disneyland!!!

we took the kids to disneyland last week. what a blast!! i think we had even more fun than the kids, and the kids had A LOT of fun. i hadn't been since i was 12 and i had forgotten how cool it is. the kids were at full speed all day every day so we were all totally pooped when we got home. just a few pics of the trip.

the first ride of the trip nikki very pleased that she didn't crash her car. she really thought she was in total control of the car and got very anxious every time we rounded a corner.

lego heaven
doesn't that look delicious? those are all legos.
this was the longest line we waited and it was only about 25 minutes long.

buzz light year was a favorite. for obvious reasons.

on a merry-go-round
teacups 1
teacups 2

i'm going to disneyland!!!
our roller coaster stopped at the top of the matterhorn. after about 15 minutes of sitting some employees came out of a door on the side of the mountain and walked us down. the kids were so excited that we got to go INSIDE the mountain and see how it all worked. here's nikki on the inside of the matterhorn. i know. very privileged v.i.p. guests.

do you think nikki was excited? whitney and devan were passed out while we watched a parade.
everyone, except max, is asleep here. i think this means they had a good time.

thanks, wade, for sponsoring this send-the-pillings-to-disneyland event!

baubles n' bobs

"see my pretty new earrings?!!"
"look! seeee?"

"and look at my crazy hair too."

"isn't it funny? and crazy too?"

ed-ji-buh-cation

docter, doctor. what's the dif? not much, in my opinion. you all knew what i meant. except, when you have a degree in english, with an emphasis in editing, of all things, you should probably catch that one pretty quickly. but i have a simple theory about why i can't spell, and it's based on the very tool that is supposed to prevent non-words from creeping in to your text. spell check. yup. i can't spell because of spell check. the enormouse workload of my undrgraduate years forced me to use that tool with carelessness. all those hundreds and hundreds of pages clipped out from my little lap-top years ago.

clip clip clip. clip clip clip clip.

"no need to worry about how i'm spelling things. when i'm done i'm just going to click that little abc check mark and i'm good".

see how destructive that was? see what a bad habit i formed? but was there any other choice? uh, no. not when there were like ten billion papers due each week. like i'm actually going to flip through a dictionary and learn how to spell that word the right way. i much prefer choosing from a list of possible intended words that my oh-so-thoughtful computer always supplied. i love options.

and so, i don't really care that i can't spell. how often do i actually put pen to paper to write something for anyone other than myself anyway? admitedly, sometimes i do wish i had a dictionary in my purse when i'm fillng out the spell-out-the dollar-amount line on a check {is it fourty or forty?}, and i often make lists of possible spellings on a peice of scratch paper when i'm writing a note, after which i usually just find a good synonym for the word in question. but that's just because i don't want anyone to think i'm uneducated, which is just silly, because now you all know that the reason i can't spell in the first place is because of my education.

so, spell check is my friend, except when it doesn't check my post header.

docter docter

a conversation max had with the pediatrician

doc - so how's school going, max? you learning lots of good stuff?

max - ya. i'm learning lots of stuff. my mom says i have a good ... hmm ... what do you say i have, mom?

me - a good memory.

max - a good memory.

i thought that was perfect.

i'm thankful for ...

nik - dear henley father, i'm thankful for this day. help me to have a good night sleep. amen.
me - are you thankful for anything else besides "this day"?
nik - um ... tuesday. and sunday. and saturday. and some of the mumps but i'm not sure what the different mumps are called.
me - good enough.

a little gem

look what i snagged off Craig's list the other week. we used to have one like this at my grandparents' cabin growing up, expect it was white, or cream, or something. i just remember i loved pulling the step stool out and walking up the steps to sit on the seat, as if the seat was too high to just sit down on. i wonder what happened to it. anyway, when i brought it home i was surprised at how many people said, "we used to have one of those!" including wade's mom. it brought back a vivid memory of her mom sitting on the stool at the bread board in their kitchen, which she said she had forgotten all about.

she also said,

"you might want to paint it."

me : oh no! i like it just like that.

her : well, then you night want to clean it.

i might. maybe. maybe not.

good news is, for all of you who have a chair like this in your past, who also desire a churning of long-forgotten childhood memories, this chair can be yours (not mine, you dope. a remake version of the classic). this chair can be yours. except you'll pay more than twice as much as i did and it won't be the real thing, but you can't really put a price on memory, and that yellow is SWEET!

