Christmas Lists

In my family we all make out a wish list, then spread them around the family. A couple days ago I had the boys dictate their wish lists for me.

Gabriel (totally self generated list)
~Cuddley giraffe or "Daddy" blue elephant (His "baby" is a little blue elephant he hauls everywhere)
~Puzzle Book (like the one at Nannie's house)
~Little People Train
~Little People Rug like Katelyn's
~A sticky wall that with things that you put on your hands and feet and climb up. (Yeah, he wants a velcro climbing wall like you see at the fair, or on a reality TV show)
If we ever build a house I think that we may have to build a whole room, with velcro walls and a rubber floor, for these little critters to climb all over.

Garrett (mostly self generated list)
~Purple band aids
~Anything with a trailer on it
~Little People farm stuff
~Noisy book (the kind with the buttons that have music, or make sound effects)

I count my blessings that they are still so easy to please.

Our Little Costco "Habit"

The Maskey family LOVES Costco! Stephen stops by at least twice a week, sometimes more.

Yesterday we picked Stephen's car up at the mechanic and tried to stop by Costco on the way home, it was still closed. As we pulled into the parking lot Garrett got so excited and yelled from the back seat, "Go see a Chis-a-mas stuff?" I had to laugh out loud. If we could all be so pleased about JUST looking at the Chis-a-mas stuff. He was very sad that we didn't go inside.

Last night they needed to get out of the house, so off to Costco we went. I told the boys to get ready for Costco. Garrett was on fire, he had himself dressed, and shoes on in ten minutes. On the drive I heard this conversation from the back seat.

Garrett: (Super excited voice) Want to see Chis-a-mas stuff with me Gabral? (He always leaves the i out)

Gabriel: (silence)

Garrett: Want to see Chis-a-mas stuff with me Gabral?

Gabriel: Yeah.

Obviously one is much more excited about the Chis-a-mas stuff than the other, I'm sure time will take care of that. Only a couple of weeks ago Gabriel explained, in great length, to Garrett that you can't be scared of sitting on Santa's lap or you won't get any toys. We haven't even talked about Santa this year, and don't require them to sit on his lap for presents. I guess if it gets them to both sit on his lap without a problem, I'll take it. Interpretation of the world according to a 4-year-old.

I love that they are both old enough to actually have conversations with eachother. I like it even more now that I can understand most of their conversations with each other. It wasn't too long ago that I could tell they understood each other, but I was in the dark. They would be playing, talking, and all of a sudden fighting. Now I can hear and understand the wind up for the fight. Their imaginations never end; they make their cars, animals, etc. interact and "talk" with each other.

The funny things they say, and simple pleasures in their lives, make all the power struggles, and naughty times worth it.

Cousins

When we all got home Gabriel was the first one in the door. I was in the very back and heard, "EW, what's that smell, it smells like poop." I'd made a crockpot dinner; a Mom just can't win. I used a combo of spices for the first time, and was a little bit worried. I'm happy to annouce that it DID NOT taste like poop.

My sister-in-law and I have tried several times to get cousin pictures. It has been exhausting, and a major work out every time we've attempted it. When we all got home I thought we'd try to get a picture with all of them. WOO-HOO! It worked and got some cute shots. They had a blast running around and playing with eachother.

Gabriel's First Primary Program

This weekend was Gabriel's first Primary Program. We worked on his part for several weeks, and he had it memorized well. His line was:

Bible stories teach me how to live the Gospel.

He had it memorized so well that he started adding to it, his own version was, Bible stories teach me how to live the Gospel with flowers and dogs. After a little coaxing we were able to convince him to just stick to the regular line. His little class also had the first verse of one song to sing. He did well singing here at home, but I wasn't sure how it'd go at church.

The night before our Ward had a practice, so the kids would know what to expect. I had Gabriel all prepped for the practice. So, 6:30 rolled around and we headed to the church. We got there and couldn't find anyone. I called one of the leaders, and discovered it ended at 6:30. The start time was 4:30. Yeah, I felt pretty dumb. What's worse is that I called the one girl I have in my class and gave her the wrong time too.

