Author: Joy

Rainy Days

Post author By Joy
Post date May 31, 2011

It’s been really rainy here lately! On the news the other night, they said this is the most rain for the month of May EVER on record for Utah. And apparently, the ski resorts will be open through the 4th of July! I haven’t minded the rain because we haven’t had to water our yard at all, and it’s so green & lush now.

These two little friends don’t mind the rain, either. Gotta love the non-boring outfits!

Charlotte adores her little friend that we watch once a week. Charlotte even uses this friend’s name in songs and as an adjective for things she likes.

Hello, Thomas!

Post author By Joy
Post date May 30, 2011

Look how cute that little blue engine is!

We finally went to ride Thomas the Tank Engine up at Heber Valley Railroad last Friday. I say “finally” because I’ve been wanting to take Chase up there since he was tiny. Thomas only comes to our area annually, on Memorial Day Weekend. This year, we took the plunge & went! (Chase would have enjoyed this experience a lot more back when he was like 2 or 3, but what can ya do.)

GG came with us to see what it was all about. We did some mini-golf, played at the train tables, went through a tiny hay maze, & watched a magic show (Chase loved every second of that). Chase & Charlotte got balloon animal things, which both popped subsequently. So we stood in the line again (hey, we wanted our money’s worth out of this event!) & got new ones.

The actual train ride was slow & peaceful, except for the screaming coming from a tiny tot in our section. Charlotte even decided to relax & put her feet up for a minute.

We were all smiles & having a great time. Pace & I kept saying to our kids, “Isn’t this fun?!? It’s a ONCE IN A LIFETIME experience!” Meaning, we don’t intend to spend $18/person on such an experience again anytime soon (probably never again)! Let me tell you, the people who run this whole thing make BANK!

We got the obligatory photo with Sir Topham Hatt. Charlotte just glared at him. I didn’t blame her; he was an awkward, cartoony guy who acted very animated, despite his unchanging facial features. Charlotte definitely felt more at home with the bubble machine.

These tiny, yellow maintenance cars were a lot speedier than the Thomas train ride.

Side note: I was SO glad we packed our own whole wheat sandwiches, carrots & fruit, & water. I guarantee we felt a lot better after our lunch than everyone else did after eating their $5 hot dogs + Doritos! Not that I don’t love me some good junk food…

Charlotte still adores her little Thomas books that used to be her most prized possessions (before she discovered Disney princesses). Lately she’s been exclaiming, “We went to ride on Thomas like in the Thomas books!!!” So, all in all, mission accomplished. Cross that one off the Bucket List!

Personal

Berry Creme Fraiche Cake

Post author By Joy
Post date May 15, 2011

I made a cake today. I might have had 3 slices…

This is a special cake recipe, because it’s from my dear friend, Amanda E. Stonesifer. She was a bridesmaid for our wedding 6.5 years ago, and she has a definite knack for whipping up delectable desserts. So I had her make our wedding cakes for us. She did a great job!

People ranted & raved about this moist, flavorful cake they ate at our wedding reception. Usually wedding cake is on the grosser side, because people sacrifice taste for looks. But not OUR wedding cake!

It looks a little odd in this photo, but I just had to show the multiple layers of moist poppyseed cake & fresh mixed berries & crème. Hands down the yummiest cake I’ve ever had (or made). Basically, I was just so excited that it turned out well! OK, bragging is over.

Family Fun Personal

XX Chromosomes

Post author By Joy
Post date May 2, 2011

jimk

Just to make it an official McBlog announcement, we’ll be having a baby GIRL around September 15th, 2011!

The baby looked completely healthy in the ultrasound. I always see this as nothing short of a miracle, and feel so grateful. The placenta is against the back wall of the uterus rather than the front (which is fine), so I can feel this baby’s every move!

Pace is alright with it being a girl, possibly because sweet Charlotte has him wrapped around her finger, so she’s basically softened him.

Chase is thrilled to have another sister on the way! I was surprised that he actually preferred this over having a baby brother. He remembers how much he loved holding baby Charlotte & he just loves to snuggle babies. (Unfortunately for Chase, Charlotte just screams at him & pushes him away whenever he tries to hug or kiss her. I feel bad for him!)

