Easter 2013

It seems I have neglected to post anything about Easter. We took tons of pictures, so some of them have to make the blog. At least when we get the blog made into a book, Easter will be in there, albeit out of order. Chad's parents were in town, and then Christian and Stephen joined us for dinner. We didn't get a picture of the whole group! We're bad at that....

Big cheesers while we dye Easter eggs.

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The Easter Bunny's accomplice. Shhhh!!!!

           

                     

                                                                         Chocolate bunny! 

Italian Cheesecake for dessert. Not as sweet as traditional cheesecake because it's made with ricotta. Delicious nonetheless! 

Update - Spring Break

At the beginning of the week, we went down to visit Erin and her family. We stopped in Ogden on the way down for a break from sitting in the car. We went to the Treehouse Museum and visited the Visitor's Center for the Ogden Temple (currently being rebuilt).

We even found a cookie outlet and bought sugar cookies for cheap.

Addie and Charlie had fun playing together. Addie has a sippy cup that Charlie was particularly fond of, so we picked one up at Walmart today. He loves it.

After a snag with our Priceline room for the night, (They only had a smoking room, which we refused to stay in. If it happens to you make sure to make it clear that you have a "smoking allergy") we found another room (further away, though) but had fun feeling like we were on a "real" vacation. You know you are cheap when the Days Inn feels like a luxury. Maybe someday we can afford a 3 star hotel! 

We played at the park, 

made Easy Candy, ate at Tucano's (yum!!), 

went shopping and stayed up late. It was pretty awesome. Thanks for a good time, Erin etc.! 

Today we did some spring cleaning. I cleaned out the car, and then we took it for a car wash. We got stuck in the car wash from hell when the cycle restarted about 2 minutes in. This happened 3 times before someone came and rescued us. Now, having a problem with your automatic car wash causes an interesting dilemma. You technically can't leave your car because you don't know when the water will start spraying again. So you are stuck inside the car wash. So what to do? We found our receipt and called the office as we sat in the bay. We called twice. They were apparently watching it to see what it would do. They finally let us out and directed us into their other lane for a Touchless Car Wash. About 45 minutes we finally drove away with our cleaned car. The benefits of repeating the first 2 minutes of the car wash over and over again is that the windshield and hood of the car got really clean!

We have also been talking about painting our front door for some time now. We were tired of dirty white, and wanted something to catch your attention. Well, I think we found it. No word on how long the yellow will stay, but there it is. We will definitely turn some heads. And if we say "It's the house with the yellow door", there should be little question as to which one that is.

This tulip grew through a receipt. This is just strange. 

Before

After

My Spring Break is almost over! :o( We will spend the weekend with Chad's family for Stephen's senior recital and Easter. Good luck Stephen! 

Fingerpainting

A while ago, Chad went to record a middle school band festival in Driggs/Teton/somewhere about an hour to the northeast of us.  I stayed home with Charlie and did some fingerpainting! I found a website that had a recipe for fingerpaint from flour, corn starch and food coloring, since I (correctly) assumed a lot of it would end up in Charlie's mouth.

Here are the results!

The aftermath. 

Saturday mornings

This morning Chad got Charlie out of his crib and laid him in bed next to me. Charlie laid there and drank his bottle as he woke up. About 5 minutes later, he turned his little chubby cheeks to me with a little smirk on his lips, wide-eyed, and says "Mamamamama". And then just grins.

I wish I had it on tape because it was pretty adorable.

And this is why Saturday mornings are better than any other morning of the week.

In other news, it is snowing and windy here today. I am done with snow and wind.

Neighbors

So....

The same neighbors (who rent out their property to the lady who let her dog crap all over our yard) also have a huge driveway (it's completely paved between their two houses) that they plow. Into our yard. It is illegal to plow across a street but they do it every time it snows - and leave us a giant snow pile that doesn't melt until July. And last year they plowed our back "driveway" which left a pile of yard in the middle of the lawn that also got plowed. We think they think that if they plow our "driveway" (which we don't use) it makes it okay for them to plow all of their snow into our yard. Well this year the van is parked in the back because it is out of commission. So they plowed their snow halfway across our yard!! It is pretty much in line with our house. (There's at least 40' from our house to the street.) We are kind of appalled. So - what do we do?!

In other news - it is a snow day, which means I get to stay home and play with Charlie all day!!!!

AND. This is my 300th post.

Snow Day!

Hillcrest hasn't had a snow day since I started working/student teaching. (January 2010) And probably long before that.

The weather here has been snowy and COLD for the last few weeks, and everyone was hoping for school to be cancelled, but it never was.