I explained to Gabriel that I messed up and we missed the practice. He took it well, but was very disappointed. He asked why I messed up, so I told him that my brain was broken. He suggested that I get a new brain with a hole in it. (I think the hole in it is the problem. ;-D)

Not to be outdone by his brother Garrett piped in with his own solution to Mommy's broken brain. I hear his little voice from the back seat say, "You need new batteries Mommy?"
I had to laugh out loud...from the mouth of babes. Garrett has a bumble ball that bounces around the floor. He LOVES that thing! He'd turn it on and leave it bouncing around all day if we'd let him. His little bumble ball eats batteries like crazy. He now get one set of batteries a week, causing him to constantly ask for new batteries. Batteries solve all of this kid's problems. He likes to put them in his mouth too. It's gross, but even more than that, it's a major choking hazard, and acid leak hazard....(sigh) BOYS!

Fast forward to Sunday morning. Gabriel did well all morning, picked his suit and tie that he wanted to wear, and I was confident that all was well. We walked into the building and it was all over. He wouldn't sit up front with his class, OR wisper his fight with us. Finally, we settled on he could sit on my lap if he would do it with his class. Yeah, just what I wanted to sit in front of the entire ward and get beaten to death by the 4 year old on my lap. He was calming down and settling into sitting in front, when he decided to throw his "baby". I told him it was gone, that throwing his baby was not ok. He proceeded to start a slow motion, fairly quiet, punching fit with me. When I didn't let him actually hit me, the noise started. I had to take him out for a time out, just the fantasitic behavior I wanted to deal with in front of everyone. My parents have soooo already gotten their revenge for all the rotten things I did growing up, and I'm only 4 years into it.

We got back in just as the program was starting. He was in the first group of kids that went up to say their lines. He stood up and waited, I thought we were gonna pull it off. Then he decided he wanted me to go up with him. When came to get me they thought we was coming to sit down, so the intro for the music started. He was upset that he didn't get to say his line. Sister Lindsey was really sweet and let him go up with another group, totally out of order, and say his line. He stood up, holding his "baby" and delivered his whole line. Good job Gabriel!!

He turned around, smiled at me, ran back to my lap, and wispered, "I said my part really really fast Mommy." Funny kid. He didn't sing a sigle song during the entire program. The end was approaching so I got him ready to stand up with his class to sing I am Child of God. Once again, he wanted me to hold his hand while he went up. I was able to get him up there alone, and sit back on the bench. He didn't sing a single word of it, but was cute in his little suit and tie anyway. What an experiene it was. You did a great job Gabriel! Thanks for working so hard on your parts at home with Mommy and Daddy.

I think the highlight of his Sunday was going to class with his cousin, and the spiderman bag he was given in primary for doing a good job in the program. The spiderman bag is now his "baby" carrier.

Stephen said Garrett was really into watching the kids stand up and talk. He kept saying, "I want try, my turn talk." I hope we can keep that going until he's old enough to get to participate.

It was a good day. My baby is growing up fast, and his brother is following right behind.

Tagged again

So, I got tagged again by Crystal and Heather. I'm supposed to link to their blogs, then post 7 random things about myself. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO LINK TO OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS. Maybe someday I'll figure that part out. So 7 random things will just have to suffice...

1) I absolutly detest cleaning bathrooms. Everything about them disgusts me. EWWW Yuck!

2) I landed myself in handcuffs and in the back of a police car during college. It's a long story that maybe I'll tell someday. I didn't do anything wrong, but the people I was with did...one of them actally got take in by the officers.

3) I participate in an anuual plant assassination every spring. Stephen just sits back and waits for all my plants to die. He's good humored about it though. One of these days I'll get them to all survive.

4) I'm addicted to ice cream. I HAVE to eat it everyday.

5) When I can't get waited on in stores it drives me crazy. They're getting paid to ease my shopping experience, and expidite my trip. When I have the kids with me, and KNOW that I've got limited time before they go wild I get really irritated.

6) I have a crazy, super nose that can smell stuff from miles away; not the sense I appreciate when I'm nausiated.

7) I'm a math IDIOT! I married my engineer minded husband so I'd never have to do another math problem again. My last math class was my sophomore year of high school.

I'm a pretty random person, Stephen says he knew I was weird, but had no idea how weird until after we got married. AWWW, isn't he the sweetest romantic? I just have to remind him that it's endearing, not weird.

My First Tag

So, this was the first time I've been tagged. Ya'll know that my pictures are a disaster and not in any kind of order. This is from my folder in the 4th position of all my randomly organized folders, and the 4th picture in that folder. There were some cute, very old, pictures of Gabriel, but this was our 4th one.

