure do love each other when they aren't fighting!




They actually built this together nicely!




Came home to this adorable situation after cooking class last week.




They sleep like angels.




Look my tongue is really red!




"I may look cute but I get where I want and what I want!"




Cake/cookie party.




Think this a warning sign?



SSS Program

Most of you know that my adorable little sister is getting married on April 1st.  I decided that I really did not want to be the fat sister.  (Especially after seeing Sara's smile box of getting engaged in which even Bucky will admit I look like I weigh as much as a whale.)  I came up with this program which most of my sisters have taken up as well.  Its called the SSS Program.  Or...Slim up for Sara and Stetson.  (Originally it was Sexy up but Bucky told me that could lead to weird thoughts. See you just had some huh!) 

I've been working on my eliptical pretty hard for the last month.  Is it working?  Probably not.  I can just hope that it will get better.  At least I finally have some motivation.  My problem might be that I am into cruel and unusual punishment.  I work out while watching my cooking shows like Top Chef, Chopped, an Worst Cooks in America.   

Anyways if you see me well meant lies that I am looking skinnier are definitely appreciated...

New Calling

I got called to be in Young Women's a couple of weeks ago.  I don't exactly know what my calling is for real.  I am kind of a gaffer.  I am in charge of the sports program for the YW.  I am also Asst Camp Director.  I am also supposed to be a sub for the teachers.  I don't think I will ever actually end up subing because this ward seriously has at least 3 advisors in each group.  A little weird but okay. 

I've been to 3 basketball games now and am at least getting to know the ones who show up.  One of the girls played on Lone Peak basketball team last year but couldn't this year because of an injury.  She is actually quite good, but she gets kind of 'involved'.  (If you know what I mean...)  I told her that if she got a technical she had to go see the Bishop and she really believed  me.  I told her I was joking but since then we have a pretty cool relationship.  I really enjoy going to the games and the girls are really quite good.

As for the rest of it we shall see.

I do really love this ward though.  They make you feel very welcome and its a good time. 

Kid Laughs

MMMM Good! 
Whenever Meagan really likes something she gets really excited and starts dancing while saying "MMMMM!"

Machine Gun Giggles
Meagan likes to laugh lately in this really weird way.  I call it a machine gun laugh because that is what it sounds like.  She especially does it when she wants to get attention from someone.  She will do it as long as it takes!  Sure makes church interesting!

Potty Training
When Erin was potty training I told her that if she peed on the bugs on her panties they would cry.  I tried the same thing with Levi.  About 5 minutes later he comes running in laughing hysterically and yells "I peed on Diego and he cried!"  Obviously a total boy response.  So I told him that if he peed on the dinosaurs they would bite his bum.  Seriously less than 2 minutes later he comes running in yelling, "Ow! Ow!"  When I asked him what was wrong he told me, "I peed on the dinosaurs and they are biting my bum!"

Empty Threats
Bucky was teasing Levi the other day and Levi told him, "If you don't stop I'm going to throw you in the snow!"  He stops, thinks for a minute, and says "We don't have any snow!"

Ball Prayers
I had to take the kids with me to the YW game I coached on Monday.  They pray before it starts.  Levi is in that stage where he repeats every prayer a little slowly.  We finished and then Levi finishes by yelling "Play ball!  Amen"

Levi Pace
Everyone who knows him knows that Levi is very kicked back about life.  Its never "Yes!"  Its always, "Yeeaah."  Well the other day I was trying to get him to hurry because we were late picking up Erin from school.  He looks at me and says, "Mom I just want to slow down a lot!"

Pest
Levi was being really naughty and mean to Erin so I asked him, "Levi why are you being such a pest?"  He grins his wicked grin and says, "Cuz I'm special."

Chili
Erin's favorite food in the entire world is chili.  She would eat it every single meal if I let her.  The other day I made "Darn Good Chili" mix for dinner.  She wouldn't touch it.  The next day she said, "I want Chili but not that gross soup kind."

Big Belly
Erin told me that she wanted to eat the entire can of chili by herself at lunch.  I told her she couldn't because she would get a gigantic belly.  She smiled innocently and said, "But Mom I want a big belly like you!"

PVC Pipe
Levi hit Erin in the face with a PVC Pipe the other day and left a huge gash in her cheek.  We put a Dora bandaid on it.  A couple of days later Bucky took the current bandaid off and told her she didn't need one anymore.  She adamantly claimed that yes she did.  The next time we turned around she had another bandaid on.  STUBBORN!  Anyway, she came with me to take Meagan to her well baby check and told the nurse, "My brother hit me with an ABC POLE!"

Prayer
I've been talking to Erin about praying lately.  Today she told me, "Mom I am so mad at you!  I am going to go pray!"  She stormed to her room, slammed the door (of course waking Meagan up).  I listened outside the door and hear her say, "Heavenly Father help Mom to be nice so I don't have to be mad."

Care Bears & Leapfrog Letter Factory

Erin watched The Care Bear Movie the other day.  When it was over she said, "Oh Mom that was the most beautiful movie!"

We got them the Leapfrog Letter Factory movie at the DI the other day as a reward for being good.  They have watched it every day so luckily it is not overly annoying.  Now they go around singing the songs and all the sudden Erin is started to point at letters and say stuff like, "The P says p.  Like popcorn!" The other day she sprayed some cleaner on the table and said, "Hey that says ssss like S!  Does spray start with S?"  Why did it take a movie to cement everything we've been working on since birth?

Erin's comments to Blake

Blake was going over to Kirk's house and asked Erin if she wanted to go along to play with Trestin.  Of course she did so she went and put on her shoes.  She always 'forgets' to put on socks so Bucky double checked.  Then he made her wait for him to go find her some socks.  Meanwhile, Blake told her to hurry or he'd leave her.  She looks up at him and says, "Just go get in the car and wait!"  I don't know where she got that from but it worked! 

When they came back Blake was laughing and told us that he couldn't wait to see how we handle Erin as a teenager.  I guess while they were at Kirk's house she did something and he told her he was going to give her a timeout.  She grinned her cocky grin at him and said, "You can't cuz you aren't my parent!"

Heaven help us I can't even control my 4 year old!

Unusual Baptism

Bucky's grandpa was excommunicated from the church a long time ago. He's continued to go to church and called himself "the most active non-member you'll ever meet."  He got the go ahead to be baptized so we attended his baptism this last Saturday.  I think it was a good experience for my children to be there.  Afterward we went to Grandma and Grandpa Condor's house and had food and met a whole bunch of people I had never met before!

Just Another Testimony Meeting...

Lately Levi has taken to identifying various individuals by select titles like Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, Mommy, etc...  Well on Sunday each person who got up he had to tell me what they were in his classification system.  I kept trying to shush him because he wasn't very quiet about it.  All the sudden he says really loudly, "Is that a grandma or a grandpa?"  I just hope that no one else could understand him! 

About 10 minutes later I told him to stop doing something and he through one of those 2 year old mini-tantrums so I had to take him out.  I sat down on the chair in the foyer with him in my lap and starting talking to him about his behavior.  He turns and gives me a huge hug and says "I love you Mom."  I paused, told him I loved him too, and started reminding him how we behave in churhc.  He turns, gives me a huge hug, and says "You're the best mom in the whole world!" Then he started to laugh.  I gave up.  The guy on the couch across the foyer was trying really hard not to laugh.  Then he saw the picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and says, "Look Mom, Jesus baptized!"  I gave the appropriate response and he says, "Grandpa Condor baptized!" I gave the appropriate response and he says, "Me baptized?"  Such logic in a 2 year old!

Peppers

I was listening to Erin play yesterday when all the sudden I hear, "I don't like peppers.  I just like Dr. Peppers."  I started laughing.  She looks up at me and says, "Oh, Mom! Please don't tell everyone that!"  Then she asked me if I would laugh if she said it again.  For the next 5 minutes she kept saying it so I would laugh for her.  She's so fun!

Her favorite food is chili. She would eat chili from a can every meal if I would let her.  Well,  except breakfast.  Strawberry oatmeal is right up there on her list as well.   Anyway, I made some Darn Good Chili from Bear Creek mixes the other day and she hated it.  Now when she requests chili at lunch she adds the stipulation, "Not the soup kind Mom just the can kind."

Christmas

Christmas was really fun this year.  Our kids slept in!  Weird.  Of course, Sara said that she woke up at 2 am when Erin was trying to sneak out the door.  Erin told her, "I really want to go see what Santa brought me."  Sara talked her into staying in bed with her for a while.....thanks Sara!  We finally woke up at 7:30 (seriously a normal day record!) when Dillon texted us from Florida to say Merry Christmas.  We sat at the top of the steps and sang Christmas songs until Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Debbie came up.  Only then were the kids allowed to go in the livingroom....

