part two

okay, sorry but that last post erased about 90% of what i wrote after i downloaded the pix. blogging on phones really doesnt work that great. the pix in the last post showed james eating a qeusadilla that i sneaked spinach into. my weak attempts to get him to eat veggies. he ate about 30% before he realized it tasted differently and that he didn't like it. i recently started drinking smoothies again for breakfast, james likes those alot, and i always put spinach in them, so he is getting some veggies. what i really want or need is this cookbook called the sneaky chef. but the problem is not just veggies but most ffod in general. i have to bribe him with mnms half the time just to eat dinner. sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. any tips.

learning to be a sneaky chef

i think most moms have difficulty getting thier kids to eat what they want them to, like veggies.

The CHP Possibility

Many of you know that about 3 years ago Stephen applied to the CHP, and that last year the academy closed, so we started looking at other options. Example, the Army, Stephen was told about when he was done with everything to become an officer that it was too late for him to become an officer because of the age limit. So, now we're trying for aviation in the Army, i.e. he wants to be a helicotper pilot. BUT, it's the most sought after career in the Army, even though the pay is less than an officer because I guess it's every guys dream to fly. About 2 weeks ago we get a call from the CHP (California Highway Patrol) and the academy has reopened and they desperately want Stephen to get all his stuff redone (because it's expired?) to possibly make the August class, if he passes everything...again. It took 2 years the first time to get everything done, and now they want it all done in the next month or so. My question is, why was it so hard to do this the first time? At this point Stephen has said he'll take whichever happens to work out first. And if they both want him at the same time? Stay tuned...

BTW, we still don't have internet, I'm at Mcdonalds, but we did just get new phones with unlimited minutes, text, and web. I can check blogs on my phone, sort of, but I can't figure out how to leave comments on my phone, or post on my phone. Any tips?

Playing Catch-up

I hate not having Internet because I get behind in blogging things, pictures and what we've been up to. And then it takes me forever to catch up, and I have to leave out uninteresting things that I'm sure ya'll don't really care about, like what I've been sewing lately. hahaha. aWe spent Thanksgiving at my sister Megan's house in Eastern Washington, which was fun, especially since it was a surprise, no one really knew we were coming until the last minute. And almost everyone was there, minus two siblings and their families. My sister just bought this enormous beautiful house, here are some really great pictures of it.










James really loved their dog, and followed it around everywhere. The dog wasn't thrilled though about having his tail pulled and would try to escape.



It's a black lab mix with I think collie, it was the most chill dog which was good since hyper dogs make me nervous, and usually labs are very hyper, at least the ones I've met. We went and saw the city lights,





and then the next day drove up to my parents house less than 2 hours north in Idaho. It was a beautiful drive through the Pelouse Hills where one of Stephens survivalist idols lives, so now we have to live there.




Stephen and I went on a Santa Cruise to the North Pole in Couer D'Alene together which was fun, especially since it was free, thanks to Rod my bro-in-law. Our Christmas was low-key, meaning just the three of us.





We made cookies for our neighbors, and some gingerbread houses for us. See how well they turned out.



James was so sick over the holidays, but we survived. Another year passed in which we didn't send out Christmas cards, but, we will be sending out Valentine's Cards to family, with pictures we had taken of James about 7 months ago (finally!). Here is what our Christmas card picture would have looked like. (BTW, I made that 1950's-ish dress.)

January not much went on, some family came out, and that was nice. Stephen took his aviation test to become a helicopter pilot and did very well. Now he just wants to retake his Physical Test to get a better score, and we'll be pretty much done with the Army thing. Finally. We just got onto Stephen's work health insurance and so technically we can start trying to have more kids. The goal before Christmas was to lose 5 more pounds before trying for baby #2, instead I gained like 3 pounds, (from mid-Novenber to early January, ha!) so I'm debating whether to try and lose 8 pounds which seems pretty much impossible for me. I'm exercising and staying within my calorie recommendation, according to this calorie counting weight loss thing I joined on the internet, which is free. So, I don't quite get what I'm not doing. I want to join weight watchers which is probably more affective, but we're on a really tight budget now. I also wish I could run but my knees aren't that great, and since bad knees runs in my family (example, my sister had both knees and both hips replaced and my mom has had one knee replaced) and so I'm trying to take it easy. Instead I make up for it by going at a pretty high incline on my treadmill, which burns a pretty good amount of calories. Should I just get over myself and have another baby, or should I try and lose 8 pounds first? Decisions, decisions...

