Real Simple!

I rarely read magazines, but I love Real Simple. It's fabulous. AND RIGHT NOW YOU CAN GET A YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION FOR ONLY FIVE DOLLARS! It's one of Amazon.com's big deals right now. If you want, you can head over there and snag the thing through tomorrow night.

Always guess conservatively

I have learned in my life that if somebody excitedly asks you to guess what grade they got on a test, guess like an 85%. That way, when it's a 92%, it'll sound fabulous. If you would have ventured a 100%, then the 92% would in turn seem a little lackluster. When Brent comes home from playing basketball and asks me to guess how many baskets he made, 4 is a much better guess than 14. Because then the answer will impress. Just this week, I was the one that got to impress with the real answer. Elijah had his 9 month checkup. We were about a week and a half late with the checkup because our normally scheduled appointment on his actual 9 month birthday got postponed due to an extended vacation in Boise where we were waylayed with H1N1. So as we were waiting in the exam room, Eli was gollum-crawling around, pulling himself up on everything, trying to work the blood pressure gadget, and in general being a pretty typical 9 month old little boy. The doctor came in and welcomed us, commented on how well Elijah was moving around and of course how adorable he was. He then looked at the chart and said "9 months? I would have sworn he was 12 months based on his getting around!" Even though I knew the game, it still made me feel good. Yes, my 9 month little boy is performing at the level of most 12 month olds. Aren't I a wonderful mother? He's down to the 50th percentile of weight, but still in the 85th percentile of height, which makes him the same ratio of height to weight as Miriam was (and presumably still is) on most of her chart but I think that's off a bit because Eli is admittedly a lot squishier than Miriam ever was although it could be the difference between boys and girls... ANYWAY, at the end of the appointment, I asked for flu shots for both Elijah and Miriam. The doctor poked his head out the door and asked the nurse if she had vaccines for Elijah who is 9 months and for Miriam who is (at this point, he turned back to me and asked) "four?" I smiled and said "two." The girl is precocious and knows it, but there is no way she could pass for four. So here is my advice: ALWAYS GUESS UP. OR DOWN. Whichever is more flattering. People will always want to be around you.

Frazzled

Do you ever feel like you're behind in absolutely every aspect of your life? That there are about ten million projects that are half done and waiting for you to get back to? That you think you know what's going on in your church calling, but are about a month late with anything you do? That you think you know what's going on with any work-related happenings, but really you're way off base? That any time you sit down to get caught up with bills or paperwork or anything else that you can't focus for long enough to even find the project? That every room of your house needs a scour-down or at the very least a tidy-up? That you have all these awesome ideas of how to do things better but the thought of implementing them seems virtually impossible? That by having virtually quit posting, you're letting down the blog followers that have developed a deep appreciation of your wit and wisdom (and rightly so)? Then you, my friends, know how I'm feeling now. Sigh.

An ineffective punishment and a grand compliment

Miriam is absolutely amazingly wonderful and I love her to pieces. One thing I love about her is her determination. Unfortunately, it causes at times some motherly frustration. Something that we struggle with is getting dressed. It's not that she minds wearing clothes, she just doesn't like putting them on. She has developed a habit of running laps (down the hall, through the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, and back to the front room and the hallway again) any time I get clothes out. I didn't want to make it an issue, and figured she was old enough to be embarrassed, so one day last week I told her that if she wasn't dressed, she'd have to come running errands with me in her jammies. She may be old enough to be embarrassed, but she is not embarrassed by wearing jammies in public. She thought it was awesome. So much for that route. I now give her a piece of her Halloween candy for every item of clothing that she puts on. It works much better. It's only bribery if it's illegal, right? Anyway, after we got home from the jammies-in-public event, it was lunchtime. She chose to have a cold hot dog stick (as in not cut up) with ketchup to dip-dip in, cold canned green beans, and some cheese cubes. I almost gagged as I watched her dive in, but my little mama heart just melted when she enthusiastically and through a full mouth said, "This is the best dinner I ever had! I love the taste!" Ah, a little appreciation sure goes a long ways!

The first cut is the deepest

After much discussion and debate, we have decided to finish the basement. Brent would have done it a year ago, I needed more time to realize that it will be well worth it. We hired a contractor, moved all our stuff to the corners, and they started last week.

This is the north wall of our basement as of last Thursday morning:

And this is the same wall tonight:

The process has begun! We're going to have a large play/family/tv/office room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a storage area, and an unfinished bedroom/additional storage area. I am so excited for this! I usually get terrible cases of post-decision dissonance, but I'm really excited for this! HOORAY FOR STEVE THE BUILDER!

Gentlemen, start your engines!

Elijah loves food. There's just no getting around it.

A few weeks ago, I figured Eli would be crawling within the week. He was just SO CLOSE! I would surround him with his favorite toys and wonder why he just sat there crying. Last week Brent figured out that I was using the wrong kind of bait. FOOD. In one afternoon spent with his dad, Elijah crawled to cookies, crackers, and cheese. The only times he didn't get there were when Miriam took pity on him and moved the food closer so he didn't have to struggle so much. The next day, a mom got goldfish out for her kid during storytime at the library. Eli honed in on it and took off. Now he can go pretty much anywhere he wants to and he is simply pleased as punch about the whole thing. He is so much more content and happy and it is so fun hearing squeals of delight when he gets to something he's been working on. He has a hitch-in-the-get-along technique that we call the Gollum Crawl. He crawls on one knee, but uses his foot on the other leg. He cruises along at a pretty good clip considering that last week he couldn't even hold himself in crawling position. Eli's cousin Henry was the first kid I ever saw use the Gollum Crawl and I was fascinated with it. When Eli started doing it I was thrilled! It's definately hereditary. Anyway, I was going to put on a little clip of Elijah going after a goldfish. It's completely adorable. But I can't find the camera right now and don't want to look for it. When it shows up, however, you'll be the first to know!