Levi ran straight to the soda cans and shook one.  He looked up with disbelief and said, "He drank it all!"  He tried to run into the kitchen to get a new one but we told him it was okay.  His favorite present of the morning was his Crunch and Munch.  He seriously opened it and then went and sat on the couch with Bucky for 10 minutes while eating it before he continued with his other presents.   He got a train and track plus a few other little goodies.  He thought it was great.  I think he probably likes singing Christmas songs and stealing candy canes the most though.

Erin was so excited about Santa this year.  She got a fishing game (yes, instead of a fishing pole).  As she opened it she looked at me and whispered, "Wow!"  I guess that was a hit.  I loved it.  She also loved her other presents.  Bucky's favorite part of the morning was when she opened her slippers and I opened mine and they were the same.  She thought that was awesome!  The only thing she was semi disappointed about was that Santa did not bring her a kite.  He did leave her a note promising that her mom would take her to get one in the spring.  It worked.

Meagan got exciting items like formula, baby puffs, wipes, etc...  She just liked eating the wrapping paper anyways! 

Bucky got an exciting Christmas.  He got shoes.  Dress shoes and regular shoes.  I couldn't handle the glued and duck taped basketball shoes anymore.  He also got his normal hot tamales and other goodies he loves.  Oh and the kids gave him Fablehaven so that his wife could read it. His wife sure loves him!

I got absolutely spoiled this year.  I got a necklace, blowdryer, makeup, slippers, Baldacci's new book, chocolate, and a garage door opener.  I was very excited about the door opener cuz now I won't have to park out in the snow.  Yippee! 

The best part of Christmas was spending it with my family and seeing the joy and excitement of my children.  I love that the best!  Their smiles are worth any stress the holidays bring.

Christmas night we went up to Temple Square to congratulate Sara on getting engaged.  (Welcome to the family Stetson.  Its too late to run now!)  Her ring is gorgeous and she is so happy. 

Following are some of my favorite Christmas pictures!

Santa drank them all!

Levi opening his fave Crunch & Munch!

I'm so excited!

Putting on the slippers.

Look we match!

"The game I always wanted!"

Like father like son? 

Wait...another rattle?

Levi opening his train track.

Awesome slippers.  He loves the pajamas more though!

I'm getting in to this wrapping paper stuff.  Nice hair.

Levi's suckers from his stocking.  Ready to marathon eat?

Sara.  Need I say more!

Meagan's cute Christmas outfit.

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we had a party with Grandma and Grandpa Debbie, Aunt Sara, Stetson (Sara's boyfriend-now fiance) and his family, and us.  Before the Bates arrived we had a treasure hunt.  The prize at the end was pajamas to wear Christmas night. 

We had dinner, read the story, sang some songs and did the normal Christmas Evey type things.  Sandy Bates brought some Crackers that had wind up penguins in them and we had penguin races.  It was actually quite humorous.  We set out Pepsi and a peanut butter bar for Santa and then the kids went to bed. (Kind of).  The adults sat around and talked for a while and then we did the normal things parents do on Christmas Eve.  I think the evening went well and all my massive amounts of work paid off.  I'm just glad my mom was around to help me keep up with things like the dishes!  Thanks Mom!  

Running Out

We went to lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Condor last Friday.  On the drive home Erin suddenly needed to go potty.  I saw a 7-Eleven just then so I told Bucky to go their.  Erin says very excitedly, "Good job Mom!"  After we finished the deed and were on the road again Erin sighs dramatically and says, "I'm just running out of poop."

How's that for potty humor?

Look at the bum!

I was changing Levi's diaper the other day and he rolled away.  I told him to get back here right now.  He laughs, jumps up, and wiggles his bum.  Then he says, "Mama, look at that cute bum!"

Snowman Time Again

It snowed and rained and snowed and rained all week last week.  One morning Bucky got up at 5:30 am and went out and shoveled for 3 hours.  Of course, as soon as Erin and Levi were up they were out there in their snowsuits having a grand old time.  Maegan and I sat inside and drank hot cocoa and thought they were insane.  Bucky would shovel and pull them on their sled at the same time.  They thought it was the most awesome thing ever.  I wish I would have taken a picture!  That evening we still had around a foot of snow so it was time for the annual snowman and picture.  It was a magnificent snowman this year.  Too bad it was melted by rain before morning!

Frosty the Snowman......

Cousin Time

In Bucky's family we had 3 babies in 1 month.  Maegan was the oldest followed 9 days later by Hunter and then 2 weeks after that by Karlina.  Karlina was born in Germany.  They came to visit over Thanksgiving and I got these adorable pictures. 

In the following notice the toys....



Meagan has ball while Karlina eats monkey.