{i'm completely incapable of getting my pics in the right order. sorry. i have a hard enough time thinking forward. i can't think backwards too.}

p.s. i haven't cleaned it yet.

left devan with a babysitter tonight for the first time. sniff. she's growing up so fast.

happy birthday to ... who?

had a bit of a grumpy day. my girls. not me so much, although grumpy girls usually translates into grumpy mama. so. grumpy day.

solution? : birthday party, of course!

whose birthday? no one's. but what could be so bad that a little cake, candles, and birthday diddy sung six times can't fix?

(stole this from sharon. thanks for the idea!)

butterfly wishes

nik : mom! i just saw a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. can we go out and see it?
me : ya.
whit : mom! can we go see the butterfly changing a diaper?
me : i wish.

i how i wish. wouldn't that be nice. "oh look kids, here comes the magic daiper-changing-butterfly!! quick, whitney, get in line behind devan!!"

mamasource mayhem

so so sorry if you got an email from me about planting a tree!??! apparently this site, mamasource, which actually sounds like a great idea, hijacks your email list if you go to their site or if you sign up. so if you got one from me, i promise i didn't send it, and if you get a mamasource email from someone else just don't open it or even click on the link. blech. i hate spam.

a present

nik : open this, mom.

me : what is it?
nik : it's a ring for your pinkie!
me : oh! i love it!

nik : now can you make me something?

(two minutes later) nik : where's my thing you're supposed to be making?

me : i'll get right on it.

devan rolls!!

devan finally rolled over!! twice. yes, i know, she's almost 6 months old, but, seriously, every time i put her on the floor she just falls asleep. i guess she's starting to wake up to the world. yeah devan!

in search of ...

i have a little dilemma. you know, that one where you find a fabric you just LOVE and have to have and then you find out it's discontinued or that it's $120 a yard? well, i wish my problem was that this amazing houndstooth was discontinued, because knowing that it's out there and i can't have it is killing me. see this great teal chair? this is the chair that's patiently waiting for new life in devan's room. i'm willing to settle for another fabric, but it has to be brown and white, only, straight-lined-geometric and it has to have an oversized pattern. if you have any great fabric sources pass them on to me. i'm hitting dead-end after dead-end. since i won't be re-upholstereing this baby myself i can't justify spending more than $50 a yard.

where's whitney?

not in her nice big comfy bed.

oh, of course. behind that old box spring i keep meaning to throw away, covered up with a plastic sheet.

who wouldn't want to sleep with plastic in a "secret club", as she calls it? i guess this sleeping-on-floors-business should cut down on the furniture budget.

i so blad

nik - i'm so glad at you mom.
whit - ya, i so blad at you, mom.
me - you're so blad?
nik - no, she's glad.
whit - ya, i so blad at you.
me - you're blad?
nik - NO. she's GLAD, mom. it's another word for happy.

thanks for the vocab lesson, nik. i'm just glad they're glad, or happy.

We thank thee, O God...

we will miss this beautiful man, a true prophet of God.

ski weekend

we spent part of the weekend in mccall skiing. so much fun! my mom gave wade a couple of nights at a time share for his birthday. this was the best gift ever. the terrys came along and added to the greatness. here are the kiddies {including wade} having lunch in the lodge.


me jenni

wade's at his best on a pair of skis. seriously makes me swoony.

very "cool" max

nik and daddy on the lift

max coming off the end of the rail. he did two bigger ones too but i couldn't get pictures.

on the lift

on another lift

"hi, my nose is squished"

i don't particularly LOVE skiing, but i really really love watching my kids have fun doing it, and doing it well. they both went up the big hills with us. max especially loved skiing the big hills and was much more comfortable {and better} than i was. he kept giving me pointers and encouragement. "turn now, mom. keep going. oh, you're doing great!" he really is the sweetest kid you'll ever meet. nikki was great too. i couldn't believe how well she did coming down the big hill. those kids skied ALL day long with hardly a complaint.

oh baby baby

devan grows and grows and still sleeps most of the day away. when she does decide to wake up she's the happiest baby ever. can you say "double-chin"?

toy monster

i told the kids that the toy monster might come tonight to feast on any toys that didn't get put away. as a warning, i told nikki that the toy monster would check under the beds for toys because he knows that some little people like to cheat at cleaning up. two minutes later :
max - mom!! nikki's putting all of my toys under her bed!