Idol Worship

I've identified a few cases of idol worship going on today, starting with myself:

I confess, I adore American Idol and I'm so glad it's back! It really is the best reality show on TV. I'm loving the new judge, Kara. Isn't she just fitting right in? After 8 years there's been some years that have flopped and some that I've loved. I'm not a fan of Fantasia or even David Cook. But how can you not love the show that gave us Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken and Carrie Underwood? (Yes, I love Clay Aiken!) Not to mention some of my lesser-known faves that have done well: Elliott Yamin, Josh Gracin and Jon Peter Lewis. Ok, so Jon Peter Lewis didn't really hit it big, but I think he's adorable.
So now that I've gotten that out of my system, let me tell you about a little more idol worship going on in my house. In this case, Joseph is the idol and Justin is the worshiper. These days they're either giggling like girls or fighting to the death. Which leaves me either smiling in complete motherly love, or pulling my hair out. Can I expect this to just continue no matter how old they get? Anyway, Justin copies EVERYTHING Joseph does. If Joseph gets a car from his room and starts racing around the rug, Justin follows. If Joseph says something that gets a laugh, Justin repeats it as best he can. If Joseph is laughing at the cartoon on TV, Justin starts laughing too. But my favorite incident has to do with Joseph's beloved blankie. If you didn't already know, Joseph has a fleece blanket with tied tassles that he's loved since he was a baby. He holds on to his favorite long tassle while he sucks his thumb. So the other day while Joseph was with his blankie on the couch watching TV, Justin took off for his room, came out with a fleece blanket with tassles of his own, got back on the couch and held onto a tassle while he sucked his thumb. It was hilarious. I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture.

And finally, I'm thinking about our historic inauguration day today. It seems as though celebrities and the media all have stars in their eyes for Obama and I'm annoyed. It's like the man can do no wrong and he hasn't even done anything yet. Although I didn't vote for Obama and I heartily disagree with him on a lot of points, I don't get a bad vibe from him. I get the feeling that he is truly invested in what's best for America, has good leadership qualities, and is a decent, God-fearing man. So of course as an American, I support him as my President and I hope that he really is able to bring about positive change for our country. But sheesh! The people who rule the airwaves sure made it known today that they're thrilled they got who they wanted in office! How many red-carpet parties and concerts were going on today? Celebrities were on every channel tonight, going crazy for their new main man. I get that they're expressing their patriotism, but it's just obnoxious how they can all get together with a bunch of televised parties to do it. It's like the celebrities have welcomed our new President and First Lady into their popular clique, and I'm very wary of who celebrities choose to put on their pedestals.

What to do on a rainy day?

Living in Seattle comes with its share of rainy days, especially this time of year. And it's about this time of the winter after the holidays, that I long for spring. So I've been compiling a little list for myself of fun things to do on "rainy days" when I'm stuck inside the house looking for something to do with my boys other than sit in front of the TV. Some of the ideas are from magazines or friends and some of them are Joseph's creations or really simple things.

1. Bowling. You can use empty water bottles or 2 liter bottles. Set 'em up and knock 'em down.

2. Build a fort with chairs, couches and blankets. We like to read stories in ours or play Uno.

3. Make "spider webs." Joseph loves to tape yarn up across doorways and furniture to make spiderwebs.

4. Good old fashioned hide and seek.

5. Sock war. Also a Parent magazine idea. Grab a bunch of rolled up socks and throw them at each other from behind couches.

6. Dance Party! Very good for getting energy out when stuck in the house.

7. Bathtime in the middle of the day. Why not? And I don't know why I never thought of this, but someone told me they blow bubbles for their kids in the tub. I thought that was brilliant. I hate blowing bubbles in the house because they make the floor sticky, and outside they blow away too fast. The bathtub is the perfect place!

8. Inside picnic. Lay out a blanket in the living room and eat sandwiches. Joseph likes to pretend we're at the beach. :)

9. Play with flashlights in a dark room. Show off your shadow puppet skills.

10. Play dough. I've found that if I put on some kid music, Joseph plays longer as he sings along.

11. Why not go out in it? Joseph loves to hold his own umbrella and we count snails as we walk the block.

What do you like to do on a rainy day?

A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

What a wonderful Christmas season we had! I never wanted it to end. We spent Christmas in Oregon with Darren's parents, two sisters and one brother. It was so fun to be with family and my boys loved playing with their cousins. We got out of Seattle right before the last bad snow storm that cancelled our church. Halelujah! It only rained in Eugene. We talked and played games, went out to eat and saw some movies. It was so relaxing and fun. Check out all these boy cousins:
Joseph was pumped about Santa! Justin was a little overwhelmed. But once all the toys were opened, he was in heaven.
New Year's Eve was fun too! My old roomie, Jessica and her husband Jason came over after the kids went to bed and we played cards, ate junk food and drank sparkling juice from our wine goblets.


