The Past Month!

So, I've pretty much sucked at blogging this past month so let me catch you up!

Ben has survived his first quarter of grad school, and got pretty awesome grades too! He gets 3 weeks off to party with us! YAY!

Claira always has something going on, so I may not remember everything:) She had fun making and sporting some derelict paper bag fashion wear that I helped design (with Claira's genius ideas of course), she is currently obsessed with playing Lego Star Wars on the Xbox with Ben, she is also obsessed with saying she's obsessed with everything i.e. when I need her to do something and she doesn't listen her excuse has been "Sorry Mommy, I just got obsessed with riding my bike" or fill in the blank with anything else...blocks, watching a movie, reading books:), Her new favorite color is ALL hot colors, but mostly Teal (my favorite too!!), she is getting sooooo excited about Christmas! Her favorite Thanksgiving food is candied yams and she has requested them for Christmas, and New Years ha ha!

Dylan is a hilarious little maniac he is talking A LOT! Some of my personal favorites are: Aw Man!, what the heck?!, Leave me alone... more like ye me ayow!, Alright (in a sassy voice, just like big sister...you have to hear it!), and the newest and most awesome is WAZUP! It's a joke from that TV show called The Office... he says it in a growly voice, it's great! There are many more sayings & phrases but those are the most enjoyable. He loves riding bikes with Claira and crashing into her and making her mad;) he has taken up jumping on & off everything, it's one of his newest skills and he does it all day long! he's running pretty good, he'll eat anything, and he never misses 'second breakfast' he will really eat breakfast and 5 minutes later try and pilfer my whole bowl of cereal! such a rascal!

It has been a fun/stressful/busy month for me, well I guess that's my life in a nutshell! ha! I love watching the kids play together it is so FUN!!! Ben being in school is stressful for me too but I'm getting used to it. I ate WAY too many pies for thanksgiving...and the week after lol! and I'm looking to FINALLY unpacking my workout gear (it is REALLY in a box with the tape still sealed from moving 3 months ago!!!! lol!) I'm enjoying Philly though, we've had some good times! Oh and how could I forget I went out with a bunch of girls from church to see the opening midnight showing of TWILIGHT and had a blast!!! I've read all the books and am obsessed (see where Claira gets that word now! ha ha!) I'm looking forward to seeing Ben's family in a few weeks! They are coming here all the way from California to see us for New Years week!!!! I can't wait!

Togethr Foorevr!

Halloweenie

We went down to Maryland for a fun Halloween party & trick or treating at my sister's house. The kids had fun playing with their cousins, bobbing for donuts, making Halloween crafts, getting dressed up, eating pizza, & getting tons of candy (my favorite part!) A fun Halloween!!!!

To Be A 5 Year Old...

Yesterday Claira was setting out an outfit to wear and she always wants to wear skirts or dresses because she 'loves to be cold'. Her words! Anyway, It's fall and freezing most days now so she must be hot blooded like me. She has been growing like a weed lately so this skirt she had laid out was getting too small and I told her she'd have to pick something else out & we'll be packing that one away with the rest of her smaller clothes. Conversation goes as follows: (FYI I'm not pregnant! OK just read)

C: Yeah, we'll pack it away for the next baby!

Me: Yeah, if we have another girl baby.

C: When we have another baby there will be three kids, and then four, and then 5, and then 6!

Me: Um, I don't think there's going to be that many.

C: Why not?

Me: Uh, because we don't have enough beds! Where will they all sleep?!

C: Well, we'll just pick up some beds at IKEA!

Me: (laughing) You have the answer to everything don't you Claira?!

 

I love it. Now we must have 6 kids, IKEA is the solution! Why didn't I think of that! I love these moments, she's my favorite girl!

King of Prussia

        

Ever since we moved to Philadelphia I've heard about this town called King of Prussia that is just on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Now I don't know about you but I would feel pretty fancy if I got to say that I lived in King of Prussia.  Who just names a town something crazy like that?! I love it, I really do. It sounds like a country of it's own or some type of magical land. Aaaannyways, Last weekend my sister Ginny & her girls came up again & we decided to go to the infamous King of Prussia Mall. Pretty much the hugest mall ever! Seriously,  I heard that there are over 400 stores!!! Crazy. I'm usually not a mall person... unless I have tons of expendable cash & no kids in tow & I had neither. Gimme money and a babysitter and I will have the time of my life at the mall! So although my ideal conditions weren't met we did have fun! There were so many amazing stores and soooo much to do & see. We spent almost 8 hours there & shopped in like 2 stores, ate dinner & went home:) that's pretty much what happens when you go to the mall with 4 kids: 5yr, 4yr, & a deuce of  almost 2 yr olds & 2 mommies who wanna shop... it just aint gonna happen! The mall was sooooo huge!!! I could easily picture my sis-in-law, Karina, drooling in this place & trust me I've seen her drool before. (heh heh!)

Above pics are of Dylan trying on a hat at Janie and Jack (soooo cute!) & cute cousins after eating dinner.

