Happy Birthday, Dr.Seuss!

Today the Library had a Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss. I took the boys and we had cake, cookies, and punch. There was a Dr.Seuss video playing and everyone wore silly hats.

"OH! The thinks you can think up if only you try!"

"And will you succeed?
Yes indeed, yes indeed!
Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed. "

"From there to here, and here to there,
funny things are everywhere."

Silly Boys

While I was making dinner last night, the boys got into the cupboards and found some metal bowls and decided they'd work better as hats.

A Cell Phone & A Washing Machine

It all started on Monday morning. Don't you just LOVE Mondays? (There's sarcasm there in case you didn't pick up on that.) When I come downstairs in the morning I pile everything I can into the laundry basket along with the clothes that I'm going to wash that day. Kamden's bottle, Ethan's cup, the boys' breakfast dishes...my cell phone. It's not a bad idea, as long as you remember what you put in there and make sure you got it all out before you start the wash. I've even accidentaly ran one of Kamden's wet diapers through the wash before.
So, I put the dishes in the sink and dumped the clothes in the washer, started it, and went about the day. An hour later I began wondering where my cell phone was because I needed to make some calls about visiting teaching. Since we don't have a landline I emailed Jeff and told him to call my phone, hoping I'd hear it ring and I'd find it. I wandered upstairs, certain that I'd taken it down with the laundry. The laundry. Oh, great.
I hurried down, opened the washer, and there on top of the clothes was my poor phone. The entire cycle had already finished and it was soaked. I could see the water sloshing around behind the screen and, no matter how hard I pushed the 'ON' button, nothing happened.
I remembered what my mom did several months ago when she dropped her phone in their pond...warm rice in the microwave then remove the cell phone battery. Put both the phone and the battery barried under the warm rice and let it sit for the day. The rice should absorb the moisture from the phone.
I heated the rice, I let the phone sit. All day. I took it out that night, replaced the battery, and...nothing. So, I reheated the rice, buried the phone and battery again, and went to bed feeling a little depressed about how reliant I am on a cell phone.
The next day, at noon, I'd given up on it. I figured that after going through an entire cycle in the washing machine there was no hope. I took it out of the rice, put the battery back in and pushed the 'ON' button. Still, nothing.
Kamden was sitting in his high chair eating lunch and he loves to play with phones. Since I didn't think the phone was any good, I handed it to him and sat down to eat. Moments later, he threw the phone on the floor and I heard it. My phone had turned on! It was actually working! I picked it up and stared at it, not quite believing it. Then I made a phone call to see if it really worked. It did! And now, three days later, my phone is working as if nothing happened. The screen is still a little fogged up, but it works!
This morning I headed downstairs with the basket of laundry in tow (my cell phone was sitting safely on the dresser upstairs) and I started the washer before heading back upstairs to get the boys dressed and continue through the morning routine. About an hour later I came back downstairs to find water almost into the bathroom, in the kitchen, and out by the washer. I hurried over and lifted the lid, turning off the washing machine. The hose had come off of the fixture on the wall and water was EVERYWHERE. Just what I needed when I had people coming over in an hour and I wasn't even out of my bathrobe yet. I'm happy to say that I took care of the problem all on my own. I cleaned up the water AND reattatched the hose. Nothing a little duct tape couldn't handle. The only down side is that when Jeff gets home from work he's going to pull up some of the flooring to make sure there's not water under there. Another project to add to a long list of projects. I wonder what tomorrow has in store for me?

Cardboard Box Adventures, Continued.

Saturday with the Stokers

On Saturday, our little family kept busy getting a lot of things done around the house while still finding time to play. Ethan wanted to play football and I'm not exactly cut out to be a quarterback or anything. After we'd been playing for a bit, the ball hit him smack on the cheek. He wasn't very impressed with my football skills after that but I got him to let me take a picture of the mark on his face.













SHELVES!
I've been wanting shelves in the boys' closets for almost a year now, and we finally have them! Yea!













Jeff put up trim around the sliding glass door in our bedroom and our bathroom window. Kamden's room is starting to look less like a workshop now that the trim has been put up and we're going to get him moved back upstairs this week.

