Blizzard conditions

Christmas was great. V loves all his toys. He is always playing with them. His favorite is the Chatter Telephone from Fisher Price. He also likes the bouncy ball with water and glitter in the inside of it. He likes to throw in it in the cage that holds the cat stuff that he isn't allowed into.

We had Cinnamon rolls and oranges for breakfast. We tried to go to a friends house for Christmas dinner but there was a blizzard going on. We couldn't get the car backed out. I suppose it is a good thing. The blizzard lasted all day Saturday and the snow kept drifting up on top of the car. All roads where closed and no one was going anywhere. Even if they wanted to. So V, M, and I stayed indoors and enjoyed being together for an extended 3 day Christmas break. M didn't have work.

I got some great pictures of it all but they aren't letting me load it. So I'm sorry for that.

That is how Christmas was for us. We got some great movies. Including UP!, Pete's Dragon, and Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium.

We are so greatful for all the Lord has given us. May you have some happy Christmas' and a Fabulous New Year.

Christmas Update!!!!!

There are only a few days (Ok maybe closer to two weeks) left until Christmas and I thought I would let everyone know that we have some decorations up. Still no tree but hopefully by tuesday.

I went to the relief Society Christmas party and there was a swap table. So I picked up some wonderful gifts for V and found a glass Nativity, a sign that says "Home for the Holidays" and a snowman hanging. I also hung the stockings and put up a holiday chain. I also cut out snowflakes that don't look anything like snowflakes. Oh well.

I am excited to make cinnamon rolls and a ham dinner.

Ok so with the cold weather we have had a few car troubles. First M's car doesn't start at all. He has the stuff to make it start but we just haven't had the time to do it. So in the mean time he has been taking my car to work. Until one morning he went out there and my battery was dead. So we had to get a new battery. Oh there was also the day that he got my tires aired up and learned that one wheel was low because there was a nail in it. How does that happen?

We had a great time at M's work Christmas party. V went to a baby sitters. I participated in the Holiday game show of trivia. In return I got to pick a present. Of course the present I chose was a can of soup!!!!!! And the owner of the shop was willing to buy it off of me for $30. That was before I opened it. Oh well. The food was good and it was great to meet the guys that M works with. Oh funny story while we were there. There was alcohol and there was one particular boss of M's that was drunk. We were getting ready to go home because V needed to go to bed and church was early the next morning. So we said goodnight to this guy. He started gushing about how much he liked M and what a good worker he is and that he only gives him grief because he likes him so much. He kept shaking M's hand and a hug or two. I honestly thought he was going to start crying. He had us cracking up the whole way across town to pick up V. It was great.

Oh and another thing because of that party. M's boss calls me Holiday girl. Because I was so willing to participate when none of the other better halves did.

Some V things:

He loves to pull the books off of the book shelf and then try to get them back up there.

He spent 20 minutes this morning moving the pillows on our bed around. They had to be stacked on top of each other. They went from one end of the bed to the other. Way tooo cute.

He likes to scream.

He says Hi!!!!!!

He always wants to be in the sub-zero temprature in the snow.

He keeps us laughing and always amazed.

Merry Christmas.

DECEMBER!!!!!!!!!!!

In true Christmas fashion and a little wierd for me. It snowed today. In fact it is a winter storm warning until 9:oo tonight. Plus the highs are supposed to be in the 30s and the lows in the single digit area. I LOVE MINOT!!!!!!!!
Any way. It doesn't seem possible that in 24 days another Christmas will come. I'm not really excited because I have nothing done in prepareation. Maybe when we go get a tree and have it up. Or maybe when the cinnamon rolls are baked. Yes I like that idea.

I am seriously hoping that there is a Santa at our ward Christmas party because I REALLY want to get a pic of V on Santa's lap.

Speaking of V he knows there is snow on the ground and so all morning that is all he has wanted: to be outside with the snow.

He also thinks that he needs to hold your hand and lead you around the house. Very opinionated.

We did go out in the snow this morning and he loved running around in it. Never mind that his snow boots are too big. They kept falling off. He didn't care. He kept running with one boot on and nothing but a sock on his other foot. He doesn't have gloves yet so every time he fell down it was on his bare hands but that didn't bother him either. What did bother him was comming back inside and taking off his boots and coat. He started to cry.

That's another thing he has started. Temper tantrums. He gets down on the floor and hits his head on it or he whacks his head with his hand and then looks to see if you are watching. If you are he does it again. If you aren't he gets mad and starts to cry. I try very hard to just ignore him but it is so funny to watch.

M is still working hard. We have a work Christmas party this saturday and until today with the snow there was talk of cutting back hours. But with the snow comes people who panic and NEED snow tires ASAP. So when he goes back to work tomorrow we will see what they say. He may be working long hours. Which both stinks and is great for us.