I am doing well. I’m happy to be having a girl; we would’ve been happy with a boy too, because Chase would have had a brother! But I absolutely loved having the whole “sweet baby girl” experience with Charlotte, and I will love having this one, too.

The “nursery” is actually ready to go, because I didn’t take down any of Charlotte’s bedding/décor! I’m glad that we weaned Charlotte off her binkies, transitioned her to a big bed, & potty trained her well before this little one’s arrival. (Major feats!) Hopefully this will help Charlotte feel like the big girl, and that she’s not being replaced as the baby girl of the family… BTW “girl” is one of those words that become really weird when you stare at it or say it too many times. Anyway.

In case anyone is wondering where the above outfit can be found, it’s on the Janie & Jack website. Absolutely the cutest baby & kid clothes ever! Never mind the prices.…

Charlotte Chase Family Fun

Easter

Post author By Joy
Post date April 28, 2011

Hope everyone had an enjoyable & uplifting Easter! I’m sure many are tired of reading about people’s Easter Egg Hunts. So I’ll just post some photos from our Easter Sunday at GG & Grandaddy’s place! Their yard isn’t as green as ours yet, because they live “way” up north where it’s still cold all the time.

Blinking Beauties!

Of course, Casey was making a weird face when I was trying to snap the photo, so I told him, “Normal face!” and waited, & that smile is what he eventually came up with.

Charlotte Chase Family Fun

Kids Enjoying Life

Post author By Joy
Post date April 28, 2011

When my family was visiting a couple weeks ago, my brother Gino took some entertaining photos of Chase & Charlotte enjoying watermelon and playing in the backyard. Here are a few:

They love Uncle Gino!

Family Fun Personal

Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

Post author By Joy
Post date April 19, 2011

When my brother Gino was here, he taught Rachel & me a thing or two about how to use our cameras. I kind of understood, but I’d like to learn more… It seems so complicated! Now, I’m not trying to be some sort of all-star photographer by any means, but I AM interesting in knowing how to take decent photos. Especially because I have such cute kids to take pictures of!

The photo below is just silly. I was trying to get a sweet, sentimental shot of the kids together, but to no avail. Chase just can’t resist large, grassy banks. He enjoyed somersaulting his way on down! And Charlotte was just… running wild. It was great!

My parents took Chase, Charlotte, & me to the very first day of the annual Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It’s always nice to have my mom along to tell us what the names of the plants are! Unfortunately, the tulips were not yet in bloom or even close for that matter, but good times were had nevertheless. Especially because cotton candy was involved!

Cotton candy is yummy to kids of course, but also to me because it reminds me of when we used to get it at the Sonoma County Fair (way back when I was a kid). For some reason, my parents didn’t want any! What??? My dentist father refused to eat pure sugar!?!

Although there were little to no blooming tulips, at least the daffodils were showing their bright, shining faces. I really didn’t know how to photograph them. The next picture looks like it has some odd Photoshop effect on it, but I’ve never even set foot in Photoshop! I like the effect anyway.

And then there were the beautiful man-made waterfalls! My parents kept marveling at how much $ the Thanksgiving Point Gardens must have cost to build, & to maintain now. The 55 beautiful acres are pretty impressive.

Charlotte enjoyed peering down at the waterfalls from way up above, but Chase would have no part in that. My dad said he didn’t blame him. Chase definitely inherited his grandparents’ fear of heights!

Charlotte is asking these tulips WHEN, exactly, they plan to emerge. Smile

We were all tuckered out by the end of the outing. *Yawn.*

Gotta love Charlotte’s little Panty Bum peeking out!

Chase

Here’s Our Five-Year-Old, Chase!

Post author By Joy
Post date April 18, 2011

We’ve been loving this month of April. It’s one of those busy birthday months. We had 4 family birthdays close together. Chase’s was the only child birthday, so naturally, he got the most attention & celebration & presents. Here he is enjoying breakfast in (bunk)bed.

He had awakened at his usual 7am time and called out, “Mom, are you getting ready?!?!” I groggily stumbled out of bed to whip up a breakfast feast for the beloved birthday boy. It was all he could do to stay in bed & wait to be served! Most of my family was here to visit from CA, so they soon came over to give more birthday love to Chase.

I made him a pirate cake. I tried to make it nice & moist, which backfired because it fell apart while I was decorating it. But thanks to Rachel’s moral support & my decision to resist re-doing the entire cake, this semi-Perfectionist actually didn’t lose it. Whew!