There were several boxes of diapers in Kamden's closet so we took the dipers out and the boys played with the boxes. They started out crawling through them, sitting in them, then Ethan lined them all up. He watched 'Pistol Pete' at my parents' house last week and he likes to do basketball 'tricks' like on the movie. He got out his basketball and said he was Pistol Pete and ended up smashing all of the boxes down by throwing the ball on them really hard. He made a little house out of them and eventually he got his pillow and blanket off his bed and decided to go 'night-night' on the smashed boxes.

After the boys had their baths and were in their pajamas, we put Kamden to bed and Ethan and I played his 'Frog Game'. It used to belong to his cousins but they've since outgrown it and Ethan just loves it. There are three frogs sitting on a log and they have targets on their stomachs. There are three beanbags and you try to knock the frogs over with the bags. When he decided the beanbags weren't cutting it, Ethan found a scrap piece of trim and used it as a poking device to push the frogs over. Ethan won every time :)

Playing the Frog Game

A Little Off The Top

Ethan's hair had been a little unruly latley and he's been asking why he wakes up with 'crazy hair' every morning so tonight Jeff gave him a haircut.

Here's Ethan looking less than thrilled.

Hold still!

Say 'Cheese'!

Getting some stray hair out of his eye. Don't you hate that itchy feeling after a haircut?

Here's how much was cut off, plus some crumbs from the messy floor.

All done!

A Love Story...a tale about a small-town girl and how she met the man of her dreams.

February is the month to celebrate love and, since the month is almost over, I'm going to share the best love story I know.

It was April 2003 and I'd just finished playing volleyball with a few of my roommates at a ward activity. I was working for a bank while living in a four bedroom house with five other girls. I had a missionary out and, though I was interested in dating, I deffinatley wasn't looking for anything serious. I was spending time with a boy who lived near the church but we'd already had the "Define The Relationship" talk and we weren't exclusive. (Shannon, if you're reading this, I know you're glad about that!) He was a nice boy, just not the one for me.
After the volleyball game, my roommates and I walked over to said boy's apartment and on the way we saw another boy from our ward who was friends with one of my roommates. He was out on the lawn of the apartment complex and had stopped by to see some friends from his hometown. We all met his friends and I remember the tall redhead in a hooded sweatshirt introduced himself as 'Jeff'. I told him I'd remember that because that was my little brother's name.
That was General Conference weekend and the boys from that apartment were invited over to our house for Sunday dinner between sessions. Only problem there was that the 'other boy' from upstairs had been invited too. It was a little awkward and Jeff went home before the second session of conference started but it wasn't long before the 'other boy' was out of the picture completley.
A mutual friend was having a bonfire and I'd gotten a ride with some friends. I was excited to see that Jeff had decided to come but I was exhausted after a long week and had to get up early for work. Jeff graciously offered me a ride home and one of my roommates went with us along with two of his friends. I sat in the back with my roommate and everyone was talking about plans for the summer. Jeff mentioned going out east and selling pest-control for a few months and somehow the conversation turned to rodeos and I admitted never having been to one. No one could believe it, especially since I come from a small town, and Jeff said that "maybe he'd have to take me to one".
Professional Bull Riding was coming to the area soon and several of my roommates were going. After I told them what Jeff had said on the ride home about "maybe taking me to a rodeo", they all said I should go with him. Little did I know that he thought I was dating 'other boy'. So it took a lot of effort on my part to convince him otherwise but finally I snagged a date to the PBR.
We went with a few other couples and had dinner before the rodeo. I found out that Jeff's family processes and sells milk and that very milk had been in my parents' fridge throughout the years. Small world!
After the PBR we went on a walk around the college campus and that's one of my favorite memories. We also walked to the train depot and it started raining on the way back.
The next two weeks went quickly and Jeff had to make a decision about going out east to work for the summer, to move home and work for his dad, or to stay and find a job. His answer came when his dad called to tell Jeff he needed him for the summer. I don't think there was one night during those three months that we didn't talk on the phone. We spent every weekend together except for the week I spent in Puerto Rico with Shannon. The day before I left, Jeff showed up and surprised me and that night was the first time he told me he loved me.
Jeff's family went to an amusement park the day he was picking me up from the airport and his mom said that that's when she knew it was serious. He was more excited to pick me up from the airport than to be at the amusement park.
We drove, just the two of us, 3 hours after he picked me up and went to his parents' house. During the drive I suggested we play some car games. The rules for one of the games was that we each got three questions to ask the other one and you HAD to answer truthfully.
He said "I'll go first. What would you say if I asked you to marry me?"
I think I got whiplash from turning my head so fast to look at him.
"You don't ask a girl to marry you in the car!" I told him.
"I'm not asking. I was just wondering what you'd say."
"That pretty much defeats the purpose of asking."
So the majority of the trip was spent talking about marriage and a week later we were ring shopping.
He proposed twice; not because I said no but because we had to special-order the ring and it wouldn't be in for 6 weeks. Jeff decided he couldn't wait that long so he proposed and I accepted. When the ring was in he picked it up without me knowing. When I got home from work I found a bouquet of purple roses with a poem telling me to meet him where we went on our first date, so I drove to the Train Depot. I found a stuffed animal with a note on my car and at the Train Depot I found him with a picnic and another proposal.
(In case you're wondering what happened to the missionary I mentioned, when he found out I was dating someone, he sent everything back that I'd sent to him while he'd been gone. Letters, Christmas and Birthday gifts. Everything.)
Jeff and I had known each other only four months and I think a lot of people were surprised that we were getting engaged so soon. I know I was! My younger brother met Jeff a few times before he left on his mission and when he came back he told us that he hadn't expected to see Jeff again. We'd been married almost 2 years and already had Ethan by the time my brother got home.
Our engagement lasted three months and we were married November 21, 2003. It snowed all night and it was still coming down while we were getting our pictures taken. I had a short-sleeved dress and open-toed shoes...I was freezing! But it was a beautiful day and one that will hold a special place in my heart forever.
It's been almost five years since I met that redheaded boy in the hooded sweatshirt...the man of my dreams.