Ok so I have a few ideas for Christmas presents:
V-
Toy tools i.e. wrench, hammer, etc.
wood blocks that he can stack and easily nock over.
M-
a tool box
Me-
a crepe maker. Too bad its soo expensive.

Last night I made pizza and I must admit that it was delicious. In fact right now I'm going to see if M wants his piece or if I can consume it. Even though I already had one today. That is how much I love food.

OH and as a fun fact:
The shortage of Christmas to Xmas is not sacriligous. It is in fact just an abbreviation. In the Greek alphabet X is the CH version of our alphabet. So it doesn't take Christ out it just shortens it. I thought that was so cool when I saw that.

Happy Forthcomming Christmas preparations!!!!!!!

Tis the Holiday season!!!!

The count down for Thanksgiving has begun. I am feeling a little overwhelmed with what I WANT to have happen this Thursday. I don't think it will happen.
I want to:

Truely clean the house.

Have a cute center piece for the table.

Be able to pull out the leaf for the table and actually set a nice table.

I want one more chair, just in case.

To be organized and ready and plan meal preparations so that everthing turns out at the same time.

Make rolls, pies, and stuffing from scratch.

Have a nice moist turkey that is delicious.

Here are the reasons that I think it won't happen:

I am unbelievably unorganized.

I get overwhelmed easily.

I don't know where to begin.

I've never cooked a turkey.

But I have a plan. I am going to start unthawing the turkey tuesday night so it has all day wednesday to thaw out. Then I'm going to cook it in an oven bag. Oh I should probably find out if it fits into any of the pans I have. Maybe I should go get a pan to cook it in that has a rack and other things that I will need for cooking. A turkey thermometer. I will also need the makings for stuffing which means that I need to go shopping!!!!!! And I will find a center piece and a table cloth. I think I will also pick up some disposable eatery.

I'm just excited for this day. I've decided the reason they call it the holidays is because there are 6 holidays in 4 months. 1 in October, 2 in November, 1 in December, and 2 in January. Crazy!!!!!!!

V has been up to some pretty funny antics. He loves his dad and copies everything that Daddy does. Yesterday it was trying to go to work with M and blowing his nose the way that daddy is trying to teach him. Today it was V being unagreeable because he didn't get to spend much time with his morning buddy (Daddy.) Yesterday M had a parade following him around. V would follow M and Adolf would follow both of them. If Moose went anywhere other than the living room and dining area. I'm sure that he would have been following them around too.

He also likes to have your hands do things. He will grab your hand to point at things and pick things up and hold them and open them.

Another thing I want to mention is how our ward gave us a Thanksgiving dinner. That was very nice of them and it gives me a whole new appreciation for giving things like that.

I remember in Mutual one year we took Dinners around to families. But I always thought it was for families that wouldn't have A dinner if we didn't take it too them. I never thought of it as a nice gesture.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Do I remember it all?

All right for the past few day there have been things that I was wanting to remember for this post. WILL I REMEBER IT ALL? I don't really know.

Ok so obviously I haven't taken the time to figure out how to show off our pile of leaves yet... COMING SOON!!!!!!!!! In the mean time. Saturday night after V was in the tub and M was having me help him cut his hair we decided that V needed one too. So we pulled him out of the water that he had actually drained out by that time and plopped him on a chair buck naked. He was ok with this for a time. It was also interesting to watch M use V's baby comb and some dull hair cutting scissors to trim his hair. We had to move on to clippers. That made it go by faster but not super fast because every single moment of that hair cut V was turning his head as M put the clippers to head. I'm just glad that M didn't draw blood.

So now V's hair is the shortest it has been in his entire life and maybe his next hair cut will be next year. I am seriously keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

The weather has actually been nice up here the last couple of days and so we played outside some. It wouldn't be so bad if we had a fence. But because we don't this is how outside play goes for V!!!!!

Down on hands and knees inside the door. Crawl backwards on the porch to the steps.

Go down the steps.

Run to the back of the house to the other side of the house.

Go around the back of the trailer next to us.

Run back.

Run across the grass that is not part of our area.

Run back.

Think about playing on the slide.

Dive into the pile of leaves.

Chase Adolf to the front of the house toward the road. Send mom into a panic. Pick him up as I spot a car on the road.

Put V in his wagon to sit while I continue to rake up the endless leaves in our yard.