Trash Day

This morning began like any other day, except for the cruel fact that it was trash day. Of course it's trash day. Why wouldn't it be trash day? Tuesday's are always the day for my trash to be hauled away to the landfill to rot for eternity without a hope of ever seeing me again. Why am I so hopelessly sad about my trash? Lemme expound a bit shall I? Ben, as always, was wonderful & let me sleep in today:) I got up took a shower, ate breakfast, fed the kids snack a few hours later, put Dylan down for a nap, came downstairs & saw my wallet just laying on the dining room floor... now I vaguely remember Dylan manhandling my wallet last night before bed, but he quickly lost interest and put it down & I totally forgot about it until this moment... I picked up my wallet & it felt unusually light, so I opened it up & ALL of my credit, debit, insurance, club, library etc... cards were missing. Do you see where this one's going? M'yeahm so did I. After searching for a few minutes I just knew the little rascal threw them ALL in the trash & they were ALL happily on their way to the dump. He is soooooo lucky he was a little angel taking a nap at that precise moment because I was so frustrated that I cried for over an hour about it! I know I was probably overreacting but I have had to report my cards lost like 3 times in the past year! I felt like screaming...ok well I did scream in my pillow, along with the crying;) It was just one of those days for me. Sigh* I even said a desperate prayer that I'd find the cards but even as I was praying the answer was "sorry lady, they are gone forever", So I called all the card companies and once again reported that I was lame. My life should return to normal in 7-10 business days. Darn you trash day!!!!!!!!

Early Birthday Surprise!

Ben wanted to get me a new bag for my birthday this year! For any of you who have seen my late diaper bag, you know this was an overdue purchase;) The poor thing has been through a lot of abuse from the kids, parking lots, parks, & being stuffed to the max everyday with who knows what! Usually the kids take the liberty of packing up my diaper bag with their "necessities" before we leave the house & that means half their bedroom & most of the kitchen pantry. So considering all of that, it has been really falling apart for the past 6 months or so & honestly I started wearing it on the least ripped up side because of the homelessness of it:) Of course Ben just told me to order the one I liked because, well he's a boy! He knew the likelihood of an exchange if he ordered it himself;) Smart boy! My sister told me about www.zappos.com & I found this bag & LOVE it! It's loud & it's proud & it makes me happy! Happy birthday to me... in a week! Thanks Ben!

Yay! They Fixed it!

Well, it's almost been a whole week since I blogged! Let's see, So one eventful thing happened (to me at least). So, the plumbers FINALLY found the leak that has caused the ceiling in our living room to fall out...well, not the whole ceiling just parts of it;) We have had to deal with a hole in our ceiling for a month! Pretty much since the day after we moved in. It's been a pain because 'stuff' was constantly falling out of this hole, getting all over the floor, furniture & everything! We had to move everything away from that area & couldn't really set up our living room until it was taken care of. It was a pretty messy ordeal, I probably swept the floor in that area like 3 times a day just so Dylan wouldn't eat it! Yuck. I guess it was a tricky leak to fix because it would only drip water randomly, like every couple of days or even just once a week. They'd come every week and try something new to figure it out, but nothing was working. So our landlord (apparently a retired plumber) came out himself and pretty much fixed it in 10 minutes. I'm just sooo glad the leak is fixed, the hole is patched, and I don't have to worry about debris taking somebody out in my living room! Yay!

Fall Pumpkin Festival

My sister Ginny & her girls came up from Maryland this weekend & we had a fun but crazy day getting lost, going to a *free* festival that was in no way free;), went to the mall, ate some food, & stayed up too late! I feel so blessed to be able to spend time with my sister & nieces while we live here in Philadelphia! Last time I saw her was 3 years ago!

Kissy Bird Lips & Wrestling Moves

I was just cracking up at how funny these two are all the time! Dylan ALWAYS bugs Claira when she's 'busy', he always wants her to play with him & he'll do anything to get her attention. Kisses, wrestling moves, turning off the TV & running away (because he knows he's gonna get it ha ha), climbing all over her. It's quite entertaining. So tonight I sat there and watched and hilarity ensued!

A Hairy Situation

Let's just start out by stating that I hate getting haircuts. For me, going to a salon can be compared to how some people feel about going to the dentist or gynocologist perhaps... weird? yes. At least I'll admit I'm a weird weird girl;) I've been meaning to go get a haircut for over 6 months now, and just can't build up the nerves! So today, with my massively huge scraggly long locks staring me in the face I could wait no more. I NEEDED a haircut! I got the scissors and just went for it. No salon. No sweaty palms. No $$$$. Here's a before & after... sorry that mirror is really dirty!

The Roadtrip of Roadtrips

We got a letter in the mail on July 3rd from Drexel University inviting Ben to apply to their Masters of Public Health program. All he had to do really was check the YES box and wait for an answer.... easy right? He already applied to their medical school and didn't get in, so they just used that application with no extra fees. So he said "why not?" and I said " Um because we weren't exactly planning on moving 2,000 miles next month... I'm just sayin'" So he checked the box and away it went. So, we waited. Ben prays he gets in, I secretly pray he doesn't....apparently Ben is more faithful or at least more persistent than I am;) The acceptance letter came on August 5th... boy was that an emotional day! After struggling (a lot) with the idea, I finally agreed to go with it. A crazy August followed, then a fun break for Claira's birthday on September 3rd, & we finally said a bittersweet goodbye to Utah on September 6th. We did have the way cool opportunity to see some historic LDS sites along the way though. We stopped in Winter Quarters, Nauvoo, & Carthage. The road wasn't too kind to little Dylan though, he ended up with a busted lip and a fever by the time we arrived in Philadelphia. Poor guy. He's better now & we're all getting used to our new home/school/ward/everything!

Blogging? What's that?!

Here's to blogging! Cheers!