My Name is Heather, and I am a Blog Neglector! (or is it Neglecter?)

Yes, I have pushed my blog to the back of my mind for several weeks now. The boys just finished there last day of school before the 2 week winter break. I have been going crazy trying to get all the Christmas stuff done. I am trying to feel the Christmas spirit, but mostly I just feel stress!

I am going to Idaho with Sadie for my brother, Peter's homecoming from Dec 25th to Dec 30th! Can't wait to see all my family--and I'm hoping to get to see my brother, Erik, as well. Here are a few recent pics for you to enjoy!

Sadie in her Christmas dress & hat: (Whenever she is sitting up, she either spins her feet in circles, or crosses her ankles!)


The kids when we went to the Mesa temple to see the Christmas lights:

LET'S PLAY TAG!

Well, I think I've been tagged. Amy Dayton tagged "Heather" on her blog, and I'm going to go ahead and assume that was me. Sorry if you meant another Heather! :) I've always thought this would be fun, so now I have a reason to participate!

TAG #1: Go to your 4th folder and post the 4th picture there... (I went to the 4th folder under my "My Pictures" folder because I wasn't sure how else to determine just exactly what my "4th folder" was!)


This is Zach almost a year ago. I don't remember what this pose was. Maybe something from Power Rangers???

TAG #2: 8's
1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:

1. This Old House
2. Seinfeld
3. X-Files (Hey it doesn't specify TV shows that are still on)
4. Deal or No Deal
5. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
6. Any cooking show on PBS
7. So You Think You Can Dance
8. Super Nanny

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Napped with Sadie
2. Chauffered the boys to and from school
3. Laundry
4. Made cookies from frozen fund-raiser cookie dough
5. Took a shower!
6. Decided not to bother getting the mail
7. Talked to my mom on the phone
8. Fed Sadie her first yogurt

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. The season of cooler weather in Arizona
2. Possibly going to Idaho after Christmas
3. Feeling better when my Synthroid kicks in
4. Not dealing with depression every day
5. A new year
6. Watching my baby turn into a little girl
7. Finishing watching the X-Files with Eric
8. A date with Eric (someday)

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Chicago Hamburger Company "Chicago Burger" in Phoenix
2. Venezias
3. Brick Oven in Provo, UT (at least how it was several years ago)
4. Bruegger's Bagels
5. Rubio's
6. Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
7. Macaroni Grill
8. Hamilton's in Logan, UT

8 Things On My Wish List:

1. A print of James C. Christensen's "Touching the Hem of God"
2. A Honda Pilot
3. A TV that weighs less than 120 pounds!
4. Children who obey their parents ;)
5. That my brother would wish to be in contact with the family again
6. A vacation from my problems (Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps)
7. A good night's sleep
8. A redefined body

In honor of Shirlene's gratitude blog, I'm adding another "8" here:

8 Things I'm Thankful for:

1. A solid home
2. A good value-based charter elementary school
3. My children
4. My husband
5. My parents
6. Having a reliable vehicle
7. A baby who has slept through the night since she was 3 weeks old
8. My faith/The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

8 People To Tag:

1. Jackie Brewer
2. Laura McCluskey
3. Ronna Hassell
4. Ky Streeter
5. Hayley Miller
6. Camille Morton
7. Heather Noonan
8. Shirlene Hicken

Halloween

The boys had a fun Halloween. We spent the first part of the evening with friends at a street "carnival" put on in their grandma's neighborhood. Then Eric took the boys and their friends trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. I stayed with Sadie and sat outside with our cul-de-sac neighbors to hand out candy. Unfortunately our side of the neighborhood is not where all the action is. We got less than 15 trick-or-treaters! That means all that candy is being eaten by us--not good! We had such a crazy week with appointments, and school papers due that our pumpkins never got carved. They rolled around in the trunk of my car for several days, but that's all the action they saw!

Which Twilight Character Are You?

I'm Bella! No wonder I had a hard time with her character in the books!



Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Jumping Bean

We have a "johnny-jump-up" that we've had since Brendan was about Sadie's age. We recently let Sadie try it out, and she couldn't be happier! She LOVES to jump! Just look at her smile! I'm including a video as well, but just know that there is no sound (we don't have a camera that technologically advanced yet).



Side note: I have absolutely no idea how to rotate the image in this video clip, so turn your head sideways!

You've got to love this face!

All Dressed Up

Sadie recently graduated to size 9 months clothes. I had to go buy her a few dresses for church. She has a closet full of sweet little dresses, but they're all too small now. This is one of the dresses I bought her:

Legomania

Lately, Brendan and Zachary have REALLY been into legos. They read about legos, look up things on lego.com, talk about legos... There are legos all over the house and there are lego creations usually sitting on any available flat surface. Brendan recently built a "bat rocket" for a LegoClub contest. We had to take pictures to send in and Zach insisted on having his picture taken too. It's fun to see what they create, even though I am tired of stepping on and over legos all the time. I wish we had a playroom where we could dedicate a space to all their legos.

