Cameraman

Luke is our little aspiring photographer, and he took some pretty good ones today on our walk.  I'd say the kid's got talent.

More About Aimee...

I've been tagged again, and I'll try not to make such a novel of it this time.  Man, I really need to take some more pictures of the kids so you don't have to hear about me so much!

8 favorite t.v. shows:  I haven't watched t.v. (except for sports and movies) for over 6 months, so I'll list my favorite movies.

1.  Sense and Sensibility

2.  Becoming Jane

3.  the entire Bourne trilogy

4.  Batman Begins

5.  Ever After

6.  The Notebook

7.  Beauty and the Beast (Disney)

8.  It's a Wonderful Life

8 Favorite Restaurants:  

1.  Texas Roadhouse

2.  Sanders (does this count as a restaurant?!!)

3.  Red Lobster

4.  Taco Bell

5.  Gilardi's

6.  Bob Evans

7.  Cattle Baron

8.  Olive Garden

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:

1.  I was released as Relief Society President.

2.  I cried.

3.  I breathed a sigh of relief.

4.  I created a new crock-pot recipe that ended up so-so.

5.  I helped Clayton with a power-point presentation.

6.  I ate cookie dough with a spoon.

7.  I played tackle football with Clay and the kids at the high school.

8.  I went to bed without doing the dishes.

8 Things to Look Forward To:

1.  Clay taking the kids trick-or-treating for the first time!

2.  Thanksgiving

3.  Christmas 

4.  cousins for my kids

5.  living closer to family

6.  finishing residency

7.  curling up with a blanket and a good book

8.  a movie and popcorn

8 Things on my Wish List:

1.  a leather couch

2.  my kids to turn out all right

3.  Luke to potty-train himself

4.  to be able to cook as well as my mom

5.  to pass my upcoming licensing exam

6.  warm hands

7.  a house to call my own

8.  more food storage

8 Things I Love About the Fall:

1.  changing leaves

2.  crisp air

3.  rosy cheeks

4.  football

5.  wearing sweaters

6.  soups and stews

7.  not being afraid to use my oven

8.  holidays

I tag YOU!

Halloween-Time in Grosse Pointe

Maybe it's everywhere and we just never noticed it in the other places we've lived, but Michigan seems to be the most Halloween-crazy place we've encountered.  We're talking decorations and parties out the wazoo, even to rival those of Christmas.  We have taken the kids on countless "pumpkin-finding," "scare-crow-finding," and "spooky-house-finding" walks and bike rides.  Although we're not usually the types to take pictures of random-people's houses, the following were screaming to be noticed.  They are just a few of our favorites from within a mile radius of our house, although the pictures don't do any of them justice.  It is unbelievable the detail put into some of these!

We loved the alien coming out of the coffin and the severed limbs littering the lawn at this one.

This one has a skeleton hanging down from the trees, although you can just barely make out the feet at the top of the picture.  We also loved the "Dracula 2008" political poster.

This house has got to be the winner for detail, although you really can't see much in the picture.  They must have 100 different things going on!

I dare you to come trick-or-treating here, kiddies!

This one really creeped Aimee out, although the rest of the family didn't think it was all that great.  She almost jumped out of her skin when she spotted it on one of her runs.  Seriously, the spiders appear to be crawling from the ground and trying to get in the windows!

 Happy Halloween, everyone!

We Dug It

This past Saturday was the 2nd annual Luke Hall and Sam Chirolla combined birthday party.  The original plan was for a huge bash with over 25 kids... but I was losing my sanity and control of the budget.  So, we decided to scale it WAY back.  Each of the birthday boys got to pick two friends (and their siblings were invited too, of course).  We did a construction theme at the beach near our house, and the kids had a pretty good time digging up buried "treasure" and building castles.  I thought the highlight was the super-cute cake Sam's mom, Amberly, made.  Although we decided it didn't make the list of most fun birthday parties ever, it was really nice to be outside soaking up the sun at this time of year.  The weather was amazing:  77 degrees F!  Hooray for fall in Michigan!  Plus, at this age simpler seems to be better.  I love what Amberly said to me during one of our planning pow wows, "The more we do, the higher the bar will be set for other moms and their parties."  Always the voice of logic and reason, Amberly keeps me grounded!   

Tag, I'm It

I didn't know such a thing as a blogging "tag" existed, but I guess I'm it.  Here are my rules:  post the rules and list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, and 3 random surprising facts.  Then, tag 3 people at the end of the post by listing them and leaving a comment on their blog.  Here I go...