In all honesty/I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t think it turned out all that amazing, but everyone gave plenty of (undue) praise. Most importantly, the birthday boy enthusiastically approved of the cake! And it was fun to make, too.

I loved my brother Gino’s close-up shots of the pirates too much NOT to post them. (Proud to add that he took these pics with our little point ‘n’ shoot.)

We didn’t do a friend party this year because we’re going to go check out Thomas the Tank Engine next month at Heber Valley Railroad. So for the family party, we decided to go to Pirate Island Pizza because we hadn’t eaten there yet. We had some family there for dinner, cake, & arcade games. It was fun (even though it ended up costing MORE than a friend party would have. Haha!)

Chase got tons of presents. Thanks to everyone! Here he is enjoying his new Slip ‘n’ Slide from GG.

Family Fun

We Definitely Have a “Kid House.”

Post author By Joy
Post date April 6, 2011

Sometimes, I want to be “fun” by letting my kids do things that are out of my comfort zone, because I don’t want to be super controlling and say “No, no, no” all the time. I mean, why not let them do what they want?

Live it up! Let kids be kids! Life is short!

But sometimes, the whole thing kinda sorta backfires and the joke’s on me.

Example: When I allowed Chase to play/rejoice in a huge box of styrofoam packing peanuts and it took a long, long, long time for us to get all those tiny, sticky pieces all cleaned up! I was not pleased with the outcome, and I kicked myself.

Or a couple days ago, when I let Charlotte carry around my deodorant stick, because she JUST wanted to “hold it & smell it,” and we later found this mysterious white, chalky stuff wiped all over Charlotte’s face & hair, the couch, end table, and all the coasters:

Sure enough, the deodorant was all used up! Silly me. I wasn’t sure how to get the coasters all cleaned off, so I stuck them in the dishwasher… Bad idea. Deodorant residue all over "freshly cleaned” dishes! I had to laugh at my silliness.

Also, on the same day, Chase wanted us to go out & build an igloo in the snow (we hadn’t had snow in forever, until a few days ago!). But there wasn’t enough snow to build a large, person-sized igloo like he wanted, so I got out our dozens of toilet paper & paper towel rolls that we have stocked up. We built a nice igloo with a blanket over it & a tunnel going inside.

However, after about 5 minutes I really should have snatched those things up & put them far, far away from Chase’s grasp! Because he threw the rolls all over downstairs, unraveled a few rolls of the paper towels & toilet paper all over downstairs, & also snuck a toilet paper roll up to his room so he could “TP” the bunk beds. I caught him in the act! He was bummed that he wasn’t allowed to continue.

At least he had fun while it lasted.

And I later informed Pace that we officially have a “Kid House.” I figure you know what I mean by that!

Charlotte

“Pem-pess” (=Princess) Charlotte

Post author By Joy
Post date April 4, 2011

Our little girl truly enjoys being a girl. Can you tell?

She wears dresses every single day, she LOOOOVES jewelry & Mommy’s cosmetics, and she likes wearing her clip-clop shoes when we go to the store so she can hear them clip clop as we walk along. (It takes us a long time to walk anywhere, though!)

She also loves princesses and Barbie. When I was dropping Chase off at preschool a couple weeks ago, Charlotte suddenly pointed & shouted, “Barbie!!!!” I looked out the window to where she was pointing, and sure enough, it was the preschool teacher’s next door neighbor, who truly DOES look like Barbie! What a hoot.

Charlotte’s a BIG girl now, because she’s potty trained! We did it. We have to deal with the occasional accident while she’s playing & doesn’t think about getting to the toilet, but she’s doing very well overall. No more diapers!

We had Sarah K. from our ward babysit our kids the other night. She did Charlotte’s hair—I loved it! I need to learn how to french braid! (this photo is of the next-day version of it)

Sarah also brought Charlotte a Sleeping Beauty locket, which Charlotte instantaneously fell in love with and grasped tightly saying, “It’s mine. You can’t have it! It’s mine.” I said to her, “What do you say to Sarah?” and she immediately wrapped her arms around Sarah while exclaiming, “Thank you SO much!” We put tiny pictures of Rapunzel & Ariel inside the locket so she could have various princesses with her at all times. Such a sweet girl!