Tagged

So, I was tagged (quite awhile ago, I'm just now finally getting around to it) so here goes:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.

So if I don't count John's textbooks (which I really don't want to) then the nearest book is: The Millionaire Next Door (very fascinating book, by the way). Page 123, sentence 5 reads: "They often plan to resell their used acquisitions in two or three years and recoup much of their initial payout." FYI, the section that the sentence is from is called: "Used Vehicle-Prone Dealer Loyalists" from the chapter "You Aren't What You Drive".

I'll just tag anyone who wants to do this...

Happy Times

Andrew and I were lucky enough to go visit Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Chris a couple of weeks ago. Maren, Michelle, and I thought it would be fun to surprise them, so we concocted a scheme that would allow us to do so. Maren and I were supposed to be on the same flight from Phoenix to San Diego, but I missed my flight from Dallas to Phoenix (long story, grrr...let's just say I'm glad no one I knew saw me sobbing hysterically at the US Airways counter. I'm gonna blame that one on pregnancy hormones and a difficult toddler). So, we didn't get to surprise our parents together, but Maren got to surprise them and then I showed up a few hours later and shocked them again. It was quite hilarious to see them so surprised.

It was a fun week (Michelle showed up on Thursday and surprised them yet again) that involved trampoline fun, Legoland, and the Wild Animal Park. Sadly, on the days we went to Legoland and the Wild Animal Park it was almost 100 degrees...yuck! But the boys still had a blast. Andrew and Evan had SO much fun with grandma and grandpa, it was so cute to watch. They also really enjoyed aunt Michelle and took quite a liking to Jason. We really enjoyed our week there (though we missed John a lot!) and are already looking forward to our return in June. I think I gained ten pounds though, I just can't resist the Taco Shop or In-N-Out. *Sigh* I miss those restaurants!

While we were in San Diego we found out that John got the job he'd just interviewed for and really been wanting. Hooray! A job, finally! He has an HR position with the city of Denton, which is handy because we live in Denton and he now has a five minute commute. Congrats John! It seems like a great job, great environment, etc. etc. So, we'll be in Denton for awhile longer, which I'm happy about...I wasn't quite ready to leave my friends or this ward. This also means that when the semester ends in a week and a half, John will be done with school (because this job can count as an internship). Yay!

So yeah, it's been a good few weeks. We got to visit family, John got a job and is finishing with school, and we're expecting baby #2 any day now. :)

Despite appearances, Andrew really was enjoying the train ride at Legoland.

Andrew and grandma on the airplanes!

Andrew and Evan in front of the lion exhibit at the Wild Animal Park.

Aunt Maren filling up the pool for Andrew and Evan at grandma and grandpa's house. The boys LOVED playing in the water. If only grandma and grandpa's new house had a pool...

Congrats on the new job, John! I made him a candy "bouquet" since most guys aren't really too interested in flowers.

Awwww

Awww, baby Andrew.

I was just sorting through some pictures and came across this one of Andrew. This picture never fails to make me laugh. So cute!

Psycho gigantic cranky pregnant lady!

I think that pretty much describes how I've been feeling lately...I am SO done with being pregnant and I still have seven weeks to go. SEVEN WEEKS! Ugh. I am so exhausted and in so much pain, which then leads to me being cranky...really, really cranky. Yesterday John told me I really needed to just be nice. Brave move, if you ask me, but he was definitely right. I almost feel like another person lately, and poor Andrew and John have to suffer through it. I would be really happy if this baby came a week or two early (right!). I feel huge already (I had to go buy a couple shirts because nothing was fitting me anymore) and I think this kid is having fun causing me pain. He pushes so hard and in just the right places to cause extreme pain. Whine, whine, whine...I have to get it out somewhere, John's tired of hearing it. :)

And now, some happy pictures to counteract the negativity of this post...

Sometimes Andrew will snuggle with me after he wakes up from his nap and I LOVE it.

Andrew is fascinated by his first Peep.

What can I say, I love this picture!

Andrew chilling with baby (we got him a baby doll to practice being gentle with).

Easter

Here's our Easter post, almost two weeks later...

Anyway, we had a wonderful little Easter. We dyed eggs on Saturday, and oh my goodness did Andrew enjoy it! I only boiled 9 eggs (since I'm the only one who eats them) and Andrew could've decorated at least 50 before he got bored. I had to let go of my desire to at least have a few pretty eggs, because Andrew kept dunking every egg he could get his hands on, even if it was one that we'd already finished. In the end, I think at least half of the eggs were cracked from Andrew dropping them (in his defense, they were somewhat slippery...and he's only two... :) It was very fun, and Andrew loved it.

Our little Picasso...

Wow, mommy, wow!