Watch the motion...

Now Maegan eats monkey while Karlina plays with the ball.

5 Generation Picture!

Great-Great Grandma Marie Gray Richins Littleford, Great Grandma RaNae Richins Holmstead, Grandpa Kirk Holmstead, Dad Bucky Holmstead, Erin Jansyn Holmstead, Levi James Holmstead, and Maegan RaNae Holmstead.

McDonalds

I absolutely hate eating at McDonalds.  My children love it.  Well, at least they love the playland.  Every once in a while I'll say, "Fine we can go to McDonald's.  I don't care."  The other day we were out and about and decided to eat out.  Bucky and I were discussing our options and Erin says, "McDonalds!"  Then she paused and said dramatically, "I don't care!"  She's learning how to use reverse psychology cuz we use it on our children so often!  Its become one of those family jokes.  Today we drove passed the McDonald's and Levi yelled, "McDonalds!  Me care!!!"

Christmas Party for the Richins

I forgot to mention that on Saturday we attended the Richins family Christmas party.  It is for Bucky's great grandma Marie Richins Littleford.  She is the sweetest coolest old lady ever.  We take her dinner every Thursday night.  She's alwaysmaking us laugh.  Like the time Bucky was taking the baby from her and she said, "Now don't be getting frisky!"  Embarrassed him to death!  Of course, his aunts and uncles were all sitting there to so now it is a family joke.  Anyway, we have been trying to get a 5 generation picture since Meagan was born and we finally succeeded.  (Will post later!)  The only problem was I got the 5 generations but then the camera died so I didn't get a picture with Meagan sitting on her first Santa Claus.  She loved the \beard! 

They decorated Christmas cookies and both Erin and Levi managed to get covered in frosting.  They had a blast though.  Santa brought them a guitar and a mic (complete with amplifier).  He forgot the batteries.  Oops (Bad mama!)

We did a white elephant and Bucky and I took this ancient typewriter we've been packing around for eons.  They did the tell the story and pass everything to the right or left.  It was hilarious to watch everyone passing this heavy big package around.  It was the first one opened and everyone had a good laugh.  I think it was the hit of the evening. 

Another Christmas party survived!

Questionable Stuff.....

Levi is having one heck of a day today.  So far he has slid down the stairs in a box, tipped over the Christmas tree, snuck tons of treats, broken Christmas decos, beat up his sister, flung mac
& cheese over a clean kitchen, spilled his sippy cup, taken a nap, and then he woke up and did the piece de resistance....he went outside to play with Blake and came back in with his shoes caked with shall we say questionable stuff that comes from chickens and dogs.  He ran all over the house with it.  I have spent the last hour cleaning it up and feel as though I need another shower.  What's next?  Did I mention that its still 3.5 hours until bedtime?

Neighbor Boys

Our new house has 2 little neighbor boys who are 2 years old.  In fact, Blake is only a couple of weeks younger than Levi.  He has already taken to coming over to play.  The only thing is he forgets to tell his mom and he forgets to knock on the door first.  Its all good except I'm getting a little tired of running next door to tell Amanda where he is!  The other day Levi got mad at me and told me, "I'm going to run away to Blake's."  He got his shoes and coat on and did it!  I laughed so hard!

Wolf Tongues

Bucky took Erin and Levi to the dollar theater to watch Alpha and Omega on Saturday.  He asked Erin what wolves do with their tongues and she told him, "They keep them in their mouths most of the time."   Made sense to me!

Grandpa's Truck

Grandpa Gerry hit a couple of cows and totalled his truck.  He found a new one up here in PG so he called us to go look at it.  The guy selling it was named Josh.  We had to call him when we got to the townhomes and Erin wanted to know if we were going to Grandma Michelle's.  We said no and asked why she thought we were and she replied, "Well then why are you calling Josh?"  (Josh is Grandma Michelle's husband for those who don't know.) 

The truck passed our inspection so Grandpa came up to get it and stayed with us for a day.  I had to take Erin to school and asked Levi on the way home if he thought Grandpa might want a Pepsi.  He yells, "No Grandpa drinks Coke!" 

Erin wanted to know why Grandpa had to get a new truck and so we told her that he was in an accident like Daddy.  She gets that look in her eyes and say, "Oh!  So he was wearing his seatbelt and is okay but he needs a new car just like we do, right?"

