Kitchen table or a Wii.... hmmmm.

So its no secret that we spent our Christmas bonus money on a Wii. My bosses gave us some money at Christmas so we could get a new kitchen table (since ours is hurting something fierce). As we were sitting down to dinner one night, we watched as Charlie took his fork and repeatedly stabbed the table over and over. While we watched with practiced indifference, it dawned on both of us that if we had that new table, it was going to get the crap kicked out of it.... so we bought a Wii. And Guitar Hero. We are sooo both youngest children.

Anyways, as our first-ever family gaming system, it has been perfect for Winston. He has a great time with it, and it helps him get some of his energy out, plus, it makes for great parties (OK, so we've really only had one). We expect any and all neighbors to feel free to invite themselves over to play whenever they want.

Here are a few pics of our latest exploits:

Here's one of Win and Dad playing Guitar Hero. We've just let him start holding the guitar, but haven't let him start playing. Mostly that is because Dad needs to get good enough so that Winston doesn't beat him at this game like he does at so many others.

Winston and his buddy McKay boxing each other.

Our neighbors Sheldon and Luke beating each other's heads in (virtually of course).

The wives going for Star Power!

Dad and Winston having an evening jam session.

Thanks Uncle Dave

We decided to try Dave's suggestion of putting leg weights on Charlie to slow him down

Dad putting on the weights...

Charlie immediately ripped them off, so we resorted to taping them on...

Charlie trying to take them off again without success, thanks to the tape!

He resorted to trying to bite them off...

The look of distress when he realized he couldn't get them off...

More distress and big brother trying to come to the rescue...

Not a happy camper.

So, Dave, it was a pretty good idea. He didn't get into anything because he spent all his time trying to get the weights off. (Disclaimer: For any random readers on here, please don't turn us into CPS. We only left the weights on for about 5 minutes and it was all in good fun. No harm was done to the child in the picture.)

Valentine's Day Gone Way Wrong

Let me take a moment to tell all you blog stalkers (this is what most of you reading this are) a little bit about a well-intentioned but really pretty bad V-day. Now I need to start this blog posting with a disclaimer.

Disclaimer: the only redeeming factors of yesterday's festivities came from my dear wife Steff.

So here's how it went down.

Things started off fine... actually, things started off good. Due to the major snowstorm the night before, my boss gave me a free pass to work from home for the morning. I decided to take advantage of the freedom and make Steff a V-day breakfast (first good intention). I decided to go for crepes... pink crepes. I whipped them up fast, fed the kids and was waiting for my darling to descend from getting ready for the day.



Steff comes down ready to go workout at the gym. Her appointment is in a short 20 minutes so of course she can't load up on crepes before she goes in to work out or she'll yack (good intention #1 goes awry = Strike one).

So as the day progresses, we take care of a number of things that need to get done, Winston goes to pre-school and Charlie goes to Kids Who Count. We find ourselves at dinner time.

Steff has planned out a fabulous dinner which goes off without a hitch. She's got ribeye steaks for us, and adds twice baked potatoes, cabbage crunch salad, fresh rolls, and sparkling apple juice in spiffy goblets. Man, it was good.

Following dinner I'm wobbling around, doing my best to let her rest (good intention), and getting the kids down for the night (which she ends up doing the bulk of anyways). Upon getting the kids down for the night, I flop on the couch for our favorite time of the night...

For my enjoyment, Steff whips out dessert.



Yes! Chocolate dipped strawberries and an individual molton chocolate cake with a bit of ice cream on the side. Good grief it was good.

Now, up to this point, I think I've done OK. Yeah, I blew breakfast, but we've had the chance to be together all day, I've helped out with the kids (changed a stinky diaper), and done a few dishes to boot. Pretty good right?

Now starts the downhill slide...

First let me preface this by saying that we did decide earlier that we 'were not going to get each other gifts this year.' That being said, we always get each other something small. Let's just say my gift was along the lines of edible underwear and she got me the Tiger Woods golf game I've been wanting ever since we got the Wii. Ouch... Strike two.

Undaunted, I quickly plan out my final plan for salvaging my end of V-day. Now, let me just add a quick interjection here for other males out there who may find themselves in this situation in the future: ad hoc, spontanaity and randomness are not good qualities when it comes to planning out their special day. Yes, they may've married you in part becasue they were attracted to these qualities, but I assure you, they are not desirable at this time.

So, onward with my last good intention, and its pretty bad so I'm just going to get it right out there. Steff has been working out quite a bit lately. In my desire to make up ground, I told Steff I'd wrap up the evening by massaging her sore muscles. Here's a short story made shorter... I fell asleep in the middle of the massage. Definitely, definitely, definitely strike three.

