Sunday, September 20, 2009

SO ready for Fall!



I confess, I am a wallpaper addict. People who work with me regularly notice that I change the desktop wallpapers almost every single night I work. I came across this one earlier this week, and it has lasted on my home desktop for several days (a record for me!). I grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes, and always appreciated that Calvin was eternally childlike, looking for adventure and a fun time , while also eternally childish- unable to see the reason to learn or change who he already is. I'm probably a lot more like that than I'm willing to admit!





This picture reminded me of my own childhood, though. The seasons didn't race by like they do now- instead it passed in just the right amount of time. I have so many wonderful memories of raking, jumping in leaf piles, decorating for Halloween, deciding on costumes, canning apricots and tomatoes, walking to school in the crisp morning air, driving up the canyon to see the leaves change- I love autumn and everything about it. But for some reason this picture struck me as a tiny reminder to be more in the moment- life happens every day, and if I'm not careful, I'll miss it. Years from now I want to look back on the special times I had with my little family and the Fall traditions we created, so that when they see a picture like this, they recall happy memories too!

Oh, and did I mention pumpkin chocolate chip cookies?

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Really?



Honest truth, I had this conversation yesterday:





Mom: Wyatt, it's time for dinner!



Wyatt: Wanna do the dishes?



Mom: We're all done doing dishes, honey. Right now it's time to eat dinner.



Wyatt: Do the dishes?



Mom: Not right now. We can do dishes later, ok?


Wyatt (casting himself dramatically on the ground): DISHES! (starts to sob)



Mom: No tantrums, Wyatt. Do you need to go to time out?



Wyatt (jumping up and tearing down the hall at top speed): WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!


*thump!* (on the floor again)




And from all the way down the hall I hear the occasional:

*whimper*

"I wanna do the dishes..."

*sniff*




I guess I better relish that argument, for it is surely the ONLY time in my life I will have it with my son!

Friday, September 4, 2009

I am NOT lazy!

It just seems that way because I've updated my blog two whole times this summer. To be quite honest, there are about 73 household chores waiting to be done (74 if you count "wash sticky fingerprints off doorknobs" but really, that isn't a priority). However, they will still be there tomorrow, and I would rather do this! Since this blog is more or less my family's journal, maybe putting a new blog post up does in fact count as something I should be doing with the time I have here on earth. Yeah, let's go with that.



Here's some tidbits and pictures:



* Wyatt can now efficiently unlock doors, deadbolts, open gates and car doors, turn the hoses and faucets on and off, and climb up onto counters, toilets, and the dryer. He'll proudly tell you "My name is Wyatt An-erson!" He LOVES to watch Cars, and spends as much time as he possibly can between the wading pool and the new swing set (thanks again, Grammy and Grandpa!) Sorry there's no swing set pictures yet, Wyatt thought the camera needed a bath in the wading pool. Miraculously, it dried out and still works!



* Jana is crawling like crazy, and loves to play peek-a-boo. She has such a funny laugh, it makes me laugh even more, which in turn makes her laugh harder. Wyatt usually joins in the laughing, because who doesn't love to laugh? She has no teeth yet, and I really don't mind putting it off since she'll eat whatever is in front of her anyway (including dog food and pieces of paper).



* Lee is busy working hard. He did great in the Rush Triathlon in August, and we are glad to have him around more now that he's not training for anything (at the moment!).



* I am me, and I am fine. :)






Monica took some more pictures for us, I love when she does that! Jana was being cute and smiley, until we all got hosed down when Wyatt turned on the sprinklers. Oops.



It's really hard to get him both holding still AND smiling at the same time, so often we just settle for one or the other. I still think he's pretty darn cute.




When a fly gets in the house Skeeter chases it down and eats it, and it is extremely funny to witness. There's one in the window, and he's patiently waiting until it comes out again. Lee calls him Beast of Prey.



While I was putting Jana down for her nap the other day, Wyatt vanished. Here's where I found him- up on the bathroom counter, getting ready to brush his teeth.




I didn't interfere, I just watched to see what he would do. He got out the toothbrush, got it wet, put a little toothpaste on, brushed, spit, and rinsed.




Then he had a drink of water...



...and finished by washing his hands. I am SO pleased that my 2 year-old does these kinds of things!



Normally the ground next to the deck looks like this. Occasionally a weed will grow up between the rocks and I pull it, and we spray for weeds every so often. One little plant sprouted up that didn't look like the other weeds, so we let it be. After only 6 weeks...




...it bloomed! Right in the middle of the rocks we had this volunteer sunflower pop up. It's HUGE (I put Skeeter in so you could see how big that sucka is).



Lee is excited to pull out the seeds so he can bake and eat them.



The garden is doing well this year too, I can't believe how tall the corn is.



Yahoo! Little pumpkins!



I think having a dog makes a family complete. Especially Skeeter.





We (well, I) am getting excited for fall to come soon, but we're loving that we can play outside sans jacket for a few more weeks. Hope you're all well and happy and enjoying the last bits of summer!