Things I Love #4: Orson Scott Card

In celebration of Columbus Day, there was an article in the paper this morning about how kids these days are getting a more rounded view of Christopher Columbus, such as that he really didn't know where he was going or getting into and that through his efforts he brought smallpox to the Americas and killed off thousands of Native Americans. Quite frankly, the most I remember about my Columbus lessons was the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria and that we got banana boats with our school lunch. But between the Columbus article and today's celebration of Columbus Day, I remember one of my all-time favorite books by one of my all-time favorite authors. "Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus," by Orson Scott Card tells of a future where people have invented a machine that lets a person see what happened in the past. They are the researchers of the future watching past actions and listening to past conversations, discovering how things came to be the way the are. When these people of the future find that the resources of the world can no longer sustain life and that their future will not exist beyond two generations, the pastwatchers decide to intervene in the past. They choose Christopher Columbus' search for a water passage to the east and ultimate "discovery" of America as the key event that will make the future happy and healthy for all humanity. It is a fascinating voyage both through the histories of Europe and Latin America and through "what would have been if..." I love the research that Orson Scott Card shows by the detailed historical references that are laced throughout his writing both in this book and many others. Another thing I love is his focus on interpersonal relationships and how many of his characters' thought processes include how they should word or phrase an idea for the receiver to understand it in the way it was meant. This makes the characters much deeper. It helps me to consider how my tone may be taken by others, as well as considering that the way I initially take somebody else's mean tone may not be the way he meant it. It also makes for fascinating parallel books, where the same interaction is shown from another character's point of view and the whole meaning of the conversation is different. It makes for quite enjoyable reading. Orson Scott Card is on my personal list of fascinating people I would like to meet. I am just amazed at his ability to depict history and its influences on the future, his understanding of the human character and how we relate to each other, his imagination of how the future could be, and the manner in which he combines it all. There are some Orson Scott Card books that I didn't like (Magic Street, Songmaster, and Homebody for some), and some that I enjoyed but don't recommend highly (the Alvin Maker series, Empire, and Saints), but I think that makes my enthusiastic recommendation of others even stronger. The Ender series (starting with Ender's Game, then following through Ender's lifetime with Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, then starting over with Ender's Shadow [taking place at the same time as Ender's Game but focusing on a different character], and following the lives of the other battle school kids in Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant) is wonderful albeit a bit tedious if you take them all back to back. The Women of Genesis trilogy (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah) and Stone Tables, the story of Moses, are interesting and thought-provoking takes on Bible prophets and events. Enchantment is a delightful dip into fairy tales and fantasy whose main character is a distance runner. I read this one for the first time while I was dating Brent who is also a distance runner, so my view of it could be clouded by rosy glasses of happy happy times, but it only enhances the joy. And Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is simply fascinating. I highly recommend it. Oh, and Happy Columbus Day!

Hay-Maze-ing

Last year I discovered that Engh Gardens on 7th East in Sandy has an amazing setup for kids in October. They have a hay maze, a pirate ship, all sorts of put-your-face-in cutouts, and it's all for free. FREE! My kind of place. If you live in the Salt Lake area and have kids, you absolutely should go. We spent the afternoon there with our whole family, plus Shauna and Charlee, and had a great time. Charlee loved the pirate ship, but my kids were all about the maze. I have had my share of corn mazes, and they're one thing that I can honestly say I don't like and I don't want to like them. But hay mazes are definately the way to go. We went through this one a lot. And I never once felt trapped, exasperated, anxious, bored, or even mildly irritated!

Elijah is becoming quite the walker. After being carried and flown through many times, he fought and struggled to get on the ground and in charge of himself. He is a very determined little boy in many many ways. Brent held his fingers through the first half and I tagged teamed to save Brent's aching back and held him up through the second. I can attest that he chose where and when to turn. If I tried to make him go down an aisle he didn't want to, he dug in deep with his heels and gritted his gums together. He only made one wrong turn and that was when he followed Miriam (who had lapped us) go down a dead end. I'm fairly certain he did just for fun and completely on purpose. When they got to the end, Miriam put her hands on her cheeks and said "OH NO!" Elijah laughed, turned, and headed straight out the end. What a boy! And just to glimpse the joy of the hay maze journey for him...

And one more thing... what happened to my cute little baby? This kid is practically a toddler-adolescent-adult!!

Let the celebrations commence!

The grand annual Moore Family Halloween Party took place last night. It sure felt early, but here we are weeks from Halloween and we already have all our costumes not only decided on, but gathered and prepared.

This is us having a great time at the party. I'm a bat (the wings are made from an umbrella and though you can't see them are fabulous), Brent is Grandpa Moore (who when we went through his closet after he died had innumerable white button up shirts and about fifty virtually identical v-neck sweaters varying only in the weave and slight shades-of-gray/blue changes), Miriam is a doctor (notice the no-nonsense aura of efficiency and competency), Eli is a frog (and not quite sure about the whole experience).

A month ago, Miriam told Brent that she wanted to be a doctor for Halloween. I'm sure not going to disuade her from such a noble aspiration, but when I found a CareBear costume at my new favorite thrift store for $2, I grabbed it. She loved it and wore it for two days straight, but it never entered her mind to change from Doctor to Care Bear. She got so excited as we prepared her doctor costume, and even at one time said "I AM DOCTOR VILLALOBOS!" Who is in fact, our family doctor. When we arrived at the shindig, her cousin Carter was a surgeon. Ah the flurries of cameras catching the two pint-sized doctors before the discardment of stethoscopes and lab coats! Does anybody else look at this little series and have nightmarish flashbacks of those awkward-corsage-pinning-high-school-dance shots?

Elijah decided to be a frog. Frankly I think he has a definately frog-like smile, in the nicest frog-like way possible. It may be in the genes: Miriam had a definate frog-look to her during those early months although I haven't noticed it for a while. The decision to be a frog came last Spring when my mom called and said there was a frog costume at a garage sale. Good going mom! But have you ever seen a cuter frog? With Eli is cousin Avery. She sadly got scooted out of the doctor shot, but Elijah the Frog thought Avery the Witch was great. Although he was highly attracted to Avery's golden white hair and had to be untangled from it more than once throughout the duration of the evening. The stuffing actually made him feel like a big old teddy bear. He's usually squishy and cuddly, but that extra padding really enhanced the effect.