So, for the all the blog stalkers to see, I am sorry Steff for not holding up my end of the V-day operation, even though you were more than gracious about it. I'll do what I can to right this ship...

Chopped it...

We went with the A-line slightly stacked in the back. I think I like it. It will take a little getting used to and my neck is FREEZING but I'm pretty happy with the end result. Thanks Lynsey!

The New First Presidency of the LDS Church

Charlie counts

I've been worried about Charlie's speech and comprehension for quite a while. Someone told me to look into a program called "Kids Who Count." It's an early intervention program for all kids under the age of 3 within our school district. They want to make sure kids that need help receive it before they are thrown in the school system. They send several people out to test your child and then do an overall evalution to see if they qualify for the program. I figured it couldn't hurt to have him tested and see what their thoughts were on his development. To qualify for the program, a child must be in the bottom 7% of all the kids in the state. Charlie ended up testing at 2%. It was kind of bittersweet for me. I was glad that we were going to get help but I was also sad that he qualified to get help. So, we will be going to 2 75 minute playgroups a week where they teach the parents to work with the kids and a Speech Pathologist will come out and help me work with him a couple times a month. It will cost a little money but not nearly as much as it would if we were taking him to a Speech Pathologist on our own. Pretty much any amount of money is worth it if it will help little Charlie anyway. I really love all the nurses and the Speech Pathologist that I have worked with so far. They have worked with some other children that have struggled with Epilepsy and developmental delays so hopefully there will be help for us.

My week so far...and it's only Monday

The first part of this week has been interesting. Since Matt was out of town on Sunday, I went up to go to church with my parents. They are on a mission in Salt Lake. We arrived at the building and walked into their very quiet ward made up entirely of Senior Missionaries. I figured it would be a pretty interesting meeting with my two kids there. We chose the pew with nobody directly behind us and a door nearby. Unfortunately, the chapel's light switches were right there on the wall by us. Before we even had a chance to sit down, Charlie ran over and turned the lights on and off several times. I saw a lot of people look back but, luckily, most of them were smiling. So, we settle in and make it to the point where the Senior Missionary Men are passing the Sacrament without too many mishaps. My Dad was manning one end of the pew and my Mom was on the other side leaving me in the middle to wrestle the kids. Somehow, in the middle of the passing of the Sacrament, Charlie crawled under the bench between my Dad and my legs and made it to the aisle. Before I realized what was happening, he was making a beeline for the stand. He actually made it up on the stand by the Bishopric before I caught him. I grabbed him and walked down the aisle and straight out the door...totally embarrassed. While waiting in the foyer for the Sacrament to end, Charlie grabbed my necklace and ripped it off me sending black beads of all sizes flying everywhere. He found this hilarious. It was no easy task bending down to pick them up in a skirt with C trying to escape out of my arms. I went to retrieve one near a big easel with a big poster advertising some ward event and Charlie stuck out his arm and knocked it over (yes, on purpose). I got that set back up and the Sacrament ended so I decided to make my way back in to try to hear some part of what the speakers had prepared. That lasted about 5 minutes because Charlie started screaming when I wouldn't let him crawl under the bench again. I managed to find a Mother's room that was empty! That never happens at our building. Anyway, he was okay in there for a few minutes but kept trying to escape out the door. I sat on the floor in front of it and let him throw his fit. I guess my Dad must have heard him because he came and knocked on the door and offered to take him on a walk. He had been offering to take him the whole meeting but I never like to have someone else watch C because he can be such a stinker. Anyway, he took him for a walk outside and around the building until the meeting was over. I guess at one point Charlie was running down the hall and my Dad was chasing after him and one of the other Senior Missionaries said "You're going to have run faster than that, Grandpa." Pretty funny.



We made it home after that and I put Charlie down for a nap. A few minutes of peace...Yippee. My Mom and I got dinner ready and we all had just sat down to eat when Charlie saunters out of the room he was in. One of his latest tricks is getting out of his crib. My plan to eat a peaceful dinner was foiled. From there, Charlie just went from one thing to the next tearing my parent's condo apart. I was thinking about spending the night but decided I better just get him home. When he threw up on their carpet, it kind of sealed the deal for me. Anyway, it was funny because my brother was there visiting as well and he was coming up with all these ideas to slow Charlie down. He thinks we should put some of those leg weights on him and maybe he won't run around and get into as much stuff, PLUS his legs will be really strong. :) I got big laughs out of that. I wish I would have been able to visit with my brothers and parents a little more but I'm glad I was able to be there and to see everyone.