Our Evening...

While I was making dinner, Kamden sat in his high chair and Ethan entertained us with a hunting excursion...

Kamden's had a fever (Arg!) and he didn't want to eat but he didn't want down from his high chair, either. He just sat quietly and watched while Ethan hunted the dinosaurs and then he fell asleep.


Right now Jeff is gone coaching the Young Men's basketball team, Kamden's in bed asleep, and Ethan is with my sister and niece at a High School basketball game...the sweet sound of silence! (Except for the dishwasher.) I almost don't know what to do with this free time. Almost.

Finally Outside!

It's finally starting to warm up and Ethan was begging to go outside all weekend but, since he's been sick, I kept him in. After their naps, Ethan saw the little neighbor boy out riding his trike on the sidewalks and there was no convincing Ethan to stay inside after that. I bundled them up as best I could without putting too many layers on them and making it impossible for them to move. We only went out for about 20 minutes but it was so nice to see them outside running around. Last summer Kamden was so little and he wasn't walking yet, so they were really cute playing soccer together and runing around the yard. We're deffinatley ready for spring!

Cardboard Box Adventures

Isn't it funny how nothing seems to captivate the attention of a child like an empty cardboard box? Like on Christmas and Birthdays when you put a lot of thought into a gift and, no matter how expensive it was, the kid is more interested in the wrapping paper and the box than what's inside. Today the boys have been occupying their time with two cardboard boxes and it's perfect because the boxes are just the right size; the bigger one is large enough for Ethan to have a 'house' and the smaller one fits Kamden just right. I've been able to clean both bathrooms plus sweep and mop the kitchen and dining room floors. I wonder how long the boxes can keep their attention...

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa Stoker

On Saturday, Jeff's cousin was playing in the State Championship basketball game about 40 minutes from our house. Jeff's parents came up to watch the game and he met them there. I stayed home with the boys since they're still not feeling well but Ethan was excited that his Grandma and Grandpa were coming over to see him. It was even easy to talk him into taking a nap with the promise of a visit from his grandparents when he woke up.
Jeff's brother, Wade, and his wife, Lauren, came over too and Wade helped Jeff finally get the Christmas lights down from the house. It was also the first Saturday in about four weeks that we didn't work on the house so it was a nice break.
While Grandma and Grandpa were here, Ethan and Kamden played the 'Going Fishing' game with Grandpa and Lauren and watched 'Brother Bear'. There was also a game of football going on in the TV Room that resulted in Kamden nearly getting a concusion. And don't worry, Wade, the mark on his forehead is gone :).
My parents watched Ethan and Kamden while we went to dinner with Jeff's parents, Wade and Lauren, and Brian and Sierra. We went to Johnny Carino's and it was nice to go out without kids, even though I felt bad for the boys. Kamden's nose isn't running so much anymore but poor Ethan is miserable. Since his nose is stuffy he breathes through his mouth all night and on Saturday he woke up with lips so chapped they were bloody. It seems like he's had more energy than he's had since Friday so hopefully he'll keep improving.