Long Time No Post

Well it has been quite some time since my last post of the funnies.  We just barely got Internet here at our new abode.  We finally got through all the horrendous experience of buying this house.  We only had to live at the hotel for 5 days!  About day 2 Erin told me that she just wanted to go home but that we didn't have a home to go to.  It about broke my heart.  It was quite the experience living without enough clothes and no entertainment for the youngsters.  We all survived. 

We got the key on Wednesday night and started carting everything in even though we both had the flu.  A bunch of neighbors showed up to help and we were so grateful!  The next day was Thanksgiving and we didn't get much done.   We were to busy playing at Grandma RaNae's and enjoying the holiday. 

The weeks following that have been filled with settling in and cleaning.  The whole house was disguisting!  I seriously scrubbed the kitched floor for 4 hours and went through 2 scrubbing brushes.  The grout is light gray and looked black.  Yummy.  For the most part we are now in.  We still have to do the garage and similar things but at least our kids feel at home now.   We even got our pantry set up!

 I love this house and I think it was probably worth the aggravation we went through.  Bucky and I decided that we just were going to pretend November didn't exist this year.  Oh and we also decided that we are not moving again for a very very very long time.  Like decades.  (Stop laughing ya'll!)

No More Teasing

The other day Erin comes up to Bucky crying because the neighbor kids were teasing her.  He talked to her about how it made her feel and then asked her how she thought Levi feels when she teases him.  She decided that she wasn't going to tease Levi anymore.  A couple of hours later she was teasing Levi and Bucky called her on it and she told him that she was just teasing him for a minute.  A little while later she was teasing him again and when Bucky called her on it she says, "Dad I was just kidding when I told you I wasn't going to tease Levi anymore."

I'm Mad!

Lately Levi has an attitude.  When we get after him he stomps away and then looks at us and furrows his eyebrows and yells "I MAD!" and keeps on stomping.  He also likes to tell us, "No you stop!"  When we get after him. 

Addendum to the Car

BTW I just find it ironic that the vehicle in question has pretty much sat for the most part unused in our driveway for 2 years.  In fact, we have borrowed it to family to drive more than we have actually driven it ourselves.  The crazy part is that this happens when we are actually going to need it.  Bucky is going to have to start driving to work daily when we move this weekend.  I am not being stuck without a vehicle all day.  Plus I have to take my kids places like preschool and doctor appointments not to mention the all important Pepsi runs! 

Another lovely thing about the timing.  We just got it registered in September.  I spent 2 hours cleaning it on Saturday.  We filled it up on gas and checked and filled the fluids.  We did all these last things because we were supposed to borrow it to Bucky's brother today for like 3 weeks.  Good timing! 

The Demise of Our Car

Bucky got sideswiped by a 17 year old girl who got distracted by her dog last night.  Our poor little Suzuki, fully paid off with under 50,000 miles on it is no more.   Hopefully the insurance will pay us more than we are thinking currently.  The most important thing is that Bucky is okay and has no injuries.  He's not even complaining about whiplash even though being hit by a Dodge Ram truck spun our little tin can around! 

Halloween

Halloween was an adventure this year like always.  We started out with Erin as Snow White and used black hairspray that got everywhere.  After that she decided she wanted to be a bee because she could be the Queen Bee since being queen was better than being a princess.  Good times.  Levi was a dragon/dinosaur and went around flexing and roaring at everyone.  Meagan took turns.  First she was a soccer player (thanks Jason) and then she was a cow and then she was a pumpkin.

We did a lot of fun things.  It started on Thursday with Erin's preschool party.  Then Friday we went to the Lehi Carnival at the Legacy Center.  It was crazy with people!  Erin lost her bee wings but that just made her costume easier.  We made a lot more in gifts certificates than we made to go in so I guess that made it all worth it.  Saturday morning we did the Macey's grocery store trick-or-treat.  Some guy told Erin "Hi Bee."  She glared at him and said, "I'm not a bee, I'm Erin!"  After that we did the whole family rounds.  Then I sent Bucky out with the kids in the pouring rain to trick-or-treat while Meagan and I stayed home nice and dry.  I gave Meag her first sucker and she wasn't about to let that thing go once she tasted it. 

Our little Snow White.  Her hair really did look more black than this.

Soccer player - for Mexico?

"I'm the queen bee."

"Oh wait you are a scary dragon!"

"Hmmm....what to do?"

I win!

Meagan and Great Grandma Littleford

Meagan enjoying her sucker.

Our little "Pumpkin Muffin" as Erin has called her since she was born.

Personally I think Erin should have stayed Snow White because of the whole princess and dragon and knight in shining armour thing.  Of course, then Bucky would have had to dress up like the knight and I would have enjoyed that too much!