I wrote this earlier in the week but I didn't want to post it until Matt was back in town. You can never be too careful. Matt has been gone skiing in Whistler for the entire week. He's going to be home today and it is none too soon. I've had sick kids ALL week and haven't been able to go out and do anything. Not even the gym. I think I'm about to lose my mind. Thank goodness this we survived the week!

Miss Utah

I am sitting her watching the Miss America pageant that I Tivoed last week. I'm not usually interested in this competition but I was excited to watch this year because of Miss Utah. She's pretty awesome. I love how she is who she is and doesn't put on an act for the cameras and judges. There is finally a great role model for all the young LDS (and other) girls out there. Through the whole competition and the "Miss America Reality Check" shows, she was a fantastic representative of what an LDS woman is. Amazingly, she was always dressed modestly as well which is pretty rare these days. I'm bummed she didn't make it further in the competition but she's got to be proud of herself for getting as far as she did. Way to go Jill! (I keep telling my single brother to track down her phone number...he he.)

Totally Bummed

I was planning on driving up to Salt Lake today to go to President Hinckley's viewing but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. It's snowing pretty good outside and I'm really scared of driving in the snow. Winston was coughing most of the night...looks like he caught what Charlie has. Lastly, I heard they don't want you to bring strollers to the viewing...I don't know if it's because they have metal detectors or what but there's no way I'm going to try to hold Charlie for an hour while standing in line. I guess it wasn't meant to be but I'm still bummed. :(

I DID IT!

I made an appt. to get my hair cut. I'm trying to find some ideas of cuts that I like to show the stylist. I can't decide if I should do something similar to my last short haircut (below)

or I think the next two haircuts below are cute. Of course I don't look anything like Victoria Beckham, so that might pose a small problem. Any suggestions?

President Gordon B. Hinckley 1910 - 2008

He was one of my favorite prophets.

I loved his sense of humor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC0W0ZVI9ak

He will be missed...

Bag Tag

My friend, Mel, tagged me to show all the contents of my purse. Since I haven't owned a purse since...hmm...no idea how long, here are the contents of my diaper bag.

Here we have a real nice designer bag from Target. Yes, that was supposed to be a joke. I tried to at least get it standing up straight and tall for the picture but it was too embarrassed and tried to crunch in half. Truth be told, I actually really like this bag. It holds up well and it holds a lot of stuff comfortably. I have to be honest...I JUST barely cleaned this out. Normally, there would be all sorts of ziplock baggies of leftover snacks, fruit snack wrappers, crumbs, church and preschool papers, receipts and, well, you get the idea. But maybe we can just pretend it's always this clean and that I am a really great and organized person. So, let's have a looksie...

CONTENTS

2 tubes of Cetaphil Lotion

1 pack of Trident Gum

Checkbook

Broken cell phone for C to play with

2 Costco booklets of coupons

One For the Money church pamphlet

Coupon/Receipt organizer

My cell phone

Part of my broken necklace that Charlie ripped off my neck

2 diapers

$1 bill and some change

Book of stamps

2 pens

My wallet is usually in there but it's currently out in the van

and I was too lazy to get it for the picture.

This is a crummy picture but it shows one of the features that helps me stay a little organized. There are lots of pockets in this bag and they have labels like "diapers", "wipes", "bottle", "things", etc. It works well for me because it keeps me from randomly tossing things in every which way and I know where everything is...or should be. :) So, that's it in a nutshell.

Now I tag Natalie, Angie, Julie and anyone else that wants to do it. Have fun!

Aren't they precious?

I guess we won't be getting the Parent's of the Year Award anytime soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

I tried to make these funny cookies yesterday. The undies were supposed to reach all the way to both sides but I had a little helper pulling on my leg and getting into everything so this is the best I could do. I'll have to give it another try when C is napping. Matt had a good laugh, though, and that's really all I was going for. :)

This is a picture of what these cookies were supposed to look like. I copied them from Kira off the PYP website. Hers are much cuter. I am going to give it another go with a different cookie recipe and type of frosting and hopefully they will turn out better!

Fun in the Snow - Part, um, part 6?

Another snow storm blew into town so we went out for more fun in the snow. We decided to use the block maker Winston got for Christmas (Steff keeps asking me if it really was for Winston or if I just wanted it. Of course it was for him. I just had to show him how to use it.) and build a snow fort.

What ended up happening was Dad and Mom tried to build the fort, while Winston and Charlie made snow angels, played on the swingset, and tried to demolish the craftiness of their parents.

Winston busting out his first snow angel



Charlie only had eyes for his swingset


Bored kids abandoning the fort project


In the end, the fort didn't quite make the cut. We were about 4 feet tall and all of a sudden (thanks Charlie) the wall fell over. At that point we abandoned the fort and went for snowman heads on the fence. Best we could do.