This is Stephen and one of his former Priests at his mission farewell. He is a strong young man, who has a testimony of steel. He'll be a great leader, and successful "grown-up".

We both worked with the youth at church for a couple of years after we got married. Stephen worked with the young men for longer than I worked with the young women, but we both have many fun memories. This young man was one of boys in the group of Priests that Stephen worked with for a little over a year. The group went on many fun camping, boating, and high adventure trips. Stephen always said if they ever got into trouble he was going to take off his wedding ring and pretend to be one of the boys, so the other leader would have to take care of it all. He does have a youthful zeal about him, and I think could've pulled it off. This young man has come home from his mission now, and is married. Time really flies by.

I tag Taryn, Ashley, and Nancy.

The results are in...

Well...the day after the election Stephen got his first call from a customer that decided not to buy, due to the election results. We don't even come close to shadowing the $250,000 or $120,000, depending on which one of our future elecorates is talking, but many of Stephen's customers do make that much, or more. They were told VERY clearly what is going to happen to their take home income, so now they're choosing to not spend. GRRR, we were pretty sure that this was going to happen; I never dreamed that it would start the day after the election. Just for the record; I voted, and have voted in every election since my 18th birthday. That means I voted even when it wasn't the "cool", trendy thing to do. Now that that's off my chest maybe I can improve my attitude. :-)

We were blessed with that gut feeling that an indirect dent would be made in our pocketbook via the big dent that would be made in Stephen's customer's pocketbooks. I had kinda hoped it would hold off till I was done with maternity leave and could contribute a little bit again. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to make it work. We've been preparing, and obviously are practiced at living on a commission based income....it goes up and it goes down....and is always an adventure.

I appreciated President Packer's talk on Sunday for Stake Conference. He was clear, concise, and transparent about the times that we are in. I value the advice he gave us, and hope that I take it to heart, then put it into practice. The time to prepare is now transitioning into the time to rely on that preparation.

Most elections my guys NEVER win. This election I'm happy to annouce my state legislator that I wanted won, and most of the propositions went the way I wanted. So, I'm glad about that.

On a totally different note, I have to talk about the cute song Garrett sings often in the mornings when he wakes up. It goes something like this:

Itsy bitsy spider up water spout.
It rain down melted, melted, melted.
Ashes ashes we all fall down.

He used to wake up and immediately scream his little head off. Now, he gets up, sings, and plays for quite a while. I wish I had a camcorder that was motion sensitive so it could follow him as he plays in his room. He's developed a great imagination under his brother's training. I can hear Garrett talking for his animals and cars. It's too cute when he's warning one to watch out for the other, then it'll get quiet and I'll hear, "ohhh noooo CRASH!!" Boys will be boys, the bigger the crash the better.

He PEED in the Potty!!

I've decided that if we're going to have a 3 year break between our second and third kid, I should have a break on the diaper changing too. Our little Gabriel wouldn't even try till he was 3 1/2. I was not excited about the prospect of Garrett following suit, so I went ahead and put him in pull ups just to see what would happen. We're "lucky" in these parts that we have no winter, or anything that even resembles cool weather, so I can just put him in a shirt and pull up and see right when he's peed in it. That way he, at least, gets used to stopping what he's doing and changing.

This morning Stephen noticed that he'd been dry for a while and put him on his new spider man potty seat.

(AHHHHHH, cue the light and angelic singing) It happened....a real, full pee in the potty!

Until now we've had some squirts, but nothing substantial. I'm so excited we might actually pull this off before #3 gets here. I'd take even a month or two of fewer diapers. It might make me a bad mom, but we bribe with candy for using the potty. Since, we've just finished trick-or-treating, there is plenty of candy around to bribe with....and I don't have to buy any of it. Timing potty training with Halloween might be right up there at genius level. ;-D

When my sister was potty training, my Dad made up a cheer for her. Yes, we use it too. After a while the candy phases out and the cheer takes over. Here is Garrett's cheer from this morning.

Rah, Rah, Rah
Sis-Boom-Bah,
He did it in the pot,
Garrett thanks a lot,
Yeeaahh Garrett!

So far, both boy's names have fit right into the rhythm. We'll have to make sure we name #3 something that will fit into the cheer, too.