My sweet, smart Dace

Dace is in love with Toy Story 3.  He watches a bit of it almost every night before bed.  His whole face lights up when he requests it-  "Mama, movie?  Toys fee?!!?!?!"  so adorable.  I can hardly deny him.

Last night I put it on for him and this is the first screen that comes up:

Dace proudly exclaims,  "Mama, D...V...D!"
(I knew those $1 alphabet flash cards would pay off!)

Then the next screen is this:

And Dace, pointing at the tv screen, proudly exclaims, "Mama!  Temple!"

Ahh.  Be still my beating heart.  I guess he is paying attention in nursery after all.  My sweet, smart little boy. 

So, Not much going on around here.

It is official.  I am turning into my mother.

My mom is one of the hardest working women I know.  Her precious Saturdays 'off' are never that.  They will include 214 loads of laundry, planting or plucking an entire garden, 10 loaves of bread, 2 batches of cinnamon buns, working on the basement- you know, typical lazing around things that typical people do on their days off. 

The last few weeks have been mentally, emotionally and physically draining.  After the joyful chaos that was thanksgiving, I vowed to take this weekend "off".  I wanted to just hang out with the boys, do the bare minimum for a couple days and just unwind from it all.  No multitasking whatsoever. 

So that's just what I did- I took today "off".  I got up and made a spinach salad for 20 for Dallin to take to a funeral. Fed the boys breakfast.  Emailed.  Made the beds and put away laundry.  Did 2 loads of laundry.  Put Zade down for a nap.  Put up the outdoor Christmas lights.  Roasted a turkey.  Took the boys to the park.  Fed lunch.  Put Dace down for a nap.  Had an impromptu photo shoot with Zade.  Created 2 banners for the blog.  Put Zade down for a nap.  Deboned the turkey.  Made turkey gravy.  Did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.  Took the boys for a walk.  Made supper.  Bathed and put Zade to bed.  2 more loads of laundry.  Vacuumed the main floor.  Folded 2 loads of laundry.  Made 7 quarts of turkey stock.  Prepped my Sunday School lesson.  Put Dace to bed.  Did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen-again. 

Just another relaxing Saturday of a Racicot woman.  We Racicot women carry the wonder woman gene.

I'm thinking I might wear this to church tomorrow.....

This post is dedicated to Char and the legend herself, Mama Racicot. 

Turkey Day 2010 in review



I am so doggone tired today you'd think I had cooked the whole meal.  Wednesday, I made a pumkpin swirl cheesecake and pecan pie and prepped for stuffing.  Then thursday morning i made 2 pumpkin pies, the stuffing and mashed sweet potatoes.  We gathered at the Hyers with the Staffs and the elders.  It was a great meal, as always.  That's because us 3 awesome wives are 3 awesome cooks as well.  Zade enjoyed his first turkey bone and Dace was too busy playing with his la-las (girlfriends) to eat much. 

What I am most grateful for this year are the amazing parents both Dallin and I have been blessed with.  We want you all to know how much your help has meant to us.  Thank you so much.  We love you so much. 





Ready to Eat!

Zade is more than ready for his first turkey bone and taste of pumpkin pie. 

He kept an eye on these babies all morning. 

What's on my mind

 When did we all become terrorists and deserving of being treated like cattle and without respect??? when are we going to remember that this country is a democracy?

we have a voice! We need to rise up!

 

This whole tsa body scanner/pat down thing is really concerning me. it's not about security, there's a bigger agenda happening here. how much can they get away with? how much will we allow them to do to us? i'm already worried about flying to canada next year. cancer-inducing scan or pat down? and my little boys will be frisked down too?!  The thought of my toddler-aged boys' privates being patted down in order for us to be cleared to board an airplane makes me sick and outraged!!  let alone having to go through the process myself!

 

This is the beginning of the downfall. Great nations with great collapses all started off with simple means to test their citizens and their lack of resistance. Please, God, bless this country.  And please, do so quickly.  This is no longer the land of the free.  It is the land of the degraded lemming.  If this keeps up, I don't know if I want to live here anymore. 

Big Boys in the Backseat

We got his car seat yesterday and he was giddy with glee when we took him for his first ride.  I wish I had videoed it.  He was esctatic!  Dace too loves that they are now the same.  I took this picture before we headed to church this morning. 

Two big boy carseats.  I think I can officially say that I survived the stage of raising a baby and a toddler.  And we all lived to tell the tale!  Zade is only 9 months but he is such a big boy and they are playing so well together, 99.9% of the time.  He loves feeding himself and this week he has started attempting to stand up in the middle of the room.  He is growing up and each day gets a little easier because of it.  Of course, it is bittersweet because those baby days are so precious and so short lived but I am grateful for the sigh of relief that I am feeling lately with these monumental hurdles he is jumping.  We are in the process of training him to sleep through the night and so in a few days when that has clicked, I will really be feeling like a new woman. 