Met his Match

James is known for having an ear-piercing, glass shattering high pitched scream that would scare even the demons back into their fiery holes. His scream is unparalleled. Until recently. We have some neighbors that live below us, and within the last few months I've noticed that their little boy has started screaming, AND he screams alll the time JUST LIKE JAMES. In fact we've even heard them screaming back and forth to ech other through the floor. One screams, and then the other would scream back. Thei daughetr screams too, pretty high and loud, but the boys have a higher pitch. Well, unfortunately they are moving, and as they were moving their stuff last night I offered to watch their kids and discover that their little boy actually screams slightly higher than James. In fact, there were some moments fighting over toys last night when they would scream at each other.


James was startled to have some other kid scream at him, and higher and louder too. I felt like saying to him, "See how I feel." Although he wouldn't really understand even if I did. We are really going to miss our neighbors the Westovers. Not to mention we share the internet with them, so now we will be without it for awhile, again. They leave today, and I offered to watch their kids again this morning. Can't wait for James to throw another fit, especially if Gavin, the boy, even thinks about touching his precious Buzz Lightyear, or his guns. Toy guns that is. He threw this huge fit last night when he tried to play with his Buzz last night, as you can see here.


I gave Gavin the fake Buzz, a toy I got at a yard sale for $1.



James is not fooled by fake Buzz. This is probably my last post for who knows how long, 'til we get internet. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Stocking Love

I have never really thought that much about stockings. It's just something you put fun little things in the night before Christmas and then they go back in storage, right? Well, my sister-in-law is big on having these handmade special stockings that she makes. So, this year I thought, they might be kind of fun to do for our family. I went online and found these beauties!!!!!!!









Aren't they adorable? The train, the fairy, the manger. I love them all. But they are so pricey. Who wants to spend $20-30 on a stocking for heavens sake? Do you think if I got one after Christmas for next year they'd be discounted. Gosh I'm cheap, aren't I?

Bright and Early

On Saturday we were invited to join Stephen's brother Karl and company to go see a mini Santa parade at the mall, and get free breakfast that they were dishing out. Free Breakfast?! So, naturally we went. Although whoever heard of eating "Chick Fillet" for breakfast? Whatever, it was free food.

James loved the parade, he is big on parades. Despite the fact that the parade only had some guys in kilts playing bagpipes, and Santa coming in on a firetruck with all the local sports mascots greeting the kids. The minute they came in sight James started clapping and waving frantically. He wasn't a huge fan of Santa as you can see here in this pic he's trying to escape from his grasp. (How do you like the reindeer hat I got him from Micheals for the occasion?)

James was however a huge fun of the mascots. Especially the Bumble Bee the Baseball mascot. Here he is with the football mascot, and as you might be able to see he is trying to get the lion's attention.

I think he wanted the mascot to hold him. We actually know this guy he"s in our ward/church. He and Stephen serve in the Elders Quarum together and so we were able to get him to come over and take a picture with James. When we passed the Bumble Bee he said "HUG" with his arms out, but the guy was busy taking a picture with someone else and I didn't want to interupt.
On Friday night we went to Chuck E. Cheeses which James loved. Stephen got almost 300 tickets playing the games. When we left James threw this huge fit, screaming etc. I got so sick of it I turned around and shouted "shut up!" Yes, I know, I'm a terrible mother. Well, guess who shouted it back to me 2 minutes later? Yep, and then Stephen started humming the hymn "Let us all speak kind words to each other." Grrrrr...
Well, I'm officially done getting James his Christmas presents, and I'm glad I did it early, a couple of the DVD's didn't work and I had to send them back. Beware cheap DVD's on Amazon. Also, beware getting cheap toys from China on Ebay. I got James some toys that ended up being about half the size I expected them to. Oh well... I'm still surprised at how far I made his Christmas money stretch getting everything on Ebay and Amazon. Although I had intended to get him some board books for Christmas (used of course, board books can be pricey) but before I knew I'd spent his money on other presents. There's always the library I guess, right?
(By the way the pictures were taken by Megan, my sister-in-law, to see more from Saturday go here )