3 Joys

1.  Being married to Clayton.  I realized the other day that I talk about him a lot without saying anything truly complimentary, so this can let everyone know that I really do think he is a great guy.  Pretty much everything I've accomplished since we got married has been with a ton of encouragement and help from him.  I am such an intense person, his calm, easy-going personality goes a long way in making our home more enjoyable to be a part of.  He works so hard, usually in a harsh, inhospitable (no pun intended) environment where he hardly ever gets thanks or appreciation.  Then, he comes home to a stressed-to-the-max wife and two crazy kids.  He plays, cleans, and exudes patience.  We would be totally lost around here without him, not to mention Luke would have no decent basketball moves.  I love you, babe!

2.  Reading.  I sometimes wonder if the library down the street from me wishes they could take my library card back.   It has some kind of a gravitational pull on me, especially since I discovered the online "request" in which they have books brought in from surrounding libraries and waiting for me when I come in.  I also love Goodreads.com, which my dear cousin-in-law, Rebecca, got me hooked on.  It's the closest thing to a book club I have right now, and I dig it.  

3.  Music.  This may seem odd coming from someone with no spectacular musical talent, but music definitely brings me joy.  I have recently starting playing my flute again, and I try to practice the piano when I find a spare moment.  I also love to sing, although I'm pretty sure it sounds better in my mind than in actuality.  I love losing myself in songs:  the beat, melody, or lyrics.  Having an iPod has made all the difference in my enjoyment of running, and we love spontaneous dance parties in our living room.  

3 Fears

1.  Dying young.  Is this weird?  Hopefully it's just my dramatic nature, but I get the feeling every now and then that I need to enjoy life a little bit more.  It would break my heart if I didn't get to see my precious little ones grow up, but life isn't according to our own plans.  Hopefully Clayton is right, and I will live to the age where I start wishing to pass on!  

2.  Bugs in the house.  After a certain incident this past spring, I tend to be a little more skittish around bugs in the house than the occasion usually calls for.  Luckily, Luke is an expert as smashing bugs with his fist.  

3.  Heights.  This one is relatively new to me since adulthood.  I cliff-jumped as a teenager and promised myself I would skydive, but that has all changed.  Let's just say that I had to quit a girls' group that went rock-climbing weekly because I couldn't handle it.  It's kind of embarrassing, considering it was an indoor facility that only went about 2 stories high.  

3 Goals

1.  Finish Luke's baby book.  I can't believe I finished Audrey's first!  I knew it was a good idea to buy a "fill-in-picture-here" one for Audrey.  

2.  Organize my basement.  It's a disaster zone down there.  

3.  Become fluent in Spanish, and teach it to my kids and husband.   

3 Current Obsessions/Collections

1.  Art and Pictures.  Not only do I seem to take crazy amounts of pictures and videos of my kids, but we have quite an array of art on our walls.  There would be even more, except we're renting and had to limit it.  I have had people tell me when walking into my house that we "have very interesting art."  I take that to mean cool, weird, and unexpected.  Everyone's favorite (is that the right word?) right now is the caricature of us from West Edmonton Mall.  

2.  Book of the week.  I'm pretty much obsessed with whatever book I'm reading at that particular moment.  Right now, it's "Eat to Live," which has me scared to death that my kids are going to have heart attacks at age 6.  Seriously, it's a good book, but it's hard to get anyone to take me seriously about anything I'm reading since it changes so drastically.  We'll see if this healthy obsession sticks!

3.  Art projects for kids.  Luke and I have been doing about 5 art projects a week that are proudly displayed all over our house.  It is so fun, and I'm glad to spend that little bit of one-on-one time with him while Audrey naps.  

3 Random Surprising Facts

1.  I have an extra rib (called a cervical rib) up in my shoulder area.  I've been thinking about it more lately, since it's been bugging me.  If my muscles get too tight, I have poor posture, or I get really cold, I get numb hands and neck pain.  I know, I'm a freak.  

2.  I get really excited for the mail to come every day.

3.  I tend to dance when I run.  If you see me jogging down Lakeshore Dr., you might just see me punching the air to "Eye of the Tiger," shaking my booty to Beyonce, or doing a forward moon-walk to anything by Michael Jackson (maybe that's how I got so good at it!).  

I tag:  Kristine Orme, Bettina Grange, and Rebecca Jones.  If you three don't want to, though, I won't be offended.  And, if anybody else feels the urge, I would love to hear your reponses!  

For The Picture Lovers...