So this morning I got up, bundled up for the -16 weather, and headed to school. I had lots of stuff to do, so I got there early - as has become the usual. I had been there for about 45 minutes when Chad called me to tell me that the internet was saying school was cancelled in our district. It was still early enough that no one else would be at school yet, so I didn't know. He called the district office to make sure and then, "COME HOME! IT'S A SNOW DAY!!!"

I didn't think it was possible, but I think snow days are even more exciting when you're a teacher than when you're a student. The best part was that I had a bunch of stuff to do for finals/new semester starting/Gem State Honor Band (which I got put in charge of) - so I stayed at work with the heat pumping (why is the heat on if school is cancelled? I don't know, but I'm glad it was!) and worked. I got home just at lunch time, having put in 5 hours of work and finishing 99% of the stuff I had to do. And then I got to spend the afternoon snuggling Charlie and running errands. It was grand.

And since I finished so much work at school, I now have an evening to do pretty much whatever I want. Jeopardy! here I come!

I need to be going to bed soon since I have to get up early tomorrow to go back to school.

Things I will miss about being at home all day:
1. Charlie, Chad and Lady
2. Eating whenever I want
3. Using the bathroom whenever I want

I really hate timing my bladder to the school bells. It was worse when I was pregnant, but it's still pretty annoying now to have to wait until my lunch hour and then elbow my way through the crowded hallways and still try to get back with enough time to eat lunch.

Also -
Charlie had his first birthday at the beginning of December. Yay Charlie! (Pictures hopefully coming later)

Some quick notes about Charlie
1. As of then, he had 6 teeth. Now he has 7.
2. Charlie was just beginning to walk around the time of his birthday. As of the 23rd, he decided he was ready to dive in. Last week he spent a lot of time walking and now he's almost a pro. He's probably 75% walking and 25% crawling around the house. He has learned how to stand back up when he falls down.
3. Along those lines, Charlie got his first pair of bona fide shoes over the Christmas break. $6 at Ross. Can't complain.
4. Charlie loves playing with Lady and all of the cool new toys he got for his birthday and Christmas.
5. Charlie loves to say "Bop" and then giggle like it's the punchline to a really funny joke. When he wakes up in the morning, he rolls over, sits up, purses his lips, and after a sufficiently pregnant pause, lets out a "Bop" then scrunches up his nose and giggles. Good morning to you, Charlie!
6. He loves bananas. Eats them 2 at a time.
7. Is big and strong. The doctor says he is perfect physically. And he commented that he seems to be a happy guy and "I'm not just saying that - he seems to have a really good personality." Aww. Well, I think so, but I'm kind of biased.
8. Charlie is a happy boy. If you smile at him you will pretty much always get a smile back. Makes him a hit with the ladies. (And the babysitters!)
9. Falls asleep on his own in his crib at about 8:30 after stories, song and prayer.
10. In the last week has started waking up multiple times a night again. This development is not pleasant. Two nights ago I woke up in a puddle of water that leaked out of his bottle. Last night he came into our bed and I woke up at 6:00 in a puddle of pee after trying to get him to sleep for about 2 hours before that.
11. Charlie spends his days emptying boxes that hold his toys and winter hats/gloves. He also clears out the bookshelf that holds his books. We wonder if he wakes up and goes "Every day I move these off of here, why do you keep putting them back?! That is NOT where they go!!" If he can get into the kitchen, he pulls out the mixing bowls, and all of the pots and pans. He gets in the drawer and pulls out the ziploc bags and the saran wrap. This is not so bad because, if you'll remember, we trained the dog to close kitchen cabinets and drawers. So Charlie goes and opens them, and Lady comes running to push them shut. I knew that trick would come in handy...
12. He is in mostly 18 month onesies at the moment, but some of the 18 month sleepers are too small. Luckily mom and Mollie sent 2T/24m reinforcements. 12 month pants are fine for now. But we bought him an adorable overall set for Christmas, and we should've brought it back for a bigger size because he's only worn it twice and it's pretty tight around his bum.

Alright, that's as much of an update as I can provide at the moment. Christmas will have to come later. Time to get ready for school and get to bed.

Happy New Year! (My first post of 2013! Woo!)

Sledding!

Since Charlie got a new snowsuit, we decided to go sledding during Christmas break. We went over to Petersen Park where there are some smaller hills that were perfect for us. Charlie was having a grand time until he got some snow sprayed in his face.

Christmas 2012

(This may not be totally accurate, because I wrote it in July, but here we go...) We, surprisingly, don't have a ton of pictures from Christmas.

Charlie got this new snowsuit from Grandma and Grandpa Dickerson! 

Playing with Christmas presents. 

Christmas outfit. A little snug.

Trying on a hat. 

Meeting Santa at the craft fair. 

Minion! 

Meeting Santa at the ward party. 

All snuggly for bed.

Blurry Christmas present picture!