What Being a Mom is All About

It is 65 degrees here today and spring is in the air! I just came in from having a wonderful time in our little backyard with the boys. Parker and I played t-ball for a while, and then Tyler woke up. I think it was Tyler's first formal introduction to grass and outside toys, and he giggled as I walked him around in the grass and let him play on the slide. To celebrate the backyard fun, we all enjoyed popsicles afterward. Parker said, "It's so great to have family popsicles, huh Mom?" My house is a disaster, but these are the moments that I live for.

Starting in September...

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My Funny Valentine

When I was single, I really thought that Valentine's Day is not all it's cracked up to be. I hadn't felt that way in a long time...until yesterday! I awoke early to FREEZING temperatures outside, Tyler's sniffles & coughs and to Parker's puking...

...and puking and puking. He has never had the stomach flu, so this was new for me. I really couldn't leave his side for more than ten minutes, or else the bowl and I would miss the inevitable "BLECH!" Poor guy. Luckily he seemed to get better by afternoon, when...

...my refrigerator went out! You know those prank calls we used to make, "Hey! Is your refrigerator running?" Well apparently I didn't "catch" mine in time because all of my food ended up in the backyard's snow in an effort to preserve it. All afternoon was spent with two repairmen and my landlady, whose company I really didn't mind, until...

...dinnertime. I had this whole menu planned for a fun, family Valentine's day meal and since half of it was now frozen in the backyard, we decided to get a take-and-bake pizza. I left my nice warm house, got there, ordered, and realized I had left my wallet at home! Argh. Before totally losing it when I got home, Peter led me to our room, where laid out on the bed was...

...a Valentine from the kids, chocolates, and a sweet card from him revealing that we are heading out to see Eric Clapton in concert this April! It has been one of my dreams to see him in concert, so Peter really turned what had been a disastrous day into the best day ever! Love you, honey!

Family Night o' Love

Last Monday we had our great friends, the Gordon-Ross family, over for Family Night. As evidenced by all the pink, the theme was "love" and we had a fabulous time frosting heart cookies with them. Parker and Sam especially did a fantastic job at constructing huge mountains of sprinkles atop each one, and gobbling them up right away. It was a great way to start off Valentine's week.

*by the way, G.R., we won!!

Night at the Museum

Ah, we are back to having real date nights. Meaning hiring a babysitter, and getting far away from our sweet little cherubs :) As our Valentine celebration, Peter surprised me last night and took me to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. It is a gorgeous facility, with no admission fee!

I have always been drawn to Impressionism, so it was no surprise that my favorite pieces were these two. Renoir has always been my favorite artist, but I especially loved the softness of the Portrait of Paul Haviland. It reminded me of the surprising sensitivity that little boys will show in the moments where it is most often needed. The second piece is entitled Boulevard des Capucines by Monet. I think I loved this one because it looks like a scene I would want to jump into.

Peter liked this piece called The Eruption of Vesuvius by Sebastian Pether. He loved the contrast of the calm, blue moon on the water against the raging, red volcano, and how it really illustrates how those people, in their tranquility, were taken by such surprise with the eruption. It really was done with fantastic detail that you could only truly appreciate with seeing it up close, but what a fascinating story that painting tells! He also enjoyed their exhibit on the works of Henry Moore.

We had dinner inside the museum's restaurant, which was absolutely stunning and very romantic. It was a night to remember!

Launching a Comeback

Hey, I think it's about time I catch up! Hope everyone escaped the January blues. Realizing that my procrastination will make this look like a second Christmas letter, I give you our family's headlines for January:

• Peter Reinstated as World Traveler (or, at least a national one)...After NINE interviews across the country, our boy returned home never wanting to see another airplane - ever. He almost accidentally drove us to the airport on a recent outing to Kansas City...it's like the car was on auto-pilot or something after having made so many trips there. The interviews all went exceptionally well, and we've submitted our rankings. We are now in the waiting process (again) to see where the computer says we will go. Match day is February 26th, so we'll keep you posted. We are all enjoying having him around more this past week, since he is done with classes and all he has now is work and his research! Yay!


• Michelle & Kids Party in Washington...We had a great trip up to see my family mid-January (see pictures on Flickr at left). We rode the train up from Portland to Olympia - you can only imagine how Parker reacted on his first real train ride. It was so cute. While there, we hit the Children's museum, Chuck E. Cheese's (another first) and had a great time just hanging out with everyone. Since I've returned, I'm full steam ahead with my New Year's resolutions and it feels awesome. Lots of things I've wanted to do for a while, and all of a sudden I feel like I can!


• Parker Starts Playschool...This was something we did last year as a co-op and we started up again this last month. He loves it, and I'm just happy to see Parker having more social interaction with real children instead of Handy Manny, Charlie & Lola, and Diego. We've also started a little "school time" at home, for an hour a day. Above you will see Baker Parker on "Kitchen Day." Every Monday, he makes the treat for Family Night. This particular treat was "Snowy Cupcakes," in light of the snow we received that week. Speaking of, Parker also built his first snowman (looking a little sad...we actually made a bigger one and didn't get a picture). The boys and I have had fun playing in Parker's clubhouse and tunnel, which has saved us all from potential cabin fever in these freezing weeks.