The Great Collapse


Our only alternative


Fun in the snow is so invigorating

Christmas... Finally

So I figured it was about time we post about our Christmas fun. So here goes... get ready for mass pictures, etc.

Now, my guess is that by now, most people reading this blog know that we sometimes maybe aren't the best parents. That's not to say we abuse our kids or anything, but sometimes we opt for the easy/lazy way out of things. In this instance, our neglect was around getting a Christmas tree. We originally talked about a tree and decided that with Charlie, it was really not that practical to get a tree, decorate it and have it up all December. We figured Charlie would just demolish it so our plan was to wait until the week before Christmas and then set one up. One week of fighting to keep Charlie away from the tree is better than one month, right?

Anyway, the week before Christmas we got busy and never really got around to getting a Christmas tree. Bless Winston's little 4 year old heart, on Christmas eve he asked if he could write Santa a note to leave with the cookies and carrots (for the reindeer). We gave him paper and crayons and went about other work. Soon, he asks us to come help him write the letter. Here's the finished product:

As you can imagine, Steff and I felt like terds. All he wanted for Christmas was a tree. So we obliged with our version of the 'Charlie-proof Christmas Tree.'

As you might imagine, Winston was thrilled that Santa left him a Christmas tree AND presents. I guess he figured it was a one or the other deal.

As for the rest of Christmas, it was awesome. The family got a neato print of the Sacred Grove and Nintendo Wii with Guitar Hero, Steff got a heated massage pad (I know, I know. It is a total 'Walk through Walmart and grab anything that looks like the wife will like it because it is Christmas Eve' gift) to lay on the couch with at the end of the day, Matt got a pillow thing that allows him to sit up in bed while he reads and Mouse Trap (this is sorta a family joke, but if you have ever seen The Santa Clause 2, you may remember a part where a bunch of teachers start receiving all these gifts they've wanted since they were kids. Well, if I was one of those teachers, I would've got Mouse Trap). The kids got a whole crud load of stuff.

Edited by Steff to add: Matt also got a plane ticket to his annual skiing trip in Whistler and some new skiis.

So, now come the pictures of all the fun and games of Christmas day:

Charlie opening his Leapfrog railroad

Winston with his Clickstart

Charlie not quite sure how to show enough excitement

Winston in front of his stocking and presents

Dad after opening Mouse Trap

Dad and Winston playing Mouse Trap Christmas Night

Christmas Day at Grandma Marilyn's with the cousins

So, all in all, we had a great Christmas time and hope all of you did as well.

Family Fun at Jump On It

New Years Day, Winston and Dad went to Jump On It in Lindon. We met some of the other McGhie/Shelley crew there and had a good time... Winston most of all. Here are some of the pictures of our adventure.


Winston loving it!


Winston was a brave soul jumping back and forth across the padded dividers.


Winston started to get pretty gutsy on the slide... backwards-headfirst.


Melissa & Luc (left, niece and her son) AND Lisa & Emma (right, sister and her daughter)

On the way home, exhausted in the backseat, Winston sat in silence. After driving for awhile, out of the blue, he said, "Dad, if you ever want to, you can take me there again."

Edited by Mom to add that Charlie and I also had a great time hanging out at home with his pink eye. :)

Fun Friend Visit

So, one of my good friends from waaaaay back was in town from San Fran and came to visit. We had a great time chatting, catching up, watching our kids play together, etc. It was awesome to visit, though a little strange to have kids playing together. It makes me feel so grown up...



During the visit I was reminded of the summer between my junior and senior of high school when a friend and I went to Albequerque to visit her. The first morning we were there, we sat up in our room until about 11:45 in the morning because we were too scared of her dad to come down the stairs.

Anyways, it was fun to see them. We were glad to have them stop by.

Also, let this be a lesson to all the other long lost friends: if you come to visit us, you just may make the blog... and that's what its all about.

Sad

Our niece shared this piece of interesting info with us last night...

Top 10 'Vainest Cities,' according to Forbes:
1. Salt Lake City
2. San Francisco
3. San Diego
4. San Jose, CA
5. Miami
6. Louisville, KY
7. Nashville, TN
8. Virginia Beach
9. New York City
10. Los Angeles

***********
A few people have commented wondering what the criteria is for determining this. From what we understand, the criteria is pretty straight forward: cities with the highest number of plastic surgeries.

Here is the article if any of you are interested in reading it: http://www.forbes.com/2007/11/29/plastic-health-surgery-forbeslife-cx_rr_1129health.html

Enjoy!