For those of you who are just here for the pictures (don't worry, I don't hold it against you!), here are a few new ones.  This is us having a little bit of fall fun.  

I love this one of Audrey at the park.

Here's Luke showing off his wheels.

I had to include this one of Audrey doing her favorite thing in our "back yard."  She loves to pick the cherry tomatoes off the plants, whether red or green, and eat them.  We are convinced she loves the taste of dirt, as she absolutely will not eat them inside the house at her high chair.  What a funny kid!

Aimee's Thoughts

I feel that I need to explain my crazy self.  I would never blog anything to hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel bad.  I intend this blog to be something of a journal for myself, family, and kids.  Since I'm not so good at actual journalling or scrap-booking, this is the best I can do for now.  (And, it seems that family and friends enjoy seeing pictures of my cute little ones!)  My earlier comment about not liking everyone at church just shows how much learning I still have to do in this life.  As my wonderful home teacher reminded me last night, "There are lots of good people in the world, and there are some who are quite a bit harder to love."  I think that is so true, and one of my goals right now is to be able to see the good in everyone--even those who seem to be my enemies.  It really is so much harder to love someone who has said something hurtful to you or attacked you in some way.  As a typically shy, quiet person, I have not had these situations very often.  I guess being in a leadership position sets you up for that kind of thing.  I see it with our ward leaders, stake leaders, politicians, principals, etc.  I don't know who originally said it, but my stake president likes to talk about it:  "We are all just dirty sticks laying on the ground.  When one of us gets lifted up to lead, all the others like to point and talk about how dirty the stick up in the air is, forgetting the mud they themselves are laying in."  I have learned so many painful lessons this past year about leadership, gossiping, tolerating, and loving.  I've shown much too much of the "evil Aimee," as Clayton likes to call it, but I hope that the sweet and good Aimee will shine through in the end.  I guess that is what life is all about: trying to become our best selves and realizing our ultimate, divine potential.  

Typical Conversation About Breakfast

Luke:  I'm ready for breakfast.

Aimee:  Okay, what should we eat?

Luke:  I think I want sausage and pumpkin pie today!

Aimee (laughing):  Pumpkin pie is not a breakfast food.

Luke:  What kind of food is it?

Aimee:  Dessert.

Luke:  Oh.  (pause)  I guess we can have pumpkin pie for dessert after we eat all of our sausage!   Oh, and for a drink, I want a Gatorade sports drink.

Aimee:  We're not having a sports drink for breakfast, either.

Luke:  But I am the one who loves sports the best!

Needless to say, I didn't go "whip up" a pumpkin pie or give in on the Gatorade, but it's hard to refute that kind of logic!

Woe is Me

Have you ever had one of those days?  You know... one of those poor-me, my-life-is-so-hard, how-on-earth-did-I-convince-myself-I-have-the-skills-necessary-to-raise-children days?  Well, I've been having one of those months.  In the aftermath, all I can say is:  I am "Seriously, So Blessed!"  No, I guess I do have more to say than that :)  

I am glad that my husband makes me laugh much more than he drives me crazy, my family ate over 50% of the dinners I cooked this week, I love my church even if I don't particularly like all the people in it, and my kids cried less than 50% of the time today.  I am also extremely grateful for great families, good friends, Netflix, the public library, holidays, Conference, web cams, unlimited minutes evenings and weekends, takeout, and nap-times.  I also appreciate knowing that, if I absolutely lost it, Merry Maids is just a phone call away.  Oh, and did I mention that Luke has become something of a comic relief around our house?!

Audrey Walks

Being camera-less for a few weeks, we were unable to capture those first few wobbly steps.  Here is Audrey, the more seasoned walker, in all her glory.  If you look really closely, you'll also be able to catch a glimpse of Luke riding his big-boy bike.  

Luke Turns 3!

I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but my kids are growing so fast!  It's hard to believe that Luke is already 3.  He may be growing up, but he is still at an age that is really easy to please.  When his Grandma Allphin asked him what he wanted for the big day, he said he wanted a new doll for Audrey.  (Isn't that sweet?!  For all my parenting mistakes, I must be doing something right.)  For a special birthday lunch, all he wanted was a kids' meal from Wendy's.  He was infinitely excited when, later, I announced in the car that we were going to pick out his special birthday ice cream cake, and the excitement of the evening was opening his card from Clayton and me.  It was one of those talking cards, and he must have listened to Spiderman tell him to "Have a great birthday, Superhero!"  about 40 times.  You've got to love kids.  

The kids are in their p.j.'s for these pictures, because Clay didn't get home from work until after bedtime.