• Tyler Approaches Age One - Are You Serious??...I look at the pictures above and think to myself, "When did this happen? When did my newborn turn into an 'almost-toddler?'" He crawls at light speed, mooches off of our meals, now says "daddy" and can hold his own with his older brother. As evidenced above, he insists on self-feeding and every meal is a major disaster! I am not used to this, as it took our prodding Parker with a spoon for nearly two years before he finally caved and started to do it for himself. Tyler is a happy, sweet, adorable boy and we are SO blessed to have him.

Well, that's the update. Hopefully I'll be a little more regular on here so I won't have to spend forever catching myself and everyone else up...'til then....

Our Happy Holidays

**to see our holiday pics, double click on the pictures in the left-hand column.**

This was our first Christmas at home, and it was wonderful. We were so fortunate to have Peter's parents join us for the holiday. Our time together was mostly spent in the kitchen and playing games, with a few shopping trips on the side. Peter and I even got our first date (sans children) in nine months when we headed to the Plaza for our 5th anniversary. It was heaven on earth.

It was great to have Christmas at home and really try out some potential traditions for our little family. Mostly, we meshed what we loved most about our family traditions growing up. Christmas Eve was the traditional Stewart Norwegian Ribs dinner, all dressed up at a beautifully set table. Afterward, we read Luke 2, watched The Nativity and sang Christmas carols, which was traditional in both families. Then the boys opened up their Christmas Eve pj's, we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas," and we left out cookies, carrots, milk & a letter for Santa following Brown family tradition. It was just how I dreamed it would be!

Christmas day was all fun as Parker arose to find that Santa had left him a road and a plethora of "Cars" cars. It was the best to see his excitement. After stockings and Santa gifts, we had a phone call from Uncle Brian on his mission and then enjoyed a late brunch. The presents under the tree followed and it was close to five o'clock before we finished!

For New Year's, we headed up to Iowa to visit Peter's brother and family, who had just moved there from Queens. Peter and I snuck in a temple session at Winter Quarters, which was so great. We had a great time at Daniel & Katie's, playing more games, eating more food and seeing their new home & town. The best part, I think, was seeing how much fun Parker had with his cousins. It snowed while we were up there, and we all had a blast playing in it in the huge backyard.

January promises to be crazy! Peter is gearing up for seven more interviews this month and I am gearing up for single parenthood! We are sneaking a trip up to Washington this week, however, with Peter having interviews in Portland and Spokane. It will be fun to see more family.

How I Know Parker Loves Christmas

We own a Little People Nativity set. Every night, I set it up underneath the tree. And every day, Mary mysteriously escapes from the manger scene, kidnapping the baby Jesus and her husband Joseph by stashing them in the back of this trailer. They are on the road for several hours before they are finally intercepted by me, the nativity police.

Christmas shows - and his desire to watch them 24/7. Among his favorites are Alvin & the Chipmunks Christmas, The Polar Express and A Walt Disney Christmas. It's nice that his favorites happen to be my favorites.

Tree Hugger - The other day at a friend's house, and upon seeing their tree, he exclaimed, "Oh! I just LOVE your Christmas tree! It's beautiful!"

At almost any given moment, you can hear the faint humming of "Jingle Bells," "Joy to the World," or "O Christmas Tree" coming from his general direction.

While looking at a Christmas book (a story about a reindeer who is afraid to fly) on his own the other day, and upon seeing the picture at your right, he says to me, "Mom, he's trying to get the poopies out." You can tell we've been dealing with a bit of incopreses in our recent past :).

Whenever we are out in the car after dark, he shouts, "let's go CRUVING for Christmas lights!" Whether it's cruising, grooving, or cruving, he loves 'em.

He will announce that any star he sees is "the star for the baby Jesus!"

Will only use his special "Santa Soap" from Grandma in the tub these days.

Wants to constantly wrap all of his cars in Christmas wrapping paper, complete with tape and bow.

Is scared that since it is 66 degrees outside, without a hint of snow, that Santa can't get here. I'm assuring him that once the reindeer gets his poopies out, they'll be on their merry way.

Ornament Exchange Party

The first year I lived here, I was invited to an ornament exchange party at my friend Kristy's house. It was, being the fabulous hostess that Kristy is, one of the most fun parties I had ever gone to and when she moved the following year, I made it my personal mission to carry on her legacy.

Now, there was no way I could do this without help, so I recruited my friends Camie & Michelle. That first year, we had about 40 ladies attend and it was insane, but a total blast. The next year we had about 30, and this year we were down to 15. I guess I'm not as cool as I used to be!

As usual, it was a very fun evening spent chatting with great friends, eating delicious food and taking home a darling new ornament. I hope wherever we end up next year that I have the ambition to do it again - with a whole new crowd!

A New Christmas Tradition

While browsing a favorite blog the other day, I came across this idea for a December advent. I wanted to try it out myself before I posted it, and it has truly become the highlight of our days!

The way I've chosen to go about it this year is to take some of the Christmas books that we already own (and are only brought out at Christmas time), and to them add many of the books found on the suggestions in the original post. My favorite Christmas tale is pictured at the right. I checked most of the books out from the library to see if I like them first and then will buy a favorite or two to add to our collection every year. Then I spaced them out so that we alternate between secular and Christ-centered ones. Lastly, I've wrapped each one and numbered them, 1-24.

Each night, right before we say prayers, I let Parker open our designated book and we read together as a family. The fun part is that I've already forgotten which ones are which, so it's a surprise for me, too! I love how it creates anticipation throughout the day, and instead of feeling tired and grumpy at night (ready to have the kids in bed), the day ends on a great note. Hey...maybe I'll do this all year long!