While he is in the wagon go to the end of the street and check the mail.
He definately keeps us on our toes. M continues to work and that is pretty much all we do. Last week I was invited to a party given by a girl in the ward. It was out on base. I got to get a voucher to go on base. They had to check the car for bombs. It was really nice to get to know some more girls in the ward. It is amazing but I already almost feel at home in this ward. Today V and I went to lunch with the "Lunch Bunch" group in Relief Society. It was lots of fun. V was fascinated with something in that restuarant that I'm still not sure what it was. Either the waiters or the parrot that he could see.
Now that I see it is late. I'm cold, and my contacts are starting to say "take us out." I am going to go to bed.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

To start Saturday we tried to take V trick-or-treating and that didn't go so well. He was dressed as a farmer with a hat, wrangler shirt, over-alls with a rag hanging out his back pocket, and his trick-or-treat bucket. We missed the mall trick-or-treating. Which would have been the place to go because he would have been indoors and could walk around and be supper cute without a coat on. Instead we tried to find a nice neighborhood around that we could go to a few houses. But it was the end of trick-or-treating so we didn't even get out of the car. When we got home we put all of our candy in his bucket and took pictures. Oh well. Next year will be funner any way. He will know how to say trick or treat.

And for some reason I'm not going in order so we will do Friday now.
We did go to the mall after M got off work on Friday. He needed a new wallet really bad. In Barnes and Noble we let V out of the stroller and he listened to music. He danced and he waved his arm around like he was conducting. When he got bored with that he decided to push his stroller around. Mommy helped stear. He didn't want to push it any more so we walked around the shelves of books. He knew where he wanted to go and he didn't pull anybooks out of the shelves. He behaved very well. We found daddy. We passed daddy. We went and looked at little kid's books. We played on the story time stage. We got tired. We got stuck back in the stroller. Mommy looked at a Wizard of Oz picture book companioning the movie. We didn't fall asleep until 11:30.

He actually sort of behaved in Church. As much as a 14 month old can be expected to behave. He did have a little trouble falling asleep for a nap.
Waking up from a nap was quite the adventure. He had taken of his dirty diaper and there where brown spots all over his crib sheet. *sigh* So he got a bath. And his bedding is being washed. So are his clothes.

He is such a busy body. He knows how to get undressed and he knows how to help put on his coat.

He has rescently started to walk backwards. I don't know where he learned that from.

He thinks he is helping when he shakes the dirt out of the rug at the door. He leaves it in a pile right there too. So of course you are going to trip over it if you come in or go over to the living room.

Why are his favorite things buckles? Car seat buckles, high chair buckles... just buckles.

Suprises

It is only noon and already there have been a few suprises in the Harper household.

1st. V slept until 10:00! That is about 12 1/2 hours of sleep. And because he slept in we did too!!!!!

2nd. V got stuck in the floor heater vent. He knows how to take them off and then he gets down in them. He can fit both legs. But this time around he got all scraped up and it was hurting him. You would think that he learned his lesson. But he didn't. After getting hugs and snuggles he went right back over to it and was lifting the top off again.

3rd. V has officially learned that he can take his diaper off. Maybe its because he didn't the one he had on. It was one that I had left over of a different brand I had been using that I just didn't like any more. Apparently neither did he.

M says he way too smart. Last night I had to get into the dresser but there was a laundery basket in the way. I moved it to where V could get to it. Well it has a lid and he took it off. He placed it on the floor and was going to start taking the contents of the basket out. Fortunately it was time to put the basket back where it was. Out of his reach. I then asked V if he could hand me the lid that was still on the floor. I didn't point I just looked at him and asked. He turned around, bent over and picked up the lid. He didn't exactly hand it to me, but he did pick it up cause he knew what I was asking. M was very impressed with this.

He has always been way too smart and way too strong.

But we love this little bundle of boy. And he is all boy. He plays rough, he loves hard, and he screams loud. He is a quiet observer of everything. He doesn't want to miss anything that he might learn how to do. Unfortunately one of his teachers is Adolf his cat. He will bite you because that is what his kitty does.

I don't like to discipline the little tike but if I don't he will think that he can do anything. He already thinks its a game to climb on top of the freezer and see if mommy will come take him off. But he is just so dang stinkin' cute with those faces he gives. Or the noises he gives that are so originally his.

Ok if I can figure out how to do this. I have a few pictures of our front yard. Completely layered in fallen leaves. You can't see the grass because of it. So if I get it to work I will post some of those.

I have been thinking and there are a few things I want to do.

I want to learn to take better pictures.
I want to take a cooking class.
I want to take a creative writing class.
I want to sew with a sewing machine.
I want to be good at making blankets.
I want to get picture frames for our family portraits back when V was a
month old.
I want to go clothes shopping and get three pairs of pants and 5 shirts
and 3 knew dresses.
I want to fly home for a visit. I miss Nevada in the fall. All the changing colors.
I want to explore Minot with M and V.

Man what a list. I guess I should get started on that.