For our Easter breakfast I made some yummy homemade cinnamon rolls, which I think will be our new Easter breakfast tradition. Church was very nice, Andrew looked very handsome and was even somewhat well-behaved during Sacrament meeting. We decided to do Easter baskets after church and Andrew's nap, which maybe wasn't the best idea since that tends to be Andrew's fussy time. We also made the mistake of trying to do the egg hunt pretty much the second he woke up, since that way they would be "hidden" when he came out of his room. So he was pretty fussy at first, not too into his basket, but he warmed up to it rather quickly. He got into it a lot more than this time than he did last year, and didn't insist on opening every single egg as he found them. The Easter Bunny was kind enough to give Andrew a new Thomas video and each of us water guns to play with. We can't wait to show Andrew how those work! More than anything, though, Andrew was into the candy--what a surprise! He devoured quite a bit in a short amount of time and then was on a serious sugar high. When we tried to get him to sit down for dinner, he completely lost it. He was absolutely hysterical. Finally, I gave up trying to reason with him and put him in time out, which led to one of the biggest tantrums I've ever seen him have. Eventually he curled up in the fetal position and whimpered, which made us joke about him looking like a little drug addict. Ahh, toddlers. Hehe.

Andrew is still trying to wake up and figure out what's going on.

Andrew really enjoyed pulling the eggs open and watching the candy spill everywhere.

We had the traditional ham (blah!), scalloped potatoes, and even green bean casserole (my first!). It was pretty yummy, though I was reminded of how much I don't like ham. 'Twas all for John, I tell you. I've informed him that once we're celebrating Christmas on our own, there's no way he gets a Christmas ham AND and an Easter ham. That's just too much ham. I also attempted another Doberge cake, and compared to my first attempt, this one turned out pretty well. I didn't have any broken cakes or layers sliding off, and my frosting actually worked (it was a different recipe, so I think that helped). The sad part though was that I overcooked the cakes (despite doing them for less time than the recipe called for) and they were rather dry. :( The pudding filling was decent though and the frosting was great. It's similar to a fondant (heck, maybe it really would be considered a fondant) and it was so fun to work with! The cake ended up looking ok, though sadly I didn't get any decent pictures. It was a fun baking experience though!

All in all it was a nice Easter. I love holidays!

I Don't Wanna Grow Up

After MUCH debate about when to buy Andrew a "big boy" bed, we decided to buy him one on Monday. I've been agonizing over this decision and going back and forth on the issue for months (my friends actually laugh at my unwillingness to move Andrew to a bed...). Andrew doesn't seem ready to sleep in and stay in a bed (our experience with him learning how to climb out of his crib kind of underscores this) but I also worry about how he would handle it if we tried to switch a couple of month's after the baby is born. I think (based on what I know of his personality) that he would NOT handle it well if we told him he got a big boy bed and that cribs are for babies, and then proceeded to give his crib to the baby (which is what I was leaning towards doing). Anyway, John and I decided that we would buy a bed and do a very gradual transition. We decided that sleeping in the big boy bed would be a privilege, one that would be lost if Andrew kept getting out of his bed. He'd get a couple of chances, but if he didn't stay in his bed, he'd end up back in the crib. So that's the plan...

So Monday night we went to Target and let him pick out a fun comforter and sheet set. Shockingly enough, he picked the Thomas the Train bedding! There was actually an adorable planes, trains, and trucks set at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that I LOVED but I couldn't justify spending that much money on bedding for a toddler, especially considering the fact that this train phase could end in a couple of months, and then I'd have to make him use the bedding for the next ten years just to get our money's worth. After Target we went and bought Andrew a nice little twin mattress, since we find toddler beds to be kind of a waste of money and want to buy bunk beds in a year or two anyway. So we strapped that bed to the top of our tiny car and drove it the thirty feet it took to get home. Andrew was SO excited and kept petting the mattress and saying "nice, nice!" He, by the way, picked out a very nice queen sized mattress for himself, but we had to tell him to keep dreaming. Anyway, I spent a large part of yesterday washing new bedding and setting up the frame and bed, and rearranging the furniture in Andrew's room. At one point I was actually worried about making myself go into labor or something, but I just really wanted to get it all done because Andrew was so excited. I think the hardest part of it all was putting the stupid safety railing on the bed (we know without it that Andrew would roll right off that bed), it was so irritating!

So excited for his "nice choo choo bed!"

After we got the bed all set up, Andrew was SO excited and kept climbing into bed and saying "night night mommy!" Since he was so excited, I thought he would be mad if I made him nap in his crib, so I put him down for his nap in his bed. Well, as I expected, after maybe two or three minutes he came wandering out of his room. What did surprise me, however, was that he'd been crying. I took him back into his room and told him that since he didn't stay in his bed, he had to sleep in his crib. Ya know what? It turns out he WANTED to sleep in his crib and was happy when I put him in it. Huh. I'm thinking this may be even harder than I expected, and that's saying something.

St. Patty's Day

While I didn't have the energy to go all out for St. Patrick's day, I thought it would be fun to have an Irish dinner. Corned beef and cabbage! Except no cabbage, because John and I both hate it. Anyway, I did a lot of searching for a recipe that looked good and made my corned beef. The verdict? I just really don't like corned beef. It was not only my first time making it, but my first time eating it as well. That is just some weird meat. The flavors and seasoning of the recipe were great, but the meat itself was just weird. What is corned beef anyway?

Mmmm...or something.

So anyway, that was the extent of our St. Patrick's day dinner/celebration (I ran out of time and didn't get to make the Irish soda bread that I'd been planning on). We also all wore green, cause how could you not? But that really was about it.

Andrew in his awesome Red Sox St. Patrick's day shirt. He's crying because we were trying to make him eat some of the corned beef. Not such a fan...