Although I have never been a huge Halloween fan, I find myself getting more and more into it. Strange how two little people can change your life so much! Miriam has been talking about the party all day, reviewing who was dressed as what and all the things we did. At dinner she gave a big sigh and said "that was a fun party last night." HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

My new favorite picture

I don't know what it is about this picture, but I adore it. This was a few weeks ago, but I haven't done a lot with pictures lately. Last night I sat down to empty my memory card and when I saw this I was about as happy as a clam. Although how happy can a clam get? I was about as happy as a little boy going down the slide and running into his adored and adoring big sister. I put it up as my desktop wallpaper and this morning when Miriam woke up (she's an office sleeper now) she said "MAMA! IT'S MIMI AND EE-EYE!" I stepped in the room and she was excitedly pointing at the computer screen. I said "Yeah! Look at how happy you are!" She looked, smiled, and said "we both have shirts on!" I didn't realize it was that momumental of an event, but apparantly that's the first and foremost notable element of the photo. Maybe she'll be a fashionista after all. Either way, I LOVE this shot of them. And I've always said that Brent has nice legs.

A boy and his cat

My boy is absolutely wonderful! He's been scooting around and is AWFULLY close to crawling, although not close enough for his liking. He especially likes to be by Zeke (I don't know if JoAnn has been around him enough for him to know that she exists) and any time he's in the viscinity Eli totally hones in on him and lets me know that under no uncertain circumstances that he wants to be THERE. NOW. Today Elijah convinced me to place him right beside Zeke while Zeke was waiting to go outside. He shreiked with joy for about ten seconds before I opened the door and Zeke slipped out. Nevertheless, Eli was sporting a blue balloon on his wrist after a trip to Macey's and balloons are Ezekiel's weakness. It was so funny watching Zeke's complete attention and scratching on the door and he watched through the glass to the up and down movements of the balloon. And Elijah was going crazy that the cat was so close yet so so so far away. But because of the glass, it was the longest interaction that they have had with each other so far. It could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Definately worth trying!

In my quest to be even more thrifty and providential (as opposed to cheap) I have been frequenting websites that offer coupon-using and low-cost-living tips. UtahDealDiva.com and 5DollarDinners.com had a recipe last week that looked good enough to try and basic enough that I had everything for it. Tortilla Chip Chicken Casserole. I was amazed how tasty it was! I even looked forward to having it for lunch, which is big in my world. This is what I did...

In a 9x13 pan, layer:

1 can of diced tomatos (I used the kind with green chilis)

1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

A couple of breasts of chicken boiled and shredded

1/2 a bag of stale tortilla chips (crushed)

Mix in bowl and pour on top:
1 can cream of chicken
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream

Bake at 350 for a half hour, top with cheese for the last few minutes. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

I also put green onions in cause I had some and thought later that olives would have been quite tasty. The picture is from the website (ours was devoured prior to a photo-op) and she used pinto beans and cilantro. Do what works for you, but I think you're in for a treat!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL!

Brent has developed a new passion for Mexican league soccer. He knows the teams (Atlas is his favorite), the players, and watches the games. It is his new favorite pasttime. On Cinco de Mayo, he took Miriam to the local Mexican "stuff" store and laid out all of the keychains of the various teams. After much careful deliberation, she chose Pachuca. She knows their symbol and can identify them by name. She can also identify the favorite teams of everybody who has told her. Despite the fervor that is in the home, however, Brent hasn't played soccer since his Sandy Rec days. Long long ago. That doesn't stop Miriam from seeing her dad as Superman. The other day as they were watching a game she said, "when I grow up, I want to play soccer just like you, daddy." Ah to be adored and idolized!

Top ten things you missed since I quit blogging

1. Miriam has become a star sleeper again. The night spent screaming with Elijah to no avail from her mother has scarred her, although I hope it's not too deeply. The night after my last success email, Miriam figured out how to climb out of the crib so she could run into the hallway. After I picked her up twice and placed her kindly but firmly back into the crib, I heard her getting out again as soon as I left the room. I stood in the doorway of my bedroom so she didn't see me until she was walking down the hall. My heart thrilled at the fast flight response she had when she did see me. I remember all the times I thought I was sneaky but then saw my own mama and ran like heck to get somewhere safe. Miriam indeed displayed a jolt of energy and ran straight to the office and closed the door. When I opened it, she was climbing into the twin bed we have there for guests saying "I'm going to sleep here tonight." The girl didn't leave the room once and indeed did sleep there all night. The next night when she went straight to the office at bedtime, I said "YOU BET, but no bottle in such a big bed." It only shows the depth of desire to sleep there that she didn't complain. She has gone to bed every night since with little complaining and no bottle. She's earned her yogos (for not getting out of bed after I tuck her in) most mornings, and her Pullups are dry most mornings. My little girl is growing up.
2. With a little girl sleeping in the office with such great success, we decided that the best planners realize when their plan isn't going to work and change the plan rather than keep hitting heads against walls. After simply going without computer access after bedtime (as seen by such little blogging activity), we moved one computer temporarily into our bedroom. Sigh.
3. Elijah is also back to being a great sleeper. Without Miriam's crying to wake him up, he's a master. He's now in the crib rather than the cradle, which fits him MUCH better. He usually is chomping at the bit to get down about 6:30, and usually sleeps til about 7, although if he wakes up before 6:30ish, I give him a bottle and he sleeps til 8ish. At least that's what I want to happen, and since it happened more than once I can call it "normal" in my head. I love that kid.
4. We went to Boise for a week for a monumental Family Picture. We drove there and we drove back and my two kids did AMAZINGLY WONDERFULLY for so long in the car. I sat in the back for a majority of the trip there and back and did a lot of entertaining, but between the songs and food and dvd player and books and toys and everything else, the boredom never set in too strongly. I can be pretty entertaining :).
5. My babyfood making has reached another great pinacle. My mom has an icemaker and therefor does not have ice trays. Due to the fact that I usually heat up about 8 ice cubes of veggies for the boy's meals, I thought that my mom's suggestion of muffin tins just might work. It were easier to pour into a bigger casing and it felt easier taking 1-2 of the veggie muffins out instead of 6-8 of the veggie cubes. And they were gorgeous too! I felt so proud of them that I showed them off to every adult female that came into the home. I haven't done it since I got back but mostly because I haven't gone shopping for anything other than milk and eggs and diapers. We'll see what the next few days bring.
6. Elijah picked up his binkie and put it in his mouth all by himself. This is big.
7. College football started. Ah the joy and excitement! Boise State beat Oregon last night for a dramatic statement of the non-BCS-ers. For the opening night of football action, BSU was the only non-BCS team to play a BCS team and they beat them soundly. Take that. If you somehow missed my diatribe on the Bowl Conference Series last year, you can read it here.
8. Okay, so my top ten list only has 7 real things, but it's late and I want to get to bed and I'm going to wrap it up without changing the title.
9. Or adding pictures.
10. Thank you and good night.

They did it!

I am happy to report that Miriam and Elijah both slept through the night in the same room! Miriam had fallen asleep in the afternoon which always wreaks havoc with her bedtime, so we had gotten a Friday night party movie to watch. Elijah had shots this week and has been very whiney and clingy for the past few days. So Eli went to bed in his cradle in Miriam's room at 6:30 while we started The Dragon Hunters. Although Eli cried off and on throughout the evening, we put them both down awake at 8, listened to one or the other or both cry for the next hour or so, and then it was blissfully quiet. Everybody slept until 6, when Elijah started talking. Brent was already awake (a normal day's wake up time is 5), so he was in charge. Miriam got up at 7 and when I talked it up to her that they both slept in the same room, she said, "We were crying." So much for not remembering the trauma. Anyway, gold stars for all Moore children today!

The Great Experiment Take Two: Failure

The plan has always been to have Miriam and Elijah share a bedroom. We have a three bedroom home, with one bedroom belonging to Brent and I, one bedroom serving as an office, and one bedroom housing to the critters. I have been nervous to put Eli in with Miriam at night. Call me crazy, but we're just now getting to the point where neither child gets up at night and gosh it makes a huge difference. For most of his life, Elijah has slept in his cradle in our bedroom. A few weeks ago, I laid in bed (after tiptoeing in to not wake up the boy) and realized that sleeping in my bedroom were: me, Brent, Elijah, JoAnn the cat, and Ezekiel the cat. Sleeping in the other bedroom was: Miriam. Now, I love my girl and I aim to give her the best but this is just too much. So a few weeks ago we moved Elijah's cradle to the office. This worked great, but made my blogging-emailing-billpaying-anythingelseonthecomputer-time reduce to virtually nothing. So one night last week we talked it up to Miriam and put Eli in her crib with her in the big girl bed. It didn't last more than a half hour. Last night we tried again. Miriam went to bed in her big girl bed, Eli went to bed in the crib. They were both awake and both quiet. Fifteen minutes and no noise later, I peeked in to see two of the sweetest kids in the world sound asleep. Success! Around 9, Elijah wakes up screaming and screeching. It's a new thing for him to have the world in crisis when he wakes up in the middle of the night, but hopefully it's just a phase. Miriam started crying too. She's an empathetic little girl and was worried about "my bruh-yuh Ee-eye." Eli wouldn't quit screaming so I finally took him out of the room to rock him. He fell asleep and I reluctantly put him in the office. So much for computer time for Mama. It's a good thing though because Miriam woke up screaming at 3. After calming her down and getting her back to sleep by 3:30, she started screaming again at 4. Because I knew she was okay, I let her go. And she woke Elijah up. Who started screaming. She finally realized that she was in a big girl bed, and finally she got fed up and got out to wander the house. Most nights I'm pretty levelheaded about the importance of sleeping time and keeping a cool head, but I was ready to skin the busters alive. I stormed out of my bed, throwing pillows at Brent just in case he didn't realize that I was mad, and found Miriam standing in the front room. I picked her up, decided to be calm instead of mad and sat in the rocking chair. She told me that "Ee-eye's crying." Really. She scooted off my lap and nudged in beside me in the rocking chair so there was room for him. Sweet. But still annoying in the 4 o'clock hour. I got up to get Elijah, who was still screaming, and Miriam made her break for the fridge. She had just enough time to snag a bag of carrots before I got back with Eli screeching in my arms and started yelling at her. Brent finally realized that our normal strategy of letting them cry it out wasn't in force and showed up to save the poor children from their murderous mother. I don't remember what he said, but I answered to "TAKE ONE OF THEM! I DON:T CARE WHICH!" Miriam was in more danger of having bodily harm, so he chose her. He took her back to bed and tucked her in the crib. Smart move... she can't always get out of that one. He said he heard carrot crunching before he left the room but because she was calm he wasn't about to take them away. Once everything else quieted down and he had his binkie, Eli drifted off to sleep too. After I dumped him in the cradle in the office and crawled back in bed, I told Brent that maybe when we finish the basement we need to put in an office in the corner. We may never get ours back.

Rollin' again

When Miriam was born, we got a jogger stroller from Target. We chose it basically because it was a tough stroller (meaning we could take it on grass and not be frustrated) and it was priced right. Miriam loved the stroller and her stroller rides. They were her "chill time," and she would just sit back and watch the world go by, and we used it all the time. So when we found out Elijah was coming, we started looking for a doubler. I focused mainly on ksl.com, thinking that used would be cheaper. I found a good deal and snagged it. Then it turned out that I hated it because the shade thing on top couldn't go back and forth and was basically useless unless you were walking with the sun at your back. I found myself pulling the busters backwards more than once because of that darn sun and not going on walks because it wouldn't be fun for any of us. It turns out that my priced-right brand of stroller (BabyTrend) is one of the only kinds that has a moveable shade thing, and it's absolutely wonderful. It can ratchet down to right in front of them with just a slight push. It's so nice! As we go around a corner to face the sun, I flip the thing down and my kids are not squinting and hot. As we turn the corner back, I flip it up and they can see everything again. I'm so lucky that my favorite feature just happened to not be standard on all strollers, although I for one think it should be. SO, I sold the doubler that didn't have the flip-down shade on ksl (for the same price I bought it at and had about ten calls in the first half-hour... I should have tried to make some money off the deal!) and found a doubler that was our exact kind but doubled (also on ksl... gotta love it). HALLELUJAH! We love going on walks again.

On a side note, Brent commented that he really liked having Elijah drinking Dr. Pepper and eating Oreos in the past two consecutive posts, and so I have chosen a Cheetos-eating picture for our double stroller representation.

Perhaps the best possible news in a streak of 100 degree days

Okay, kids, if you haven't heard about the Dr. Pepper deal going on at Albertson's, you're in for a treat! The 12-packs are on sale for $5.29. When you buy 4, it adds up to $21.16. Albertson's has a buy2get2 deal so the end price is $10.58. Dr. Pepper has a deal where if you purchase $20 worth of the stuff, a $10 coupon for any Albertson's purchase spits out with your receipt. Which means you get all 4 12-packs for a grand total of 58 cents! Wo! Then if you want to, you can go back and spend that $10 on 4 more cases of Dr. Pepper, which is precisely what I did, and get another $10 coupon! You can do it as many times as you want through Tuesday at closing and get as many 12 pack cases for 58 cents per 4 as you want. The only thing to be wary of is to make sure the register takes of the first $10 for the buy2get2 thing. But if it doesn't, the cashier can add it on for you. Time to build up your year's supply! This is even better than the Guns n Roses thing which quite frankly no matter how I tried the website was always too busy. But this totally makes up for it! I go in phases of drinking Dr. Pepper, and since it was the only thing that made me feel not terrible when I was pregnant with Elijah, I've been in a drinking phase for a while. I've been planning on cutting back but not now! I have in my trunk right now 12 12-packs of the 12 ounce cans. Cheers!

Where's the beef?

Guess which part of an Oreo cookie is Miriam's favorite? This was on my kitchen floor the other morning. There were similar piles in other parts of the kitchen, as well as in front of the television.















Elijah, however, prefers them whole. This was at a ward party. Eli loved the after-dinner cookie bits the second counselor in the bishopric kept slipping to him.















In other grocery-related news, I revisited the babyfood making business and am much happier with the results. I skipped the grinder and just blended, then scooped it into ice trays (thanks for the tip, Kacie!). It took very little time and very little effort and so far he likes them great. He didn't even shudder on the last feeding of peas, and that's pretty good for him (green veggies have never sat well with him).

And in still more grocery-related news, I bought a pack of hamburger the other day. When I went to bag it and freeze it, it wasn't in the fridge. Nor was it in the freezer already. Nor could I find it in the car, the kitchen, or anywhere else. Nor have I smelled it fermenting anywhere. Obviously I either left it at the store or somebody took it out of my cart on our walk to the car. Sure is a good thing I'm saving money on babyfood!

Already reading

My friend Ginger posted a video on her blog of her little boy reading "Brown Bear Brown Bear" to his baby brother. Miriam saw the video and immediately decided she wanted a movie of herself reading the book to Elijah. When I told her that Eli was asleep, she confessed that she didn't care if Eli was there, she just wanted to make a movie of herself reading the book. So here it is. One of her most-common phrases right now is "I do it all by myself!" I love how it slips in there during the "silver fish" page. Oh, and so you don't get confused, instead of "black sheep," Miriam says "black lamb," and she calls the "goldfish" a "silver fish." So maybe she's not reading the words after all. I still think she's brilliant. At least after seeing Axel's stellar performance and realizing that it was possible...

Just chattin'

I overheard Miriam playing in the corner the other day. She had her hand up to her ear and she said, "Hi Nana. Doing good. I love you. See you next time won't you sing with me." I asked her if she would like to call Nana. "No, I already talked to her on my pretend phone."

What more could I ask for?

I love being a mom. I adore my kids and I have so much fun with them. I also selfishly love being the one that they turn to when they're excited, hurt, happy or sad. I love being able to be with them all day every day because I get to see every little thing that they do and really know what's "normal," versus what's not and that they might not be up to par. And I love being the one that they cling to and want to be with. Tonight Brent and I went to the second round of Harvest Days Heartthrob, Midvale's form of the always-popular Idol singing competition, and we got a babysitter for the evening. To make a long story short, the babysitter called midway through the concert and said, over his screaming in the background, that she couldn't get Elijah to stop crying. I immediately came home to a sad little boy and a justifiably frazzled little babysitter. Thankfully Miriam had slept through the whole ordeal. Eli isn't hard to calm down usually, so I knew something was up. Even after doing everything for him, he was still tense and worried. I finally decided to just stay home rather than go finish out the concert and said "I think I'll just stay with him." As soon as those words were out of my mouth, the little guy took a big deep breath and his entire body completely relaxed. His binkie-sucking started to be more relaxed rather than panic-stricken. As the babysitter walked out the door (thankfully she just lives down the street and it was light enough for her to walk home), he smiled at me and his eyes started to roll. I almost cried. All he needed was his Mama, and I was the lucky one who got to be everything for him. I sat and rocked and sang to him until he was completely asleep, his binkie finally falling out of his mouth and his little hand finally growing limp after grabbing my finger the whole time. As I kissed his fuzzy little head for the hundredth time, I thought OH I JUST LOVE BEING A MAMA!

Cow Appreciation Day!

I'm so glad I stumbled upon an article about this or else I may have missed it! And that would have been tragic! For those who for some reason may have missed my blog post last year, Chic-fil-A gives away FREE CHICKEN SANDWICHES to those who are partially dressed up as a cow, and FREE COMBO MEALS to those who are fully dressed as a cow. For more info, go to www.CowAppreciationDay.com. See you at Chick-fil-A!

Update...

Last night Eli shuddered and gagged on his homemade babyfood dinner. Sigh. So today we opened it all up and put it in the blender. OH IT WORKED SO MUCH BETTER! If there is a next time, I'll skip the meat grinder all together and just focus on the blender. It would cut the time down dramatically. Plus, with the added water, it made a lot more than I had before. I didn't count the containers, but it's feeling more worth it. We'll see if I ever feel like it would be worth my time and money to buy more food and mash it up for the kid. But see how happy he was? Sometimes all it takes to get some real recognition is to feed the kid a gloopy meal so he realizes how good he normally gets it!

It might not be worth it

Today for the Fourth, I kept trying to think of something we could do to celebrate, but every time I stepped outside it was too hot to think of packing two kids up and going to the park. So I took Miriam to Macey's to get some groceries and picked up a pizza on the way home. I declared that we were going to have a party at home instead of going to the park for the party. Miriam immediately ran into the front room and yelled "SURPRISE ELI!" Apparantly every party is a surprise party. She handed out pretend party hats, frosted everybody's pizza with pretend frosting, and threw pretend confetti into the air. No matter how many times we told her that it was America's birthday, she kept yelling SURPRISE and HAPPY BIRTHDAY at Elijah. Anyway, lately I have been trying to find ways to live more frugally and thriftily. After spending more money on Eli's food than on the other three of ours put together last week, I decided to try my hand at making my own baby food, being more independent in honor of Independence Day. Some of you, I'm sure, are aghast that I've ever bought store-bought baby food. Others are shaking their heads now thinking "OH PAIGE WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?!?" On our Macey's trip, I purchased some sweet potatoes, as well as some frozen veggies that were on sale. After everybody was in bed I got things boiling in the kitchen. The sweet potatoes were cake. I mixed them up just like normal, but added a bit more water. They were fast and easy and made quite a bit. The peas, carrots, and beans weren't quite so easy. After boiling them, I put them through the meat grinder twice and then used the hand mixer. They're still pretty chunky and I'm not sure if Eli will be able to eat them. Well, he's actually not that picky so he probably will. Still, I don't know if I didn't boil for long enough or if I should have blended... Anyway, I ended up with 24 little servings of veggies. Normally priced, this would have cost about $12. I saved $6, but I spent $6, along with an hour and a half or more of time that really is pretty precious. Verdict: I'll think about the sweet potatoes again, but the others weren't worth the time or effort. Now I know. And knowing is half the battle. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY EVERYBODY!
Below: Miriam and Elijah at the surprise party. Thankfully, it was a lot more fun than it looks.

Click! Click! Take a pic! Pic!

Lately, Miriam has been fascinated with the camera. More specifically that they take pictures. And even more specifically that she can control what pictures are taken. For a while, I would pick up the camera and there would be twenty or so red-fade-to-peach shots of her fingers over the lens.
Then she got better and there was a whole bunch of this:

I'll spare you the hundred or so other virtually identical shots, varying only in which portion of face is included and the degree of overexposure. She for some reason kept pointing the camera at herself. It may have been the egocentric take-pictures-of-yourself thing that all the kids are doing these days, but I don't think so. For one, she would say "SAY CHEESE MAMA" as she was doing it.

Anyway, her aiming skills have improved dramatically. When I picked up the camera the other day, there was a pictoral diary of her day. I loved seeing the things she found important enough to document by photo. See for yourself. And don't worry, I've trimmed it down from about 30 to just a few.

Her pink bear Zeebo:

Her dirty clothes:

Her baby doll "Baybuh Baybuh" sitting in the doll stroller:

Herself in the mirror:

And... her brother Eli:

There were lots of pictures of Elijah. The first one he was clear across the room, just in the corner of the shot. In the following ones he got bigger and bigger until he was the main subject. I love that he is important enough to her to be so prominent in her picture-taking. And I love that she is important enough to him that that he's watching her in most of them. I wondered a little bit why I wasn't in any of the pictures. She must have known that I would have taken away the camera.

Good Eater

The other night at dinner after polishing off two and a half baby food containers (the Gerber 2nd Step size), Elijah was still not satisfied. He finally took the spoon away from Brent and carefully put it in his mouth. Each time Brent took it away to put more food on it, Eli would break down. But once he he got the spoon back he was all about the concentration again. This kid is four and a half months old and already feeding himself! That's genius if I've ever seen it. Treat yourself to another Moore family post-dinner video. Bon appetit!

The happiest sound in the world

The hardest part is figuring out which is Elijah and which is Miriam!

Two-year-old logic

EXAMPLE #1
We are on a walk with Elijah in the sleepy wrap when Miriam vacates the seat of the stroller and is now pushing it. She stops on a regular basis to pick up rocks and sticks and other sundry items to put them in the undercarriage part of the stroller. I realize that she is trying to crawl into the area, which is made of a thin canvas-y type of material upon which is stamped very clearly that it is not to be used as a baby carrier.
Me: Miriam, don't crawl under there.
Miriam: I want to go under there.
Me: You can't fit under there.
Miriam: Yes I can fit.
Me: It says it's not for little girls.
Miriam: Oh.
She immediately stops trying to get in and turns to me.
Miriam: Put Eli down there? For little boys?

EXAMPLE #2
We are in Boise with Miriam crying in her bed. Due to the facts that we are transitioning to no naps and that we are on vacation, I get her out. When it's time to go back down, I lay her down to change her diaper and find it is completely dry.
Me: There's nothing in this diaper. It doesn't need to be changed.
Miriam: Yes! Change my diaper!
Me: But there's nothing in it.
Miriam: Yes! Change my diaper! Clean diaper please!
I show her the empty diaper.
Me: There's nothing in it! It IS a clean diaper!
Miriam: There's toots in that diaper.
I changed the diaper. Without letting her see me rolling my eyes.

Great book. Not so great movie.

A while back, I listened to "Marley and Me" on my ipod. It was absolutely wonderful! I loved Marley and thought about him all the time. I also loved John and Jenny and completely felt like a member of their family as I listened to the book. I laughed right out loud at times at the crazy situations that Marley would get himself into and imagined how I would react. The writing was fabulous, the story flowed, I laughed right out loud at times and I got a little choked up at others. I would and do recommend the book to anybody.
As soon as I finished the book, I requested the movie from the library. It came this past week and we watched it over the weekend. It was one of the worst book-to-movie transitions I've ever seen. Honestly, I couldn't stand Jennifer Aniston as Jenny and Owen Wilson was just not John Grogan. It seemed like the whole plot of the book was Owen Wilson (and I say Owen because it wasn't John) wanted a different job and didn't want to be stuck with his wife and kids but by the end he realized that having a family was great. Oh and he had a dog named Marley. Owen spent the whole movie wishing he was a news reporter, whereas John in the book loved being a columnist. Sebastian, his movie best friend who goes off to Columbia to write a big article on drugs was not to my knowledge a part of the book. And maybe because it's just the movie, but you really don't see much of Marley at all. Yeah, he gets kicked out of obedience school and he chewed up some couch cushions, but that was about it. You don't really see how he's the "worst dog in the world" or how he just loves the family he has. I know it's hard to put an amazing book into two visual hours, but it would have helped to stick with the plot and have more about Marley. That could have been done with a simple narration. The point is I really didn't like the movie. But I LOVED the book. So don't let the movie keep you away from one of the most enjoyable reads I've had for a long time!

