Undone

I think I have a never ending "to do" list. My sister and I were talking about how we have the top priority things, like feeding and changing the kids, doing laundry, and doing dishes. If we're lucky, we get to the other stuff, like cleaning bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming. But then there's the OTHER stuff for me. Like changing my burnt-out light bulbs outside by my garage. Or adding the latest charms on my charm bracelet. Or replacing the deadbolt on my front door. Cleaning the crayon off my walls. Fixing the dents in the walls that my kids have made. Throwing out useless boxes in my storage room. Converting my senior class VHS tape to a DVD. Checking to see if Jakob is on our dental insurance. Moving the empty shelves in my garage into my basement. And the list goes on and on. You know, the stuff that needs to get done someday, but it...just doesn't. I end up thinking about the items on this list randomly. Like the charms for my bracelet-I think about it when I'm grabbing my watch and wedding ring in a hurry in the morning and I see my bracelet sitting in my jewelry box. Or the crayon on the wall gets noticed when I'm going up or down my stairs and I think "I really need to clean that off", but it never gets done.
So, am I the only person who is like this? Who else has an Undone List, and what's on it?

If You Do That for Too Long, Your Face Will Stay That Way

YIPPEE for THREE!

Yesterday Brock turned three years old. Like Pete said, it's weird to think that he's already that age. My babies are growing up! *sniff* I love that Brock still has his chubby cheeks, so he has dimples when he smiles. I SO hope he keeps those dimples even after his chubby cheeks disappear!

Our Superman got two Superman toys (how fitting!), a Batman toy, some clothes, a book and a movie, a jet, and a race car, not to mention a Toy Story cake. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa H, Kar and Ben, and Grandma and Grandpa P!

Our Superman

Pete

Troy

Jakob


Kar and Ben (nice eyes, Ben!)

Worried Brock ("Give me my new toys back!")

Mom, Sadie, and Dylan

Dad

Kar also posted about coming over; if you want to peruse more pics then head that way!

Tuna

My beautiful 1998 Dodge Neon just passed 100,000 miles. I would have gotten a picture right at the mark, but it was busy doing its duty of taking Pete to work at 5:30 a.m. It's been a wonderful car. My sisters dubbed it "Tuna" because of the cool color. I think it's technically called "platinum metallic", but it tends to look like different colors depending on the light it's in. Is it beige? silver? gray? gold? Fabulous! I wanted a cuter name for it, but Tuna stuck from the get-go, and Tuna it will stay. I know it's filthy dirty-my pregnancy nesting hasn't reached the garage or its occupants yet. I love my Tuna, and hope it lasts another 100,000!

North Carolina, Come On and Raise Up!

One of the reasons we went to see Pete's family this weekend, besides the fact we haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, was because my sister-in-law Suzy just got back from her LDS mission in North Carolina. Besides the picture trauma that I posted about (which really, we've been through much, much worse), we had tons of fun. On the way down we ate at Benihana with my brother-in-law Richard. Benihana, I will love you forever. You make me, pregnant or not, very happy. Suzy spoke in church on Sunday, and her talk was wonderful. Well, what I heard of it-we were doing the kid thing like always, meaning this one needs a drink, that one needs a diaper change, this one wants fruit snacks, that one has sticky chocolate hands from a granola bar, etc.

Saturday Grandma and Grandpa P had an Easter egg hunt in their backyard. The kids had a blast.

Kelly and I had a chance to take a "kissing cousins" photo, as did our husbands Mark and Pete.

We even found time to exercise! It was a fabulous weekend out of the snow.

Worth a Thousand Words

Family pictures. Definitely one of the banes of my existence. We went to see Pete's side of the family this weekend, and since it's one of the few times that we are ALL together, we got new family pictures. This now includes 30 people, with two more coming in the next two or so months. The last time Pete's family did a big group photo like this, I was two months pregnant. The last time my side of the family did it, I was 9 months pregnant. And this time I was 6 1/2 months along. Needless to say, the timing on these things is not in my favor.

But what's even better, besides the fact that my belly is huge, my legs are starting to swell, and I'm at least 15 pounds heavier than usual, is how my kids are with professional pictures. My children are complete hams at home. But we get to a studio and it's as if we're about to boil them alive. "Come here and stand by me and smile" might as well be "Come here while I pull every hair out of your head individually". Super fun.

They wanted a picture of Grandma and Grandpa P and all the grandchildren-14 of 'em. All the other kids run up with their smiles. We have to drag my children up, who are now screaming and crying. I have to sit in the picture with a black velvet blanket over my legs and head so that I can sit by them and hold Troy on my lap. The sad thing is I've done the "cover Mom up" thing before. So in that picture Troy looks like we pulled a Harry Potter and performed "Wingardium Leviosa" on him-he's kind of floating by himself on the side of the picture.

The whole family picture went a little bit better. For one, my children's heads are in front of my belly so you can't tell I'm pregnant all that much. And pictures don't have sound, so all you see is a worried look on Brock's face, Jakob licking his snot with his tongue, and Troy clinging to Pete. And I'm kind of grimacing, thinking "WHY is this something that's so hard for my kids/Oh yeah, I'm in this picture too, I'd better pretend to be worry-free".

I'd show you said pictures, but right now our CD drives aren't working. Once they do, I'll add the pictures to this post. But for now you can just imagine, and be glad it's not your kids. But at least we're done for quite some time...oh wait, Brock needs his 3-year-old pictures taken soon. Let the fun begin again!

The Entertainers

I've mentioned before that my children are VERY self-entertaining. And I love it. They always surprise me with their creativity and imaginations. Here are a few samples:

Here's Jakob being a robot, with his robot he made by his feet:

My superheroes-Brock as Superman, Jakob as Spiderman, and our Elmo toy they dressed up to also be Spidey:

Here's proof that I actually DO play with my kids, though-Hungry Hippos: