Fair Park Fun

The Museum of Natural Science holds many wonders. As a special feature they have is an exhibit called Raise the Roof, which displayed a Mongolian gar which I thought was pretty cool. Isabelle was really intrigued by the technology of the exhibit. She enjoyed using the touch screen computer, to learn about the gar and the people who live in them. Imagine having only those possession that could be moved in a day, and your main concern is where you next meal is coming from. It could be argued that a life like that is simpler than ours, but how is the major difference. I digress. Along with checking out the exhibits we also watched an IMAX film called Coral Reefs. Bear and I had to leave early since he was having a talking and moving around problem but what we got to see was pretty cool. I figured that he would totally dig the all around screen and of course the fish. Oh well maybe when he is older. Isabelle really enjoyed the show; she stayed with Aunt Penny and Morgan to finish it out.

Then after the show we made our way back outside to ride the swans on the little lagoon. We had to take turns because they would not let me take Cooper on since he was so small, even though I was wearing him. (I forgot the stroller in my car at the auto repair shop.) Barrett went first and made it around two times before he got bored and wanted out. I was worried about making it all the way around by myself so we made Morgan go twice. Her legs are young, she can handle it. It was pretty fun and nice way to see the lagoon from a different point of view, and an up close of the turtles.

Back inside I really wanted to check out the DNA exhibit but a four year old and two year old did not think that was very interesting. In stead we went down stairs to check out the farm. Bear quickly figured out that you “planted a seed” it would come out of one of doors at the bottom, to be planted again. He was fascinated. Isabelle enjoyed “shopping” for fresh produce. Cooper was a wake for a few moments so I turned him to face out and then he was asleep. Who wouldn’t fall asleep to the natural swaying and moving of Mom?

After a quick trip back to the house to freshen up, we joined Penny, Morgan and Nana for Hibachi. Always a good time especially for the kids; since they usually light stuff on fire and toss eggs into the air. Bear really enjoyed the show and talked to the chef, Isabelle mimicked his movements with her own. It was pretty cute. Cooper woke up long enough to eat and by passed around.

Going on Bacation

It started out last night that just Isabelle was going on “bacation” but now Bear is too, once he heard her plan this morning. Last night Isabelle packed her bags and outlined to me how she was going to get to grandma’s house, who would be taking her and who would be picking her up.

With her bag all packed she unloads it to show me what she is brining with her. Three sets of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, two toys, her camera (she must take after me there), Bitty Baby, a “sleep bag” for Bitty baby, and after I reminded her, socks and underwear. Oh yes and a pair of jama pants and two shirts. Now she is all ready for going on her bacation with Grandma Susie.

Bear on the other hand packs very light. He only needs one diaper with a liner, his “Guy, guy, and E,” plus a pair of shoes. No need for clothes, he’s just going to wear the jamas he has on. He is going on bacation with Oma.


As I sit down to write this, here is part of the conversation we have about said bacation:

Isabelle: “It’s just time for me to go, Mom.”

Mom: “No, you need to wait until later; you have to go to dance today.”

Isabelle: “No you need to take us now. We are going on a bacation. Can me and Bear just go on bacation. We very do want to go.”

Mom: “You’re going to have to wait a little bit.”

Do you think I should tell her that Grandma Susie is coming to town on Wednesday? Oh yea she is also taking a picture with her. No not of her mom and dad but of her cousin Gabby, Grandpa Bernie and her building the teeter totter from last summer. At least Cooper has elected to stay with me, probably so he can be close to the boob.

Springtime

Ok so I do not usually like to talk about the weather because it seems so impersonal, but I have to give some pros and cons of Texas springtime. Today is overcast, humid and supposed to reach 80 degrees. I know those of you in Utah would kill for 80 degrees in March. But to bring us back to reality on Wednesday it is going to be in the 50's. Yes that's right a 30 degree temperature drop in two days. Normally spring is a great time of year in Texas, it's not too hot and not too cold, but frustrating. You can't fully get rid of those winter clothes nor can you bring out your summer ware. You have to be completely prepared for anything. And take advantage of those nice days when they come. Because when summer hits, who wants to work in the yard, with 100% humidity and 90 plus temps. I guess I just would like the weather to pick a course and stay that way, preferably nice pleasant days where the kids can play outside at anytime, and you don't have to worry about heat stroke, or jackets for those colder days. The kids did come in one day with Popsicle hands because it was so cold. Ah Texas spring!

Roll Over??

Cooper is really strong and has been since his arrival. Today he might have been showing off or his head is too big and pulled him over, but I set him down for tummy time and I came back into the room and he was on his back. Of course I asked Isabelle first if she turned him over and she said no and my Mom backed her up. I tried to get a shot of the action again but no such luck but you can check him out holding up his head. He thought the soccer ball was pretty cool to look at.

Isabelle's new room

After months of asking for her room to be painted Isabelle had her request granted. I think it turned out great. She really wanted a diamonds and a rainbow on her wall, so we went with diamonds in Purple and Pink. Imagine that! It looks great if I must say so myself, after all I did help pick the colors and paint the room. My parents did come up and help me since Ben has been working so much and they did a fantastic job. I think that Isabelle is very please with her room. I just need to finish decorating it. Print out a few more pictures and my Dad is going to make her a window seat. My Mom is going to make a pretty cook window treatment. More on those later, once they get her. For now it is painted and it looks great. I hope you enjoy our creativity. Now we just need to decided what type of bed to get her and she will be all set.

February Review

Here is my book review for February, sorry it’s a little late, but painting took precedence for the weekend, and I was having some internet issues. Technology can be so unreliable. I wanted to do something a little more deep than a chick lit book but the book I really wanted to review was not at the library when I went, so instead I am choosing to talk about Love the One Your With by Emily Griffin. At first I was not going to choose this one since I did not really care for the book, but decided that good, bad and in between reviews should be written, not everything can be good or have a gushing review. Life just does not work out that way.



Basically this book is all about one woman and her thoughts about her life and where it has taken her. Her old flame and her husband did she make the right choice and I guess you could say the need for closure. Let me start off by saying that yes I’m sure at one point everyone thinks about the past and what might have happened if things turned out differently and then they move on. Instead the main character Ellen dwells on her past almost to the point of wanting to relive it after she randomly runs into her old love interest. Who knew that one woman’s thoughts and a few intermingled conversations could make a book. If that’s the case I over analyze almost everything and should write down my thoughts and call it a book as well.

Shortly after running into the former love of her life he calls up with a job opportunity for her that would really help out her career as a photographer. This is all well and good except for the fact that she never tells her husband who got her the job and that she ran into her ex. Of course it all comes out later, which is more damaging because then it seems as though she has been hiding the truth. All the while the reader is dragged through her random musings on whether or not she should tell her husband everything but she feels that it is too late, therefore justifying her actions or lack there of to herself.

As the story goes on Ellen and her husband Andy make a big change in their lives and move back to his home town of Atlanta, Georgia from New York City. This affects Ellen because she is basically moving to run away from her past, only to return to see if things would have been different. The only thing that stopped her from throwing away her charmed life is her sister who calls Ellen while she is with her ex; therefore saving her from herself and a marriage ruining mistake. I think the main reason I did not enjoy the book was the lack of courage in the main character, which I know was part of the point but still if you are married then move on from the past and go with today and the future. I felt that she was just a bit whinny as well. She had established herself in her field, had a good, new marriage and still seemed too interested in the past that had been over for many years. I would say if you still want to read Love the One Your With, go for it, you might see more than I did.

Barrett Jack Thesing

Today Bear and I were looking through his most recent scrapbook, I finally got the book to put his pages in. Anyway, and I always ask them who is in the pictures with them, that way they remember who friends and family are. As we are going through he points to himself and says, "Barrett Jack Thesing" it was the cutest thing. And when I would not ask he would turn the page back and say wait Mom, that's Barrett Jack Thesing. It was too much fun, and the way he says his whole name is just too precious.

Yummy!??

Leave it to the creative people at Saturday Night Live to come up with a new alternative to cloth and disposable diapers. Most of you know we use cloth diapers or a variation of cloth, flushables, so this new diaper option might be right up our alley. Enjoy!

Mug Shots

Here are the mug shots of the kids, I thought it was pretty funny, so I had to share. If only I had numbers as well. Cooper doesn't need any though, he's just cute.

Four years of hard work gone

I was going to make cookies with the kids today but instead, we had the joy of going to the hair salon, so that Isabelle could get her hair cut again. This is after she decided to cut her hair all by herself to go with her costume. In all the time that they were playing I did not actually look at my kid to see if anything was different, only when I came up stairs and noticed that there was hair on the floor did I take a look and notice that it had been cut. I asked who did and Isabelle has the biggest smile on her face and says me. Of course this happens to be the day she goes to dance, so I could not leave her like that. I had to get it fixed. Since I was so upset that she cut her hair that I had been growing for four long years, I did not plan very well. We had to come back before dance to eat lunch then leave right away to go to dance. Of course since both kids were wide awake at 4:45am this morning they feel asleep in the car on the way to the hair salon. This is when a parent thinks to themselves wouldn’t it be nice to be able to leave the sleeping kid that still has hair in the car to sleep, but no you can’t do that. At least it turns out, she did not make a horrible mess of her hair by cutting it to close to the scalp, where it had to be grown out first. It actually looks pretty cute! Except for the fact that it took four long years to grow it out to where it was and now it will probably take at least that many to get it back to where it was.

But she is so proud of what she did and had no remorse what so ever. If only she understood. I know it could be worse.

Nursing another child

As I sit here reading a story about Salma Hayek nursing a sick infant in Sierra Leone, I am surprised to find that my body decides to react as well by having a let down. Not to gross anyone out but it just happens periodically throughout the day at odd times when Cooper is not nursing. Who is to say why? I am moved by her generosity and willingness to nurse a child she has just met and help show the women in Sierra Leone that it is ok to continue nursing your child. Hopefully her actions will help change the stigma that men and women can not have sexual relations while the mother is nursing, and more mothers will continue to nurse for longer periods of time. In the clip the medical professionals talk about wanting the mothers to nurse for at least two years, to help decrease infant mortality rates and malnutrition. Why would a mother not want to help her child to live if she could do so? I could not imagine stopping nursing if it was the best thing for my child, and would help to keep my child alive. If it came down to helping save the life of another child I would nurse that child in order to give him or her the best chance at life. With that said I hope that more people choose to nurse their children, to give them the best start in life possible by what is natural.

Creative or Dangerous

Why should you play on your jungle gym in the way that it was built? Why not create a new game or add elements to it, so that it is more exciting? I think that these are just some of the thoughts that go through my children’s heads throughout the day. At least for us they must have been thinking this when I checked on them playing outside only to find that they had wrapped the hose around the top of their play structure and then were sliding down the fireman’s pole and “hanging” by the hose towards the bottom. I was worried at first that they would wrap the hose around their necks but no they knew what they were doing the entire time. The first time I saw Bear go down I did not realize he was doing it on purpose until he was done. I’m sure I’m a horrible mother for letting them hang by a hose but they did come up with this game all on their own. Creative or dangerous you decide?

What are you reading?

I decided that since I read a lot, I know even with three kids, that I would try (key word try) to do a monthly book review of one of the books I’ve read that month. I’m not sure how I will approach them, if I’ll just tell a little bit about the book or give stuff away in the process of giving my opinion. Hopefully it will be good but if not let me know and I’ll change to something else or keep things the way that they have been, just updates and random thoughts in the world of Allison. Here goes my first review:

Late last year I had asked my friends who read, what they were reading and if they had any books to recommend. My friend Katie in Utah sent me a few of the books listed on her to-read list. My most recent selection from her list was The Next Thing on My List, by Jill Smolinski. The author leads us through an easy tale about a woman who is completing a strangers list of things to do. She is completing this list for a stranger because the women who wrote the list is dead. She died in a car accident while, June the main character was driving. June felt as though her death was her fault when the fault lies with someone else. June is compelled to finish the list of twenty items before the previous women’s twenty-fifth birthday. With only two items completed by the list maker, June has her work cut out for her and she is not really known for finishing a task or staying on target, but spurred by the love of the woman’s family and her willingness to complete something June trudges on.

I think I’ll leave it at that since this book was a very quick and easy read; I had a very lazy Saturday after Cooper arrived and enjoyed reading the book then. The story flows very well and you are drawn immediately into June’s life and root for her during the entire story to complete the list. The story moves quickly and you never tire of the characters or the writing. Smolinski has done a great job of engaging the reader to make you feel that you want more, but not too much at the same time. I recommend this book for the uplifting spirit it embodies and hope that it might bring you, to write your own list and accomplish those tasks.

If you want to see other books I've read or check out my reading list please feel free to visit Good Reads.

Just a silly note. . .

Before Ben went to work this morning I noticed that he had shaved his beard and went back to having just a goatee. I said hey that’s great, now I don’t have to beg you to shave it before family pictures. His response to me is anything for you babe, plus winter is almost over. I thought all my Utah hotties would appreciate that last bit. Since winter is the “reason” he grows a full beard for in the first place.

Cooper Finn Thesing

At last we have a new baby boy! That’s right Cooper Finn Thesing finally made his appearance on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 10:36am. He weighed in at a big 9 pounds 2 ounces and 20 inches long. He is doing well and is too cute! But hey I grew him so I can say that.

It is so nice to have him home and out of my belly. What a relief to have room to breath and one day see my feet again, hopefully sooner rather than later. I was also excited to of had a natural birth, with no need for an induction, this boy came all on his own. Here is the story of how his birth day went.

At about 2 am, I’m really not sure I could not see a clock, I had to pee and when I came back to bed I noticed that I was having some contractions and they were stronger than usual. So after about five I decided to get up and walk on the treadmill for 20 minutes to make sure they would stick around. I really wanted to have this baby. By 3:45 or 4 am I was convinced that we were going to the hospital today to have this baby. I set about getting things ready for the kids and cleaning up around the house. I did not want to go too early incase they decided that I was not ready to have said baby and then be sent home. At about 6 am we put the kids in the car and made our way to Ben’s sisters’ house, where they would hang out until baby arrived. We were at the hospital around 6:45 am and went to triage to be checked and see if we could stay. I passed the first test and was admitted to the hospital. I was contracting fairly regularly, and I say it that way because I was lying down and my contractions seemed to be stronger and closer if I was moving, so while we were waiting on the room and antibiotics to be made, Ben and I walked up and down the hall. I just had to stop and pause while I waited for my contractions to pass. At about 8:15 am we made our way back to the room and I was hooked up to the machines to monitor baby and get my IV. Oh what fun! At about 8:45 am the doctor came in and broke my water. By 9:15 am my contractions finally started coming stronger and a little closer but not too close. At 10:15 am I was feeling the pressure, literally, I was not quite far enough along to push the baby out, and let me tell you trying to hold a baby in is no fun, but by 10:30 am I told the nurse to get the doctor or she was going to have to catch the baby herself. Once they had the squat bar in place up I went and two pushes later, out came our new baby boy. He probably would have been out in one push had I gotten a decent breath but that did not happen. In the span of about a minute and half, we went from a family of four to a family of five. I asked what the baby was then looked down; novel idea I know, and found out that we had a big healthy baby boy.

We are all very excited to share him with each of you and hope that you will be able to stop by soon or send an e-mail. I hope you enjoy his pictures I’m sure there will be more soon, because if you know me I’m never one to miss a photo opportunity. We are all home now and doing well. Isabelle and Barrett are very excited about their new sibling and seem to really like him. They always want to give him some kisses and see what he is doing. Isabelle is going to be a big helper, she already is telling me what to do and when. I think Bear will be excited to play with Cooper once he is a little bit bigger not to say that, that will stop him now. Until then we’ll just have to really watch Bear, but I think he will do great!

Baby Update

Here is a hopefully brief baby update. Yesterday I had one of my regularly scheduled doctor’s appointments, oh what fun. Usually things have been boring and normal but finally I am 1 centimeter dilated. YES! We are on our way. Plus he always checks the heart beat to make sure baby is doing well and today the heart beat was low in the 112-115, which is low but he wanted to make sure everything was fine. He did not really think anything was wrong since baby was visibly moving around my belly the entire time. Oh yea I’m measuring at 41 weeks, yikes, I’m only at 39 weeks. Makes you wonder how big the baby is. Anyway, after seeing the doctor he wanted me to jaunt across the street to have the baby monitored for about 30 minutes just to make sure. Of course labor and delivery triage was super busy. Some women were actually coming in while in labor, others just seemed to be sad, and some like me were just there to be monitored and checked. After about 25-30 minutes I finally got a bed and was hooked up and ready to go. I had to switch sides to see if baby would respond more on one side over the other, which of course happened. Needless to say after about forever, 45 minutes or so, I was finally able to go home. The baby’s heart rate was just fine, in between moving around (that is the baby not me) and I don’t think I had a single contraction while I was there. Bummer! The triage nurse was little overwhelmed she had a lady waiting and need to check two, discharge me and answer the phone, her day was pretty crazy. Plus they actually ran out of beds and had to use a room. Once she was done on the phone I was finally on my home. I guess it’s a good thing I had Ben come home to watch the kids since things were very crazy. The end of this story is that I am still pregnant and who knows when baby will make an appearance.

44th President

This past election year was amazing! The first viable woman candidate ran an incredible race and had the chance to show America that even a woman can run this country. Change definitely took place today as the first African-American President was inaugurated into office today at Noon EST. I think that this is one for the History books no matter what happens. I do think that positive changes will be made in the next four years and possibly the following four. I know my kids do not understand what happened today but they know who their President is and will probably know more than that as the years go by. I am looking forward to see what policies and issues Obama works on first, and how a change of perspective will affect the country as a whole.

Too Cute!

I think my kids are too cute! Now why wouldn’t I, since I grew them and have watched them grow over the years. But let me show you what I mean. Here we are at dinner and Isabelle runs out and say “I have to put my crown on.” This of course prompts Bear to run and grab his construction hat. And of course who runs to get the camera, not Mom but Dad. He just could not help himself, and the kids were too cute posing for their pictures and then requesting to see the picture. They get a long so well, I just love it. I hope the third kid won’t hurt the mix too much, and that everyone will stay happy go lucky and continue to get a long. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to see just how cute the third one is!

The Results

Ok folks here are the results of the baby poll. (Sorry you could not see what people choose as we went along.) Katie, the 14th has come and gone, maybe next time. I see that a lot of you have chosen this Friday as you birth day of choice, we’ll have to wait and see what happens. I think that at this point I’m just ready to be able to sleep like a normal person, without having a big ball in the way. So hard to turn over and bring a pillow of almost any size with you. Other than that things are great.

Your Name? What is the What day will How much will
sex of baby? baby arrive? baby weight?
Katie Girl January 14, 2009 8 lbs 12 oz
Christy Boy February 6, 2009 9 lbs. 3oz
Aimee Carr Boy January 22, 2009 8 lb. 10 oz
Melissa Belter Boy January 31, 2009 8 lbs. 7 oz
Missy Dunn Boy January 24, 2009 10 lbs 2 oz (sorry Al)
Jordan Girl January 26, 2009 8 lbs 10 oz
Jenny Girl January 16, 2009 7 lbs 8 oz
Mom Libby Boy January 16, 2009 8 lbs 2 oz.
Anjie Behunin Girl January 16, 2009 7 lbs. 13 oz.
Ben Boy January 16, 2009 10 lbs 7 oz
Cara Boy January 28, 2009 8 lbs 6 oz
Shelann Boy January 23, 2009 8 lbs 8 oz
Angelina Libby Boy January 16, 2009 8 lbs. 5 oz
(Great Grandma)

Home Depot

I feel bad for some Olympic athletes whose sponsor was Home Depot. They just announced that they are pulling out of sponsoring the Olympics at this time which make the athletes have to find someone else to “help” them out. I really liked Home Depots program because they allowed the athletes to work part-time and receive full time pay while they trained and went to events. I always thought it was pretty cool to see their ads as well featuring the Athletes who worked for them. I hope that the decision made by Home Depot does not jeopardize any athlete from being able to compete in their sport. I would imagine it is hard to find a job while training that would be flexible with hours and pay. I mean really we completly helped Home Depot have a wonderful fourth quarter, so I just don't see what the problem is.



As a side note having small children and cleaning your house come sometimes be pointless. I mopped the floors yesterday and today have a huge mess in the kitchen that I will have to mop again on Sunday. It just sucks, don’t they understand Mommy does not want to or have time to mop more than once per week. When will they be old enough to mop and maybe then they can appreciate where I am coming from. Sorry for my incoherent thoughts above.

Lead

Once again our Government is hard at work attempting to protect our children from the dangers of lead poisoning. Or are they just trying to make restrictions on overseas importers on the products that are being sold by our retailers today? Last summer a law was passed that will be put into action on February 10, 2009 that will ban all sales of consumer products to children, 12 and under, that contain 600 ppm of lead. The real kicker here is that as the years go by that standard will decrease, so long as it is technologically feasible. At this point you might be asking yourself how this will affect your buying power and what you purchase for your children.

This new law covers all children products, clothing, books, toys, playthings and anything else that is directed towards a child. The ban also includes reselling of items. Although it does state that resellers “. . . are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits. . . However, resellers cannot sell children’s products that exceed the lead limit and therefore should avoid products that are likely to have lead content. . .” If you like to purchase some of your child’s wardrobe at resell shops or consignment sales, there may be a few challenges in making that happen. I can understand not reselling an item that has been recalled for safety issues or what not but clothing and books. How are we to know what is safe unless we all start buying 100% cotton or other organic materials for our children’s clothing.

I still feel that this law is really focused on trying to change the standards in which items are made after the February 10th date, especially on retailers like Wal-Mart or Target who have a majority of overseas imports to stock their store shelves. Realistically not every parent in the US is going to log onto a web site to see what items have been recalled or to verify the lead level before making a purchase. For those of us who register our new children’s products once we get them home should be notified if for any reason there is a recall but probably will not be notified if the lead level is too high by government standards to resell. What do we do with all those products now? Ship them off to a landfill where it will take hundreds of years for it to decompose. As opposed to sending them on to a nice family who could use the product but maybe could not afford to purchase a brand new model.

Don’t get me wrong I am all about caring for my children and making their home environment the safest it can be but what about the environment they are growing up in. What will we leave behind for future generations? Will all of our natural resources be used up because of these types of laws? How will this law affect our economy?

Random baby thoughts

I can hardly believe that my due date is so close. I am really wondering though when the baby will come. Several of you have made your guess, and many of you have not. I will post the guesses just as soon as the poll closes next Wednesday, at least I think that’s when I set it for, I don’t remember and I can’t seem to find that information out online. Go figure! So be sure to log your vote if you have not already. I have been having some “contractions” but they are not doing anything or making any changes.

But since I was a terrible mother and neglected to take a belly shot in December we’re going to do that one now and hopefully one before we leave for the hospital. We’ll just have to wait and see how that all comes down the pipe too. I really just want to know what the baby will be, a boy or a girl, that way we can stop calling it baby and give it a name.

Names are such a challenge to decide on as well, but I think we have finally settled on one for each gender so it should be interesting which way it comes out, or in my opinion who wins. I have mostly given up on trying to get Ben to pick something different for a boy’s first name and I have caved. It’s really had to compete with Barrett’s name in our opinion, it’s just so cool. Plus his nick name rocks and completely fits him. That makes it a little bit of a challenge to come up with something just as cool; for a boy at least. I’m sure it will all work out in the end!

That’s my little baby update, no new baby to speak of but sometime in the next 20 to 30 days. I don’t think the doctor will let me go too far over my due date, but stranger things have happened.

Go Play Outside

Here at last is our mostly finished jungle gym for the kids in the backyard. Ben had so much fun designing and building this for this kids that the project just kept going. We still have some finishing touches to do, like put some shade on top, close of some of the sides and stain it for weather proofing, other than that most of it is completed. Plus I think there are a few more elements that he wants to add for the kids. One special one being an adjustable monkey bar set for the kids. He wants it to be able to go up as the kids get taller. Pretty exciting if you as me, I think the kids are going to love it. They already have so much fun playing on the structure. So whenever you are ready come on over and we can let the kids play to their hearts content. It should be nice for when the baby comes and I need a little big kid break. (Oh yea please ignore our backyard mess, we really need a shed.)

Christmas Lights

What would a Christmas Season be without looking at lights? We usually try to find a light display, because you never know what neighborhood is going to have multiple houses all decked out. After all we had lights up but today it was so windy they came down. So instead of just aimlessly driving around town we visited a light production called Prairie Lights. It was so much fun to see the kids get all excited about the different displays and lights that we saw. Bear was very concerned about seeing bears in the display and kept asking to see more. Isabelle really wanted to take a lot of pictures of what she saw and enjoyed pretty much everything. I think her favorite was the “gingerbread house.” Not really sure if that’s what it was, but that is what we called it. Overall the light display was pretty good and a quick drive through since we went after Christmas. I think had we gone earlier in the month it would have been crazy. One of my favorite parts was the “tunnel” of lights you could drive thru at the end, it had lots of purple and blue, which is always different from traditional Christmas colors.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to send out a quick note to everyone on Christmas Day. I know things will be busy and crazy for everyone, but I hope that you can all sit back and enjoy your day. Christmas is one of my favorite seasons and such a wonderful time to remember how it all came about. No matter what your traditions might be I hope you have some Christmas Spirit to spread around to those you will see. Merry Christmas!

Looks who's Four!

Happy Birthday Isabelle! I can hardly believe that you are four years old. Time flies when you are having fun. I’m so glad that we had a chance to celebrate your special day together and that you had so much fun. We started out your day with a waffle breakfast, candle included. Then it was off to Ice Skate the morning away. You tried to skate on one foot and all by yourself without help from a grown up or the wall. Not to be out done you also had a chance to ride the carousel thanks, to Bear remembering that was on his list of things to do today. Before you could open presents we had to have “noodle” dinner. Thanks to Pioneer Woman we had a great “noodle” dinner option. Then with family all around we had a very special cake, shaped like a butterfly. What dinner would be complete without cake! Afterwards you had a chance to open your presents. What a great surprise that was, a few of your favorites, are the play kitchen, dance lessons and blocks. You were ready to show off your dancing skills once you were dressed for the part; I think that you will have too much fun learning how to dance. Here is to another wonderful year full of new and exciting things.

Texas Ice

Here is how Texas does Ice! That’s right we do not wait for the weather to turn bad, we just have it trucked in and sculpted, and then keep it in a really cold room. Every year (I think) at the Gaylord Texan the resort puts together a “show” called Ice. You can walk though this 9 degree ice box and see the marvelous talents of the people who have taken the time to carve some beautiful items in a really cold environment. They are nice enough to hand out really thick parkas so that you can fully enjoy the experience especially if you get stuck in line or have to wait for any amount of time. I think one of my favorite displays was the Santa sleigh and reindeer set up as a slide. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of that one because the crowd was a little bit crazy. The other one I really liked was the display that looks like those fancy antique glass ornaments. Either way it was cold but entertaining.

Holiday "Letter" 2008

Usually I do a holiday letter with our Christmas card but since we are having a baby sometime soon I decided that this year would be different and I would wait to make an official update after the baby. The price of stamps you know. But I don’t think I’m going to do a letter. So for all those people who don’t read my blog, they better get hot and take a look. With out further ado here is our year in review:

Happy Holidays to all our Friends and Family,

Our biggest news this year is two fold, one we moved back to Texas, and two we are expecting baby number three sometime in the New Year. We were excited to be closer to family in Texas but very sad to leave behind our wonderful friends in Utah. They will be dearly missed but hopefully we’ll still get to see them every so often. (Read I expect everyone to visit after the baby is born. j/k) It took us a while to find a new house in Texas but at last we did, and we think we got a pretty good deal, purchasing it from HUD. A very trying process but a great learning experience. Ironically it is very close to our first house that we purchased in Texas, who knew. We still want to live out in the country so one day we’ll get around to moving out of town. What country and where has yet to be determined, after all small town life is very different from city or suburb life.

The kids are doing great. Isabelle will be turning four this holiday season and is very excited about that. She plans to rule the world one day, and I’m sure has it all worked out as to how she will get that done. She loves school and really enjoys starting to read, science and of course playing. We tried soccer this past fall and she enjoys it when the ball is close to her, other wise the action is not quite the same. But she did a great job and hopefully will try it again in the spring. But I think before then she might get a chance to try out dance. I know what could I be thinking but, she is always dancing around, and moving her little body, so I guess it won’t hurt to try. Nobody said it is a permanent activity.

Bear is just Bear! He is so full of energy and goes about a mile a minute. He turned two in July and has been going non-stop. As we say he is our little energizer Bear. He really likes to do what ever Isabelle is doing and has a hard time sitting still for anything longer than five seconds. He loves his shapes and balls, and hopes play as much as he can all day. I think one of the coolest things about Bear is that he has not picked a hand preference yet and switches back and forth. I am still secretly hoping for a lefty but who knows maybe he’ll never make a choice. He also did a soccer program this year called Soccer Tots. He loved it! It was great for him, he got to run around, play with other kids, and do activities that are skill building for later in life when he plays on a real soccer team. I think we’ll have to try that again, since he had so much fun.

Ben and I are doing great. Ben enjoys his work most days and is happy to be back in Texas. I know strange, right? It’s always interesting to see people whom you have not seen in years and they are like, didn’t you move. Especially since we pretty much moved back to where we lived before. I’m doing well with the kids and enjoy staying home with them, trying to make them into wonderful little people, and slowly awaiting the arrival of number three. Next year should be pretty interesting so stay tuned and check us out semi regularly to see what is going on in the Libby-Thesing household.

Happy Holidays, from Ben, Allison, Isabelle, and Barrett

Cookie Exchange

Wow, have you even baked cookies for a cookie exchange? I just did last night, what a load of work. But the end result is kind of fun, you get to get a dozen of the cookies that the other people baked as well. The added advantage is that you get to taste everything before hand, so you will know if you ever what to make that cookie again. But then the downside is that your left with all these cookies to eat. Not exactly the best thing when you are trying to show the doctor that you are not really gaining a lot of weight around this very tricky holiday season. Oh well, it all comes off eventually right?

First Haircut

Isabelle finally had her first haircut. I know she is almost four and has never had it professionally cut. What do you mean by professionally you say, well her brother has taken a little off the top every now and then, which of course takes me forever to find out from where. All I know is that there is hair on the floor and he did the cutting. I guess their even, since early on Isabelle tried to cut his hair as well. Anyway, if you did not see it before you really would not know it had been cut. Ben walks in and his response if “. . . did you get her hair cut?” Well yes, we just trimmed it up a bit so that it might “look” thicker, with out the end being all straggly. She did a pretty good job of sitting still, I think she really enjoyed watching the movie while she had her hair done. The place we went is not as cool as Cookie Cutters but it helps to entertain the kids. The stylist even said that some parents come in with their kids to have their hair cut, while the kids play. Not a bad idea if you do not have the time to wait on hubby or other babysitting alternatives. Here she is in her new hair glory. Now I do not normally take pictures of the back of my children, but it worked the best to show how “different” her hair looked.

Are you a spelunker?

What is a spelunker you ask? Well I will tell you, it is a person who goes caving. Now why not just use the word caver or something else? Too simple I’m sure. Spelunker makes me think that someone decided one day to make up their own word for what they were doing and it just happened to catch on. Now you may also be wondering how I know this term. Just so you do not think I’m a crazy word person I happened to hear it today on NPR, and thought it was funny enough to mention here. I guess if you find yourself exploring caves you can therefore be called a spelunker, how cool would that be. And look this is what you could look like after a long day of exploration.

Santa Clause

Now I don’t usually support the commercialization of Christmas, by taking the kids to see Santa and take some pictures, and continuously talk about Santa and what he is going to bring for Christmas, but this year, family members have been a little crazy about that. Maybe it’s the age of the kids and now that they are getting older, they understand a little bit better, who knows. I just try to acknowledge the kids when they ask questions about Santa if they have any, or ignore the whole situation. After all, stores were putting out Christmas stuff in October, before Halloween was over, just a bit soon. I know the economy is not where everyone would like to see it but come on, wait just a bit. Don’t get me wrong we still put out a plate of cookies, carrots and milk, but I try not to make Santa into a big deal. I think from now on Santa is just bringing the stockings and all other gifts are going to be from Mom and Dad or relatives.

Enough about my Santa philosophy; basically I broke down today and took the kids to see Santa. I figured it would be a pretty easy trip, no lines, we would be in and out. A good plan, going in the middle of the week and the kids did not disappoint. Bear was pretty excited about the whole adventure, and Isabelle did really well too. I kept asking them what they were going to ask Santa for so that they would have it down and Santa would understand. Bear can be a little hard to understand some days. Since I did not want the people to think I was stealing their thunder I just took a picture of the kids before they went in, but their Santa picture was pretty cute. If only my printer was talking to my computer I could probably scan it in, right now you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Dad's Helpers

For Christmas we are building the kids a backyard play set. Ben has a whole design worked out in his head for how he wants it to go. So far the kids are very excited and can hardly wait until they can play. But before they can climb on anything they have to help Dad transfer the first “tower” out to the back yard so he can put it together. They were so cute being Dad’s little helpers. Bear was just big enough to carry some of the smaller pieces of wood but had some trouble with the ones that were a little bit bigger. I hope Ben is able to at least get the swings in before the New Year. The kids already want to climb on the one tower that’s up but there are no stairs yet. I think some stairs, the swings and maybe a little sand pit would be a great place to start. We’ll see how far Dad can get before Christmas.

Oh yea when Ben went up to go get concrete Home Depot was having a project day, and the kids made these really cute Art Easels and even go to get aprons and see Santa. I guess they were doing the project very close to the front door and they asked Ben if the kids wanted to participate, and of course he said “. . . why yes, yes we would.”

Thanksgiving

Once back out to the hinter lands, we had to wait four more days before any of the fun people would arrive. Mom and Dad are just not a cool as all of our cousins. But once they got there, the fun times were a rollin’. Crafts, playing, Wii, and so much food, were the staples of our long weekend. Thanksgiving was nice, the bird was a little fried, but I hear it tasted great, since I watched them cook it I had a hard time trying to eat it. Go figure, my food aversion during pregnancy are very strange. Then on Friday we did the traditional Christmas with the in-laws, which is always crazy and wild but I think that everyone had fun and was please with their gifts. We could not get a tree though it was raining all day long. Oh well, we went the next day to get the tree. That was pretty fun too, we let a three year old pick out the perfect tree, a little on the Charlie Brown side but not too bad once you got it in the room and up with some decorations. Somehow the tree was not decorated though the day it was brought home but instead at six in the morning before the first group left to go home. Pretty crazy stuff, the kids had tons of fun putting the ornaments on the tree. We even managed to get a round of bowling where the adults like to see who can best the next person. It took some a while to warm up but soon the games got a little bit better. I think the most entertaining bowler went to Isabelle who after a while did not want any help and instated on doing it herself, with a little twirl here and a twist there. Who knew you could dance and bowl at the same time. Overall our Thanksgiving weekend was pretty good. I only finished three books while I was out there and came home with two more to read, so that says a lot.