Lovin' this boy!

Elijah is officially one of the most amazing little four month olds ever. We had his official appointment on his official fourth month birthday, and the doctor said he was a "perfect specimen." Yep, those were his exact words and nope, I don't think he's ever used them about any other kid before. He lands delicately into the 80th percentile for both height and weight, making him a perfectly proportioned little big guy. Although four months old, his 9 month clothes are getting pretty snug. The doctor commented about the congestion, which he has had virtually all his life causing the growly breathing that first led to one of his nicknames being "Beast," but that didn't affect his perfect rating at the end. Miriam was an attentive older sister, telling the doctor that Eli's favorite color is blue and demonstrating how he grunts. She also was extremely empathetic, crying as loudly as he did when the shots came. He quieted down as soon as I had him wrapped up in the sleepy wrap with his binkie. It took a sticker from the nurse for her. Either way, it was a magnificent appointment for a magnificent little boy. I LOVE THIS KID!

Five Six Seven Eight

Miriam attended her first official dance class this morning accompanied, of course, by her Mama, her Daddy, and her brother Eli. It was at the community center and advertised on one flyer for kids 2-5, on another kids 3-5. Either way, it was a pretty big span of ages and I was afraid my little 2.5 year old would be the littlest and most immature one who wouldn't follow directions and would make all the other kids and parents mad. Especially if they had the 3-5 flyer. But when you go into something expecting it to be rather awkward, you're usually pretty pleased with the results. Positive negativism, as I always say. Miriam did great. She was one of four little girls. One girl is three and a half, exactly a year older than Miriam, and the other two were twins who are three turning four. All of them were extremely attracted to the wall-sized mirror and the barre. I was glad that both the other moms and the grandma had cameras. Miriam was the second tallest of the four, the only one not in a leotard, and usually the first one to raise her hand and say "I KNOW" when the teacher asked a question even if she didn't know the answer. She followed directions during stretching and was able to at least attempt the things. She did fantastic at walking on tiptoes across the floor with her arms up in a ballerina position. She did surprisingly well at the gallop step. Skipping was an issue, but she wasn't aware that she was just running, so all is well there too. She was a fabulous hip-shaker, partly I'm sure due to her love of the Wiggles. They hip-shake quite a bit. Brent's favorite moment came when one of the twins seemed sad and was standing apart from the group. Miriam walked up to her and threw her arm non-chalantly around her shoulders. She looked at the girl and gave her a big cheesy grin. I could not but laugh. The class was scheduled for 45 minutes. Forty two minutes into it, Miriam turned towards us and lolled her head to the side, her body virtually limp. That's always a sign that she's not going to be doing anything anybody asks her anytime soon. Sure enough, she made a beeline for the sidelines and said "ALL DONE!" She collapsed and watched her friends finish the last three minutes. All in all, it was a perfect class and Miriam was a perfect little lady.

Welcome Home!

We've been home for three days, but since I haven't finished unpacking this is still current news. We had a fantastic time in Boise and flying with one adult, one two-year-old, and one baby is really not that bad. Eli slept the entire flight there, and Miriam was just thrilled with life on an airplane. On the way back, our flight left at bedtime so I figured they'd both drink their bottles and fade away. Not so.
Miriam not sleeping on the flight back to Salt Lake:
Eli not sleeping on the flight back to Salt Lake:
As you can see, they were both in great spirits. I think they knew that they'd just had a fabulous week with their Nana and Papa who love them and were heading back to their Daddy who loves them. How much happier could two kids be?

How cheap am I?

Brent wanted a Master's celebration camping trip to Southern Utah and I wasn't willing to take a baby and a two-year-old. Nor would I think that the baby and the two-year-old would want to participate in the hikes that Brent had planned. So he went south and I took the baby and the two-year-old to Boise to visit my parents and their Nana and Pop. While I was there, I left the kids with my mom for an afternoon so I could hit a few thrift stores and hopefully replenish my dwindling supply of clothes that I enjoy wearing. I was thrilled to find quite a few things at St. Vincent's, all at an amazingly low price with an additional 35% off for Memorial Day, and brought them all to the counter to purchase. Cindy, the surprisingly stylish bleached-blonde cashier, was gushing with the customer ahead of me about the American Idol finale. When it was my turn, I continued the conversation which led to, among other easy-chatting topics, my having attended Utah State and the NBA Playoffs. As she was ringing up the last of the items, she casually asked if I liked anthropology. For about three seconds, my mind raced as I tried to come up with a connection between the topics we had skimmed and the study of humankind. Was USU known for their amazing anthropology department and had they just come out with a groundbreaking study in anthropological discoveries? How did I not know this? Or perhaps I just seemed like the kind of person who would have studied anthropology? Or maybe the big "NBA Cares" campaign originated with the Jazz and so as a Jazz fan I should obviously have some anthropology connection? Apparantly as my mind raced, my facial expression froze because Cindy said, "you know, the store?" Oh! Anthropologie! The store! Of course! "Oh yes, I do but I try to stay out of it... the prices here are much better!" The truth of the matter is that I've never been there, although I am aware the I do like their style. I'm pretty sure I fell pretty high on the fashion-lameness scale by not responding immediately to the question. But I'm going to take it as a complement that perhaps the clothing I had selected and therefore myself as a person has an Anthropologie-esque-ness to them. Man, I am stylish!

Master in the House

It is with great pride and deep honor that I announce that Brent has finished the requirements for his Masters of Urban Planning program. He is now Brent Moore, MUP. Ah it's nice to have letters! It was a little sticky after he turned in all his stuff on time yet it wasn't finalized even after the deadline for teachers to give grades came and went. Gulp. After talking to one professor who forwarded everything onto another professor who finally got this put together, Brent recieved an A for his final professional project, which had to do with comparing land values across Salt Lake County, how they change over time, and devising possible reasons for the value and the change. Fun stuff. Anyhow, when you refer to Brent in your thoughts and conversations, please remember to call him "Master Brent." CONGRATULATIONS BRENT!