Speaking of hurdles, Dace is a champion of potty training.  We had attempted training 3 times over the last 6 months but nothing stuck until I read a new method on one of the blogs i followed and decided that that method was going to be "the one."  I started with him on Monday, nov 1 and within 4 days he was pretty much trained.  Our first Sunday at church I was really nervous since it was our first outing without a dipe.  He was sitting with the Staffs and I was out in the hall with Zade when he ran out to find me- Mama!  Potty!  So we did potty then he went back in and sat down.  I was blown away!  The kid is so stinkin' smart!  Up until a few days ago, he wasn't having any accidents.  Then this power struggle began and he didn't want to go in the potty the majority of the time.  This morning I came down and he had peed in two pairs of undies already.  Dallin was looking a little perturbed.  So I told Dace- you know how to go in the potty and all our pees and poops go in the potty.  So next time you'll have to clean it up if you don't want to use the potty.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later he was peeing into the toilet.  Responsibility is both a reward and punishment with him.  but he gets it. He's smart enough.  And the rest of the day- no accidents. 

So major progress has been happening with these beautiful boys growing up.  Yes I am already missing the baby stage and yes, I have even caught myself thinking about #3 but only briefly.  Having two has been more of a challenge than I ever thought.  Especially since Zade has been so much more high maintenance than Dace ever was on his worst day and the adjustment has been really trying for me.  But with these hurdles being cleared comes a sense of calm and normalcy for me, something that has been missing...well, probably ever since my mom left, 2 weeks after Zade was born.  I am feeling like I am breathing again, that I can handle this and that maybe, with all of God's graces, I just might have the patience to be a mother. 

And that, in the words of Martha Stewart, is a good thing. 

Early Morning Snack- busted!

Saturday morning Zade decided to get up at 6am.  Nice.  Dallin was dead to the world so I got up with him.  An hour later, Dace rolled out ready for juice and cartoons.  Once the sun was up (like 730ish) they wanted to play outside so I got them dressed, it was still a little chilly.  Moments later, the door is closed and it is silent.  I peak out the window and they are both huddled into the corner with their heads down.  I grabbed my camera and headed out to see that Dace had grabbed his leftover bowl of popcorn from the night before.  Sometimes he just can't wait to eat breakfast before digging in to his most favorite food ever!  And Zade loves it just as much.  At least they were sharing!

On a Sunday afternoon

I love his little fingers in this picture.  Plus he always has them in his mouth these days.  

The only one that didn't turn out blurry.   

Ditto.  

Boys at the Beach

 

This was our last day at the beach, back at the beginning of October even though the weather is still warm enough to go.  It was Zade's first time crawling around in the sand.  Who knows how many fistfuls he tasted that day but he sure had fun.  It was an official play group day but it turned out to be just me and the boys with Emily and Judah.  But the 5 of us always have a blast together. 

Dace loves being a big brother!  He especially loves pushing the stroller.  It's a long boardwalk at this park but Dace pushed Zade all the way to the sand. 















"Jude, this is pretty good.  You should try it!"





"Oh yeah? Lemme see..."

 

Major Construction in Progress!!!

The blog is currently my latest creative outlet.  Apart from re-editing my book and still trying to find an agent to turn me into the Stephanie Meyer but that is for another post.  Anyhoo, if you pop over to view this thing and it's a mess, just know that i am sitting at my computer down in the deep south of Carolina trying to make it bigger, cuter and even more enticing and addictive. 

For example, I just learned how to make my photos bigger!

Ta-da!  Cool, huh.  This is a little look at Dace's sticker chart from potty training.  Did i mention he is now potty trained?  No, that is yet another post I have to write and get up.  But he loved the sticker rewards!  The kid has a naturual knack for collage I'd say. 

Don't Blink or you'll miss what I can do!

Isn't he so proud of himself?! so cute! He pants like a little puppy when he gets excited.

Leftovers from Oz

These were my other favorite pics from our halloween card photo shoot. I just had to share them and then I will be done with halloween til next year. cross my fingers, I promise. Even though I am already plotting new ideas for family costumes but that's just how I roll.

He's not cowardly. He's super cuddly, super cute!

Who knew Dorothy had a thing for the Tinman? I guess she was the one who stole his heart.

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow brick road!

A Scarecrow supermodel!

One of our little Oz offspring.

Okay, no more til next year. It's been fun. Adieu.

All About the Brelands

I don't know what we did to deserve such amazing honorary grandparents but we sure are grateful and love them dearly. We all get along so well and the boys just love them to pieces. We had a great 3 day visit with them a couple weeks ago. We went nonstop the whole time they were here. Can't wait to do it again.

Lynne and Randy with the boys.

fresh from the bath tub.

we went to a couple different parks and Randy snapped a lot of great shots of us. Most of these pictures are ones he took.

Swingin' and chattin'- it's a southern thing.

Randy got a lot of great shots of Dace and I playing in the waves.

the boy loves his slides!

A rare moment when Dace was with us and not grandpa.

Weeeeee!!!!

A sign you will never see in my home and native land.

Zade will not snuggle me if his life depended on it. Even if he wakes up at night, he pushes off my chest to be turned out. But he snuggled up to Grandpa Randy every time. True, I was envious but more so grateful for the love and bond they have.

While Dace played at the parks and ran around looking at the boats, Zade was more than content just to be outside and in his stroller.

Mama! Boats!

They even look alike, don't you think? They really could be related.

Visits from gramma means presents. The boys got a huge santa sack worth of toys Sunday afternoon. Lucky little guys!