Seattle Here I Come!

Next month Jeff has to go to Seattle for work AND I GET TO GO WITH HIM! I'm so excited, I'm counting down the days and trying to decide what to cram into the 3 days we'll be there. Any suggestions? If any of you have been to Seattle, let me know what you did and what you thought of it!

"Love is the Perfect Gift"

Last night for mutual we took the 6 girls in our group around to some of the widows' houses and gave them 'Heart Attacks'. We quietly (this was a challenge with 12 and 13year old girls) decorated their front doors with different colored hearts then rang the doorbell and gave them some goodies. One of the girls asked me if I like Valentine's Day and I told her "Yes, because I always have the same Valentine every year."
They all then started complaining about how they don't like Valentine's Day because it's no fun if you don't have a 'boyfriend'. A boyfriend? Really? At 12? So I told them it's not about boyfriends and girlfriends or just for people 'in love'. I told them it's a day to show the people you care about that you appreciate them or to let your friends know you're thankful for their friendship. Or it can be a day to do something like what we'd just done, I'm sure the widows that we'd just visited really appreciated the knowledge that someone was thinking of them. One of the girls said that earlier that day she and her sisters went to their older sister's house who is married and recently had a baby. While their sister was at work they cleaned her entire house. Then she said that sometimes 'Love is the perfect gift'. I couldn't have said it better myself.

The Boys

I realized I haven't posted much on Ethan and Kamden lately, so here's a little of what they've been up to.
The three of us go to Music & Movement time every Thursday at the Library. I can't wait for it to warm up so that we can walk like we did in the summer when we went to storytime. Storytime is every Tuesday at the Library but we haven't made it to both for quite awhile. It's less stressful to just go to one or the other, so we chose the Music & Movement one because the boys seem to enjoy that a little more since there's dancing, singing, and lots of different little activities. Ethan sort of stands back and watches for awhile before he'll get involved but Kamden wants down immediatley and starts wandering through the group, investigating things and dancing to the music. It's interesting to see how different their personalities are.
They both had check-ups with the pediatrician on Tuesday this week and I've determined that no one should take their children to the doctor unless they are already sick. They were both perfectly fine on Tuesday but, after playing with the toys in the waiting room, they now have coughs and runny noses like you wouldn't believe. I'm begining to wonder if my kids even have immune systems or if I'm just failing miserably at keeping them healthy.
Ethan's favorite phrase right now is "You know what?" as in "Kamden, you know what?" Pause. "I'm three." He also likes the word "Probably" only he pronounces it "Probly". If I ask him a question like "Ethan, are you ready to go to the Library?" His response is "Probly...yes." He calls himself my 'helper' and is really good at being one. He even unloaded the silverware from the dishwasher this morning. It was all in there because yesterday he got a little bag out and put every fork and spoon in the bag. There's an empty cardboard box in the closet and he uses it as his 'car'. He'll prop it up and lay underneath it and use the utinsels for his 'car tools' even though he has actual play tools he could use instead of dirtying all of the silverware. But at least he's using his imaginiation!
Kamden is talking nonstop, though I can't comprehend about 95% of what he says. He can say "Mama" :) "No" "Uh-oh" "Dog" "Ba-Ba" "Thank You" he tries to say "Book" and his favorite word is "DaDa" or "Da" for short. He gets really excited when his daddy gets home from work and spends the day looking for him while Jeff is gone. He is deffinatley a 'Daddy's Boy'. He likes to play with dinosaurs and he'll bring them to us and say "Rar!" and he pushes little cars around on the floor while trying to make the 'Vroom' sound. He runs all over the place and now it's debatable between the boys as far as who's trying to keep up with who.
They both had really good check-ups (minus the runny noses and cough results). Ethan is in the 90th percentile for height which means that only 10% of boys his age are taller than him. His weight is in the 50th percentile because he's a skinny little thing but eats like there's no tomorrow. The doctor said he's right on track and everything sounds and looks great.
Kamden is also tall for his age but he's deffinatley a sturdy little guy. He weighs about 9 pounds less than his big brother and sometimes it seems like Ethan is lighter when I pick them up. Maybe Ethan will be our 'Basketball Guy' like he says and Kamden will be a 'Football Guy'.
Ethan loves sports and this summer we might get him involved in something in the community. Jeff coaches the Young Men's basketball games on Tuesday nights and Ethan always looks forward to going with his dad and watching 'Dad's basketball guys'. He says when he grows up he's going to be like 'Daddy, Brian, Jeff, Joe, Ryan, Grandpa... and Basketball Guys'. Looks like I'd better start enjoying sports!
Kamden got a little farm and some animals from his Grandma & Grandpa Stoker for Christmas and his Uncle Brian taught him that the cow says "Moo" so he's been carrying that cow around and mooing at everyone. He also really likes a little cap gun that his Uncle Jeff gave the boys a few months ago. One of his favorite snacks is graham crackers and I never saw anyone make such a mess with one little cracker!
So that's what they've been up to while waiting for the sun to come out and make it warm enough to go out and play. Hopefully the warm weather will put an end to all of these colds! I'm begining to wonder if I'm solely responsible for keeping the cold medicine and tissue industry in business this season.

Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!

February 12, 1982

Today is my parents' 26th wedding anniversary so while they were at work the boys and I set up a special dinner for them. We moved a little round table into the living room near the fireplace and set it up with a red tablecloth, goblets, a candle, and individual menus. For dinner we made lasanga with garlic bread and green salad and for dessert there is chocolate mousse and chocolate-covered strawberries. I posted both of those recipes since they are perfect for Valentine's Day.
Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Beautiful!

For the third Saturday in a row Jeff painted, cut, nailed, caulked, and everything else required to put up trim and baseboard. He ran out of trim before he got our room or Ethan's room done, but the rest of the upstairs looks BEAUTIFUL! I love it! I told him it looks just like a real house. His response was "It is a real house." But you know what I mean. It just looks 'finished'.

Lunch Reunion

Before we moved here in the summer of 2006, I was the Primary Secretary in our ward. Since we've moved I haven't seen any of the other women I served with in the Primary Presidency, but we've kept in touch through e-mails and Christmas cards over the last year and a half. On Friday we all got together for lunch at Stacey's house (she was the Primary President). Kim and Rebecca (who were the counselors) and Karene (she took my place when I moved) were there, too. It was great to see them and I couldn't believe how their kids have grown! When we moved, Ethan was 17 months old, just a little older than Kamden is now. I was four months pregnant with Kamden and none of them had met him yet. They all wanted to know what happened to Ethan's red hair since it's now a light brown.
On our drive over to Stacey's house, Ethan was asking where we were going and I tried explaining to him that we used to live over there. He couldn't really comprehend it, so we drove past our old house. I was pretty surprised to see a 'For Sale' sign in the front yard but even more surprised to see that they are only asking $900 more than what we got for it less than two years ago.

Superman Vs. Buzz Lightyear

So Ethan has been infatuated with 'good guys and bad guys' lately, though I can't figure out where it's all coming from. He has some little action figures that once belonged to his cousins and he's been using them to fight each other but he gives them each an equal chance at winning. If Superman was the 'good guy' during the last battle (which means, of course, that he won) then you'd better put your money on Buzz Lightyear for the next round because it'll be his turn to be 'good'. If you ask me, there's really no competition there because, after all, Superman has actual super-hero powers, wears a cape, and has x-ray vision. And Woody said it best, Buzz Lightyear is just "a toy".

Making Progress

Yesterday I painted the trim in the dining room and today I painted the trim in the entry and the downstairs bathroom. At this rate I'll be done long before the end of the month and I'll be able to finish other projects, too. Jeff has been busy upstairs today working on the doors and trim. As if it wasn't enough work in itself, the door frames and the walls aren't exactly straight since the house is 108 years old, so it's a bit of a challenge to figure out how to get the doors hung and the trim looking decent around them, but he's doing a great job!

LOST party

Last night was the season premiere of the fourth season of LOST. And, since we're all a bunch of LOST fanatics, what better way to celebrate watching the season premiere than with a party? We all came dressed as a character from the show; Brian was Hurley, Erin came as 'Pregnant Claire', Jeff was Ben, Ethan was Mikail, I wore all black and was 'the Black Smoke Monster', Kamden was a polar bear (except he was brown) and my brother Jeff dressed up as Charlie (note the pants). We had dinner and watched the 2-hour show while trying (still) to figure out what in the world is going on! And, sadly, we found out for certain that Charlie really is dead. :(