Still insinkerating

For those who have checked this blog over the past month, you must think I use my disposer a lot. And I do. See, I have two great kids who love to eat......but despite what they look like and the enjoyment they get from it, they don't always finish their food. Their mama has no qualms about it anymore, however. If you wonder where I've been or what I've been doing for the past month, just listen to the whir of the garbage disposer and know I've been pretty happy. Oh, and don't mind Eli's demon eyes. He's really a nice kid; I just didn't feel like editing out the red...

In-sink-erating

Most of my adult life has been lived without the aid of a garbage disposal but with the desire to have the aid of a garbage disposal. It was a luxury that just didn't come with any of the apartments I lived in nor the house Brent and I bought. I figured the decision to purchase one would be like other major purchase decisions... the one of us that wanted it least would finally want it enough to justify the purchase. That's how we finally got a sprinkler system, a couch, and a computer. Every time I visited my parents, I would toss stuff down the sink and sigh, thinking about how nice it was to just scrape and go rather than to push stuff into the garbage unless it was too gross and then all the way into the outside garbage unless it was too watery and then into the toilet. But then I realized that Brent's parents don't have a garbage disposal and therefore Brent is not aware of the glory of just rinsing away globs of gross stuff rather than having to transport it first to a garbage can and then outside. He therefore would never want one because he never knew the glories of it. You can never know the good if you've never known the bad. So I decided to do it myself. I used my birthday and Christmas money from last year and shopped around. I found a good deal and a coupon and with a deep breath, set up the appointment. The plumber came, took one glance under the sink and declared I needed to call an electrician first. I was so excited to get going that I didn't even think about needing to get power to the thing. Sigh. So I called the electrician who came over for a few hours last week. Miriam dubbed him "Nice Guy," and was amazed by his yellow sunglasses. She asked politely for her blue sunglasses so they could wear their sunglasses together, but sadly we didn't find them until after Nice Guy left. After the electrician graced us with power to the netherregions of the kitchen sink, I called the plumber back. He showed up, and Miriam referred to him immediately at "Nice Guy." I'm not sure if she thought that the original Nice Guy was back or merely that anybody who would come over and help mom fix the sink is a Nice Guy. Twenty minutes later we were up and running. Or more appropriately, up and grinding. I turned over my coupon, and Nice Guy #2 said he didn't have a calculator and did I know what 15% of the total was? Anyway, I LOVE HAVING A GARBAGE DISPOSAL! It is complete freedom in the kitchen. Clearing out leftovers is a breeze, rinsing a toddler's plate is cake, and oh I love the smell of ground up citrus rinds. Sometimes I'll eat an orange just to grind up the peel and breathe in the scent. I should have made the purchase years ago!!

Primarily talent

The big Primary Talent Show was Saturday morning. Miriam chose to sing the ABCs, and we practiced all week long, using a glue stick as a microphone. She was doing awesome, but I wondered how she would do in front of people. I shouldn't have worried. The first little girl who volunteered to go shared a video that she had made with her toys acting out a story. Then Sister Thomas asked who wanted to go next. Miriam immediately hopped up and went to the microphone. She asked me to go with her, but stood and proudly sang the song without crying or laughing or turning away. She ran back to her seat so excited and smiled and laughed and clapped throughout the rest of the 10 minute show (it doesn't take long to showcase about 9 primary kids). She was so proud of herself and told everybody that we saw that day about the "Talent Show." Here's a shot of her in the spotlight!

Have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay!

Miracle #1: I am back in the swing of church and was giving my lesson to my Beehives on Sunday. Because Eli does so much better if he's not getting in or out of his carseat, we walked to church. I pushed Miriam in the stroller and had Eli in his wrap. He fell asleep on the walk to church, stayed asleep through opening exercises (we have Sacrament last), and continued sleeping peacefully through the entire lesson. He started fussing and crying after the closing prayer and as the girls were filing out of the class. Perfect timing!

Miracle #2: Brent opted to stay home and utilize the three hours of nobody-else-home time to work on finishing his Master's thesis (barring an unforseen catastrophe, we should have his degree in May). Which meant I was going to be in Sacrament meeting with a two year old and a two month old alone. And being in Sacrament meeting with the two year old and two parents was hard enough! But Miriam was an absolute angel! She sat and talked with Eli and Piper, the baby girl behind us, most of the time. She asked for some goldfish and sat munching on them until some of them swam off the bench (it was more like getting thrown off, but as she let go, she said "swim swim swim!"). When asked, though, she quietly got down and picked them all up. She then colored until the closing prayer. Elijah was awake at the start of the meeting, then finished his bottle and fell asleep. And stayed asleep. Easy as that. It was the calmest and most relaxed Sacrament meeting I have had for the past two years! The patriarch and his wife even commented how good Miriam had been and that she definately earned an A+. Hooray!

Miracle #3: This morning at 5, Miriam started screaming and crying saying "OW! HURT!" She has constipation issues (considering the last post, it may be in the genes) and hadn't pooped for a while. An hour and a half later after two enemas (she hopped on the potty after the first and it all fell out), 12 ounces of pear juice and a lot of straining, she finally produced. Exhausted, she went back to bed and back to sleep. Eli had gotten up in the middle of all this. Brent gave him a bottle and put him back to bed. After washing the night's bottles, I decided to risk going back to bed myself. I hate having to wake up to crying, so frequently I'll just stay up once I'm up but I was so tired... Anyway, I woke up sometime later and felt rested! I checked the clock and it was 9:30. YES! NINE THIRTY IN THE MORNING AND BOTH OF MY CHILDREN WERE STILL ASLEEP! I luxuriated in bed for about fifteen minutes, which really is my favorite thing to do in the world and which I needless to say don't do much these days. There just is nothing like the feeling of being rested and still in bed, stretching and thinking. Ahhhh! Anyway, they both started stirring about 10 and have both had marvelously happy days. And so have I. It's amazing what a little (or a lot of) sleep can do for a mama and her two kids!

Can I get an HALLELUJAH!?!?

Focus

Some of my favorite Elijah expressions come when he's trying to poop.

When he is all done he can finally rest.