We are so grateful for fabulous famiy and friends to share the holidays with and we wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2009!

Snow Day(s)

It's so incredibly weird to have had so much snow here in Seattle! We've been hit with three storms in two weeks. Yuck. The first storm is fun. After that, I just want it to go away. And it's strange to feel that way because I adore snow in Utah and I missed the snow when I first moved to Seattle. I remember my first Christmas in Oregon I thought rain on Christmas day was the most depressing thing. This year I'm actually thrilled to have rain in Oregon instead of snow!

The difference is that in Seattle, the snow brings everything to a halt. There are no snowplows or de-icing machines to take care of the roads, and then there are hills galore all over the city that make getting around town downright dangerous. The buses can't run so my husband can't get to work and schools all close down too. Joseph didn't get to go to school all last week for his Christmas parties and if it wasn't vacation, he probably wouldn't be going this week either. Church was even cancelled yesterday. It's very fun to be snowed in for the first day or two. Then it's just completely obnoxious. Especially since I had some Christmas errands that needed taking care of that just couldn't get done. This was why I didn't go out in it. It's not my video, but it's from Seattle last week.

So this is what we DID do:

Made a snowman.
Joseph and I made cookies.
Darren shoveled our driveway with a shovel for an hour because we lack an actual snow shovel. That's my man!
Unfortunately, Justin didn't like the white stuff at all. He hated getting all bundled up, and then when he touched it, he was upset that it was cold and wet.
Enjoyed our tree and listened to Christmas music.
So what am I complaining about?! It was a fun day to have Darren working from home, and spending quality time with my very cute boys. That's what Christmas is about, not getting my errands run!

An Oregon Thanksgiving and my adorable preschooler

Thanksgiving was wonderfully relaxing and filled with family and good food in Oregon. The bummer thing for the boys was that there weren't any kids at Thanksgiving for them to play with! So I'm afraid Joseph thought the day was a little boring because all the adults wanted to do was eat, watch football and play grown-up games. He kept asking me to play with him. But the weather was beautiful while we were there and we did a little shopping, saw a movie, fed the ducks and walked to the park. Here are some of the pics:
Dessert time! You should hear Justin say pumpkin pie. He loves it like his mommy!Cute girls! Leann, Carol and KristyFun at Alton Baker park

Now I must gush about Joseph's Preschool Christmas Program! It was the cutest thing I've seen as a parent thus far. I was amazed at how well my shy little Joseph did singing his little heart out and saying his line with his partner. They sang Christmas songs with cute little actions, and in between the songs, they came up to the microphone in twos and said their memorized verse from Luke 2. Here's Joseph saying his "memory verse" for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, the baby screaming in the background just so happens to be Justin. I guess he wanted to be on the video too.

A few of the things I am thankful for...

Thanks for taking these beautiful pictures, Dad!

I had quite a weekend!

First this:And then this:So I went to the new movie theater at our mall on Saturday afternoon to see Twilight with about 10 girls from my ward. It was awesome. Then we went to the new food court to eat. We had all just gotten our food and sat down to gush about the movie when we heard a loud bang. Then came another loud bang and I looked over in the direction of the sound across the room to see a wave of people running toward me screaming! It was like I was in a movie and it was freaky. It registered sometime in this split second as someone yelled "gun!" that we needed to react. We all hit the deck and huddled under the table, putting chairs around us. I had never been to this new part of the mall and I realized I didn't even really know where an exit was. Lots of the people around us went out onto a balcony by us, but I felt safer where I was. I did not want to move. We were only under the table about a minute when the panic diffused and people started getting up, looking around, locating loved ones, etc. There wasn't any more commotion but nobody knew what was going on. Before we could decide what to do, a security guard came around asking everyone to evacuate. So everyone calmly filed down the escalator and out the door. Then, because we were parked on the top floor of the new parking structure, we sat in a line of cars waiting to get out for 2 1/2 hours. When we finally started moving, it took 1/2 hour to actually get out of the parking lot. Here's the news story if you're interested. The shooting was gang related; one kid was injured the other died, and the gunman got away! The news reports now say that they're closing in on the suspect. Anyway, it was scary stuff. We just kept thinking about how worse it could've been. We could've been separated from each other, we could've sat closer to the incident, we could've had our kids with us! Thank goodness we were all alright.

But after all that drama, I have to say that I loved Twilight! I think for the most part, the casting was great and it just made me fall in love with the book all over again after hating Breaking Dawn. Bella was a klutz and not too pretty, Edward was gorgeous and charming and James was sooo creepy! It helped that I read the book over a year ago because the stuff they had to leave out didn't bother me. It was that cheesy high school love that is so dramatic and awkward. I loved it and I thought they did a great job capturing the book. So there's my review.