How to Escape a Bouncy Seat 101

For all of you who get tired of being placed in your bouncy seats while your mommy tries to get something done, I have a solution! First things first: convince mommy that you are so big and mature now that you don't need those silly straps. Then it helps to flash a big smile. Next, stretch out and arch your back. Another smile for good measure goes a long way! Now kick your feet up so they are touching the toys and scoot your bottom down as far as you can go. Repeat as necessary. Seeing how I haven't perfected actually making it down to the floor, we will save that lesson for a more advanced class. And please, don't comment on my soaking wet onesie--I happen to have a bit of a drooling problem right now!

Eric!

Eric and I have been together 14 years this month. Our first date was September 1994--hiking... So here's to my mountain biking, hard working, super dad, love-of-my-life husband! I love you!

Yes, another post about Sadie!

I just had to share this picture. This afternoon I poked my head into Sadie's room to check on her while she was napping--the first thing I saw was a little foot. She was sleeping with her right foot propped up on her bumper. I risked waking her by taking her picture, but she stayed asleep.

Our Girl

There is no shortage of new discoveries when you are a mere four months old. Here is Sadie discovering a bubble bath, drinking water from a bottle/sippy cup, looking cute in sunglasses, and finding out that her own little toes can be just as fun to suck on as her fingers!

Monsoon Season

I will say this about Arizona--there are some very spectacular storms here. I can hear storm clouds rolling around the valley right now. Growing up in New England and spending several years in Utah, I had no idea what Arizona was really like. I knew it was unbearably hot--and it is. I didn't believe it when I first heard there was a monsoon season here. Isn't that something that happens in places like India? But here we are weathering our 4th monsoon season. If you've never raced a dust storm home, you're missing out. It's quite amazing to watch. And the rain, thunder and lightening are amazing too. The washes, low roads, and parks can fill up with water after one fast hard storm. When I was little I was scared to death of thunder storms--okay, actually it was up until my teenage years. But I remember the first night I wasn't afraid. We lived in Rhode Island then, and I went into the living room, laid down on the couch and watched the storm through our skylights. Utah didn't have those big thunder storms, but Arizona does. I like to watch the clouds and lightening! (But that doesn't mean I am going to stop complaining about the heat or the bugs any time soon...)

Brendan & Zachary

Brendan and Zach are such fun boys. I took this picture of Zach dressed up as Indiana Jones (his latest obsession). Zach is pretty good at creating a costume from the things he can find in his room. Eric snapped the picture of Brendan one day before school. I think Brendan looks a little bit annoyed to be getting his picture taken!

Sadie Mae

We just love having Sadie as a part of our family. She is such a great baby! She recently started laughing and the boys have a great time trying to get her to laugh out loud. She has also started reaching for things like toys, books, and anything I happen to be drinking. She loves to sip water from a cup. At her 4 month check-up last Thursday she weighed in at 17 lbs 1 oz and was 26" long. I think she will end up being taller than her mom! But most people are!

And the little one said, "Roll over. Roll over."

On Friday, August 29th, Sadie woke up around 5am. I fed her and then played with her on the floor in her room, so that we wouldn't wake anyone else up. To my surprise, she rolled over! She rolled from her back to her stomach (while she was holding a toy). Of course, I woke Eric up to tell him. She's rolled over several more times, but if something more interesting is holding her attention (like Baby Einstein on the tv) she can't be convinced!

I caught a bad virus...

Well, actually, our computer did. We can not access the internet from our computer, so my good neighbor lets me use hers. Hopefully our computer will be cured soon. I guess I have become dependent!

I'm hungry!

A few days ago, Sadie was acting hungry and it had only been one hour since her bottle. So I made an executive decision--and we started rice cereal. Granted she eats probably less than an ounce, but I guess the new feeling among pediatricians is to wait until 6 months to start anything other than formula or breast milk. I figure since Sadie's about as big as a 6 month old, we're good! Yesterday as I was feeding her, Zach came over and said, "Mom, don't you think you ought to wipe her face off?" He just couldn't believe she was that messy. Guess he doesn't look in the mirror very often after eating! :)





























On Saturday, the boys went on a bike ride and rode about 8 miles. Then they came home, played, and then we all went swimming for an hour. So their appetites were big. Brendan often eats like a bird, but he was hungry and wanted a "sonic-size" bacon cheeseburger--and he ate the whole thing!

New Purse

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I spent too much money on a Dooney & Bourke purse. It was good and I still have it, but I needed (okay--wanted) something new and in style. So for the first time in 15 years I bought a good quality leather purse. It's actually from FranklinCovey and I love it! And it was on clearance, so it cost about 1/6 the amount of money I spent way back when! Maybe it's a silly thing to get excited about, but I was happy to score a good deal. Now I need a place to go so I can use it!

Tootsie Roll Arms

Sadie possesses what I affectionately refer to as "Tootsie Roll arms"--those sweet segmented arms that babies often have (especially bigger babies)!

Sadie Gets a Saucer

I just love craigslist.com! We have discovered some great finds (like our Bumbleride stroller) and have sold a lot, too. Yesterday I saw a listing and bought Sadie an Evenflo Exersaucer. She loves it! She loves to be upright so she can see things, so this is perfect. It's a little big for her, but her feet reach the bottom!





Here are a few more pictures of our little princess...



And since I posted pictures of the boys diving, I'd better show how Sadie loves the pool too!

Diving Class

In July, the boys decided to take diving classes instead of swimming lessons. They had a blast!

Here's Brendan:






Here's Zach: